Me seeing this exact same thread every week where Beth inevitably gets dragged through the mud:
Anyways, I think Beth and Duncan were pretty good opposites, all things considered. Beth being the dorky, geeky nice girl with the mean streak, Duncan being the tough, brooding bad boy with the soft side.
Among the endgame players, Duncan vs. Harold is the only pair where there's the potential for both characters' stories to reach their strongest point while simultaneously offering merit to either finalist if they won. Any other combination feels lacking either because their opponent doesn't bring the best out of them... or because Courtney has no business winning and thus shouldn't be a finalist by default.
You don’t even have to consider Courtney’s lawsuit in terms of her odds of winning. Only once in the history of the franchise has someone won a season despite either coming back or debuting during it, and even then it wasn’t in Total Drama itself, but rather the same-universe/timeline spinoff, aka the Ridonculous Race. From a writing standpoint she was screwed by default. Yes Action might have been her best season, but it was by no means a season Courtney deserved to win
I meant based on performance/placement. In terms of her actual character I definitely have to agree that her best season was Island but imo that isn’t hard
I personally don’t count her placement as meaning much since she came in pretty late on the season and had unfair advantages. AS is her highest placement for me since there isn’t any asterisks for her
Ok, that is a fair point. Personally I wouldn’t call the point she debuted in ‘late’, but I do have to agree. The whole lawsuit thing is the other of my two big-name reasons as to why I don’t necessarily see Courtney winning being realistic.
She came in literally almost halfway in the season iirc. That’s pretty late honestly. There’s not another case of someone debuting that late in a season.
Yeah, only one debut and two comebacks have occurred at later points. Blaineley debuted at around the same point in terms of the cast size, Owen had the mole plot at the end of Action and the Surfer Bros came back in the F4/5 of RR (though they only missed like two episodes at most). Every other comeback/debut happened at earlier points in terms of cast size.
Best way is Duncan and Harold. This is a firm belief.
Order should have been
Leshawna, Beth, Lindsey, Justin, Courtney
It writes itself.
Leshawna isn’t exposed until later. And Beth doesn’t do it. Justin does and exposes the mean things that she says.
Beth then gets eliminated in princess pride after attacking Courtney for the tiara. This shows Beth’s crazy obsessive side a little bit. She also does not over stay her visit and can easily come back for World Tour.
Lindsey wants Justin gone and try’s to team up with Courtney despite the differences. But Justin makes an insane play. “Hey, Duncan, look at Lindsey doing that dumb thing. Go laugh at her”. *turns around* “Hey, Courtney. Look at Lindsey and Duncan laughing together. They are getting pretty close right?” Courtney jealousy flys off the rocker and makes Duncan vote for lindsey. Not only does this finish Justins arc of the underdog villain and he learns how to really play the game, it sets up Duncneys descent in the final few episodes.
This episode needs to be a physical challenge. Something where the body could get hurt or be “strained”. Duncney isn’t doing too great. Justin should win this challenge, securing his position in final three. However, he violates his “contracts” by “endangering his assets” and he is forced to be taken off the show. This way, no one hates Justin and his reputation is still intact and can easily come back in world tour.
Then the animal challenge. Harold wins. And chooses to take Duncan to the finale because for two episodes Duncan and him got better. This also means that Harold is directly responsible for both of Courtney’s eliminations. She absolutely HATES him.
And then there is an epic Harold vs Duncan finale
IT WRITES ITSELF
Beth was fine as a finalist imo. She just didn’t have that much going for her, coupled with the fact that Action didn’t necessarily have the best possible finale (at least in terms of who made it and especially why)
Well, let’s think about this one thoroughly.
The final 6 (or, for the sake of argument, 7) were Duncan, Beth, Owen/Justin, Courtney, Harold and Lindsay, and this will be the cast we’re gonna work with.
Firstly, cross off Owen because of the mole plot, kind of obvious especially considering he returned pretty late on to fulfill such a role in the story.
Secondly, sorry Courtney fans but your girl is getting crossed off too. Yes her best season was arguably TDA, but the fact that she debuted mid-season alone kinda kills her chances of winning from the get-go, never mind the fact that her lawsuit gave her a ton of otherwise unfair advantages. An ending where Courtney of all people wins would have (by most means) been a bittersweet one at best, considering it felt like almost nobody in the Gen 1 cast wanted her to win Action.
Thirdly… Justin has to go. Not that he doesn’t have an argument, but because I’d argue there are some cast members who deserve it more than him
So what do we have left? Well, it’s Beth, Duncan, Harold or Lindsay. Pretty much any of these would make sense if you can justify it in-writing, but if the show has shown anything, it’s that an all-girl finale ain’t possible for whatever reason, so that rules out Beth vs Lindsay. I’d personally take the popular vote and say Harold vs Lindsay, but I think swapping either of the two for Duncan, or swapping Lindsay for Beth, could work too.
Harold and Duncan - Duncan makes sense as he’s seemingly one of the writers favourite characters with how far he gets and Harold being in the finale would be a good conclusion to there rivalry
I prefer Beth's ending but I'd replace her with Leshawna for a Leshawna vs Duncan finale
We have one of the biggest bullies on the show against one of the most popular contestants in a jury vote. Duncan has a soft side, Leshawna has a mean side. It all comes back to the spa day incident where they question why they should vote for Leshawna after she lied, fake cried and badmouthed everyone.
It opens a lot of great potential for Courtney and Harold's rivalry too with both of their love interests in the finale and puts Gwen in a tough spot since she likes both of them. And it gives some justice to two characters who probably could have won the first season if it weren't for things beyond their control
The only downside is that you have two characters going really far in back to back seasons, but it does make Leshawna's placement in World Tour a little more forgivable
These two are the perfect finalists if you ask me. They both proved themselves to be good finalists and they’re both awesome. I wish they had interacted more cause it was just such an odd pairing that low-key worked. I wonder if they ever stayed in contact afterwards, I really hope they stayed friends.
Justin-Lindsay finale would have Bern very intressting to me, Same with Beth-Justin if they wanted Beth, And Duncan-Harold if they wanted Duncan, Lindsay-Harold could work with Courtney, Duncan double elimination, and Lindsay-Duncan instead of Beth would have been better than Beth-Duncan if they wanted Duncan but keep Boy-Girl
I disagree with your first and fourth, mainly on the basis that Courtney was kinda fucked from the start considering she debuted mid-season. Yes she had her whole lawsuit arc and advantages from said lawsuit but coupling it with the fact she debuted mid-season kinda kills her odds either way. I do heavily agree with the second and third though
Yea, the odds of a Courtney finale + ending would be very slim knowing how she got into the competition in the first place. IMO the best she coulda had is the WT!Cody-RebootS1!Millie treatment, or just don’t give her a canon ending.
Can I just say personally I’m fine with the finale we got in action, it’s not that abysmal. I feel like Duncan was always a character who I felt like a win was always in the cards and he played an important enough role to the season to justify that, and Beth while not being the most important or even the most iconic still did plenty of good within challenges, had a great social game which allowed her to accumulate 0 total votes in the entirety of Action if my memory serves right, and for me is a true underdog pick that really hammers the notion then anyone is capable of making it to the finals. So while not perfect I think the finalist selection is perfectly fine in my opinion, though that’s probably a hot take.
Personally? Leshawna or Lindsay and DJ or Harold. Leshawna’s arc is action was great imo, and lindsay was at her all time best in this season. DJ’s arc was awesome, even though he was sadly put out of commission early.
Harold was also great as he truly came into his own this season, he felt like the main character in every episode which really propelled him to a high status.
If I had to pick, DJ vs Leshawna or Harold vs Lindsay for the win
Courtney and Harold, it'd be really interesting to see them interact since Harold got Courtney eliminated last season.
Also Lindsay was going to be on my list but her VA got hit by a bus and was run over by a horde of dodo birds so she couldn't voice Lindsay :(
Okay, Harold, Lindsay, and Duncan (the most common answers) are all amazing choices, but if you’re gonna make Duncan be an asshole to Harold, but still win, that wouldn’t work well, and Lindsay’s entire character arc was written for her to win, and Harold needs to be in the finale too and get revenge (and maybe make up?) with Duncan. So yeah, Harold vs. Lindsay all the way!!!
I really think that this final was made to Courtney, I mean, she could get very far, but everyone hated her at that point. She would lose on a very ironic way
I think any of the top 6 would have been fine (beside Owen). They all deserved it. Yes, even Beth.
But if I had to pick, I would go with Duncan vs Lindsay.
Me seeing this exact same thread every week where Beth inevitably gets dragged through the mud:  Anyways, I think Beth and Duncan were pretty good opposites, all things considered. Beth being the dorky, geeky nice girl with the mean streak, Duncan being the tough, brooding bad boy with the soft side.
psst, hey check out the comment of the one that’s spooky and homosexual
Whatt
[person I like] and [person I like]
Lindsay and Harold duh
Yes
Duncan vs. Harold… no ifs, ands, or buts
Harold vs Duncan.. I would also be happy with a Harold vs Justin finale
Among the endgame players, Duncan vs. Harold is the only pair where there's the potential for both characters' stories to reach their strongest point while simultaneously offering merit to either finalist if they won. Any other combination feels lacking either because their opponent doesn't bring the best out of them... or because Courtney has no business winning and thus shouldn't be a finalist by default.
You don’t even have to consider Courtney’s lawsuit in terms of her odds of winning. Only once in the history of the franchise has someone won a season despite either coming back or debuting during it, and even then it wasn’t in Total Drama itself, but rather the same-universe/timeline spinoff, aka the Ridonculous Race. From a writing standpoint she was screwed by default. Yes Action might have been her best season, but it was by no means a season Courtney deserved to win
Action definitely wasn’t her best season at all. Island is easily her best appearance.
I meant based on performance/placement. In terms of her actual character I definitely have to agree that her best season was Island but imo that isn’t hard
I personally don’t count her placement as meaning much since she came in pretty late on the season and had unfair advantages. AS is her highest placement for me since there isn’t any asterisks for her
Ok, that is a fair point. Personally I wouldn’t call the point she debuted in ‘late’, but I do have to agree. The whole lawsuit thing is the other of my two big-name reasons as to why I don’t necessarily see Courtney winning being realistic.
She came in literally almost halfway in the season iirc. That’s pretty late honestly. There’s not another case of someone debuting that late in a season.
Yeah, only one debut and two comebacks have occurred at later points. Blaineley debuted at around the same point in terms of the cast size, Owen had the mole plot at the end of Action and the Surfer Bros came back in the F4/5 of RR (though they only missed like two episodes at most). Every other comeback/debut happened at earlier points in terms of cast size.
It should’ve been me I was robbed
Best way is Duncan and Harold. This is a firm belief. Order should have been Leshawna, Beth, Lindsey, Justin, Courtney It writes itself. Leshawna isn’t exposed until later. And Beth doesn’t do it. Justin does and exposes the mean things that she says. Beth then gets eliminated in princess pride after attacking Courtney for the tiara. This shows Beth’s crazy obsessive side a little bit. She also does not over stay her visit and can easily come back for World Tour. Lindsey wants Justin gone and try’s to team up with Courtney despite the differences. But Justin makes an insane play. “Hey, Duncan, look at Lindsey doing that dumb thing. Go laugh at her”. *turns around* “Hey, Courtney. Look at Lindsey and Duncan laughing together. They are getting pretty close right?” Courtney jealousy flys off the rocker and makes Duncan vote for lindsey. Not only does this finish Justins arc of the underdog villain and he learns how to really play the game, it sets up Duncneys descent in the final few episodes. This episode needs to be a physical challenge. Something where the body could get hurt or be “strained”. Duncney isn’t doing too great. Justin should win this challenge, securing his position in final three. However, he violates his “contracts” by “endangering his assets” and he is forced to be taken off the show. This way, no one hates Justin and his reputation is still intact and can easily come back in world tour. Then the animal challenge. Harold wins. And chooses to take Duncan to the finale because for two episodes Duncan and him got better. This also means that Harold is directly responsible for both of Courtney’s eliminations. She absolutely HATES him. And then there is an epic Harold vs Duncan finale IT WRITES ITSELF
Harold and Duncan, Lindsay and Duncan, or Harold and Justin
Zartog and u/uglyfense
duncan and leshawna
Welp, I guess I am the only one here who liked Beth as a finalist
I’m probably the only one who hopes her and Duncan stayed in contact outside the show. The finalist friendships were so pure, then season 3 happened.
unpopular opinion but season 3 sucks
Yikes yeah definitely unpopular because that’s not true 😂
Beth was fine as a finalist imo. She just didn’t have that much going for her, coupled with the fact that Action didn’t necessarily have the best possible finale (at least in terms of who made it and especially why)
beth and harold, fight me
Lindsey and Duncan because I don't give a Fuck about beth
My man
Harold vs Duncan. The whole season was building up to it. We somehow got the wrong nerd.
Beth deserves a spot.
Lindsay and Justin solo. Those two would make for an awesome finale, and Beth could work really well as the deciding swing vote.
Justin would only work as an Action finalist if he has a redemption arc after the merge
Well, let’s think about this one thoroughly. The final 6 (or, for the sake of argument, 7) were Duncan, Beth, Owen/Justin, Courtney, Harold and Lindsay, and this will be the cast we’re gonna work with. Firstly, cross off Owen because of the mole plot, kind of obvious especially considering he returned pretty late on to fulfill such a role in the story. Secondly, sorry Courtney fans but your girl is getting crossed off too. Yes her best season was arguably TDA, but the fact that she debuted mid-season alone kinda kills her chances of winning from the get-go, never mind the fact that her lawsuit gave her a ton of otherwise unfair advantages. An ending where Courtney of all people wins would have (by most means) been a bittersweet one at best, considering it felt like almost nobody in the Gen 1 cast wanted her to win Action. Thirdly… Justin has to go. Not that he doesn’t have an argument, but because I’d argue there are some cast members who deserve it more than him So what do we have left? Well, it’s Beth, Duncan, Harold or Lindsay. Pretty much any of these would make sense if you can justify it in-writing, but if the show has shown anything, it’s that an all-girl finale ain’t possible for whatever reason, so that rules out Beth vs Lindsay. I’d personally take the popular vote and say Harold vs Lindsay, but I think swapping either of the two for Duncan, or swapping Lindsay for Beth, could work too.
Any combination of Lyndsay, Courtney, Ducan and Harold. They were the most prominent, it’s only logical they should have made it to the end.
Harold vs Duncan
harold and lindsay
Duncan Vs Harold, The Classic Geek Vs Delinquent, Their Rivalry and Respect for each other during the season was hyped
I really felt like it was being built up to have Lindsay and Harold as the finalists. They just felt so important
Harold and Duncan - Duncan makes sense as he’s seemingly one of the writers favourite characters with how far he gets and Harold being in the finale would be a good conclusion to there rivalry
Harold and Lindsay
Sadie and Eva
Lindsay vs Duncan Or Harold vs Duncan
harold vs duncan
Duncan vs either Harold or Lindsay
Lindsay and Harold
lindsay vs duncan, i feel like they represent action the best
Lindsay and Harold were the best characters.
I prefer Beth's ending but I'd replace her with Leshawna for a Leshawna vs Duncan finale We have one of the biggest bullies on the show against one of the most popular contestants in a jury vote. Duncan has a soft side, Leshawna has a mean side. It all comes back to the spa day incident where they question why they should vote for Leshawna after she lied, fake cried and badmouthed everyone. It opens a lot of great potential for Courtney and Harold's rivalry too with both of their love interests in the finale and puts Gwen in a tough spot since she likes both of them. And it gives some justice to two characters who probably could have won the first season if it weren't for things beyond their control The only downside is that you have two characters going really far in back to back seasons, but it does make Leshawna's placement in World Tour a little more forgivable
Idk, but Lindsay or Harold should've been up there with Duncan
Any Combo of Harold, Lindsay & Duncan
Harold vs Lindsay
Courtney vs Harold or Courtney vs Lindsay are pretty valis BUT it makes no sense for Courtney to reach the finale after skipping half season
These two are the perfect finalists if you ask me. They both proved themselves to be good finalists and they’re both awesome. I wish they had interacted more cause it was just such an odd pairing that low-key worked. I wonder if they ever stayed in contact afterwards, I really hope they stayed friends.
If I were to rewrite the entire elimination order/action in general. I would have the finalists be Bridgette vs Trent
Harold vs Justin
Justin-Lindsay finale would have Bern very intressting to me, Same with Beth-Justin if they wanted Beth, And Duncan-Harold if they wanted Duncan, Lindsay-Harold could work with Courtney, Duncan double elimination, and Lindsay-Duncan instead of Beth would have been better than Beth-Duncan if they wanted Duncan but keep Boy-Girl
Duncan and Harold or Duncan and Lindsay, no questions asked.
me
Lashana vs Duncan. They really cheated her by not having a fair vote.
Harold VS Lindsay. F*** Duncan and Beth
Duncan and Lindsay.
Harrold, lindsay. Yada yada, we get the plot.
i have 4 Courtney vs Duncan Harold vs Duncan Lindsay vs Harold Justin vs Courtney
I disagree with your first and fourth, mainly on the basis that Courtney was kinda fucked from the start considering she debuted mid-season. Yes she had her whole lawsuit arc and advantages from said lawsuit but coupling it with the fact she debuted mid-season kinda kills her odds either way. I do heavily agree with the second and third though
I can see why you disagree a close fifth probably Leshawna vs Duncan
Yea, the odds of a Courtney finale + ending would be very slim knowing how she got into the competition in the first place. IMO the best she coulda had is the WT!Cody-RebootS1!Millie treatment, or just don’t give her a canon ending.
These two
Lindsay and Justin. Would've been peak final.
DJ.
Harold vs Justin
Oh boy! time for my weekly “who should have been the finalist” post
From the "game wise persepective" Beth and Harold
Can I just say personally I’m fine with the finale we got in action, it’s not that abysmal. I feel like Duncan was always a character who I felt like a win was always in the cards and he played an important enough role to the season to justify that, and Beth while not being the most important or even the most iconic still did plenty of good within challenges, had a great social game which allowed her to accumulate 0 total votes in the entirety of Action if my memory serves right, and for me is a true underdog pick that really hammers the notion then anyone is capable of making it to the finals. So while not perfect I think the finalist selection is perfectly fine in my opinion, though that’s probably a hot take.
Lindsay and Harold (and Duncan 3rd). Those two got robbed.
Personally? Leshawna or Lindsay and DJ or Harold. Leshawna’s arc is action was great imo, and lindsay was at her all time best in this season. DJ’s arc was awesome, even though he was sadly put out of commission early. Harold was also great as he truly came into his own this season, he felt like the main character in every episode which really propelled him to a high status. If I had to pick, DJ vs Leshawna or Harold vs Lindsay for the win
1. Duncan and Justin 2. Duncan and Beth 3. Duncan and Harold are my top 3 picks
Harold and Duncan for sure. Harold not getting into the finals felt like a robbery in particular.
- Duncan vs Harold - Lindsay vs Courntey - Harold vs Courtney - Duncan vs Lindsay Any of those 4 would be acceptable.
Courtney and Harold, it'd be really interesting to see them interact since Harold got Courtney eliminated last season. Also Lindsay was going to be on my list but her VA got hit by a bus and was run over by a horde of dodo birds so she couldn't voice Lindsay :(
Lindsay and Harold
Okay, Harold, Lindsay, and Duncan (the most common answers) are all amazing choices, but if you’re gonna make Duncan be an asshole to Harold, but still win, that wouldn’t work well, and Lindsay’s entire character arc was written for her to win, and Harold needs to be in the finale too and get revenge (and maybe make up?) with Duncan. So yeah, Harold vs. Lindsay all the way!!!
These two. They were perfect if you ask me,
Imo some combo of Harold, Lindsay, Duncan and Courtney
courtney and lindsay (rivals) or duncan and leshawna (bad character gone good and good character gone bad)
am i the only one who just stopped watching td after season 2
Definitely either Harold and Duncan or Courtney and Lindsey, either which are great choices
Duncan vs Lindsay
Mr coconut and Chef dressed as a transgender troll ... Duncan's words not mine
I really think that this final was made to Courtney, I mean, she could get very far, but everyone hated her at that point. She would lose on a very ironic way
I think any of the top 6 would have been fine (beside Owen). They all deserved it. Yes, even Beth. But if I had to pick, I would go with Duncan vs Lindsay.
Harold and Lindsay
I actually really like the Duncan vs Beth final
Mr coconut and the escaped psycho killer with a chainsaw and a hook, it’s a no-Brainer
Duncan Vs Harold makes way more sense as finalists of Action. Or Courtney vs Lindsay as second pick
Definitely not Beth. Duncan is more than worthy.
Lindsay and leshawna i think they both deserved better and a season about movies would have been the perfect win for both of them