Plush toys 1980s | The Vintage Toy Advertiser

What are they, who are they, where are they? I want one!

Popples logo (PRNewsFoto/Netflix, Inc.)

Originally marketed between 1986 and 1988 by the company Those Characters From Cleveland, Popples are brightly coloured bear-like plushies with the ability to be inverted and rolled up into a ball. A cartoon series was produced to compliment the toys as well as merchandise like puzzles, games, a comic run, ride-alongs, school sets, watches and clocks, and even a paddling pool set.

Popples plushies include the original line, Rock Star and Baby Popples, Pufflings (a kind of Popples pet), Popples Clip-ons, Sports Popples, Pom-Pom Popples, and even Rucksack Popples to wear on your back. In later years the toy line would undergo three revivals, its most recent being one to compliment the Popples Netflix series.

TVTA is delighted to present a small selection of Popples merchandise scanned from 1980s Dutch and French catalogues. Enjoy 🙂

Speelboom Club Journal N°2. 1987. Netherlands.

De Speelbooml N°3. Nov 1987. Netherlands.

De Speelboom Club N°3. Nov 1987. Netherlands.

Speelboom Club Journal N°4. 1986. Netherlands.

Speelboom Club Journal N°1. 1987. Netherlands.

DE Speelboom N°3. Nov 1987. Netherlands.

Speelboom Club Journal N°3. 1987. Netherlands.

Cora. 1988. France.

Popples bath toys and slippers. Wonderland Catalogue. France. 1987.

Thank you for getting all inside-out and brightly fluffy with us 🙂 This post will be updated as soon as we find more Popples!

Updated: Jan 2022.

FAO Schwarz was established in 1862 in New York and is one of the oldest toy stores in the world, in a spirit similar to that of the UK’s Hamleys.

FAO Schwarz (FAO = Frederick August Otto) offered children and parents a choice of quality and long-lasting toys, games, hobbies, books and crafts. By 1980 the company had evolved from their famous flagship 5th Avenue, New York store to twenty-eight stores across the US.