#The Story Where Courtney Takes Feral Zeke to Prom was one of the best things I ever wrote I think. because it makes me giggle | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fountainpenguin · 10 months

Note

Who were you rooting for to win in each finale of Total Drama (including Ridonculous Race)?

?? It has literally never occurred to me to root for someone while I watch. TIL.

[Disclaimer - I do like Total Drama but this post involves me talking about ships and characters I don't like; I don't like putting that kind of stuff in the tags. I'm not disabling reblogs but please only reblog if you like this post and not because you want to fight; I'm just answering an Ask]

R-Race was the only one that left me truly "Aw man" about it. The characters who are my favorites to watch vs. those who I would expect and/or desire the narrative to reward with my author eyes are absolutely different, ha ha.

So for those who don't know, in the first 3 seasons (maybe more?), the two finalists each have an ending, and different endings air in different countries (I believe they were determined by voting on the Total Drama website during the final week).

All my TD 'fics take place in the same universe and the canon winners in my storyline were Owen, Duncan (who felt guilt-ridden about it, which was the plot of my one-shot "Chris Missed"), Heather, Cameron, Zoey, Shawn... I didn't post any R-Race 'fics beyond the opening bits of Lions Under Palm Trees, but I remember being disappointed by the winners. But that's more because I dislike Geoff with a fiery passion than anything else.

The characters I would argue are the narrative's main characters of their season... I would say Gwen for Island, Duncan for Action, Cody for World Tour, Mike for Revenge, Zoey for All-Stars, Jasmine for Pahkitew, and the cops for Race. Those aren't necessarily the people I personally want to be winners; just saying I think that's who the writers liked a lot and it showed.

World Tour was my first season; I was exposed to it by a sibling listening to it in the same room as me (which also means Aleheather came out of NOWHERE for me because it was purely audio exposure and missed all the small visual cues and I thought they just hated each other... I mean, I've rewatched the series several times since then and I still dislike this ship because I feel like it came out of nowhere and I don't feel any love between them, but idk how much of that was influenced by my first non-visual exposure to their relationship. And just because it's a NOTP for me, that doesn't mean I consider it non-canon... but that's how I write all my 'fics when my NOTPs are canon, so).

I was definitely exposed to the World Tour versions of Courtney's, Heather's, Cody's, Ezekiel's, and Noah's personalities before their Island selves, which I think influences my interest in them as characters in the prequels. Hands down TDWT favorite season, absolutely no contest for me. Pahkitew is close second, though.

I think Cody's the only character I would consider myself to be "rooting for" during a season. The concept of a character who got mauled by a bear in his first season, had to sit out the second season, then finally comes back and gets a fangirl who is obsessed with him to the point that he can barely participate in half the challenges because she is In The Way is SO funny. I also feel like Cody suffered more than most characters on the show due to the combo of bear mauling and having his boundaries consistently violated... He deserved a win. I know he's already a rich kid but I don't care.

In no particular order, my favorite characters in the series are Ezekiel, Eva, Noah, Leonard, Topher, Max, Dwayne Junior, and the Adversity Twins, but I wouldn't describe myself as rooting for them... they got as much screen time as they needed to. Leonard and Topher are some of the best characters I've ever seen in media though, I love them so much <3 To this day, I've never loved writing a character as much as I've loved writing Leonard. He's SO funny and he's a goofy little angel. I have so many unfinished Leonard drafts... I'd love to finish those 'fics someday, but I just don't have time to do everything.

I don't know what current fandom opinions on Topher are, but back when Pahkitew was airing, my quip to my siblings was that "Topher is so manipulative, he even fooled the fandom into thinking he's not as bad as he is." That kid played up the manipulative angle to look shallow on purpose... to hide the fact that he legitimately was super manipulative. He's fantastic. I haven't seen Pahkitew in about 7 years so a fresh watch might affect me differently, but... man. Topher, my absolute beloved.

(In my 'verse Topher is the son of Don (the R-Race host) which means he was just chilling around the elimination area in my R-Race elimination 'fic Lions Under Palm Trees, and man... my love for "character who lives in a hotel, doesn't have either of his parents around, who has mostly been left to care for himself, and he looks up to his dad with stars in his eyes despite also being the most manipulative slimeball in the world..." He's horrific, wants you to think he's a cinnamon roll but can and will absolutely destroy you just because he's bored... I love that 'fic draft so much.)

One of my favorite R-Race teams was also the couple who was super mushy at the start and then started fighting all the time (I think their names were Ryan and Stephanie, but it's been years so I might be wrong). I didn't feel attached to them as characters but I loved how they were portrayed, if that makes sense. My family were big fans of Amazing Race for years (used to watch it weekly) and we watched the second half of R-Race together as a family. We were crying laughing about how accurate their fighting was to the couples who actually participate in Amazing Race. Absolutely 10/10 characterization. No notes.

I don't know if any of that answers your original question, but that's kind of all I have to say. I liked characters who did neat things, but if they weren't competitive enough to fight for victory then they did not deserve to and I would have been mad if they ended up in the finals despite not being a good player. If you're weak then you deserve to go home like the weak links you are <3

I root for "being fun to watch" I guess. And Cody in World Tour.

(Zeke deserved better but also I wouldn't change his World Tour arc for a second. Becoming blinded with obsession to the point that you literally become a twisted, feral version of yourself and start hunting the other characters down and that's it, that's your character arc is the best thing I've ever seen. That moment of quietly cold, calculated, absolutely suppressed fury on Zeke's face after he kidnaps Chris in "All Stars" and Chris is monologuing about every horrible thing he's ever done to Zeke is my everything. That moment when you see what a broken human he's become. That moment he realizes Chris doesn't care he's hurting and doesn't want to help him because feral Zeke is "good content." I need everyone to understand.)

#99% true as far as we remember #Long post #Lions Under Palm Trees #I'll get actual tags someday sorry #The Story Where Courtney Takes Feral Zeke to Prom was one of the best things I ever wrote I think. because it makes me giggle #No Zeke Recovery Speedruns he suffers like the universe intended

5 notes · View notes