Cuddling with the Popples

Popples is a toy and TV franchise of bright colored stuffed animals with long tails that have a pom-pom on the end. Each one has a pouch on the back that can be inverted to transform the stuffed animal into a fluffy ball.

The toys were created by Those Characters from Cleveland (TCFC), which is an arm of American Greetings. Susan Trentel, the designer behind the Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears prototypes, was working at TCFC as the plush toy designer. She created the method for transforming the Popples from one form to another, and worked with the company’s art director Thomas Schneider to create the prototypes.

Once the design was completed, they were manufactured by Mattel, starting in 1986. The first line consisted of six female and three male Popples ranging in size from 8” to 13”. The colors of their fur often contrasted with the color of their hair, including one with blue fur and pink hair, one with orange fur and green hair, and one with magenta fur and white hair.

While the Popples were selling well in stores, they also appeared in an animated show. Popples aired from ’86 to ’87 starring the nine Popples who lived with a human brother and sister. The children tried to keep the Popples’ existence a secret from the adults, but the Popples often made that harder with their antics.

The toy line continued with the Rock Star Popples, Baby versions, fluff ball shaped Pufflings, and the sports themed Sports Popples. There were Popples that turned into flowers, pillows, or fruit, and the smaller sized Pocket Popples.

Popples were revived in 2001, which included glow in the dark Popples, the 2007 line had sound boxes inside of them, there was a line based on the Netflix series in 2015, and they got the Funko Pop treatment in 2020.