Talking Tom & Friends

Talking Tom & Friends (previously named as Talking Friends until late 2014 and was written as Talking Tom and Friends until early 2021) is a Slovenian media franchise created and owned by Outfit7. The franchise focuses on various mobile apps involving anthropomorphic animal characters repeating things said by the user and TV shows starring those characters. The first app, Talking Tom Cat, launched on the 26th of June, 2010. As of October 2021, the apps have achieved more than 13 billion downloads.

History
After being founded in 2009, Outfit7 released their first apps from February to May 2010. After none of these apps became successful, Outfit7 founder Samo Login purchased a grey cat model online named "Cat Cartoon" for $90 in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboSquid#:~:text=TurboSquid%20is%20a%20digital%20media%20company%20that%20sells,in%20return%20for%20a%20percentage%20of%20the%20sales. TurboSquid]. This model was named Talking Tom and was made part of the Talking Tom app, a virtual pet app where the Talking Tom would repeat the words said by the user. It was released in June 2010, and received one million downloads within 13 days.

Outfit7 then released several other similar virtual pet apps from 2010 to 2011, such as Talking Harry the Hedgehog, Talking Rex the Dinosaur, Talking Roby the Robot, Talking Gina the Giraffe was released, with Talking Lila the Fairy, and Talking Ben the Dog was released.

In 2012, Outfit7 then introduced the Talking Friends miniseries on YouTube, starring six of the Talking Friends: Tom, Ben, Pierre, Ginger, Gina, and Angela. The ten episodes were released on the Disney YouTube channel from June 8th to August 31st of 2012.

In 2014, the Talking Tom & Friends webseries debuted on YouTube. This series retired Gina and Pierre, and introduced Hank. The fifth season of this series has finished airing on YouTube.

Characters

 * Talking Tom, a grey tabby cat. He is a wisecracking, adventure-seeking cat. He loves vowing his girlfriend Talking Angela and planing inventions with his best friend Ben. Tom, thanks to his totally charming self and his positive outlook on the world, has many friends. He’s very protective of his friends and would do anything to do what’s best for them. His life is full of adventure and happenings, he loves trying out new things and he never says no. Another very important fact about Tom is that he never ever gives up and always looks on the bright side of life.
 * Talking Ben, a brown dog and Tom's best friend. He makes inventions with Talking Tom. For the most part he’s very shy, but that’s just part of his charm. He’s a keen inventor and can spend hours, days, weeks, even months in his lab, working on his latest invention. Most of his inventions work, of course. But some days they just don’t. Have no fear, if something does not work, Talking Ben just puts it down to experience and moves on. Nothing goes to waste!
 * Talking Angela, a white cat who is Tom's girlfriend. She is a music-loving cat who likes to sing her heart out. When she is not singing, she likes fashion.
 * Talking Ginger, a young orange-and-white cat. He is a mischievous, fun-loving kitten. When Ginger is in the mood for some company, he loves to hang out with Talking Hank the most. To Ginger, Hank’s the most interesting person in the whole wide world.
 * Talking Hank, a white dog with a blue spot around his left eye and blue paws. He’s goofy, he’s clumsy, and he’s got a short attention span, but he is still lovable. Hank’s a sweet guy with a ready smile and a big heart. And though this can make him a bit gullible from time to time, he always sees the funny side! Most days you’ll find him happily sitting on the couch (he loves TV with a fiery passion) but he’s always up for an adventure, even if he’s never 100% sure what’s going on!
 * Talking Becca, a black rabbit with purple hair. She is Angela's biggest fan. She doesn't do very well when not singing. She has a crush on Hank.
 * Jeremy a blue germ which Ben magnified to destroy . He was the gang's rival and later he started a new life at the diner and became a good germ and a close friend to the gang
 * Roy Rakoon, a mischievous raccoon. He is Tom's rival and is very sneaky.
 * Talking Santa, a human with a red coat with white outlining and red pants with white shoes. Talking Santa is Talking Tom’s good friend and is quite close to Talking Ginger too. He always brings lots of presents and in return only asks for some cookies and milk.
 * Talking Pierre, a green bird with a yellow beak who is quite grumpy and annoying. He is a teenager and he loves to act all independent. Having fun is the rule of the game for this parrot and Talking Pierre follows it to the letter. His parties are legendary and one time even the police who intervened for breaking the curfew ended up having a blast! Talking Tom and Talking Ben are always trying to teach him manners but Talking Pierre will have none of that! Talking Pierre also loves computer games and he is always bragging about his latest high score. Some say he cheats but Pierre just laughs and says: “It’s all in the wrist!”
 * Talking Gina, a brown and cream giraffe who is Ginger's best friend. She loves to play patty cake and eat strawberries, carrots and drink lemonade. She is a great listener and always gives out great advice. She is also great at having fun and you can always count on her to know where the party’s at. She loves to dance and you can bet she’s got the legs for it! Her pride and joy is a pack of baby giraffes and she takes them everywhere she goes. Camping, boating, cycling and more! Having fun is Gina’s number one priority, although she also loves to educate her younglings and show them beauties of the world.
 * Talking Larry, a bird with feathers, blue eyes and black feet. He is quite unhappy most of the time, but not when he’s singing – he’s a genius whistler. He craves attention and loves applause.

Defunct Characters

 * Talking Bacteria John, a tiny bacteria with black eyes and is blue. John is kind but loves to spread germs. John also loves doughnuts, aspirin, multiplying and a good experiment. John seems to be a little bit weird, and has a very hysterical laugh.
 * Talking Lila, a fairy with red hair, and light skin. She is into magic and has a passion for singing. She can make the flowers sing and she’s also very good with lady bugs. At night she can cast spells with magic bubbles and rearrange the stars. But sometimes the spells don’t work the way she wants them too.
 * Talking Rex, a massive dinosaur with rough, dark skin and orange eyes. He loves to play fetch, and eat raw meat. He enjoys scaring people for fun, but he doesn't really hurt them. He will sometimes get into fights, but don’t worry … he is a born winner!
 * Talking Baby Hippo, a purple baby hippo. Hippo is almost always happy and giggles to almost anything. He loves to blow up balloons and chew on his pacifier. He is also a big fan of butterflies.
 * Talking Roby, an orange robot with red eyelids and green eyes. He is a dancing and piano-playing machine! He never misses a beat and can take a punch! He also loves a good soccer game, at least the part where he blows his air horn.
 * Talking Harry, a hedgehog with black spikes and grey skin. He loves peace and quiet but he also loves energy drinks. Harry after drinking becomes very energetic so he either becomes a karate master or a bullet dodger.

Games

 * Talking Tom Cat (2010)
 * Talking Baby Hippo (2010)
 * Talking Harry the Hedgehog (2010)
 * Talking Larry the Bird (2010)
 * Talking Roby the Robot (2010)
 * Talking Gina the Giraffe (2011)
 * Talking Ben the Dog (2011)
 * Talking Tom 2 (2011)
 * Talking Tom and Ben News (2011)
 * Talking Pierre (2011)
 * Tom's Love Letters (2012)
 * Tom Loves Angela (2012)
 * Talking Ginger (2012)
 * Talking Angela (2012)
 * Talking Ginger 2 (2013)
 * My Talking Tom (2013)
 * My Talking Angela (2014)
 * Talking Tom Jetski (2015)
 * Talking Tom Bubble Shooter (2015)
 * Talking Tom Gold Run (2016)
 * My Talking Hank (2017)
 * Talking Tom Camp (2017)
 * Talking Tom Pool (2017)
 * Talking Tom Jetski 2 (2018)
 * Talking Tom Candy Run (2018)
 * Talking Tom Cake Jump (2018)
 * My Talking Tom 2 (2018)
 * Talking Tom Hero Dash (2019)
 * My Talking Tom Friends (2020)
 * My Talking Angela 2 (2021)

Shows

 * Talking Friends (2012)
 * Talking Tom Shorts (2014-present)
 * Talking Tom and Friends (2014-present)
 * Talking Tom's Brainfarts (2015-2017)
 * Talking Tom Vlogs (2017)
 * Talking Tom and Friends Minis (2015-2018)
 * Talking Tom Heroes (2019-2021)
 * Talking Tom Heroes: Suddenly Super (TBA)
 * Talking Ginger's Scribblemania (2014)
 * Talking Ginger Learns and Explores (2014-2015)
 * Talking Ginger Story Time (2015)
 * Talking Tom & Friends Minisodes (2015-2016)
 * Talking Angela's Lifestyle Vlog (2015)
 * Talking Angela's Specials (2015)
 * Talking Angela's Cool Tips (2016)
 * Talking Angela's Yummy Recipes (2016-2017)