 In July 2009 , Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York launched a wax sculpture of SpongeBob in celebration of the series ' 10th anniversary . This made SpongeBob the first animated character to ever receive a statue made entirely out of wax . In May 2011 , a new species of mushroom , Spongiforma squarepantsii , was described , named after the series ' title character . 
