Flats the Flounder
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— Flats the Flounder, "The Bully"
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Flats[1][2][3] the Flounder[4][5] is a character who first appears in the episode "Sandy's Rocket" before becoming a major character in "The Bully."
Names
- In the 1997 addendum of the SpongeBob SquarePants pitch bible and season 1, he was named Farley Flatfish, but his name was later changed to Flats the Flounder in the season 3 episode, "The Bully."
- In a model sheet of him trapped inside a net from "Sandy's Rocket," he was named Farley the Flatfish.
- In SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton Rising, his name was misspelled as Flatts the Flounder.
- In SpongeBob's Idle Adventures, an gingerbread version of him is mistakenly labeled as "Holiday Fred," although there is another character in the game that's named Fred.
Description
He is a flat kite-shaped light olive-green flounder who has sideways beige eyes. He wears a light orange, dark green shirt, and light reddish-brown pants. In his older appearances, his eyes were colored light yellow.
Personality
Flats is shown to be quite sadistic, finding great enjoyment in threatening and hurting others. He also is quite ruthless, threatening SpongeBob for simply introducing himself, attempting to run him over and kill him with a garbage truck, and still attempting to hurt him even after he saved his life after he got in a car crash. He even threatened his own father after he caught him talking to SpongeBob. He also does not give up easily, punching SpongeBob for days before collapsing due to exhaustion. The only person Flats seems to care about is Patrick, visiting his home and drinking lemonade with him because they were friends in community college.
Role in series
Flats is a side character in the series that usually makes non-speaking cameos and can also commonly be seen among incidental characters. He was originally given the name Farley Flatfish in the first season but his name was changed to Flats the Flounder in the season 3 episode "The Bully," where nearly the entire episode focuses mainly on him as the main antagonist, this is also the only episode in the series where he speaks. He has had short absences between some of his episode appearances and he was firstly designed to be a victim of Template:Data:Links and Template:Data:Links's "alien hunting."
Major roles
SpongeBob SquarePants
"Sandy's Rocket"
He appears as a victim of SpongeBob and Patrick's "alien hunting" where SpongeBob traps him inside a net.
"Texas"
He is seen attending Template:Data:Links's party at the Krusty Krab where he is shown to be responsible for the "square dancing" by holding a large cube.
"The Bully"
His biggest role in the series yet. He joins Mrs. Puff's Boating School and wants to kick SpongeBob's butt. SpongeBob, afraid and concerned for his safety, makes many attempts to reason with and/or escape him, but to no avail. He eventually calls Patrick 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 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 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 as 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 is still eager to kick SpongeBob's butt.
Eventually, Flats corners SpongeBob in his own house (from someone giving away the location or by following SpongeBob home) and proceeds to "kick his butt" by repeatedly hitting him. However, SpongeBob discovers that his soft spongy body simply absorbs the blows and the punches do not harm him in any way. Relieved, SpongeBob allows Flats to attack him throughout his routine.
Flats continues to hit SpongeBob throughout the whole week until he finally passes out from exhaustion one morning at Boating School. While SpongeBob makes his speech that Flats is the true victim, he raises his fist. Mrs. Puff suddenly arrives and, upon seeing SpongeBob's raised fist and Flats unconscious, believes that SpongeBob beat up Flats and thereby threatens to harm SpongeBob in the same way Flats was harmed at the end.
"Don't Feed the Clowns"
He is a customer of the bakery who gets knocked out after getting hit with a pie thrown by Incidental C1.
"SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"
He is one of the many Bikini Bottomites setting up SpongeBob's surprise birthday party, implying that he eventually made up with SpongeBob.
"Upturn Girls"
He appears as one of the "lovely" customers at the Krusty Krab, holding his order on a tray.
Major roles in movies
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
He is featured as one of the marching characters in the end credits.
Major roles in games
SpongeBob's Idle Adventures
He appears as a usable character in the game.
Trivia
- He is one of six characters with sideways eyes.
- The other five are the Atomic Flounder (sometimes), Flats' dad, Colonel Sandab, Doctor 14, and Lefty.
- Only his father was shown, his mother has never been mentioned or shown.
- His voice actor, Thomas F. Wilson, is best known for playing Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future trilogy. Wilson would also voice several other characters in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise, such as Reg, the Tattletale Strangler, Victor, and Herb/Cecil Star.
References
de:Fred, die Flunder es:Plano nl:Plat pl:Płaski Fląder ru:Камбала Флэтс