Care Bears will be the latest 80s classic franchise to get a relaunch, Variety reports.
Plans for the rebooted line include a new animated series. Variety indicates that the Hub, which already carries other American Greeting toons, will likely be the Bears' new home.
American Greetings will unveil more about the relaunch at this week's Toy Fair.
Re: The Care Bears Get Animated Again
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This move is likely inspired by the success of Hasbro's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or at the very least, that shows' success is undoubtedly a contributing factor. American Greetings is no doubt rebooting Care Bears with the hopes of catching some that "brony" heat. And given that The Hub is presently airing another series based on an American Greetings franchise, Strawberry Shortcake, this new series airing on The Hub is a no-brainer.
I'm wondering if the Care Bear Cousins will be included this time around, although Baby Hugs and Baby Tugs I could personally do without, but they'll probably return since they're presumably the characters whom the kids are supposed to identify with.
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Procrastinators unite....tomorrow.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on Feb 14, 2012, 4:15 PM)
Re: The Care Bears Get Animated Again
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I know someone who works at American Greetings...unfortunately...it was a friend of an ex-girlfriend of my brothers. (My brother broke-up with his ex last month, and it wasn't the friend from American Greetings)!
Back to topic...It's interesting that 80's nostalgia is coming back!
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Thank God for kids who love obscure things-Lee Hazelwood (1929-2007)
Re: The Care Bears Get Animated Again
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Eh, just about everything comes back nostalgically after about 20 years; kids grow up watching/reading/buying/playing with stuff, and when they get to be young adults, they want to see said stuff again...it's the Circle of Life.
Anyway, this isn't the first time that the Care Bears have staged a comeback; the franchise has been rebooted twice beforehand: once in 2002 and again in 2007 (the latter giving birth to Care Bears: Adventures in Care-A-Lot.)
I'm sure this latest attempt at a revival was if not sparked, then at least exacerbated by the success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on The Hub. No doubt American Greetings would love to have their brainchild experience the same incredible amount of instant fame. Really, that will depend on the quality of the writing and execution.
Apparently, AG has opted to do the CG thing this time around. Plus they don't seem to be going for ther personalized looks the characters had in Adventures in Care-A-Lot. Kind of a let down, I think. Here, as before, they look more uniform, like androids.
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Well, it's official: according to Hasbro's 2012 Upfront, the new Care Bears series will be airing on The Hub, and it will be entitled Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot.
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Apparently, someone at Hasbro is already trying to come up with a buzzword for adult male fans of this new show to be the Care Bears equivalent to the "Bronies" on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Clearly, Hasbro is hoping that lightning will strike twice and that adults will glom on to this series the way they did with MLP:FiM. Frankly, I just don't see this new Care Bears series taking off like that, and I certainly don't see this series becoming another FiM. Adults didn't flock to FiM just because it's a remake of a show based on an 1980s toy that's aimed predominantly at young girls. If that were the case, then adults would have latched on to Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures and Pound Puppies also.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic succeeded for a few reasons:
1. It had a well known name in the industry attached to it (Lauren Faust). I mean, if there were a new Rainbow Brite animated series and Genddy Tartakofsky were the executive producer, you would at least want to tune in to see one episode just out of curiosity.
2. MLP:FiM has a distinctive look and boasts impressive character designs.
3. MLP:FiM boasts above average writing.
I've seen the preview for Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot, and I just don't see this being another FiM. Design wise, this new series looks like a step backward from it's predecessor Care Bears: Adventures in Care-A-Lot. At least on that series, the CB characters were more individualized. Here, the characters once again look like soulless automatons with Grumpy Bear being the only stand out, and that's only because unlike the other, Grumpy rarely smiles. The animation here also looks very "pre-school". Even the CG animation in 3-2-1- Penguins was livelier. It just looks like an update of those CGI home videos from the late 90s to early 00s.
You can't make something like the "Brony" phenomenon happen, anymore than one can make the next big fad. I don't see Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot being the next FiM. It'll likley just be another Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, that is, a series that no adult is going to admit to watching, let alone glom on to. I could be proven wrong, but somehow, I doubt that.
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Procrastinators unite....tomorrow.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on May 16, 2012, 7:27 AM)
(My brother broke-up with his ex last month, and it wasn't the friend from American Greetings)! 
