Living Toys: Difference between revisions

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{{smallcaps|Warning:}} This product may turn [[Demonic Dummy|evil]], or at the very least, creepy. [[Horror]] Movie characters and characters from horror movie parodies should avoid purchasing and/or using Living Toys. May contain small parts not suitable for children under 6. Requires 2 AA Batteries, magic talisman or evil curse. Cool accessories not included.

Make sure the [[Morality Dial|"good/evil" switch]] is set to "good" at all times. Should they be [[My Little Panzer|actual weapons]], any damage they cause is not covered by warranty.

 

 

Subtrope of [[Animate Inanimate Object]].

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* ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' has both good and evil ones.

** And the hordes of toys and toy-like mutations from ''[[Paprika]]'', for similar reasons.

* Pokota, a stuffed lion, from ''[[Hime-chan no Ribon|Himechan no Ribon]]'' was brought alive by magic and serves as the animal sidekick.

* At least one of Keroro's invasion plans in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' involved bringing plastic models to life.

* In ''[[Tenshi ni Narumon]]'' {{spoiler|Dispell, Eros and Muse are basically just dolls made alive by Silky's power as a respite from boredom and loneliness}}

 

* Miskin in ''[[Amulet]]'' appears to be one, but he's actually a robot. Somehow.

* British comic character General Jumbo was a boy with an army of toy friends.

* ''The Stuff of Legend'' also has this as its premise, being about a group of toys fighting their way through a fantasy world (in which they literally become what they were toys of) in order to rescue their owner, who has been kidnapped by the Boogeyman.

 

* The eponymous ''[[The Adventures of Pinocchio|Pinocchio]]'' is animated by the Blue Fairy, but it's strongly implied in the Disney version that Gepetto's love for Pinocchio is what causes the Blue Fairy to make him come alive. The story it was based on may well be the [[Trope Codifier]].

** Hell, even the ''lawn gnomes'' are alive!

** Not to mention Christmas Decorations, which only raises further questions.

* ''[[Raggedy Ann and Andy A Musical Adventure]]''

 

* Russians have tales of little girls that have a doll that can actually talk as their companions. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Ahhh...]]

 

* ''[[The Velveteen Rabbit]]''

* ''[[The Adventures of Pinocchio]]''

* "[[The Steadfast Tin Soldier]]"

* ''The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse'' which takes place in a Toyland of living toys, then further reveals that all of existence is a huge toy, God is an irresponsible little child who got it for his birthday, and Satan is an evil renegade toy who creates an army of cyborg spider women and George W. Bush to destroy the world. No, really.

* ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' does it with stuffed animals.

* The [[Indian in The Cupboard]], again. The titular cupboard only works on plastic, and summons people from other time periods, as well as sometimes sending the modern characters back.

* Jane Hissey's ''Old Bear and Friends'' stories, also adapted into a television series.

 

* ''[[The Christmas Toy]]'' and its spin-off series, ''The Secret Life Of Toys''

* Subversion of the evil version in an early episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', in which an animated ventriloquist dummy turns out to be a good (if lecherous) demon hunter who was killed in battle. (Not every demon on the show is evil, but the one in question was stealing people's bodily organs.)

* The titular ''[[Shoebox Zoo]]'' give their owner, Marnie, a bit of a surprise when they actually respond to her instruction to "Awake, for I am your Master!"

 

 

* This is the premise for the comic strip ''[[Fuzzy Knights]]''.

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]],'' though it could be all in Calvin's imagination. Calvin, though, doesn't think that Hobbes is a [[Living Toy]]; he thinks he's a real tiger.

 

* ''Fuzzy Heroes'' is a miniature wargame-style game about armies of toys fighting each other while the kids aren't around. It uses real stuffed animals and toys that the players have lying around as units.

* The page quote was parodied by ''[[GURPS]]'' when it offered a line of stuffed animal [[Eldritch Abomination|Cthulhu toys]]. The ad text read in part: "tonight's the night the teddy bears summon Cthulhu!"

* German game ''[[Pluesch Power Und Plunder]]'' is about living [[Everything's Better with Plushies|plushies]].

* The Mannekins from ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' are based around this, though it can be anything from a stuffed doll to a clockwork dancer and so on.

 

* Stravinsky's ballet ''Petrushka''.

 

* The toys in the Sandersons' house in ''Chibi-Robo'' were brought to life by aliens.

* ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' had some of these running around in some levels.

* The Mini-Marios in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Mario Vs Donkey Kong]]'' games are Living Toys. That, or at least they have [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|very good AI]].

* The short-lived Sega series, ''Clockwork Night''.

* Pangea's ''Power Pete''/''Mighty Mike''.

* The ''Army Men'' series is about a continual war between those little plastic soldiers, green and tan. (And sometimes, blue and yellow)

* The Gotcha Borgs, from the cult classic Gamecube game ''[[Gotcha Force]]'', although they're technically small alien robots. They're still obviously meant to resemble toys though.

* The ''[[Touhou Project]]'' has Medicine Melancholy, who (ironically enough, considering her name) controls poison. She's one of the [[Creepy Child|creepier]] characters in the series, playfully talking about how wonderful poison is, how it paralyzes its victims, how they die a painful death...

** On the other side, the [[Theme Naming|Forgotten Path of Time]], there are teddy bears possessed by their own souls, animated clocks with [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family]], teddy bears possessed by creepier ghosts, and ghosts chained to pocketwatches. And the boss of THAT side just happens to be [[Grim Reaper|Thanatos]].

* Namco's ''[[Toy Pop]]'': [[wikipedia:Toy Pop|PINO AND ACHA ARE GOING TO MAJYO'S CASTLE TO SAVE FRIEND]]

* Several popular [[Team Fortress 2]] maps place the ''players'' in this position - it is very odd playing an FPS from an action figure's point of view.

* Familiars in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' include teddy bears and toy soldiers.

* In ''[[Harvest Moon]]: A Wonderful Life'' and ''Another Wonderful Life'', your child's stuffed bear will occasionally come alive when no one else is in the room.

 

* [[Arby 'n' the Chief]] and it's predecessor Master Chief Sucks At Halo is a long running series about two Halo action figures that come to life and play video games and do hilarious things around the house. The fifth season even deconstructs the entire concept of Living Toys, with Arbiter trying to give his life meaning. Note that although this technically goes under good examples, Chief is one mean little bastard of a troll.

 

* ''[[Gumby]]''

* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'': Jade's moose doll, Super Moose, was brought to life by the [[Applied Phlebotinum|Rat Talisman]] in several episodes to act as an aide. There was also an evil puppet version the Monkey King from ''[[Journey to the West]]'' who could come to life by switching places with a living being, which would then turn into a puppet in his stead while the Monkey King ran around causing trouble.

** Earlier than both of these examples, the Gnomekop doll powered from the Rat Talisman in the episode "Tough Break."

** This immediately followed an episode with a game starring Rocky the Rabbid Racoon.

** They did it again in a later episode, this time saturated with [[Star Wars]] references, and the return of the Rabbid Racoon.

** Many people think that Ruby Gloom herself is, in fact, a Living Doll. This is supported by her hobby of sewing, pure white skin, and the stitches around her eyes.

* In [[Monkey Dust]], both Mr. Hoppy and Mr. Skatey fit. Psychopathic, murderous toys. {{spoiler|Or Are They?}}

* [[Gnomeo and Juliet]] almost counts.

 

* [[Count Your Sheep|Adrian Ramos]]'s ''[[The Wisdom Of Moo]]'' revolves around this concept: one of the main human characters is a teenager who tries to be more "adult-like" and gets frequently harassed by her old toys, and another is a local toy doctor.

* ''Achewood'' features several living stuffed animals (although nowadays, the comic focuses more on the adventures of talking house cats).

* Basis of ''[[The Fuzzy Five]]''.

 

* ''[[Arby 'n' the Chief]]''

* Toaster from "[[Yukari Is Free]]"

* The [http://cleoland.pbworks.com/The+Secret+Life+of+Dolls ''Secret Life of Dolls''] by [[Cleolinda Jones]], which is basically doll fanfic starring characters from popular fandoms.

* Marcus of ''[[Mega 64]]''.

 

* Mary from ''[[Ghost Stories|Ghost Stories/Gakkou no Kaidan]]'', though [[Obliviously Evil|she has no idea that she is causing harm...]]

 

* The Commando Elite in ''[[Small Soldiers]]''. The monstrous Gorgonites were good, though.

* In the ''[[Child's Play (film)|Childs Play]]'' films, "Chucky" is a doll possessed by a psychotic criminal.

* The killer Puppets from the ''Puppetmaster'' movies.

** Though they can follow a good puppetmaster, they will do evil stuff to anyone who harasses or tries to harm said puppetmaster, especially [[Those Wacky Nazis]].

** Believe it or not, ''Woody'' was like this too at one point; early-stage drafts of the first movie featured a Woody who was outright psychotic, terrorizing the other toys into submission and in general abusing his position as Andy's favorite. All this was in response to [[Executive Meddling|demands from up the chain]] to make Woody "edgier", but eventually the movie reached it's low point and the team had to go to their bosses and say, "We can't make this movie. This isn't our movie anymore." Fortunately, the execs relented.

* The titular ''[[Devil Dolls]]''.

 

* In [[Diana Wynne Jones]]'s ''[[The Ogre Downstairs]]'' the living Toffee bars aren't evil per se, just heinously troublesome with a bad habit of melting and causing a big, sticky mess. The living dolls are downright cold.

 

* The replicators in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' started out as children's toys, but turned evil and took over an entire galaxy before attempting to get ours too.

* ''[[Night Gallery]]'' episode "The Doll". A British Army officer must deal with a murderous doll sent by an old enemy.

** Parodied in a ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode where Johnny's neighbor Little Suzy acquires an evil doll named "Little Talky Tabitha".

** [[The Twilight Zone]] also did two episodes featuring evil ventriloquist's dummies, the first of which starred Bill Bixby.

* In the two part special of "The Haunting Hour"- "Really You", it's revealed that {{spoiler|all dolls are alive, and naturally good}} but it just so happens that this one is evil.

 

* ''[[Jonathan Coulton|And there's a creepy doll...]]''

* In [[Doctor Steel]]'s music video for ''Childhood Don't a-Go-Go'', Dr. Steel breathes on a creepy toy and brings it to life; it subsequently brings all the other creepy toys to life.

 

 

* The Frantic Factory level in ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' had some of these.

* Among the various monsters in the video game ''[[Zombies Ate My Neighbors]]'' are psychotic knife-wielding dolls.

* ''[[Nicktoons Unite!|Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots]]'' (and humongous robots based on Nicktoon protagonists)

* Tonbetty, Mira's advisor in ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles]]: [[My Life As a Darklord]]'' is a small talking Tonberry plush.

 

* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] was tormented by a demonic Teddy Ruxpin in his Halloween episode.

** More recent episodes have given us Tickle Me Amy. If not evil, she's ''damned'' psychotic.

* The evil teddy bear from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''.

 

* A Krusty doll in one of the Halloween episodes of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Once his {{spoiler|switch was set from "Evil" to "Good"}} there were no further problems. At least for everyone except the doll. However, he gets better... This one is a [[Shout-Out]] to the Talking Tina episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', mentioned above.

** Then there's the time [[Companion Cube|Mr. Banana-Brain]] got possessed by [[Monster Clown|Paddywhack]]

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' a doll is delivered to the house. Through the whole episode it says "Kill!", while holding a knife, sometimes with [[Dramatic Thunder]]. At one point, it brings home some severed fingers. Frylock, Shake, and Meatwad decide to destroy it just because it wouldn't shut up. Turns out that the doll is immortal, and Carl (who's missing some fingers) got another doll that just says "Die".

** An earlier episode, "Dumber Dolls", had Happy Time Harry, who rather than being homicidal was just depressed, cynical, and bad-tempered. His depression ''DID'' lead happier toy "Jiggle Billy" [[Break the Cutie|to attempt suicide]], however.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:This Index Has a Mind of Its Own]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]