30 Billion SpongeBobs vs. Goku

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Part of a series on Who Would Win?. [View Related Entries]

About

30 Billion SpongeBobs vs. Goku refers to a series of memes based on an assumption that 30 billion SpongeBobs would defeat Goku from Dragon Ball in a battle. The hypothetical scenario stems from the "How Many SpongeBobs To Defeat ___ ?" comparison video posted on YouTube in September 2021, later becoming popularized in memes and viral debates on the topic in October of that year.

Origin

On September 16th, 2021, YouTube^[1] channel WatchFiction posted a comparison video titled "Comparison: How Many SpongeBobs To Defeat ___ ?" in which they ballparked the number of SpongeBob SquarePants required to defeat various fictional characters in a battle. In the video, Goku from Dragon Ball manga and anime series was deemed the strongest character to defeat, with WatchFiction estimating his power at 30 billion SpongeBobs. The video received over 615,000 views in one month (shown below).

On October 6th, 2021, Redditor Patrice_Ewans posted a screenshot of two Discord messages sent by their friend, one a screenshot of the video and the other a captioned image referencing the meme. The post received over 8,500 upvotes in the /r/196^[5] subreddit in three weeks (shown below).

Precursor

In mid-January 2017, a post listing five reasons why Goku would lose to SpongeBob in a fight went viral^[2]^[3] (original author unknown, shown below). The post had been reposted and remade multiple times in the following years.^[4]

Spread

Later on October 4th, 2021, iFunny^[6] user iwannafuckgwendolin recreated the captioned image from the Reddit post, with the post gaining over 210 smiles. Later on the same day, iFunny^[7] user Nanu remade the Reddit post, with their post gaining over 25,100 smiles on the app in three weeks (shown below, left). Starting on that day, the assumption gained viral spread as the subject of references on iFunny. For example, on October 4th, iFunny^[8] user Redicunt posted a GIF caption meme that gained over 1,900 smiles in three weeks (shown below, center). On October 7th, iFunny^[9] user Swegicorn01 posted a Traumatized Mr. Incredible meme that gained over 13,600 smiles in two weeks (show below, right).

From iFunny, the trend received further spread online on all major platforms, including YouTube,^[10] TikTok,^[11] Twitter^[12] and Instagram.^[13]

In late October, the format received association with Immortal Snail and other prominent October 2021 memes, being cross-referenced in a similar manner to the Kaiserchino meme.^[14]^[15]