#string cheesing

[fraudulent-cheese]

Honestly one of my biggest issues with this fandom at large is just... how little it seems to actually want to engage with the later seasons?

So often you'll see people writing off entire seasons as complete garbage with no redeeming qualities (or if there are any, not many) and put the first three seasons on a pedestal, and it doesn't often get questioned.

...Scratch that. Island and World Tour get put on pedestals, Action is often just ignored. At best.

Don't get me wrong, there are alot of people who like the reboot, and they do engage with the reboot seasons! It's not just gen 1 most people care about!

...but there's still alot of people who mostly make art, or fics, or just posts mostly about gen 1, and way less of the other casts. And that's fine! Engage with what you want to engage with, do what you like, ect...

But don't just start saying there's "nothing left to be said" when i'd argue that only applies to a fraction of the characters, and the show. I'd even argue it doesn't apply to all of gen 1!

...Seriously that one take on the takes blog annoyed me so bad. If that statement was true, the fandom would be dead. For fuck's sake, i haven't found a single post on this platform, nor have i heard of any similar post on any other place online that actually dug into Staci's character before my own. Maybe im looking at the wrong places, but if it took this long for one, then im pretty sure we can still say shit about these guys!

At this point i don't even care if you've only heard bad things about Pahkitew Island or even All-Stars. If you have the time, go out and actually watch those seasons! They're available for free on youtube! And if they're not, piracy exists! Make your own mind about things! And if you don't like it, that's totally fine! Not everything's gonna appeal to everyone.

Im just a little tired of people writing off anything that's not called World Tour or Island. Or not being interested in any character that's not part of a very small group they like.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Actually no, i want to expand on my relative dislike of WT. Because when people talk about this season's faults, i BARELY see people mentionning the complete flattening of like half it's cast!

Oh sure, people are super willing to throw shit at TDA and especially TDAS for it's flanderisation of characters, but outside of some rogue posts by mutuals, i don't see ANY OF YOU pointing the finger at World Tour when i'd argue it's especially eggregious.

Owen's the easiest example of this, and while it didn't start this season it got so much during it. Nearly all of his lines revolve around food, his aerophobia, or Izzy for a single episode. His relationship with Alejandro is also super indicative of this; im willing to accept the HC that he was aware of Alejandro's dislike of him and just wanted to win him over, but that's absolutely not what the writters intended, no way in hell. He's just completely oblivious to his shitty behavior when he seemed at least somewhat aware of Heather's shifty behavior back on Island, or at least able to stand up for himself (shoutouts to that one Action episode). It's not fun to watch, either.

Bridgette too had her personality reduced to one or two traits, for either comedy reasons (because apparently people making out 24/7 is funny) or story reasons (establishing Alejandro as a threat who uses flirting and his general attractiveness to advance his strategy) and it suckssssss because she was! an actual character! and World Tour especially benefits from having a 'straight man' type character that can look at the other's weirdness and react to it like a normal-ish person! That and she could be an interesting presence to have on Team Victory, with her friendships with Leshawna and Courtney for instance.

DJ too is a BIG victim of the flanderisation thing; his personality is dumbed down to just being a huge scaredy cat, and his character is just The Curse. That's all he does and that's all he is, all he talks about. And that sucks because he too, was an actual person in Island and even Action! Sure, he was sometimes a pushover and had an accident-prone bunny, but he was also kind and could actually go out of his way to play pranks on people! But all of that is just gone in WT.

There's also the characters that weren't flanderised, and more just. Written entirely out of character. Outside of the entire Love Triangle (which i will get to) the biggest example of this is Leshawna to me. The writters straight forget the episode in Action where she's entirely dsitrustful of the Pizza they were offered (which did turn out to be tampered with) due to Chef being uncharasterically nice to them. Guess what Alejandro was doing. Being overly nice to her out of nowhere. Frankly she fell victim to the same thing Bridgette did; needing to be sacked for Alejandro's villany to be better established.

Ok fuck i need to mention the Love Triangle too because while people complain about it alot i don't think they complain about the correct stuff. i'll go rapid fire because it's been talked to death however; Gwen's liking of Duncan is a retcon, her acting like this is out of character for her frankly, Duncan's out of character by trying to emotionally manipulate his ex and the lore established to justify it makes it worse (remember the "At least im straight with people" line?), Courtney is villanised from even before this point which while her anger might've been targetted at the wrong person she was justified in being upset imo, Courtney's entire character is thrown out of a window in general this season, blah blah blah.

I'll end on the whole "the writters forgetting entire character traits/arcs" Cody still hitting on Gwen this season makes no goddamn sense and is super uncomfortable to watch. He's really such a nothing character man. Sierra deserved better than being a manic pixie stalker girl.

[fraudulent-cheese]

We as a fandom should explore MK's relationship with the other cast members more. Like ik they don't talk to alot of them and most of their interactions are with Julia (and i love MKulia don't get me wrong), but like. Picture these.

MK and Scary Girl not normally getting along but able to have coherent conversation thanks to MK's abnorbal amounts of knowledge on FNAF lore. MK getting Scary on their youtube channel to play viral horror games (the former for the views, the later to review the scary-ness or aesthetics). Like they're somehow one of two to three people in this cast that knows anything about Scary Girl as a person rather than just. You know. Scary Girl.

MK and Emma being friends, the latter befriending the former thanks to her sincerity (and letting MK do shitty reaction videos to her own videos) + they'd probably be into nerdy stuff. Emma can talk about the stupid tik tok drama going on and MK's very willing to listen just because. Emma would be like "im really happy you're my friend MK, it's nice to have someone to talk to and your reactions are pretty funny :)" and MK would not fucking know to respond so they'd just send a roblox gift card as thanks. Emma does not think MK's MCU tier humor's funny but she does appreciate the puns they sometimes include (MK's not a fan, but if it makes Emma laugh then sure)

MK and Chase would have the shittiest rivalry ever because Chase would not have a clue at all. They both, on their own quote that 19 dollar fortnight card audio clip wayy too much for it to be normal and in general have similar senses of humor (dead memes) and MK fucking. hates this. So much. They steal Chase's credit card to make stupid purchases and whenever Chase offers a collab they try to sabotage the pranks he always tries doing but it just ends up making better content and MK doesn't know how to get out of the feedback loop. They'd have insane beef on Twitter (because MK still refuses to get a Tik Tok account)

[fraudulent-cheese]

Gonna be a little silly and say 1, 5, 20, and 23 for Eva, Zoey, Beardo, and Damien ?

/HenkePenke

OH BOY I ASKED FOR ASKS AND I GOT SERVED. I'll go in the order you gave me :p

Eva:

1. Why do you like this character?

There's a couple reasons why i like her, despite her little screentime, and one of them is her hot temper, actually.

To me she only truly gets pissed off in two or three episodes, and they're usually triggered by understandable things; loosing her MP3 player during TDI, and struggling with the interviews during TDWT. Which. I can relate to both, i fucking hate it when i missplace stuff but headphones are especially annoying, and i get frustrated suuper easily when trying out new things. i like angry girls <3

I think the tidbit in her bio about wanting to be a leader, and working on her temper are also interesting and i wish those went anywhere since we don't get a character in a team leadership role that isn't either bossy or a coniving bastard until Sky in TDPI.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

So! Im gonna struggle with this question! Because unless i've directly thought about it before im gonna have like 0 answers lmao

For Eva, the main problem is moreso that the first song that comes to mind is not one for her specifically but one i associate with a heatheva fic i was trying to write - one that matched the vibe of songs i think she'd compose herself. And it was also just a song i was listening to at the time. Sooo Imħabbti by Ghoolie it is!

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? (the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter)

I can't pick between Izzy and Noah lmao, can't seperate team escope even if i wanted to! Eva's one of the few characters in this cast that can regularly match Izzy's sheer manic energy, and she'd bounce off Noah very well (in my head) and in general i think these two are a good fit with Eva; they all come accross as people that don't have many friends and would treasure the ones they have, even if they're not the most obvious about it. I think it's sweet, and kinda sucks that when people only draw two of team escope Eva's usually the one missing :<

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Honestly, anytime she has a little pout or suprised eyes. or smiles. she so cutie pattotie

Zoey:

1. Why do you like this character?

I'll admit, my favorite parts about her are more conceptual than her in canon? I like that she's kind of an indie girl, since we don't have another girl character that's like her in that way. I also think her judgemental streak and people pleasing tendencies are interesting but i wish they were more clearly displayed in canon. that or im misremembering lol

I also like her haircut! I like how the red dyed hair makes her both stand out next to the other girls, but also means you can't call her red haired without implying she's ginger (and she isn't). Also the pigtails are cute and i like messing around with them in drawings!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I've said before that she'd listen to Panchiko (and also The Scary Jokes but i haven't assigned her a specific song) sooo yeah

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? (the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter)

Oh that's a good question as well since she's already in a canon trio (friendship finale, aka her, Cameron and Mike), and i think both of them are perfectly good choices, since on one hand you have the pretending to be normal duo and on the other you have the super sheltered kid and the one that goes outside, and they can all learn stuff from eachother and in general i find it sweet!

But also i'd be kidding myself if i didn't also think Sierra was a good option? they're both nerdy, weird girls that like Total Drama! They have a bunch of shit in common! I can't pick between these three im sorryyy

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Her render in the Toxic Targets flash game. She looks so sad girl what happeneddd

Beardo:

1. Why do you like this character?

Both his Cake Entertainment Flyer label and his canon one are interesting to me. Despite how he spent most of his time on screen making sound effects, he seems to be one of the more down to earth characters in the TDPI cast, and while i do like that cast alot i can't deny that it really needed more down to earth characters that aren't just Jasmine (outside of her apparent trust issues) and Sky (who's generally more introverted than anything else)

Also? Characters that like music get points from me by default.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

In general i think Beardo makes his own songs, including keeping around a ton of sounds to use as samples; in general he'd like House and genres similar to them, and considering the equipment seen in his audition tape i think he'd act as DJ for like. parties or some shit. and i think this song right here would be featured in the tracklists quite often vv

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? (the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter)

Ella. I do not CARE that they don't interact a single time, they're the two song enjoyers of their generation they would get along SO WELL they would try to form a band with Beardo on the instrumentals and Ella on the vocals and use samples from Disney or Fairytale movies and it would be so awesome because they'd both be out of their comfort zones since Ella would be exposed and participate in the creation of music in genres she wouldn't have seeked out on her own otherwise and Beardo would have to write lyrics which he wouldn't have to otherwise!!!

23. Favorite picture of this character?

He barely has any appereances in canon so i kinda have to pick the beta design. Boy why are you so devious

Damien:

1. Why do you like this character?

One of the few good things the second season of the reboot did was make me actually care for and like Damien, since he took charge and gained confidence in himself and his abilities! I like the progression from him having the normal person reaction to everything total drama (being freaked out by a ton of shit happening), him slowly adjusting up until he decides he wants to stay before his elimination during Season 1, and then coming back to prove himself during Season 2!

In general he's pretty charming and just. He's a nice dude! i like having him be around! It's nice!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Either Cabinet Man by Lemon Demon or Registry by COMPUTER DATA. In general his music tastes would be varied, he'd bounce from rock to indie to lofi house to some fourth thing. I picked these two out since the latter uses samples from Mario games and he'd 100% appreciate that, and the former because. I just think he'd be a Lemon Demon fan.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? (the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter)

That would've been a hard question if canon didn't serve an answer on a silver plator to me thanks to reboot Season 2 again, because it's Nichelle!!! It's Nichelle and it's an easy answer. The contrast between Damien being some guy and Nichelle being a big famous Hollywood actress is very fun, and i don't think Nichelle has actual friends outside of that? So Damien being her actual first friend is great :D

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Hehe sheep!

[fraudulent-cheese]

For the ramble prompts, 1. And 7

You're very lucky as i actually have access to my computer currently!!!

I'll pick 7, as i've already seen some people point out the differences between the twins but NO Staci analysis posts!

So. Staci. What the fuck is up with her. Why did she think lying about her family on a consistent basis and not helping in challenges would work? How exactly did that make her think it was the best she could do, to the point she thought she "was doing so well" (quoting her at her own elimination) after that first day?

I think Staci's goal while on the show was to win via social game - or at least, make friends on the show. Her lying could be due to either 1. wanting attention from them, so she started making shit up to make herself look more important or 2. she actually believes what she says and just wants to impress people with her family history. I don't think i can conclusively say which one canon's leaning into? Realistically, her exaggerating her family's achievements is the more likely option, but her actually believing them would be more tragic.

HOWEVER. Just looking at her one episode of content + her audition tape isn't enough. We need to look at her contestant biography.

YEAH IM GOING THERE! If you weren't aware, for the first 5 (6?) seasons of TD as well as TDRR, there were official biographies for every contestant depending on the season, all of which were available on the official (now defunct) Total Drama Website. I'd consider the information featured in all but two of these biographies canon, as they either came from the official website (ROTI + WT), the Teletoon site (TDAS + TDPI) or from Total Drama: Totally Interactive! Im unsure about the canonicity of the Action bios and the TDRR blurbs (because yeah. they're just blurbs. sad.) as they were released only on Cartoon Network's site and the Action bios have... inconsistencies with other sources, let's say.

Thankfully, Staci was lucky enough to be a gen 2 contestant, so she gets the most detailed contestant answers biography model, so i can get alooot more info out of them.

I'll get the smaller observations out first:

In her last answer, she mentions her great-great-aunt Mildred and how she "told the first lie." I could look into how this could be Staci's least favorite relative (as she does seem to value truth/honesty), but also what if that's Blaineley? Her legal name's Mildred after all! It would be really funny! We need more "Staci and her great aunt Mildred" content STAT

She seems to really like pop music

The only answer not related to lying or to her family is the First Job question, instead it's foreshadowing to her elimination

Now, for a larger one: She barely talks about herself in these answers. Sure, she answers the questions, but she spends the vast majority of her time talking about her family instead. She manages to link the fucking Favorite Color and Food question to them! Her love of her family is made very clear here. Knowing about them is literally what she picks out as her Best Quality!

...but only her distant relatives. No mention of closer grandparents, sisters, nephews/nieces, aunts/uncles, and only a single indirect mention of a mother. Only distant, mostly older family members and cousins. And she had to have met some of them! Her Craziest Dream answer describes a dream where her great-great-uncle Charlie was telling her lies, implying they've met and talked before! So where's the mention of her closer family members?

I'd say it's because if those family members are further away, or if they're dead, it's harder to fact-check what she's saying so her peers wouldn't find out it's at best an exaggeration and at worst an outright lie.

I think the answers that show this the most well are the Best Memory and Most Embarrassing School Moment, her presentation on an older family member and realizing the topic was a lie.

This feels like something that would happen earlier in life to me? Maybe primary school level, or even earlier. If she made her entire class project on it, she had to believe in it, right? Despite how absurd that notion is! This indicates to me that Staci was/is very naive, and her love for her family started in childhood. She seems very interested in her own family's history, to the point of exaggerating their accomplishments; maybe her great-great-aunt Lois created a plate design patent or her Great-great-uncle Jason simply looked into the history of the letter E, so either Staci exaggerated them to seem more interesting, or her family members would exaggerate these achievements at family reunions as jokes or something and little Staci just believed them.

Im also unsure on her family being good or not... her Dream Date answer is apparently Richard Nixon because she'd want to learn more about his life, specifically citing that he "reminds [her] of [her] third cousin once removed, Andrew." If you know anything about recent US political history, that is not a good thing. This also shows she has some interest in politics/recent history/other people's lives! This girl does have interests!!!

And this is where i bring up the Favorite Movie answer. The movie it's based on, according to the wiki, is "The Invention of Lying", a 2009 movie. skimming the Wikipedia article, it's a romantic comedy film about a guy with the ability to lie in a world where people can only tell the truth. He first abuses this power for selfish gain but in the romantic resolution decides to not lie to benefit himself and lets his love interest actually choose to be with him.

I think the reason why Staci likes this movie so much is the romantic resolution; this is what she'd want to happen if/when she'd reveal how her family's achievements are either fake or exaggerated to her friends, and they would stay. That she'd get people interested in her with those lies, before actually being honest with them when they're closer... But it never happened with anyone on the show.

TLDR, i need this girl to realise she doesn't need to lie so much about her family for others to like her, as hiding behind masks won't get you any real friends. Something that applies to the majority of the roti girls, actually.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Consider talking about the parallel lines of roti. PLEASE this is literally my roman empire and I'd love to hear your take

Oh geez, hope i can do them justice then!

So generally when people talk about the parallel lines plot in roti, it's to criticize it in various ways - and it deserves it, mind you - but a common pattern i see in those critiques is trying to find someone who's in the categorical 'wrong'. While i have entertained discussions related to that sort of thing with the other love triangle, im not sure it really applies here if you try to look at it from the character's perspectives themselves.

This isn't to say they're all innocent, they still make mistakes and aren't good at communicating (they're teenagers. duh.) Yes, Zoey's overly possessive of a guy she isn't even dating. Yes, Anne Maria gushing about Vito to Mike's discomfort during one elimination ceremony isn't great. Yes, Mike trying to actually talk it out would've helped resolve their issues quicker.

However... You can't really pin the full blame on anyone involved here. Yeah Zoey and Anne Maria fighting over a guy was dumb, but it makes sense in character; Zoey's both judgemental and was previously isolated, so i can see Anne Maria affirming she knows the "real Mike" really getting under her skin and overriding her people pleasing tendencies, while the other girl doesn't take any shit and especially won't take it from a girl who seems to think she's dating the guy she's currently seeing.

in my mind, they've ALL been screwed over in this situation in some way and it somewhat makes sense! Vito's being screwed over because he's an alter in a system with a host who's determined to pretending he's a singlet and doesn't remember what Mike does with Zoey. On top of that, no alter in the system is actually communicating at this point, so there's no real way Vito would know or care about it. Mike's being screwed over because of past experiences of telling the ones closest to him about being a system and rejecting him for it (it's heavily implied in one of his confessionals), a lack of memory for what Vito does and not wanting to screw up his friendship with/crush on Zoey. Anne Maria and Zoey are being screwed over because from the former's perspective she's in the right and trying to romance a guy who only seems to be truly himself around her, while from the latter's perspective it's almost like she's been lead on since both parts of Zoke are not subtle about their mutual crushes. Neither girl knows what's truly going on either since Mike won't tell them.

And of course, there was probably already going to be friction between Zoey and Anne Maria due to Zoey's own issues with making connections and projecting at least some of her baggage on the other girl and Anne Maria (reasonnably might i add) not wanting to take that. And also because the roti writters wouldn't allow the girls to be friends despite the things they could've bonded over but that's a seperate tangent and a half-

NOW i haven't been very critical of this plotline so far, and that's for a veryyyy specific reason; my biggest issue with it is how the narrative treats it. IE, by desperately trying to place Anne Maria as being in the wrong and siding very obviously with Zoke as the end point; they're already set up by episode fucking 1, Anne Maria doesn't get an arc or story outside of being the romantic rival, the alters in general aren't focused on as individuals throughout their short time on screen, zoke is literally the canon ship AND the campfire couple TWO SEASONS IN A ROW... It results in a plotline that is both predictable and boring to watch (for me at least.) and it's the origin point for most of the things wrong with it, at least the parts of it that aren't linked with writing issues that already plague huge parts of the show (cough cough the misogyny)

The saddest part for me though is that half the parallel lines don't get closure in the end. Vito and Anne Maria never talk again after Anne Maria's elimination, they never clear things up (on screen) between eachother, or even have Mike clear things up with Anne Maria! It's just never resolved, and it's never brought up again.

I'd like to think, even if it's post canon or whatever, that Mike/Vito went to talk with Anne Maria alone and tried their best to explain what was going on. It would take some adjustment and good communication to work-out, but i'd like to believe that it could! In my little brainhole i think that Anne Maria and Vito could just end up as friends who kiss sometimes for fun or are just close in general. Hell i could even picture Anne Maria and Mike + Zoey and Vito being friendly after the show's over and they've actually had a conversation about things. But alas, this is Total Drama, so the best we have to deal with these things is fanfiction and spinning the characters in our heads like microwave. Sad! Or joyous? Depending on your perspective.

[fraudulent-cheese]

If you're still doing the character ask game, can I get your thoughts on Ella or Dave?

Oh sure i'll do em both! Glad to have a tdpi request :p

Ella:

How i feel about this character:

hehe the scrunkly :)

I like Ella quite a bit! She's one of the better parts of the first half of Pahkitew Island to me, super kind and sweet to a fault but to such an extent that it blinds her to others not liking her. I like thinking more about what kind of background she'd have considering how lonely she seems to be - she doesn't manage to make friends on her team, and while she ends the show not holding anything against the others, im sad she didn't make friends with anyone by the end.

I also think her relationship with Sugar is compelling as well, and contains the worst thing Sugar does imo. Also her singing pissing off Chris was funny

The people i ship romantically with this character:

I am an aromantic Ella truther. Nobody. shoutouts to Skyella and Ellammy/Sammella for being cute tho (and since she's prob cupio i could actually see her in a relationship? But she needs to unpack her current feelings towards romance for that to work)

My Non-Romantic OTP for this character:

Big fan of her and Beardo being buddies! Originally mostly paired them up because he's the music guy and she's the singing girl so they'd have something to bond over, but in general i think Beardo's more laidback personality would get along with the total ray of sunshine Ella is! Hell i bet he could rope her into pranks, and she could use them to get back at people indirectly? because she doesn't like confrontation?

Aside from that, her and Sky would be good friends i think! If tdpi would stop cosplaying as a pilot for tdrr at the very least! Sky could do with a friend who doesn't care much for the competition while Ella could do with someone who would actually defend her :p

ALSO Ella and Dawn. the fae and the princess. They hang out in the woods and make art with the pinecones and the twigs and the leaves. Dawn appreciates her singing and her perfect bird calls, Ella likes Dawn just being around her in general and being supportive. And she'd be supportive back!!! and i don't know if Dawn's used to that!!! See the vision

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I don't think she's as absurd as some people try to say she is. I've seen people do stupider things at her age, online or off; and the show makes it pretty dang clear that she's pretty isolated anyways, why shouldn't a lonely teenager be allowed to indulge in her interests and do it on a reality show she likes?

Also, unsure if this is unpopular or not, but i really like taking her dramarama characterisation in mind. It makes her so much more layered to be that she used to be an angry/naughty kid, and either changed from that or simply pushed down this anger to make herself be palatable to others. what's up with you, gimmick total drama girl

One thing i wish happened with this character in canon:

Weirdly enough i don't mind her writing in canon much? Outside of one thing. Why did her team think she was so annoying so fast. ik you guys all suck socially but at least try to talk to her!!! about it!! or something! This is like the Sammy thing where her team started hating her 2 days in. tdpi i love you but your writing is sometimes questionable (statement that applies to every season)

Ok time for the actually controversial one!

Dave:

How i feel about this character:

I actually like Dave! While i do think his desperation to getting Sky's attention gets a little stale by the time "This is the Pits!" rolls around, it gets resolved two episodes afterwards and i LOVE it. I love seeing this guy get rejected into the ground, and then seeing his reaction it's so pathetic it's funny. In general i think him being convinced he's a totally normal guy when he really isn't is entertaining. Yeah sure Dave, sweeping the floor of the cave you're sleeping is very normal behavior (he's trying his best </3)

Im less of a fan of his characterization in the finale, since it feels less like an understandable progression of his character and more of a heel-turn the writers made him take because they needed an antagonistic force for the ending and couldn't find anything better. BUT I (and a mutual)'VE TALKED ABOUT IT BEFORE SO NO NEED TO EXPLAIN IT AGAIN!

The people i ship romantically with this character:

SHAWN i am a fan of dashawn :p and only dashawn :p they're both weirdoes and are so in denial of this it's funny they'd be so bad at it at first too. Honestly a pairing being funny to think about and having actual potential on top of that is peak way to get stuck in my brain

it also does help that said pairing has pretty good fics - giving a shoutout specifically to the ones written by @/noahtally-famous because honestly they understand this pairing on a deeper level than i do XD

My Non-Romantic OTP for this character:

Honestly Dave and Shawn's friendship in canon is also one i like alot. Crazy how the germaphobe befriended the guy who covers himself in garbage at one point and neither address that. And how they're both bad at romance but that's another thing

I would also like to shoutout this fic for making me see the vision of a Dave and Sky friendship happening after the stupid romance debacle because like. damn no you're right if they weren't complete ass at communicating maybe they would get along. (i WILL get you to read Temporary Permanence and there's nothing you can do about it!)

Also that one post that brought up a possible Dave and Staci friendship? Pretty cool. Pretty true. Dave nitpicks her shit and then Staci comes back the next day with actual evidence and it blows his mind so much he's decided they're buddies now

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I've made this one very well known, but i do actually like how much of a dumpster fire of communication skave is in canon. Ok i don't like that the middle part's a little dragged out, but i like how doomed it is from the start. I like how just getting sudden feelings about someone doesn't mean you know them, or that you actually need to talk to the other party for a relationship to work and you can't expect the other party to telepathically share the conclusions you've come to, or even that having very specific expectations about your situationship and then not communicating said expectations will fuck you over.

Hell i even like how the attitude Dave tried putting on that caused Sky to (finally) call him out was directly due to advice he got from Shawn. the other hopeless romantic on the island. There's actual progression there! Like holy shit a romance related arc that's not paced attrociously? In my Total Drama season?

This is ignoring the mess that happened in the finale but shush we don't talk about it here + i already have anyways

One thing i wish happened with this character in canon:

That they settled on one thing for him. Is he just a desperate romantic who's bad at communication? Is he an unstable dude who can't handle rejection without causing damage to everyone around him for it? Is he supposed to be both and the writers were just not great at hinting this beforehand?

Do you see why i think tdpi got a rewrite halfway through now? It's like they couldn't decide on an antagonist and just needed to find an antagonist for the finale and couldn't come up with anything better than dragging the Dave and Sky conflict for even longer. Like just have Chris try to kill them at this point he already has beef with so much of the cast why not go the extra mile?

[fraudulent-cheese]

1, 7, and 23 for Scarlett and/or the pahkitwins

Fuck it, i'll do all three of them!

Scarlett:

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Scarlett's one of the more interesting antagonistic characters to me, even in a season with like 4 possible antagonists; she's the only one that isn't overt about her vilainy, instead mascarading as an inoffensive and unthreatning nerd. And her mask is actually credible since she doesn't mess with her competition, even when she has a golden opportunity to do so (she knew Sammy was mascarading as Amy, and simply assumed everyone knew).

Before Scarlett Fever she's also generally not super duper evil and moreso amoral. She has an objective, and she'll do all she can with her smarts to reach that goal and to get her point accross. I think that's super interesting!

Which leads to the bit i dislike: she just goes full super vilain evil in Scarlett Fever and her plan is kind of stupid. Specifically because Chris in TDPI barely gives a shit about his contestants and wouldn't concede to Scarlett basically holding his island, his show and his contestants hostage, and also because she looses the thing i liked about her. I do like that she finally snaps at Max though.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I like how people draw her hair! Especially post reveal, it looks awesome :D

That and she's usually well characterised in fanfiction, which is great because TDPI doesn't get many fics in general! Shoutouts to Temporary Permanence and Love You Like the Ashes In My Cigarette Box for their characterisation of her in particular

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Love it when she's pissed pre reveal. Especially this one instance, she's gonna fucking kill Max it's great

Amy:

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Uh. I'll be honest Amy's not that interesting in canon since she's kinda just the absolute worst repeatedly and barely gets consequences for it for two episodes so finding something i like about her that isn't headcanon is difficult.

I like how the way she acts informs alot on their possible family dynamic, considering either twins only mention a mother, and said mother dislikes Amy according to Sammy. So it's not just "Amy hates her twin for existing", it could be "Amy hates her twin because she's the favorite" and i like it when a character makes me speculate.

Also i like how ironically, despite how much Amy whines about it, she's as much defined by her sister as Sammy is defined by her (from her perspective). She doesn't talk about her own hobbies, she talks about how much her sister sucks. Her entire sense of identity seems to be centered on 'being better than her twin' and that is. So peculiar.

Anyways the thing i dislike about her is how fucking flat she is. She just sucks and that's the entire point of her character and that's all there is to her. She lies, she takes credit for her twin's actions, she at one point shifts the blame onto Sammy when she (rightfully) stands up to her and she gets her commupence when she gets the boot over Sammy and gets poisonned. And then she comes back two episodes later, stays for a minute, and then they both get cannon'd away, never to be seen again outside of a png in the finale. She's basically just a plot device for Sammy, for two episodes, and that's fine i guess but it's kinda lame. idk. Also i didn't just wanna go "she's a complete piece of shit to Sammy all the time" for the reason i dislike her because that's obvious. Oh god how long have i talked about this now

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

When they give her any kind of depth. Just any of it. While still aknowledging that she sucks. You can go in any direction and if the excecution is good i'll probably be a fan.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Her expression sheet, none of which ended up being used outside of mayyybe bottom left. Girl why so expressive

Sammy:

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

On paper, i think her arc is pretty good. Seeing her gather her courage and try standing up to her sister, and still trying despite how it turned out afterwards is super interesting, and i LOVE that she steals her sister's identity. I think it's super compelling that her trickery is framed in a positive way, as a karmic punishment and is generally a satisfying outcome.

Like i genuinely don't think a single other character that we're supposed to see in a good light tricks someone else, outside of mayyybe Heather during the World Tour finale, and she started out as the main antagonist. It's not super emphasised, but i like the light brains vs brawn thing going on between the twins.

As for the thing i dislike, well... Sammy's only a little less flat than her twin sister. She's an incredibly reactive character and doesn't get an actual personality outside of "victim of Amy's bullying" and "pretending to be Amy". Sammy fairs better than her twin in terms of being only defined by her relationship to her sister since she actually gets to be on her own and an actual friend in the form of Jasmine, but only slightly. I kind of just wish they were given more to do on their own.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

When she's given friends and an opportunity to get away from her sister for a period of time. Hopefully a long one. I also like it in fanart where they give her a different haircut, to differenciate her from Amy more.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

This one. She so cutieful