The--Clarinet--Squid

Character Background

Squidward Tentacles is one of the main characters in SpongeBob SquarePants. He is the neighbor between SpongeBob and Patrick. Squidward is a cephalopod. His species is an octopus, according to the series creators, despite his name containing the word "squid" and him having six legs instead of eight. Squidward lives in a house shaped like an Easter Island head (Moai head).

He works as the cashier at the Krusty Krab, a job he absolutely loathes. SpongeBob works along with Squidward at the Krusty Krab. Squidward is a selfish individual and displays an unjustified air of superiority.

He also has over 500 self-portraits and is delusional about his talents (such as playing the clarinet) though nobody around him considers him to be very good. The series' animators made Squidward with six tentacles, believing that giving him eight tentacles of an octopus would have made him look too burdened and would be too difficult to animate.



Appearance

Squidward Tentacles is a light turquoise octopus, and has purple suction cups at the end of his tentacles. He has six limbs in total, two being arms and four being legs, which tend to make the shape of a plus when he stands in place. Whenever he walks, his suction cups stick to the floor, meaning that he walks with a distinct squelching noise. Squidward has a large cranium with eight holes on the top of it, presumably to show his baldness. However, in the episode ‘The Original Fry Cook, it showed that he had long blond hair once. He also has a skinny body, big droopy nose, a wide mouth and yellow eyes with rectangle vertical dark red irises and rectangle red pupils. When he laughs, his nose appears to deflate and inflate repeatedly. He wears a brown short-sleeved shirt, which is sometimes shorter. In reality, Squidward is only eight inches and two ounces.

His color is inconsistent throughout the series. While he is shown to be lighter green in earlier episodes, in later episodes he is shown having a lighter and more blue color.

In the episode Just One Bite, it shows a close up of Squidward's face, revealing it disturbing and very morbid. This has scared some kids that watch the show. In the episode Frankendoodle, he was wearing fancy clothing in one scene.

In the episode Sandy's Rocket, Squidward is shown to be wearing an old version of his nightwear. It is pink with magenta-colored flowers on it. In newer episodes such as Sentimental Sponge, Squidward is seen wearing his real nightgown. In this episode, he refers to it as a "nightshirt". It is a light purple nightgown that comes with a matching hat.



Criminal Records

Squidward could sometimes break the law causing him to go to jail in some episodes. Besides Mr. Krabs and Plankton, he also has many criminal records and reasons why he is in jail. The only reason he likes to be in prison is that he could get away from his neighbors.

- Stealing a wallet from a customer. (Good Ol' Whatshisname)
- Running past a stop sign. (Good Ol' Whatshisname)
- Littering (falsly accused). (Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful)
- Running on a stop sign. (Boating Buddies)
- Impersonation of Squilliam Fancyson. (Professor Squidward)
- Nudity. (Bossy Boots)
- Almost had his house condemned for being full of trash (which was acctually SpongeBob's fault). (Sentimental Sponge)
- Threatened to rot in jail, because of replacing Mr. Krabs' mattress (again, SpongeBob's fault). (The Lost Mattress)
- Beating Creepy Creeper. (Squid Defense)



Near-Death Experience

Squidward has had many injuries and near death experiences. He is one of the most unfortunate characters, and is in some way hurt in almost every episode he is in (such as his head and/or nose exploding or deflating). He is shown to be an underdog, a person who almost never wins. SpongeBob does frequently not cause this and mostly Patrick causes it. In some episodes, he caused his near death experience. his near death experience was caused by himself. (E.g. breaking his own "laugh box", freezing himself almost to death, suffocating himself with three pillows on his head, eating too many krabby patties and exploding). He almost froze to death in Frozen Face-Off. He also almost always is injured by his bad karma.



Occupation

Squidward works as the cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant, along with his co-worker, SpongeBob SquarePants. He not only hates his duties but the Krusty Krab itself, and he performs his job rather poorly and with a lack of enthusiasm. He also frequently behaves rudely to the customers. He has often expressed a desire to be fired or simply quit, but never makes good on it; he only seems to work there because he needs the money. In "Just One Bite", he reveals that he has never eaten a Krabby Patty and thinks them to be disgustingly unhealthy, although after having "just one bite", he falls in love with them. However, this fact is contradicted by an earlier episode in which SpongeBob forgets how to tie his shoe and, consequently, throws several Krabby Patties down Squidward's throat. (An explanation for this could be that since he did not taste them with his tongue, he thought they were bad). In "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," Squidward is manager of the Krusty Krab 2 for six days, although due to Plankton's invasion of Bikini Bottom, the new restaurant is not in service during this time. In Selling Out, Squidward worked as the waiter for Krabby O' Mondays. He was forced to maintain a false state of happiness, or else face "Human Resources", a thug in the back of the building.

Squidward has also been:

- The "art department", filmmaker, and creator of the "real" - - Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Movie's designing technology. -"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture"
- The replacement fry cook at the Krusty Krab - various episodes
- Captain Magma (a volcano-themed superhero identity) -"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V"
- Orchestra Concert Composer and Clarinet Concert Player - Suction Cup Symphony, Best Day Ever and SquidBob TentaclePants
- Art Lesson Teacher at the Rec Center - Artist Unknown
- A former teacher from music class - Professor Squidward
- Santa Claus - Christmas Who?
- A Playwright - The Play's the Thing