Fortunate Ben

"Fortunate Ben" is the fifth episode of Battle for BFDI and the 36th episode overall of the Battle for Dream Island series. It was released on January 12, 2018.

It was most likely going to be released on January 5, 2018, but since the script took two weeks to write, Thomas Chick announced on HTwins Central that he had just gotten the script on it's supposed release date, meaning the episode was delayed.

Team Beep lost again.

Liy was eliminated with 7553 votes and Pie was the runner-up with 3995 votes.

Before the intro
Match and Ruby are seen playing Spongy Cake. Flower then asks Ruby to do her a favor as she pulls her out of the game. Ruby says that the favor should be important and complains that she was in the middle of her favorite game. Flower supposes that game was Flower Power, but Ruby says she hates that game because she always wins. Flower points out that her opponents in her game don't grow enough petals to win. Flower then cuts to the favor in which Ruby needs to convince her friends that Flower's pretty. Ruby says something is a bit off even though that she recognized her beauty two months ago. Flower questions that Ruby says she's not pretty and threatens Ruby to crush her. Ruby finds out Flower's more pretty when she curls up her left arm, and she experiments with many factors, such as leg placement, pose, petal placement, and eye stretch.

Ruby then asks Match if they can play Spongy-Cake again, but Match plays the game with Spongy and refers the game as "name-calling, Spongy-bashing, verbal-bullying." Sponge raises his leg in a similar fashion to Four's intro pose, which, just like in the last episode, consequently makes the intro play.

Cake at Stake
At Cake at Stake, Four said that Pen's drawing led them to their elimination, Pen gets mad at Four for saying that his drawing was bad, after that, Four screeched Pen. Later then, X said that Death P.A.C.T.'s drawing was a disgrace to the art community and asked to never touch a piece of paper ever again. Then Pen says he would want the screech, so Four screeched him again, causing Pen to be dizzy. Later on, Pillow asked how many votes they got, Four later responded that they got 20,389 votes, then Four says the 7 safe contestants will each get a fortune cookie while the most voted contestant will be eliminated. Bottle says that they hope they don't get killed, then later on, Bubble got popped by someone. Bottle says that Bubble is dead. Later, Four said Pen got the least votes (1093 votes), then X says that Pen was the first character to have the least votes that doesn't start with a B. Then, Pen says his legal name is "🅱️en". Pie was talking to Pen about what his fortune cookie says, he opens it and it says that one should always hope that life will be full of happiness.. brought by... Ice Cube? Then, Pie says that that is a weird fortune. Later on, Four says that Pillow can sleep easily tonight. She reads the fortune cookie then she says that it is odd and then Four later says that Pillow was odd. Four says Tree and Remote are safe. They both read their fortune cookies and Tree says where Four got these fortune cookies from. Four said they got them from the dumpster. Later on, the next scene shows Gelatin and Team Ice Cube! proudly patting Gelatin on the top of his head. Then the next scene shows Liy, Pie, Black Hole and Bottle who were not safe yet. Then Four says the remaining contestants with holes are safe. Then Bottle said he was ticklish because of the fortune cookie. Later on, Liy and Pie remain, Liy said they were the bottom 2, and stated that she said a pun at Getting Teardrop to Talk and says that the viewers would understand Liy as a positive light, then Pie says that it was fine. Then later, Four shows the votes then X later interrupted Four that Pie stays and Liy goes home. Then Four said that he wanted to say that and then X said that Four can just screech him but then Four later says that he will do something way worse than screeching at X. Then Four gives a fortune cookie to Pie, saying that they needed to listen to Liy. Liy then says that she heard the message and that the viewers and contestants didn't need Liy. Then it shows a scene of Liy with Pie & Black Hole, Liy all alone, Liy rescuing Blocky, then Fanny and then Firey Jr. Then Liy comes down to the ground and says that they thought they would support her but then Tree says to not feel sad/mad for herself. Then Liy switches their light then she switches to the light from BFDI APPISIOTE 225555555!!!!!. Tree is horrified and begs Four to suck them up. Four then agrees with Tree and sucks Liy up.

After Cake at Stake
After Cake at Stake, Foldy is about to smile, but Stapy and Foldy do a big one instead, after that Flower and Gaty were seen as Flower goes insane, then Gaty says what Flower was doing and that what she was doing was idiotic. Then Lollipop tells Four to screech Flower, but later screeched Lollipop. After that, Book was questioning Four where X was and Four said that X was in limb reattachment center.

Contest
To fly in a paper airplane and not touch the ground. Stapy figures out that the planes are made of paper, since paper can't support his weight. Lightning attempts to fly his team's plane up, which leads to four obliterating him and Black Home. Fries requests Puffball and Cloudy be diabled instead of killed. David pilots Beep's airplane with his outline. But the ride is bumpy and Cloudy is injured. Balloony gets mad that no one feels bad for Cloudy, which Nickel mistakes as a normal quote. Likely due to weight or wind, Beep's plane falls, and Free Food's team falls because of Stapy's weight, which makes him accidentally staple his teams plane together, saying that his stapler instincts got a hold of him.

Marker suggests that the plane slows down, which (somehow) makes Stapy spit staples out of him. The ground breaks apart sihgtly, as the team continues falling. Meanwhile, Beep is trying to steer away from the cliff, as they desperately try to steer from the cliff by dabbing. Rocky vomits on David, causing him to wake up. Unfortunately, The staples split the ground in two, causing Free Food to fall between the parts and Beep hits the ground, putting them up for elimination.

Stinger
X is lying in a field waving his arms about while a song plays, sung by a distorted voice. The lyrics of the song are:

Glad to have 2 legs again!

Glad to be an X again!

The song is followed by an applause.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode aired in 2018.
 * This is the first BFB episode to air in the month of January.
 * Pie has the second-highest number of votes. This is possibly due to her lack of appearances and contributions in the past few episodes. The majority voted Pie because she didn't show up in Today's Very Special Episode, but showed up only in the intro.
 * This is the second BFB episode to have a team up for elimination twice. (Beep lost at episodes 2 and 5.)
 * This is the first BFB episode to be made by the newest animator, Caedmon Johnson.
 * SuperScratchkat is his Youtube channel, as the animation in BFB 5 and the channel's BFB fan animation have the same art form.
 * This is the first time in BFB that a contestant whose name doesn't start with "B" gets the least votes (Bubble, Balloony, Bomby).
 * This was pointed out in the episode, although Pen had an excuse that this fact was incorrect.
 * Pen revealed that his legal name is "🅱en."
 * This is most likely why the episode was named Fortunate Ben, as Pen was the first to get a fortune cookie.
 * This is the fourth time in a row that the record of votes has increased and the votes entirely of the episode.
 * This is the first time somebody that is not a team captain is eliminated.
 * This is the second episode that featured no recommended characters.
 * If Why Would You Do This on a Swingset wasn't delayed, then the episode would've been released on December 29th, 2017.
 * In Cary's reaction to Today's Very Special Episode, he said that this episode and future episodes of BFB would have more locations.
 * That was indeed the case, for the challenge's setting took place in an area with a cliff and multiple plants around.
 * This is the first episode where all contestants up for elimination have received at least 1000 votes each.
 * The vote count is 134 more votes than in Today's Very Special Episode.
 * Despite the episode being a week late, the voting period still ends in 48 hours.
 * Cake was promised to have more spotlight, but this was not the case in the official episode for unknown reasons. In fact, Cake didn't even have any lines.
 * Beep is the first team to be up for elimination twice in BFB, having previously lost in Lick Your Way to Freedom.
 * This may be so another female doesn't get out.
 * This is the second time a BFB episode came out without a thumbnail (though this episode will most likely come out with one, since this same situation happened with BFB 4, and the thumbnail later came out).
 * This is the first BFB episode to not have a description. (though this episode will most likely come out with one, since this same situation happened with BFB 4, and the description was later written).
 * Nobody from The Losers! had any lines.
 * Everyone from Death P.A.C.T. had lines.
 * Pin, however, was seen for a split second during the elimination.
 * Ruby has developed and has mixed feelings on Flower's beauty. In her view, it depends on the position.
 * Flower appears on the first thumbnail, although it is not official.
 * Liy's previous design (how she looked like in real life (from BFDI APPISIOTE 225555555!!!!!) was shown to be inside Liy.
 * Liy has shown that she has the ability to switch between levers.
 * David has shown that he has the ability to manipulate his unconnected outline on his head.
 * David uses the advantage to steer his team to victory, although failing due to Free Food's unintentional sabotage.
 * Roboty speaks using subtitles showing what he's saying for the first time.
 * Nickel shows a passion for art.
 * This is the third episode named after a contestant.
 * It is also the third time that the intro plays without Four raising his hand.
 * Again, a contestant substitutes for Four, being Spongy.
 * This is the first time an armless contestant triggers the intro.
 * Liy is responsible for most preventions of deaths on her team (2,753).
 * It is the second time Lightning doesn't ask "So, to clarify..." when the challenge starts, the first time being in Today's Very Special Episode.
 * In this episode, a new animator has been hired.
 * It's the first time A Better Name Than That didn't place 6th, because all teams won, except Beep.
 * However, Free Food might be 7th, as they are shown falling with Beep.
 * The sarcasm scene is a reference to Inanimate Insanity, where Nickel is known for his sarcasm.
 * No characters outside of Death P.A.C.T. have a visible walk animation.
 * It had been widely assumed Cake would play a major role in this episode, however, he only appeared once or twice in a brief moment.
 * No Recommended Characters have appeared in this episode.

Goofs

 * The voting screen lists the end of voting as "Jan 4, 2017", despite occurring in 2018.

Continuity references

 * Match and Ruby play Spongy Cake just like BFDIA 5d and BFDI 3
 * Foldy was about to twitch her mouth like Ice Cube and Firey in the previous episodes, but instead, Foldy and Stapy changed their mind and decided to show off huge smiles instead.
 * Stapy's agreement to Foldy saying "Yeah!" is the same one used in Getting Teardrop to Talk when Marker asks him to play Toss The Dirt.
 * Woody dabs, which is a reference to Lick Your Way to Freedom, where Woody also dabs.
 * When Four said X was in the "Limb Reattachment center", it was a reference to when he said X was in "burn center" in Why Would You Do This on a Swingset.
 * It may also be a reference to Pin losing her limbs in Get in the Van.
 * The Emergency Button from Rescission may have been used to obliterate Lightning and Black Hole.
 * Gelatin wanting to use Bomby for the challenge is a reference to Getting Teardrop to Talk.
 * Bubble died after Bottle said "preventing death", which is another reference to Why Would You Do This on a Swingset.
 * At Cake at Stake, Pin can be seen angry at Blocky. A little bit later, Blocky is seen knocked over. This is most likely a reference to Take the Plunge: Part 1, where Pin knocks Blocky over when he was grabbing her.

Controversy
After the release of the new episode, some fans were confused or upset about the episode's animation. Some had stated it was terrible, while others defended it and said it was more expressive.

Fans have been complaining about Beep being up for elimination again, and saying that Cake was going to have more of a role, but he did not.

There were also criticism about the short challenge.