Cutting-Edge Appliances

Cutting-Edge Appliances
Home	2470 McBean Parkway
Occupation	Digital appliances
Story appearances
Feature films	The Brave Little Toaster
Voice actor	Randy Bennett Randall William Cook Judy Toll Mindy Sterling Susie Allanson Danny Mann Beth Anderson Pat Ericson Gary Falcone Roger Freeland Janis Liebhart Darryl Phinnessee Joe Pizzulo

The Cutting-Edge Appliances, also known as the Apartment Appliances, are minor characters in The Brave Little Toaster. They are an assortment of modern appliances that live in the apartment with Rob's mother and serve her up, even on his departure to college.

Members

The Cutting-Edge Appliances include:

• The Tandy Radio Shack Z80 Computer named "Tandy"
• The Two-Face Sewing Machine
• The Entertainment Complex/Home Stereo System
• The Western Electric 2500 Phone named "Western"
• The Panasonic Component Stereo System named "Panasonic"
• The Toaster Oven
• The (New )Blender
• The Torch Lamp
• The Two-Head Cyclone Vacuum Cleaner
• The Hamilton Beach Hand Mixer named "Hamilton"
• The Track Lamps
• The only Cutting-Edge Appliances who are planned for the film, but never released, are the Clock, the Slow Cooker, the Can Opener, the (New )Waffle Iron, the Meat Grinder, the Carving Knife, the New Toaster, the Vaporizer, the String of Christmas Tree Lamps, the Huge Lamps and the Little Lamps.

Appearances

The Brave Little Toaster

The Cutting-Edge Appliances are a group of electronic appliances that were considered at the time highly-advanced and at the forefront of technology. They are highly egotistical as they take great pride in their latest features, which far outrank the abilities of any appliance that preceded them. As a result, they have a low opinion of any appliance that is not as advanced as they are. They served Rob's mother in the latter apartment in the city.

When Rob prepares to go to college, he wants to take his old appliances from his childhood with him for use in his dorm. After leaving to his family cabin with his girlfriend Chris, the Appliances are disgusted at Rob's preferences. They would prefer to be serving him in order to impress him with their mechanical advantages.

Later that day, the old appliances Toaster, Lampy, Blanky, Radio and Kirby arrive in search of the Master and are greeted by Plugsy. Shocked at their presence, he and the rest of the Appliances agree to dispose of the gang in order to be taken by Rob instead. They welcome them into the apartment room and are courteous at first but quickly take advantage of their presence and prepare to make their move. When Plugsy changes channels on T.V., who is another old appliance from the cottage that tries to tell his friends where the Master went, the gang gets stunned and finds out that he and the other Appliances tricked them, which is why they have led the gang into a trap. The Appliances demonstrate their technological superiority to them as they sing the song "Cutting Edge" and then, upon finishing it, they toss the gang out the window and into the dumpster. After that, the Appliances await Rob's return.

The gang is taken to Ernie's Disposal and the Master comes home disappointedly, having to realize that the old appliances are not at the cottage. Despite their absence, he still does not want to take his mother's appliances with him, still preferring the "oldies but goodies". Plugsy overhears this and is bitterly to blame. It can be assumed that the other Appliances were equally upset at this discovery. Rob eventually recovers his trusty appliances from Ernie's Disposal, thanks to T.V.'s intervention, and the old appliances go to college with him as opposed to the Cutting-Edge Appliances.

Examples of Technology

The Cutting-Edge Appliances sing about their technology, the following is a list of their features mostly mentioned in Cutting Edge or visibly shown.

• Tandy is a Tandy Radio Shack Z80 home microcomputer system with a high-contrasted color pixel C.R.T. screen, a built-in keyboard, two floppy disk drives, a connectable 8-bit music synthesizer module and an add-on mini-speaker. He is also a fancy, handy-dandy device for word/accounting/sound processing and graphic displaying capabilities.
• The automated indoor theater entertainment center/home stereo system contains dual audio amplifiers and a high-resolution R.G.B. projector.
• The two-face sewing machine is a user-friendly contraption.
• Hamilton is a Hamilton Beach hand mixer that is equipped with a couple of powerful motors that makes mixing much easier.
• Western is a Western Electric 2500 touch-toned landline push-button telephone that uses fiber optics contained in plastic to allow instantaneous and high quality phone calls.
• Panasonic is a Panasonic component stereo system that consists of a radio dial-meter, a pair of control knobs and plug-in speakers and headphones and features an ability to play cassette tapes.
• The blender can grind, chop, blend, grate, cream, mince, beat, whip, crush, shred, liquify and puree ingredients.
• The toaster oven can bake or toast in a compact space.
• The two-head cyclone vacuum cleaner is a lightweight model that has a cleaner head attached through his long, snaky hose to his powerful motored low-chassis canister head, so the user can clean hard-to-reach spots more simply.