Upper Deck Entertainment has a full roster of releases planned for 2005. Yu-Gi-Oh!, Upper Deck's top trading card game leads the way with 11 skus planned for the year (see 'Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG Not Slowing Down') led by the all new Flaming Eternity Expansion in March and the equally original Lost Millenium Expansion in August. Upper Deck is also releasing Yu-Gi-Oh! structure decks in May, which contain powerful, hard-to-get cards that are perfect for players who are ready to enter tournament play. In addition to aforementioned products Upper Deck has two spectacularly packaged Yu-Gi-Oh! releases for 2005 -- a Holiday Tin that is out in September and Master Set #2, which ships in October in a stylish Egyptian-themed metal portfolio that players can use to store their cards.
Upper Deck also plans to release a number of new skus for its Marvel TCG including a Marvel Knights Expansion this month, a Fantastic Four Starter Deck Set in May, an Avengers Assemble Expansion in August and Marvel Deluxe Collector Tin for the holidays. Upper Deck's DC TCG releases include a Green Lantern Expansion (featuring all 5 Green Lanterns) in May, a Batman Starter Set in July and a Justice League of America Expansion in November.
Upper Deck's latest anime-based card game Shaman King just went into wide release (see 'Shaman King TCG Exclusive to Blockbuster'). A second Shaman King product, Spirit Warriors, is due out in July with more of the innovative, pull-tab chamber cards that characterize this series that is based on the popular anime series seen on the 4Kids TV block.
Another new card game with anime-like art is based on the anime-like series Avatar, debuting this month on Nickelodeon. The Avatar TCG should be out in October.
Upper Deck continues to market collectible card games to girls, although the play systems for the girls' games focus on collaboration rather than combat and the games are designed for up to eight players. In addition to its Bratz TCG, Upper Deck will release a Winx Club TCG in May. Based on an Italian property, Winx Club is receiving great exposure thanks to a spot on the 4Kids TV block that airs on Fox channels on Saturday morning. To support the game Upper Deck is publishing an adaptation of the Winx Club comic book (originally produced in Italy) starting (as a bi-monthly) in April. The comic book will receive plenty of newsstand distribution and is targeted at the 8-12 year-old female demographic just like the Winx Club TCG.
Upper Deck Entertainment is also planning a number of movie-related releases, including Fantastic Four Trading Cards, based on the new film; and Batman Begins Stickers, which will feature 132 stickers (plus 24 glow-in-the-dark stickers) and a custom sticker album.
UDE also plans three Disney trading card releases including a Disney/Pixar series, which comes in a Figurine Configuration that includes six figurines (Mr. Incredible, Syndrome, Woody, Nemo, Sulley, and Flix) featuring some of the most memorable characters from the Pixar films. The other Upper Deck Disney trading card releases are a Disneyland 50th Anniversary series and a Sequential Disney Treasures box that includes 100 sketch cards featuring designs from classic Disney cartoon features.
