By Andrea Hernandez, Ryan Tuchow and Sadhana Bharanidharan

Animasia 

Malaysian prodco Animasia Studio has acquired global distribution rights, excluding China, to Hyper Dimension Entertainment’s Dragon Force series. Aimed at kids ages four to nine, the 2D-animated series (52 x 13 minutes) features five students who become robots. Hyper Dimension and China’s Blue Arc Animation animate the show, which has aired in more than 70 territories, including RTV (Indonesia), Mediacorp Suria (Singapore) and Astro Tadaa! (Malaysia). Hyper Dimension will launch the fourth season this month in China on Yoku and an international version will be ready in mid-2023.

Guru 

The Toronto studio has signed broadcast deals for two of its shows. RTVE Clan (Spain), EBS (South Korea), Canal Panda (Portugal) and MBC (the Middle East) picked up CG-animated Big Blue (52 x 11 minutes), which targets five-to-nines. Cartoon Network in Turkey and the Philippines and EBS are the latest broadcasters to acquire preschool series True and the Rainbow Kingdom (35 x 22 minutes). Big Blue is a sci-fi comedy about a pair of underwater adventurers, while True follows a young girl who uses a magical wishing tree to solve problems.

Paramount 

Nickelodeon, Paramount Consumer Products and Play-Doh are teaming up on products inspired by Nick’s iconic slime (pictured). Launching in North America and Latin America in January 2023, the new line of toys includes mixing kits, stretchy slime and tubs of slime. The new products are targeting a demand for slime play and sensory play experiences, according to a release.

KIDZ BOP+ 

KIDZ BOP has launched a kids and family SVOD and signed a deal with Comcast, its first distribution partnership for the new platform. KIDZ BOP+, which premiered on Monday, includes content from KIDZ BOP such as music videos, challenges, behind-the-scenes clips and tutorials. It is available on Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex and XClass TV, as well as Cox Contour and Contour Stream Player. Since its launch in 2001, the kid-friendly music brand has sold over 23 million albums and generated over 8 billion streams worldwide, according to the company.

Serious Kids

The London-based distributor has finalized a raft of deals for 2D-animated Tulipop Tales (13 x seven minutes), produced by Iceland’s Tulipop Studios with Spain’s Amuse and Tomavision. The Icelandic culture-inspired preschool show has been sold to NRK (Norway), YLE (Finland), MBC (Middle East), Tele Quebec (Canada), Showmax (South Africa) and Canal+ (Poland). The series, which follows a mushroom girl and her magical forest friends, has also been greenlit for an additional 52 x seven-minute season of episodes, set to launch in 2023.

adidas Originals x Yu-Gi-Oh

In a deal with Konami Cross Media NY—which manages the Yu-Gi-Oh! brand outside of Asia—Adidas is rolling out new branded adult-size sneakers and sandals online and at US retail starting today (October 7).  The products feature Yu-Gi-Oh characters, brand-inspired design and are packaged with an accessory (metal hang tag) unique to each model.