#spalik

UPbeats! is a fresh-faced 5 member idol group of best friends based in Dream Plaza. They are cheerful and will lift your spirits!

Neo Michel (Mickey Mouse)

CV: Shoya Chiba

“UPbeats!--and your smile, too--are what keep me going.”

His icon is the ☀️ (which may get confusing for Twsties since ☀️ is also used to refer to Kalim sometime)

The reliable leader and the center of UPbeats! Neo leads the group forward with a cheery, positive attitude.

Described to be a natural mood maker and a charmer who captivates everyone he talks to.

… Why does bro look like a combination of two Enstars characters???With his eyes being the same colors as Mickey’s torso, pants, and shoes??? And his name literally being “New Mickey” is INSANE work, such a silly name 😭

He looks so… generic? More Kirito SAO or literally any dark-haired Japanese protag-adjacent than inspired by Mickey Mouse. I wouldn’t even be able to tell he was supposed to be The Mouse without context and some of the accessories on his jacket. I wish the sneakers were at least yellow and they tried to incorporate the ears somehow (maybe as a hat/hood, headphones, hairstyle, sunglasses, or hair accessory).

As expected, he is… the genki leader. No shocker there.

Hugh Gardner (Goofy Goof)

CV: Fumiya Imai

“Come on, let’s try smiling. Something good is sure to happen if you do.”

His icon is 🧢

The big brother figure who watches over UPbeats! with a smile.

A mysterious presence who always manages to pull through almost any situation thanks to his innate and extraordinary luck.

Wow, uh… the Spalik designs continue to not impress. I think the colors on Hugh are really off—not just the lack of green hat or even orange shirt (Goofy’s signatures; I guess maybe everyone’s in red and black for more group unity), but also his SKIN?? Why does he look so grey washed??? Were they attempting to give him tan or slightly darker skin? 😭

The one element on him I like is how the hair bangs resemble the shape of Goofy’s ears. However, remove other indicators like the “gawrsh” pin, and I would have difficulties guessing what he is supposed to be.

“Hugh” makes me think of “hue” like a color. “Gardner” may be a reference to Goofy’s English VA, whose surname is “Farmer”. The name’s definitely more creative than NEO MICHEL.

I wonder why they decided to make him a big bro figure…? Is it cuz Goofy is canonically a father? But obviously he’s a bit young here so they had to interpret that as something else for this version?

Didi Cedric Bird/Bard (Donald Duck)

CV: Yuya Hirose

"My voice is too loud? Heh heh heh, I guess I’m just overflowing with energy!”

His icon is 🪽

A passionate guy who rallies and motivates the team.

He’s a competitive go-getter with a positive personality, tackling everything with his all/full effort.

This one is… slightly better than the ones that were revealed before him, but not by much. He still has the lack of iconic character colors, generic idol smile, and bland outfit. Is the little puff of hair atop his head supposed to resemble Donald’s beak…? Or is that just me overthinking it and giving the design too much credit?

Didi looks the most like his Disney counterpart, but that’s mostly because Donald has the iconic sailor suit and there’s a version of Donald where he is wearing a black variant. The pose is also less meh than the others; he does look more combative, even if his smile is still leaning bright and peppy. A detail I enjoy is that Didi doesn’t have very blatant accessories like Neo and Hugh do; he has more subtle patches that are in the shape of a duck’s webbed feet.

The name of this one is killing me 😭 “Didi”, like Donald’s initials, “DD”??? (“Didi” means “little brother” in Mandarin Chinese too, but I don’t think that’s the intended reference.) I think he has a middle name because Donald also had one as a reference to his sailor. And the surname being “Bird”/“Bard” (バード/bardo) is pretty on-the-nose.

I was expecting Donald to be a tsundere or have a rougher attitude… I guess being competitive is fine and all, but it seems everyone in this group is super positive. I don’t associate Donald with these traits at all; he’s lacking the pompous attitude and hotheadedness of the OG.

Raska Moncliff (Chip)

*Note that this name may not be the correct spelling, since JP isn’t always clear with r/l, c/k, ea/i, etc. differentiation

CV: Hiromu Mineta

“Well, I have no intentions of showing you anything unseemly/unsightly, so look keep your expectations high.”

His icon is 🍿

He’s the brain behind UPbeats!, meticulously planning their stage performances. A reliable anchor/pillar that supports the team.

He’s always bold and confident, often tellinf his teammates “Come on, you can lean/rely on me.”

THAT’S JUST SOME GUY… 🤡 The one thing I like on him is the acorn earring. That’s about it.

I don’t have much else to comment on here since I’m not familiar with Chip or Dale. However, a friend pointed out that Chip has a black nose and Dale has a red one, so this guy could have had a black tie to better indicate which brother he is.

Since I don’t know the OG character well, I have no clue what his name is supposed to be about. Maybe “raska” as in “rascal”?

Raska looks to be the reliable type, but Hugh is described as a “big bro” type, which I also assume would be reliable…? How will they be differentiated? Maybe Hugh is not as competent since Goofy’s silly?

Ranka Munk (Dale)

*Note that this name may not be the correct spelling, since JP isn’t always clear with r/l, c/k, ea/i, etc. differentiation

CV: Gen Sato

"When you're feeling sleepy... The best thing to do is just go nap without a care in the world.”

His icon is 😴

The youngest member of UPbeats!

He’s extremely laid-back.

Usually teams up with Raska to pull pranks; this is Ranka’s cherished way of bonding with others.

This one looks like he has Ace’s hair if it were styled differently (closest I could find is Luxe Couture) and paler + Cater’s lazy eyes. I noticed he has the same acorn earring as Raska, but that’s the only thing on the design I like. There’s unfortunately a consistent pattern of the Spalik characters just not representing the designs of their Disney counterparts that well…

A-Are they… not brothers???? (Update: apparently Chip and Dale aren’t brothers and I believed a lie my entire life 🤡) The Chip and Dale characters seem to have different surnames. Not sure where the first name comes from.

His + Didi’s personalities stand out the most to me. Maybe it’s because Didi’s competitiveness and Ranka’s penchant for sleeping and pranks can potentially lead to conflict www

General Thoughts

Those designs were ROUGH could have been… much better. My major issues can boil down to:

There’s not enough representation of the Disney characters’ colors; this was traded in for a group color scheme of black, red, and white.

It’s impossible to tell what Disney characters each boy is based on if you strip them of the accessories that blatantly have the character’s heads or key phrases on them. In fact, the accessories feel like they were slapped on with little thought as a shortcut to indicate what the inspirations were.

The poses and smiles are generically pleasant; there’s very little variation among the 5.

Not related to the physical design, but the personalties also read to me as “cookie cutter” idols. Could just be it seems that way because we haven’t seen them in action in a story yet.

They just feel like random ass anime characters doing a Disney-inspired clothing collab.

It’s possible to make designs that read closer to the Disney inspirations!! Just take a look at these character designs by @ug0nba; the Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Chip and Dale DNA comes off much stronger in the shapes, colors, poses, styles, and faces:

This can be done with other characters as well! Look at Fragaria Memories, in which the characters are knights inspired by different Sanrio mascots. I would not need to tell you which knight is for which Sanrio character, because you can already tell a lot by the various design elements on display.

I’ve also seen lots of fan works of the UPbeats! boys that alter the designs or make their expressions more lively. The fan artists really improve upon the originals.

I definitely think Yana’s designs have spoiled many other anime-style gacha game designs for Twst fans because it made me realize a lot of them can read as generic 😭 In Twst. you can easily tell what a character’s personality is like based on just the subtleties in their posing or the differences in how they choose to wear their school uniforms. These sensibilities also often extend to other outfits. Certain characters wear their designated event outfits in a more loose way, or there are additional items that help express their individuality.

This has become a topic of discussion in the JP fandom lately, too. For example, this one really blew up:

“I think the strength of Yana Toboso’s character designs lies in their vast knowledge (of fashion); she could explain the intent behind every single detail (on a character) if she wanted to. There’s nothing in her work that’s vague ‘lace for the sake of having lace’. It’s more like, ‘This specific type of lace appears here because it was fashionable among this specific social class in Britain during a particular century, so its placement/presence is entirely natural.’”

I think that, if more character designs were as intentional as Yana and her team’s are, we would not have as many bland designs in animanga and especially in the gacha game industry 🥲 It’s such a shame that Spalik’s designs are as boring as they are, because they will always be compared to Twst’s and seen as lesser 💦

The fact that these designs fall short also do not help the generative AI allegations, which will make potential fans further doubt the project. While the final product does appear to be done by actual artists, this doesn’t mean the designs given to the artists to render weren’t processed by or conjured up by a machine.

This project is in collaboration with coly inc., a company known for making other mobile games geared toward a female audience such as Stand My Heroes and Promise of Wizard.

Sparklink Stars is NOT confirmed to be an otome/dating sim; coly inc. specializes in 女性向 (joseimuke) games, which aim for a female audience but don't necessarily involve romance.

coly inc. is known for making puzzle games (in the style of like “match 3”, Candy Crush, Bejeweled, etc.), and this game may follow suit.

Disney Princesses are not specifically referenced; this game will, however, involve many different Disney and Pixar IPs.

It's not meant to be a direct competitor to Twst; Twst will continue running as its own thing, entirely separate from Sparklink Stars.

It was originally expected to release in the first quarter of the 2027 fiscal year (February to July), but I saw news saying it was delayed to the third quarter (August to October)?? Not sure when to expect it but it seems to be 2027.

Someone on Twitter claims the game’s drop will coincide with a “Summerween” event, but this is unverified.

I saw a claim that Kazui-sensei (the artist behind Hypmic) will be responsible for the character design??

The website just launched!

The main setting is an archipelago where “cutting-edge science” and “abundant nature” come together. They are called the “Sparkle Islands”.

The central island is called Luminoustair and it is described as a global entertainment hub.

Here’s the castle from the center of Luminoustair:

The playable characters are referred to as Spark Riders.

There seems to be a connection with Cinderella, as this gif was posted on their Twitter:

There is a blonde character revealed in a teaser image. He is most likely inspired by Cinderella.

The tagline seems to be “The stage where everyone’s dreams come true.”

Marketing materials mention a “stage”, so fans are speculating it could be an idol raising game.

There’s this trailer video, which tells a story from a long time ago. Roughly summarized below:

There was once a small floating island on the edge of the world. It was illuminated by two stars and was a place where the people lived happily.

One day, a shining seed--a gift from the two stars--appeared. The seed sprouted, gathering mysterious lights from across the sky and sea. They were stories filled with hopes and dreams from all over the world. The seed grew into a tall and beautiful tree whose branches flowed with countless lights.

Whenever people smiled, their eyes sparkled with hope, or they wished upon the stars, new particles of light would dance along the tree. The particles would then rise into the sky, filling the sky with new stories.

The stories spread and became a force to guide people to their happiness, allowing the island to flourish. This power, once called “magic”, lives on in a new form but continues to bring wonder and smiles to the land.

The trailer doesn’t really give away too much of what the story will be about, nor any info on characters. It’s just kinda the usual Disney tropes for now 🤷‍♀️

So first thing’s first, Spalik definitely has different vibes than Twst does. It seems overall more… positive and traditionally fairy tale/fantasy-like. And while I do enjoy fairy tales and fantasy theming, I’m really thrown off by how positive Spalik is 💀 It must be the NRC boys and their aversion to RSA influencing me, cuz the first time I watched the storybook trailer, my face puckered up in the same way that it would if I had tasted a lemon. So joyful… so saccharine… So… disgusting…

Personally, I find the premise and the world not very interesting. I feel like they repeat the words “light”, “hopes”, “dreams”, and “happiness”/“happy” way too often. Even if these are major aspects or themes to the story, it sounds generic and much too uplifting to me.

I have mixed feelings on the design of the world and marketing materials. An island in the shape of Mickey’s head, the rainbow magical tree, and the castle being similar to the one in Disney’s logo feel uncreative at best, but I do find the overall use of blue, stars, and sparkles appealing. Not that it’s any more creative, but I do like that kind of artistic direction.

We’ve only seen one character design so far, but we don’t have a name or personality for him. He seems to be the poster boy for Spalik and I assume he’s based on Cinderella, given the colors + his headwear + the Cinderella gif posted on the Spalik Twitter before he went live. It’s a fitting choice, since Cinderella has her rags-to-riches story and was Walt Disney’s favorite princess. She’s also got that iconic “a dream is a wish your heart makes” line, which I feel fits in well with Spalik’s lore, or perhaps was even the inspiration behind the origin of magic in this world.

Something about the design of Cinderfella reminds me of Fragaria Memories, which has its own mobile game slated for a 2027 drop… And I don’t know why, because their artists are different 😭 I think it might be Cinderfella’s cravat, the fabric at his hip, and the jacket over his shoulders with the quilted interior?? The jacket definitely reminds me of the main face for FragMem, Hallritt.

I heard that the character designer for Spalik is Kazui-sensei, the same artist behind the designs for Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle. Admittedly, I am not a fan of Kazui-sensei’s art. Their characters read as too “sharp” and angular, and I feel that they have a tendency to overdesign the hair while underdesigning the clothes. However, I’ll hold my reservations and let their work for Spalik speak for itself instead of judging them based on past works. Based on just Cinderfella, he doesn’t really stand out among the sea of bishounen designs I’ve seen.

It’s interesting that the copyright for Spalik specifies Disney/Pixar, while Twst’s copyright doesn’t. I wonder if that means Spalik has access to Pixar IPs in addition to Disney original ones. This, along with the different tones + themes and possibly gameplay, should keep the two games from competing or cannibalizing one another.

One thing I’ve been seeing around a lot among socials is people anticipating or hyping Spalink up to be an otome and claiming this is what will make it “stand out” from Twst. I don’t fault them for wanting an otome, of course, but I just find it odd when there’s zero proof it will be one. I wonder if this sentiment is coming from the crowd that was disappointed that Twst wasn’t an otome and now they’re looking for an alternative or a “real Disney otome” to cope with that fact. Something about that makes me feel a little uneasy, as if Twst NOT being an otome makes it “not good enough” so fans are shopping around for “something better”.

The other thing that’s giving me pause about this project is that coly inc., the company Disney is partnering with, is VERY openly pro-AI. It's directly stated on their website that AI is one of their "primary domains".

coly has supported AI-generated content and have made generative AI tools before. For example, they sponsored the “AI Novel/Literature Award(s)” and created an AI which “produces visuals and audio for entertainment and product development”.

Additionally, there is an article in which coly inc. discusses their Disney-related IP being released in the January 2027 fiscal year (Spalik) and the company's IP strategy moving into the world of AI. More specifically, coly inc. states that AI will "improve efficiency, generate ideas, and support production". In other parts of their site, they admit to plans to use AI for writing scenarios and dialogue, as well as generating ideas for illustration, visual concepts, designs, backgrounds, puzzles, and videos. They also say they need to figure out how to not compromise the quality of their products (such as the story, which they aim to be "rich and touching") while "still using AI to stay competitive in the gacha game market". I have read the article myself and asked multiple fluent Japanese-speaking contacts of mine to confirm these translations are accurate, as the original claims of AI usage were born from a machine translation circulating on Twitter. The same stance is implied on other parts of coly’s website.

Now, TO BE CLEAR: not all AI is built the same, and it is not automatically a red flag that coly lists "AI" as one of its pillars; it depends on its usage. AI has its practical applications (like analyzing vast data sets that would be impossible for a human to do). It would also be entirely dishonest to claim that f4samurai, Disney, and Aniplex, the companies behind Twst, have never used it. For example, here is an f4samurai engineer admitting to using Google Gemini to scan their code for errors.

The issue with coly is that they've implied they will use generative AI ("generate ideas"), and that makes people question whether the art and story will be human-made or AI slop. That's not even mentioning the higher computing cost and energy + water demands of generative AI compared to regular ol' AI. Twst does have a leg up in this regard, since nothing in its materials suggest generative AI was used at any point in their creative processes. It's just really disappointing to see the hype for new projects by coly doused because they had to go and taint it with gen. AI shortcuts 😬 There’s no explicit confirmation that gen. AI was used for Spalink, but the fact that the company openly admits to integrating it in planning and production at all casts doubts on Spalink by association.