School Bus Graveyard Webtoon - Blog Posts

I LOVE YOU AIDEN

Aiden Clark is a complex character in a variety of aspects, from symbolism within his design to how his attitude changes throughout the course of the entire comic, and events that predate even that. A majority of this essay will be comparative, looking at the differences and similarities between his child, and current self. I will delve into the significance of certain design features that are the most obvious as they are an outwards symbol of his personality, but also some deeper subjects that may not be as apparent as on the surface. Take this as a guide to understand the character, or my interpretation of him, a little better!

The first, and the most obvious topic of conversation to symbolise this, would be his outwards and physical appearance. I find there’s such a stark difference between him when he was younger, compared to a majority of canon time. Younger aiden generally appears darker. His eyebags are more apparent, making his facial structure seem older than he should have at such a young age, making him appear worn and tired. His hair is black, and eyes are dark too. These aid to the symbolism of his darker hair signifying worry, fear or depression. His clothes are a lot stricter, being seen in a suit in one instance and very drab, plain coloured clothes when alone. If we compare this to how his in canon clothes are bright reds, and yellows and filled with vibrancy, we can see where the two sides of him seem to diverge from one another. Aiden is consistently smiling now, there being very few instances when he’s seen without a smile dressing his face. He’s brighter on the outside. Even his hair is brighter, dyed blonde and his eyes fake red with prescription contacts. A lot of the time we see this was when life began to go his way. Aside from the phantom dimension, his life was looking up. He had friends that were more like a family, and seemed to be healing from the depression he was once fighting off. Though, near the end of season 2 we begin to see how his past self haunts him in more ways than one. Though the main way will be explored in more depth in a few paragraphs time, we see how his hair begins to grow out, leaving black roots. It’s symbolic of his old self clawing its way out the grave it was buried in as his life deteriorates again. We see this in his eyes too, as his prescription begins to irritate his eyes- leaving him with the dark eyes we saw when he was younger.

The next topic would be how he acts, and presents himself. When younger, we can presume he was incredibly withdrawn and antisocial. His parents say, in episode fourtyfive, “It’s weird, Aiden used to be such a quiet kid.” and we see this when he’s lying on his bed in the dark with a grim expression on his face, something we couldn’t easily think of our current Aiden doing (at least, on the surface). Though, a reason for this may be how he was dragged around from place to place by his parents, treated almost like a pet or accessory instead of their own child. The relationship they had with him seems almost fake, as they didn’t take into consideration the way he acted or any worries that should have given them. Though, Ben began to join him, and we can presume that's when he started to open up, once he was shown love. In the beginning, he appears to be the over the top, annoyingly bubbly character, but as we progress we see his arc not take away all his joy, but instead we see him adjust the levels of his love, and extroverted exterior to make the people around him comfortable. Aiden is happier, and more outwardly kind. He now goes at the pace of the group, because he cares about them and doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable in any way

As mentioned previously, Aiden is heavily haunted by who he once was. While other members of the group, like Ashlyn and Tyler, have nightmares about the phantoms it's only them currently that are ‘possessed’. We see both of them have a current reflection of themself, showing that they’re scared of who they really are, or who they are to become. Aiden, however, has a younger version of himself. He’s strangled by himself from back then, and we can tell this from both the hair color, and the fact he’s smaller than Aiden. It’s like he’s choking on denial, the words to communicate those problems are stuck in his throat and that's why his phantom stands on top of him, choking him out. This also shows the complex layered view he has of his past self, how he views it as a demonic thing parallel to the horrors of the Phantoms. This is his hidden secret worry, this is what he wants to bury because he finds who he was, and what he went through, so terrifying that it's the weakness the phantom in his nightmare preys on.

The final core difference I think stands out the most is his friend group. Before, Aiden lacked real friends. He’s told us himself the most he ever really had were what I would describe as “proximity friends”. Essentially, people he could never be close to. People he talked to because they were near, not because he liked them. He had no connection to them, unlike when he moved to Alto, Georgia. He has a social life because of his friends. They’re an incredibly close knit group, and that helps him from spiralling into a sort of depression like one he had fought before. Though, this came at a price. I’m sure he wouldn’t trade his friends to leave the phantom realm, after all they’d been through, they live as an extension of each other. I firmly believe Aiden would not have been able to be who he was, if the phantom realm was not involved. Before Ashlyn, Tyler, Taylor, and Logan, he only had Ben. Before Ben, he had nobody. His friends have shaped him into who he is today.

In conclusion, there is strong evidence to support the similarities and differences they share and divert at. On the outside, Aiden seems to be slowly but surely reverting back into who he was, but we still see how his loved ones have truly changed him, allowing him the peace of mind to heal faster than Tyler or Logan. Although he may begin to appear like he did when he was younger, his friends are a sort of light that keeps him stable.

(for more on that, see THIS post for an example)

for making it this far, take some cute lil photos i found of him while doing a lil research

SBG X CAROLINE

MAYBE SBG SPOILERS???

IF THE SCREENSHOT I SAW OF AIDEN WITH THE BLEACH FADING PU TIS REAL

THEN I KNEWE IT

I WAS WRITING SOMETHING FOR IT AND IT WAS ON WESNESDAY I SAW THAT TOFAY

I JUST KNEW IT

Little Aiden Headcannons

Note that Im not for sure on all the information in this and that you can tell me if I'm wrong!

Also, If you don't like it, don't read it. I feel like I have to say this Incase because of the small fandom 😭 sorryy

Chaotic toddler.

He has enegryyyyy

Only times he is calm is when he's tired or really wore out

Likes climbing on stuff and falls

Keep sharp objects away from him, he will run around with it and try to stab things

He doesn't really have a certain time he does it, since his parents aren't there usually and he has the whole weekend, so mostly during the day, sometimes leading into the night.

Likes to chew on things, so definitely has a chew necklace.

Probably has a smiley face one

Ben definitely keeps one in his bag

Uses them when not little too

Ben is his main caregiver

He found out when they got close, so few months of knowing each other before

Ben knows how to deal with the chaos (or somewhat knows)

Only one that know about the regression before the SBG group

He has many activities to do, just keeping him interested in them is the problem

He does have coloring books, mostly from childhood that he still has from moving

Still likes puzzles, that's the main thing he keeps his focus on

Likes to skateboard and play outside, mostly because there's more to climb on outside, like trees..

Gets hurt a lot

Ben always has a medkit on hand for him, no matter what he has one because of how much Aiden gets hurt.

Doesn't cry or anything, mostly just complains that he has to be careful now and he has to wait

Has scars on his knees from scraping them.

Likes movies but doesn't have an attention span long enough to actually watch them

Action movies are his favorite, but horror is also his favorite

Ben doesn't like horror movies or having Aiden watch them

Has them on as background and will randomly get distracted with a scene and stop whatever he's doing to look at it. But then looks away when he's uninterested again

Watches them when going to sleep, or taking a nap. He falls asleep before it's over because he doesn't have anything to occupy him.

He probably likes Cars

Didn't really have the time to regress when the whole Phantom thing happened

Went at least a month without it, which was fine for him

Ben knew he wasn't regressing and was worried obviously, but he couldn't really do anything about it himself. Ben told Aiden that he was there and would help and Aiden told him that he was fine, and it was probably with all the things going on.

He was getting frustrated about it not happening though, which wasn’t helping, but he was getting more tired during the big tasks that he had to do.

Still kept a smile like always.

The SBG group did find out eventually, but not really on purpose

They were all together, having fun before they all passed out at 12:00

He regressed, and he knew he was, but he thought he could play it off and no one would question it, and he had about two hours before 12:00 and once he was there he would be big again. He also did need too, since he hasn't after Savannah

So when he was, he started being a little demon child, and was messing with Tyler. Ben noticed that he was regressed but didn't say anything without Aiden saying anything first, he was trying to get him to stop so he wouldn't blow his cover but couldn't really..

Ash looked at Ben and asked “Is he an age regresser?” and when Ben froze, (he didn't know what to do) she looked back to Aiden who was fighting with Tyler on the ground.

Logan was the second to realize when he was sitting in his tire playing a game, he got up and went over to Ash and said that he thinks he is, since he also knows about that topic.

The twins didn't know anything about that tho

Anyway, after the Phantom realm they had a talk about it the next day, where Aiden said he was and that Ben was his caregiver. He explained some stuff to them and Ben helped when they asked questions of how to handle him.

They all also explained stuff to the twins about what this whole thing was.

This is how he sees everyone, and some names he calls them:

Ben, En - Caregiver, like a brother

Ash - friend that he likes to try to do stuff with

Tyler, Ty - Brother that he fights with and plays pranks on

Taylor, Tay - Best friend that he likes to do pranks with, play games and hang out

Logan, Lo - Friend that he tries to do stuff with and he plays games with.

Doesn’t have gear, and doesn't need it, he also doesn't need a Caregiver, but is okay having one

He does have stuffed animals tho, mostly from different things and places

I think he regresses due to not having his parents' attention and wanting that. 

I think that's a Trauma Regressor.

 I'm not for sure about that, tell me if anythings wrong or is bad because I haven't went really deep into looking stuff up 

His range is 4-8 or somewhere around there

I'm pretty sure that's also like… a Kid Regressor...?? IDKK SORRYY

Found the divider on Pinterest!!

I had the same thought

Okay people, I open debate:

If a character loses a limb in the Phantom realm, upon waking up, will that limb still function or become useless?

Type: lose an arm, wake up, arm feels numb, but can no longer move it or make a fist or hold anything

Or will the limb simply continue to function, but losing the sense of touch?

And if it's a leg, do they lose balance?

And what about the eyes? They go blind when they wake up or they simply still have their vision, but their eyes burn.

ya'll.............

he's so cutie patootie and i luv him smmmm

POV:your tired and want coffee

me rn 😭