#tssshipbrackets

why is Tumblr mean and not let me edit polls after I post them

whatever

It's Prinxiety V Logince

This poll goes out to Intruloceit Nation and all those who called me "fucking evil" or some other paraphrase of that for putting Loceit and Intrulogical against each other earlier this round

Round 1 is finally complete, here is who won each round and the margin.* More stats and some of my commentary on them are under the cut.

Logince won over Royality with a 30.2% margin Princeit won over RemRom with a 67.8% margin Rosleep won over Romile with a 15% margin Moxiety won over Rothomas with a 55.6% margin Analogical won over Anxceit with a 49.8% margin Dukexiety won over Virgemile with a 69.4% margin Sleepxiety won over Thomxiety with a 59.4% margin Moceit won over Logicality with a 24.6% margin Intruality won over Moricani with a 27.6% margin Sleepality won over Thomality with a 34.8% margin Intrulogical won over Loceit with a 29.2% margin Losleep won over Logmile with a 31.6% margin Dukeceit won over Logmas with a 71.8% margin Desleep won over Janmile with a 52.8% margin Intrucani won over Thomceit with a 17.8% margin Dukesleep won over Dukemas with a 49.6% margin Remile won over Thomile with a 81.4% margin Prinxieality won over Sleepmas with a 13.4% margin Analogince won over Prinxieceit with a 31.2% margin Creativexiety won over Prinxiemile with a 6.8% margin Prinxiesleep won over Prinxiemas with a 61.2% margin Logicalince won over Royaliceit with a 6.6% margin Royalimile won over Creativality with a 42.6% margin Royalisleep won over Royalimas with a 45.6% margin Loroceit won over Intrulogince with a 65% margin Losleeprince won over Loromile with a 35.2% margin Logincemas won over Creativeceit with a 12.8% margin Roceisleep won over Roceimile with a 57.4% margin Roceitmas won over Remrommile with a 73.6% margin Creativsleep won over Creativmas with a 41.6% margin Rosleepmile won over Romilemas with a 80% margin Logicalxiety won over Rosleepmas with a 59.2% margin Moxieceit won over Intrumoxiety with a 57.2% margin Moxiemile won over Moxiesleep with a 5.2% margin Analoceit won over Moxiemas with a 90.2% margin Intruloxiety won over Analogmile with a 80.2% margin Analosleep won over Analomas with a 38% margin Sleepxieceit won over Anxceitmas with a 55.2% margin Intruxiesleep won over Intruxiemile with a 57.4% margin Anaremile won over Intruxiemas with a 36.2% margin Thomxiemile won over Thomxiesleep with a 73.4% margin Logicalceit won over Intrulogicality with a 32.4% margin Logicalmile won over Logicalsleep with a 18.8% margin Intrualiceit won over Logicalmas with a 50.8% margin Moceitmile won over Moceitsleep with a 7.6% margin Moceitmas won over Intrualimile with a 2.2% margin Intrualisleep won over Intrualimas with a 34.6% margin Moraliremile won over Moralithomile with a 39.6% margin Intruloceit won over Moralisleepmas with a 84.2% margin Loceitsleep won over Loceitmile with a 41.4% margin Intruceitmile won over Loceitmas with a 5.4% margin Intruceitsleep won over Intruceitmas with a 35.4% margin Remilceit won over Janmilemas with a 42.6% margin Intruremile won over Receitmas with a 2.4% margin Intrusleepmas won over Intruthomile with a 49% margin Intrulosleep won over Intrulomas with a 24.2% margin Loremile won over Lomilemas with a 54.8% margin DLAMP won over LAMP with a 25.8% margin DLAMPR won over DLAMR with a 45.8% margin

*the margin is the difference between the percentage of votes that each ship got. Ship A got 25%, Ship B got 75%, that's a 50% margin

Him popping up or being a main character was pretty common back in the day, and a lot of ship-possibles even if it wasn’t centric. Sometimes I go back in my bookmarks or old saved posts and am even surprised myself how he was always almost a given to have a role, as opposed to recent things. Sometime it became taboo because it’s ‘too close to RPF’, but it wasn’t always. I wonder what the shift was exactly.

That's really interesting! I'm comparatively new (December 2024), but going back and reading old fics I have noticed that to an extent. I've read fics where even some of Thomas' friends (or at least the characterized versions seen in Sanders Sides) have shown up.

I think there are a number of things contributing to the lack of C!Thomas fans/content/etc. I don't know how much each contributes indiviudally if it were to be put on a pie chart but... my hypothesis is as such:

C!Thomas became less of a focal point in the series. Early episodes are very C!Thomas focused. Sides pop up, help him with a crisis, end episode. But around the time Janus was introduced, the episodes spent as much time exploring the dynamics between the sides as time spent with C!Thomas. (There was always time spent on inter-side dynamics, but it heightened after this)

Side-only skits. While Logan, Patton and Roman all originated as Vine characters, and Virgil had a brief stint post-introduction, their vine counterparts aren't them. (As seen by the separate character tags on AO3.) Thomas has recently made quite a few skits just with the sides where C!Thomas rarely, if ever, appears. Incorrect quotes, Hear Me Out Cake, My Characters React To Your Tweets, etc 2a. With these skit videos being the main content coming out from late 2019-now, with 2 Official Sanders Sides Episodes between then and now (FWSA & WIDS?) there's been a significant lack of what we see of C!Thomas, vs getting semi-regular content of the other sides. With less content surrounding him, there are less random instances to inspire creators, and less creations to inspire other creations.

Rise of Purity Culture in fandom overall. In recent times there has been a rise in purity culture across all fandoms. people who don't normally engage in fandom joining them and disrespecting the unspoken (and spoken) rules that have existed since pre-internet times. Purity Culture attempts to shame a number of things, including RPF or anything that can be construed as such. This is where C!Thomas comes in. Unlike the sides, he is a person slightly removed from his life. To some people, that is too close to RPF for their comfort and they back out. (This has been expressed to me in an ask). This is not to say purity culture has infected the Sanders Sides Fandom as a whole, but it has been pretty impossible to escape and that stuff sinks into your pores and is really hard to get out.

Difficulty Shipping. Because the sides are all metaphysical representations of aspects of his personality, C!Thomas can't actually date any of the sides. (Despite a few pieces of canon evidence showing the sides being not metaphysical, the CLBG? end card confirms that only C!Thomas can see the sides) This makes shipping him, and then including him in works, significantly harder as there is no in-canon way to comfortably ship C!Thomas with anyone(Unless you happen to be Nico Flores, Sleep, October or The Other Side of The Pillow but they're rarely in fics anyway). Add this to the fact that C!Thomas makes seven, which means that there isn't the nice neat matchup of couples anymore, (currently Prinxiety, Intrulogical and Moceit, but look far enough back and Logicality & Dukeceit become the common duo) and it becomes seemingly easier to ignore his existence.