Teardrop character analysis and why mutism is so important to her character
(Inspired by a similar analysis of Yin-Yang by @photosys .)
Teardrop is the first and most iconic disabled OSC character. Despite this, a bunch of people (who are ableists, letās be honest) seem to have this belief that she really isnāt. Includingā¦ the JNJ crew themselves?! Because they have said that she can talk in multiple meetups and made several jokes throughout the series of her ALMOST saying a word. Well Iām here to prove them all wrong through my very first character analysis.
Before we start, just know I wonāt go over every episode, just the important ones/ones I have the energy for.
BFDI 1: Take The Plunge
Surprisingly, Teardrop does have a few moments worthy of analysis in the first episode. From the first time sheās on screen, we can see the main theme of her character: feeling unseen and unheard. Hereās her first scene:
Iām unsure if you can see this GIF moving, so hereās whatās going on.
Woody has a crush on her and is being awfully creepy about it. This is making Teardrop progressively more uncomfortable and irritated, but Woody canāt pick up how she feels. She finally has enough and kicks him to the curb-literally.
Tennis Ball: Teardrop, be careful! Woody could get seriously hurt. He is balsa.
And look how Tennis Ball reacts! He wonāt listen to her either. Instead of taking two seconds to understand the situation, he immediately makes assumptions because he doesnāt know how to communicate with her.
Later on, this happens:
Leafy: Iāll choose Teardrop! The silent type, right?
(Teardrop appears angry)
Leafy: What? You are.
Teardrop is clearly irritated by being called that. Leafy doesnāt know, but she feels as though sheās being reduced to a simple stereotype, that Leafy thinks her mutism is her only characteristic. And itās important to her character, hence the reason for the analysis, but itās not the only part.
BFDIA 2: Get Digging
Jumping ahead, hereās another important part for Teardrop, being her forced switch to WOAH Bunch. Just look at how Coiny and Pin go about it!
Coiny: Well, letās take her and get out of here.
Book: Wait! Teardrop will only switch if she wants to switch!
Coiny: Fine. Teardrop, if you refuse, weāll let you go back. Otherwise, YOUāRE MINE!
(Coiny and Pin drag Teardrop away while she looks scared and sad)
Book: I canāt believe they just did that!
Fries: Whatever. Teardrop wasnāt much of a leader anyway.
Teardropās facials show she doesnāt want to go, but sheās clearly trapped. Coinyās ableism here is just sick. Heās not just thinking less of her, heās ACTIVELY USING HER DISABILITY TO HIS ADVANTAGE. And Fries is just ignoring this because āsheās not a leaderā?! WHY? (Also shout out to my goat Book for being an advocate)
Unfortunately, for the rest of the episode it doesnāt get much better.
(Pin prepares Yoyle stew)
Pin: Voila! Done!
Coiny: Yes! High five!
(Teardrop attempts to join in to Coiny and Pinās high-five)
Coiny: Teardrop, that High five wasnāt for you.
Pin: Yeah, TD! Everyone knows youāre not a real contestant!
ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!
Send this analysis to any Coiny and Pin fans that you hate and watch them try to justify this.
BFDIA 4: Zeeky Boogy Doog
Letās cut to the chase. Everyone knows this episode for one thing and one thing only.
Puffball Speaker Box: You must choose between immunity into the final 15, or a Hand-powered Recovery Center!
Pin: Teardrop, you donāt need immunity! Everyone loves you!
(Teardrop chooses the recovery center)
*Fasting forward*
(The TV shows that Teardrop has the most dislikes. Sheās eliminated.)
Coiny: OMM, that was close. Any first words, Teardrop?
(Teardrop appears saddened as sheās flung away)
The first part of the elimination isnāt much to write home about since Pin had no way of knowing that sheād be eliminated (Although if she had, sheād have said the same thing, letās be honest). But the second partā¦
Coiny somehow has the nerve, THE NERVE, to make an ableist joke just before sheās flung off. He could have apologized, or heck, not said anything at all, but he just HAD to.
For the rest of BFDIA, not much happens with Teardrop. So letās jump to early BFB, where things get a little better.
BFB 1: Getting Teardrop To Talk
The title and image say all you need to know about what TD does this episode, but Iāll break it down anyway.
The basic rundown is that Liy, curious about what goes on in Teardropās mind, ropes Ice Cube into helping her try to get a voice out of her by doing whatever this is. Eventuallyā¦
(Fork stabs Teardrop in the head, causing her to flinch and bite down on Icyās legs as a reflex. Ice Cube screams in pain)
Fanny: I hate you!
Liy: Huh, maybe itās time we put a rest to this whole Teardrop thing, Icy.
Bracelety: Yeah! Icy! Letās hear you cheer! I canāt hear you! Louder!
Clock: Teardrop! How could you chomp so viciously on poor, innocent Ice Cube!? You should feel ashamed.
(Teardrop slaps Clock and Liy, then runs off)
Liy: Well, I think we both wronged Teardrop today.
As Icy is screaming, it suddenly dawns on Liy that this was a bad idea, while Clock lectures Teardrop when he JUST got onto Liy and Ice Cube for hurting her. Pick a side, man. This moment is important because Teardrop FINALLY stands up for herself. She hasnāt done this since BFDI 1A when Tennis Ball got onto her similarly to how Clock does here. It shows sheās had quite enough of this treatment. And doing this makes a change, because they realize the wrong in what they were doing and even make a truce. And neither character ever does anything like it again.
But it doesnāt fix everything. Later, we get this scene.
(Teardrop stomps to the edge of a cliff and sits on the edge)
Eggy: Gosh, those people sure want to get you to talk, huh? They just don't understand the appeal of silence. You know, there was a time when I never spoke, so I understand.
(Teardrop looks interested)
Eggy: I said, there was a time when I never spoke, so I understand!
(Teardrop flaps her arms)
Eggy: Well, you clearly aren't egging me on. I thought you'd be curious, but I guess not.
Eggy wants to understand her, but itās clear sheās got some work to do. She thinks Teardrop isnāt interested when she actually is. Thereās some progress made here, but at this point the bar is at the center of the earth, as shown here:
Lollipop: Eggy! What was that about?
Eggy: Eh, I tried to get Teardrop interested in one of my personal life stories, but she obviously wasn't interested.
Lollipop: TD's hard to impress? Tell me about it. Earlier today I tried to sell her my fork repellent, but she didn't even care enough to utter a word. She did do this weird arm fluttery thing though.
Pillow: Oh, you mean this gesture?
(Pillow flaps her arms)
Lollipop: Yes, exactly that gesture.
Pillow: I've done some research, and I believe it means the person cares so little that the last droplets of care spirit are being sucked out of their body, through their arms, and out of the tips of their fingers, and into the outer reaches of interstellar space to be lost forever.
Pillow is wrong here. That should be obvious. While, like Leafy, she almost certainly didnāt mean anything by it, this actually does lasting damage. Now Teardropās means of communication are even fewer than ever before. But a change for the better is made this season.
BFB 4: Todayās Very Special Episode
Not me forgetting that this analysis is not about Eggy
The development here happens in the post-credits scene. Have a read:
Eggy: Hi, Teardrop. Even though my story might not be super interesting to you, I decided I'll tell it anyway.
(They sit down to listen)
Eggy: So it all began when I was a baby egg. You know, an egg inside of an egg? Eggception, if you will. It was very cozy, and at that moment, I realized I was pretty content! I had everything I needed! I didn't need to complain for more. So I thought, "Why shout? Why even say anything?" As you see, that's how I, as a small egg, never really spoke much, and blah blah blah...
Although Eggy still struggles to understand her, sheās done something no other object has done. She sits down and has a conversation with her. This is the first time anyone has interacted with her when they didnāt have to or werenāt talking down to her. Things arenāt perfect, but theyāre much better.
Since I donāt feel like doing the rest of BFB, letās jump toā¦
TPOT 2: The Worst Day Of Black Holeās Life
This episode should be titled āThe Worst Day Of Teardropās haterās lifeā, because goodness gracious, if you donāt like her youāll hate this. My phone is running out of battery, so Iāll make this brief.
I like to think of Teardrop this season as her ārevengeā arc, because goodness gracious she needed it after BFDIA. Itās her against the world, so she has to work triple time just to keep up. However, with her cleverness, determination, and a little trickery, she safely makes it past each challenge. That is, untilā¦
TPOT 9: Outbreak At Stake
This episode was the first TPOT episode of the āapocalypseā genre (yes thatās a genre in BFDI) and let me just say: this was off to a good start.
After all this time of getting revenge, Teardrop now has to save her enemies from the literal zombie apocalypse. So she does something nobody had ever done in BFDI up to this point.
She sacrifices herself-and her position in the game to save the lives of people she hates. Think of how powerful that is.
By throwing herself into Barf Bag, she creates enough barf to slather onto steaks and feed to zombies to cure them (yes that is how it works in this universe), at the cost of her life.
As the objects are cured, and sheās recovered for her elimination, she gets to leave on good terms with the others: happy and content as sheās sent away.
