Tomy (stylized as TOMY) is a Japanese toy company that distributed Furbys in Japan.
History[]
Tomy was founded in 1924 as a small toy factory. Over the years, they expanded more and more. In 2006, Tomy merged with the company Takara, and since then, the company is known as Takara Tomy.
Furby products[]
- In 1999, Tomy made and distributed Japanese-speaking Furbys in Japan.
- Tomy-branded Furbies are also found in the Philippines.
- In 2013, Tomy made Funky Feet Furby Wind-Ups.
Other popular products[]
Here are two examples of Tomy‘s most popular products:
- Pop-Up-Pirate - this is a very popular game that was invented in 1975. You have a plastic barrel with the figure of a small pirate sitting inside. With small plastic swords you now need to carefully pinch inside the barrel and hope that the pirate doesn’t jump up.
- Thomas Motor Road and Rail - In 1992, Tomy started to make a Railway system based off the TV show Thomas and Friends. These were small, battery operated trains that were very robust. In 2006, Hit Toy Company bought the rights to produce these trains and they changed the name to “Trackmaster“, and in 2009, Mattel took over that franchise, and Tomy still sells these trains in Japan under the name Plarail.