User:Fedora Kid/Second Generation Rankings

=Total Drama Reloaded=

Character Rankings
13th: Anne Maria - Just looking at her makes me hate her. She's called the "Jersey Shore Reject" for a reason, after all. She makes LeShawna look more like Lindsay. And the whole "You disagree with me, and you get hairspray in your eyes" thing got really old after just one episode. If I thought that was bad, I was certainly not prepared for her stealing Mike from Zoey. That made me want to kill her. But, in the end, she got her just desserts; Mike eventually fought it and remained true to Zoey, and she suffered perhaps the most humiliating elimination in the season.

12th: Lightning - Despite being an obvious rip-off of DJ, I had high hopes for him, because I considered him a better version of DJ. Being slightly leaner and having that look in his eyes and firm pose, as well as being called "The Athletic Overachiever," I thought that he could basically show us what DJ would be like if he wasn't a total wimp. However, the last-minute revelation of him being a "ladies man" (like Justin and Alejandro), and always referring to himself in the third person, was a sharp detriment to an otherwise strong character, but I still held a fairly optimistic view towards him. He always was the lowest of all the characters I supported, just behind Zoey. I thought he and Scott would form a strong alliance, which, even though they did, Scott held all the cards. Lightning was really just the right-hand man who wasn't even a good right-hand man. In my mind, while each and every other character had some significance or development at one point or another, Lightning was truly the one and only character in the season who was just "there." He was a total background character who did nothing to play the game, and I certainly didn't enjoy his place in the season. However, when he did finally develop his own plotline, it was horrible: His refusal to admit that Jo was a girl. It wasn't even that funny to begin with, but when Jo moved onto the Rats and there was much more focus, it became so annoying and infuriating that I genuinely could not stand Lightning anymore. His constant desire to one-up the others, his cocky attitude, his stupidity when it comes to genders, and his repeated use of "Sha" all culminated in him becoming one of the most dislikable characters of the season. The moment Zoey left, Lightning turned into a full-blown jerk and bully towards Cameron. Even amidst the chaos of the season finale, while Cameron was risking his own life and the money to save others, Lightning only focused on destroying Cameron. Him having white hair was only the beginning of his payback. Ultimately, he barely managed to avoid the bottom spot, staying just ahead of Anne Maria. What is the reason for him avoiding dead last, you may ask? Well, it's because of the fact that at least some of Lightning's moments were genuinely funny, good, or otherwise enjoyable (mostly in Grand Chef Auto), whereas Anne Maria had even less good moments, and every single time she had a good moment/said something funny, she did/said something immediately afterward that ruined it. Fortunately, TDAS did what should've been done a long time ago, and got rid of him ASAP, with his final episode being full of dumping on him just to seal the deal.

11th: Staci - She seemed like an annoying character from the beginning, and she definitely lived up to my expectations. I.e., she was thoroughly annoying throughout the whole first episode, and I was glad to see her go.

10th: B - I originally thought that he was the most blatantly obvious rip-off/crossover character of the new cast (with obvious resemblances to Owen, DJ, and Camp TV DJ), until I saw Jo's full reign as Eva 2.0 So I was able to forgive B in that department. However, the way he always came up with some crazy way to help his team in the challenges (even though it was never enough to win) was an obvious sign that, if he had lasted long enough, he would've been a total godplayer. So I was glad when he left as early as he did.

9th: Dakota - At first, I thought she'd be an amazing antagonist; even a new Heather. However, after simply being reduced down to "Famemonger," I thought for a while that she'd be just plain annoying and an attention-grabber. However, as time went on, I started getting higher hopes for her by the time of the premiere. Ultimately, she's not as bad as I thought she would be, but she's not great, either. She's just OK. She doesn't always sit around and do nothing, but she's not astounding in the challenges, either. She's not a totally hateable character, but she's not loveable, either. I'm perfectly satisfied with her place in the competition. She wasn't eliminated too early, nor did she last so long so that she could possibly become annoying. Ultimately, I would say that Dakota is the most perfect example of the highest level of Neutral that I can be towards a character. Her new running joke of being the new Ezekiel is slightly annoying, however, but not annoying enough, mostly because of her always suffering in her new role. Her turning into a monster made me feel some sympathy for her, and I'm glad that she left for good after that. My favorite thing about her, though, is her involvement with Sam in what is perhaps the most crack couple in Total Drama history. I absolutely love Sam/Dakota, and always will.

8th: Sam - In TDR, a hilarious geek character, almost like an old tradition of Total Drama. A nice cross between Harold and Cody, and almost even better than those two. I honestly never expected him to last too long, and I was right. Not disappointed, though, since his jokes were good. As the season progressed, his humor got better and better, with amazing one-liners and even some cynical, Noah-esque humor thrown in there. Some episodes were completely dominated by his epic humor, and without him, would've been worthless, like Ice Ice Baby and Runaway Model. While I thought he would be a loner and never be involved in any significant stories, he ended up part of a couple that none of us could've ever seen coming: Sam/Dakota. Absolutely epic. But despite how much I like him, I must admit that he was easily the least-deserving of being in All-Stars. I wasn't expecting much out of his TDAS performance except a repeat of his TDR performance, but what we got was everything they could've possibly done wrong with him. His one-liners in this season were just unfunny gaming references, and all the times he got beaten up or tortured in some way, it was never done in a well-timed funny manner; it was either just disgusting or made you feel sorry for him, or both. Ironically, the one episode where he was most like he was in TDR was his final episode, complete with continued dumping on him. And then you have his elimination. I mean, sure he had somewhat decent intentions and wasn't doing it out of laziness or deviousness, but of all the ways you could've made him go out, this is it? Ugh. As much as I loved his short-but-sweet season, this was his short-and-bitter season. Almost a perfect, back-to-back example of how to do everything right with a short-lived character, and how to do everything wrong with a short-lived character. He was already borderline for me, but his TDAS performance brought him down in my book just as dramatically as TDWT did for Harold.

7th: Zoey - I'll admit, she wasn't the most interesting character on the show. But pitting Zoey against people like Mike, Dawn, Anne Maria, and Scott was like putting a 10-year-old Little League player against Babe Ruth. So, personally, I was satisfied with how her personality turned out (although I think it was a bit weird that the "lonely child" persona introduced in the first episode was dropped so suddenly, especially when it would've made for a nice story...). She was calm, nice, friendly, and was a more believable character. She was also the kind of girl that everyone likes and, surprisingly, is deserving of her popularity due to being fairly smart and not too bad in challenges (unlike, say, Bridgette). That is, until Up Up and Away. That was the first episode to imply that something, some kind of horrible transformation, was taking over Zoey from the moment Mike left. Her random bursts of OOC moments (greed over the money, pushing down Scott and then apologizing, etc.) had me fearing for her character. Then, the gradual hints all culminated in the complete destruction of her character in Eat, Puke and Be Wary. From that moment on, although I thought it wasn't possible, we saw another 2.0 character on the show (after Jo's Eva 2.0): Izzy 2.0. Psychotic, coming up with booby-traps, utilizing guerrilla warfare, wearing face paint and a headband, all complete with a surprisingly epic maniacal cackle, all resulted in the complete polar opposite of Zoey's original personality being shoved down our throats. While I was in favor of some sort of development for her as an individual, outside of Mike and the Love Triangle, this was certainly not the direction I wanted her to go. So, after all this time - from the first announcement of the 13 newbies, to their TDO bios, throughout the entire season up until Episode 11 - after barely hanging in there as the absolute lowest of the characters I Supported, I moved her down to Neutral. Why Neutral? Well, I'm certainly not about to throw out her entire character based solely on her sudden transition in the last two episodes, and I will still remember the good times when she was a more likable character. Plus, she is part of my favorite relationship in the entire new season, and her rivalry with Anne Maria is another factor. I ultimately moved her just below Dakota because, in the end, I felt more sympathy for Dakota's character destruction than Zoey's character destruction. However, come TDAS, we got to see more of the Zoey that we liked (at least more than Izzy 2.0), when she was a real team player in episodes like Episode 2.

6th: Dawn - I thought she would ultimately be a silent, yet powerful character, who would eventually prove to have some kind of significance later on. Unfortunately, she was eliminated way too early, and her elimination was definitely one of the biggest shocks I've ever seen in TD. It was, once again, a clash between two of my favorite characters. While she was justified in trying to do the right thing, she wasn't strong enough to outwit Scott, and lost. The one negative thing about her, for me, was her post-elimination behavior: Lingering behind and ranting like crazy, to the point where Chef had to stuff her in a bag and throw her into the catapult, really downgraded her character. It lasted just long enough to drop her down two spots on my list below Brick (solely because of her post-elimination behavior) and Sam (after his humor and one-liners, particularly in Ice Ice Baby, became more and more epic), but I still have a fairly high opinion of her. She's perhaps the most wasted character in the series since Ezekiel.

5th: Jo - I thought she might be somewhat enjoyable, thinking that she was a calmer version of Eva (despite all the other obvious similarities). However, after seeing the second trailer, it became painfully clear that she would be picking on Cameron a lot, and be acting more like a bully than even Brick or Anne Maria. The one thing I looked forward to about her the most was many epic clashes between her and my least-favorite new character, Anne Maria. However, as the premiere drew closer, and by the time it finally happened, Jo and Anne Maria were both so low on my list, it was honestly hard for me to choose which one to root for. And, of course, worst of all: There was no conflict between Jo and Anne Maria. Maybe one or two instances of brief hostility, but short-lived and not very lasting. No Gwen vs. Heather 2.0, no Harold vs. Duncan 2.0. Not nearly as epic as I thought it would be. It barely even exists at all. So, ultimately, my expectations of somewhat medium or low Support were not met, and for a while, I was at a stance of medium to low Neutral towards her. With her audition tape and the progressing of the season, she truly did emerge as a cheap carbon copy of Eva, and is easily the most obvious duplicate member of the entire new cast. I tried to maintain hope for her, but she proved to be (dare I say it?) even worse than Eva, basically showing us what a true anti-hero/bully Eva could've been had she lasted longer. After her elimination, I finally decided to put her in her rightful place at the time: In the Oppose section. However, come her TDAS performance, I found myself surprisingly starting to like her a lot more. She was less like Eva 2.0 and more her own character. That, coupled with her awesome clashes with Heather (which was a conflict where you didn't root for one or the other; you just rooted for it to happen; it totally made up for the lack of a Jo/Anne Maria conflict) and her successful crusade to oust Lightning, boosted her up not only five spots in my rankings, but up two whole sections into the "Support" category. Why? Because this season is the one that finally knew what to do with Jo. Her performance in this season was basically everything that she should've been in TDR. Her attempts to control the team, her awesome conflict with Heather...in just 3 short episodes, this season made Jo so much better than she was in the entire season of TDR. So she's ultimately a late-bloomer, but a character who bloomed nonetheless.

4th: Cameron - Boy, oh boy. Once again, there's that one character who's the scrawny little geek (like Cody of the previous generation), and was instantly one of my top faves. I honestly felt the same way towards him as I did for Sam; I thought that he'd be a source of comic relief and have many good jokes, but wouldn't prove too significant in the course of the overall season, and ultimately wouldn't last long (I predicted he would be the fifth eliminated). For this reason, I eventually had him switch places with Mike. Yet he made it to THE FINAL TWO AND WON. The biggest and happiest shock I've ever had watching TD (alongside Owen's TDA return). He was greater than I could've ever imagined. That alone was enough to put him back in my top spot and secure him as my all-time favorite member of the new cast. ...But then you have TDAS. *Sigh* Just like Sam, this season took a character who I thought was at his absolute best (in both the competition and as a character) in his first season, and turned him into a completely boring, silent, dull, bland, in-the-background character and clearly nothing more than elimination fodder. However, unlike Sam, Cameron was even more in-the-background due to not being as much of a punching bag. Having him be a background character is one thing, though...turning him into the focus of Sierra's obsession hallucination was a whole 'nother ball park. It made him suffer in a way he never deserved, and against all odds, had me actually wishing my favorite TDR character would get ousted quickly. Sadly, this season did enough damage to Cameron just as it did to Sam, and brought him down two spots on my list (just like Sam), though he ultimately managed to stay in the Support section.

3rd: Mike - "Multiple Pesonality" seemed pretty interesting at first. But the Total Drama Live Action Panel only confirmed his pure epicness, and he was definitely being hyped up by the creators as a major character and potential fan favorite. I definitely saw him going far and being one of the most popular characters this season. Plus, there's Mike/Zoey, which transformed into the major Anne Maria/Mike/Zoey. At first, I was stoked for the Triangle, until Mike actually started spending more time with Anne Maria than Zoey. If he had stayed with her in the end, I would've lost a lot of respect for him and he would've dropped severely on this list. However, the result eventually turned out just as I wanted it to, and he managed to stay right at the top of the list, barely staying ahead of my other two faves who exceeded my expectations (Cameron and Scott). However, I finally dropped him down on the list, first by only one spot and switching him with Cameron, not because of anything that Mike did, but because Cameron proved even greater by lasting farther than let's face it ANY of us could have ever imagined. Then, as the season progressed, Scott, Brick, and Sam all proved much better than I had expected, and were all far more entertaining than Mike was. Thus, he dropped down another 5 spots to 6th place. He eventually switched spots with Dawn after the debut of his "Manitoba Smith" personality, securing him as my fifth favorite contestant. When TDAS came along, despite my initial perception that The Malevolent One/Mal would be an AWESOME antagonist, all of the buildup resulted in him being the worst antagonist ever. Initially, all he did was break stuff. This would be interesting and worthwhile if it actually caused eliminations. It may or may not have indirectly caused Sierra's eliminations, but several episodes after the fact. It didn't eliminate Sam, or Cameron, or anyone else. Then, when he finally did start actually doing stuff and playing a strategic game, his strategy made no sense. Rather than stick with his two major, blindly loyal allies Cameron and Zoey, he did everything he could to eliminate Cameron. And when he desperately needed a swing vote to secure his majority, he formed an alliance with Alejandro only to turn around and frame Alejandro to get him voted off. It was a self-destructive strategy that made absolutely zero sense. An antagonist needs more than a bad-ass voice, a bad-ass laugh, a bad-ass whistle, and bad-ass one-liners to be awesome. Dare I say it? Mal even made Justin look like a solid antagonist.

2nd: Scott - This guy...this guy has "bad-a$$" written all over him. To me, he was the only member of the new cast who already had that look, and promised to be a true antagonist and not just an anti-hero/wannabe-antagonist. At first, I was super stoked for him. Then, with a few hints from promos (like messing with Jo and Brick in the group shot) that suggested more of a playful, mischievous anti-hero, I lost some faith. But, come his Total Drama Online bio and his entrance in the premiere (with that cool, leaning forward pose and that dark, brooding, ominous glare), I regained all hope, and looked forward to his reign as the Total Drama series's next main antagonist. He definitely lived up to my expectations: Whether he's throwing challenges, manipulating rival team members with his silver tongue, lying his way into a friendship/alliance, framing someone else, using the immunity idol to eliminate someone, or blackmailing someone into helping him win, only to eliminate that same person in the same episode, his run as the main antagonist was never once dull or unoriginal. Just about all of his tactics and strategies were totally original, and allowed us a very different take on what it means to be an antagonist. Clever, intelligent, has an amazing laugh, not afraid to admit he's evil, willing to help out in team challenges and take one for the team, fairly competent in most challenges, and best of all, playing a realistic antagonist; i.e., not a godplayer. He's the most perfect antagonist since Heather. He most certainly didn't deserve to become a robot in the finale, but at least he's back to normal now. And not only is he back to normal as of TDAS, but his strategy clearly evolved for the better. As early as Episode 2, he decided that he was done with throwing challenges since he wanted to continue staying in the hotel, and he's now up to the usual, non-throwing tricks of a classic villain. However, other than his transition in Episode 2, he was ultimately more of a background character on the Villains team up until his relationship with Courtney started to develop. But even then, I couldn't help but feel that this villain - the one main antagonist in this season who still had a lot of potential room for development - just wasn't as heavily focused-on as he could've been or should've been, especially in comparison to Courtney, similarly to how Alejandro and Heather were also (for the most part) sidelined for the Love Triangle. But unlike Alejandro and Heather, who had gotten ample focus in past seasons, this is the one member of the Villains team who had the absolute best chance at being a totally revamped character for his second season, but ultimately never was.

1st: Brick - To me, the most original member of the new cast. "The Cadet" is definitely a common stereotype, yet previously never used before in Total Drama. I originally thought he was going to be an anti-hero, bully character, but going into the premiere, trailers and promos had more or less confirmed that he's more of a hero than a villain, especially compared to Jo and Anne Maria. That, to me, only solidifies his character and makes him more likeable than a tough, evil drill sergeant-type Brick would be. His willingness to switch teams, boldly offering to vote himself off, respecting and saluting his adversaries and those who are eliminated instead of him, and even taking his final elimination in stride and with his head held high only made him an even greater hero than I could have ever imagined. And, in all irony, it wasn't until about roughly halfway through the fifth season when I finally realized something. For the longest time, I complained about how it should've been Brick who was brought back for TDAS and put on the Heroes team instead of Sam. That way, he'd still be a male contestant from TDR, and definitely a hero, and it would also be a much more definitive all-star contestant from the TDR cast, being funnier, more popular, more likable, and having lasted longer than Sam did. But unlike Sam (who I felt was actually developed as much as he could've been in his five episodes before), Brick still had room for improvement and further development with his own backstory and interactions with the old contestants. And yet, seeing how terribly Sam was degraded in TDAS (alongside others such as my original favorite TDR character Cameron), I think it was actually for the better that Brick didn't return. Who knows? As much as I love this character, he could very well have ended up just like Sam and Cameron - being sidelined, occasionally just punching bags, and turned into a dramatic opposite from their original awesome selves. If that's what very well could've happened, then maybe it's for the better that Brick stayed out of this season. Which, ironically, is why he is my new all-time favorite member of the TDR cast.

Character Opinion Rankings
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Couple Rankings
4th: Mike/Anne Maria - I thought that I would like this solely because, when Mike was himself, he would like Zoey and pay little to no attention to Anne Maria and her advancements on him. Basically, I thought this was only serve as a "couple tease," with Mike always being just out of reach for Anne Maria. However, early on, the personality that not only did Anne Maria like, but liked her back, was taking over way too often. I guarantee that, had Anne Maria lasted longer, this couple would've allowed Anne Maria to completely steal Mike from Zoey and kill my favorite couple. Fortunately, it didn't. But now, just the thought of this couple disturbs me.

3rd: Brick/Jo - This seemed like the most likely couple to me, and even though it never actually happened, just about all the interaction between them was enjoyable and hilarious. This is as close to a love/hate relationship as it'll ever get.

2nd: Sam/Dakota - Man, I NEVER saw this one coming. Like, literally, absolutely. The only person that I thought Dakota could be with was Scott, and in my earlier predictions I thought Sam could only be with Staci, but even later on, I felt that he would be a total loner and not even be attracted to anyone. When this quite literally came out of the blue, I was pleasantly surprised by the creators' boldness with bringing in such a crack couple. In my mind, this is the first true canon crack couple the show has ever seen.

1st: Mike/Zoey - A couple that's right next to each other at the very beginning of the episode has to be good. Their being together for so long allowed for so much cute, flirty, and funny interaction that makes it a great couple without too much overdose of lovey-dovey feelings.

Couple Opinion Rankings
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Fanon Couple Rankings
2nd: Scott/Dakota - I was seriously looking forward to this as the new Alejandro/Heather, with the most evil guy in the season paired up with [possibly] the most evil girl of the season. However, unfortunately, she didn't last long enough for it to blossom. And, just as she came back to where it could possibly happen, she ends up with Sam.

1st: Scott/Dawn - There was absolutely no sign of, and no possibility in my mind, of this couple until Ice Ice Baby. I always felt that the interaction between them, more or less one-sided on Dawn's side, somewhat cute, and always funny, was quite enjoyable, and that perhaps this could develop into a true one-sided attraction. Or, perhaps, maybe even Scott's black heart would warm up to Dawn, and perhaps he could abandon his evil ways to be with her. Of course, two episodes later, it all comes crashing down. It will never happen now, but I'll always remember what this could've been.

Fanon Couple Opinion Rankings
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Attractions/One-Sided Relationship Rankings
1st: Ezekiel/Anne Maria - ...Eh.

Attractions/One-Sided Relationship Opinion Rankings
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Team Rankings
2nd: Mutant Maggots - Shortly after confirmation of the members and leading up to the premiere, this was my favorite of the two teams due to me disliking less members of this team (two) than I disliked on the other team (three). However, halfway through the season I realized that this team was more or less very similar to the Screaming Gaffers; while they won most of the challenges, and weren't nearly as annoying as Team Amazon, I still just felt that most of their wins weren't necessary or deserved. And this proved to teach me a valuable lesson: Just because one team has more of your favorite characters on it does not mean that it will automatically be better than the other team(s). The only really interesting plot line on this team was the Love Triangle, which was good in its own way, but left half of the team out to dry as dull, dislikable, or insignificant characters. After Brick and Jo left, this team wasn't nearly as enjoyable as it was before, even with Scott joining.

1st: Radioactive Rats - Overall, I draw so many comparisons between the two TDR teams and the two TDA teams, and the Rats are the new Grips. While I disliked some of its members and they lost many more challenges than their rival, I found this team more enjoyable specifically because of it's being the underdog team and consisted of more unique and diverse characters than the opposing team. Being dwindled down significantly, but not to the same ridiculous extent that Team Victory was, allowed for closer interaction between the survivors that revealed more about them as they went along (similar to Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot), cutting loose all of the annoying, dislikable, and less-interesting characters first to focus on the better characters as the season progressed. And, to sum up all the drama of this team in one word: Scott. Like Russell Hantz in Survivor: Samoa, all it took was one guy to make this team interesting. The way he controlled all of the other members like puppets was unbelievably amusing and entertaining. And, on top of that, they had an additional member come in halfway through the pre-merge period; Brick joining the team was an unexpected surprise, and he gave the team so much more flavor. The mixing of flavors was continued even further with the unexpected switch of Scott and Jo, scrambling the teams up even more. When the team came down to two of my all-time least favorite characters following Brick's elimination, I thought it would be a disaster. Yet, surprisingly enough, when it was just Jo and Lightning, they suddenly improved, and their interaction became more hilarious without sheer stupidity on Lightning's gender identification fail, and also left us wondering if it was a friendship, rocky alliance, or all-out conflict.

Team Opinion Rankings
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Cameo Rankings
12th: Heather in Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon - Good Lord. This cameo had been built up so much, by spoilers, trailers, the likes. It was promising to be epic in the action, the deviousness, and the fact that it's Heather. However, not only was this total and unnecessary overkill, but it didn't even live up to the expectations. It just didn't even add up as to why Heather was still on the blimp even though she'd already served the purpose that Chris brought her back for. Second, her laugh just sounded so lame and half-hearted, not nearly as amazing as it usually does. And I was truly expecting for a grand fight to the finish against one of the newbies, but her fight with Lightning was so one-sided and barely lasted five seconds. And, on top of all that, it ended on the exact same note as Heather's time on TDWT did: In total ambiguity. Did she live? Did she die? Now we're already questioning her status again. Worst. Cameo. Ever. 1/10.

11th: Lindsay in Runaway Model - Similarly to Heather's cameo, it was total overkill. Lindsay went from being part of the challenge to being the challenge. I also felt that she wasn't as funny or Lindsay-esque as she has been in the past. Like, she had a few good lines, but nothing that was outright hilarious. I also felt that they should've changed her looks a little more. This is like a follow-up to the new earrings joke in the TDA special. All the bothered to change were her boots, when I personally would've liked to see her in a whole new outfit. Similarly to Heather, her status by the end of the episode was also rather ambiguous. 2/10.

10th: Ezekiel in The Enchanted Franken-Forest - This cameo was obviously put in as a filler scene. If anything else, this was thrown in just to include more torture for Zeke, more so than he already has been. We didn't even really need this scene. It could've just as easily taken place in the finale, and would've fit in better with his additional cameo in that episode as it is. The one thing I liked about this cameo was hearing Zeke's voice for that scream. 4/10.

9th: Ezekiel in Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown - Similarly to the previous appearance by Zeke, this one was obviously thrown in there last-minute as a filler scene and another "let's torture Zeke" scene. But what really sets this one apart from the previous episode's cameo are two things: A) The slight nod to Zeke's crush on Anne Maria, which was fairly hilarious in this particular setting. And B) The fact that the abruptness and quick resolution of this cameo ultimately fit in well with the scene that was taking place around it. It fight right in with the chaos and madness of all the other mutated monsters running around the stadium at the time. 5/10.

8th: Ezekiel in A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - What can I say? Even though this is my all-time favorite character in his first, and best, cameo of the season, I still didn't love it as much as most others. I do like that this was a little more evenly-balanced than most other cameos; it wasn't quick and abrupt like Bridgette's or Izzy's, yet it wasn't overkilled like Lindsay's or Heather's. Zeke himself didn't even appear on-screen until about halfway through the episode, and his first appearance - with those white eyes, dark silhouette, and epic way of commanding the army of mutant gophers - was totally bad-a$$. I liked how, at long last, Zeke is finally taking advantage of his mutated state and using it to take command over his fellow mutant monsters. The introduction of his attraction to Anne Maria was cool, even though I'm not fond of the pairing itself. I also liked the revelation of the prize money from last season, even if it is all gone. And, of course, Zeke was awesome in fighting off Lightning and several others, even though, like many others, the end of the cameo was totally ambiguous. 7/10.

7th: DJ in Eat, Puke and Be Wary - Naturally, I'm not the biggest fan of DJ, but I didn't hate this cameo. It was fairly rushed and somewhat out-of-place, but in the end, it made sense to have DJ be the judge of their food more than any other original contestant. It wasn't overkilled, and it certainly featured DJ being DJ, right down to him exiting stage left while uttering his famous scream. Anytime you throw in DJ's scream, I'll enjoy his appearance no matter what. 7/10.

6th: Gwen in The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean - Let me tell you right now: This cameo is very, very, barely, slightly better than DJ's cameo. It's literally that close, and it was hard for me to decide which one was better. I guess it's mostly attributed to the fact that I did like Gwen at some points in the series, whereas I've never liked DJ as much as I used to like her. While this cameo was, like Lindsay's and Heather's, part of the challenge, this one was easily the least overkilled of the three that had a direct part in the challenge itself as the goal of the contestants. Gwen wasn't even on-screen that much, but was referred to just enough times to remind us that she's still there. Also, every moment she had on-screen in this episode was funny, especially when she first finds out where she is and screams Chris's name endlessly. Totally hilarious, and it also brought back her classic claustrophobia. I didn't really like how she was, quite literally, thrown aside at the end, but ultimately, this cameo didn't do anything to hurt/overkill her. 7/10.

5th: Bridgette in Backstabbers Ahoy! - Just as Gwen's cameo is slightly better than DJ's, this one is slightly better than Gwen's cameo. It's kind of hard to say what makes this one better than that one, though. I guess it's because it was quicker and not as integral to the challenge as Gwen's cameo was. It also featured some of the very first interactions between an old contestant and a new contestant (Dakota). And, above all else, it happened just as I imagined most (if not all) of these cameos should happen: The original contestant is brought back as an intern, just to demonstrate the newest painful challenge, and suffers by the end of their appearance. 8/10.

4th: Owen in Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! - This one, of course, was an ideal first cameo, as it is Owen; one of the main characters and fan favorites of the original series. It also served well in more or less finally confirming that there is no chance of any of the originals competing in this season. It was totally Owen for him to be willing to swim all the way back to the island just to find out, in agony, that he and all the others won't have another shot at the money. The bit with him being randomly blown up was kind of out-of-place, but fitting for Chris's style. 9/10.

3rd: Duncan in Grand Chef Auto - I know, I know. It's Duncan. Easily the most overrated character from the original cast. But perhaps it was for that very reason that his cameo turned out so well. We expected an overload of Duncan just as we had an overload of Lindsay. And even Duncan knew this. It was a nice breaking-of-the-fourth-wall moment to acknowledge that he's being brought back solely because he's a fan favorite and needs more screen time, and Duncan, for once, says no to that. His abrupt exit was a nice twist that obviously cut Chris's evil plans short, and it allowed for his return at the end of the episode to be all the more shocking and all the more hilarious. That, complete with his own personal spiting of Chris by blowing up the monument, and delivering perhaps the most epic line of any cameoing contestant this season: "Now that...that was me." 10/10.

2nd: Izzy in Finders Creepers - I mean, this one really set the gold standard. It wasn't even hinted at or implied in any way up until the final moment, when the reveal happens. Seriously, this one just came smack-dab out of the blue; no introduction, no build-up, nothing. And it couldn't have happened to a more fitting contestant. It's Izzy. Her appearance and job in the challenge both totally fit her personality, as did the moment at the end of the episode with her and Chef, which also served as a double-whammy in both showcasing more Izzy and reviving the epic Chef/Izzy conflict. 10/10.

1st: Everyone in Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! - This one was just so well done, especially after we had gotten all of the information prior to the release suggesting that only a handful would actually appear. So you can imagine the shock that we all felt in suddenly seeing the entire cast appear at once. It proved as a nice alternative to simply recapping the last three seasons, and instead showed us all how the cast was doing by showing the cast itself, all while setting up for the biggest fake-out ever. 10/10.

Cameo Opinion Rankings
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Episode Rankings
13th: Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon - Words can barely express my disappointment at this episode. I expected so much out of a cameo with as much magnitude as Heather's was rumored to have. But, sadly, the cameo itself was a letdown, and the rest of the episode was even worse. Plotholes, continuity errors, illogical and random jumps, OOC moments, horrible voice-acting, bland humor, unbelievable boring filler scenes, all culminating in what is probably the worst episode of the season. 4/10.

12th: Ice Ice Baby - After two solid episodes that perfectly balanced physical comedy and character interaction/development, this was the first letdown of the season. Practically no physical comedy where the challenge and the setting was begging for it, and most of the interaction was very bland, not funny, and not entertaining. Brick and Jo was overkilled in this episode, similarly to Mike and Zoey in the first episode, only the interaction wasn't quite as fun to watch. It was still good, but too much of it became somewhat annoying. This was the first episode of the fourth season that I genuinely disliked. The only redeeming qualities of this episode were Dawn, Sam, and Scott; Sam with his amazing one-liners and humor, and Scott and Dawn's interaction towards the end, plus Scott at his best scheming to get rid of B. 6/10.

11th: Runaway Model - The episode ultimately lacked in physical comedy, but for the most part, it was good with the development and interaction of more underdog/unpopular characters such as Sam and Jo. Lindsay's cameo was complete overkill in my opinion, but the furthering of the Sam/Dakota relationship, combined with the epic and unexpected twist with Jo and Scott switching teams, made this an alright episode. 7/10.

10th: The Enchanted Franken-Forest - As a follow-up to the amazingness of the last episode, this one definitely wasn't as good, but it certainly wasn't horrible. The challenge itself was decent, although it did overkill the radioactivity even more. The tense situation between the finalists, with each and every one of them at each others' throats (or more subtly, in the case of Cameron and Zoey) was pretty interesting to watch, although most of the lines of dialogue were poorly-written and sad substitutes for action. Some of the scenes in this episode were just plain wrong (Chris and Larry, Cameron and the fly). Once again, the elimination was suspenseful for a while, but by the time Cameron was halfway through his speech, it was obvious that Zoey would go instead. Overall, I feel that this, along with Runaway Model, was just OK. It was fine enough, wasn't bad, but wasn't great. However, unlike Runaway Model, I knew that I simply couldn't put this under Neutral, whereas I had contemplated doing the same with the aforementioned episode. 7/10.

9th: Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! - This episode was great for probably the most unusual reasons imaginable: It featured so many twists on what we all thought were obvious and predictable moments. Rather than a simple recap of the last three seasons, Chris has all 24 of the original contestants float by on a yacht for a royal fake-out. Then, instead of a simple, one-by-one meet-and-greet process with the new 13 like the original 22 in the first episode of TDI, their boat is blown up and they have to swim to shore, allowing for the subsequent interaction between them to reveal their characters and personalities. Talk about starting off with a bang. And, of course, throughout the episode, there was nonstop physical comedy that was enjoyable, but not overkill. The dialogue was brilliant, the one-liners were hilarious, and this episode probably ties with the TDA premiere for my second-favorite season premiere so far. 8.5/10.

8th: A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - Reaching the halfway mark of the season, this episode proved that the writers weren't out of ideas, and there were still many more stories, interactions, and much more in store for the season. New things introduced for the first time ever in this episode include: Mike and Cameron's friendship, Mike's personality of Manitoba Smith, and Lightning and Jo's alliance. Despite a rather slow opening, the episode was quick to rebound with all of these new stories, plus what is probably and easily my favorite challenge of the season: Deadly, but believable; simple, yet terrifying; original, yet not over-the-top or overkill of the radioactive theme. Despite the unfair elimination of Brick (who was at his absolute best in this episode, but ruthlessly betrayed and falsely blamed for two things that he didn't even do), I was still satisfied with the elimination of Anne Maria, the return of Dakota, and the cameo of Zeke. 8.5/10.

7th: The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean - The episode featured one trait that, to my knowledge, was perfectly unique to any episode of the Total Drama series: It not only continued and further developed several strong plotlines that were greatly foreshadowed in the previous episode (such as Cameron/Scott and Jo/Lightning), but continued the streak of originality by introducing even more new plotlines and interactions (Zoey/Dakota and Scott/Mike), foreshadowing at even more amazing plots in the near future. The long-awaited reveal of the immunity idol was ultimately fitting for the hype that had been built up for it over the course of the season, and there was definitely a perfect amount of focus, evenly divided, on each and every member of the Maggots, from Scott/Cameron, to Scott/Mike, to Zoey/Mike, to Zoey/Cameron, to...Dakota. Oh. Right. The one most negative thing about this episode was easily the crash course on "how to destroy a character," with the subject being Dakota. Just like that, we're already missing her being just plain bald. Now she makes Ezekiel look like Chuck Norris. Gwen's cameo, hyped up to be the same level of challenge-oriented overkill as Lindsay's, was not nearly as overdone as I thought it would be, and just about every moment that Gwen had on-screen was funny to me. Although the great development and more in-depth focus on the (up until this point) seemingly-pointless plotline of Jo and Lightning was a big improvement (even if neither of them got a ton of focus), the death of Dakota and the overall lack of excitement in the challenge itself due to the low amount of action were enough to keep this episode just shy of a 10/10, so...9/10.

6th: Truth or Laser Shark - The entire first scene of the episode was about six minutes of some of the most hilarious character interaction and development that I've ever seen. While the first part of the challenge could've also been good at revealing some more about the characters, it was way too short and cut off abruptly. But the second challenge - an obvious parody of "Wipeout" - was pure GOLD. The physical comedy, as always, was spot-on, and even better than in the first episode. To name just a few: Brick's cannonball to the face, Dakota falling in mud and screaming like never before, and Cameron's hilarious win at the end. Also loved the Sam/Dakota interaction, which was easily one of the central plots of the episode, but not overkill like Mike/Zoey in the first episode. 9/10.

5th: Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown - Despite being such a simple challenge, the way the various injuries occurred (both inflicted by each other and accidentally done to themselves) were quick, sharp, and hilarious. The back-and-forth banter between the finalists kept both of them perfectly in-character and reflected the classic "dumb guy vs. smart guy" dialogue that is always a classic form of banter. All of the eliminated contestants also got their own good moments at some point in the episode, even those who didn't speak (such as B and Scott). Zeke's cameo was quick, funny, and epic, Cameron was truly at his best (willing to deviate from the challenge just to help the others, even those who weren't his friends), Cameron's win was absolutely epic, and the ending was the best karma Chris could've ever gotten. 10/10.

4th: Grand Chef Auto - First off, the title obviously set up for this being a major Chef episode, and it ultimately met those expectations; Chef was definitely at his best in this episode. I also felt that every single character was good in this episode, and not one was under-focused or in-the-background. Even Jo and Lightning were enjoyable at times. The over-arching story of Scott/Mike/Zoey was well-executed and carefully paced, culminating in an epic climax, with Mike finally beating his other personalities right before being eliminated. The elimination of Mike, despite being one of my top faves, was ultimately very meaningful, as it put an end to some of the biggest plotlines of the season (Mike/Zoey, Mike/Zoey/Anne Maria, Mike/Scott, Mike/Cameron, and Mike's MPD), and didn't make any of them feel rushed or awkward by the time they went out. The challenge was also really enjoyable even if it was overshadowed by the amazing character development/interaction, and Duncan's cameo was good even though it initially set up to be total overkill. 10/10.

3rd: Eat, Puke and Be Wary - Despite following the worst episode of the season, this was surprisingly good. This episode, for one, featured some of the best banter/dialogue/one-liners in the show's history. It also featured two very good challenges. The first and second parts, while an obvious homage to Brunch of Disgustingness, still had a lot of original twists to it that made it not quite a rip-off, but with the callback still obvious enough to see. And the third part of the challenge...epicness personified. Action-packed, fast-paced, intense, and full of action intertwined with character development and more banter. The running gags throughout the episode were good, from Chris's incapacitation to Scott and Fang. We also finally got to see a sight that was getting rarer and rarer for Total Drama: Chef hosting an episode. And boy, it was worth the wait. Even though this has definitely been his silent season, along with World Tour, this episode alone redeemed Chef for us. The destruction of Zoey's character aside, the elimination ceremony was also genuinely intense and suspenseful, like Backstabbers Ahoy. The elimination, while of my second favorite character, was still shocking and well-executed. 10/10.

2nd: Finders Creepers - This episode featured the highest-quality, most evenly-divided, most meaningful character development and interaction of any episode in the season, and perhaps in the series. It was carefully paced, with new facts about characters (such as Cameron's and Brick's fears) being revealed casually and not in an expository manner, there was a nice, more medium amount of physical comedy that wasn't nearly as much as the first two episodes, but not nearly as little as the previous episode, which was just right. Several of the season's biggest plot lines were focused on (like Brick/Jo, Anne Maria/Mike/Zoey, and Scott being Scott) without any one of them being overkilled. The pop culture references were very subtle and brilliant, and Izzy's cameo was amazing. Chef was also at his best in the fourth season in this episode. 10/10.

1st: Backstabbers Ahoy! - This episode was perfect with the character development of multiple characters, as well as many different interactions, from those we were clearly used to (Mike/Zoey and Brick/Jo) to some that we weren't used to or were brand new (Dawn/Zoey and Scott/Dawn). It featured an intense thickening plot with the vanishing of all of the contestants' most prized possessions, and featured Scott at his best as an antagonist. The witty jokes/insults/puns throughout the episode were golden, the challenge was hilarious, Bridgette's cameo was spot-on, and the elimination was by far the most shocking ever. 10/10.

Episode Opinion Rankings
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=Total Drama All-Stars=

Couple Rankings
Note: As this is a conglomerate season mixing old and new characters, this particular Couple Rankings will combine all major couples that were introduced in this season, whether fanon, one-sided, or mutual.

3rd: Cameron/Sierra - This was easily the worst interaction, the worst storyline, and brought out the worst of the worst character on the show (Sierra). But in addition to this prolonging and magnifying the long-dead joke of Sierra's Cody obsession (from the hallucinations to the Cody-related nicknames), this story also left another huge, unfortunate impact on me: It brought Cameron down in my eyes. This story actually made him unenjoyable, and made me want him to be eliminated ASAP this season. Any interaction that can make me want my (former) favorite TDR character to be eliminated CAN'T be good.

2nd: Duncan/Jo - Although this was nicely hinted at in the first episode, and would make for a fairly interesting couple, sadly, it was never meant to be.

1st: Scottney - First off...you know that I love a relationship when it actually has me referring to it by an abbreviation/combination of the two partners' names. Seriously. I don't know what it is...but something...something about this couple is just so lovable, so cute, so entertaining, that it had me rooting for them to hook up as soon as their first interaction emerged. And then, after one episode of doubt, they finally hooked up. It was glorious. I love Scott, I loved Courtney in this season, and I love this couple.

Couple Opinion Rankings
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Team Rankings
1st/2nd: Heroic Hamsters - Although I liked every character on this team except for Courtney and Sierra, even I had to admit that this team was probably going to be very boring. 6 of the nicest, most popular, friendliest heroes/protagonists together, with four of them already being good friends? The one and only source of drama/interesting interaction was Courtney, as an obvious fish-out-of-water, being a villain on a heroes' team, where her attitude, behavior, and demeanor caused her to become overwhelmingly unpopular with the others, as well as her undying desire to take control of any group she's put in. But just before that source of drama was removed from the team with the team swap, the debut of Mike's new evil personality took over that role and managed to keep something interesting about the Heroes' team, even with the bland addition of Duncan. But again, like with Courtney, this was a case where the team put all its drama chips behind one character, and that character failed to deliver.

1st/2nd: Villainous Vultures - I truly looked forward to the Vultures more, not just because it consisted of a majority of characters that I like (the only two people on this team I enjoy are Heather and Scott), and not just because it has the greatest logo in the history of Total Drama, but because it featured all of the show's greatest villains (minus Justin) and anti-heroes thrown into one great big mix. It was also a plus when Courtney was quickly moved to the Villains team where she belonged in episode 3, further adding to the awesome clashing among the various members. Even though the Love Triangle still obviously penetrated the team, from Duncan and Gwen to Courtney and Gwen, the fact remains that some of the other great stories/interactions of the season were also on this team, from the short-but-sweet Heather vs. Jo conflict, to Heather and Alejandro rekindling their old flame, and so on. It could've been a great big evil alliance. It could've been a great big battle for superiority. It could've provided for some of the greatest, most intense, most dramatic non-Love Triangle-related interaction in the season. However, halfway through the season, it became obvious that this team was primarily dominated by the Love Triangle after all, with the possible exception of Courtney/Scott. But nonetheless, this team best exemplifies why both teams in TDAS weren't interesting. The focus was never really on the team dynamics like in the past, just the individual characters. And again, with all the potential that this team had to be one of the, if not the, redeeming factors of the season, it was yet another major letdown. For the first time ever in my rankings, I rank both teams in the season as equally tied, as both were major disappointments, regardless of which members they each had.

Team Opinion Rankings
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Episode Rankings
13th: Sundae Muddy Sundae - Do I even need to say it? In a very basic nutshell, this episode completely and thoroughly destroyed all that the season had been building up to as far as Courtney's redemption and the revival of her friendship with Gwen. This episode made her turn right around in a flawless 180, reverted her back to where she was before, and ruined possibly the best aspect of the season. 1/10.

12th: Zeek And Ye Shall Find - For the 100th episode of Total Drama, this should have, and could have, been something incredible...either incredibly good or incredibly bad. But no: It was just forgettable. It wasted most of the episode with the contestants just wandering around in the mine, it made a joke out of Scottney by hooking them up and then breaking them up, and featured a highly-teased appearance by Ezekiel in which he could have finally been returned back to normal...only for him to vanish, still at square one. The only real strengths were Chef's increased involvement, Gwen's focus (including her interactions with Cameron and Zoey, as well as her claustrophobia), and the nameless intern. 5/10.

11th: Heroes vs. Villains - Though my thoughts going into this season were extremely low, the premiere wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was just incredibly boring. Premiers should either make a really good impression o you or a really bad impression, but at least it has to make some sort of an impression This one did not. The best aspects of the episode were all the new changes to the season and its format that were introduced, such as the new idea of one winner being exiled to Boney Island to look for the Invincibility Statue, or the winners getting the fancy hotel, or getting to watch the losers' elimination ceremony. That's clever, and nice at bringing this show closer to the source material. But many other aspects, such as the continued shoving of the Love Triangle down our throats, as well as the surprising lack of interaction between old and new contestants ultimately helped to keep this episode as a boring, predictable episode. 6/10.

10th: Saving Private Leechball - The strengths were pretty good, from the awesome opening to Courtney finally being acknowledged as a villain. But the major weakness (and the one aspect that stuck with me the most) was the newly-introduced interaction between Cameron and Sierra, which quickly deteriorated and became a very annoying thing to deal with. There was also the sudden end to the Heather/Jo conflict, which, although we all saw it coming, was still far too early. 7/10.

9th: No One Eggspects The Spanish Opposition - Like Food Fright, this episode was good at establishing and/or setting up certain plots and interactions, from a Cameron/Gwen friendship, to a possible resolution of the Courtney/Gwen conflict, to, once again, buildup of The Malevolent One. However, unlike Food Fright, this episode did focus directly on one major story: Alejandro/Heather. And, unfortunately, it was handled pretty badly, even though Heather was at her best and the elimination was one of the most dramatic (though not necessarily shocking) ever. 7/10.

8th: Food Fright - Established some pretty promising new interactions, such as Mike/Duncan and Courtney/Scott, gave a much heavier tone to the Love Triangle story, had a hilarious challenge and torture montage, and above all else, featured a brief resurgence of the best of some of the TDR characters (Cameron and Sam, despite being bland in the first three episodes, were all back to their funny, enjoyable, TDR-esque selves again, even if it was the latter's final episode). But despite that, it was ultimately just a good episode, doing more to set up new interactions rather than focus on them or old ones. Somewhat forgettable, but still OK. 7.5/10.

7th: Evil Dread - This episode did so much to improve my hopes for the season. It introduced Mike's new evil personality, "The Malevolent One," saw a transition in Scott from a challenge-throwing villain to a much smarter and even more clever villain, continued the hilarious interaction between Heather and Jo, and was the one episode where Lightning's pompous attitude was forgivable since it finally caused his elimination. That being said, this elimination was also the most shocking elimination I've seen yet. That's right; even more shocking than Heather's TDA elimination. I was genuinely clueless about who would go up until the moment he declared it was Lightning. Great physical comedy with the booby-trap scene, great revamping of certain characters, and the episode that should've been the season premiere. 8/10.

6th: You Regatta Be Kidding Me - The episode did two major things for me: Finally made the buildup for Mal worth the payoff (with him sabotaging boats, saving Zoey to prolong the charade, forming an alliance with Alejandro, and rigging the votes against Cameron), and ended Duncan's bad-boy-gone-good storyline in a fairly meaningful way. But overall, the episode itself was forgettable, but for all the right reasons. 8.5/10.

5th: Suckers Punched - A perfect example of a well-done "late-bloomer" episode. It had some good stuff in the meat of it all, from Duncan's transition to a hero, to the dramatic showdown between Alejandro and Jose. But the best aspects of the episode were in the last five minutes. And BOY were these wonderful aspects: A twisted, dramatic elimination ceremony, the elimination of one of the season's worst characters, and, best of all...the final resolution of the Love Triangle. 9.5/10

4th: The Obsta-Kill Kourse - This episode felt the most Total Drama-esque out of the entire season by far. A hilarious, deadly, and fairly simple - yet twisted - challenge. A great new interaction (Gwen and Zoey). Wonderful scheming, manipulating, and bad-assery by the main villain, almost to the same status as what Heather would've done (Mal trying to get rid of Alejandro). Relationship drama that wasn't over-the-top (Scottney). A seemingly perfect friendship hitting a speed bump but still resolving their differences peacefully (Gwen and Courtney). Great battles between the two main villains (Mal vs. Al). A wonderful elimination (Alejandro). Most of the episode's faults can be attributed to Alejandro, and since this was his elimination, that kind of gives them a free pass. The main reason I rank this over Suckers Punched is because, while that episode was a late-bloomer where all the good stuff happened towards the end, this episode was full of good stuff from beginning to end. 10/10.

3rd: Moon Madness - An insanely hilarious and hilariously insane setting, as well as numerous significant events taking place, from Duncan and Gwen's breakup, to TMO's takeover of Mike, to Cameron's team swap, Courtney and Scott finally blooming...an awesome episode. 10/10.

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=Total Drama: Pahkitew Island=

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Couple Opinion Rankings
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Fanon Couple Opinion Rankings
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=Season Rankings=

2nd: Total Drama: Pahkitew Island - So it looks like this IS the "second half" of Season 5. In all honesty, though, as I said before, I have much higher hopes for this season than for All-Stars, since it'll pretty much be TDR 2.0. If anything, it should be even better since it's taking place at a brand new island and won't have the radioactive mess that TDR had. Of course I'll wait for the official character lineup, but for now, my hopes are actually really high.

Prediction:

1 to 10: 9/10 or 10/10

Letter Grade: A range

Stance: Support

Season Ranking: #1 - #3

2nd: Total Drama All-Stars - I originally had fairly high hopes for this season. After all, "All-Stars" sounded like a chance to bring back some good old-fashioned original contestants. Even if they were screen hogs, just another bit of the original 22 would've been refreshing after TDR. But no. Despite what I advised and insisted would be better for the season, they cobble together an "all-star" cast consisting of original and TDR characters. And only 14 of them. In another half-season of only 13 episodes. The moment I heard that, I lost quite a bit of faith in this season, but still held high hopes for some returning contestants (hopefully Zeke). But then they announce the returning cast. And, in all honesty, I was extremely disappointed even further. I'll admit, I wasn't shocked at all by Alejandro, Cameron, Courtney, Duncan, Heather, Gwen, Lindsay, Mike, and Scott; I wasn't too shocked by Jo and Lightning (of the TDR contestants, I felt that they, along with Anne Maria, had a more 50/50 chance of returning, behind Mike, Cameron, and Scott); I was fairly shocked by Zoey, but more because she was a TDR contestant and not an original, not because she did make it far in her season; I was genuinely shocked by Sam returning, and although happy to see him back, even I had to admit that, out of all 14 contestants, he was by far the least-deserving of the title "all-star;" and lastly, I was both shocked and angered by Sierra returning. Of course I hate her, but even beyond that, I don't consider her worthy of being labeled an All-Star or a Hero. The cast is really disappointing, and more so because it was too full of new contestants; both TDWT newbies and 7 TDR contestants, so there were only FIVE originals back. And, of course, they were all screen hogs. Of course I liked Cameron, Heather, Lindsay, Mike, Sam, and Scott (and although I was rooting for all of them, I promised myself that I honestly wouldn't care if any of them were eliminated), but I just wasn't excited to see them back; at least not as excited as I would've been if either Owen, Ezekiel, or Noah came back. And beyond the, as NegativeNoah666 liked to say, "unnecessary pimpage" of TDR characters, the overall main factor with this cast was that they were all camera hogs who had been overly-focused, overly-developed, and shoved down our throats over the course of the first three seasons/their respective debut seasons. Most of them had gone as far as they could have in development (besides the Love Triangle and Heather, others like Cameron, Sam, and Zoey, had all been pushed the farthest they could go as well). To me, the only exceptions were Jo, Lindsay, Lightning, and Sierra. And beyond the fact that three of these four were the first three eliminated, the only one I even liked was Lindsay, eliminated first. So, overall, it didn't take long for my expectations to drop like a rock. My expectations were low. I mean very low. I mean HISTORICALLY low. If you were to subtract my expectations for TDA from my expectations from TDR, my expectations for this season would still be lower. And I didn't have low expectations just in the hopes that it would be like TDR and exceed my expectations because they were so low, but because the season was genuinely looking to be the worst, most disappointing, most over-the-top, overly-cliched season ever, with the most cliched, camera-hogging, overly-shoved-down-our-throats characters and recycled, shoved-down-our-throats storylines ever.

Like with Reloaded, I had only two major goals that I wished for this season to achieve in order to pass my test of approval. The first one quickly degenerated beyond hope shortly after I wrote it: That Duncan and Gwen not break up/Duncan and Courtney not get back together. Right away, it was obvious that the Love Triangle would become, once again, the dominant story of the season (which it was), and for the story to not even develop or move forward would be pointless. So for Duncan and Gwen to stay together, while my preferred option, would admittedly mean that the entire season was a waste as far as the Love Triangle was concerned. The only other thing I had in mind was that Duncan break up with Gwen due to all the drama and choose to stay single, refusing either girl and choosing to be a loner to escape all the drama. And, of course, the result was the exact opposite, and although it strengthened Gwen in my eyes, it destroyed Duncan and ended my favorite canon couple. So the Love Triangle in this season was really a lose-lose for me either way. However...the way the Love Triangle was handled in this season, though not exactly according to my preferences, was done very well. Through Gwen's determination to make things right, she and Courtney became friends again and both improved. At the same time, not only did Gwen dump Duncan, but Courtney became much more interested in a new love interest: Scott. And even though Duncan was totally ditched by the two girls, at least he had his own storyline (becoming a total sap of a nice guy) to balance it out. So even if my favorite canon couple was still the last major casualty of the Love Triangle, at least it was resolved in a fairly meaningful way. However, there was a major problem that almost completely destroyed this aspect of the season that I'll get to later.

And the second goal was that Lightning or Courtney not win. I would've even been fine with Jo winning, just not these two. Although it was safe to say that Lightning wouldn't win, since he had already been in the finals, the fact was that Courtney, even early on, was building up to be a major character, as a member of the Love Triangle, the only villain on the Heroes' team, and, of course, being a camera hog once again. So, although it hurt me on the inside to do so, I had predicted early on that she'd go to the final two and, more than likely, would win. Thankfully, this one proved to be true. So that goal also came true.

By the halfway point of the season, I already had another massive beef with this season that was based on a previously-established problem. As I said before, I really didn't like the idea that half of the contestants were automatically TDR characters just to even it out. But to drive home the point that this was obviously done just for the evening-out of the cast, a majority of the first few eliminated characters were TDR contestants (Lightning, Jo, Sam, etc.). On top of that, a majority of the TDR characters were largely just background characters with little to no dialogue, little to no significance, occasionally just punching bags, and clearly just elimination fodder (including Lightning, Sam, Cameron, Zoey, etc.). This just makes two points even more painfully clear: First, that they fell into an unnecessary cliche of evening out the cast between old and new without even honoring that commitment. They basically said, "Yeah, we'll even it out perfectly, but we'll still put all of our focus on the original characters and shaft most of the newbies." This also drives home the point that, even though some of these characters (like Mike and Scott) could've been further developed since this was only their second season, they still decided to only focus on characters that we've seen for the past three seasons now. It was a total waste of screen time, of voice actors, and potential plot lines. Furthermore, it just emphasized that all they can think about is the f***ing Love Triangle, even though it's been shoved down our throats for nearly three whole seasons. And even beyond that, it took some of the greatest TDR characters (Cameron and Sam) and almost single-handedly destroyed every hint of their respective awesomeness in the previous season, for no reason. The only three TDR characters who got decent development/storylines were Scott, Mike, and Jo. And Jo's conflict with Heather, as awesome as it was, lasted only 3 episodes. So only Mike and Scott lasted for a prolonged period of time with decent development. And even then, although these were the only two who got any real focus out of all the TDR characters, it took several episodes for their focus/storylines to finally be established (for the first few episodes, Scott was mostly just in the background; likewise, even after the debut of TMO, all he did for the first/larger half of the season was just break stuff and not do anything strategic). Lastly, Scott's story wasn't so much development as it was continuation of his persona in TDR. His transition from being a challenge-throwing antagonist to classic schemer took all of one minute in the opening of episode 2, and it was never referenced again. And then his relationship with Courtney, as awesome as it was, did seem to kinda come out of nowhere...but still worked. Similarly, Mike's new storyline was just a continuation of his original MPD problem in TDR, only with a new added persona. And with that being said, Mal was built up as the best antagonist ever, but ultimately proved to be thee worst ever. See my Character Rankings for Mike for my full thoughts on Mal.

Which leads me to another major problem with the season. This was building up to be one heck of a season as far as interactions, new friendships/conflicts, and new storylines go because we were finally going to see the old and new contestants interacting with each other on a regular basis due to competing in the same season together. The first episode alone did much to set up many interactions that could've been a great, enjoyable focus of the season: Duncan/Jo, Jo/Heather, Sam/Sierra, Duncan/Mike, and even more emphasized focus on past conflicts like Courtney/Lindsay or Lightning/Jo...and all of these, and more, were basically thrown out the window with the eliminations of most of these people early on. So many potential new/old interactions were thrown out just so we could get more of the same conflicts and same stories shoved down our throats, namely the Love Triangle and Alejandro/Heather. The only ones that actually became major focuses were Cameron/Sierra and Scott/Courtney. And, of course, Cameron/Sierra was absolutely terrible. Thus, the only interaction that was introduced and focused on to a great extent in the season, while still good, was just one out of so many possibilities. Again: So many new possibilities thrown out in favor of what we've already seen before.

As far as what's good about this season (as if there's anything actually good): As far as the characters, interactions, and storylines go, there were two things I really took away from this season in a very positive manner. The first is, of course, the resolution of the Love Triangle. I expand more on this in my Character Rankings in my First Generation page, but I'll summarize it here. While I was neutral towards Gwen in TDI, hated her in TDA, and only rooted for her in TDWT because she was against Courtney, here she finally became a serious, likable character that you wanted to root for because of her, not because of how much you hated the person she was fighting. Her determination to make amends with Courtney, saving her life, constantly enduring her stubborn doubts, and even dumping Duncan in the process, all made her out to be one of the strongest, most heroic, most mature characters in the show's history. This season made me absolutely love Gwen. Although Duncan and Courtney didn't go up nearly as much in my book as Gwen, I also loved what they did with each: Duncan's identity crisis as a "bad-boy-gone-good" (which, to me, was the most well-written and well-executed solo storyline in the entire series so far), which was very enjoyable and hilarious, and ultimately ended in a meaningful way; and then, just as Courtney finally starts becoming more likable, we have the introduction of Courtney/Scott, the only couple I like to regularly refer to by its abbreviated mixed name: Scottney. Man, oh MAN, do I LOVE this couple. I know, I know; it's Courtney. But for some reason...I just love Scottney. That's all. <3 But outside of all the positive aspects that are directly tied to the death of the Love Triangle, the one other thing I really liked was the new additions to the format that the season introduced, giving it much more of a Survivor-like feel, including the reward of staying in the awesome cabin, the winners getting to watch the losers' elimination, and volunteering for Boney Island Exile with the promise of finding an immunity idol. Those were clever additions that brought it back to a much simpler nature and closer to the source material. I also really liked the idea of combining challenges from previous seasons for this season, so that we didn't have to worry about lame new challenge ideas, while at the same time we could get nice callbacks to seasons as far back as the original. But for the most part, these are rather minor details that ultimately didn't mean much to the overall way that the season ultimately played out (with the exception of the immunity idol). They're definitely clever strengths, but not nearly as strong as past seasons' strengths, not all that memorable, and not enough to save the season from its weaknesses. And even though the season did a fantastic job of handling the three Love Triangle characters, it just couldn't end without thoroughly destroying at least one of them. See my review of Sundae Muddy Sundae for my full thoughts on how that one episode alone almost single-handedly destroyed all that this season did to revive and redeem Courtney.

So...in summary (to my longest explanation for a season ranking ever): This season's major Cons were the continued shoving of the original cast's screenhogs down our throats, the complete rejection of most of the TDR cast, and an overall rushed feel to the season due to its 13-episode length, even though this definitive all-star season should've been 26 episodes again. The major focus of the overall season was the death of the Love Triangle, and all that came out of it. However, that ultimately left us in a perfect draw: Two major Pros (Duncan's new solo storyline and Gwen becoming an awesome hero once again) and two major Cons (Duncan/Gwen breaking up and Courtney going through an arc just to completely throw it out the window in her final episode). So basically, the main thing this season was focused on for practically the entire season was completely eradicated into a neutral thing due to a perfect draw. The only other noticeable Pros were the improvements in the format of the season, and again, those were extremely minor. Inconsistent writing, a terrible villain, more of the same-old same-old from seasons past, the rejection of so many possibilities as far as new interactions go, a lack of an all-star feel to such a special crossover season, a lackluster premiere, lackluster 100th episode, and what was building up to be the single biggest character arc since Heather in the first three seasons (Courtney this season) was completely destroyed in just one episode. While TDA ultimately started most of the downward spirals of this series with the first introduction of the Love Triangle, the screenhogs, and what have you, this season essentially promised to end all of that...just to give us more of it. Worst. Season. Ever.

1 to 10: 1/10

Letter Grade: F

Stance: Oppose

Season Ranking: #5

1st: Total Drama Reloaded - With a season that was finally going to bring in more than 10 new characters and completely replace the old cast (which, although many people opposed it, I loved it), I was looking forward to this season with as much enthusiasm as TDWT. Thus, I was always prepared for a severe let-down in a manner very similar to how TDWT let me down. As more and more information was released and the season drew nearer, I played it safe and maintained only four major expectations for the season. 4th: That Scott proved to be an amazing, Heather-like antagonist but in his own style, not a cheap carbon copy and not a terrible antagonist like Justin, Courtney, or Alejandro. 3rd: That Mike and Cameron both got far and got a lot of screen time and character development. 2nd: That Anne Maria not win. And 1st: That Chris not be a total elimination controller like he was in TDWT.

Not even halfway through the season, all four goals had definitely been achieved, as Mike was definitely involved in a major storyline (the Love Triangle), which focused on him a lot, developed his character, and had the outcome that I was hoping for (that Mike eventually managed to overpower his other personalities and remain true to Zoey and not Anne Maria). As early as Episode 3, Scott was emerging as the male Heather, with all of the same charm, personality, intelligence, deviousness, hilarious moments, and true fiery passion that was worthy only of a true antagonist. Although he was responsible for the eliminations of many of my favorites (Mike and Dawn), I still had to give him props for being smart enough to outwit such strong-minded individuals (Dawn) or brave enough to stand up to such popular contestants and throw them under the bus (Mike). With five decent, no-nonsense eliminations, I just knew that Chris was never going to host another "fake" elimination or choose to eliminate whoever he wanted to, with the sole exception being Dakota's "firing" in Episode 4, which I didn't mind too much since it was so funny. Anne Maria went quite earlier than I thought, as I predicted she would make it to fourth place (only because of her being such a drama-causer), but instead was eliminated seventh, in perhaps the most humiliating elimination of the whole season (which, IMO, was quite fitting for her). Cameron exceeded my expectations more than I could have ever imagined. While I predicted that he would go fifth, he ended up lasting all the way, and even won. That, alongside Dawn's elimination, was easily the biggest shock of the season to me, if not one of the biggest shocks in all of TD. Once again, to quote Cody, I was "pleasantly surprised."

There were two major fears that I had for the season other than those four goals. The first was its length. Due to being exactly half the length of a regular season, I was quite worried that any decent or significant plot lines they may introduce would feel rushed due to the limited amount of episodes. However, they still managed to pull it off and execute the stories nicely in a smooth pace. So even that was a relief.

The second major fear was the radioactive elements, and my personal fear that they would severely overkill those features. However, within the first few episodes, that fear was already put to rest. The challenges earlier on, such as Episode 1 and Episode 3, had very little, if anything at all, to do with radioactivity or mutated creatures. Yes, there were what I call "overkill episodes" (Episodes 4 and 6) that put too much of a dramatic focus on unrealistic mutations, and did dumb it down a little bit. But there were still quite a few episodes that deviated from that, so it ultimately helped give us all a break from the mutations.

The cameos. Perhaps one of the most-anticipated features of the season. I honestly didn't expect as many cameos as there were. I was thinking around four (Duncan, Harold, Lindsay, and one other like Owen, Heather, Gwen, or Courtney), and definitely no more than five. There was also, of course, the issue of who would cameo. Would we see any of our "fan favorites" or one of the underdogs? Would it be one of the camera-hogging three-season participants, or would we see one of the one-season loners? Of course, the biggest shock as far as the cameos were concerned was the fact that everyone had a cameo...in the very first episode. After that, it was a matter of who would have individual cameos afterwards. Again, I felt no more than five. I also felt that if they had one cameo every episode, it would be too much. Also, I expected most or all of the cameos to be brief moments no longer than, maybe, 30 seconds. Any cameo that the episode centered around couldn't be good. This was probably the part that failed me the most. There were nine cameos. Some of them (Owen, Izzy, and Bridgette) were exactly as I expected; brief, funny, shocking, and ending up a painful experience for the person making the cameo. Others, of course (Lindsay, Gwen, and Heather) were the opposite; long, a center point of the episode and the challenge, and too much focus on a character who was supposed to be long gone. Especially when the character had a major impact on the show itself, like Ezekiel did with getting Anne Maria eliminated. But even then, that's not a really big deal in the grand scheme of things, is it?

So, overall, I had my sights set very low out of caution, which subsequently allowed for the finished product to greatly exceed most of my expectations. I always prefer something that exceeds your expectations to one that simply meets them. To summarize all of this and put it in a nutshell: I loved this season. This may sound like a lunatic's words, but I honestly liked this season even BETTER than TDI. Why, you may ask? Well, for one very elaborate but understandable reason. It would be too typical now to say that the very first season was my favorite. I only said that before because of its classic, nostalgic value, and because the two seasons after it were truly horrible. Yes, TDI started it all, and that can never be taken away. But TDR managed to do something even better, more groundbreaking, more stunning than TDI ever could: It filled TDI's shoes and made them even larger. While TDI had no predecessors, no shoes to fill, no expectations to meet, TDR had so many of them. It managed to successfully revamp a series as popular and famous as Total Drama, and effectively reload the series with a brand new cast. After three long seasons that piggybacked off of the popularity of 22 original characters, Total Drama Reloaded - a small, almost mini-season half the length of a regular season - was brave enough to turn away from the old cast at long last and bring in a new, smaller cast. While the cast was definitely smaller, while most had pale or dull colors or appearances in a group, and while most bore some resemblance to past contestants, their personalities were (for the most part) brand new, completely original, and very entertaining. It introduced a new cast...that was better than the original cast. It went back to the basics, effectively acting as a second version of TDI, only better. After three seasons and 24 contestants, this small season had such a big burden to lift...and it grabbed that burden by its weak point and threw it into the sky. Total Drama Reloaded had many expectations to meet, and it exceeded them. That is by far a bigger, more difficult, and more rewarding challenge to overcome than the challenge TDI faced: Starting a series. TDI had to start a series, TDR had to reload it. And boy, this gives "reload" a whole new meaning.

1 to 10: 10/10

Letter Grade: A

Stance: Support

Season Ranking: #1

Season Opinion Rankings
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