Ships

[BarkeviaEzekiel]

Okay, I realize how awful that is, but hear me out: I see it as a means to bring back an old character, and give Connie a boyfriend finally. Really. Like, I've tried shipping her with other characters, but this is the one I always come back to. It's weird, but it just makes sense! It's like french fries and Frosty-malts. Sounds like an awful combo, but is really good. Here, I'll list the reasons why I think this is a good idea:
1. Redemption Arcs
I've always had a weakness for redemption arcs, and I feel like Rodney coming back into the series as a Christian would be a very good way to exemplify God's willingness to take "bad" people and make them into something good. And, since Connie has seen how bad he was, it might help her to be more willing to pray for people like her dad, who aren't Christians, so that they might have a turn around as well. Besides, for some reason, Adventures in Odyssey writers seem to like to make characters be very black or white morally. With the exception of Buck Oliver, who was obviously good from the start, there is always a clear line between "good" people and "bad" people. Honestly, it'd be nice to see a more realistic change.
2. Jules's need of a father figure
Hear me out on this one: Jules really needs a father figure in her life. Now, I realize that Rodney is not the best candidate for that, but if he comes to Christ, and does change, I feel that he'd do okay. Connie is already kind of Jules's mother figure, but one parent isn't enough. (God being analogous to a father is different. He's God, he can literally do anything he wants.) In fact, kids who live in a home without a father figure are more likely to become criminals. Another bonus of Rodney kinda being her father figure would be that he would've gone through that exceptionally rebellious teenager phase, and could help Jules make the right decisions by explaining the consequences in such a way that Connie couldn't.
3. I just feel like it'd be nice to hear Connie NOT fawn over her significant other
I don't like the mushy stuff, and I can assure you, that if Connie and Rodney were a thing, we wouldn't hear any really mushy, ooshy-gooshy stuff, and instead hear things that actually sound like a healthy relationship: like honest compliments, and respectful comments, maybe even a few pranks! Healthy relationships aren't built on flattery and infatuation. They're built on mutual respect and a desire to do life together. And none of the relationships that Connie was in previously had that.
Please, just consider this. It's only my opinion, of course, and you don't have to accept it or whatever.

[Catspaw]

Hey Barkevia, welcome to the ToO!

What an interesting ship. I don't know if I've heard this one (seriously) suggested before and can kind of see it now that you've explained. Honestly, one of the things I like best about it is that the same voice actor who played Mitch also voices Rodney, so I would be able to pretend that it's a deep undercover act and it's really Connie and Mitch getting together.

[Bob]

The main problem with developing Rodney as a character is that there's such a long period of time when they didn't. Even his friend Rusty got more character development (it being shown that he had moved out of town, was living on his own, and was presumably gainfully employed somewhere). Jokes, cruel and otherwise, about adults with no jobs living in their parents' basements abound, but Rodney matches this stereotype well: as far as we know, as of his last appearance, he still lives with his parents. He probably technically has a job at the Electric Palace, maybe as an assistant store manager, but it's not certain that this is a paid position, and at any rate, the work can't be too involved, since he still has plenty of time to aimlessly hang out around town. Did he mature any psychologically, emotionally, socially -- no, obviously not, since he's in his 20s and still gets his kicks out of picking on elementary/middle-school kids, the same as he did when he was 16 (and still in middle school). While 'developmentally disabled' may be a bit strong of a label to slap onto Rodney, it's obvious even in the context of the show (in spite of the usual 'some characters age more slowly' excuse) that he isn't and has never been normal (although he seemed to regress after DBD -- maybe negative side effects from his time locked up?). These aren't insurmountable obstacles if you want to do something with his character now, but you need a perfect storm of events to come up with a plausible change of course in his life.

Around the time Mr. Edmiston died, I wondered how they were going to resolve it in the series. In my head I pictured a potential story arc where Tom and Bart were both on a train for some reason. There would be some sort of catastrophe and both of them would die, probably with Bart having some sort of deathbed conversion (it might not be realistic but, AIO and "happy" endings). After that, there'd be episodes exploring Rodney and his reactions in the aftermath, now that his "pop" is gone. Of course, nothing remotely like this ever happened, but I still think it was an interesting idea. Maybe something like this would have been a good way to shake things up. It doesn't look like AIO has any intention of ever revisiting the Rathbones, though, so I guess it's water under the bridge now.

I do think your relationship concept is a good one, with impeccable reasoning, though I admit I have a hard time imagining a "Connie Rathbone".

[BarkeviaEzekiel]

That's fair. However, even taking that into consideration, I still believe that it'd be good for the writers to give a relatively well known "villain" a redemption, and just have them slowly be reintroduced into the series. After a while, the Connie/Rodney relationship could be slowly introduced into the series, in a more realistic way, kind of like how they did with Penny and Wooton.