A teen named Vincent begins to write down a diary about their life, their experiences and the oddities that surround the suburban area they live in. Perhaps, they might find themselves among the way.
Outsider
is a fanfiction related to I Saw the TV Glow and has been created by magiaburst. With three chapters, it is complete. A narrative non-sequel expansion, A Pale White Dot is also available.
Not to be confused with the webcomic of the same name, which is entirely unrelated to both this story and I Saw The TV Glow as a whole.
''Outsider' contains examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: Similar to the movie, the story begins in the past, in 1998, shortly before Maddy's disappearance, to be exact. The rest of the story takes place between 2006 and 2014, before ultimately concluding in 2021.
- Abusive Parents: It's revealed that four months after Maddy's disappearance, her father, David Wilson was arrested due to abuse. Maddy's mother moved away shortly after, leaving their house empty.
- Badass Normal: Faith Ashford is implied to be this, as the ending note confirms that she mortally wounded a Drain Lord (in this story, all monsters by Mr. Melancholy are referred as such) before.
- Bittersweet Ending: Vincent figures out that they actually are Faith, although their reaction to that discovery is unknown, given the pages between their final two entries and their realization are torn out. But based upon how they were brought to the Midnight Realm (by slowly losing consciousness), it's possible that they may have caused something similar to return.
- A Pale White Dot hints towards Vincent's ultimate fate; with a gentle and rhythmic sound being described.
- Break the Cutie: Vincent starts off as a very optimistic teen, but as they grow up, they become more pessimistic, eventually feeling like they are losing their connection to reality.
- Character Narrator: Sort of. The story consists out of diary entries written by Vincent throughout the years.
- Conveniently Interrupted Document: The next two Diary pages after Vincent's realization are torn out for unknown reasons.
- A Pale White Dot confirms that these two entries were related to Vincent's discovery of them being Faith.
- Downer Ending: The story was originally meant to conclude on Vincent's talk with Amanda, right after he spat out something that is heavily implied to be Luna Juice. Ultimately, the story ended up having a third chapter due to Word of God agreeing that the original ending was a little too hopeless.
- Existential Horror: Throughout the diary, it becomes clear that Vincent is slowly feeling uncomfortable with their life. That is because they actually aren't Vincent, but another character from The Pink Opaque, Faith Ashford.
- Fate Worse than Death: An unconscious Faith is left all alone by Marco and Polo in her and Tara's school after being poisoned with Luna Juice. She was not buried alive, nor was her heart taken - they just left her to die. This shortly happens before the finale of the fifth season.
- Freak Out: Later diary entries have Vincent start showing major frustration and anger at feeling largely disconnected to reality. It turns out they actually don't belong in this reality.
- Heroic Sacrifice: It's revealed in the ending notes that Faith helped a greatly weakened Tara to escape Marco and Polo, holding them back. It's likely what brought her into the Midnight Realm in the first place.
- Homage: In the ending note to the final chapter, it's confirmed that Faith first appeared in the third episode of The Pink Opaque's third season. Sound familiar?
- Love Interest: It's revealed that Faith had an unrequited crush on Tara throughout the show.
- No Ending: Just like the movie, the story ends without any real conclusion. Just a friendship poem that is heavily implied to be directed at Tara.
- Rainbow Puke: After Vincent's talk with Amanda, they spit out something that is implied to be Luna Juice, but not outright confirmed. In the third chapter, it's much more obvious that it's indeed Luna Juice.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
- It's not confirmed whether Faith is a part of the heroes' Absolute Loser Club, but considering that she was good friends with Isabel and closer friends with Tara, it's likely.
- If that is the case, she is the only one of the club that isn't trapped in the Double Lunch, due to obvious reasons.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Vincent figures out the truth and based on the poem ending with "I'm coming home"; they might have made it out of their predicament in time. Although, it's rather unclear how they managed to do so.
- Soul-Sucking Suburbia: Vincent begins to feel this way about their hometown as time goes on, even mentioning that they feel like all life has been sucked out of it. Considering this is the Midnight Realm, they aren't wrong.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Amanda makes an appearance, showing actual remorse for treating Maddy like she did. It's revealed that after the class figured out that she was lying to them about Maddy, she became ostracized herself; possibly causing her to regret what she did in the first place.
- The story crosses over briefly with the main movie, giving the reader an explanation why Owen never checked his old tapes to compare the new version of The Pink Opaque with what he actually had known. It turns out Owen gave the tapes to Vincent in hopes to find closure. Vincent even considers rejecting the offer, as they didn't want to take away Owen's last memory of Maddy.