Care Bear Poseables of the 1990's

In November of 1990 Kenner began developing poseable prototypes for their Environmental Care Bear line. These prototypes, their acompanying interoffice paperwork, and all the preproduction photographs and samples came into my hands thanks to a reputable toy dealer who is based in Cincinatti Ohio (the same city as Kenner headquarters). They were brought in by an ex Kenner employee and then sold to me.

On this page I will attempt to share the information gleaned from the paperwork by outlining each step in the process of making this toy. Along with the paperwork there are numerous documents from Kenner detailing every step in the process of making a toy including many notes on production analysis, color samples, professional photos, and invoices. I will share a bit of these with you.

Project # 6434

PRODUCTION COLOR AND DECORATION INFORMATION SHEETS MADE
November 15, 1990

There are a total of six of these sheets (one for: Tenderheart, Bedtime, Cheer, Love-A-Lot, Share & Friend). Their purpose was to label the pantone colors for the HEADS ONLY (Pantone is a world renound color specialist company), and the meathods of application.

All of the eye paint was to be tampographed, all of the muzzles were to be airbrushed, and all of the freckles were to be applied by a 'freckle pen'. It also lists on the upper right corner where the items were to be manufacturerd which was the "orient".

DETAILED GRAPHICS TO IMITATE PLUSH LINE ARE CREATED
Sometime between November '90 and January '91

There were several samples incuded within the paperwork.

PROTOTYPE ENVIRONMENTAL PLUSH PHOTOS

These origional photographs were included to help designers with the color palate of the poseables. Larger photos of these prototypes will be available on another page later.

TUMMY ROUGHS

These are small scanned thumbnails of the origional paintings of the plush tummy symbols. In the lower right corner are the simplified versions meant for the poseables. This shows that in the origional planning stages there were to be 8 of these poseables instead of the later 6. Bedtime & Wish bears were the two that were scrapped.

 

PANTONE COLOR SELECTIONS - TUMMY SYMBOLS

Notice that at this point they decided to go with Funshine instead of Bedtime. On Friend's photograph you can see Funshine's emblem as well as the rub on heart symbol for the back tush.

TUMMY COLOR SELECTION TAMPO SAMPLES

I can only assume these were made to show which color went where. There was one for each bear included.

 

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION SHEET IS CREATED
February 4, 1991

(NOTE: It is likely the bold world "CANCELLED" was written much later on these sheets.)

This is probably the most interesting sheet out of all the paperwork in this packet. There is so much information contained on it! For this reason I have created a thumbnail. Click on it and you will see the full version of this paper. I did not do this with all of the paperwork because of space considerations.

SOME KEY POINTS

• RELEASE: Notice that the release date was supposed to be a year from the production meetings on 1/6/92.
• PACKAGING: Note that the package size woul have been 8"L X 10" W, similar to the origional 1980's PVC figure packaging. It was also going to be on a blister card.
• ROYALTY LICENCE: Those Characters From Cleveland recieved 5% of profits from the sale.
• MARKETING STRATEGY: Maximize collectability and stimulate product trial by introducing low priced asortment.
• COSTS: Each figure was going to cost $2.49 each. Kenner set a sales quota of $375 million dollars in profits, with a potential of $450 million if the product took off. If that were possible they would have to create millions of units.
• PRODUCTION: In the Product Description area it lists as the heads and bodies being rotocast and the arms and legs solid injection molded. Here is a good explaination for rotocasting "Rotocasting got its start in Germany in the mid-20s, with the creation of those hollow chocolate bunnies that are still around today. First, liquid material is poured into a mold. The mold is rotated on two axes (that's "more than one axis," not "things you use to chop wood") and the liquid coats the interior walls. The liquid solidifies as it cools, creating strong yet thin hollow shapes with smooth interiors. Rotocasting is gaining in popularity because it's cheaper, faster, and more reliable than traditional injection molding. The molds last longer and present better results, and it takes less time to turn out parts. Most rotocast figures are molded from PVC (soft, pliable plastic) rather than ABS (the hard, brittle stuff), which does present some limitations when it comes to types of articulation, but nothing major." source Solid injection molds are two part molds where the plastic is injected and the item is completely solid (i.e. PVC figures).
• PACKOUT RATIOS: This is by far the most interesting part of this page to me. Toy companies look at each product in a line and determine which ones will sell the best. Since these poseables were targeted toward girls they planned to send out more of the pink-colored bears. Three of the bears had a POR of 5, one of 4, one of 3, and one (Tenderheart) of only 2. If the line had been produced, Tenderheart would have been historically more rare than the others because of the ratio.
• SKU: The actual "Stock Keeping Unit" number was listed, proving that these thigns are thought up very early in the process.

PERFORMANCE CLAIM SHEET IS CREATED
February 4, 1991

(NOTE: It is likely the bold world "CANCELLED" was written much later on these sheets.)

This sheet outlines the product facets, i.e. moveability, these aspects would have probably been featured somewhere on the packaging with words like "Pose me in different positions!" Two persons were responsible for these aspects, the Engeneer in charge and the Engineering director (names blacked out).

'VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN' CREATES THE PROTOTYPES
February 4, 1991

A copy of the origional invoice with the names and address of the origional company blacked out was included. At the bottom of the page there is a logo that reads "VisualCommunicationDesign". I assume this is the name of the vendor that created the prototypes. I have tried to find this company by googling their name. Unfortunately there are a great deal of companies and projects that match this name. Without the address I have been unable to verify their preexistance.

It is interesting to note the cost of the creation of these prototypes. $3,200!

The description says "Tanmpo art & Films" Tanmpo is supposed to be Tampo - short for tampograph, which is a machine similar to pad printing machines. I am not yet sure what "films" is.

Note: Feb 4th is likely the date of invoice and NOT the date the poseables came into Kenner hands. Often companies submit invoices well after the product is recieved. Accounts Payable paid this invoice on the 7th.

 

COLOR BREAKDOWN PRODUCTION CHARTS CREATED
April 18, 1991

These Three sheets list in detail the exact mold criteria, pantone colors, and paint styles that were to be used on each part. At the bottom of the first page it says "To avoid excessive cost abd M.O.Q. (Metaphysics of Quality) problems, one pink hair color will be rooted for all eight bears" Notice the error this person made by stating "8", when it was known for many months and stated on the sheet that there were only to be six made.

(Click on image to see deatil)

 

Looking over this paperwork has given me a much bigger understanding on the processes required to create new toys. I believe every detail of the process was outlined within this paperwork.

The toy dealer asserts that these prototypes were the only ones created, making them one of a kind.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE POSEABLES (Gathered From The Paperwork )

• The reason why the poseables are made with the same molds as the origional poseables was to cut costs. The documents refered to it as "using existing tooling" . It also stated that it may have to order new tooling (molds) if they could not locate any in-house. By that time it is assumed that the molds had been turned over.
• The company that created the prototypes charged Kenner $3,000 according to the invoice.
• In a meeting about these poseables they agreed that the distribution of each character would not be equal - which explains why certain toys are more rare - the company did not believe that there would be an equal demand for each character.

MORE FACTS, PICTURES AND INFO CONCERNING THESE PROTOTYPES COMING SOON!