Nuts and bolts
Frank Pittarese -- Playthings, 5/1/2001
After peaking in the United States during the '80s with mechanical marvels like Voltron, Transformers and Battletech, a new wave of robot properties is on the way.
Bandai's Gundam Wing series airs daily on the Cartoon Network, with new episodes set to air in June. Foremost among the wide variety of tie-ins are action figure model kits (no glue required) which play as a toy after being built. "One of the greatest things about Gundam is that it's challenging—it's not just a toy, but model building at its best," said Colleen Sherfey, director of marketing for Bandai. The kits are available in a number of different levels, designed for novice to experienced model builders.
Meanwhile, Nelvana is gearing up its U.S. launch of Medabot (pictured), a kid-friendly property that had a successful run in Japan and a strong merchandising program. Licensed product will follow. According to Sid Kaufman, Nelvana's senior executive vice president of licensing and merchandising, variety plays a strong factor in Medabot's success. "In the world of Medabot, there are probably close to 400 robots which can be reconfigured into millions of robots," he explained.
This fall will also see the return of the Transformers on the Fox Family Channel. The property, supported by a line of figures from Hasbro, is going back to basics: robots, cars and combat.
