#ii 12

To discuss this I need to do a deep dive into 3 characters that push this subject the most and how they do it differently.

Lightbulb, Fan and Mephone 4.

The three that demonstrate escapism in 3 different ways.

Lightbulb

Throughout season 2 we see Lightbulb as this goofy character, that’s her whole character up until you begin to notice little habits or cracks in the persona she lets others see. Up until episode 12 we don’t exactly know what is going on with her. We see her get sad in spurts of moments, but it’s never dwelled on. Until she faces the loss of working with Paintbrush, this causes her happy facade to begin to unravel and we see a whole new side of her. Now while she does the literal definition of escapism, which involved her leaving to a different realm that’s more like her to hide from the scary reality of Paintbrush not liking or wanting to be friends with her. I want to talk about the reason as to why she does so.

Escapism isn’t solely defined as only wanting to leave your reality in favor of a fantasy. It can also include intensifying more positive emotions to cope with or hide the negative.

Lightbulb demonstrates the latter, We see Lightbulb throughout season 2 use humor and a heightened amount of positivity to hide from her peers. Even beyond episode 12. In episode 13-14 you can very easily tell she has gotten a lot more comfortable with Testtube. But beyond her, you can see Lightbulb continue to hide from the other remaining contestants. When upon getting scared or frustrated she instantly masks it with a silly response or an over the top reaction.

Even in the first half of the II movie she is seen continuing to be silly upon facing literal DELETION to cope with how terrifying it is.

Fan

Fan demonstrates the more literal form of escapism. Which would be, as mentioned before, escaping reality in favor of a fantasy. His entire character arc is centered beyond his incapability and fear of looking beyond the show, his main source of comfort. While Lightbulb hides behind a forced, intensified feeling, Fan hides behind an interest. His intense love and passion for the show cuts him off from the real world. And he’s okay with that, not only is he okay with that, he craves it. The world beyond the show scares him so much that he rather be contain within himself and his interest. This is shown most in episode 14, where he gets taken out of the show. Fan has characterized the feeling in later Livestreams as “the end of the world”. Because, for him, it was. Leaving the show begin to crack Fans shell of bliss and oblivion. It wasn’t about winning to him, it was about staying with the only thing that had a pattern, that gave him comfort.

He is shown time and time again to want to say in a “shell” of Inanimate insanity. That when he got thrown out of that shell it made him spiral. That and met harshness on how it happened, and loosing Test tube and the egg left him destroyed. Everything that gave him comfort was violently stripped from him. His feeling becomes clear when he says “Test Tube, to be honest with you, I don't want him to have to hatch, okay? I mean, wouldn't that be great? He could just... stay calm and secure in his little protective shell, and have... and have his... have his patterns. Right?”

He doesn’t want to leave Inanimate Insanity because it’s his protection.

Mephone 4

Now last but not least

Mephone 4

The epitome of escapism.

Now it’s quite obvious that Mephone definitely “programmed” the latter 2 characters to have these issues because he himself has them too. BUT since I wanna demonstrate the 3 different ways II shows escapism I’m going to talk about the reason he created the characters.

Mephones form if escapism is through creation

He created a whole life and show to escape from Cobs. He created a good majority of the characters to project his feelings and struggles onto. Lightbulb with the struggle with hiding her emotions behind smiles, because he also does that (shown in the later half of season 2 and all of season 3). He created Fan with the obsessive attachment to Inanimate insanity, and the desire to stay in that fantasy rather than reality. Because he himself MADE the show to hide inside of it.

Even season 3 characters: cabby and her memory issues, clover and her seeing her ability as a curse, silver and seeing himself as worthless and balloon and his desire to change.

The character is an extension of himself and THROUGH THEM you see everything about Mephone’s struggles.

Speaking of season 3

The entirety of that season is literally him running away and creating another reality for himself. He consistently is shown to run away and hide from his problems, especially behind his creations.

Bleeding paint, a shattered heart. That’s what makes a work of art

I’ll fight for control, but the right way can take a toll

..and still at the end of it all

Part 2

And cue escapism.

She sees this and most likely got reminded of the game back home.

She literally recoils.

But then she shakes it off because in this reality she doesn’t have to worry about that. She’s willing to stay here forever. The lyric “I’m finally feeling free” insinuates that this is the first time she feels not trapped in her role.. Maybe doing this challenge 2 seasons in a row, with growing tension and emotions makes Lightbulb feel trapped within her persona of “the silly one”.

More escapism!

This entire song just talks about how Lightbulb is finally happy with the reality she made. It was her escape from the stressful life of competing. Here she no longer is the only one thats impulsive and unserious. Unlike how in the reality she's in where she is surround so many different personalities, where she clashes with her friends and fails to connect with others due to her "oddness"

But here she won't ever fail at a relationship, not if they are all like her.

After the song we cut to Lightbulb talking to the Inanimate Insanity Infinity. We see Lightbulb attempting to confide in them.

This is first time (to my knowledge) that we rlly see Lightbulb vent to others. She probably never wanted to vent to the others because she didn’t want to show her more sad side. Maybe she doesn’t think they can cheer her up? But these people are just like her, so maybe they’ll know how to?

Until they start spewing nonsense to her.. mirroring how Lightbulb usually attempts to help. This shows her directly how her methods are percieved by others.

Yk how I said they’re just like lightbulb? Well.. they do miss one thing.

Testtube can also symbolize Lightbulbs own logic and emotional side (and vice versa, the arc’s parallel).

Eliminating the logical, emotional ones can possibly symbolize exactly what Lightbulb does to her own negative emotions. She purges them only allowing the silly ones to stay and be present.

They get snapped to Elimination, the thing Lightbulb hates.

As much as she wishes to stay in this ideal world. She sees Testtube in danger and she goes to put a stop. This is when Lightbulb tries to gently and lightheartedly stop them because that’s what she’s used to. This can also be her actually trying to be serious but struggles to do so.

This is the best place to talk about what I mean when the contestants miss one thing..

They miss Lightbulbs negative human feelings. The ones Lightbulb doesn’t want to have. But remaining 2 dimensional and unemotional make the contestants off and inhuman. Did she really want to be like that? So positive all the time to the point shes inhuman? This is how she is seen by the other contestants, overly happy, unserious.

She then realizes.. sometimes goofiness needs a balance and gets serious (in her own way). She tries to be serious-

-But they keep laughing.

LOOK AT THAT FACE- anyways I feel like another problem Lightbulb has is the fear of not being taken seriously due to her abnormal nature. And this is apparent in this one frame. The face shows as if she was proven right. They won’t take her seriously.

Testtube begins to get angry at lightbulb for her nonsense just like Paintbrush.

She begins to feel a negative emotion and instantly redirects it to something funny, because she probably now thinks that Testtube won’t take her seriously like everyone in here. That and

Another instance of people thinking she’s just nonsensical idiot that stumbles into solutions.

Ok so a bit to unpack. So it’s shown that Testtube struggles socially but we see that she’s better at emotional connection (shown in future episodes more of and later in this episode) Meanwhile Lightbulb tends to be social but struggle with emotionality. Lightbulb tries hard to understand and comfort others when in need but tends to not be good at it.. She does try. And contrary to Testubes belief, she fails, a lot. Evident in her relationship with Paintbrush. People find her insufferable, and she knows it. Another reason to escape to this future.

Onto the solution! This entire solution is a projection of how lightbulb began to see herself with paintbrush.

Paintbrush was the one that tried the hardest and “took care” of competition for the team (like how they say salt does to anger pepper)

Lightbulb sat back and goofed off.

Paintbrush was the evident leader of the group even though Lightbulb was the designated leader.

And in lightbulbs point of view that’s what she thinks others viewed her as, a parasite that latches on.

Part 3

Here it comes full circle, Lightbulb finally begins to express her feelings. Testtube realizes there is a method to her madness… thats she's not some dimwitted weirdo that stubbles into solutions.

But Lightbulb expresses the feeling of the show becoming more complex than her (like I mentioned in the segment when they went to the past).

And speaks about how she’s better just latching on to people like paintbrush who aren’t as “dumb” and "crazy" as her (Shown in the argument with Salt and Pepper).

But Testtube instantly stops her saying “you don’t stumble into solutions, you recognize them” showing that now Testtube realizes that Lightbulb is smart and capable. She just has her own way of doing things. And finishes with “Logic needs chaos” (refer to how Testtube saw Lightbulb use both logic and chaos to get out of the future.) and Lightbulb learns vise-versa that too much chaos isn’t good. (Learned from the contestants being too chaotic and lacking a sense of reality). And they find a their own side of that balance.

And more jokes bc this poor baby isn’t good at being emotional.

Anyways they girlboss using both logic and chaos and make it back!

Lightbulb approaches paintbrush after with a new confidence in her skills. Notice how this entire conversation she appeals to both logic and fun to successfully be able to understand and comfort Paintbrush emotionally.

And Paintbrush does the same, matching Lightbulb a bit. They begin to find a middle ground that leads them to understand eachother better. This literally SHOW that logic (paintbrush) needs chaos (Lightbulb) because both work together.

Paintbrush’s character arc now mirrors Lightbulbs in the sense they both preferred their own way of working. Lightbulb understands that feeling because she literally escaped this reality for one where everyone was like her and did things her way.

This whole adventure with Testtube taught Lightbulb how to connect with others that aren’t like her.

She uses Baxter to connect with Paintbrush but this time instead of accidentally disregarding Paintbrush’s feelings she uses him to show that she does understand them and others will too. (She learned this from the contestants ignoring her when she vented).

She uses Baxter because Baxter gave her happiness, so she extends that happiness Baxter gave her to paintbrush in their time of need.

It comes down to the elimination, and once again Lightbulb uses Baxter to help Paintbrush. But this time she gives him to Paintbrush. This is so powerful because Baxter is so important to Lightbulb. But she’s willing to loose that emotional support because she’s not alone anymore. She has Fan and Testtube.

The music in the background is the soft instrumental of the end credits “Just Like me” but at the end it changes the melody to one of the end credits where it says:

“the person I now see

is a person who is just like me

I mean, well, their not just like me

but why should we ever try to be”

This instrumental plays behinds the final interaction with Paintbrush and Lightbulb, this melody shows them finally having an understanding of eachother. They are two sides of the same coin, and they realize now. They literally complete eachother.

Once paintbrush leaves, Lightbulb leans on Testtube for support because now she’s not alone anymore…

AND DONE! I hoped you guys liked my very messy and disorganized analysis about one of my favorite episodes! Can y'all tell Lightbulb is one of my favorite characters?

Part 1

(This is my very extra delve into lightbulbs character and arc during the episode)

We start the episode with Marshmallow getting kicked out of the challenge. Paintbrush was understandably sad upon loosing a friend they were remotely close to. Lightbulb however was upset over loosing Baxter, paralleling Paintbrushes grief but more exaggerated. I like to imagine Baxter works as a sort of Emotional support animal that Lightbulb connect herself to, so she was actually upset upon loosing him. But made it extra to be comical because she doesn't like being actually emotional in front of others. This will be one out of many times she would hide her negative feelings through positivity and jokes throughout the entire episode.

 Lightbulb notices Paintbrush is genuinely upset over loosing marshmallow and decides to connect to their emotion using Baxter

This doesn’t work because even though the intention is to cheer up Paintbrush, Paintbrush sees it as another nonsensical Lightbulb moment. Paintbrush expresses the idea of the splitting teams being a good idea for the two.

This visibly upsets Lightbulb, we learn later in episode 14-15 that Lightbulb easily feels lonely and loves her friends a LOT. She never thought of Painbrush as less of a friend even when Paintbrush was constantly angry at her. So now she sees they didn’t see her the same.

Paintbrush talks about how they were the actual leader and Lightbulbs was just..there… with their nonsensicality. This will impact Lightbulb and will be very important for later. Paintbrush says they’re still friends but Lightbulb thinks that Paintbrush just says that to make her feel better.

Lightbulb is the most visibly upset we’ve ever seen her in front of someone

She realizes that she’s actually showing she is upset and quickly corrects it using her positivity and jokes 

But the moment Paintbrush leaves she instantly allows herself to look sad again.

This conversation will affect lightbulbs decisions and problem solving for the entire episode. This also begins to show her toxic positivity and how she tends to hide negative emotions.

Cut to the next time we see her, she’s getting soda from Testtube

“I drink when I’m depressed” This is the first time she has ever vocalized depression…

She instantly stops herself and clarifies that she isn’t. You can see in her face that she definitely panicked a bit realizing her facade may have slipped. (which, if im correct, is the first time her facade has actually slipped in front ofothers)

So she turns it into a joke.

She coughs out Baxter (somehow) further implementing it was a joke but she has her emotional support crab!  

She says “he never gets depressed” as a projection of a part of her. Her toxic positivity makes her feel like she isn't allowed to feel sad.. So she projects that part of her to the Baxter, the crab she's grown really attached to.

Lightbulb wacky hijinx insue and her and Testtube get sent back to the past. Upon this new realization that time travel actually is a thing and her first instinct is to joke about the situation.  

One of the realizations I had while I was rewatching the episode to make this is the fact that Lightbulb seems super excited to be back in time to season 1. Now it could just be the coolness of time travel.. but think about it. Lightbulb wasn’t the only one who was quirky and chaotic, the entire season was full of characters that were insane and less…sad. She states later that “things aren’t so simple anymore” showing that she does in fact miss the simplicity of the first season when it wasn’t so emotionally complicated.  

Anyways to continue, she waves to paintbrush bc this version of paintbrush still “likes/wants” her. This is her past, and showing a time where she belonged more. This also shows she still rlly like paintbrush even after their “falling out” (in her eyes)  

When test tube smacks her hand away she realizes this is not “her” paintbrush. Not the one she left behind. This was a less morally complicated one, one that also partook in all the nonsensicallity and chaos with her. In a way, Lightbulb misses that simplicity.  

After this realization she hears Salt and pepper talking, salt says “off that?? no way!” Kinda like how Paintbrush questioned Lightbulbs judgement 24/7, which is why she looks almost irritated. The emotions of the conversation with paintbrush is literally constantly spilling out of her through these mini expressions. This entire episode is affected by that single argument and their dynamic of logic vs Chaos.   

This one is obvious, Lightbulb sees salt and pepper as her and Paintbrush. She pushed them off together as this is what she wants to do with Paintbrush. She wants to stick together because she herself likes working with others. This judgement is made entirely by her mental state at this point. We all know she wants to stay with Paintbrush and teamwork their way to the end. And this is just her way of expressing that desire. 

Now time to go in the future! Here she meets the cast of Inanimate Insanity Infinity, and they’re all like her, nonsensical, whimsy, chaotic.

 A bunch of character introductions later and we get to see another instance of Lightbulbs struggles with emotions and understanding how to deal with them. Testtube shows signs of distress and the first thing Lightbulb does is make a nonsensical joke to attempt to help her and breaks the calculator. Only for it to backfire and anger Testtube.

This leads to another person being mad at Lightbulb for her hyper and chaotic personality. Leading to her feeling more of a disconnect with the world she’s from.  

Eventually Lightbulb takes leadership as she’s used to, but now her team is like her.. she didn’t like the intense competitive environment of the game that only grew tenfold after season 1. She just wants to have fun with friends that like being with her.

 More instances of her fitting in more here and living the ideal she wishes was realistic the reaction they have to Baxter. They all love Baxter and let Lightbulb talk about him. While in her world everyone ignored Baxter or really cared about him until later.

 This place is perfect to Lightbulb, everyone is like her. Here Lightbulb can just have fun and enjoy friendship without complexity. And so she gets to live out her dream, a competition that no one is competitive or sad. Just fun. This is a form of escapism to flee that disconnect she feels from her world.