Mr. Beastly

Can you believe it's been almost 30 years since the Nelvana Care Bear series hit the screen? If you assume, as most of the fandom does, that the beginning of the second movie took place in 1981 (the year the franchise was born) and that all the Care Bears' adventures took place from 1981 to 1986, imagine how much The Kingdom of Caring has changed in 29 years. What are our favorite characters doing? Is No Heart still a threat? What's Shrieky up to? She's got to be old enough by now to've learned all the tricks of the evil wizarding trade. And what about Beastly? I've always wondered why No Heart never cast a spell on him to make him more competent or at least more threatening, like in the episode Caring Crystals where he's so batscheiss insane he's willing to commit suicide by dynamiting a mineshaft with him still inside just to bring down one Care Bear.

Frankly I'm surprised he doesn't have a whole army of batscheiss Beastlies. I mean, he does introduce himself to the audience as a physical embodiment of hatred and evil. No Heart is loathing given human form, shouldn't he have something a little more intimidating at his disposal than a bungling furball and some cooing shadows? Wait, if No Heart is hate incarnate, what does that make the Care Bears? Love incarnate? So if the Care Bears' mission is to spread love and tolerance, and No Heart's goal is the polar opposite, doesn't that make him less of a villain and more of a necessary balancing force? I mean, we'd live in a pretty messed up world if people loved and tolerated serial killers and rapists. Under certain circumstances, hatred, intolerance, fear, suspicion, and all the other emotions we associate with negativity aren't inherently negative at all. They're just a normal, necessary part of being human and surviving in a complicated world.

Aaand once again a description about Care Bears makes a U-turn into philosophy and and human psychology. And with the rate at which Care Bears and swastikas go together in this gallery I should just start a blog called "Care Bears and Politics."

General Palladium and General Klaus clap their hands in enthusiastic approval.