Toaster Logic.
Making up for my absent Friday, yet with something that is decidedly not video game related.
Yet potentially nerdier.
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It's no secret that I dig digging into fictional universes for unspecified yet understood constants. Laws that don't apply to our real world but structure the happenings in the one created through storytelling. I spent much of Unemployed January, for instance, re-reading the entire Harry Potter series and analyzing every character action in relation to the world JK established for us. "Why doesn't anybody other than Harry hear the basilisk's hissing in Chamber of Secrets, even if they can't understand it?" = The type of thing I'm talking about.
Now, let's look at The Brave Little Toaster.
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I didn't realize it when I was younger, but the appliances in The Brave Little Toaster are oddly dependent on an energy source. Not just around people to confirm their laws of physics, either. Until last night, my understanding of this Toaster Logic was intricate but simple: The appliances need power to operate with their intended human-serving purposes, though not for anything else. Toaster, then, cannot make toaster without being plugged into a wall, yet is fully capable of walking around. Ditto for everyone(-thing?) else. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Fortunately, an outdoor adventure to find The Master isn't highly dependent on making toast. Nor are the appliances often in need of a heating blanket, so Blankie's fine on his own as well. At one point, Radio utters a surprise that his "back-up batteries" are still functioning, so we can assume that he is able to produce broadcasts at any time due to an internal power source. No issues there. Bingo bango.
Both Lampy and Kirby, though, offer up much more useful skills for the crew along the way. Kirby, being the largest and most powerful of the bunch - him being a vacuum - is dictated the responsibility of powering their transportation method. As is shown early on in the film when the appliances first try leaving the cottage, Kirby is unable to even roll without being plugged in, shutting down the instant his cord leaves the wall. To overcome this issue, Toaster rigs up a car battery to their office chair. When it runs dry and traps our heroes in the dark forest, Lampy is similarly unable to shine light above in search for the lost Blankie. That is, he is unable to perform his human-serving duty without a power source. Right in line with the logic.
But wait a minute.
Simply put, Kirby becomes a problem. His wheels, I imagine, must be powered themselves. Certainly, after rescuing everybody from the raging river and returning them to (relatively) dry land, the crew is briefly seen dragging Kirby along using their power cords.
However.
Just minutes before, after their chair, battery, and every appliance sans Kirby tumble off the cliffside into the waterfall below, Kirby does something curious. Making a bold decision, he slowly rolls back offscreen before speeding off the edge after his fallen comrades. Rolling. Speeding. With his wheels.
Kirby broke the rules.
And that isn't the only time. After escaping from the horror show that is the appliance dealer's office, the team is seen careening across the countryside in a carriage ... Powered by none other than Kirby. He even ushers them around the City of Lights right to The Master's front door.
Without a battery. Without a power source.
How is he doing this?
I mentioned Lampy before. He, too, likes breaking the rules, although for some reason his violations were less apparent to me until I started seriously considering a decades-old children's cartoon as a 23-year-old college graduate. One specific instance that comes to mind happens in that forest again. Lampy, believing he's found a nice shelter for the crew, lights up the area to reveal he is inside a hollowed-out tree resembling a monster.
Lampy lights up the area, yet is not plugged in when doing so.
With this realization, my entire ideological knowledge base of The Brave Litter Toaster lore was shattered. Why can Kirby occasionally roll without power? How can Lampy switch on his light bulb while disconnected from an energy source when he is fails to do so other times? Interviews with the film's creators show that Toaster was the definition of a passion project. That said, I find it difficult to believe that these committed folk would overlook such obscene offenses to their own logic. There must be something I'm missing, some reason why these rules only apply when they matter most.
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Or maybe it's just an excellent-but-silly kids' movie and I have a weird way of getting my kicks.