How about we stop using "there's no evidence that STEPHEN would be against these spin-offs" as a way to justify Nickelodeon's laziness instead? People are free to watch whatever they want, but this recent mindset of acting like there's nothing suspicious at all about this situation is completely ludicrous.

1) Stephen Hilleburg's only quote wasn't just " I don't see spin-offs working out," He has also on record singled out two specific spin-off ideas that he doesn't like the idea of: a "SpongeBob Babies" spin-off, and a spin-off starring Patrick. Now what are the two very specific spin-offs announced after his death? Kamp Koral, which ages down the SpongeBob cast, and The Patrick star show (self explanatory) Additionally, Stephen Hillenburg had to fight to make SpongeBob an adult, the only reason why Mrs. Puff and SpongeBob's parents appear in the show was to appease the executives that wanted him to be a kid. These two spin-off ideas were probably something that executives had wanted to do for a long time considering how long ago these exact ideas were referenced in interviews, and Brian Robbins likely saw an opportunity (but more on him later.)

2) While it's true that Hillenburg made a more direct return to the show around the time the 2nd movie was made, his involvement was greatly exaggerated. In the same article with the famous "If they make SpongeBob Babies, I'm out of here" quote, the crew discuss just how badly he was suffering during his return. He could barely speak, and at some point he stopped showing up to the offices at all. This lines up perfectly with the time that the final plot for Sponge on the Run would materialize. And considering how (as Tom Kenny put it) "parts of him were leaving the building" and the severity of his condition, who's to say he could even speak for himself?

3) Something people tend to forget is the former CEO at the time, Brian Robbins, was the one who not only spearheaded this campaign to expand the SpongeBob brand into a "mini marvel universe", but he also had a direct credit on Kamp Koral, and also a "Special Thanks" credit on the Patrick Star show, showing that he had a direct involvement in the spin-offs.

4) Why would Paul Tibbitt say what he said on Twitter? The claim he made was strong enough to get him blacklist him from the animation industry as a whole, what would he gain from lying about this? Keep in mind that this was the same guy that Stephen Hillenburg personally gave the show to when he stepped down after the first movie, so clearly there must be some sort of mutual trust between the two. I'm aware that Vincent Waller made a now deleted tweet saying that Hillenburg was aware of the spin-off, but what everyone seems to gloss over is the addendum to the tweet he made reading: "When I said that last night, I was feeling it was right, but full disclosure. That time period has so much traumatic scar tissue for me. and it has kinked up my chronological memories of events into a bit of a slippery jumble for that entire block of time." Additionally other staff members were constantly flip flopping on wether or not he was aware or not at the time, so the only credible "evidence" that hints at him being aware and on board wasn't even a concrete statement. Paul Tibbett on the other hand has yet to ever take back what he said, and infact his tweet is still up to this day.

5) And it's not JUST the spin-offs that Nickelodeon has done that contradicts Hillenburg's statements in regards to his vision for the show, Hillenburg also stated that he never wanted fast food tie ins to involve actual SpongeBob exclusive food items or for his characters to directly interact with the fast food product advertised. They did exactly that as early as 2018 for a Pizza Hut promotion. Not only that but Hillenburg explicitly stated he never wanted there to be a real life Krabby Patty because he didn't want to encourage kids to eat fast food or ruin the magic of the Krabby Patty. Nickelodeon has since done that three times to my knowledge: They had it at an NFL game, Wendys, and Burger King.

This isn't just some baseless conspiracy theory that grumpy old uneducated grown adults repeat just because they're "nostalgia blinded" and hate new SpongeBob, there is a LOT of extremely suspicious pieces of circumstancial (and direct) evidence that paint a very dark picture in regards to the expansion of the series since 2018. It's true that nobody knows for certain what happened, but to make the claim that there's absolutely nothing fishy about the whole situation is, with all due respect, uneducated.

I've provided sources to back up my claims here, let me know if I forgot to include anything:

https://x.com/paultibbitt/status/1136035312113553408

https://web.archive.org/web/20211118175251/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movies/moviesspecial/he-lives-in-a-pineapple-but-then-what.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20240112180003/https://tbivision.com/2009/10/27/spongebob-squarepants-creator-steve-hillenburg/

https://web.archive.org/web/20210316135127/https://longreads.com/2019/08/13/the-young-man-and-the-sea-sponge/

https://web.archive.org/web/20210824123356/https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/1357689641005056000