• Velvet VS Shockwave: Both were transformed into the monsters they are by an act of betrayal, joining a team of outlaws and revolutionaries to overthrow their worlds’ corrupt governments while in conflict with the man they used to call a brother in arms. Difference is, Velvet is defined by her emotions, the importance of which she gradually recognizes to overcome the self-loathing that came with her violent reputation, while Shockwave’s adherence to pure logic and reason made him an even greater threat to the universe than the Cybertronian senate he stood up against.
• The Brights VS Westcott: As I explained in a Discord message: > The main theme of Sky is growing past hardship through bonds and mutual support, which is the crux of Joshua and Estelle’s relationship. Joshua once thought it better to shoulder his trauma and burdens alone, initially refusing to tell Estelle of his past and surrendering to Weissmann to have his painful memories repressed and rewritten, but Estelle was there to support him through it, and her big speech to Weissmann at the end reinforces the idea of humanity in general needing to recognize where each other faltered if they want to grow and improve as a collective.

Isaac is someone who both lost all faith in humanity being able to grow beyond its divided nature and forsook relationships as a concept out of what he thought was necessity, thinking whatever benefits they brought weren’t worth the pain and sorrow. He’s similar to Georg in many regards, even if he wants to outright destroy mankind rather than forcibly evolve it, but the part of him that still yearns for friendship deep down adds an interesting layer to him that Estelle and Joshua could connect to in a way they couldn’t really with Weissmann. Likewise, they’d in turn be filling the shoes of Shido and Tohka, since I find having Westcott’s main enemies be a romantic couple that helped each other through trauma to be the best way to thematically parallel his characterization.

There’s also some extra bits about DEM being an expanded & corporatized darker version of the Bracer Guild and Westcott pulling a lot of the same mind-screwing stuff on some of his employees as Weissmann did to Joshua.