#witch kitty | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper · 1 year

Note

Is one of thomas' Sanders sizes literally just the Sanders from vine that wore the su shirt and Jung out with the vas 😭?

I'm gonna use this ask as an excuse to introduce you to all the sides LOL

I’m gonna preface this by saying that this will be LONG and also it has been a while since I rewatched the series or refreshed myself on some of the older stuff

I’m also gonna go ahead and give a quick rundown of my history with the fandom. I was like 12 or 13 when it first started? I didn’t have vine at the time so I just watched vine comps on youtube LOL but I was already like a causal a fan of Thomas Sanders. It wasn’t until the third episode which was a crossover with Lily Singh (I was a Lily Singh and Liza Koshy fan back in the day) that I started watching the series though. I got really into it after that and it was one of the first fandoms where I was like actually a super active member (You can look at the comments on some old prinxiety fanfics for proof of that LOL) I don’t remember exactly when I fell off but I fell off from the fandom for a good while around the Christmas episode where they all sing together through no fault of the series itself. I still watched the series but I didn’t like actively get into it or anything like I used to. Then the asides episode “Flirting with social anxiety” like REALLY dragged me back in hard and suddenly its like 13 year old me woke up as a 18 year old with the freedom to peruse tumblr as much as I wanted and I was back into it HARD. I try not to be ashamed of it but I know its one of those fandoms that gets a lot of shit for both valid and super not valid reasons. Long story short i’ve been a fan for years and unless things catch on fire worse than they already are I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to jump ship.

Not a side but a character: C!Thomas (which I think is who you're specifically referencing?) (and yes there was a vine where he met the VAS LOL, “Who ate my fries?” )

So like I said I’m pretty sure Thomas was big on way Vine before he was really big on Youtube. He did other stuff on Youtube before SASI but SASI has sorta become his flagship. A lot of his characters that he uses for instagram and yes indeed the sides originated on vine. The one I think you’re specifically referencing is a weird one because its not one of the sides. Thomas wore his Steven Universe shirt A LOT way back when so its how a lot of early fans took to drawing him and to some extent still do. This is a weird one like I said hafljad. So Character Thomas or C!Thomas is what fans call the version of himself Thomas portrays in SASI. This sort of relatable everyman online persona he puts on. I’m glad we do this is a good and healthy way to separate the show from the the man and it makes it a lot less weird to see like an in-depth post speculating about Thomas’s mental health when there’s a little C! In front of it to let you know its the Thomas as portrayed in SASI. Like I said the reason you still see the SU shirt even though I can’t remember the last time Thomas wore it and honestly I don’t even really think fans draw him in it anymore is that a lot of the art and fan content that like has the most notes and stuff is from the heyday way back when when he WAS still wearing the SU shirt. So yeah SU shirt guy isn’t one of the sides that is C!Thomas.

The basic plot of Sanders Sides is that its a guy standing in his living room with various aspects of himself talking about life. It did the very modern western cartoon thing of starting out a lot more episodic with some smaller long running plot threads being slowly introduced and then spinning wildly off the rails with a higher budget and musical numbers and intricate grand storytelling as the show went on but the basics are still the same hflajf.

Logan

Logan is another character that made the jump from vine and our first actual side on the list! He started as “The Teacher” character. Now it gets confusing down the line as we talk about the old Vine characters and their side counterparts but with Logan I’m pretty sure “The Teacher” is dead and gone so we don’t have to worry about that.

Sanders Sides characters all belong in name HELL. Its not really a problem with Logan or the other sides like it is for one of the them specifically (cough cough looking at you JANUS) but we’ll get there.

*The place it causes issues and possible confusion is in shipping. When you see the ship names pop up like “Logicality” “Intrulogical” “Prinxiety” etc the early ones were established popular pairings way before the sides had names so Morality + Logic = Logicality and later ships like “Intrulogical” kept up the name scheme. Where it gets weird is the later ships though where some characters did have names and some didn’t or people just wanted to abandon the naming scheme altogether and just use their names. The WORST culprit of this that I’ve seen happens to be my own dearly beloved “Dukeceit” or “Demus” or “Receit” or “Trashnoodle” Both of the characters were introduced late in the game so naming conventions were DEAD and Janus didn’t get a name for A LONG ASS TIME so its just like I said NAME HELL (it suits them though). I can’t even imagine what poor Orange’s ship names are going to look like.*

Back to teacher man who I’m afraid I’m treating just as badly as the series whoops…Long story short when the series first started the characters didn’t have names they had roles. So Logan made the jump from Vine as “The Teacher” character and became “Logic.” That is still his role but not what he gets called as a thing that got introduced later was that the sides had names and them telling their name to Thomas was like a very big series deal with a lot of meaning. Logan was the first to get a name.

So Logan is logic, his color is dark blue. One of the OG three (later four). He’s like the part of Thomas’s brain that wants to focus on work and being productive. He struggles with understanding his much more “Feeling based” companions. A lot of his angst is derived from Thomas’s career being so creativity focused a place where he feels he doesn’t really have much to contribute and Thomas’s continued struggles with (mental health) being productive and having a good work flow. A lot MORE of his angst is how often he is talked over, belittled and outright ignored by everyone. Logan deserves a lot better and with where we are in the series right now he’s gonna snap soon so hopefully he’ll get it. Logan is a bit of a funny case in the fandom. In the early days when it was just the four sides (aka when I was in the fandom the first time) he was the least popular side by a long shot. However, this did a full 180 and I would now argue he is the MOST popular side, which caused some cognitive dissonance because by the time the team made a meta-joke about him being the least popular, that shift was already well under way.

Patton

Is the “Dad’ character from Vine. The “Dad” character is our first instance where we see a split between SASI and Thomas’s other stuff. I’m pretty sure “Dad” still pops up in some of his skits but like infrequently, but when you see “Dad” in a skit it's not Patton unless stated otherwise. So there’s that weird split I was talking about LOL. Patton made the jump from Vine as the “Dad” character and then became “Morality.”

So Patton is Morality. His color is light blue and he’s the second side to get his name. One of the OG three (eventually four). Patton is a really interesting character, it's all too easy to label him Thomas’s “Heart” but I feel like that’s an oversimplification. He is Thomas’s judgment, he is Thomas’s sense of right and wrong and yes he is most of his mushy gushy feely stuff. Patton is the “Dad” but in a very real sense he’s also pretty childish and I don’t say that to demean him. He struggles with being blinded by nostalgia and black and white thinking. His main source of angst is that he feels unprepared to be Thomas’s morality now that Thomas is grown up and it's not so easy to tell what’s right and wrong anymore. However, a good source of angst for him is ALSO his deteriorating relationship with his once very good friend and son figure Virgil.

Patton is a complicated one to talk about because of how much perception of him in the fandom has shifted over the years. There’s always a tendency for the super cheerful friendly one of the bunch to get “Bullied” by the fandom (I’m guilty of it too) and in the early days there was a small pocket that didn’t like him or found him annoying or whatever. However, he was always, I would say, one of the more popular sides, I think he may have even been the most popular behind Virgil at that point.

This has definitely changed in recent years largely due to the introduction of the “Dark Sides,” especially Janus. There was always this tendency for the fandom to infantilize Patton and smush him down to his base components and it was easier to do so early on before Janus. His main role in the story besides being the sort of lovable goofy “White dad guy” who would scold the other sides for cursing (but might accidentally do so himself) was bringing Virgil into their little found family. However, he’s had a bit of a negative character arc lately that I believe we’re on the tail end of now.

The fandom generally skews young so we’re just as bad about black and white thinking as Patton is. Janus was introduced as the liar to Patton’s honesty and the selfishness to Patton’s selflessness and Patton made a bit of an ass of himself through the rocky introduction process. This is true but it's also true that Janus was directly goading him a lot of the time to try to make him seem bad. So yes Patton has the capability to be a jerk but he was also a jerk under duress. This is also what led to his relationship with Virgil now being so rocky (mostly). We haven’t gotten a conclusion to that yet. I can’t really look at Patton centric posts without them being super divided between the Patton defenders who still love him and the “Patton is the real villain” crowd. Nuance is dead, Patton villain AUs are at an all time high and Patton defenders tend to turn it around and shit on Janus (I may not like Moceit like at all but god bless the enemies to lovers crowd working their asses off here). While he isn’t my FAVORITE I don’t think he deserves this at all and I hope things look up in the future.

Roman

Roman is an interesting one on the name front. On vine he was “The prince” character and he jumped to sasi as “Creativity.” But he was still actively called the prince a lot of the time and dressed like a prince, I think it was a little while before we actually got confirmation of what exactly his official title was? This discrepancy comes into play with his ships (which I PROMISE I will stop bringing up eventually LOL). I’m not sure if its just because “Creativity” is a bitch to work into a ship name or because of the thing I mentioned earlier but Roman’s early ships like the juggernaut “Prinxiety” (Prince or “Princey” x Anxiety) and Logince (Logic x Prince). His later ships however like the ever popular sister ship to my beloved dukeceit, Roceit (Roman x Deceit) do not share this descrepency as they simply chose to use the names.

So Roman is creativity. His color is red and he was the third side to get his name. One of the og three (eventually four). Roman is not just creativity, he is as his name and color suggest Thomas’s capability for romance and romantic love. Now, I don’t remember the last time I saw “The Prince” character pop up in an instagram short or anything but where the same characters different but also characters drama rears its head for Roman is a little series called “Role Slaying with Roman.” The best way I can put it is the whole C.A Cupid MH EAH thing except not really because there it was canon she was the same person who had crossed over into the other world??...Role Slaying with Roman is basically just Thomas’s take on a DND podcast in which he (this is speculation) used Roman as a way to draw in his pre-existing fans by making him his player character. The universes are completely separate, the Romans are completely separate but they are both Roman. The fandoms have gotten pretty good at tagging for this but still I know it is confusing and it is a lot. As far as popularity in the fandom goes he has always been pretty middling and I think it suits him! He deserves to be higher but I think its pretty fitting that he has never ever dipped below the half way point of adoration. Roman is a theater kid extraordinaire, a sweet, slightly selfish, goofy himbo with big big dreams. He is a lover-boy and a bleeding heart. I HAVE to mention his early on rivalry with Virgil and subsequent friendship arc because its one of my favorite parts of the series but I think that about sums it up. Virgil is like the cause of all of Thomas’s stage fright and self doubt so of course the two are going to be at odds. Roman is very antagonist to Virgil because he can be scary so Virgil was antagonistic back but they slowly come to understand each other in a really believable and sweet way culminating in this absolute GUT PUNCH of a speech from Roman in the season finale and UGHH. Ever since they are besties who are constantly friendly bickering; they have a surprisingly healthy and supportive relationship and I love them dearly. Roman continues his trend of being deeply antagonistic to the dark sides by absolutely simultaneously adoring Janus because of his (sarcastic) flattery towards him and hating him after he figures out he’s lying. Janus made his debut in the series by impersonating Patton for a whole episode and it sort of made a fool of Roman and ever since it has been a very one sided rivalry with Roman absolutely HATING Janus. There is also this thing with a callback that he is very conflicted on and it made the whole thing so much worse. He has a hero complex and to him Janus is the villain and that is all he’ll ever be. I feel like it may also have something to do with…Who Janus brings with him but we’ll get there :))))). I feel like I’m talking about other people a lot in Roman’s section but that is where he shines, his relationships to ALL of the other characters are so nuanced and liable to change, especially now with everything that is currently happening in the series. Roman’s main sources of angst have been Thomas sacrificing opportunities for creative success for various reasons, not feeling like he can be Thomas’s “Hero” anymore (similar vibes to Patton) and Nico. Thomas in canon has recently started dating a man named Nico and…Wellll…Let’s just say things seem sweet now in a understandably bumpy but still favorable road…But the whole fandom can smell a break up coming that would push everyone including and especially our favorite prince over the edge. Hopefully he and Virgil don’t get back on the rocks!

Virgil

OH VIRGIL. Virgil Virgil Virgil… Originally the “Anxiety” character on Vine Virgil made the jump to SASI and became “Anxiety.” His is the character where you will see the most confusion with or at least it was before Roman. The confusion comes not only from “Anxiety” still being a pretty frequently used character in Thomas’s other content but also from the hoodie and his first arc. When Virgil first appeared in the series (although I don’t know if the episode technically counts?) was episode three in the crossover with Lily Singh I mentioned before. Both Thomas and Lily often spoke about dealing with mental health so Thomas’s anxiety character made an appearance in the episode as a (seemingly) one off antagonist for them to defeat (of course with the mentioned caveat that anxiety was not something you CAN defeat but still the point was he was an obstacle to face). Virgil in that appearance and every subsequent appearance throughout season one appeared in a grey plaid hoodie. However, after being “Redeemed” later on he swapped out the grey hoodie for a more patchwork custom purple hoodie. The Anxiety that appears in Thomas’s relatable instagram content still wears the grey hoodie and (I think) has a sign taped to his chest that simply says “Anxiety.” But the distinction can be hard to make so the confusion was always there and he was definitely the character where it was the most confusing until RSWR.

I think I have a lot to say about Virgil unfortunately. He is undoubtedly a fandom tour de force. In the early days finding a fander who’s favorite side wasn’t Virgil was a chore. He isn’t my favorite anymore but he still means a lot to me. I was a scared and dumb little kid with a family that mocked you for using words like “Mental health” and Virgil was the first time I ever saw a nuanced take on anxiety. He helped me come to terms with my own anxiety and not hate that part of myself. Despite the series later failures with handling nuance and mental health I stand by Virgil being a fantastic character. Besides all that he was just an angsty emo teen Zuko figure who loved MCR and Nightmare Before Christmas of COURSE he was popular. He is the only one I think could give Logan a run for his money (I would say maybe Janus but Janus also has a fair number of passionate haters).

Virgil is anxiety. His color is purple and he was the fourth side to get his name. When I say “original three eventually four” he is that fourth I am referring to, he has been around much longer than the two newer sides but also wasn’t in the first two episodes. Our first “Dark Side” on the list but also not really! That gets a little complicated lol. Virgil used to be a dark side, a concept introduced with the introduction of Janus. The dark sides are like the less desirable parts of Thomas, aka his anxiety and others we’ll get to later. Virgil, however, has been confirmed to be a “Neutral” side which will factor in later. Virgil is not just Thomas’s anxiety he is Thomas’s fear in general. We have seen that without him Thomas cannot function, he keeps him safe, he is fight or flight, he seemingly has control over more basic reflexes too or at least keeps them sharp and without him Thomas quote “Doesn’t fear death.” Which isn’t really a bad thing #deathpositive but in this case that refers to him not valuing his life and taking dumb risks like not locking his door or looking both ways to cross the street which is not good. Virgil’s whole arc first season was finding this nuance and coming to be accepted and it is still some of the series best. However, as time went on Virgil stagnated just a hair there wasn’t really anywhere else obvious for him to grow, he was on decent terms with the other three sides. I think this was about the time his popularity dipped slightly but I wasn’t around to see it. ALL of that changed however when Janus popped up and dragged all of Virgil’s history with him. Virgil wants so badly to forget that he was ever “Like them” he worked so hard to get away from being a dark side, from being seen as a threat to Thomas and now Janus waltzes in and just reminds everyone, literally. No literally those two have personal beef and Janus loves taunting Virgil over how he’ll always be a dark side. This is also where what had previously been Virgil’s strongest relationship crumbled, partially? I don’t know if its quite clear what exactly is the root cause but its definitely got something to do with these two factors. One, Patton simultaneously implying that all dark sides were unforgivable by the way he treated Janus but also two, treating Virgil as if he’d never been an antagonist in the first place, just generally not handling a (albeit very difficult situation with much grace). But also Virgil is definitely coded the youngest of the sides I think, he’s the most teenager and as such he acts like a teenager. Virgil (speculation) doesn’t like that Patton would imply he’s just a sweet helpless innocent baby, as much as he would love to distance himself from the dark sides I think someone else erasing that history for him invalidates him. On a less deep level it is a very typical teenager snapping at their parent and giving them the cold shoulder sort of deal LOL. They will work it out. Him and Janus though? His other parent figure? That seems like it may be another story.

Remus

OGH REMUS. I have two favorites and he is one of them. That being said there is some…Stuff to say about Remus. Remus was the second out of the two sides made specifically for the series and not being pre-existing characters to be introduced. However, he was the first of the two to get his name so that’s why he comes first on the list. He is the only side to date that has (and likely ever will) given their name the very first time they appear/meet Thomas and I love him for it. As much as I love Remus as a character, him as a concept is…Flawed…

See, the dark sides seem to be doing the Virgil thing but ramping up in intensity. The series' whole thing seems to be that every part of you can be good and is necessary; you just have to work with yourself not against yourself. Janus is a good example of this. He isn’t a mental health thing like Virgil, but he is something that is often demonized: he is Thomas’s selfishness and the series had a wonderful and deep and complicated conversation about that and what the balance is of prioritizing yourself but still being a kind and giving person who does right by others. His whole arc (which isn’t even quite over yet, hopefully) is probably the best thing the series has ever done and I LOVE it.

Remus on the other hand…Woof…So. Here’s the thing. Remus represents intrusive thoughts. The way they’ve spun this is that he’s also Thomas’s capability for more adult oriented creativity, darker stories and sex scenes and stuff. He’s all the stuff that Thomas has locked away as a creator who has made his whole brand kid friendly. AND THAT is a deeply deeply interesting conversation to have! However, he’s still intrusive thoughts. Now I can tell you as someone with severe anxiety that anxiety is no damn joke, chest pain, nausea, weak immune system, panic attacks, insomnia NO FUN. However, a big factor here is that anxiety isn’t demonized like intrusive thoughts.

I’m going to speak out of my ass here for a bit based on discourse I’ve seen but….There is a lot of nuance here and I deleted a whole paragraph because I feel like I can’t speak with experience on the matter. I haven’t really dealt with intrusive thoughts since I was a pre-teen and my memory there is practically blacked out. A lot of the issues come with just being slightly tone deaf I think and a lot of the other issues come from the person they consulted to write Remus who as I understand it isn’t a great person. Then there was the issue with fanders tagging Remus related posts with “Intrusive thoughts” and clogging up a tag that should have been dedicated to a serious mental health thing with their blorbo. All in all it was just a mess.

Overall I don’t feel like this is a topic Thomas was fully prepared to handle. As such Remus has sort of been reduced to a joke character which is fine? I guess? I don’t know in his debut episode that was sort of the conclusion: that you shouldn’t take him seriously. BUT, the thing is he has so much damn potential as a character. Remus. I love Remus and I think there’s a lot there, like I said the conversation about feeling limited as a creative is one I think would be very interesting but I don’t think its ever going to happen. It feels like Remus was meant for more but due to the (rightful) backlash he received he’ll never get it. Its like the series has backed themselves into a corner in my eyes. If they want to make interesting Remus content with the aspect of him that they can talk about in an interesting and nuanced manner they have to reckon with the fact that they tried to tackle a demonized mental health issue and people weren’t happy with the way they did so. MAYBE I’m just a jaded fan who’s sad my blorbo isn’t gonna get the spotlight but I don’t know. In all the supplemental material we’ve gotten since he cropped up he’s been sort of like the lovable outcast buffoon side character that’s just sort of tolerated by everyone and OCCASIONALLY we’ll see a moment where he makes Thomas feel like shit. And I’m like?? Where did THIS come from? It feels like Remus is a song where the last note never played. I LOVE to see him pop up and eat spaghetti with a straw but I’d also love to see him get treated like a character which they really can’t do because they decided to make him intrusive thoughts. MAYBE this legendary alleged four part season finale that’s SUPPOSEDLY on the horizon will give me what I want. But I don’t think so, it feels like the series has already moved on. And honestly? I wouldn’t blame them if they did.

The problem is is that the way the series is set up where “Every part of you has a role” is that at this point Remus doesn’t. It feels counter intuitive to what I think the series is trying to say to have ALL THESE OTHER CHARACTERS with so much nuance and good and bad qualities and then have that one guy over there who’s flat as a piece of cardboard by design. If they want to go the Virgil route with Remus and stick true to their (presumed) message and have that interesting conversation I want they have to deal with the fact that they made him intrusive thoughts. They’re going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversation about just how seriously and with how much value they should treat Remus considering what they’ve made him represent and face more backlash. And I don’t think they’re ever going to and honestly I don’t know if I want them to….UGH sorry its just MNNGHHHH.

Anyways. Remus. Remus is…Lets call him “Dark creativity.” Which I believe is his official title. His color is green. He is the second out of the three new sides to be introduced and the first to get his name. He is canonically twin brothers with Roman and they are the only sides to canonically have a familial relationship with another side (although this is debatable). Remus is insane, clown car horn honking outside your window at three am insane. He is random and silly and gross and I love him. He cusses, makes sex jokes and has constant props and gags galore. He is also prone to anger and has a temper. He hates being ignored which unfortunately…Remus’s most interesting relationship is probably with his brother Roman although its never really been explored. Its the classic golden child vs fuck up dynamic with Thomas being the parent. Its unclear how Remus actually feels about his brother so far although he did bash him over the head in his debut episode, classic sibling behavior. Roman hates Remus. He hates that Thomas has (sort of because like I said, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN) accepted Remus and he fears that people may see him and Remus as being alike in any way. Remus hasn’t had much to say on this matter so…A final note on them is that there is a very popular fan theory regarding their history. There is a line in the show about them having “Split like an amoeba” I believe it was which led a lot of people to think they were one person. That. And the fact that their titles are the prince and the duke…Both implying a higher power…

Logan is the character with which Remus has had the most interesting interactions (hello intrulogical shippers I see you). The dark sides all have light side counterparts, the most direct example is Patton and Janus but Remus is an interesting case. While Remus’s light side counterpart is Roman the side that actually balances him out is Logan. Logan like I said is logic. How do you defeat unreasonable nonsense violence that your brain is spitting at you because its bored? With logic. So the two have a love hate dynamic, they’re very frosty but I think Remus is regretfully fascinated with Logan and fixated on messing with him specifically and I hate to admit it as someone who has a DIFFERENT otp but yeah there is a LOT of tension there (I am so sorry Remuskinn, if you’re reading this). My favorite dynamic with him is one we technically haven’t even seen play out yet in canon but MNNGHHHH. I love them. I have to get into shipping for a minute. So my otp is seen as basic for a very funny reason. The most popular ship in the fandom is an oldie but a goodie “Prinxiety” which is Roman x Virgil. I am sorry to logicality shippers but Logicality Logan x Patton was basically seen as a default if you already shipped Prinxiety. So when Remus and Janus were introduced the people who already shipped Prinxiety and Logicality picked them up as the third duo to complete the default set fhadlfjl. So they are seen as basic despite not really being all that popular? I love them. I’ll give you a bit more on the name because I think its funny. So, the two most popular options are “Demus” and “Dukeceit.” SO. The options for the Remus half of the ship name are as follows: “Remus,” “Duke,” and “Intrusive Thoughts.” He gave away all three in his debut episode which set ship namers into a frenzy because oh god there’s so much to work with what do we pick. For some reason “Intrusive thoughts” + “Deceit” never really caught on although I think “Intruceit” is fine if an ungraceful mouthful. So we get ‘The Duke” + “Deceit” = “Dukeceit” and “Deceit” + “Remus” = “Demus.” Other options are “Receit” “Intruceit” “Janmus” “Trashnoodle” and more. Remus was the main one complicating things here but I also feel like the conflict between the old and new shipping conventions in the fandom was just at an all time high title vs name war. This was only made worse by the fact that Janus didn’t even HAVE a name yet and wouldn’t until well over a year after being introduced. In short: they don’t really have a set name and tagging for them is hell. But in all honesty the chaos suits them.

Now like I said, we haven’t seen them interact in canon: technically. We’ve seen them interact once or twice on screen in questionably canon content but as of yet they haven’t spoken a word to each other in a main series episode. We are working with scraps here but OH BOY are they filet mignon trimmings JUICY JUICY JUICY. There was a tiktok that Thomas reacted to a while back before even the semi-canon stuff had come out that was to the “Let’s not be to hasty, still I think he’s rather tasty” audio that he said was pretty much a perfect fit if that gives you any idea of them LOL. They have a Jessy and James ISH dynamic in that they’re a dynamic villain duo. They simultaneously have so much in common but also are opposites attract. Remus is all about loud bleating honesty and Janus is the secretive one who keeps his cards close to his chest. Remus fucks around and finds out and Janus is sick of his shit and cleans up his messes. BUT the beauty is he sticks around anyway. There’s a scene in the “incorrect quotes” video where Janus is keeping Remus company during a hospital stay and I think that’s very telling. I identify a lot of with Remus as someone who’s prone to saying shit that makes people look at me funny. Overly honest and kind of a jerk. As someone who is “Unlovable” and gross. So the fact that there is someone who sticks around on purpose and seemingly enjoys his company makes me feel all mushy gushy inside. It's that “There’s someone for everyone” thing. Even beyond shipping their mostly unexplored but semi-canon friendship means literally EVERYTHING to me and the second their dynamic is fucked up is the second I probably can’t stomach to watch the series anymore. Dukeceit fans work with what we got which is NOT A LOT but hey! All I can say is “There’s a snake in my ass” LOL.

Back on topic: Remus fans work with what we have too which is also not a lot and though I’d like to have hope that that will change in the future I don’t think there is any ground for that hope to stand on…At least there’s always fanfiction.

Janus

Janus is arguably my actual favorite character. I just love him SO goddamn much. First of all he has the COOLEST design because his face is literally half snake half human so freakin COOL. I love him. There is so much room for headcanon with that. Like? Does he wear so many layers because he’s all full of secrets or is he just cold because snake? Love love love it.

I will say that Janus is also not free of controversy largely due to some unfortunate ties to anti-semetic stereotypes that I am definitely not qualified to speak on. Janus. Janus is Deceit and his color is yellow. He was the first of the new three sides to be introduced and the second to get his name. He is the side with the current record for longest time between introduction and name reveal which like I said I think sits at over a year. This suits him perfectly and also his name reveal is one of my favorite moments in the series. His name also not only suits him perfectly but fits very nicely into the current trend of dark side names just being a smorgasbord for Remus to make filthy jokes out of (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Uranus to be next LOL). Janus is Thomas’s capability for deceit, to tell lies to not only others but also to lie to himself. He is also his capability to be selfish. Janus is a character where its unclear exactly where his morals lay. He seems like a wrong things for the right reasons kind of guy but the beauty is we don’t really know. He desperately wants to take care of Thomas and to be recognized as a valuable and good part of Thomas. He wants him to blow off work and take a nap once and a while but also maybe to commit some arson. He is all secrets and shadows. He has so many fun motifs: Jeckle and Hyde, shadows, snakes and snake eyes. GOD I LOVE HIM. He’s also super well written too. There’s this fun thing where he seems incredibly intelligent and don’t get me wrong he probably is smart but he’s also bullshitting 90% of the time about as hard as your average uni student writing a 10 page paper. Every single one of his sources he cites is usually deeply flawed, he’s scrabbling for anything he can use to make himself seem smart and capable and all knowing. He also has this super fucking sick thing where he has six arm, six shadow arms Dr. Facilier style that he can use to make the sides “Silence” themselves ala Pearl from Steven Universe and slap a hand over their mouth and it is DOPE. He seems like a bit of a marxist so respect there, he’s been seen reading marxist lit lol. He is sarcastic as hell and you have to watch his tone to see how serious he’s being at any given moment LOL. OH! Also it's generally accepted that he has the power to suppress the other dark sides, letting Thomas lie to himself about them not being there which is why they didn’t start popping up until after he showed himself. So oh my god there is a LOT there too. All in all everything about him is just SO COOL.

A lot of his angst seems to come from (since he’s my favorite you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt) the fact that he is in fact deceit and as such no one really ever trusts him. Everyone distrusts him and calls him a monster and all that shit.

People are really indecisive on Janus. He is super popular but he’s one of the sides where the love and the hate are about split equal. Since he is deceit a lot of people think he’s bullshitting at all times and is secretly just a villain. Not only do I think this goes against what the series seems to be about but everything we’ve gotten of him in the supplemental material thus far (keenly his character playlist) seems to suggest the opposite. He is GENUINELY trying to be accepted. Don’t get me wrong the way he went about this was a mess. Like I said way back in Patton’s section he goaded and manipulated both him and Roman into being their worst selves and making them question their own morality, which in a way is a good thing but come on man. He’s not so blameless but everyone who thinks he’s JUST a one note villain is as blind as poor Roman. Janus is grey not black or white. He’s a flawed and complex character. He’s funny and charming and there is SO much potential for angst. I could write a whole other 10k words just on his playlist alone and also before I forget to mention it he has THE COOLEST theme music but GOD all this to say Janus is the best. I love him. I hope his arc isn’t quite over there’s so much more I want to see from him before he steps out of the spotlight.

???🍊???

Speaking of characters stepping in and out of the spotlight.

So. When Janus was introduced he brought a whole lot of new lore with him. We got this new idea called “Dark sides” the fact that our beloved guys weren’t just sides they were the “Light sides.” Patton and Janus have pretty direct parallels and Roman and Remus and twins. So the dark sides are all connected to and the counter parts of the light sides. This lead to a whole thing with the fandom trying to figure out Virgil. Was he technically a light side or a dark side? How many other sides were there? Was Virgil the dark side that was opposite to Logan? No. No he wasn’t. Thomas confirmed that Virgil was a “Neutral” side and is the only neutral side. Which left one more spot to be filled…

For a while there was debate on what color he was. We knew he was going to be a color of the rainbow based on the pre-existing color scheme. Most people immediately went to orange although there was a small pocket of the fandom that thought it may have been pink. This is because the color pink often appears as an entity on merch. But, pink is C!Thomas, that is the color that represents him (there is another character in the Thomas canon who’s color is pink but he’s not a side).

We don’t know a lot about Orange. People debated his existence for a while until he was all but confirmed by the confirmation that Virgil technically wasn’t a dark side. He has now in fact been directly confirmed by the series via a series of teasers. Most exciting of which is Logan’s eyes glowing a bright orange.

Orange. Purpose unknown and color orange. Name has not yet been revealed and neither has the character himself. We can speculate and it seems to be the case the orange represents anger. This ties into Logan as Logan has been shown to repress a lot of anger in the past. He is ignored and belittled a lot by characters that he can’t help but think of as less intelligent than him. So orange is anger or rage.

The dark sides have been building in intensity. Janus is definitely the most intriguing so far and the one that had the most focus in the narrative but Remus is the scariest. Parts of his debut episode are literally like horror adjacent. Janus was a force to be reckoned with Remus is a force that you CAN’T reckon with…So the idea is that oh boy where does that leave orange? And considering that he’s waited to reveal himself until the four part season finale? OH BOY…Well…🍊

This is almost 10k. I had more to say but honestly I am out of energy even for info-dumping lol. If you are reading this why?? But also thank you ahfkjdahfkja. I’ll probably reblog this at some point with the rest. I’m sorry I used this ask to yell about my blorbos but it made me feel good to do so hfldjafhld. So to answer your question again: Yes but also no. He is C!Thomas.