The Logan is the Orange Side theory has been making the rounds after the new episode, for obvious reasons, and I’ve seen it enough that I felt the need to push back against it.
I am not trying to harass or insult anyone who believes this theory, and if it turns out to be true I will graciously eat the crow I ordered. But in the meantime, part of theorizing is arguing for and against fan theories, and where this one is concerned I am firmly against.
So, without further ado, here’s 5 reasons why Logan is being influenced by the Orange Side, and is not the Orange Side himself:
That’s Not How the Dark Sides Work
Dark Sides aren’t actually defined by being “dark”- “The Dark Sides” is a nickname Roman gave them and Virgil consistently corrects it to the Others- nor are they inherently different from the Core Sides. What makes the Dark Sides different is that Thomas views them differently; they’re sides he would “prefer not to know about”. What makes a Dark Side a Dark Side is Janus having hidden them away because Thomas didn’t want to accept them as himself, and any other shared qualities are either incidental or ultimately stem from that rejection.
Logan can’t just lose it and decide to be a Dark Side, because who is and is not a Dark Side is ultimately up to Thomas, and Thomas already knows and accepts Logan (and yes, Orange is a Dark Side- he was grouped with them in the svsr thumbnail). Instead, Logan going off the deep end himself would likely turn him into something more like LilyPadton. Even if Thomas suddenly decided he wanted to completely reject Logan- and I cannot see Thomas going that far- it wouldn’t spontaneously turn him into a different Side, it would just make him a Logic who wasn’t accepted.
The other option is for Orange to be some sort of suppressed alter-ego of Logan’s, which he would flip to when sufficiently angered/stressed. This would make Orange a Dark Side as he would have been hidden away from Thomas, but it also goes completely against the established worldbuilding. When Thomas decided to accept one part of Creativity and reject another, it resulted in Creativity splitting “into two parts during [Thomas’] development… Like an ovum.” Following that logic (ha), if there were a Dark Side counterpart to Logic, he should be Logan’s twin, not a Jeckyl-and-Hyde-esque alter-ego or Logan-but-orange.
It Messes Up the Rainbow
Remember this shirt?
There’s a flower for each Side, with a field of cherry blossoms underneath to represent Thomas. One flower corresponds to one color, which in turn corresponds to one Side.
Yoo this is so cool and I agree 100%!! Not to rain on the parade of the theorists who think Logan is Orange, you guys do you and have fun! But I personally believe it’s a bit more like OP says!
Mostly because of continuity… and Virgil.
At the end of SvS Virgil tells Thomas to never let Deceit or any of his friendS (plural) hang out for that long ever again. This indicates there IS another side (or more who knows! lol probably not but still more than 1) besides Remus who is coming that Virgil has met before.
At the same time, at the end of Moving On Part 2 Virgil also sort of freaks out about Logan disappearing on them and tells him not to do that again.
I just think that if Logan was Orange, well Virgil would be a lot more defenssive towards him and would definetely not freak out when he was gone in Moving On. Of course there’s the possibility of Logan having an alter ego like OP says, but that contradicts the TSS rules stablished earlier. So yeah! Marvelous arguments OP!
Also please give us another dark side, yes I am ready to draw the little carrot bastard. Thanks.
((Okay after tumblr DELETED this post, I guess I’ll try doing this again.))
Something that I’ve been reading a lot in some discussion posts about Logan and that “he’s not ignored– he’s been so important to Thomas and the others and he’s been thanked and stuff why is he so mad?”
I think I can clear that up for you. But let’s review a few things:
So Logan has been the definitive mediator throughout most of the previous episodes. He was the stage director for CYBG where he was thoroughly listened to; LVP was all about Thomas learning to listen to both of his most dramatic and loud sides aka Logan and Roman and how they can work together; LNTAO is a bit of a setback for Logan but it is his understanding of how the song fit into the conversation, as well as the puppets, that caused Thomas to have his eventual epiphany about his issue going into the episode; in EP Logan is the overall narrator, explaining how all these things that Virgil finds embarrassing were actually very needed in his overall development as a child and a teenager.
SVS has a very important Logan scene that does point towards my whole point:
Logan is quick to say that it isn’t working out. This is presumably obvious by the audience. Thomas is always scatterbrained, late to things, and obviously not looking at the calendar Logan has made considering the only thing on the calendar for April 13th is the callback and not the wedding. If Thomas had been listening to Logan on a normal basis, he would’ve known that but when it’s revealed, even Thomas himself seems a bit surprised immediately jumping to that Janus is lying and must have tampered with it. The rest of the episode goes on and Logan is given the benched seat but still has his opinions put out there for everyone as Patton calls on him a time or two.
DWIT is where Logan shines. He constantly puts Remus in his place throughout the episode also while proving the point that logic is the only way to work through intrusive thoughts, and that Remus is necessary to some extent. This is also an episode that I think Logan thinks was a turning point in his relationship with Thomas. Thomas sincerely thanks him directly and calls him cool. Logan is not used to that emotional kind of sincerity from Thomas directly and I think it affected him in a way that made him proud of the work he does, more than he would normally be. Logan now realizes that maybe Thomas will listen to him a bit more.
And by listening to him, he means allowing him to serve his true function. Logan, as logic and basically organizer of all of Thomas’s mental notes, likes diligently planning things and keeping order to Thomas’s life to help him live the best life he possibly can. Logan thinks now will be the time that Thomas actually chooses Logan to be the lead side in his life. Maybe for the first time.
Logan had already been pushed to the side once when Thomas decided he wanted to quit his education to become a Vine Creator/Youtube Personality. Roman became center stage but with so much pressure on Internet Celebs, Patton and Virgil also became pretty important. Logan was last on the priority list and as a side, his wants for Thomas have been last on the totem pole so to speak. So now that Thomas has seen how cool Logan is, Logan believes he can finally get some organization and stuff done in Thomas’s life and finally be listened to for what he wants, not just what he can give.
But then, POF happens. Logan is once again pushed out of the conversation and the more important things are emotionally driven, which focuses again on Patton and Roman, with a bit of Janus included. Logan also takes offense to the fact that nobody noticed he was missing and leaves after he done doing what he always does, bringing reason to the situation at hand. I mean, that’s all he’s good for right? He can’t help Thomas in any other way apparently. All of his other attempts have failed so why bother sticking around and hoping Thomas listens to him?
Then we fall on WTIT, Logan looks so happy upon first showing up to Thomas when he wakes up. We learn later that 5am Thomas made a lot of promises to Logan about getting lots of chores and things done today. Logan is happy because Thomas is gonna listen to him and we all know how Logan feels when deadlines are met and projects get completed.
But then Remus comes into play because Thomas is distracted by Nico not responding to his text messages from 4am. Logically, most people are asleep at that time of night so worrying about someone not answering around then would be kind of silly. Logan doesn’t seem to know about Nico not responding or at least he hasn’t noticed directly what’s troubling Thomas. We know he sees everything Thomas does to an extent because of a previous episode (“Have you seen the Office bloopers?” “Yes I have seen them 15 times because I am a part of you!”) so it makes sense to assume that Logan should know about the messages.
Remus is able to keep distracting Thomas because he’s so focused on why Nico hasn’t responded to his message yet and in this way, he’s able to keep Thomas from doing what Logan wants him to do. Over and over and over again. He’s unable to eat, he’s unable to do the dishes, he’s unable to clean up the litter everywhere—Logan increasingly gets more frustrated at the fact that Remus won’t leave them alone so maybe Thomas can get something done. However, Logan is going against his own logic here.
If we call back to DWIT, Logan explicitly says:
And yet, that’s what Logan is doing here. He’s trying to stop Remus instead of finding out what the real problem is. In an attempt to finally get Thomas to listen to him and do what he wants, he’s ignoring Thomas’s actual problem: the messages from Nico.
Also something very important in this scene here when Logan is trying to get Remus to stop or just listen to him:
Thomas is looking at his phone again and we’ve gone from sad that Nico is ignoring him to anger. His eyebrow furrow in frustration and his nose twitches like his breathing has gotten faster. Then it snaps back to Logan who finally snaps:
“STOP IGNORING ME!”
The thing is, I think Logan says this without realizing exactly what he’s saying or what he’s feeling at the moment because while some of his feelings are his own, some of them are Thomas’s feelings at Nico for, as far as Thomas knows, ignoring his text messages. As seen here:
He really was taken aback by how angry he really is. Because Orange is clearly affecting him here, but I think he was using Logan to affect Thomas too.
We know that Thomas doesn’t normally get mad at anything within canon; he’s pretty passive and usually let’s things roll off his shoulders. But today, the fact that his house is a mess, he can’t seem to get anything done, Nico ignoring him, and the constant intrusive thoughts that just won’t go away and keep messing with him… it’s become too much. He actually was about to explode, which is what happened to Logan. It only didn’t happen to Thomas because Nico called him just before so crisis averted in that regard.
Remus is pleased to finally see some emotion out of Logan and responds with: “But who do you really want to scream that at?” as he sinks out, seemingly referencing the fact that Logan is upset with Thomas constantly pushing his needs as a side away.
Nico then invites Thomas out and of course Thomas immediately accepts which Logan is surprised at which basically confirms he did not know about Thomas’s Nico problems that had been bothering him all day. The conversation downstairs is the culmination of Thomas and Logan’s relationship. Thomas throws on some clothes to leave and Logan asks him about his needs, the plans they had made that day. Thomas says he will get to it eventually and even makes a joke about tomorrow Thomas or whatever before blurting out: “This is just really important.”
That is an image of a side who realizes that to Thomas, his needs are not important. What’s more important is something else… again.
As he sinks out, Logan hugs his planner. That is what is important to him, but it was made pretty clear that just because it’s important to him doesn’t mean it’s important to Thomas.
In the end card, Logan spends most of it with his arms closed tightly around his body, as if holding onto himself in the same way he did his planner. He also seems rather quiet—he speaks but his words aren’t full of that proud tone he usually carries. It’s soft and weak, or rather timid. He is happy for Thomas but he’s also upset.
The way I see it is that while Thomas and the other sides do take advice and learn from Logan all the time on his knowledge, that’s different than actually listening. Logan’s needs as a side, his organizational and planning work, is ignored all the time. Let’s put it into a different perspective.
Let’s say you had a friend. They are so important to you and you all hang out together all the time. However, the friend begins to focus on something else more and you begin to drift apart. You don’t really understand this new thing your friend loves but you continue to help them anytime something goes wrong with this new endeavor, because you love them. They come back to you time and time again for more help and while you don’t mind helping them, it would be nice if they could do something you enjoy too instead of it always being about them. You don’t say this, but it’s something you feel inside. Then one day, your friend calls you. They’ve planned all day around spending time with you! You make plans and you’re so excited for them to come over and hang out. But as you begin to do something, their phone pings. They apologize but have to respond. It’s for that other focus. You understand but it keeps happening and eventually they’re called away from hanging out with you. Neither of you have really done anything that day because of the constant distractions taking your friend’s attention away from you. At this point, you’re upset and say “but I had a whole day plan of things for us to do.” “And we will, I promise. Maybe next week. This is just really important, okay?” The friend points to the phone and then excuses themself and leaves your house.
That is the situation with Logan and Thomas.
Getting complemented for your knowledge and smarts, and getting thanks for helping in situations is great and all, but meaningful reciprocation of that same time and energy from the other party means so much and if you keep giving and giving, eventually you have nothing more to give. You feel used and useless.
Tl;dr: Logan wants a more meaningful relationship with Thomas where not only can he teach Thomas things, but also make life better for Thomas but Thomas keeps pushing Logan away in that aspect, claiming that things are just more important than what Logan needs as a side.
(This is 2000 words… I’m gonna go think about something else for a bit LOLOL)
Also note this:
Thomas is standing in front of the letter O. O for ORANGE MAYBE HMMMMMMM /jk i honestly don’t know but I find it funny out of all the letters in the words, he’s standing in front of the only O.
So, to make sure we had sound working before watching the newest episode, myself and a few good friends ended up watching a few Flex Tape videos before the main event
