Has Mr. Krabs become a stale character?

nortonstime

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Given the success of Patrick The Game being attributed primarily to the combination of characters used, I'm wondering if even the writing staff has finally realized that Mr. Krabs isn't really funny to use anymore. 90% of jokes about him basically boil down to "he is cheap lol" and it has been that way for decades, so we tend to find most jokes about his greed to be repetitive. It doesn't help that they try to underline his cheapness by showing how cruel he is to his employees. During a lot of times, we're supposed to be thinking that his behavior is so ridiculous it is funny, but instead we feel angry about his treatment of others.

I've noticed a lot of rants about Mr. Krabs and how he never gets punished -- albeit these complaints have been reduced as of late and people tend to simply write off his episodes (like Company Picnic) as dull. An exception would be Pull Up A Barrel, which thankfully focused on his past as a cook rather than his greed. But episodes like that come rarely.

Has Mr. Krabs simply become too one-dimensional to utilize effectively? Even for me, I welcome Sandy as his substitute in recent episodes and, while I enjoyed Company Picnic, his rivalry with Plankton and his moneypinching tendencies were all nothing new and felt rehashed from so many eps before. In Sewers of Bikini Bottom, his sideplot doesn't even focus on him -- he simply reacts to the swordfish character and has less of a presence. It's as if the writers know that the well of jokes centering about Mr. Krabs has long been dried up.


So how can they improve Mr. Krabs' character? They can focus less on his unwillingness to spend money and more on his history. They can reverse years of terrible characterization (firing Spongebob for a nickel, selling Squidward into slavery, etc.) by showing episodes that have him actually care about his employees, in the same vein that recent episodes have Squidward be less annoyed with Spongebob. Because in the meantime, every episode without Krabs feels like a breath of fresh air.
 
He definitely is a one note character as of lately and more annoying than any of the characters with flaws as well. But Tutor Sauce was a step in the right direction I guess.
 
To answer seriously, no
His character improved in season 9 minus SBYF, and I think the writers are trying to make him do things less related with money
I think that Married to Money could contradict that tho: from one side it could be Mr. Krabs realizing that there are things more important than money, and from the another one it could just be the Cheapy McCheapskate we're all tired of
 
Show more of his fatherly figure side that was lost during his transition into full-on cheapskate psychopath.
 
For once I agree with you.

His general character in seasons 1 through 3 was a lot more interesting. He was a cheapskate and could be downright cruel at times, but usually his conscience prevailed and he had a good heart underneath all that jerk. Depending on the episode he tended to treat Spongebob almost like a son (and sometimes Patrick, too,) being kind of protective of them. He had a hidden darker side that manifested in complete and total lunacy in a horrifying yet hilarious way (Clams,) and he had a weird sense of humor and could be a total troll (Wet Painters.)

of course...... the writers forgot ALL ::dolphin noise:: ABOUT this, and just thought "oh, he's cheap."

not the interesting and layered character he used to be
 
What they did with Mr. Krabs is the most... Disappointing character derailment of SB. He has so much to build off of: His past in the Navy, his rivalry with Plankton, his daughter (not to mention her unexplained origin) the fact that he owns a successful business... And the part of him they focus on is his Money Obsession.
 
i hated what they did to mr krabs (starting with "krabby land" all the way back in s3!) but i think he's been written very well in season 9.2 since they've scaled back his greediness quite a bit. it's actually SUBTLE now, which makes the jokes about how cheap he is funny again. i like him more as a character now than i have in a long, long time.
 
babydoll said:
i hated what they did to mr krabs (starting with "krabby land" all the way back in s3!) but i think he's been written very well in season 9.2 since they've scaled back his greediness quite a bit. it's actually SUBTLE now, which makes the jokes about how cheap he is funny again. i like him more as a character now than i have in a long, long time.
I felt very strongly about the desecration of Krabs' character so I made a slightly different topic about it:

http://www.sbmania.net/forums/topic/49525-bring-back-dad-krabs/
 
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