Mr. Krabs

Mr. Krabs is commonly known as the greedy founder and owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant, where SpongeBob works as a fry cook and Squidward works as a cashier. The restaurant's success is built on little competition and the popularity of the Krusty Krab's signature sandwich, the Krabby Patty, the formula to which is a closely guarded trade secret. and charging his own employees for use of the building's services. Krabs' rival and former best friend Plankton operates the Chum Bucket, an unsuccessful restaurant across the street from the Krusty Krab. A major plot point throughout the series is Plankton failing to steal the Krabby Patty formula with the help of his computer wife, Karen, under the assumption that they would be able to replicate the burgers and put the Krusty Krab out of business. To avoid this, Krabs goes to extreme lengths to prevent Plankton from obtaining the recipe; he even refuses to allow him to buy a Krabby Patty legitimately out of fear that Plankton might use Karen to reverse-engineer the formula. Krabs also makes it his duty to ensure that the Chum Bucket never has any business whatsoever. Krabs values money more than his own well-being and assesses the other characters based on their financial value to him. The only exceptions are Pearl and his girlfriend Mrs. Puff. His love for Mrs. Puff is so strong that it temporarily transcends his greed and drives him to buy her expensive gifts. Former showrunner Paul Tibbitt has stated that this Krabs-SpongeBob dynamic is his favorite part of the show, telling Digital Spy in 2011 that "the aspect of SpongeBob I love the most is his undying loyalty to Mr. Krabs. No matter how Mr. Krabs treats him. I try to replicate that in my own life in every way." ==Character==

Development . Mr. Krabs is the only character in SpongeBob initially based on a specific person from Stephen Hillenburg's life. When designing Mr. Krabs, Hillenburg drew inspiration from his former manager at a seafood restaurant. According to Hillenburg, his manager was redheaded, muscular, and a former army cook; these three traits were adapted into Krabs' character, with Krabs' red color standing in for hair. The decision to have Mr. Krabs and Pearl live in an anchor was made after production on the first season had started. The original map of the show's setting, which Hillenburg showed Nickelodeon executives as part of his pitch to the network in 1997, did not include an anchor house and instead labeled the Krusty Krab as both of the characters' residence. Voice provides the voice of Mr. Krabs. Mr. Krabs' voice is provided by American actor Clancy Brown. Brown describes the voice he uses for the character as "piratey," with "a little Scottish brogue." In a 2005 interview with the magazine Starlog, Brown described his work on SpongeBob as a "whole other career" compared to his live action roles. Brown's other acting projects have brought some guest actors onto SpongeBob SquarePants, including Dennis Quaid, whose work with Brown on The Express: The Ernie Davis Story led to his selection as a guest star for the episode "Grandpappy the Pirate." ==Reception==

Critical reception for Mr. Krabs has been mixed, with most criticism directed at his parsimony and the lack of realistic consequences he faces for it. In 2014, Spanish professor Pancracio Celdrán criticized the positive portrayal of Mr. Krabs' stinginess in front of young audiences. Economist Sarah Newcomb described Mr. Krabs as a negative stereotype, writing in the Wiley book Loaded that "King Midas, Ebenezer Scrooge, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Krabs are the same recycled character, representing the person who cares for money above all." Polish scholar Barbara Czarniawska disliked the heroic portrayal of Mr. Krabs in the second SpongeBob film, despite being "a ruthless capitalist who exploits his customers and his workers alike." She later criticized how the show seemingly normalized the character's use of "legal forms of manipulation and exploitative power relations in business." Conversely, political activist Howie Klein of The Huffington Post offered a more positive interpretation of the character, saying in 2006 that Mr. Krabs is not "exactly an evil villain; he's just a greed-obsessed Republican type." Klein interviewed SpongeBob's voice actor Tom Kenny on the topic; Kenny compared Krabs to oil businessman Erle P. Halliburton, then called the character a comedic representation of "unchecked, unthinking, unregulated capitalism. Everything [to Krabs] is about the bottom line, not about what's socially responsible." In his 2011 book SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy, political scientist Joseph J. Foy discusses Krabs' antagonistic side over several chapters. Foy argues that Krabs, not Plankton and Karen, is the true evil character in the series. He also notes his problem with Mr. Krabs' character that "Krabs never seems to learn from the suffering he undergoes, or from witnessing the pain and struggles he inflicts on others." Newsdays Meghan Giannotta wrote positively of the character in a 2016 article: "Mr. Krabs ... may be known for being cheap, but he's also determined and a good friend and father. He'll do whatever it takes to make his daughter Pearl happy and he goes to extreme measures to help protect his fast-food business." In a review of the season four episode "Have You Seen This Snail?," television critic Tom Shales described Krabs as "good-natured" and as one of "the things people love about SpongeBob." Paul Mavis of DVD Talk named the Krabs-centric episode "Krusty Krab Training Video" one of the series' best, calling its humorous portrayal of Mr. Krabs' backstory the highlight. Basketball player LeBron James has stated that if he "could be any character on the show, [he] would be Mr. Krabs." Cartoonist Michael Cavna commented on James' high opinion of Krabs, writing in The Washington Post that he found it intriguing how "the gazillionaire NBA hoopster cites his respect for ... the show's resident tightwad." Mr. Krabs is also the favorite SpongeBob character of football running back Cedric Benson. ==In other media==

Mr. Krabs has been featured in various merchandise such as plush toys, video games, comics, and trading cards. The Krabs family restaurant, the Krusty Krab, has been the basis for a Lego playset and many replicas at attractions. A float modeled after the Krusty Krab, featuring a costumed mascot of Pearl that greeted guests and an animatronic Mr. Krabs, regularly appeared at Sea World's weekly "SpongeBob ParadePants" parade. A full-size replica of the building was built in Ramallah, Palestine in 2014. In January 2016, Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom filed a lawsuit against the operators of a similar for-profit "Krusty Krab" restaurant set to open in Texas. A Texas federal judge ruled in January 2017 that the planned restaurant violated Viacom's rights to the SpongeBob property, thus halting its construction. In 2011, the indie rock group Yo La Tengo performed a live version of the Krusty Krab commercial from the episode "As Seen on TV" at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Included as part of Yo La Tengo's first tour, it starred Ira Kaplan as Mr. Krabs. Billy Gil of L.A. Record praised the performance as a whole and called Kaplan's impression "dead-on." An episode of the sketch comedy series Robot Chicken titled "Major League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" includes a skit that stars Mr. Krabs and Pearl. The segment, animated in stop motion like most other sketches on the program, features Mr. Krabs using crab legs as the secret ingredient for Krabby Patties. A track on The Best Day Ever, a 2006 soundtrack album, titled "Fishin' for Money" features the vocal performance of Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs. In the 2017 Broadway musical based on SpongeBob, Krabs, played by Brian Ray Norris, In his pre-Broadway review of the musical, Varietys Steven Oxman asserted that the musical's version of Mr. Krabs "fall[s] flat" compared to his animated counterpart, and that the theatrical adaptation "finds no humor or wit or even edge in Mr. Krabs' obsession with money, nor in the nonsensical element that his daughter is a whale." ==References==