eveloped as a replacement for the Original Little People due to the increasing concerns and pressures from parents and consumer-advocacy groups for safer toy designs. There were many incidents of small children choking on small toys (or toy parts) during the 1980's that led to "watchdog" groups that evaluated and informed parents of the dangers involved with certain toy designs. The Fisher Price Original Little People products were no exception. In fact, a popular book of that time that dealt with these issues was titled "Toys That Kill" and prominently featured a trio of Original Little People figures on the cover. Published in 1986 by Edward Swartz (it's now out-of-print), it most certainly provided the motivation for Fisher Price to re-design their most popular Little People line to something more "acceptable"........and thus the Chunkies were born!
And finally there are the current version of the Little People line, alive and still kicking as the 21st century begins. Smaller in size than the Chunkies, but slightly larger than the Originals, these "soft" hard-rubber figures have a great level of detail and color to them, making them a worthy replacement and continuation of the Little People heritage. With their colorful appearance and greater level of anatomical detail, they will proudly carry the Little People into the new century with pride and success; after all, they are still Little People!
For more information on the Little People figures and other character figures made by Fisher Price over the years, please zoom on over to our Fisher-Price People types pages to see and read all about it!
^back to the top^
Identifying and Dating Your Toy
Here's a real can of worms........are you ready?
If you're trying to determine the identity of a particular toy, there are a few tricks that you can use.
First, you must determine the Fisher Price Model Number of the toy. The model number is either printed on one of the lithos, or is cast or stamped into the bottom of many wood or plastic base toys, and can be up to a 5-digit number. If your toy is a doll, the model number is printed onto the "care instructions" tag that is sewn onto the doll (normally on the bottom side; many times it's completely faded from use though). Once you have this model number, then go to our TOYS BY MODEL NUMBER area and select the appropriate model number range and find the particular toy that corresponds to the model number you have. NOTE: there are many instances where a Model Number was used more than once; for example, the #104 was first used in 1931 for the "Lookee Monk" pulltoy, then in 1971-72 for the game "Animal Scrabble Set", and finally again in 1981-on for the Music Box "Allouette".
So, let's say you've identified the proper Model Number, and it's an item that was made for a number of years.....such as the #991 Circus Train (1973-1986). Which year was "your" toy made? The best way is to look at the "date code" of manufacture that Fisher-Price started using in the early '70's. This is a small letter and number that is molded or stamped on the bottom or back of wood or plastic base toys. We have found that this date code works perfectly on all Little People airplanes, such as the #182 Airplane, #183 Funjet, the plane used in the #996 airport, etc. It also works perfectly on the Little People plastic barn bases, and on Little People train engines. This date code doesn't seem to work for ALL toys, though. We have a #944 Lift & Load Lumber Yard that has "S4" molded into the bottom of the base, according to the chart below, this means it was made in October 1974. This date is improbable since the #944 wasn't sold until 1979. Therefore, please be careful when using these date codes:
Fisher-Price Toys Date Code
*This chart was provided by Brad Cassity
If your toy has one of the letters mentioned in the chart above (A-X) and a number (0-9), then this date code may help you to identify the exact year and month that your toy was made. The letter represents the month, and the number represents the last digit of the year that the toy was made. Theref