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"Just so you know, I'm a hugger."
"You know me, I'm a lean, mean, huggin' machine."
Danny Tanner, Full House

Physical intimacy is a basic human desire. Humans generally want some degree of physical contact. Then there are those who like it a little too much. These people are the type who like hugging and cuddling people, often delivering The Glomp. Combine a Cuddle Bug with a character who Hates Being Touched, and more often than not, Hilarity Ensues. A Clingy Child might be one if the cause of their clinginess is displaying affection to older parental figures.

Their skinship reaction is usually triggered by Moe and Cuteness Proximity. When taken to the extreme, it might result in the person declaring I'm Taking Her Home with Me!. They may also present as Clingy Sleepers. For when the cuddling is done by a person who Does Not Know His Own Strength, see And Call Him "George". A character who is a Cuddle Bug and also has Cumbersome Claws can also cause trouble. Compare No Sense of Personal Space.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You:
    • Part of USA fanatic Miss Naddy's 'Murrican routine is treating hugs like a normal greeting. She proclaims as much both in her introductory chapter and during the Sea Otter Hotpot Sumo Tournament. Her solo date with Rentarou in chapter 156 has her giving Rentarou various kinds of hugs throughout.
    • Gyaru Girl Ahko loves hugging her friends.
  • The goddesses' bound angels in Ah! My Goddess are very hug-prone, which comes off as rather amusing, as they're remarkably scantily clad.
  • Bamboo Blade: Tama-Chan radiates Cuteness Proximity that has converted a number of people into Cuddle Bugs.
  • In Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, immunosuppressant medicine takes the form of a big, cuddly robot who hugs Neutrophils into submission after they've been driven into a frenzy by trying to break down a purine crystal.
  • Sho Naruse from Cheeky Brat, but only towards Yuki.
  • Shader in Chrono Crusade is very affectionate.
  • Nessa from Fractale, to contrast with the introverted, misanthropic society she finds herself in, where all contact is carried out through Hard Light constructs.
  • Momiji from Fruits Basket loves hugging people, especially Tohru, even though it means he'll transform.
  • Alex Louis Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist is just a big ol' cuddle bug... a perpetually shirtless 7-foot-tall mountain of muscle cuddle bug. People are understandably hesitant about him being so huggy.
  • Mikoto from Gate 7 is a Cuddle Bug towards Hidetsugu.
  • Clover and Mallow from Happy Happy Clover always hug each other showing how best of friends they both are. Clover does it more often around Hickory The Flying Squirrel, and Kale and Shallot. Mallow, on the other hand, starts doing this more often in the last volume after she discovers that Shallot loves her. After she learns that, she gives him a big hug which results in Shallot fainting due to excitement and love.
  • North Italy and America from Hetalia: Axis Powers are both very happy to hug people they like.
  • Fittingly to her kind and motherly nature, Rias Gremory from High School D×D is always quite eager to hug her servants in times of struggle (whether to comfort them or to express how glad she is that they're alive and well) having zero problems on whether the one on the receiving end is male or female. She does seem to have a preference towards hugging Issei though.
  • Machi from Interviews with Monster Girls admits that she really likes when someone holds her head and hugs her, and is upset because her parents stopped doing it when she entered high school. Machi is a dullahan, so holding her head is meant literally since it is not actually attached to her body. Her teacher Takahashi theorizes that she's a cuddle bug precisely because she's a dullahan. Her head cannot move on its own so, whether it be with her own body or someone else's, a dullahan always needs to be in contact with someone else and will naturally desire affection.
  • Kaze No Shojo Emily: Emily loves cuddling Ilse. And though Ilse doesn't show it, being a scrappy tomboy with a reputation of being a Wild Child, she secretly loves it and cuddles Emily back.
  • Hikaru from Kimagure Orange Road, particularly towards her "Darling ~".
  • The girls of the K-On! Club are very affectionate. Yui in particular really likes hugging people; there's a very good reason she and her sister Ui were the former page image. Her usual recipient is Azusa, who's often embarrassed when they're in public. And now that they're in college, she's found a new unwilling recipient in Akira.
    Nodoka: This pair of sisters, I swear... They just reeeally love snuggling up to people...
  • Dio from Last Exile likes hugging, glomping, and generally hanging on people, with his favorite targets being his best friend Lucciola and Claus.
  • Love Live! Sunshine!! introduces Kanan Matsuura and Mari Ohara. Kanan has been one since she was a child, such as by hugging people she just met, or hugging someone close (or a pillar) when he's afraid, as well as hugging Mari when they reconcile on episode 9 of the anime. Whereas Mari rubbed off of Kanan, and usually likes to hug her and/or her other friend Dia.
  • Lucky Star. Soujirou is this way toward his daughter and younger niece: Konata partly because she greatly resembles his beloved late wife, and Yutaka because... well... she's so cute! One time, Yutaka's adult sister Yui (jokingly?) warned him about hugging Yutaka any more than he had to...
  • Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow: Lucy-May loves hugging her sister Kate, her dingo Little and her parents.
  • Mahoraba: Korosaki Sayoko likes to hug her daughter Asami.
  • In Noragami, Kofuko repeatedly pounces and nuzzles Hiyori.
  • Yoriko Yasaka from Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! is extremely affectionate towards her son Mahiro, claiming that she needs to hug him to recharge her "sononium" ("musukonium" in Japanese) or else her sadness maxes out. Mahiro doesn't seem to care one way or the other, and just accepts it as one of his mother's quirks (and doesn't even mind when she does it in front of company).
  • One Piece:
  • Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club is this toward Haruhi... and occasionally his other friends.
  • In Pokémon: The Series, we have some examples:
    • Ash's Muk. The creature's size is the problem its recipients deal with, not its poisonous nature.
    • Some of James' Mons have a habit of doing this to him, which is rather troublesome, considering: Victreebel and Carnivine both chomp on him, Cacnea is a cactus, Chimecho wraps his "tail" around James' face, and Mareanie poisons him.
    • Ash's Dragonite, which hugs everybody and also noted its hugs actually have a soothing effect.
    • And in the Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, we have Ash's Rowlet, which gives the most adorable hugs to Ash (when it's not busy sleeping in his backpack).
  • Pollyanna: Pollyanna loves hugging people, which causes some adults to find her an odd child.
  • Slime Life: Despite frequently despairing for her "dignity as a black mage," the most common plot in the series is Darul trying to come up with some excuse to hug Slime.
  • Tomo-chan Is a Girl!: Carol Olston loves to hug people she cares about in general, evidenced by how she starts hugging Tomo multiple times a day after she hears Tomo is interested in skinship, and how she and her mother hug each other tight any time they reunite after being apart for even a few hours. She often also tries to hug Misuzu, even when the latter shoves her away. At one time she's impressed that Misuzu doesn't mind her hug, only for Tomo to reveal that Misuzu doesn't like the cold weather, and doesn't mind the extra warmth. It's a Running Gag in the manga as well as her penchant for going for kisses, which Misuzu denies her too. Should she be sleeping near a friend there is a good chance she will cuddle up with them if she is able to.
  • Vermeil in Gold: The titular protagonist is very physically affectionate with Alto, leaning on, hugging, groping, caressing, sitting on his lap, or putting him in hers on a frequent basis. While Vermeil does enjoy how it flusters him, it's also made clear that she simply enjoys the contact. While she normally is pleased initiating, it's treated as quite a big deal to her when she requests Alto kiss her instead of the other way around. Her affectionate behavior around Alto later becomes more serious as her feelings for him grow to the point she even sometimes becomes flustered around him.
  • Victor Nikiforov from Yuri!!! on Ice counts, although he's only like this towards Yuri, and keeps everyone else at a respectable distance. This hints that he's attracted to Yuri in more than just the platonic sense, which Episodes 7 and 10 ultimately confirm.

    Comic Books 
  • In Hellblazer, the lonely ghost of a homeless man who'd died of exposure roamed around the city trying to hug people. Tragically, he didn't realize he was freezing them to death by doing so.
  • In Runaways, Karolina is always ready to drape at least one arm over one of her teammates' shoulders when they're having a bad day. Or even when they're not.

    Comic Strips 
  • Chubby Huggs from Get Fuzzy.
  • Minor character Whitey from Big Nate is known best for giving "t'sup hugs". That is, going up and hugging people while saying, "T'sup?"

    Fan Works 
  • In The Beast Of Gusu, Wei Wuxian absolutely loves being in contact with Lan Wangji, and is constantly hugging him or hanging about him in some way or the other as soon as he gets permission to do so.
  • Child of the Storm has Harry develop into this after finding that he actually has family who won't reject him/resent his very existence. Thor, his father (having been incarnated as James Potter - it's complicated), is more than happy to oblige, as is Pepper and later, his godmother, Wanda, who's a maternal substitute in her own right. He's also quite cuddle-prone with his newer friends (being aware that Ron's not especially cuddly, getting all he wants and more from his own mother, and Hermione isn't either - plus, Ron might the get the wrong idea, and Harry's a Shipper on Deck for Ron/Hermione), once it's established that they're comfortable with the idea, with him and Carol being seen snuggling with increasing frequency - which, considering their considerable UST qualifies as major Ship Tease. It gets to the point that one of his first instincts when it comes to comforting someone is to offer a hug.
    • Jean Grey also qualifies, thanks to her Big Sister To The World tendencies - this particularly applies with Harry, since the two of them are cousins, and long separated, and Maddie, who's her twin and was stolen at birth.
    • In general, the author, Nimbus Llewelyn, has admitted that he's an example in his own right and is consequently rather fond of the trope.
  • Hisashi Midoriya is one when he finally shows up in Conversations with a Cryptid and its sequel.
  • In Black Rose Blooms Silver, Ruby is rather fond of cuddling and hugging her friends and family, as her abilities as The Empath let her know when they're feeling down. She's even explicitly called touch-starved a couple times.
  • Celestia is secretly one in Diaries of a Madman, owing to her hidden desire for companionship and intimacy. This somewhat mystifies Nav, but he's fairly tolerant of it.
  • Klavier is one in Dirty Sympathy after being in a loveless relationship for several years, he decides to make up on his physical affection deficient with his new lover Apollo.
  • And I Will Burn For You series:
    • Jiang Cheng really likes physical contact with his family. As he and Wei Wuxian reconcile, their tendency towards physical contact increases. He and Jin Ling also share a lot of touches.
    • Wei Wuxian is also a cuddler, and gives just as much as he gets from Jiang Cheng in the hugging department.
  • Xanna in the Reaching for a Dream series is a massive fan of cuddling but only with her husband Naruto and to a lesser extent Akitsu. It's later revealed to be in part from spending centuries alone and part from her old habit of sleeping for decades out of boredom.
    • Akitsu is likewise very fond of snuggling up to Naruto and/or Xanna whenever she can. A notable example is how happy she is when Xanna wraps most of her tails around her, thinking of it as a super hug.
  • Of course the Second Doctor and Jamie are this in Rose of Pollux's work.
  • In Catch Your Breath, Kushina has a tendency to exuberantly cuddle Minato's genin when they're small, particularly Kakashi.
  • Generally, any Buffy the Vampire Slayer featuring the Pack, such as We Can Be Again will portray the group as constantly cuddling each other whenever they can.
  • Noa in Hard Being Pure is very cuddly. When she eventually leaves the hospital, she's so happy that she hugs everyone she comes across.
  • Medli in "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" is very affectionate. Much more than the game this story is based on. She first hugs Link in her excitement when he agrees to help her into Dragon Roost Cavern and then once more when Link blames himself for the wind injuring her. She hugs both Link and Komali after they save her from her captors and again when Link vows to come back to Dragon Roost Island. She fills the hugging hole when Link comes to awaken her as a sage and again when the two separate for what they think is forever. Finally, she starts a Group Hug at the end of the fic.
  • In Weasley Girl, one of the ways Veronica "Ronnie" Weasley (a Gender Flip of Ron Weasley) differs from her canon male counterpart is that she's very cuddly and likes to hug her friends.
  • Advice and Trust:
    • Rei loves hugs, although she's far more likely to ask for them than to give them. While Asuka and Shinji are always happy to oblige, Asuka was a bit annoyed when she came into their room to ask for one at six-thirty in the morning.
    • Asuka loves to cuddle with Shinji, it's one of her favorite activities. Even after Leliel, they spend just as many nights snuggling as they do having sex.
  • Ash's Tentacool in Common Sense. She usually hits him with The Glomp, too.
  • Legendarily Popular: Ash's hug-prone Dragonite not only becomes the king of the Ryuunited Kingdom (consisting of Ash's many, many dragons), but he also trains Chikorita/Bayleef in "large scale use of special hugging techniques".
    Blade's pincers came up, but what neither he nor Shingo had realized was that Chikorita had no interest in just delivering a head-on attack.
    Instead, her left vine whipped out and wrapped around Blade, her right around a nearby tree, and she pulled the two of them together with as much force as she could muster.
    "Special move!" she announced. "Kinetic solar hug!"
    Then she used Weather Ball, unwrapped both vines, and left Blade to enjoy the explosion.
  • Ha-chan in FREAKIN GENSOKYO. She snuggles up to Brad whenever she can.
  • Death in On a Pale Horse pretty much refuses to let go of Harry Potter once he starts touching him, mostly because Harry (being an alternate version of Death) is the first person he's been able to touch without stealing their soul in billions of years. And while Death can put souls back, he describes the process as agonizing on a level mortals simply can't endure.
  • Ashley from the Snuggles the Symbiote uses 'Cuddlebug' as her superhero name unironically, tends to default to hugging when in close proximity, has claimed that she'd "always like a hug" and once introduced herself with the sentence "I'm Cuddlebug and I like hugs."
  • In the oneshot Touch (2005), Stormer is a cuddly woman dating Roxy, who Hates Being Touched. This leads to confusion and communication issues.
  • All of Team 7 in Black Hole Heart is very cuddly with each other and those they care about with Sakura being the biggest cuddler of them all. After they take over Root, Sai quickly gets used to Sakura draping herself over him regularly.
  • Fate/Harem Antics: Assassin (Hassan of the Serenity) is a Poisonous Person who can't turn this ability off. She is therefore very touch-starved, and the second she discovers that Shielder (a female Galahad with Mash's personality) can touch her without being hurt, she hugs her and doesn't let go. She's next seen sitting in Shielder's lap, with Shielder looking rather uncomfortable but not having the heart to say anything.
  • Mall Rats introduces Leni Loud's best friend Erin, who hugs Lincoln and Leni and tousles Lincoln's hair.
  • The protagonist of With This Ring rescues Ratchet and dozens of his touch-starved colleagues before they suffer the canonical amputation of their tentacles. Instead of becoming a Red Lantern powered by rage, Ratchet takes up an orange ring and sets out to fulfill his greatest desire: physical contact. He starts out by glomping the protagonist and goes from there. Many of the new Lantern recruits aren't certain whether he's sincere or some kind of hazing, but his desire to wrap people in tentacle hugs remains unabated.
  • Troon Palo in Star Wars: Lineage is a slightly downplayed version of this trope, given that he is a Jedi Master. However, he's also responsible for raising a clan of younglings, so he's often hugging the kids, ruffling their hair, etc.
  • In Ignite, a side effect of Firestar's transformation into a dragon hybrid is that he becomes this trope. Word of God likens him to a dragon lounging on his hoard, except that Firestar's "hoard" is his family.
  • In the Turning Red fanfic The Panda Chronicles, most chapters focused on 4*Town have Tae Young show some form of physical affection to the other boys (usually in the form of hugs and snuggles).
  • In Shadows of the Future, Anakin Skywalker is one of these, especially towards Obi-Wan. He spends a lot of time cuddling with/being carried around by/hugging Obi-Wan as a result.
  • The Weaving Force gives us a very literal example in Angelica, a mobile fungus that somewhat resembles a ladybug plush, puts out constant “feel good” emanations, and loves hugging and being hugged.

    Films — Animation 
  • Olaf from Frozen. "Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs." There is also a tie-in book featuring his character that is titled Do You Want a Hug?.
  • Leo: Mia starts out this way due to her parents' divorce. After answering the teacher's question correctly, Mia runs up and hugs her so tightly that the teacher has to pry her off with the meter stick. Squirtle calls her "the human cling wrap".
  • Human Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is, if it is possible, even worse about this than her pony counterpart (having hands, for starters) and enjoys giving Bear Hugs.
  • In Toy Story 3, Lotso introduces himself by giving Buzz a smothering hug.
    Lotso: First thing you gotta know about me—I'm a hugger!
  • In Turning Red, Abby loves hugging Mei especially in the latter's giant red panda form. In fact, she acts like she's going through drug withdrawal when she asks Mei to transform so she can hug her panda form.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Star Wars:
    • Chewbacca often gives a bear hug whenever he's showing the love when a pat on the back would suffice.
    • The Prequels' Qui-Gon Jinn is surprisingly touchy-feely for a Jedi Knight. He's always putting hands on shoulders or bending down to put his face on the same level as whoever he's talking to. People don't seem to mind. He's played by Liam Neeson, after all.

    Literature 
  • Harry Potter: Hagrid definitely has elements of this. Overlaps with Does Not Know His Own Strength, as Harry often describes his hugs as some variant of "rib-cracking" or "bone-crushing".
  • Journey to Chaos / A Mage's Power: If Mia thinks you need a hug, she will jump over her desk and hug you.
  • A Legacy of Light: Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun frequently cuddle up together, share hugs, and sit with their arms around one another, or with one resting their head on their sibling's shoulder, and as the pain of his unhealed wounds worsens, Tut deeply appreciates Semerkhet's skills as a massage therapist.
  • Star Wars Legends: Galaxy of Fear: Eppon, as might be expected from a child as young as him. Tash, Zak, and Luke are all happy to oblige. As he ages older-looking than our protagonists they all stop.
  • The Stormlight Archive: The Alethi (the culture most of the main characters belong to) are known for being The Stoic, preferring not to display any emotions in public. Dalinar was therefore rather embarrassed that his wife, a foreigner, was a very tactile person, openly hugging him in front of his men. Their son Adolin inherited this trait more than a little, though it's not until he ends up in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage that he really gets a chance to express it. His wife, for her part, does not mind spending an entire meeting sitting in Adolin's lap, even if all the Alethi women (most of whom are Adolin's ex-girlfriends) glare at them for the impropriety.
  • They Are Smol: The Snake Man Jornassians love hugging humans because they're always warm. Their word for "human" is literally "Warm Cuddle".
  • Touch: Downplayed. Caspar winds up hugging James three times in about a twelve-hour period. The first was an attempted Cooldown Hug for James (a rape victim) that [goes badly. The next two times are when Caspar is frightened by Lewis; while uncomfortable, James remains calm for the sake of how freaked out Caspar obviously is, and Caspar apologizes afterwards.

    Live-Action TV 
  • On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye likes to give hugs or the occasional friendly jab, in no small part because she had an unhappy childhood where she was bounced around from one foster home to another and thus is starved for affection.
  • Babylon 5's Delenn has a habit of taking the arm of her companion as they walk or patting hands — except for Sinclair, who she rather pointedly never touches. Since she has more than a passing suspicion of who he really is, that is perhaps understandable.
  • Sgt. Stan Wojciehowicz on Barney Miller is a great hugger, especially in times of strong emotion.
  • In Colony, Katie Bowman seems constitutionally incapable of not hugging children. This is meant to demonstrate that she's not the hardened resistance fighter that she imagines herself to be.
  • Doctor Who:
    • The Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, often hugged her grandfather and Barbara after being rescued. An example of this is the sixth episode of "The Keys of Marinus", where she hugs Barbara after helping Ian, and also "The Edge of Destruction" when the TARDIS is saved from impending doom.
    • The Second Doctor and Jamie absolutely love cuddling each other, though it's Security Cling as often as everything (and both of them act embarrassed when they realise other people are watching).
    • The Ninth Doctor once declared that he'll "hug anyone".
    • In "New Earth", Ten saves the day by hugging people. In "The Impossible Planet", he hugs Zach just for being human and actually thanks Zach for letting him. He probably hugs someone on average Once per Episode, considering that the few times he doesn't hug anyone are probably balanced out by the times he hugs basically everyone.
    • As Amy and Rory near the end of their run, the Eleventh Doctor spends more and more time hugging and kissing them, since he knows they're thinking about leaving him soon.
    • The Eleventh Doctor and Clara were both cuddle bugs, frequently hugging it out on occasion.
    • Despite initially reverting to the No Hugging, No Kissing rule, the Twelfth Doctor finds himself being hugged by Clara on several occasions, despite his protests. As their relationship evolves into one that is unambiguously more loving (though fandom debates what "love" means in this context), not only does the Twelfth Doctor begin enjoying her hugs, he becomes something of a cuddle bug himself, surprising her with hugs on occasion.
  • In one episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the team investigates an assault where the only witness is an adorable, developmentally-disabled girl who tries to hug almost everyone she meets, including the usually stern Judge Petrovsky.
  • Lucifer: In earlier seasons, Trixie Espinoza (Chloe's daughter) tends to hug Lucifer hello. Ella Lopez, the new forensics analyst, is always willing to hug literally anyone, starting with Lucifer and all the way up to God Almighty (she didn't know he was God, but he appreciates all the support). This trait was apparently introduced by the actress giving Lucifer an unscripted hug, resulting in a genuine awkward reaction. It became the character's main trait besides forensics.
  • Abby Sciuto of NCIS loves to hug her teammates with little to no provocation. She's also been known to hug near-strangers if she feels they need one. Played for laughs in an episode where everyone is sent to mandatory sexual harassment training and Abby is shocked to find that hugging everyone is against the rules.
  • Jerry the bear from the Friendly Forest of the Muppet show The Pajanimals. "Bear hug!"
  • The famously sweet and innocent Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers loves to give hugs, even when meeting someone for the first time (which often results in a Greeting Gesture Confusion).
  • Scrubs gives us "Jimmy, the overly touchy orderly," who is Exactly What It Says on the Tin- an orderly with No Sense of Personal Space who constantly hugs and cuddles everyone.
  • Star Trek: Picard:
    • Elnor is physically affectionate towards the people he likes, even if he barely knows them. He hugs Picard and Seven of Nine (neither of them is the touchy-feely type), he offers no less than three gestures of comfort to Hugh in the very short time that they knew each other, and when he's grieving over Picard's death, he seeks someone to hold him, and Raffi obliges.
    • Hugh has a tendency to be touchy-feely around someone he's fond of, regardless of how well (or not) he knows the individual. He greets Picard (who normally doesn't like physical contact) with a hug, then touches the latter's right arm (and shortly afterwards both arms) to alleviate Picard's crippling anxiety of being inside a Borg Cube again. He also puts his hand on Picard's back as he leads the elderly man away from the post-reclamation recovery area and when he instructs him to step through the Sikarian spatial trajector. Hugh reassuringly caresses the back of the head and shoulder of an xB who cries Tears of Joy. When he grips Elnor (a stranger) by the elbow and cradles the young man's face, they're signs of Hugh's romantic feelings for Elnor, according to Jonathan Del Arco.
  • Teletubbies: Big Hug! (cue hug with weird sound effects)
  • Word of Honor: Chengling never hesitates to hug either Zhou Zishu or Wen Kexing.

    Podcasts 
  • In the D&D podcast The Lucky Die, Rhal’Jakk the Dragonborn is such a dedicated hugger that his hugs can actually inspire you into regaining hit points.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Flor de Loto's matches usually consisted of her trying to trick her opponents into dropping their guard, so she could slip in a friendly hug.
  • After LuFisto turned face and abandoned the Louis Cypher element of her gimmick, she picked up this instead, to the chagrin of Daffney Unger and MsChif(herself usually known for violating personal space) in SHIMMER. When Daffney met Solo Darling in SHIMMER offshoot SHINE, she quickly likened Solo to a younger version of LuFisto, but by then was used to it and in fact encouraged Solo to weaponize it.
  • Before Hayley Shadows set out on her "dead Barbies tour", she was a much nicer person known as "The Cuddle Monster". Shadows tends to revert back to her cuddling self if she sees fans have brought pets to shows and hears they will allow her to hold them.
  • After a short time in WWE's NXT, Bayley started to develop an urge to hug everyone she met. Normally this is just affection but once the bell rings it'll probably lead to a belly-to-belly suplex.

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 
  • Battle Bears: Subverted with the Huggables. Their hugs kill people.
  • The eponymous Non-Ironic Clown from Dropsy. Given his freakish appearance, massive size, and general inability to function in normal society, most people react with horror, disgust, or both. Until they realize he's entirely innocent and kind-hearted.
  • Nanashi in Duel Savior Destiny is such a cuddle bug that even after a fight, her disembodied head will come up to you and bounce around happily until you smack it away. Otherwise, she tends to be very huggy around Taiga, who does his best to avoid her attempts to glomp him.
  • Chiaki of Ensemble Stars! loves to give people hugs. Unfortunately for him, almost everyone other than Kanata finds this annoying at best and downright creepy at worst, though it's always clear that he acts out of earnest affection.
  • Ormi from Final Fantasy X-2 might be this. One of his attacks is called "Huggles," and his line is "How's about a big hug?" Of course, considering that he's a Fat Bastard, it usually ends with the victim getting bear-hugged for their trouble.
  • In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, befriending Rex is as simple as inquiring on his vast supply of free hugs.
  • Miss Nancy from Little Inferno, who even sends you a coupon for a free hug from her. Like most of her world, though, she's also a quite a bit more… off than most examples.
  • In the interactive romance novel Moonrise, Rosario is very cuddly with the player. There's an air of easy intimacy between them.
  • Moshi Monsters has a whole species of cuddle bugs: little creatures called Fluffy Snugglers who will snuggle people, animals, even inanimate objects.
  • Neptune from Neptunia (at least in the first game) gets like this around Compa, usually when she's sleepy.
  • Pokémon
  • Punch-Out!!: The Canadian Boxer Bear Hugger has adapted hugs as a form of combat. He gives powerful Bear Hugs as attacks, and makes references to hugging during some taunts, even claiming he's "a hugger, not a fighter."
  • In Rune Factory 4, Kiel loves being close to the protagonist. In one of his daily dialogues, he even comes up with excuses to hold their hand.
  • Stella, the protagonist of Spiritfarer, can give out hugs to several characters and her cat. Hugging the spirits on the ship often boosts their morale, with the exception being Elena.

    Visual Novels 
  • Amnesia: Memories' fandisc Amnesia LATER shows Ikki to become a lot more needy about wanting to cuddle and affectionately asking the heroine if he can 'be sweet on her' when drunk.
  • Komari from Little Busters!. To amusing effect early on when she tries to befriend Rin, who is very shy and becomes extremely flustered whenever Komari suddenly tries to hug her.

    Web Comics 

    Western Animation 
  • Richard Watterson from The Amazing World of Gumball has definitely had his moments of this.
  • Shifty Dingo from The Adventures Of Blinky Bill gets rather cuddly with Daisy when she tells him she's willing to give him dance lessons (he's a very bad dancer).
  • Norb from The Angry Beavers, much to his brother's irritation. "BIIIIIG HUG!"
  • Wonderheart Bear on the CGI Care Bears series Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot often calls for a "Bear hug!" and/or simply leaps forward and gives one.
  • Lambie from Disney's Doc McStuffins is this trope personified. She's a kindhearted and sweet-natured toy lamb whose main duty at the clinic seems to be dispensing cuddles and hugs to toy patients, which are apparently a legitimate and vital part of several treatments. Lambie would sometimes give cuddles and hugs to calm down specific toys.
  • On Dragon Tales, Ord often tends to give Max and Emmy a big hug when they arrive in Dragon Land, much to their chagrin, as he's much bigger than them and tends to squish them a bit.
  • Mooncake from Final Space gives new meaning to the term "face-hugger".
  • Eduardo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends takes this to extraordinary heights.
  • In Futurama, Bender became like this after a religious conversion. His friends were unsettled.
  • In Gravity Falls, there are two cuddle lovers: Mabel and Soos. Mabel's shown giving bear hugs and tackle hugs, especially to Dipper and Stan, quite often. In "Society of the Blind Eye", when she is listing cool things about herself, she mentions that she hugs a lot. She also loves cuddling with her pet pig, Waddles. Soos hugs the twins often and attempts to initiate an unwanted group hug in "Dreamscaperers", admitting that he never knows when the time is right. Another time, when the world was on the verge of ending, he says this:
    Soos: Guys, if I die, I wanna die hugging.
  • Invader Zim: Gir gets cuddly and affectionate around other characters, particularly Zim, to his annoyance. "Aww, somebody needs a hug!"
  • Kaeloo:
    • The eponymous character. She's always trying to hug her friends and has No Sense of Personal Space, which does not go down very well with Mr. Cat who Hates Being Touched.
    • Lavanade is prone to showing affection through hugs as well. In her first appearance on the show, when Stumpy introduces her to his friends, she immediately gives Quack-Quack a hug despite just having met him.
  • In The Legend of Korra, Bolin deals out hugs like they're going out of style. To a more subtle extent, Asami never shies away from touching hands, shoulders, etc- usually to make others in the team feel comfortable opening up to her.
  • Bunny Cuddles of Magiki, natch. Unfortunately, a magic mishap in one episode leaves him too strong to do it safely, before Billie's encouragement gives him the confidence to do it gently enough.
  • Miraculous Ladybug: In the episode "Wishmaker" Ladybug manages to weaponize this by getting a man transformed into a giant plush dinosaur to hug the eponymous villain. The resulting bearhug immobilizes him long enough for her and Cat Noir to release the akuma.
  • Scorpi from Mixels loves to snuggle and cuddle up to anyone he meets. Unfortunately, he's covered with dangerous spikes and blades and has a tendency to forget that. Bonus points for being an actual bug-like Mixel.
  • Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic simply loves the hugs. So much so that she tends to be the only pony still smiling when Discord scoops the group up for a big bear hug.
  • Fred in The Penguins of Madagascar is this to the extent that he trusts other characters based on how well they hug.
  • On Peter Rabbit, Cottontail likes to give a hug, most particularly to Shrew, who can't stand it and repeatedly warns her about the "squeezing," but she's too young and innocent to take the hint.
  • Ready Jet Go!:
    • At least implied with Jet. He always puts his arm around Sean or Sydney (but mostly Sean), sometimes putting his hand on the former's chest or back. He also seems to enjoy group hugs, as evidenced in "Back to Bortron 7" and "Racing on Sunshine".
    • Mindy is also this. She always hugs Sunspot or one of the older kids (mainly Jet). In "Sean's Robotic Arm", she hugs her crush Mitchell.
  • Regular Show: Rigby's big brother Don is known for asking his friends to "gimme some sugar"; Rigby is the one person who refuses since he's felt overshadowed by Don for his entire life.
  • Scorpia in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is an almost literal cuddle bug, given that she has the claws and tail of a giant scorpion, yet is so keen on giving out hugs that Catra eventually has to mandate a ten-foot distance between them at all times. She even lists her four main virtues as being loyal, brave, strong, and giving great hugs.
  • The Smurfs (1981) in the episode "A Hug For Grouchy", with the exception of Grouchy, who Hates Being Touched and gets stalked by his fellow Smurfs wanting to give him a hug.
  • Crackle the dragon on Sofia the First loves hugging any new friend she meets, to Clover's annoyance.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants is this. He loves hugging people, which sometimes leads to those people getting annoyed with him.
  • Star Butterfly in Star vs. the Forces of Evil loves giving and receiving hugs. She takes after her father in this regard; while her mother's Butterfly family are known for stoicism, her father's Johansen clan are big on public displaces of affection.
  • Steven Universe: Steven simply loves giving hugs to those he cares about, as does his Cool Big Sis Amethyst.
  • Elmyra takes this to lethal levels for the rest of the Tiny Toon Adventures cast.
  • Untalkative Bunny: The Friendly Friend is a source of annoyance for the Bunny, as it hugs everyone and everything it sees (loudly announcing that it's about to hug every time). In its debut episode, it is The Thing That Would Not Leave as it insists on hugging everything in the Bunny's home.
  • Wander from Wander over Yonder is this, even towards Galactic Conquerors like Lord Hater.
  • Tuck on Wonder Pets!, who often calls for a group hug.

    Real Life 
  • Jurgen Klopp, current manager/coach of British Association Football team Liverpool FC, is famous for hugging his players as they go on and go off the pitch. Sometimes it can verge on a full-on glomp (and in major celebrations, there's no 'verge' about it), something which cemented his status as Team Dad and the Premier League's Cool German Uncle.
  • Not limited to humans. Many other animal species are known to cuddle, hold, nuzzle, or hug each other.
    • For many mammals this usually has more practical applications as opposed to being expressions of affection; baby mammals will often cuddle either with their siblings or their parents to keep warm.
    • Many monogamous bird species like seabirds and parrots are known to nuzzle and preen each other in ways that look very affectionate.
    • Many domesticated animals get this way towards their owners. Cats and dogs are especially well known for this.
    • Chickens, especially hens. They can often get cuddly when around people they know particularly well, usually when they get broody and want to keep their human friend warm.
    • While it's mostly for warmth, reptiles (especially snakes) enjoy being in close contact with human friends.
    • Tegus (a species of large lizard) will choose human attention over either food or a heat lamp. They're basically scaly cats; many people allow them free roam of their house.

Alternative Title(s): Asexual Affection, Cuddle Lust

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