Learning Curve was a toy company and a former subsidiary of RC2, now owned by Tomy. They worked closely with Gullane Entertainment and Hit Entertainment manufacturing Thomas & Friends-related toys from 1993 until 2012. In 2005, they made a deal with HiT Entertainment to become the new underwriter for airings of Thomas & Friends on PBS Kids.
History
Learning Curve was founded sometime in 1992 by John W. Lee in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Later that year Roy Wilson would start developing the Thomas Wooden Railway line. In 2002 the company was acquired by "Racing Champions Ertls", later renamed the same year to "RC2". That same year Learning Curve launched their Take Along line, starting off with Take Along Thomas.
In 2006, they recalled nearly 800 of its “Knights of the Sword” toys sold between April 2004 and March 2006 because of excessive lead levels. In June 2007, it was found out that dangerous amounts of lead paint were being used on Wooden Railway items, and thus a recall ensued. Learning Curve recalled over 1.7 million items from stores and consumers produced from January 2005 to May 2007. It seemed like they couldn't catch a break, but after this they were on the up and up.
In September 2007, it was found that more Wooden Railway items used lead paint, and because of it a second smaller recall incurred. Due to the resent events Hit Entertainment renegotiated their licenses with RC2, shorting the licenses for Take Along and extending the license for Wooden Railway. With the end of the license in 2009, Learning Curve was left with only Wooden Railway, and their other childcare products.
In 2011, RC2 and toy company, Tomy came to the agreement of $640 million for RC2 and all of their licenses. This would be the first time the company has owned the licenses to produce Thomas toys outside of Japan since 2006.
In 2013, with the purchase of the Thomas & Friends brand, Mattel bought their way out of the license with Learning Curve, handing over production on the line to Fisher-Price, their subsidiary.
Toys
The company produced the following Thomas & Friends-related toys:
- Wooden Railway (sold to Fisher-Price in 2012)
- Take Along (discontinued)
- Interactive Learning Railway (discontinued)
- FELTKids (discontinued)
They also produced the following non-Thomas toys:
- Lamaze
- Take and Toss
- Bigfoot Presents: Meteor and the Mighty Monster Trucks
- Chuggington
- Dinosaur Train
- Super WHY
- Special Agent Oso
- Take-Along Nickelodeon
- Take-Along Sesame Street
- Take-Along Bob the Builder
- Sesame Street
- Bob the Builder
- John Deere
- The First Years
- Great Railway Adventures