Total Drama cleanup

The Total Drama subpages are full of unsourced rumors and speculation, complaining, and generally dubious claims, at least to someone who's been in the fandom as long as I have. So I made this cleanup so fans can identify examples that seem off.

I've noticed that PopCultureUrbanLegends.Total Drama has a lot of examples of "it was rumored that x character was supposed to be a finalist, but their actor was busy so they had to rewrite it", which I'm not sure if many of those are actual rumors, or just wishful thinking on the part of fans disappointed that their favorite characters didn't win.

I have heard speculation to that degree, especially with Lindsey in Action (as she had a big role and development but then suddenly got voted out)

If it's still a rumor people end up believing, wouldn't it still be valid regardless of how it started? Though I really only know of the Lindsay one and maybe Leshawna, and maybe a bit of the rumored Cody ending.

Edited by mightymewtron on May 1st 2023 at 6:57:09 AM

I've only heard the Lindsay one, personally.

Any additional thoughts on what such examples should stay?

I noticed that a Fandom Rivalry page was made with only three entries. Is that enough to warrant a separate page?

Definitely not. If they were long enough to necessitate a split, they'd need trimmed down anyway.

I noticed one example is for fans of the earlier seasons vs. fans of the later seasons. Technically, they’re both sections of the same fandom, so what should we do with that?

Edited by costanton11 on May 16th 2023 at 8:44:58 AM

Cut, that's more like Broken Base.

• Fandom Rivalry:
  • Like other Cartoon Network shows, there's an intense one with Teen Titans Go! due to the latter show receiving more airtime and re-runs than Total Drama and any other Cartoon Network show combined. The rivalry only got worse in 2016-2017 where while Teen Titans Go was getting tons of air-time, there was no news of any new Total Drama seasons. This caused some fans to grow jealous and accuse Cartoon Network of making Teen Titans Go their new cash-cow franchise. The fact that Total Drama got cancelled during Teen Titans Gos run and two months after the movie definitely doesn't help matters.
  • A lot of Total Drama fans also tend to hate The Powerpuff Girls (2016) and Ben 10 (2016) due to both shows coming out a year after the well-received The Ridonculous Race did and - similar to Teen Titans Go - both shows received more airtime, advertising and re-runs than Total Drama.
  • Total Drama and Adventure Time fans both started off as Friendly Fandoms but after Adventure Time won eight emmies in a row at the Primetime Emmy Awards, they soon became a mixed bag. Fans of Total Drama were jealous that while Adventure Time was winning so many emmies, their show only got a few awards. While the rivalry has cooled down since then, they're dancing in-between.

I don't think this is anything but "fans of this show happen to hate these shows that already have massive hatedoms anyway," and the last one sounds super niche and petty because I've never heard of a TD fan who expected the show to win any Emmys.

Huh, thought I got all their edits. Oh well, I had a feeling!

Edited by mightymewtron on May 23rd 2023 at 11:06:57 AM

The first two can safely be cut, both for the reasons you've stated and due to the fact they were added by a ban evader. I haven't seen any Total Drama fan complain about Adventure Time either.

I think the last entry was previously written by them on that Fandom Rivalry page that they made, which I cut listed due to being too short and I moved the remaining example to the main page. Since it was originally added by them, it can also be removed.

Chase has both a Draco in Leather Pants entry (which I added) and a Ron the Death Eater entry. However I haven't seen much of the latter misuse. Chase is depicted as comically callous and possibly sexist, even if not knowingly ill-intentioned, so I don't think it's mischaracterization when fans focus on that despite his friendlier silly interactions with other characters. It is the intended joke.

I would probably only keep the Draco in Leather Pants entry. People who focus on his callous actions do so because they're true.

Another question I have to avoid adding any misinformation: aside from Wayne, which of the characters from the new cast would qualify for Launcher of a Thousand Ships? Chase used to be listed, but it was removed for being added by a ban evader, and I'm not sure if he's even shipped with enough people. One of the first characters that come to mind is Zee. Maybe Scary Girl and Damien, too.

Edited by Dghcrh on Jun 9th 2023 at 11:15:36 AM

So far I haven't seen most characters significantly shipped with more than two people. I feel like if you have to ask if any character is a Launcher as opposed to seeing them shipped with a bunch of people everywhere you go, then there probably isn't one. Chase probably doesn't even count — nobody likes him with Emma (they prefer it as a toxic/comedic dynamic), Chase/Zee seems to be a minority, and Chase/Ripper is the only thing close to substantial.

Regarding the fanbase tendency to call a certain contestant Sammy rather than Samey because it's her preferred name, is there a better audience reaction to document that than Fanon. Not sure if Fan Nickname applies here.

I don't think it counts as fanon, since it's mentioned in the actual work.

Does this cleanup include the spin-offs? If it does, I feel like some of the information on YMMV.Total Drama Presents The Ridonculous Race is outdated, if not outright inaccurate. The Tennis Rivals are listed as both Base Breaking Characters and Ensemble Darkhorses, but they're not even remotely popular. They're more on the negative side from what I've seen.

They definitely have fans (including me), but they're not cared for strongly enough to be Base-Breaking Character. They probably fit They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character though.

Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 19th 2023 at 8:54:52 AM

Yeah, they are already listed under the latter.

Just a heads up the seventh reboot episode was leaked early (not slated to air until January), so any details from that episode shouldn't be added yet.

The eighth episode aired as well. I'm not sure about the whole deal with those episodes, but apparently they aired in Malta, so I don't know if it's a leak or a Short Run in Peru situation.

Edited by costanton11 on Dec 20th 2023 at 9:10:10 AM

The other episodes have been uploaded on Discovery+ in other regions, but not these ones as far as I can tell. The uploads I saw were clearly incomplete post-production files, complete with slates and syncing issues, so I'm pretty sure they're leaks. Not sure about the Malta thing, but if they were legitimately released there I guess it's okay.

Edited by mightymewtron on Dec 19th 2023 at 2:29:37 PM

This entry about the Season 2 finale on Esoteric Happy Ending feels very complainy and one-sided. Foldered for spoilers.

My thing is that this feels like a very Ron the Death Eater take on Priya. The whole reason Priya was on edge is because Caleb made an alliance behind her back with the season's Arc Villain, which isn't the first time he hadn't been straight-up about what he wanted with Priya. The reason he didn't let her win the final four is because he also let Julia take the win due to not wanting to lose the alliance with her. Yes it was an effort to protect both his vote and Priya's, but given Julia had manipulated them both before, Priya had the right to be wary and feel betrayed. It's also untrue that Priya doesn't resent her parents at all, because she does love them despite their treatment of her but she was clearly pissed that she couldn't keep the money, and she and Caleb even talked about it. Her vengeful nature and competitive attitude are character flaws, but this feels like a very one-sided criticism that brushes over all the decisions Caleb made in their arc, decisions even the show calls out as bad ones.