A Kick in the Right Direction

"**A Kick in the Right Direction**" is the 5th episode of *Inanimate Insanity II* and the 23rd episode overall. It aired on November 3, 2013.

## Synopsis

It seems that not everyone is pleased with the course this new competition has taken. Marshmallow and Fan are up in arms about an apparent failure on MePhone's part, Nickel expresses disappointment in Knife's attitude, and Microphone's voice, despite her loudness, is not heard by the rest of her team. Who will be sent to the portal next? Will there be tedious golf ball stacking? And with all this change occurring in the lives of the contestants, can they find any room for the possible arrival of "somebody that they used to know?"

## Plot

The episode begins with Marshmallow and Apple drawing in a flowery field. Apple shows Marshmallow her drawing, a picture of them. Marshmallow calls her drawing nice but then points out that she spelled everything wrong. Apple complains about this, then crumples her drawing into a ball and throws it into a pile of other drawings with wrong spelling. Apple then asks to see what Marshmallow had drawn, but she doesn't want to show it. Regardless, Apple takes her drawing and looks at it. However, she is shocked to discover that Marshmallow's drawing is of a chair and former contestant Bow.

When Apple asks Marshmallow why she drew that, she responds saying that she feels guilty about what happened to Bow. Apple then asks why and answers thinking it was because Marshmallow shut Bow in a box going on a murderous rampage (killing herself). Apple then says no one cares about that, calling Bow "an ugly, disgusting menace." Marshmallow then says she thought Bow was really nice, which Apple hastily agrees with. Marshmallow then wonders that if everyone can magically come back to life, why can't they bring Bow back? She then goes to see MePhone4 if he could bring back Bow.

MePhone4 is then seen under a tree, about to download the "MeOS 7.0" update when Marshmallow comes running towards him. MePhone4 pretends to be inactive, but Marshmallow is not fooled, and demands for Bow to be returned. MePhone4 then asks Marshmallow if she actually cares about her, causing Fan to appear and agree with Marshmallow, saying Bow was a fan favorite.

### Elimination

Cheesy became the fourth contestant eliminated from *Inanimate Insanity II* with 1,442 votes.

### Challenge Rundown

In this challenge, the teams played a game of soccer. The first team to score five goals would win the challenge, and, as a prize, win Dough on their team. Due to the unbalanced teams, Nickel was forced by MePhone4 to sit out.

Next, each of the teams chose a goalie. Fan volunteered to be the goalie for his team, while Baseball asked Microphone to be the goalie. When Microphone replies that she didn't want to be the goalie, Baseball mentioned her tendency to mess up challenges with her loudness. With the support of Suitcase, Microphone was finally chosen as the goalie for the team.

Fan managed to block one shot, though he failed to block the next two shots. Apple then attempted to pass the ball to Marshmallow for the second time, but Knife ended up receiving it. After an insult by Apple regarding his Dora dolls, Knife retaliated and was forced to sit out due to foul behavior.

Knife then joined Nickel on the bleachers. From this point on, Nickel would give tips to Knife on how to be sarcastic, shown at intermittent scenes throughout the episode.

The Bright Lights managed to score one goal due to Microphone being preoccupied with talking with Dough, but Yang later scored two goals for the opposite team. After Lightbulb convinced Paintbrush to go to the calm down corner, the Bright Lights were offered four penalty shots, this time with Baseball as the goalie. All of the penalty shots missed, causing the Grand Slams to win the challenge and get Dough on their team. However, Dough was immediately eaten by Yin due to his hunger, making Dough the fifth contestant eliminated from *Inanimate Insanity II*.

## Features

### Characters

#### Bright Lights

* Lightbulb
* Paintbrush
* Yin-Yang
* Fan
* Cherries
* Test Tube
* Tissues

#### Grand Slams

* Baseball
* Knife
* Box
* Soap
* Microphone
* Balloon
* Suitcase
* Trophy
* Cheesy
* Dough (debut)

#### Meeple

* MePhone4
* MePad

#### Supporting

* Toilet
* Bow (mentioned)
* Taco (mentioned)

### Locations

* Elimination Area
* Soccer Field

## Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for A Kick in the Right Direction.
*Click here to view the gallery.*

## Production Notes

### Trivia

* When Lightbulb tells the "sports fans" what they're gonna do, she mixes up a ton of different sports together:
	+ "We're gonna have to dribble... (Basketball)
	+ ...around those bases..." (Baseball)
	+ "...to get the touchdown..." (Football)
	+ "...we need to checkmate the other team..." (Chess)
	+ "If we're gonna hit that bullseye..." (Archery or Darts)
	+ "...we're gonna knock those pins down as a team!" (Bowling)
	+ "...but you can't be drowning." (Aquatic sports)
* Both Lightbulb and Paintbrush received new designs, as Lightbulb gained a shine and shadow, and Paintbrush being more edged, as well as having waving hair.
* File:1.png   The same scene of Grand Slams' talking is different from the preview on Inanimate Insanity's Facebook page. The generic grass field was changed to a soccer field, and Baseball received a shadow.
* Lightbulb calls Apple "Vitamin C" mainly due to apples are known for their Vitamin C.
* MePhone4's update screen had the text that said 10:18 AM. It happens in the morning.
* From this episode onwards, any BFDI characters don't appear as minor characters.
* This is one of the few episodes that eventually got censored from YouTube, along with 4Seeing The Future, Double Digit Desert, and Journey Through Memory Lane/Part 1.
	+ In this case, any instances of Lightbulb saying the word "spaz" has been cut off, as it is considered an ableist slur nowadays.

### Easter Eggs

* When Test Tube tells everyone to write down their hypothesis, on her sheet it says:
1) Box is totally full of broccoli & tears.
2) Box is a vegan... nerd.
3) Apple has stubby earlobes.
* MePad comments on his screen that 3,851 votes were "the first time we've had a **prime** number of votes this season! :)"
* The new MeLife recovery app displays Nickel, Trophy, Paper, Paintbrush, Test Tube, Bow, Cheesy, Tissues, Cherries, Baseball, Balloon, and Pickle.
* When Yin-Yang is laughing evilly and everyone is upset at him, Dough in the background shouts, "You suck!"
* In Apple's description of Bow's death, Bow's tombstone reads "R.I.P - Bow - She was pink!"
* As MePhone4 is about to update, the screen reads "*This will cause your MePhone's appearance to drastically change, and turn into a weapon of mass destruction. Oh, and you can't change it back... EV-ER. So yeah, make a choice."*

### References

* The crayons in the first scene are differently colored idles of Crayon from *Object Overload*.
* The update MePhone4 could download, called "MeOS 7.0", is a reference to the iOS 7.0 update that was sent out.
* In the top left of MePhone4, it says "Merizon 3G", a reference to Verizon Wireless.
* Baseball saying "Legs!" is a reference to Bright Lights' "Arms!" in Breaking the Ice.
* When MePhone4 is about to update, the "EV-ER" on his screen is a possible reference to Total Drama Island, as well as a MePhone4 line from The Crappy Cliff.

### Errors

* When Balloon just starts crying from Nickel and Knife’s Sarcasm, Balloon’s Legs are stretched.
* When Marshmallow and Apple are drawing at the beginning, Apple's crayons disappear after the first scene.
* MePad displayed 3,851 votes. However by adding all of the votes for this episode together, 93 + 99 + 103 + 141 + 155 + 188 + 530 + 1,102 + 1,442 = **3,853** votes.
	+ This is a prime number too.
* As the shot rapidly zooms in on Apple, the blue flowers appear on the grass.
* Just before Adam drops the call with MePhone4, the ending timer call is 00:12, but it skipped to 00:13.
* When zooming in on Nickel right before making him sit out of the challenge, Suitcase's upper left corner has a rapidly flashing over-extended outline glitch for a couple of seconds.
* After Paintbrush is knocked down by Baseball, their arms are missing.
* When Apple accidentally passes the ball over to Knife instead of Marshmallow, Paintbrush is in their old design.
* As Dough is insulted and embarrassed by Microphone's remark, his foot is slightly under the field.
* When Yin ate Dough, Yang claims he was gluten-free, but in "Cooking for the Grater Good", he ate Paintbrush's pizza.
	+ This can explain, however, why Yang disliked the pizza.
* Dough's arm was slightly through Yin-Yang when Yin ate Dough.
* Dough’s leg is under the soccer field.
* Knife was out for unnecessary roughness, but Yin-Yang wasn't.
	+ This is because kicking the ball into someone's teeth is more dangerous than punching someone deep into a hole.
* In the flashback of Bow dying, Flashback Marshmallow disappeared before Evil Bow is alone on the next scene.