Coolest Animated Bear Bracket

This is the most specific bracket we have done to date and possibly the most fun. Who is the coolest animated bear? A debate you may have not known you had, but certainly are thinking about now.
Is it Yogi?
Baloo?
Pooh?
Another Contender?

There are so many surprising, and wonderful options to select here. I hope you take a look at what we have put out there for you. I know the intrigue is killing you, so why don't we just go on ahead and release the bracket already....

There are themed regions as always. This time it is mean bears in the bottom right, adventuring bears in the top right, bears with personality in the top left, and caring bears in the bottom left. The bottom left could also be labeled the care bear regional. That is where most of the care bears are. It was the hardest regional for me and my family to do because we don't watch care bears. We did it based on colors and designs of the bears as well as names. The four obvious #1 seeds were Yogi, Baloo, Smokey, and Winnie the Pooh. Most would assume most people will go chalk and pick those 4, but not so fast my friend. The Bear in the Fox in the Hound is the 16 seed in the mean bear regional.

Let's go over some of the lesser known characters and clarify. Whistlestop Jackson is a pilot in the series TaleSpin. Vladimir Gryzlikoff is a villain in the cartoon Darkwing Duck. Ted is who you think it is, that vulgar bear from the adult movie. It was tough to find this many bears and I figured to include him for any people that might want to fill one out. Koslov is the giant polar bear from Zootopia. Most don't know his name, but he is an intimidating presence and Eli loves him. None of us really know who honey bear is, but he is a bear that comes up in searches. Just type animated honey bear and he will be there. Brother Bear, Sister Bear, Mother Bear and Papa Bear are from Berenstein Bears. There is also Mama and Papa Bear which I have designated as Disney. Those ones designated as Disney are from the series Goldie and Bear. Jack A. Bear is the main bear from Goldie and Bear. Tug is the giant, friendly bear from the movie Brother Bear. Bongo the Bear is a circus bear from early Disney and Lulubelle is his girlfriend. Bernard the polar bear is from his own standalone series. I had never heard of him, but apparently there is some cult following.

Let's start with Jenna, because this was her favorite bracket so far...

Jenna went mostly chalk and had 3 1 seeds in her final. With Koda pulling some upsets in the other bracket. This could be a trend in our family as we loved the Brother Bear movies with the star Koda. The characters in those two movies could do quite well throughout the brackets. Plus, as mentioned earlier, we aren't big care bear fans, so you might see them knocked off. Jenna also enjoyed the Berenstein Bears as she had the characters from those shows advancing further than the rest of us. She even had Brother Bear advancing to the sweet 16. Jenna is the only one to pick Sister Bear over Funshine Bear (although she did it after saying Funshine first hence the cross out)

To the surprise of nobody, her champion was Winnie the Pooh. If you remember our Disney Movie Madness bracket, you will remember that she picked The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as her champion. You might also remember she wrote that Pooh was the kindest, sweetest bear. He is her favorite Disney character of all. Not just her favorite Disney bear. There is no beating Winnie the Pooh for her on any bracket.

Her final four was rounded out with Yogi and Baloo. I was actually a bit surprised with Baloo as I thought she would go Kenai due to her affinity for Brother Bear. However, she stuck with the family favorite and took Baloo into the final. It is impossible not to like Baloo after all. Yogi making it was not surprising as he is an iconic character. What was surprising was Nita's first round exit. As cool as Po is, Jenna loves Brother Bear. I assumed Nita would be up against Kenai in the next round.

Next, let's look at the boy who inspired this bracket in Eli Thomas...

Eli is all about Baloo. It is his favorite character. He absolutely loves that bear and Jungle Book and TaleSpin. You can see that he had that TaleSpin bias with Kit Cloudkicker also making his Final Four.
Although it's not really bias because Kit Cloudkicker and TaleSpin are awesome. The only TaleSpin characters knocked out before the Sweet 16 were Whistlstop Jackson who was knocked off by TaleSpin alumnus Becky Cunningham, and Molly Conningham who was bested in Rd. 2 by the super popular Little John.

The two other characters in the Final Four were Koslov and Koda. Brother Bear was a family favorite and Koda did well in all of our brackets. That little bear from Brother Bear was expected to make it that far. But, Koslov? Most don't even know his name. That being said, he is popular in our house as we absolutely love Polar Bears. Eli especially loves Polar Bears. I'm looking up places we can see polar bears as we speak so that he can see one in person. A fascinating animal that Koslov happens to play very well.

Eli had Special Agent Oso going further than either his mom or I. He also had Bedtime Bear further than any of us. Other than Cheer Bear making the Elite 8, there were no other huge surprises. Eli and I picked Tug from Brother Bear further than the rest of the family did. We just really like Tug. Finally, another upset over Smokey, maybe you are starting to realize a trend.

I guess we will do my bracket next....

That final is so tough for me. Winnie the Pooh or Baloo, how do you choose? I have gone back and forth on the two of them several times over the years. Each of them always finishing in my top 3 characters. Recently, as my 2nd and 3rd favorite characters respectively. I usually say I like Pooh more, but I go back and forth a lot. The tiebreak for me recently is how much Eli adores Baloo. When your kids like something more, it makes you like it more as well. Eli's love for Baloo won it for the bear. It is just one more thing Eli and I get to bond over, Jungle Book and TaleSpin.

I kept the trend going with Koda to the Final Four like everyone else so far. He truly is a one of a kind character. It is always nice to see that movie recognized and to recognize it ourselves. Speaking of Brother Bear, Jenna and I both selected the character Brother Bear to the Sweet 16. That character is from Berenstein Bears though not the Disney movie. The other main character from the Disney movie Brother Bear, Kenai, also did really well in the brackets. Kenai made it to the Elite 8 in both mine and Jenna's brackets.

My Final Four was rounded out by Br'er Bear. This character from Disney's Song of the South and Splash Mountain is known for the ride more than anything else. That ride is my favorite and it brings me joy when I see Br'er Bear around the parks. He is just fun to me even though he is a bad guy. Lots'O or Br'er Bear was a tough decision, but the Splash Mountain connection was the tie-breaker.

Now up, the bracket king, Noland Jr.....

Junior had a crazy upset off the top with Kwicky Koala (who he doesn't know) over family favorite Baloo. This was rather surprising as Jr. has always loved Baloo. He was just messing with his brother who is obsessed! You will notice quite a few upsets in Jr.'s bracket actually. Whistlestop Jackson even made an appearance in his final four.The Bear from Fox and the Hound upset Yogi and went all the way to the Elite 8. Another surprise elite 8 appearance came from Birthday Bear. We haven't watched Care Bears so that was quite the shock. The explanation wasn't shocking though, because who doesn't love birthdays. He said he picked him because he loves birthdays.

The overall champ for Jr. was Kit Cloudkicker. That made for quite the TaleSpin Final Four. Kit Cloudkicker and Whistlestop Jackson both making it into the Final Four. The young bear (Kit) is another favorite in our household and in particular a favorite of Jr. He has always enjoyed Kit and his bravery. That glider doesn't hurt Kit's case either.

Also in the Final Four was the ever popular Koda. Well, he's popular in our house anyway. Finally, the top group was rounded out by Special Agent Oso. Jr. has always enjoyed Oso. The yellow bear showed us 3 special steps to making it in the Final Match U. He is a pretty neat character, but Noland had him going twice as far as the rest of us combined. While Noland picked Oso, I thought Baloo would win that regional in everyone's bracket. I guess I was wrong.

Bonus Pick: My little brother Justin asked whether it was TaleSpin Baloo or Jungle Book Baloo. I stated that it is whatever Baloo you want it to be. He picked Baloo to win it all specifying that it must be the version from TaleSpin. He claimed that Baloo would drop water from the Sea Duck on the fire started by Smokey the Bear in the championship

Here are our top 5 according to most spaces advanced on the brackets (not including Justin since we don't have a full bracket).
5. Special Agent Oso (11 spots)
T - 3. Koda/ Kit Cloudkicker (16 spots)
T - 1. Baloo/ Winnie the Pooh (17 spots)

Super jammed at the top. Baloo wins 2 brackets, but has to tie with the overall win because Jr. decided to pick a Koala he has never heard of lol. He really does love Baloo, he was just messing with his brother. We will give the overall win to Baloo because of that and him winning Justin's bracket as well!

What did you think of our brackets?
Who are your favorite bears?
Got any ideas for future brackets?
Leave us any feedback you wish in the comments

Join us back here in 5 days for our North American Animal Bracket

- Noland