Webcomic / Bear Nuts

The (male) Bear Nuts cast

Bear Nuts is a webcomic by Alison Acton. It chronicles the antics of the bear population of Discount Zoo - which mainly consists of hiding their un-bear-like behavior from the humans that run the place.

The strip itself can be best described as what you'd get if you put the Care Bears, Dragon Tails, Happy Tree Friends, and The Hair Bear Bunch in a blender.

As of Comic #864 (Dec. 2022), the comic has moved from a full-page format to closer to a visual novel.

---

This comic contains examples of the following tropes:

• Affectionate Parody: Over time, the comic becomes this, especially when Cara comes to act as The Heart of the group; whilst still defined as being cruder than the source material it was inspired by, more emphasis has been placed on the bonds they formed with each other, which is the main theme of the Care Bears.
• Amusing Injuries: To be fair, Evil bear totally deserves most of them.
• Art Evolution: Subtle, but there; the bears get slimmer, colours are bolder and their faces look firmer.
• Ax-Crazy: As of Change Of Heart, Crack.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: One theory for why Gay and Lech are always so mean to each other. Confirmed as the two are now a couple
• Beware the Nice Ones: Prozac, Nerd, Tanked and Death are all usually pleasant and friendly. Prozac without meds, Nerd pushed too far, Tanked without booze, Death when stressed or on coffee, or Cara when she sees a blood moon are more dangerous than Evil. And Evil is trying.
  • Gay and Nerd here
  • Also, Gimp.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Tanked is a lovable goofball who tries to get along with everyone. But when he's off his beer, he becomes so dangerous that even Evil is terrified.
  • With all his extreme phobias and wild thoughts, who could have imagined that Crack would have been a potential murderer?
• Big "WHAT?!": Here and followed by a smaller one.
• Bittersweet Ending: The ending of "Change of Heart": Crack is no longer homicidally vengeful. But the others are at best wary of him. At worst, fearful and hostile. The only one willing to still hang with him without fear is Evil. The comic ends with Crack sitting by himself on a park bench, feeding the geese, looking somewhat content. Prozac's narration boxes say he thinks Crack will be okay in the end, but they won't know for sure for a while.
• Body Horror: Evil◊ didn't end up too well upon entering Crack's subconscious. And it only goes downhill from here.
• Bratty Half-Pint: These kids suck.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Evil himself used to be cute and less nasty. Then that one circus trick happened. Also why he hates kids.
  • And Prozac had his bigger siblings...
• Brutal Honesty: Subverted with Vanity, who thinks he's just being honest.
• Bullying a Dragon: Sara giving a "Sorry you're such a wimp" apology to Gay for nearly getting them both killed by the polar bears, ignoring that that was an Ordered Apology by Madge and Ella, two elephants who'd already given her a mild thumping for everything. And were standing right there. Cue off-panel beating.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Why is Death carrying that scythe?
• Callback: A rather horrific example in Change Of Heart. The ice scream scooper that Evil was going to use on Vanity makes a comeback, and it's heavily implied that Crack used it to scoop out his victim's eyes.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Guess.
• Catfight: Cara fights Sara because she's tired of her sister's crap.
• Charm Person: Sara can hypnotize people using her pheromones.
• Child Hater: And a justified one, at that. Evil.
• Dark and Troubled Past:All the bears so far have had bad childhoods, Vanity's being the lightest, being transferred from zoo to zoo in a box.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • Death Bear is the ultimate voice of reason in the group, while Gimp Bear is a caring medic despite (or because of) his BDSM-ness.
  • Gimp Bear would know a thing or two about first-aid kids, if you think about it.
  • Literal. Evil is the lightest colored one. The "dark" ones are both pretty nice.
• Did Not Think This Through: He had one left.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Crack might have a justified reason to be pissed off at everyone, but that in no way excuses him poisoning the other bears and trying to kill them off.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Any resemblance to the Care Bears is strictly intentional.
• Dragged by the Collar: Nerd, after he gets mad.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Tank taped a corncob shut in Crack's mouth. Even Evil called it sadistic.^note To clarify, Crack bear is deathly phobic with just about any object let alone food, but is especially fearful of corn. Now imagine your greatest fear in the world duct taped INSIDE your mouth.
  Evil: That-that's just sadistic.
  • Evil didn't take kindly to his clone wanting to kill the other bears.
• Extreme Omnivore: At the very least, Tanked will try to eat it. (Much to Evil's amusement)
• Eye Scream: Evil scares us sometimes.
• Face–Heel Turn: Crack appears to have made this in Change Of Heart.
• The Fashionista: Gay Bear.
• For Your Own Good: Prozac's proclaimed reason for helping Crack. Gets deconstructed during the course of Change Of Heart.
• For the Evulz: Evil's MO.
• Gourmet Pet Food: Subverted - the bear's zoo-mandated food is anything but.
• Groin Attack: Poor Lech.
  • And Nerd
• He Who Must Not Be Heard: Gimp either can't speak or just doesn't.
• Hollywood Voodoo: Evil manages to make working voodoo dolls, with unfortunate consequences for Gay.
  • ...and one giraffe neighbor.
  • ... and Steven the Polar Bear.
  • ... and Himself and his clone.
• Hulking Out: What happens when Prozac is off his meds for long enough.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Tanked ends a fight over control of the TV using what he's learned from his Pro Wrestling shows.
• I Am a Humanitarian: Sloth Bear was planning to eat one of his own kin.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Prozac on his meds, and Prozac off them.
• Jerkass: Evil. So very much Evil. Lech, especially to Gay. And the polar bears to everyone else.
  • Tanked, when he's not... tanked.
  • The polars. The monkeys from Tanked's childhood are the reason the above is the case.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While his actions are over the top and out of character, Crack's rage in Change Of Heart is understandable, considering that the bears never asked for his permission to be taken to the Shaman owl.
• Jerk Jock: Lech, somewhat. And the polar bears.
  • The Polars.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Vanity subverts his apparent Jerk with a Heart of Gold moment in quick order.
• Kick Them While They Are Down
  • Evil does it.
  • Nerd does when angry.
  • Prozac does not like Vanity.
• Mama Bear: A literal case in Nerd's past when kids were pulling Nerd as a cub.
• Manchild: Evil does not respond well to not getting his way.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Evil practically gets off on causing trouble/death/pain.
• Masquerade: The bears take turns doing amusing animal antics to cover for their amusing human-like antics.
  • They clearly enjoy these new apparatus.
• The Medic: Gimp.
• Mind-Control Eyes: When Sara hypnotizes all of the male bears except for Gay and Tanked with her pheromones, their irises turn brown and their pupils disappear.
• Nice Guy: Gimp and Prozac, except when he's off his meds. Also, Cara.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: What was the owl's reward for helping Crack get over his debilitating fears? He gets murdered and eaten by Crack off screen.
• Obviously Evil: Evil, obviously.
• Oh, Crap!: Prozac's reaction to the Nerd's link in Kick Them While They Are Down.
• Only Sane Man: In Change Of Heart, Evil is the only one suspicious regarding Crack's change in personality, and warned Prozac that things won't end well. He was right.
• Psychotic Smirk: Evil loves the look. Even Gay has it at times.
• Punny Name: The comic's title itself.
• Pyromaniac: Evil. Ironic, considering...
• The Food Poisoning Incident: Invoked by Crack in Change Of Heart.
• The Quiet One: Death.
  • Also, Gimp. Sure, Death isn't around much, but Gimp has had almost the same dialogue, but has been present for many more scenes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Guess
• Sir Swearsalot: All of the bears swear like sailors.
• The Sociopath:
  • Evil, although a slightly more mild example as he does admit at one point that he sees the other bears as family.
  • Turns out, without his fearful inhibitions, Crack is a very dangerous bear.
• Stepford Smiler: Any smile for zoo employees can be assumed to be this. Check it out.
• Talking Animal
• Team Dad: Prozac and when he's not around, Death.
• Team Mom: Gimp.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "WHO'S THE KING NOW, BITCH?"
• Token Evil Teammate: I wonder.
• Touch of Death: Though Death's touch only brings instant paralysis. Well, he can kill flowers at least.
• Transparent Closet: Gay. So very much Gay. His name is "Gay"! Wordof God says the name's the old "gay", meaning cheerful or happy. It changes nothing, though.
• Unstoppable Rage: Prozac without his meds. Death on coffee was almost unstoppable.
• Wham Line: In Change Of Heart, Crack delivers one to Death, completely changing what to expect out of his character.
  You know, I actually thought about just killing you.
• Wham Shot: After a seemingly positive opening with Change Of Heart, a few pages in, suddenly we see the bears succumbing to food poisoning.
• Would Hit a Girl: The polar bears didn't seem to mind beating up on Sara any more than one of the male bears.
• Vague Age: The bears' ages are unknown.

---