Netflix's One Piece Really Brought Transponder Snails to Life

Let's face it; One Piece is pretty weird. From its wild Devil Fruit gifts to its animal hybrids, there are tons of things in the manga that could never be in our world. Of course, Eiichiro Oda's series thrives thanks to these quirks. Little additions like the transponder snails make One Piece a fleshed-out world, and now, Netflix's live-action series has revealed its own take on the snails.

Yes, they are pure nightmare fuel. We still love them to bits though.

As you can see in the slides below, the anime fandom is sounding off on the transponder snails as Netflix's One Piece just posted a new promo with the creatures. In a new still from the series, we can see Garp chatting to someone using his own snail, and the textured creature is downright horrifying... but in the best way possible.

First look at Transponder Snail!! #OnePieceNetflix pic.twitter.com/iCcLHgkytL

— ONE PIECE NETFLIX FAN (@OP_Netflix_Fan) August 23, 2023

"Four fully animatronic transponder snails that are roughly the size of house cats were created for the show as well... The snails were also customized to like their owners. Garp's snail, for instance, sports a row of pearly white teeth and a beard," One Piece shared about the snails in a set of new show notes. Adding in, writer and showrunner Matt Owens commented on the transponder snails, and the said the special animatronics helped the team personalize each snail.

"We had this cool opportunity to make puppets and it was just so much fun to play with them. We have an animatronic device that plugs into the inside of the puppet that can make the eye stalks bend and rotate. They also have different detachable eyeballs so we could give them a variety of expressions and add a little bit of movement to the face. Sometimes they're sleeping, so the little eye stalks droop. They were so much fun," he shared."

"We didn't want to shy away from any of the weird elements that make up this world. We're just telling the audience, 'Hey, phones are snails in this world. It is what it is. Accept it.'"

As you can see in the slides below, One Piece fans are liking this real-world take on the anime's snails. The creatures are different from anything in our world, but Netflix's animatronics give the transponder snails a grounded design. So if you want to see more of these snails on screen, you can check out Netflix's One Piece when it drops on August 31st.

Want to know more about One Piece? No sweat! You can read up on the story's official synopsis here for all the details: "As a child, Monkey D. Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer "Red-Haired" Shanks. But Luffy's life changed when he accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit and gained the power to stretch like rubber...at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on his adventure...one guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary "One Piece," said to be the greatest treasure in the world..."

What do you think about this latest look at One Piece? Are you excited to check out Netflix's live-action TV series? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!