Sergeant Calhoun

**Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun** is a major character from the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph.

## Background

Calhoun originates from Hero's Duty, one of the more recent games of Litwak's Arcade. During gameplay, she is the head of a sect of which the player is a new recruit. In pursuit of the Medal of Heroes, Calhoun acts as the interactive guide for the first-person shooter, leading them through waves of Cy-Bugs while offering in-game intel.

According to her cohort, Kohut, Calhoun has been programmed with "the most tragic backstory ever." On the day of her wedding to her true love, Dr. Brad Scott, Calhoun forgot to complete one of her highly important perimeter checks. As a result, a Cy-Bug broke into the wedding chapel as they were exchanging their vows and devoured Brad, Calhoun screaming in anguish as she grabbed a mini-gun nearby and opened fire on the monster. The tragedy left Calhoun with a hardened heart and a bitter outlook on life.

Unlike the other video game characters whose jobs are over once the arcade closes, Calhoun and her troops play a crucial role in the survival of their world: the Cy-Bugs in Hero's Duty have very simplistic AI that leads them to believe their roles in the game are real. As such, their only instincts are to kill and consume anything in their path. Should they ever escape Hero's Duty, the entire arcade would be put in grave danger. This nonstop struggle also plays a role in Calhoun's excessively serious demeanour.

### Development

According to director Rich Moore, Sergeant Calhoun was initially written as a male character. The gender flip occurred because Moore felt that a male action hero was an overdone concept. When the animators later encountered difficulties with translating Felix's 8-bit appearance into a more contemporary aesthetic, it was noticed that his 3D model was easier to design when he was alongside Calhoun, which led to the idea of pairing them up romantically.

Calhoun went through a number of design changes. In some iterations, she had skin camouflage. In others, she had raven hair and a predominately blue suit. She was also a cyborg at one point.

### Personality

Calhoun is hardcore, tough, and incredibly strict. She commands her troops with a firm and authoritative hand and exhibits a fierce tenacity in which failure is never an option. She has no tolerance for shortcomings, and does not hesitate to roughly reprimand her soldiers, and additionally seems to enjoy goading them with taunts to increase their drive. Although Calhoun comes off at first as crass and insensitive, she is very serious and stoic when not engaged in gameplay. Her tragic backstory has left her heartbroken and untrusting, with a dry sense of humour. Her backstory and dedication to her job make her consider herself a soldier first and a woman second.

Against her programming, however, Calhoun is not entirely devoid of emotions such as sympathy and solicitude. For example, she is unwilling to perform acts of violence unless warranted as a form of punishment; she was uncomfortable with the idea of harming Felix in the Nesquik sand, due to the hero's innocence. Furthermore, her extreme devotion to duty is a partial result of her selflessness. She values the lives of video game characters and carries a majority of the burden of protecting the arcade, brought upon her by the Cy-Bugs' defect programming. When danger arises, she works tirelessly to prevent as much damage as possible. During the climax, she was ultimately willing to sacrifice her own life in order to protect Vanellope von Schweetz; the glitch was unable to leave the game, prompting Calhoun to remain by her side for as long as possible. Though rarely in a situation in which she cannot control, Calhoun is trusting towards others when urgency calls for an open mind. This is evidenced by her will to entrust Felix's plan to escape the Nesquik sand pit, and again when she entrusted Wreck-It Ralph's plans to save Sugar Rush from the Cy-Bug invasion, despite her initial (and completely validated) distrust towards the bad-guy, beforehand.

By the end of the film, Calhoun managed to open her heart to others once more. She moved past her programming and found love anew in Fix-It Felix Jr. Her expression during their wedding indicates that she has developed into a much happier individual.

She also seems to have a dark sense of humour, as after Vanellope jokingly ordered everyone who was mean to her to be executed, she smirked and said, "Oh, this place just got interesting." She also tends to use peculiar phrases in her speech that directly contrast her serious demeanour, such as, "Flattery don't charge these batteries, civilian." and, "The Cy-Bugs would chew up that game faster than a chicken hawk in a coop of crippled roosters."

### Physical Appearance

Sergeant Calhoun is a tall, beautiful woman who is wearing heavy, form-fitting black and red armour. She has a large bust, a slim waist, and long, shapely legs. She has fair skin and short golden blonde hair. Her hair is cut into a short bob plus choppy pixie cut style with side bangs. Her eyes are bright blue. She wears coral-coloured eyeshadow and thick black eyeliner. She has long dark lashes. Her lips are a deep rosy pink. Calhoun retains the most realistic appearance and resemblance to a real human being of all the main characters.

Her general article of clothing is a suit of heavy, black armour that covers every inch of her skin, excluding her neck, face, and head. Several points throughout the suit are illuminated with red lights. A metal belt containing her blaster is held around her waist. At her wedding, she wore a white wedding dress with a veil.

## Film Appearances

### Wreck-It Ralph

One week after Hero's Duty's installation, Sergeant Calhoun and the soldiers are ready for another day of eradicating the deadly Cy-Bugs. Unknown to Calhoun, the video game bad guy Wreck-It Ralph has game jumped into her game, disguised in the armour of troop member Markowski. When the round of play ends due to Ralph's oafishness, Calhoun aggressively reprimands the "soldier" for interfering with the first-person shooter. She then orders her troopers back to their start positions for the next round. After the arcade is closed for the day, Calhoun and her troopers hear a strange noise and immediately fire away upon spotting a figure. The figure turns out to be Fix-It Felix Jr. from the game of the same name. Calhoun demands to know why Felix has arrived, and the bashful hero tells her that his cohort, Ralph, has entered her game. Calhoun brushes it off as nonsense until an escape shuttle flies by with Ralph and a baby Cy-Bug aboard.

Calhoun and Felix head to the Game Central Station, where the Surge Protector tells them that Ralph went firing into Sugar Rush. Though Felix sees it as a simple mishap, Calhoun worries for Sugar Rush's safety, due to the fact that it is now inhabiting a Cy-Bug. According to Calhoun, Cy-Bugs are viruses, as they are unaware of the fact that they are living in a fictional game. In her words, all they know is "eat, kill, multiply", and without a beacon to stop them, they will consume both Sugar Rush and the entire arcade. Calhoun prepares to enter Sugar Rush before such a tragedy can unfold, though Felix asks to join. Calhoun refuses, but the handyman is unwilling to let her risk her life to fix Ralph's mistakes alone, as it is his job to fix what Ralph wrecks. Calhoun eventually allows him to join and the duo enters the game. They soon find the shuttle that Ralph crashed, only to find both Ralph and the Cy-Bug to be absent. Calhoun uses her Cy-Bug tracking device to find the bug, but the sugar particles in the atmosphere interfere with the signal.

While searching, Calhoun asks Felix why Ralph has gone AWOL (absence without official leave). Though he has no clue, Felix voices his fear that Ralph may have "gone Turbo". Unaware of the phrase, Felix explains the story of Turbo and TurboTime. Calhoun was openly disgusted by Turbo's story, but now had an understanding of Felix's situation. Meanwhile, Calhoun's scanner leads them across a large double-striped candy branch over Nesquik-Sand, but the branch suddenly dissolves, causing them to fall into the sand below. Felix, feeling despaired, goes into a panic, causing himself and Calhoun to sink faster. Calhoun slaps the hero to calm him down, throwing the sentient Laffy Taffy vines above them into fits of laughter; the more they laugh, the lower the vines stretch down. Felix gets the idea to have Calhoun continue slapping him so that they can grab hold of the vines and free themselves. Calhoun is notably uncomfortable with the idea of abusing the innocent Felix, but he reassures his safety as his magic hammer has the ability to heal him instantly. With this information, Calhoun repeatedly punches Felix, causing the vines to laugh and lower. Felix is soon able to grab hold of one, as well as Calhoun, lifting them out of the sand, and towards safety. Calhoun is briefly taken aback by Felix's dashing heroism, and the two share a gaze of mutual affection. Upon noticing the vines' attempt to serenade the duo, Calhoun fires her gun to scare them off so that she can get back with the mission.

Felix repairs the crashed shuttle, and he and Calhoun take air to search for Ralph and the bug. During this time, Felix becomes smitten with Calhoun and tries to compliment her by calling her "one dynamite gal". This triggers Calhoun, who is bombarded with memories of her deceased fiancé (he also called her a "dynamite gal"). After a panic attack, she lowers the shuttle in front of the castle of King Candy (ruler of Sugar Rush), where she orders Felix to remove himself. Later on, a lone Calhoun stumbles upon an underground Cy-Bug nest, which holds thousands of eggs to hatch. The eggs eventually do and the Cy-Bugs begin to ravage through Sugar Rush. Calhoun finds Ralph on the Sugar Rush Speedway and blames him for bringing about the game's destruction. Ralph insists that he saw the Cy-Bug die in a taffy swamp, only for swarms of the monsters to suddenly burst out of the ground. Calhoun then evacuates the game's citizens and prepares to destroy the entrance. However, a little girl named Vanellope who has befriended Ralph is unable to leave her game because she is a "glitch".

After the citizens desert the game, Calhoun hesitates to destroy the portal due to Vanellope's inability to escape but informs Felix that without a beacon, the Cy-Bugs cannot be stopped. Ralph quickly formulates an idea to erupt the Diet Cola Mountain, hoping to have the lava act as a beacon. He borrows Calhoun's hoverboard to fly to the top of the mountain, where he begins to smash its crater of mentos, but then Turbo (who has become a Cy-Bug after being eaten by one) attacks him and flies him into the air. Calhoun and Felix protect Vanellope from the Cy-Bugs that begin to advance on the portal. Unfortunately, Calhoun soon runs out of ammunition, forcing the trio back into the portal, but a force field barred Vanellope from leaving. Calhoun then drew her combat knife as Vanellope glitches to save Ralph as he breaks free from Turbo's grasps and brings the entire crater of mentos plunging into the lava, causing a massive eruption that produces a beacon, which attracts all the Cy-Bugs and vaporizes them, along with Turbo, for good.

As Felix congratulates Ralph for saving Sugar Rush, he kisses Calhoun on the cheek. Calhoun becomes surprised, and as she yanks Felix up, she initially appears to strangle him, but then she kisses him back, showing that her heavy heart has softened. After Sugar Rush is restored, Calhoun watches in amusement as Vanellope, who has transformed into a princess, jokingly decrees to have everyone who has bullied her to be executed. Calhoun then calls for Felix and Ralph that the arcade is about to open. So Calhoun, Felix, and Ralph return to their respective games, just in time for Felix and Ralph to save Fix-It Felix, Jr. Sometime later in the epilogue, Felix and Calhoun marry with Ralph serving as Felix's best man and Vanellope as Calhoun's maid of honour, and this time, all her men were standing watch for a potential Cy-Bug attack just in case. Calhoun is shown to continually join Felix, Ralph, and Vanellope on a series of game-jumping adventures during the end credits.

### Ralph Breaks the Internet

Calhoun returns in the sequel, with Jane Lynch reprising her role. When Sugar Rush is unplugged by Mr. Litwak, at Niceland, Felix and Calhoun ask people to adopt the homeless racers, which no one accepts, so Felix and Calhoun adopt, Then Surge Protector takes her and Felix to the apartment's kitchen, which Surge saying it isn't easy raising, which they disagree with, until the realize he was right, as the racers destroy the living room, and hit Surge with a block.

When Ralph comes back from the Internet, and Sugar Rush is restored, Calhoun and Felix are seen cheering on the racers, as they brag to Surge how to raise kids (which is drowned out by race engines), Then when the arcade characters go to Niceland, Calhoun is seen attending with Felix, as Ralph serves them burnt pie.