Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear

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

- Buttercup to Woody, regarding Lotso's true nature. "I didn't throw you away, your kid did. Ain't one kid ever loved a toy really. Chew on that when you're at the dump!"

- Lotso to Woody and his friends "This is what happens when you dummies try to think! WE'RE ALL JUST TRASH WAITING TO BE THROWN AWAY! THAT'S ALL A TOY IS!"

- Lotso's view about toys.

Lots-O' Huggin' Bear, (more commonly known as Lotso, for short), is the main antagonist of Pixar's 11th full-length animated feature film, Toy Story 3. He is a large, pink, anthropomorphic, strawberry-scented teddy bear who used to rule Sunnyside Daycare till Andy's Toys arrived.

He is also the former boss of Ken, Big Baby, Stretch, Sparks, Chunk, Twitch, Bookworm, Demo Mode Buzz Lightyear, and the Monkey. Lotso is considered the most evil villain of the Toy Story franchise, even more evil than the first two movie's three main villains.

He was voiced by Ned Beatty who later voiced Tortoise John in Rango, which was released one year after Toy Story 3.

Personality
Lotso came across the toys' well being and at first seemed caring, welcoming, friendly, and 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 tyrant and prison warden, ruling Sunnyside with an iron fist and imprisoning new toys in the Caterpillar Room to test their ability to endure the abuse of the reckless and destructive children there. This nature was mostly brought about from 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to his painful past, Lotso possessed a negative philosophy about being a toy, believing toys to be nothing special and originally made for future disposal.

While in power as a head toy at Sunnyside, he also 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. Additionally, by destroying Big Baby's old pendant, Lotso not only wanted to forget his own 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 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 that, had he pressed it, would have supposedly led to his redemption by saving Woody and his friends from their fiery death in the incinerator.

Backstory
"Something changed that day inside Lotso. Something snapped"

- Chuckles tells Woody about Lotso

Lotso first started out as a Christmas present for Daisy and instantly became her favorite toy. Lotso seemed to have enjoyed every moment of the time spent at Daisy's house. One day, Daisy took Lotso and her two other toys, Big Baby and Chuckles, out for a little drive with her parents and stopped at a rest stop for a little bit of playtime.

After lunch, Daisy 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, followed by Chuckles and Big Baby, finally made it back to Daisy's house, only to discover that Daisy had bought another Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy, making Lotso heartbroken and feeling betrayed. Those feelings traumatized Lotso so badly it made him turn evil, and he forced Chuckles and Big Baby to leave Daisy and follow him.

The three lost 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 ruled the place with an iron fist, turning the Sunnyside into a metaphorical Hell on Earth.

Welcome to Sunnyside
"Welcome to Sunnyside, Folks! I'm Lots-O Hugging Bear but please call me. (Buzz: Buzz Lightyear. We come in-;Lotso hugs Buzz) First thing you gotta know about me. I'm a hugger."

- Lotso welcoming Buzz and his friends to Sunnyside

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 Lightyear, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Barbie and The Aliens 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 toddlers. However Woody escapes before the bell rings and is found by Bonnie Anderson, one of the students at Sunnyside.

Evil Bear
"(Buzz:...I can't accept. We're a family. We stay together) Family man, huh? I understand."

- Buzz discovers Lotso's dark side

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. 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. Still 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 (he originally believed so in the first Toy Story movie) 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." Buzz orders Jessie and the others stay in their cells and not to talk out of turn. In order to make sure that Andy's toys will do that and obey his many rules, Lotso tosses them Woody's hat (which he left behind in his escape) making them believe Lotso killed Woody.

Escape Foiled
"What are you all doing here? Running back to your kid? He don't want you anymore! (Woody: That's a Lie!) Is it? Let me ask you something, 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! (Hears a garbage in the distance) Speak of the devil. Now we need toys in our catepillar room and you need to avoid that truck. Why don't ya come on back, join our family again? (Jessie: This isn't a family! It's a prison! You're a liar and a bully and I'd rather rot in this dumpster than join any family of yours!) (Barbie: Jessie's right! Authority should derive from the consent of the governented! Not form the threat of force!) If that's what you want."

- Jessie and Barbie stand up to Lotso

The next night, while Lotso is asleep, Woody, who had escaped Sunnyside earlier and had the truth about Lotso out of Bonnie's toys which includes Chuckles, returns to rescue his imprisoned friends, who are thrilled to see he's still alive and give him back his hat, and they formulate a plan to escape Sunnyside, including the attempt to get Buzz to rejoin their side. 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 so as to avoid an approaching garbage truck, but Jessie refuses, labeling Lotso a liar and a bully who is running Sunnyside like a prison and Barbie agrees with her. This makes Lotso signal Stretch to push the toys into a dumpster, thinking that disposing them as trash will be better. At that moment, Ken tries to stop Lotso, but Lotso teases Ken for loving Barbie.

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 so as to force him to join her. 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, 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 upset 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 telling Lotso how she has loved him, Woody tosses the pendant to Big Baby, who picks it 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 smashes 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 for being a dummy, and denounces all toys as trash awaiting disposal. 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 being humiliated and having his schemes foiled, grabs Woody's 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.

Lotso's Betrayal
"WHERE'S YOUR KID NOW, SHERIFF?!"

- Lotso shouts at Woody one final insult, oddly enough this was also Lotso's last words in the movie.

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, seconds before the shredders 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 access the button. Woody and Buzz then shouts at Lotso to push the button, but Lotso, who hasn't changed overall, gives the helpless toys a menacing glare, shouts an insult directed at Woody as he runs off, leaving the toys to die in the incinerator.

However, the toys are rescued by the giant crane that the Aliens have commandeered at the last moment. 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, since he believes Lotso is not worth it.

Lotso's Defeat
Meanwhile, as Lotso tries to find his way out of the dump, 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.

Lotso is last seen tied up on the truck's front grill 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, warns Lotso to keep his mouth shut to prevent mud and insects from getting in, and Lotso does so right away, ending with the other toys laughing at him.

It is unclear what becomes of Lotso after Toy Story 3, but he most likely remains strapped to the truck like the other garbage toys and is eventually thrown away into the incinerator.

Disney Parks
Lotso makes meet and greet appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios and is part the then Toy Story Block Party Bash Parade (Now Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun) and at Disney's California Adventure. Lotso is a very popular attraction at Hollywood Studios and California Adventure.

From Official Website
"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."

Trivia

 * 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 American toy commercial from the 80's, and the other was done in Japanese. Both feature the "Toy Story Collection" edition of Lotso, that comes with the Certificate of Authenticity.
 * Lotso is the second main antagonist of a Pixar movie to be a complete monster after Syndrome.
 * 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?")
 * 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.
 * Thus, in a way, he got a good and a bad ending.
 * One of the movie's themes involved characters finding their purpose in the changing world or perishing. In the end, his purpose is to perish.
 * Lotso is the darkest villain in the Toy Story franchise even darker than Sid Phillips, Al McWhiggin, and Stinky Pete, the main antagonists of the first two Toy Story movies.
 * Lotso is the third main Toy Story villain to be a toy. The first two being Stinky Pete and Emperor Zurg, the two toy villains that were introduced in Toy Story 2. Stinky Pete is the main antagonist of Toy Story 2, while Zurg is the main antagonist of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.
 * Coincidentally, Lotso shares a lot of character traits with Stinky Pete. 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 clearly seen in both Pixar villains.
 * Lotso's fate by the end of the film is quite similar to Stinky Pete's. Both are unexpectedly found, and then, they find themselves in an unwanted predicament: Stinky Pete becomes stuck with a girl who likes to draw on her toys, while Lotso becomes a fly attractant for a garbage truck. However, after Toy Story 2, it has been stated that Stinky Pete got used to it and he liked it, while it is unclear if Lotso, after Toy Story 3, has ever got used to it because it has never been stated. Also, the two villains never met Andy, who is in fact a good kid.
 * Oddly enough, the music that played during Lotso's defeat was the same music heard during Stinky Pete's defeat.
 * 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 originally created for A Tin Toy Christmas (which later became Toy Story).
 * Lotso can be assumed as one of the most evil and depraved Pixar villains for his many wicked deeds:
 * Lying to Big Baby.
 * Forcing his former friends to follow him into darkness.
 * Causing toys to be broken by kids in the Caterpillar Room.
 * Beating Chatter Telephone.
 * Yelling at Big Baby and attacking him.
 * Almost getting Andy's toys killed, despite being saved by Woody and Buzz.
 * 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.
 * In the same source, the animators also admitted that they increased Lotso's cruelty in the final version in order 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.
 * Lotso was portrayed as a "good toy" back when he was friends with Chuckles and Big Baby. However, when Lotso snapped and turned into the antagonist (when he saw that his owner, Daisy replaced him with another Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy), he was dropped from the list of protagonists.
 * 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, Lee Unkrich, the director of the film, explained that Lotso chose not to save the other toys so that audiences who had gotten to know Woody, Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Slinky and Mr. Potato Head for three films could really care about even more when it looked like the end just before the aliens rescued them with the claw, so sadly, Lotso's reformation was dropped. Another reason is because they didn't want Lotso to get off so easy, so they just increased his cruelty to ensure that he got what he deserved (being strapped to the grille of a garbage truck).
 * Some people blame Daisy's parents for Lotso's villainous demeanor, as they could have went to look for their daughter's lost toys, instead of replacing Lotso.
 * Lotso's later knowledge of Woody and his friends' escaping in the first place is not revealed, but it is likely that the Monkey managed to free himself and alert Lotso, leading to Lotso beating up the Chatter Telephone for information on Woody's whereabouts.
 * An advertisement for a Lotso bear appears in Tokyo in Cars 2.
 * Lotso was originally supposed 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 named "Ted" appears to be an early design of Lotso makes a brief appearance in Toy Story.
 * Lotso's character is similar to The Governor of The Walking Dead TV series in many aspects:
 * They both lead a community that is introduced in the 3rd installment of the franchise
 * They receive strangers and pretend to be kindly and gentle to them.
 * In reality, they are corrupt leaders with a dark side that they hide to their people but not to their henchmen.
 * They both have lost their "special girl", (Lotso lost his owner; The Governor lost his daughter) which drove them to darkness.
 * After the leader of the opposing community (Woody and Rick Grimes) rallies their group against them, they initate a battle against them.
 * Their guests discover their dark sides, prompting them to hunt them.
 * They punish their traitors by beating them.
 * They both have their own trucks to patrol in; Lotso's is a dump truck while The Governor's is a stolen military truck.
 * Both are complete monsters.
 * However, besides their similarites, they both are a little different:
 * Lotso takes over Sunnyside without getting rid of anyone in his way; The Governor kills National Guards to rule the town of Woodbury.
 * Lotso's fate is getting tied to the garbage man's truck, while The Governor dies by getting stabbed and shot.
 * Lotso's weapon is a cane mallet, whereas The Governor's is an AUG sniper rifle.
 * Lotso is very similar to the titular character Ted as both are teddy bears, are able to talk and move, and both have deep voices.
 * 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 to not appear in the film's epilogue during the end credits.
 * Lotso acts as a foil to Woody. Both were in charge of the toys at their location (Woody, Andy's House and later Bonnie's House; Lotso, Daisy's House and later Sunnyside), and both ended up abandoned by their former owner. However, Woody never gave up on Andy, while Lotso gave up on Daisy.
 * Coincidentally, Lotso's behavior was very similar to that of Woody's original rendition in Toy Story, specifically his characterization in the Black Friday showing. Also by coincidence, both characters also ended up toned up/toned down for the final version due to unexpected events during a test screening (Woody was originally an immense jerk and lacking of compassion, but toned down after the Black Friday reel nearly shut down production of Toy Story; Lotso, likewise, had his cruelty amplified after test audiences sympathized with Lotso and wanted him to push the button to show that he got exactly what he deserved).
 * In the read-along version of Toy Story 3, Lotso's final scene on the garbage truck is never shown.