Okay, So- I Have This Sander Sides AU That I've Had For A Long While Now. And I Think It Would Be Neat

Okay, so- I have this Sander Sides AU that I've had for a long while now. And I think it would be neat to share it with you. I might also make several posts about it. So let me introduce you to:

Sanders Switched is an AU in which the sides' "roles" are switched around. To elaborate, their function (Logan as logic, Patton as morality, ect.) remains the same. Thomas' perception of them is what changes. So where Logan is the voice of reason in canon, another side would take his place. Here's all the sides in Sanders Switched:

Janus: Janus takes the role of Patton as the kind authority figure. He's seen as Thomas' self-preservation and always puts his safety and well-being above all else. He's a sort of motherly figure to the other sides, constantly caring about their well-being and acting as if he's older than them. He's much sweeter than OG Janus, but he still has a sassy side, and lives for gossip.

Remus: Remus takes Roman's role as Thomas' source of inspiration. He is seen as Thomas' comedic side and encourages Thomas to have as much fun as possible. Rather than being a Duke, he presents as a jester. He has issues with his impulsivity, and his jokes tend to be morbid and often mean, but he's overall harmless and much more tame than OG Remus.

The Orange Side: Obviously, I can't say exactly what the Orange Side will be, since we haven't been introduced to him yet. But based off what we do know, I place him in Logan's role as the voice of reason. Assuming he represents wrath of some sort--which is impossible not to believe at this point--he would probably be seen as Thomas' motivation, pushing him to get his work done.

Roman: Most people would probably switch Roman and Remus and make Remus, "good creativity," and Roman, "bad creativity." BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? I'M COMPLICATED AND UNIQUE. So Roman takes the place of Virgil as the original, "antagonist." He is seen as Thomas' pride that pushes delusions that keep Thomas from growing as a person. He arrogant and rude, and claims he is a King rather than a Prince. Because of this, none of the sides really like him at all, with the exception of Janus. But near the end of season one, we discover that Roman only really wanted Thomas to achieve his dreams, and that most of his cockiness hid his secret insecurities. And after Thomas and the other sides realize how important he is, Roman is officially accepted as part of the group.

Patton: Patton takes the role of Janus as the antagonist to all of Thomas' beliefs and the possible leader of the dark sides. He is seen as Thomas' overbearing moral code that constantly tries push harsh rules rooted in Catholic Christianity onto Thomas and the other sides. He is extremely passive aggressive and overly judgmental towards the sides he deems, "wrong." Almost everything he says is a critisism of something Thomas or the other sides do. Despite being so harsh however, he loves puns and making jokes just as much the OG Patton, and loves to torture Logan with his puns.

Logan: Logan takes Remus' place as the bad influence Thomas tries to ignore. He is seen as Thomas' inner critique who judges Thomas for everything he does. He insists that Thomas' lifestyle is, "childish," and that he should abandon it for a, "mature," way of living so that he can live, "a normal, healthy life." He is extremely judgmental and criticizes all the sides for the smallest of details, making everyone hate him, even Janus. Despite this, he generally harmless, and he can easily be ignored.

Virgil: Virgil takes the Orange Side's place as the mysterious secret side that the fandom makes a million theories about. I can't fully explain who he would be, since, again, we haven't been introduced to the Orange Side yet. But for now, he still represents Thomas' anxiety. And when he reveals himself, he will call Thomas and all the sides out on their BS.

That's all for now. It isn't fully developed, and things will surely change when the Orange Side finally does reveal himself. But there's still a lot of things I would like to share. So please let me know if you want know more!

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION ABOUT THE ORANGE SIDE

I see so many theories about the orange side; what his role will be, how he'll interact with the other characters, and most of all, what he represents. But of all these theories, I never see them ask the real questions, about the most important thing we need to know:

AESTHETICS

Every side has their own unique aesthetic. But this isn't usually talked about since people theorize about other things. Which is fair, since the orange side's role is significantly more important. But I still think aesthetics are fun to talk about. So I have made it my duty to make the theory myself.

To me, there two main aesthetics that I think are the most probable or exciting:

Cowboy and Grungey Gamer Boy

Firstly, the reasons I think he might be a Gamer Boy:

Most obvious reason, the first episode that hinted at his existence was POF, which had a lot of video game imagery

It's likely that the Orange side represents anger or some type of negative emotion, and gamers are notoriously known for being angry

If you believe Logan and Orange are opposites, then an unruly gamer would be a good contrast to a strict teacher

If you believe Orange and Virgil are/were close or related in some way, the aesthetics are pretty similar

A really cool style

And now, the reasons he could be a Cowboy:

Like gamers, cowboys are often associated with anger due to stories of vengeance and gunfights

Cowboy stories are often in the Old Wild West, a primarily ORANGE setting

Such an elaborate style would fit right in with Janus and Remus

Very unique and stylish

So you see, there is evidence that supports that the Orange side will be a gamer boy, and it would be really cool if he was a cowboy. And thus, those are my two main theories on his aesthetic.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Apparently people actually wanted the full presentation so - BEHOLD! why “Learning New Things About Ourselves” is the Most Important Sanders Sides Episode. (Obviously, click on the images to be able to read them better).

The Voice of Reason ~ Part 1

Synopsis: Logan is growing more and more frustrated about being ignored. But fortunately, a certain rat affiliated Duke knows how to help. ;)

*Disclaimer for alcohol use

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"It happened again," Logan muttered to himself, sitting at his desk piled with scrapped schedules and forgotten papers. Next to him sat a tall bottle of wine; he had stopped seeing the purpose in pouring it into a glass. He said it again, this time in disbelief,

"It happened again."

Earlier that day, Thomas had the supposed fortune of winning two tickets to a Broadway performance of, "The Lion King," an apparent honor that brought him great joy. Logan didn't care much about it. Theatre was never his thing. But everyone else ecstatic. Patton happily listed all the friends Thomas could possibly bring with him, while Janus suggested he forget about the second ticket and use this as a chance to please himself. Even Virgil seemed slightly cheerful about the situation. All this joy ceased however when Roman proposed the idea of bringing Nico.

Roman, being the hopeless romantic he is, thought that it would be the perfect opportunity for Thomas to confess his feelings to Nico. Janus and Patton however, were not too thrilled of that idea, and believed that Thomas should be focusing on himself. Roman argued that the companionship of Nico would improve his mental health, which would be beneficial to everyone. But Janus and Patton wouldn't listen, and refused to let Thomas bring Nico. Virgil quickly sided with Roman (a huge shock to everyone), claiming that they may not have a better opportunity, and that Thomas has a habit of letting good things slip away from him.

And so, a huge fight broke out. To Logan, this situation was blown way out of proportions for no good reason. He argued that Thomas could bring Nico without having to make romantic advances towards him. But they ignored him, only acknowledging him when he was able to give information that supported their own point of view. Eventually, Logan got tired of their extremism and left. As far as he was aware, no one noticed or even cared.

A situation like this would leave anyone agitated. But there was one thing that made it truly upsetting to Logan: This has happened before. Several times before.

In several occasions before this one, the sides have gotten into many arguments over situations that really weren't that serious. Logan would try to point out the absurdity in the situation, only to be ignored, and only to be heard when providing exposition. Example, once the sides created a court setting to decide if Thomas should go to a callback or to his friend's wedding. Thomas could have easily explained the situation to his friends, and they would have likely been understanding. But Logan didn't have time to mention this, for after being questioned by Janus, he was benched for the rest of the trial. No one protested. When Remus introduced himself, the sides panicked, seeing Remus as a threat. Logan of course knew he wasn't, and he was actually able to tell them that, but only after the sides saw no other option. When Thomas went to the wedding, he felt like he missed out on a huge opportunity, leading to Patton sharing his flawed ideas of selflessness. Logan tried to point the absurdity in Patton's thinking. But Patton didn't like that, and he was literally pulled away from the scene. No one cared.

But the most frustrating instance of this, to him, was when he tried to convince Thomas to clean. Thomas' apartment was a figurative wreck, so Logan created a schedule for Thomas to clean it. He was so excited when Thomas went along with it. But then Remus showed up, and filled Thomas' head with thoughts that kept him distracted. Thus, Logan had to put aside his schedule for Thomas' sake. And he was fine with that. He thought that if he was able to deal with Remus, he would still be able to get most of his activities completed. He would be able to get something done. But he wouldn't go away. And he wouldn't listen. Eventually Nico called, offering a chance to hang out. Thomas immediately accepted, leaving behind the schedule he didn't even start. He still had not cleaned his apartment.

And now he was being ignored again. And he didn't know what else to do. He did everything he could think of, and they still wouldn't listen. And so he sat at his small messy desk, drinking a whole bottle of wine as he vented to the only person who would listen: Himself.

"They never listen to me. Never! It doesn't make any sense. I'm the voice of reason, I know what's best!..." he lamented, taking a large sip of wine while doing so, "I may not be the most empathetic or friendly side, but I've gotten better. I've been trying to do better! I've made an effort to understand Roman and Patton's passionate ways. I've tried to be less invasive in their eccentric activities. And I've compromised my wants and goals for the sake of theirs. But they never do the same for me! Why can't they do the same for me?"

Hours passed as he ranted to himself. One bottle of wine turned into two and a half. His anger had grown and gown and at this point he was practically yelling.

"I do so much for them! I try to help by giving my point of view, but they don't want it. For why would they want my opinions? They only need me for exposition! All I can do is spout information! Not all of it is necessary though. No. They only bother to hear when they know it benefits them! In any other case, I should keep my mouth shut!" He took another large gulp of wine. "I can do so much more than what they want from me! I'm literally the voice of reason! But at this point, they listen to Janus more than me. And they barely know him! It's like they- it's like-... It's like he's..."

Before he could finish his figurative train of thought, he heard a sudden rustling behind him, accompanied by an obnoxious giggle. Logan turned around in shock, readjusting his tie. As he scanned the room, he noticed two black boots poking out from under his bed. He sighed in agitation, immediately recognizing them.

"Remus, is there a particular reason you've decided to lay under my bed?" Logan asked. Remus slid out in a pout.

"Damnit! You caught me!" Remus whined, "I was gonna choke you in your sleep when you decided to go to bed!"

Logan rolled his eyes. This behavior was typical of the Duke. And ever since he revealed himself to Thomas, he was especially eager to bother Logan. Logan tried to hide the empty bottles of wine, and made a feeble attempt to organize the piles of papers scattered on his desk.

"Is there any other reason he came to visit?" Logan asked, hoping he would leave now that he had been caught.

"Oh yeah, actually. I was only under your bed for shits and giggles. I'm really here to catch you up on Thomas' recent little dilemma, since you decided to abandon us halfway through."

"Oh?" Why would Remus want to tell him what happened? Surely he had no good intentions. But Logan supposed that what Remus had to say couldn't be that bad. And he would like to know how their conversation went after he left.

"Alright Remus," Logan inquired, "what happened while I was gone?" Remus snickered, eager to tell Logan what he missed out on.

"Well, to make a reeeeeeeeeeally long story short, Daddy Patty and Janny were making some good points, and that got Virgil real mad, so he blurted out that he would rather have Thomas lose Nico than lose everyone else because of Janus. Yeah, turns out he didn't believe in Roman's point AT ALL, and was only using it as an excuse to keep Thomas from listening to Janus. After that, they had this super juicy confrontation about it, and Pat-Pat was able to convince Virgil to join their side. But Roman WAS NOT DEALING WITH THAT. Ha! Yeah, he got suuuuuuuuuper upset and kicked all of us sides out of his room! Guess he got insecure or something. But after like- I dunno- thirty minutes? We went back to his room and had this SUPER lame conversation about how, 'We love him unconditionally,' and how, 'Roman's sooooooo important somehow.' Ugh! Yeah it was dumb. And they even made me apologize for killing him! Not actually sorry though. Hee hee! But yeah, that's what happened." Remus then stared at Logan with a cheeky grin, waiting to hear Logan's response to his 'wonderful' summary.

"Well..." Logan replied in uncertainty, "how did it end?"

"End?" Remus questioned him with a laugh, "I've already told you, we all apologized to Roman. I'm starting to think that alcohol you're bad at hiding is starting to mess with your head."

"No, how did the debate end? What was Thomas's final decision?"

"The final decision?..." Remus paused for a moment. Then a mischievous smile grew on his face, "Oh, it was a lame conclusion honestly. No one even won! Thomas decided that he would bring Nico along without confessing; a compromise! I hate compromises! they're so boring!"

...

What?

Logan stood there for a moment, trying to process Remus' answer. Then he responded, almost with a laugh, "Remus, is this some form of jesting? It won't work on me."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Remus barked, feigning offense, "Listen, I don't hide the facts, and the fact is, they came to a compromise!"

"Wha- But that doesn't make any sense," Logan chuckled in disbelief, "that was what I was telling them to do, and they didn't listen to me. Why would they ignore my suggestions only to come to the same conclusion later on?"

"I don't know..." Remus said with too much innocence, "Have you ever considered that you're not relevant anymore?"

And as quick as Remus said that, Logan's attempt to keep his composure collapsed.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and OP was able to put it into words.

My Sander Sides Enlightment

You know what’s always kinda bothered me? Those mean takes on the other sides. Like ‘Janus is manipulating Patton and isn’t actually trying to be friends with him,’ ‘Patton has too much moral superiority,’ ‘Roman never learns,’ So on and so forth. There is something bad to say about all the sides. No hate to anyone who's made one, you are valid and probably right in your own way. I think the only reason they bother me so much is because you can easily say the opposite. The most common phrase being ‘Nobody listens to ____’

“Nobody listens to Patton! He was trying to show the others that Virgil was good all along and only when Virgil was gone did they listen.”

“Nobody listens to Logan! He gets ignored constantly and he’s getting mad because of it.”

“Nobody listens to Roman! Every time he comes up with a solution, he gets shut down only to get blamed for not coming up with a solution.”

“Nobody listens to Virgil! He only gets listened to when he forces Thomas to hear him, and he doesn’t like doing that.”

“Nobody listens to Janus! Even when he has good ideas and arguments, they get pushed to the side because he is a dark side.”

“Nobody listens to Remus! That was the entire point of an episode. And all he wants is to be listened to, it doesn’t matter who.”

And all of these are valid points. But at some point, you have to wonder who’s not listening the most. Which is how I think the criticism posts of the characters came to be in the first place. But I don’t think any of them are to blame. Even when this new side gets revealed, it won’t be his fault either. The fault isn’t on Roman, or Logan, or Janus, or any of them.

It's on Thomas.

And of course I don’t mean ‘Writer Thomas,’ I mean ‘Character Thomas.’ Throughout the series, Thomas has always held himself high. You can’t be perfect, but you can try to be. And every time a situation comes up, he doubts himself, wondering if he’s even any good at all.

And in comes the sides, telling him that he can’t be bad and here's why. In fact, Thomas won’t let himself be bad at anything. Can’t be a bad worker, can’t be a bad actor or singer, and certainly can’t be a bad friend. Even in situations where he wouldn’t even be those things, he can’t even let himself risk it.

And so, the sides follow suit.

Logan becomes the perfect person for knowledge and learning, never letting himself be anything less than right all the time.

Roman strives to be perfect physically and materialistically, coming up with creative ideas that help Thomas move up in the world or, at the very least, make himself feel better.

Patton is the perfectly moral person. Make sure everyone is alright, help whenever and wherever you can, and always keep a smile on. Wouldn’t want anyone worrying for you, right? That wouldn’t be good.

Virgil is the perfect alarm system. Even false alarms are taken with the utmost seriousness. Just as long as no one else knows your anxious.

Janus is a deceiver. And Thomas lies often. So he needs to be the best at putting on a face and making sure nothing goes off without a hitch. Wouldn’t want people catching him in a lie. He needs to be the perfect liar.

And then there's Remus. The only one who tries not to be perfect. But that idea terrifies the others so much, Remus is left to pick up all of the imperfection slack. Maybe that's why Remus was offended when he was called ‘Scary.’

Trying to be so many perfect things all at once, you’re going to but heads with all of the different aspects of yourself. You're going to not listen. You're going to ignore. And in some cases, your perfectionism is going to make you look like the bad guy. And as someone with perfectionism, I relate a little too hard.

Thank you for reading.

The Voice of Reason ~ Part Two (And the Final Part)

Synopsis: Logan is getting more and more frustrated about being ignored. But fortunately, a certain rat affiliated Duke knows how to help. ;)

As you can tell from the title, this is the second part. Go read the first part so you can understand what's going on!

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"Wha- But that doesn't make any sense," Logan chuckled in disbelief, "that was what I was telling them to do, and they didn't listen to me. Why would they ignore my suggestions only to come to the same conclusion later on?"

"I don't know..." Remus said with too much innocence, "Have you ever considered that you're not relevant anymore?"

And as quick as Remus said that, Logan's attempt to keep his composure collapsed.

"Get out of my room!" Logan threw a book at Remus, hitting him in the face.

"Why do you even bother telling me these things?" Logan snapped, "Do you find that much pleasure in making my day worse? Everyday I get up and I work as hard as I possibly can to ensure that Thomas--and by association, all of us--can live a happy, healthy lifestyle! You think it's 'fun' to laugh at that effort? You have no idea how much work that is! I make plan after plan and schedule after schedule. I keep the other sides from making reckless mistakes. I keep Thomas from making reckless mistakes. Everyday I put in so much effort! And on top of all that, most of these efforts aren't wanted by them. They don't care about my efforts!.. They ignore my efforts... They- they-"

Logan stopped rambling, realizing how irrational he was acting. He also saw that he wasn't proving anything to Remus anyways, for all his actions did was send Remus into a maniacal fit laughter. Along with that, he began to notice a cold and strange tingling sensation run down his face. He lifted his hand to his cheek to feel what it was... Logan was crying.

How could this be possible? Logan didn't cry. Logan couldn't cry. Crying was a response to pain. Logan wasn't in pain, he was physically fine. That could only mean the pain is emotional. But that was impossible. Logan didn't have emotions. Logan was logic. And logic can't feel emotions. Logic is reasonable. But before he could ask himself anymore questions, he began speak out to Remus, his words spilling out before he could process what he was even saying.

"Oh no," he wept, "oh no, Remus you're right. I'm not relevant anymore! I was never the most exciting side, or the nicest, or the most pleasant, but they were able to deal with me. They dealt with me because I was important. I was able to make decisions they couldn't. I was the voice of reason. And so I was one of them. But things are changing, Remus. The questions Thomas has, the choices he has to make, they aren't rooted in logic anymore. I can't answer them. And now that I can't there's no purpose in the others dealing with me--I'm not the voice of reason anymore. I thought if I tried to be kinder they would still at least want me, but it seems that I'm not nice enough to hide that I'm essentially useless now..."

At this point Remus had stopped cackling and just stood there in silence, completely stunned and unsure of what to do. He knew when he arrived that he would upset Logan--that was his goal--but he had no idea that Logan would start crying over it.

"They're going to replace me Remus, I'm going to be replaced!" Logan continued, still sobbing, "They're already replacing me! Janus is taking my place! He's so clever, so well put together, but most of all, he's reasonable! He understands the questions Thomas has now. He can answer his questions. Thomas and Patton have already started to warm up to him, it's only matter of time before they all accept him. And then he will be the voice of reason! And all I will be able to offer is exposition... He'll do a better job anyways, he actually knows what he's doing! I make so many mistakes--I can't even think rationally enough to not cry!"

His sobs grew louder and louder as he lost the ability to speak. Remus was still standing there, now even more unsure of what to do. Should he tell someone? Surely at least one of them cared about him enough to comfort him, and he definitely wasn't qualified to do it himself... Wait--why did he care? He didn't like Logan. He didn't like him at all! Logan was an arrogant know-it-all, and he always got in the way of his plans. He came here because he wanted Logan to get upset! So should he go? He got what he wanted, so there was no point in staying... No... Remus had no reason to care, but for some reason--for some strange reason--he couldn't help but feel extreme pity seeing the man who showed nothing but indifference and agitation towards his antics act so depressingly pathetic.

"Hey don't cry," Remus whispered as comfortingly as he knew how, "there's nothing wrong with being a little useless. People love useless characters!"

That had the opposite effect. Logan began crying even more violently.

"Well there's no point in crying about it if you know it's inevitable!" Remus blurted out, "Either accept your new purpose in life or find a way to keep the one you had!" Then Remus got an sudden idea. An idea with no flaws in his eyes. The only thing that could go wrong was if Logan refused.

"Hey, hey, stop crying," he whispered again, though with more energy, "I know how you can become the voice of reason again."

That caught Logan's attention.

Remus would help him keep his place? How? And why? Logan thought to himself for a moment. There was a remarkably low chance Remus' plan would actually work, and an even lower chance he had good intentions... But at this point, any solution was worth hearing out. He tried to cease his sobs.

"Well, if you really have a possible solution," Logan sniveled, "then tell me how I can maintain my position as the voice of reason." Remus grinned eagerly.

"You know how you earlier you said they kept you around despite not being nice or exciting?"

"Yes?..."

"And you know how you tried to be nice when you stopped knowing all the answers?"

"Of course, how couldn't I?"

"And you know how that failed?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Well you said you weren't nice or exciting. You tried to be nice, and that didn't work. So have you considered being more exciting?"

Logan was perplexed. He didn't really think of that. The others were always agitated when he spoke up, so he decided to speak less. But what if he spoke more?

"See, your problem is that you don't stand out enough," Remus explained, "The other sides have such extreme opinions that yours get kicked to the curb. If you want them to listen, you've gotta be as drastic as they are."

"And how exactly do I do that?"

"Well, the other sides do several extreme things. And you're a pansy, so I know you won't do that. So instead of doing several small things, you should one great thing..." Remus' grin grew larger and more mischievous.

"You have reasoned with me long enough, just tell me what to do!"

Knock. Knock.

Out of completely nowhere, the two of them suddenly heard knocking at Logan's door. After a ominously long moment of silence, his door began to slowly creak open. An orange mist started to fill the room. Logan's eyes stayed fixated on the door, contemplating what could possibly be happening right now. Remus' smile grew wider; he knew what was to come. When the door was completely opened, the haze started to fade, revealing who it was at the door.

"Hey, I heard that you're 'friends' have a problem with ignoring you," he said, "I can help with that..."