Characters / The Brave Little Toaster

Characters who appeared in the film The Brave Little Toaster.

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The Cottage Appliances

Toaster

Toaster

A, ah, brave little toaster and de-facto leader of the group, taking up the search for the group's missing "Master" after they are left behind at the family cabin.

Voiced by: Deanna Oliver; Olga Golovanova (Russian dub)

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• Badass Adorable: During his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Toaster may be friendly and optimistic, but is usually not a pushover. He gets protective over Blanky when the others start to gang up on him, and frequently breaks up fights and bickering between his friends with stern looks.
• Big Sibling Instinct: Towards Blanky later in the film, having learned from the flower that neglecting him would cause him great harm.
• Break the Cutie: Suffers many throughout the journey to their master, most notably when he slips up and the rest of the appliances fall down a waterfall, lose the large battery and chair they brought for the journey, and almost drown. Toaster stays slumped on Kirby’s back, facing away from his friends who are cheering. When they reach dry surface, Toaster walks away to be alone, blaming himself for dropping the cord and getting themselves in this predicament.
• Cloudcuckoolander: When Toaster is trying to describe to Lampy how it feels to be around Blanky, he uses euphemisms that involve bread.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: When Rob is about to be crushed by a giant trash compactor, Toaster jumps into the machine's gears, grinding the gears up while being terribly crushed in the process. It was miraculous that Rob was even able to repair him in such great condition.
• Determinator: When a FOR SALE sign appears next to the cottage, the rest of the appliances all mope around and wail in defeat. Toaster, on the other hand, tells them to stop it and makes a plan for them to go find their master. But when the others protest, Toaster claims that he'll leave with or without them.
• Disney Death: Makes a Heroic Sacrifice to stop the crusher in the junkyard, but is repaired by the Master.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Toaster's name is... er.... Toaster.
• The Engineer: When the appliances need a large battery to get themselves out of the cottage and toward the city, Toaster finds one in the cottage closet. In a sign of Hidden Depths, he successfully hot wires it, causing it to power up, and straps it to the chair they use to carry them behind Kirby’s back.
• Heroic BSoD: Has one after the waterfall scene, when they're truly lost in the woods.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Being the brave little toaster, after all.
• Jerkass Realization: When a tired Toaster is trying to sleep after a long day, a lonely Blanky tried to cuddle up with him. Toaster pushes him away and tells him that he's trying to get sleep. Later, Toaster encounters a lonely flower who is the same color as Blanky (and which may or may not be a blanket flower). It, too, wants to cuddle with Toaster, and it dies when Toaster rejects it all the same. Toaster makes the connection between it and Blanky, and feels ashamed of his behavior last night. He makes up for it by being extra protecting towards Blanky.
• Leitmotif: A sad, wistful piece with a hint of hope, written to loop around, since everyone can see their reflection in the Toaster.
• Neat Freak: Encourages the rest of the appliances to do chores around the empty cottage, and even compared it to having fun, much to their chagrin. And according to Kirby, they have been doing chores for the last 2000 days.
• The Pollyanna: Out of the cottage appliances, Toaster tends to be the most optimistic...but even he has moments of doubt.
• Rousing Speech: What gets the gang rounded up to find the master in the first place.
• Say My Name: During the storm scene: "TOASTER!" "BLANKEY!"
• She's a Man in Japan: Toaster is a male in the movies (Writer Conflicts with Canon notwithstanding), but there are some differences in other countries:
  • Toaster is made female in the Brazilian and Spain dubs.
  • Latin America's dub isn't even consistent between films in the series. In the very first movie, which was dubbed in Mexico, Toaster is addressed as a male, while in the sequels, which were dubbed in Venezuela, the character is now addressed as a female instead.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While going to sleep in the wilderness on their first night of the journey, Toaster sternly rejects Blanky when the latter wants someone to cuddle with. But after witnessing a flower wilt away from loneliness, he decides to let Blanky cuddle with him that night, briefly confusing Lampy.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Because he is an electrical appliance, Toaster is deathly afraid of water, and even had a nightmare about it involving falling into a bathtub while plugged in. When he and the other fellow appliances are crossing a waterfall, Toaster's fear causes them to fall off and almost die.

Blanky

Blanky

A childish electric blanket, who has been with Master since he was a child.

Voiced by: Timothy E. Day (original), Eric Lloyd (sequels)

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• Face Death with Dignity: Usually a cowardly crybaby but was surprisingly stoic when he and the rest of the appliances were sinking into the quicksand. He does scream when Kirby sinks but once he and Toaster are tangled with their cords and sink with him he just mutters "I'm not scared..." to Toaster.
• Least Is First: Blanky, the youngest and weakest of the group, is the first to join Toaster to find the Master.
• Leitmotif: An innocent and childlike theme.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: See Face Death With Dignity above.
• Security Blanket: As an electric blanket they were literally the closest to the master, and it shows in their personality.
• She's a Man in Japan: He's female in Poland.
• Together in Death: Attempted: Clings to Rob's leg while he's trapped on the conveyor belt. S/he refuses to ever be separated from The Master ever again.
• Your Size May Vary: Most of the time, he's only slightly larger than Toaster. He grows larger in some scenes where it's necessary for the plot, most notably when he doubles as a full-size tent. His head is still the same size regardless of the rest of him though.

Lampy

Lampy

A somewhat ditzy but friendly table lamp. He's not exactly, uh, bright in the old socket, but he knows his way around a lightbulb and is always willing to help out when his friends are in need.

Voiced by: Timothy Stack; Olga Golovanova (Russian dub), Ewa Smolinska (Polish dub)

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• Badass Adorable: In the storm scene and his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Butt-Monkey: In the 'It's a B-Movie' number, and in 'Cutting Edge', he gets picked on quite a bit.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has some of the wittiest lines in the movie, mostly at Radio's expense.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Sometimes Lampy speaks a little like this sometimes.
  Lampy: All of a sudden, you're being so darn nice to him all of a sudden.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: His German and Polish versions are very girly but still get into fights. The German version has a soft voice but frequently uses the slang word "Tierisch" as an exclamation (and still being somewhat boisterous). The Polish version has the voice of a Proper Lady but sounds dry, casual and outspoken, and says things like "Hey, you!".
• Genius Ditz: Lampy's not very bright and none of his ideas ever work...but he is an expert on anything related to light. And most usefully, he knows how to read.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He willingly acts as a lightning rod to charge the battery, fully expecting to be completely destroyed in the process.
• Leitmotif: A happy, optimistic little theme.
• Reused Character Design: His head shape gives him a striking resemblance to Kaa.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Though he has his moments, of being a Deadpan Snarker, though, especially around Radio.
• She's a Man in Japan: Lampy is female in six foreign versions: German, Polish, Czech 1992, Russian TV, Serbo-Croatian, and Brazilian 1996. Ironically enough, this is averted like nobody's business in the Japanese dub, which was voiced by male voice actors.
• Smarter Than You Look: His ideas for how to travel don't work, and he's a little slow to grasp things. However, he can read and write, shows an interest in academics, figures out how to recharge the battery and save Radio's life, and at times, he can be pretty insightful or a deep thinker.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: The Brazilian 1996 version has a Tomboyish Voice and the bluntest vocal delivery of the female versions but sings delicately.
• Unexplained Recovery: He is badly scorched after the lightning incident but fully recovered by the end of the river scene. How a machine like him recovers without being repaired is never explained.
• Verbal Tic: His looping sentences have a habit of looping.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Radio.
• Vocal Evolution: His voice got goofier as the films went on.

Radio

Radio

A boisterous tube radio. He's not as smart or as well-traveled as he says he is, but he's got pluck where it sounds. Just don't count on him shutting up. He's a radio, after all.

Voiced by: Jon Lovitz (original), Roger Kabler (sequels)

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• The Blank: During the production of the film, the animators argued on whether to give Radio an expressive face or not. They ultimately decided that the dial and knob 'are' his face, and left it like that.
• Big Damn Hero: When the others fall into the mud pit, and all hope seems lost, his Al Jolson music gets the attention of someone passing by.
• Character Catchphrase: "Listen to this!"
• Ditzy Genius: He does have a knowledge of culture and history, but he's a bit clueless and not of much use at times.
• Dub Name Change: He is called "Utvarp" in the Icelandic dubs.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In To The Rescue. He gave up his life (which was powered by a WFC-11-12-55 tube) to save all his friends from a threat. He comes back to life in the end thanks to Chris.
• Hypocrite: He calls Kirby oblivious to reality, even though he tried to use Blanky as a magic carpet while Kirby and the Toaster clearly knew that wasn't going to work.
• Large Ham: Jon Lovitz based his performance on obnoxious-sounding radio announcers, citing Walter Winchell as an example.
• Leitmotif: A loud, brassy Fanfare.
• Miles Gloriosus: He frequently boasts of his supposedly heroic and historic exploits, such as being friends with Theodore Roosevelt.
• Mr. Vice Guy: He can be somewhat obnoxious but its never to a point where he is unlikable. He is still loyal and helpful to his companions.
• Sincerity Mode: He gives sincere respect for Lampy after he nearly sacrifices himself to recharge the battery during a storm.
  Radio: Listen to this. The lamp was awarded a purple heart today for being wounded in the line of duty. Lamps across the nation were switched off for a moment of silence, in respect for his act of bravery.
• The Navigator: Via homing in on radio signals.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When they're all sent to the junkyard in the first movie, Radio, for the first time, sounds legitimately despondent and on the verge of tears, when he and the others lament over how modern Rob's new appliances are.
• The Smart Guy: He likes to think he is, at least. He does at least have a working knowledge of culture.
• Tiny Guy: In some languages, he is this to Lampy's Huge Girl.
• Troll: Oh, he loves to tease. When Blanky is scared there might be lions in the forest, Radio pipes in menacely, "And tigers and bears! Oh my!"

Kirby

Kirby

A cantankerous old vacuum cleaner. Being the biggest one of the group, he's often the one helping move everyone else around, often while grumbling and complaining as vacuums do.

Voiced by: Thurl Ravenscroft

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• Adaptation Name Change: A Hoover in the book.
• Big Damn Hero: After the others falls down the waterfall, he rushes to the rescue... after working up the courage to do so.
• The Big Guy: By far the largest of the main appliances and is essentially the pack mule.
• Character Development: He starts out being grumpy, then mellows out later on while keeping some of his grumpy traits. This carried overs in the sequels.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially when they form the group in the beginning.
• Dub Name Change: He is called "Aspi" in French, "Stoffie" in Dutch, "Szippancs" in Hungarian, and "Odkurzacz" in Polish.
• I Was Just Passing Through: Kirby's excuse for saving the gang from the waterfall was that he just slipped and fell in like the rest of them. None of them buy it for a second.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his grumpiness, he is still good-hearted, lovable, and will stop at nothing to save those he cares about.
• Leitmotif: As the old grump of the group, he gets a tune that plays in low chords.
• Not So Stoic: When he's left alone at the waterfall; aside from that, even he's horrified at the blender's death and the B-Movie segment.
• Only Sane Man: He's alongside the Toaster the most rational and realistic of the main group, especially compared to the childlike Blanky and the ditzy Lampy and Radio.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Says as such when he decides to join the group.
  Kirby: I just know I'm gonna regret this!
• Took a Level in Kindness: In the sequels. Kirby can still be grouchy sometimes but is far less likely to hide the fact that he does genuinely care about his friends.
• Tsundere: He acts miserable most of the time, but actually cares about his friends.
• You Don't Look Like You: The Disney covers depict him more hot pink than his gray/blue color.

Air Conditioner

A paranoid, edgy air conditioner. He doesn't get along at all with the other appliances, and is the first to remind them that Master abandoned them.

Voiced by: Phil Hartman

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• Alas, Poor Villain: After he angered himself to death (see Berserk Button):
  Blanket: Poor, Air Conditioner.
  Toaster: I didn't know he'd take it so hard.
  Kirby: Well, he was a jerk anyway.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't like being reminded that the Master never played with him. Being stuck in the wall made him rather edgy...
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His shutters give him the appearance of having a large mustache and eyebrows.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Is convinced that all the other appliances are against him. That they think they're better than him because they can move.
• Deadpan Snarker: "You're a real bright little lamp."
• Disney Death: Presumed to be dead after he blew a fuse. But he gets better after the Master repairs him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After being seemingly neglected for years and suffering a breakdown, he gets finally taken care of by the Master.
• Explosive Overclocking: The madder he got, the higher his fans went. To the point where he blew a fuse with a shower of sparks.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: He practically exploded.
• Grumpy Old Man: Invoked. He's very rude, and his shutters give him the appearance of having a bushy, gray mustache and eyebrows.
• Icy Blue Eyes: His sclerae, pupils, and even the inside of his mouth are blue. This is fitting because he's a device that cools air, and since he's rude to the other appliances, it fits how "cold" he is to them.
• Jerkass: Against the other appliances out of jealousy.
• Knight of Cerebus: His breakdown is when the Ascended Fridge Horror really sets in.
• Large Ham: Definitely when his Berserk Button is pushed, and thanks no less to Hartman's performance.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Phil Hartman based his voice on Jack Nicholson.
• Rage Breaking Point: Kirby saying he's stuck in a wall ends up being the slight that causes him to unleash all of his repressed anger...to deadly results.
• Starter Villain: Well, "villain" is a little extreme, but he technically serves as the first obstacle for the appliances before their long journey.
• Tears of Joy: Following the Disney Death, after realizing that the Master cared about him all along.
• Villainous Breakdown: He loses it after being reminded that the Master never played with him one too many times, slowly raising from Tranquil Fury to full-blown rage.
  "So, it's back to that stupid static again. You think I don't know what's going on in here? I know what goes on in this cottage. It's a conspiracy, and everyone of you low-watts is in on it! Just so you can move around you think you're better than I am! I'M NOT AN INVALID! I WAS DESIGNED TO STICK IN A WALL! I LIKE BEING STUCK IN THIS STUPID WALL!! I can't help it if the KID WAS TOO SHORT TO REACH MY DIALS! [...] IT'S MY FUNCTIOOOOONNNNNNNNN!!!!!"
• Villainous RRoD: During his aforementioned meltdown, he sets at maximum power, overheats, and his internal engines explode into a million sparks, leaving him for broken.
• You're Just Jealous: Don't get him started...
  "Sure, I'm jealous of a bunch of dimwits!"

The Apartment Appliances

Old Rabbit Ears

"A bargain in every buck! A buck in every pocket! A pocket in, uh, every trouser!"

A friendly black-and-white TV, one of the few appliances the Master brought with him to his new place.

Voiced by: Jonathan Benair

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• Big Damn Hero: By playing fake commercials for Ernie's Disposal and enthusiastically depicting it as the greatest place to shop for machines in the city, he convinces the Master to go there, where the main cast has been sent.
• Cool Old Guy: He's an old black and white television, complete with rabbit ear antennae, and his "avatar" on the screen is that of a cheerful, middle-aged man. He's also the only appliance that can still physically act while in the presence of humans, by broadcasting anything he wishes.
• Deliberately Monochrome: Being a black and white TV, it comes with the territory. Even the main appliances are surprised he's still being used.
• Insane Proprietor: Takes on this role during his fake commercial spiel advertising where the appliances are. His final commercial (and the one that catches the Master's attention) involves him screaming and cackling himself silly.
• Large Ham: "CRAZY ERNIE'S AMAZING EMPORIUM OF TOTAL BARGAIN MADNESS!!"
• Nice Guy: He is very friendly and will do anything to save his friends.
• Token Good Teammate: For the apartment appliances.

The "Cutting Edge" Appliances

Voiced by: Jim Jackman (Plugsy), Randy Cook (Entertainment Center), Randy Bennett (Computer), Mindy Stern/Judy Toll (Sewing Machine)

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the novel, they actually helped the appliances find a new owner and felt guilty for replacing them.
• Affably Evil: At first they were very welcoming to the main cast, but that soon changed when they figured out their plans to reunite with their master.
• Ambiguous Gender: Some of them are definitely male (such as Plugsy and the computer) or female (such as the sewing machine and the toaster oven), but the ones who get no solo lines are unknowns.
• Bright Is Not Good: Many of them are in bright colors, while the heroes are more subdued. This is to make them look newer and flashier but also helps hide their true intentions.
• Color-Coded Characters: Just like the heroes, they come in many different colors. Unless you count a couple of background appliances, none of them share color schemes.
  • Plugsy: Purple.
  • Computer: Grey.
  • Entertainment center: Black.
  • Sewing machine: Pink.
  • Canister vacuum: Green.
  • Boombox: Blue.
  • Telephone: Orange.
  • Food processor: Yellow.
  • Toaster oven: Red.
  • Three-light floor lamp: Multicolored (red, white, black).
• Dark Is Evil: The computer and the entertainment center are among the darkest-colored characters and are villains. The purple Plugsy counts too.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: There's the French food processor, the British entertainment center, the NYC-accented Plugsy, the Southern-accented toaster oven, the East Asian-looking boombox, and the appliance equivalent of Conjoined Twins. They also appear to have more gender diversity than the heroes.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: They do seem to genuinely love The Master like the main appliances do and are upset that he doesn't want to take any of them to college with him. Plugsy the purple lamp was briefly excited then heartbroken by the idea of Rob taking him to his dorm, only for Rob to reject it.
• Evil Brit: The ridiculously large entertainment console seen in the apartment and "Cutting Edge" has a somewhat vague British accent, but like all the "Cutting Edge" appliances he is definitely an evil Jerkass.
• Evil Counterpart: Some of them are modern equivalents of the main appliances and bully them specifically: the boombox forces its speakers around Radio, the food processor and toaster oven show off their skills to Toaster, the vacuum dances around Kirby and flings him away, and Plugsly and the other lamps gang up on Lampy.
• Evil Sounds Deep: The computer speaks with a soft, deep, eloquent voice. It's not the deepest voice in the movie, but it stands out at the end of "Cutting Edge" among the high-pitched chorus.
• French Jerk: The food processor has a French accent.
• Gossipy Hens: The sewing machine has two faces who are always gossiping and talking over each other.
• Green and Mean: Although both vacuums are green, Kirby is a more natural earthy tone. The canister vacuum, on the other hand, is a bright, sickly shade that's more associated with villainy.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The whole motive behind their jerkassary was that they were jealous their master chose some "old stuff" to take to college instead of them.
• "I Am Great!" Song: Their song "Cutting Edge" is them singing about how state-of-the-art they are and about everything that new tech can do better than old tech.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Even after ejecting Toaster and the crew from the apartment, Rob returns and tells his mother he still doesn't want to take any of them to college with him.
• Multiple Head Case: The sewing machine has two separate components: the control unit and the needle; both of them have faces and have different personalities. They both gossip to each other, insulting Blanky. The vacuum is another case, the head and the motor/bag unit are two separate characters who are conjoined via the hose. They're never seen speaking, although the head can clearly be seen taking part in the chorus.
• New Technology Is Evil: Literally. The "cutting edge" appliances try to off the main characters.
• No Name Given: Apart from Plugsy, none of their names are ever mentioned.
• Offscreen Karma: They never get punished for their actions to Toaster and Co, though Rob does end up taking the latter to college and leaving the former behind. However, even at the time the movie takes place their technology was slowly going out of date, whereas our heroes' tech is still relatively timeless. These guys won't be on "the cutting edge" for very long...
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The floor lamp has a red, black, and white tricolor scheme.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: The vacuum's canister at least behaves like one, following the vacuum's head around like an animal on a leash, and the two send Kirby flying together.
• She's a Man in Japan: Plugsy, like Lampy, is female in the Polish dub.
• Slasher Smile: When they slowly approach the main five. Radio lampshades this.
  Radio: I don't believe I've ever seen quite so many smiles before...
• Supreme Chef: The food processor and the toaster oven paint themselves this way by bragging how good they are at preparing food. Appropriately, the food processor has a French accent.
• Villain Song: "Cutting Edge", where the new appliances sing an egotistic preview of their superiority to the main characters.
• Yellow Peril: The boombox's face resembles a stereotypical East Asian caricature. His control knob "eyes" have notches that resemble squinted eyes and his "mouth" is the cassette deck with the tapehead resembling buck teeth.
• Zeerust: While the devices seen are still for the most part functionally timeless, most of them have a heavy '80s aesthetic that would look very dated today.

Humans

Robert "Rob" McGroarty/"The Master"

Robert "Rob" McGroarty/"The Master"

Voiced by: Timothy E. Day (young), Wayne Kaatz (original), Chris Young (sequels)

• Adaptational Intelligence: In the film, he's a Mr. Fixit. In the book he threw out a reasonably good toaster because its chrome wore off.
• Big Good: The caretaker of the appliances, and their main motivation for leaving the cabin.
• Didn't Think This Through: In To The Rescue, he got so caught up in writing his thesis that he never once thought to make a back up file, so when the virus appeared, he ended up losing hundreds of pages of work in an instant.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The appliances almost exclusively refer to him as "the Master".
• The Master: At least that's what the appliances know him as.
• Mr. Fixit: He's very handy with machines, capable of repairing them to complete working order even when they by all accounts should be scrap metal.
• Nice Guy: He's a nice man who cherishes his possessions from childhood.
• Oblivious to Love: A variant. He's unaware that he's the object of affection to an almost religious degree of nearly every household appliance he's ever lived in the vicinity of.
• Redhead In Green: Has red hair and wears a green sweater as an adult.

Chris McGroarty

Chris McGroarty

Voiced by: Colette Savage (original), Jessica Tuck (sequels)

• Ambiguously Brown: According to Word of God, she and Rob are an interracial couple. What's her ethnicity exactly is never brought up but one could guess she's either black, Hispanic, or mixed race. She's Race Lifted in the sequels to have lighter skin but still darker than Rob. Their infant son however is as white as his father (though this isn't completely unheard of with mixed race children).
• Cool Car: Her red convertible which seems to vaguely resemble either an Austin-Healey or a Shelby Cobra.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much every other thing she says to Rob is sarcastic.
• Girliness Upgrade: Sort of. In each film she seems to have become somewhat more feminine. In the first film, she was pure tomboy. In To The Rescue she gains traits usually associated with typical girls like being obsessive in relationships and remembering anniversaries. In Goes To Mars she becomes a normal loving mother to her son, Robbie.
• Nice Girl: She can be snarky and has some inconsiderate moments like when she uses Kirby to clean up kitty litter despite Rob telling her not to. Despite this, she is a genuine good person and a caring girlfriend later wife to Rob.
• Energetic Girl: To Rob's Savvy Guy.
• Tomboy/Wrench Wench: She seems to have an interest in cars in order to own a sporty red convertible as well as recognizing a "hard to find" car part in the junkyard. She also knows a lot about computers evidenced in To the Rescue.

Elmo St. Peters

Voiced by: Joe Ranft

• Affably Evil: Despite his job requiring him to essentially mutilate appliances and his habit of scamming customers, he's an otherwise likable guy and seems fairly easy to get along with. Provided of course you're not a machine. Radio even calls him a nice but dingy fella, although this was before he tried to dismember him for his tubes.
• Big Eater: He's morbidly obese and is seen drinking a weight-loss shake only to stuff his face with marshmallows afterward.
• Consummate Liar: He frequently tells his customers that he receives shipments of parts when he's really just taking them from used appliances he finds or already owns.
• Cool Car: Drives a monster truck with tires so large that he has to climb up them to reach the cab.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed. He is obese, scamming his customers by selling used parts, and is a threat to the protagonists, but he's mostly a cheerful guy who doesn't realize he is killing sentient beings.
• Laughably Evil: Even when he's mutilating and killing appliances, much it is played for dark comedy.
• Mad Libs Catch Phrase: "Now, what did I do with that [appliance]?"
• Meaningful Name: "Saint Peter." The guy you meet after death, geddit? He also names his dog "Quadruped", which means "having four feet".
• Obliviously Evil: He doesn't know the appliances are alive when he takes them apart, he's just doing his job, taking apart what he believes are completely inanimate objects.
• Pet the Dog: A literal example, as he genuinely seems to care about his dog, Quadruped.
• Punch-Clock Villain: See Obliviously Evil. He doesn't know he's gutting living appliances to death. That being said, he's not 100 percent ethical, he does scam his customers by passing off used parts as new.
• Villainous Rescue: His first appearance has him grab Radio's antenna just as he and the others are about to drown in the quicksand-like mud.
  "Ah, I thought I heard a radio!"

Rob's Mother

Voiced by: Mindy Stern

• Bookworm: Rob mentions her love of reading when she offers him to take Plugsy to his dorm. He asks what she'll read by then, she nonchalantly says she'll give up reading and start going out.
• Brick Joke: When Rob leaves for the cottage with Chris, she tells him to take a sweater. In the end of the film when Rob and Chris drive off for college, she calls to him that he forgot his sweater.
• Crazy-Prepared: Is very concerned with Rob bringing enough underwear and socks to college. Rob points out that the amount of garments she bought for him was a little overkill. She bought 48 pairs of socks.
• Good Parents: She appears to be a good mother, if perhaps a bit of a fussy worrywart. She's even willing to give Rob her own appliances when the stuff at the cottage goes missing.
• The Voice: Never actually seen, only heard.

Elmo St. Peters' Shop

St. Peters' Appliances

Voiced by: Phil Hartman (Hanging Lamp), Judy Toll (Mish-Mash)

• Ambiguous Gender: Many of them have unknown genders. Exceptions are the ones that speak or sing alone with clearly defined voices.
• The Blank: A refrigerator who doesn't speak and has no facial features, it is however seen dancing with the others during "It's a B Movie" and ends up breaking down the shop's door, allowing all the appliances to escape.
• Body Horror: The "Mish-Mash."
• Cyclops: Both the kettle and the TV have one eye each.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Yes, they're creepy, yes, they harassed the protagonists, but deep down they were just as scared as they were and lost hope of ever escaping.
• Decomposite Character: In the book, there's just the broken tape deck with a creepy voice, who tells the gang they'll never leave the scrapyard. In the film, it's a hanging lamp with the creepy voice, and several appliances in various states of disrepair. And they sing about how the cottage guys are doomed.
• Diegetic Switch: The music for "It's a B Movie" is started by a phonograph playing a record.
• Flight: The fan can fly by spinning its blades like a propeller.
• Gallows Humor: They sing a scary yet strangely upbeat song about how they're all going to be butchered to death.
• Impossible Shadow Puppets: During their song, they make their shadows turn into monsters and other creepy things that look nothing like them. One appliance stands in front of a light and casts a shadow that quickly falls apart and becomes a flock of bats, leaving behind no shadow at all.
• Jagged Mouth: The kettle's mouth has a jagged edge that looks like sharp teeth. The TV's mouth is a break in its screen full of irregular angles.
• Laughing Mad: They all cracked up when Lampy asked how they'll escape the shop.
• Mix-and-Match Man: The Mish-Mash has been made from parts of three different appliances: a can opener, a lamp, and a shaver.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The hanging lamp is a Lorre Lookalike. The Mish-Mash has the voice and mannerisms of Joan Rivers, and the reel-to-reel tape player has the voice and voluptuous figure of Mae West.
• No Indoor Voice: The megaphone is only heard shouting. No surprise, given that a megaphone's purpose is to amplify your voice.
• No Name Given: None of them have names in the movie.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: A record player plays sinister pipe organ music, which ends up becoming the instrumental for their musical number.
• Organ Theft: From a Certain Point of View. Elmo can and will tear out a component to hock to whatever rando comes to call. They've all watched him do it to countless others like themselves and the gang. It's no wonder they've all become so deranged.
• Pet the Dog: One of the first things the Peter Lorre Lamp does is sympathize with Lampy over his broken bulb and gives him a new one.
• Torture Cellar: The work/stockroom where they live is bad enough, but the basement is even worse, according to their song. Presumably, that's where Mr. Saint Peters' Frankenstein's appliances together.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The blender is taken apart and dies right after it comes into the story. It doesn't even get any lines.

Quadruped

• A Dog Named "Dog": A four-footed animal whose name literally means "having four feet."
• Brick Joke: Earlier Elmo praises Quadruped for remembering to put on his seatbelt. Later when the appliances break out of the shop, he jacks Elmo's truck but for a brief second remembers to fasten his belt before bolting off.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the appliances get loose, Quadruped panics and flees the scene in his owner's truck.

Ernie's Disposal

Giant Magnet

The Giant Magnet is a large orange junkyard magnetic attached to the T.C. (Tower Crane), and the climatic main antagonist of the film.

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• Ax-Crazy: It completely loses it when the appliances evade it one too many times, supercharging his magnetism to become like a black hole of suction for metal, and flailing about like a wrecking ball.
• Determinator: Once it notices that the appliances are trying to escape the crusher, the magnet ignores all the actual junk that's in the yard and deliberately targets them. It will stop at nothing, even if that means putting Rob's life in danger, just to see to it that the appliances get crushed.
• Even Evil Has Standards: It seemed visibly taken aback when one of the cars was literally Driven to Suicide, though it doesn't show any kind of sympathy.
• Final Boss: The last obstacle the appliances face before they are reunited with Rob.
• Gag Nose: Sort of, it has a large steel bar jetting out below its eyes that somewhat resembles a large human nose. It even remains as part of its shape when it hides its eyes. Whether or not the "nose" serves a purpose is up for interpretation.
• Hate Sink: While Elmo St. Peters is simply unaware of the appliances’ sentience, and the apartment appliances at least care about their master, the magnet is nothing but a spiteful character who tries to have the main characters compacted through any means necessary, including carrying their master with them, which nearly gets him killed as well.
• Implacable Man: It never stops hounding the protagonists, and there's nothing they can do to slow it down. All they can do is delay the inevitable by trying to evade it.
• Karma Houdini: Gets away with nearly killing the appliances, plus a human. Though the person operating it may not have been so lucky.
• Knight of Cerebus: It functions like a slasher villain, never speaking and sending various cars to their deaths, then tries to send a living human being to be crushed.
• Light Is Not Good: When it gets angry it sheds its usual red color and acquires a golden glow. Its a rather strange inversion of what usually happens in media.
• Perpetual Frowner: Its face is locked in a permanent Death Glare, as though it feels nothing but contempt for the broken-down machines its responsible for disposing.
• Punch-Clock Villain: At least until the appliances make it extremely angry, at which point it specifically hunts them, and doesn't even hesitate to toss Rob onto the belt with them.
• Turns Red: The magnet is orange. But when it gets really really angry, it glows yellow.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The film wasn't exactly that uplifting to start with, but it gets much more serious when the magnet gets involved.
• The Voiceless: You only hear a magnetic hum coming from it.

The Junkyard Cars

• Despair Event Horizon: Their song is called "Worthless" for a reason.
• Driven to Suicide: A literal case for the pickup truck at the end.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: One of the cars took part in the Indy 500 racing circuit. His lines imply he came close to winning before suffering a fatal crash, forever dashing his chance to achieve fortune and fame.
• Runaway Groom: The wedding limo sings about how she took a Texan (most likely a groom) to a wedding, but he "kept forgetting, his loneliness letting his thoughts turn to home and we turned."
• She's a Man in Japan: The cars have different genders, depending on which dub you're viewing. For example, the race car (who is originally a male) is a girl in the German and Dutch dubs, while the surfer car (who was female originally) is a male in the Danish and Icelandic dubs.

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