shakes you. YOU DON'T GET IT GUYS!!! working through intrusive thoughts is one of the best sasi episodes for how much it reveals about logan and remus and yes i am biased to intrulogical but there is!!!! a reason!!!!
obviously beforehand we just acknowledged remus as one of the people logan debated against throughout the series but no THIS time we have to acknowledge how they're two sides of the same coin!! they r the same kind of character!! there's an implied deeper narrative connection between these two by how much remus KNOWS about logan's vulnerabilities and actively pushes his buttons more than any other side does to get him to snap!!!
to explain, one of the reasons this episode is so important is because we gain the opportunity to learn more about remus as a character. in dwit, we're just introduced to his personality— gruesome, random LOL humor, a bother. but what wtit establishes is how he perceives being viewed as a bother AND how his "random LOL" personality is actually more deliberate than what we thought it is.
one— remus is bothered by being ignored. "you're going to pretend i don't exist so i'm gonna pretend you don't exist" is the BIGGEST evidence of that, coupled with the fact that this sentence exactly mirrors what apparition!nico said to thomas. in fact, the fact that these two match completely proves that what remus is projecting onto thomas through nico isn't just thomas' insecurities but some of remus' as well. this is my first talking point on why i think remus and logan are different sides of the same coin. they are suppressed!!! they are LITERALLY fighting for thomas' attention in the episode.
and they both lose. holy shit guys. they r literally the sides thomas hate the most and they literally both lose and thomas doesn't listen to them and!!! ARE YOU HEARING ME THEY R NARRATIVE MIRRORS!!!!!
and second— i'd love to add that remus is proven to be extremely deliberate. people like to write remus as someone "who does anything he wants for no reason" but that's not the entire story. think of it this way: remus HAS left-field goals and aspirations, but he is extremely committed to fulfilling them, which makes him deliberate. his entire thing in wtit is to bother thomas as much as possible, and he stays COMMITTED to that. he has plans and he thinks and he's smarter than what most people believe. why do you think he had a notepad w all his plans written on it????
again, he IS a mirror to logan, not only in methodology but end goals??? like do you ever wonder what role remus serves as a side. and i mean obviously he's intrusive thoughts and we all hate intrusive thoughts, but in essence, each side believes they are benefiting thomas whether you agree with their methods or not. remus imposes his ideas onto thomas because he believes them to be beneficial. in this situation where thomas is at his lowest, remus actually serves an interesting role of being thomas' alarm clock.
what do i mean by that? what i mean is, so much of the series shows the sides seemingly finding a perfect solution for each predicament they go through. but in reality, thomas going through issues by himself is SUPER unhealthy and unrealistic. remus serves as a reality checker to thomas. the more intrusive thoughts thomas receives in uncontrollable amounts, the more thomas would realize that hey, maybe i SHOULD go see a therapist for my problems.
AGAIN, ANOTHER MIRROR TO LOGAN BC I CAN'T GET ENOUGH. logan is the one who imposes the alarms in wtit to remind thomas to do certain chores. these two are basically cues for thomas to actually RESPOND to his mental health issues, but logan is more solution-based while remus is more emotion-based.
AND THEY R WHAT, STILL NOT LISTENED TO! but the important thing to realize is that, w so many implications about them being mirrors, something is Bound to happen, specifically to logan, that would eventually reach thomas and slap him into reality. remus and logan share the same goal, after all— to be listened to and for thomas to recognize his mental health issues. when remus says "gee logan now you're speaking my language" after logan got mad at him, remus is saying "now you understand why i use emotion as a means of getting other people's attention (and i hope you know who to use that against next time)" AND THAT MAKES ME INSANE. REMUS AND LOGAN R INSANE. they r scary powerful as a tandem and may change the course of thomas' life in the future and PLEASE SEE MY VISION Y'ALL THEY R MIRRORS
Reading fics where a side (or any character in any fandom) kissing another side in surprise makes me cringe so bad. I dont care if the other side just confessed their love thats so gross.
IT HAS NOT STARTED BUT VOTE FOR LOGAN SANDERS IN THE @anti-canon-trans-showdown !!!!
SHE IS TRANSFEM, JUST LOOK AT MY URL. SHE TOLD ME HERSELF!!!!! (AND BLACK, TRUST ME)
[ID: a digital drawing of Logan Sanders holding the transfeminine pride flag. She is black with brown curly hair tied back into a ponytail and cirle-rimmed purple glasses. She is looking down and smiling softly. Next to her is black text that says "VOTE 4 LOGAN SANDERS" with an arrow pointing at her. /end ID]
you know what will always haunt me? the fact that a good portion of the sasi fandom reduces logan into a one-dimensional, stereotypical nerd who Just suppresses his emotions and needs to be listened to. like, this guy has so much depth that goes unsaid. what about the songs in his spotify playlist showing how he feels trapped by societal expectations, which made him so pragmatic? what about the fact that he could easily adapt to the wants of the other sides because appreciates them, but doesn't voice that out because of how detached he is from his humanity? what about the fact that he micromanages because he hardened himself into working that way due to thomas' schooling? what about his star motifs, about how the song in wtit implied that thomas was earth, and how logan wants to both control and free himself from the responsibilities of micromanaging thomas' life— to see the stars? besties there's so much that goes on w this man and when i'm telling you his arc is gonna be Packed it is going to be Packed
Thomas calling Janus a capitalist. For your viewing UNpleasure.
[Video description: The screen shows a powerpoint presentation of Thomas in his "Trying Too Hard" music video (specifically the 'character' that's supposed to represent Janus Sanders) with text on the bottom that reads, "Projection of Success." In the corner is a facecam of Thomas and Quil.
Transcript:
Thomas: So like, exactly. So. We compr(cut off) yeah, exactly, Ashley. Janus is a capitalist! (Laughing)
Quil: for sure!
Thomas: um, and Jan- and Janus is- (claps)
Quil: I feel like Janus is into NFTs, unfortunately.
How Thomas Contributed To The Unsafe Feelings Many POC have in this fandom
I’ve gotten a couple of asks about this so I’m going to go ahead and answer this.
Here’s what happened with Roman and b.l/m and how while a lot of this was fandom, Thomas contributed in a way that made this fandom not safe for POC.
So back during the hight of the b.l/m protests (so early summer) someone, forgive me for not knowing the name, made art of Roman as a black man. I do not recall this art saying b.l/m and the art was good. Most POC do not mind race bending with sides.
However while there was some people who sent hate to the artist, the artist got some comments from black people not in the fandom. They thought that was art of Thomas Sanders, a white person, as a black man. For the most part once that was explained to them, they backed off.
However, the artist deleted the art after the hate that they did receive. (Which I do not judge.) To show support people started making POC sides art, specifically black Roman art.
You might think “wouldn’t you love that Lissa? You’ve been asking for POC sides content and been talking about how you’d want to see to more of it.” Which is true I do love seeing representation.
However these people were saying “b.l/m” on their posts and on there tags. One, that’s very preformative. Two, that clogs up the b.l/m tag. Three, many people were treating b.l/m like a celebration. Like it’s pride. It’s not. It’s a fight for black people to get basic human rights.
Eventually people started listening (after white people spoke out about it instead of just listening to POC in the first place). And things eventually passed over.
And you may go “yeah that sucks Lissa but what does Thomas have to do with this?”
Well recall earlier when I said people were making black Roman art. Well someone went to Thomas, a white man, on a POC issue. Thomas began reblogging this art to show support. Something that only made more people do this. However when POC called out these posts and said they were bad, Thomas said nothing. Once he realized he was wrong, he just stopped. No apology. No reblogs from black fanders. Nothing. And you may say “maybe he didn’t see it” then explain why he stopped reblogging POC!sides for a while.
While Thomas condoning this stuff helped create an atmosphere where nb (especially white) people thought they could do this, black people in this fandom were actually getting attacked by white people or being told by white people that they know more about what are community needs than we do. And when he was wrong, when he made this mistake, he didn’t say shit. He just stopped while black fanders felt unsafe and continued to feel so.
I’m not saying he intended to do this, but he did, and a huge part of being anti racist is acknowledging your mistakes and apologizing, which he never did.
Edit: it seems some of y’all missed the tags, which fair. But please do not tag this as discourse in any way shape of form. I do not care about your reason, never label people calling out behavior like this as discourse.
Ok. Its been 2 days lets talk abt how thomas participates in anti-blackness, antisemitism, & ableism.
I do have links to almost everything mentioned here, but some of them I do not have. Whether that be because I am expressing an opinion other people have or because I could not find it.
Also, I have something called "aphasia". Some parts of this will be phrased wrong and/or difficult to read. (Look up aphasia I'm not explaining it here.)
If you are a person of colour and want to express your opinion about Thomas being racist, feel free. If you are jewish and want to express your opinion about Thomas being antisemitic, feel free. If you are disabled and want to express your opinion about Thomas being ableist, feel free. I am not trying to speak over anyone. I am a black disabled man talking about things Thomas has done and including my own opinions.
I do not think Thomas does any of this out of actively trying to harm people. This is not me "cancelling" him. This is not me telling you you cannot watch the series or whatever. I am explaining things he has done. You come to your own conclusion about this using critical thinking.
DO NOT TAG THIS POST AS FANDOM DISCOURSE.
Anti-blackness:
(note: if you, as a nonblack person, tries to tell me I am WRONG for saying this is racist and antiblack I will literally explode you with my mind. I am a black man, I know what is and is not antiblack & you cannot tell me what is and isnt. Dear god.)
Logan's vocab cards tend to be appropriation of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English), since it's based around what people assume is "internet slang" (for example, in Accepting Anxirty Part 1, Logan uses the phrase "You good, fam?" which is AAVE).
Another character of Thomas' that appropriates AAVE is Sleep, also referred to as "Remy" by fans, in his vines and shorts. This is because he is supposed to be a flamboyant gay man, but again, a lot white gay men appropriate AAVE from black gay men and queens (for example, "slay" is a term that people say came from queer culture, but it is a term that came from black queer culture).
Thomas made a Tik Tok talking about his roles in musicals. (I do not have this Tik Tok as I... do not have Tik Tok for mental health reasons and the idea of redownloading it is terrifying.) One (or multiple?) roles he talks about are ones of black characters. (I hope I don't have to explain how taking black roles in musicals is racist.)
The entire BLM Roman thing
During the height of the BLM protests back in 2020, a tumblr user (I will not say their user) drew a black Roman holding a trans flag. While this in itself is not racist, black people outside of the fandom (and in the fandom) expressed their discomfort with it. This art was later deleted, however their white mutual ended up creating art of black Roman angrily holding up his fist and it was captioned "I frantically drew this in a fit of rage." This user did not post about BLM before this, and also it's very weird to make a white character black to show your support of real black people being murdered.
Here is the post, along with an explanation of why this is racist by me (@/aleiimm) and my TSS mutual at the time (@/mvnte). Obviously, I do not condone the harrassment of this artist.
This sparked a weird """movement""" within the fandom where white fans, ignoring every black fander trying to explain how this is Racist, drew black roman holding up his fist. And because of this "movement", Thomas Sanders reblogged the original drawing, also ignoring every black fander. He later deleted this, without an apology or even a mention.
Here is a post by @/lamp-calm-sanders which explains it better.
(I do think this is a very big fandom problem, though Thomas contributes to it.)
Antisemitism:
This is specifically in relation to Janus Sanders' character being an antisemitic caricature. I have reblogged posts about this, but due to my awful tagging system, I couldn't find them.
(note: I am not jewish, this is me repeating what I have heard from jewish fans and my jewish friends outside of the fandom.)
I recommend finding actual jewish fans and their posts.
Obviously, making antisemitic caricatures is a lot more than just the traits you give the character. I think it's important to identify what was the original idea. In this case, Thomas meant to make a character based off of the "snake in the tree" from the Bible. I doubt he consciously meant to create an antisemitic caricature.
However, most antisemitism is unconscious. Most bigotry is. Just like how white people can be racist, even if they are actively trying not to— because racism spans over years and years— non-jewish people can be antisemitic unconsciously.
Janus is a greedy, selfish, lying half-snake character. There isn't a way to get around that. These traits on their own wouldn't necessarily be antisemitic, but combined they are.
Ableism:
This will the longest section.
In the ad "The Return of the Jam!", Roman refers to Logan Sanders as "Mr. Infodumper" negatively. (Janus also does this in Thomas' Among Us Patreon stream, if I remember correctly, though it is edited out of the YouTube video.)
As an autistic man, I dislike the use of this negatively, however, not every autistic person feels this way. I know autistic people who do not view this as ableist.
Virgil's crofters is named "Cranic Attack", based on on the word "panic attack". I do not have an anxiety disorder, though many people with anxiety disorders expressed their discomfort with this (and also many people said it was fine. Again. Not a monolith.)
Thomas Sanders does make an apology for this usage here (this link includes my response, @/gothybubby).
In this apology Thomas
one: claims that the term "infodump" is negative, which isn't true. The trait is not negative, but the way it is used by Roman (and Janus) is ableist.
two: claims that it is... the character's fault? "we were narratively depicting Roman to be in the wrong for saying it." Not a single character tells Roman off for this. It is not Roman's fault, he's a fictional character, it is the people AKA THOMAS who wrote the script.
And three: that Logan is going to get "vindication" for this. No one wants Logan to get VINDICATION, we want Roman to NOT be ableist.
Here is a response by now deleted user, @/suckerssides, and @/beeceit.
Dissociative Identity Disorder & systems
I do not have DID, this is, again, me repeating systems both in and out of the fandom. Also, again, lots of systems have different opinions about whether or not Sanders Sides is ableist towards systems.
I have a friend with DID who does not have Tumblr and is not in the fandom anymore who wants me to talk about this (this is also expressed in the tags of my reblog of my response to Thomas' apology).
I also have reblogged posts about this, but I couldn't find the ones I have reblogged that criticise this.
I recommend finding actual systems and their posts.
Sanders Sides closely resembles DID. Thomas talks about this in his video "Sanders Sides - BEHIND THE SCENES QNA" where he and Joan explains that they are not trying to represent DID, but a man and his singular (one) personality. Joan on their Tumblr made a post where they also talk about this (unable to find it, since their blog is deleted) and explained that they are trying to avoid using terms related to DID.
I know, for a fact, that thomas was going to make a video with systems to discuss DID and make sure to disconnect Sanders Sides from DID. This video was, obviously, never made. (I saw this being discussed in a discord by a system who was asked by Thomas to be in the video, but I am not a part of the discord anymore and I do not have this message.)
Still, it still resembles a system. People have express their discomfort with the sides having names for that reason. People have also expressed their discomfort with Thomas talking about the sides as if they are "real people" (unsure how to phrase this) since it makes it feel more like the sides being alters. For example, when Thomas made a tweet/instagram story where he stated "Logan has a new favourite book."
Here is a Youtube Video by The Entropy System that talks about Sanders Sides and DID
Here is a post by @/kiapet2 and my mutual @/aromanticpatton.
Here is a post by @/sticky7581
Flashing lights tagging
Thomas Sanders sucks as at tagging flashing lights. This is not an accidental, one-time thing. This is continous and has been a thing for years.
I need everyone to know that epilepsy and photosensitivity are serious. Seizures are serious and deadly. I have friends who have had seizures over his videos and I know fans who have bad seizures over his videos. Thomas Sanders and his team know that people have had seizures over his videos.
I have seen people say that he doesn't have to tag flashing and comparing it to trigger warnings. Trigger warnings are a different topic from flash warnings.
Thomas has struggled to tag flashing since 2018. This post by @/cisnesincorbata shows a timeline from 2018 to early 2021 of people sending asks to Thomas about it. I have also sent Thomas asks asking him to tag warnings, along with commenting it on his tweets.
Putting Others First was an episode that a lot of photosensitive people couldn't watch (I also know a lot of autistic people couldn't watch due to the noises and low hearing people couldn't understand Logan's voice). This video took almost a year to get a warning, and even then it is placed in the description, which is NOT a good place for a warning.
Thomas has gotten better at tagging, but this is still an issue that should be talked about. Forgetting is not a valid excuse when people's lives are on the line.
no TL;DR
Writing this post was the most difficult thing ever. If someone else wants to create a TL;DR, feel free, but I am currently out of spoons (look up spoon theory) and my aphasia is kicking my ass.
However, sometimes, things cannot have a TL;DR. Sometimes you have to take the time to read long ass things in order to understand. I acknowledge people have difficulty reading and comprehending things, especially if you are neurodivergent, but a lot of times this can be worked on. I am one of these people.
"Logan is a capitalist" this "Janus is a capitalist" that actually they have tea drinking dates when they complain how our capitalistic society negatively affects Thomas and then kiss with tongue
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