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This page is the author's commentary on a particular video on the Internet. You can find the original by clicking on the link below.

This video can be watched here.

The full title is "You Know Those Buttons Don't Do Anything, Right?" It's an actual quote uttered in the episode, but I thought that it referred to the number of impatient comments on a video describing a deleted scene from that BFDI Among Us Christmas Holiday Xanax Special I reviewed last year.[1]

But here it is, the first episode of what IMDB calls the fifth season of BFDI: The Power of Two!! It came, we saw, and Jnj conquered… our hearts. Let's see what my eyes were figuratively glued to for twenty-six minutes on a Sunday afternoon.

Since this is a brand new season, I have created a brand new review format so that you, the folks at home, can follow along and hopefully add your own commentary to the video we're all watching. There's even going to be an image every one minute.

TPOT 1[]

Note: This episode review was mostly rewritten on 24 April 2021 to make room for more references to BFB (now that the season is finished). It was modified slightly on 9 April 2022 (a year later) so that the references to RLBFB were deleted.

Minute 1: The Ten-Month-Long Wait[]

T I 1

Four sings the big chungus theme song: It's nice that we know that this takes place eight months afterwards.

So the episode starts with a loading screen. Oh no, has our Internet crashed? Has Y2K arrived twenty-one years too late? Well, no. First, to my knowledge, this screen looks like absolutely nothing in our human world; it's too sleek (though I am aware that operating systems other than Apple exist—hell, I'm on one right now writing this review). Second, it's just TV, the first character to make a physical appearance this season,[2] showing some stock footage of Four, by now the most hated character among this season's contestants. Ungrateful seagulls. Yellow Face sees the colour blue on the screen and tells everyone that maybe they should go back to the old show (yeah, like when there are only a handful of contestants left), but Fanny isn't impressed by this circle's pep talk. Referring to everything, she hates it, she hates it, she hates it, again and again and AGAIN! And everyone else agrees.

It's cool that they've all got their original personalities back. It's not like the slow fall of Pencil or the mellowing out of Pin (well, that was based on her own interactions with others, so it was a little justified), but it makes sense considering this is just a direct continuation of episode 16. The series has branched out, if you know what I leaf, I mean, tree, I mean, leaf, I mean, whatever.

Fries is quite a fan of Fanny's leadership speech. This scene might also be not the last time that Fanny's going to be shipped with someone else in the bowels of the Net... Fanny × Fries! Fanny × Fries![3] Anyway, Fries mentions that Two has been doing jack shit for months, and they show up out of nowhere, saying that they can start now because Fries wanted them to (Two: Well, why didn't you say so?) You mean to say that no one, no one at all, asked about the competition in months? Maybe the BFB contestants are collectively a little smarter...

T I 2

Behind the Iron Curtain: Either the old contestants aren't inclined to make new friends or Two is enforcing segregation.

Two climbs onto the roof of the beautiful hotel and says it's time for Cake at Stake. Hey, that's Announcer's/Four's/X's thing! Is there like a rule that every elimination ceremony has to be called CaS? Seems kind of sus... but of course, the TPOT-ers pay little heed to this and auditorily scan the area just to hear Two's voice. They call Nickel upstairs, of all people, as a fine reference to an older episode,[4] but Two just puts all of the contestants to the roof of the hotel with their ability to turn off gravity and emit a radioactive glow. That's how everyone appears on the roof of the place. So this is what Four-haters look like.

Minute 2: Relevant Rubber Spatula[]

One old Cake at Stake jingle later—that's not a rude remark; it's really the same CaS screen they used in the old BFDI episodes—Two explains to Nickel why they're doing Cake at Stake at all when it's the first episode. Through the creative use of a graphic screen or something like that, Two visualizes every single voter (including me, yay!) and character in the season in cartoon form. It's actually kind of cute and I've since made a colourized version of it my phone wallpaper. Thank you, Redditor whose name I don't remember!

Two announces that the prize for this episode is a purple tomato, I guess because a yellow tomato isn't exotic enough.[5] In fact, the purple tomato itself is a recommended character, a mangosteen.[6] Yes, there will be many allusions to that episode (Clock: That's good to know[7]); this is the second third big batch of recommended characters you could vote for in the entire series. The last time that happened, BFDI was a much smaller show and people had to type in the name instead of putting a letter in square brackets. Imagine if you were Jacknjellify and had to read "DIVAD DEVUD DAWID" all day. I could never.

As always, we start with the losers. Not "Losers", the obsolete team. Losers, as in those who got fewer votes than the winner. Anyway, the person who got the fewest votes this episode was Rubber Spatula (177), I guess because Rubber Spatula were seen squashing a bug during the audition and people just aren't turned on by insect innards any more. The funny thing is that R.S. gets the most lines of the new characters in this episode, probably enough for me to write headcanons for all of them. For example, R.S. is called Robert Spade, a mediocre Australian surfer who was accidentally casted for RLBFB in 1971, even though the woman sitting next to him had a more interesting backstory.[8] Anyway, Rob is sad because nobody voted for him, which means nobody likes him. Don't throw a pity party on public television, mate, unless you're just saying that before anyone else does. (R.S.: Nobody likes me!)

T I 3

Blondes finish first: In the human world, Robert is 190 cm tall and, as of 24 April 1973, single (if anyone else is interested who doesn't think a baseball cap backwards counts as formal wear).

That's when Pen randomly jumps in, despite being a part of the otherwise tacit CaS audience, and encourages R.S. to look at things in a more positive light—there are more people who typed in the letter for "Rubber Spatula" in square brackets than there are inhabitants in the glorious city of Qeqertarsuatsiaat. I get it, he's got a plush and all, but could his love of attention be any more blatant? He even throws TV onto the floor (who is quite happy about that, but still) as if he were some kind of object, and to show off what muscles? Even as a human, Pen is built like a writing utensil![9][10] Then again, there is historical precedent for this; he was responsible for speaking the most syllables in BFDI 21 just for reciting a bunch of names, and he wants to share the warm feeling of thanking people for thinking of him with Rubber Spatula. Nice boy.

I wish I could change my vote to Rubber Spatula just so my name could be read by TeenChampion. That's R.S.'s voice actor. I checked. Twice. I mean, he said "U u"; like shit, any voice actor can read that! So that's it for Robert Spade. May he be silent for the rest of the season, because I don't want to extrapolate his voice to imagine what Sam's other characters, Lego, Map and Suitcase (friends of Pen's eldest son) sound like these days.

Minutes 3–5: Most of Them Have Lines![]

Two eliminates the hopefuls not by throwing them into some LOL, but by sending them through a hole in the ground. I suppose that's a more humane punishment; what are hotels for if not to provide a home for sent-off debuters? They can very well live the life of The Suite Life of TPOT Rejects down there, something the eliminated contestants never got to do before. Anyway, these next few minutes I've decided to combine into one section as it's the part of the show that one would prefer not to trisect. So let's see who else didn't make it onto the show, shall we?

Bear in mind that along with the cutesy nicknames Two has given them, their RLTPOT ("human") names will intentionally be used, as I've thought up H.C.'s for every single one of 'em.

  • Seynabou Ba ("Shampoo"), who makes headwraps for women in Tambacounda, Senegal. They decide to thank their viewers as Rob had done, but they get sent through the hole in the process.
  • Chi-ch‘ing "Christer" Chu ("Sinky"), a PhD student from Tainan in the Republic of China.
  • Francisco "Chico" Vaz Cortes ("Sizzy"), a manager from Rio de Janeiro who appeared in RLBFDI back in 1963. He makes cuts all the time.
  • Saint-Maur "Santo" Ravelomanantsoa ("Drummy"), a musician originally from Mahajanga, Madagascar, but is now working in Paris.
  • Consuelo Cascara ("Shelly"), a high school student from Ipil, Philippines, and a product of a Catholic and Muslim family.
  • Michelle "Mikie" Boomer ("Mikey"), a high school student from Hollywood, California, who was born at 4:47 in the afternoon.
  • Gualberto Trujillo ("Clappy"), an amateur filmmaker and part-time comedian from Barcelona, Venezuela.

There's this nice scene where Clock outwardly shows his distrust of the new host, like the baby anti-authoritarian he is. As seen in the finale of the last season, they're almost one-sided frenemies of each other.

  • Luukas Valkaisualainen ("Leek"), who works in a supermarket in Helsinki, Finland, and really wants a nickname. And to be spun, presumably.
  • Nona Bola Machava ("9-Ball"), a Portuguese teacher and the wife of Eddie (8-Ball) from Mozambique. Without her husband's knowledge, she moved back to Portugal with the family because of the ongoing war of liberation. Quite anxious.
  • Cameron "Cam" Daguerre ("Cammy"), a young photographer from New Orleans, Louisiana. They've already made a few appearances as early as RLIDFB as a teenaged extra, back in 1968! Also he can be rather cheeky and melodramatic.
  • Belinda Roosendaal ("Blendy"), a chef from Amsterdam who is impressive in stature.
  • Umeko Fujiwara ("Onigiriy"), who, before her age-averaging, was an elementary school student from Kobe, Japan, and a daughter of restaurateurs. As of this episode, she is 13 years old.

At this point, we're halfway through.

  • Earthwind Summer ("Discy"), a singer and U.S. military brat from Okinawa, which had just been transferred to Japanese administration at the time of the episode. Discy is not voiced by Katherine (who voices Eggy), although I thought she contributed to that character's voice before watching her reaction video.
  • Vijaya Hsarma ("V. H. Essy"), a cinematographer from Hyderabad; also a member of the Indian hijra (transgender) community.
  • Ian T. R. Wilson ("Taxy"), a formerly 30-year-old tax collector from Washington, D.C. He says "You'll pay for this!" Does Two pay taxes to any terrestrial nation?
  • Solveig Lampström ("Salty Lampy"), Liy's younger, less adventurous cousin from Sweden. Yep, they're related, but Solveig's hair is brown.
  • Hypatia "Paddy" Allen ("P.E.D.E.A.E."), a secretary from Nottingham, England. I think she fancies Ian, even if she doesn't like the way the tax system works in America.

Two taunts all those people and claims that they know how to use a pencil, a word that makes Tiny Ice Cube noticeably angry. She utters the recycled line "pencil", much to the confusion of anyone who doesn't understand that people can still hold grudges after eleven years.

T I 4

Tito uwu: Battery asserts to be from Zagreb, Yugoslavia, a realistic claim. They were quite friendly with the West, you know.

There are eight people left, and most of them won't get in:

  • Angelo L. Marino ("Anchor"), an ex-football player and current longshoreman from Erie, Pennsylvania.
  • Devon Ductworth ("Tapy"), an office worker and the first confirmed (in 1972) agender contestant in RLBFDI, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica. Off-screen, they are friends with Stapy, although Foldy doesn't know this. Hence her gasp. And her belief that Stapy will come back. When everyone knows he won't.
  • Leslie Winton ("Shoppy Cart"), a "perpetual shopper" from Memphis, Tennessee. She's the first contestant to use a wheelchair to get around.
  • Petra Dierschl ("Battery"), a student from Graz, Austria. She was raised by communists and finds the music of the Schmetterlinge simply electrifying.
  • José Abcde Rojas ("Avocado"), a Dominican immigrant to Miami, Florida. He knows what's going on in Two's verdant head and eliminates Petra and himself before they can say anything else.

By 4:35 there are three contestants left, all of whom have a significant role in this episode:

  • Jamshid "Jessie" Taggyzadeh ("Taggy"), an Iranian student studying semiotics in California. For the longest time (a minute or two), I thought they wouldn't make it in (I voted for them!) as they came in third. Still good, but it would be nice to have a contestant who uses the default Windows font to express themselves.[11]
  • Venera Semyonov ("Winner"), who has fled East Berlin and the Soviet Union to live a life of tranquility in New Zealand. We're supposed to believe that they will win every season they appear in.
  • Nonexisty, who doesn't exist, yet is universally accepted by the contestants to be a real being. I assume he's just a figment of the imagination of whoever hosts the season in which he's up for voting, and the other contestants play along so they don't look like assholes.

Minute 6: Winner, Winner, Prime Number Dinner[]

With 15,762 votes and a loud fanfare, Winner joins the game! Can you see the TV screen? Their space takes up so much of the screen that it makes the other voters' contributions seem worthless! But there's still something really wrong here: Two is disturbed because 40+1=41. It's the kind of maths problem they teach you when you're about six or so. Winner's kind of stunned by their new host's reaction because 41 is a potentially illegal prime number, implying that Two is an undocumented immigrant to Earth.

What I like about BFDI is that sometimes it can be pretty educational. Like, don't steal islands. Or only eat yoyleberries if you want to look like C-3PO in a bad creepypasta. Or if you're jumping over a canyon in a van, you might risk getting vored by an evil leaf. TPOT's first teachable moment comes after Marker asks nobody in particular, "What's wrong with prime numbers?" In a rage, Fanny teaches him, and by extension us (most of the audience are children), that it is impossible to divide up prime numbers—our host included—without someone losing a body part.

T I 6

Ich bin einer gerade Primzahl!: We can excuse T.B. because technically his first language isn't even English.

As an ex-teacher, Golf Ball further enlightens us stupid people by saying that the nearest composite numbers (i.e. numbers that are not prime) are 40 and 42, which means someone has to be added because she assumes that none of the contestants want to drop out. I don't know; Nickel has that dunggivafuck attitude. And also, this conversation was had even before this episode came out. I swear I saw a Reddit post that said TV would be eliminated prematurely or promoted to co-host on account of all that prime-number brouhaha.

Minute 7: Stuck in a Lift[]

Two agrees, and lets Price Tag compete in the game during what I like to say is the first double debut I've ever seen in BFDI. Whatever; I mean, I wasn't expecting it at all, and if you read my old post about my speculation on TPOT, you'll notice that I assumed that the net change in the number of contestants was 1, not 2.[12] And it's cool because non-binary representation, hop-sah-sah! Basically, Price Tag becomes a competitor because they can make the "$1" sign. You know, since this originally took place back in 1973 during the oil crisis and all, Taggy's indicator of one-ness would be worth $6 in today's American money.[13] Thank you, inflation! Thank you, Price Tag!

T I 7

HERE I AM IN YOUR LIFE: Much of the audience is younger than flip phones. And SLOZAC.

So Two becomes super happy at this and tells everyone to crowd into the lift to pick teams downstairs. Why don't they do it upstairs? Has Firey given his fear of heights to the rest of the cast? Anyway, I like that during this scene, you can see the eliminated contestants having fun in the hallways of the hotel. Oh crap, you don't think they can open doors, do you? Maybe life in the hotel will be a lot more constrained that I had assumed. Oops.

Minute 8: And I Love Them Both the Same[]

Now it's time to form the teams, of which Two says there will be six, made up of seven people. Oh, that's always a fun thing to watch, and it's even more fun to know that they'll shift, of course! Will friendships break? Let's find out.

Naily objects to Donut's possibly being on the same team as her from the start, but they choose their best friends, who are respectively Bomby and Barf Bag. A solemn farewell, Team Ice Cube. Naily will actually be amazingly brazen during this team-building process, just y'all wait. Donut is quite put down by this rejection, and Coiny looks at him and Barf Bag with big, cute "puppy dog eyes". I've already mentioned that this kind of eyes can only be seen on Inanimate Insanity, but I remember, and only after rewatching, that they're also a part of the bloody thumbnail of BFB episode 13; how the hell did I not notice that?

So yeah, Coiny literally picks up Needle and Pin[14] to join him in his obsession about the good ol' days of BFDIA, even though I'm pretty sure that Needle was never actually on a team with Donut and they've all got a collective memory of Donut being uncharacteristically (even for a many-personality show like BFDI) angry at the world and mid-sixties society in general. And what about the other W.O.A.H. Bunchers? Is Yellow Face teamless at the moment? Shit, don't ever say that money can't play favourites, because I can point to this scene as proof that that's not true in the slightest.

Clock is visited by Cake, his old mate and the only one who looked genuinely disappointed that he was dead/forgotten for over a year.[15] Cake notices that he's acting unlike himself: he's practically slobbering at the sight of Winner, as if in a trance. That's not cute. You see, this hornballed time machine is infatuated with two things, that they're scratching their back/arse (kinky.)[16] and that they simply exist. I mean, they have a lot in common after all; they're a combination of blue and white and they're both combat veterans. Clock asks Cake and an approaching Eggy if they remember who Winner was in the anals of object-show lore, and they both say that they don't know who the fuck egg they are, even though they literally watched them join the show a few minutes before. That's when Clock tells a story, because he's such a follower of obscure trends and such.

T I 8

Hinter den Kulissen von Paris: ... they used their fingers to squash national landmarks together.

Apparently Winner and Loser were once a duo, but Winner left Loser by mutual consent, disappearing into obscurity at the time of BFB. Note that he's talking about them as if they were part of some weird chanson folk group or something. I believe in the 1950s, Winner was in East Berlin, where Loser was visiting, and because of their extensive studies of the German language during the Second World War, they were both able to hit it off and form a cabaret troupe. They warned people around the world about the dangers of extremist politics through singing, dancing and throwing chicken nuggets at their audience. See, I didn't think of them that way before this episode. I'd assumed that Winner was going to be an arch-rival of Loser from the distant past and was his opposite in every way. Goes to show that you can't judge a winner by their relationships with a loser.

No one says that, by the way.

Minute 9: Can't It Just Be TB and GB?[]

T I 9

Quick!: Somebody recommend "Neutral Expression Bomby"! Wait... that's always him.

So Clock rejects Cake and Peggy and their wilful ignorance of an ex-celebrity's existence, and the former is so sad about this that his emotion is expressed in the form of a recommended character, "Sad Cake". Creative much?[17] That's when Naily invites him to join her growing team, as they've got a special connection through the intimate scenes they had where they almost died together in BFB 14. I've heard that trauma strengthens friendships. But also, cool!

Meanwhile, Golf Ball accepts Tennis Ball onto her team because he's a true and loyal friend (who will do what she says), even in spite of his grammatical error:[18] he had called Two "a even" prime![19] Basketball enters the scene rejoicing that the research-happy balls being together again,[20] but Golf Ball is much more hesitant about this, even more so when Puffball enters the scene with much bitterness. She sings a lot in this episode, which means that the vocoder effect must have been rediscovered, louez Jah! Turns out she felt awfully rejected when the balls didn't consider her one of their own, and she's decided to join, whether anyone likes it or not. Now that's how you make an entrance.

The web of friendships has become well evident in this scene, for after Puffball arrives comes Fries, her companion, who is bait for a free food-hungry Eraser. You all know what's going to happen right after this, don't you?

Minute 10: We Just Took You In, LOL[]

I knew! As the truly aesthetically pleasing formation of monochromatical circles and numbers hovering over each team indicate, there is still one spot on the team that Golf Ball initiated. Five minutes before the nine-minute mark, Pen's eyes meet an an oblivious Eraser, and he looks like he's about to dash out of his fellow death preventers' oppressive grasp and storm over to where his older brother is standing. He's clearly torn between his 1969 covenant with his team, not just the brotherhood of man or growing a silly moustache.

Tree says that since no one from Death PACT made it to the other universe (except for Liy, the eliminated one), they can keep the same team formation, and Bottle, Black Hole, Pie and Remote wholeheartedly agree. But there are only five of them in agreement… hmm. Pen goes through the clichéd routine of hesitating before committing to this extra loyalty, knowing that the spot on Eraser's team could well fill up very soon, and Pie goes into straight-on interrogation mode. She even moves on to accuse him of being a murderer, a classic charge were there one.[21] Hey, just because some of his friends kill people for a living doesn't mean he does! And we know that's not true anyway; remember the video of his cockily saying that he's not the homicidal one?

T I 10

The captions actually say "buh!": That's like one of the cutest sounds you can make in the English language.

This personal accusation turns into a verbal slugfest by the entire formal team against Pen for not being worthy of death prevention with them, since he was the last one chosen all those years ago as a "non-pledge". Why the hell is everyone in a North American-styled fraternity except the guy who thinks that eight dollars is enough for two $5 cakes?[22] Even with the jaunty electronic music in the background, our boi has clearly been hurt by these comments and runs off, calling the remainder of the team haters. Look at him, he looks like he's about to burst into tears![23]

This basically means the end of cordial relations between Pen and the team formerly known as Death PACT, at least as far as its unofficial leader, Tree, is concerned. Oof.

Oh yeah, and Fanny joins the team because she heard the word "hate".

So Pen celebrates with Eraser they they're finally on the same team. Fun fact: I saw Cary's reaction video and even he is happy that they're together again. YMMV, but it was pretty cool having the bad boys' alliance split apart because of new friends and junk. Now that they're on the same team, who knows what's going to happen—especially with the balls. It's been five seasons, and neither of them have ever been on a team with someone with that level of knowledge. Sufficiently surprised!

Pen asks Eraser where the heck Blocky is, even though he witnessed Blocky and the other BFB people vanish on Two's command with his own eyes. And this is why we love an idiot on this wiki. Get with the programme boy; he's been in the pink-sky universe since March of '72! Anyway, Eraser makes it clear to him in a disturbingly deep voice that he left them (Eraser: He left us.). My metaphor about his voice sounding like a Zamboni over gravel holds true! And I suspect that in this case, the sudden smoothness in it is also comparable to a sousaphone covered in peanut butter.

Minute 11: Be Best, Book[]

Fries passes on the information to Golf Ball that her team now has seven members, and she gets disgusted because her team is now full of useless non-Americans. Well, that's nice! Basketball is annoyed by this insensitive comment, and she finally goes "boo bye", choosing to join ex-Better Namers Grassy and Robot Flower instead. They're drama-free, solely because they get almost no screen time at all! For that reason, Golf Ball asks TV to be on the team, and he says "okay" in his Firey impression. Look at Eraser; he's still got his hand on his heart as if the words "He left us" are still bouncing around his non-existent brain, ha!

All of this happens while Yellow Face, Rocky and Cloudy quietly team up because they're not really socially popular compared to the others. Like, yeah, Rocky was showered with votes back in '64 when BFDIA started, but, like, loners! They stick together! It's almost wholesome.

Saw exclaims that she misses people who stayed with Four, those being Lollipop and Taco, who are both stuck making friends with others. Bet she's wondering what they're doing there. Lollipop × Bubble, anyone? 'Twas heavily implied, based on the extra-episodial videos Jnj had been posting in the past year, that TPOT would be focused on character development and BFB on a bunch of characters sitting around and doing nothing like a bunch of catatonic earthworms. Gaty, who has been feeling off the radar for too long a time, assures her that she's still here for her (Gaty: I'm still here for you!), and that's when Book asks if she can stay with them. Oh yeah, their relationship isn't totally fixed.

Gaty gives Book a big "fuck no" and tells her that while she does want to "be better",[24] it'd be better to hand her over to a new team where she can find somebody else that she can say ABANDONED her. Well, that's how it seems. As a person who sided with Book throughout all of BFDIA and almost none of BFB, I think Book should have ripped out one of her pages and screamed out in great anguish, like Mrs. Benson did in that one iCarly episode when Freddie wouldn't stop dating Sam. [25] Or called her a psica. You know, for comedic effect. Anyway, Gaty and Saw leave Book to be alone with her introverted self (that was nice), and then she gets rejected by Tiny Ice Cube, who indignantly says "Hmm!"[26]

T I 11

Looking for the naughty: I doubt you'll find anything titillating in an HPCCRCHPHCPRCPRPCCC manual.

Suddenly Pillow starts opening up Book in a severe invasion of privacy, while Tiny Ice Cube joins her cool-coloured truce-mate Clock. You know, I was watching a YouTube Poop where the opposite happened, i.e. Tiny Ice Cube said "Hmm!" to Clock, and I find it more hilarious now that I rewatch this scene because that's not at all how it happened![27]

About that humour…

Anyway, Tiny Ice Cube meets Winner and they all become unexpected buddies. I am just picturing Winner putting their arm around their two new friends and they all do a pseudo-folk dance in a circular fashion.

Minute 12: Not About the Money, Money, Money[]

Gaty and Saw continue to exclude others by teaming up with Barf Bag, but they scorn Lightning even though he's got a zig-zag too, albeit in a cartoonish sense. In real life, lightning bolts appear too quickly for people to analyse whether they have zig-zags or not. Lightning's pretty let down by this, but even more frustrated that Snowball still wants him around—he puts his arm around him like he's his bodyguard or something… Lightning says, rather forlorn, "I don't really… want you" as he flies off. Apparently, Lightning always forgets that he can fly,[28] so this makes the scene more poignant than it should be.[29]

Anyway, back to innocence: Price Tag joins Naily, Cake and Bomby because they all know how to make that cute little face that goes >:3 combined with a little squeak. That's how people did it before emojis became Unicode-ized. Snowball goes over to get a shot with some of those so-called tough armless people, but Naily doesn't think it's so nice to point out the team's armlessness. She kicks him away. Hard. That's what you get for taking advantage of her tininess already in BFB! It was even more dramatic in RLTPOT, where viewers cheered as a less than 150 cm 20-year-old woman punt a literal caveman, built like a cruise ship, several metres away. Naily is the face of women's lib.

T I 12

Why me?: Or, in P2O!S.B. talk, "Wherefore shall these events befall me so?"

Snowball falls out of the fucking sky, loudly proclaiming that for once he has been owned. I thought that just mean you made a guest appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Shall I call him Harpo now?

One fade later and Bell and Foldy decide to team up, knowing that they're quite obscure in the fandom. Also, because they speak French. And because they were on Free Food. Well, together with Marker, whom Bell flicks away. Wait, what? Why doesn't she like him? Wouldn't she know that Marker is like the closest thing in the competition to Stapy? What the heck? In the end, Marker—still happy to be sent away (it must feel very nice)—is paired up with Lightning, who thinks Marker is a much less toxic friend than the fiend he was with last time. Cool because it's also an interaction I wouldn't have expected in this series. Plus, purple and yellow make a great colour combination. Lightning must really like being around the Danes.

Minute 13: What'd You Just Call Me?[]

Robot Flower is really impressed at Basketball (who is wearing Grassy on her head, as she does periodically) for her standing up to Golf Ball and her putter-ranical behaviour.[30] Basketball tells her that Golf Ball was just being a total… total what? Just then, she tells her that Eggy kind of looks like a ball, to which she responds with anger. I think that's where the insult comes in! She was just being a total ball, and that's something that nobody apparently wants to be called in this universe, Peggy in particular. Anyway, the two realize that's it's all been just a tiny little misunderstanding and they join up with Foldy and Bell, who smile demurely.

T I 13

He gets over things quickly: Remember when Cloudy spent, like, all of the first half of episode 10 mourning Balloony because he was dead? Because I do.

Cloudy asks Winner if they are also a cloud because they look like one. You know, that's like the objects' version of stereotyping—don't assume a person is something just because of how they look.[31] Still, the shape of the asset used for Winner back in 2010 is the same as the asset for Cloudy/generic clouds throughout the first season.[32] Anyway, Venera responds kindly, saying that they are "winner" species-wise. And I thought describing Loser as anything but "cube" was weird. Either way, they end up joining teams and Claude laughs awkwardly as he's got a newfound urge to add living beings to his gollegzhon. You know he wants to.

Yellow Face says that this team is going to be so much fun (hell yeah, it's got Rocky and Tiny Ice Cube!) and the word literally emanates from him, much like how Grassy's exclamation that there will be funny doings entered Blocky's ear-equivalents way back in the first episode.[33] Looks like Bottle's going to be an abandoner—she leaves Pie's terrifying questioning techniques for the new team. I mean, I saw this coming. Bottle wasn't really a death preventer as much as she was someone repeats what other people say (Bottle and everyone else: That's why I'm switching!). Still, Tree is incredulous at her decision—he was inside her for months, so that's another personal loss—and what was once a full Death PACT is now a husk of its former self.

Minute 14: The Final Teammate[]

T I 14

I had a dream a few nights ago: That all of BFDIA was the same, except Nickel was called "Nipple". He also wasn't a nickel.

Book finds that the strange creature that is reading her is none other than Pillow, who is always interested in re-search. She's like the Dorothy Ann of BFDI—and I hope you know where I got that reference. Book tells her that it's generally frowned upon to read people without their permission. Psychologically or what? Nonetheless, they band together and the latter decides to join Naily and co. because they all can make that cute little face that goes >:3 combined with a little squeak. Well, I don't think Book can because she's anything but adventurous, but she gets accepted anyway. Hooray, uncontroversial people!

Book starts to reminisce about her BFDIA days with Bomby and Nickel, whom she found wandering about because he doesn't have that many friends. Wait, he doesn't really have an established clique group in this show; that's so sad! That's so me! Anyway, he tells Book that cranking the HPHPRCC back in 1965 totally sucked—he's got his old personality back too, even better!

Tree asks no one in particular if they want to prevent death, and the lonesome Lightning–Marker duo oblige because they're so cool. You know, I saw the storyboard for this episode when it popped up on the YouTube and Tree had the biggest mouth in the damn galaxy. It was actually kind of funny. Lightning pretty authentically declares that he wants to become a better person after years of bully training, and the penultimate team of the series is filled up.

Eggy and Basketball are talking about who will be the final teammates, which is a bit worrying because the scene cuts to all the contestants shown as silhouettes. It's actually kind of nice like that. Like, which one's Black Hole? Hint: he's round. So there's only one contestant left: Snowball. No one likes him besides the fanbase! He inevitably joins Basketball's team, and G.B. goes "Ha!" like an evil meanie. And we were rooting for anyone who subverts Golf Ball's whipping tendencies, come on!

Minute 15: No, I'm Not Okay[]

As is typical of a team-building session—the way Pen had done back in 1969—the last person selected for a team decides to give it a name. Well, unintentionally. In fact, they'll all be unintentional team names, the best kind![34] Snowball decides that just because he's on it, his team shall be "The Strongest Team on Earth." Full stop included, although I can't be sure that Snowball knows the difference. No, he probably doesn't.

T I 15

No, no!: Our team name will have to be DEATH.

Lightning watches as his former boyfriend proclaims his strength (not really with excitement when he was the one who left his sorry ass) and asks if team names are indeed being established. Black Hole suggests that they be called "Death PACTAgain", since most of the team rests on the old Death PACT's haunches. Fun fact: If you replace Marker with Pen, Bottle and Pillow, all the members of this team have lived on land that is or was colonized by the British. Their team jingle should really be "Rule Britannia" just to piss everyone off.

Pen hears this, and he doesn't even seem bitter about it at all. Must be waiting for it to sink in. Anyway, he goes like, "Ooh, ooh! I want to be Death PACT again too!" and Golf Ball objects to this tomfoolery.[35] I believe the same thing happened when the Marvelettes sued the bejabbers off a group of youngsters for stealing their name. Or maybe it was the Shirelles. It may sound silly, but one thing that stands out in this scene is that Pen's teeth are noticeably sharp. Since he's been seen like this before in the Xanax Christmas special (you know, when he was evil), does this mean that sharp-toothed Pen is on the next step to canonicity? And what does this imply?[36]

As soon as G.B. starts talking, words appear on the screen. She realizes she might accidentally make another stupid team name like Another Name or A Better Name Than That. The sound of chattering teeth sounds in the background and T.B., always one to care for his loved one, asks her, "Are you okay?"

So that's what the team is called.

Meanwhile, Coiny, who is still overjoyed at this revival of Beatle-era nostalgia, wants to be called the "W.O.A.H. Bunch" and his two lackeys agree, but Gaty doesn't and prefers an aesthetics-based naming system. She wants to be called "The Zigzags", you know, because two of them are rounder than a dog that's eaten a grapefruit. (Don't do that, by the way.) Anyway, Coiny and his followers have an intense argument with Gaty, minus the people she's brought in, and you can hear things like Coiny accusing Gaty of shitting on his history.[37] Okay, I couldn't hear that, but it was in the official subtitles.

Saw screams because she still does that, and the team gets is "team8s". I feel sorry for those who have to translate this term into other languages. In the German dub of RLTPOT, I know that they were called something that basically means "The Holders of Team Power" (Saw: Hört auf zu kämpfen; wir sind Inhaber der Teamm8!!).

Minute 16: The Trees and the Grass[]

Clock suggests calling the team that contains his object of simp-fection be called "The Winners",[38] but Winner isn't happy about either the unwanted deification or the implication that they are victors by default. A humble one are they, like it or not, even more so than Loser ever was; they don't think their name should represent everyone else. And so, they're called "The S!" ("Ksi!" in Finland). It was at this moment that I realize that Winner has a New Zealand accent.[39]

T I 16

The way they interact: Me and a bunch of people who don't care about popularity in high school. Jus' wow.

Price Tag tells Cake that there couldn't be worse team names in the world. You should see what their university mascot is called, though I won't mention it because I think all schools need to love each other. Even in competitive California. Book (and Pillow mocking her in the background) say that there shall be no such name, and there's this really subtle mini-scene where everyone says there won't but avoid the English construction "we are". Again, too bad for the translators: they get called "Just Not".

And so, all the teams are named. At least no one has to record themselves saying eight names at once.

Eggy tells Two that the team-naming ceremony is over, and Eraser shoves her out of the way. Rude! But not entirely out of character. Two complains to everyone about how damn ugly the land is ever since the earth was flooded with lava. See, even in the 1970s, people knew that life in the future would be awful. But yeah, they weren't there, so they don't know what the Earth looked like back then, only Number World. That's why they colour the grass yellow and the trees green, the opposite of what was intended. No more weed references, either.

But I get it! Given that the sky is blue, you might as well assume that this series is set inside a giant, inverted flag of Gabon. Now that's one for a reference, innit? Also, Tree's asset was apparently yellow before 2017, though Grassy was always green. That sets the tone for the rest of the episode, if not for the rest of the series. To quote Naily, "It looks nicer like this." It really does. We must expunge the show of its 2020 appearance.

Minute 17: Nguvu ya Mbili[]

T I 17

Holy angularity: Even though you'd think these people were humans transformed à la Beauty and the Beast (there's even a pompous clock), TPOT is still an object show.

Sixteen minutes in and Two initiates the battle for The Power of Twooooooooooooooo!!, and so begins the theme song. And oh my place where tennis balls are created, it is farking amazing. Like, the style definitely reminds me of The Amazing World of Gumball, a show whose backgrounds I greatly admire.[40] It's also really cool that we get to see a tiny preview of what each contestant does for fun even before they show up in the great meadow that is the top of Two. Basically, it's an explosion of electropop bliss and I could watch this intro all day.

Since this is episode 1, of course there has to be a contest, and Two announces that the contest is to get to the top of the TPOT building as a team. I'm probably the only one who's thinking this way (out of 5,811,544 viewers by now), but I like that every competition season of BFDI starts with a contest involving motherfuckin' movement. More specifically, the basic directions of up and down. You know, the kind that babby learn before it go to sküle.[41] In BFDI 1A they had to avoid going down, in BFDIA 1 they had to push a team down, in BFB 1 they had to save X's baskets, which were located [whispers] up. This is no different,[42] but there is a twist: Once you get to the top, you can't go back down.

Nobody can hear Two saying that, though, and at once they run towards the building because Bottle has a big mouth. OMG, YOU GUYS NEED TO SHIP NEEDLE AND 🅱️EN BECAUSE OF THIS SCENE. /s

Minute 18: Get to the Top Although You Can't Get Down[]

Lightning floats up with the promise that he won't forget anyone, and that's exactly what he does. Aww, this time he remembered how to fly, how a-doable! But from below, Tree shouts through a megaphone (Tree: VOLUME WARNING, WHAT ABOUT UDIOSUOIASMUDOISMUSODUMA), clearly annoyed. Again. Lightning says he plans to carry each of them up individually, but he can't do that Two has somehow set up an arcane arcane force field around the building. They scold him, much like how a parent scolds a child for eating a smoke detector.

Golf Ball addresses her team as "Are you okay?" and everyone else says "Yeah". There are two ways to interpret this, both of which will provide varying significance to the plot! The team can't climb Puffball—why doesn't she grow like in BFDIA? My guess is, out of shame for what she said back in 1965. Or because she's scared of getting set ablaze by Pen, the closest thing to Firey in temperament.[43] TV has a plan: why not just use the trebuchet that Tennis Ball has built? It's funny because Golf Ball herself uttered those words all those years ago! I wonder what it's like for her to hear her voice telling her what to do. She must find it pretty annoying.

T I 18

"I see." / "Ouâ?": No matter what Yellow Face does, he always ends up on a team with French people.

The S! observe the other team's goings-on, and Cloudy says that he can't float any more quickly or else Rocky will fall through him. He must have the experience to know that; after all, he and Rocky have their Beepian knowledge upon which to fall back. I could really tell that once I saw Cloudy turn green-ish on account of Rocky's puking. Now how did that work in the RLTPOT universe? No matter, everyone watches this picturesque scene with much horror. Norman Rockwell who?

Minute 19: Hurry, Just Not![]

T I 19

Squeaky clean!: I was going to draw the entire pantheon of algebralien-dom menacingly standing behind him but decided to save the image manipulations for a later episode.

Bell flies Robot Flower and Grassy to the top of the building and she intends to get the rest of them, but she can't because of the competition rules. Grassy is upset! Snowball accused the team that they uh-bandoned the rest of the team, and Eggy makes an observation. They well loudly spy on Winner throwing everyone up the building and decide to do the same thing, which Snowball sets out to do (Basketball: Uh-huh...). They choose Foldy, who says she is one of the lightest contestants. And a friend of Stapy's. And that's it.

Basketball sees Team J.N. go into the building and Naily and Price Tag mock her because she's referring to the stairs. Naily calls her stupid and Basketball goes, according to the captions, "Uogh." Now the wiki says they're something of arch-enemies, which is something I honestly doubt; they seem more like friendly rivals, as Leafy and Pin were for, like, half of an episode. Then there's another lovely scene in which the rest of Just Not briskly rush into the lift as it closes, literally gatekeeping Basketball and Snowball from getting in. He even does his trademark "NOOOOOOOOO!" roar at it.[44]

Minute 20: There's Something About Stairs I…[]

As Just Not enjoy a leisurely ride up, the elevator suddenly stops. There's a reason they put a weight limit on those things. Turns out that Snowball actually pried the door open with his bare hands like a ravenous prey-consumer. Frick, that's terrifying, but Basketball doesn't care; she tells him to get the hell out of her way so she can try to fix it. She. Speaks. Up.

T I 20

I can't think of a caption: ... that wouldn't be interpreted as inappropriate.

Marker tells the rest of Death PACT Again that the elevator... is not an option (Marker: Elevatoren... er ikke en mulighed); that its broken is something that Fanny hates. She's used in an example where she can propel everyone else up, but Pie says no because she has no power. What I hear is that she is all talk and no action.

Remote has an idea: everyone takes the stairs, and Black Hole uses his natural gravity to carry the rest of the team up. Pie says that she's vandalizing the wall, but it's okay because Marker is totally washable. Now we just wait for it to rain. It rains in object shows, right? Anyway, they all decide to go up the stairs, the most natural solution for anyone who's ever seen a building before. I love how Fanny can be heard muttering "I hate the stairs" over and over as she and her team trudge through the building. Pie stops to hear Cake say that the team isn't dying, and then she goes up again.

Minute 21: Flying on the Trebuchet[]

T I 21

If you pause at a different moment: Eraser shows up with his BFDI mouth asset. Cool Easter egg!

A.Y.O. have finished building the trebuchet (all because of Thomas, give the man some credit), and they all go on the thingy. Puffball pushes it down and they start flying a few times, with Fries losing his fries in the process. I mean, if he wasn't going to eat them and their expiredness, then what's the loss there?[45]

A few seconds later, Pixie realizes that this is actually causing some of them a bit of physical pain, so she catches them all and the rest of the team makes it to the top. She's used to coëxisting with non-flyers by now! They are the first team to be safe, and that's only because Pen is there. He didn't even do anything! Now that's a pattern that is hard to be humble about. TV celebrates with everyone by playing an old clip of Coiny and Firey slapping each other's hateful bodies as applause.

Minute 22: TPOT 1, January 9[]

Thanks to Winner, the S! make it up the building one by one, but Bottle shatters immediately when she makes it to the roof. Not so fun fact: she is the first dead person in the series—and this happens as she's a part of a team whose main goal is not to prevent death. Wait, but can Two recover people? Is Bottle the first eliminated contestant just because she died? Oh, I hope not. She was nice. Well, when she was alive. Not when she was dead. Because you can't be nice when you're dead. Unless you're a ghost. Who's nice.

To avoid another situation like that, Clock pushes Yellow Face out of the way so Tiny Ice Cube can land safely. It wouldn't be a truce if he didn't save her from her own death, as many truce-makers have failed to do in the past. So Tiny Ice Cube falls on top of Y.F., who is amazingly bouncy. Omg, Yellow Face is a bouba! It's also a nod to the Halloween video from 2012, remember that?

Clock asks Two if it counts if Bottle made it up there[46] despite her death (we see it again in a lavender-background recap), and they agree with Clock's conviction only because he forcefully told them to think so. You know, that's something that my mother would say is the sign of a true alpha male. But I, having been exposed to the Greek letter AU, wonder this now: can Clock get omegas gregnant?[41] I hope he can!

But how should Winner get up there, since Rocky is the last one but them to make it? Well, they manage it by scaling the building as if this were a seventies version of King Kong. Oh wait.

T I 22

Such cartoon violence is SINFULololololol!: But it does make for a nice use of anti-foreshadowing.

All of this inspires Coiny and a somewhat unwilling Pin and Needle ("Finally!"), who decide to copy this strategy for the team8s. He uses his pointy girlfriend and Barf Bag uses Needle to climb up the building the same way—Donut also uses Saw so. Now this scene is really cool because earlier in the episode we saw Income Tax Return Document[47] sitting on a sofa and Pin and Needle had just broken through that particular floor, but only with their points. They didn't pick that per se, but it was a part of the first TPOT contest the whole damn time! We also saw that at the end of the latest BFB episode when we first got to see TPOT's release date. Jnj, you clever, clever menschen.

Minute 23: Gaty the Ultramagnetic[]

The six are up there, but they're not safe just yet: Gaty (who's always the forgotten one, though she sits happily) has yet to go up, much to Donut's confusion. Saw knows a trick: that she should be held over the edge of the building, and Gaty's magnetic powers, which none of us knew about before, cause her to her float because she's attracted to Saw and other magnetic beings. This show of magical powers interests Two, and the team is safe. I really hope they win a lot, and I'll tell you why later.

T I 23

REMOTE POG: "Maybe we didn't think this through, huff. Huff."

Meanwhile, Death PACT Again climb up the building, exhausted. It's like that SpongeBob episode where Squidward was working in a hotel and wasn't allowed to take the elevator that was only for customers, and he quit his job and took the elevator as a customer who ordered Krabby Patties with cheese, toenail clippings and nose hair, which annoyed Mr. Krabs so much that, when coupled with other behaviours, he made a giant swimming pool which made everyone fall to the bottom of the hotel and suddenly SpongeBob and Patrick were medical school students—oh, good times. Anyway, everyone is tired and Remote and Marker look out the window to try their science experiment. Not high enough.

Fanny exchanges Remote's battery with hers in an act of odious altruism, and Remote presumably spends the rest of the episode hating everything.

Meanwhile again, Basketball and S.B. are trying to hatch a plan to get everyone else upstairs. Snowball pulls one of the pulleys on the lift, causing the faulty contraption to fall and saving Just Not from elimination. Thank goodness.

Minute 24: I Forgive You[]

T I 24

This screenshot: Looks like almost nothing from an object show and more like something from a show starring anthropomorphic animals. It's really nice.

The lift comes back, completely repaired because of Snowball's inadvertent action, and Basketball is amazed that he could ever do such a thing. Imagine Snowball as the show's go-to lift repairman...[48] and no, naughty-film people, you aren't allowed to get any ideas.[49]

Eggy and Foldy enter the building and get in. Depending on how efficient this building is supposed to be (omg, what if Two is MORTAL), either their team or D.P.A. will be up for elimination. They're all so precious.

Marker accidentally falls off Remote as she literally carries her team to a potential victory. How high is this building again? Maybe someone will make an analysis video. Marker cheekily presses the "up" button on the lift and gets it to stop on the floor, together with the rest of T.S.T.O.E. This has happened many times our world too! Right now, their goal is to get Black Hole up there; he can't hear them very well and doesn't know when his cue is to go up. He has to wait, you know... although everyone must remember that "black holes aren't known for their sense of hearing".[50]

Lightning clarifies to the rest of the team that no one is allowed to go back down, and they all forgive each other in a celebration of hugs.

Minute 25: First Ones UFE, Oof[]

T I 25

Chomp: Although Megaphone was a sentient recommended character in another episode (probably), it doesn't count as a death.

Tree uses his—I mean, Remote's—megaphone to say something to Black Hole, but it falls and Black Hole eats it. There's even a chomping sound effect that softly plays so we know it's being consumed. What it tastes like, we'll never know. Remote seemingly sacrifices herself again and I think she dies too. Maybe.

Basketball notices that the lift has stopped working and Eggy utters the episode's title: "You know those buttons..."

That's when we get back to the view from Black Hole's perspective, where he notices the battery drop and Tree tells him to go up... just not as quickly as the elevator is moving—T.S.T.O.E. all make it up there and they've just made it to safety. That means that D.P.A. lose and are up for elimination. No!

Lightning gets sad because he thinks it's all his fault, but Fanny defends him by getting enraged at someone else (again).[51] It's kind of cute that he's being stood up for like this. But it's still Two's fault all along! No one could hear them shouting from the rooftop. "I'm ugly and I'm proud!"

Minute 26: Mutiny on the Property[]

T I 26

Tell it like it is: "The objects are revolting!" / "I don't think insulting them is going to help."

After this comes what is the most memed part of the episode. Bell looks directly at Two and demands (after they implied that the contestants are morons), "I think you should start projecting your voice!" A scene of contestant-led insurrection follows, in which almost everyone[52] spends the next few seconds beating Two up for being so clueless and ostensibly self-serving. There are some golden moments here: Lightning zapped them not once but twice, Pillow gladly hit them with a metal square, Tree lifted Rocky just so he can throw up all over them! Damn, there contestants are roughed up, even compared to those who stayed for BFB. I swear I could have seen this coming for a while, though; as soon as the BFB people stole X for themselves (well, for Four), the TPOT-ers looked like they were about to bust some heads.[53]

That scene, which would be considered horrific in any other genre, cuts to the voting screen. We are instructed to vote for the one we want saved, not eliminated. Okay, I admit that I didn't see that at all (I thought vote-to-save was so 2020), so I just voted for Marker. Let's just say I want him to be around for the next few episodes, yeah? Also got to mention this: even though they're far from my favourite team, I hope the team8s stay in victory mode for the next few episodes. As this is vote to save, I know that Gaty is 99% going to be the first one out and she's, like, cool.

The cool credits scene begins—apparently the complex Euler diagram doesn't include the names of everyone who worked on this episode, and you can see them all on a Google Doc. Just goes to show you that animation is hard work that has to be done not by one or two, but by a community. There's an old saying in many African cultures that it takes a village to raise a child, and what better way to realize that than in the first episode of TPOT?

Oh yeah, and there's a recommended character called "Compass". In P2O, the lore is that she was one of Pencil's best friends before she met Match, and that she was deported from Kenya because she wanted revenge.

Minute 27: It Happened During BFB[]

T I 27

Wot'n'ale's'ee doin', Liy?: Omg, this is the first episode (since BFB 2) in which Pencil and Pen both have lines. They can't see each other... but their presences can be sensed.

And there's also a post-credits scene! Liy and Stapy (remember them?) have found something within Four's bosom. Liy sounds different, but maybe that's a plot point. Pencil talks too, and the other EXIT-ers make appearances.[54] So something really was discovered and I was wrong the first time—and we won't know what happens until the next episode. No spoilers for an episode that first came out two years ago, but the same thing happened at the end of BFB 13.[55]

Interesting quote: "Are you dying?" – Pie.

Awesome moments: The intro, Basketball and Naily to Snowball throughout the episode, even the background!

Images from the original review[]

Some of them were deleted in favour of worse pictures. Sorreh.

Final thoughts[]

Why is it still so surprising to me that TPOT is so different from BFB? Maybe it's the fact that this episode took months to produce, much like a mainstream television show. Everything about its first episode is just perfect, from the writing to the emergence of new character development. (We stan Taggy on this website.) I think for a lot of people, myself included, what sealed the deal for my being hopeful for the rest of the season was the gorgeously animated intro. Quite clearly we're entering a new stage in the history of object shows, and it began right at the start of 2021.

And I'm fully supportive of it. Sure, I must selfishly say that it kind of sucks that new episodes are released after an interval of a few months.[56] But I do have to remind us that animation takes a lot of time to do,[57] so I advise the creative crew (that's a lot of people) to take as much time as necessary to make each episode better than the last. The post-split episodes of BFB seemed a bit rushed in comparison, not only because there were far fewer characters, but also (I shouldn't say this) in the writing. TPOT is just a fresh new start and I can't wait to see what they come up with next

Line Analysis[]

For the latest line analysis encompassing all BFDI seasons and extracanonical videos, see this page.

TPOT-specific line analysis[]

The document is up, running and in the same vein as the one for BFB. I've separated the contestants from the non-contestants, so that if Rusty Coin or Clip suddenly make an appearance, they'll be placed on the same level as Liy, Pencil or Gelatin.

Top 10 speaking characters in TPOT, so far[58][]

  1. Two (1,134 syllables)
  2. Basketball (364 syllables)
  3. Clock (213 syllables)
  4. Tree (202 syllables)
  5. Golf Ball (181 syllables)
  6. Remote (180 syllables)
  7. Eggy (157 syllables)
  8. Book (148 syllables)
  9. Fries (144 syllables)
  10. Rubber Spatula (129 syllables)

100% of all characters' dialogue comes from this episode.

If Puffball had spoken 10 more syllables in TPOT 1, she would have spoken more than she did during all of BFB.

Notes[]

  1. Not "one year ago". There's a difference.
  2. And the first one to get eliminated if viewers had a choice.
  3. No one? Wow.
  4. BFDIA 4: 1:01.
  5. BFDI 18: 3:55.
  6. It's a tomato-like fruit that's native to Indonesia and related lands, where it forced to live together with the durian.
  7. BFDI 18: 4:02–4:03
  8. To clarify: The recommended characters use they/them pronouns in their object forms until canonization, but in their human forms they use the names and pronouns I've H.C.'ed them as having (which, for some characters, are indeed they/them). That's because I believe in comprehensive biographies—I've got extended family trees and times of birth for all of them, for petal's sake!
  9. "Swimmer's build", for all you sea people.
  10. My theory: since Leafy's not competing here, there is a lack of niceness this season—Pen is there to fill that gap because everyone else is either obnoxiously introverted or doesn't give a shit. Not really a complaint, though, because he's still our boi.
  11. Actually, Black Hole does it too, but since his eyes and mouth are also black, we don't see it happen.
  12. Was that even to be expected, though? After all, this show is called The Power of Two!!
  13. Okay, it was a little later than when this episode was released. As in one day later.
  14. To whom I have informally referred as his "two lovers"… it turns out that Mary Wells had a profound impact on RLBFB, albeit an unintentional one.
  15. BFB 15: 16:06.
  16. Yahoo, my first mention of NSFW stuff! I think. Too many people have been making jokes about how Winner looks like someone stuck a smiley face on Satan's Earth-frozen heinie as he moons God, and let me just say that I can't unsee that.
  17. Not sarcasm, even! I don't have to miss the old days when variations of contestants were recommended characters, although it'd be really nice to have more of them.
  18. Golf Ball is a prescriptivist.
  19. I mean, he is from Minnesota (T.B.: Yay!). That's a stereotype they get, yeah?
  20. Wait a minute, I just realized something: When Tennis Ball says "Can I stick…" and the watcher presses the "L" button on the keyboard, Basketball suddenly finishes the sentence: "…with you too, G.B.?" I have no idea if this was intentional, but it was, then they did a damn good job on timing.
  21. AMONGUS TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL
  22. BFDI 4: 5:07–5:10.
  23. As opposed to Joe and Ady, who would burst into flames.
  24. I believe that is a Melania Trump quote, about bullying of all topics in the universe to talk about. Like Gaty, she is also of Slovenian descent!
  25. It's supposed to be a reference to keriah, a Jewish custom during funerals. Gentile viewers saw anything but that.
  26. Isn't it funny that Book totally sounds like SpongeBob in this scene? I can't be the only one who notices that.
  27. It wouldn't turn out like that anyway; Clock's a nice guy either when you get to know him or when he's surrounded by the humble.
  28. BFB 12: 10:33.
  29. It's even more poignant when you consider the NSFW stuff that what went on behind the scenes, even though I believe S.B. completely deserved it! It wasn't in the Objecty magazine at all because the 1970s was a more homophobic time, but Snowball and Lightning had a purely physical relationship that not even the rest of iance knew about. The video, which I won't link here, was spot on, except they weren't fucking objects, but fucking humans. Any consensual roughhousing only took place if Lightning electrocuted at least one person; otherwise it was a night of chastity. At some point in 1972 Lightning realized that this was a bizarre and frankly really unhealthy relationship, and that's why he really doesn't want to be with a man who only ruts with him when he's hurt someone else. If anybody asks for some Lightning × Snowball erotica (please don't /s?), I swear I will make it the worst, most clichéd damn crackfic the world has ever seen: "I know not for what the land to which I claim loyalty would punish me: that I was letting a man into me, or that I was apparently laying with an animal."
  30. Get it? Because golf balls and putters come from the same sport—oh, forget it.
  31. ... even though I thought so too. You've got potential contestants like Scissors (a pair of scissors) and Avocado (an avocado), but how are you supposed to objectify a winner?
  32. BFDI 7: 3:02–3:08.
  33. BFB 1: 16:16.
  34. It is a tradition as old as Another Name.
  35. Sidebar: Isn't it interesting that he takes the rôle of two of his fellow plushie pals, Leafy and Firey (BFDI 9: 4:59–5:03) in this episode? Starting to think that Jnj must miss their presence. After all, not even the most diehard shippers are going to make Fireafy fanfiction in relation to TPOT.
  36. "He's a biter." – Pencil
  37. So he's that kind of guy! As you can imagine, he would give you a ten-page essay on the spot if you told him Lincoln was a racist.
  38. He doesn't even suggest it; he just tells Winner that their name ought to be in the team name. Because Winner and Lothar are the same. Not.
  39. I checked the Other Wiki and their voice actor comes from the land of kiwis and Kiwis. Just like Woody!
  40. An inspiration for some of the backgrounds in P2O, did you know that? This was back in 2013, but I would take a picture of a mall or a park, put the objects on it and pretend that it was Africa or a holiday in the States.
  41. 41.0 41.1 R.I.P. Yahoo Answers.
  42. [whispers] Also up.
  43. BFDIA 2: 3:49–3:52.
  44. BFDI 8: 4:02–4:17.
  45. BFDI 11: 0:29. (Golf Ball: Guys, why do you slap each other? It's pointless!)
  46. I think it would count, since she made it to a point where you can't go back down again. Whether or not she died afterwards is irrelevant.
  47. Who has the coolest German name ever: Einkommensteuererklärungsdokument.
  48. Can that be canon to the other universes as well? Referring to Snowball's having a career, that is.
  49. AAAAAH, I can see him in his "toolbelt"! Is that an extra wrench in there?
  50. He doesn't have ears!
  51. BFB 8: 10:40–10:50.
  52. Even the so-called nice ones. Who knew Grassy's dance moves were enough to potentially knock a numeric host out?
  53. BFB 17: 10:37.
  54. This takes place around May 1972, based on the subtitle at the bottom of the screen (TPOT 1: 25:41).
  55. BFB 13: 22:32. (Barf Bag: What is this place?)
  56. Time to remake my speculations page!
  57. When I first started trying to animate Pencil 2.O back in 2016, it took me fifty minutes just to start the background and it's still not finished five years later! (I didn't even bother making any of the characters move.)
  58. I made a mistake on the BFB-related blogs by calling the likes of Four and X "contestants". Oops!
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