Teddie

Teddie, known as Kuma (クマ, Kuma) in the Japanese version, is a playable character in Persona 4.

Appearances

 * Persona 4 / Golden: Playable Character; Star Social Link
 * Persona 4 Manga: Major Character; Star Arcana
 * Persona 4 The Animation / Golden Animation: Major Character; Star Arcana
 * Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax: Playable Character/Navigator/Protagonist (Teddie Story Route, Episode P4)
 * Persona 4 Arena (Manga): Major Character
 * Persona 4: Dancing All Night: Playable Character
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Playable Character
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P4: Major Character
 * Catherine: Cameo

Design
Teddie's appearance is based off a stuffed animal. He is an anthropomorphic bear, having blue fur and wears red and white jumpsuit-like clothing. Additionally, the head part of his suit has lenses which allow him to see through the fog in the Midnight Channel. Size-wise, Teddie is the shortest male party member.

After developing an ego, Teddie has blond spiky hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin. He is shown wearing a white blouse-like shirt with various adornments like a red rose and a flamboyantly designed collar. At the school festival when cross-dressing, Teddie has long blond hair with a blue ribbon, wears a blue dress and white stockings as well as black shoes. His cross-dressing alias is very similar to the appearance of Alice, from the 1951 Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

In the True Ending epilogue of Persona 4 Golden, Teddie appears to have grown taller and has a new outfit: a blue and white striped T-shirt with an anchor design, navy shorts, and yellow shoes.

In Persona 4: Dancing All Night, he retains his bear suit, but it now features a disco motif. When he's in his human form, he wears a similar casual wear, but with minor difference that he wears a golden cape and crown. folden pants with star patterns, and brown sneakers.

Personality
Being a comic relief character, Teddie is seen flirting at the girls of the Investigation Team on numerous occasions, but fails every time. Other than that, he is bubbly and cute and is known to lighten the mood when investigating the case, much like Chie. He idolizes and respects Yu, to the point of calling him 'Sensei.' In the Japanese version, he has a verbal tick, adding "-kuma" after every sentence, while in the English version his speech is filled with dozens of bear puns, like saying "Bear-sona" while summoning his Persona. He seems to care a lot about Nanako and calls her "Nana-Chan," even when she's in a near-death state after being kidnapped by Taro Namatame. In the beginning of Persona 4 The Animation, he acts much like a coward when Shadows are near, but changes his ways as the story progresses.

His biggest insecurity is his own identity. Throughout the story, similar to Rise Kujikawa, Teddie struggles to find out his own self and his place in both the TV world and the real world, as he has lost his own memories. As the story progress, Teddie begins to develop a fear that he perhaps has no "true self" and that he has no memories to recover, but continues to search for them regardless. After the "death" of Nanako Dojima, realizing that he couldn't keep his promise to play with her, and with his memories returned, Teddie griefs over the fact that he was an ordinary shadow who grew human emotions and wanted to be accepted by others. By the end of the game, following Nanako's recovery, Teddie comes to accept his true self and realizes that if he is an unknown being, then the way he could change was unknown as well, and vows to protect the TV world while living with the Investigation Team in the real world.

Persona 4
He serves as the guide for the Investigation Team in the Midnight Channel. At first, he acts as support for battles, but after the player completes the Marukyu Striptease Dungeon, he becomes a playable character while Rise Kujikawa takes over the support role.

Teddie was first seen in the Midnight Channel at the time when the Protagonist, Yosuke Hanamura and Chie Satonaka search for an exit, after leaving the Ominous Bedroom. Teddie, confused and irritated by their presence, asks them to leave because it's dangerous there and shows them the exit. After Saki Konishi's death, the Protagonist and Yosuke enter the TV again in order to investigate. There, they meet Teddie once again, but he gets suspicious and thinks that they are the ones who throw people in. After they try to prove their innocence, Teddie asks them to find the real culprit and make them promise it in order to let them out. When the Protagonist first awakens to his Persona, Teddie, amazed by his power, immediately calls him 'Sensei.' Teddie assumes the support role for the team until Rise Kujikawa joins the party.



After Teddie defeats Rise's shadow, his own Shadow appears as a larger form of his bear costume coming out of a hole in the ground. Unlike most of the other Shadow-selves, Teddie's shadow is highly intelligent, speaks in a deep and intimidating voice, and does not wait for Teddie to deny him before attacking the party, mocking the Investigation Team's goals of seeking the truth as a waste of effort. However, this may be due to the intervention of another party, as Rise Kujikawa stated she felt the intervention of a powerful presence, most likely Izanami or Ameno-Sagiri. It is believed to represent Teddie's hiding the truth about his identity - that is, the fact that he is a lost, lonely Shadow. He learned to speak human language and became friendly with humans, taking his bear-like form so that people would like him upon meeting him. Teddie eventually takes a human form so that he can be with other humans. After gaining a personality and losing his Shadow mask, he receives his own Persona.

When the team was about to leave after the successful rescue of Rise and the defeat of his shadow, Teddie decides that he wants to be alone for a while and train in order for his fur to grow back and to be stronger.

Right after the death of Kinshiro Morooka, the team asks Teddie, who has come to their side, if someone was thrown in the TV while he was in, but Teddie answers negatively. The ultimate surprise comes when Teddie complains about the heat and tries to remove his bear suit, much to Yosuke's disapproval, because he thought that Teddie was going to be empty inside, but he was not: Teddie had grown a human body while training. Teddie then becomes a front-line ally, giving the support work to Rise.

His Persona is Kintoki-Douji of the Star Arcana. It is capable of using ice and healing spells. By completing Teddie's Social Link, Kamui will replace Kintoki-Douji.

Social Link
An S.Link is automatically established with Teddie through the course of the story. Like the Fool and Judgement S.Links, this S.Link levels up periodically. If the protagonist decides not to work on any S.Links, Teddie will be the only voice the protagonist will hear in the True Ending. Once the S.Link becomes maxed out, the Protagonist can create Helel, the Light Bearer.

Persona 4 The Animation
Teddie first appeared when Yu, Yosuke and Chie first appeared in the TV world. He followed the three of them to the mysterious room with the noose. Teddie then gave Yu Narukami the glasses and fled when he sensed the shadows. He was later found by Yu, Yosuke and Chie and tells them how to leave. When Yu and Yosuke returned to investigate what had happened to Saki, they ran into Teddie again, who led them to where Saki was. When Yosuke's shadow appeared, Teddie stated that those were Yosuke's inner feelings to which Yosuke denied resulting in the following battle. After the battle, Teddie tells them that Saki and the reporter were likely killed by their shadows. Yu and Yosuke then promised Teddie that they would solve the case.

When Kanji Tatsumi was trapped in the Midnight Channel, instead of gathering information, they gave Teddie the bunny keychain that Kanji made by hand. Using it, he was able to sense his location and lead the team to the bath house. At the entrance, he is confused as to why the team — especially the male members — are reluctant to enter. When they find Kanji and confront his Shadow, he tries to help, but ends up slipping and falling on his face.



At Marukyu Striptease, he gives Kanji the pair of joke glasses that he'd made as a prank, enraging Kanji. After Kanji throws the goofy-looking glasses away, Teddie gives him the real pair of glasses. At the end of Rise's dungeon, Rise's Shadow manages to overpower the team and prepares to finish them off when Teddie attacks, managing to weaken her with a burst of power that ends up deflating him.

After fighting with their persona fails on Ameno-sagiri, as Teddie saw Yu in trouble, his persona evolves into Kamui and lent his power to Yu to summon the ultimate persona.

Teddie and Yu's bond is represented by the Persona Saturnus.

Persona 4 Golden
During the time when the protagonist is alone in Dojima's house, Teddie offers to stay as his company and to look after the house. He will join the protagonist when he searches for bugs at the vegetable patch in winter. In one event, the protagonist has the chance to kiss Teddie but he will break away and tell him that his "bearamones are too powerful." He will also ask the protagonist to teach him how to "glomp" after learning from Yosuke's books - the protagonist can choose to show or tell him how - only to have Dojima walking in on their act. Teddie also acts as the host of the minigame Midnight Trivia Miracle Quiz.

In the Midnight Channel, Teddie has several costumes that make him appear human in the TV world as well as several outfits that feature him cross dressing. The addition of bikes for the Investigation Team introduced a unique new way of obtaining skills for party members. By going on special forms of dates with each party member, involving the use of the bikes, the player is given the option of either having the party member in question learn a brand-new skill, or relearn any old skill that they have forgotten. The bike skills available to Teddie are listed below.

Additionally, like with Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4, each party member is able to learn new skills upon the player's progression of their Social Link. The social link skills that Teddie learns upon the development of his Social Link are also listed below.

Persona 4 Arena


Teddie returns in the sequel and hosts the P-1 Grandprix. The rest of the Investigation Team enters the TV world in order to find the truth behind Teddie's doing. It is eventually revealed that the "Teddie" behind the tournament isn't Teddie at all, but Shadow Labrys masquerading as him.

In his story mode, after Yu left Inaba in Persona 4, Teddie kept busy by working at Junes. One day, he can’t find Yosuke, so he dives inside the TV world to go look for him. Teddie lands inside a strange classroom with cleaning equipment nearby and uses the items to pull off a MacGyver-worthy escape. He meets Labrys and is awestruck by her beauty and offers to become her "knight." Players will run into a suspicious dude with a red cloak and a "celebrity beauty" in Teddie’s tale. His story mode is unique from the other characters (not counting Elizabeth and Labrys), because he has Kanji as his final boss rather than the Malevolent Entity or a possessed Labrys. Kanji arrives after the Malevolent Entity escapes, still thinking that everything is a dream. He then tries to challenge someone so he can win the tournament. Teddie then accepts his challenge, after cheers from the female characters.

Additionally, in some of his win poses involve him shedding his "skin" to reveal human Teddie, clothed, naked, or cross-dressing.

Play Style
Teddie is best described as a trickster character with a wide variety of tools including, but not limited to: a teleport, ailment-causing specials, and a wide array of throwing items that dynamically change the flow of battle. Unlike previous Arc Systems characters in the same style, his items come out in a preset order. He is also the only character that can inflict rage (via an item and his Furious Action) which allows him to create very devastating setups but also suffer increased damage from the opponent for a small amount of time if he gets caught. His Furious Action especially helps him reset the momentum (and arguably sets it to his advantage due to Rage) as even if the opponent is not hit by the move itself, the counter effect always puts Teddie at a certain distance behind the opponent making a counterattack extremely awkward to perform.

Additionally, he has good range on his normals and can hit confirm into combos fairly well. As a payoff for his numerous blessings, his defense is somewhat poor and whiffing with him is a death sentence. His hitbox is very abnormal compared to the others (he is a bear after all), which leads to situations where combos may whiff on him or specific combos that apply to Teddie only. He also lacks an overhead attack, excluding his All-Out Attack which has a noticeable startup.

His leitmotif is known as "Kuma Kuma Circus!" (localized as either "Teddie Circus!", "Bear Bear Circus!" or "Teddie Teddie Circus" and can go either way on those).

Score Attack (P4A)
Teddie is the fourth character the player faces in Score Attack. His damage is increased, he's heavier then normal, and Teddie Circus is sped up to high speeds and does 3 trips around.

As fighter

 * "Go, Kintoki-Douji!" (Summoning persona: Kintoki-Douji)
 * "Here goes! Kamui!" (Summoning persona: Kamui)
 * "Bear-sona!" (Peru-kuma! in Japanese version) (Using a skill)
 * "It's so stubborn!" (Failure to eliminate an enemy Shadow)
 * "I'll get it next time!" (Failure to eliminate an enemy Shadow)
 * "Oh ... how cruel!" (Getting up from being knocked down/Dizzy)
 * "I'm still ticking!" (Getting up from being knocked down/Dizzy)
 * "This is my chance, how about it?" (Follow-up attack)
 * "Here I go!" (Follow-up attack after being initiated)
 * "Thank you!" (Being Healed)
 * "Thanks a bunch!" (Being Healed)


 * "Leave it to moi!" (Tactics: Act Freely)
 * "You're the boss!" (Tactics: Direct Commands)


 * "Bear pile on the enemy!" (Prompt for All-Out Attack)
 * "It's time to get wild!" (Prompt for All-Out Attack)
 * "Just say the word and it's bear time!" (Prompt for All-Out Attack)
 * "Take this! And this!" (Commencing with All-Out Attack)
 * "What a Teddie-ous fight! Heehee." (Battle Won)
 * "I'm the MVB! Wah ha ha!" (Battle Won)
 * "These are my true abilities!" (Battle Won)
 * "Whee! We won!" (Battle Won)


 * "I'm pretty good, aren't I?" (Battle Won)
 * "The Teddie legend never dies!" (Battle Won)


 * "I've climbed the stairway to maturity!" (Level Up)

As support

 * "Yosuke pounded an enemy!" (Yosuke defeats a Shadow)


 * "Oh, Sensei! How could you?" (MC status down)
 * "That's it, Yosuke! One enemy down!" (Yosuke does a critical hit/weakness point)
 * "Ehh!? '____', your defense is down!" (Any character gets defense down)
 * "Four/three/two enemies left!" (Defeating enough shadows to leave four/three/two enemies remaining)
 * "Hoho! Kanji, you beat an enemy!" (Kanji defeating a shadow in combat)
 * "An ambush by three enemies! Don't cry!" (Being ambushed by three shadows)
 * "Three enemies! Let's get through this!" (Engaging combat with three shadows)
 * "There are two enemies! Hang in there!" (Engaging combat with two shadows)
 * "Amazing, Sensei! Keep it up!" (MC does a critical hit/weakness point)
 * "Good work, Sensei! That's one so far!" (Defeating shadow)
 * "I smell one enemy! You can do it!" (Engaging combat with one shadow)
 * "That was coooool, Yosuke!" (The enemy missed attack on Yosuke)
 * "Beautiful, Yuki-chan!" (The enemy missed attack on Yukiko)
 * "Whoa, Kanji, that was so cool!" (The enemy missed attack on Kanji)
 * "I smell three enemies! Don't get careless!" (Engaging combat with three shadows)
 * "S-Sensei! How dare you!" *growls* (MC is knocked down)
 * "Two enemies left!" (Defeating enough shadows to leave two enemies remaining)


 * "Hang tight and go for it!" (Using rush)
 * "Hang in there!" (using rush)


 * "Victory!!" (party won battle)
 * "Yikes! This one's tough!" (Analyzing an enemy)
 * "You can win this! Do your best!" (Analyzing a weak enemy)
 * "Three enemies! But they're too slow!" (Engaging combat with advantage against three shadows)
 * "Go Sensei! You knocked it down!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "You hit its weakness! Smart move, Sensei!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "It's our turn first! There's three enemies!" (Engaging combat with advantage against three shadows)
 * "It's down!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "I smell two enemies! Beat them up!" (Engaging combat with enemies)
 * "You're awesome, Sensei! Go go go!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "That was a good one, Sensei!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "Great, Sensei! Go for broke!" (MC defeats enemy)
 * "One enemy! Fight! Fight! Fight!" (One enemy in battle)
 * "Two enemy Shadows! You get to go first!" (Engaging combat with advantage against enemies)
 * "No one stands in Sensei's way!" (MC defeats enemy)
 * "Yosuke's on the warpath! Keep it going!" (Yosuke defeats an enemy)
 * "There's one enemy! Smash it!" (Engaging combat with a single enemy)
 * "You've hit its weakness!" (MC strikes enemy's weakness)
 * "Yosuke's in danger! He needs help!" (Yosuke's HP is low)
 * "Waaah! That was intense! You okay?" (Party was struck by an enemy's multi-attack)

Persona 4 Golden

 * "Yay! Kamui-Moshiri!" (Summoning persona: Kamui-Moshiri)
 * "I'm here! Time to show my skills!" (Prompting Cavalry Attack)
 * "Come on, miracle!" (When performing the skill Kamui Miracle)
 * "Let's see what pops out!" (When performing the skill Kamui Miracle)
 * "Kamui Miracle!" (When performing the skill Kamui Miracle)
 * "That was easy!" (Battle won in Gekkou Uniform)
 * "All right! Next!" (Battle won in Gekkou Uniform)
 * "Gimme your hearts!" (Battle won in Drag Costume)
 * "Phoenix Rangers Featherman R!" (Battle won in Neo Featherman Suit)
 * "Feather Horned Owl saves the day!" (Battle won in Neo Featherman Suit)

Persona 4 Arena

 * "Let's do this!" (when chosen in character select screen)
 * "No! I'm been locked up!" (trapped inside a locker)
 * "I'm a V.I.P. so I decided to show up late!" (one of his opening lines)
 * "Ladies and gentlemen, let´s play!" (another opening line)
 * "If I win, give me a raise!" (Opening line vs. Yosuke)
 * "Oh man...! A half-naked man in a cape!" (Opening line vs. Akihiko)
 * "You missed!" (While performing Teddie Decoy when the opponent is attacking)
 * "Teddie Screw!" (While performing Bear Screw)
 * "Teddie Ball!" (While performing Bear Screw)
 * "Teddie Charge!" (While performing Bear Screw)
 * "Teddie Driver!" (While performing Bear Screw)
 * "I'm a wild bear!" (While performing Bear Screw)
 * "Take this!" (While additional A attack)
 * "Climb up the stairs to adulthood!" (While performing Teddie Warp)
 * "BEARy poisonous." (While performing Puppeteddie)
 * "Make sure you trade in your old one!" (While performing Teddivision)
 * "No illegal garage dumping!" (While performing Teddivision)
 * "How about this launch!" (While performing special move, Tomahawk)
 * "It's showtime!" (Performing Awakened super move, Circus Bear)
 * "This is my big day!" (Performing Awakened super move, Circus Bear)
 * "Let's go Teddie!" (Performing Awakened super move, Circus Bear)
 * "Any tips are appreciated!" (After performing Awakened super move, Circus Bear)
 * "Tune in next time!" (After performing Awakened super move, Circus Bear)
 * "Flip the switch!" (While performing instant kill, Kamui Kablooey)
 * "You've been careless. Look at 'em go!"(During instant kill, Kamui Kablooey)
 * "I'm no match for Sensei...!" (Defeated by Yu)
 * "I handle this" (While grabbing)
 * "I can't STAND you anymore!" (Throw)
 * "I've had enough of this!" (Throw)

Victory Quotes

 * General
 * "Hehehe... Now is the beginning of Teddie's legend! To anyone and everyone: bring it on!"
 * A victory for Teddie! How was it, guys? Was I cool?


 * Character Specific
 * Yosuke Hanamura: "Yay, I won against Yosuke! Sooo... gimme a raise!"
 * Yukari Takeba: Ohoho! This lady seems marvellous too! Wanna have some tea with me at Junes?
 * Ken Amada & Koromaru: I won't let you take the role of adorable mascot! This age needs a bear like me, not just a plain ol' doggie!

Persona 4 Arena

 * The Bear Screw attack is based on his Bear Claw follow up attack in the original Persona 4.
 * In his Fake Bear R-Action, Teddie can still deflate his suit somehow, even long after gaining a human form.
 * After landing Teddie's Kamooey Kablooey (Kamu Kamu Rocket, in Japanese version), Kintoki-Douji descends with an afro on top of its head, referencing Faust's instant kill from  where he blows both his opponent and himself up with a bomb, giving them both afros.
 * There is a cutscene that shows Teddie flexing his muscles which is also his All-Out Attack cut-in image in Persona 4 Golden.
 * When Teddie wins a match in Persona 4 Arena, the announcer will say "Kuma wins!" on the English voice setting.
 * Both Chie and Teddie are the only characters to not retain any of their offensive spells in their movesets; in Teddie's case, all of his attacks are original save for his followup attack.
 * Teddie's auto-combo has him finish with multiple punches while growing large eyebrows. This is a reference to the anime and manga series "Fist of the North Star". Arc Systems also did a fighting game adaption of the series.

Other

 * Some design sketches for Teddie indicate that he was originally planned to be female.
 * Teddie imitates Takaya Sakaki's scene at the love hotel from Persona 3 when the protagonist and the team go there for the school trip in Port Island.
 * In the Japanese version, he uses the alter ego Kumada (熊田, lit. "bear field", but can also be interpreted as クマだ, or 'It's Kuma!" or may be a pun on the name, "Yamada") instead of retaining his original name once he comes out to the real world. Kumada is a common Japanese last name.
 * Teddie makes numerous cameos throughout Atlus' game Catherine: as a stuffed animal, on a poster, on a bottle of "Bear Beer", and more.
 * When the group played "the King's Game," he and Kanji kiss, regardless of number choice, but it is not seen on-screen. Choosing number three implies that Teddie was either intoxicated, or possibly uncaring (or ignorant) of the social awkwardness of kissing a male, while choosing number one shows Teddie had simply missed.
 * Inside the DVD of Persona 4, there is hidden audio of Teddie describing Naoto's current status in battle when he is in the supporting role. This scenario is impossible considering the timeline of the game, since the player rescues Naoto after Teddie joins the party as a fighter. This was probably included to prevent the game from crashing if Naoto was hacked to join the party before she becomes a party member.
 * In the animated cutscenes of the game, Teddie's mouth of his bear suit does not move after he developed an ego, but in the anime, his mouth moves even when he obtained his human form. This is also changed in the new animated cutscenes in Persona 4 Golden, but in the cutscenes from the original game, his mouth still doesn't move.
 * One of Teddie's usable weapons, Strega Claw is a reference to Strega from Persona 3.
 * In Persona 4 Golden, when wearing a Gekkokan High uniform (in human form), Teddie imitates Ken Amada's victory pose and says his lines. He also spins an imaginary spear in the victory pose.
 * In Persona 4 Golden, Teddie, near the end of the game, visits the protagonist during lunch at school to suggest hanging out later, much like other Social Link characters. This is the only time in the game he does so, as his Social Link is part of the game's plot and non-optional.
 * Teddie, in some regards, is similar to another Shadow, Ryoji Mochizuki. However, Teddie gained a human form due to him gaining a Persona, while Ryoji gained a human form due to being inside the protagonist of Persona 3 for 10 years, however he originally appeared in the form of a child.
 * As stated above, in the English versions of Persona 4, Teddie's dialogue is full of bear puns. The Ultimate Form of the Star Arcana, Teddie's Arcana, is Helel, the Light Bearer.
 * Teddie's Bear Claw follow-up attack is likely a reference to Bear Claw user Warsman's signature Screwdriver technique from the manga series Kinnikuman. Teddie's technique was renamed Bear Screw in Persona 4 Arena.