Vengeful Abandoned Toy

He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake...

"A stuffed toy that was thrown away and became possessed, ever searching for the one who threw it away so it can exact its revenge."

— Banette's Pokédex entry, Pokémon Ultra Sun

Living Toys are so much fun! They walk, they talk, they're fun to play with, they listen to your problems, and they'll love you unconditionally, forever and ever...

...until you lose them, replace them, forget about them, or simply outgrow them and leave them in a box in your closet for years. Then their painted smiles turn into frowns, their once cheery features turning menacing and creepy. Emerging from trash cans, dusty shelves, and cardboard boxes, they prowl the night in search of the child who abandoned them, either to get their owner's love back, or to declare that If I Can't Have You…, no other toy can either. Needless to say, this kind of villain has a Freudian Excuse built into their backstory. They almost certainly have feelings of "Et Tu, Brute?" towards the owner who abandoned them, and in more extreme cases may believe that Humans Are the Real Monsters.

It may become a Clingy MacGuffin, repeatedly showing up in its owner's house despite attempts to destroy it or throw it in the trash. If it's an electronic toy, its owner may end up yelling, "It Won't Turn Off!" If it's seeking revenge on its former owner, it is likely to be pitted against another toy owned by that child who loves them and wants to protect their owner from harm.

More modern examples include video game characters angry that their owner hasn't played with them in years; this particular version of the trope is popular in creepypasta. In-universe, it may result from Video Game Cruelty Potential.

Sub-trope of Living Toys, and the Evil Counterpart of the Tragic Abandoned Toy. May overlap with Creepy Doll, Killer Teddy Bear, Perverse Puppet, Demonic Dummy, and Cute Is Evil. Related to Growing Up Sucks (in the "child outgrew their favorite toy" version), Evil Former Friend, and Forgotten Friend, New Foe. Likely to be a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, a Tragic Villain, a Tragic Monster, a Child Hater, or a Yandere. This kind of character may be found hanging out at locations like the Abandoned Playground, Creepy Dollhouse, Daycare Nightmare, or Nightmarish Nursery.

Contrast Apathetic Pet and Never Had Toys. If it's a video game, it may cross over with The Most Dangerous Video Game.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The Crayon Shin-chan special, Figure Wars has Oban, a toku action figure being discarded by the Nohara's neighbour, the Hatogayas, only for a stray lightning bolt to hit the toy and giving it life. Gaining the powers to fire energy bolts capable of turning humans into action figures, Oban goes on a rampage, first transmuting Micchi and Yoshirin Hatogaya in revenge and then doing the same to everyone in the neighborhood, from the Nohara's other neighbour Miss Kitamoto to Hiroshi and Misae Nohara, and then most of the cast save for Shin-Chan, Nene and Masao. Eventually Shin-Chan is the only survivor, but by using a mirror to reflect Oban's bolt Shin-Chan defeats the vengeful toy, who then shatters to bits. And thanks to No Ontological Inertia, the rest of the cast gets restored to human forms as well, and the audience learns the Space Whale Aesop that if you abandon your toys, you'll be transformed into one.
• Fresh Pretty Cure!: The antagonist of The Movie is Toymajin, a robot who has taken control of the Kingdom of Toys. His true form is a teddy bear that was abandoned by its owner, and the Cures help him find a new owner upon his defeat.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, Axl Ro's Civil War causes manifestations of people or objects that were discarded by his targets. One of these materializations take the form of a stuffed bear that Gyro had tossed away for being too ragged which then envelopes his body to suffocate him.
• Unico in the Island of Magic: The villainous Lord Kuruku was a puppet who was mistreated, abandoned, and gained life after spending two-hundred years in the sun. Resentful of his mistreatment, Kuruku seeks to transform all living things into zombie-like living wooden puppets to use as his own personal building blocks.
• Princess Cologne, a character in the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, was a favorite doll of a rich girl's, until she was "abandoned" and thrown away not long after her owner at the time got a new toy. After she was given life, she has harbored a grudge against her former owner, which persists even after Yuma adopts her, at one point outright claiming to prefer being in Yuma's residence over her former owner's rich household.

Fan Works

• In the Pokémon creepypasta Abandoned PokéDoll, a young girl loves her stuffed doll, but as she gets older, she becomes more interested in other toys and the doll is discarded. This causes the doll to become Banette years later, and it is furious with the girl for abandoning it. It tears all her toys to pieces and kills her before she can become a trainer.
• In the creepypasta Crushed, the narrator has Pokémon HeartGold and they've grown close to everyone on their team, especially Ryu the Dratini. They unknowingly drop the cartridge in the snow and their father reveals that he accidentally drove over it. The narrator boots the game up and finds out that Ryu and the other Pokémon are in horrible shape because they've been crushed. They all call the narrator out for their carelessness, and Ryu asks, "How do you like being-" before the screen turns black. That night, the narrator suffers from migraines as Ryu's squeals echo in their mind. They look up and find a single message on their ceiling: "Crushed".
• Jessica: A variation. Cameron has Pokémon Yellow and he is close to his Raichu^note formerly a Pikachu, until a friend accidentally evolved her, Jessica. During a moment of Fury-Fueled Foolishness, he accidentally destroys the cartridge and is devastated. Over a year later, he gets a copy of Pokémon Black, and he also names a Pikachu Jessica. The latter begins to angrily ask if he remembers her and leads him to Celestial Tower, where she chews him out for unintentionally killing her when he destroyed Yellow and for forgetting about her. She forgives him, however, once he sincerely apologizes to her, and she becomes a member of his team.
• In the "Pokémon Dead Channel" Creepypasta, the plot revolves around a kid, who once used Pokémon Channel as a crutch without having any actual friends, eventually growing out of the game and making real friends in a new school. When she returns to the game years later, she find her Pikachu, BRVR, has become embittered by her disappearance and started slaughtering the other Pokémon in the game to make the player suffer. At the end, a Pikachu doll appears on her desk in real life, implying that the torment will cross into the real world now.
• Raphie's Revenge: Chopper's titular Raphie threatens to destroy May-May the Furby Baby, and later kill Chopper when Chopper grows bored of it.

Films — Animation

• In The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Rex Dangervest turns out to be a version of Emmet from an alternate timeline where he failed to make it through the Stairgate and got stranded in Undar of the Dryar System (under the dryer in the basement). Upset that nobody bothered to rescue him, he eventually got tired of waiting and became sentient through his own anger. He cobbled together a time machine from other time machines and went back to save his past self from getting stranded, trick him into kickstarting Armamageddon, and launch him in Undar of the Dryar to maintain his existence.
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys: The Toy Taker's true identity turns out to be Mr. Cuddles, the teddy bear, but he's more of an Anti-Villain than most. After his former owner lost interest in him and threw him out, he decided to capture toys so they wouldn't be abandoned by their owners either. He ultimately reforms for the better once he finds out that his owner didn't mean to get rid of him and actually wanted to give him to his daughter.
• Steven Universe: The Movie: The vicious Spinel turns out to have once been a cheerful, friendly jester specifically created to be Pink Diamond's sentient plaything and best friend. When Pink decided she wanted a colony of her own, she abandoned Spinel like a child would a toy they were bored with. To make matters worse, rather than tell Spinel the truth, Pink claimed that they were going to play a new game: Spinel had to stand in one place until Pink got back. And so Spinel stood there...for six thousand years. Once she finally learned she'd been ditched, the isolation and grief drove her insane and pushed her to go to Earth for revenge against Pink's son Steven. The plot was inspired by a real incident where showrunner Rebecca Sugar discovered her old toy bunny in the garden and wondered what it would've felt about being forgotten.
• Toy Story 3: Lotso is a sociopathic teddy bear who hates all humans and toys due to being accidentally abandoned by his owner and replaced. He believes that no child has ever genuinely loved a toy and that all toys are just trash waiting to be thrown away.

Literature

• In the Bone Chillers book, "Scare Bear", a boy named Timmy is sick of being treated like a kid and throws his childhood teddy bear, Baby Curly, away in anger. But somehow Baby Curly turns out to be alive, and isn't happy about being disposed, returning to teach its ex-owner Timmy a lesson.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever: When Greg was younger, he had a baby doll named Alfrendo that he was really attached to, but one day he came home and couldn't find Alfrendo anywhere. His mom had gotten him the doll to prepare him for having a new baby brother, and Greg didn't want his mom to think he was irresponsible, so he drew a face on a grapefruit and pretended that was his doll (but it eventually rotted and had to be thrown out). To this day, Greg has nightmares about Alfrendo coming back and getting revenge on him for replacing him with a fruit.
• The Origin of Laughing Jack: Laughing Jack was once Isaac's playmate who came in a jack-in-the-box, but he was trapped alone in it for years, waiting for his friend to return from boarding school. While at first emotionless when he returns but doesn't reopen his box, Jack gets jealous when Isaac has a new "friend" , but then Jack comes to enjoy Isaac's murderous activities since he likes whatever Isaac likes. In a mix of adapting to Isaac's new love for violence and resentment towards being abandoned, Jack tortures Isaac with his own murder weapons before killing him.
  Laughing Jack: Oh I’m quite real kiddo… In fact, I’ve been waiting such a long time for this day to finally come… When I can play with my best friend for life… One. Last. Time!

Music

• Insane Clown Posse's "Play With Me" is written from the perspective of an abandoned toy, angry because it's been left alone for years. The song in question was originally written for the movie Bride of Chucky, but was turned down by the producers of the movie once it was finished.
  I can see you near the bed when I look through this tiny crack
  You've become much older now and I don't see you turning back
  Seven years in darkness I can only hope my wish comes true
  That one day I'll get you in my hands...AND I'LL PLAY WITH YOU!
• In the video for their song "Talking to Myself", The Linda Lindas receive a box with dolls. They spend the day doing fun things with the dolls. But then they exclude the dolls during rehearsal. The dolls get angry and end up taking over their practice. The video ends with the dolls attacking the girls.
• Lordi's song "Schizo Doll" is sung from the perspective of a doll that was lost, and then found 80 years later by its former owner. She then died, and the doll was buried alongside her. The doll would love to be this trope, but it's inanimate, despite being sentient, and can't die because it was never alive.
  "That bitch left me to rot alone again!"
• Vocaloid: In the song "Trick and Treat", Rin and Len play a pair of living dolls who were abandoned by Miku and want to rip out her heart in revenge. They end up getting it.

Theme Parks

• Toy Hell: Nightmare in the Scream Factory was a haunted house at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, set in an abandoned toy factory full of possessed toys that would come alive and slaughter the workers.

Urban Legends

• "Mary-san", a popular Japanese urban legend. During a move a girl's beloved doll that she called Mary-san (some versions use a Licca-chan doll instead) gets thrown away, whether accidently or on purpose. After a while, the girl receives a phone call. She answers, and the voice on the other end says "It's Mary-san. I'm in the dumpster". Some time later she is called again, and again; each time the voice claims to be Mary-san and reports where she is, each time getting closer to the girl's new house. The final call:
  "It's Mary-san. I'm right behind you."

Video Games

• Funtime with Buffy: The plot of the game is that a little girl is left at home while her mother is out, and is expected to clean up her toys. While she's doing this, she's being pursued by her old plush rabbit Buffy, who wants to kill her for leaving him in the basement for years.
• Gimmick! (1992): The story begins when a young girl is given a green, big-eyed toy with a tiny horn on top of its head as gift. After the other toys in her toy box watch her play with it, they come to life in while she's asleep and whisk her away to another land. The new toy then has to go after them to save the girl.
• Hypercharge Unboxed: The game's main villain is an action figure named Max Damage, bestowed life like every other toy by the Hyper-Core only to be relegated to a Collector's Item and kept permanently in his box. After seeing toys around him being played by children, Max eventually snaps and escapes, steals the Hyper-Core, raise an army of rogue toys and declares war on toykind.
• Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass:
  • One of the optional bosses, Turnbuckle, is this. He commands an army of toy soldiers, dolls and other toys, and wants to get his revenge on Jimmy for having stopped playing with him.
  • Jonathon Bear, one of your party members, is also this. Jimmy stole Jonathon from a store one day and lied that his grandma gave the bear to him. He loved playing with Jonathon until the guilt of stealing caught up to him and he locked Jonathon away. To get his revenge over being abandoned, Jonathon agrees to work for the Pulsating Mass.
• Lobotomy Corporation: The person-sized Happy Teddy Bear was abandoned by the little girl that used to own him. Now, afraid that the people that come will leave them, the bear gets lethally affectionate with the people who it sees twice in a row.
• Pokémon: Banette is a Ghost-type Pokémon said to be a doll that was thrown away and came to life, reanimated by a grudge against its former owner.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming: In life, Scarlet was a little girl who loved to play with her dolls before she was murdered by her father Martin as part of a pact to satisfy the Order's god. In the present day, Alex discovers Scarlet's favorite doll in Martin's office, covered in dirt, cracked, and missing an eye and most of its hair. When he hands it to the doctor, it whispers, "Daddy...?", transforms into the monster-Scarlet, and kills Martin before engaging in a boss battle with Alex.
• TinkerQuarry:
  • Staya was the Girl's favorite toy before she disappeared due to dying of an unknown illness. She used to play a game with him where they attacked and beat up the other toys (likely because the Girl didn't know the other toys were alive). He just wants her to come back so they can continue playing their game again, even if it is a sadistic one. He does fight Adeline, who he suspects is the Girl, in three boss fights, but it's implied that he's trying to capture her rather than kill her in the first two. In the third, he attacks because he's devastated that Adeline is not the Girl, and the Girl is dead.
  • Averted with most of the other Living Toys. They are aware that the Girl left them, but most don't seem to know why. Either way, very few of them care that she's gone, because she often attacked them and beat them up, not knowing they were alive. Even the ones that are Ax-Crazy seem to have other reasons for it besides the Girl leaving them.
• Toy Commander: Huggy Bear is a teddy bear who was Andy's first toy. As retribution for him and the rest of Andy's old toys being abandoned for years in favor of new toys, Huggy leads a revolt. He dons a jet pack, a mechanical left eye, a machine gun on his right arm, and a stuffed snake on his left arm, and he and his henchmen take over Andy's house. Huggy and his henchmen serve as the bosses of each room of the house, with Huggy himself serving as the game's Final Boss.

Web Comics

• Hetty, a living doll in Gunnerkrigg Court claims to be this, saying her current owner's terrible neglect of her justifies the torture she secretly puts him through. Said owner has no idea she even exists, and Hetty means to keep it that way, since it makes torturing him easier. Hetty is not exactly sane.

Web Original

• Neopets:
  • The TCG card Scary Abandoned Plushie shows a creepy-looking stuffed Acara lying on the ground in the pouring rain. No context is given as to why it was abandoned or why it seems to be alive.
    Description: Through the sheets of rain, one eye glinted malevolently.
  • The TCG card Darkest Faerie Doll has the description "For a thousand years, she had been in a box in the attic with the other toys. Now, it was time for revenge."

Western Animation

• The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Puppets", Gumball and Darwin discover an old box with all the toys they used to play with as kids. These include the titular three puppets, which come to life, trap Gumball and Darwin in the Mental World of their imagination, and torment Gumball and Darwin to get back at them for playing rough with them all those years ago.
  Grady: You always used to play with us, now's our turn to play with you.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: In one episode, Number 2 is annoyed to see Tommy pulled out his old tricycle from a garage-pile. Later, the tricycle is shown to have become sentient to create a bigger body for itself while destroying every other bike as vengeance against Number 2 for leaving it in the trash.
• The Loud House: In "The Last Laugh", when Luan's ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Coconuts, gets broken, Lola fills in as his replacement, billed as "Princess Sassypants", even after Mr. Coconuts is repaired. Later on, the props for their act become missing/destroyed, leading Luan to believe that Mr. Coconuts is sabotaging them as revenge for being replaced. However, it's revealed that Luan herself had done it while sleepwalking, due to her feeling guilty about what she did.

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