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Fanfic / Squidward's Suicide

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Known for its demented imagery and being the codifier of the (often-misused) term "hyper-realistic" in creepypastas, Squidward's Suicide is about an intern working for Nickelodeon who is shown what appears to be a normal SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon. Needless to say, it isn't.

The story was immensely popular and gained quite a following. Of course, like any successful story, it was imitated...a lot... to the point where some Creepypasta wikis banned lost episode pastas from being posted.

There exists an alternate version, titled Red Mist, written in a more formal style, similar to a Wiki entry, and which fixes some of the plot holes present in the original while ending on a more decisive note.


Squidward's Suicide provides hyper-realistic examples of:

  • Almighty Janitor: Perhaps one of the biggest plot holes in the story is just how the protagonist was allowed to sit in on airings of work-in-progress episodes, given that he's just a (self-admittedly unpaid) intern whose role would more likely be reduced to office work and running errands. This becomes even more ridiculous once things begin to go off the wall, as he would have likely been shooed out of the room by his higher-ups the moment the gore was shown.
  • Anachronism Stew: The protagonist claims to have worked on the production of SpongeBob's fourth season at Nickelodeon Studios in 2005. The first issue with this is that Nickelodeon Studios was on the brink of closure in 2005, with only a skeleton crew remaining to essentially hold down the fort until Nick's lease on the building finally expired. The second, more glaring issue is that SpongeBob was never produced at Nickelodeon Studios, but at an entirely separate studio in Los Angeles reserved for the network's animated series.
  • Ascended Meme:
    • There's a rumor that the SpongeBob writers wrote the episode "Are You Happy Now" as a nod to this pasta. Considering that one of the writers, Casey Alexander, actually knows about it, that is a distinct possibility.
    • The original airing of "SpongeBob in RandomLand" has a scene where Squidward encounters a version of himself with a black shroud and black liquid around his eyes. Amusingly, this scene got cut from later airings due to a Broadcast Standards and Practices complaint, thus giving us a chance to see how a supposed 'lost episode' or other banned content for the show would actually get handled in real life!
    • In "A Place for Pets", Squidward gets two red drink cups lodged in his eyes. He then turns to face the screen, frowning, imitating the Signature Scene of "Squidward's Suicide".
  • Ate His Gun: Squidward kills himself in the episode by shooting himself in the mouth.
  • Ax-Crazy: Whoever killed the children is clearly insane.
  • Bowdlerise: The most common version seen on the web actually omits two curse words that were in the original version. (It's "shit" and "hell" for those who are curious.) Note that all of the hideous violence is left totally untouched.
  • Conforming OOC Moment: Played for Drama when even the kindhearted SpongeBob boos at Squidward's clarinet recital along with the audience. The narrator even lampshades that it's something he'd never do.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • The lost episode has Squidward kill himself. It's right there in the creepypasta's title.
    • In the Red Mist version, one of the interns is said to have been so traumatized by the experience of viewing the episode that he committed suicide.
  • Eye Scream: Mention is made of bloody eyes, gouged eyes, etc.
  • Generic Doomsday Villain: The child murderer has no personality, goals or motives shown throughout the story. All we know is that he simply killed children and quite likely made the episode.
  • Gorn: One of the first lost episode pastas to feature gruesomely detailed descriptions of violence.
  • Hand Wave: The author attempts to explain how they are able to remember the episode in such detail by saying that they watched it twice. This only raises more questions; namely, why would they want to watch it twice, considering its content caused the author to vomit on to the floor?
  • Karma Houdini: The child murderer whose victims are seen in the video wasn't caught. Averted in the Red Mist version, where the tape containing the episode is sent to the local police who subsequently determine the identity of the killer, who in turn is later charged with nine counts of murder, including that of the two children seen in the tape.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The original story never exactly makes it clear whether or not the episode is of supernatural origin. The Red Mist version, on the other hand, shows the episode to be clearly mundane in origin, being the product of a disgraced ex-animator turned Serial Killer.
  • MST:
    • The team at Bad Creepypasta have done an MST reading of the creepypasta in their usual cynical and negative style, and brought along an English teacher with them to witness the story. A counter for the story's numerous tense swaps is included.
    • It was the second episode of Phelous's Old Man Reads Creepypasta series.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first thing the narrator finds off about this cartoon is when SpongeBob is booing at Squidward's performance, something he'd never normally do.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Everyone in the audience gets red eyes while booing at Squidward.
  • Subverted Kids' Show: The fic is about an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants that involves Squidward being Driven to Suicide and has photographs of disemboweled children hidden in the animation frames.
  • Tears of Blood: Squidward cries blood later in the episode.
  • Unbuilt Trope: This story actually justifies the protagonist getting to see the lost episode by having them be an intern working at Nickelodeon, which is a situation where it would be plausible for someone to see lost or discarded episodes of cartoons. Later "lost episode" creepypastas inspired by this one would often make the episode's existence inexplicable, having the episode either air from a mysterious, untraceable broadcast, or being on a DVD purchased from The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday.
  • The Un-Reveal:
    • Who took those pictures? Who made the animation? Who killed the children? Whose sick idea was this?! Never explained. Although that's kind of the point with Creepypastas. The first paragraph of the story even points it out:
    I just want to start off by saying if you want an answer at the end, prepare to be disappointed. There just isn't one.
    • Averted in the Red Mist version, where police determine the tape to have been made by Andrew Skinner, a disgruntled former animator from Fife, Scotland, who is subsequently charged with the murders of the children seen in the tape.
  • Working Title: In-Universe, the author states that the staff often put inappropriate joke title cards in the rough cuts of the episodes before giving them their real titles in the final print. The viewers initially believed "Squidward's Suicide" was an example of this, so they weren't too concerned seeing that title. The author also mentioned "Rock-a-bye-Bivalve" having the joke title: "How Sex Doesn't Work".
  • Would Hurt a Child: The child murderer who made the disturbing animation (named Andrew Skinner in the Red Mist version) killed at least three children in gruesome fashion; more specifically, removing their entrails out of their stomachs. It's quite clear through these pictures that this person is a complete psychopath.

 
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Red Mist Squidward

*JUMPSCARE WARNING!*<br>The episode "SpongeBob in Randomland" briefly references "Squidward's Suicide". "This place is a nightmare!" indeed.

How well does it match the trope?

4.86 (64 votes)

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Main / AscendedFanon

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