The real ghostbusters had some of the coolest ghost designs of any piece of Ghostbusters media, from familiar faces to recurring movie baddies. As big as the Ghostbusters movies are, the animated series The real ghostbusters is, in all honesty, probably the second best thing to come out of the franchise outside of the first film. Part of what he did The real ghostbusters just as special was its terrifying cast of spectral ghosts that served as monsters of the week.
Compared to the villains of Ghostbusters films, The real ghostbustersThe 'thieves' galleries had much more creative freedom thanks to the series' animation. The scares had to be held back due to the family-friendly nature of the show, but the '80s cartoon managed to get away with some surprisingly intense imagery for a Saturday morning kids' series. As a result, The real ghostbusters is filled with exciting ghosts and other paranormal entities that gave the quartet of ghost hunters trouble.
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Thinner
The Real Ghostbusters' enduring mascot
Easily the most iconic ghost in Ghostbusters history, Slimer is an enduring staple of The real ghostbusters, being the only ghost to return episode after episode as the show's mascot. The greedy green ghost was so essential to the series that The real ghostbusters gave his name to Slimer in the first place, simply known as Sedgewick Hotel Ghost in the original film. Slimer still gets the title title when the series was renamed Slimmer! and the real ghostbusters in the fourth season, reserving a small portion of each episode for his own misadventures.
Slimer is pretty harmless as far as ghosts go, mostly serving as an annoyance to his rival, Peter Venkman, who frequently calls him “Spud” in the series. Even though he's not the most menacing spirit, Slimer's adorable antics and hilariously gross penchant for food and ectoplasm are the cornerstone of The real ghostbusters. He deserves credit for being the only ghost to actually earn a spot on the Ghostbusters team.
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The Grundel
The closest thing the series has had to a main antagonist
For the most part, The real ghostbusters it was a series of bottles with a new macabre threat lurking every week, but sinister, recurring spirits like The Grundel would occasionally rear their ugly heads. Unlike Slimer, The Grundel is one of the most insidious and disturbing ghosts to ever appear on the series, often being remembered as a source of trauma for those who grew up watching the show. Dressed in a black cape and hat, The Grundel has a monstrous, elongated face and a raspy voice that matches his chilling personality.
One of the most manipulative and insidious ghosts in the series, Grundel's MO is to target innocent children, whispering in their ears and pretending to be their friends only to push them into increasingly worse behavior. Eventually, Grundel's victims are literally transformed into monsters, forced to grow abnormally quickly thanks to his evil influence. Considering what The Grundel represents in a more artistic sense, he is easily among the most evil spirits the Ghostbusters have ever encountered.
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Samhain
The closest thing the series has had to a main antagonist
It's no wonder that a show focused entirely on ghosts and the afterlife would have such a strong presence on Halloween, featuring an explicitly Halloween-themed ghost. Not only that, but the pumpkin-headed spirit Samhain is another of the closest things The real ghostbusters had a major overarching antagonist, appearing in more episodes than most non-Slimer ghosts and always presenting an alarming threat. Not to be confused with the wee slasher Sam from Michael Dougherty's Trick 'R' Treat, Samhain is an ancient spirit revered as a god by other ghosts.
Explained as the progenitor of the original Celtic holiday of the same name on which Halloween was based (and with a matching Irish accent), Samhain plots with his army of ghouls to take over the world of the living, plunging it into an eternal world. Halloween night. With a fearsome command of horrific minions and even time itself, the pumpkin-headed spirit is easily one of the most serious threats the Ghostbusters have ever faced. It's a shame that live-action films never found the opportunity to revisit Samhain.
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Ghash
A cannibalistic ghost with a memorable presence
Ghash is one of those deliciously twisted and creative ghosts that could only have been formed as a result of The real ghostbusters. Appearing at the start of the series' fourth episode, Ghash serves as a memorable monster of the week, Apparating as a goblin-like being with a limp tongue, pointy teeth, top hat, and a massive body encased in a black cape. Although he may seem a little generic and silly at first, Ghash's classic camp soon gave way to a more despicable form of horror – spectral cannibalism.
First appearing as the ragtag leader of a ghostly gang harassing the Ghostbusters on Winsotn's birthday, Ghash soon reveals his true method of gathering power, the ability to eat other ghosts and absorb their PKE. Per his cape, he actually does this by simply absorbing other spirits into his skin, greedily swallowing other specters to absorb their undead power. A ghost that poses as great a threat to other ghosts as the Ghostbusters themselves is a menacing enemy indeed.
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The Vathek
It pushed the limits of what could be shown in a children's cartoon
Clive Barker's idea of the Cenobites Infernal The series being adapted into a children's cartoon seems pretty strange on paper, but that's exactly what the '90s sequel shows Extreme Ghostbusters escaped thanks to Vathek. Pushing the limits of Extreme GhostbustersIn TV-Y7 classification, the Vathek are disturbingly similar to the Cenobites – extradimensional beings who view torture and surgery as art forms, mutilating themselves and their victims into horrific new forms. Surprisingly, the Vatheks were successful in their activities on the program.
It's hard to believe this The real ghostbusters escaped some horrific forms of torture and body modification with the Vathek, whose victims were turned into mindless puppets of their own design. From the saw-headed Craniac to the headless Corpuscle to the stitch-up-faced Cartilage, Vathek's painful-looking forms are endlessly frightening. Never mind the fact that they managed to turn innocent people into horrible “works of art” like themselves.
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What
A cunning demon with a clever disguise
As great as insidious threats like The Vathek and The Grundel are, sometimes a giant, angry spectral monster is all that's needed to create an effective villain. However, the demon Wat is able to lure the Ghostbusters into a trap before revealing his true colossal body. At first, Wat appears as Mrs. Rogers, a kind lady who begs the Ghostbusters to investigate her haunted house. When the investigation turns out to be a trap, Wat reveals his true form, a gigantic, imposing dinosaur-like creature with the open mouth of a naked mole rat.
Wat is the first true demon encountered by the Ghostbusters in the series, making a memorable first impression for the new enemy type. The fact that his name is pronounced “what” also allows for some hilarious moments. Who is in first place?style antics for the Ghostbusters to contend with, and the demon's pet hellbird, an annoying fire-breathing kookaburra named “Precious” is an added bonus. But the best thing about Wat is the fact that even in his true monstrous form, the demon speaks in the voice of sweet old Mrs. Rogers.
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The Sandman
I almost put Ghostbusters to sleep permanently
Another strong ghost who appears early in the series, The Sandman is a memorable villain who almost succeeds in realizing his plans for world peace. As far as The real ghostbusters the bad guys were, The Sandman is almost sympathetic, being an outcast among other ghosts who simply wants to end the war and suffering prevalent in human society. To do this, he begins to devise a plan to utilize his powers to put the entire world to sleep for 500 years, allowing his physically manifested dreams to walk the Earth.
With his breathy voice and mysterious proportions, The Sandman is a memorable character with an interesting story. His powers of making people fall asleep with magic dust and making their dreams and nightmares come true, including Ray's beloved Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, also make him a powerful opponent. It's hard to blame The Sandman for simply wanting all of humanity to sleep off our problems.
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The People Hunters
A fascinating twist on Ghostbusters themselves
Of all the villains that will appear The real ghostbusters, the Peoplebusters are perhaps the most creative. Instead of being a team of humans who hunt down ghosts that are bothersome and dangerous to the people of New York City, the Peoplebusters are a team of paranormal entities that capture nasty humans who might find themselves on the other side of Boo York City. Making the most of the animated medium, the Peoplebusters have delightfully cartoonish designs that set them apart from other ghouls in the series.
Egon from Peoplebusters is the most bizarre example, being a thin, emaciated skeleton with an inexplicable tentacle hanging from his face like an overgrown pimple. Meanwhile, Ray is reinvented as a careless Frankenstien monster with a hand for a foot, and Peter becomes a withered, jaundiced corpse who can barely control himself. As imaginative as these designs are, it's a shame that Winston arbitrarily doesn't get a Peoplebusters equivalent, missing a huge opportunity for the episode in which they appear.
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Catulhu
Lovecraft's own dreaming god
Far from most people think Ghostbusters like a cosmic horror film, but the team actually tackles its fair share of incomprehensible entities beyond the realm of human comprehension. In The real ghostbustersthe team actually faces the most fearsome and well-known Lovecraftian being of all, the terrible dreaming god Cthulu, or at least a version of him, called “Cathulhu”. Despite being off by one extra letter, Cathulu closely resembles the traditional representation of HP Lovecraft's most famous monster, described by Venkman as “Godzilla wearing an octopus hat“.
Cathulhu is by far one of the most powerful opponents the Ghostbusters have ever faced, coming with his own cult of worshipers and being completely immune to conventional proton streams. It was only through the ionization of a roller coaster at Coney Island that the Ghostbusters were able to deliver a charge of electricity powerful enough to jolt Cathulhu back into a dormant state at the bottom of the ocean, only truly delaying the inevitable. It's amazing how well The real ghostbusters managed to capture the mind-bending horror of Cthulhu.
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The bogeyman
Egon's childhood enemy
While the Boogieman may be a fairly generic cultural phenomenon as a term for a vague supernatural entity that attacks children in real life, The real ghostbusters has a definitive take on the classic monster. Another of the rare non-ghost entities that the Ghostbusters face, the Boogieman as he exists in The real ghostbusters is a monstrous being that takes pleasure in scaring young children, with the ability to travel through closets as in Monsters, Inc. Notably, Egon himself was once one of Boogieman's victims, making his capture a rather personal matter.
With his huge head, raspy voice, huge ears, hoofed hooves, and '80s mullet, the Boogieman is a pretty colorful character for the Ghostbusters to track down. He is another of the rare antagonists who manages to shine in more than one episode and certainly makes a big impression with each appearance. Boogieman's personal connection to Egon, being the reason he began researching the paranormal, makes him one of the most interesting villains in TV programming. The real ghostbusters.