Recovery

Bubble getting popped then getting recovered repeatedly.

Recovery is a mechanic in the BFDI universe in which dead characters are able to come back to life. Most of the time, this happens with the use of recovery centers but can be done through other means, such as Four or X's powers and Pencil using a bubble blower to revive Bubble in "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3".

If a character dies near Yoylite, their spirit will stay partially alive, allowing them to use the recovery center on themselves.

Coverage

Four recovering Pin, Pillow, and Balloony in "Getting Teardrop to Talk".

Throughout BFDI, BFDIA, IDFB, and TPOT, recovery centers are used regularly by the contestants.

In "Rescission", the Announcer recovers David, Ice Cube, Leafy, and Spongy with a magic trick.

In "Insectophobe's Nightmare 3", Pencil recovers Bubble using a bubble blower. Pencil said that she was self-taught.

In "Getting Teardrop to Talk", the recovery centers are destroyed when Black Hole flies towards Earth. Four is the new method of recovery for BFB.

In "B.F.B. = Back From Beginning", X also gains the ability to recover dead characters.

In "The Worst Day of Black Hole's Life", Two ordered a new recovery center, which is similar to the Master Recovery Center and the Hand-powered Recovery Center combined. The difference is that a voice is said for the contestant being recovered, and goes through a chute, like Golf Ball's Underground Factory.

Trivia

• Recovery centers cannot revive a character if they are currently alive. This prevents clones from being made. This can be seen as Coiny tried to recover Book in "Zeeky Boogy Doog" when she was still alive.
• In Blocky's Funny Doings International advertisements, it is shown that recovery centers can be abused to cause an unending cycle of death for the victim.
• In BFDI 20 onward, a recovery center named the Master Recovery Center was able to recover every character as opposed to a single recovery center for each character.
  • It can then be noted that only Bubble, Ice Cube, Firey, Leafy and Pie have their own recovery centers which were shown onscreen. The first four recovery centers which are listed were incinerated by Flower in "Return of the Hang Glider". In BFB, the recovery centers were mysteriously brought back with a new style. However, these same Recovery Centers were sucked up by Black Hole and supposedly destroyed in the first episode.
• In the game BFDIA 5b, the recovery center is used as some form of transport. Killing a character elsewhere, then recovering them, is necessary to complete some levels. This is also mentioned in "The Long-lost Yoyle City" as "the kill-recover trick", which is used to free stuck contestants.
• Four is shown to harness the power of recovery.
  • In "B.F.B. = Back From Beginning", X learns how to use this same ability.
  • Donut tried to recover Naily when he gained Four's powers but failed, recovering a mutilated version of her instead.
  • Two has never shown using the ability, instead ordering a recover center to revive contestants.
• It was confirmed by Cary Huang that the TLC's residents can't be killed and recovered, because the HPRC can't detect their DNA due to the walls being too thick.
  • However, this explanation was never directly mentioned in-universe, and may have been retconned or forgotten in "Respect to the Wicked", where the shrunken contestants inside Balloony's eyeball were able to die and be recovered. Balloony is also inside the TLC. Realistically speaking, it should have been impossible for the contestants to be recovered.
• Bubble is the only character shown with a method of recovery besides recovery centers or hosts.