#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."

[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.

[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

[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

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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]

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

[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

[the-girl-with-the-glass-heart]

Thomas: i think fans of us would be understanding if we decided to focus on projects we're passionate about that aren't related to sanders sides.

The projects they're passionate about:

[very-uncorrect]

Not tryna say it's y'all's fault or anything but I think that the TSS fandom's toxic purity culture contributed to it taking several years for non-ad episodes to exist

[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

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.