Make Your Other Toys Cry With Build-a-Bear’s Chevy Chase Bear

It’s no secret that National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become something of a merchandising bonanza in recent years. There are Griswold family-themed advent calendars, board games, ornaments and even a Christmas Vacation model train set, despite the fact that there’s not a single train in the entire movie. 

Plus, as we’ve mentioned before, Chevy Chase himself has been selling Christmas Vacation paraphernalia in $300 boxes (thankfully none of them contained his pet cat).

But perhaps the most bizarre product to spawn from this glut of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation crap is the Clark Griswold stuffed bear from Build-a-Bear. Yes, this is an actual teddy bear designed to emulate Chevy Chase. Hopefully, Toy Story was wrong about playthings secretly being alive, because there’s no way that Teddy Chase (Chevy Bear?) wouldn’t immediately verbally abuse your other toys and make their lives a living hell. 

While it was just introduced a few years ago, it now seems as though Build-a-Bear isn’t selling the Clark bear anymore. They are, however, still selling their Cousin Eddie bear, in case you ever wanted a plush toy styled after Randy Quaid that costs $50. The website doesn’t say whether or not you get a refund if the bear randomly disappears in the night because it's scared of the Hollywood “Star Whackers.”

That being said, if you’re absolutely desperate to have a Clark Griswold teddy bear, some are being sold on eBay for some pretty ridiculous prices. One is currently listed for over $164. I guess you could always swap its outfit and turn it into a Fletch bear. Or a guy from Nothing But Trouble bear. 

It’s not the first time that Chase has inspired a plush toy, there was also a talking Clark Griswold doll — don’t worry, they used clips from the movie rather than letting Chase loose in a recording studio. 

But it does seem a little weird that Build-a-Bear, a go-to stop for kids at suburban malls, has been producing stuffed animals based on a movie that’s ostensibly for adults. After all, Christmas Vacation contains at least one F-bomb — and at least one moment where Clark gets an erection while hallucinating by his kitchen window. 

But Build-a-Bear has been branching out into more mature content in recent years, producing toys based on movies and TV shows like The Matrix, Friends and The Office. More controversially, there was their line of… Build-a-Bear swingers?

A lot of people weren’t happy about that, but at least the horny Build-a-Bears were just getting tipsy, not randomly attacking people for no reason.