Playmates Toys to act as global master toy partner on the new line.

As Licensing Expo 2018 gets underway, Playmates Toys and Sutikki have unveiled a new toy line and animated content brand for girls aged 6-9 years.

Sutikki, the kids and family division of Bento Box Entertainment, has unveiled Kuroba!, a new proprietary and patented toy-based brand that will launch at retail and on YouTube this summer in the U.S. The brand will blend collectability with customization and competition.

Playmates Toys will act as the master toy partner for Kuroba! and will offer a range of products based around the brand, with an international roll-out planned for spring 2019. Sutikki has licensed the patented and proprietary toy innovation at the heart of the Kuroba! brand from BOTI Global, to develop an animation and merchandising programme based on the toy ideation.

Sutikki is currently in production of more than 220 minutes of animated Kuroba! content and is overseeing its distribution. This includes a summer 2018 premiere on YouTube.com/Kurobaworld and across social media platforms.

“Kuroba! has the potential to be the next big toy phenomenon for young girls,” said Karl Aronian, SVP marketing for Playmates Toys. “The brand takes a remarkable toy innovation, combines it with a familiar and proven form of game-play, and weaves in customization and collectability to make it a genuinely original offering.”

Irene Weibel, co-founder of Sutikki said, “We are proud to be able to build great content from the ground up, with compelling characters and a deep mythology that will connect kids to the experience of playing with Kuroba! YouTube is the perfect home for these shorts that feature friendship, comedy and epic Kuroba! battles.”

Kuroba! is the second brand to be launched under the Sutikki banner, following Moon and Me, the highly anticipated new preschool series created by Andrew Davenport (Teletubbies, In the Night Garden) that premieres later this year on the CBeebies channel and Universal Kids.