Cuddles

Cuddles
Gender	Male
Species	Rabbit
Episode Count	78 (physical appearances) 81 (3 likeness appearances)
Kills	13 (Main Characters) 5 (Minor Characters) 18 (total)
Deaths	59
First appearance	"Spin Fun Knowin' Ya!"
First Victim	Flaky
First Death	"Spin Fun Knowin' Ya!"
Latest portrayal	Kenn Navarro (1999- present)

"Caring and sharing is cause for charming cheers!"

— Cuddles's starring intro, Season 3 of Happy Tree Friends

Cuddles is an energetic rabbit who first appeared in the Happy Tree Friends episode, "Spin Fun Knowin' Ya!" and is the mascot of the franchise. He did exist before the public appearance of "Banjo Frenzy" where the dinosaur (an earlier version of Lumpy) killed a rabbit character resembling him. He was the second character created for the series (the first being Shifty). Kenn Navarro provides his voice but was played by Aubrey Ankrum in "Banjo Frenzy".

Concept and creation

Cuddles is the second character to have been created before the official release of the show, next to Shifty. The concept of a yellow rabbit was first conceived when Rhode Montijo, one of the creators of the show, made a sketch of him on a piece of paper with the phrase Resistance Is Futile. This drawing gave the creators the idea of the show. The prototype design of Cuddles was used in the unreleased short, Banjo Frenzy.

History

Happy Tree Friends

Cuddles first appears in the Happy Tree Friends in the episode, "Spin Fun Knowin' Ya". He makes numerous appearances in the main internet seasons and makes various significant appearances, morso than most of the other characters.

Starring intros

• Season 1:Cuddles waves his arm at the audience.
• Season 2: Cuddles raises both of his arms up within a yellow forest.
• Season 3 through Season 5: Cuddles is standing up with his arms out. The quote says, "Caring and sharing is cause for charming cheers!."

Happy Tree Friends: Homerun

Cuddles is a character who appears within the game. Cuddles is a character the player can hit with a bat.

Happy Tree Friends: Spin Fun

Cuddles is a character Lumpy can spin off of the merry go round.

Happy Tree Friends: Flippy's Flying Frenzy

Cuddles is a character who appears within the game. Cuddles is one of the characters the evil side of Flippy could drag with his helicopter. In the opening cutscene, Cuddles, along with Toothy and Giggles, were blowing and inflating balloons, which would pop soon after. This caught Flippy's attention and caused him to flipped out.

Happy Tree Friends: Bloody Money

Cuddles is one of the victims Lifty and Shifty can torment for cash. When the player bounces Cuddles into the various hazards, Cuddles will bleed drips of his blood, which the player must catch to receive points.

Happy Tree Friends: Slap Happy

Cuddles is the character who appears in the game. The player can torment the rabbit with various options. A spiky wall trap can clamp Cuddles, a pipe would impale his throat, and a chainsaw will slice Cuddles in half. The other two items serve to bring Cuddles back to life. The player can perform a CPR on him or electrocute him to revive him.

Happy Tree Friends (television series)

Cuddles appears in the television series adaptation of Happy Tree Friends. His first appearance is in the "One Foot in the Grave" episode, "The Wrong Side of the Tracks". Cuddles makes the second most appearances within the adaptation, behind Lumpy. While he has less episodes starring him, he still would be granted the most amount of screen time, next to Lumpy and appears to play some sort of a supporting role.

Starring intros

• Season 1: Cuddles rides his skateboard onto of a hill.

Arcade games

Fire Escape

Cuddles is one of the characters Flaky must catch in order to land in the ambulance.

Disco Inferno

Cuddles is one of the characters who cheers on Disco Bear within the background.

Hot Potato

Cuddles is one of the characters who appear within the game as a witness of the grenade. If the player fails to keep the grenade airborne, it'll explode, killing the characters, including Cuddles.

Hare Trigger

Cuddles is the main protagonist of the game. In this game, he's preforming a daredevil stunt and Toothy sets the fuse on the cannon with a flame. The height of Cuddles strongly depends on how far the player gets Cuddles on the distance.

Aim To Freeze

Cuddles is seen aiding Toothy within the snowball fight against Lumpy. Cuddles is seen looking through his telescope.

Happy Tree Friends: Run and Bun

Cuddles is an unlockable playable character in Happy Tree Friends: Run and Bun. He rides a skateboard, and his favorite level is The Cave.

Happy Tree Friends: Aggravated Asphalt

Cuddles play a role in the game as an obstacle. If Flippy's evil side runs into him, Cuddles will be sliced in half and killed.

Lumpy's Lame Card Trick

Cuddles makes a brief cameo in one of the selection choices. Lumpy makes a pair of rabbit ears appear in his magician's hat and he pulls on it, which reveals the severed head of Cuddles.

Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm

Cuddles was a character originally planned to be into the game, alongside Handy but both characters were cut for unknown reasons. Cuddles was replaced by Flippy and several of his voice clips are still used.

Happy Tree Friends: Deadeye Derby

Cuddles is one of the playable characters of the game, and one of the two that is unlocked by default. He grants the player extra coins when he is used.

Biography

General information

Personality

Cuddles is a rebellious trouble maker who is very fond of causing trouble or following his own rules. Both of these traits have lead to many disasters and conflicts, with Flaky being the character who would try to warn Cuddles. He can also be self-centered, and would throw his friends under the bus or force them into situations they are clearly not fond of. However, on the other hand, Cuddles is very friendly and optimistic. Cuddles can be naive and gullible, as various characters have used his kindness as an advantage. Cuddles is a music lover, more specifically, he's fond of rock music. As revealed in the Break, Seize the Day, Cuddles suffers from epilepsy. It was mentioned that he is actually allergic to carrots since they make him choke. However, this was later denied in 2015, where Kenn Navarro said that Cuddles loves carrots. Cuddles is very fond of extreme sports, as he enjoys skateboarding, surfing, and soccer.

Physical information

Cuddles is a yellow rabbit who wears bunny slippers. He has a visible abdominal marking that is a lighter shade of his fur. Cuddles has a visible tuff of hair and a tail that bears an exact resemblance to the former.

Other outfits and designs

In Ski Patrol, Cuddles is designed with stylized look. His limbs and ears are made more blocky and his eyes are now circle-shaped.

In Cubtron Z, Cuddles is designed within a stop-motion environment, and was made with cardboard to be animated.

In the episode, "New Season Teaser", he is in the same art style as Dick Figures as a yellow stick figure.

Occupations

Cuddles has various occupations within the series. He has been the a firefighter in Who's To Flame?, a farmer in Don't Yank My Chain, a daredevil in Mime To Five, a delivery boy in Aw, Shucks!, a journalist in See What Develops, and an Easter bunny in Just Be Claus.

Relationships

Friends and love interests

Cuddles is on great terms with a lot of the characters. His best friend is Toothy, and the two have been seen engaging in activities together. A conflict was briefly held in Camp Pokeneyeout, where a simple understanding turned into a very fierce war between the two. However, the two quickly make up in the end. Another friend Cuddles regularly hangs out with is Lumpy. Lumpy would usually be portrayed with an authority role towards Cuddles, and the two would partake in various activities. Cuddles instructed Toothy to hit Lumpy with a snowball when the latter was simply walking down the street in Strain Kringle.

Cuddles is close friends with Giggles, and the two even have some romantic interactions together. He spends the entirety of The Carpal Tunnel of Love attempting to woe her in numerous ways. They also shared a kiss in a reference to Lady and the Tramp as zombies in Remains to be Seen. However, some episodes depict the two as nothing more as friends. When directly asked about the topic, Kenn Navarro responded that the relationship is only used on a episode biases and would be portrayed as moreso a stock couple rather than a stable relationship. Giggles has also been seen with other characters, which backs up Kenn Navarro's answer.

Flaky is another friend Cuddles regularly hangs out with. They would partake in various activities together, but Flaky seems to not be fond of these events. In some instances, Cuddles even forces Flaky into these sports. He completely ignores Flaky’s warnings in Water You Wading For and he forces Flaky into these activates in Let It Slide and The Wrong Side of the Tracks. In Snow Place to Go, he along with Lumpy, Russell, and Toothy volunteer Flaky to retrieve the can from Giggles’ dead body. However, he also cringes upon witnessing her death in Mine To Five and express shock towards her death in Take Your Seat.

Petunia and Cuddles are both characters who appear in numerous of the episodes, they have never directly interacted (at least as of on-screen). They are only seen in big groups with other characters as seen in From A to Zoo, Kringle Feast, I Get a Trick Out of You, The Wrong Side of the Tracks, Take a Hike, and Home Is Where the Hurt Is. The most that could be said is that she served Cuddles burgers and fries in Flippin' Burgers, and how she was annoyed by Cuddles' mischief in Camp Pokeneyeout.

Cuddles' relationship with Handy have mostly been positive but at times, the latter has shown to be not too fond of the former. In The Wrong Side of the Tracks, Handy made fun of Cuddles' lack of arms when they have been ripped off, and he didn't even care about Cuddles' demise. In In a Jam, Cuddles admired Handy's band and tries to get into it. However, Handy was not too fond of Cuddles in here as he, along with Lumpy and Sniffles, thought the rabbit's guitar skill's were abysmal and Cuddles later indirectly caused Handy's death. In Don't Yank My Chain, Cuddles was frightened by the sight of seeing Handy in his well and caused him to drop all the way to the bottom again.

Both being Toothy's closest friends, Cuddles and Sniffles almost always appear with Toothy when together, where the three would form a trio. The trio of the three characters can be seen in some episodes such as Class Act, Remains to be Seen, From A to Zoo, Party Animal, and Take a Hike. In Wipe Out!, the two were briefly seen playing with a beach ball without Toothy. However, at times, it seems that the relationship is moreso dependent on Toothy's presence, as in Camp Pokeneyeout, Sniffles attacked Cuddles with his own invention after Cuddles attacked Toothy. Cuddles also annoys Sniffles by messing with the lights and subsequently getting Handy killed in In a Jam.

Cuddles is friends with Russell, as he was seen riding his ship along with several other characters in Snow Place to Go. They also play baseball with Toothy and Cro-Marmot in Can't Stop Coffin. They are seen in a group trick-or-treating in Remains to be Seen.

Cuddles and The Mole seem to be friends for the most part. They both go to the same birthday parties in I Get a Trick Out of You and Party Animal. Both characters also work as firemen in Who's to Flame?. However, sometimes, things do not go so well due to The Mole's blindness. Examples of this are in In a Jam, in which The Mole makes Cuddles give a second amount of blood, despite how he gave Cuddles a button the first time. Later, he accidentally kills Cuddles and mistakes him for a chair afterwards. In Home Is Where the Hurt Is, they operate a wood chipper together until the Mole unknowingly killed Cuddles. In A Sight for Sore Eyes, Cuddles watches as The Mole drops something in his drink, which makes him sick.

Cuddles and Mime have interacted a few times. They both appear together in Party Animal to help with Flippy's birthday and in Home Is Where the Hurt Is when they work together to build a house for Giggles. Cuddles buys a guitar from Mime in In a Jam.

Cro-Marmot is another one of Cuddles' friends, as shown in Autopsy Turvy, in which they and Toothy play dress-up and in Can't Stop Coffin, they're seen playing baseball together.

Cuddles seems to be a fan of Splendid as he appears in Wrath of Con, where he is attending to the latter's speech, along with various other characters. He interacts with Splendid again in Just Be Claus when he gives him his Easter basket filled with eggs that need delivering, after getting sliced apart. Splendid then tears his ears off.

Foes and rivals

One of the few characters Cuddles actually harbor a disliking for is Nutty. In Sweet Ride, he was horrified when he saw Nutty chasing him for his ice cream cone, and showed no concern for him when he died, even showing relief towards the fact that he could enjoy his treat. In Class Act, Cuddles seemed to be put off at witnessing Nutty biting a chunk of both Sniffles' body and costume. Cuddles also showed annoyance at Nutty stealing his car in Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm. Also, while to a lesser extent, Cuddles seemed indifferent towards accidentally burning Nutty's eye in Camp Pokeneyeout. The only positive instance of Cuddles' opinion of Nutty is that he was polite to him in In a Jam and showed no contempt towards the fact that both of them were auditioning for the same part in Lumpy's band despite obviously wanting a part.

They appear in the same episode on several occasions but rarely interact, but when they do, they oddly aren't always at ends. Their most significant interaction and only negative one was Junk in the Trunk, where Cuddles unwittingly helps Lifty and Shifty with their scheme, until they steal his pet mouse and get him killed. The rest of their interactions seem netural or even friendly at times, as were also suppose to eat a Christmas dinner in Kringle Feast. They all even went trick-or-treating in Remains to be Seen. In Claw, Lifty and Shifty attempted to save Cuddles from the claw, which shows that they occasionally care about him.

Cuddles appears to dislike Disco Bear for apparently kissing Giggles in YouTube 101: Subscriptions. However, they work together in the fire brigade in Who's to Flame? and seem to have no problems with each other, that is until Disco Bear drives the firetruck without lowering the ladder first, getting Cuddles killed.

Like most characters, Cuddles strongly fears Flippy's evil side. As seen in episodes such as This Is Your Knife, Party Animal and Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow, Flippy's evil would kill Cuddles.

Speech

Cuddles speaks in a high-pitched voice. Like most characters, Cuddles' dialogue is often jumbled and mostly consists of gibberish. However, occasionally, Cuddles would speak clear English. Cuddles is the first character to spoke an English sentence, as he said the lines "Spin Faster, Spin Faster" in Spin Fun Knowin' Ya.

Trivia

• Cuddles, along with Lifty, Handy, and Lumpy make a cameo appearance as a totem pole in Gundarr, another Mondo Media show.

• According to his Myspace page, Cuddles' zodiac sign is Aries.