Slappy the Dummy

**Slappy the Dummy** is the main antagonist of the *Goosebumps* franchise. He is a living ventriloquist dummy that comes to life when the words "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano" are read aloud; which translates to "You and I are one now," and they can be found on a sheet of paper in Slappy's dress jacket pocket. After coming to life, Slappy will try to make the person who brought him back to life serve him as a slave.

## History

### Background

Long Ago, a man named Franz Maher lived in England until he decided to move to America in the 1920's and became a ventriloquist star due to the realistic dummies he made. He learned a lot of magic from an evil sorcerer named Kanduu, who was also his work colleague, Kanduu used his magic to bring his dummy's to life so they wouldn't feel so lonely.

As revealed in *Bride of the Living Dummy*, Slappy was carved out of coffin wood by an ancient evil sorcerer. When the sorcerer died, he placed his soul inside of the dummy. He waits for the day someone will say the magic words written on a card kept in Slappy's pocket, "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano," which will awaken him again. *Slappy's Nightmare* reveals that Slappy has a twin brother named Wally carved from the same coffin. However, this is only viewed as a dream until Jimmy O'James gets a crate with Wally and a set of instructions inside.

## General information

### Character influences

Slappy the Dummy was inspired by multiple characters and pieces of media, as well as memories of R.L. Stine's own childhood.

* In the book *It Came from Ohio!*, R.L. Stine stated that the idea of Slappy came from his childhood experiences with the original story of Pinocchio since it scared him so much as a kid.
* In the *Goosebumps Official Collector's Caps Book*, Stine mentions that one of the inspirations for Slappy came from when he was a kid and would use his ventriloquist dummy to scare his brother.
* The 1945 British anthology horror film *Dead of Night* is also mentioned in interviews as an inspiration for Slappy.
* Slappy may have been at least partially inspired by Chucky from the "*Child's Play*" horror films.
	+ For instance, both have similar-sounding names, and both are living dolls. In his television appearance, Slappy has orange/red hair — like Chuck. Additionally, in the *Night of the Living Dummy II* TV episode, Slappy says "Wanna play?", which is Chucky's catchphrase.
* Slappy may be based on Willie, a ventriloquist's dummy from Rod Serling's *The Twilight Zone*. R.L. Stine has stated that he views Serling was an inspirational figure.

### Physical description

In his early appearances, Slappy has brown hair and blue eyes. His lips are painted bright red, which curl in a sinister smile. There is also a chip on his lower lip. He wears a gray suit over a white collar and red bow tie. The collar has been stapled as his body is just painted white.

However, Slappy's appearance is changed for television and film. While he has wavy dark brown hair and cold and realistic blue eyes in the books, he is a curly-haired redhead in the television episodes, and his skin is made a bit lighter. In the film, his appearance is based more closely on his original depiction but with brown eyes

### Personality

Slappy the Dummy constantly insists he is not a "dummy" or a fool...he insists you are! He's evil and even sadistic. One of his primary objectives is to enslave humans to serve his bidding. Slappy has a cutting sense of humor, and he takes pleasure in slewing insults. Slappy is a cruel prankster, often making a terrible mess wherever he goes. Typically, he allows others to take the blame for his misdoings. Slappy also loves bragging about himself, usually boasting about how smart and awesome he is. This is mostly present in the introductions and interruptions in *Goosebumps SlappyWorld*.

However, Slappy is presented as an anti-hero in *Slappy's Nightmare*, *The Streets of Panic Park* and *The Dummy Meets the Mummy*. In *Slappy's Nightmare*, he even does good deeds for his own self-preservation.

### Abilities

The powers Slappy has are inconsistent and vary greatly. In the original trilogy, he does not seem to have any. In the television adaptation of *Night of the Living Dummy III*, he can turn humans into dummies and bring other dummies to life. In *Son of Slappy*, he can control other people through a chirping sound. In *The Dummy Meets the Mummy*, he has laser vision and can bring the things in the museum to life. In *Diary of a Dummy*, he can freeze people in place. In *My Friend Slappy*, he can control people and use electric zaps.

### Weaknesses

Slappy is considered to be one of the most dangerous villains in the series, as he seemingly dies and comes back to life numerous times. The ancient words that bring Slappy to life can be used to put him back to sleep temporarily, but Slappy's biggest fear is that someone will find a way to put him back to sleep for good. It is also mentioned in the *Monster Survival Guide* that one of Slappy's other weaknesses is termites.

## Trivia

* Slappy was originally created by an unnamed evil sorcerer by being carved out of the cursed wood of a stolen coffin.
* During a Q&A at the Macaulay Honors College building on November 13, 2012, R.L. Stine mentioned that Slappy was his favorite character from the *Goosebumps* books.

* He is the first *Goosebumps* villain to be an anti-hero in *Slappy's Nightmare*.
* Slappy appears in the short story *Gaslighted: Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast.* In the story, Aloysius encounters Slappy in Stony Mountain Sanatorium and finds himself either dreaming or going insane.
* Youtube channel *Watchmojo* placed Slappy in 7th place in their "Top 20 Scariest Dolls in Horror Movies" list.
	+ They also placed him in 4th place in their "Top 10 Evil Toys in Movies" list.
* Slappy was one of the inspirations for the ventriloquist dummies seen in *Toy Story 4*.
* According to Ron Stefaniuk, Slappy's appearance in the episodes differed from his appearance on the covers because the show sometimes allowed them a certain amount of creative freedom over the design elements. They would typically come up with a few different drawings for each creature, with one being selected by the higher ups for the final design.