Les' Copaque reveals drama behind Ultraman Ribut's appearance in "Upin Ipin"
3 Jul – There's no denying that Les' Copaque Production is well known throughout Asia thanks to their popular animation "Upin Ipin", and they have achieved numerous successes and accolades in their 15 years in the animation industry.
However, all the awards and achievements did not come by as easily as planned, as they've had to face numerous challenges and betrayal, including from their own partner from Indonesia who mocked "Upin Ipin" in front of the founder and owner of Ultraman's IP (intellectual property), Tsuburaya.
The incident was revealed by Tn Hj Burhanuddin Md Radzi himself, owner Managing Director of Les' Copaque Production, on his Facebook.
According to Burhanuddin, he was invited by the Indonesian partner to go to Tokyo, Japan, to meet with one of the biggest investment companies there, Fields Corporation, who was at the time looking for foreign experts to produce their latest IP.
"[My Indonesian partner] was going to Japan to do her filming for a co-pro project with Fuji TV and I am not sure at that time what she was up to with this big corporation. I was looking for investor for my theme park project and decided to join in. In the meeting only I realized they were having a meeting with Tsuburaya the owner of Ultraman IP. Ultraman series were produced by Tsuburaya family but now it is owned by Fields Corporation (Panchinko maker – 51%) and Bandai ( Merchandising company – 49%).
"The meeting started with an introduction by my partner that she was representing Upin & Ipin in Indonesia and she moved on to push her company ability to produce 3d animation better than Upin Ipin. I was shocked when she said the popularity of Upin & Ipin is declining and her show is getting popular. I was upset by her remarked (sic) and immediately I texted my lawyer back home to proceed with the plan to dumped (sic) her as our partner," he stated.
However, after the meeting, he was invited by Tsuburaya representative Mr. K to return to the office the next morning without his partner.
"Next day, me and my wife, went to their office without my partner as she had to go for the shooting session. During the meeting, Mr K told us they knew how popular Upin Ipin in Indonesia, and the Ultraman popularity was declining. He asked us whether it is possible for Ultraman to go into Upin Ipin series to prop up their popularity. We told him it is possible for a price."
After more than year of discussion, they in the end agreed to the terms and conditions set by Les' Copaque and thus Ultraman Ribut (Storm) begun production and was completed in 2014 and when presented to Tsuburaya, they were satisfied with the final result.
However, Burhanuddin said that after two years of working together, they decided to pull out from the collaboration as "Upin Ipin" was unable to penetrate the Japanese market.
Even though they are no longer working together, Les' Copaque is still waiting for the decision from them on a collaborative "Upin Ipin" and "Ultraman Ribut" movie project.
Ultraman Ribut, which was introduced last September in an "Upin Ipin" episode, will be making its debut in "Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes" which will be screened worldwide exclusively on the official Ultraman YouTube channel.
