Moral Event Horizon cleanup

Theres another Spongebob "Moral Event Horizon" that I have to call out for how weak it is

• Bubble Bass reneges Sponge Bob and Patrick's free meal promise of moving him out of his mom's house... by burping in their faces! No doubt he deserved that ending karma where her mom stuffs him in a box and drags him around town.

1.) everything in that episode was Played for Laughs 2.) Bubble Bass appeared in "Spongebob's Birthday Blowout" so it doesn't seem they don't hold a grudge against him and 3.) Compared to the other Spongebob MEH on the list, this is an extremely weak entry. Shall i cut it?

Burping in someone’s face is crossing the Moral Event Horizon now?!

Nuke that right away.

You got it

I took care of it, its gone.

Do you want me to find who added that? Because that's the second misuse of MEH in the Spongebob universe (the first being related to the comics) and now this.

Honestly, Spongebob gets a lot of MEH shoehorns, so I'm not too shocked over it. But if you want to check who the poster was, go ahead.

I know to check history but is there an easier way than to scroll through a thousand history postings to find the particular line I'm looking for?

Ctrl+F and type in some of the words used in that example.

What about on mobile? That's what I normally use?

There might be a "find" tool in the options menu, depending on browser. I use chrome and one exists there.

On iPhone, tap on the address bar then enter the exact word/phrase on this page.

For those curious, the entries were added by two different people. TheTruthZSquared added the comic entry back in 2013 and hasn't edited since, while FoxyGrandpa12 added the entry for Bubble Bass exactly a year ago.

But yeah, I've seen people toss this trope a lot around SpongeBob back in the day, when I can count legitimate examples from that show on one hand.

I'd say the only LEGITIMATE MEH crossing in Spongebob that ISN'T played for laughs is Plankton brainwashing everyone in the movie and even THAT is a stretch. And Krabs hasn't crossed it because he's not a villain despite what fans want to think.

Edited by Klavice on Jun 4th 2020 at 2:29:29 AM

Clearly, burping in someone face is the most horrific of crimes, more horrific than genocide actually.

This is apparently an MEH from Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time:

• Her [Cassiopeia's] sister, Carina, crosses the MEH when she attacks Ratchet to prevent him from reaching the planet where Cassiopeia is stationed, leading to her imminent Karmic Death.

Apparently, a bad guy attempting to stop a good guy is a MEH. Didn't Nefarious hire her and the other two to stop Ratchet? How is this an MEH?

Should I cut it?

Edited by deathnoteFNBOI58 on Jun 7th 2020 at 2:12:08 PM

Let's review the current Spongebob MEH to see if they still count.

• Mr. Krabs is always a miserable cheapskate, but throughout the series he became much worse and has done many cruel actions. He crosses the MEH in "One Coarse Meal" when he starts exploiting Plankton's fear of whales by dressing up as Pearl and threatening to eat him. He harasses Plankton so much that he becomes suicidal afterwards; after he finds out that Plankton is ready to commit suicide, he simply laughs at Plankton's misery.

(I'd say this is more "Kick the Dog" especially if his worst action is antagonizing the main villain? Am I saying it's right? Heck no... but this is certainly no Moral Event Horizon.)

• Granny crosses the line in the episode "Have You Seen This Snail?", when Gary discovers that she has killed other snails (most likely they died from sheer overeating and then Granny simply ate them herself, though it's not made clear), and then she tries to do the same with Gary. In fact, unlike the examples of Mr. Krabs, her Moral Event Horizon is not played for laughs and in the same episode, the things got very serious.

(Easy keep. Very freaky one-off character that, had Spongebob had a more serious tone in it and she killed Bikini Bottomites in addition to snails, maybe she could be a Complete Monster.)

• Plankton brainwashing and enslaving Bikini Bottom in The Movie. In addition, he was willing to kill SpongeBob and Patrick in some scenes by sending a bounty hunter after them.

(This I could see keeping too, except for how monotone everyone sounds when saying "All Hail Plankton." as well as him literally getting squashed, showing that Spongebob is still, as a whole, a comedy.)

• Mrs. Puff entering SpongeBob in a demolition derby in hopes that he will die, and then later actively trying to kill him in "Demolition Doofus".

(I thought we agreed to cut this, as Mrs. Puff is not a villain and Spongebob tortures her on a regular basis.)

• The comics give us the Big Bad of the Untidaled arc, an unnamed kraken, who is arguably the darkest villain in the comics. Why? Well, not only is he responsible for the draining of the water that kick started the arc in the first place, we later learn HE EATS FISH! That's right, the darkest villain ever in the comic series eats Bikini Bottomites, and he tries to force Mr. Krabs to make him a giant Krabby Patty that will attract MANY unfortunate citizens into his jaws.

(Oooooh... the darkest villain in the comics? Scaaaaary... Sounds like something out of a creepypasta looking at the fact he eats fish. Don't krakens eat fish anyway? He sounds like a Hate Sink, but a MEH crosser? Naaah.)

Edited by Klavice on Jun 9th 2020 at 4:21:39 AM

I don't recall Granny killed any Bikini Bottomites, what are you talking about?

Also, Granny is nowhere near a Complete Monster, thats an immense stretch

Edited by deathnoteFNBOI58 on Jun 9th 2020 at 12:41:20 PM

Yeah, I have no idea what you're referring to there. Granny killed some snails, that's all she did.

Also, I don't think Granny crossed the MEH. For starters, everything stated is just speculation. Yes, she killed a lot of snails but its never stated she did it on purpose and I dont recall her killing Bikini Bottomnites. I've seen a few cartoons where it shows an elderly character not taking care of their pets but I don't recall which ones.

Overall, given how Granny doesn't seem to have any sadism over giving snails too many food, I feel she's just a very oblivious woman. As such, I think that part should also be removed.

Klavice was joking about the Complete Monster stuff, that's why they left a pothole to Joking Mode.

I'd say Plankton's entry is okay, since the movie is supposed to be the finale to the show. He's obviously crossing lines he never went to in the show itself and since officially the episodes released since then take place before the first movie, I don't we have to worry too much about how the show depicts him.

Granny is an odd case, since the episode itself is a bit ambiguous about what Granny actually does with the snails. It's not clear whether she's deliberately stuffing the snails up to eat them, or if she's unintentionally killing them by overfeeding them due to her negligence.

Never read the comics, but I guess the Kraken can stay if the entry is accurate. Mr. Krabs' and Mrs. Puff's entries can be cut though, since they're not treated as wholly irredeemable after those specific episodes.

Edited by chasemaddigan on Jun 9th 2020 at 12:53:53 PM

And I would also like to add that Granny killing snails is Offstage Villainy. We've never seen her kill any snails and the whole broken shell thing can be interpreted a number of ways.

Granny's "MEH" has so many holes in it that I feel it should be cut.

I was joking about Granny being a CM (hence why I left the pothole), and I don't think she crossed it either. As for the Bikini Bottomites, I was saying IF she did.

I'd say keep kraken and Plankton and cut the rest.

I would like opinions on this, please.

But isn't Krabs driving Plankton into a suicidal state kind of an MEH? He does take disturbing pleasure in it and yes Plankton is the villain, but he has sort of suffered Villain Decay so it kinda seems harsh

Not if the show still presents him as a sympathetic character aftwerwards.

Another series that needs a cleanup is the SMG 4 page, these are the apparent Moral Event Horizons:

• The opening of "Mineswap" has Steve kill several Villagers, drown their village in lava, and then blow it up with a bunch of TNT.
• Near the end of "The Super Dudes" Wario Evil Laughs in response to accidentally causing near-Cessation of Existence on Mario, Bowser, Fishy, and Steve.
• In "Mario and the T-Pose Virus", Waluigi is revealed to have caused the eponymous virus, which nearly infected the entire Mushroom Kingdom. From then on, his actions become increasingly more villainous as the Arc goes on.
• SMG 3 has crossed it several times. Attempting to ruin SMG 4's life for a petty reason, creating the Ztar, stealing the world's internet and turning it into an apocalyptic wasteland for his own greed, just to name a few examples.
• Bob crosses it after revealing he faked his friendship with Fishy Boopkins, intentionally pushing Boopkins into the well in order to "play hero" and boost his Sound Cloud, then organizing the events of "Mario and the Bob Mansion", all for the sole purpose of boosting his popularity. After saying this to Boopkins' face, he abandons the crying Boopkins in the alleyway and leaves to restart his rap career, not showing an ounce of regret.
• Francis kidnapping almost half of the Inkling population, Meggy included, in order to extract their ink for the sole purpose of fueling the Ink Weaver to a point where he can have an island full of waifus. Keep in mind that most of the Inklings are only in their early teens. If all that doesn't do it, then his murder of Desti sure does.
• Team Killer Ink's leader pushing Meggy down a pit so they can win instead which, not only would've cost Team Splatsquad victory of the splatfest but, due to Meggy being a human, would've pretty much KILLED her right then and there if her friends didn't save her.

There are quite a few that need removal. First, Steve, Wario and Waluigi are later given sympathetic qualities, plus Steve's actions are Played for Laughs especially if you compare them to what Mario does to them in later episodes, Wario and Waluigi are given sympathetic qualities later and Bob undergoes a Heel Realization and gets better. I would definitely keep SMG 3, Francis and Team Killer Ink's leader ME Hs but I feel the rest need to be cut

Edited by deathnoteFNBOI58 on Jun 10th 2020 at 1:58:35 PM