I've long since come to the realization that Freddy Fazbear isn't the first bear I was obsessed with in my life. There have been many other bears before him, and I'd like to talk about that if I may.
I was born in 1985, so Care Bears was definitely around then. I mostly watched the cartoons growing up. I didn't own any Care Bear dolls or merch. Instead, my big obsession as a toddler was a different bear.
Teddy Ruxpin was my religion as a toddler. I watched the cartoon and had all the VHS tapes. I had Teddy and his tapes and books, and I even had his best friend, Grubby. The lore of Teddy Ruxpin's world fascinated me. It still does. I genuinely wish I could reboot the cartoon personally so it can finally get more than one season. Oh, and I had a Baby Teddy Ruxpin doll that talked when you squeezed its hand. Dad told me the only way he could tell I was asleep at night was when Baby Teddy stopped talking.
I also watched The Muppets a great deal growing up. Poor Fozzie Bear. I related to him because he tried so hard to please people, and he got heckled and bullied for it. Imagine being an autistic little girl in the 90's, when you were undiagnosed because autism wasn't widely recognized or understood back then, and you're desperately trying to figure out the illogical and insane culture of neurotypicals. You bend over backwards trying to please everyone, but no matter how hard you try, no matter what you say, no matter how desperately you stand up for yourself, everyone sees you as a crybaby, a joke, and a target for abuse. Maybe that sounds really heavy, and it is. The point I'm making is that little me was really going through it, so when I saw Fozzie getting heckled or abused, I saw myself in him and really hated seeing him suffer. Also, I LOVED Muppet Babies and the early Muppet movies as a kid. I had Muppet Babies toys as a child, including a Christmas-themed Baby Fozzie I got from McDonald's.
Yogi Bear was another bear I genuinely liked. I remember the disaster that was "Yo! Yogi". If you don't know what that show is, prepare yourself for the most painfully 90's cashgrab cartoon ever produced. I prefer classic Yogi shorts and any old Hanna Barbera films that feature him. I'm still not sure what the deal is with Boo Boo. Why is he so small? Anyway... I've watched some of the Jellystone series and really like how they treat ALL the characters on that show, including Yogi. I need to catch up on that series...
Being a 90's kid, of COURSE I watched Gummi Bears as a kid. That theme song slapped! And I loved pretending to drink Gummi berry juice and "bouncing" around the room. My favorite character back then was Gruffy. For some reason, he reminded me of my father... or what I wished my father could be. I know that might sound silly. I haven't watched Gummi Bears in a very long time. I don't know how I'd feel about Gruffi now... I do know, however, that even as a child, I found Gusto Gummi very attractive. I have no comments on the others since I can't remember a damn thing.
Another Disney cartoon I was very obsessed with was Darkwing Duck. For a good chunk of my life, I was in the Darkwing Duck fandom. There is a bear character on that show who I'm actually secretly fond of... Vladimir Goudenov Gryzlikoff is a bear with a Russian accent, and the chief agent of SHUSH, personally assisting Chief J. Gander Hooter and even standing in for him when need be. He, as a stickler for proper SHUSH procedure, exists solely to be a pain in the ass for wildcard Darkwing Duck. Darkwing, of course, is a pain in the ass to him in return. BOTH are equally stubborn men who actually make a decent team when they cooperate. They're amazing foils for each other. I guess you could say they're frenemies? Yeah.
Those are all the bears I can think of off the top of my head. If I remember any others, I'll follow up with another post.
