#ts analysis

[fruitwithoutthepits]

sanders sides and eyes

1. on a deleted stream (or at least, people have had trouble locating the dialogue) joan once indicated that janus' red eye was a permanent injury from orange side, but this would be too dark for the show to address. ofc joan isnt a writer on the show anymore so this could very well be scrapped/will never be considered official canon/never addressed in the show but its worth logging

2. if the above is true, isnt it interesting that its the Different eye that gets targeted?

3. in lntao, the paper logan throws hits roman's eye

4. patton and logan notably have eye accessories

5. remus and virgil have their distinct eye makeup

6. ^ why is roman the only side we know of WITHOUT something drawing attention to the eyes??

7. logan's eyes flash orange when he is upset for SOME reason. it is difficult to pin this reason because we don't know the purpose of orange yet, but it obviously corresponds with whatever he represents (ie, !!!IF!!!! orange was justice, the orange flash isnt due to raw anger, its because logan feels as though something isnt fair)

8. virgil's eyeshadow directly corresponds with his -> thomas's feelings. when thomas is upset enough, the other sides can be influenced to express dark eyeshadow WITHOUT KNOWING.

9. this means that virgil doesnt know when his eyeshadow exhibits eustress versus distress. it is a natural chameleonlike marking, in a sense (something something snake reptile chameleon reptile whatever u get what i mean)

10. virgil either had to SEE himself with purple eyeshadow or be TOLD that it happens. given the negative correlation he has with it - evidenced by the new ep saying he gets nervous about when hes less nervous because of the positive nervousness (WEVE ALL SEEN THE SHOW OK) and also evidenced by him deliberately covering it up.

11. virgil artificially enhances his black eyeshadow. he would rather seem to others unhappy and upset than show that he's happy because he views it as a weakness somehow. this is different to other sides pretending that they are "fine" so as not to cause trouble - virgil attempts to circumvent trouble by becoming its embodiment, in a sense

12. somehow subtly working in puppet!virgil's heterochromia... it could have been an aesthetic choice but i CHOOSE to believe it's deeper. something about being partially blinded? in opting to only display one side of oneself? maybe another permanent injury? maybe reminiscent of his status as both "light" and "dark?"

13. logan's eyes flashing orange is... tricky, at least, to classify. i honestly believe that this happens because logan is most easily influenced by orange or is most likely to see eye to eye with him, whether it be because their functions are similar or because logans recent treatment makes him more susceptible to the function that orange serves. EITHER WAY, i think that if ANY of the sides are pushed enough, their eyes can flash. this is based off the reality that virgil being the loudest voice (literally and figuratively) gave the others eyeshadow - this DOES NOT mean it happens to the others on their own, as it doesnt happen again. what it DOES mean is that virgil and his function had the most influence over everyone

14. OK so remember how i said that the sides werent aware of their eyeshadow? what i mean is that first, patton asked roman when he applied eyeshadow, to which roman says that he didnt - a few minutes later, roman says, "hey, patton!!! eyeshadow buddies!!" ie informing patton about it. so, again, virgil had to FIND OUT that he had eyeshadow at all, had to FIND OUT that it changes, and had to FIND A WAY to deal with it because he thought it was a problem. where am i going with this??? I DONT THINK LOGAN KNOWS THAT HIS EYES CHANGE. i think he recognizes that he feels frustrated and acts out of turn, but i dont think he knows what happens. if he does, he has to have been informed, as both remus and janus now have canonically NOTICED and remus went as far as to say something about it

15. i could go on for a while about why remus probably wants orange to be acknowledged BUT instead im going to stay on theme. does remus have eye makeup just to slay or does it serve a purpose?? given the pattern, i'd honestly guess it's indicative of something. i wonder what it would look like if we got the effect of his makeup on all the sides because for whatever reason, remus had the most influence at a certain point

16. its also established in canon that patton cannot see well without his glasses. ergo, they arent just for decoration there. i honestly love that detail because its really important to remember that theyre sides of c!THOMAS and so they share flaws and shortcomings as cthomas' person. in patton's case, he overlooks things, doesnt have all the answers, often cant make clear decisions and struggles with black and white thinking (skmething something patton sanders autistic REAL!!!)

17. wow this really got away from me but just. im a real sucker for consistent motifs and im so so excited for what's next

[bitchnuggettt]

The most interesting thing about Janus and Virgil's vague situationship is that they share similar goals in their functions as sides, and something I like to think about is how their end goal is a shared interest in keeping Thomas safe from both internal and external threats. For so long I've seen the idea passed around in fanon that Virgil represents "fight or flight" but I think there's an even cooler alternative here

I can't picture Virgil running, when adrenaline kicks in HE'S what kicks in, and if that means LITERALLY kicking someone to shit and death then yeah, he's your guy. He literally embodies that one anecdote of a mother gaining the strength to lift a car off her child in her panic.

So, I offer this; Virgil is fight, Janus is flight.

Virgil compels Thomas to deck any bodily threat to him, or pushes him to confront uncomfortable truths.

Janus convinces Thomas to cut his losses when all else fails and physically hightail it away from fights he won't win, forcing him to be non-confrontational and cut social ties that inconvenience him. Avoidance to the max.

In the mean tweets video, Janus iconically gets offended at his bluff being called, because no, he is NOT a fighter, not when he can just sic Virgil or Remus on anything he doesn't care to confront. Even his choice of murder via poison is indirect and hands-off. (Realistically, snake venom would be his literal poison of choice but that's a story for another day)

Together, anxceit makes up the two sides of the 'fight or flight' coin

[loganslowdown4]

You know, coming back to SvS: Redux this year after WIDS, I have some different thoughts…

I'm only now just realizing the importance of Patton's whole argument through the video. What he was saying about spending time and money morally because people don't actually do that on a regular basis. Yes a lot of day to day life is spent on responsibilities: jobs, families, pets, basic care, but for a lot of the rest of the time, leisure time is usually spent selfishly. And this ISN’T said to demonize anyone’s day to day rest time, people NEED this time to recoup, and plan vacations between work/school. As with everything, we must have balance.

But when do people regularly volunteer, donate or pick up trash? Maybe some do this on the regular, that's amazing. Maybe others only have a couple days a year to spend on this kind of thing, that's all okay.

What I'm saying is, Janus’ counter argument plays to cThomas' already fragile mood from Patton’s chastising. CThomas was already feeling bad, questioning if he was a bad person, which made him have enough anxiety that he had intrusive thoughts, and by SvS:Redux, he's actually getting angry. Angry by his decisions to be a 'good' person and not receive any reward for it.

What Patton was saying was NOT what Thomas wanted to hear. He wanted a side of himself to say YES it's ok to be selfish because your mental health deserves it. You deserve it for being so good all the time! And I'm not saying Janus is wrong in the short term, but Roman was right to question him. WHEN is it enough?

When will Thomas actively do good again for the sake of doing good? Janus convinced Patton that it was okay, and Patton relented almost immediately because of his guilt.

I keep thinking about this because I wonder if it’ll be addressed again since WIDS came out. Can cThomas be as selfish as he wants now that he’s decided to try and be with Nico or will that selfishness affect their relationship? Did the decision of going for Nico’s affection in fact tie into his self-care/selfish forward tendencies? Will he learn true balance is actually only being ‘selfish’ some of the time does NOT actually make you a bad person? Things to think about…

[unhinged-jaw]

I rewatched SVSredux and it has been plaguing my thoughts so. Rambles.

Watching Logan vs Deceit Pretending To Be Logan is So fascinating. This is no drag against Logan, but he allows himself to be talked over. Most of his 'Logan Lowdowns' are him making the soft pixel talking sounds. True to his earlier statement he acts detached to the debate, merely adding information (that is largely ignored). He only audibly gets involved when Patton asks for his input, clearly assuming Logan was going to help make his point clearer. Especially since Patton spends the whole episode struggling to convey his point! But that's another topic for another day.

Conversely, Janus As Logan (who I will be referring to as Dlogan for rn) is Very confrontational. First of all, the entire time Dlogan is on screen he is *speaking*. He sort of manhandles the conversation into his hands. Its very important to me though that how Dlogan does it is *different* than how Logan has taken control of the conversation in the past. Dlogan proceeds to *shred* into Patton's logic. Like, genuinely, he is tearing that poor man apart. He points out when Patton is lying and fumbling. He points out the inconsistencies. *He* is the reason Patton ends up freaking the hell out! Patton and his extreme opinion on the whole thing is put directly into the light and it shows every single inconsistency.

The difference between Logan and Dlogan is *genuinely* fascinating. Dlogan is very persistent that he will not be ignored. He shoves himself to the forefront and is very aggressive. But! If you weren't paying attention you really wouldn't notice! You would just think (in Remus words) that he "reached his listening to others limit". But he didn't! Janus has the wheel here!

ALSO there is a moment where Roman goes "I thought you didn't care about this stuff Logan" (Paraphrased) and Dlogan sort of brushes that off. But it is noticed by the other sides that Logan suddenly seems to care more about the debate. Fun call back!

Bonus also, Logan goes from "giving relevant information" to Dlogan pushing the topic of Self Preservation and whether or not Thomas *should* go to those extremes to be morally good.

Genuinely fascinating and fun all around.

[redherringmarket]

It's kind of funny/ ironic that it's quite difficult to create angst about remus, even though his entire existence revolves around being 'intrusive' aka 'unwanted'. Like in his introductory video he's constantly deflecting his negative emotions and embracing the insults the others are hurling at him. I think a part of him wants to be included despite his very being, being labeld as unecessary and morally wrong.

And not to include non-canon content in an analysis, buuut -

In the 5 anniversery video, one of Remus' lines was him 'learning to welcome acceptance and praise' and i unironically think that there is truth to that. There is an artist on tumblr that illustrated remus absolutely refusing to accept that he might carry some positive qualities, because that meant he was always capable of good, but no-one ever gave him the chance to be that. It kind of parallels Roman's need to be the good one.

I find it so facinating how all the dark sides have such deep insights into the difference between 'morally correct' and 'socially acceptable', while the others struggle with absolutism.

Being morally good all the time, being correct all the time, being at peak performance all the time. No wonder they - of all sides - are closest to crashing out.

[taylor-all-intents-and-purposes]

the bait and switch at the end of mastermind is the same as "even in my worst times, you could see the best of me // even in my worst lies, you saw the truth in me"

[thenewromanticspod]

our queer analysis of cruel summer is out now

it’s a QueEeEr Summer! by The New Romantics

Apologies for bad audio! This episode Monster Truck is joined by Mouth Wash, who listened to the first episode, commented on the bad editing

[brunettemermaid]

Dear John is about realizing you’ve been played, it’s about seeing what kind of relationship you could’ve gotten into if you hadn’t took the matches before fire could catch you. 

In the very beggining Taylor sings:  Long were the nights when my days once revolved around you. It’s not clear she was actually with him those nights, it seems more likely like she couldn’t get him out of her mind. It’s not we’re dancing ‘round the kitchen in the refrigerator light, it’s much less descriptive, vague, just like the non-relationship was. It was an illusion, a posibility but never a reality, just think of keeping lines blurry. In fact, she refers to games twice thorough the song: I lived in your chess game and To be played by your dark twisted games. It was all games, she admits having been played. The line which version of you I might get on the phone means she didn’t see him face to face that much. It might suggest they talk over the phone most of the time. It wasn’t serious, not for him clearly, cause she does say: when I loved you, so.

When she says she’s stopped picking up the phone it means she doesn’t want to give him attention anymore. It’s well-known that a player loves attention. And we know he’s a player: All the girls that you’ve run dry have tired lifeless eyes cause you burned them down. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve brings more light into this, cause the thing is, she didn’t get her heart broken like she did in the relationship she talks about in Red: she lost her innocence. She says maybe it’s me and my blind optimism to blame, as she was maybe too naive, not aware of a player’s bad tricks yet. She was too young for that as she recalls if he hadn’t had saved her from boredom she hadn’t had danced with the devil at nineteen. 

She also knows that he, a narcissistic, will never admit doing anything wrong, he got to wash his hands anyway as she sings in WCS. Everyone seemed to have warned her: how I ignored when they said "run as fast as you can" but it’s not until she stops picking the phone when she gets to see the situation in hindsight and realizes there was never really anything but sick games. In WCS she sings I wish you left me wondering cause he saw her the twisted and dark side of men(people, love, whichever term you prefer) In that song she says she lost her faith, exactly she lost innocence, and that’s not something you forgive, that’s something that sounds like this:

God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be The tomb won't close, stained glass windows in my mind I regret you all the time I can't let this go, I fight with you in my sleep The wound won't close, I keep on waiting for a sign I regret you all the timeIf clarity's in death, then why won't this die? Years of tearing down our banners, you and I Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first