Beach Bear

Beach Bear was the guitarist for the Rock-afire Explosion. He was the character who arguably underwent the most changes over the years, although he has often been seen as the "coolest" character of the entire group.

Beach Bear's origins began with the animatronic show The Wolf Pack 5. He was the only character to keep his full original name through the transition from The Wolf Pack 5 to The Rock-afire Explosion. The first ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurant opened with a slightly altered version of The Wolf Pack 5¹, and the restaurant's main mascot, Billy Bob, only existed in walkaround character form. Execs at ShowBiz were eager to have Billy Bob join the other characters on stage. Some of them were pushing to have Billy Bob installed in the place of Beach Bear, although that was never seriously considered by Creative Engineering, Inc. as the Rock-afire Explosion was under development (and would of course incorporate both of the bear characters)². Oddly enough, Beach Bear is conspicuously missing from a few early promotional items produced by ShowBiz³. Both in The Wolf Pack 5 and in the early days of the Rock-afire Explosion, Beach Bear had shaggy gray fur and wavy blonde hair. He also wore a tropical lei and flowery Hawaiian shorts. Although he was standing while in The Wolf Pack 5, as a member of The Rock-afire Explosion he was seated on a surfboard that he could rock back and forth on.

Originally Beach Bear had quite a crazy personality. He was one of the only characters with the ability to cross his eyes, and his craziness was accentuated by the wild voice given to him by Aaron Fechter. Sometimes it worked well in songs, sometimes not so much since it was more of a wacky character voice than one for traditional singing. In late 1982 the decision was made to revamp Beach Bear's character - the most noticeable change being his new voice. Rick Bailey took over his vocals and gave Beach Bear a more laid back, carefree attitude. Of course he did still have his crazy moments, but they were toned way down from what they were in the earliest years. Also during 1982, Creative Engineering, Inc. was developing a "2nd generation" Beach Bear - one with improved animatronics that would allow him to actually stand up from his seated position⁴. Unfortunately due to difficult financial times at ShowBiz, this improved version of Beach Bear never was completed.

Beach Bear was also given a new appearance around this time. The gray fur was exchanged for white, and in May of 1984 his blonde wig was removed⁵, as Aaron Fechter believed it would improve the appearance of his character. This wig-less version of Beach Bear appeared through the rest of the ShowBiz Pizza Place era, throughout the 1990s, and remained until the early 2000s when Snapper Ard (an employee of Creative Engineering) decided one day to place the wig back on the Beach Bear in Creative's programming room⁶.

In the early 1990s the New Rock-afire Explosion was developed, and Beach Bear was included only in the full version of the show⁷. He was redone in the 'mijjin' style, and was on stage right along with a Looney Bird that was concealed behind a window. Although he now wore a t-shirt, his character was largely unchanged.

In more recent years, Beach Bear has gained a bit of cult following, often seen as the unsung hero of the Rock-afire Explosion and one of the more underrated characters from back in the ShowBiz era. Rick Bailey has stayed semi-involved with Creative Engineering, appearing at some modern-day Rock-afire Explosion fan gatherings and has reprised his role as the voice of Beach Bear in a few newer songs such as "Sitting Too Long". In early 2018, Beach Bear was given a new white wig for The Rock-afire Explosion's concert video appearance in the Fall Out Boy song "Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea". Either with intention or perhaps laziness, this bizarre wig was left on Beach Bear in Creative Engineering's programming room for a few years after the filming of the Fall Out Boy video, allowing it to appear in several more videos released on Fechter's YouTube channel⁸.

References
1 - Pizza Place Purveys Pizzazz - Kansas City Star
2 - PTT, Inc. vs. TIM, Inc. Deposition of Aaron Fechter - March 18, 1980
3 - 1980 Franchise Brochure - Wolf Pack 5
4 - 1983 Save the Colander Telethon Clip
5 - 1984 ShowBiz Pizza Place, Inc. Company Memos
6 - ShowBizPizza.com correspondence with Snapper Ard
7 - CEI 20th Anniversary Promo Kit
8 - Official Rock-afire Explosion YouTube Channel