SpongeBob SquarePants Character

    SpongeBob SquarePants is a main fictional character in the animated television seriesSpongeBob SquarePants. He is voiced by Tom Kenny and first appeared on television in the series' pilot episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999. SpongeBob was created and designed by cartoonist Stephen Hillenburg shortly after the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life in 1996. Hillenburg intended to create a series about an over-optimistic sponge that annoys other characters. Hillenburg compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman. 
    As he drew the character, he decided that a "squeaky-clean square" (like a kitchen sponge) fits the concept. His name is derived from "Bob the Sponge", the host of Hillenburg's comic strip The Intertidal Zone that he originally drew in 1989 while studying at the California Institute of Arts. SpongeBob is a naïve and goofy sea sponge who works as a fry cook in the fictional underwater town of Bikini Bottom.

SpongeBob is a sea sponge, but he resembles a kitchen sponge. He has large blue eyes, many holes appearing all around his body and a mouth with prominent front buck teeth. He typically wears a white shirt with a red tie and brown square trousers, hence his family name"SquarePants".

SpongeBob is a fry cook at the Krusty Krab restaurant, at which he has won employee of the month many times. He attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School, analogous to a driving school, but cannot pass the boating test until "Gone". SpongeBob lives with his pet snail Gary in a large "pineapple-house" on 124 Conch Street in fictional Bikini Bottom, which is located beneath the real tropical isle of Bikini Atoll. His neighbors are Squidward, who is an octopus and SpongeBob's co-worker at the Krusty Krab, and Patrick, a starfish who is SpongeBob's best friend.

SpongeBob is an optimistic and energetic character, but also very naive. His hobbies include jelly-fishing (similar to bird watching and butterfly catching) and blowing bubbles with Patrick. He is unaware of how Squidward is annoyed by him.

SpongeBob's catchphrase is "I'm ready!"

Merchandising

The popularity of SpongeBob translated well into sales figures. In 2002, SpongeBob SquarePants dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week, which was faster than Tickle Me Elmo dolls were selling at the time. SpongeBob has gained popularity in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted marketing at women in the country as a method of building theSpongeBob SquarePants brand. Skeptics initially doubted that SpongeBob could be popular in Japan as the character's design is very different to already popular designs for Hello Kitty and Pikachu. The character also spawned a soap-filled sponge product manufactured bySpongeTech.