SpongeBob Nostalgia Critic Episode / Bubble Bass Reviews

About

SpongeBob Nostalgia Critic Episode, also known as Bubble Bass Reviews, refers to a 2023 episode of the SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off series The Patrick Star Show in which the writers parodied notable YouTuber Nostalgia Critic by portraying the character Bubble Bass as a version of him. In the season one episode, Bubble Bass reviewed Patrick's show. It was also revealed in the episode that Bubble Bass liked Catgirls and anime girls, which some related to the term Otaku. In July 2023, users on Twitter discovered the episode's existence and posted reactionary content about it as it trended online. Soon after, Nostalgia Critic also reacted to the episode.

Origin

On July 24th, 2023, season one, episode 26a of The Patrick Star Show titled "Bubble Bass Reviews" aired on American television.^[1] In the episode, Bubble Bass played the part of a critic who was reviewing Patrick's show. Bubble Bass resembled YouTuber Nostalgia Critic in his outfit and mannerisms. At around 5:41 p.m. EST on July 24th, Twitter^[2] user @NoConCritics posted the first known reaction to the episode, writing, "NO WAY NOSTALGIA CRITIC REFERENCE IN SPONGEBOB?!" The tweet received roughly 23,200 likes in one day (shown below).

Soon after the aforementioned tweet on July 24th, Twitter^[3] user @spongearchive_ tweeted a clip from the episode, writing, "this is the greatest episode ever made," gaining roughly 7,800 likes in one day (shown below).

this is the greatest episode ever made pic.twitter.com/lEMhvmzoIv

— SpongeBob Archive (@spongearchive_) July 24, 2023

Spread

Going into the evening of July 24th, 2023, various Twitter users amplified awareness of the episode in viral tweets and memes. For instance, on July 24th, Twitter^[4] user @Crimson_Mayhem_ tweeted a screencap from the episode, writing, "Never in a million years would I see SpongeBob make an entire fucking episode on making fun of The Nostalgia Critic," gaining roughly 35,700 likes in one day (shown below, left).

Other discourse surfaced about the "catgirl" scene in the episode, such as in a Reddit post to /r/NonPoliticalTwitter^[5] in which the Redditor (cookie_tree4) shared a tweet^[6] screenshot and wrote, "the biggest takeaway for me is that anime catgirls are now canon in SpongeBob," gaining roughly 1,800 upvotes in one day (shown below, right).

Reactions and content about the episode started to spread across social media going into late July 2023, additionally spreading to platforms like TikTok.^[7]

Nostalgia Critic's Reaction

On July 25th, 2023, the Nostalgia Critic posted a video to the Channel Awesome Twitter^[8] page in which he reacted to the "Bubble Bass Reviews" episode. Over the course of one day, the tweet gained roughly 66,800 likes (shown below).

How could SpongeBob do this?!!?!!?!? pic.twitter.com/1uc0HL3Kil

— Channel Awesome (@ChannelAwesome) July 25, 2023

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References