Another 80's reboot - This time it's Care Bears

[starstrider]

Care Bears are my other passion aside from MLP.  I have been growing my collection for a long time, and I still have my childhood Care Bears (unlike my childhood MLPs  ).  There have been so many reboots since the early 2000s, but none of them have appealed to me as much as the original series from the 80s and 90s.  I miss the soft watercolour pastels of the vintage hand painted artwork, the Forest of Feelings and Carealot were perfect holiday spots for my ponies I always thought when i was younger   I may not love this redesign style, but if it keeps the franchise alive for another few years I'll be happy.   

[Leave a Whisper]

As long as the don't make this visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 character sound female. He's supposed to be male.

And let's not forget Cosy Heart Penguin she squeaks and doesn't talk.

Actually Lotsa-Heart Elephant was originally female.  She didn't sound very female, but I do remember the show using female pronouns for her.

Most of the Care Bears / Cousins are pretty androgynous anyway, which is how I prefer them.  I hated it when they gave Cheer Bear a ponytail in the 80s show. Ergh.

They do switch gender back and forth quite a bit.

[Nemesis]

I really like the art style! It suits Care Bears much better than CGI, IMO. It almost reminds me of tokidoki.

If the penguin is not in it IT'S RUINING MY CHILDHOOD!!!

[sailorstitch]

It's been a while since there's been a new CB show or movie,  but the toys still remained in stores. I mainly focus on my favorite characters like Good Luck Bear and Swift Heart Rabbit. Because, like with the ponies, how many versions of the bears does one person need!

The gender swapping drives me crazy! I've completely lost track of who's MALE and who's female. I also don't like them changing colors of a character.  Like how Proud Heart Cat went from a golden orange to an aqua blue.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

They did the color change thing with Champ Bear, too.  He was originally gold and they changed him to blue.  apparently there weren't enough blue characters so they had to make more.

[Zapper]

If the penguin is not in it IT'S RUINING MY CHILDHOOD!!!

Gentle Heart Lamb needs to make an appearance as well or I will go on strike!!!

Noble Heart Horse, Treatheart Pig and Grams Bear. With something this cutesy, we oughtta bring back Hugs and Tugs too.

I loved the baby bears as a kid. I'm not thrilled with this Care Core Cast.

[Ponyfan]

Share Bear's tummy symbol is still wrong.  It's supposed to be an ice cream soda with two straws in it.  You know, for sharing with someone.  (I've never like the two suckers that they changed it to.)

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

They changed it years ago because encouraging kids to share a glass with a friend is a really bad idea.  (Germs.)  Although I did like the old symbol better than the lollipops.

I never liked the symbol change either but like LadyMoondancer I remember hearing that it was due to the fear of kids getting sick from sharing the same drink with someone and someone decided the lollipops was the easiest alternative to the ice cream soda to demonstrate sharing.

I also never liked changing Champ Bear from brown to blue. In the Care Bears Movie II (the one with Dark Heart and the kids at summer camp) several of the Care Bears have hair bows when they’re cubs.

I have a very old Care Beats read a long book that refers to Love a Lot as a he even though in all the other books she is female.

My favorite Care Bear cartoons are the Dic ones with Professor Coldheart.

Ponyfan

[Bekuno]

I'm always thankful for more care bears but I wish the cousins didn't get pushed aside so much. I'm not a big fan of the last reboot's portrayal of them, and I so desperately miss the DIC & Nelvana series. I hope we see the cousins in this series 

[sailorstitch]

They did the color change thing with Champ Bear, too.  He was originally gold and they changed him to blue.  apparently there weren't enough blue characters so they had to make more.

Yeah, I remember.  Several of them changed colors. Proud Heart is just the one that bugs me the most. I don't mind Secret Bear being pink so much. I like that darker/magenta pink.

[glitterball]

Hmm, as much as I am pleased that Care Bears are available to buy in stores, I must admit that the images from the reboot, to me, look "unfinished" in their simplicity.

Maybe I am too old, I just loved the original pastel-style, whimsical, detailed illustrations form the 80s.

These new illustrations remind me of the style of "The Amazing World of Gumball" characters, especially the large eyes.

"Ain't broke, don't fix", I say 

[dragonfly]

Not feeling it.

[LadyMoondancer]

The gender swapping drives me crazy! I've completely lost track of who's MALE and who's female. I also don't like them changing colors of a character.  Like how Proud Heart Cat went from a golden orange to an aqua blue.

The only gender swap that bugged me was how they changed Funshine from female to male several(?) generations ago.  (IIRC this happened around the time G3s were in stores.)  I felt like they only did it because yellow is stereotypically seen as a "boy" color, or because conventional wisdom says boys like yellow toys (which is why Bumblebee is so big in the Transformers lineup).  But even if that's the case, why can't boys like a girl teddy bear?

The color changes bother me more.  Although I do think Proud Heart looks rather nice in blue, and I love that they have her(?) white markings on her paws.

BTW Share Bear with the milkshake symbol is part of the The Bridge Direct's retro Care Bear line.  I've been really tempted to get her.

[Zapper]

It's silly how the bears look identical/have no sexual dimorphism except for those eyelashes
The old bears all had the same eyes but the newer versions make sure only the girl bears have lashes because... bear mascara or what? Older male MLPs all had lashes. Are people really that scared that a Care Bear could come across as not perfectly macho?

[Pinkie21]

On the one hand, they’re at least better than the last batch.  But, on the other, they look too plain and boring.  Nothing beat the original 80’s Care Bears, with the neat detailing on their symbols in their plush versions.  This is just another lazy reboot just like everything else in this crummy world.

[Rainbow Dash]

NOOOOOOOOO I really don't like this design....

Agreed.  Oh well, I haven't watched any Care Bears episodes since the AiCAL series (and only the first five of those!), and I won't be watching this series either.