History Characters / TheBerenstainBears

* CountryMouse
* GentleGiant

* StupidEvil: In the books.

* CharacterDevelopment: In the 2003 series, Too-Tall is initially introduced as a thuggish, tough bully and troublemaker who antagonizes Brother Bear out of jealousy ("Go To School", "Double Dare", "The Birthday Boy", "The Slumber Party", "Trick or Treat", "Mighty Milton"). Over time, Too-Tall learns from Brother's kindness that the smaller cub is a genuinely good person and his jealousy of him fades, while Brother discovers from spending time around Too-Tall that he does have layers beyond 'mean kid' and that he might have misjudged him. The two gain respect for each other, and Too-Tall gradually matures. He becomes a calmer, less abrasive cub and settles into the role of the protagonists' frenemy and eventual friend in the second half of the series ("The Talent Show", "The Big Red Kite", "Showdown at Birder's Wood", "White Water Adventure", "Big Road Race", "Papa's Pizza", "The Female Fullback", "Say Please And Thank You"), likely because of Brother's influence softening him.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Too-Tall becomes friends with Harry [=McGill=], a HandicappedBadass he was taunting, after the latter beat him in wheelchair basketball. Harry also thanks him for giving him a cool nickname, "Wheels."

* FairWeatherFriend: After letting Brother roll with his gang, he swindles Brother into helping him with his pranks (for his amusement) and then leaves him hanging to face Farmer Ben in "Double Dare".

* TheResenter: It's at times implied (in stories like "Mighty Milton") that he envies Brother Bear and resents him for being a better athlete than him and being more popular than him, though he eventually grows out of this trait.

* CanonForeigner: Originally appeared in the TV series and then made a cameo appearance in ''The Prize Pumpkin''. Later became a recurring antagonist of the ''Bear Scouts'' chapter books.

** In the ''Big Chapter Book'' ''And the Drug-Free Zone'', he's ''irate'' when he finds the drugs hidden in his houseboat and very frankly informs the cubs that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he'd never sell or do anything that would legitimately endanger them]].
** In the ''Big Chapter Book'' ''In the Freaky Funhouse'', he is ''infuriated'' when two other cons manage to get away with all but a few dollars of the funds that were planned to be used to build a new hospital wing. May also double as HypocriticalHumor, though even he has never gone ''that'' far.

* PetTheDog: In the very first ''Big Chapter'' book, he offered to pay the cubs some spending money (or "extra bread", as he put it). Not in helping him in one of his cons, but simply fixing up his houseboat.

* RealMenWearPink: In "The Berenstain Bears Gotta Dance!", Brother ends up taking ballet. He uses what he learned from it to his advantage to dump Too-Tall Grizzly into a dumpster.

The family's seldom-seen pet dog.

First appearance: ''The Trouble with Pets''.

Tropes:

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Not really embarrassing, but in one of the ''Scouts'' books, Gramps' real name is revealed to be [[spoiler:Ernest]].
* IWasQuiteALooker: ''And The Giddy Grandma'' gives us a look into Gramps' and Gran's past, where Gran was a vaudeville act called "Wanda the One-Bear Band".

* LiteralMinded: He often takes analogies literally, such as when he's asked to choose a pen name, he picks "Ballpoint. Or maybe fountain."

* RelationshipRevolvingDoor: She has one of these with Too-Tall Grizzly.

!! Stacy and Millie
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/berenstein.png]]

* Meganekko: Stacy

* TheBigGuy: He is much bigger than his peers - hence the name.

* TheBully: Too-Tall Grizzly is the thuggish leader of a gang of bullies - aptly called the Too-Tall Gang - who harass Brother and Sister Bear from time to time. During the DarkerAndEdgier chapter books, Too-Tall progressed from being very mean to his classmates to dealing drugs (at ten!) and bringing realistic fake guns to school to start trouble.

* VoiceOfReason: Skuzz doesn't like Queenie due to her fickle nature, and is the only one in the gang shown to know how fickle she is. He has even claimed he doesn't like her in "Queenie's Crazy Crush."

!! Ferdy Factual

* HomeschooledKids: His parents are a paleontologist and an archaeologist so he went with them on their digs until he went to live with his uncle Actual Factual.
* InsufferableGenius: When he first appeared in the series.

!! Milton Chubb
[[quoteright:221:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milt.PNG]]

!! Bonnie Brown

!! Harry [=McGill=]

* DontYouDarePityMe: He gets ticked off by anyone who shows sympathy over his being in a wheelchair.
* GadgeteerGenius: A computer expert.
* HandicappedBadass: Has been in a wheelchair since he was involved in a car crash, but is a champion of wheelchair basketball.
* OddFriendship: with Too-Tall, after their wheelchair basketball showdown leads to Too-Tall getting respect for him.

!! Teacher Bob
[[quoteright:175:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bobb.PNG]]

!! Teacher Jane

!! Herbert Honeycomb

!! Mervyn "Bullhorn" Grizzmeyer

* {{Spoonerism}}: He tends to get the fronts and backs of his words mixed up. (Example: "What beems to see the bubble - er, seems to be the trouble?") Averted in the main books and the 2003 series, where he speaks normally.

* OnlyOneName

* [[spoiler: DisneyDeath: In one ''Bear Scouts'' book, two cons attempt to murder him when he catches on to their scheme by tying him up and dumping him in a lake. He survives by escaping from the ropes, thanks to [[ChekhovsSkill his old days as a magician and escape artist]].]]

** And in one ''Big Chapter'' book, he was ''infuriated'' when two other cons managed to get away with all but a few dollars of the funds that were planned to be used to build a new hospital wing. May also double as HypocriticalHumor, though even he has never gone ''that'' far.
** Don't forget the ''Big Chapter'' book that dealt with drug pushers. He was ''irate'' when he found the drugs hidden in his houseboat and very frankly informs the cubs that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he'd never sell or do anything that would legitimately endanger them]].

* IHaveManyNames: Possible reason for his name being different in the ''Scouts'' books.

* PetTheDog: In one ''Big Chapter'' book involving drug-dealers, he offered to pay the cubs some spending money (or "extra bread", as he put it). Not in helping him in one of his cons, but simply fixing up his houseboat.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In both the 1985 series and the ''Bear Scouts'' books, much to the cubs' chagrin.
** This good publicity was used to good effect in ''And the Galloping Ghost'' where he turned his con artist abilities to a good cause and used his shell game to raise enough money to pay off another month of the horse ranch's mortgage singlehandedly.

The leader of an underground pack of weasels who schemes to - you guessed it - [[TakeOverTheWorld take over Bear Country]].\\

** In the chapter books, starting in "The Wheelchair Commando", he's got a talent for chess and is ''thrilled'' when he finds out Harry plays the game since none of his goons are capable of playing chess at all let alone giving him a challenge.

%%* SoapboxSadie%%

* ButtMonkey: If a laugh happens at someone else's expense in the franchise, it'll usually be Papa Bear's (in the 2003 episode, "Visit Fun Park", Papa gets stuck riding the Thunderbolt when the cubs bail out).

* PlatonicLifePartners: With Sister.

* PlatonicLifePartners: With Brother.

* BrilliantButLazy: His poor grades in "Trouble In School" and "The Homework Hassle" was really due to him slacking off and procrastinating since he's shown many times that he's much smarter than his work showed.

* {{Manchild}}: Papa shows shades of this; depending on the story, he's just as susceptible to frivolous addictions as his children, and [[TooDumbToLive hard-headed to the point of suicide]].

* ParentalHypocrisy: Papa at times calls out his children for habits he does himself like excessive TV watching and throwing tantrums.

* {{Pride}}: This is one of Papa Bear's main character flaws, to the point that in "The Giant Mall" from the 2003 series, he spends over an hour wandering the mall looking for a hardware store because he wouldn't read a map.

* GaiasVengenance: He is foretold to be be nature's way of punishing the bears for being too selfish and greedy around Thanksgiving, as he would destroy Bear Country for being too ungrateful for their harvest. In "Meet Bigpaw", this ''does'' nearly happen in a roundabout way, since while he never intends to bring harm to the bears at first, when they aggressively march on his home, he nearly kills them all with a rockslide, which would indeed bring forth the destruction of the greedy, paranoid bears as the legend told. It's not until Brother and Sister demonstrate their friendliness and selflessness that Bigpaw and the townspeople both relent, averting the disaster. While Bigpaw didn't destroy the bears as predicted, his coming still taught the townspeople the lesson the legend warned about, fulfilling the prophecy.

* StockBeehive: Averted. Like real honeybees, her colony nests inside a hollow tree rather than the skeps commonly seen in cartoons.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism Sister once got a swelled head when her classmates declared her the best jump-roper in Bear county ("The Jump Rope Contest"). It lasted a day before her friend Lizzie deflated it.

* HomeschooledKids: His parents are archaeologists so he went with them on their digs until he went to live with his uncle Actual Factual.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Too-Tall's redeeming qualities are more prominent in the 2003 series, particularly the later episodes.

* CharacterDevelopment: In the 2003 series, Too-Tall is initially introduced as a thuggish, tough bully and troublemaker who's jealous of Brother Bear and antagonizes him ("Go To School", "Double Dare", "The Birthday Boy", "The Slumber Party", "Trick or Treat", "Mighty Milton"). Over time though, Too-Tall learns from Brother's kindness that he is a genuinely good person and his jealousy fades, while Brother discovers from spending time around Too-Tall that he does have layers beyond 'mean kid' and that he might have misjudged him. The two gain respect for each other, and Too-Tall gradually matures. He becomes a calmer, less abrasive cub and settles into the role of the protagonists' frenemy and eventual friend in the second half of the series ("The Talent Show", "The Big Red Kite", "Showdown at Birder's Wood", "White Water Adventure", "Big Road Race", "Papa's Pizza", "The Female Fullback", "Say Please And Thank You"), likely because of Brother's influence softening him.

* TheResenter: It's at times implied that he envies and resents Brother Bear for being a better athlete than him and being more well-liked than him, though he eventually grows out of this trait.

* PetTheDog: In one ''Big Chapter'' book involving drug-dealers, he offered to give the cubs some paying money (or "extra bread" as he put it), not in helping him in one of his cons, but simply fixing up his houseboat.

* WouldNotHurtAChild: See "Even Evil has Standards" above.