As Battle for Dream Island has risen to popularity in recent years, other pieces of media have made their own references to the series. Being the first object show, many shows of the genre have referenced it as well. This article lists every instance of the series being referenced by outside works, whether it's from other web videos, television programs, or games.
It should be noted that although BFDI's assets have been widely used outside the show, they were released by the Huang twins under the public domain, meaning they aren't directly tied to the show's existence and many people using them wouldn't know either. This means that many simple instances of "reused assets" (such as the widely-used BFDI Mouth) would not count as true references to the series.
Inanimate Insanity[]
Aside from the crossover shorts the two series have collaborated on, II has many BFDI references of its own.
Inanimate Insanity (Season 1)[]
The Crappy Cliff[]
While not an obvious reference, Nickel says "Thanks a lot Taco, It's your fault Lightbulb won" which is similar to Eraser saying "Thanks a lot Bubble, it's your fault we lost"
The Arena of Death[]
Nickel talking to the Announcer
Nickel is briefly seen telling Announcer that he didn't even want to be on his show anyway. This is a reference to the BFDI 18 debut where Nickel failed to join.
MePhone4 announces that the elimination prize is pencils, Pencil's asset is then shown on the screen. However, Nickel says that pencils are stupid. Pencil appears and calls him a jerk. MePhone then notices her and hits her with the Fist Thingy. This scene is also kept in and reanimated in the Season 1 remake, with Michael returning to redub the line as well.
One Shot Wonder[]
Nickel tells Knife about how he left the Locker of Losers after failing to join BFDI. Nonexisty also appears and Nickel thanks him for helping him escape. This scene was removed in the Season 1 remake.
Rocky appears behind Salt, Pickle and Balloon during the challenge, Pickle trips over and Salt gets slingshotted. Lightbulb ran towards her team hoping for a turn, but she trips over Rocky and shatters.
Less obvious references[]
- Nickel is about to insult Knife, but then gets cut off by the intro. This is similar to what happened in "Reveal Novum" with Coiny and Announcer.
- Cheesy hosts an advert. The end is heavily inspired by Blocky's Funny Doings International adverts, ending the ad with "This advertisement thingy, was brought to you by..."
Cloudy gets hit by a frisbee
The Stacker[]
Salt and Pepper play catch. During their game, Pepper throws frisbee and misses Salt, going above her and it hits Cloudy by accident.
The Four II Versions of the BFDI contestants (From Clockwise), 8-Ball, TV, Bell, and Book (Named Dictionary in II)
A New Stage in the Game[]
A New Stage in the Game has four different versions of characters in BFDI. There is also a scene where Adam has a picture of Bubble in his room.
Aquatic Conflict[]
During the montage near the beginning, Coiny and Announcer both make cameo appearances.
Inanimate Insanity (Season 2)[]
Puffball Speaker Box makes a special appearance as a guest host in "Cooking for the Grater Good".
In one episode of Fan's Fantastic Features, Coiny makes another cameo and says hi to Nickel in Hotel OJ.
"Thanks Balloon. I'm so glad we connected. Your social game sure is strong!"
Inanimate Insanity Invitational (Season 3)[]
In the episode "The Show Must Go On", during one of the challenge ideas, Coiny makes yet another cameo where Balloon has to save him from a penny jar.
Inanimate Insanity IV[]
Pencil actually is a character, having multiple speaking lines, and appearing in the crowd scene.
Other Object Shows[]
General[]
Object shows all take heavy inspiration from Battle for Dream Island, from the artstyle to the common viewer-voting competition formula. Most object shows also take graphics, assets, and sound effects originating from BFDI. Recent object shows take heavy inspiration from BFB-onward as well, as many object shows since then have switched to using the same hand-drawn techniques for the animation of the faces and limbs, as well as introducing characters based off Algebralians.
Animatic Battle[]
At the beginning of "M is for Magic", the character Popcorn runs towards another contestant, MiniDisky, to show them something [which turns out to be scary not too long after]. This is a reference to "Getting Teardrop to Talk".
Then, the intro sequence in the same episode is nearly identical: Something almost kills all the contestants, but a crudely-drawn psychotic host comes in and something happens to stop it. It also has an intro with a line of the contestants which zooms out near the end.
Later in the same episode, after Animatic shows his prize, all characters (except Cheez-It), have the same blank stare as they did in the first episode of Battle for BFDI.
Battle for Palace Objects Reloaded[]
The first scene of this object show directly parodies the start of BFDI where two characters are recalling a previous event, nearly word-for-word imitating Pencil and Match. The first episode's intro is also an FLA edit of the BFB intro, and App is seen reusing the Arm fluttering animation from BFB 1 in one scene.
Brawl of the Objects[]
At the start of episode 1, Party Hat reminds Boombox of the time he got recommended in "Yeah, Who? I Wanna Know". Later in the episode, Party Hat asks if BOTO will be a competition "kinda like BFDI".
Greeny's Grand Game[]
At the beginning of episode 1, the character Brae runs towards another contestant, AD, to show him something. This is another reference to "Getting Teardrop to Talk".
It's Time for The[]
In It's Time for The 4:00, Clock tells the contestants that this episode is very special. Vase asks why is that, in which X pops out saying his line from BFB 4 before glitching out. Clock also briefly transforms into Bomby when reading out a comment.
The show also has a contestant named 57-Ball, which is likely a reference to 8-Ball, although 57-Ball has legs.
Mysterious Object Super Show[]
The show's intro is inspired by the Battle for BFDI intro. There are also two characters inspired by the BFDI series: 8.8-Ball (based on 8-Ball) and BFDI Mouth. The character Evil Shapy may be a reference to Evil Leafy, as a non-evil Shapy exists in the show.
Object Fool[]
In the final episode, the failed debuters walk towards the site of the winner crowning ceremony using the same walking animation the BFB contestants use during "The Escape from Four".
Object Lockdown[]
There is a scene in the fourth episode where Pumpkin calls Sun "Puffball exposed" due to always winning prizes but they deny this saying they would never kill their team.
Object Madness[]
Nickel, Puffball and Tennis Ball are contestants in the show. Tack looks like Pin, being blue instead of red and having a swapped gender and another contestant Puffbull has an almost identical design and name to Puffball's, being Puffball's archenemy in the show.
Object Unicode[]
The character 12 Jr. is largely based in his design by Twelve and in his temperament by Firey Jr..
Objectified[]
In the forty-fourth episode, inanimate versions of Marker and Pen can be seen in a scene.
Other YouTubers[]
BENJIxScarlett[]
BENJIxScarlett has made 7 songs so far about Battle for Dream Island, starting with the BFDI Song released on August 31, 2024. These songs were made to garner views and attention, as there are multiple mistakes in most of the songs, from the character designs to the captions, not to mention that he makes songs about anything that becomes popular with kids these days.
choopo[]
In "The Awful Atrocities of David" at 1:13, there is an image that has around 6 people named David with one being David from BFDI. In the setting of his video "Ranking Every Mario Kart Track By Safety", 2,763 is seen as one of the numbers on a scoreboard.
Dumb Ways to Die[]
Dumb Ways to Die is a mobile video game series owned by Metro Trains, based off an animated PSA they made in 2012. In the trailer "Dumb Ways to Die 3: World Tour - AR Launch" they uploaded to YouTube, at Stupe's death, the captions show Bottle saying "And Stupe is dead", a reference to her catchphrase. These captions were probably written by a fan using the community captions feature before it was discontinued in 2020, but the Dumb Ways to Die channel seemingly opted to keep the fanmade captions, including the BFDI reference.
Flipaclip[]
On YouTube, they were doing a live stream and a short with Firey in both of them. (2023) Ironically, they would later feature Michael Huang as a guest star on a stream two years later, officially collaborating on a new object OC contest as well.
GLITCH[]
The creator of The Amazing Digital Circus, Gooseworx, confirmed in a Tumblr Q&A that the character Caine's personality was partially inspired by Four's.[1]
Michael Huang eventually ended up making a voice role cameo in a merchandise video for The Amazing Digital Circus in 2025, voicing a clone of Bubble (from TADC) using Four's exact voice.
A screen cap of Bryson holding a book that resembles Book
Haminations[]
In the beginning of their "Boy Scouts (It Sucked)" video, Bryson (known on YouTube as "Haminations") is seen reading a half toned green and teal covered book, which resembles the same pattern on Book from the Battle for Dream Island series. This was added by Niall Burns, because he works for both BFDI and Haminations and probably just wanted to reference Book.
Microwave Society[]
In the video Baby Geniuses is Eternal Punishment. by Microwave Society, at 8:28, a clip of Nickel speaking bug-ese from Start the Shift is shown briefly.
In another video titled Was The Emoji Movie THAT Bad?, at 1:29, one of the channel's creators, Josiah, says that the Emoji Movie's characters look like they're from an object show.
In the video Is Dog Man a Modern Classic? at 10:06, the BFDI gasp sound effect can be heard.
MONEY TALKS WIRELESS[]
One of the phones they repaired had a lock screen of Marker from TPOT 15 being safe.[2]
Pixelcraftian[]
Pixelcraftian uploaded a video titled "Mario vs BFDI" which is about Mario in the BFDI universe.
SiIvaGunner[]
Many "high quality rips" have been released that reference BFDI in some way or form, most notably the ones released through the brief Battle for BFB 3rd Anniversary event.
A screenshot from the rip "Pathetic House (Sigma Mix) - Undertale" showing one of the earliest instances of BFDI assets in SiIvagunner.
Additionaly, BFDI graphics were notably used through the April Fools 2024 event. Assets like the smiling mouth became associated with the "character" Brainless Kitty.
TheRealSullyG[]
TheRealSullyG is known for making Otamatone covers. In his Two Trucks cover, the theme changes to a BFDI theme, with Ruby and Flower. This is a reference to Cary's Two Trucks MAP part.
TomSka & Friends[]
On popular British YouTuber TomSka's alternate channel, he made a series called TryHards, and in one episode titled "How To Get Internet Famous In One Week", an edited image of Bracelety with MLG glasses was used near the beginning of the video. Notably, TomSka would become the voice for Pineapple three years later.
Xploshi[]
Xploshi is an animation YouTuber known for their surreal parodies and videos. In their most popular video "Breakfast at The Wattersons'", there is a scene where Gumball shows up in the BFDI Object style and appears by being "recovered" in a similar fashion to the contestants in BFB. Their other animation, "Four's greatest challenge", is also a direct parody of BFB.
Yo Mama[]
Yo Mama uploaded a video called "YO MAMA SO BFDI!" in 2023, which starts with an object show-style reanimation of a previous skit, done by a fan. Although, the animation itself is more of a reference to Inanimate Insanity than BFDI despite the title.
Television[]
BBC/ITV News[]
In 2023, when 11-year-old author Aston Smith was brought on for an interview on BBC News, he brought a Marker plush and when questioned about it explained who the character was. It was also described as "a spacerocket with legs." His plush was also seen a second time after he appeared on ITV News. [3]
Kuwait TV Channel 1/تلفزيون الكويت ١[]
During The Holy Month of Ramadan of 2023, a TV Program called Aareel Bo Adnan (آريل بو عدنان) aired on KTV1. Ice Cube appears near the end of the program's opening titles dancing inside a movie theatre soda cup at 0:25. However, she is incorrectly seen with arms, as the animation is taken from a fan-made reskin of the Loser Dance animation that replaces Loser's asset with Ice Cube's. [4]
Games[]
- See also: Endorsed fan projects
ROBLOX[]
Piggy[]
A slowed-down version of Four's screech is used for the character Robby's jumpscare, and a sped-up version is in the jumpscare for The Prototype. Although the sound of the screech initially originated on freesound.org, its use in BFB is what caused it to gain popularity and is likely the reason why it was used here.
Regretevator[]
- See also: BFDI x Regretevator collaboration
In the game Regretevator, one of the sound bites used directly comes from BFDI (the commonly reused "Yeah!" group cheer). Funnily enough, the two properties would later end up announcing an official collaboration in early 2025.
Soundmap[]
In the music collecting app 'Soundmap', there are badges for Yoyle Cake. Badges (which are displayed on your profile) are used to show other Soundmap players that you've gotten a certain milestone for an artist. (i, e, 5 songs you get the bronze badge, 20 you get the silver, etc, etc)
Sometime in 2025, podair (the developer behind soundmap) added badges for Yoyle Cake. Curiously, the Gold badge shows Mr. Feet instead of Yellow Face.
Other social medias[]
TikTok[]
Discord, POKI, Opera GX, etc.[]
Companies such as Discord, POKI, and Opera GX have all made similar TikTok videos with their company icon doing the Loser Dance, but not from the .fla files, as it is just their logo underlaid on a gif of the dance without Loser's body.[5][6][7]
Rosie O'Donnell[]
- Main article: Rosie O'Donnell
Around 2023, popular comedian and actress Rosie O'Donnell made TikToks involving her daughter Clay O'Donnell being a fan of BFDI and other object shows, as well as going to the 2023 meetup.[8][9][10][11] This is likely what lead them to becoming guest stars for BFDIA 17[12]/18 in 2025.
Twitter/X[]
Microsoft Windows[]
On December 18, 2023, the official Microsoft Windows account replied to fanart of Four and Fourteen by Lilac's Drawings with "these drawings bring us so much value 😉". When Lilac's showed surprise at the reference to XFOHV, Windows also replied with "and we can't forget about Battle for Dream Island 👀".[13][14]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.tumblr.com/gooseworx/737015251785105408/is-caine-actually-inspired-by-spamton-ive-heard?source=share
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDuLDBK5IiU
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Igvkw2sW-f0?t=425
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcl32ovUKw
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@discord/video/7346025439007116587
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@operagxofficial/video/7346577885781609760
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@poki_games/video/7401209850258148640
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7233146785189956907
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7235038843878116650
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7253538877888007466
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7269465740418272555
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7456794141909896491
- ↑ https://x.com/Windows/status/1736838105158635582
- ↑ https://x.com/Windows/status/1736878434041708827