Darkside Logan - Tumblr Posts
an analogical analysis from an intrulogical idiot
as a newly converted analogical enjoyer and orange side/dark side logan truther i feel the need to mention that their arcs FUCKING MIRROR EACHOTHER. I AM SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM. so because i have absolutely nNO life i am going to give you, unlucky scroller, unwitting follower or one of the folks who followed me for invader zim, the play-by-play of these emo nerds.
so
in the beginning (only going from the start of the series) they were admittedly at odds, but not as much as say, virgil and princey or logan and patton. the first time (to my recollection) that they interact outside of the group setting is the negative thinking episode where they debate, in which virgil (to my recollection) receives the first positive feedback from any of the lightsides. now, at this point in the series, logan is still relatively respected and listened to by the lightsides and thomas while virgil isnt, given he's a darkside its not that surprising. in this period logan gets progressively more and more ignored and brushed off, slowly but still, an important piece in this timeline that i dont think is recognized enough is mind vs heart in which is the first of MANY times he is forced to compromise or back down to keep the peace. in the same time however, more and more virgils points are heard out and taken into account and compromised with (dark side of disney, alone on valentines day, etc) for virgil being compromised with is a step towards being heard, for logan being forced to compromise is a means to shut him up.
then excepting/accepting anxiety happens. OH BOY! i feel the need to point out that our bespectacled boy very much does his best to help the situation by providing hard facts that "no anxiety=bad". but the consequences of this episode should also be mentioned, that being, when virgil gains a seat at the metaphorical-but-also-probably-literal-given-this-series table, logan's is all but ripped out from under him. this is shown in the episodes immediately following, in which patton copies logans logo (minor but should still be said), being forced to be stage hand in can lying be good, etc BUT something i skipped over on purpose so i could talk about it here
THE FUCKING NOSTALGIA 2 PARTER (aka 38:33 seconds of why patton is my 2nd least favourite side) now before i continue, do note i am relentlessly biased about how based logan is in this episode because his advice in it prevented my own anxiety spiral SO BE WARNED. so, in this episode logan suggests that partaking in recreational nostalgia could help thomas cope with being reminded of his breakup, this leads to the whole crew (+ janus who was probably in disguise as roman but i digress) going on a field trip to pattons room. this causes virgil to freak out and logan likely blaming himself for hurting his anxious associate because of his mistake (likely associating this with his other mistake of misdefining infinitesimal and that might be why he doesnt like to be reminded of it but thats just a theory A FILM THEO-) so logan leaves and lets everyone else sort shit out, starting a pattern in which instead of causing what he perceives as unnecessary conflict logan attempts to remove himself from the situation at all costs, while virgil becomes more vocal when he's uncomfortable with an idea or plan.
then a bit later things continue going downhill for logan with his contributions being more ignored and solutions dismissed, becoming more vocal, confrontational, aggressive and frustrated when he is pushed aside (sound like a certain early arc anxious side anyone?) this period also features an odd 2 episode alliance between logan and roman that i still dont quite understand but feel like it is worth noting. also during this time virgil generally doesnt show up in an imprtant role for a while for whatever reason (truly the episodes, why do we wake up through learning about ourselves fundamentally confound me) also during the period of crofters the musical going forward logan fixates on being taken seriously more than usual. now one of my least favourite and simultaneously favourite episode.....
LEARNING NEW THINGS ABOUT OURSELVES!!!! MY BELOATHED!!!!!! THIS IS THE EPISODE THAT STARTED MY 3 MONTH LONG PUPPET OBSESSION (DONT ASK)!!!!!!!!! now while i will gladly go into more detail about my thoughts on this episode at a later date i'll do a quick run down. thomas calls out that logan has a temper in the overlap bit (orange side probably= anger temper= logan therefore anger= logan and logan probably= orange), logan rebounds like a goddamn kickball from the prior episode into desperately trying to prove that he is serious, logan is a LOT more resistant to compromise than usual, while virgil just rolls with it when earlier in the series the opposite would be true, logan and roman are back to fighting as usual, and thomas says that virgil doesnt have to go puppet if he doesnt want to but literally everyone peer pressures logan to. i will go more in depth on this episode later, mark my words fam(ILY).
now, the next several episodes (besides are there healthy distractions, which has some adorable analogical btw) follow the format of "darkside pulls up/patton in the plushie episode, puts logan in their crosshairs, silences him for the episode, problem eventually fixes" (listen as much as i ADORE svs: redux, the amount of disrespect for logan in it is lethal to my system)
to summarize
1 for virgil being compromised with is a step towards being heard, for logan being forced to compromise is a means to shut him up.
2 when virgil gains a seat at the metaphorical-but-also-probably-literal-given-this-series table, logan's is all but ripped out from under him.
3 a pattern starts in which instead of causing what he perceives as unnecessary conflict logan attempts to remove himself from the situation at all costs, while virgil becomes more vocal when he's uncomfortable with an idea or plan.
4 logan becomes a LOT more resistant to compromise than usual, while virgil just rolls with it when earlier in the series the opposite would be true
5 thomas says that virgil doesnt have to go puppet if he doesnt want to but literally everyone peer pressures logan to
... am i the only one who sees this??? their character arcs are going in opposite directions!!!!!!!! if we analyze this trend, we might be able to gleam where logans arc is going next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!