Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan Tai-ho 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. Another subsidiary was founded in California in 1983; in 1984 the company went public. The company's first big success was in 1986, with the marketing of a tape-playing, electronic robot doll named Cricket. In 1989, the company marketed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures which sold extremely well. Wikipedia