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"I'm Lots-o'-Huggin'-Bear, but please call me Lotso."
—Lotso introduces himself to Andy's toys

Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear ("Lotso" for short) is one of the main characters in Toy Story 3. He is a large, pink strawberry-scented teddy bear who used to rule Sunnyside Daycare like a prison with his former minions.

Backstory[]

"Yeah, I knew Lotso. He was a good toy. A friend. Me and him, we had the same kid, Daisy."
Chuckles
Lotso0005

Daisy receiving Lotso as her Christmas present.

Lotso first started out as a Christmas present Daisy received and instantly became her favorite toy. During the time spent at Daisy's house with her two other toys, Big Baby and Chuckles, Lotso seemed to have enjoyed every moment being special in his owner's eyes. One day, Daisy took her three toys out for a little drive with her parents and stopped at a rest stop for a little bit of playtime. After lunch, she fell asleep and her parents took her back into the car, accidentally leaving Lotso, Big Baby, and Chuckles behind. The three toys waited for a long time, but Daisy never came back for them. Not wanting to give up, Lotso and his friends, Chuckles and Big Baby, finally made their way back to Daisy's house, only to discover that Daisy's parents had bought their daughter another Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy, leaving Lotso heartbroken and feeling betrayed.

Those feelings embittered Lotso, and it made him turn evil, and he forcibly ordered his friends Chuckles and Big Baby to leave Daisy and follow him. The three lost, cast-off, unloved and unwanted toys hitched a ride on a Pizza Planet delivery truck's rear bumper until the truck hit a bump, knocking the three off the bumper. Then, the three found Sunnyside Daycare, where Lotso and Big Baby took over the daycare and subverted the whole system to benefit themselves.

Despite this, Chuckles the Clown never forgot the fact that his first owner loved him, even when Bonnie picked him up after she found him.

Toy Story 3[]

Lotso0001

Lotso gives Buzz a big hug.

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Lotso grins evilly while Buzz disables his prisoners.

Lotso: "Got a lot to look forward to, folks. The little ones love new toys."
Buzz: "What a nice bear!"
Rex: "And he smells like strawberries!"
―Buzz and Rex, first impressions on Lotso, who shows the toys around Sunnyside[src]

Lotso is an old, pink stuffed teddy bear with a strawberry scent and a Southern accent, who uses a wooden toy mallet as a cane (he is still able to walk, even without it).

He is first introduced riding over to Woody, Buzz, and the other toys in his dump truck. He greets them in a friendly, albeit fake manner and shows them around Sunnyside. He assigns the new toys in the Caterpillar Room, knowing that the toys there are treated abusively by the younger kids.

That night, after the toys experience a rather rough playtime with the toddlers in the room, Buzz decides to go find Lotso to ask for his friends to be moved to the Butterfly Room because they do not belong in the Caterpillar Room.

Ts33-01

When Buzz finally reaches Lotso in the library, he requests a transfer for him and his friends, to which Lotso agrees (but only to Buzz's moving, knowing that Buzz might be useful to him).

However, he refuses to listen to Buzz's plea to move his friends with him, believing that the Caterpillar Room needs toys for toddlers to play with, which makes Buzz instantly refuse his offer, unwilling to abandon his friends because they stay together as a family. Thinking Buzz is too useful to give up, Lotso then tells his henchmen to put Buzz back in the Time-Out Chair. He then uses a Buzz Lightyear action figure manual, which is given to him by the Bookworm, to reset Buzz to his demo mode. Lotso then makes Buzz think he is a real space ranger again and manipulates him into believing that his friends are helpers of Emperor Zurg. Lotso then makes Buzz imprison the toys inside their cells, with Mr. Potato Head being put in "The Box".

The next night, while Lotso is asleep, Woody, who has escaped Sunnyside earlier, manages to rescue his imprisoned friends after hearing how evil Lotso is. Woody's friends are happy to see he's still alive, and together they formulate a plan to escape Sunnyside, including the attempt to get Buzz to rejoin their side.

Ts34-05

Lotso stops the toys.

When the toys try to leave Sunnyside through the garbage chute that the Chatter Telephone had told Woody about earlier, Lotso and his gang catch them at a dumpster, blocking their way of escape. Lotso tries to coax the toys into coming back to the Caterpillar Room to join his family again to avoid an approaching garbage truck, but the toys refuse his offer. Jessie angrily states that Sunnyside isn't a family, but a prison for toys and labels Lotso a liar and a bully and would rather rot in the dumpster than join any family that Lotso runs. Barbie agrees with Jessie and angrily replies to Lotso that being in authority requires approval from the government, not by force or threat. This makes Lotso signal Stretch to push the toys into a dumpster, thinking that disposing of them as trash will be better. At that moment, Ken appears, calls out for Barbie, and tries to stop Lotso, but Lotso teases Ken for loving Barbie, telling him there are "hundred million Barbie dolls like her." When Ken disagrees with Lotso, Lotso becomes enraged at Ken's act of defection as well as his attachment to Barbie and throws him across the dumpster to force him to join her, disowning him as one of his cohorts. Ken then speaks up, explaining what Lotso has done to Sunnyside, making Lotso question his cohorts if anyone concurs with Ken. When no one answers, Lotso continues with his lecture, telling the toys that not one kid has ever loved, or will ever love, a toy. Woody then attempts to remind Lotso of his old life with his previous owner, Daisy. However, Lotso immediately becomes enraged as he doesn't want anything to do with Daisy, but to forget completely that his relation to Daisy has ever existed. Woody then pulls out Big Baby's old pendant (received from Chuckles during his stay at Bonnie's house earlier), and after unsuccessfully convincing Lotso how she has loved him, Woody tosses the pendant to Big Baby, who picks it up and, looking at the token of his lost love, sniffles, "Mama." Outraged at how Big Baby is still emotionally attached to his previous owner, Lotso snaps out at Big Baby, yelling at him that Daisy never loved him as he snatches the pendant away from him and crushes it to pieces with his mallet, making Big Baby burst into tears. He then orders a now reluctant Stretch to push the toys into the dumpster, pokes Big Baby abusively with his cane and denounces all toys as trash awaiting disposal, much to the shock and disgust of the other Sunnyside toys, who finally realize that Lotso has been abusing them and they all quickly turn on him. Without warning, Big Baby lifts up Lotso, causing him to drop his mallet. Lotso orders Big Baby to put him down, but Big Baby, having had enough with his treacherous nature, throws the bear into the dumpster and closes its lid on him. He then blows a raspberry directed at Lotso and allows the toys to escape. As the toys try to leave Sunnyside, one of the Aliens has become stuck by the dumpster's lid, prompting Woody to rush back to free the alien by slightly opening the lid. But then, Lotso, having caught sight of Woody through the opening and wanting revenge for on Woody for foiling his schemes, grabs his ankle and pulls him into the dumpster, making Andy's other toys rush to his rescue just as the garbage truck arrives to pour the contents of the dumpster into the truck.

Ts34-08

Lotso being saved by Woody and Buzz

The truck takes Lotso and Andy's toys to Tri-County Landfill, where they are pushed onto a conveyor belt leading to the shredders. After the toys grab onto a metal object so that they hang from the magnetic ceiling, safe from the shredders, Lotso calls for help from under a golf bag. Woody and Buzz drop down from the ceiling to free Lotso. They use one of the golf clubs to pry up the bag to let Lotso crawl out, and Woody makes Lotso take his hand as the club pulls them up to the ceiling, narrowly escaping the shredders that chew up the golf bag. Realizing that the conveyor belt is leading them to an incinerator, Lotso and the toys try to run for it, but the conveyor belt pushes them closer and closer to the furnace. Lotso then notices an emergency stop button and rushes over to grab hold on the lower rung of a ladder leading to the button. He calls to Woody, and Woody and Buzz rush over to nudge Lotso up, allowing him to climb up the ladder and reach the button.

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Lotso gives the toys their death sentence for refusing to agree with him.

Woody and Buzz plead for Lotso to push the button, but Lotso, out of rage for Woody mentioning Daisy and the fact that his inner beliefs haven't changed overall, gives the helpless toys a menacing glare, mockingly shouts at Woody, "Where's your kid now, Sheriff?", and runs off, leaving the toys to die in the incinerator and ensuring that they can never return to their owner. However, his ploy is thwarted at the last minute as the toys are rescued by the giant crane that the Aliens have commandeered. After the toys emerge out of the furnace, Hamm and Slinky express their desire to get back at Lotso for almost getting them killed, but Woody convinces them to forget it, asserting that Lotso is not worth it and that the dump is the right place for him.

Meanwhile, as Lotso (who is unaware that Andy's toys are still alive) tries to find his way out of the dump and back to Sunnyside, he turns to see another garbage truck pulling up toward him, forcing him to go limp. As the truck stops next to him, a garbage man steps out of the truck and is surprised upon discovering Lotso, claiming how he has once owned a Lots-o'-Huggin'-Bear during his childhood. Sticking to his love for Lotso (as well as his strawberry scent), the garbage man decides to take him along.

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Lotso's comeuppance.

Lotso is last seen tied up on the truck's front grille with a few other toys the same garbage man has collected earlier. Lotso panics as he wakes up to find himself in that predicament, but then one of those toys, a frog, advises Lotso to keep his mouth shut to prevent mud and insects from getting in, and Lotso does so right away. This inadvertently gives Lotso his well-deserved punishment. With Lotso gone and out of power, Sunnyside is freed from his tyranny forever.

Personality[]

"The guy may seem plush and huggable on the outside, but inside, he's a monster."
Buttercup reveals what Lotso is.

Lotso came across the toys' well being and at first seemed caring, welcoming, friendly, and he possessed all of the good qualities of the stereotypical soft teddy bear. This was further emphasized by his strawberry aroma and his hugging of Buzz Lightyear (hence his name Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear) when the toys first arrived at Sunnyside Daycare. He even went so far as to "promise" the toys that different kids at the daycare center would continue to play with them and that they would never feel unloved or rejected.

However, this facade merely concealed his true nature later in the film. Lotso's true colors revealed him to be a dark, sadistic, conniving, selfish, rage-driven ruler and prison warden, ruling Sunnyside with an iron fist and imprisoning new toys in the Caterpillar Room to test their ability to endure the misuse of the reckless and destructive children there. This nature was mostly brought about by his perceived betrayal from Daisy. However, he was considered to be a kind-hearted friend to both Chuckles and Big Baby before they were accidentally abandoned and subsequently replaced. Due to his painful past, Lotso possessed a negative philosophy about being a toy, believing that toys are nothing special and are really just garbage awaiting disposal (which is somewhat accurate because toys tend to be given away and sometimes even discarded by their owners when they outgrow them).

While in power as a head toy at Sunnyside, Lotso seemed to develop nihilistic tendencies, as evidenced by his statement that all toys were ultimately going to be tossed out like garbage, and there is no salvation for them. He showed no mercy to toys that resisted, opposed, helped other toys escape, and didn't follow his views, with examples being breaking Chatter Telephone, having Stretch push the toys into the dumpster, disowning Ken for not agreeing with Lotso's view that there were hundred million Barbie dolls like Molly's, and punching Big Baby with his mallet for being attached to their former owner again. Additionally, by destroying Big Baby's old pendant, Lotso showed that he not only wanted to forget his relation with Daisy and pretend it never even existed, but he also wanted to destroy all of Big Baby's ties to Daisy and essentially all toys' ties to their owners. At the landfill, despite seemingly showing thankful feelings toward Woody for saving him from the shredders, Lotso still held on to his beliefs that children would grow up to discard their toys out of boredom and disinterest without realizing the physical and emotional pain they are causing to the toy, as evidenced when he refused to push the emergency stop button and left Woody and his friends to burn alive in the incinerator.

Toy Description[]

From Official Website:

Toy-story-3-definitive-collection-lotso-512x600

The real-life toy version of Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear (Toy Story Collection) by Thinkway Toys

Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is a jumbo, extra-soft teddy bear with a pink and white plush body and a velvety purple nose. This lovable bear stands fuzzy heads and shoulders above other teddy bears because he smells like sweet strawberries! With a smile that will light up your child's face and a belly just asking to be hugged, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is sure to become a bedtime necessity. Stain-resistant. Spot clean plush surface with a damp cloth.

Awards and Nominations[]

Lotso's voice actor, Ned Beatty, was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for his performance as Lotso, and he and Pixar received widespread praise for the character's back story and Beatty's performance. IGN named Lotso the best villain of the summer of 2010.

Trivia[]

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Lotso's cameo in Up.

  • In a viral marketing campaign, Pixar posted two commercials, for a "real" Lotso teddy bear manufactured in 1983 (perhaps even longer), on YouTube. One was a typical western toy commercial from the '80s, and the other was done in Japanese. Both feature the "Toy Story Collection" edition of Lotso, that comes with the Certificate of Authenticity.
  • Lotso made a cameo appearance in Up when he was first spotted next to Dee's bed when Carl's house flies past her window outside, and it was later confirmed that he would be a new character in Toy Story 3.
  • When Lotso is helped to the Emergency Stop button on the trash conveyor belt, instead of pushing the button to stop the belt and save the other toys, he glares at them and yells, "Where's your kid now, Sheriff?!" This is a wink to the Internet meme "Where is your God now?", a sarcastic way of inducing fear in a victim (the internet meme, in turn, originates from a line in a Billy Crystal routine making fun of the incongruity of Edward G. Robinson being cast in The Ten Commandments (1956): "Where's your Messiah now, Moses?").[1]
  • Lotso's comeuppance is fitting because it has given him two things he had been asking for:
    • The true meaning of love, which he got from the garbage man, who remembered having a Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy as a kid.
    • A fitting end to a considerably miserable life, which he would face from the elements, bugs, and mud; or from eventually being thrown away again, leading him to die in the shredders or the incinerator.
  • Lotso shares a lot of character traits with Stinky Pete from Toy Story 2. They both seemed to be loving at first, but were then revealed to be cruel tyrants in the end. This is mainly because of a sense of feeling rejected or unloved, which were seen in both Pixar villains.
    • Oddly enough, the music that played during Lotso's defeat was the same heard during Stinky Pete's defeat.
    • There are also some differences between the two:
      • Lotso has henchmen working for him. Stinky Pete does not have any henchmen.
      • Stinky Pete is shown to have a hatred for space toys. Lotso does not have these characteristics.
      • Stinky Pete meets his defeat at the hands of the Andy's toys, while Lotso meets his defeat at the hands of a garbage man.
  • His thick Southern accent, initially soft-spoken demeanor, and many of his iron fist policies as "Warden" -- including throwing uncooperative prisoners into "the box" -- are clear references to "The Captain," Strother Martin's character from Cool Hand Luke (as well as Lotso' voice actor, Ned Beatty's previous character, Sheriff J.C. Conners, from White Lightning).
  • According to the official movie magazine for Toy Story 3, Lotso was created for A Tin Toy Christmas (which later became Toy Story).
  • Lotso was originally conceived as a teddy bear from the early 80's Care Bears toy line. This idea was not dropped until after the storyboard was completed and can be seen in the tie-in book The Art of Toy Story 3.[2]
    • In the same source, the animators also admitted that they increased Lotso's cruelty in the final version to ensure that people understood that he got exactly what he deserved, as the test screenings had some kids still sympathizing with him after his backstory was revealed.
  • In the PS2 version of Toy Story 3: The Video Game, Lotso has a silent appearance, and his fate is not revealed nor is it seen.
  • Test audiences who had sympathized with Lotso for his backstory had wanted to him to push the button in the incinerator scene to redeem himself, but according to the DVD commentary, director Lee Unkrich explained that Lotso chose not to save the other toys so that audiences who had gotten to know them for three films could care about, even more, when it looked like the end just before the aliens rescued them with the claw. Therefore, Lotso's reformation was dropped. Another reason is that they didn't want Lotso to get off so easily.
  • Lotso ad cars 2

    The advertisement for Lotso in Cars 2.

    An advertisement for a Lotso bear appears in Tokyo, in Cars 2.
  • Lotso was originally intended to appear in the first film, but the technology needed to create his fur had not existed until the third film. A pink teddy bear that appears to be an early design of Lotso makes a brief appearance in Toy Story.
  • Hades mentions Lotso in the Disney Cruise Line show Villains Tonight when he is looking for villains to call. However, he doesn't call Lotso as he "always brings that baby with him."
  • Lotso is the only main Toy Story 3 character not to appear in the film's epilogue during the end credits.
  • Lotso was seen on stage at the 2015 D23 expo promoting Toy Story 3's upcoming sequel, Toy Story 4. However, he does not appear nor is he mentioned in the actual film.
  • In the read-along version of Toy Story 3, Lotso's final scene on the garbage truck is never shown.
  • Pixar created seven different versions of Lotso to represent different periods of his life: New, New Dirty, New Filthy, New Wet, New Soaked, Standard, and Standard Filthy[3].

Quotes[]

"Well, hello there, I'm Lotso-Huggin' Bear, but please call me Lotso."
—Lotso, as a toy when the owner presses the "Try Me" button on the box.
Lotso: "Whoa there, Missy! You're not going anywhere!"
Jessie: "Oh, yeah? And Who's going to stop us?"
―Lotso and Jessie[src]
Rex: "Mr. Lotso, do toys here get played with every day?"
Lotso: "All day long! Five days a week."
Jessie: "But what happens when the kids grow up?"
Lotso: "Well now, I'll tell you. When the kids get old, new ones come in. When they get old, new ones replace them. You'll never be outgrown, or neglected. Never abandoned or forgotten. No owners means - no heartbreak!"
Jessie: "Yee-haw!"
―Lotso lectures the toys about the kids at Sunnyside[src]
Lotso: "So you got donated by this "Andy", huh? Well, it's his loss, Sheriff. He can't hurt you no more."
Woody: "Whoa! Whoa, whoa whoa..."
Lotso: "Now let's get you settled in."
―Lotso, to Woody[src]
Lotso: "Ken! New toys!"
Ken: "Far out! Down in a jiff, Lotso."
―Lotso calls to Ken[src]
"Let’s show our new friends where they’ll be staying."
—Lotso, to Ken
Lotso: "Come on, Ken, recess don't last forever."
Ken: "Right on, Lotso."
―Lotso tells Ken to get moving[src]
Lotso: "What are you doing? Running back to your kid? He don’t want you no more!"
Woody: "That's a lie."
Lotso: "Is it? Tell me this, Sheriff: if your kid loves you so much, why is he leaving? You think you’re special, cowboy? You’re a piece of plastic! You were made to be thrown away!"
―Lotso and Woody[src]
"Speak of the devil..."
(points to the approaching garbage truck)
"Now we need toys in our Caterpillar Room, and you need to avoid that truck. Why don’t you come on back, join our family again?"
—Lotso coaxes the toys into coming back to Sunnyside
"I didn't throw you out. Your kid did. Ain't one kid ever loved a toy, really. Chew on that when you're at the dump"
—Lotso, lecturing Andy's toys
Woody: "Wait. What about Daisy?"
Lotso: "I don't know what you're talking about."
Woody: "Daisy? You used to do everything with her?"
Lotso: "Yeah, then she threw us out."
Woody: "No, she lost you"
Lotso: "She replaced us!"
Woody: "She replaced you, and if you couldn't have her, then no one could! You lied to Big Baby and you've been lying ever since!"
―Woody and Lotso arguing about Daisy[src]
(Woody has pulled out Daisy's tag, attracting Big Baby's attention)
Lotso
: "Where'd you get that?"
Woody: "She loved you, Lotso."
Lotso: "She never loved me!"
Woody: "As much as any kid ever loved a toy."
(Woody tosses the tag to the other side of the open dumpster. Big Baby picks it up and looks at it)
Big Baby
: "Mama."
(Lotso snatches the tag away)
Lotso
: "What? You want your mommy back? She never loved you. Don't be such a baby!" (He crushes the tag with his mallet; Big Baby starts crying) "Push 'em in! All of 'em! " (Stretch pushes the toys) "This is what happens when you dummies try to think!" (He punches Big Baby with his mallet) "We're all just trash, waiting to be thrown away! That's all a toy is!"
―Woody and Lotso argue more, resulting in Lotso revealing his true feelings[src]
(Big Baby Lifts Lotso up as his cane drops)
Lotso
: "Hey! Stop it! Put me down, you idiot!"
(Big Baby throws him into the dumpster)
Lotso
: "No, no! Wait a minute! Big Baby, wait!"
(Big Baby slams the lid)
: "{{{6}}}"
―Big Baby, having enough of Lotso lies and mistreatments, throws Lotso in the dumpster as Lotso demanded Big Baby to put him down
"Sheriff! The button! Help me!"
—Lotso calls for Woody to help him reach an emergency stop button
"Where's your kid now, Sheriff?!"
—Lotso leaves Andy's toys to die in an incinerator (his last words in the film)

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Lots-o'-Huggin'_Bear_Commercial_(circa_1983)

Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear Commercial (circa 1983)

Commercial for Lots-o'-Huggin Bear

References[]

External links[]

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