the Care Bears

The Care Bears live in a magical place called Care-a-Lot. It's made up of clouds and rainbows, from where they watch over the feelings of all children around the world. Whenever they hear a "Care Bear Alert", they know they are really needed. Their motto is "Caring is what counts".
The Care Bears were released in many countries and everywhere they were named different: Die Glücksbärchis (Germany), Los Cariñositos (Spain), Halinallet (Finland), Les Bisounours (France), Les Câlinours (Canada), Gli orsetti del cuore (Italy), Care Bears (Portugal), Ursinhos Carinhosos (Brazil), Szíves Bocsok (Hungary), Kærleiksbirnirnir (Iceland), Los Ositos Cariñosos (Argentina), Krambjörnar (Sweden), Kælebjørnene (Denmark), Care Bears (Norway) en Troskliwe misie (Poland).

Characters

There are ten original Care Bears, which were followed by 14 other bears in the eighties. Meet all the Care Bears with information about their gender, color and belly symbol.

Villians
In all the films and TV series the bad guys try to stop the Care Bears in their good intentions:
Professor Cold Heart, his assistant Frost Bite and sometimes auntie Freeze.
Wizard No Heart, his bumbling apprentice Beastly and ill-tempered cousin Shreeky.
And furthermore Nicolas and the Evil Spirit, Dark Heart, The Wizard of Wonderland and his assistants Dim & Dumb, the Evil Rat King and Evil Vizier. In 2002 came the rat Sir Funnybone and in 2007 Grizzle.

History

The Care Bears are characters designed by American Greetings in 1981 for greeting cards. The original illustrations were drawn by Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner Products, a toy manufacturer made the Care Bears into plush dolls. Each bear has a different colour and a symbol that stands for its mission and personality. The symbol is known as their tummy symbol.
From 1985 to 1988, the Care Bears had their own TV series and 3 movies were made: The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation (1986) and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987).
In 2002 the Care Bears were reintroduced as a new toy by Play Along Toys. As part of the comeback, two computer-animated movies were produces: Journey to Joke-a-lot (2004) and Big Wish Movie (2005). In 2007 another movie was produced, Oopsy Does It!
1981
Muriel Fahrion designed the first six Care Bears for greetings cards, and then Elena Kucharik took over and drew hundreds of greeting cards.
1983
A toy line is made by Kenner Products and as support, the first TV special: The Land Without Feelings.
1984
The second TV special: The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine.
1985
The Care Bears play in their first movie: The Care Bears Movie. Later that year, a TV series is produced that eventually would be 22 episodes long.
1986
The second theatrical movie: Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation. In that year also began the new TV series: The Care Bears TV Series, which would run for two seasons and 70 episodes.
1987
The last cinema movie: The Care Bears' Adventure in Wonderland.
1988
In this year, the TV movie The Care Bears Nutcracker Suite is produced. The movie was originally intended as a cinema movie, but the poor results of the last movie it was shown straight on the TV.
2002
For the 20th anniversary of the Care Bears, American Greetings brings a new line of dolls, toys and movies. The Care Bears are redesigned and adapted to today’s standards.
2004
A DVD with the movie: Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot.
2005
The second DVD with: The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie.
2007
Again in 2007, the Care Bears are re-released in a new design, as part of the 25th anniversary. Including new dolls, a new movie: Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! and a new TV series: Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-lot consisting out of 26 episodes over two seasons.

Original ten Care Bears

BEDTIME BEAR
gender: male
color: blue
symbol: moon with a hanging star
He's blue with very sleepy eyes and a moon on his tummy. He brings sweet dreams to all the children and makes sure they get enough sleep.

BIRTHDAY BEAR
gender: male
color: golden orange
symbol: cupcake
No matter what is going on, Birthday Bears always finds a reason to celebrate. He can't keep his hands off sweets and gift-wrapped parcels, which often gets him into trouble.

CHEER BEAR
gender: female
color: pink
symbol: rainbow
She's the cheerleader of the bunch. She gets the adrenaline flowing with her spunky attitude and optimistic views on almost anything.

FRIEND BEAR
gender: female
color: orange
symbol: two flowers
He's the ideal friend. He is sincere and amiable, that makes it hard for anyone not to want him to be their friend.

FUNSHINE BEAR
gender: female (1980s), male (2004)
color: yellow
symbol: smiling sun
Funshine Bear has the sun on her tummy and a smile on her face. She's ready for a party anytime or anyplace.

GOOD LUCK BEAR
gender: male
color: green
symbol: four leaf clover
The Care Bears' mascot, because he has Lady Luck riding with him. Although his luck sometimes wears a little thin or is slow in coming, it never leaves him.

GRUMPY BEAR
gender: male
color: blue
symbol: raincloud
Grumpy Bear continually grumbles about anything and everything, especially about always being the one who ends up having to do all the work. But he never lets anyone help him, it's all part of the act. He has a great feel for turning a simple task into something impossibly difficult.

LOVE-A-LOT
gender: female
color: pink
symbol: two hearts
She's the eternal romantic of the group. No matter what's going on, Love-a-lot says it's all to romance. She has the power to make people fall in love with each other.

TENDERHEART BEAR
gender: male
color: brown
symbol: heart
He's the organizer and unofficial leader of the Care Bears. He has the power to inspire others to follow his lead. He's such a nice guy, that he has to ask for someone's help when his niceness has got him into trouble again.

WISH BEAR
gender: female
color: turquoise
symbol: shooting star
Wish is the somewhat naive dreamer of the group, feeling that things will always be what you wish them to be. She has the power to make things change by just wishing.

Second generation

BABY HUGS
gender: female
color: pink
symbol: heart with a star inside
Hugs loves to give everyone a great big hug to make them feel terrific. Hugs and Tugs are brother and sister.

BABY TUGS
gender: male
color: blue
symbol: star in a diaper
Tugs looks babyish, but he's big enough to be a genuine 100% Care Bear and watch over someone.

CHAMP BEAR
gender: male
color: golden orange (1980s), blue (2004)
symbol: loving cup
Champ Bear is the athlete of the Care Bears. He teaches the Care Bears how to play all the sports and helps them out when they're in need.

DAY DREAM BEAR
gender: female
color: peach
symbol: heart with stars
Day Dream Bear has her head in the clouds a little further then the others. She's always dreaming how wonderful the world could be.

GRAMS BEAR
gender: female
color: grey
symbol: flower bouquet
He makes sure that everybody feels the love of a parent's love. Grams Bear takes care of you when you're sick and help you when you're need help.

HARMONY BEAR
gender: female
color: purple
symbol: two hearts, musical notes (1980s), smiling flower (2004)
The musical bear; an up-beat bee-bopper who is always jiving to the latest beat. She thinks music can soothe the savage bear, but often can't find just the right kind of music to do so.

LAUGH-A-LOT BEAR
gender: female
color: orange
symbol: laughing star
There's always something funny going on wherever Laugh-a-lot Bear is. Her mission is to help people laugh.

SECRET BEAR
gender: male
color: golden brown
symbol: heart shaped lock
Secret Bear is the mime of the group. He prefers to talk with pantomime to get his message across, which often leads to him whispering the message in your ear. He can guard a secret like no one else, mainly because she can never get anything across.

SHARE BEAR
gender: female
color: purple
symbol: milkshake with two straws (1980s), two crossed lollypops (2002)
Share Bear loves to share everything. No need to be greedy, if you share with others, they will share with you.

SURPRISE BEAR
gender: female
color: light blue
symbol: Jack in the box with a star coming out
With Surprise Bear you never know what happens next. If he thinks of something funny, he will go ahead and do it. Fun is his middle name.

TAKE CARE BEAR
gender: female
color: red (1980s), pink (2004)
symbol: apple (1980s), smiling heart (2004)
It's Take Care Bears job to make sure everybody stays well. He's like a Care Bear doctor or nurse.

TRUEHEART BEAR
gender: female
color: light yellow
symbol: rainbow star with a heart inside
Trueheart Bear is the original Care Bear. She's the mentor of the little Care Bear Cubs, the most caring creature there ever was.