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Real-Life BFB |
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Main info • Production info
Yearly overview • Show timelines (Timeline of RLBFDI • RLBFDIA • RLIDFB • RLBFB before and after the split • RLTPOT • Extra scouting) • General timelines (pre- and post-1950) Differences from Pencil 2.O • Aesthetics • Methodology (Names • Nationalities • Heights • Ages • Colours • Accessories • Team portraits) • Beyond the 64 TL;DR: Info • Timeline of the final project (part 1 • part 2 • part 3) |
This is the (long) methodology page, the page where I describe how I came up with all of the names, all of the properties, even all of the images of the 64 original contestants of RLBFB. But I promised myself that I wouldn't work on it until I started my review of the first episode of TPOT. So in the meantime, much of this page will be empty except for an outline and a timeline and some other "lines".
Note that modern year numbers are used on this page instead of the 48-years-ago numbers found in the rest of the mini-series. Likewise, object names will be used (Pencil, not Penelope) if referring to humanizations by anyone else because this page will reference those which were made by other artists who may not use the same names I do.
Overall process[]
Just like the YouTube series, the creation of RLBFB did not happen in a day; it took a lot of hard work in December 2020 and even before to mould the (YouTubeized) BFB contestants into their 擬人化-passed forms. It wasn't even in an organized order; for various parts of my existence in the BFDI fandom, I had been working…
- On their human names (since 2014, attempts to be systematized 2016–2018, fully systematized after 2020)
- On their heights (2016, scrapped later, but redone 2020–2021)
- On their ages (since 2012, observed and systematized after 2020)
- On their nationalities and ethnicities (since 2013, attempts to be systematized 2017, fully systematized after 2020)
- On their hair and eye colours (semi-codified 2017–2018, observed until 2020, fully systematized in 2020)
Names[]
Click here for the NAMES page.
Nationalities and ethnicities[]
At least in the universe of P2O, nearly all contestants of BFB were current or recently-graduated students of the floating international school in Nairobi. Because of the students' origins, BFB was one of the most diverse series in the world. The same is true for the RLBFB universe, although it is a bit more limited because the world of the 1960s was so much different from the world of the 2010s.[1]
The national origins of some contestants were determined very early on, as knowing these things was necessary during the writing of many an episode of P2O.
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But in the remaining cases, most BFB contestants appeared in the show as minor characters and had no backstory readily available in what they call the "show bible". By the end of 2020, i.e. the end of the second standardization period, a contestant's nationality was constructed after their name was finalized. This included their first name; their surnames came shortly after. Other details, like their location of birth and their upbringing, were determined after all of that.
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Heights[]
Click here for the HEIGHTS page.
Ages[]
BFDI contestants (2012–2014)[]
This is actually the first human-like quality I thought of during my time as a BFDI fan. I even remember writing down the names of the contestants on a piece of paper and how old I perceived them to be, and that was in 2012—nine years ago now! These ages, though hardly specific as I just wrote down random numbers for the majority of them, have lasted the longest and have also found their way into other fanfictions of mine. At the time, it was just the Pages series, nothing on the Other Other wiki yet.[6]
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P2O characters (2015–2020)[]
Even though BFDIA had been on hiatus for a long time, I didn't bother to assign ages to many of the contestants. The ones I focused on were only those who appeared in P2O. This was a trend that carried over to other seasons from IDFB to BFB up until to a month ago.
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The rest remained unknown, until…
RLBFB Era (2020–2021)[]
There are now ages for all members of the RLBFB cast! Of course there has to be, especially since people age more quickly than most objects do.
I was confused at first because I knew that I would have to add other (somewhat superfluous) things like birthdays and stuff, so what did I do? Took to the Internet for inspiration. I must have found several posts listing the fan-made birth dates or ages of the contestants, and I thought that I looked at them all, but instead I only saw a small sample. In statistics, that's all you need.
Letter[8] | Username | Date published | Ages or dates? |
---|---|---|---|
A, C | ReddyHakky1998 | 1 December 2016, 3 March 2018 | Dates (with ages) |
B | LovelyTeng2002 | 26 January 2018 | Ages |
D | Insane Leafy V2.5 | 7 April 2018 | Ages |
E | TheNewBGGAMING | 2 June to 7 July 2018 | Ages |
F | ScribbledEggs | 16 August 2018 | Ages |
G | Tazelly | 29 October 2018 | Ages |
H | Tiger Lilly Cookie | 6 November 2018 | Ages |
I | NebraskaSeemsNice | 30 January 2019 | Ages |
J | squidwardbfb52 | 21 March 2019 | Ages |
K | MLPMariolover | 23 May 2019 | Ages |
L | Jewels the Bootsie and Chloe Lover | 17 January 2020 | Dates (with ages) |
M–N | AnalTuberculosis and NickCannot | 1 March 2020 | Ages |
O | Deepestsonicever | 7 April 2020 | Dates |
P | Brennanbrew11965 | 1 June 2020 | Dates, ages, school years |
Q–R | Various redditors | 8 September 2020 | Age (ranges) or ages |
S | Mr_Squirrelton | 26 September 2020 | Ages |
T | ItsYaBoiMarker | 4 December 2020 | Age (ranges) |
I recorded each date of birth assigned to a contestant; that was the easy part. The difficulty came with the ages. Since people change ages all the time,[9] I decided to set an upper and lower limit in terms of when each person recorded the contestants' birth dates. So a twelve-year-old contestant, as proclaimed on a blog post from 1 July 2019, would have to have been born between 2 July 2006 and 1 July 2007. Strange to see so many contestants younger than I am, but I guess that's what happens when you over-analyse a show that (mainly) children watch.
Here are the average ages of the contestants based on these sources and how they influenced how I chose the ages for the RLBFB contestants.
Contestant | Avg. age | σ of ages | Birthdate from this | RLBFB date of birth[10] | Reasons |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8-Ball | 20.1 | 5.1 | 18 September 1992 | 8 August 1988 | Based on symbolism (What's 8-Ball's least favourite number?) |
Balloony | 20.2 | 5.8 | 31 July 1993 | 1 January 1990 | Unknown |
Barf Bag | 19.2 | 4.5 | 16 September 1994 | 16 September 1991 | Based on the averages (year changed) |
Basketball | 19.2 | 4.2 | 26 March 1995 | 26 March 1992 | Based on the averages (year changed) |
Bell | 16.4 | 6.0 | 17 March 1998 | 17 March 1994 | Based on the averages (year changed) |
Black Hole | 24.1 | 8.5 | 9 January 1989 | 9 January 1989 | Based on the averages |
Blocky | 17.9 | 3.1 | 5 February 1996 | 6 November 1984 | Legacy reasons |
Bomby | 14.9 | 6.2 | 10 September 1998 | 24 January 1995 | Unknown |
Book | 18.8 | 4.2 | 22 February 1996 | 13 February 1992 | Legacy reasons (she was about that age in P2O), also based on the plot (her birthday is eclipsed by Pencil's) |
Bottle | 15.4 | 4.9 | 31 January 1998 | 31 January 1998 | Based on the averages |
Bracelety | 13.9 | 4.8 | 9 December 2000 | 9 December 2000 | Based on the averages |
Bubble | 15.8 | 4.5 | 25 January 1998 | 10 March 1989 | Legacy reasons |
Cake | 15.0 | 4.9 | 25 January 1999 | 25 January 1999 | Based on the averages |
Clock | 20.6 | 5.4 | 25 April 1992 | 11 May 1989 | Unknown |
Cloudy | 26.7 | 16.7 | 6 February 1989 | 3 May 1985 | Unknown |
Coiny | 18.5 | 3.8 | 27 December 1995 | 12 February 1993 | Legacy reasons (year), also for symbolism (day: Abraham Lincoln's birthday) |
David | 19.5 | 9.3 | 11 January 1994 | 12 July 1993 | Unknown |
Donut | 24.0 | 6.7 | 20 April 1988 | 20 April 1988 | Based on the averages (also a terrible coincidence: "88" is a number associated with the Nazis, and whose birthday is on April 20? |
Dora | 15.6 | 6.1 | 25 April 1998 | 14 August 1993 | Based on symbolism (Dora is supposed to be 7 years old; her show premiered in 2000) |
Eggy | 18.8 | 6.7 | 20 July 1995 | 9 March 1992 | Unknown |
Eraser | 19.6 | 3.6 | 15 November 1992 | 23 May 1987 | Legacy reasons |
Fanny | 17.9 | 4.7 | 26 November 1995 | 30 January 1992 | Unknown |
Firey | 18.0 | 5.0 | 17 June 1994 | 12 February 1993 | Based on personality (Coiny's rival is he), also based on symbolism (day, Abraham Lincoln's birthday) |
Firey Jr. | 10.9 | 5.6 | 20 March 2006 | 25 December 2009 | Based on the backstory |
Flower | 18.9 | 4.5 | 17 July 1993 | 9 February 1946 | Legacy reasons |
Foldy | 17.6 | 4.4 | 14 March 1997 | 14 March 1993 | Based on the averages (year changed) |
Fries | 22.5 | 9.2 | 31 January 1991 | 26 June 1988 | Unknown |
Gaty | 20.9 | 7.6 | 17 May 1993 | 19 July 1993 | Based on the averages (day changed) |
Gelatin | 14.2 | 5.6 | 26 December 2002 | 29 June 1993 | Legacy reasons |
Golf Ball | 19.8 | 4.1 | 4 March 1993 | 9 March 1962 | Legacy reasons |
Grassy | 11.2 | 5.6 | 9 March 2005 | 11 October 2000 | Unknown |
Ice Cube | 13.4 | 5.3 | 1 November 2000 | 23 December 2001 | Legacy reasons (year), also based on symbolism (born at the start of winter) |
Leafy | 17.3 | 3.8 | 12 March 1996 | 20 March 1993 | Legacy reasons (year), also based on symbolism (born at the start of spring) |
Lightning | 16.9 | 4.4 | 1 February 1998 | 1 August 1998 | Based on the averages (year), also based on symbolism (if you're born on this date you're of the Leo astrological sign) |
Liy | 20.4 | 5.8 | 11 December 1992 | 11 December 1992 | Based on the averages |
Lollipop | 19.7 | 4.0 | 25 April 1993 | 25 April 1990 | Based on the averages (year changed) |
Loser | 26.1 | 15.5 | 2 October 1985 | 5 February 1976 | Unknown |
Marker | 14.9 | 5.3 | 29 December 1998 | 23 January 1996 | Legacy reasons |
Match | 17.6 | 3.3 | 24 April 1996 | 12 December 1990 | Legacy reasons (cemented in 2012) |
Naily | 14.9 | 4.0 | 30 November 1999 | 20 February 1999 | Based on the averages (day changed) |
Needle | 17.5 | 4.4 | 7 June 1995 | 14 July 1993 | Legacy reasons |
Nickel | 22.5 | 10.6 | 23 April 1992 | 13 April 1999 | Legacy reasons (year), also for symbolism (Thomas Jefferson's birthday) |
Pen | 18.0 | 3.5 | 22 May 1995 | 2 July 1989 | Legacy reasons (cemented in 2012) |
Pencil | 18.0 | 3.4 | 8 October 1995 | 14 February 1990 | Legacy reasons (cemented in 2012) |
Pie | 21.3 | 10.0 | 2 March 1994 | 30 August 1990 | Unknown |
Pillow | 19.4 | 4.9 | 26 October 1994 | 22 August 1991 | Unknown |
Pin | 17.8 | 3.0 | 3 May 1996 | 28 February 1994 | Legacy reasons (finally canonized in January 2021) |
Puffball | 17.1 | 4.8 | 21 July 1996 | 21 July 1996 | Based on the averages |
Remote | 19.8 | 9.2 | 5 February 1995 | 1 March 2009 | Based on the backstory (the person on whom she was modelled was born 18 years before) |
Robot Flower | 15.6 | 6.8 | 28 August 1998 | 1 September 2008 | Based on the backstory |
Roboty | 20.2 | 11.0 | 11 December 1994 | 1 February 2011 | Based on the backstory |
Rocky | 11.2 | 6.5 | 11 December 2003 | 21 October 2004 | Legacy reasons |
Ruby | 15.0 | 4.1 | 22 December 1999 | 30 July 1992 | Legacy reasons (she was about that age in P2O). |
Saw | 17.4 | 3.6 | 23 May 1996 | 22 August 1993 | Unknown |
Snowball | 26.7 | 15.7 | 24 October 1988 | 20 April 666 | Legacy reasons (year), also based on my efforts to troll with the whole 4/20 craze and all |
Spongy | 27.2 | 14.3 | 15 July 1986 | 9 October 2006 | Legacy reasons |
Stapy | 21.3 | 9.2 | 29 May 1993 | 29 May 1993 | Based on the averages |
Taco | 18.4 | 4.8 | 6 September 1995 | 25 July 1992 | Based on symbolism (she was born on Taco Tuesday) |
Teardrop | 17.6 | 9.6 | 17 July 1997 | 11 May 2003 | Legacy reasons |
Tennis Ball | 20.7 | 4.0 | 1 July 1991 | 3 October 1964 | Legacy reasons (cemented in 2015 with Before BFDI) |
Tree | 21.4 | 4.6 | 29 July 1991 | 24 August 1983 | Unknown |
TV | 22.1 | 14.3 | 24 February 1994 | 27 November 1990 | Unknown |
Woody | 12.9 | 6.0 | 11 January 2002 | 10 February 2007 | Legacy reasons |
Yellow Face | 25.0 | 8.6 | 25 February 1988 | 21 February 1977 | Unknown |
You'll notice that I have included each contestant's date of birth. This was calculated from the average ages, not by the numbers on each chart, but relative to the standard deviations of each person's individual estimates (since the definition of youthfulness and antiquity are not set in stone). I had done so much to make sure the ages were close to those of the characters on P2O, and rather daftly I flattened the cells in the spreadsheet, so I can't tell you exactly how I got these dates… here they are, though.
I've also removed the outliers from the data. We know that Black Hole must be billions of years old and David is somehow immortal (according to some people)—humans are not.[11]
One last thing that stands out is that if you sort by average age, you'll see people generally think male contestants are older than the females. I don't know what that says about our society or the object show community, but it was still interesting to find.
Colours[]
Click here for the COLOURS page.
Team portraits[]
Click here for the TEAM PORTRAITS page.
Notes[]
- ↑ Oh yeah, or the 2110s.
- ↑ What do you think this painting was referring to?
- ↑ It also means that Leafy was from Yoyleland, but that didn't seem right to me. If anything, she was an eternal tourist (BFDIA 1–IDFB 1).
- ↑ Except Miss Christina, a British expatriate.
- ↑ Even on the Nickelodeon show, though, she isn't a resident of Latin America. She just visits there on her own two feet without parental supervision.
- ↑ There's "Pencil vs. Batman", but we don't talk much about that. I like to think of it as a fanfiction of Pencil 2.O created by a deranged in-universe fan.
- ↑ I wrote down 1999, but that was really a conjecture and never official, even during the P2O era. The in-universe explanation for her pretending to have the same birthday as Match (but being born in 1999) is that she is a liar!!1
- ↑ On the spreadsheet.
- ↑ Citation needed.
- ↑ Plus 48 years, of course.
- ↑ They also cannot live over a thousand years, but here's Simon.
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