Slappy the Dummy

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Slappy the Dummy
Goosebumps character
Revenge of the Living Dummy.jpg
Slappy on the cover of Revenge of the Living Dummy .
First appearance Night of the Living Dummy
Created by R. L. Stine
In-universe information
NicknameThe Dummy that is No Dummy, Mr. Bad Boy, Old Crazy Eyes, Smiley
Species Ventriloquist's dummy
GenderMale
Family
  • Ephraim Darkwell (creator/father)
  • Mr. Wood (brother)
  • Wally (brother)
  • Snappy (twin brother)
  • Goldie (sister)
Children
  • Jackson Stander
  • Rachel Stander

Slappy the Dummy is a fictional character and a major antagonist in the Goosebumps children's series by R. L. Stine. He is the main antagonist of the Night of the Living Dummy saga and one of the series' most popular villains, as well as its mascot. [1] He is also the main antagonist of the franchise's film adaptation and its sequel, described by their interpretation of Stine as having a "serious Napoleonic complex" in the former. He comes alive when the words, "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano," which roughly translates to "You and I are one now" and can be found on a sheet of paper in the coat pocket of Slappy's jacket, are read aloud. After being brought to life, Slappy will try to make the person who did so serve him as a slave, to the point of framing them for his evil deeds.

Contents

Inspiration

According to R. L. Stine, Slappy took inspiration from Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio . He liked the book's idea of a wooden puppet coming to life, so he created Slappy. [2]

Magic , a 1978 horror film where a dummy is thought to commit evil acts, was another one of R. L. Stine's inspirations for Slappy. In the television adaptation of the books, Slappy has the same sounding voice as Fats, the dummy from Magic with the voice of Anthony Hopkins.

Notable appearances in novels

Slappy the Dummy
TitleYear releasedInformation
Night of the Living Dummy 1993In the first Night of the Living Dummy book, twin sisters Lindy and Kris Powell are taking a walk when they come across a dummy, which Lindy names Slappy. Lindy decides to keep Slappy even though Kris does not like him. Lindy becomes a good ventriloquist, and Kris gets jealous, so Kris gets a dummy named Mr. Wood. From there on, bad things start happening. Mr. Wood is defeated by the end after getting crushed to death by a steamroller. However, Slappy comes to life and greets the girls when they arrive at their bedroom.

Unlike other books, Slappy never causes any trouble despite being alive until the end.

Night of the Living Dummy II 1995Slappy becomes the main antagonist in Night of the Living Dummy II, when Amy Kramer, the main character, wants a new ventriloquist dummy for her family's weekly "talent show". Her dad finds Slappy at a local pawn shop and gives it to her as a gift. She takes out a slip of paper that has the magical words on it and reads it aloud, and Slappy slowly comes to life, causing mischief and havoc for Amy and her family. Amy and her sister help kill Slappy. In the end, he is destroyed by Dennis, Amy's old dummy.
Night of the Living Dummy III 1996Trina and Daniel O'Dell's dad came home one night with the broken Slappy, which he got for free from a guy which he believes is Amy's father. Shortly after that day ends, the dummy soon gets fixed by healing itself all because the family read the infamous note that came with him, and soon was later named by their father as "Smiley" and became his new favourite dummy, a part of his amazing collection. But ever since their cousin Zane had decided to spend a few nights at their house once again, problems start to occur with the other dummies in the form of pranks, the main one being Rocky, who was first found in an event with him being seen by Zane in his bedroom. In all these cases, Trina and Daniel are blamed for the events, which makes them unhappy. Later it turns out the real trouble maker is Slappy, with help from the other dummies who he brought to life, which, in the end, becomes Hell to Slappy when he is betrayed by them to protect the O'Dells. However, despite seemingly being killed, the evil dummy is caught by Trina winking at her as Zane carries him to the car.
Bride of the Living Dummy 1998

A girl named Jillian takes her little sisters Katie and Amanda, accompanied by their doll Mary-Ellen, to a puppet show of a teenager named Jimmy O'James, with Slappy the Dummy as his partner. At the show, Slappy spies the twins and Jillian with Mary-Ellen. Slappy then pulls the twins up on stage with Mary-Ellen and makes fun of them. The twins, who are hurt by what he said, take off after the show to give him a piece of their minds and Jillian has to find them. While trying to find her twin sisters, Jillian finds Jimmy and Slappy's dressing room and walks in on Slappy giving Jimmy a punch in the nose. Jimmy tells her that he and Slappy are just working on a new act. She asks if they have seen her sisters. Jimmy responds with that he has not seen them since they were on stage. After she leaves, Jimmy puts Slappy to sleep and throws him out. Jillian's friend Harrison finds Slappy and brings him to Jillian's house, as he believes that Slappy is broken and wants Jillian's dad to fix him. After a series of troublesome events, Jillian and Harrison host a birthday party and try to put on a show, only to have it be revealed that Mary-Ellen is alive and that she re-awoke Slappy so she could marry him, but Slappy hates Mary-Ellen and desires to marry Jillian. Slappy and Mary Ellen end up getting cut to pieces by a saw blade, but Slappy's spirit ends up possessing Jillian.

Slappy's Nightmare 1999Slappy starts out being the disobedient puppet of Jimmy O'James. Fed up with Slappy, Jimmy replaces Slappy with Wally, who tells Jimmy how to control Slappy's evil: cursing him to doing three good deeds in one week. Although it is, in the end, revealed to be a nightmare of Slappy's, the book ends with his nightmare slowly coming true.
Revenge of the Living Dummy 2008Britney Crosbey and her friend, Molly Molloy, have to put up with Britney's obnoxious cousin, Ethan, and his new friend Slappy, whom Ethan calls "Mr. Bad Boy". Slappy, though, seems to be the one causing the trouble this time, and Britney decides to put Slappy to sleep, after seeing that she only had to say the magic words again—simple as that. But then when she finds out that Slappy was reawakened by the magic words, he vows revenge and comes up with a plan to use a special 'Mind-Stealer' doll to make Britney into his own personal, perfect slave. At the end, Britney decides to use the 'Mind-Stealer' doll against Slappy, whose mind gets stolen at the end of the book. Slappy later makes two more appearances in Dr. Maniac vs. Robby Shwartz where he hunts down Britney and Molly and cruelly has them send Robby back to Horrorland's arcade and in Say Cheese and Die Screaming where, after taking a picture of Madam Doom's booth, Julie sees Slappy in the picture leaning against the booth.
The Streets of Panic Park 2009Slappy appears in this book, where he turns Britney into a dummy, but later teams up with Luke and Lizzy to escape The Menace in Horrorland and Panic Park to outsmart The Menace and escape from both parks. Slappy is eventually taken home by Lizzy.
Slappy New Year 2010Ray Gordon brings an ordinary ventriloquist's dummy, Slappy, for his present and wants to scare his brother, Brandon with it.

Slappy New Year was a book in a planned-to-be-released series called Goosebumps Gold . The series was never released due to the expired contract that R. L. Stine had with Scholastic at the time. However, R. L. Stine did release the book, but changed the plotline.[ citation needed ] It was originally going to be the sequel to Slappy's Nightmare, but over the years since R. L. Stine changed the book's plot, he dropped the idea of it being a sequel. It was released on November 1, 2010. [3] [4] [5]

Son of Slappy 2013Jackson Stander is every parent's dream. He does not get into trouble, he always does his homework, and he never, ever lies. His teachers all trust him completely. He even volunteers at the local Youth Center. But that was all before Jackson came across an evil ventriloquist's dummy. Now he must deal with Slappy and the son of Slappy as they wreak havoc on his family and friends. Jackson will soon see that two Slappys are not better than one! [6]

He also appears in his own series Goosebumps SlappyWorld , where he serves as the narrator.

Appearances beyond the books

Slappy has also been made into an actual ventriloquist doll available from major retailers. [7] He was first manufactured by Goldberger Doll corporation after a nine-year-old boy from Long Island sent them a letter suggesting the idea in 1998. There is also a mask [8] and a full costume available for sale. Night of the Living Dummy III and Bride of the Living Dummy have also been adapted for VHS and DVD; the second on DVD includes Bride of the Living Dummy. [9]

Authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child posted an announcement via their Facebook status:

We have just written a short story with the amazing author, R. L. Stine. It will be published a year from now in a new, as yet unnamed, anthology. It features Pendergast and ... R.L. Stine's most terrifying creation, Slappy the ventriloquist's dummy. This is one strange, strange story ... The title is GASLIGHTED.

This was published on 30 September 2014 as Gaslighted: Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast in the anthology Face Off edited by David Baldacci.

In other media

Television

Film

Jack Black and Slappy at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con Goosebumps, Jack Black, SDCC 2014 06.jpg
Jack Black and Slappy at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con

Video games

See also

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References

  1. "The Halloween season is the perfect time for some Goosebumps!". Christian Science Monitor. 23 October 2015.
  2. Stine, R. L. "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?". Scholastic. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  3. Stine, R. L. (2010). Slappy New Year! (Goosebumps HorrorLand No. 18): R.L. Stine: 9780545161992: Amazon.com: Books. Scholastic. ISBN   978-0545161992.
  4. "Slappy New Year! (Goosebumps Horrorland Series #18) by R. L. Stine | 9780545161992 | Paperback | Barnes & Noble". Borders.com. 2013-09-30. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  5. "Slappy New Year! (Goosebumps Horrorland Series #18) by R. L. Stine | 9780545161992 | Paperback | Barnes & Noble". Search.barnesandnoble.com. 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  6. "Goosebumps Most Wanted #2: Son of Slappy by R. L. Stine | 9780545417990 | Paperback | Barnes & Noble". Barnesandnoble.com. 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  7. "Slappy Ventriloquist Doll: Everything Else". Amazon. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  8. "CAPTAIN AMERICA CASUAL ADULT/TEEN at Halloween Costume Shop". Halloweencostumeshop.com. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  9. David Lambert, "Goosebumps DVD news Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine ," TVShowsOnDVD.com(6/17/2007).
  10. Comic-Con: Director Rob Letterman Talks GOOSEBUMPS