Company Profile
Smashing it! When Darran Garnham founded Toikido 15 months ago, he promised that own-IPs would follow soon after. True to his word, the first proudly adorns the front cover of this month’s issue – and it’s truly smashing. Rachael Simpson-Jones spoke to Darran to find out more about Piñata Smashlings and how the Toikido team is ensuring it hits all the right notes with kids.
T
he Piñata Smashlings concept is simple enough; colourful piñatas battle it out to collect Smashlings – the little collectible characters that magically live inside them - in a fun physics-based game that promises many hours of entertainment. It’s Toikido all over. This, don’t forget, is the company that currently holds the master toy licence for Innersloth’s Among Us, Boneloaf’s Gang Beasts and the Netflix animation Back to the Outback, produces toys and merchandise for Herotainment’s NFT property Smighties. In addition, collectibles run through its team’s veins – Jeffrey Hall (CPO) has worked at leading
game studios in both the UK and in Germany, Neil Porter (head of Creative) possesses a deep knowledge of the collectibles space, and Lucy Pearce (head of Product Development), a recent hire, brings her experience working on Cartoon Network content including Adventure Time and Rick & Morty. These people know what makes an IP tick and are coming at Piñata Smashlings from all angles. Key toy partners are already on board for Piñata Smashlings (keep an eye out in the coming weeks for the big reveal), an animation agreement is in the works, and Toikido is also in discussions for gaming content to appear on Roblox and the Sandbox metaverse. Nine hugely colourful and characterful Piñatas have been created that tap into current animal trends and perennial childhood favourites, including a unicorn, lemur, panda, duck, kangaroo, sloth and more, plus hundreds of Smashlings, designed in a popular and popping vector art style. The sheer number of Smashlings available, some 500 or so, gives Toikido the ability to release them in waves in true collectible style. The property is also multi-cultural, and while some of the Piñata characters are stereotypically suited to a particular geographical region (the kangaroo and panda, for example, will likely prove popular in Australia and China respectively), others hold universal – or should that be unicornal – appeal. “We wanted to make Piñata Smashlings as fun as possible, so we’ve created some great animations of the Piñatas breaking open and the Smashlings
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spilling out, and there’s also an official song too,” says Darran. “Content will roll out throughout the year and products will launch in Q1. Anecdotally, we’ve shown the property to kids in focus groups, as well as our own kids and their friends, and immediately they’ve made it clear which Piñata character they want. My gut says that’s a very good sign. KidsKnowBest is on board for the marketing of Piñata Smashlings, which will include TV advertising and social media coverage on platforms such as TikTok. My vision is to get Smashlings mascot characters – provided by Rainbow Productions, the same as those on parade at BLE and Toy Fair - on the street and causing mischief, capturing the attention of kids and inspiring them to discover the game.” Those reading this will no doubt already be convinced of Piñata Smashlings’ toy potential: anyone who’s ever walloped a pinata at a party has undertaken a unique form of unboxing, which we know remains integral to the success of the collectibles category. Kids will be able to smash open their chosen character to discover the Smashlings lurking within, then rebuild it and smash it open again. Darran says the theatrical way in which the Piñatas break open will also prove popular among fans of unboxing videos, yet another draw of this IP. The collectible toys category remains crowded, competitive and largely dominated by one major player – no prizes here for guessing who I’m alluding to - so it’s a bold move for Toikido to focus on this category with the toys based on first ever own-IP. Piñata Smashlings
