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Bears Are Bad News? News to me.

Dashing and daring, courageous and caring
Faithful and friendly, with stories to share.
All through the forest, they sing out in chorus
Marching along as their song fills the air!
Gummi Bears!
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears!

Sometimes in the media, bears have been portrayed as fierce and intimidating, but that's not always the case. Some of the other portrayals paint bears in a more sympathetic light, sometimes even to the extent of being a Gentle Giant, and their big size certainly helps. Through such portrayals, they are not merely non-aggressive aversions or subversions to Bears Are Bad News, but they tend to show friendly interactions with humans or other sentient beings. Not that they can't be bad news if you, ahem, get funny with one.

This trope may have something to do with how unlike their fellow carnivoran mammals like wolves and big cats, bears are omnivores as opposed to obligate carnivores, some species even leaning toward or even being herbivorous (most famously Giant Pandas), and so goes the assumption that Herbivores Are Friendly.

Teddy Bears, when portrayed as Living Toys, usually fall into this category.

Compare Beary Funny, where bears are portrayed through comedic means, although overlap is common.

Contrast Bears Are Bad News for bears who are neither friendly nor funny, though it can overlap through a well-pushed Berserk Button.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • Bimbo (Grupo Bimbo), a Mexican bakery company, has a very adorable mascot named Bimbo Bear who is a polar bear chef. He's been the mascot for the company since 1945.
  • A Malt*O*Meal ad features a bear walking into a mountain cabin to join the inhabitants for breakfast. He politely asks for more Malt*O*Meal.
  • The commercials for 1990s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh merchandise use this as part of their angle, with the jingle stating, "It's so much friendlier with Pooh."
  • The mascot for the American fabric softener "Snuggle" (aka "Snuggle Fabric Softener") is a sentient teddy bear named "Snuggle" introduced in 1986. Snuggle (originally voiced by Corinne Orr) is a friendly and soft-speaking teddy bear who loves discussing how comfortable and cuddly Snuggle Fabric Softener is to the viewer.
  • Who could forget good old Smokey the Bear, the friendly forest bear who has been the forest fire prevention safety advocate mascot since 1944!

    Anime and Manga 
  • Kenta and Issa one of the talking stuffed animals from Animal Yokocho.
  • Blackberry and his mother from Happy Happy Clover are very friendly and nice to other animals in Crescent Forest. However in later volumes, Clover mentions to not wake them up during hibernation since they don't want to see them go berserk.
  • Labra, Rossa, Sakuran and Chocolat of Jewelpet are all little Jewelpet bears (Sweetspet bears in the case of Sakuran and Chocolat) who wouldn't hurt a fly. Labra does tend to be a jerk, but ultimately she's got a heart of gold.
  • Bobby Bear from Maple Town is one of Patty's close friends.
  • One Piece:
    • Trafalgar Law's first mate, Bepo the Polar Bear Mink, is a big, fuzzy sweetheart who anxiously worries about his crewmates and snuggles with others like a teddy bear.
    • It is not revealed until extremely later on in the series that Bartholomew Kuma, the bear-themed Warlord of the sea, is one of the kindest and noblest souls in the setting. When he is introduced he is a terrifying opponent that could have killed all the Straw Hats easily, so this is a huge shock.
  • Shirokuma Cafe stars a brown bear, a polar bear, and a panda. All three bears are genuinely nice and friendly.
  • Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle has the Forehead Devils, which're pretty much teddy bears with wings that are the universe's version of The Goomba. The Princess tames them early on with her brushing technique and sometimes involves them in her schemes to fall asleep.
  • Superior Cross has Umberto, a kindly old bear demon who spends most of his free time painting and is on friendly terms with the nearby village (which is kind of a big deal seeing as humans and demons normally do not get along at all). He's also Angelica's grandfather.
  • Sylvanian Families (Calico Critters in the US):
    • One group of main animal characters is a family of friendly bears.
    • In the 2000's, the series introduced a male bear named Aidan who loves eating. Aidan is also one of Bell's friends.

    Asian Animation 
  • The eponymous bears from Boonie Bears are quite friendly to their fellow forest animals, and despite not liking how Logger Vick cuts down their trees, they'll gladly set aside their rivalry to help him with whatever he needs if the situation calls for it.

    Comic Books 
  • In the Swedish children's Funny Animal comic Bamse, the titular bear is the world's strongest bear, and the world's kindest bear, and definitely The Hero. His strength is dependent on him eating his Power-Up Food dunderhonung ("thunder honey"), but he's always the kindest.
  • Arthur from Circles is The Bear, literally and figuratively, but a very friendly bear at that. He cares about his friends so much that he treats them all like family. He even volunteered to be Santa for the orphanage children when no one else fit the bill and he loved to make people happy.
  • In Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid, a young boy inherited a magical stuffed teddy bear from his grandfather that, with the press of a nose, can transform into a 10-foot tall cape-wearing polar bear named Herobear. As his name implies, Herobear is a friendly and heroic bear with superpowers who fights for good and justice.
  • Ungrounded has Ulysses, a flying polar bear who is close friends with Mister Solenoid.

    Eastern European Animation 
  • KikoRiki: Barry is a former disco dancer and an actor, now quiet and gentle farmer, who is friends with the rest of the cast.
  • The Bear from Masha and the Bear is generally friendly to Masha and others.
  • Umka from two Soviet cartoons is an adorable and curious polar bear cub.

    Fairy Tales 
  • "Snow-White and Rose-Red": A talking bear shows up at the protagonists' home every night during the winter and is quite friendly. He's a transformed prince and winds up marrying Snow White, while his brother marries Rose Red.
  • "The Cat on the Dovrefell": The unnamed traveler owns a huge polar bear which is pretty tame and friendly... as long as you do not bother it.
  • "Goldilocks and the Three Bears": The bears are most often portrayed as a quiet and pleasant family in their little cottage cooking porridge, who are just understandably annoyed with Goldilocks for messing with their things without permission. This doesn't stop Goldie from being frightened and running away when they show up; presumably she's savvy enough to realize it was a bad idea to make a bunch of bears angry at her, however friendly they might be otherwise. In earlier iterations of the story, it should be noted, they were far less nice.
  • In "The Turnip Princess", a prince finds himself trapped in a cave together with a bear and an old crone. The talking bear helps the prince escape the cave and find a bride, and the main character finds him more trustworthy than the old woman.

     Fan Works 
  • Prehistoric Earth: Baloo the cave bear, despite his fearsome appearance and many scars and wounds that indicate how many fights he's been in, is actually a very friendly and agreeable animal for the staff at the titular prehistoric zoo to work with (especially for his primary keepers Alice and Will). Nevertheless, his size and strength, plus the sheer savagery he can display in the rare event in which he's not in a good mood, make him very much not the type of animal a person with brains would want as their enemy.
  • Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Kronk the arctotherium is one of the friendliest of the prehistoric bears rescued for display at the titular park, being a lovable ditz who is perfectly content with spending his days feasting nonstop upon spinach and honey. Similarly, Baloo the cave bear, despite his quite fearsome appearance, is also a very agreeable and companionable beast to those he trusts.

    Films — Animation 
  • Brave: Elinor still acts regal while in the shape of a bear, but becomes slightly less so as the transformation shapes her mind.
  • Brother Bear begins with Kenai discovering that his spirit animal is "the Bear of Love". And then he tries to prove his toughness by slaying a bear and gets turned into one as a result, and discovers that bears are pretty nice.
  • The Jungle Book has Baloo, a lazy, fun-loving bear become a friend to Mowgli.
  • The Adventures Of The Wilderness Family trilogy features the Gentle Giant black bear Samson. He even saves the family from a rogue bear in the first film.
  • In Aladdin, bears appear in Prince Ali's menagerie along with some lions in the "Prince Ali" song. They are only on screen for a few seconds, but they give a friendly smile at the audience, implying this trope. The third film has Genie using a bear for a Kodiak moment.
  • Glisten and the Merry Mission: Grizzly the Bear is established to have originally been so bad that the elves had put him on the naughty list, but he has since mellowed out to where he is nice enough for Marzipan to call him her best friend.
  • Po, the Kung Fu Panda, is a clumsy panda bear who has a heart for justice and trains hard to join/ the fierce warriors who protect the village and is a Big Fun and hearty guy to hang around with.
  • Norm from Norm of the North, who falls more into being the clumsy, fun-loving jester type of friendly bear.
  • Thumbelina (1992): The titular character finds a few of these and befriends them. Sadly, they cannot help Thumbelina since winter is coming and bears hibernate at the time. Should a bear fail to get to its cave, it might fall asleep in a dangerous, hostile land.
  • Open Season: Boog is a happily domestic Gentle Giant grizzly bear who wouldn't hurt a fly and is quite harmless and friendly as far as most grizzlies go. But if push came to shove, he can be just as aggressive and intimidating such as any other bear—as proven at the climax when Elliot (seemingly) sacrifices himself to save him from Shaw, Boog roars fiercely in Shaw's face, then ties the hunter up with his gun.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Escape to Witch Mountain: Tia frees a captured bear, which goes along with Tony and Tia and protects them.
  • J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fall of Númenor: There was an abundant population of black and brown bears in Númenor, but they were usually friendly and curious (unless they were disturbed during the mating and breeding seasons). Humans usually let them alone, and even offered honey if they saw some random bear wandering near their houses.
  • Gentle Ben, a children's book turned film turned live-action TV show, starring Ben, a gentle bear.note 
  • Winnie the Pooh, being based upon a teddy bear, is lovably dim and goodhearted, and is often thinking about honey.
  • Kipling's The Jungle Book had Baloo be more serious than the Disney version, but he was clearly Mowgli's friend.
  • Paddington Bear is very polite around people in London. But he's prone to causing some trouble (Mostly accidentally) when ever he goes somewhere or trying to help others.
  • Tessie Bear a female Teddy Bear from Enid Blyton's Noddy series is one of Noddy's best friends along with Big Ears. She's very calm and and kind with others. There's also Mr and Mrs Tubby Bear who's Noddy's next door neighbors and helpful when Big Ears isn't around.
  • The 1968 children's book Corduroy is focused on a living teddy bear who wants to get purchased by Lisa at a toy store (alongside searching for a new button that's missing from his overalls). Near the end of the book, Lisa purchases him with Corduroy glad that he finally has a friend.
  • Franklin's best friend, Bear and his family, from the books, films, and two Animated Adaptations. Bear is the kindest and sweetest bear you could ever meet who is always noble, courteous, honest, and tender to Franklin and his friends. He is a Gentle Giant who has the biggest heart out of his friends and is made of Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
  • Boris from The New Bear at School by Carrie Weston. He is a new student in a school of small animals and they are naturally afraid of him being a huge bear. Boris tries to make friends but they keep avoiding him, leaving him to eat alone at lunch and play alone in class. Luckily after he scared away troublesome rats from his classmates, they admired Boris and became friends with him.
  • All of the bears seen in the Little Bear series, as well as the Nelvana animated adaptation are gentle and kindhearted individuals. The title character himself is known for his innocent, imaginative, and childlike sense of wonder and imagination, while the rest of his family (his parents, grandparents, and uncle) are loving individuals.
  • Lars The Polar Bear Cub from the Dutch-German children's story and animated series The Little Polar Bear (Lars der kleine eisbär in Germany and Lars de kleine ijsbeer in The Netherlands). He is a friendly male polar bear cub who goes on various adventures in an Arctic setting. His best friend is a seal named "Robby".
  • Seymour Eaton's The Roosevelt Bears was a serialized children's story about two amiable talking bears, Teddy B. and Teddy G., who travel across America in the early 20th century.
  • Played with in Seeker Bears. The main characters are friendly towards each other, despite being different kinds of bears, and they're usually friendly towards other bears (as long as they're friendly towards them too). They aren't however that friendly towards flatfaces (humans). They usually try to stay away from them, however Lusa was raised in a zoo and so she's more friendly (a bit too friendly) around flatfaces.
  • The Marvellous Land of Snergs: The Cinnamon Bears, so named because they smell like cinnamon, are peaceful, amicable beasts who like playing with human children. One of them happens upon Joe and Sylvia when they get lost in the woods, and it protects and keeps both children warmth until they are found by Gorbo.
  • The Boogie Woogie Bears: The Boogie Woogie Bears are a family of bears which are both friendly and polite.
  • Above the Timberline: The polar bears of the Shadow Moon Monastery are intelligent and friendly towards the monks and their companions, and are revered as guardians of the natural world. This hospitality extends to include Wesley once it's made clear he's traveling with Linea (on the the monastery's denizens). On several occasions the bears save Wesley from blizzards, snow leopards, and eventually from the villainous Wilkes.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Ben the Grizzly bear in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams is a gentle friend of the fugitive Mountain Man and in that series, his presence means that any innocent soul lost in the woods will be safe with him around. Furthermore, Adams' connection to local wildlife often doesn't apply to the larger and more aggressive predators, but they know better than to cross Ben.
  • Bungle the bear from Rainbow. While he's a little on the dim side, he's a perfectly sweet-natured fellow.

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Muppets:
    • Debuting in The Muppet Show, Fozzie Bear is a pal to Kermit and other Muppets, as well as having his own comedy routine.
    • Deubting in Muppets Tonight, Bobo, although larger and with a more intimidating role as security guard, is just as big a softie as Fozzie, if not more so, as he remains friends with the other characters.
  • Sesame Street:
    • In the original American show, there is an entire family of bears that are on friendly terms with the other residents of the namesake street, but Baby Bear is given the most focus, in particular having a very strong friendship with Telly Monster.
    • The German co-production Sesamstraße has Samson, a large teddy bear who is friends with the other characters and is a child in spite of his size and voice.
    • The Canadian co-production Sesame Park had Basil, who was a polar bear that was friends with the other characters. His main role was to serve as an Anglophone Audience Surrogate for the French lessons.
  • Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House:
    • The titular main character, Bear, is one of the most triumphant examples of this. He's incredibly friendly, acting as a father figure to both the audience and the other residents of the house.
    • Ojo, a female cub who lives with Bear (who may or may not be related) is a sweet, adorable little kid.

    Radio 
  • The Cinnamon Bear, a radio play from the 1930s. Paddy O'Cinnamon, the eponymous bear, is a resident of Maybeland who helps children Judy & Jimmy search for their lost Silver Star (to put on top of the Christmas tree).

    Sports 
  • A lot of professional sports teams have cute and huggable bear characters as mascots.
    • The Chicago Cubs have Clark the Cub, introduced in 2014 after fans asked for more kid-friendly elements at Cubs games. He's a young, friendly bear cub with a big smile who greets fans at Wrigley Field.
      • Another MLB team, the Minnesota Twins, has a bear mascot in T.C. Bear. He very much fits the Minnesota Nice stereotype, and loves giving "bear hugs".
    • Staley Da Bear of the Chicago Bears is bigger and more fierce-looking than Clark, but still friendly and good with children. He often visits schools to encourage kids to exercise and treat others like teammates.
    • The Houston Rockets' mascot is Clutch the Rocket Bear, a cute and huggable gray bear whose simple design and on-court antics (including getting shot out of a cannon regularly) have endeared him to many basketball fans. In 2008, after seeing a man get dumped by his girlfriend at a Rockets game, Clutch comforted him and offered him a glass of beer.
    • The National Hockey League has three teams with bear mascots: the Boston Bruins with Blades the Bruin, the Toronto Maple Leafs with Carlton the Polar Bear, and the St. Louis Blues with Louie the Bear. All of them are kind and will never hesitate to give a hug to young fans.
  • The 1980 Moscow Olympics used a Russian Bear named Misha as their mascot, who was the first Olympic mascot to be heavily promoted in tie-in cartoons and merchandise. He was very popular in his native Russia, as well as in Japan, where he got his own TV show.
  • The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary had two polar bears named Hidy and Howdy, who wore Cowboy-style outfits (the Canadian province of Alberta, in which Calgary is located, is known for its many cattle ranches, rodeos, and love of country music). They were supposed to represent "Western Canadian hospitality" and were designed to look friendly and sweet. Even their names are alternate ways of saying "hello".

    Tabletop Games 
  • BattleTech has Clan Ghost Bear. In spite of their name and the fact that they are named after five-meter-tall polar bears, they are actually one of the most restrained and level-headed of the otherwise action-first questions-later Clans. They prove themselves to be perfectly reasonable inhabitants of the Inner Sphere, moving in and making themselves comfortable by integrating relatively smoothly into the Free Rasalhague Republic and having excellent relationships between their combat and noncombat castes—warriors are viewed as the protective parents of the Clan, and the noncombat castes as beloved children to be defended at all costs. They even heavily favor the Elemental phenotype, resulting in an army of eight foot all Power Armored Super Soldiers that mostly have Gentle Giant natures. Yet despite their friendliness, a sure-fire way to discover that Clan Ghost Bear can be just as dangerous as their ursine namesake is hurting their civilians. You would be invited to ask Word of Blake or Motstånd or Clan Blood Spirit how things went for them after attacking Ghost Bear civilians, except you cannot, because the Ghost Bears killed everyone responsible.
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Whereas most werebeasts are Evil or neutral, werebears default to a Good Character Alignmentinvoked, with a strong sense of community and a tendency to serve as guardians.
  • Played astonishingly straight considering the nature of the Old World of Darkness by the Gurahl (Werebears). They are Gaia's Healers, the bringers of succor, the ones that regard those of their number who let bands of starving humans kill them for food as honored heroes. While Rage and Frenzy are something they are capable of, they are far less prone to this than Garou*. Of course, pushing them far enough to berserk or otherwise convincing them that they must resort to violence is a serious mistake.

    Video Games 
  • Banjo, the bear from Banjo-Kazooie, is friends with Kazooie, Bottles, and Mumbo. In general, he's also very kind and friendly to most of not all of the minor NPCs he comes across, at least in comparison to his companion Kazooie.
  • Lucio is a bear from B.ARK is a one of the protagonists, and as friendly and protective than the average bear.
  • In Bear An Breakfast: Hank is a grizzly bear but is not afraid to show his kindness to his guests, human or animal. Maintaining a top-service inn is also his biggest priority.
  • Percy Propa from Freedom Wars serves as a friendly and cheerful Mascot for both the Panopticon and the game itself. His kind personality and adorable appearance are intentional, as Percy's purpose is to motivate the Sinners to contribute in a friendly and welcoming tone, rather than the hostile scathing tone that most Sinners deal with.
  • Tae the Bear God of Lusternia. He has a Little Guy, Big Buddy relationship with his (much brighter) friend Bollikin, and spends most of his time playing with his bear creations and eating honey. He still shouldn't be messed with, though.
  • Okku in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer manages to be both this and Bears Are Bad News. He's a Gentle Giant most of the time, soft-spoken and intelligent, known to crack jokes on occasion, and a loyal ally to a good-aligned Knight-Captain, but cross him at your peril.
  • While Teddie of Persona 4 isn't a bear in the strictest sense - he appears to be an animate bear-themed mascot costume, then he grows a human body, before it's revealed at his Social Link's Max Rank that he's actually a Shadow who grew an ego — he maintains the idea that he's a bear, constantly using many, many bear puns. He's also the most energetic member of the Investigation Team, all too happy to buddy up close to everyone, and one of his most prevalent aims is to find out what "score a hot stud" means.
  • The bear mother in MySims Kingdom follows you despite being a visitor, and does not maul you even though you approach her cub. Don't try this at ho-- er, in the woods.
  • Team Fortress 2: Heavy Weapons Guy is only a bear through Animal Motifs, but he's an example of both this and Bears Are Bad News. Like a bear, he worries about his family quite a bit. (The Communist government executed their father and threw him, his mother, and sisters in a gulag in Siberia, and he was forced to torture the guards, free all the prisoners, and burn the place down to escape. The guards have been chasing them ever since, so he has reason to worry.), and sends money and food back to them. This Big Brother Instinct carries over to his team, including his superior, Miss Pauling.
  • iOS/Android word puzzle game Alphabear tasks you with collecting cute bears. Each bear has a unique costume and ability, and they grow in size depending on how high your score is.
  • Animal Crossing has a number of villagers who can live in your town that are bears. They even come in two varieties: regular bears and cubs, who are smaller. All of them can be very friendly once befriended, even the Cranky ones.
  • The Brothers Bear in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! are a group of bear brothers who help out and assist Dixie and Kiddy on their journey. They are kind and friendly and give out tips and sell items to the Kongs. (Except for Brash.)
  • Dusty Revenge has the supporting character, Rondel, who's a Papa Bear on a quest to rescue his abducted son. While he's bad news to his enemies, however he's on the side of good, frequently assisting his allies Dusty and McCoy and providing backup with his Grenade Launcher.
  • Due to Pokémon being a vast array of species, each with varying personalities, you might find a mean Munchlax, Teddiursa, Pancham, and Cubchoo, but you might also find a very friendly Snorlax, Ursaring, Pangoro, and Beartic. Bewear deconstructs this. It's actually a very friendly Bear Pokemon, however it is dreaded around the Alola Region due to it not knowing its own dangerous strength, causing it to inadvertently crush the things it hugs, which includes its own trainer.
  • The Nintendo 3DS game Teddy Together involves the player interacting and befriending a living teddy bear.
  • Angus from Night in the Woods is Gregg's loving boyfriend who is friendly and compassionate to his friends despite coming from a terrible and tragic upbringing.
  • Sonic the Fighters had Gentle Giant Bark the polar bear. His Japanese character profile for the Fighters Megamix guide book describes him as "North Island's #1 snowboarder. He is blunt and quiet, but has a gentle and loving heart. He's actually a shy guy." Fans however largely mistook him for a villain, which became Ascended Fanon in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics).
  • In Stardew Valley, one of the Secret Notes you can find is a badly-spelled request for maple syrup to be brought to the Secret Forest. Sure enough, the client is a talking bear who, after treating the exchange like a drug deal ("have you got 'the stuff'? oh yeah, that's the good 'stuff'"), gratefully teaches you "Bear's Secret Knowledge" to improve the quality of wild berries, tripling their sale value.
    • Version 1.5 adds a buyable telephone, and you may sometimes receive calls from the bear thanking you again for the syrup. How he got a phone is a riddle for the ages, since Robin (who sells it) doesn't speak forest magic.
    • During Emily's 10-heart event, a camping date in the forest, a bear spooks the two of you too badly to get the second tent set up, giving you an excuse to share only one tent (and possibly more). If it's the same bear, he may be a Shipper on Deck.
  • Abu from My Time at Portia is a large bear in a bathrobe that lives in a cottage just outside the walls of Portia. He only speaks in unintelligible grunts, but he acts friendly to the townsfolk, so much so that he's earned the affectionate nickname 'Papa Bear,' and he acts as a Parental Substitute to Oaks.
  • The player's avatar and all recruitable allies/ power ups in Alphabear Two are bears. Players can customize their avatar with a variety of skins to make it look like a polar bear, black bear, brown bear, panda bear, teddy bear, zombie bear, etc... Recruitable allies take the form of cute, cartoonish bears dressed up a knights, flappers, musicians, artists, hamburgers, alarm clocks, and more.
  • Cozy Grove: You play as a "spirit scout" on a haunted island, who brings peace to the restless spirits by finding out their backstories. They are all bear people. Some are friendlier than others, but none of them are dangerous.
  • Five Nights at Freddy's: In a series full of examples of Bears Are Bad News, there are two notable exceptions:
    • Helpy of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator is designed purely to help the player run their pizzeria by tracking their spending and testing attractions. Even Ultimate Custom Night, which moves him closer to the bad news trope, downplays this as he merely blows an airhorn instead of attacking the player.
    • Glamrock Freddy of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, thanks to avoiding Vanny's hacking by malfunctioning on stage and rebooting in safe mode, maintains his friendly demeanor and aids Gregory in trying to escape the Pizzaplex. However, if he loses enough battery or Gregory hits a wrong button while trying to repair him, he'll glitch out and attack Gregory anyway. The true ending also has him getting hacked by Burntrap, making him a threat there too.
  • Lenna's Inception: Besides humans, the other race of friendly NPCs are bears who talk in puns.
  • The Over the Hedge game has Vincent, the Big Bad of the original movie, pull a Heel–Face Turn and join up with the hedgies to get revenge on the Verminator. He's accepted easily by the porcupine kids; everyone else is rightfully still afraid of him. Luckily, he's pretty chill afterwards.
    RJ: Aww, he's just like a giant teddy bear. With anger issues. And half eaten bats on his breath.
  • Invoked with Brody Holloway in Life Is Strange 2, who is depicted in Sean's drawings as a bear (mostly due to him being large and hairy) and is the first stranger to show the Diaz brothers any kindness after Esteban's death; when Sean and Daniel run into his car after escaping from the gas station, Brody not only immediately believes them and drives them away to safety while letting Sean vent to him, but also buys them some supplies, a large backpack, bus tickets, and a motel room.

    Visual Novels 
  • Coach Grifter from Extracurricular Activities may seem tough and mean-looking but he is very down-to-earth and understanding towards his students because he wants to see them succeed.
  • In Morenatsu, Juuichi is a nice bear with the Face of a Thug who only appears grumpy all the time even when his mood doesn't match.

    Web Animation 

    Web Comics 
  • Five Nights At Freddy's: Lost Souls: Freddy, though it may not seem that way at first. He acts cold and authoritarian most of the time, but it's just because he cares and doesn't want anything to happen to his family. In truth, he's just as happy about Cody's and Bridget's visits as the rest of the animatronics, as it reminds him of happier times and he enjoys tutoring Cody.
  • Both the title characters in Milk And Mocha are adorable bears who are happily in love.

    Web Original 
  • Trinket, Vex'ahlia's animal companion from campaign 1 of Critical Role, to the rest of Vox Machina and their allies. He allows Vax and Keyleth to cover him in ribbons (though he's clearly unhappy about it), he lets Percy ride on him when he was accidentally blinded in the Feywild, and of course he adores Vex and will do anything to protect her.
  • Teddy from Queer Kid Stuff is Lindsay's Teddy Bear co-host. He regularly asks Lindsay questions so she can explain things both to him, and the audience.
  • Stitches from Ruby Quest, when he's lucid, is a calm, friendly guy who doesn't want to hurt anyone and even saves Tom from having to make a Heroic Sacrifice at the end. However, given the current state of the facility, he's more often an example of Bears Are Bad News (or at least Bears Are Tortured Monsters).
  • The SCP Foundation has garnered a few strange teddy bears over the years.
    • SCP-1048 had a childlike demeanor, having been known to draw with crayons and hug people's shins. Subverted, as it gave up on this act when Site-44 found out its nature as a Mook Maker that doesn't care what to use for parts.
    • SCP-1145 is a Tackle Hugger, looking for someone to give its affection. The problem is, it survived the bombing of Nagasaki and has been a Nuclear Mutant ever since.
    • A Foil to 1048 and its creations, SCP-2295 is a Super Doc that only uses fabrics in its work, sewing together plush replacements for failing organs. It can't make a magic prosthetic for everything, but even then it does the best it can.

    Western Animation 
  • Big City Greens: The episode “Bear Trapped” is about a bear running amok at Big City. When Cricket, Tilly, and Remy meet the bear, she turns out to be very friendly towards them. They become fast friends, and the kids try to protect the bear, whom they named “Daisy,” from animal control. In the end, Daisy moves into the sewers to escape them and she seems happy there. The kids are even implied to visit her every now and then.
  • The Care Bears act friendly among themselves, and when visiting children. These bears would not give injuries; they would give someone a hug! This of course carries on to their Animated Adaptations- Care Bears (1980s), Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot, Care Bears & Cousins, and Care Bears: Unlock the Magic.
  • The Cleveland Show gives us Tim, a friendly bear that actually sits around and drinks beer with other, human characters. He's also devoutly religious and a bit of a stiff, albeit prone to the occasional Beware the Nice Ones moment when he remembers that he can kill any of them easily.
  • The Crayon Box has Bubby. He's a teddy bear, and a really nice one at that.
  • On My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fluttershy has a bear among her many animal friends, named Harry, notable for being as expressive as her pet bunny Angel. She gives him chiropractic treatment, and he has tea with her.
  • The Octonauts gives us their leader, Barnacles Bear. Though he has a gruff, intimidating exterior, Captain Barnacles is as kind and understanding as they get.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Bosco, the Earth King's pet bear from Avatar: The Last Airbender, may have been picked up from the wild, but he acts very friendly towards the heroes when he first sees them. He's considered extremely unusual due to the fact that he's a regular bear as opposed to a Mix-and-Match Critter that the series is known to have.
    • Naga from The Legend of Korra also counts. She's a "polar bear dog" (part polar bear, part Big Friendly Dog), and is Korra's best friend.
  • The title characters from Adventures of the Gummi Bears are courageous, caring, faithful and friendly, as their theme song states.
  • Zigzagged by the character Beary Nice from Uncle Grandpa. He's a bright-eyed, bowtie-wearing bear with an overly friendly and calm disposition. It's not clear if he's oblivious to his friend Hot Dog Person's frequent suffering, or if he's secretly aware.
  • Penny Ling from Littlest Pet Shop (2012) is cute, but you don't want to make her upset or make her cry.
  • Penguins of Madagascar gives us Corporal, a polar bear and member of the skilled team of secret agents known as North Wind, who hugs and fawns over the penguins when he first meets them.
  • The main trio of We Bare Bears are a grizzly bear, a polar bear, and a panda who just want to adapt to human life in San Francisco. Of course, Hilarity Ensues.
  • Technobear from Harvey Beaks is a street-smart, party-loving bear cub who is one of Harvey's best friends and something of a KidAnova.
  • Ludovic the bear from the Dutch stop-motion series Ludovic.
  • Goldie & Bear, a Disney Junior series, features the title characters based on Goldilocks and the baby bear. Bear is very friendly and enjoys spending time and hanging out with Goldie.
  • Humphrey the Bear is clumsy and pesky sometimes but he is also friendly and very well-meaning who just tries to eat what he can, but he sometimes ends up a Butt-Monkey.
  • The title character from The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, as well as the talking toy and series of books and tapes that it was based on, is nice, caring and friendly to everyone. The opening line from the first cassette tape (also used in one episode of the TV series) pretty much says it all:
    Teddy Ruxpin: Hi. My name is Teddy Ruxpin. Can you and I be friends?
  • In the Gravity Falls episode "Dipper vs. Manliness," Dipper is sent to prove his masculinity by killing the Multi-Bear, a bear covered in heads who offends the Manotaurs by being In Touch with His Feminine Side. He's a friendly guy, though he can still put up a fight; in the end, Dipper can't bring himself to kill him, because the Multi-Bear also loves his favorite girly, Guilty Pleasure pop song.
  • Time Squad had an episode where the team travels back in time to meet with Edgar Allan Poe, who has become a Sickeningly Sweet kids book writer. Instead of The Black Cat, he's written a story called The Bear, which is just about Poe taking a walk in the woods and accidently waking up a hibernating bear. Scared, he runs home and goes to bed, only for the bear to track him down and burst into his room... to return the fanny pack Poe dropped in the woods. The story ends with Poe and the bear hugging and becoming best friends forever. Time Squad are absolutely dumbfounded by the ridiculous story, complete with Jaw Drop.
  • The bear from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. He's never seen attacking anyone or even being mean. Indeed, his role at Sebben & Sebben (if he has one at all) is rather unclear. He mostly appears to assist other characters in bizarre tasks and for the various Oh, Cisco! moments. He'll also make random appearances with no context. One of the creators described him as "the most zen creature on earth". The only time he did anything remotely antagonistic was when Phil believed he was stealing his furniture, and even that might've just been Phil's delusions.
  • The DuckTales (2017) version of Santa Claus is a polar bear. In his debut episode, he only loses his temper when Scrooge delivers coal in place of presents when he was trying to resolve their past falling out.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Much Apu About Nothing", there is a bear wandering the neighborhood that, despite causing a panic, is not aggressive and makes zero attempt to attack anyone. At one point, it even dons a playful, dog-like expression.
  • Like his web series counterpart, Trinket, Vex's bear companion in The Legend of Vox Machina, is fierce to Vox Machina's enemies but very sweet to them and their friends. It doesn't take long for him to endear himself to some of the Sovereign's guards and get scritches.

    Real Life 
  • The Trope Codifier is the actual Teddy Bear, invented in 1902 in reference to an incident where Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a bear that had been captured and tied up for him to "hunt."
  • Most bears are actually far less aggressive than the media often portrays, with bears actively seeking out humans as prey being rarely ever reported. Most are shy and inoffensive, and often retreat at the first sight of humans, and as long as you respect their space, keep at a proper distance, and avoid threatening them (as with any wild animal), they are of little concern. An injured or cornered bear, or a mother who perceives a threat to her cubs, however... Another common cause of attacks is hunger— (usually) not because the bear sees humans as food, but because it sees them as competitors for resources like carrion or pine nuts. In North America, at least, many attacks in the fall (when bears are desperate to put on weight before hibernating, and human hunters are "providing them" with freshly killed deer and elk) or spring (when they're desperate to regain the weight that they lost over the winter) stem from this issue.
    • Funny enough, Pandas have always been immune to the usual depiction of bears, even though they're potentially just as dangerous as other bears are (though admittedly less carnivorous than other bears; in fiction they may be portrayed as entirely vegetarians, falling under Herbivores Are Friendly).
  • Despite being listed under Bears Are Bad News, Wojtek was well-known for being a friendly and lovable creature who loved to play in water and eat sweets (as well as his cigarettes and liquor — he was an official grunt in the Polish Army, after all!), and liked nothing better than hanging out with his adopted human family in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company. Of course, that also meant that enemies of his platoon (like the Nazi agent hiding in the showers) learned that Bears Are Bad News. The unit's insignia to this day is of Wojtek carting ammo.
    • Wojtek wasn't the first enlisted bear in the history of the Polish military. During the Russian Civil War, the "Murmansk group", a Polish unit fighting on the Allied side, adopted a polar bear during their fight in the frozen wastes of northwestern Russia beyond the Polar Circle. A corporal was assigned to train it, and the bear quickly learned proper marching and military salute. Sadly, shortly upon the unit's return to Poland, the hapless animal ran away and was killed by local farmers. The bear's military duty didn't end this way, though, as it was stuffed and placed as an exhibit in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw.
  • Hercules was a grizzly bear that belonged to Scottish wrestler Andy Robin and his wife Maggie. He lived in the house, ate cooked food (he wouldn't touch raw meat), and was so tame that he'd let people (usually Andy) ride around on his back. There was also an incident in 1980 where he ran away during the filming of a Kleenex advert in the Outer Hebrides and wasn't found for almost a month, during which time he lost half his body weight because he wouldn't kill and eat any of the livestock or wildlife in the area.
  • American indoor water park and resort "Great Wolf Lodge" has an adorable anthropomorphic bear cub named Brinley as one of the chain's main mascots.

 
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Come on In

Come on In to "Bear in the Big Blue House" and meet Bear, one of the friendliest bears you're ever likely to know. Bear can't wait for you "Come on In" because it's the perfect day for a cha-cha-cha and his house is your house when you come on in!

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