Toys TOYS

Glo-Friends

Originally made by Hasbro-Bradley, then just 'Hasbro', then Playskool(they're all joined anyway!), these little lovelies were made from 1984 onwards. To start with there were just 6 of them, basically made to cash-in on the sucess of the Playskool 'Gloworm'(green body purple PJ's) I think.

Glo-Friends are about 3 inches high, made from a glow-in-the-dark, soft plastic and have holes in the bottom so they could be used as finger-puppets(and are often referred to as such).

I believe the UK only got the first 15 of these (Glo Butterfly, Glo Snugbug, Glo Grannybug, Glo Bopbug, Glo Bashfull, Glo Skunkbug, Glo Clutterbug, Glo Doodlebug, Glo Bug, Glo Snail, Glo Bookbug, Glo Worm, Glo Cricket, Glo Spider, and Glo Hopper) whereas in the USA 39 Glo Friends were released, as well as 4 animal carriers (Frog came with Sluggerbug, duck came with Waterbug, Rabbit came with Garden Ant and Country Mouse came with Cappybug), one turtle with wheels underneath (Glo Turtle came with Glo hopper), a Treehouse (which came with Bedbug) that had a moondrops pool that sang, a musical swing and a 'working elevator'(a piece of the ground floor that you could pull up to the first floor). There were also carry cases, and treehouse display boards.

The later Glo Friends were Glo Bedbug, Glo Tootlebug, Glo Horsefly, Glo Nuttybug, Glo Bonnie Beetle, Glo Firefly, Glo Flutterbug, Glo Cappybug, Glo Waterbug, Glo Sluggerbug, Glo Sniffles Snail, Glo Garden Ant, Glo Dragonflyer(or 'Shuttlebug' in the USA) and Glo Prayerbug.

Photo Larah Wylde


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Do You Remember Glo-Friends?

Do You Remember Glo-Friends?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    did the glow glow pals have a treehouse or a playset also?? I had some bugs and a house of some sort to go with them but its not the glo-friends treehouse or others. this had green tubes on it--kind of like a hamsters cage. anyone know what it is?
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I never had any Glo friends as a kid. However I did have a fake one which was an elephant, I still thought it was quite cool and I used to love taking it to bed with me and watching it Glow in the dark!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    The advert went "Glo freinds, glo freinds they hang about when the light goes out and gently glow from head to toe"
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I wanted one so bad and i remember borrowing it off my friend for the night ( i was 6) she told me to put it under the light to make it glow, so i did and but totally forgot about it ....came back and its face had melted into it's body ...oh my gosh i was so so upset and mum went mad cuz the pesky thing set on the wooden drawers..
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Ah yes, Mine was in a little sleeping bag which was blue, but I ruined it by collecting those little sticky ball things from the garden lol I'm trawling through ebay to find all the toys I used to have. I'm having a retro 5 minutes .
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I believe I had one called a Glo-Bug (I was really into glow-in-the-dark stuff when I was a kid), and I believe came in a little sleeping-bag.