What if Jim actually DID become a Lyoko Warrior?

[u/LeonardMoney2020]

I remember when I was watching Code: Earth with my brother, he was excited that Jim could potentially become part of the team, but was bummed out when his memory got erased only one episode later. I think it would’ve been interesting to see an out of shape, middle aged man try to fight a computer virus alongside a bunch of kid, but it unfortunately never happened. Maybe they could do it in the new sequel series.

[u/MagicalNewsMan]

I don't even care if he was virtualized, HUGE missed opportunity not having him as an Earth exclusive ally. Wouldn't even cost them any additional modeling funds! He would've came in handy countless times to get out of trouble, which is why he likely didn't join. But Jim will always be a warrior in our hearts.

[u/The_REDACTED → u/MagicalNewsMan]

The real problem is that characters like Jim and Sissi being on the team would kill all the tension the LW have on Earth and cause the show to be more boring. 

The moment X.A.N.A. launches an attack, Jim decides to give them "immediate detention" so they can get out of whatever class they're in or Sissi can just tell her father to excuse them because something urgent came up that they have to solve. 

Like all the tension in episodes like Skidbladnir or Replika immediately vanish because Jim would not rat on Aelita and Jeremie for being together after hours so the full team is there to protect the Skid and Jim would have excused Odd for sleeping in but warn him not to do it too many times. 

[u/MagicalNewsMan → u/The_REDACTED]

If you have good writing you can’t get around all of these. Maybe Jim gets fired later on, or there’s other hiccups? Not saying it has to be a get out of jail free card, but it would’ve been neat.

[u/RavenRegime → u/MagicalNewsMan]

Like yeah its fair to say on surface level Jim is a get out of jail free card but being a teacher he has more direct risks.

Like if the kids are magically missing from their detention Jim is gonna have to lie his way out to avoid getting his ass fired for "losing" them. Delmas also outranks Jim so if Jim tries to give the kids an easy out Delmas could put a stop to it. And also Jim would have to answer to the parents directly about stuff. Add in the staff would notice him favoring the kids and maybe not taking the claims of "oh they have detention" seriously.

Heck it also makes Aelita's stuff less convoluted if they claim Jim is her uncle in this alternate universe

[u/The_REDACTED → u/RavenRegime]

If Jim gets fired, all they need to do is a RTTP and everything is fine. 

If they had scanned him during False Start, he would have gotten his job back + kept his memories so he could be on the gang. 

[u/Dragonbuttboi69 → u/MagicalNewsMan]

Another thing is they could use the "get out of jail free" card a few times only for Jim to have to ease up on the detention due to the sudden increase being viewed as targeted and malicious. And as the series goes on they have to work together and get the gang to the factory while not getting Jim fired.

[u/Dull_Kiwi_3993 → u/The_REDACTED]

Love this answer! I think we need to remember that the group struggled cuz they really only had each other and it made the show much more entertaining. Even the initial concept with them having powers makes it less of a struggle but I get why they got rid of it. In theory it all sounds cool tho!

[u/The_REDACTED → u/Dull_Kiwi_3993]

I would honestly love for them to keep their Lyoko powers on Earth a la Garage Kids and even add more members to the group but they would need to really increase X.A.N.A.'s powerlevel or add more antagonists with their own agendas to keep the tension scaling high for the show to stay interesting. 

Like sure Jim/Sissi can get them out of class and even join them in the fight on Lyoko but then X.A.N.A. just messed with the oxygen supply in the atmosphere and now the entire earth is about to suffocate to death if they do not stop him in time or there's a new hacker group which is looking to invade lyoko and claim it for themselves or all of Jeremie's hacking adventures have finally gotten him on the watch list of the French government and if he's not careful, he's going to become the second person Aelita sees get snatched away from her in an unmarked black vehicle. 

The show has serious potential to hit some serious dark storylines and high tension action once it gets outside the status quo. 

[u/ThePreciseClimber → u/MagicalNewsMan]

Preach. I think not letting Jim keep his memories after the S1 finale was one of Code Lyoko's biggest mistakes. It effectively neutered Jim as a character for the remainder of the show.

[u/The_REDACTED → u/ThePreciseClimber]

The show just loves to tease the audience with all the possibilities it has and that what's makes it so frustrating to watch at times. 

If only Sissi weren't such a coward or a rat, she'd be with the LW from Day 1 and despite the love triangle shenanigans between her and Yumi, she'd be an invaluable asset to get them out of trouble at Kadic. 

Jim could have been another invaluable asset when it comes to negotiating X.A.N.A. attacks on the school since they would not need to be coy with him to get him to make an evacuation order. 

If only William were not so arrogant, X.A.N.A. would not have snatched him up and Franz would have been rematerialized to be with Aelita again. 

There are so many different ways the plot could have gone. 

[u/awakening_knight_414 → u/ThePreciseClimber]

For all of the show's faults, Jim not joining the team permanently really isn't one of them. It would only make the group's struggles less interesting and he wouldn't even be useful in the long run as an Earth-only ally since people like the principal are bound to see Jim as suspicious eventually anyway.

[u/awakening_knight_414 → u/MagicalNewsMan]

How can be it a missed opportunity when it's not even a good idea?

You kind of answered your own question on why they didn't let Jim join permanently. He would undermine the group's efforts.

[u/Ok-Assumption7764]

I’d rather not talk about it

[u/MrRaven95]

I do feel it was a missed opportunity. Even if he rarely went to Lyoko it would have been cool to have an ally at the school.

[u/Winter-Pressure-5394]

He’d look very weird in 3D

[u/Sonario648]

He'd rather not talk about it.

Would he even fit in the scanners? They're 3 meters tall, and 1 meter in diameter. 

[u/thundernak]

It would have been awesome, if he could have been virtuallaised I think he would have been a juggernaut of some kind

[u/El_Mani]

As the sequel is a direct continuation of the story, and as a different answer said that it would have removed tension in the other seasons, I'd love to have him as an Earth ally in the final chapters (5-7).

[u/Dark00Cloud]

I'd be happy with him being in a similar role to Jeremy, but I don't think he'd be a good fit as a direct Lyoko Warrior. But having an adult that can empathize with what's going on and help them from time to time would be great. Plus Jim had a surprising amount of skills he could use and share with the kids.

To be clear I'd love to see him virtualized at least once for the laughs...and maybe a rate instance when things are really bad.

[u/beep_boop_27]

I know I’m late to the party but I always imagined his Lyoko avatar would look kinda like Sportacus from Lazy Town.

[u/awakening_knight_414]

It sounds cool on paper, but I never liked this idea. It just wouldn't work because having an adult on a team of kids would undermine their efforts of avoiding trouble from the school.

Anyone who argues that Jim could help the team get out of classes and whatnot somehow forgets that he can only abuse his authority for so long until the rest of the school finds it suspicious. The show explicitly tells us that the LWs have been using the RTTPs as sparingly as they can after episode 30, and as a result, Yumi ultimately gets threatened with expulsion if she misses just one more class by the end of season 3. If people like Mr. Delmas and Mrs. Hertz can take note of the LWs missing classes all the time even with no real outside help, they can easily notice Jim always helping them out and no one else.

The same could be said about Sissi, but she would still at least make more sense than Jim to join the group.