Huggables is the second of two twister DVDs released by Alberto Falcone several months ago.  You can find a distributor near you by visiting Alberto's website http://albertofalcone.com/  As with his other DVDs the quality is excellent and the models were thoroughly explained.  Alberto teaches with a purple qualatex pump and uses the number of pumps to measure inflation.  The camera work in the DVD is an improvement over the others, different angles are frequently used to to provide a better view.
The models taught on Huggables all use a simliar base.  The name comes from a way that the balloons that make up the base "hug" each other.
Let see what Alberto has for us this time....

Cuddly Elephant
This design might be familiar, it is featured on the cover and was Alberto's award winning design at a previous convention.  This is a very handsome looking elephant.  The design is very clean and not technically difficult.  It is also a crowd pleaser.

Friendly Mammoth
Not much to say about this design.  Change the coloring, lengthen the tusks, and add some bushy eye brows of the elephant and you have your mammoth.  This is still an excellent model and easily recognizable.

Hi CJ,

Great review so far- i just had to get it for myself. I made the elephant and the wife insisted on drawing lines down the trunk. I have to agree with her it does make a subtle difference.

Cheers

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What kind of balloons does the elephant use?  646's/660's?  or are they 350s/360s?

By default two 646Qs, two 350Qs, six 5" rounds, a 160Q and two eyeballs.

Colorful Fish
This design deviates from the first two by including more 350s.  the fish is easy to construct and instantly recognizable.  The hook in the mouth is a nice finishing touch.  As with some upcoming designs, the positioning of the balloons can be tricky.  They are not secured into place, rather, they are carefully positioned and can be dislodged.  Overall this is a great design and one I will use again.

Grumpy Gorilla
This design was a little disappointing.  The people I showed this to knew what it was, but they seemed to be guessing.  The face is easy enough to make, although, the eyebrows require a little more tinkering to get them to lay correctly.  In the second photo, I added arms to the front, which did seem to help the overall appearance.

Floppy Eared Rabbit
This is one of the easiest models on the DVD.  The face is the best part of the design.  The positioning of the head and the size of the body give this an odd appearance.  This may appeal to others, but I do not plan on making this one again.

Sauntering Seal
This model using the same face as the rabbit.  Alberto adds more details to this model than previous ones, making this one of the more developed pieces.  This one takes a little more time than the others and you need make the effort to size the bubbles correctly to get the right proportions.  For the size of the seal, this is one of the better designs available.

Mr. & Mrs. Love Dove
Alberto teaches how to make the female dove and explains the variations that make male one at the end of the segment (black in color).  One piece that is missing from my picture is the veil, I didn't have anything to use as a veil.  Like the rabbot, this animal looks odd, rather than cute, when created using the huggable design concept.  No plans to make this one in the future.

Fire-Breathing Dragon & Sauropod
The dragon is a modification of the simplier sauropod.  The sauropod is an excellent model, it is easy, quick, and very clean looking.  I espicially like the two different sized legs, give an excellent shape.  Not meaning to be harsh, but it should have ended there.  The fire-breathing dragon looks awkward and forced.  The head is illsuited for a dragon and the wings seem like an after thought.

Smiling Bridegroom
The rest of the models are all people and have a similar basic structure.  Pay attention on this one because to save time Alberto does not show step by step again.  This is an excellent model for display and is a big step up for the groom that is made out of rounds.  The only difficult part of the model is the raisin twist on the top of the head.  However, the method that Alberto teaches, how to soften the balloon first and then add the raisin (he uses a bean) externally, makes it simple.  I had never seen the raisin attached externally and I love it because you can place the raisin exactly where you want it.

Happy Bride
Alberto jokes that as in real life, the bride is more complicated.  He was correct.  Two flaws that need to be pointed out, 1)the balloons that make up the dress don't measure out correctly unless you use the purple pump.  2) This is an almost entirely white model and close-ups are shot on a white background.  It is difficult if not impossible to see what he is referring too.  This is not too much of a problem because the model is not technically difficult.  Overall, she looks great and the balloons for the dress are simple and elegant.  
Obviously the groom and the bride are meant to be a matched pair.  Small problem is that the groom is noticably shorter than the bride, additional work is required to size the groom correcltly.

Successful Graduate
I wish I had this in my repertoire a few months ago.  This one will be used very often in the future.  he can also be scaled down to a smaller figure to be used as center pieces.  The full size of most the people is a meter.  the only part of this design that does not fit is the hat, the method that is used creates a hat that is too tall and not wide enough.  Adding a square section of black form board looks much nicer.  
Side note: Alberto uses the printed 11" Smiley Faces for the head, I had none in stock and had to draw it on.