#the only thing on my mind is dinostar

[negligentbabysitters]

Everyone talking about the "is Brooklynn ACTUALLY Sydney" theory meanwhile my brain is still here.

[shorthairanddarklipstick]

Am I the only one kinda very much NOT looking forward to the reunion with Brooklynn? Mostly pretty much entirely cuz of the whole love triangle clearly coming.

Kenji x Brooklynn? Let’s gooo I hope they have more development in their relationship than they did in jwcc

Darius x Brooklynn? Not in jwcc but jwct is opening my mind to dinostar wayyyy harder than I thought it would

Darius x Kenji? Kinda ish about it cuz of the whole “my family basically adopted you” thing but they weren’t young enough and it hasn’t been long enough for me to be thoroughly disgusted by it 

Darius x kenji x Brooklynn? Meh I don’t see any of them as poly but maybe I’m just biased. It could have potential though

The three of them in a messy love triangle while they’re fighting for their lives? Ewwwwwwww kill it with fire

[aristaspark]

You're like, the greatest Kenlynn shipper I know. You have any idea of why do Darius love Brooklynn if they're not going to be canon? That kind of plot is very common and Kenlynn already break up. So why? I know Brooklynn didn't wanted their relationship to end, but I don't see how they will keep going... You said something like "Darius learning how to deal with rejection is a mature theme they would bring here". But Kenji learning to let go wouldn't be a mature theme too? Or Kenlynn realizing it can't work is also a mature theme...

Hello, well, first things first thanks for the compliment 😭 (?)

So to adress your point, me saying that Darius's arc being about dealing with rejection (and his guilt) makes for a compelling storyline doesn't mean that I think the same can't be said for Kenji and Brooklynn.

That's why I wasn't even mad when they introduced the storyline in season one, because it was believable that Darius could fall in love with her and it was very in character for Brooklynn to be obsessed with an investigation to the point where she neglected Kenji, it made sense and was simply very good writing. So, yeah, coming into season 2 I was sure they were going to take the "kenji/brooklynn both realize they could never work" route and shove dinostar down our throats to build them up, because looking at the story as a media with a fandom, that was what seemed more likely.

But then there was the promotional material in which Brooklynn only wrote to Kenji, which made me really doubt my conviction. And then season 2.

I think I already listed pretty much everything that suggested, at least to me, that the writers were going for Kenlynn, or AT LEAST that dinostar would remain platonic.

I wouldn't have been mad if they had made dinostar canon (still possible), it was kind of expected since they had Darius fall in love with her. But season 2 suggests it's not the direction they're heading towards (according to me at least) and honestly, I'm glad.

I'm happy because they really stepped up the writing and character conflicts since jwcc, and to me having Brooklynn reciprocate his feelings would be REALLY questionnable writing at best and straight up fanservice at worse.

In universe Brooklynn has been with Kenji for 6 years. They have being a couple for far longer than they have ever been friends. And it was Kenji who broke up. And you want me to believe she would fall for her a guy she has always seen as her best friend only a week after her break up? 😭 Mind you, a best friend she only visited because she was still obsessed with her investigation, not because she wanted to see him (proof she was like that with everyone, her relationship with Kenji wasn't the problem, it was her).

My take on Darius's arc was basically me trying to understand where they were taking his character, why they had introduced this storyline in the first place if it wasn't gonna go "anywhere" as everyone puts it.

But that's the point, we're so obsessed with shipping that we basically forget that it's not all that makes a story, and IT SHOULDN'T BE.

Darius having this arc wouldn't have been in vain even if he doesn't end up with Brooklynn. It gave him his entire arc in season 1, with him being filled with grief and guilt over her death, and it also gave him his conflict with Kenji. It made his character compelling, relatable, interesting. Like, shipping isn't all that matters, whether they end up together or not it's such a compelling story, so why would they refrain for telling it simply because of fandom culture? And to me it's just a testament of how better the writing has gotten since jwcc. The characters no longer have one dimensional relationships/conflicts with each other but have real conflicts/problematics. I'm not only speaking in terms of shipping, but also other storylines. Sammy not speaking to her family, her and yaz struggling with their long-distance relationship, Ben's paranoia, Kenji loosing two of the two most important people in his life back to back, having a death wish, Brooklynn loosing a limb, being cut from all the people she loves for months...

It's clear the writers are putting the characters in very uncomfortable situations, like, death wish and the loss of a limb, please ???

So why would Darius be any different? Why would they refrain from tackling the subject of unrequited love, of messy feelings and confusing friendship with love?

I think that what I'm trying to say is that it's a mistake to look at jwct the same as jwcc/as a kids show cattering to the fans. They're clearly not writing storylines to please the fans, but want to tackle very real subjects, and treat their characters as real people and I respect them so much for that.

I'm gonna stop here because I feel like I'm repeating myself (which I totally am, I'm sure I already wrote that in my endless ramblings). Sorry if I got carried away 😂

And (because I feel like I need to say it) I could be TOTALLY wrong. I'm only making theories on my account, I don't know sh*t except from what's in the show, so it's totally possible dinostar will end up together making me look like a clown 😂

[cartooncreep]

**CHAOS THEORY SPOILERS AHEAD**

Speaking on the Darius,Brooklynn and Kenji drama.

Now when I first started this show back during Camp Cretaceous I was fond of dinostar, i thought it was a given that they would end up together, I mean its a tale as old as time; main guy ends up with main girl (excluding the lesbians). However, as the show went on and the probability of dinostar becoming cannon withered I ended up having a growing respect for the Camp Cretaceous team. For me at least, and for the general audience I would say, they subverted expectations. However small of an act it was, making dinostar not cannon was monumental in children's story telling not pushing an ideology that men and women can't be platonic friends.

Darius being one of the only one's without even a hint of a romantic subplot was also incredibly refreshing as too often storytelling gets bogged down by romance plot that are so badly written it makes me want to cry as to why it took precedent. It was also so comforting to finally have a character in western children's media that could be feasibly headcannoned as arospec without having people use their romantic interests as an argument against.

The introduction to Darius's feelings towards Brooklynn I thought was well handled and very mature, the writing team knocked it outta the park with how they made the characters mature with the way they handled emotions and tension, Darius's confession to Kenji felt so real. I swear I've seen/experienced one to one scenarios in my own adult life. It is despite this the confession felt like I watched the first cannonball blow through the hull of this story.

As most of you know the fandom was far from pleased with the pairing of Brooklynn and Kenji in the first series so I am grateful that they show not only allowed us to experience a glimpse into how wholesome their relationship was and how they genuinely DID work together only to have had them break up. It made it feel less like a retcon and more like a realistic path for a teenage to young adult romance to follow. Another thing that was important about their relationship was that Kenji was the one to end it.

Too often in this series Kenji has been dismissed as "the dumb one" by not only his friends but his own family. It occurs to a point where Kenji would have likely ended up agreeing with everyone else as to avoid being laughed at for having his own opinions. To have Kenji take matters into his own hands and put his own wellbeing first, to have him be the one to end things, makes me genuinely love and appreciate how these characters have matured and changed with time.

Now, back to Dinostar. I wouldn't have minded Darius and Brooklynn having a romance this series if there wasn't a previous relationship. Having a found family trope is one of my favourite things, but a trap that media falls into way too often is creating an incestious friend group dynamic. The reason why these sort of friend groups don't work out in highschool (which is where you will most commonly come across this dynamic) is because of the incurring jealousy. Jealousy breeds contempt. Having the original pairs maybe swing apart and then back together wouldn't cause as much as a rift as different friends falling for each other and causing strain on past and present couples.

I believe building up this relationship between Darius and Brooklynn will muddy this beautiful found family trope this show has built. Maybe the characters themselves will be fine with the end solution however I can't help but think the audience will be able to look at this show through a lense of reality and be sobered by the fact that having dinostar become cannon causes irreparable rifts.

[maisiesbike]

The only thing thats pissing me off is how now that we get so much Benrius content (which i dont mind at all) i realise that i chose to write the “wrong” ships in my story (Dinostar and Benji).