User blog:TDFanatic52/Reviewing One of My Fanfictions: Wildclaw Island

Between the two completed seasons that I created and my current one, my favorite to write was Wildclaw Island. The cast was colorful and vibrant, the theme was unique to Total Drama, the eliminations were fantastic, and the location was brand new. Seeing as I am reviewing a completed season of mine, anyone who has yet to see it can click the link and start from episode one. As obvious as it is, DO NOT CONTINUE READING THIS BLOG UNLESS YOU HAVE READ ALL SEVENTEEN EPISODES OF WILDCLAW ISLAND. If you want to be a rebel and spoil yourself of this fanfiction series, be my guest. Spoil away.

THEME
Wildclaw Island technically has two themes. The first is its location. It is a mix between Wawanakwa Island and Pahkitew Island. Wildclaw Island does have cabins, but the food is all based on the contestants to find for themselves.

The second theme is based on the teams. The team division is based on the themes from Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Koah Rong. For those who had not seen these seasons, the teams were divided by Brawn, Beauty, and Brain. More on the teams for Wildclaw Island when we get to them.

CAST
As I mentioned before, this cast was colorful and vibrant. Each of the eighteen contestants that I picked brought something interesting and unique to the table. To those who don't understand my casting choices, I like to keep things equal. For Wildclaw Island, I picked 6 contestants from the original cast, 6 from Revenge of the Island, and 6 from Pahkitew.

To those who read and forgot, here are the eighteen contestants that I picked. Unknowingly, there were ultimates and a few of these contestants had some competition (mostly from the original cast) who could have been replaced. First off, was Bridgette. Originally, I had Eva competing. However, the mean female jock role was already taken thanks to Jo, so I swapped Eva with Bridgette. I was stuck between Noah and Harold, but since Noah got an early boot in Pahkitew's Revenge, I decided to give him the spot. For Duncan, he was up against Tyler, and DJ. However, Tyler was not an option since I did not want any pre-existing romances in this season and I don't want a reason to have DJ leave the game through quitting or any other reason. Sierra's place would've been taken by Courtney, but I was not feeling that Courtney vibe. Sierra brings the craziness to the Brains that Courtney could not.
 * 1) Amy
 * 2) Anne Maria
 * 3) Brick
 * 4) Bridgette
 * 5) Cameron
 * 6) Dawn
 * 7) Duncan
 * 8) Jo
 * 9) Justin
 * 10) Lindsay
 * 11) Lightning
 * 12) Noah
 * 13) Rodney
 * 14) Scarlett
 * 15) Shawn
 * 16) Sierra
 * 17) Sky
 * 18) Topher

Anne Maria was the only one who had some competition in her department as there was also another beauty in the Revenge of the Island cast- Dakota. The reason why Dakota was not picked was because of her mutation. For those of you asking, "Why not B instead of Cameron?" let me just say this once: Cameron can have dialog.

INITIAL TEAMS
The initial teams were great to me. From the unofficial Wildclaw Island homepage, the team descriptions are:
 * Brains are characterized by their intellect. They are quick to solve problems and have a high IQ. They may or may not be physically strong or the most socialized beauty out there, but they are good at strategizing.
 * Beauty is characterized by both their outer beauty and their social skills. They may not have the the brains and may not like being dirty, but their social skills and the fact that most of them are great to look at would help them move forward in the game.
 * Brawn is characterized by their muscle. They are dominate in challenges. They may not be the smartest ones nor the most attractive, but they use their athleticism and their determination to move forward in the game.

As far as the divisions go, it was easy to pinpoint some obvious choices. Cameron was going into the Brains team, Lindsay for beauty, and Jo for Brawn. But here are the teams and why I chose each of the players to be on that team.

BRAINS:


 * Cameron- Observant behavior and has proven to be as smart as a rocket scientist.


 * Dawn- Quiet, she has some unnatural psychic powers which is basically why she is on brains. (She could also be classified as Beauty for her love of nature, but the Beauty spot was taken)


 * Noah- Though arrogant, Noah claims to be a very intellegent person, and would rather read a book than participate in a nice game of dodgeball.


 * Scarlett- One of the highest IQs that Total Drama has seen, she excels in technological advances and is extremely intelligent than her "superior".


 * Shawn- Though a easy option for the Brawn category, I placed Shawn on the brains because he has shown to think ahead and uses his survival knowledge to his advantage.


 * Sierra- She writes on blogs about Total Drama, excessive fangirl moments, and is a decent strategist.

BRAWNS:


 * Bridgette- She has a competive nature due to her surfing capabilities.


 * Duncan- His bad boy attitude and use of physical violence against other contestants


 * Jo- Her competitive and athletic nature


 * Lightning- Competitive nature and athleticism. Protein shakes never hurt anybody


 * Rodney- Out of all the male choices from Pahkitew, Rodney was the last one standing because Shawn was taking, Beardo and Leonard were a no-go, Topher is on a different team and Max is a... no. Plus, Rodney is a farm boy and his bulky figure was probably from all the time out in the fields


 * Sky- inspired by her Olympian sister, very competitive, and athletic

BEAUTY:


 * Amy- Looks


 * Anne Maria- Looks, fashion knowledge, overuse of hairspray products


 * Brick- wanted to go to fashion school in Cameron's ending. So I went with that.


 * Justin- He has modeling contracts, mainly because of his looks


 * Lindsay- Looks


 * Topher- Looks

(what did you expect from the Beauty team? They all are good looking)

Elimination
Just with any Total Drama series (minus Daycare), there have to be an elimination. In the seventeen episode run, we saw fan favorites, likeable people, and the rest got booted from the honorable Flush Of Shame.

For the people that got out early (Episode 1-9), their elimnations can be summed up in one of three categories. 1) They had little to no use in the plot of any small or major storylines 2) Personal reasons which will be exclaimed 3) Their story has been complete, either on a positive or negative note.

The first three eliminated in the series all fall into first category. Their time on Wildclaw Island was cut short because they had no plot outside of themselves. When coming up with the elimination order, Justin, Sky, and Lightning would have been the first three out no matter what. And I think that their short time on Wildclaw Island helped the season, even if they were major characters in other seasons.

Only Scarlett and Lindsay fall into the second category. These two girls aren't my favorite. I just don't like either of them and I don't find either one interesting. However, Scarlett's elimination was because I could not write an entire season with the contestants knowing about her past attempt of getting a million dollars by threatening the lives of others. As for Lindsay, while I do not like the dumb blonde stereotype that Lindsay resembles, she did provide a good story arc after her elimination.

The others of Brick, Duncan, Jo, and Noah fall into the last category. Brick and Noah's story was to help build the antagonistic figure that is Topher. Obviously, their stories ended on a negative note. Duncan's and Jo's elimination were part of the Lindsay Elimination Arc in which I had the Elegant Eagles avenge Lindsay's elimination. Though a negative to them, their eliminations help end what I consider to be a wonderful story arc.

The people that got out in episodes 10-16 also fall into three categories. 1) They were fodder. 2) Their story is done 3) Their usefulness has expired.

Rodney and Shawn fall into the first category. While I attempted to give them plots and storylines of their own, with the direction that the season was heading, I figured to cut them while giving the others that have the story going for the the spotlight.

Half of me is telling me that Cameron falls into the first category since his story was about leading the Eagles after Lindsays' departure and once the merge came, he fell into the background.

Dawn is the only person that I can say for certain that her elimination happened because her story was done. She was suffering after being betrayed and lied to time and time again, so I cut her loose. Sad ending, but sometimes in life, good does not win.

The other half of me want to put Cameron into this category since his story of leading the Eagles was done and is a bit overdue to end.

After much thought, Amy's and Anne Maria's love triangle ended, sending both girls down the toilet, one right down the other.

The final category only had Sierra. She was useful for Topher's plot and once she had lived out her purpose, she was cut.

Finalists
The final two provide some interesting qualities.

Bridgette has been playing a game that is similar to Sierra's game in World Tour. Play the person who thinks they are playing me. Though not my favorite strategy shown on Total Drama, it has limitations. For starters, if the person you are "playing" makes it to the end with you next to them, the jury could figure out that you were nothing but a follower. Second, there comes a point in time where the saying of "Too little, too late" comes into play. Bridgette, based on her plot, was the too little, too late story ending.

Finally, there is Topher, somebody who I really enjoy writing for. His strategy was that of Justin's in TDA where he had two girls work with him. Unlike Justin, the two girls formed a love triangle with one hating the other. It was impressive writing on how Topher managed to get both the girls not to vote for the other until it is time.

At the season finale, I had alternative endings. This was added in last minute since there was a small argument on who played better. A lot of people wanted Bridgette to win because, as the saying goes, good will always triumph over evil. On the other hand, the rest wanted Topher to win since he worked on making it far since the very beginning.\

JURY
Just like in Pahkitew's Revenge, I had the winner be decided on the jury vote. The jury includes people who got eliminated during the merge portion of the game with one of them being counted as the swing vote, meaning that the person that they pick would win in each ending. (That person happened to be Dawn for those who want to spoil this fan fiction before reading it). The jury format in Total Drama is my favorite to write because the people who got voted off are now the judge, the jury, and the executioner.

MAJOR STORYLINES

 * Love Triangle- Throughout the season, there was a love triangle between Topher, Amy, and Anne Maria. Topher and Amy, in Wildclaw Island, have a mutual attraction to one another with Anne Maria being Cody to Topher's and Amy's Trent and Gwen. Even though Topher was using both of them for game and one for a shomance, the story ended on what can be described as a catastrophic beauty.
 * Bridgette and Dawn- When the teams went from three to two, Bridgette and Dawn found themselves on the Heavenly Hawks. You can say that they were fast friends. Fast forward it and Dawn has been the subject of blindside and betrayals thanks to Bridgette. The Aura Whisper knows evil is on the team and Bridgette (for the most part) is oblivious to it. Thanks to this storyline, it gave me a reason to use Dawn as the swing vote for the season finale.
 * Avenging Lindsay- though this storyling was unintentional, it left an impressive mark on the season. When Jo blindsided Lindsay, the rest of the Eagles minus Duncan set out to avenge Lindsay, either by finishing what she started or avenging Lindsay's executioner. Wonderful to read and think over.r

CONCLUSION
Irregardless on which ending you perfer, the results will remain the same. Topher would be flushed down the Flush of Shame as punishent for his antagonistic behavior throughout the season.

My One Regret
Though Wildclaw Island is my absolute favorite season to write, there is only one regret that I have- and that regret is named Rodney.

Man oh man. Where do I start with this? When I casted him, I was hoping for Rodney to figure out his type. In the canon, he is a poet with a desperate attempt to find some love in his life. During my writing of Rodney, I can officially say that I botched his character up. Dramatically.

Rodney was made for the short-run, never a mid-to-late contestant. He was the most often seen in the background with one, maybe two lines. His sad storyline was often met with Anne Maria as the cruelest person ever to walk the face of the earth. His elimination was left with Rodney heartbroken.

Overall Conclusion
Like I said before, this has been my favorite season to write, complete or not. The cast was wonderful beyond all imagination, the theme fit perfectly with the contestants, the interactions were flavorful, and it gained me some likability to contestants that I would've considered to be duds before writing this season. Fantastic season to write, and a favorite season to be made, fan fiction or not.