Wednesday would be great if she stayed single. Too many shows market romance into their show to appeal and further fuel the societal pressure of relationships. But if they're going to push the romantic agenda, Enid is the best match. No one else is eccentric as these two friends are, they are the epitome of weird outcasts.
Looking at Enid and Wednesday just by their character design, you can already get a good hint of their personalities and the dynamic they share. If I were to pinpoint Tyler and Xavier however, not so much. They can blend into the background cast and honestly speaking, I think they're forgettable.
Anyways, Wenclair hits so many iconic shipping tropes. It's a whole package:
Yeah yeah, I get it, "Chloe's supposed to be horrible, she's so good as a bitchy brat!" and "not every character needs to be a Zuko!" However, the 180 flip Season 3 after all that development made zero sense; I never saw the writing chip away at it.
Literally I would have no problem with Chloe as she is now if they properly showcased her regression. I remember hating her ass so much but now she's one of my faves. I see fans saying that people like her are always going to be irredeemable, which is exactly what I feared.
When you instill that kind of life lesson into a show, your viewers' perceptions are going to be affected. People change and it's horrible to bring up someone's past after they've turned around. Forgiveness is never obligatory and victims have a right to turn them away.
But when someone genuinely wants to start a new chapter and all you want to do is bring up their past over and over, making sure that they'll rot forever — that seems dreadful for not just them, but also yourself. Vengeance does things for many people, and sometimes it makes you the very person you wanted to avoid becoming.
I see a lot of the fandom pointing out of Chloe's ignorant remark in Season One where she told Marinette's uncle to "go make sushi like everyone else." That's racist to me, chief. I can't and won't defend that. But I don't think that should make a person any less deserving of becoming better. And remember, you NEVER have to forgive those actions.
But I guess that doesn't matter currently, right? Chloe back to square one and Thomas says that she refuses to be better. Now that is a valuable lesson I can get behind — You can't help people if they aren't willing to change themselves. Marinette owes Chloe nothing and she isn't supposed to coddle her. But as I said before, the execution of this was sloppy and could easily be misconstrued as that "bad people are bad, no matter what you do."
It's also weird that they marketed Queen Bee as a HERO and sold her merch only for the show to go LOL she's evil now. Now it's a scramble to replace everything with Vesperia, but the inital marketing still made an impact. The kids that bought Chloe's stuff... It sucks knowing that they adored a character that seemed to be changing for the better only for that to not be the case in the end.
Just food for thought. I don't even like Miraculous anymore and only come to it for the nostalgia. It's an awful feeling knowing a show that came out when I was in elementary is spiraling downhill. The show doesn't owe me an arc at all, but I just want the folks working on it to consider the bad execution. This can be something to keep in mind for future productions.
After binging all of the new season, I've updated my initial tierlist! Priya stays winning, no surprise there. Thoughts about the ENTIRETY of the new cast (with spoilers) under the cut!
Let's just start off by saying that the over the top toilet humor and intro aside, this was a great season. While Pakhitew Island was rancid with blatant obvious character tropes, this season managed to make most of their characters relatable while parodying at it.
But as for Caleb, Scary Girl and Ripper... Those were on the nose too much for my liking. Caleb got the season 1 Justin treatment, Scary Girl is literally Jinx from League of Legends, and Ripper is nothing but a shoehorned character for fart jokes. It sucks because I thought Ripper was going to be great. His personality is pretty solid and reminds me loads of McArthur.
Now that I've got the slog out of the way, time to dissect the more intriguing parts of this show!
Nichelle, Damien and Axel were tremendously robbed this season, and you know it.
Axel's dexterity and agility would have no doubt gotten her far. Unfortunately, her prickly attitude got her booted very early, akin to Eva's elimination back in the original TDI. She's definitely the Shawn of this generation though. And hey, which begs the question — is she his kid? It's been 15 years after all...
Nichelle was nothing like the mean girl label everyone pegged her for. Just a typical rich, famous celebrity that's never been out of her comfort zone. Rude and vicious? No, she had the team spirit and was always ready to pump up her team. I love Dakota, so I am definitely a fan of Nichelle, the two being so alike. In her elimination episode, she had a breakdown where she realized that she wasn't "all that". It was honestly pretty sad to see.
Damien was the person with the most common sense on that show. It's funny how he's just wants the million bucks and never seen the show before. But when he sees what there's up against? He's totally done. FINALLY, A CHARACTER THAT GETS IT. He's a whole vibe. In the end, he decided he wanted to stay after he did some awesome heroics, but his team voted him off like he wanted... Better luck next time.
Speaking of next time, apparently these three do have another shot. They've all been invited back for another season, which means that we can explore these characters far more! Let's hope that the writers do not miss this opportunity.
As for someone that I don't think overstayed their welcome, MK definitely takes the cake. She was honestly a great character with witty comebacks and superior intellect. I think she got just the right amount of screen time. We got to see her in action while making room for other character's developments to shine. Nice.
Wayne and Raj are what happens when you combine Katie and Sadie with Geoff and Brody. I found their bromance pretty sweet actually. I don't think they had much time to grow more distinctively from each other though. And I know how everyone was betting their money on them or Caleb/Bowie as the gay couple, but I'm so so glad that they weren't.
Instead we got a delightfully surprising pair — Bowie and Raj. While I did want to see more build up, with 13 twenty minute episodes, you can't really do much. But no matter, I still thought they were plenty cute! I needed to see them smooch in the finale though. It would've been loads better than...
Chase and Emma.
How this pair irks me to no end. Chase is an incel and Emma is stupid for going back to him. Really hit the nail on the head with the on and off again couples of the world. Seen this way too often.
Speaking of which, I think you all owe RR Emma an apology. Because RR Emma actually had loads more character outside of her boyfriend. We got to see her in action, taking charge, her fiesty attitude, the great dynamic with her sister!
But this Emma? All she did was whine nonstop about how Chase was a horrible boyfriend only to go back to square one. Every second of her on screen was either her wanting to torture him in the best way possible or lusting after him. Girl... After everything Chase's done to you, him granting you immunity in a round does not cut it.
I'll give some points for the Bowie/Emma friendship. Except for the fact that it centered around Chase mostly, UGH. Bowie going "ew straight people" is how I felt about this whole ordeal.
And in case it wasn't obvious enough, Chase deserves to be ejected into sun. He radiates toxic masculinity. He wanted to change Emma's name to "Chase's Girlfriend"? He thought a guy should win the finale? He can't take no for an answer and keeps pursuing his ex? I hope he rots, ew.
Bless Zee's heart for being bros with him. Goodness knows I could not do that. But let's face it, Zee is bros with everyone on this island. He's that stoner friend everyone needs. Just chilling, making some unintentional funny comments, you get the gist. I first pegged him to be the scaredy cat type, but seeing him in the zone instead was hilarious. And he's the amputee! How cool is that?
Now I know I haven't talked about one of the best parts of Total Drama — the villains/antagonists.
Julia was a very fun twist villain. At first, she was just Dawn but if she was a social media brat. I was surprised to see that facade crack and her true colors shine. Instead, she's a two faced teenaged girl, which I see a lot in society. Putting on a show for others only to bash them in private. Watching her let loose was a thrill and I was here for it. Her manipulation, scheming and determination is unmatched.
At least, that's what I would say if Bowie didn't exist.
How Bowie absolutely dominated that competition. He was here to win and he meant it. Seeing him pull the strings was a sight to behold. He convinced the team to vote off Caleb at first glance, outsmarted Julia at her own game, ruined Priya and Millie's friendship, and snagged a pretty cute boyfriend too. If that's not absolute winner things, I don't know what is.
Which brings me to the part I've been waiting for. Last, but certainly not least of all, Priya and Millie.
These two are MY Total Drama inserts, I'm so sure of it. Millie disgusted by her own generation and Priya's obedience to follow her parent's dreams were things I felt in my soul. I know that they weren't popular when the characters were first leaked, but I'm so glad that they beat the early boot allegations.
Millie's character arc is one of the best things of the season. She came here to write a book slandering the people her age and thought of herself as above everyone else's nonsense. But then Priya happened. Priya was nice to her, she was the first real person to ever make Millie feel good about herself. And that was the wake up call Millie needed and the turning point of her life.
Priya also learned something too — self worth. She was too eager to be friends with Millie off the bat and have nothing but good energy all around. Only to realize that maybe she's putting more effort into their friendship than the other person is. And as someone whose been in that position multiple times, it absolutely broke me.
And everything went to hell when Bowie gifted Priya the notepad in which Millie was writing smack about everyone. Of course, Millie had changed her mind and was trying to be a better person, but karma catches up to you. Priya finally let herself be gulfed in anger and Millie truly got hit with the great significance of Priya coming into her life.
In the end, Millie managed to apologize and pour her insecurities out to Priya about everything. It brought both tears to me and Priya and the two of them reconciled. This was the best friendship story I've ever seen written on Total Drama. It's like what Gwen and Courtney could've gone through in All Stars...
Also, Priya wins. How cool is that? I rooted for her at the very start AND SHE WON. I'm loving this so so much. I'm sure there's another alternative ending where it's Bowie but the one I watched was Priya so that's the true happy ending to me :3
Sidenote: Anyone wanna talk about the Priya/Damien ship tease? Honestly I'm glad Priya didn't blush at anything Chase said; I know the fandom thought they were going to be a couple. But the best girl Priya and the best boy Damien had a hint and that's another win for me.
Think about it, a girl who's prepared for Total Drama all her life with someone who's never seen it before? GOLD. They were even paired for the finale! Do you think next season will have them be a couple? Manifesting that so bad with a real Chase/Emma breakup. And more Raj/Bowie while we're at it too, yeah?
Kenny defending Tammy Mullins from being farted on and claiming it was “because of her hot knockers” is so in character. I interpret him as a feminist-in-denial surrounded by DA BOYS
He’s the type that seems like he objectifies woman and to an extent, that is true. He’s the biggest playboy addict of them all. But when it comes to actual girls… bro’s unironically a non toxic boyfriend (see Rainforest Schmainforest and The Ring).
Also it’s funny that it’s a Tammy. He already dated a Tammy, now there’s another one 😂
Uni so bad I am back in the South Park trenches. I wanna revisit the Kendy/Clendy fanfics I planned back in high school but ever got into. I said I would open my fandom acc with a ranking vid but I never really got to that. I still have the script for it and everything, but I just need a more powerful pc to edit stuff because mine is garbage ijbol.
Also pretty big into Umamusume, especially my OTP Gorumaku, but I don’t know what content to make for them… 😭 I think it’s due to me not wanting to butcher their characters and how I haven’t done an extensive lore dive like I did with South Park. But trust they will get something, I’m a himejoshi through and through.
