#tss critical

[just-a-little-anxious]

the way i went through the five stages of grief with sanders sides is kind of insane. Like:

Denial: "I'm sure we'll get the episode soon!"

Anger: "WHY. SO. MANY. ADS."

Bargaining: "As a fandom, we have been pressuring Thomas a lot. He should take his time and it'll be alright. I can wait."

Depression: "We're never gonna get that finale, are we?"

Acceptance: "I'm gonna stop waiting and move to a different fandom."

[phantominzie]

Ranting about TSS

I would like to start by saying, yes, I am fully aware I don't post fandom rants very often (ESPECIALLY SASI). However, I've been feeling rather upset over the fandom and Thomas.

I would also like to mention that in no way is this attacking Thomas or any of his writers, hell, not even the fandom itself. I just need to let all of this out.

You're always totally free to skip over this, I know ts crit isn't everyone's cup of tea <3

To start, I am so just...tired? It's been so frustrating waiting for a finale for four fucking years and getting the bait and switch every time Thomas makes a post about 'upcoming Sanders Sides content!'

I understand taking time to work on something so important to cannon, but four years? I can also give him a little leeway for having some staff issues, but it's almost painful to only keep getting the series we love get downgraded so harshly over the years.

Almost all of the sides have been made so two dimensional. At first they felt so fleshed out, so real, and fandom focused their character on one sole trait (not unforgivable but a bit frustrating). Then, I guess Thomas just picked up on fandom and decided 'yeah! I'll just make them two dimensional too!' That's not what we want. And frankly that's never what we wanted. Occasionally, he'll give us breadcrumbs of character development, or show us a sliver of light to what they once were, but it's never the same.

And frankly, I feel bad for having my hopes so high for the finale. Sure it's been taking four years, but that doesn't mean it will be perfect, hell, it might suck. Of course, I will watch it, but I won't be happy about it. About the lies, about the bait and switch, about the constant merch plugs over actual content, about the four incorrect quotes over working on the finale, about the prioritizing of under five minutes long videos that no one will watch anyways.

I love that Thomas is working on things that make him happy, and I don't think I'll ever stop being happy about that, but he needs to take into heart that without content, merch won't sell anyways.

He made a tweet recently that said that we would be getting the finale in an uncertain number of weeks, but based on the past four years I don't even think it will come out at all. If it does, I swear that if we get a merch plug in the finale I'm going to lose my shit.

I want him to see that fandom can't carry itself, and that if he doesn't have that finale have the actually well done makeup we've been begging for, or have our three dimensional characters back, then he won't have a fandom at all.

I'm almost angry that this is my special interest at this point, I'm so let down by the direction the series is probably headed.

I hope that no one takes this the wrong way, and if people leave death threats in my inbox (which has happened to people posting ts crit; no i'm not joking) then trust that you won't be answered. No one is to tag Thomas on this post, and if Thomas even finds this post then heed the words I've said. This isn't a threat to you, and frankly it never was. What is it is the frustrations of a tired and exasperated fan.

I'm sorry if this has rubbed anyone the wrong way, I apologize if it has. I hope this doesn't make people think I'm becoming some TSS hater, I'm really not. But I'm frustrated, and that's normal

Thank you for reading this all the way through if your here, I love you <3

[the-astrophel-system]

disclaimer that i have no access to the writers room on patreon.

but i hate hate hate that it feels like thomas lost one of his best writers (joan) and then decided to make up for it, by making the fandom write the script. we see it with the incorrect quotes, we see it with the 5 year special, we saw it with the lastest christmas asides, i know there are other examples too. and im sure we'll see it in the finale.

thomas has tried so hard to pander to what he thinks the audience wants, those fans who want their perfect little ideas to be canon. they've both ruined the series. i used to like the little cute moments that you could run with and make a ship from (e.g, first you take her by the hand (even tho i hated that one at the time, i gotta say its so funny now), elementary my dear daddy, the entire virgil and logan debate, etc etc). but now it is so goddamn obvious who the "canon" ships are. its exhausting.

this series would've been so much better if thomas had the confidence to write a story without feeling the need to cater everything to the audience. we loved the original videos where it was fun and lovely and tackled some hard conversations. not turning the sides into one dimensional innocent babies who make a mockery of the original videos. yes the conversations are going to be mature as the audience grows up, but you're still acting like "oh im logan and i like jam", "oh im janus and i like wine", and "oh im patton and im so innocent" is fucking funny. its not. (even though svs redux didn't necessarily have these examples, i still heavily disliked the episode because of how it played out).

i feel like too many ideas and wants have been pushed in thomas' face, and i dont blame him. if everyone was shouting at me that my original characters have to end up together, or they must fit these tight little boxes, id get overwhelmed and want to give up. obviously thomas doesn't want to do that (even though he pretty much has at this point) so instead hes dragging things out and effectively making everyone else write the episodes for him.

just some thoughts.

[prodigal-explorer]

RESULTS!!! sanders sides controversial opinions poll

alright guys this is what you were waiting for! i am so grateful that this little poll i made ended up getting over 630 responses? that's insane! thank you all so much for helping me with this project, i loved researching this fandom that i love so much! without further ado, here are the results!!

(also for the interesting opinions, i don't agree with all of them, they're just opinions that i thought brought up something cool that i hadn't considered before!)

the canva link in case the photos aren't working: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFxdNIQW6s/XXMtxyz_icwgEp2cdgGBLQ/edit?utm_content=DAFxdNIQW6s&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

---

part two is being reblogged below!! and i am in the process of tagging people who said they wanted to be.

[moldy-lemons]

we’re never getting that new sanders sides vid i fear

[accidentalcriticalfander]

Why is he doing stuff like this? I feel like it's very off putting. I can't really put my finger on exactly why this is bothering me.

[bpdmichaelbluth]

i'm sorry about my actions last night. it's just hard to see how far thomas has gone downhill since it has such an impact on my life. I'm not just another disappointed fan. I don't talk about this on my blog often but i actually named my child after the sanders sides- my little patton logan ross. those names are forever tied to thomas and what he did for me in 2017-19. he's the only reason i was mentally healthy enough to have that baby. but now that he's ruined his own series it makes me so depressed. the characters are so ooc, i wouldn't have named my KID after this terrible writing. Thomas has let me down and i don't think i can ever forgive him.

[myosotis-prince]

im rewatching sanders sides and seeing virgil(albeit not completely intentionally) make patton upset makes me want to claw my eyes out

also the fandom is way too harsh on pat and im furious about how he's made out to be the worst side always

[deepcoraldragon]

And he keeps making merch 🙂 for a series that hasn't seen main content in over two years now 🙂 I'm fine, why do you ask 🙂

And I'm torn, because he's made a few collabs recently and it seems like it was a lot of fun! And I'm happy for him! I know he's had health issues recently and I'm glad he's getting to make content and enjoying it.

But making ad after ad after bonus content after whatever the hell the anime intro was, for a series that feels abandoned to the point where I barely remember the plot, is just disheartening. I hope whatever blocking he's having with the finale gets resolved

[muppetsfan243]

My Two Cents on this whole Thomas Sanders/Sander Sides Situation as an Old Viewer

AUTHOR'S NOTE - Wow, this post turned out to be way longer than I anticipated, so here's the TL;DR if you don't want to read the whole thing. I'd still recommend to do so, but yeah. TL;DR - I think Thomas Sanders and his team are valid for taking a long time to work on stuff like the Sander Sides finale, but I think some criticisms the community has are valid too, and it's nice to see people in the Thomas Sanders community speak up about their criticisms. Alright, as I said in my previous post, I dipped out of Sander Sides about two-ish years ago, mainly because I myself was growing out of the series. With all due respect to everyone who works on the show past and present, I didn't like that episodes were starting to become more story-driven with heavy morals and deep meanings, to me, it was no longer a short light-hearted series about random everyday subject matters with comedy and skits to pace it out. But of course, that's just a me thing, it's clear that the direction Sander Sides went ended up making the series a huge success and I don't fault people for liking the series where it's at or what it's become. If you enjoy Sander Sides, that's great, more power to ya! Anywho, I don't know how or why, but on my "For You" feed, I stumbled upon a post criticizing Thomas for a recent update video he made regarding his content overall, saying he was making false promises and that they are tired of being given these false hopes every year when they never come to be. That post led me down a whole rabbit hole on Tumblr of many users criticizing Thomas on a lot of things, mainly the communication with his fans.

Admittedly, a lot of the posts I've found I have mixed feelings on; I said this in a reblog/repost (whatever it's called on this app, I'm still learning), but a lot of them feel as if they don't understand what goes into making a big project of any kind. You can check out my reblog of Rixitup's post if you want my full thoughts on that matter, but in short, speaking as someone who is a small creator who has big visions for things I want to make in the future, it can take a lot, and I mean a LOT, of time to create something to be the way you envision it. Sometimes it may take a few months, other times it can take a couple of years. I don't know Thomas himself, nor do I know what his thought process for this finale and the series as a whole is, but if he wants the finale to look a specific way, then I can understand why he and the team have been taking so much time to get this finale going. Remember, the world is still opening back up from a pandemic we went through for about three years, and especially given where Thomas and his team are located, I wouldn't be surprised if that has played a big role in halting most of the production on the finale until now.

With all of that said, however, I will say, for those who have, it's really nice to finally see some people in this community give constructive criticism regarding Thomas Sanders as a creator. When I was part of the community, I remember having all these feelings regarding Thomas' work and especially Sander Sides, including how I felt the show has become a bit too serious for my liking and how the show has become less light-hearted. But often, I'd keep my mouth shut because no one else within the community that I saw would ever give out any sort of criticisms regarding them. The only times I would do so was with friends who were into Thomas Sanders' stuff, and even then, I was often frown upon, some saying my opinion was invalid because Thomas works so hard to get this stuff out. And don't get me wrong, I genuinely believe he does! The enthusiasm he puts into his non-series videos seems legit. But it felt like in this community, you weren't allowed to criticize Thomas, Sander Sides, or anything Thomas Sanders related, like Thomas was a god who could do no wrong. That was another reason why I left the fandom, to have your voice not only be unheard but also invalidated, that hurts a lot, especially in a community that's meant to be respectful to one another.

Now in early 2023, to see a slew of people constructively criticize Thomas, Sander Sides, and other things, it feels so....nice. It feels great to know that I'm not alone in thinking or feeling certain things for many years, namely...

The Lack of Light-Hearted Comedic Episodes - Again, I think with where Sander Sides is now, this isn't an issue, but it is something older viewers like me miss a lot. Remember, Sander Sides didn't start out as this story-heavy/driven series with many plots and lore, it was originally just a fun side series Thomas did to discuss different topics or moral thoughts he had in his mind, expressing them with some comedic banter with his Vine characters, plus one original character. That was what drew me into the series and I wish we had more smaller videos like that inbetween the more story-driven ones (and also ones that weren't just simply ads), they're just a good breather from those episodes.

The Need of Communication with Fans - Now I personally believe that Thomas doesn't owe the fans anything in terms of the actual content in question, as at the end of the day, it's up to him of whether or not he feels comfortable with doing whatever he's creating/making. The only thing I would say he does owe to his viewers, though, is just updates and explanations as to what's going on. He doesn't have to say when episodes or stuff are coming out, it can just be simple stuff like "Hey, we're about to work on X and Y regarding this project!" or "Gonna be taking a break from this for a bit." I know the big topic right now is the season finale, but I'd like to point out "A Recipe for Me" and how long that took to get out there. Now I'm not gonna blame Thomas for how long it took to publish the song, I'm sure there's a lot that goes into creating a song from getting musicians, a composer, a company to distribute and handle the copyrights for the song, and much more. My issue is that the music video specifically features a ton of fans who paid a certain amount of money to be featured in a future video. This was at a New York event in August of 2017, and the music video didn't come out until late 2019; Thomas never gave out any updates between then as to what this video was or when it would come out. I don't know, to me, that feels a little bit rubbish; if I paid a certain tier to get featured on something, especially if it's hyped up in an advertising campaign, I'd like to know any updates on how that video is going along. I know there's also some controversy with the Patreon stuff, but I can't really speak on that matter, as I never participated in his Patreon page, mainly because I'm not interested in it.

Character Derailing - This one's a little bit more simpler than the previous two and is definitely an opinion thing, but yeah, really didn't like how some of the characters have been derailed once the show switched permanently to a story-driven format starting with "Accepting Anxiety." Whether or not it's because of the whole "orange side" plot, I personally don't know, but I miss it when characters like Roman and Patton were a lot caring of the other Sides or how Logan had a soft spot for the others but rarely feels comfortable to admit it. I don't really know how to describe this one right now, I've been writing this post for too long. XD

Of course, not all of the criticisms I agree with and some of the posts under the hashtag #tscritism do feel a bit more mean-spirited than genuine criticism, but overall, it does feel nice to know I'm not alone in thinking these things for so long. Especially after being shamed upon for having some personal criticisms with Thomas' content, reading some of these posts made me feel a bit better.

All that said, I'll leave you all with this note. It's okay to criticize someone you look up to, someone you like, no one's perfect, no one's gonna be this god of a person, an almighty being and such. It's important to acknowledge these criticisms as they can be used to further improve someone or something. However, don't go sending hate to Thomas and his team or push them to get stuff like the finale out. To me at least, it's clear that they have a specific vision for how they want this finale to go. Do they have to do it this way? No, they could just do a simple video inside Thomas' living room and call it a day. But that's not what they want the finale to be and that's okay. If they want this to have multiple sets, musical numbers, be four parts, then they do them. At the end of the day, it is Thomas' creation and he deserves to end the season (or series, I can see this being the series finale too) however way he wants to.

That's my two cents, definitely a lot longer than I anticipated. But hey, that's me for ya, I have a lot of thoughts to share on certain things, and I guess this is the first time I let a few of them out here on Tumblr.

[just-a-little-anxious]

One thing that bothers me about the sAnDers asides episodes is that I feel like some of them actually could've been great episodes. (i wanna say that I haven't watched sanders sides in a long time and this is just based on memory, but i'm gonna be critical anyways)

Take the plushie episode, for example. I hate how the context of it being an ad ruins it for me, because it could've been a good episode with a nice message.

For example, it could start with Thomas having a nightmare or being sad, and finding comfort in a plushie. There are so many ways this could go.

Like, Virgil could be anxious about people finding out they still own plushies and thinking they're stupid for it.

Or perhaps Roman would be disappointed in himself because he feels like he should be 'brave' after a nightmare, and not seek comfort from an inanimate object like a plushie, which would tie in with him not feeling like Thomas' hero anymore.

Or Patton, liking the plushies, but feeling like this attachment is holding them back from becoming more like an 'actual adult' (something which I personally relate to, because I own a lot of plushies and i am often told that it is childish and I don't need them)

Or even Logan, where it could tie (pun intended) in with him afraid that also liking them will cause him to be taken even less seriously.

Now, these are just some thoughts, but I think it would've been interesting (or maybe one of these actually happened in the episode and i forgot and I look stupid right now).

And then it's the aformentioned context that I don't like. Did the episode feature regular plushies that weren't the sides, I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more. The fact that that wasn't the case, makes the message change from "it's okay to still own plushies as an adult, and it can even have some benefits", to "plushies are actually good and- hey! look! You can get plushies from your favourite characters, what a coincidence! :P"

Or at least it feels like that to me. It takes away from the message, and makes me feel lied to, as if the only reason it's being said is to sell me something. And it's felt like that for every ad-pisode

[phantominzie]

okay so, since the finale looks like it won't be out until next year at the earliest lemme just throw my hat into the ring about what the season two finale will be about.

to start, i'd like to say that thomas isn't even quoting SaSi in his current projects, and frankly I think that (even if it's grim) the season two finale will be out last serious episode before asides is the focus.

so, lets begin

we start the episode with Logan, doing something I guess. Thomas had a bad day, a day that made him angry. He was likely brewing over anger for the past few weeks, and today was the day that tipped the glass. The sides appear and are being loud and Logan just fucking loses his cool (no falsehood, please, it's not funny when you milk it man). He screams and shouts, and suddenly goes quiet. Orange side appears as this large looming shadow of light, before melting into a more human side. He throws the sides into chaos (the light sides, obvi the dark sides know him). Blah blah blah, something goes haywire and Orange side tries to take over Thomas' mind, and let him go off the handle to ruin his friendships and shit whatever. Blah blah blah, the light sides + dark (once they come to their senses or something) come together and take down Orange (not for good, just for rehabilitation and to maybe re-merge with Logan?? idk). They do the whole "no matter our differences, we can come together to protect Thomas. because we're just the sides. No light, no dark, we're his" kind of thing. and bam boom the end of the episode and season two.

obviously, I think that with an ending similar to this where they can truly come together and shit that if you ended the series and showed oranges rehabilitation through asides I don't think the fandom would be mad. if it's over then we won't have to wait and be dissapointed anymore, it'll be done.

[the-astrophel-system]

i have received one like so far. so i will post thomas sanders crit.

firstly, i agree with literally everyone on this site.

janus' 'new' makeup is absolute shit and while i love quill, id be so embarrassed if i was them. i understand the nuances of makeup, but i have no idea how you can switch it up THAT differently and feel confident in posting it.

i personally think the makeup is bad and has effectively ruined the suave personality janus had. dont even get me started on how he is just a wine aunt now, but i cannot take that makeup seriously, no matter how he acts.

[prodigal-explorer]

i'm usually not too big on criticizing thomas or sanders sides but i just have to get this off my chest

i HATE how thomas endorses and supports the infantilization of patton. he makes fan-service jokes that woobify patton and go completely against things that have been pre-established in the series just because he knows that fans love to talk about how patton is "their uwu babey boi who can do no wrong".

i feel like thomas can see how much the fandom loves it, so he does it, but it's just so dumb because in a way, infantilizing patton is infantilizing a part of him so therefore it sort of feels like infantilizing himself.

maybe i'm being a little much. it's his series and he can do what he wants! but i don't think it's very good to actively support something that is actually a massive misconception just for the sake of getting more likes and laughs.

this is based off of something @sanderssideswriting that got me thinking so thanks bro for fueling my rant LMAO /g

[moldy-lemons]

the worst part about this new ‘anime intro sanders sides’ video or whatever is that i’m already seeing fanders that are older than me act like this is the pinnacle of comedy. like it can get no better than mista sanders ova here.

which, yeah, humor is subjective.

but this shit isn’t funny. it’s barely creative. it’s like i’m watching the downfall of this man’s mind and drive in real time.

also it might be worth noting that the people who are finding this shit HEELAIREEUS just knee-slappingly hee-hawingly funny are the thomas sanders dickriders. a.k.a the people in the fandom thomas always notices. a.k.a the bitchiest little shits you will ever come across. y’all know who i’m talking about.

[accidentalcriticalfander]

I feel like the views on his short videos are also dropping. Why has he been plugging his shorts like this if not?