Could you, would you, be a Bearbro?

[Rosewind]

Care Bears as a product is a plush toy. It's something less made for imaginative play, and more just for a child to treat affectionately. Furthermore, before the plush toys even, Care Bears are greeting card characters, and greeting cards are a visual medium that present clear motifs for the characters, who had in their show much more defined personalities then the ponies ever did from what I can recall. I'm just not sure there's as much imagination as called for or expected from the children with Care Bears. I doubt there was any Lauren Faust out there for it at the least..

Care Bears merch isn't just plushies -- there's plenty of collectable figures and toys out there that define what the property is, and I don't think it's squarely in the realm of plush.

Maybe I'm wrong, but as similar as the two properties are, I see a fair amount of differences too, and those differences make all the difference. I'd like to be proven wrong with this sort of thing, but just analyzing it, Care Bears seems like a much harder property to approach for the FIM treatment.

I think it's exactly those differences that can give Care Bears redemption -- if it ever comes. I'd rather have something unique and interesting than a forced, formulaic facsimile to FiM. Wouldn't you?

I wonder how Lauren Faust approached the redesign of FiM? It's obvious at this point she did a fantastic job, but I wonder what was going through her mind when she sat at the drawing table for the first time and began to pull her ideas out of the ether? It couldn't have been easy as there were dozens -- if not hundreds -- of factors to consider in relation to the property, all of which took her utmost scrutiny when putting together the pitch bible that would later become more than a idea -- and a cartoon -- but an entire culture, and something that would bring people of both genders and all walks of life together in way before, never thought possible.. I imagine if Care Bears ever gets the same treatment under the pen of an animation trailblazer like Faust, they'll use FiM as a focus point of how to make it work well, but certainly not as a blueprint.

[RarityDash]

Care Bears merch isn't just plushies -- there's plenty of collectable figures and toys out there that define what the property is, and I don't think it's squarely in the realm of plush.

Yes, but the plushies are for all intent the "main" product in the line, comparable as the brushable ponies are for MLP. The plushes are what were advertised most, I'm sure. Reading the wiki article for Care Bears, the plushes and the greeting cards (and maybe the stor are where the focus seems to be; it's undoubtedly bigger than that, but really so was MLP and I don't think anyone argues the brushables were the main thing there.

I think it's exactly those differences that can give Care Bears redemption -- if it ever comes. I'd rather have something unique and interesting than a forced, formulaic facsimile to FiM. Wouldn't you?

Of course I'd want it to be unique and interesting. At the same time it has to be compelling, which is where I see the Care Bears premise really struggling. To make is compelling for adults, you'd have to throw out everything, and with Care Bears it just seems there's a lot more to throw out than with MLP.

I wonder how Lauren Faust approached the redesign of FiM? It's obvious at this point she did a fantastic job, but I wonder what was going through her mind when she sat at the drawing table for the first time and began to pull her ideas out of the ether? It couldn't have been easy as there were dozens -- if not hundreds -- of factors to consider in relation to the property, all of which took her utmost scrutiny when putting together the pitch bible that would later become more than a idea -- and a cartoon -- but an entire culture, and something that would bring people of both genders and all walks of life together in way before, never thought possible.. I imagine if Care Bears ever gets the same treatment under the pen of an animation trailblazer like Faust, they'll use FiM as a focus point of how to make it work well, but certainly not as a blueprint.

From what I've read on the matter, a lot of Faust's creative process did stem from remembering her time playing with the ponies as a child, the personalities she'd give them and the adventures she'd come up with. If that's true, I actually don't think it was quite that hard for her. She had relative free reign to do what she wanted with the property, so she just endeavored to make the best, most creative show she could out of those childhood memories (and what she had learned from her other projects, no doubt).

Not all products and premises are equal. Some are just easier to adapt into something creative and entertaining than others. I just can't see a phenomenon like FIM ever coming from Care Bears.

[Kendrick]

I think one thing would make all the difference in the world: would the goal be to make a good show first, and hope it draws fans, or be an attempt to make something "popular."

FiM wasn't made to have a broad appeal out the gate, it was made to be a better show for girls than what they had been offered. It happened, due to organic chemistry of social climate and everything else, drawing a wider audience.

If they try to re-imagine care Bears with the thought, "Let's try to make a show that will catch not only little girls (or just kids) but these adult viewers as well," I hazard a guess that it won't have the same magic. There would be a forced feel to it that MLP: FiM hasn't had so far, and I hope never does.

Don't try to make something that will sell, just try to make something awesome, because you think people deserve awesome things.