Companies

There are several companies behind Forest Families, more info below!

M.C.Toy (May Cheong Toys) / Maisto

M.C. Toy is the original distributor of Forest Families. Most M.C.Toy's packages and some FF furniture have the logo on them. Despite the lack of printed year on most of the packages, it is pretty certain that M.C.Toy produced/distributed Forest Families starting from 1986 and all the way to the beginning of 1990's. Earliest confirmed FF packages are dated 1986. Also a Maisto company logo has appeared on some packaging. Maisto belongs to the May Cheong Group.

On some M.C. Toy packages it says that the manufacturer is May Tat Toy Products Fry. Ltd which is also a part of the same conglomeration.

Simba

Besides Simba's own Bear Family (Bärenwald) toy line, Simba also distributed Forest Families. The curious thing is that Simba had FF's under their own Bear Family brand and they had modified most of the sets. In the Simba sets, other members were often Forest Families animals, but the bear was a Simba bear. Simba distributed Forest Families under Bear Family -title from year 1986 to midway 1990's.

I presume Simba had some kind of licencing agreement so that they can distribute and sell Forest Families in Germany and in some other countries. In some Simba boxes both Simba and M.C. Toy copyrights are mentioned. Besides Forest Families, Simba's Bear Family series had several Simba-only animals like Simba bears, dark and light brown rabbits and moles. They had almost all the different Forest Families animals and furniture. Simba also added some spice of their own by making Forest Families into sets that apparently weren't available anywhere but Germany.

Some FF sets were also distributed in Germany under the brand Lustige Tierfamilien, but the manufacturer/distributor is unknown.

Majora

Majora distributed Simba's Bear Family (Família dos Ursos) series at least in Portugal. There might even have been a TV show! The series included both Simba animals and FF animals, plus Simba's wooden furniture and the FF house.

Brio

Brio was the distributor of Forest Families in Finland, and Brio also imported Forest Families to Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Brio produced Finnish packages for Forest Families when distributing them in Finland, and FF were sold in Finland in 1980's and 1990's. Brio didn't use their logo on the Forest Families packaging. It only said "Brio Scanditoy Oy."

It isn't certain which animals were distributed in the Nordic countries, but probably most of the basic animals. Brio also distributed the Forest Families House and some of the green furniture and accessories to Nordic countries.

BR Legetöj (BR Toys)

The famous BR toy store chain published Forest Families in Denmark under the title Dyrene i Bamseskoven. Available was at least the Forest Families House, but called Bamse Huset.

Mel Appel Enterprises Inc

Mel Appel was one of the distributors of Forest Families in the USA. It is uncertain how widely Forest Families were sold overseas, but they were for the biggest part sold in Europe.

Mel Appel distributed Forest Families under the brand Peach Fuzz Village in 1987. The animals were sold both on card and big boxes that included a whole family and furniture sets. The boxed sets include the Dining Room Set, Bedroom Set and Deluxe Party Set. The cards included at least packs of two family members on the same card. The animals distributed under this name were bears, mice, pigs and rabbits.

LTD Commodities, Inc.

LTD Commodities was one the distributors of Forest Families in the USA. LTD Commodities distributed FF from year 1988, based on an ad of their Forest Families and Furniture sets. They sold the series under the brand Forest Families and they distributed both the animal families and furniture sets. The families included the bears, alligators (crocodiles), elephants and monkeys (gorillas).

Panosh Place / Panosh Group, Inc.

Panosh Place was one the distributors of Forest Families in the USA. They sold the series under the brand Cuddly Cuzzins starting in 1987. The families included the bears, bunnies (rabbits) and mice. The bears and bunnies were the chocolate brown bears, grey bears and chocolate brown rabbits mentioned on other pages of this website.

According to the packages, the bear family included Mama, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Brother, Sister and Baby. It is confirmed that all of these, including both baby boy and baby girl were sold. Both grey and chocolate brown colours vere available in single figure boxes. The boxes also mention bunnies Mama, Papa, Brother, Sister and Baby. This could be a copy paste error since there is no baby rabbit in the FF line. The mice are described only as Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister and they are the basic grey mice.

Butterfly Originals

As the above mentioned Panosh Place, also Butterfly Originals distributed Cuddly Cuzzins in the US. The two companies worked together until 1987 according to online sources, so it can be assumed that the Butterfly Originals boxes are the oldest and Panosh Place boxes more recent.

Muraoka Toys Co., Ltd.

Muraoka Toys distributed Forest Families in Japan in generic (fakie-like) boxes under the name Animal Famiry (Animal Family). Available were the light brown bears, at least two different sets of mother and daughter. Also available was the grey rabbit mother and daughter in similar sets. The boxes were shaped like a basic box or a house and included either only the characters or characters and furniture. The furniture was generic, same items being found in other series. Only sets of mother and daughter have been found in original packages, but it is most likely that similar sets of father and son were also available.