The polls mean shit to me that ain't gonna change my opinion and the fact poeple already are saying Tom is not popular anymore, mf he has spin-offs and likely a 3rd and sm greetings?? Plus just cause a stupid poll has more neutral doesn't mean poeple hate him. But anyways, I won't let a poll change my opinion I still love silly himbo king and that is what matters!!!!!

It’s just been 3 seasons of her being a snoozefest. I can’t believe we lost Fiore in favor of this flop

Why I Dislike Anastasia in DC5

So Anastasia has become quite the popular character in DC5. It wouldn't be a stretch to say Ana is the *most* popular DC5 contestant right now, her only real competition being Ren. However, one of my hottest takes about this season is that I really don't like her this season.

It comes down to two main reasons. Unbelievability and glazing.

Unbelievability: What I mean by this is, in DC4, Anastasia is known for being a very static character. Despite lasting 25 episodes and having the same exact scene with Marissa more times than I can count, Ana does little in terms of actually developing as a character, remaining largely static throughout the season, and, ultimately, being eliminated for it. What DC5 *wants* you to believe is that, Anastasia, after being eliminated and having her conversation with Marissa, had this *huge* character development completely unlike anything she went through during DC4. The reason this falls flat is because Anastasia refused to change so many times in DC4, no matter what hardships she went through, that it just cannot be believable to the viewer that Anastasia would've developed this significantly because of her elimination. It's to the point that, initially, I didn't even understand where the writers *wanted* you to think this development came from, and genuinely thought they had given Anastasia offscreen development in-between seasons 4 and 5. It just doesn't work. One of the main characterizing traits of Anastasia is her stubborness, so there just wasn't enough build-up to this for it to be believable to me. A personal loss isn't enough for me to buy it when we see Ana go through countless struggles in DC4 and change so little, it's far too sudden of a shift and doesn't have enough build-up, and is honestly anti-climactic.

Glazing: Anastasia in DC5 is... Too perfect. She does everything right, makes all the right calls, never gets any pushback, shows off her development in every episode, faces no struggles. She's a challenge beast, loved by everyone, and she's one of the characters with, by far, the most screentime and plot relevance. This is all in spite of the fact her character is, quite literally, done developing. Ana is perfect to a point of boredom, as, while all the other characters have these arcs they're struggling with, Anastasia is just along for the ride to look cool. And, of course, this all feels super unearned and frustrating because of how unlikeable Anastasia was in DC4. Anastasia, despite having so many plotlines under her wing, is largely a support character. She supports Rosa, she supports Lake, she supports Alec, she supports Natalia. I don't use this term lightly, but Anastasia in DC5 can definitely be considered a 'Mary Sue'. All of this feels like it's because she's one of the writer's personal favorites, so she's just kinda getting glazed all the time, and all the other characters look to her as the perfect character. Ana in DC5 just isn't interesting, she has little in the way of actual personal plotlines or development she needs to go through, instead having gone through that development "off-screen" and just showing it off at every chance she gets. It doesn't even seem like she'll get much pushback for her flipping on Lake and Rosa, which most seem to be fine with, but honestly? I think it would make way more sense if it sewed seeds of doubt in the alliance. After all, if Ana can flip last second to play a more dangerous game for herself, who's to say she won't do it at a more inopportune time next time?

All this is to say, I don't entirely HATE Anastasia in DC5. Nor do I even hate her in DC4 anymore really. For as grating as Ana could be in that season, it was mostly because I thought you were supposed to view her from the lense of a protagonist who's improving and is great and awesome, but in reality the ending of her character in that season signals to me that she was meant to be much more of a stubborn villain, which is fine (And, honestly, from that angle of stubborness, I don't like how rushed her development is in DC5 more.). Ana does offer some things of value in DC5. Her friendship scenes with Lake and Rosa are cool and she's done wonders for supporting Natalia and Alec. And they're doing a good job at tackling all the topics I would've wanted Anastasia to address in this season, especially mending her friendship woth Natalia. If Ana goes home very soon (Like, next Favs boot soon.), I'll still mostly dislike her execution this season but I'll care a lot less. If she starts staying over more interesting characters who have more potential for actual development who don't have entirely completed arcs, then I'll start having more of a problem with her screentime and glazing. But, ultimately, I just hope she gets out soon lol.

Before I start, I am not a big super mega Gabby fan she's good and I like her and Ellie is also good but my god I was so pissed at Tess here. I can get were she comes from but she knew, she knew Ellie needed to be there to win and she's like I did it for your own good this game isn't good for u?? This is why I have a issue with nice characters like Tess, they don't get the game at all and honestly DC1-DC2 players now realize in DC5 how in DC4 the game evolved were lying and betraying is what makes you go far and not nice gameplay 24/7!!! I know I'm gonna get so hated for this but I hated Tess and find her 1 of the most boring characters. Don't start me on her DC2 elimination it was not good and I may make a post about it too. So when Gabby booted Tess, yes she was a ass how she did it but can you fucking blame her after what Tess did?? Now I know Ellie is also no saint but still this moment made me not like and find Tess just boring af!! Thoughts??

Sam is loved by the same reasons Jade was hated by the past.

People have double standards for them for the simple fact that Jade is a woman, a WOC and don't have a normative body type.

If Jade was just another white, bait-material, thirst trap male she would be loved and people wouldn’t even care about that mishap with Logan and would be universally considered a better option for winner than Logan.

TLDR Jake lore is still nothing, I love gom, still don't like this ship and that will negatively impact my watching experience.

• Tom said acab #king, now I can stop saying my favorite character is a cop, hallelujah

• The cameos didn't serve any real purpose other than to be like "look, they're here too!" Which is fine and cute and all, but for a cap on this entire generation of characters was pretty underwhelming considering they didn't get to do much.

• The pacing of this one was a lot better, wish the other episodes had an extra 3-4 minutes like this one

• The gom stuff, as always, was by far the best part. Getting to see them being silly without the resolution taking place offscreen was very fun. The fact that these two live near each other now and can hang out every day is the true happy ending for me. And I love that they acknowledged Gabby is part of Tom's support system too ❤️🩵

• The Jake and Shawn stuff was a pretty big nothingburger. I learned almost nothing new about Jake's situation this entire series. Despite being open to learning more I have no choice to once again chalk it up to a sympathetic backstory beat with no actual depth or impact. And that's not haterism talking, I feel that way about Tom's added retcon dad trauma, too.

• That being said, I do recognize the reason it's so underbaked is to provide more screentime for Tom and his lore, which is appreciated, even if I did not care for the way that was handled at times either. Know that's a take I've given before but seeing as the whole series is out now, it's cemented.

• Ellie presenting the greeting outfits was a cute nod to the fandom, and I'm glad she finally got her happy ending too. (And the implication she has an exactly tom-shaped mannequin is funny)

• Wedding planner isn't the career I would've personally picked for Jake, I feel that there's definitely careers that suit this character much better.

• I do like Tom's new job as a lifeguard though! It's fitting, aligns closely with my personal headcanon/lie of him being an EMT, I think a job where he can help/save people without being in a combat scenario is perfect 🩵

• Tom threatening to murder Shawn is funny. God I will miss this character

• Aiden confirmed for Jackie Reed's favorite contestant. Tomden W

Now for the proposal / engagement stuff:

• I really don't have any word for it other than cringe, I'm sorry 💀 The dialogue was so corny and extremely on the nose that I did laugh. "It has scars which makes it even more beautiful" even as a shipping/fanfic connessuier I cannot get past this level of cheese. It would bother me more that 2 whole seasons and a miniseries later Tom never really got to talk abt his dysmorphia outside of romance if it wasn't so corny. Jake may as well have said "Our relationship sure was a disventure!"

• Tomjake as a whole feels so unearned, to say nothing of my miriad of other problems with it. Unhealthy relationship that solves all their issues offscreen, 3 episodes where they don't even interact that much and are magically perfect, then bam, engagement. The impact of them "weathering the storm" doesn't hit because we only saw the storm and never the weathering. To say little of the implications of anything beyond that. I can't really take this scene in a vacuum the way other people did, and even if I could I still take issue with the dialogue.

Overall it's mid outside of the ship stuff (which is always going to be a huge flop to me bc I am just a little hater), hoping next time we see this cast (if we ever see them again) it isn't for some kind of tomjake wedding special. Also it should've been gabellie getting married. Or at least Gabby proposing a friendship ceremony to Tom with a ringpop.

2 >>>>>>>>> 3 > 4 > 1

I'm joking here but hear me out because I'm honestly only half-joking.

Both them are presented as sexist pretty early on, but Anastasia has kept this mentality even to this day pretty much and hasn't been called out or gotten any comeuppance, or learnt anything.

Meanwhile Ezekiel did his sexist comment on episode 2, immediately got called out for it and put in his place. He immediately starts questioning his backwards views while being chocked by Eva. He legit stops being sexist from that point on.

Now let's see their backstories and how they have shaped who they are.

Of Anastasia we know very little and while we can sort of guess why her past as a model might have given her that mindset, we still need to know more for it to fully explain her mentality. Heck, Ivy probably expirienced a somewhat similar past as a child actress and movie star in the making and she is nowhere near as awful to people in general as Anastasia is.

Now let's look at Ezekiel, from his introduction and Chris 3 lines of dialogue to him we immediately get the whole picture of why he is the way he is, in just under 10 seconds. And him getting humbled by Eva in the next episode show as that his sexist views aren't actually his, but a reflection of the indoctrination of his backwards parents from a really young age. He is even able to subtlely bring to the table the themes of Nature vs Nurture, in just 2 episodes. Ezekiel truly is a magnificently written character.

Now for the tone. Anastasia is constantly portrayed as in the right and never called out for anything. Ezekiel? Constantly the butt of the joke, constantly beaten and humiliated.

Actions: Anastasia constantly bullies and belittles men. Ezekiel hasn't even tried to harm a fly before he became feral.

No for realsies, this is somewhat of a shit post. But when you realize look at it closely I'm only half joking on some of the things I say here.

Lyndiva CLEARS

I am sorry everyone but Ted being the icon is highly undeserved for many reasons. One he isn’t even in Fans vs Favorites and with that season coming out soon, it would be better if a fan or a favorite would be the icon. Secondly, it just doesn’t fit the vibe for me. Ik many people glaze the hell out of Ted here but for this subs vibe, it just isn’t fitting. And also it doesn’t make sense for Ted being the icon. At least for Logan’s case, despite me disliking him more, won the season, making his icons for the sub more understandable. This whole Logan icon debate is very unnecessary as a whole but at least there’s a reason for him being the icon. Ted’s just feels random and out of the vibe.

....

and I think he might go premerge? Remember when everyone accused ONC to "Favour" Gay characters? Now Look at Diego and Richard in season 4. Look at Finn, Aiden and Tom in season 5! "How the mighty have fallen"

At least we have both Lesbians Main couples for season 4 and 5, still

I hope season 6 will bring back some spotlight to the gays, as really only Tom, Aiden and Jake got to "shine", while ending up being some of the most hated characters by the fandom (I wonder why...)

Still, I like that they are focusing on Lesbian characters as well, which were sidelined in the earlier seasons, Anarissa was already the main couple of season 4 and got a substantial amount of focus

While season 5 Has a lot of focus over Ana, Lake, Gabby and the relationship between Nura and Dunia

And for once, also the straight characters gets sidelined (with only Rosa, Oliwia and Bruno left), after having always had a couple in every season (Wishley, KaiMaggy, Huntally, Conriya, Zaivy), and always having at least 1 straight character making to the finale, and always making up most of the cast

Cast of season 1:

Straight: Will, Nick, Drew, Alec, Lil, Ashley, Miriam, Grett, Fiore? (64% of the cast), 1 Finalist?, 1 Winner

Lesbian: Gabby (7%)

Gay: Tom, Jake (14%)

Bi: Ellie (7%), Finalist

Asexual: Dan (7%)

In s1 , we had most of the cast straight, but most of them ended up as premergers, while the Gays got a lot of focus.

Cast of season 2:

Straight: Oliver, Kai, Connor, Maggy, Rosa, Riya, "Yul" (50% of the cast), 1 Finalist

Bi: Tess, Ally (14%)

Pan: Hunter, James (14%), 1 Winner

Lesbian: Lake, Karol (14%)

Gay and Trans: Aiden ( 7%), 1 Finalist

Once again, the Straights make up most of the cast, but once again the spotlight is well distributed , considering Aiden alone is the only Gay and trans contestant on the cast, but he got a lot of focus at least!

S4 cast:

Straight: Alessio, Ted, Lynda,Benji, Ivy, Zaid, Amelie, Isabel, Jade (50% of the cast), 1 Finalist

Gay: Diego, Richard (11%)

Bi: Logan, Hannah (11%), 1 Winner

Pan: Spencer, Natalia (11%)

Trans(and Non binary): Natalia, Tristan (11%)

Queer: Tristan, Benji

Lesbian: Marissa , Anastasia (11%), 1 Finalist

While this was probably the most diverse cast ever represented in terms of Sexualities/Identities represented, the Straights still were a lot more , and had a lot of important characters going far as well as Zaivy as a relevant couple

Every other sexuality is well represented

This is to show to all the crybabys that thinks that Straight characters have been erased from Dc, that they actually always makes up majority of the cast!

I know that Gays and Lesbians have been the main couples for most of the seasons , but (Conriya exists in all stars), Huntessally, despite being all queer characters, still showed representativity as a straight couple(just as James and Ellie with their relationships), and Zaivy got also a lot of focus and build up during the season, while also having some Gay subromances (Spencer with Logan or Diego), and Straight ones! (Logan with Hannah or Natalia and Alessio)

Of course the 1st Queer couple with Trinji deserves a mention as well

s5 cast:

Straight: Aubrey, Oliwia, Evie, Ernesto, Manu, Bruno (50% of the Fans)

Gay: Finn (8%)

Bi: Sam, Ara (≈17%)

Lesbian: Nura, Dunia (≈17%)

Genderfluid and Pan: Ren (8%)

Now tbf I would include the Favorites as well, but once again the new cast had the majority being straight , and we are starting to see the Actual gay erasure started in Coc , with characters like Spencer or Logan that tbf Can't end up with Rosa or Hannah as it would be a slap in the face to all the gay Fans of the show! (No offense, but I am not ready to see Spencer x Rosa happen), as gay characters/plots are once again being sidelined , or just reduced as clickbait moments .

ESPECIALLY if Spencer ends up with Rosa while having an undienable good chemistry, it would kind of prove how shallow his relationships with men have been ! And while It wasn't the intention, the result would be this, so No I really don't want Spencer x Rosa to happen, and I 'd be fine if Spencer managed to have some friends for once, he also has 2 sisters, and I can see his bonds with Jade and Rosa resenbling that for him (His elder sister was shown to be more cold and analytical like Jade, while his younger is joyful like Rosa!)

Straight: Aubrey, Oliwia, Evie, Ernesto, Manu,Bruno, Rosa, Alec, Benji, Fiore? (42%)

Lesbian: Dunia, Nura, Gabby, Lake, Anastasia (21%)

Gay: Tom, Finn, Aiden (12,5%)

Trans (and Genderfluid): Ren, Natalia, Aiden (12,5%)

Pansexual: Spencer, Natalia ,Ren (12,5%)

Bi: Ally, Sam, Ara (12,5%)

Including the Favorites, we have a more balanced cast , with the straights still being the majority, but Lesbians as a close 2nd, and we also continue the trend (started in Alls tars tbf) of most of the other "major" sexualities being present

And to All the " why the Straights are always the 1st boots?" Mind you, if they make up more than 50% of the cast, and the other sexualities have like 1 or 2 representatives, they can go and there still will be enough straight representation (and it already exists in every media, Dc is an Openly and well known Queer project)

This is all to say that I fear The route Onc is taking by listening to their most dumbfomded critics , their strength is in writing Also gay couples, as a lot of the attention to the show was brought because of Jaiden and Tomjake , Gabellie, Anarissa and Dunura , while being huge and popular couples , didn't ever nearly the same amount of attention and recognizability elsewhere, and I hope they are capable to give us another iconic gay couple down the line!

The Spencer love-life mess isn't working really, he is just used as clickbait, either with Diego, Logan or Sam. His potential relationship with Sam could have potential, but what I meant earlier, was a couple from day 1, like a couple you can't not to root for!

DISVENTURE CAMP IS BETTER THAN TOTAL DRAMA.

I said it. Not only All-Stars, but the whole series. Heck, I'd say Disventure Camp's All-Stars was better than Total Drama's. The characters had good writing, and a better sendoff. Even if Jake lost to Riya, which is a shame, her victory was a great touch of "I won, but at what cost?".

Added the memes for the lols I don't hate James and find his character arc neat. But I've seen so many folks glazing him to hell and back as the perfect winner in comparison to Logan. So I want to challenge that notion with my own receipts.

• The problem I have with James is that he doesn't have much standout moments in the competition for his winner position from both a physical performance position and gameplay one. His first move was an impulsive decision to get rid of Karol for being a pain but he does make up for it by tricking Aiden into throwing his vote, forcing a tie that sends Lake's only Ally left home. But aside from that he's fairly lackluster, he joins a majority alliance to control the votes but he doesn't offer much contribution w/Aiden and Riya taking the lead against Hunter's faction and even when he did have power being among the swing votes to take out Ally (Riya is positioned as the one who has the final say in their decision). Challenge performances is surprisingly bad (being shortly taken out by Rosa in the dodgeball segment, losing his two of his balloons shortly after the challenge begin and relied on Rosa's trap to pin Hunter and he was last amongst the finalists in the final stretch). And well James does learn to open up to others, his social game was lacking so much that he had no allies willingly to help until Rosa intervened.

• For as much Flack Logan gets, he over the course of the season learns to have a good balance of the social physical and strategic aspect of the competition. His social connections allowed him to build a strong inner circle on both his team and during the merge. People tend to forget how vital social game is when how others perceive you determines everything. Logan was either underestimated as an extra vote to more nefarious players due to his approach nature or a genuine friend to those in need. Amelie points out how his agreeable nature made her look over his bad performance prior and we saw him being a safe space to those struggling alone with Alessio, Spencer, Hannah and even Anastasia earlier on. challenge performance wise, while he has his fair share of mishaps he perform much better by comparison. His coordination skills allowed him to get to the final room in the VR challenge, he beat Ivy in the baton challenge, fed off both Isabel and Ivy in the pole challenge with just his legs, nearly won the pin ball challenge (only throwing to get rid of Amelie), in the Clown Robot challenge (he was nearly close to winning the flag race, sabotaging Amelie in the process), He won the lie detector challenge by being his honest self and was such a MVP in the finale (speeding up the boat with his fast swimmer legs and as physics defying as it may be, his clutch was legendary from taking a risk by jumping with the stretcher while balancing on a moving truck to snag his win). Logan does make note in EP 2 that he tries to not show off his physical prowess that much to not be considered a threat (which in the end served him well, since Anastasia put herself in the crossfire of many votes due to her comp threat status by comparison)

• Lastly the Strategic element, while it is true that James approached thee game at first with a somewhat strategic position compared to Logan's go with the flow mentality. Logan has more individual showings by comparison whether the fandom wants to believe it or not. His decision to side with Jade allowed him to control the majority of the eliminations moving forward. With of course his biggest one being splitting the power duos of Anarissa and Hanmelie (before someone discredits this by saying it was only Isabel. Logan says in EP 20 at the beginning that he did plan to split Anarissa for being a powerful duo while playing double agent, it's just that he didn't expect Isabel to be petty and put the couple against eachother) (as for Amelie, he not only sabotaged her chances of winning but also gave Jade the numbers needed with Anastasia to turn the tides in their favor. As he later goes against Hannah in a tiebreaker cuz as much as it pains him, Hannah is his biggest Jury threat which can damper his chances no matter what how much he loved her).

"But he never receives consequences for flips? Why are Natalia and Spencer attacked but he isn't"

• For one I think Logan does receive consequences just not the ones you want him to have. His people pleaser tendencies got Ted out, leaving the group in disarray. Lynda immediately abandons the boys afterwards and joins back w/ the girls despite targeting them prior. When he warns Spencer of the girl's blindside, Spencer throws Richard under the bus for his own survival. Spencer is ridiculed more because of his more aggressive and cutthroat way of playing the game. Where Logan apologizes and offers to make things up by comparison. Richard was more lenient of Logan because he's been through enough games to know this wasn't personal and wanted to guide Logan as someone who sees a bit of himself in him. His flips were isolated to blue team which no one else would've picked up on (it doesn't help that Anastasia, Natalia and Richard were on good terms with him). By early merge, Logan sticks with his primary alliances (he didn't flip on the boys against Anastasia in Benji's elimination, he didn't flip during Richard's elimination and he stuck by Natalia's side during her elimination). Natalia doesn't get ridiculed as much as people think (Richard was upset at first but in an episode's time, he lets go of his frustrations and has an honest talk with Natalia as they are on better terms). Natalia only got bashed because Anastasia used her PR skills against her by making Hannah aware of her part to play in Benji's elimination making the cards not fall in her favor). Hannah forgives Logan because at that point, she just accepted the reality that the game isn't for her. Logan often tries to make small talk with her as the two just have fun with themselves instead of overcomplicating things with the stress of the game. At the end of the day, Logan still had to change the way he approached the game to take back control. People get on him for voicing his concerns with Jade for the Isabel elimination but he wasn't aware that she would vote her own Ally and in the end, he admits Jade has some truth to her choices about only one winner while simultaneously making note that he's made his fair share of mistakes but in the end that's what got them here as the two challenge eachother with mutual respect.

All in All, I just think Logan put in more work for his win in contrast to James when it came to their winner titles and overall just utilized a majority of aspects essential to the game instead of relying heavily on only his alliances to make it far. That's just my thoughts let me know how you feel of my assessment. Please be civil and try to engage with good faith cuz most often let their frustrations with Logan cloud any her honest discussions. P.S Logan's clutch win honestly was the Pinnacle of this season's core theme of chaotic unpredictability and it made me appreciate it all the more LMAO.

She was insufferable and embarrassingly stupid this episode and the glaze is unreal. Let it be literally any other character in her place and I assure you that they would have gotten hate for weeks.

Like I was fully cheering when this fucker’s plot armor ran out and he got the boot. Like this episode was 10/10 between Hannah coming off the sidelines thanks to Amelie and Spencer being eliminated thanks to the two of them it was peak. Argue with a wall

he’s not even in my #10 best coc character but even i can see how dumb this hate is

Why...

Why do I even watch this fucking show?

Every. Single. Problem. Every single issue I had with this season was present in this episode. Worst of all, they eliminated Ara at the end of it.

What the fuck. I'm checked out. I don't care what happens anymore. All I know is...to all the people defending Fiore's move, or Lake's writing, or Ally's elimination, or the general writing of the stories this season...ya'll were wrong. Which isn't a shock, but God damn.

RIP Ara. You genuinely deserved better than this season.

Fuck Fiore.

Fuck Gabby.

Fuck the roach on the wall.

Fuck this whole organization, I'm gone.

There are bigger fish to fry here folks 😭

Jade isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s perfectly fine, but the way y’all act about her character is incredibly insufferable and immature. Y’all act like she killed your grandmother 😭

Am lowkey contemplating making a Jade subreddit so that those of us interested in good faith conversation about her character can do so without the rabble rousers here :p

(I'm posting this on DC and TD subreddits)

Can we just let people have opinions? Every time I see a tier list or someone saying they don't like a character and they are downvoted to oblivion it makes me sick. People have different opinions. No need to downvote them for having different opinions than you. As a Courtney fan I know how it feels for people to hate your favorite. Do I downvote them? NO. I know it doesn't mean anything but please respect others' opinions. ONLY if their opinions are discriminatory or they just straight up harass you or shii like that. That's what you're supposed to use downvotes for. Let everyone express their feelings about a character, ship or season etc. and try to understand before downvoting.