If you were ever given one of these as a child, my deepest condolences.
I can sympathize: despite the fact that I cringed every time I saw the commercial, my parents decided to get me one of these little delights for my fourth birthday. And not just a gag gift either; this was my main present, and my parents were so proud of it. After many years of recovery, I have gotten over most of the trauma caused by a Hugga Bunch staring me down from the corner of my room while I slept.
“Don’t ever touch my floppy disks again. Ever.”
The Hugga Bunch started as Hallmark greeting card characters, and were released as toys in 1985 by Kenner, and believe it or not, they made about $40 million in sales in that first year. I mean, who wouldn’t want one of these wide-eyed, rosy-cheeked wonders? And another reason they probably sold so many of them is due to the fact that you get two dolls for the price of one. Yeah, you heard me right, two of them. Every Hugga Bunch comes with an even smaller, creepier doll called a Huglet.
Here’s where it gets (even more) weird:
The soft doll for children evolved into an actual film with a rather tragic plot. It starts with a girl who teleports through her mirror to the place where all Hugga Bunch live, Huggaland (very original, I know). She goes there to try and find a way to save her grandmother, who is the last person on Earth who knows how to hug. If just typing that description is putting me on the verge of tears, I don’t know how people can actually manage to sit down and watch it.
Now that I have rekindled all of your fond memories of Hugga Bunch, you must be begging me to tell you where you can buy them, and how much you will have to sacrifice to own one again. I have some good news: you can buy them online for anywhere from 20 to 80 dollars, and if you’re lucky it might even come with the Huglet. And as far as the movie goes, you can buy it online for thirteen bucks or if you’re a cheap ass, like me, you can just get the torrent.
Kyle Rhoads is studying marketing and writing at the University of Colorado Denver, but spends summers back home in California. When he’s not writing or studying, he enjoys reading, lacrosse, baking, and working on his new blog.
I can honestly say that I have no recollection of these toys; and that’s probably a good thing.
You’re one of the lucky ones.
I barely remember these. You have my utmost sympathies…
I remember the hugga bunch in name only. Never has one. Which seems like a good thing
I remember the creepy song and realizing even then that they were not as cool as the other plush lines on the market
Care Bears, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Pound Puppies–all these I recall from the ’80s, and thankfully avoided. These Huggaland spawn are the most frightening, though, and I think my subconscious deleted them from memory as well. Thanks for dredging them back up, Kyle. I might have to watch the movie just so I can reassure myself that George Lucas’s Ewok Adventure wasn’t actually the worst film from my childhood. Funny piece.
so im sitting in my living room this morning doing nothing special, daydreaming. Suddenly a wave of gut wrenching fear floods my being. I had a memory of possibly the worse toy of my childhood, a Hugga bunch. Why was this horrible memory dredged from the dark recesses of my mind? Dunno. I remembered the day of the huge made for TV huggabunch movie. I couldn’t recall, this morning, specific events from the movie I could only tell you I remember being scared shitless after seeing it. So, out of curiosity I decided I would face my fears and watch the damn movie. So like the token dumb chic in horror movies that always goes up the stairs in the dark abandoned house screaming,” is anyone here?” I searched the dark abandoned corners of the interwebs for this jewel. It’s even more disturbing at age 35. So glad I found this article even though its a few years old. I don’t feel so alone haha
Hilarious! There were so many things like this in the 80s that would never get passed off as “for children” today.