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. 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. The company's first big success was in 1986, marketing a tape-playing, electronic robot doll named Cricket. In 1989, the company marketed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures which sold extremely well. The company has also U.S. offices in El Segundo, California. Wikipedia