A subreddit to talk about the Canadian cartoon franchise, Total Drama, its spin offs (DramaRama & the Ridonculous Race) as well as any related works such as Disventure Camp. Remember that posts related to the 2023 reboot and/or Disventure seasons must be spoiler tagged.
Discussion
I used to think Gwent breaking up was bad..
But then I realize it’s super realistic af.
People come and go. Gwen and Trent literally just met eachother one summer so clearly they got into a relationship too fast and out they broke up. I can’t say it wasn’t good but they clearly rushed things too fast and it’s probably for the best they move on.
Duncney is the same boat. It’s just hormonal teenage love that clouded their judgement thinking it’d be good if they dated but realistically the outcome was anything but.
Sky and Dave is a deconstruction of this trope where you go to camp and find someone you like. Dave was just oblivious to Sky not being into him, he didn’t listen to Sky majority of the time, he was so entitled the Sky because in his mind she’s the girl for him. The reality? Dave is toxic.
Scottney is another one like Sky and Dave. You have Courtney coming out of her breakup with Duncan and sees Scott someone who likes her and takes advantage of it. Do you seriously think Courtney a posh girl genuinely liked a smelly person like Scott? Oh you poor summer child. It was clearly a wanting is better than having type relationship because Scott was everything she wanted in Duncan except that he wasn’t Duncan, he was smelly.
So all in all, Total Drama isn’t a shippers paradise, it’s full of hormonal teens who rush into Relationships and the outcomes are that people break up. It’s not perfect but it’s just that.
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Dave was oblivious to Sky not being into him . . . Do i have to make a list? Or just mentioning the fact that she EXPLICITLY SAID IT it's enough?
I don't disagree whit the post. I just find laughable that people see Sky reactions And are like "oh she didnt feel the smallest thing for him"
Hell, she basically had a PG Wet dream (cause i don't know what else can describe Buff Jungle Dave offering marriage)
Sky was definitely into Dave for starters
Except they derailed Trent with 3:10 being the climax with him wanting to be bloody branded. Breaking up is one thing but derailing Trent was a bad move.
Duncney was my otp ship and absolutely should’ve stayed together. Higher ups made a big mistake forcing the writers hand
Nothing ever lasts forever.
As if i don’t know that.
Breaking up Gwent is one thing, but it was still written really poorly.
The higher ups still forced their hand to break up duncney for gwuncan, which was like two siblings getting together and was very forced.
Also they weren’t forced, Tom was 100% on board with it. https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx8Jp6YFm1zff1Q7cAadWMRCf7D7ZAVVro?si=ir2znvd0YbWOWf
Was he though? His expression when asked this questions says it all. Plus in the very same video, when asked which couple is his favorite, he says Duncney all the way.
This evidence doesn’t even prove anything since his face clearly says otherwise
It’s been said numerous times in the sub that the creators wanted Duncney and Gwent by extension to stay together
Edit: Replay already covered what i needed to say
They’re not like siblings. They’re clearly different in a way. And besides, that’s good? If not the higher ups then it’d probably happen naturally. They were growing apart t
It definitely wouldn’t, the writers already said that they planned to keep Duncney together. Even Gwen’s VA showed displeasure in the whole drama
Based on Duncan and Gwen, they were more so had a brother and sister relationship
In real life yes, but TD is fiction that is very loosely attached to reality. Just because something makes sense to go certain way irl, doesn't mean same applies to fictional characters in comedic cartoons. Plus show creator said it himself both Duncney and Gwent were meant to stay together for the entirety of the show.
But what about some of the other couples that didn't break up? Gidgette, Lyler, Samoka, Zoke, Shasmine...
This not about them
But weren't they also summer romances, as well? People that rushed into relationships?
Again this not about them
you can’t just say “it’s not about them”
he provided a counter argument so provide an answer
Those couples seem more compatible in terms of what they want in relationships, while Trent seemed more dedicated and idealized about romance while Gwen wanted something more casual. But from a Doylist perspective, Gidgette needed to stay together for the aftermath and the network probably wanted something different from TD relationships in those later installments, more cutesy idealism and less realism.
I kind of agree. My only addition is that Scott wasn’t really like Duncan in All Stars. He was a bit goofier and didn’t challenge Courtney - if anything, he was a lot more supportive of who she was. He liked how bossy she was and never really belittled or challenged her. It felt like a nice way for Courtney to have this “bad boy” type that still challenged her own Type-A self while it was a bit healthier. The writers just like… got bored of that and threw it away.
It could have been a nice way to wrap up the Courtney/Gwen/Duncan love triangle. Have Gwen and Courtney make up and give Courtney a boyfriend that fills a similar role that Duncan occupied without some of the things that led it to being as toxic (them constantly trying to one up each other, Courtney didn’t seem like she wanted to change much about Scott, etc.) but the writers just didn’t want to have it end remotely well.
Scott was a bully who often got a rise out of Courtney similar to Duncan.
Also that line about Courtney not changing Scott is false/conjecture. If TDAS was a 26 episode season, we’d definitely see Courtney physically abuse Scott the way she did Duncan because she didn’t show any signs of her not doing it anymore. The fact that Courtney was ultimately revealing she was using Scott in ep 11 is proof that the relationship was about to enter abusive territory.
He never actively belittled her in All Stars, some of the stuff that annoyed her was like, when he ate the gruel off her head and stuff. Which yeah, would annoy me. In fact I don’t believe they even argue until Mal makes Cameron kiss Courtney and act like she cheated on Scott.
That being said, you can’t say that her not wanting to change him is conjecture and then say that she would have wanted to change him and abuse him if the season was longer. We don’t see any signs of her saying “Scott would be great if he just did this” or “I’m gonna get Scott to be like this”. She didn’t show signs of wanting to abuse him or whatever, that doesn’t mean she was going to do it because she didn’t look at the camera and tell you she wouldn’t.
In fact, there are two different parts of All Stars that show that Courtney did actually enjoy being around both Scott and Gwen - and all but looked in the camera while doing it. When she was alone and said she missed Scott when she heard a bird that sounded like him and when she was in the confessional saying she wanted Gwen to win if she didn’t (the same sentiments Gwen had with her). If they planned to reveal she had been using them this whole time, they did a horrible job writing it. I think it’s more likely they just did what they did with other characters around that time - wrote an excuse to eliminate them in that very episode.
I can guarantee you that just because we don’t physically see someone do something doesn’t mean they don’t do it anymore. If they don’t acknowledge what they did they haven’t changed they gotten good at hiding it.
Also People hide their true intentions with a false facade. We see Courtney being happy but when it’s revealed in private that Courtney genuinely could care less about him. Call it lazy writing but it’s still something that was intended and that’s what it comes down to.
You’re applying real world psychology to a show where a woman beat up 3 sharks in hand to hand combat and people survive falling out of planes. If they wanted her to act like that towards Scott, they would have shown it. In fact, they really showed the opposite. She wouldn’t have any reason to lie when she’s literally talking to herself.
Also, she never said she didn’t care about Scott. She said that because he liked her, she was bringing him to the finale. She didn’t show signs of openly disliking him until the two were competing against each other and even then she seemed more concerned with fixing the damage it caused to her friendship with Gwen.
To begin, Sky did actually like Dave, she just couldn't make her feelings truly clear with him (this is mostly on Dave but still still has some blame) and got understandably annoyed with him after he kept pushing. She outright admits to liking him in the finale but things were just too complicated and she was definitely either losing interest or got too tired of their entire relationship.
Scottney wasn't one sided like that, and for that idea to work Courtney would've needed to show some interest or longing in Duncan, which she didn't. She actually liked Scott and he just so happened to fit her likings. Breakup makes sense though as it proves even someone like Scott in this relationship has a breaking point but can still remember the good things.
Agree with everything else. Total Drama has many pairings and while we can debate execution or whatnot of their endings, many ships people do in fact like can be argued wouldn't last like many wanted them too. Gwent and Duncney being prime examples.
Scottney was entirely one sided. The confessional shows that Courtney was taking advantage of his generosity and love for her that she’d take him to the finale. The episode also highlights they both genuinely argue over the dumbest reasons. Was it dumb writing? Maybe but it still shouldn’t be overshadowed. Plus she mentions in the confessional how Gwen won’t stole Scott because of how smelly he is implying she is just trying to look for someone who won’t leave her rather than her genuinely loving him.
Gwen and Trent's breakup is honestly one of the most relatable and painfully realistic concepts I've ever seen in TD, even with a flawed execution. Even in TDI, Trent always seemed a bit more idealistic and tryhard (see: him carrying the rock in the TDI finale to prove a point) while Gwen was distant and held grudges and struggled to make her feelings clear. This took their feelings to a logical conclusion. I've seen teenagers become clingy and jealous and fret like that, and avoid making their feelings clear -- I've been that teenager. The problem was the attempted retcon where Harold knows about Trent's OCD when Trent's change in behavior could've been better explained by being under stress (stress can trigger repressed OCD symptoms), and the fact they framed the condition as a joke. But them not communicating isn't OOC given the Heather thing in TDI was also moronic for them to both believe. They're dumb teens with different views on what a relationship entails and their breakup and the subsequent fallout is realistic.
Sky was into Dave, she just struggled to explain it. Honestly that plot is forgettable at best to me so I can't even get angry like some people do about it.
Scott and Courtney was just a bad idea because they didn't really set up what Courtney liked about Scott other than "he's so smelly Gwen won't take him from me" which is... sad. Them breaking up is a relief, if only it wasn't written in such a stupid, stupid way.
That one line about Scottney was genuine proof she really missed Duncan was just looking for someone like him.
Honestly I wish they leaned into that. Scott and Courtney's plot felt totally detached from their characters, with things happening to them rather than because of who they are. I'd've rather they just let Courtney focus on the Gwen stuff, even though that plot is also full of flaws.
THANK YOU for this post. I’m so so so tired of genwunners acting like Gwent and duncney breaking up is the absolute end of the world when teenagers breaking up and moving on to new relationships is very realistic; in fact what’s unrealistic is the majority of teen relationships lasting more than a couple years maximum. Obviously there’s exceptions (ships like zoke and samkota are probably still together as adults) but this is a show about teenagers, not mature adults who know how to handle serious longterm relationships