New Horizons for Beyblade

It’s been an actionpacked year for anime specialist ADK Emotions NY Inc as it continues to accelerate the growth of its hit IP Beyblade Burst in key international markets.

The brand has achieved a significant number of firsts during the past 12 months, including the launch of the official Beyblade Burst TikTok account, a debut appearance at Anime Expo in L.A. in July, and its first foray into the metaverse (in partnership with Hasbro and online game platform Roblox).

Add to that a continuous flow of engaging new anime content, live activations, and toys and consumer products designed to give the brand’s evergrowing fan base the optimal all-round experience, and Beyblade Burst is on course for a fruitful 2023.

Franchise celebrates a year of ‘firsts’ and unveils 2023 plans

2023: get ready for Beyblade Burst Quadstrike

With Disney XD currently showing Season 6 of Beyblade Burst, Beyblade Burst Quaddrive, and Netflix streaming Season 5 of Beyblade Burst, Beyblade Burst Surge, excitement is building for the launch of Season 7 of Beyblade Burst, Beyblade Burst Quadstrike. Featuring an official theme song by altmetal band Our Last Night, the latest installment in the animation franchise will debut in 2023, and will be accompanied by the launch of brand-new toys. “We can’t wait for Season 7 to launch,” says an ADK Emotions representative. “Our animation production partners have once again excelled themselves, producing incredibly imaginative, bestin-class content that we know fans worldwide are going to love. We’re equally delighted with the products designed to accompany the new series from our master toy partner Hasbro, which continues to innovate in the toy space and offer toys that simply can’t be found anywhere else.” ADK Emotions has a packed calendar of in-person and digital events lined up for Beyblade Burst in 2023, including epic battle tournaments and social media activations. Beyblade Burst will also be present at all the key industry expos and conventions, allowing licensees and future partners, as well as fans, to connect with the brand in person.

2022: TikTok, WWE, Roblox and more

2022 saw the brand expand its digital footprint to TikTok with the launch of dedicated channel @beyblade_official. The latest addition to the brand’s digital ecosystem joins its popular Instagram and Facebook accounts and hugely successful YouTube channel (excl. Asia), which has accrued more than 3.3 million subscribers and experienced 360 million views since its 2017 debut. Offering fast-paced and eye-catching animated clips, character reels and battle videos, product unboxing and ASMR content, the channel plays to the brand’s multi-generational strength, allowing young fans the chance to explore the vast back catalogue while enabling fans of nostalgia the chance to re-watch classic moments. Continuing to innovate in the digital space, in November, ADK Emotions took Beyblade into the metaverse for the first time ever, collaborating with Hasbro and global online game platform Roblox to create branded Beyblade Burst Quaddrive in-game activations within fighting game Ultra Power Tycoon (which has had 254.6M visits since it was created in 2021), and climbing game Tower of Misery (3.3B visits since 2020). The special content, which was available from 21 November until 16 December on mobile, console, PC and Tablet, allowed users to collect Beys, battle in a larger-thanlife stadium, and even ride on their favourite tops. Beyblade Burst experienced another first in July, making its debut at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Visitors to the consumer-facing event, a celebration of Japanese pop culture, were invited to visit the Beyblade Burst panel to enjoy screenings showing the latest Beyblade Burst animation and a quiz where participants answered questions to win a prize. The brand’s interactive booth featured a free play area and a stamp rally game where participants could collect stamps by winning matches.There were also formal tournaments on all four days of the convention (1–4 July), where players battled it out for the chance to win toys, pins, stickers, merchandise and limited-edition Tshirts. Providing yet another in-person touchpoint for fans of the brand, in November, Beyblade Burstreturned to Anime NYC for the first time since the pandemic. Representatives from Beyblade Burst’s master toy partner Hasbro and adaptation experts ADK Emotions NY held a special Beyblade Burst panel on 18 November, taking the audience on a deep dive into both Beyblade Burst toy design and the animation process. The panel concluded with a trivia session, and a giveaway of the latest toys to participants. Rounding off the year, Beyblade Burst’s partnership with powerhouse wrestling brand WWE brought heartpounding action to the live space in Q4. Fans of both brands were able to enjoy a range of Beyblade Burstactivities before the WWE Survivor Series live event on 26 November at TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, including the chance to get hands-on with the Beys at a designated free-play section. There were prizes and offers available to visitors, including coupons offering specials deals on the purchase of Beyblade Burst toys at Toys “R” Us at Macy’s.

The event was supported by social media promotions on Facebook and Instagram from WWE Stars Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston and online content on UpUpDown-

Down, WWE’s premiere video game YouTube channel, kicking off with a video release featuring 11 WWE Superstars participating in a Beyblade Bonanza.