Who’s your favorite Wild Kratts Villain and why? Would you write them any differently if you could?
based on how they are in canon, Paisley. Based on their potential conceptually = tied between Paisley and Zach.
As soon as Paisley arrived, she was my favorite because of how she differed from the rest of the villains. She didn’t hate nature, she just thought she was helping by giving “order” to what looked messy and disorganized in her eyes. Her redemption had been set up from the start. All she needed was a lot more episodes of her being a villain for her redemption to really have an impact. However I will give them props for the dynamic her and Zach had- him constantly trying to get in her good graces to be business partners but her not giving a damn is really funny, and also sets up her redemption well. I’m curious to see where Rex is gonna go after this, but I have an idea I’ll get into later-
Zach also really fascinates me. He could be SUCH a bigger threat like he was in some of s1 and the pilot, but they don’t do that anymore. I understand though; you can’t make you’re villain “cool,” because otherwise kids will just look up to him instead. I think the fix for this is writing him like pre-redemption Zuko.
At the start of the series, Zuko is completely no-nonsense, focused on his goals, and extremely bitter about being exiled. Despite the fact he has fire powers and has a whole army at his call, the show prevents him from being idolized in two ways:
His uncle iroh points out the amount of anger he has is unhealthy, and that if he gets his goal of capturing the avatar, it probably won’t change things anyway. It exposes Zuko’s attitude as something akin to a child’s tantrum: “I want what I want and everyone who stops me from getting it is wrong or an idiot.”
He consistently gets thwarted by a group of middle schoolers
Zach’s version of Iroh could be the rest of the villains.
The other villains don’t hate the crew. They find them annoying, sure, but any conflict is just whatever interferes with business (unfortunately for them, business seems to happen wherever they are). Donita even says as much when she meets Paisley.
S5 E5: City Hoppers (the grasshopper episode)
“It’s a pity, the boys could be so stylish if they just let me give them a makeover”
To me that sounds like a genuinely kind thing coming from her, especially after all the times they’ve messed up her designs. However the crew did give her spider silk that one time.
S2 E5: Secrets of the Spider’s Web
The passion for animals also transcends their conflict- they really love teaching people lol
Again, the crew’s beef with the villains is entirely business-oriented. They don’t seem to have it out for each other on a level deeper than that.
Zach on the other hand, makes it INCREDIBLY personal. He HATES the crew so much, especially Aviva. He sees her as direct competition, so he’s always trying to prove he’s better than her. He stalks them almost constantly so he can just ruin their day when they’re having a good time. His entire life seems to revolve around them.
The other villains could point out the ridiculousness of his behaviour. “You’re really obsessed with them, you need to focus on other things” etc etc.
Some other people have pointed out that Zach seems to be appearing by himself more and more- his attitude probably annoyed Donita and Gourmand to the point they don’t want to work with him that much anymore. He’s losing connections and spiralling- his robots have been the only ones he trusts and confides in from the start. He clearly wants someone who’s incredibly loyal… which is where I think Rex could fit in.
Maybe Rex himself felt hurt by Paisley switching sides. Zach might bring him on and further twist the knife because of his own personal vendetta against the crew. A lot of people (including myself) have the hc that Zach and Aviva were friends before- Zach could use that narrative to make Rex see from his worldview. “I was betrayed too, they’re selfish and can’t see past their ways,” and stuff like that.
Those are just my thoughts anyhow. This reminds me that I need to make designs for Paisley and Rex, but I currently have some wips for Donita and Dabio in the works :)
