The classic Willy Wonka bear is about to get an official teddy bear incarnation thanks to Steiff which is set to launch the new toy very soon. ToyNews reports that Willy Wonka is just the first of several Dahl characters that will get Steiff stuffed animals.
The Roald Dahl Literary Estate is about to celebrate the author’s centenary so Steiff will be making the special edition stuffed animals. Naturally Willy Wonka will be the first one.
The teddy bear is expected to be in the stores this spring. So far the company is not saying which are the other characters that will be turned into stuffed animals.
“As a boy, reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory introduced me to the wonderful world of Roald Dahl. Like children everywhere, this and other amazing stories clearly demonstrate why Roald Dahl is the number one storyteller. In celebrating his 100th birthday I am thrilled that I, along with Roald Dahl fans everywhere, can revisit our childhood through the Steiff collaboration that begins with Willy Wonka, followed by many more delicious characters”, says Ian Munro, director of international sales at Steiff.
Willy Wonka was created for Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The book and the film adaptations both vividly depict an odd Wonka, a phoenix-like man arising from his creative and eccentric genius. He bewilders the other characters with his antics, but Charlie enjoys Wonka’s behavior. Wonka’s reasons for giving away his factory in the books are revealed to be because he has no living relatives and is getting too old to keep running it.
Over the years Wonka has become a fan favorite. It’s not surprising that we get to see him getting the first stuffed animal treatment from Steiff. Naturally it will feature all the little details from the company and will be made in premium materials.
