''Turning Mecard'' ( ko, 터닝메카드, a transliteration) is a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n aeni which is a part of the toyline and media franchise of the same name developed for toy company

Sonokong Sonokong Co, Ltd. (hangul: 손오공주식회사) is a Korean toy/ game entertainment company. It was established in 1974. The corporate headquarters are located in Sugung-dong Guro-gu Seoul, Korea. The technical license of the company is owned by ...

by Choirock (Sonokong's multimedia production arm). The series was produced for Choirock by

Heewon Entertainment Heewon Entertainment Co, Ltd. (hangul: ko, ㈜희원엔터테인먼트) is a South Korea's toy, animation and entertainment company. headquartered in Guro-Dong Guro-Gu Seoul, Korea. established in 1994. It is a Korean animation and Japanese anima ...

, and was animated by Paprika Entertainment and Production Reve. The series was followed by ''Turning Mecard W'', which was aired between May 2016 and September 2017 in South Korea, then followed by a soft reboot titled ''Turning Mecard R'' in September 2017 and a spin-off titled ''Dino Mecard'' () in November 2017.

Cast

Release

South Korea

''Turning Mecard'' premiered on 3 February 2015 on

KBS2 The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

. Initially, it aired on Tuesdays until episode 30 (11 August 2015), but it moved to Fridays since episode 31 (21 August 2015). The show's finale aired on 5 February 2016.

English-speaking areas

There are two existing English dubs for ''Turning Mecard''. One English version of ''Turning Mecard'' was produced for Choirock and Sonokong by BTI Studios Hong Kong. This version, however, does not credit the voice actors, translator, voice director and the recording studio on screen. The television channels that broadcast this version include

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

in Canada (premiering there on May 28 and June 4, 2017, respectively),

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anim ...

in Australia (premiered on 12 June 2017),

Okto Okto is a daily children's program block on Mediacorp's Channel 5. The block airs daily during 5's morning and midafternoon time slots. It is also a weekend Mandarin children's program block on Mediacorp's Channel 8. It airs every weekend fro ...

in Singapore (premiered on 5 May 2018),

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

in Malaysia (premiered on 5 June 2018) and

in the Philippines (premiered on 15 December 2018). The other version, simply titled ''Mecard'', was produced by

Studiopolis Studiopolis, Inc. is an American post-production studio located in Studio City, Los Angeles. It specializes in voiceover recording and dubbing for cartoon, anime, and video game projects. They were formerly known as Screenmusic Studios and then ...

for Mattel, which released it on their Mecard website and through the Mattel Action

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel beginning on January 26, 2018. It was also streamed on

Toon Goggles Toon Goggles is an American on-demand entertainment service for children that provides animated cartoons, live-action shows, games and music worldwide via the web and mobile applications on smartphones, OTT devices, smart TVs and tablets, led by ...

. In Mattel's web release, each full episode is split into two parts. A 22-minute version of this dub aired on the syndicated

KidsClick KidsClick is a former daily children's programming block distributed by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which premiered on July 1, 2017. The block, which primarily consisted of long-form animated series as well as some short-form content, was carried ...

programming block in the United States from June 16, 2018 to January 20, 2019. This dub was cancelled after 26 half hour episodes.

Reception

''Turning Mecard'' toys became a

fad A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...

in its native

, helping propel Sonokong's stock price from

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cen ...

2,980 to a peak of

8,750 in 2015. The brand accounted for roughly 80% of the company's record-breaking

125 billion revenue that year. However, by 2017 sales for ''Mecard'' toys had slowed significantly. ''Turning Mecard W: The Revival of Black Mirror'' ranked as the fifth highest-grossing film in South Korea in its weekend of release. The movie eventually grossed a total of

3.1 billion.

References

External links

''Turning Mecard''
at KBS
''Turning Mecard''
at

''Turning Mecard''
at

9Now 9Now is a video on demand, catch-up TV service run by the Nine Network in Australia. The service launched on 27 January 2016, replacing Nine's previous service 9Jumpin. 9Now offers online live streaming of Channel 9, 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Life and 9Rush ...

(Australia only) * Mattel Action's (available in Canada, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia only) * Mattel Action's {{YouTube, playlist=PLdzGkHSXZsgG7gOWwdSadEqTiJMWIwDLg, title=''Mecard'' (English version by Studiopolis) (not available in Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Caribbean, India and Taiwan) 2010s South Korean animated television series South Korean children's animated action television series South Korean children's animated adventure television series South Korean children's animated science fantasy television series Anime-influenced Western animated television series