At first glance, Red Dead Redemption 2 and SpongeBob SquarePants may appear to have nothing to do with each other, but diving a little deeper will reveal that several episodes of the cartoon had SpongeBob and Patrick Star dress up as old west cowboys. One Red Dead Redemption 2 fan decided to turn protagonist Arthur Morgan into a humanized version of Patrick wearing a western outfit from SpongeBob SquarePants' Season 3, Episode 43a, "Just One Bite."
In the episode, Patrick is briefly shown wearing a square dancing outfit consisting of a brown cowboy hat, a blue checkered shirt, a tan vest, a dark blue bandanna around his neck, and dark brown pants marked with splotches of white. While he isn't on-screen for very long, the outfit appears to have stuck in fans' minds years later. Red Dead Redemption fans have already made Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi using Red Dead Online's customization options, so turning Arthur Morgan into a human version of gunslinger Patrick is definitely on the table.
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Redditor _DedSc_ has carefully crafted an outfit heavily inspired by Patrick's square dancing get-up, but the resemblance goes beyond clothes. The post features Arthur Morgan with long hair, a close-cropped beard and mustache, and a dark tan, all of which combine to give him a certain resemblance to Patrick. While there are some aspects of the friendly starfish that Red Dead Redemption 2 wasn't made to capture, the similarities are still visible, as with the Red Dead Online recreation of Invincible's Omniman.
The final outfit puts Arthur in a closed tan vest with buttons, pants that appear to be white with brown splotches, a blue shirt with vertical lines, and a dark brown cowboy hat. While a few of the accessories don't quite match the reference image--Patrick doesn't wear guns or a satchel and Arthur isn't wearing a bandanna--it's clear where the inspiration for this outfit came from. Patrick's square dancing costume looks a bit out of place in Red Dead Redemption's grittier western aesthetic, but like the recreation of The Witcher's Geralt in Red Dead Online, the reception from other users has been largely positive.
The comment section under this post is filled with SpongeBob references, compliments to the creator, and suggestions for how _DedSc_ could get Arthur to wear a bandanna around his neck. One user began complaining about the limits of Red Dead Redemption 2's outfit customization, specifically the lack of cowboy fashion options. With a potential Red Dead Redemption 3 on the horizon, it appears that fans are looking forward to playing dress-up with the franchise's iconic grizzled gunslingers.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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