Top 10 SpongeBob Mistakes That Were Left In

“Club SpongeBob”

One of the funniest episodes of this long-running marine themed series sees Squidward getting lost in the wilderness with SpongeBob and Patrick. During their trip, Mr. Tentacles gets both mistreated by an inanimate object and improperly animated. When Squidward is repeatedly asking the conch if he can eat, his normally blue tentacle is colored yellow in a close-up shot. It’s been reported that this animation error has been corrected for future viewings. Before we knew it was a real error, we did wonder if the magic conch was messing with Squidward more by changing his arm color.

“The Fry Cook Games”

Being a “SpongeBob” fan means suspending disbelief for some things while regarding others as goofs. Fans wondered what they were supposed to believe when Patrick goes against SpongeBob in a wrestling match. While their suddenly muscular physiques threw us off a bit, the moment where Patrick takes off SpongeBob’s shoe and proceeds to lick his foot took us out. And not just because it was gross. We saw Patrick remove the shoe on SpongeBob’s right foot. But based on the position of the toes, it was the left foot that was being licked. While this gross scene is probably a simple continuity error, it’s not even remotely close to the weirdest thing about Spongebob’s body.

“SpongeBob Meets the Strangler”

When the criminal known as the "Tattletale Strangler" wants to get SpongeBob, he demands to be let inside the iconic pineapple house. This is stalled by SpongeBob not being able to find his key. After taking extreme measures to try to get inside his house, the punchline to the joke is that there’s a key under the mat. But if you looked at the front door earlier, the mat’s nowhere to be found. We’re not sure if the sudden appearance was a part of the absurdity of the joke or not. We just have a feeling the Tattletale strangler wished the mat had been there sooner.

“Patrick-Man!”

If you’re a casual “SpongeBob” fan, the name Harold might not ring any bells. But his dorsal fin, white shirt, and red bottoms made him one of the most recognizable background fish in Bikini Bottom. But one of his appearances contains a pretty glaring error. While Wannabe superhero Patrick is causing everyone headaches, he confiscates Harold’s Krabby Patty. When SpongeBob replaces it, Harold is shirtless. But the fish’s white shirt is once again on in the very next shot. Either he’s an incredibly fast dresser or an animator wasn’t paying attention to Harold’s wardrobe.

“SpongeBob, You’re Fired”

While SpongeBob isn’t always wearing his Krusty Krab hat, it’s certainly one of his most recognizable accessories. Although we’ve seen him wear it outside work, there was one place where he should’ve probably taken it off. After Mr. Krabs’ nickel-pinching ways cause SpongeBob to lose his beloved fry cook job, he ends up having to work at the Weenie Hut. The animators might have been a little too eager to get SpongeBob back to the Krusty Krab though. During the episode, he has his classic anchor hat while he’s still working at the Weenie Hut. Although it does suit him better, it just wasn’t time for him to wear it again yet.

“Nature Pants”

The position of SpongeBob’s grill at the Krusty Krab is well-established. It’s adjacent to the cash register so he can annoy Squidward while working. However, the “Nature Pants” episode opens with the grill in an entirely different position. While Spongebob’s burger station is at the other end of the kitchen, the fryers are where the grill should be. Perhaps Mr. Krabs wanted to reorganize the Krusty Krab before changing it back to how it was. Or, maybe the animators just loosely remembered the kitchen’s layout. Since it was early in the show’s run, we’ll assume they had forgotten about the spot where the grill truly belonged.

“Squid’s on a Bus”

It’s no secret that Squidward has a short fuse. His temper makes it all too easy for him to lose his head, or in this case, his neck. While working as a bus driver, Squidward gets annoyed at SpongeBob’s antics and gets angry at the square fry cook. If you look close enough in one moment, you’ll see his neck isn’t going through his shirt like it’s supposed to. This drawing glitch looks pretty unsettling when you catch it. Also, his neck doesn’t change position until SpongeBob lands on him. Maybe Squidward’s stress about his Krusty krab coworker has really messed up his neck.

“Boss for a Day”

While one Mr. Krabs is more than enough, this episode accidentally gave us a double dose of the crustaceous cheapskate. After being crushed by a piano, the crustacean is sent to the hospital. When Mr. Krabs returns to his restaurant, now bandaged and temporarily in a wheelchair, Spongebob greets him. But if you look behind the square employee, you can see another injured crustacean behind him facing towards the cash register. Granted, it’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment that you’ll definitely need to pause the screen to see. But it’s still a pretty distracting animation error that makes us feel like Mr. Krabs found a way to clone himself.

“House Fancy”

One of the most defining traits of Squilliam Fancyson’s appearance is his prominent unibrow. While the pompous octopus is giving a tour of his luxurious pad for the show “House Fancy”, we see various self-portraits and sculptures of himself. But one of these works of art is missing his most recognizable feature. Since Squilliam’s unibrow is visible in other portraits, it doesn’t seem he’s ashamed of it. Maybe this was a request he made of the artist at the time. Or, maybe the “SpongeBob” animators just made a mistake and hoped no one would notice. Well, we did.

“The Secret Box”

Squidward’s Easter Island head house in between Spongebob’s pineapple and Patrick’s rock has been destroyed multiple times. But there was also a time where it vanished off-screen. When SpongeBob is desperate to know what’s inside Patrick’s secret box, he breaks into the rock home. We see SpongeBob go directly from his house to Patrick’s with Squidward’s house nowhere to be seen. While there’s even a joke about Squidward’s house being sentient earlier in the episode, we don’t think it walked away for one scene. Its disappearance definitely doesn’t make any sense. Then again, if it always made sense, it wouldn’t really be the “SpongeBob” we know and love.