The Teddy Bears Aren't Dead
November 21st, 2008

You thought the 80s were bad, you hated the pants, plastic bracelets and big hair but you did love those teddy bears. It was sad when they all seemed to disappear from the stores and no one could find them anymore. Well, guess what? The old teddy bears are back and they are looking better than they did before. You've got Care Bears, Gummie Bears, Care Bear Cousins, Paddington Bear, and even Teddy Ruxpin.

For those that may not remember, Gummie bears were the teddy bears that were always trying to do some good. They had seven main characters: Grammi, Cubbi, Sunni, Zummi, Tummi and of course Gruffi. The cartoon was created by Disney and first aired in 1985, but would end in 1990. It was a very popular cartoon in the 80s and had a little less than 100 episodes overall, now the Gummies are slowly showing up in stores.

Care Bears were a favorite of mine, these little teddy bears were always getting into some sort of trouble. Each of the teddy bears came with their own special symbol on their tummy and had some type of special ability. They would always have to come together and do the "CareBear Stare" in order to get everything back to normal and save Care-a-Lot. The Care Bear Cousins soon came out after the Care Bears were released, at first the Cousins didn't have any symbols. The bears actually appeared on greeting cards before they aired on the television in 1985 the show lasted only 3 years. In 1996 Bedtime, Tenderheart and Cheer bear hit the shelves again but it wouldn't be until 2000s that the family of Care Bears would come back to life.

Even Teddy Ruxpin came back. In fact he's been brought back to life four separate times. Released in 1985, again by Playskool, Yes! Entertainment bought the rights in 1998 he was out again. It wasn't until 2005, when Backpack Toys re-introduced him to the world with all the latest technology. This would be the time he would finally come out to stay and he hasn't died since.

There's a trend going on lately and old teddy bears are coming back from their graves. I just hope the styles don't come back. Do you have any favorite old teddy bears?

---

Please use the form below to comment on this page:

Name:
Email Address:	(kept private)
Comments:
Let me know if my message is replied to:	yes
Please enter the digits 513 in the box. This keeps away spam robots: