History SpongeBobSquarePants / TropesQToZ

* RichBoredom: In "Selling Out," Mr. Krabs sells the Krusty Krab for a lot of loot. It's not long before he runs out of things to do in his retirement, goes on a rampage that destroys the Krusty Krab, buys the destroyed restaurant back, and it's all fixed up the next time we see it (in the next episode).

* SistineSteal: In "Insecurity Guards", one of the paintings at the museum is a parody of "The Creation Of Adam", with Mr. Krabs as God and the Krabby Patty as Adam.

* SurrealHumor

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Sponge. Also plankton, flounder, urchins, nematodes, etc.

* ReReleaseSoundtrack: The DVD versions of a few episodes have some of the incidental music replaced due to licensing issues (as while most of the show's soundtrack is stock music, not all of it is public domain). One notable example is in the episode "Employee of the Month", when Spongebob is spying on Squidward, "Agent Woodrow" by The Woodies is replaced with "Hercule Poirot" by Gerhard Trede. Oddly, the episodes in question are not edited on the iTunes versions. Incidentally, the pilot episode "Help Wanted" managed to keep the 1968 Music/TinyTim cover of "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" when it was finally released on home media as a bonus feature on the 2005 season 3 DVD set (it was excluded from the 2003 season 1 DVD set due to Nickelodeon being unwilling to re-license the song at the time) and the season 2 episode "Band Geeks" was able to retain David Glen Eisley's "Sweet Victory" in all home media releases, largely because the scenes where each song plays was animated around the music and it would've been too impractical to try and come up with effective replacement songs.

* ScaryScienceWords: In the episode "Funny Pants", Sandy explains to Spongebob the biology of how laughter works, using technical words. He says it sounds painful and she replies that "science makes everything sound painful".

** In one episode, Mr. Krabs uses a crudely drawn ghost in an attempt to scare a hat worth a million dollars off of Spongebob.
** In the HalloweenEpisode, "Scaredy Pants", Spongebob attempts to scare a party of Bikini Bottomites by impersonating the Flying Dutchman, which fails so spectacularly that it even draws the ''real'' Flying Dutchman's ire.
** In "Pranks a Lot", Spongebob and Patrick take advantage of a can of invisible spray and scare the entire town. Then they get the idea to "haunt" Mr. Krabs. They end up regretting it after trying to burn a dollar right in front of the greedy crustacean.
** In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", Spongebob and Patrick mistake Squidward for a ghost after thinking that they'd accidentally killed him (in reality, they'd destroyed his wax sculpture of himself). Rather than correcting them, Squidward leans into it and spends the episode threatening them with his 'ghostly anger' unless they act as his servants.

** In "Dying for Pie", Spongebob apparently eats an exploding pie and is MistakenForDying, but at the end it's revealed that he didn't. However, he then drops it and the pie explodes anyway... but then Squidward says, "Ouch!", implying that [[NonFatalExplosions they're not dead]].

** At the end of "Karate Star", Patrick [[AnArmAndALeg angrily tears off his destructive chopping hand]], and reassures a distraught Spongebob that because he's a starfish, he can simply regrow it. Then it turns out the torn hand regrew into ''another Patrick''. Some starfish can even regrow their central disc from a single limb.

* SleepAesop: In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", Mr. Krabs opens up the Krusty Krab for twenty-four hours, which makes [=SpongeBob=] hallucinate Krabby Patties and become afraid of them due to sleep deprivation. This is implied to be a moral about sleep being important because Spongebob mentions that all he needed was sleep and Mr. Krabs allows him to sleep (albeit for only one hour a day).

* ThreeWishes: At the end of "Shanghaied".

* TieInCereal: {{Invoked|Trope}}. SpongeBob has been shown eating Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy bran flakes.
* TieInNovel
* TimeTravelEpisode: "SB-129".

** Patrick's stomach in "Something Smells".

** "I gotta act natural!"
-->"Oh that's real nice."

* VictoriousRoar: [[PlayedForLaughs Played for Laughs]] in the episode "The Algae's Always Greener". When Plankton decides to use his "Switch-Lives-Just-To-Know-What-It's-Like-O-Mogrifier" device to switch lives with Mr. Krabs, he finds himself thrust into an alternate dimension where he has lived Krabs' life and success as the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant. Unfortunately for Plankton, he unknowingly inherits the exact same problems Krabs has to normally deal with on a daily basis as well, including an attempt to steal the Krabby Patty formula, by a naked Krabs himself this time. When Spongebob finally defeats Krabs by getting him to wear a bra, via cannonfire, Spongebob and everyone else in the Krusty Krab, sans Krabs and Plankton, commemorate their victory with a victory screech. Needless to say, the entire episode is a case of [[ItMakesSenseInContext It Makes Sense in Context]].

* WaterIsAir: Very frequently, starting with the intro to every episode, in which Spongebob takes a bath. Most noticeable in "SpongeHenge," involving a wind storm that causes [=SpongeBob's=] holes to whistle.

** The episode "Something Smells" has Spongebob accidentally trigger this trope when he uses a rancid seanut plant for a sundae, creating a horrific case of bad breath. The odor becomes so horrible that everyone in Bikini Bottom has a near-fatal reaction; the only person immune is Patrick, who lacks a nose. Spongebob can't understand why everyone is running away from him, and Patrick convinces him that it must be because he's ugly. It isn't until Patrick himself eats some of the sundae and also gets bad breath that they realize what's going on, as Spongebob ''can'' smell Patrick's terrible fumes (he likely couldn't smell his own because of the real-life phenomenon of "scent blindness," which dulls a person's own odor to themselves).

* WormInAnApple: Spongebob and Patrick try to raise an abandoned clam (the equivalent of birds in the setting) in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve". Ignorant of what a clam eats, they unsuccessfully present it with an apple. However, a worm that talks and claims to be visiting from Apple World pops out from the fruit. The duo feeds the worm to the clam instead, despite the worm's threat that "[[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev we will bury you!]]"

* SoundEffectBleep: "Hey, Patrick, how the [DOLPHIN CHIRP] are ya?" The whole episode (''Sailor Mouth'') took the trope UpToEleven. (Though it turns out "DOLPHIN CHIRP" is the most filthy cuss word known to man.)

* SuperGullible: [=SpongeBob=] is prone to this; taken UpToEleven in "Gullible Pants".

* ZillionDollarBill: In "Goodbye, Krabby Patty?", thanks to [[spoiler: the gigantic success of frozen Krabby Patty]], Mr.Krabs receives what seems to be a 100 million dollar check, only to find out there's [[UpToEleven plenty more zeroes written all the way to its back]], making the amount to be 100 ''nonillion''[[note]]that's thirty zeroes[[/note]] dollars.

** "Hello Bikini Bottom!" has Creator/AndySamburg as Colonel Carper.

* TrivialTragedy: In "A Day Without Tears", Squidward bets SpongeBob he can't go a day without crying. When the news anchor mentions "sad news for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy fans", Squidward turns the volume up and the anchor says that The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Show will only be played seven times a day instead of eight. Not wanting to lose the bet, SpongeBob quickly changes the channel.

** Junior flying in "Rock-a-bye Bivalve" looks totally implausible, but clams [[http://38.media.tumblr.com/44c33588071369934d357f275355402a/tumblr_miqq57ie4W1rh5jxfo1_400.gif actually do this.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Has its own [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome/SpongeBobSquarePants page]].

* SpringtimeForHitler: In "Fancy House", Squidward can't stand to see [[RichBastard Squilliam Fancyson]] on TV when he's showing off his BigFancyHouse, so he claims to have a fancier house than Squlliam's, even though it is nowhere as rich. He hires [=SpongeBob=] for an emergency redecorating session, which backfires when [=SpongeBob=] covers his living room in paint and the vacuum cleaner ends up vacuuming the entire living room and explodes, turning Squidward's house into a debris, which Nicholas Withers regards as a [[AccidentalArt neo-classical masterpiece,]] and Squilliam has a nervous breakdown when Squidward's "masterpiece" manages to take the award that Squilliam was about to receive, being featured on the next episode of "House Fancy".

* RapidHairGrowth: In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'', Mindy tries to convince [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick that they are men by giving them fake mustaches. Later, they run into tough guy Dennis, who laughs at their pathetic mustaches and show them what a real mustache looks like, by instantly growing one.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Patrick gives one to [=SpongeBob=] near the end of "Dumped", just before TheReveal Gary only wanted the cookie in his pocket:
-->'''Patrick:''' I'm sorry, [=SpongeBob=], but Gary's with me now. You had your chance and you failed. You have to stop living in the past. Face it [=SpongeBob=], you're only hurting yourself. It's what Gary wants, and what Gary wants is me! Right, Gary? ...Gary?

-->'''Plankton:''' Shut your mouth, you mediocre clarinet player.
-->'''Squidward:''' ''[sheepishly]'' ... mediocre?
-->'''Plankton:''' You ''pretentious'', little insignificant artist! Your sniveling creations are worth less than a protozoan's ''waste''!
-->'''Squidward:''' ''[turns pale and faints]''

-->'''Mr. Krabs:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa there, now! Settle down! All this brawling is over a toy?! You two shouldn't let a little trinket get between youse! You should be ashamed of yourselves. If I gave each of ya ''another'' toy, would ''that'' make you happy?

* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: In "Sailor Mouth", after [=SpongeBob=] curses:
--> '''Fish''': Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?\\

--> '''[=SpongeBob=]''': What could be better than serving up smiles?(makes goofy face)
--> '''Squidward''': Being dead, or anything else.

* RhymingTitle::

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In "Sleepy Time", when [=SpongeBob=] invades Patrick's dream.
--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' I mean anything! Watch. I can turn into a skyscraper. ''[transforms into the shape of a skyscraper] Going up! Eh? [sees that Patrick is unresponsive; looks dull]'' I can make... a million of me! ''[changes back to his normal shape and size, this time with a million copies of himself]'' Eh? Eh? ''[the clones disappear]'' Ah, tartar sauce. I'm going to a different dream.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs.

* ShipTease: [=SpongeBob=] and Sandy (occasionally).
** At least a few pre-movie episodes seem to tease [=SpongeBob=] and Pearl instead.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Squidward.
** [=SpongeBob=] and Sandy also have their moments, [[DependingOnTheWriter though not as consistently]].

* YankTheDogsChain: Some episodes tend to do this to both Squidward and Plankton. Used so often in the later seasons that it's almost the show's signature trope, especially with Squidward.
** [=SpongeBob=] whenever he tries to get his driver's license.

* ZombieApocalypse: In "Krabby Patty Creature Feature", Krabby Patties experimented on by Sandy cause the population of Bikini Bottom to turn into [[BodyHorror horrifying fish-burger hybrids]] whose only goal is to force other fish to eat them, turning them into more of said creatures.

** The sea creatures (and Sandy, Mermaid Man, and Barnacle Boy) hear each other speak English but any live-action segment on land shows that humans can't hear them.

--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' (referring to the Day itself) Why, it's the day when all the graphic literature shops provide ''gratis'' samples of their wares in a pathetic attempt to bolster an industry which has spent the last two decades in a death spiral brought on by lethal interaction between the lack of variety and a monopolistic distribution system!