Editing Flats the Flounder

{{Cquote2|Well, I like to kick people's butts.|Flats the Flounder|"[[The Bully]]"}}
{{CTab}}
{{Character
|first-appearance = "[[Sandy's Rocket]]"
|latest-appearance = "[[SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout]]"
|name = Flats the Flounder
|gender = Male
|parents = [[Flats' dad|Unnamed father]]
|species = Flounder
|image = <gallery>
FlatstheFlounder.png|Normal
Old_Flats.png|Light olive-green pants
The_Slumber_Party_192~2.png|Incidental 68
</gallery>
|residence = [[Bikini Bottom]], [[Pacific Ocean]]
|color = Light olive-green
|eye-color = Light yellow
|portrayer = [[Thomas F. Wilson]]
}}
'''Flats'''<ref>[[Just One Bite and The Bully (credits)]]</ref>''' the Flounder''',<ref>''[[SpongeBob SquarePants Typing]]''</ref><ref>''[[List of games#Board and Card games|Top Trumps]]''</ref> also spelled as '''Flatts the Flounder''',<ref>''[[List of games#Board and Card games|Plankton Rising]]''</ref> is a character who first appears in the episode "[[Sandy's Rocket]]."

==Description==
He is a light olive-green flounder who has light yellow eyes. He wears a light orange, dark green shirt, and light reddish-brown pants.

==Role in series==
==="Sandy's Rocket"===
Flats first appears as a cameo in this episode, where he is one of SpongeBob and Patrick's "alien hunting" victims. He opens a mirror, revealing SpongeBob inside who captures him.

==="[[Texas]]"===
Flats attends {{Link|Sandy}}'s [[Texas (place)|Texas]] party where he is holding a square. He is amongst the people who gather around Sandy and cheers when Sandy decides to stay. When Patrick brings up "dumb ol' Texas", Flats and everyone else frowns, most likely worried that Sandy will get furious again.

==="[[The Bully]]"===
He joins [[Mrs. Puff's Boating School]] and wants to kick SpongeBob's butt. SpongeBob, afraid and concerned for his safety, makes many attempts to reason with and/or escape him, but to no avail. He eventually calls {{Link|Patrick}} to protect him, only to find out that Flats is friends with him and that they were community college friends.

He also tries to go to [[Mrs. Puff]] to help, who talks to Flats and explains to SpongeBob that "kicking his butt" means that Flats wants to become his friend, which is obviously not true.[[File:The Bully 184.png|thumb|Flats mercilessly punches SpongeBob, who feels no pain, as he walks out of his bathroom.]] He then encounters [[Flats' dad]] and confronts him about his son's actions, only for the latter to go up to his father and teach him a lesson about talking to strangers, threatening to harm ''one of his parents''.
[[File:The Bully 038.png|thumb|"I mean it!"]]

Flats goes as far as to chase SpongeBob out of school into town, even trying to run him over with a garbage truck. However, said garbage truck slips on a banana peel and flips over, critically injuring Flats in the process. He wakes up in the [[Bikini Bottom Hospital|hospital]] and learns that SpongeBob saved his life through CPR, yet he is still eager to kick SpongeBob's butt.

Eventually, Flats corners SpongeBob in his own [[SpongeBob's house|house]] and proceeds to "kick his butt" by repeatedly hitting him. However, SpongeBob discovers that his soft spongy body simply absorbs the blows and the punches do not harm him in any way. Relieved, SpongeBob allows Flats to attack him throughout his routine.

Flats continues to hit SpongeBob throughout the whole week until he finally passes out from exhaustion one morning at Boating School. While SpongeBob makes his speech that Flats is the true victim, he raises his fist. Mrs. Puff suddenly arrives and, upon seeing SpongeBob's raised fist and Flats unconscious, believes that SpongeBob beat up Flats and thereby threatens to harm SpongeBob in the same way Flats was harmed at the end.
[[File:Texas 158.png|thumb|Flats in season 1 square dancing]]

==="[[The Slumber Party]]"===
He is seen at {{Link|Pearl}}'s party, colored as [[Incidental 68]]. Two copies of Flats are visible in the crowd, marking the only time his model is used twice in the same scene.

==="[[Squid Noir]]"===
He is one of the customers seen in the [[Krusty Krab]], covering his ears due to Squidward's poor [[Squidward's clarinet|clarinet]] playing.

==="[[Don't Feed the Clowns]]"===
He is a customer of the [[Bikini Bottom Bakery|bakery]] who gets knocked out by getting hit with a pie thrown by [[Incidental C1]].

==="[[SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout]]"===
Flats makes a cameo at SpongeBob's birthday party.

==Role in video games==
===[[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (video game)|''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'' video game]]===
A drawing of him can be seen in [[Squidward Tentacles|Squidward]]'s house in the PC version.

==Role in ''[[The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water]]''==
He is seen in the end credits with other Bikini Bottomites.

==Trivia==
*He has only made one major appearance in the series to date, with that being in the episode “[[The Bully]]”.  

==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[de:Fred, die Flunder]]
[[es:Plano]]
[[nl:Plat]]
[[pl:Płaski Fląder]]
[[ru:Камбала Флэтс]]
[[Category:Fish]]
[[Category:Background characters]]
[[Category:Characters portrayed by Thomas F. Wilson]]