Although hunting jellyfish with Patrick Estrela is SpongeBob’s favorite activity, the character deals with great responsibilities in his day-to-day life that make him get into big trouble, since despite being clumsy and often acting like a child , he lives alone in a pineapple, takes care of his pet snail, works at Mr. Krabs’ restaurant making Krabby Patties, and also has a car.
But isn’t it strange that SpongeBob does all this in the 13 seasons of Nickelodeon’s children’s cartoon while his attitudes represent those of someone who hasn’t grown up yet? So much so, that one of the biggest doubts about the character is his real age, since as much as there are clues, they are somewhat confusing.
That’s because, in the episode “Hora do Sono”, from the first season of the animation, it is possible to find out the character’s date of birth. In one of the scenes, SpongeBob’s driver’s license appears, where it is confirmed that his birthday is celebrated on July 14, since he was born on that same day and month in 1986. See!
Although the driver’s license appeared in a dream sequence, the license actually appears with the same details in the episode “Pilotar Sem Saber não Vale”, from the second season, which may confirm that the date corresponds to the character’s birth, as calculated by the CBR portal.
With that, taking into account that “SpongeBob” was released in 1999, if the events of the animation took place in the same timeline in which they were shown on TV, the character would be 13 years old when the first episode originally aired in the United States United — but that’s where things get complicated.
This is because, in the US, the minimum age to get a driver’s license is 16, so SpongeBob would need to be at least that age to try to get a driver’s license if Bikini Bottom follows human traffic rules. .
In addition, there are other points that reinforce the idea that the yellow sponge that wears square pants is older than it looks. In the episode “Kisses from Grandma”, for example, SpongeBob feels embarrassed after receiving cookies and kisses from his grandmother, since the action makes him a joke to Squidward and some customers of the Krusty Krab, which leads to the character’s grandmother saying that it’s okay to receive affection from the grandmother even if he is an adult.
In the SpongeBob spin-off, “Kamp Koral”, SpongeBob and Patrick are confirmed to be 10 years old during the events seen there, while Pérola, Mr. Krabs’ daughter, is just a baby. If the animation were canon, SpongeBob would be about 20 years old, as Pearl goes to the prom in “The Chaperone” of the 1st season of “SpongeBob SquarePants”, as well as celebrating her 16th birthday in “Whale of a Birthday”. ” from Season 4.
To confuse fans’ heads even more, the creator of the cartoon, Stephen Hillenburgeven jokingly stated that SpongeBob is 50 years old in the “sponge years” and that “he is old enough to be alone and still attend driving school”, as echoed by the SpongeBobia Encyclopedia (via CBR).
The Orange County Register portal also reports that Hillenburg wanted SpongeBob to be an adult, but some changes were made at the request of Nickelodeon, who wanted a child character who attended school, which may explain the inaccuracy in the character’s age. Despite this, there is no confirmation of SpongeBob’s real age.
Source: Recreio
