Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong-based manufacturing company. Playmates was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan Tai-ho as "Playmates Industrial", manufacturing dolls for other companies.[1] In 1975, Playmates began marketing its own line of preschool toys, and in 1977, opened an American subsidiary in Boston, Massachusetts. Another subsidiary was founded in California in 1983; in 1984, the company went public.[2]
The company's first big success was in 1986, marketing a tape-playing, electronic robot doll named Cricket.[2] In 1989, the company marketed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures which sold extremely well.[2] The company has also U.S. offices in El Segundo, California.[3]