Depending On The Writer / SpongeBob SquarePants

• SpongeBob himself:
  • SpongeBob goes from being sweet and stupid to being aggressive and possibly violently insane. He also can go from being very stupid and somewhat childish but with some common sense, to being fairly normal and intelligent, if a bit eccentric, to being worse than a hyperactive five-year-old on a sugar rush. There is also the odd time where he acts as the straight-man to another character instead of the other way around.
  • SpongeBob's popularity in town varies depending on the episode. In some, he's beloved by everyone for his Nice Guy attitude and helpful nature, while in others he's hated to the point where the town actively tries to avoid him due to how obnoxious he is. In others, nobody has any idea who he is.
  • How good of a fry cook is Spongebob? In some episodes he has people treating him like he's a celebrity chef ("ChefBob", "SpongeBob's Place") but other times he's treated as a low level fast food cook ("Le Big Switch", "The Chaperone"). He's consistently very skilled when he's on any kind of game, though—the real division tends to be whether anyone particularly cares.
  • The same goes for his karate skills. Sometimes he's good enough to hold his own against (or even beat) Sandy, in other episodes she beats him in less than a Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • How dedicated an employee is SpongeBob, and just how well does he fit in at the Krusty Krab? He's usually a workaholic who's been honored as Employee of the Month dozens of times, provides top-quality customer service, and is openly favored by Mr. Krabs over Squidward, who's lazy and shiftless. But in episodes that center on his unpopularity or his more annoying qualities, he's a gibbering goof-off indistinguishable from Patrick who frightens the customers and gets on Mr. Krabs' nerves, which has the effect of making Squidward look at least reliably mediocre.
  • SpongeBob's ability to cook foods besides Krabby Patties also varies. He's sometimes shown as a One-Note Cook: in "Le Big Switch" and "SpongeBob You're Fired", it's a Running Gag that every food he makes will turn out as a Krabby Patty in some way, and in "Bossy Boots", he's unable to comprehend the idea of a salad. However, he's been shown making other foods on occasion: he can make good brownies in "Sandy's Nutty Nieces," is able to prepare elaborate and delicious ice cream dishes in "The Goofy Newbie," and makes a wide array of foods for his party in "Party Pooper Pants."
  • SpongeBob's ability to drive is often depicted differently from episode to episode depending on the needs of the plot. In some episodes SpongeBob is shown to know the fundamentals of how to drive but just has his nerves get the better of him whenever he's put behind a wheel. In others, SpongeBob shows no signs of anxiousness about driving and is simply a bad driver through and through, leaving Bikini Bottom going up in flames behind him as he "drives" off with a clueless smile on his face.
  • His ability to understand Gary. Sometimes he seems fully capable of understanding his meows, while other times he just treats them as gibberish.
• Sandy ranges from either being a genius who makes numerous groundbreaking inventions or a jock with relatively normal intelligence.
• Patrick:
  • How dumb Patrick actually is varies wildly, with him ranging from mostly being naïve and childish to a complete blithering imbecile who is so unaware that he poses a danger to everyone around him. The show has lampshaded this several times:
  Squidward: Patrick, just how dumb are you?
  Patrick: It varies.

  Patrick: You can't just expect my usual brand of stupidity. I like to mix it up. Keeps you on your toes.
  • How aware he is of his actions can vary depending on the episode as well, with Patrick either being a well-meaning idiot who is Innocently Insensitive at worst or a blatant Jerkass who seems to know full well what he's doing (with one infamous case of this being "Ink Lemonade").
• The Krusty Krab is either highly successful or always on the brink of bankruptcy. The former is convenient for episodes with Plankton while the latter is convenient for episodes dealing with Mr. Krabs' greed.
• How successful the Chum Bucket is varies at times. While generally the Chum Bucket sits empty except for Plankton and Karen and it having a willing customer is typically treated as highly unusual (such as in "Plankton's Regular"), there is the odd episode (such as "Your Shoe's Untied") wherein Bikini Bottomites will go to the Chum Bucket of their own volition, sometimes even without Plankton luring them away from the Krusty Krab first, with nobody (except for Mr. Krabs and sometimes SpongeBob) batting an eye.
• Mr. Krabs, in any given episode, can be...
  • A true Benevolent Boss, a money-obsessed Corrupt Corporate Executive, and anything in between the two. For example, in the episode "Pickles", Mr. Krabs orders SpongeBob to take some time off to get his act together after a humiliating encounter with a critical customer. Krabs even goes to help SpongeBob rehabilitate himself, showing great compassion for his employee's plight. Yet, in "Born Again Krabs", Mr. Krabs does not hesitate when he sells SpongeBob to the Flying Dutchman for sixty-two cents, an act that even Squidward openly finds shocking and detestable.
  • ...related to the above, either having a very warm, almost fatherly connection to SpongeBob or simply seeing him as a cog in his Krabby Patty machine.
  • ...either proud of being a cheapskate; or getting mad at being called one.
  • ...be sharp as a tack and able to tell when Plankton or someone else is trying to trick him (such as in "Imitation Krabs") or falls for blindingly obvious schemes and/or disguises (such as in "Company Picnic").
• The Flying Dutchman can either be a morally neutral Grim Reaper figure (as in the above episode), a sadist who enjoys scaring people and stealing their souls For the Evulz, or a scary-but-benevolent ghost.
• Squidward:
  • He has been a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, a complete narcissist, a plain old Jerkass, The Woobie, a Jerkass Woobie, and a Butt-Monkey, sometimes more than one in a single episode. However, this can be blamed on Flanderization of the show's characters. He can also be completely apathetic towards everyone and everything, or be highly emotional, and freak out when things go seriously wrong.
  • His clarinet playing has also ranged from being abysmal to... actually pretty good.
  • His feelings toward SpongeBob and Patrick also tend to vary. Depending on the episode, he can be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who actually cares about them deep down, or a sadistic Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who thrives on any pain and embarrassment they suffer, sometimes to the point of actually wanting them dead.
  • Is Squidward a good cook or not? As early as "Naughty Nautical Neighbors" in season 1, one of his interests is fancy food, and he names it as such in "Squid Plus One". We often see him preparing complex or delicious-looking dishes for himself. However, in episodes like "Pickles", "The Algae's Always Greener", and "SpongeBob LongPants", he's completely unable to cover for SpongeBob, down to somehow burning a milkshake. Despite this, he's shown to be an okay (or even good) cook at making Krabby Patties in episodes like "The Good Krabby Name", "Bubble Buddy", and "Drive Happy".
  • How well do he and Mr. Krabs get along? In most episodes, they're constantly at each other's throats and barely pretend to tolerate each other. However, in some episodes (such as "Help Wanted" or "Patty Hype"), they act like they're on genuinely good terms and agree on a lot of things.
  • His relationship with Gary. He either shares a mutual-hatred towards the snail and considers him nothing more than a nuisance, or the two are friendly towards one another and bond over being the Only Sane Man to SpongeBob's antics (such as "Giant Squidward" or "That Sinking Feeling").
• Plankton:
  • How evil he is seems to very from episode to episode. In some, he's a pretty effective villain (not to mention, a Large Ham one at that). In others, though, he's practically incapable of succeeding in anything evil. Look at his debut episode Plankton and then The Krusty Krab Training Video to see what we mean.
  • How smart he actually is can vary as well; sometimes he comes up with schemes that are competent enough that he probably would succeed in getting the formula if not for either the Krusty Krew usually being able to stay one step ahead of him, his tendency to defeat himself, and just straight-up dumb luck. Other times he is a complete idiot who doesn't think any of his plans through and would forget how to blink if not for Karen's presence.
• Whether or not Karen is supportive of Plankton's scheming varies. In "Krabs vs. Plankton", she gives him encouragement when he wakes up depressed. In "Captain Pipsqueak", she prepares a warm bath for him after he fails, and even helps him pick out a supervillain outfit for his interview at E.V.I.L. In "F.U.N." and "Welcome to the Chum Bucket", she even suggests plans for him. "The Flower Plot" portrays her as actually wanting Plankton to succeed and being disappointed when he seems to be breaking away from his plans. In other episodes, Karen is sick of Plankton's schemes ("Plankton Gets the Boot", "Plankton Retires", "Girls' Night Out"), pointing out how stupid they are ("Spin the Bottle", "The Krusty Bucket") or showing no interest in them ("King Plankton", "The Ghost of Plankton", "Say Awww!").
• Gary flip-flops between essentially acting like a real-world cat, being mostly the equivalent of a pet but with greater self-awareness, and seemingly being far smarter than most of the other characters despite being dependent on SpongeBob.
• Mrs. Puff:
  • She goes between being a dedicated teacher who wants SpongeBob to succeed but is scared of his bad driving skills and being a hack who is willing to bend the rules to get him out of her life.
  • Sometimes she respects SpongeBob perfectly well despite his putting her in danger (i.e. "Hall Monitor", "No Free Rides"). Other times she's mostly indifferent to him and just views him as a small part of her wider life as an educator (such as "Sandy's Rocket" and "Party Pooper Pants"). Then there are the times when her life seems to revolve around hating SpongeBob (i.e. "Doing Time" and "Summer Job"), to the point that she tries to get him KILLED in "Demolition Doofus"!
• Pearl:
  • She can either have a Precocious Crush on SpongeBob or hate his guts and find him annoying depending on the episode.
  • How well does she get along with her father? In some episodes such as "Mid-Life Crustacean" and "Squeaky Boots," she is a sweet girl who only complains when Mr. Krabs is acting embarrassing and/or greedy. In other episodes like "Selling Out" (where she kicks him out of the house for interrupting a phone call) or "Safe Deposit Krabs" (where she shows zero concern for Mr. Krabs being missing), she can barely tolerate his prescence.
• Larry can either be a Lovable Jock who is everybody's friend or a borderline Jerk Jock depending on the episode. Like with Pearl, his relation to SpongeBob can vary as well, from being a bonefide member of SpongeBob's circle of friends to flat-out not knowing or caring who SpongeBob is.
• After being promoted to a main member of the cast starting in Season 9, Bubble Bass goes back and forth between being just as much of a smug Jerkass as he was back in "Pickles" to still being smug, but acting congenially with SpongeBob and the others. In other episodes he's a straight-up Fat Comic Relief nerd with little of his trademark Smug Snake traits on display.

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