Kirby is a green and gray upright vacuum cleaner, who appears in the 1987 animated film The Brave Little Toaster and its sequels.
Personality
In the first film, Kirby reluctantly joins the appliances on a mission to find Rob, who is referred to them as "the Master". While seemingly being cantankerous and bossy towards the others, he actually cares very much about them and risks his life to save them more than once. Kirby cannot help but keep up appearances, considering that he is independent and often held back by the others.
Relationships
Being grumpy and stubborn, Kirby doesn't hang around much with the other appliances until near the very end of the first movie. He utterly despises Blanky and his overly-emotional personality. However, Kirby starts to soften up as the film progresses. In the movie's sequels, he is more laid-back and closer to his fellow appliances.
Appearances
The Brave Little Toaster
On a bright and sunny morning in the Cottage that was the childhood home of Rob McGroarty "The Master", Kirby is awakened by the Air Conditioner, who exhales a speck of dust, which he vacuums up. Then, much to his astonishment, he sees Radio and Lampy the gooseneck lamp coming down from upstairs, fighting with each other, who both get covered up in Blanky the electric blanket. Later, he passes by Toaster, accidentally vacuums up half of Blanky, putting an end to Lampy and Radio's fight, and falls down. Toaster says "Good morning" to everyone, and they all respond, except Kirby, who still had Blanky stuck in his mouth. So, Lampy and Radio get Blanky unstuck, and Toaster lifts Kirby back up, which he thanks the latter for.
Now all together, Toaster asks what they should all be doing. Kirby responds that they should be doing what they have done for the last 2,000 days: chores, which Blanky feels unsure about. Toaster assures them that it will be fun, but Kirby says it's supposed to be work, not fun. Blanky says doesn't like to work without the Master, so Toaster decides they should play a game with only one rule: don't stop until the house is clean. Radio gets them started by playing the song "Tutti Frutti", and they all set to work. Kirby does a lot of vacuuming, as that is his function. When the song is nearly finished, they stop working, and start dancing, except Blanky, who is up to something, which Toaster notices, and tells them to stop.
Blanky says "A car," much to their wonder, meaning that he thinks the Master is coming, so they all make a tower out of a trunk, stool, and stuff for him to get up to the attic. As he climbs, he thinks he's going to fall, but Kirby tells him to keep climbing, and Lampy to turn the light out of his eye. Blanky reaches the attic and looks out the viewport. He thinks he sees a car taking the Master home, but it was all only his imagination, so he comes down from the attic, sadly. Then, Blanky goes upstairs to get the Master's framed photo, which he brings down, and cries. Kirby, annoyed by Blanky crying, comes up to him, and tries to take the photo away from him, but Blanky tries to stop him, so the two engage in a tug-of-war. Toaster tells them to just put it away, but they still keep fighting, and finally the photo flies out of their grip, lands on the floor, and breaks with the glass shattered and the framing badly damaged, much to their despair.
While sadly looking at the photo, something starts blowing it out of the broken frame. It was the Air Conditioner laughing at them for no reason. They all start talking to him about how they loved the Master, who never played with him because he's stuck in a wall. This makes him really angry, that he explodes, much to their horror. Then, they hear something outside, Blanky thinks it's a car, but Kirby didn't want to hear another word about cars. The sound comes closer, making them think maybe the Master or somebody is about to enter the cottage, so they all go to their places. But it wasn't what they thought, so they all look outside and see a real estate agent putting up a sign that said FOR SALE on it. This makes them believe their Master had abandoned them and would never come back, much to their sadness, so Toaster decides that they should go out and find him in the city.
However, Kirby despises the plan and thinks that they should stay and wait for somebody to buy the cottage and become their new master, but Blanky didn't want a new one, he wanted their own. This made Kirby feel sorry for himself, that he tells the others that he knows he's going to regret his actions, which make them all excited. Then, they discuss how they're going to get there. Lampy comes up with three ideas and Radio comes up with one, but each proved unsuccessful. However, Toaster comes up with a final solution: Kirby pulls them on an office chair with wheels. Their plan nearly succeeds when Kirby's cord gets unplugged from the wall. Toaster thinks they need a longer cord, but Radio say they need an alternate power source. So, they find a car battery, attach underneath the office chair, and Kirby plugs himself into it. Now all set, Toaster decides this is it, and Kirby asks Blanky if he's ready to go, which he is, as he keeps the Master's photo tucked in himself, so they open the door and leave the cottage for the first time.
When Kirby moves along the grass, he thinks it's a shag carpet because it feels different. Then, they enter the wilderness, and Toaster can't see the road anymore. They seem lost at first, not knowing if they're heading the right direction, but Radio sends his signal to the city, and the result is North by Northwest. Now excited to hopefully find their master, they all celebrate by singing their own song called "City of Light". After their song ends, night is falling, and they come up to a thick brush. Kirby puts his vacuuming setting from low to shag, which gets them through quickly, and then they come to a clearing, where they all stop to sleep for the night.
The next morning, they continue their journey through the think brush, and finally find their way out. Then, they come to a meadow, where they find a lot of singing animals. Radio taps his antenna on Kirby's head like a drum, but Kirby didn't like it, so he tells Radio to cut it out. They spend all afternoon in the meadow with the animals, until they are finally ready to continue their journey. Then, they enter deep dark woods, as night is falling, and Kirby starts slowing down. Toaster asks Kirby what is happening and the latter says that the battery is running low, so they should give it a rest, and tells Lampy to turn out the light.
And as night is falling, they look for a place to sleep. Lampy thinks maybe they could sleep in a tree, but it has a spooky jack-o-lantern face on it. Then, they feel stuck, unsure what to do, and Kirby starts fighting Radio for no reason, as Toaster tries to stop them, but Lampy tells them to look at Blanky, who is hanging on a tree branch, shaped like a tent. So, they all take shelter under Blanky, and fall asleep. But after a while, a storm comes up, and Blanky blows away. Lampy shines his light, but it was too dim, and Kirby realizes that the battery has gone dead. Lampy decides to make a sacrifice by turning himself into a lightning rod to recharge the battery. His plan works, but his bulb breaks, and it knocks him unconscious.
The following morning, they continue searching for Blanky, and find him stuck up in a tree. To save Blanky, Kirby throws his cord over the branch, plugs it into the battery, and pulls himself up like a grappling hook. When he makes it to the top, Blanky jumps on his face, and they come back down safely. Now all together again, they continue their journey out of the woods, leading them to a cliff at a waterfall. The waterfall makes Kirby feel dizzy, that he starts chewing on his cord. Lampy tells Toaster to get the cord out of his mouth so he won't swallow it and Radio says to switch him off. Toaster does so and pushes Kirby around, finally getting him back to normal. Then, Kirby wonders how they're going to get across the waterfall to the cliff on the other side.
So, they make themselves into a chain by tying all their cords together. Kirby swings his cord across and Toaster makes it to the other side. But the waterfall makes Toaster dizzy as well, that he loses his grip of the chain, where they all come back to Kirby, and fall off his cord into the water below. Kirby, now feeling helpless, knows he must save his friends, so he jumps off the cliff and into the river below. First, he finds Blanky, then Lampy, and Radio, who had mistaken him as a whale. Then, he asks where Toaster is, and Lampy replies that he sank. Toaster, on the river floor, finds his friends floating above him, and he joins them. Finally, they make it to the shore, and Kirby lets them off. Radio awards Kirby for saving them by putting a leaf on his face, pretending it's a medal, which he immediately blows off.
They all seem lost now, as Radio is unable to pick up any signals. And since the office chair got lost in the river, they now have no mode of transportation, so they all just move along with their cords tied to each other, with Kirby in the back. But Kirby bumps into a root and falls into a mud puddle, starting to sink. He says he knew he shouldn't have let the others drive, however Toaster tells Kirby to inflate his bag so he could stay afloat, but it was too late. Then, the others sink too, except Radio, who plays the song "Mammy" as a rescue signal, which works, as they get picked up by an overweight man named Elmo St. Peters. Elmo loads them all in the back of his monster truck and drives to his parts store that he owned, where he takes apart appliances and sells their parts.
He takes them into his private room and sets them on a table, where they meet a Hanging Lamp, who gives Lampy a new bulb, and a bunch of other Junkshop Appliances. Then, Elmo hears a customer named Zeke arrive. Zeke asks Elmo for a blender motor, which he does have one of, much to the Blender's fear. So, Elmo moves the five appliances to a baby carriage, where they watch in horror as he takes apart the blender and removes its motor. After Elmo leaves the room to go to the front and sell the blender motor, the five appliances wonder how to escape, which the hanging lamp and others think is funny, so they sing a creepy song called "It's a 'B' Movie". After that, the same customer asks Elmo if he also has any radio tubes, much to Radio's horror. They try hiding Radio, but Elmo finds him and takes him to his disassembling station.
Toaster asks Kirby what they should do to save Radio, but the latter doesn't know, however Lampy comes up with an idea: They scare Elmo by combining together to look and sound like a ghost. Their plan works, knocking him unconscious, and they escape in the baby carriage as their new mode of transportation. Along the way, they finally find the city ahead of them.
Gallery
Trivia
- Kirby is named after Jim Kirby, the founder of the brand "Kirby", but in the novella by Thomas M. Disch, he is named after William Henry "Boss" Hoover, the founder of the brand "Hoover".
- His character seems to be based on a Kirby Dual Sanitronic 80 vacuum cleaner from the '60s.
- On nearly every VHS and DVD cover for all three movies, Kirby's head is incorrectly colored pink. In the films, Kirby's head is gray.
- Kirby appears to have aquaphobia, as during the waterfall scene in the first movie, he has a seizure and tries to suck up his own cord before Toaster has to (temporarily) deactivate him.
- It is revealed in The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue that if Kirby sucks up kitty litter, he will get nauseous and end up vomiting, which he does off-screen.
- It is also revealed that he likes to dance but gets embarrassed when others are watching him.
- Kirby is the final voice role for Thurl Ravenscroft.
- In Thomas M. Disch's original novella The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, Kirby stayed behind with Lampy while the other appliances went on with the mission. In the film, they join them on the quest.
- There is a cameo of Kirby and friends in the series The Oz Kids in the episode "Christmas in Oz".
- He shares the same name as the video game character Kirby in which he's also named the vacuum cleaner due to his sucking ability.
