Lightbulb's recation to what happened to Fan in S4E4 (Pictures + Analysis)
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We all know what happened to our beloved Fan this episode and I wanted to see how my fav LB has been reacting to it (so far)!
More under the cut cuz this gets LONG, I love yapping!
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So, Lighbulb isn't present when Fan gets struck by lightning.
The only ones there are: MeTag, Poppy, Bot, Fan, Test Tube, the OSC (OJ, Suitcase and Cabby) and Suitcase's safety authority (Box, Paintbrush, Lifering [and MeTag]).
Bacause of this we can assume that she only knows about what happened and how Fan is doing the same as all other characters, so she was told by someone who was there.
The OSC could have been the ones who told her buuuuut...
Later in the episode Pepper says that Paintbrush told her about the object MeTag was trying to contact so I prefer thinking it was Painty who told LB what happened.
Salt says Fan can't have any visitors so LB hasn't seen Fan either.
In this scene, after an entire night at the hospital, the OSC tells everyone how Fan is doing.
During this whole interaction we never see LB's face, but she becomes the center of attention in the next scene:
Cabby: "Lightbulb, are you alright? You don't look so good."
LB: "Um, excuse you?"
Cabby "No, I mean you're green! Look!"
LB: "AHH!! I'm hideous!"
Silver: "There, there. Admitting it is a healthy first step!"
After which OJ tells her that her blue ray has just worn off and takes her to get a fresh coat.
I'd really like to point out that the character that are here to check on Fan AREN'T in the lab asking Test Tube to get blue-rayed.
Image above for comparison.
You can't see ALL the character that are with Test Tube (we're missing Cammy), but you get the picture.
You either went to check up on Fan or to get blue rayed.
And Lightbulb chose to go check on how Fan was doing.
Which is probably why her blue ray is wearing off, she wanted to see her friend more than making sure she herself was okay.
I think the way she over-reacts to being green is also played up, she's leaning into being worried about being green to hide how worried she is about Fan and to try and lighten the mood. (Something we'll see happen again later in the episode...)
Lightbulb is also gloomy while Test Tube and Bot are talking in this scene, Test Tube is worried for Bot's safety and upset she wasn't able to protect them from harm.
We've seen in episode 1 that Lightbulb has been made aware of her own mortality, and I think what happened to Fan has forced her to aknowledge that her friends can get hurt and die too, which is why this conversation seems to be hitting her too.
Then she starts smiling when they stop talking about that and OJ asks Bot to gather all the contestans, and LB goes with them.
AND THEN we have this scene.
Oj asks for no rumors to be spread about what happened, only for Cheesy to do EXACTLY THAT.
Cheesy: " I HEARD METAG SET FAN ON FIRE AND PUSHED HIM OFF A CLIFF!!"
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Lightbulb is so visibly shaken and scared when she hears that.
She's WAY more affected than ANYONE ELSE in frame.
And OF COURSE she is, that's ONE OF HER BEST FRIENDS he's talking about!!
THIS is the reason I wanted to make an analysis, to SHARE THIS SCREENSHOT.
Lightbulb can try as hard as she wants to hide it but it's clear she's worried sick about her friend.
After this Bot clarifies that's not what happened, this seems to calm her down but she's still visibly upset.
She only stops being sad when Cammy points out that continuing the game is what Fan would have wanted.
You can see her expression (eyebrows) change when she hears Cammy say that.
And we see her smile in the next beat, we even see her looking at Starfruit and doing the same confident pose as him!
From THIS point on, Lightbulb is all smiles and supporting her friends & teammates!!
She swoops in when tension between Paper and Poppy is rising,
Shows support to Tapey's idea, correctly highlighting why Fan would like it and getting everyone pumped up and ready to go,
She helps Starfruit and Paper with their issues with very accurate remasks about their past and encourages them,
And, while talking with Paper, she says "We all have to be a team right now, for Fan!" (<- Remember this!)
Like everyone, she's shocked when she hears that Poppy wanted to keep listening to the mysterious object talk (even dropping her guitar in shock and covering her mouth), but when Paper and Poppy start arguing again, she's the one who stops them.
Aaaaand then everything goes downhill again.
After this, she tries to lift the mood with a joke...
... And then she gets eliminated.
She's sad at first but recovers quickly to cheer everyone up, even muttering with a smile "I'll be back..." as she leaves.
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SO! What can we get from this?
Lightbulb is very shaken up by what happnened to Fan but she's trying to hide it.
We've seen her do this before in Season 2 and now she feels like she HAS TO even more because, like she said to Paper, it's what Fan would want.
He would want the game to continue so she has to continue it.
Not to mention her team NEEDS her.
As she's seen in S2, when team members fight with each toher, they get eliminated! (It's what happened when her and Painty fought, Paintbrush got eliminated!)
So she help everyone and tries to stop any fights.
(And when Paper and Poppy argue again and she tries to stop it, everything goes up in flames and gets her eliminated.)
I think she was prioritizing keeping her team stable and happy while hiding her sadness.
But now that she's not on a team anymore, maybe she'll take it slow and be a bit more open and honest?
Or the other option:
She'll try EVEN HARDER to help everyone because SHE COULDN'T DO IT LAST TIME, SHE CAN'T FAIL AGAIN, FAN WOULD WANT THE TEAMS TO BE HAPPY AND GET ALONG, TO SHOW HIS IDEA IS WORKING, SHE HAS NO TIME TO WASTE BEING SAD!!!!!
I think both options are plausable, either way I'm looking forward to seeing it happen!!!!
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Other thing of note: Although LB is sad about Fan, she doesn't seem to blame Poppy for what happened.
... And we don't know how she feels about MeTag yet.
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Personal final thoughts:
I LOVE LOVE LOVE HOW THEY WROTE HER THIS EPISODE!!
It felt like a good balance between her being good with people and surprisingly insightful while still being silly and fun!
I REALLY enjoyed all the interactions she's had with everyone so far!!
AND we got a scene of her and Paper talking?! I JUST KEEP WINNING!!!
The rock star outfits were AWESOME, I'm def drawing her human version in a rock star outfit as soon as possible!!
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I'm not really sad about her getting eliminated, she got her time to shine multiple times during Season 2 and I think we all knew she wasn't gonna win this season.
My bets on who's gonna win so far are:
Poppy,
Teddy Bear
And a secret third option I'll choose after episode 8 or 12 or something... Maybe Jack idk
With the current elimination method, she'll still be around and we'll still get to see her so I'm pretty okay with this (despite her being my favvv!)
I'm honestly a bit worried about this elimination method though.
How are they gonna balance having THIS MANY characters in ALL episodes?
Honestly, I'd be fine with characters who aren't newbies or under-developed and get eliminated just leaving but...
Well, I'm not complaining about them staying either.
I LIKE seeing them.
So far I've been enjoying the inclusion of Jack (despite him being eliminated) a lot!!
I'm just worried of there being so many characters it ends up feeling overcrowded and, while trying to make ALL characters have a moment, it feeling like none of them did...
I guess all I can do is trust the writers to keep a good balance!
They've been doing a good job so far!!!
This episode it really felt like many characters had their own moment without it feeling overcrowded so I'm happy!!
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The only thing missing now is seeing Lightbulb being openly sad about Fan, but I think we'll get to see it in future episodes! >:]
I think that when (/if...) Fan gets out of the hospital, she'll instantly run up to him and hug him with tears in her eyes!!
... And then he'll say "OW!!" because he's not all good yet and she'll stop and say "Ooops! Got a bit too excited there!"
or something like that! :P
SO YEAH, LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT EPISODES!!!!!
--- Click here to read a very cool and awesome reblog which points out some more awesome stuff!! ---
