Apart from the official seasons, "Sanders Sides" can be divided in three "ages". The first age comprises the first seven episodes of season 1, the episodes that were written by Thomas Sanders alone. These episodes had a "minisode" format of 5:30 minutes of average length and were direct descendants of Thomas' old personal vlogs from his YouTube channel. In these first seven episodes, the topic was presented straightforwardly in a vlog format, accompanied with gags from the characters and light and comedic stories that were mostly self-conclusive, though some of these stories would be referenced in later episodes. Also, the release frequency was notably higher on the first age, as episodes were released weekly to fortnightly. The exceptions are the two first episodes, which were released monthly, as it was still not fully planned to make a full series of its own at that time, and therefore these episodes were originally released as one-off short videos.
The second age comprises from episode 8 of season 1 to episode 7 of season 2. Joan S. arrived as a co-writer in the 8th episode of season 1, and with that, Thomas and Joan as a creative team expanded the series dramatically. They accelerated character development, created story arcs developed throughout the season, and even created stories in two parts with a cliffhanger in between. They introduced dramatic and thrilling moments in the episodes that would join the gags and comedy that were and remained being the root of the series. They also abandoned the "minisode" format, as the rest of episodes from season one would move between 8 to almost 15 minutes of running time, and season 2 would have even longer episodes, moving from 14 to 27 minutes. More complex visual effects and cinematography were also introduced at the end of season 1. Talyn also joined in, helping Thomas and Joan in the makeup, costume and art departments. Due to the higher production values, episodes started being released in a fortnightly to monthly average basis, sometimes longer than monthly if production issues of any kind arose.
The third age began on episode 8 of season 2, after a six-month hiatus, with the introduction of a whole new team of writers, editors and other crew members that joined Thomas and Joan in the production of the series, including also external guest crew members for specific episodes. Among the new members, there are Cam Foote, Davi Decandia, Quil Darling, Lev Ettinger, AJ Hentges, among others, and in the guest crew, names like Nate Begle and Adam Kreutinger among others. The team had expanded so much that credit sequences started appearing onscreen at the beginning of each episode instead of relying solely on the YouTube video description as had been the norm earlier, and this was reflected on a new increase of production values for each installment, as well as a new increase on the average running time for each episode, which moved between 38 and 51 minutes of length. The gap between episodes was also increased as now they were released with two to three months between releases or more. With the inauguration of Sanders' new headquarters on January 2019, which included a green-screen studio, more elaborated special effects became available for the series.
The second age comprises from episode 8 of season 1 to episode 7 of season 2. Joan S. arrived as a co-writer in the 8th episode of season 1, and with that, Thomas and Joan as a creative team expanded the series dramatically. They accelerated character development, created story arcs developed throughout the season, and even created stories in two parts with a cliffhanger in between. They introduced dramatic and thrilling moments in the episodes that would join the gags and comedy that were and remained being the root of the series. They also abandoned the "minisode" format, as the rest of episodes from season one would move between 8 to almost 15 minutes of running time, and season 2 would have even longer episodes, moving from 14 to 27 minutes. More complex visual effects and cinematography were also introduced at the end of season 1. Talyn also joined in, helping Thomas and Joan in the makeup, costume and art departments. Due to the higher production values, episodes started being released in a fortnightly to monthly average basis, sometimes longer than monthly if production issues of any kind arose.
The third age began on episode 8 of season 2, after a six-month hiatus, with the introduction of a whole new team of writers, editors and other crew members that joined Thomas and Joan in the production of the series, including also external guest crew members for specific episodes. Among the new members, there are Cam Foote, Davi Decandia, Quil Darling, Lev Ettinger, AJ Hentges, among others, and in the guest crew, names like Nate Begle and Adam Kreutinger among others. The team had expanded so much that credit sequences started appearing onscreen at the beginning of each episode instead of relying solely on the YouTube video description as had been the norm earlier, and this was reflected on a new increase of production values for each installment, as well as a new increase on the average running time for each episode, which moved between 38 and 51 minutes of length. The gap between episodes was also increased as now they were released with two to three months between releases or more. With the inauguration of Sanders' new headquarters on January 2019, which included a green-screen studio, more elaborated special effects became available for the series.
Logic, Morality and Creativity are based off of Teacher Guy, Dad Guy and Prince Guy, three characters created by Thomas Sanders that were featured on his Vine series, Sanders Shorts (2013). Anxiety was created as a one-off character for a single episode, but he was so well received that he stayed permanently. An Anxiety Guy inspired on Virgil appeared later on Vine but only one single time before Vine was shut down. He would make further appearances on the Sanders Shorts series afterwards, though, when the series was swifted to Instagram.
Despite being clear that Princey, Logic and Dad are different characters from the Prince Guy, the Teacher Guy and the Dad Guy from Sanders Shorts (2013), the dates when each of the "Sanders Guys" characters were introduced in the Shorts series have been widely accepted, both by the creative team and the audience, as the birthdays for the Sanders Sides characters, and each birthday is celebrated with great fanfare, both by Thomas Sanders and his followers, who send Thomas lots of fan-art for the celebration that Sanders willingly shares on his Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr accounts.
Morality's birthday has been established on January 15, as the Dad Guy was first introduced on January 15, 2014 in Dad's Jokes Just Became Legit (2014); Princey's birthday has been established on June 4, because the Prince Guy was first introduced in June 4, 2014 in Fairytale with a Twist: Sleeping Beauty (2014); and Logic's birthday has been established on November 3, as the Teacher Guy was first introduced on November 3, 2014 in These Troublemakers (2014).
The rest of the birthdays coincide with their first introduction on the Sanders Sides series as they debuted on Sanders Sides. Anxiety, on December 19, as he was first introduced on December 19, 2016 in Taking on Anxiety with Lilly Singh (2016); Deceit on February 3, as he was introduced on February 3, 2018 in Can Lying Be Good? (2018); and the Duke on June 25, as he was first introduced on June 25, 2019, in Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts (2019).
Joan however, clarified in their Tumblr account that none of these dates is canonical in the plot of the series. They clarified that what is being celebrated is the first introduction of the characters, not the characters' canon birthdays, because, in the story, all of the Sides share the same birthday as character Thomas because they are parts of Thomas. They wanted to make it clear that all of the Sides have the same gender, sexuality and birthday as Thomas to avoid them being called "personalities" plural and hint that Thomas would be a character with dissociative identity disorder, which is not what the team wanted to portray in the story.
Morality's birthday has been established on January 15, as the Dad Guy was first introduced on January 15, 2014 in Dad's Jokes Just Became Legit (2014); Princey's birthday has been established on June 4, because the Prince Guy was first introduced in June 4, 2014 in Fairytale with a Twist: Sleeping Beauty (2014); and Logic's birthday has been established on November 3, as the Teacher Guy was first introduced on November 3, 2014 in These Troublemakers (2014).
The rest of the birthdays coincide with their first introduction on the Sanders Sides series as they debuted on Sanders Sides. Anxiety, on December 19, as he was first introduced on December 19, 2016 in Taking on Anxiety with Lilly Singh (2016); Deceit on February 3, as he was introduced on February 3, 2018 in Can Lying Be Good? (2018); and the Duke on June 25, as he was first introduced on June 25, 2019, in Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts (2019).
Joan however, clarified in their Tumblr account that none of these dates is canonical in the plot of the series. They clarified that what is being celebrated is the first introduction of the characters, not the characters' canon birthdays, because, in the story, all of the Sides share the same birthday as character Thomas because they are parts of Thomas. They wanted to make it clear that all of the Sides have the same gender, sexuality and birthday as Thomas to avoid them being called "personalities" plural and hint that Thomas would be a character with dissociative identity disorder, which is not what the team wanted to portray in the story.
Seeing that the new episode the team were working on after Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts (2019) was gonna take a lot of time because they were working with "an artist" to make it, to make up for the delay and also to release Sanders Sides content more frequently, in November 2019, the team created a companion series titled Sanders Asides (2019). It is very similar in format to the original Sanders Sides, so much so that its episodes could very well have appeared as part of the original series, as everything happening in Sanders Asides is canon in Sanders Sides and vice versa, but there are differences.
The main differences are that Sanders Asides stories are lighter in tone and the intention is to make episodes shorter, between 5 to 10 minutes, in the style of the original season one episodes, unlike the average 40 minutes of season 2 Sanders Sides episodes. Also, Sanders Asides does not develop the main narrative from Sanders Sides. In its place, Sanders Asides explores ideas that for one reason or another don't fit in into the Sanders Sides narrative or don't give enough for a full length Sanders Sides episode. Sanders Asides also offers minor character development between the Sides and Thomas and it portrays their interactions in new original ways.
The main differences are that Sanders Asides stories are lighter in tone and the intention is to make episodes shorter, between 5 to 10 minutes, in the style of the original season one episodes, unlike the average 40 minutes of season 2 Sanders Sides episodes. Also, Sanders Asides does not develop the main narrative from Sanders Sides. In its place, Sanders Asides explores ideas that for one reason or another don't fit in into the Sanders Sides narrative or don't give enough for a full length Sanders Sides episode. Sanders Asides also offers minor character development between the Sides and Thomas and it portrays their interactions in new original ways.
Started as a one-off vlog, its success led to its establishment as a long term web series.