Battle For Dream Island Review
By: Mahalia Battle
5/20/24
Disclaimer: The article (obviously) contains spoilers for the BFDI series. Also, there might be some sensitive topics in here like death, but it isn't too bad.
Battle for Dream Island is an animated web series created by Michael and Cary Huang on January 1st, 2010. It revolves around a group of objects competing for one grand prize; have you guessed what is it yet? They’re competing for the luxurious Dream Island. The show features many enjoyable characters with distinct personalities and some with interesting backgrounds and plotlines. Throughout the span of 14 years, the show has managed to produce five seasons, two of which are still getting new episodes, and one that recently just got a new episode, BFDIA 12, which came out on the 16th! The show is based off of Survivor and Total Drama Island, but instead of the contestants voting each other off, the viewers get to vote to eliminate (which is now vote to save in the fifth season) someone, and I think it’s an interesting concept, so here I am, doing a review of every single season!
Season 1: Battle for Dream Island
The first season's first episode aired on YouTube fourteen years ago on January 1 of 2010, and the final episode, episode 25, was released on January 1 of 2012. Throughout these 25 episodes, there were a lot of ups and downs about this season. Some good things about the first season are that for some episodes, there were genuinely good ideas for episodes accompanied by nice writing and ideas. A nice example of this would be episode 2, “Barriers and Pitfalls.” The contest is a sort of obstacle course, and the episode is named after what the contestants need to avoid during the challenge. The reason I think this is a nice episode is because it's an interesting challenge idea and it was also accompanied by fitting music in the background. Season 1 also probably has some of the most well-known comedic moments within the BFDI community, like Pen’s Dream Island joke in BFDI 5, or the cultural references within the show.
However, one downside is that there are a handful of animation mistakes. There were also instances where there was writer's bias towards a few characters, where in some cases they were just written to get eliminated in the next episode, which leads onto the fact that there was some not-so-decent writing. An example of this could be BFDI 7, “Puzzling Mysteries,” due to the fact that the episode had a lot of filler and some characters had inconsistent personalities. In the next episode though, they managed to make the filler from BFDI 7 entertaining, by making it contribute to an extra scene. Also, some episodes of this season seem a bit random, like for example the finale of this season. It’s not necessarily a terrible episode, but in a way, it felt like too many things were happening. There were some good parts of this episode too though, because things like the concept of recovery centers being gone “forever” and such are interesting to think about, because usually when a character dies, they can just be brought back. Overall, I would give the first season a solid 6/10, which isn't too bad, especially considering the fact that Cary and Michael were only twelve years old at the start of the season when they first created BFDI.
The Battle for Dream Island banner.
Season 2: Battle for Dream Island Again
The start of the second season was a bit confusing, as the starting scene is everybody chasing Leafy. If you were to, for whatever reason, skip the first season you probably wouldn't understand what's happening, and actually, it's not even fully explained until the fourth season during BFB 22. The first episode also had a random voting, which some people weren't aware of beforehand. Generally speaking though, the second season is still great. It went on a hiatus after episode 5e, but 10 years later on September 1st, 2023, it made a return and is still making good episodes. Battle for Dream Island Again also introduces a new voting system, by letting viewers vote through YouTube videos instead of the comments section. There were also some new characters that got to debut in this season. Callen Robertson, a 6th grader at EJHS stated that he enjoys the second season because he enjoys the characters.
The new BFDI cast for season 2.
There are many good things about the second season, as you can tell the writing and voice acting especially got better. A good example of this would be the special 5 part episode where, as just suggested, is the fifth episode divided into five parts. The second one, BFDIA 5b, is actually a playable game that can be played on a desktop only. The game remains unfinished, only having 54 of the levels. However, Cary stated that he would eventually finish the game. Episode 5 is all technically one episode, and it’s the three current teams making their journey to the summit of Yoyle Mountain, which was that episode's contest. The writing throughout these episodes was great, especially since Evil Leafy, a reoccurring antagonist throughout BFDIA, made three major appearances throughout these episodes, until she was killed off. Another good example of the writing throughout this season is BFDIA 7, “Intruder Alert.” This episode is great because it brings up another new interesting concept of one of the teams not knowing what the contest is. The challenge idea was also interesting because it was the idea that the contestants had to build a new loser chamber due to the current one being locked shut with the key inside of it.
But still, there are downsides to this season as well. The issues with this season usually have to do with messing up the BFDI timeline, especially with BFDIA 12 recently coming out. It's not really a big issue, but in BFB 6, Coiny and Pin had a conversation about how she had nothing to be afraid of during that season, but he also mentioned that they had a whole BFDIA’s worth of “experience,” but Pin doesn't even have any experience with BFDIA now because her face was removed, and now she's been shrunk down to a smaller size. Another occurrence of the same issue was in TPOT 2, when Coiny, once again, brought up BFDIA in front of her, acting like it was fun when it was really her most traumatic season. Also, there's a certain episode of this season that I'm not too sure about, which is BFDIA 8, “Meaty.” The opening scene was quite random and generally unnecessary. Also, I would’ve been fine with W.O.A.H Bunch being up for elimination, if they were put up for elimination fairly. They literally won the contest but after Gelatin gave Puffball Speaker Box the color-switching glasses, they were put up for elimination because they “didn't put any paint on the tower,” when they did. There was also an unfair elimination again in BFDIA 4, where Teardrop’s votes were rigged because a YouTuber got their fanbase, most not knowing what BFDI was to vote to eliminate Teardrop to save Coiny from elimination. Despite that, however, I think I would give this season an 8/10 because it's still entertaining and there are mostly no recent major problems with the episodes.
Season 3: dnalsI maerD roF elttaB
This season is very different from the other seasons, one because there’s only one episode, two, because it's non-competition styled, but three because the voting system is actually different! Instead of voting to send someone to the Tiny Loser Chamber, viewers vote to save a contestant from the TLC. It takes place presumably after BFDIA and we get to see the remaining contestants that survived until the 6th episode of BFDIA all hanging out together in Yoyle City, currently for the time being. If these were just the main factors, I wouldn't be giving IDFB as high as a rank.
However, the season actually seemed to have been taking itself seriously during some parts of the episode. Certain parts of the singular episode of this season hint that there’s something more mysterious about Yoyle City itself, like how nobody lives in it anymore and how it’s been abandoned. There is also a bit of lore dedicated to a certain character, that being Golf Ball as we see in a scene around the middle of the episode, and a faint Evil Leafy appearance hinting that she’s still around. For the most part, though, it's just the contestants hanging out. Nonetheless, despite there only being one episode of this season, and not much actually wrong with it, I would give it a 7/10 just for this episode, because it gives us a good idea of what IDFB could potentially lead to.
The thumbnail for the only IDFB episode, "Welcome Back."
Season 4a: Battle for BFDI
This season is also different from the other seasons because now, the animation style is different! The first episode of this season might be the best opening to a new season because of a few factors, but the main one is that the episode introduced us to pretty much all of the 64 contestants in this season, (which the BFDIA opening failed to do, by the way.) and two new hosts, Four and X. But this season is good outside of the first episode too! This season has a lot of, in my opinion, good and fun challenge ideas like the impostor challenge in BFB 12 or the challenge in BFB 15, because despite it being a simple challenge, Satomi Hinatsu and Kenzie Bryant, the writers for that episode, managed to make it entertaining to watch as it focused on the Firey and Leafy character arc but also had some humorous moments.
BFB (pre-split) cast
Personal positives that I found about this season are that the writers focused on the competition while also being able to focus on character development and relationships as well. An example of this would be the whole Taco and Book arc, where Book was so adamant about believing Taco was abandoning her and her team, that she didn't even realize it was harming them. Some people in the object show community thought that this ruined Book’s character, but I don't think that's the case due to the fact that it is in character for Book, and she had a right to act like that until she started to get out of hand with it. Another example of them focusing on characters would be (again) Coiny and Pin’s conversation in BFB 6. I like these aspects of the show because I really enjoy getting to see characters interacting, and more when it’s not exactly challenge-related, because I think it shows that the characters have conflicts too and it makes the characters more relatable. And, (AGAIN,) there was yet again another twist towards this season, the elimination place! Instead of getting sent to the Tiny Loser Chamber, or Weak Trembling Fortress, they get sent to a classroom called the EXIT, which “stands for” Eternal Algebra Class with Four, instead. It’s interesting, especially because of the fact that the classroom is in 3D, but not the contestants.
There wasn't much I actually disliked about this season. There were about two episodes that I found not the most exciting, but there was still something in them that made them fun enough to watch without getting bored. I feel like this season was the more humorous side of BFB, and probably the most plot-driven. I think one of the things that messed this season up was the viewer voting, because in a few instances, characters were voted out because the fanbase thought it would be funny or the character did one slightly mean thing that got them eliminated. I believe that Pencil, Liy, 8 Ball, Match and Firey Jr. were sort of set up to be eliminated, which is one thing that I didn't really enjoy about pre-split, because these characters were honestly robbed of screen time they could have potentially had, particularly with Match as she was eliminated the episode right after she apologized to Bubble and they stated an arc together. While we are on the topic of pre-split though, let’s talk about the actual split in BFB 16. I feel like it could have been handled better due to the fact that Two kind of just showed up with no actual reason behind it, and then just took 40 of Four’s contestants and left. You could say the same with Four, but in BFB 30 were given the reason why he came to host. To be fair though, it opened up technically two new seasons. I would give pre-split about a 7/10 overall because I enjoyed the writing style of it and the character focus.
Season 4b: Battle for BFB
I remember being super excited for BFB 17 because it was the second half of BFB after the split. But to be honest, I was sort of mildly disappointed because of a few things, and I might just be nitpicking, but there was noticeably a different style of writing, and I quickly found out that there was a new writer for this second part of the season, and I feel like this part was more focused on the hosts than it was the contestants. To me, this is the main problem I have with post-split episodes, they focus all the attention on the hosts instead of the actual characters which I personally find more important. This isn’t always a problem, like for instance BFB 22 had a lot of focus on the Firey and Leafy arc, and actually resolved it in this episode in a satisfying way for me, but wholeheartedly, I just didn’t think there was enough focus on the contestants. Also, the new animators for this season seemed to all have different art styles, and this quickly stopped becoming an issue around after BFB 18, but there were still some instances where you could tell that it was animated by different people. I have mixed feelings about Post-split to be honest, but not everything about it is bad.
Post-split BFB cast
Something I really liked about this season was that there was a smaller cast, and I felt it wasn’t as overwhelming as having 64 contestants; now we just have 14. Also, with less characters, we can focus more on undeveloped characters and help expand their character immensely. (I guess, 15 if you count Profily.) I feel as if the voice acting also got slightly better for this season as well and I think the voices (for some characters) were slightly less annoying as before, no offense! I also really enjoyed the character interactions within this season, mainly with the Newbie Alliance because I think the way it was executed made their alliance way better, even more because Post-split introduced the idea of being able to share your immunity with another contestant. There were also good challenge ideas, like with the courtroom challenge and the party challenge because it honestly kept me engaged and these two episodes also included more character interaction of contestants that aren't on the same team, which we don't get as often in BFDI anymore. These episodes also ended in a captivating way which made them more enjoyable. This can apply to other Post-split episodes too, but these two really stand out to me. Also, the Announcer returning and getting to see more of the exitors was actually quite refreshing in my opinion, because we got a break from Four for a bit and got to see the Announcer again after he was gone for around ten years. I enjoyed seeing the exitors because they were probably one of the most interesting parts of BFB. (and also because of Pencil screen time.)
Flower stays in by a ONE vote difference
There are noticeably some downsides to this season, and yeah, I’ll just put this out there now. They brought two originally eliminated characters back, Spongy and Loser, and then they got eliminated immediately because the writers didn’t actually do anything with these two guys, and I don’t even like these two that much, specially with Loser, but there was wasted potential with these two, and not just them either. There were actually a lot of issues I had with this cast, and yeah, I enjoyed it being small and all, but I think there were some characters that should’ve stayed with Four instead. They brought Balloony onto the Post-split cast, put him on a team with fan favorites, and then he got eliminated immediately, which brings me onto to another topic: the vote to save system. This system was introduced in BFB 17 itself and has continued onto TPOT, however, there are some issues as not as popular characters won’t have as large as a fanbase, meaning they will most likely get eliminated first due to people wanting to save their favorites instead. I think this issue pursued throughout the entirety of this season, and there was also writers bias again towards Flower, and I think they were writing her to win the season too. They just gave her too much plot-armor, and didn’t focus on less popular characters enough.
I did enjoy some episodes of this season, but there were a few that just weren’t enjoyable, like BFB 19 which I have particular dislike towards due to the fact that the contest itself was overall boring but also due to X screaming for almost the entire episode; it got quickly annoying. Also, in BFB 20 Four and X constantly taking off points that episode was getting on my nerves. Plus, X’s screaming thing still continued on into this episode. I did mention that the voice acting got better, but for example, when Four and Flower were talking to each other, you could tell they had the same voice actor, which isn’t really an issue but it sort of shows that the characters don’t have very distinct voices. Even with all of these, and just other general flaws, I don’t HATE post-split, so I’ll give it a 5/10. I believe it could’ve been handled better and it was honestly a missed opportunity to let characters like Balloony and Taco go through more development.
Season 5: The Power of Two
TPOT right away had a good start to the season, as, once again, we got introduced to the cast again and everyone had a line in this episode, even some of the failed debuters, which speaking of, we got two new additions to the show, Winner and Price Tag! We also have a really nice intro, which I thought was a nice touch as it has smooth animation and a pretty good song. Unlike Post-split BFB, TPOT has a format similar to the pre-split BFB episodes format. The episodes produced for this season have a higher quality in both animation and writing compared to the previous seasons; consequently, they are released less frequently. However, that's been changing after TPOT 3 and they’ve been releasing every 1-2 months now, due to a writer change again. The episodes of this season are pretty good, especially with the episode time as they usually range from 20-30 minutes. This season also focuses more on character interaction which, if you haven’t guessed yet, I’m a huge fan of! TPOT has also focused on a new friendship between two characters that I’m really fond of, which is Two and Gaty. I find their friendship funny though because the entire reason it started was because Gaty was trying to get Two to give them more time during the challenge. It also has, yet again new teams, and there are some teams with fan favorites, and some teams with underrated or overhated characters together which is an interesting combination.
TPOT intro
I really, REALLY like this season! It was stated to be the more serious side of BFDI while BFB was still running, and still today after they brought back BFDIA. I know ive mentioned this many times, but this season yet again focuses on many character arcs that make watching the show more enjoyable, while also having some fun challenge ideas to accompany them. An example of this could be TPOT 10, which is the most recent TPOT episode. The challenge was fun and even if it wasn't serious in all parts, it definitely was in some, like with Fanny’s arc with the rest of DEATH P.A.C.T Again, or us getting to see more of the elimination place. Alana Armstrong, a 6th grader at EJHS says, "Season 5 consists of good humor and exciting episodes. Personally Book is my favorite because she is funny." There’s also a lot of cameos spread throughout the episodes of this season, like Firey and Leafy making a quick one in TPOT 8 and One constantly being on throughout the entirety of TPOT 10. Also, the introduction of Teardrop in this season in TPOT 2 was probably one of my favorite parts of this season, simply because she made it more exciting as she played sort of an antagonistic role towards the other teams due to her being by herself on a team. Additionally, watching the other teams in general was really fun, and I liked the teams set up for this season as every team at least has three enjoyable characters that I can think of. I think this season opened up to the more serious part of BFDI while still being lighthearted in a large majority of ways.
There’s not much I actually DISLIKE about this season, believe it or not. There are a couple of forgettable episodes, but whenever I watch them again they aren't bad or anything. I genuinely really like this season, and I only have one main problem with it, and while it’s not as bad anymore due to the way you vote changing, there's some occurrence of it. And it's voting wars; which isn't the show's fault, it's actually the communities fault. This happened in BFB too, but it was a huge problem in TPOT, especially in TPOT 9. I’m not gonna go over every vote war, but specifically just the one in TPOT 9 itself. This one was centered around the team Just Not, due to them being the only team up for elimination. But basically, there was a lot of conflict about the character Pillow. The challenge was to survive during the zombie apocalypse thing, but Pillow misinterprets this challenge and.. Starts brutally murdering her entire team, until Bomby quite literally just kills himself to stop her. (okay this show is kind of dark.) Anyway, they get put up for elimination and people started going too far with the voting to the point where they started sending death threats to anyone who voted to save Pillow, and there was also bribery involved to save another certain character. But, my point is, this is my biggest issue with TPOT, and actually probably my only one. The vote to save was probably the best voting style we could have, but if it comes to stuff like that, then I don't see the point in voting anymore. So, despite people sending literal death threats over a cartoon pillow, I'll give the actual season outside of that a 9/10. TPOT is good, but the object show community isn't.
Overall, the show in its entirety gets a 7/10. I really like BFDI, (and I have been liking it since IDFB came out) but it’s not perfect or anything. It still has really been a comfort show for me, but I dont like every part of it, of course. This wraps up my review, if you wanna watch the show despite all of the spoilers then I have the playlist right here! (Also, if your wondering why its 1b, the actual first episode, 1a, is blocked.)