History Franchise / SylvanianFamilies

''Sylvanian Families'' is the name of a line of video games and anthropomorphic collectible articulated toy plush figures, created by Japanese company Epoch in 1985 and distributed worldwide by a number of companies. The characters, grouped into families, are woodland creatures such as rabbits, foxes and bears. They remain a quintessential part of the 1990s boom in craze (or fad) toys.

* AlliterativeFamily: DependingOnTheWriter in charge of the region at the time. The Cakebread toy poodle family in the International English region, for example: this started this with the third child, Melinda. The next in line are Milo, Mia and Max.

* LongRunner: The franchise was created in 1985. That's 36 years of Sylvanian Families as of 2021.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: You can buy toy sets for your Sylvanians' children. These include miniature versions of the full-size houses that can be bought for families, and some toy sets also include teeny-tiny teddy bears that are even smaller versions of actual figures.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Due to its status as a LongRunner of over 30 years, this is unavoidable. Each core set contains 4 figures of the family, some families are actually bigger and have booster packs -- for example, the core Chocolate Rabbit Family, a four-figurine set, can be added on with three more babies, an older sister (and as of late 2018, her fiancé), and two grandparents. The Milk Rabbit Family also has booster sets of at least one baby. There are at least three rabbit families (Chocolate, Milk and Cottontail). There are plenty more families, some seasonal, some permanent, some retired, some are even regional. Advice: CrackIsCheaper if you go headfirst in with the GottaCatchEmAll mentality, consider focusing on only one or two species, and avoid going for sets that are no longer produced, to avoid having your finance spiral out of control.

See also Anime/MapleTown for a similar franchise that didn't last as long, but is just as beloved by its fans.

* LongRunner: The franchise was created in 1985. That's 33 years of Sylvanian Families as of 2018.

Several video games for Sega Pico, GBC and GBA were also released [[NoExportForYou in Japan only]] ([[FanTranslation but fan translations exist]]). Also there was also [[WesternAnimation/SylvanianFamilies an animated series]] and a 3-Episode [=OVA=] [[Anime/SylvanianFamilies series]] in Japan. Two more [=OVAs=] were produced in 2017 which were made available over Netflix worldwide, follow by the first set of shorts. A second set of shorts was later produced, however they were released onto Youtube instead, before being swiftly moved to Amazon Prime Video ([[ScrewedByTheNetwork but]] '''''[[NoExportForYou not]]''''' Prime Video Global).

[[caption-width-right:172:Copyrighting the word 'adorable' since 1985.]]

[[quoteright:172:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/logo-sylvanian-families_3866.jpg]]

* {{Engrish}}: Despite the extremely high quality grammatical and spelling checks as a huge chunk of the toys are exported to English-speaking countries, errors still slip through the cracks from time to time. For example, a reason accessory release accidentally printed ''"[[https://www.facebook.com/SylvanianFamiliesUK/photos/a.266354566880797/1652072048309035/ How to cooking]]"'' onto the recipe book accessory.

* PettingZooPeople: Everybody wears human clothes and has basically human-type bodies, but they have animal heads and tails.

* ImmediateSelfContradiction: One of the props is a box of [[GratuitousEnglish Breakfast Gluten]]. However, the [[IfYouCanReadThis surprisingly readable]] fine print on the bottom of the box claims that the food inside is ''gluten free''!

* NobodyPoops: Averted in the name of making money. There are quite a few bathroom sets with toilets. Some include toilet paper, toilet brushes and even toilet cleaner. Does a bear shit in the woods? Not in this forest!

* CulturalTranslation: The ''Calico Critters'' version of the vehicles actually had their moulds flipped so the driver seat is on the ''left'' side of the car. On the Sylvanian Families vehicles the driver seat is on the ''right'' side. Also, the Japanese versions of the TV prop has a [[https://www.sylvanianfamilies.com/ja-jp/catalog/item_detail.php?product_id=1556 16:9 wide-screen CRT]] compared to those sold elsewhere which are [[https://www.sylvanianfamilies.com/en-uk/catalog/item_detail.php?product_id=171 4:3 screen CRT TVs]] (Japanese households has had access to widescreen HD broadcast since 1988. This still comes across as AnachronismStew given the 1970s British countryside setting tho).

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Due to it's status as a LongRunner of over 30 years, this is unavoidable. Each core set contains 4 figures of the family, some families are actually bigger and have booster packs -- for example, the core Chocolate Rabbit Family, a four-figurine set, can be added on with three more babies, an older sister (and as of late 2018, her fiancé), and two grandparents. The Milk Rabbit Family also has booster sets of at least one baby. There are at least three rabbit families (Chocolate, Milk and Cottontail). There are plenty more families, some seasonal, some permanent, some retired, some are even regional. Advice: CrackIsCheaper if you go headfirst in with the GottaCatchEmAll mentality, consider focusing on only one or two species, and avoid going for sets that are no longer produced, to avoid having your finance spiral out of control.

* CulturalTranslation: The ''Calico Critters'' version of the vehicles actually had their moulds flipped so the driver seat is on the ''left'' side of the car. On the Sylvanian Families figures the driver seat is on the ''right'' side. Also, the Japanese versions of the TV prop is [[https://www.sylvanianfamilies.com/ja-jp/catalog/item_detail.php?product_id=1556 16:9 wide-screen CRT]] compared to those sold elsewhere which are [[https://www.sylvanianfamilies.com/en-uk/catalog/item_detail.php?product_id=171 4:3 screen CRT TVs]] (Japanese households has had access to widescreen HD broadcast since 1988. This still comes across as AnachronismStew given the 1970s British countryside setting tho).

* CulturalTranslation: The ''Calico Critters'' version of the vehicles actually had their moulds flipped so the driver seat is on the ''left'' side of the car. On the Sylvanian Families figures the driver seat is on the ''right'' side. Also, the Japanese versions of the TV props are all wide-screen CRT TVs compared to those sold elsewhere which have the more common 4:3 screen CRT TVs.