Anime Series Debuts on Fox Kids Next Fall
June 11, 2001
Nelvana, the Canadian-based packager and producer of animated cartoons, announced that it has granted a worldwide license (minus Asia and Italy) to Hasbro for the production of toys based on the Medabot cartoon series which debuts on the Fox network next fall.
Robots Large in Toys, TV, Games, Video
May 30, 2001
The success of Gundam on the Cartoon Network, the video revival of the Transformers , and the surprising interest in Comedy Central's Battlebot s have created something of a 'robot trend,' which has inspired a slew of robot-themed TV series and toys coming this fall.
Best-sellers in Pop Culture Stores
May 27, 2001
Trends that we have seen during the first quarter, such as the increasing dominance of the DVD format, the overall sales importance of high ticket items, and the continuing reign of CCGs are even more apparent in the April numbers.
Hasbro Rides on Disney Film's Coattails
May 26, 2001
Pearl Harbor opened this weekend, and Hasbro's new line of Pearl Harbor G.I. Joe figures just happened to hit the marketplace the same week
Most Consistently Popular Property
May 22, 2001
Dragonball has regained its position on top of the Lycos survey of most popular Internet searches.
Pokemon Bigger than Star Wars
May 8, 2001
In its first quarter report issued late last month, Hasbro reported a quarterly loss of $25 million, far worse than Wall Street estimates, and attributed the shortfall to rapidly falling sales of the Pokemon CCG.
Pokemon Packager Pursues Replacement
April 29, 2001
4 Kids Entertainment, the company that packaged Pokemon for the U.S. market has licensed Yu-Gi-Oh , the anime series/collectible card game that trumped Pokemon in Japan. A 27-episode television series and an accompanying collectible card game were hugely popular in Japan in 1998.
D-Day Set for June
April 19, 2001
Wizard Entertainment is preparing its first totally anime publication, Anime Invasion , which is being solicited in the current (April) edition of Diamond Previews . Retailers will be able to select from two different covers, one featuring an Akira design by Pat Lee ( Warlands ), and one with a DBZ and Sailor Moon 'Toonami' cover. The magazine will carry a $4.99 cover price.
Website to Continue
April 17, 2001
Pojo's Pokemon magazine will soon cease monthly publication. Although sources had earlier told ICv2 that the April issue would be the last, the May issue is currently on newsstands, and the June issue, which will be on the stands in early May, will be the last regular monthly issue.
Zine Once Had Circulation of 500,000
April 12, 2001
Magazine publisher H& S Media has cancelled its monthly 'unofficial' Pokemon magazine, Pojo's Pokemon , which was selling 500,000 copies per month, primarily via newsstand distribution, at the height of the Pocket Monsters craze.
