Bad Taste Bears

An Introduction to the World Of The Bad Taste Bears

Think of Teddy Bears and, no doubt, images of cute and cuddly childhood companions will fill your mind. That is unless you’ve encountered the warped and twisted world of the Bad Taste Bears - furry little friends with attitude and a penchant for deviant behaviour!
 
What started out as a simple collection of illustrations has now grown into a ‘must have’ product that is currently one of the UK’s top collectable gift ranges. Many retired bears are now commanding high prices on the secondary market. 
 
The inspiration for ‘Bad Taste Bears’ came to artist Peter Underhill in 1994 when designing motifs for printing on children's pyjamas. It was getting late and he could only take so much of the lemon coloured cuddly bunnies and cutesy puppies. “Basically”, he says, “I was all ‘cuted out’. So, I drew ‘Hey kiddies, here's the chainsaw bear’ as a refreshing change and enjoyed it so much that I began putting a list together and started drawing and painting bears in ‘interesting’ situations as a release for my twisted imagination”.
 
Piranha Studios picked up the range and began turning them into collectable figurines which first appeared on the scene in the autumn of 1999. They began small with just six figurines on sale through one chain of stores. Within the first year the range increased to twelve figurines and, as demand increased over the following months, they launched an Internet Collectors' Club to provide a point of contact for the growing number of ‘Bad Taste Bears’ fans.

Since then, the figurine range has grown to well over two hundred designs available at selected gift and collectable shops. There are over thirty thousand members of the Bad Taste Bears Collectors' Club which can now also be joined at over one hundred specialist Bad Taste Bears Club Store retailers across the UK.

In mid 2008 the company parted company with Piranha Studios and has become ‘The Bad Taste Bear Company’. Still run by the same creative and energized team of people responsible for creating the previous  Bad Taste Bears, they look set to push the boundaries of imagination and design still further with many more great bears in the future.

Each Christmas, a Limited Edition 'Xmas Bear' is produced for only those club members who apply by a given date. These are generally shipped around mid-December. Previous years' Xmas Bears now command some of the highest prices and have been known to sell for over £1000! The most recent, Noel for 2007, retailed at £35.00 and already sells for higher prices.

Also there are exclusive club member pieces not generally available from retailers plus limited edition pieces, all individually numbered - both the figurine and the packaging. These come in special limited edition display boxes signed by the Bad Taste Bears artist, Peter Underhill.

Neat Cards & Collectables are proud to be associated with this phenomena. We were drawn to the bears originally as collectors and love them so much we just had to stock them as part of our range of collectables! They are very addictive and a lot of fun to collect! We still collect every issue as it is released!

There are also several special events organised by the company every year where club members can meet Peter Underhill and the BTB Staff in person, meet fellow collectors and above all have a fun day out at such diverse venues as The London Dungeon, Aston Villa Football Club and this summer Whipsnade Zoo!

The 2008 Easter Special Edition ‘Fabio’ sold out in just four weeks from its release and the latest Indiana Bone Edition that is based on the new Indiana Jones movie sold out in less than two weeks! 

Master Bates Club Membership Bear

Master Bates 2008/2009 Club Membership Bear

The presentation box set features the current membership bear, guide book to the world of bad taste bears, certificate and membership card application form which when recieved back from the bad taste bear company entitles you to gain access to the members only sections of their website and other membership benefits.