Clung on Tight

Some folks just won't let go!

Sometimes characters for whatever reason, childish affection or hostility, will cling to other characters (usually bigger than them). A Clingy Child and a Cuddle Bug are most likely to do this to someone else. The character being grabbed would not like that and will try to shake the character off. Kids and cute characters are likely to be playfully shaken off. Aggressors will be harshly thrown off. The Glomp can be a form of this. Might also happen in conjunction with a Leg Cling or Security Cling.

But they just won't let go! No amount of shaking gets the little bugger off! Can result in the character taking more drastic measures to try and get the character off, which may be Played for Laughs. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Dragon Ball Z: During the battle against the Saiyans, Chiaotzu grabs onto Nappa's back, preparing to self-destruct. Nappa attempts to remove him by slamming his back against rocks and mountains, but Chiaotzu hangs in there, and successfully reaches critical mass. It turns out to be All for Nothing though, as Nappa is barely harmed by the explosion.
• In My Hero Academia, Izuku clings onto All Might as he is jumping away because Izuku wants to ask him a question. This results in Izuku being dragged along as All Might launches into the air.
• Pokémon: The Series: A common strategy Ash or one of his friends or rivals employs is to have said Pokemon grab onto their enemy for dear life, then either cling on while they wear themselves out, or attack while they're trying in desperation to let go. Whether or works or not depends on the episode.
• SPY×FAMILY:
  • After adopting Anya and taking her to his new home, Loid goes off to run errands with the intent of leaving her behind. Anya instead runs up a clings to his leg, refusing to budge as he tries to shake her off.
    Loid: I'm stepping out for a bit. Just sit tight and watch your show.
    Anya: [excitedly] An adventure!!
    [proceeds to cling to her papa's leg]
    Loid: It's not an adventure, it's a shopping trip!
  • She actually weaponizes this once, during a trip to the aquarium. While Loid is busy trying to remove a film from a penguin's throat, Anya grabs a hold of the terrorist jacket and yells "Mama, I'm being kidnapped!" to get Yor's attention, resulting in the guy getting kicked in the jaw through the ceiling.
• This is how Toboe beats the big walrus in Wolf's Rain. After getting the gargantuan beast right in the eye, Toboe absolutely REFUSES to let go of it no matter how much it thrashes to try to get him off, even when it dives deep underwater and smashes through giant ice floes to try to dislodge him. He doesn't let go until the walrus finally dies.

Films — Animation

• Despicable Me: When Agnes first meets Gru, she hugs his leg and refuses to let go due to her excitement. Gru even asks if he can get a crowbar.
• Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars The Invince-a-tron, a giant mech made by the Martians to try and vacuum up all of the people of Earth for allegedly attacking their planet first ends up vacuuming a bone a dog was chewing. BIG MISTAKE, as the dog angrily climbs up the mech, still clinging on despite the Invince-a-tron frantically shaking its leg. The dog later damages the robot to the point he can pilot it himself by biting a lot of the inner workings.

Films — Live-Action

• The Princess Bride: When the Man in Black finds that punching Fezzik does nothing except hurt his fist, he instead resorts to jumping on Fezzik's back and putting him in a Choke Hold. Fezzik tries hitting him, but can't get his arms at the right angle, and even slams his back repeatedly against a boulder, making the Man in Black groan in pain, but he just doesn't let go until Fezzik has passed out.

Music

• Miserable: The members of Lit are on a Giant Woman (Vallery Irons/Pam Anderson) and are performing on different parts of her body. While they are performing on one of her shoes ^note she's laying on her stomach with her foot poised in the air, she shakes her foot, and the guys have to desperately try to keep their footing. When they fail to fall off, she simply looks away and rolls her eyes, seemingly annoyed. So instead of trying to force them off her, she waits until they are playing on her face. While one guy is standing on her lips, she opens her mouth and swallows him alive which sends the rest of them running.
• In The Pogues' "Turkish Song of the Damned", the narrator, after some kind of horrible incident aboard a ship, has the captain's undead corpse riding his body, in a manner that is similar to the Old Man of the Sea, although the allusion is not made explicitly.

Literature

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In "Old School", Greg mentions that the extremely neurotic Julian was the type to get extra upset whenever he was dropped off at school. One time, he clung to his mother so tightly that it took several staff members to pry him off her.
• Fudge: In "Superfudge", Peter announces that he's going to leave home after he hears that his mother's going to have another baby. Fudge clings to his leg, tearfully begging him not to leave. Peter tries to shake him off, but he won't let go.
• The Fifth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor includes Sinbad's encounter with the Old Man of the Sea, an Ambiguously Human entity that tricks people into giving him a ride on their shoulders and then refuses to let them go, forcing them to carry him around until they die of exhaustion. The character has entered the English language as a metaphor for any undesired burden such as addiction or a mooching relative.
• Warrior Cats: A frequent battle tactic when facing a larger cat or other animal is to leap onto the back of their opponent and hang on by digging their claws in. Cloudpaw for instance uses it against the ShadowClan deputy Blackfoot in A Dangerous Path, and Blackfoot is unable to shake him off.
• American Psycho: in the chapter "Confronted By Faggot", Luis Carruthers (who had previously confessed his attraction to Patrick Bateman in an earlier chapter) shows up at Barney's department store while Bateman is shopping there, asks why Bateman is avoiding him and becomes increasingly upset, culminating in Luis collapsing on the floor crying, ignoring Bateman's threats to kill him and then:
  ... when I think his outburst has subsided and I’m able to walk away, Luis grabs at my right ankle and tries to hang on as I’m leaving Barney’s and I end up dragging him along for six feet before I have to kick him in the face, while smiling helplessly at a couple who are browsing near the sock department.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: The events of "Utopia" get underway when the TARDIS, a Living Ship, flies herself to the Natural End of Time in an attempt to shake off Captain Jack Harkness clinging to her exterior.
• iCarly In "ifight Shelby Marx" Carly is framed by Nevel for purposely (though it was an accident) pushing the grandmother of Shelby Marx a famous MMA fighter who initially agreed to have a friendly match with Carly. During the match when it turns out that Shelby wants to do actual damage to Carly for the framing, the latter fearfully holds onto the leg of the former and is unable to be shaken off.
• Psych: The killer in "Thrill Seekers and Hell Raisers" tries to escape by parachuting off a cliff. Gus tackles him and holds onto him with an iron grip (mostly out of fear) until they land. In fact, Gus's hold is so tight that he causes the killer to pass out before they hit the ground.
• Black Books: In "Fever", Manny is worried about the possibility of the hot summer weather reaching 88 degrees and what this will do to him (though he's cagey as to the specifics) and pleads with Bernard not to leave him alone. Bernard refuses and goes to leave, only for Manny to cling to his ankle and continue begging. Bernard ends up turning around, prompting Manny to thank him profusely, only for Bernard to reveal he forgot his wallet and finally extricate himself.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun In an episode, a kid clings to Dick's leg to thank him for donating to charity. He just doesn't seem to be able to come off despite Dick's best efforts!

Video Games

• Legends of Runeterra: The "Affectionate Poro" turns this into a mechanic; it has the "Challenger" keyword, meaning it can force an enemy unit into combat à la hugging their leg.
  Darius: Noxus has no room for... for weakn— Will someone get this DAMNED THING OFF ME?!
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters Otto Destruct is in the middle of trying to kill Ratchet and Clank when Captain Qwark (whom he tricked into thinking he was his father) grabs onto his leg demands a piggyback ride. Otto being very irritated at this tries to shake Qwark off but it doesn't work. He then uses the shrink ray he's holding to try and shrink Qwark off but he ends up shrinking himself.

Web Animation

• JaidenAnimations: In "I Don't Like the Dentist", Jaiden's childhood fear of the dentist is emphasized through her clinging onto her mom's leg, with her mom trying to shake her off.
• Pinkfong: In "The Little Tiny Ant", ants keep crawling on the farm animals whenever they try to buy something at the market. The animals keep trying to shake them off, but the ants refuse to get off, at least until the end when the animals yell at them to go away.

Webcomics

• Milk And Mocha frequently features this affectionately, with the former hugging the latter quite tightly and not letting go despite their efforts to escape. Mocha seems to have grown used to this, and actually misses this sort of attention after a while.

Web Original

• In the very first bumper for The Runaway Guys Colosseum 2019, Adriana Figueroa is seen hugging MasaeAnela's shoulders, only to then hug her leg while she's trying to move around the vacation house. Adriana only lets go when Masae has to go to the bathroom and tells her that she can't come in, which Adriana then pouts over.

Western Animation

• The original (1993-1998) Animaniacs often featured Yakko, Wakko, and Dot focusing on an unpleasant person and declaring him or her to be their "Bestest new friend!" This honor meant they surrounded and clung to the "friend", continually "helping" in ways that usually resulted in the friend being injured, annoyed, driven insane, and eventually running away from the Warner kids.
• Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot: Wonderheart often announces, "Care hug!" and gives people big hugs. In "Welcome to Grump-a-Lot", she clings to Grumpy when he's trying to watch a Honey Ball game on TV and refuses to get off, resulting in him missing the winning shot.
• Dragon Tales: In "The Grudge Won't Budge", Zak is salty with Wheezie for accidentally breaking his snoot flute, so a creature known as the Grudge clings to his neck. Ord and Wheezie try to push the Grudge off, but he has an iron grip.
• The Simpsons: In "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", Maggie clings affectionately to Mr. Burns' leg. Burns, having apparently never seen a baby up close, reacts as if he's being attacked by a wild animal.

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