SpongeBob SquarePants Revealed A Secret About Patrick's House & Fans Are Angry

"SpongeBob SquarePants" is an integral part of many people's childhoods, and the show is still going strong 25 years after it first debuted on Nickelodeon. That means that every so often, the show will do something that angers long-time fans, such as "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" upsetting people due to its perceived poor writing. In recent years, the show has seemingly altered a crucial aspect of the series' lore that's completely unforgivable in the eyes of fans — it made Patrick's house a turtle. 

The change occurred in the 2020 episode, "Shell Games," which makes it kind of weird that people are just now discovering it. Granted, it came out in March of 2020, so maybe we were all too focused on pandemic-related things to give this change the attention it so clearly deserves. A clip posted by @SomaKazima on X (formerly known as Twitter) went viral recently and shows how Patrick's house is actually the shell of a turtle named Tony, who's been asleep for 30 years. During that time, his shell gathers dust, making it resemble a rock. This didn't sit well with the likes of @777LEXID: "Get this bulls*** off tv. Patrick's house is a ROCK. Yall can't rewrite history."

For others, the change wasn't frustrating for the change it makes to the franchise's lore, but because it goes against actual nature. As @Froku_Sama points out, "Patrick's house being a rock is literally based on real starfish's habitat. Get this f****** garbage ass rewrite off the air." That tweet contains some harsh profanity over a kid's show, but we get it — change is difficult.

Lore is incredibly important to some fans, especially when it comes to franchises like "Star Wars" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Every last detail needs to add up, or else fans will believe the creatives obviously didn't care enough. "SpongeBob SquarePants" has never been lore-heavy, though, with each episode pretty much taking place in its own continuity. Plus, the fact it's taken people four years to realize Patrick's house is Tony's turtle shell means they obviously haven't kept up with the show and just want to be angry at something.

Looper actually wrote about what Patrick's house should really look like, and, honestly, his domicile has always been a nebulous concept. Sometimes it looks like the house connects directly with the sand, and in other instances, there are actual rooms underneath it. That's not even getting into all of the times Patrick's house has been damaged or destroyed, which would seem to go against the idea of it being a turtle for the last few decades. For example, in Season 12's "The Ballad of Filthy Muck," the rock/shell literally melts due to Patrick's foul odor — Tony would definitely be dead after that.

Some on X have pushed back against the idea of Patrick's house being a turtle as disrespectful to the show, like @The_Spun_Yarn, who argues, "I think the New York Italian turtle is funny and the premise works. Patrick's house being a rock is in no way foundational or important to the show." "SpongeBob SquarePants" simply does what's funny in the moment without being concerned about continuity, so it's best not to think about it too hard, enjoy the jokes, and just add Patrick's housing revelation to the list of untold truths about "SpongeBob SquarePants."