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1[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheChristmasToy_2666.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:250:Feeling nostalgic yet?]]
3
4->"[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything The special centered around a group of toys that come to life when humans leave the room, and one toy having trouble coming to grips with the fact that he will no longer be his child's favorite.]] [[DeadpanSnarker This might sound]] ''[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 familiar.]]''"
5-->--'''Kevin Perjurer''', ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'', "[=DefunctTV=]: The History of Muppet Babies"
6
7''The Christmas Toy'' is a 1986 made-for-TV movie by The Jim Henson Company. Produced in Toronto with much of the ''Series/FraggleRock'' cast and crew and with songs by ''Series/SesameStreet'' veteran Jeff Moss, it originally aired on Creator/{{ABC}} on December 6, 1986, and was sponsored by Kraft Foods. Originally introduced by Kermit The Frog, it was released on VHS format in 1993. In 2008 it was released on DVD. However, Kermit's appearance was edited out due to legal issues. It was shown occasionally on [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily The Hub]] before that network's re-branding.
8
9The story follows the idea that toys love to play so much that they will do it even when their owners aren't around. But if any person catches a toy out of position, that toy will become permanently inanimate -- "frozen forever" in toy lingo -- so they have to be very careful.
10
11It's Christmas Eve, and Rugby Tiger -- last year's Christmas Toy -- thinks he's going to go under the tree to be unwrapped again. Apple the Doll, whom Rugby supplanted as favorite toy, tries to set him straight, but Rugby won't believe her and sets out on the dangerous expedition to the living room. Unfortunately for him, opening "his" box releases the ''current'' Christmas Toy: Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids. She's a warrior princess who doesn't know she's a toy and thinks she's landed among aliens. ([[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Does this sound familiar?]]) It's up to the other toys to get Rugby out of the box -- and Meteora back in it -- and everyone back to the safety of the playroom without getting caught out of place.
12
13Eight years later, the special was [[RecycledTheSeries recycled]] as ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfToys''. It lasted 13 episodes (with a TwoShorts format). It changed the setting to a UK child's playroom and notably replaced most of the supporting characters with new ones, with only Rugby, Mew [[note]] Mew was redesigned for the series.[[/note]], Ditz, Balthasar, Bleep, Cruiser, and Ding-a-Ling [[note]]Ding-a-Ling was relegated to a silent background role in the series [[/note]] returning from ''The Christmas Toy''.[[note]]Instead of Apple, Rugby was mild frenemies with a much simpler looking doll named Raisin, for instance, and the male scooter horse Belmont was replaced by a female rocking horse named Hortense.[[/note]]
14
15Followed by ''Film/AMuppetFamilyChristmas'' in 1987 (which reused the song "Together at Christmas"), with ''The Christmas Toy'' being included as a bonus feature on its 2003 home video release.
16----
17!!Tropes associated with this work:
18* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Mew is regarded as a second-class citizen at ''best'' by the other toys mainly because one, he's a cat toy, not a children's toy, and two, (as is [[PhraseCatcher often mentioned]]), he smells like catnip.
19* AmbiguouslyEvil: Meteora is an action figure doll and it's implied that her toy is based on a TV series. With her imposing and self-centered nature, it's hard not to make the assumption that she's intended to be a villain within her franchise, but she eventually accepts the fact that she's a toy and goes back into her box.
20* AndIMustScream: Being frozen forever is like this, apparently.
21* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:After Mew gets frozen, Rugby tells him he loves him. This brings him back to life.]]
22-->[[spoiler:''Old friend, dear friend
''\
23''So much I longed to say
''\
24''First of all, most of all
''\
25''I love you'']]
26* AnthropomorphicZigZag: The toys are animate whenever their humans aren't around. But if a human sees them moving, or catches them out of position, they lose their magic and become "frozen forever."
27* BatmanGambit: Rugby gets Meteora to return to her box by playing to her ego.
28-->'''Rugby''': Prison?! You call that box a prison? Ha! That box is a one-way ticket to the fame and glory you deserve.
29* TheBigGuy: Belmont, the rocking horse. He's by far the biggest toy in the playroom.
30* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Molly is never seen, but her offscreen lines suggest her to be this, as she calls her younger siblings brats and monsters.
31* BreakTheHaughty: Rugby believes himself to be the center of the toy universe as Jamie's favorite toy. He has a complete meltdown when he realizes a new toy might take his place.
32* ButtMonkey: Mew is treated with scorn because of his "lower status" as a cat toy. He's also the source of most of the slapstick in the film.
33* CannotTellFictionFromReality: Meteora has no idea she's a toy. The others' attempt to explain this to her fails spectacularly.
34* CaptainErsatz:
35** The fashion doll is ''not'' a Franchise/{{Barbie}}.
36** Likewise, Meteora is totally not [[WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower She-Ra]].
37* ChristmasMiracle: Seems to combine with ThePowerOfLove to [[spoiler:bring all the frozen toys back to life]].
38* ChristmasSpecial
39* ConverseWithTheUnconscious: [[spoiler: Rugby's long talk with Mew after he gets frozen. Mew doesn't hear him, but the message of love gets through and he wakes up.]]
40* CowardlyLion: Belmont ''really'' doesn't want any part in the rescue mission.
41* DidntThinkThisThrough: Rugby completely forgets the consequences of what he's trying to do and when the toys point out to Rugby that he'll be frozen forever if Jamie finds him in Meteora's box instead of where she left him, all he can say is, "Oops."
42* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:All the frozen toys are revived by the PowerOfLove at the end.]]
43* TheDitz: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ditz the Clown]]
44* ExactWords:
45-->'''Molly:''' Mom, the brats are awake, and they're out in the hallway.
46-->'''Mom:''' Molly, I told you not to call your brother and sister brats.
47-->'''Molly:''' Okay. The monsters are awake, and they're in the hallway.
48* TheFaceless: The parents are only ever shown from the waist down. Apparently a common trope for [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Henson productions]].
49* FantasticRacism: All of the other toys look down on Mew, with Rugby often reminding him that he's "just a cat toy." It doesn't help that he smells like catnip, which apparently stinks from a toy's perspective.
50* GreenEyedMonster: All the toys are afraid that the shiny new Christmas toys will replace them in the hearts of their human owners.
51* HappyHolidaysDress: The Barbie (or BrandX equivalent) wears a grand dress with a [[PrettyInMink a white fur cape and hat]]. She later decides to get changed for the rescue mission. Alas, by the time she's dressed for action, it's Christmas morning and the lost toys are safely home.
52* HeterosexualLifePartners: [[spoiler:Rugby and Mew, after all they go through together.]]
53* IgnoredEpiphany: At one point, Apple finally persuades Rugby that it's his turn to let someone else be the Christmas Toy -- only for him to decide that she lost her place by giving up without a fight.
54* InterspeciesRomance: Mew acts like he has a crush on Meteora, a humanoid doll. Though he later gets over it when he meets another cat toy just like him, who calls herself "Mew Two."
55* {{Irony}}: Rugby (a toy feline) can't stand Mew (a toy for felines). They have to go [[FireForgedFriends through toy hell]] together before finally becoming friends.
56* ItRunsInTheFamily: This was the first time Jim's son Brian Henson (Cruiser) performed a Muppet character of his own. He'd later go on to direct ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'', considered by many to be the Muppets' seminal Yuletide production.
57* ItsAllAboutMe: Rugby sings a song about how awesome he is, which he reprises no less than ''twice.''
58* JealousRomanticWitness: Apple is a platonic version -- she thought she was Jaime's special toy until she witnessed Rugby's arrival the next Christmas. At the end of the film, Jaime tells Meteora she loves her forever and ever in the presence of both Apple and Rugby, "just like I love all my toys."
59* JerkassRealization: Rugby only realizes how much of a jerk he was to Mew after Mew becomes frozen. Rugby tearfully apologizes to Mew, and is just about to leave when Mew wakes up.
60* JiveTurkey: The taxi toy Cruiser.
61* LivingToys: Toys love playing so much that they become animate so they can continue to play even when their humans are gone.
62* {{Masquerade}}: As noted, toys have the magic to become animate, but only so long as they keep that knowledge from humans. A toy caught out of place, even once, loses that magic.
63* MissedTheCall: PlayedForLaughs with the Barbie-like doll. She wants to help the other protagonists, but she gets caught up looking for the right outfit and never leaves her house. She finally finds the right outfit once everyone is back in the room.
64* NeverSayDie: Toys caught out of place are "frozen forever" and consigned to a 'graveyard' in the corner of the playroom. Even though frozen toys are never ''called'' dead, they're treated as such [[spoiler:until ThePowerOfLove revives them]].
65* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Rugby leaving the room kick-starts the whole plot. Opening Meteora's box just makes it worse.
66* NobodyHereButUsBirds: Mew performs a convincing meow to keep the father of the family from walking into the living room and catching the main cast out of place.
67* NoodleIncident: "That was terrible! Even worse than that time I got put in the washing machine!"
68* TheNothingAfterDeath: Being frozen forever, as Mew describes it.
69-->'''Mew''': I was someplace else. But it was like no place. And it was really dark and cold.
70-->'''Rugby''': Something must've happened.
71-->'''Mew''': Yeah! Then suddenly, it wasn't so dark, and then it was a lot warmer. And then I woke up.
72* OhCrap: When Apple finally gets it through Rugby's head how dumb his plan is:
73-->'''Apple''': Rugby, ''listen to me!'' If Meteora belongs in this box, then what do you think will happen to you when Jamie finds you here instead of on the floor where she left you??
74-->'''Mew''': Rugby! You'll be frozen forever!
75-->'''Belmont''': That's what I've been trying to tell you!
76-->'''Rugby''': Whoops.
77* PimpedOutDress: The not-Barbie doll's holiday dress.
78* PerspectiveFlip: We see the scene of Rugby's unboxing three times -- once as it actually happened, a second time with Rugby putting some extra spin on it, and then a third time where we see that a despondent Apple witnessed the whole thing.
79* PhraseCatcher: "Peeyew! It's Mew!"
80-->'''Mew:''' [[InsistentTerminology It's catnip!]]
81* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:It will bring frozen toys back to life!]]
82* RecycledSoundtrack: The song "Together at Christmas (Old Friends, New Friends)" was reused a year later in ''Film/AMuppetFamilyChristmas'', sung by the casts of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' and ''Series/SesameStreet'' and some of the ''Series/FraggleRock'' cast.
83* RousingSpeech: "Try the Impossible" (Apple's song to persuade Belmont to go with them on the rescue mission).
84* RunningGag: The fashion doll trying to pick an appropriate outfit for the occasion. By the time she makes up her mind, the event she's trying to dress for is already over.
85* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Ditz]] is introduced and frozen in the span of about two minutes of screen time, just so we can see how serious the consequences are. [[spoiler:Don't worry, he and the other frozen toys are brought back to life near the end.]]
86* SlidingScaleOfLivingToys: The "Schrodinger's Toy" type: able to animate and function independently so long as humans remain unaware of that fact.
87* [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Talking the Toy Back Into the Box]]: The toys use a combination of praise and flattery to cajole Meteora into going back into the Christmas parcel.
88* TearsFromAStone: We see Apple shed a SingleTear when Jamie unwraps her new Christmas toy.
89* TooDumbToLive: Ditz takes his PlayedForLaughs stupidity to invoke the trope in its most literal sense (or as literal as it can be for the toys). Then all the toys are mourning him and it kind of stops being funny [[spoiler: (don't worry, he's brought back to life near the end)]].
90* TruckDriversGearChange: The song "Together at Christmas" has one.
91* TheUnfavorite: Apple, after being dethroned by Rugby last Christmas.
92* TheVoice: Molly, the eldest child, is never seen, only heard.
93* WainscotSociety: The toys have their own society, albeit only when humans aren't watching.
94* WithFriendsLikeThese: Mew notes that Rugby is the closest thing he has to a friend among the toys.

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