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Takara Tomy (known in US as Tomy), is a Japanese toy company founded in 1924. They hold the license to produce Thomas & Friends products in japan. Other than Thomas & Friends products, Tomy also produces toys for brands like Chuggington, Pokémon, and other Nintendo franchises, baby toys, and board games.

In Japan[]

Tomy was founded in 1924 by Eiichiro Tomiyama. They produced tin toys until 1954 when they started producing plastic toys.

In 1959, the company released the Plarail system in Japan. Tomy received the license to produce Thomas and Friends toys in 1992, and the same year they released their first Thomas-themed items. Preschool toys such as the Thomas Big Loader and Push 'N' Go characters were also released in the following years. They also manufacture other Thomas & Friends products under their Capsule Plarail and Tomica lines.

In 2006, Tomy merged with their rival toy company, Takara after both companies suffered great financial losses. The two companies would become, Takara Tomy, although they only use this name in Japan.

In the US/UK[]

While Tomy had a presence in the Western and European markets, their main Thomas & Friends products wouldn't be released stateside till 1997. The company released its Thomas products under their Tomica World line. but due to the success of the Thomas brand, the line was rebranded as Thomas Motor Road and Rail. In the following years, Tomy would release Thomas products in the US/UK. They would release localized versions of their talking engines range in 2002, under the name Talk 'n' Action.

In 2007, Tomy's US branch lost its Thomas license to HiT Toy Company. They would release an updated version of their Motor Road and Rail under the name TrackMaster. In 2008, Tomy would become the distributor for Trackmaster in the UK. In 2009, Mattel agreed with Tomy and HiT Entertainment to acquire the exclusive distribution rights to the Thomas TrackMaster range from 2010 along with their earning of the Thomas license. Tomy continued producing preschool Thomas toys until the end of 2010.

In 2011, Tomy merged with RC2 and acquired Learning Curve Brands, so the company briefly earned the Thomas license again and produced the Thomas Wooden Railway range until 2013, when Mattel bought the rights to the line.

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