The Cyclops is a large, male hardhat diver that appeared in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie as the tertiary antagonist. This air-breathing, sadistic monster inexplicably never takes off his gear, even on land; possibly because he is too excited about selling knick-knacks or to scare sea creatures for fun. The anonymous diver owns and works at the dreaded Shell City and is feared by all inhabitants of the sea, mainly because he looks frightening, is gigantic compared to marine animals, captures them, and dries them out under a constantly burning sunlamp in Shell City to dry them out and turn all marine life he captures into "smelly knick-knacks." that he can sell (as seen in the movie). He doesn't have any lines except for evil laughing, humming, "uh-oh," and "huh" when the dead sea creatures came proceeding to beat him up, but mostly you just hear the breathing from inside his helmet.
We first learn of the Cyclops' existence in the beginning of the movie when Mindy first mentioned him while she was warning our protagonists about the hazards of venturing out to Shell City, where Neptune's crown is being withheld. The Cyclops was said to guard Shell City and was described as giant when Mindy classified him as the worst of the hazards. Later in the movie, just when Dennis and his spiked,"big boot," was about to step on SpongeBob and Patrick, we finally see the heinous diver appear, more specifically, his, "bigger boot", (as SpongeBob and Patrick refer to it to) accidentally and easily step on Dennis, crushing him under the weight of the Cyclops, saving our duo from Dennis (at the moment), but unfortunately not necessarily from the Cyclops himself. Patrick was just about to make a run for it screaming,"Bigger Boot!," when SpongeBob notified him that the hardhat diver's benefactor of a boot had saved their lives.
They displayed gratitude towards the pernicious diver for saving them from Dennis, referring to the Cyclops originally as, "Stranger." for not knowing the Cyclops' true identity at the time. But the Cyclops just stood there, looking for his next victims. Then fear and realization struck SpongeBob and Patrick when the Cyclops looked directly down at them (most likely because he finally heard SpongeBob when he said, "Uhh... Stranger?"), hands ready to grab the two. SpongeBob and Patrick then discovered that this abnormally large, "Stranger", who saved them from the evil Dennis, was the even more monstrous Cyclops guarding Shell City as mentioned in Princess Mindy's warning, giant and all.
SpongeBob and Patrick tried to run away, but with the diver's bigger boots clomping down behind them, failed miserably, and the Cyclops snatched them up tightly, gave them a long, menacing stare, and proceeded onward to the atrocious gift shop, Shell City, abducting our heroes to the surface. Our duo (who recently fainted) were stuffed in a bag, and driven to Shell City in the Cyclops' boat (as shown in script). The Cyclops then put SpongeBob and Patrick in his glass bowl, and held them captive in Shell City. First, he decided to scare our two heroes for entertainment, so he snuck up behind them, stalked them a bit, exaggurated his breathing, and when SpongeBob and Patrick turned around, he scared the two and evilly laughed. He then got over it took out a small toolbox SpongeBob referred to as his, "evil instruments of
torture." He then took glue and google eyes out, and answered SpongeBob's question about what his business was with them in front of the duo's glass bowl by making a humorous diorama of, "Alexander Clam Bell," out of a dead clam, a play hat, a small rotary phone, and the craft tools he took out of his toolbox while merrily humming to show them what he does to sea creatures and that they were next to be transformed into knick-knacks. Once he had done these two things, he grabbed SpongeBob and Patrick and placed them under his heat lamp so they would dry up and die so he could transform them into smelly knick-knacks. The Cyclops then grabbed a book, and went into Shell City's restroom, also humming on the way there. Before their death, they both shed a single tear which later rolled down the heat lamp's wire and shorted out a power outlet that smoked up causing the fire sprinklers to set off. Apparently they're in the bathroom too because as the two proceeded to lift Neptune's crown, you see the Cyclops picking it up and giving SpongeBob and Patrick a growl before the sea creatures the Cyclops had killed were revived and began to beat him up as revenge after being squirted in the face with glue. During the scene where the two ride David Hasselhoff, the Cyclops', "bigger boot," emerged from the water with Dennis on the boot's ratel. It is unknown what became of him after the events of the film, but he most likely got injured or got his suit torn up from the aftermath of the scuffle.
The Cyclops is giant and wears worn down, standard, vintage hardhat diving dress consisting of this:
loose grimy tan diving dress with legs folded up to his ankles
mildew stained wrist cuffs
weight control belt connected to underbelt
2 faded rubber shoulder straps
dented copper diving helmet with two regulators and helmet window stained with florescent algae(hence why he is called the Cyclops)
copper breastplate with unitelligible manufacturer logo
weighted boots with brass soles, straps, and rope-like laces tied in a crude knot
Rough, slightly loose, cracked brown diving gloves
His appearance is a reference to Polyphemus from Homer's epic poem, the Odessey.
glue (specifically Elmer's brand)
large swarms of marine life
giant compared to the mouse-sized duo of SpongeBob and Patrick
can step on a fish quickly with his weighted boots
Large hands to grab more marine life
Rough gloves for traction on his victim so they can't escape
diving helmet protects his head
looks terrifying, making his targets easier to spot because they're running away
Light within the "eye" allows for enhanced vision.