Orlando Brown

When Tangie, a teddy bear goes into the Smile-erator on his head, his smile is put on upside down, causing him to end up on the bargain bin on Christmas Eve with other misfit toys, then onto Winkle's Emporium, a discount store. There, Tangie does his level best over the coming year to become a part of some family. He spends his time in Winkle's front window with Jack, a Jack-in-the-box with claustrophobia and Bird, a cuckoo clock bird with agorophobia.

Major Benson Winifred Payne is being discharged from the Marines. Payne is a killin' machine, but the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield. A career Marine, he has no idea what to do as a civilian, so his commander finds him a job - commanding officer of a local school's JROTC program, a bunch of ragtag losers with no hope.