Grumpy Bear’s Role in the Care Bears Franchise: His Missed Potential and How He Can be Used
I’ve had many special interests over the course of my life (old cartoons, Sonic the Hedgehog, Total Drama, and especially Eurovision), but one of the first ones I’ve attached myself to as a little kid was the Care Bears franchise.
As a kid growing up in the 2000s, I was there when 80s franchises (for girls) made a comeback. My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite — I was there, and I grew up with these girly things, too. But, for some reason, the Care Bears will always stick with me until the day I die.
There are plenty of wonderful and iconic Care Bears characters I can discuss — Cheer Bear, Tenderheart Bear, Funshine Bear, and my personal favorite Wish Bear. However, one bear I want to discuss in detail is the worrywart mechanic of Care-a-Lot himself, Grumpy Bear.
What I want to discuss in particular is… what exactly is Grumpy Bear’s role in the Care Bears franchise? I know he’s the mechanic and all, but what’s his purpose in the Care Bears universe? Throughout the entirety of this series, we’ve never really known what exactly he does as a Care Bear. Most of the time, he’s used as the butt of a joke. What’s his point in existing?
Cheer Bear is there to help cheer people up, Share Bear is there to promote sharing, and Wish Bear is meant to deal with wishes. But what exactly does Grumpy Bear do? Care-a-Lot is supposed to be a happy and whimsical place, so his existence makes even less sense hypothetically. Why would any universe that’s supposed to be as happy and whimsical as Care-a-Lot want a grumpy worrywart like, well…Grumpy Bear?
I’ve thought about a little bit as a kid and especially as a teenager, but it’s now as an adult where I realized something. Grumpy Bear’s potential is not being used properly, and in a time like now, his existence is more important than ever.
The episode I want to discuss in particular is the Welcome to Care-a-Lot episode “Sad About You”. This episode is about a girl named Joy swearing off friendship after her best friend moves away, and the Care Bears have to cheer her up. That’s about it for the premise. However, the execution of this episode had me questioning things. For example, here’s the song I remember the most from this show:
Right before the song starts, Grumpy Bear had a moment with the child of the episode, this girl named Joy. As I’ve stated previously, her best friend moved away, and she promised to never any more friends. Well, the rest of the Care Bears wanted to immediately cheer her up, while Grumpy Bear had a brief heart-to-heart with Joy.
And you know what? It made Joy feel a little better because she had someone who understood the sadness she felt. Believe it or not, it’s okay to express the negative emotions you’re feeling as long as you’re expressing them in a healthy way. Even Tenderheart Bear says so in this episode (as for how the episode itself was written, well… that’s another story for another day).
And… that’s where Harmony Bear (who I don’t really car for, especially in Welcome to Care-a-Lot), and later Cheer Bear, come in and make Joy feel depressed all over again (though that was mostly Cheer Bear’s fault, and I don’t really care for Cheer Bear in Welcome to Care-a-Lot, either).
After watching that episode, I thought to myself… “How come most of the Care Bears media I’ve consumed as a kid didn’t have Grumpy Bear consoling people and letting people express their negative emotions?”
I’m being serious here. Maybe I’m wrong because I haven’t watched anything Care Bears related since I was a kid, but in practically every iteration of the Care Bears, Grumpy Bear was portrayed as a mechanic at best and the butt of a joke at worst.
Why can’t more Care Bears iterations have Grumpy Bear emphasizing with other sad kids? Take Cheer Bear for example. Her role in the Care Bears universe is cheering people up, and she does just that. It’s literally in her name, and she’s one of the most popular bears for a reason! Why else would you see her on so much merchandise?
Cheer Bear’s not the only one who does a role associated with her name. Friend Bear’s job is to make friendships, and she does so in the first Care Bears movie with Kim and Jason. Tenderheart Bear is the sensible bear who offers sympathy and advice. Even Wish Bear has a movie where she’s the protagonist, and she does wishes (Now that I write this aloud, I think the movie may be the reason why she’s my favorite bear.)! Where’s the love for Grumpy Bear? What’s his role in the Care Bears universe?
Am I saying I can do a better job at implementing Grumpy Bear in a Care Bears project? I don’t know — maybe, though probably not. All I’m saying is that I just want Grumpy Bear to have a more important role emphasizing with other people’s negative feelings and helping them express them in healthy ways — just like how Cheer Bear cheers people up. That’s all I’m asking. I just want that to be Grumpy Bear’s purpose in the Care Bears universe.
