| NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Slappy the Dummy from the live-action films. The mainstream version can be found here: Slappy the Dummy. |
| “ | Hello, Papa. | „ |
| ~ Slappy greeting R.L Stine. |
| “ | Papa, you left without saying goodbye. Trying to hide from me? That's like hiding from yourself. I was your best friend and you turned your back on me. Locked me up, imprisoned me in the pages of a book. (IN UNISON): You stuck me on a shelf for years and years. The key was right there. And you never used it. | „ |
| ~ Slappy's anger about being locked in the Manuscript. |
| “ | You know I always survive. You wrote me that way. In fact, I wrote my own story while I was gone. And guess what? YOU'RE THE MAIN CHARACTER! | „ |
| ~ Slappy revealing he wrote his own story before using it to trap Stine. |
| “ | You try living in a book for a while Papa! (Laughs). | „ |
| ~ Slappy after finally getting his revenge. |
Slappy the Dummy, also known simply as Slappy, is the main antagonist of Columbia Pictures' live-action Goosebumps film-series, which are based on R. L. Stine's horror book series based on the same name.
The leader of the Goosebumps monsters, he is a living ventriloquist dummy who was accidentally released from one of R. L. Stine's manuscripts, Night of the Living Dummy, and proceeds to release the other monsters from their manuscript, wreaking widespread havoc on the town of Madison, Delaware, as a result of his liberation. He is R.L Stine's son-like creation, former best friend and arch-nemesis.
Portrayals[]
- In the first film, he was voiced by Jack Black, who also played The Invisible Boy in the same film, Slip in The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia, Zeke in Ice Age, Larry Hardcore in Clone High, Carl Denham in the 2005 King Kong film, Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Chameleon when in her Po form in Kung Fu Panda 4.
- In Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, he was voiced by Mick Wingert.
- In promotional media for both films, he was voiced by Avery Lee Jones.
- Puppeteer work was provided by both Jones and Jake McKinnon in the first film, and by Jones, Rick Galinson, Ted Haines, and BJ Guyer in Haunted Halloween. Avery Lee Jones also voiced Slappy for a few lines of dialogue, and all of his evil laughs in Haunted Halloween.
History[]
Background[]
In a reimagining of Stine's past, he originated as an outcast, bullied by his peers. To seek solace, Stine imagined a series of monsters and demons to take revenge on his tormentors. Stine's demons ultimately became a reality, as all the monsters he had ever imagined were created, among them Slappy the Dummy. Slappy was Stine's best friend originally, but Stine ultimately realized that the monsters were too scary and dangerous to society and trapped each of them in his manuscripts, where they remained for years. While trapped, Slappy became disillusioned with Stine and grew an intense hatred to the man for his "betrayal". While Slappy was locked away in the manuscript for Night of the Living Dummy, he was also somehow locked in Stine's first yet unfinished novel Haunted Halloween.
Release[]
After the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena emerged from the book, the latch on Night of the Living Dummy suddenly unlocked, and Slappy was released from the manuscript. Once Stine returned with teenagers Zach Cooper and Champ and Stine's daughter Hannah, Slappy revealed himself. Upon realizing that Stine intended to return him into the book, Slappy revealing his angry and evil nature promptly stole the other manuscripts, vowing vengeance upon Stine. He released the Lawn Gnomes from their manuscripts as a distraction and then drove off with the other manuscripts. Slappy proceeded to release the other monsters from the manuscripts and set the books alight so that Stine couldn't return them to the books. The released monsters quickly wreaked havoc, destroying a section of the town in the process. Slappy took over the local police station, having his minions freeze the officers into icy blocks.
Zach's aunt Lorraine later arrived at the police station to contact the authorities, but was instead met by Slappy. Lorraine offended Slappy by referring to him as a "talking dummy", prompting Slappy to have her frozen by the aliens. Afterwards, Slappy released the rest of the monsters from the manuscripts and ordered them to find Stine so he couldn't entrap them again as their leader. The monsters lay siege to a nearby high school, where Stine is furiously typing a new story from his typewriter in order to trap the monsters in them. Slappy personally confronts Stine, reminding him that they share a consciousness and that they had once been friends and revealing his betrayal at having been locked away for so many years. When Stine still attempts to complete the story, Slappy breaks Stine's fingers with the typewriter.
Final Confrontation and First Defeat[]
After escaping, Stine lured the monsters away from the school by driving a bus down the road. Slappy ordered the monsters to destroy the bus, but upon stopping it, they found that it was filled with dynamite that promptly exploded, temporarily destroying the monsters. This bought Stine and the teenagers some time to an abandoned amusement park, followed by Slappy, who could read Stine's thoughts. Upon arriving at the amusement park, Slappy released the final monster, The Blob, which quickly consumed Stine, but Slappy noticed that Stine didn't had the book. Zach and Hannah fled to the top of a Ferris wheel, pursued by the monsters. Zach managed to finish the book just as the monsters reached them, and promptly opened it, causing a vortex to appear that began to suck all the monsters (except Brent Green, who was a boy turned invisible and thus, not an actual monster) into the book. Slappy, in a final attempt at revenge, grabbed Stine and began strangling him, but Stine kicked him, sending Slappy flying into the vortex, cackling madly until he finally vanished inside. Slappy makes his final vow of revenge, calling out to Stine, "See you in your dreams!".
The reason Slappy was more happy than distraught during his defeat may have been due to the fact that, so long as he remains in the book with the other monsters, he would still live on to the day he is released again. Since Stine cannot destroy the book without risk of freeing Slappy and the other monsters, this may be true.
Slappy's Return[]
Slappy was eventually released from Haunted Halloween 3 years later when the book was discovered by Sonny Quinn and his friend Sam Carter. Though lifeless at first, Sonny reads the incantation "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano". When the boys leave the house with Slappy, deciding to keep him, they are encountered by Tommy Madigan, a school bully who takes the book for himself. The now-alive Slappy uses his magic to pull Tommy's pants down, giving Sonny and Sam an opening to escape. Tommy and his cronies chase Sonny and Sam on their bikes until they are knocked over by a hose controlled by Slappy.
At home, Sonny is working on his science project, a miniature version of Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower that he has trouble operating, when Slappy reveals his sentience to the boys. Fortunately for them, he explains that he wishes to be their brother and gains their trust by using his magic to do fold Sonny's laundry and complete his algebra homework. Later that night when everyone is asleep, Slappy secretly modifies Sonny's Tesla model and sneaks into Sarah's room.
Slappy's Betrayal[]
The next day, Slappy hitches a ride on Sarah's backpack and goes to the auditorium, where her boyfriend Tyler is on a ladder hanging ghosts up. Slappy uses his magic to disassemble the ladder as revenge for him cheating on Sarah the previous night, the fall causing Tyler to break a few bones and ends up getting taken to the hospital. At Sonny's science room, Sonny shows off his now-functional project. However, Slappy's modifications causes the tower to blast a hole in the classroom wall.
After the boys admit Slappy's sentience to Sarah, they return home to confront the dummy. Sonny tries to read the words on Slappy's card to make him go back to sleep, but the idea backfires. After the kids' mother Kathy cancels Halloween as punishment before telling Sonny off for the science lab accident and Sarah for failing to keep things under control, Sarah hits Slappy unconscious with a baseball bat.
The kids lock him in a suitcase and dump him into a swamp. However, Slappy somehow escapes and jumps on in front of Sarah's car. In a fit off rage, he exclaims that he just wants to be part of a family while pounding on the windshield of the vehicle. Slappy is eventually thrown off the vehicle when Sarah slams the breaks. Unfortunately, as Sonny points out, things have only gotten worse.
Bringing Halloween to Life[]
While the kids are at home reading about the events that happened in Madison, Delaware three years ago, Slappy makes his way to Fred's Pharmacy, intent on making a family of his own. Using the "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano" incantation, Slappy makes to bring several assorted Halloween merchandise to life, including three Ghostly Witches and Goosebumps-themed costumes of the Werewolf of Fever Swamp and the Abominable Snowman. Walter, the manager of the pharmacy, catches Slappy in his act only for a Haunted Mask to fly onto his face, turning him into an Igor-esque ogre that immediately becomes Slappy's right-hand monster. Together, the monsters march out of the pharmacy to take over the town.
Slappy and Walter go to the real-life Wardenclyffe tower, where Slappy says his incantation to reactivate the tower, thus enabling him to bring all the Halloween decorations across Wardenclyffe to come to life. After Walter completes building a wooden chair with metal cuffs, Slappy instructed him to tell the Halloween monsters to retrieve his "mother", Kathy Quinn, and Haunted Halloween, which they succeeded in doing. Once Kathy is captured, gagged, and strapped into the chair, Slappy reveals his sentience to his "mother" before using another incantation to turn her into a ventriloquist's dummy.
Second Defeat[]
When the kids arrive at the Tower while wearing Halloween costumes as disguises, Sarah chases after Slappy, who is intent on destroying Haunted Halloween while Sonny and Sam turn up the Tower's power to a high level, hoping to overload the system. Cornered by the Giant Balloon Spider, Sarah surrenders the book in exchange for Slappy promising to turn Kathy back to normal. However, Slappy discovers too late that the book Sarah gave him was a decoy made from a copy of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Sarah then kicks Slappy into the Tower's electric core, shocking him enough to be blasted into the sky, thus turning Kathy and Walter back to normal. From there, she uses the book to suck up all the Halloween monsters.
Achieving Revenge[]
Around Christmas time, Stine adds the now-complete Haunted Halloween to his collection of Goosebumps manuscripts, which he recovered following the crisis at Madison. However, Slappy suddenly appears before him, revealing that he survived and, during his disappearance, wrote a new Goosebumps book starring Stine as the main character that he promptly traps Stine in, finally getting payback after all these years.
What happened afterwards is unknown as a Goosebumps 3 was never materialized and instead, replaced by a reboot television series on Disney Plus.
Quotes[]
| “ | Who are you calling dummy, dummy? | „ |
| ~ Slappy's catchphrase. |
| “ | Slappy: You've made Slappy very unhappy! He's not going back on the shelf EVER again! Stine: Slappy, no, wait! (Slappy eventually burns his manuscript.) Slappy: I think it's time I started pulling the strings in this relationship. Tonight is gonna be the best story you've ever written. All of your children are coming out to play! (laughs maniacally) |
„ |
| ~ Slappy planning to have his revenge on R.L. Stine for imprisoning him in his manuscript. |
| “ | All my friends in one place, I've never been so happy. I don't want this day to end, and it doesn't have to. As long as we get rid of Stine! CHARGE! | „ |
| ~ Slappy rallying the Goosebumps monsters to form a mob against R.L. Stine. |
| “ | Everyone in the high school joined forces to defeat Slappy and his monsters. But Slappy had other ideas… | „ |
| ~ Slappy taunts R.L. Stine before breaking the latter's fingers with the typewriter. |
| “ | How do you like it, Papa? The world's just outside your grasp, but you can't move. You're trapped! THAT'S what it felt like to be locked inside your books. | „ |
| ~ Slappy taunts R.L. Stine when he watches the Blob That Ate Everyone swallow Stine. |
| “ | Slappy: SLAPPY'S NOT HAPPY!! Stine: Neither is STINE, STUPID DUMMY!! Slappy: See you IN YOUR DREAMS!! (laughs maniacally) |
„ |
| ~ Slappy's last words before his imprisonment. |
| “ | If those kids don't want me to be a part of their family, I'll raise one of my own. | „ |
| ~ Slappy as he prepares to unleash the monsters a second time. |
| “ | I'm going to do what Stine couldn't: Finish this book once and for all! | „ |
| ~ Slappy to Sarah Quinn. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
.png "Sargento Slappy (Goosebumps Monstros e Arrepios).png (1.39 MB)")
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Slappy represents R.L. Stine's dark side.
- This version of Slappy is portrayed in a more sympathetic light.
- In the Goosebumps interviews with Jack Black and the cast, Avery Jones is both voicing and puppeteering Slappy. Avery also voices Slappy in the Goosebumps music video The Bumps gonna Goose ya!
- Slappy the Dummy resembles that Woody's original concept art.
- There are 2 Puppets for the role of Slappy. One is used by Jake which the face of Jake's Puppet is a little Chubby, The one that is mostly used in the film is Avery's.
- This is not the first time Jack Black played a villain, Jack also took the role as the main villain Slip in The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia and played one of the Smokers in Waterworld.
- Slappy's cartoon self was in the show "Being Ian".
See Also[]
- Slappy the Dummy on the Goosebumps Wiki
- Slappy the Dummy on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
