Pictured from left to right: Kyra, Lucy and Audrey.
Surviving Middle School: A Bullying Story is a machinima made by SimbcatProductions
. It consists of 19 episodes and is divided into two seasons. The first season centers around a 6th grader named Lucy Smith, who returns to her hometown only to find her former friends have become popular and no longer want anything to do with her. She immediately becomes a target of their bullying, and is soon joined by Kyra and Audrey, who are also bullied, as they try to make their way through school.
The season season, which begins at episode 14, centers around Lucy's cousin, Brandy and her group of friends. The series ran from December 2012 to February 2014.
On January 7, 2015, the creator announced a remake of the series was in the works, which began on September 2 of that year. However, it stopped after only a few episodes and the after putting out the remastered version of the original first season, the creator announced she was done with the series.
This series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: In the second season premiere, Leeann devises a plan to break Emma's heart, but it never comes to fruition.
- Adults Are Useless: None of the adults seem to be around when the bullying happens. Plus, it is implied more than one of the popular girls have uninvolved parents, as does Audrey.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: The popular girls dress much more maturely than a 6th grader would.
- Abusive Parents: Kyra's dad.
- Alpha Bitch: Abigail, Alyssa, and Leeann.
- Ambiguously Brown: Alyssa, Josh, Crystal, May, Kat, and a number of other characters, though Alyssa and Josh could be implied to be of Hispanic or Latino descent.
- Ascended Extra: Lindsey and Kat in season 2.
- Beta Bitch: Sara, McKenna and Michelle to their leader Alyssa. Crystal is this to Abigail.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Lucy's former friends, Abigail and Crystal, were absent in the second season.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed with Kat for disliking Lucy for being with Josh.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Lindsey in episodes 16 and 17.
- Demoted to Extra: After season 1, the former bullies become little more than extras to make room for the new bullies.
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Word of God also says this was the fate of Mr. Ingwall and a minor character named Cheyenne.
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- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Aubrey, whenever her troubled life is brought up.
- Downer Ending: The series finale is basically this; Lucy and Brandy are both Driven to Suicide, Josh and Lindsey are presumably in jail, as is McKenna, Beth is abandoned by her friends, Leeann and her friends receive no comeuppance for their bullying, Kyra and Audrey are presumed to be still in foster care, Alicia is a single teenage mother, and most of the characters don't get their stories or issues resolved at all.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Lucy near the end of Season 1.
- Brandy in Season 2.
- Dull Surprise: Some of the characters respond to incredibly emotion-laden statements with things like, "Oh. That sucks."
- Emo Teen: Kat and her best friend.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Alyssa and her friend group may be bullies, but they were not happy about Lucy's suicide.
- Expository Theme Tune: The first theme song is Hero by Superchick, specifically the second part.
- Extreme Doormat: Lucy doesn't make much effort to fight back against the bullies, something lampshaded by both Audrey and Kyra.
- Fallen Princess: Kyra was one of the popular girls until her family fell on hard times.
- Foreshadowing: The third theme song of season 1 foreshadows Lucy's death.
- Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Lucy became this to popular Abigail.
- Kyra was to Alyssa and her friends.
- Girl Posse: The bullies in the first season are all part of one.
- Good Costume Switch: When Kyra was a popular girl, she dressed in the same, expensive and mature clothes and wore the same hairstyles as they do. By the time Lucy shows up, she wears a more child-like dress and looks like a typical nerd.
- Informed Flaw: The popular girls once gossip that Mr. Ingwall is a pedophile, but nothing has ever been shown to support this.
- Innocent Beta Bitch: Beth, who was hanging out with Abigail in her friend group, and she's really kind.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Audrey going off on Lucy might have been excessive, but she's right that Lucy never makes an attempt to stand up for herself.
- Kids Are Cruel: The premise of the entire series.
- Left Hanging: The ultimate fates of almost every character, as well as several plot points are left hanging. Among them:
- Frank's plans to come out to his homophobic father.
- The identity of Alyssa's baby's father, though Ben is the most likely culprit.
- Beth's eating disorders.
- Lindsey and Josh's fate after going on a killing spree.
- Whether Kat's murder is ever discovered.
- The reasons behind Brandy's suicide.
- Missing Mom: Audrey's mom died when she was four.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The popular girls' reactions to Lucy's suicide.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Josh suddenly deciding he's tired of Lucy and turning to Kat despite being devoted to her beforehand.
- Parental Abandonment: Kyra's mom seemingly abandons the family after they lose their house.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Lucy and Kyra. Except the girls never get the chance to come back from it—by the end of the episode, Lucy has died by suicide.
- Rape as Drama: Kyra is raped by her father.
- Remaster: The creator uploaded the remastered version in 2018. It combines all of the first season's episodes into one video, improves the audio, and removes irrelevant scenes.
- Rich Bitch: All of the popular girls.
- Simpleton Voice: Ben, whose voice is often over the top.
- Shrinking Violet: Kyra is incredibly shy.
- Spoiled Sweet: Beth, who despite being part of Alyssa's group is very nice and hates how her friends treat Lucy, though she's too afraid to speak up.
- Spurned into Suicide: Downplayed. Lucy was already considering suicide because of the bullying, but Josh breaking up with her was the straw that broke the camel's back.
- Straight Gay: Frank.
- Teen Pregnancy: Abigail's sister and Alyssa in the series finale.
- The Movie: Was planned, but never happened due to the creator getting a computer virus.
- Time Skip: The series finale.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: A few characters in later episodes.
- Audrey becomes furious at Lucy for not standing up to the bullies, but it was justified because she asked about her deceased mother.
- Kat goes from being a good friend to a Clingy Jealous Girl to Josh, because he likes Lucy more than her.
- Josh became rude and annoyed by Lucy's vulnerability in episode 12.
- Token Minority: Audrey is the only main character who's black.
- Leeann's best friend could also count, though unlike Audrey, she only appears every now and then.
- Weight Woe: Beth, who varies between anorexia and bulimia, and exercises to point she faints. Lucy and Sara also show signs of this.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 12 sees the disintegration of Lucy and Kyra's friendship, Josh breaking up with Lucy for Kat, and Lucy's suicide.
- Episode 18.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: Audrey lives in a crime-ridden neighborhood.
