SpongeBob SquarePants is the principal character in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, which first aired in July 1999.

Appearance

He is an anthropomorphic, yellow, porous sponge with a face, and disproportionally thin and short extremities extending from the sponge. His arms are of variable length and shape at will and are retractable. He has six long black wiry eyelashes, and his eyes have sky-blue irises with very dilated pupils. He always wears a private school uniform with red tie and brown pants with two hoses, but an entirely rectangular top half enclosing his bottom part of the sponge (hence the epithet "SquarePants"). As a part of the uniform, his shoes are shining black, with a spheric bulge at the front (although still a part of the shoe proper, unlike the balls of the clown shoes). He always wears a pair of (usually) white briefs underneath his pants. He usually wears them to bed, and they are sometimes seen in public when his pants get lost on episodes such as "Ripped Pants" and "Hooky"

Personality

SpongeBob is a sweet, generous, friendly, trusting good guy. His buck-toothed grin and tremendously expressive face and body, along with his pure and good nature make him a completely loveable guy. SpongeBob's innocent and good intentions never let him do anything purposely wrong or harm anyone. His boss Mr. Krabs and next door neighbour Squidward seem to bear the brunt of his misadventures.

SpongeBob also has exceedingly low upper body strength and has, on occasion, been known to have difficulty lifting a glass of tea. If SpongeBob persists in attempting to lift heavy objects, his thin arms have a tendency to snap off and lie on the ground twitching.

Career and leisure

SpongeBob has a career, which he takes very seriously, as a frycook at the Krusty Krab. He works alongside Squidward, who manages the cash register. In the recent movie, he was passed over for a promotion to the title of manager of the Krusty Krab 2. He spends his free time with his friends and especially enjoys practicing karate and catching jellyfish at Jellyfish Fields.

Miscellaneous Information

SpongeBob's birthday is believed to be July 14, 1986. His driving license is seen in the Season 2 episode, "No Free Rides", in which he had a dream that he earned the license in question from Mrs. Puff.

SpongeBob was "outed" by the U.S. media in 2002, after reports that the TV show and its merchandise were popular with gays. The submarine frycook's daffy naivety and sexual innocence certainly do not square with the "butch" image of blue-collar American culture. Despite this, Stephen Hillenburg has stated numerous times that this is not the case. However, in January 2005, two Christian conservative groups criticized SpongeBob for appearing in a video singing "We Are Family" with several other cartoon and children's television characters. The political groups claimed that call for tolerance at the website which accompanied the video, which is designed for showing in elementary schools, included tolerance for sexual orientation. "A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality," wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association, CNN reported. "Their inclusion of the reference to "sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line," James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a public statement. In a parallel episode in 1999, the Rev. Jerry Falwell outed Tinky Winky, the purple, purse-toting Teletubby, to widespread hilarity. Why SpongeBob was singled out is not clear.

Bio

• Color: Yellow
• Species: Sea Sponge
• Gender: Male
• Eyes: Blue
• Age: 18 or 40 or higher due to the SpongeBob movie for having 374 consecutive employee of the month awards