Tell us about BoBoiBoy — who is he and where do his followers come from?

BoBoiBoy tells the story of a fearless boy who uses his superpowers, and gets help from his friends to protect Earth from intergalactic evil forces. Since we introduced him to the world on YouTube in 2013, he’s built a fan-base across 45 countries. We even released (and won an award!) for a feature-length film earlier this year.



What inspires you to create your stories?

We’ve always wanted to bring homegrown Malaysian characters to the world. When developing our very first animated series, we wanted to create a local superhero with international appeal. At the time, we thought there weren’t enough compelling kid characters with superpowers, and that led us to create BoBoiBoy. We set out to be not just another animation: our videos portray the spirit of friendship, togetherness and moral values, that are safe for kids to watch. Kids and parents love BoBoiBoy — many even love to watch the show together!

You create videos in both Malay and English, so people around the world can tune in too. Have you been surprised by its reception abroad?

We were surprised initially by how popular BoBoiBoy became overseas. There’s universal appeal around a young boy with superpowers, and refreshingly kids usually ignore barriers of language, countries, or race. Kids will like the animation as long as the story and characters are compelling. Being on YouTube has helped a lot when it comes to entering new countries, especially thanks to its language and subtitling options. This is how we’ve managed to develop new fans in places like the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. They’re not Malay-speaking countries, but they’re attracted by the content. And we’re getting more and more views from far-flung places including the Middle East, Russia, and Europe.