| 1 | %%Characters are ordered per the credits of the movie.%% |
| 2 | [[WMG:[[center:''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePants character index]]\ |
| 3 | [-'''Main Characters:''' [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsTitularCharacter [=SpongeBob SquarePants=]]] | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsSquidwardTentacles Squidward Tentacles]] | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsMrKrabs Mr. Krabs]]\ |
| 4 | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsRecurringCharacters Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsMinorCharacters Minor Characters]] | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsMovieCharacters Movie Characters]] | [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsVideoGameCharacters Video Game Characters]]-]]]]] |
| 5 | ---- |
| 6 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_main_characters_sheet.gif]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:350:An original model sheet for the main characters. [[note]]Plankton and Karen weren't promoted to the main cast until 2004.[[/note]]]] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | !!Characters with their own pages: |
| 10 | [[index]] |
| 11 | * [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsTitularCharacter SpongeBob SquarePants]] |
| 12 | * [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsSquidwardTentacles Squidward Tentacles]] |
| 13 | * [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsMrKrabs Mr. Krabs]] |
| 14 | [[/index]] |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | [[folder:Patrick Star]] |
| 19 | !Patrick Star |
| 20 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/BillFagerbakke (English), Jack Gore (English, young, ''Sponge on the Run'')[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Ikuko Tani (Japanese, Seasons 1-8), Creator/TakashiNagasako (Japanese, first movie), Mitsuaki Kanuka (Japanese, second movie-present), Paul Gillman (LA Spanish, Seasons 1-3), Alfonso Soto (LA Spanish, Movie 1-present), David Silva (LA Spanish, a line in Season 8), Marco Kröger (German, Season 1-7), Fritz Rott (German, Season 8-present), Sérgio Moreno (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 1-3), Marco Antônio Abreu (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 4-present), Tommy Nilsson (Swedish, Season 1-Season 11), Björn Bengtsson (Swedish, Season 12-present), Liron Baranes (Hebrew)[[/labelnote]] |
| 21 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Help Wanted" |
| 22 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_patrick.jpg]] |
| 23 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"Well, maybe it is stupid. But it's also dumb!"'']] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ->''"[[HypocriticalHumor Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are.]]"'' |
| 26 | |
| 27 | A [[TheDitz dimwitted]] pink starfish who is [=SpongeBob=]'s [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friend for life]]. He is [[{{Neet}} normally unemployed]], but has held a variety of day jobs throughout the course of the series. Despite his [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} goofy behavior]], [[HiddenDepths he can occasionally]] [[GeniusDitz show hints of brilliance]]. |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | * AbandonedCatchphrase: In the earlier seasons, he would occasionally exclaim "Good morning, Krusty Krew!" upon entering the Krusty Krab, though this hasn't been said by him since the pre-movie era. |
| 30 | * AbusiveParents: Patrick mentions in the episode "Home Sweet Pineapple" that he was permanently kicked out of his parents' house at a young age. However, he reunites with his real parents at the end of "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E17ProcrastinationImWithStupid I'm with Stupid]]", implying that he has no hard feelings towards them despite what they did. |
| 31 | * AccidentalTruth: In the episode "Patrick-Man!", he starts attacking patrons at the Krusty Krab, believing that one of them is a supervillain in disguise. When Mr. Krabs is about to throw him out, it turns out that the Dirty Bubble was in fact there in disguise. |
| 32 | * AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: All the freakin' time. He becomes one of these any time he gets a taste of power or some sort of reassurance of his "genius" abilities (the episode where he gets a boat, when he becomes king, the time when his parents come over, etc). |
| 33 | * {{Acrofatic}}: He's pretty quick and nimble for a fat guy, [[DependingOnTheWriter though it depends on the writer]]. In one of his best moments, he was able to run faster than a train without brakes. |
| 34 | * AdiposeRex: In "Rule of Dumb", he temporarily becomes a king. |
| 35 | * AllTakeAndNoGive: As shown in "Yours, Mine and Mine", in Patrick's eyes, sharing amounts to [=SpongeBob=] paying for such things as food and toys and Patrick getting them all to himself. |
| 36 | * AnimalsHateHim: Not as much as Squidward, but there are some examples. |
| 37 | ** In "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve", Junior starts nibbling Patrick's head when he gets a closer look at him. Junior of course grows to love Patrick as his adoptive dad, but drops a coconut on his head before giving him a goodbye kiss. |
| 38 | ** In "Big Pink Loser", he gets stung by a swarm of jellyfish after telling them he won an award. |
| 39 | ** In "Whelk Attack", he enrages a ferocious whelk by BlowingARaspberry at it. |
| 40 | ** In "Squidbird", he gets attacked by a flock of scallops for dressing up as Squidward (while training them to be friendlier around Squidward). |
| 41 | * AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Tends to get easily distracted. A great example being in 'Wet Painters", when he proposes replacing the dollar on Mr. Krabs' wall, only to end up spending his dollar on candy from a vending machine. |
| 42 | * AttractiveBentGender: When he's disguised as Patricia in "That's No Lady", every male in Bikini Bottom is attracted to him, especially Mr. Krabs and Squidward. |
| 43 | * AuthorityInNameOnly: In "Rule of Dumb", after [=SpongeBob=] tells him that as king, he can have anything he wants, Patrick starts taking things from people he walks up to on the streets, to the point where he's amassed a massive amount of tribute from his "subjects." When he orders Squidward's house to be demolished to make way for a Ferris wheel, [[TheDogBitesBack Squidward manages to sway the rest of Bikini Bottom to realize that Patrick has no real power over them]], and the construction crew, and people who were about to give Patrick more stuff, walk home and wonder why they gave him anything in the first place. |
| 44 | * AxCrazy: He's prone to random fits of violence and insanity whenever something upsets him, and sometimes not even that's necessary. |
| 45 | ** In "Valentine's Day", he goes on a rampage at a Valentine's Day-themed carnival out of jealousy regarding all the gifts [=SpongeBob=] gave people when all he got was a handshake, and even threatens to ''kill'' [=SpongeBob=] when he still hasn't gotten his gift. |
| 46 | ** In "Nature Pants", he chases [=SpongeBob=] around Jellyfish Fields while attempting to catch him with a jellyfishing net. |
| 47 | ** He's perfectly willing to give Gary a "bath" with a ''flamethrower'' in "Pet Sitter Pat", among other forms of abuse he heaps upon the poor snail. |
| 48 | * BabysitterFromHell: He plays this role to Gary in "Pet Sitter Pat" while looking after him by acting needlessly negligent and even physically abusive to him (bathing someone with a flamethrower is a new low even for someone like Patrick). More like "Pet Sitter from Hell", though. |
| 49 | * BarefootCartoonAnimal: Even if he wears a shirt for a special occasion, he usually never wears shoes. He does own a pair of shoes in "Your Shoe's Untied" but does not actually wear them in his feet and ends up wearing it on his hands. |
| 50 | * BelievingTheirOwnLies: In "I'm With Stupid", he makes a plan with [=SpongeBob=] to have [=SpongeBob=] pretend to be stupid for Patrick's parents so Patrick would look smarter by comparison. Somewhere along the way, he begins to think that [=SpongeBob=] really ''is'' stupid and that he himself is a genius. |
| 51 | * BerserkButton: |
| 52 | ** "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E8NoWeeniesAllowedSquilliamReturns NOBODY CALLS ME TUBBY!]]" |
| 53 | ** Also, don't break his heart. |
| 54 | ** "Patrick's Tantrum" reveals that hearing a bell makes him suffer destructive fits, during which no one is safe. |
| 55 | ** "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E19JellyfishHunterTheFryCookGames MY NAME'S! NOT! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!]]" |
| 56 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Patrick means well, but he can get riled up very easily if his dreams are stolen. He has gone AxCrazy over jealousy towards [=SpongeBob=] at least twice. |
| 57 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: Seriously, he can go from being delightfully silly one moment to being an AxCrazy psycho the next. "Big Pink Loser" has him being funnily dumb with his failed attempts to do his job right at first, without being directly harmful... only to have him scrape a broomstick against the Krusty Krab floorboards and create a mad dust air, then [[StopCopyingMe copy SpongeBob to get an award]]. |
| 58 | * BigEater: Throughout the series, he is shown to have a big appetite. Exemplified quite well after [=SpongeBob=] smells his foul breath. |
| 59 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Barnacles, Patrick! What did you eat!?\ |
| 60 | '''Patrick:''' Some roast beef, some chicken, a pizza...\ |
| 61 | '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' No, I mean just this morning.\ |
| 62 | '''Patrick:''' Some roast beef, some chicken, a pizza... |
| 63 | ** "Pressure" also epitomizes this, as he brags about sea creatures being able to eat a Deluxe Krabby Patty in one bite when Sandy and the others have a competition about whether land or sea creatures are better, then proceeding to eat the whole thing in one bite. |
| 64 | ** He's even eaten an entire table of food in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" and an entire plate of Krabby Patties in "Pat No Pay". |
| 65 | * BigFun: Patrick is a funny, lovable fat guy whose ditzy moments serve as comic relief. Due to {{Flanderization}} and TookALevelInJerkass, this was mostly prominent in the older seasons, but can still be played straight in the newer seasons [[DependingOnTheWriter every now and then]]. |
| 66 | * TheBigGuy: He's the most likely character to do the physical work required in solving a problem. |
| 67 | * BigGuyLittleGuy: The fat DumbMuscle big guy to [=SpongeBob=]'s physically weak little guy. |
| 68 | * BigThinShortTrio: The Big to Squidward's Thin and [=SpongeBob=]'s Short. |
| 69 | * BizarreTasteInFood: "You Don't Know Sponge" reveals that his favorite flavor of ice cream is "Dill Pickle Swirl" with extra mustard and bacon bits. |
| 70 | * TheBlindLeadingTheBlind: Patrick frequently tries to incorporate logic into the almost-as-dumb-but-smarter [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 71 | * BreakTheCutie: Happens to him every now and then, particularly in "Nature Pants" and "No Hat for Pat". |
| 72 | * BumblingSidekick: And considering he's [=SpongeBob=]'s sidekick, it's an accomplishment that he's the dumbest of the pair. |
| 73 | * ButtMonkey: He suffers a lot of AmusingInjuries, although not to the same level as Squidward or [=SpongeBob=]. A good example would be the episode "Suds", where he is treated to the disastrous "Starfish treatment" ([[AssholeVictim although, he admittedly deserved it for impersonating a doctor]]), and "Neptune's Spatula", where he's zapped a number of times by King Neptune, and has his face placed on the back of his pants (he remains like that for the rest of the episode). |
| 74 | * CaptainObvious: He sometimes states the obvious in things. |
| 75 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Do you think we should take the stuff off the wall?\ |
| 76 | '''Patrick:''' No way! We're not getting paid to move stuff.\ |
| 77 | '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Patrick, we're not getting paid at all...\ |
| 78 | '''Patrick:''' That's what I said; we're not getting paid and that's final. |
| 79 | * CallousnessTowardsEmergency: In "Stuck in the Wringer", when [=SpongeBob=]'s health is put at risk due to a wringer super-glued to his body, Patrick -- despite his awareness -- does nothing to help the situation and instead [[NeverMyFault blames his friend for his current state]]. |
| 80 | * CharacterCheck: Some later episodes revert him back to a KindheartedSimpleton, like "Mimic Madness" and "What's Eating Patrick?" |
| 81 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: In season 1, he wasn't portrayed with as much stupidity as he would be by the next season. In fact, he wasn't at all in ThePilot; he actually gave [=SpongeBob=] words of wisdom and encouraged him to get his job, which is a shocking contrast to the bumbling idiot he'd become later on in the series. |
| 82 | * TheChewToy: Mostly in the pre-movie episodes, he'll be subjected to played-for-laughs slapstick and comedic abuse. |
| 83 | * ChildhoodBrainDamage: It is often suggested that Patrick's stupidity is the result of frequent head injuries. In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", Patrick mentions that he knows a lot about head injuries, then spaces out mid-sentence. In "Big Pink Loser", [=SpongeBob=] tries to discourage Patrick from mimicking him by hitting himself with a hammer, to which Patrick responds, "I've been doing this way before I started copying you." |
| 84 | * ChildhoodFriend: He and [=SpongeBob=] have been best friends ever since they were babies, as a flashback in "The Secret Box" shows. This is retconned in ''Sponge on the Run'' and ''Kamp Koral'', where they met when they were a little older. |
| 85 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Patrick always has a tendency to throw [=SpongeBob=] under the bus. You’d have to wonder why they’re still friends. |
| 86 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Patrick's a big goofball with an absurd way of thinking. |
| 87 | -->'''Patrick:''' You've got it set to "M" for mini, when it should be set to "W" for "Wumbo". |
| 88 | * CollectorOfTheStrange: ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom'' shows he has a sock collection despite [[BarefootCartoonAnimal not wearing socks]]. |
| 89 | * ComicTrio: TheFool to [=SpongeBob=]'s TheLeader and Squidward's OnlySaneMan. |
| 90 | * ConnectedAllAlong: "Rule of Dumb" reveals he and Gary are ''cousins''. |
| 91 | * CovertPervert: If him, along with [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs, trying to steal panties from a woman's house in "Mid-Life Crustacean" is anything to go by, then he's more perverted than he seems. Tellingly, this scene led to "Mid-Life Crustacean" being banned in 2021. |
| 92 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite his fat body and moronic personality, Patrick is not only incredibly strong but is terrifying when he loses his temper, to the point where he can take on muscular thugs much larger than himself and even monsters on a few occasions. In addition, he's shown to have superpowers in several episodes, including telepathy. |
| 93 | * TheCutie: He's nearly as carefree and enthusiastic as [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 94 | * DeadpanSnarker: He sometimes makes cutting remarks in the earlier episodes, and occasionally the later ones, but not as frequently. |
| 95 | * DependingOnTheWriter: |
| 96 | ** His level of stupidity. At times, he's a GeniusDitz who ''does'' have some good ideas, on one occasion even beating out Sandy in coming up with a plan. At others, he's so stupid that he eats a chocolate bar and immediately forgets he did so, and can't even do such simple tasks as sweeping or opening a jar. He even lampshades this in one episode. |
| 97 | --->'''Squidward:''' Patrick, just how dumb are you?\ |
| 98 | '''Patrick:''' It varies. |
| 99 | ** Whether he actually has a nose or not. He's revealed to have a nose in "Wet Painters", "That's No Lady", and "The Battle for Bikini Bottom" [[note]]The episode, not the video game[[/note]], but prior to getting plastic surgery in "No Nose Knows", he reveals that he doesn't have one. |
| 100 | ** How much of a jerk he can be. At times, he has a complete LackOfEmpathy and blows off any pain and anguish his actions may cause, while in "Donut of Shame", he's driven to fearful remorse over stealing a donut from [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 101 | * DesperatelyCravesAffection: Patrick did ''not'' take kindly to receiving no gift in "Valentine's Day". It in fact became so serious to the point where he went on such a major SanitySlippage and terrorized the boardwalk attendants in pursuit of an affectionate response. [[spoiler:Luckily for him, Sandy arrives with his gift to prevent his chaos from reaching a peak.]] |
| 102 | * DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: In "Rule of Dumb", when he becomes the king of Bikini Bottom, he turns into a ruthless despot who believes he has the right to take and do whatever he wants. |
| 103 | * DestructiveSavior: In the episode "Patrick-Man!", he tries to fight the Dirty Bubble, but in the process completely destroys the Krusty Krab and only defeats the Bubble through sheer dumb luck. |
| 104 | * {{Deuteragonist}}: |
| 105 | ** As [=SpongeBob=]'s best friend, Patrick frequently tags along on his adventures and gets many episodes dedicated to his antics or his friendship with [=SpongeBob=]. One of the show's [[https://issuu.com/dhosford/docs/sb_character_guide/2 character guides]] explicitly bills him as the second most important character after [=SpongeBob=] himself. |
| 106 | --->The TV show features a colorful cast of 10 characters, headlined by [=SpongeBob=] and his best friend Patrick. |
| 107 | ** In the first movie, Patrick tags along with [=SpongeBob=] to retrieve King Neptune's crown and goes through many of the same struggles [=SpongeBob=] himself does, but primarily acts as comic relief while [=SpongeBob=] wants to become the Krusty Krab 2 manager. |
| 108 | ** In the third movie, Patrick once again tags along with [=SpongeBob=] to save Gary from King Poseidon and remains just as prominent as his yellow best friend. |
| 109 | * DiabolusExMachina: Occasionally, starting in season 7, he'd appear to make everything go bad at the last minute. |
| 110 | * DisguisedInDrag: When he thought a salesman was threatening his life, he, with [=SpongeBob=]'s help, disguised himself as a girl named [[GenderBlenderName Patricia]]. Cue every other male in Bikini Bottom (especially Squidward and Mr. Krabs) falling for him. |
| 111 | * TheDitz: One of television's most famous examples. He's so dumb that he makes [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} SpongeBob]] look intelligent. |
| 112 | * DumbAndDrummer: Despite his lack of intelligence, he's really good at drumming, whether he's using actual drums ("Band Geeks") or his own belly ("Krabby Road"). |
| 113 | * DumbassHasAPoint: Occasionally makes an intelligent observation in spite of his idiocy. |
| 114 | ** One such instance has him beating out Sandy in coming up with a plan. |
| 115 | ** In earlier episodes, Patrick tends to be the one to suggest that Squidward doesn't like him and [=SpongeBob=]. [=SpongeBob=] naturally finds such a notion unthinkable. |
| 116 | ** Played with in "Wet Painters". After [=SpongeBob=] panics over getting paint on Mr. Krabs' first dollar (he was warned not to get paint on it), Patrick points out that Mr. Krabs' first dollar doesn't look any different from a normal dollar and could easily be replaced with any old dollar without Mr. Krabs knowing. The way this is played with is that Patrick immediately uses the dollar [=SpongeBob=] asked him to use on a vending machine instead of replacing the dollar that got covered in paint. |
| 117 | ** In "Porous Pockets", Patrick is unusually more calm and down-to-earth, as he notices [=SpongeBob=] throwing all his money away to the various moochers, and warns him not to do it. |
| 118 | * DumbIsGood: Patrick's asinine mindset is rooted in his good heart, and he's much nicer than the "normals" on the show. |
| 119 | * DumbMuscle: Patrick is shown to be incredibly strong on at least a few occasions. This is especially prominent in the video games. |
| 120 | * DumpsterDive: He likes to rummage through dumpsters and garbage cans and is even willing to eat food from them. |
| 121 | * EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: |
| 122 | ** In the first season and a few subsequent episodes, his eyebrows were thinner and resembled the letter 'M'. Shortly after, he gained thicker brows that now vaguely resembles the letter 'N'. |
| 123 | ** In the earlier seasons, he was generally drawn with a mouth full of teeth, but post-film, he's most often illustrated as having a single buck tooth on his upper jaw, to accentuate his childishness. |
| 124 | * EasilyImpressed: His standards are just as low as [=SpongeBob=]'s. |
| 125 | * EnemyToAllLivingThings: No form of life is safe around Patrick. Just ask Gary, whom Patrick mercilessly abused and mistreated in the episode "Pet Sitter Pat". |
| 126 | * EvilCounterpart: To [=SpongeBob=] in "The Fry Cook Games", since Plankton has him represent the Chum Bucket in order to compete against [=SpongeBob=] participating in the games for the Krusty Krab. |
| 127 | * ExposedAnimalBellybutton: He has a navel and provides the trope's page image. |
| 128 | * ExtremeOmnivore: He has shown himself willing to eat inedible sources, such as pet food, diapers, coffee mugs, etc. |
| 129 | * FanDisservice: As if it wasn't bad enough that his usual atire has him, an overweight starfish, walking around [[WalkingShirtlessScene without any sort of shirt on]], he will sometimes lose his shorts, leaving his butt to be visible for all the world to see. And in the first movie during the Goofy Goober Rock scene, he is shown in high-heeled boots and fishnets stockings. At first it doesn't look too bad because of the angle it's shown from, but then after the song is over, he's still wearing them, and it doesn't look nearly as decent as the first shot would make you believe, plus he has the same upper body regardless. |
| 130 | * FatalFlaw: |
| 131 | ** His vanity. The smallest dose of success will immediately cause Patrick to develop AcquiredSituationalNarcissism and disregard the well-being of others, leading to major consequences. |
| 132 | ** His naïvety also veers into TooDumbToLive and TheFool territory more often than not. |
| 133 | * FatAndSkinny: The Fat to [=SpongeBob=]'s and Squidward's Skinny. |
| 134 | * FatBastard: He occasionally shows traits of being an obese jerk, especially in later episodes thanks to Flanderization. "Rule Of Dumb" is a very extreme example where he goes mad with royal power. |
| 135 | * FatBestFriend: He is [=SpongeBob=]'s best friend and is overweight. |
| 136 | * FatIdiot: Chubby? Check. A complete moron? Check. |
| 137 | * FatSlob: If "The Battle of Bikini Bottom" is to be believed, he prefers being messy. |
| 138 | * {{Flanderization}}: |
| 139 | ** Patrick started out quite dim, but he was actually fairly street smart. However, as the series progressed, Patrick became dumber and dumber until it became the vehicle for all his appearances. |
| 140 | ** He was also much nicer to [=SpongeBob=] as a friend if a bit lazy given his nature as a starfish. His laziness and vanity has become more important then his friendship with [=SpongeBob=], to the point he'll sometimes be more of a hinderance to [=SpongeBob=] and do things even if it clearly harms his friend. |
| 141 | * {{Foil}}: To [=SpongeBob=]. They're both ditzy {{Man Child}}ren who share such interests as jellyfishing and bubble blowing, but while [=SpongeBob=] is something of a NeatFreak, a {{Workaholic}} able to hold down a steady job and often proves to be TheAce at whatever he tries ([[EpicFail except driving]]), Patrick is a FatSlob, a LazyBum who never stays employed for long, and is shown to be so incompetent that he can't even sweep or open a jar without outside help, but can drive surprisingly well. |
| 142 | * TheFool: Along with [=SpongeBob=] in later seasons, often playing blissfully ignorant winners against Squidward's frustrated loser image. |
| 143 | * ForgetfulJones: Patrick's stupidity might have less to do with a genuine lack of intelligence on his part and more to do with him having the worst memory of any cartoon character ever drawn. Whether it's his best friend's name or how to eat, you name it, he'll forget it. |
| 144 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Phlegmatic. He's loyal to [=SpongeBob=] to a fault and can sometimes be modest and thoughtful. |
| 145 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Aside from [=SpongeBob=], the other members of the group don't show the same level of respect for him. Sandy is somewhat accepting of him when he isn't being too dumb, Mr. Krabs usually views him as someone to hire for extra labour with little to no pay, and Squidward hates him almost as much as he hates [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 146 | * {{Gasshole}}: He belches quite often. |
| 147 | * GeniusDitz: Patrick is an idiot most of the time, though he can be ''shockingly'' smart when he wants to be. In "Boating School", he was shown to be perfectly accurate behind the wheel, as he could give perfect instructions to [=SpongeBob=] simply via a large telescope, sometimes while barely paying attention, and in another episode, he even GOT a boating license despite not knowing everything there is to know about boats. Not to mention his performance on [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] commentary for a CBS-produced Nickelodeon simulcast of the Denver Broncos–Los Angeles Rams game on Christmas Day 2022. After Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, who had severely regressed in 2022 from his previous elite-level performances with the Seattle Seahawks, threw an interception, Patrick remarked [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4f0yNcWrI "That's not what he wanted to cook!"]], both referencing the "Let Russ Cook" meme and skewering Wilson's regression. |
| 148 | * GentleGiant: Patrick is rather big and strong, but he's harmless and really friendly [[JerkassBall for the most part]]. |
| 149 | * GoofyBuckteeth: Patrick [[DependingOnTheArtist is sometimes drawn with a single bucktooth]], which is noticeable when he's about to do something stupid. |
| 150 | * GoofyPrintUnderwear: The first movie has him wear his trademark pair of Goofy Goober undergarments. |
| 151 | * HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: A sea star who only wears a pair of shorts. |
| 152 | * HasAType: The first movie, the episode "Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle" and the Cosmic Shake game imply that Patrick has a thing for mermaids. |
| 153 | * HealingFactor: He can regenerate his arms in the unlikely case that they get severed. However, detached limbs grow a new body, which is quite accurate for his species. |
| 154 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: He and [=SpongeBob=] are best friends. |
| 155 | * HiddenDepths: He's a very good driver, as opposed to [=SpongeBob=], and even got his driver's license before him, as shown in "Driven to Tears". It was even hinted at in "Boating School", where Patrick was helping [=SpongeBob=] in his test and nearly succeeded had the latter not admit to cheating. |
| 156 | * {{Hypocrite}}: He never follows any of the "advice" he teaches [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 157 | ** In "Grandma's Kisses", he tells [=SpongeBob=] to act like a grown-up but later acts like a baby himself. When [=SpongeBob=] points out his hypocrisy, he says that being a "grown-up" is boring and that he likes being a baby. |
| 158 | ** In "Something Smells", when [=SpongeBob=] believes that he is shunned by everyone in town because they think he is ugly, Patrick tells him that he should accept his ugliness. Later, Patrick thinks he caught [=SpongeBob=]'s ugliness and refuses to accept it, declaring that he was once one of the "beautiful people" (in reality, it was their bad breath that caused the townsfolk to ignore them). |
| 159 | ** In "Little Yellow Book", he's among the many people who laugh at [=SpongeBob=]'s secrets and joins in on lambasting Squidward for doing so when [=SpongeBob=] runs away crying, throwing fruit at Squidward and calling him a "diary reader".When Squidward points out that Patrick also read the diary, Patrick blows him off and accuses him of "[[NeverMyFault blaming everyone else]]." |
| 160 | * IconicOutfit: His green shorts with purple flowers. |
| 161 | * IdiotHoudini: Combined with his friend [=SpongeBob=]'s near-equal Idiot Houdini tendencies, he often gets away with his actions simply because he's a nitwit. |
| 162 | * IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance: In "I'm With Stupid", he manages to embody this trope while simultaneously applying it to someone else. He asked [=SpongeBob=] to pretend to be dumber than him so that Patrick's parents, who were coming for a visit, wouldn't be ashamed of him; not only does Patrick [[BelievingTheirOwnLies end up believing that SpongeBob really]] ''[[BelievingTheirOwnLies is]]'' [[BelievingTheirOwnLies stupid and that he himself is a genius]], but it turns out that he's so dumb that he mistook his parents for random starfishes who are just as stupid as he is. |
| 163 | -->'''Patrick:''' [[ObliviousToHisOwnDescription Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are.]] ''[spaces out and drools]'' |
| 164 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: Patrick's jealousy is a recurring theme in the series. "Valentine's Day", "Big Pink Loser", "No Nose Knows", and "Yours, Mine and Mine" show that he'll break down crying and lose self-esteem when witnessing others' success, often to a fatal fault. |
| 165 | * IJustWantToBeYou: In "Big Pink Loser", his determination to win an award and accomplish something for once in his life drives him to copy [=SpongeBob=]'s life, wearing [=SpongeBob=]'s clothes, copying all of his actions, and even painting his rock to resemble the latter's pineapple house. |
| 166 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: He does not take kindly when his ignorance bubble is burst, and the smallest amount of power will immediately go to his head. |
| 167 | * InformedAttractiveness: When Patrick crossdresses in "That's No Lady" as a means to [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext hide his identity]], he's considered a true feminine beauty by all males in Bikini Bottom (oblivious that he's Patrick). The thing is, he really doesn't look that different from his usual self; only adding pigtails, lipstick and a dress. |
| 168 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: Like [=SpongeBob=], he can often be simply oblivious to and ignorant of how his behavior affects others. At times, the "innocent" part gets a little dubious. In "Driven to Tears", after [=SpongeBob=] fails his driver's test, yet again, Patrick takes it himself, and passes it with a perfect score on his first try with little effort. He wins a boat-mobile for being the one-millionth person to get a license, and immediately starts being incredibly condescending towards the fact that [=SpongeBob=] still hasn't gotten his license, and wonders why [=SpongeBob=] is so upset. |
| 169 | * InsaneTrollLogic: He's the one who came up with changing [=SpongeBob=]'s belt to "Wumbo" after all. |
| 170 | * InsufferableGenius: He becomes one following a head-on collision with a brain coral in "Patrick [=SmartPants=]", causing him to smugly look down upon others with his newfound intellect, which not only leads to isolation from [=SpongeBob=], but even Squidward and Sandy agreeing he was better as a moron. |
| 171 | * InsufferableImbecile: He ventures into this trope in later seasons thanks to Flanderization. The most infamous example comes from The Splinter when Patrick makes [=SpongeBob=]'s splinter worse and when [=SpongeBob=] rightfully complains to Patrick about it, he thinks that [=SpongeBob=] doesn't want his help despite the fact that he was worsening the problem. |
| 172 | * ItsAllAboutMe: He can act selfish on occasion, such as taking advantage of [=SpongeBob=]'s friendship and his generosity for his benefit, and joining in with him in forcing Squidward into their activities when he wants no part of it. |
| 173 | * JerkassBall: He can be very mean and self-centered on occasion, though as usual, this was emphasized more due to {{Flanderization}} in later episodes. |
| 174 | * JerkassRealization: After refusing to help [=SpongeBob=] with Junior in "Rock-A-Bye Bivalve", [=SpongeBob=] shows him ''all'' the diapers he had to change (even most of them are loaded from ''a garbage truck'') and Patrick actually feels horrible for all of this and promises to help [=SpongeBob=] with Junior. |
| 175 | -->'''Patrick:''' I had no idea! ''What kind of a father am I?!'' Oh! I'll make it up to you, buddy. I promise! |
| 176 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He starts out as a NiceGuy in the pre-movie episodes, but eventually evolves into this. He's prone to TookALevelInJerkass much more often than [=SpongeBob=] himself, who was also flanderized. That said, when he's not being a jerk, he still can be a well-meaning idiot and a good friend to [=SpongeBob=]. For instance, he gets angry when Squidward and Plankton suggest killing [=SpongeBob=] in "Mimic Madness", he indignantly tells the Flying Dutchman that he can't talk about [=SpongeBob=] that way when the ghost pirate makes a remark about [=SpongeBob=] being a lousy friend in "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom", and he gets furious at Bubble Bass for not giving [=SpongeBob=] his free lunch as promised in "Moving Bubble Bass". |
| 177 | * KarmaHoudini: Often gets away with the things he screws up. The most notable moment is in "I'm With Stupid", when he lets [=SpongeBob=] pretend he was stupid to impress his parents, but then he went too far and actually believed [=SpongeBob=] really WAS stupid. This causes the sponge to run off in a rage... and Patrick gets away with it. |
| 178 | * KeepingTheHandicap: In one episode, he becomes an InsufferableGenius after his head is accidentally replaced with brain coral. Due to his new intelligence alienating his friends, he decides to replace his head back to his normal oafish self. |
| 179 | * {{Keet}}: Not to the extent of [=SpongeBob=], but he can still be pretty hyperactive. |
| 180 | * KindheartedSimpleton: Mostly in the pre-movie seasons, he is an idiot with honest intentions. |
| 181 | * TheKlutz: In addition to his dimwitted nature, Patrick has a rather weak balance and can be quite clumsy. This was an exploit for an entertainment act held at the Krusty Krab in "No Hat Pat", in which customers had to pay to see him falling down in numerous varieties. |
| 182 | * LackOfEmpathy: At his worst (at his best, he's just too dumb to know any better). It's another case of DependingOnTheWriter, as in some cases, he just blows off any pain or anguish he causes, while in others, he can be [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone brought to tearful remorse]] for [[PokeThePoodle stealing a donut that is actually his gift]]. |
| 183 | * TheLancer: He usually serves as [=SpongeBob=]'s partner during their adventures, as well as his right-hand man if they happen to be in positions of authority. |
| 184 | * LargeHam: Moreso in earlier episodes, but still somewhat prone to being loud and dramatic in later ones. |
| 185 | * LazyBum: In contrast to the hard-working [=SpongeBob=], he tends to be unwilling and uninterested in doing any physical labor. |
| 186 | * LethallyStupid: Whenever he shows up in newer episodes, it's almost guaranteed everything will go horribly wrong because of his idiocy. |
| 187 | * LikesOlderWomen: PlayedForLaughs in the episode "Chocolate With Nuts." After [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick get enough money to go to a fancy dinner with dates, their dates are revealed to be… the elderly women from earlier in the episode. |
| 188 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' So… how long have you two ladies known each other?\ |
| 189 | [''{{Beat}}'']\ |
| 190 | '''Chocolate Lady:''' What? What did he say? |
| 191 | * LiteralMinded: He interprets metaphors literally as often as [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 192 | * LoveHungry: See AxCrazy above; he has a tendency to react ''badly'' when under the impression that his friendship with [=SpongeBob=] is in jeopardy. |
| 193 | * MadeOfIron: Just like [=SpongeBob=], there isn't a lot of things in the series that can put him in the hospital. |
| 194 | * ManChild: Patrick is an adult and he's almost as childish as [=SpongeBob=], if not more. |
| 195 | * ManipulativeBastard: This is often how [=SpongeBob=] goes along in one of his schemes. An example would be "Squidtastic Voyage". [=SpongeBob=] was told to watch the submarine, and Patrick asked him if he looked after it from the inside as well. |
| 196 | * TheMcCoy: With Squidward as TheSpock and [=SpongeBob=] as TheKirk. Patrick is incredibly stupid, and he will always resort to InsaneTrollLogic in pursuit of his ideals. |
| 197 | * TheMillstone: Particuarly starting with Season 4. Whenever [=SpongeBob=] or anyone has a plan, Patrick is sure to screw it up, or do something stupid to make it worse. |
| 198 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: The series has several jokes involving him being nude, such as his inflatable pants exploding in "Patty Hype", him and [=SpongeBob=] pranking Bikini Bottom by pretending to be ghosts after stripping naked and using invisible spray on themselves in "Pranks a Lot" and hang-gliding in his birthday suit in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. |
| 199 | * {{Neet}}: Does not have a job. He does work at the Krusty Krab in a few episodes, though these instances shortly result in him being fired. |
| 200 | * NeverMyFault: Especially in the post-movie seasons, he's prone to moments of blame-shifting. The worst offenders are in "Stuck in the Wringer" and "Big Sister Sam". |
| 201 | * NiceGuy: During the first three seasons, and in the first movie. While not without his flaws, he's a good-hearted guy most of the time and a true friend to [=SpongeBob=]. He unfortunately [[{{Flanderization}} morphs]] into a remorselessly [[LethallyStupid destructive moron]] around Season 4, though he still shows shades of his earlier characterization from time to time. |
| 202 | * NiceMeanAndInbetween: The in-between, at least in earlier seasons; he was a NiceGuy overall, though he wasn't as overly affectionate as [=SpongeBob=], nor was he as snide as Squidward. Later seasons, however, and even some earlier episodes, show that Patrick can be plenty mean in his own right. |
| 203 | * NonSequiturThud: In "Frankendoodle", Patrick suffers a few head injuries from [=DoodleBob=]'s antics. When he gets a wrench dropped on his head that falls into his hands, he asks [=SpongeBob=], "Where's the leak, ma'am?" When he gets knocked silly by a bowling ball, [=SpongeBob=] asks if he's okay, only to have Patrick shout back "FINLAND!" |
| 204 | * TheNoseless: He doesn't have a visible nose, [[DependingOnTheArtist though he's been portrayed as having nostrils on occasion]]. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "No Nose Knows" when he's jealous of all his peers having noses and undergoes plastic surgery in order to get one. |
| 205 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: Possibly. Some fans suspect that Patrick is not really stupid, but a sociopath who does stupid and often assholish things ''on purpose'' just because he knows his low intelligence (or façade of it) will keep him from punishment. Throwaway comments in some episodes support this view, such as "Home Sweet Pineapple"[[note]]"Is it time already to ruin Squidward's day?! [=SpongeBob=], don't start without me!"[[/note]], "I Had an Accident"[[note]]Sandy asks him, "Don't you have to be stupid somewhere else?", and Patrick responds, "Not till four."[[/note]], and "The Card"[[note]]"[=SpongeBob=], you can't always expect my usual brand of stupidity. I like to mix it up. Keep you on your toes."[[/note]]. |
| 206 | * TheObiWannabe: He's essentially [=SpongeBob=]'s main source of "wisdom", which goes about as well as you'd expect seeing as he's TheDitz and all. |
| 207 | * ParentalNeglect: In "Rock a Bye Bivalve", he repeatedly refuses to help the baby scallop. Though that in his eyes seems to be a traditional father figure. |
| 208 | ** "Ghoul Fools" showed that Patrick was willing to sacrifice [=SpongeBob=] because he "lived a full life." This was actually lampshaded by Lord Poltergeist, who sarcastically says, "[[SarcasmMode Great friend you got there.]]" |
| 209 | * PredatorPreyFriendship: In real life, sea stars are predators that hunt and eat coral, sea sponges, clams, oysters, sand dollars, and mussels. Considering that he remains best friends with [=SpongeBob=] despite the fact his kind is often seen as food by real-life sea stars and with the occasional predator and prey-esque rivalry of each other's species bubbling to the surface (at one point even resulting in them succumbing to their animal instincts and trying to eat each other after being trapped in a cave with no food) proves this to be the case with his friendship with [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 210 | * ProneToTears: Not to the extent of [=SpongeBob=], but he does tend to break down crying quite easily. |
| 211 | * PsychopathicManchild: During his more villainous moments, he can be as dangerous and deranged as he is childish. For example, in "Valentine's Day", he threw a destructive temper tantrum when he believed that [=SpongeBob=] hadn't given him an actual Valentine's Day gift. |
| 212 | %%* RedOniBlueOni: The red to [=SpongeBob=]'s blue. |
| 213 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Less so than [=SpongeBob=], but he's still chubby, pink, and cute-looking. He also has purple eyelids and flowered swimming trunks. |
| 214 | * RubberMan: As the Elastic Waistband in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", he has stretching abilities. |
| 215 | * RunningGag: In the first season, he has a tendency to fall off his rock every time he opens it. |
| 216 | * SevenDeadlySins: Embodies [[LazyBum sloth]]. Patrick spends his entire life doing as little as possible, mostly eating or doing recreational activities, and is an incredibly HeavySleeper. |
| 217 | * SimpletonVoice: Even his voice sounds stupid. |
| 218 | * SixthRanger: Whenever the [[BigThinShortTrio Krusty Krew]] (consisting of [=SpongeBob=], Squidward and Mr. Krabs) needs a fourth member, Patrick's usually the guy to fill the gap. |
| 219 | * SnarkBall: He's sometimes made witty remarks in spite of his idiocy. |
| 220 | * SpeciesSurname: Patrick ''Star'' is a starfish. |
| 221 | * SpoiledBrat: When Patrick's {{Manchild}} traits and selfish tendencies are at their worst, to the point where he is a whiny baby who complains when he doesn't get his way, like in "Yours, Mine, and Mine". At the beginning of that episode, Patrick wants [=SpongeBob=] to buy a Krabby Kiddie Meal for them to share, only for Patrick to eat it all for himself. Later, when Mr. Krabs manufactures a Patty Pal toy for the two to share, Patrick goes out of his way to selfishly keep the toy. He even goes so far as to eat the toy, screaming that if he can't have it, no one can. |
| 222 | * StockSoundEffects: His BigEater moments are often punctuated by the sound of a Hoover vacuum cleaner. |
| 223 | * StoutStrength: He's overweight, but still quite strong. |
| 224 | * StrawLoser: [=SpongeBob=] is often a brainless irritance to others, but when paired alongside the even dumber Patrick, he can often come off as vaguely competent and levelheaded. |
| 225 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Typically, he's strong enough to lift and throw things as heavy as a dumpster with ease, but in "Krusty Krushers", he couldn't even tear a piece of paper in half and got a paper cut trying to do so. |
| 226 | * StrongButUnskilled: He's deemed incapable of learning formal karate training aside from a basic chop, but his monstrous strength allows him to perform a perfect slice on even the hardest of substances. Unfortunately, he also lacks the discipline to use his skills responsibly and ends up terrorizing the town by going on an uncontrollable karate-chopping rampage. |
| 227 | * SuperStrength: At times, he is able to throw boulders as if they were pebbles and break through ''steel walls''. On at least one occasion, he actually managed to overpower Sandy. |
| 228 | * SweetTooth: He loves to eat ice cream and many other desserts. |
| 229 | * TemporarilyAVillain: At his worst, he has his moments of being antagonistic in some episodes such as "Pet Sitter Pat". |
| 230 | * ThirdPersonPerson: He occasionally speaks in the third person in the pre-movie seasons, but has stopped doing so in the post-movie ones. |
| 231 | * TomatoInTheMirror: In "Rule of Dumb", Squidward, whose house was torn down to make room for a Ferris Wheel, makes everyone in Bikini Bottom realize that [[AuthorityInNameOnly "king" Patrick has no legal right to demand tribute from them]], which causes the construction crew, as well as the people who were going to give Patrick more of their stuff, to leave immediately. Right after, Patrick goes on an angry tirade and shouts at [=SpongeBob=], insisting that he is not a corrupt ruler. When Patrick orders [=SpongeBob=] to get him a drink, he surmises that [=SpongeBob=] snuck away during the tirade, and gets the drink himself, which is when he sees his monstrous reflection in the mirror, and [[HeelRealization realizes what the crown and title has turned him into.]] |
| 232 | * TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: In "Big Pink Loser", he's shown needing to actually be talked through the simplest tasks, such as sweeping floors or opening jars. |
| 233 | * TookALevelInDumbass: He becomes much dumber in later seasons. Whenever [=SpongeBob=] is subject to a decrease in intelligence, Patrick is made dumber to always ensure [=SpongeBob=] looks like a genius by comparison regardless. |
| 234 | * TookALevelInJerkass: Even more so than [=SpongeBob=], the later seasons had him more prone to jerkish moments. The prime example? The episode "Rule Of Dumb", where he lets his role as king go to his head and becomes a selfish grouch who frightens [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 235 | * TookALevelInKindness: By Season 9B, his JerkassBall moments have been notably leveled off on. |
| 236 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: He's been shown multiple times to love ice cream. |
| 237 | * UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: [[DependingOnTheWriter If the writers decide to hand him the]] JerkassBall for the episode, he's not very likable. |
| 238 | * VagueAge: He's apparently old enough to live on his own and have a job, but is childish to the point where everyone, including himself, refers to him as a kid. And unlike [=SpongeBob=], his driver's license never revealed his date of birth, though it's assumed that he's around his 30's like [=SpongeBob=] is. |
| 239 | * VocalEvolution: |
| 240 | ** His voice has gotten quite a lot deeper and more [[SimpletonVoice simple sounding]] in later episodes. Almost to a creepy extent, as he used to sound like a goofball, but now sounds a tad thuggish. |
| 241 | ** Following the second movie, Patrick's voice has become slightly higher, akin to how he sounded in seasons 2 and 3. |
| 242 | * WalkingShirtlessScene: Never shown with a shirt on. |
| 243 | * WeWantOurIdiotBack: In "Patrick Smartpants", Patrick becomes a super genius after accidentally attaching brain coral to his head. The smarter characters like Sandy and Squidward initially enjoy this, but even they get annoyed at Patrick over time when he calls them dumb and talentless respectively. Even Patrick himself gets sick of his intellect and seeks to find a way to get rid of it, as he realizes that he's alienated everyone, including [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 244 | * WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Home Sweet Pineapple", he starts smashing [=SpongeBob=] with his house in his sleep, screaming "SPIDERRRS!" |
| 245 | * WithFriendsLikeThese: |
| 246 | ** Though Patrick is [=SpongeBob=]'s best friend, he often takes advantage of [=SpongeBob=] and turns on him at a moment's notice, such as making him out to be an idiot to his parents in "I'm with Stupid" and trying to sacrifice [=SpongeBob=] to Lord Poltergeist to save his own hide in "Ghoul Fools". |
| 247 | --->'''Lord Poltergeist:''' [[LampshadeHanging Yeah... great friend you got there.]] |
| 248 | ** In "Something Smells", [=SpongeBob=], oblivious to the fact that people are avoiding him for his bad breath, is told by Patrick people run away from him because he's ugly. When [=SpongeBob=] finally comes to terms with his "ugliness", Patrick eats the stuff that gave [=SpongeBob=] bad breath, and people start avoiding him. When [=SpongeBob=] tries to help him come to terms with being ugly, Patrick berates him for making him ugly. |
| 249 | --->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Just remember what we talked about. There's power in pride.\ |
| 250 | '''Patrick:''' That may be fine for you, but I was one of the beautiful people. Now look at me! I'm almost as ugly as you! |
| 251 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: If episodes like "Big Pink Loser" and "Valentine's Day" are anything to go by, Patrick's odd mean streak is exhibited out of his lack of talent and luck in contrast to others. |
| 252 | * WouldHitAGirl: In "Band Geeks", when Squidward suggests that his band does some kicking, Patrick takes this literally and gets into a fight with Sandy as a result. |
| 253 | * WouldHurtAChild: When [=SpongeBob=] teaches him karate in "Karate Star", he uses it to go around town destroying property, and attempts to chop a baby until [=SpongeBob=] stops him at one point. |
| 254 | * WrongGenreSavvy: In "Stuck in the Wringer", after he stupidly glues [=SpongeBob=] into his wringer. [=SpongeBob=] feels he'll never be able to do anything now, but Patrick gives him a RousingSpeech that he can go on and persevere despite the adversity. As the episode goes on, it turns out Patrick was wrong: [=SpongeBob=] really ''can't'' do anything while stuck in the wringer. |
| 255 | * {{Yandere}}: He acts like this towards [=SpongeBob=] in "Nature Pants" when the latter refuses to leave the Jellyfish Fields after abandoning his life to go live with the jellyfish. |
| 256 | [[/folder]] |
| 257 | |
| 258 | [[folder:Sandy Cheeks]] |
| 259 | !!Sandra Jennifer Cheeks |
| 260 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Carolyn Lawrence (English), Presley Williams (English, young, ''Sponge on the Run'')[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Mercedes Prato (LA Spanish, Season 1), Anabella Silva (LA Spanish, Seasons 2-6), Yaraivi Acevedo (LA Spanish, Seasons 4-5), Lileana Chacón (LA Spanish, Season 6-present), 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]] |
| 261 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Tea at the Treedome" |
| 262 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_sandy.jpg]] |
| 263 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!"'']] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | ->''"[=SpongeBob=], I'm from Texas. What you think is big and what I think is big are two totally different bigs."'' |
| 266 | |
| 267 | 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. |
| 268 | ---- |
| 269 | * AcademicAthlete: She qualifies even if the show is not set in a school. She's probably the most academically inclined character with a vast knowledge of science, and also a PassionateSportsGirl who excels at karate. |
| 270 | * ADayInTheLimelight: ''[[WesternAnimation/SavingBikiniBottomTheSandyCheeksMovie Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie]]'' puts her in the main protagonist role after a long time being DemotedToExtra. |
| 271 | * ActionGirl: Much more so in earlier episodes, though it still shows through every now and then. It's often shown that she's very strong, occasionally so much that she easily defeats [=SpongeBob=], as tough as he is to damage, in Kung-Fu battles. |
| 272 | * AmericansAreCowboys: The only character explicitly stated to come from the United States, and she's a Texas cowpoke through and through. |
| 273 | * AnimalsNotToScale: She's rather small for a squirrel. In ''Sponge Out of Water'', she's smaller than a human's foot. |
| 274 | * AscendedExtra: In Stephen Hillenburg's [[https://archive.org/details/sponge-boy-colored-copy-bible/page/n13/mode/2up first pitch bible from 1996]], Sandy was at the ''very end'' of the character list, and Pearl was the lead female character. In the show proper, Sandy has a more prominent role and tends to have more screen time than Pearl, though both of them are still part of the main cast. |
| 275 | * AxCrazy: If her hibernation is interrupted, she turns into a rabid, feral beast. |
| 276 | * BadassAdorable: An extraordinarily strong and intelligent female squirrel who manages to live underwater. Does more need to be said? |
| 277 | * BadassBookworm: She is extremely intelligent and often shown to be extraordinarily strong. Also likes life-threatening stunts. |
| 278 | * BareFistedMonk: She's a master of Karate, and it's part of how she and [=SpongeBob=] initially bonded. |
| 279 | * BareMidriffsAreFeminine: She's one of the main female characters, 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. |
| 280 | * BerserkButton: Never ever insult anything/anyone from Texas, or even the state itself. You will regret it, as [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick faced the serious consequences. |
| 281 | -->"Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!" |
| 282 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Sandy most of the time is pretty friendly, but she can become pretty vicious at times, such as when her BerserkButton is pressed. |
| 283 | * BigSisterInstinct: She's frequently portrayed as immediately defending [=SpongeBob=] from terror. |
| 284 | * BrainyBrunette: Has brown fur and is often depicted as extremely intelligent, especially in episodes relating to her inventions. Next to Karen and [[DependingOnTheWriter occasionally Plankton]], she is one of the smartest members of the main cast. |
| 285 | * BreakTheHaughty: Suffers it in "Sandy, [=SpongeBob=], and the Worm". She goes to take out the Alaskan Bullworm for the sake of the town, and adamantly refuses to listen to [=SpongeBob=]'s warnings about how big and monstrous the thing is, convinced she's "too Texas-tough" and can easily handle the worm. In the end, she comes across the worm in a cave and apparently beats it... only to discover that [[ThatsNoMoon what she fought was actually the worm's tongue]], and the Bikini Bottomites were ''not'' exaggerating over how big and monstrous it is; all of her bravado fades in an instant. |
| 286 | * BrokenAce: She tends to be competent and highly skilled at everything she does. However, she suffers a light case of this in some episodes, due to her very competitive attitude. She takes the idea of [[ATasteOfDefeat not being the best at something]] rather badly. |
| 287 | * BullyHunter: Though she may sometimes get exasperated by them, she'll ''always'' stand up for [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. |
| 288 | ** In "Hot Crossed Nuts", Mr Krabs adds her barbeque nuts to the menu, and coldly dismisses [=SpongeBob=] and the Krabby Patties. Upon seeing [=SpongeBob=]'s heartbroken reaction, and Mr Krabs' callous indifference, she retaliates by resigning and taking her recipe off the menu at the worst possible time. |
| 289 | ** In "Patrick! The Game", Squidward has been mocking Patrick's attempts at making his own game. When he tries to do so at the Game Night, Sandy shuts him up and coerces him into joining in whenever he doesn’t make an effort. |
| 290 | * BullyingADragon: Combined with BreakTheHaughty. Despite the Bikini Bottomites and [=SpongeBob=]'s constant warnings about how big and monstrous the Alaskan Bull Worm was, Sandy refuses to take them seriously. This bites her in the butt when she finds out that the "worm" she was fighting was actually its ''tongue.'' Sandy then realized that she was ''seriously'' outclassed and runs for her life. |
| 291 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: Her scientific nature wasn't shown as much in the pre-movie era. It wasn't until Season 4 that her inventor personality was established. |
| 292 | * ChasteToons: "Sandy's Nutty Nieces" reveals she has three nieces. |
| 293 | * CompetitionFreak: Sandy is used to being the best at multiple talents and sports, so gets rather aggressive with when challenged. |
| 294 | * CoolBigSis: Her relationship with [=SpongeBob=] can be rather brother-sisterly in that the former looks up to her and they get into conflicts often but always come out clean. |
| 295 | * 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, and is one of the few characters who can rival Larry in raw power. |
| 296 | * DeadpanSnarker: Has become quite a bit of one in the later episodes, particularly in "Planet of the Jellyfish" and "It's a [=SpongeBob=] Christmas!" |
| 297 | * DemotedToExtra: |
| 298 | ** 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]]. |
| 299 | ** Due to being main characters on the show, Sandy, Mrs. Puff, and Squidward are all billed under "Main Cast" in the first movie's credits — despite them having such little screen time. |
| 300 | * EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: In the first season, her tail wasn't outside her suit, and the patch on her suit was three black dots instead of her signature acorn. |
| 301 | * EnragedByIdiocy: Not to the extent of Squidward, but she quite expresses her annoyance towards people's stupidity, particularly when it regards Patrick on occasions like in "I Had An Accident" for instance. |
| 302 | -->'''Sandy:''' ''[to Patrick]'' Don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else? |
| 303 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first time Sandy is seen on-screen, she's shown fighting a giant clam, ultimately cementing her strength and masculinity. |
| 304 | * EverythingIsBigInTexas: Even though she's the size of a flea compared to the UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} landscape, her personality more than matches the size of her home state. |
| 305 | * FishOutOfWater: Played straight, though she's actually a squirrel IN water. Her troubles fitting in with an underwater society aren't as apparent in the later episodes, though. |
| 306 | * {{Flanderization}}: Originally portrayed as TheAce in various activities, post-movie episodes have increasingly focused on her being a scientist, pretty much shunning anything else she was passionate about. |
| 307 | * {{Foil}}: She serves as this to two main characters: |
| 308 | ** [=SpongeBob=]: While both of them are energetic and eccentric {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s who like karate, their personalities differ in that: |
| 309 | *** [=SpongeBob=] is a naïve and kooky [[TheDitz Ditz]] who's childish, pestering, wimpy, cowardly, and generally ignorant in all but a few topic areas, |
| 310 | *** Sandy is a mature, tough, bold, and intelligent individual who more often than not plays the OnlySaneWoman role. |
| 311 | ** Squidward: Both are the two characters [[OnlySaneMan who have the most common sense]] in a CrapsaccharineWorld like Bikini Bottom, are considered by [=SpongeBob=] as his best friend yet they can get annoyed by his childish antics but have shown a degree of care for him. What differs them is that: |
| 312 | *** Squidward is grumpy, [[HatesEveryoneEqually dislikes most people]], is a dreadful musician (it [[DependingOnTheWriter depends]]), and has passionately [[FriendshipDenial denied being SpongeBob's friend multiple times]]. |
| 313 | *** Sandy is cheerful, is willing to befriend most citizens, is skilled in karate and bodybuilding, and [[PlatonicLifePartners enjoys [=SpongeBob=]'s company and is appreciative of his efforts to make her feel at home]]. |
| 314 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Choleric (shares this with Mr. Krabs). She's task-oriented and likes a challenge. |
| 315 | * ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat: Any time the writers remember her Texan background or her other talents besides science. |
| 316 | * TheFriendlyTexan: A proud Texan and one of the nicest characters in the series. However, [[BewareTheNiceOnes she can get pretty scary when she's angry]], and disrespecting her home state is a surefire way to [[BerserkButton set her off]] (again, proud Texan). |
| 317 | * GadgeteerGenius: She built tons of nifty gadgets. |
| 318 | * GeniusBruiser: She's athletic, tough, and loves karate, while also being an extremely smart scientist. |
| 319 | * GenkiGirl: She can be excitable and cheerful when she wants to have a good time. |
| 320 | * HairTriggerTemper: Usually level-headed, but being a HotBlooded Texan, she's rarely subtle when her temper flares. |
| 321 | * IdiotBall: |
| 322 | ** Holds this in "Prehibernation Week", where she takes [=SpongeBob=] along with her to perform extreme stunts with little regard to his deteriorating health. This doubles as JerkassBall. |
| 323 | ** She invokes this on herself in "Squirrel Jokes" in retaliation against [=SpongeBob=]'s bigoted humor about her species, showing him how toxic it would be to have a friend who's TooDumbToLive. |
| 324 | * ImpliedLoveInterest: Her close friendship with [=SpongeBob=], as well as several ShipTease between the two of them can make her this, which is more prevalent in Season 1, though some subtle hints can be shown in later seasons as well. |
| 325 | * InsufferableGenius: Sometimes can be insufferably boastful about her intellect, especially in later seasons. |
| 326 | * {{Invisibility}}: She can turn invisible as Miss Appear in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V". |
| 327 | * InexplicablyTailless: She did not have a tail in season 1 while wearing her suit, but nowadays, she has a tail. |
| 328 | * JerkassBall: In spite of her overall kindness, she can be quite an InsufferableGenius and egotistical jerk at times, and occasionally forces the others to do excruciating activities with her when it dangerously affects their health. |
| 329 | ** 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 notice or care. |
| 330 | ** In "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired", she feeds various freeloaders (including Patrick) toxic waste [[ForScience for no reason beyond curiosity]]. |
| 331 | ** In "Kenny the Cat", she exposes the eponymous character as a fraud in front of his fans and forcefully kicks him to the top of the ocean's surface despite him having done nothing to provoke her. |
| 332 | * JustFriends: In spite of the ShipTease, her relationship with [=SpongeBob=] seems to be platonic. |
| 333 | * LackOfEmpathy: "Prehibernation Week" stands out for having this. She and [=SpongeBob=] partake on a series of extreme sports, but she genuinely thinks [=SpongeBob=] is having as much fun as she is. But when he bails and she thinks he’s gone missing, she forces the whole town to help her look for him. The citizens get their faces burned off, attacked by poison sea urchins and leeches. Sandy’s response to these misfortunes? The townsfolk aren’t trying and need to triple their efforts. |
| 334 | * LadyAndAScholar: She is one of the friendliest characters on the show and also a genius. It helps that she's one of the few characters on the show that didn't [[{{Flanderization}} Take a Level in]] [[TookALevelInDumbass Dumbass]] [[{{Flanderization}} or]] [[TookALevelInJerkass Jerkass]]. |
| 335 | * LethallyStupid: In "Prehibernation Week", and only that episode. She forces [=SpongeBob=] to take part in a series of life-threatening sports and seems oblivious to his despair even as he screams and cries. After [=SpongeBob=] decides to hide from her, she rallies the entire city to search for him, ordering them to repeatedly venture into dangerous places and refusing to let any of them sleep. |
| 336 | * LightningBruiser: She's very strong (as mentioned above in CuteBruiser), tough (goes through very hard physical training, such as looking for a ''SINGLE STRAND OF HAY in a HUGE PILE OF METAL NEEDLES'' without getting hurt or tiring out) and is also very agile (especially considering she is wearing a heavy suit and is reasonably fast even while under water pressure). |
| 337 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: While there has been some romantic connotations in their friendship, she and [=SpongeBob=] have a brother-sister relationship, enjoying each other's company and performing karate together, albeit not without having their squabbles. |
| 338 | * MadeOfIron: Thanks to SuperStrength, Sandy has survived many fatal accidents and near-death experiences that [[TooDumbToLive SpongeBob]] wouldn't. |
| 339 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: |
| 340 | ** 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. |
| 341 | ** She is also the Masculine Girl to Squidward's Feminine Boy, as he prefers playing musical instruments, making arts such as paintings and participates in interpretive dancing. |
| 342 | * MilesGloriosus: In the comic story "Scaredy Snail", she and [=SpongeBob=] hear strange roaring noises coming from a trench. She immediately wants to investigate, mocking [=SpongeBob=] for being afraid. It turns out that ''she'' was scared out of her wits the whole time, banking on [=SpongeBob=] to get cold feet so she wouldn’t have to go into the trench. After [[InelegantBlubbering this tearful confession]], it seems there was no monster after all: it was just Patrick's echoing belches. [[SubvertedTrope But then an actual monster appears right behind him]]. Sandy, who came across as wanting to see such a creature, runs for her life. |
| 343 | * MissXPun: The superheroine Miss Appear has the ability to go invisible, or disappear. |
| 344 | * MsViceGirl: She is a scientific genius, physically robust to superhuman levels and thoroughly optimistic and friendly on top of that. However, perhaps because of her many strengths and talents, she often displays an ego problem, which can lead her to be very aggressive and competitive when someone challenges her. |
| 345 | * MusclesAreMeaningless: PlayedWith in that the art style doesn't depict her as being muscular, but a few close-ups and occasional flexes do indeed show her with muscles, even being able to grow them by force (most notably in "[=Karate Island=]", but also in "[=MuscleBob BuffPants=]", "[=Christmas Who?=]", and "[=Whelk Attack=]"). |
| 346 | * NiceGirl: Sandy's a happy and friendly squirrel. |
| 347 | * NiceMeanAndInbetween: A Downplayed example along with [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick as they're all generally nice people, but Sandy is the the mean one to [=SpongeBob=]'s nice and Patrick's in-between; having a bigger berserk button when she gets annoyed by the latter two's antics. Later seasons have Sandy switch places with Patrick with the latter [[TookALevelInJerkass taking a level in jerkass]]. |
| 348 | * NinjaPirateZombieRobot: A sea-dwelling squirrel that dresses like an astronaut to cope with the environment, Sandy's love of [[GeniusBruiser science and karate]] is surpassed only by her love of her home state of Texas. |
| 349 | * NobleBigot: In "Pressure", she repeatedly bragged that land creatures are better than sea creatures, with [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs thinking the opposite. However, after their attempts at proving it put both sides in mortal danger, they grow out of it. |
| 350 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Sometimes, her sciencey-mind can make her do some things that push her into MadScientist territory. |
| 351 | * OcularGushers: In "Texas", her longing for her eponymous hometown causes her to cry an abundance of tears in her helmet, so much to the point where there's a flusher installed in it to drain them. |
| 352 | * OddFriendship: |
| 353 | ** Her friendship with [=SpongeBob=] could qualify, as while both of them like karate, Sandy is far more intelligent and mature than the [[TheDitz ditzy]], [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} goofball]] sponge, thus their relationship seems to be more brotherly-sister than genuine. |
| 354 | ** Same goes for her friendship with Patrick, although they rarely interact one-on-one and Patrick usually only goes to her house as [=SpongeBob=]'s tagalong. Despite some disagreements regarding their vast difference in intellect, they seem to get along well enough. |
| 355 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The only times she was referred to by her full first name were in "Patrick [=SmartPants=]", "Atlantis [=SquarePantis=]", and "Two Thumbs Down". |
| 356 | * OnlySaneWoman: Not as sane as Squidward, but she's still fairly level-headed. [[GenkiGirl Not so much]] before hibernation, though, as apparently the first stage of hibernation involves losing your mind. |
| 357 | * ParodySue: A few episodes, especially in the 2nd season, seem to [[LampshadeHanging make light of]] her somewhat lengthy amount of talents and positive aspects, it also usually being these points she was portrayed in a more flawed light. |
| 358 | * PassionateSportsGirl: To a particularly extreme level. Adding to that her occasional CompetitionFreak bouts, working out with Sandy can border out and out life threatening. |
| 359 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: While she's rather short in height and [[StrongerThanTheyLook depicted as a weakling]] by the art style, she has performed the most badass of defeats for a squirrel in an astronaut suit. |
| 360 | * PlatonicLifePartners: She's close friends with [=SpongeBob=], and while there have been some definitive ShipTease moments between the pair, their dynamic hasn't shown any ''explicit'' romance. |
| 361 | * PunnyName: Her name is a reference to the concept of getting beach sand stuck to one's butt. |
| 362 | * {{Retcon}}: In Season 2, it was established that she hibernated. In real life, squirrels don't do this. Later seasons show her outside in the snow. |
| 363 | * SevenDeadlySins: Embodies {{pride}}. Sandy is immensely proud of her [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texan heritage]], and often feels as though she's more capable to handle a task than anybody else, regardless of the danger. |
| 364 | * ShipTease: |
| 365 | ** Usually with [=SpongeBob=], shown by how well they interact with one another, and some reactions to each others comments. One {{Flashback}} from "Truth or Square" even had them seemingly getting married, only for it to be revealed as a play after an AlmostKiss. Carolyn Lawrence, Sandy's voice actress, has admitted she believed that both characters have romantic interest in one another. |
| 366 | ** She also has some ship tease with Larry in "Ripped Pants", overlapping with her relationship with [=SpongeBob=] and seeming a bit like a LoveTriangle on her part. The latter is greatly affected by Sandy choosing to interact with Larry over him (though [=SpongeBob=] brought this betrayal on himself as he [[AttentionWhore went too far and faked a near-death experience]] [[DudeNotFunny just to make another joke about his pants]]). |
| 367 | * {{Slapstick}}: Not as much as the others but Sandy suffers some physical damage at times, such as being mauled by a gorilla, having her fur torn off by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, being plagued with fleas, being hit by a car off of a mountain and so on. |
| 368 | * SmallNameBigEgo: Albeit [[DependingOnTheWriter not as consistently]] as Squidward, she can overestimate her own abilities. Here are some examples: |
| 369 | ** In "Pressure", she repeatedly stated that land creatures are better than sea creatures and went so far as to almost drown herself in an attempt to prove it. |
| 370 | ** In "Sandy, [=SpongeBob=], and the Worm", she was firmly convinced that, being "Texas tough", she could easily handle the Alaskan Bullworm, repeatedly dismissing and even mocking [=SpongeBob=]'s warnings. When she finally reaches it and finds out that the Alaskan Bullworm is indeed as big and dangerous as everyone said, she runs in fear, and ''only'' admits she was wrong after [=SpongeBob=] nagged her into doing so. |
| 371 | * SouthernFriedGenius: She's a genius from Texas, and proud of it! |
| 372 | * StrongerThanTheyLook: From a first glance, Sandy looks no stronger than [=SpongeBob=] (who, needless to say, is a weakling), however, when she's faced with fatal near-death experiences, she [[SuperStrength absolutely aces it when it comes to overpowering her obstacles]]. |
| 373 | * SuperStrength: Pretty obvious, actually. Especially when you see her ''pull a boat underwater by the chain'' in "Sandy, [=SpongeBob=], and the Worm". |
| 374 | * TalksLikeASimile: She has a pronounced habit of describing things with folksy comparisons. This is occasionally parodied in that she'll sometimes use ones she herself doesn't understand. |
| 375 | -->"[=SpongeBob's=] acting jumpier than a rattlesnake in a pickle barrel. *beat* Huh? |
| 376 | * TeamMom: Unlike most other OnlySaneMan characters on the show, who are usually {{Jerkass}}es, Sandy has shown herself able to deliver logic and reason to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick constructively and in a way that doesn't come off as abrasive. |
| 377 | * TerrestrialSeaLife: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]; she's a land squirrel living among sea creatures. |
| 378 | * TertiarySexualCharacteristics: She wears a flower on her diving helmet so it's more readily apparent she's a girl. She's got eyelashes too, but so does [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 379 | * TokenGoodTeammate: One of the only characters who hasn't been turned into either a {{Jerkass}} or [[TookALevelInDumbass a moron]]. Her occasional [[SmallNameBigEgo ego]] and [[BerserkButton temperament]] can provoke some unfortunate situations in the show (eg. "Pressure"), that said, she is arguably the one recurring character that hasn't had her flaws [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] over her redeeming aspects. |
| 380 | * {{Tomboy}}: Sandy's a muscular squirrel girl with a passion for sports and science. |
| 381 | * TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Sandy may always be up for tough fun or a science experiment, but she's not quite TheLadette. She regularly wears a pink decorative flower on her helmet and nothing but her bikini in her treedome, openly cries over her isolation from her hometown, and perhaps most prominently, is not above venturing into typical GossipyHens nighttime behavior with Karen and Mrs. Puff (who are apparently gal pals with each other) in "Girls' Night Out". |
| 382 | * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The karate chopping techno whiz Tomboy to Pearl's Girly BrattyTeenageDaughter. |
| 383 | * TomboyishVoice: Although, it's more Southern than tomboyish. |
| 384 | * TooCleverByHalf: Every now and then she goes into being so smart that it puts her at a disadvantage. |
| 385 | * 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. |
| 386 | * ToonTransformation: She was a live-action squirrel when she lived in Texas, but she became animated like the rest of the residents of Bikini Bottom when she moved there. |
| 387 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: She likes eating nuts and anything nut-related. [[StockAnimalDiet Give or take, she's a squirrel]]. |
| 388 | * UnaffectedBySpice: She downs a bottle of [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce Volcano Sauce]] in [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E14SB129KarateChoppers "Karate Choppers"]] like it's nothing. |
| 389 | * UnfortunateName: As stated above, her name is a reference to a the idea of sand getting stuck to one's butt. |
| 390 | * VagueAge: She's almost certainly an adult, but whether she's meant to be a younger adult like [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick or closer to, say, Squidward's age, is never clarified. Fans typically pegs her as the former. |
| 391 | * VocalEvolution: As the series goes on, Sandy's voice has gotten higher and her Texan accent much thicker. |
| 392 | * WalkingSwimsuitScene: Seen in a bikini whenever she's in the Treedome. Notably, the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/3/3d/SpongeBob_season_2_main_characters_model_sheet.gif main character model sheet]] features Sandy in both her bikini and her diving suit (all of the other characters only have one outfit on the sheet). |
| 393 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: In "Prehibernation Week", she jumps to the conclusion that something terrible has happened to [=SpongeBob=] after finding his pants caught on a coral. She quickly recruits everyone in Bikini Bottom to look for him, and they genuinely want to without any promise of a reward. As time goes by, however, Sandy makes everyone search in dangerous places and doesn’t take consideration for their safety or wellbeing. She then proceeds to destroy the city when everyone bails on her. All this happened because she was concerned for [=SpongeBob=]'s safety. |
| 394 | [[/folder]] |
| 395 | |
| 396 | [[folder:Plankton]] |
| 397 | !Sheldon J. Plankton |
| 398 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' [[Creator/MrLawrence Doug Lawrence]] (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Óscar Zuloaga (LA Spanish, Season 1 and a few episodes of Season 2), Creator/LuisMiguelPerez (LA Spanish, Season 2-9), Ángel Mujica (LA Spanish, Season 9-Present), Guilherme Lopes (Brazilian Portuguese), Thomas Petruo (German, Season 1-11) Sebastian Christoph Jacob (German, Season 11-Present), Creator/MattiasKnave (Swedish, Season 1-Present)[[/labelnote]] |
| 399 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Plankton!" |
| 400 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_plankton.jpg]] |
| 401 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"I don't get it. No matter what I do, I always end up getting squashed by someone bigger than me."'']] |
| 402 | |
| 403 | ->''"Hear me, Krabs. When I discover your formula for Krabby Patties, I'll run you out of business. '''I WENT TO COLLEGE!'''"'' |
| 404 | |
| 405 | A tiny planktonic copepod with a Napoleon complex. With the help of his computer wife Karen, he runs the failing Chum Bucket restaurant across the street from the Krusty Krab. He is always after the secret Krabby Patty formula and dreams of running the Krusty Krab out of business. |
| 406 | ---- |
| 407 | * AbandonedCatchphrase: In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E3JellyfishingPlankton Plankton!]]" and "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E10CultureShockFUN Culture Shock]]", whenever his plans failed, he'd reply with, "Well, this stinks." However, starting with "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E10CultureShockFUN F.U.N.]]", Plankton gave up on this phrase. |
| 408 | * AbusiveDad: Towards his and Karen's son Chip in [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E9BrokenAlarmKarensBaby "Karen's Baby"]]. As Plankton never wanted a baby, he spends most of the episode going out of his way to avoid showing any affection towards Chip, including showing up his baby form's attempts to walk, refusing to help him stop crying and eventually outright telling his teenage form to run away. It takes Karen threatening to throw Plankton out if he can't find his son and said son's first word being "father" before Plankton finally accepts him as his son. |
| 409 | * AffablyEvil: He's shown to be quite polite at a few points in the series, which is a sharp contrast to [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Mr. Krabs]]. This is best exemplified in the end of [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E12AllThatGlittersWishingYouWell "Wishing You Well"]]: Plankton, having been granted his wish to be taller, now towers over everybody and could smash the Krusty Krab if he felt like it. Instead, he jovially greets [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs before rampaging through the city, leaving them and the Krusty Krab completely unscathed. |
| 410 | * AmbitiousButLazy: He would rather steal the Krabby Patty Formula than improve his [[LethalChef own cooking skills]] and whenever he does manage to produce edible food, its because he stumbled onto someone or something that made it edible rather than any hard work on his end. |
| 411 | * ArchEnemy: He is the main foe of Krabs, and sometimes [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 412 | * AssholeVictim: He always meets his own end for trying to steal the formula, and needless to say, he's such a totally deserving victim. The only time his abuse was pitiful was in "One Coarse Meal", in which he becomes DrivenToSuicide. |
| 413 | * 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 nag him a lot and is sometimes physically abusive towards Plankton in return. |
| 414 | * AxCrazy: He's not exactly what anyone would call stable, to say the least. This is especially prevalent in [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie the first movie]], in which he is much more unstable, {{sadist}}ic, depraved, and homicidal than usual. |
| 415 | * BadassBookworm: He is shown to be a technological genius, capable of creating complex machines and powerful robots, and plotting various very elaborate, and nearly successful [[EvilPlan evil schemes]]. |
| 416 | * BadBoss: Plankton sometimes uses Karen as a guinea pig for his experiments. |
| 417 | * BigBad: The primary antagonist of both the series and the first movie, although Karen is the one giving him his plans most of the time. His constant attempts to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula drive the plot of most of the episodes centering on the Krusty Krab, titular Sponge's place of work. |
| 418 | * BigBadWannabe: Often falls into this, due to oversights in his schemes and general bumbling. [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie The first movie]], of course, [[AvertedTrope averts]] the HELL out of this trope, and then some. |
| 419 | * BigOlUnibrow: Plankton has a big, black unibrow above his eye. |
| 420 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: There is an alarming amount of his evil plans that involve him using MindControl, manipulation, or both in some way: even his very first evil plan in the show has him forcing [=SpongeBob=] to steal a Krabby Patty and bring it to him by [[BrainWithAManualControl putting a remote control in his brain]] in his debut episode, "Plankton" and brainwashing Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy with hypnotic shampoo in '''Mermaid Man Vs [=SpongeBob=]''', even trying [[PsychoPsychologist pseudo-therapy]] to get [=SpongeBob=] to reveal the secret formula, and the ''Super Brawl 2'' flash game has him fight by controlling a muscular bodybuilder fish via MindControlDevice.. The worst example of this was in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' where he zombifies '''''EVERYONE''''' in Bikini Bottom with Chum Bucket helmets (Except for [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Mindy)! |
| 421 | * BreakoutVillain: Plankton was originally meant to be a minor character, as Stephen Hillenburg was initially unsure how to use the character beyond his [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E3JellyfishingPlankton debut episode]]. According to Mr. Lawrence [[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/138093814/ here]], Plankton "was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but I was a writer on the show and I really liked this character." Lawrence wrote many plot outlines involving Plankton and Karen to prove that they could survive as more than one-offs, eventually turning the Planktons into the series villains. |
| 422 | * ButtMonkey: Just how many times has he been stepped on and thrown? |
| 423 | * CantGetAwayWithNuthin: His {{evil plan}}s aren't the only things he isn't able to get away with: |
| 424 | ** Plankton does ''[[SubvertedTrope partially]]'' get away in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy". After yet another failed attempt to steal a Krabby Patty, he is locked in a jar of spicy mustard. Then the police show up and - instead of arresting Plankton for stealing Sandy's pelt - they arrest SANDY for public nudity. |
| 425 | ** A dark example in "One Coarse Meal", where Plankton is punished for trying to exact justifiable revenge on Mr. Krabs, who in turn got off scot-free after {{sadist}}ically tormenting Plankton non-stop for several days, to the extent that Plankton was nearly DrivenToSuicide. |
| 426 | * CardboardPrison: Plankton has been to prison a lot. However, no matter how many times he's put in prison, he'll always end up out of it the next episode he appears. Granted, he's small enough to escape through the bars after all, but even ''tiny'' prisons aren't going to be enough for him. |
| 427 | * CardCarryingVillain: He '''LOVES''' bragging about how evil he is, and acts very much like a typical supervillain, especially at his worst. |
| 428 | * {{Cephalothorax}}: His entire body is his face, just like [=SpongeBob=]. However, other plankton on the show are drawn like this, so this trait isn't exclusive to him. |
| 429 | * CharacterCatchphrase: |
| 430 | ** ''"I went to college!"'' whenever he’s trying to argue a point. |
| 431 | ** "[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction Ouch]]." whenever he gets hurt badly. |
| 432 | ** "Yes! '''YES!'''" when something goes right for him. |
| 433 | ** "I win! I WIN!" whenever he thinks he’s going to succeed. |
| 434 | * TheChessmaster: In the first [[TheMovie movie]], [[ManipulativeBastard he manipulates everyone to get the secret formula and to ensure Mr. Krabs' demise]]. |
| 435 | * TheChewToy: Mostly, when he's a KarmicButtMonkey, it's meant to be amusing. The only time his abuse ''wasn't'' PlayedForLaughs was in "One Coarse Meal". |
| 436 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: Although the Chum Bucket could hardly be considered a corporation, he ''is'' an evil man bent on world domination in addition to trying to put his rival Mr. Krabs out of business. |
| 437 | * CosmicPlaything: He is a constant victim of AmusingInjuries and failure. |
| 438 | * CreepyHighPitchedVoice: Played straight in the [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseLanguage Japanese]] dub where he speaks in a high-pitched voice. Inverted elsewhere as he has [[EvilSoundsDeep deep voices]] instead. |
| 439 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Plankton is very much a [[EvilIsHammy hammy, stereotypically evil]] [[LaughablyEvil goofball]], though in [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie the first movie]], he proves in SPADES how competent he really is when he's motivated enough; he steals Neptune's crown, is able to frame Mr. Krabs for it, ''mind controls the entirety of Bikini Bottom'', and finally manages to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. To top it all off, he even turns the whole city into a dystopian hell-hole called Planktopolis. HarmlessVillain, he is ''not''. |
| 440 | * CutLexLuthorACheck: He's clearly a brilliant inventor, with a ''huge'' cache of futuristic technology as his disposal, but it apparently never occurs to him to do something with his life other than [[TheRival running a rival restaurant to the Krusty Krab]]. Even then, he's apparently never considered that [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat there are ways of running a profitable restaurant that don't require stealing your rival's recipes]]. |
| 441 | ** Though the main reason he keeps trying to steal the Krabby Patty recipe, is not so much because he hates Mr. Krabs, but because he himself [[LethalChef couldn't cook to save his life]] so he tries to latch on to Krabs's success. |
| 442 | ** Also note that either way, Krabs is a ruthless competitor. There are in fact times Plankton ''has'' tried to make legitimate profits. Krabs still tries to ruin them and steal his customers, since either way he is his business rival and ''right next door to him'' at that. At times Krabs becomes so greedy and petty in bullying away profit that it seems this trope is there just to ensure he can still look like the good guy against Plankton. |
| 443 | ** Furthermore, TheMovie reveals that stealing the secret formula and revitalizing the Chum Bucket were just the first steps in a far more ambitious plan to brainwash Bikini Bottom's citizens and TakeOverTheCity. |
| 444 | * {{Cyclops}}: {{Justified|Trope}}, as he's a plankton and many plankton have just one eye. |
| 445 | * DeadpanSnarker: He's quite capable of dishing out witty retorts and remarks to other people, especially Karen. |
| 446 | * DependingOnTheWriter: |
| 447 | ** How evil he is tends to vary from episode to episode. He's almost always a villainous character, but his antics are frequently overshadowed by [[TookALevelInJerkass Mr. Krabs]] later on. In some episodes, especially more recent ones, he's little more than the local grouch, much like Squidward. |
| 448 | ** How much he cares about Karen, if at all. Sometimes he genuinely cares about her and sometimes he has no problem expressing his contempt towards her. |
| 449 | * {{Determinator}}: He won't stop no matter what gets in the way of his plans to get the secret formula. ''Much'' more so in earlier episodes, and there are some later episodes in which he's given up but ultimately doesn't hesitate to try again with different approach. |
| 450 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: A key reason why his {{Evil Plan}}s almost constantly fail: Plankton repeatedly overlooks glaring flaws in them and fails to notice until it's too late to do anything about it. Most brilliantly and succinctly illustrated in "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E18MissingIdentityPlanktonsArmy Plankton's Army]]", after Plankton successfully infiltrates the Krusty Krab: |
| 451 | -->'''Krabs:''' Plankton! You knew I'd never distrust a dollar!\ |
| 452 | '''Plankton:''' That's right, Krabs! Now hand over the Krabby Patty secret formula!\ |
| 453 | ''[{{beat}}]''\ |
| 454 | '''Krabs:''' ...or what?\ |
| 455 | '''Plankton:''' I don't know. I never thought I'd get this far.\ |
| 456 | '''Krabs:''' Well, allow me to suggest your next move. ''[seizes Plankton and flushes him down the toilet]'' |
| 457 | * DitzyGenius: He may be a scientist and have all sorts of gadgets, but is rather incompetent overall. For example, he believes that baby powder is made from actual babies in "Goo Goo Gas", and in "Komputer Overload", he has to be reminded to blink. |
| 458 | * TheDogBitesBack: In "One Coarse Meal", when he nearly kills himself after being frightened by Mr. Krabs in disguise as Pearl from his fear of whales for 17 straight days, he finds out about Mr. Krabs's fear of mimes and starts scaring him with that. It doesn't last long, though. |
| 459 | * DoesNotLikeSpam: In “Pineapple Invasion”, Plankton chews his way through [=SpongeBob=]’s house, then remarks to himself that he forgot how much he hates pineapple. |
| 460 | * DrivenToSuicide: Almost deliberately gets himself killed in "One Coarse Meal". |
| 461 | * DubNameChange: In the Swedish dub his first name is changed to Benny, which compared to Sheldon, is a lot more fairly common. Later on, it was changed to Shelly, keeping more in line with his English name. |
| 462 | * EmbarrassingFirstName: "Plankton's Army" reveals his first name is Sheldon, which annoys him due to other people thinking it's funny. Sure enough, his wife Karen finds it hilarious and starts laughing and displaying her husband's first name on a screen in increasingly elaborate displays whenever Plankton has his back turned, forcing him to unplug her to get the situation back under control. |
| 463 | * EnragedByIdiocy: Like Squidward, he gets irritated when it comes to stupid people, particularly [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 464 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: His very first appearance depicts him attempting to steal a Krabby Patty, and then vowing revenge on Mr. Krabs when the attempt fails. |
| 465 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Actually his grandmama. He's shown to care for his grandmother in "Gramma's Secret Recipe", though that doesn't stop him from stealing her wig and dentures to disguise himself. |
| 466 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: |
| 467 | ** He truly loves and cares for Karen, but how he shows his love for her [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the episode]]. |
| 468 | ** Plankton has his pet amoeba, Spot, who happens to be one of the only characters he will show ''genuine'' affection for, no strings attached. |
| 469 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 470 | ** In "F.U.N.", [=SpongeBob=] relays a speech he was once told by a magician. What he said, not to mention how we relayed it, was enough to persuade Plankton to surrender the Patty he'd almost gotten away with. And [=SpongeBob=] wasn't even trying to talk him out of the Patty. |
| 471 | --->'''Plankton:''' And after all these years, I thought ''I'' was the master of torture, but ''that''... that just wasn't fair! |
| 472 | ** Plankton’s a LethalChef in his own right, but even he balks at Squidward's attempt to make a Krabby Patty in "The Algae's Always Greener". |
| 473 | ** In "One Coarse Meal", Plankton gets pissed off after [=SpongeBob=] tells him that Mr. Krabs has been impersonating Pearl in order to take advantage of his fear of whales for the past two weeks. Apparently, even ''he'' views terrorizing someone via exploiting their phobias as heinous. |
| 474 | ** In "The Krabby Kronicle", he views invading people's privacy and spreading newspaper gossip at their expense for a quick buck as absolutely disgusting, actually taking the moral high ground over Krabs. Quoted by him "And I thought '''I''' was evil!" |
| 475 | ** In "Squirrel Record", Sandy comes to him asking for raw chum in order to break a world record. Plankton is actually reluctant to give it to her despite freely admitting to being an "evil, heartless mastermind", because, as he puts it, "no one can eat raw chum and survive!" |
| 476 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: He often has trouble understanding basic concepts of goodness, such as having fun. In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', not only does he struggle to understand the concept of teamwork, he can't even ''pronounce'' it properly ("Te-am work? Tie-am? Time bomb... work?"). He also believes that [=SpongeBob=] helping him is really a front for a plot to steal the formula for himself, and is shocked to learn he really doesn't know it. |
| 477 | * EvilCounterpart: To Mr. Krabs, at least in earlier seasons, since they both own rival fast food businesses and he behaved more like a supervillain than a mere unscrupulous businessman. |
| 478 | * EvilFormerFriend: He and Krabs were once friends since they were babies. It was the Krabby Patty Formula that caused them to become ArchEnemies with each other. |
| 479 | * EvilGenius: He is shown to be a technological genius, capable of creating complex machines and powerful robots, and plotting various elaborate, and nearly successful [[EvilPlan evil schemes]]. |
| 480 | * EvilIsBigger: Inverted as he is by far the smallest of the main cast. |
| 481 | * EvilIsHammy: Despite his small size, he's hammy as hell. |
| 482 | * EvilLaugh: He laughs evilly quite a lot. |
| 483 | * EvilOldFolks: He doesn’t look it, but pretty much qualifies, as he has been shown to be the same age as Mr. Krabs, who himself is not such a young guy. |
| 484 | * EvilPlan: He wants to steal the Krabby Patty formula and ([[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]]) TakeOverTheWorld. |
| 485 | * EvilSoundsDeep: He's a villain with a deep voice. Downplayed later on the show. |
| 486 | * {{Expy}}: He has a lot in common with [[Film/GoodBurger Kurt Bozwell]], another Nickelodeon fast food villain. |
| 487 | * FailureIsTheOnlyOption: With an exception in "Wishing You Well", where his wish to be taller comes true, his schemes to get what he desires never work. |
| 488 | * FatalFlaw: Above everything else, his obsession with the Krabby Patty Formula. While at first the series ultimately shows it to be out of a desire to improve his failing restaurant with the secret of the Krabby Patty's deliciousness, it becomes increasingly evident that not only is Plankton capable of being a successful businessman ''without'' the Krabby Patty Formula (seen when he converts the Chum Bucket into a knick knack emporium in one episode, or when Squidward helps him convert his food into the delicious Chum Fricassee), but that arguably he constantly shoots himself in the foot by fixating on the formula so much. Furthermore, he's shown to be a genius inventor, [[CutLexLuthorACheck with inventions that could vastly improve his own life and bring the success he desires]], but instead dedicates them to constantly trying to either steal the formula, or [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the world in retaliation]] for hurting him. |
| 489 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Varies, DependingOnTheWriter. There are instances where he's falsely friendly to achieve his goals. |
| 490 | * {{Flanderization}}: While not the most notable example, it's one of the weirdest due to being based on a character trait that was barely there. Prior to Season 5, managing a restaurant is more of an InformedAttribute, as he spends more time on evil schemes and stealing someone else's trade secret than actually doing anything in the culinary business[[note]]The closest thing he did other than the movie is try to open a second location[[/note]]. Starting with the fifth season, he is usually shown more as a failing business man than an evil genius, with chum finally being shown and revealed to be disgusting. |
| 491 | * ForTheEvulz: As he freely admits in "F.U.N.", "being evil is too much fun." |
| 492 | * FriendlyEnemy: [=SpongeBob=] on many occasions tries to befriend or show pity on Plankton, with varying success. |
| 493 | * GiftedlyBad: He's determined to destroy Mr. Krabs with his rival restaurant at the Chum Bucket, trying to market chum-related products to his customers even as he's trying to acquire the Krabby Patty formula. It has been shown that the food Plankton offers is simply ''unfit for consumption'', driving away anyone who isn't already scared away by his cruelty. Plankton tries numerous ways to convince his customers his food is just as good as that of the Krusty Krab, but it usually only sickens whoever works up the nerve to try it. |
| 494 | * GladIThoughtOfIt: He's guilty of taking credit for ideas other people come up with when he finds them pleasing, especially when he takes an idea Karen says to him. |
| 495 | * GreenAndMean: An evil, green copepod. |
| 496 | * GreenEyedMonster: He expresses his jealousy towards Mr. Krabs' success rate in the most diabolical ways possible. |
| 497 | * HairTriggerTemper: He tends to get ''really'' angry when he's enraged in earlier episodes, he's calmed down a tad in later episodes. |
| 498 | * HatedByAll: For constantly trying to run the Krusty Krab out of business, and his meanness even when he's not being [[CardCarryingVillain openly villainous]], Plankton is despised by virtually everyone else in the show. In "F.U.N.", he's outright referred to as the "most hated thing in Bikini Bottom" by ''Squidward'' (who is an example of this trope himself). Only [[AllLovingHero SpongeBob]] and Karen, his computer wife, have some form of attachment towards him, and even that varies DependingOnTheWriter. |
| 499 | --> "How's it feel to be the most hated thing in Bikini Bottom, Plankton? It hurts, doesn't it? '''I know!'''" |
| 500 | * HenpeckedHusband: Has shades of being submissive around Karen. |
| 501 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Due to [[DidntThinkThisThrough his inability to think his schemes through]], said schemes always come back to bite him in the ass. |
| 502 | * IdiotBall: He varies from being on Sandy's level in terms of intelligence to being barely smarter than other characters. |
| 503 | * TheIgor: In "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom", the Flying Dutchman ends up turning him into a deformed lackey who addresses him as "master". |
| 504 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: Plankton wants to have the same level of success as his archnemesis in the fast food industry, [[DisproportionateRetribution although the way he goes about it is repulsive, to say the least]]. |
| 505 | * ImAHumanitarian: "The Krabby Kronicle", as ode to ''Film/SoylentGreen'', has Mr. Krabs force [=SpongeBob=] to write a news article claiming that Plankton makes his chum out of sentient fish. |
| 506 | * ImpossibleThief: In "F.U.N.", Mr. Krabs tempts a "reformed" Plankton with a Krabby Patty. Despite the fact that the patty is always visible and untouched on the table throughout the exchange, it somehow ends up replaced with a cardboard cutout, ''[[BehindTheBlack which Krabs should have seen from his angle, even when it was propped up]].'' |
| 507 | * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: He tends to be a pitiable and unsuccessful villain in later seasons, but it varies, as sometimes he manages to be the clear cut villain. DependingOnTheWriter. |
| 508 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Plankton suffers serious insecurities based on his [[ArchEnemy archnemesis']] success. The episode "Friend or Foe" reveals [[EvilFormerFriend his dynamic with Mr. Krabs]] and explains that he became a villainous GreenEyedMonster over the latter's success as a business owner, while all Plankton could make was inedible chum. |
| 509 | * IronButtMonkey: He gets hurt a lot, but he usually walks out of it okay. Deconstructed though, as while he '''can''' take a lot. It's strongly hinted that he became so resilient because he '''HAD''' to due his status as a plankton. |
| 510 | * JerkassHasAPoint: While he's no NiceGuy himself, Plankton accurately calls out [=SpongeBob=] for being an ExtremeDoormat in "Walking Small". |
| 511 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Occasionally, his claims of being evil are mostly bluster, and he turns out to have a good nature overall. See "Best Frenemies" or ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' for examples. |
| 512 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: In the first season episode "FUN", where his bonding with [=SpongeBob=] was just a ruse to get him to help him find the secret Krabby Patty formula. In episodes such as "Friend or Foe" and "Chum Caverns", when Mr. Krabs seems willing to let bygones be bygones, he just takes advantage of the opportunity. |
| 513 | * JustJokingJustification: Overlaps with BadLiar at the end of the first [[TheMovie movie]], he attempts this, claiming that his mind-controlling everyone and turning Bikini Bottom into the dystopic [[{{Egopolis}} Planktopolis]] was all a joke. Nobody buys it, [[spoiler:and he's shipped off to prison, [[VillainousBreakdown screaming he'll destroy everyone]]]]. |
| 514 | -->'''Plankton:''' Come on, I was just kidding. Come on, you guys knew that, didn't you? With the helmets and the big monuments... Wasn't that hilarious, everybody? |
| 515 | * KarmicButtMonkey: In the earlier stages of the show, his humiliating defeats and failures in the restaurant business were meant to be a foil of his own design through his unrelenting mission to steal the secret formula and plotting world domination. Then {{Flanderization}} kicked in, and he became more of a victim who can’t catch a break, and Krabs is more of a scumbag who taunts and rubs his victories in his rival’s face, [[ForTheEvulz just ‘cause]]. |
| 516 | * KnightOfCerebus: When the chips are down, he's a genuinely menacing and incredibly dangerous antagonist, ESPECIALLY in [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarePantsMovie the first movie]]. |
| 517 | * LargeHam: Particularly in earlier seasons, he has his moments of yelling at the top of his lungs and exhibiting NoIndoorVoice. |
| 518 | * LastNameBasis: Though in his case, he prefers to go by his surname because he considers Sheldon an EmbarrassingFirstName. Unlike Mr. Krabs, he's simply called Plankton instead of Mr. Plankton (sans one episode where he sees what it's like if they switch places). |
| 519 | * LaughablyEvil: Generally, he's a hilariously over-the-top EvilGenius who chews up the scenery everytime he's on-screen. [[KnightOfCerebus There ARE times where he's portrayed]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain as a genuine threat to the good guys and Bikini Bottom at large,]] but he's otherwise one of the funniest villains in the series. |
| 520 | * LegoGenetics: Happens to him at least twice: |
| 521 | ** In "The Inside Job", when Karen's gadget allows Plankton to steal the secret Krabby Patty recipe from [=SpongeBob=]'s heart, he transforms into a Plankton shaped mini-[=SpongeBob=]. When he's extracted, the device attaches itself to Patrick, turning Plankton into a one eyed mini Patrick. |
| 522 | ** In "Salsa Imbecilus", after its suggested that the only way Plankton can get a hold of the Secret recipe is if Mr. Krabs was dumb enough to be tricked into giving it up he comes up with the idea to mix some of Patrick's genes into a soup he would give to Mr. Krabs to infect him with Patrick's [[TheDitz (lack of) intelligence]]. It goes wrong when [[HoistByHisOwnPetard after tasting the soup, Plankton becomes as dumb as Patrick,]] leaves the stove on, which causes the soup to evaporate and condense into a rain cloud, [[LethallyStupid which lowers the intellect of everyone in Bikini Bottom to Patrick's levels]]. |
| 523 | * {{Leitmotif}}: InUniverse. He carries his gramophone to play his theme music, but only in his first appearance. It sometimes plays without the need of a gramophone, though. |
| 524 | * LethalChef: The reason why he doesn't have customers. Not only is he a terrible cook, "Plankton's Regular" shows that his chum is actually ''poisonous'' to eat. |
| 525 | * LikesOlderWomen: He's attracted to Betsy Krabs (Mr. Krabs' mother who's clearly elderly) in "Enemy In-Law", when he and Krabs are around the same age. |
| 526 | * LovableRogue: Plankton plots the most devilish of schemes to get the formula, showing no regard to the lives of his targets whatsoever, yet that hasn't stopped the audience from finding him entertaining for two decades. |
| 527 | * MadScientist: Emphasis on mad. Quite a lot of his schemes involve using machines and concoctions that he created himself. |
| 528 | * MajorInjuryUnderreaction: He tended to react this way in the older episodes whenever his schemes backfired on him. |
| 529 | -->'''Plankton:''' Ouch. |
| 530 | * ManipulativeBastard: It'd take more than two hands to count how many times he's deceived [=SpongeBob=] and [[ArchEnemy Mr. Krabs]] into thinking that he TookALevelInKindness just to get the formula. |
| 531 | * MasterActor: He can fool [[ArchEnemy Krabs]] and [=SpongeBob=] into thinking he's [[TookALevelInKindness Taken a Level In Kindness]]. |
| 532 | * MeaninglessVillainVictory: Several episodes have him win, only for a last minute occurrence or revelation to render his victory pointless. |
| 533 | ** In "Plankton's Army", with the help of his brethren, Plankton manages to get into the Krusty Krab safe and procure the Krabby Patty formula. As he reads the ingredients out loud, he discovers that the most important one is four pounds of freshly ground [[spoiler:plankton]], which causes Plankton and his family to run out of the Krusty Krab screaming in horror. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that what Plankton found wasn't even the real formula and that Mr. Krabs has the actual one in his home under his mattress]]. |
| 534 | ** In "Bucket Sweet Bucket", after tricking [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward into fixing up the Chum Bucket, Plankton manages to get into the Krusty Krab safe and find the formula, [[spoiler:only for it not to be the formula, but a To Do list and that Mr. Krabs had the formula with him while he was on vacation]]. In addition, since [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick used the ''entire Krusty Krab'' to fix up the Chum Bucket, Plankton also lost his restaurant when Mr. Krabs pushes his back to its normal spot. |
| 535 | ** In "For Here Or to Go", Plankton enters a contest at the Krusty Krab where the prize is a free Krabby Patty (and he brings in a contest official that makes Mr. Krabs allow Plankton to enter). Plankton manages to win and despite Krabs's attempts to prevent the patty from being made, Plankton gets his patty, but has to eat it on the premises. However, Plankton makes it back to the Chum Bucket and has the patty analyzed before it's digested, with him selling Krabby Patties the next day. [[spoiler:However, they taste awful, due to Karen having analyzed all the contents of Plankton's stomach, which in addition to the Krabby Patty also included things such as stomach acid and pills]]. |
| 536 | * MysteriousMiddleInitial: Averted- the J stands for “James”. |
| 537 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: It is occasionally brought up that he doesn't wear clothes, like when he switches lives with Mr. Krabs in "The Algae's Always Greener" and is horrified to see that Krabs is naked since now he's the rival trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula from him. Plankton eventually explains in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' that he goes naked because they don't make clothes his size. |
| 538 | * TheNapoleon: Being constantly stepped on and flung around like a piece of trash will mess with a plankton's mind, man. |
| 539 | * ANaziByAnyOtherName: In [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarepantsMovie the first movie]], when he enslaves all the citizens of Bikini Bottom, he turns Bikini Bottom into a totalitarian dystopia that appears to be eerily reminiscent of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. |
| 540 | * NearVillainVictory: |
| 541 | ** "[=SpongeBob=]'s Last Stand" is the closest Plankton has ever gotten in the cartoon series, with Mr. Krabs completely willing to hand over the secret formula. In one episode, he already figured out every ingredient in a Krabby, save for one, which was the {{Macguffin}} of that episode. This also goes for any scheme that DOESN'T involve stealing the secret formula. |
| 542 | ** The first movie also has him succeeding in having nearly all of Bikini Bottom brainwashed under his control, and is ready to have Mr. Krabs executed by King Neptune in the final act. He would have succeeded if [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, after being revived by their SwissArmyTears, hadn't been sent back down to the sea by Creator/DavidHasselhoff. |
| 543 | * NiceGuysFinishLast: Says this word-for-word in "Walking Small" when he tells [[AllLovingHero [=SpongeBob=]]] that he's letting his niceness allow people to push him around. He gets around it by asking if it works for "aggressively nice" people. |
| 544 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Voice actor Doug Lawrence modeled his voice off of Creator/GregoryPeck and Creator/ThurlRavenscroft. |
| 545 | * NoIndoorVoice: Prone to speaking at the top of his lungs. |
| 546 | * NotMeThisTime: In "Patty Caper", he's naturally the first suspect when [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick try to find out who stole the key ingredient to the Krabby Patty formula. However, for once, it ''wasn't'' him. |
| 547 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: Played with in that his only interest is stealing Krabs' secret formula. However, depending on his overzeal, he is willing to brainwash, potentially murder and generally cause a lot of collateral damage in his attempts to do so. In other episodes that aired after the movie, he even settles for just [[VillainyFreeVillain competing with Krabs legitimately]]. When he falls into his Analyzer in his [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E3JellyfishingPlankton debut episode]], it describes him as being made of "1% evil, 99% hot gas." |
| 548 | * TheNoseless: {{Justified|Trope}}, planktonic organisms do not have noses. |
| 549 | * OmnicidalManiac: He vows to be one in the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie''. |
| 550 | -->'''Plankton:''' I will destroy all of you! |
| 551 | * OnlySaneMan: He's known to play this role whenever paired with [=SpongeBob=] and/or Patrick, as he has zero tolerance for their idiocy. |
| 552 | * PaperThinDisguise: He has so many of these, and only [[IdiotHero [=SpongeBob=]]] is fooled by them. |
| 553 | * PetTheDog: |
| 554 | ** The episode "Plankton's Pet". He's genuinely nice to his pet amoeba Spot, feels guilty about having to punish him, and willingly works with [=SpongeBob=] to find him. |
| 555 | ** When [=SpongeBob=] gets infected with mocking mimicry madness in "Mimic Madness", Plankton is actually willing to work with Sandy, Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs to cure him, to the point of (reluctantly) getting himself painted yellow to imitate the sponge. |
| 556 | ** Even after his scheme to steal the formula is thwarted, Plankton still helps [=SpongeBob=]'s friends set up a birthday party for [=SpongeBob=] in "[=SpongeBob=]'s Big Birthday Blowout". |
| 557 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: He's ostensibly a chef/restauranteur, but it's easy to forget this when his status as a CardCarryingVillain dominates his characterization, and when the Chum Bucket resembles a SupervillainLair more than it resembles an actual eatery. He seems to spend more time plotting Mr. Krabs' downfall (and occasionally trying to TakeOverTheWorld) than, y'know... cooking food and trying to attract customers. |
| 558 | * PsychopathicManchild: He's a diabolical, immoral, homicidal, ([[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]]) wants to TakeOverTheWorld, and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates and deceives [=SpongeBob=] regularly]]. Despite this, he has a slight touch of innocence that makes him charming, as he's shown to enjoy [=SpongeBob=]'s childish activities in "F.U.N.", owns a cute pet amoeba which he wholeheartedly cares for, occasionally responds with childish insults, and is shown watching hamster videos in some episodes. |
| 559 | %%* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Krabs' red. |
| 560 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: A [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] yet [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] example; he has a red eye, but he's usually pretty harmless despite being the BigBad. [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie Usually]]. |
| 561 | * TheRival: He is rivals with Mr. Krabs. |
| 562 | * RunningGag: Him failing to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. It's also common for Plankton to be thrown out of the Krusty Krab to the Chum Bucket by Mr. Krabs. |
| 563 | * {{Sadist}}: He frequently enjoys others' suffering. Even in one episode where he is seen in a dream, he is destroying Bikini Bottom, even trying to crush Gary with sadistic glee. And this is especially evident in the first [[TheMovie movie]], where he expresses great excitement and joy when [[spoiler:Mr. Krabs will be executed]]. |
| 564 | * SecondaryColorNemesis: A green copepod with a yellow eye who happens to be Mr. Krabs' ArchEnemy and the BigBad of the series. |
| 565 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Often uses strong vocabulary. |
| 566 | * SevenDeadlySins: As the series’ most iconic villain, it’s only right that Plankton exemplifies all seven of them. |
| 567 | ** Pride: Plankton is arrogant, egotistical and condescending, loving to boast about his superiority to others. Because of his pride in himself, Plankton never learns from his mistakes, hence why he almost always fails to get the Krabby Patty formula. This also extends to why his restaurant, the Chum Bucket, is disdained and reviled: the food is disgusting and inedible, yet Plankton’s too blinded by his ego to see that and instead believes that his customers simply cannot appreciate his work. |
| 568 | ** Envy: The most prominent for Plankton is his [[GreenEyedMonster envy]]. He is jealous of Mr. Krabs for being far more successful than him in the restaurant business, fueling his obsessive desire to obtain the Krabby Patty formula. |
| 569 | ** Sloth: Plankton is a genius and has created several impressive inventions that could improve his life as well as the Chum Bucket. However, instead of coming up with his own recipe (one better than chum) or using his machines to improve his business, he instead obsessively desires to take the Krabby Patty formula. He'd rather steal someone else's successful work than put in the effort to create his own. |
| 570 | ** Wrath: Plankton has a very short fuse and is always a step away from getting angry. |
| 571 | ** Gluttony: Plankton has an overly greedy desire for Krabby Patties, both for himself and to use for his own business. |
| 572 | ** Lust: Plankton’s overwhelming desire for the Krabby Patty formula drives his villainous actions. He obsessively craves it for himself so he can beat Mr. Krabs at the restaurant business and take over the world, showing that he craves power just as much as he does the formula. |
| 573 | ** Greed: Plankton's villainous goals ultimately sum to him wanting the Chum Bucket to be the best eatery in Bikini Bottom, hence why he obsessively pursues the Krabby Patty formula as he believes it'll make his restaurant better than the Krusty Krab. Even when he does gain a successful business in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'' after stealing the formula, he also turns Bikini Bottom's citizens into mind-controlled slaves and recreates the town in his own image. No matter what he gets his hands on, he's simply not satisfied what he has and craves more and more. |
| 574 | * SitcomArchnemesis: When he's not written as a terrifyingly fiendish megalomaniac striving for world domination, he's depicted as an ordinary struggling businessman who engages in petty feuds with Mr. Krabs, but otherwise runs the gamut from HarmlessVillain at worst to JerkWithAHeartOfGold at best. |
| 575 | * SlasherSmile: He's particularly fond of these when one of his [[EvilPlan plans]] is actually working. [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/c/c7/Creep.jpg He lets off an especially terrifying one with fangs]] near the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'' [[spoiler:when Neptune is about to kill Mr. Krabs]]. |
| 576 | * SlidingScaleOfVillainEffectiveness: DependingOnTheWriter, he could be anywhere between an IneffectualSympatheticVillain ("Low") to the greatest threat [=SpongeBob=] and friends ever have to deal with ("High"). |
| 577 | * SmugSnake: He's sometimes shown to be egotistical and arrogant towards others. |
| 578 | * TheSociopath: Despite the fact that the series is, in effect, a kids' show, Plankton displays the typical traits of your average sociopath/psychopath: he has shown to have [[FauxAffablyEvil enough superficial charm]] to influence others to achieve his goals (such as [=SpongeBob=] himself and his own family in "Plankton's Army"), is megalomaniac, self-centered, possesses an attitude of superiority and grandiosity, constantly lies and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] to achieve his goals, lacks remorse or guilt, tends to victimize himself or [[BitchInSheepsClothing show false emotions]] to get away with it, [[VillainousBreakdown is prone to violence when he loses his temper]], has unpremeditated, thoughtless behavior; he never learns from his mistakes, and he has a large criminal record: conspiracy, theft, sabotage, identity theft, fraud, espionage, embezzlement, bribery and even attempted murder. His sociopathic traits are even more enhanced in [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarepantsMovie the first film]], where he carries out an elaborate scheme to steal the Krabby Patty formula, turns Bikini Bottom into a fascist dystopia, and even attempts to murder Mr. Krabs, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. In the show; however, Plankton is a highly functional example, as there have been instances where he has been pragmatic. He's also one of the few sympathetic examples [[invoked]] [[JerkassWoobie where you would probably feel sorry for him]]. |
| 579 | * SpeciesSurname: His full name is Sheldon J. Plankton, and he's a planktonic copepod. |
| 580 | * SuperStrength: Shown in "Bucket Sweet Bucket", [[spoiler:where he crushes a nut with his teeth & punches the door off of a safe... from the inside]], but normally subverted. |
| 581 | * SwappedRoles: In "The Algae's Always Greener", Plankton creates a device that allows him to go into an AlternateTimeline where he is the owner of the Krusty Krab. He decides to go back to his own timeline after he experiences firsthand the nonsense that Krabs has to go through everyday in order to keep the restaurant in business. |
| 582 | * TakeOverTheWorld: His secondary goal, DependingOnTheWriter, is to take over the world. |
| 583 | * TeamRocketWins: While he does get thwarted for enslaving the Bikini Bottoms at the end of the first movie, Plankton ultimately manages to accomplish his long term quest to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula beforehand. |
| 584 | * ThrowTheDogABone: |
| 585 | ** Gets a legitimately happy ending in "Wishing You Well" when his wish to be taller coming true. |
| 586 | ** May have finally gotten the formula according to the AmbiguousEnding in "Buried in Time." Specifically, after Plankton breaks into the time capsule to steal the Krabby Patty recipe, he accidentally swallows the bottle containing the scrap of paper. When we last see him, [[ToiletHumour he's sitting on the toilet, demanding Karen to tone down the sarcasm and give him some more prunes]]. |
| 587 | ** [[AlliterativeTitle "Plankton's Pet"]] ends with him getting a pet amoeba that [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he loves dearly]]. |
| 588 | ** He manages to get even with [[ArchEnemy Krabs]] in "The Krusty Slammer." |
| 589 | ** For the first time, he [[TeamRocketWins scores a victory against Mr. Krabs]] in "You're Going to Pay...Phone", to the extent of owning the Krusty Krab. |
| 590 | * TinyGuyHugeGirl: The tiny guy to Karen's huge girl, as he's obviously shorter than her. |
| 591 | * TinyHeadedBehemoth: As Plank-Ton in ''Sponge Out of Water'' - Plankton grows a giant, muscular body, but his head remains tiny. |
| 592 | * TokenEvilTeammate: On the rare occasion that [[EnemyMine he does team up with SpongeBob]], he's still noticeably [[SmugSnake smug]], [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] and even [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]]. This is best seen in his fight against [=BurgerBeard=] where, despite being able to end it quickly thanks to his newly acquired SuperStrength, decides to toy with him before forcing him to hand over the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. |
| 593 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 594 | ** Plankton goes from an IneffectualSympatheticVillain with no real goals besides stealing the formula in the series to enslaving all of Bikini Bottom (including ''[[PhysicalGod King Neptune]] himself'') and [[spoiler:[[NearVillainVictory almost killing Mr. Krabs]]]] in the first [[TheMovie movie]]. |
| 595 | ** After a stint of VillainDecay, Plankton returned to his threatening and menacing self by Season 7 and became a much more competent villain. Particularly in the episodes "Frozen Face-Off", "[=SpongeBob=]'s Last Stand", and "One Coarse Meal". |
| 596 | *** In "Frozen Face-Off", he [[spoiler:[[KansasCityShuffle organized a race as a distraction just so he could steal the Krabby Patty formula without trouble]] and to throw off the suspicion he placed his [[ActuallyADoombot robot doppelgänger to participate in the race]] and it took the entire Krusty Krew plus Sandy and Karen to stop his EvilPlan]]. |
| 597 | *** In "[=SpongeBob=]'s Last Stand", he took over the town when he built a superhighway over the Krusty Krab that directly led to the Chum Bucket and drove away all the jellyfish from their fields. Almost all of Bikini Bottom's population supported him until the jellyfish attacked them in revenge for their home's destruction. It was so bad that Mr. Krabs was going to give him the secret formula ''willingly''. This and "Frozen Face-Off" are more dramatic and action-packed episodes of the series. |
| 598 | *** Even in "One Coarse Meal", where he was DrivenToSuicide due to Krabs masquerading as Pearl and scaring him, Plankton was a very effective villain. He drops a powerful explosive the size of a TV remote on the Krusty Krab's roof; he is said to build a transmutator (a machine with the power to make an element in nature into another element, like iron into gold, fire into air, etc.); and a robotic bomb-shaped object that is actually a disguised, robotic, telescopic claw that can crush a sea creature. And at the end of the episode, Plankton uses [[spoiler:mimes to scare Mr. Krabs, who is very afraid of mimes, as the revenge for Mr. Krabs scaring him and driving him to suicide and from looks of it, Mr. Krabs' fear of mimes is bigger than Plankton's fear of whales, since Plankton managed to remain rational while being scared by whales, while Mr. Krabs was completely irrational]]. |
| 599 | * TookALevelInJerkass: While Plankton was already something of a ManipulativeBastard and {{Sadist}} in the show's beginning, he became far more prone to committing crimes and attempting murder from the first movie onwards. |
| 600 | * TookALevelInKindness: Though he never loses his drive to steal the formula and still has [[KickTheDog moments of cruelty]], Plankton became more prone to doing [[PetTheDog nice things for the sake of it]] that he never would have done previously, from the second movie onwards. Notable examples include helping [=SpongeBob=] regain his memory in "Mimic Madness", setting up a birthday party for [=SpongeBob=] and joining the birthday song at the end of "[=SpongeBob=]'s Big Birthday Blowout" and growing to genuinely love his son Chip in "Karen's Baby". |
| 601 | * TragicVillain: For some, he could be seen as a villain who deserves sympathy for the mishaps he went through that led to his path. It is known that as a child, he was bullied and his only friend was Mr. Krabs. Now he is evil and despises society, not only because of this, also for a dispute with Mr. Krabs for poisoning Old Man Jenkins. |
| 602 | * TrashOfTheTitans: The Chum Bucket, his restaurant, is often incredibly filthy to the point of crawling with cobwebs. Krabs [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it: |
| 603 | -->'''Mr. Krabs:''' Criminy, Plankton! You ever hear of spring cleaning? |
| 604 | * TheUnfettered: DependingOnTheWriter, he's willing to stoop to many lows and multiple heinous acts to get the Krabby Patty formula. |
| 605 | * UnknownRival: Sometimes, [[NiceGuy SpongeBob]] fails to acknowledge him as an enemy. |
| 606 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: In addition to [[EvilFormerFriend having formerly been friends with Mr. Krabs]] back then, Plankton used to be an innocent little boy devoid of malice. |
| 607 | * VagueAge: In "Friend or Foe", he's said to be born on the same day as Mr. Krabs, thus being the same age as him. Despite this, in "Kamp Koral", he is saving money for college, which means he must've been a young adult (thus younger than Krabs) by the time [=SpongeBob=] was 10 unless he went to college much later than average. |
| 608 | * VillainHasAPoint: In "Walking Small". True, he may have been using [=SpongeBob=] as an UnwittingPawn at the time, but he nonetheless makes a valid point when he calls him out on being an ExtremeDoormat. |
| 609 | * VillainousBreakdown: For instance, he has one in [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. After his helmets have been proven to be defeated by the ThePowerOfRock, he resorts to desperately begging Karen to do something about [=SpongeBob=]. However, she was being carried off by the crowd and was too far away to hear her husband. As one final act of desperation to keep his control over the townspeople, he tried to command the brainwashed King Neptune to kill [=SpongeBob=]. Unfortunately for him, the helmet on Neptune's head was also destroyed, and he was freed from his mind control. Plankton then tried to escape through the front doors, only to be paved down by the freed Bikini Bottomites. He's later arrested, and he threatens to murder everyone once he gets out of prison]]. |
| 610 | * VillainCred: The episode "Jailbreak!" reveals that every other criminal in Bikini Bottom looks up to him; they outright describe him as "criminal royalty." |
| 611 | * VillainProtagonist: A [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzagged]] example. He's evil, but he's only the main character in '''some''' episodes, showing his attempts to steal the Krabby Patty formula. "The Algae's Always Greener" (where he uses an invention to switch lives with Mr. Krabs just to see what his rival's life is like) and "Plankton's Army" (where he recruits his relatives to steal the secret formula) are a couple of good examples of episodes where he's the protagonist. |
| 612 | * VillainSong: "♪F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for uranium... bombs! N is for no survivors, when you-♪" |
| 613 | * VillainsOutShopping: In different episodes, he's shown doing such activities as watching TV ("The Inside Job") and [[SmartPeoplePlayChess playing chess with Sandy]] ("Mimic Madness") when not plotting to steal the Krabby Patty formula. |
| 614 | * VocalDissonance: He has quite a [[EvilSoundsDeep deep]], booming voice, in contrast to his minuscule size. [[VoicedDifferentlyInTheDub Except in the Japanese dub]], where he has a cutesy, high-pitched voice. In some episodes, he's shown to be ''so'' small that his voice sounds like a sped-up recording when he's not in a close-up shot. |
| 615 | * VocalEvolution: Starting in the first [[TheMovie movie]], he'd develop a [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl high-pitched scream]] despite still having the [[Creator/MrLawrence same voice actor]]. |
| 616 | * WhiteCollarCrime: Like his ArchEnemy, Plankton is not above of cheating, fraud, or sabotage to defeat his rival. |
| 617 | * WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He has an absolute fear of whales as shown in "One Coarse Meal", to the point that [[FlawExploitation Mr. Krabs routinely torturing him with it]] drives him into a [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal state]]. [[SeriesContinuityError He doesn't seem to mind them in other episodes]] (e.g. "Jailbreak!" and "Married to Money"), however. |
| 618 | * WoundedGazelleGambit: Fakes an injury to get the Krabby Patty Formula in "Krabs vs. Plankton". |
| 619 | * XanatosSpeedChess: He's been shown to be quite adept at this in TheMovie, where he quickly comes up with a last ditch scheme to put a mind-control bucket on [[PhysicalGod King Neptune's]] head to kill [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick after they retrieve Neptune's crown. |
| 620 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Sorry to rain on your parade, Plankton.\ |
| 621 | '''Plankton:''' Oh, don't worry about me. My parade shall be quite dry under my '''''UMBRELLA!''''' |
| 622 | * YankTheDogsChain: Happens to [[CosmicPlaything him]] abundantly, as anytime he gets his hands on the Krabby Patty formula, he'll eventually have it taken away from him in one way or another or realize how fatal it was. The most prominent example yet occurs in the first [[TheMovie movie]], in which [[spoiler:Plankton finally obtains the formula, attracts business, and takes over Bikini Bottom to drive it home... until [=SpongeBob=] frees all the citizens from his mind-control helmets and Plankton is sent to prison for his crimes]]. |
| 623 | * YellowEyesOfSneakiness: A downplayed case. Plankton has one eye with yellow sclera, befitting of his deviousness. |
| 624 | * YourSizeMayVary: We all know that Plankton is small, but ''how'' small he is has a tendency to vary, ranging anywhere from a few inches tall to borderline microscopic. This is especially the case in his [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E3JellyfishingPlankton debut episode]]. |
| 625 | [[/folder]] |
| 626 | |
| 627 | [[folder:Karen]] |
| 628 | !!Karen Plankton |
| 629 | !!!'''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]] |
| 630 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Plankton!" |
| 631 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_karen.jpg]] |
| 632 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"Don't get so worked up again, Plankton. I just mopped the floors."'']] |
| 633 | |
| 634 | ->''"So, typical day of failure, I see, huh, darling?"'' |
| 635 | |
| 636 | 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. |
| 637 | ---- |
| 638 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: Sometimes laughs with the good guys against Plankton. |
| 639 | * AllThereInTheScript: Her name wasn't mentioned at all in the "Plankton!" episode, but it was listed in the credits. |
| 640 | * 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. |
| 641 | * 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. |
| 642 | * 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. |
| 643 | * BeleagueredAssistant: She mostly averts this as she is generally the dominant one in the relationship. |
| 644 | * 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. |
| 645 | * BreakoutVillain: As mentioned above, Doug Lawrence was responsible for turning Plankton and Karen from one-off characters into the main villains. |
| 646 | * 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. |
| 647 | * 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. |
| 648 | * 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. |
| 649 | * DeadpanSnarker: In the post-movie episodes, she snarks at Plankton all the time. |
| 650 | * TheDragon: She's Plankton's main support in his villainous efforts, as well as his only underling who actually sticks around. |
| 651 | * 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. |
| 652 | * DragonInChief: She’s always the one to come up with an EvilPlan to help Plankton in his scheme to steal the secret formula. |
| 653 | * EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: |
| 654 | ** She was only seen in wall form until the first movie and season 4, which gave her a mobile body. |
| 655 | ** 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. |
| 656 | * 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. |
| 657 | * EquippableAlly: She is equippable with lasers, screensavers, and various software. |
| 658 | * {{Flanderization}}: |
| 659 | ** 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. |
| 660 | ** 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. |
| 661 | ** 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." |
| 662 | * HyperCompetentSidekick: She successfully stole a Krabby Patty the first time she tried alone, with near zero effort (then again, it was against Squidward). |
| 663 | * InformedAttractiveness: Despite being literally a sentient computer, both Sandy and several of Plankton's relatives have commented that Karen is "beautiful". |
| 664 | * InterspeciesRomance: If a computer counts as a species, her and Plankton counts as a relationship between people of different species. |
| 665 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As snarky (and sometimes argumentative and insensitive) as Karen is, specifically towards Plankton, she still loves him nonetheless. But, then again, she doesn't physically have a heart since she's a computer. |
| 666 | * JustAStupidAccent: Had a very obvious Chicago accent even [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before she had a personality]]. |
| 667 | * 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=] in another episode that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart. |
| 668 | * 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. |
| 669 | * 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. |
| 670 | * NoNameGiven: In the first two seasons, because she's treated as Plankton's supercomputer, she wasn't given a name. It wouldn't be until the Season 3 premiere, "The Algae's Always Greener", that she would be established as Plankton's computer wife and be given the name Karen. |
| 671 | * NonIndicativeName: Her full name is Karen Plankton, but she's a computer, not a plankton. |
| 672 | * 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. |
| 673 | * OnlySaneWoman: Typically one to call Plankton out on his obsessive schemes, more so currently. |
| 674 | * PetTheDog: She is a computer but nevertheless has a very strong love for Plankton deep down. |
| 675 | * 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). |
| 676 | * 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. |
| 677 | * 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. |
| 678 | * 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. |
| 679 | * 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. |
| 680 | * SnarkyInanimateObject: She's a robot and is pretty snarky in the later episodes. |
| 681 | * SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: She's a robot who aids Plankton in his plans and is prone to making snide remarks towards him. |
| 682 | * TalkingWeapon: She has robotic abilities like lasers and death rays that make her a talking, walking weapon sometimes. |
| 683 | * TinyGuyHugeGirl: The huge girl to Plankton's tiny guy, since she's a large computer and he's a tiny crustacean. |
| 684 | * TookALevelInCynic: She inexplicably becomes far more cold-hearted than usual in the first movie. |
| 685 | * {{Tuckerization}}: Named after Stephen Hillenburg's wife. |
| 686 | * 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. |
| 687 | * VirtualSidekick: She fills a sidekick role to her husband. |
| 688 | * WomenAreWiser: She is much more clever and competent than her husband Plankton. |
| 689 | [[/folder]] |
| 690 | |
| 691 | [[folder:Mrs. Puff]] |
| 692 | !!Penelope Puff |
| 693 | !!!'''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]] |
| 694 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Boating School" |
| 695 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_mrspuff.jpg]] |
| 696 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"In all my years of teaching, only one student has ever failed my class."'']] |
| 697 | |
| 698 | ->''"With the opening of my new Boating School, I pledge that as long as a student is willing to learn, I shall never give up!"'' |
| 699 | |
| 700 | [=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. |
| 701 | ---- |
| 702 | * AlliterativeName: '''P'''enelope '''P'''uff. |
| 703 | * 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. |
| 704 | * 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. |
| 705 | * BigBeautifulWoman: Her size comes with a noted appetite for pasta and cake, but she handily attracts Mr. Krabs, and [=SpongeBob=]'s ''mother'' has to talk loudly to pull her husband's attention off of her. |
| 706 | * BigEater: She's shown to have a big appetite. See ObsessedWithFood below. |
| 707 | * ButtMonkey: As a result of [=SpongeBob=]'s antics, she's frequently injured or sent to jail. |
| 708 | * CommonalityConnection: When Squidward has to attend her classes, they bond over the fact that [=SpongeBob=] is the bane of both their existences. |
| 709 | * CoolOldLady: She is surprisingly active for an elderly teacher and even has an expansive criminal record. |
| 710 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: |
| 711 | ** According to at least one [[TalkingToThemself monologue]], she has previously skipped town under a different name. |
| 712 | ** Her husband was apparently [[spoiler:fished up out of the sea and made into a lamp.]] |
| 713 | * DeadpanSnarker: [=SpongeBob=]'s annoyance and idiocy often causes Mrs. Puff to make snide remarks. |
| 714 | * 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''). |
| 715 | * 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. |
| 716 | * {{Determinator}}: Amazingly, she has made it her goal never to give up on [=SpongeBob=], no matter how many times he fails. |
| 717 | * 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. |
| 718 | * EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: |
| 719 | ** She had many more wrinkles in her first appearance. |
| 720 | ** "Boating School" had her puff up a little whenever she inhaled. Now, she only puffs when she is surprised or injured. |
| 721 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first time we see her, she is at her school watching [=SpongeBob=] dance around and says "I'm not ready..." |
| 722 | * EvilCripple: In "Demolition Doofus", Mrs. Puff loses her ability to puff and develops the desire to kill [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 723 | * FailureIsTheOnlyOption: No matter how many times she tries to get rid of [=SpongeBob=] (or get him in trouble legally), [=SpongeBob=] will always come out on top, leaving her stuck with him, or at worst, end up in jail. |
| 724 | * FatAndProud: Her size is a trait of her species, so she's not insecure about it. |
| 725 | * HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Mrs. Puff has blonde hair and is rather kind-hearted, [[JerkassToOne so long as your name isn't SpongeBob]]. |
| 726 | * FreudianExcuse: Her husband was captured by fishermen and made into a lamp, she was forced to legally change her name, and on top of all of that, has to teach [=SpongeBob=] how to drive, which, at least by what is shown so far, is virtually impossible. She's had to deal with the maverick's hasty driving skills ''1,258,058'' times, so it's understandable why she frequently loses her patience with [=SpongeBob=], sometimes to the point of threatening or wishing death upon him. |
| 727 | * 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. |
| 728 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Compared to the already hostile and mean-tempered Squidward, Mrs. Puff is a docile and well-meaning character whose nerves have slowly been worn at by [=SpongeBob=]'s behavior. Many episodes have shown her take increasingly desperate and sometimes unscrupulous measures just to finally get away from him. She's at her lowest point in "Demolition Doofus", where she's so furious at [=SpongeBob=] for accidentally puncturing her inflation sac that she outright tries to ''murder'' him. |
| 729 | * HeavyVoice: In her earliest appearances, she gets a deeper voice whenever she puffs up. |
| 730 | * IdiotBall: Despite being one of the few characters on the show with any common sense (aside from Squidward and Sandy), she holds this in "The Bully" when she fails to take action against an obvious bully who has joined her class and plans to harm one of her students, instead viewing him as a {{nice guy}}. |
| 731 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With Sandy and Pearl in a few episodes, and also with [=SpongeBob=] in very early episodes, since she's considerably older than them. |
| 732 | * InterspeciesRomance: Her relationship with Mr. Krabs qualifies, since she's a blowfish and he's a crab. |
| 733 | * ItsAllMyFault: In early episodes, she thinks [=SpongeBob=]'s inability to drive is at least partially her fault. |
| 734 | * JerkassBall: She's usually always hostile towards [=SpongeBob=], but sometimes her grudge against him can go ''way'' too far, such as when she threatened to kick his butt at the end of "The Bully" [[MisplacedRetribution over something he didn't do]], and of course, [[AxCrazy going as far as trying to get him murdered]] in "Demolition Doofus". It's aggravated by the fact that she's supposed to be an authority figure. |
| 735 | * JerkassToOne: [=SpongeBob=] is typically the only person whom Mrs. Puff holds a grudge against. Aside from him, she's usually outgoing and friendly to everyone. Plus, it isn't hard to see why she's hostile towards him, considering the amount of times he has endangered her with his reckless driving and gotten her arrested. |
| 736 | * KnightOfCerebus: She briefly becomes one in the Season 8 episode "Demolition Doofus". She enters [=SpongeBob=] into a demolition derby and hopes that he dies (since his crazy driving previously caused her to puncture her inflation sac). She later tries to kill him herself by entering into the demolition derby using a massive monster truck. This episode is considered one of the darkest stories by many fans. |
| 737 | * {{Leitmotif}}: The production music [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=B-yAMfNT2mk Horlepiep]] is often associated with her, particularly when she is teaching her class. |
| 738 | * MadeOfIron: [=SpongeBob=] has caused this poor woman to get injured many times in fatal car crashes, but she seems to return to normal in a few episodes. It's only on "Demolition Doofus" that this trope was subverted with her losing her ability to puff and played straight at the end of the episode when she regains her ability to puff. |
| 739 | * MeaningfulName: Her name refers to both her species and her tendency to puff up like a ball. |
| 740 | * MisplacedRetribution: She is always blamed and put in jail for [=SpongeBob=]'s recklessness despite educating him right, [[KarmaHoudini with SpongeBob going completely scot-free every time]]. |
| 741 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: "Feral Friends" has her and Pearl become the first female characters shown naked on the show in the series' history. When she and Mr. Krabs return to normal two hours after being transformed into non-anthropomorphic sea life by Neptune's Moon, they bashfully giggle at seeing each other nude and promptly run off in embarrassment. |
| 742 | * NervousWreck: She's very neurotic, although it's usually justified. |
| 743 | * NeverBareheaded: Whenever she's not seen wearing her trademark sailor's cap, she usually wears hair curlers to bed. |
| 744 | * NeverMessWithGranny: She is around Mr. Krabs' age (early 70s) but has a dark side and commits many crimes. |
| 745 | * 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. Her claim that [=SpongeBob=] was the only student who has ever failed her boating school implies that she's only keeping him enrolled in the hopes that she eventually gets her record spotless again. |
| 746 | * NiceGirl: Mrs. Puff seems friendly to everybody. It's only [=SpongeBob=] who she can't seem to stand. |
| 747 | * NoAccountingForTaste: Is in a committed 16-year relationship with Mr. Krabs. |
| 748 | * NonGivingUpSchoolGuy: She is relentlessly determined to continue teaching [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 749 | * NonMammalianHair: She's a fish who has short blonde hair. |
| 750 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: From Squidward. They both agree that [=SpongeBob=] is the bane of their existences. |
| 751 | * ObsessedWithFood: She loves pasta, chocolate cake, and Krabby Patties. Her love of food seemed to be a running gag in early episodes. |
| 752 | * OfficialCouple: With Mr. Krabs. As of "Whirly Brains", they have been dating for sixteen years in canon. However, this is shockingly debunked in prior episodes (e.g. "Growth Spout", "Summer Job"), where she doesn't even seen to ''recognize'' him. [[NegativeContinuity This being]] ''[=SpongeBob=]'', continuity errors are natural, and their relationship seems to be consistent from the former episode onwards, courtesy of the series becoming more continuity-driven. |
| 753 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Like Mr. Krabs, she looks a bit younger than her true age, although she ''does'' have wrinkles on her face in up-close shots. |
| 754 | * OutOfCharacterMoment: In the infamous "Demolition Doofus", she is driven insane after one of [=SpongeBob=]'s accidents causes her to deflate. She actually tries to get [=SpongeBob=] killed in a demolition derby. Thankfully, she was turned back to normal at the end. |
| 755 | * OnlyOneName: Until Season 13, she was only ever called "Mrs. Puff" in the series proper. Merchandise such as books and the video game ''Yellow Avenger'' stated that her first name is Poppy. Eventually, the Season 13 episode "Yellow Pavement" revealed that her first name is "Penelope". |
| 756 | * OnlySaneWoman: She often fills the role of being the only reasonable person when an episode only stars her and [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 757 | * ParentalSubstitute: She tries her best to be motherly with [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 758 | * PersonAsVerb: "Puff" has been used as an adjective by other characters when talking about her. It's not very clear whether or not it's referring to her name, the actual verb, or both. |
| 759 | * PrinciplesZealot: In "Doing Time," she has a flashback to the unfortunate day that she met [=SpongeBob=]. She's just opening her new boating school and gives her word that she will accept ANY student and never give up on them. Cue [=SpongeBob=]'s arrival. The entire plot of "Demolition Doofus" revolves around Mrs Puff's increasingly blatant desire and attempts to get [=SpongeBob=] ''killed'' in a destruction derby accident; she would sooner ''commit murder'' than go back on her word and just kick him out of the school. |
| 760 | * RageBreakingPoint: [=SpongeBob=] possibly deflating her permanently in ''Demolition Doofus'' seemed to be this, [[FridgeBrilliance with her somewhat calming down at the end]] when she was able to puff again. |
| 761 | * RiddleForTheAges: What, exactly, ''did'' she do that made her abandon her old life and assume the name Mrs. Puff? We'll never know. |
| 762 | -->'''Mrs. Puff''': I'll have to move to a new city! Start a new boating school, with a new name...no. ''Not again.'' |
| 763 | * RunningGag: Many episodes ended with her going to jail. |
| 764 | * SanitySlippage: She tends to go crazy from having to deal with [=SpongeBob=]'s antics. |
| 765 | * SignatureHeadgear: Almost always wears a blue sailor cap. |
| 766 | * {{Slapstick}}: She is always a victim of [=SpongeBob=]'s recklessness. |
| 767 | * SpeciesSurname: Her name is Mrs. Puff and she's a pufferfish. |
| 768 | * SpellMyNameWithAnS: She is often mistakenly called ''Ms.'' Puff by casual fans. |
| 769 | * StepfordSmiler: It is implied on several occasions that her cheerfulness is just a façade to mask the pain she feels over having to deal with [=SpongeBob=] all the time. |
| 770 | * TemporarilyAVillain: In "No Free Rides" and "Demolition Doofus", she acts as an antagonist towards [=SpongeBob=]. The former instance is due to her trying to undo her mistake of giving [=SpongeBob=], the show's poster boy for DrivesLikeCrazy, a driver's license just to get rid of him, while the latter is simply the result of her being sick of having to put up with him. |
| 771 | * TertiarySexualCharacteristics: She has visible eyelashes to certify her gender. |
| 772 | * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tomboy to Pearl's Girly Girl and Girly Girl to Sandy's Tomboy. |
| 773 | * ThrowingOffTheDisability: In "Demolition Doofus", she ruptures her inflation sac, with the doctor stating she'll never be able to puff again. Since StatusQuoIsGod, Mrs. Puff spontaneously regains her ability to puff at the end of the episode. |
| 774 | [[/folder]] |
| 775 | |
| 776 | [[folder:Pearl Krabs]] |
| 777 | !!Pearl Krabs |
| 778 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/LoriAlan (English)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Irina Índigo (LA Spanish), Creator/YensiRivero (LA Spanish), Sofía Narváez (LA Spanish), Eleonora Prado (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 1), Tânia Gaidarji (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 2 - Season 3), Creator/AngelicaSantos (Brazilian Portuguese, Season 4 - present), Sabine Winterfeldt (German), Christa Lips (Dutch), Pernilla Wahlgren (Season 1-middle of season 7), Annelie Bhagavan (Rest of season 7-present)[[/labelnote]] |
| 779 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Squeaky Boots" |
| 780 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_pearl.jpg]] |
| 781 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"As far as disasters go, that was really fun."'']] |
| 782 | |
| 783 | ->''"Don't forget my new Flipper Slippers, Daddy!"'' |
| 784 | |
| 785 | Mr. Krabs' beloved teenage daughter, who is a huge sperm whale. Her brain is the largest in Bikini Bottom and she is gifted in math, but she is still young and immature. Her father hopes to pass his restaurant on to her when she grows up. |
| 786 | ---- |
| 787 | * {{Acrofatic}}: Justified. She's a whale, so of course she'd be agile for her size. |
| 788 | * AllGirlsLikePonies: In "Whale of a Birthday", Pearl spots a mini seahorse at the mall and expresses immense affection towards it by sitting on it a bit too tightly, much to the seahorse's discomfort. |
| 789 | * AmbiguouslyRelated: Her biological relationship to Mr. Krabs isn't mentioned. It's unknown if she's adopted or whether she takes after her MissingMom. |
| 790 | * AndCallHimGeorge: Being a GenkiGirl, she has a lethally affectionate attitude. She hugs [=SpongeBob=] in "Bossy Boots" to a point where he asks her to stop squeezing him. |
| 791 | * AllOfTheOtherReindeer: DependingOnTheWriter, she tends to have a reputation among her peers as the social outcast. |
| 792 | * AnimalsNotToScale: She is a whale who's only twice the size of miniature creatures like starfish and crabs. Some international dubs justify this by claiming she is a ''baby'' whale, but she is 16 (mentally, at least). |
| 793 | * BigEater: In "Growth Spout" she went through a growth spurt and needed to eat tons of food. |
| 794 | * BrattyTeenageDaughter: On a frequent basis, she berates Mr. Krabs and whines whenever he doesn't let her have what she wants. |
| 795 | * BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: She normally wears a dress with a P on the front. |
| 796 | * ButtMonkey: She is often mistreated, neglected, and publicly embarrassed by her cheapskate asshole of a father, belittled and betrayed by her friends, and has suffered many breakups. On a side note, her height often makes her subject to klutziness. |
| 797 | * CantGetInTroubleForNuthin: In "Bossy Boots", she goes to work for the Krusty Krab during her summer vacation, and makes multiple changes to the restaurant that effectively ruin her father's business. As it turns out, all the changes she made were because she was deliberately ''trying'' to get fired, but Krabs simply didn't have the heart to fire his own daughter. So [=SpongeBob=], who was sent to fire her anyway, "pretends" to fire her so she could go and enjoy her summer vacation. |
| 798 | * CartoonWhale: A gray whale with a square head. Justified since the creators say she's a sperm whale. |
| 799 | * CoolBigSis: She's had more than a few mutually affectionate moments with [=SpongeBob=] and often plays the role as a sister figure to him, due to her being a typical teenage girl and him being a naïve and innocent {{manchild}}. |
| 800 | * CryingARiver: Pearl cries literal rivers on a regular basis. The Krabs house even has drain plugs on the floors to empty out her tears. |
| 801 | * CuteClumsyGirl: She's quite the GenkiGirl and qualifies as clumsy owing to her gigantic height. |
| 802 | * DaddysGirl: Her default status is Mr. Krabs' beloved teenage daughter whom he often babies in an attempt to discourage her conformity to [[TeensAreMonsters toxic stereotypes]]. She's becoming less true to this status as the series progresses, however, partly due to her father's overprotective and cheap nature. |
| 803 | * DamselInDistress: In "Dunces and Dragons", where Planktonamor kidnaps her and [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick have to rescue her. |
| 804 | * ADayInTheLimelight: |
| 805 | ** While all of the prominent characters have had times to shine every once in a while, "Mall Girl Pearl" exclusively focuses on Pearl as she tries to get a job at the mall. |
| 806 | ** "Whale Watching" centers on both Pearl and Squidward. On the night that Mr. Krabs likes to play poker, he hires Squidward, whom Krabs promised a [=SpongeBob=]-free shift, to look after Pearl, who was forbidden from going out that night to hang out with some kids, including a boy she had a crush on. Pearl manages to sneak out, and Squidward follows to where she beaches herself after she breached the surface. Seeing her in trouble, the other kids run away, leaving Squidward to rescue her. After they get home, [[ThrowTheDogABone they decide to have some fun]] [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave by siccing SpongeBob]] on [[LaserGuidedKarma the boy that left Pearl beached on the surface.]] |
| 807 | * DependingOnTheWriter: |
| 808 | ** In the first three seasons, she and [=SpongeBob=] have a very close bond, [[ImpliedLoveInterest almost resembling a romantic relationship]]. Some post-movie episodes disregard all of their previous interactions and don't portray Pearl as an ([[{{Tsundere}} admitted]]) friend to him. Of course, [=SpongeBob=] is always extremely nice to Pearl, regardless of the season. Despite his undying loyalty to Mr. Krabs, he is even friendlier to Pearl than he is to his boss. This is shown in episodes like "Whale of a Birthday" and "Barnacle Face", where [=SpongeBob=] takes Mr. Krabs' belongings to make Pearl happy. |
| 809 | ** Her reputation. She ranges from being an AlphaBitch in a GirlPosse to TheFriendNobodyLikes. Due to the lack of recurring characters and continuity in general, she's also depicted with different friends per appearance. |
| 810 | ** Her relationship with her father. She ranges from genuinely loving him and being on good terms, being displeased with him but still caring about him deep-down, or outright ''despising'' him and overpowering his authority. Since she's a stereotypical teenage girl, the variety isn't surprising. It also sort of depends on how her father is treating her. |
| 811 | * DramaQueen: Pearl cries over insignificant slights and is quite possibly the show's biggest drama magnet. Although, unlike [=SpongeBob=], who exhibits meltdowns over the most mundane of things like running out of ice, [[AgeAppropriateAngst Pearl's angsts are reasonable given her age]]. |
| 812 | * TheDreadedPretendTeaParty: When [=SpongeBob=] enters her dream in "Sleepy Time" and sees that she's having a fake tea party, he asks her how to get to Mr. Krabs' dream instead. |
| 813 | * {{Fangirl}}: She is a huge fan of "Mecha Baleen" and "The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy", according to the comic series and the ''[=SpongeBob=] Moves In!'' app respectively. She's also a huge fan of the boyband Boys Who Cry, whom she wanted so bad to perform at her 16th birthday party (they did). |
| 814 | * {{Flanderization}}: Her brattiness, bad luck, and disrespect for her father got worse by the post-movie seasons. |
| 815 | * ForcedDancePartner: In "Tango Tangle", [=SpongeBob=] is Pearl's dance partner. She's less than enthused about it, particularly because [=SpongeBob=] is only there because Mr. Krabs ordered him to be her tango partner. |
| 816 | * FreudianExcuse: With the way Mr. Krabs treats her, you can understand her attitude. |
| 817 | * GenderEqualsBreed: Her father is a crab and her mother was a whale (according to the [[AllThereInTheManual official trivia book]]). |
| 818 | * GenkiGirl: Pearl is quite cheerful. She constantly shouts and eagerly bounces up and down when informing Mr. Krabs about something she wants. The fact that she's a cheerleader tops it all off. |
| 819 | * GiantsDropletHumansShower: She's not a giant, but she's one of the tallest characters, being a while and can easily flood areas with her tears. |
| 820 | * GirlyGirl: She wears a [[PinkMeansFeminine pink dress]], is a huge fan of boy bands (especially Boys Who Cry), gossips a lot, likes hanging out at the mall with her girlfriends, and in general possesses a lot stereotypical ValleyGirl and PhoneaholicTeenager traits. {{Downplayed}} in that this is all just Pearl trying ''desperately'' to fit in with the social norm. |
| 821 | * GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: She's a fan of "Mecha Baleen" (the Bikini Bottom equivalent to ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}) and "The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" (though she obviously wouldn't want her friends to know that). |
| 822 | * GiveGeeksAChance: In "The Chaperone", her boyfriend was a nerdy little baitfish... although she [[InformedAttractiveness describes him as incredibly]] [[TallDarkAndHandsome "long, tan, and handsome"]]. |
| 823 | * GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: In "Sleepy Time", she dreams about a tea party with stuffed animals. |
| 824 | * GonkyFemme: She is a huge girl with inhuman strength and a tendency to cause everything to shake whenever she is crying, jumping or dancing. |
| 825 | * GossipyHens: She gossips quite a lot with her friends. |
| 826 | * HiddenDepths: Her [[https://web.archive.org/web/20040812015604/http://www.nicksplat.com/Tvshows/Characters/Nicktoons/Spongebob_squarepants/pearl.html original character bio]] reveals that she has the biggest brain in Bikini Bottom and loves math. |
| 827 | * HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Most of the neglect she receives from her cheapskate father is played for comedic effect, as Mr. Krabs' money obsession has been a PlayedForLaughs plot element since the show's beginning, meaning he doesn't outright ''hate'' his daughter, he just doesn't have the time or priorities to show his affection. |
| 828 | * HugeSchoolgirl: Considering she's a whale among little animals like fish and squirrels. |
| 829 | * IGotBigger: The entire plot of "Growth Spurt" revolves around Pearl undergoing a growth spurt that not only causes her to outgrow her bed, but also endlessly demand food to fulfill her metabolic hunger. She regresses to her regular size by the end after she eats a Krabby Patty. |
| 830 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: There's often the implication that Pearl only behaves like an average teenage girl in a desperate attempt to fit in with the crowd. |
| 831 | * ImpliedLoveInterest: Quite a few episodes frame Pearl as this for [=SpongeBob=], in ways that are sometimes more blatant than any Spandy moments. |
| 832 | ** "The Chaperone" is all about [=SpongeBob=] taking Pearl to the prom, and the ending shows that they were going to kiss had it not been for Mr. Krabs' interruption. |
| 833 | ** "Bossy Boots" is a major moment as well, since Pearl hugs [=SpongeBob=] so hard he has to ask her to stop and later pecks him on the forehead. |
| 834 | ** In the post-movie episode "Tunnel of Glove", the plot involves Pearl and [=SpongeBob=] going in a tunnel of love at Glove World, and it starts off with Pearl's fake friends calling [=SpongeBob=] her boyfriend. Even though this episode was made after the writers started disregarding Pearl and SB's friendship, the ending implies that Pearl ''does'' like [=SpongeBob=] but pretends not to when her friends are around. |
| 835 | ** The solution to Pearl's growth spurt in "Growth Spout" is [=SpongeBob=] making her a special Krabby Patty ''with love''. |
| 836 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Many episodes focusing on her reputation portray her as a talentless hack who behaves like a rebellious teenage girl in a desperate attempt to fit in. |
| 837 | * InformedAbility: According to her official character bio, she's the smartest citizen in Bikini Bottom, but there has never been an episode focusing on her intelligence. There ''have'', however, been episodes like "Mall Girl Pearl" that imply she only acts like a regular teenager to fit in. |
| 838 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With [=SpongeBob=], who's an independent adult. This trope is played with as [=SpongeBob=]'s childish behavior makes it look like ''Pearl'' has the power in the dynamic since she's more mature, but since [=SpongeBob=] is older than her, it's the other way around. |
| 839 | * IronicName: Pearls are known for being very small, but Pearl is huge. |
| 840 | * ItsAllAboutMe: Has this attitude in "Whale of a Birthday", even saying that everyone in the world has to pay attention to her on her birthday. |
| 841 | * JerkassBall: She holds this in episodes that showcase her as an AlphaBitch, specifically in the episode "The Slumber Party" when she and her friends make fun of a sponge girl who looks like [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 842 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While she tries her best to fit in with her bratty peers, Pearl's "hip, cool" persona is merely a ruse and she wants to be friends with [=SpongeBob=]. This is most obvious in the early episode "Bossy Boots", where she tearfully confides in [=SpongeBob=] that her new position is too stressful and that she only accepted it to make her father happy- and she thanks [=SpongeBob=] with a hug ''and'' a kiss when he helps her quit. |
| 843 | * LargeHam: She has an overdramatic voice, which isn't surprising given her height. |
| 844 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: She plays quite a sisterly role to [=SpongeBob=] whenever she's not outright hating him. |
| 845 | * LikesOlderMen: Like most girls her age, she fantasizes over men who are at least ten years her senior, if not in the same age range as her. |
| 846 | * LovableAlphaBitch: Some episodes depict her as joining the GirlPosse to fit in and acting rather condescending to the less fortunate. When taking into account the unreasonable amount of neglect she receives at the hands of Mr. Krabs, she still remains sympathetic in that the very hand that feeds and shelters her is too cheap to satisfy her demands despite being rich. |
| 847 | * MissingMom: Her mother has never been revealed in the show. The creators state that they're against revealing her identity and strive to keep it a secret throughout the show's run. |
| 848 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: "Feral Friends" has her and Mrs. Puff become the first female characters shown naked on the show in the series' history. After everyone returns to normal two hours after being turned into non-anthropomorphic sea creatures by Neptune's Moon, she is shocked to find herself naked in public and runs away in embarrassment while covering herself. |
| 849 | * NoIndoorVoice: All the time, but it's especially emphasized when Mr. Krabs riles her up. |
| 850 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: She's the only one with monocular vision: eyes on the sides of her head rather than in front. |
| 851 | * NotAllowedToGrowUp: She's been 16-years-old for decades. Funnily enough, episodes like "Goodbye, Krabby Patty?" and "Whirly Brains" make direct references to how many years have passed since the show started out. Pearl is the only character with a definite age, and it's stayed the same throughout all of these episodes, causing some continuity errors. |
| 852 | * OcularGushers: Due to her enormous height, she cries large puddles of tears, even flooding the Krusty Krab with them at one point. |
| 853 | * OddFriendship: In regards to [=SpongeBob=]. While their relationship makes sense given the latter is her father's employee, [=SpongeBob=] has been identified as an adult numerous times [[{{Manchild}} yet has the demeanor]] [[OlderThanTheyLook of a child]], while Pearl is a stereotypical teenage girl. |
| 854 | * OutOfFocus: |
| 855 | ** 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. |
| 856 | ** In [[https://archive.org/details/sponge-boy-colored-copy-bible/page/n13/mode/2up first pitch bible from 1996]], Pearl was the lead female character, not Sandy or Karen. In the show proper, she appears less than the other female characters. |
| 857 | * ParentalTitleCharacterization: She's an affectionate, but somewhat bratty, DaddysGirl of a teenager. As a result, she still calls her dad "Daddy". |
| 858 | * PhoneaholicTeenager: She is frequently seen talking on her cellphone. |
| 859 | * PinkMeansFeminine: Her standard outfit is a pink and purple dress. |
| 860 | * ProneToTears: She doesn't cry as often as Spongebob, but she does often bawl about things people her age go through due to being a drama queen. Sometimes she even floods the places she's in. |
| 861 | * RibcageStomach: On the occasions a character ends up inside her stomach, she always invariably has one of these, however large or small it needs to be for comedy. |
| 862 | * SmallParentHugeChild: Mr. Krabs's massive teenage whale daughter. It is unknown whether she is adopted or if she is the result of Krabs having an InterspeciesRomance with a whale. |
| 863 | * SpoiledSweet: She's got daddy wrapped around her little fin and is quite used to getting her way, but is almost always cheerful and good-natured. |
| 864 | * TeensLoveShopping: Pearl and her girlfriends like to shop at the mall. |
| 865 | * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The Girly BrattyTeenageDaughter to Sandy's karate chopping techno whiz Tomboy. |
| 866 | * TookALevelInJerkass: She becomes more spoiled and rude in later episodes. |
| 867 | * ValleyGirl: Borderline case of a girl who cares more about being stylish than anything else. |
| 868 | * VocalEvolution: In the first three seasons, Pearl’s voice sounded different than what it sounds like now. |
| 869 | * YourSizeMayVary: Typically only twice the size of the other characters, above water she can be as big as whales usually are (as shown in "Whale Watching"). |
| 870 | [[/folder]] |
| 871 | |
| 872 | [[folder:Gary the Snail]] |
| 873 | !!Garold Wilson Jr. |
| 874 | !!!'''English voice:''' Creator/TomKenny (English), Creator/DeeBradleyBaker (English, dream self voice in "Sleepy Time"), 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]] |
| 875 | !!!'''Debut:''' "Help Wanted" |
| 876 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob_gary.jpg]] |
| 877 | [[caption-width-right:255:''"Meow."'']] |
| 878 | |
| 879 | ->''"Did you think my shell was full of hot air?"'' |
| 880 | -->-- '''Dream!Gary''' |
| 881 | |
| 882 | [=SpongeBob=]'s pet snail, who meows like a cat. |
| 883 | ---- |
| 884 | * AdvertisedExtra: Despite his prominence in advertising, most of his appearances boil down to minor gags with actual Gary-centric episodes being [[OutOfFocus very rare]]. |
| 885 | * AffectionateNickname: He calls [=SpongeBob=] "[=PapaBob=]" in "Chatterbox Gary" when he gets a translator for his meows. [=SpongeBob=] also calls him "Gare Bear" quite often. |
| 886 | * 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. |
| 887 | * 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]]. |
| 888 | * {{Archnemesis}}: |
| 889 | ** Squidward is Gary's least favorite person in Bikini Bottom and feeling is mutual on the former's behalf. |
| 890 | ** 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.]] |
| 891 | * AscendedExtra: Gary wasn't officially part of the main cast until the show's second season. He was absent from the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/9/9a/Season_1_Complete_Model_Pack.png 1999 main cast sheet]] and was added to the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/3/3d/SpongeBob_season_2_main_characters_model_sheet.gif updated main cast sheet for season two, from 2000.]] |
| 892 | * BerserkButton: |
| 893 | ** 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. |
| 894 | ** Do NOT check his undercarriage. You'll be lucky if he just gives you a warning by hissing at you. |
| 895 | * 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?" |
| 896 | * BlueIsHeroic: He's a blue snail who serves as a loyal pet to his owner and their friends. |
| 897 | * 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". |
| 898 | * 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. |
| 899 | * CatsHateWater: Being the equivalent thereof, he's not a fan, even though [[WaterIsAir technically]] he ''lives'' underwater. |
| 900 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "Meow." |
| 901 | * CharacterDevelopment: |
| 902 | ** 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. |
| 903 | ** As seen in the [[https://archive.org/details/sponge-boy-colored-copy-bible/page/n13/mode/2up first pitch bible]], Gary wasn't even included in the character list, or on the drawing of the main cast together; he was only drawn as a small prop in [=SpongeBob's=] room. He has developed into a main character with a personality all his own. |
| 904 | * ConnectedAllAlong: "Rule of Dumb" reveals he and Patrick are ''first cousins''. |
| 905 | * 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. |
| 906 | * DoesNotLikeSpam: ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' reveals that he hates mayonnaise. |
| 907 | * 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=]. |
| 908 | * 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. |
| 909 | * FullNameUltimatum: If [=SpongeBob=] addresses him as "Gary the Snail" or "Gary Wilson Jr.", he means serious business. |
| 910 | * FurryConfusion: Although there are no anthropomorphic snails, some snails can ''talk'', although they remain unable to talk to anthropomorphic characters. |
| 911 | * 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]]... |
| 912 | * 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]]. |
| 913 | * HypercompetentSidekick: He often seems smarter than his owner. |
| 914 | * IntellectualAnimal: In the episode "Sleepy Time", he is revealed to be quite intelligent through his dream self. |
| 915 | * IntelligibleUnintelligible: [=SpongeBob=] and some of the other characters can understand Gary even though he only meows. |
| 916 | -->'''Mr. Krabs:''' [=SpongeBob=], what's wrong with you?\ |
| 917 | '''Gary:''' Meow!\ |
| 918 | '''Mr. Krabs:''' The Suds?! |
| 919 | * 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. |
| 920 | * 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. |
| 921 | * 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". |
| 922 | * 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. |
| 923 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:"Rule of Dumb" reveals him and Patrick to be cousins.]] |
| 924 | * 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. |
| 925 | * OddNameOut: His full name has nothing to do with his species, unlike most of the other characters. |
| 926 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: He's never called by his real name, "Garold". |
| 927 | * 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. |
| 928 | * 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. He usually makes a brief cameo or shows up in a small gag at most. |
| 929 | * RemovableShell: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzagged]]. Many episodes have Gary's shell come off as easily as a piece of clothing. Though a few others ("Gary Takes a Bath" and "Shellback Shenanigans") involve his shell getting cracked and such moments are appropriately treated as injuries. |
| 930 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: He's a cute little snail. |
| 931 | * 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." |
| 932 | * SevenDeadlySins: Embodies [[BigEater gluttony]]. Besides being a housepet who loves to eat more than anything, Gary is often seen partaking in several self-indulgent activities, such as watching TV or reading books, regardless of whenever there's something else more pertinent. |
| 933 | * SilentSnarker: Often non-verbally expresses his disdain for his owner's idiocy. |
| 934 | * 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. |
| 935 | * 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. |
| 936 | * TokenGoodTeammate: One of the few characters who is not a {{Jerkass}}, an antagonist, or a moron (although he can be fickle at times). |
| 937 | * UndyingLoyalty: |
| 938 | ** 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. |
| 939 | ** 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. |
| 940 | * 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]]. |
| 941 | [[/folder]] |
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