Cogs are the main (and only) antagonist in Toontown, They hate Toons and want to take over and make Toontown into a corporate hellhole. Their origin is canonically unknown, but in the old launcher, a video would play while the game would download that would show that the cogs were actually an unfinished experiment by Scrooge Mcduck and were released early.
Cogs roam the streets interconnecting the playgrounds and will engage any Toons they get near in battle. They can also walk into buildings and turn them into Cog buildings or field offices. The 4 Cog headquarters are located at the 4 edges of the map, each corresponding to a type of Cog, Sellbot, Lawbot, Cashbot, and Bossbot.
Cogs used to terrify me as a kid, but nowadays, I love them. They all give off the vibe of a mustache twirling villain that would tie someone to train tracks, I'd like to keep them as pets. The taller ones still kinda scare me, though.