Cuddle buddy (Kim Possible)

Cuddle Buddies are a fictional series of plush toys featured in Disney's Kim Possible. They are scripted as being highly collectible and their use in the series is analogous to Beanie Babies in popular culture.

Cuddle Buddies were first introduced in series 1, episode 5, and are referenced throughout the series. They are notable within the Kim Possible franchise as being the McGuffin that first introduced the show's titular character to her present-day role as a freelance hero and as being the inspiration behind villain DNAmy's first on-screen plot. They are referenced significantly more than they are seen.

Within the franchise, a collector of Cuddly Buddies is known as a "Cuddler", the most prominent of whom are listed on the official website. Cuddlers are commonly depicted as being ranging from slightly to utterly obsessed AbOUT Cuddly Buddies.

Concept

Cuddle Buddies are hybrids, an amalgam of two or more animals. They are similar in concept to Wuzzles (who were also created by Disney), and their names reflect the animals from which they are formed.

Examples include:

• Pandaroo: The body of a panda with the tail, hind limbs, ears and pouch of a kangaroo.
• Otterfly: The body of an otter and the wings of a butterfly
• Flamingoat: The body of a goat and the head and wings of a Flamingo.

within the franchise they come in standard editions as well as highly collectible limited editions, including the SUPER Star edition of Pandaroo, of which only 12 were made. The rarest Cuddle Buddy produced was Flamingoat, of which only 10 were made.

McGuffin

Though rarely shown on screen, and mostly referenced though dialog alone, Cuddle Buddies are notable in Kim Possible for their part as a McGuffin device.

Prior to season 1, reclusive Upperton millionaire Mr. Paisley had a vault constructed to house his collection of Cuddle Buddies, including an incredibly rare Flamingoat. However, he accidentally activated the vault's security system, trapping himself and his associate Mr. McHenry in a grid of deadly laser beams. Mr. McHenry attempted to contact heroes-for-hire "Team Impossible" via their website, but accidentally contacted Kim Possible instead, thus setting off her career as a freelance hero.

Cuddle Buddies were also used as a McGuffin to introduce the villain DNAmy.

DNAmy was a brilliant geneticist and an avid Cuddle Buddy collector. However she found that merely collecting them was not enough, and she began experimenting on living creatures in an attempt to make real Cuddle Buddies.

Internal references

• Kim's favorite Cuddle Buddy is Pandaroo. She sleeps With It every night, and, when younger, never allowed her mother to wash it. This fact is deployed several times as a device to introduce embarrassment or peer ridicule to the titular character.
• DNAmy's favorite Cuddle Buddy is Otterfly. She can be seen wearing one like a brooch.
• DNAmy was once the head of the Cuddle Buddy fan club and had collected one of every single plush issued, an unknown number of which were destroyed when her hidden splicing lab was destroyed.
• Middleton teacher Steve Barkin was briefly transformed into a living Cuddle Buddy during the first appearance of rogue geneticist DNAmy. He was fused with Rufus, turning them into The "[...] Mole Man".

Outside of the Kim Possible universe, Cuddly Buddy is both a brand of microbead cushion and a form of therapeutic relationship involving non-[...] physical contact (see Cuddlebuddy).