Total Drama Island: A New Beginning
is a fanfic that reimagines the first season of Total Drama by Argudas.
The challenges are identical to those of canon, but the team compositions are switched around slightly. The Screaming Gophers consist of Bridgette, Courtney, Duncan, Eva, Harold, Owen, Cody, Gwen, Heather, Trent, and Noah, while the Killer Bass consists of Justin, Lindsay, Beth, Leshawna, Izzy, Katie, Sadie, Tyler, Geoff, DJ, and Ezekiel. As a result, the elimination order is significantly reshuffled, many new friendships, rivalries, and romances are born, and characters who didn't get much of a chance in the season get more opportunities to shine.
This story shows examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Heather and Duncan's alliance pretty much goes nowhere because of what happens to Heather.
- Adaptational Badass: Justin doesn't resemble his canon counterpart so much as his canonical expy Alejandro, who was created in canon to be the villain that Justin was meant to be but never really became.
- Affably Evil: Justin is very nice, polite and soft spoken. All while manipulating everybody in his team and doing all kind of henious actions without showing any kind of remorse.
- Ascended Extra: Several contestants who served as fodder characters in the canon season receive large amounts of focus here, particularly Noah, Ezekiel, and Justin.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Duncan forces Heather to form an equal partnership with him if she wants his help, much to her chagrin.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Justin for the Killer Bass, Heather for the Screaming Gophers.
- Big "NO!": Tyler lets out a long one before he has to face his phobia of chickens.
- Brainless Beauty: Noah mistakenly believes Justin to be all looks and no intelligence.
- Cargo Cult: Izzy and Ezekiel's hat. According to herself, that's why she steals it from him all the time.Izzy: The toque has powers that even I cannot comprehend. I am its most humble servant.
- The Charmer: Justin, on both girls and boys.
- The Chessmaster: Justin manipulates and controls the members of his team almost like real chess pieces. By the second challenge, the Killer Bass are firmly in his grip.
- Combat Pragmatist: Justin has this approach towards challenges.
- Dead Fic: Hasn't been updated since 2014.
- Demoted to Extra: Geoff, Leshawna, and DJ go from major players in the canon season to the first ones voted off in the story.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Noah has this reaction when Cody mentions that his fear is "to defuse a time bomb under pressure."Noah: As opposed to the time bomb where there is no pressure? Please diffuse this tickling bomb, Mr. Anderson, but don't feel pressured in any way. Take all the time in the world.
- For Want Of A Nail: The story shows how different Total Drama Island could have been by swapping a few members from one team to another. There's also a bit of
Alternate Character Interpretation when it comes to some characters. - Game Changer: Heather being transferred to the Killer Bass profoundly disrupts a number of the Bass' internal dynamics.
- Hannibal Lecture: Noah gives one to Courtney regarding her obvious plan to use Bridgette and Trent.
- Hidden Depths: Izzy towards the end of the fifth challenge is shown to have a soft and vulnerable side.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Or get a girlfriend, in Noah's case (which is the complete opposite of Cody).
- Innocently Insensitive: Lindsay can be this at times.
- Jedi Mind Trick: Izzy hypnotizes Leshawna so she forgets hearing Ezekiel's sexist comment.
- Kick the Dog: Justin does this a few times, such as turning Katie and Sadie against each other for little reason.
- Love Triangle: Let's see: we have Cody and Harold both trying to impress Bridgette (all while Cody is also crushing on Gwen), Owen crushing on Izzy while she is hanging around Ezekiel, and Tyler trying to impress Lindsay who's more interested in Justin.
- Manipulative Bastard: Justin turns Katie and Sadie against each other for no other reason than because he can.
- Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, Ezekiel believes that Justin turning Katie and Sadie against each other exposes him as irredeemable.
- Mythology Gag: During one of her first confessional entries, Heather says that she hand in mind to pick two people dumb enough to manipulate, even saying that Lindsay and Beth would be perfect candidates.
- Odd Friendship: Noah and Owen's friendship from canon occurs here, but much earlier this time and with Cody included as a core member of the group.
- Out of Focus: The Killer Bass get far less focus and attention than the Screaming Gophers.
- Replacement Goldfish: Gwen rebuffed Bridgette's offer of friendship because she thinks that Bridgette is trying to replace Courtney, who was eliminated the previous challenge with her. Although the truth is that Gwen thinks that Bridgette has feelings for Trent.
- Running Gag: A bucket of water falling on Cody, and Izzy stealing Ezekiel's hat.
- Satellite Character: Tyler is far more concerned about getting Lindsay's attention than the competition. And Justin knows how to take advantage of this as well. Still, he's not a Satellite Love Interest.
- Shout-Out:
- After Ezekiel performs his talent during the Talent Show challenge (to shoot an arrow through ten rings), Noah asks if he can build a giant wooden horse as well.
- Noah and Cody are both Mass Effect fans and begin their friendship by bonding over it.
- Noah reads Nineteen Eighty-Four and Sherlock Holmes stories.
- In a more conventional example, the author mentions The Kobold Necromancer as the inspiration for writing this story.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Harold, Duncan, Bridgette, Courtney, and Eva are on the Screaming Gophers instead of the Killer Bass, while the opposite is applied to Lindsay, Beth, Justin, Izzy, and Leshawna (as well as Heather later on).
- Villain Decay: Although Heather retains her canonical attitudes, not having anyone dumb or naive enough to manipulate makes her far less effective as a villain.
