SpongeBob SquarePants
Are ya ready, kids? Welcome to the SpongeBob shrine! This little square dude has been a big part of my childhood, and to this day is my biggest comfort character. Please note that this page will focus on the character of SpongeBob rather than the actual show.
Who is SpongeBob SquarePants?
SpongeBob SquarePants is the protagonist of the Nickelodeon children's show of the same name. He is an anthropomorphic yellow tube sponge with a childlike and optimistic attitude. Created by Stephen Hillenburg and voiced by Tom Kenny, SpongeBob has gone on to become one of the most recognized, popular, and highly-praised cartoon characters of all time since his debut in 1999.
SpongeBob is a good-natured, naive, and enthusiastic sea sponge who resides with other anthropomorphic sea creatures in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom. He works as a fry cook at the most popular restaurant in town, the Krusty Krab, where he highly regards his position and career. His boss, a red crab named Mr. Krabs, is incredibly stingy and greedy, but acts as a father figure to him. Squidward Tentacles, a snobbish and ill-tempered blue octopus who is also SpongeBob's next-door neighbor, works as the cashier. (Despite his feelings of annoyance towards SpongeBob, he is shown to genuinely care about him.) Outside of work, SpongeBob is shown to enjoy karate with Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from Texas. His best friend is his other neighbor, Patrick Star, a dim-witted pink starfish who often engages in SpongeBob's other hobbies of jellyfishing and blowing bubbles. Inside his pineapple home, SpongeBob takes care of his pet snail, Gary. And despite his multiple attempts to do so, SpongeBob struggles to get his driver's license from Mrs. Puff's Boating School.
Why do I love SpongeBob so much?
SpongeBob is a character that symbolizes positivity and kindness to so many people, including myself. My family couldn't afford cable TV until I was around 10 or 11 years old, but my grandparents had all of the cool kids channels. A lot of the early memories of my grandparents' place is getting to play in their basement living area, watching SpongeBob and building Legos or playing board games. I'd borrow "How to Draw SpongeBob Characters" books from the library and draw pictures with pencils and crayons.
We moved towns and we got cable TV. I wanted to share my love of the show with others finally, but the classmates in my small Midwestern town wanted nothing to do with "kids shows." One time, I was at the house of a girl whose parents worked with mine. She was in the same grade as me, so naturally we were made to hang out while our parents did. She let me pick something to watch, and so naturally I picked SpongeBob. She then immediately left the room to take a shower, and the moment the episode ended, she switched it to "Cops." I was scared. This was a grown-up show and I wasn't allowed to watch it, but I felt like it was her turn to pick so I just sat there. I lived in that town for five years, and I always felt so scared to admit that I even into my middle school years, I still liked the show. There are other reasons I've grown to kinda dislike my time at that school, but feeling unable to share my basic interests, even to some of my closest friends, was among them.
Freshman year of high school we moved again. This was the fourth school and fourth town of childhood. While I was nervous about yet another adjustment, I was delightfully surprised about how many of my classmates here were still indulging in interests that I were told were childish. Although it took a while, I began to slowly embrace sharing my love for SpongeBob again. And I'm glad I'm able to enjoy SpongeBob all these years later, because like? It's a great show. God forbid a woman have fun!
SPUNCH!!!!!!!!!
My junior year of college, to celebrate the success of selling at my first convention, I bought a SpongeBob plush from Walmart. Since then this plush, who I've affectionately dubbed "Spunch," has accompanied me on various trips, vacations, and conventions. I love Spunch with all of my heart, being a massive comfort item to me. If I am stressed or overwhelmed, I like to hold Spunch close to my chest. He's perfectly square, so it's like hugging a throw pillow that has little dangly limbs. The years of cuddling have started to flatten him, so he isn't as plush as he used to be. But as they say, "To be loved is to be changed." I plan to hold onto Spunch as long as I physically can. After all, he and I got to actually MEET Tom Kenny at Des Moines Con 2023!
The Sponge Shrine
Like my other interests, I like to collect merchandise of my favorite characters and arrange them into little displays on my shelves. Fortunately for me, it is INCREDIBLY easy to get SpongeBob merch here. Any basic corporate retailer in America will carry something SpongeBob-related. Toys, puzzles, posters, clothing... Nickelodeon used to not create too much merchandise for their shows, as they thought children could recognize when they were being marketed to. After SpongeBob came out, Nickelodeon threw that mindset aside and now it's hard NOT to find a SpongeBob version of something. Sometimes, I am not immune to capitalism, and that's okay.
SpongeBob Pillow Buddy
(Source: Walmart)
This is Spunch! Meant to be soft, cozy, and a perfect bedtime buddy. There's no hard bits and he's not overly fuzzy so it really is just like having a throw pillow with dangly limbs. Absolutely perfect. No notes.
SpongeBob Nendoroid
(Released April 2023, Source: Official Good Smile Website)
I LOOOOOOVE nendoroids, so when I found out we were getting a SpongeBob one, I preordered him as soon as I could. He is literally so perfect. His little accessories... Gary.... oh.... my baby boy I love him so much. The box also came with a cardboard backing with the Conch Street background art printed on it, so it's made a nice backdrop for the entire shrine.
Fisher-Price Imaginext Pajamas Figure
(Released 2013, Source: Local Second-Hand Shop)
This little guy was the very first piece of my SpongeBob collection! He originally comes from an entire playset, but I found him sitting all alone in a display case at a second-hand store. I probably paid too much for him, but I couldn't resist giving this cutie a good home.
Five Below Minifigures
(Source: Five Below)
These little guys were some of the first pieces of my collection. The paint job isn't perfect and some figures can look a little off in some angles, but I got them for five bucks so I'm not gonna complain too much.
Sweet Victory Super7 ReAction Figure
(Source: Target?)
A good figure for an iconic episode. I like how you can add or remove his microphone from his hand, and the arms are jointed. Only problem is that he sometimes struggles to stand on his own, so he falls over easily.
Kidrobot Imaginaaation & Underpants Figures
(Source: Best Buy?)
I love these lil guys!! Good paint job, and chunky limbs to help them keep balance. Arms are jointed, so you can position them as well. However, I think my favorite detail is both of these figures have a unique quirk. The rainbow on the Imaginaaation figure has a glittery finish, and the tighty-whities on the Underpants figure is made from real cloth! I love when figures incorporate different materials on them.
Pirates of Bikini Bottom Trading Cards
(Source: Round1)
Or as I like to call it, Sponge-Gamba. This is one of those pusher style games where you have to time your shots and collect chips and cards to exchange for tickets. At my local Round1, you can exchange a collection of all 9 cards for 2000 tickets. But why would I swap them for tickets when they would be a nice addition to my shrine? I've definitely spent a couple hundred dollars on this game in order to collect them all, but at least the gameplay is addictive and fun. I even keep an extra SpongeBob card in my wallet!
Various Magnets
(Source: Target, Round1)
Another place outside my shrine I like to display SpongeBob merch is my fridge! There's a lot of SpongeBob magnets out there, so they're a fun thing to snag if I don't know what else to pick up from Hot Topic. Some of these came from a little goodie box I got from the ticket counter at Round1. I think my personal favorites are the rainbow one and the "Never Grow Up" design.
SpongeBob Rockstar Shirt
(Source: ?)
A really cute shirt my mom got me for my birthday in 2024. I can be a little picky when it comes to clothing merch, but I feel like she made a good choice with this one. Only problem is I have no idea where she got it... It's officially licensed and the art is definitely legit, but I just wonder where it came from!
Sun Shade
(Source: Hot Topic)
I needed a sun shade. Saw this at Hot Topic. Easy fix. Unfortunately it doesn't fit in my windshield the best, so sometimes it'll slip out of place over the course of the day... But I forgive it because the design is just so silly and perfect.
Friendship Bracelets
(Source: Hot Topic)
I got these for my partner and I, but the bracelets were way too small for either of our wrists. Now our respective bracelets are wrapped around the stickshifts of our cars.
SpongeBob Weeble Wobble
(Source: ?)
Sometimes the gacha gods are kind upon me, as I pulled the SpongeBob one on my first try. I'm pretty sure someone I know from high school has the entire collection mounted on their car dashboard. Godspeed.
Pez Dispenser
(Source: ?)
Ah, yes. The marketable Pez dispenser... I'm always so worried I'm gonna jam and break him if I use him again, but that's more irrational fear than actual quality of the product. I also like the bubbles on the side of the dispenser.
Miniso Blind Box Toys
(Source: Miniso)
Amongst the plethora of Sanrio and BTS merchandise, there was a pretty big selection of SpongeBob toys at my local Miniso for a while. However, they were selling so poorly that they were using the blind boxes to prop up other products on display... They recently got rid of all their SpongeBob merch, but at least they made this SpongeBob fan happy. I don't really think they were worth the $10 per box. They look like bootlegs... But I do like the way the big SpongeBob-shaped container looks with the rest of my shrine.
DoodleBob Pin
(Source: Hot Topic)
I'm going to be so for real, I completely forgot I had this until I was taking pictures of my collection. I think I've had this since high school, so this would technically be the first piece of merch I got for this collection. (I still consider Pajamas SpongeBob as the catalyst.) Anyways, standard Hot Topic pin. I used to keep my button pins displayed in my car, but a lot of them got pretty sunbleached so I took them inside. This one has stayed pretty solid thanks to its mostly white design.
"The Little Box of SpongeBob SquarePants" Merch Pack
(Source: Round1)
Got this from the prize booth at Round1! I can't remember how many tickets this was worth, but it comes with three magnets, 10 pins, a mini sticker book, and an iron-on patch! I gave one of the SpongeBob pins to my pal, Alex, who accompanied me at the arcade that day. Most of the pins look fine, but I don't really like the flat, glossy look of the characters. And for some reason Plankton looks really... off-model... Otherwise, the sticker book and patch look great! You can see the magnets that came in this pack in the "SpongeBob Magnets" box.
Funko Blind Box Figures
(Source: Target or Hot Topic?)
Despite being from Funko, these minifigures thankfully forgo the typical black eyes and proportions of a Pop! figure. You probably wouldn't even know these were from Funko until you saw the copyright tags underneath their bases. Not sure if I bought these at the same time. Both of them are very solid designs and look really good overall!
Mini Clip-On Plush
(Source: Round1)
I got this little guy FIRST TRY on the mini crane game. I also got two Miku plushes from crane games that day, one of which was ALSO on my first try. The arcade gods were genuinely on my side that day...
SpongeBob Prints
(Artist: ?, Source: Siouxpercon 2024?)
I've been looking for SpongeBob prints for a while, but my searching paid off! Prints that connect are always so cool, and although I wasn't too sure if I wanted to get both, I ended up doing so and I'm really glad I did, 'cause they look so nifty side-by-side!
SpongeBob and Gary Heart Pin
(Artist: LittleMissLuna, Source: Planet Comicon 2023)
Literally look at this pin and tell me it's not the cutest thing ever. You can't. This is literally the cutest thing ever. I love SpongeBob and Gary. I love this pin. I'm going to explode.
Goofy Goober Wizard Spongesicle Magnet
(Artist: Soupnido, Source: Anime Nebraskon 2023?)
I love Spongesicles, and this was too cute to pass up! It's a unique twist on the classic Spongesicle design, and honestly I'm glad for that.
Knitted Finger Puppet
(Artist ?, Source: Gift)
My pal Mitty got this for me from a local craft show in 2023 and promised to hang onto it until they could give it to me when we finally met in person. Almost a year later, Mitty kept that promise. He's so goofy-looking... I cherish him dearly.