Barbara's Beat: A science project turns kids into Balloonatiks: Welcome to part 1 of the new online comic series
Sam's Club

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A science project turns kids into Balloonatiks: Welcome to part 1 of the new online comic series


Five normal kids are accidentally gooped in a science experiment that goes awry at the Hot Air City Fair, and wind up with stretchy, bouncy, rubbery qualities that make their lives, zany, wild and balloony.

Now, all their problems from squabbling siblings to schoolyard rivalries are given an added twist. On top of all their previous concerns about fitting in, making friends and establishing their own identities, their lives are complicated by the fact that they are no longer typical kids.

They are Balloonatiks®, with odd and unexpected abilities. But they are still kids at heart. What mattered to them before the accident still matters to them now, only now they have rubbery ways of tackling any challenge that is presented to them.

Sometimes these abilities help them solve problems with ease; sometimes they only complicate things even more. And they have one problem they never had before – how do you blend in with all the other kids when you’re a Balloonatik?

Bouncy, stretchy, loopy, and all ‘gooped’ up, meet the Balloonatiks: Flator, Squeeker, Airbrain, Sparky, Bouncer and Leaky, as they star in a series of high-flying adventures in Hot Air City.

FLATOR: Once Hot Air High’s football hero, Flator’s inherent athletic ability makes him the biggest Balloonatik, allowing him to grow to massive and muscular sizes!

SQUEEKER: Motivating the sports teams to victories, and attracting the gazes of every boy around, Squeeker was a popular and pretty cheerleader until she got gooped.
Now, her flamboyant personality allows her to stretch to unbelievable lengths and produce high-pitched, supersonic rubbery sounds that shatter glass, call packs of dogs, and wreak havoc on satellite communications.

AIRBRAIN: The brainiac of the bunch, it’s no surprise that Airbrain has a massive head as a Balloonatik! His giant head allows him to suck in large quantities of air and produce a gale force wind that blow the bad guys down. He can also hold his breath and turn himself into a hot-air balloon, providing a handy mode of transportation for his friends.

BOUNCER: The funniest kid in school, Bouncer is always a ball to be around. So when he turned into a Balloonatik, he gained the ability to take on the shape of every imaginable kind of ball: basketball, football, baseball, golf ball, even Christmas ornaments!

SPARKY: A multi-talented poet, singer and budding performance artist, Sparky was on her way to stardom before getting gooped. But no worry, as her active life allows her to literally spark as a Balloonatik! She can generate static and produce bolts of lightning to get her adversaries running.

LEAKY: A poor little frog that got mixed up in Professor Swellhead’s experiment, Leaky misses the days when he can simply sit in a pond and eat flies. Yet, he stands as the ‘unofficial’ mascot of the Balloonatiks and helps them in their adventures. Able to fill up with any kind of liquid, Leaky is always around when the Balloonatiks need a watergun, an oil slick, or even a stink bomb!

Hot Air City is a real gas - a bustling, geothermal, steam-powered metropolis built with high-tech, cutting-edge energy sources and design. It's where the Balloonatiks float, 'flate and fly! The City was designed by scientific genius, Professor Swellhead.

Stayed tuned for part 2 in the coming weeks.

What do you think? Could this be the next big thing with tweens?
Share/Save/Bookmark

No comments: