Once upon a time, the very talented and creative Susan Williams decided to make Sentinel bears.  There was Jim-bear, the Sentinel,  with his Jags cap and his serious demeanor and his Kevlar vest and a pair of standard-issue Ellison red plaid boxers.  Not to mention five heightened senses. Then there was the free-spirited Guide, Blair-bear, sporting double earrings and a really cool tribal bead necklace, and whose bounce and enthusiasm and loyalty sometimes led him to Big Trouble (and conks on the head), to which his ever-present butterfly bandage attested.

I got my bears from Susan at MediaWest*Con in 2000 long after the "feeding frenzy" was over, so Susan had very few bears left.  I found my Jim-bear right away -- he was a sandy colored, strong-and-silent bear with an expression that was by turns grumpy . . . and vulnerable.  He was Jim.  But then I dithered . . .
and loitered . . .
and looked . . .
and compared . . .
and dithered some more . . . (a lot more).
And  finally I realized: there were some very, very cute bears there, but none of them was my perfect Blair-bear.

He couldn't be white.
He had to be curly.
His face had to be just right --
he had to be cute and inquisitive and hero-worshipful and mischievous and Really Brainy.

So Susan handed Jim-bear to me and agreed to help me find his partner after the con, and I bought lots and lots of Really Cool clothes for both of my bears, but Jim was silent and a little grim and very, very sad and lonesome (although strong, silent ex-military bears keep all of that emotional stuff locked down and think they don't let it show on the surface).  Poor Jim-bear didn't have his partner.
He didn't have his Guide's face to pat . . .
or his curly head to cuff and tousle . . .
or his Blair-chatter to hear (although Jim-bear always pretended not to listen) . . .

Or his very best friend in the whole world to love.

Jim-bear slept a lot at The Con.  He dreamed about his Guide.  He dreamed about finding his partner and how happy they were together --
fishing
and camping
and catching the Bad Guys
and sleeping cuddled up
and eating Blair-bear's weird foods and Jim-bear's junk foods
and just being with each other, 24/7.

When he woke up once, he saw his Guide on TV.  Jim-bear tried and tried to reach into the TV, but nothing worked, and after a while he saw that that Blair wasn't a bear, and had his own Jim, and that made Jim even sadder.  Jim was in bear despair.  He wrapped himself up in the bathrobe Susan had made for him and crawled under the hotel bedspread and pulled on his sleep mask to keep the light out of his sensitive, Sentinel-bear eyes and went into hibernation, not even waking to watch Galaxy Quest or to say good-bye to Marty (who had helped him try to get to the television Blair and who had in her portfolio a very beautiful picture of that Jim and Blair kissing that gave Jim-bear a sense of yearning)
or Martha (who seemed bemused by bears, but whom Jim forgave because he respected her as a writer),
or Kitty (who admired all things Jim)
or Joan (who was also fond of Jims, and horses, and camping under the stars).

On the long, long trip back from The Con, Jim dutifully kept watch over the Toyota Celica and its contents, and sneaked Goldfish crackers and Popeye's fried chicken (even though the hot spices made his nose burn and his eyes water) and wished that  there was beer so he could sneak one of those, and tried to be patient.  At one point he was so lonesome for his Blair-bear that he quietly went to sit with Marcia, who was a very comforting person and patted him with kindly thumps until he felt a bit better.

The next day, the search began on The Internet.
Susan looked.
I looked.
Jim-bear looked.
It was an all out APB for Blair-bear.
He wasn't at Gund.  Or Russ.  Or Ty.  Or this bear site or that bear site.  Or at hundreds of other bear sites.
June came and went.
July came and was almost gone . . .
when Jim got A Hunch.
He tracked back through one of the early bear sites everyone had visited (Susan had even bought a possible Blair-bear from there, but when he arrived, he wasn't Blair after all) and did a lot of good, solid detective work, and found a place called Princess Soft Toys.
And there, sitting on a catalog page, waiting for his Sentinel (and cheerfully talking to all the other toy animals, whose eyes were looking a little glazed)

was Blair-bear.

He wasn't white
(he was honey-colored, which was exactly like one name Jim thought it was funny to call him).
He was curly.
He had a cute, inquisitive, adoring face that might just look mischievous in the right light.
When he looked at Jim-bear, his eyes said, Wow. You're my Sentinel (and "Sentinel" sounded an awful lot like "hero").
He was Really Brainy (most stuffed toys didn't expound on Maslow's Hierarchy).

He was also wearing nothing but his curly fur.

So Susan paid the toy company for Blair's trip to Massachusetts to get his necklace and his earrings and his nice blue plaid boxer shorts, and she carefully put a butterfly bandage over his first head wound (the postman must have conked him on the head inside his box).  Tired of being without his Blessed Protector and of so many strangers handling him (he only wanted Jim-bear to handle him), not to mention his sore head, Blair-bear became a little testy, and implacably refused to travel without pants.  It would be, like, so embarrassing.  So Susan, who loves everything Blair (and even though he had traveled all the way from Minnesota in nothing but an olive green bow with apparent serenity), indulgently made him a pair of Really Really Cool blue jeans, tucked him carefully into a box, cocooned in soft tissue paper, and sent him off to be Jim-bear's trusted Guide and soul mate.

That's how strong, silent Jim-bear was finally, joyfully united with his curly Blair-bear.  Now they live happily ever after, inseparable friends and partners, in what they think is Cascade, Washington (a fictional city), but is actually St. Louis, Missouri (a real city).
 

I love my Jim and Blair bears; they're cute and cleverly done and way too much fun.  Below are all the places I've found to get the bears, bear clothes, and accessories just right for a Sentinel and his Guide.

the bears & outfits
All of the basic Sentinel bears' outfits and accessories are lovingly designed and created by Susan Williams, and they are irresistible!  To get your own bears (or just to look), and to see the incomparably cool episode-related outfits she has available for them, email Susan at silvablu@comcast.net.
(She also now does exquisitely costumed "Hobbears" from LotR.)

NEW! Susan now has wonderful plaid flannel shirts and holiday boxers, too!

Susan has outfits for both bears from "Flight" (Jungle Jim and Jungle Blair), episode-related Morning outfits (robes and boxers; a sleep mask for Jim and glasses for Blair) and several extra outfits available for Blair, including a flannel scarf, boxers and "fingerless" gloves and glasses from The Debt and the "Neo Hippie Witch doctor Punk" Guatemalan vest and shirt from the pilot.  She's contemplating doing fishing outfits from Poachers . . . someday.  And now  she's done a set of adorable Hallowe'en costumes: a wolf for Blair and a panther for Jim, although I'm not sure how quickly those will be readily available -- I suspect they're very time-consuming.  Most of Susan's outfits cost $15.00, with the ones more difficult to construct running $25.00.

Susan made the pictures below by scanning the bears in their costumes 3-D, so the whole costume isn't visible, but I think they look awfully cute even so.  (There are tails on the costumes.)

Susan has also done up a very special set of bears for art auctions.  They include an overwhelming amount of terrific clothes and accessories that turn the "basic bears" into fabulously accurate Switchman Jim and Blair bears.  Jim's outfit includes a much more functional Kevlar vest with pockets, camouflage pants, a "POLICE" baseball cap, a gun and holster, handcuffs, stompers, a t-shirt and . . . a red frisbee.  Blair-bear has a wig to give him Blair's trademark long brown curls, his cute round wire glasses, a backpack, the Neo-hippie vest and shirt, blue jeans with the rips, tennis shoes, books, a watch and chain, and several other items that I can't remember because my memory isn't what it once was.

(You know, as an aside. I have to mention here that photos of the bears never quite seem to capture their charm and cuddliness.  Once I saw them in people's arms at a con, I knew I was lost -- they were totally endearing.  But they just don't seem photogenic.  <shaking head, bemused>)

more outfits/accessories
Nancy Taylor, dissatisfied (like me) with the sweaters available out there for bears (all were too childish, cutesy, golf related, or for girl bears), decided to put her own extensive talent to work in making exquisitely beautiful sweaters for Jim-bear that recreated in miniature the ones Jim wore in the episodes.  Then she started making some for Blair, as well.  Like Susan's outfits, these incredible hand knit works of art are just perfect for Our Bear Guys.  Nancy has replicated several stunning designs that are accurate down to the last detail.  Here is some of her beautiful work.  Don't Jim and Blair look handsome?

One of the places that didn't have good sweaters but has a multitude of other nifty bear clothes and related stuff is the St. Louis based company, Build-A-Bear .  They have red plaid flannel shirts, a camouflage outfit, shoes and sandals for guy bears, tuxes, a terrific brown leather pilot's jacket with a lambswool sort of collar, t-shirts, an electric guitar, round brass wire-frame glasses in two sizes (although Susan's glasses fit the usual Blair bears better -- my Blair has a smaller head, so these glasses fit him), a bait basket, a fishing pole, and a huge variety of other items.  (My Blair-bear has, for instance, a pair of bunny slippers to keep his feet warm and to sport that "Real Genius" look.  I got Jim-bear a pair of bear slippers, but, being a stoic, macho sort of stuffed toy, Jim-bear gets scowly about wearing cute animal faces on his feet and he kicks them off and hides them when I'm not looking.  The only sort of bear he wants to wear, apparently, is Blair-bear.)

Both bears, however, look great in the "earth bear" sandals shown here.

Build-A-Bear sells online, or check the site to see if there's a store near you.