Courtney/Duncan
Pairing | |
---|---|
Pairing: | Courtney (Total Drama)/Duncan (Total Drama) |
Alternative name(s): | Duncney, DxC, CxD |
Gender category: | Het |
Fandom: | Total Drama |
Canonical?: | Broken up; Enemies |
Prevalence: | Most Popular Pairing in the fandom |
Archives: | n/a |
Other: | |
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Courtney/Duncan, also known as Duncney, is the most popular pairing within Total Drama fandom. The ship is between Courtney and Duncan, both prominent characters. It has been popular since 2007, when the contestants bickered throughout the start of Island (2007) and shared a kiss during Basic Straining. Courtney/Duncan was canon from 2007 to 2010. The two were broken up in an infamous love triangle during World Tour, where Duncan cheated on Courtney with Gwen, forming Duncan/Gwen, and causing Courtney to furiously hate both of them and desire revenge. She and Duncan would be bitter enemies for the rest of the season.
In All Stars, Courtney still hates Duncan but ignores him and has come to terms that their relationship would never last, while Duncan desires her attention and is somewhat hurt over being ignored. Courtney unknowingly causes Duncan and Gwen's breakup, as Courtney ignoring Duncan makes Duncan desire Courtney's attention even more to the point that Gwen believes he is still obsessed with his ex, leading to her angrily dumping him.
Courtney/Duncan and Duncan/Gwen are inseparable as pairings, as is Courtney/Gwen, and the vast majority of fans have seen content of all three ships. Ship war between Duncan/Gwen and Courtney/Duncan fans specifically has existed since 2009, though Gwen/Trent and Courtney/Gwen shippers are not to be ignored from the equation.
Common Tropes
- Getting Back Together - An off-shoot of future fic. Since around 2015 or so, this mostly happens in fanworks only after Total Drama has long since ended.
- Lawyer and Motorcyclist AU - Another off-shoot of future fic. Courtney may be portrayed as a lawyer and Duncan, a motorcyclist or some other kind of rebel, (tattoo artist, musician etc.) Although Duncan canonically ends up in prison after Total Drama: All-Stars, Duncan is rarely seen imprisoned in Courtney/Duncan fanworks.
- Playa Des Losers - Missing scenes focusing on their time at the Playa Des Losers during Total Drama: Island (2007), since Courtney and Duncan got together the same episode which had Courtney eliminated, Basic Straining.
- Crime AU - Courtney and Duncan may be portrayed as star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of the law, or on opposing gangs, inspired by Romeo and Juliet. In these fanworks, Total Drama, the in-universe reality show, doesn't happen.
Courtney/Duncan Fandom
Courtney/Duncan shippers may dislike Duncan/Gwen and prefer Gwen romantically with Trent. This is largely due to the love-triangle arc of World Tour, which effectively de-canonized Courtney/Duncan from then on. The arc revealed Duncan had been cheating on Courtney for some time beforehand and Gwen helped him do it, leaving Courtney heartbroken. Needless to say, Courtney/Duncan fans disliked this arc. Fanac for the pairing tends to ignore World Tour all together, taking place in Alternate Universes where Total Drama never happened more so than other pairings for TD.
By the time later seasons such as Revenge of the Island aired, the flames directly from World Tour cooled. Since Gwen broke up with Duncan during All Stars, there are many Duncey fans that hope Duncan and Courtney will reconcile. As of 2020s' Total Drama fandom, some fan circles consisting of mostly younger users such as Wattpad and TikTok may invoke flames while communities such as Reddit and Tumblr are more sympathetic on all sides.
But let me tell you Wattpad Duncney stans are feral. They will rip apart any mention of Gwuncan. They will tear your Gwen stories to shreds. I didn’t realize how much I love the Gwuncan friendship dynamic until now because I was literally terrified to make them friends just in case someone came into my comments and shat on my favorite goth girl. Those people are out for blood.[1]
Fanon ships getting into the ship-war picture, whether Het, Slash or Femslash, is rare but not unheard of. The biggest BNF for the pairing back in the day was CITPrincess on DeviantArt and Tumblr. Modern ones include the-type-a[2] and duncney[3]. Overall Total Drama BNF Kika-ila[4] also produces fanworks for this pairing.
In May, Duncney Week is celebrated in r/Totaldrama.
"Screw you I’m getting my duncney on"?
In 2014 on the day before Mini Duncney Day, an infamous harasser in the fandom, cherriquitecontrary, who ran theconfessioncam, said this after an argument on her Tumblr[5]. The phrase is sometimes memed in the fandom and otherwise parroted around. It was also featured in unironicduncanstan's Total Drama Iceberg in 2021.
Pairing Names for Courtney/Duncan
DxC was the first and most popular pairing name for Courtney/Duncan from 2008 to around 2010/2011. It was one of the last in the fandom overall to get a commonly-used portmanteau name. CITPrincess popularized the use of "Duncney" on DeviantArt, though she didn't create it[6].
Fan Opinions
Because everyone who watches the show knows about Courtney/Duncan, fan opinion regarding the pairing varies greatly. Courtney's somewhat drastic character shift in Total Drama: Action is often a point of contention.
Perspectives are split into Watsonian and Doyalist for convenience on this article, as both are prevalent in meta.
Largely Watsonian
Duncney. I’m not really invested in any of the ships in TD but I can’t lie that I enjoyed Duncan and Courtney’s dynamic.In Island Courtney helps bring out the soft spot in Duncan where we see him actually be kind and make friends. Meanwhile Duncan helps her loosen up and realise she doesn’t need to be 100% good 100% of the time. Which, I’m a sucker for ‘good girl gone bad’ soooo… lol
After that I agree they became toxic but it was still enjoyable for me to watch. And no, I’m not a psychopath, I just think the over exaggerated-ness of it all really suited the shows theme and I loved them just leaning full into the chaos.
But then the whole cheating thing happened and even for a kids show, that was just a bit much and a bit out of the blue tbh. So after that didn’t care much for Duncan, Gwen and Courtney (although she had some fun moments in AS).
So yeah I’d go with Duncney pre Gwuncan.[7]
...The most you could say about why Courtney treated Duncan the way she did is because she let her competitiveness cloud her judgement, but that's still not remotely Duncan's fault and he shouldn't be responsible for keeping Courtney's temper in line. Courtney's lack of self-awareness was her problem and no matter how much she cared for Duncan deep down, she wasn't able to overcome that flaw and endured the consequences for it. Even after the fact, she stopped being the victim in the love triangle situation for the same reason; because she felt so entitled that she lost any awareness about how her behavior was affecting the way others saw her.[8]
Largely Doyalist
S1 Duncney was really good but then in later seasons it just got to be a little Too Much yknow. Courtney was way too pushy to the point of being unlikeable and Duncan was not much better. I think I’d like Gwuncan more if not for the whole cheating thing + the weird way that Gwen’s arc went between TDWT and All Stars (she’s apologetic during TDWT and acknowledges that Duncan had cheated, and then in All Stars she claims that Courtney and Duncan weren’t even together at the time and says that it wasn’t cheating??)Idk I think it just has to do with the flanderization of the characters + inconsistent writing. I know this is speculation, but I think they probably wanted to make Gwen seem more likable in All Stars after the whole cheating thing but they weren’t sure how to do it, and they just ended up creating more inconsistencies.
I’m not personally a fan of either ship at this point but I don’t think there’s any shame in shipping them. I just think it’s worth acknowledging that both ships have their faults. I think both ships just kinda got messed up by the love triangle stuff and never really recovered.[9]
Axel, their Zombie-Killing Official Lovechild?
After the unveil of Total Drama: Island (2023)'s cast, Axel struck out to some fans as a new contestant who looked like a Courtney/Duncan lovechild.
Example/Notable Fanac
Duncney AMA, Archived version, an AMA by duncney, considered a BNF in Courtney/Duncan fandom.
Fan Communities/Fan Events
- Mini Duncney Day (2014)
- Duncney Week 2012-2014, a fanweek hosted on Tumblr.
- Duncney Week 2023 and Duncney Week 2024, two fanweeks hosted on Tumblr by the-type-a.
- r/duncney, Archived version, a subreddit. Moderated by duncney.
- DxC-Survivors, Archived version, ♥Forever Our OTP♥, a community on DeviantArt.
- duncney4ev3r, Archived version, a community on DeviantArt.
- Duncan and Courtney Club, Archived version, a large Fanpop club.
- Mindless Indulgence
- The Duntrent Den has a channel for Courtney/Duncan.
Collections
- Duncan and Courtney Community [Unable to archive] on FanFiction.Net, which features 150 stories.
- The Devil and the Angel [Unable to archive] on FanFiction.Net, which features 9 stories.
- The World of Duncan and Courtney [Unable to archive] on FanFiction.Net, which features 37 stories.
- The Delinquent and The Over-Achiever [Unable to archive] on FanFiction.Net, which features 119 stories.
- Courtney and Duncan by courtneydash, a collection of 365 works of fanart on DeviantArt.
Blogs
- Ask Duncan and Courtney, Archived version, a once very-active askblog.
Fan Art
- Bouncey, Archived version by assortednerdetry as part of Sallychan's Bouncey series. (25 Jan 2014)
- Untitled by angkis, Archived version, featuring Genderbent Courtney.
- Happy Valentine's day by ray-td, Archived version, where both Courtney and Duncan are wearing outfits from Action for Valentines Day.
- Back to school! by lilpixies-world, Archived version, Axel's first day of school with Courtney and Duncan.
Fan Comics
- Duncney mini-comic by racheldrawsdaily, Archived version.
- Let's imagina the new Total Drama happens like 20 years later by lilpixies-world, Archived version, featuring Axel as their daughter.
Fan Fiction
- Stuck (Total Drama fic), the oldest Total Drama fanfiction on FFN as of 2024.
- The Art of Pretending It Isn't Your Fault, one of the most popular fics for them on FFN.
- The New School, a high school AU notable for the sheer amount of reviews it has for a Total Drama fanfiction on FFN.
- Prinzessin, a decisive Holocaust AU.
- Full Circle by Fictional_Affliction, Archived version. Courtney and Duncan meet again years later as single parents. This Fix-it and futurefic has multiple chapters. It is rated Explicit and in English.
- Every Second Chance by exmanhater, Archived version. This Fix-it and futurefic is a one-shot, rated Mature, and in English.
- Type by loveyourbiggestfan [Unable to archive]. There was no way that he could be HER type. This is one of the first Courtney/Duncan fics on FanFiction.Net. Two-shot. Rated K+ and is in English.
Fan Vids
- Anti DxC - She Hates Me by TooMuchDramaForyou, Archived version, a rare(?) example of an anti-shipping AMV. Set to She Hates Me by Puddle of Mudd.
Fan Mixes
- Be My Bad Boy by youngjusticeslut (2014)
- Video Games by khrisdroppeddead (2014)
- I hate you, dont leave me by tdandme (2013)
- Love/Hate (Total Drama fanmix) by thewinchestersguardian (2013)
- You're Awful, I love you by CITPrincess (2012)
- You Hot Crazy Bitch by mendez5525 (2011)
- Say You're Sorry by CITPrincess (2013)
- drives me crazy by unironicduncanstan, aka bibble (2020)
Meta
- Gwortney, Gwuncan, Duncney which do you prefer and why, Archived version, a discussion on Reddit regarding Courtney/Duncan.
- Who is more to blame for a Duncney's collapse- Courtney or Duncan?, Archived version, a discussion on Reddit regarding Courtney/Duncan.
- 5 Reasons that Duncney could return in the future, Archived version, a slideshow by duncney.
- You know you're obsessed with DxC when... by PrincessVandal, Archived version, a "finish the sentence" forum post on Fanpop.
- dxc in TDWT by Fangirl99, Archived version, a discussion on Fanpop from March 20th, 2010, three months before World Tour premiered. how do you think there relationship will be like? discuss it here!
References/Further Reading
- ^ For all of high school I was in the TD fandom only on Wattpad, Archived version posted November 25th, 2022 on Tumblr
- ^ https://www.tumblr.com/the-type-a
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/user/duncney/
- ^ https://www.deviantart.com/kika-ila
- ^ Screw you I'm getting my duncney on, Archived version
- ^ only 90s kids remember when it was called DxC instead of duncney by chickenmcnuggie, Archived version (18 Feb 2014)
- ^ Duncney. I’m not really invested in any of the ships in TD but I can’t lie that I enjoyed Duncan and Courtney’s dynamic., Archived version posted August 30th, 2022 on Reddit
- ^ Courtney's intentions in her relationship with Duncan might have been more sincere than her actions suggested, but the fact of the matter is, she still mistreated Duncan enough for him to actively stop wanting to pursue a relationship with her., Archived version posted March 4th, 2020 on Reddit
- ^ S1 Duncney was really good but then in later seasons it just got to be a little Too Much yknow, Archived version posted May 2nd, 2023 on Tumblr; Anon on real-total-drama-takes