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Was The Brave Little Toaster all that dark?
(sh.itjust.works)
The song Worthless was basically a mass euthanasia video.
Wow. That is really dark.
The reservation truck always fucks me up. The way he hops on the conveyor on his own, as if to say "If it's my time, I'm going to go of my own volition" just punches me with this grave sense of nobility in the face of oblivion.
The vacuum cleaner sinking into the mud and dragging the others with him was dark AF. And the blanket, as he's about to go under, sheepishly says "I'm not scared."
I would also like to add this to the list of childhood trauma experiences.
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/artax
This might help with the trauma a little bit.
It was the scariest shit I ever saw at age 5. Watched it several times as a kid. I would hide under the pillows during the clown scene. The AC blowing up at the beginning also freaked me out.
I think of it as a darker movie compared to many other family type movies at least. I can't speak on how it is now that im older, but as a very young kid this movie made me cry. It was one of my earliest memories lol
Also I know this may sound weird, but I'm pretty sure this movie also influenced me to care and have feelings towards inanimate objects.
That window unit AC that burst into flames gave me fucking nightmares.
The nightmare toaster has about the clown fireman chasing him was legitimately scary. The way the clown says "Run." is still fresh in my mind decades later.
Kinda sorta maybe toward the conflict arc of the story. It get's a little intense for a kid movie.
The old AC unit dies in the first scene, IIRC. On camera. Yeah, shit is dark, but so are most classic fairytales. ๐๐ผ
From the director Jerry Rees on an ama 14 years ago:
"The Kirby 500 series is very close to our Vacuum. Toaster was pretty much a simplified Sunbeam. Radio was like a distillation of lots of bakelite radios into one. I remember there was some discussion among the producers about putting eyes and a mouth on Radio. I pointed out that since he was a clock-radio, he already had a face. And his speaker, is his mouth. Glad they let go of the literal face idea. Blanky's feel - not his model really - was like an insecurity blanket, because he was without his child to cuddle. Lampy was just a good ol' bendy-neck. Thought he was bright, but he could be pretty dim sometimes.
Re the junkyard. It's interesting that we were able to deal with mortality in a way that totally made sense (because cars really do get crushed there) but also went to extremes we could never have gotten away with if we'd used anything but inanimate objects."
No mention of the repair shop guy just ripping the motor out of a blender we saw moving around 5 minutes earlier.
Between Brave Little Toaster, the Punky Brewster Challenger scene, and the swamp scene in Neverending Story, it's a wonder the way I am.
Yes.
I didn't think so when I was a kid, but in hindsight, it was dark.
The Last Unicorn, on the other hand....
There was some amazing things happening with media in the 80s.
Dark Crystal Neverending story Return to Oz Labyrinth
Don't get me started on Return to Oz. It is pure nightmare fuel.
Yeah, child's introduction to electroshock therapy.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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