THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER: A Horrifying Classic

The Brave Little Toaster (1987) is an animated children’s movie about a group of sentient appliances who go on a journey to find their young master. This movie is a true classic. And features way more DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, AND HORROR than you would expect. This is probably why we all need therapy.
Please join me as we traverse this movie’s sequence of loosely connected horrors and revisit the traumas of our collective youth. Yay, it’ll be fun!
The main character is the Toaster, but he’s joined by Kirby the vacuum cleaner, Radio, Lampy, and Blanky. This is based on a novella, so I won’t ask why the filmmakers didn’t call the Toaster “Toasty.” (I’ve got nothing for Radio.)
Upcoming Videos:
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LONG-WINDED UPDATE ABOUT FUTURE VIDEO SCHEDULING:
So, going forward, I’m going to be shifting away from a “posting every other Thursday” schedule to essentially no set upload schedule. So some months may have two videos. Some may have four videos. Some may have one video. They may post on a Wednesday. Or a Saturday. Who knows! That’s why I posted my Brave Little Toaster video on a Tuesday! The adventure starts now!
I also have some video concepts I really want to make that will take longer to write, film, and edit - but I keep putting them off because I feel like there isn’t time if I suddenly look at the calendar and think, omg, I have to post SOMETHING in nine days. I’d like to refocus on making videos simply because I want a video about that topic to exist. (Or because it’s something fun to talk about.)
My work-life balance (with my full-time job) has been way off lately, and I just need the leeway to take breaks - even though I enjoy the creative process of making videos. Realistically, I’m the only one putting a lot of needless pressure on myself. I don’t need to make this channel stressful. It’s supposed to be fun! I can take breaks! It’s okay! I think!
It’s possible I’ll return to a set schedule in the future when things calm down. (Hopefully things do not, in fact, calm up.) In the meantime, maybe consider turning on notifications? Using the “community post” feature feels weird to me, but maybe I’ll use it when I have a video scheduled a day or two out.
I may also make this a “community post,” so I’m sorry if you have to read my rambling twice.

[@Level3Lifestyle]

People never understand when i tell them i was traumatised by a cartoon about a toaster

[@nootnewt9323]

Weren’t we all traumatized by this movie

[@Skitzotech]

​@@nootnewt9323 This show gave me a "never throw things away" complex. So now I'm kinda a hoarder. But... Fern Gully... Gave me nightmares till I was like 12... That smoke guy getting pulled into the machine, torn up... then coming out as a giant, torn up, skin hanging off, BURNING skeleton! The words "torn up, burning, skeleton" should not be in the same sentence as a "Rated G" movie...

[@Jeanettic]

That little toaster body getting smashed by the gears of the trash compactor is a visual that has stayed with me since childhood lol

[@PugMugsly]

It's brutal!

[@astardustparade]

This was one of my favorite movies in the 90s as a kid.

[@roxanneabel2063]

Same, I don't remember being traumatized. Guess Poltergeist did that for me 😂

[@papapossum9909]

Brave little toaster, Watership down, and land before time. The Trifecta of childhood trauma

[@PugMugsly]

Some people might think it's Bambi, but these are 100% it.

[@raeex1]

I'd add Ferngully to this list as well lol

[@Slowplaymae]

As a slightly old it was The Secret of Nimh, The Neverending Story, and The Black Cauldron. Bonus points for The Last Unicorn

[@wesmcinerny4524]

We need animated family feature films to do this sort of thing again. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish brought that kind of dark morbid theme back.

[@ilovegarradors]

That flower scene has always stuck with me and made me cry as a child every time.

[@Firguy]

12:35 Phil Hartman, very well known for playing characters such as Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on the Simpsons. Also, an accomplished impressionist; the air conditioner and ceiling light are his impersonations of Jack Nicholson and Peter Lorre.

[@stephenm8100]

And Gigi the black cat Kiki's Delivery Service... That was his final performance.

[@virtualalias]

I think you're right about hanging lamp - I think those were homages to Peter Loore, who did a lot of "creepy" character acting in the late 40's - early 60's.

[@nootnewt9323]

I’m so glad someone is talking about this movie. It scarred me as a kid the junkyard and the a/c dying especially. the junkyard scene is still haunting and the song is basically every single car singing about how useless they are to a poppy 80s song. The most haunting is that one truck at the end (the one who belonged to those Hopi kids) doesn’t wait for the magnet, he just drives to his death willingly. Like we just witnessed a car unalive himself.

[@DanielJaegerFilms]

The air conditioner’s meltdown scared the shit out of me as a kid and is still permanently burned in my brain lol

[@emilytiburcio8661]

Grow up

[@vranimirvranov4082]

This traumatized me. The flower scene just broke whatever was left of my innocence

[@baldchinchilla]

Another piece of childhood trauma explored. I never noticed that the masters apartment number is the Pixar A113 easter egg.

[@PugMugsly]

I think I remember reading that this might have even been the first movie usage of the A113 easter egg.

[@baldchinchilla]

@Pug Mugsly sweet TIL. For a more recent take on "comes to life when no one is looking" genre you should check out Sausage Party. Underneath all the R rated humor, it's got something to say about faith and organized religion.

[@lcope2004]

The Brave Little Toaster series is my grandmothers, my moms, and my favourite movie

[@Kayman8190]

Just a thought: five appliances, five senses: radio is symbolic of the ear, blanket of touch, vacuum of smell, toaster of taste, and lamp of sight. Plausible, no?

[@jordanphilipperris]

Love it :)

[@deathninja16]

people ALWAYS underestimate the waterall scene after kirby drops everyone...The Absolute silence and all you hear is the water falls crashing against the rocks.

[@langr752]

This was my ultimate favorite movie as a child!

[@jordanphilipperris]

Im 44 (Soon to be 45) and this is still one of my favourite movies (My fav being Patema Inverted) :)

[@OnyxPanther22]

I don't know how many times I hugged and had tea parties with the air conditioner after this movie came out. X-D

[@amberburtch3913]

Literally same, and as almost a 32 yr old, I still apologize to my kids toys and all inanimate objects thinking of this movie😂 I also have big issues getting rid of things because I think they'll be sad 😅

[@ravyn1320]

Yes! I do the same thing and criticized for it😏

[@jennysue61884]

I absolutely love this movie as a kid! I do have the DVD of this and the sequels, but for some reason, I still have yet to watch the sequels. Anyways, I don't think this movie traumatized me as a kid, but I do remember being scared with some of the scenes. Like when they were in the quicksand and lampy getting struck by lightning, but the most terrifying was the junkyard science by far! I thoroughly enjoyed watching this video!

[@singbike5832]

Let me say first your wry delivery is hilarious! For some strange reason this movie didn't actually scare me as a kid. I say strange because various other random movies did. And THE FLOWER. I didn't realize how many other people felt the same way about this scene as me until reading other Brave Little Toaster comments. If you've ever seen "The Sword in the Stone" there is a somewhat similar scene to that, except it's a squirrel who is left alone crying by herself as the screen fades to black. Hopefully that was not another traumatic scene you had to endure on top of the flower one.

[@PugMugsly]

Thank you!! Oh man, I watched The Sword in the Stone as a kid and don’t remember that scene - which means I probably repressed it, lol.

[@davidshakesheff89]

Speaking of Sword in the stone Kirby's voice actor plays a knight who says "hey that's not fair give the boy a chance" before Arthur pulls the sword from Excalibur

[@samsquanch1996]

I was a little kid in the late 90s/early 2000s and I remember kids from my preschool and kindergarten classes who loved this movie, (yes, I do remember being that little, lol) I still haven't seen the whole movie but watching clips of it in my late-20s, I don't know how little kids could watch this film without getting nightmares! Looks like a great animated film though, I need to see it!

[@Speedj2]

the air conditioner's death scene was that scene for me that was burned into my memory and never forgotten.

[@jenniferterrance9639]

Oh my gosh. 🤣 This explains so much. I was under 4 when I watched this. This is NOT for tiny children. This is an animated HORROR movie LOL

[@mikepaoletta9847]

I LOVED this movie as a kid! Just tried watching it with my wife who had never seen it. We made it to the death of the air conditioner before we shut it off. HOW THE HELL DID I WATCH THIS AS A KID?!?!

[@bendover5001]

I’ve heard that the nightmare scene is a manifestation of toasters own ability to potentially be a danger to the master, by either accidental fire, or if master were to accidentally stick a fork or butterknife in toaster and go to grab it out. The bathtub scene though… I really cant explain that except a very graphic warning label.

[@NicklasNN]

The hanging lamp and the air conditioner were both voiced by the late Phil Hartman, doing Peter Lorre for the former and Jack Nicholson for the latter. I think this was before he was on SNL.

[@FamilyHistoriandude]

Phil Hartman imitated both Jack Nicholson (AC) and Peter Lorre (hanging lamp). Ironically there was a movie where Peter Lorre played the father of Jack Nicholson.

[@Nic_2751]

Ok wow this movie really is having quite a resurgence as of recently

[@FOOLK1LLAH]

This movie is responsible for the guilt I feel when I choose one item over the other at the store.

[@eeveefennecfox]

I barely remember this movie now,but I have watched it alot in the 90's but cause I was so young,I guess I can barely remember it now,which sucks,I remember loving this movie when I was little though

[@Victoria-df8sw]

Phil Hartman played the lamp in the guys shop! He also played the air conditioner 🌬️💡

[@eliasfernandez5955]

I'm french, and this was the movie of my childhood, and to be franc, it didn't traumatize me at all, I was 7 or 8 years old at the time, and I just loved the characters, the draws, the music, and the french dub (which I think superior to the original but that's my opinion), I still have the dvd on my shelf to this day! But by viewing your video, I realized I missed a lot of details, and some are creepy, it won't change my view on this film, but it's interesting to search infos on the films we grew up with! Continue like this!

[@jordanphilipperris]

I have a French copy of the movie as well, but all the songs are still in English for some strange reason... how about yours :) I also have it in German and thankfully the songs are also in German, and it is very entertaining to watch from time to time :)

[@eliasfernandez5955]

@@jordanphilipperris Well everything is in french except the songs, but I can't even choose any other language or subtitles with my DVD, it's only in French, and for the songs, fuck off! (But at least you l've got a fun puzzle to do!) But yeah it's fun to watch from time to time!

[@jordanphilipperris]

You might want to look into finding a multi-region/region 0 DVD player, that should do the trick. As for the songs being in english, I was kind of peeved by that too, but oh well, it's still a fun watch :)@@eliasfernandez5955

[@vuhoang8265]

Another great video! Cartoons/animation from the 90s sure do have a strange feel compared to today shows.

[@PugMugsly]

Thank you! 😄

[@jordanphilipperris]

For the brave Little Toaster (The actual movie) do you ever recall the radio being referred to as Rah-Tune-Oh the radio in an old trailer of the movie years ago? I only ask because I was trying to look up the actual spelling for his name not too long ago and find absolutely zero mention about it :)@@PugMugsly

[@willt9331]

Also haunted by this movie. Was telling one of my students about the other day how much of an impact the music had on me, especially "worthless" in the junkyard 😢

[@tackytack]

The original sound track of this movie by David Newman is genuinely amazing and one of his best scores imo… it didn’t have to go so hard but he did it

[@elizabethgeorge168]

As a child the junkyard scene traumatized me... As an adult, I appreciate the very clear Meatloaf song ripoff 😂

[@orangesweetness]

Haha I, too, was traumatized from watching this wild cartoon as a kid

[@IAmTheDoctor00]

I never watched the brave little toaster I only saw mars. Random thought how the little flower bummed you out I used to get sad at the sword in the stone about a squirrel. Not sure why just made me sad.

[@roderick8167]

This was one of my favorite movies growing up but some parts yeah definitely scared me as a kid and I rewatched the movie a few months and no lie the part when the air conditioner said what you gonna do Kirby suck me to death l literally had to pause the movie and laugh my ass off like wtf how they get away with that joke 😂😂😂

[@PugMugsly]

There's no way they didn't know what they were doing with that line, lol!

[@roderick8167]

@@PugMugsly I know right !

[@baffledbrandon3132]

Many of the people who worked on this film would later go on to found Pixar.

[@7BearSarah]

I was starting to think I made this movie up because nobody I know (besides my family) seems to remember it. I seem to have vague memories of a grumpy air conditioner freaking me out but I really remember so little about this movie lol

[@ashleeterrell4580]

i loved this movie as a kid still do keep looking for it online so i can watch it again lol

[@josaywhat]

Was this your first experience as a kiddo with a broken 💔? The flower 🌼 scene in the garden 🥺

[@carlos_takeshi]

This is my reaction to Spielberg's A.I., except moreso. That movie is a horror show.

[@PugMugsly]

I've heard that movie is bizarre. (Which means I should probably watch it.)

[@carlos_takeshi]

@@PugMugsly I'd be interested in hearing a reaction.

[@RicardoCon94]

I must have been the most desensitized little kid in the 90s because this movie didn't traumatized me at all. Not even Land Before Time (the original). It may have to do with being exposed to Grimlins, Poltergeist 3, and some Goosebumps episode before anything else. I don't even remember how I even watched those. My aunts and uncles were probably watching them and I just so happened to be there.

[@WilliamMaslow]

An iconic campy classic

[@Jeff-fu8is]

The guy who did the voice of the lamp in the appliance shop what's the same guy who voice the air conditioner, Phil Hartman

[@Captain_Char]

Toaster might be why I dont like clowns, lol, but other then that, im good, I have a kirby and a vintage toaster and radio >_>

[@countchompula1896]

*I can’t take this kind of pressure…*

[@Stark-Raving]

Disney only had distrution rights for the origional film, thats why it was under the Buena Vista line and is not currently on Disney Plus.

[@langr752]

You definitely have a voice for the news 😃

[@huuua2]

8:01 so that's where my subconscience got that from.... woah, forgot about that haha

[@breezy6859]

I remember watching this movie as a child but I blocked it out because of how traumatizing the movie was. I made myself not remember anything about it and I refuse to watch it now.

[@chrismaccool9097]

I love how thr smoke monster grabbed the boy and took him away where was the smoke entity taking the boy anyway? Also the song they sing called The City Of Lights gave me ideas for a Titanic Story I am writing.

[@dukemarine3425]

The machine shop was my nightmare lol

[@that44rdv4rk]

I feel personally attacked by your statement regarding drinking from a blender. 😤😉

[@PugMugsly]

Lol, I guess I'm biased because my blender has detachable blades. So if I tried to drink right from my blender, I'd get stabbed in the face. 😆

[@BR540E]

19:14 the magnet 😆

[@Jason0binladen]

He's not just a radio he's also the disembodied voice of Jon levitz

[@langr752]

8:05 im pretty sure Toaster was a girl… but yeah i was terrified of the fireman clown. Scared the crap outa me

[@PugMugsly]

You've sent me down an internet rabbit hole reading about the gender of the Toaster, lol!

[@langr752]

Haha i dunno, its a female voice, I suppose I just assumed… of course this is also assuming sentient appliances have genders im the first place. 🤣

[@crazypupper]

I always wondered why the magnet had such a hate boner for the Lil Toaster and its pals.

[@virtualalias]

Awesome channel! Love the content and your format and everything (just subbed!) - I only have one piece of constructive criticism, if you're interested or looking for ways to improve, and it may just be me, but I'm finding that your speaking cadence could be ticked up just a notch. I watch the videos at 1.5x speed, but 1.25 feels quite natural as well. As I said, no offense meant, just a stranger giving unsolicited advice on the internet!

[@PugMugsly]

Thank you for subscribing and feedback!

[@virtualalias]

@@PugMugsly Hoping you have many more subs to come!

[@yourlocalofficechair7953]

The 2nd movie is alr, p decent sequal if you rlly like the first film. Unfortunately goes to mars is boring asf, even w the ridiculous premise. Its just trying to cash on what made the first and second one work

[@spinningaround]

Have you seen The Ark series from SG1 creators?

[@PugMugsly]

I haven't, but it's been on my list! Have you seen it?

[@spinningaround]

@@PugMugsly Yes. It starts boring but is gaining momentum with each episode. 😉

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

This is one of those movies that I only had vague, pleasant memories of (I guess) until people revisited it in the past decade of nostalgia-fueled internet culture, and seeing what actually happened in the plot was a huge, "Wait, what the _actual f*ck?" moment for me, lol.😄 I do love all the stuff from back then though that had a streak of darkness. Gave kids stuff to overcome; make 'em better adjusted adults - I'd hate to meet the people who _didn't_ grow up watching this kind of stuff and how messed up they are having never had to overcome even the gentle kind of trauma movies like this inflicted on us kids (I have a feeling they mostly sit around trying to start culture wars on Twitter nowadays or something, lol). Have you ever seen Jim Henson's "The Christmas Toy?" That's another one that I remember holding nothing back when it came to being like, "This character is dead now, kids. People die sometimes." At least this movie indirectly helped the Disney Renaissance up its quality. I found that out by listening to an episode of Podcast: The Ride; apparently the director of this was brought onto Disney (it was animated by a company called "Hyperion Pictures" - maybe that's why it's not on Disney Plus, but it seems weird they wouldn't _own this_ nowadays regardless) to direct and fix a bunch of animations for attractions like Back to Neverland (about a studio tour of animation, starring Robin Williams as an animated character that invades Disney movies like Peter Pan) and Cranium Command's animated sequences. They were so impressed with him that they just kept asking him to bounce around and fix problematic movies and projects throughout the '90s. This movie may be weird as heck, but the story structure seems very solid for a road trip movie (albeit, a distressing one) - the dude knew how to craft a memorable story!

[@PugMugsly]

I've never seen The Christmas Toy, but you bet it's on my list now! The weird, darker movies from back in the day are definitely way more interesting (at least to me) than some of the more saccharine children's entertainment -- like some of the classic Disney movies.

[@giuseppejoseph8890]

Growing up, I loved the junkyard. I remember crying because I wanted my mom to buy me that compactor so that I could crush my hotwheels cars. Good times!

[@Almog3]

Where did u get the shirt? 😱

[@PugMugsly]

I got it from Etsy! But when you lay it flat, the print is a little skewed. :(

[@Almog3]

@@PugMugsly ohh got it Thanks! Also I used to cry so much everytime I got to the flower scene. This movie is tough 😢

[@ArtDocHound]

Who is paying the electric bills for five years?? Climate change too??

[@scrungles7853]

You've got a popple in the background Don't ask how I, a 19-year-old, knows what that is ... My mom had one and gave it to me when I was little ... It was an orange and green one ... Nobody asked

[@PugMugsly]

I do love the Popple. It's the same one I had as a kid. (But I have been eyeing up buying an orange one on ebay, because it's a neat color.)

[@Mothobius]

Balls