His mother is a consultant on toy design and manufacturing in Hong Kong.
Tony and Sam were the creative team, even though neither had any former training in toy design.
He has also been involved in other toy designs.
There were seven original toy designs released, with later ones being repaints.
A number of his toy designs were illegally copied by other companies.
Galoob released a similar toy design aimed at girls, called Sky Dancers.
The new toy design utilized plastic and modified the interlocking stick design.
"I always thought toy design would be out of my league and that my talent wasn't up to the task," he said.
That led him into toy design, and in the 70's, he worked on the development team that invented air hockey.
Tony and Sam are the creative team, though neither has any formal training in toy design.