Care Bears Care-A-Lot Playset Information & First-Shot Prototype

 

 I found the above image online years ago. Check out the differences between the catalog first shot (above) and the finished product (below). I especially love that gooey cake Birthday Bear and Tender Heart are about to devour. If you look closely you can see that the shapes are very similar but subtly different.

OTHER INFO ON THE CARE-A-LOT PLAYSET:

  Rarity: Semi Hard to Find 

MIB VALUE: Around $80 Complete, $100 with box


MIP Pictures

On the sides of the box it says: "Use the Look About Loft to help the CARE BEARS see if anyone needs some special "CARE BEARS" help! You can help the CARE BEARS have fun sliding in their cloud chairs. And how about a ride on the swinging star? Oops, looks like Bedtime Bear has found another place to sleep."

Additional Info

The designer of the remarkable playset was a Kenner Employee by the name of David Winslow.

This playset was sold worldwide. It appeared on the market with the 1st-issue poseable line in 1983 and the package remained the same throughout 1987. The European box is slightly different as you can see in the above photos.

It came with the following loose and removable accessories: Blue Slide, Attachable Telescope, Attatchable Sun (Top of Playset), Blue Cloud Table, 3 Cloud Chairs, Yellow Swing, Yellow Spinner (Poseables sit on it and it spins in the center of the playset), Heart Tabletop Piece, Star Tabletop Piece, Cupcake Tabletop Piece. No poseables were included with the set.

David Winslow's Origional Care-A-Lot artwork:

Helpful information from David Winslow: "I was a designer for Kenner in the early 1980's and developed product for Care Bears along with Strawberry Shortcake. Up for auction from my personal files is the the original rendering (25 X 19 INCHES) presented to Kenner management to get the go ahead on the Care a Lot playset. Also included is an early production sample boxed for the playset, an original Kenner inter office write up for the Care Bear line that was passed out at the meeting. Original drawings inclued for the elevations of the playset that were used by the model maker to start creating this toy."

This art set was auctioned off on ebay in July of 2007. Notice the variations from the produced version, a heart window, an entrance from the back, a middle pole, sun and moon retraction, etc.

OTHER HELPFUL SCANS
Click on the Picture to see it full sized

STICKER SHEET SCANS

DIRECTIONS PAMPHLET SCANS 

Are Vintage Toys for Kids?

I know many of us out there are still kids at heart, yet sometime around the age of twelve we lost our desire to "play." That is, the voices that pop into our heads, shoot down our arms and burst out of the toy in our hand disappear. The stories we construct fall away. The elaborate relationships between Barbie and Little Miss Makeup fade. All we are left with is the desire to display, to make pretty and to stare at. In essence, our ability to play does not last past the tweens.

But for some of us, the old pleasures of play are resurrected through the children around us. My two girls are endless story factories. They can sit for hours and dress dolls, make up intrigues and set up houses. I have often tried to sit down and join them but I can not stand it for more than five minutes. The voices are lost to me.

As a grown-up collector I often think back to the story lines I created with my toys, and the memories are so sweet I want my children to have the same experience. Years ago I decided I would let my children play with my vintage toys. I have heard many a discussion on message boards about letting kids play with collections and there are several concerns brought up from things getting lost and destroyed, to safety issues.

Letting your kids play with a vintage collection is purely up to the collector. Several factors must be considered:

1 - Is the child responsible when they play with their current toys?
2 - Is the child old enough to treat them gently?
3 - Is the child truly interested in having a good play, or are they they kind who like to dump things out, mix things up and get things messy?
4 - Does the toy contain small, breakable, or dangerous parts?

Babies eat bunnies!

My two girls have always been very gentle with my vintage toys, and so I have allowed them to play with them. Now that they are older they understand how to keep small parts from getting lost but I have a few rules.

ANGEL'S RULES FOR PLAYING WITH OLD TOYS:

1 - Stay in one contained spot at one time. I keep them in one place, away from the dog. They are not allowed to take the toy out of that place.

2 - They cannot bang the toys together, throw them on the ground or remove any clothing.

3 - No small parts for small kids.

4 - They must ask my permission before they play.

5 - They must tell me when they are done.

6 - They must put everything back exactly as they found it.

Over the years we have had few incidents. I can't really remember any toys getting broken but a few got mixed up. To combat accessory mix-ups I began to print pictures of the toys and keep them in the baggie where the toy belongs. That way when the kids are done playing they can see exactly which piece goes where (psst . . . it helps me remember too!)

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide weather your kids are trustworthy enough to treat your toys with respect. I personally have enjoyed watching my kids create new memories with old toys.

Third Treat Heart Pig Poseable Found!

Woke up this morning to some super exciting news! Hayley from the UK emailed me about a certain plastic piggy she found in her storage. Recognize him?

Heyley writes:

"I bought a load of poseables from the car boot stall and didn't pick up treat heart then I decided to go back to the stall at the end and thought I'd buy a another bundle of them and saw the pig and thought how strange as I didn't know they did a pig care bear so I bought the second bundle of 10 figures . . ."

 Heyley writes that this and the other poseables sat in storage for a few years until she decided to look him up. She had no idea what she found! There are only two other known Treat Heart Poseables. I own one and the other is in the possession of a nice collector named Jen. Her site, Poseable Paradise can be found here.

Many of you remember that last month the plush version sold for almost $8K! So that begs the question, will Heyley sell?

"As I am trying to de-clutter my house, unfortunatly my care bear collection is having to go so I think I will be selling treatheart at some point."

It may be a little while before Hayley sells but she will definitely let 80's Toy Ark know so I can link to the eBay auction. This will give you Pig-lovers time to save up or take out a small loan!

I love stories where people find ultra rare things at garage sales, thrift stores and in their attics. The fact that all but two of the rare cousin poseables were found in this way suggests that these may have been released in very tiny quantities overseas. They have been found now in the UK (Treat Heart, Proud Heart), Australia (Playful, Loyal and Proud Hearts), Hong Kong (Playful Heart) and finally in Cincinnati Ohio, where Kenner headquarters is located (Both Treat Hearts and a Proud heart came from an ex employee). At first I assumed these were prototypes, which is still possible since none have factory markings. They could be vendor samples, passed out to purchasing departments within major chain stores. We may never know!


It's interesting to mention that Hayley has also found a Playful  Heart Monkey plush in her second-hand adventures. Lucky girl!

Here are a few more pictures of her Treat Heart:

Cleaning Stuffed Animals with Water Pressure

When I find a stuffed animal from a thrift store it often has dirt and grime on it. Since I am a collector my goal is to clean it without compromising its other physical features such as stitching, plastic-painted eyes, tags (which we'd like to keep nice and bright) or the fur itself. I have tried putting it in the pillowcase in the washing machine on all settings and I am usually very disappointed about how it looks when it comes out. The fur piles, any hair mats, and the overall shape changes. The factory luster on the other parts of its body is worn off and often the tag has faded white. This seems to be the case with vintage stuffies only, as newer ones tend to hold their own in the wash cycle and not come out too damaged.

So when I found this Birthday Bear plush at a thrift store this week I decided to try a new approach. We recently purchased a Waterpik water flosser, which shoots high-powered streams of water out of the nozzle. This water-stream cleans between your teeth better than floss, but when my husband and I were fooling around with it we discovered it can also be used to clean grit out of the faucet, shower and other small places that collect grime. It stays completely sanitary because the nozzle doesn't have to touch anything. Just aim and shoot!

Birthday Bear had a lot of dirty spots on his back. I try not to think about what caused them!

Here you can see a spot on the back of his head, and there's one (not pictured) on his tail too. A big, brown glob of gook (ew!).

I cranked the water up to 10, which would strip your gums off your bones if you tried it on your mouth, but for this purpose it was perfect! The spots washed off lickety quick and Birthday was set in the tub to dry.

This device isn't all that expensive at $50 or so, and I have noticed a great difference in my teeth since using it. I am really thrilled to have also found a safe way to spot clean my plush!

Lots More Fun Stuff! Finds & Trades for January 12, 2011

What a fun day for toys!

I get off work early on Wednesdays so I always try to hit the thrift store on the way home. The first place I drove didn't have anything.  It can get pretty discouraging to scrounge around in old junk and come up empty handed. But, I started to use a philosophy to make myself feel better when I go out of my way to drive to a thrift store and can't seem to find much. I believe each store I step into has something that wants to find me. It wants me to bring it home. When I start to think that way it lessens the feeling of discouragement when I only find one small thing. It kind of makes me feel like I rescued something and it was worth the drive.

I was really thrilled with my finds at the second store. Especially the Fluppy Dogs!

I just made up my mind last Friday to start collecting these, but I didn't want them if they didn't have the bow and collar. So low and behold I find one (first one I have EVER found in eleven years of thrifting) and what do you know, it has all its pieces! Then I got the baby with its bonnet. What fun!

For a girl who hates animatronics, I sure own a lot of Teddy Ruxpins. This one came with a tape. Do you think it works? I doubt it highly. No TR's I find ever have! ;)

Check out the Smooshees haul! That was the funnest find. I was also pretty happy about the Glo Worm. I need to test him to see if he still glows.

Some of these finds will end up on my trades page. Let me know if you are interested in anything.

So, speaking of trades . . .

When I came home I had some packages waiting for me! Nice people on The My Little Pony Trading Post have kindly traded some fun things with me!

If any of my trading friends read this blog THANK YOU!!

There on the bottom of the first picture you will see some Moon Dreamer and Glo Friends DVDs! They contain the complete series of each show. I can't wait to watch them one day. I might even take screenshot stills to share. My girls really like them so far. Now I need to get my hands on all the vintage Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, and Lady Lovely Locks episodes.

So, this big all-at-once haul has really got me thinking. I need to create some sort of "system" of organization. An inbox of some sort. My goal is to have all my toys stored like this:

I have about 50% of my toys stored in baggies with labels on them inside labeled tubs. The rest are in jumbles in tubs and need to be organized. I was thinking that from now on I will put all new toys in some sort of inbox that I would ideally go through on a regular basis--bagging and tagging things as they come in, noting what's missing and all. If anyone has a process you'd like to share, please comment. I certainly need to ditch the old "throw it all in a tub" thing, even if it means I need to hold off toy buying for a month or two while I get it all organised.

Christmas Pictures!

So how many of you still have Christmas decorations up? I do! The halls are still decked at my house. But soon Valentines day will be here, so I aim to take them down this week. For now I want to keep my promise to post pictures of my kids Ponyville Christmas! You may remember this post where I bragged that I found all the sets locally for about $70, a great deal!

Here's a picture of me, my two sisters and my brother in law having a ball setting it all up on Christmas eve while our kids slept in the basement. I am the one in the red.

Even my dad got into the action. Everyone had a blast!

Here is what they woke up to Christmas morning! They absolutely loved the Ponyville sets.

~~**~~

Just for fun I am going to post some other fun toy Christmas pictures from my past. Good times!

You can see my My Little Pony jammies in this one!

 

HAPPY *LATE* HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! HOPE YOUR 2011 BRINGS SOME AWESOME TOY FINDS!