Pororo may get 'Transformers' as nemesis

Robocar Poli, a home-grown animation created by RoiVisual, will be aired in Japan from April. / Courtesy of RoiVisual

New cartoon characters may threaten penguin’s throne

By Chung Ah-young

Can Korea produce another cartoon character as popular as the Pororo the Little Penguin? Just maybe, there is one already in the making.

The 10-year-old talking penguin, who first appeared in a television cartoon on EBS in 2003, earned 830 billion won up until 2010 for its creators and is estimated at 300 billion won in brand value.

Pororo’s potential rival is not an animal or human but a “transformer” whose mission is saving children, old people and animals from danger.

Dubbed as “prime minister” to Pororo ― who is called the “children’s president” ― Robocar Poli, created by RoiVisual, is about a rescue team of transforming robots led by a police car named Poli with his “friends,” a helicopter named Helly, a fire truck Roy and an ambulance named Amber.

First launched in 2011, the 52 eleven-minute episode cartoon series has solidified itself as the second best product in Korean children’s television shows, generating related merchandise including cakes, toys, books and apparel.

Learning from the success of Pororo, the Poli creators are targeting global markets straight away. Poli will reach Japanese children through TV Tokyo from April, challenging other shows in Japan, the world’s animation powerhouse.

RoiVisual’s Japanese licensing counterpart DCT (Dreams Come True) held press events in January to promote Poli to some local journalists.

Poli toys have already become popular in Korea and will be available in Japan from March. About 1,300 outlets, such as the Toys R Us chain and other department stores, will be having Poli and his friends on their shelves.

RoiVisual hopes Poli will become as popular as Anpanman, the iconic baked-bread super hero, among Japanese children.

“Before the official launching in April, a promotional event already created a big buzz in Japan, becoming a catalyst for the global market. It will be an unprecedented debut for a home-grown animation on both the small screen and in toy outlets in Japan. It will extend the Korean content market solidified by K-pop singers into the animation area,” June J. Lee, head of international business at RoiVisual, said.

Also, it will be voiced by Japanese top actress Chiharu Niiyama and her daughter, gaining the attention from the Japanese audience.

Previously, the robot car animation made a successful Asian debut in Taiwan last year. After Poli was aired on Canal Plus in France last year, the sales of Poli toys ranked second in France’s Toys R Us during the Christmas season. The animation began to be broadcast in more than 30 countries along with the launching of the character-related items last year. This year, starting from Japan, the company aims to make inroads into more than 60 countries including Russia, Australia and Canada.

Poli was created over three years targeting the overseas market. “We’ve developed both content and toys in cooperation with overseas business partners through market research in its initial stages. All these efforts paved the way for Poli to smoothly make inroads into these markets,” he said.

However, it is not easy for the animation to succeed both at home and abroad as Poli was produced as a 3D animation, causing the production costs to be high.

“Many foreign partners were surprised when hearing Poli was produced without foreign investment. In many cases the Korean creative studios need the joint production with foreign partners to develop cultural content which could be buried otherwise. But it would be better if we could have more local investment in Korean animations,” he said.

According to the Korea Creative Contents Agency (KOCCA), Korean animation companies exported 150 billion won ($136 million) worth of products in 2011. “So far Pororo and Poli are the major engines in the Korean animation industry. But other animations are steadily trying to join the race,” an official of KOCCA, said.