SpongeBob Patrick Star Melting #2557 Pop Style Figure

The figure takes the most relaxed resident of Bikini Bottom and lets him soften like a scoop of strawberry ice cream on a hot dock. Thick pink drips run off his shoulders, down his arms and over his belly, while the black of his eyes trickles down his cheeks in two glossy streaks. His mouth is wide open with one buck tooth showing and the tongue lolling out, and below the waist he still wears the familiar green shorts with purple flowers.

The window box keeps the classic pop-style layout: a yellow and pink panel carrying the SpongeBob SquarePants logo, a pink starfish badge printed with the number 2557, a big side illustration of Patrick, and his name in white on a blue strip at the bottom with "Vinyl Figure" in three languages beneath it. It is the same layout collectors know from the numbered pop-style lines, so the box looks at home in a row of others.

Patrick #2557 behind the window, pink drips and all.

The melt is sculpted into the figure rather than painted on

Look at the edges of the drips and you can see they stand proud of the body, with rounded ends that catch the light the way a real drop of wax would. The sculpt builds them in layers, so a long run on the arm sits over a shorter one on the shoulder, and the belly drips stop at slightly different heights instead of a neat line.

The eyes are the clever part. Patrick's huge black pupils are already his most recognisable feature, and letting them leak turns a cute character into something a little eerie without losing the friendly face. It is the same trick horror artists use with candles and wax figures, applied to a cartoon starfish who would probably find the whole thing hilarious.

Raised drips and running eyes give the pink vinyl a wet, glossy look.

Patrick Star was created to be the friend with no plans at all

SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999, created by Stephen Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher who first sketched undersea characters for an educational comic called The Intertidal Zone. Patrick, voiced from the start by Bill Fagerbakke, lives under a rock next door to SpongeBob and spends most episodes doing as little as possible with total confidence.

His design follows the real animal loosely: a five-pointed sea star, flattened and pink, with the points turned into stubby arms and legs. Hillenburg kept the shapes simple so they would read instantly on screen, and that simplicity is why Patrick survives being turned into a puddle here. Even half-melted, the silhouette is unmistakable.

A melting figure suits a character who never takes anything seriously

Patrick's humour comes from not noticing trouble. He forgets his own name, mistakes simple objects for strangers and treats disaster as a fun afternoon, so a version of him dissolving with a happy face matches his personality better than an angry or frightened pose would. The sculpt leans into that by keeping the smile at full width while everything else slides.

It also gives the piece a strong place on a shelf. Next to standard upright figures, the dripping pink stands out from across the room, and it pairs naturally with a companion SpongeBob figure for anyone collecting the two friends together.

Out of the box and on a display base, the sculpted melt reads from every angle.

Small details reward a close look

A few touches are easy to miss at first glance:

• The single front tooth, a nod to Patrick's goofy cartoon grin, sits just above the tongue.
• The thick black brows are drawn as heavy strokes, matching the hand-drawn look of the series.
• The purple flowers on the green shorts are raised slightly from the fabric texture.
• The starfish-shaped number badge on the box echoes Patrick himself.

Together they show the sculptors kept the character's cartoon logic intact while bending it into something new. For a festive SpongeBob piece to sit beside it, the SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom Christmas Advent Calendar brings the rest of the neighbourhood along.

The box held in hand shows the scale of the figure.

Whether it lives on a desk, in a collection of Nickelodeon characters or next to a SpongeBob, this Patrick is the one that makes visitors stop and ask what happened to him. Keep the box if you can, because the starfish number badge and side art are half the charm.

The front of the #2557 box with its starfish number badge.

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.