Playmates Toys limited is a Hong Kongese toy company that was founded in 1966 by Sam Chan as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies.
Summary[]
In 1975, Playmates began marketing their own line of pre-school toys and then they started opening American subsidiaries with a Boston factory in 1977 and a California one in 1983. In 1984, the company went public.
Playmates Interactive Entertainment Inc. was founded as a subsidiary of Playmates Toys Holdings, also the parent company of Playmates Toys, in 1994, co-located with their US branch in La Mirada, California. In September 1996, Playmates Toys’ US branch and Playmates Interactive relocated their headquarters, including 50 employees, to Costa Mesa. At the same time, the company was joined by Gary Rosenfeld and Chris Archer as vice-president of business affairs and producer, respectively. In August the next year, Playmates Interactive’s president Richard Sallis resigned and was succeeded by Ron Welch. Playmates Interactive went defunct in May 2000. [1]
Action Figures[]
The company’s first big success was in 1986 with the marketing of an electronic baby doll named Cricket and 1989, a massive step forward for the company was marketing action figures based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Some of the other brands under their belt include King Kong, Ben 10, Voltron, Mysticons, Terminator, and more. But there have also been a few brands and themes that slipped from their grasp and were consequentially unproduced as linked here:
- Darkwing Duck Series 2
- Toxic Crusaders Series 2
- Earthworm Jim Series 2
- Skeleton Warriors Series 2
- Turok Series 2
- World of Springfield and Beyond (The Simpsons)
- The Ripping Friends
- Terminator: Salvation John Connor
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