Don Powers: Pot Topic Trivia

Since this Wiki is entirely devoted to one book and movie, Don Powers: Pot Topic, this whole page is dedicated to listing trivia from the movie.br

Trivia

 * Don Powers' full name is Donovan Powers, Willy Powers' full name is William, Kris Borenstein's full name is Kristopher, CJ Buford's full name is Christian Jake, Lanny Puck's is Landon, and Monty Walworth's full name is Montgomery. The first names of teachers unsaid in the book are Lonnie Lawton, full name London, Mitch Zappia, full name Mitchell, Archie Pepples, full name Archibald, Madge Tio, full name Margaret, Carrie Shapiro, full name Caroline, Chad Rullo, full name Chadwick, Zoe Zimmerman, and Babs Bowell.
 * Full names of characters: Donovan Lamont Powers, Stephanie Ruth Henderson, Kayla Jane Esvan, Austen Redmond McMiller, Jason Thomas Samsky, Gary Rockefeller Motell, Cody Jamie Lee, Connor Bradley Knoxville, Joshua Bernard Botts, Ammon Aaron Axland, William George Powers, and Kristopher Huxley Borenstein.
 * "Shitty" is said three times throughout, and they are all said in different parts of the book by Kayla Esvan in reference to her boyfriends, Matthew Mitchell and Bryan Haskens. Kayla also says "suck my ass" thrice, adopting it as somewhat of a catchphrase.
 * Despite being billed as a main character and being one of the group's main friends, Mariah Book has only 52 mentions, behind Shelby Ross' 114 and Aleksa Zablin's 129.
 * Despite being the kids' tell-all teacher and mentioning many characters, Gary Motell only actually ever interacts with Don Powers' original gang, Kayla, Shelby, Braxton Stout, and Mimi Mikeska and no one else ever throughout.
 * Despite being brother and sister, Taylor and Troy Arnold never interact in the story. Likewise, despite being father and daughter, Meira Hotchkiss and Reid Hogan also never interact.
 * Don, Stephanie Henderson, the rest of Don's original gang, Mr. Motell, Kris, and Braxton are the only characters seen or mentioned in every chapter, though it is only the original gang to appear in every chapter.
 * Many good-natured female characters start the story off with terrible boyfriends. Kayla with Matthew, Meira with Dakota Tester, and Aleksa with Brett Fish.
 * Morgan Mitchell and Eli Guild both start the story ambiguous, both good and bad, spend most of it bad, and end the story good, and coincidentally, they both have racist brothers who remain bad throughout, Matthew Mitchell and Dustin Guild.
 * Dustin's first few scenes lead him to suspension, and his last scene does so as well. Likewise, Kris' first appearance shows him being suspended, and his last scene shows his expulsion.
 * Matthew goes from having a huge role to being suspended in Chapter 11. He returns for two scenes in Chapter 14 only to be expelled and only mentioned thereon, never seen again. Hodge-Pierce says that his sudden disappearance is both because he didn't want his presence conflicting with Kris and Bryan's stories' finishes and also because he wanted to assure that Matthew's character never changes, and it's a "once a jerk, always a jerk" ordeal. Dakota also leaves after Chapter 13, though he has much more to his story than Matthew does, and Carrie Shapiro also leaves after Chapter 12, although this is because she was unneeded thereon.
 * Nate Bowmen is first seen in Chapter 1, and thereon, he is unseen for a long time, being brought up on a few occasions. In Chapter 15, he makes his first on-screen appearance since the opening chapter when Don points out that he slipped, although this is irrelevant to the story. In Chapter 18, he finally speaks again and sparks some relevance by protesting Dakota's suspension with Dustin Guild.
 * Kayla debuts in Chapter 8, but still has more mentions in the book than all of Don's gang and Mr. Motell, despite that they debuted in Chapter 1.
 * Kris Borenstein, Matthew Mitchell, Dakota Tester, Zach Szengeti, Klayton DuBane, Ryan Gregories, and Guari Ray are all expelled at the end of the book, and all of them are villains, terminating them from the ongoing story arc. Bryan Haskens, Dustin Guild, Nate Bowman are also suspended at the end, giving them due justice, as all of them were villains, but not eliminating them from the ongoing story arc. Eli Guild and Braxton Stout are also suspended at times, but not at the end of the story, and they aren't villains (at least not by the end, in Eli's case.) Chad Rullo, also somewhat of a villain, is also fired from his teaching job, and Laurie Pourby quits her job as principal. "Villains" to never be suspended or expelled are Hunter Golgi, Taylor Arnold, Katerina Shifter-Ville, Brett Fish, Tim But, and Dean Schneider, although the villainous roles of the latter three petered out and by the end, they didn't really have as much stigma as they did with their introductions.

Tropes

 * Alliterative Name: Matthew Mitchell, Morgan Mitchell, Ammon Axland, Lonnie Lawton, Jordan Jonesy.
 * Antihero: Don Powers is at times this, because even though he is always described as the protagonist, he can be a jerk at times, but he is very heroic and protective of his close ones, and even less close ones like CJ Buford.
 * Asshole Victim: Kris Borenstein is an asshole victim in this story, as he is ultimately eighty-sixed at the end of the story, never allowed to return to Chenango Falls. He is supposed to garner a little bit of sympathy for his tragic home life, but nevertheless, he was a cheater and a pothead and he assaulted Rick Derr.
 * Badass: Don can also be described as this at times.
 * Berserk Button: Don when he finds out Kayla is dating Bryan, Don when Matthew calls CJ Buford the N-word, Don when Bryan is hurting Kayla on two separate occasions, and Austen when Don can't choose between Stephanie and Kayla.
 * Black and Gray Morality: Don can be a delusional egomaniac, but at the same time, he is very protective of very many people and is an antihero.
 * Central Theme: The story deals with a lot of stupid and awful people, and it sends a purposely morally-questionable message about hurting them when they are like this to you.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: When Kris Borenstein is being carried off by Reid Hogan, Rick Derr, and Reginald Gumble, he says, "Let the fuck go of me! Who cares? It's weed! It's legal in Washington and Denver! Fuck all of you!" (Also note that Kris says a city in Colorado, Denver, instead of the actual state.) Matthew Mitchell says, "He's allowed to say nigger. Nigger, nigger, nigger..." and Don Powers at one point says "Fucking fuck."
 * Darkhorse Ensemble: Aleksa Zablin and Austen's relationship has been popularized immensely among fans.
 * Dirty Coward: Matthew Mitchell is openly racist and constantly picks on anyone he deems below him, yet he is still terrified of fighting and not very good at it either, getting beaten by both Don and CJ.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: Matthew is permanently expelled at the end of Chapter 14: Day of Insanity, to only be mentioned and never seen thereon, although Morgan Mitchell doesn't officially announce this to readers until the beginning of Chapter 16: Anyone. Dakota Tester is suspended by the end of Chapter 12: Love Hurts, although we don't actually know this until after we see him again in Chapter 13: Handful of Problems during his fight scene against Don, but thereon, he is also only mentioned and never seen due to expulsion, although he wasn't as essential to the book as Matthew. Kris, the main antagonist, is also expelled at the end of the book, so in the event of a sequel, he will not be involved.
 * Drugs Are Bad: Kris has marijuana in his backpack (that actually belonged to his father, Fred, but it is likely that he still partook in the usage of it and it easily could've been his), and he is suspended for awhile, his relationships with Hunter Golgi and Taylor Arnold are permanently ruined, and he is finally expelled at the end of the book for assaulting the gym teacher Rick Derr.
 * Even Evil Has Its Standards: Although he isn't one of the eviler characters in the book, Troy Arnold exemplifies this when he tells Don Powers of Bryan Haskens' plans to do something to Kayla Esvan when Don was away from her.
 * Famous Last Words: Though there are no deaths, Matthew's "Ah, but there's a damn nigger on the bus" which leads to his expulsion and Kris' "Mr. Lawton, go ahead and play the next song" before he too gets expelled can be considered "last words".
 * Fired Teacher: Mr. Rullo.
 * Heel-Face Turn: Morgan Mitchell and Eli Guild.
 * Heel Realization: When Kris formally confesses to everyone at the Chenango Falls Public School dance that he was the one that assaulted Rick Derr.
 * Jerkass: There are multiple characters that are virtually unlikable by most standards, including Kris, Hunter, Taylor, Matthew, Bryan, Dakota, Katerina Shifter-Ville, Dustin Guild, Nate Bowmen, Zach Szengeti, Klayton DuBane, and Dean Schneider, and at the beginning, Morgan Mitchell and Eli Guild, although they have Heel-Face Turns.
 * Karmic Death: In this case, karmic expulsion, with Kris, Dakota, Klayton, Zach, Matthew, Ryan, and Guari.
 * Loser Protagonist: Although it doesn't faze them, Don, Stephanie, Austen, Jason, Cody, Josh, Ammon, and Connor are all basically losers within Chenango Falls for the entirety of the book, and characters like Kayla, Braxton, Meira, David, Andre, Natalie, and Cassidy more or less become losers as the book progresses.
 * MacGuffin: It is said so heavily that the marijuana in Kris' backpack belonged to his father, Fred, simply so that he can return from his suspension sooner, and it surely doesn't fix Kris' morals, because he later assaults Mr. Derr.
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Stephanie Henderson serves as this for quite awhile, and Kayla also takes her turn at serving as this, in the eyes of Don Powers.
 * Meaningful Name: Jason Samsky has a first name that means "to heal" and it is said he has a limp, Don and Willy Powers' have a surname that basically means they have strengths, and Don was the protagonist and somewhat of an antihero of the story, Hunter's first name can be considered "hunting" for attention, Austen McMiller has a name shared, minus a change in letter, with Austin, Texas, where it is considered very hot, which could be a reference to him being a hothead, to "josh" means to kid or to joke, and Josh Botts hardly gets serious and jokes around a lot, and Ammon Axland's first name means "the hidden one", which is interesting because he has virtually nothing going on and serves only to be Don Powers' friend. Also, Joe Buster's name has "bus" in it. Babs Bowell's last name is almost "bowel" and it can be argued that she is "shit".
 * Moral Dilemma: Don's choice between Stephanie and Kayla, and Kris' problem with his assault against Mr. Derr.
 * N-Word Privileges: No one actually has these, although Dustin and Eli Guild, Dakota Tester, Matthew Madison, Andrew Vestatine, Nate Bowman, Dean Schneider, Dale Raider, Ralph Wilbur, and Katerina Shifter-Ville think that they do because of "freedom of speech".  
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Don and Willy Powers themselves are only called by their nicknames in the book and it was revealed elsewhere that their real names are Donovan and William, and Kris' full name "Kristopher" is also never said in the book. It should also be noted that the only staff with first names given in the book are Gary Motell, Laurie Pourby, Joe Buster, Reid Hogan, Rick Derr, Reginald Gumble, Lynette Breck, and Isabella Gregrow, and the first names of characters such as, but not limited to Mitch Zappia, Archie Pepples, Chad Rullo, Lonnie Lawton, and Madge Tio were only given elsewhere.
 * Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Don's "You fucking cocksucker" and "You motherfucker" against Matthew and Bryan, respectively.
 * Post-Asskicking One-Liner: When Kayla and Natalie Sebastians make Bryan back out from a possible fight with Don Powers and Kayla says, "He's going to kill you", Mr. Pepples comes out of his classroom and asks what's going on. Don says, "Cleaning up the streets. High-school vigilante."
 * Random Events Plot: Although most of the aspects of the story are essential, it wavers a lot, such as Science Elites Club, and it's arguable as if that was actually needed.
 * Reality Ensues: The expulsions of particularly Kris, Dakota, and Matthew are reality ensuing.
 * She's Not My Girlfriend: At different times, Don with both Stephanie and Kayla, and also Willy with Jadynn O'Harris.
 * Ship Tease: The main plot is Don deciding between Stephanie and Kayla, and at the beginning, Cody Lee and Hannah Andron's, and eventually, Austen and Aleksa Zablin's. Willy and Jadynn's relationship was also teased at until their hookup, as well as Braxton Stout and Meira Hotchkiss', and later, Stephanie and Jason's.
 * Sickening Sweethearts: Kris with Taylor/Hunter, and at the very beginning, Kayla and Matthew and later, Kayla and Bryan. Stephanie and Cody could also qualify, but only in the eyes of Don, as they never actually showed romance to one another.
 * Stupid Crooks: Kris' assault on Mr. Derr later comes back to bite him, as his conscience kicks in and forces him to admit it was him.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Though no one "dies", the expulsions of Kris, Dakota, and Matthew can be seen as this.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Though they're comforting to one another half of the time, Don, Jason, Kody, Austen, Connor, Ammon, and Josh have this sort of relationship at times.
 * Your Cheating Heart: Kris, Hunter, and Taylor were all in a love triangle where they constantly cheated on each other and came back to one another.