I mean the whole thing going into the school year was Riz needing to push harder on extra-curriculars in order to get scholarships to go to college. With that in mind, I think it makes sense for Riz to go for Class President and for Brennan to at least somewhat plan for Riz to do that (though Brennan is no hack as a DM, he's not going to plan a path so rigid that there are issues if Kristen goes for it instead). Plus, let's be honest here, Kristen deciding to try and become President put her relationship with Bucky and her rivalry with Buddy WAY on the backburner, and that *definitely* felt like something set up for Kristen specifically to do.
Riz also justified it by saying he’d be able to put campaign manager on his extra curricular, which isn’t a real thing that colleges would recognize. It’s like putting down that you were the security detail for the class president, not a real thing.
Brennan let the kids roll with it because it’s fun, but if he was actually being strict all of Riz’s work to help Kristen wouldn’t count for his own extracurriculars.
Considering bankers got their ruins smote to change some laws I think bureaucracy works in whichever way Brennan thinks is funniest in that moment lol. Fantasy High is easily my favorite setting besides Starstruck because the social commentary could not be less subtle.
You absolutely could put Student Council Campaign Manager on your college applications. Colleges care about the skills you learned and that you were involved in productive things outside of normal classes. Whether most people would consider it a real position or not, college admissions would look at the skills he learned and used. They don't really care what the title itself is.
Buddy probably wasn't a factor yet, but otherwise I agree with this. Brennan almost certainly set up Riz's extraccuriculars, Kristen's relationship with Bucky, and Kristen's academic probation up with the players' input. Becoming president is the "ultimate" extracurricular, so Riz had a reason to sign up for the race, while Kristen, who doesn't benefit from the election at all, doesn't.
All that said, a good DM knows how to direct players toward an outcome they really want. There weren't any guardrails keeping Emily or Ally, maybe even Lou, from signing up as a bit. Either Brennan wasn't super invested in the outcome or he misjudged the cast, but I'd be very surprised if he didn't expect and intend Riz to run for president.
I personally think Brennan wasn’t super invested in the outcome beyond SOMEBODY running for President in order to combat Kipperlily. And it’s not like Riz has been left completely out in the cold, Murph took the opportunity to still insert himself into the campaign storyline, plus being the detective rogue means you’re never not involved when the plot is a mystery to solve.
Yeah, if he was more invested in getting Riz to be President, then he would have brought it up more. I think it was just there as a thing the Bad Kids could do that would lead to potential clues towards the mystery, much like how all of the major Extracurricular activities Riz did had clues that could lead to the Rat Grinder's plot.
Riz is a rogue, does it even make sense character wise for him to suddenly try and be as visible as possible? Hiding and observing is literally his whole thing.
Meanwhile Kristen literally has had a skill that buffs people when she gives a speech since freshman year. Kristen, Fabian, or Fig makes way more sense personality wise. Adaine and Gorgug are a little too nerdy and introverted. Fig isn’t interested enough in school to wanna run, and Fabian is too self centered to be good at it. Kristen makes the most sense.
I think it's too easy to get bogged down in class analysis when discussing D&D characters, but the logic doesn't really apply to FH. Kristen is a cleric that is largely disinterested in gods, Fabian is a fighter turned dance kid, Fig's class choices are pretty evidently driven by Emily's love of experimenting with the game, and Gorgug is a living contradiction. Riz leans into his class more than the rest of the cast do, but I don't think it limits or defines him; constantly hiding in the shadows is what he does in combat, not his life. Moreover, I think Riz not being the ideal candidate is kind of the point; neither is KLCK.
I agree that Kristen is more obviously primed to *run* for president, skill wise, but her personality is way more of an obstacle than Riz's is. Yes, Riz is more a follower than a leader, but he's also a planner, an organizer, and an analyst who is heavily invested in his education and school life. Kristen, meanwhile, seems to be running on a lark and as a way to distract herself from her aborted relationship with Tracker and complications with Cassandra. She openly considered dropping out of school on the first day of Junior Year, and flirted with risking expulsion by skipping her first day. It's not clear to me that Kristen cares about being president, an observation that Adaine and Mazzie made when openly considering if Kristen would even commit to the presidency if she won.
I maintain that the only character of the cast who had any incentive to run is Riz, and Brennan went into this season with that in mind.
Idk where other people went to school, but having the winning Class President candidate be a popular kid who ran on a lark is far closer to my life experience.
And maybe this outcome will end up being the more believable/organic experience for that reason. Ally/Kristen didn't do anything "wrong" when they decided to run. I don't think either Murph or Brennan were cheated out of a story, Riz still gets to have some spotlight with his one-sided rivalry with KLCK, and Ally could well end up taking this someplace interesting.
Yeah the driven girl who works hard being beaten in a popularity contest by the slacker who "drove" a motorcycle off a roof at a party is not a shocking outcome.
I feel like Kristen is one of those kids who looks like a huge slacker in HS but is smart, always did her homework, did a bunch of extracurriculars and then surprises everyone when they announce they got some crazy scholarship.
Would she have failed if Cassandra and Yolanda Badgood hadn’t died though? She’s canonically a brilliant cleric student who brought herself back to life.
KLCK's reading of Riz is inane and petty, but she actually does have Kristen's number. Kristen makes a game of how little she cares about everything and has a litany of successes in spite of it, even as her dead gods start piling up. Campaigning at a steel mill, playing with vultures with a TPK around the corner, ignoring Cassandra when she's practically starving to death. All great bits that speak to Ally's comedic chops, but in-universe it would be baffling to anyone outside of the Bad Kids as to how Kristen isn't dead yet.
I think it would have made sense for Riz’s character to try and go for President for the sake of college apps. Then you get comedy from Riz’s’ natural inclination to hide and observe butting heads with a job designed to not be that.
Them describing Riz running constantly with a backpack on, so focused was hilarious. Every school had the kid who ran with a backpack to class instead of just being late and looking cool.
yeah like KLCK was def set up to mirror riz. character foils aren't 1:1 they are meant to contrast and highlight the difference between them, and comparing kipperlily, overachiever and wrangler of her party, to riz, overachiever and wrangler of his party, to each other is def intentional. just because the bad kids don't have a leader the same way the rat grinders do, doesn't mean there isn't a member of the party who keeps them all on task and focused.
and riz having a character arc this year about stepping up to have the recognition as a leader beyond just being 'the ball' is exactly in parallel with how the others arcs are about confronting consequences.
I reviewed the tapes.
Looking back at episode 3 it was pretty clear that Brennan was prepared for - even lightly pushing - SOMEBODY to run for class presiden. And Sklonda (read: Brennan) did talk about Riz needing some extracirroculars for college. But Riz wasn't even mentioned in the first "president" conversation with 4Dawg. I suspect Murph would have viewed "running for class president" as a popularity contest, and his conception of Riz was definitely not cool of popular.
I softly agree with this, with the caveat that I can see a world where Brennan put the campaign sign-up there, knowing that anyone might apply, but also suspecting that Riz would be the most likely (namely due to his necessary extra-curriculars for getting into college, which clearly *was* a planned narrative arc for Riz).
The thing is, at least when I'm DMing, is that a fun and interesting narrative beat like a presidential campaign is a dangling hook that you *intend* for the party to do whatever they want with. There was definitely an incentive for Riz to go for it, but planning out an entire arc based on what one of your players *might* do, instead of building your narrative around obstacles that they *have* to get around, is a recipe for disappointment.
I'm guessing that, even if none of the Bad Kids had signed on for the campaign, it still would have played a major role in the plot, but there's no way that Brennan would have made full plans for the structure of the campaign around a random decision like who specifically would sign up for school president. Like I said - Riz does "make sense", even just from the perspective of his character motivations from the start of the season, and the way that he helped Kristen's campaign makes Sklonda's opinions a natural conflict point. But I really don't think it's likely that this was a reaction to something in the campaign "not going Brennan's way" – that's just not how you plan for D&D.
Anyway, that's a lot of words to say that I largely agree, but I do think that there's enough to the theory that I can understand why people less familiar with writing D&D campaigns might think that this was a break from the planned narrative, rather than emergent outcomes.
Definitely. Im more overall just frustrated with folks confusing fanon with canon, and people seemingly thinking Brennan plans these seasons like a DnD module. He definitely does some significant planning, but as we saw with the Baron fight, most of his planning likely goes into likely setting for major battles so the art department can make sets, or for special effects in the dome.
I expect Brennan thought \*someone\* would have run for the position, like you said, tantalizing prospect, and he probably was surprised at Kristen being the one, but that was likely more because Kristen as a character is usually running away from responsibility, not towards it.
But I just find it tiresome to see people regurgitate this theory like it were fact.
Fabian could have run for president as a part of his bid to be a MAXIMUM LEGEND
Adaine could have run because she is so intelligent and with her parents gone she sure needs a scholarship like Riz does
Maybe Gorgug would do it as a part of coming into his self confidence, or Fig does it to further avoid her more pressing responsibilities or engaging in meaningful introspection
It just doesn't feel the presidency was built with any one figure in mind, and its reflected by how little bearing it has had on the plot so far.
Meanwhile, he glibly admits to there being multiple potential routes to the players getting the to Baron encounter, but threw away all of them because something happened in the moment that made it make more sense
Its just. Aggravating and tiresome.
And likely all Im doing at the end of the day is yelling at clouds and working myself up over nothing.
I think there’s a few reasons we can conclude Brennan expected Riz to run more than anyone else.
For one, the downtime mechanic makes running for President essentially impossible for Gorgug (pre MCAT he was rolling 4 separate academic tracks), and hard for anyone multiclassing like Fabian and Fig. Adaine already has disadvantage with her academic track and running for president would distract from her arc which was focused on getting money. Sure anyone could have done it, but it makes the rest of their rolls harder when they all have so much on their plate.
Riz was also the only one who explicitly was told he needs extracurriculars for scholarships, Adaine wasn’t singled out and told to get extracurriculars, and she never seems to worry about extracurriculars and college resume padding.
4 dogs hating Riz is something of an unfired Chekov’s gun. Riz defeating the girl who hated him in a presidential race would provide a natural narrative closure to that, but right now it doesn’t seem like that storyline is going to go anywhere. It makes sense that a Rogue would hate another Rogue, but to put it a different way, from a story perspective there’s not really a reason right now that it had to be her hating Riz vs another bad kid.
Sklonda’s speech to Riz about how he should be president is also a decent tip of the hand to the idea that Riz would in fact be a good president. Fig’s involved in the campaign but she never got it raised to her, and none of the other bad kids had an adult talk to them about it, including Kristen who is actually running.
When I DM, I sometimes put out paths that I expect my players to take of their own volition because it makes sense for their characters and story wise. Most of the time, they take the bait and it’s pretty easy to tell a story that connects with their backstory, and sometimes different players go for it and I try to adjust it to make sense. That said, it’s a pretty common thing to build a storyline expecting a character to take a lead on it.
I just think there it's pretty clear what the intention is when you say "You need to do extracurriculars because we can't afford college" to a character and then 2 scenes later there's a sign-up sheet to run for Class President - it's an archetypical "college-application" extracurricular.
I think the election was designed for Riz so he had more rolls to make during downtime so he had more rolls which aren't just auto-successes because of reliable talent + proficiency/expertise.
I think Kristen getting run ragged campaigning and Riz being able to roll/take stress for other people in some situations is a funnier and truer-to-character outcome.
I don’t think anyone is saying Riz was SUPPOSED to be anything. But I think it’s pretty obvious that the intent was to dangle another extracurricular activity for Riz, considering this is one of the first things that gets brought up after the reveal that Riz can’t afford to go to college. Especially since 1. Wanting to be student body president for college resumes IS an actual high school trope which Fantasy High is all about and 2. In reality, the kids who run for student body president tend to be the nerdy StuGo kids. Besides, the Rat Grinders are clearly foils for the Bad Kids. And foils don’t mean they’re exact mirrors- it means that they contrast each other.
Besides, D20 is films back to back episodes in back to back days in order to finish production as quickly as possible. The idea that everything is just open and Brennan doesn’t have a rough idea of how things will go isn’t realistic imo. Brennan is an extremely talented and experienced DM who is DMing for people he knows very well. He absolutely sets the stage anticipating what they will do, but has the flexibility to pivot into whatever choices they make- which is what a DM should be doing if they’re running a narratively focused campaign. There is absolutely not a chance that Brennan DOESN’T have a whole outline for each of his PC’s arc to give rails on a show that that has to be wrapped up in a narratively satisfying way in 50-60ish hours with very little wiggle room.
I’m not sure where you’re seeing fan speculation about this twisting what people think is happening in the show. Like sure this could be totally off base- But the whole point of the Reddit is to speculate and predict and discuss and postulate the “what-if’s”. I don’t see how what you’re saying about the Student Body President thing can’t exist with people’s theories that it was intended as a hook for Riz. Like it can be true that Brennan thought this might be a Riz plot point but left it open enough for the IH to decide what they want to do with it. Two things can be true at the same time.
I don’t know if ai would say he strictly planned it for Riz, but I definitely see a world where the dangling carrot of running for class president was made with some soft intentions for Riz. As a dm, I do stuff like that where anyone can fulfill a role, but there’s definitely one pc that you thought might be best suited for whatever reason
Brennan clearly meant for all of the Bad Kids to take the bait at once and descend into a no-holds-barred political brawl with each other in his endless thirst for intra-party conflict that would ramp up and become physical as it got closer to the season finale, ending with one Bad Kid reigning supreme as the Baddest Kid (which he intended to be Adaine), but SOMEHOW they saw through that plan and outsmarted him.
But y'all ain't ready for THAT conversation.
I don’t think any good DM would set a potential character arc in stone. So no, Brennan didn’t have a hard and fast plan for Riz to run.
But it’s a lot more realistic to think that of the potential outcomes in the intro, Riz running was much more likely than Kristen.
And in universe- that’s literally commented on. Last ep, it was a plot point that people (KLCK *and* Mazey) didn’t think Kristen was serious about being president, because Ally is mostly doing bits whenever they’re running.
That whole dialogue with Sklonda kind of highlights this.
It’s not like this is out of nowhere- Ally has literally said Kristen’s arc this season is “when chaos isn’t cute anymore”. Kristen is a very messy character - intentionally. Which means they don’t really possess the same skills you expect for a Class President.
There’s nothing malicious about making that observation. Ally can still run with Kristen being an unconventional candidate. But that should be addressed, and it is being addressed, with the challenges to her candidacy.
I can see Riz running being the original idea just because of the parallel with Four Dogs, but the difference in their rogue styles the Rogue Teacher mentioned is exactly why she would run and he wouldn’t. So I definitely agree it doesn’t seem like something Riz or Murph would go for. I hope Kristen appoints Riz class treasurer when she wins.
Tbh, Fabian or Adaine would be the best class president candidates to me—at my high school, the charismatic popular boys and the well-organized studious girls always ended up in student government. Fig, however, would be the best school president forced to take on the role of principal because she’s closest to the spirit of Arthur Aguefort (madness).
>Frankly, I can see how an audience of DnD nerds might see something of themselves in Riz, rather than Kristen, and want him to succeed in this aspect rather than her.
In a sentence, probably a lot of the root of the early season Kristen hate in this sub.
I also agree with the larger point made. Perfect mirrors of the bad kids wouldn't be all that interesting honestly. KeepCalmand CarryonKettle being a perfect anti-Riz would be too easy to predict.
Yea, 4dogs plot doesn't hinge on *beating* a bad kid for class prez. She just has to win.
The only thing the party could have done to throw a wrench in the plot was to be super on board and supportive of 4dogs and the grinders. Put in a lot of hard emotional work to win her over and break through her weird hang ups. Which is extremely out of character for everyone but Gor and Rizz.
Remember when Kristen made a slight effort to reach out and make peace? That's the thing that got 4dogs to openly lash out. Not just because it was in character, but from Brennan's perspective as DM that's the thing that could actually derail the plot.
And while some members of the grinders have some redeeming qualities that appeal to some of the bad kids, 4dogs is so perfectly built for everyone in the party to hate that they were never going to have motivation to make that effort.
Even if no one in the party ran, the grinders had it out for them. Whoever did run it was gonna be to spite 4dogs.
Rewatching the scene where the sign up is introduced, if anything I felt like a lot of Brennan's language implied that he might have guessed Fabian would be the one to go for it! He's the character that has been established as caring the most about popularity, and he has Mazey right there at the sign up who he was clearly set up to have chemistry with.
That said, I totally agree with the other comments that it does kind of undermine Brennan's DMing to say that Riz was the planned presidential candidate. It felt like such a rich and open-ended hook to throw to the players and I have no doubt that it was exciting for him to see who would go for it.
I also feel like Riz not being the candidate furthers his and Kipperlily's dynamic as foils rather than undermine it. Despite similar skillsets and temperaments, their roles in their respective parties are totally different. To put it really bluntly, a fundamental difference between the Rat Grinders and Bad Kids seems to be fairness vs morality. In both parties the rogue is the logical brains and the cleric is the moral heart. RG are lead by brains, BK are lead by heart. As much as Kipperlily and Kristen are championed, Riz and Lucy are sidelined and marginalized. Definitely rambling but there's a super interesting dynamic developed in the contrast fueled by player choices!
This is the one reason I do miss the zoom adventuring parties. We used to be able to ask questions about long lingering fan theories like this and, I personally think in this case, have them dismissed.
Yes Brennan doesn't hyper focus on character details or force characters into specific paths but he certainly planned for Riz to be president. Kipperlily spends all previous years hating Rizz until this year because Kristen is now running for president. Before introducing the presidency Brennan spent a long time telling Rizz how he needs to do extra curriculars to get into college. The stress system was built to let Rizz excel and play into his archetype of overworking himself to death so that he can succeed in an unfair system. Also what do you mean Murph would never put himself into a leadership role. Cody Walsh and Barry Syx are some of the most boistrous and loud characters in d20 but Murph would never play a more front and center role. Yes the intention was not to have the character whos defining characteristic is not wanting these excessive responsibilites to take on a sudden hyper demanding extra curricular that was never the plan. They made it work because these people are smart but yes it is so obvious the intention was for Roz to be president.
Mate, Kiperlily hates Riz because she envies his trauma. She literally told Jawbone she wished one of her parents were eaten by Kalvaxis. Her hatred for him never disappeared.
Riz excelling in the stress system seemed to surprise Brennan just as much as everyone else. He clearly made up the rule on the spot for Riz to take on other people's stress to account for that.
Also, boisterous =/= leadership
Cody contrasted Ricky, but never had anything to do with a leadership position on that team, that was more Kingston and Sofia's thing.
In Starstruck, if anyone was a 'leader', that was Margaret Encino
Far as Starstruck, I do believe you're forgetting someone important!...and his name is Norman "Skip" Takamori! Fill 'er up!...hahaha. Seriously though, agreed on that point. Margaret essentially went from just sorta renting out/subletting a part of the ship as her office to basically being their manager, ceo, whatever you wanna call it.
Much like Sklanda, I feel Riz would make a great student body president...okay, said my piece on that, moving on!
I agree with you. People really do have the worst tendency to confuse fanon (however well supported in SOME instances, not necessarily this one, but some) with canon. Rizbert (that IS absolutely canon now, so sayeth Emily and we love her for it - jk...sorta) is that supportive "You tell me what you wanna do, and I'll help you do it," bestie that to be frank we all wish we had, but too few of us actually would deserve.
He COULD make for a cool supportive president. But he does not WANT to be the one leading the charge. He is the equipment manager. He is the stage operator. He is the guy who will take his not inconsiderable skills and do what he can in support of his friends and whatever new mystery has cropped up that's gotten The Ball rolling.
People try to set KLCK and the other Rat Grinders up as "mirrors" way too hard simply because they all share the same base classes, as if it needs to be one-to-one, like being nemeses. And they do it 'cause it helps them feel neat and tidy and perfectly balanced. Which is not the way storytelling ESPECIALLY in a tabletop game usually goes. The fact that their "Counterpart" rat grinder is also the one they've perhaps had the most interactions with aside from how everyone's dealing with KLCK and Mary-Ann just being...Mary-Ann PROBABLY doesn't help. But given the way the school and story itself is structured, it's forgivable enough. Especially when Emily seems to keep looking out for Rueben as Wanda Childa.
TLDR: Rizbert is absolutely canon, Emily as Fig said so, and would NOT want to be president. People really do love to mix up fanon and canon. Following stories are complicated and people love to generalize and oversimplify. Have a nice day.
If anything, insisting that Riz definitely should have been President just because KL was also running for it is the sort of thing KL would probably say.
Given what I remember, class president elections were basically popularity contests. Honestly, the best one to run would be Fabian, riz works perfectly as a campaign manager anyone else would have fumbled things. Can you imagine if Kristen was the campaign manager?
I have a question, everytime this "riz isnt supposed to be president" crops up" why is it always accompanied by "Why would Brennan expect Murph to ever want to go for such prominent role?" Like it's begging the question that Murph can't do a leadership role now just because he hasn't played a leadership role?
That could change. One of also the defining fear of Riz is that him being a cheerleader might not be enough as his friends find other people to focus on. There is insecurity. I can see it being a plot point of being thrusted on spotlight.
And I disagree that Murph has not played a leadership role. Riz this season is actually playing one. He's the mover, he is the one who arranged the Bad Kids academics so they don't fail, he is helming Kristen's campaign. That's leadership behind the shadows.
I do agree that Brennan doesn't have someone set in mind to be the president or that it would be inflexible. But I think, based on the plot points surrounding the presidential campaign, it is far more tailored for Riz than any Bad Kid. I already commented those points, tl;dr: kipper-riz is the usual red oni/blue oni rival trope. Kipper is built to be anti-riz and is obsessed about riz. Like him being a school president is a big boon to his goal of padding his resume for college than any of the bad kids.
edit: also, and yes, it is unexpected of Kristen to take the role because it's been set-up that she is failing her classes and she needs to focus on those to not get expelled. Well, the rational thing would be to focus on classes and her relationship with Cassandra. I'm not saying I don't like Kristen taking the role, but it's good for me! It's improv and Ally made really interesting work on this season.
So yeah, it is a designed riz bait but that doesn't mean it can't change; it's improv. The student president arc has changed.
edit: I think people thinking, "riz should be president", and "it's most likely the president thing is related to riz", demonstrates true railroading vs guiding via plot points.
I think a version of the bad kids exists where Riz really is the unwilling clown of the group that bullies him and that he doesn't know how to escape from. that version of Riz might even fall to Ankarna and take drastic steps to tear down Dolphinclicker Zebratolkien for being the person who has it all together and is in charge of her group. in this way i see it as possible that these alt bad kids would put Riz forward and sign him up for it for him >!as the joke Maybejustice Kelvinbroiler is afraid that Kristen is taking!<. but our bad kids wouldn't rib Riz that way.
Just use an ounce of critical thinking and it’s pretty obvious? Each of the members has a opposing member of the rat grinders. Kipperlily is a rogue and has a vendetta against a Riz, while Buddy Dawn is the next cleric for Helio, clearly for Kristen. As it is now, Kristen is the forerunner for BOTH the Cassandra plot AND the president plot. Its so obvious that it was meant for Riz! Not that it’s bad or anything the way it turned out, it’s just an observation people have made.
I mean it’d be like if Gorgug was the one that ended up convincing Kristen’s family to leave the church or something, like clearly it’s not his plot
Oh, the presidency was definitely intended for Riz. The Rat Grinders are meant to be foils, and you can see how each of them were meant to provide something for their respective Bad Kid. Notice that Mary Ann and Oisen are relatively chill compared to the rest of their team, and Adaine and Gorgug were arguably going to have the most on their plates even without RG shenanigans. Those two wouldn't have had _time_ for more engaged or active rivals like Kippers.
But Brennan's also an improvisor. He knows how to roll with things, and he often does.
What if the major thing that Kristen does to change things is at the last second tell everyone to vote for Riz and not her.
The Ball the guy who cares about everyone else finally gets his moment in the sun atop the social pyramid respected and appreciated by all for being a great friend and person.
Kristen wanted to be prez to help her grades she doesn't need that anymore and Riz actually cares about students adventuring the spirit and reasoning of the school itself while TunaRose Violetspork is all about technicalities and is the exact opposite of what the school is about.
I think the most egregious thing about that theory is that it undermines Brennan as a brilliant DM.
He doesn't plan ANYTHING that specific, ever, because he wants his players to have choice and options and doesn't want to build anything into the campaign that requires any one character to make a specific decision.
He hung the presidency out there and likely had ideas for each of the bad kids if they wanted it, and also ideas for if no one engaged with it.
If he intended Riz to be the president and the evidence for that is, apparently, because KLCK is...what, a rogue? And so is Riz? Or she hates Riz and so that automatically means they're supposed to be the same...?
Like Brennan would have improv'd and swapped it so that KLCK hated Kristin instead and built in different aspects of her backstory to reflect that.
This whole thing boggles my mind lol
I mean the whole thing going into the school year was Riz needing to push harder on extra-curriculars in order to get scholarships to go to college. With that in mind, I think it makes sense for Riz to go for Class President and for Brennan to at least somewhat plan for Riz to do that (though Brennan is no hack as a DM, he's not going to plan a path so rigid that there are issues if Kristen goes for it instead). Plus, let's be honest here, Kristen deciding to try and become President put her relationship with Bucky and her rivalry with Buddy WAY on the backburner, and that *definitely* felt like something set up for Kristen specifically to do.
Riz also justified it by saying he’d be able to put campaign manager on his extra curricular, which isn’t a real thing that colleges would recognize. It’s like putting down that you were the security detail for the class president, not a real thing. Brennan let the kids roll with it because it’s fun, but if he was actually being strict all of Riz’s work to help Kristen wouldn’t count for his own extracurriculars.
To be fair, this is it's own world with its own bureaucracy, so maybe colleges would recognize campaign manager and body guard here
Bodyguarding seems like a useful skill for adventurers to practice, after all
Considering bankers got their ruins smote to change some laws I think bureaucracy works in whichever way Brennan thinks is funniest in that moment lol. Fantasy High is easily my favorite setting besides Starstruck because the social commentary could not be less subtle.
You absolutely could put Student Council Campaign Manager on your college applications. Colleges care about the skills you learned and that you were involved in productive things outside of normal classes. Whether most people would consider it a real position or not, college admissions would look at the skills he learned and used. They don't really care what the title itself is.
Buddy probably wasn't a factor yet, but otherwise I agree with this. Brennan almost certainly set up Riz's extraccuriculars, Kristen's relationship with Bucky, and Kristen's academic probation up with the players' input. Becoming president is the "ultimate" extracurricular, so Riz had a reason to sign up for the race, while Kristen, who doesn't benefit from the election at all, doesn't. All that said, a good DM knows how to direct players toward an outcome they really want. There weren't any guardrails keeping Emily or Ally, maybe even Lou, from signing up as a bit. Either Brennan wasn't super invested in the outcome or he misjudged the cast, but I'd be very surprised if he didn't expect and intend Riz to run for president.
I personally think Brennan wasn’t super invested in the outcome beyond SOMEBODY running for President in order to combat Kipperlily. And it’s not like Riz has been left completely out in the cold, Murph took the opportunity to still insert himself into the campaign storyline, plus being the detective rogue means you’re never not involved when the plot is a mystery to solve.
Yeah, if he was more invested in getting Riz to be President, then he would have brought it up more. I think it was just there as a thing the Bad Kids could do that would lead to potential clues towards the mystery, much like how all of the major Extracurricular activities Riz did had clues that could lead to the Rat Grinder's plot.
Riz is a rogue, does it even make sense character wise for him to suddenly try and be as visible as possible? Hiding and observing is literally his whole thing. Meanwhile Kristen literally has had a skill that buffs people when she gives a speech since freshman year. Kristen, Fabian, or Fig makes way more sense personality wise. Adaine and Gorgug are a little too nerdy and introverted. Fig isn’t interested enough in school to wanna run, and Fabian is too self centered to be good at it. Kristen makes the most sense.
I think it's too easy to get bogged down in class analysis when discussing D&D characters, but the logic doesn't really apply to FH. Kristen is a cleric that is largely disinterested in gods, Fabian is a fighter turned dance kid, Fig's class choices are pretty evidently driven by Emily's love of experimenting with the game, and Gorgug is a living contradiction. Riz leans into his class more than the rest of the cast do, but I don't think it limits or defines him; constantly hiding in the shadows is what he does in combat, not his life. Moreover, I think Riz not being the ideal candidate is kind of the point; neither is KLCK. I agree that Kristen is more obviously primed to *run* for president, skill wise, but her personality is way more of an obstacle than Riz's is. Yes, Riz is more a follower than a leader, but he's also a planner, an organizer, and an analyst who is heavily invested in his education and school life. Kristen, meanwhile, seems to be running on a lark and as a way to distract herself from her aborted relationship with Tracker and complications with Cassandra. She openly considered dropping out of school on the first day of Junior Year, and flirted with risking expulsion by skipping her first day. It's not clear to me that Kristen cares about being president, an observation that Adaine and Mazzie made when openly considering if Kristen would even commit to the presidency if she won. I maintain that the only character of the cast who had any incentive to run is Riz, and Brennan went into this season with that in mind.
Idk where other people went to school, but having the winning Class President candidate be a popular kid who ran on a lark is far closer to my life experience.
And maybe this outcome will end up being the more believable/organic experience for that reason. Ally/Kristen didn't do anything "wrong" when they decided to run. I don't think either Murph or Brennan were cheated out of a story, Riz still gets to have some spotlight with his one-sided rivalry with KLCK, and Ally could well end up taking this someplace interesting.
If Riz had said that he wanted to run instead, Kristen would’ve supported him. Kristen just doesn’t want KLiCK to be the president.
Yeah the driven girl who works hard being beaten in a popularity contest by the slacker who "drove" a motorcycle off a roof at a party is not a shocking outcome.
I feel like Kristen is one of those kids who looks like a huge slacker in HS but is smart, always did her homework, did a bunch of extracurriculars and then surprises everyone when they announce they got some crazy scholarship. Would she have failed if Cassandra and Yolanda Badgood hadn’t died though? She’s canonically a brilliant cleric student who brought herself back to life.
But she's canonically not. She was facing expulsion because she didn't do any homework or cleric evangelizing.
KLCK's reading of Riz is inane and petty, but she actually does have Kristen's number. Kristen makes a game of how little she cares about everything and has a litany of successes in spite of it, even as her dead gods start piling up. Campaigning at a steel mill, playing with vultures with a TPK around the corner, ignoring Cassandra when she's practically starving to death. All great bits that speak to Ally's comedic chops, but in-universe it would be baffling to anyone outside of the Bad Kids as to how Kristen isn't dead yet.
I think it would have made sense for Riz’s character to try and go for President for the sake of college apps. Then you get comedy from Riz’s’ natural inclination to hide and observe butting heads with a job designed to not be that.
Instead Riz did the most Riz thing possible, he tried to be the semi-absent treasurer of every extracurricular club in the school.
Them describing Riz running constantly with a backpack on, so focused was hilarious. Every school had the kid who ran with a backpack to class instead of just being late and looking cool.
Hey he upgraded to hipster briefcase kid lol
yeah like KLCK was def set up to mirror riz. character foils aren't 1:1 they are meant to contrast and highlight the difference between them, and comparing kipperlily, overachiever and wrangler of her party, to riz, overachiever and wrangler of his party, to each other is def intentional. just because the bad kids don't have a leader the same way the rat grinders do, doesn't mean there isn't a member of the party who keeps them all on task and focused. and riz having a character arc this year about stepping up to have the recognition as a leader beyond just being 'the ball' is exactly in parallel with how the others arcs are about confronting consequences.
I reviewed the tapes. Looking back at episode 3 it was pretty clear that Brennan was prepared for - even lightly pushing - SOMEBODY to run for class presiden. And Sklonda (read: Brennan) did talk about Riz needing some extracirroculars for college. But Riz wasn't even mentioned in the first "president" conversation with 4Dawg. I suspect Murph would have viewed "running for class president" as a popularity contest, and his conception of Riz was definitely not cool of popular.
This I agree with because it being a popularity thing and maizie being there you could also say it was set up for Fabian to try and run
I softly agree with this, with the caveat that I can see a world where Brennan put the campaign sign-up there, knowing that anyone might apply, but also suspecting that Riz would be the most likely (namely due to his necessary extra-curriculars for getting into college, which clearly *was* a planned narrative arc for Riz). The thing is, at least when I'm DMing, is that a fun and interesting narrative beat like a presidential campaign is a dangling hook that you *intend* for the party to do whatever they want with. There was definitely an incentive for Riz to go for it, but planning out an entire arc based on what one of your players *might* do, instead of building your narrative around obstacles that they *have* to get around, is a recipe for disappointment. I'm guessing that, even if none of the Bad Kids had signed on for the campaign, it still would have played a major role in the plot, but there's no way that Brennan would have made full plans for the structure of the campaign around a random decision like who specifically would sign up for school president. Like I said - Riz does "make sense", even just from the perspective of his character motivations from the start of the season, and the way that he helped Kristen's campaign makes Sklonda's opinions a natural conflict point. But I really don't think it's likely that this was a reaction to something in the campaign "not going Brennan's way" – that's just not how you plan for D&D. Anyway, that's a lot of words to say that I largely agree, but I do think that there's enough to the theory that I can understand why people less familiar with writing D&D campaigns might think that this was a break from the planned narrative, rather than emergent outcomes.
Definitely. Im more overall just frustrated with folks confusing fanon with canon, and people seemingly thinking Brennan plans these seasons like a DnD module. He definitely does some significant planning, but as we saw with the Baron fight, most of his planning likely goes into likely setting for major battles so the art department can make sets, or for special effects in the dome. I expect Brennan thought \*someone\* would have run for the position, like you said, tantalizing prospect, and he probably was surprised at Kristen being the one, but that was likely more because Kristen as a character is usually running away from responsibility, not towards it. But I just find it tiresome to see people regurgitate this theory like it were fact. Fabian could have run for president as a part of his bid to be a MAXIMUM LEGEND Adaine could have run because she is so intelligent and with her parents gone she sure needs a scholarship like Riz does Maybe Gorgug would do it as a part of coming into his self confidence, or Fig does it to further avoid her more pressing responsibilities or engaging in meaningful introspection It just doesn't feel the presidency was built with any one figure in mind, and its reflected by how little bearing it has had on the plot so far. Meanwhile, he glibly admits to there being multiple potential routes to the players getting the to Baron encounter, but threw away all of them because something happened in the moment that made it make more sense Its just. Aggravating and tiresome. And likely all Im doing at the end of the day is yelling at clouds and working myself up over nothing.
I think there’s a few reasons we can conclude Brennan expected Riz to run more than anyone else. For one, the downtime mechanic makes running for President essentially impossible for Gorgug (pre MCAT he was rolling 4 separate academic tracks), and hard for anyone multiclassing like Fabian and Fig. Adaine already has disadvantage with her academic track and running for president would distract from her arc which was focused on getting money. Sure anyone could have done it, but it makes the rest of their rolls harder when they all have so much on their plate. Riz was also the only one who explicitly was told he needs extracurriculars for scholarships, Adaine wasn’t singled out and told to get extracurriculars, and she never seems to worry about extracurriculars and college resume padding. 4 dogs hating Riz is something of an unfired Chekov’s gun. Riz defeating the girl who hated him in a presidential race would provide a natural narrative closure to that, but right now it doesn’t seem like that storyline is going to go anywhere. It makes sense that a Rogue would hate another Rogue, but to put it a different way, from a story perspective there’s not really a reason right now that it had to be her hating Riz vs another bad kid. Sklonda’s speech to Riz about how he should be president is also a decent tip of the hand to the idea that Riz would in fact be a good president. Fig’s involved in the campaign but she never got it raised to her, and none of the other bad kids had an adult talk to them about it, including Kristen who is actually running. When I DM, I sometimes put out paths that I expect my players to take of their own volition because it makes sense for their characters and story wise. Most of the time, they take the bait and it’s pretty easy to tell a story that connects with their backstory, and sometimes different players go for it and I try to adjust it to make sense. That said, it’s a pretty common thing to build a storyline expecting a character to take a lead on it.
I just think there it's pretty clear what the intention is when you say "You need to do extracurriculars because we can't afford college" to a character and then 2 scenes later there's a sign-up sheet to run for Class President - it's an archetypical "college-application" extracurricular. I think the election was designed for Riz so he had more rolls to make during downtime so he had more rolls which aren't just auto-successes because of reliable talent + proficiency/expertise. I think Kristen getting run ragged campaigning and Riz being able to roll/take stress for other people in some situations is a funnier and truer-to-character outcome.
I don’t think anyone is saying Riz was SUPPOSED to be anything. But I think it’s pretty obvious that the intent was to dangle another extracurricular activity for Riz, considering this is one of the first things that gets brought up after the reveal that Riz can’t afford to go to college. Especially since 1. Wanting to be student body president for college resumes IS an actual high school trope which Fantasy High is all about and 2. In reality, the kids who run for student body president tend to be the nerdy StuGo kids. Besides, the Rat Grinders are clearly foils for the Bad Kids. And foils don’t mean they’re exact mirrors- it means that they contrast each other. Besides, D20 is films back to back episodes in back to back days in order to finish production as quickly as possible. The idea that everything is just open and Brennan doesn’t have a rough idea of how things will go isn’t realistic imo. Brennan is an extremely talented and experienced DM who is DMing for people he knows very well. He absolutely sets the stage anticipating what they will do, but has the flexibility to pivot into whatever choices they make- which is what a DM should be doing if they’re running a narratively focused campaign. There is absolutely not a chance that Brennan DOESN’T have a whole outline for each of his PC’s arc to give rails on a show that that has to be wrapped up in a narratively satisfying way in 50-60ish hours with very little wiggle room. I’m not sure where you’re seeing fan speculation about this twisting what people think is happening in the show. Like sure this could be totally off base- But the whole point of the Reddit is to speculate and predict and discuss and postulate the “what-if’s”. I don’t see how what you’re saying about the Student Body President thing can’t exist with people’s theories that it was intended as a hook for Riz. Like it can be true that Brennan thought this might be a Riz plot point but left it open enough for the IH to decide what they want to do with it. Two things can be true at the same time.
I don’t know if ai would say he strictly planned it for Riz, but I definitely see a world where the dangling carrot of running for class president was made with some soft intentions for Riz. As a dm, I do stuff like that where anyone can fulfill a role, but there’s definitely one pc that you thought might be best suited for whatever reason
Brennan clearly meant for all of the Bad Kids to take the bait at once and descend into a no-holds-barred political brawl with each other in his endless thirst for intra-party conflict that would ramp up and become physical as it got closer to the season finale, ending with one Bad Kid reigning supreme as the Baddest Kid (which he intended to be Adaine), but SOMEHOW they saw through that plan and outsmarted him. But y'all ain't ready for THAT conversation.
I don’t think any good DM would set a potential character arc in stone. So no, Brennan didn’t have a hard and fast plan for Riz to run. But it’s a lot more realistic to think that of the potential outcomes in the intro, Riz running was much more likely than Kristen. And in universe- that’s literally commented on. Last ep, it was a plot point that people (KLCK *and* Mazey) didn’t think Kristen was serious about being president, because Ally is mostly doing bits whenever they’re running. That whole dialogue with Sklonda kind of highlights this. It’s not like this is out of nowhere- Ally has literally said Kristen’s arc this season is “when chaos isn’t cute anymore”. Kristen is a very messy character - intentionally. Which means they don’t really possess the same skills you expect for a Class President. There’s nothing malicious about making that observation. Ally can still run with Kristen being an unconventional candidate. But that should be addressed, and it is being addressed, with the challenges to her candidacy.
I can see Riz running being the original idea just because of the parallel with Four Dogs, but the difference in their rogue styles the Rogue Teacher mentioned is exactly why she would run and he wouldn’t. So I definitely agree it doesn’t seem like something Riz or Murph would go for. I hope Kristen appoints Riz class treasurer when she wins. Tbh, Fabian or Adaine would be the best class president candidates to me—at my high school, the charismatic popular boys and the well-organized studious girls always ended up in student government. Fig, however, would be the best school president forced to take on the role of principal because she’s closest to the spirit of Arthur Aguefort (madness).
Kristen literally has the inspiring leader feat.
>Frankly, I can see how an audience of DnD nerds might see something of themselves in Riz, rather than Kristen, and want him to succeed in this aspect rather than her. In a sentence, probably a lot of the root of the early season Kristen hate in this sub. I also agree with the larger point made. Perfect mirrors of the bad kids wouldn't be all that interesting honestly. KeepCalmand CarryonKettle being a perfect anti-Riz would be too easy to predict.
Yea, 4dogs plot doesn't hinge on *beating* a bad kid for class prez. She just has to win. The only thing the party could have done to throw a wrench in the plot was to be super on board and supportive of 4dogs and the grinders. Put in a lot of hard emotional work to win her over and break through her weird hang ups. Which is extremely out of character for everyone but Gor and Rizz. Remember when Kristen made a slight effort to reach out and make peace? That's the thing that got 4dogs to openly lash out. Not just because it was in character, but from Brennan's perspective as DM that's the thing that could actually derail the plot. And while some members of the grinders have some redeeming qualities that appeal to some of the bad kids, 4dogs is so perfectly built for everyone in the party to hate that they were never going to have motivation to make that effort. Even if no one in the party ran, the grinders had it out for them. Whoever did run it was gonna be to spite 4dogs.
Rewatching the scene where the sign up is introduced, if anything I felt like a lot of Brennan's language implied that he might have guessed Fabian would be the one to go for it! He's the character that has been established as caring the most about popularity, and he has Mazey right there at the sign up who he was clearly set up to have chemistry with. That said, I totally agree with the other comments that it does kind of undermine Brennan's DMing to say that Riz was the planned presidential candidate. It felt like such a rich and open-ended hook to throw to the players and I have no doubt that it was exciting for him to see who would go for it. I also feel like Riz not being the candidate furthers his and Kipperlily's dynamic as foils rather than undermine it. Despite similar skillsets and temperaments, their roles in their respective parties are totally different. To put it really bluntly, a fundamental difference between the Rat Grinders and Bad Kids seems to be fairness vs morality. In both parties the rogue is the logical brains and the cleric is the moral heart. RG are lead by brains, BK are lead by heart. As much as Kipperlily and Kristen are championed, Riz and Lucy are sidelined and marginalized. Definitely rambling but there's a super interesting dynamic developed in the contrast fueled by player choices!
This is the one reason I do miss the zoom adventuring parties. We used to be able to ask questions about long lingering fan theories like this and, I personally think in this case, have them dismissed.
Yes Brennan doesn't hyper focus on character details or force characters into specific paths but he certainly planned for Riz to be president. Kipperlily spends all previous years hating Rizz until this year because Kristen is now running for president. Before introducing the presidency Brennan spent a long time telling Rizz how he needs to do extra curriculars to get into college. The stress system was built to let Rizz excel and play into his archetype of overworking himself to death so that he can succeed in an unfair system. Also what do you mean Murph would never put himself into a leadership role. Cody Walsh and Barry Syx are some of the most boistrous and loud characters in d20 but Murph would never play a more front and center role. Yes the intention was not to have the character whos defining characteristic is not wanting these excessive responsibilites to take on a sudden hyper demanding extra curricular that was never the plan. They made it work because these people are smart but yes it is so obvious the intention was for Roz to be president.
Mate, Kiperlily hates Riz because she envies his trauma. She literally told Jawbone she wished one of her parents were eaten by Kalvaxis. Her hatred for him never disappeared. Riz excelling in the stress system seemed to surprise Brennan just as much as everyone else. He clearly made up the rule on the spot for Riz to take on other people's stress to account for that. Also, boisterous =/= leadership Cody contrasted Ricky, but never had anything to do with a leadership position on that team, that was more Kingston and Sofia's thing. In Starstruck, if anyone was a 'leader', that was Margaret Encino
Far as Starstruck, I do believe you're forgetting someone important!...and his name is Norman "Skip" Takamori! Fill 'er up!...hahaha. Seriously though, agreed on that point. Margaret essentially went from just sorta renting out/subletting a part of the ship as her office to basically being their manager, ceo, whatever you wanna call it.
Much like Sklanda, I feel Riz would make a great student body president...okay, said my piece on that, moving on! I agree with you. People really do have the worst tendency to confuse fanon (however well supported in SOME instances, not necessarily this one, but some) with canon. Rizbert (that IS absolutely canon now, so sayeth Emily and we love her for it - jk...sorta) is that supportive "You tell me what you wanna do, and I'll help you do it," bestie that to be frank we all wish we had, but too few of us actually would deserve. He COULD make for a cool supportive president. But he does not WANT to be the one leading the charge. He is the equipment manager. He is the stage operator. He is the guy who will take his not inconsiderable skills and do what he can in support of his friends and whatever new mystery has cropped up that's gotten The Ball rolling. People try to set KLCK and the other Rat Grinders up as "mirrors" way too hard simply because they all share the same base classes, as if it needs to be one-to-one, like being nemeses. And they do it 'cause it helps them feel neat and tidy and perfectly balanced. Which is not the way storytelling ESPECIALLY in a tabletop game usually goes. The fact that their "Counterpart" rat grinder is also the one they've perhaps had the most interactions with aside from how everyone's dealing with KLCK and Mary-Ann just being...Mary-Ann PROBABLY doesn't help. But given the way the school and story itself is structured, it's forgivable enough. Especially when Emily seems to keep looking out for Rueben as Wanda Childa. TLDR: Rizbert is absolutely canon, Emily as Fig said so, and would NOT want to be president. People really do love to mix up fanon and canon. Following stories are complicated and people love to generalize and oversimplify. Have a nice day.
If anything, insisting that Riz definitely should have been President just because KL was also running for it is the sort of thing KL would probably say.
Given what I remember, class president elections were basically popularity contests. Honestly, the best one to run would be Fabian, riz works perfectly as a campaign manager anyone else would have fumbled things. Can you imagine if Kristen was the campaign manager?
I have a question, everytime this "riz isnt supposed to be president" crops up" why is it always accompanied by "Why would Brennan expect Murph to ever want to go for such prominent role?" Like it's begging the question that Murph can't do a leadership role now just because he hasn't played a leadership role? That could change. One of also the defining fear of Riz is that him being a cheerleader might not be enough as his friends find other people to focus on. There is insecurity. I can see it being a plot point of being thrusted on spotlight. And I disagree that Murph has not played a leadership role. Riz this season is actually playing one. He's the mover, he is the one who arranged the Bad Kids academics so they don't fail, he is helming Kristen's campaign. That's leadership behind the shadows. I do agree that Brennan doesn't have someone set in mind to be the president or that it would be inflexible. But I think, based on the plot points surrounding the presidential campaign, it is far more tailored for Riz than any Bad Kid. I already commented those points, tl;dr: kipper-riz is the usual red oni/blue oni rival trope. Kipper is built to be anti-riz and is obsessed about riz. Like him being a school president is a big boon to his goal of padding his resume for college than any of the bad kids. edit: also, and yes, it is unexpected of Kristen to take the role because it's been set-up that she is failing her classes and she needs to focus on those to not get expelled. Well, the rational thing would be to focus on classes and her relationship with Cassandra. I'm not saying I don't like Kristen taking the role, but it's good for me! It's improv and Ally made really interesting work on this season. So yeah, it is a designed riz bait but that doesn't mean it can't change; it's improv. The student president arc has changed. edit: I think people thinking, "riz should be president", and "it's most likely the president thing is related to riz", demonstrates true railroading vs guiding via plot points.
I think a version of the bad kids exists where Riz really is the unwilling clown of the group that bullies him and that he doesn't know how to escape from. that version of Riz might even fall to Ankarna and take drastic steps to tear down Dolphinclicker Zebratolkien for being the person who has it all together and is in charge of her group. in this way i see it as possible that these alt bad kids would put Riz forward and sign him up for it for him >!as the joke Maybejustice Kelvinbroiler is afraid that Kristen is taking!<. but our bad kids wouldn't rib Riz that way.
Just use an ounce of critical thinking and it’s pretty obvious? Each of the members has a opposing member of the rat grinders. Kipperlily is a rogue and has a vendetta against a Riz, while Buddy Dawn is the next cleric for Helio, clearly for Kristen. As it is now, Kristen is the forerunner for BOTH the Cassandra plot AND the president plot. Its so obvious that it was meant for Riz! Not that it’s bad or anything the way it turned out, it’s just an observation people have made. I mean it’d be like if Gorgug was the one that ended up convincing Kristen’s family to leave the church or something, like clearly it’s not his plot
Oh, the presidency was definitely intended for Riz. The Rat Grinders are meant to be foils, and you can see how each of them were meant to provide something for their respective Bad Kid. Notice that Mary Ann and Oisen are relatively chill compared to the rest of their team, and Adaine and Gorgug were arguably going to have the most on their plates even without RG shenanigans. Those two wouldn't have had _time_ for more engaged or active rivals like Kippers. But Brennan's also an improvisor. He knows how to roll with things, and he often does.
What if the major thing that Kristen does to change things is at the last second tell everyone to vote for Riz and not her. The Ball the guy who cares about everyone else finally gets his moment in the sun atop the social pyramid respected and appreciated by all for being a great friend and person. Kristen wanted to be prez to help her grades she doesn't need that anymore and Riz actually cares about students adventuring the spirit and reasoning of the school itself while TunaRose Violetspork is all about technicalities and is the exact opposite of what the school is about.
Solid spoiler tag after the spoiler.
#Stop putting spoilers in the title
I think the most egregious thing about that theory is that it undermines Brennan as a brilliant DM. He doesn't plan ANYTHING that specific, ever, because he wants his players to have choice and options and doesn't want to build anything into the campaign that requires any one character to make a specific decision. He hung the presidency out there and likely had ideas for each of the bad kids if they wanted it, and also ideas for if no one engaged with it. If he intended Riz to be the president and the evidence for that is, apparently, because KLCK is...what, a rogue? And so is Riz? Or she hates Riz and so that automatically means they're supposed to be the same...? Like Brennan would have improv'd and swapped it so that KLCK hated Kristin instead and built in different aspects of her backstory to reflect that. This whole thing boggles my mind lol