Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1966 by Sam Chan as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing their own line of pre-school toys, and in 1977 opened an American subsidiary in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Another subsidiary was founded in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1983; in 1984 the company went public. The company's first big success was in 1986, with the marketing of an tape-playing, electronic robot doll named

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. In 1989, the company marketed ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' action figures which sold extremely well.

Proprietary brands

* Amazing Dolls * Amazing Pets * Hearts For Hearts Girls * Kinder-Garden Babies * Nano Pets * R.E.V.s * Waterbabies * WOW Pals * Yo Stick * Struts * Ooglies * Kuroba * Tiny Toes * BFF Best Friends Forever * The Addams Family * Austin Powers Vocalizaers

Tie-in media toys

Playmates Toys has often been under contract as a chosen third-party to produce toys, fashion dolls, games, and other merchandise coinciding with popular film and television media. Examples of media that Playmates has done toys for include ''

Atomic Betty ''Atomic Betty'' (retitled ''Atomic Betty: Mission Earth'' for its third and final season) is a Canadian-French Flash animated television series produced by Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Entertainment and Tele Images Kids, along with the Marat ...

'', ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', ''

Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise created by Man of Action Studios, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series centers on a boy named Ben Tennyson who acquires the Omnitrix, an alien device rese ...

'', '' Godzilla vs. Kong'', the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

movie franchise '' Frozen'', ''

Miraculous Ladybug ''Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir'' (also known as ''Miraculous Ladybug'', ''Miraculous'', or ''Ladybug'') is a computer-animated magical girl superhero television series. The series focuses on two Parisian teenagers, Marinette Dupa ...

'', ''

Pikwik Pack ''Pikwik Pack'' is a Canadian animated children's television series. It was created by Mary Bredin, Frank Falcone and Rachel Reade Marcus, and produced by Corus Entertainment and Guru Studio. The series premiered on Disney Junior in the United S ...

'', and others. They were made in cooperation with various international media production companies, including

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

company

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

companies Disney,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

Playmates Interactive

Playmates Interactive Entertainment Inc. was founded as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of Playmates Toys Holdings which is the

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

of Playmates Toys in 1994. It is co-located with the United States branch of Playmates Toys in

La Mirada, California La Mirada (Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre for ...

. In September 1996, Playmates Toys' US branch and Playmates Interactive relocated their headquarters, including 50 employees to

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

. At the same time, Gary Rosenfeld and Chris Archer joined the company as vice-president of business affairs and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, respectively. In August 1997, Playmates Interactive's

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, Richard Sallis, resigned and was succeeded by Ron Welch. Playmates Interactive was defunct by May 2000.

References

External links

* {{Superhero toy lines Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Companies of Hong Kong Toy brands Toy companies established in 1966