Seoul – Co-produced by Korea’s ToonZip Animation (ToonZip), Malaysia’s Centraline Animation Sdn Bhd (Centraline) and Italy’s Connectoon, and written by celebrated Hollywood screenwriter Jeffrey Scott, the upcoming 3D animation series, Robot ARPO, created a buzz at the recent Seoul Character & Licensing Fair 2010 (SCF 2010) one year ahead of the series’ anticipated release in 2011. For five days during the SCF 2010 on 21-25 July 2010, broadcasters and visitors witnessed the series’ robot protagonist, a Korean/Malaysian/Italian production called Robot ARPO, making its debut as a character having its own range of hygiene products, a spot on stereoscopic 3D clips at the renowned LG Science Hall, a sub-mascot for a baseball team, and making various appearances on children’s textbooks, software products, mobile phones and new TV products in Korea. Kamil Othman, vice president of Malaysia’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), who personally witnessed the unveiling of the project and the signing of the co-production agreement at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival last year said, “This is a good example of international collaboration, where the strengths of different parties are brought together to coalesce into something greater than the sum of its parts. The joining of forces between ToonZip’s production capabilities and Centraline’s experience in animation management has a resulted in a co-production that has resulted in a high value brand icon.” “We are more than happy to see that within a year since the collaboration was announced, Robot ARPO has already made its mark in more ways than one, and the reception given to it at the Fair has proven this, ” Kamil added. “As a key driver of Malaysia’s creative content sector, we are extremely proud of the progress made by a project co-produced by Malaysians, and also of the implication it could hold for future cross-border co-operation for the animation industry. This model could be emulated by other local companies and the impact on the industry as a whole will be meaningful.” Currently in production, Robot ARPO the animation series will consist of 52 episodes, at 11-min per episode, upon its completion by the second quarter of 2011. Anticipated regions of premiere broadcast include China, Italy, Spain and Korea.