Power Creep in Total Drama

[@klausing8]

The scene with Mal/Mike grabbing Alejandro's wrist and making him 'submit' will never sit right with me, I mean Alejandro's ARM IS ALMOST TWICE THE WIDTH OF MAL'S ARM

[@theketaminefrog6366]

Al's wrist is twice the width of Mal's entire body

[@Drama_Theory]

This gotta be the realest thing I've ever read today

[@thieenoo6996]

No one had a problem with this when Vito was op in ROTI

[@overcooked2808]

@@thieenoo6996naaah it was always weird, i wonder why they decided to give Mike Harold’s stickman build

[@thieenoo6996]

@@overcooked2808 I agree with you both situation are weird. The problem is that most people don’t care about Vito and / or stvetlana op physical abilities. They just attack mal

[@alex-rs6ts]

I found Mal overshadowing Alejandro so easily quite ridiculous. Like, Alejandro was shown as a great manipulator, smart and strong. Then suddenly comes this random skinny guy who likes breaking things while others sleep and he is now the main boss

[@amari648]

They waited until Alejandro’s elimination episode to derail and nerf him after being nearly FLAWLESS and one of the only characters who wasn’t bad in All Stars. I hate that episode so much 😂

[@dordonake]

The real reason that Mal was able to get people outvote Alejandro was because of Alejandro's reputation from season 3. In a clean season, Alejandro would've outvoted Mal vs vice verca.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Eh, you can make similar argument about Alejandro being some random guy who showed in the third season yet out smarted most of the cast

[@MagillanicaLouM]

@@fightingmedialounge519 yeah that's why i don't give Al too much credit. He basically was Mal before Mal, its just being in a longer and generally better written season helped. You know he actually employed strategy and stuff rather than just... Idk damage property and be mildly jerkish lol.

[@arthuralexander1449]

The thing i really like about "good at everything" villains is how they are basically the perfect subversion of a Mary Sue, the fact they are so "perfect" enchances their character, example a villain like Alejandro or Light Yagami(which to me are the two best of this type of villains) the two are popular, strong, smart, have friends and could get any girl, yet even though they have everything they still choose to be a asshole rather than a good guy, it really shows just how evil they are, they have pretty much no excuse to be like that yet still choose to be anyway

[@mightyarsh]

Yeah I do think Alejandro isn’t a Mary Sue since he actually has some flaws for example getting irk at being called Al (because of his “better at everything” José would called him that to spite him) and like Light Yagami, while they’re both attractive and know how to charm people, they’re both egotistical and yearn the power and control they have on others

[@Toy_freddyofficial1]

​@@mightyarshAlejandro also loses two challenges because of his ego the one in Greece and the finale

[@fightingmedialounge519]

​@@mightyarsh not liking a nickname isn't really a flaw.

[@gianni50725]

@@fightingmedialounge519 no, but disliking it to the point that it makes you angry and clouds your judgment is a real weakness. in reality his ego is his weakness, not really the nickname specifically which is just a part of it

[@mansouralshahri4938]

​@@mightyarsh Mary Sue can have flaws it just depends on whether the show develops those flaws in a meaningful way, you making the assumption that just because it's a character has flaws that automatically means they're not a Mary Sue is pretty disingenuous

[@Wormpole]

A villian like Alejandro can only work in a longer (26 episode season) imo, where its a slow burn. A big problem with Mal is they had WAY too much of him in too few episodes to where it felt like it took up everyone else's time.

[@grandom7116]

The biggest problem with total drama villians is that some of them can be so op that they completely forget about their weaknesses that make them unique or at least feel like they have depth. A good example is Julia. In 2023, she literally stated she sucks at socializing and wins by brute force in the Wheel of vomit. In 2024, she is all of a sudden a master manipulator who can convince a whole team to vote someone off.

[@lilaniloxi]

FINALLY i see someone mention this outside of tumblr! You're so right about that and it sucks :(

[@goofyahhkuroze]

I feel like you’re forgetting this happens to pretty much every total drama villain. Heather pretty much stayed because of pure luck and plot armor

[@WayneBowe]

Not to mentioned how she was never targeted, (even without Immunity) there were MANY times where she should’ve went home in both seasons She community severally overrates her, she’s no better than MAL htg 🤷

[@WayneBowe]

@@goofyahhkurozebut at least she did things on screen, everything big Julia did was off screen, it’s okay if it’s Julia who gets plot armour, but anyone else? Y’all complain, if Heather left early there’d be less drama, if Julia went early, we have MK who can be the main villain….

[@Rain-bg4xx]

I love Julia but i have to agree 😢 she and Heather are still my favorite but season 2 julia and all stars Heather just makes me pretend the season didn't exist

[@flourrrr]

7:00 im happy im not the only one who finds the ezekiel scene unreasonably cruel and uncomfortable that is quite literally a child thats lost his humanity for a game and is submerged in lava and no one is concerned or cares at all worst part is its for laughs/reference and i just honestly hate it a lot the amount of pettiness they had for ezekiel is wild poor baby also alejandro getting burnt was only so he could comeback in all stars i think with a twist

[@switch1e]

Thank you for pausing to read XD

[@flourrrr]

@@switch1e woahhh i get brownie points for paying attention to minor details sickkk ezekiel was mentioned once i had to read it :3

[@ellice9978]

i’m pretty sure the alejandro getting burnt thing was just for the star wars reference at the scene after the credits

[@ChorusKids]

thank god we live in a world where world tour doesnt have to be ai upscaled anymore

[@switch1e]

FOR REAL

[@_.xandxr._4714]

2:37 unrelated but courtneys dance made me giggle

[@germwarfarez]

It's still so interesting to me that Lightning, as a guy who was a villain for around three episodes, had way more development than the oh so big bad Mal. He had a reason to be a villain, he had really good development made in an EPISODE (episode twelve) and an undeserved downfall added to that

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Wouldn't go that far.

[@MonkeComix2]

Bro was out for blood

[@birdloaf2117]

Something you forgot to mention about Alejandro's weakness' was his cockiness, as seen in the hurdle race against Heather in World Tour. He starts showing off during the race to proof he's better than Heather, only to get really caught up in it, and tripping over a hurdle, allowing Heather to win.

[@WhatTheScallop1]

CLEARLY, Mal is the BEST VILLAIN! He pretended to be the worst villain so nobody would think hes a threat! GENIUS PLAN!!!

[@s_unfeathe_r]

Yo hyped to hear comprehensive roast of all stars is coming

[@Woodenfan]

I'm curious to see if this is going to be a huge rant or something like that.

[@Dxuser5]

HE FOUND THE HD WORLD TOUR FOOTAGE THE TOTAL DRAMA GUY IS SMART

[@switch1e]

Don’t give me too much credit

[@NintendoMeister2260]

Never forget. BHultra is the Total Drama guy.

[@Duplighost_]

I think that Total Drama has a very unique case of power creep with its villains. Villains are inherently nerfed after their initial season because everyone becomes familiar with their bullshit. As an example, after World Tour, nobody was ever willing to trust or cooperate with Alejandro (save Mal but that didn’t go literally anywhere). That kind of screwed him when he was up against Mal, which I thought was actually kinda cool of the writers to do. All stars has its fair share of problems but I like how it used some of the villain characters. Partly because of what I mentioned before and partly because there are so many of them at once. The heroes vs villains teams created a dynamic that no other season has ever really had. The execution isn’t perfect but there’s definitely something there.

[@morganorwhatever]

What hurts is that a character like Mal could have been SO GOOD. Mal could rely on Mike’s reputation as a helpful person to covertly manipulate other campers. Just for example, what if Mal had subtly convinced Duncan to blow up Chris’s cottage? I think it would be neat if Zoe were the only one who noticed what was going on to start, and she had to enlist past villains like Heather and Al to help her take Mal down

[@alex-rs6ts]

Maybe do the bad things as Mal and let Mike explain them. Since he is actually innocent, Mike would act innocent in a far better way.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

That's pretty much what they did

[@Sepzgamin]

He did use Mike's reputation didn't he? He out right pulled Cameron's ankle and even Zoey noticed it, but she doubted it since.. "It's mike!"

[@Power11112]

The Duncan and mal backstory was the most pointless shit too like it was a detriment I’m general to all the characters involved and literally doesn’t accomplish shit since 1.zoey spent the previous two episodes starting to get wary of mike , and 2 she has to be told by like 3 more people and see video evidence to get it through her thick skull that Mal exists

[@miserirken]

The big difference between Alejandro and Mal is how cohesively well written Alejandro is (specially for a TDI villain). Yeah Alejandro feels like a Gary Stu at first, but he isn't, and his interactions with Heather are big evidence of such. Also he has actual reasons to be as he is (his brother, like damn Alejandro has actual big/little siblings issues). Mal is just a bunch of lame tropes. The damn guy is named _MAL._ What? He's literally named *evil!*

[@marco_supernova2704]

Alejandro is also a realistic villain in contrast with Mal being too much of a overexagerrating non realistic cartoony sathurday morning villain from the 60".

[@fightingmedialounge519]

​@@marco_supernova2704 wouldn't exactly call Alejandro realistic given the writers keep conveniently having him be good at pretty everything he tried

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Wouldn't say that's the difference considering some of the lapse in logic involving his character. We don't learn about his brother until the season finale.

[@miserirken]

@@fightingmedialounge519 His brother issues are hinted across the entire season, come on, you can't be just that naïve about it.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

@@miserirken no, I just actually watched the season recently and can safely say his issues with his brother don't really come up until the end. So how about you shelve the attitude and do a rewatch yourself.

[@neptuniamarina4924]

I think another thing that separates Mal and Julia is that Julia is not the only antagonist force in the reboots seasons. She isn't doing all of the heavy lifting. There's other players like MK, Bowie and Ripper who also help create a more fleshed out cast. Mal meanwhile, doesn't Which is super fucking ironic given the theme of Heroes vs Villains. Like maybe if Mal flew under the radar and let Heather and Al be the villainous force for most of the season. That would've worked. But in reality outside of Duncan blowing up Chris' Cottage, Mal is the only villainous force in Season 5 which I think makes his heavy lifting all the more noticable

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Technically heather and Alejandro were acting as antagonist within the season.

[@SlipMaker]

Your villain power creep idea hit Game Of Thrones like a runaway ice cream van. Joffrey was a love to hate villain who obviously had a lot of immediate power as a puppet king, but his abuse of that power often blew up in his face. His successor Ramsey Bolton was basically an invincible villain who was even more sadistic than Joffrey, and despite having less power behind his position his enemies often acted like idiots to give him the free win. And then in the last two seasons we had Euron Greyjoy, who was less evil than Joffrey but infamously could conjure up endless warships as the plot demanded and was the only human character in the series to slay a dragon (effortlessly, I might add).

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Wouldn't say Ramsay was basically invincible considering everything that went wrong for him.

[@anchorsaway9500]

2:30 I think Justin’s methods weren’t executed right. I didn’t even realize he was supposed to be the antagonist of the season originally. Honestly the only thing that showed that for me was his ways to get Trent and Gwen out of the game since they were basically the main storyline in the first few episodes. But the moment that ended that was kind of it. That’s probably why Courtney character changed so much when she returned. But Alejandro ended up doing what Justin tried to do way better then the latter did

[@shilohmagic7173]

oh shit! it's switchie! I didn't even realize when I clicked on the video until you said "my total drama all stars video" like that *means* something and then I remembered. it DOES mean something.

[@mrfish6399]

wake up babe new switch1e video dropped. Super interesting subject! I think another very interesting subject that reminds me of this is how writers treat characters from season to season. Heather becoming a comedic side character in Action, Gwen still having a major role for the first quarter of Action & Leshawna being shafted in World Tour comes to mind first. Major characters that serve a different role in another season.

[@GrammyWatson]

SWITCH1E, DROP THE COMPREHENSIVE ROAST OF TOTAL DRAMA ALL STARS AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!!

[@aliasofafool]

@@GrammyWatson is your life his yet

[@GrammyWatson]

@@aliasofafool very much

[@aliasofafool]

@@GrammyWatson real as shit

[@victorlinares4137]

The first 30 seconds of the video made me think, " am I on a freezai or jimothy vid? I had to check lol

[@SwizzleMix]

It's Total Drama Tuesday, folks. This is insane.

[@muffin8460]

switch1e here’s 2 bucks because your the goat and your making all of the total drama fans happy

[@switch1e]

Thank you so much man! I appreciated you being there for the reboot

[@random_jae5886]

I have a very specific kind of villain I want to see. A villain who maybe does 2 things and then loses control fully and just plays scrappy trying literally anything and everything to stay. Like imagine a villain who has everyone against them, so they desperately flip the vote to one of their only allies left. Like a villain who's not evil...but is desperately trying to mend a situation they have long since lost control of solely to their own detriment. E.g Imagine if in the Action Rock and Roll episode if Courtney does not win immunity, and everyone except Duncan is ready to boot Courtney. But Courtney has like maybe Beth on her side. So in order to stay, Courtney convinces Beth and Harold to snipe Duncan, her own boyfriend. Eliminating the only person who truly cares about her, and making her worse off for it...but staying alive.

[@symptomofsouls]

What about a character that does literally everything he can to get kicked off because he hates it but somehow ends up in the finals

[@anythingagency8516]

Its always interesting to see how shows and media deal with power creep. Dragon ball is an interesting example because, while the villains are pretty much always just stronger, its most interesting when its something like "we can't sense the androids, how do we even find them?" Or "this guy's magic makes him stronger the harder we fight"

[@FeligamiAdrizoeSworaDooplivian]

I still honestly think something caused Mal to snap. Because each personality has a reason for existing for Mike. Because my headcanon is Mal was originally the protector to keep Mike safe when they were kids. But maybe something bad happened in juvie that caused Mike to lock him away? That’s just my take on it though.

[@switch1e]

I've always liked that theory, but there's really nothing to back it up in the show except for one thing he says right at the end before disappearing.

[@FeligamiAdrizoeSworaDooplivian]

@@switch1eYeah. Fair point.

[@symptomofsouls]

Wasn't it explained that Mal was the original personality, not Mike?

[@switch1e]

@@symptomofsouls The show walked back on that and sort of implied that the "brain evidence" for lack of a better term was forged.

[@symptomofsouls]

@@switch1e that's kind of a shame, would have been really interesting if Mike was the personality after Mal was forced into therapy

[@thelonestar5327]

"What does Mal even do?" I HATE to throw Mal any sort of bone, but didn't he try to literally murder Zoey by drowning her? As far as Total Drama villains go that's pretty severe. Even when other villains do stuff that'd be arguably worse in real life, in the show it's more a joke like Heather slamming a canoe over Tyler's head, which just mildly hurts him. The drowning scene was at least serious, as far as I recall. Also a character's physical appearance has never always translated to strange. Both Cody and Harold able to knock out the larger, meaner Duncan in a single blow, for instance. I still hate that scene, but it's not exactly out of place for Total Drama, it just felt so "In your face" with how big and super scary Mal was instead of boring old Alejandro. I also feel like the fact Julia could still manipulate people in the second season of the Reboot was just bad writing. Like almost everyone stopped trusting Heather after Island, but the Reboot cast were generally willing to listen to what Julia had to say long after her evil nature was shown.

[@ivanbluecool]

Action was more on using nice souls as the drama starters. Owen and dj were basically stuck by chef and chris to be playing the game behind the backs of their friends. Though i didn't like Courtney much in action Though heather's journey from island to world tour was amazing to see.

[@christopherwall2121]

Ive got my own theory with Pahkitew Island's place in the ante for its villains. I think they were experimenting with having multiple villains operating at once, each succeeding the last in turn. Unfortunately, it was too ambitious an idea for thirteen episodes, so Amy, Sugar, and Max get plenty of focus while Scarlett and Dave come across as largely undercooked. That's what I think.

[@neodica5967]

I feel like ROTI pulled off multiple villains pretty well since Jo and Scott basically existed to cause drama on their respective teams. Jo antagonized Brick, Cameron, Lightning, and (to a lesser extent) Anne Maria. Scott sabotaged B, Dawn, and Mike and then beefed with Zoey for a few episodes. And then Lightning served as an impersonal final boss for Cameron. I think the main problem with Pahkitew's villains has less to do with the season length and more to do with the lack of a central villain. Like, Sugar lasts the longest, but she's not really the cause of any of the problems in the 2nd half of the season. It doesn't help that most of the Pahkitew villains only threaten one specific person, so the scope of their villainy is extremely limited.

[@christopherwall2121]

@@neodica5967 Also good points. Personally, I think that they should have put a stronger emphasis on a theme of everything spiraling out of control. There's hints of that, between Chris having essentially built a supervillain lair to film his show on; the island slowly breaking down; and at least two campers having psychotic breaks on live television and trying to kill everyone. It just didn't really have much focus as a central theme. And if we needed to have a central camper villain, it should have been either Dave or Scarlett, as they go through essentially the same narrative arc, as I hinted at above.

[@pining_tree6788]

God I hate the 13 episode seasons especially when you KNOW they greenlight ‘2 seasons at once’ so they can market each seperately and pretend it’s an exciting thing. Just give us one 26 episode season

[@pepsicannot]

Well let’s see if networks can be intrest if audiences will want more

[@bobi200samatar6]

For real. I really enjoy the new seasons, but this is the one thing I wish they change soon.

[@steampunk-llama]

I genuinely think the mid gen seasons would've been so much more well received if the cast of Revenge and Pahkitew were merged for a single 26 ep season like earlier, and then All Stars having the location/survival premise of Pahkitew but with the cast potential of all the existing gens of the time. Splitting them into 3 separate short seasons and having All Stars happen inbetween was just so weirdly spaced out, and made the storylines so much more rushed than they needed to be

[@MagillanicaLouM]

@@steampunk-llama agreed. You really feel those 13 episodes in all those seasons, if i generally enjoy them all except all stars. Revenhe and Pahkitew's cast being just one in a longer season would've been interesting too.

[@starlite5154]

Good luck on the editing! Excited to see it, but take your time lol

[@JakeClipz]

I like to give Mal more credit than he's usually given. He's not a _great_ villain but he's not nearly as bad as people make him out to be, at least on his own merits. All-Stars does have the problem of needlessly nerfing the cast's intelligence to make Mal look more imposing, but the keyword here is *needlessly*. As in, they didn't need to do it. Even if they hadn't made everyone dumb as bricks, a lot of Mal's schemes could have still worked. I don't understand people who say that all Mal did was break stuff and cause mischief. That was how he was introduced and I think it was wise to start small while there was still this unknown factor about Mal, but the merge and beyond made him way more involved and basically responsible for every elimination after Duncan's. He gaslights Cameron into being overly paranoid so that he'd become too codependent on "Mike", he uses Mike's good name and Alejandro's bad one to immediately axe him the moment Alejandro grew too wise about Mal's existence, he uses Courtney's hubris to break all her alliances and cause tension within the cast while remaining mostly passive after stoking the flames, and he sabotages both Gwen and Scott in the semi-finals to assure that the one player who trusts "Mike" the most carries him into the finale. On paper this is an excellent villain run and even in execution I think most of this was fine, save for Zoey who rightfully gets criticized for being too unaware for too long and not doing anything to serve any of these stories. Mal is obviously lying in a lot of what he does but like you said, basically every villain except Alejandro has this problem. Audiences let it slide when Heather, who has been unsubtly wicked since Episode 5, somehow manages to manipulate her peers well after that reveal, so I don't see it as a big issue with Mal as long as the players being tricked aren't noticeably dumber than they usually are. Buuuut yeah, the behavior of the contestants Mal manipulates varies in quality, most of it is below par and that's a detriment to All-Stars' storytelling, but I wouldn't call that Mal's *fault*. He was done about as well as you'd expect a character like this to be, which... Mal isn't a character, he's an obstacle, and the show doesn't pretend he isn't. For an All-Stars season, one that features the series' biggest and baddest villains, I think it's interesting to have the main threat be not any of the previous Big Bads who still have some vulnerable humanity to them, but an objectively evil force of nature, more focused on harming the players than winning the prize, hidden away within one of the season's nicest and most unassuming contestants. Something not even the smartest players can realistically expect or prepare for. A universal threat that, no matter how much the rest of the contestants don't get along, they're all at risk against this dangerous psychopath. It truly feels like the peak of the kinds of stakes the series can offer when you put it like that; a fitting end to the first-generation cast to boot. All-Stars does the bare minimum with this idea, again to the detriment of the story more than the character, but I think Mal could have worked really well with a better script, and I don't agree with people who say he shouldn't have existed in the first place. I don't even think he's the worst villain in the series and I find him better than Scarlett, both because Scarlett accomplishes literally nothing beyond her theatrics and because the Mal personality being inherently inhuman makes it easier to accept his over-the-top villainy than someone who's supposed to be an average teenager like every other villain.

[@switch1e]

There's a lot of story potential with characters like Mal, I think. I've seen a lot of people bring up their own cool headcanons and theories regarding the character, and some of them are really cool! I've always liked the idea that Mal is a defense mechanism for Mike's system, and I think him being written as a figure that pushes Mike's friends away under some fake guise of "protection" is really thought-provoking. If only the writers of All-Stars put as much thought into Mal as a character as the fans do, lmao. Regarding your points about things being Mal's fault, I guess you can say that the characters being dumbed down to the extent they are isn't Mal's responsibility per se, but I guess for me that Mal's arc and All-Stars' storytelling are one in the same. Most of the drama and focus in the season is around Mike/Mal, and because so much of Mal's maneuvers are built off of other characters being oblivious/nerfed to all hell, it's just hard for me to see him as a good character. Thank you for commenting though! I really appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts, you clearly know your stuff!

[@Vegeta241]

For PI, gotta say that I always saw Scarlet as missed potential. I feel like she didn’t have to be as over the top as they made her. She could have just been evil and smart, that was her whole thing as Max’s foil in a way. And Sugar… never really was all that endearing to me, but having Honey Boo boo or an evil version of Owen was an interesting idea. And then there was Dave. The less said about him, the better. I… have such a soft spot for the Ice Dancers. After Allstars and PI, I was worried that the show runners forgot how to write good villains. But, the Ice Dancers were so much fun! And if you think about it, they actually kind of weren’t villains at first. They were just really competitive (with small hints of Josee being on the dark side). They were essentially pushed into their roles as the villains, except unlike certain other characters, the push actually felt natural due to their competitiveness. And of course, their rivalry with the Police Cadets was very fun. I can’t speak for the reboot since I have not found a way to watch it yet, and the classic villains you already spoke about so I don’t have anything more to add there.

[@NoelJoyeux8]

Bro dropped this in the middle of the night/crack of dawn depending on where you live and it still doing numbers, zamn

[@switch1e]

I hate waiting to upload videos

[@BinaryTremor-vs1iv]

Have you considered doing a short video discussing elimination fodder? Some characters are purposely meant to have no story or game presence so that their eliminations don't break the pacing. B (TDROTI), Geniuses (RR), Nichelle (Reboot Part 2) Some characters are purposely meant to revolve around one running gag that is funny for the time being, but eventually gets old. They typically get eliminated just in time so that they don't become annoying. Examples include Beardo (TDPI) and the Tennis Rivals (RR) Some characters are specifically just meant to be annoying and/or unlikeable so that a viewer would celebrate them being eliminated. Examples include Staci (TDROTI) and Leonard (PI) and him and Tammy as the LARPers on RR Returnee seasons usually have to reduce previous characters to downplayed story presences. That's just kinda inevitable. Examples include Bridgette on Action and World Tour or Jo on All-Stars

[@switch1e]

@@BinaryTremor-vs1iv That’s a good idea. I think it might be interesting to talk also about how to eliminate characters early in a satisfying way (if that’s even possible)

[@BinaryTremor-vs1iv]

@@switch1e I don't hate all fodder characters. Eva's a one-note character, but she was really funny on the TDWT aftermaths. Beardo is funny, but his gag of making sound effects would have gotten old if he stayed for long. I liked the Tennis Rivals from RR and thought their self-deprecating jokes were actually funny. I don't think anybody expected them to make it far because it would have been hard to justify it after how much they were shown struggling in the premiere, but they were entertaining for the bit of time they got.

[@RGBsJukeBox]

Ok this is going to be a little bit unrelated but watching through your videos I must say that you have amazing music taste dude!

[@Hanna.M.F]

Excellent video, and I appreciate the captions :)

[@sombramemer1230]

The real question I have about Mal is why does he wants to compete? Like Al works because he is in full control, Mal whole thing is he wants to be the main personality but then why doesn't he just leave once he has full control. I think if Mal only got full control at like the last few episodes and everyone was standing up for Mike it would be fine. Like if everyone just underestimated Mike's personality and have that be the reason. Also have the prize money be tied to what Mal's goals as a personality. Maybe the money could be used to somehow give him full control or far away from Zoey so he can stay in control something like that.

[@bobi200samatar6]

Honestly, the whole evil split personality thing just doesn't have a place in a show like Total Drama, even if it were well written.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Because he likes causing chaos and pain

[@queenzoroark]

Scott not being taken seriously and using Russel Hantz's strategy is a great unintentional (or intentional) joke.

[@luluzin5022]

Mal's "manipulation" tactics, if you can even call it that, are so laughable. If he didn't have Mike's face and reputation to fall back on, his antics wouldn't have gone unnoticed for nearly as long.

[@RasmusVJS]

Whilst it might not make for as interesting of a video, there's also something to be said about the power creep of contestants' challenge skill. I feel like in Island, outside of Izzy for comedic effect, there wasn't really anyone who was amazing at physical challenges, but Action turned Courtney into someone who was. Then World Tour introduced both Al and Sierra, who were the best challengers that season. In ROTI like half the cast is better than anyone from Island was. In Pahkitew the main characters are a zombie survivor, an outback survivor and an olympic level athlete. And the reboot has some crazy skilled/athletic/strong challengers as well.

[@sirkillalot9892]

We had Priya who trained for reality shows Julia who won 6 merge challenges across both seasons Caleb only won two challenges, but onscreen he is portrayed as somebody who has super-strength with how he can break ships and boulders by punching. Nichelle was basically on par with Zoey and Sky in terms of a character design Bowie was also portrayed as decently athletic, but more emphasis on his schemes. Scary Girl had the Izzy comic relief strength.

[@spaghettiisyummy.3623]

The term "spectacle creep" exists for stories & writing.

[@switch1e]

I didn’t know that! Thanks for letting me know

[@spaghettiisyummy.3623]

@@switch1e No problem! :D

[@gdmrhotshot3731]

i didnt expect this for smth like total drama, good job

[@ritahanson9279]

Therapist buff mal doesn't exist Thumbnail buff mal 😂

[@thesmm2311]

He loves doing some steroids

[@Psyrens]

Putting this up here so you see it SWITCHIE PLEASE COVER TDI 2023. PLEASE. LAUREN IS HILARIOUS Switchie.. thank you SO MUCH for making TDI content. Had you not made your dichotomy series, i wouldve probably just maintained indifference about it, and just assumed it was another cartoon that was below my age of humor. I discovered that TDI 2023 existed today after watching another youtuber talk about how dumb it was Honestly, i have 0 idea wtf that guy was talking about. I didnt make it 5 minutes into his video before just.. going and watching 2023 You have GOT to do coverage of it. I have it all on a drive link if you need it. Please, bro. This new season may be the best weve gotten since the gwen ones. Please switchie Lauren deserves it We need this show to get more traction because these new characters are hilarious. Theyve got a goth lolita Letterkenny parody characters Influencer parodys A stupid hipster Heather's spiritual successor A self proclaimed "alfalfa male" And so.. so much more I will be begging you in every video i watch from now on Please cover 2023. Lauren makes izzy look docile This girl is legendary Absolutely the best total drama character ive seen Please.. You know how you have your love for courtney? Please give lauren the chance too. She is the most expertly crafted representation of an anime yandere ive seen

[@lilaniloxi]

Honestly Sugar shouldn't have been Pahkitew's main vilain. She works way better as an antagonistic force in the background. Just a menace doing her own thing! They should've leaned into Scarlett more, but then again that season's writing isn't great, and i actually like it :/

[@Rain-bg4xx]

It's giving "when a bitch calls you a twin like eww no"

[@Quatrixjs1]

It's a good day when Switch1e uploads, keen for the All Stars video

[@elitettelbach4247]

Points were definitely made! It’s especially noticeable in All Stars because we have a former big bad interacting with the new big bad and to make the new one seem bigger and badder they decide to make the old one less threatening/powerful. I think also why Alejandro worked better as a main villain was that he felt like a good foil to the original main villain Heather and they had a complex and interesting dynamic. Mal and Alejandro together was very imbalanced and not particularly enjoyable.

[@neodica5967]

I agree. If the writers wanted Mal to look more threatening, they should've pitted him against Alejandro at his best so eliminating him felt like an actual challenge. Al is essentially the ultimate Total Drama villain, so Mal should've earned his place as the superior villain instead of steamrolling over Alejandro. As for relationships, I think Mal had a few potentially interesting dynamics besides Alejandro, but none of them fully lived up to that potential. His relationship with Duncan is the one with the most wasted potential since they barely interact with each other. He was the first to discover the truth about Mal but Mal wasn't even involved in his elimination. Mike is supposed to be his heroic counterpart, but they don't even feel much like foils to one another. Vito was a much better foil to Mike because his brash and arrogant personality was the complete opposite of Mike's, but Mal's villainy is disproportionate to Mike's goodness. They also don't get to interact that often since the parts of the story that take place in Mike's head are very short. And then there's Zoey who is probably Mal's strongest foil since she's arguably the nicest character in AS. They technically interact even less since Zoey isn't fully aware of Mal until the last 2 episodes, but there's enough inherent drama in Mal's deception that their relationship is an ok concept despite being so short-lived, like how Cameron and Lightning weren't enemies until the last few episodes of ROTI. It obviously still needs work, but it more or less delivers what it's supposed to in the finale.

[@ZDubbz]

need my annual multi-hour long sw1tchie video for the summer or i'll literally die. pls deliver big boy

[@ignoranceisbliss887]

god i love these videos so much

[@switch1e]

Tysm for watching!

[@ignoranceisbliss887]

@@switch1e omg stop love you so much

[@neodica5967]

I think the main difference between Alejandro and Mal is that Mal doesn't have a lot of interesting relationships to play off of. Heather can at least see through Al's perfect facade and therefore challenge him, but none of the characters that know of Mal's existence stay long enough to be a threat to him. The only character that does (Zoey) only finds out about him in the penultimate episode, and by then there's no time to build up a relationship between them. Besides the fact that Mal took over her boyfriend's body, Mal hasn't done anything to Zoey personally. As for later power creep, I would've pointed to the protagonists of Pahkitew Island and the reboot instead of their villains. Sky is literally an Olympic-level gymnast which goes far beyond the physical skill level of every character on the OG cast (aside from Alejandro I guess). Jasmine and Shawn have enough physical strength and survival knowledge to get through most of the show without issue (though that's mostly because the rest of the Pahkitew cast is basically useless). And Priya was literally designed _in-universe_ to win Total Drama. Caleb is a slight step down from that, but the fact that he's smart, strong, and handsome enough to reach the finale essentially makes him the good version of Alejandro. That's not to say any of these are necessarily bad characters, but it's clear that if they were placed next to previous contestants (especially the original cast), they would outclass most, if not all of them.

[@WolvesofbeyondAj]

Im going to point this out, Mal definitely could've been way better. His idea was amazing, and with several episodes he could've been more fleshed out. But also, he is the only villian (aside from Chris and Scarlett) who was genuinely dangerous which makes him so compelling. He committed attempts of murder and almost got away with it. He didn't just "break stuff" no, he did really bad things. I also love the hint that he was made out of anger, rage, as he was bullied for being different so he created Mal to protect him. Which Mal gets enjoyment out of dominating others, winning, and gets increasingly unhinged if he doesn't get his way. If he would've been better fleshed out (along with the season), had more episodes, he would've been one of the most scary actual villains. Messing with the machine to the highest difficulty for Courtney which if it weren't total drama could've brutally hurt her, and killed her. Cam was hanging from a spot and he came back with a boulder to throw on him which could've murdered him if he succeeded. He came back, asked sweetly if Cam was still there (making Cam think it was Mike) and if he was, the last thing he would see that boulder if it were an adult show as Mal revealed himself. Tried to attack Gwen with a wooden plank (would've caused severe head trauma) Purposely used Scott as shark bait and left him for Fang. Absolutely beat the shit out of Izzy, there was no reason for him to do that. Again if it were real she would be severely damaged. Attempted to drown Zoey. He literally was in the process of choking her out and shoving her underwater. If he wasn't stopped he would've killed her there. TD villains are manipulative, but they aren't outright violent people. Mal was the one character who actively murdered, manipulated and repeatedly hurt contestants.

[@nearoikthadorbadwagon1224]

Good luck to you with the roast of total drama All-Stars video. 😊

[@cleventinetheclementine195]

I personally loved the concept of Mal, The character had so much potential that was wasted that its kind of dissapointing but i was still entertained by the concept alone throughout the season. I would have much prefered to see mal get man handled by alejandro initially, and then Mal switches it around at the end by manipulating people into voting him off early on, probably the same episode. It would pass the torch to a new villain in a way that showed how "mal" was supposed to be a manipulative psychopath who knows and keeps track of not only the weaknesses of his enemies but how to use others as a weapon against people. Alejandro may not have any exploitable weaknesses himself, but everyone knows he's a bad guy, That could've been leveraged against alejandro via clever writing to make MAL a believable "Step up" from alejandro without making Mal superior to alejandro. Plus, making mikes initial introduction be more "Soft boy" charisma would add to the effect, if alejandro beat up on the resident human golden retriever than most people would vote him off pretty quickly, it would also serve to let "mal" use that as leeway for certain things that would otherwise be pretty obvious. And also just better writing for that season like- jesus.

[@joshuablackwell6867]

One day you should do a comprehensive roast of Disventure Camp

[@rosemary3029]

There's an issue toon booms been shooting down a lot of disventure camp

[@neoknight117]

I could listen to hours and hours of Switchee yapping about Total Drama I swear

[@PramkLuna]

I do like that the writers try to be consistent with Duncan being the first to recognize Mal since he went to jail, but it falls flat when you realize that all the "bad" things Mal does are stuff Duncan or Scott has done. In fact, most of the cast has done worse before. Duncan blew up Chris's cottage, Siera blew up the plane, Heather exposed Gwen's life on tv multiple times, and more.

[@tauntingeveryone7208]

Honestly I would say that the winners have more power creep than the villains. You move from the lovable idiot to a girl who has been training her whole life to win total drama.

[@switch1e]

No, true. I was actually considering talking in this video about how like, half of the reboot cast are just... amazing at everything. You have Nichelle, Caleb, Priya, Bowie, and partially Axel. All are characters that seem to excel at everything they do. It's a little silly!

[@FirstLastname604]

In defense of Mal being able to crush Al’s wrist so effortlessly, back in the mine episode of revenge, Mike DID wrestle with a mutant gopher which had to be around 500 pounds and was able to hold his own surprisingly well until brick saved him. Dude has that sleeper build

[@neodica5967]

That's true, but he was probably also high on adrenaline given the circumstances. I do feel like Mike is stronger than he looks (especially evident when he's Vito), but it's also understandable that people find the wrist crushing moment kind of goofy looking. And aside from how silly the moment is visually, I think it also just bothers people that the strongest villain in the series was made to look completely powerless. There's no back and forth, not even a clever strategy to weaken Alejandro to this point, Mal just _is_ stronger, and that extends to their interactions throughout the episode.

[@FectoForgoGaming]

Honestly, I'd prefer if Mal was a joke villain everyone pretended to take seriously, like Max. I mean, there were other characters who could have become villains. Maybe they could have made Jo an antagonist? Or, maybe Sierra becomes a villain by pulling an MK and finding the other confessionals, tweaking them and splicing clips to intentionally trick the real-life and in-universe audience and make the other campers hated? That could really be cool... I think? I dunno, but it's better than Mal, at least.

[@mk-aka-morgan8386]

I had never heard about this concept until now and Im a little embaressed about that 😬

[@hopeless7323]

The thumbnail got me giggling wildf

[@ThomasTenma]

I love the izzy and chef fight! i wish we got more of that action

[@eduardoaguero1220]

Hmm, so this is power creep, I have to agree, not much else to say but good vid Switch!

[@ChillagerTheScot]

tick-tick switch1e bhultra dropped now it's your turn.......jk take as much time as you need even if it comes out next year i'll still be there to watch it

[@hazeltruelock5669]

Will you do all stars and pockettail island pls

[@julianestebanarroyave9509]

The comprehensive roast of total drakamall srars when😊

[@santiagoduran766]

A comprehensive history of disventure camp?

[@hazeltruelock5669]

Can you do comprehensive roast of all stars pahakatial reboot and redoncules

[@TheFosterAmiYumiFan]

What is redoncules

[@hazeltruelock5669]

The redoncules race

[@TheFosterAmiYumiFan]

It's not that, it's ridonculous

[@Ruebensngwi]

it’s actually Ridonculous!! Not being mean just correcting

[@TheFosterAmiYumiFan]

Pahkitew instead of pakahatail

[@iamloaf2433]

While i think there is inconsistencys in mals character. I dont actually think he was as awful as everyone says he was. However, i think the reason mal wasnt as great as he couldve been was down to 2 main factors. The run time of all stars and the cast of all stars. The fact an all star season was on the 13 episode format was criminal. Mal couldve had a phenominal arch if the season had a longer episode format. While this was an overall issue for as i belive it is a key reason mal wasnt as good. The cast of all stars also bothered me. Where was harrold,leshawna,dj,noah,cody,trent,brick,dawn. All of them shouldve been there and wouldve made for intresting dynamics with mal especially dawn who can sense when somethings wrong with a persons aura. Regardless of that tho i actually enjoy mal as a character but i completely get why he isnt as well liked as other villans

[@regenratior_rule]

Total drama having power creep is crazy 💀😭🙏

[@itsuki6]

Have you heard of Disventure Camp?

[@gemguy5951]

1:45 6 MONTHS!

[@nykoiscool]

who knows the background song in the beginning

[@vinegarenthusiast7043]

Mal would've worked better not as a long-term schemer, but as a wild card who throws a wrench into the carefully-crafted gambits of the other villains.

[@rexepic7567]

How is the all star video gonna be longer than the world Tour video the season is half the length

[@switch1e]

Honestly idk

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

There’s so much more to talk about, the focus on feuds that never go anywhere, the sudden 180s every character has when it’s their time to get eliminated, the complete lack of alternate elimination targets making every ceremony a formality

[@Ali_b_]

when comprehensive roast of total drama all stars comes, it’ll be 17 years 134 days 11 hours 24 minutes and 33 second long 💀

[@Psyrens]

Switch1e.. i beg you Lauren.. scary girl Tdi 2023 Shes got it all The twintails The strangely high voice The completely on the nose sadism The gothic color pallete The multi colored hair The adorable creepy smile THE THIGHHIGHS BRO SHES EVEN GOT A CORSET THE PRODUCERS WERE ON SOME 4D CHESS making her character She is a walking, expertly crafted parody of anime culture and it is SO refreshing. They couldnt have made her more appealing to a weeb if they were weebs themselves. I need more of this character and youre one of the people that can possibly make that happen I beg you Give it a chance. Give her a chance I know Chris and Chef have new voices, but theyre not terrible.. theyre wrong, but what do ya do? Dont let that soil your view PLEASE SWITCHIE DO IT FOR THE IZZY GUY HE NEEDS TO COVER LAUREN SHE IS IZZY ON STEROIDS

[@silvertongue.242_99]

I need to check out the reboot but I do love Julia design though

[@SimonSaidSo]

The link to your main channel in the description of your 2nd channel does not work

[@Elijahlikesbatim]

Hey switche? Will u do the comprehensive roast of s5's first half? Aka allstars?

[@omegax363]

btw a male ver of a mary sue is called a gary sue just to let you know

[@switch1e]

I am aware but I assumed Mary Sue works regardless

[@baileylynn5562]

14:25 but are they here to slay? I’m sorry

[@switch1e]

Lmao

[@aurahoneydew9607]

Alejandro's hypnotist skills seems like it should have been more used. Also Alejandro being a Mary Sue is inaccurate since Mary Sue is for a protagonist but for a villain its just good at being an obstacle like Gary Oak or Dio.

[@renegadesoul8701]

Listen, a lot of people have a problem with Julia and her off-screen scheming (I do too), but at least she's a fun character to see. As for Mal, does he even have some kind of charm? I mean, even Sugar had SOME sort of funny moments.

[@bobi200samatar6]

Comparing Alejandro to Justin is a lot like comparing Blaziken to Infernape. They both have similar tools and play the game in very similar ways, but one is just so much better that even though the other is still good, there's basically no reason to refer to it. It's a textbook case of getting overshadowed.

[@switch1e]

To be fair both Blaziken and Infernape have both had good runs in OU-UU

[@rimfire8217]

"Bigger is Better, right" Not always, sometimes it's better to keep an antagonist grounded. Alejandro despite being good at almost everything is grounded in a human reality. Mal is way too over-the-top evil and somewhat underwhelming, All bark no bite.

[@switch1e]

Yeah, I meant to say "bigger is better" in a semi-facetious way

[@loucar10]

Hiya Switchie have you considered voice acting and heard of disventure camp? It's one of the best fanmade shows inspired by total drama. Strongly recommended giving it a watch, but I think you'd be great voicing a character in the show! Like if you think Switchie should audition!

[@switch1e]

Are they doing casting right now?

[@loucar10]

@switch1e I believe they are. Season 3 is partway through release and they posted a month ago for new auditions. The group who make it are odd nation cartoons.

[@Squidward4567]

Day 50 of waiting for that All Stars Retrospective video

[@switch1e]

day 50?

[@JonathanLopez-fs5lt]

When's the all stars video

[@connorschultz380]

Vs debating uses power creep to discuss, the creep of power of characters going sky high quite a bit

[@ivanbluecool]

Island: heather fantastic since her introduction Action: chris is the true bad guy Alejandro: amazing since nobody knew he was the bad guy aside those who already lost or don't care. Scott: he was good. Wish it went somewhere with dawn Don't remember the cast after that. Guess mal but he's awful and somehow the couple gets to the end. Same with latest season it was so lacking in general compared to season 1 with how flat chris was The ice dancers were good as joke/semi serious foes losing right before the final 2.

[@StevenDolce]

One by one, they will all fall.

[@Doug_Edwards99]

I’m not bothered by Mal physically overpowering Alejandro, because Mike has been portrayed as suprisingly strong several times before. Vito was able to knock out Fang with a single punch, and Mal himself previously crushed a Gameboy in the palm of his hand and (much more impressively) overpowered Izzy, one of the strongest contestants. I think the bigger issue is that Mal is treated as somehow a better liar and manipulator than Alejandro, but that’s not really true at all. If anything, the only reason Al lost is because nobody trusted him, understandingly so, though it doesn’t really excuse how the contestants miss the blatant signs of Mal’ malice.

[@Drama_Theory]

God damn I loved TDWT so much because of Alejandro, he felt so so badass and his rivalry with Heather is just icing on the cake

[@maush.]

The MK rework really made her more meta but the caleb buff was way too much

[@christianottley8542]

One of the most impressive villains ive seen is flore from disventure amp season 1, and while i do note its just a fanproject and theres alot that wouldnt fit into a regular total drama season i feel like the way she manipulates people and is generally intelligent while also having clear weaknesses is fun

[@shellyvision9693]

Mal just… sucks. I know we’ve all said it, but he feels like an oc that got shoved into the show out of nowhere.