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A pair of Total Drama Island fanfictions byThe Kobold Necromancer which are, in fact, the most popular stories ever written within the fandom.
The plot is fairly common. The first story, "Total Drama Comeback" (TDC), is set about six months after the end of Total Drama Island, with the contestants back for a new season where two of them will win $10,000. The rules are different, with teams being formed and dissolved for individual challenges, making alliances and rivalries more complex. While the fic keeps all of the characters at least partially in focus, the Breakout Character is Ezekiel, who is both bitter about the events of the previous season and determined to do better. He quickly manages to do so, managing to make friends and eventually a girlfriend (Heather, who also winds up seeking redemption), while meanwhile numerous side-plots include Courtney seeking revenge on Harold, Katie having a crush on Noah, Tyler dealing with a past trauma and Izzy searching for the mysterious "Jellybean Smuggler," among others.
The sequel, "Total Drama Battlegrounds" (TDB), is a similar story set six months after TDC. Here, however, the twenty-two original contestants are joined by twenty-two new ones, who can be found on the author's Deviant ART page Total-Drama-Comeback-2 here. The story alternates between "normal" challenges and ones performed via a virtual reality machine, the latter involving tasks that would be impossible in the normal Total Drama universe (such as fighting vampires or zombies). This story is ongoing.
The Kobold Necromancer is also the author of TDWT Reducks Redux, a Fix Fic for season three and Love Aint Easy Its Ezzy, a Shipping fic about the adventures of Izzy and Ezekiel.
Has its own wiki.
- Abusive Parents: Comeback reveals that several of the campers have unpleasant homelives.
- Tyler has a Missing Mom, who came back after seeing him on TDI... just to berate his father with "I told you so"s and claims that this just proved that Tyler was absolutely hopeless at sports. She also got him barred from all of the teams at his school.
- Meanwhile, Noah suffers from Parental Neglect, to the point that when he broke his leg at seven years old, he overheard his mother saying, "Well, at least it was only Noah; he barely moves anyway."
- And Courtney's parents are both big on education as well as overdemanding perfectionists. They weren't too thrilled with how she lost on TDI.
- Harold's folks don't approve of their relationship with Leshawna.
- Acceptable Targets: In-universe. Apparently, picking on and persecuting Christians is A-OK with Chris and the producers (though note, not the author or audience). Less inflammatory, anyone who is taken with a shred of seriousness insults Twilight and sparkly vampires.
- Action Girl: Izzy takes out a serial killer and jellybean smuggler (much like Gwen a season before). Also, Heather is oddly adept at the VR challenges.
- Added Alliterative Appeal : Chris was very fond of this trope in Comeback, but dropped it in Battlegrounds.
- Ambiguously Brown: As well as the canon bunch, Daisy and Jasmine both qualify according to the drawings on the author's Deviantart page. Colin is Ambiguously Burnt Sienna.
- Word of God says that Daisy and Jasmine are both black, Sebastian is Brazilian and Colin is just a tanned Caucasian.
- Also played with in regards to the canon characters: Justin claims to not know his own race due to being a test tube baby (presumably meaning his mom used a sperm donor), while Sierra and Katie both get cut off before saying what race they are. Noah is apparently Indonesian in this universe, though, despite Word of God recently saying he's Indian and Justin being Hawaiian.
- Justified as the announcement from the Word of God came after Kobold decided Noah was Indonesian and Justin was a testube baby.
- Ambiguously Gay: Chef (no really)
- Amusing Injuries: Alternately played straight and deconstructed: some injuries are Played for Laughs, others Played for Drama. Reference is made to the canon incident of Cody being mauled by a bear; the fact that this amused his peers back home is treated as rather horrifying.
- Anime Hair: Colin
- All Scary Black Men Like Ponies
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Colin believes this
- Arc Words: "Everyone deserves a second chance" in Comeback
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "The landslide was a muddy crash of charging fervor, a slimy plow of terrible proportion, a tremendous stampede of slushy earth, and it was rather yucky too."
- Mandy's rats are named Death, Famine, War, and Snowflake. It was a snowy day when she named that last one.
- This line , also from Mandy:
"Man, the airport security was as bad as my school, where they take my daggers, and my vial of poison, and my lighter, and my scalpel, and my whip, and my taser, and my pepper spray, and my razors, and my gum!" |
- Valerie (one of the villains) likes Twilight
- Also, Colin and Zachary (also villains) were the only ones who enjoyed Disaster Movie.
- How to kill a centipede, according to Xander:
- Valerie (one of the villains) likes Twilight
"Napalm, bazookas, pesticide spray, and maybe a really big meerkat." |
- Ascended Extra: Ezekiel. Kobold had an almost blank slate to work with.
- In-universe, Cid-Vicious's OCs, Gil and Anita and TDI Charlie Brown's Alicia makes an appearance.
- The Atoner: A major part of Ezekiel's motivation is making up for what he said last time and how it damaged his parents' reputations to the point that they almost lost their teaching jobs.
- Also Heather and Courtney in Battlegrounds.
- Author Appeal: The Bridgette/Gwen undertones.
- The Zombie Apocalypse challenge. The Kobold Necromancer is on record as a big fan of that sort of thing.
- Author Avatar: Ezekiel, possibly Harold, Joel and Alfred.
- Wouldn't it be Author Filibuster? Normally authors get the philosopher to be his/her Author Avatar, and in this fic we have Sebastian.
- Author Tract: Izzy's battle cry in chapter 30, aka "DEVIANT ART SUCKS" after Kobold was unfairly banned from the site. Although really, it was inevitable.
- Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: Is a monstrous challenge!
- Badass: Mandy and Yoshi. Full stop.
- Bamboo Technology: Joel’s stuff.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ezekiel and Heather at the start of the fic
- Berserk Button: In TDB, how Heather acts whenever people threaten to vote Ezekiel off.
- Betty and Veronica: In TDC, Cody is the Betty to Beth while Justin is the Veronica.
- In TDB, Anita and Eva. They don't fit the exact model as well, though.
- And Sierra (or possibly Sadie) might be the Third Option Love Interest.
- Big Bad
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Courtney and Heather during the first half of TDC.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Chris Maclean is muuuuuuuuuuuch more antagonistic during Battlegrounds; Colin, Zachary, Valerie and Sandra are the new villanous contestants, since all the veteran villains had pulled a Heel Face Turn by the end of Comeback, Alejandro (even if he isn't a contestant), a mysterious villain whose identity is unknown to the reader, and the producer being the Bigger Bad.
- Biggus Dickus: Noah (according to Katie)
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As seen during the RV Race, the producer.
- Bi the Way: Alfred seems oddly willing to kiss other guys. Izzy also loves to kiss and make out with other girls.
- Butt Monkey: Colin. He talks and acts tough, but everyone else gets their chance to beat some sense or reality into him in some form or another at least once an episode (but he usually deserves it).
- Chris, as in most Total Drama fanfics, gets this treatment too.
- Canada, Eh?: Duncan is supposedly Canada’s third worst criminal, based on the logic that Canada doesn’t have that many criminals.
- Captain Obvious: "Hey Zeke, there's an arrow in your butt."
- Casanova Wannabe: Howard. Also Colin, in a far more nasty and perverted way.
- Cast Herd: in battlegrounds, the contestants are divided into 6-9 teams before each challenge. This way the author ensures that every character will get some lines and make easier to follow the progress of each team.
- Character Exaggeration: At the end of Comeback, Lindsay forgets her own name.
- Chaste Hero: Yoshi believed that his fellow contestants should stop being Sickeningly Sweethearts and get their heads into the game, Daisy put a stop to that.
- The Chew Toy: Surprisingly, Ezekiel suffers this to some degree. Deconstructed in that some of his injuries are taken very seriously.
- Noah and Heather also get their share of punishment too.
- Chekhov's Gun: The letter written by the eliminated contestants.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Howard, who will hit on any girl unless she’s already taken. And of course Cody fills this trope, as per canon, not wanting to make out with Eva until he's decided which girl he'll officially date.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Heather sees Izzy and Bridgette as a threat to her relationship with Ezekiel (can't blame her though, the author ships them). In later episodes, she seems to get over it.
- Courtney after Gwen and Duncan start to become friends.
- Eva towards Cody.
- Closet Geek: Arthur and to a lesser extent, Heather.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Aside from the usual TDI characters, Jasmine and Alfred also gets this.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Gwen swears quite heavily in Chapter 21 of Comeback.
- Compressed Vice: During the final challenge of Comeback, Izzy develops Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny, which never had before nor displayed in Battlegrounds.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment:
Chris: "Your punishment is far worse than you could expect! Because tonight, before you discuss who you vote for and then actually do it, you are going to watch the film... Disaster Movie!" |
- Creator Thumbprint: The author dedicates time to all the characters, but his favorites (Ezekiel, Izzy, Bridgette, etc.) usually get the most time, and were the final three in the first season.
- Also, both stories are loaded with lots of nerdy stuff. At one point, Chris even breaks the fourth wall to tell the readers that non-nerds will have a hard time reading the chapter.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Izzy was right about the jellybean smuggler.
- Darker and Edgier: Not always, but scenes like Ezekiel’s concussion and the Jelly Bean smuggler certainly qualify.
- Day in The Limelight: Everyone gets this a bit, but in TDC Ezekiel’s part was huge.
- Dead Baby Comedy: Colin likes this kind of Humor
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Heather thanks to Ezekiel
- Deus Angst Machina: Parodied with Clive.
- Did Not Do the Research: Strongly averted. The author makes sure he include details from the official biographies of the contestants. This is kind of ironic, seeing as how the writers on the actual show pretty much ignore the bios completely.
- He even researched Twilight!
- However, there is one minor example of not doing the research, though it's probably forgivable (due to the fact that the author's American) After Daisy breaks her ankle (and is voted off as a result), Chris says that he doesn't think the producers should be responsible for paying her medical bills. Since Canada has free healthcare, he's technically right.
- Doorstopper: Do not try to read the entire thing in one day. This is, of course, a testament to the quality of the writing; the author doesn't skimp when it comes to the challenges.
- Drama Bomb: Episode 9 of Comeback (Chapters 27-29) serves as a major one: thanks to sabotage, Harold suffers an allergy attack that leaves him temporarily paralyzed (after nearly killing him), and Courtney and Duncan's alliance with Heather is exposed during the ensuing investigation.
- Dramatic Ellipsis: Done right, imitating the dramatic pauses in real elimination ceremonies.
- Dream Sequence: One chapter of TDC shows all the remaining contestants (plus Chef) dreaming, and other characters’ dreams are scattered throughout. Variants include:
- Bad Dreams: Ezekiel, Cody, Tyler and others.
- Dreaming of Things to Come / Visions of Another Self: Sort of; Heather and Ezekiel share dreams that hint about their eventual romance and character development.
- Drives Like Crazy: Izzy is definitely the worst example. Katie's a close second, but it's usually because she doesn't get the concept of looking ahead of her.
Noah: BRIDGETTE! KART! ROAD! KART GOES ON ROAD! |
- Early-Bird Cameo: Joel appears several times in TDC.
Chris: "Ahhhh, that's how to sell your audience, folks. Show them a preview of what is in store next season, and they'll eat it up. Works well for Pokémon, I hear." |
- Easily Forgiven: Played with during Comeback after the Drama Bomb episode: some of the contestants are able to forgive Courtney's actions more easily than others, which makes those who don't forgive them so quickly even angrier. Katie, for example, holds a grudge even into TDB.
- Emo/Emo Teen: Clive in TDB.
- Even the Guys Want Him: As per canon, Owen has a crush on Justin, but in the stories, so does Ezekiel, although it's more Played for Laughs.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: In the first chapters of both fics, although TDC's is more everyone is re-introduced to everyone else.
- Everything Is Racist: according to Zachary.
- Expy: Joel might seem kind of familiar…
- Fandom Specific Plot: There are lots of “alternative seasons” in Total Drama Island fanfiction. These are generally considered better.
- Fan Service: There are challenges that (in-universe) are built on this.
- Fanon Immigrant: Jasmine was originally shown in Leshawna's video from home. Alejandro and Sierra also host the Aftermaths.
- Fix Fic: This series wasn’t meant to be this trope, but given how abysmal Total Drama Action was, many fans think of it this way.
- More recently, Kobold has started writing an actual Fix Fic based on World Tour.
- Actually, it feels like a Fix Fic of Total Drama Island (even if this si the only season TKN likes). Think about it: it features the 22 original characters, takes place at Wawanakwa, and some of the challenges are based on TDI challenges (the very first challenge is a talent show). It's pretty much TDI 2.0, focusing on Ezekiel, Bridgette and Izzy.
- Flanderization: Arguably Owen. Also, many of the new contestants conform strictly to their stereotypes.
- At least at first; they tend to become more rounded if given their own subplot to develop in. Hannah, for example, pretty much didn't have a line in the early chapters that didn't relate to her religion, but this ended when she started her romantic subplot with Joel.
- Flat What: Duncan and Heather both deliver one in Comeback when Katie is voted off.
- For the Evulz: Colin seems to enjoy upsetting people for no particular reason other than he finds it fun.
- Freudian Excuse: Courtney, see Abusive Parents. Also, the fact that her school life became miserable after she got the boot (being insulted with names like Crazy In Training) and being beaten for the Student Council President by a guy who's rebuttal was essentially a giant poster of her being dragged down the dock of shame screaming.
- Friendship Moment
- Follow the Leader: Although wasn't the first fic of the type, it helped to spawn many other fics.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Izzy.
"What? The Amazons always fought bare-chested! Haven't you ever seen those ancient paintings? Like all warriors, male and female, they went to battle with little armor, just their raging spirits and weapons and loincloths, but I didn't have a loincloth, so…” |
- Fun with Acronyms: During the Superhero challenge, the contestant must retrieve the Gemstone of Power Amplification.
- And who can forget the Kool Kids' Klub...
- Gainaxing: Sierra in the first Aftermath. A rather good example of why this should not be done in print.
- Genki Girl: Naturally Izzy, but Carol and sometimes Jasmine or Mandy can also fit.
- Genre Savvy: Xander seems to realize that, once his "mysterious injuries" subplot gets resolved, he'll be voted off.
- In the alien challenge, Heather immediately flees when Rodney dies, realizing that if Infant Immortality has broken down, she and Alfred don't stand a chance.
- Also, Noah during the Superhero challenge, when he became the Evil Overlord:
(after Noah's informed that one of his minions succeeded in his mission) |
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Xander’s facial scar.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Courtesy by Yoshi, and other, occasionally.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Alejandro will some use some spanish words.
- Groin Attack: Used quite often, to the point that a challenge in Battklegrounds features one at the beginning (Anita kicking Colin) and one in the end (Bridgette kicking Alejandro.
Noah: ... Oh... there goes... any chance... of Noah Junior... |
- Heel Face Turn: Courtney after the Drama Bomb episode of Comeback, and Heather after hooking up with Ezekiel.
- Helloo'. My name is Ezekiel Miller. You killed my girlfriend. Prepare to die, eh!
- Heroic Sacrifice: TDC, Episode 4: when he realizes DJ is hanging onto him despite his fear of heights, Noah unlocks his handcuffs and willingly drops from his grasp so that DJ won't be dragged down with him.
- And in Episode 9, Katie volunteers to be voted off instead of Harold, so he won't have to leave just because of his allergy attack.
- Hot Amazon: Cody’s perception of Eva.
- And Izzy. Heh-heh-heh…
- How We Got Here: Episode 9 of Comeback opens In Medias Res, then retells the morning's events and challenge via Flashbacks. Lampshaded by one of the interviews:
Tyler: "...I wonder what Chris meant when he said he'd show these confessions earlier in the show to bring up tension. That'd be mean to the poor viewers." |
- Hypocrite: Courtney criticizes on Gwen, Leshawna, and Tyler continuing to hold a grudge against her from her actions in Comback despite her own pathetic grudge she held against Harold as well as anyone else who considered him as a friend (IE Leshawna for being his girlfriend, Geoff for simply inviting him to a party, and Gwen for telling her off), so she was in no position to lecture them about it since their grudges against her was due to her own grudge against Harold.
- I Call It Vera: Joel's VR machine is called Vera.
- I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!: Averted when Heather thinks she can try this kind of tactic on Ezekiel. It doesn’t work.
- Imaginary Love Dodecahedron
- Infant Immortality: It seems that no matter how bloodily the other contestants die during the virtual reality challenges, Rodney will somehow survive.
- Averted and Lampshaded in the last part of the alien invasion challenge.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Izzy gets a stint of this in TDC; though her 'innocence' might be questionable, she does deliver this line:
Izzy: "Hehe, silly Cody! I was just a girl his age with no top on while we were alone at sea with no cameras around. What could be so..." Beat. "Oh. Oh my." |
- Is This Thing Still On?: During the ninja challenge, when Chris and another campers discussed about Ezekiel's crush on Bridgette:
Lindsay:"Most of them are just walking around. Look, Zachary and Belinda are just sitting down next to each other. |
- Jerkass: Colin in this series’ standout example, though Chris, Zachary and occasionally Duncan get it as well.
- Jerk Jock: Averted and discussed/defied with Tyler.
Tyler:(talking about the Super Hero challenge in the confessional)I'm pretty glad I wasn't made a villain. I mean, I know a lot of people think of jocks as jerks, but I like to think I get along with everyone. Even the really out there ones here, I'm down with them! |
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gwen
- Just Friends: Ezekiel and Bridgette, though he clearly had a crush on her early on.
- Also, Duncan and Gwen, despite recent developments in canon.
- Keet: Alfred, the American version of Owen, takes this Up to Eleven.
- Kuudere: Noah (as in most Total Drama fanfiction).
- Large Ham: Everyone in the superhero challenge, bar Gwen.
- Last-Minute Hookup: Noah and Katie, Justin and Beth, and Joel and Hannah all hook up right before the girl gets voted off. The first one got almost no setup within a chapter. Averted, however, with Ezekiel and Heather who had a proper setup, and Sakaki and Sebastian who just sort of fell together.
- Leet Lingo: Chico the Racoon. One of his original prototype names was even "Racroll."
- Alpha Bitch: Heather, of course, as per canon, but in TDB Sandra takes this Up to Eleven.
- Like Is, Like, a Comma: Katie and Sadie, as part of they Valley Girl characterization.
- Literal Cliff Hanger: DJ and Noah in Chapter 13 of TDC. Noah makes the drop so DJ won't have to.
- Also Mandy at the end of one chapter in TDB. Hannah saves her.
- Love Redeems: Guess who. It's Heather.
- Averted with Valerie/Zachary
- In a sense, Noah (with Katie) and Justin (with Beth) both become nicer after their hook-ups. At least, until Katie gets voted off TDB...
- Love Triangle: In TDC, Cody/Beth/Justin. Cody has more luck as the hypotenuse in TDB, where Eva and Anita vie for his attention.
- Also, Izzy/Ezekiel/Heather. Probably.
- Love Dodecahedron: Izzy broke up with Owen and might have feelings for Ezekiel, who's with Heather but still has a slight crush on Bridgette who's having trouble with Geoff. Owen and possibly Alejandro have feelings for Sierra who has her canon crush on Cody who's in a Love Triangle between Eva and Anita, and let's not forget Alejandro/Sandra undertones and Courtney seeing Gwen as a threat to her relationship with Duncan (despite still being with Trent in this fic).
- Arthur may have a crush on Sadie, who has a crush on Zachary, who's stringing her along while he has a secret relationship with Valerie.
- Malcolm Xerox: Zachary.
- Mama Bear: Bridgette to Ezekiel.
- And just about every female contestant to Rodney.
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game: One of the TDB challenges.
- Memetic Sex God: Cody is an in-universe example.
- Mindlink Mates: A minor variant, with Ezekiel and Heather having very similar dreams.
- Missing Mom: Actually, Tyler probably wishes his mom had stayed missing...
- Mistaken for Gay: Noah (and Cody, to a lesser extent), Mandy (and Hannah, to a lesser extent).
- Howard apparently fears this trope.
- Moral Event Horizon: Played for Drama in TDC's ninth episode: Courtney sabotages the eating contest by spiking the soup with the thing Harold's most allergic to, kicking off a nearly fatal reaction. Your Mileage May Vary on whether or not this was their Moral Event Horizon; it certainly varies in-universe, but nearly everyone is horrified when they find out.
- Morality Pet: Cody for Courtney and to a lesser extent Duncan in Comeback (see Chapter 26)
- Rodney for Courtney in Battlegrounds
- Katie for Noah, in a way. He's at least less cynical with her around.
- Ms. Fanservice: The TDB producers hired Anita specifically for this reason, ordering her to wear revealing outfits. Since her motive for joining the show was to prove she was more than just an empty-headed pretty girl, you can imagine she’s not pleased with the situation.
- However, Izzy is usually more than happy to provide (see any trope that involves full frontal shots).
- Never Accepted in His Hometown: The reason Cody isn't aware of his popularity after TDI is he avoided any mentions of the show online. Why? Because everyone at his school harassed and teased him about being mauled by a bear. Eeesh.
- Noodle Implements: We never did find out what Katie did with those soy beans...
- Not So Different: Gwen gets warned about the potential of becoming too similar to Courtney and Heather in Comeback.
- Odd Friendship: Hannah and Mandy.
- These frequently occur in the series, thanks to all the Friendship Moments.
- Official Couple: Every canon and non-slash fanon pairing from the first series. With the exception of Owen and Izzy, they're all still together.
- Oh Crap: Chris, using the confessional, points out that Duncan and Owen are the only reasons the majority of their audience watches the show (which is probably true for the real show). He then remembers that both of them were long-eliminated at that point.
- Chris also gets one upon realizing his Epic Failure with Xtreme Kool Letterz.
- The camper responsible for the Drama Bomb gets one after being eliminated and discovering Leshawna is still pissed about what they did.
- Ostentatious Secret: Katie’s crush in TDC.
- In TDB, how Xander got his scars and limp.
- Not to mention whoever the hidden "villain" is in both seasons. More for the fans, although TDC characters speculated about it. Expect lots of shadowed faces and question marks whenever the person makes a confessional.
- Pair the Spares: As per Word of God, every contestant will hook up with somebody by the end of the fic. The only two exceptions are Rodney (because he's just 8) and Colin (because he's an obnoxious Jerkass).
- Pet the Dog: While he mostly Took a Level In Jerkass, Chris does occasionally show a softer side, like in Comeback after Harold's allergy attack, or stepping in and showing everyone confessional footage to prove that Cody's didn't help vote off Trent.
- Pitbull Dates Puppy: Heather/Ezekiel and Eva/Cody (although the last one is not officially a couple).
- Pretend Prejudice: Though he’ll constantly whine about white people, Zachary seems to quickly click with Owen and Colin, and joins forces with Valerie after only slight hesitation.
- Well he only seems to hate racist people, which he views almost everyone as, but Colin hates everyone and Owen's way too nice.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Yoshi.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: More that the events of the actual show write the plot. Some elements are played straight (Courtney being a Clingy Jealous Girl is inspired by Action), but most are a way to subvert or correct the "wrongs" done by the show that Kobold doesn't like (Duncan and Owen, the supposed "fan-favorites" getting voted off very early in TDB and the general treatment of Ezekiel and Bridgette, especially as of the events in World Tour).
- Reformed but Rejected: guess who again.
- Retcon: Originally, Total Drama Comeback was supposed to be a season set between Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action, referred to as season 1.5. Later, TDC just became the second season in this universe, and TDA never happened. Both Lampshaded and Handwaved by the contestants and Chris respectively.
- Running Gag: "Good question Beth, you get a cookie!"
- Schemer: Valerie and Sandra. This is Arthur's label, but he has not shown this yet (pity, he would make a far more interesting villian than Valerie or Sandra)
- Unless he's the mystery villain...
- Self-Deprecation: Probably an unintentional example: when fans tried to guess who the mystery villain was, many guesses went to Arthur aka "The Schemer", as labelled by Kobold himself, and next chapter basically saw him upset at being labelled as such, complaining the entire time that he was no schemer.
- During the MMORPG challenge, Noah advised against rolling a Kobold Necromancer, since it's the worst race-class combination possible.
- Serious Business: Izzy applies this trope to MMORPGs (and, by extension, everything)
- Shallow Love Interest: Crystal took up karate to avoid looking like one of these
- Shipper on Deck: Pretty much Crystal’s whole point.
- Which makes even more sense if we consider she's an Expy of WinterRae (everybody believes that Shout-Out was a coincidence...).
- Also in Comeback, Courtney shipped Cody/Beth while LeShawna shipped Beth/Justin.
- More recently, different characters have recently started taking sides in the Eva/Cody/Anita Love Triangle. So far Beth, Izzy, Bridgette, Sadie, Gwen, Courtney and Heather are rooting for Eva (Despite Eva yelled at Heather for supporting her, she didn't switch sides) while Ezekiel, Tyler, Harold, Noah and Rondey favors Anita.
- Ship Tease: Oh dear C'thullu, where to begin. It doesn't help that Kobold is known for writing Crack Pairings, so just about any male/female interaction can plausibly be seen as this. (Not that all the teases are male/female...)
- Shoe Slap: Crystal seems to be adept of this when wonders if "throwing shoes could be a super power."
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Variant in TDC: Owen, Sadie and Geoff are the first three out, with the last elimination leading to the Courtney/Duncan/Heather alliance that drives the drama until the Drama Bomb episode. Lampshaded in the fourth episode with Chris complaining about the last elimination making the island "less of a party". Subverted, however, in that Owen becomes an intern after his elimination. And even that is played with, as despite his internship, Owen doesn't appear in the third episode because he went to ensure the second one eliminated wouldn't be lonely.
- Shout-Out: There are many references to things The Kobold Necromancer likes, especially Mystery Science Theater 3000, zombie movies, anime, "Weird Al" Yankovic, etc. Averages about five a chapter.
- And now there is one for us too! Go TV Tropes!
- Alfred has recited anecdotes about weird situations he's gotten into with a friend named Keith.
- Sleep Cute: Ezekiel and Heather in TDC.
- Subverted in TDB when Joel and Daisy are found doing this, but deny that it necessarily has any romantic connotations. It really doesn't count as anything but Ship Tease, as they both wind up with other people soon after.
- So Beautiful It's a Curse: Anita plays this trope straight to an annoying level.
- Spaghetti Kiss
- Spanner in the Works: Courtney's plotting in TDC was foiled because they never anticipated that someone like Katie would deliberately leave the game so that Harold wouldn't have to go due to his allergies.
- Strawman Political: The rampant "picking on Christians" by Chris and the producers starts to sound a lot like a persecution complex after the first few times.
- Though to be fair, K.N. says he's not a Christian. Still comes off a bit Anvilicious, though.
- TKN has stated that he avoids specific politics for Valerie, so people will not think he is trying to make one side of the political structure is wicked (since Valerie is a villainess).
- Strip Poker
- Stop Being Stereotypical: The reason of Hannah and Anita auditioned for TDBG was to prove that not all Christians are fundamentalists zealots and that not all attractive girls are airheads, respectively. You can expect how much they succeeded.
- Stupid Evil: Colin repeatedly backstabs his teammates during challenges for no useful reason.
- Sure Why Not: Very likely; the initials "TDC" showed up in the TDA special. Ironically, TDC is considered to be the Fix Fic to Action. Another, more interesting example, is that Kobold often inserts details about the OC's clothes based on how people draw them into whatever the next chapter is, ascending them into fanon.
- Take That: A few examples:
- The vampire challenge in TDB, which is basically meant to parody/bash Twilight.
- At another point in TDB, the losers of a challenge had to watch Disaster Movie. Carol was catatonic afterwards. Zachary and Colin seemed to like it, though.)
- Against bad fanfics:
Carol: "Heck, I wrote one on Duncan and Courtney, and I got about a hundred reviews! And I didn't even have a plot!" |
- Talking Animal: Groucho the Duck
- That Came Out Wrong: Often when Chris tries to explain some challenges.
(During the Prom Night challenge) |
- The Woman Behind The Man: The Producer.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I! HAVE! A! SWORD!" - Chapter 28
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The reason why Kobold made this fic in the first place was to do this for Ezekiel, but also to an extent Harold, Tyler and Cody (The latter more so in Battlegrounds)
- Throwing Off the Disability: Harold manages to do this in TDC. A type two variation, i.e., it’s established as something he could recover from.
- Throwing the Fight: Chef, as a payback from Chris.
- Time Skip: Six months passed between TDI and TDC, and another six pass between TDC and TDB. This is important, since events that occurred in several of the contestants' normal lives effect their actions in the game. Ezekiel, Tyler, Harold and Courtney are among those most affected in TDC.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Ezekiel/Heather stands as the only couple where the girl is taller than the guy.
- Took a Level In Badass: Most of the characters during the virtual reality challenges, most obviously Heather.
- Took a Level In Jerkass: as if he wasn't bad enough, Chris
- Tsundere: Heather and Eva
- All the Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary: Well, it ruined Harold's.
Harold: Oh, I know all about these kinds of things. See, Leshawna is my Tsundere, how could she resist in the end how my awesome skills are taken Up to Eleven? (Superimposed on the screen as he talks is "WTH IS HE SAYING?") |
- Up to Eleven: This trope helps to explain the sucess of these fics. The author pick challenges from the actual series, and also creating new types, and then, without the limitations of an animated show of almost half and hour, takes everything Up to Eleven.
- Valley Girl: OMG, Katie is like, totally this trope!
- Villains Out Shopping: Played for Laughs, with the vampires and aliens.
- Villainous Breakdown: In Comeback, Courtney suffers one when Harold isn't eliminated in Episode 9, leading to a nasty confrontation and Motive Rant.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Owen with Valerie and Colin
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: The final line in the Shakespeare poem that Noah recites is "And lose the name of action." Bonus points for this being before the second season actually aired.
- Wham! Episode: In TDB, Hannah's elimination.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Turns into a Dude, Not Funny Moment with the Cool Kids Club. Yeah...
- Yaoi Fangirl: Mainly Izzy, though Valerie and a few other girls get their moments as well.
- Yuri Fan: Several of the guys, especially during the fanservice challenge.
- The author himself has a thing for Gwen/Bridgette.
- Webcomic Time
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Stingy the (giant) platypus.
- Zerg Rush: At the VR alien challenge, by the aliens
- Zombie Apocalypse: One of the virtual reality challenges in TDB.