#like lonnie should come out of the gate in d1 being anti-establishment

[kingchad]

What are your overall thoughts on Lonnie?

I feel terrible but she's my least favorite of the AKs because they don't give her a lot to do. She's really sort of a pointless character in D1 outside of the "tear of sadness", and within the film her personality is constantly flip-flopping. Then, in D2, she becomes a totally different person again. I like her a bit better in D2 because at least they give her a more consistent personality and she finally has a real goal and conflict, but I find the "sexism in sports" trope very played out so it wasn't my favorite. Lonnie is a character with a lot of potential but she's a victim of just...lame writing, they don't really know what to do with her so they either don't let her do anything or they play it super safe.

I did rewatch School of Secrets recently (I wouldn't recommend doing that though because it's...not very good) but it does have a weird take on Lonnie that I kind of love. Like, she's doing this vigilante reporter thing, and totally not accomplishing anything with it, and seems to be one of the only Auradon Prep kids (besides Jane) who is okay with the VKs coming over. I think there might be something interesting about a Lonnie who doesn't really fit in with the other AKs because her story is so unlike a traditional fairytale, and approaching her friendship with the VKs from that angle is something I'm interested in doing at some point.

This is unrelated but it is my true belief that D1 was setting up a D2 Chad/Lonnie thing because they dance together in Set It Off and they're generally hanging out in the background of scenes (off the top of my head, definitely post-Family Day). Obviously because of scheduling conflicts with Sarah, they pivoted the Chad arc and then did Jay/Lonnie set-up in D2, so we'll never know, and I'm fine with that.