Toys of Power
From Sam & Max Wiki
The Toys of Power are a set of toy-shaped artifacts that form an essential part of the plot and gameplay of The Devil's Playhouse. People who have what is known as The Gift can use the toys to wield various psychic powers. Max has The Gift, and in The Devil's Playhouse the player can control him to use these powers. Others like Maximus and Sammun-Mak also have the gift. Anton Papierwaite says that that the only ones capable of using the power are the Insane, the Simple and the Defective, possible qualities the Elder Gods desire in their minions.
The Toys originally belonged to the elder god Yog-Soggoth from the Dark Dimension, who brought them into this dimension to appease his grandson, Junior. At the time they were stored in The Devil's Toybox, intended for that purpose. When the elder gods got banished back to their home dimension by Molemen, the Toys stayed behind and got spread across the universe (but mostly planet Earth). Followers of Yog-Soggoth and many other people have hunted down the Toys and Toybox for their own reasons ever since.
An estimated hundreds of Toys of Power exist, until Charlie Ho-Tep, himself a Toy of Power, inadvertently destroys the Toybox and all other Toys (with the exception of the Cthonic Destroyer) at the end of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls.
Although all the toys can only be used by the ones who possess "The Gift", for some reason or another other characters that are stated not to have the psychic gift also used the toys in some occasions. In The Penal Zone, General Skun-ka'pe states that he used the Future Vision toy to change future events, but it's almost certain that he did it by the help of Gordon the Brain, someone with the gift. During the conclusion of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls, Charlie Ho-Tep can use the toys effectively, but it's never stated that he has the gift, but he is one of the toys himself. In The City that Dares Not Sleep, Sam's shown to be able to use Cthonic Destroyer toy and a memorial replica of Astral Projector toy that's preserved in Max's brain, but that may be because he was in Max's body all along, which means he's in the "psychic range" of Max, similar to how anyone's able to teleport along with Max as long as they're touching him.
The known toys and accompanying abilities are as follows:
| Toy | Ability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 View-Master | Precognition | Sam can somehow also see the visions. Also referred to as the Eyes of Yog-Soggoth. |
 Telephone | Teleportation | Must know a phone number to teleport near that phone. |
 (Silly Putty) | Shapeshifting | Use the putty in the nose to copy a picture and take that form. Sammun-Mak names it "The Essence Thief." |
 Playing cards | Mind-reading | Can be used multiple times on the same person after new information is acquired. |
 Charlie Ho-Tep | Ventriloquism | Referred to as "Psychic Ventriloquism," which Sammeth rebukes. |
 Nutrition Specs | Nutrition Vision | Shows you the Nutrition Facts of any food item. Also works on people
(Currently only available on PS3, after you beat The Penal Zone once). |
 Projector + film reels | "Astral projection" | Can view (and possibly manipulate) select parts of the past. In The City That Dares Not Sleep, this toy's usage is further explained by The Narrator, as the toy makes the user able to take over any suitable body of himself/herself (for example, Sam uses this power to take over his clones to complete tasks). |
 Can o' Nuts | Compression | Maximus can hide himself and Sameth inside the can. |
 Cthonic Destroyer | Destruction | Can destroy/banish things from the Dark Dimension. |
[edit] Notes
- Somehow, even though existing for thousands of years, most of the Toys of Power are based on modern items (telephone, silly putty, etc.)The telephone itself is in question to exactly HOW it was supposed to work before the invention of telephones to begin with, Though Sammun-Mak does admit he always wondered how the telephone was meant to work. It's possible that modern items are based on these more then the other way around.
