The 30-year-old BABY born doll brand is getting a small screen makeover.
German toymaker Zapf Creation and LA-based MGA Entertainment have teamed up to produce a CG-animated BABY born series (pictured), aimed at preschoolers. It’s the first-ever animated series based on the lifelike dolls, which debuted in the market in 1991.
US AVOD Kidoodle.TV has picked up the 18 x five-minute English-language series for a launch on August 26. MGA and Zapf will also release the series on the BABY born brand’s official YouTube channel (74,600 subscribers). The plan is to expand the distribution of the project later in the fall, as well as introduce versions in more languages.
The series is centered around a BABY born girl named Emma and her friends: a stuffed bear named Teddy and a duck on wheels named Berta. Each episode sees the trio on a new make-believe escapade, such as riding flying bikes or baking cupcakes. Along with social-emotional lessons, the series is also a music-heavy one, packed with 19 original songs.
Zapf has designed multiple lines of the BABY born toys over the years with interactive features such as crying and sleeping. The brand, which has a focus on promoting parent and child role play, has sold more than 26 million dolls globally and was the best-selling traditional toy in Germany by 1997, according to Zapf.
The animated series is a “natural extension” of the toy brand’s specialty of imaginative and educational experiences, said Zapf executive board member Thomas Eichhorn, in a release.