i don't have direct proof of it anymore (since they deleted their blog and i didn't save screenshots, but I can ask my friends if they still have them), but when people brought up the very real and important issue about there being flashing and other photo sensitive things in SvS Part 2 and no warning (which is, yknow, a health problem, bc epilepsy and other photosensitive things exist, like migraines), they posted something very dismissive in reply and Immediately reblogged something about "let patton say fuck" to distract everyone. and it was like. instant.
i wish i had the screenshot now to look at it again but god it made me and others angry
[ID: a acreenshot of a tumblr ask and response. The ask reads, "will this upcoming episode be more sensory friendly than pof?" The reponse is by the deactivated user TheJoangleBook and it reads, "Probably? Tbh I don't understand what about the pixel animations was problematic for peoplex so I can't say for sure, but we're not going to be doing pixel animations again anytime soon." /end ID]
Sorry i may be dickriding rn but I don't think Joan reblogged "let Patton say fuck" to distract anyone and was just reposting something 😭 and they said that they didn't know that there was going to be photosensitive stuff in the episode and could only assume there was. And that they don't understand what about it specifically people had a problem with. Idk it seems like the 1000th time Joan is being thrown under the bus for something Thomas should take care of. He's the one uploading the video and should be looking over the shit he's posting, especially if it has something to do with health issues.
Sure! Joan reblogging that was just reblogging it, however, it is an inappropriate time to do so. Imagine talking about something serious with your friend and they go "yeah but i dont really get it" & then go in their phone & post dumb memes. It's the same concept. If you want to put in the time and effort to listen to disabled people you have to actually do that abd make sure they feel heard.
Do I think Joan did it on purpose? I can't say for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that it was an inappropriate time to post that if people are questioning whether or not you are ableist.
Imagine if instead, the viewer asked about a common trigger instead of flashing lights (a concept people tend to understand over the safety of epileptic people). "Will the next episode be knife trigger safe?" "Probably? to be honest, I don't really know what's problematic about knives for people but we won't be including them next time. Anyway, look at this funny cat photo I saw."
It comes off as dismissing. It doesn't come off like you actually care about learning about the trigger or the issues it caused. Of course, this could be considered "nitpicking" Joan's statement, but it's important to be mindful of how we are discussing ableism (& all sorts of bigotry) with disabled people. You may not have meant something with your words, but still hurt the person you spoke to— you not meaning something dpesn't negate the affects of your words.
Joan could've said "I think the next episode will be sensory safe. I am not entirely sure what the issue with the animation was, but I am doing research into it and if anyone wants to provide more context, please do. We will not be doing any more pixel animations and we will make sure that this next video doesn't include flashing lights, or at least are properly tagged." (and then not reblogged a post afterwards)
How you speak is important when it comes down to bigotry. And it may not be important to you, how they respond, but it's important to disabled people to make sure we do not feel ignored. At no point was this a "proper" apology or a "proper" explanation.
Also, Joan was as much part of the team as Thomas was. Joan helped with the videos, the scripts, the sides, the recording, the editing— it was as much Joan's duty to check for "health issues" in the video, as much as it was Thomas'. Simply because you are not the creator of the show, doesn't mean you get a pass in the actions you had a part in. Joan helped in almost every aspect of the show, even if they aren't uploading it they still know the contents of the video and can still point things out. I don't understand what your point is?
The anon who asked me for Q&A questions managed to get me a recording of it!
Unfortunately, after multiple failed attempts, I cannot upload a video of it here because a 6-minute clip is too long for Tumblr to handle. Instead, the transcript will be under the cut.
Speaker: Okay. I got three intense questions for you. I'll try to limit it just to my two most important ones.
Thomas: Gotcha.
Speaker: In your TikTok livestream just this past week, you mentioned collaborating with artists in the future. What specific policies or contracts do you have in place to ensure they are properly paid for their efforts, works, collaborations, etc.?
Thomas: I guess that would come down to what I work out with that specific artist, because there are artists that have been in the business longer than I have. So I'm going to probably just, like, leave it in their hands to, you know, figure out specifically. I honestly want to try and make things a little bit more casual going forward with working with people and making sure that it's in their hands and their voices, you know? Usually that's how I do it. I want to make sure that they're comfortable with anything that I work on, you know, before doing anything like that. You ask them their rates and their whatever. So you're talking about with music specifically?
Speaker: Art, music, anything.
Thomas: Yeah, yeah. So usually it's like you lay out what they're looking for. And I'm usually, I'm going to be honest, I'm a pretty big pushover because I usually don't want to do anything that they're not comfortable with. So they'll usually give me their rate and I'll just be like, yeah, that's good. I'm not a very good negotiator. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. Kind of in the same vein: How do you ensure that young artists aren't lured into potentially unfair contracts simply for the exposure or experience of working with someone with your platform size?
Thomas: I don't know. I mean, I guess you want to make sure that they're comfortable with it. I don't know how else to ensure it other than making sure that they know what is going to be involved. The only time we've ever done that was for MadLibs. We did a MadLibs video. And we basically just made sure that it was going to be a group project where everybody does something to make the video. And then I was like, I want to, you know, give something to them to make sure that they get some finances back to them. And so my producer reached out to them and was like, this is what we can do. Are you comfortable with this? Some people said no. They were like, no, no, no, I don't I don't want to do that. And then the rest said, yes, it was a good time. There were some people that had some questions, follow-ups in regard to that. And then we worked out a little, you know, letter to them to talk through our reasoning for it, and to answer any of the questions that they had. Going forward, I would say I'm just going to make sure that everyone is fully comfortable with everything that we're doing again, because I think you get, you know, you don't want to make things too scary because I can understand that being scary. I think also it's important to know I am very much learning this stuff myself. We are very much a startup company on our own. And I'm learning this stuff as I go. And I appreciate anybody that gives us the time to learn and grow from this, because at the end of the day, all I want to do is make some cool things with cool people that are, like I said, incredibly talented and deserve just as much of a platform as I do making this stuff. And I just want to show off what they do. That's very cool. I hope that answers the question as best as possible. Okay.
Speaker: Can I ask one more?
Thomas: Sure.
Speaker: So this one's a little bit more personal to my experience within the fandom. Do you believe your method of spotlighting fans based on their online activity and engagement creates a competitive or toxic atmosphere within your community?
Thomas: Oh, gosh, if it does, I don't know. I'm not trying to spotlight anybody in particular. People showcase the stuff that they have, and I'm usually trying to showcase anybody that shares art, and it's usually by people who tag me. So if people are being competitive about that stuff, I hope that they aren’t, because I'm just trying to showcase everything that people do. I used to do weekly posts on Fridays, where I would showcase a bunch of fan art from people and tag everybody. And I kind of worked away from it simply because it was taking 3 to 4 hours of my day to find everything, screenshot, tag everybody. And it became a lot. I was stretching myself so thin from that. So usually now I'll post and repost Instagram stories from art that I see or that I'm tagged in, or retweet what I see on Twitter. And over the course of this month, I'm doing the Sanderstober thing where I give little prompts for every day, and if people use the hashtag, then I will retweet or repost the art. And it's just for fun. It's just a good time for fun. But yeah, I hope that answers all of your questions.
Speaker: Thank you so much.
Thomas: Yeah. Of course.
--------------------
Since this post is long enough, I don't want to make it any longer with an analysis. I would love to hear what you all think instead anyways!
A friend of mine was able to talk to Thomas and obtained a much-needed update about the MadLibs incident.
Supposedly, a Discord server had been created for the artists involved in the Madlibs situation, providing a space for all parties to discuss their issues and share their grievances.
Thomas was not directly involved, but Quill was.
The server still exists, allowing artists to reach out again if they wished. He expressed that he took the aftermath very personally and never wanted a situation like that to happen again.
Despite Thomas's claims, I have information from an anonymous yet credible source indicating that the artist stated Thomas never took any action to fix the situation. Until we receive confirmation from the artist that this is what happened, I would approach this information with skepticism.
He also discussed the competition within fandom spaces, admitting that he was unaware it was something he needed to worry about or that he might be indirectly causing it.
He made a somewhat vague comment about knowing that some people had reached out to popular artists for advice on getting noticed by him, which bummed him out. He doesn’t believe competition is necessary and truly thinks all artists should be appreciated within the community.
His perspective on collaborating with artists seems somewhat naïve considering how much he's online.
Not really a question but,,, do you also get overcome by this sadness, this nostalgia everytime you see a ts fanart post or a theory post or even a little one shot and it has thousands of likes and it's like,,, from 2020, or earlier. Idk I just absolutely get reminded of how this fandom used to be, it used to be so active and we used to interact so much and now,,, nothing. Complete silence. Only Mr. Sanders voice yelling "Let's do another incorrect quotes!". I pity myself and the rest of the people who continue to stay in this fandom. As someone has said before me, the sides are stuck in an endless beach episode
I was lucky enough not to be deeply involved in Sanders Sides during the early episodes, but I can understand how frustrating it must be to watch the fandom evolve into what it is today.
Just looking through the comments on those earlier episodes brings a bit of sadness.
Those fans had something to eagerly anticipate.
I recall one episode where Thomas apologized for the wait, and I can’t help but feel envious that it was just a matter of one or two extra weeks back then—not years like it is now. Even when fans had to wait a few months, it was for episodes that truly delivered, like SVS and WTIT.
Now, we’re waiting four years for a 10 to 15-minute video that no one really asked for right before the finale.
Personally, I don’t even think the recent Christmas episode was that bad, and he managed to release that in about two weeks. So, I know it’s possible.
It feels more like he’s choosing not to. It doesn’t help that some fans seem to be giving him the impression that we want incorrect quotes.
let’s go into detail about what’s going on with thomas sanders and brei grace, because i refuse to let him and the community sweep this under the rug:
thomas severely underpaid brei grace for her work on roleslaying with roman
thomas then laid brei off after creating a work environment that was bad enough to make her not want to return
thomas made a post “announcing” that rswr would be on “an indefinite hiatus”. but it was only available on his patreon (im not a patron so i can’t link the post or show a screenshot, but if i find a screenshot i will edit it into this post)
just days later, thomas makes a tweet about his merch sale, and most (if not ALL) his current merch was designed by brei, who will not see a penny in royalties, and this is apparently a regular thing with thomas
finally, an entire week after the patreon “announcement” and brei being laid off, thomas says this on the youtube community page (among other things, but this is what im focusing on):
and brei has to clarify that she was laid off
i want to point out the phrase “brei is currently not part of our team” and how thomas fails to acknowledge that HE is responsible for that. HE laid her off. and like a cowardly snake, he’s hiding behind vague corporate speak because he doesn’t want to admit the truth
unfortunately for him, the truth is out there
i know i sound really serious and dramatic and yall are probably not even taking me seriously and you have your pitchforks at the ready, but guess what? i couldn’t care less. i mean this IS serious, which is why im taking it seriously. but at the end of the day im just informing the community of what i know. what you do with that information is up to you
im not “cancelling” thomas, or trying to start a witch hunt, im just so sick of everyone pretending thomas is a perfect harmless little angel who can do no wrong. cos guess what? he HAS done wrong. he’s done wrong by brei. but everyone is so busy sucking up to him that they don’t seem to care that brei is suffering because of him
and this isn’t the first time he’s done wrong by an artist, either (let’s never forget the mad libs incident)
to summarize: thomas doesn’t make it a habit of properly compensating the artists he hires, he makes their experiences a living hell, and then he lies through his teeth about it
like i said, do with this information what you will, but i don’t know how thomas sleeps at night
(oh, and if you plan on harassing me over this post, im literally just gonna block you lmao don’t waste your energy)
hope everyone has a nice weekend (except for thomas tbh)
how are there still people in this fandom waiting and excited for the finale. how have you not been beaten down by empty promises after empty promises, bait and switch after bait and switch. isn't it destroying you a little more each time? doesn't it hurt? how on earth have you found the optimism and patience to keep waiting like a puppy at the door for an owner that may or may not even be coming home?
this. reads exactly like a real sanders sides episode. like the echo of deceit going what, logan correcting roman and then ROMAN going “WHAT” just kills me
logan’s fact statement? exactly something he would say wow.
you didn’t just write thomas saying that sounds like a lie, you wrote “ah, that sounds like a lie” which is EXACTLY HOW HE WOULD SAY THAT
go to settings > to the right, under "Blogs," pick the blog you want to change the settings of > scroll down to visibility settings > turn on "Prevent third-party sharing for [blog url]" > do this for each individual blog you have
remembering the time i made an innocuous comment when tipping was introduced, about how tumblr would never be monetizeable, and photoshatt himself came into my (at the time 17yo) DMs and going "i hope you dont mean that :( that really hurts to hear you say :( you know i really need to find a way to make this site profitable :(" like bro not my fucking job. stop fishing for financial advice
romaincrisis
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