I wanted to take time to acknowledge three special ladies in mine and Desmond's lives.
The first is Desmond's biological mother Kayana Al-Naar, who is also my PCP. This strong woman did her best with raising Desmond and he came out okay. She is trying really hard to be there for him now and respect his space.
The second is Desmond's adoptive mother Maria Auditore. As I said in last year's post, Maria Auditore is a very loving mother. Even to two more sons in Desmond and Altaïr.
Lastly is Tami Fountain, Altaïr's wife and Desmond's sister-in-law. She also is a mother of two herself and a good friend of mine too.
Since AC Rebellion will probably shut down, I was wondering if I could rip the models from the game, because honestly I like the Rebellion artstyle and I managed to do it!
I adjusted Altaïr's texture as I was bothered that he was whitewashed and added facial hair and freckles (as I headcanon him).
And of course I had to make Tami in Rebellion artstyle by editing and merging models and textures. ☺️
To be honest, I hesitated to post my artworks again because I was insecure (typical of me), thinking my art was just boring and uninteresting garbage, that I will stop posting them for good.
Anyway, I kinda remade Kadar because his "canon" head model was starting to annoy me, so I decided to give him The Sims version, and he looks much better now.
Also Tami talking to/being taught by Malik and her teasing Kadar were ideas from @winterassassin1987-95! Thanks, my friend! <3
I made him in The Sims 4 and reworked his model and textures to make them more accurate to his 2D counterpart so that he could exist in the "3D world"! 😊
Okay, I need to explain why I care so much about him and why I'm also nervous to show him to you all...
That means...
✨Essay time!✨
Warnings about Total Drama spoilers and some my headcanons regarding child abuse (+ I apologize for my poor English with grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, and my ability to explain some things is abysmal)
Also I will refer to TD Ezekiel as Zeke, since I have an OC named Ezekiel Palins, whom I will talk about here.
I've liked Zeke since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 (a few months before I became hyperfixated on Assassin's Creed and Altaïr), when I rediscovered Total Drama (I only remember very few scenes of that show from my childhood and I didn't know English back then).
I love his design, his thick Canadian accent, his personality, and his little silly quirks. I relate to him in many ways: I've been an outsider my whole life, I live in isolation, I'm extremely socially awkward, and sometimes I say things I didn't mean to. Plus, he always makes me laugh and has helped lift my mood during these terrible times.
Let's start with his first appearance in the first episode of Total Drama Island. When Chris greeted him with, "What's up, man?", Zeke looked up at the sky and said, "I think I see a bird." Chris advised him not to talk too much or be one of the first to get eliminated, since Zeke has been homeschooled his whole life and was raised by freaky prairie people alias his parents. *cough* Foreshadowing… *cough*
He was placed on Team Killer Bass, and in the second episode, his team lost the challenge, and at dinner they had to decide whether Courtney or DJ would be eliminated. However, Zeke didn't understand why they lost to a team with six girls and made sexist comments that boys are better at sports, stronger, and smarter than girls, and for that, he was eliminated by pissing the girls off. I realized that Zeke was written this way, since he was meant to be the first boot and the audience couldn't relate to him that early. Despite that, I didn't hate him since he was homeschooled by his parents his whole life, meaning he was very socially inexperienced and didn’t mean any ill will (but that doesn’t mean I agree with what he said. He was still wrong about that.).
Later, Zeke made a reappearance in episode 22, where he was just chilling at Playa de Losers, playing at being a rapper and trying to flirt with Bridgette, even though she was with Geoff, which bothered me a little, but then again, he's just naive about outside world. At least he never said anything sexist, which is progress, and besides, he just seemed silly to me. For me, Zeke completely redeemed himself in the Total Drama Island Special episode, where he teamed up with Lindsay and Beth to find one million dollars, promising to respect the girls and keeping his word. That's why it was my favourite episode of the entire show.
Unfortunately, Zeke didn't make it into Total Drama Action. He was just in the background of the peanut gallery in the Aftermath episodes and didn't have any lines. But he almost cried during Trent's songs and clapped for Geoff in agreement with "money being more important than having integrity", but I think he didn't realize that was wrong (or maybe I'm just coping to defend him idk). Then there was Total Drama Action Special episode, and he was hilarious to me the whole time (but his wallet was stolen by a homeless man without noticing, RIP), and he made it into Total Drama World Tour, which was awesome, and I hoped that this time he'd shine and become much better character…
In the first two episodes, Zeke was so prideful and confident that he was going to win this season. The writers were probably trying to make him annoying, but I didn't mind, he was still silly to me, and his singing segment was wonderful. But then Zeke lost the stick, which was a reward from the previous challenge, and was eliminated for it, yet he stayed hidden in the plane's storage because he refused to give up. And that was the beginning of his character assassination…
Later, in episode 13, he was dressed as Jack the Ripper and was catching the other contestants, but his skin had turned green and he growled like an animal. And then episode 21 happened… He turned into a feral, Gollum-like monster and later ruined the season finale by stealing one million dollars from Heather/Chris (depending on the ending) and falling into a volcano with it (Zeke survived, since it's a cartoon), which I think made a lot of people hate him even more.
Since then in TD Revenge of the Island and TD All-Stars, he's been a punching bag, and Chris has continued to use him for challenges. He had a crush on Anne Maria and had no problem giving her one million dollars he’d stolen from the previous season, but the money was burned from volcano, and she never returned his love, since he was a monster. Later, Zeke tried to kill Chris, but failed as the other contestants stopped him. In the end, Zeke ended up on Boney Island, where he was accepted by the mutanted animals and got a "happy" ending.
Still, it breaks my heart that Zeke ended up like this… He was still just a child, and no one deserves that. I’d rather pretend that Feral Zeke never happened, and that Total Drama producers just hired a stuntman and edited the footage to make it look like Zeke was falling into madness, while the real Zeke ditched Total Drama and is fully dedicated to his rapping career.
I've seen a lot of "What if" scenarios where Zeke didn't lose stick or was placed on a team other than Team Victory, but I wouldn't mind if he never made it to World Tour, because honestly, Total Drama ruins people's lives just like every other reality TV show irl.
Outside of the cartoon, Zeke has two website biographies from Total Drama Island and Total Drama World Tour that give us insight into his background: he lived on a farm with his parents, certainly far from civilization. He wasn't allowed to watch movies, he didn't hang out with real kids (only with 3D ones in TV shows, which he was allowed to watch for some reason), probably didn't have internet, he didn't have any best childhood memories, and he neglected hygiene like not brushing his teeth and picking his nose.
He didn’t know how to speak "teenspeak", so when someone said "What’s up?", he looked up (the poor guy would be the victim of deeznuts pranks). His parents believed that homeschooling is best for their child to "only be exposed to the finest sorts of people, and receive the highest standard of education", which I think is really messed up.
In addition, it was his father who told him those sexist comments and insisted he must protect women, but fortunately, Zeke said that was nonsense, since many women are stronger than him. He said Bridgette is so smart and pretty and he'd would take her on cow riding on the Alberta frontier.
Zeke once ran away from home to the local school, likely longing for interaction with his peers. Despite his social awkwardness, he is pretty smart overall, as he could speak 8 languages and once won the National Spelling Bee Challenge when he was the last time in public. He was signed up for the show on a doctor's order, since Zeke suffers from Vitamin D deficiency, as he often stays indoors and doesn't like fresh air.
Now here are some my random Zeke headcanons!
Zeke is pretty close to his mom, as in the audition tape he accidentally shot her with an arrow and ran over to her, apologizing worriedly, and he said that she's his favourite teacher.
Meanwhile, he didn’t get along very well with his father, or he at least tried to tolerate him, since his father constantly told him things like "you're not tough enough", "men don't do that" or "act more like a man". These comments always frustrated Zeke.
Zeke likes to have long hair, but since his father kept telling him that "real men" don't have long hair, he always wore his toque to tuck the rest of his hair inside it.
It's possible that his family was strictly, almost cult-like, Christian.
Zeke is demisexual (yes, just like me and Alty!).
Zeke has a hidden talent for playing several musical instruments, but unfortunately he has never tried them all. His favourite musical instrument is the harmonica since he made a Harmonica rap.
Zeke is very emotional and cries easily when he hears sad songs or his father's yelling. He usually hides his negative emotions from him.
When he felt down, he always went to his mom for advice or comfort, but only when his dad was working outside on the farm.
He has a close bond with the animals on the farm and finds comfort in them when his mother isn't around.
After being eliminated from Total Drama Island and sent to Playa des Losers, he discovered the internet for the first time there and, thanks to it, learned why sexism is wrong. He also stumbled upon rap music and culture and fell in love with it so much that he ordered a pair of sunglasses and a cheap gold chain with the letter Z on it.
Whenever an eliminated girl arrived at Playa des Losers, he apologized to them for his comments. Thanks to this, he was at least tolerated by the other contestants, but some still distrusted him, believing he hadn't really changed.
After becoming famous thanks to Total Drama, Zeke often left home because he felt having more freedom outside. His mother supported him with his rap career, but his father was against it.
The reason Zeke couldn't accept his elimination from the World Tour was because, before he left, his father had told him that if he got eliminated first again, he'd be a worthless loser and a disgrace to the whole family. Zeke wanted to prove to him that he is wrong…
Okay back to essaying…
Call me nuts, but you know who else Zeke kinda reminds me of? Altaïr! Both lived in isolation from society from birth, were taught in the wrong/cultish ways, didn't make a good first impression on the audience, but learned from their mistakes to become better person, and eventually their creators ruined them.
To be honest, I have a soft spot for characters with a couple (sometimes with many) of flaws, as long, as I find them quite relatable and/or enjoyable. My all-time favourite characters aren't exactly nice people:
Altaïr (only at the beginning of AC1) was an arrogant jerk (sorry, habibi, for saying this to you) who broke all three tenets, and several people from the Brotherhood and Masyaf lost their lives because of him…
Maiev was obsessed with capturing Illidan and would have done anything, even if it meant leaving Tyrande being taken by the river and lying to Malfurion that she had be killed by undead…
The Batter believed he was on a sacred mission to rid the world of the impure, which led to the destruction of the world and the killing Hugo, a sick child and his creator, to end his suffering…
The Scout is a egoistic mercenary, and most likely killed innocent people (probably for money too), as he once said in Expiration Date: "Can the cook be trusted? If not, I gotta kill him. Dispose of the body, replace him with my own guy…"
And The Hunters are special infected who simply want to kill you without mercy.
Compared to them, Zeke is an angel (by ignoring his Feral character here).
It saddens me that many people in the TD fandom still hate him even though he learned to stop being sexist and became one of the most tragic characters in Total Drama. I don't reblog posts about Zeke, because I'm scared that I'd be judged for enjoying this character. Sometimes I feel like Zeke haters are worse than Zeke fans, like few weeks ago, when I asked on youraislopbores.me to draw Zeke, I got a drawing of a literal dick and I felt so violated! 😭
Now something little about my OC Ezekiel Palins...
Due to so much hate towards Zeke is in fandom, I created Ezekiel, who was originally the adult/post-Feral Zeke for my own Total Drama fanfic, but eventually became his own character in Crossover Universe. This led to a running gag that Ezekiel looks like Zeke and hates him for it, but when I compare the two side by side now, they're more like brothers or cousins, which still irritates Ezekiel, but they eventually reconcile.
If you don't like Zeke, that’s totally fine! You can block his tags and move on! I’m not saying all this to force you to like him, but because I really like him and I'll defend him even if I'd be his only last fan left. And if you're a Zeke fan, thank you for being there for him! <3
In conclusion, I want to say that if you love a character who's hated by the fandom and it depresses you, don't give up! You can easily make them more interesting through headcanons, and let them redeem themselves by becoming a better person. As for characters I don't like, such as Abbas and Duccio, I'm all for fanons, headcanons and fanfics who make them better characters.
Canon CANNOT stop you!
Anyways... Here's Altaïr and Tami/me adopting Zeke:
Ezekiel from Total Drama deserves better! And Altaïr and I are going to help him with that! 😊
And one more thing: if you're okay with Zeke being my and Alty's son, can he be in the Crossover Universe?
I imagine that a few months after the third season, Altaïr and Tami would find Zeke as a ten-year-old boy, because I'd love to create artwork of Zeke (as a 16 years old) and Sabina (as a 6 years old) doing sibling things together. But in some AUs, Zeke would have been a teenager when Sabina was born. 🥹
