History WebAnimation / InanimateInsanity

''Inanimate Insanity'', is an animated series on Website/YouTube created by [=AnimationEpic=] (Adam Katz). Its [[ObjectShows premise]] is [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] by ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland''[[note]]which, in turn, was inspired by ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', which was in turn a parody of reality TV/''Series/{{Survivor}}''[[/note]] - a cast of {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s compete in a series of challenges in order to win the grand prize of 1 million dollars, all overseen by a living [[BlandNameProduct MePhone4]].

On April 3, 2021, a third season, ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanityInvitational'', premiered while Season 2 is still in progress. That's right, ''two'' seasons running at once.

''Inanimate Insanity'', is an animated series on Website/YouTube created by [=AnimationEpic=] (Adam Katz). Its [[ObjectShows premise]] is inspired by ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland''[[note]]which, in turn, was inspired by ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', which was in turn a parody of reality TV/''Series/{{Survivor}}''[[/note]] - a cast of {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s compete in a series of challenges in order to win the grand prize of 1 million dollars, all overseen by a living [[BlandNameProduct MePhone4]].

[[caption-width-right:350:This is Inanimate Insanity.[[labelnote:*]] From '''Bottom to Top''' and '''Left to Right''': [[ExtremeDoormat Suitcase]], [[DeadpanSnarker Nickel]], [[GenkiGirl Lightbulb]], [[GameShowHost [=MePhone4=]]], [[TheAtoner Balloon]], [[PungeonMaster Cheesy]], [[CompanionCube Box]], [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Tissues]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Knife]], [[SplitPersonality Paper]], [[HairTriggerTemper Paintbrush]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity Taco]], [[MellowFellow Pickle]], [[JerkJock Trophy]], [[EatenAlive Dough]], [[NeatFreak Soap]], [[TheDitz Apple]], [[TheCynic Marshmallow]], [[OnlySaneMan OJ]], [[JekyllAndHyde Yin-Yang]], [[TheSmartGuy Test Tube]], [[NoIndoorVoice Microphone]], [[TheBigGuy Baseball]], [[ValleyGirl Bow]], [[SatelliteCharacter Pepper]], [[AlphaBitch Salt]], [[CartoonBomb Bomb]], [[AscendedFanboy Fan]], [[TheStoic [=MePad=]]], [[TheDividual Cherries]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Toilet]] | '''Not Pictured:''' [[TheEeyore Blueberry]], [[SassySecretary Cabby]], [[MeditationPowerup Candle]], [[BornLucky Clover]], [[{{Metaphorgotten}} Goo]], [[LovableJock Lifering]], [[MockMillionaire Silver Spoon]], [[TeamMom Tea Kettle]], [[spoiler: [[RobotMe Bot]]]] and [[GeniusLoci Floor]]]][[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This is Inanimate Insanity.[[labelnote:*]] From '''Bottom to Top''' and '''Left to Right''': [[ExtremeDoormat Suitcase]], [[DeadpanSnarker Nickel]], [[GenkiGirl Lightbulb]], [[GameShowHost [=MePhone4=]]], [[TheAtoner Balloon]], [[PungeonMaster Cheesy]], [[CompanionCube Box]], [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Tissues]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Knife]], [[SplitPersonality Paper]], [[HairTriggerTemper Paintbrush]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity Taco]], [[MellowFellow Pickle]], [[JerkJock Trophy]], [[{{Sucksessor}}Dough]], Soap, Apple, Marshmallow, OJ, Yin-Yang, Test Tube, Microphone, Baseball, Bow, Pepper, Salt, [[CartoonBomb Bomb]], Fan, [=MePad=], [[TheDividual Cherries]] and Toilet | '''Not Pictured:''' Blueberry, Cabby, Candle, Clover, Goo, Lifering, Silver Spoon, Tea Kettle, Bot and The Floor]][[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This is Inanimate Insanity.[[labelnote:*]] From '''Bottom to Top''' and '''Left to Right''': Suitcase, Nickel, Lightbulb, [=MePhone4=], Balloon, Cheesy, Box, Tissues, Knife, Paper, Paintbrush, Taco, Pickle, Trophy, Dough, Soap, Apple, Marshmallow, OJ, Yin-Yang, Test Tube, Microphone, Baseball, Bow, Pepper, Salt, [[CartoonBomb Bomb]], Fan, [=MePad=], [[TheDividual Cherries]] and Toilet | '''Not Pictured:''' Blueberry, Cabby, Candle, Clover, Goo, Lifering, Silver Spoon, Tea Kettle, Bot and The Floor]][[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This is Inanimate Insanity.[[labelnote:*]] From '''Bottom to Top''' and '''Left to Right''': Suitcase, Nickel, Lightbulb, [=MePhone4=], Balloon, Cheesy, Box, Tissues, Knife, Paper, Paintbrush, Taco, Pickle, Trophy, Dough, Soap, Apple, Marshmallow, OJ, Yin-Yang, Test Tube, Microphone, Baseball, Bow, Pepper, Salt, [[CartoonBomb Bomb]], Fan, [=MePad=], [[TheDividual Cherries]] and Toilet | '''Not Pictured:''' Blueberry, Cabby, Candle, Clover, Goo, Lifering, Silver Spoon, Tea Kettle and The Floor]][[/labelnote]]

* AllThereInTheManual: The official website reveals a lot of things and facts about the characters that is not mentioned in the series proper.

* DelayedSafetyFeature: [=MePhone4=]'s intro in "Breaking the Ice" has him jumping out a plane with a parachute, only for his dramatic entrance to be ruined when the parachute doesn't deploy until he lands hard on the ground.

* DramaticThunder: In "The Tile Divide", [=MePhone4S=]'s return is punctuated by lighting striking in the background as he laughs maniacally. The effect is lost since the only character present, Paper, has no idea who [=MePhone4S=] is due to not having been present for his first appearance.

** When Paintbrush suggests that Test Tube could build the Bright Lights' rocket in "Marsh on Mars", Lightbulb dismisses the idea that she'd be good at science just because she's a test tube as prejudiced. When Paintbrush's judgement is proven correct, Lightbulb just admits that they were right "this time", causing Paintbrush to slap their forehead.

* {{Filler}}: Discussed in "Rain on Your Charade". When [=MePhone4=] says that they're going to keep things low key in that episode since the events of the previous two episodes threw him off schedule. Fan takes this to mean that the episode is going to be filler, and [=MePhone4=] doesn't help his case by denying this repeatedly (one time speaking way slower than he needs to for no apparent reason other than to take more time) and making up a story on the spot about Marshmallow losing her (non-existent) bottlecap collection. While Marshmallow, Lightbulb, and Paintbrush look for said bottlecaps, the words "NOT FILLER" flash on the screen in big, red letters.\\\

---->"The recently single and well-renowed politically correct author is back again! He enjoys long walks in the park and fast food chains. He's been accused of various crimes, but he didn't do it, seriously. Promise. Raised in the literal sphere of innocence, Naught Fahnee has been shielding himself from the harsh jokes of modern society."

** In "Journey Through Memory Lane (Part 1)", Baseball agrees with Paper that Idiotic Island isn't so bad and starts making a heartwarming speech about how the contestants have learnt from each other over the course of the competition. Then [=MePhone4=] comes along and asks who wants to leave the island. Baseball promptly kicks Nickel out of the way and yells at [=MePhone4=] to let him out.

* LaughTrack: Parodied in "Kick the Bucket". When [=MePhone4=] invokes the "'her loss' clause" in response to Marshmallow not showing up for the episode's challenge, an audience laughs and claps, even though the show neither uses a laugh track out of universe or is filmed in front of an audience in universe. It's then revealed to have been an in-universe sound effect [=MePad=] played using an app.

* LetsSplitUpGang: In "Mazed and Confused", Nickel suggests the Grand Slams use this strategy to traverse the maze the challenge centers around, with him and Baseball taking all rights, Suitcase taking all lefts, and Microphone, Balloon, and Knife... just doing whatever they feel like. Microphone tries to point out that there's no point to this since ''every'' member of the team has to get through the maze for them to win, but everyone else leaves off screen before she can even finish her sentence.

* OfferingAHand: After Apple and Marshmallow realize in "Marsh on Mars" that the reason they hated each other was a misunderstanding on Apple's part, Marshmallows offers a truce and holds out her hand, which Apple accepts. Unfortunately, the moment is interrupted when the Cherries' revenge for Apple and Marshmallow ruining their act earlier sends Marshmallow flying to Mars.

** In "Breaking the Ice", [=MePhone4=] tries to make a dramatic entrance by parachuting out a plane, only for the triumphant music to get cut off by this when his parachute fails to deploy before he hits the ground.

* ScaryJackInTheBox: In "Let Er' R.I.P.", Marshmallow hides from Apple in a room in Purgatory Mansion containing a jack-in-the-box. It begins to play by itself as Marshmallow watches it worriedly. When it finishes playing, Bow's ghosts pops out of it and roars at Marshmallow, scaring her so badly that she falls paralysed to the floor.

*** When Pickle is wondering whether he should vote off OJ or Paper, his thoughts being illustrated as pencil drawings, him noting that OJ is a huge complainer is illustrated by a picture of OJ telling Staci from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama: Revenge of the Island'' to shut up.

* SpeakInUnison: "Mazed and Confused" has a rather mundane example when both Suitcase and Balloon exclaim "Yay! We made it!" at the same time when they reach the goal of titular maze, though it does serve to emphasise their growing friendship.

** [[spoiler:"Best Served Cold" isn’t as whammy as the previous other two, but it still definitely has it’s points. The teams end up being rearranged, the biggest threat in the game at that point, Cabby, gets eliminated, and TheStinger reveals that Bow isn’t actually Bow, [[RoboticReveal but rather a robot created in her image.]]

* WhamLine: "Kick the Bucket" has ''three'' of them:
**
--->'''Bow:''' [[spoiler:Maybe... you're the one that's lying! Maybe Kumquat wasn't such a good friend to you! Maybe she didn't deserve to have your friendship, and maybe I made her say all those things just so you'd see that it's true!]]
** The ending scenes have two in succession: After [[spoiler:Balloon is voted out 5 to 1, he]] tries to run away, but not before [[spoiler:Suitcase drops this bombshell]]:
--->'''[[spoiler:Suitcase:]]''' [[spoiler:Nickel, I voted for ''you'' tonight.]]
** And then, after [[spoiler:Suitcase tells Nickel off for being a {{Jerkass}} to Balloon, Nickel responds with his own rebuke]]:
--->'''[=MePhone4=]:''' [[spoiler:Y'see, uhhh, y'know how I said I'd make up for it next time? Well, it's a double elimination!]]

* AudienceParticipation: Like ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'' before it, viewers are allowed to choose which contestant they want to eliminate. From "Mazed and Confused" on, elimination is switched to contestant voting, while viewers get to vote on the next episode's challenge. Later, in "Mine your Own Business", voting is dropped altogether for Season 2.
** It was brought back in season 3 through immunity voting (voting for who you want safe), but thanks to [[spoiler:[=YinYang=]]] getting immunity constantly, it was dropped again in "Home Is Where The Heart Is".

** Knife lets out one in "Let Er R.I.P", when [[spoiler:Bow]] forcefully drags him out of the haunted house after [[spoiler:she destroys his Dora doll in front of him]].

*** When [=MePad=] tells the contestants about [=MeCloud=], he displays a rather concerning ad on his screen for a moments.

* HuddleShot: When Soap wakes up from the panic attack caused by Toilet spitting on her in "Theft and Battery", she sees her teammates looking down at her in this fashion.

* ItsProbablyNothing: In "Journey Through Memory Lane (Part 1)", Nickel notices that the box Bow was trapped in has a large hole in the side. After a dramatic zoom-in on the box, he promptly goes "Eh," and walks off.

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: While a conversation between Marshmallow and Paintbrush is in progress in "Mazed and Confused", a piano is heard in the background. Paintbrush suddenly wonders where it comes from, and going through a hedge they find out that Lightbulb was playing the background piano on a synthesiser.

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: When a [=MePhone4=] pulls out a party popper to celebrate the eliminated contestant of "Theft and Battery" getting the most elimination votes ever, it's accompanied by a trumpet fanfare that peters out as the sick [=MePhone4=] then collapses.

* MistakenForTransformed: In "Marsh on Mars", Marshmallow gets sent to Mars and the teams are tasked with bringing her back, with The Grand Slams arriving first and taking her on their rocket back home. When The Bright Lights arrive after them, they spot an alien egg and assume, for no good reason, that Marshmallow has turned into an egg. They bring the egg back in hopes of somehow "turning her back", only to find out that the other team already got her.

** In "Let 'Er R.I.P.", Soap hoovers up [[spoiler:Bow's ghost]] using a back-mounted vacuum cleaner that resembles the [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion Poltergust 3000]].

** One of [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131023210748/http://inanimateinsanity.com/blog Fan's blog entries]] (more specifically The Fan Exam) has him saying that he was originally going to call it the [[Series/PhilOfTheFuture Omicron Gambit]]. Fan himself even [[LampshadedTheObscureReference lampshades]] it.

* SingleTear: Balloon gets one of these several times in "Rain on Your Charade": First in his flashback to his conversation with OJ when he confides to the latter that he wants to make up for his terrible behaviour towards his teammates after everything they went through together; then after OJ tells him to try to make friends with the new contestants instead and forces him out of the hotel, sadly saying after OJ slams the door in his face that he doesn't want to do that; and finally in the present day when he tells Suitcase that nobody cares about his attempts to apologise.

** Happens in "The Crappy Cliff" when the contestants have to jump off a cliff with elephant feces. The goal is to land in the water and avoid the feces.

* AbhorrentAdmirer:
** Salt to OJ.
** Season 2 (in a less romantic fashion) has Toilet to [=MePhone4=].
* AbusiveParents: This is hinted at in Theft and Battery, where Cobs shows off his parents' garage on display, which he literally ripped out of his parents' house. He then mentions that he doesn't talk to them anymore.
** "Mine Your Own Business" reveals [[spoiler:Cobs himself was this to his creations]].
* ActorAllusion: Lightbulb's ExtremeOmnivore tendencies are a reference to a story involving her voice actor, Michael Bruzzone, where he went to a bowling alley with Adam Katz and accidentally ate part of a receipt.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Idiotic Island and the title of the show itself, "Inanimate Insanity".

* AdoringThePests: Lightbulb to Baxter.
* ALizardNamedLiz: There are some characters who have names that are similar to the kind of objects they are, for example: a tissue box named Tissues, an ear of corn named Steve Cobs, a chunk of cheese named Cheesy, a file cabinet named Cabby, etc.

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The final challenge of season 1, just like season 1 of BFDI's. [[spoiler: It consists of jumping off of the cliff and into the water, putting lemons into the basket, knocking off a prop of the opponent, throwing themselves across the gorge by slingshot, stacking golf balls, going through an obstacle course, collecting candy and putting them into the basket, and others]].

* AmbiguousGender: Paintbrush. Occasional questions about the subject lead to a number of lampshades being hung about it. [[spoiler:Episode 12 of Season 2 reveals they are non-binary. Specifically, they are presumably agender (which falls under the non-binary umbrella) as they don't have a gender and have shown several times that they dislike being asked if they have one and what it is.]]

* AnthropomorphicFood: Several characters. [[note]]Apple, Blueberry, Cheesy, Cherries, Chives, Dough, Frank, Kumquat, Marshmallow, OJ, Salt, Pepper, Pickle, Steve Cobs, Taco, the Spoiled Lemon band.[[/note]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In "Hatching the Plan."
--> '''[[spoiler:Taco]]:''' See? ''This'' is why you listen to me, [[spoiler:Mic]]. Delectable, isn't it? Finally, a taste of recognition. Finally, I can finally-
--> '''[[spoiler:Microphone]]:''' Is that what you said to [[spoiler:Pickle]]?

* ArtShift:
** In "Crappy Anniversary", [=MePhone4=] temporarily switches the art style back to that of the first episode. It doesn't go down well with the contestants.
** While Pickle ponders whether he should vote for OJ or Paper to be eliminated in "The Penultimate Poll", the artstyle changes to one looking like pencil drawings on paper as he goes through the reasons why each of them deserves to be eliminated.

* AscendedFanboy: Fan is a massive fan of the show, and he ends up being allowed to compete in Seasons 2 and 3.
* AscendedMeme: "Test Tube Tango" was a meme originating in the II Discord before spreading to Twitter, where an out-of-context moment from "Hatching the Plan" seen in the trailer where Test Tube is seen wrapping her arm around Microphone was interpreted as leading into a tango song number. While this didn't happen, it ''did'' lead to a song of the same name on Volume 4 of the official soundtrack.
* AudienceParticipation: Like ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'' before it, viewers are allowed to choose which contestant they want to eliminate. From "Mazed and Confused" on, elimination is switched to contestant voting, while viewers get to vote on the next episode's challenge. As of "Mine your Own Business", voting was dropped altogether for Season 2.

* BaitAndSwitch:
** In "Journey Through Memory Lane (Part 1)", Paper seemingly starts to scream when Paintbrush mentions Idiotic Island, making it appear as if his evil split personality is returning. Then it turns out that he just needed to sneeze.
** "Cooking for the Grater Good" has two instances:
*** When Knife tells Trophy that he no longer cares if the latter shows everyone the embarrassing photo of him, Trophy prepares to do just that, and Knife tells him to wait, having apparently changed his mind. When Trophy mocks him for being chicken, Knife tells him that he actually just wanted to tell him that he has grape juice on his chin.
*** Soap tells Suitcase and Balloon to get flour for their team's pizza. The next time we see Suitcase, she's in a meadow picking [[FunWithHomophones flowers]]. Balloon then comes up to her and tells her that they're doing it wrong, making it sound like he's realised what Soap actually asked for. Then he tells Suitcase that Soap only asked for one "flower", not several.

** Trophy lets out one in "Cooking for the Grater Good" when [[spoiler:Knife kicks him into the Rejection Portal following his elimination]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The last minutes of "Alternate Reality Show" have Paintbrush apologizing to Lightbulb for saying they shouldn't work together and revealing their gender to her, which she accepts wholeheartedly. Paintbrush is then eliminated, so Lightbulb gives them Baxter as a reminder of her as the two part ways.]]
* BlankWhiteEyes: Toilet gets these in "Marsh on Mars" when he finds out that the new assistant [=MePhone4=] lavished praise upon is actually [=MePad=], not him.

*** Fan: [[spoiler:Grows increasingly more frustrated and stressed out by the numerous changes to the show and wishes everything was simple again.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Let 'Er R.I.P.", [[spoiler:Bow]] possesses Paintbrush's hair and causes them to fly. Lightbulb assumes it was because they bribed the animator.
* BrokeTheRatingScale: "Cooking for the Grater Good" has an in-universe example where Puffball Speaker Box loves Lightbulb's cookie pizza so much that she rewards it a 19 out of 10, making the pizza's combined score 49 out of 40.

* CallBack: The Santa storyline in the Christmas challenge gets brought up again in the second season, as Marshmallow realizes it was why Apple started hating her.
* CastOfSnowflakes: With the exception of [[AlphaBitch Pepper & Salt]], no two characters look alike.

* ChekhovsGag: In Season 1, "Crappy Anniversary", features a gag where the Cloudcuckoolander Taco suddenly speaks in an eloquent and elaborate exploration regarding her trajectory off of her cliff. [[spoiler:Given the reveal that she was ObfuscatingStupidity this gag has a surprising amount of meaning.]]

** Nickel: Dull Green

** Balloon: Light Red

** Test Tube: Bright Green
** Marshmallow: White or Teal
** Tissues: Teal and Green

* DarkerAndEdgier: The later episodes of Season 2 become much darker and more story-oriented, with a major plot point being [[AbusiveParents MePhone's abusive history with Steve Cobs]].
* DeathIsCheap: Contestants are able to come back to life thanks to [=MePhone=]... provided that they don't die either before he can set them up in his [=MeLife=] app or die while ''he's'' dead. The process isn't shown until the beginning of Season 2, though (as lampshaded by Fan).

* DisproportionateRetribution: When Knife comments on Baseball's "fatness" in "Breaking the Ice", Baseball responds by furiously punting him with all his strength into the frozen water. Trophy also does the same, but Baseball is cut off before he can do anything.

%% * DoubleKnockout: Twice in Season 2's first episode - when Marshmallow and Fan are hit, and when characters are hit in pairs by Microphone's dodgeballs.

* DownerEnding: "Mine You Own Business" has [[spoiler:Fan be eliminated and getting into a heated argument with Test Tube over custody of the egg. Fan then tearfully confesses that he doesn't want the egg to hatch so the creature inside can stay safe. Fan is then pushed through the Rejection Portal and [=MePhone4=] fires Toilet over paranoia that he is working for Cobs, leaving [=MePad=] sorrowful. The episode ends with Fan expressing his thoughts through his blog that he has to trust Test Tube even if he disagrees with her.]]
* DramaticThunder: In "The Tile Divide", [=MePhone4S=]’ return is punctuated by lighting striking in the background as he laughs maniacally. The effect is lost since the only character present, Paper, has no idea who [=MePhone4S=] is due to not having been present for his first appearance.

** The Grand Slams. Knife (less so later on), Nickel, and Trophy are [[{{Jerkass}} unpleasant assholes]], Cheesy is TheFriendNobodyLikes who would bother everyone with jokes, Suitcase is a pushover stuck in the TraumaCongaLine, Balloon is struggling to make amends with the other players, Microphone can't control her volume and [[DudeWheresMyRespect just wants to be acknowledged by her teammates]], Soap suffers from OCD and tries to get over it in later episodes, and Baseball [[spoiler:struggles to keep his team and alliance together, something he laments about in episode 10.]]
** The Bright Lights aren't exempt from this trope either. [[PluckyComicRelief Lightbulb]], despite her team leader position and bright ideas, [[BrilliantButLazy would rather goof around as opposed to focusing on challenges]], Cherries are trying to get attention by making people happy, but aren't recognized, Test Tube is socially-awkward and can be a nervous wreck at times, Paintbrush has an [[HairTriggerTemper extremely violent temper]] and [[SeriousBusiness takes the game too seriously]], Tissues has a sickness that renders him useless to the team, Yin-Yang's two personalities are at constant war with each other, Fan's [[LoonyFan obsession with the show contributes to his slacking off]], and then there's Marshmallow's dilemma with Apple and Bow.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Everything's A-OJ", [=MePhone4=]'s inmates in his jail cell are extremely taken aback by him casually locking eliminated contestants in a small closet for several months and having no remorse for it. Rusty Jo even gives him a strong lecture and pep talk about how if he doesn't change his ways, jail walls will be it for him. It is even more impactful as Rusty Jo says that it is too late for himself to change as he, himself, is stuck in jail presumably indefinitely.

** When Cheesy nervously tries to stop his teammates from grating him up by making another one of his bad puns in "Cooking for the Grater Good", Microphone just slaps her forehead in response.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Frequently. In various scenes, a character that is onscreen that isn't currently speaking will briefly have a very crazy face.
* FunWithHomophones: In "Cooking for the Grater Good", Suitcase and Balloon misunderstand Soap asking them to get flour for the team's pizza as her asking them to bring a ''flower''.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: In "Inanimate Smackdown", OJ accidentally triggers Evil Paper by asking Paper if he had his problem before he went to Idiotic Island. Evil Paper prepares to smash him with a chair, but before he can do so, OJ slaps him, bringing normal Paper back.

* GrapesOfLuxury: "Cooking for the Grater Good" opens with Trophy using his blackmail hold on Knife to make him feed a reclining Trophy grapes. Trophy then has Knife fan him... with Fan.
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: When Cheesy tries to punch the ghost of Bow in "Let Er' R.I.P." after she says that his joke wasn't funny, he ends up jumping right through her since she's incorporeal and crashes through a window. After going through the window, he hangs in the air for a few moments, [[SqueakyEyes blinks audibly]], and then falls screaming to the ground.

* IllKillYou: When [=MePhone4=] lets the eliminated contestants out after their long imprisonment on Idiotic Island in "The Penultimate Poll", Knife grabs him while yelling this. Lightbulb and Bomb restrain him before he can make good on his threat.

* ImmoralRealityShow: The contest is notorious for its [[VulgarHumor crude]], [[TraumaCongaLine traumatizing]], [[WeUsedToBeFriends and friendship-destroying]] nature, which leads to a ton of negative reception from the contestants themselves. [[spoiler:A major example of the negative reception is Marshmallow leaving the show to stay with Bow at Purgatory Mansion.]] Eliminated contestants are sent off to be stuck in Idiotic Island in Season 1, and the rejection portal in Season 2. The latter is revealed to lead to [[spoiler:a small closet somewhere in OJ's hotel, which makes things worse once Tissues is eliminated, sickening everyone in there by sneezing on them. Fortunately, a court order perpetrated by OJ changes the portal's destination to designated rooms in the hotel after [=MePhone's=] 1-day jail sentence.]] Season 3 isn't much better, as eliminated contestants are hit hard enough by the Fist Thingy to fly an unknown distance over the ocean and land hard on a spooky island where they are doomed to stay if they don't get on a rowboat to go back to Hotel OJ. Luckily, Blueberry and Fan enjoy being hit by the Fist Thingy (even if they scream while flying through the air), so not as bad as before, but still not much better either.

* LarynxDissonance: A few female characters are voiced by males who don't make too much of an effort to sound female.
* LittleNo: In "Cooking for the Grater Good", Knife abruptly stops fanning Trophy and drops one of these when he decides to stop letting Trophy control him with his blackmail.

** In "Mazed and Confused", [[spoiler:Balloon accidentally leads Baseball's alliance into a dangerous portion of the maze. Nickel gets annoyed with him and tries to convince Suitcase to leave him behind. Suitcase refuses and the two get into an argument as Baseball fails to calm them down. Balloon and Suitcase leave after the former tries to prove a point to Nickel, and Baseball gets mad at him.]] The scene that follows immediately after is Test Tube being her usual dorky self and talking to Fan's egg.

** Baseball tells this to Test Tube after [[spoiler:she is eliminated and he admits to voting for her. He says it was a hard decision, but she was the biggest threat in the competition.]]

* OffhandBackhand: When [=MePhone4=] throws a pumpkin at Lightbulb during the elimination of "Let Er' R.I.P.", she punches it to pieces without looking up from the newspaper she's reading.

* PassThePopcorn: When Knife decides to finally stand up to Trophy and stop letting him blackmail him in "Cooking for the Grater Good", Fan grabs a bucket of popcorn from nowhere to watch.

** "Cooking for the Grater Good":
*** Knife decides to finally stop letting Trophy use the embarrassing picture he took to boss him around and gives him a LittleNo. Trophy asks him to repeat himself.
---->'''Knife:''' I. Said. No!
*** When Soap decides to grate up Cheesy to use him for their team's pizza, he nervously tries to change her mind. This doesn't work, and she menacingly tells her teammates, "Get. Him."
*** When Lightbulb first proposes her idea for a cookie pizza, an unimpressed Paintbrush replies, "That's. The dumbest idea. I've ever heard!"

** Microphone gives one to Cheesy after he [[TookALevelInJerkass calls her a monstrosity]].

** [[spoiler:Suitcase]] gives an ''excellent'' and [[LaserGuidedKarma very well-deserved]] one to [[spoiler:Nickel]] in "Kick the Bucket" after [[spoiler:she votes him out 5 to 1]].

** In "Cooking for the Grater Good", the cheery background music is cut off by this when Lightbulb tries to use Fan's alien egg as an ingredient for their team's cookie pizza, only for him to angrily grab it back and point out that there's something living inside it.
* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: When Soap asks if they can have a proper cookbook for the pizza-making challenge in "Cooking for the Grater Good", [=MePhone4=] sarcastically asks if she wants a five-star chef too. Soap happily replies that that sounds wonderful.

* TheScream: Microphone, after [[spoiler:Taco leaps out from behind the bushes]]. Everyone else hears it from a distance, but don't really bother.

** [[spoiler:Taco, after [=MePhone5=] gets knocked off the cliff.]]
** [[spoiler:Marshmallow eventually grows tired of the competition since she believes it destroys morality, emotional states, and friendships, so she leaves the show to live with Bow in Purgatory Mansion.]]

* SelfDeprecation: After the guest judges are run out of the show in "Cooking for the Grater Good", [[WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland the Puffball Speaker Box]]'s parting words are, "Nobody likes ''Inanimate Insanity'' anyway!"

* SequenceBreaking: In "Mazed and Confused", Lightbulb tries to fly through the maze with Fan, but [=MePhone=] counts it as cheating and promptly teleports them back.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} -- after Taco steals the suitcase and drops it into the Crappy Cliff, [=MePhone4=] confirms that it was a decoy. The real prize was in the bank. [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough Who Would Be Dumb Enough]] to put a million dollars in a suitcase, anyways?]]
* ShipTease: Fan and Test Tube have a ''lot'' of chemistry together and care for each other and even hatch and nurture an egg for several months, acting like parents.

** "Aquatic Conflict" has [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Spongebob's pineapple house]] in an underwater scene.

** As a FreezeFrameBonus, the numbers "11037" show up twice in inconspicuous places in "Everything's A-OJ". Said numbers are crucial to an early trial in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc''.
** One of [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131023210748/http://inanimateinsanity.com/blog Fan's blog entries]] (more specifically The Fan Exam) has him saying that he was originally going to call it the [[Series/PhilOfTheFuture Omicron Gambit]]. Fan himself even [[Main/LampshadedTheObscureReference lampshades]] it.
* ShownTheirWork: Meeple surprisingly has a lot of research put into it involving Apple, such as Steve Cobbs's garage and the remark about him being a video game designer.

* StaggeredZoom: Used in "Cooking for the Grater Good" to zoom in on Paintbrush's angry face when they tell Lightbulb to take back her comment that she's never seen Paintbrush paint anything.

* StupidestThingIveEverHeard: When Lightbulb proposes that her team make a cookie pizza for the challenge in "Cooking for the Grater Good", Paintbrush replies that "That's. The dumbest idea. [They've] ever heard!"
* StylisticSuck: The "Enanimat Ensanity" spinoff, featuring Ms-Paint style "animation", terrible voices, and non-sensical plots.
* SuperWindowJump: "Let Er' R.I.P." has three accidental examples while the contestants are exploring Purgatory Mansion, all of them caused by the ghost of Bow:
** When she tells Cheesy that his joke wasn't funny, he gets angry and winds up to punch her. However, since she's incorporeal, he instead ends up throwing himself through her and the window behind her.
** When she reveals herself to Fan and Test Tube and pops Balloon in front of Suitcase, respectively, Fan and Suitcase get so scared that they run away and throw themselves out the window in a panic.

** [[spoiler:After Suitcase steals a battery meant for [=MePhone4=], she ends up unintentionally incriminating herself.]]
--->'''Suitcase:''' [[spoiler:I just wanted to let all know that [[BlatantLies I didn't steal anything]]. Nope.]]

** According to WordOfGod, Dough was created as a spoof of the ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episode "[[Recap/GleeS3E15BigBrother Big Brother]]" (where a character's older brother debuts).

* WingdingEyes: In "The Penultimate Poll", Salt gets heart eyes when she tells Pepper that she and OJ may be more than friends.

* YouMonster:
** Suitcase calls Trophy this in "Cooking for the Grater Good" after he angrily stomps on Box following [[spoiler:his elimination]], accusing him of being jealous because [[spoiler:Box is still in the game]].
** In "Let Er' R.I.P.", Marshmallow calls Soap a monster after the latter [[spoiler:"kills" Bow's ghost by accidentally sucking her up in her hand-held vacuum cleaner]].

* ALizardNamedLiz: There are some characters who have names that are similar to the kind of objects they are, for example: a tissue box named Tissues, an ear of corn named Steve Cobs, a chunk of cheese named Cheesy, etc.