User blog comment:Fedora Kid/Total Drama All-Stars: Thoughts Going Into This Season/@comment-2039997-20130822094635

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying in that this season doesn't have much room to progress as the characters are already pretty well developed... at the same time though, I think that there's a little more hope for the season than you seem to presume.

First area in which I mildly disagree with you is in the list of potential All-Stars. Clearly the cast the producers picked isn't the "optimal 14", but in your list I also see a major flaw; the major lock for All-Stars who you completely missed is Harold. He's someone who it's just preposterous to leave out, especially with the likes of Justin, DJ, and Early Boot Dawn included as considerations. He really was perhaps the single BEST improved upon character outside of Lindsay and Beth in TDA, and even in TDI he brought with him some of the most memorable moments in the history of the show. For me, the All-Stars would be the Final 5 of TDI, Courtney, Lindsay, and Harold to rep. TDA, Alejandro and Cody to rep. World Tour and Mike, Cameron, Scott, and Jo to rep. Revenge of the Island. With this cast though, it ends up being 8 Dudes-6 Chics, so you could really alternate Beth, Sierra, or Zoey and still pass it as a legit All-Stars, and if gender wasn't a concern, Geoff, Lightning, and Brick are worth MILDLY considering as well. Ultimately though, I agree with you that generally, the cast is infuriating for it's unnecessary pimpage of Revenge of the Island characters and general lack of people from the original 22.

The other thing I sort of disagree with you in terms of is that Jo is an Eva clone. She had some unique development and actually displayed an active personality, while Eva is just a "raging psychopath" with no real depth to her character whatsoever. That may be partially because it hasn't been explored, due to Eva's lack of appearances since TDI, but then what you're really arguing is that Jo is what Eva would be if Eva was actually a developed character. While it still could be argued that Jo is an incarnation of Eva, she's not exactly a "clone" because of the depth and various plot points she receieved in Revenge of the Island.

Final thing I wanted to say was just that this season has 7 people who have only had 1 appearance on the show. Sure, some of them seem pretty one-dimensional to you right now, like the Jos or the Lightnings, but they've only been on the show for 1 season, 13 episodes at that. The 22 originals were stretched over THREE SEASONS, and they still managed to create at least bearable seasons every single time, so despite your expectations for TDAS being bad, remember that even if all of the originals have outlived their lifespan, there are 7 contestants who can surely still be expanded upon, considering they've only been explored for 13 episodes (less for some of them) thus far. There's definitely hope for this season if the writers take advantage of the character interaction between the originals and the newbies, and while the promos have focused primarily on already existing relationships and conflicts, I'm sure that there will be a few new developments that we see as the season progresses to keep things fun.

So before I close, I do want to say I think your greatest point in the entire blog was in reference to the Love Triangle. I really think you expressed well how pointless it would be to focus 4 seasons of plot around this love triangle only to bring it back to where it began. If Courtney and Duncan were simply to rekindle in this season, it'd be so unrealistic and pathetic that it really could single-handedly ruin the season. Break-ups happen for a reason, and, in the real world, when a guy cheats on a girl and gets a new girlfriend, the couple will normally NEVER rekindle for 2 reasons; A) Even if the guy did have a change of heart, the girl would be a dumbass to get up his ass again, and B) ...WHY WOULD THE GUY HAVE A CHANGE OF HEART IF HE WAS THE ONE WHO ENDED THE RELATIONSHIP? The way I feel the Triangle should go this season, is either Gwuncan should just stay put, or Gwen should dump Duncan, he should try to go back to Courtney, and she should just utterly reject him too and leave him solo. And I LOVE Duncan as a character, but that's the only fulfilling, realistic conclusion to this story that would work besides just keeping things as they are now. Duncan and Courtney can never work as a couple EVER again.

And rant over. Final thing to say is, of the 14, I'm actually rooting for Scott of all people this season. Despite him being awfully coniving in Revenge of the Island, outside of that, he was somewhat one-dimensional, and I'd love to see the creators try to transition him into more of an anti-hero like they did with Heather through her follow-up appearances in TDA and World Tour. I really would like to see them add an additional layer of complexity to his character beyond just being an asshole, and I really think with the right development, it can be done.

Here's to a hopefully good season, and lol I've been so opinionated in this comment that I may just make a blog of my own. We shall see. I do want to say though, F_Kid, you've always been my favorite user on the wiki because your opinions are very concrete and it's really fun to see how you perceive things, so I'm glad you did a preview blog. Hope you continue to cover the season and change your tune before the finale ;)