User blog:Epic~00/Total Drama Amazonian Nightmare Contestants First Impressions - Week 2

Wow. What an explosive week this has been. After one predictable elimination, it was followed by two characters who were merge material. The season continues to mostly be a solid one, though I'm moreso calling it not amazing or bad but that is solid the whole way through. This week, and the subequent weeks after, I'm adding some things on. Firstly, I'm analyzing how the teams altogether have fared, and I will also talk about the eliminated contestants. Since I didn't talk about the ones eliminated in the first three episodes, there'll be a lot to talk about. This week characters from before have changed massively and it's time to see whether they have improved or not.

Fortaleza
 Amy 

For someone who is definitely Top 5 material for me, Amy slightly decreased in quality. She had a little less lines than usual, some of which aren't too impactful. But I think she makes up for this with the potential that she shows. I like her sorta friendship with Courtney that has dozens of possibilities of how it'll go. Amy & Jo deserves to be a conflict that should last to at least the merge, and I think she could bounce off her team well in future.

Rating: 7/10

 Courtney 

Courtney continues to be absolutely fantastic. She is definitely one of my favorites of this season at the moment. This is by far my favorite season of Courtney's. She has expanded a conflict with Jo which in and of it self is fantastic because they're similar and yet opposite in many ways, her respect for Amy is pleasant to watch, and she's a real strategic player who has a lot to give.

Rating: 8.5/10

 Dakota 

Dakota is just kind of there. She has no plot or real major interactions or even any stand-out moments. She needs to show off her personality more to make her akin to her canon self. She should be inadvertedly insulting others looks, acting up to the cameras about how great she is, hasn't interacted in the slightest with Sam for SIX episodes, and doesn't bounce off many teammates.

Rating: 6/10

 Jo 

If Jo goes early, this season will be completely ruined. That's how high of a standard I have for Jo. There's nothing really inherently wrong with her. As a big fan of Canon Jo, I'm drawn to a Jo that acts completely in-character. She's had at least one funny and/or interesting moment with all of her teammates and I really think that out of every character, she has one of the best story arcs of the season that I hope gets completed properly. She's just the soul that I think makes Fortaleza as enjoyable as it is. She leads them, she fights with them, she managess to befriend some of them, and she makes an impact whenever on screen.

Rating: 10/10

 Lightning 

Lightning won't go down in history as one of the best in AN. And even though he had much less lines than usual, for the ones he said, they were pretty lively and got me excited. The reason I like canon Lightning is that he can really make the most of a situation no matter what he says. It's no different here as he's the energy of his team. Granted he needs a plot and I hope he interacts with Jo more often but otherwise, he's okay.

Rating: 7/10

 Rodney 

Rodney thankfully really improved. Sure he still suffers from not interacting with his girlfriend Dawn for SIX episodes, which is an issue cause I'm still wondering how they act as a relationship. Besides that though, he's a little bit better. I like his interaction with Jo and I think he's still continuing from where he left in BIA. The Jo plot keeps me guessing on how it will go and I hope Dawn ends up getting involved to improve Rodney more. Overall he's gotten better.

Rating: 7/10

Team Rating: 45.5/60

Unidade
 Dave 

Dave is one of the only contestants to stay at the quality he has. His dismissiveness towards Sky his hilarious (though it would be more in-character for him to completely lash out at her), and he reacts much more to dirtier things. However, the gamer storyline really confuses me. There's no backstory or build-up to it and I don't think Dave would like something that involves sweating your fingers. It's slightly OOC. Granted all that's missing is a solid plot and him releasing his anger tantrums more often but otherwise, he's pretty harmless.

Rating: 6/10

 Sam 

I'm sorry but Sam just annoys me this season. There's no plot to him or real major interaction that develops him and a lot of his lines are sort of stereotyping him into someone who relates EVERYTHING to video games. He doesn't talk about video games this often. He hasn't interacted with Dakota at all after SIX episodes and after the mark he left on BIA, this is really dissapointing. Sam doesn't need to be happy all the time. He needs a conflict to balance himself out and a one-sided one like Dave doesn't count because Sam isn't genuinely annoyed by Dave. When Sam gets an asssortment of emotions towards different people, that's when depth happens. He is not really memorable on Unidade and he needs to make up for this as soon as possible.

Rating: 4/10

 Shawn 

Shawn is the biggest improvement this week by far. He is not quiet in the slightest and his zombie reactions help the team more. He's useful to them too and even though he lacks an actual plot, he makes up for this with his loud lines that make him stand-out much better than most of the team. He's still not one of the best since he doesn't look like someone developing or getting a plot but for what he does, he does well. AN Shawn is pretty underrated.

Rating: 7/10

 Sky 

Sky continues to be interesting with her complete disobedience to the team and doing her own thing. It's completely unpredictable what she could possibly do in challenges and I like the rebel side to her. Sky being nice to most of her team does give me an awkward Killer Beaver-vibe, but I think she made up for this with her only conflict... which is shortlived. To be completely honest, Jasmine's elimination has really screwed Sky over. She's doomed to have to create a now forced conflict. And who could it possibly be with on her team? She has been regularly seen working alongside Zoey and Sam and has mixed thoughts on Dave, while she already has an established friendship with Shawn in the canon. I don't really have high expectations for her next week.

Rating: 7/10

 Zoey 

Zoey is one of the only contestants to have completely different pros and cons to her. I liked her taking on a leadership role and ding it better than Jasmine forcefully did in both this season and PI. Her friendship with Jasmine looked like it was going somewhere. However, once Zoey voted off Jasmine, it came off as pretty OOC. There was no real established reason for Zoey to vote Jasmine. She just kind of did it. Unless there's an explanation, this is a problem Zoey suffered from. Her development also kind of confuses me. I don't really know where her character is going or if there's really any backstory to her.

Rating: 6.5/10

Final Team Rating: 30.5/50

Vontande
 Dawn 

Dawn is pretty great. She's stayed consistent with how she has been in the previous week and her occasional vegetarian and peace complaints are pretty funny. She could really head in a great direction. However, TrentFan needs to stop being so lazy and actually roleplay for once. I think Dawn should be a late pre-merge out because even though she's fantastic I think about around 10-12 episodes is development by her enough. I definitely disapprove of any potential conflict with Harold for a multitude of reasons however, so Dawn could be at any quality the following week.

Rating: 7.5/10

 Harold 

I think X took all the criticism towards him on board. He has really improved Harold even if Harold still really isn't one of my favorites. He has some absolutely hilarious moments, like when he grabs a Leshawna photo in a flood, and he is definitely on the right team, one full of oddballs. He could be gone soon but if he does go, hopefully it is on a high note.

Rating: 7/10

 Leonard 

Leonard is a krazy kat. He's probably the most unpredictable contestant in the whole cast. He could be randomly burning down shelters or making horrible fake spells. He has an unexperienced yet enjoyable strategic edge to him. Based on the direction he's going I expect great things from Leonard.

Rating: 8/10

 Sierra 

Sierra is played perfectly by Russel. I really think he has been one of our best newcomers to date in terms of roleplaying. Her lines are really long so there's definitely a lot of work put into her. Genuine time and effort was taken into account with her. She does need a plot to her to reach the top, but she's still an absolute pleasure.

Rating: 8.5/10

Final Team Rating: 31/40

Fortaleza
As a whole, Fortaleza are my favorite team of the season. They're full of anger, friendship, or a bit of both. Anything really happens on the team and it's home to my favorite characters of the season. They're definitely going to stay my favorites of the season and are a run-in for one of the best teams overall. In a way, I'll be pretty dissapointed next time they lose to be completely honest.

Unidade
Unidade are not good. I know I jumped on their defense a while ago, but since their forceful leader is gone, they're all boring friends and remind me of the Killer Beavers, though I do think they're overhated, because none of the members as individuals are bad. Welly planned to make Zoey snap on all the fighting which I was really excited for but with Jasmine gone that is definitely happening. I really hope Unidade go on a losing streak because they don't really have many fans or are really that interesting and whenever the team tries to be, it's a bit OOC.

Vontande
Vontande may be down to small numbers, but I have respect for all 4 members. The appeal in Vontande lies in the members themselves. All of them are pretty crazy or unique in one way or another so they're one of the most diverse teams in RP history. They could be the underdog team like the Unicorns which I definitely hope for. I look forward to them in future.

Topher


Topher left first in an explosive early blindside. I was personally pretty shocked. Topher seemed like a big personality on Vontande. Sure he was slightly OOC but I think it was only around the level of Justin so Topher was pretty harmless. If he does end up returning, I hope he shows off more of his personality rather than this sudden strategic edge.

Rating: 6.5/10

Sugar


Sugar should've probably lasted longer. She was eliminated for more behind-the-scenes reasons. Had she stayed though, Unidade would've been 100x more interesting. It is a shame she isn't returning but at least it gives me some high expectations for her in HvV. She was absolutely hilarious in RI anyways and in her episodes too. Her lines had a staying factor to them.

Rating: 7.5/10

Brick


Brick is a difficult case to talk about. Even though he's massively OOC, he's a real guilty pleasure and is very quotable. He pees his plants, misses Samey, and Sugar is his bae. If he gets an explantion for his weirdness I would actually call this my favorite season of Brick's. His spread of fans and haters is similar to the insane version of Dave. I won't know what he'll do next though.

Rating: 7/10

Ezekiel


Ezekiel really didn't impress me. There was no plot or proper interactions or any real entertaining quirks to him. His dialogue is mostly composed of phoning himself into other people's situations. He either bores me or annoys me. I sometimes forget he was even in this season.

Rating: 3/10

Jasmine


Jaskwine was robbed of course. But I will be completely honest and say she wasn't as fantastic as her first week as she had a little less lines. But I still really enjoyed playing her. Her forcefulness and commandeering edge to her team was a sight to behold. I loved her conflcit with Sky as it was completely logical and both were as bad as each other. She had the potential for a season long arc but the fact that she goes so early does hinder her a bit. I'll be shocked if I return, but if I do, I'm looking forward to what she brings.

Rating: 8/10

Beardo


Even though Beardo speaking English with ease was slightly OOC, I saw some great potential in him. He impressed me for what he gave and even though he was blindsided, he had a pretty good time to develop in one episode before leaving, similar to ATW Staci.

Rating: 7.5/10

That's it for this week. Join me next week for the next three episodes that are 100% guaranteed not to be as good as the first few episodes. Bye.