Who are
these care bears?
the care bears are a group of cuddley little bears that help us
understand our feelings and cheer us up when we are feeling blue.
each care bear deals with a different emotion. these bears are from
the land of care-a-lot, way up in the fluffy, white clouds. this is
where they live, play, and watch over the people down on earth.
care-a-lot is part of the kingdom of caring. the care bears are not
alone in this kingdom. they share this place with their cousins,
whose home is called the forest of feelings. the forest of feelings
is a beautiful place, with trees and flowers and sparkling rivers.
the care bears also have some friends around, as well as some
enemies. the care bears battle their enemies to protect kindness
throughout.
Care bear
history:
These cuties made their first appearance in greeting cards-a
telling pedigree, because when the Bears evolved into a plush toy
line from Kenner in the mid-1980s, they still acted like greeting
cards. They wished you well, they celebrated your birthday with
you, they picked you up when you were feeling down never before has
touchy-feeliness had such an ally in a toy.
The original Care Bears were twelve-inch plush animals, each a
different color, and each with a different embroidered symbol on
its belly symbolizing the sentiment that the particular Bear was
named after. There were the Tenderheart, Cheer, Funshine, Good
Luck, Birthday, Wish, Friend, Grumpy, Love-a-Lot and Bedtime Bears.
And in Britain, Australia and Canada, there were Sea Friend and
Forest Friend bears. All the bears rear ends (American and British
rear ends alike) had plastic hearts imbedded within the fur a plush
animal equivalent to a birthmark, if you will, just to make sure
nobody fell victim to any seemingly caring imposters.
According to the fiction that surrounded them, the Care Bears lived
in the land called Care-a-Lot, where they chased the blues away and
matched wits against depressive bad guys like Professor Coldheart
and No-Heart. And when they needed to pull out the big guns, they
used their patented "Care Bear Stare", standing side by side and
focusing their kindly power into a rainbow of Care-power at
whatever foul emotional state stood in their way. And theres not a
bad mood out there that can stand up to a weapon like that.
Kenner soon released more Care Bear characters, and all the Bears
were issued in more sizes there were six-, thirteen-, eighteen- and
thirty-six-inchers. There were also Care Bear patterns that allowed
the more domestically-savvy toy lovers out there to create a little
Caring magic at home; there were bed linens, books, puzzles,
novelty kid items and periphery merchandise galore; there were
plastic Bears and special ceramic and porcelain Bears. There were
also the Care Bear Cousins, which were animals besides bears. And
lest you think the Bears didnt know what topical issues of the day
were, there were ecologically-themed Bears in the early 1990s.
Then, to try and grab a piece of that late 90s Beanie Baby pie o
hype, Kenner issued six Beanlings: Tenderheart, Friend, Cheer,
Share, Bedtime and Good-Luck bears.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, the Care Bears frolicked up on the
silver screen, first in the The Care Bears Movie featuring the
voice of Mickey Rooney and songs by Carole King and John Sebastian
and then in two sequels after that. The Bears got two of their own
animated series also: The Care Bears and The Care Bear Family. The
notorious 80's Brat Pack actors didnt have that many starring
turns, now did they? It just goes to show you, decency
pays.
