SpongeBob's pants are pants worn by SpongeBob in almost every single episode, beginning with "Help Wanted."
Description
SpongeBob's pants are, as his surname implies, square pants worn by SpongeBob to fit the shape of his body. They are brown and contain a red tie in the middle, a black belt, and white clothing behind at the upper top with parts of them folded. In "Little Yellow Book," it is revealed that the pants are formed up of clothing - a white shirt, red tie, and black belt - hence the interchangeability of the terms "shirt" and "pants." Underneath them, he has been shown to wear an average white pair of underwear.
The pants are also inflatable, this variation was created by Patrick. As the name implies, the pants inflate. They first appear in the episode "Patty Hype" and are later a plot element of "The Sponge Who Could Fly." They also appear in the games Lights, Camera, Pants! and Dancin' Tentacles.
Role in series
SpongeBob's pants play a crucial role as a defining trait of his character, so much so that they are in his last name. The singing part of the theme song even begins with Hans putting them on SpongeBob after SpongeBob walks out of his pineapple house in his underwear.
The first instance of his pants being a central theme of an episode is "The Sponge Who Could Fly," in which unknowingly inserting a hair dryer into them causes him to reach the sky and have the ability to fly. Although he initially dreams of flying with the jellyfish in Jellyfish Fields, he becomes a superhero to the Bikini Bottomites, saving them in dangerous situations, though constant requested assistance eventually annoys him and causes him to make a move to Jellyfish Fields to pursue his dreams. During the process, Canonball Jenkins flies through SpongeBob's pants and rips them apart, thus removing their inflation.
SpongeBob is shown to have a closet full of varieties of his pants, as seen in "A Day Without Tears" and "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants."
Trivia
- Despite SpongeBob's family sharing his surname, very few of them actually wear square pants like he does.
- SpongeBob's pants are seen coming to life during the dream in "Procrastination."
- SpongeBob usually does not sleep with his pants on, usually sleeping in his nightgear or underwear.
- SpongeBob has the ability to hide in his pants.
- The first episode where SpongeBob is shown wearing attire other than his square pants is "Ripped Pants." This is also the first episode where his pants are not seen.
SpongeBob briefly seen in his normal outfit.
- SpongeBob's pants are usually absent in episodes that feature SpongeBob wearing a different costume throughout the entire story. They have been absent from eight episodes in total: "Ripped Pants," "Walking Small," "Mermaid Man vs. SpongeBob," "The Inmates of Summer," "Jailbreak!," "Don't Wake Patrick," and "High Sea Diving." There are three additional episodes where SpongeBob himself does not wear his usual pants, but they are seen otherwise. In "SpongeGuard on Duty," he wears swim trunks but his pants are seen on a live-action SpongeBob costume. In "Krusty Krushers," he wears a wrestling uniform, but he briefly appears wearing his regular clothes during an error scene where Patrick and SpongeBob are spinning in the air and about to get shred into pieces. In "Goons on the Moon," SpongeBob wears a Science Scout outfit, but his nerdy photo shows him in his pants.
- When cloning SpongeBob in "CopyBob DittoPants," all of the SpongeBob clones have white or blue ties instead of red.
- The first character other than SpongeBob to wear these pants was Patrick in "Boating School."
- It is revealed in "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants” by the clerk that SpongeBob's pants are only shipped to Bikini Bottom every few times a year.
- SpongeBob's pants are covered by a belt in two episodes: "Hall Monitor" and "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV."
- There have been two variants of SpongeBob's pants, such as "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" where he wears a round version of his original pants and "SpongeBob LongPants" where SpongeBob wore a long pants version of his original pants.