Editing Cabbage Patch Kids (section)

==Production history==

===Creation and development===
According to court records,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=The Cabbage Patch Kids' Twisted History|date=April 24, 2015 |url=https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/the-cabbage-patch-kids-twisted-history-117266351832.html}}</ref> Roberts, a 21-year-old art student at a missionary school in North Georgia, discovered craft artist [[Martha Nelson Thomas|Martha Nelson]]'s Doll Babies. They came with a birth certificate and adoption papers. With the help of artist Debbie Moorehead,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deborah Morehead Obituary - 2023 - The Standard Cremation & Funeral Center |url=https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/27307609/deborah-morehead |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.tributearchive.com}}</ref> he hand-stitched dolls called "The Little People". Roberts modified the look of Nelson's dolls, birth certificate and adoption papers sufficiently to get a copyright, and told potential customers his Little People were not for sale; however, they could be "adopted" for prices ranging from $60 to $1,000.<ref name=":1" />

The Little People were first sold at arts and crafts shows, then later at [[Babyland General Hospital]], an old medical clinic that Roberts and his friends-turned-employees converted into a toy store, in [[Cleveland, Georgia]].<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.cabbagepatchkids.com/pages/History_folklore/Milestones/milestones.html |title=Our History |access-date=February 22, 2008 |publisher=Babyland General Hospital |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218053854/http://www.cabbagepatchkids.com/pages/History_folklore/Milestones/milestones.html |archive-date=February 18, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1981, at the height of Roberts's success, he was approached by [[Atlanta]] designer and licensing agent, Roger L. Schlaifer<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> about licensing The Little People. As [[Fisher-Price]] owned the name "Little People", the name was changed to "Cabbage Patch Kids". His goal was to build the first and largest mass-market children's brand in history. In order to attract potential doll manufacturers and to create the entertainment and publishing businesses he envisioned, Schlaifer and his partner/wife wrote the ''Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids''. To make sense of how special cabbages gave birth to Cabbage Patch Kids, Schlaifer invented BunnyBees—the bee-like creatures that use their rabbit ears to fly about and pollinate cabbages with magical crystals. Since Roberts insisted on being a character in the story, Schlaifer created him as a curious ten-year-old boy who discovered the Cabbage Patch Kids by following a BunnyBee behind a waterfall into a magical Cabbage Patch, where he found the Cabbage Patch babies being born in a neglected garden. To save them from being abducted to work in the gold mines operated by the villainess Lavender McDade and her two cohorts in crime, Cabbage Jack and Beau Weasel, young Roberts tried to save them by finding loving parents who would adopt them and keep them safe in their homes.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In 1982, Coleco's design team, headed by famed doll designer Judy Albert, devised an industry first: one-of-a-kind, plastic-headed Cabbage Patch Kids dolls with cuter features, softer bodies and a normal toddler's proportions instead of the obese bodies of Roberts' originals.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hays |first=Constance L. |date=1998-08-01 |title=Judith Albert, 59, Toy Designer Whose Doll Led to Buyer Frenzy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/01/business/judith-albert-59-toy-designer-whose-doll-led-to-buyer-frenzy.html |access-date=2024-06-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was those comparatively inexpensive ($18 to $28) dolls, branded in packaging designed by Schlaifer and produced in Coleco's factories in China, that succeeded commercially.<ref name=CabDolls.NW83/> Coleco cancelled all of its advertising as they tried to keep up with demand—shipping a doll-industry record, 3.2 million dolls.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} Sales of dolls in 1984, along with Cabbage Patch branded merchandise generated $2,000,000,000 in retail sales across North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Coleco's sales continued to climb right through 1986, when they reportedly over-shipped and lost ground in a legal battle with Schlaifer and Roberts over his introduction of "Furskins Bears"—a collection of hillbilly bears that competed with the Cabbage Patch dolls. Coleco's sales plummeted from over $800 million in 1986 to nothing in 1988 when the company went out of business.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

===Coleco years===
[[File:Cabbage patch kids logo.gif|thumb|alt=logo for Cabbage Patch Kids]]
After changing the dolls' name to Cabbage Patch Kids, Schlaifer contacted all the major doll companies in the country. Most declined, commenting that the look of the Little People was too ugly to sell on the mass-market.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=213040&c=10|title=Cleveland's Cabbage Patch Kids turn 25|publisher=AccessNorthGA.com|date=2008-09-07|access-date=2010-08-07|archive-date=December 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205111035/http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=213040&c=10|url-status=dead}}</ref> Coleco, then famous for its success with electronic toys, were sold on becoming the Master Toy licensee, including an advertising guarantee.

At the peak of their popularity, between 1983 and 1986, the dolls were highly sought-after toys for Christmas.<ref>{{cite magazine |title= Booming Sales in Toyland |magazine= Time|date=1984-12-10 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,955377,00.html|access-date=2010-03-03 | first1=John S. | last1=DeMott | first2=Other | last2=Bureaus | first3=Rosemary | last3=Byrnes}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title= TOYS: Trouble in the Cabbage Patch|magazine=Time|date=1988-05-16 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967387,00.html|access-date=2010-03-03}}</ref> [[Cabbage Patch riots]] occurred as parents literally fought to obtain the dolls for children. In later years, Coleco introduced variants on the original Cabbage Patch Kids, and derivatives of the original line of dolls continued to be marketed.

===International variations===
When [[Coleco]] was producing the dolls for the North American market during the 1980s, they provided technical assistance to other doll manufacturers in Panama, Europe, Australia and Japan who wanted to use their molds.<ref name=CabDolls.NW83>{{cite magazine
   |magazine=[[Newsweek]]  |title=Oh, You Beautiful Dolls!
   |author1=Jerry Adler |author2=Frank Maier |author3=Nikki Finke Greenberg
   |author4=Holly Morris |author5=Tessa Namuth |author6=Darby Junkin
   |date=December 12, 1983 |pages=78–85}}</ref>

===Hasbro years===
[[Hasbro]] took over the rights to produce Cabbage Patch dolls in 1988 after Coleco filed for [[Chapter 11]] bankruptcy,<ref name=coleco-chapter11>{{cite news|title= Cabbage Patch Doll Maker Is Bankrupt |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1988-07-12|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-12-mn-5746-story.html|access-date=2013-11-12}}</ref> and continued to make the dolls with various gimmicks, including dolls that played [[kazoo]]s. Some of the more popular doll lines to come out under the Cabbage Patch Kids name included the "Birthday Kids", "Splash 'n' Tan Kids", and "Pretty Crimp and Curl". Hasbro produced a 10th anniversary doll, reintroducing Schlaifer's original packaging – a practice that other CPK doll manufacturers would do to give sales a boost on various anniversaries. Hasbro gradually began making the dolls for younger children, which led to smaller and smaller dolls.

===Mattel years===
In 1994, [[Mattel]] acquired the licensing rights to the dolls from Original Appalachian Artworks. Their first Cabbage Patch dolls hit the stores in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Service |first=New York Times News |date=1995-11-26 |title=MATTEL HOPES CABBAGE KIDS GET NEW START |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/11/26/mattel-hopes-cabbage-kids-get-new-start/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Mattel Cabbage Patch dolls were not limited to cloth bodies and included dolls made from [[Polyvinyl chloride|vinyl]], resulting in a more durable play doll. The Mattel dolls are mostly sized 14" or smaller, and most variants were individualized with a [[gimmick]] to enhance their collectibility, e.g. some dolls played on water toys, swam, ate food, or brushed their teeth.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Some Mattel lines include the updated Kids line of basic cloth dolls that came with [[birth certificate]]s, the OlympiKids that were made to coincide with the [[1996 Olympics]], and the Cabbage Patch [[Flower|Fairies]]. In January 1997, Mattel recalled the franchise's Snacktime Kids dolls after numerous complaints that they were chewing on children's hair and fingers.<ref>{{cite news|accessdate=January 25, 2023|date=January 7, 1997|first=James T.|last=Madore|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Mattel Pulls Plug On Hair-Eating Cabbage Patch Doll|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1997/01/07/mattel-pulls-plug-on-hair-eating-cabbage-patch-doll/4eb10f53-a923-44bc-a3b0-683ef5d764a9/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1997-03-03-9703020208-story.html|title=Mattel Pulls Plug On Hair-Eating Cabbage Patch Doll|first=Stacy|last=Singer|publisher=Orlando Sentinel|date=March 2, 1997|accessdate=January 25, 2023}}</ref> Also, to celebrate the dolls' 15th anniversary, Mattel created a line of exclusively female dolls with reproduction face molds, dressed in a reproduction dresses reminiscent of the original line and packaged in retro style box. These were 16 inches tall, the same measurement of the first Coleco Cabbage Kids.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

===Toys "R" Us Kids===
In 2001, with Mattel's sales stalling, a former Coleco marketing employee, Al Kahn, acquired Original Appalachian's licensing rights and sold retailer Toys "R" Us on producing 20-inch (50.8&nbsp;cm) Kids dolls and 18-inch (45.7&nbsp;cm) baby dolls, both with cloth bodies and vinyl heads. They were packaged in cardboard cabbage leaf seats. In 2001, the 20-inch dolls debuted in the [[Times Square]] flagship store. These were created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the line, and were available both online and in stores around the US. Expensive and deemed too cumbersome for most young children to play with, they did not last long at the retailer.

===Play Along Toys===
[[Play Along]] toys next obtained exclusive licensing rights to produce the Cabbage Patch Kids doll line.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Play Along set to relaunch fresh crop of Cabbage Patch Kids - Aug. 16, 2004 |url=https://money.cnn.com/2004/08/16/news/newsmakers/cabbagepatch_kids/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=money.cnn.com}}</ref> In 2004, again using Schlaifer's original packaging, Play Along launched a Cabbage Patch Kids 25th Anniversary collection using some of the original head sculpts from the very first Coleco editions. Play Along also partnered with [[Carvel (franchise)|Carvel]] in a co-branding campaign.  The resulting co-branded Cabbage Patch Kids were packaged with a Carvel-branded ice cream cone.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

===Jakks Pacific===
JAKKS Pacific acquired Play Along Toys and assumed the master toy licensee for the Cabbage Patch Kids in 2011.  Jakks introduced a 14-inch (35.6&nbsp;cm) Cabbage Patch Kids Fashionality line and other Cabbage Patch Kid products. In 2013, Jakks Pacific released the Celebration edition to commemorate the 30th Birthday of the licensed Cabbage Patch Kids. {{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

===Wicked Cool Toys===
[[Wicked Cool Toys]] is the master toy licensee for Cabbage Patch Kids as of 2015.<ref>{{cite news |last=Callan |first=Patrick |date=2015-02-10 |title=Archive » Wicked Cool Toys adopts Cabbage Patch Kids |publisher=Kidscreen |url=http://kidscreen.com/2015/02/10/wicked-cool-toys-adopts-cabbage-patch-kids/ |access-date=2016-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Herzfeld |first=Oliver |title=Cabbage Patch Kids Provide A Wake-Up Call On License Contracts |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2018/03/26/replacing-an-exclusive-licensee/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

Wicked Cool Toys released new additions like Little Sprouts, a line of tiny collectable dolls, only 1.5 inches tall.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herald |first=Boston |date=2017-11-21 |title=Miniature Cabbage Patch Kids giant fun for small hands |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2017/11/21/miniature-cabbage-patch-kids-giant-fun-for-small-hands/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Boston Herald |language=en-US}}</ref> They also released Adoptimals, 8-inch plus pets that a Cabbage Patch Kid can adopt.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herald |first=Boston |date=2015-11-23 |title=Adoptimals: The newest residents in the Cabbage Patch |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2015/11/23/adoptimals-the-newest-residents-in-the-cabbage-patch/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Boston Herald |language=en-US}}</ref>