Flats the Flounder
| “ | Well, I like to kick people's butts. | ” |
— Flats the Flounder, "The Bully"
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Flats the FlounderTemplate:Data:References is a character who first appears in a cameo in the episode "Sandy's Rocket" and later plays his main role in the episode "The Bully."
In the ending credits of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Flats makes a cameo appearance along with other Bikini Bottomites.
He later makes cameos in the episodes "Squid Noir" and "Don't Feed the Clowns."
Description
He is a light olive-green flounder who has light yellow eyes and black pupils. He wears a light orange, dark green shirt, and light reddish-brown pants. Flats' body is shown to be somewhat two-dimensional, hence his name.
Personality
Being a bully, Flats is very sadistic, rude, intimidating, and unrepentant for no apparent reason. This is established when he reveals kicking other people's butts as his main interest. He is also shown to be disrespectful to authority figures, as he confronts his dad about talking to strangers and threatens to kick his butt; this intimidates his dad, who is too scared to punish his son for his actions.
Despite his rudeness, authority figures view his threatening behavior as friendly and well-intentioned, when it is anything but.
Criminal record
- Assault: He is implied to have kicked many people's butts.
- Threat: Throughout the episode, he threatens to kick SpongeBob's butt and puts his life at danger in various ways.
- Hit and run: He steals a garbage truck to threaten SpongeBob with.
- Burglary: He breaks into SpongeBob's house without his consent.
- Property damage: While breaking into SpongeBob's house, he also manages to knock the door down.
- Attempted murder: He chases SpongeBob down the street with a garbage truck, intent on running him over.
Role in series
"Sandy's Rocket"
Flats first appears as a cameo in this episode, where he is one of Template:Data:Links's "alien hunting" victims.
"Texas"
Flats attends Template:Data:Links's Texas party.
"The Bully"
He joins Mrs. Puff's Boating School and wants to kick SpongeBob's butt. The latter takes this extremely seriously, reacting as if he were going to actually kill him. He makes many attempts to reason with and/or escape him, but to no avail. He even calls Template:Data:Links to protect him, only to find out that Flats is friends with him and that they were community college friends.
He also tries to go to Mrs. Puff to help, who talks to Flats (much to SpongeBob's dismay) and explains to SpongeBob that "kicking his butt" means that Flats wants to become his friend, which is obviously not true.
He then encounters Flats' dad in a boat and confronts him about his son's actions, only for the latter to go up to his father and teach him a lesson about talking to strangers, threatening to harm one of his parents.
Flats goes so far as to chase SpongeBob out of school into town, even trying to run him over with a garbage truck. However, said garbage truck slips on a banana peel and flips over, critically injuring Flats in the process. He wakes up in the hospital and learns that SpongeBob saved his life through CPR, yet he still wants to kick his butt.
Eventually, Flats corners SpongeBob in his own home and proceeds to "kick his butt" by repeatedly hitting him. However, SpongeBob discovers that his soft body simply absorbs the blows and does not harm him in any way.
Flats continues to hit SpongeBob throughout the whole week until he finally passes out from exhaustion one morning at boating school.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
He is seen in the end credits with other Bikini Bottomites.
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"Squid Noir"
He is one of the customers seen in the Krusty Krab, covering his ears due to Template:Data:Links's poor clarinet playing.
"Don't Feed the Clowns"
He is a customer of the bakery who got knocked out by getting hit with a pie thrown by little clown.
Trivia
- Flats is a flounder, which is a species of flatfish, who have both eyes on one half of their body.
- Coincidentally, Thomas F. Wilson is known for playing another bully named Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future film series.
- Despite returning in Template:Data:Links, he does not have any lines in either of his appearances in the said season.