''Zoobles!'' is a miniature figure toyline created by

Spin Master Spin Master is a Canadian multinational toy and entertainment company that markets consumer products for children. Its brands include '' Bakugan'', Gund, Etch A Sketch, Meccano/ Erector, Air Hogs, ''PAW Patrol'', Aquadoodle, Tech Deck, Hatch ...

. The toyline is a spin-off of the ''

Bakugan is a Japanese anime adventure fiction, adventure television series produced by TMS Entertainment, Dentsu Inc., and Nelvana Limited under the direction of Mitsuo Hashimoto (director), Mitsuo Hashimoto. The story centers on the lives of creat ...

'' toyline, meant to appeal to the female demographic. Zoobles! were released in August 2010 in the United States, consisting of a wide variety of

sphere A sphere () is a Geometry, geometrical object that is a solid geometry, three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

shaped animal creatures that could close into a ball and when placed on a magnetic stand called "Happitat", would open up into a unique figure. The success of the franchise resulted in the worldwide release of the Spin Master toyline, including Japan, where it is licensed by the Japanese toy division of

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

and has spun one Japanese-Korean animated series and a

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

game (Spring to Life). The toyline was very short-lived for a while, discontinuing in 2012 and went on a hiatus until 2021. In September 2021, the toyline has gotten a reboot with a whole new set of characters and taking on a more modern, trendy theme.

Terminology

Zoobles

The Zoobles are magical mischievous creatures whose gimmick is to roll into their ball forms. Depending on the canon, the series is divided into two in each regions. For the western versions, Zoobles live in the mystical Zooble Isle. Each Zooble was full of mischief and can also assume their ball forms to travel into great distances. In the Japanese version, the Zoobles were born in the Magical Candy Factory, each of them were based on sweets and flavors. They all live in the magical world of Candy Land, where they all live their daily lives.

Z-Girls

The Z-Girls, introduced in the 2021 reboot, are hooded humanoid girls who take on a two-step transformation gimmick: from ball to animal to Z-Girl. Their name is a pun on

E-girl E-girls and e-boys, sometimes collectively known as e-kids, are a youth subculture of Generation Z, Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing app TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene (subculture), scene ...

Worlds

Zooble Isle Exclusive to the original western version, Zooble Isle is where all Zoobles live. The island is divided into 11 regions: Petagonia, Seagonia, Azoozia, Arctania, Chillville, Coraloo, Petal Point, Pinegrove, Jungelopolis, Rocktopia, and Cloud Cove. Exclusive to the Japanese and Korean version, Candy Land is where all Zoobles live. The Zoobles in Candy Land were all born in the mystical , named after flavors and sweets and all live social lives throughout the world. Each region of Candy Land, including one called ‘Beach City’, was based on the regions of the original versions.

Media

Anime

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation of the toyline, titled (Hangul: 쥬블스) was produced by

Dong Woo Animation DongWoo Animation Co. Ltd (also known as DongWoo A&E Co. Ltd; ko, 동우에이엔이) is an animation studio located in Seoul, South Korea. It has produced many animated series and films created and produced in the United States, Canada, South K ...

in Korea and premiered on May 18, 2011, on

Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) () is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting System (서울방송). Its f ...

. The series has been dubbed in Japanese and 4 episodes were shown on the Japanese website for promoting the toys in Japan. Later on, the series premiered in

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

's ''NoriNori♪Nori Suta'' block, alongside '' Trotting Hamtaro Dechu!'' and '' Spellbound! Magical Princess Lilpri'' in late 2011. In January 2012, the series was announced to depart on the NoriNori♪Nori Suta block and had its official TV premiere on February 5, 2012, replacing '' Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Gundalian Invaders'' in its initial timeslot. The series is written by

Tetsuo Yasumi Tetsuo may refer to: *Tetsuo (given name) *'' Tetsuo: The Iron Man'' *'' Tetsuo II: Body Hammer'' *'' Tetsuo: The Bullet Man'' * Tetsuo, a character in ''Akira (manga) is a Japanese cyberpunk post-apocalyptic manga series written and illust ...

, best known as the head writer of the anime adaptation of

Happy Happy Clover is a Japanese Slice of life manga series created and illustrated by Sayuri Tatsuyama, serialized in Shogakukan's '' shōjo'' magazine '' Ciao'' from August 2005 to November 2008. Five ''tankōbon'' volumes were serialized in April 2006 to No ...

with Japanese producer Mitsuko Ohya of

Duel Masters is a media franchise consisting of a manga, several anime series, a trading card game and several #Video games, video games. The original manga, accompanied with his sequels, sold 4.5 million copies in Japan. Plot The st ...

in charge of production. Character designs in the series were done by

Nam Jong-Sik Nam, Nam, or The Nam are shortened terms for: * Vietnam, which is also spelled ''Viet Nam'' * The Vietnam War Nam, The Nam or NAM may also refer to: Arts and media * Nam, a fictional character in anime series ''Dragon Ball'' * ''NAM'' (video ...

Animal Yokocho Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in w ...

and

Kazuya Hayashi is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kazuya can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *一八, "one, eight" *一矢, "one, arrow" *一也, "one, to be" *一夜, "one, night" *和也, "harmony, to be" *和矢, ...

of Happy Happy Clover.

Videogame

An official

Simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

Role-Playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

Puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

game to the toyline titled ''Zoobles! Spring to Life!'' was developed by

Now Production (Stylized as NOWPRO) is a Japanese video game developer headquartered in Chūō-ku, Osaka. Founded in 1986, it started developing various games for major Japanese companies including Namco, Hudson Soft, Capcom, Activision, Taito, Konami, Sega, ...

of Japan and published by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

for the

. It was released on November 1, 2011, in United States and November 6, 2011, in Europe. The game's limited edition came with one Zooble Figure.

Reception

The toyline was awarded as the Best Girl Toy of the Year in 2011. In Japan, the toys had sold about 200,000 units in less than three months prior to its first release.

References

External links

Official Website (English)
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