About

Sad SpongeBob, also known as Sad-Eyed SpongeBob or Spunchbop, is a reaction image depicting SpongeBob SquarePants with large eyes and an exaggerated, tearful expression. In the early 2020s, the picture saw ironic meme usage through short video formats on TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, as well as parodies using different characters across various media.

Origin

The image originates from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Christmas Who?," first aired on December 6th, 2000.^[1] After SpongeBob's hopes of an undersea Christmas are shattered by Squidward, he is made to pose for a picture in front of his coral Christmas tree, leading to the exaggerated, tearful photo (shown below).

Spread

The earliest found usages of Sad Spunchbop revolve around an image caption with lyrics from the 2014 Chief Keef song Faneto^[2] and a reaction reading ""Chief Keef- "Finna go and shoot New Jersey up!" / Innocent people in New Jersey after learning their life is in imminent danger." The oldest known version of the image was posted^[3] on March 7th, 2020 by iFunny user TheDarkKnightTriumphant (shown below).

The image began seeing further ironic use on TikTok in late 2020 and early 2021 as a visual accompaniment to loud sound effects like the Vine Thud/Boom and Fart + Extra Reverb. On February 8th, 2021, Twitter user @leosleepy posted a parody of the 19 Dollar Fortnite Card utilizing the Boom effect, gaining over 5,000 likes (shown below).

Parodies of the original image using different characters from other media franchises have sprung up irregularly throughout 2021. More parodies were created of characters from the video game Deltarune after its release in September. On September 18th, Twitter user @phlbbth^[4] posted an example, gaining over 2,300 retweets and 11,000 likes (shown below, left).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References