Pirates, beware! There’s a new matey setting sail on the high seas — and he’s not your average buccaneer. Eight-year-old Santiago “Santi” Montes is the brave and kind-hearted pirate taking center stage in Nickelodeon’s Santiago of the Seas. Now in its second season, the animated preschool series follows Santiago as he embarks on action-packed quests and uses his “moral compass” to connect with his community and spread good throughout a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world.
Santiago of the Seas weaves elements of Latino-Caribbean and Latino-American culture throughout the series, as seen through music, dance, folklore, customs, architecture, and the Spanish language. As viewers make their way through the second season, they can find Santiago of the Seas toys in stores this holiday season to complement the digital experience.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Santiago of the Seas creator Niki Lopez manifested Santi as a love letter to her cultural heritage and with the desire to show more on-screen diversity, all while channeling kindness and empathy.
“I wanted to create this Latino hero who is a pirate protector, he looks after his community, and he goes on adventures à la Indiana Jones,” Lopez says. “Especially when it comes to pirate-themed properties, if you have a Spanish-speaking character or even a Latino character, they’re generally the love interest, the villain, or some far-off extra in the background, so I really wanted to make Santi a hero that little kids could look up to, like, ‘Oh my gosh, he looks like me. He speaks my same language. I, too, can be a hero.’ That kind of representation is so important to little kids growing up. If they can see it, they can be it.”
The second season of the show brings more complex adventures and character relationships, as well as a push to include more music. Santi now receives medallions for doing good deeds, which leads to treasure within El Bravo, the magical pirate ship, that gives him access to a greater world.
Lopez recounts receiving emails from adults who are noticeably older than the preschool demographic, expressing their appreciation for including Puerto Rican icons like a coquí (a small tree frog native to the island) or showing characters speaking in Spanish to activate El Bravo.
“Little things like that, seeing that kind of representation, you don’t really think about it, but it does create this huge emotional impact,” she says.
Earlier this year, Mattel entered into a multiyear global licensing agreement with Paramount Consumer Products to create a full line of Santiago of the Seas toys under the Fisher-Price brand. Consumers can find several pirate ship playsets, figures, and dolls at retail now, including the Fisher-Price Nickelodeon Santiago of the Seas Lights & Sounds El Bravo Pirate Ship.
“We love that the Mattel and Fisher-Price team work hand-in-hand with our designers to make sure that we are translating the show into the toys in the most authentic way — both visually and with play patterns,” says Dion Vlachos, executive vice president of Nickelodeon Consumer Products Licensing and Retail Sales. “We want to make sure that we take the core aspects and attributes of a property like this and, to us, it was important to bring that celebration of the culture and the language to the forefront.”
With Spanish language phrases and interactive features that take kids along for the ride as Santiago goes on adventures in the briny deep, the toys stay authentic to the show. The Lights & Sounds El Bravo Pirate Ship features a compass dial with character-themed buttons that activate multicolored lights, action sounds, songs, phrases in both English and Spanish, and full story prompts inspired by the series. The Fisher-Price Nickelodeon Santiago of the Seas Light-Up Talking Santiago also features more than 20 English and Spanish phrases from the show.
“Retailers loved the diversity, equity, and inclusion angle of what the show and the toys represent,” Vlachos says. “Consumer sentiment has been fantastic. We’ve had a lot of kids feeling like their language is represented in a show organically, and that it is translating to the toys.”
Other characters make appearances in the toy aisle, too, such as Santiago’s mermaid friend Lorelai, who can transform from a mermaid into a girl using her magical pearl bracelet. Vlachos says that his team knew through testing early on that Lorelai would be a breakout character in addition to Santiago. The Fisher-Price Nickelodeon Santiago of the Seas Sea the Surprise Lorelai Doll set features a 12-inch Lorelai doll with a color-changing tail, and comes with octopus and sea turtle figures that also change color in cold water. The set also includes hair accessories for Lorelai and a wearable bracelet for kids, styled like Lorelai’s magical bracelet as seen on screen.
“I can’t believe that these designs and characters that I’ve worked on since they were just the roughest of sketches have now materialized into toys,” Lopez says. “It’s humbling.”
Plans for even more toys are currently in the works for next year, including puzzles and outdoor toys for spring.
As kids keep up with Santiago’s adventures, they just might find that pirates are more relatable than they thought.
“We really wanted to champion the vulnerabilities that our heroes have,” Lopez says. “You don’t have to be perfect to be a hero or a good person. It’s important to embrace our vulnerabilities and weaknesses and learn from them.” Even pirates know that a little bit of kindness can go a long way.
This article was originally published in the 2022 Innovation & STEM issue of The Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue! Want to receive The Toy Book in print? Click here for subscription options!
