Summary
Highlights
Cary, a writer for BFDI episodes, introduces a newly discovered Flash file that predates the "First BFDI Animation Ever" video. The previously known animation, 'fierymusicvideo.swift', from February 2009, was a music video featuring a football and Blocky. However, the newly found 'fiery.fla' dates back to February 20, 2009, a week earlier.
Before revealing 'fiery.fla', Cary discusses 'dumbshow.fla', an animation from the 'Super Short Stick Figure Show' on h2s.net. The animation used a button effect, where buttons grew when the mouse hovered over them, inspired by Fred's website. Cary coded this effect himself, and it was later repurposed for 'fiery.fla'.
Blocky, described as a building block, was initially portrayed as a rule-breaker often ending up in jail, a trait now seen in Gelatin. Many feared Blocky, especially Woody, but he was friends with Eraser, Coiny, and Snowball. His personality traits and friendships largely carried over into the BFDI series.
Bubble is depicted as a kind and helpful character who is 'isophobic' (scared of being alone). Interestingly, in February 2009, Bubble's friends were listed as Match, Pencil, and Ice Cube. This reveals an earlier iteration of the alliance, which initially included Ice Cube before her eventual exclusion from the group in BFDI.
Coiny is described as mischievous, getting along with Snowball, Blocky, and Eraser. He also supposedly achieved second place in spelling after Match. Notably, Coiny and Firey were already enemies, originating from an incident where Coiny forgot Firey's 'poison water' from the 'Total Firey Island' books, a narrative event that was later uploaded to YouTube.
Cary created these character descriptions at 11 years old, highlighting his early commitment. He points out peculiar design choices, like optimized text where character names were converted to shapes with reduced polygon counts, resulting in slightly jagged edges. The animation also features old assets, including the 'blobby looking eye' and the 'old-fashioned limbs' used in early BFDI episodes, as well as looping animations for each character.
'Fiery.fla' is an interactive character guide with 20 buttons that change size when the mouse hovers over them. Cary's plan was to feature all 20 original BFDI characters, but only Blocky, Bubble, and Coiny were completed. Clicking on a character brings up a description of their personality before the 'Battle for Dream Island' concept existed.