Toy Academy is a children's book series by Brian Lynch, the writer of Minions and other Illumination Entertainment films. There are two books so far:
- Toy Academy: Some Assembly Required (2017)
- Toy Academy: Ready For Action (2019)
The books center around Commander Hedgehog's Institute for Novelty Academia (CHINA, as in "Made in China"), also known as "Toy Academy" for short. It's a special school where toys learn how to play with humans, and it's located in a magical toy world accessed through a portal in a toy store.
Our hero is Grumbolt, a mishmash plush creature who is the botched result of a girl trying to use a U Can Sew stuffed animal pattern. Nobody can tell what animal he is, or what his skills are, as he seems to fail at everything he tries. He is brought to Toy Academy by a transforming toy named Omnibus Squared, where he takes on the Plushie major. But something sinister is going on. Commander Hedgehog, the owner of the school, has his arms stolen. The prime suspects are the residents of Evil Toy Academy, the place where evil toys go to learn how to be bad guys. Can Grumbolt save Commander Hedgehog and the school?
This series contains examples of:
- Cartoon Creature: Grumbolt is a mishmash of different animals. Justified because he's the result of a make-your-own stuffed animal kit gone wrong.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Chancellor Thornbones, the leader of Evil Toy Academy, is described as having a grating, high-pitched voice. This is most likely because he's an Expy of Skeletor, who has a similar voice.
- Evil All Along: Bootleg, who initially seems like just another, innocent student, turns out to be the Big Bad of Book 1. He's responsible for stealing Commander Hedgehog's arms and plotting to take over the school.
- Expy: Many of the characters are parodies of real toys:
- Omnibus Squared is based on Optimus Prime. They're both toy robots that transform into vehicles.
- Margie is based on Barbie. They're both world-famous dolls with hundreds of different iterations and seemingly no end to their different talents.
- Chancellor Thornbones is based on Skeletor. Both are evil, skeletal humanoids who lead an army of monsters.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Irving Spider-Ring, a living plastic spider ring, is a polite and helpful fellow who serves as Grumbolt's guidance counselor at Toy Academy.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Bootleg resents Commander Hedgehog, not just for being the owner of Toy Academy, but also for being the superior version of Bootleg himself. This leads him to try and usurp Commander Hedgehog's position.
- I'm Melting!: In the climax, Bootleg attempts to melt Commander Hedgehog to death by putting him in a Margie Bake Oven. Justified because Commander Hedgehog is made of plastic. Fortunately, Grumbolt unplugs the oven and lets Commander Hedgehog out before any real harm is done to him.
- Living Toys: All toys in this world are alive, and this even extends to objects that remotely resemble toys, such as Salt and Pepper, who are salt and pepper shakers resembling porcelain figures of children.
- Monster in the Moat: Evil Toy Academy has windup toy alligators in its moat. Since all the characters are toys, this is more threatening than it would be if the characters were human.
- Not Me This Time: Although the toys of Evil Toy Academy have caused trouble for Toy Academy in the past, they make it clear that they are not responsible for Commander Hedgehog's arms being stolen.
- Psycho Pink: Bootleg is notable for his hot pink color scheme. He turns out to be Evil All Along, and the Big Bad of Book 1. His pink color turns out to be important to the plot: After stealing Commander Hedgehog's arms, he painted them pink to look like his own. Grumbolt figures this out when he realizes that he has pink paint on his paw. Bootleg shook hands with him before his paint dried.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The residents of Evil Toy Academy are taught to be the bad guys of their respective toylines. However, while "bad guy" is the role they play, they never actually do anything too evil in the story itself. The worst thing they do is chase Grumbolt back to Toy Academy when he infiltrates their school. Even though Commander Hedgehog claims that this puts his students in danger, the Evil toys don't actually attempt to hurt anyone.
- Shoddy Knockoff Product: Played for Laughs. Commander Hedgehog, the leader of Toy Academy, is a high-quality action figure made of the finest plastic, and he has jointed hands and a variety of accessories. One other character is a bootleg Commander Hedgehog toy named Commandant Hedgepig, although he's simply called "Bootleg" most of the time. He's made of a cheaper plastic, and his hands are molded rather than articulated, so he's stuck holding a plunger and a frying pan in contrast to Hedgehog's cool space weapons. However, it's later Played for Drama when Bootleg attempts to Kill and Replace Commander Hedgehog as leader of the school. It seems that Bootleg is envious of him.
