Care Bear Treat Heart Pig

[Coma]

But the fact that no Stormy (Rainbow Brite) has ever been seen is even more sad.

I wonder who owns these bears and how they are displayed? Lol, behind glass....insured I am sure. I wonder how many of these bears are owned by people who dont even know how rare they are. And I wonder if any have been thrown away. :S

I recently read on an RB forum about the existence of the Stormy dolls - I believe the forum member had tracked down the designer who still has the prototypes. I think the forum member also had a Lala Orange Dress-Up Doll prototype, which no-one had even known existed!

I wonder how many of these ended up being thrown away. I found a Baby Wuzzle prototype recently, just sitting on a table in a toy sale, the owner clearly had no idea what it was, they just wanted to get rid of it!

[apanda0622]

Coma:  There is a Rainbow Brite forum?  Can I have the link please.  =-)

EDIT:  Found it:  http://www.strawberrysforeveryone.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=53

EdenEye:  There is an awesome looking custom Stormy on ebay right now for $200.

[Coma]

The main forum is http://forums.rainbowbrite.co.uk 

[EmBee]

Four Versions of the same photo:


                            #1                                                #2                                     #3                                   #4


                       #5      

       Is this an authentic plush?

Source: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/CareBearChristmas/Maverick%20Care%20Bear%20Plush/

Since most of us will never get our hands on a real one...
 - A pattern you could find: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lafromla/3518168981/sizes/m/in/photostream/
 - A pillow doll: http://mall.fc2.com/item/collectabletoys/12744/CareBears%2F%A5%E9%A5%B0%A5%C9%A1%BC%A5%EB%28Treat%20Heart%20Pig%29
 - And there are always customs, of course.  

-Em

[EdenEye]

Em you are awesome as usual! Thanks for the great pics!

[MercurialMonster]

A long time ago, I was on the MLPTP Forums in a chat room. I met a girl who claimed to have multiples of all the bears, included 2 or 3 of treat bear, stashed away in storage. She claimed it was her relatives who bought them for her and were storing them for her.

I wish I knew who she was, cant remember, and I wonder if she was telling the truth.

Hmmmmm.

That reminds me of someone who joined PonyFinders years ago.  She claimed to be new to the pony community, and she started talking about how she had the Sweet-Ice Delight Cottage (a sno-cone machine/playset that, as far as anyone knows, was never released).  

I was a bit skeptical, but I was nice and asked her a bit more about it, and if maybe we could see pictures of it.   But then, after the other forum members got excited and asked for pictures, she posted claiming her aunt had just taken it to the dump!   She disappeared from the community shortly after that.

I honestly don't believe her to this day... it just seemed far too convenient for her aunt to throw it away right when we asked to see photos of it.  
Not that I don't think everyone who claims to have a proto-type item is a liar, but her story (not just the convenience of not being able to provide pictures because the item was now gone) was full of holes, and hinky all around.

[invaderhorizongreen]

well today i found a kenner plush of the care bear grumpy he was in poor shape so i passed it up

[AngelBear]

Hi guys I can shed some light on this subject. I have been collecting Care Bears for 10 years and I own one of two Treat Heart Pig Poseables, and was given the opportunity to buy the Treat Heart Plush pictured as well as the blue Treat Heart Pig Plush.

Kenner was bought out by another company in 1986. By that time the annual Toy Fair catalog had been printed with hundreds of new toys planned for that year including new items from Rose Petal Place, Shimmers, Star Wars, Care Bears, Cherry Merry Muffin, SSC & More (the catalog is costly on eBay because of all the prototype non-released stuff in it).

When Kenner was bought out all new toy productions ceased that year. Some squeaked through in prototype form but were never released to the general public. Treat Heart Plush is one of those examples. Others had been released to Europe but not yet to the US and once production ceased the line was not expanded to the USA. This is why you can find Noble Heart, True Heart, Playful Heart, Proud Heart and Loyal Heart ONLY in the UK. Hong Kong, Australia and Europe had the poseables (I got my Cat, Dog and Monkey from Australia but they have been sold from Hong Kong too). In 2005 I had already purchased a very expensive set of prototypes from The Earth Toy Mall which is located in Cincinnati OH, where Kenner was located. The owner asked me if I wanted to Purchase the plush Treat Heart for $1,000 but at the time I was expecting a baby and needed the money for that, so I declined. Someone else bought it and then turned around and auctioned off on eBay for $3,000! I wished I had bought it! Generally the Treat Heart Plush and Poseables are worth three thousand a piece or more now. When I bought my poseable I was so excited I threw a party! I think I will post the old party pictures on my blog. I got him in 2008 I believe.

http://the80stoyark.blogspot.com/

[EmBee]

@EdenEye
You are welcome!  Glad I could help.

@AngelBear
Congratulations on your Treat Heart Pig poseable.  I am very happy for you.  I never collected Care Bears as a child but I have a high respect for any toy or line that means a lot to someone because I can relate.  Try not to feel too much regret about the Treat Heart Pig plush, because you had the opportunity, which is more than most of us could ever say.    Thank you for all of your great information!  It is most appreciated, especially the link to your photos.

-Em

[EmBee]

Also, after seeing AngelBear's THP poseable, I am reminded of what I found recently:

http://poseableplace.com/collecting/toys/80_era/poseables/prototypes/treatheart.htm

-Em

[MercurialMonster]

Kenner was bought out by another company in 1986.

It was Tonka Corp., in 1987.  It is sad that Tonka didn't continue with the Care Bears as they were, since they seemed to be pretty popular at the time.  

Here's a time line I found online about Kenner:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050306021420/www.kennertoys.com/history.html


Oh, and congratulations on getting the poseable of Treat Heart!  And I agree with Em, even though you didn't buy the plush, the fact that you had the opportunity to is more then most of us will ever get!

[AngelBear]

The lady who owns The Earth Toy Mall is very nice. She used to email me about Care Bears stuff when they came in. I did get to buy a complete prototype set of the environmental Care Bear poseables too but they are in the safe. I will get them out and take pictures sometime!

[AngelBear]

Oh I guess I already took pictures (forgive me, I haven't gone on my own website in five years!)

http://www.poseableplace.com/collecting/toys/90_era/poseables/poseables.htm

[EmBee]

Here are links to two different auctions that were held for real Treat Heart Pig plushes, in case anyone figures out how to view auctions past 90 days of expiration:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-KENNER-13-PROTOTYPE-TREAT-HEART-PIG-CARE-BEAR_W0QQitemZ330211975979QQihZ014QQcategoryZ228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=145980445138

http://cgi.ebay.com/Treat-Heart-Pig-Vintage-Carebear-Cousin_W0QQitemZ280166280990QQihZ018QQcategoryZ228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=145996138019

-Em

[Ianua]

Is the posable Cheeky heart monkey a prototype cos I can't find him anywhere?!?!?