Brick:
Not a bad character, but an underused one, certainly.
I think one of the few reasons I dislike Brick is because his some of his 'quirks' grate on me - not because of him, but because of what they are. "Haha Brick peed himself!!!" being one of the few which are like, "I don't get how it's funny", Like I think him being afraid of the dark emphasised his softer side well enough, and is a more rational, releatable fear/quirk. Also the whole "fashion school here I come!!" being used as a punchline was a bit
. I dunno, I'm not really on Total Drama's wavelength on a comedy level generally, and it's not something that detracts from Brick's character, but it does mean I enjoy him less than others who find that humour funny.
For some reason, I'm never too fond of the 'pain magnets', which Brick certainly was. Maybe that level of humour doesn't entertain me (although I do laugh when Izzy yells "OWEN I'M COMING!!!!" and jumps off a cliff and goes through every single injury he did on his way down
but anyway).
Sadly, I found him most enjoyable in his final episode competing. He was respectful and easily did one of the most, if not the most, heroic acts in TD hisitory by saving his old teammates. My heart broke for Brick, because he was a lovely guy, and while I don't blame Lightning and Jo for voting him off (since they had no reason to vote each other off, really), I do wish we got an episode or two more of him. Or, better yet, All Stars.
Brick is the definition of a hero in my honest opinion. Look at the Heroic Hamsters. Yeah the majority of them are good people but were any of them 'heroic'? Maybe not literally (although Sam's position as a hero or villain is questionable - nay, his position as an All Star is questionable) but Brick definitely is. He had more interactions established with the ROTI cast than Sam (he looked out a bit for Cameron while they were on the same team; Jo/Lightning's conflict with him; Mike and Zoey had a lot of respect for Brick. Scott was the only person who didn't truly have any level of connection with Brick, but Scott did gun to get him out in 4x05 so there's that. Sam on the other hand? Didn't interact with Mike, Zoey, Cameron, or Jo, and didn't even compensate by interacting much with the OG cast. A wasted character in All Stars). Brick definitely should've been in over Sam and I will not be challenged on this.
I think a problem with Brick that truly can't be helped is that it felt like his athletic ability took priority over his army cadet role, which would be fine, if we didn't already have Jo and Lightning. It's not his fault, but it makes him hard to stand out when practically a quarter of the cast have their role as jocks/athletes. And Jo and Lightning had more conflict and arguably more drama and entertainment than Brick, AND both went further than Brick (I do prefer Brick to Lightning, but I prefer Jo to Brick).
So I've sang praises for Brick, so why have I cut him? Simply because he was up against people I either like (Bridgette, Max, Shawn, Katie) or people that deserve to go further IMO (Sky and Junior - I'm also not a fan of Geoff but he's certainly more versatile than Brick). And when you see where he's been placed, it's sorta understandable? For a character that's only appeared in eight episodes and doesn't truly have much going for him (IMO), 49 out of 84 seems respectful. Does he deserve to be out over some of the other characters still in? I think we could all agree no (but have a massive debate as to who those people are
) but such is the nature of this game.
Sorry Brick