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| “ | Yeah, I'm a Sullivan! I'm the Sullivan who flunked every test! The one who got kicked out of the program! The one who's so afraid to let everyone down, that I cheated! And I lied! Mike, I'll never know how you feel, but you're not the only failure here. I act scary, Mike. But most of the time... I'm terrified. | „ |
| ~ Sulley telling Mike that his family reprimanded him for never being the best scarer as his father, while admitting that he considers himself as a failure. |
| “ | I never told you about what happened with Boo. The fear in her eyes when she was scared. I… I didn't like what I saw. What I saw in me. Laugh power is the heart of the new Monsters, Inc. And it's also the right thing to do. | „ |
| ~ Sulley explains to Tylor why he has turned his back on Scarer's life. |
James P. Sullivan, most commonly known as Sulley, is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Mike Wazowski) of Pixar's Monsters, Inc. franchise. He is Mike Wazowski's best friend and the current CEO of the titular factory.
After the defeats of Randall Boggs and Mr. Waternoose, Sulley becomes the CEO of Monsters, Incorporated, recreating it as a laughing floor when discovery that laughs are ten times more powerful than screams as well less emotionally harmful after learning about the real meaning of scaring.
He is voiced by John Goodman, who also played Yellow in the mid-1990's M&M's commercials, Fred Flinstone in the 1994 live-action film The Flintstones, Baloo in The Jungle Book 2, Hound in the Transformers Cinematic Universe, Rex in We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove, and William Randa in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse.
Appearance
Sulley is a large hairy cyan-blue monster with purple spots and indigo-blue eyes. He has curved horns, white claws, razor-sharp fangs, a huge chin, white spikes that run down his backside to the end of his long dinosaur-like tail, and a large furry fat belly. He has bushy eyebrows, and a teal nose. In Monsters University, it's revealed he sheds and was thinner with mullet-like hair, a little shorter, and his horns were smaller, and not sharp.
History
Monsters University
Sulley appears in the prequel looking younger, skinnier and shorter in stature. His fur is also shaggier.
Sulley was little at the years of Mike's childhood.
Sulley started out by making a ferocious debut by interrupting his first Scaring class with the Lion roar from the 1995 film Jumanji by TriStar Pictures, apologizing, saying he heard someone say "roar" and just went for it. Here, he reveals himself to be the son of Bill Sullivan, a famous Scarer, and asks a fellow student for a pencil since he forgot his stuff, but he just uses it as a toothpick. Sulley is originally arrogant, boastful, lazy, laid-back & an uneducated student as a young teenager before he is humble, modest, fatherly, heroic and benevolent as an adult.
Sulley hardly put in any work in his classes and instead relied on his family legacy and natural skills, preferring to spend his time goofing off and playing pranks, such as kidnapping the mascot of rival college Fear Tech. Hiding the mascot, he accidentally sneaks into the room of a fellow scare student, Mike Wazowski, leading to a mad chase when the pig runs off. His skills and legacy get him recognized by and accepted into ROR, the premiere campus fraternity.
However, Sulley was soon upstaged by Mike in his classes (due to Sulley not putting real effort into his work), which leads to ROR considering revoking his membership. Eventually, Mike and Sulley's petty rivalry gets out of hand and causes a mistake during the final exam when, while the two are trying to scare the other, Sulley accidentally knocks over and ruins Dean Hardscrabble's prized scream-canister. Dean Hardscrabble tests them on the spot, first failing Mike before turning to Sulley.
Sulley jumps the gun with a Jumanji Lion roar, and Hardscrabble explains how his method doesn't work to make the hypothetical child scream, noting his disregarding the importance of the study, leading her to dismiss him from the program as well, and Sulley notices Worthington and his frat-boys leave without a word to him. Sulley tries to change Hardscrabble's mind by reminding her he's a Sullivan, but she simply says his family will be very disappointed. Sulley instantly blames Mike for his failure (even though Sulley was the one who started the argument) and storms off.
By next semester, Mike and Sulley are both now in a boring class for scream-canister handling, but Sulley still blames Mike, evident by his constantly glaring at him and crushing a canister in his hand. But later on, he sees Mike hurry off to add Oozma Kappa for the Scare Games, making a bet with Hardscrabble and they agree on the following terms: If OK wins, Hardscrabble will allow the whole team into the Scaring Program, but if they lose, Mike will leave Monsters University. But then Hardscrabble brings up he's short one member to qualify, and Sulley seizes this opportunity and smugly gets himself on the team because Mike has no choice, qualifying OK for the games. Also because Sulley was expelled from his former team, thus Randall joins RORs & because they are the most famous fraternity in college. But after meeting the OK members, Sulley is concerned, as Oozma Kappa is not known for being scary, but Mike trains them for the games.
However, Sulley and Mike's rivalry with each other almost costs them winning the first round of the games; they luck out when it turns out Jaws Theta Chi had cheated, disqualifying them and getting OK back in the games. In the next round, they almost lose when Mike insists the team follow his lead alone, and it is only when the other members of OK work together do they advance. But after the event, they're told by Python Nu Kappa about a party, asking them if they're coming. Mike insists they go, believing they're getting recognized. During the party, which is at ROR house, the ROR pranks Oozma Kappa and humiliates them in front of the whole university. When the rest of the team are disheartened, Mike decides to recover their confidence by paying a visit to Monsters Inc. where Mike and Sulley began their understanding, and dropped their differences in favor of friendship.
Thanks to Mike and Sulley, Oozma Kappa makes it to the final round against ROR. But the night before the final round, Sulley speaks with Hardscrabble, hoping that if OK wins and they're in the Scaring Program, there won't be any hard feelings. But Hardscrabble tells him in order to win, each member of OK must prove, in front of the entire school, that they are undeniably scary - and, in her professional opinion, she tells him one of them is not. Sulley realizes she's talking about Mike, and tries to defend Mike's worthiness but Hardscrabble demandingly asks him if he, himself, thinks if Mike is scary, leaving Sulley speechless because he is aware Mike is not terrifying. Before the two of them go to bed, Sulley tries to coach Mike in roaring, to "dig deep down and let the scary out", and despite Mike's efforts, Sulley still doesn't believe Mike can be scary although he does not bring it up.
So, in the final round, he tampers with the scare simulator settings, putting it on easy, so that Mike can register a perfect score and make Oozma Kappa win the tournament. The oks won & Sulley also beats Randall but unwillingly causes him to originate his villainy. But after the games when Mike realizes Sulley's tampering, he is heartbroken and furious, accusing Sulley of being just like Hardscrabble. Sulley only cheated because he doesn't want their team to lose & for Mike to make them lose upon not looking scary at all so he only does this for the better for everyone. Then Sulley tries to defend his actions but the rest of OK are ashamed that they won because Sulley cheated and leave behind the trophy. Rebuffing ROR's attempt to get him back into their fraternity as Randall's replacement. However because of learning of the true value of friendship upon meeting Mike & became pure good than before, a remorseful Sulley confesses to Dean Hardscrabble about the cheating, leading a furious Hardscrabble to demand he leave campus by tomorrow, calling him a disgrace to MU and his family name.
At that moment, they hear an alert that someone broke into the door lab, and Sulley quickly realizes that Mike had entered the human world to prove himself scary.
Sulley enters the door and arrives at the camp looking for Mike. At the camp, the police have arrived looking for intruders and Sulley is mistaken for a bear, chased into the woods. Sulley finds Mike by the lake, and he apologizes for what he did but Mike accuses him of not understanding how he feels, saying that monsters like Sulley, a Sullivan, have it easy. It is here that Sulley admits his faults, his failing and getting kicked out of the Program, and was so afraid of letting everyone down he resorted to cheating and lying. Sulley then tells Mike he's not the only failure, as Sulley him acts scary because he's terrified of the expectations he's had to live up to and how his family puts a lot of pressure on him for the sake of their legacy. When Mike asks why didn't he bring it up previously, Sulley cites they weren't on friendly terms back then and didn't have the chance.
Seeing the rangers coming, they both run back to the camp to go back to the university. However, Dean Hardscrabble deactivates the door until the authorities arrive, trapping both Mike and Sulley in the human world.
Mike devises a plan to create so much scream energy, that they can power the door from their side. Combining Sulley's natural abilities with Mike's technical knowledge, the two manage to scare the park rangers so much, that not only they are able to power the door, the door blasts off from the surplus energy. This causes Mike and Sulley to be detained by the CDA, thus expelling them from MU but only important that they are both friends and they're alive.
While they are leaving MU, Hardscrabble felt sympathetic of getting rid of them. So instead of expelling Sulley & Mike, she encourages them to keep "surprising" and indirectly giving them a means of working at a scare company. The movie ends with Mike and Sulley taking jobs at Monsters, Inc. as mailmen. During the credits, it is shown that both of them rise from being mailmen to an efficient scare team that leads them both to become the company's top famous employees, thus establishing the story of Monsters, Incorporated.
Monsters, Inc.
In the first film, Sulley was top scarer of Monsters, Inc., and like all monsters, was naturally afraid of human children because it was rumored that they were so toxic that even a single touch could kill even the biggest monsters in an instant - until he met Boo, a human girl who found her way into the monster world and into the factory. Sulley, who was initially hesitant, became Boo's protector and obtained a fatherly role to the human girl, constantly worrying about her and protecting her from harm while at the same time unlocking the secrets that humans were not as deadly as rumored.
Starting by treating Boo like a pet, Sulley eventually grew to care for her, the attention drawing away from a jealous Mike. Randall Boggs, Sulley's rival who also wants to be top scarer, and Sulley's boss Mr. Waternoose, the CEO of Monsters, Inc., tries to use Boo in an experiment to forcibly extract screams for the growing energy crisis that relies on their cries to provide, and risking his friendship with Mike, Sulley comes to her rescue. He is later joined by Mike and Celia in their efforts and exposes the conspiracy thus the CDA. Sulley banishes Randall & gets Waternoose to unwillingly expose himself. While also discovering that laughter generates 10 times the energy of screams. As the new CEO of Monster Inc. Sulley manages to avert the energy crisis with his newfound knowledge. He is last seen paying a visit to Boo after Mike reassembles the shredded gateway.
Sometime after the film, Sulley announces Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me!, a company play that stars Mike, who has also directed, written, and produced the play, in front of the audience, and he appears in the play as a co-star.
Mike's New Car
In the short, Sulley is featured as the secondary. When he sees Mike's new car, he asks Mike what was wrong with the old car, to which Mike replied, "That's three little words, Sulley: Six-wheel drive!", then they both got in. Unfortunately for Mike, Sulley accidentally ruins the car by doing various things, and Mike eventually told Sulley to get out, but ruined the car himself when he sped off.
Monsters at Work
Monsters at Work takes place shortly after the first film, and Sulley has become the CEO of the newly revamped Monsters, Inc. A new scarer named Tylor Tuskmon applies to become a scarer, only to find that the company is no longer hiring them. Sulley and Mike have minor roles in the story.
In "Adorable Returns", Sulley allows the Yeti to return to Monstropolis after learning from Tylor and Val Little that the Yeti was banished after learning of Waternoose's project with the Scream Extractor.
In "It's Laughter They're After", due to low energy levels, Sulley and Mike are given an ultimatum to produce a million giggles in one day or risk being replaced by FearCo. A little later, Sulley comes to see Tylor, who Mike has promoted to Jokester-in-training to help him with his first day stress. Tylor admits to him that he would like to go back to the time of the screams as it was what he had prepared for, but Sulley explains that when he scared Boo, he was ashamed and that's why he never wants to become an elite terror again. In the end, thanks to the joint efforts of the Jokesters, Tylor, Mike, and the creation of a larger energy container that can hold the extra energy of laughter, Monsters, Inc. remains.
The next day (right as the movie ends), Sulley exchanges a sympathetic look with Tylor, who is now the real Jokester, before going to check on Mike's progress, happily gazing at the fruits of their hard work.
Personality
James P. Sullivan was initially unmotivated, work-shy, and something of a clock-watcher to begin with. His overconfidence about his family name and own scaring abilities gave him a cocky disposition. This was not without case however, as he was definitely one of the most talented Scarers to begin with at Monsters University and his skills only bettered with age; as a teenager he was simply too slothful to put enough effort in honing his skills, literally the only claim to him being or becoming a great Scarer was his Sullivan blood and mild skills.
For Sulley, scaring was something a monster was only born with or good at instantly and didn't think that you needed to study it to become an expert, jolting at Mike Wazowski's studying for the Scare Finals claiming it was something you just "do". Rather ironically, Mike (who was considered by many to be not scary) did extremely well at Monsters University whereas James kept failing and was kicked out of ROR for his poor scores on tests.
After being expelled from the Scaring Program, Sullivan's demeanor grew more despondent (although this is probably because his insecurities and worst fears come to pass, letting everyone down). He also grew much more sullen and bitter, especially towards Mike, whom he blamed for getting both of them expelled from the Scaring Program (in reality, it was more of a shared blame).
Beneath his snooty demeanor, James hides feelings of insecurity and genuine fear. Though he appeared to brag endlessly about his family name beforehand, in reality James fears he cannot match the monumentally high standards, that which is expected of a Sullivan and does the exact opposite; make others expect nothing of him by instead acting like a unmotivated, party-hearty student. His own feelings of inadequacy about his family's, teacher's and peers expectations lead him to perform less than honorable actions such as blaming Mike for both of them being excluded from the Scaring Program or cheating in the final of the Scare Games when they had no chance of winning honestly. He later expresses these feelings to Mike, claiming that although he never knew what he felt like, he was just as much of a failure as he was.
Quotes
| “ | 🎶Yes, I wouldn't be nothing If I didn't have you.🎶 | „ |
| ~ Sulley singing. |
| “ | I don't believe I ordered a wake-up call, Mikey. | „ |
| ~ Sulley after Mike honks a horn in his face, his first lines in the movie. |
| “ | Sulley: I don't need to know any of that stuff to scare. Hardscrabble: That "stuff" would've informed you that this particular child is afraid of snakes. So a roar wouldn't make him scream, it would make him cry, alerting his parents, exposing the monster world, destroying life as we know it, and of course we can't have that. So I'm afraid I cannot recommend that you continue in the Scaring program. Good day. Sulley: Wait, what? But I'm a Sullivan. Hardscrabble: Well then, I'm sure your family will be very disappointed. |
„ |
| ~ Sulley was kicked out of the Scaring program because he believed that being a Sullivan was enough. |
| “ | Hey, that looks like Randall. Randall's your monster. And you think he's gonna come through the closet and scare you. Oh boy... how do I explain this...? Uh, it's empty. See? (Boo exclaims) No monster in here. (...) Well, now there is. But uh, I'm not gonna scare you. | „ |
| ~ Sulley realizing Boo is scared of Randall Boggs. |
| “ | Hardscrabble: You did what? Sulley: My team had nothing to do with it. It was all me. I cheated. Hardscrabble: I expect you off campus by tomorrow. Sulley: Yes, ma'am. Hardscrabble: You're a disgrace to this university and your family name. |
„ |
| ~ Sulley admits to having cheated. |
| “ | Make her laugh! | „ |
| ~ Sulley to Mike to make Boo laugh |
| “ | She's not scared of you anymore. (Boo: ROOAARR!!!) Looks like you're out of a job. | „ |
| ~ Sulley to Randall after Boo beat him up |
| “ | That right, Boo! You did it! You beat him! | „ |
| ~ Sulley to Boo, after beaten Randall and banished him into the human world, |
| “ | Kitty has to go. | „ |
| ~ Sulley farewell to Boo |
| “ | Mike, you're not scary, not even a little, but you are fearless! | „ |
| ~ Sulley exposing to Mike to he doing right things. |
Audio Samples
Trivia
- The nickname Sulley recalls the word "sully" which means "to soil or tarnish"; Sulley played a part in both his and Mike's flunking out of Monsters University's scare program and ruining the reputation of Monsters Incorporated, until he steps in as the new CEO and solves the energy crisis.
- In the original version of the first film's storyline, Sully was going to be a janitor rather than a Scarer. During the credits sequence for Monsters University, we learn he and Mike were janitors for Monsters Inc. at some point between the two movies.
- According to the original treatment from the DVD, Sulley's working name was Johnson, and later Mulley, and instead of being the best scarer as seen in the movie, he was a clumsy monster who was very bad at his job. This persona was ultimately given to Thaddeus Bile instead.
- In another early draft, one of his original names was Hob, and instead of working as a scarer, he actually worked for a TV show.
- One prototype drawing of Sulley showed him with brown fur, while another showed him wearing glasses, and a third showed him with tentacles for legs. The reason for Sulley to be drawn with legs for his final design is due to the fact that the animators were afraid that the viewers would focus too much on the tentacles instead of his face had he been drawn with such. Sulley's glasses were included in the final designs and test renderings, but they were removed as the animators felt that his face would not be readable.
- In some earlier versions of the film, Sulley was the son of Bigfoot and was considered a legacy employee. He was also more intellectual and tried to come up with practical inventions to help with scaring, though these usually backfired.
- Dean Hardscrabble warns Sulley that his roar would make a child with a fear of snakes cry instead of scream and not only producing no scream energy would also tell his/her parents and therefore endangering the monster world foreshadows the fact that Sulley accidentally scares Boo and makes her cry before Waternoose and Randall banish him and Mike to the Himalayas, causing him to realize that scaring is bad, and the fact that Boo was seriously afraid of Randall, a reptilian monster whose resemblance is similar to that of a snake.
- Sulley used to be arrogant & boastful as a kid, but turned pure good upon meeting Mike by learning about the true value of friendship. If Sulley never learnt about friendship or met Mike, meaning he will switch psychological personalities with Randall at the original film. Also including that Mike will be future lifelong friends with Randall instead of Sulley.
- Because of that tragic incident when he accidentally scares Boo, thus Sulley decides that the company & the monster realm should be revolutionized with collecting laughter by entertaining them instead of scaring them. Also that scaring human kids can be emotionally harmful & traumatizing; also how Hardscrabble foreshadows to him that kids won't just scream when they get scared but simply makes them cry instead. Luckily this new big change of collecting laughter happened because scaring is banned forever for the monster world due to the fact that kids aren't scared of monsters anymore thus doesn't collect scream energy.
- Sulley's design was said to be based on that of a prehistoric giant ground sloth.
- In Monsters, Inc., Sulley has 2,320,413 hair strands. 25,336 of them are "key" hairs used to guide the motion and shape of the other 2,295,077. When Boo touched Sulley's finger near the end of the film, a Pixar technical director had to hand animate the hairs to make them react.
- Sulley has 5.5 million rendered hairs in Monsters University, 5 times as many as in Monsters, Inc.
- Physically, Sulley has 5,475,458 hairs on his body. He weighs 768 or 795 pounds.
- It's revealed in Monsters University that Sulley's father is named Bill Sullivan.
- At one point, they made Sulley wear glasses, which was a bad idea because it was hard to see the eye expressions of the character.
- In the French version, Sulley is named "Jacques Sullivent" and is nicknamed "Sulli".
- Sulley is the fourth Pixar protagonist to break the law, after Lightning McQueen, Carl Fredricksen, and Mike (who broke the law at the same time as Sulley).
- Sulley has the same name as the late James Owen "The Rev" Sullivan, who is famous for being the founding member and original drummer of the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold.
- Bill Murray was originally considered for the role of Sulley. He screen tested for the role and was interested in the part, but when Pete Docter was unable to make contact with him, he took it as a "no".
- The outtakes reveal Sulley "stuffed up" several takes, constantly tripping over things.
- Pixar's Official Twitter account posted an image of Sully and Mike dressed in costumes for Halloween. In the image, Sulley wears a costume that closely resembles Bernie Kropp, the teacher from The Incredibles.
- His design is based on The Beast and ground sloths.
- In an early concept art, Sulley was originally going to have tentacles for legs.
- Sulley is similar along with Steven Zinderson & Duncan Dankworth from "The World Life of Switcheroo", a featured film by youtube channel called "InfinityCraft". They are laid-back, mischievous, all-brawn at their younger ages. Then they became kind, friendly, modest, strong, heroic, caring and loyal when older. They are unwillingly friends & pawns of their elderly archenemies (Sulley to Waternoose; Steven & Duncan for Zatan the Devil/as his alter-ego facade as "Sheldon Armstrong"). They are main protagonists in their original films & they have best friends that became their former rivals (Sulley has Mike; Steven & Duncan has Alice & Vicky).
- Sulley is also remarkably similar to Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove franchise, aside from being originally voiced by John Goodman:
- Both acted a heads for different groupings (Sulley is the current CEO of Monsters Inc.; Pacha is the leader of an Incan-themed village).
- Both became father figures to younglings whom they were initially annoyed at (Boo for Sulley; Kuzco for Pacha).
- Both have strongly rivaled with purple-themed antagonists (Randall Boggs for Sulley; Yzma for Pacha).
- Some of his roars sound just like the Lion from the 1995 film Jumanji from 2001-2025, which is Disney's Ferocious Roar sound effect, until they replaced all the Jumanji Lion Roars with Disney's Ferocious Roar sound effect.
External Links
- James P. Sullivan on the Disney Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the Pixar Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the Monsterpedia Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the Pure Good Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the World of Cars Wiki
- James P. Sullivan on the Shonen Heroes Wiki
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