Characters who appear only in the Goosebumps novel Night of the Living Dummy I. Tropes related to Slappy can be found at Goosebumps: Night of the Living Dummy Saga.
Kris and Lindy Powell
Lindy (center) and Kris (right)
- "I can't bear to look at Slappy anymore. I'm so sorry I got us interested in dummies."
The original protagonists of the Night of the Living Dummy series, two twin sisters who share a rather intense sibling rivalry that gets enflamed when Lindy finds Slappy abandoned in a nearby dumpster and gains newfound popularity with her ventriloquist act.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Both are blonde-haired twins. In the comic, however, Kris has green hair while Lindy Has brown hair.
- Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Pretty much their rivalry in a nutshell. Seemingly the main reason Kris wants a dummy of her own is to show up Lindy.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Are borderline antagonistic to each other for much of the novel but show genuine concern for each other's well being and team up when Mr. Wood is shown to be very much alive and terrorizes them both.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first seems like the Big Reveal is Lindy was the "villain" all along after it's revealed she was behind all of Mr. Wood's strange behavior... until Kris reads aloud an odd phrase tucked into Mr. Wood's pocket that actually brings him to life and leads to the dummy's genuine reign of terror.
- Big Sister Bully: It's never stated who's the older twin but Lindy seems to take on this role to a milder degree, mostly just coming across as a bit overly smug, patronizing and bossy... until it's revealed she was Gaslighting Kris into thinking Mr. Wood was actually alive and creating escalating levels of mischief simply out of spite that Kris was sharing her newfound passion.
- Break the Cutie: It's pretty much one continuous Trauma Conga Line for Kris, a mold-setter for much of the series later protagonists.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Kris struggles to find a funny routine to use with Mr. Wood.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Probably the most intense in the entire series, which makes sense as they're sisters who share nearly everything (including their room), which only gets exacerbated when they both get dummies and sinister trouble starts to brew.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kris's jealousy starts growing after seeing how much attention and praise Lindy gets with her and Slappy's ventriloquism act.
- Here We Go Again!: After finally getting rid of Mr. Wood for good they return to their room only to find a relieved Slappy is also very much alive (as well as also seeing them as his "slaves").
- Kick the Dog: Hoo boy.. Lindy's whole "Joke" with the dummy, as it was clearly NOT meant to be funny (other than maybe to her) and scaring the shit out of your sister until she breaks down crying is abusive by any meaningful definition.
- Laser-Guided Karma: One could say to Lindy when Mr. Wood actually does come to life and torments the family, though Kris gets all the blame.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Subverted, as the short-haired Kris is the much more feminine of the two.
- Sanity Slippage: What Kris's parents begin to expect of her after Mr. Wood's nasty stunt at the auditorium.
- Trauma Conga Line: Kris. Not only does she get tricked into thinking Slappy is alive in a cruel "prank" by Lindy (which reduces her to tears by the end and makes her question her sanity), she later has to deal with Mr.Wood coming alive and tormenting her and Lindy. And at even at the end when they kill Mr.Wood, Slappy then comes alive for real to try to enslave them. Poor girl...
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Lindy shows some potentially alarming signs of this when it's found out she was Gaslighting Kris into thinking Mr. Wood was actually alive, much of of which included outright verbal and physical abuse through the conduit of the dummy itself as well as destroying all the family groceries and other property as part of the extended "prank", and shows little remorse or regret when Kris reveals how much it genuinely scared and upset her).
- Uncertain Doom: When they think they’re safe, they then realize Slappy is also alive. We never find out what happens to them. However, the book is written in third person narration, which is not a good sign. This might be a case of One Twin Must Die, if not both. In the Goosebumps Graphix adaptation, the book is narrated in first person from Kris's perspective, suggesting at least she made it out alive.
- The Unfavorite: Not as blatant as most examples, but it's more than hinted at Kris lives a bit in Lindy's shadow.
- Villain Ball: Lindy seems to get it when she plays her terrifying "prank" on Kris as while she's not exactly nice to her sister for the most part, nothing else she does is anywhere near as mean.
Mr. Wood
- "I am back, thanks to you. And now you and your sister will serve me."
The original living dummy from early in the series. Mr. Wood was given to Kris after her sister Lindy found Slappy, and he was the one who initially came to life and tormented the girls. He was killed off in the book's ending and hasn't appeared since in any of the other books.
- Adapted Out: Was never featured in the TV adaptation.
- Ax-Crazy: The trading card depicts a scene of him lunging at Kris, tackling her down a flight of stairs while also trying to strangle her. He's also willing to attempt murder attempting to kill the family dog and threatens to kill Lindy and Kris's friends and parents as well.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: While his eye color is never mentioned in the book, his designs on the UK, Korean, and French covers, as well as his designs in the Goosebumps Graphix adaptation, Enter Horrorland, and the 2015 game, all give him blue eyes. The one official piece of merchandise he appears on (a shirt) also gives him these.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: While Mr. Wood shows himself to be a better fighter than Slappy, he's still as vulnerable as you'd think a wooden dummy would be. As such he gets taken out for good by a steamroller.
- Demoted to Extra: His only other appearances in the franchise beyond Night of the Living Dummy were in the trading card series and as the player character for the Horrorland website's games, as well as a cameo in I Am Slappy's Evil Twin
- Evil Redhead: Has a mop of red hair.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: He is noted to have a nasty, raspy voice, and he has an equally nasty personality.
- Flat Character: He's a more vicious version of Slappy who loves tormenting his owners and is far more willing to try a murder people if they refuse to serve him. That's pretty much all we know about him, and given his demise, it's likely all we ever will.
- Fusion Dance: Bonus material included in a reprint of Night of the Living Dummy explains that Mr. Wood's destruction caused his spirit or magic to merge with Slappy's, with the fusion making Slappy "twice as mean and a thousand times ruder." This "soul merge" is actually shown in the Goosebumps Graphix adaptation of the story.
- Hate Sink: He is a smug, incredibly rude and mean-spirited cretin with no redeeming qualities. He also suffers from Small Name, Big Ego and Stupid Evil, and ends up dying a pathetic and anticlimactic death before ever getting a chance to make as big an impact on readers as his more successful brother. In short, he's Slappy with all of his unpleasant personality and none of his Laughably Evil nature or charisma. The only genuinely engaging thing about him is how much of a surprisingly vile and serious villain he is for a work of comedy-horror children's literature.
- I'm Your Worst Nightmare: "I'm not a dream... I'M A NIGHTMARE!"
- Informed Attribute: Wood states that he has magical powers, but the only one that we see is his ability to magically projectile vomit on command, leaving it uncertain what other powers he has.
- Jerkass: He makes Slappy look pleasant by comparison. Let that sink in.
- Knight of Cerebus: An unusual example in that he came before his more comical brother. While Slappy is more of a trickster and has only attempted murder much later in the series not to mention has served as the Lesser of Two Evils on multiple occasions teaming up with the heroes against worse threats, Mr. Wood is outright homicidal and revels in how much intimidation and suffering he can inflict on his owners. At one point, he even tries to murder the family dog, and threatens to go kill Kris and Lindy's friends and parents next.
- Kick the Dog: In addition to repeatedly getting Kris in trouble just to be a dick, he outright tries to strangle the family dog.
- Killed Off for Real: And unlike Slappy he really has stayed true to this trope when he died at the end.
- Out of Focus: In contrast to Slappy, the central overarching character of Goosebumps, Wood only appears in the original book and a short cameo in I am Slappy's Evil Twin. His only bit of merchandise is on a shirt. Justified since he was Killed Off for Real and his evil magic got absorbed into Slappy.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: While usually a lot more serious and threatening than Slappy, his insults he frames Kris for during her ventriloquism act are beyond cruel, possibly coming as offensive as possible with breaching the guidelines of children's literature.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Like Slappy, Wood has the size and physique of a regular doll, but he's nonetheless strong for one, beating down and almost overpowering Kris and Lindy, digging himself out of a buried and locked suitcase, and nearly strangling their dog to death.
- Predecessor Villain: Not only did he come before Slappy, but it's implied that his malice and evil energy is what made Slappy what he is today as Slappy never caused any trouble until Mr. Wood died possibly implying he was a friendly dummy before Mr. Wood was destroyed.
- Red Is Violent: Has red hair, wears a red and green checkered shirt, and is perfectly willing to kill humans and animals.
- Rewrite: The original story was that Mr. Wood and Slappy were both carved out of wood by an Evil Sorcerer from a cursed coffin and brought to life to spread his evil. I am Slappy's Evil Twin states that they were actually created by a man named Franz Maher. Wood was brought to life by Kanduu for evil while Slappy was intended by Franz to be a friendly dummy but turned out evil as well. Slappy Beware states that the first story was just one of several false rumored stories and completely ignores the second one, showing that Slappy was built by Darkwell to spread evil as an act of revenge against humanity for treating him like a menace. The story does not state if Darkwell brought Mr. Wood to life, though since the second story is ignored, the implication is that Darkwell did, and I am Slappy's Evil Twin is non-canon.
- The Reveal: In Slappy Beware, it's revealed there is an entire line of Mr. Wood dolls. The Mr. Wood from the first book was simply the only one to be brought to life with magic.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Judging by all his spiel about powers and other threats, Wood seems to think he's bigger than he appears. Fittingly, he's crushed like a peanut by a steamroller and the world doesn't give a shit.
- Stupid Evil: Before he came to life proper, Kris adored him and might have been easier to manipulate if he acted nicer. Instead he bullies, blackmails, and wrecks havoc, which only draws attention to himself, to the point where her parents decide to take him back to the store next Monday. He then continues to be a controlling little bastard, and it leads to his deserving pathetic demise.
- Starter Villain: Of the Night of the Living Dummy books.
- Undignified Death: Gets randomly squashed by a steamroller, whose driver initially mistakes him for a little kid. Then his remains are swept up and forgotten by the rest of the series. Can't say he didn't earn it.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Cracked like an egg in his first appearance.
