Shoebox Zoo (Group)

The Shoebox Zoo are a group of animated toy animals who were formerly humans, turned into their present forms by Michael Scot, eleven-hundred years ago. They gained their group title for being found in an old shoebox, and being toy animals, hence the use of "zoo". They wish to find the Book of Forbidden Knowledge with help from the Chosen One, Marnie McBride, so they can regain their human forms and live out the rest of their lives normally.

Members
The Shoebox Zoo consists of five members, although the fifth is an unofficial member.


 * Edwin de Wyntor, self-appointed and self-proclaimed leader of the Zoo. Takes the form of a metal toy eagle, very pompous but noble.


 * Bruno, a kind-hearted and humble person who takes the form of a toy bear made of stone.


 * Ailsa, second-in-command of the Zoo. Takes the form of a toy adder, cynical glass in nature.


 * Wolfgang Scot, founder of the Zoo to some extent, son of Michael Scot. Takes the form of a wooden wolf toy, very cunning and deceptive, but honourable.


 * Hunter, a fifth addition introduced in the second season. The Spirit of the Horse Dance. A spirit who takes the form of a toy horse made of wood. Courageous and wild.

History
Eleven-hundred years ago, around the turn of the century into the thirteenth century, the Shoebox Zoo (Edwin, Ailsa, Bruno, Wolfgang), were scholars and students of the great wizard Michael Scot, living in Scotland. Michael created the Book of Forbidden Knowledge and eleven months afterwards, Toledo the Shapeshifter from the four elements (earth, air, fire, water). Michael's only son Wolfgang, wished to be part of Michael's legacy but his father refused. Over time, Wolfgang grew angry and hateful towards his father as the Book became more precious to Michael than Wolfgang did.

One night, Wolfgang rallied Edwin, Ailsa and Bruno together. In an act of vengeance and perhaps to gain attention, the four scholars stole the Book, and fled from Tantalon Castle to a nearby cliff overlooking the sea. Toledo confronted them, but they tossed the Book into the ocean. They escaped Toledo but soon were confronted by an enraged Michael who punished the four by transforming them into toy animals and forced to sleep forever until the Book was found and returned to him.

Throughout the next several centuries, the Zoo slept, imprisoned and lifeless inside an old shoebox. The Zoo was passed through several different owners under the watchful eye of Michael. It eventually appeared in a junk shop in Denver, Colorado, USA where it was purchased by a young girl who would eventually become Marnie's Mother. She was believed to be the Chosen One by Michael, but he soon found out that she wasn't, but remained in close contact with her until her death at the start of the twenty-first century. Dorothy Campbell, Marnie's grandmother and mother of Marnie's mother, grew concerned about her daughter's obsession with the Zoo and eventually took them back to the junk shop.

In 2004, Marnie and her father Ross McBride visited a junk shop in Edinburgh, Scotland on Marnie's eleventh birthday. Michael, disguised as the owner, observed as she chose the Zoo as a gift. The Zoo eventually were awakened from their slumber and their quest to find the Book with Marnie's help began. During the process, they discovered that a stain glass window in a church had been painted in their likeness, and they visited their old home which was now mostly in ruins. Eventually, the Book was found in Edinburgh's national library. Toledo attacked Marnie's house to obtain the Book, attacking with the Los Contrarios, evil clones of the Zoo's members. Toledo's attack failed but not before he cast Wolfgang into a lit fireplace and he died. The Book was eventually revealed to be a fake copy, and the real one was lost somewhere in America.

Marnie and the remaining Zoo members travelled to America, where they were joined by a fifth member, Hunter the Horse, a spirit who takes the form of a toy horse. Hunter would not properly join the rest of Zoo until the last few episodes of the second season. The Book was eventually found but stolen by Toledo and Aurora Dexter as the Dawn Queen. The Zoo were reunited with Wolfgang when he was revived by Marnie and then went with her and Kyle Stone to defeat Toledo and the Dawn Queen, and the destroy the Book. Ailsa stopped the other members to ask them whether or not they should destroy the Book. Hunter appeared and convinced the Zoo to sacrifice their chances of being human again to save the world. They succeed in their mission, and then are left at the junk shop Marnie's mother found them in, this time by Marnie. The Narrator then opens the box and meets the Zoo, noting that their are other lost books that need finding.