シーモンキー
Tenyo (1970s)
With the brand’s expansion into some international markets in the 1970s, Tenyo became the licensee of Sea-Monkeys in that country, during which they released localised variants of various unique Sea-Monkey items. One notable item during Tenyo’s tenure was a cylindrical container tank, which included your primary packets, a handbook, a warranty sheet & a sticker sheet of the hatching Sea-Monkey logo.
This cylindrical aquarium saw different packaging designs throughout its release. The handbook included would also vary depending on the year it was released.
Japanese counterpart of the ‘3 Big Kits In One’ boxed set seen in the U.S. market. Like its American counterpart, it contained the primary packets used back then, an Ocean-Zoo & a pipette dropper (marketed as a Sea-Vac). In addition, the Japanese version included their unique cylindrical container seen above.
Tsukuda Original (Late 1980s-????)
Sometime in the late 1980s, by which time Larami was in charge of the Sea-Monkey license, Tsukuda Original became the sublicensee in Japan. Tsukua ended up producing a unique line of rectangular aquariums, which apparently came in two different sizes and were available in blue & red. Tsukuda’s time with the brand seems to have lasted all the way into the late 1990s, by which time Educational Insights was the licensee, and Moose Toys in Australia was the international sublicensee. Tsukuda released localised versions of kits produced by Moose Toys.
Bandai (2000s-????)
Sometime during the Educational Insight and/or Big Time Toys period, Bandai briefly held the license for that market for a time period unknown to us. Aside from a unique Ocean-Zoo box packaging and some localized kits, we don’t have much information or material from that deal period.
Happinet (2019-2021 or 2022)
In 2019, with the brand now under the charge of Dragon-i Toys, it was announced that Happinet Toys from Japan would distribute Sea-Monkeys in that market. Initially, they only distributed the blue and pink Ocean-Zoo with a unique packaging for the Japanese market. The following year, they released a unique, region-exclusive variant of the Sea-Monkeys Magic Castle that featured a transparent blue castle decoration. A year or two later, their time with the brand came to an end.
Despite their brief time with the brand, they left their mark with that transparent variant of the Magic Castle, which became sought after by some Sea-Monkets enthusiasts. Eventually, that unique Magic Castle variant was released internationally.
