Through the years there have been many Slimer figures or toys of the "green ghost" from Ghostbusters, however none have ever truly managed to catch the creature in a particularly great likeness. Those that did manage to make Slimer look as he was supposed to, failed to give him proper articulation or made him needlessly out of scale with the toylines he was supposed to be compatible with.


Perhaps the best Slimer figure ever released to scale was the Extreme Ghostbusters Slimer, which is the small unarticulated Slimer in the photo. It looked like Slimer from that cartoon and retained the proper size for the character. NECA managed to make what many thought was the most movie authentic Slimer, but at a large scale and a sculpt that just seemed slightly off he never quite managed to achieve the greatness that I hoped a Slimer figure would one day reach.


Several years later enter Mattel with their new Ghostbusters line. As it turned out Slimer was part of their very first release, technically a pre-release. Slimer came packed with a special SDCC Slimed Egon to warm fans up to the line. This version of Slimer is translucent with a regular painted Slimer presumed to be in the works. I refuse to pay $50+ for Egon off of the secondary market, but I managed to pony up over $20 for Slimer to fulfill my quest of the perfect Slimer, which I've been on the hunt for the last 20 years. Did Mattel help me accomplish my mission?

Packaging:
Obviously the real Slimer came in a package with Egon, but I don't have that. Since I knew Egon would be released unslimed and he's my least favorite character the idea of having two Egons seemed wasteful to me. Still if he had a box, give him whatever I gave the package when I reviewed Ray.

Articulation:
Surprisingly Slimer has the most articulation he's ever had. When Kenner made their first Slimer figure he had a ton of articulation for the time and given the character restraints. Unfortunately he was 3X the size of the rest of the figure line. When Trendmasters made a Slimer a decade later, they made the same mistake, but did up the ante by making a to scale unarticulated Slimer. NECA never made the Ghostbusters, but their line from the movie seemed a bit out of scale even with it's own line as well. Finally Mattel has made a Slimer of decent scale and articulation.



Although Slimer really only has a few points of articulation it's perfect for this character. I can't imagine Slimer needing anything else. Biceps swivels, maybe ball jointed hands, but what we have here is plenty. Slimer mostly needs to be able to move his arms and everything else is just icing on the cake.

Sculpt:
A lot has been said about this particular sculpt of Slimer. Is it a cartoon Slimer or a movie Slimer? Is the NECA Slimer more accurate? The answer to those questions depends on your interpretation of the character, but in my personal opinion this is the Slimerest Slimer yet.


A Slimer for all lines?
There is some reasonable debate that the NECA Slimer has some movie advantages, but it's mostly the shape of his mouth that the NECA Slimer is superior on. When it comes to head shape and body size, the Mattel one is superior. When you turn the Slimers to their side, it's a no contest, the Mattel Slimer is far and away more accurate.




Yet somehow Mattel has managed to bottle a lot of the animated Slimer into this sculpt as well. It's a bit of an amalgamation. What's for certain is that this is sculpt that pops. Slimer has a perfect little "spud" shape.



The translucent plastic works quite well too and I'm glad we got this version. Of course I fully think a painted version will be even better, but it's nice to have this style. I think it works really well, although you can see through it a bit and see some molding stuff but it seems reasonable enough in execution.



I'm actually glad they resisted the urge to paint little food items in his stomach. As cool as that would have been it would have taken away from the sculpt. I do think in one of his many re-releases they do something like that though. The rest of his paint, especially the teeth and mouth work are some of the finest I've ever seen from Mattel. No fooling, that paint work on the mouth is excellent.

Accessories:
Slimer actually IS the accessory, but I bought him separate. Once you have Slimer in hand, you can definitely feel that he's a cut above the average accessory. He puts the poor logo ghost to shame and I actually liked that pack-in more than most.


He does technically have his stand as an accessory though, so that is a perk. I wish it was a bit smaller though. These stands are bulky and large and a thinner straight stick stand would have held him just as well.

Additional Notes:
Slimer is almost more famous for his delicious Ecto-Cooler than he is for being part of the Ghostbusters. His Hi-C drink is the stuff of legend. It's actually still available now, but with a different name and color. We still know it's made from his loins though, you can't fool us Hi-C people.

Value:
As a pack-in this guy is priceless and a great value. If you paid over $20 for this guy, you must be some sucker who's waited his whole life for a cool Slimer figure. Seeing as how I paid this much I'm willing to say he's "worth" quite a bit. I wouldn't have bought him though if it weren't for sentimental value and he's a total waste at this price point but it's not a fair way to judge him so I won't.

Score Recap:
Packaging - N/A
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Stand
Value - N/A
Overall - 8 out of 10

I really like Slimer. He fits in with the line perfectly, he could almost be grandfathered into the Kenner and Trendmaster lines and he's a great sculpt. I look forward to the painted version that I suspect will come with non-slimed Peter.


Ghostbusters Collection so far...
I'm really glad I got this Slimer even if my pocketbook got slimed in the process. You probably don't need to get a translucent Slimer, but if this ends up being the only Slimer released in this line he's a must have. At any rate he's the best Slimer made thus far in ANY line and he's worth getting on that merit alone.