SpongeBob SquarePants/Characters

SpongeBob SquarePants

Voiced by: Tom Kenny

An outgoing sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, as the show's Theme Tune implies. Works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab. Although not very bright, he has a good heart and constantly strives to help his friends...even when they don't really want it.

• Ambiguously Gay: Parents made a big controversy of his sexuality.
• Anti-Hero: Type I or IV, Depending on the Writer.
• And Call Him George: His attitude towards Squidward and Mrs. Puff.
• Annoying Laugh: Sounds like a dolphin's vocalizations.
• Asexual: Stephen Hillenburg plays around with this quite a bit. He mentions that Spongebob is asexual, but since actual sponges usually (though not always) reproduce by budding, he could be referring to the biological aspect only. Because there's little indication in-series that he's ever attracted to anyone, he might be asexual in orientation as well.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The little to Patrick's big. Both of them are tiny compared to David Hasselhoff though.
• Blue Eyes: He's the only character with an iris while all but a few of the other characters have black eyes. Combined with being yellow gives the impression of a blue-eyed blond if he was human.
• Born Lucky: Subverted in the movie where Squidward of all people is chosen over him to be the manager of the second Krusty Krab. Otherwise, this is played straight, such as when Kevin tries to get him stung with jellyfish.
• Break the Cutie: Subverted in "Fools in April", played straight in "Have You Seen This Snail?" and others.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Despite his weirdness and frequent wacky antics, Spongebob is very good at his job and loves it so much that he'll gladly work without sleep. It's obvious that this is the only reason Mr. Krabs likes having him on the Krusty crew.
• Burger Fool: Subverted
• Butt Monkey / Chew Toy: When he's not the one causing the abuse.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Justified, seeing he's a sponge; but it's still shown to be painful.
• Chaste Toons: In one of the comics, he has three nephews.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Though Depending on the Writer, he can on rare occasions play the role of Only Sane Man.
• Competition Freak: Depending on the Writer, Spongebob has a rather Serious Business attitude about games, he once became paranoid about Squidward winning Employee Of The Month, and took sandcastle building with Patrick to it's most surreal.
• The Dragon: Unwitting one to Mr Krabs.
• The Ditz: More so as the series progresses.
  • Genius Ditz: He can flip burgers to suit a royal palate! A running gag is that he's also great at math.
• Drives Like Crazy: Probably the king of this trope in Western Animation.
• Everything's Better with Bob
• Extreme Doormat: Has shades of this, particularly around peers such as Mr Krabs, often making him a convenient patsy. Occasional stories show him attempt to gain abrasive skills, only to decide he is happy being "assertively nice". And it's almost impossible for him to say no to Sandy.
• Failure Is the Only Option: He can never get his boating licence. Ever. Not even in his dreams!
• Famed in Story: Depending on the Writer, he is often portrayed as a local celebrity for being the Krusty Krab's frycook.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Sanguine
• Flanderization: After season 3, he gravitated steadily towards the role of The Fool.
  • Took a Level In Dumbass: When the series began he was fairly intelligent but incredibly naive and childlike; in the later episodes he is barely smarter than pre-first movie Patrick.
• Healing Factor: Being a sponge, he can regenerate lost limbs. This is exemplified in an episode where he removes an arm and a new one pops up in its place. He then removes his other one, and the process repeats until he has an entire wall of arms holding arms.
• Ho Yay: With Patrick and Squidward.
• Idiot Hero
• Idiot Houdini: Oh, so much.
• Keet
• Kindhearted Simpleton: The large majority of times, he at least means well, anyway.
• The Kirk: More rational than Patrick; still not as level-headed as Squidward or even Mr. Krabs.
• Man Child: "Too tough? I'll have you know I stubbed my toe last week and I only cried for twenty minutes!"
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Sandy's Masculine Girl. He does practice karate with her though.
• No Sense of Personal Space: As Squidward says in one episode: "Spongebob, do you remember that little talk we had about personal space?"
• The One Who Wears Shoes: Unlike Squidward and Patrick.
• Papa Wolf: To Gary, his pet snail.
  • Also shows up when he's left to care for a bunch of baby worms.
• Ping-Pong Naivete: Is capable of surprising bouts of resourcefulness and wisdom and can even play the Straight Man on occasion, but can never figure out that half the town wants him to leave them alone.
• The Pollyanna
• Power Creep, Power Seep: SpongeBob's strength varies from episode to episode. Some episodes depict him as so weak he couldn't even lift a straw, other depict him lifting a mailbox straight off its hinges.
• The Power of Rock: Crowning Moment of Awesome in The Movie, along with one of the earlier episodes.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Squidward's blue.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Rubber Man
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Patrick's Manly Man.
• Small Annoying Creature
• Small Name, Big Ego: Depending on the Writer
• Species Firstname
• Stalker with a Crush: On Squidward.
• Stepford Smiler: Some episodes imply that he's one.
• Stop Helping Me!: He cannot take the hint that everyone except Patrick and probably Sandy wants him as far away from them as possible. Yes, everyone includes Gary.
• Super Speed: As the Quickster in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V.
• Talking to Himself: With Gary.
• Too Dumb to Live: At his worst.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist
• Workaholic: At one point, Mr. Krabs's forcing him to take a vacation nearly caused him to go insane; in "The Splinter", he frantically tries to avoid being sent home early; and this exchange from "Graveyard Shift" says it all:

Mr. Krabs: From now on the Krusty Krab is open 24 hours a day. Squidward: But Mr. Krabs...! Spongebob: Wooow! Now we never have to stop working!

Patrick Star

Voiced by: Bill Fagerbakke

A not-quite-bright starfish who is SpongeBob's best friend.

• Acquired Situational Narcissism : All the freakin' time.
• Anti-Hero: Type II/IV and occaisonally Type V in earlier episodes, later a type I.
• Acrofatic
• Adipose Rex: In "Rule of Dumb".
• Berserk Button: In the first three seasons, Patrick would go a rampage if anything greatly upset him. Examples include being the only person who didn't get a gift from Spongebob on Valentine's Day, Spongebob living with the jellyfish, and being called "Tubby".
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The big to SpongeBob's little.
• Bosom Buddies: When he thought a salesman was threatening his life, he, with SpongeBob's help, disguised himself as a girl named Patricia. Cue every other male in Bikini Bottom (especially Squidward and Mr. Krabs) falling for him.
• Big Eater: He participated in a Krabby Patty eating contest for that reason. It’s implied he’s a frequent customer of the Krusty Krab.
• Bumbling Sidekick: And considering whose sidekick he is, it's an accomplishment.
• Butt Monkey: At times.
• Deadpan Snarker: In the earlier episodes.
  • In later episodes he tries to be snarky, but is ultimately too dumb to pull it off.
• Diabolus Ex Machina: occasionally starting in season 7.
• The Ditz: SpongeBob isn't all there. Patrick isn't even in the time zone.
• Drives Like Crazy: Averted. Though Patrick is far from being Sandy, he can actually drive very well. Mrs, Puff still finds him annoying though.
• Exposed Animal Bellybutton
• Fat Bastard: In some episodes.
• Fat Best Friend
• Fat Idiot: He once mistook a piece of electronic equipment for the Tunnel of Glove for Spongebob, though in his defense, it actually did bear some resemblance to him.
• The Fool: Along with SpongeBob.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Phlegmatic
• Idiot Houdini
• Jerkass: On occasion Depending on the Writer, though as usual this was emphasized more due to Flanderization in later episodes.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The other half of the time.
• Ho Yay: With SpongeBob
• Lack of Empathy: At his worst (at his best he's just too dumb to know any better).
  • Granted it's another case of Depending on the Writer, in some cases he just blows off any pain or anguish he causes, in others he can be brought to tearful remorse for stealing someone's donut.
• Large Ham: Moreso in earlier episodes, but still somewhat in later ones.
• Man Child: Almost as much as SpongeBob, if not more.
• The McCoy
• Manipulative Bastard: This is often how SpongeBob goes along in one of his schemes. An example would be the episode in which Squidward accidentally swallowed his reed. SpongeBob was told to watch the submarine, and Patrick asked him if he looked after it from the inside as well.
• Parental Neglect: In "Rock a Bye Bivalve," he repeatedly refuses to help the little scallop. Though that in his eyes seems to be a traditional father figure.
• Poisonous Friend: For example, Patrick was willing to assault SpongeBob's kindly grandmother to keep him from being teased by others.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Rubber Man: As the Elastic Waistband in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to SpongeBob's Sensitive Guy.
• Species Surname
• Stock Sound Effects: His Big Eater moments are often punctuated by the sound of a Hoover vacuum cleaner.
• Too Dumb to Live: At times, like when he forgets how to breathe.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Fan Disservice.

Squidward Tentacles

Voiced by: Rodger Bumpass

A cranky perfectionist octopus who works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab.

• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife
• Annoying Laugh: A very honky sounding one due to his nose.
• Anti-Hero: Type I or Type II.
• Born Unlucky: Nothing ever goes right for him, he is injured, humiliated and/or driven insane almost every episode.
• Burger Fool
• Butt Monkey
  • Iron Butt Monkey
• Can't Stand Them Can't Live Without Them: In "Squidsville", towards Spongebob.
• The Chew Toy
• The Comically Serious
• Cranky Neighbor: He has little patience for Spongebob’s antics.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Designated Monkey: His Butt Monkey role was justified more in very early episodes due to his Jerkass persona and treatment of others, his abuse has leaned more towards Comedic Sociopathy and Kafka Komedy in later episodes, with a lot of the cast (and even inanimate objects) just baring an instant hatred towards him. The people who do like him aren't much help either.
• Dreadful Musician: Squidward loves his clarinet. But it doesn't seem to love him.
• Exotic Eye Designs: He has rectangular red pupils.
• Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Does occasionally get the chance to display some actual musical or other talent. He was, in fact, initially characterized by Plankton as a "mediocre clarinet player," but has usually been shown as an abysmal one.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic
• Freudian Excuse: Suffered a miserable childhood and lives with neighbours who harass him everyday.
• Grumpy Bear
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Early on, Squidward would be upset by SpongeBob and Patrick playing dumb games with each other. Downplayed later, then brought back again, even worse than before.
• Hates Being Touched
• Jerkass: Just how much of a Jerkass he is varies according to the writer.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sometimes sympathetic towards SpongeBob.
  • Took a Level In Jerkass: In seasons 1-3, Squidward acts like a jerk towards SpongeBob and Patrick most of the time, but at some points can be shown to actually care about them. In later seasons he takes the first possible opportunity to Kick The Sponge. Not that it's not Justified...sometimes.
• Karma Houdini: In "Grandma's Kisses" he harasses SpongeBob for simply being a devoted grandson. "Can You Spare a Dime?" sees him take advantage of SpongeBob's hospitality. In both cases, he gets off scot free. This is very surprising when you realize that in several episodes Squidward is punished just for being disagreeable.
• Kick the Dog: He does this EVERY time SpongeBob's near him.
• Lack of Empathy
• Large Ham
• Lazy Bum: Common theme of the Krusty Krab episodes is that Squidward often dumps his workload on SpongeBob. Since the latter is easily manipulated and very much a Workaholic, he takes the extra work without a second thought.
• Lethal Chef: The krabby patty he made in "The Grass is Always Greener" deserves special mention.
  • And this priceless little snippet:

Customer #1: You call this food!? My sandwich tastes like a fried boot! Customer #2: My sandwich is a fried boot!

• • Don't forget this:

Customer #1: He burnt my Krabby Patty. Customer #2: He burnt my fries! Customer #3: He burnt my shake.

• Magma Man: As Captain Magma in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V.
• "No Respect" Guy: One episode revolves around Spongebob thinking Squidward has died and is now haunting him. When he arranges a funeral for him, where the guests have this to say:

Mr. Krabs: Oh, Squidward...we came as soon as we were sure you were dead.

• Only Sane Man
  • Not So Above It All: If Squidward does partake in Spongebob's tomfoolery, he'll end up taking the games too seriously, ruining them for everyone else.
• Perpetual Frowner: In a stark contrast to Spongebob.
• Pet the Dog: Sometimes shows compassion for others. "Pizza Delivery" is the most obvious where a fish pretty much crushes SpongeBob's spirit for no good reason and Squidward gets ticked off and shoves the pizza down the offender's throat. Interestingly, episodes like this downplay his Butt Monkey status considerably.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to SpongeBob's red.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Just to give you an idea -- all of Squidward's art projects are self-portraits.
• The Spock
• Straw Loser: Let's face it, it takes one heck of a Butt Monkey to make the likes of SpongeBob and Patrick look like winners.
• Surrounded by Idiots
• This Loser Is You: Probably the most Closer to Earth character in the show, though despite his superior logic and sanity over the rest of the cast, he is often depicted as a Small Name, Big Ego who is talentless and unexceptional in reality.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In Squidtastic Voyage when he told SpongeBob and Patrick to leave his body without even a thank you for getting the reed out of his throat.
  • Also on Good Neighbors, Squidward had set up a security alarm in his house as SpongeBob and Patrick come in without any problem to give him an apology cake and apologize for unknowingly ruining his Sunday. But Squidward tries to get them kicked out instead of accepting their apology.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Into a non-anthro octopus ("Squid's Day Off") and an amorphus liquid ("Suction Cup Symphony").

Mr. Krabs

Voiced by: Clancy Brown

A scheming skinflint crustacean and owner of the Krusty Krab. His over-the-top greed and cheapness is played for laughs.

• Abusive Dad: Type I
• A Father to His Men: At least toward SpongeBob, less so in later seasons.
  • Sometimes.
• Annoying Laugh
• Anti-Hero Type III --> Type V.
• Arch Enemy: Plankton.
• Berserk Button: Several.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive
• Depending on the Writer: He can either be a sympathetic guy who has a genuine good core, a Jerkass who abuses his employees and doesn't care about his daughter that's Played for Laughs, or a ruthless Smug Snake who commits extremely dark and serious Moral Event Horizon acts such as relentlessly torturing Plankton that isn't meant to be funny.
  • His obsession with money also varies between episodes.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As recently as "The Masterpiece" he did have far more limits and nobilities in his greed (or at least felt really bad when he overstepped them, like selling SpongeBob's soul in the spur of the moment and poisoning people at the Krusty Sponge). Prior to his own development, Plankton often represented boundaries and methods in money making that Krabs drawn the line against.
• Faux Affably Evil: Under a more negative light post-Flanderization, under a more positive one he falls into more Knight Templar or Well-Intentioned Extremist territory.
  • Generally how cruel Krabs acts tends to be a case of Rule of Funny or Depending on the Writer, even in later episodes.
• Flanderization: Was initially a quirky but rather fair natured boss character, just he liked money a bit too much. And even then his greed was often played for laughs, and he had redeeming qualities, such as genuine care for his daughter Pearl, and for SpongeBob. Now at times he's just a total jerk to anything without a currency value. There's still some episodes that show him as a good guy though.
• Freudian Excuse: One could easily argue that his greed stems from his bad memories of living in poverty until striking it big.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: In "Neptune's Spatula", he gives a little pep talk to SpongeBob... before betting his money on King Neptune.
• Jerkass: More and more so each season. Arguably the best example in the show.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More prominent in earlier episodes, though still has shades of this Depending on the Writer.
• Knight Templar: His occasional treatment of Plankton leans towards this, early on he was merely defending his business from his schemes, now he seems to take offense even when his rival is making legitimate profits or merely isn't miserable.
• Karma Houdini: In the later seasons, most of his actions go without consequences. Most jarring being One Course Meal where he basically gets away with nearly driving Plankton to suicide.
• Lack of Empathy: To a great extent.
• Last-Name Basis: Almost everyone calls him Mr. Krabs, rarely using his first name.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the earlier seasons, and "The Scent Of Money".
• Lethal Chef
• Money Fetish: His defining character trait. He frequently takes this trope to ridiculous levels, to the point of taking money-baths, getting into a fight with Squidward over a dime, stalking Spongebob for a penny, and almost losing Spongebob forever in exchange for some pocket change (sixty-two cents to be exact).
• Mr. Vice Guy: When the show started out, he was a decent guy, but a bit greedy.
• The Pesci
• Pointy-Haired Boss
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: As a baby.
• Token Evil Teammate: In later seasons.
• Took a Level In Jerkass: After the movie.
• Villain Protagonist (post-Movie).

Sheldon Plankton

Voiced by: Doug Lawrence

Krabs' business rival and arch-enemy. Is always after the formula for the Krabby Patty, the burger that SpongeBob fries up to the customers. Barring that, he ultimately aims for crushing all of Bikini Bottom beneath his feet.

• Arch Enemy: To Krabs, and sometimes SpongeBob.
• Big Bad: In episodes dealing with him and the Chum Bucket.
• Body Snatcher -- A few of his plans involve mentally or physically enslaving someone with or without them being aware of the situation.
• Butt Monkey
  • Iron Butt Monkey: sometimes.
• Card-Carrying Villain
• Catch Phrase -- "I went to college!"
  • "Ouch."
• The Chew Toy
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Although the Chum Bucket could hardly be considered a corporation...
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Trope Codifier
• Cyclops
• Deadpan Snarker: Though not nearly as profound an example, he can dish it back to Karen at times.
• Depending on the Writer: How much he is evil.
• Designated Monkey
• Driven to Suicide
• Embarrassing First Name: Karen had a really good time with this one.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In "Walking Small", he's driven to a Villainous Breakdown after SpongeBob resolves to be "aggressively nice".

Plankton: Too...much...love...need...hatred...

• Evil Laugh
• Failure Is the Only Option: With an exception in 'Wishing You Well'.
• Glad I Thought of It: He's guilty of this, especially when he takes an idea Karen says to him.
• Harmless Villain: In FUN and Spy Buddies, he does nothing really evil.
• Henpecked Husband: Has shades of this around Karen.
• Impossible Thief: In one episode, Mr. Krabs tempts a "reformed" Plankton with a krabby patty. Despite the fact that the patty is always visible and untouched on the table throughout the exchange, it somehow ends up replaced with a cardboard cutout, which Krabs should have seen from his angle, even when it was propped up.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: In later seasons, but it varies, as sometimes he manages to be the clear cut villain. Depending on the Writer.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In the first season episode "FUN".
• Last-Name Basis: Though in his case, he considers Sheldon an Embarrassing First Name. Unlike Mr. Krabs, he's simply called Plankton instead of Mr. Plankton (sans one episode where he sees what it's like if they switch places).
• Laughably Evil
• Lethal Chef: The reason why he doesn't have customers.
• Likes Older Women: He is attracted to Mr. Krabs's mother in one episode.
• The Napoleon -- Being constantly literally stepped on and flung around like a piece of trash will mess with a plankton's mind, man.
• Nice Guys Finish Last: Says this word-for-word in "Walking Small".
• Not So Harmless: In the movie and "Plankton's Army". There are other episodes that demonstrate this though.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Smug Snake
• Species Whole Name
• Take Over the World: His secondary goal, Depending on the Writer.
• Took a Level In Badass: After stint of Villain Decay Plankton returned to his threatening and menacing self by Season 7 and became much more competent villain. Particulary in episodes "Frozen Face-Off", "Spongebob's Last Stand" and even "One Coarse Meal'. In "Frozen Face-Off" he he organized entire race as a distraction just so he could steal Krabby Patty formula without trouble and to throw off the suspicion he placed his robot doppelganger to participate in the race and it took all the main characters to stop his evil plans. In "Spongebob's Last Stand" where he built a super highway, which directly led to Chum Bucket, and it drove away all jellyfish from their fields and took over entire town and almost all of Bikini Bottom's population supported him. It was so bad that Mr. Krabs was going to give him secret formula willingly. This and "Frozen Face-Off" are more dramatic and action packed episodes of the series. Even in "One Coarse Meal', where he was Driven to Suicide due to Krabs masquerading as Pearl and scaring him, Plankton was very effective villain. To clarify: he drops a powerful explosive the size of a TV remote on the Krusty Krab's roof; he is said to build a transmutator (a machine with the power to make an element in nature into another element, like iron into gold, fire into air, etc.); and a robotic bomb-shaped object that is actually a disguised, robotic, telescopic claw that can crush a sea creature. And during the end of episode, Plankton uses mime to scare Mr. Krabs, who is very afraid of mimes, as the revenge for Mr. Krabs scaring him and driving him to suicide and from looks of it, Mr. Krabs' fear of mimes is bigger than Plankton's fear of whales, since Plankton managed to remain rational while being scared by whales, while Mr. Krabs was completely irrational.
• Took a Level In Dumbass: Sometimes. He varies from being on Sandy's level in terms of intelligence to being barely smarter than other characters.
• Unknown Rival: Sometimes SpongeBob doesn't acknowledge him as an enemy.

Karen Plankton

Voiced by: Jill Talley

A talking supercomputer who is Plankton's sidekick and wife. She provides him with evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula.

---

• Actually Pretty Funny: Sometimes laughs with the good guys against Plankton.
• AI Is a Crapshoot: Due to Flanderization, she becomes more of a Jerkass in the later seasons.
• All There in the Script: Her name wasn't mentioned at all in the "Plankton!" episode, but it was listed in the credits.
• Armless Biped: In the movie and most episodes from season 5-9, her mobile form does not have arms. From season 10 onwards, however, her mobile form always has them.
• Beleaguered Assistant: She mostly averts this as she is generally the dominant one in the relationship.
• Breakout Character: As mentioned above, Mr. Lawrence was responsible for turning the Planktons from one-off characters into main characters.
• Character Development: She shows no signs of sentience in "Plankton!" but gains her personality in "F.U.N."
• Cuteness Proximity: She gets so excited over how adorable Spot's puppies are in "Spot Returns" that she shuts down and spends several hours needing to be rebooted. When she comes back online and discovers even more puppies, she's even happier.
• Deadpan Snarker: In the post-movie episodes, she snarks at Plankton all the time.
• Equippable Ally: She is equippable with lasers, screensavers, and various software.
• Flanderization: Her sentience and, to a lesser but still noticeable extent, her mannerisms. In the first season, she was always supportive of Plankton and focused on the mission. In the first movie, she became deadpan almost all of the time. While she has mostly reverted to her more cheerful demeanor as of season 9, she still shows signs of getting fed up with Plankton's ignorance at times.
  • One aspect of her personality that was completely phased out was her unquestioning servitude to Plankton. She always helps with his plans and gives them to him in most cases, but she no longer does whatever he says when he demands it.
  • An example of her unquestioning servitude can be seen in the Season 3 episode "The Algae's Always Greener". Plankton orders Karen to make him some dinner, so she gives him holographic meatloaf while saying—in a completely serious, non-sarcastic manner—"Yes, your majesty."
• Green Eyes: Whenever she has eyes.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: She successfully stole a Krabby Patty the first time she tried alone, with near zero effort (then again, it was against Squidward).
• Interspecies Romance: If a computer counts as a species, her and Plankton counts as a relationship between people of different species.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Has her moments.
• Just a Stupid Accent: Had a very obvious Brooklyn accent even before she had a personality.
• Lack of Empathy: She even says to SpongeBob that she cannot feel for others because she physically does not have a heart.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: She vaugley sounds like Janeane Garofalo.
• Non-Indicative Name: Her full name is Karen Plankton, but she's a computer, not a plankton.
• Non Standard Character Design: Karen is the only one who is regularly drawn with wavy-lined borders instead of clean lines. This is because backgrounds and items in the show are normally drawn with wavy borders while characters aren't.
• Pet the Dog/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is a computer but nevertheless has a very strong love for Plankton deep down.
• Punch Clock Villain: Averted. See Beleaguered Assistant above.
• Ridiculously-Human Robots: Played with. She supposedly has no heart but still feels a wide range of emotions. However, she still has some limitations such as being unable to eat (though she is turned into a Krabby Patty zombie in "Krabby Patty Creature Feature" when she is force-fed bits of the Krabby Patty zombies by having them stuffed into her disc drive).
• Robotic Spouse: Yes and no. Yes, Karen is a robot and she married her creator. But no, Plankton did not create her just to marry her. She was originally just the security system for the business he and Mr. Krabs ran together, before they began dating naturally. Their romance even began before Plankton became evil, and Karen was so faithful to him that she became evil as well.
• Satellite Character: She usually only interacts with Plankton and whoever else comes into the Chum Bucket. Justified, seeing as she's a mostly immobile computer who was permanently stationed in the Chum Bucket for the first four seasons.
• Satellite Love Interest: Averted, since she wasn't written as Plankton's wife until Season 3 and is actually a formidable villain rather than just a love interest, having come up with almost all of Plankton's schemes herself.
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: She plays crucial roles in both movies (authoring and telling Plankton about "Plan Z" in the first, powering the time machine in the second) but did not have much screen time in the trailers for them. However, she was featured in the associated merchandise, such as the Mega Bloks time machine playset for the 2015 movie.
• Snarky Inanimate Object: She's a computer and is pretty snarky in the later episodes.
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: She's a computer who aids Plankton in his plans and is prone to making snide remarks toward him.
• Talking Weapon: She has robotic abilities like lasers and death rays that make her a talking, walking weapon sometimes.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The huge girl to Plankton's tiny guy.
• Tuckerization: Named after the wife of series creator Stephen Hillenburg.
• TV Head Robot: The head of her mobile unit looks a lot like a CRT television.
• Women Are Wiser: She is much more clever and competent than her husband Plankton.

Sandy Cheeks

Voiced by: Carolyn Lawrence

An athlete/scientist squirrel from Texas.

• The Ace: Particularity as her appearances get less frequent.
• Action Girl
• Badass Bookworm (Easily the most intelligent in the main cast, but often shown to be as physically strong as Larry the Lobster. Also likes life-threatening stunts.)
• Balloon Belly: in a recent episode
• Berserk Button: Never ever insult anything/anyone from Texas, or even the state itself. You will regret it, as SpongeBob and Patrick faced the serious consequences.
  • Or rip all of her fur off (Sponge Bob and Patrick do this to her during the hibernation episode, when she finds out she beats them and then uses them as bikinis), or kick her in the butt (Squidward is trying to put a band together, when Sponge Bob asks him if they can start kicking now, Squidward replies that they only do that during chorus lines, then Patrick responds by saying he wants to kick something, he does kick Sandy in the butt, causing her to clobber him with a trombone, he later does it again with the same effect happening).
• The Chew Toy: Not as much as the others but Sandy suffers some physical damage at times, such as being mauled by a gorilla, having her fur torn off by Spongebob and Patrick, being plagued with fleas, being hit by a car off of a mountain and so on.
• Closer to Earth: Flip flops with this. While she is far more intelligent than most of the cast, she is occasionally shown to have a very rowdy and abrasive temperment when pushed. She is also sometimes more aware of her position in this trope than she really is. Granted as the rest of the cast became Flanderized more and more, her own flaws became less significant.
• Competition Freak: Sandy is used to being the best at multiple talents and sports, so gets rather aggressive with when challenged.
• Demoted to Extra: Inverted: She and Gary are more common in merchandise than the show.
• Everything Is Big in Texas
• Fish Out of Water (Played straight, though she's actually a squirrel IN water)
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric
• Invisibility: As Miss Appear in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V.
• The Ladette (by many fan interpretations.)
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to SpongeBob's Feminine Boy.
• Only Sane Woman
• Out of Focus (Appears less and less with each season, it seems).
• Panty Shot: Frequently
• Parody Sue: A few episodes, especially in the Second Season, seem to make light of her somewhat lengthy amount of talents and positive aspects, it also usually being these points she was portrayed in a more flawed light. May count as an example of Rescued From the Scrappy Heap with those elements considered.
• Positive Discrimination (Arguable example. Is the most gifted and least flawed central character by miles, though partly due to excessive Flanderization of the bipedal, male characters. Admittedly it is also balanced by frequent Not So Above It All moments).
  • She played it undeniably straight pre-Character Development however.
• Small Name, Big Ego (Albeit not as consistently as Squidward).
• Southern-Fried Genius.
• Token Good Teammate: The only main character that isn't either a Jerkass or a moron.
  • Her occasional ego and temperament can provoke some unfortunate situations in the show (eg. Pressure), that said, she is arguably the one recurring character that hasn't had her flaws Flanderized over her redeeming aspects.
• Too Clever by Half

Mrs. Puff

Voiced by: Mary Jo Catlett

SpongeBob's patient but paranoid teacher at boating school, who is a pufferfish.

• Ambiguous Disorder: Several episodes demonstrate that SpongeBob's antics have taken quite the toll on her mental health. "Doing Time" ends with her having repeated hallucinations of the episode's beginning, and in "Krusty Love", she has a very PTSD-like reaction by just hearing SpongeBob's voice. Though she's still able to calm down when he points out they're not driving.
• Adults Are Useless: Sort of. She's far more level headed than Spongebob, but she shows occasional incompetance as a teacher.
• Ax Crazy: In "Demolition Doofus" when she becomes obsessed with attempting to get SpongeBob killed in a demolition match, and tries to kill him herself when that fails.
• Butt Monkey
• Closer to Earth: Despite the occasional dark tint, she's more level-headed than most of the other main characters. SpongeBob is constantly grating on her sanity however.
• Dark and Troubled Past: According to at least one conversation, she has previously skipped town under a different name.
• December-December Romance: She and Mr. Krabs are close to being senior citizens and have each been married before, but that doesn't stop them from falling in love and continuing to date (for nearly two decades, as revealed in Whirly Brains).
• Didn't Think This Through: She falls victim to this in the episode "No Free Rides". Sick and tired of having to go through SpongeBob's chaotic driving tests, she comes up with a bogus extra credit test to just give him his driver's license and get him out of her classroom. It's only after she does so that it hits her that she has just given SpongeBob free reign to drive on public streets and wreak havoc there.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time we see her, in "Boating School" (episode 4), she is at her school watching SpongeBob dance around and says "I'm not ready..."
• Nervous Wreck
• Stepford Smiler

Pearl Krabs

Voiced by: Lori Alan

Mr. Krabs' beloved teenage daughter, who is a sperm whale.

• Animals Not to Scale: She is a whale who's only twice the size of miniature creatures like starfish and crabs. Some international dubs justify this by claiming she is a baby whale, but she is 16 (mentally, at least).
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Depending on the writer in the more modern episodes.
• Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin': In "Bossy Boots", she goes to work for the Krusty Krab during her summer vacation, and makes multiple changes to the restaurant that effectively ruin her father's business. As it turns out, all the changes she made were because she was deliberately trying to get fired, but Krabs simply didn't have the heart to fire his own daughter. So SpongeBob, who was sent to fire her anyway, "pretends" to fire her so she could go and enjoy her summer vacation.
• Distressed Damsel: in Dunces and Dragons
• The Dreaded Pretend Tea Party: When SpongeBob enters her dream in "Sleepy Time" and sees that she's having a fake tea party, he asks her how to get to Mr. Krabs' dream instead.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Her boyfriend was (unexpectedly) a nerdy little baitfish...although she describes him as incredibly "long, tan, and handsome"
• Huge Schoolgirl: Considering she's a whale among little animals like starfish and squirrels.
• Non Standard Character Design: She's the only one with monocular vision: eyes on the sides of her head rather than in front.
• Out of Focus: In later seasons.
• Valley Girl: Borderline Case -- she actually falls somewhere between this and a deconstruction of the Alpha Bitch.

Gary

Voiced by: Tom Kenny

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

• Amplified Animal Aptitude: Varies. Sometimes he acts like any other domestic animal, other times he can use Raymanian Limbs and understand SpongeBob well enough to hold conversations.
• Cats Are Mean: Under the show's theory of snails existing as an Expy for cats. Subverted for the most part, though he has his occasional Jerkass moments like most of the cast.
• Furry Confusion: Averted
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Odd Name Out: His full name has nothing to do with his species, unlike most of the other characters.
• Out of Focus: More of a background character nowadays. Unlike Sandy, he pretty much is sticking to this.
• Silent Snarker: Occasionally he can act like Squidward, though Squidward doesn’t own him, Spongebob does.
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Despite all of them being sea creatures and all (except Karen, Sandy and some guest characters). Even if the audience will never be able to figure out what he's saying, SpongeBob's retorts to whatever he says show that he is rather snarky.
• Talking to Himself: With SpongeBob.

Patchy the Pirate

Voiced by: Tom Kenny

• 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: He gets a lot of misfortunes in the segments featuring him.
• The Chew Toy: If something bad happens during his segments, it's usually him it'll happen to.
• Dressed to Plunder: Wears the typical parts of a pirate costume, though he doesn't really do any actual plundering.
• Excited Kids' Show Host: Especially since he's played by Tom Kenny.
• Fanboy: He's the president of the SpongeBob fan club.
• ManChild: He's a fully-grown man who's more obsessed with SpongeBob than most of the kids watching the show could ever be.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being a pirate, we never see him doing any actual looting or plundering.
• Pirate Parrot: Has an obnoxious parrot on his shoulder named Potty.
• Straw Loser: 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.
• Talk Like a Pirate: The accent and outfit go along well with it.
• Token Human: Notably the only recurring character who is a live-action person.

Mermaid Man

Voiced by: Ernest Borgnine

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Expy: Of Aquaman, and a deconstruction at the same time.
  • He's also clearly modeled off of Batman.
• Leitmotif: The Lineman.
  • "Grand Theft Auto" Effect: It has existed before Spongebob was created, but most people think of it as the "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" theme.
    • Fittingly, it's also The Jimmy Hart Version of the Adam West Batman theme.
• Old Superhero: Was retired, but became "semi-retired" thanks to SpongeBob.
  • Senior Sleep Cycle
• Token Human

Barnacle Boy

Voiced by: Tim Conway

• Butt Monkey
• Expy: Oddly, more of an Expy of Robin than of Aqualad.
• Face Heel Turn: He turned back to normal by the end of the episode though.
• Leitmotif: See Mermaid Man.
• Older Than They Look
• Old Superhero
• Token Human

The Flying Dutchman

Voiced by: Brian Doyle-Murray

• Hair-Trigger Temper
• Leitmotif: suffers the "Grand Theft Auto" Effect.
• Our Ghosts Are Different
• Reality Warper and Voluntary Shapeshifting: A prime source of the Nightmare Fuel associated with him, especially in "Ghost Host."
• Your Cheating Heart: He's apparently married (although we never see his wife), because he hit on a female fish at a party, who eyed him skeptically and noticed his wedding ring.

Realistic Fish Head

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
• Fourth Wall Portrait

Larry the Lobster

Voiced by: Doug Lawrence

• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Has the color of a boiled lobster
• The Big Guy
• Chick Magnet
• Only One Name
• Talking to Himself: He and Plankton have the same voice actor.
• Walking Shirtless Scene

Grandma SquarePants

Voiced by: Marion Ross

• Covered in Kisses (Done to SpongeBob on an implied regular basis)
• Supreme Chef
• Out of Focus: Post-movie, borderlining on Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, as she didn't appear at all in seasons six or seven.

Man Ray

Voiced by: Bob Joles

• Arch Enemy
• Expy of Black Manta.
• 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.
• Human Popsicle: He was frozen in tartar sauce since Mermaid Man's prime, until SpongeBob and Patrick freed him.
• Not So Harmless: 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.
• The Other Darrin: His first appearance in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" was voiced by Guy Siner and John Rhys-Davies.
• Pet the Dog
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Token Human: Well, he's human-like, it's still not clear if he's actually human or not.

Squilliam Fancyson

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

Squidward's rival from high school. Squilliam is essentially everything Squidward dreamed of being. Whereas Squidward is a middleclass jackass stuck in a deadend job and considered a joke by everyone except SpongeBob and Patrick, Squilliam is a successful, filthy stinking rich jackass beloved by all. He loves rubbing his success in Squidward's face.

• Alternate Company Equivalent: To Remy Buxaplenty from The Fairly Odd Parents. Both are arrogant and insufferable millionaires who brag their lifestyle to the main characters.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Won twice, but normally his appearences are a sign Squidward will win this one.
• Eviler Than Thou: Well neither are exactly evil, but he's this to Squidward. Take Squidward, add some Smug Snake and several levels in jerkass, and remove any redeeming qualities. That's Squilliam.
• 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: In "Band Geeks" and "House Fancy"
• Humiliation Conga: In the iconic scene of "Band Geeks"
  • Gets another one at the end of "House Fancy".
• Jerkass
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• The Rival: To Squidward.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money
• Shadow Archetype:
  • To Squidward of all people. Both are arrogant and snobbish cephalopods, but are opposites to each other in every way. On a positive light, he represents Squidward would be if SpongeBob wasn't around to bug him. In general, Squilliam is basically Squidward with no redeeming qualities.
  • To Mr. Krabs. While Krabs has an obsession with money and will go further lengths to satisfy his greed, Squilliam is a millionaire to begin with. He embodies Mr. Krabs' utter Lack of Empathy.
• Smug Snake
• Villainous Breakdown: At the end of "Band Geeks", he has one. 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" were Squidward's house being declared even fancier than his leaves Squilliam laying on the ground crying his eyes out.

Bubble Bass

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

• Fat Bastard
• Jerkass
• Remember the New Guy?: Somewhat of an example; in his first appearance, he was treated as a known nemesis.
• Smug Snake
• 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.

DoodleBob

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

SpongeBob and Patrick's creation, a crude doodle of SpongeBob come to life, and on an Unstoppable Rage.

• Anti-Villain
• Big Bad: Of "Drawn to Life" SpongeBob
• The Grotesque
• Kill and Replace: "You Doodle, ME SPONGEBOB!!!"
• Nightmare Face
• The Unintelligible
• Vile Villain Saccharine Show

Scooter

An undead surfer fish who appears mostly in the background, but has some major roles.

• Back From the Dead
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: subverted.
• Recurring Extra

The Dirty Bubble

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
• Eyes of Gold
• Weaksauce Weakness: "Watch the POINT!!!"

Tom

A fish well known for saying "CHOCOLATE!"

• Palette Swap: Into red and lime green.
• Trademark Favorite Food: do we even have to say it? 'CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE!'

Betsy Krabs

Voiced by: Sirena Irwin

• Mama Bear
• Older Than They Look
• The Other Darwin: was originally voiced by Paul Tibbit.

Uncle Sherm SquarePants

• The Ghost

Fred

• Catch Phrase: MY LEG!!! and DEAUUGH!!
• Demoted to Extra: The blue version is rarely seen after the second movie.
  • Except in Season 7, the blue version is seen very commonly.
• Palette Swap: He is in both brown and blue versions.
  • There is a brown-green version used only once, in Professor Squidward.

Blackjack SquarePants

Voiced by: John Dimaggio

Grandpa Redbeard

Voiced by: Dennis Quaid

• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: If Mr. Krabs is 64 and his mother is still alive, he must be really old.

Flatts

Voiced by: Thomas F. Wilson

• The Bully

Dennis'

• Ax Crazy
• Evil Laugh
• Faux Affably Evil
• Knight of Cerebus: When he appears the first time, you know that the movie will be Darker and Edgier.
• Psycho for Hire
• Vile Villain Saccharine Show

Neptune

• Adaptational Badass: Inverted. The Movie version, whilst still powerful, is treated more like a king than a god.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Neptune is Teal in the TV show, and Green in the movie
• Divine Race Lift: The Live Action Version who appears in Party Pooper Pants is portrayed by the African-American Actor Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Jerkass Gods
• You Don't Look Like You

The Cyclops

• Evil Laugh
• The Faceless
• Humans Are Bastards