Care Bears - Characters and Universe

Characters and Universe

The franchise consists mainly of the Care Bears themselves, as well as the later additions the Care Bear Cousins. Both of them live in the Kingdom of Caring, which is made up of Care-a-lot (the home of the Care Bears proper) and the Forest of Feelings (home to the Care Bear Cousins). In 1989, Carole Ashkinaze of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution referred to them as "the whimsical, late 20th-century descendents of what we used to know as guardian angels: furry, friendly, adorable creatures whose mission is to guide small children and protect them from bogeymen. Running against a Care Bear is like, well, running against the Easter Bunny."

Accompanying them are the Star and Heart Buddies, who look out for the Bears and Cousins whenever they are on missions in caring; and the Birds, who are usually seen in the Forest of Feelings with the Care Bear Cousins and watch over them. A less recurring character is The Cloud Keeper, the portly gentleman who maintains Care-a-lot. He only appeared in some of the franchise's early publications and on the DiC-produced TV episodes.

The ten original Care Bears consisted of Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear, and Wish Bear. Later on, additional bears joined them, as well as the Cousins.

For the new 2007 TV series, Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-lot, five of the Care Bears were chosen to be the main characters of the show. As seen on the Care Bears website, they are Share Bear, Cheer Bear, Funshine Bear, Grumpy Bear, and the new bear introduced in the movie, Oopsy Bear who would frequently make a mess of things. However, the other Care Bears still make appearances in the series. The unofficial role of leader of the bears, as of the new series, was transferred from Tenderheart Bear to Cheer Bear. The cousins were not relaunched in the 2007 series.

Some elements of the Care Bears franchise pay homage to the legend of King Arthur. For example, the name of the main characters' residence, Care-a-lot, is a play on King Arthur's legendary Camelot castle. The Care Bear Family sits around a heart-shaped table, similar to the Round Table used by Arthur and his knights. In addition, Sir Lancelot's name inspired that of Love-a-lot Bear.

Throughout the movies and series, various villains have tried to stop the Bears and Cousins in the background on their missions. On the first two specials and DiC television series, they battled against Professor Coldheart, his assistant Frostbite, and occasionally Auntie Freeze; in Nelvana's version, they faced Wizard No Heart, his bumbling assistant Beastly and his ill-tempered niece Shreeky, and minor villains such as Dr. Fright and Sour Sam. In the movies, they went up against Nicholas and the Evil Spirit in The Care Bears Movie, Dark Heart in Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, The Wizard of Wonderland and his assistants Dim & Dumb in The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, and the Rat King and Evil Vizier in Care Bears Nutcracker Suite. Following the 2002 revival, Sir Funnybone the rat was introduced as a villain in the movie Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot, while The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie broke from tradition in which it did not have a villain. For the 2007 revival, The new movie, Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! introduced new villains, Grizzle and WingNut, who persists into the new TV series, Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-lot.