Animatronic Hieronymus Glove

**Animatronic Hieronymus Glove** is a minor antagonist in *SpongeBob SquarePants*, appearing in "Escape from Beneath Glove World" as the episode's main antagonist. He is an animatronic replica of Hieronymus Glove, the founder of Glove World.

## History

For an undefined amount of time before the events of "Escape from Beneath Glove World", Animatronic Hieronymus has regularly performed shows for patrons at the Glove World Theater. In the beginning of the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick attend one of the shows, where Animatronic Hieronymus sings a song about gloves. After the show, SpongeBob and Patrick, not realizing that the performer was merely an animatronic and not the real Hieronymus, decide to go backstage to meet him. While SpongeBob hangs back to sort out his glove collection, Patrick goes in to try and strike up a conversation with Animatronic Hieronymus, but he accidentally rips the robot's hand off. This triggers a security mechanism that makes Animatronic Hieronymus say "I NEED REPAIR!" over and over. Patrick becomes frightened and tries to get Animatronic Hieronymus to stop, ripping his head off in the process. SpongeBob arrives and, upon seeing Patrick's predicament, cries out in horror and accidentally hits the "Run" button on the control panel, causing the show to start. The audience members see Patrick desperately trying to fix Animatronic Hieronymus and run screaming from the theater, while Patrick trips over himself and accidentally brings down a curtain. Glove World security guards arrive and SpongeBob and Patrick beg for mercy, thinking that they killed the real Hieronymus Glove. The guards explain that the performer was just a robot, and the real Hieronymus Glove was cryogenically frozen decades ago. They then take SpongeBob and Patrick to Glove World Jail for defacing Glove World property while Animatronic Hieronymus is taken away for repairs.

Later, when SpongeBob and Patrick escape their cell to pursue a toddler who started a jailbreak, Animatronic Hieronymus is brought to a robotics lab to be repaired. The two engineers working on Animatronic Hieronymus hit his head with a wrench to reboot him. It's then revealed that Animatronic Hieronymus is actually sentient and thinks he is the real Hieronymus Glove, and he begins aggressively ordering the engineers around. However, the engineers laugh Animatronic Hieronymus off and decide to go on break. On their way out, they slam the door so hard that Animatronic Hieronymus's disembodied head falls into a trashcan. Animatronic Hieronymus then replays the memory of Patrick ripping off his head, and vows to do the same to Patrick if they ever cross paths again. Later, the toddler SpongeBob and Patrick were looking for enters the lab and hijacks Animatronic Hieronymus's body, leaving his head behind to angrily protest. Then SpongeBob and Patrick pass through the lab in search of the toddler, and Animatronic Hieronymus decides to pursue them. He attaches his disembodied hand to the bottom of his head and hunts them down. The group winds up in a sock-themed ride, so Animatronic Hieronymus hacks the ride to make it send them further down underground, landing them in the middle of Sock World, a new theme park still underdevelopment. SpongeBob and Patrick see the toddler get on a roller coaster and chase him, at which point Animatronic Hieronymus catches up to them and bites their car to try and catch Patrick. He finally catches the group at the end of the ride, getting his body back and clutching the toddler in his hands.

SpongeBob asks Animatronic Hieronymus to give the toddler back, but Animatronic Hieronymus refuses and declares that he's going to rip off Patrick's head. SpongeBob is horrified, but Patrick is unfazed. Being a starfish, Patrick pulls his head off painlessly and easily, and offers it to Animatronic Hieronymus. This angers Animatronic Hieronymus, as he wanted to be the one to rip off Patrick's head, so the three of them start fighting over Patrick's head. In the chaos, SpongeBob gets the toddler back and Animatronic Hieronymus gets ahold of Patrick's head. However, Patrick is angry with Animatronic Hieronymus for holding a grudge against him, so he uses his tongue to knock Animatronic Hieronymus's head off and steal his body. Animatronic Hieronymus retaliates by stealing Patrick's body, and the two knock each other's heads off again and start fighting, until a voice orders them to stop. The voice belongs to the real Hieronymus Glove, who has indeed been cryogenically frozen but very much alive. Animatronic Hieronymus tries to claim that *he* is the real Hieronymus, but Hieronymus orders his assistants to wipe Animatronic Hieronymus's memory banks and throw him in Glove World Jail, preventing the robot from doing any more damage to the park. With his malicious personality completely erased, Animatronic Hieronymus is left in Glove World Jail alongside some other animatronics to entertain the inmates at the prison, and he is seen at the end of the episode singing along with the real Hieronymus's rendition of the glove song.

## Trivia

* Both the living Hieronymus Glove and his animatronic counterpart are a reference to Disney World and the audio animatronics that can be found there, as well as the myth of Walt Disney being frozen under Disneyland.