Stuffies

Welp, another season gone by. Not only was the anticipation high for this season, but the wait was long as well. Constantly waiting for a preview or date was a hard time for the wiki. Eventually, we found out the date, and it soon premiered after. But one thought runs through our heads every time a season starts; Will this season be as good as the rest?

The Characters
The season started with Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!, and from the start, I was wondering that same question. I could already pick out some characters I wouldn't like this season. Mike and Zoey were clearly overkilled from the first second they met each other. Yes, the first three seconds they were together, they already started somewhat flirting. The characters that really stood out to me this season were Anne Maria, Brick, Dawn, Dakota, and Lightning. I found Dakota, Lightning, and Anne Maria to be downright hilarious from the start. Dawn really interested me too, she was both funny and adorable. I found Brick to be the most original character this season. Yes, "The Cadet" seems like a pretty common stereotype, but it's something Total Drama hasn't tried before. Staci is a character I find to be funny, but I didn't much like her as a contestant, but more as a running gag. I didn't begin to like Jo till later on in the season, but Scott was a character I disliked from the start. His humor was lame and his plans were mediocre. I liked Cameron at first, but, like Zoey and Mike, his weakness was overkill after a while. Sam was another character who didn't catch my attention until later on. And I really have no opinion towards B. He could've been thrown together in a minute. In all, I was pleased with most of the characters, others not so much. The one character I truly disliked throughout the season was Zoey. I don't even know why she is in a relationship with Mike. It's basically "we both have insecurities, let's go out!"



Another thing is how Zoey is so reliant on Mike. Every time she's in trouble, it's Mike's job to save her, even if he's on the other side of the world. But the most puzzling thing is how Zoey is supposedly trying to make friends, yet rejects them every chance she gets. Dawn tries to befriend her, but she thinks Dawn is "weird." Then Dakota tries to befriend her, and how does Zoey repay Dakota? Ah, yes, by voting her off that night. How sweet. Also, what the heck kind of personality is an "Indie Chick?" Seriously? Zoey's lack of personality makes her so bland I can barely even pay attention to her. Sure, the "new badass Zoey" personality in episode 11 and 12 was cool, but it barely lasted. She went to being all "Hi, I'm Zoey and I like everyone," in less than a second. Now lets go on to Mike. Sure, his personalities were all hilarious. But Mike without his multiple personas? A male Zoey. I mean, without them, he has no character whatsoever. Heck, Backstabbers Ahoy! spent basically the whole episode revolving around Vito and Svetlana. Mike's just plainly a boring character without his personalities.

B is another character who doesn't entertain me much. I mean, the dude never spoke. He just make stuff. B's clearly a filler character. If he wasn't, they probably would have kept him longer. Staci, while funny, is another character for filler. Again, if they wanted her to develop, they wouldn't have taken her out first.



Now, let's go on to the antagonist; Scott. I can honestly say that he may be worst than Justin. Justin may have only been a true antagonist for three episodes, but at least he was a good one. Scott plan is to make his team lose so he can vote them off. Pretty good idea, except for the fact that your teammates could've voted you off any time they wanted to. Scott's the only antagonist in Total Drama who doesn't really act sinister at times. He's more of a goofy villain then a conniving one, which sort of disappointed me. What's the point of an antagonist who doesn't have a true strategy? Grand Chef Auto was probably the only episode where I liked Scott's plan. At least he knows what he was doing. Now, in The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean, we find out that Scott has the immunity idol. Yup, he just got it. We don't know where. He just magically got it. And nobody even asked where. I was sort of hoping that we didn't know who had it, so it could be surprising at the elimination ceremony. But instead, there's barely any drama, since we already knew Scott had the idol. So clearly we know he's going to use it. I really didn't pay attention to much in his last few episodes of the competition. I was glad to see him eliminated, but the season finale really shocked me. Yup, Scott's now paralyzed, crippled, and basically a vegetable. And to top it off, everyone laughed at him. Okay, the dude is barely alive, and everyone laughed at him? I realize nobody likes him, but come on, even if I hated the dude I'd feel bad. Now probably the only reason I like Scott is because I pity him. Poor deluded guy.



Like I said before, Anne Maria and Dakota are two characters I love. While they are two of the least original contestants, they continuously entertained throughout the season. That is, until Dakota's transformation. Total Drama once again had to ruin a perfectly good character. The monster part didn't even bug me as much as the voice did. And her personality kept changing. First she was sad, then she was enraged, and then she just became brain dead. And the cute friendship between Sam and Dakota that ended fondly in episode six basically became a spit-swapping session. Bridgette and Geoff, you have been replaced.



Overall, the characters have pleased me. While some of them rank lowest on my list, I like more of the cast then I dislike them. The only thing that was a problem was the originality. Almost the entire cast were based off of celebrities. But hey, it's hard to come up with thirteen new stereotypes. Except for the ones without any personality.

Cameos
The thing I was looking forward the most to this season was the cameos. While the old cast may be out dated, they will forever be my favorites. Hell, I even miss Sadie at times. And in the first episode, we get to see every contestant again... pretty much right where they left off. Alejandro's still a robot, Ezekiel's still feral, and it seems that almost nothing has changed since Total Drama World Tour. A part of me knew this would happen, yet, part of me was hoping everything would return back to normal. I guess the show's gotta keep some continuity. If anything sticks to a plotline, it's Total Drama.



And then we reach our first official cameo; Owen. In all honesty, I was happy to see Owen again. While overrated, it's good to see the ol' tub of lard back again... yet he was abruptly blown off, literally. That's what I disliked about the cameos, they ended so oddly. Owen got blown up, Gwen was thrown into a distant location, Ezekiel was left to blow up in the mine (until later), and then Heather gets left in the sinking blimp. I mean, the old contestants didn't even get closure as it is, so why do they just abruptly get killed off like this? Izzy's cameo was one I liked. It was short, sweet and to a point, which is why I liked Duncan's as well.

But some cameos were put into the oddest situations. I get Gwen's claustrophobia, but it's like she was just thrown in there out of no where. Others, however, were complete overkill. While I love Lindsay, her cameo took up the entire episode. And half of it just her sitting up on a cliff. Bridgette's was short, but was not entertaining to the least bit. And DJ's was just... there. It ended in less than a minute. And while I liked, Heather's I found it a bit out of character, seeing as she has toned down her maniacal ways in previous seasons. I liked Ezekiel's in episode seven and thirteen, but twelve was for complete filler. It didn't even need to be thrown in, they could have just done it sometime in the next episode. And some of the most interesting characters were left out. No Harold, Courtney, or Noah? Weak.



Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the cameos. They could have been put together much better. But hey, it was refreshing seeing the old cast again. I still wonder to this day what happened to Blaineley. But hey, I'm sure half of the fanbase has dozens of ideas towards her fate.

Season Review
I've got to be completely honest here, this season was a bit disappointing. Waiting all this time for this season, and it didn't even live up to my expectations. The writing was a bit poor, the drama was lackluster, and the characters were a bit bland. Almost every elimination was predictable halfway through the episode. Scott's elimination was possibly the only one that was somewhat shocking, but the sad thing is that it was barely shocking at all. And not to mention that the writing wasn't very good at all. It seemed more cheesy, instead of clever. And while I found Jo to be funny, she was often written badly, along with many other characters I like. Not to mention the unoriginal setting. I mean, seriously? Wawanakwa again? It was a good throwback, but come on, we all wanted to see a new location.



One of the things I liked about the season was the challenges and the animals. Both were so interesting to see in each episode, and I enjoyed mostly all of them. Overall, it wasn't a great season, but it wasn't terrible either. Most of the episodes are along the "good lines," but it seems to be a bit of a decline for Total Drama. I'm just hoping that this isn't the last season, because I really do love Total Drama. Maybe we will see some of the old cast and new cast fight it out for a million. We'll just have to tune in to see.

FINAL RATING: 7/10