And this is only scratching the surface.note
Object shows are a series of web-animated cartoons starring a cast of living inanimate objects. Typically, it involves these objects participating in Total Drama-inspired competition game shows for a prize with the setting usually taking place in vast, open fields of unknown location. Cast-wise, it invokes all the stereotypes known in reality TV which includes, but not limited to, the Sadistic Gameshow Host, the Jerk Jock, the Nerdy Intellect, the Casanova Wannabe, the Nice Guy, the Chew Toy (Characters who constantly die or get unjustifiably hated on) and the Valley Girl.
The first-ever object show was Battle for Dream Island (BFDI), created by The Huang Twins, Michael and Cary Huang, and released on the 1st of January 2010.note BFDI has its first episode garnered over 60 million views to date, signifying the popularity of the show. Later on 1st April 2011, Adam Katz released Inanimate Insanity (II), the second major object show,* which would find major success and a sizable fanbase although not as comparable to BFDI. From these two shows, it would spawn countless other similar object shows and form the backbone of many common tropes found on these shows as the norm.
However, some object shows deviate from the source material to form their own sub-genres such as the Slice of Life comedy and the action-adventure instead of competition-based ones while others are more mature than the usual kid-friendly fare like the gory bloodbath known as Object Terror which tend to be more controversial. This also gives rise to a new sub-genre called "Joke Shows" - described as unconventional object shows with nonsensical plots, joke characters (aka non-objects), deliberately bad humor and Stylistic Suck that pokes fun at traditional but run-of-the-mill shows. Almost forgot, there are object show camps like The Race of Children (TROC), Ten Words of Wisdom or CRAPThatsCool, where people can participate as their own object characters and play against each other.
The term "Object Show" coined for these cartoons likely originated from this video.
The avid fanbase and creators of Object Shows are collectively known as the "Object Show Community" (the OSC for short). Although the staggering numbers in Object Shows are a sight to behold,note this can't be said for its popularity with the exception of BFDI and II.
While quantity is ever so high for these shows, the quality varies as evidenced by its tendency to go into Development Hell on such short notice. If it doesn't complete its first (or at least newest) season at best or goes past the first few episodes at worst, an object show can otherwise be cancelled from lack of interest or various external factors with no word on renewal.note
In short, Object Shows are considered a niche genre, small enough that it is not well-recognized in mainstream culture but large enough to have a massive fanbase enjoyed by all ages worldwide.
Most of these object shows can be found on YouTube and various sites as well. Many object shows have their own wiki too.note For those wanting to binge-watch multiple shows, check out Cloudy TPOT's which also shows more obscure, lesser-known object shows that regularly update when an episode is released.
List of Object Shows:
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#-B
- 48 Hour OSC Film Festival
- 5 Secondly Object Show: With the episodes released five seconds apart from one another, it became the fastest speed-run object show to date. Also stars Grandma from Battle for Grandma as the host.
- Abandoned Mall Object Show: After their bus broke down in the middle of nowhere, sixteen objects have no choice but to seek refuge inside an abandoned mall and get dragged into a gameshow by the supercomputer running the place.
- The Absolutely Spectacular Fight for Seventy Thousand U.S. Dollars
- Abstract Reality
- Action Arena: Had three pilots (The first two of which have been privatised) before actually moving on to the second episode.
- The Acronym Of Tomorrow
- AD's Advertisements: An OSC-based podcast hosted by Artificial Deluxe.
- A Florist's Folly: The ninth short of Nature's Bliss based on Objective Criticism and Camp Notepad. Chap's busy day as a florist got a lot more hectic when a wedding wants him to deliver flowers on such short notice.
- After Schooligans: Lasted two episodes before being cancelled.
- The Almost Valentinesly Object Show: An annual object show which releases its episodes near Valentine's Day as Bean Bag's hopeless attempts at finding a girlfriend (or boyfriend) led him to run a The Bachelor-styled competition.
- Animated Diversity
- Animated Inanimate Battle
- Animation Island: The third oldest, existing object shownote but unlike its predecessors, it never achieved the same fame or success as BFDI and II did.
- Article Insanity
- Awesome Futuristic Objects: Initially ended after six episodes with a half-completed last episode due to the creator's lack of motivation and schoolwork before rebooting into a second season/Soft Reboot called Awesome Futuristic Objects: The Double Season. Only for that to end the same way after just half the previous runtime.
- Awesome Insanity
- Azoic Assault
- BAGUETTE
- Battle For Caution's McGriddle
- Battle For A Wish: A 2012 object show that went missing around 2014 under mysterious circumstances. Only season 1 episode 2, season 1 episode 3, season 1 episode 9, season 2 episode 4 and season 2 episode 6 remain with the former having its own MAP.note
- Battle for Circle: A joke show about circles battling for a circle.
- Battle for Dream Island: The first released object show.
- Battle for BFDI: The fourth season of BFDI.
- Battle for Dream Island: The Power of Two: The fifth season of BFDI.
- BFDI Mini : A TikTok spin-off series of BFDI that ran for five seasons.
- Battle For Dream Island All Stars: A webcomic inspired by BFDI and uses pre-existing characters from the franchise.
- Battle For Dream Island Moon Mix: Another webcomic made by the same creator and takes place simultaneously with Battle For Dream Island All-Stars.
- Battle For Food
- Battle For Fries From Wendys: A scratch object show that went from a joke show to a serious show.
- Battle for Grandma: A joke show hosted by an all-mighty, Omnipotent grandmother who forced eleven objects to compete to have her as their grandma.
- Battle For Isle Sleep
- Battle For Luxurious Hotel
- Battle for Object Destination: Was Left Hanging on a two-parter alongside its Spin-Off series Earthquake. BFOD was one of the earliest object shows to have an openly gay character.
- Battle For The Respect Of Roboty
- Battle for the Right to Beat Derp to Death
- Battle For Something Else
- Battle For Trillion Dollars: A basic PowerPoint object show that later became darker and more lore-heavy.
- Battle of Objects: Running a total of five seasons between two competing hosts, Win Token and Arcade Machine.
- Battle of the Breeds: A show that features dogs as contestants.
- Battle On Murder Island
- Battle Show Cool Yeah: Wanting to claim a million-dollar grant from the entertainment firm, a mascot-like friend group have to make and complete a competition show starring themselves and with zero budget.
- Beautiful Ultimate Really Never Ending Realm
- Becky Bucket: The first non-competition-based object show that unfortunately didn't last long. It starred the Title Character and her friend as they try to become famous through unorthodox ways.
- The Big Competition: With 100 contestants, this comic has (unofficiallynote ) the biggest cast in an object show.
- Brawl for Object Palace
- Brawl of the Objects
- Burger Brawl: The first Friend Shownote where the contestants compete for a lifetime Burger King gift card hosted by the titular fast food mascot.
C-E
- Camp Objects
- Challenge to Win
- Chaotic Ambition: Three Best Friends host a competition show of fourteen objects but only three episodes were made due to in-drama within the production crew. It later rebooted into Keep Fighting Till The End.
- Chillin' Like a Villain: An OSC-based podcast hosted by Andy Duthie.
- The Christmasly Object Show: An annual object show that always takes place during the Christmas month.
- Code Red: A 2018 well-known and beloved object show in the OSC despite it having only an intro and teaser with zero episodes to date, talk about being trapped in Development Hellnote .
- Community Venture
- Contest for Millions of Thousands
- Corporate Businessman's Telethon: A not-so-well-known "Wiki Script Show" (All episodes are written out like a transcript and posted as such), where 21 objects compete under the influence of an entrepreneur chicken controlling the city.
- The Color Challenge
- The Color Competition Series: The series features color characters as contestants.
- The Daily Object Show: Computer holds competitions for various objects for the prize of elusive lotions but his ever-growing Rogues Gallery has other ideas. It kickstarted the "Speedrun Show" subgenre, became the first-known object show to complete its second season and then later run an impressive total of eight seasons, three spin-offs and an upcoming movie.
- Dandelion The World Begins With You: The fiftieth short of Nature's Bliss styled as a Magical Girl anime.
- Digital Dodgery
- Entity Frenzy: Lasted three episodes due to a Troubled Production and the creator leaving the OSC.
- Epic Jungle Show: Lost in the middle of a massive jungle, two objects try desperately to find their way out.
- Escape from Abject Reality: A webcomic about 12 objects escaping a competition run by a cruel host.
- Excellent Entities: Notably the first object show ever (barring the likes of The Daily Object Show) to finish its second season, only took about 11 years. Currently, the newest season switched the episodic competition format to weekly slice-of-life shorts.
F-K
- The Fifteen Minute Object Show: A speedrun object show infamous for being the first object show to be released on DVD.
- Fight For The Objects
- Fight in Flight: At twenty-thousand feet, 15 objects took off in a plane for a whirlwind of challenges until the show was cancelled two episodes later.
- Finder's Fantastic Fury
- Flipnote Object Battle
- Galactic Conquest
- Generic Object Battle
- Gerenal Mayhem
- Go For The Gold
- Greeny's Grand Game
- HI
- The Historical And Nice Object Show
- The Hourly Object Show
- Inanimate Fight Out
- Inanimate Insanity: The 2nd most popular object show, also one of the first few created.
- Inanimate Insanity Invitational: The Lighter and Softer third season of Inanimate Insanity
- Inanimate Comics: The comic spin-off of Inanimate Insanity
- Fan's Fantastic Features: A spin-off variety show from Inanimate Insanity
- Inanimate Objects
- Inanimations
- The Infamous Object Show
- The Insane Battle Of Objects
- Insane Fury
- Into The Canvas
- Jeopardized Objects: The twelfth short of The Little Things where contestants test their skills in a Jeopardy-like quiz show.
- Juice Wars
- Just Another Object Show
- Keep Fighting Till The End: Soft-rebooted from Chaotic Ambition, Volcano Book and Paper Shredder let chance decide the challenges and the contestants' fates.
L-N
- The Land Of Brimton
- Last Object Standing
- Lazy League
- Legendary Adventures Forever
- The Letter: The forty-seventh and last short of The Little Things
- Level Up
- The Little Things That Get You
- Melody Star
- Modern Objects: Two siblings, whose intense rivalry comes up from time to time, star in a Slice of Life comedy.
- Major League Objects: The first instance of an object joke show released.
- Mickey Mouse Battle House
- The Minutely Object Show
- Mysterious Object Super Show
- Mystique Island
- Next Top Thingy
- The Nightly Manor: A Soft Reboot of Object Manor which not only finishes the murder mystery its predecessor started but also deals with how the survivors cope with the aftermath.
- Nonexistent Living
- Nice Show For Weenies
O
- Obama's Hidden Info Objects
- Object Archipelago
- Object Asylum: The shortest running object show at only half an episode before its cancellation.
- Object Bash
- Object Battle City: Incredibly high-quality, well-animated joke show from its Stylistic Suck roots starting episode 3 onwards.
- Object Brawl
- Object Colony: The nineteenth short of The Little Things about a Wildlife Commentary Spoof of the insect-like objects in its natural habitat.
- Object Con: An event for the object show community. The event started in 2013 by katyj98.
- Object Connects
- Object Cringe: Persuaded by two stick figures, twenty objects battle in their contest for an elusive prize. Had a history of being cancelled and uncancelled before it was re-cancelled for good.
- Object Cringe Again: The second season/Spin-Off of Object Cringe which has the same competition but takes place in an Alternate Universe. Was also cancelled alongside its main series.
- Object Destruct
- Object Elimination
- Object Explosion
- Object Extraordinary
- Object Filler
- Object Havoc
- Object Harshness
- Object Horror
- Object Hyperverse
- Objectified: A parasitic apocalypse ravages a world of Animate Inanimate Objects, who must then struggle to survive.
- Object Illusion
- Object Insanity
- Object Invasion: An object show that takes place thousands of years after life returns from a Class 6 apocalypse.
- Object Knockout: A Spin-Off to Objects Around the World hosted by the co-pilots of the main series.
- Object Land
- Object Lockdown and its second season, Object Lockout
- Object Madness
- Object Manor: Objects try escaping the titular manor from a mass murderer but only lasted two episodes before being rebooted into The Nightly Manor.
- Object Mayhem
- The Object Merry Go Round
- Object Multiverse
- Object Nitro: A reboot of Object Players.
- Object Oblivion
- Object O Clock
- Object Oppose
- Object Overload
- Object Planet
- Object Players
- Object Redemption
- Object Redundancy: One of the first adult-oriented object shows.
- Object Show 87
- Object Show: A failed Total Drama first season styled Pilot which was later rebooted to Into The Canvas.
- The Object Show
- The Object Show Extravaganza Mini: A Creepingston mini-series heavily relying on Stylistic Suck and the Cliché Storm object shows bring.
- The Object Show Movie
- The Object Show Of Doom
- Object Survival Island
- Object Terror: A standard object show that has eventually evolved/devolved into an utter bloodbath.
- Object Towel
- Object Trek
- Object Universe
- Objective Criticism
- Objects Around the World
- Objects At Gaming
- Objects At Sea
- Objects At War
- Obsolete Battle Show: The third season/ Soft Reboot of Calculated Battlegrounds.
- ONE: A dark take on the standard competition format. The plot follows an invisible, incredibly blasé host forcibly teleporting eighteen objects from different universes in the middle of nowhere to compete despite their desperate pleas to go home.
- Open Source Objects
- Orange's Beautifully Engaging Spectacular Expedition
- Otherworldly Ravenous Beast
P-S
- Paper Puppets
- Project Breakout: An object show on a touring-bus which features contestants from Ultimate Insanity.
- Quick Uawesome Amazing Dicksbattling: A bunch of squares battling for nothing as the comic gets increasingly demented and explicit with every issue.
- Race For The Keys
- Race to the Mansion of Tomorrow
- Random Object Battle Royale
- Really Cool Object Show
- Roadkill
- Rush Hour Elimination
- Shape Battle
- Shape World
- Show Host Object Show
- SHOW'S OVER: A Pibby-inspired object show where the fate of the multiverse hangs by a thread in the hands of a Four-shaped, static abomination and it's up to Map, Santa Hat, and Taco to end the apocalypse.
- Sinful: A show on DeviantArt about a wild object who is forced to compete by a sadistic and cruel host. It was cancelled mid-way through production, leaving an OSC record of zero episodes, and replaced with the fictional nature documentary Gikumo.
- Snack Time
- SparkPress: A bi-monthly, independent online newspaper about the OSC.
- The Spring Breakly Object Show: A Creepsington joke show that's only produced and released during spring break.
- Starlight: The first object show musical singing the tale of the once-famous singer LED Light trying to rectify his career.
- Split Object Comic
- The Strive for the Million
- The Struggle for the World
- Stupid Object Show
- Super Dumb Joke Show: Released on 1st April as a one-off joke.
- Supernova Specialization
- Super Object Battle
- Super Powered Object Show: Who says that Game Show Hosts are the only ones to have powers when Everyone is a Super in this competition?
- Super Sesquipedalianistic Scuffle For Lemon Demon New Album Please
- Survive For The Five
T-Z
- T
- Ten Words of Wisdom
- titletext [ ]
- Through the Woods: A musical object show.
- Too Many Objects
- Total Fruit Island
- Town Attack: An object show inspired by The Ridonculous Race.
- TROC
- Twisted Turns
- Twitter Object Show
- Ultimate Insanity: A Short-Runner about 24 objects who were kidnapped by two hosts to compete in a game show. The series was Cut Short at three episodes to make room for Daniel Rapitis' next work Project Breakout.
- Unusual Battle
- Untitled Object Show: A Creepsington joke show made consisting of ten episodes. Was made in between his other shows but grew to dislike it as time went on.
- Victory Will Be Mine: Boomerang, the host, accidentally teleports the wrong objects for his contestants and has to make do with complete strangers while the intended cast is making their way to confront him.
- Village of Objects
- Void Of Losers: A VOO spinoff comic focusing on the twenty-six recommended characters that make up the Debut Cast of the show.
- Volleyball and Coffee: A Newgrounds object show.
- Vortexes & Velvets
- The Waiting Room
- The Weekly Competition
- Welcome to Wyvern Wynne: It's a comedy show where a group of friends hang out around the town of Wyvern Wynne and get into all sorts of antics. Got Cut Short in the midst of the second episode's production.
- Wishful Thinking: A discontinued MS-Paint webcomic
- Yet Another Gameshow
- Unconventionally Centered: The second season of Yet Another Gameshow which takes place roughly a couple of months after the main series ended.
