Yep, we’re going back to Wawanakwa yet again, as we only just barely scratched
the surface when it came to this infamous reality show’s pairings and canon couples.
With many others left to go through, we figured you guys deserve a sequel.
I’m Kifinosi with WickedBinge, and this is Total Drama Ships: Sink, Swim or Sail - Part 2!
Just like last time, we’re going to be excluding the reboot season since it still hasn’t been
released in the states yet. But hey, maybe by the time we make part 3, it’ll finally be out.
As a reminder, our five categories are: “Sink” for ships we don’t like,
“Swim” for the ones that we’re iffy on, “Sail” for the ships that we do like,
and our two special categories, these being the “Shipwrecks”, which are the worst of the worse,
and the “Five-Star Cruises” for all the ships we love the most.
We’re going to be starting things off positively with what could be considered
one of the strangest yet still surprisingly wholesome ships that the franchise has to offer:
Sam and Dakota. For as unexpected as this ship was, many argue that it was one of the
most notable positives of TDI Season Four. Part of that may be BECAUSE it was so surprising,
with the show actually giving us a wholesome relationship between the gamer nerd and the
rich girl. While not all of their interactions were perfect, any awkwardness or brief moments
of misconnection were easily overlooked in favor of focusing on all the times where there WERE
obvious sparks. It can also be said that not many relationships would be able to survive one of them
being turned into a monster - or at the very least, it wouldn’t be able to survive as easily
as these two. But Sam and Dakota? They thrive in their weirdness, finding happiness, love and
support in each other while not caring about what anyone else thinks. Easily gets a Five-Star Cruise
rating in our eyes, being one of the healthiest and sweetest relationships in the whole franchise.
Keeping things lovey-dovey, we have to bring up the couple that has probably been seen making
out more than any other, that being Geoff and Bridgette. Now, this ship has plenty of fans,
buuut it has just as many haters. From the people who thought that all their smooching was obnoxious
and wished that they weren’t always so tied to each other, to those who still loved their
relationship but eventually got bored with it, it’s certainly been a rollercoaster. In
all honesty, though, seeing their relationship grow in season 1 was incredibly sweet and felt
pretty realistic. Actually, we’d say that was this ship’s biggest selling point at its start,
being something that felt casual and grounded in comparison to all the other dramatic and wacky
pairs. In other words, if you liked the simplicity of classic Gwen and Trent, then you were probably
also shipping Geoff and Bridgette. But while they may not be the perfect couple, as both of
them have made some pretty notable mistakes, just the fact that they’re pretty much the ONLY classic
Total Drama couple that never broke up permanently says a lot. Sure, you could maybe argue that
it’s just codependency, but for the sake of being optimistic, we’re still going to say sail for this
one. If a couple can survive one briefly becoming an egomaniac and the other being tempted to cheat
while on international tv, we’d say that they’ve got a pretty good shot at surviving anything.
Unfortunately, you’ll find that in Total Drama, not all ships are created equal and
while some get plenty of set-up, others just come right out of nowhere - like the brief ship
that was Courtney and Scott. As if All-Stars didn’t have enough flaws and points against
it… Given how brief this relationship was, you have to wonder why they even bothered,
as even the drama that it stirred up didn’t amount to much. But to be somewhat fair here,
it had the potential to work, given that - much like Duncan - Scott is actually a fan of
bossy girls. So in spite of any toxicity that the relationship might have, it’s hard to say whether
or not Scott would completely mind that. In another parallel to the Duncan and Courtney ship,
Courtney did seem to find Scott’s more rugged and somewhat bad-boy nature somewhat endearing…
buuut she also saw him as a sort of ‘rat-boy’, so take that with a grain of salt. At any rate,
this really does feel like the writers were trying to both recapture and speed-run the
former Duncan and Courtney relationship without putting nearly as much effort into it. Add in the
fact that Courtney was shown yet again putting the prize money above any sort of would-be meaningful
relationship with a potential boyfriend, and it’s safe to say that this ship sinks.
Keeping with the more recent Total Drama additions, we feel it’s time to talk about
Jo and Brick. The first non-canon pair of the video, but still one that managed to
gain a decent amount of traction within the fandom. Yes, it’s the classic love story of
the cadet and the tough girl, complete with the always enjoyable rivals-to-lovers trope. Now,
you could argue that Jo and Lightning also fit that dynamic, but Jo was rivals with Brick first,
leading many to expect SOMETHING to happen between them. Unfortunately, all that happened
was a few brief moments of competition, arguing over leadership and some clashing of morality,
with Brick being a loyal soldier and Jo being an athlete who’s willing to do anything to get that
big win. Some have argued, however, that this could be a case where, should feelings bloom
and they actually form a relationship, they could actually better each other. Brick could
help Jo become a better person and Jo could push Brick to become a bit tougher. It’s speculative,
but it IS still something. For that, we’re giving this a swim ranking as, while they
might not be the most adorable or even the most healthy couple around, we are curious as to where
it could possibly go should the two of them ever get together, even if it’s only for a short time.
But if we’re talking canon couples, we feel like the Ridonculous Race season ended up winning
over quite a few fans with the Noah and Emma pairing. Out of all the Total Drama characters,
who would’ve thought that it would be NOAH of all people to snag himself a girlfriend?
And one who can go toe-to-toe with him in terms of snark, no less! We’ll talk about
other Noah-focused couples here in a sec, but for the fans who weren’t already attached to
one of those ships, we don’t blame them for quickly gravitating towards these two. Heck,
we’re right along with them - this is definitely a ship that sails! Both are
fairly intelligent and responsible characters who have a soft side deep down - a side that
becomes even MORE noticeable whenever the two of them are together, which we ultimately see
as a positive. They mesh incredibly well, and while it could be argued that Emma might have
brought out the ‘worst’ in Noah with how badly his big crush distracted him from
the game in Ridonculous, it’s just too cute and too sweet for us to completely hate it.
However, if we’re going to bring up Noah, we really should bring up his other main ship within
the fandom, that being the one between him and Owen. Yes, yes, we know that the CodyxNoah ship
came first, but that was really only a one-scene wonder. Sorry No-Co fans. Back to Owen and Noah,
it is both really funny and sweet to see Owen being so protective of his ‘little buddy’.
Between World Tour and Ridonculous Race, these two had a ton of moments where they bounced off each
other and were shown to just have a super cute friendship in general. They obviously care about
each other, even if Noah tends to hide it for the most part, and with how much history these two
have at this point, it could easily become a case of friends-to-lovers. They have each other’s back,
they’re used to each other’s quirks, and they actually make a surprisingly good team! We’d say,
let it sail! Though, for what it’s worth, this is a case where we just wanna see
them continue being together, whether that be platonically OR romantically.
Keeping with the Ridonculous Race, I personally wanted to give a quick shout out to the Ice
Dancers, Jacques and Josee. Full disclosure, this is yet another non-canon couple, unfortunately.
Heck, originally these two were going to be written as siblings with a Sharpay and Ryan
sort of dynamic. But since they aren’t actually siblings - and thank goodness for that - I have
to say that I love these two to bits, and not just because they are fun characters. Essentially, they
are the ice dancer equivalent of Jessie and James from Pokemon, being fun villains who are always
getting into shenanigans and throwing hands with the Police Cadets - who, we should mention, could
honestly have their own segment given their whole dynamic with each other. But while I mostly love
its ship for the comedy, hence why I don’t totally mind the moments where Josee is being a total
brat, there are actually moments where there’s some sweetness that keeps this relationship from
feeling as cold as ice (pun very much intended). The episode that has them flawlessly dance the
tango together and then later shows Josee swooning over Jacques for managing to successfully win the
challenge for them? Mwah, chef’s kiss! In terms of healthy dynamics, I can fully admit that this
probably deserves a swim rating. But I’m sorry, I just can’t - for me, it sails.
But alright, enough Ridonculous, as we’ve got just a few more Island pairings before we wrap
things up. Firstly, it’s time we discuss the fan pairing of Scott and Dawn. Yet another
ship that blossomed within the fandom but ended up getting unfortunately knee-capped by canon.
It’s really a shame too, as like with Jo and Brick, it could have been a case where they
better each other - or rather, Dawn betters Scott, being someone who could help him work
through his emotions and past traumas thanks to her aura reading powers. But let’s be real here,
Dawn deserves waaaaaay better than a ‘redemption project’ like Scott, especially when it’s made
clear that Scott doesn’t seem to respect her at all. Like we said, the guy likes bossy girls,
and while we don’t think Dawn would be a doormat or anything like that, their personalities just
aren’t compatible. Even if Scott hadn’t schemed to get Dawn eliminated, we doubt this ship would
have gone anywhere substantial, as the two of them have nothing in common. It’s not quite bad
enough to get a shipwreck rating, but we still say that it easily sinks. It’s just hard to root for a
‘good girl, bad boy’ couple when they barely even like each other, let alone have any real tension.
But as fun as opposites can be, sometimes you just need that common interest for sparks to
fly. This is the case with our second-to-last entry of Jasmine and Shawn. With both of them
being survivalists in a sense, it makes sense to us why it wouldn’t take too long
for them to form a connection. Really, the only real barrier at the time was
Shawn not wanting to get too attached to someone who could become a zombie one day.
There’s some other moments of friction too, mostly accidental, but it’s made clear that
all Jasmine wants is someone who she can trust and who has her back. In the end, Shawn ends up being
that person for her, which is actually really sweet to see. Even when the two nearly split up
thanks to some interference from Chris and some confessionals footage, Jasmine realizes just how
much she cares about Shawn’s wellbeing and the two are still able to work things out before the
end credits. All in all, we can see why these two have their share of fans, even if it took quite a
while for their relationship to become steady. It’s hard to say how things will go long-term,
hence why we could only really give them a swim as it’s hard to get super invested in this or
really ANY relationship from Pahkitew Island, but we are still rooting for their happiness.
Wrapping this video up is what could be considered the last of the OG
Total Drama pairings, that being Owen and Izzy. Unfortunately, it’s not one we’re a huge fan of,
as it’s yet another case where a relationship went downhill after the original TDI - that is,
if you believe there was anything substantial there to begin with. For us, we see it as a very
‘high school’ type relationship - one that’s maybe exciting, fun and passion-filled in the moment
thanks to teenage hormones but eventually fizzles out. It doesn’t exactly help that,
for as iconic as she is, Izzy very much gives off ‘crazy ex-girlfriend’ vibes. Between her
repeatedly showing Owen affection by biting him and ‘kicking him in the kiwis’ as he puts
it and Owen’s overall immaturity, we feel that it could qualify as a shipwreck at its
worst. Obviously these two - Owen especially - still seem to care about each other a lot,
and maybe they could even work this out eventually. We just feel that maybe they
should wait until they’ve both matured and mellowed out somewhat before trying again.
And that’s all we have for today, but with there still being a couple of canon and
plenty of non-canon ships to cover, let us know what you’d like to see in a potential part 3!