The Disney Lorcana Challenge kicked off Season 2 in Melbourne over the weekend and we were on hand to check out some of the action, you can see some photos from the event here. We also had the chance to chat with Naomi Kim, International Product and Brand Manager, for the Disney Lorcana TCG by Ravensburger.

Apart from talking about our love of Push, Disney fans will know who that is, I did have the chance to ask her a few questions about deciding on which characters are pulled in, what she would love to personally see and more. Check it out.

Maxi-Geek: Disney has now 100 plus years of stories to pull from, with characters that are known from around the world. When Lorcana was in development, was there any sense of dread or uncertainty, given how beloved so many of these characters are?

Naomi Kim: There's always a certain sense of that, where we want to make sure that we're respecting the history and the legacy that Disney has. A lot of people who know Disney, when you hear it, inherently you have connections with certain characters or films or movies, you have memories. So we definitely knew it's a daunting task that we are taking beloved characters, beloved stories, and we're doing something a little bit different that Disney doesn't normally do, right?

So there was definitely a little trepidation, but I think more so excitement because it's something new that we can do with these characters, again, within the Disney guidelines and guardrails, but to make a realm like Lorcana where we can imagine these characters as completely new. The excitement was a lot stronger, I think, than the trepidation, but we definitely wanted to make sure the respect for the characters is always going to be there.

MG: There have been 11 chapters released so far with Winter Spell launching just this week. Have there been any surprising moments from fans that have stuck with you personally over the years?

NK: So I think for each set that we're releasing, there's a lot of great surprises that we are trying to add to every single set, right? We have the same kind of product types and we're now trying to... do a little bit more new things and get new product types out there, hearing things from the fans of what is next, what is coming, we'd love to see this. So like the pre-release, of set 12, those are the types of things that we want to continue to improve upon, set over set. Hearing the responses and the excitement for either the enchanted art styles or for the components, even the trove components, the glow-in-the-dark dice that were in the Whispers (of the Well) trove was surprisingly a huge hit with everyone.

So it's those little moments, right, of just like the cards, are obviously the focus for us, but being able to have little exciting moments for people that are unexpected are always fun. When people find the Easter eggs that our teams are putting in there, it's a lot of fun to hear and when people discover the combinations of cards that our game design teams, obviously they're plotting and they're practicing all the time with our dev teams too. To hear and see people put those together, it's like, ‘We did the job, guys. We did a good job. They got it, and they're playing it, and they're enjoying it.’ Being able to see and hear the responses from the community is always, it sounds creepy, but we're always listening, and we always want to hear what people have to say and what improvements we can make as well, because we know we're never going to be perfect, but we want to get to a place where we're getting better and better.

MG: Everyone has a Disney film or TV show that they love, and I'm sure the team creating the game are no different. Have there been any suggestions from the developers that have caught other people off guard as they did not know the series?

NK: There's quite a few, actually. So Gargoyles, in particular, a lot of the teams either did not know or didn't hear about, or they saw it and they're like, ‘we saw it, but we didn't, we weren't interested in it.’ So that was definitely one where the team was like, oh, we ought to do Gargoyles and people were like, what, why? What is that? Why do we need to do that?

But then as you delve into the series and our teams watch all the films, they watch all the TV series that we want to add into the game so that they know what they're working with. If you haven't seen in a while, it's a nice refresh of like, oh yeah, that film. Or there's some diehard fans are just like, I know this inside and out. So you ask me and I will tell you all the details. But whenever we get into like a brainstorm room together, we're having these conversations, the people who have the passion, the most passion, I should say, for certain properties, you can definitely tell. And everyone knows and respects that as well, right? It's like, okay, hey, you're our go-to for Darkwing Duck, or you're our go-to for Fox and the Hound. And it's nice where there's a mix of people that have the different fandoms, I guess we can say, for different films.

A lot of people all love Moana or all love Lilo and Stitch. Those are kind of the tried and true. But the deep cuts like Treasure Planet is my favourite, so I tell them, ‘if you guys have Treasure Planet questions, please let me know.’ But we have a lot of team members, who like you said, enjoy different things and so being able to really tap into their knowledge and their love, that just brings an extra special punch to the cards and to the art and to the narrative that we're creating with it.

MG: I'm sure many collectors would argue against me here, but the release cadence is about four chapters per year. Do you feel that's a good release cadence? Has there been any discussion about doing more or less each year?

NK: So the four sets a year has definitely been established, and as of now, there's no plans to make changes to that. But we're always listening, like I said. So not to say it never will happen, but we're happy with the four sets a year.

MG: Most chapters feature a common theme, which a lot of characters lean into, but only two characters to get chapters with the names in them are villains. How did that come about?

NK: Well, they're villains and they're so cool, so we had to do it, right? We have brainstorms for our set names, and sometimes it's the simplest that are the strongest, and in that case, for Ursula’s Return and Reign of Jafar, it's just... It made sense. Those are such beloved characters, not to say that any other Disney character is not, but the culmination of those particular arcs, it made sense of we built it up as Ursula is here, she's the one, and it's the culmination of that arc. Same for Jafar, the lead up into set 8, that ended with him taking over Archazia's Island and becoming supreme sorcerer over Lorcana. So it made sense, and again, sometimes simpler is stronger. So we try to stick with what is strong.

MG: Wilds Unknown is the next chapter, only bringing Pixar characters into the game for the first time. I'm sure countless players have been asking for Pixar characters for a long time. Why was now the right time to bring them in?

NK: So... I don't know if you know, but this year is Pixar's 40th anniversary. So we thought that was a really great celebration, a really great time, and Toy Story 5 is also here at the same time. So long-term planning, but also we wanted to give Disney a chance to have its moment, and Pixar is such a big studio as well, so we wanted to give them their big moment as well. So we wanted to plan it out where Disney has the moments, obviously, Disney carries through because it's Disney Lorcana, but Pixar, obviously being a part of Disney now, that is something that we wanted to highlight and give their moment to.

MG: Personally speaking, I would love to see cards brought in from the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.

NK: Oh yes, SEA.

MG: Most people won't know that reference, but I know that's a long shot. Are there any series that you would love to see added to the game in the future?

NK: Definitely. I am a huge fan of the old 90s series, so like the Hercules or the Little Mermaid or Aladdin. So I would love to see, I know those are based off of the canon films, but the additional stories that you get there, again, they're very fun and unique and zany and corny, but I love that about Disney, right? We have to lean into the fun, the fun of Disney.

MG: Yeah, I mean, there's 625 experiments that could get their own cards

NK: Exactly, just Lilo and Stitch: The Series alone

MG: And then you've got the Japanese version of Stitch!

NK: Yes. There's just so much to do, and so again, it's a good and bad thing where we want to put everything in, but it's like, no, we have a lot of time, guys, and we're going to slowly add them in. Like you said earlier, we want to create strong themes and the characters that might fit those themes, and also surprising characters that could fit those themes, because in Lorcana we have dream-borne characters and flood-borne characters that can be changed and transformed.

So for Winterspell, we put Moana in snow. That is not the first thing that you think about, right? Like having a Polynesian princess in snow. But again, that's something that we can do in the realm of Lorcana because the magic is there and we are able to reimagine versions of Disney characters as glimmers doing different things.

MG: What is the element that you're most proud of from your work on Lorcana if you can pick just one that is.

NK: Oh my gosh, that is an impossible question. I think, one element, oh my goodness. It's like, which hand do I love? Can I not live without?

MG: That's why I said, if you can.

NK: If I can. I don't know that I can, but I think out of everything I do. love that the work that we do brings so much joy to everyone. We want to continue just to focus on what makes such a good and wonderful experience for people who either want to play competitively, our social casual players, our collectors, people who might never even touch Lorcana, but they admire the art from afar.

Like anyone can do anything what they want with Disney Lorcana and I think keeping it welcoming and open like that, I think that's something that I'm really happy about and I hope that we can bring that to more and more people in the future.

MG: I know, as I was saying before, like Epcot with the Festival of the Arts, I know a lot of people have been taking photos of the giant cards, even though they don't play because of the arts there, so.

NK: Exactly, and that was the fun thing for us as we were working on the Epcot activation is... The first time that people will see Lorcana, are a majority of new fans, right? New Disney fans, especially where they're like, we have never heard or we haven't seen this before. To see a giant card and be like, ‘I don't know what that is, but I can focus on the art’ and that is beautiful because Disney fans love art as well. Not that anyone else does not, but the art I think is what resonates the most with a lot of people for Disney Lorcana. So finding different ways to connect with different types of people.

MG: Something I'm sort of working on covering a bit more is accessibility. Has there been any discussions about sort of enhanced cards for people with low vision or colour blindness? Because obviously a lot of things work with colour with Lorcana, and if you can't see certain colours, you may not be able to play those cards.

NK: We have had discussions around that because the inclusivity and accessibility is definitely a big thing. I can't either confirm or deny if anything will be happening in the future, but we have thought about that and what steps could we take to do that and if it's feasible and possible or if not, what are some ways to get there? But we have definitely thought about that because it is an important aspect.

MG: Yeah, I mean I don't know of any other card games that do it either, so it's not it's not like you're like the one sheep not doing it.

NK: Exactly, but still like even if even if no one else is doing it like that's something that we do want to make sure that we're always considering and how can we make that happen if possible. I know Shane was saying at the very, very beginning when we were first working on Disney Lorcana, Shane Hartley is our executive creative director. He had been talking to the team about, the ink colours that we have. Do we do certain shades and tones? But as they're being printed, some of those colours can shift. So there's, again, there's been conversations, and that's something that we always want to make sure that we're considering if we can do, and if we can, then how can we do that?

MG: My final question, is there anything you are excited for players to discover in Winterspell, Wilds Unknown, Attack Of The Vine or something else still to be announced?

NK: The answer is yes to all. For Winterspell, the new treatment that we did on the enchanted cards, I've been waiting for people to see that because it is stunning. I don't know if you've seen any enchanted in person.

MG: Not in person.

NK: Okay, oh my goodness. Okay, hopefully some people, we're opening packs this weekend, so hopefully we pull some. But the glitter treatment that we did, it looks like it should be actual like a glitter trail and it's the treatment of the card and the foil. Like I don't know what magic our card art team was able to do. But that treatment, I've been most excited for people to see that for Winterspell.

For Wilds Unknown, obviously Toy Story being in there, that's one of my favourites. We have some fun and exciting announcements for Wilds Unknown, our special lore cast is coming up soon. So excited for people to hear more details on that, and then Attack of the Vine is coming. There's a lot of good stuff next year. I will say there's some pretty spectacular things. I think those are some of my favourite sets that we've that we've worked on so far?

MG: I did spot the Up house in the back of the Attack of the Vine art

NK: Eagle Eye, I love this. Yeah, we have the Up coming in Attack of the Vine and there might be some surprises in there as well.

MG: So I have noticed over the years you guys have like sometimes released like a little chopped version of the art and like when the full version comes there's like another section.

NK: Yeah, we try to do it little by little because we know everyone, as soon as we post it, everyone's like zooming in. We did that with Archazia's Island, the key art, and everyone was zooming in and finding all the details and that's the fun of it, right? It's like, ‘here's something fun and amazing that we're putting together’ and having people, one, be interested and love or con enough to be like, okay, we're going to find all the details. We're going to see what they put in there. That's everything to us. We love seeing and hearing the reactions like that.

MG: Well, I like the art and with that, that is all I had.

NK: Thank you so much. It was so nice to talk with you.

MG: Lovely to talk with you as well.

If you want more Lorcana, you can find all our coverage here, or our most recent Winterspell coverage here. You can also have a read to see what is coming in the future for the series.