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SpongeBob SquarePants: Recurring Characters

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    General tropes 
Tropes held by the recurring cast in general.
  • Ascended Extra: Nickelodeon officially designates 14 characters as "The Supporting Cast". However, seasons 10-12 have given bigger roles to a surprising number of formerly-minor characters, both old and new, with their prominence rivaling that of the official supporting cast. Fred, Rube, Bubble Bass, and Old Man Jenkins are just a few of the recent breakout characters.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Bikini Bottomites have been dubbed "secondary characters" in universe on two occasions.
    • In the 2015 movie, a group of fish follows SpongeBob and friends to the surface… until one fish says "All secondary characters, come with me." sending the whole group away.
    • In Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, SpongeBob sees the Krusty Krab customers and says "Hi, secondary characters!"
  • Put on a Bus: Due to the show's long run, many recurring characters have sadly suffered this fate due to voice actors passing away or retiring. Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, and Grandma SquarePants have all been limited to cameos on pictures or minor mentions; the first two because of their actors' deaths, and the latter because of her actress's retirement. Word of God says that they have no intention of recasting said characters.
  • Torches and Pitchforks: It's incredibly common for the secondary characters to gang together as an angry mob, wielding torches and pitchforks that they just happened to have. In "Sing a Song of Patrick", the Bikini Bottomites went after SpongeBob and Patrick, and passed a torches stand (yes, they burn, and yes, they're still underwater), a pitchforks stand, and a… cotton candy stand. After all, as the man said, "You can't go riot without cotton candy!"

Supporting cast

    Patchy the Pirate 

Patchy the Pirate

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patchy.jpg
Played by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Christmas Who?"

The host of the series' special episodes. He is a live-action pirate portrayed by Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob. He is the president of the fictional SpongeBob fan club.


  • Alliterative Name: Patchy the Pirate.
  • Breakout Character: Following his debut in the Christmas show, Patchy became the host of several SpongeBob specials and marathons following his debut, as well as appearing on some Nickelodeon commercial segments. He even makes a guest appearance in Big Time Rush!
  • The Bus Came Back: He returns in "Feral Friends" after years of only appearing in commercials and in stop-motion form ("It's a SpongeBob Christmas!").
  • Butt-Monkey: The guy's a loser, according to the Narrator. His role in the specials is nothing but slapstick and being constantly thrown under the bus. He is also subjected to many cartoonish injuries in the segments featuring him, such as being exploded in "Party Pooper Pants" or attacked by a T. Rex in "Ugh".
  • Commuting on a Bus: During the specials made after "The Sponge Who Could Fly", Patchy would not have a subplot. Instead, he would simply herald the episode as "A SpongeBob SquarePants Special" via a prerecorded tag placed at the start. In fact, the only specials he had a role in during the post-movie era were "Friend Or Foe", "Atlantis Squarepantis", "Truth Or Square", and "SpongeBob’s Road to Christmas" (in which he appears as an animated character for the first time).
  • Dressed to Plunder: Wears the typical parts of a pirate costume, though he doesn't really do any actual plundering.
  • Excited Kids' Show Host: He's played by Tom Kenny, who acts as an enthusiastic cartoon character in his sketches before introducing SpongeBob's segments.
  • Fanboy: He's the president of the SpongeBob fan club.
  • Friendly Pirate: During his segments, he is seen as SpongeBob's number one fan, and although he can be depicted as a bit of a Jerkass, especially towards his pet parrot, he is mostly a wannabe pirate who doesn't do anything truly pirate-y.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: Patchy debuted in the season 2 episode "Christmas Who?" and has since starred in live-action segments at least Once a Season.
  • Iron Butt-Monkey: Has been blasted through multiple houses, eaten by a T. rex, mauled by a polar bear and has had his head removed from his body twice, and still shrugs them off as no big deal.
  • Losing Your Head:
    • In “Party Pooper Pants”, his body is destroyed by a stick of dynamite, rendering him just a head which is placed on a barrel.
    • In “SpongeBob’s Birthday Blowout”, he decapitates himself and puts his head in a present box to meet SpongeBob.
  • Manchild: He's a fully-grown man who's more obsessed with SpongeBob than most of the kids watching the show could ever be. For example, when he thinks SpongeBob betrayed the fans by starring in a mediocre sketch, he starts whining and decides to run away. He is even unaware of his idol's status as a fictional character and genuinely believes he is a real person (canonically speaking, he's not wrong).
  • Named After the Injury: Subverted. He wears an eyepatch, being a pirate and all, but one episode reveals that the covered eye still works.
  • Obsessive Spokesperson: He hosts several special episodes of SpongeBob, as well as SpongeBob promotional material. His house is filled with SpongeBob merchandise and he goes to extreme lengths to see new SpongeBob episodes, including a lost episode, and even tries to meet SpongeBob in person. Even his pirate getup seems to just be an extension of his SpongeBob obsession, since he lives in modern-day Encino, California.
  • A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: He’s a classic pirate, complete with an eyepatch and a hook hand, but he lives in modern-day Encino and watches recent cartoons.
  • Pirate Parrot: Has an obnoxious parrot on his shoulder named Potty.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being a pirate, we never see him doing any actual looting or plundering.
  • Speech Impediment: Patchy the Pirate has a slight lateral lisp.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Replaced by "Captain Bart" in the first theatrical movie; Word of God indicated the Paramount execs didn't understand the appeal of the character, as "intentionally low production values scare them".
  • Talk Like a Pirate: He speaks like a stereotypical cartoon pirate, heavily emphasizing the /r/ phoneme.
  • Tantrum Throwing: In the Lost Episode, he starts crying and throwing all his SpongeBob merchandise away when he thinks SpongeBob betrayed him.
  • This Loser Is You: He's an immature fanboy who has no life outside of SpongeBob. Nothing ever goes right for him, and Potty only seems to hang around him to make wisecracks at his expense. Even the narrator calls him a loser at the end of The Lost Episode and Friend or Foe.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: He finally gets to meet SpongeBob in person in "SpongeBob's Birthday Blowout".
  • Token Human: Notably the only recurring character who is a live-action person.

    Potty the Parrot 

Potty the Parrot

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/christmas_who_003.png
Voiced by: Stephen Hillenburg (2000-2004), Paul Tibbit (2007-2012), Mr. Lawrence (2017-present)
Debut: "Christmas Who?"

Patchy's obnoxious, wisecracking pet parrot who is depicted as a crudely-made marionette puppet with very obvious strings and googly eyes.


  • Alliterative Name: Potty the Parrot.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Potty lays an egg in two episodes, is directly referred to as her and she in the tie-in chapter books, and has a name that parodies Polly (a female name). However, Patchy says his when referring to Potty's voice in "Friend or Foe," and gender pronouns are never used for the character elsewhere. In 2017, showrunner Vincent Waller confirmed in in a tweet that "it is only a puppet, with no tell tale signs of gender".
  • Bratty Half-Pint: An obnoxious parrot that messes with Patchy's show.
  • Characterization Marches On: In his first appearance, Potty behaved more like a real parrot such as repeating minimal phrases and single words. In all his later appearances, Potty becomes more responsive and talks human-like. His first appearance shows him as either being less intelligent or Obfuscating Stupidity. He makes his annoyance at Patchy and higher intelligence obvious in later episodes.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Often snarks at Patchy's mishaps.
  • Egg-Laying Male: Despite being identified as a male parrot on one occasion, Potty has been shown pressing a button in a remote control by laying an egg on it.
  • The Ghost: Potty's puppeteer, who is ostensibly controlling Potty. The only time he's ever been seen was in "Christmas Who?", and even then than was only him falling from the ceiling after Patchy tugged on Potty's strings. (In reality, that was only a dummy falling from the ceiling.) Later episodes don't even seem to imply Potty has a puppeteer.
  • Green and Mean: A bird with predominantly green feathers who enjoys pestering his owner.
  • Hyper-Competent Sidekick: In "Friend or Foe", the duo is hired by a restaurant, with Potty quickly securing himself a promotion while Patchy earns his boss' scorn.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: Potty debuted in the season 2 episode "Christmas Who?" and, much like his owner Patchy, has starred in live-action segments at least Once a Season.
  • Karma Houdini: Frequently gets away with the abuse he inflicts on Patchy. He even apparently gets a pass from Santa's naughty list when he helps Patchy hijack a mail truck. Although after firing him out of a cannon in "Shangaied", he does get punished by blowing himself up with a dangerous stunt at the end of the episode.
  • Pirate Parrot: He's the parrot sidekick of Patchy the pirate.
  • Polly Wants a Microphone: Like most parrots in fiction, Potty is able to speak instead of just mimicking what other people say.
  • Sidekick Creature Nuisance: Potty constantly annoys Patchy and seems to enjoy it.
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Or, as Patchy puts it, "my less-than-amusing sidekick".
  • Stylistic Suck: Looks like a cheap puppet that's falling apart (marionette strings are always visible) and never changes facial expressions except for brief gags. He even retains this look when animated.
  • Temporary Bulk Change: In "Christmas Who?", he becomes fat from eating all of Patchy's unbaked cookie dough. He's so heavy he even causes the strings holding up his puppet body to snap and drop him.
  • Third-Person Person: Playing on the stereotypical "Polly want a cracker" behavior, Potty talks like this in his first appearance. He drops it in his second appearance.
    Chirstmas Who?: Potty want cookie dough.
    Shanghaied: Help! I'm being held here against my will!
  • With Friends Like These...: An annoying Deadpan Snarker who loves irritating Patchy... and yet seems to be Patchy's only friend.

    French Narrator / "Frenchy" 

The French Narrator

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/french_narrator.png
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Help Wanted"

A scuba diver with a camera who narrates episodes off-screen as if they were nature documentaries about the ocean. He is a Shout-Out to Jacques Cousteau, the famous oceanographer and filmmaker whose work was an influence on series creator Stephen Hillenburg. The episode Feral Friends marks the first time the French Narrator makes a major appearance.


  • A Day in the Limelight: He plays a major role in Feral Friends where he was called by Sandy to explain the weird phenomenon that has turned her friends into actual marine lifeforms.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He doesn't have a real name, and is solely known as the French Narrator.
  • Horror Host: The Tidal Zone, an event occurring between the main SpongeBob show and its two spinoffs Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show, was presented by him in a style similar to how Rod Serling hosted The Twilight Zone (1959).
  • Mock Cousteau: The French Narrator is intended as an homage to Jacques Cousteau, narrating the antics of the title character and those around him as if they were part of a marine biology documentary and with a marked French accent.
  • Verbal Tic: Tends to start his sentences with "Ah".
  • The Voice: He usually only exists as a disembodied voice, but he appears physically in "No Free Rides", "Feral Friends" and The Tidal Zone, where he is shown wearing a diving suit with a toque on the helmet.

    Mermaid Man 

Mermaid Man

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/merman_man_2809.jpg
"Eeeeevil!"

Click here to see his younger self.

English voice: Ernest Borgnine (1999-2012, SuperSponge, Truth or Square and Boating Bash), Joe Whyte (Employee of the Month and Battle for Bikini Bottom), Joe Alaskey (Lights, Camera, Pants! and Creature from the Krusty Krab), Dan Hagen (SpongeBob Moves In!), Adam West (young self in "Back to the Past"), Tom Kenny (young self in main series episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy", Kamp Koral, and The Patrick Star Show)
German Voice: Karl Schulz
Swedish Voice: Johan Hedenberg (Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy), Peter Sjöquist (Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV, V and VI), Mattias Knave (all other appearances)
Japanese Vocie: Keijin Okuda (Season 1-2, 9), Ikuko Tani (Season 3), Rokurō Naya (Season 4-8)

Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy"

SpongeBob and Patrick's favorite superhero, who is now elderly and lives in a retirement home. His real name is Ernie Huckler.


  • Acrofatic: Despite putting on more and more weight due to his retirement, and also being very old, he still has the same agility as he had when he and Barnacle Boy were active superheroes.
  • Alliterative Name: Mermaid Man.
  • Ambiguously Human: He certainly looks human—at least, about as much like a human as you can get in the show's standard artstyle—but nearly all other humans in the series are depicted via Medium Blending and are shown to be far larger than the main cast, neither of which is true for him and Barnacle Boy. He doesn't look like the Atlanteans we've seen in the series, either. The character he's inspired by is most often half-human, half-Atlantean, but Mermaid Man himself has no clear origin story, which makes his true nature rather uncertain. Eventually, the show clarifies that he and Barnacle Boy are human. In Mermaid Man's case, he just needs a magical starfish to breathe under.
  • Apparently Human Merfolk: Mermaid Man looks perfectly human, but he can breathe underwater without issue, courtesy of his magical starfish.
  • Artificial Gill: Mermaid Man's magical starfish, which he always wears over his nose. In Mermaid Man Begins, a wave took him and he was sucked into the ocean floor, but he was rescued by mermaids and given the starfish so he could breathe underwater.
  • Baby's First Words: If The Patrick Star Show episode "Super Sitters" is to be believed, the first word he spoke in his infancy was "evil".
  • Backported Development: In the TV series, his younger self was usually depicted as a competent and skilled superhero. In the comics, however, Mermaid Man's younger self is such a blundering fool, he gives Powdered Toast Man a run for his money. This makes his younger self in the comics more like the elderly Mermaid Man seen in the TV series and comics.
  • Badass Driver: While he and Barnacle Boy usually have trouble finding the Invisible Boatmobile, Mermaid Man is really good at actually driving it, despite his old age and being as scatterbrained as he is. It's shown that this comes from experience in "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy II", as a newbie like SpongeBob doesn't know the first thing about how it functions.
  • Batman Parody: What traits of his that aren't borrowed from Aquaman tend to be derived from Adam West's Batman (1966), such as the Invisible Boatmobile, a utility belt, the Mermalair being like the Batcave, and his younger self even being voiced by West himself for the episode "Back to the Past"note .
  • Butt-Monkey: He has it better than his sidekick, but he has his moments, such as when he had a hole blown through him after eating explosive ice cream, and when Squidward gave him and Barnacle Boy a...creative makeover. His senility also tends to get him in trouble.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: He has eccentric beliefs and habits. May be semi-justified as onset Alzheimer's/Dementia.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: In "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V", he refuses to order a regular Krabby Patty for Barnacle Boy on the grounds that it's too much for him to eat. Barnacle Boy interprets this both as him being condescending and too ridden with dementia to remember he's an adult, but much to his embarrassment, he has to concede the point at the end of the episode.
  • Demoted to Extra: Due to Ernest Borgnine's passing in July 8th, 2012, his character (along with Barnacle Boy) was reduced to voiceless cameos.
  • Dub Name Change: As an example of the translators not getting the joke, Mermaid Man was known as "Tritón" on the first season of the Latin American dub. While Tritón is the correct way to refer to a "Mer-man", the joke was that his name was "mermaidman", as such, he was correctly named "Sireno Man" from season two onwards.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: Barnacle Boy initially thought Mermaid Man was treating him like a child for thinking he wouldn't be able to finish an adult sized Krabby Patty. By the end of the episode it turns out Barnacle Boy can't finish eating one.
  • Expy: His design and nature as an aquatic hero makes him a fairly clear parody of Aquaman, probably bearing the closest resemblance to the one in the old Filmation Aquaman cartoons. That said, he does tend to throw in Shout-Outs to other superheroes (the invisible boatmobile spoofing both Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet and the Batmobile, Saying Superman's catchphrase "Up, Up and Away!" whilst in a rocking chair, having a ring like Green Lantern and his and Barnacle Boy's powers activating by joining their rings together similar to the Wonder Twins).
  • Fake Shemp: The Kamp Koral episode "Putt Up or Shut Up" credits Ernest Borgnine as reprising his role as Mermaid Man in the episode of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy the children watch at the beginning of the episode despite the fact that Borgnine passed away years before Kamp Koral started production, as the episode in question is actually recycled footage from the SpongeBob episode "The Bad Guy Club for Villains".
  • Fake Ultimate Hero: Of sorts. His and Barnacle Boy's heroism after becoming semi-retired is only informed. When they appear in an episode, it's usually SpongeBob and Patrick who end up saving the day. In the comics, Mermaid Man's younger self is such a blundering fool he gives Powdered Toast Man a run for his money.
  • Fan Disservice: He goes around wearing a Seashell Bra on the outside of his clothing 24/7.
  • Fat and Skinny: The fat to Barnacle Boy's skinny.
  • Formerly Fit: He was very muscular in his prime, but after retiring, he became rounder and rounder to the point where he's basically a walking beach ball.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: It's varied on whether his name is spelled as one word or two.
  • Ink-Suit Actor: Looks exactly like Ernest Borgnine.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: His younger self is more muscular and handsome.
  • Jerkass Ball: While usually the one of the pair who's nicer to SpongeBob, the SuperSponge video game ends with him wanting to cause harm to SpongeBob for incorrectly repairing the TV, even insulting him by calling him a "porous freak".
  • Large Ham: As Mermaidman is a walking parody of the corny superheroes from The Golden Age of Comic Books, he is prone to delivering bombastic speeches in response to mundane situations. This becomes a plot point in "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture", when his dramatic enactment of a previous battle inspires SpongeBob to finish recording the heroes' movie.
  • Leitmotif: The Lineman is his associated theme.
  • Lilliputians: He's the size of small sea creatures rather than a giant, like most human characters are portrayed as being.
  • Mad Libs Catchphrase: "To [X]! Awaaaaay!"
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Judging by his appearance in flashbacks, he's gotten shorter and fatter with age.
  • Nice Guy: Is much more sympathetic and friendly to SpongeBob than his sidekick Barnacle Boy, even if he does find SpongeBob annoying. He even lets SpongeBob go "on patrol" with them for a day, to show him what being a hero is like. "For a pain in the neck, he's a pretty nice kid!"
  • Old Superhero: He was a superhero in his youth who eventually retired, but became "semi-retired" thanks to SpongeBob.
  • Put on a Bus: Mermaid Man has been reduced to cameos on pictures or as a toy following Ernest Borgnine's death. In fact, it's become more common to see characters cosplay the character than the character actually appearing. Vincent Waller has stated that the character has been permanently retired from the franchise out of respect for Ernest Borgnine and Stephen Hillenburg's wishes that Ernest would never be replaced with a soundalike. The one exception was SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated, in which archived recordings of Joe Whyte as the character from the game's original release were reused by necessity.
  • Retired Badass: He used to be a superhero, with Barnacle Boy as his sidekick, when he was younger.
  • Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Inverted. Mermaid Man’s the friendly, compassionate hero compared to his sidekick Barnacle Boy who’s more cynical and snarky.
  • Scatterbrained Senior: Mermaidman shows signs of dementia due to his old age.
    • In his debut episode, he loses his train of thought while reprimanding SpongeBob and randomly starts acting as if he was officiating a wedding.
      Mermaid Man: Listen up, you villains! I wanna eat my meatloaf! If you don't get out of here, then by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife!
    • When SpongeBob ends up shrinking everyone in Bikini Bottom using Mermaid Man's belt in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" and he laments how he's sure Mermaid Man will be disappointed in him for what he's done, Mermaid Man assures him that won't be the case, but apparently forgets that he is Mermaid Man.
      Mermaid Man: Your mother's right, son. Mermaid Man will understand.
      Barnacle Boy: You're Mermaid Man, you old coot!
  • Seashell Bra: Wears one over his clothes, very likely as a holdover to how he wore them when he's younger. At that time, he wore the shells on his pectorals like pasties.
  • Senior Sleep-Cycle: He can even sleep with his eyes open.
  • Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Ever alert, Mermaid Man has trained himself to sleep with his eyes open.
  • Time-Shifted Actor: Zig-zagged. Mermaid Man's younger self was originally voiced by Tom Kenny in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy's debut episode, but was instead voiced by Adam West in "Back to the Past" and by Mermaid Man's standard voice actor Ernest Borgnine in "The Bad Guy Club For Villains" and the former's promotional shorts, with Tom Kenny voicing young Mermaid Man again for his subsequent appearances in Kamp Koral (with the exception of "Putt Up or Shut Up" reusing footage from "The Bad Guy Club for Villains") and The Patrick Star Show.
  • Token Human: He is one of the few recurring human characters, yet is able to survive underwater. Apparently, some mermaids gave him a special starfish that allowed him to breathe.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: In his first appearance, he was a Grumpy Old Man who was equally as irritated by SpongeBob as Barnacle Boy, but in his second appearance, he's much more jovial and gets along pretty well with SpongeBob.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Meatloaf. He's excited when Barnacle Boy tells him that Shady Shoals is serving meatloaf, and threatens to throw SpongeBob out if he doesn't let him eat his meatloaf.
  • Trauma Button: Don't say the word "evil" if he's in earshot. He'll go nuts if he hears it.
  • Water-Breathing Humans: Mermaid Man wears a magical starfish, given to him by mermaids who rescued him, over his nose so he could breath underwater.

    Barnacle Boy 

Barnacle Boy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brncle_boy_4939.jpg
"You old coot!"
Click here to see his younger self

English voice: Tim Conway (1999-2012), Burt Ward (young self in "Back to the Past"), Tom Kenny (young self in Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show)
German voice: Uwe Paulsen (Seasons 1-5), Hasso Zorn (Seasons 6-9)
Swedish voice: Hans Jonsson
Japanese voice: Yuko Ogiso (Season 1-3), Keijin Okuda (Season 4-9)

Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy"

Mermaid Man's sidekick, who is also elderly and lives in the same retirement home. His real name is Tim Stangler.


  • Alliterative Name: Barnacle Boy.
  • Ambiguously Human: Like his mentor, he doesn't match up with the other humans in the series, nor the Atlanteans, and he doesn't have any real origin story, making it hard to definitively say what he is. "Mermaid Man Begins" clarifies that he is indeed human.
  • Apparently Human Merfolk: He can breathe underwater even though he looks perfectly human. This is because of the barnacles in his lungs.
  • Atrocious Alias: Given that he lives in an underwater society where the word "barnacle" is sometimes used as an expletive, it's likely a factor as to why he's treated with less respect than Mermaid Man.
  • Butt-Monkey: He is the main target of the show's slapstick comedy in the episodes he appears in. In "Mermaidman & Barnacleboy II", him being set on fire by the pipes of Mermaid Man's boatmobile is a Running Gag, with the Dirty Bubble even implying that he regularly suffered said injury even when the two heroes were younger.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He frequently has to keep Mermaid Man out of trouble due to being the more rational and less senile of the pair.
  • Demoted to Extra: Due to Mermaid Man's voice actor Ernest Borgnine's passing in 8th July, 2012, both he and Barnacle Boy were reduced to voiceless cameos, and any chance of Barnacle Boy at least having further speaking appearances without Mermaid Man ended when Tim Conway died on 14th May, 2019.
  • Eye Beams: He has "sulfur vision," but can barely get it to work the one time he tries to use it.
  • Fat and Skinny: The skinny to Mermaid Man's fat.
  • Gag Nose: He has a big nose, which leads to him and Squidward butting noses in "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy IV".
  • Grumpy Old Man: He's 68 years old and doesn't take kindly to most people.
  • Hypocritical Humor: In "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy IV", he calls Squidward "big nose" when his own proboscis is rather bulbous, which even prompts the latter to lampshade this.
    Squidward: This is a restaurant, not a lending library, and who are you calling "big nose", big nose? (Squidward and Barnacle Boy grunt at each other while their noses come into contact)
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Like Mermaid Man, the series hasn't been consistent on whether his name is spelled as one word or two.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Like Mermaid Man, he was handsome and muscular in his youth.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's noticeably more of a jerk than Mermaid Man, being much less patient with SpongeBob and temporarily becoming a supervillain for petty reasons. That being said, he still cares about Mermaid Man and is a renowned hero for a reason. Out of all the characters who couldn't stand SpongeBob, he was also absent from the "We Hate SpongeBob" club in "Sea-Man Sponge Haters Club", which, although it was because he was relegated to background cameos since his and Mermaid Man's actors' deaths, and because he doesn't know Squidward too well, implies that he doesn't actually "hate" SpongeBob like Squidward, Plankton, Mrs. Puff, Bubble Bass, and the mailman do.
  • Kid Hero All Grown Up: He's now old enough to live in a retirement home. He still goes by Barnacle Boy, though in "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V" he tried to change his alias to Barnacle Man.
  • Leitmotif: Like Mermaid Man, "The Lineman" is used as his theme music.
  • Lilliputians: He's the size of small sea creatures rather than a giant, like most human characters are portrayed as being.
  • Old Superhero: He lives in a retirement home. It doesn't get older than that.
  • Put on a Bus: Like Mermaid Man, he'll never get off the bus. With Ernest Borgnine's death, Barnacle Boy was retired along with him, barring the occasional cameo via photograph or toy. It became permanent with the death of Tim Conway in 2019, and Vincent Waller has stated that the character has been permanently retired from foreground appearances as well.
  • Retired Badass: He used to be Mermaid Man's sidekick when they were both younger.
  • Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Inverted. Barnacle’s Boy more grumpy and irritable than Mermaid Man who’s a bit more friendly and sympathetic.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: He doesn't have much tolerance for Mermaid Man's obliviousness, but he still sticks up for him when the chips are down. Even when he defects to the side of evil in "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V", all he really wants is some appreciation.
  • Straight Man: To Mermaid Man's antics. Notable since on McHale's Navy, the roles were flipped, with Conway as the wise guy and Borgnine as the straight man.
  • Stuck in Their Shadow: invoked He rather resents always having to play the "young ward" of a now-senile old man (who wears a bra, no less), especially when he's the much more lucid of the two. This causes him to (temporarily) join the bad guys in "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V".
  • Temporarily a Villain: In "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V", he became a bad guy just because Mermaid Man wouldn't let him have an adult size Krabby Patty. He turned back to normal by the end of the episode though.
  • Time-Shifted Actor: Zig-zagged. Barnacle Boy's younger self was first voiced by Burt Ward for "Back to the Past", but "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" and the aforementioned episode's promotional shorts instead went with his standard voice actor Tim Conway voicing his younger self, with Tom Kenny voicing subsequent appearances of the young Barnacle Boy in Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show.
  • Token Human: And is somehow able to breathe underwater. Apparently, it was because of Mermaid Man's powers that he got the ability. Specifically, he saw Tim Stangler scraping barnacles from the hull of his boat, and Mermaid Man, believing he was drowning, used his newfound powers to rescue him... by drawing the barnacles into Stangler's lungs.
  • Water-Breathing Humans: Mermaid Man gave Tim Stangler, who would eventually become Barnacle Boy, the ability to breathe underwater by drawing the barnacles he was scraping from his boat into his lungs.

    Flying Dutchman 

The Flying Dutchman

English voice: Brian Doyle-Murray (regular voice), Mark Hamill (The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants)
German Voice: Hans Teuscher (Episodes 13–162), Michael Pan (current)

Debut: "Scaredy Pants"note 

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flyin_dutchleman_912.jpg
"Who dares disturb the Flyin' Dutchman?!"

An old pirate who died a long time ago, but instead of being buried, he was used as a window display. As a result, he never found peace and continues to haunt the seas as a ghost, often aboard his ghostly ship.


  • Affably Evil: When he's not antagonizing our heroes, he's shown to be a laid back kind of guy.
  • Ambidextrous Sprite: There's a ragged hole in the brim of his hat that tends to favor the side facing the viewer, and will often switch places throughout the episode.
  • Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: He shows shades of this in "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom", as he describes Halloween as the worst holiday after describing the things he likes about it and assures SpongeBob that he is in bad hands. And then there's how SpongeBob defeats him by letting him inside his mind and frightening him with the Sugar Bowl within.
  • Big Bad: He is the main villain in the video game Revenge of the Flying Dutchman, attempting to make SpongeBob and his friends his crew after SpongeBob unwittingly set him free of his bottle prison.
  • Dead Guy on Display: The Dutchman himself as part of his backstory; He's been cursed to wander the seas as a restless spirit because someone decided to use the Dutchman's corpse as a clothing store mannequin.
  • Depending on the Writer: He flip-flops between a morally neutral Grim Reaper figure, a sadist who enjoys scaring people and stealing their souls For the Evulz, or a scary-but-benevolent ghost.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: He steals souls and is considered Bikini Bottom's version of The Grim Reaper, but the Dutchman is capable of having friendly, casual conversations with people on a regular basis, and is sometimes even shown to be friends with SpongeBob.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: While his first physical appearance is in "Scaredy Pants", he made a brief appearance prior in a book SpongeBob and Patrick read in "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost".
  • Eldritch Abomination: Of the undead variety. He bends reality to his whim, preys upon the living, degrading them both physically and psychologically and his very name and appearance is enough to shake even the most jaded and unfazed fish at their core.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: In "Shanghaied", he says insulting someone's ship is worse than insulting their mother, but doesn't actually attack Squidward until he becomes convinced he was actually insulting his mother.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • "Born Again Krabs" has him arrive to do his usual condemning someone to Davy Jones' locker deal, but upon being tricked into thinking he went to the wrong room, he apologizes and politely asks the nurse where Mr. Krabs' room is, not doubting "Harold Flower's" claim until the nurse questions it. Evidently, he's ruthless towards those he wishes to haunt but doesn't wish to inflict Misplaced Retribution.
    • In "Money Talks", not only does he looked surprised that Mr. Krabs was willing to sell his soul so eagerly and took the whole ordeal lightly, but he looked dumbfounded that Mr. Krabs sold his soul to other ghosts, monsters, and demons. Plus to SpongeBob because he was low on payday.
  • Evil Is Hammy: The Dutchman really chews up the scenery when he's being evil.
  • Final Boss: He's the last boss faced in Legend of the Lost Spatula and Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.
  • Flying Dutchman: At least according to his backstory given in "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", he's forced to walk the earth forever because his body was never given a proper burial.
  • Ghostly Goals: As SpongeBob helpfully explains:
  • Ghost Pirate: He is a classic Ghost Pirate, who possesses many supernatural powers. He also acts as an underwater Grim Reaper, who takes the souls of dead sea creatures to Davy Jones' Locker (which is a literal gym locker filled with dirty laundry, and as revealed in a later episode, is owned by the musician Davy Jones). In "Shanghaied", the Dutchman forces SpongeBob and Patrick to become crew members on his Ghost Ship, serving him as "ghostly ghost pirates" (though they're still alive). They're... not up to par.
  • The Grim Reaper: In "Born Again Krabs", he tries to take Mr. Krabs' soul and bring it to Davey Jones' Locker.
  • Humanoid Abomination: He is the ghost of a human pirate with a vast amount of supernatural powers and all marine life in his presence perceives him as a Lovecraftian being or the devil itself.
  • Jackass Genie: SpongeBob once tried to outwit him by wishing for him to become a vegetarian. He did, but turned SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward into fruit.
    Flying Dutchman: (chopping a banana) Hey, I get a wish too! Fruit prevents scurvy!
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sometimes. He rewards SpongeBob and Patrick with a gold dubloon each in "Arrgh!" for saving him the trouble of digging up his old treasure chest, and shows SpongeBob how to tie knots (though not his shoes) in "Your Shoe's Untied".
  • Karma Houdini: He often avoids punishment for his mean actions. Considering he's a deadly pirate ghost with supernatural powers and is perceived by marine life as an Eldritch Abomination or the devil itself, it's not surprising.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: The Flying Dutchman does not always evade punishment. Every once in a while karma comes around to bite him, and when it does it bites hard.
    • SpongeBob succeeds in scaring him in both "Scaredy Pants" and "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom".
    • SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman takes this a step further with SpongeBob not only beating up the Flying Dutchman, but sealing him away in a bottle.
    • Steals SpongeBob's soul after being sold out by Mr. Krabs in "Born Again Krabs", only for him to him to prove so annoyingly talkative that the Dutchman decides he'd rather punish Mr. Krabs by leaving him with SpongeBob. At the end of the episode, he's still getting calls from the sponge.
    • In SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom he gets put through a Humiliation Conga: first the rampaging robots beat the crap out of him, then the robots steal his pirate ship, and finally Sandy beats him up in a boss fight after he tries to take the Golden Spatula he promised to give to SpongeBob if they stole back his ship, for himself.
    • In "Money Talks" he not only fails to get Mr. Krabs' soul, but he finds out several other spirits and demons beat him to getting a contract on Krabs' soul. Even SpongeBob.
    • In "SpongeBob Vs. The Big One" he gets thrown into Davy Jones' locker, where Davy Jones then proceeds to throw smelly socks at him.
    • In "The Ghost Of Plankton" he double-crosses Plankton, whose soul is currently outside his body, and steals his body. The Dutchman does not get to enjoy being flesh and blood though as he quickly gets ferociously stomped on by angry mourners and is forced to relinquish Plankton's body back to him.
  • Leitmotif: His entrance into a scene is backed by the playing of "Malleus Mallificarum", an imposing piece with Ominous Latin Chanting.
  • Monochrome Apparition: He's a ghost and glows sickly green.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: He's capable of transforming into all sorts of monsters, sending people down the Fly of Despair, and making odd knots.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite the character being Dutch, Brian Doyle-Murray uses his normal Irish-American accent for the role.
  • One-Winged Angel: The Flying Dutchman abuses the ability to take on larger and scarier forms in "Ghost Host" to the point of deconstruction.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: This one's a deadly pirate ghost who was cursed to spend eternity as a restless spirit because he never got a proper burial. He has a wide variety of supernatural powers (though he's not invincible), and his job as a ghost runs the gamut of scaring people for fun, spiriting away the souls of the dead, ruling the underworld, making unholy bargains in exchange for souls, and granting wishes that always come at a terrible price.
  • Peek-a-Bogeyman: As he puts it in "Shanghaied!", his job is to "sail around and frighten people". He falls into a bit of a rut during "Ghost Host", before SpongeBob motivates him and helps him improve on his scaring techniques.
  • Reality Warper: One of his scary features is his ability to change his surroundings at will, especially in "Ghost Host".
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes glow red when he confronts SpongeBob over not being afraid of anything in "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom".
  • Satanic Archetype: He is the closest character in the show that matches Satan in terms of behavior. He is known for tearing out souls and placing them in his soul bag or just straight-up eating them, and one of his favorite hobbies includes trying to psychologically traumatize whatever poor soul catches his sight. He makes deals with people such as with Mr. Krabs when he threatened to send him to Davy Jones' locker if he were to return to being cheap. In that same episode, he inadvertently sells SpongeBob's soul for sixty-two cents.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The video game Revenge of the Flying Dutchman has him imprisoned inside a bottle until SpongeBob unwittingly set him free. By the end of the game, SpongeBob seals him back in.
  • Sickly Green Glow: His body glows green.
  • Talking in Your Sleep: He mutters "I'm the Flying Dutchman" in his sleep in "Arrgh!".
  • Time Abyss: In Season 7's "The Curse of Bikini Bottom", after the Dutchman gets accidentally shaved by SpongeBob and Patrick, he claims it will take a thousand years to grow back. However, he is shown with a full beard in that same episode after a timeskip of several months.
  • Time Master: Parodied: When Patrick wishes he knew about the wishes earlier, he turns back time by one minute.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Dutchman can change his appearance at will as a way to scare people.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: He collects people's souls, either to take them to the afterlife or just for the hell of it. He's also usually (but not always) seen carrying a handbag marked with the word "SOULS."

    King Neptune 

King Neptune

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_neptune_tvtropes.png
Voiced by: John O'Hurley
Debut: "Neptune's Spatula"

The king of the sea.

For his movie counterpart, see: SpongeBob SquarePants: Movie Characters


  • Abusive Parents:
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: He is notably nicer in the comics. One comic has him go around Bikini Bottom looking for someone to give a boon to, and he disguies himself due to being recognizable. Plus, even when Squidward rejects him, and SpongeBob and Patrick show him Sacred Hospitality, he doesn't smite Squidward (though he does subject him to humiliation as a court jester) for being rude. Another has him cast a silence bubble over the town in order to get some sleep and accepts the "Loudest Person" trophy when everyone lands in his house and he shouts at them to Get Out!.
  • The All-Solving Hammer: His trident has the ability to spawn anything into existence, transport him from one place to another, and destroy any enemy in his path. It's a dandy little device that can definitely do it all.
  • God: King Neptune is pretty much Bikini Bottom's equivalent of God. He's, in one way or another, worshipped by the bikini bottomites and recognized as somewhat of a diety. He has godlike powers and has a whole Groman God feel to his character. Also, characters use his name in vain, via phrases like "Oh my Neptune", "For Neptune sake!", and "What in the name of Neptune?". You can replace his name with "God" and it fits perfectly.
  • Jerkass Gods:
    • King Neptune acts like a condescending jerk to all of the mortals of the sea. In "Neptune's Spatula", he even laughs in the face of SpongeBob for his inferior patty making skills, bringing the latter nearly to tears. He can be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold when in the right mood though.
    • In "Clash of Triton" he revels in smiting random people and cities, destroys his son's cure for all diseases, and at the end is proud of his son's destructive rampage.
    King Neptune: How many times do I have to tell you? We are gods! We don't have diseases, nor do we care whether or not the mortals contract them!
  • Large and in Charge: King Neptune is much larger than all of the mortal characters of the series, towering over all of them like a moving mountain.
  • Lord of the Ocean: Given this show is set under the ocean, "Lord of the Ocean" basically means "Lord".
  • Messianic Archetype: Though not specifically appearing as a Christian god archetype, King Neptune usually gives off the feel of being a religious figure of sorts.
  • Pet the Dog: After SpongeBob's spatula and Neptune's trident get mixed up, the former accidentally wreaks total havoc. When Neptune sees the mess SpongeBob made, though, he isn't mad at all, he happily forgives SpongeBob and praises his spatula for being a useful tool in its own right.
  • Prongs of Poseidon: King Neptune always wields with him a large trident.
  • Redhead in Green: King Neptune is a redheaded merman with green skin.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: He is beloved and respected by the Bikini Bottomites despite him being a massive jerkass who smites citizens for his own amusement.

    Larry the Lobster 

Larry the Lobster

English voice: Mr. Lawrence (most speaking appearances), Bill Fagerbakke (grunts in "MuscleBob BuffPants")
German Voice: Jörg Hengstler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/larold_the_lobstold_4006.jpg
"I have a date with the tanning booth."

Debut: "Ripped Pants"

A handsome, muscular lobster that gets all the girls. Almost always seen at Goo Lagoon or in crowd shots.


  • Alliterative Name: Larry the Lobster.
  • Ambiguously Related: A line of dialogue in "SpongeGuard on Duty" implies he was raised by a (now elderly) fish couple, though it is never elaborated on in any other episode.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: A pretty friendly guy, but not someone you'd want to anger considering his size, which Squidward learns in "Squid Plus One".
  • The Big Guy: He's a lifeguard with a muscular physique.
  • Characterization Marches On: Early on, there was some indication that Larry was intended to be portrayed as a jockish bully to SpongeBob, evidenced by his appearance in Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (see Out-of-Character Moment) and lyrics in the "Ripped Pants" song claiming that Larry came to bully SpongeBob into his ripped pants shtick. However, this never stuck, and Larry was instead characterized as a Lovable Jock and an all around Nice Guy.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: His training practically made him strong enough to lift 2 bleachers full of audience members.
  • Chick Magnet: He's popular and gets all the girls.
  • A Day in the Limelight: After years of only appearing as a side or background character, he was made the focus of a Season 9 episode, Larry's Gym.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: SpongeBob reveals in "Band Geeks" that Larry almost died from an overdose of tanning pills and needed to be revived in an ambulance.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Although Larry is a Thrill Seeker, he still has the common sense not to go too far with his stunts, as shown when he tries to save SpongeBob and Patrick from flying into Ripper's Reef.
    Larry: Look guys, my advice wasn't meant to be taken literally, I meant to live life to the fullest, not to maim yourselves!
  • Eye on a Stalk: Has stalk-shaped eyes similar to Mr. Krabs, but yellow and much smaller.
  • Fitness Nut: Larry is most frequently seen exercising at Goo Lagoon. Two episodes in season one have him compete in feats of strength, while "Bubble Buddy" sees him gnaw on celery on the mistaken belief he was called fat. In "Larry's Gym," he opens up a successful gym, but steps down because the time he needs to spend on paperwork prevents him from working out. The spin-off Kamp Koral casts a young Larry as the councilor for a cabin full of tough, fitness obsessed young fish like him.
  • Four-Legged Insect: Besides his claws, he only has two legs, far less than the typical ten legs of actual lobsters.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Larry the Lobster's everyday attire consists of a pair of swim trunks and nothing else. He does wear a shirt in Kamp Koral, however.
  • Jerk Jock: He had some shades of being one in early episodes, especially in "Ripped Pants", and in current episodes can still be rather condescending towards obvious weaklings like SpongeBob and Patrick. However, most of the time, he's a...
  • Lovable Jock: Easily the physically strongest character and one of the friendliest after SpongeBob himself.
  • Mooning: In "Mooned!", he and Mr. Krabs are the first to join Patrick Star and the Jellyspotters in mooning the Moon Jellyfish to keep it from getting away.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Larry is a muscular anthropomorphic lobster who basically all the time is shirtless.
  • Nice Guy: One of the nicest characters in the series, he is jovial,very patient with SpongeBob's eccentricities, and it’s very rare to have him hold the Jerkass Ball.
  • Only One Name: Only known as Larry the Lobster.
  • Out-of-Character Moment: In the game SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman, he's weirdly hostile towards SpongeBob, telling him that being seen with him would ruin his reputation, amongst other things.
  • Red Live Lobster: Has the color of a boiled lobster. Justified by the fact that he tans a lot.
  • Sixth Ranger: While he is not considered one of the main characters, he has been frequently joined them in episodes such as "A SquarePants Family Vacation" and "Feral Friends" as the sole secondary character.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": His full name is Larry the Lobster.
  • Third-Person Person: Inexplicably becomes one in "Larry the Floor Manager", him constantly referring to himself in the third person.
  • Thrill Seeker: Larry is a huge adrenaline junkie who does a lot of crazy stuff. SpongeBob and Patrick one time tried to emulate him, to disastrous effects.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: He has a wide upper body and huge claws, but a narrow waist and short, skinny legs.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: He's often associated with protein shakes in later episodes, to the point where he gets enraged when Squidward insults him for liking them.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He means well in trying to whip people into shape, but can get carried away with it. In "Larry the Floor Manager", he turns the Krusty Krab into a gym, changes the menu, and pushes customers too hard with exercise.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: He very much values the importance of a lifeguard's job, telling SpongeBob in "SpongeGuard On Duty" that the best part of being a lifeguard is being there to save people.

    Realistic Fish Head 

Realistic Fish Head

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/realistic_fish_head.jpg
Voiced by: Mr. Lawrence, Tom Kenny ("Suction Cup Symphony"), Dee Bradley Baker ("No Free Rides")
Debut: "Help Wanted" (in the intro), "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" (in an episode)

As the name suggests, a realistic tuna who works as an anchorman and announcer. His partner, Perch, acts as a field reporter. He is featured in the opening sequence, and he narrates the in-universe Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy show.


  • Demoted to Extra: His appearances after season 4 dwindled, averaging roughly one appearance per season (in seasons 6, 7, 8, and 9) in favor of anchor Perch Perkins, who also serves the reporter role.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: He's represented as a photograph of an actual fish in a traditionally animated cartoon. And he mentions he's aware of it in "The Fry Cook Games".
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: He only introduces himself as "Realistic Fish Head." He has had a plethora of given names in throwaway lines and tie-in media: Elaine, Mr. Fish, Johnny, and even T. McTrout of Trout TV News.

    Perch Perkins 

Perch Perkins

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/its_perch_perkins.jpg
"Mr. Krabs, what inspired you to make the Krusty Krab 2?"

An on-the-scene news reporter in Bikini Bottom. He is the co-worker of the Realistic Fish Head. He was created for the first movie and eventually made his way into the main series.


  • Alliterative Name: Perch Perkins.
  • Canon Immigrant: He was originally created for the first movie, but later became a recurring character in the series proper.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: Perch Perkins usually seems to be completely unfazed by the terrible things going on in the world, as he does a news report on them and just continues to sport that newsworthy smile as he happily tells his viewers what horrifying disaster is befalling the city.
    Perch: Mr. Plankton, we've received a word that you're plotting to infiltrate the Krusty Krab and steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. [shoves Plankton a microphone to speak into] Is that true?
  • Coincidental Broadcast: Perch Perkins does news reports on topics that just so happen to conveniently move the plot of the episode along.
  • A Day in the Limelight:
    • Although it wasn't an episode, the short, "Krabby Patty Report" heavily focused on Perch Perkins getting addicted to frozen krabby patties and going insane over them.
    • The Kamp Koral episode "Gimme a News Break" focuses on both Perch and his cameraman Harvey interviewing people before investigating a conspiracy revolving around aliens supposedly invading the eponymous summer camp.
  • Deadline News: If Perch Perkins does a news report on something disastrous or deadly, you can guarantee he's going to become the victim of it mid-report.
    Perch: Bikini Bottom is literally in a state of chaos and panic!
    [A muscular fish comes by and punches Perch to the ground; Perch gets up with a black eye]
    Perch: We go now to News Sea Chopper 7.
  • A Dog Named "Dog": Perch is, well, a perch.
  • Inconsistent Coloring: He was originally purple, but the crew changed him to orange for all of his in-show appearances until mid-season 9. This was because Paramount previously barred the show from using its movie-exclusive elements, including the Goofy Goober restaurant and Perch's color scheme from the movie. When the ban was lifted, Perch began alternating between orange and purple.
  • Insult Comic: Perch Perkins has the tendency to make some not-so-subtle and eloquently worded insults against the people he does reports on.
    Perch: And here comes Squidward Tentacles and what must be either a bizarre piece of performance art or the saddest display of loneliness it has ever been my displeasure to report. One is inclined to suspect the second thing I said. A thing about sadness!
  • Mr. Exposition: Some episodes open with news reports by Perch Perkins, giving the audience an explanation on what the episode is gonna be about.
  • Only Sane Man: In Sponge Out Of Water, he is the only citizen (aside from SpongeBob and Plankton) who doesn't give in to the apocalypse of a Krabby Patty-free Bikini Bottom and is instead trying to do his normal news report.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Although Perch is usually a pretty chill guy, SpongeBob and Patrick have been known to piss him off during reviews.
    Perch: At this time, survival looks bleak for this little yellow sponge.
    [Patrick continues to sit around, eating cotton candy, doing nothing]
    Perch: Hey, doofus!
    Patrick: Huh?
    Perch: Your best buddy is trapped in the Tunnel of Glove and may never escape!
  • You Don't Look Like You: Perch has gone through tons of changes in his physical appearance over the course of the show both in body shape and in color scheme. It took about nine seasons before Perch finally got adjusted to the appearance he has today, though even now, we'll sometimes have episodes where he appears as either orange or purple.

    The Bikini Bottom Fish 
    Jellyfish 

Jellyfish

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jellyfish_tvtropes_7.png
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Tea at the Treedome"

The show's analogy of bees, jellyfishes inhabit Jellyfish Fields, although they occasionally wander to other places. Jellyfishing, the activity of capturing jellyfishes using nets, is SpongeBob and Patrick's favorite hobby. Their progenitor is the King Jellyfish, a huge jellyfish wearing a crown and cape.


  • Bee Afraid: They are a bee equivalent, after all. Expect someone to get zapped by their sting whenever they appear.
  • Beware the Cute Ones: Jellyfish may be cute but they sting like the dickens and many of them have been proven to be violently dangerous, putting characters like Squidward in traction ("Jellyfishing") and giving Dr. Manowar a gigantic permanent blemish that hurts when it's touched ("I'm Your Biggest Fanatic").
  • Big Bad: Queen Jellyfish in "Jellyfishing".
  • Bullying a Dragon: SpongeBob, Patrick, and other "jellyfishers" do this as an everyday hobby, walking straight up to deadly, weaponized animals and catching them in nets.
  • Electric Jellyfish: Jellyfish have the ability to send many volts of electricity through people’s bodies.
  • Elite Mook: The blue jellyfish in "Jellyfish Hunter" is highly intelligent, repeatedly avoiding SpongeBob's attempt to capture it. In some games, blue jellyfishes are treated as more durable enemies compared to normal pink jellyfishes.
  • Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They're the equivalent of bees in the human world, though they also incorporate aspects of butterflies (it's common for humans to collect butterflies, less so with bees) and cows (SpongeBob is seen "milking" a jellyfish for its jelly).
  • Furry Confusion: Fish, sponges, starfish, octopuses, etc. are "human animals", while jellyfish, snails, bivalves, amoebas, and worms are the "animal animals" in the SpongeBob universe.
  • Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: King Jellyfish and similar sized jellies are extremely dangerous and huge compared to normal ones. While the worst normal jellyfishes stings can do range from irritation to minor injuries, stings from Royal Jellyfish can level an entire house.
  • The Goomba: In most SpongeBob Licensed Games, the jellyfish usually serve as the most common and basic enemy the player will encounter and are rather easy to defeat. Sometimes, they're docile unless provoked, while at other times, they're agressive and will swarm the player in droves.
  • Harmless Electrocution: "Harmless" being used loosely. Sure, nobody can actually die from a jellyfish sting, but they still get painfully injured and sometimes even permanently damaged.
  • King Mook: Named jellies such a King Jellyfish or Big Lenny are often more dangerous than the nameless normal jellies
  • Monster Progenitor: King Jellyfish. In other episodes, it's the crownless, capeless Queen Jellyfish instead.
  • Mooks: They're easily the most common creature in Bikini bottom and some of the most basic.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: In "Dunces and Dragons", Planktonamor's weapon is Dragon Jellyfish, who is King Jellyfish with a mane instead of a crown and cape.
  • Pun: Jellyfish literally secrete jelly, an edible condiment popularly used for sandwiches like Krabby Patties.

Bikini Bottomites

    Bubble Bass 

Bubble Bass

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1ejgskj6_400x400.jpg
"You forgot the PICKLES!!!"
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker
Debut: "Pickles"

An obese, picky fish, and the main antagonist of Season 1 episode "Pickles", who was built up as a recurring nemesis to SpongeBob in the first season. After a long absence, he returned as a common patron of the Krusty Krab and regular character starting in season nine.


  • Acrofatic: Averted hard. Bubble Bass is shown to have Stout Strength, but his weight frequently causes him problems and if he has to move fast, he often ends up completely exhausted from the stress. In "Pickles" he's shown pathetically wheezing for dear life as he manages a weak jog to run away from the Krusty Krab; and his running in "Bubble Bass Reviews" shows him desperately winded.
  • Aesop Amnesia: Bubble Bass is so immature and selfish that even though he regularly faces consequences for his actions, he refuses to learn from them. In "Bubble Bass's Tab" he smugly starts a new tab at the Krusty Krab after the customers chipped in to bail him out of his current one just to get him out of the restaurant. No matter how many times it's spelled out to him that everybody in Bikini Bottom hates him for his unpleasantness, he still is so egotistical that he acts like he's superior to everyone and that the whole town loves and respects him.
  • Alliterative Name: Bubble Bass.
  • Antagonistic Offspring. Downplayed. While Bubble Bass isn’t outright evil to his mother, he has a very toxic mindset towards her, spending most of his time hating her for telling him what to do including simple, reasonable tasks like doing chores around the house; yet he will often cry for her to come help him if he’s in trouble nonetheless. For her part, Mama Bass has grown sick and tired of her son’s behavior and always gets onto him when he acts up either with her or is causing someone else misery.
  • Ascended Extra: Originally a minor character in Season 1, Bubble Bass has been promoted to the status of a recurring regular since Season 9, after falling from the face of the Earth for several years (outside of the video games, where he had made sporadic appearances), and now has far more prominence than ever before.
  • Basement Dweller: He is revealed to be an unsympathetic version of this trope in "Moving Bubble Bass", as it is revealed that he lives in his mother's basement. He is shown griping and throwing a tantrum when his mother asks him to do basic chores and gets fed up with her for interrupting his fantasy talk show. He then tricks SpongeBob and Patrick into helping him move his belongings to his grandmother's basement across town, evidently confident that he will not have to do any chores there, but the events of the episode see Mama Bass bring a sharp foot down on him as punishment for her misfortunes and he's back to living in her basement by his next appearance.
  • Believing Their Own Lies: Bubble Bass genuinely believes he is an awesome, beloved figure in Bikini Bottom who is above everyone else, which any other character can tell you is not true.
  • Big Bad: He's this for most episodes where he plays a big role. Since Season 9, he's also the most recurring villain, besides Plankton.
    • In "Pickles", he tricks SpongeBob into thinking he forgot the pickles on his order, sending the fry cook into a deep mental breakdown that he has to pull through and face off with Bubble Bass once again over.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass", he tricks SpongeBob and Patrick into moving his things across town for him in a scam to move into his grandmother’s basement.
    • In "Bubble Bass’s Tab", he runs away from the Krusty Krab when Mr. Krabs orders him to pay his huge tab he’s racked up, forcing SpongeBob and Squidward to go after him.
    • In "The Dirty Bubble Bass", he gets lured into becoming a willing partner of the Dirty Bubble, becoming the Villain Protagonist as he joins him on a crime spree.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Played With. His usual antics that cause trouble for the cast and town never approach the megalomania or ambition of Plankton, the actual Big Bad of the series, but Bubble Bass is so vain that he thinks he's superior to everyone and his schemes are brilliant and make him an intimidating threat. It's this overbloated confidence that frequently leads him to fail pathetically at whatever he was trying to accomplish.
  • Big Eater: Boy, oh boy, has he have a humongous appetite, making Garfield look skinny.
    • A fan translated his order to be a Krabby Patty with over twenty patties.
    • In "F.U.N.", he took off running when SpongeBob threw a single piece of popcorn.
    • In "Larry the Floor Manager", he nonchalantly orders a quadruple Krabby Patty, and in "Moving Bubble Bass" he casually eats two whole meals in one bite.
    • In "SpongeBob's Place", he leaves with a massive pyramid of Krabby Patties on his person.
    • In "Broken Record" he has a very tall quadruple Krabby Patty and complains that 14 pickles doesn't count as "extra" pickles.
    • In "Bubble Bass's Tab", he first orders a massive pile of food which includes a giant donut as big around as he is; then he tries to order fifty Krabby Patties via the drive-thru window.
    • In "Sea-Man Sponge Haters' Club", he notes that he was having a "light snack" between "first and second lunch"... said "light snack" being a towering bucket of large Krabby Patties, three huge boxes of fries, and a large hot dog. He also easily eats SpongeBob and goes back to eating.
    • In "BassWard", he spends the entire episode constantly eating snacks and even has his own personal cheese fondue pot that's about as big around as he is.
    • In "The Dirty Bubble Bass" he consumes a giant bucket of Krabby Patties that Mr. Krabs considered equivalent to their entire stock of the sandwiches and still wants more.
  • Breakout Character: He was a minor character in Season 1 and vanished from the series afterwards, but his popularity eventually resulted in him being brought back roughly 16 years later as a prominent secondary character who's even gotten a few spotlight episodes.
  • Brilliant, but Lazy:
    • It's shown on several occasions that Bubble Bass is actually very intelligent and has aspirations to become the host of his own talk show. However, instead of using his intelligence to improve himself and pursue what he wants, Bubble Bass instead merely focuses on having fun at the expense of others, gorging himself on comically huge amounts of food and just being an outright unpleasant individual. The mix of his immaturity, laziness and spitefulness prevents him from using his intelligence productively and causing his life to ultimately go nowhere, thus making him the hopeless Basement Dweller he is now.
    • "The Dirty Bubble Bass" also shows that once coaxed, Bubble Bass has genuine evil in him that gets brought out when the Dirty Bubble indulges his greed and gluttony. He probably could be a real threat to reckon with, but for all the reasons listed above, he would fail at being a credible villain too.
  • The Bus Came Back: Bubble Bass first made a few appearances in Season 1, before having an 11 year absence. Since his retintroduction into the series in Season 8, he's been promoted to the status of recurring character and has had numerous small roles, and even a few big ones.
  • Cannot Talk to Women: It's not been explicitly touched on, but his appearance in The Patrick Star Show shows him very interested in anime cat girls, unsurprisingly suggesting his love life with actual women is non-existent.
  • Card-Carrying Jerkass: Bubble Bass has no shame in being a complete asshole and prioritizing his own wants over literally everything and everyone else. When SpongeBob makes a speech about how Bubble Bass has proven himself to be a completely indecent bastard, Bubble Bass is shown listening with a smug smirk showing he doesn't give a shit about the idea of decency. In "The Dirty Bubble Bass" he eventually embraces genuine villainy, making him a Card-Carrying Villain in the episode.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • In his initial appearances, Bubble Bass' characterization boiled down to being a total douche whose entire reason for being was both as a snobbish glutton and as a sadistic jerk who antagonized SpongeBob however he could. Later episodes maintain his initial character trait, but also reformed him into something akin to a local nerd, who lives in his mother's basement and whose interests include playing roleplaying games and collecting action figures and comic books.
    • While he's still a pompous ass, he doesn't go out of his way to make SpongeBob's life miserable or treat him as an arch-enemy of sorts - and now usually makes the life of everybody he interacts with miserable, no longer regarding SpongeBob as his main target. By "Sea-Man Sponge Haters’ Club," he has joined a club that hates SpongeBob but doesn't actually wish him harm, a far cry from the sadistic joy he took in trying to mentally break him in "Pickles". This also applies to SpongeBob as well as he was shown to have a mutual dislike of Bubble Bass, but once Bubble Bass returned with revamped characterization, SpongeBob stopped hating Bubble Bass or displaying any knowledge of Bubble Bass's hatred of him.
    • While only lightly touched on in his first appearance, his Villainous Glutton trait is also played up since his appetite frequently causes problems for the other characters and himself.
    • His first appearance in "Pickles", which already had him scam Krabs out of two bucks, also reveals that he evidently stole a woman’s car keys, pushing him into a much more serious criminal light and suggesting he’s an active con artist and criminal. Later seasons tone this down as he's recharacterized into an immature manchild who has an extremely childish view of the world; while he does continue to be happy to swindle people out of things if it pleasures him, it's more out of a childish selfishness than being an active criminal. For example he tries to trick the SpongeBob and Patrick into handing over a Pigulon toy in "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" and refuses to pay a tab he worked up in "Bubble Bass’s Tab" because he's spent all his money on toys and cardboard.
    • With all this in mind, Bubble Bass was portrayed as one of the most sadistic, cruel antagonists the show had in its' early seasons due to his sadism and hatred of SpongeBob. Once he became a recurring character, he's played much more for laughs and shown to be incredibly pathetic and impossible to take seriously due to a pathetic lifestyle.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He played a major role in "Pickles" and was built up as a recurring enemy of SpongeBob's, but completely disappeared from the show for years, due to Plankton becoming a Breakout Villain. Since then, the creators seem to have realized his small cult following as he's become a main supporting character in the series. Prior to his "return", he did pop up in video games from time to time.
  • Collector of the Strange: Downplayed. Bubble Bass is shown to be an avid collector of toys, comic books and other pop culture items which is pretty normal, but it’s shown that he even collects expired candy from the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy franchise which must surely be several decades old by this point.
  • Comically Oversized Butt: Being overweight means Bubble Bass also has a very large bum. Many jokes revolving around Bubble Bass tend to emphasize just how massive his buttlocks are.
  • Dagwood Sandwich: His famous order from "Pickles", even though it's never actually seen. Four burger patties with lettuce, tomato, and onion on two slices of toast is already quite the tall order, and Bubble Bass is basically asking for that, multiplied by six and stacked together.
  • A Day in the Limelight:
    • Bubble Bass was heavily featured as the main character of "Swamp Mates", with Patrick being the secondary protagonist and SpongeBob barely even appearing at all, only making a brief cameo at the beginning of the episode.
    • Subverted in "Moving Bubble Bass". Despite being the titular character and the plot focusing on his move across town, the episode focuses almost entirely on SpongeBob and Patrick's antics, since Bubble Bass conned them into doing all the work for him. However, the episode reveals what his home life is like, revealing a great deal about his psyche and personality even though he doesn’t partake in the main action.
    • "Bubble Bass's Tab" heavily revolves around his conflict with SpongeBob and Squidward as they try to get him to pay the huge tab he's accumulated at the Krusty Krab. Like the previous example, it explains a lot about his immature personality and lifestyle given his stubborn refusal to take responsibility for his actions.
    • "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" is a fairy tale episode told about his quest to claim a new, valuable toy from SpongeBob and Patrick. Once again, the episode depicts in more detail what a pathetic loser he is and also shows that he is so entitled and selfish that he needs to steal a toy from two people who actually bought it themselves.
    • "BassWard" revolves around him and Squidward trying to make it to Jetsam City for conventions they're attending and Squidward having to deal with his obnoxious personality. The end of the episode strongly implies the pair are on their way to becoming Vitriolic Best Buds, suggesting Bubble Bass may actually have his first true friend.
    • "The Dirty Bubble Bass" sees him go from unwilling victim of possession from the Dirty Bubble to his willing partner, establishing that Bubble Bass has a genuinely evil part of him that is the end result of his selfishness, greed, and gluttony.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Several times.
    • In "Pickles", he keeps the two pickles from his first order under his tongue which only provides further damning evidence of his scam.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass" he decides to move out of his mother’s basement when she pushes him to do chores around the house like taking out the trash, but this is something he’d have to do anywhere he lived. It then gets subverted when he decides to move into his grandmother’s basement, somehow thinking he’ll get away with being a useless sponge there. He then sees the boys are just the kind of idiots he can con into moving his stuff for him, but that's just it - they're idiots who he forces to do all the work, including packing his things, for him. Naturally, SpongeBob and Patrick make a complete mess out of his things even if they hadn't accidentally packed up his mother and sent her on a violent crusade at the end of the episode.
    • In Bubble Bass's Tab, he just keeps massing up a massive tab at the Krusty Krab and clearly had no intention of paying it off. When Mr. Krabs finally has enough and forbids Bubble Bass from eating any more food from his restaurant, Bubble Bass tries to flip a coin and play a game, but all it does is anger Mr. Krabs. Then after Bubble Bass runs away, SpongeBob and Squidward are sent after him and beat him at Three Deadly Challenges. Clearly, if Bubble Bass hadn't built up such a massive tab or even started one in the first place, he wouldn't have gotten into trouble. He only got off paying for it because the Krusty Krab patrons paid it off to get rid of him.
    • In "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" he could’ve made it to the comic shop on time if he hadn’t wasted a lot of time trying to put on a costume simply to go buy the Pigulon toy. If he’s willing to shill out as much money as he usually does for his collectibles, he also could’ve simply looked online for one instead of trying to steal the toy that SpongeBob and Patrick legitimately bought.
  • Dirty Coward: Bubble Bass loves to act smug and condescending, especially when he's in control of a situation. However, as soon as the tables turn on him ("Bubble Bass's Tab") or he's caught in the act ("Pickles"), he chooses either to run away to avoid facing the consequences of his actions or cries to his mother for help.
  • Disappeared Dad: While his mother is eventually introduced and also becomes a recurring character, his father hasn't been mentioned or seen to date.
  • Easily Forgiven: In-Universe example that has evidently occurred off-screen. As SpongeBob is an All-Loving Hero and Mr. Krabs will take money from anybody, they don't mind that Bubble Bass returns as a regular customer of the Krusty Krab and often have perfectly civil conversations with him, even though he nearly destroyed their entire business and SpongeBob's mental health out of spite. Later seasons also see him occasionally on decent terms with the characters even after a bit more serialization kicks in.
  • Embodiment of Vice: Two.
    • Sloth. Bubble Bass is notoriously lazy as he prefers to spend his time playing with his toys, reading comics and eating fast food. He refuses to look for a job and cowers in fear at the very idea of having to pay the massive tab he owes at the Krusty Krab.
    • Lust. Bubble Bass only cares about his own personal pleasures with no regard of how his actions affect others. He is unrepentant in his pleasure-seeking lifestyle, only focusing on what he wants to do rather than what he needs to do.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Three that introduce both his original characterization and his newer characterization following his return to prominence.
    • In "Pickles" he's introduced giving an overcomplicated order, having a rivalry with SpongeBob, sadistically gloating that SpongeBob's apparent failure, tossing Squidward out of his way and torturing Mr. Krabs over a refund. It all establishes Bubble Bass as a snobbish glutton and a rampant sadist who delights in torturing others for his own amusement.
    • In "Bulletin Board" his minor appearance has him praise the Bulletin Board with a lot of pretentious jargon about how Pstar keeps it real, showing that Bubble Bass is being rewritten into a modern-day nerd. His introduction in "Moving Bubble Bass" also shows how despite his desires for fame and fortune, he's a lowlife sponge leeching off his mother and is too immature to do any hard work to improve himself.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • In "Swamp Mates" he claims he would never steal a part of someone else's toy collection for himself... then it gets Subverted when "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" has him try to steal a toy from SpongeBob and Patrick the entire episode.
    • He joins Squidward's anti-SpongeBob club, with said club's motto being that they don't actually want something bad to happen to the sponge.
    • In "BassWard" he is horrified when he and Squidward accidentally lose a baby and their mother out of the window of a train, though unlike Squidward he tries to bury the incident(s) under a rug to act like it never happened.
  • Evil Is Petty: Especially in Season 1. If he can get away with spiting someone, he'll do it.
    • In "Pickles", swatting Squidward to kingdom come the first time is admittedly understandable given Squidward was insulting his weight and order choice unprovoked. The second time? He’s clearly going out of his way to be an ass.
    • Even though there are plenty of open seats in the movie theater that he could move to in "F.U.N." (including the next seat over if he wants to stay in the front row), once SpongeBob tells him he's sat on his friend, Bubble Bass cruelly sinks himself into the seat further.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass", when the boys have brought his things to his grandmother’s house, he doesn’t just cruelly reveal that he ate their promised reward of free food, he belches loudly in their face and gloats like a supervillain just to rub it in how he scammed them.
    • In "The Dirty Bubble Bass", when his mother yells at him to take a bath, Bubble Bass uses Dirty Bubble Bubble Bath knowing it won't actually get him clean, just to spite her.
  • Evil Laugh: Lets out a bleating cackle when he thinks he's bested SpongeBob. It's almost like an evil version of SpongeBob's iconic dolphin laugh. The laugh hasn't returned since "Pickles", but Bubble Bass is always happy to let out a sinister cackle if he thinks he's won in a situation; such as "Sea-Man Sponge Haters' Club" when he eats a Krabby Patty and delights in foiling SpongeBob and getting something in his belly.
  • Fan Disservice: Who really wanted to see his tremendous ass slowly jiggling up and down in "F.U.N."? His later appearances also frequently display his corpulent physique in extreme detail, especially his gigantic ass.
  • Fatal Flaw: Immaturity. At the core of Bubble Bass’s unpleasant personality is his utter lack of maturity. Bubble Bass acts as little more than a spoiled brat in a twenty-something's body, prioritizing his own personal pleasures above improving his life and being far too lazy to search for a job, even outright cowering at the very idea of having to work. This heavily contributes to Bubble Bass being alienated and disdained by Bikini Bottom's inhabitants who despise his immature and spiteful bullying of others and seeing him as the pathetic, cowardly loser he is. Despite Bubble Bass's mother acknowledging what an immature brat her son is and actively trying to get him to stop his nonsense, Bubble Bass refuses to change his ways and remains a jobless, selfish, and lazy Basement Dweller.
  • Fat and Proud: Zigzagged. Bubble Bass, as noted in Weight Woe and Hidden Depths, is implied to feel self-conscious about his morbidly obese physique. However, several episodes show he revels in the size of his gigantic ass, proudly displaying it and shaking it, and even fantasizing about it being his most prized signature weapon as a superhero.
  • Fat Bastard: He's really not very nice, nor is he fit. When he's fleeing the Krusty Krab when he's been exposed, he's wheezing as he pathetically lumber-jogs off.
  • Fat Idiot: Even though he's a walking library of pop culture and fast food knowledge, his reckless immaturity and inability to think beyond what will pleasure him means he often makes terrible decisions that get him into trouble.
  • Fat Slob: Bubble Bass constantly eats large amounts of food and tends to be a very messy eater at times. The Patrick Star Show episode "Bubble Bass Reviews" even has Patrick claim that Bubble Bass has been shown getting food stains all over his clothes at least 500 times. Even outside of eating, he generally has poor hygiene and lives like a slob in a messy basement, and refuses to do chores like his own laundry or washing dishes. "Bubble Bass Reviews" also has Mama Bass claim that all of Bubble Bass's underwear has skid marks. "BassWard" also shows more of his living habits and he completely destroys a hotel bathroom just by going to take a shower, leaving a gigantic carpet of his own body hair and refusing to clean up after himself. "The Dirty Bubble Bass" also is an entire episode of him outright reveling in his poor hygiene.
  • Foil:
    • To Squilliam Fancyson. Both of them are Hate Sink Green and Mean jerks with no redeeming qualities who were introduced as an Arch-Enemy to leading characters (Bubble Bass for SpongeBob, Squilliam for Squidward). They are both arrogant, condescending, unpleasant and love to spite others just for fun (Squilliam by rubbing his wealth in others' faces, Bubble Bass by causing problems for others and harassing them). Not to mention both are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. Bubble Bass is a Fat Bastard and a Basement Dweller is far too lazy to get a job while Squilliam is a Lean and Mean Rich Bastard due to his successes in life. Bubble Bass is disdained by everyone due to his spiteful and immature behavior while Squilliam has a circle of friends (even though they're most likely sycophants). Both of them love to behave superior to others, though Squilliam was genuinely successful in his life (he just chooses to be a dick about it) while Bubble Bass is very unsuccessful as he has no job, no way of improving his life and is ultimately a pathetic loser who's too lazy to achieve what he wants. Both of them suffer from a Fatal Flaw that often leads to their downfall (Pride for Squilliam, Immaturity for Bubble Bass).
    • In many ways he’s like an evil version of SpongeBob. Bubble Bass is a lazy, gluttonous, immature, sadistic asshole who lives in his mother’s basement without helping her around the house. SpongeBob doesn’t overindulge in Krabby Patties, is a genuinely hard worker who takes pride in his work, generally tries to be an All-Loving Hero willing to help anybody, and owns his own house with a steady job. Bubble Bass also tries to make everybody else’s life miserable if it means getting what he wants, but while SpongeBob certainly aggravates people and makes them miserable, he makes up for it by genuinely not meaning to while Bubble Bass delights in the torment he intentionally puts people through. SpongeBob also understands he has responsibilities and knows there are consequences if he doesn’t fulfill them, while Bubble Bass refuses to get a job and outright cowers when he has no way to escape punishment for his actions. The one thing the two share is a vast knowledge of fast food and being sponges - SpongeBob being a literal one, while Bubble Bass is a metaphorical one since he mooches off his mother and squats in her basement.
  • Full-Name Basis: Bass is confirmed to be his actual surname once his mother is introduced, and he's always referred to by his full name.
  • Gasshole: Later seasons depict him frequently belching a huge plume of noxious gas, no doubt a consequence of a poor diet that consists largely of burgers and fast food. "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" claims that this is also something expected of him, as his mother chastises him for not being able to belch forcefully enough to blow down Squidward's house.
  • Genius Slob: Bubble Bass is portrayed as a nerd but he has practically no concern for his appearance or hygiene, always wearing a shirt too small for him, having terrible eating and living habits, dirty clothes, and in "The Dirty Bubble Bass" he revels in stinking like a pig after coming back from a comic book shop.
  • Geek Physiques: Bubble Bass is of the "fat nerd" type. He constantly eats large amounts of fast food and naturally has put on quite a bit of weight as a result, a trait that would complement his later characterization as a Basement Dweller geek.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: Despite being Hated by All and being the show's most frequently recurring villain besides Plankton, many episodes have Bubble Bass interacting or hanging out with other characters just fine when he's not indulging his hedonism, sadism, immaturity, or a combination of the three.
  • Gonk: With his rather small eyes, exposed belly and a huge rear end, Bubble Bass is just as ugly outside as he is inside.
  • Green and Mean: He's a brown-green bass who has done his share of jerkish actions.
  • Harmless Villain: Whenever he serves as an antagonist after "Pickles", he's a pretty pathetic threat in his own right due to being an out-of-shape, cowardly loser. In "F.U.N.", SpongeBob gets rid of him simply by throwing some stray popcorn for him to eat, and by Season 9 he’s usually reduced to begging for mercy after he gets defeated. He never compares to Plankton who has dreams of world domination, but his desire to get whatever he wants to make himself happy makes everybody else miserable in the process.
  • Hash House Lingo: As part of his "burger connoisseur" role, Bubble Bass is an expert in esoteric frycook terminology, and famously once orders a massive multi-decker burger using a barrage of lingo terms that Squidward can't even decipher. They're all real American frycook lingo terms, though a couple are slightly modified to make sense in an undersea setting.
  • Hated by All: Bubble Bass firmly causes himself to become this when he's exposed as a cheating fraud in "Pickles". Even with the loose continuity of the series not mentioning this event much afterwards, most of Bubble Bass's subsequent appearances show that everybody hates him for his foul, obnoxious attitude. Sometimes it's because he takes too long to come up with an order, sometimes it's because he's actively harassing and making people's lives miserable - and sometimes he's unintentionally making people's lives miserable. Either way, Bubble Bass won't win Most Beloved Citizen of Bikini Bottom anytime soon.
  • Hate Sink: In Season 1 he exists to be a cruel, unlikable bully. From Season 8 onward, he occasionally teams up with SpongeBob against a common foe or even serves as a protagonist of an episode, and becomes not quite as outright detestable. One may even find him pitiable due to being a hopeless basement dweller. Even then, his unpleasant personality, gluttonous appetite, utter spitefulness and laziness often makes him lose any sympathy from viewers.
  • The Hedonist: Bubble Bass is devoted to doing the things he likes most - eating lots of food and indulging in his nerdy interests like toys and comic books. He doesn't have a job or any ability to better himself as a consequence.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • While a thoroughly unpleasant individual in pretty much all respects, he also clearly knows a lot about comic books and role-playing games. His fantasy about having his own talk show suggests he really does want to be a successful, beloved TV star in his own right.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass" one can briefly see his diploma on the wall, showing that he at least put in the effort to get a college degree.
    • His avatar in "Bubble Bass Reviews" that depicts him as very slim and suave suggests that he has insecurities about his size. This is also supported by his appearance in Lights, Camera, Pants when he’s angry when a crack is made at his weight, and in "Sea-Man Sponge Hater’s Club" when SpongeBob also makes an oblivious crack at it.
    • "Tango Tangle" shows that he and his mother are talented tango dancers.
    • In "Captain Quasar: The Next Iteration", he expresses a rather open-minded view of how a franchise can be adapted, saying that it can have multiple works with multiple tones and doesn't have to stay the same forever. Considering his characterization in "Bubble Bass Reviews" as a kneejerk reactionary Caustic Critic online, it's quite surprising.
  • His Own Worst Enemy: Bubble Bass is surprisingly very intelligent when he wants to be and has legitimate aspirations to become a TV Star one day by hosting his own talk show. As per all his crippling flaws, Bubble Bass prefers to indulge in immature behavior, gorge himself on huge amounts of food, cause problems for others for his own entertainment and is too lazy to get a job and improve his life.
  • Hopeless with Tech: Type Two. Bubble Bass is shown to have basic computer smarts but is embarrassingly bad at more advanced functions like producing his own Internet review show, as "Bubble Bass Reviews" shows. He has to rely on primitive means like clip art and text boxes to try to make his show and it makes similarly shoestring budget Internet production Fixin' It With Soos look like Citizen Kane.
  • Ignored Epiphany:
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass" it’s subverted when he gets the impetus to move out of his mother’s basement. Rather than doing it to improve his life and grow up, he’s only doing it because he’s tired of her demanding him to do chores around the house and decides to move into his grandmother’s basement, which is even more pathetic and arguably even more despicable since he doesn’t intend to help his elderly grandmother around the house either.
    • He has amassed a huge collection of toys, comic books and the like despite not having a job and presumably relying on his mother’s allowance. Having so many expensive collectibles on a meager budget is impressive and suggests that if Bubble Bass wanted to, he could be a wise spender and could have an even more impressive collection if he had his own income. Alas, Bubble Bass is too childish and lazy to go find a job and is happy to remain a leech depending on her for everything.
  • Insufferable Genius: Downplayed. Even though Bubble Bass is obviously portrayed as a huge nerd starting in Season 9, he's so immature, selfish, and reckless that he constantly makes terrible decisions that suggest a lack of intelligence instead; this mixed with his unpleasant attitude and claims that he is superior to everyone else just makes him look worse as someone who claims to be smart but isn’t.
  • It's All About Me: At the end of the day Bubble Bass is most concerned with himself and making himself happy, the effects it has on others be damned.
  • Jerkass: He's this more than anything else - in his first appearance, he nearly robbed SpongeBob of his self-confidence for no reason whatsoever.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", Bubble Bass helps set up SpongeBob's party and even joins in singing "Happy Birthday" to him.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In "Moving Bubble Bass", he offered SpongeBob and Patrick each a free meal from the Krusty Krab, if they helped him move out of his mother's house. By the end, despite them both doing all the hard work for him, he ends up eating both meals, while burping and gloating in their faces.
  • Joke of the Butt: Bubble Bass can rarely go an episode without at least one gag revolving around his massive toosh, such as rubbing it into his seat in "F.U.N." after being told that he was sitting on Plankton, rubbing it against a window while taunting Mr. Krabs in "Bubble Bass's Tab," or having it be used as a makeshift ramp in "Delivery to Monster Island."
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Bubble Bass tends to get struck by some form of misfortune on a regular basis. Since he's always a massive jerk to everyone, any instance of him suffering is usually well-deserved.
  • Karma Houdini:
    • Subverted in "Pickles". At first glance it looks like he gets away with his actions by running away when he's been caught, but he's been exposed as a fraud and con artist to the entire town who now hate his guts, meaning he's caused himself to become an outcast with a permanently damaged reputation.
    • In "Bubble Bass's Tab", he gets out of having to pay or work off his debt at the Krusty Krab due to being such a terrible worker that he drives the customers off the walls and subsequently pay off the tab. Once he's released, he goes right back to stealing food on another tab, showing he didn't learn his lesson and will continue pestering the Krusty Krab. The episode doesn't treat this as The Bad Guy Wins since Squidward and SpongeBob had fun triumphing over Bubble Bass.
    • In "The Dirty Bubble Bass", once the Dirty Bubble has been defeated, Bubble Bass is hauled home to be bathed by his mother, and isn't shown being held accountable for his destructive crime spree across Bikini Bottom during the episode.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty:
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass", SpongeBob and Patrick leave him in a huff due to thinking Bubble Bass has succeeded in scamming them to move his things across town in exchange for a lunch he was never going to give them. However, Bubble Bass is due to find out that the boys destroyed all his things since he forced them to pack them for the move, and he ends up being physically tortured by his mother who thinks he locked her in a box and jerked her around town.
    • In "BassWard", Squidward is the protagonist of most of the episode who has to endure the constant antics of Bubble Bass who gets away with most of it. At the end of the episode, while Squidward's clarinet convention is ruined, so is Bubble Bass's comic convention.
  • Kevlard: Zigzagged. Bubble Bass is as weak and out of shape as his obese physique suggests, but there are a few occasions when his corpulence has helped him. In "Plankton’s Good Eye", he survives a fall from the top of a multistory building just fine without any trampoline or anything to break his fall. In "Abandon Twits", his ass is somehow so strong that when Mr. Krabs's yacht rams into him, he tears a gaping hole in the ship like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • His treatment of SpongeBob was already bad, but throwing the relatively innocent Squidward (who made a crack at his obesity) around was even worse.
    • When told he is sitting on a friend of SpongeBob's at the movie theater, his response is to smirk and rub his ass deeper into the seat.
    • "Moving Bubble Bass" sees him scam the boys into doing his move for him, and he cruelly reveals he ate the free lunch he promised them as a reward just to spite them further.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Downplayed example and only in his first appearance. He proves to be a sadistic piece of work who has a personal vendetta with SpongeBob, and is the only character in the first season to earn genuine antipathy from the little yellow guy; his goal to sadistically run SpongeBob out of his job out of petty spite is a much more malicious goal than any other antagonist of the first season up to that point. It's downplayed since he doesn't drain the comedy from the episode and provides plenty of it in his own right. Once he's exposed as a cheating fraud, he becomes a comedic antagonist much like the other villains of the show.
  • Lack of Empathy:
    • One of his main traits is how he doesn't care about how anything he does affects anybody else since all he cares about is himself and his pleasures.
    • In "Pickles" he devotes himself entirely to destroying SpongeBob's career and mental well-being, being enraged to hear that the sponge has come back after a leave of absence.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass" he is shown to refuse to do chores around the house due to laziness, and he was planning on doing the same at his grandmother's house. He then scams SpongeBob and Patrick into doing all the hard work to move his things and cruelly reveals his con to their faces.
    • In "Momageddon" he mocks Squidward for feeling bad about the moms doing all the work at the Krusty Krab and gloats that he relishes his mother having to do everything for him.
    • In "BassWard" he has no empathy whatsoever for whatever misfortunes befall Squidward, most of which were his own fault.
  • Large Ham: He's immense and Dee Bradley Baker gives him a bombastic, drama queen performance to match. It gets much more pronounced when he's brought back as a regular character and his worst traits begin to get a light shined on them.
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • "Pickles" ends with him being exposed as a liar, and thief to the entire town and being forced to run for his life to avoid the consequences, pathetically wheezing due to his poor shape the whole way.
    • After his poor treatment of SpongeBob and Patrick in "Moving Bubble Bass," the two inadvertently destroy several of Bubble Bass' belongings while packing them up, ruins his mother's house, and accidentally pack his mother with his belongings, who then packs him into a box and starts ramming him into stuff as payback for what she had to endure.
    • In "Bubble Bass's Tab", after running up a huge debt at the Krusty Krab, he is eventually defeated by the crew and forced to work off his tab on janitor duty.
    • In "The Big Bad Bubble Bass", he is on the wrong end of a raging Mama Bass when she learns he lied to her about the boys stealing Pigulon from him, and then is finally given the toy.. only to find it’s been destroyed beyond all worth by both the chaos of his attempts to steal it and Patrick’s Neanderthal treatment of it.
  • Lazy Bum: He mostly devotes his time to eating food from the Krusty Krab and playing with his toys and collectibles. His mother says he doesn’t do any chores around the house. He outright cowers in terror when Mr. Krabs orders him to pay his tab, and later is so bad at janitor duty that the patrons of the Krusty Krab pay his tab for him to get him out of their hair. In "Momageddon" he enjoys being treated like a baby by his mother and proudly boasts about how living that way means she does everything for him.
  • The Leader: Recently he’s been established as the ringleader of a team of nerds consisting of himself, Kevin C. Cucumber, and Harvey.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: In the Kamp Koral episode "Five Times the Fun", his reaction to being reduced to a skeleton from the neck down by several hungry Patrick clones is mild annoyance at best.
  • Manchild:
    • He generally comes off like a spoiled bratty child in a twenty-something's body. He is incredibly selfish and unable to consider anybody else besides himself, and recklessly spends his money on toys and personal pleasures despite not being willing to take on a job, showing he's not financially responsible. What drove him to try to move out of his mother's house at one point was being ordered to take out the trash. He's prone to bullying and immaturely mocking people (such as singing a childish song in front of Mr. Krabs after being caught trying to order more food despite racking up a massive tab). He also acts like he can't stand his mother, but also lives in fear of punishment from her and will pathetically cry for her nonetheless if he's in trouble. And he usually doesn't learn his lesson even when he gets his comeuppance. To his mother's credit, however, she is fully aware of what a pain in the ass her grown son is and does not tolerate or coddle him when he acts up. The Dirty Bubble even lampshades this by referring to him as a manchild.
    • "Momageddon" ups this to eleven by depicting him as openly enjoying being treated like a baby by his mother, as he is happy that he doesn't have to do anything for himself. This includes drinking soda using a baby bottle, being kept on a literal leash by his mother, and expecting to be taken for ice cream if he behaves like a good little boy.
  • Meaningful Name: Say his name repeatedly and quickly and you'll discover why the name is perfect for him. It fits even more since every episode with him inevitably focuses on his large rump.
  • Momma's Boy: Negative example and a twisted one at that. He spends most of his time giving his mother attitude and saying how much he hates her allegedly overly controlling behavior, but the moment he’s in trouble he’s usually reduced to crying for her to help him like a baby. "Tango Tangle" shows that they’re also tango partners to show how much of a momma’s boy he is; but "Momageddon" takes it up to eleven to show he fully enjoys being coddled like a baby by his mother if it means he doesn't have to do anything for himself.
  • Money Dumb: He doesn't have a job due to being too lazy and unwilling to stop living off his mother, but he still wastes a lot of money on unnecessarily expensive tabs at the Krusty Krab and personal pleasures like toys and cardboard for his personal Three Deadly Challenges set. These purchases contribute to his lack of self-growth and his life going nowhere. In "BassWard", Bubble Bass buys two train tickets, "one for each cheek", but is shown to be able to reasonably fit in one, meaning he spent double the amount of money he actually needed for a train ticket just for his own comfort.
  • Nerdy Bully: Not at first, but eventually became one through Characterization Marches On. He is introduced as a sadistic, spiteful and petty bully and this trait remains as he is later developed into a nerdy Basement Dweller who focuses on his love of toys, comic books and other such interests.
  • Never My Fault: Due to his immaturity and selfishness, Bubble Bass is incapable of accepting that his misfortunes frequently arise due to him causing most of the trouble he gets into. In "Bubble Bass's Tab", he feels like he is being unjustly tortured by Mr. Krabs who is forcing him to work off his debt at the Krusty Krab, is unable to see how he got himself into this mess, and once he's been relieved of duty, he goes right back to the destructive spending habits that started it all with a grin on his face, proving he is incapable of change.
  • No Social Skills: Played With. It's shown Bubble Bass is capable of going about his business like ordering food from the Krusty Krab just fine, but most of the time, Bubble Bass is so immature and selfish that he fails to have meaningful interactions with other people. He spends most of his time being obnoxious and immature to the point he doesn't have any friends due to being so hated. In "Swamp Mates", his mother even sets up a play date for him like he's a little kid needing friends... but to be fair, he is a massive man child.
  • Not Me This Time:
    • Even in his introductory scene in "Pickles", Squidward insults his weight the first time he sees him completely unprovoked. Squidward insulting his order is also not necessarily called for, meaning that the first time Bubble Bass pimp slaps Squidward, it’s arguably called for as something of a karmic attitude readjustment. However, Bubble Bass then starts his feud with SpongeBob, making this trope go away as his villainy takes over.
    • In "F.U.N.", he can be forgiven for not noticing the tiny Plankton when he takes his seat on top of him. But Bubble Bass being Bubble Bass, once he learns he’s sitting on a friend of SpongeBob’s, he once again restarts his feud by squashing Plankton deliberately out of spite.
    • In "Fools in April" he was only eating food at the Krusty Krab when SpongeBob violently ripped through his rear end during Squidward's prank gone overboard.
    • Zigzagged in "Moving Bubble Bass". It's clear he's going to scam SpongeBob and Patrick from the start, but SpongeBob and Patrick are dumb enough to not see through it and think Bubble Bass is going to come through with rewarding them for their services. They start packing his things for him, but resort to destroying most of them to get them packed into boxes. On the off chance that Bubble Bass had been sincere about rewarding them fairly, he would've been SOL.
    • In "My Leg!", he is simply minding his own business walking down the street when Patrick, trying to protect Fred’s leg, bumrushes him, sending him flying painfully across the street.
    • In "Krabby Patty Creature Feature", he’s just another innocent victim of the mutated Krabby Patties.
    • In "Sea-Man Sponge Haters’ Club", he was only trying to eat his order at the Krusty Krab, but SpongeBob's perfectionism caused him to ruin Bubble Bass's meal and even do him bodily harm.
    • In "Abandon Twits", he was simply swimming in Goo Lagoon when the S.S. Sea-Cret Formula happened upon him and couldn't pivot away from him fast enough.
    • In "Tango Tangle" he and his mother have been champions at tango three years in a row and only end up antagonists by default when Karen and Plankton challenge them for the title.
  • Occidental Otaku: The Patrick Star Show episode "Bubble Bass Reviews" reveals that Bubble Bass has a bit of an interest in anime catgirls, as he has a wallpaper depicting one named Kitten Princess on his computer and at one point a clip of him wearing Kitten Princess cosplay is shown.
  • Overcomplicated Menu Order: Due to his Big Eater habits, Bubble Bass tends to make his orders at the Krusty Krab way more complicated than necessary. In "Larry the Floor Manager," he even takes so long to place his order that he ends up driving customers away, prompting Mr. Krabs to shove a patty down his throat and tell him to just buy a regular Krabby Patty.
  • Paper Tiger: In his first appearance, Bubble Bass appears somewhat menacing and intimidating due to his large stature, sadistic personality, ability to fling people around like toys, and ability to earn disdain from the all-loving SpongeBob. However, he's revealed to be a Dirty Coward at the end of "Pickles" who runs away when he's been caught in the act, and later his return to prominence in Season 9 shows that he's an irresponsible manchild who is extremely pathetic.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: At the end of "F.U.N.", the episode ends with him trying to eat Plankton, mistaking him for a jelly bean. Plankton had just been exposed as being Evil All Along and taking advantage of SpongeBob, so the audience knows Plankton had it coming.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • In "Plankton's Good Eye", he thanks Plankton for rescuing him, and when Plankton is given a surprise party for all the good deeds he's done, Bubble Bass is among the people at the party.
    • In "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", he helps set up SpongeBob's surprise birthday party.
    • In "Sea-Man Sponge Hater's Club" he's a respectful member of the club who listens to the others' stories with genuine sympathy. Heck, joining the club in general is this considering that the club creed is that they don't actually want something bad to happen to SpongeBob.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Kind of; in his first appearance it's made clear he and SpongeBob have an antagonistic history when he first debuts.
  • Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He has made crossover appearances in The Patrick Star Show, most notably "Bubble Bass Reviews" where he becomes Patrick's Caustic Critic.
  • Serious Business: To go with his immaturity for his age, food and his nerdy interests like toys and comic books are this for him. He always wants to stuff himself with fancy orders of food, usually at the Krusty Krab and his weight shows he indulges in his interest in food way too much. His collection of toys and merchandise also plays a role such as in "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" when he immaturely declares his life is over due to missing out on the last Pigulon toy and spends the entire episode trying to steal the last one from somebody who bought it.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Unsurprisingly, Bubble Bass shows all seven of them throughout his appearances.
    • Pride: Bubble Bass is a very smug and condescending person who believes himself superior to others and rarely admits his wrongs...if ever. Despite Bubble Bass's perceived superiority over others, he's ultimately a pathetic, lazy and cowardly loser with nothing to boast about it, not that it stops him. Due to this, Bubble Bass never learns from his mistakes even when he suffers the consequences of his actions, such as in 'Bubble Bass's Tab' when him amassing such a huge tab got him in trouble and he had to work at the Krusty Krab to pay it off. Even after the patrons paid off Bubble Bass's tab, he immediately opened a new one.
    • Lust: Bubble Bass is an unrepentant hedonist, only caring about indulging in his personal pleasures of eating food, recklessly spending his money on toys, and spiting people for fun.
    • Greed: Bubble Bass is very irresponsible in terms of money, choosing to spend it on large amounts of food, cardboard for his Three Deadly Challenges set as well as toys and comics. The stuff Bubble Bass spends his money is on is ultimately pointless as it does nothing to help him improve his life and only fuels his immature lifestyle. In "The Dirty Bubble Bass", what makes him into a willing cohort of the Dirty Bubble is when they rob a bank blind and get him a bunch of cash.
    • Sloth: Bubble Bass is extremely lazy, choosing instead to indulge in his vices and immature behavior rather than work to improve his life. He is unrepentant in his hedonism, shows no concern for the concepts of right and wrong as he prioritizes his personal pleasures above all else, and shows complete apathy towards work of any kind since he refuses to look for a job. In 'Bubble Bass's Tab', after he loses the Three Deadly Challenges and has to work off his massive tab, he barely puts any effort into his job. Heck, he cleans the dishes with a TOILET!
    • Wrath: Bubble Bass can get very angry when his mother interrupts his activities and tried to move out simply because she wanted him to do chores. He also tends to throw fits when his very complicated and picky orders aren't done precisely the way he wants them.
    • Gluttony: Bubble Bass loves to gorge himself on comically huge quantities of fast food. In one episode, Bubble Bass considers a 'light snack' to be a big bucket of Krabby Patties, three large orders of fries, a hot dog and a large soda. He's also excessively picky as his orders are extremely complicated and he'll throw a fit when it's not done precisely the way he wants it.
    • Envy: It's implied several times that despite his condescending behavior, Bubble Bass is jealous of SpongeBob for his successes (having his own home, working a full time job, being rather popular with the people of Bikini Bottom (barring a few for obvious reasons)). Due to his spiteful personality, he takes pleasure in the suffering of others, most proven in 'Pickles' when he ruined SpongeBob's mental health and self-confidence simply for his own entertainment.
  • The Slacker: He doesn't have his own job and seemingly pays for his toys and food with his mother's allowance. When he was put to work at the Krusty Krab he was horrendously bad and drove the customers crazy enough that they pitched in to pay his tab for him, and is evidently so unacquainted with chores that he washed dishes in the toilet. At home, his mother also has to yell at him for refusing to do chores like taking out the trash, doing the dishes, and walking the worm, and she also has to do his laundry for him.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Bubble Bass is generally a smug, rude and condescending person who loves to behave as though he's superior to everyone...except he's a Basement Dweller who's too lazy to get a job, has no friends in his life due to his unpleasant personality, he lacks any accomplishments that he can be proud of, and does nothing to achieve his desires of becoming a TV Star. Bubble Bass loves to talk a big game, but when it matters, he has nothing he can boast about. Nobody falls for his talk either, since everybody in town hates him and see him for the pathetic lowlife he really is.
  • Smug Snake: He's quite full of himself, but at the end of his debut, it turns out he's been using dirty tactics to mess with SpongeBob. When he's found out and confronted for it, he immediately runs off. This carries on in his other appearances, as he usually acts smug and wicked when he has the upper hand, but the moment he begins suffering consequences, he's reduced to a crying wreck.
  • Species Surname: He's a sea bass named Bubble Bass.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Appears significantly more often after the second movie, to the point of overshadowing characters like Sandy, Mrs. Puff and Larry the Lobster, and getting to co-star in an episode alongside Squidward in the first episode of the series without SpongeBob appearing.
  • Stereotypical Nerd: In addition to wearing glasses, having a large amount of weight, and being unusually knowledgeable in Hash House Lingo and food preperation in general, later seasons would characterize Bubble Bass as a geek who lives in his mother's basement, keeps collectibles in their packaging, and is obsessed with comic books and role-playing games. The Patrick Star Show takes this further by having him state that the Shell City Comic Convention is the only holiday he celebrates in one episode and hosting an online review show similar to Caustic Critics such as The Nostalgia Critic and The Mysterious Mr. Enter in another episode.
  • Stout Strength: In his first appearance, despite his obesity, he's strong enough to effortlessly push away an entire crowd of people and fling Squidward around like a toy. However, later episodes show that he has the pathetically poor physical stamina and ability to do hard work that his physique would suggest.
  • Thin-Skinned Bully: In his first appearance he's smug and sadistic until he's been foiled, after which he pathetically runs for his life in shame. In later appearances, while he doesn't go out of his way to bully people as often as he did in "Pickles", he's still happy to push people around and make them miserable until they inevitably gain the upper hand, and then he's reduced to a cowering wreck.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: He's not as outright sadistic as he was in the first season in his later appearances, and doesn't go out of his way to make SpongeBob's life miserable in particular. He's still very unpleasant and unlikable, however.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Krabby Patties, especially with pickles. Most episodes show him ordering quadruple patty burgers due to his gluttonous appetite.
  • Trrrilling Rrrs: Bubble Bass sometimes has a tendency to roll his R's when he's hamming it up.
    Bubble Bass: How about a game of Thrrree Deadly Challenges?
  • Unsatisfiable Customer:
    • Type 4, since he was making false complaints for SpongeBob's flawless service, either for a free Krabby Patty or just to Mind Screw SpongeBob For the Lulz.
    • In "Broken Record" he sends back his dish to the kitchen complaining that his request for extra pickles on his burger wasn't fulfilled, since SpongeBob "only" put 14 pickles on it.
  • Villain of the Week: Bubble Bass served as the main antagonist of "Pickles" and otherwise was only a minor nuisance in "F.U.N." and made a minor cameo in "Fools in April". After a single few cameos in "Plankton's Good Eye", he eventually became a Breakout Villain and one of the main supporting characters, ultimately growing out of this trope.
  • Villain Protagonist: Bubble Bass is occasionally the main character of an episode but sometimes he has nefarious goals in mind, such as trying to steal a toy from the boys in "The Big Bad Bubble Bass". Some episodes like "Swamp Mates", however, have him as the focus without him being the main antagonist of the episode.
  • Villainous Glutton: In the later seasons he is usually seen ordering extremely large amounts of food such as quadruple burgers, and even his iconic first order from "Pickles" was deciphered by fans to be a 24-Patty sandwich. Bubble Bass' appetite is only matched by his tremendous size, a clear consequence of such a diet. In "Sea-Man Sponge Haters' Club", he is outright giggling with delight once he gets to eat something from his order, and is even happy once SpongeBob forced himself down into his belly, suggesting he wouldn't have minded if the fully grown adult sponge had stayed there. In "The Dirty Bubble Bass" he gluttonously tries to eat the Krusty Krab out of house and home with the Dirty Bubble encouraging him.
  • Villain Respect:
    • He evidently wasn't lying in "Pickles" when he said that he enjoyed SpongeBob's cooking (pickle scam notwithstanding), as later seasons show him constantly gluttonously feasting on vast quantities of food from the Krusty Krab.
    • In "Tango Tangle" he concedes that he can’t even bring himself to hate Plankton and Karen because they’re just that good at dancing.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: "Pickles" implies he is something of a respected food critic around town since the customers all gather around to witness him trying a Krabby Patty for the first time, and they seemingly have No Sympathy for SpongeBob when he supposedly forgets the pickles. This goes away by the end of the episode as SpongeBob exposes him as a lying fraud, resulting in the townspeople finally deciding they hate his guts for everything he's done and for being a con artist. Later episodes of the series establish he is Hated by All for his immaturity, gluttony, selfishness, and hedonism, though on occasion his opinion in food is valued by other people.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: "BassWard" implies he and Squidward are on their way to becoming this after surviving their trip gone wrong together. The end of the episode amiably telling each other they hate each other.
  • Weight Woe: A few scenes suggest he has insecurities about his size as noted in Hidden Depths.
  • Wicked Cultured: As gluttonous as he is, he is genuinely well-versed in food preparation and is a veritable encyclopedia of kitchen lingo and ingredients. His later characterization as a stereotypical nerd also lines up as he is shown to be highly knowledgeable of pop culture (such as comic books, role-playing games, etc.).
  • You Are Fat: Downplayed in Season 1, as he only receives one crack about his weight, but his huge size is usually portrayed as being for laughs. In later seasons, his obesity, huge appetite, and poor shape start serving more as a source of physical comedy, as do his massive orders of fast food he's seen trying to gorge himself on.

    Kevin C. Cucumber 

Kevin C. Cucumber

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kevin_c_cucumber.jpg

An obnoxious sea cucumber, who SpongeBob and Patrick formerly admire and idolize.


  • Alliterative Name: Kevin C. Cucumber.
  • Asshole Victim: He constantly gets injured when he tries to get SpongeBob hurt. And he gets the fronds on his head torn off at the end of his episode. It should be Body Horror, but he deserved it for the massive jerk he was being.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: He smacks the first jellyfish that flies into SpongeBob's net and kicks 20 others that do the same. These result in him getting stung. The King Jellyfish's reaction to seeing him implies he's done worse.
  • Beard of Sorrow: In "Mooned" he is seen with a long unkept beard after being thrown out of the Jellyspotters and living in a trash can for who knows how long.
  • Broken Pedestal: SpongeBob immediately loses his admiration toward Kevin upon realizing how much of a jerk he truly is.
  • The Bus Came Back: He returns for a role in "Patrick the Mailman", which aired 20 years after his debut.
  • Crown-Shaped Head: Near the end of the episode, his "crown" is revealed to actually be part of his head.
  • Dirty Coward:
    • After being chased into a cave by the King Jellyfish, he pushes one of the Jellyspotters out to be electrocuted rather than check himself.
    • In "Mooned" when he and SpongeBob find the elusive Moon Jelly, he runs away screaming leaving SpongeBob by himself.
  • For the Evulz: He picks on and belittles SpongeBob and then tries to drive him off a cliff for no apparent reason behind his own amusement. And later it's implied that he's done this to all of his "biggest fans".
  • Hate Sink: One of the biggest deliberately unlikable characters in the series given him taking advantage of SpongeBob’s devotion towards him to torment him (which he has done with his other fans). He also doesn't know or care about Jellyfish and is a coward to boot. In "Mooned", he appears sympathetic and grateful to SpongeBob, only to betray him again at the end, while also revealing he faked his video of him capturing the Moon Jellyfish.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: In his debut episode he was the leader of a prestigious Jellyfishing Club with a lot of devoted fans. However in "Mooned" he has been kicked out of the club for years, and has to live in a trash can.
  • I Want My Mommy!: Breaks down and cries for his mama after he and the other Jelly Spotters are trapped by the King Jellyfish.
    Help me, Mommy! Help me, Mommy! I want my blankie! I want my blankie!
  • Jerkass: He acts smug and antagonistic towards SpongeBob, and his tests are just hopes of SpongeBob getting seriously hurt.
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Kevin ends up getting injured a few times in this episode. Considering how much of a jerkass he is, his butt monkey status is well deserved.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • The way he taunts SpongeBob after he realizes that the Queen Jellyfish was fake was definitely the cruelest thing he did to him in the episode.
    • Earlier, he kicks a net full of Jellyfish after being frustrated with SpongeBob’s success. They procede to mercilessly sting him.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: The end of his first appearance reveals that he actually knows nothing about jellyfish, and the only reason he got into jellyfishing in the first place was because of the merchandise.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: After everything Kevin did toward SpongeBob throughout the episode, the other Jellyspotters rightfully punish him by ripping off his Crown-Shaped Head and exiling him. SpongeBob also rightfully turns down the offer to join, having realized it's not about Kevin, but the jellyfish themselves.
  • Miles Gloriosus: An apparent expert at jellyfish hunting, if not the king of the activity. When King Jellyfish arrives on the scene, he becomes a sniveling coward who leaves it up to SpongeBob to deal with.
  • Nerdy Bully: While Kevin has all the outward trappings of a nerd (nasal voice, niche interests, and even a pocket protector), he behaves more like a mean-spirited fratboy; he leads an exclusive clique, decides what's fashionable and what isn't, and enjoys hazing "losers" like SpongeBob after baiting them with the promise of getting into the club.
  • Noodle Incident: The King Jellyfish gets really angry when it sees him, implying that the two have some sort of history. It even bellows his name the minute it notices him.
    King Jellyfish: KEEEEEEVIINNNNN!!!
  • Punny Name: His middle initial is C and his last name is Cucumber. He's a sea cucumber.
  • Rebuilt Pedestal: At the start of "Mooned" SpongeBob seems to respect him again, and after seeing Kevin in a pathetic state living in a trash can, SpongeBob helps him relearn jellyfishing and the two work together to catch the Moon Jellyfish. Then Kevin squanders it again by backstabbing SpongeBob to take full credit.
  • The Reveal:
    • He actually doesn't know anything about jellyfishing, and just got into jellyfishing for the fashionable merchandise.
    • It's also Played for Black Comedy. His "crown" is actually part of his head, and the other Jellyspotters basically ripped off the top of his head and gave it to SpongeBob.
  • Smug Snake: Constantly attempts to sabotage SpongeBob's attempts to get into the Jelly Spotters and is always convinced that his plans won't fail. Except they do fail. Constantly. And hilariously.
  • Species Surname: He's a sea cucumber, and Cucumber happens to be his last name.
  • Ungrateful Bastard:
    • Even after SpongeBob saves his life, he's still a massive jerk to him! This prompts the Jellyspotters to turn on him and evict him from the club.
    • In "Mooned", SpongeBob helps him get his jellyfishing skills back and they work together to capture the Moon Jellyfish. He then proceeds to saw off SpongeBob’s Jellyfish Net handle to take sole credit.
  • Villain of the Week: Much like fellow Dee Bradley Baker-voiced Hate Sink Bubble Bass, he was originally a one-shot antagonist, but decades later he returned as a recurring character, growing out of this trope.
  • Visual Pun: A sea cucumber who looks like an actual cucumber.

    Fred 

Fred

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fred_rechid_just_standing_there.png
"My leg!"
Voiced by: Various (primarily Mr. Lawrence)
Debut: "Reef Blower"

An accident-prone fish seen in various episodes to say his famous catchphrase after something bad happens to him. This character model's name has varied; in most appearances from seasons 1 to 10, he was nameless, with the exception of "Patty Hype" in which he is called Fred in a 2-second throwaway line. His name was given as Clint in "Big Sister Sam" from season 7. In season 10, the new showrunners re-adopted the name Fred after seeing it on fan-made wikis, mistaking it for a fan-created name.


  • Ascended Extra: Originally just a background character, Fred rose to prominence in "My Leg!", which was all about him. Since then, Fred has not been forgotten as he's made plenty of supporting roles in future episodes, not as a background character, but as just another member of the recurring cast. He'd still be referred to by name, he'd have meaningful interactions and relationships with the other characters, and he was just one of the guys.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: Before Fred officially became the designated "My Leg" guy in Season 11, earlier episodes would feature other background characters getting hurt and saying "MY LEG!".
  • Breakout Character: Easily one of the most popular minor characters of the series thanks to his hilarious Butt-Monkey status and tons of his dialogue becoming memes such as "Rev Up Those Fryers", "DEUAAAAAUGH", and of course, "MY LEG!".
  • Butt-Monkey: With as much misfortune he suffers from episode to episode, there's a reason he says "My Leg!" so much.
  • Catchphrase: Fred often says "my leg!" whenever gets injured.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Ever since Fred was officially turned into a consistent supporting character, his blue and brown palette swaps completely stopped appearing.
  • A Day in the Limelight: He is focused on in the episode appropriately titled "My Leg!".
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Due to originally being a background character, with no set in stone role or personality, there are multiple episodes of the show, depicting Fred as someone he's not. Certain episodes show him as being a married man, others depict him as a farmer, in some episodes, he's an old man, others give him a British accent and many episodes depict him as being blue, purple, or brown. And in "No Nose Knows" alone, he actually becomes female for one scene, before going back to male in a later scene.
  • Frozen Face: In "Face Freeze", Fred kept sticking his tongue out at random people on the streets, just to be rude. Eventually, he did this too many times, 444 times to be exact, which led to his face freezing that way.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Typically wears a pair of pants but no shirt.
  • Hidden Depths: If the episodes like "Jellyfish Hunter" and "My Leg!" are any indication, Fred appear to be quite a talented singer.
  • Inconsistent Coloring: He is in both brown and blue versions. There is also a brown-green version used only once, in "Professor Squidward".
  • Jerkass Ball: In "Face Freeze", Fred walked around Bikini Bottom, sticking his tongue out at everyone he saw.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Quite a few episodes show him as a rude and antagonistic character, but like the other incidentals, he really isn't a bad person.
  • The Klutz: Due to the fact that he's a Butt-Monkey, it's a given that he's very clumsy.
  • Love Makes You Dumb: It was revealed in "My Leg!" that he's been purposefully breaking his leg because he's in love with Nurse Daisy Bazooka, a nurse who works at the hospital, and breaking his leg is the only way to get close to her.
  • NO INDOOR VOICE: He yells quite a lot of his dialogue.
  • Out of Focus: Due to the fact he is a minor character, he usually rarely plays a major role.
  • Ow, My Body Part!: He's constantly heard yelling "MY LEG!!!", even when it is not even his leg being put through harm.
  • Running Gag: The infamous "MY LEG!" gag, where whenever there's a huge accident in the show, you can always hear somebody say "MY LEG!" That somebody would later turn out to be Fred.
  • Self-Harm: It was revealed in "My Leg!" that Fred willfully injures his leg on purpose because he's in love with the nurse and whenever he goes to the hospital for his broken leg, he gets to see her.
  • Subverted Catchphrase: The Patrick Star Show occasionally has him say variants of his catchphrase where he screams that something besides his leg is getting harmed or destroyed, like saying "My eggs!" in "House Hunting" and "My butt!" in "The Drooling Fool".
  • They Killed Kenny Again: Played With. He doesn't "die", but whenever he shows up you can expect him to get horribly injured and scream... do we really have to say it?
  • Uncle Pennybags: In "One Krabs' Trash", Fred was an eccentric billionaire who bid one million dollars on Mr. Krabs' soda hat.

    Mama Bass 

Mama Bass

Debut: "Moving Bubble Bass"

Bubble Bass's mother who is weary of her son's immaturity.


  • Acrofatic: Like her son, she's obese, but unlike her son she has a lot more physical stamina and can pull off some impressive feats for her weight. It's eventually shown she and her son are talented tango dancers.
  • Depending on the Writer: As time has gone on, Mama Bass's relationship with her son has seen some changes from episode to episode.
    • Her earlier appearances in "Moving Bubble Bass", "Swamp Mates", and "The Big Bad Bubble Bass" established her as someone sick of her son's sponging off of her and being a lazy bum in her basement, fully acknowleding what a nightmare he is and having little patience for his antics.
    • Later appearances like "Momageddon", "Tango Tangle", and "Bubble Bass Reviews", however, have her still being happy to spoil her son and treat him like a baby, which is something he greatly enjoys since it means she does everything for him. Examples include making snacks for him on a whim, making him drink from a baby bottle, keeping him on an almost literal leash if he wanders away from her, and even being in a mother-son tango team with him. That said, even "Bubble Bass Reviews" mostly consists of her trash-talking him for being such a pathetic shut-in despite her being established as making him snacks and coddling him as a "special boy".
  • Gasshole: Mama Bass claims that a bass is expected to be able to belch forcefully enough to blow down someone's house, as she chastises Bubble Bass for not being able to do so himself. She also does it completely of her own accord while Bubble Bass had to rely on hot sauce and other additional foods to get him to belch harder.
  • Good Parents: Although she can be tough with him, she's genuinely concerned for Bubble Bass's well-being and lack of maturity. She tells him the hard truth that he needs to grow up and do his chores, get out and make friends, and generally improve his life. However, as noted in Depending on the Writer, sometimes she's portrayed as unhealthily close to him and spoiling him to keep him under her thumb.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Very ironically so given that the child in question is in his twenties and has already gotten a college degree; but she sometimes is shown to get back at Bubble Bass for his misdeeds by force, such as the end of "Moving Bubble Bass" when she puts him in a box and knocks him into things across town. It's a Justified example given Bubble Bass's immaturity and that he's such a huge Jerkass he deserves the comeuppances he gets.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. She seems to be a well-adjusted individual who isn't a huge asshole like her son, and most of her jerk behavior is directed at him or people she's been led to believe have harmed him. And despite her harshness towards her son, it's hardly unwarranted given what a manchild he is and it comes from a place of genuine concern for him.
  • Mama Bear: Though she's annoyed with Bubble Bass acting like a big baby, when she thinks his toy has been stolen, she marches to Squidward's house to belch it down.
  • My Beloved Smother: Downplayed; in certain episodes she's shown to happily coddle Bubble Bass like a baby despite him being presumably in his late 20's, and Bubble Bass only pretends to hate it since he actually enjoys it due to her doing everything for him. They're also shown to be tango partners in "Tango Tangle".
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: She doesn't tolerate Bubble Bass's poor behavior and when it's proven he's lied to her in "Bubble Bass's Tab", she quickly turns on him.
  • Satellite Character: We only have seen her in relation to Bubble Bass without much interaction with other characters.
  • Ship Tease: She quickly grows fond of Squidward in "Bubble Bass's Tab" and dances with him at the end of the episode, and he doesn't mind sharing said dance with her.

    Old Man Jenkins 

Old Man Jenkins

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/old_man_jenkins.png
"Respect your elders!"
Voiced by: John Gegenhuber (standard voice), Dee Bradley Baker (secondary voice), Mr. Lawrence ("Sailor Mouth"), Tom Kenny ("My Pretty Seahorse")
Debut: "Your Shoe's Untied"

A ridiculously old man, who owns a farm.


  • Ascended Extra: Although he was initially just a character who would make recurring gag appearances, he's overtime become somewhat of a breakout character, who's now being given notable roles in multiple episodes.
  • Barefoot Loon: Old Man Jenkins doesn't wear shoes, even when he goes to restaurants.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Old Man Jenkins may seem like a harmless old goat, but he can drive other people crazy with his annoying old man powers and being a senior, he's pretty much societally immune to any adult younger than him disrespecting him back because you know, "Respect Your Elders".
  • Breakout Character: Originally, the name "Old Man Jenkins" was just a name given to every single senior citizen around Bikini Bottom, which would be used whenever a gag involving an old man came into play. However, these old men all became really popular with fans to the point, where they wanted to see at least one of the Old Man Jenkinses to become a character. The writers recognized this and thus began the birth of the recurring old farmer guy, we now know as the official "Old Man Jenkins".
  • Cool Old Guy: The most notable example would be in "The Sponge Who Could Fly", where he ends up becoming a human (well, fish) cannonball.
  • Deep South: As an old farmer dude, he's obviously going to play into a few of these tropes.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Before the creators officially settled on what they want Old Man Jenkins' actual appearance to look like, earlier episodes of the show (from seasons 1 to 4) have given that name to random senior citizens in Bikini Bottom that don't look or act a thing like him.
    • In fact, some episodes even feature the character model that now officially belongs to Old Man Walker and address him as Old Man Jenkins.
  • Farm Boy: Old Man Jenkins is a committed farmer, who raises a bunch of undersea livestock.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Old Man Jenkins is a kindly old man, who is friends with just about everyone else in Bikini Bottom and as a farmer, Old Man Jenkins is friendly with all of the animals, he raises on his farm. Additionally, in "FarmerBob", Old Man Jenkins became friends with some hillbilly aliens, meaning that he has friends with creatures all across the universe.
  • Genius Ditz: Old Man Jenkins may be a complete buffoon, but he sure knows how to run his farm.
  • Grandparental Age Dissonance: Despite being extremely old and having a grandson himself, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather are all alive and running around Bikini Bottom.
  • Nice Guy: Although some episodes contradict this ("ahem, “Senior Discount”, cough cough.") Old Man Jenkins is a goofy, but a kind-hearted guy, who can make easy friendships with everyone he meets.
  • Recurring Extra: He tends to appear as a bit character.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Took this to absolute extremes in "Senior Discount", when he started being blatantly disrespectful at the Krusty Krab just for the sake of being rude. Whenever Mr. Krabs tried to do anything about it, Old Man Jenkins would just remind him to "respect his elders".
  • You Don't Look Like You: His appearance isn't usually consistent. Justified because there might be more than one Old Man Jenkins. It seems that as of recently, the animators have finally made up their minds and settled on making Old Man Jenkins a green farmer fish with a long, scraggly gray beard, who wears a straw hat and dirty worn-out old overalls.

    Old Man Walker 

Old Man Walker

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/its_old_man_walker.png
Whuh? Wha... Where am I?
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy"

A confused and discombobulated old man, whose naivety gets him kicked around by the world.


  • Ascended Extra: Originally appearing as just a background character, Old Man Walker has now started having more supporting roles in certain episodes.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Actually, he's still pretty blind with 'em too. As seen in "As Seen on TV", Old Man Walker sees SpongeBob and tells him "I saw you on TV last night.", only for a flashback to reveal that Old Man Walker was actually just watching a commercial with a yellow cereal box.
  • Butt-Monkey: Old Man Walker is occasionally the victim of physical violence and slapstick gags.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Old Man Walker seems to be suffering from dementia, causing him to act rather buffoonish and make various non-sequitur comments, whenever he's on screen.
  • The Ditz: Old Man Walker is rather dopey.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Before the creators settled on making him the dim-green colored old man with the raspy and arid voice he has now, earlier episodes have depicted him as being different colors or having completely different voices that in no way reflect the Old Man Walker we know today. To add to the confusion, certain material addresses him as "Old Man Jenkins", which is a name that currently belongs to a completely different character, so... have fun trying to figure that one out.
  • Elder Abuse: The people of Bikini Bottom don't exactly know how to respect their elders.
  • Evil All Along: Apparently, per "Hysterical History", he’s been planning to take over the world.
  • Hollywood Tone-Deaf: In "Sing a Song of Patrick", he was the only character who liked Patrick's horrible music.
    Old Man Walker: I like it!
  • The Pawn: Other characters tend to use Old Man Walker as an object and make him to tasks and jobs without him asking. Being the happy-go-lucky man he is, Walker just casually goes along with it, no matter how weird, insulting, or painful it is. For instance, in "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", Mr. Krabs forced Old Man Jenkins to serve as the lookout while the rest of the more important characters, did the important stuff to set up for SpongeBob's party. Or as an even worse example, "Call the Cops", the police labeled Walker as "evidence" instead of a "witness" or a "victim" and had him locked away in the evidence locker like he was an inanimate object.
  • Punny Name: Well, more of a play on words. His name is a joke on old man walkers, which are walkers used by senior citizens to help them move.
  • You Don't Look Like You: As a background character, Old Man Walker has gone through a number of changes in his physical appearance.

    Squilliam Fancyson 

Squilliam Fancyson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/squilliam_546873946345_437.jpg
"Come on everyone: let's go take a ride in my balloon/casino!"
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker
Debut: "Band Geeks"

Squidward's rival from high school. Squilliam is essentially everything Squidward dreamed of being. Whereas Squidward is a middle-class jackass stuck in a dead end job and considered a joke by everyone except SpongeBob and Patrick, Squilliam is a successful, filthy stinking rich jackass beloved by all. Also, unlike Squidward, who has had a few Pet the Dog moments over the years, he appears to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He loves rubbing his success in Squidward's face.


  • The Ace: Is way more successful compared to Squidward.
  • Alpha Bastard: Squilliam tends to use the fact that he is rich to look down on others, especially Squidward. He loves to taunt Squidward as well.
  • Always Someone Better: He's far more successful than Squidward ever was or will ever hope to be.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Won in "Squilliam Returns" (where Squidward's attempt to get back at Squilliam by disguising the Krusty Krab as a five-star restaurant fails) and "Professor Squidward" (where Squidward is mistaken for Squilliam and took advantage of it until he was unmasked and arrested while the real Squilliam smugly watched), but normally his appearances are a sign Squidward will win this one—or, at the very least, not have to suffer his usual misfortunes alone.
  • Big Ol' Unibrow: He has a noticeable unibrow.
  • Born Lucky: He turned out to be lucky and successful, making him the Gladstone Gander to Squidward's Donald Duck.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Essentially vanished from the series after a background appearance in season 7's "Back to the Past", barring a brief reference in "Code Yellow". Vincent Waller has also revealed in two tweets from 2019 and 2022 respectively that there are no plans to bring Squilliam back as a recurring character for Seasons 12 or 13, Kamp Koral, or The Patrick Star Show, but he has made small cameos in Bikini Bottom Inquirer. He eventually returned in 2025's "Pablum Plankton" after a 15 year absence.
  • Dub Name Change:
    • Siegbert Schnösel in the German dub.
    • Hjalmar von Kalmari in the Finnish dub.
    • Octavius Bläckenberg in the Swedish dub.
    • Squilli Elegant in the Italian dub.
    • Calamarino Elegante in the Latin-American dub.
    • Exaggerated in the Castilian dub, where Squilliam went through five names: He's been called Squilliam Fancyson, Guimardo, Calamardi Elegantínez, Calamarón el Guay Tercero, and Calamarino.
  • Evil Counterpart: Though neither are exactly evil, he's this to Squidward. Take Squidward, add some Smug Snake and several levels in jerkassitude, and remove any redeeming qualities. That's Squilliam.
  • Fatal Flaw: Pride. Squilliam would be a clear success story over Squidward, if he could resist rubbing it in his face and trying to humiliate him even further. A lot of these instances end with Squidward actually getting a rare moment of glory and upstaging Squilliam for once.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Wears a robe but no pants.
  • Hate Sink: Squilliam has virtually no sympathetic qualities about him, making it all the easier for one to root for the normally jerkassy Squidward.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: It's heavily implied that he set the entire situation in "Band Geeks" up to humiliate Squidward, which makes the success even more deliciously ironic.
  • How They Treat the Help: For all of his intolerable dickery and arrogance, Squilliam is sincerely impressed with SpongeBob's fancy service in "Squilliam Returns" and singles him out as the most impressive part of Squidward's "fancy restaurant", complimenting SpongeBob and even trying to get his name. He hadn't counted on that being the thing to send SpongeBob out of control, though.
  • Humiliation Conga: In the iconic scene of "Band Geeks", where he has a heart attack at how good Squidward's band is and is carried away on a stretcher. Gets another one at the end of "House Fancy", where he cries his eyes out over Squidward's home being deemed fancier than his.
  • Jerkass: Mean, selfish, arrogant and takes great delight in rubbing his wealth and success in everyone's faces. It seems all members of his species are jerks.
  • Jerkass to One: For how much Squilliam likes to brag about his wealth and success, he takes much more delight in rubbing it in Squidward's face, since he knows that he is everything Squidward dreams to be, but Squidward is stuck as a cashier with a horrible salary.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Squilliam treats his friends well, though it's most likely to show off his wealth. The episode "Squilliam Returns" has him treat his friends to dinner, though they can't really eat because it's so expensive, and feign sympathy towards Squidward when he admits that he's just a cashier, ultimately rubbing his success in his face by joking that his wealth is fake and that he's also a cashier.
  • Lean and Mean: He's very skinny and even more of a jerk than Squidward.
  • Narcissist: Ironically, one of the only things he has in common with Squidward (and possibly with every member of their species, going off of episodes like "Squidville") is how self-loving he is.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Just like Squidward, Squilliam is not actually a squid, but an octopus.
  • Politically Correct Villain: Squilliam has friends (or at least admirers) of various species, and seems unbiased about SpongeBob and Patrick being a Sponge and a Starfish unlike the Octopuses seen in Squidville.
  • Put on a Bus: Since his last official appearance more than a decade ago in "Blast to the Past", note  he has yet to make a return to the series. Vincent Waller has stated that there are currently no plans to feature him in any SpongeBob media aside from possible background cameos in the future. He does indeed make his first physical appearance in 15 years in 2025's "Pablum Plankton".
  • Rich Bastard: He has a private jet, private yacht, private airship, private casino, etc..
  • The Rival: He is Squidward's rival.
  • Smug Snake: He never misses a chance to rub his success in Squidward's face. True to this trope however, some of his worst attempts to kick Squidward while he's already down backfire on him horribly.
  • Villainous Breakdown: At the end of "Band Geeks", seeing Squidward completely succeed in an absolutely epic way causes him to have a heart attack! Has another one at the end of "House Fancy" where Squidward's house being declared even fancier than his leaves Squilliam laying on the ground crying his eyes out.
  • Wealth's in a Name: Fancyson, fitting for a rich jerk.

    Marina 

Marina

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marina_09.png
Voiced by: Jill Talley
Debut: "Mall Girl Pearl"

Pearl's friend, who works at the mall restaurant, Hot Dog on a String.


  • Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Marina works as a hot dog vendor in the mall and has to wear a bucket full of weiners on her head.
  • Navel Window: Marina shows off her bellybutton. Even Marina's work uniform shows this.
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: She’s a fish with hair.
  • Punny Name: Her name is a pun on "Maria" and it's a reference to the fact that as a sea creature, she is a "Marine" life form.
  • With Friends Like These...: Despite being Pearl's friend, Marina makes fun of her if she does anything lame.

    Nocturna 

Nocturna

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nocturna.png
Voiced by: Aubrey Plaza
Debut: "Mall Girl Pearl"

Pearl's friend, who is your typical goth girl. She works at a clothing store at the mall called Scorched Coral.


  • Blank Stare: Her standard facial expression.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Nocturna makes a lot of snarky sarcastic comments. Most of them are really dark and miserable.
  • Goth: Nocturna is goth.
  • Meaningful Name: "Nocturna" is derived from the word "Nocturnal", which relates to the night. The night is dark and Nocturna is dark.
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: A fish with black hair.
  • Perpetual Frowner: As a goth, Nocturna never really has too many moments, where she cracks a smile.
  • Sadist: Nocturna gets a good laugh out of watching people suffer.
  • The Stoic: She was the only one who didn't visibly cringe in terror, upon seeing Squidward's mutilated body in "Whale Watching".

    Nixie 

Nixie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nixie.png
Voiced by: Sirena Irwin
Debut: "Mall Girl Pearl"
Yet another of Pearl's friends, and a very cheery one at that. She works at Bangles and Dangles, the jewelry store at the mall.
  • Cheery Pink: Nixie's bright and chipper personality is matched by her hair color, which is a very vibrant shade of hot pink.
  • Genki Girl: Nixie is extremely happy all the time.
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: A fish with hair.
  • Pubescent Braces: One of Nixie's most notable physical traits is her large, flashy braces.
  • Sweet Tooth: Nixie has a sweet brace-covered tooth when it comes to ice cream. In "The Goofy Newbie", she was a customer at Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat.

    Rube Goldfish 

Rube Goldfish

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rube_bomf.png
Voiced by: Mr. Lawrence
Debut: "No Pictures, Please"

A perpetually-happy tourist who mistook Patrick for a tour guide. Although he initially appeared to be an illusion created by the Tidal Zone, later episodes confirm him to be a living being.


  • Ascended Extra: After appearing as a minor recurring character in several season 12 episodes, he takes on a larger role as the main character of "No Pictures Please" as well as being SpongeBob and Patrick's tour guide to the surface world in "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout".
  • Big Fun: A sizable fish who's tons of fun to be around.
  • Camera Fiend: Drives everyone crazy by constantly taking pictures of people.
  • Catchphrase: "Amazing!"
  • Characterization Marches On: He was initially presented as completely absent-minded and not respectful of people's privacy, not to mention being implied to have been an illusion. When he's reintroduced as a real person, Rube still keeps his cloudcuckoolander nature, referring to things on the surface with incredibly bizarre names, but is much more willing to take initiative with the rules of the bus, as well as being respectful of the fact that it's SpongeBob's birthday.
  • The Ditz: Is stupid enough to mistake Patrick for a tour guide and gets into a number of comedic shenanigans with him as a result.
  • Keet: Almost always in a chipper mood.
  • Kindhearted Simpleton: Rube is a complete dolt, but is always positive and his heart remains in the right place all the time.
  • The Klutz: While trying to sing SpongeBob's birthday song, his big butt slammed into the bus lever, causing the bus to take off, full speed ahead, sending him miles away from SpongeBob's house.
    SpongeBob: It's okay, maybe next year!
  • Mundane Object Amazement: Rube will find just about anything to be amazing and worthy of being photographed.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Keeps a huge smile on his face no matter the situation. Any negative emotions he has, such as terror or anger, never last long and he is always back to having a wide smile at the end of it.

    Dr. Gill Gilliam 

Dr. Gill Gilliam

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gill_is_not_gleeful.jpg
"Uh, yeah. We're from the pet hospital down the street and I understand you have a dying animal on the premises."
Voiced by: Rodger Bumpass, Dee Bradley Baker ("The Two Faces of Squidward")
Debut: "I Was a Teenage Gary"

Bikini Bottom's resident doctor.


  • Alliterative Name: Gill Gilliam, revealed in "Once Bitten".
  • Back-Alley Doctor: Some episodes portray him as being incompetent at his job, such as "I Was a Teenage Gary", where he was "too squeamish" to inject Gary with snail plasma.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: Not only has he practiced in numerous fields of medicine, but he's also shown in one episode as a pirate.
  • Palette Swap: The recurring doctor is purple, but he appears orange as Gil Gillian, leaving uncertainty as to whether or not they are the same character, though other palette swaps, such as Perch Perkins, seem to be considered the same.
  • Super Doc: He's a general practitioner, a surgeon, an obstetrician, a dentist, and a veterinarian.
  • Took a Level in Cynic: He becomes less cheerful as the series goes on. Probably because of SpongeBob and the main casts' antics that caused a lot of trouble.

    Lady Upturn CCCXXXIII 

Lady Mildred Upturn CCCXXXIII

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lady_upturn_cccxxxiii_tvtropes.jpg
"Walk... AROUND!? Hmmph! I am Lady Upturn the 333rd and you want me to WALK AROUND!?
Voiced by: Sirena Irwin (most speaking appearances), Lori Alan ("Moving Bubble Bass")
Debut: "Krusty Katering"

A fancy rich lady, who thinks she's better than everyone else.


  • Absurdly Long Limousine: Is shown to own one in "UpWard" which is many times the length of the Krusty Krab and takes several seconds for the entire thing to drive past the restaurant.
  • Aesop Amnesia: In regards to her butler, Regigilled. Kamp Koral's "Regi-Hilled" centres around her firing him over some slightly cold tea, which causes a series of events that lead her to realise that she was wrong to do so and soon rehires him. However, later episodes like "Who's Complaining?" and "End of Summer Daze" shows that she still treats him poorly, explicitly prefering to give a parachute to a safe full of money instead of him. The Patrick Star Show and the main series continues this trend, showing that she hasn't changed a bit.
  • Alliterative Name: Her original name, Ms. Mildred.
  • Ascended Extra: After making a single appearance in Seasons 10 and 11, she started appearing a lot more often in the following seasons, even managing to be featured in both Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show.
  • Bad Boss: Is this to her butler Regigilled, often treating him with little-to-no respect and having him carry her around.
    • "UpWard" has her order him to carry her instead of her simply walking despite his age, and later dismounts him by shoving his head out of her way.
    • The Kamp Koral episode "Regi-Hilled" is all about this, where she fires him due to the tea he made her being two degress too cold for her liking (not to mention it got cold in the first place due to her changing her mind about what she wanted for breakfast, wasting Regigilled's time and the food he cooked). Later episodes like "Who's Complaining?" and "End of Summer Daze" only continue this trend.
    • Downplayed in The Patrick Star Show episode "Patty Poo", as while she does resort to using his bowtie to wipe her Tears of Joy, it was less malice and more so getting caught up in the moment.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Lady Upturn gets crapped on a lot by the world and all of her fancy dresses and hairdos are constantly getting ruined but she's usually good at quickly fixing herself back up again and putting everything back to normal... usually.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Getting pelted by food, as shown in "Krusty Katering"; when she gets caught in the middle of a foodfight, she loses it and starts throwing food around while letting out an infuriated roar, managing to take out at least five other people while in her incensed rage.
    • Messing with either her department store or art museum is also an easy way to earn her ire.
  • Better with Non-Human Company: Despite her usual mean-spiritedness, she owns two pet worms and a snail that she's shown to love, with her willling to pay double the price for a Krabby Patty simply to feed them. Some episodes of The Patrick Star Show also show her watching The Patrick Show! accompanied by other snails different from the one she owns.
  • Big Fancy House: Lives in a large Gem-Encrusted mansion shaped like a purse and filled with dozens of fancy paintings and expensive furniture.
  • Catchphrase: "I am offended!"
  • Character Tics: She often holds her arms up close to herself in a limp-wristed manner, similar to how a raptor would. She also usually has her pinky fingers raised to symbolise her upper-class fanciness, something she even does in her sleep.
  • Comically Oversized Butt: Has a rather pronounced butt. Said butt also grows wings when she eats a cursed bagel in "Necro-Nom-Nom-Nom-I-Con."
  • Couldn't Find a Tissue: Does this in The Patrick Star Show's "Patty Poo", where she is so overwhelmed by Patty Poo's playful antics that she wipes her Tears of Joy with Regigilled's bowtie.
  • Cultural Stereotypes: Lady Upturn talks and behaves like a stereotypical Englishwoman, in that she acts very snobbish and condescending to others and expects to be treated like royalty just for existing. She also seems to come from an extensive noble family, as she has the title of "Lady" (and is apparently the 333rd of her kind).
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
    • Early episodes only showed her with one bracelet, and which wrist it was on was inconsistent. From "A Place for Pets" onwards, she has consistently been protrayed with two bracelets.
    • The fin on the back of her head was originally blonde like her hair, but Kamp Koral changed it to violet, and the change slowly seeped into The Patrick Star Show and the main series.
  • Eccentric Millionaire:
    • "UpWard" plays with this. After leaving an art museum disatisfied with the works on display, she stumbles into Jellyfish Fields and hears Squidward being a Dreadful Musician; unlike everyone else who fled upon hearing him, she is ecstatic, claiming it to be the best music she's heard in years and offering to be his patron. As she is shown enjoying Squidward's music at the recital while everyone else panics, a nearby doctor discovers a jellyfish covering her ears under her wig; upon removing it, she is horrified at Squidward's performance, with the doctor theorising that the jellyfish's buzzing made the noise tolerable, and quickly stops the recital. However, she then introduces her newest artist, who turns out to be Patrick Star sticking his arm in a jar of mayonnaise and moving it around to create a fart-like sound, and is genuinely enthralled by Patrick's performance.
    • "Too Many Patricks" from The Patrick Star Show has her hire Patrick to entertain her guests at a fancy party, commenting that it will be "eminent and sophisticated entertainment". When Patrick (actually Cave Patrick in a shirt) arrives, he uses some gemstones to set some flowers on fire; despite the fire soon spreading to the rest of the room, Upturn applauds his work, so entertained that she doesn't mind her mansion and butler being set ablaze.
  • Embarrassing Old Photo: While repremanding SpongeBob for swinging on her cabin's curtains in Kamp Koral's "Helter Shelter", he quickly rebuts by showing a photo of her doing the exact same thing when she first came to camp, complete with a distressed Regigilled trying to stop her. After conceding defeat, she promptly tears the photo to bits.
  • Every Man Has His Price: "UpWard" has her offer to be Squidward's patron, only for him to refuse and state he cannot be bought. She quickly has Regigilled stuff his clarinet with money, and Squidward happily joins forces with her.
  • Fair-Weather Friend: Despite often hanging out with fellow rich kids Roh and Rea in Kamp Koral, when they lose their wealth in "Low Falutin'", the only thing she does is coldly tell them they're too poor to return to the yacht cabin before locking them out.
  • False Teeth Tomfoolery: Kamp Koral's "Wise Kraken" has her get so frightened by the titular kraken that her dentures pop out of her mouth in terror.
  • Fiction 500: She is as absurdly wealthy as they come, with a Gem-Encrusted Big Fancy House shaped like a purse where she throws many fancy parties, a fancy department store so tall that planes fly around it, and often carrying around purses capable of holding piles of treasures.
  • Flanderization: By way of her "I am offended!" catchphrase. She first said it in the Kamp Koral episode "Wise Kraken", where it was a Running Gag to show how much of a stick in the mud she was compared to the other campers attending the comedy night (in fact, that episode is the only episode in Kamp Koral where she actually says it). It was soon brought into the main series and The Patrick Star Show, soon getting to the point where some episodes have her sole role being to state her catchphrase and nothing else.
  • Forced Transformation:
    • "SpongeChovy" has her and her worm Fifi be some of the many people transformed into anchovies.
    • Kamp Koral's "Are You Afraid of the Dork?" has the Flying Dutchman transform her and the other junior counselors into badges.
  • Hairstyle Malfunction: Her blonde hair is actually a wig, which is often Played for Laughs.
    • "Kreepaway Kamp" has her lose her wig as she gets kidnapped, causing it to flop onto Regigilled.
    • "Wise Kraken" has her come face-to-face with the aforementioned kraken, frightening her so much that she bolts and leaves behind her wig and teeth. "Camp Crossbones" features her and SpongeBob engaging in a swordfight, only for him to win simply by flinging her wig off, causing her to scamper after it as he chases her.
  • Hates Common Food: Occurs in "Food PBFFT! Truck", where when SpongeBob and Squidward offer her Krabby Patties from their food truck, she dismisses them due to how low-class the food is, quickly calling in a canape truck to eat from instead.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • She may be absurdly rich, but she's shown to be rather business-savvy. "Upturn Girls" reveals that she is the owner of an enormous department store named Upturn's, and when listing the things she liked about Patrick delivering her newspaper in The Patrick Star Show episode "Pat-per Route", she explicitly mentions the newspaper's financial section. Kamp Koral's "Are You Afraid of the Dork?" has her mention that her father owns a bank, hinting that her interest in business comes from him.
    • The Patrick Star Show episode "Neptune's Ball" shows that she is so known and respected that she is invited to a ball hosted by none other than King Neptune himself, something that is surely no easy feat.
    • The Patrick Star Show's "Now Museum, Now You Don't" has her let slip that her family's history isn't all that clean, implying that her ancestors have done some rather unsavory things in order to obtain the exhibits found in her art museum.
  • High-Heel Power: Wears a pair of blue high heels and is the rich owner of a fancy department store and curator of an art museum.
  • How They Treat the Help: Lady Upturn may be a jerk, but she's more than polite to her servers and public workers, often giving them large amounts of money for doing the simplest of things. Harshly averted with her own butler Regigilled, however; see Bad Boss.
  • Jerkass: She's not a very pleasant woman to be around, thanks to her uptight Rich Bitch behavior.
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Since she's so fancy and priggish to the point that everything has to be perfectly in place for her otherwise she flips out, it's only logical that in typical SpongeBob fashion, everything has to go horribly wrong for her in ways that completely destroy all of her fanciness in the most hilarious, stupid, and, most of all, deserving way possible.
  • The Killjoy: Being a rather snooty woman, Lady Upturn is overly serious and dislikes activities that she considers beneath her.
    • In "Kreepaway Kamp", she is the only camper on the bus to not celebrate returning to Kamp Koral, instead having an annoyed look on her face.
    • The Patrick Star Show's "Neptune's Ball" begins with her expressing her dislike for Patrick's whoopee-cushion-themed show, being the only one in the audience to do so.
  • Large Ham: Whenever she gets offended, she will happily exclaim her catchphrase to whoever is present so that they know just how bothered she is.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: There are a few times where her Rich Bitch tendencies backfire on her.
    • In "Moving Bubble Bass", when Patrick gets run over by Bubble Bass' luggage, she steps on him instead of going around him, resulting in her high-heel getting stuck in his mouth. When she herself is run over, Patrick is quick to return the favor, leaving a dazed Upturn to spit out her heel.
    • "Kreepaway Kamp" has her try to escape camp in a helicopter with only Roh and Rea, leaving everyone else to be stranded. The others latch onto the helicopter and promptly cause it to crash, leaving her stranded with them.
    • Kamp Koral's "Regi-Hilled" has her fire Regigilled over serving her tea that is two degrees too cold, quickly replacing him with SpongeBob. However, SpongeBob soon proves to be a much worse butler than Regigilled ever was, causing her to go get Regigilled back.
  • Mirror-Cracking Ugly: Happens in "SpongeBob's Bad Habit", where after she gets covered in SpongeBob's fingernails, she takes out a mirror to see herself. It promptly breaks, causing her to shriek in horror.
  • Mister Muffykins: Her pet worm Fifi is usually nice and calm, but "Don't Make Me Laugh" has Fifi attack SpongeBob for laughing at her.
  • Narcissist: Lady Upturn thinks so highly of herself, that she feels as though the world should revolve around her. In "Moving Bubble Bass", she got offended at the very notion that she, the fabulous and well-beloved Lady Upturn the 333rd, should have to (gasp!) WALK AROUND SpongeBob and Patrick, when they crossed paths with her.
  • Not So Above It All:
    • When she gets dragged into a foodfight in "Krusty Katering," it doesn't take her long for her to fight back, actually managing to single-handedly turn the fight in her favor.
    • The Patrick Star Show episode "Patty Poo" has her be just as obsessed with the tituluar character as the other members of the audience, to the point where she is fully willing to dismember Patrick if it meant the return of Patty Poo.
  • Overly Long Name: Full name: Lady Mildred Upturn the Three-Hundred and Thirty-Third.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite her usual bouts of being a Jerkass Rich Bitch, she does show a softer side here and there.
    • When told that her pet worm Fifi isn't allowed in the Krusty Krab in "A Place for Pets", she doesn't argue at all and calmly gets up to leave, with the worst thing being an aside comment on how she would happily pay twice the money if it meant she could feed her pet.
    • When Squidward answers her question in "Bad Luck Bob", she not only rewards him with a bundle of money, but sincerely thanks him as well.
    • Kamp Koral's "Helter Shelter" has her pat SpongeBob's back when he becomes distressed (albiet with an uneased face, due to him latching onto her).
    • The Patrick Star Show's "Pat-per Route" has her genuinely thrilled over how perfectly Patrick delivered her newspaper, going so far as to tip him a diamond and declare him the best paperboy ever for his efforts.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: She's shown to be classist in Kamp Koral a few times, referring to SpongeBob and Patrick as "beggars" and "commoners".
  • Preppy Name: Exaggerated; she's the three-hundred-and-thirty-third Upturn in her family lineage.
  • Proud Beauty: Lady Upturn really thinks she's a gorgeous lady.
  • Rich Bitch: Lady Upturn is extremely snooty and snobbish and treats other people like garbage.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense:
    • Kamp Korals "Cabin of Curiosities" has her treat SpongeBob and Patrick's offer of friendship as a trade by paying them a lot of money for it, only to be shocked and revolted by the fact their friendship is free.
    • "Are You Afraid of the Dork?" has her tell a scary story that boils down to being unable to make herself a midnight snack due to relying too much on Regigilled, having her stress about what foods to use and being scared by the butterknives and sporks she finds in the kitchen.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
    • Happens in "A Place for Pets", where she states she would pay double the price of a Krabby Patty in order to feed her pet Fifi, despite the Krusty Krab having a "no pets allowed" policy. Downplayed though, as she was willing to leave the restaurant before Mr. Krabs got rid of the rule.
    • Happens again in "UpWard" when, upon Squidward refusing her offer due to artistic integrity, she simply has Regigilled stuff a bunch of money in his face, causing Squidward to change his mind.
    • "Are You Afraid of the Dork?" has the Flying Dutchman prepare to send her into a horrifying nightmare, only for her to weasel her way out of it by opening a bank account with unlimited credit in his name. She still gets turned into a badge, though.
  • Silly Walk: Has one in "UpWard" where she shuffles around in a manner similar to Mr. Krabs.
  • Snobby Hobbies: Has a habit of throwing fancy parties in her purse-shaped mansion, enjoys art to the extent she has an art museum, and Kamp Koral has her play golf and be an Upper-Class Equestrian.
  • Status Cell Phone: The Kamp Koral episode "Are You Afraid of the Dork?" shows that she has one, and is the only camper at camp to be seen owning one.
  • Sudden Name Change: Her debut episode calls her "Ms. Mildred," but starting from "Moving Bubble Bass" onwards it is changed to "Lady Upturn". Kamp Koral has her named "Missy Upturn", though due to the Younger and Hipper nature of the show, it's likely that she is simply too young for the title.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Can be seen as one to Squilliam Fancyson, being another wealthy yet bad-tempered Jerkass that lives in a Big Fancy House. Coincidentally, she started appearing soon after Squilliam started suffering from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
  • Tea Is Classy: Fitting her status as a rich elitist, she is occasionally seen drinking tea.
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Courtesy of her catchphrase, Lady Upturn isn't afraid to let others know when something or someone upsets her.
  • Too Important to Walk: Being the haughty jerk that she is, she occasionally has her butler Regigilled carry her around when she doesn't feel like walking herself.
    • In "UpWard", after a disappointing visit to an art museum, she claims she needs to go on a walk to clear her mind, only for her to call Regigilled over and demand that he carry her.
    • Kamp Koral has her do this in "The Perfect Camper", where while she does participate in the obstacle course with the other junior coulselors, she does so by having Regigilled carry her in a harness, leaving her butler to do the heavy-lifting for her.
    • Played for Laughs in The Patrick Star Show's "Patty Poo" where after declaring that she is disenchanted by the grown-up Patty Poo, Regigilled picks her up and carries her away as if she were a cardboard cutout.
  • Trrrilling Rrrs: Often does this due to her accent.
  • True Blue Femininity: She wears a royal blue dress with matching heels and a sky-blue boa, but it's downplayed in that, aside from a few Pet the Dog moments, she isn't all that nice.
  • Uncatty Resemblance: Lady Upturn's three pets all have big fancy blonde hairdos just like she does.
  • Uncle Pennybags: Lady Upturn is loaded with cash, and isn't afraid to provide overly-large tips for good service.
    • In "Krusty Katering", she paid Mr. Krabs $50,000 in advance just for catering at her party.
    • "Bad Luck Bob" has her ask Squidward for menu reccomendations for the Krusty Krab; when he snarks to eat somewhere else, she sincerely thanks him and hands him a large wad of cash as a reward.
    • In The Patrick Star Show episode "Pat-per Route", her idea of a "handsome tip" over Patrick's newspaper delivery is to give him a large diamond in the same manner a regular person might tip with a penny or nickel.
  • Unsatisfiable Customer: Zigzagged; though she can sometimes be a nice customer at the Krusty Krab, other times she can be rather unsavory, such as in "Don't Make Me Laugh". She is such a repeat offender that she is featured in Squidward's work-related nightmare in "Squidward's Sick Daze".
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Becomes this in "A Place for Pets" when she convinces Mr. Krabs to get rid of the Krusty Krab's "no pets allowed" policy, leading to other customers bringing in their pets. A health inspector soon shows up and states that Mr. Krabs has to choose between people and pets; he chooses pets, causing him to kick her and all the other pet owners out.

    Sticky Fins 

Sticky Fins Whiting

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sticky_fins.png
Voiced by: Joe Pantoliano (most speaking appearances), Tom Kenny ("Captain Pipsqueak")
Debut: "The Getaway"

A criminal who escaped from prison and tricked SpongeBob into thinking that he's his new driving instructor.


  • Beard of Evil: He has a shave and is a criminal.
  • Final Boss: He and Dorsal Dan are the last antagonists of the Kamp Koral spinoff.
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: A fish with facial hair.
  • Prefer Jail to the Protagonist: By the end of his debut episode, Sticky Fins begs the police to put him himself in solitary confinement just to keep SpongeBob away from him.
  • Species Surname: He's named Sticky Fins Whiting, as in the fish (or rather, the common named used for various species of fish).
  • Top-Heavy Guy: His torso is much bigger than his legs.

    Dorsal Dan 

Dorsal Dan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dorsal_dan.png
Voiced by: Steve Buscemi (most speaking appearances), Clancy Brown ("The Krusty Slammer"), Rodger Bumpass ("Captain Pipsqueak")
Debut: "The Getaway"

A getaway driver and criminal.


  • Alliterative Name: Dorsal Dan.
  • The Bus Came Back: Returns in a speaking appearance in "Ain't That the Tooth" after being gone for about three seasons and only making silent cameos.
  • Final Boss: He and Sticky Fins are the last antagonists of the Kamp Koral spinoff.
  • Getaway Driver: Dorsal Dan works as a getaway driver for Sticky Fins as he tries to arrive in time to help him escape.

    Regigilled 

Regigilled

Voiced by: Rodger Bumpass
Debut: Kamp Koral

Lady Upturn's butler.


  • Canon Immigrant: He originated in the Kamp Koral spinoff, but has since made appearances in the main SpongeBob show as well as in the other spinoff The Patrick Star Show.
  • A Day in the Limelight: His most prominent appearance is in the Kamp Koral episode "Regi-Hilled", where he moves in with Narlene and Nobby after Lady Upturn fires him for giving her tea that's two degrees too cold.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: He's an octopus, but is notably one of the few octopus characters who looks nothing like Squidward.
  • Punny Name: His name is an aquatic pun on the name Reginald.

    Wise Kraken 

Wise Kraken

A giant kraken who likes to tell jokes.


    Helen the Felon 

Helen the Felon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/helen_the_felon_tvtropes_5.png
Hey, you mugs! It's a jailbreak! Let's am-scray!
Voiced by: Sirena Irwin ("Call the Cops"), Carolyn Lawrence ("Escape from Beneath Glove World")
Debut: "Call the Cops"

A little girl with a criminal record.


    Slappy 

Slappy

Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"

A very creepy and eccentric fish.


  • Big Eater: His debut episode has him swallow an entire cake whole.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: He demonstrates some very weird behavior, especially in The Patrick Star Show. One example is in "Terror at 20,000 Leagues", where he responds to his Halloween costume being insulted by offering broccoli to the child who did so and wishing them a healthy Halloween.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: For his debut in "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", he had yellow skin, orange lips and wore a black suit. For later appearances in both the main series and The Patrick Star Show, he is now colored green with pink lips and his suit is brown.
  • Look-Alike Lovers: It's hinted that he's in a relationship with his Distaff Counterpart Slippy.
  • Loony Fan: His appearances in The Patrick Star Show depict him as a fan of The Patrick Show whose infatuation goes to weird and creepy extremes.
  • Lorre Lookalike: He's essentially a fish who's a Peter Lorre caricature.

    Slippy 

Slippy

A female counterpart and love interest to Slappy.


    The Dartfish family 

The Dartfish family

Debut: The Patrick Star Show

A family of tiny dartfish who live in the Star household.


  • Lilliputians: They’re extremely tiny, small enough to subsist on meals like a single peppermint candy.

Other recurring characters

    Captain / Painty the Pirate 

Painty the Pirate

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/painty_the_pirate.jpg
Voiced by: Patrick Pinney
Debut: "Help Wanted"

The painting of a pirate captain who appears in the show's opening.


  • Alliterative Name: Painty the Pirate.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not he actually is Burger Beard from The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is left vague.
  • The Cameo: While he appears in the intro for every episode, sometimes he appears in the episode proper. Examples include "Wet Painters" where he was one of the many paintings SpongeBob hung on the wall to hide Mr. Krabs' ruined first dollar and in "Your Shoe's Untied" where SpongeBob asks him how to tie his shoes and he tells him he cannot because he "be just a paintin' of a head."
  • Insert Cameo: In an unusual example, his lips belong to the show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg.
  • Once More, with Volume!: At the beginning of each episode, Painty asks some kids whether they are ready. When their "Aye, Aye, Captain" answer isn't loud enough for him, he yells "I can't hear you!". The children repeat their answer louder and, only then, Painty sings the theme song.
  • Synchro-Vox: He's a still painting with live-action lips, though it's not as offputting as most instances of this since the painting is of a realistic human being.
  • Title Theme Tune: He leads the singing of this in nearly every episode.

    Hans 

Hans

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hans_3.png
Need a hand?
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Suds"

A giant live-action hand.


  • A Day in the Limelight: Hans is given a major role in "SpongeBob's Bad Habit", where SpongeBob has a nail-biting habit and goes to see a hypno-therapist to help him. Appropriately, this man in Hans and his hypnotism works like a charm. He also plays a big part in the episode "Handemonium", where he gets into a fight with the automated giant metal hand on top of the Chum Bucket.
  • Depending on the Writer: Hans repeatedly switches from a right hand to a left hand throughout the series. This is most noticeable in "Handemonium", where he changes from a right to a left throughout the episode depending on what side of the screen he's coming from.
  • Insert Cameo: The guy whose hand they took a picture of to play Hans is showrunner, Peter Bennett.
  • Medium Blending: Hans is a live-action hand in an animated cartoon.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In "Model Sponge", he has an Austrian accent like Arnold Schwarzenegger, rather than his traditional German accent.
  • Punny Name: His name is a play on "Hands".
  • The Quiet One: Early in the series, he was virtually silent, his only lines in "Imitation Krabs" and "Suds" being "Ooh, yum-yum!" and "Here's your lollypop". He has a longer line in "Model Sponge" ("Would you keep it down? I'm trying to concentrate!"), and in "SpongeBob's Bad Habit" and "Handemonium" he finally speaks in full sentences and holds conversations with the characters.

    Bubble Buddy 

Bubble Buddy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bubble_buddy_tvtropes.png
Voiced by: Brad Arbell
Debut: "Bubble Buddy"

A bubble-guy created by SpongeBob to be his buddy.


    Man Ray 

Man Ray

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/man_ray.png
Voiced by: John Rhys-Davies (first two appearances), Bob Joles
Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III"

"I, the supreme authority of wickedness, I, the evil Man Ray, command you to release me from this frozen prison... at once!"

  • Affably Evil: During his downtime, he's able to form actual friendships to the point he's happy to see one of his old high school friends again in "Shuffleboading".
  • Ambiguously Human: He superficially resembles a man in some kind of costume, but when he takes his "mask" off, he appears to be headless. If "Man Ray Returns" and The Patrick Star Show episode "X Marks the Pot" are any indication, his body is fully human, but the question of what, if anything, is underneath his mask remains unresolved.
  • Arch-Enemy: He's the main foe of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": He literally says out loud "Oh sob! Oh cry!" when trying to act sad.
  • Cool Mask: Subverted. What appears to be a helmet is actually his head, though he can detach it and still is able to talk without it somehow.
  • Create Your Own Villain: The Patrick Star Show episode "Super Sitters" revealed that Man Ray was raised at the Super Child Daycare along with Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, Dirty Bubble and many others. When Patrick and SpongeBob traveled back at this time, they showed him what he will destined to be as an adult along with Dirty Bubble, The Coral Creep, and Exo-Woman.
  • Evil Brit: Courtesy of his first voice actor John Rhys-Davies, who is British. However, it was dropped in later appearances.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Much like the classic supervillains he is based on, Man Ray is prone to delivering long, dramatic speeches.
    Man Ray: By the supreme authority of wickedness, I, the evil Man Ray, command you to release me from this frozen prison at once!
  • Expy: Just as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are ones for Aquaman and Aqualad, Man Ray is one for the Aquafamily's Arch-Enemy, Black Manta... though obviously, being from a goofy, lighthearted kid's cartoon, he's nowhere near the psychopathic monster Black Manta is.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Seemed to pull a Heel–Face Turn in his first appearance, but afterwards reverts to his evil status by the next time we see him. In his third appearance though, he preferred living a normal life, but SpongeBob got on his nerves when he didn't do anything wrong at all. Any evil he's done outside of the Bad Future amounts to Poke the Poodle in "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V" or just being a villain for hire when he teamed up with Plankton.
  • Human Popsicle: He was frozen in tartar sauce since Mermaid Man's prime, until SpongeBob and Patrick freed him.
  • Laughably Evil: Despite his status as Mermaidman and Barnacleboy's nemesis, Man Ray is just as goofy as any other character on the show. His actions, no matter how villainous, always result in Amusing Injuries.
    Man Ray: I'll fake my way through this just like I did in high school! [Evil Laugh]
  • Losing Your Head: In The Patrick Star Show, his head can be removed harmlessly (though said show is loose when it comes to logic).
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: He grabs Patrick by the head and repeatedly slams him against the ground after the latter claims that the box he keeps dropping on Man Ray's foot contains Patrick's wallets.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: After the surrealist artist, Man Ray. And of course, it's a pun on a manta ray.
  • No Face Under the Mask: His "mask" is actually a removable head.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: A minor villain in the normal series, but a Bad Future where he won proved he was actually able to take over the world and turn it into a dictatorship where everyone was enslaved to his will.
  • Older Than They Look: He's around the same age as Mermaid Man and went to high school with a now old woman, but he doesn't look like it. Justified, as he has been frozen for some time.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has red eyes, and he's evil.
  • Restraining Bolt: SpongeBob and Patrick take advantage of Man Ray's Tickle Belt when they teach him to become good, activating it whenever he does something bad.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: In his debut episode, he was frozen in tartar sauce until SpongeBob and Patrick accidentally thawed him out.
  • Sinister Stingrays: A manta ray themed supervillain, albeit a comedic one.
  • Tickle Torture: His weakness in his introductory episode is a belt that tickles him whenever a button is pressed ("As seen in Episode #17!") He tricks SpongeBob into unlocking the belt for him, but still feels the tickling sensation when he attempts to rob a bank.
  • Villainous Glutton: In "Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!", he gains a liking to Krabby Patties and quickly demands more and more of them violently until he's full.
  • Villains Out Shopping:
    • For most of "Man Ray Returns", he tries to have some time off from villainy by renting Squidward's house. He gets back to being evil because SpongeBob and Patrick wouldn't leave him alone.
    • In a more literal version of this Trope, we frequently see him out doing completely ordinary errands, like buying groceries or going to the laundromat.

    Dirty Bubble 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dirty_bubble.jpg
Voiced by: Charles Nelson Reilly (First appearance, Lights, Camera, Pants!), Tom Kenny (All other appearances)
Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II"

  • Animate Inanimate Object: He’s a sentient bubble.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Hadn't made a prominent appearance after "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" until the season 12 episode "Dirty Bubble Returns."
  • Create Your Own Villain: The Patrick Star Show episode "Super Sitters" revealed that Dirty Bubble was raised at the Super Child Daycare along with Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, Man Ray, and many others. When Patrick and SpongeBob traveled back at this time, they showed him what he will destined to be as an adult along with Man Ray, The Coral Creep, and Exo-Woman.
  • Good Costume Switch: When he's cleaned up and not mean.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He makes a temporary one in "Dirty Bubble Returns" when he becomes clean, but he ends up getting dirty and turning evil again.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: In "Dirty Bubble Returns", whether he’s good or bad depends on whether he’s clean or dirty, so the poor bubble ends up repeatedly switching between good and evil throughout the episode as he tries and fails to avoid dirt and gets cleaned only to get dirty again.
  • Hidden Depths: Apparently, he's a paddleball champion with a consecutive hit score of over 5 million.
  • Jagged Mouth: An asymmetrically jagged, crooked-looking mouth, with small "smile lines" on each end. Doesn't affect his "awesome surface tension" at all, though.
  • Large Ham: His bombastic nature, combined with his frequent rhyming tendencies, are what make him all the more over-the-top.
  • Laughably Evil: Could rival Man Ray in his hilarity, especially in the earlier seasons, where all it takes to defeat him is to pop him with any sharp object.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Ever since "Dirty Bubble Returns" he began rhyming every sentence he made, except for when he's clean.
  • They Killed Kenny Again: He's a bubble with all the fragility of one, and episodes like "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" and "Patrick-Man!" have him get popped but reappear alive and well in later episodes. "Back to the Past" reveals he has a dedicated bubble wand to reform himself with, which Barnacle Boy demonstrates before popping him almost immediately afterwards.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Being a bubble, he can be easily put out of commission if he's popped.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Subverted. In his debut, he is quickly popped by SpongeBob less than a minute after he shows up, but is seen alive and well in his second appearance.

    Atomic Flounder 

Atomic Flounder

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_flounder_tvtropes.png
Voiced by: Carlos Alazraqui ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II"), Dee Bradley Baker ("The Bad Guy Club for Villains")
Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II"

A flounder with radioactive powers, who is now retired.


  • Grumpy Old Man: Atomic Flounder can be rather fussy, especially when he got ambushed by SpongeBob.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Despite being an old bag now, Atomic Flounder used to be a buff, muscular bodybuilder back when he was young and active. On the other hand, he had a single eye on his face, an arm growing from his right shoulder, and an eye growing from the right side of his head.
  • Mutants: Atomic Flounder is the product of a radioactive disaster.
  • Progressively Prettier: Zig-Zagged. His younger self was redesigned with a more muscular bodybuilder physique, unlike the standard flounder look the show uses. However, the redesign also made him more obviously mutated.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Although Atomic Flounder is now retired and wishes no ill will on Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II", Atomic Flounder got really mad, when he was ambushed by SpongeBob, leading to him freaking out and barfing a toxic laser blast into Barnacle Boy's face.
    Atomic Flounder: Why, if I weren't retired, I'd...I'd-RRRRAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!
    [Fires his atomic breath straight into Barnacle Boy's face.]
    Atomic Flounder: -do that! [pushes past the trio] Out of my way, punk!
  • Retired Monster: Back in his day, Atomic Flounder was an evil supervillain, who fought with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Now, he's just a kindly old man, who is on good terms with his former rivals.
  • You Don't Look Like You: Aside from the fact that he pretty much aged into another person, in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II", a cardboard cutout of him depicts him as green and wearing a hazmat suit.

    Jumbo Shrimp 

Jumbo Shrimp

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker
Debut: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II"
A villainous shrimp with Super-Strength.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: His first appearance (while only on cardboard) has him looking like a muscular humanoid shrimp. His physical debut in "The Bad Guy Club For Villains" changes him drastically, looking more like a lobster. However, as of "Delivery of Doom", he's returned to his first design (although smaller in size).
  • Super-Powered Shrimp: Described as the most powerful of all crustaceans.

    Nosferatu 

Nosferatu

Played by: Max Schreck (archive stills; "Graveyard Shift"), Alexander Ward (subsequent live-action appearances)
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker
Debut: "Graveyard Shift"
A vampire from the film Nosferatu who works the night shift at the Krusty Krab. Also appears in Kamp Koral as “Kidferatu”.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Needless to say, this version of Orlok isn't a murderous, plague-causing monster.
  • Ascended Extra: He was a one-off gag in "Graveyard Shift", but became a recurring character in season 13.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Despite his creepy appearance, he's a very nice, if mischievous, guy.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: He’s always depicted in black and white, a nod to the film he originates in.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: He explicitly is a vampire and has drunk blood on several occasions, but is still friendly to the main cast.
  • I Am Not Shazam: In-Universe. He's only referred to as "Nosferatu", the title of the film, rather than the character's name of Count Orlok.
  • Looks Like Orlok: Because he is Orlok.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: He's portrayed as photographs rather than being animated in the main series. As Kidferatu in Kamp Koral, he is animated, but he retains his Deliberately Monochrome appearance and grainy filter, and his movements are distinctly stiff.
  • The Prankster: He's introduced as being responsible for flicking the lights and scaring the night crew; though with their bemusement and his playful smile, it's clear it's all in good fun.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: There's no indication that he needs any kind of breathing apparatus to stay underwater for long periods of time, unlike with most land creatures that come to Bikini Bottom. Of course, being a vampire and therefore undead, he probably doesn't need to breathe at all.

    SpongeTom 

SpongeTom ShortPants

Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Debut: "Broken Alarm"
A sea sponge who happens to resemble a certain someone. He lives in Tankini Top, where he works as a taquero at the Krunchy Krab.
  • Alliterative Name: SpongeTom ShortPants.
  • Catchphrase: “I’m prepared!”
  • A Day in the Limelight: "Bizarro Bottom" is focused on him and his daily life in Tankini Top, a town that’s essentially a Bizarro Universe of Bikini Bottom.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: He works at the Krusty Krab temporarily in "Broken Alarm" during the period when SpongeBob is unable to make it to work on time. His Krusty Krab employee hat has a non-standard design, with a rounder shape and an upside-down anchor. As shown in "Bizarro Bottom", this is because it’s not a Krusty Krab hat, but a Krunchy Krab hat, a remnant of his usual job.
  • Oddball Doppelgänger: He essentially resembles a weirder-looking version of SpongeBob, particularly having a bowtie instead of a necktie and a bump on his head being where his eyes are located.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: He kindly puts SpongeBob on the next bus back to Bikini Bottom, when he can't take any of the doppelgängers any longer.

    Narlene and Nobby 

Narlene and Nobby Narwhal

Voiced by: Kate Higgins (Narlene), Carlos Alazraqui (Nobby)
Debut: Kamp Koral
Narlene and Nobby are a pair of narwhal siblings who first appeared in the Kamp Koral spinoff series and were later added into the original series, with aged up designs.
  • Alliterative Family: They're siblings and their names both begin with the letter N.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Narlene is pink and Nobby is yellow, neither of which are the color of actual narwhals.
  • Animal Gender-Bender: Downplayed. Narlene has a tusk, and while female narwhals in real life can have them, only 15% of them do.
  • Animals Not to Scale: Like Pearl, they are whales the size of fish.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animal: They're fully dressed, but don't wear shoes, partially to fit their back-country nature.
  • Barefoot Loon: Both Narlene and Nobby never wear any shoes. Not to mention they have more visible toes than the rest of the Bikini Bottomites.
  • Big Little Brother: In Kamp Koral, Nobby is much shorter than his older sister. In the main show, however, he is huge and muscular.
  • Canon Immigrant: They first appeared in Kamp Koral before showing up in the main series.
  • Half-Witted Hillbilly: In the main series episode "Upturn Girls", Narlene and her lack of wisdom about sophisticated urban life proves a detriment when Pearl takes her on a city tour.
  • Handy Feet: Narlene often likes to grab things and interact with others using her feet, usually to the disgust of others with the exception of SpongeBob.
  • Inexplicably Awesome: Despite being hillbillies, as shown in "Hats Off to Space", they have a spaceship for some unexplained reason and know how to pilot it.
  • Joke of the Butt: "Painting with Squidward" has a bit where Narlene walks away in her pajamas while oblivious of her bottom's exposure from her dropseat being undone.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Narwhals are native to northern Arctic waters, yet the series takes place in the tropics.
  • Never My Fault: At the end of "Swimmin' Holed", Narlene gets the other campers to turn on SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy by stating it is their fault she locked the campers in their secret swimming hole because SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy revealed the secret swimming hole when she told them not to, disregarding that she was the one who chose to retaliate by locking them in the swimming hole when they did nothing short of overcrowding the swimming hole after SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy told them about it, in addition to her actions putting the campers' lives at risk.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: They are among the few characters besides SpongeBob himself that have humanoid hands and feet instead of fins.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Narlene is a female narwhal with pink skin. She’s not very traditionally feminine, however, so the trope is downplayed.
  • Plant Hair: Narlene has a wig made up of seaweed on her head.
  • Public Exposure: Subverted in "Painting with Squidward", where Narlene at first appears to be ready to pose nude for the campers to paint her picture, but turns out to actually be wearing her pajamas beneath her robe. Nevertheless, after Nobby ruins everything by shooting spitballs to prevent her from holding her pose, the scene ends with Narlene walking away while oblivious of her bare behind being exposed from her dropseat coming undone.
  • Punny Name: Narlene's name is a Portmanteau of "narwhal" and "Arlene".
  • Speaking Simlish: Nobby, though he can also speak perfectly normally if he chooses to.
  • Species Surname: “Narwhal”.

    Roh and Rea 
Voiced by: Bill Fagerbakke (Roh), Carolyn Lawrence (Rea)
Debut: Kamp Koral
A pair of rich siblings who originate in Kamp Koral, where they are campers at the Yacht Cabin under the supervision of Lady Upturn. Like Narlene and Nobby, they would later appear in the main series as adults.
  • Alliterative Family: They're brother and sister and their names both begin with R.
  • Canon Immigrant: Like Narlene and Nobby, they made their debut in the Kamp Koral spinoff, but were later featured as adults in the main SpongeBob series.
  • Half-Identical Twins: They're twin siblings of different sexes, though while their physical appearances are distinct, their personalities aren't.
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Roh wears blue clothes and Rea is colored pink while wearing a purple dress.
  • Rich Bitch: Much like their counselor Lady Upturn, they're wealthy and not very nice.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: When they temporarily lose their fortune in "Low Falutin", they're shown to be very out of touch with how the lower class go about their lives and are immediately fired from every job they try for their severe incompetence at doing actual work.

    Jimmy Blobfish 
Voiced by: John Gegenhuber
Debut: Kamp Koral
A blobfish originating in Kamp Koral who lives in the Trawler cabin.
  • Artistic License – Marine Biology: His appearance is based on a viral image of a blobfish… after decompressing from low pressure and dying. Real blobfish look different. Given that everyone in the Trawler cabin is to some degree morbid or undead, this may be deliberate.
  • Canon Immigrant: He was originally created for Kamp Koral, but subsequently made the transition to the main SpongeBob series, appearing as an adult in the episode "Kreepaway Kamp".
  • Shout-Out: His adult self in the main series episode "Kreepaway Kamp" resembles Gomez Addams of The Addams Family, especially his mustache and haircut.
  • Species Surname: His surname matches his species: Blobfish.

    Roxy 
Voiced by: Grey DeLisle (Big Roxy), Kate Higgins (Little Roxy)
Debut: Kamp Koral
Conjoined twin sisters consisting of an anglerfish and her sentient lure. They originate in Kamp Koral as campers living in the Trawler cabin.
  • Canon Immigrant: They originated in Kamp Koral, but later appeared in the main SpongeBob series as adults in the episode "Kreepaway Kamp".
  • Conjoined Twins: They're sisters connected to each other by virtue of Big Roxy being an anglerfish and Little Roxy being attached to her lure.
  • Hair Substitute Feature: Big Roxy has a dorsal fin that takes the shape of hair.
  • Irony: By the events of "Kreepaway Kamp", Big Roxy has become small while Little Roxy has become the larger conjoined twin.
  • Pink Means Feminine: A pair of pink female twins.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Both twins are pink with eyelashes and wear blue bows on their heads.

    Preda Tory 
Voiced by: Grey DeLisle
Debut: Kamp Koral
A sea spider camper from the Trawler cabin who originates from Kamp Koral.
  • All Webbed Up: She's sometimes trapped other campers by wrapping them in her webbing.
  • Artistic License – Marine Biology: She can spin webs like a spider, an ability that real sea spiders lack.
  • Canon Immigrant: Like with every member of the Trawler cabin aside from Kidferatu (who is just a younger version of Nosferatu), she debuted in Kamp Koral and subsequently appeared in the main SpongeBob series as an adult in the episode "Kreepaway Kamp".
  • Projectile Webbing: Like a lot of spiders in fiction, she can shoot her webbing as a ranged weapon.
  • Punny Name: Her name is a pun on "predatory".
  • Seductive Spider: Her adult self in the main series episode "Kreepaway Kamp" has shades of this, as she's clearly developed and wears a dress that shows off her figure.
  • Spiders Are Scary: She’s one of the members of the notoriously creepy Trawler cabin.

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