Concept and First Appearance in Movie
Dan Aykroyd conceived of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for his initial script for Ghostbusters the movie. He created the character to show that "it seems harmless and puff and cute – but given the right circumstances, everything can be turned back and become evil." He was only one of many large-scale monsters in this early draft of the script, but after working with co-writer Harold Ramis and director Ivan Reitman, the intended sequence was scaled back until only "Stay Puft" remained of the original large-scale monsters. The likeness of Stay Puft was inspired by Peter O'Boyle, a security guard at Columbia Pictures whom Reitman met filming his previous movie, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. According to Sam Delaney of The Guardian, "Stay Puft's familiar mascot combined elements of real life brand ambassadors the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Bibendum (a.k.a., the Michelin tire man)."
Stay Puft is seen only briefly in the movie. He is "conjured up" as a new form for the Sumerian god Gozer, who previously arrives atop an apartment building at 55 Central Park West in New York City in the form of a woman. After a quick battle with the Ghostbusters she vanishes, and then as a disembodied voice Gozer tells the Ghostbusters that the next thing they think of will be the form it will assume to destroy their world. Dan Aykroyd's character (Ray Stantz) instead makes the decision to think of this marshmallow mascot when the Ghostbusters are given a choice as to which physical form Gozer will conquer the world in. As he explains, "It just popped in there," and that he "tried to think of the most harmless thing," describing Mr. Stay Puft as "something that could never possibly destroy us." Moments later a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is seen walking towards the apartment building. The Ghostbusters shoot at Stay Puft with their proton packs, setting him on fire, but do not succeed in stopping his advance. They then get the idea of shooting at the portal through which the god emerged, by crossing the streams of all four of their packs. The plan triggers an explosion that destroys the gate and Stay Puft, reducing the latter into molten marshmallow cream that rains down onto the roof of the skyscraper and the street below.
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