The Care Bears are easily my favourite collection of multicoloured bear characters.
Their whimsical ways and insignia’d bellies certainly moulded my childhood mind into the eventual spectacle of a person that I am today.
I often wonder about what happened to those guys. Let’s find out…
Cheer Bear
Always concerned with helping others, Cheer Bear continued that chirpy nature of hers straight into the world of showbiz. The X Factor quickly snapped CB up when her obligations with The Care Bears finished, employing her as a therapy bear for contestants that were voted out. The necessity for her position arose when Rachel Adedeji threw a fit in the dressing room after she lost out to Lloyd Daniels in week four of the fifth series.
Cheer Bear has helped the likes of Treyc Cohen, Frankie Cocozza, Janet Devlin and Diva Fever, along with Louis Walsh when he found out his contract wasn’t being renewed for another series. The work that Cheer Bear has been doing is nothing short of vital to the overall success of the show. She is truly a success story.
Funshine Bear
A true optimist at heart, Funshine Bear was known for allowing his inner sun to shine, even on the rainiest of days. Quite a natural progression after The Care Bears, FB found his way into the business of meteorology. After a rocky start, he learned the trade quicker than any young meteorologist has ever done before. Once he learned that sometimes, occasionally, it rains, he was flying it.
An irregular shaped mole took Funshine Bear out of the workforce for a while. It was a simple procedure which saw the offending mole removed in an minimally invasive surgery, under local anesthetic. A short recovery period later, FB was back broadcasting the weather to the nation on BBC Radio 1. Weather you liked his character or not, you have to applaud the success story that Funshine Bear has turned out to be.
Grumpy Bear
Not exactly known for his chirpiness, Grumpy Bear was pretty angry when his commitments with The Care Bears ended. He wanted a stable job to support his grumpy ways, but unfortunately, they couldn’t guarantee him that. GB ransacked the set, calling his coworkers all manner of names including ‘furry freaks’ ‘unfair bears’ and other comments that we cannot repeat on this website.
A testing while later, GB managed to secure a job at a toll booth, collecting fares from cars. He’s as close to happy as he can ever get. Grumpy Bear said he enjoys throwing change into cars so they have great trouble finding it. He refuses to accept credit card payments and his failures as a human being.
Friend Bear
Nobody saw this one coming. With the introduction of the internet and all the dangers it brings with it, Friend Bear went down a slippery path. She took a fondness to Facebook and quickly had over 4,000 friends. Naturally, this brought with it more harm than good, as it wasn’t long before FB was in touch with people that weren’t exactly as they seemed.
Friend Bear was catfished by none other than the creator of Catfish, Nev Schulman. He broke her precious little heart into pieces for the sake of a documentary demonstrating the dangers of the internet. After that, she spent a while on her own and ultimately befriended Max, the co-presenter of the show. They’re very close to this day and enjoy doing activities together such as swimming, karate and handing out forms for the Tidy Towns competition.
Good Luck Bear
Tragedy struck an unsuspecting Good Luck Bear during the final weeks of filming with The Care Bears. He developed a debilitating addiction to scratch cards. GLB managed to keep it under wraps until his commitments ended, but soon afterwards, the cracks began to show, with him buying upwards of thirty-seven scratch cards a day to feed his addiction.
Ironically, a hefty win on a Winning Streak meant that Good Luck Bear could pay to check himself into a nearby rehabilitation clinic to treat his addiction. He’s now three years clean and shows no signs of slipping back into his old ways. GLB works in a greyhound stadium, allowing patrons to rub his belly for luck, charging them a very reasonable €2 per rub. We wish him all the best on his future endeavours.
Harmony Bear
Now a household name, Harmony Bear founded the very successful eHarmony online dating website. With an average of 438 marrying a match they found on the site each day, the sky is truly the limit for HB’s ideas. Couples the world over have her savvy ways to thank for bringing them together. She understands what it means to need love, having found it herself on the set of The Care Bears, with Wish Bear.
She is also a tycoon in the ice cream industry, providing the people of the world with delicious summertime icy treats. HB has been hailed as the most successful Care Bear and we’re inclined to agree. Her entrepreneurship truly is something to admire, especially since she’s hotly tipped to be starring as a dragon in the next series of Dragon’s Den.
Images via Care Bears Wikia.
