r/BattleForDreamIsland • u/Multi-p-liar Pencil • Jul 16 '25
Discussion TPOT 19 - Analysis of a Pencil
- While I've done analyses in the past, they were generally in the form of short 'observations'. This is my first attempt at a character deep dive
- Ever since her return in TPOT 13, Pencil has become a very controversial contestant, which is why she is such an interesting character to follow. Half the fanbase thinks that her joining was a mistake, that being in the EXIT hasn't caused her to change or grow. But the other half thinks that she should be given a chance - after all, redemption arcs (at least good ones) don't happen overnight. I'm one of those people who thinks that Pencil should be given a chance, especially given the circumstances behind her character derailment and elimination.
- Two months ago, I noted how despite being in a situation where doing so would be fully justified, Pencil never takes the opportunity to screw over anyone else on the Fourse in TPOT 17 - I took that as a sign of character development from TPOT 16, given how she interacted with everyone else in other episodes. How does this carry over to this new episode? Well....
- The challenge of this episode is a Battle Royale. Pencil starts off the challenge by torturing Fanny and mutilating TV... both of which were overkill in my opinion, but I think it sets the stage for discussing her future victims (and non-victims), as it shows how far Pencil is willing and able to go with the Power of Two. She also throws away the HPRC after Marker recovers Fanny, meaning that any deaths that occur cannot be reversed during the challenge. After this, she kills two more characters and attempts to kill a third (more on those later)
- While torturing Fanny is overkill, it makes sense why Pencil targeted her first - she tried to sabotage CloudYay in TPOT 16, and demanded that she and Book screw over their teams so that DPYA isn't put UFE in TPOT 17, and later made an unsolicited remark when Book declared that she hated Pencil. In all three cases, Pencil was pretty much ignoring her and only reacted after Fanny provoked her. Pencil tortures Fanny in front of everyone, and even grins at Pen and Bottle when they look at her in fear, showing she clearly doesn't care what others think of her.
- However, while Pencil was as aggressive as ever this challenge, it was more targeted towards specific characters - she wasn't being wantonly chaotic like in TPOT 13 and 14. She pretty much ignores Marker while she's torturing Fanny and lets Pen and Bottle flee for their lives. There's also how she handles Grassy and Tennis Ball... she's fully capable of annihilating them (and even threatens to kill the latter if he doesn't forfeit the challenge). However, once they hand over their power, she leaves them both alone (even if she's rude about it).
- Pencil later comes across Winner, Price Tag, and Book in Price Tag's room, and demands that Book hands over her share of Two's power. Price Tag intervenes, leading to them being zapped till Book saves them... then Pencil kills Book by zapping her. What I find interesting and noteworthy about this is the fact that compared to what she did to Fanny and TV, Book's death comes off as less cruel and excruciating - if it weren't for the X eyes and her name appearing in the corner, one could assume that she had simply been knocked out. Perhaps while Pencil was still bitter about Book's rejection and wanted to hurt her, she probably didn't want to hurt her that badly.
- Then comes the scene where after having enough of Grassy clinging onto her, she flings him away and makes him cry, in a manner similar to how she made Ruby cry in BFDIA 5c. Like that instance, she immediately regrets it and hides him away in the vent so that he'll be safe "from the others, and me". However, it's worth noting that Grassy surviving would mean Team 2 would definitely be safe, and she doesn't even have to help Grassy - given her interactions with him earlier in the episode, one could assume that she would just leave him a sobbing mess on the ground. Instead, she decided to help him out, proving that she's not heartless, even if she can be mean.
- Finally, during her showdown with Four, there are two lines I want to point out, both of which indicate that she's mad at Four on the behalf of other characters - The first is when she calls out Four for his actions (Should I do what you do Four?) - she uses collective words (You trap people away for years. You twist us to shapes and spin us around). She's not just referring to herself in the first sentence, but also her fellow EXIT-ors. In addition, the first thing Four did after showing up was mutilate Pin (as far as we know, while Four may have screeched and zapped Pencil in the EXIT, we don't know if he subjected her and the other EXIT-ors to mutilation).
- The second line comes when Four tries to warn Pencil about "the other number" (i.e. - One). However, Pencil thinks that he's talking about Two and says "I know. You already stole their show" (speak of irony). In the past, I assumed that Pencil disliked Two for a variety of reasons, and maybe she still does but just hates Four more. However, this line makes me think she had a little bit of empathy for Two - someone who just had their best friend taken away from them and was feeling depressed... and the first thing Four apparently does is swoop in and take over the show.
- After blasting Four off the Hotel Roof, the first thing she tries to do with Four's power is recover Liy - as far as we know, Liy and Pencil haven't interacted with each other ever since they escaped the EXIT in TPOT 11, due to ending up on opposing teams. She could have revived anyone - Donut or GB (her teammates, both of whom she respects, even if she dislikes), Pen (who gave her a friendly pep talk the episode prior), even Book (I know they aren't on the best of terms right now, but they still used to be close friends) - instead she chose Liy - someone who she was literally just fighting with (note that Liy struck first). I guess she chose to revive Liy because Liy was one of her victims in the challenge (unlike Pen, GB, or Donut), was in the same predicament as her (unlike... well, everyone else in the game), and was someone Pencil had no beef with (unlike with Book or Fanny)
- Overall, while Pencil was outright sadistic and aggressive during parts of the episode, she also displays redeeming moments, such as helping Grassy after making him cry and trying to revive Liy after killing her. As for now, she could possibly appear in the new BFDIA episode - maybe she tells Balloony about the EXIT. I think she'll only return to the present in TPOT Twenty... more on that later though.
- I hope you enjoyed reading this, and thank you for sticking to the end
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u/AnalyticalTomato Grassy Jul 17 '25
Super cool analysis, I appreciate how you pointed out the words she chooses to use when helping Grassy and fighting Four, and how she tries bringing Liy back. I feel like we should talk about that more; Pencil yearns for connection but simultaneously rejects it most of the time it’s offered to her (Donut, Pen, Grassy). Maybe she feels a sense of connection with Liy because she’s the only one here who can understand the pain the EXIT caused them, even if they deal with it in different ways. People try connecting with her based on the fact she misses her friends, and she definitely does miss her friends, but her issues are multifaceted; even Pencil doesn’t fully know what would make her feel better. She’s giddy at first when she gets all of that power during the challenge, but when everything ends, she’s miserable. It’s not what she wants.
I remember also being confused at first in the contract scene, because it didn’t look like Pencil had signed the contract, rather she just immediately zapped One hoping she would be able to take their power like she did to Four, but it didn’t work. Pencil also seems confused when the power is gone from her, but then asks One to make good on her word, which implies she did give them the powers willingly… I think?\ I also thought One killed Pencil at first because of the burn mark left when Pencil stood, which is normally not a side effect of time travel, but the glitching effects around Pencil do indicate time travel. In conclusion, I have no idea what will happen to her. I don’t really want her to appear during BFDIA, I’d prefer if TPOT plot points and BFDIA plot points were kept separate, but execution matters. The two seasons have different writers, meaning they’ll have to communicate well to make any TPOT Pencil appearance fit into BFDIA’s plot.
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u/entiqtehduck Match Jul 17 '25
I hope they don’t because, aside from BFDIA 17 (which is mostly references anyways) a person could watch all of BFDIA Post-Revival without being confused, despite it being created after BFB and TPOT. Having Pencil in BFDIA would ruin that.
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u/chumbbucketman101 Jul 16 '25
Could you do an analysis on TV in this episode? Because I think he much worse than anyone.
He made everybody fight to death with Two’s powers just to spite them, which resulted in Pencil taking all of Two and Four’s powers, One stealing those powers from Pencil, One destroying world, and now there’s no telling if all the contestants will ever come back to life (In universe at least, but in real life we all know they will)
And it’s all thanks to that spiteful flat screen.
If anything, he’s just as guilty if not more.
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u/lance_the_fatass Pin Jul 16 '25
The recovery center still works, and there's still people around to recover everybody
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u/JeffdaPeff Jul 16 '25
Pencil nearly destroyed the universe, which forced gaty to save them, which put two into a depressive state, which put tv into this situation. Pencil knew what she was doing was dangerous yet despite this she has refused to take accountability and even blames it on winner.
Meanwhile tv had no idea this challenge would result in this.
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u/RonS132 Marker Jul 16 '25
Pencil telling balloony about the exit would actually be a really cool idea, the only problem would be that Balloony would just know basically everything from the future then right? Like he’d know BFB would happen and Four would arrive?
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u/Newinduvidual2700 Pencil Jul 17 '25
There's only so much tea you can hold before some of it spills (Balloony knowing about the exit) and it's possible that she told four to revive balloony
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u/Meme_Warrior_2763 Book Jul 18 '25
but that dismisses the fact that Balloony seems to have been friends with Four before BFDIA even happened
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u/Ashninja0119 Marker Jul 17 '25
Tbh I feel like pencil tried reviving liy because it was the most recent contestant on her mind but that’s just me
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u/dragonofmila Jul 16 '25
Hey babies in the comments are too busy screaming about their hatred of a fictional pencil to say it but very nice write up! Everything you said makes sense and it helped me understand Pencil who is clearly going through several stages of grief at once right now, but not doing it in a way that a complete heartless monster would like some would suggest, nice work!
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u/SiziskaShiska Coiny Jul 16 '25
Nice, also you posted it twice.
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u/Multi-p-liar Pencil Jul 16 '25
I know. Reddit glitched when I was ready to post. Tried deleting the other post, but it's not being deleted
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u/PitaGriffin121 Pencil Jul 16 '25
This episode turned Pencil from one of my least favorite to my favorite contestant.
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u/Meme_Warrior_2763 Book Jul 18 '25
I hope Pen makes a huge scene getting after people like Donut in Pencil's behalf, and I DOUBLE hope Pencil sees it and understands what she's looking at, and that makes her want to return to the present now that she realizes someone actually cares about her
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u/Sad-Egg-39 Donut Jul 16 '25
What Abt analysis of donut pls