The Bensons

The Bensons are the former secondary antagonists Pixar's 21st feature-length animated film Toy Story 4.

Background
Benson is the name of a ventriloquist dummy army commanded by the 1950s doll Gabby Gabby. They are subservient to her and follow her orders immediately.

Development
"The dummies are, by far, some of the creepiest characters we’ve ever created. Our animators really leaned into the truth in materials for how our ventriloquist dummies move. Dummies’ bodies are soft with no structure, so our dummies’ arms just dangle and their legs bend backwards. Throw in their fixed expressions with their wide eyes and big hinged jaws and they’re nightmare material—in the best way possible."

- Producer Mark Nielsen on Benson's creation

Trivia

 * It's possible that the reason for which the Bensons can't talk is because they are ventriloquist dummies and thus can only talk if a ventriloquist uses them to speak "through" them, aside that there are other toys in the Toy Story universe which can't talk despite not being ventriloquist dummies.
 * The idea of a ventriloquist dummy character was inspired by the original concept of Woody, who was originally designed to be a dummy.
 * They give a striking resemblance to Slappy from the Goosebumps books and related adaptations.