‘Roboats’ makes debut at Character Licensing Fair

A representative from Roboats on Friday talks about “Roboats,” a local animated series set in Yeongdeok County, North Gyeongsang, at the Korea Character Licensing Fair 2018. [YEONGDEOK COUNTY OFFICE]

A local animated series set in Yeongdeok County, North Gyeongsang was screened on Friday at the ongoing Korea Character Licensing Fair 2018, held in COEX in southern Seoul.

Titled “Roboats,” the first of its five episodes was unveiled at the fair, garnering positive reviews from attendants. Footage showing the animation’s production process and the development of its character goods were also shown at the event.

“Roboats” is the first animation in Korea about ships that transform into robots to handle troubles at sea. The five episodes are “I am a Sea Guardian,” “Another Beginning,” “Save the Mechanic Boat,” “Into the Storm” and “We Are One! A New Beginning.” Each episode runs for around 13 minutes.

Yeongdeok County is actively pushing ahead with the efforts to further develop its content industry through “Roboats.” It hopes to create a theme park dedicated to the characters from the animation.

“We hope to receive positive feedback from the public so that ‘Roboats’ could grow to become content that is consumed internationally,” said Yeongdeok County Gov. Lee Hui-jin in a statement.

“Roboats” was selected in 2016 as a project funded by Content Korea Lab Gyeongbuk. Last year, it signed a contract with French animation production firm BEE-Production for co-production and overseas investment, and received 500 million won ($450,000) from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) and Yeongdeok County.

Hosted by the Culture Ministry, and jointly organized by Kocca and COEX, the Korea Character Licensing Fair marked its 17th edition this year.

Featuring 270 domestic and international companies, the fair will run through Sunday.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]