Human Slimer: Male, Female, Other?

[ms_ellery]

Poll Human Slimer: Male, Female, Other?

And let me clarify that I mean Real Ghostbusters Slimer, not the movie's green gooper.

Comments

[spinner_atropos]

Wow, that's a hard question. I'm gonna have to ponder that one for a bit.

[omorka]

IMHO, Slimer is sexless but male gendered. If he voluntarily took on a live body, I think the body would reflect his gender. Also, the guys all think of him as male. Peter wouldn't threaten him the way he does if he perceived the Spud as feminine, and I think Egon would have been totally freaked out if he'd perceived Slimer as at all female during the body-swap. Having said that, having human!Slimer be sort of soft and round and androgynous would probably be appropriate - sex in either the physical or social sense isn't really important for him. (And if he were forced into a body by accident or outside magic, there's no reason it would have to conform to his or their expectations!)

And I agree with fiona_conn - the casting call for the character in the movieverse who died and left that as his haunt is John Belushi, so he's male without qualification. (He's actually a character in the 1910 AU I haven't gotten around to actually writing anything in, and my current placeholder-name for that character is Jake Blutarsky.)

[spinner_atropos]

and I think Egon would have been totally freaked out if he'd perceived Slimer as at all female during the body-swap.

That's an interesting idea...

(Apropos of nothing, if I ever somehow stumble across an episode of Red Dwarf in progress, it's always "Body Swap.")

[ms_ellery]

Some very good points there, especially as to how the guys relate to the spud. Even if Slimer had been neutral-gendered, he would still likely reflect the guys' expectations.

[torsui]

i agree with omorka.

that being said, there's at least one comic out there where some baddie made a 'female' version of slimer. complete with big lips and eyelashes. i think that argues pretty well for a male mindset (though now i'm pondering ectoplasmic lesbianism and oh god brain is starting to hurt).

[ms_ellery]

Oh, boy. I'm not sure if I should search for images or scrub my brain re: 'female' Slimers and spud-sex. o.O

[torsui]

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww252/spiralwave/Miscellaneous/spiraljp-img600x450-1235978544jqyvg.jpg

uploaded just for you. :D *RUNS*

[ms_ellery]

Wow, Slimer in drag...That is...I don't think I have the words for it. :)

[flowerbedgrl]

I got the impression that being a nether entity slimer had never been human, I always thought he was more just a personification of greed that had become sentient......

[spinner_atropos]

I second that. In RGB so many of the "ghosts" are just other-dimensional entities rather than souls-or-whatever of deceased humans, I kind of figured Slimer was the same way. The humans just assigned him a gender because we tend to do that, especially for things with personalities.

[omorka]

Slimer's exchange with Peter in "The Halloween Door" - "You're dead, Spud!" "Gwood observation, Petaw" - implies that Slimer isn't just a nether entity. Having said that, he's canonly a Class Five, and most dead humans they run into are Class Fours.

In the interview segments, a couple of the episode authors - JMS and the couple, McCoy and Hickey, I think - mention that they pitched a few ideas involving Slimer's former living self and got shot down by the network, so he was a dead person in at least some of their minds.

So a ficcer could go either way with it without contradicting canon, honestly.

[ms_ellery]

I don't think there's been a definitive origin for Slimer. Every GB source seems to have a different opinion.

The Ghostbusters RPG by West End Games describes him as The Spud, The Glutton Ghost and an "undead stomach with teeth".

The closest those books get to an origin story is from an entry on Class V's: Speculation includes the theory that Class V's are formed from emotionally-charged events or as side effects from ritual summonings. (The spud Peter Venkman talks about so much was a by-product of the rituals that a cult held in the Sedgewick basement.)

Unfortunately, Slimer didn't rate an entry in Tobin's Spirit Guide, although the every-hungry Pantry Ghost is a close match.

[flowerbedgrl]

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/360135/The_Real_Muse

This author has written some great Real Ghostbusters stuff and has an interesting idea about the ghosts in the show...

or perhaps only elements of the human soul survives.. maybe slimers gender is out there somewhere molesting poor unsuspecting ghostbusters having a nap on the sly ;-D

[ms_ellery]

Ohh, thank you. It's always great to have a new author to read. :)

or perhaps only elements of the human soul survives
That's a very interesting idea. So for ghosts with unfinished business, only that overwhelming need survives - the need to get home, the need for revenge, etc.

How horrible would it be to have the same loved one haunting you multiple times? You call the GB's to get rid of it, only to have another aspect find you. Could you ever be sure your ghost had ever fully passed on?

[flowerbedgrl]

Ohh, thank you. It's always great to have a new author to read. :)

Unfortunately not all her stories are there. She used to have a website but its gone now.. They really were well written and they introduced me to H.P. Lovecraft (who's stories are terrifying!).

[ms_ellery]

:( Do you have any direct links to her stories? The Wayback Machine doesn't have www.mysite.verizon.net/the_muse archived, unfortunately.