ICv2 pointed out a piece from The Boston Globe, in which a rep from Spin Master said that they're going to garner $100 million worth of games, cards, and characters in the U.S. this year. They're kicking things into full gear, with plans to produce 40 million Bakugan spheres in 2008. Much like the crazes generated by Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon, with the games that were closely tied to the series, Spin Master is hoping to use the appeal of the Bakugan anime (which is currently running on Cartoon Network) to drain the wallets of mothers whose children fall into that delectable age of 6 to 11 years old. Not delectable for me, for Spin Master. Let's just get that straight.

Industry analysts are pointing to Bakugan as a likely successor to Pokemon in the market of capturing the hearts and minds of our nation's youth, pointing to the fact that it was one of the best-selling toys in Canada last year, Spin Master's home turf. I like how The Boston Globe summarized the series:

The game combines the shooting strategy of marbles with the spirit and looks of Pokémon and the shape-shifting ability of the Transformers robots.

Even though these series and games are aimed at kids by the time they make it here to the United States (Yu-Gi-Oh! is a bit more serious in Japan, as 4Kids Entertainment had nothing to do with it), there's still a draw to the older crowd, I'd think. I remember when I was younger, and there were plenty of men in their 30s, 40s, and even a few in their 60s, who would play Yu-Gi-Oh! along with us 12-year-olds. I wonder how much Spin Master is expecting to get from this older demographic, or if they're expecting all $100 million to come from the 6-11 bracket.

An interesting sidenote ICv2 points out is there has been a big counterfeit market for Bakugan:

Between early February and May, over 2200 counterfeit Bakugan Battle Brawler items were forcibly removed from sale, and a combination of Canadian Federal Court Order Anton Piller Orders and cease and desist letters were served on 15 locations in Ontario and Quebec.

How susceptible were all of you to this sort of collectible game market, especially when it was combined with an anime or such?