The Phantom Art Journal, Volume Two

SAMS Relationship Charts

So, I've been thinking a lot about how all the character relationships work in the Sun and Moon Show. There's the expectations I had at the start of the arc post Old Moon's death, then there's the reality of how they really are right now, and then how I wish a certain someone would respond to the treatment he receives.

But, uh, brain said to make a chart. And I did. I doodled their little heads and did a lot of handwriting, and while I'd like to post it on the Security Breach Show server, I know it would just start shit and I don't wanna deal with that, so I'm posting it on my own turf.

So, to start, we have the expectations of how their bonds should be! Of course, Monty and Earth being partners is a natural expectation, since they have been dating for a while now and Monty was smitten with Earth from the moment they met. Then Moon and Sun are brothers even after Moon reset and lost his memories, so of course they'd have a close bond! And Lunar and Sun have always been close, they care a lot.

Then Nice Eclipse- er... Solar, have been buddies for a long time now! Same for Lunar and Monty, Lunar has a great, wholesome bond with these two. Unfortunately, he had a rough start with New Moon and since he came in so later after Moon's reset, they're going to need more time to get close again. Sun and Monty have never been particularly close, and I don't expect that to change, and while it'd be nice for Solar and Sun to be close, it might be hard given that they both have shaky histories with their world's counterparts of one another.

When she first debuted, Earth was great! She comforted Sun and took to Moon quite fast, same with Lunar. She was relatively polite to Solar when they first met, yet they don't seem like they'd have a strong bonding point aside from Lunar, and you really shouldn't base your relationship on liking someone else, right?

And of course, Moon would get to be pretty close again with Monty, right? They have a lot in common, what with being science guys and smart, not to mention Monty cares a lot for the celestial fam. But, Solar and Monty might not get along well, considering Solar had hardcore beef with his world's Monty, and vice-versa for Monty and canon Eclipse.

... Hhhhh, here's the reality of everything, as far as I see it anyway.

To start, most everyone's relationships revolve around Earth in some way. Solar and Moon really come together in defense of Earth, Monty and Lunar only interact to do good stuff for Earth's sake, and Moon and Monty generally got along because of Earth, except now Moon hates Monty because of the Stitchwraith shit.

Moon, Lunar and Monty are also all very protective and adore Earth. They never speak up against her even when she's absolutely in the wrong, they tend to always root for Earth and against everyone else in games, even when Earth is in the lead, and Moon alone gets so unfathomably angry and violent when Earth is in trouble. To the point that he will lash out and get angry at everyone, friend or foe. And I've expressed in the Phantom Chronicles that Moon basically feels tunnel-visioned on adoring and loving Earth? Yeah, that honestly goes for Monty and Lunar, too.

As for Lunar with Sun and Moon, they almost never talk unless there's a family emergency, like someone's in danger. And that usually revolves around Earth being in trouble, at that. Solar also barely holds an actual conversation with Sun outside of those emergencies, and when they do get to talk outside of times of crisis, Solar is a real bitch to Sun, ngl. The first time they actually held a one-one-one conversation, Solar literally called Sun an idiot. /deeply neg

Lunar and Solar? Who the fuck knows what their relationship is. Solar barely talks to Lunar. And more often than not he acts exasperated by Lunar's existence. Solar basically feels like canon Eclipse if he somehow got redeemed and was allowed to be in their circle.

As for poor Sunny, I feel like he still genuinely cares about his siblings- about Moon, Lunar and Earth. Sure, he likes to tease them and josh around with them a bit, like the whole episode with him forcing Earth to learn how to drive or him getting anchovy pizza for Lunar (I think it was a joke, at least? I don't remember) and of course, SAMS wouldn't be SAMS if Sun and Moon didn't hassle each other a bit during the gaming episodes! But again, outside of that, and sometimes even still inside of that, he just seems to really love his siblings, even though he doesn't talk to Lunar much.

So it fucking hurts that Moon and Earth especially don't seem to actually give a rat's ass about Sun at all. I said it in the Phantom Chronicles and I'll say it again, Earth and Moon play favorites with each other and Moon barely looks Sun's way unless there's something he can use him for, or he just wants to use Sun for a laugh. The whole "Sun turns into a dragon" episode was a great showcase for what an ass Moon is to Sun, because it was blatantly obvious that Sun was in genuine distress and freaking out, and all Moon did was laugh at him! Solar, too. And of course, during the "family reunion" episode a while back, Sun was showing genuine signs of a traumatic response when talking about July 16th, and Earth didn't give a fuck. All she cared about was getting the information she wanted and not looking stupid.

And Montgomery fucking Gator, I swear- this motherfucker mocks and puts Sun down so much. There's an entire episode of MGAFS where it's Monty and Puppet tag-teamed to bully Sun and humiliate him for his podcast. Then he talked shit about Sun during Moon's podcast, and apparently he did it again with Lunar's podcast, which I haven't watched because fuck the podcast at this point.

So, what I would like to happen in the lore that I know will never happen because even the show itself doesn't give a damn about Sun would be Sun finally saying he's done with this shit and giving Moon, Monty, Earth and Solar hell for how poorly they treat him, and how they take advantage of his love and help in the case of Moon and Earth. Lunar gets a pass because honestly, he's got a lot to deal with considering the Astral Bodies bullshit and all the bullshit that happens to Earth.

Honestly, I really miss the old SAMS. I miss the old Moon and the old nice Eclipse and just- the old everything. 😞