Laika Kids

Laika Kids is the friendship between Coraline Jones, Norman Babcock, Eggs Trubshaw and Kubo from the Coraline, ParaNorman, The BoxTrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings fandoms.

Canon
All four of these characters are protagonists of LAIKA studios films. All four of them are preteens, no older than 11. All four of them have unusual family members, Coraline's are fey who pretend to be her parents, Norman's family has the ability to see ghosts passed down on his mother's side, Eggs was adopted by Boxtrolls at a young age and Kubo is half-human, half-moonchild on his mother's side.

All four movies have a prominent eye motif; Coraline almost had buttons sewn in her eyes, the eyes of people who can see ghosts have angular irises in ParaNorman, Winnie recognized Eggs as a human once she saw his eyes and Kubo's family wants to take both of his eyes so he could become like them. All four of them also had to fight villains who were trying to hurt their family.

Promos
Laika often depicts the four kids standing next to one another in advertisements. They have also posted fanart of the four of them spending time together.

In November 2022, Laika released an official image using the puppets of all of their movies to depict Lionel Frost and Susan Link from Missing Link serving the four children their Thanksgiving dinner.

In December 2022, Laika released a video of Norman, Eggs and Kubo visiting Coraline along with Susan Link to help decorate her house for Christmas.

Fanon
Given the close-knit (pun not intended) nature of the LAIKA fanbases, it became second nature for a number of LAIKA fans to depict the four children as a friend group. Though it is rarely explained how Eggs and Kubo could meet two American kids, Eggs being European and Kubo being Japanese. Many of these also take place in a decidedly modern AU, since The BoxTrolls takes place in the late 1800s and Kubo in feudal Japan.

Though explanations aren't necessarily needed, some have interpreted Eggs and Kubo as exchange students or immigrants. People already headcanon that Coraline takes place near Blithe Hollow from ParaNorman, so some have added the two other boys to the crossover. Some fanarts of the four camping together have inspired summer camp AUs. Oftentimes, Lionel Frost from Missing Link is depicted as an authority figure, being LAIKA's so far only adult protagonist.

Some other child characters from LAIKA movies are sometimes added, including Wybie from Coraline, Neil (and sometimes Selma) from ParaNorman and Winnie from The BoxTrolls. Some have also depicted the respective villains of the movies as forming a league of their own, though Aggie from ParaNorman is unique in that she can be depicted as an antagonist to the group and an additional friend, given that she's the only child among their ranks and ends the movie on good terms with Norman.

Some have also included non-LAIKA kid protagonists as "unofficial" members, including James from James and the Giant Peach and Kat (with or without Raúl) from Wendell & Wild, both of which are likewise directed by Henry Sellick, the director of Coraline.

Shipping the protagonists with each other is very common, though Eggs is the least-shipped because his movie is obscure even by LAIKA standards and Eggsnie being somewhat popular in its own right. Nonetheless, Eggs/Coraline has a small following due to some official screenshots showing them smiling at each other.

Fandom

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