[Christopher]

I'm just wondering, on some of the smurfs I have, instead of Schleich it says Bully. Does this make those Smurf figures any less "worthwhile"? I use the term loosely since I still love them even if they say Bully or Schleich. I'm just wondering of anything different about them if they have a different company name on them.

[Fram]

Bully is a rival company of Schleich. They still make lots of figures (own creations, Disney, ...), but in the seventies they also made Smurfs. Sometimes they are identical to the Schleich ones, sometimes they are clearly different (Smurfette, Tennis Star, the Bully House). They are not necessarily more valuable than the Schleich ones, but they are never very easy to find, as they are out of production for more than twenty years, and some are very hard. Perhaps someone else here can give a definite start and end year for their production.
The Bully Smurfs should not be compared to e.g. the Wallace Berrie ones. Those were real Schleich Smurfs, but with a different imprint, a license.

[Syd Smurf]

Hi Christopher

The Bully smurfs are very worthwhile...as much as any of the others.

When I first started (last year) I thought that the BUlly ones were not as desired (even fakes) but I now know better. I classify them as equal standing as the Schleich marked ones depending on the individual smurf of course.

Dyar

[XoioX2000]

Fram: Many thanks for such accurate information: I did wonder about Bully before, without actually trying to find out more about it. I knew they were licensed to make smurfs at some point but wasn't how and when...

So thanks again for the clarity of your post! You are very true to your sig.

So much knowledge to share on this forum: this is very kewl!

Cheers,

David

[Syd Smurf]

I find that the Bully smurfs tend to push the other smurfs around more than the W Berrie smurfs who are berrie laid back. Most of them will acknowledge the Applause smurfs and are generally always willing to give them a hand.

Dyar

[Fram]

I have done some research, and apparently Bully was founded in 1973 and first started producing Smurfs in 1974. I'm still looking for the year they ended their production of Smurfs.

[Fram]

According to Astro, Bully made Smurfs from 1973 (not 1974), and ended it in 1980 (the making of new models, perhaps they still produced and sold old models after that).

[Guest]

I've just seen a post on MV about the smurfette with teapot sold on her own not as a super. Link here to the ebay auction I saw: -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 5929464030

Do you think this figure being sold separately was something peculiar to Applause who I understand were a division of Wallace Berrie who are in turn just a licensed version of a Schleich smurf? Very confusing!!! Can anyone shed some light?

I've decided to buy them just because I am curious!! I am sure there will be more considering how many the seller has been offering lately.

[JimEII]

I recall several years ago, I bought some Smurfs from an ad in the back of a PVC Figures magazine. The offer was for 70 Smurfs for a ridiculously low price. When they arrived, there were 10 of each Smurf, all four Smurflings, Grandma, Grandpa, and Smurfette with Teapot. So she is definitely available without her tea table. The bump in price seems odd, seeing she was readily available in large quantities.


Another way of catching an occasional bargain is to from time to time search eBay under "Applause", "Bully", or "Schleich". Sometimes sellers are not aware of what they have, and do not know where to categorize their treasure. A perfect example is, a few years ago I bought a Fafnir Dragon, under "Schleich", for $17.00, and that was with shipping from overseas.


Jim II

[Guest]

Thanks for another interesting post Jim. I really must collate all this useful information.