Cuddler is a squiddle who was added late into the 2011 revival, and debateably the main character of the japanese fan series "愛のイカ (Ai no Ika Lit:Squids of Love)" Known by most american fans as "Squid Squid Squiddles!: Lovely New World" due to the popular fan dub calling it that.
Introduction and History[]
Cuddler was introduced during the last season of the 2011 revival. He claimed to be from a distant world, but never liked to talk about his origins.
Originally Cuddler kept to himself and tried to keep others at a distance with hurtful words. This was until Episode 6 of the last season when he revealed to Plumthroat this was only because Cuddler had come here with the special dangerous task of saving the whole ocean from pollution, and didn't want the others hurt. This actually leads into one of the squiddles movies, "Befriending Cuddler," in which the squiddles manage to clean the ocean.
Afterward Cuddler is shy, but enjoys the time he can spend with his new friends, although it is unknown as to why he never returned to his home.
Personality[]
Cuddler was originally one of the most seemingly mean squiddles of the main cast, but from episode 7 of the final season onward he became very shy, and apologetic for his earlier actions.
Relationships[]
Due to his late introduction and the time it took for him to become nice, Cuddler did not develop many relationships. He has feelings for Berryboo, but he never acted on them within canon. He thought that Plumthroat would end up with her eventually.
Squid Squid Squiddles!: Lovely New World[]
Within the fan universe of "Squid Squid Squiddles!: Lovely New World (often abbreviated as Squiddles LNW)" Cuddler is the main focus of 9 of the 17 total fan episodes. This is the most episodes to focus on one character as Plumthroat was given 4, Creamsicle was given 2, and Berryboo claimed 2 as well.
He is portrayed much less shy, as this takes places three years after the events of the 2011 series. He is usually very helpful and outgoing. The final episode is both episodes 16 and 17, but episode 16 is from Berryboo's perspective, and 17 is from Cuddler's perspective. In episode 16 it shows Berryboo officially starting lessons she needs to take to become the queen, and focuses on those up until she recieves a note from Cuddler telling her to meet him by the Squiddly Tree House, where they reveal their hidden feelings for each other.
Episode 17 focuses on Cuddler trying to build up the courage to send the note to Berryboo, and gaining Plumthroat's approval. It ends with a montage of moments from the main series and fan series showing off the most memorial moments of each character.
Trivia[]
- Although the fan series leads us to believe Cuddler's feelings for Berryboo are requited, the main series gave no eveidence to suppport this.
- Many fans do not list Cuddler's relationships with the other characters as he had little interaction with the main cast outside of the fan series.
- Cuddler's personality in Squiddles LNW is actually based off comments from the character director of the original 2004 Squiddles. He had wanted to add in Cuddler but had to scrap him for the original series due to time constraints. The same thing almost happened in the 2011 version, leading to little exploration of Cuddler's character.
- Cuddler is one of the least talked about and remembered Squiddles as the only time he really mattered within canon was his movie that did very poorly in theatres.
- Cuddler was planned to play a much bigger role in the filler episodes of the series, but many creative differences within the creators and directors (that eventually lead to the cancelling of what would have been a Squiddles spinoff series) lead to this not happening
- Many of the 2004 fans dislike the final season of the 2011 remake as it is the only season with significant plot changes to the original material. For this same reason Cuddler was found to be extremely unpopular, despite being the original character creator's favorite Squiddle.
- The final episodes of the fan series (16 and 17) were originally called "愛のイカ (Squids of Love,) to reflect the love of Cuddler and Berryboo, and to reference the tite. The english dub called these episodes "Squid Squid Squiddles!: Love in the New World!" to keep some reference to the title while still making the title clearly show the episode deals with love of two Squiddles rather than love of the world.