u/gardens_sonja

So the show started with Four and X as the main two Algebraliens, then Two was added in BFB 16 and hosted TPOT for a while before then One was properly added in TPOT 12. There was also Six added later in an episode I forgot. Seems simple so far. While this was happening Jacknjellify made subscriber specials involving the Algebraliens larger than Four. (surprisingly the ones less than Four were never shown until Two in 2763K and One and Three have never been seen in a sub special)

Throughout the season there have been hints of the other Algebraliens existing, but nothing too crazy. Even TPOT 15 had direct cameos as hosts and that was still fine, just a little nod.

Then TPOT 20 came and the Algebraliens were all just one unit. I mean, in the sense that they were a coalescence and not their individual personalities.

What do I mean? We all know Four as the sadistic host who blasts contestants at a moment's notice, (well at least until Post Split tampered with that a bit...) X is the kind and cute host who's besties with Four, Two is also a kind but charismatic host who gets along with the contestants well, and One is the shifty villain who gets the contestants to sign her deals to get her way, and of course is really power hungry.

To be honest, the rest don't do much as individuals. Let's take Six, the one Algebralien still adventuring through the equation playground. Why them? What makes Six inherently the one to explore the halls of Four's internal dungeon? Or could it be any other character?

For Three... y'all need to hear this because nobody else is saying it. The most significant contribution to the plot she had is that she died. That's it. Why Three? It was probably because they happened to be the last single digit Algebralien introduced to the plot, Two and all the Algebraliens Four and above got introduced while One was introduced later while Three was the last. Like I could see any almost any other Algebralien taking her place as "One's friend who dies".

With Five, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten, I don't even know what they're up to. Might as well just have one of them because in TPOT they're five of the same character meant to represent the whole being the Algebraliens.

The five Zeroes and Fifteen. Yeah. Zero put it best when he said that their lives had no meaning after Fifteen died. Their lives never had meaning to begin with.

I'm not saying give each Algebralien a major plotline like Four, X, Two, and One. But at least give them their personalities man. Otherwise they're only seen as plot devices which is doing their character a disservice. I know their personalities were only established in sub specials which aren't canon but then why should we expect them to be in TPOT? Do we need the five Algebraliens with Balloony and Announcer when one could've gotten the job done?

By "failed" I'm not necessarily blaming either party. I'm just asking for an elimination where the writers did not do them justice to get the votes in vote to save (or to get votes that would otherwise let them stay in the game), thus making it unsurprising that the voters didn't vote to save that contestant, or an elimination where the writers did their part to make the characters safe but the voters decided to still not save the contestant.

Now I don't know about you but these two characters didn't really get a lot of closure individually after two seasons. Yul stayed as a one-dimensional villain throughout all of All Stars, which is fine, but he was barely there for himself and much more to fuel Grett's arc. Tess was a 1.5D at best therapist character that showed some promise but got eliminated before anything could be delivered on it. I'm pretty sure their last major interaction is this scene, unless you count the villains alliance eliminating Tess in All Stars.

In my opinion, if they got onto another season together, they could fulfill each other well and both would get a fitting conclusion to their character. For this to work we're gonna have to assume they'd want to write Yul as someone who actually gets character development. We could debate all day about if that defeats the purpose of his character or not but that's what I'm gonna go with.

I'll position this within Fans vs Favorites since that season is currently happening and it's easier for me to sub out characters that already exist in the season. Let's say Tess and Yul replace Ally and Aiden. But since Benji doesn't even have Ally to bounce off of, he should probably be replaced, doesn't matter who since it's not about them. Also Tom should be replaced, and that is relevant.

Now obviously nobody takes Yul's bullshit, shutting him down at every corner and making him one of the obvious targets as first boot on the favorites due to his reputation. That's all except one person though - Tess. Tess obviously doesn't like Yul a great deal either, but out of everyone on the Favorites she's the only one to bother listening to his bullcrap. She acknowledges their very bad history of him provoking her during a withdrawal episode, but she holds her tongue and listens to him, probably out of pity if anything else. Now Tess doesn't really have that many close friends on her team, she's mildly close with Lake and Tom isn't here, but the main two aren't with her, and she hasn't talked with the DC4 guys a lot so her only option for allies is... unfortunately, Yul.

The two make an alliance together like old times, just without the third, but they sure don't like each other. Tess is just willing to do anything to make it further than last time, perhaps beyond the midpoint. Meanwhile Yul, though aware of Hunter's previous strategy of using him as a shield for votes, still allies with her because let's be honest, allied or not that would happen anyway and I think one would rather be allied.

And throughout the course of the season they tolerate each other more, improving themselves. Yul becomes a nicer person that's much less of a self-righteous narcissistic bigot, and Tess regains some of her previous sharp-witting snarkiness that was present in season 2, absolving her role as the "group therapist" that she believes she's more than. I think a greeting showed it was canon that Tess was still struggling, but just in a more stable position than before, so maybe we could have a deeper exploration into that.

Imagine if they're the ones to get the idol together instead of Ally and Benji. Of course they'd initially want to get each other out to claim the idol but know that it'll just save them once and not forever.

Ultimately I don't know if this is the right way to end their characters or not but I think it'd be a well done way of doing so if that was the case. Much better than what FvF is currently putting out with its favorites, that's for sure.

Note: I definitely don't condone any of Yul's actions and it's up to you whether you believe they should be forgiven in this season or not. Definitely not forgotten, but forgiven is the keyword here.

Notes:

• Book and Needle are still in their respective finalist placements since neither of them died
• Rocky is above Firey because Firey ultimately failed his goal to steal Dream Island and save Leafy, neither died but Rocky was on the side that succeeded
• Pencil and Pin are in the same tier but since Pencil was taller she technically died after Pin when they burned to death
• I don't know when Nickel died in relation to Bomby's death so let's just say he died right when the aliens took him because it says "9 remain" after Bomby's death, implying Nickel died in the window of being stolen by the aliens and Bomby blowing up
• The 5 BFDIA LOLers are almost in the same order, but Donut was put up ahead because he was the one leading the LOL-mobile while the other four did nothing to stop Firey