They are coming to French TV screens on August 02nd 2014. It took 3 years of creative work to recreate a virtual version of the famous toy figurines and bring them to life. Testimony from the creators of the Super 4 TV Series...
"A round shaped head with the signature indented haircut and hands without fingers and like tongs...They are 4 and they are the virtual version of the popular toy which started invaded our toychests back in 1974. In the Method Animations studios in Paris, a giant Playmo figure watches over a dozen computer screens where graphic artists and other specialists are bringing the "Super 4" to life through the very first animated computer generated TV serie inspired by the world famous toy brand which will air on French TV screens in the morning of August 02nd 2014 on French TV channel 3.
The 4 heroes, 2 girls & 2 boys, are coming from the most beloved by children Playmo universes. Between Ruby the Pirate Lady with a her strong and determined personality, Twinkle the not so gifted Fairy, Gene the little techno Genius and Alex the Knight, have not much in common to start with. Each of them had to leave their nest and they all decided to unite as a team which will live amazing adventures joined by Alien, a blue little creature with long ears.
" The initial idea was never to recreate a perfect replica of the toy and make it into an animated product, but rather create stories in which all the different Playmo universes will mix in a quality, creative & highly entertaining computer generated TV serie" explains Producer Aton Soumache " we wanted to create a symbolic reference of the brand which became so much a part of our popular culture, which speaks to everyone. This brand gathers both girls and boys but also their parents which already played with Playmobil in their childhood " adds Tiphaine de Raguenel, head of the children programmes on French TV. " We worked especially at creating stories of adventures which have not been told yet, but are still faithful to the brand phylosophy but also bring the figurines to life"
With a total of 52 épisodes of 13 minutes each, the TV series are mixing action and humor, and favors the solidarity and curiosity of the 4 heroes, always ready to help those in needs. With a 9 millions Euros budget, everything was thought for to the smallest detail with amazing décors such as the Technopolis city in which the little Pirate Girl is taking us into an incredible chase riding a futuristic engine or the Medieval castle in which an usurper is standing in the place of the legitimate king....
"We have kept the Playmobil signature distinctive signs such as the hands and the haircut, but we trangressed the codes" says the TV Series Director Cyril Adam." Their rounded eyes are moving and the drawing team created realistic virtual fabrics for their clothes, since we wanted to distance ourselves from the original plastic aspect. Playmobil insisted especially on the high quality of the décors, ie. the virtual recreation of the roof tile of the Fairy Castle"
All computer generated, the work took 3 years in the making with an extreme focus on détails. " We had to work on a certain scale so that the characters could for example walk through doors, and we had to work out how they would be able to grip objects with hands looking like mittens" confides Guilhem Charron, 1st Assistant to the Director. " The personalities of each of the Super 4 heroes will be well defined so that a Young public from 5 to 9 years old can identfy them"
See you very soon on French TV screens and then throughout the world, Alex, Ruby, Gene & Twinkle 
Karim
