Draft:Inanimate Insanity

Inanimate Insanity is an American media franchise centered on an enponymous online animated reality web series created by Adam Katz and directed by Katz, Brian Koch, Justin Chapman, and formerly Taylor Grodin, who create the series together on the YouTube channel AnimationEpic. The franchise has its roots from the web series of the same name which centers around a group of anthropomorphic objects that compete for 1 million dollars, led by the host, MePhone4. The anthropomorphic objects were inspired by jacknjellify's Battle for Dream Island. The series premiered on April 1, 2011, and is currently airing on its second season.

Outside of the web episodes, the series has expanded into animated shorts, webcomics, several soundtrack albums, and merchandise (such as T-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and plushies).

Hosts

 * MePhone4 (voiced by Christian Potenza (episode 1), Mark Katz (episode 2-present)), a smartphone similar to the iPhone 4 and the host of the show. He is usually referred to as "MePhone". He is the main protagonist of the series.
 * MePad (voiced by Conrad Collins (episodes 20-30), Justin Chapman (episodes 31-present)), a tablet similar to the iPad and the co-host of season 2.
 * Toilet (voiced by Taylor Grodin), a toilet and MePhone's co-host in season 2. He speaks in a broken English accent.

Season 1

 * Apple (voiced by Adam Katz)
 * Balloon (voiced by Nate Groth in Seasons 1-2, Ben Cross in Season 2-present)
 * Baseball (voiced by Adam Katz)
 * Bow/Bowbot/Bot (Season 3) (voiced by Taylor Grodin from episodes 9-41, Shooshies in episode 42-present)
 * Bomb (voiced by Max Weissmann)
 * Knife (voiced by Justin Chapman)
 * Lightbulb (voiced by Michael Bruzzone)
 * Marshmallow (voiced by Amanda Katz from episodes 1-6, Adam Katz in Season 1, Dee Cashin in Season 2-present)
 * Nickel (voiced by Adam Katz)
 * OJ (voiced by Taylor Grodin from episodes 2-36)
 * Paintbrush (voiced by TotalDramaFantasy in episodes 1-2, Taylor Grodin in episodes 3-41, Jazzy Oliver in episodes 42-present)
 * Paper (voiced by Justin Chapman)
 * Pepper (voiced by Bridgetteandcody2 in episodes 1-5, Adam Katz in episodes 6 and 19, Crasi4tunes in episodes 7-11, Sam Katz in episodes 16-18, Alexa Chapman in episode 25-present)
 * Pickle (voiced by Derek Napolitano)
 * Salt (voiced by Crasi4tunes in episodes 1-11, Sam Katz in episodes 16-18, Adam Katz in episode 19, Alexa Chapman in episode 25-present)
 * Taco (voiced by Sam Katz in the trailer and episodes 1-17, Adam Katz in episode 18, Aceland Alexander Kent in episodes 27-29, Rheagan Rizio in episode 30-present)

Season 2

 * Box
 * Cheesy (voiced by Adam Katz in Season 1, Aaron Shapiro in Season 2-present)
 * Cherries (voiced by Derek Napolitano)
 * Dough (voiced by Taylor Grodin)
 * Fan (voiced by Brian Koch)
 * Microphone (voiced by Hailey Chapman)
 * Soap (voiced by Kacie Chapman)
 * Suitcase (voiced by Sam Thornbury)
 * Tissues (voiced by Taylor Grodin)
 * Trophy (voiced by Justin Napolitano)
 * Yin-Yang (voiced by Marco Bonomo)

Inanimate Insanity Infinity

 * Thermos
 * Frank
 * Kumquat
 * Traffic Light
 * Shell
 * Black Hole
 * Barrel
 * Bandana
 * Hay Bale
 * Yarn (previously known)

Scrapped/rejected characters

 * Chip
 * Hot Sauce
 * Game Boy Color
 * Pearl
 * Goggles
 * Textbook

Season 3

 * Lifering (voiced by Adam Katz)
 * Cabby (voiced by Casey Landman)
 * Candle (voiced by Dee Cashin)
 * Clover (voiced by Dee Cashin)
 * Silver Spoon (voiced by Justin Chapman)
 * Blueberry (voiced by Barry Strum)
 * Goo (voiced by Justin Chapman)
 * Tea Kettle (voiced by Jill Katz)
 * The Floor (voiced by Sam Thornbury)

Other characters

 * MePhone4S (voiced by Brian Koch), a smartphone similar to the iPhone 4S who is nicknamed "The Terminator"


 * MePhone5 (voiced by Damario Watson) a smartphone similar to the iPhone 5 whose mission is to terminate both MePhone4 and MePhone4S


 * Steve Cobs (voiced by Peter Mancuso), founder of the fictional company Meeple Inc. who is an inventor and MePhone's creator


 * Springy (voiced by Zuwie Lefou), mascot of the fictional cereal brand Springtastic

Battle for Dream Island cameos

 * The Announcer, a black and white speaker machine who was the host of the first season in BFDI; he is seen when Nickel leaves Goiky to compete in Inanimate Insanity
 * Pencil (voiced by Michael Huang), a no. 2 pencil who competes in BFDI; Nickel sees her next to him and gets punched away to send her to Goiky.
 * Cloudy, a sentient cloud who competes in BFDI since its fourth season; Salt and Pepper's frisbee accidentally hits into him, causing him to cry.
 * Rocky, a mountain rock who competes in BFDI; Pickle gets tripped on him when he and Balloon pull the slingshot on Salt.
 * Firey (voiced by Michael Huang), a class A flame who competes in BFDI; He stole OJ's cake when OJ is supposed to have the cake.
 * Puffball Speaker Box (voiced by Michael Huang), a pink and fluffy speaker machine with a vocoded voice and color changing who was the host for the second season of BFDI; she was in a pizza eating contest that the contestants did.
 * Coiny (voiced by Michael Huang), a golden coin who competes in BFDI; He was in a jar meeting Nickel.

Format
As the show revolves around a competition, the format of Inanimate Insanity follows the contestants' gameplay each season. The group of contestants are initially split into teams that compete against one another. Each episode, a challenge is introduced to the contestants by the host to determine a singular winner, whether it be one contestant or an entire team, to win immunity for that round. The contestants, or team, that does not win the challenge is put up for elimination, which is either decided by viewers of the series through viewer voting, or the contestants themselves. The player who receives the most votes is eliminated and kicked out of the competition, rarely given the chance to rejoin.

Eventually the teams dissolve, known as the "Merge", and each contestant fights for themselves, though alliances can be formed. Strategic gameplay along with positive relationships are highly sought after in the competition, and lack thereof may result in elimination.

The two contestants who outlasts the others and avoid elimination are entered into the finale, who go head to head in a final challenge to win the grand prize.

Seasons
There are currently three seasons in the Inanimate Insanity series.

The series' first season, entitled Inanimate Insanity, or II, premiered on April 1, 2011 on AnimationEpic, where all future seasons and content would remain. The series tells a story about MePhone4, a sentient smartphone, who spontaneously creates a competition between sixteen, later eighteen, anthropomorphic objects, who compete against each other in various challenges for a grand prize of one million dollars.

The series' second season, entitled Inanimate Insanity II, or II II, premiered on April 2, 2013, two years and one day after the first season. The second season continues the same story from the first season of MePhone4 once again creating a competition between nineteen, later twenty, anthropomorphic objects, who compete against each other for another million dollars. The story, while following the same template as the first season, branches off into more developed storylines with characters and intensive themes. Additionally, an alternate season exists in the episode "Alternate Reality Show" called Inanimate Insanity Infinity, which takes place in an alternate timeline of Inanimate Insanity II.

The series' third season, entitled Inanimate Insanity Invitational, or III, premiered on April 3, 2021, eight years and one day after the second season, and ten years and two days after the first season. The third season runs simultaneous to the second season, though it tells a new separate story is stated to have no affect on the second season's story.

Spin offs
Throughout Inanimate Insanity's history, there have been various spinoffs that have branched from the show's characters and lore.
 * The Taco Show
 * Inanimate Answers - a spin-off side series hosted by Justin Chapman, where he takes on a persona and asks various Inanimate Insanity characters for advice.
 * Inanimate Battle - a spinoff series using real life objects where the Inanimate Insanity cast battle to be the winner, Inanimate Battle 3 introduces Big Orange Spoon as a newcomer

Production
The show originally used Anime Studio to animate before switching to Adobe Flash in "The Tile Divide".

Comics
The series began a series of webcomics called Inanimate Comics on July 8, 2020. There are currently six issues, with the official website saying "More comics coming soon!" The comics are created by CakeBrunch. Volume #1 ran from July 8, 2020 to September 9, 2020, and Volume #2 started on April 16, 2021.

Merchandising

 * The official store is hosted on Spring and Creator Ink, and sells various merchandise such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, posters, stickers and more.
 * Various soundtracks have been released on iTunes and Spotify featuring music from Inanimate Insanity II, released in 2017 and 2021. A full-length recap song of Inanimate Insanity Invitational composed and sung by Olivia Ciabattari (known online as LiviCiabattery) and edited by Daniel Adam Valle called the "Full Recap Song" was released on December 31, 2023. A soundtrack for Inanimate Insanity Invitational is set to be released in July 2024.
 * A plush toy of Lightbulb was announced during the Inanimate Direct, and was released on August 8, 2022, Yin-Yang, Paintbrush, and Nickel were released later on November 25, 2022, April 1 and July 9, 2023, respectively. Bot, Test Tube, Fan, MePhone4, and The Floor floor rug were released on November 11, 2023. The MePhone4 plush toy has a voice box provided by Mark Katz on his button. All plush toys were later out of stock; the Bot plush was available for pre-order on December 21, 2023, and the Nickel plush got a restock for ten dollars in February 2024 until both of them went out of stock. The Yin-Yang plush toy got a restock on March 3, 2024, which became larger. Plush toys for Cabby and Balloon were released on March 3, 2024. Both of them were originally leaked covered with emojis on Adam Katz's Instagram post of a photo of his home office, along with the Taco plush, which has yet to be released.

Music
=== Soundtrack ===