User blog comment:TheDipDap1234/Lightning - a Good or a Bad Character?/@comment-27329394-20141109011045

Lightning is the greatest.

To me, Lightning is easily the funniest character on the show due to how ridiculous he is and due to his ego. This is especially notable since I felt like he was the only character who was consistently funny that lasted past episode 7. While that isn't the only reason that I like him so much, it is obviously a big part of it. Lightning is also a character who's humor that can work well in pretty much any situation; he will probably act almost the same no matter what. This is different from most other characters who are closely affiliated with another one... which is almost everyone. That doesn't mean his interaction with Jo isn't stellar though. It's easily one of my favorite conflicts in the show because of that running gag with the gender and Jo's disbelief of his stupidity.

A lot of people give Lightning flak because he is a one dimensional character, but this isn't exactly a reason to hate a character. After all, we have several contestants who are very popular but aren't very complex either. While none of them have the staying power of Lightning, people wish they do have their staying power. I'm talking about people like Noah and Ella. I have nothing against these characters - in fact, I like them - but many people wish that they made it as far as Lightning did. So when people dislike Lightning's placement because of his flatness, I just don't see it, not just because of the other contestants but because not every contestant has to be some complex and well developed character. While it isn't impossible to incorporate humor and depth into one character (like Lindsay and Shawn), Lightning's status as a flat character works far better with his stereotype. Everyone I know even remotely similar to Lightning almost never changes their ways no matter how many times they fail and always think they are the best at what they do, so Lightning's portrayal is pretty accurate for what he is.

Another reason people don't like him is because he floated... wha? Let's track through his merge progress - he won but not really in Grand Chef Auto, I actually thought he won in Up, Up, and Away in My Pitiful Balloon until it was revealed it was Cameron because Lightning did the most work, he would have won in Eat, Puke, and be Wary if he went the other way, and he won The Enchanted Franken Forest. He worked hard in every challenge and was on the brink of winning every single time, so I don't know what people want from him. That's a better challenge performance than at least half of the other finalists and some merge contestants people think should have won (like Courtney in All-Stars).

As a finalist, Lightning is different in that he isn't supposed to be the one that everybody roots for. Sure, we have the alternate endings that exist, but no matter what happens, Cameron is supposed to be the one that comes out on top to show that he overcomes all his adversary. A big reason that he started a conflict with Cameron was so then people would root for Cameron instead of some friendly character like Zoey. I'm sure that if it wasn't for tradition there wouldn't have been an alternate ending. While people wish he could have been the lovable, bumbling, friendly jock, but that's Tyler's job. Lightning is supposed to be out for himself due to his ego. Anyhow, I didn't mind his conflict with Cameron because of this and the fact that he is very competitive, so it makes sense he would be pretty upset about what went down. And, above all, he was still hilarious when the conflict was happening, so there's that too. I will admit, I would have been fine with Jo being the finalist instead of him, but I'd still want Lightning to be in third place if that happened.

TDAS is what pushed and secured him into the top spot for me. While he lasted for only two episodes, unlike Lindsay he had a very memorable run. I daresay he was actually funnier than every episode in TDROTI in Evil Dread. Lightning turned that episode into a relatively slow, otherwise average one into a really funny and upbeat one. It was pretty much just him being the same as usual, a show-off and a dumb guy, but they really capitalized on his traits by giving him a lot of focus. Sure, I was sad to see him go early, but what a way to go. He even had the best line of the next episode and he wasn't even present. Best contestant that season sans Alejandro and Scott.

Finally, he's just an awesome and fun character who's athleticism never translates into godplay. If he's swinging off a vine to high five a seagull, that's just him being the man, not him overcoming part of the challenge. And if he is in a challenge, he does it with gutso, such as jumping off his cart to graffiti Mt. Chrismore in quite an epic manner or jumping off the cliff to punch Fang right in the nose. He doesn't even win either of these challenges - he's just being awesome. So while he might not have the complexity of other characters, he succeeds in that he is just a simple, hilarious character that works fantastically in every area he needs to.