Rainbow, Bandai Sign Toy Deal

LORETO: Bandai has been appointed as the European master toy licensee for Rainbow S.p.A.’s new animated series PopPixie, which will launch in spring 2010.

PopPixie is based on the characters from the second season of Winx Club. To date, PopPixie has been presold to 20 countries, and 25 licensees are already on board in Italy. The PopPixie brand has already had a strong showing in the Italian market, with a limited range of dolls released in 2006.

Under the new toy deal, Bandai will produce a complete toy line including dolls, figurines, plush and playsets for distribution throughout Europe in fall 2010.

"As soon as the Pixies appeared on screen they instantly became popular with children, achieving excellent results both in terms of viewer numbers and product sales," said Iginio Straffi, the founder of Rainbow S.p.A. "For this reason I decided to bring these cute mini fairies to life and give them their own show and a licensing program tailor-made around the brand. Combining Bandai’s expertise in creative toy development and impressive distribution strength, we feel very confident this toy line will be very successful among children around the world."

"PopPixie is undoubtedly going to be a key brand for Bandai," commented José Antonio Vargas, the president of Bandai Europe. "We have been greatly impressed with Rainbow’s creativity, and are confident that the show will be very popular worldwide—which will consequently drive strong demand for the associated toy line."