SDCC 2026 : Nickelodeon Slimes Comic-Con with Fan Experiences

Nickelodeon turned its San Diego Comic-Con 2026 presence into something closer to a working playground than a conventional exhibition booth. Inside the San Diego Convention Center, Booth #4113 became the 1,800-square-foot “FUN-ERGY FACTORY,” a colorful, participatory installation built around SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Comic-Con officially ran July 23–26, with Preview Night on July 22, and Nickelodeon used that high-traffic show-floor setting to make visitors part of the attraction rather than passive spectators. The central idea was deliberately simple: attendees completed interactive challenges to generate “fun-ergy,” turning the brand’s familiar language of play, mess and controlled chaos into a physical experience.

The booth’s biggest visual payoff was a nearly 20-foot-tall “Slime Surge,” powered conceptually by the collective energy generated by fans. Slime has been one of Nickelodeon’s most recognizable signatures for decades, but here it was treated less as decoration than as the visual engine of the installation. “Enter the Splat” pushed that identity further with a tactile immersive environment and surprise photo and video moments, while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans could step into a sewer-lair photo opportunity alongside the Heroes in a Half Shell. The result connected several generations of Nickelodeon fandom in one space, from families with young children to adults who grew up with the network’s 1990s and 2000s programming.

TMNT, Avatar and SpongeBob collectibles target longtime fans

Nickelodeon also treated retail as part of the experience rather than an afterthought. Among the convention merchandise was the Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x G.I. Joe Leonardo as Snake Eyes figure, priced at $40, a crossover that neatly combines two toy-driven pop-culture institutions. The booth also carried an SDCC-exclusive Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game character art print by BossLogic, priced at $85, along with the Comic-Con debut of Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book 3: Fire (Music from the Animated Series) on vinyl for $54.99. That soundtrack features updated and re-recorded music from the animated series’ third season, with expanded orchestral arrangements by Emmy-winning composer Jeremy Zuckerman and original artwork by series co-creator and art director Bryan Konietzko.

The merchandise mix extended beyond premium collectibles. A SpongeBob SquarePants “Best. Day. Ever.” tote and a Nickelodeon fandom mash-up tote gave visitors lower-priced convention keepsakes, while returning and non-exclusive items included apparel and additional TMNT products. This range reveals one of the smartest aspects of Nickelodeon’s Comic-Con strategy: the company is no longer speaking to a single age group. SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles now function as multigenerational properties, so the booth could simultaneously offer hands-on play for children, nostalgia for parents and limited collectibles for dedicated adult fans. Talent and character appearances, daily giveaways and changing activities also encouraged repeat visits across the convention.

Fun Flows Here expands Nickelodeon beyond the Convention Center

The major expansion for 2026 happened outside the show floor. In partnership with The New Children’s Museum, Nickelodeon launched “Fun Flows Here,” a free public activation at the museum’s park at 200 W. Island Ave. from July 23–26. The outdoor destination broadened the SDCC footprint beyond badge holders and translated the same “kid-ness” philosophy into a larger family environment. Interactive stage programming hosted by Kids Imagine Nation drew on PAW Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Thundermans and Star Trek: Scouts, while photo installations referenced SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Kids’ Choice Awards. Hands-on areas included make-your-own slime, bubble play, children’s empowerment activities, animated character-drawing demonstrations, DJ sets, raffles and giveaways.

Most importantly, the outdoor activation offered selected visitors the quintessential Nickelodeon rite of passage: getting slimed. A post-event account from the San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog described a carefully managed plexiglass slime booth in which participants could wear a poncho, receive the green shower and then move through a rapid cleanup process while staff reset the enclosure. The account estimated roughly three-and-a-half to four minutes per slime session and noted that participants later received a slow-motion video. That operational detail is revealing: what looks gleefully chaotic on camera was engineered to keep the line moving and the surrounding event clean, turning a television tradition into a repeatable live attraction.

A public activation built around participation, not just promotion

“Fun Flows Here” also included hydration, snacks, souvenirs and shaded activity areas, according to post-event reporting, details that mattered during a busy summer convention weekend. A family movie night on July 25 featured The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, while museum members were offered special preview access. The City of San Diego’s event listings likewise described character meet-and-greets, series-inspired games, crafts, a live DJ, slime-themed giveaways and opportunities for selected fans to be slimed. Together, those elements made the activation feel closer to a compact Nickelodeon festival than a standard branded off-site.

That distinction matters at modern Comic-Con, where studios increasingly compete not only through trailers and panels but through experiences that fans can photograph, share and physically enter. Nickelodeon’s 2026 approach connected the indoor FUN-ERGY FACTORY and outdoor Fun Flows Here space through a consistent idea: participation creates the spectacle. The nearly 20-foot Slime Surge depended on collective “fun-ergy”; the sewer lair placed fans inside the TMNT world; the outdoor slime booth transformed spectators into the people getting drenched. Even the retail selection extended that logic by giving collectors convention-specific objects tied to Avatar and TMNT.

Nickelodeon makes slime the connective tissue of its SDCC identity

Nickelodeon’s strongest SDCC 2026 move was therefore not simply building a bigger booth. It was creating a recognizable ecosystem across the convention center and downtown San Diego. SpongeBob SquarePants supplied an evergreen comic personality, Avatar: The Last Airbender brought a deep fantasy mythology and collector audience, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles connected animation, toys, comics and crossover merchandise. Slime unified all of them under a visual language that remains immediately associated with Nickelodeon. The strategy balanced nostalgia with current fandom without turning the experience into a museum of the network’s past.

For attendees, that meant Booth #4113 was designed to be revisited, photographed and remembered, while the museum park gave the brand a second, publicly accessible stage. For Nickelodeon, it demonstrated how legacy entertainment brands can remain relevant at Comic-Con by letting fans do something rather than merely look at something. Between the FUN-ERGY FACTORY, the Slime Surge, Enter the Splat, TMNT’s sewer lair, Avatar collectibles and the full-scale Fun Flows Here activation, Nickelodeon made SDCC 2026 a celebration of the one thing its identity has always understood particularly well: fun works best when the audience gets messy too.

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Photos and video 4K : Boris Colletier / Mulderville