History Characters / SpongebobSquarepantsMainCharacters

*** Squidward is grumpy, [[HatesEveryoneEqually dislikes most people]], is a dreadful musical (it [[DependingOnTheWriter depends]]), and has passionately [[FriendshipDenial denied being SpongeBob's friend multiple times]].

*** Squidward is grumpy, [[HatesEveryoneEqually dislikes most people]], is a dreadful musical (it [[DependingOnTheWriter depends), and has passionately [[FriendshipDenial denied being SpongeBob's friend multiple times]].

* {{Foil}}: To [=SpongeBob=]. While both of them are energetic and eccentric {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s who like karate, their personalities differ in that:
** [=SpongeBob=] is a naïve and kooky [[TheDitz Ditz]] who's childish, pestering, wimpy, cowardly, and generally ignorant in all but a few topic areas,
** Sandy is a mature, tough, bold, and intelligent individual who more often than not plays the OnlySaneWoman role.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Masculine Girl to [=SpongeBob=]'s Feminine Boy. Sandy is characteristically tough in that she has survived the most fatal obstacles, practices extreme sports, fought a giant clam by which she was nearly eaten, and is proficient in hardware; [=SpongeBob=] is a wimpy [[LovableCoward coward]] who's InTouchWithHisFeminineSide, [[ExtremeDoormat unable to stand up for himself]], [[DudeLooksLikeALady sports a very girly appearance]], and has cross-dressed on a few occasions.

* LackOfEmpathy: When Plankton was paranoid and scared of whales, Karen was very dismissive and refused to listen to him or show any sympathy or concern for him. She even says to [=SpongeBob=] that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart.

* LackOfEmpathy: She even says to [=SpongeBob=] that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart.

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: A rare female example. She doesn't wear any underwear. This, however, was later subverted since she was shown to wear underwear in the episode Oral Report when SpongeBob imagines people in their underwear.

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: A rare female example. She doesn't wear any underwear.

* DragonInChief: She’s always the one to come up with an EvilPlan to help plankton in his scheme to steal the secret formula.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Carolyn Lawrence (English), Presley Williams (English, young, ''Sponge on the Run'')[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Mercedes Prato (LA Spanish), Anabella Silva (LA Spanish), Yaraivi Acevedo (LA Spanish), Lileana Chacón (LA Spanish), Letícia Quinto (Brazilian Portuguese), Fernanda Bullara (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Pull Up A Barrel''), Melissa Bezerra (Brazilian Portuguese, young, ''Sponge on the Run''), Cathlen Gawlich (German), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present), Na'ama Uzan, Lital Vidavski (Hebrew, 2003–2006)[[/labelnote]]

* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: She normally wears a dress with a P print.

* WalkingSwimsuitScene: Occasionally seen in a bikini, but always when she's in her tree house.

[[folder:Karen Plankton]]
!!Karen Plankton
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_karen.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't get so worked up again, Plankton. I just mopped the floors."'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JillTalley (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Creator/MelanieHenriquez, Sofía Narváez (LA Spanish), Eleonora Prado (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 1), Rita Almeida (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 2), Cecília Lemes (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 3-present), Susanne Herrmann (German), Creator/ChristaLips (Dutch), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' "Plankton!"

A waterproof supercomputer who runs the Chum Bucket alongside her husband Plankton. She is always giving him new evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula, but their efforts never succeed. Karen is Plankton's own invention, and her software is built into most of his machines.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Sometimes laughs with the good guys against Plankton.
* AllThereInTheScript: Her name wasn't mentioned at all in the "Plankton!" episode, but it was listed in the credits.
* ArmlessBiped: In the movie and most episodes from season 5-9, her mobile form does not have arms. From season 10 onwards, however, her mobile form always has them.
* AscendedExtra: During the first three seasons, Karen was a SatelliteCharacter who primarily existed to provide [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic commentary]] on her husband's antics and had minimal interaction with anyone else due to being stuck inside the Chum Bucket. Following the first movie giving her a mobile body and both her and Plankton becoming {{Breakout Villain}}s, Karen would get much more screentime and focus and is now considered one of the main characters of the series.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Though it's subject to DependingOnTheWriter, Plankton and Karen's marriage is sometimes depicted as very dysfunctional; Plankton constantly prioritizes stealing the Krabby Patty formula over showing Karen love, while Karen in turn tends to be very naggy and sometimes physically abusive towards Plankton in return.
* BeleagueredAssistant: She mostly averts this as she is generally the dominant one in the relationship.
* BerserkButton: She has one in "Plankton Gets The Boot". Don't insult Karen's new screensaver or say it makes her processor look fat. Plankton learned that the hard way, twice.
* BreakoutVillain: As mentioned above, Doug Lawrence was responsible for turning Plankton and Karen from one-off characters into the main villains.
* CharacterDevelopment: She shows no signs of sentience in "Plankton!" but gains her personality in "F.U.N." However, she did always have a Midwestern accent, as mentioned in JustAStupidAccent below.
* CutenessProximity: She gets so excited over how adorable Spot's puppies are in "Spot Returns" that she shuts down and spends several hours needing to be rebooted. When she comes back online and discovers even more puppies, she's even happier.
* CyberGreen: Her head is a (for the most part) monochrome monitor, using a bright green or yellow green on her display, harkening back to the earliest days of computers.
* DeadpanSnarker: In the post-movie episodes, she snarks at Plankton all the time.
* TheDragon: She's Plankton's main support in his villainous efforts, as well as his only underling who actually sticks around.
* DependingOnTheWriter: While she's usually depicted as more competent and logical than Plankton, there ''are'' a select few episodes where the opposite is true. In "Jailbreak!," she's a ditzy airhead who bakes Plankton a cake out of kindness while he's in prison, but forgets that she was supposed to hide a nail file inside that would allow him to escape. In "Walking the Plankton," she's a hopeless romantic who geeks out over the chance to spend time with Plankton on a cruise, and then quickly sours on the idea when she realizes it's just another one of his plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula. "Single Cell Anniversary" blends the two characterizations together; she's skilled enough to easily obtain a copy of the formula as an anniversary gift, but she refuses to hand it over unless Plankton returns the favor and gets ''her'' something.
* DragonInChief: She’s always the one to come up with an EvilPlan to help plankton in his scheme to steal the secret formula.
* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
** She was only seen in wall form until the first movie and season 4, which gave her a mobile body.
** Karen's mobile form lacked arms from seasons 4 to 9. From season 10 onwards, she gained a pair of arms for the sake of additional expressiveness.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: According to "[=CopyBob=] [=DittoPants=]", Plankton had a picture of himself dressed as a genius tattooed on Karen's hard drive. She's not happy about it.
* EquippableAlly: She is equippable with lasers, screensavers, and various software.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Her sentience and, to a lesser but still noticeable extent, her DeadpanSnarker mannerisms. In the first season, she was always supportive of Plankton and focused on the mission. In the first movie, she became deadpan almost all of the time. While she has mostly reverted to her more cheerful demeanor as of season 9, she still shows signs of getting fed up with Plankton's ignorance at times.
** One aspect of her personality that was completely phased out was her unquestioning servitude to Plankton. She always helps with his plans and gives them to him in most cases, but she no longer does whatever he says when he demands it.
** An example of her unquestioning servitude can be seen in the Season 3 episode "The Algae's Always Greener". Plankton orders Karen to make him some dinner, so she gives him holographic meatloaf while saying—in a completely serious, non-sarcastic manner—"Yes, your majesty."
* HyperCompetentSideKick: She successfully stole a Krabby Patty the first time she tried alone, with near zero effort (then again, it was against Squidward).
* InformedAttractiveness: Despite being literally a sentient computer, both Sandy and several of Plankton's relatives have commented that Karen is "beautiful".
* InterspeciesRomance: If a computer counts as a species, her and Plankton counts as a relationship between people of different species.
* JustAStupidAccent: Had a very obvious Chicago accent even [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before she had a personality]].
* LackOfEmpathy: She even says to [=SpongeBob=] that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart.
* LogicalWeakness: Since she's a computer, she can be shut down instantly by [[AchillesPowerCord unplugging her power cord]]. In "Plankton's Army," Plankton does this to stop her from laughing at his EmbarrassingFirstName.
* MamaBear: Is extremely protective of her son, Chip, to the point of destroying an arcade machine just to stop him from being harmed by the in-game enemies and outright ''forcing'' Plankton to search for him after the latter drives him away.
* NonIndicativeName: Her full name is Karen Plankton, but she's a computer, not a plankton.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Karen is the only one who is regularly drawn with wavy-lined borders instead of clean lines. This is because backgrounds and items in the show are normally drawn with wavy borders while characters aren't.
* OnlySaneWoman: Typically one to call Plankton out on his obsessive schemes, more so currently.
* PetTheDog: She is a computer but nevertheless has a very strong love for Plankton deep down.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Played with. She supposedly has no heart but still feels a wide range of emotions. However, she still has some limitations such as being unable to eat (though she is turned into a Krabby Patty zombie in "Krabby Patty Creature Feature" when she is force-fed bits of the Krabby Patty zombies by having them stuffed into her disc drive).
* RoboticSpouse: Yes and no. Yes, Karen is a robot and she married her creator. But no, Plankton did ''not'' create her just to marry her. She was originally just the security system for the business he and Mr. Krabs ran together, before they began dating naturally. Their romance even began before Plankton became evil, and Karen was so faithful to him that she became evil as well.
* SatelliteCharacter: In the first few seasons, she usually only interacted with Plankton and whoever else came into the Chum Bucket. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since she was an immobile computer who was permanently stationed in the Chum Bucket. As the show progressed, Karen gained mobility and relationships with other characters than Plankton.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Averted, since she wasn't written as Plankton's wife until Season 3 and is actually a formidable villain rather than just a love interest, having come up with almost all of Plankton's schemes herself.
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: She plays crucial roles in the first two movies (authoring and telling Plankton about "Plan Z" in the first, powering the time machine in the second) but did not have much screen time in the trailers for them. However, she ''was'' featured in the associated merchandise, such as the Mega Bloks time machine playset for the 2015 movie.
* SnarkyInanimateObject: She's a robot and is pretty snarky in the later episodes.
* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: She's a robot who aids Plankton in his plans and is prone to making snide remarks towards him.
* TalkingWeapon: She has robotic abilities like lasers and death rays that make her a talking, walking weapon sometimes.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: The huge girl to Plankton's tiny guy, since she's a large computer and he's a tiny crustacean.
* TookALevelInCynic: She inexplicably becomes far more cold-hearted than usual in the first movie.
* {{Tuckerization}}: Named after Stephen Hillenburg's wife.
* TVHeadRobot: Early seasons depict her as a giant computer screen built into Plankton's lab, but later seasons gave her a mobile form that's effectively a CRT television on a thin pole attached to a base with wheels, occasionally with robotic arms.
* VirtualSidekick: She fills a sidekick role to her husband.
* WomenAreWiser: She is much more clever and competent than her husband Plankton.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sandy Cheeks]]
!!Sandra Jennifer Cheeks
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_sandy.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!"'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Carolyn Lawrence (English), Presley Williams (English, young, ''Sponge on the Run'')[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Mercedes Prato (LA Spanish), Anabella Silva (LA Spanish), Yaraivi Acevedo (LA Spanish), Lileana Chacón (LA Spanish), Letícia Quinto (Brazilian Portuguese), Fernanda Bullara (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Pull Up A Barrel''), Melissa Bezerra (Brazilian Portuguese, young, ''Sponge on the Run''), Cathlen Gawlich (German), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present), Na'ama Uzan, Lital Vidavski (Hebrew, 2003–2006)[[/labelnote]]

!!!'''Debut:''' "Tea at the Treedome"

An athletic, thrill-seeking squirrel from Texas who loves her home state. She works as a scientist and lives in an underwater dome full of air. She usually wears a bubble-helmet diving suit when she is outside of her home.
----

[[folder:Mrs. Puff]]
!!Penelope Puff
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_mrspuff.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"In all my years of teaching, only one student has ever failed my class."'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MaryJoCatlett (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Isabel Vara (LA Spanish), Arlete Montenegro (Brazilian Portuguese), Rita Engelmann (German, Episode 4-182, first movie), Joseline Gassen (German, second movie), Sonja Deutsch (German, Episode 190-present), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' "Boating School"

[=SpongeBob=]'s patient but paranoid teacher at boating school. She would like nothing more than to pass [=SpongeBob=] since he is an obsessively good student, but he routinely freaks out and crashes whenever he has to get inside a boat. She is a pufferfish who blows up into a ball whenever she is scared or stressed out.

* AlliterativeName: '''P'''enelope '''P'''uff.
* ApatheticTeacher: Zigzagged, DependingOnTheWriter. Though it's mostly her attitude towards [=SpongeBob=] since no matter what she does, she can't seem to get him to pass the driving portion of her test and out of her hair for good. His over-eagerness certainly doesn't help, neither does continually landing her in jail either.
* AxCrazy: In "Demolition Doofus" when she becomes obsessed with attempting to get [=SpongeBob=] killed in a demolition match, and tries to kill him herself when that fails.
* BigBeautifulWoman: Her size comes with a noted appetite for pasta and cake, but she handily attracts Mr. Krabs, and [=SpongeBob=]'s ''mother'' has to cough loudly to pull her husband's attention off of her.
* BigEater: She's shown to have a big appetite. See ObsessedWithFood below.
* ButtMonkey: As a result of [=SpongeBob=]'s antics, she's frequently injured or sent to jail.
* CommonalityConnection: When Squidward has to attend her classes, they bond over the fact that [=SpongeBob=] is the bane of both their existences.
* CoolOldLady: She is surprisingly active for an elderly teacher and even has an expansive criminal record.
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** According to at least one [[TalkingToThemself monologue]], she has previously skipped town under a different name.
** Her husband was apparently [[spoiler:fished up out of the sea and made into a lamp.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: [=SpongeBob=]'s annoyance and idiocy often causes Mrs. Puff to make snide remarks.
* DecemberDecemberRomance: She and Mr. Krabs are close to being senior citizens and have each been married before, but that doesn't stop them from falling in love and continuing to date (for nearly two decades, as revealed in ''Whirly Brains'').
* DependingOnTheWriter: How she feels about Spongebob varies from episode to episode. Some episodes have her genuinely like him as a student, despite his poor boating skills. Most episodes have her weary of having him as a student, but she doesn't truly hold anything against him. And some episodes, especially those in Season 8 and beyond, have her outright hating him.
* {{Determinator}}: Amazingly, she has made it her goal never to give up on [=SpongeBob=], no matter how many times he fails.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: She falls victim to this in the episode "No Free Rides". Sick and tired of having to go through [=SpongeBob=]'s [[DrivesLikeCrazy chaotic driving tests]], she comes up with a bogus extra credit test to just give him his driver's license and get him out of her classroom. It's only after she does so that it hits her that she has just given [=SpongeBob=] free reign to drive on public streets and wreak havoc there.

* OnlyOneName: She is only ever called "Mrs. Puff" in the series proper. Merchandise such as books and the video game ''Yellow Avenger'' state that her first name is Poppy, but the Season 13 episode "Yellow Pavement" reveals that her first name is "Penelope".

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: She is often mistakenly called ''Ms.'' Puff by casual fans. Oddly, she has also been called "Mrs. Pearl" by more than a few.

* CartoonWhale: A gray whale with a square head. Justified since the creators she's a sperm whale.

** Squidward is Gary’s least favorite person in Bikini Bottom and feeling is mutual on the former’s behalf.

* CatchPhrase: ‘Meow.’

[[folder:Sandy Cheeks]]
!!Sandra Jennifer Cheeks
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_sandy.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!"'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Carolyn Lawrence (English), Presley Williams (English, young, ''Sponge on the Run'')[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Mercedes Prato (LA Spanish), Anabella Silva (LA Spanish), Yaraivi Acevedo (LA Spanish), Lileana Chacón (LA Spanish), Letícia Quinto (Brazilian Portuguese), Fernanda Bullara (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Pull Up A Barrel''), Melissa Bezerra (Brazilian Portuguese, young, ''Sponge on the Run''), Cathlen Gawlich (German), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present), Na'ama Uzan, Lital Vidavski (Hebrew, 2003–2006)[[/labelnote]]

!!!'''Debut:''' "Tea at the Treedome"

An athletic, thrill-seeking squirrel from Texas who loves her home state. She works as a scientist and lives in an underwater dome full of air. She usually wears a bubble-helmet diving suit when she is outside of her home.

* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: She's the most prominent female character, with a cheerful personality, and when she's not wearing her suit filled with oxygen, she wears [[WalkingSwimsuitScene a purple bikini top and green panties with a purple skirt]], leaving her midsection exposed.

* BrainyBrunette: Has brown fur and is usually depicted as the smartest of the main characters.

* DemotedToExtra: Sandy appeared significantly less from Season 3 onwards, being more of a recurring supporting character than the main character she was originally billed as. She gets hit especially hard by this in the first movie. If you watched it without having seen the show prior, you’d never be able to guess that Sandy is a major character, since her role in the former is to be a background extra. Later seasons have attempted to avert this by giving her plenty of [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]].

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: While not the only female character in the show ''period'', she's the only one consistently considered a main character and appears far more often than the likes of Mrs. Puff, Pearl or Karen.
** In the second movie and various episodes (usually specials) where the main group consists of her, [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs and Plankton, she's the only girl among them.
** In several licensed games in the ''[=SpongeBob=] [=SquarePants=]'' franchise, such as ''Lights, Camera, Pants'', ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'', ''Plankton's Robotic Revenge'', and ''[=HeroPants=]'', she's the only playable girl.

[[folder:Gary the Snail]]
!!Garold Wilson Jr.
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_gary.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"Meow."'']]
!!!'''English voice:''' Creator/TomKenny (English), Creator/DeeBradleyBaker (English, dream self voice in "Sleepytime"), Creator/KeithDavid (English, translator voice in "Chatterbox Gary")[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]José Manuel Vieira, Fernando Márquez (LA Spanish), Santiago Ziesmer[[note]] while Santiago Ziesmer voices Gary, some of Tom Kenny's lines were kept in some episodes[[/note]] (German)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' "Help Wanted"

[=SpongeBob=]'s pet snail, who meows like a cat.

* AdvertisedExtra: Despite his prominence in advertising and being considered one of the main seven characters (alongside [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Mr. Krabs and Plankton), most of his appearances boil down to minor gags with actual Gary-centric episodes being [[OutOfFocus very rare]].
* AffectionateNickname: He calls [=SpongeBob=] "[=PapaBob=]" in "Chatterbox Gary" when he gets a translator for his meows. [=SpongeBob=] also calls him "Gare Bear" quite often.
* AnimalJingoism: In "Pets or Pests", he develops a mutual hatred for a worm [=SpongeBob=] takes in, since worms in this show are the undersea equivalent of dogs.
* ApatheticPet: DependingOnTheWriter. Certain episodes portray him as not particularly concerned about his owner [=SpongeBob=] and only really being able to enjoy himself when he is away. Subverted in "Gary's New Toy", where Gary initially cares more about his new ball than [=SpongeBob=] and just continues playing with it and watching TV after [=SpongeBob=] says he is going to leave forever, only to want [=SpongeBob=] back when he realizes that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone his actions drove him away and he really is gone]].
* {{Archnemesis}}:
** Squidward is Gary’s least favorite person in Bikini Bottom and feeling is mutual on the former’s behalf.
** Since "Shellback Shenanigans", Gary holds an immense grudge against Plankton for stealing his shell once and [[ItsPersonal immediately goes hostile towards the latter, whenever Plankton’s present from that day forth.]]
* AscendedExtra: In the earlier episodes, he was just a SatelliteCharacter to [=SpongeBob=], before his role gradually increased and allowed him to develop a personality.
* BerserkButton:
** Don't you DARE bring a worm into the house; this'll set off his AnimalJingoism prompting him to brawl them into being shooed out.
** Do NOT check his undercarriage. You'll be lucky if he just gives you a warning by hissing at you.
* BigEater: He eats the entire year supply of snail food [=SpongeBob=] left for him in "What Ever Happened to [=SpongeBob=]?" as well as a lot of cookies in "Have You Seen This Snail?"
* ButtMonkey: He's abused mercilessly in a few episodes of the later seasons like "A Pal For Gary", "The Cent of Money" and "Pet Sitter Pat".
* CatchPhrase: ‘Meow.’
* CatsAreMean: Under the show's theory of snails existing as an underwater equivalent for cats. Subverted for the most part, though he has his occasional {{Jerkass}} moments like most of the cast: "Dumped" shows he can be a rather fickle bastard.
* CatsHateWater: Being the equivalent thereof, he's not a fan, even though [[WaterIsAir technically]] he ''lives'' underwater.
* CharacterDevelopment: Started off as a gag character whose sole purpose was to exhibit snails as an underwater equivalent to cats. Although his vocabulary is still limited to "meow", he arguably has much more of a personality nowadays than he did in the earlier seasons.
* ConnectedAllAlong: "Rule of Dumb" reveals he and Patrick are ''first cousins''.
* DependingOnTheArtist: What it looks like under his shell depends on the episode. He can either just have a smooth surface so he resembles a slug without his shell on, a large butt (sometimes with underwear), or cartoony organs.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' reveals that he hates mayonnaise.
* EvilDetectingDog: He has a complete hostility toward Plankton, and can even tell if he's around and attacks him in return. He also does this to Squidward when he witnesses him playing a mean trick on [=SpongeBob=].
* EyeOnAStalk: As to be expected for a snail. Gary's eyestalks have proven quite useful in a few episodes, most notably in "Jellyfish Jam", where he clicks his eyes together and creates a musical beat to distract an angry jellyfish swarm.
* FullNameUltimatum: If [=SpongeBob=] addresses him as "Gary the Snail" or "Gary Wilson Jr.", he means serious business.
* FurryConfusion: Although there are no anthropomorphic snails, some snails can ''talk'', although they remain unable to talk to anthropomorphic characters.
* HateAtFirstSight: Towards Squidward during their introduction together in "I Was A Teenage Gary." The feeling was mutual on Squidward’s behalf, since he’s allergic to snails and his initial reaction towards the former. Squidward not feeding him over the weekend [[NotHelpingYourCase probably didn't help]]...
* HatesBaths: As seen in "Gary Takes a Bath" and "Pet Sitter Pat", he doesn't like taking baths. This phobia is based on how [[CatsHateWater felines are opposed to water]].
* HypercompetentSidekick: He often seems smarter than his owner.
* IntellectualAnimal: In the episode "Sleepy Time", he is revealed to be quite intelligent through his dream self.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: [=SpongeBob=] and some of the other characters can understand Gary even though he only meows.
-->'''Mr. Krabs:''' [=SpongeBob=], what's wrong with you?\\
'''Gary:''' Meow!\\
'''Mr. Krabs:''' The Suds?!
* JerkassBall: In "Dumped", where he decides to stay with Patrick (who himself also grasps the Jerkass Ball in this episode) despite [=SpongeBob=] blatantly showing his depression over being separated from him. Subverted however, as he's only interested in the cookie in Patrick's pocket.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gary comes across as gluttonous and can be occasionally selfish and uninterested in some of the things [=SpongeBob=] wants to do. However, he is a very gentle snail who loves [=SpongeBob=] very dearly.
* KillerRabbit: He's mostly a sweet snail, but he has his dark side; he rebels and leads a revolution with other snails and worms against a pet show in "Grooming Gary" due to [=SpongeBob=] abusing him just to score a win, and admits through a translator that he fantasizes about raining fiery vengeance down on those who've wronged him in "Chatterbox Gary".
* LactatingMale: Implied in "New Digs", where a transition happens and [=SpongeBob=] is suddenly holding a glass of milk, which he calls "a glass of warm snail milk". The trope was originally intended to be played straight, with [=SpongeBob=] actually shown milking Gary, but the scene ultimately didn't make it into the episode because of the dirty implications.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:"Rule of Dumb" reveals him and Patrick to be cousins.]]
* NearlyNormalAnimal: While he mostly functions as an ordinary pet, he does occasionally exhibit some human mannerisms or gestures, such as drinking from a glass, and he seems to think on a sapient level. His meows are intelligible to most who interact with him.
* OddNameOut: His full name has nothing to do with his species, unlike most of the other characters.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: He's never called by his real name, "Garold".
* OnlySaneMan: Despite being a pet, Gary fills the role of the only reasonable and rational person the vast majority of the time. He's also pretty much the only one on Conch Street who actually despises Squidward.
* OutOfFocus: Due to first and foremost being Spongebob's pet, his actual role in the series is, to put it lightly, fairly small. While some of the other characters have frequent ADayInTheLimelight episodes, Gary-centric episodes are outright rare. Even so, he usually makes a brief cameo or shows up in a small gag in most cases.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: He's a cute little snail.
* SecretTest: In the episode "Treats!" Gary pesters [=SpongeBob=] to get him a box of discontinued treats, and spends the episode in vain searching for the snacks. When [=SpongeBob=] takes Patrick's advice, and tells Gary "no" they will not keep searching, Gary goes to bed happy to know that [=SpongeBob=] learned to say "no."
* SilentSnarker: Often non-verbally expresses his disdain for his owner's idiocy.
* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: Despite all of them being sea creatures and all (except for some one-offs, Mermaid Man, and Barnacle Boy). Even if the [[TheUnintelligible audience will never be able to figure out what he's saying,]] [=SpongeBob=]'s retorts to whatever he says show that he is rather snarky.
* SuddenAnatomy: His mouth tends to appear and disappear, he can grow limbs when needed, and the appearance of his body without a shell (as well as the inside of his shell) changes throughout the show.
* TokenGoodTeammate: One of the few characters who is not a {{Jerkass}}, an antagonist, or a moron (although he can be fickle at times).
* UndyingLoyalty:
** If him rescuing [=SpongeBob=] from Puffy Fluffy after the sponge treated him like crap doesn't qualify for how unwilling he is to turn against [=SpongeBob=], ''nothing'' does.
** In "Suds", [=SpongeBob=] curtly dismisses Gary's insistence that he stay home from work. Despite this, Gary seemingly follows [=SpongeBob=] to work just to tell his boss that he's ill.
* WeaponOfXSlaying: While not a weapon, his status as a bottom feeder allows him to easily clean up an infectious fungus which would otherwise make the infected [[BodyHorror disgustingly sick]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mrs. Puff]]
!!Penelope Puff
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_mrspuff.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"In all my years of teaching, only one student has ever failed my class."'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MaryJoCatlett (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Isabel Vara (LA Spanish), Arlete Montenegro (Brazilian Portuguese), Rita Engelmann (German, Episode 4-182, first movie), Joseline Gassen (German, second movie), Sonja Deutsch (German, Episode 190-present), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' "Boating School"

[=SpongeBob=]'s patient but paranoid teacher at boating school. She would like nothing more than to pass [=SpongeBob=] since he is an obsessively good student, but he routinely freaks out and crashes whenever he has to get inside a boat. She is a pufferfish who blows up into a ball whenever she is scared or stressed out.
----

* OutOfFocus: Out of the original main characters, Pearl has been hit the hardest by this. Pearl's most essential roles are mainly OnceASeason, and she doesn't show terribly often compared to other prominent characters. While she still has her own ADayInTheLimelight episodes, she has also been increasingly left out of "group" episodes. Luckily, Season 9 and onward try to subvert this by rendering both [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs OutOfFocus in her featured episodes.

[[folder:Karen Plankton]]
!!Karen Plankton
[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_karen.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't get so worked up again, Plankton. I just mopped the floors."'']]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JillTalley (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Creator/MelanieHenriquez, Sofía Narváez (LA Spanish), Eleonora Prado (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 1), Rita Almeida (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 2), Cecília Lemes (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 3-present), Susanne Herrmann (German), Creator/ChristaLips (Dutch), Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish, Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Swedish, Rest of season 7-present)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' "Plankton!"

A waterproof supercomputer who runs the Chum Bucket alongside her husband Plankton. She is always giving him new evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula, but their efforts never succeed. Karen is Plankton's own invention, and her software is built into most of his machines.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Sometimes laughs with the good guys against Plankton.
* AllThereInTheScript: Her name wasn't mentioned at all in the "Plankton!" episode, but it was listed in the credits.
* ArmlessBiped: In the movie and most episodes from season 5-9, her mobile form does not have arms. From season 10 onwards, however, her mobile form always has them.
* AscendedExtra: During the first three seasons, Karen was a SatelliteCharacter who primarily existed to provide [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic commentary]] on her husband's antics and had minimal interaction with anyone else due to being stuck inside the Chum Bucket. Following the first movie giving her a mobile body and both her and Plankton becoming {{Breakout Villain}}s, Karen would get much more screentime and focus and is now considered one of the main characters of the series.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Though it's subject to DependingOnTheWriter, Plankton and Karen's marriage is sometimes depicted as very dysfunctional; Plankton constantly prioritizes stealing the Krabby Patty formula over showing Karen love, while Karen in turn tends to be very naggy and sometimes physically abusive towards Plankton in return.
* BeleagueredAssistant: She mostly averts this as she is generally the dominant one in the relationship.
* BerserkButton: She has one in "Plankton Gets The Boot". Don't insult Karen's new screensaver or say it makes her processor look fat. Plankton learned that the hard way, twice.
* BreakoutVillain: As mentioned above, Mr. Lawrence was responsible for turning the Planktons from one-off characters into the main villains.
* CharacterDevelopment: She shows no signs of sentience in "Plankton!" but gains her personality in "F.U.N." However, she did always have a Midwestern accent, as mentioned in JustAStupidAccent below.
* CutenessProximity: She gets so excited over how adorable Spot's puppies are in "Spot Returns" that she shuts down and spends several hours needing to be rebooted. When she comes back online and discovers even more puppies, she's even happier.
* CyberGreen: Her head is a (for the most part) monochrome monitor, using a bright green or yellow green on her display, harkening back to the earliest days of computers.
* DeadpanSnarker: In the post-movie episodes, she snarks at Plankton all the time.
* TheDragon: She's Plankton's main support in his villainous efforts, and his only major recurring underling.
* DependingOnTheWriter: While she's usually depicted as more competent and logical than Plankton, there ''are'' a select few episodes where the opposite is true. In "Jailbreak!," she's a ditzy airhead who bakes Plankton a cake out of kindness while he's in prison, but forgets that she was supposed to hide a nail file inside that would allow him to escape. In "Walking the Plankton," she's a hopeless romantic who geeks out over the chance to spend time with Plankton on a cruise, and then quickly sours on the idea when she realizes it's just another one of his plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula. "Single Cell Anniversary" blends the two characterizations together; she's skilled enough to easily obtain a copy of the formula as an anniversary gift, but she refuses to hand it over unless Plankton returns the favor and gets ''her'' something.
* DragonInChief: She’s always the one to come up with an EvilPlan to help plankton in his scheme to steal the secret formula.
* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
** She was only seen in wall form until the first movie and season 4, which gave her a mobile body.
** Karen's mobile form lacked arms from seasons 4 to 9. From season 10 onwards, she gained a pair of arms for the sake of additional expressiveness.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: According to "[=CopyBob=] [=DittoPants=]", Plankton had a picture of himself dressed as a genius tattooed on Karen's hard drive. She's not happy about it.
* EquippableAlly: She is equippable with lasers, screensavers, and various software.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Her sentience and, to a lesser but still noticeable extent, her DeadpanSnarker mannerisms. In the first season, she was always supportive of Plankton and focused on the mission. In the first movie, she became deadpan almost all of the time. While she has mostly reverted to her more cheerful demeanor as of season 9, she still shows signs of getting fed up with Plankton's ignorance at times.
** One aspect of her personality that was completely phased out was her unquestioning servitude to Plankton. She always helps with his plans and gives them to him in most cases, but she no longer does whatever he says when he demands it.
** An example of her unquestioning servitude can be seen in the Season 3 episode "The Algae's Always Greener". Plankton orders Karen to make him some dinner, so she gives him holographic meatloaf while saying—in a completely serious, non-sarcastic manner—"Yes, your majesty."
* HyperCompetentSideKick: She successfully stole a Krabby Patty the first time she tried alone, with near zero effort (then again, it was against Squidward).
* InformedAttractiveness: Despite being literally a sentient computer, both Sandy and several of Plankton's relatives have commented that Karen is "beautiful".
* InterspeciesRomance: If a computer counts as a species, her and Plankton counts as a relationship between people of different species.
* JustAStupidAccent: Had a very obvious Chicago accent even [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before she had a personality]].
* LackOfEmpathy: She even says to [=SpongeBob=] that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart.
* LogicalWeakness: Since she's a computer, she can be shut down instantly by [[AchillesPowerCord unplugging her power cord]]. In "Plankton's Army," Plankton does this to stop her from laughing at his EmbarrassingFirstName.
* MamaBear: Is extremely protective of her son, Chip, to the point of destroying an arcade machine just to stop him from being harmed by the in-game enemies and outright ''forcing'' Plankton to search for him after the latter drives him away.
* NonIndicativeName: Her full name is Karen Plankton, but she's a computer, not a plankton.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Karen is the only one who is regularly drawn with wavy-lined borders instead of clean lines. This is because backgrounds and items in the show are normally drawn with wavy borders while characters aren't.
* OnlySaneWoman: Typically one to call Plankton out on his obsessive schemes, more so currently.
* PetTheDog: She is a computer but nevertheless has a very strong love for Plankton deep down.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Played with. She supposedly has no heart but still feels a wide range of emotions. However, she still has some limitations such as being unable to eat (though she is turned into a Krabby Patty zombie in "Krabby Patty Creature Feature" when she is force-fed bits of the Krabby Patty zombies by having them stuffed into her disc drive).
* RoboticSpouse: Yes and no. Yes, Karen is a robot and she married her creator. But no, Plankton did ''not'' create her just to marry her. She was originally just the security system for the business he and Mr. Krabs ran together, before they began dating naturally. Their romance even began before Plankton became evil, and Karen was so faithful to him that she became evil as well.
* SatelliteCharacter: She usually only interacts with Plankton and whoever else comes into the Chum Bucket. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], seeing as she's a mostly immobile computer who was permanently stationed in the Chum Bucket for the first four seasons.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Averted, since she wasn't written as Plankton's wife until Season 3 and is actually a formidable villain rather than just a love interest, having come up with almost all of Plankton's schemes herself.
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: She plays crucial roles in both movies (authoring and telling Plankton about "Plan Z" in the first, powering the time machine in the second) but did not have much screen time in the trailers for them. However, she ''was'' featured in the associated merchandise, such as the Mega Bloks time machine playset for the 2015 movie.
* SnarkyInanimateObject: She's a robot and is pretty snarky in the later episodes.
* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: She's a robot who aids Plankton in his plans and is prone to making snide remarks towards him.
* TalkingWeapon: She has robotic abilities like lasers and death rays that make her a talking, walking weapon sometimes.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: The huge girl to Plankton's tiny guy, since she's a large computer and he's a tiny crustacean.
* TookALevelInCynic: She inexplicably becomes far more cold-hearted than usual in the first movie.
* {{Tuckerization}}: Named after Stephen Hillenburg's wife.
* TVHeadRobot: Early seasons depict her as a giant computer screen built into Plankton's lab, but later seasons gave her a mobile form that's effectively a CRT television on a thin pole attached to a base with wheels, occasionally with robotic arms.
* VirtualSidekick: She fills a sidekick role to her husband.
* WomenAreWiser: She is much more clever and competent than her husband Plankton.

* TookALevelInJerkass: A downplayed relative case. Sandy became much more prideful and hot headed in Season Two. Unlike with some other mainstays however, this was less an exercise in {{Flanderization}} and more just to give Sandy some comical foibles like everyone else, being mostly just TheAce in her earlier episodes. She never became unrepentantly nasty about it and remained a nice person overall.

* HatesBaths: As seen in "Gary Takes a Bath" and "Pet Sitter Pat", he doesn't like taking baths. This phobia is based on how felines are opposed to water.

* SuddenAnatomy: His mouth tends to appear and disappear, he can grow limbs when needed, and the appearance of his body without a shell changes throughout the show.

* CuteBruiser: She is clearly one of Bikini Bottom's strongest residents, if not the strongest. She occasionally challenges massive, heavily muscled beachgoers to weightlifting challenges.

** In "Prehibernation Week", she forces [=SpongeBob=] along with her in her extreme sports activities, which clearly have an adverse affect on his health, not that Sandy seems to care.
** In "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired", she feeds various freeloaders (including Patrick) toxic waste for no reason beyond curiosity.

* TookALevelInJerkass: A downplayed relative case. Sandy became much more prideful and hot headed in Season Two. Unlike with some other mainstays however, this was less an exercise in {{Flanderization}} and more just to give Sandy some comical foibles like everyone else, being mostly just TheAce in her earlier episodes. She never became unrepentantly nasty about it.

* SuddenAnatomy: His mouth tends to appear and disappear.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: She falls victim to this in the episode "No Free Rides". Sick and tired of having to go through [=SpongeBob=]' [[DrivesLikeCrazy chaotic driving tests]], she comes up with a bogus extra credit test to just give him his driver's license and get him out of her classroom. It's only after she does so that it hits her that she has just given [=SpongeBob=] free reign to drive on public streets and wreak havoc there.

* NeverMyFault: True, [=SpongeBob=] is the reason why she's so grouchy and getting constantly injured, but she forgets the fact that she's not obligated to keep [=SpongeBob=] as a student and she can simply expel him if she's tired of him failing her classes. While her suffering isn't her fault, she is unintentionally playing a role in prolonging it due to her never thinking of expelling [[=SpongeBob=]] from her boating school. It also helps that she mentioned that [=SpongeBob=] was the only student who has ever failed her boating school.

* SpeciesSurname: Her name is Mrs. Puff and she's a puffer-fish.

* TemporarilyAVillain: In "No Free Rides" and "Demolition Doofus", she acts as an antagonist towards [=SpongeBob=] out of being sick of having to put up with him.

* DemotedToExtra: Sandy appeared significantly less from Season 3 onwards, being more of a recurring supporting character than the main character she was originally billed as. She gets hit especially hard by this in the first movie. If you watched it without having seen the show prior, you’d never be able to guess that Sandy is a major character, since her role in the former is to be a background extra. Later seasons have attempted to avert this, giving her plenty of [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]].

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: In several licensed games in the ''[=SpongeBob=] [=SquarePants=]'' franchise, such as ''Lights, Camera, Pants'', ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'', ''Plankton's Robotic Revenge'', and ''[=HeroPants=]''. She is also this in the second movie, as well as in few episodes.

* DemotedToExtra: Sandy appeared significantly less from Season 3 onwards, being more of a recurring supporting character than the main character she was originally billed as. Later seasons have attempted to avert this, giving her plenty of [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]]. She gets hit especially hard by this in the first movie. If you watched it without having seen the show prior, you’d never be able to guess that Sandy is a major character, since her role in the former is to be a background extra.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: In several licensed games in the ''[=SpongeBob=] [=SquarePants=]'' franchise, such as ''Lights, Camera, Pants'', ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'', ''Plankton's Robotic Revenge'', and ''[=HeroPants=]''. She is also this in also the second movie, as well as in few episodes.