#bfb analysis

[wallsarefun]

EVERYONE SHUT UP NEW TPOT EPISODE

FIRST WE SEE A ROOM, that looks oddly similar to the playground seen in the shorts with nines skateboard? Theirs a picture of the swings and seesaw and a drawing of presumably one of the numbers cats, very childlike in nature

NEXT WE SEE.. drawings made by presumably either X or four, a drawing of the seesaw, 10, and 7 along with others, Pen seems shocked “There are other numbers?” So 4 and 2 are the only ones they know of, time also seems to move faster here or at least be a little off since it’s stated as 2020.

AND THE BIGGEST REVEAL. ITS ONE! They’ve been missing from the subscriber shorts even stated to be “not around anymore” by five, THEY WHERE IN THE MOON? This is in present day so the timeline is a little whack

“Hey guys!”

[nagannach]

Why So Many People Are Wrong About Book (And Taco Too)

(an in-depth analysis of/appreciation post for one of the most overlooked, underutilized, and misunderstood characters in BFB)

This is an essay about my favorite BFB character, how she was horribly mistreated by the writers, how and why the community is wrong about her, and how she could've been improved.

Book's writing in BFB is often seen as one of the lowest points of the show, and for good reason. She is consistently presented as an irrational, aggressive jerk who hates Taco for absolutely no reason and doesn't care about her teammates. Emphasis on the word "presented", because this simply isn't who Book is – she is a far more interesting character than what a first glance would suggest.

The main problems stem from the way the storyline is structured. Bleh's story arc is often called the Taco-Book arc, but this is a misnomer because it implies that the two characters shared equal roles. In reality, Taco dominated the storyline, and Book's side of the story was never even considered, let alone taken seriously. This style of writing was detrimental to the quality of the show, and it prevented jacknjellify from fully realizing Book's potential as a character.

Book was treated incredibly unfairly, both by her teammates in-universe and by the writers out-of-universe. Throughout the course of the show, jacknjellify consistently failed to consider Book's perspective in her feud with Taco, and her thoughts and feelings are routinely ignored, resulting in her appearing to be a far different character than she actually is.

(Quick heads up: I'm going to be talking about Taco a lot in this essay. I wanted to mention her as infrequently as possible, but given the way Book's character is written, it's impossible to talk about her without talking about Taco as well.)

A common complaints about the way Book was written is that her personality in BFB is not representative of how she acted in previous seasons. However, a close analysis of her early appearances reveals that this isn't quite the case.

Book was never a particularly stable person, and this behavior can be seen even in her competitive debut. She can be very quick to anger, as Lollipop and Fries found out in BFDIA 1, as well as Firey, Tennis Ball, and Gelatin in BFDIA 4. Book often has trouble expressing her emotions in a healthy way, which is one of the two traits that would be her downfall in BFB. Additionally, she showed signs of abandonment issues very early on – she jumped at the opportunity to join Pencil's alliance in BFDIA 3, and she was quick to accept her position as an alternate, despite being less than pleased with not being a full member.

Despite her occasional outbursts, Book was not a mean character by any stretch of the imagination. When Coiny and Pin attempted to steal Teardrop from Team No-Name, Book was the only person to try and stop them. However, this scene also reveals another core part of her personality – one that is essential to understanding Book as a character, as it is her other main flaw. When Coiny stood his ground after Book told him to stop, she backed down without a fight.

Although she is more than willing to stand up for other people when they need help, Book is entirely incapable of standing up for herself when she needs help. Making people mad is her worst nightmare. When faced with conflict, her first instinct is to placate the opposing party, even if she knows that what they're doing is wrong. This is a trait she carries throughout the show – it can be seen in BFDIA 5c and 5e, as well as IDFB 1 and BFB 1. While she seems to be far less of a pushover when leaving the alliance at the start of BFB, this is negated by the fact that she immediately asks Ice Cube to back her up. Keep this in mind - this will come back later.

To summarize, Book has a very short temper and can be tipped off at the slightest provocation, but she also has a heart of gold and a genuine concern for the people around her. She has a strong sense of justice, but her inability to defend herself often prevents her from making meaningful change in the world around her. It's important to note this because despite the way her character is presented in BFB, and despite the fact that she may seem like an entirely different person, her personality never actually changes.

To understand Book's attitude toward Bleh, it's important to first understand her attitude toward Freesmart.

The alliance was never a particularly healthy environment for Book, not even in BFDIA. Pencil was visibly stressed out by the team at multiple points and often took her anger out on her teammates, while Match was simply cruel and careless. Neither of them showed any regard for the lives of their teammates or competitors – both refused to rescue the remaining No-Namers in BFDIA 5c, Match killed Ice Cube without a hint of remorse at the end of the same episode, Pencil directly caused her teammates to die tens of thousands of times in BFDIA 5d, and she drop-kicked Rocky to his death in BFDIA 5e. Book was rarely given time to react to their actions, and when she was, she was usually shut down.

Book may have been a member of Freesmart, but she never felt like a part of the alliance. Not helping her situation was the fact that she was never a "full" member of the team – she was an alternate, a back-up friend. She was excluded from Match's dance party in BFDIA 5a, and she was kicked out of the Clubhouse again in BFDIA 6's deleted scenes (while the incident may not be canon, the sentiment certainly is). She seemed like an outsider for much of the time Freesmart spent together – Bubble and Ice Cube had more time to bond with Pencil, Match, and each other, and while Ruby was always one of Book's close friends, the fact that she was a full member and Book wasn't also gave her more time with the rest of the alliance, not to mention that she had far more in common with Bubble.

IDFB only had one episode, and Book only had a few lines of dialogue, but those lines shed a lot of light on her position in Freesmart. It's implied that Book had a part in Firey's punishment (i.e. locking him in a cage hanging off the Yoyle Needy), but it's also implied that it was against her will. The way she brings up Match afterwards suggests that rescuing Match from the LOL was her top priority and that the main reason she agreed to punish Firey was because she didn't wanted to anger Pencil. (I'm probably reading between the lines a lot here, and there may be many different interpretations of this, but this is a really interesting exchange that doesn't get brought up a lot and deserves at least some recognition. Same for the rest of IDFB – Pencil's comment about Match, for instance, is also ignored, which is a shame because it suggested some kind of schism between the two that never came to fruition. Or maybe Pencil knew something about the LOL that Book didn't.)

In short, Book's tenure at Freesmart saw her being consistently ignored and shut down by Pencil and Match, and she was never particularly close to her other teammates. As a result, Book joined Bleh in search of a healthier environment, but the team would turn out to be even worse for her.

Book's very first interaction with Taco was watching her lead Ice Cube to her death and showing zero sympathy for her pain. Taco's hubris led to her killing six of her team members – including Book and herself – and would've resulted in her team being put up for elimination if Lightning remembered that he could fly. This is the only time Taco would interact with Book for two and a half years.

This incident goes completely unmentioned for the rest of the series, and it sets the tone for what's to come. Taco is the embodiment of all of the worst traits of Freesmart with none of the redeeming qualities. She doesn't care about how her teammates feel, she is brutal to her fellow competitors, she ditches challenges whenever possible, she backstabs her friends for personal gain, she is bossy, she is arrogant, and she has a complete lack of self-awareness. She is a horrible person who's going to do a lot of horrible things, most of them aren't going to come back to bite her in any meaningful way, and she's never going to learn from (or even acknowledge) her mistakes. Everything she does is going to be brushed aside to deny Book validation for her feelings.

Something that's often forgotten about BFB 3 – and that isn't mentioned until TPOT 2 – is that Book wasn't aware that Taco died in BFB 1; Book herself died before Taco did. From her perspective, it made far more sense for the jawbreaker to be on the swing as dead weight put on the swing by Four and nothing more. (Dora and Saw were aware that Taco was dead, but given that Dora can't communicate with the rest of her team and Saw has a habit of concealing vital information from Book as shown in BFB 13, it's safe to assume that Book never got the memo.)

When Book came to the conclusion that Taco abandoned her, she was visibly hurt by the realization. She felt like she failed Taco in some way – the first thing she does is blame herself for Taco abandoning the team. Unfortunately, in a pattern that will repeat itself many times over the course of the show, her reaction was dwarfed by Taco, who dominated the episode. (Also, isn't it funny how Taco showed zero remorse when she led Book to her death in BFB 1, but now that she wants her help, she's suddenly pleading for her?)

And then Taco gets out of the jawbreaker. The same reckless, headstrong Taco who led almost all her teammates to their deaths despite their protests was supposedly trapped for three weeks, yet she got out under her own power with minimal effort. She didn't even make an attempt to escape the jawbreaker during that period – she didn't try licking, she didn't try rolling around to get someone's attention, and she didn't try using brute force. If iance was able to lick their way into a jawbreaker fast enough to earn second place, Taco was more than capable of licking her way out of one over the course of three weeks. She could've done anything to get out of the jawbreaker faster, but she just... didn't. Her absence left her team lacking manpower (not to mention a pretty big weight to negotiate), which could've also led to her team being put up for elimination if it wasn't for Team Ice Cube! screwing up. The only possible explanation I have for her behavior is that Taco never actually cared about giving her teammates company – she only cared about whether her teammates were on her side or not.

Another fact that's important to bring up is that Taco being in the jawbreaker in the first place is a direct consequence of her actions in BFB 1. At the end of that episode, nine contestants were dead, and in order for the jawbreaker challenge to be done, seven contestants would have to be dead. Taco was responsible for six of those deaths, including her own. Had she spared just one of her teammates, after one of the eight dead contestants was revived, there would've been seven contestants in jawbreakers, enough for each of the seven safe teams, which means that nobody would've been left behind. This wasn't a stroke of bad luck – this, along with everything bad that ever happened to her, was her own fault, and she could've avoided it if she'd tried to be better.

All things considered, Book's reaction is relatively subdued. Taco killed her and four of her teammates, neglected her for a good three weeks, and showed zero signs of remorse, and all she got for it was a declaration of her anger. However, the show acts as if Taco being in the jawbreaker somehow exonerates her from her misdeeds in and of itself.

Come BFB 4, Book is still visibly hurt by Taco's actions, and Taco, after two whole weeks, has not apologized for either killing her or being gone for weeks. Instead, she completely dismisses Book's feelings and acts like she did nothing wrong. If she really cared about how her teammates felt, she would've tried to comfort them or make it up to them or at the very least explain what happened to her, but she never said a word to any of her teammates until her personality was completely rewritten in BFB 15. Since her team is upset with her because of something she did, the onus is on her to resolve it, but she never even tries.

A common theme throughout the show is that Taco is treated as if she never has to explain herself. She doesn't have to apologize for killing her teammates and bossing them around in BFB 1 (despite that fact that Pencil and Leafy were eliminated for doing far less and despite BEEP being allowed to hold a grudge against Leafy for the same amount of time that everyone on Bleh but Book held a grudge against Taco), she doesn't have to explain where she was in BFB 3, she doesn't have to tell her team her plans in BFB 6, and she's allowed to not interact with them at all until BFB 15. Her teammates' feelings aren't even considered – Taco's perspective is the only one that's shown, and it's the only one that matters. According to the writers, if someone feels hurt by what Taco does, they're simply wrong. No explanation given, no explanation needed. I can't bring myself to call Taco a Mary Sue, but a lot of the defining characteristics are present.

There might be other ways to explain Taco's absence from her team in BFB 2 that don't involve her not caring about them (although all the explanations that come to mind are very contrived), but the point is that Book isn't allowed to have an argument. The way the scene is supposed to be interpreted is “wow I can't believe it Book is such a drama queen Taco was stuck in the jawbreaker ong ong” without even considering what Book actually thinks about the situation beyond what Taco sees.

This is the biggest problem with Bleh's story arc: Book is never taken seriously. Her feelings don't matter. She isn't allowed to have her side of the story heard as anything other than “Taco abandoned us”. She isn't allowed to defend herself, and nobody is allowed to defend her. She isn't allowed to feel hurt when Taco kills Ice Cube in front of her (and then kills her moments later). She isn't allowed to feel betrayed when Taco reappears after three weeks of unnecessary and unexplained absence. She isn't allowed to feel bitter after months of radio silence from Taco, and she isn't allowed to not forgive her even as she continues to show how little she cares about her. When her feelings aren't ignored, they're always turned against her. Book isn't just being portrayed as if she's in the wrong because of her feelings – her feelings themselves are wrong. She is routinely ignored and mocked by the people around her, and they're allowed to do that because the writers are doing the exact same thing. This is true of everyone Taco hurt over the course of the competition, but it's especially true of Book, whom Taco hurt the most.

BFB 6 is a perfect example of just how biased the narrative is toward Taco. Her team is still bitter about her abandoning and neglecting them, but instead of doing anything to set things right, Taco chooses to abandon them again. Even if Taco was actually in the jawbreaker against her will, the actions she takes after her team accused her of abandonment show what an awful person she is. Whether her plan ends up working or not is irrelevant. Her teammates (especially Book) were hurt by what she did, but Taco doesn't care. She doesn't understand that she hurt them, and she isn't sorry for anything.

Despite that, the episode doesn't even mention how Book might feel and instead focuses entirely on Taco and her antics on Earth. This is going to be a pretty long diatribe, and you can skip this if you want, but this needs to be said. So many factors had to fall into place here that it's ridiculous that Taco's plan didn't end up backfiring. 43 contestants were present on Earth, 34 of which had an unobstructed view of the Moon. In order for Taco's plan to have worked, none of those 34 contestants could've looked at the Moon (and a full moon, at that!) over the course of an hour. Even if they did all know where the Twinkle was, all it would've taken was a momentary lapse in attention – a lapse that could've just as easily came from Taco herself on her hour-long journey. If the Twinkle was being passed between the Earth and Moon, it wouldn't help much – judging from BFB 7, the Lunarians would be more coordinated than the Earthlings, so the Twinkle probably wouldn't spend much time on the Moon. The possibility that Taco could've gotten the Twinkle from someone on Earth also isn't considered. Assuming a direct line of sight to the competition grounds and that Taco would be looking dead ahead (why wouldn't she?), the Twinkle would've transferred to her the moment the Earthlings came over her horizon – which, assuming that the objects are human sized and the Earth is Earth-sized, would've happened as far out as 6.2 miles, or 10 kilometers (even further if a flyer got the Twinkle). Even if she did make it to the competition grounds without contracting the Twinkle, she'd have to open her eyes to seek out a target, risking infection from both the Earth and Moon. Then there's the possibility of Taco mistakenly infecting herself by accidentally looking at Bell. Furthermore, there's no guarantee that Taco would've even made it back to the competition grounds – she didn't even know where she was when she landed on Earth, let alone where the grounds were relative to her. Not only that, but in order for Taco's plan to even have a chance of working, Golf Ball would've had to land on the near side of the Moon, which, because the Earth (and therefore the Twinkle) would've been easily visible, would be a monumental blunder for someone of her acumen. How often do you get to see the Earth from outer space? From just about every possible standpoint, this plan might be the worst call she could've made, but because this is Taco, it went off without a hitch. In the eyes of the writers, Taco is incapable of making bad decisions.

I'm skipping most of the episodes from BFB 5 to BFB 9, but it's important to discuss them because people tend to forget about how Book was characterized here.

When Taco isn't on screen with her, Book is actually presented as her true character. She is the same kind, thoughtful, caring person she was in BFDIA. She was visibly worried about X in BFB 5 and 9, and she can be seen comforting Saw about her fume issues in BFB 8. Again, she isn't a “mean” character by any stretch of the imagination, and she never was.

Another thing that deserves mention is Book's relationship with Dora. The first episode seemed to promise a relationship between the two given Book's desire to learn about how Dora communicates. She genuinely saw something in Dora that nobody else did. However, that would be the last time they'd interact – their relationship would only be brought up twice, and one of those times was after Dora was eliminated. Book was snubbed of yet another opportunity to actually show off her true character, and Dora was snubbed of her only opportunity for character development.

BFB 10 is arguably the biggest missed opportunity in the story arc.

After neglecting her team yet again, Taco approaches Bell and tries to strike a conversation with her. Bell, just like Book, is clearly upset by what Taco did in BFB 6 (and she has every right to be – it's pretty clear that the only reason Taco is apologizing to her is because she wants to talk to her, not because she actually cares about her), and she refuses to trust Taco and accept her "apology". Meanwhile, Lollipop sees all of this – not caring about how Bell feels, she immediately takes Taco's side, since all she sees is someone who won a challenge for her.

Ignoring everything that happens after it, this is probably one of the best scenes in the show. After months of running away from the consequences of her actions and hurting people without an iota of concern for them, Taco is finally forced to confront her mistakes. Unlike the situation with her teammates, she can't pretend she isn't hurting anyone and act like nothing's wrong – unlike Book, Bell isn't pulling any punches. Just like Match in the next episode, she has to deal with not being forgiven immediately so she can actually learn from her mistakes. She broke their trust, and now she has to put in the work to regain it. Taco's expression after the exchange even suggests that she's aware that she did something wrong (even if it would later be disproven).

However, notably absent from this scene is Book.

Many of Book's teammates (namely Lollipop, Teardrop, possibly Gaty and Dora, and, of course, Taco) care deeply about victory regardless of whether they have to hurt people to achieve it. Pencil and Match also acted like that very often (and, at this point, still are), which is something Book hated about Freesmart. She has, in the past, been willing to protect her opponents from harm even if it means giving up ground in a challenge. Bell was visibly hurt by Taco's actions, everyone else on Book's team flipped to Taco's side because of this incident, and Book has always stood up for those who have nobody to defend themselves, which is why Teardrop is on the team.

Why couldn't Book have defended Bell? Nobody else was there for her, and Book was presumably standing within earshot of her and Taco, so why couldn't she help her? There could've been some genuine conflict in the team. Taco could've been held accountable for her actions. She could've actually learned from her mistakes and grown into a somewhat decent person. Instead, nothing comes of this, and Bell, much like Book, is portrayed as being in the wrong for not wanting to forgive Taco (despite the fact that Taco has done nothing to deserve being forgiven by either of them – as Bell said, “sorry” isn't enough, let alone an insincere one, and she hasn't even given that to Book).

By BFB 11, jacknjellify has completely given up on Book.

At this point, they're no longer treating her like a character; they're treating her like a punching bag. She exists solely so other characters (read: Lollipop) can make fun of her and get away with it. Her feelings and perspective somehow matter less than they did in the previous episodes. The fact that Taco never shows up in the episode and never even volunteered to do the challenge is ignored. She learned absolutely nothing from her exchange with Bell, and she's back to doing what she's always done.

BFB 12 somehow gets worse for Book. The only reason she's given a speaking role here is so Lollipop can mock and degrade her. Lollipop doesn't even say anything useful – she doesn't provide a shred of evidence to back up her claim that Taco saved them in BFB 6. (Also, isn't it funny how Taco single-handedly almost losing the challenge in BFB 1 and being the first to be found out in BFB 12 both go unmentioned, but her actions in BFB 6 are front and center? Taco's one saving grace is supposed to be that she's good at challenges, but not even that is true.)

If Book's teammates think she's wrong, what they should be doing is understanding her perspective, acknowledging her feelings, and explaining their arguments, but they never do any of that. Understanding how someone else feels is hard, and it's much easier to silence them and pretend they have nothing to say. They are so confident that Book is wrong that they don't feel the need to hear her side of the story. Book's arguments aren't given a modicum of attention because her purpose is to be wrong. Her feelings and perspective being dismissed here is not an accident – it's the point of her character. (The fact that Taco – and the rest of the team – completely ignored Book's outburst also show just how little they care about her.)

And yet, despite how much the writers rail on Book, despite the fact that the sole point of her character is to be laughed at, her claim that Taco abandoned them in the challenge isn't as outlandish as it's presented. After all, it's awfully convenient that the person who has never spoken to her teammates since BFB 1 and has avoided them every chance she got just so happened to be the impostor, isn't it? Four never explained how they chose whose bodies would be swapped. It's entirely possible that Taco volunteered to be swapped when nobody was looking, and given how she'd acted up to that point, it's hard to argue that she wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity. It may be a bit of a farfetched argument, but it's an argument nonetheless, and it would've provided an insight into Book's thought process – two things that she has been denied for the entirety of the season.

There's also the fact that Taco killed Bottle for no reason and didn't show any signs of remorse. Once again, this is quickly brushed aside – if Book found out about it, she would've had every reason to go ballistic. She has several very legitimate reasons to be mad at Taco – the show just pretends she doesn't. Taco's style of gameplay hurts people every single time, and it always ends up with her team being worse off than if she did nothing at all, sometimes on the brink of elimination (and the one time her plans helped her team was so unbelievably contrived that it's not even funny). I swear I've seen this situation before, just... elsewhere. Can't think of where, though.

BFB 13 is where the Book-bashing gets turned up to 11.

First, Book, with Lollipop in tow, finds out that not only has Taco been actively avoiding the team, but she isn't even trying to patch things up with them, instead opting to pester Barf Bag while she's hanging out with Spongy. (Remember: Since Taco is the aggressor in this situation, she should be the one apologizing to Book, not the other way around.) This is pretty convincing evidence in Book's favor, but Lollipop completely ignores her. She outright refuses to acknowledge her perspective. At this point, Book is clearly desperate to get people to start taking her seriously, so Lollipop dismissing her is only exacerbating the problem.

And then Saw comes back. This is the first time anyone has seen Saw in over a year. She didn't even consider telling Book where she was, and Lollipop and Taco didn't either. Book was left completely in the dark, and to further compound her issues, Saw has an unbelievably flimsy excuse. She really couldn't have gotten off her scent cleanse any sooner than she did? Why did she have to leave the competition grounds to go on her scent cleanse in the first place? Her scent cleanse did almost nothing at all!

And yet, when Book rightfully vents her frustration toward Saw, everyone on her team completely ignores her. They don't even make an attempt to take her argument seriously. The only way they could've been more direct about not caring about her is if they said it directly to her face.

It's honestly impressive how the writers were able to take a situation that objectively shows Book in the right and her team in the wrong and somehow turn it against Book. Even if she was wrong about Taco, her teammates still treated her like garbage – far worse than they ever treated Taco (granted, that's not saying much; all things considered, Taco was treated exceptionally well) – and she's still letting it happen.

However, she isn't letting it happen for any longer.

Book has been kicked to the curb for the entire season. Taco has killed her, killed her best friend, abandoned her, and avoided her for over a year – and she is yet to show a shred of remorse. She was neglected and mocked by her old team, but her new team turned out to be even worse. Whenever she shows any kind of frustration, she's immediately labeled the villain. Nobody, not one person, has ever shown any sympathy for her. Nobody has even entertained the idea that her side of the story is worth listening to. Heck, nobody has even acknowledged her feelings. If she wants the basic respect and dignity she's been denied since 2012, her team desperately needs changes – changes that clearly won't come from within.

She's been given the short end of the stick since her debut, and she's had enough. Enough of being silenced. Enough of sacrificing herself so other people can be happy. Enough of waiting for her situation to improve. Enough of waiting for her team to start listening to her. Enough of waiting for someone to stand up for her. For the first time in her life, Book stood up for herself.

Well, she tried to. Book still hadn't gotten around the whole “depends on external validation” thing. When she finally started speaking her mind, she never vented about how she felt; she talked about how she and Ice Cube felt. Everything Book had done up to that point was with the implicit assumption that at least one person felt her pain or would at least listen to her. She's projecting her pain onto Ice Cube so she can convince herself that she has a modicum of support. In reality, Ice Cube understands how Book feels as poorly as the rest of the team, but if Book learned about this, it would break her. She still needs Ice Cube to be on her side. This also explains why she's focused her efforts on convincing her teammates that she's right instead of actually standing up to Taco.

Book needs Ice Cube's support in order to make any lasting change in her team, but despite the fact that she's had a front row seat to Book's neglect and mockery, and despite how close they've been and everything Book's done for her, Ice Cube betrays Book when she needs her the most.

All of Book's teammates are absolutely atrocious friends, but Ice Cube goes above and beyond here. Book has always been there to support Ice Cube. She has consistently protected her and given her a shoulder to cry on, and up to this point, she has asked for almost nothing in return. And yet, the second that Book needs her help, in a situation where it's crystal clear that Book is in the right, Ice Cube immediately backstabs her. She doesn't get a chance to explain herself. She doesn't get a chance to talk about how she feels. Ice Cube just takes off, and it's all presented as Book's fault.

And if that wasn't bad enough, what happens the next time Book appears is – and this isn't a hyperbole – the worst scene in the entire series.

One of my favorite scenes in BFB is when Bubble confronted Match in BFB 11.

iance's story arc had admittedly been rather mediocre up to that point, and for many of the same reasons that I don't like the Bleh arc (namely, Match's motivations are never shown until the last moment). However, the way Bubble confronted Match was the perfect way the writers could've capped it off.

Despite how much Match hurt her, Bubble still respects her. She (somewhat) calmly explains exactly why Match was misguided. She makes it abundantly clear that she still sees her as a friend. She understands how she feels and why she did what she did. She doesn't needlessly berate her; she merely vents her frustrations in a stern but understanding manner. Most importantly, she allows Match to explain her perspective and how she felt.

Gaty does none of that with Book. What she does instead can only be described as emotional abuse.

She has zero respect for Book. She doesn't care about how she feels. Book never gets the chance to explain herself, and she barely gets the chance to explain how she feels – and when she does, Gaty rolls right over her. She, just like Lollipop in BFB 12, doesn't actually provide any evidence for her claims, instead opting for an argumetum ad populum (which is odd, because if everyone but Book – whom nobody cares about – believes that Taco didn't abandon them, how can they still be shunning Taco? Pick one, Gaty). She intentionally provokes a reaction from Book to “prove” how “irrational” she is (which is actual gaslighting). This isn't about trying to help Book or the team or even trying to defend Taco – this is about power. The only thing Gaty wants is to silence Book and put her back in her place.

All of that is happening while Taco is sitting hundreds of feet from the rest of her team, not even trying to interact with them. Gaty is trying to convince Book that Taco didn't abandon them after Taco just abandoned them. Gaty even pulled Book over while she was trying to convince her, so she would've known that had she listened to her for five seconds! Which of these two is supposed to be the irrational one, again?

Even if Book was wrong here, this would still be the worst scene in the entire series by a wide margin. It wouldn't have changed the fact that Gaty still abused her. Even though Bleh is in a crisis, the proper response is not to vilify their allies. Ironically, it wasn't Taco who was vilified by Book – it was Book who was vilified by Bleh.

This episode should've been the turning point in the arc. This should've been the part of the story where Book finally had her voice heard. This should've been the point where her fortunes finally started to improve as her team started to realize how awfully they'd been treating her. Instead, Book was bullied and manipulated into submission, she was blamed for everything that happened to the team, she was completely drained of what precious little willpower wasn't beaten out of her before this point, and her teammates remained blissfully ignorant of her plight.

Soon after the worst scene in the series comes BFB's second-worst scene. If BFB 13 showed how little the writers care about Book, BFB 14 showed how little they understand her. Just about everything regarding the way she is depicted is wrong.

Despite the fact that Book is (for once) the focal point in this scene, her perspective on Taco is still never heard. The only thing she says about how she felt is her bitterness toward Freesmart, but that's it. Nothing about how her teammates treated her like garbage, nothing about how Taco was never there for her ever, nothing about how hurt she felt, nothing about her alienation from her team, nothing about her struggle to be seen and heard. Even when she finally becomes the focus of the story, her voice and her feelings still doesn't matter.

Book blaming herself for everything wrong with the team is entirely within character (see BFB 3 and TPOT 4), but it's also entirely wrong. Her team was the way it was because her teammates shunned her and refused to take her seriously, and she had too little self-confidence to press on in the face of adversity. She absolutely did not “make the team worse for everyone in it” – they made the team worse for her.

But the worst part of the scene is the final exchange between Book and Pin, because not only is it all wrong, but it's the polar opposite of the truth. First off, Book never hurt anyone, especially not Taco. Her teammates hurt her – they were the ones who wouldn't listen to a word she said, and they were the ones who drove her to further and further desperation just to be taken seriously. Book never forced anyone to do what she wanted – whenever anyone objected to something she wanted, she almost always gave in to their demands no matter how absurd they were, which is one of her primary character flaws. She always sacrificed her happiness and her desires to not anger the people around her (making her teammates mad at her is what she “did wrong”), so the line about Book only caring about making her teammates happy with her is completely unfounded.

Above all else, Book's teammates had more freedom than anyone on any other team. She let Taco lead her team to their deaths and did absolutely nothing to stop her. She let Taco abandon her team multiple times and took no action against her. She let Saw abandon her for over a year and stopped trying to take against her when Ice Cube said no. She let Ice Cube backstab and abandon her and did absolutely nothing. When she finally stood up for herself, she had to ask for Ice Cube's approval before she could make any changes. Bleh's biggest problem was that nobody was there to stop its members from hurting each other or their opponents. Book tried her best to fill that role, but her passiveness, spinelessness, and tendency to avoid conflict rendered it impossible for her to do anything meaningful. She is a paper tiger – although she may appear menacing, she had zero actual power, and her teammates were free to do what they wanted under her “leadership”. What little power she did have came directly from Ice Cube. If freedom is the ability to do as one wishes, then by holding herself to an impossible task, the only person on Bleh who lacked it was Book.

What makes this even more infuriating is the fact that not only does none of Pin's advice apply to Book, all of it applies to Taco. She never made a genuine attempt to reconnect with the people she hurt, she only did what she wanted instead of what her teammates wanted, she only wanted to make people happy with her instead of trying to make them happy, and in the only challenge she participated in with her teammates, she demanded that they follow her orders. She wasn't the sole cause of the turmoil within the team (that was down to everyone shunning Book), but she started it and did nothing but fan the flames. She had the power and the willpower to stop it before it even started, but she never wanted to.

Again, even if Book was wrong about Taco abandoning them in BFB 3, most of what was said in this episode is still incorrect. It wouldn't change the fact that Taco still hurt Book and didn't care about how she felt (and, in fact, kept hurting her). It wouldn't change the fact that Bleh silenced her at every opportunity. It wouldn't change the fact that no one bothered to listen to her side of the story. It wouldn't change the fact that nobody ever made a single valid argument in Taco's favor to her. Book may have been at the center of Bleh's collapse, but none of it was her fault. She was trying her best, and her teammates were doing their worst. Recognizing that the whole group is at fault is hard. It was easier for Bleh to blame everything on one person, it was even easier to blame the one everyone refused to listen to because she was “irrational” and “hysterical”, and it was easier still to blame the one who would sooner blow her brains out than make someone feel bad. What was she going to do about it, anyways? She has no power, she has no willpower, and she has no support.

Overall, the sheer amount of information that was ignored and flat-out made up suggests that this scene was written out of obligation and not because the writers cared about Book.

I don't know where else to put this, but one of the main reasons why I'm writing this is that the way Book is treated seems to have a lot of ableist undertones. I know (think) this is completely unintentional, but there are still some very unfortunate implications here.

I'm not the first person to suggest this, but throughout the course of the show, Book has shown several signs of borderline personality disorder. She has difficulty controlling her emotions (understatement of the year), she has a favorite person (Ice Cube), she has serious abandonment issues, she may or may not engage in impulsive and self-destructive behavior (BFB 7 shows that she might have an eating disorder), and her relationships are turbulent at best.

However, Book's character is never treated with the same carefulness that characters like her should be. She is never portrayed in a sympathetic light, and she's never allowed to have reasons for how she feels. The mere idea that Taco (or anyone, for that matter) may have hurt her just a little bit is laughed off. Whenever she expresses any kind of “extreme” emotion, it's immediately brushed off as hysteria, even when her reaction is completely appropriate for the situation (see BFB 3 and BFB 6 with Taco, BFB 11 with Lollipop, and BFB 13 with Saw, Lollipop, Gaty, and Ice Cube). In fact, given the fact that she hasn't shown any signs of trauma or mental illness since BFB 13, it honestly feels like the writers are denying that Book ever had emotions.

There's also the fact that she's portrayed as an inherently hurtful person because of her outbursts. The show seems to act as if they're the sole reason her way the team is, which is absolutely untrue. She's not acting out because she doesn't care about how her teammates feel or because she wants to hurt them – she's acting out because nobody is taking her seriously. She isn't yelling – she's projecting. Her complaints are falling on deaf ears, so her only option is to scream louder and louder in the vain hope that someone will finally start listening to her. Nobody did, and nobody will.

In the end, Book never truly got any closure.

Her team never apologized to her for treating her like garbage (and they probably never will), Taco never apologized to her for everything she did to her (and she probably never will), everyone on her team still hates her for something she never actually did, and her new team is paying little attention to her. She's gotten almost zero focus in TPOT, and given the new direction the series has taken (and how many votes she got in TPOT 5), it's incredibly unlikely that Book will get any real development in the future. At this point, the only way her character can be salvaged is in the incredibly unlikely scenario that she realizes that she did nothing wrong to Bleh.

The only person who's gotten any form of retribution for the way they treated Book was Ice Cube. As a direct consequence of her betrayal, Ice Cube landed on The s!, a team which has consistently treated her horribly and likely killed her thousands of times. This never would've happened to her had she stood up for her friend in need and stayed with Book.

In BFB 15 and 16, jacknjellify found a way to slap Book in the face one last time before she and Taco parted ways. After more than two and a half years of ignoring Book and pretending she doesn't exist, Taco, without any formal character development, suddenly acts like she cares about leaving her behind. Taco had never come close to caring about abandoning anyone for over two years, yet when they finally talk (conveniently right after something happens that makes Taco think she might be able to get Book back on her side), she acts like she's always cared. The writers acted like she never hurt anyone, and as such, she never had to redeem herself. Despite never apologizing to them, despite showing no signs of remorse throughout the entire season, Taco was immediately forgiven by Bleh for what she did (not only that, but they apologized to her!). She didn't earn back the trust of her peers – it was handed back to her on a silver platter.

Despite everything Book went through, so many people brush her off as “the person who did a bad thing” without really understanding or even acknowledging how she actually felt. She was never a bully or a jerk, she was never irrational, she was never stupid, and she never imposed her will onto any of her teammates. She was just depicted that way so the writers could pretend that she was the villain and Taco was the hero.

Book in BFB has always been the character that nobody is willing to defend, which is a shame because she's not at all the character the community thinks she is. BFB never showed her point of view, only Taco's. Book was degraded, ignored, and mocked for years, and nobody cared because nobody paid any attention to her. She never had a character arc - she was haphazardly stapled onto Taco's arc as Taco hogged all of the attention. The show likes to act as if she ignored her teammates and denied them freedom, but in reality, she was the one who needed to be freed – from herself and from her teammates. The only thing she ever wanted from her team was a voice, and she never got it.

The community seems to view the Bleh arc as Taco's uphill battle to receive the respect she deserves from a team who tried to put her down at every step of the way and laughed at every misfortune. This is mostly true. The only thing wrong with it is that it isn't a description of Taco. It's a description of Book.

Book deserves better. Book deserves so much better.

tl;dr Taco did abandon Book. So did the writers.

book is the best BFB character, she has done nothing wrong ever in her life, and if you disagree you're wrong (this is only mostly a joke)

[ehh-is-the-name]

TPOT 10 spoilers 'cause BH makes me insane

I mean, c'mon. You can't see this thumbnail and think things are gonna be ok for you mentally if you like blackhole. Like you know what's coming to you.

First things first, let me just scream into the void for a second-

HIS NIGHTMARE IS KILLING PEOPLE AND LETTING THAT CONSUME HIM?????!!?!?

AAAAAAAAAGUH MY HEART??!!???!?

Man- I love Blackhole and this episode just drove the stake into my heart. The fact that he, himself, is a being who causes death by getting too close to people made me writhe in BFB. But actively showing the extent of how it affects him—ack! He knows he causes death, which is why it's so important for him not to kill people, and why he's so strict about the pact rules!!

It makes so much sense... BFB 1 had it all laid out, and TPOT 10 sewed it together.

From the way he was hesitant about helping Flower!!! We know- he knows he's gonna end the world by getting closer, but he gives into it anyway. Instead of putting his foot down to Flower, he gives in to his feeling of wanting to be closer to people—from the way he's so happy about being shrunk—and more later. Then we get that whole thing with everyone about to die.

We know if Four never came, everyone would've died. Blackhole knows that too, from the end of his nightmare. More specific to this clip though, from the scene with Pie and LIY, since he literally just gave in to the urge to get closer and he wants that to never happen again. As a singularity in space, he could appreciate the planet, and life on it, more than other objects. He could see them all interact but never actually interact with them (besides talking), so at this chance of being beckoned, it makes sense that he'd just go "eh, fuck it, alright" then IMMEDIATELY regret his actions. Although his nightmare was about being afraid he'll "give into murderous urges", it can also be interpreted as him being afraid to let go. Something clearly stated in the last scene of his nightmare...

Queue TPOT 10 scene from clip above (I'm so mad that it's only 1 video per post on here)

Over the season we've seen him go from preventing death to just not killing people. It's morphed into his own cut-throat rule for the pact, which, in this context, is fair to see why. He joined the game via him not caring about the consequences, and it's stuck with him, so seeing everyone over and over get away with things made him HAVE to re-enforce to himself that he wasn't allowed. Death PACT doesn't kill people. HE doesn't kill people. He can't allow himself to let go of that regiment.

Obviously, this causes problems in the team- we see the clip. The thing that gets me the most is that this is bona fide trauma we're working with—Fanny telling him to #get-over-it kinda rubbed me the wrong way. And OK! I know- I know that's not exactly what she's saying but that's how it felt, and I know she has every right to be upset 'cause he was fuckin' over his team, but again that's just me! (The fact they got on the same page was enough for me anyway.) I digress, his "obsessive nature" was essentially just a response to everything that's happened to him—it's what makes him feel in control of himself. Poor BH's got trauma bad :(

I think what really twists that knife for me is that... the guy really just wants to connect with his peers normally- He wants everything to go back to normal, and that's one of the reasons he compromises with Fanny. On some level, he knows he's gone too far, but he's just afraid. Even at the end, he can't bring himself to kill Tree, even though he knows it'd be better with the new "focusing on life" angle. Did you hear that shakey exhale? Man's going through the wringer. Obviously, he won't overcome his trauma in an episode, but it's a good step to just playing and enjoying the game.

Anyway... There is probably a shitton of fans that are looking at this like "Yeah no shit Sherlock" but hey! Be nice. Some of us are slower than the others, and by some of us, I mean me. I needed this punch in the face to really see how death was impacting Blackhole's mental state and now I've word vomited my thoughts out.

[cdmodule]

In defense of Clock TPOT (and why he’s not ooc)

I’ve seen a lot of people insist that Clock’s character “got ruined” since TPOT but to me, the way he acts perfectly lines up with traits of his character seen since his introduction. Let me explain. (For future context, this was written right after TPOT 3)

Clock’s always been kind of… aggravating. • One of the earliest cases being how quick he is to condemn Liy, Icy, Teardrop and Bracelety and switch up on them, as early as BFB 1. You could look at the whole scene really, but mainly...

Already in his first introduction he’s butting his head into conflict and goes by whatever seems right to him (rather than for example, finding a middle ground or being otherwise helpful). Also going from arguing with Liy to forming a truce with her after. I’ll get back to these later.

• On another point, In BFB 2 and a few times in BFB30-TPOT we see more of Clock carelessly talking to hosts and demanding answers. While he’s not unique to this, It adds a lot of boldness to his character. (Using just transcripts here to save space)

• Looking back at BFB 10 Clock is the first one to not only ask for characters being recovered but also informs Four on who’s eliminated.

To him, enforcing rules is important even If his fellow contestants are mad at him for it. Remember how I said he sticks his head into situations and does what he thinks is right? • Now… we're at the part where Clock disappears for almost the rest of BFB, until coming back in BFB 15.

Not particularly sad, however frustrated at his team and doesn’t wanna hear it and leaves. He’s still hurt, which I feel like a lot of people forget when bringing up his change in TPOT. • Besides being forgotten by his whole team, throughout BFB Clock doesn’t exactly have friends to begin with. Think of another BFB character, and It’s likely they’ll at least have/had one other person. Clock is just kind of there.

Despite that, he’s VERY helpful for his team, often using his powerful clock-hands to win challenges, which is very important to him. The one time he made his team lose in BFB 6 he quickly gets embarrassed and defends himself. Speaking of defending himself….

BFB 1 - BFB 6 - TPOT 3 (Last one doesn't have CC) It seems to be his default answer to confrontation. And It’s a shock to him every single time. Which shows that Clock doesn’t do this maliciously, but rather that it comes from a lack of understanding social situations. He’s restricted to his own ideas of what’s right or wrong (shown by. playing by his own rules, doing what he wants & sticking his head into situations he isn’t part of) and on top of that has difficulty reading others, being surprised by negative reactions because of it. Basically he lacks social skills. Of course that isn’t a free card to act unpleasant around others, but It’s a skill you gotta work on nonetheless. Clock has rarely shown interest in building friendships, like him hesitating to join a truce with Liy. The only time he’s been curious was in joining Loser’s or Winner’s team.

With this in mind, It starts to make more sense why Clock is pushy and doesn’t get boundaries in TPOT. It’s nothing new! Just more blatant. (And also he wasn’t even around for a third of BFB) • His personality has been and is still developing in TPOT. The aforementioned traits have been pushed since he’s around Winner, adding a bit of obsessiveness too. But consider a few things: 1. His team forgot about him and he got frustrated and left. A change to his character after that wouldn’t be surprising 2. He never made friends and now actually found someone he’s interested in, even if that interest is One Sided (and honestly? It checks out w/ his lack of proper relationships) 3. Sometimes… people just act differently around other people. I mean he is a huge fan after all, See Point 2 again 4. We are in the middle of an “arc” and we don’t know how It’s gonna end yet And about that character development… • Something I noticed is that Clock never came off Genuinely sad and regretful (maybe in BFB 6 depending how you see his reaction to losing) until being rejected by Winner and not even getting to defend himself. This time he REALLY noticed he messed up.

I assume this will be a turning point in how Clock acts and will try to be a bit more self aware of how he acts around others. That’s for future TPOT episodes though! But all in all, I think Clock becoming devoted to Winner to the point where It seems parasocial to some (though I’d argue that “parasocial” isn’t the right way to describe this, but that’s a different convo) is par for the course, considering his boldness and lack of social skills and relationships in BFB.  Thank you for reading <3

[cuddlefishiez]

tree and leafy are such a funny duo to me. like theyre so different and basically the same person at the same time its insane. sure tree is a lot more levelheaded and leafy is hyperactive but they are essentially thr SAME BEING. they both have some form of a superiority complex which feeds into their mutual desire to 'help' people (which mainly just puts people at risk). theyre both plants. theyre both sensitive to rejection. they BOTH HAVE SOME FORM OF A PERSONALITY DISORDER. godddd im so insane.,!£:!:: theyd see all of their negative attributes in one another and hate each other for it (BONUS IF THEY ARE SIBLINGS. OHHH MY GOD.) they endlessly PARALLEL EACH OTHER and yet theyre PERPENDICULAR LINES they want to kill each other but if they do theyd have nobody to confide to im just. AUHAGAHAHAHAHAH

ok to add onto this they both dont have JUST a superiority complex. they also somehow have an INFERIORITY COMPLEX and ifs so insane they will feel depressed but as soon qs they get a small compliment they are suddenly the Best People Alive(tm)

[quabiitv]

would y'all wanna hear about my headcanon that Coiny has an identity crisis in my analysis and how it ties into canon (I'm gonna put it either way)

[bk-179]

Drop the essay about how td was wronged. Drop itttttt

Anon you are giving me too much power/pos

As you probably know, teardrop is a contestant in Battle For Dream Island. You probably also know that she doesn’t talk, either by choice or disability. For the longest time, teardrop’s potential has been ignored by the writers as well as how they themselves have often been ignored and mistreated by the cast of BFDI. Today I’m going to be talking about why I believe Teardrop deserves better, both in terms of how they have been written and how the other contestants treat her. (Also, please feel free to add on to this! I’d love to hear ppl’s takes :D) 

[more under the cut]

It would be appropriate to start looking at Teardrop in season one, being BFDI. Before the competition ever started, no one engaged with her. When she joined the squashy grapes they found company in Needle and Leafy, but other than that no one really talked to them.  A majority of the contestants were also rude to TD due to her being non-speaking. An example below:

[bfdi 1b] 

Switching to looking at teardrop from a writing standpoint, Michael and Cary (who at the time were 12-13, just need to point that out) didn’t really know what to do with her. She didn’t get much time for characterization due to their early elimination and the Huang twins focusing on other characters. Teardrop didn’t get much screentime, and they didn’t get to have much of an effect on things within the game. 

Now let’s look at BFDIA. Here, we have people taking advantage of TD’s lack of speech, Like Coiny and Pin, for example.

Coiny:”Fine. If no one wants to switch, then we’ll MAKE THEM SWITCH!” Pin:”Let’s take Teardrop!” Coiny:”Why her?” Pin:”Because she’s my best friend!” Coiny:”How do you know?” Pin:”She’s the only one who hasn’t said she hates me!”

Coiny:”Well, let’s take her and get out of here.” Book, offscreen:”WAIT!!!” Book:”Teardrop will only switch if she WANTS to switch!” Coiny:”Fine.”

Coiny:”Teardrop, if you refuse, we’ll let you go back. Otherwise, YOU’RE MINE!” *Teardrop is visibly in distress and doesn’t want to switch but doesn’t say anything cuz, y’know, she CAN’T* *Coiny and Pin walk away, dragging Teardrop with them*

[scene and images from bfdia 2]

…yeah. Also in Bfdia 4, where Teardrop is yet again eliminated, and even earlier than before:

Coiny:”Any first words, Teardrop?”

*Teardrop stays silent since it’s been shown time and time again she can’t be otherwise, and is flung into the LOL*

Coiny:”Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

[scene and image from Bfdia 4]

AGAIN, people (most notably Coiny right now) being assholes to TD because of her disability (or choice not to speak, it’s never confirmed but it’s somewhat implied to be the former in Bfb 1, more on THAT episode later). This just feels so wrong. Teardrop didn’t do anything to deserve this, but gets this treatment just for being “weird” in the other’s eyes. The same thing happens to Woody for his phobias and Spongy for just, well, existing.

From a writing standpoint, teardrop did nothing notable here either, nor got any actual attention as a character. Td was voted out traditionally tho, so jnj didn’t have a part in her getting the boot this time. But this even earlier elimination does TD even MORE of a disservice.

We don’t get to see teardrop again till bfb 1, but as soon as we do, one of the opening scenes has liy wanting to get Teardrop to finally talk. The way she goes about this?

 [bfb 1]

Violence!!! The Perfect solution to try to get someone to speak that obviously can’t!/s

But yeah, I fucking hate this scene man. The harassment of TD is completely unprompted on her part, and what does everyone else in the area do? 

 [bfb 1]

UGH. the only one trying to help her was clock, and then he gets caught up in what’s going on with the others who AREN’T EVEN TRYING TO HELP?! TD. IS RIGHT. THERE. this goes on until a fork stabs Teardrop in the head and she gets sick of everyone’s crap. 

(Not putting an image here cuz the limit is 10)

Teardrop is interested in eggy’s stories (and previously lollipop’s fork repellent), but is seen as uncaring because she doesn’t say anything. Then their arm flapping is seen as her not caring either, despite her clear attempt at communicating. And right after they were the victim of a low key assault?!? Damn. 

Barf bag:”Uhh, guys? Maybe Teardrop did care but just didn’t say anything, cuz, y’know, she CAN’T?” [bfb 1]

THANK YOU, BARF BAG. THANK YOU.

ok, I got carried away there, but you probably get my point. Almost everyone in the show mistreated, ignored, or mocked Teardrop in some way or another, all for her lack of voice. Pretty messed up, right? yeah, i thought so. It’s common place everywhere up to this point and the rest of pre-split bfb. The thing is, you’d think that after growing up and changing over time, the contestants, both old and new, would realize their treatment of teardrop is wrong in all of these ways. But they don’t. they have had twelve years to think about their behavior.

Just think about that for a minute. TWELVE YEARS. and Teardrop hasn’t gotten a single apology. not one. ever. They have been putting up with everyone’s crap for twelve years and no one has ever given her a simple sorry. Not that just a ”sorry” would fix everything, but it would at least be nice, wouldn’t it?

Despite this, things start to look brighter for Teardrop after bfb splits. Enter post-split bfb.

Now, the writers in pre-split bfb did better in giving Teardrop time and significance, but not by a lot. A big part of it being that there is now 64 contestants, but another part being that no one had a definite direction for Teardrop. The writers had little idea on what to do with her.

However, TD gets more significance after the split, as there is more opportunities for their development and growth. what are these opportunities, exactly?

Well first off, there’s less contestants. before The season was split into 2 seasons by Two, there were a whopping 64 contestants sharing an episode only 14-17 minutes in length, sometimes shorter. Naturally, not everyone got their time to shine, Teardrop included. not that there’s only 14 contestants and longer episode lengths, everyone can get some form of spotlight, especially past bfb 22. Speaking of bfb 22, something really important happens to Teardrop and their development.

Now, before i go any further, i feel the need to clarify that Teardrop is not a saint that has done nothing wrong ever. She’s shown to be impulsive, which leads to her being prone to violence. Why i feel she has been unfairly wronged by the contestants is because they never exclude or mistreat them because of these negative traits, but rather because she doesn’t speak, either by choice or disability (it doesn’t matter tho, cuz its wrong either way). Its never a social consequence for her actions, but rather an act of discrimination.

in bfb 22, we get this scene:

Gelatin:”Oh! you got radioactive powers! thats cool!” *turns pages* Gelatin:”Oh. you killed me with them. less cool.”

[scene and image from bfb 22]

Here, the Teardrop and Gelatin arc really starts to kick off. TD’s negative behavior has an effect on someone where it previously never had much significance, as most of her interactions with others came from them not speaking instead of something she did or was. not only that, but it shows to have a negative consequence, as once again, the exclusion and mocking of Teardrop never was a result of them as a person but from her being non-speaking.

In bfb 24, Gelatin confronts Teardrop for her violent behavior towards him, and desires to distance himself from her. This is extremely important for Teardrop’s development as a character for both the reasons listed above, but also giving her the chance to finally have a solid friendship with someone, that being Gelatin and later Lollipop, after TD and Gelatin make up and form a strong bond.

from this episode onward, Teardrop, for the first time, has stable friendships. The whole leafy thing was a mess cuz everyone’s relationship with leafy was a mess after bfdia, and needle and TD hadn’t really talked for a good while. but Gelatin and Lollipop are barely as turbulent and messy as everyone from the original bfdi, and are much more accepting of Teardrop for who they are. Friendships are important kids, and a good one can change you life in a positive light forever. And voice or not, people finally treat Teardrop like a person.

SPOILERS FOR TPOT 2 AHEAD, SCROLL PAST IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM PLEASE

While bfb has teardrop growing as a person and healing from her past, TPOT has them showing off more of herself and breaking out of their shell to her true potential.

In tpot 2, Teardrop joins tpot on her own team, and we actually get to see a lot of her! we see her personality in action, like how she uses the laser gun to be such a chaotic force, and how she’s just having fun while also being competitive. and i think that’s really important, how Teardrop is finally having fun. I think something she learned from gelatin is that being in a competition doesn’t mean they can’t have fun and enjoy themselves.

It also feels like the writers trying to make up for TD’s lack of screen time in the first 2 seasons. Instead of not having an effect on anything, Teardrop has a major effect on Tpot 2! This feels really refreshing, and i can’t wait to see Teardrop in the future.

SPOILERS END HERE

Now, this does not mean everything is fixed between Teardrop and the others. Mainly because she hasn’t gotten an apology from anyone yet, which really sucks. But Post-spilt bfb was the start of Teardrop’s healing and growth, and i’m exited to see what, if anything, will be done with her in the future.

Teardrop has been ignored, discriminated against, and even assaulted for her lack of voice for twelve years, and hasn’t gotten a single apology. But being seen for her and not their lack of voice, as well as developing stable relationships, was the catalyst for Teardrop being able to change for the better. Though her life is still far from perfect, TD is finally learning to enjoy the competition. Teardrop, in the eyes of her peers, is finally more than a voice, or lack thereof.

TLDR: Teardrop has been treated like shit for over a decade for being non-speaking, but in the latest seasons her life is finally taking a turn for the better.

——————————————————————————————————

WOW! that was long, but if you got this far, thank you so much for reading this! Teardrop has been one if my favorite characters ever since i first saw bfdi, and finally getting to write about them feels amazing lol

Also anon if you’re reading this ty for letting me spill my teardrop analysis onto paper instead of studying lmao, srry it took a bit long lol

once again, if you wanna add onto this or discuss please do! I love talking abt my faves, and i wanna see what other ppl think about this topic :3

[lucidd-the-weirdo]

Some random TPOT 3 mainly Donut screen shots! Spoilers, obviously-

I knew I was eating good when she was the first thing I saw

CAKEEEE...... NOOOOOOOO

MISS WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT NOISE, cute face though,,

Gehehe,,, Bomby peeping from out the counter was so cute to me :3

I FELT SO BAD FOR HER WHEN THIS HAPPENED UGGHHHH SHE MADE HER TEAM LOSE AND SHE SAW CAKE SPLATTER BEFORE HER EYES- MY POOR WIFEEEE

[clownkiwi]

a look into my drafts of incompleted Bangers that'll never see the light of day (ok, maybe one of them will see the light of day)

[maxphilippa]

;; ( maxine philippa/max/mic | everything you have to know (byi, dni and art reqs) | check out my scenecore mic art! | check out my object hosts designs! / any pronouns, aroace bi-oriented cupioromantic, panadoxgender. ) ;; self ship blog: @echoiclove || mic "daily" blog: @microphone-ii (inactive as of now) ||

character analysis masterpost

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#max's raw art :: wips/unfinished artwork.

#max explains the ii gkgg au :: if you're interesed about the ii gkgg au, you can find some extra lore/fun shenanigans on the asks I answer! You can drop an ask there too!

#ii fandom neg: this tag is not exclusive (meaning that you can use it as well), but i basically rant about the ii fandom's stupidity and lack of media literacy.

Masterpost list! (Designs/Gijinkas and such!)

Can I use these designs?

- You can! But if you do, please do not change the headcanons that are on them! And don't use them to draw T4c0mic, S0apmic, Kn1fan or you know, anything shitty.

Can I get inspired off your designs?

- YES YOU CAN!!!

Can I draw them?

- Yes!

Note: Some designs need a rework and others are outdated. I'll be adding the edits on the list as well. A new masterpost will be made once I am happy with the designs.

( Inanimate Insanity. )

1. Mephone4, Co-hosts, Support Characters + Meeple HQ (Inanimate Insanity) [OUTDATED]

2. MADE A SHOW AND IT'S NAME IS INANIMATE INSANITY... it's very catchy!!! (Gijinkas of the FULL II cast) [OUTDATED]

3. My objectsona's ref! <- (Heart Locket) || My objectsona's ref! <- (Roots) || My ponysona's ref! <- (Stellar Astromane) || My Micsona's ref! || (more will be added)

4. Bot, Lifering, Soap, Box & Dough gijinka edits!

5. Post S2 Microphone design!

6. S2/ Post S2 Trophy redesign!

7. Lightbulb Gijinka Redesign!

8. OJ and Knife redesigns/updated ref.

9. The Floor (redesign) and Walkie Talkie Gijinka design!

10. Test Tube gijinka redesign!

11. Post II Knife gijinka design!

12. Clover gijinka redesign!

13. Silver Spoon gijinka redesign!

14. Fan gijinka redesign!

15. Bomb gijinka redesign!

16. Apple gijinka redesign!

17. Mephone4 post ii gijinka design!

18. Baseball, Suitcase, Salt, Pepper, Balloon, Paintbrush and Pickle gijinka redesigns!

19. Yinyang gijinka redesign!

(Other Object Shows)

1. IPad Gijinka (Object Invasion)

2. Kit & Pilly & Limey (BURNER), Moonlight & Nori & Skull (TDOS), Bubble & Snowball (BFDI/BFB/TPOT) [yes. all in one.]

(Other stuff)

1. II GKGG AU swap list

- more will be added once posted.

[nagannach]

Actually, Taco Did Abandon Book

(ft. a thorough dismantling of the "but she was in a jawbreaker" defense)

The Bleh arc is the worst thing to come out of the BFB series. The writing is sloppy, the characterization is sloppy, it has horrible morals, and its ending was incredibly unsatisfying. Many of these traits stem from the fact that the entire premise of the arc is false.

By far the most commonly circulated lie in the community is that Taco never abandoned Bleh. Not only is this not true, but it is an indisputable fact that not only did Taco abandon them, but she abandoned them multiple times.

It's a near-universal consensus among the community that Taco being in the jawbreaker for three weeks automatically means that she didn't abandon the team. This is not true; in fact, being in the jawbreaker for three weeks is proof that she did abandon the team. If she really was stuck in there for such a long time, how was she able to break out of it in such a short timespan in BFB 3? Why didn't she try that any earlier than she did?

If you look closely at the post-credits scene of BFB 2, you'll notice that Taco never actually made a genuine attempt to get out of the jawbreaker. She actually managed to lick her way through a substantial portion of it, but she would never try that again for the entire duration of her stay. She also never tried rolling around to get someone's attention even when people were running past her. Taco most certainly wanted to get out of the jawbreaker, but she didn't actually put in any work herself - she expected someone else to do it for her. However, none of her teammates were able to break her out because none of them knew she died in BFB 1, they didn't know she died because they all died before her, and they all died before her because Taco led them all to their deaths. Dora and Saw did survive, but since Dora couldn't communicate to the rest of the team what she saw, and BFB 13 showed that Saw is fairly tight-lipped, it's likely that they (and perhaps Lollipop) were the only ones who knew what happened.

I'd also like to note that Taco killing her teammates in BFB 1 is not only the reason why none of them broke Taco out of the jawbreaker, but also the reason why Taco was in the jawbreaker in the first place. In order for the jawbreaker challenge to be done, at least seven contestants would have to be dead at the end of BFB 1. There were nine, six of which were killed by Taco, including Taco herself. Had she spared just one of her teammates, she never would've been in the situation she was in - there would've been exactly seven contestants in jawbreakers after Four revived Tennis Ball, one for each of the seven safe teams. Everything bad that ever happened to Taco was a direct result of her own actions.

I've seen people defend her by saying that she was demotivated, which is a bit odd for someone who was so headstrong and arrogant that she led almost all her teammates to their deaths in the previous episode to give up so easily. First, her first "attempt" to get out of the jawbreaker (licking through it) came after more than 10 days of doing absolutely nothing. Second, since her first attempt actually bore fruit, it would've made sense for that to motivate her and make her continue breaking through the jawbreaker, but it didn't. Third, it's missing the point - BFB 2 and 3 showed that opening a jawbreaker isn't a difficult task, so Taco should've been able to get out very early. Fourth, it's ignoring the sheer amount of time Taco was in the jawbreaker for. Why didn't she get a sudden spark of motivation during the three weeks she was in the jawbreaker? Finally, if she really was as demotivated as she was, why was she so moved by Saw? How did she suddenly gain the mental fortitude to get out of the jawbreaker after allegedly spending three weeks trying and failing? All signs point to Taco never trying to get out of the jawbreaker until she realized that nobody would do it for her (but not realizing why nobody would do it for her).

No matter how you interpret the evidence, there are three facts you must concede: the possibility that Taco could've gotten out of the jawbreaker much earlier than she did cannot be denied, Taco has zero evidence in her favor ("she was in a jawbreaker" does not count), and Book has every reason to believe that Taco acted in bad faith (remember BFB 1?). These three facts will remain true throughout the entirety of BFB, and the evidence for the latter two will continue to pile up as time goes on.

If your team believes you abandoned them and all the available evidence suggests that you abandoned them (because you abandoned them), the last thing you'd want to do is abandon them again, but that is exactly what Taco did. Book never shunned Taco - Taco shunned Book. At no point in BFB did Taco ever try talking to Book or anyone else on the team (even after she was revived after being dead for two months - she didn't even say anything about BFB 6), and at no point did anyone prevent her from doing so - instead, she ignored them for just over two years.

After her team gave her a piece of their minds at the end of BFB 3, she pouted on the swing set instead of following them despite the fact that Book and Saw were visibly hurt by what she did. In BFB 4, she completely refused to stand near her teammates even though Book was still hurt. She didn't even apologize - instead, she minimized her feelings and acted like what she did "wasn't that bad". Taco treated Book like a disposable tool (using her once in BFB 1 and then discarding her), and instead of making her feel better, she poured salt into her wounds. In BFB 6, she abandoned her team in the middle of the challenge - there's no other way to describe it. Whether it helped her team or not (it really shouldn't have - there was so much that could've gone wrong with her plan that the only way it could've worked was authorial bias) is irrelevant. She didn't even ask if her teammates were okay with it or discuss her plans with them or even give them a heads-up - she just left. The next time she saw her teammates was in BFB 10, where she didn't even talk to them - instead, she talked to Bell solely because she thought she was still on her side. (Her intent wasn't to apologize - there's a reason she spoke to Bell and not her teammates.) Taco abandoned them again in BFB 11 - she didn't appear once during that episode and never volunteered to do the challenge. In BFB 12, when Book thought Taco abandoned her, Taco completely ignored her. Finally, in BFB 13, Taco abandoned the team twice, once before the challenge and once during the challenge, while also admitting that she never wanted to talk to anyone on her team. (Also, Saw revealed that she abandoned the team in the same episode with the flimsiest excuse imaginable, and nobody cared because screw Book, I guess.)

Not once did Taco say anything to her teammates from BFB 5 all the way to BFB 15, and there were only two episodes where she held a conversation with any of them: BFB 1 and BFB 16. Taco hurt people, but at no point did she even try to patch things up with them. Just like with the jawbreaker, she expected everyone she hurt to suddenly be okay with her while putting in zero effort to rebuild the bridges that she burned. However, unlike with the jawbreaker, Taco never realized that she actually has to work in order to get what she wants - BFB 10 and 13 proved that. She never thought about what Book or anyone else actually wanted - she only ever did what she wanted. She never knew what she did wrong and shifted the blame onto everyone else (as BFB 15 showed), and other people suffered because of her lack of self-awareness.

The community thinks so negatively of pre-split Book and so positively of pre-split Taco because that's what jacknjellify wanted. Throughout BFB, they intentionally ignored and invalidated her feelings and pretended she was never hurt when she very clearly was. The goal was to make Book look insane so people would instinctively tune her out when listening to her. By making Book look ridiculous, they drew attention away from the numerous times Taco abandoned the team. They also drew attention away from the way Taco treated her teammates (as well as Bell and Bottle) by focusing entirely on Book and making Taco look like the victim. In reality, Taco was the aggressor, and Book was the victim.

It's a common belief that Book never gave Taco a chance to prove herself. This is not true; Taco had many chances to show that she did care about the team. She just never took any of them because she didn't care about the team.

tl;dr Book is the one who was right all along, but for her, it wasn't better to be laughed at than wrong.

[drankyyy]

Puffball analysis: why is she so hungry for attention?

(It was written with the help of a Google translator)

Hi. As everyone knows, Puffball just wanted to be appreciated and respected. It's okay, everyone wants it, but it needs to be earned.

We see that, in TPOT 3, she is jealous of TV that all the attention goes to him and therefore Puffball decides to do something amazing so that she will also be appreciated. That's just that she went a little overboard and, because of this, she lost the trust of the team, which is why she couldn't prove herself in front of them and make them appreciate her.

It's clear that she tried to make them love her, but she damn well overdid it. Why couldn't she just do her job properly and not bring it to this? Did she really crave attention that much? And anyway, where did she get such a love for it? I'll figure it out now.

Unfortunately, we are not aware of Puffball's backstory before she joined BFDIA. Seriously, it has never even been shown in BFDI. But, even before the release of tpot 3, i can tell you a lot that corresponds to her character and what was shown in the rest of the episodes of tpot. For example, let's start with BFDIA 1. From the very first time she appeared, she didn't just sing for fun. This can only be justified by the fact that she attracted attention with her singing and, judging by Firey's eyes, many people liked her singing very much. She also behaved obediently in almost all of BFDIA. She always obeyed what she was ordered to do. She also wanted to be useful to the team and to be appreciated for it. She was just good at it. And, as we remember, she always hated being forgotten about. For example: in bfdia 2, when Firey said that there was no one here who could fly, in bfb 1, Bell said the same thing, and in TPOT 1, where she was very angry at all the "balls" for not noticing that she was also a ball and did not invite her to the team. I also want to point out that she is friends with Fries not only because of the BFDIA, but also because Fries is a very perceptive object. He will easily be able to find and notice some little things about Puffball, and she will take it as if he appreciates her. And for Puffball, such attention is just right.

The audience, with their love for Puffball, provoked her to betray her team in BFDIA 5. She was sure that everyone loved her and she would not be expelled, but she was wrong. And I don't think anyone appreciated her after that. She just came to terms with the fact that neither the audience nor the objects adore her anymore, and she just became calmer, as if she got into BFB. But this is before TPOT 3, where, looking at how TV is praised, she remembered how good it would be if she were also appreciated, and I think this led to the fact that she wanted to get what she wanted very quickly.

Well, that's just my guess. And in principle, I just wanted to train myself in analysis.

Well, that's it. Good luck to everyone.

[oscconfessions]

Tbh I used to hate Pencil from BFDI, like, REALLY hate her. I even made a hate video about her- All of this was because of BFB 1 and 2, it was my first exposure to her, so bad first impression But I didn't watch all the seasons yet at that time So I was stuck thinking she was a complete asshole for about a few months? A year maybe? Anyways In some youtube videos I watched I heard she was mischaracterized in BFB because of a new writer that either didn't like Pencil, or just the whole alliance, and I went "OH SHIT" Now I like her </3 After rewatching the seasons a few times and trying to do a character analysis on her, I can say that it's JARRING seeing BFDI Pencil be an actual good friend while BFB Pencil is just AWFUL I don't know if the mischaracterization is true, or just a rumor, but oh my gosh it's CRAZY for me rn, but ahhh- I misjudged Pencil way too quickly, I think I owe her an apology

.

[mindful-electrical]

helloo

i really like your black hole analysis posts

what do you think of tpot 10?

wowowow that makes me so happy to hear omg thank youuu !!! oohh tpot 10 I absolutely loved tpot 10 it's my favorite episode of the season now especially because of the black hole development hehehehe

"I dream and I wish things are normal and work out"

BH was already aware of the damage he was causing by prioritizing death prevention at all costs. He already knew Fanny was right, that his teammates and his fellow competitors were getting hurt in his effort to avoid just that. But what else could he do? What *can* he do when he can no longer win challenges as easily as he had in BFB? What can he do if his only other option is to kill those who get in his way? To become that monster he was always destined to be?

Death prevention gave him so much hope and comfort against the reality of his existence, so much so that it became an unhealthy coping mechanism after his challenge struggles (and subsequent accidental murder) in TPOT 2. It protected him from his fear...at the cost of allowing that fear to control him more and more as time went by.

It's only when he had that talk with Fanny—when he was able to display and confront his feelings head on—that they could come to some sort of resolution. Fanny's assurance gave him a new kind of hope: Life PACT. Now he believes he has more options to imagine and explore and I can't wait to see what he discovers :]

[butterkreme]

You. I have thoughts about you.

ok so. first an important headcanon. each integer algebralien has different powers depending on their value. this is heavily implied to be canon but like it's important here.

now x. x is a variable and his value changes daily. we have not seen much of what he is able to do. they dont seem to have any inherent abilities but we know four was able to teach him how to recover. we have also seen in TPOT that x has also gained four's Laser Blast ability. my conclusion from this is x can have basically any of the algebralien powers due to their fluctuating value (and also im biased because i like the Kindest One Has Scariest Power trope) BUT they have to be taught those powers. they arent inherent the same way they are for the integers.

so where does this self replication come from??????? im probably overthinking a silly joke cutaway gag but it really is the perfect place to hide foreshadowing because people wont be expecting it there. x where did you learn this. four has not done this (unless im forgetting something which is possible lol)

and this happens on the same episode we first see you. perhaps x learned that from one? and when did they learn how to do that anyway? it is a new ability or is it something they learned about before even bfb? to be fair we havent seen the abilities of any of the other integers unless i missed something again so... further analysis needed. we'll see.

[lanternouslobster]

Oooooooh I heard about you from the wiki and really want to hear your analysis on characters like Fanny who everyone just sees for her gag when there's soooo much more! Like in Pre-split with Bubble, or even kinda in TPOT where she asks if Tree's okay in TPOT 6 cause of how he was acting.

-@hum0url3ss

YES YES YES FANNY!!!!

Okay okay okay... So, I have a lot to say about her.

Most people see her as simply hating everything— however, there's never any acknowledgement on why she does. And right off the bat in the first episode of BFB, she tells us! She hates everything because she sees room for improvement. She doesn't enjoy hating on things, she just sees it as a way to spur the world around her into change. She hates the manipulative. The overly aggressive. She hates avoidable inconveniences.

I think this is especially visible in how Fanny treated Bubble pre-split. Not once did she ever say that she hated Bubble, not specifically. Rather, she helped Bubble to see the harm that Match was causing. I think she recognized that, in that specific situation, a brash attitude would not help. She saw Bubble's emotional fragility at the time and diverted her anger towards Match, on whom hatred would likely have more success.

And her concern for Tree shows that side of her more. She does not wish for others to suffer. It's the suffering of others that fuels her hatred— a fury at an imperfect world that destroys the wellbeing of the undeserving. In that moment, she wasn't irritated at Tree's loss of cognitive function. She wanted to make sure he was doing well, and I think that says a lot about her overall intention. She didn't even yell. Maybe she didn't want to risk hurting Tree with her usual loud volume.

Also, can we talk about her being angry about the first funny plant dying in TPOT 4??? She gets all riled up about the prospect of the biodiversity of Goiky going down. I like to think that ecology is a field that she's passionate about and that pushing for environmental awareness is something that she does in her free time.

Anyways, those are some of my thoughts on Fanny. I could probably go more in-depth on some of these points, but I have a lot of schoolwork to do and the pressure makes it difficult for me to articulate my thoughts properly. Hope this fulfills your request! I know you said characters like Fanny and not her specifically, but I figured I'd do her since she was the example given.