sandersspectrum

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If they'd named the main character of Sanders Sides something other than Thomas from the beginning, instead of explicitly separating him from real Thomas later, then Side x Thomas (or whatever name he'd have) ships would be much more popular

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Episode Commentary - Accepting Anxiety

IT’S A BIG ONE, BOYS. LET’S GOOOO 

Not-anxious Thomas is... a babe, tho. Love the hoodie look. Get that out of the way

How difficult was it to film this segment at the beginning where he just doesn’t care? Breaking “character” like that must be SO HARD

Without Anxiety, Logic loses his Pragmatism Buddy, so even though Thomas is a bit more carefree, he’s also a bit less practical, and that COMPLETELY throws Logan to the point where Thomas’s carelessness confuses him and he’s not able to speak. Love it.

“Timeout for thee and timeout for thee, focus on issues or focus on me” I need a T-shirt... now... 

Just let it go, Kip, you don’t need to read int- WHY DOES LOGAN SAY LACK OF SLEEP? IS THAT A REFERENCE TO REMUS? DOES HE THINK REMUS HAS INFLUENCED THOMAS?

In the Behind The Scenes they mention that Thomas in the kitchen is actually Thomas which makes me so sad that it’s not better lit 

“y’know Thomas, I don’t know if that makes sense” is such an underrated line

Being a 2017 Sanders Sides fan exclusively must’ve been so confusing because it jumps from “significant other” “the person I love” “The one I will be with” “You don’t usually like talking about love” straight into “Haha I’m full rainbow all the time” “I’m never thinking straight. I’m not straight” With like, no warning

“He’s still one of us” “is he though?” IMMEDIATE SIDE EYES TOWARDS THE DARK SIDES

I love that they call Roman out in universe and that he has a real, actual reason for disliking Anxiety. 

Shoutout to the vine days with the “and that’s what you missed on ME!” 

I LOVE THE CLOCK EFFECT. 

... There has to be like, a logical reason why Patton is scared of spiders, right? I get that he holds Thomas’s emotions so he feels it more strongly but there’s gotta be like... a fun narrative connection here.

The delivery of Creepy Crawly Death Dealers is soo good

This is the first in-universe acknowledgement that Virgil pops in instead of rising up, which is cute. 

I love Roman’s faulty logic that Anxiety = bad situation when in reality he’s got cause and affect mixed up 

Logan gets so threatened by people demeaning his role, or diminishing his contribution... Is he scared of getting silenced? 

It’s interesting to note that Patton’s reaction to anxiety is to become 10x more “supportive” of the other sides. The way I read it, the anxiety imposed on him is that if he doesn’t give, if he isn’t supporting or being fuzzy and warm to them, then they’re going to leave him because he’s not doing his job and taking care of them. So he becomes almost clingy, constantly asking about their mental states and trying to be uplifting, but in reality it’s more of a reflection of his own insecurity and his fear that if he’s not the one caring for them, he has no use and place in the group, and his feelings become too strong for him to control.

The steps Thomas suggests are actually really good. Don’t only hear the noise, and register it, but either carry on or assess what needs to be changed. If you just think “Oh no I’m anxious” , you can either ignore the anxiety or let it paralyze you, and both of those options are unhealthy ways to cope with it. 

I think the “you make us better” speech is the first time Roman has ever fully faced Virgil and I love that 

Patton’s fear that “I don’t want to lose any of you” Is... strangely foreboding considering what we know now about Remus and Deceit ... that “losing” a side beyond them just becoming Dormant is a thing - That a side can be corrupted or so unwanted that the rest can make them unknown and unable to affect Thomas. 

I love that one of the first times we see Virgil actually affected by anxiety is before he introduces his name. Because the anxiety has never had to affect him before. It always affected Thomas. It was always Thomas screwed up, Thomas did a bad job. But for the first time, his guard is down, and he’s telling them something about himself. This is why Virgil begins to get more shy, more introverted, after the light sides accept him - because the act he was putting on before was a means of protection FROM anxiety. What’s to be anxious about not being liked if the persona they don’t like is at least a little removed from who you really are? 

Deceit hears Roman say “You’re nothing compared to the others” and goes OH SO WE PLAY THAT GAME NOW HUH ALRIGHTY 

Also “nothing compared to the others” I get why Roman would dislike Remus, he doesn’t seem to dislike Deceit that much... Maybe the Other Side... is someone Roman’s REALLY gonna hate? 

“What others?” “table that question for another day. Seriously. None of us want to get into it and you will cry and I don’t think you can handle that right now”

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary - Making some Changes and Becoming a Cartoon

Let’s get wild and switcheroo some bois

PATTON BEING CONFUSED. I really need some more of like… Thomas’s physical state altering the state of the sides. We got a bit in Roman being weird in DWIT but he knocked out so quickly. I’d love to see, like, Logan just being wildly off and unhelpful because Thomas is on a lack of sleep or something.

Patton becoming easily upset and sentimental with change is everything to me.

Why does Patton project emotions onto Logan and not Roman? Roman would be the most obvious choice because he’s passionate but he’s so resolute in projecting onto Logan. it’s hilarious, mind, but still.

ImeanThomasisanAquariusbutOK

“I HATE IT WHEN YOU’RE JUST VAGUE” second best Anxiety-Thomas line next to “I’M ALREADY DOING IT, VIRGIL”

Virgil opens up about needing consistency and Roman and Logan just shut him down poor babe his only other ally is currently confused…

I missed the “sure, nerd” “great, halfwit” Logictivity exchange the first time l;kjhgfds

… Why do I not know any of the ship names involving Logan besides Logicality? Roman and Logan and Virgil and Logan I just don’t know. Oh, I know Intrulogical. That one I know.

ROMAN CAN… FORCE THOMAS TO HAVE IDEAS? Like, no, it makes sense, and I love that he doesn’t do it often, but YIKES. He can literally change Thomas’s mind in a snap of his fingers. Add that to Patton can force the other sides to act in his manner of “morally” and Virgil can induce unease on the other sides…

Wait, is Joan rational? I know they’re clever and intuitive but… Are they rational? xD

Wait, is Terrence short? DOES THOMAS HAVE ANY TALL FRIENDS??

This episode is such a mind bend like they literally can’t stop being meta for their life

patton pending is.... such a good pun...

Maybe it’s because they’ve done it twice but Joan as Roman is just... the best.

ALSO Virgil is too powerful as Joan. G o o d 

THE TALYN BIT WITH ANXIETY’S NAME IS HILARIOUS THO

So much of the cartoon episode is shot interestingly? It’s so sharp, almost like he filmed it at just a LITTLE BIT slower speed. I wonder if like... He was hyper aware of his movements

Also yeah that’s entirely too many facial expressions for one sentence

STOLE REMY’S GLASSES AGAIN

See, Virgil’s willing to point up that he hates flying and morality loves flying as two contradictory statements for a single person but ROMAN CAN JUST KNOW SPANISH AND NO ONE’S GONNA SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT I GUESS

Why is Cartoon Roman so cute

WHY DOES VIRGIL HAVE BLACK HAIR 

I’d just like to say.... Blonde roman black haired logan purple haired virgil redhead patton thank you have a good day 

You can tell it’s getting too late at night when I spend three minutes laughing hysterically at “POTATO”

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Growing Up - Episode Commentary

This one hurts, man, it’s the first time we really see Logan get out of hand, having to see Morality trampled on a little bit... 

This episode gives me another idea for an analysis and it’s that Anxiety is so much more comfortable and happy being an antagonist. He enjoys being combative, and once the others begin to listen and accept him, he gets shy. But there’s a really good reason for that and it makes a lot of sense and now all I want to do is analyze it ghjkl;’

Logan is always pushing Thomas. Pushing him to be more efficient, more healthy, better. Roman dreams big but he’s ultimately willing to compromise because he acknowledges that he’s there to fulfill Thomas’s desires, and if Thomas doesn’t want to be a movie star, Roman doesn’t either. However, Logan always strives for more, at the cost of Thomas’s happiness and his mental health. A+

I love the 5 AM exchange because it proves that Anxiety really is scraping the bottom of the dark and spooky barrel and he sometimes knows very little about the things he jumps to scare Thomas with. A babe

EYYY second occurence of a flare up in Logan’s temper in two episodes~. Listen, you guys, I really think they’re gonna have to deal with it eventually. 

.... nah listen Joan I would dream of hitting my friends with a car too 

INTERESTING. When Thomas leans into what Logan is saying, his temper flares up and he lashes out at Morality. I really do think Logan is the holder, or the dark side that ends up corresponding to him is, of anger, and he uses Deceit to repress it because anger is a “lower” emotion that clouds judgement and has no worth in his mind. 

While Logan and Roman are tearing Morality’s contributions as needlessly silly and ridiculous down, there’s a shot of Anxiety looking between the two of them... Virgil is uncomfortable silencing Morality. 

In fact, Virgil seems much more sober about the change, most likely because changing anything about Thomas would be a major upset to Anxiety. Even though he acknowledges Thomas needs change, the instant it becomes too drastic, Virgil starts to get uncomfortable. He’s a meter to test whether one side is being listened to too much sometimes.

Virge, babe, I love you but you don’t fight The Man. You’ve never fought The Man in your life. The Man gives you a look and you hide under the covers for two days. 

They do have the same face but they don’t have the same confidence. Logan wears it better because it fits who Logan is. Thomas, however, is unconfident in what he wears, and therefore, it doesn’t fit him the same as Logan. 

“When I have everything I want, then we’ll be happy” is a very bad mindset to have. Sure, the future is great to look forward to, and achieving new things is good too, but no matter where you are in life, you’re still you, and you have to be you while you try and achieve all those things. If you’re not happy now, you will be Not Happy for a long time until maybe one day you achieve a set level of fame or fortune and you’re still going to be you then.

Good on Logan for being able to recognize that Thomas isn’t happy and therefore his situation Was Not Correct, and seeking outside influences.

And good on Morality for not immediately jumping on Logan and accusing him of “ruining” Thomas. He leads with “I think you think this is the right thing”, which is an attitude he’s later able to extend to Anxiety. He knows the Other Sides just Do Their Jobs, and sometimes they get out of hand, but that they don’t want to hurt Thomas. 

Unsympathetic!Patton concept: If they got out of hand and he didn’t believe that what they thought they were doing was right, they would’ve been banished by now, like Remus. Remus’s entire existence was having creative thoughts that Morality immediately questioned if A Good Person Like Thomas could have them and then banishing him. Id he thought Logan cutting him out and making Thomas care less about his friends was Logan’s intention, Logan wouldn’t be A Light Side still. 

Anxiety not liking to work hard is... almost sad, because it means that he doesn’t value the work he does and considers the less he contributes to be better for Thomas. At this point, he considers “if Thomas isn’t anxious, that’s good, so the less hard I work, the better it is for him”. 

I do love the mind palace... But I’m almost glad it didn’t stay? I feel like it would’ve been a bit harder to follow the flow and make the characters feel more solid if they aren’t in physical locations.

HOWEVER... The lighting in the mind palace is much better, I love the decorations behind Thomas (shout out to the Guys Gals and Nonbinary pals NB Flag painting), and... Why is Anxiety’s corner so sparse... give him a spider web or SOMETHING 

 I’d watch a Patton Cake tutorial. 

Patton tricking Anxiety into “doing what he asked” when “doing what he asked” is “just stand there and look cute” WE STAN

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary - My Negative thoughts

I do love this episode a lot. But I do also love Logixiety sooooo

I don’t actually know their ship name, either. 

“I don’t know if I even want to think about it ... ... YOU KNOW WHAT YES I DO” what a mood 

Logan, once more, agreeing with Anxiety. He says it’s not an unfair point. WE STAN A TRUE NEUTRAL KING 

I need to make a post about this later but the way that the sides talk about Roman is so weird. He’s the only side that people treat as if he has a life outside of Thomas. He likes different food, he knows Spanish, he watches Game of Thrones when Thomas doesn’t. I have a theory why... But that’s a different post. 

I love the premise for this episode! It’s that Anxiety isn’t wrong, but he is emotional, and while Thomas did do a bad job, that doesn’t mean that Thomas is a failure, and the only way Logan can think to help Thomas is by deconstructing Anxiety’s Emotional Support... While still validating his points and his feelings. 

Can I just say... I’m preeeetty sure the Supreme Dark Overlord of Negative Commerce is Deceit. 

ALL THE TIMES I’VE WATCHED THIS I’VE MISSED THE FACT THAT LOGAN “ICKS” IN RESPONSE TO THOMAS’S “SUNSHINE IN MY HEART” TOO. I’VE THOUGHT THIS WHOLE TIME IT WAS JUST ANXIETY. I’M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW. 

Being an Anxious Person naturally is a hell of a worldview changer. All of what Anxiety is saying is... So... reasonable to me

As a part time Barista... You don’t need to worry about saying “you too” back to “enjoy your coffee”. We are or will be drinking coffee. We are always drinking coffee.

Anxiety ducking out early is becoming a thread - it’s happened the last two or three videos, and it’s a good flag that he’s starting to get tired of the conclusion always being “Anxiety is wrong and he sucks”

Anxiety just chilling with his headphones and his hood up is... so unbelievably pure and adorable 

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary - Am I Original

It’s time to learn about Roman Boiiiis 

I love that this opening is a ratatouille gag cause if you think about it, Roman in the fiction would kind of control Thomas’s creative endeavors similarly 

Did... Thomas ever do the draw my life... 

“What do you mean Boring it’s my life!” “I know what I said” ;lkjhgfd I miss Anxiety being a Lil Shit. 

The prinxiety banter... Listen I know there’s Drama now but I love seeing where the ship started because it’s just so good

I would once more like to point out that Roman is TOTALLY the youngest and Definitely Babey

Yo.... are we ever gonna get development on the character arc that people really don’t listen to Roman though? Like, how many times is he gonna have to get overlooked and not trusted before he snaps?

Fun fact - my first reaction to yogurting is “Joan can not be that much taller than Talyn...”

I need to see Roman pop in to anxiety’s room and just SPIT YOGURT in his face. 

.. I would watch a Sanders Sides The Office spinoff

Virgil’s little smiles any time Logan says anything remotely negative about any of the other sides = my life 

This video is just full of Morality saying weird stuff. Knives, 8 mile... 

We do stan Princey’s rap. He lost. he totally lost. but we do stan. 

Fun fact - A Diadem is a type of crown. So it’s got kind of a funny dual meaning

installment one in Princey Steals Other Sides Stuff - Remy’s glasses 

I’m positive the one and only reason for the outfit changes was that Roman’s arm strap just got TOO DIFFICULT to deal with. 

The defeatist comment really hurt Anxiety, huh? Like... Of the moments where his character changes, I would say “I’m not always the bad guy”, “I’m no defeatist” and “You did good today” are some of the most impactful. Is it because he feels like Logan is the most practical, and usually on his side when it comes to calling Morality or Princey naive and hopeful, and so to hear from the other pragmatist in the room that he’s not being pragmatic, he’s being overly negative, hurts more than to hear it from someone whose opinions he considers colored by their unyielding optimism? 

hmm. Well. 

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Deceit: Stop stalling and admit it! What am I still doing here?

Me, knowing full well this is my fourth SvS rewatch of the day: you're a feckin' delight, that's all I got, man.

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Episode Commentary - Losing Motivation and Q&A

I could make a joke here but it would be a niche reference to a song no one knows so we Move On 

infinitesimal 

also did he skip a syllable in that word or 

NO YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH US fghjkl I. Love. Logan. 

Thomas has done this thing two or three times where he actively defends Patton’s excitement to one of his other sides by saying “mm, yeah, ok, you’re gonna let him do it” like, look if you don’t let him do this we’re gonna cycle for 20 minutes, he’s gonna cry, you’re gonna cry, let’s just skip it. Let him play. 

This episode has Virgil really come in to his own with the “did you actually look in a mirror when you put that on” retort

the first three times I’ve watched this I’ve missed the “my dear... daddy” line believe me when I say I nearly spit soda 

“I’m not always the bad guy...” UM? BABE?

“there must be something else” *VIRGIL FEAR* “other than me???” No babe don’t worry he’s not gonna bring up Deceit just yet you’re good

“Logic and I are playing dress up, Anxiety’s making us question our existence” So like. Tuesday then? 

Someone explain to me the “How could you do it? I trusted you” and Patton responds “way?” because all I can think is way sounds like Why in a different language or... somethin 

Actually logan yeah you are in a loop where you generate a problem and then solve it this whole series is Thomas generating problems and himself then solving them. Tha’ts life. You’ve graduated Philosopher Class. 

WE GET THE FIRST NAME 

I love the way Logan treats Thomas... Unbearable. A babe. 

“people still love you, don’t worry” “oh, I don’t worry about that”  Press F to pay Suspects 

WHY DID LOGAN AND ROMAN BOTH JUMP ON PATTON TO SAY “DON’T SCREW IT UP” GOD YOU GUYS?? HARSH??

... mental note to read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. 

I love how at this point everyone’s just like yeah Anxiety is a character now he’s just here but when Deceit shows up they’re like oh ho ho .... villain 

The delivery of “I love word association games” makes me think Logan knows exactly what he’s doing and revels in it 

For anyone who just watches Sanders Sides it must’ve been so confusing bc there’s a point where they stop saying like “the person who I will love” and “the right one for me” and just jump headfirst into “I’M NEVER SHOOTING STRAIGHT. I’M ALWAYS GAY” 

Logan says he’s comfortably numb and I say mmmmyikes 

Virgil smiles in the camera and I mmmdie 

Am I... Logan? Am I Logan? Wait, stop the music. Am I Logan you guys? 

“I would make a bunch of videos about conspiracies and cryptids” and I would love you until i DIE

mmmmmm nah I’m calling BS Anxiety is an air.

... Shoot wait I’m projecting cause I’m an air 

OKAY BUT THE WHAT IS AND IS NOT A CHAIR MONOLOGUE... IS A MOOD

“Logan, you understand reality better than the other two” cue me rocking and sobbing 

Thomas with the galaxy brain subverting my ability to lipread 

My favorite bit is when Patton goes like “don’t patronize me, Thomas. ... I’M JUST KIDDING” and I would HATE that if it was anyone but Patton 

OH OH OH the “haha... that’s not what Ships look like” dfghjkl; Best 

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary - Alone on Valentine’s Day

Seasonally Relevant? Check. Emotionally Relevant? ... Let’s just get started. 

Maybe one of my favorite openings... The way he says “I just really like flowers”. And Thomas thinks he can’t be a soft boi? 

Okay... Can we seriously discuss whether Deceit has been in the works for a while? I just... WHY IS THERE SO MANY REFERENCES TO DECEPTION IN THE EARLY VIDEOS. 

Just let Morality flirt with His Boys! 

Listen, I know it’s early in the series... But can character Thomas summon items into the mindspace or....

“That’s not how I work...” THIS! IS ANOTHER ONE OF THE FIRST BIG REVEALS INTO ANXIETY’S CHARACTER! An establishment that if Thomas is in an Anxious mindspace, Anxiety can’t be set aside. It’s also a huge step in Patton’s character. Repression is Patton’s go-to for any negativity. Ignore The Dark Sides. Don’t Think About Remus, if Anxiety is going to be gloomy, he can just leave. 

I love that Roman’s response to “People like bagels” is “What? .... maybe”. It’s like. Three loaves of bread, Roman. Who doesn’t love three loaves of bread. 

Watching Princey flirt is... so difficult... Even acting I can’t make eye contact with sap... I would die. 

PATTON’S LETTER IS SUCH A HUGE MOOD. 

“Nooot talk about me...” I. LOVE. ROMAN. 

Hello Friends It Is Kip’s Conspiracy Corner 

“Dragon Witch”. Dragon = huge lizard. scales. Snakes have scales. A witch is high fantasy, very often an antagonist. Usually, a witch may block a king or a prince from rescuing a maiden. Therefore, A witch is considered enemy to a prince. Dragon Witch is the name for an evil Roman/Deceit fusion. 

The Dragon Witch is the best character in the entire show. Hands down. 

“I don’t even know Spanish” easily one of the best throwaway gags in the series. 

LOGAN AGREES WITH ANXIETY. I LOVE THAT LOGAN DOESN’T GIVE A SINGLE CARE ABOUT WHETHER ANXIETY IS THE “ANTAGONIST” AS LONG AS HE’S CORRECT 

Virgil says “low-stakes platonic love” but I think we all know how seriously he takes friendship.

Virgil really does imply that he loves the others and like. I get it. One of the things that helps my anxiety calm down is feeling like the people I care about understand that it’s hard for me to say things like that sometimes.

Also Everyone glazes over that Logan arguably has a harder time with the concept than Virgil does.  

I think Thomas heard people were shipping Prinxiety and said “I could squash this or I could lean into it and I think we all know which is more fun” and has been wearing an eternal Troll Face since.

[sandersspectrum]

Which Side is Most Likely to Go Dark - Analysis

We’ve all heard the story - The hero, disheartened by his failures or seduced by the wins of the villain, leaves their life of honor and instead joins the morally-corrupt side, leaving behind their friends who must then fight to get them back. It’s not an uncommon plot, and it’s a favorite one of mine to theorize over. So the question is, if Thomas was to decide to take the plot in this direction, which side would he choose? 

When I first started this analysis, I set off with two main suspects. But as I dug deeper, I ran across a unique phenomenon that throws a wrench into pretty much any Sanders Sides analysis... The characters aren’t just characters, they’re representations of experiences and mental states, and therefore their character arcs will tie back into what they represent. As an example, we see a beat in Patton’s story that he holds a morally high standard to those around him, including Thomas, to a level that can be harmful to Thomas’s mental state. This isn’t a beat that I would normally expect to see in a character who is as bright and accepting as Patton normally is, but it is a beat I would expect to see from a character that represents the concept of “morality”, of being a good person and having good values and purity. Therefore, analyzing them the way I would a normal character is doing a disservice to the concept of the show, so I started over, and I found an unlikely angle on this analysis - they’re all likely suspects, but for different reasons. Let me explain. 

Logan - The Characterization Angle 

From the point of view of a character build, Logan is yards beyond any of the others in his natural pull towards The Dark Side. As a core part of his character, Logan rejects the notion of emotion and sentiment, and this leads him to very often being harsh or dismissive towards the other sides’ issues, including Thomas’s. This already gives him a darker tone as a base; he’s willing to ignore important parts of Thomas simply for the Most Efficient Path, and this could even be true from day one. Logan doesn’t need a character arc to convince him to be a dark side - Logic, if too heavily relied upon, could easily have been a dark side from day one. All he needed was Patton to be a little less vocal and just like that he’s the side suppressing the others in the name of Productivity. However, Logan has another, directly contradicting trait that gives makes a dark side twist a possibility: He doesn’t only dismiss others emotions, he dismisses his own. 

In Learning New Things About Ourselves, we see Logan lash out in anger. Roman calls his need to always state “literal” or “figurative” stupid, and Logan screams and throws a wad of paper at him. The other sides seem slightly concerned, but Logan himself seems taken completely aback, as if the reaction was so far out of the realm of possibility that he wouldn’t have considered himself capable of it until he did it, which very much reflects what we see from Logan throughout the series. He’s consistently denying that he experiences any emotion, saying that he is “fearless, therefore powerful” in Phases and flat out that he “doesn’t feel anything” in Selflessness vs. Selfishness. However, both of these occurrences are pointed up in universe, first with skepticism from Thomas and then with patronizing reassurance from Deceit, to be untrue. This could foreshadow a huge twist in Logan’s character, one where Deceit reveals to Logan that he’s been lying to himself this whole time and Logan is, in fact, suppressing a lot of Thomas’s “negative” reactions by claiming that they’re irrational. In much a similar way to Remus, however, ignoring Anger doesn’t make it go away, and it’s possible that in devastation that logic can’t get rid of these irrational feelings, Logan becomes consumed by these emotions and turns evil in that manner. Instead of being the voice of reason for the group, he becomes aggressive and emotional, forcing the other sides to be the level-headed ones for once and encouraging him to stop trying to paint anger as a Bad Thing that only Illogical People experience and instead accepting it as a natural part of human nature, a feeling that All People Have and there are Healthy, Logical ways to deal with it. Of course, this could also be something that is explored through the side that contrasts Logan - Anger would certainly be a good fit for the color Orange, don’t you think? 

As it stands, Logan is probably the most likely side to go dark from just Character Arcs alone. However, he’s not the side who is most likely to go dark from a storytelling perspective. 

Roman - The Story Angle 

At the core of who Roman is, he is a Fairytale Hero. He almost has his own world he lives in where he’s a prince and his brother is an evil duke, he fights Dragon Witches and has a Sworn Duty to one day raise Thomas up to the status he deserves in this world. And this fact makes the concept that if Roman were to turn dark it would be almost Cinematic in nature so, so sweet. Unlike Logan, Roman’s fall from grace would be just that - a fall. Instead of being shown the darkness in him all along, Roman would have to be broken to be pulled to the dark side. Deceit would finally have to wear him down, convince him that being Honest and Honorable isn’t how the world works, and that no one has ever become famous by being honest. It would be one of the hardest falls for the character themselves to handle as well. Roman’s personality has always been easily wrapped up in the fact that he’s idealistic. He lives in a world of Heroes and Villains, where people are Good and Evil, and while Deceit is a master of exploiting this weakness by twisting words and stringing Roman along on lines of compliments and subtle jabs, Patton is also very good at using this to keep Roman on the straight and narrow. It would take a pretty big setback for Roman to lose his faith. But... They’re certainly not moving away from that direction in the story, are they? 

Let’s look at some of Roman’s story beats so far, shall we? Firstly, his pride is wounded by messing up during an audition to the point of not being able to show his face in a video. Secondly, the side that represents what he considers “the one big thing that gets in the way” of his job is suddenly starting to be listened to, heeded, worked with. And while that’s a good thing, and Virgil stops being a massive stumbling block and instead just a voice of caution, it certainly can’t help Roman’s pride much. Thirdly, Roman is consistently shut down and berated for his desire to rekindle an old romance of Thomas’s, then soon after he’s knocked down by Logan calling him delusional and unrealistic, then THE NEXT EPISODE Logan gets recognition for a passion that Roman himself shares, and then two episodes after that Roman gives up on the biggest opportunity that Character Thomas has ever received and then spends the next episode out cold while his evil twin corrupts the very idea of creativity for Thomas. That’s... A lot, you guys. You can’t ignore that out of all the characters, Roman probably takes the roughest plot beats and throughout all of it he’s played for an upbeat, idealistic dreamer. But dreamers and hopers tend to be fragile, and I can’t imagine that Roman can take too much more of this until he cracks. And like I said, the character arc would be almost cinematic. Thomas’s creativity, the side that controls his livelihood and his passions and his drive, finally breaks under the pressure and gives up his naive and idealistic worldview in order to side with Deceit, saying that the only way Thomas will ever succeed is by sacrificing being “a good person” in order to accomplish. Maybe Thomas even goes in for this for a bit, and it works, but he finds that he hates life at the top if it means that he has to shut his empathy and hope down and become distrusting of everyone and deceitful. 

So now we’ve covered the two sides that I started this analysis for... But what about Patton and Virgil? What about that Conceptual Factor I mentioned earlier? Well. 

Patton and Virgil - The Concept Angle 

Sanders Sides is a story about emotions, about understanding aspects of personalities. These aspects themselves can’t be treated like normal characters, because they’re not really people. They’re representations of metaphysical ideas, and that brings its own ideas to consider, the first idea being that what Patton and Virgil represent would both be served well by being represented in a dark light. 

If you’ve been in the fandom for more than about a month, you’ve likely heard the phrase “unsympathetic Patton”. This is a headcanon/AU that centers around Patton being manipulative and controlling, although it can be extended much further than the story itself shows, what I found interesting about this view on Patton is that it’s actually a legitimate criticism of Patton as a character and even for what his basis is - Morality. You see, from almost the start of the series we see Patton holding Thomas to a high standard and throughout we see it continually damage Thomas. Heck, we even got in-universe confirmation through Remus that Patton freaks out whenever Thomas so much as considers something that Patton considers “morally unacceptable” that he’s willing to ignore and shut off entire sides of Thomas he doesn’t wish to acknowledge. This could be indicative that they’re planning on taking Patton’s character in a bit more of a darker direction, in fact one thing I’ve found interesting is that the other sides seem to be able to forcefully influence the others when they grow too strong such as Deceit keeping their mouths shut or Anxiety driving them to panic in his room, and we see Patton himself use this power on Roman a few times via stern glance that makes Roman immediately walk back whatever morally grey suggestion he makes. In the narrative Patton’s intentions are good, he wants Thomas to be A Good Person, but the lesson that viewing your understanding of morality as hard and fast rules and any deviation from it automatically makes you Bad can be severely damaging. It’s a lesson that isn’t represented much in fiction and I honestly think Patton could be a good conduit for exploring that.

However... there is a huge negative that I feel necessary to address with that analysis and it’s that turning Patton, even temporarily, into a dark side would be a massive base breaker. A Base Breaker is a character or an event that is so controversial to an established fanbase that it ends up driving away some of the fans, and I honestly believe that this would break the base of the Sanders Sides fandom. See, the fandom is made up of a decently diverse spread of personalities and the idea of Unsympathetic Patton is an established AU, but a good amount of Fanders consider Patton to be a character they can relate to or admire. He represents something warm and friendly, a father figure from day one who accepts Anxiety and encourages the sides to fight for what’s right and I honestly believe that taking him in a direction that is darker would corrupt that concept for a lot of fans and it would be a controversial move that would be hard to accept. I think that the best way to handle this story arc would be to keep it as a B-side arc, where it’s developed quietly through episodes like Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts where other sides take center stage and Patton merely acknowledges and learns from being too strict instead of turning him into the center of an arc and causing him to go Full Dark Side even if it is an important lesson. 

Virgil’s a similar case - as a character, Virgil has already been redeemed once and it would make sense to keep his character as a reactionary character where he reacts to Deceit turning up and he interacts with the light sides based on his experiences as a dark side like he has been. However, Virgil represents Anxiety, and it would be a similarly important lesson to get across that recovery from anything, be it anxiety or depression or intrusive thoughts, isn’t a straight line. Accepting that you have anxiety isn’t always the end-all-be-all, and situations can catapult you right back into a state where anxiety might be working against you again and you need to deal with those issues. 

This has the downside of the fact that it’s hard to have the same antagonist twice. It’s hard to redeem a character and have them relapse without making the audience tired and feel cheated. There’s some pretty decent groundwork laid out for it, such as the fact that Virgil was much more laid back as an antagonist and seems much more out of his element when he’s with the light sides as well as the others refusing to say the word “paranoid” as if Virgil has some sort of symbolic “final form” dark side, however much like Patton I’m not so sure that this is the direction Thomas and Friends will take this series, although less because it would be a controversial move and more that it would just be a little bit harder to pull off from a storytelling perspective than, say, Roman. 

Your TL;DR is that all the sides hav e a possibility to go dark, although my personal favorite would be finally seeing Roman break and turn evil. Of course, it’s entirely possible that none of the sides will “go dark”, after all we have a perfectly presentable sympathetic antagonist in Deceit and there’s still the possibility of one or more sides cropping up in the future, this is simply just a fun analysis about some possible directions the series could take. However, if you can think of any more fun reasons the sides might go dark, leave them in the notes or send me an ask! For now, take it easy, fanders, see you next time! ^_^ 

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary: I’m in a Disney Show and The Mind vs. The Heart

Another two parter because let’s face it, I probably don’t have much in the way of a Storytime. 

Patton says “it’s okay to express your feelings”... About a good feeling. Babe.

PATTON x PIZZA 2020 

Thomas seems very... i’m just gonna say it, annoyed with the sides in this video. He just wants to make a vlog and they’re not even teaching him anything, they’re just here to comment. I love. 

fghjkl; VIRGE COMIN THRU WITH THE INSPIRATIONAL ENDING 

see. Four comments. Movin’ on 

Cat Onesie Boiiis 

Is this... the first time we hear Logan referred to as “Logic”? We’ve heard “intellectual side”, “Logical side”, and even “Teacher” once I think... But is this the first appearance of Logic as a character name? 

 “You two kind of work against each other” and it was in that moment that the winds blew down from the mountain and the trees stirred to life and a thousand fanders whispered at once... I Ship It. 

What, Thomas has enough shirts to have a closet? 

These videos are SO SHORT and that’s fine with how simple the problems are at this point but imagine if we had a few more minutes of just like. Morality insisting he was right vs Logic insisting no, Thomas getting bogged down by feelings is wrong. 

Boy, Logan hates getting told he’s wrong huh. He just really hates it. Even when it comes from Thomas. i know Princey gets a lot of flak for being insecure and feeling like he’s not listened to but geez Logan falls into that hard. It’s how Deceit controls him, it’s his major breaking point to lash out at Princey and Morality, he just can’t stand being ignored, contradicted, or minimized. 

We really stan Logicality in this house huh. 

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Commentary - Dark Side of Disney

I’ve sat down to write this commentary three separate times and I keep getting swept up in how much I love My Boys so. 

Why do I feel like this is the episode where Thomas decided there was going to be a plot to Sanders Sides? I don’t know, man, this one just feels a little bit... like there’s a story being explored here. New Year of Lying To Myself followed that a bit but I feel like this is the one where it really... starts rolling. 

is Anxiety a Disney fan because Thomas uses media as a distraction when he’s feeling anxious, therefore sometimes Anxiety feels soothed by Disney? I mean, from personal experiences, Coping Mechanisms can sometimes become addictive due to the good feeling of Not Thinking About Bad Things Anymore... 

Anxiety bringing up the Bad Messages Disney can send is viewed as an antagonist move by Princey but it’s actually very In-Line with the character: He sees unintentional messages and wants to make sure Thomas is aware of them instead of lying to himself and making this other world out to be perfect, a world that doesn’t exist and Anxiety doesn’t want Thomas thinking it exists as the real world’s harshness could hurt him. 

Thomas is fascinated by Anxiety’s proposal. Thomas is a thinker, he’s a learner. He wants to know more about the world, he wants to be aware of the messages. Anxiety wouldn’t be so strong if he didn’t. 

For a lot of these, although some would say needlessly edgy, Anxiety’s points aren’t wrong. And some people would say Roman’s views are childish, idealistic, and unrealistic. And that’s not wrong either.

ANXIETY SAID HUFFLEPUFFS HAVE RIGHTS 

Thomas is the perfect main character. We find this later reflected in a few of his Remus interactions, but like... even when presented with an “antagonist” his first reaction is “ehhh... what if they could be good”. When presented with Deceit, it’s “Let’s hear him out.” Here, he’s taken Anxiety and he’s said “ooh, no, tell me what you think!” 

THOMAS EATING POPCORN WHILE PRINXIETY ARGUES... I LOVE... 

Princey and Anxiety actually find a common ground here: Princey sasses Disney movies to show his love while Anxiety shows his love by overthinking them. This is actually a really common issue I run into with people. “If you love things so much, why do you always overthink them?”. If I didn’t love them, I wouldn’t be interested enough to find problems with it. I engage with it by thinking about it, by theorizing, and by making jokes. The two sides of Thomas seem to engage in much the same way - Enjoyment to the level of engagement. And I love that. 

“I never said Princey was wrong”. ANXIETY. ISN’T HERE. TO NEEDLESSLY ANTAGONIZE. He can be a little too pushy, but it’s mostly because he doesn’t feel listened to. This right here is the groundwork for Virgil’s character. The times he yells and fights is when he feels silenced. When he feels like he needs the thunder to be heard. 10/10 would LOVE again. 

[sandersspectrum]

There was no in-between for him. It was either all or nothing. He wanted everything but settled for nothing.

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Comments: Taking on Anxiety and A New Year of Lying to Myself

 So I’m doing a Dual one because I feel like I don’t have enough to say about Taking on Anxiety... SO HERE WE GO 

The best part of this bit is he probably did say fork 

Anxiety kicking in as he realizes he actually feels relaxed is so accurate 

VIRGIL IS SUCH A SASSY BAD BOY IN THE FIRST FEW EPISODES WE S T A N 

“There has got to be some way out of it” AND THEN THERE’S NOT. The resolution for the Anxiety Arc isn’t getting out of it. It’s working with it. God I just love this series so much. 

There’s really not a whole lot of reason for Roman to show up. But y’know... love me some good Prinxiety 

WAIT VIRGIL INVENTED THE PRINCEY NICKNAME Y’ALL HE’S THE FIRST ONE TO CALL HIM THAT 

All of these steps are good mechanisms to help calm down but they don’t get rid of Virgil, and if Virgil truly has important things to say, he needs to be listened to - that’s what I love about this character. He’s not a face value antagonist. 

“You are thoughts I create, questions I ask, fears I have, nothing more”. But nothing less either. Sometimes thoughts like Roman’s can be important, Questions like Logan’s can help deal with the world, fears are emotions that can tell you more like Patton’s. 

Honestly, I do believe Virgil acted antagonistically at first. He really was trying to make Thomas more riled up. Similarly to Remus, he started out as just A Side Of Thomas - a protector, like Remus was a creator. But Thomas’s reaction to Remus turned him into an antagonist, into a Forbidden side, and Thomas’s fears became too loud and hard to deal with. So at his genesis, Anxiety is an antagonist. He does want to protect Thomas, but he also is overactive and hard to control. Working with him accomplishes way more to helping Thomas than fighting him, but that’s a discovery Thomas has to make himself.

Baby Logan is so possessive of Thomas. Like, yeah, he’s insecure now, but early on he just really wants Thomas to acknowledge him. 

The way Patton sets up “should we dust the stove for prints” implies it’s a dad joke, but Roman wasn’t there yet, confirming that Patton summoned Roman just to make a dumb joke to annoy Logan. A+

“I get what you two are saying, and I do care about that” lies lies lies lies liiiesss 

Patton and Logan both agree with Virgil’s point that Thomas had strayed from the path before, but Roman insists Thomas would stay true - Roman already has an initial deeper connection with deception than the other two. 

Virgil actually isn’t doing Deceit’s job for him - He’s not convincing Thomas to lie to himself. Instead he’s trying to point up that Thomas is lying to himself, kind of already establishing that Virgil dislikes deception because it makes him feel like Thomas is A Bad Person. However, to Deceit’s benefit, the end result isn’t Thomas acknowledging he lies to himself, it’s him resolving to do better and work hard and be kind to himself when he stumbles. He doesn’t acknowledge that he lies to himself, because to do so would reveal Deceit as a side.

LISTEN I get that I’m an anxious person but a lot of Virgil’s contributions are logical to me. “Your year can’t be that sublime” it can’t. Life doesn’t work that way. He can aspire to do these small things but he will probably mess up at some point. What’s important is getting back up when he does and not letting it stumble him - a point Virgil doesn’t make but is only a hop away from it. Virgil Can Be a logical source of realism. He just needs to be filtered. 

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Comments: WAY TOO ADULT

Heyy papa’s in the house 

I love how the fact that Thomas has like, seven shirts is a recurring theme in everything he makes. We stan a realistic king. 

Hey-o, stage boys get all the good lung capacity and breath control 

Gender roles get screwed in the Sanders household the men do the cooking 

OK but legitimate question is Thomas the youngest orrrr

As someone raised with four sisters and two brothers what is it even like to only have brothers like I can’t even imagine. Also only having four kids in total. 

I love how in the second video like, no one summons him, no one even acknowledges the last video, Patton just like. Shows up like “haha you thought you could use a character once, huh Thomas? You’re a fool.”

“Well think of me as your sense of morality just really firin back at you with a vengance today” UNDERRATED PATTON LINES FOR 200 ALEX 

The stinger for the word “adult” just... has Virgil written all over it. 

Gahhh hearing them point up that they look the same in universe is so weird because I SWEAR they all look different. Just... the personality... changes so much of the perception of the face... 

“Can you handle disposing bugs, spiders, or other creatures you find in your house” um, Can you, Patton?? 

Look. It’s a bit... 

Me, telling myself not to read into things: It’s just a bit Kip let it go 

... 

THOMAS’S MORALITY DOESN’T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD ADULTERY BECAUSE THOMAS CONSIDERS CHEATING TO BE SO BAD THAT HIS MORAL SIDE WON’T ACKNOWLEDGE IT 

ahem 

ThomasxStove is life

Sometimes I legitimately forget that you can call to order a pizza. The internet is such a gift.

This episode is only FOUR MINUTES LONG and I have said NOTHING GOOD 

Ummm... nnnn.... hnnnnnn.... 

Some people have pointed up that Patton is a lot more mature in this episode as compared to later. It’s my theory that it’s because Virgil is influencing both Thomas and Patton, feeding off of Thomas’s anxiety towards a Big Family Event but also his inability to take care of himself as an adult, leading him to question whether or not he’s “mature”. By kicking in and being a lot more level and intense, Morality calms Virgil and Thomas down by encouraging him to take baby steps to grow instead of thinking too far ahead in the “big picture”.

Whew. Saved it. 

[sandersspectrum]

That’s the king. Treat him nice (insp.)

[sandersspectrum]

Episode Comments - My True Identity

So since this one is an early one, there’s likely not a lot of story involved, but there’s still some really fun and cute stuff so let’s get into it! 

The first time I watched this episode with my roommate I did the alarm noise before we started and she got confused, and then the episode started and she just looks at me and goes “... you watch this too much”

I feel like Patton was a lot more Pizza-Oriented early on. Like. Just sayin’... PizzaxPatton 2020 

I FREAKIN HATE HOW THIS VIDEO CAME OUT IN 2016 THAT’S FOUR YEARS YOU GUYS. FOUR. YEARS. OF SANDERS SIDES. 

“I think we should all go on this adventure together” feels equivalent to, like, Into The Spiderverse saying “anyone could’ve been behind the mask” in encouraging Spidersonas. I feel like the concept of people being able to “explore” the sides of themselves is actually a really cool idea and I personally love seeing people’s Side OCs, and it’s actually a pretty cool tribute to the intentions of the original series. 

“there’s no class here” “yes there is” is a fun off-hand joke but really it’s super cool because Logan really does treat Thomas like a teacher sometimes - He considers himself to have valuable knowledge and wants to be taken seriously. We’re not his class, Thomas is.

I feel like if the series was to be developed further before shooting, Patton wouldn’t have been Thomas’s Morality but would’ve just been neatly wrapped up as his emotions or his heart and while that’s great I feel like it would do a huge disservice to Patton as a character - A lot of what makes him complex is that he’s Thomas’s sense of right and wrong, and a person’s sense of right and wrong can be hugely subjective and sometimes even overbearing and I love that they start out the sunshine character with such a complex character flaw from step one. 

“I don’t even know if I know me” DAY ONE Thomas reveals a huge part of his character for these videos: literally this entire series is built around someone finding out more about themselves. Later we discover through Deceit that he’s been lying to himself about parts, we discover through anxiety that parts can be changed and accepted, we find out through Remus that parts can be rejected and silenced and lash out... But through all this we’re reminded that people never stop growing and finding out more. It’s not a bad thing that Thomas doesn’t know who he really is, it’s a human thing. 

Logan lists three things that stop him from getting in the way of romance: “Tend to overthink things” to correlate that Patton represents Thomas’s want to be Good and Perfect and will dig himself into circular thinking about what Good truly is, “Rule out possibilities with Logic” to his own habit of analyzing everything, even emotion, and “dream up obstacles with each new connection you make” to Roman’s want to get lost in fantasy worlds, sometimes creating problems that aren’t there because he can’t stop creating for a second. 

“And that’s when the anxiety kicks in” Shout out to ya boi 

So I know he didn’t do this intentionally but Patton says “no one’s perfect” and Thomas quickly says “including me”, which is echoed later when Patton in the courtroom says “No one’s perfect... EXCEPT FOR THOMAS!”. It’s a key factor of Patton’s personality that he wants to believe Thomas is good and refuses to acknowledge anything to the contrary, setting an impossible standard for Thomas. Cool reflection even from the first episode that he’s not the one to point up Thomas’s flaws.

Logan is objectively the most antagonistic of the light sides. Yeah, Patton holds Thomas to a higher standard and Roman is easily manipulated but Logan only cares about fact, or at the very least likes to believe he does. That’s fine but it lends itself to being harsh to the other sides and Thomas, often putting no buffer between Thomas’s emotions and the truth. 

“Wouldn’t wanna be our own villain would we” MY THEORY BRAIN HEARS THIS AND GOES OOP 

ROMAN’S. BIGGEST. FEAR. IS. REJECTION. Literally he’s so naive and trusting because he fears getting rejected so much and he’s always trying to impress the other sides and oh my god you guys I’m about to cry 

“NOPE WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT FEARS” shoutout to ya boi Pt. 2

“I would love to figure out ways to help the environment!” Hoo boy I really feel for Thomas wanting to be in Environmental Science and living in Florida like. The environment’s bad everywhere but FLORIDA?? That’s gotta be depressing

Patton: We have the same glasses! Fanders everywhere: mmmm but do’ya tho cause I really think yours are round and Logan’s are square. 

There’s this concept Thomas likes to put into his videos and I don’t really have anything deep to say about it, it’s just nice, and it’s the concept that making silly, fun things is a contribution to the greater good. Not everything has to be a twenty-five page thinkpiece on the state of foreign affairs. Those things are good and they have their place, but just... creating a lighthearted, fun, upbeat mood-lifter has it’s place too. Sometimes, anxious people will overcompensate with making everything Too Serious because they’re worried they’re not Doing Enough to justify their presence. But sometimes, just making someone smile is a significant contribution. 

“Who may be your love, or do you want love at all?” ROMAN SANDERS SAID AROMANTIC RIGHTS AND HE’S THE ONLY PERSON I RESPECT NOW I CANNOT BELIEVE 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.... one of the sides should be named Tony ok thanks bai 

“Talking to myself so much is a little weird” hey, hey thomas. Hey. Thom. Guess what. No, just guess what you’re still doing four years later. No, guess.