Top 10 Sci-Fi And Fantasy Teddy Bears

With new movie Ted (read our review here) introducing us to a foul-mouthed teddy bear brought to life after a wish, SFX assesses a few other toy bears of note…

For most of us, a teddy bear was a childhood companion we carried everywhere like a talisman, treated like a living creature and hugged tightly as we fell asleep. In film and TV, however, teddy bears are a little shiftier. Some are gits. Some are evil. Some are even zombies…

Jayne Nelson takes a look at all Teds great and small.

(By the way, our definition of “teddy bear” may not necessarily be your definition of “teddy bear”. Read on for details…)

Lotso

Toy Story 3

Name: Lotso (as in “Lotso hugs”)
Played by: Ned Beatty
Inclination: Wicked

Lotso proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that teddy bears should never be taken at face value. He may be pink and smiley with a jolly demeanour, but underneath there’s a heart of solid coal, bitter and twisted and determined to make other toys suffer…

In fact, Toy Story 3’s furry villain, as you can see from his flashback origin story in this clip, was once a little girl’s much-loved cuddly pal. After being rejected, the shock was so great the unfortunate bear went full-on Dark Side. While we can understand his response to being lost and replaced – and we sympathise – the sheer level of evil Lotso embraced definitely makes him the Darth Vader of the toy-verse.