Margarete Steiff's Bear

Origin
Richard Steiff invented the stuffed toy bear, now commonly referred to as "Teddy" bears, in 1903 to debeut in the Leipzig Toy Fair. The bear was a commercial success and nowdays bears with the small "Steiff" earclip can fetch prices of up to hundreds of dollars.

Intended to be a comfort toy for children, the name "Teddy" comes from a legend about American president Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, who allegedly refused to shoot a bear during a hunting expedition because it had been tied up for him. Some versions of the tale have him refusing to shoot a bear because it was protecting a cub, others have him sparing the cub itself. In some way, the legend of the bear and Roosevelt's noble actions imbued the first Steiff bear, the first toy to have the name "Teddy", with a protective nature.

Effects
When in the presence of a child, the bear seems to have no real effect other than providing a sense of security. If the childs security is threatened, the toy metamorphoses into a living, and rather large, mother bear. The bear will agressively defend the child until the threat has been dealt with, at which time it will turn back into a harmless toy.

The bear was snagged in 1905, after its owner was accosted during a class. It was subsequently retrieved and replaced, and no other bears in the Steiff range seem to possess any similar power.