Sunday, March 6

Care Bear Cousins through the years


While the Care Bears started in 1982, the Care Bear Cousins were introduced in 1985. Meaning their 30th anniversary was last year. The cousins went from 9 originally introduced in toys and the Dic series to 10 in the Nelvana series (Noble Heart Horse added) to 9 for the 2004 revival toys (Treat Heart Pig omitted) and to now 4 for the Netflix series.
The Hub had a show called "Welcome to Care-A-Lot," sequel series has now showed up on  Netflix called Care Bears & Cousins with four of the Care Bear Cousins.

The four cousins are Brave Heart Lion, Bright Heart Raccoon, Lotsa Heart Elephant and Cozy Heart Penguin.

Proud Heart Cat
Originally a peach color, he was given a turquoise color in 2004 for the revival in merchandise and toy. He was a baby in the Care Bears II: New Generation. He doesn't get much attention. He was made female in 2004. Left to right; 1985 promotional art, Dic cartoon and Nelvana cartoon. Her symbol is a heart in a star.

Loyal Heart Dog
A blue dog. Left to Right: 1985 promo art, Dic, Nelvana and 2004 toy. The 2005 toy he got a heart-shaped patch over his eye. His symbol is a bar holding a heart.

 Gentle Heart Lamb
A female light green lamb. She is shy and sweet. Left to Right: 1985 Promo image, Dic, Nelvana and 2004 toy. Her symbol is a pin-cushion heart.

Playful Heart Monkey
Male yellow-orange monkey. He is the jokester of the group. Left to Right: 1985 promo image, Dic, Nelvana and 2004 toy. His symbol was a heart with a party hat on it with a birthday horn. For the revival, the horn was removed and the party hat went on top of the heart.

Swift Heart Rabbit
Female light blue fur rabbit. She is super fast and is overconfident. In 2004, the wings went from in front of the heart and to the bottom to being behind the heart on the top. In the Dic cartoon, she was referred to as a 'he' even though in the Nelvana cartoons she was a she. Left to Right: 1985 promo image, Dic, Nelvana, 2004 toy

Treat Heart Pig
Yellow female pig with a ice cream cone symbol. She was not included in the 2nd Care Bears movie and was not included in neither the 2004 nor the 2016 revival. In the 1985 promo info, she was referred to as a he. 
Left to Right: 1985 promo pic, Dic and Nelvana

 Noble Heart Horse
He was introduced as the dad-figure in Care Bears II: A New Generation. His fur is purple but the toy was multi-pastel color. He did have a 2004 revival toy even though wikipedia pages say no. In a comic book he appeared to be on all fours and Proud Heart Bear rode her. His symbol is  a heart with a star on it.

 Cozy Heart Penguin
Left to Right: 1985 art, Dic, Nelvana, 2004 revival and 2016 series. She is a lilac color, she is sweet. Her 2016 revival is the shortest and trills instead of speaking. Her symbol is a heart with a hat on it. 

Bright Heart Raccoon
 Left to right: 1985 promo art, dic, nelvana, 2004 promo art and 2016 series. His symbol was a heart like a lightbulb and for the 2004 revival, it became light sparks around the heart to back to the original symbol for 2016. He is the smart one. 

Lotsa Heart Elepehant
He was a strong and caring pink bear. For the 2016 revival, he was changed to female. Left to Right: 1985 promo art, Dic, Nelvana, 2004 toy and 2016 series. Symbol is a weight with hearts on it. 

 Brave Heart Lion
The de-facto leader/male brown-orange lion. Left to Right: 1985 promo art, Dic, Nelvana, 2004 revival and 2016 series. The symbol is basically a crown on a heart but changed. He is the only one that his symbol has changed the most out of the four chosen for the revival. Originally the crown was to the left and had pink on top. In the revival it was purple and to the right. For 2016, stayed to the right without a cushion.

If this series succeeds, I would love to see them all back. I am guessing the Lamb, Monkey and Rabbit are most likely to be revived.