Paintbrush

Paintbrush, labeled The Hothead, was a contestant on Inanimate Insanity as a member of Team Epic before their elimination in Aquatic Conflict. They also competed in Inanimate Insanity II as a member of The Bright Lights until their elimination in Alternate Reality Show. They are voiced by Taylor Grodin. They currently compete in Inanimate Insanity Invitational as a member of The Thinkers until the teams were rearranged, where they now participate as a member of The NEW Pinkers.

Personality
Paintbrush is a responsible contestant who is pragmatic in their approach to challenges and life. They take the game very seriously compared to other contestants, and try to corral their team into trying their best at challenges and taking as few risks as possible. They hold their friends and allies' best interests at heart. In some ways, their problem is that they care too much; when things don't go their way and their teammates don't try their best, they are prone to angry outbursts. When they're angry, sometimes they resort to physical violence and yelling (like when they punch Fan and say they hate him in Mazed and Confused).

Although they are a skilled leader, they are outranked by Lightbulb and her outside-the-box ideas. Although Paintbrush shows a willingness to work with Lightbulb in some episodes, they often butt heads because they are both stubbornly set in their ways..

They are a compassionate, loyal friend, as seen when they try their best to comfort Marshmallow, and are always there to save Nickel in Season 1 when things go awry. Paintbrush is both outspoken and very impatient, so they are not unfailingly kind. This is especially true in Season 1 episodes such as The Snowdown, where they're unnecessarily rude to Apple and MePhone 4. They are also shown to be petty at times; examples of this are present when they still feel angry at OJ for besting them in the Christmas Challenge in The Penultimate Poll, even though it'd been months.

Appearance
Paintbrush has a long rounded body with a square head. A silver metal rim surrounds the top of their head. Paintbrush has yellow bristles that form a pointed brush that emerges from the metal rim. At the bottom of their body is a hole cut out in the center of Paintbrush's torso. In comparison to other contestants, Paintbrush is remarkably tall, as Knife says in both season 1 and 2.

Official Site Bio
"Paintbrush is a tall and quite amiable player. His favorite- oops... her favorite- wait... um... Paintbrush loves to help out whenever possible for his/her team! Being quite outspoken, but under the rank of Lightbulb, Paintbrush appears to be Lightbulb's right-hand man... or... woman... or... forget this."

"Paintbrush strives to be a responsible leader that can earn victory for their team! The only problem is... they’re not the team leader, but that won’t stop them! Paintbrush is very compassionate and is always looking out for the best interests of friends and allies. Their strong leadership skills stem from a pragmatic approach to solving problems. That being said, they have little-to-no temper for those who slack. If you happen to anger Paintbrush... run."

Abilities
Paintbrush is known for their unique abilities, such as:


 * Combustible Bristles: Paintbrush's bristles react to their emotions and can glow with heat, as seen various times. If angered enough, Paintbrush's hair can ignite into flames.
 * Heat Explosion: As seen in "Everything's A-OJ", "Mazed and Confused", and "Alternate Reality Show", when Paintbrush reaches a high level of rage, they will explode in a fit of fire. Additionally, they can send off heat waves that can ruin an entire area of land by burning it.

Coverage
Click here to view the coverage of Paintbrush.

Trivia

 * Paintbrush was the first confirmed contestant in Inanimate Insanity II, and also the first contestant to be declared safe from elimination in Inanimate Insanity II.
 * Paintbrush is one of the only contestants to appear in all 3 seasons, the others being Balloon and Nickel.
 * Paintbrush has survived being in the bottom two in Inanimate Insanity II twice, which is more than any other character. This was in Let Er' R.I.P. and Everything's A-OJ.
 * Paintbrush is the only Bright Lights member who has never sat out of a challenge.
 * Paintbrush is currently the only Inanimate Insanity character to be confirmed as nonbinary.
 * Lightbulb is the first character who is confirmed to know this.
 * Before Alternate Reality Show, Nickel, Marshmallow, and Fan seemed to think Paintbrush was a boy, while Apple and Test Tube seemed to think they were a girl. MePad, Knife, and Lightbulb have referred to them as both.
 * After Alternate Reality Show, everyone seemed to have picked up on Paintbrush being nonbinary as they have been exclusively referred to with gender-neutral pronouns since then.
 * The only confirmed exception is Yang, that is until Paintbrush confirmed to him in The Overthinkers that they are, indeed, nonbinary.
 * Paintbrush got eighth-to-last in Inanimate Insanity. Coincidentally, they got 8th place in Inanimate Insanity II.
 * Paintbrush is one of few characters to get a total number of votes ending in three zeros, as they got 2000.
 * As stated by Adam in a vlog and Taylor in a Tumblr post, Taylor started voicing Paintbrush because their original voice actor disappeared.
 * Paintbrush used to be voiced by TotalDramaFantasy from Episodes 1 to 8 of the first season, but had disappeared after a few months. Since S1 Episode 9, they were replaced with Taylor Grodin.
 * While Paintbrush has the tallest body/asset of all characters, they themselves are only the second-tallest character because, according to the Official Unofficial Size Chart, Baseball has longer legs.
 * Additionally, they are the thinnest character.
 * The question they attempted to ask in The Crappy Cliff, A Lemony Lesson, Double Digit Desert, Breaking the Ice, and Marsh on Mars was one of the longest-running mysteries and gags of the show until it was confirmed to be about Lightbulb's appearance during the first challenge. This was revealed in Alternate Reality Show.
 * According to Taylor, at the start of the series, Paintbrush essentially had no gender, as it had not yet been decided by the crew.
 * Paintbrush's whole "deal" was the fact that their gender was a mystery and up to viewer interpretation. Taylor says that this bothered him because there was more to Paintbrush than their gender. However, everybody on the crew slowly began to figure out that their gender was simply "neither."
 * The concept of Paintbrush's bristles igniting in fury was originally conceived as being like a "wacky cartoon cliche" before it became more meaningful to their character.
 * According to the Inanimate Insanity website, Paintbrush is very particular about their bristles, preferring to keep them straight and smooth.
 * Paintbrush is also very particular about taking care of Baxter. They keep him safe in their room, and are somewhat protective of him.
 * According to the II website and Inanimate Comics, Paintbrush hosts arts and crafts classes every week at Hotel OJ to reduce stress.
 * This is just one measure they've taken to address their temper.
 * It is confirmed in Mine Your Own Business and Hatching the Plan that Fan and Paintbrush are roommates at Hotel OJ.
 * It is confirmed in The Snowdown that Paintbrush does not believe in Santa Claus, and does not care about Christmas.
 * It is unknown whether Paintbrush still feels this way.
 * They were the first character to use the confessional.

Trivia

 * Paintbrush was the first confirmed contestant in Inanimate Insanity II, and also the first contestant to be declared safe from elimination in Inanimate Insanity II.
 * Paintbrush is one of the only contestants to appear in all 3 seasons, the others being Balloon and Nickel.
 * Paintbrush has survived being in the bottom two in Inanimate Insanity II twice, which is more than any other character. This was in Let Er' R.I.P. and Everything's A-OJ.
 * Paintbrush is the only Bright Lights member who has never sat out of a challenge.
 * Paintbrush is currently the only Inanimate Insanity character to be confirmed as nonbinary.
 * Lightbulb is the first character who is confirmed to know this.
 * Before Alternate Reality Show, Nickel, Marshmallow, and Fan seemed to think Paintbrush was a boy, while Apple and Test Tube seemed to think they were a girl. MePad, Knife, and Lightbulb have referred to them as both.
 * After Alternate Reality Show, everyone seemed to have picked up on Paintbrush being nonbinary as they have been exclusively referred to with gender-neutral pronouns since then.
 * The only confirmed exception is Yang, that is until Paintbrush confirmed to him in The Overthinkers that they are, indeed, nonbinary.
 * Paintbrush got eighth-to-last in Inanimate Insanity. Coincidentally, they got 8th place in Inanimate Insanity II.
 * Paintbrush is one of few characters to get a total number of votes ending in three zeros, as they got 2000.
 * As stated by Adam in a vlog and Taylor in a Tumblr post, Taylor started voicing Paintbrush because their original voice actor disappeared.
 * Paintbrush used to be voiced by TotalDramaFantasy from Episodes 1 to 8 of the first season, but had disappeared after a few months. Since S1 Episode 9, they were replaced with Taylor Grodin.
 * While Paintbrush has the tallest body/asset of all characters, they themselves are only the second-tallest character because, according to the Official Unofficial Size Chart, Baseball has longer legs.
 * Additionally, they are the thinnest character.
 * The question they attempted to ask in The Crappy Cliff, A Lemony Lesson, Double Digit Desert, Breaking the Ice, and Marsh on Mars was one of the longest-running mysteries and gags of the show until it was confirmed to be about Lightbulb's appearance during the first challenge. This was revealed in Alternate Reality Show.
 * According to Taylor, at the start of the series, Paintbrush essentially had no gender, as it had not yet been decided by the crew.
 * Paintbrush's whole "deal" was the fact that their gender was a mystery and up to viewer interpretation. Taylor says that this bothered him because there was more to Paintbrush than their gender. However, everybody on the crew slowly began to figure out that their gender was simply "neither."
 * The concept of Paintbrush's bristles igniting in fury was originally conceived as being like a "wacky cartoon cliche" before it became more meaningful to their character.
 * According to the Inanimate Insanity website, Paintbrush is very particular about their bristles, preferring to keep them straight and smooth.
 * Paintbrush is also very particular about taking care of Baxter. They keep him safe in their room, and are somewhat protective of him.
 * According to the II website and Inanimate Comics, Paintbrush hosts arts and crafts classes every week at Hotel OJ to reduce stress.
 * This is just one measure they've taken to address their temper.
 * It is confirmed in Mine Your Own Business and Hatching the Plan that Fan and Paintbrush are roommates at Hotel OJ.
 * It is confirmed in The Snowdown that Paintbrush does not believe in Santa Claus, and does not care about Christmas.
 * It is unknown whether Paintbrush still feels this way.
 * They were the first character to use the confessional.