Gunge as it is known in the British Isles, or slime as it is known in America and most English-speaking areas of the world, is a thick, gooey, yet runny substance with a consistency somewhere between that of paint and custard. It has been a feature on many children's programmes for many years around the world and has made appearances in game shows as well as other programming. While gunge mostly appears on television, it can also be used as a fundraising tool for charities, youth and religious groups. Gunge tanks have appeared at nightclubs and Fun Days. The British charities Comic Relief and Children in Need, supported by the BBC, have used gunge for fundraising in the past. In America, slime is sometimes associated with Nickelodeon, even having several game shows revolving around it, such as Slime Time Live. In most countries, being gunged is seen as a forfeit with the aim to cause embarrassment. In contrast, being slimed in America can be a good thing as well as a bad thing. Overall the main point of being gunged or slimed is to cause mess.
The Slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest role-playing video game franchise. Originally inspired by the game Wizardry to be a weak and common monster for the video game Dragon Quest, Slime has appeared in almost every Dragon Quest game since. The character's popularity led to the appearance of many varieties of slimes, including boss characters, and even emerging as the protagonist of the Rocket Slime video game series.
The Slime has been placed on a multitude of different kinds of merchandise. The Slime's friendliness, limited power, and appealing form have caused the Slime to become a popular character and symbol of the Dragon Quest series.
The inspiration for the Slime came to Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest, from a role-playing game called Wizardry. "I was really hooked on 'Wizardy,' the PC game, ... There's...slime-looking characters ..., so I got the inspiration from it. I was doodling the slime-looking character and I took it to Mr. Toriyama, who did the character design, and he made it the Slime we see today." Horii said that when it was originally conceived, the Slime was "a pile of goo", but Toriyama's design came back as a tear-drop which they considered "perfect".
Welcome to the freak show
Here everyone is an actor and a spectator
And the scene is our world
Here are the bizzare arts on the church altar
And the abstract acts of the political arena
So many things unite us
We are the community of falulous colours of rainbow
Floating in the slime
Our souls are rotting. rolled in the putrid slime
It makes us loose our individuality
And the authentic faith
Welcome to the show...
We're just puppies here
Welcome!
This art is real.
But at the same time so grotesque and full of horror
Here are the monstrous creations of our own progress
Here we became masters of evil and lies.
The stage is fabulous kaleidoscope of colours
Where we can see things we want to see
Ha! how poor and depraved are we
Larves of vanity and indifference gnawls at us
We desire only power and strenght
Which will lead us to the emperor's throne
Of Depravation and stench
Welcome to the show. welcome to the stage
Here we are rotting flesh without a soul
Here is our wordl. we die in agony.
It is our punishment and our end.
Slime in the colour of rainbow
The theater of degeneration