Original air date: 6/1/2002 (produced in 2001)
After receiving Squidward's issue of Fancy Living Digest, SpongeBob and Patrick decide to become entrepreneurs themselves, and become door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen. However, the two soon learn that selling chocolate bars in Bikini Bottom isn't as easy as they thought.
"Chocolate with Nuts" contains examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Just having a desirable commodity is only half the equation. You have to know how to market it, and that requires real skill.
- Not everything is as it seems. Some people are just bad at expressing themselves and might genuinely turn out to be an asset to you.
- Tom provides one. Goodwill doesn't just work one way. If you're not careful, you might alienate someone who has something you genuinely want.
- Beware of sob stories. They may be an attempt to manipulate you.
- Bait-and-Switch: SpongeBob tells a fish with a shiny bald head that their chocolate will make his hair grow. The fish is glad, since his wife was trying to grow a beard.
- Berate and Switch: Inverted.Mary's Mother: I remember when they first invented chocolate. Sweet, sweet chocolate... I always hated it!
- Body Horror: Played for Laughs. When SpongeBob asks an elderly fish if her mother is around (in order to make her feel younger), her mother is actually around and is basically an eyeless skeletal head and torso in a wheelchair.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: "But it looks to me like you boys have got a lot of bags there. You two ladykillers are too smart to be without one of my patented... Candy Bar Bag Carrying Bags!"
- Con Man: SpongeBob and Patrick encounter one, whom sells them candy bar bags for an undeniably high price, and they fall for it.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Tom's house was the first place SpongeBob and Patrick visited and were immediately chases away by the fish going crazy for the chocolate. The end reveals Tom wanting to buy the duo's entire stock. Had he not been so crazy, he could have had his chocolate sooner and SpongeBob and Patrick would have been spared the trouble of being scammed multiple times and their numerous failed attempts to make sales.
- Despair Event Horizon: Having been asked to sell more chocolate, SpongeBob and Patrick lose all hope, having lost all their money and there's no one they can sell it to. At least, until Tom appears.
- Door-to-Door Episode: SpongeBob and Patrick visit a lot of strange people while trying to sell chocolate bars. Currently provides the page image.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode title refers to the treat "chocolate with nuts", and SpongeBob and Patrick being nuts at their chocolate selling job. Alternatively, the "nuts" could also mean all the eccentric fish they meet on the job, especially Tom.
- Dumbass Has a Point:
- Patrick's observation about the false advertising for Barnacle Chips is what gives SpongeBob the idea to use the same ploy to sell their chocolate.
- SpongeBob does make a witty observation when they encounter the same con man who sold them the candy bar bags.
- Evil Laugh: The con man has a rather sinister one when he reveals himself to be the injured fish.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The injured fish SpongeBob and Patrick encounter doesn't sound quite serious when talking about his injuries. He also does not ask for chocolate but instead asks them to buy chocolate in exchange for all the money they've earned in order to pay his medical bills. Once they're out of sight, he is revealed to be the con man.
- A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Upon striking it rich, SpongeBob and Patrick's idea of living the fancy life is spending all their money in one place instead of investing, and they blow all their money on renting out the Fancy! restaurant to a private party.
- Formerly Fat: The fish in the "Me at 13" photo.Fish: As you can see, me and chocolate no longer hang.
- Good All Along: Tom spends most of the episode chasing SpongeBob and Patrick around in an apparent blind rage. However, he genuinely wants to buy all of their chocolate, and makes good on that once he finally catches them.
- Half-Witted Hillbilly: When "exaggerating the truth" about the chocolate bars, SpongeBob tells a Hillbilly looking fish that the chocolate will make him smarter, then he replies that he will take twenty of them.
- Hypocritical Humor: Patrick tells one of the customers that their chocolate will "keep [his] face from getting any uglier." Except...Identical Starfish: Just in time!
- I Can't Hear You: The old lady and her hearing problem.
- Immortality Seeker: The elderly fish's mother decides to buy a chocolate bar after Patrick tells her that it'll make her live forever, much to her daughter's disappointment.
- Irony: The con man that deceives SpongeBob and Patrick into buying candy bar carrying bags and selling more chocolate so he can steal their money is the only customer they didn't sell any chocolate to.
- Jerkass: The con man, who takes pleasure in stealing SpongeBob and Patrick's money. What fully cements him as a jerkass, however, is when he deliberately takes advantage of the duo's kindness by pretending to be gravely injured and tricking them into giving him all their money out of pity, followed by him laughing about his successful scam.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While the con man is just trying to sell SpongeBob and Patrick candy bags, he's not wrong to point out that Patrick carrying the chocolate in his pants isn't very appropriate or sanitary.
- Jump Scare: SpongeBob pops up from his mailbox, unintentionally scaring off the mailman.
- Karma Houdini: The con artist who swindles SpongeBob and Patrick throughout the episode manages to escape with their money. Though considering he ended up giving them more product to sell to Tom at the end, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise after all.
- Large Ham: Tom goes absolutely nuts (no pun intended) when chocolate's involved.Tom: CHOCOLATE!!! CHOCOLATE!!!
- Likes Older Women: Of all the people that SpongeBob and Patrick decide to take as their dates at their private party, they take Mary and her mother.
- Literal-Minded:
- SpongeBob tells Patrick to stay focused. Patrick takes this to mean stare intently at the customer until he gets uncomfortable.
- There's also when SpongeBob tells Patrick to try and make the customer feel loved. This leads to him distubing one by saying "I love you." to him.
- Malicious Misnaming: Following Patrick saying he loves the "Me at 13" guy, the fish proceeds to call him "Loverboy".
- Matryoshka Object: The "candy bar bag carrying bag" gag.
- Mood Whiplash:
- SpongeBob and Patrick instantly go from snickering excitedly to almost breaking down in tears when they see the customer they're pulling a Wounded Gazelle Gambit on is even more injured than they look.
- When Tom catches up to SpongeBob and Patrick after they fail to sell most of their chocolate, he yells at them how he's been trying to catch them all day, before suddenly calming down and asking to buy their entire chocolate supply.
- Naked People Are Funny: While trying to think up of new ways to sell their chocolate bars:Patrick: I got it! Let's get naked!
SpongeBob: No, let's save that for when we're selling real estate. - Noodle Incident: After SpongeBob claims that Barnacle Chips are "most certainly not delicious", Patrick happily chimes in "Not the way I use them!". We never do learn how Patrick uses Barnacle Chips. We probably don't want to know, either.
- Planet Baron: One of SpongeBob's lies is the promise of becoming this.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: One from Patrick: "Make way for a couple of entrepren-ooers!"
- Product Placement: When Patrick farts out chocolate bars upon learning that Tom wants to buy his and SpongeBob's entire stock of chocolate, a Hershey's Kiss can be seen popping out of his pants.
- Schmuck Bait: The con man encountered by SpongeBob and Patrick. They are immediately fooled by his scams, especially the third, and never knew. And to top it off, it's unknown if he was arrested for stealing their money.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story:
- It turns out the customer that went crazy over SpongeBob and Patrick's chocolate wanted to buy all their chocolate.
- On a side note, even though SpongeBob and Patrick made loads of money by "stretching the truth", the con man tricked them into selling more chocolate for him whilst taking all the money they earned in return. Luckily, that guy was the only customer they did not sell any chocolate to.
- Shout-Out: One exclusive to the Korean dub: Patrick's singsong delivery of the "I love you" line directly nods to the jingle from a famous 1996 LG commercial
in South Korea. - Single Tear: SpongeBob sheds one as he hears the badly injured customer's backstory.
- Smug Snake: The con man is really smug.
- Spoof Aesop: Lying is an excellent method of selling your wares.
- Status Quo Is God: While SpongeBob and Patrick do get to keep their large sum of money from Tom, they end up spending the entire thing booking an expensive restaurant for a private date with the two elderly ladies they had sold chocolate to... on Squidward's only night to be fancy, no less.
- Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: Played for Laughs. When Patrick starts running off to buy more bags for their chocolate bars, SpongeBob starts piping up with a new selling idea, causing Patrick to freeze mid-run with a dopey look on his face.
- The Unmasking: The injured fish SpongeBob and Patrick agree to help out reveals himself to be the con man they encountered earlier out of their sight.
- Unknown Rival: SpongeBob and Patrick are unaware they are being swindled into giving all their money to the con man. The second encounter though, SpongeBob makes a minor witty observation that he was the same man who sold them the candy bar bags.
- Very False Advertising: SpongeBob and Patrick confuse this with "slightly stretching the truth", and start telling customers that their chocolate brings things like immortality, intelligence, beauty, love, the ability to fly, and even world domination.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: SpongeBob and Patrick almost pulled this; but they encounter another injured fish before they could do so, who is later revealed to be that business fish from before who conned them out of all the money they got, thus out-gambitting them.
The International Justice League of Super Acquaintances!note
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VOriginal air date: 6/1/2002 (produced in 2001)
Tired of everybody treating him like a child, Barnacle Boy quits his sidekick job and becomes a supervillain. After joining up with Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble to form the evil alliance known as E.V.I.L., the newly christened Barnacle Man helps in spreading chaos throughout Bikini Bottom. Realizing he's outmatched, Mermaid Man recruits SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward to help and turns them into superheroes.
"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Barnacle Man, realising that he is unable to finish the adult-sized Krabby Patty, decides to join in on the laughter.
- An Aesop:
- Your kid will grow up, so treat them like the adult they are.
- Being a sidekick isn't a bad thing.
- Don't be overly restrictive with someone you're close with. It'll make them resent you.
- All for Nothing: After spending the whole episode trying to get Mermaid Man to respect him more and let him have a Krabby Patty, he finds said patty really is too big for him.
- As You Know: Lampshaded:SpongeBob: Holy Halibut! It's the Chief!
The Chief: Thank you for the introduction, Quickster, but we all know who I am! - Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Mermaid Man sets out to go stop evil, and exclaims, "NOTHING WILL STOP ME!! NOOOOOTTTTHIINNG... (hears a truck playing melodies) Ice cream? I love ice cream!"
- The Bad Guy Wins: Parodied. Barnacle Man and E.V.I.L. actually win, but instead of asking for world domination like Man Ray suggested, Barnacle Man simply asks for a normal-sized Krabby Patty.
- Bad Humor Truck: E.V.I.L. disguise their getaway car as an ice cream truck in order to trick Mermaid Man.
- Battle Cry: Captain Magma shouts "Krakatoa!" before erupting, which is the name of a volcano in Indonesia that had a devastating eruption in the 19th century.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning, Mermaid Man tells Barnacle Boy not to get an adult-sized Krabby Patty because it's too big and he'll never finish it. Later, when he finally gets his adult-sized Krabby Patty, Barnacle Boy admits that it is pretty big and he doesn't think he can finish the whole thing. He even laughs about it with Mermaid Man.
- Broken Record: SpongeBob yells, "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" nonstop as he is running in a circle from Squidward's lava burning his head.
- Clothes Make the Superman: This is apparently how superpowers are gained in the SpongeBob universe.Mermaid Man: Once you put on these costumes, their fantastic powers will become yours!
Sandy: Wow. I didn't think superpowers worked that way.
Mermaid Man: Sure! Power's all in the costume. Why else would we run around in colored undies?
Squidward: I can think of three good reasons. - Comically Missing the Point: Before the I.J.L.S.A. gets a call from the Chief, Mermaid Man decides to order pizza for everyone. After the Chief tells them about E.V.I.L. striking at Make-Out Reef, the Elastic Waistband (Patrick) utters the following line:Elastic Waistband: Does this mean we're not getting pizza?
- Comically Small Demand: After E.V.I.L. wins their fight with the I.J.L.S.A., Barnacle Boy's able to force Mermaid Man to agree to his demands: to be treated as a superhero in his own right rather than a sidekick, to be called Barnacle Man, and to be allowed to eat adult-sized Krabby Patties. Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble are clearly disappointed, since they wanted world domination (and in the Dirty Bubble's case, to make Mermaid Man eat dirt).
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The battle between I.J.L.S.A. and E.V.I.L. only results in the heroes defeating themselves.
- Didn't Think This Through: SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy and Squidward are all given powers, yet their attempt to stop E.V.I.L. is completely botched. They may have superpowers, but none of them know how to use them effectively in battle nor do they have any actual superhero experience.
- Ding-Dong-Ditch Distraction: E.V.I.L. pull this prank as one of their "crimes".
- Disaster Dominoes: Captain Magma (Squidward) burning Quickster/SpongeBob sets off a chain reaction that results in the I.J.L.S.A. getting utterly demolished.
- Disney Owns This Trope: "The International Justice League of Super Aquaintances! A subsidiary of Viacom."
- The Ditherer: The episode begins with Mermaid Man holding up the line at the Krusty Krab deciding what to order.
- Dope Slap: Mr. Krabs gives Mermaid Man a slap on his chin at two different times when he doesn't react to stuff that just happened.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Barnacle Boy is old enough to have hair growing out of the wrinkles on his liver spots, but Mermaid Man continues to treat him like his "young ward" by talking down to him and ordering him food off the children's menu. Everyone at the Krusty Krab (except SpongeBob) starts picking on him for it, which drives him to villainy.
- Epic Fail: The I.J.L.S.A.'s demise would make Finagle proud. While E.V.I.L. are begging for mercy before the fight begins, after I.J.L.S.A take themselves out through reckless use of their superpowers, the three villains are left victorious.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Exaggerated when virtually every single character who's had a speaking role in the episode shows up at the end to share in a hearty laugh. Doubles as Overly Long Gag.
- Evil Is Petty: When E.V.I.L. wins the fight with the I.J.L.S.A., Dirty Bubble tells Barnacle Boy to make Mermaid Man eat dirt. Also, most of E.V.I.L.'s acts of, well, evil, consist of ding-dong-ditching and shining flashlights in teenagers' cars.
- Face–Heel Turn: Barnacle Boy becomes evil in order to gain more respect. Thankfully, he drops it the second he gets what he wants, which admittedly wasn't much.
- Flash Step: Parodied: "You wanna see me run to that mountain and back? (Beat) You wanna see me do it again?"
- Flight: Captain Magma can fly using his magma helmet as a rocket.
- Got Volunteered: Squidward initially refuses to join I.J.L.S.A., but Mr. Krabs will have none of it and forces him to join at the risk of his job.Mermaid Man: Who wants to save the world?
SpongeBob: I do!
Sandy: I do!
Patrick: I do!
Squidward: I don't.
Mr. Krabs: (sprints in and confronts Squidward) Oh, yes, you do! No world means no money! Now go save the world, OR YOU'RE FIRED! (runs back to the Krusty Krab; Squidward grumbles)
Mermaid Man: Then, it's settled! - Hope Spot: The mile-long line that's being held up by Mermaid Man briefly celebrates, but then has to wait a bit longer.Mermaid Man: I've made my decision!
Line: HOORAAAY!
Mermaid Man: One Krabby Patty for me, and a Pipsqueak Patty for the boy.
Barnacle Boy: Now, wait just a darn minute!
Line: Aaawwwww... - Impact Silhouette: Sandy makes one in the "DANGER CLIFF" sign when she gets hit by a car.
- Inciting Incident: Barnacle Boy becomes a supervillain, terrorizes the citizens of Bikini Bottom and takes on his own crime-fighting partner because he wanted an adult-sized Krabby Patty, which turns out to be too big for him.
- Invisibility: Miss Appear (Sandy) can turn invisible at will.
- Kissing In A Tree: Barnacle Boy, Man Ray, and the Dirty Bubble use this rhyme when torturing a couple at Make-Out Reef.John and Nancy sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- The International Justice League of Super Aquaintances are a subsidiary of Viacom. Viacom was, of course, the parent company of Nickelodeon at the time.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub, this is changed to subsidiaria de los hermanos tú sabes (subsidiary of the you-know-who brothers), changing the reference to be about Warner Bros., the parent company of DC Comics. It can be seen here (at the very end).
- Logical Weakness: Several of the I.J.L.S.A members are undone by their own powers backfiring one way or another:
- Patrick/The Elastic Waistband has the ability to stretch his body. However, when he tries to use it to stop SpongeBob/Quickster from running, he is instead pulled excessively and is then overstretched like a rubber elastic waistband.
- Squidward/Captain Magma is a Magma Man, but as a result he is vulnerable to excessive cooling. When Mermaid Man accidentally hits him with a water ball, Squidward cools off & turns to ash.
- Sandy/Miss Appear can turn herself invisible. After doing so, she is immediately hit by a car since the driver could not have seen her.
- Magma Man: Captain Magma (Squidward), who can fly using his magma helmet as a rocket.
- Make-Out Point: Or rather, Make-Out Reef as it's known in Bikini Bottom.
- Malicious Misnaming:Man Ray: Well, if it isn't Milkmaid Man!
- Manly Tears: "Need a hand... super pal?"
- Medium Blending: The Chief, a live-action human broadcasted on a cartoon video-phone.
- Not So Above It All: At first Squidward only joins the new I.J.L.S.A. because Mr. Krabs threatened to fire him if he didn't. However, he quickly seems to enjoy being Captain Magma.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Mermaid Man's reaction when he gets fed a bomb shaped like an ice cream cone from Barnacle Man and the other two villains.
- Overly Long Gag: The "Everybody Laughs" Ending where everybody laughs!
- Poke the Poodle: While they have the power to blow up buildings, swallow up banks, and feed bomb ice cream cones to unsuspecting civilians, E.V.I.L.'s crimes mostly consist of a bunch of juvenile pranks, such as ding-dong ditches and making fun of teenagers at Make-Out Reef. Dirty Bubble also asks Barnacle Man to make Mermaid Man eat dirt.
- Pun: The International Justice League of Super Aquaintances.
- Rubber Man: The Elastic Waistband (Patrick).
- Rule of Three: Barnacle Boy has three demands: Be treated like a superhero, be called Barnacle "Man", and an adult-sized Krabby Patty.
- Self-Disposing Villain: Inverted Trope for I.J.L.S.A, who are a group of superheroes and got defeated mostly by themselves.
- Shoehorned Acronym: Barnacle Man justifies calling his new supervillain team EVIL with the nonsensical acronym "Every Villain Is Lemons".
- Shout-Out:
- The International Justice League of Super Aquaintances. Conversely, while their name is inspired by DC Comics, the Super Acquaintances themselves seem to have more of a Marvel Comics inspiration. The Quickster has both similar powers and a similar name to Quicksilver, while the other three are based on members of the Fantastic Four. The Elastic Waistband has the powers of Mister Fantastic, Miss Appear has the powers of Invisible Woman, and Captain Magma has the powers of the Human Torch.
- Barnacle Boy's Barnacle Man outfit is similar to that of Captain Harlock.
- Snap Back: Despite Barnacle Boy changing his name to Barnacle Man, he's back to being called Barnacle Boy in subsequent episodes.
- Special Guest: Martin Olson as The Chief.
- Superhero Episode: SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward and Sandy become superheroes and team up with Mermaid Man to defeat E.V.I.L..
- Super-Speed: The Quickster (SpongeBob).
- Terrible Trio: Barnacle Boy forms one with Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble when he temporarily turns to the dark side as his new Barnacle Man alias.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Barnacle Boy's reason for defecting to the side of evil is because he doesn't get the respect he deserves, and believes being a villain will do what being a hero couldn't.Barnacle Boy: I say if you're not gonna give me any respect as a hero, then maybe you'll give me respect as a villain! A villain who is... EEEEEVIIIL!
- This Is Gonna Suck: Initially played with for E.V.I.L. when the I.J.L.S.A. have the number advantages 5 to 3, then subsequently gradually averted.Barnacle Man: Ohh, there goes our toy deal...
- Torso with a View: This happens to Mermaid Man after he eats the explosive ice cream.Mermaid Man: Goes right through me, every time...
- Unexplained Recovery:
- The Dirty Bubble is perfectly fine after being popped by SpongeBob in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" and Man Ray apparently has the ability to enact evil deeds without feeling a tickling sensation which he received in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III".
- The Quickster (SpongeBob) was completely burned into nothing but Smoldering Shoes and Captain Magma (Squidward) was reduced to a pile of ash with eyes after being accidentally extinguished by Mermaid Man's waterball. At the end of the episode they both appear with their bodies back to normal albeit wearing bandages and casts.
- Unskilled, but Strong: The new I.J.L.S.A. are all greenhorns (except for Mermaid Man, of course), but they all still have superpowers due to the powers being in the costume. Deconstructed because a lack of finesse and experience led to a chain reaction that decimates all of them without the bad guys having to do anything.
- Unsound Effect:
- When Mermaid Man eats the explosive prune ice cream with bran sprinkles: "KA-BRAN!"
- When Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy become friends again and shake hands: "FRIEND"
- Visual Pun: "I'm crossing over to the dark side!"note
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: E.V.I.L.'s victory is largely due to I.J.L.S.A.'s incompetence. The Quickster gets hit by Captain Magma and melts, Captain Magma in turn gets hit by Mermaid Man and turns to ashes, The Elastic Waistband's arms turn into spaghetti after trying to save the Quickster, and Miss Appear gets hit by a car and falls off a cliff. Mermaid Man, meanwhile, just falls over.
Tropelate! TROPELATE! TROOOOOOOOOPELAAAAAAAAAAATEEEE!!
