>>15541922
I think it's a connection of a few themes.
First of all, it kind of sometimes invokes the "gentle giant" idea, a character that is incredibly powerful, yet surprisingly gentle. In this case, something that is alien, terrifying actually being cute and cuddly.
Second, they make for amazing character designs for the simple fact that you can cleverly reference a lot of things in one character, threrefore stroking the dicks both literally and methaphoricaly of anyone who actually read Lovecraft and understands the references.
Third, contrasting elements often make characters interesting so having this kind of dual nature makes them more appealing.
Fourth, the dieties in Lovecraft's universe are often well fleshed out so it's quite easy to give them personalities based on their general ideas.
Actually now when I think about it, Lovecraft's world is fleshed out enough for such a variety of stories besides horror that it's kind of astounding. Yes, it's true that it's best suited for Cosmic Horror which I absolutely love but to be perfectly honest, when something like Yog-Sothoth or Shub-Niggurath, Hastur, or even Cthulhu will make for great horror villains, there are also characters like Nyarlathotep which would work great as a more active form of threat in something less horror-based, while still staying great for horror if you change a few details that is. You could make a dark fantasy universe that doesn't even focus on the themes of horror, and uses the Lovecraftian panheon, keeping the gods in the background hell, some fantasy universes have already done that, and it would fucking work.