(4/14/25) I feel like the true core of DirkJade are their themes of isolation. Walk with me here. Not the “I’m alone in the void” kind (CallieRoxy is unironically a really interesting example of this specifically!!), but the more subtle kind: Being surrounded by people who think they understand you, when really, they’re projecting something onto you that isn't quite real. This happens to other characters too, obviously--Most notably Jake who I feel is incredibly relevant to DirkJade's relationship, and I'd like to dissect that too--but for those 2 it's kind of in the exact opposite ways? Jade is usually seen as someone who needs to be protected or supported. She’s sweet, Spacey (laugh now), emotionally warm. Meanwhile, Dirk is the opposite: he’s positioned as someone others rely on. He’s the guy with the plan, the one who’s supposed to have everything under control. These are both curated versions of themselves that they built up for the express purpose of hiding who they are.
"Just ship DirkJake/DaveJade, it's like DirkJade but better" the appeal of DirkJade, at least for me, is the fact that it's a rudimentary version of both Dirk's dynamic with Jake and Jade's dynamic with Dave. I like the fact that they have almost no basis for an actual relationship outside of observing the similarities between their respective family members. It doesn’t have the emotional payoff baked in—you’d have to build it from the ground up, and that’s what makes it fun.
I imagine it would start kind of awkward. They’d probably keep measuring each other against the people they’re used to being around. “Jake would’ve laughed at that,” “Dave would’ve handled this differently”, etc. But over time, they’d start seeing each other for who they actually are. That kind of growth would be super slow, but super rewarding. Especially since both Dirk and Jade have a tendency to pull back the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) masks of the people they care about. They’d eventually start doing that for each other, which is where the real emotional weight would come from. My head automatically converts this to post-canon with ult Dirk & Calldie (Alt Callie + Jade) but that’s a more intense dynamic so I think most people would prefer pre-timeline-split DirkJade.
Anyways yeah I just wanted to add some of my thoughts. You don’t have to like them romantically (you do) but I think more people should (are required to) explore the facets of their hypothetical dynamic.