I'm just a surge protector doing my job, sir!Surge Protector
The Surge Protector is a minor character in Disney's 2012 animated feature film, Wreck-It Ralph and its 2018sequel. He acts as the overseer of Game Central Station and the arcade's denizens. Despite his authority, he is typically the butt of everyone else's jokes.
With Surge Protector having the duties of a high school hall monitor and the officiality of a mall rent-a-cop, this straight-laced civil servant is more hassle than help. But electrical voltage spikes are no laughing matter. Like a border patrol cop, he checks those in Game Central Station for fruit. His duty is to check security, but he is known to stop bad guys more than good guys, particularly Ralph, stopping him every single time he enters or exits a game and claiming these to be random security checks, constantly annoying the bad guy.
The Surge Protector is first seen when Ralph is exiting Pac-Man, stopping the latter for a "random security check" which ironically, according to Ralph, occurs on a regular basis.
Later on, the Surge Protector is seen when Ralph sneaks into Hero's Duty, and again when Ralph is being blasted through Game Central Station in a shuttle from the same game. Afterwards, Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sergeant Calhoun are searching for Ralph, and the Surge Protector informs them that the shuttle the bad guy was riding in flew into Sugar Rush.
During the end credits, Surge Protector is seen writing graffiti on the walls on Game Central Station. He then zips away the moment he realizes he was spotted.
The Surge Protector returns six years after the events of the first film. When Mr. Litwak plugs in a wi-fi router into Game Central Station, the Surge Protector seals off the entrance, declaring that something new is likely bad and not safe to enter this new addition to the arcade.
As the arcade opens the same morning, the Surge Protector is surprised by a stampede of characters from Sugar Rush. Ralph was among them, announcing that Sugar Rush was getting unplugged. As the now homeless citizens of Sugar Rush panic in despair, the Surge Protector says that they can stay in Game Central Station for the day until they can find homes for all of them. He is also in shock over how many characters are now homeless and compares the situation to the time Space Invaders got unplugged.
The Surge Protector later travels to Fix-It Felix Jr., where most of the Sugar Rush citizens had been sorted, save for the racers. Upon hearing Felix and Calhoun volunteering to adopt the racers, the Surge Protector spat out his coffee before asking to speak with them privately, insisting that caring for fifteen children is not as easy as it seems. His words soon prove to be correct, as they exit the kitchen to find the racers running rampant around the living room, even hitting the Surge Protector with a block. He then took his leave.
He later stands guard outside the entrance to the Internet, only to be distracted by Ralph and Vanellope so they could go to the Internet to find the replacement wheel for Sugar Rush.
At the end of the film, while watching a race in the newly restored Sugar Rush, the Surge Protector learns from Felix and Calhoun about the best way to raise children (which is drowned out by the racing engines).
Trivia
Surge Protector's voice actor, Phil Johnston, was also a writer for the film.
Despite his job, he draws graffiti like a punk.
In the credits, he is seen drawing his voice actor's name in graffiti.
In real life, a surge protector is a feature inside a power strip that regulates the amount of electricity that is discharged from a certain appliance, and is also responsible for preventing voltage spikes that could potentially short out said appliances.
Despite being called "Surge Protector", he does not function as a real surge protector, which his job is more of security worker. As shown in the movie, he is actually incapable of "protecting" against real power surges such as when Ralph zips around wildly in the shuttle.
The Surge Protector, due to being an electronic feature and not a game character, served as the inspiration for the Internet netizens in Ralph Breaks the Internet.[1]
An early concept shows Surge Protector was originally going to have normal skin-colour, and wear a yellow jacket and black pants, instead of a blue hologram.
Gallery
Concept art
An early concept of Surge Protector by Bill Shwab. Surge Protector model by Dylan Ekren.
An early design of Surge Protector by Scott Watanabe.
Screenshots
Surge is shocked when Ralph flies into Game Central Station. Surge Protector spray-painting graffiti in the 8-bit credits. The Surge Protector in Niceland.
