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- For other episodes with similar titles, see Insectophobe's Nightmare (disambiguation).
| “ | SHH! So rude! | ” |
"Insectophobe's Nightmare 4" (ft. Kevin MacLeod) is the 12th episode of Battle for Dream Island Again, the 37th episode in-universe and the 78th episode overall. It was released on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 2:30:01 PM PST (GMT-8).
In this episode, after a FreeSmarter gets eliminated, Flower is involuntarily killed by Spongy, which accidentally causes bugs to become the host.
Characters[]
Main[]
W.O.A.H. Bunch[]
- Bomby
- Coiny
- Nickel
- Pin (inanimate, heard in The Dream World)
Team No-Name[]
FreeSmart[]
- Book
- Ice Cube (eliminated)
- Needle (forcefully switched from W.O.A.H. Bunch)
- Pencil
- Ruby
- Ruby's sisters (unofficially, debut)
Fries[]
- Fries (switched from Team No-Name)
Minor[]
Cameo[]
- Gelatin
- Announcer (flashback)
- Battery
- Firey (no lines)
- Rocky (no lines)
- Snare Drum (no lines)
- Jack Frew (photograph)
- Lego Brick (picture frame)
- Waffle (picture frame)
- Tune (picture frame)
- Pineapple (picture frame)
Voting screen[]
Plot[]
Before the intro[]
The episode starts with Needle in a suit fumigating many bugs in the So Ha! Fashion Store, by Flower's command. Flower impatiently asks Needle if she's done with it. Needle replies that she isn't done just yet. This irritates Flower, who tells her that she's taking too long, and that she needs to hurry up. Needle gets very annoyed with her, and decides to go upstairs and keep a bug underneath Flower's pillow in a box.
Tennis Ball is then seen in the So-Ha Fashion Store, wanting to revive his team members. He does this by going up to his recovery center, replacing his name with his team members' on a paper, and pressing the button to recover them. Confused, Fries questions the method of recovery, but then immediately sees the fumigator backpack. Realizing that it gets rid of pests, he decides to fumigate Flower. Flower chokes and tries to command Fries to stop, but Fries simply tells her to be a better host in order for him to stop. Flower, forgetting she had to host, runs out of the store. Fries laughs at Flower's misfortune and continues to fumigate the store.
After the intro[]
Pencil and Ice Cube are playing Spongy Cake together. Ruby arrives and explains that if they play Spongy Cake well enough, their Fairy Godmother will come. Upon hearing this, Pencil and Ice Cube start to clap faster until the insect repellent starts to appear out of the shop. Ruby cheers Pencil and Ice Cube on, believing that the Fairy Godmother is arriving. The figure becomes clearer. Ruby hugs the figure until Flower appears, announcing that it's time for Cake at Stake. The Cake at Stake intro plays, but suddenly TV gives up.
Cake at Stake[]
At Cake at Stake, Book suggests changing LRLD’s team name back to FreeSmart and Flower agrees. Using a cash register, Flower announced that the winner of the prize was Ruby. Ruby’s prize was a shrink ray which could shrink any contestant of her choice. To choose who to shrink, Ruby asked everyone else if they liked FreeSmart. Everyone obliges, except for Pin — who can't talk due to her faceless state. Pin shrinks down (to a normal object).
Golf Ball praises Tennis Ball for his research paper in Yoylite. Meanwhile, Flower announces that the cake for today is one of her “luscious outfits." When Ice Cube is eliminated, she shouts that she wants revenge, and gets flung to the WTF. Ruby finds her loss as tragic, but quickly recharges the Swap Token with Flower’s powers. Pencil decides to have Needle on their team.
The only other swapper is Fries, who breaks off Team No-Name to rebirth team Fries.
Flower decides that the challenge is a beauty contest, self-declaring herself the winner. Spongy suddenly appears, who argues that he is the winner. Upon being asked why he isn’t in the WTF, he says that the sender scoop thrower wasn’t strong enough. Flower launches him back straight up, gazing at the sky to see him disappear. Yet, he comes back down, crushing her. Golf Ball decides to call Flower’s most recent contact to come host; although, this turns out to be "Top Haters: Bug."
The shop storms with bugs from under Flower’s pillow, causing alarm in everyone. The bugs carry Bomby to the wheel, who speaks Bug-ese. Bomby then says that the bugs are there only to host. Nickel asks Bomby how he speaks Bug-ese, to which bugs enter Nickel’s mouth (humorously). Nickel’s mouth starts moving and mumbling, which Bomby comprehends as “spin the wheel." The wheel is spun, and the contest is Bug-filled dodgeball insanity.
New teams[]
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Contest[]
When the challenge started, Coiny suggests everyone target Fries because he is a solo team, but Fries manages to dodge all the attacks. At some point, Tennis Ball gets poisoned and then recovered right after, which makes Fries jealous. Tennis Ball then shows Fries a picture he took that has Fries and Jack Frew in it. Nickel walks past it, bantering it by calling it "Jack and Jelly Fries". Fries laughs, telling Nickel he should go tell the emperor. Chaos then ensues shortly after.
During the chaos, Nickel tries hiding inside Tennis Ball's recovery center by cutting through it with Pin's tiny inanimate body, but Tennis Ball is upset by this, so he collects some bugs with the fumigator backpack and fills them inside the recovery center, poisoning Nickel, and making it overflow and about to burst. The remaining FreeSmarters take cover behind Spongy except for Needle because Pencil told them that they were an "alternate's alternate", and they can be promoted to member through an act of sacrifice.
Needle remembers that she has the key to exit the store, so she unlocks the door and leaves along with everyone else who's still alive. While outside, Tennis Ball and Golf Ball plan to kill the Queen Bug in the Bug Hive, because she is coated with anti-poison, but unbeknownst to them, the FreeSmarters were following along.
In the next scene we see what looks like a kaleidoscopic background with the voices of Pin and Coiny (which is their subconscious). Coiny is confused by this at first, thinking he is dead. Pin tells him about how inconsiderate she got treated. Coiny agrees with it.
The scene cuts back to the pursuit, but Ruby pulls the other FreeSmarters into a bush to hear Golf Ball. Golf Ball informs Tennis Ball that the Queen Bug has 15 dots instead of the common 7-8. Inside the bug hive, they all begin counting the dots, except for Ruby who finds a strange hallway. She goes to investigate and finds her 35 sisters. She goes to hug them but they back away, telling her that she crushed their dreams of joining BFDI.
Meanwhile, Bomby and Coiny who's holding Pin chase after Fries, who stops at the Evil Canyon having nowhere else to run. Fortunately, he catches the fumigator backpack and flies off with it. Bomby tells Coiny to throw Pin at the backpack to pop it, but Coiny tells him that the W.O.A.H. Bunchers have to stick together. Bomby takes it from him and throws it himself, managing to successfully pop the backpack, and Pin falls into a pile of mud, while Fries falls into a building, landing in a music performance. He questions where he is, but gets shushed by a (recommended) character.
Back at the canyon, Bomby is content that they managed to pop the backpack, but Evil Leafy appears behind them. They try throwing bugs at her, but she devours it all. Bomby gives up and dies to her, but Coiny takes Needle's icon and jumps off the ledge, using the water left inside of it to make a flood. He survives the fall, and puts back the icon where it was.
In the next scene, Tennis Ball found the Queen Bug, and Golf Ball uses her straw made out of Yoylite that she made and gives it to Tennis Ball in order to suck the anti-poison out of the bug. While sucking, Golf Ball tells him to drink less loudly, since it'll provoke the other bugs. Golf Ball also tells him to keep away from heat as high temperatures will denature the anti-poison. But unbeknownst to Golf Ball, Pencil heard it and tells Needle to write it down. Pencil also asks where Ruby was.
Ruby asked her 35 sisters why they lived beside a bug hive, and ever since they failed to join BFDI, they wanted to avoid the "cameras." Ruby, confused, asks what cameras to which they don't have a clue, which makes them want to compete just like Ruby, so they decide to switch gem between gem trying to be Ruby for the rest of the challenge. Poo comes out and Pencil (thinking that it's Ruby) asks why she looks more browner than usual. She says that it's just the hive's lighting. Pencil asks Needle if she looks more browner than usual, mistakenly calling her "Needy" and gets slapped. The slap provokes the bugs, which all target Pencil who dies tragically.
In the next scene, we are taken back to Pin and Coiny's subconscious, where Pin wants things to change. Coiny has the same idea, but doesn't know what plan to take. Fortunately, Pin has a plan for them.
Everyone else remaining in the hive flees. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball plan to poison Fries. Tennis Ball uses his Fries Detector to travel to Fries' location, though the FreeSmarters were following behind. During their trip, they test with Book if the anti-poison works, which it does. Then, they make it into the same building Fries landed in, and Tennis Ball notices that Pan Flute is conducting his musical performance. They go inside and Golf Ball is excited to poison Fries, but gets immediately shushed, rudely, by the (recommended) characters. Pan Flute gives a warm welcome to the crowd, and starts to play their piece "Call to Adventure."
During the performance, Golf Ball flings bugs at Fries, but he dodges them and they land on some of the music players, who get poisoned. Pan Flute is bugged by this, and tells them to play louder, even though they're poisoned, but got shushed by two of the (recommended) characters, much to his annoyance. Fries catches a bug and poisons Golf Ball with it, but Tennis Ball revives her with anti-poison, which upsets Fries. Coiny finishes climbing up the other side of the canyon, and goes into the building. Tennis Ball builds a trebuchet and Golf Ball fills it with bugs to fling at Fries, but he dodges them all, and the audience screams as they get doused with bugs. Pan Flute assumes that the audience is cheering, and tells the musicians to play louder, but they're all getting poisoned, Pan Flute then gets confused about the situation in his point of view, until later. Fries finally gets poisoned, making his solo team up for elimination.
The FreeSmarters make it in during the chaos. Needle rubs her hands together next to Tennis Ball's anti-poison stash, to make thermal heat, causing the anti-poison to no longer work. Needle poisons Tennis Ball, and Golf Ball tries the anti-poison, which does absolutely nothing. She gets poisoned, making her team also up for elimination.
Back into the subconscious once again, Pin explains to Coiny that she lost her limbs, face, and size, and wants to take vengeance, but it's near impossible with their power.
Coiny encounters Needle and a color-shifting gem and questions why they're blue. She throws a bug at Coiny but he dodges it, which makes her upset. The rest of the audience, that's still alive, restrains her for ruining the performance, and closes her mouth. Coiny tells Needle to kill her and questions what FreeSmart ever offered her, but she can remember Pencil telling her that she can be promoted to a member through the act of sacrifice, so she poisons Coiny, making his team up for elimination, and making FreeSmart safe. Evil Leafy then appears, the (recommended) characters mistake Evil Leafy for interrupting the concert and so they shushed her and restrained her instead of "Ruby" (despite being a "mute" character like Teardrop, if she was there that'll offend her). "Ruby" thanks Needle for saving her and says that she's updated to "FreeSmart" member, and says that she did take out "the trash", but Needle says that Coiny isn't "trash". Evil Leafy then escapes the restraining from the (recommended) characters that then causes "Ruby", Needle and the rest of the surviving audience to flee the building.
Stinger[]
After the concert, Pan Flute asks his audience their opinions on the show. Unbeknownst to him, his audience have all been poisoned. Pan Flute takes this as them enjoying it as none of them said they didn't like it. Suddenly, Evil Leafy appears, and Pan Flute remarks that even Evil Leafy enjoyed it.
Post-credits scene[]
In Pin and Coiny's subconscious, Pin talks to Coiny about her plan. She tells him that where they need to go to regain Pin's form is somewhere "far, far away," and to get there, they will need to get "compacted".
Still in the Running[]
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Votes[]
There were 164,720 votes cast. 109,058 likes and 55,662 dislikes were casted during the three-day voting period, which lasted from April 1st to 4th.
| Icon | Contestant | Likes | Dislikes | 👍/👎 | Like % | Dislike % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Ruby | 36,259 | 7,083 | 5.119 | 33.25% | 12.73% |
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Book | 32,622 | 7,278 | 4.482 | 29.91% | 13.08% |
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Pencil | 25,855 | 12,939 | 1.998 | 23.71% | 23.25% |
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Ice Cube | 14,322 | 28,362 | 0.504 | 13.13% | 50.95% |
| Total: 164,720 | 109,058 | 55,662 | 100% | |||
Prizes[]
- Win the season
- Cake-flavored steak
- Pet penguin
- Shrink a contestant of your choice (Chosen)
- Unlimited bacon, but no games
- $1,613,423,786
- Jack Frew's life savings
- Steak-flavored cake
- Be poorly drawn for the rest of the episode
Challenges[]
- Find the Great Goikian Gem
- Balance Beam Challenge
- Bug-filled Dodgeball Insanity (Chosen)
- Count to three
- Eat 100 million billion Bugs
- Explore the Mud
- Play in a band
- Explode Spongy
- Idée de défi (translates to “Challenge idea”)
Challenge progression[]
| Contestant | Team | Challenge Rank | Team Rank | Reason | |
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Book | 
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N/A | N/A | Accidently poisoned by Nickel, after he spat out the bugs that had crawled inside his mouth. Later revived by Golf Ball. |
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Tennis Ball | 
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Poisoned several times by Fries and Coiny, but got recovered by the Tennis Ball Recovery Center. | ||
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Nickel | 
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11th | 4th | Tried to use the Tennis Ball Recovery Center as a shelter, but Tennis Ball filled it with bugs, who poisoned him. |
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Pin |
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10th | 3rd | Got thrown at Fries by Bomby in an attempt to kill him. She landed in mud on the other side of the canyon and drowned. |
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Bomby |
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9th | 2nd | Got possessed by Evil Leafy due to not jumping into the Evil Canyon, and died shortly afterwards. |
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Pencil |
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8th | 4th | Swarmed by bugs after they were awakened by Needle slapping her. |
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Book |
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7th | 3rd | Initially poisoned at the beginning of the challenge. Brought back to life by Golf Ball testing her anti-poison, only for her to re-poison her immediately afterwards. |
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Tennis Ball |
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N/A | N/A | Poisoned several times by Fries, but got revived with anti-poison. |
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Golf Ball |
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Poisoned several times by Fries, but got revived with anti-poison. | ||
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Fries | 
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6th | 1st | Poisoned by Team No-Name. Attempted to do the dodging pattern as Tennis Ball and Golf Ball launched bugs at him via a trebuchet, but failed due to a bug being in the way of the normal dodging pattern. |
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Tennis Ball |
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5th | 2nd | Poisoned by Needle, who initially tried to target Golf Ball. Golf Ball attempted to revive him, but the denatured anti-poison was ineffective |
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Golf Ball |
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4th | 1st | Poisoned by Ruby's sister Fluorite after failing to revive Tennis Ball. |
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Coiny |
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3rd | 1st | Was poisoned by Needle, who wanted to become an official member of FreeSmart by an act of sacrifice. |
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Ruby/her sisters |
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1st | 1st | Survived the challenge. |
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Needle |
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Credits[]
BFDIA 12[]
- Created by:
- Cary Huang
- Michael Huang
- Written by:
- Cary Huang
- Joseph Pak
- Directed by:
- Anthony Acedo
- Cary Huang
- Joseph Pak
- Michael Huang
- Voice acting:
- Adam Katz -————————— Nickel
- Braden Whiteside -————— Bugs
- Cary Huang ————————— Pin & Ruby and her Sisters & Spongy & Tennis Ball
- Ian Woodside ———————— Gelatin
- Michael Huang ——————— Book & Coiny & Flower & Fries & Golf Ball & Pencil
- Kenzie Bryant “Pokey” -—— Ice Cube & Needle
- Satomi Hinatsu ——————— Bomby
- Special guest:
- Kevin MacLeod ——————— Pan Flute
- Voice processing:
- Benjamin Cross
- Braden Whiteside
- Crowds (Recommended Character Voices):
- Benjamin Cross
- Braden Whiteside
- Cary Huang
- Dane Trent “WoopDoo”
- Daniel Adam Valle
- Joseph Pak
- TAFFYMARZI
- Xander Archibald “Xananer”
- Audio:
- Anthony Acedo
- Benjamin Cross
- Braden Whiteside
- Daniel Booth
- Griffin Weber
- Justin Chapman
- Storyboarding:
- Benjamin Cross
- Daniel Adam Valle
- Dane Trent “WoopDoo”
- Joseph Pak
- TAFFYMARZI
- Xander Archibald “Xananer”
- Recommended characters:
- Aidan L. “Aidsie”
- Filip K. “Khoreo”
- Props, backgrounds:
- Aidan L. “Aidsie”
- Anthony Acedo
- Joseph Pak
- Lazlo T. “TopHatTheHat”
- Punch-Holer
- Poppy Hughes “WormBuffet”
- Animation:
- Aidan L. “Aidsie”
- Aiden Gomez
- Alem Hadzic
- Anthony Acedo
- Brannon C. “BrannFlakes”
- Chelsea W. “Wuggolo”
- Cormac Oliver
- Daniel Adam Valle
- Dane Trent “WoopDoo”
- Dawn Shimizu “Shimzo”
- Donato Borza
- Filip K. “Khoreo”
- Griffin Weber
- Joseph H. ”Spherigon”
- Joseph Pak
- Xander Archibald “Xananer”
- Revisions:
- Anthony Acedo
- Daniel Adam Valle
- Joseph Pak
- Video editing:
- Anthony Acedo
- Joseph Pak
- Music:
- Kevin MacLeod
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In the first teaser, it shows Leafy on the Plains. Behind her is a very faint Evil Leafy. The words next to her say, "I'll heat up some Dirt Cake." This teaser is a reference to the TV show "Breaking Bad."
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The second teaser shows Pan Flute holding a baton on stage. The top of the teaser says "BFDIA 12 THIS WEEK."
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The third teaser is a two-second long video posted on the Humany channel, showing Cary Huang in a dark room, quickly saying "New episode Thursday." The video can be viewed here.
Trivia[]
- The order of which Ruby's sisters take Ruby's place is as follows:
- Poo (13:36)
- Malachite (13:48)
- Fluorite (14:01)
- Gold (14:03)
- Axinite (14:42)
- Ivory (14:43)
- Iolite (14:44)
- Glass (14:46)
- Gold (14:47)
- Pearl (14:59)
- Turquoise (15:00)
- Malachite (15:01)
- Pyrite (15:03)
- Emerald/Jade (16:31)
- Amethyst (16:31)
- Aquamarine (16:40)
- Gold (16:42)
- Aquamarine (17:18)
- Variscite (17:28)
- Gold (17:37)
- Pearl (17:45)
- Opal (18:06)
- Sapphire (18:08)
- Malachite (18:10)
- Fluorite (18:11)
- Ivory (18:12)
- Aquamarine (18:38)
- Amethyst (18:43)
- Diamond (18:46)
- Coral (18:48)
- Dioptase (18:57)
- Unknown sister (see errors) (19:02)
- Hematite (19:14)
- Peridot (19:31)
- Diamond (19:34)
- Ammolite (19:37)
- Variscite (19:45)
- Diamond (19:48)
- Amethyst (19:50)
- Sapphire (19:59)
- With all that said, Gold has made the most appearances, at 4. On the other hand, Obsidian, Amber, Feldspar, Jasper, Topaz, Benitoite, Garnet, Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, Kornerupine, and Chrysoberyl did not replace Ruby for a scene.
- Kevin MacLeod guest-stars in the episode. He is the composer for most of the royalty free music used as BFDI's soundtrack in the first three seasons, which is the coincidental reason why he voices a character based on a musical instrument.
- Ruby's line "That means this episode features a cave in ma' cloud." teases his special appearance later on in the episode.
- He performs "Call to Adventure," a piece that previously played in "The Long-lost Yoyle City."
- Throughout the performance, the instruments performing on stage get killed off by the bugs one by one. For every instrument killed, their corresponding instrument is removed from the track itself.
- The contest (Bug-Filled Dodgeball Insanity) also has the initialism of BFDI.
- The vinyl record created as a collaboration between Kevin MacLeod and jacknjellify shown at the credits is called Bops, Famous Ditties & Instrumentals.
- The last two words of the contest name, Dodgeball and Insanity, may be a reference to Inanimate Insanity Season 2's first episode, which features a dodgeball challenge, though this may be a coincidence.
- This is the second episode (third counting BFDIA 5B) in BFDIA that isn't named after a spoken quote within that episode, the first being Insectophobe's Nightmare 3.
- This episode is the first time since "Welcome Back" that a different language or alphabet is introduced. In this episode's case, it is Bug-ese.
- Chronologically, this is the first episode to do so.
- In the third teaser, if you can listen closely before Cary Huang says "New episode Thursday," you can faintly hear WoopDoo say "May 16th."
- The twelfth spoken word of this episode is "time." Therefore, the secret message so far is "Don't try that thing again because it definitely won't work this time [...]"
- The background in the characters' icons during the challenge shows their current location. This becomes more apparent when Needle's icon is filled with water.
- The icons are also manipulatable by the contestants, as Coiny uses Needle's icon to save himself from the spikes in Evil Canyon, and Needle pushes Spongy's icon off screen, due to him being eliminated.
- If one notices Spongy's icon, they can discover where he roamed throughout the challenge. He appeared to have visited the Evil Forest, Desert, Bug Hive and the Concert Hall at some points.
- Nickel's line "Wait, is that... Jack and Jelly Fries?" is a pun on the YouTube channel name Jacknjellify.
- This episode marks the first confirmed canonical appearance of Ruby's sisters, who first appeared in ABCDEFG.
- ABCDEFG itself is not yet confirmed to be canon, though the Sisters' appearance increases the likelyhood of this.
- This episode marks the first in-universe appearance of Snare Drum, a failed TPOT debuter.
- This is the second "Insectophobe's Nightmare" episode in a row to feature Fries in the thumbnail.
- The episode went trending on YouTube, peaking at #12 in the US.
- This is the first BFDIA episode to have more than three teams competing at once, with Team No-Name, Fries, FreeSmart, and W.O.A.H. Bunch competing against each other.
- It is also the first BFDIA episode to have more than one team up for elimination, and the first episode in the entire series to have three teams up for elimination.
- This is the first in-universe episode to have a contestant shrunk down to size during an elimination. The first to do so in release date order having been the BFB episode "Return of the Rocket Ship."
- This is the first time Ice Cube has said her catchphrase "I want revenge!" in her current voice rather than using a recycled audio clip from her original voice actor, Cary Huang.
- What happened with Ruby after her sisters started swapping out with her was left on a cliffhanger. It could be possible either that the crew have left it as a secret, or the gems taking Ruby's place was only for this episode.
- At 18:43, as Amethyst says "This town ain't big enough for the two of us," her face changes from a regular BFDI asset to a Cary-style face for a quarter of a second.
- This is the last episode of BFDIA to have members switching teams, which are Needle & Fries respectively.
- Despite Leafy appearing in one of the teasers, she dosen't even appear in the episode, let alone play a huge part in it.
- Due to a merge not happening in this episode, this means that BFDIA is the first season to not have a merge in an episode number that is a multiple of 12, due to BFDI's merge happening in BFDI 12 (A Leg Up in the Race), and BFB's merge happening in BFB 24 (The Game Has Changed).
- When Tennis Ball was counting the bugs' spots, he says "No" in the notes of a D major chord.
- Some recommended character names and recommenders are not shown in the episode, same with "Taste the Sweetness".
Elimination[]
- Ice Cube is the third FreeSmart member eliminated, following Firey in "Meaty" and Gelatin in "Taste the Sweetness." She is however the first FreeSmart member eliminated who was on the team since its formation.
- She is also the first female to be sent to the Weak Trembling Fortress.
- Ice Cube was eliminated by viewers for the first time. Her only previous elimination was by contestants and recommended characters in "The Glistening."
- Due to Ice Cube being eliminated, this is the first time since "Well Rested" where a female contestant got eliminated, since Puffball was eliminated 5th.
- This follows Dora in "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3," Teardrop in "Zeeky Boogy Doog," Match in "Get in the Van," and Puffball in "Well Rested."
- With Ice Cube gone, Needle is the only female contestant voiced by Kenzie "Pokey" Bryant left.
- Ice Cube is the second water-based contestant to be eliminated, following Teardrop.
- This is the second time Ice Cube got eliminated in BFDI history.
- Ice Cube is the third armless contestant to be eliminated, following Rocky in "Intruder Alert" and Spongy in "Lots of Mud," leaving.
- She is also the first female armless contestant to be eliminated, leaving Golf Ball (and if you count Pin being armless since BFDIA 5a) as the only female armless contestant(s) still competing.
- Ice Cube has done worse than in BFDI.
- This is the third "Insectophobe Nightmare" episode in a row where a female contestant got eliminated, following Flower in "Insectophobe's Nightmare 2" and Dora in "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3."
- Ice Cube is the third BFDIA contestant to be eliminated who is still competing in TPOT, following Donut in "Get Digging" and Yellow Face in "Catch These Hands".
- With Ice Cube eliminated, there are no more future contestants from The S! left competing in BFDIA.
- Ice Cube is the first future member of The S! to be eliminated in BFDIA that never switched to W.O.A.H. Bunch.
- Ice Cube's elimination makes Book the highest placing BFDIA 5b playable character. Book would achieve this a second time in TPOT (and an additional time counting a tie with Ice Cube when leaving Battle for BFDI).
Continuity references[]
- Before being flung to the WTF, Ice Cube screams that she wants revenge on the voters. She's said this many times before, but this is the first time since she first said it that it's said in a completely original line.
- The entire section of the episode after the elimination and before the challenge is a repeat of the previous episode "Lots of Mud". In the previous episode, Spongy is flung by the Sender Scoop Thrower as an attempt to be sent to the Weak Trembling Fortress. However, due to his weight, he lands on Puffball Speaker Box, squashing and malfunctioning her. Later, Golf Ball contacts Flower and forces her to host. In this episode, it's all the same, except it's Flower who gets squashed by Spongy, and it's the bugs who are contacted by Golf Ball to be hosts.
- The Challenge Wheel wedge that says "Find the Great Goikian Gem" is a reference to the BFB episodes "Return of the Rocket Ship" and "Don't Dig Straight Down".
- The flashback scene with Ruby, her sisters, and the Announcer is a reference to Ruby's audition in "The Reveal."
- The flashback scene where Ruby quickly eats candies before auditioning to join is a callback to the IDFB episode "Welcome Back."
- Ruby having sisters is a reference to Cary's video Ruby and her 35 sisters in ABCDEFG, with all the gemstones from the video.
- The music played when Ruby first met them again is from the original video.
- The shelves in Flower's room contain Pin's Flower Cake from "Sweet Tooth," Flower's asset, and a miniature Announcer Crusher.
- Fries, Ruby, Nickel, Pencil, Bomby, Needle, and Coiny jump to avoid the bugs being thrown towards them in a similar way as the former five, along with Bubble, Book, Ice Cube, Golf Ball, Puffball, Yellow Face, Firey, Tennis Ball, Rocky, Match, Spongy, and Gelatin, did to avoid the knife being thrown towards them in "Get in the Van."
- Most of the characters are seen in their intro pose before running to the door from the bugs.
- The sequence of the contestants fighting each other and Tennis Ball getting repeatedly killed and recovered is a reference to "Hurtful!" and "Insectophobe's Nightmare 2".
- Golf Ball calls Flower's most recent contact to host just like how she did with Puffball Speaker Box in the previous episode.
- When Ice Cube is sent to the Weak Trembling Fortress, Gelatin welcomes her, referring to her as "headphone-wearer" as they both had Yellow Face's headphones in "Well Rested", "Intruder Alert", and "Catch These Hands".
- Pencil and Ice Cube play Spongy Cake the same way Match and Ruby do so in "It's a Monster" and "Fortunate Ben."
- Ruby, Needle, Pencil, Golf Ball, Tennis Ball, Coiny, Bomby, and Fries running through many different locations possibly references Golf Ball, Tennis Ball, and Fries walking through different locations in "Intruder Alert" Some locations were even the same as the ones they walked through.
- When Spongy's icon gets moved, he cries just like the time he crushed his house in "Don't Pierce My Flesh".
- Needle's line "Aw. seriously?" is recycled from "Barriers and Pitfalls" and "Bridge Crossing".
- The auditorium has posters referencing BFDIA 5b (with Waffle, Lego Brick, and Tune), and GTTTATINT, which can both be seen at 15:35.
- Pan Flute saying that his performance must be a smash hit because none of the people in the audience said they didn't like it is a reference to the Bubble Transformer ad from "Puzzling Mysteries"; the people who could have said they didn't like it are also dead in both cases.
- Flower saying "Why would you ever want to be anywhere else?" as the reason for her locking her store is a reference to the Revolutionary Headphones commercial from "Bowling, Now with Explosions!" where Yellow Face asks the viewers why they would listen to anything other than the sound that the headphones were functioned to play.
- It is revealed that all of Ruby's sisters went to gem school, despite what Book said about gem school being only for diamonds in "No More Snow!". Diamond reveals that she lied to Ruby about this just to teach her a lesson for being so "cocky" after she joined BFDIA.
- On another note, Poo mentions that she was the valedictorian of gem school.
- The dodging pattern is done once again, this time with Fries. This is the second time Fries has done the dodging pattern, the first time was in "Meaty". However, this is the first time he did it by himself, as he did it with Tennis Ball previously. Although unlike the previous patterns, it is subverted this time around as there is an extra bug added to the pattern that Fries runs into.
- During Pan Flute's Adventurous Overture, the side effect of anti-poison as said in "Zeeky Boogy Doog" (eating one contestant) still occurs when Golf Ball and Tennis Ball attempt to throw bugs to Fries and when testing the anti-poison with recovering Book.
- Needle questioning why Spongy's icon was on the screen when he wasn't currently a contestant is a possible reference to "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3", when Bubble asked Pencil and Match about Ruby's presence and claimed that she wasn't in their alliance.
- In the stinger, Pin tells Coiny her plan where in order to get her limbs back, they have to get "compacted." "Compacted" is said in a robotic TTS voice, referencing the Underworld in episodes 9 and 10. It is also most likely that the location will be revisited in the next episode.
- This may include a further reference to "Taste the Sweetness" where Pin and Coiny potentially find the escape out of the Underworld.
- Tennis Ball's trebuchet makes its first in-universe appearance in this episode. In release date order, the trebuchet itself first appeared in the BFB episode "Getting Teardrop to Talk," even though it was mentioned in "Get in the Van."
- The scene where the recommended characters close "Ruby's" mouth is a reference to "Balancing P.A.C.T.", where some of the contestants shove the limb-removing gumball into Donut's mouth.
- Amethyst, after being informed that she and Needle had won the challenge, references the alliance proposal from "Taste the Sweetness" called Taking Out the Trash.
- Pin and Coiny being able to read each other's thoughts is a nod to "Intruder Alert", where they were able to telepathically communicate.
- There was an Insectophobe's Nightmare 4 video on Humany, although it was BFDIA 6.
Cultural references[]
- One of the teaser images posted on various social media platforms is a reference to the TV show Breaking Bad.
- One of the prize wheel slices says "Unlimited bacon, but no games", referencing the meme with the same name.
- Ruby's line "There's a little divot in this cloud of mine" may be a reference to the song This Little Light of Mine.
- The overall concept of the challenge appears to be a possible reference to a battle royale, a war between multiple people across different locations to be the first. The icons shown throughout the entire challenge section of the episode would make this evident.
- When Tennis Ball said "tater haters", he also said "they must be out of their minds", a reference to the classic song "Tater Haters" by FRED.
- Fries says "When you bite the fry, the fry bites back". This is a reference to the video "OH MY DAYUM ft. @DaymDrops" by schmoyoho.
- This song is also referenced in the animation of Ruby singing the song that was uploaded on Twitter and TikTok and later included in the compilation video "BFB TikTok Compilation".
- When Coiny uses Needle's team icon to save himself, he says "MLG water icon" which is a reference to the MLG water bucket, which is when in Minecraft, you place water from a water bucket below you to prevent fall damage. MLG itself is a reference to the esports organization Major League Gaming.
- Topaz's appearance when Ruby is introducing her sisters is possibly a reference to the Canadian characters in South Park.
- Peridot and Lapis Lazuli being next to each other is a reference to Steven Universe.[1]
- The scene where Flower presses the button for the Scooper to send Spongy flying is a possible reference to the Team Rocket blasting off running gag from the Pokémon anime.
- The backgrounds that appear when Coiny shouts in the theater are similar to the backgrounds in the TV show Mixels.
- Pencil’s death in the bughive is heavily reminiscent of Leon Kuwata’s execution in the Danganronpa series.
Goofs[]
- At 3:10, Flower said "Don't you regret calling me ugly six times last episode?" even though Ice Cube called her ugly seven times.
- At 7:52, Bomby's legs disappear for a single frame.
- At 9:07, Golf Ball said normal bugs have 7 to 8 dots, but the scenes following show the contestants counting 9 or more dots.
- At 10:00, Needle's icon is layered incorrectly from the others, so it appears above the screen wipe animation for a few frames instead of below.
- At 14:02, Needle's arm is disconnected from any character for a few frames.
- At 14:48, Book's reflection on the floor is flipped incorrectly, this is immediately fixed in the next shot.
- At 14:55, Needle's icon changes to the underwater version in the hive, even though she already left it. This is fixed when she enters the evil forest.
- At 18:00, Tennis Ball, Golf Ball and the anti-poison syringes move disproportionately from the background.
- Despite Soul Cube, Orange T, and Icosahedron being eaten by Golf Ball and Tennis Ball, they reappear at the end, in a poisoned state.
- The Recommended Characters tell Evil Leafy to shush, even though she can't talk. (idiots.) (Also, another muted character, Teardrop, could get offended by that too.)
- At 19:02, when "Ruby" was telling Needle to save FreeSmart, she becomes a color that none of the other sisters have.
The unidentified Ruby's Sister
- This could either be a coloring error, or a different gem or glass with a non-transparent body.
- The color most closely resembles Feldspar, Quartz, or Pyrite.
Deaths[]
- A few bugs were killed.
- Flower was crushed by Spongy.
- Bomby gets possessed and later confirmed to be killed by Evil Leafy.
- Book (2x), Tennis Ball (9x), Nickel, Pencil, Golf Ball (4x), Fries and Coiny were poisoned by bugs.
- Pin drowned in mud.
- Rice was eaten by Book.
- Recommended characters were poisoned by bugs and eaten by Golf Ball and Tennis Ball.
- Snare Drum was poisoned by a bug off-screen.
References[]
| 2024 episodes |
|---|
| "Catch These Hands" • "Taste the Sweetness" • "Oneirophobe's Nightmare" • "Lots of Mud" • "Insectophobe's Nightmare 4" • "Out Of The Blue" • "What's Up Bell's String?" • "Well, Look Who It Is!" • "PointyPointyPointy ♫" • "Category One" • "Spore Day" • "I SAID CAREFUL!!!" • "Respect to the Wicked" |
| "Nightmare" episodes |
|---|
| BFDI: "Insectophobe's Nightmare" • "Insectophobe's Nightmare 2"
BFDIA: "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3" • Insectophobe's Nightmare 4" |
