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objecttalks · 3 years ago

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Hey guys I updated this bc somehow in the editing process half my shit about the thematic through line of II got deleted and I didn't catch it (I blame Tumblr mobile's bullshit) but it should be all good now. I recommend a little bit of a reread of that part even though I added only like 2 sentences. Thanks y'all!

Thoughts on II season 2 episode 13

And why it's the piano that got dropped on season 2's head

So recently I rewatched II with my partner and it was the first time in a long time I've been able to watch post-kickstarter season 2 without seeing pure red, and it gave me some new perspective on the series as a whole.

So kind of my issue with this show is that like, post Kickstarter season 2 misunderstands what makes inanimate insanity worth watching. I think this show shines when it's being funny and focusing on character dynamics and conflict. That's why the marshmallow and apple stuff is so appealing. That's why the nickel-balloon-suitcase stuff is so memorable. This is why season 1 and early season 2 are genuinely so enjoyable to watch. This is what I came to the show for. This is what makes the show worth watching.

What made me fall off this show for so long until season 3 came out was really season 2 episode 13. S2E13 is THE episode that showed me season 2 is broken. Season 2 is sick and the symptom is episode 13. Let's talk about why that is.

So, What's good about episode 13?

I call episode 13 the point where the show is broken because you can see the show is still there. It's like how a broken clock is still right twice a day, this episode is right every few scenes. In fact it's BETTER than right. It's phenomenal, even! Everything they do with fan and suitcase, everything they do with baseball and test tube, those are the real gems of the episode.

The way they interact with eachother and establish the new friendships is so full of character and really stands out to me as something special. ESPECIALLY fan and suitcase. Suitcase really cares about him and shows a strong interest at helping him open up and make progress as a person, and he needed that BADLY. And baseball bouncing off test tube's newly gained openness and perspective after episode 12? That's exactly what he needed after spending the last couple episodes desperately searching for a new thing to latch onto after losing nickel. This is what the show is good at. My favorite thing about these scenes too is that, while they are emotional, they are like, genuine and lighthearted too. There's jokes, there's character, they feel like people. They don't feel like drama bait.

But drama bait, I feel, is exactly what hit this show with a hammer

So what makes episode 13 so bad?

Basically Everything else.

Okay yeah that's not fair. What I mean is, basically everything with mephone and meeple in general. If the character interactions are the REAL gems, then the gems in the episode are like lumps of charcoal. Not even real coal, just shitty burnt up wood.

The meeple stuff pisses me off so bad. I'm not even gonna sugar coat it, it makes me genuinely mad. It ruins the episode for me, it ruins mephone for me, and it ruins the good part of the episode too. The way they shove the character interactions aside for half the episode to give you trauma dumps of mephone getting child abused nerfs this episode so much.

Mephone up until this point (and even AFTER this point) is characterized as a Chris McLean dipshit who doesn't care about the lives of his contestants and will absolutely lock them in a small confined space for months. And yet this show expects me to feel all sadcore crycore for him, expects me to feel anything but confused anger at the sudden inclusion of his horrific abuse victim backstory? They SERIOUSLY made the engaging character interactions take a backseat to THIS? I don't understand how the show runners could misunderstand the appeal of their own show This Badly.

It fucks up the episode so much that when suitcase talks about her friendship with fan in episode 14, despite how incredibly well written the VERY FEW scenes they had together were, I feel confused and barely invested. It doesn't feel like they had the correct amount of time together for suitcase to speak so confidently on fan's behalf. It's such a shame, really, because I really do love these characters.

Along with the meeple plotline taking away from the actually engaging part of the show, it also makes NO thematic or tonal sense. Why the fuck is a colonizing corporation here. What does this have to do with the overarching theme of how the stress of the game impacts the way people form relationships. that's what LITERALLY everything else in the show has been focusing on. How does this relate? I don't understand the connection. It feels like it's just shoved in with no rhyme or reason!

To make matters worse, it doesn't even fit the tone of the show on the most basic level! Even when the show IS serious, it's always personal issues. It's between individuals. PLEASE explain to me how in the world a MAJOR CORPORATION INVADING AN ALIEN SPECIES AND STEALING THEIR CHILDREN is a personal conflict. How did they misunderstand their own show THIS BADLY? This show is sick! It's sick! It's broken!

But I do think they're giving it medicine

Fans Fantastic Features And Inanimate Insanity: Invitational, and how they're exactly what II needed

As I said earlier, Inanimate Insanity excels when they are focusing on character interactions and conflicts. This is exactly what FFF and III are focusing on, and they're what made me fall back in love with the series. FFF is nothing but funny shorts revisiting characters that haven't been seen in forever. And god, it knocks it out of the park. I was never fond for trophy but God Damn did they make me warm up to him in that short. I have NEVER seen salt and pepper as well done as they were in the paper cut. I went into FFF so extremely cynical it wasn't even funny, but it really impressed me.

III is probably the best content from inanimate insanity in years, though. This season understands what makes the show worth watching. The characterization is STRONG even though the plot is light hearted. Is the show perfect? No. Do I even like all the characterization? No. But I do feel invested in the conflict, which is miles and miles away from how I feel about everything going on with meeple in season 2.

II2 is in a pit, and it can't get out. But they can make it better, or at least they can make another season thats better. I just hope they don't bog it down with unrelated "bigger than the show" nonsense like they did with season 2.

#ii #osc #osc reviews #inanimate insanity

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objecttalks · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on II season 2 episode 13

And why it's the piano that got dropped on season 2's head

So, What's good about episode 13?

But drama bait, I feel, is exactly what hit this show with a hammer

So what makes episode 13 so bad?

Basically Everything else.

But I do think they're giving it medicine

Fans Fantastic Features And Inanimate Insanity: Invitational, and how they're exactly what II needed

#ii #inanimate insanity #osc #osc reviews

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objecttalks · 3 years ago

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Burger brawl and caution's mcgriddle are both like the same type of show except like, caution's is kind of one of the more impressively animated joke shows and definitely has more OSC specific appeal because of it's connections to TROC. MEANWHILE burger brawl is basically some guy taking all their friend's sonas and making a show with them and making a bunch of inside jokes that clearly only their friends are really gonna get.

However I think burger brawl is way more fun to actually watch bc since it's more free with what it wants to do since it's just like, a goofy passion project without a huge focus on polish about all their friends. So things get released a lot faster and feel more lighthearted.

Cautions is SO polished and yet SO specific that if u don't know a lot of troc inside jokes you're just completely lost and there's not many episodes so you can't really get the jist of a lot of the jokes. ITS STILL FUNNY THO it just makes me feel insane

Just an interesting couple of highly specific inside joke shows...

#for the record this is actually what i revamped objecttalks to talk about LOL i have so many thoughts and opinions about all these lil show

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objecttalks · 3 years ago

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Battle For Dream Island - The OSC's Roots

RANK: S Tier

REVIEW WRITTEN ON: 1/1/2022

BFDI is really the fundamental object show. The start of it all. From two little 12 year olds in love with the show Total Drama Island messing around on flash, to a nearly 12 year old show with merchandise and millions of views on YouTube. I love this series so much and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

Below is a brief overview of the show, and my thoughts on each of the seasons

If you haven't seen the show already, the show as a whole is an enjoyable surrealist serialized comedy about several characters competing with eachother in a survivor-type contest. Each episode centers around a different challenge, the characters interacting and having interpersonal drama with eachother. Most of the show's appeal comes from the character's interactions and the show's humor, and, of course, the unique quality of audience participation by way of viewer voting to eliminate the contestants from the game. Each season has different merits but every season is, at least in my opinion, enjoyable.

THE SEASONS

Battle For Dream Island

The rocky but charming begining to BFDI is surprisingly good at what it does. Despite being written and nearly single handedly produced by two 12 year olds in 2010, it steers clear of overly edgy humor, only occasionally having crude jokes such as "pen island" or "pin? Wrong finger...". This season for me is proof that kids have a real knack for surreal humor.

While the show starts off on a foot that may be unappealing to a lot of people, seeming too kiddish and unprofessional, that's definitely part of the charm and lends to an appreciation of the improvement the creators make throughout the series.

The characters are strong, none of them feeling too stereotyped or one dimensional, and the limited amount of voice actors leads to some pretty unique and charmingly awkward voices for the cast. One of my favorite things in this season is the focus on established friendships and rivalries between all the characters right off the bat. The characters aren't nobodies who existed in a vacuum before the start of the show, they already had lives. This makes interactions feel natural, despite the admittedly stilted way the characters talk throughout the season; which, to me, adds to the charm, but it can be off putting and a bit difficult to get through especially for new or older watchers.

The character arcs and drama, especially near the end of the season, are genuinely intriguing and enjoyable. By now you care about the characters and are excited to see who will win, and I can only imagine what it would've been like to be voting at this time, since I only joined the OSC around the time BFDIA episode 5 wrapped up.

Surprisingly, the show feels very natural in the way characters are eliminated. A feeling of character arcs being "nerfed" is a pretty glaring problem in other series and even seasons of this show going forward.

Battle For Dream Island Again

BFDIA is my personal favorite season of BFDI. The surreal nature of the show is taken up a notch in this season, since a lot of the plot has little to no direction. In fact, there's a whole episode about them realizing they're battling for nothing in this season. The care free yet inexplicably competitive attitude all the characters have this season really rubs me the right way.

This season also shows a lot of improvement in both writing and animation. There are moments where things are amazingly fluid, there are more voice actors, the jokes hit a lot harder, and yet the charm from the first season stays. The surreal humor is more surreal than ever, random and weird facts are dropped multiple times every episode (such as pins sweating ooze instead or water, or snow and gasoline mixing to create glue) which is another reason this show has some of the best "random" humor. It's not just characters screaming things. It's creating its own special logic that makes no sense, and yet you go along with it because the characters just go like, "okay" at it. It's so funny.

I personally think character arcs take a bit of a back seat this season, but what is done with the characters development wise is fun, interesting, and genuinely gripping at moments. The development of freesmart/the alliance with the introduction of new characters this season is one of the major highlights.

Something of note about this season is that it doesn't have a proper ending, getting put on hiatus and abruptly canceled by the release of IDFB. However, I don't think this is to its detriment. I feel like episode 5 was the perfect way for this season to end. It has the great cliff hanger but ultimately contains itself in a way I find very satisfying. The "go with the flow" energy of the season definitely helps, making it easier to accept that episode 5 is the final episode. However, this may be seen as disappointing to some.

IDFB

This "season" is only one episode long and is never being continued. This, unlike BFDIA, is actually a shame. This season had so much potential but was released at the wrong place and time for the creators and it made continuing it nearly impossible.

The general idea for this season is that there's NO competition, and instead it's ALL just characters messing around and living their lives. The audience participation this season was going to be that the audience could pick someone who had been eliminated or recommended from the prior seasons to join the current cast. This set up was so intriguing and endearing, letting the characters stand on their own without a competition creating conflict. It would've been so interesting!

Since it is only one episode I don't have a ton to say about it in a broad sense. I could spend a while analyzing it but what else is there to say beyond it's a shame this didn't continue. However, I am kind of glad it didn't continue, because if it had we probably never would've gotten what we have now.

Battle For BFDI

BFDI's great return set a new precedent for the object show community, and rejuvenated the series in many new and interesting ways. From the extremely large cast of characters to the humor to the art style itself. This season had a lot of great little character arcs and moments, and every character had a little something to bring to the table.

To me this season is internally divided into different sections, since as the show continued, the vibe changed.

Early bfb (episodes 1-5) have a very slap dash but uniquely surreal, almost stilted and awkward quality to it, that gives this section a lot of charm and character quite like the first season, except a little better executed. A lot of the jokes hit me hard, although the weirdness of it was off-putting when the series first came out. I also enjoy how for the most part, this section was the most alien we saw four and x act. I don't know if I necessarily consider the early section better, but the weirdness is something that kinda leaves the other parts of this season, which makes me kinda sad.

Mid bfb (episode 6-10) is a lot of fun because of all the changes with the hosting and the randomness of the challenges. Reminds me a lot of BFDIA which is definitely my style. Although I do think this is a strange period for the show, since it feels like they're starting to take more time and effort on the episodes. Its so entertaining! I feel like a lot of the energy from this section in particular carries on to battle for bfb.

I get why this could possibly be some people's least favorite chunk of episodes since the show feels a little directionless, and there's a lot of things trying to shake up the formula (something very prominent in BFDIA and BFB-B) which may be something might not be into really. This was also when the taco-shunning arc was in it's midpoint, which while the pay off is definitely worth it, it's a bit of a slog since it feels like they just don't seem to grow until the next section. But that definitely doesn't ruin it. This section also flows really well during a binge-session, which is impressive considering the time passage between episodes.

And late bfb (episodes 11-16) is a weird one because I feel like it's the highest quality put out by this season, with some of the best arc writing and some really hard hitting jokes, the return of four, and some of the most impressive animation of the season- however, I do feel like this section of the show wasn't allowed to just be. There were expectations growing and it shows, in both a good and not so good way.

I think the most controversial thing about this season WAS the split for sure, but breaking it down into sections kinda makes it clear- to me at least- why the split tracks. The quality of late bfb verses the weirdness of early bfb. Overall though, wether the decision to split was good or not, this season IS a lot of people's definitive bfdi season.

Battle For BFB

OKAY now, I don't know why so many people seem to dislike this season. I really like this season, personally. I think it's some of the funnest stuff bfdi has made. It's so weird and enjoyable and also some of the BEST character work they've done.

This season reminds me so much of BFDIA in the way the contestants all kinda just, fuck around the whole time? And it also reminds me of late season 1, where it became more like, character relationship focused. The smaller cast really let characters shine and grow, and the switch to "vote to save" was SO smart, at least for bfdi.

I love how like, the characters this season are so open about their feelings. If a character is hurt or feels weird about something, they tend to talk it out. That's how we got things like the firey and leafy conflict resolution, the blocky and woody friendship, the conflict and friendship between gelatin and tear drop, and of COURSE: the flower win.

What rubbed me the wrong way with this season though was the intrusions by Patreon characters or purple face. I'll admit I do think purple face DOES serve an interesting purpose of providing a character who wants to feel wanted and feels as though he never got a chance to be appreciated, but that doesn't mean he didn't annoy the hell out of me.

Even with that, I just care a lot about this season and I definitely think people are a little too hard on it, or a little too quick to decide it's not for them. In my eyes, the end to BFDI is exactly what it needed to be. I really liked how they wrote this season, things felt like they MEANT something. Characters had arcs that the large cast in pre-split BFB just, couldn't give time to.

The Power of Two

Okay so on the rankings, literally the only reason it ranked so low within the bfdi tier ranking (WHICH, to reiterate, is all still s tier) is because it's currently only one episode. But god damn, is it a good episode. This series has almost TOO MUCH potential. From the first episode alone, it takes all of my favorite things about late pre-split BFB. I love all the new dynamics it establishes and I can't wait to see where the series goes. I'll just, sit and watch this episode sometimes when I'm sad and it really does make me perk up every time. Not a *ton* to say since it is only one episode and there's not much to judge, but tpot makes me look forward to the future of BFDI.

To conclude:

I love bfdi and it rules and makes me happy :)

SEASON RANKINGS (best to worst):

#bfdi #osc #osc reviews #UHHH IDK #I POSTED IT BY ACCIDENT LOL DIDNT HAVE TAGS PREPARED. SIGH #IT HAD THE WRONG DATE TOO IM GONNA FREAK OUT #no im okay. sorry for the tags LOL insane 2nite its nearly 1 am.

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