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Talking Appliance Sidekick

 Talking Appliance Sidekick
type
FeatureClass
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
label
Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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TalkingApplianceSidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })A subtrope of Non-Human Sidekick, normally a Snarky Non-Human Sidekick, that has become very popular in Webcomics, the Talking Appliance Sidekick is an inanimate object, normally a household appliance that talks and... you see where we're going with this. Beyond that, they are very likely to be part of a comic with a technological or a fandom bent; if it's Two Gamers on a Couch, expect something related to game consoles, and if it's a comic about the Surrey Woman's Institute knitting circle, expect it to be a sewing machine. Such a character will have a lot of similar attributes of the Robot Buddy, but sometimes is used as a parody or deconstruction of it and, like a lot of webcomic sidekicks, will be the outrageous Comedic Sociopath.
Probably codified for its many imitators by Penny Arcade and their walking, talking DIVX platter, but the trope could well be Older Than They Think for examples that don't fit into the "Surrey Woman's Institute Knitting Circle" mold. For instance, KITT from Knight Rider was a talking car who was a very deadpan Non-Human Sidekick who inspired a number of other talking cars.
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Unlike a lot of other Animate Inanimate Objects, these guys will have no problem acting up around normal people with no sense of Masquerade.
Examples:
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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2022-03-24T21:56:11Z
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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2022-03-24T21:56:11Z
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Dropped link to ADogNamedDog: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Dropped link to AIs: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Dropped link to ScriptFic: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Dropped link to StealthPun: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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DBTropes
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_11b7db91
type
Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_11b7db91
comment
BMO from Adventure Time: an animate game console (who may actually be an interdimensional prison for the mooks and villains faced in the games).
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_11b7db91
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1.0
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_11b7db91
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 Adventure Time
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Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_11b7db91
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1858fe06
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1858fe06
comment
Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) has Sally's handheld computer Nicole. Nicole eventually gets upgraded to have a holographic avatar, but she spent a good chunk of the series' run as just a talking box.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1858fe06
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 Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) (Comic Book)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1858fe06
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1a8d488a
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1a8d488a
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The card game Super Munchkin has "talking car" as a possible sidekick.
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1a8d488a
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 Munchkin (Tabletop Game)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_1a8d488a
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_392e6c59
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_392e6c59
comment
PF (Personal Frame) from Fragile Dreams.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_392e6c59
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1.0
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_392e6c59
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 FragileDreamsFarewellRuinsOfTheMoon
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_3a5e2165
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Sebastian of True Villains is the proud owner of Augustus, a talking, moving, dueling pocketwatch.
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 True Villains (Webcomic)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Subverted in Beauty and the Beast where all of the talking furniture characters are actually humans under a magic spell.
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_404c9387
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_404c9387
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Red vs. Blue has both Sheila, the artificially intelligent M808V Main Battle Tank, and Andy the talking bomb, a possible homage to Dark Star.
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_48d37237
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Broken Age has a spoon that is designed to teach "commander" Shay how to eat; naturally not a particularly necessary function for a fourteen-year-old boy. Later Shay also picks up a talking knife, who is more aggressive in nature.
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 Broken Age (Video Game)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Kyle's Necronomicon (a talking spellbook with a face) from Fanboy and Chum Chum.
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 Fanboy and Chum Chum
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Penny Arcade, as mentioned above, turned the relatively obscure and short-lived DIVX media platform into an abusive, foul-mouthed sleazebag. To say nothing of the infamous Fruit Fucker 2000 juicing machine...
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 Penny Arcade (Webcomic)
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_59da62aa
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_59da62aa
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The Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues expansion has ten appliances in the player's apartment with simulated personalities as part of a scientific experiment. The cast includes a germophobic sink, a smooth-talking agricultural research station obsessed with "seeding" everything it can, a virulently anti-Communist book processor that turns potential seditious documents into blank sheets of paper, a Betty and Veronica couple of light switches, a Jive Turkey jukebox, a Fun Size security robot obsessed with mugs and a psychopathic toaster that would burn the world, if only its heating coils were more powerful.
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 Fallout: New Vegas (Video Game)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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It wasn't exactly a regular character, but the Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf might qualify. It's played for laughs given that a toaster with Artificial Intelligence is Awesome, but Impractical, mainly serving to annoy Lister who owns it.
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 Red Dwarf
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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David the sentient, surly and snobbish DVD player from Theater Hopper was, on observation of this trope, introduced just to lead up to one panel so that he could act "as a mouthpiece to deconstruct some of the cliches inherent in comics" as the creator puts it before being summarily run over by a truck four comics after being introduced. The creator also phrased his take on the issue in a more self-deprecating manner:
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 Theater Hopper (Webcomic)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Coffee from The Desolate Hope fits this trope perfectly, being a very snarky walking coffee maker.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_6d2dc53d
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 The Desolate Hope (Video Game)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Satou hallucinates that he has these in Welcome to the N.H.K..
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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The Young Wizards series has Spot, Dairine's combination Great Big Book of Everything and Spell Book, in the form of a Mac laptop; he can sprout mechanical spider-like legs to walk around and mechanical eye-stalks for sight. Spot barely qualifies as he's very shy around everyone but Dairine, and communicates with Dairine via a telepathic link.
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Another talking sentient computer named Box accompanied Commander Nathan Spring in Star Cops
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_8e8ed866
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As mentioned in the description, KITT from Knight Rider is an automotive version of this trope.
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 Knight Rider
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Mike the TV from Reboot.
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_91381c35
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_91381c35
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Robots took a unique approach to this idea. All of the characters are robots, but some are like people and some are more like appliances.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_91381c35
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_91381c35
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 Robots
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Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_91381c35
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_976efc02
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_976efc02
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The 'Bots in Mystery Science Theater 3000 could count, as they were all made from objects found in thrift stores. Also those special parts that control where the movie begins or ends.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_976efc02
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_976efc02
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 Mystery Science Theater 3000
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_ab67d84
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Zeke the anthromorphised Xbox from Ctrl+Alt+Del.
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 Ctrl+Alt+Del (Webcomic)
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Questionable Content:
Pintsize is an AnthroPC, which presumably is a computer that makes sex noises when you slot in your USB stick.
The comic also has two other AnthroPCs that are regular characters. None of them is really an appliance, though. Winslow is basically an oversized iPod, but Momo just looks like an anime character.
They seem to be able to interface with normal computers, and Marten has made reference to Pintsize containing a hard drive (mostly full of porn, natch). The real question is what actual utility they serve re: the letters "PC" in their name, since at least Marigold, and possibly the other characters, appear to use regular computers; Momo attempts to keep Marigold's shut-in-osity under control, but Winslow (as a timid little flower) and Pintsize (as... well... Pintsize) are pretty much useless in such personal-assistant contexts. Pintsize has, however, commented that he was his owner's only friend for a long time, and his successful socialization with the other characters means that Pintsize's job is done.
When Momo goes shopping for a chassis, one of the other A.I.s in the shop is installed in a toaster. He seems pretty happy about it. The AI shop assistant also says that her first job was as a sentient forklift.
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Paw Dugan can talk to machines. You can learn this apparently.
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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The ClueFinders: Lap Trap is a floating "laptop", and also doubles as the in-game menu.
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 The ClueFinders (Video Game)
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_bc848d30
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_bc848d30
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Plankton's wife Karen in SpongeBob SquarePants. It's best not to think about how she can operate underwater, though.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_bc848d30
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_bc848d30
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 SpongeBob SquarePants
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Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_bc848d30
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century has Dr. Theopolis, a superintelligent sentient computer about the size and shape of a Frisbee, who usually rides around strapped to Twiki's chest. Unlike most characters on this page, Theo is relentlessly polite to everyone.
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_c5141e0f
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 BuckRogersInThe25thCentury
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_cccefdf1
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C.A.R.R. from Stroker and Hoop
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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A talking car, like KITT as mentioned above, but much more snarky and meanspirited Ultra Car from It's Walky. Ultra Car's new humanoid chassis no longer counts as this trope.
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 Talking Appliance Sidekick / int_d98508dc
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Stuffwell from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a sentient suitcase on legs, and tends to make up fancy-sounding words when he talks.
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Rogue Trooper and his comrades have their memories and personalities hot-synced to chips which can be removed from their bodies when they are killed and plugged into weapons, helmet or backpack to provide advice and extra pairs of eyes (and firing commands in the case of the weapons). Though this isn't an option for Rogue (he's alone on the enemy planet and the last of his kind), he carries some of his comrades with him.
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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A Schoolhouse Rock! series from the early 1980s, now largely forgotten, was titled Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips. Scooter was a human; Mr. Chips was his computer sidekick.
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In the early issues of Transmetropolitan Spider had a mafia-made Maker that talked back to him often, and made his trademark mismatched sunglasses. But it stopped making witty comments after the second time Spider ripped out its' hallucinogen simulator and got left behind when Spider went on the run, though he gave it orders to fabricate a Martian venereal disease for the cops.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Characters as Device
 Talking Appliance Sidekick
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Furniture Tropes
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Talking Appliance Sidekick
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 Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon / int_ea0c62b9
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Talking Appliance Sidekick