And how would you describe Smart Books?
Smart Books are Augmented Reality adventure books. They let readers discover a world where stories come alive through interactivity. They really transform the reading experience for children. Søren Jønsson created the idea and Kristian Dreinø is the wonderful sales manager. When Søren and Kristian showed Sir Ian the AR-book concept, he loved them. So it felt like a meeting of minds for the teams involved because when Søren first got into designing the books, it all came from a love of adventure inspired by the original Fighting Fantasy books.

What are Fighting Fantasy books?
They’re a series of solo-player roleplay books that’s Sir Ian created with Steve Jackson. The first book came out back in 1982; a mix of a roleplaying dice game and pick your own adventure… Each book’s premise is that you go on a standalone adventure in which you’re the hero. And with Smart Books, Søren has very much bought that same premise up to date with Augmented Reality and elements of coding combined with cracking stories.

Perfect. How did you meet Søren and Kristian?
I already knew and had worked with Kristian by the time he invited me to their stand in Nuremberg in 2023. At that time, I could’ve made a decent list of products that I’ve seen over the years and said would be a hit but didn’t get involved in… So I was kind of primed to get involved when I first saw one of these books! I loved it. I saw how it encapsulated my whole career… From my years in the book industry at Waterstone’s, my years in tech at Apple and then my years in the game space – from Rory’s Story Cubes and Wrebbit to Coiledspring Games and beyond.

And I’ll put a link in here to an older interview on our sister site so people can learn a bit more about your career. But you felt that Smart Books were irresistible?
Yes, I thought this one product really pulled it all together and – even though I didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like – I knew I’d be able to do something with it. And I wanted to and I found a way to bring the first edition paperbacks to the UK market. Later, Peter Allinson from Whirligig Toys saw the concept. He loved it, and gave some really useful feedback… And we’ve now brought them to the market in a fully updated format and changed the distribution partner to help bring them to a wider market.

Fascinating. What was the feedback that Peter gave you?
He suggested making the books hardback and colour. And that was consistent with my vision because it makes sense to have colour and other elements to make it look more like a more epic adventure. I wanted it to be something that really draws the reader in… Because, to me, if adventure books have ever done their job, they’ve done it by letting a young person – maybe 14 plus – take themselves on an adventure. They may not be a huge reader; they may not have picked up a book for enjoyment in years – or even in their lives in some instances…

So our thinking is that if this can help people utilise a smartphone or a tablet in the right way, and just take them away from that negative creep of technology for a little point of time, and help them go on an imaginative journey of exploration, who knows where it leads? A book, an adventure, a good board game, a good movie can achieve those things.

And what’s your involvement then, Rory?
I’m the silent partner in the UK imprint part of that business. So Mark McGrath is very much leading things from a point of view of getting the actual product ready through his imprint company, GC Publishing. Mark has worked with UK teachers to fully translate the books for the UK market. I help him by looking at it from the distribution point of view. And I’m delighted to say the books will now have a full launch during this week’s UK Games Expo; they’ll launch at Waterstone’s – so it feels like a lovely full-circle career moment.

Oh, that’s wonderful! It seems to me that the product has come a long way since I first saw it at London Book Fair in 2025. Does that mean you’ve been at Zatu for a year, then?!
Yes, I officially started at Zatu on February 1st 2026. I’d been crossing over most of January, but at that point I knew I wanted Rob Trounce to come across too as I value the collaborative working partnership we have, he has been instrumental in promoting the book series for Peasoup as well. It’s great to look back at what we’ve achieved in the space of one year of distribution with Zatu games… I’m incredibly proud of the team and what they’ve helped bring to the space. Of course, I still feel like we’re only just getting started!

Well, let’s carry on talking about that, Rory! We’ll switch over to a Mojo Nation interview to discuss your ten years in toys and games, your role at Zatu Distribution… And how you demo games! People can read that here.

The post Rory Kelly on signing Fighting Fantasy for Peasoup’s Smart Books – and launching at Waterstone’s appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Yes, my recollection is that it was popular here in the UK. I recall my brother and I had a book in the back of the car; there was a spy figure on the front…
Mr. Mystery!

Was that his name?! Great! And we’ll get into some of the nostalgia of this shortly, and your licensed titles as well… But first, what are the titles you’ve launched with?
The first six are Mystery, Games, Animals, Mythical Creatures, Sports, and Space – very much in keeping with the original Yes & Know books. They were very popular with parents who – like yours – wanted an easy, non-messy activity that a child could do in the car on a road trip. The books were small enough to be a stocking stuffer or an Easter-basket gift. So the brand was a great all-rounder. Once the idea took off, the titles were exhaustive, and they positioned the age ranges as being from 6 to 66, 7 to 77, 8 to 88, 9 to 99 and so on. Truly an activity for any age!

And a great idea! Which elements have you updated?
The biggest update is really the colour ink and refreshed content. When we spoke to our publishing partners about this – Hinkler from Australia – we did a really comprehensive presentation of how we would not only elevate the historic significance of the brand but also bring it up to date. So Hinkler worked with us and a new ink partner called NoCopi to use this magical, full-colour process that activates with the new pen. It’s amazing; the reveals are stunning.

In terms of the titles, we did research into expanding single titles to offer an assortment to the consumer as opposed to just several different kinds of generic books. Right now, the best-selling titles for us are the Classic Games and the Mystery… They just seem to tap right into that feeling of nostalgia. And we’re adding more this summer!

Of which – correct me if I’m wrong – each book came with a distinctive pen. I think a lot of people remember the pen very fondly…
Right! Everyone remembers that pen! The pen was very distinctive; it was always a white barrel with an orange cap. That’s something we’re leaning into now because the pen is so instantly recognisable. We kept it as a visual element in the present iteration; we won’t change the colour of the pen for any licenses that we’re adopting.

And on that, did the original publisher do licensing?
They did! The original US publisher was called Lee Publications. Lee Publications offered a wide variety of kiddy-character licenses to really expand the program and bring it to a wide audience. Our approach for our first licensed titles was to evoke the same sense of nostalgia as the product itself. So we’ve gone in a different direction – as you know from your stand visit in New York!

Yes! Let’s talk about that… How did you decide which licenses were going to work for you?
Based on the excitement of the market when we launched our first six titles, and the great reception we received, we sat down as a team to discuss what licenses would be a natural fit with the magic-ink gameplay.

We discussed the nature of Yes & Know; the nostalgia of it, the simplicity of it, the offline accessibility of the play pattern of it. After that, we considered quite a few licensor possibilities trying to determine if Yes & Know was a natural fit for a licensed program.

I can imagine the shortlist!
Well, the process of elimination continued – we really looked at what we were trying to do with the nostalgic aspect of it, and which partners aligned with that, as well as ethically and what not. Hasbro’s name kept coming up because they really ticked the boxes – and because we have a very positive history with them through Spirograph. When we started thinking about Hasbro IP, we put together something of a dream list. That included Clue, Monopoly, Battleship, Operation… We’re big fans of them all!

And they’re the four upcoming Hasbro titles, are they?
Yes! We’re thrilled with the 2026 lineup. In terms of the Yes & Know content, those classic Hasbro games are the inspirational starting point. The Yes & Know content is evocative of the Hasbro games. So in developing the content with Battleship, for example, Hasbro’s assets are there, and there’s a wordsearch of all the different types of ship… Then there’s bingo, trivia, a crossword – deep content completely inspired by each classic game. We put a lot of thought into each book and how to best capture the spirit of the brand in each game.

Love it. And away from Hasbro?
Away from Hasbro, we also partnered with Peanuts Worldwide. So again, a classic, nostalgic brand. And then we have two Highlights titles, which may be more of a classic US brand. Do you know Highlights?

I don’t! What is that?
Highlights for Children is another classic brand Stateside. It was mostly a children’s activity magazine. It’s been around forever; a fixture in doctors’ offices and it’s been a subscription platform forever. The mainstay of Highlights is the hidden pictures; it’s like a big, illustrated photo… You have to find various things in the picture: find the sailboat, find the sun – that sort of thing. That works very naturally and beautifully with the invisible ink, the colour reveal.

Wonderful! Now you’ve mentioned a couple of things… You say you had a prior relationship with Hasbro because of Spirograph. We recently spoke with Duncan Fisher, the son of the inventor – Denys Fisher. People can read that here. What’s your involvement with Spirograph, though?
Tree Town Toys – our current company – includes most of the original partners from Kahootz Toys, the company that licensed the Original Spirograph from Hasbro back in 2013…

Oh, no way?! That’s amazing!
Well, we had tremendous success revamping and reintroducing this classic, nostalgic brand to the world marketplace. It was a big hit for everyone, and –
like Yes & Know – it was a favourably received reintroduction… Spirograph fans all over the world were thrilled to see it return. That’s the same model we’re adopting with Yes & Know. Parents and grandparents have such fond memories of the brand that they want to share it with their own children and grandchildren.

Brilliant! Great summary, thank you, Michelle. One other thing I wanted to ask about was what happened to the original Yes & Know? It was seemingly omnipresent, but then it very quietly went away…
Quietly is a great word… Lee Publications didn’t only do Yes & Know – they had a catalogue of lots of smaller activity books and products as well. But at some point, they stepped away from Yes & Know and it wasn’t available anymore to retailers. A number of our retail partners commented on it, though. One of them approached us at our very first Astra as Tree Town and put a copy of the Lee Publishing catalogue in Doug’s face and asked him to “bring back Yes & Know!” because no one knew what had happened to it.

You say Doug… This is Doug Cass?
This is Doug Cass, yes. As you may know, Doug’s been in the Toy industry for 30 years or more: PlayMonster, Kahootz Toys, Giddy Up… Beyond that, he’s been in publishing for his entire career. So Doug was very curious about what happened to Lee Publishing – and Yes & Know – and started doing some research. He discovered that the Yes & Know rights were now with Hinkler in Australia. So Doug connected with Stephen Ungar, the principal of Hinkler, and they became our wonderful new partners. Together, we’re bringing back this classic brand to the world – we’ve got big plans!

Fabulous. Thank you so much for making time to talk, Michelle. Don’t be a stranger!

The post Hasbro, Peanuts and more: Michelle Delacourt on how Yes & Know has a future in licensing appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Great answer. Thank you! What drew you to the company?
I was drawn to the product, the brands, the people, the strong multi-channel distribution and the wonderful foundation that had been established at Blue Marble… A solid platform to build the base of internally grown IP, further professionalize the operation and bring in new licenses.

Of which, Blue Marble’s partnership with National Geographic came to my attention at New York Toy Fair. As a brand, for what does it have a reputation?
National Geographic is the gold standard in Science, Education, Exploration and Nature; a top-trusted global brand with multi-generational appeal. National Geographic has a strong reach across its multiple pillars of content – social followers, streaming and linear households, print and digital readership and email subscribers… More than that, though, it’s also a giveback leader, devoting a meaningful percentage of revenues to fund vital scientific research. We’re grateful and proud to represent the National Geographic brand and our partners at Disney.

And the range of the brand is extraordinary… How do you decide what’s going to make a great product for them?
While learning is at the core of almost every National Geographic product we create and produce, we spend a great deal of time and energy thinking about the play experience our products provide. In addition to a ‘fun first’ focus, we make sure our lines deliver the quality, value and overall brand experience that our customers expect and deserve.

What’s the process there? Where do the ideas come from?
Most of our products are conceived and developed internally. We do also work with inventors, though; they’re great at bringing innovation and new ideas to the table. Our process includes a robust product concepting process, paired with business case evaluation, channel distribution strategies and promotional marketing and advertising campaign planning.

Tell me about some of your other licensing partners… NASA and Barbie come to mind!
Barbie is another globally recognizable iconic brand with multi-generational appeal. As a predominately girls’ brand, Barbie fits very nicely into our product portfolio. We’re launching a great line of STEAM and Science-based Activities – starting this summer with a Walmart early launch endcap, then moving to full distribution in the fall. We have big plans for our Barbie program and are investing heavily in the growing line.

What unites them all? What do you look for in a licensing partner?
First and foremost, we look for evergreen IP – brands that have established relatability with an audience, that align with toy play and can naturally extend into hands-on play experiences. The best partnerships stem from the license holder driving brand exposure and affinity through content pillars, while we support brand expansion through consumer products and ritualized role-play experiences. While our partners look to us as experts in developing premium products that achieve strong performance both online and at brick-and-mortar retail, we rely on their expertise in content creation, franchise strategy and brand support.

Fantastic. What’s next for Blue Marble, Jared?
We’ll continue to grow our lines of STEM, STEAM and Science-based Crafts and Activities with our current brand partners, including National Geographic, NASA and Barbie. Additionally, we’re launching a great line of early learning products with National Geographic Kids, bringing consumers into the brand at a younger age – starting at 12 months and aging up through 5 plus – before they move right into our National Geographic product line for ages 6-12 plus. We’re also expanding our in-house developed Blue Marble portfolio with products in Seasonal, Outdoor, Craft, Activities, Games, Role Play, Digital Interactive toys and more. The future is bright!

A great note to end on! Thank you, Jared.

The post How does Blue Marble create out-of-this-world licensed toys? In conversation with CEO Jared Wolfson appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Makes absolute sense. And Susan?
Susan Bridges: I think Star Trek was probably my gateway to genre, really… Imagining a better world where there’re competent people treating each other with respect. I think that’s a real big call – and it only becomes more of a thing to hold onto in the times we happen to be in, I would say.

I hear you! The darker the night, the brighter the flame. In terms of your creativity around existing IP, do the inherent restrictions help more than they hinder, do you think?
Tilly Bridges: I think the restrictions are fun. They’re a challenge at times, but as a writer, you try find a way to make what you want to do work within whatever box the rights holder has told you to stay in. You just have to remember that the goals of the corporations that own properties are different to the goals of people telling stories around them. I’ve always found that to be a very illuminating challenge – it’s taught me a lot. And I think it’s made us better writers.

Susan: I also think a lot of creativity comes from just seeing one little thing in existing IP and thinking: ‘Okay… What if we spun that out into something? What if they said that because this happened?’ Or ‘Why did this character do this weird thing here?’ So I think now we just look at restrictions as a super-fun challenge. That’s especially true with the Voyager comics, for example, when we realised – while doing our research – that Species 8472 doesn’t actually have that many episodes…

No, they’re in – what? Four?
Tilly: Yes, and they get mentioned in a couple more. So things like that give us all these little things where we could just kind of expand out, wonder, explore and find new things that we could add that hadn’t been expounded upon in the universe. That gave us a lot of freedom, and we do love finding the cracks between known stories that you can fit a story in… So it’s like, ‘What happened between these two scenes? You could fit a whole story in there!’ It’s a great challenge. I wouldn’t want to write every story we do that way – ha! But for some of them, it’s absolutely great.

And on that, the Homecoming comics pick up immediately after the last scene of Voyager’s final episode, Endgame. Why did you want to continue the story?
Tilly: That was mostly due to the finale itself – which we liked a lot! But some people felt that, for seven years, the crew’s goal was to get home and reunite with their families. And then you didn’t see that! It felt like you didn’t get that kind of closure. We wanted to give them the show, the characters and the, the audience that closure, but also bring back consequences for some of the things that they’d done, because they made a lot of people mad in the Delta Quadrant!

Susan: Yes, and it raised questions around some of their decisions… Would some of those decisions come back to haunt them? There were so many possibilities around that. One thing we decided quite early on is that we didn’t want The Borg to be the main villain because we felt like they did so much Borg material during the TV episodes. So that was the main thing we started with: talking about which villain it would be, and what we should do.

Ah! I’m glad you said that; I was going to ask where you started…
Tilly: Yes. That’s one of the things unique to working on a licensed property… After we had some ideas, we went back and forth with both Paramount and the comic publisher, IDW, over who the main adversary would be and what would or wouldn’t work for one or other of them – because they have other things going on in the universe! So there was a lot of back and forth before we settled on Species 8472. I’m really glad we did, though, because it gave us a lot of room to explore and add little bits to the universe.

I love this! But now I’m curious… After you settled on the broad idea – it’s the end of Voyager and it’s Species 8472 – what’s your process? How do you get from there to a manuscript?
Tilly: Well, it started with us re-watching Voyager to see what we’d forgotten. I mean, we’ve seen all the Voyager episodes many, many times, but we went back to them to be sure we had it all fresh in our minds… You know, the show ended 25 years ago!

Quite so. In fact, this article will probably go in the newsletter 25 years to the week since the last episode premiered! But what came next? After you rewatched the episodes?
Tilly: After that, the two of us brainstormed to get a rough idea of what we wanted the story to be. When we had some ideas, we’d give an issue-by-issue outline of the story to IDW and Paramount for them to approve.

Susan: There was a bit of back and forth with them asking to change this or that… It was filtered through them at every step of the process. Also, that gave us a couple more boxes to work in because they wanted the books to be accessible to people who may not have watched Voyager, or who may not have seen it for 30 years…

Oh, wow! I hadn’t thought about that – I guess it makes sense.
Susan: This is why the first issue of Homecoming introduces the concept of Voyager as a show and pretty much says, ‘This is what happened in Voyager over seven years; this is how it started and how it ended… Then it introduces all the characters and kicks off the story. And we have 20 pages to do that.

And I suppose the length of the comic is quite a definite limitation, isn’t it?
Tilly: Yes, 20 pages is really tough. And comics are unique in that there’s another limitation in the way that dialogue covers art… It takes up real estate on the page! You can only fit so much dialogue on before it starts to obscure the illustrations! That means you have to cut the wording back and back and back so that it all works together. So it was a very puzzly project.

You know, that is staringly obvious now that you’ve said it, but I hadn’t thought of that! You’ve got to keep it really succinct. So do you edit as you write? Or do you write what you want to say, then go back and cut it down?
Tilly: A little of both. We do edit as we go, but afterwards we get notes from the editor saying where there’s so much dialogue that we’re not going to see the art – we need to cut it back even more. That was really tough, especially with the character of the Doctor because he’s so verbose! In our first drafts, it was fun to just let him blab and blab the way he does on the show. But of course – on screen, his dialogue doesn’t obscure his face! So we just had to cut and cut and cut that back. In fact, I think most of the dialogue editing we had to do was with the Doctor.

Susan: We had so many funny things for him to say! We were like, “There’s no room to have him say this? Oh, what?” But it has to be done; you have to see the art!

Amazing! And that aside, what was the biggest challenge on this project?
Susan: Hmmm. Maybe just making sure we shared the relevant background information for Species 8472 because you want people to remember the cracks we’re going into from the episode In the Flesh where they meet the fake Boothby at the Starfleet Academy terrasphere simulation.

Right! And what does happen at the end of that? They arrange a truce? Spoilers! They arrange a truce and give Species 8472 sensitive tactical information…
Tilly: Right! As a gesture of faith. And a lot of people remember that; that Janeway comes to an understanding with the Boothby character. Things look okay! But actually, he outright says that his superiors aren’t as forward-thinking as he is… They’re going to hit the roof at the idea of peace with humans.

Yes! “Don’t call us, we’ll call you…”!
So when we saw that, we were like, “Aha! There’s a story there!” And there’s another moment in that episode when they took Chakotay into custody and took some of his DNA… That never comes up again; it’s never explained. Why did they do that? Why do they need his DNA?

That’s a great point!
Tilly: I also feel like one of the toughest challenges was that – because we didn’t get closure from the original show – I feel like fans had an idea in their head of what those reunions might have looked like for 30 years… And it’s impossible to live up to every single person’s different idea of that! So we tried to give all the characters what we felt was a decent reunion; true to them and true to what we – as fans ourselves – were hoping they’d have, hoping that it would connect with the audience and what they were wanting to see…

Susan: I think many fans would’ve wanted five issues of hugs, but we couldn’t do that!

It that a concern as you write? How will fans react?
Tilly: In terms of wanting to make fans happy and give them what they’d like to see, it’s on our minds – but it’s not necessarily a concern as we write. As I say, we’re fans ourselves, and we have to make ourselves happy with it first… If we don’t love the story, it’ll show no matter what the story is! Because you can always tell when the creator’s heart isn’t in something, can’t you? And you can’t write to that because everybody has their own ideas and wants something different. Also, we try not to break established continuity – even though some Star Trek stories break their own.

And something you said earlier made me wonder: were there other plots or adversaries that you particularly wanted to pursue?
Tilly: There were other ideas, but this was the one that worked the best with the story we wanted to tell about a society that pushes out people because of their differences – which is a very Star Trek thing to talk about. It’s also something we’re all dealing with in so many different ways in our present society. So Species 8472 let us get into that in such a great way – none of the other adversaries would’ve given us that ability quite so well.

Yes. And that’s another element I suppose it’s easy to overlook… It’s not just that you have to serve your own vision, the expectations of fans, the IP owners and the publisher… You also want to tell a story that’s expands the franchise with purpose. Did you have other goals in mind when you started?
Tilly: One thing this story helped us do was break up Chakotay and Seven of Nine… That was one of our goals because we never liked them together. But I’m glad you brought that up because it’s about respecting continuities… Even though we never liked their relationship, there are people who did. We want to respect those people, and the creative teams that were on the show that did that story. We don’t just want to make a hand wave and say, ‘No, this never happened!’

Or leave it to happen off screen…
Tilly: Exactly. We wanted to build off that because Seven is a very different character when we see her return in Picard. So what changed for her? What set her along that path? What self-discovery did she have? How do we incorporate that and tie it in with the story we’re telling? Which also really worked very well with our story because Chakotay had a little relationship with one of the Species 8472 in the guise of Valerie Archer. So that tied together as well.

Yes, it’s worth noting that you very tastefully and respectfully bridged a gap between two separate branches of canonised IP…
Tilly: Thank you. We did want to show the characters as respectful adults who care about each other, who are friends who don’t want to hurt each other. There’re issues that they needed to work out and maybe it isn’t quite working for them… And that’s okay!

Wonderful! Are there other ‘dream licenses’ that you’d like to work on?
Tilly: Oh, absolutely! We’re actually working on one now that we’re not allowed to say anything about because it’s not been announced yet… It’s another graphic novel that should be out next year. That’s very much a dream project – we were very lucky to get to do it! But there are plenty of other licenses because we’re fans of sci-fi especially.

Susan: Our problem is that we like dramedy and funny stuff; we like to keep things lighter. So there are some things – like Alien, say – that it’s harder to add a little humour into. I mean, you could always adjust these things, but Star Trek is often funny. We’d love to work on a live-ation Star Trek show. What else are we fans of? Alien, Superman. Terminator…

Tilly: I’m dying to work on Terminator! That would be so cool. I’d also love to do something with Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road. I love her! I’d love to dig into that… There’s just piles of stuff that we’d love to do someday.

Great answers! Thank you! To wrap things up, what’s the one question I could’ve asked today, but didn’t?
Tilly: I can tell you the one question most people ask us about Homecoming…

By all means!
Tilly: “Why didn’t you promote Harry Kim?”

Ha! Is that really the question you get most? People are all over that, aren’t they? Ha! But what’s the answer to that? Why didn’t you promote Harry Kim?
Tilly: Our answer to that is: “We asked if we could!” That was the first thing we wanted to do… The second was to break up Chakotay and Seven, but the first question was: can we promote Harry? And the answer was no.

Did they say why?
Tilly: Yes, its because there’s a story somewhere in the Star Trek universe that takes place chronologically after ours… And in THAT story, Harry Kim is still an ensign! I don’t recall if it was in a book or a comic or what, but something somewhere says he’s still an ensign. So we couldn’t promote him in our story because they do keep continuity among the official Star Trek books and other media… Instead of promoting him, we had his parents call it out: “You’re still an ensign? I need to talk to your captain. This is unacceptable!”

Ha! That’s funny! And you’ve made me realise that there must be a team of people, or one overworked soul, whose job it is to track continuity in all the timelines in all the universes. Ha!
Tilly: Yes! Ha! Some of the feedback we were getting – particularly early on – was from that department saying, “Sadly, you can’t use this person… They’re over there!” You know? “You can’t use this or that, because this is happening in your timeframe…”

Can you give me a specific example of that?
Tilly: Yes – the reunions are a good example… We’re big fans of Dr. Pulaski, and it was great to put her in the last issue. But initially, we wanted to have Crusher and Bashir meet the doctor. But that was one of the things we couldn’t do because – at this exact moment in the universe, they were both elsewhere. And the continuity person knew it! But they agreed Pulaski would probably be on Earth, so we could use her.

How fantastically interesting! I wonder if I could find this ‘Guardian of Forever’ to do an interview! I’ll get onto that. In the meanwhile: Susan, Tilly – thank you so much for making time.

The post Expanding the Star Trek universe: Writers Susan and Tilly Bridges on the Voyager Homecoming comics appeared first on Brands Untapped.

The project features the enigmatic Fugitive Doctor, played by Jo Martin. Jo Martin also contributes across the story as the writer of a Penguin Random House title and narrator of the BBC Audio Original adventure. The overarching story is written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, with an epic narrative designed to unfold across multiple formats.

Circuit Breaker forms a key part of BBC Studios’ strategy to drive franchise growth through connected storytelling, global partnerships and sustained fan engagement. The initiative is set to roll out as a coordinated global storytelling event spanning audio, publishing, gaming and digital and boasts a who’s who of Who partners…

These include Titan Comics, Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Audiobooks, East Side Games, Puffin, Penguin Random House and Big Finish. Each of these partners is contributing original content as part of a coordinated programme across the summer.

A key component of the experience promises to be the in-universe UNIT website, which launches on June 25th. The site plays host the first chapter of Circuit Breaker and offers news content on The Whoniverse Show on YouTube and across the Doctor Who website and official digital channels.

Speaking about the project, Stephen Davies, SVP Global Licensing, BBC Studios said: “Circuit Breaker offers a bold new way to experience Doctor Who and the Whoniverse across multiple platforms. Working with our trusted, long-standing partners and creative talent, we’ve created something truly ambitious in both scale and storytelling. We’re excited to bring this coordinated global event to audiences around the world and deepen fan engagement.”

Writer Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson added: “Circuit Breaker is truly unique in the Doctor Who universe. Just as the Fugitive Doctor rocked everyone’s world when they first appeared on our screens, we wanted to bring something exciting and new to the fans… A story that takes the best parts of Doctor Who and melds them with a fresh and innovative boldness that makes for fantastic storytelling.”

Jo Martin added: “Circuit Breaker now has an official start date! I’m delighted for fans to join the Fugitive Doctor on a brand-new adventure… One that may even showcase a more vulnerable side – yes, she does have one! But for now, I invite you to take a first look at my Doctor’s brand new costume.”

Rollout Timeline
25 June: Calling the Doctor – UNIT website written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
8 July: Adversary of the Daleks – Titan Comics, written by Dulce M. Montoya and Dan Watters, with stunning art from Roberta Ingranata and Sami Kivelä
23 July: The Honourable Society – Doctor Who Magazine issue 632, written by Jason Quinn and illustrated by Anthony Williams
30 July: The Deadliest Weapon – BBC Audiobooks Audio Original written by Steve Lyons, narrated by Jo Martin with David Banks as the Cyber-Leader
4 August: Dawn of the Daleks –Titan Comics, written by Dulce M. Montoya and Dan Watters, with stunning art from Roberta Ingranata and Sami Kivelä
6 August: Castling – East Side Games written by Mario Mentasti
17 August: Don’t Blink! – UNIT website written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
20 August: The Doctor and the Three Witches – Puffin book written by Janelle McCurdy
27 August: Moment Mori – East Side Games written by Mario Mentasti
31 August: The Black Archive Files – Circuit Breaker DVD release
3 September: The Kaleidoscope – Penguin Random House book written by Jo Martin
22 September: Full Circuit – Big Finish audio story written by Robert Valentine
24 September: Short Circuits – Big Finish audio story written by Robert Valentine

The post Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker – BBC Studios announces its timeline, plans and partners appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Blu’s Sundae Surprise sees each player’s game piece double as spoon so that you can enjoy a completed sundae when the round ends. Meanwhile, the game surface unfolds into a vinyl tablecloth for easy clean-up!

The new game launches at at 9am ET on May 1st as part of Blue Bunny’s Freeze the Moment campaign. Speaking of the importance of family game night and creating memories, Andrew Mondzelewski – Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Blue Bunny – said: “This campaign is all about helping families create memories with their loved ones over the simple delight of dessert that turns an ordinary night into something memorable.”

While supplies last, fans of the brand can visit BlueBunnyBoardGame.com to purchase Blu’s Sundae Surprise. The pre-order price is $19.35… The price itself is a playful nod to the company: the band was first established in 1935!

Every game purchased in an eligible US state comes with a coupon to help families stock up on Blue Bunny sundae supplies.

Blue Bunny is also offering access to free frozen treats for any families enjoying game night and embracing moments of togetherness. Fans can visit BlueBunny.com/family-game-night to upload a picture of them playing ANY board game… As another nod to Blue Bunny’s founding, the first 1,935 eligible entrants get a chance to win a Blue Bunny Blu’s Sundae Surprise board game.

To further help celebrate Freeze the Moment, Blue Bunny is deploying ad spots on connected TV platforms… These include Disney+ and Hulu, YouTube, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and commercial breaks during this summer’s World Cup on FOX Sports, in addition to social posts across Blue Bunny pages @blue_bunny.

The post Blue Bunny creates ice-cream board game to help families pause, connect and return to basics appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Freddie: And I’m Freddie Jordan, Senior Marketing Manager at Hape Toys.

And Freddie, we met in New York when you announced that Hape Toys and The Metropolitan Museum of Art are collaborating… What’ve you created with The Met?
Freddie: We’ve brought elements of The Met’s vast collection to life through a series of thoughtfully designed toys. Each piece draws inspiration from different artistic periods and cultures, transforming them into interactive play experiences that introduce children to art in a fun, accessible way.

Perfect! So what’s the collaboration about?
Freddie: At its core, this collaboration is about inspiring the next generation through culture and creative play. Art is a universal language, and by translating it into hands-on experiences, we encourage children to explore, express themselves, and develop curiosity from an early age.

And Josh, from your perspective?
Josh: The Met seeks to engage art lovers and museum visitors of all ages in an authentic conversation centered around 5,000 years of art and culture. Collaborating with Hape lets us share art with children and parents through innovative educational toys that allow a selection of historic works to be touched and experienced as never before. We hope that engaging with kids early on will foster a lifelong love and curiosity about art, culture and the world.

Fantastic! Thank you. And what kind of reception did the products get at launch?
Josh: We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the reception! Working with Hape over the last year, we’ve been so proud of the thought and care invested by both The Met and Hape teams to design such a beautiful and inspiring product line. It is an honour to share our work with the world and see the collection resonate with journalists and retailers alike. Next, we look forward to seeing our products out in the world, in the hands of little ones.

Freddie: Yes, the reception was extremely encouraging. The collection featured among standout new launches at New York Toy Fair, with media calling it one of the most exciting collaborations they saw. Retailers and partners were particularly drawn to the way it brings art, culture and early learning together in a fresh, engaging way.

There certainly was a lot of buzz around it. What makes Hape and The Met a good match?
Freddie: Both Hape and the Met believe in the power of creativity to shape how we understand the world. By bringing together Hape’s expertise in play and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s legacy of art and culture, we can introduce children to creative expression in a way that feels natural, inspiring and enriching.

Josh: The Met and Hape also share a mutual desire to do things differently, aspiring to a new standard of quality and sophistication not often found in the early childhood market.

And now that the product is ‘out there’, what’s next for each of you? Josh, kick us off! What’s next for The Met?
Josh: We look forward to introducing future collections with Hape in 2027. In the meantime, you’ll see our licensing program evolve to encompass new categories and territories in pursuit of our goal to offer a lifestyle of artistic products for everyone to enjoy.

Freddie: Meanwhile, Hape will continue to expand the Met relationship and diversify further into differing product categories and artworks. As the collection grows, we’ll open new doors and continue the line’s successful introduction.

Terrific. And finally, what question could I have asked you today that I didn’t?
Josh: Why did you choose this particular age range for this important toy line within the broader Met licensing program?

And what’s the answer?
Josh: We felt that The Met brand and an art education-based positioning would resonate with new parents and gift-givers due to their focus on values and quality, as well as bringing a refreshing new approach to the category…

So much of toy licensing is driven by entertainment and character properties, and we were confident that our artwork, strength in storytelling through products and authenticity could bring a compelling proposition and beautiful new product offering to this audience.

Great answer! And Freddie?
Freddie: Perhaps you could’ve asked about the 40th anniversary of Hape Toys… 2026 is a major milestone for us. It’s an opportunity to reflect on four decades of designing toys that support early childhood development while also looking ahead. We’re focused on expanding into new categories, continuing to innovate across our core ranges – from wooden toys to educational play systems – and strengthening our global presence. At the same time, sustainability and purposeful play remain at the centre of everything we do as we build for the next generation.

Fabulous. Gentlemen, thank you both for making time. Thanks again!

The post The Art of Play: In conversation with The Met’s Josh Romm and Freddie Jordan from Hape Toys appeared first on Brands Untapped.

This reimagines the story from Christine’s perspective. What’s particularly compelling is that it brings greater emotional depth and agency to a character audiences already feel deeply connected to, while opening the door for entirely new fans to discover the story in a new format. From a licensing perspective, it’s about building a storytelling ecosystem. Books let us extend the brand universe, explore character backstories and create ongoing engagement that complements the theatrical experience rather than replicates it.

Great answer! Thank you. It feels like a logical extension, but somehow quite bold at the same time! How did the idea come about?
This is exactly the balance we’re aiming for, Deej! Something that feels authentic to the brand but evolves and expands our storytelling. We’ve always wanted to expand the story-world of Phantom, so publishing felt like the perfect way to do that. Our author – Erin – is the perfect partner. She studied theatre at university and previously worked as a stage manager and Phantom was the show which got her into theatre when she was younger.

At LW Entertainment, we’re thinking long term about how Phantom – and our other brands – evolve into a multi-generational franchise. Publishing is a natural fit because the Phantom story has always had strong literary roots… The boldness, though, comes from how we approach it, specifically targeting younger audiences and giving them an entry point that feels culturally relevant.

You also have a clothing range with Uniqlo. What are some of the highlights there?
We’re thrilled to be working globally with Uniqlo, who are an early adopter of our licensing programme. They immediately understood the potential of musical theatre brands to resonate with audiences like Gen Z and Alpha. The partnership is a great demonstration of how Phantom translates in the fashion space with the classic iconic storytelling graphics and lyrics translating beautifully.

For us, this wonderful partnership is also about fashion reach. Uniqlo has an incredible global footprint with over 2,500 stores in key locations that align to where we are live with productions in 2026, our 40th celebratory year, making it a perfect match between where our young fashion-conscious fans are and where Uniqlo customers are.

Similarly, your partnership with Qubic Pictures sounds fascinating. What made you want to explore the brand with anime?
Anime gives us a completely new visual and emotional language to explore the story, allowing us to lean into the gothic, romantic and dark fantasy elements of Phantom in a way that feels very natural to that medium.

Strategically, it also opens the door to new global audiences. It’s about meeting fans in different spaces and formats, while staying true to the core DNA of the brand. Both anime and musical theatre are fandom-driven in their own right… Together, the sky’s the limit!

What other directions might you like to take the brand in?
We’re really thinking holistically about Phantom as a 360-degree entertainment property. That spans from music and immersive experiences to digital content, gaming and further consumer products in new places and spaces. The key is creating multiple touchpoints so audiences can engage with the story in ways that suit them, whether that’s seeing a production, reading a novel, wearing the brand, or experiencing it in a completely new format but with musical theatre firmly at the heart of what we do.

We also recognise that there are many different pathways into awareness. Not everyone will encounter Phantom through a live show first. By offering a range of entry points, we can meet audiences where they are, with the ultimate goal of bringing them closer to the core theatrical experience. Importantly, it’s not about doing everything… It’s about doing the right things with the right partners and ensuring every extension feels additive, true to the brand and high quality.

“Additive, true to the brand and high quality…” Great answer, thank you. And why do you suppose Phantom remains so enormously popular after 40 years?
At its heart, it’s a timeless story about love, identity, obsession and belonging – themes that resonate across generations. The music, the visuals, the scale: what’s remarkable is that it creates an experience that stays with people for a lifetime.

It also offers plenty of scope for development and reinvention outside of the iconic original production, with new interpretations such as Masquerade in New York, our bold new immersive production. That balance between consistency and reinvention is key to its longevity, and a huge part of that is down to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s openness to letting the work be reimagined in different formats while protecting what makes it so distinctive.

To start wrapping things up, I’m curious to know: how did you come to be doing what you do, Kerry?
With over 20 years in the licensing industry, I’ve built my career driving growth for some of the world’s most iconic brands, alongside the some of the most talented specialists in the business and brand partnerships. I started on the licensee side, working with Disney across their core IP portfolio, before moving into licensor roles at some of the biggest Global Entertainment studios.

That journey led me to Disney’s EMEA team, where I spent a decade delivering growth across the franchise portfolio in multiple markets. Most recently as EMEA Director at Warner Bros. Discovery, for almost another decade, continuing to scale the consumer products business into new spaces, unlocking new opportunities across the region with another iconic franchise portfolio.

Today, I’m excited to bring that experience to LW Entertainment as Global Head of Licensing, Consumer Products. Having worked across a broad range of brand portfolios and product categories, I’m passionate about building best in class partnerships and driving sustained growth, to bring exceptional products to audiences around the world, whether they are visiting the theatre, at retail – physical and ecomm – all while staying true to our franchise IP DNA. It’s a truly unique opportunity that I am loving, and I’m surrounded by a wonderfully passionate team as we continue to break new ground on stage and off stage.

Wonderful. Thank you. And finally, then, Kerry, what’s the one question I could’ve asked you about today but didn’t? And what’s the answer?
You could have asked: are we actually looking at the emergence of a new licensing category? And I would say… Yes, we are. A Brand Untapped!

Ha! Love it! And why do you feel that’s the case?
Musical theatre hasn’t traditionally been approached as a fully realised licensing category in the same way as film, TV or gaming. What we’re doing with Phantom is helping to define what that looks like at scale… Building a cohesive strategy across publishing, consumer products categories immersive, digital and screen-based formats, demonstrating that theatrical IP can operate as a global, multi-platform franchise too.

In that sense, it’s not just about celebrating 40 years of Phantom. It’s about shaping the future of how theatre brands live and grow beyond the stage, setting the future path. I simply love connecting fans and creating great products and partnerships whilst deepening the emotional connection to stories.

The post The Phantom of the Opera at 40: LW Entertainment’s Kerry Fox-Long on expanding the brand appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Beyond that, we have so many… It’s a pretty eclectic list of people. We’ve done a LOT of different Olympians and sportspeople, as you can imagine. We’ve done The Three Stooges, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, The Simpsons, Mad Comics, Peanuts, The Golden Girls, Home Alone… As I say, it’s a pretty eclectic list.

Looking at your website, I think eclectic is an awfully well-chosen word! I’m curious, then: what makes a license attractive to you?
I think some of the most attractive are those that either haven’t had a bobblehead before, or at least in a long time. For example, there’d been Three Stooges bobbleheads before, but that was 20 years ago – none of them were available. We know people still love The Three Stooges though, and we thought we could do some unique things that haven’t been done before…

Another example would be Abbott and Costello. Even though they’re the same genre of comedy as The Three Stooges, they’d never had bobbleheads before. So we produced the first Abbott and Costello bobbleheads – and the first run quickly sold out. Another example would be Chuck E. Cheese, which is – as you know – an iconic US brand. So I think things with an element of nostalgia are popular. That said, even a lot of non-characters offer a great opportunity if they’re done the right way.

Non-characters?
So we’ve done I Love New York as one of our licenses for example. There’s not a person or character there… But we’ve done some different things with I Love New York bobbles: we did a bear and a duck and some others with I Love New York shirts. So we can pretty much take anything and create bobblehead-based stuff.

Love it! And are there any red lines then, Phil, in terms of bobbleheads you wouldn’t want to do?
Yes, we don’t tend to do controversial characters. For instance, there’s a company that once produced a line of real-life serial-killer bobbleheads. I don’t think that’d be up our alley! They were definitely going for unique niche.

Yes – that’s in exquisitely bad taste! Would you cover political figures? Divisive as they increasingly seem to be?!
We do politics, yes; we do both sides of the aisle. So we did Trump, we did Biden and Kamala Harris. Obviously, there’s some controversy with politics, but generally we get both sides of that. We sometimes do bobbleheads covering viral events that happen in the news. We touch pretty much anything… With public figures, we’ve done the Queen, the Pope, new presidential candidates, new world leaders – that’s just outside licensing, though; we can do those on our own. But yes, it’s pretty wide open in terms of opportunities for different people, characters and viral moments.

And in terms of your process, what happens after you’ve got a license? How do you make someone into a bobblehead?
Generally speaking, we give one of the graphic designers that we work with our specifications… What we want it to look like! They can have some input into that; they can go in different directions if they think something might look better than our first concept. So we might tell the graphic designer that we want the Blue Man Group… Three characters on a base in this pose, with these heads. And a lot of times, of course, the licensor gives us pictures, graphics and logos to get that just right. Then the graphic artist creates a two-dimensional rendering for all round approval… Approval our end, and by the licensor or even – sometimes – the person themselves. Then the factory hand sculpts the initial bobblehead or bobbleheads out of clay.

Out of clay! Wow! That’s old school; I love it! I suppose working in clay lets you make the sculpts more detailed?
Correct! It’s a very detailed process. Once they have that hand-sculpted clay model, they send us pictures. We usually go through a couple of rounds of revisions… But sometimes more, sometimes less. Once it gets approved, it gets painted, approved again – and then produced and shipped.

I absolutely love this! So now, in terms of the museum, this is a physical building that people can visit?
Exactly right. It’s the only museum in the world dedicated solely to bobbleheads. We have over 10,000 unique bobbleheads on display, from all different categories. In sport alone, we have baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, boxing, wrestling… You name it. And then in non-sports we have all kinds of pop-culture: comics, movies, TV, music – just anything and everything you can imagine. We even have a Waldo bobblehead hiding in there somewhere!

Ha! Funny! And how long does it take to walk around the museum of 10,000 bobbleheads? I’m planning my visit!
We have some visitors that’ll come in 20 minutes before we close and they tend to leave saying they wish they’d more time. But most people spend 45 minutes to an hour walking around. We sometimes do events, though, so if you were here to do a scavenger hunt, or you have kids, you might spend a lot longer. We do have other cool things around us in the downtown Milwaukee area, so we have a lot of people who take a day trip here. We’re open seven days a week, usually for 360 days a year. We also have a wall timeline so that people can learn more about the history of bobbleheads.

What IS the history of bobbleheads?! Now that you mention it, I realise I haven’t got even the smallest idea!
Bobbleheads have been around since at least the late 1700s. There’s a painting of Queen Charlotte in her dressing room at Buckingham Palace with two large Chinese figurines behind her. They have the heads bobble… We have similar ones in the museum from 1841. So bobbleheads have been pretty much the same ever since then… Obviously, they added a spring instead of the knotting mechanism that they used originally.

I love that you’ve married the licensing arm to an attraction like that. What made you want to create a museum?
At some point, my fellow co-founder – Brad Novak – and I realised we had a collection of close to 3,000 bobbleheads. It was growing a bit out of control; we didn’t have enough space for all of them. So we thought maybe we could have a museum dedicated to bobbleheads along with the company that produces and markets unique models. For the very first bobblehead created specifically for the museum, we did one for the superfans of a well-known player with the Chicago Cubs. It went over really well.

And when we’re on the subject of firsts, what was your first bobblehead? Was that licensed?
No, for our first one – back in 2013; long before we had the idea to have a museum – we produced a bobblehead of a friend of ours, Michael Poll. He was the manager for the Milwaukee Panthers college sports teams; he was also a special Olympian, so we wanted to honor him and raise money for a Special Olympics group. Several local news channels did stories about it so they sold well and we wondered if there could be more opportunities for other people and characters who have never been made into bobbleheads before…

Of course, there were a couple of companies out there already doing bobbleheads, but mostly they were just promotional items… They weren’t really being sold online or in stores, and we thought maybe there was an opportunity there. We started to make a list of people, characters that we thought would make for popular, good-selling bobbleheads.

What was your first licensed bobblehead?
Our first real license was Butler University in Indianapolis… They had a live-dog mascot that was really popular. Somehow, we connected with them about doing a bobblehead of that dog – and their fans loved it. Then we started to add more colleges. Today, we’re licensed for over 260 colleges across the country.

Brilliant. Now, I imagine you’re often asked what your favourite bobble head is so I won’t burden you with that – but which is your most niche? It’s not a serial killer; we know that!
That is a great question! You’re right, I get asked for my favourite almost all the time… In terms of the most niche, I guess there’s one that we didn’t think would take off at all, but it did really well! That was Bernie Sanders with his mittens from Inauguration Day in 2021. At the time, that became our best-selling bobblehead ever. It’s since been displaced, but that was unexpected. We also did two interpreters that were on TV during the pandemic… Their bobbleheads sold better than some of the governors – of which we sold hundreds.

Ha! Well, I almost daren’t ask… What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
That’s another good question… Probably still climbing the corporate ladder. My background was in corporate finance prior to this – I did public accounting for a couple years. After that, I went into corporate finance. Shortly after doing an MBA, though, I wanted to put all the different things I’d learned to use right away… And it turned into this… And I’m definitely having more fun doing the bobbleheads!

I don’t doubt it! Final question then, Phil… What’s the one question I could’ve asked you today but didn’t?
I guess you could’ve asked me how the industry’s changing? Are you seeing different trends in the market?

I’m glad you suggested that; it would’ve taken me 100 years to come up with that! What’s the answer?
Most bobblehead buyers don’t want anything too crazy. They mostly just like the simple bobblehead to keep on their desks or it the man caves or wherever. They tend to keep some knickknacks or collectibles, and they really want characters or people that resonate with them… Brands or people they love or admire. So we keep it pretty simple. Occasionally, we add sound to some bobbleheads…

Sound? Can you give me an example of that?
Yes – the Abbott and Costello one we talked about earlier has sound. With that, you can push a button and hear the Who’s on First? sketch… People love it. But overall, people relate, I think, more to the nostalgic aspect of bobbleheads. So trends come and go, but I think people still like a traditional bobblehead. What collectors ask for is pretty consistent.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for making time for this, Phil.

The post Which licensed bobbleheads get a nod of approval? Hall of Fame co-founder Phil Sklar tells all! appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Perfect! If I wasn’t sold on it, I would be now. What do you think makes it so great?
By its nature, GraviTrax offers unlimited possibilities – both in the tracks you can create and those who will love to get involved. It’s a toy that inspires every generation and we see it time and time again at events… Everyone just wants to get building – and the satisfaction of seeing that marble complete the run is the same whether you’re 8 or 88!

Also, alongside the fact that it’s a super-cool toy, there’s the integral STEM learning that goes hand-in-hand with it. Without necessarily realising it, GraviTraxers are learning and seeing all kind of STEM principles at play. It’s all about trial and error… Hit a snag? Work out why the marble is rolling too fast! Curious why something happens? Learn about magnets, kinetic energy and so much more! There’s also a free GraviTrax app which means you can take your tracks on-the-go and test marble run designs before you make the big builds.

It’s astonishing how much one can understand just by building a few tracks. Tell me, Dennis: How did GraviTrax come about?
Our dedicated innovation team is always looking at different toys and games that address emerging trends. GraviTrax was an idea born in-house as part of that process – so our passion for the brand is no surprise! We’re a team that’s been working with GraviTrax since the brand’s infancy… The first GraviTrax products launched in 2017 – and the range began winning awards from its very first year. We’re enormously proud of what GraviTrax has achieved and what it continues to achieve.

I’m curious… What was the biggest challenge with the original product?
Have I mentioned the endless possibilities?! Ha! Our biggest challenge was – and still is – containing our imaginations a little! But apart from that, we – of course – have to ensure that each and every component functions exactly as it should. The action-elements are a vital part of the GraviTrax play experience, so when creating additions like Ziplines and Trampolines, we need to make sure that they work perfectly…

That helps give our fans the experience they’ve come to expect and – hopefully – often surpass it. Sometimes this means going back to the drawing board with a concept a few times before we can deliver the experience we’re looking for. The original GraviTrax sets were in development from concept to store shelf for 18 months and, in that time, we saw plenty of trial and error in creating the perfect launch sets.

Oh, I can only imagine. Now… When my friend Bert was young, we were continually amazed at the line’s creativity… Tell me about some of the most popular add-on pieces.
The catapult has always been one of the most iconic additions to the GraviTrax system. Being able to fly marbles across tracks revolutionised modern-day marble runs! Over the years, we’ve also been able to refresh existing action-elements to further improve performance – the Zipline is a great example of how we were able to tweak the content to improve the GraviTrax experience.

No argument from me! People have to see one of the catapults working to believe it. But Since Gravitrax’s launch, there have also been several other versions… Spider-Man is the latest! Why is that a great fit for you?
2026 is a big year for Spider-Man. The new movie is coming out this summer, and – like GraviTrax – Spider-Man has multigenerational appeal. GraviTrax is all about action-packed tracks and Spider-Man brings that action to life. We’re excited to invite Spider-Man fans to the GraviTrax universe as the synergies between the two brands are so strong. We were able to transform the base plates to replicate the island of Manhattan, engrave the marbles, and bring the iconic villains to life as action-elements – including the Venom slide. The excitement of the Spider-Man franchise is fully captured in these sets.

I’ll be sure to include a picture of the Spider-Man set here because it’s stunning. What other versions came out between the original and Spider-Man?
Our previous licensed creation in the system, the limited-edition Star Wars Death Star, was a huge hit with fans… It really captured people’s imaginations. The design and development team worked closely with our licensing partners to devise a truly engaging play experience; one that immerses you in the famous and much-loved galaxy.
Elsewhere, we were also able to address the needs of our local markets. For example, we launched Starter-Set Bounce in 2023. That’s a great-value set including two action-elements, designed specifically for the UK market. Similarly, this year, we’re also introducing the Starter-Set G-Force in the UK. As you may know, this contains the brand-new Turbo-Lift and Transfer action-element.

And on that: what do you do to keep the brand so fresh?
Our in-house development team lives and breathes GraviTrax, and we welcome feedback from our brand community across the globe. The open-ended nature of the system means that there’s always something new to explore. We’re constantly looking at ways to open up the GraviTrax universe to new fans, as well as expanding the possibilities for dedicated GraviTraxers…

That’s how each and every new development has come about. For example, in 2023 we launched GraviTrax Junior, which welcomes preschoolers to the concept. Licensing plays its part here too – for example, later this year, you’ll see the new Paw Patrol sets coming through for GraviTrax Junior. Then, with the expansion of the system, we’ve recently refreshed our brand packaging and strategy to ensure clear communication for the consumer – and we’ve introduced Level BASE to sit alongside our PRO range.

Sounds like there’s plenty for fans to look forward to! Thanks, Dennis. To conclude, what’s the one question I could’ve asked you about Gravitrax today but didn’t?
You didn’t ask about the track we built with famous YouTuber Jelle’s Marble Runs…

Indeed, I did not! Tell me about it!
When we launched, we collaborated with YouTuber Jelle’s Marble Runs to build a track in a busy department store in Berlin… It contained over 20,000 parts.

20,000?! Gosh, that must’ve been enormous!
It was! There were over 246 metres of track and more than 100 action-elements and marbles! Since then, we’ve hosted regular builder events for our GraviTrax community… We invite GraviTraxers around the globe to come and build mega tracks. We also set the official Guinness World Record at one of these events in 2024, with over 350 action elements built into a single track. We’re looking forward to another world-record attempt soon!

I’ll be there! Mojo Nation will cover my expenses… Anywhere in the world; you just say when and where! In the meanwhile, I’ll include a link to one of the YouTube videos here:

Thanks for joining us, Dennis!

The post Spider-Man Gravitrax – and more! Ravensburger’s Dennis Knissel talks design and imagination appeared first on Brands Untapped.