[Morgan.]

Ant's Lightning Writeup
Lightning: I really never know how to feel about Lightning? He's arrogant and self-absorbed, that much is constant, but I feel like he was forced into a villain role. And I think that comes from "Eat, Puke, and Be Wary", when he starts antagonising Cameron for 'stealing' his immunity. Lightning being angry about this would have been in character, but I can't help but feel like his borderline bullying of Cameron was over the top and, dare I say, out of character. It would have maybe been comical for me if it built up a rivalry akin to Jo vs Lightning, with the 'drama' coming from how Cameron is intimidated by competitive environments. Instead, I felt sort of, uncomfortable? Even if Lightning is arrogant and self-absorbed he does look out for others occasionally. ironically an episode previous when he warns Cameron of Jo. Does Lightning benefit from warning Cameron? Not particularly (in a sense, it does prompt Cameron to send Jo down in smoke, but Lightning isn't that smart or strategic - I think he was warning Cameron of Jo because he's nice). Now, perhaps I could excuse Lightning's comments as competitive banter gone too far, but Lightning remarks, "...your whole life's gonna be a mental challenge!" to Cameron which is... extremely threatening. I appreciate it was a fight and they were both being physical, but the aim was to pin them down, not cause such trauma to the brain. It's a line that I feel uneasy about, regardless of how it was said, when it was said, and who by. But, in my opinion, it adds a layer of "Lightning is nasty!" to his character. But that conflicts with how he was earlier - a likeable self-absorbed idiot who, when he wasn't thinking about himself, could look out for others. Which did pair up with some nice one-liners ("I'll save you little girl!" and "uh... Lightning don't judge!" (when he thought Jo was a gay guy). His rivalry with Jo was a bit grating for me, but I also found that it was one of the more interesting conflicts and I would've liked to see a few more episodes of it in All-Stars (in a perfect world with a larger cast and 26 episodes... oh a man could dream). So what I've said is pretty conflicting. I like Lightning, up until episode 11 of ROTI. But after the events of that episode he becomes unbearable. He goes back to being somewhat likeable in All-Stars, but there wasn't much there for him, besides him reigniting a conflict with Jo that never came of much do to him being cut early on in the episode. Seeing Heather/Gwen/Alejandro get annoyed with him in 'Evil Dread' was funny though, I'll give him that. TL;DR? Lightning became unbearable in the later episodes of ROTI that I ended up rooting for Cameron over him. I truly felt like they made a bully out of a likeable jock for no other reason than to quickly establish another villain for the next season (because really, how was Lightning anywhere near a villain in episodes before 4x11?)