LINE FRIENDS Unveils Collaboration with ROY WANG with the Release of 'ROY6' at its New York Times Square Store

• Chinese millennial idol ROY WANG makes his presence with its unique characters in the US
• LINE FRIENDS launches character merchandise for 'ROY6' newly created in collaboration with Chinese millennial's idol star, Roy Wang in the U.S. starting from November 17
• ROY6 demonstrated the phenomenal popularity by drawing almost a thousand visitors in LINE FRIENDS store in Chongqing in China even before the store opening and T-mall where the ROY6 character merchandise premiered
• LINE FRIENDS will donate a portion of ROY6 sales to the 'Yuan Foundation' founded by Roy Wang and strengthen ROY6 IP business henceforward

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LINE FRIENDS, one of the world's fastest growing global character brands, announced that it will launch the 'ROY6' products at its New York Times Square store in the U.S. starting from November 17. Prior to the official launch of the merchandise, LINE FRIENDS also unveiled a prologue clip of 'ROY6' characters through the large-scale digital signage on the store's exterior on November 10 that won the hearts of locals and tourists in Times Square.

ROY6 is the second outcome of FRIENDS CREATORS project at LINE FRIENDS and a new character IP, created in collaboration with Chinese idol star, Roy Wang following 'BT21' that was created with global boyband BTS, which has drawn enthusiastic support from around the world. Roy Wang is the next-generation idol star who is adored by the millennials with the largest fan base in China of over 70 million. He was also named one of the "30 Most Influential Teens of 2017" by Time magazine for his appointment as UNICEF's Special Advocate for Education.

Prior to the U.S. launch, LINE FRIENDS successfully premiered the 'ROY6' merchandises at its store in Chongqing in China and T-mall, one of the biggest online shopping malls in China on November 11. The newly launched ROY6 merchandise drew a great deal of attention among fans in China as almost a thousand visitors waited in a long line a few hours before the store opened, demonstrating phenomenal success of ROY6.

Roy Wang is also the first Chinese artist to take part in FRIENDS CREATORS, which is LINE FRIENDS's long-term unique and creative strategy to create a new kind of character IP with the company's capabilities and assets in the character business, based on creativity of global artists from different fields. Throughout the creative process, Roy Wang had been actively involved throughout the entire process starting from initial sketches, storytelling, ideation for characters' personalities to naming which was incorporated with LINE FRIENDS's design acumen and expertise in merchandising and distribution. As a result, six warm-hearted and hope-filled 'ROY6' characters named 'ROYAN', 'EDDY', 'LOUDY', 'LONGLONG', 'T-2000' and 'BAOBAO TREE' were born.

On July 31, LINE FRIENDS unveiled the first ROY6 teaser images and video via Weibo, gaining massive responses by recording over 66,000 likes within a day. Not only that, the official hashtag of ROY6 at Weibo reached over 400 million reach. On October 30, Roy Wang also released the ROY6 campaign song <Will You> placed at No.1 for three consecutive days on the new releases chart of QQ music, China's largest music streaming platform, once again demonstrating level of affection towards Roy Wang and ROY6.

"We're thrilled to showcase the new ROY6 products at the New York Times Square store to the fans and consumers all around the world. Roy Wang and LINE FRIENDS share a commonality that we aim to deliver comfort and joy to the millennials worldwide. Through ROY6 characters who convey hope, courage and fortune in daily lives with their special powers, we hope to send across the message of positive energy to the world with Roy Wang," said LINE FRIENDS.

LINE FRIENDS will officially begin ROY6 business with the merchandise launch and will expand the merchandise offerings and IP business as well as extending reach through stores in the rest of China. The company also announced that it will donate a portion of ROY6 sales to the 'Yuan Foundation' founded by Roy Wang, joining his will for continuous charity activities.

About LINE FRIENDS

LINE FRIENDS is a global character brand featuring 11 characters which were originally created for use as stickers for leading mobile messenger application LINE and its 200 million active worldwide users. The company has emerged as a global creator by introducing new Intellectual Property (IP) like BT21, characters created together with global boy band BTS, in addition to Animation Running Man and Usamaru. LINE FRIENDS also has collaborated with a number of renowned brands including LAMY, Beats by Dr.Dre and Brompton, all aligned with the company's philosophy and values to showcase premium character products. More recently, LINE FRIENDS has operated 117 stores globally in a total of 11 markets worldwide, in trend-leading cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, and became an independent company in January 2015. For more information please visit www.LINEFRIENDS.com.

About ROY6

ROY6 is a character brand created by Chinese Millennial's idol Roy Wang, in collaboration with global character brand, LINE FRIENDS. China's first FRIENDS CREATORS project, Roy Wang participated in every step, starting from initial sketches and storytelling to product planning. For more information, please visit www.linefriends.com/roy6?lang=en.

ROY6 Characters

ROYAN
Distinguished courage
ROYAN, a lion-looking sun descended upon earth from the sky, gives splendid sunlight to people with his unmistakable mane.
#SUN #SHYNYMANE #COURAGE

EDDY
Warm encouragement  
EDDY simply loves to be next to those who need solace and gives them a surprise hug.
#SAMOYED #HUG #CHEERUP

LONGLONG
Unpredictable Luck
A young and small dragon with an iridescent fin, LONG LONG brings luck to people and summons meteor showers with his magic wand.
#LITTLEDRAGON #LUCK #METEORSHOWER

LOUDY
Better be Together
LOUDY, a chatty cloud, admires the earth more than the sky.
#CLOUD #REPLICATION #FRIENDSHIP

T-2000
Hope-filled future
A clumsy but adorable robot, T2000 shows people want to see on the screen.
#ROBOT #TV #FUTURE

BAOBAO TREE
Peaceful rest
A mysterious wish-bearing tree, provides a comfortable place to rest for everyone.
#MYSTERIOUSTREE #REST #FRUITS

SOURCE LINE FRIENDS