Which came first: Sylvanian Families or Calico Critters?

Search: calico critters sylvanian families

Why: I saw this thing on reddit (warning: it's a mockery of religious faith):

In the comments,

One guy: My sister had these toys when we were kids. What were they called?

Other guy: http://www.calicocritters.com/ I still have some of these toys, which makes me feel both appreciative of this comic and also incredibly lazy and uncreative because I've never thought to do anything remotely this awesome

I also had little animals like those, but they were called Sylvanian Families, not Calico Critters. What on earth.

Answer: Sylvanian Families! VINDICATED!!! The little animals were created in Japan (natch) in 1985. In the early 90s, Tomy - who had been distributing the toys worldwide - lost the rights to the name Sylvanian Families in North America. They reintroduced the characters as the Calico Critters of Cloverleaf Corners (I think; this website is confusing).

Then, because it was Japan in the 80s, and because there was a craze about small velvety anthropomorphic woodland creatures, the toys turned into a cartoon series. The first anime show was done by a completely separate company and called "Maple Town."

Right?? Riveting. The Maple Town Friends were a bit different than the Sylvanian Familes. For starters, they looked more like cartoons, less like real animals. For twosies, they wore work garb - like lab coats and firefighter suits - instead of traditional home clothes.

The rabbits ran the post office.

Anyway, the next year, there was also a "Sylvanian Families" cartoon, but it wasn't a huge hit. Nobody is reading this. Bye.

Source: Maple Town, Wikipedia,

The More You Know: There is a Sylvanian Families theme park in Japan.

Of course there is.