Care Bears

Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in the animated TV specials The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings (1983) and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine (1984) before headlining their own television series called Care Bears from 1985 to 1988. They also had multiple feature films, including The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987). Each Care Bear is a different color or shade and has a unique image on their stomach (referred to in various media as "tummy symbols" or "belly badges") that represents their personality or specialty. The Care Bears family also include the Care Bear Cousins, which feature different animals, such as a lion, sheep, penguin, elephant, rabbit, raccoon, dog, cat, monkey, pig and horse created in the same style as the Care Bears. In 2002, new plush versions of the bears were manufactured by Play Along Toys. This relaunch of the franchise featured in three animated films: Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot (2004), The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie (2005), and Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! (2007). A revival TV series, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot, premiered on The Hub on June 2, 2012, for one season. A continuation with the same characters, Care Bears & Cousins, was commissioned by Netflix and premiered in 2015. That year, toy company Just Play debuted a range of Care Bears toys (plush, figurines, and blind bag collectibles) based on the series. The most recent TV series, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, debuted on Boomerang SVOD on February 1, 2019, and has since tied in with a new toy line from Basic Fun.