YIN-YANG CHARACTER ANALYSIS AND WHY THEIR PLURALITY MATTERS SO MUCH TO THEIR CHARACTERS
I’ve seen way too much discourse on them being a system going from
1) “It’s not really canon”
2) “The writers have previous history writing bad DID rep and Yin-Yang was originally bad representation “
3) “Their body/movements are more similar to conjoined twins”
For 1) and 3) I just. What. Its confirmed?? They’re plural?? (A very ableist message but it was 11 years ago and Adam was 17 so personally it doesn’t matter. What matters more is the clear erasure of their plurality in the fandom even when the writers are doing their damnest to fix the mistakes of their first incarnations in season 2. imo purposefully ignoring their plural identity today is worse than this comment from 11 years ago.)
And to us this is really disheartening to see because they get amazing development in season 3 (Why I vehemently disagree with take no.2) and I see almost nobody really talking about it SO
I’m going to be analyzing their characters in the context of internalized ableism/sysphobia and how that effects both Yin and Yang, and why their character is actually a beautiful message on showing self love in the context of plurality.
Yes, I know their character in Season 2 is meant to be shallow. The point of this is to use the context from season 3 and apply it to season 2 to inform us on what their personal struggles are in a deeper way that what might've been presented at the time.
Season 2 — YIN’S INTERNALIZED ABLEISM
📱M4: Yin-Yang, you are reckless and fight with yourself. I mean, that’s pretty weird.
⚪️ Yin: It’s weird! I’m sorry for all the trouble we are causing!
⚫️ Yang: NO! I’M NOT! YOU’RE ALL JUST DUMB IDIOTS!
Notice how the first time they’re up for elimination, M4 immediately calls them weird, of which Yin agrees and apologizes. Yin doesn’t have any pride in his headmate Yang, or even himself. He condemns themself for being so strange and different, and throughout the second season is remorseful and ashamed.
Yang, on the other hand, is aggressive and fights back. While this early characterization of him doesn’t have a lot of depth to his character (the “evil alter” troupe I so despise), we can see that Yang is not ashamed of being a system. He’s repressed by Yin, who wants to appease others and almost trying to act as an Apparent Normal Part (ANP). This ties into his later characterization of being passionate and assertive, and we can see glimpses of that passion when he refuses to apologize for being himself.
This is not to say that Yin is evil, or Yang is evil, or anything like that. I want to argue that they are so much more complex than an evil alter and a good alter even in this early state.
🧪 TT: What will it take for you guys to stop acting like 5 year-olds
⚪️ Yin: If I was not attached to Yang, I wouldn’t do anything wrong!
⚫️ Yang: THATS BECAUSE YOU’RE A LOSER!!
🧪 TT: Hm. Fair point
Then going on to say how their team would do better without their arguing (which is true, but the goal of experiment 626 is to separate them, making them less “weird”, as MePhone4 puts it
..Also look at how frustrated Test tube is here and compare that to how the other contestants treat these two
Notice the infantilization first, calling them childish because of their constant bickering. Notice how Yin immediately deflects onto Yang, because he’s ashamed of himself for being a system. If he was a singlet like everyone else, he wouldn’t do anything wrong. But because they are plural, a package duo, Yin resents Yang for not being able to act “normal” for everyone.
Notice how Test tube agrees with Yin and already has worked on a way to separate them, instead of helping them work together and reach a common goal like what Candle does in season 3
This “cure” isn’t meant to help Yin or Yang. It’s for the convenience of everyone else. Even though Yin and Yang are both on board, they don’t take the experiment willingly. Instead, Testtube force-feeds it to them. If that’s not sysphobia I don’t know what is
Then the experiment runs its course, and we get this conversation between Yin and Yang.
⚪️ Yin: What is it? We aren’t connected anymore. You can go now.
Later followed by ⚪️ “Someone has to control his anger”
Yang is finally freed from that suppression and wants to be able to live on his own (albeit in a stereotypical, evil-alter way), but I’d like to argue this from a lens of suppression. Yang is overjoyed that he doesn’t have to conform to acting normal and appeasing everyone like Yin.
Yin is overjoyed because the headmate everyone complains about is no longer alongside him. They don’t have to work together, and Yin doesn’t have to physically restrain Yang anymore.
Yin wants Yang gone as a product of how they’ve been treated as a system. Yin is internalizing that “weirdness” MePhone4 points out.
But now Yang is an even bigger problem because he won’t go away. Yin can’t suppress him anymore. So Yin chooses to go back to being “stuck” in one body with Yang. Notice how Yang doesn’t want to because he was free from that suppression in separation, being much happier than Yin was with the newfound freedom. Notice how Yin takes this cure (now putting them back together) willingly (to control/repress Yang), while Yang is force-fed again (Because he wants to be allowed self-expression).
It’s played like a happy ending. But it isn’t. Yin is still trying to appeal to the cast as “normal”, whereas Yang tries to assert himself even more to express his individuality.
It’s no surprise the next episode follows with more bickering.
⚫️ Yang: HAH! TAKE THIS! LOSERS!
🪭 Fan: Hey!!
⚪️ Yin: Yes!! I mean— No! That was the wrong goal!!
⚫️ Yang: NO. I’M PRETTY SURE IT WAS THE RIGHT GOAL!
🪭 Fan: WHAT!?!
[Yang hits the ball again into their own goal]
⚪️ Yin: Okay. That time was on purpose.
⚫️ Yang: SO WAS THE LAST TIME! IDIOT!!!
This is more of Yang trying to assert his dominance. He doesn’t own his mistakes, he doesn’t even consider them to be mistakes. He kicked the ball on purpose and defies Yin’s attempts to paint him in a more positive light. Why? Because Yang feels his individuality can only be expressed through defying Yin. He can only express himself as the “bad” one because that’s all anyone tries to see him as. Even Yin.
Yang is described as weird. Uncontrollable. Restless. He’s never been assigned/described as a positive emotion until season 3. Even then he is discriminated against for the way he carries himself. Yang is lashing out because of this frustration. He embraces this “weirdness” as his identity and refuses any lifeline because he understands that nobody wants him around. Yin said it himself, that he can just “go away now”.
They depart from this season at each others necks. They hate themselves.
Yin hates Yang for ostracizing them, barring them from making meaningful relationships and being completely unable to act “normally”.
Yang hates Yin for suppressing him. For hating themselves like everyone hates them. For never standing up for him. So he attacks Yin too, like he does with everyone else.
SEASON 3 — YIN-YANG’S JOURNEY OF SELF LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE
I hear a lot of people say that Yin-Yang’s personalities were overhauled in a way that makes it seem like Yang especially had a lot of personal growth off-screen. But I think a lot of the personal growth can be seen in the first couple of episodes rather than off screen.
Yang is still chaotic and untethered as ever. Just like in Season 2, just with less needless violence (less of a character arc thing — more that the writing got much better — Yang is still violent, just in ways that make much more sense for him and allow him to be a character with more depth than “evil”)
For example:
🧪 TT: Whoa! Neato to the third degree, Yin-Yang! But uh- What are you guys fishing for
⚫️ Yang: NOT FISHING FOR FRIENDS. SO GET LOST!
⚪️ Yin: Yang!! We are fishing for our ticket.
🧪 TT: Why would it be in the water?
⚫️ Yang: I THREW IT IN THERE.
🧪 TT: Yep. Okay.
Yang is much more aggressive here, in a very personal way. Yang doesn’t trust anyone, he doesn’t want friends, and he especially doesn’t want to cooperate. This is all a product of how he’s felt throughout the course of season 2. Isolated. Alone. Villainized. Nobody likes him, so attempts to get close to him feels raw and fake to him. He’s defensive here, and Test Tube’s visible fear when Yang shouts at him shows that this defensive mechanism has been working to keep them far apart from people that he has every reason to feel betrayed by. Bonus points that its in defiance of Yin.
Not to mention this is the same girl that seperated them, and put them back together, Yang probably doesn’t like her very much 💀
And when everyone’s arguing with each other when they crash, Yin-Yang stands far away from the group, arguing amongst themselves. They’re lonely. Isolated. Misunderstood. To me, this doesn’t scream like off-screen development. This is exactly how they left in season 2. Complete self-loathing.
⚫️ Yang: Ooh! Ooh! I know! The Drinkers™! Because we only drink Dr. Fizz!
⚫️ Yang: .. What. You’re not going to say it?
⚪️ Yin: I’m not giving into that again. Plus, I’m sure everyone thinks its a pretty dumb name.
🏝️ Floor: Yeah, I think it’s… pretty lame
⚫️ Yang: GAH. NOT NICE!!
JUST LOOK AT HOW UNSUPPORTIVE YIN IS?? IMMEDIATELY CALLING OUT THAT NOBODY WILL LIKE THAT NAME??
While Yang gets that name to defy Yin, Yin isn’t giving him that time of day anymore. Yin is tired, exhausted from having to always fight back against Yang. The internalized sysphobia is strong but it’s clearly weighing on him and he can’t bear himself to argue anymore himself.
So he leans on others instead. Everyone thinks its weird. Nobody likes that name. This roots from season 2. Everyone thinks they’re weird.
And Yin was right. Nobody liked that name. Yang’s response to that?
Kicking the first authority figure he sees. Lashing out against someone literally looking down on another person. Like what LITERALLY JUST HAPPENED TO HIM. He’s regaining control in his own, aggressively passionate way. Taking it out on someone else. Because who would give him the time of day to express that? Who would he go to with those feelings of dejection, when everyone looks down on him with disgust?
...
Enter Candle the GOAT
The first real interaction between these two characters. The start of a beautiful friendship.
She INSTANTLY calms Yang down. How? Because she approaches him not trying to fix him, but to understand him. This is through meditation. Sure, she refers to her stone as an "enchantment", but I don't think the stone itself is magical. I think it's the way she uses it to relieve the tension in the room. She says that herself.
Look at how his expression shifts. The stress marks under his eye disappear. He stares in confusion. Then surprise. He's enamored. We see him lower his guard for once. He's listening.
Yang just wants to be understood. Heard. Seen. Candle provides that for him.
🕯️ Candle: Now... Think of all the partners on our team. What are their thoughts?
⚫️ Yang: Stupid.
⚪️ Yin: Oh hush--
[🕯️ Candle hits her stone, calming them again]
Notice how she only hits it after Yin spoke up trying to control Yang? Yang was expressing something, and Yin shut it down. But now Yin is being corrected awayfrom that behavior because of Candle.
QUEUE EPISODE FOUR. THE OVERTHINKERS
Such a powerful episode both to show how people have treated AND STILL TREAT Yin-Yang and how that effects them, as well as how they begin to move forward despite it and HEAL.
⚫️ Yang: Look at them! Plotting! No... SCHEMING !
⚫️ Yang: They don't want us in their team leader club because we are not nearly as tall as them!
⚪️ Yin: Yang's jealous.
⚫️ Yang: ABOLISH ALL THE LEADERS!!!
AGAIN we are seeing this passionate hatred for leadership and control from Yang. As well as an immediate distrust for leaders BECAUSE of what he's been through. He can't stand the thought of being controlled by anyone and this is why it bothers him so much. Its told in a light hearted way, but I think the insistence on height is both a funny bit and Yang coping with this feeling of rejection.
--Tying it into his jealousy, the bit of "Supreme Overlord Yang" could DEFINITELY be seen as him trying to regain control in a more lighthearted way and I'll get into that when the scene comes
OJ treats Yin-Yang, especially Yang, like a kid. The way he asks if Yang wants to press the button is so disrespectful to Yang, and Yang internalizes this later in the episode. Yang is treated like a child and OJ confirms this is how their relationship operated back at the hotel. No wonder Yang wasn't fishing for friends, right? Friends that treat you like a "5 year old".
⚪️ Yin: Yang never knocks before entering my mental bedroom.
⚫️ Yang: HE HAS A BRAIN DIARY!! WHAT IS HE? SOME KIND OF LOSER [LAUGH] WHO WRITES?
🕯️ Candle: Perhaps it's best you two embrace each other, by taking part in one another's interests.
⚫️ Yang: ...Fine. But. If I write about my feelings, Yin has to sing "A Party". My favorite activity.
⚪️ Yin: You don't like singing.
🕯️ Candle: Yin. Connection is a two-way street.
⚪️ Yin: [sigh] Fine.
first of all more proof they're a system what kind of conjoined twin has a headspace. what. thats a plural thing. also shows the writers did their research so dont pmo
SECOND of all notice how Yin actively pushes back against Yang. Candle is teaching Yin to compromise with Yang, and giving Yang a platform to be HEARD. LOOK AT CANDLE'S EXPRESSIONS WHEN SHE TALKS TO YANG VS YIN.
With Yang she's happy to see him participate. With Yin she looks annoyed since he's constantly shutting Yang down. SHE SEES THEIR STRUGGLE AND APPROACHES THEM IN A WAY NO ONE ELSE HAS. She uplifts Yang while teaching Yin not to suppress him. She's teaching them to love themselves here. To stop denying themselves that. Yang is allowed to express frustration. Yang deserves a platform just like Yin does.
AND LOOK WHERE THAT TALK GETS THEM!??!! YIN LETS YANG EXPRESS HIMSELF AND EVEN LETS HIMSELF HAVE A LITTLE FUN TOO?!?! HE'S NOT STRESSED AT TRYING TO PRETEND TO BE "NORMAL" AND PALATABLE FOR THE OTHER CONTESTANTS!?!?!!?
NOTICE WHAT YANG IS DEMANDING HERE. RESPECT. RESPECT FROM ALL THE OTHER CONTESTANTS AND YIN IS FINALLY STARTING TO GET ON BOARD WITH THIS. THEY'RE HEALING!!!!
But after all that self love, Yin-Yang gets the majority votes, only saved by their immunity streak. They have proof everyone hates them. Everyone wants them gone. Even Candle wants them gone, but they don't know that. It's heartbreaking for them.
The sysphobia is real. Yin's feelings of wanting to appear normal come from this exact place of pain and judgement. Because many of the other contestants don't respect them. It isn't right for him to try to control Yang but this is such a relatable struggle of internalized ableism and you never really see this kind of story being told especially with plurality. To stop masking and be hit with this loss is so devastating for them. But they rebuild from here, with the guidance of Candle, and they make even more progress towards healing despite it.
They HAVE someone that cares about them now. Someone that actually wants to see them love themselves. Someone that wants to see both of them at their best together. Not a rejection of one headmate for another, not as a stint for them to be normal, but for them to be themselves and happy as themselves.
The "Try Not To Laugh Challenge" does so much for the two of them. I'd argue you can't understand the episode if you don't think Yin-Yang is a system. It just doesn't make sense at all without that context.
Up to this point Yin and Yang co-front, both are in control of the body and its an active fight to maintain the most control, with both Yin and Yang sometimes gaining more or less bodily control.
HERE we see that collapse. With Candle's guidance they're able to conduct "Mindful Positioning". On the fandom wiki they called this one of their powers which is a little funny, but in plural terms they're FINALLY SWITCHING OUT. They're allowing the other to have full control of the body. This is an exercise of TRUST. Trust to not let the other do something they would disagree with. Trusting the other to take CARE of themselves. This happens in short bursts in the episode but it establishes some REALLY IMPORTANT DETAILS LIKE
-Their different personalities and how they work in isolation (without the other's influence) (yin can be a little sassy as a treat)
-Different designs/expressions (YANG'S SHARP TEETH AND YIN'S SASSY WINK)
-That they actually CAN switch out (i've seen a lot of posts saying that because they're both fronting at the same time they cant be a system, which is NOT true and the term is co-fronting)
They've already grown so much from having literally one supportive person in their life to the point they're FINALLY comfortable switching out of front.
YEARS of fighting for dominance, vying for full control, RESENTING one another and HATING each other more than anything.
Now?
They're letting each other take full control with Mindful Positioning. From this episode on each of them gets a single episode where only one of them is controlling the body. From this episode on they do a number of things that show just how close they've become. They actually work together and love each other.
From stacking ice cream in harmony to reuniting with Riggity, they're balanced. Yin opens up to Yang about his insecurities and inability to be assertive. He finally thanks and acknowledges Yang for being such an integral part of their system. They're undoing YEARS worth of trauma because they finally have someone that understands and loves them and encourages them to love each other too. Their friendship with Candle is so beautiful.
I say and then I turn straight towards the camera and start sobbing profusely because Candle betrays them and this system cannot have nice things no its okau bim im okayu im not crying you are
Candle's betrayal hurts because you can see their immediate decline in mental health. Yin retreats to their headspace to cope while Yang is left with the ever so trustworthy Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon PURPOSEFULLY UNDOS WHAT LOOKS LIKE MONTHS OF THERAPY AND UNRAVELS YANG CAUSING HIM TO SPIRAL AND FALL OFF A FLOATING BUILDING AND HAVE TRUST ISSUES AGAIN.
WHICH CAUSES YIN TO FEEL INSECURE AND FEEL LIKE HE NEEDS TO CONTROL YANG AGAIN AND FGSNDGLD ...
It matters so much of them to have trust in other people because without that they start to attack each other out of that insecurity that they aren't lovable. That they're too weird. Both of them need love and spiral in different ways that lead to the arguments we've seen in season 2. Yin tries to make themselves more appealing for their singlet friends, while Yang tries to over-assert himself to fight against Yin's repressive behaviors. Candle held them together and they latched onto Cabby afterwards but the fallout from losing Candle made them not trust the foundation they built with her anymore.
omg their headspace is so pretty look at the stars and spacey theme it has go mental bedroom go
They spiral quickly back to their season 2 selves. ESPECIALLY YIN, who in "Blue Buried" blames Yang for EVERYTHING without evidence. And this is the first time the majority of people DON'T agree with him blaming things on Yang. They've finally seen the good Candle has done for them and the absence of that is uncomfortable to watch.
...But they overcome this. They learn to trust each other again. They set boundaries. And they make a foundation that no one can break, because it isn't dependent on someone outside of themselves.
⚫️ Yang: Would that be... okay?
⚪️ Yin: Thanks for asking. Loser~
[⚫️ Yang laughs playfully, ⚪️ Yin smiles back]
⚫️ Yang: We will be using the milk... to give to Cabby.
They make decisions together now. They ask each other for consent. They're not fighting anymore. They have respect for each other.
They're a unit. Two people in one body working towards a common goal despite the sysphobia they've gone through and internalized within themselves.
Headcanoning them as conjoined twins completely misses the point.
Their story is beautiful because it's told through a plural lens. A story of fighting against internalized ableism and learning to work together. To trust each other and work together towards a future both of them consent to and want to take part in.
Such a big part of being plural is learning to trust your headmates, to compromise and work towards a future everyone feels safe in. Not everyone agrees on one thing which leads to so many arguments. And Yin-Yang is a system that works towards functional multiplicity, something that's rarely seen in media because of how taboo it can be.
The writers did their homework. And it paid off.
