text: %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=n6bx61q8xlout862wxjg8g9a%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.[[quoteright:350: [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b37602cf173c2c2f8cac3857447d53ae.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:350:The Toys Are Back in Town.]]->'''Woody:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU! ARE! A!]] ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis TOYYYY!!]]'' You're not the real Buzz Lightyear; you... you're an ''action figure!'' You are ''a child's plaything!''\\''{{{Beat}})''\\'''Buzz:''' You are a sad, strange little man--and you have my pity.--> -- '''''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'''''Behold! LivingToys! They can walk! They can talk! They can cook! They can take out the trash! [[DinkyDrivers They can drive!]] In fact, they can do so much, they almost don't need you!We say "almost", because in some cases, these toys [[AnthropomorphicZigZag come alive only when humans aren't around]]. There may be an official or unofficial {{Masquerade}} in effect. Other times, they're created only because LoveImbuesLife. Still, nothing says Fun for the Whole Family like LivingToys![[AC:Warning:]] This product may turn [[DemonicDummy evil]], or at the very least, creepy. {{Horror}} Movie characters and characters from horror movie parodies should avoid purchasing and/or using Living Toys. May contain small parts not suitable for children under 6. Requires 2 AA Batteries, magic talisman or evil curse. Cool accessories not included.Make sure the [[MoralityDial "good/evil" switch]] is set to "good" at all times. Should they be [[MyLittlePanzer actual weapons]], any damage they cause is not covered by warranty.See also: SlidingScaleOfLivingToys.Subtrope of AnimateInanimateObject. Contrast CompanionCube.----%%%%%% Zero Context Example entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out.%%% Add explanations to the entries before uncommenting them.%%%!!Good Examples[[foldercontrol]][[folder:Anime]]* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Sasori turned himself into one of these, by transforming himself into a puppet. Once he dies, he's used by Kankuro.* The titular characters of ''Manga/RozenMaiden'' are porcelain dolls that come alive once a contract is made with at least one of them.* A scene from ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' is amongst [[http://retrocrush.buzznet.com/scary/71.html this top 100 scariest scenes]]. And the hordes of toys and toy-like mutations from ''{{Paprika}}'', for similar reasons.* Pokota, a stuffed lion, from ''Manga/HimechanNoRibon'' was brought alive by magic and serves as the animal sidekick.* Frigitta from ''Kero Kero Chime'' appears to be a {{Living Toy|s}}, despite denying it in her first appearance. Additionally, in her debut she's a villainess who turns people into toys which she can make follow her orders. After this, though, she's just a minor recurring StalkerWithACrush who's generally on the side of the heroes as much as her minor role allows.* A few Franchise/{{Digimon}} are like this, such as Puppetmon, Monzaemon and [=ToyAgumon=].* Leo and Yuki from ''Manga/ShounenDolls'' can turn into humans and protect their master, Ageha. They can also communicate with her even in doll form.* Kon from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is probably a ''vague'' example of this, since although he's just a [[ArtificialHuman Mod Soul (e.g. fake)]], most of the time he inhabits a toy lion, and generally doesn't let the rest of Ichigo's family ([[spoiler:except [[FanNickname Papagami/Issun]], who has known]] what Ichigo's been doing) know that he's 'alive'.* The manga ''Nui!'' plays this trope straight. Not only are dolls who're loved alive, they actually go all out to protect their owner and do their owner's bidding.* Many Sanrio characters, like HelloKitty and [[Anime/OnegaiMyMelody My Melody]], have their anime series, and instead of being treated like real animals, they remain their doll status.* At least one of Keroro's invasion plans in ''Manga/SgtFrog'' involved bringing plastic models to life.* In ''Anime/ImGonnaBeAnAngel'' [[spoiler: Dispell, Eros and Muse are just dolls made alive by Silky's power as a respite from boredom and loneliness]]* Pucchan of ''Anime/BestStudentCouncil'' at first appears to be a toy/ImaginaryFriend of protagonist Rino. But when the other characters lock the puppet away (thinking Rino was trying to use Pucchan as an excuse for pranking) the puppet vanishes on its own, causes more havoc, and speaks independently of and controls the hand of whoever else he winds up on.* Among the first things visitors to the ''Manga/OnePiece'' kingdom of Dressrosa see are its spicy Latin ladies and LivingToys living together with normal humans. Among those seen are a doll chasing a dog because it ripped its arm off, a toy soldier marionette that's also a town guard, and a toy robot in a baby stroller being pushed by a human woman. [[spoiler: They were once human before falling victim to one of Doflamingo's Devil Fruit users.]]* A lot of Anime/{{Doraemon}}'s gadgets can bring toys to life, in various ways. The most famous one is probably the wind-up key that serves as the focus for one movie, that permanently gives life to any object shaped like a living creature that has the key placed on its back and turned. The heroes use it to populate a planet with various adorable living dolls, but one monkey doll steals it and brings to life [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a biology lab skeleton, a "peeing boy" fountain, and a panda mascot.]] [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun All three of them use their unique skills/appearances to help defeat the villains in the climax.]]]]* ''Lots'' of examples from ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':** Starting in Battle City, Jonouchi used [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Swordsman_of_Landstar Swordsman of Landstar]], a cute, toy solider, and later added several more Landstar monsters to his deck.** Roughly half of Yugi's deck that he uses when Yami isn't helping him is made up of monsters like this, such as [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Toy_Magician Toy Magician]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Gadget and]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yellow_Gadget the]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Gadget Gadgets.]] The other half are heroic Warriors that children idolize, like Silent Swordsman. ** In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Judai used many toy-like monsters (which, ironically, were far more popular than his Heroes when made into RealLife versions for the card game) like [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Spell_Striker Spell Striker]] and [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Trooper Card Trooper]].** Most of Sho's Vehicroids resemble [[CuteMachines funny toy robots.]]** Finally, Napoleon uses a deck with Toy Soldiers resembling infantry men from UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, his [[TheAce ace monster]] being Toy Emperor, which is based on UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte.** Moving on to ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Rua's deck used Morphatronics, which are more or less cute toy {{Transforming Mecha}}s.[[/folder]][[folder:Comic Books]]* Miskin in ''ComicBook/{{Amulet}}'' appears to be one, but he's actually a robot. Somehow.* General Jumbo from ''TheBeano'' was a boy with an army of toy soldiers.** He also had a toy navy when he briefly became Admiral Jumbo in the 1970s.** General Jumbo was parodied somewhat in ''Jack Staff'' with General Tubbs, an autistic boy who mobilized his toy army with his psychic powers; the control panel keyboard glove thing was just so he'd have something to do with his hands.* Toybox of TopTen has a boxful of animated toys which she can command, inherited from her father Colonel Lilliput, a pastiche of General Jumbo.* Dolmann, a quirky inventor, had a small robot doll for every occasion, though it was never very clear whether they legitimately possessed minds of their own or Dolmann was using his skills as a ventriloquist to pretend he had some company. Even so, they seemed to ''act'' of their own volition.* ''The Stuff of Legend'' also has this as its premise, being about a group of toys fighting their way through a fantasy world (in which they become what they were toys of) in order to rescue their owner, who has been kidnapped by the Boogeyman.[[/folder]][[folder:Fan Works]]* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10716411/1/Heirlooms A certain Smash Bros. Fanfic]] takes that specific trope and runs with it to create an origin story of sorts for Master Hand and Crazy Hand.* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3066644/1/So-Lifelike This fanfic]] for ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' transports Jack's soul into an action figure owned by a modern day fan. HilarityEnsues. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3235362/1/Shoebox-of-Lies The unfinished sequel]] brings Will Turner into the mix. Both represent the most lifelike extreme on the SlidingScaleOfLivingToys.* And [[https://www.fanfiction.net/anime/Puella-Magi-Madoka-Magica-%E9%AD%94%E6%B3%95%E5%B0%91%E5%A5%B3%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A9%E3%81%8B-%E3%83%9E%E3%82%AE%E3%82%AB/?&srt=1&r=103&p=2 here]] we have the beginnings of a story with the same thing done to the cast of ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''.* Finally, ''FanFic/ToyHammer'' applies the concept to the Warhammer40k figures. Watch out for the CerebusSyndrome brought about by the [[spoiler: arrival of Chaos]].[[/folder]][[folder:Films -- Animated]]* The eponymous ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' is animated by the Blue Fairy, but it's strongly implied in the Disney version that Gepetto's love for Pinocchio is what causes the Blue Fairy to make him come alive. The story it was based on may well be the TropeCodifier.* Everyone in the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' series who isn't a human or dog. Even the ''lawn gnomes'' are alive! Christmas Decorations too, which only raises further questions. Except in the presence of humans (but not [[KidsAreCruel Sid]])).* ''WesternAnimation/TheMouseAndHisChild'' combines this with a MouseWorld.%%%* ''WesternAnimation/RaggedyAnnAndAndyAMusicalAdventure''* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', Webby uses one of her genie wishs to make her dolls come to life, which as it turns out was a really bad idea. While not evil, they did end up causing a lot of havoc.* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' is full of these. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Sorta.]][[/folder]][[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]%%%* ''The Christmas Toy''%%%* The [[DarkIsNotEvil Gorgonites]] in ''Film/SmallSoldiers''* The title character of ''Film/{{Ted}}'' is a stuffed bear who gained sentience after his owner made a wish. 27 years later, he's still around but has since become much cruder.* Teddy the robot teddy bear in ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence.'' "I'm not a toy."[[/folder]][[folder:Folklore]]* Russians have tales of little girls that have a doll that can actually talk as their companions. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Ahhh...]][[/folder]][[folder:Literature]]* ''Literature/TheVelveteenRabbit'' tells the story of a crudely-made stuffed rabbit toy who tries to become a real rabbit because the wind-up toys mock him, saying that ''they'' are real because they can move. In this book all toys are sentient and animate, and it's a "skin horse" who tells the rabbit how to become Real.* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'' is about a wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy so he can grow up.%%%* ''Oddkins''%%%* ''Raggedy Ann and Andy''%%%* ''The Nutcracker''* In "Literature/TheSteadfastTinSoldier", the toys come alive when humans are asleep, and play their own games. * ''The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse'' which takes place in a Toyland of living toys, then further reveals that all of existence is a huge toy, God is an irresponsible little child who got it for his birthday, and Satan is an evil renegade toy who creates an army of cyborg spider women and George W. Bush to destroy the world. No, really.* The toy soldiers in the Creator/StephenKing short story ''Battleground'' (published in the collection ''Literature/NightShift'', and later developed for television in the ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes'' anthology). Despite being murderous, they're actually the ''heroes'' of the story, exacting vengeance against the VillainProtagonist -- a hitman who just killed a toymaker.* ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' does it with stuffed animals, who live in the Hundred Acre Wood and go on numerous adventures to places like the North Pole. However, in the stories they're treated like living animals, not toys.* ''Literature/TheIndianInTheCupboard'' is a children's series about a boy who discovers how to magically transform a plastic Indian figure to life in his cabinet. Specifically, putting it in the cabinet and turning the key summons a random guy [[FishOutOfTemporalWater from the past]], turning him toy-sized. The magic only works on plastic, and summons people from other time periods who resemble any affected toy, as well as sometimes sending the modern characters back in time.%%%* ''Alexander and The Wind Up Mouse''%%%* EnidBlyton's ''{{Noddy}}'' series%%%* The Corduroy bear from the ''Corduroy'' book and TV series by Don Freeman.%%%* ''The Bear that Nobody Wanted'' by Allan Ahlberg.* Many of Rumer Godden's children's books, generally with dolls. Generally speaking, her dolls are conscious and can talk to each other, but are otherwise immobile and can only affect humans by wishing very hard. Some examples:** ''The Doll's House'' (also know as ''Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House'' after its animated adaptation) - a family of mismatched dolls wish for a doll's house to live in. Well-known for its SuddenDownerEnding.** ''Candyfloss'' - a doll who lives on a coconut shy at the fair is kidnapped by a vain, greedy little girl.** ''Impunity Jane: The Story of a Pocket Doll'' - a boy steals a small doll from a friend and keeps her as he grows up.** ''The Story of Holly and Ivy'' - a Christmas-themed doll named Holly wishes for a little girl to play with her while a lonely orphan called Ivy wishes for a doll to play with.** ''Miss Happiness and Miss Flower'' - a story about two Japanese dolls and the house built for them.%%%* Jane Hissey's ''Old Bear and Friends'' stories, also adapted into a television series.%%%* Jean S O'Connell's ''The Dollhouse Caper''.%%%* ''ThePlucker'' is a particularly [[NightmareFuel gruesome]] example.* Creator/JRRTolkien's children's book ''Literature/{{Roverandom}}'' tells about a small toy dog, which used to be a real dog before a sorcerer cursed him. His quest to regain his doginess takes him under the sea and up to the moon.* ''Toys Go Out'' and its sequels ''Toy Dance Party'' and ''Toys Come Home'', by Emily Jenkins.* ''The Night After Christmas'' by James Stevenson is about an old teddy bear and ragdoll who are thrown out with the trash after their children have received new toys for Christmas, and then have to find a way to get by in the outside world. An ''enormous'' TearJerker and CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming. Was animated in Britain as ''The Forgotten Toys'' and a number of sequels, starring Creator/BobHoskins as the gruff voice of Teddy.* "Softies" from ''[[Literature/PointHorror 13 More Tales of Horror]]'' takes place in an [[AlternateUniverse alternative universe]] in which each human has a living toy friend called a 'companion'. The problem is, the companions are [[spoiler:angry and secretly planning an uprising against their owners.]]* ''Literature/{{Corduroy}}'' comes to life and goes on an adventure after the store closes. He seems to be the only toy in the store capable of doing it, though.* The main character of ''Literature/TheFortyFirstWink'' is assisted by a pirate crew composed of his childhood stuffed toys. ItMakeSenseInContext.[[/folder]][[folder:Live Action TV]]%%%* ''TheChristmasToy'' and its spin-off series, ''The Secret Life Of Toys''* Subversion of the evil version in an early episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', in which an animated ventriloquist dummy turns out to be a good (if lecherous) demon hunter who was killed in battle. (Not every demon on the show is evil, but the one in question was stealing people's bodily organs.)%%%* "Smile Time", an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}''.* Referenced on ''Series/ThirtyRock'' when Tracy says "My genius has come alive, like toys when your back is turned."* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'': The twist ending of [[spoiler: "Five Characters in Search of an Exit"]] involves the characters finding out that they are toys.* Andy Pandy provides a truly strange example. Andy plays with his best friend Teddy, a living teddy bear, all the time. Yet Looby Loo, Andy's rag doll, is played with as a toy by the other two and only comes to life when they're away.%%%* Australian children's show ''Johnson and Friends''.* The eponymous ''Series/ShoeboxZoo'' give their owner, Marnie, a bit of a surprise when they actually respond to her instruction to "Awake, for I am your Master!"[[/folder]][[folder:Music]]* "Raggedy Rag Doll Friend" from ''Even More Series/BabySongs'' has a girl dream about shrinking down to the size of her CaptainErsatz RaggedyAnn, which then comes to life and begins playing with her.* The music video for Music/{{NSYNC}}'s "It's Gonna Be Me" portrays the band as marionettes who fought with other toys for the attention of a pretty girl, reverting to their toy state when she turned around. They become real at the end of the video when she buys them.* In Music/DoctorSteel's music video for "Childhood Don't A-Go-Go", Steel breathes on his creeptastic dolls... which begin to come to life and follow him about his laboratory.[[/folder]][[folder:Newspaper Comics]]* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' might be an example... or then again, it might not. Hobbes might be an animated stuffed tiger, or it could be all in Calvin's imagination. Calvin, though, doesn't think that Hobbes is a {{Living Toy|s}}; he thinks he's a real tiger. The comic is deliberately ambiguous about Hobbes' true nature.[[/folder]][[folder:Pinball]]* Rudy the living ventriloquist dummy from ''Pinball/FunHouse''. Not so much "good" as "not overtly evil JerkAss".[[/folder]][[folder:Tabletop Games]]* ''Fuzzy Heroes'' is a miniature wargame-style game about armies of toys fighting each other while the kids aren't around. It uses real stuffed animals and toys that the players have lying around as units.* The page quote was parodied by ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' when it offered a line of stuffed animal [[EldritchAbomination Cthulhu toys]]. The ad text read in part: "tonight's the night the teddy bears summon Cthulhu!"* German game ''TabletopGame/PlueschPowerUndPlunder'' is about living [[EverythingsBetterWithPlushies plushies]].* The Mannekins from ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' are based around this, though it can be anything from a stuffed doll to a clockwork dancer and so on.* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' examples:** Close inspection on the limbs of the Madolche artworks in the (particularly the Beasts, including the horse that Madolche Chouxvalier rides) shows what appear to be sewing seams, implying they are all plushies or dolls. This is further evidenced by Mewfeuille and Tiaramisu's artwork, which have much smaller animals in them that look relatively normal, if a bit oddly-colored. The Trap Card [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Madolche_Nights Madolche Nights]] eventually confirmed this, where they are shown as toys in a child's bedroom at night. ** Ghostrick Doll is based on a Bisque Doll, a doll made mostly or entirely of bisque porcelain and characterized by their highly realistic features and skin-like texture. These dolls were at their most popular in the late 1800's, and are now considered highly valuable among collectors. In addition, due to their eerie wide-eyed stares and historical nature these dolls have recently become pop culture fixtures in horror movies� often related to the ghosts of young girls.[[/folder]][[folder:Theatre]]%%%* Stravinsky's ballet ''Petrushka''.* French musical [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soldat-rose_1033.jpg "Le Soldat rose"]] ("Pink Soldier").They say toys's moves are InvisibleToAdults.%%%* ''BabesInToyland'', and all its adaptations.[[/folder]][[folder:Video Games]]* The toys in the Sandersons' house in ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo'' were brought to life by aliens.* ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' had some of these running around in some levels.%%%* ''VideoGame/ToyCommander'' used this as the ''plot''.* Claydol, according to the ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''/''Platinum'' Pokedex, is "An ancient clay figurine that came to life as a Pok�mon from exposure to a mysterious ray of light." By extension, this also applies to its unevolved form, Baltoy.** Banette is a living toy out seeking for the owner who threw it away...* ''[[VideoGame.ToySoldiers Toy Soldiers]]'', an Xbox Strategy game, focuses on two sides of a UsefulNotes/WW1 tin soldier toy set, Germans vs. the British/French, who carry out large, full scale battles inside a diorama which stands on a small table (just to give the audience an idea of the proportions). The player's main goal is to defend his "toy box" against the infantry, cavalry, tanks, and biplanes of the foe, using their own tanks, cannons, machine guns, AA-guns, howitzers, and aeroplanes, while (only in Multiplayer) trying to take over the foe's toy box by sending their own soldiers. Great idea and great theme. The player will surely enjoy the ''toffee apples'' flying around, while having a ''pozzy on japan'', with some nice ''gunfire''.* The Mini-Marios in the ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'' games are Living Toys. That, or at least they have [[InstantAIJustAddWater very good AI]].%%%* The short-lived Sega series, ''Clockwork Night''.* All of the characters in the first ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' game are actually toys of video game characters a child is playing with in his room. In following games, they're figures in a collector's trophy case, and the story mode of ''Brawl'' depicts them as living in AlternateUniverse in which all Nintendo characters (plus SonicTheHedgehog and [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]]) live side by side and turn into inanimate figures when they die. In all four games, the events and fights in the games themselves likely depict what's going on in the owner's imagination (with the toys imagined as the actual characters), so this may be a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] in that the toys become the imaginary fighters in the ''Smash'' universe rather than ''literally'' coming to life and beating each other up in plastic/cloth form. This "imaginary fighters" idea seems to be reinforced in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', which also takes ''Smash''[='=]s treatment of this trope to a meta level; the ''Fire Emblem'' characters are summoned via their Toys/{{amiibo}} (essentially their real-life trophies), look and act just like any other in-game unit, and are meant to be their ''Smash'' incarnations as shown by their in-game dialogue.* ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'', another crossover game, takes this concept even further - the characters actually ''are'' animate toys that even break apart upon defeat. (Coincidentally, both ''Smash'' and ''Infinity'' have respective lines of NFC figures that can be used to summon the characters in-game.) Bonus points in that some of the ''Toy Story'' characters are playable - essentially living toy versions of living toys.* ''VideoGame/PowerPete'' is set in a toy store full of living toys. The {{Mooks}} made of cheap plastic are not so resilient.* The ''VideoGame/ArmyMen'' series is about a continual war between those little plastic soldiers, green and tan. (And sometimes, blue and yellow)* The Gotcha Borgs, from ''VideoGame/GotchaForce'', although they're technically small alien robots. They're still obviously meant to resemble toys though.* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has Medicine Melancholy, who (ironically enough, considering her name) controls poison. She's one of the [[CreepyChild creepier]] characters in the series, playfully talking about how wonderful poison is, how it paralyzes its victims, how they die a painful death...* One of the stages in ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan 2'' has the Ouendan helping a stuffed monkey and a toy soldier who were thrown away by accident get home.* There's an area in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' called Ludibrium that fits this trope to a T. It's a city built atop two towers that has a massive basement that includes a toy factory and a clock tower, the bottom of which might even be in another dimension. The monsters in either tower and in the factory are all toys, and within the clock tower there are two paths with different monsters.** The [[MeaningfulName Warped Path of Time]] takes you through {{Monster Clown}}s, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Ghost Pirates (and Vikings)]], and finally a giant boss called the Gatekeeper.** On the other side, the [[ThemeNaming Forgotten Path of Time]], there are teddy bears possessed by their own souls, animated clocks with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, teddy bears possessed by creepier ghosts, and ghosts chained to pocketwatches. And the boss of THAT side just happens to be [[GrimReaper Thanatos]].** At the end of both paths is a great pavilion with an area only accessible by someone with a particular quest. This area has [[AlienInvader Papulatus]] [[PoweredArmor Clock]], a boss that looks like a [[FluffyTheTerrible ghostly little blue thing with a curly sprout atop its head]] sitting in [[HumongousMecha a flying]] TimeMachine designed like a toy clock with giant robot hands. [[BonusBoss He's one of the strongest bosses in the game,]] and fairly sinister in his own right if you read his backstory.* ''VideoGame/GuardiansCrusade'' actually has living toys whom you can find and collect for use in battle. There's 70 of those bastards. [[HundredPercentCompletion Good luck.]]* Namco's ''Toy Pop'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Pop PINO AND ACHA ARE GOING TO MAJYO'S CASTLE TO SAVE FRIEND]]* VideoGame/TeamFortress2:** Several popular maps place the ''players'' in this position - it is very odd playing an FPS from an action figure's point of view.** Assist Kill accessories show up on the killfeed as getting assists to players in Pyroland, indicating they at least [=THINK=] they're alive. All of them are a stuffed animal of some kind, except the Medic's very real pet bird, Archimedes.* HAVE Online / [=MicroVolts=] is a Korean Online Multiplayer THIRD-person-shooter (not even class-based) that uses anime figurines ''or'' those figure-posing... figures that artists use to assist in drawing positions as the characters.* Familiars in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' include teddy bears and toy soldiers.* In ''HarvestMoon: A Wonderful Life'' and ''Another Wonderful Life'', your child's stuffed bear will occasionally come alive when no one else is in the room.* ''VideoGame/ReVolt'''s ExcusePlot has you racing animated radio control cars.[[/folder]][[folder:Visual Novels]]* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry,'' Sakutarou is a variation off this. After Maria places a soul in him, he can talk with her and play with her, although he no longer looks like a stuffed animal to her. Instead, he looks like a little, half-human, half-animal boy. However, no one else can see him talk, etc. If he talks to Maria, anyone else sees it as Maria speaking in a funny voice, and he always looks like a stuffed animal to them. Of course, if you go by a mundane perspective, then Sakutaro is really just an ImaginaryFriend.[[/folder]][[folder:Webcomics]]* Wendy weasel from [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest Cwen's Quest]], who was given life to help a young Cwen escape from a library. Wendy can read, Cwen could not.* [[CountYourSheep Adrian Ramos's]] ''TheWisdomOfMoo'' revolves around this concept: one of the main human characters is a teenager who tries to be more "adult-like" and gets frequently harassed by her old toys, and another is a local toy doctor.* ''Achewood'' features several living stuffed animals (although nowadays, the comic focuses more on the adventures of talking house cats).* ''Webcomic/FuzzyKnights'' focuses on stuffed toys who also happen to play TabletopGames.* [[http://www.trishtales.com/actionfigurediary/ Trish Tales]] takes place in a world where living action figures have been created, and are sold as pets.%%%* ''TheFuzzyFive''.%%%* ''APTComic''* [[http://hingescomic.blogspot.com/ Hinges]] is a web comic where the whole premise is about living toys that have created their own society entirely without humans. [[/folder]][[folder:Web Original]]* ''ArbyNTheChief'' and it's predecessor Master Chief Sucks At Halo is a long running series about two Halo action figures that come to life and play video games and do hilarious things around the house. The fifth season even deconstructs the entire concept of Living Toys, with Arbiter trying to give his life meaning. Although this technically goes under good examples, Chief is one mean little bastard of a troll.%%%* Toaster from "YukariIsFree"%%%* Warabi.* All the main characters from WebAnimation/CuteMarioBros.* The [[http://cleoland.pbworks.com/The+Secret+Life+of+Dolls ''Secret Life of Dolls'']] by Creator/CleolindaJones, which is doll fanfic starring characters from popular fandoms.%%%* Marcus of ''Series/{{Mega 64}}''.* The action figures of ImAMarvelAndImADC, though only Deadpool (who else?) is truly aware that he is a toy.* ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' portrays Franchise/{{Barbie}} and her crew as dolls that can talk and move by themselves.[[/folder]][[folder:Western Animation]]%%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}''* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Jade's moose doll, Super Moose, was brought to life by the [[AppliedPhlebotinum Rat Talisman]] in several episodes to act as an aide. There was also an evil puppet version of the Monkey King from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' who could come to life by switching places with a living being, which would then turn into a puppet in his stead while the Monkey King ran around causing trouble.** Earlier than both of these examples, the Gnomekop doll powered from the Rat Talisman in the episode "Tough Break".* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' parodied this with a [=GameCube=], in the episode "Firewall". Experts believe that this is the only time this trope has ever been crossed with send-ups of ''Franchise/JamesBond'' and ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces''.** This immediately followed an episode with a game starring Rocky the Rabbid Racoon.** They did it again in a later episode, this time saturated with ''Franchise/StarWars'' references, and the return of the Rabbid Racoon.* Mr. Buns from ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'' is a strange example. The other characters [[CompanionCube treat him as if he's alive]], and he seems to do things when he's not on-screen... but whenever he's on-screen, he's just a lifeless sock-bunny. In perhaps the most extreme case, he's fencing with Poe from just off-screen, only for the sword to drop the moment he's visible in the frame.** Many people think that Ruby Gloom herself is, in fact, a Living Doll. This is supported by her hobby of sewing, pure white skin, and the stitches around her eyes.* In ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'', both Mr. Hoppy and Mr. Skatey fit. Psychopathic, murderous toys. [[spoiler: Or Are They?]]* ''WesternAnimation/GnomeoAndJuliet'' is about garden gnomes that come alive.%%%* Binoo of ''WesternAnimation/ToopyAndBinoo''* The Misfit Toys in ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''. Well, sort of. Apparently, the idea is, they are like this because they're neglected and unwanted, which is why they qualify for this Trope. (The special suggests that ''all'' toys are Level 2 on the SlidingScaleOfLivingToys.)* The toys in ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'' are brought to life using Doc's stethoscope.* WesternAnimation/BettyBoop is one in her cartoon, "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers".* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies'' had living toys in the song, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwd6ZmLYU6w "Calling All Toys".]]* In ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'', Rikochet owned a friendly living action figure named El Rey. In one episode, he discovered that El Rey was competing in a wrestling competition with other Living Toys (that occasionally became a DeadlyGame, unfotunately). * The main characters of ''WesternAnimation/TheForgottenToys'' are an ill-tempered teddy bear [[ADogNamedDog named Teddy]], and an old rag doll named Annie.* The inhabitants of Tickety Town, a town that exists behind a clock face in ''Animation/TicketyToc''.[[/folder]]!!Evil Examples[[folder: Anime & Manga]]* Mary from ''Anime/GhostStories''/''Gakkou no Kaidan'', though [[ObliviouslyEvil she has no idea that she is causing harm...]]* Depends on your definition of "evil", but: In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', there was [[AliceAllusion Alice]], originally a doll with a spirit inside her that stood on a mantle of a faculty lounge in the school. After a student blamed a card for his poor dueling and tore it in half (it was an Obelisk student, [[SarcasmMode big surprise]]), she grew to hate duelists, and wanted to punish them. She lured Judai into a Shadow Duel in an attempt to drive him to a DespairEventHorizon, using a deck full of monsters resembling evil dolls, but Judai's vibrant personality never wavered, and he convinced her to reject despair and [[PowerOfFriendship accept hope]]. When last seen, she was back on the mantle again - smiling.** A similar villain was Princess Cologne from the manga version of ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'', who worked for [[BigBad Dr. Faker]] because he gave her a soul a threatened to take it from her if she failed him. As it turned out, she had once been a doll who was thrown away by a rich girl [[spoiler:who happened to be Cathy. Cathy realized her mistake and apologized, and despite failing her mission, she was saved from that grim punishment by her friend Grandpa Demetto, who gave her ''his'' soul to save her. (He may or may not have been a LivingToy as well, along with someone who could fix them; it wasn't clear exactly what he was.)]] *** She also [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Princess_Cologne_(card) has an actual card in the game]] with her likeness, and that does seem to fit the overall Trope too, although she seems even ''less'' evil here, given the effect.* In ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', roughly half of Sora Shiun'in's deck consists of monsters called Fluffal, cute, cuddly stuffed animals that better fit the Good examples above. However, by fusing them with Fiends called Edge Imps (the other half of his deck) he can summon his aces, Fusion Monsters called Frightfurs, which are demonic corruptions of the Fluffals covered with knives and blades. [[/folder]][[folder:ComicBooks]]* In a true case of FromNobodyToNightmare, ''ComicBook/UltraForce'' villain Lord Pumpkin started out as one. He was a living toy created by a wizard to be a playmate for a SpoiledBrat of a prince. However, the prince (who liked to torture animals, among other disturbing hobbies) sadistically tormented his playmate, until it rebelled, killed him, grew far more powerful, and took over the kingdom. Since then, Lord Pumpkin no longer fit the Trope at all (EvilOverlord is more appropriate), but that's where he started.[[/folder]][[folder:Films -- Animated]]* The ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' film series itself has two, Stinky Pete in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', and Lotso in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. Believe it or not, ''Woody'' was like this too at one point; early-stage drafts of the first movie featured a Woody who was outright psychotic, terrorizing the other toys into submission and in general abusing his position as Andy's favorite. All this was in response to [[ExecutiveMeddling demands from up the chain]] to make Woody "edgier", but eventually the movie reached its low point and the team had to go to their bosses and say, "We can't make this movie. This isn't our movie anymore." Fortunately, the execs relented.[[/folder]][[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* The Commando Elite in ''Film/SmallSoldiers''. The monstrous Gorgonites were good, though.* In the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' films, "Chucky" is a doll possessed by a psychotic criminal.%%%* The killer toys from ''DemonicToys'' and ''DollmanVsDemonicToys''.%%%* The killer Puppets from the ''Puppetmaster'' movies. Though they can follow a good puppetmaster, they will do evil stuff to anyone who harasses or tries to harm said puppetmaster, especially ThoseWackyNazis.%%%* The tite characters of ''DevilDolls''.[[/folder]][[folder:Literature]]* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/TheOgreDownstairs'' the living Toffee bars aren't evil per se, just heinously troublesome with a bad habit of melting and causing a big, sticky mess. The living dolls are downright cold.* Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy from ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', who also appeared on the Live-Action TV Series. Also counts as an ArtifactOfDoom, which are common in the series. [[/folder]][[folder:Live Action TV]]* The replicators in ''Series/StargateSG1'' started out as children's toys, but turned evil and took over a galaxy before trying to get ours too.* ''NightGallery'' episode "The Doll". A British Army officer must deal with a murderous doll sent by an old enemy.* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'':** "My name is Talking Tina, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Doll_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29 and I'm going to kill you."]] You'd better be nice to her.[[note]]Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode where Johnny's neighbor Little Suzy acquires an evil doll named "Little Talky Tabitha".[[/note]]*** Actually, seeing as Tina's victim was [[AssholeVictim pretty rotten himself]] (being abusive to his stepdaughter all because ''he'' was sterile) she may be considered more of a KnightTemplar.** Two episodes feature evil ventriloquist's dummies, the first of which starred Bill Bixby.* In the two part special of "The Haunting Hour" - "Really You", it's revealed that [[spoiler: all dolls are alive, and naturally good]] but it just so happens that this one is evil.* In the season three episode of the original series of ''Series/FantasyIsland'' "Jungle Man/Mary Ann and Miss Sophisticate" one of the 2 "fantasies" involves a female ventriloquist whose dummy is taking on a life of its own, at the ventriloquist's expense.[[/folder]][[folder:Music]]* JonathanCoulton: ''And there's a creepy doll...''* In DoctorSteel's music video for ''Childhood Don't a-Go-Go'', Dr. Steel breathes on a creepy toy and brings it to life; it subsequently brings all the other creepy toys to life.* The cover illustration of Music/{{Aerosmith}}'s ''Toys in the Attic'' album depicts a rather sinister-looking group of these.[[/folder]][[folder:Tabletop Games]]* The ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' module ''The Created'' featured a villain named Maligno (an evil version of Pinnochio, more or less) and other evil toys called carrionettes. Even if the Player Characters succeeded and killed him, he later would return, the setting where the module took place (the town of Odiarre) becoming part of the mainstream ''Ravenloft'' setting with him as its Darklord.[[/folder]][[folder:Video Games]]* The Frantic Factory level in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' had some of these.* Among the various monsters in the video game ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' are psychotic knife-wielding dolls.* ''[[VideoGame/NicktoonsUnite Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots]]'' (and humongous robots based on Nicktoon protagonists)* Tonbetty, Mira's advisor in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles: VideoGame/MyLifeAsADarklord'' is a small talking Tonberry plush.* The BigBad from ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' is the Dollmaker, likely one of the ''worst'' examples of this Trope. He not only ''is'' a Living Toy (a gigantic, horrible, hideous one) but he kidnaps the Insane Children in order to turn them ''into'' toys, in order to use them as fuel for the Infernal Train. [[spoiler:(In effect, this is a parallel to his real-world counterpart, Dr. Bumby, the true villain, who kidnaps and hypnotizes his younger patients in order to prostitute them.)]]* In ''VideoGame/AirfixDogfighter'', everyone is a bunch of seemingly alive [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WW2]] scale models that wage war inside a human house.[[/folder]][[folder:Web Original]]* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic was tormented by a demonic Teddy Ruxpin in his Halloween episode.** More recent episodes have given us Tickle Me Amy. If not evil, she's ''damned'' psychotic.* Creator/JamesRolfe tangles with Mr. Bucket, a very persistent little guy with an appetite for [[GroinAttack yer balls]], in an episode of his BoardJames series.* The [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Tails Doll]] is an example of this. While not particularly evil in canon (though he ''was'' created by [[BigBad Dr. Ivo Robotnik]]), TheInternet had [[{{Creepypasta}} other ideas]]...* The evil teddy bear from ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''.* Octavius Fong, leader of the Roaming Eye of Doom in the {{WebOriginal/Metaverse}}.[[/folder]][[folder:Western Animation]]* A Krusty doll in one of the Halloween episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Once his [[spoiler:switch was set from "Evil" to "Good"]] there were no further problems. At least for everyone except the doll. However, he gets better... This one is a ShoutOut to the Talking Tina episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', mentioned above.* Quackerjack's main 'power' in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' was sending these out to commit crimes. Even his nonliving toys were dangerous--who considers an exploding panda a children's toy?** Then there's the time [[CompanionCube Mr. Banana-Brain]] got possessed by [[MonsterClown Paddywhack]].* In ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' a doll is delivered to the house. Through the whole episode it says "Kill!", while holding a knife, sometimes with DramaticThunder. At one point, it brings home some severed fingers. Frylock, Shake, and Meatwad decide to destroy it just because it wouldn't shut up. Turns out that the doll is immortal, and Carl (who's missing some fingers) got another doll that just says "Die".** An earlier episode, "Dumber Dolls", had Happy Time Harry, who rather than being homicidal was just depressed, cynical, and bad-tempered. His depression ''did'' lead happier toy Jiggle Billy [[DrivenToSuicide to attempt suicide]], however.* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Billy gets a tricycle from a boy in Pittsburgh which he names "Trikey". Billy immediately considers it to be his [[CompanionCube friend]], even though it appears to be inanimate. Later it becomes apparent that Trikey is alive and evil, brtually maiming Irwin, Pud'n, and Sperg after they insult Billy for having it, then beating up Grim when he tries to destroy it. Eventually, Mandy destroys it by crushing it with the garage door, after which the spirit of the boy comes out of its remains cursing them.* Pops's doll Percy in ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. Pops loves him, but he's actually rather abusive.* In ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'', the episode "The Collector" has a Mean Bob toy persuading Cat to buy a collection of Mean Bob action figures and sell them for a lot of money. They later try to resist Cat from selling them.* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' ("Teddygodzilla"), XANA brings Millie's teddy bear to life and enlarges it to giant size to hunt down the Lyoko warriors. * In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' "Ghosts R Us", some ghosts trying to make the heroes look bad accidentally wake up a [[EldritchAbomination a very powerful Class 10 ghost]] in an [[AbandonedWarehouse abandoned toy factory]]. Very cranky from being woken up, the beast creates a body for itself out of the equipment in the factory, turning itself into a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant amalgamation of toys]], with a teddy bear's body riding a tricycle, a gift box for a head, and a toy monkey with cymbals on top, before going on a rampage. [[/folder]]----


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11 Copycat Recipes for Baking Ingredients: Recipes for Homemade Bisquick & More
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Tomato Paste
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- Slice good quality red ripe fleshy tomatoes into electric fry pan
- or large saucepan. Bring to boil and stir constantly to stop
- sticking. Remove the mixture from the heat, cover and stand to
- cool. Push as much pulp as possible through a sieve and discard
- seeds and skins. Heat pulp in wide shallow container electric
- frypan or jam pan, until it is reduced to less than half its original
- volume, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat to avoid burning.
- The mixture will splatter as it thickens but this is unavoidable.
- Freeze the cooled thick mixture in small plastic bags, or ice trays.
Or bottle into sterilised jars to within 1cm from top, seal with seal previously soaked in boiling water. Screw on band tightly. Stand jars in large saucepan or waterbath so they are covered with water. Process for 10 minutes.
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Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #4: Chip Zimmer – "Embracing the Future, Remembering the Past"
Live Blog Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #4: Chip Zimmer
2015 Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #2: Jim Daly
Live Blog 2015 Peacemaker Conference Plenary 2: Jim Daly
Peacemaker Conference LiveBlogs
In just a few hours, I will be leaving to serve at The 2015 Peacemaker Conference: The Rhythm of Peace.
In addition to teaching, I also have the joy of liveblogging the plenary sessions.
If you have no idea what liveblogging is, you are in good company! I just heard the term for the first time a few years ago. Basically, LiveBlogs provide continuous "live" coverage of events through text, photos, and links, so it's like you get to be there, even if the event is halfway around the world. Plus, you get to participate in the LiveBlog too (if you want to)! You can interact with the speakers if they are holding a Q&A, you can ask me questions ("Hey, Tara, would you please put up a photo of the Gettys (at a Gospel Coalition Conference)?"), and even interact with other LiveBlog attendees. (My LiveBlog friends start to get to know one another after "attending" conferences "together" over the years.)
It's very fun! And very easy. All you have to do is join in the LiveBlog when it is active ("live"). You can just read along and never even make yourself known. Or you can join in the conversation or drop me a private "hello" that no one else can see—whatever is comfortable to you.
Once the event closes, you can read the LiveBlogs in "replay" mode. (I have them listed below under "Archived LiveBlogs.") This can be particularly helpful because I type almost at the rate of speech—so you can relax during an event and not worry about taking lots of notes because you will have my notes to read and study at your convenience after the event is over.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to serve you.
I'm icing my wrists and getting ready now—
Hope to see you on the LiveBlog!
Your sister in Christ,
Tara Barthel
(These links will be "live" when the LiveBlogs are "on air" during their scheduled times.)
Thursday, September 24
7:00PM (Mountain) General Session 1 – Wess Stafford
Friday, September 25
8:00AM General Session 2 – Jim Daly
Saturday, September 26
8:00AM General Session 3 – Kimm Carr
(To access the LiveBlog Replays from the 2014 Peacemaker Conference, click here. And for the 2013 Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog Replays, click here.)
2015 Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #1: Wess Stafford
Live Blog 2015 Peacemaker Conference Plenary 1: Wess Stafford
How Fred Responded When I Asked Him Last Week if I Had Ruined His Life
Last week was a particularly hard week for Fred and me.
At one point, seeing the marks of searing pain on Fred's face (again), I was overcome by the sense that all of his worst suffering in life was because of me.
(Maybe not entirely because of me, since, sure, I know my theology and I know we have three real enemies: Satan, the world, our flesh. I know we live in a fallen world that truly is not the way it's supposed to be. I can pass the Sunday School test. But in that horrible moment of overwhelmingly self-critical thinking, I forget what I "know" [gnosis] because I don't really "know" [epignosis] it.)
So there I sat, feeling powerless to stop the waves of shame-based thoughts that kept crashing into me:
- I have ruined this beautiful man's life.
- Fred never should have married me; his life would have been so much better without me.
- All of Fred's suffering in life is because of me.
On that last point? I kinda had a little bit of ground to stand on because, in our 20+ year marriage, if we were to write down all of our worst relational conflicts with other people; our most desperate situations involving organizations or workplaces, family members or friends; I really have been (objectively) more obviously tied to the "presenting issue" far more often than (dear, kind, doesn't-ruffle-feathers) Fred.
Let me use the famous iceberg photo illustration to explain what I mean …
If Fred and I were to list all of the hardest situations in our family's life and only look at the water-surface-level of the circumstances, I am more obviously the sticking-out / seems-to-cause-the-ship-to-crash part of the iceberg:
In the world of professional ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), we call that the "presenting issue"—the obvious, easily observable "problem."
But of course, as in all situations, there is much more to the stories of these situations in our lives than just my (obvious) contributions. Other people are involved and they have their own internal struggles with sin, unbelief, selfishness, and a lack of love. Plus, for all of us, not everything is caused by sin. Some things are the fruit of fallenness—we are tired. Sick. Wounded.
Those additional complexities are the "bottom of the iceberg"—and combined with my contributions, they all work together to "sink the ship" as it were.
I know all of that intellectually, but MAN! Is it hard to remember in the heat of the hard conversation, when the tears are flowing and it can all feel so dark and hopeless. My instinct (like most people) is to blame myself; to be far more harsh with myself than I would ever be to someone I loved.
So I asked the question:
"Have I ruined your life, Fred? Do you blame me for all of the suffering in your life?"
To which Fred responded something like this:
"Tara? We are one flesh (Mark 10:8). Our lives are completely united. I can't even think in such a way as to answer that question because it doesn't make any sense to me.
The suffering in our life comes into our life. God is sovereign and good over it all (Romans 8:28-29) and he helps us and gives us everything we need (2 Peter 1:3) as we face together whatever comes next."
What a balm for my soul. Such faithful friendship, never-rejecting love, and rock-solid theology, truly help me to quiet down (and one day, Lord willing, SILENCE) the voices of shame that still occasionally try to scream out from my heart.
Oh, that we would all go throughout our day today believing God's Word (Truth!) more than any shame-based feelings!
(And if you are really hurting today, I pray that you will have even just one friend who comforts you, carries you, and strengthens you when you are too weak to keep going forward on your own.)
Sending my love to you all—
Your friend,
Tara B.
If you ever struggle with overly self-critical thoughts and feelings of not-being-good-enough, I highly recommend Ed Welch's book, Shame Interrupted: How God Lifts the Pain of Worthlessness and Rejection. Or for a shorter read, we do have a chapter on Shame in Peacemaking Women too.
Tackling Two (Irrational) Fears
I'm continuing to prep for my women's retreat this weekend ("Fear Not") and sometimes I'm just laid out on my face before the Lord over the profound, applicable truths that God is graciously helping me to unearth and begin to understand. But in addition to the "deep stuff," I'm also chuckling over and truly enjoying some of the fears that God is not only helping me to see in my own life, but also to overcome. Today, I'd like to tell you about two of them …
First of all, it was only a few years ago (I'm 45) that I made mashed potatoes all by myself. Without any help or coaching. I didn't even look at a recipe!
Now, I know that to some of you that will sound ridiculously stupid. "Who can't make mashed potatoes? They're SO easy! You just put the potatoes in a pot and mix 'em up with milk and butter. Done!" To that response, and with my chest just a little tighter (adrenaline/anxiety reaction!) even just THINKING about making mashed potatoes, I gently say back ….
"Uh-huh. And I've heard that there are some people in the world who aren't really comfortable speaking in front of people. Yeah. Isn't it weird? You just pray, prep, grab your Bible, switch on your lapel mic, and GO! It's SO EASY. (And yet 95% of people fear public speaking and most them fear it more than DEATH. Weird, eh?)"
Listen, we all have our weirdness and our peculiarities and our fears. We all make some mole hills into mental and emotional mountains. Some of us don't sing in public. Ever. Some of us HAVE TO be the driver of the car or else we go CRAZY feeling so out of control (especially with certain drivers!). I know big, strong men who squeal like little girls when they see a teeny-tiny spider. Some of you marvel that we love to SCUBA dive ("But the sharks!" "I'd feel claustrophobic under all of that water!" … And yet Fred and I LOVE seeing sharks and we revel in the freedom of weightless and the joy of FLYING under all that water); but then you rugged folk love to hike in bear country and don't even BLINK ("Oh, there was a sweet brown bear on the path in front of me just stripping huckleberries with his paws; I gave him a little swat on the behind with my hat and he just moseyed out of the way." (!!!!!!!) HUH?! Are you KIDDING me?!). Some of you feel afraid in a big city; some of us love a good Hilton and an excellent concierge.
We all have our "thing." And tackling mashed potatoes was, for me, a great accomplishment. (Not that I've done it since, mind you. But I DID do it once!)
And here is my SECOND "thing" that God has helped me to happily tackle … (drum roll please!) ….
I made SOUP. Yup. Me. Tara. MADE SOUP. And no, I didn't just pour soup from a can into a pot. I've been doing that my entire life and it DOESN'T COUNT.
This time (it was part of Sophie's "plan, shop, prep, serve one meal a week" school task, I actually cut up FRESH ingredients (or helped my seven year old to do so), added them to a pot, brought it all to a boil, and then ATE IT:
Again. Please know that I am fully aware that to most of you this has just about as much "WOW!" factor as putting on your socks in the morning. But please … try to put MY struggle/weaknesses in the context of YOUR struggle/weakness and then join me in saying, "Hooray! And Yay, God! Thank You, Lord, for helping Tara!" Because I have to tell you—YOU WERE ALL RIGHT. 100% correct. It's really not that big of a deal. I think I can actually make soup! And I'm really excited about this because a) it's so healthy; b) it's good stewardship; c) I love seeing all of the fresh ingredients go in; d) it's super EASY; and e) it's SO PRETTY.
So here's my official request for your tasty soup recipes! I'm particularly interested in the ones that cook slowly all day long in a crock pot and mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! make your house feel all homey and domestic. I had one once at a restaurant that had a red meat in it and some sort of red wine base that was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I tried to find it on the internet, but there are too many options. My (still tempted to get a little scared) brain just sort of fritzed out at all of the choices. But if you have any that you love, please email me or leave me a comment or FaceBook note. I'd LOVE to have homemade soup become a part of our family's meal repertoire.
OK. Must scoot now. Apparently walking pneumonia no longer wins the sickest family member award around here now … Fred, Sophie and Ella are all really (really) sick too. So I need to tend to them.
Before I go, I do want to point you in the direction of a much more serious topic re: fears … ANXIETY ATTACKS (or sometimes called PANIC ATTACKS). You may have already experienced this personally and not known what it was OR you may have been around someone experiencing this and not known what to do … or maybe it's something you'll face in the future. I want you to be ready! Because when a person is having a panic attack, she thinks she's going crazy and often thinks she is going to die. It's often a call 9-1-1 situation, but it doesn't have to be. Please listen to this series from David Powlison and you'll learn about this important topic:
Panic Attacks: A Counseling Case Study
Thanks, friends. Happy Tuesday to you all!
Tara B.
A GREAT book on the topics of fear and anxiety is Ed Welch's, Running Scared. I highly recommend it!
Paige Benton Brown: In the Temple – The Glorious and Forgiving God (The Gospel Coalition National Women's Conference LiveBlog)
(I'm already beginning to pray for friends who are serving at next year's The Gospel Coalition Women's Conference: Resurrection Life in a World of Suffering. I hope that you can be at the conference June 16-18, 2016 in Indianapolis! I am so excited to hear from some of the finest teachers on these important topics—Kathleen Nielson, Rosaria Butterfield, Don Carson, Nancy Guthrie, Tim Keller, Carolyn McCulley, Ellen Dykas, Melissa Kruger … and more!)
To whet your appetite for the next TGCW conference, why not enjoy a quick review of the inimitable Paige Benton Brown from her 2012 TGCW plenary? Just click "Replay" below:
The actual LiveBlog replay above has over 11,600 words in it, so I won't even attempt to restate the entirety of this teaching. However, here are just a few points that will hopefully whet your appetite and encourage you to read the entire entry.
Paige Benton Brown: In The Temple
- God says, "I will be Your God, you will be my people." But we want to know … how "in" is He? …
- 1 Kings 8 … The temple is not an aspect of God's omnipresence. This is his personal presence manifest …
- All of this godly extravagance points to God's glory but the actual glory is even more awesome; even then, God is holding back. The cloud reveals and conceals …
- The cloud is about the covenant; the uniqueness. The glory of Israel is that relationship. In the midst of God's omniscience, God says, "I know everything, but only you have I known" …
- But they cannot keep the commandments. So how can we meet God? Those tablets are covered with the mercy seat. We cannot meet God at the ark; we must meet him at the altar. God provides a mercy seat, a covering, for the ark …
- Do you steal and do abominations and then stand in God's house and say, "We are delivered"? …
- Jesus is very closely associated with this temple; presented at 40 days; age 12 reasoning; paying temple tax … always acknowledging it is his father's house. But also: He was its superior. Tear this temple down and I will rebuild it in three days. Not one stone will be left upon another …
- What do you do with the people who will come to the temple but will not run to the outstretched arms of God? …
- God does not forgive sin. He can't. He forgives sinners—but it has to be paid for. This is what our sins cost.
How to Love a Mentally Ill Addict (Who Happens to be Your Mother)
First off, let me start out by saying that I really don't like the title of this post. I'm leaving it as is, however, because I have learned that a provocatively (but still relatively accurate) blog title reaches more people than a merely accurate blog title. (As the stats for my "It's a Grace to be Fat" article easily attest to.)
Having lived with and loved my mother for over forty-two years before her passing in 2012, I believe a much more accurate title would be something along the lines of: How to Love Your Mother, Who Did the Very Best She Could, but Who, Like You, Has Many Weaknesses in Addition to Her Many Strengths and Who, Like You, Sometimes Turned to Not-the-Healthiest (Physically and Spiritually) Substances and Means to Deal with Her Suffering and Temptations and Fallenness, Including Self-Medicating with Scotch for Many Years and How to Love Your Mother Who Had Exactly the Same Amount of Neediness for the Savior as You, and How to Get Off of Your High Horse and Stop Judging Her and Instead See Yourself as Being More Like Her than Unlike Her So That You Can Enjoy the Best, Most Real, Most Intimate Relationship that Your Sin and Fallenness and Her Sin and Fallenness Will Possibly Allow.
Yes. Sure. That, I think, is a much more accurate title. But what it gains in meticulousness it loses in pith. So let's just go with "How to Love a Mentally Ill Addict (Who Happens to Be Your Mother)" and see where this leads us …
(As a quick aside, I have been praying and thinking about this post for years but after my Q&A at Kevin DeYoung's church last weekend—Hi, Katie!!—I decided to just jump in and try to get started on writing something down because this is a question I get asked a LOT, especially after people read my "How to Write a Eulogy for a Bad Mother" post.)
So here are my initial thoughts on how I learned to love my mother who did struggle with undiagnosed mental illness and who did turn to large amounts of alcohol during the formative years of my childhood …
(Whoops! Better do another aside here too: 1) Before her death, my mother repeatedly gave me express permission to share our story publicly because she—like most people in AA—was extremely generous of spirit regarding telling her story with the hope that others might be helped; and 2) If you don't know my testimony, you can listen to it here for free or see/read give summaries of it in my video series or first book.)
First of all, I have to start out by saying that I did NOT want to love my mother or have anything to do with her once I stopped living with her during my high school years. (During my junior year, I saved her from a suicide attempt and she was institutionalized—again—and that was the last time I lived with her.)
When I was a young adult, all I wanted to do was get as far away as possible from her and establish my new "functional" life with all of the "normal/happy" people I was meeting in my church, high school, and then at college. I was sick of her promising to change—-and then not changing. Locked-down wards in psychiatric hospitals scared me. Detox centers creeped me out. I hated smelling like cigarettes whenever I visited her in her halfway houses or her little, dingy transition apartments. Rather than having mercy on her, praying for her, being charitable towards her and cheering her on as I looked for ways to support and encourage her, my propensity was to judge, disdain, and reject her. At that season of my life, I was particularly fond of comparing her to all of the (clean, beautiful, "together" parents) who (shockingly!) supported, counseled, prayed for, helped, loved, provided for, enjoyed, and celebrated their children.
My mother was not the parent I wanted her to be and so how did I instinctively respond? Just like an unbelieving tax collector and certainly NOT like my Heavenly Father:
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48
So here was the first step in my learning to love my mother: I had to repent. I had to see that in this situation, I was the problem, not my mother.
From the moment God so graciously saved my soul (when I was a freshman in high school); from the moment I was born again by His Spirit and justified by His grace, all of my most deepest needs were met by the power of the Triune God. I may have wanted parents who were functional, loving adults—but I didn't need parents who were functional, loving adults because I had a perfect Heavenly Father. I may have preferred my mother to not lie to me, steal from me, and try to get me to do incredibly foolish things like co-sign a car loan for her when I was barely eighteen years old or take out student loans to give her cash to finance her gambling and drinking binges. It would have been nice to have a mother go grocery shopping for me when she visited me at college (did you know that some mothers do that for their children?!); I would have enjoyed it if my parents didn't drink liquor out of the trunks of their cars in the parking lot of my church at my wedding and then get so drunk that they don't even remember it. Wow. That all would have been great. But I didn't need any of those things.
All I needed then and all I need today is Christ:
I have been forgiven a debt I could never pay back (Matthew 18:21-35); granted an inheritance that will never fade, perish, or spoil (1 Peter 1:4); adopted into an eternal family (Ephesians 1:3-10); and saved from darkness into light (Ephesians 5:8).
There is nothing that can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord (Romans 8:38-39). God works together all things for His glory and my good (Romans 8:28-29). God is perfect in His omniscience and omnipotence and sovereignty (Psalm 147:5, Job 42:2, Psalm 115:3). Not a hair falls from my head apart from my good and loving Heavenly Father knowing it (Luke 21:18) so surely He knows any and all suffering I am facing in this life and He has never been and will never be surprised that I am my mother's daughter.
God chose my mother for me and me for my mother. The overlap of our lives was not a mistake to God. And God is not gratuitously cruel. My suffering was not and is not an accident. And—hear this!—there is NO suffering that I have ever or will ever experience that Jesus does not know and He knows more.
Not only was Jesus abandoned by His loved ones; cold, naked, beaten, mocked, shamed … Jesus was separated from the Father and that is a pain I will never know. So Jesus is not some High Priest "up there" who is unable to sympathize with me (Hebrews 4:15). He is the suffering servant Who laments with compassion for the children of The Living God (Matthew 23:37-39) and Who loves us SO much that He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit, lived the life we could never live, died the death that we deserved, and one day, He will return in glory to make all things right.
In the interim, in response to God's gracious love in our lives, we don't have to judge and belittle and criticize and hate and take revenge … we can "entrust ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue to do good" (1 Peter 4:19).
Ahhhh. Now we're really getting down to brass tacks re: why, even as a teenager, I began to repent of my judgmental, critical, unloving heart towards my mother and began to move towards her with humility, gracious, compassionate, genuine care and love. It was because GOD moved towards me with humility, compassion, genuine care and love. When I was yet his enemy (Romans 5:10), He loved me. And His call on my life—my duty—in response to this glorious truth (the gospel!) was to lay down my life, pick up my cross, endure (and even count it all joy!) to share in whatever temporary suffering this life offered me for the (brief!) 50 or 80 or 100 years I have on this planet (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 5:10, Romans 8:18, Luke 14:27, Philippians 3:10).
For me? Twenty-five years ago when I was an eighteen year-old who really just wanted to get as far away as possible from my mother who was struggling with all sorts of spiritual, physical, emotional, and social suffering? When my life would have been "easier" (but not better!) if I had moved away, changed my phone number, and never had any contact with her again? When the pain of being around her FAR outweighed ANY benefit? That was my suffering. That was my mission field. The Cross God had ordained for me to carry in solidarity with my Savior. Loving my mother was exactly the trial I had the privilege of "counting all joy" (James 1:2-4).
And if I claimed to love God yet hated my mother? I was a liar and my religion was worthless (1 John 4:20, James 1:26). If I wanted to show myself to be a disciple of Jesus? Then I had to learn to love (John 13:35).
So that's really the only reason why I began to move towards my mother: God made me love her.
He did this though His Word (which is perfectly clear about honoring our parents and loving our enemies and doing good to people who hate/hurt/mistreat us). He did this through the conviction of His Holy Spirit living in my heart. And He did this through His Body—The Church. The men and women who surrounded me and counseled me during those pivotal years (Paul and Donna Livingston, Cindy West, Mike Fiske, Paul and Sharon Jensen, James and Cindy Lambrecht, Pastor Vic and Sherry Varkonyi, George and June Kalemkarian) … they taught me my duty as a Christian; they held me as I wept and grieved; and they helped me in practical, real-life ways to suffer well and love my mother.
In light of all I had received in Christ, it was my reasonable duty. God called me to it and since He is faithful (He never calls us to do something that He does not also give us the grace and strength to obey—Philippians 1:6) … I began my bumbling, stumbling journey towards loving my mother. (I really messed up a LOT, especially in those early years. So one of the BIGGEST reasons my mother and I were able to become such good friends with such a deep, abiding, intimate love is because SHE forgave ME. More on that in another post.)
How grateful I am that God protected me from all of the unbiblical teachings that seem to be so prevalent amongst some Christians: "God wants you to be happy!" / "Do what feels good for YOU!" / "You don't need to be around that toxic/dysfunctional person!" I would have missed out on so much in my relationship with God and my relationship with my mother if I had eschewed my suffering and lived for this life rather than my real (eternal) life which is in Heaven to come.
Plus, of course, the older I get, the more I see that I am JUST LIKE MY MOTHER in SO many ways. That'll be the subject of my next post in this series.
If today's post can be summarized in one word, it is DUTY. The next one will be summarized by the word DEPRAVITY. And then we'll talk about DESTINY. (Those three words are also how I organized my keynote at this year's Peacemaker Conference which you can see a video of and read a summary of here if you are interested.)
Oh. And I'll also try to remember to talk about how loving a person struggling with addiction and undiagnosed / untreated mental illness looks very different in various situations. Because, wow! That is surely true. Wisdom and love do not mean that we always accommodate the demands or sins or wickedness of the people in our lives who are struggling in these ways. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to not give them what they want, even if this provokes them to "hate us" and threaten us with all sorts of terrible retaliation (like another suicide attempt with a big ol' note saying how she killed herself "because her daughter, the so-called CHRISTIAN, is such a terrible person." Yup. Been there, done that.)
Believe it or not, it really is possible to get to a place where such words neither define nor defeat us. People are going to do what they are going to do. We don't have to ride the roller coaster of their bipolar/addict swings. We are not responsible for them. But we are responsible for OUR HEARTS. What are our heart motivationsin "setting boundaries" or "not being codependent"? (I actually prefer to use other, more biblical, terms, but those are quick ways to summarize what I'm talking about.) Are we slamming that phone down on the slurred-speech-horribly-mean words? Or are we gently, loving, patiently ending the conversation with our drunk mother who is (again) telling us how much she hates us and how we are unworthy of being loved and how she wasted her life on us?
Scripture is clear. The heart matters. And we are responsible for our hearts. We don't do the things we do because of the other person. We do the things we do because of what is in our hearts (Luke 6:43-45).
Praise God for new hearts and for growth in grace! Especially in these painful, difficult relationships.
Hope these initial ramblings are edifying to you even in some small way.
With love and prayers,
Tara B.
Grace-driven acceptance of a person does not mean open-ended availability …
I read a lot when I am in a season of insomnia (like right now). I try to pray, too. And sometimes I even exercise! But mostly, I read. Old stuff, new stuff; happy stuff, blue stuff. OK. Not really blue stuff—but exhaustion also makes me punchy, so sometimes the silliness comes out in Seussian rhymes. And gaffes.
(Like last night when I was looking up a friend's address to send his wife and him a card and I accidentally Facetimed him at 3AM! Poor guy. But also a nice guy—he just laughed it off and told me he prayed for our family as he rolled over and went back to sleep.)
No Facetiming sleeping people halfway around the world tonight! No. Instead, I've been entertaining myself by paging through random posts on various family birthdays and Sophie's sixth birthday gave me this little treat:
Created for Community (by Paul Tripp)
What a great read. I tend to like Dr. Tripp's earlier writings more than his current stuff, but this article is the exception that helps to prove the rule. It builds well and his conclusions are spot-on, at least from my severely sleep-deprived perspective. Here are just a few of my notes from the article. Don't they encourage and challenge you too?
"True community requires intentionality. There are decisions that you will have to make, there are habits you will have to break, and there are choices you will have to make to live in productive Christian community.
True community requires sacrifice. I will never enjoy the productive community that the body of Christ was designed to be without making specific and concrete sacrifices of time, energy, schedule, leisure, privacy, etc.
True community requires patience. I never get to be in community with perfect people. So community is messy and unpredictable. Yet, God uses this messiness to promote His grace in our lives.
What does all of this mean? It means that community requires Christ. We are people who have been dramatically and graciously loved by God, and so we are committed to loving others as God has loved us …
Rather than being a critiquing presence, we look for every opportunity to be a loving presence … For the love that we give others is not ours; it is His love, living is us and being incarnated for others to see, and that love is the most powerful, transformational force in the universe."
Yes it is!
And tonight I am praying for each one of us, that even our most broken and seemingly hopeless/dead relationships will be made alive again—strengthened again—by "the most powerful, transformational force in the universe": the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
I hope you are sleeping right now! And I hope I can sleep again soon, too.
Your grateful friend,
Tara B.
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then I know that you are well acquainted with what is probably my all-time favorite CCEF article ("Helping Difficult People in Your Church" by Dr. Tim Lane). But just in case you are new here, or to give us all a super quick reminder of some important things to remember AS we are striving to LOVE, here are a few notes I've taken directly from Dr. Tim Lane's fabulous article. These are the things I try so hard to remember re: Christian love and Christian community, especially community with difficult people (like me!):
- 1 Peter 4:8 calls us to "love one another deeply" and "keep love constant." That kind of love is a stretching and extended love, both in depth and endurance. We can only love like this if we are remembering the "width and height and depth" of the love of Christ as described in Ephesians 3.
- Even the best of relationships take time and effort. But the unpleasant relationships with, say, hypothetically, people who come from abusive childhood origins, struggle with debilitating addictions, who are even themselves surprised and overwhelmed by their own responses to new trauma in their lives? It can be easy for all of us to instinctively try to avoid, back away from, label, overpower/control, or appease such people. Love calls us to fight against these instincts. We may need to modify how we stay in certain relationships and what love looks like. But love does not give up on people when the going gets tough. Love digs in, gets help, and stays.
- (I'll close with my favorite Dr. Tim Lane quote of all time …) "Grace-driven acceptance of a person does not mean open-ended availability." (Preach it, Dr. Lane! Love can, and often should, say, "No.")


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Community Events
Bartlesville Farmers Market
Date: September 19, 2015
Bartlesville Farmers Market will be open this Saturday, 8-11:30am, at the corner of Frank Phillips and Keeler. Beautiful mums will be available from the folks in Kansas. Vendors will have vegetables, honey, herbal teas, flowers, bug spray and more. Games will be held at 10am. Music this week will be Joe Mack.