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"Yes I Canada!"
—Duke's catchphrase

Duke Caboom is a motorcycle supporting character from the film, Toy Story 4. He is a 70's based action figure from Canada who has been stuck as an outcast for decades before meeting Bo Peep.

Personality[]

Duke Caboom is a boisterous daredevil with a sad side, disappointed that he could not live up to all the expectations his original owner, Réjean, had for him due to commercials.[1]

Appearance[]

Duke is a plastic toy in a daredevil's jumpsuit with red accents. He has a white, red accented helmet with a red tinted, transparent visor, and he also wears a cape. He rides a matching motorcycle with Canadian flag symbology stamped in several places.

Toy Story 4[]

Introduced as a friend of Bo Peep, Duke Caboom is first encountered by Woody in a "club" of sorts, and insists on doing poses before addressing Woody's concerns. When Woody mentions that he has a kid, he unintentionally sends Duke into a flashback to his own kid, Réjean. After being taken out of the box, Réjean is disappointed that Duke Caboom can't make jumps like in the commercials, and Duke never managed to get over his inability to live up to his kid's expectations.

Woody jumps with Duke Caboom

Woody with Duke Caboom preparing to make the four foot jump

Snapping him out of it, Bo boosts Duke's ego as the only toy able to "crash" like she wants, and that he should just be himself, which he accepts but not before doing yet more poses. Getting ready to make the four foot shelving jump to the cabinet Gabby Gabby was in, Duke panics at the last second when he is reminded of his kid, and although they nearly lose control, they end up making the jump anyway.

After recovering in the hectic aftermath of the botched attempt by Woody to rescue Forky, Duke Caboom manages to lead away the cat, which the other toys had latched onto, out of the antique store and to safety from Gabby Gabby's Bensons. He then departs with Bo when she leaves Woody behind, escorting Ducky and Bunny to the carousel.

After Bo has a change of heart, Duke heads back with the group to meet up with Gabby Gabby and Woody. Having to now rush back to he carousel, being a rendezvous point, Bo has Duke Caboom jump from the top of a ferris wheel forty feet to another building, in order to create a zip line. The height from the jump to the end zone is fifth-teen feet according to an interview. Nearly panicking over the exponentially increased distance, Bo once again comforts him and he executes the jump correctly, doing poses through the air until getting smacked in the head as he passed through a circle. Even so, Duke is ecstatic and the zip line is correctly created. Duke then proceeds onward to the carousel and then stays with the traveling carnival afterward.

Production[]

Originally intended to be little more than a gag, Keanu Reeves managed to get Duke Caboom developed into a far more substantial character through questioning the directors about Duke's motivation as a toy. Coming up with nothing, this prompted director Josh Cooley to more seriously flesh out Duke Caboom as a person.[2] Continuing the trend, Keanu was the originator of Duke's signature compulsion to do poses, acting out poses on top of a table which producers found to be quintessentially "Duke Caboom".[3]

Trivia[]

  • The character made a cameo appearance in Jack-Jack's playpen in Incredibles 2.
  • Duke's triumphant jump at the end of Toy Story 4 sends him flying across a bright, full moon, mimicking an iconic scene of Elliott and E.T. flying across the moon in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
  • Duke makes an appearance at the end of his debut movie while bouncing on the I in the Pixar logo (replacing Luxo Jr.), and then high fiveing a white Combat Carl.
  • Duke's Canadian identity is possibly a reference to his voice actor Keanu Reeves, who is Canadian himself.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

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