Cartoon Network's brand-new, action-packed animated series Power Players arrives on Saturday, September 21st at 12.30pm. In case you missed the network's free preview in August, you're in luck: We not only have an exclusive clip from the series to show off today, we also have a one-on-one chat with co-creator Steven T. Seagle himself. Seagle is a member of the hit creative team Man of Action Entertainment (Ben 10) and a multiple Eisner-nominated comic book writer, among numerous other accolades. His latest venture is Power Players, an original title conceived by ZAG Entertainment founder/CEO Jeremy Zag and developed by Seagle and Man of Action Entertainment. So what's it all about?
Power Players are a team of secret toy heroes led by Axel, a kid who discovers the Power Bandz which can transform him into the living, toy-sized action figure, Action Axel. Together with his team of toys brought to life, the Power Players fight the destructive fun of villainous robot Madcap and his pack of toys gone bad.
Check out our exclusive clip and images from the new series Power Players below, courtesy of ZAG Entertainment and Man of Action Entertainment, to see how the title team comes together, followed by our interview with Seagle:
Since Power Players is a brand-new title, for people who missed the preview episodes, how would you describe it?
Steven T. Seagle: Power Players is the story of Axel, a boy who lives out what has to be one of the ultimate kid fantasies ever: He gains the ability to turn into a human action figure to fight evil and play out big adventures alongside his team of living toys!
You developed this with your Man of Action team and Jeremy Zag, so how did all of that collaboration eventually result in Power Players?
Seagle: Jeremy is a creative dynamo – an idea-a-minute creative genius – and a 9-year-old kid mixed into one. He had the right pieces lined up for Power Players but asked us to give it the MAN OF ACTION treatment. So, we worked together for over a year to steer the concept away from stuff we’d seen and heard before and fine-tune the world and team to make it the blend of comedy and action we all love. We spent over a year trying on different names before we settled on the first name MOA suggested – Power Players. We also had a ton of great input from our US broadcaster Cartoon Network, our international partners, and our toy partner, Playmates.
I love the look of Power Players as much as I do the idea behind the story. How did you settle on the animation style used here?
Seagle: The look is amazing, right? At first, MAN OF ACTION told Zag that we were too busy to join him on the show. But once we saw that incredible test footage of Masko being chased by a dog that animation directors Tarik Hamdine and Yohan Parents showed our studio, we were in – 110%. The characters went through a lot of refinement after that – big props to designer Timo Sadowski for that – and the world is a mix of live-action shots and composites blended with on-point CG by our amazing crew in Hyderabad, India. They are wildly talented.
Are there plans to develop Power Players into other media, like video games or comic books?
Seagle: I’m never allowed to say what the marketing machine has in mind, but I can tell you that I just saw the first wave of toys from our friends at Playmates and they have knocked themselves out. We’ve spent over two years with these characters and I still wanted to snatch all the prototypes and run off with them!
What’s up next for you and Man of Action?
Seagle: Man Of Action has some very big news for fans of our new and old shows alike. My non-disclosure agreements keep me from saying any more about the details than that – but there are some big clues in what I just said! We also have been doing a lot of development work in prime-time TV and feature films that we hope we can share big news about shortly. But for the moment – watch Power Players on Cartoon Network and get Camp Midnight vs. Camp Daybright from Image Comics on October 9th!
