Calico Critters have become popular on TikTok, whether in a good or bad way. Calico Critters are little mammals that are dressed up in little cute clothes and have little houses. These creatures are known to be in families consisting of various animals from otters to deer. They were created in Japan in 1985. During that time, they were called Sylvanian Families, but due to copyright issues in the U.S., they were renamed to Calico Critters.

The first ever family was a little family of white bunnies that consisted of four children and one mom. Ever since that little family, it created a big pathway for the company that made them, their name being EPOCH Co. This gave the company the ability to make more families of animals, and even a TV show for kids to watch.

After many years of contributing to children’s childhood toys and houses, this toy brand got attention from adults also with the critters’ cutesy demeanor. This caused a ripple effect on TikTok, with many aesthetic videos of adults and teenagers unboxing mystery packs to find a cute critter or even building their own houses for the figures. Though this brand was made in the 1980s, it is still a big hit on TikTok now. Many creators contribute to their own user page by unboxing and even giving some of these toys to people who want them at a low price.

Aesthetic is one of the many big words for the Calico Critters theme on TikTok, but then there is another side of TikTok where people do funny skits with the toy brand. One of such is giving ‘lobotomies’ to the creatures when making them into keychains. Why people call it that is because they drill a part of the critter’s head and add a keychain feature to put the toy on their backpacks, phones, or even on their pants. You can buy Calico Critters in stores like Barnes and Noble, Five Below, Amazon or on their official website.