#and relistened to tma at least 3 times

[artwazzakrispies]

Jane Prentiss playing Terraria, call that the Corruption in the Corruption

Bonus: Jane+The Eater of Worlds, cus they should definitely be friends

Yes this is extremely niche and I should be studying for finals but it needed to be done.

#this is one of the goofier things ive ever drawn #it honestly should have occurred to me sooner tho #since ive played thousands of hours of this game #and relistened to tma at least 3 times #but w/e here it is now #my art #terraria #eater of worlds #the eater of worlds #jane prentiss #tma #the magnus archives #the corruption #magnus archives #corruption #corruption terraria #tma podcast #tma s1 #tma art #tma fanart #terraria fanart #worm

[lycanlovingvampyre]

S5 Trailer Relisten

Unpopular opinion: MAG 161 hits better without the trailer. Hear me out! I said last episode I thought Jon had lost it now. He sounds so hysterical, maniacal and devastated at the end of MAG 160. Hearing the trailer tells us that the two are somewhat, as far as you can be given the situation, okay in the cabin. That Jon is depressed, totally understandable, but has not lost himself completely. That kind of takes that fear of "OMG, what happened to Jon" away. And since MAG 161 doesn't start with the cabin, but with that fucking birthday tape, that fear only gets worse! Don't get me wrong, I like the S5 trailer. I just think it's better to listen to it after MAG 161 for the surprise effect and I always recommend this order of listening to friends I managed bullying into TMA.

MARTIN: (knocking) "Knock, knock!" JON: "Who’s there?" MARTIN: "Just me." JON: "Just me who." MARTIN: "What?" JON: "Nevermind." Ah yes. Martin Kdon’t-think-I’ve-ever-heard-him-tell-a-joke Blackwood... (Also I don't think a "Knock knock, who is it" helps Jon's overall condition...)

MARTIN: "How are you feeling today?" Oh, this is so cute, this "today" also tells us that Martin checks up on Jon regularly. This also could mean that Jon spends some time sitting alone in a room brooding and that he's been in various states. Probably a lot worse than what we hear in the trailer, and Jon doesn't sound so good in the trailer...

Jon not sounding good includes only thinking of bad stuff, doesn't think there's ever going to be a "better" and immediately dismisses Martin's comfort-tea. I mean... he has every reason to. It's the apocalypse, this isn't going to resolve itself and there might be no way at all to undo this (as far as he knows here) and why delude himself.

MARTIN: "Yes, I know, Jon; I’m not ignorant, I’m just – I’m just not ready for complete despair yet." JON: "Like me." MARTIN: "I didn’t say that." JON: "You didn’t have to." Ahh, this is so good... Both of them a hurting of course, but each one is dealing with it differently. And neither one is probably taking it so well how the other deals with it. When you're at a low like Jon people who try and try to see the good annoy you. And when you're still trying to salvage things like Martin and the other one dismisses everything it gets frustrating.

MARTIN: "You know I’m here for you." [JON INHALES, LONG AND DEEP, THEN EXHALES.] JON: "Yes." [CLOTHES RUSTLING. POSSIBLY A HUG, AT THE VERY LEAST DRAWING CLOSER TO MARTIN.] JON: "Yes I do." I'm so happy we get lots of fluffy and funny scenes with the boys because otherwise S5 would have been really hard to stomach... (Also that inhale!)

MARTIN: "You still… (sigh) Feeling it, seeing everything?" JON: "Yes. I, I’m trying not to, but – all the fear, the anguish, i-it just keeps coming at me in waves, rolling over me, filling my head with such awful sights." Ah man, that sounds like intrusive thoughts... Thanks I hate it!

MARTIN: "I’m sorry. That sounds… (small sigh) That sounds horrible." JON: "I wish it was, Martin. I really wish it was. But it feels… right." I talked about this in MAG 144. Our brain tricking us into believing things. Like our mind actually believes we're in mortal danger when having a sense of impending doom episode. And also this. Being in an exceptional state during which our mind thinks the horrible thoughts are right. (Of course, for Jon here it’s meant as something different, but that’s what I hear like a bit between the lines.)

Alright, season trailer so I'm gonna do my recap of story progression again, first copy-paste of S1-3 and then S4 lets go! MAG 1 bis 19: Start of September 2020 - July 2021 (11 months) MAG 20 - MAG 40: July 31st 2021 - August 19th 2021 (20 days) MAG 41 - MAG 80: August 19th 2021 - September 2nd 2021 (15 days) MAG 81 - MAG 120: September 2nd - September 20th 2021 (19 days - with 7 days intermission) MAG 121 - MAG 160: September 20th 2021 - October 1st 2021 (12 days)

And for anticipation of S5? I had no idea, I thought it was a pretty bad situation but I thought obviously there has to be something going on because there are 40 more episodes so they're somehow going to save the world!

@a-mag-a-day

#a-mag-a-day #tma s5 trailer #tma #tma spoilers

[thestrangestladysvoice]

TMP 1 - First Shift

ALRIGHT, I have posted a lot today (and will make at least one more post) but the start of this has my brain running!

I will start off with how much I LOVE Sam and Gwen. They are just trying their best and I relate to them with feeling like you are doing your best but it's not good enough. It is funny that Gwendolyn is my mom's name, so I will keep her updated on what's going on with her in another universe.

Things to point out:

-The separate department means SOMETHING and it's very suspicious...

-"Is that legal"... "Probably!" is how I live my life. If you don't get caught, it's not illegal!

-Chester and Norris make me want to cry. I saw someone say that Jon and Martin might be trapped in the Web and that is all I think about.

Theories:

So, TMP and TMA are alternate universes. This could mean that the timelines don't match exactly, so what if Jon and Martin have something to do with the Magnus Institute burning down? My personal theory about the TMA ending is that Jon died and Martin survived. The pupil of the eye had to be struck down, so to me it means Jon is dead. Martin could be trapped somewhere else (could it relate to Norris? Maybe.). I will say that I like to imagine they both died so they can be happy together without one losing the other. This might be a weak theory, but it's my current thought.

Gwen is already a favorite of mine and I think it would be interesting if she is the sister or niece of OG Elias. I have imagined for a while that he has a sister who cut contact (this idea was made maybe 3 years ago and I thought the angst was too good to resist). I would actually really like to meet OG Elias since we never got the real him minus his statement. Imagine that we all yet attached to OG Elias here, then we relisten to TMA and feel that gut punch every time we hear his voice and think about what could have been for him. It adds to his tragedy. I always found the concept of him interesting and an expansion of it would be awesome to hear.

#the magnus archives #the magnus protocol #spoilers

[a-mag-a-day]

I've listened to tma something like five times now? Plus an extra dozen or so time for mg favourite episodes lol 😂 It's very fun seeing this blog go through all the episodes day by day but I have a very important question: how do you manage only one mag a day?? I've never listened to less than at least two in a row and once I forgot to turn it off before I went to bed so I had Jonny whisper horrors to me from episode 80 something all the way to episode 101 when I woke up

Lol it was very hard to hold back but we do it for the community relisten and eventually got used to the pace <3

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #mod ashes #general asks #plaudiusplants

[morning-softness]

So I’ve been relistening to TMA Season 2 because I’m writing a fic set in that time. And I’d kind of forgotten how much stuff happens that even at the end of the season doesn’t really get explained clearly.

Like the web table. How much does it even do to bind the Not!Them? The Not!Sasha said it had Breekon and Hope bring the table around so it could still get people—like Graham and later Sasha—so does it just limit how far from the table this thing can travel without taking someone? Obviously after it’s taken someone it can travel a good distance, like going to Madame Tussaud’s on a lunch break. So at that point what was the table even doing to bind it?

And what was the Not!Them even at the Institute for in the first place? The Not!Sasha said it “was sent there to steal all its secrets,” but that means what exactly? To spy on Jon? On Elias? (I can’t imagine Jonah Magnus would have let it run around unchecked if he really thought it was a threat to him.) To find Leitner? (It was certainly looking for something in the tunnels.) To see how far along the team was in trying to stop the Unknowing? (Not far at all, they’d barely heard the term.) And was the Not!Sasha leaving chalk arrows to confuse Jon, or was it just using them to navigate the tunnels and confused Jon incidentally?

Also, I kind of get from a “collecting marks” perspective that bringing the table into the Institute could have resulted in a Stranger mark for Jon. But I don’t know that it actually did. In what way did having the Not!Sasha there mark Jon? It never physically hurt him, and he wasn’t the one who could see that Sasha had been replaced. (Did digging the dead worms out of him while he was unconscious count?) Or did he get his mark from the Stranger later, during his kidnapping in Season 3? If anything, Jon’s paranoia in Season 2 drove him into the Spiral (both figuratively, and literally in the sense that he went through Michael’s door to try to escape the Not!Sasha), but the table wasn’t really necessary for that; Michael was already hanging around, and I imagine Jon would have been marked when Micheal stabbed him in their argument after Helen’s statement.

And had Leitner been regularly coming up into the Institute to look for Gertrude’s file ever since her death? And just nobody noticed before? (I mean, I guess Jonah was chill with someone skulking around the tunnels as long as it didn’t actually interfere with his plans, but Martin was living in the Archives.) Or did he only start after Prentiss’s attack for some reason?

And why did Jonah hide a bunch of Gertrude’s important tapes with her body in the tunnels, when he knew someone who had been helping Gertrude was living down there? (At least, from the way he talks about it in episode 80 it sounds like he knew someone was down there, just not that it was Leitner.) Why not hide them anywhere else that would have been easy for him to access but not for Gertrude’s secret helper to stumble on and steal? (Did Leitner never stumble on the room with Gertrude’s body in all the time he was down there? Or did he, and was Leitner the one who hid the tapes there, and not Jonah? Or was that orchestrated by the Web somehow since the tapes are kind of their thing?)

Anyway, for all the fandom discourse I’ve seen about Jon not figuring out everything in Season 2, I’d like to say that even with my knowledge from having listened to the full series, I’m still not entirely sure what the heck was going on.

#im just so confused #and it makes it really hard to figure out the butterfly effect of the changes i want to make in my fic #because im not entirely sure why some of the things that did happen happened that way to begin with #tma #the magnus archives #tma season 2 #tma spoilers

[itchyeye]

who are your MOST and LEAST favorite tma characters? :3

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i love making lists it's my favorite thing OK in order my favs are

ELIAS 🥰💕🖤✨️

jon

gerry

gertrude

what can i say i am the institute's whore!!! honorable mentions:

JANE 🖤🥰💕✨️🪱🪱🪱

michael/helen

agnes

jude

julia

trevor

basira (half the time lmao)

adelard

albrecht/barnabas/johnathan/the dead regency lovers (good name for a band)

simon!!!!!!!!!!

mike

MIKAELE

oliver

i'm interpreting "least favorite" here as "most hated" so that's easy!! in order it's:

melanie

daisy

martin

tim (sorry to tim-likers)

melanie and daisy fight for top spot depending on where i'm at in my relisten lmao

#[💌] asks and replies #anonymous

[clowndensation]

tmags data

okay so one thing i've learned from making pie charts is that compiling data sucks if you don't have a great sorting system for that data. egad.

anyways let's look at some data <3:

so what we can learn from this is that i like tma. i think it's very very very exceptionally good, and by far the vast majority of episodes land perfectly or near perfectly for me.

i was a little surprised to see each season average go up consecutively when i first saw it, but thinking about it, that does track. i have and likely always will be a fan of knowing characters intimately, and the more i get of them, the more attached i grow. it helps, i think, that tma's first 4 seasons have excellent payoff, and every revelation you reach only helps mount your excitement for the next step forward in the plot.

and also i go a little insane in season 4 because elias is having such a good time. sue me.

that said, if i were to rank them without any objective number attached, i'd probably go season 2 > season 4 > season 1 > season 3. much like the extremely negligible distinction between my average score for these seasons, the amount separating my favorite from my least favorite is almost nothing at all. i just love jon when he's paranoid and unhappy.

okay moving on! reranking my top 10 favorite episodes based off all this:

new vs old

and what can be learned from this is that after relistening to the series, i've decided i really like statements that touch on history. this also isn't surprising, i'm pretty sure in one of my episode reviews i mentioned that there's something very engaging about the older statements - there's a willingness and sincerity in belief that's lacking in modern statements, by nature of how modern man has established a norm of intellectualism and rationale that promotes cool detachment and ironic engagement with the world. i think we should go back to fearing god's wrath tbh.

also since i'm already ranking things, my ranking of the main cast (again, only through s4. we aren't bring s5 into this):

jon > elias > melanie > daisy > basira > martin > sasha > georgie > tim

and top 10 favorite statement givers:

mary keay > oliver banks > agnes montague (in absentia) > jared hopworth > michael shelley > hezekiah wakely > manuela dominguez > peter lukas > adelard dekker > eric delano

and that's all the data i have! what a very excellent 4 season show, literally no notes, it is completely perfect as is <3

#tmags #tmags ranking #oh this is soooo fun and self indulgent. nothing more fun than looking at data and going over favorites #also martin would rank higher if i got more of s4 of him tbh #i love lonely martin so so so much <3

[pumpkintheriddlemaster]

do you have a favorite tma episode? :)

I’m so sorry this took me so long to get too, I just had a hard time trying to pick?!?

I couldn’t choose so now I’m gonna make it everyone else’s problem in this text response.

Like ok, the first that always comes to mind is MAG 65: Binary and MAG 74: Fatigue.

Binary because the thought of an Internet creepypasta being a real actual thing that exists in universe is the funniest thing imaginable.

Also how lovely the story is told! God such a good episode.

But like, there’s also Fatigue which like, keeps popping up in my mind low key only because there was a Uquize that gave you “what statement giver you are” and I got Lydia Halligan for ep 74 and it’s stayed rent free in my head so now it’s one of the few episodes that pop up in my head when someone asks.

Also that and you can feel the fact the jonny wrote this sleep deprived, bless.

I also, unfortunately, live in a constant state of fatigue so much relations to be had 😔.

BUT WAIT!!! THERES MORE???

Yes there’s more I love horror.

MAG 177: Wonderland is my absolute #1 fear and actually concern irl so I tend to actually really like and really relate to it? Like my body is in pain a good percentage of my time alive and more things keep popping up that are Concerning!™️ but going to the doctor about it gives me pause because of past experiences. I’ve also straight up broke down when I came home once because of anxiety and the fact that I Hate Being Touched And Doctor Had to Poke And Prod At Me And I Didn’t Like How I Was Spoken Too And So Much More ;-;. It’s just a good episode that Hits, me, in the face, at Full Speed!!!

Other eps I like for no other reason other then “Vibes Hard” are 24: Strange Music, 81: A Guest For Mr. Spider (huh I Wonder Why), 87: The Uncanny Valley (lmao), and 22: Colony (lmao I wonder why that one as well)

Also another I like for funny reasons is MAG 165: Revolutions because of someone on tumblr put the statement to a lowfi beat and it fucking ruled.

There are probably more that I might like more but it’s been a while since I’ve listened as I have the “can’t really pay attention or enjoy anything I like lately if I’ve already heard it before even if I really really really like said thing” disease. Which I believe comes from the depression side of my ADHD :/

(This has also started to effective my enjoyment of new things as well. :( man :( my brain sucks :(...)

So my rule of thumb is, if I remember it and it’s not the first few eps then it’s up there on my list!!! :D (because the first eps are truly sooooooooosososo good!) I also left out any that just had moments I liked after the statements as I wanted to focus on the statements and horror stories themselves! Not just for my undying admiration and love for Asexual King Jon Jarchivist J Jim’s and Martin Kartin Blackwood. Oh how I love them dearly <3

I can however tell you the ep I absolutely can not listen to again tho!!!

No matter how many time I relisten (or attempt to, stupid brain) I can never listen to MAG 6: Squirm ever again! I just can’t! My sex-repulsed ass was already second-guessing listening when I heard the episodes description for the first time. And then it got worse as I listened because EW GOD NO WHY EW. Like ew god the implications??? 😨 like I already think it’s gross but the worms make it more gross and horrifying. I already remember all the relevant information form the first time around! I don’t need another go! thank you! Have a good day!

Also side note, not anywhere near my favorite or least favorite (tho I can still relisten to it, mag 6 is the only one I can’t) but MAG 172: Strung Out scares me. Not in a “I relate to this” kind of way, I have never done a drug in my life and find it to be a waist of my time, hell I don’t even drink for the same reason. (Plus looking at my ADHD and some of my heritage, I’d be much more prone to addiction anyways.) To me it’s a waist of time and money and not something I care for as, surprise! I don’t like losing or being out of my own control! This ep scares me the same way it would probably scare Mr. GhostHunter Shane Madej.

Anyways! There’s my TMA episode thought! :D

#asks #tma #the magnus archives #MAG episodes #I really love horror and listening to spooky Audio :) #thank you for asking this it was fun!!!

[jasonsjrawings]

Some of the people on @shobasuckso's server were talking about jontim angst and my hand slipped.

#tma #tma art #jonathan sims #timothy stoker #jontim #the magnus archives #the magnus pod #tma jontim #tma season 3 #you guys i had to relisten to tim dying at least five times #my heart go ouchie

[ashes-in-a-jar]

Tma relisten Episodes 6-10

(Still really long)

Alot of really important details that are going to be very relevant later on. Very facinating how early on you find these out. Relistens are good.

Episode 6 squirm

It's a good thing tma doesn't do much of sexual encounters and their connection to entities. While I'm sure that's a thing that in any realistic universe would exist avoiding it was a good choice. This statement was *shudder*

Interesting that she had no visible mark on her. Also being repulsed by police stations because the sectioned officers could have helped.

Naked in the streets after lighting his apartment on fire. What an image.

So technically the worms were in the archives 3 times: when Jane made her first statement, when Timothy hodge made his and when Jane attacked. The worms are very familiar with the magnus institute.

"This story is concerning. Not because of Mr. Hodge’s experience, although I’m sure it was very upsetting." ace Jon talking very technical about "experiences"

" though obviously it’s a tragic loss of life, etcetera, etcetera." Jon being Jon.

Ecdc are aware of Jane and corruption typical attacks which is off the bat interesting world building.

He's skeptic here because of lack of evidence but does admit the existence of a threat in Jane Prentiss

Also! He knows of her from before probably when he was a researcher. This confused me on first listen because I was trying to remember if she was ever mentioned before this. But she wasn't.

Episode 7 the piper

Wilfred kind of sounds like martin in some way but maybe it's just me assigning poetry to anyone like him.

But he hated apathy which might be very Martin like

Gentle sadness and creeping fear from the music. For violence of war... Is that what it means to immortalize it?

It's really cool that the concept of music in this podcast is associated specifically with war and unwarranted violence. There's a very strong statement in there somewhere that needs to be explored.

God this statement was intense. Lying for such a long time in that trench surrounded by violent death. But what's most interesting is that this statement doesn't feel like a supernatural one and yet... The piper was with Wilfred throughout the various battles and bouts of violence until the moment it was officially over. But in a very subtle way.

The description of the piper is really intense with the 3 faces. I think I missed it the first time but hearing that representation of war and fear is something I'm going to look for in artistic depictions now.

Wait. Who is Joseph Rayner? I know of Maxwell but never heard of Joseph.a victim instead of Wilfred? Collaborator with the Slaughter? Hmmm

I wonder how Accidental it was that the statement from 1922 was filed in the 2000s. Maybe to show that the piper never really leaves and the war never really ends. Ever.

Episode 8 burned out

Wow Hilltop Road already! I forgot how many of the first episodes were so important to the plot later on.

"That side of the road backed onto South Park with fences marking the bottom of each garden." this is wrong btw. Hilltop Road in Oxford does not run along Sount Park but is perpendicular to it, meeting it in the corner with Divinity Road which meets with Morrell Avenue which is the road running along South Park. Just FYI because I had to look this up to get a good picture. But I guess Morrell doesn't sound as exciting as Hilltop (which isn't even at the top of the hill smh)

Ivo lensik describes Raymond fielding as white which makes me automatically think he is not. Just a thought that popped in my mind.

Huh. His family had a history of schizophrenia. And his dad was obsessed with fractals. Being followed by The spiral (all the bones are in his hands) was also part of this story really interesting.

Agnes had mousy brown hair and looked like Raymond! Not red hair ( at least at first) like I pictured. Also she was a hell of a creepy child...

So did he time travel? Seeing the moments of Raymond's end? Seems like time doesn't work right in that place anyway.

Web person being devout church goer is also an interesting touch

Father Edwin Burroughs! I forgot he was here too! The knock reminded me of Mr Spider *shiver*

The priest explaining that the church exorcized demons but what not decisive if ghosts exist was hilarious. Jon dismisses paranormal but asks Martin if he's a ghost is opposite of the church.

Hmmm the web pushing him to cut the tree to uncover box from antique table...

Apple full of spiders ugh. Maybe something web was trapped in there by Desolation and ivo managed free it as Agnes was dying.

"We cannot prove any connection, but Martin unearthed a report on an Agnes Montague, who was found dead in her Sheffield flat on the evening of November 23rd 2006, the same day Mr. Lensik claims to have uprooted the tree." wow that's an obscure thing to find well done Martin!

Jon still looks for credence for this story despite the schizophrenia that could leave him skeptical.

"while I trust Mr. Lensik’s testimony of his own experiences about as far as I can throw a bleeding tree," again Jon with his special brand of jokes.

Episode 9 a Father's love

The Montauk's story! I always thought their family had one of the most tragic ones. The hunt is a really cruel patron with its forced hunger and having other entities use them as tools.

Julia telling the truth of the story to the Magnus Institute instead of the police is also heartbreaking. How desperate and alone she must have felt drowned in that awful literally unbelievable story. The magnus institute feeds off of those people too.

So many of the hunt end up in police it's just... Such a strong statement against that establishment. What do we do to make that less of a horrible, unjust, all consuming system? That feeds on the hunger of some and the abject fear of others? And it doesn't have to be supernatural. It's interesting how season five, of all seasons, is the one that gave us that perspective. The non supernatural one on the subject while the world itself is so far away from the natural. God everything about this idea is so heavy and painful.

I kind of hate Julia's fate because of her background and how much alot of its beginning was out of her control. It's like Daisy. The hunt can never be forgiven no matter how compulsive it is.

The dark that took her mother turned her into part of it? Like the dark liquid?

A dark room to develop his photos of his victims huh? A play on words here.

Oooh they put a heartbeats in the soundscape really cool actually.

So Montauk killed other dark members that tried to leave? For the ritual? Like Julia's mother?

The hunt compelled him to keep the hearts as trophies? which is very self destructive of the hunt to do. Or is it part of the dark ritual with the sacrifices that the heart had to be kept?

I think Montauk was trying to slow down the ritual as revenge that night, rendering the sacrifices he helped create useless. Which is why pitch came after them that night and dissappeared once Montauk finished his ritual.

Sourcing the Serial killer enthusiast community. Love that the archives use whatever source of info they can access.

So Maxwell dissappeared in 1994 from public eye land yet the cult kept working towards a ritual. But now in secret? Their timeline always confused me.

Episode 10 vampire killer

I never noticed Trevor came right after Julia! Oooh this is so much connecting the dots so early on!

Vampires are so disturbing here makes you ever wonder how the hell media like twilight were ever created. But hehe the monster ****er community has always been a vibrant one. Not these vampires tho.

Trevor is so sassy I love his statements. Like Julia it really makes me sad how consumed he became at the end and how awful his death was. Once again the tragedy of the Hunt.

"I taught myself to read, I read as much on the subject as I could, and it isn’t covered often or clearly in those books I have found." can you imagine what kinds of books he might have found during the sexy vampire Era? This is a hilarious picture to paint.

So vampires feed off of blood and not fear which is an interesting creature to have in this kind of universe. Although hunters are also like that but there is still alot of fear and awareness involved with that while the vampires try to conceal themselves until the last moment.

There's alot of mosquito imagery in these vampires which is... Ugh

Also interesting how many time Trevor just uses the vampire's full name. Never shortened and never talked about in another title. Sylvia McDonald this Sylvia McDonald that. Also the other vampire. They always had a name that was psychicly imposed on the victims to be remembered fully. Very Stranger behavior.

Ahhhh the one vampire weakness... Drrrugs.

It's also very flammable which sets interesting precedence to setting unnatural things on fire to make them disappear.

Alard dupont comes in a later statement right? Yeah in 56

Martin was there when the statement was given which was 2010 and in 2016 he's 29 so he worked there for a while! At least since age 23 perhaps we'll find out even earlier. And he was still scared to be found under qualified after all this time! Oof...

I wonder how draining it is to give a statement that it kills someone who is sick.

The government is in on this! Looking for the teeth Trevor gave the institute... Somehow that strikes me as hilarious in the world building of this podcast. And it really leaves Jon no choice but to concede that there is something to the statement even if he refuses to use the term vampire like Trevor did so freely.

#Pfft i was so into this one i forgot to tag #Tma #jonathan sims #Tma hiatus liveblog #magnuspod #julia montauk #trevor herbert #Jane Prentiss #The magnus archives #hilltop road

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 122 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: baking something with apples

Ah yes, another episode with a meta-title. The statement is about "zombies", and Jon just returned from the dead.

BASIRA: "Could he have come back? Moved it?" GEORGIE: "I guess?" So there's some time between Georgie running into Oliver and this. She obviously called Melanie/Basira about the tape recorder and Basira came to the hospital. And in this time, Georgie reckons, Oliver could have had the opportunity to come back, so Georgie wasn't with Jon at least this whole time between MAG 121 and now.

BASIRA: "What, capital ‘D’ Death?" GEORGIE: "Yeah. Y’know, one of your… dark gods –" BASIRA: (frustrated) "They’re not –" [SHE CUTS HERSELF OFF.] This tells me that broadly speaking Georgie still has no idea what is going on with the Fears. It's okay if you don't understand something and don't want to understand something. But then you also have no right to tell people what to do about it.

BASIRA: "Right. So how exactly is it that you’re able to identify an avatar of the End on sight?" GEORGIE: "Honestly Basira, it’s not your business. (pause) Sorry." (Warning, bit of Georgie slander  xD) Yeah, I know, Georgie doesn't know Basira and therefore there is less trust to feel comfortable enough to tell why she's could identify Oliver. But the low-key hypocrisy. In the end, emotionally nobody ows anyone. Basira probably wanted to evaluate the situation and that also means evaluating, if Oliver was actually an avatar. Georgie probably saw it as an attack. (Like S1Jon asking every statement-giver if there was the possibily that they all just dreamed it!). Understanding what messages can say without directly addressing it is a key to understand communication. If anyone's interested, look up the four-sides-model of a message.

BASIRA: "I don’t know. The whole tape thing is… I don’t know." GEORGIE: "Right, well… I showed you like you asked, so –" BASIRA: "Shh." Okay, ignoring that Basira spotted the tape recorder, between Basira's "I don't know" and Georgie's "Right, well..." I already hear breathing sounds.

Ah yes, later the breathing more clearly audible and also addressed in the transcript.

GEORGIE: "So – what does it mean?" JON: (hoarse, tired, drained) "That’s a very good question." Okay, I mean the coma in itself is a trope often used in like family dramas. But the suddenly waking up and speaking is also such a trope! And I knew this day would come and the last 3 days I've been pestering my family (incl. former neuro ICU nurse) to tell me if there are any plot holes! (Luckily, they also listened to TMA...) Now, in consideration that this is a "magical" coma and the recovery of the patient is also fully supported by "magic", you can throw a lot about waking up overboard (for example that it's usually a slow process). I always thought someone in an ICU who needs ventilation is definitely intubated (what could have made the waking up and immediately speaking kinda impossible), but the nurse in my family said, it's not always required. You can go without intubation with the head-tilt and chin-lift manoeuvre to avoid air going down the esophagus and into the stomach. Sounds like hell of a strain on the neck, but said nurse family member seemed very on board with the portrayal here. I've heard them nitpicking about sci-fi before, so there are instances where they're bothered by things like this. Btw. I'm also guessing the Institute paid for a fancy room with only a single bed.

I was a bit surprised how Jon insists that he is alright but then, I mean, he doesn't know he's been in a coma for 6 months. He probably thought it was like the next day or next few days after the Unknowing. Which, was btw. on August 7th, Elias was arrested on the 9th of August and now it's the 15th of February.

JON: "Six… Uh, the others. T-Tim. Is he…?" Tim is actually the first thing that comes to his mind when realizing the Unknowing went not so smooth, that his position in the wax museum put him in a 6 months long coma.. Jon was semi-aware at the end there, and this realization immediately bringing him to Tim could be seen as a sign, that he may remember a bit more of what was going on including Tim's last words to him... Even if he wouldn’t admit it...

JON: "Honestly, I – I, I think I’m alright. I mean that’s – good, right?" GEORGIE: "After a six month coma? No – it’s not. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go, Jon." JON: "I – what? Y-y-you’d prefer I was – brain-damaged? Dead?" So yeah, usually waking up from a coma is a process. Jon waking up and being super alright tells Georgie that Jon has officially turned into one of these "monsters" he talked about. Because there is no way a "normal" human could recover that fast. This is also a good example four-sides-model of a message.

GEORGIE: "Jon. If this really is a second chance, please try to take it. But I don’t think that it is." JON: (breath) "Georgie, I don’t underst–" GEORGIE: "Take care of yourself." Georgie can't feel fear, but she does know what Death feels like. I once read the headcanon, that Georgie could also feel that on Jon, since he freshly got his End mark. Either way, I can kind of understand that she's upset and runs away, even if it is really bad timing for Jon's mental health. I do not blame her for cutting ties, that is very much her right to do.

Basira bringing a statement. Bit of an Eye moment there? Or just in case, since there was a tape recorder. Also, bringing a statement means she thought it would help Jon? So I can't really feel her being disappointed?

JON: "Recording by Jonathan Sims. The Archivist." That self-awareness... acceptance? resignation? of what he is now...

"So maybe it isn’t quite as surprising as all that. I like animals, too. They don’t pretend to be important." Yeah, can relate. Not that I don't understand emotions on the faces of others, mostly I even feel them too much I think. But animals don't assume. They might judge you on occasions, but if you're good to them, they won't hold it against you. You can try to be good to certain people all you want and they will just hate your guts and will let you know it.

Hearing about the statement-giver experimentally cutting this Liam to see if they're real is one horror I find in this statement. The statement-giver, who won't see you as a human being...

"The next day he was there again, this time in the hallway outside my office, standing in the center, so that I had to hug the wall to avoid touching his… motionless form." Yeah, that's more like it. People ignoring you... How it makes you feel...

On the subject of zombie, I don't really follow the concept of P-Zombies. But I really could feel the zombification as Dr. Steven Scholzman describes it. It's more about other people not seeing you as an individual. You're just a number, an NPC just like any other. A zombie won't care if they eat your brain or the brain of the one next to you, or the one behind you and therefore taking your individualism. Look it up, Dr. Scholzmann has TED talks about this, one about zombies and one about horror, really interesting.

JON: "They can be hard, though, other, other people. Feelings." Like the whole opening scene just proved.

JON: "I’m trying to focus, trying to make sure I’m the same me as before, but… how can anyone really remember that? How do you know you’re the same person that went to sleep?" Oh yeah, hit me with that existential shit, I love sitting in those thoughts! Generally though, there are certain situations out there, when you can absolutely tell, that this is not you. Depersonalization under Burn-Out for example. Would also fit theme of lack of empathy against others of this statement.

JON: "Honestly, I’m surprised Martin isn’t –" [BASIRA TAKES A DEEP BREATH.] JON: "What? (realizing) Oh god – the, the plan, it’s – Martin i-is – is he okay, w-what –" (he takes a breath to compose himself) "What did Elias do?" Yep, a Martin of 6 months ago would totally be the first one in the hospital. That poison in the last sentence though, realizing that something must have happened because Martin would totally be here otherwise.

JON: "What did he do to Martin?" BASIRA: "I… don’t know. We don’t see him around the Archives much these days. Best I can figure? He’s working on something with Lukas." JON: "No, that – No, that – that – There must be something else." Martin willingly, though for a greater purpose of helping others, joining an avatar and Jon can't quite believe that he would actually do that... Hmmmmm MAG 194...

BASIRA: "I’ll get you some new ones. Better ones." Lol. First, Basira says Jon's clothing style wasn't really good. And I'd like to know what kind of clothes she buys for him XD

JON: "Oh, or, uh, a cup of t–" Awww! I'm sure somewhere he began to really like Martin bringing him tea.

@a-mag-a-day

#a-mag-a-day #MAG 122 #tma #tma spoilers

[tauremornalome]

everyone now reblogging the post i made about arthur nolan, but we all know who is the shittiest cult leader in tma. come on. maxwell rayner:

- gave gertrude robinson, known murderer of all cultists, a heads-up before attempting his ritual. did he even want to succeed? 

- didn’t even write a breakup letter to jonah magnus like basically everyone else did but went "hey manuela could you please warn jonah for me and tell him i lov him and he can join me in our beautiful world of darkness” LOSER that’s how you fail rituals. also eww why would you want to spare jonah?????

- very anti-lightbulb. i’m starting to suspect that when lightbulbs were still a new invention he did that thing where you put a lightbulb in your mouth and can’t remove it and now wants revenge

- will make your tap water nasty (??? what’s that got to do with the dark??? i don’t know maybe it’s not dark related maybe it’s just his hobby)

- wikipedia page on edmond halley says his father was a “wealthy soap-maker” and that’s just. funny

- didn’t want to have a comet named after him anymore (ya know, a comet, big shiny light in the sky that will exist for another 170000 years) so decided to go by the mean nickname his science rival gave him

- franklin’s expedition nerd but died a year before amc’s terror tv series premiered. no quality television for you sir

- man, i relistened to the montauk episodes and honestly? i still don’t understand what exactly’s going on. kidnap montauk’s wife  → make him kill people  → ?????  → profit

- *1864 maxwell voice* mr sandman man me a sand

- his cult existed for 300 years and still the only competent person in the history of it was manuela?? max, you should get yourself a hr manager

- got shot by the police. sorry but that’s the lamest death in tma. kidnapped a child and got shot by police. amazing. the guy died at least 3 times and his final death was the stupidest one.

#well THIS got long #i hate the dark #l9 #tma #the magnus archives #maxwell rayner #maxwell raynor #tma edmond halley #the dark #manuela dominguez #people's church of the divine host #mr pitch #jonah magnus #the entities #robert montauk #cultist bullying hours

[elizaflamingo]

Tma Seasons Ranking

Obviously the last episode isn’t out yet but I highly doubt it’ll change my opinion of the season drastically enough to move its place on the list. Also this might change when I re-listen to the whole series.

Season 3- I think it had a really good balance of overarching plot and the individual statements, as well as mystery and answers. It’s when we first get to know the characters a lot better and we learn more about the world and the Archivist’s place in it. Also Nikola Orsinov is one of my favourite characters. This season is when I first started to get really into the podcast.

Season 5- I really love how the narration style changes and I like the exploration of more realistic fears, lots of my favourite episodes are from this season. Slightly slow at points but overall I really like it. This season was risky but I think, for the most part, it definitely paid off. I also like the character interactions in this season.

Season 1- the statements are fantastic. Listening to it for the first time and starting to see how all of them interconnect is great. It took me a little bit to get into this one because I wasn’t really sure what was going on, I appreciated it more when I relistened to it.

Season 4- I like this one a lot but I honestly don’t have much to say about it other than that. This is my favourite season finale though, 160 especially was brilliant but the whole sequence is just fantastic.

Season 2- again, I really like it, just not as much as the other 4 seasons. I like that we start to see more of Jon’s personality in this season and it also has one of my favourite episodes (65- Binary) but some of it was kind of slow and It’s my least favourite season finale.

Also my favourite episodes in each season are 32 (Hive), 65 (Binary), 81 (A Guest For Mr Spider), 160 (The Eye Opens) and 187 (Checking Out)

#the magnus archives #tma #tma spoilers #obviously this is just my opinion and all that #you can disagree but don’t come after me or whatever

[elias-rights]

001 for tma xD

Favourite character: Oh, you know.

Least favourite character: I want to say Jude because I hate the Desolation, but I recently relistened to her statement and... she has rights. I suppose Martin, currently. To think that he used to be my second favourite... 😔

Five favourite ships (canon or non-canon): Jonelias, Jonah's harem, Lonelyeyes, Janemichael (TFW only 1 fic on AO3), and Jonmichael.

Character I find most attractive: Do I even have to say it? 😳 The king of a ruined world, the pupil of the Eye, the beating heart of the Institute.

Character I would marry: A part of me wants to say Elias because yes, while another, more sensible part of me wants to say Jon because he'd treat me right.

Character I would be best friends with: I think Jon, especially during the first three seasons.

A random thought: While the horror (especially in the first four seasons) is really good, a couple of the Vast statements sound more like life goals than horrible fates.

An unpopular opinion: Elias is the best character in the whole thing and I unironically want him to win. He's evil and funny and his voice makes me smile.

My canon OTP: Benoît Maçon/Beetle wife.

Non-canon OTP: I'm very indecisive about this one, but after yesterday's episode, let's say Jonelias.

Most badass character: I h8 to answer this for so many questions, but, I mean... Elias using his eye powers to outmanoeuvre his opponents whilst barely lifting a finger? Elias brutally murdering Leitner with a lead pipe? Elias shooting Gertrude? Amazing. King.

Pairing I am not a fan of: What's the expression about bats and hornets? Honestly, it's been a while since the last time I vibed with Jonmartin. Even before I started having my doubts about Martin's characterization, I agreed with Peter in that they don't know each other, not really. How can you love someone you don't know? Jon's crush also went right over my head, though that may be a me problem.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Martin in acts 2 and 3 of season five. 😔

Favourite friendship: Can I say Jon and the Admiral? If not, Jon and Georgie in season three.

#Thanks for the ask! #answered ask #iamnmbr3

[eighthdoctor]

The Priest and the Prison, or: TMA isn’t done with MAG019/020 yet

So I’ve been on a relisten kick. I just did 19/20 today (the cannibal priest one) and noted, at first absently, that unlike most of the episodes, it’s not clear which entity is involved. Unlike MAG005 ‘Thrown Away’, however, 19 and 20 are overflowing with references to entities--just more than one of them. Also unlike ‘Thrown Away’, afaik Rusty Quill hasn’t addressed this one in FAQs--which almost certainly means that it’s relevant and not an easy answer of “yeah I hadn’t worked it all out yet”.

But in case that’s not convincing enough, here’s some things which stuck out to me and which point towards a potential outcome:

Entity involvement: As mentioned above, there are many, many entities involved here.

The Spiral: Bethany doesn’t realize what’s going on around her and behaves oddly in ways similar to MAG126 ‘Sculptor’s Tools’. The swirling text on Father Burroughs’s Bible seems connected to the general reality distortion effect.

The Web: Mostly implicitly through the mention of the house on Hilltop Road, which was used by the Web as a halfway home and source of food.

The Desolation: When performing the exorcism and while Ivo Lensik is pulling down the tree that’s connected to Agnes Montague, Father Burroughs experiences sensations connected to burning, including rapid heat and apparently smoke inhalation.

The Beholding: Father Singh lists all of Father Burroughs’s sins in what is evidently an act of Knowing. When Burroughs approaches what seems to be the Oratory, ‘The church’s large round window shifted as I watched, as though it were a tremendous eye that were turning to focus upon me.’ Which is about as Beholding as it gets, imho.

The Stranger: The person Father Burroughs confesses to looks like Father Singh, but doesn’t sound like him and Father Singh is demonstrably somewhere else at the time. Whether this is a NotThem or some other manifestation of the Stranger is up for debate. Breekon and Hope delivered the yellow stole to the Oratory.

The Lonely: Oxford is abandoned when Father Burroughs leaves confession, and when he tries to approach people they vanish. The roads also turn weirdly and the town he is familiar with is alien, much like MAG150 ‘Cul-de-Sac’.

The Corruption: Burroughs’s stole is a “sickly” yellow, the service attendees are ‘fevered, jaundiced yellow’.

The Flesh: Cannibalism. :D Also perversion of religion, per MAG130 ‘Meat’.

Houses: Two houses are present in this episode. One is the house on Hilltop Road, which has strong connections with the Web and also the Desolation. The other is 89 Bullingdon Road.

Bethany’s room is on the 1st floor (2nd for Americans) at the back

On the wall, under the wallpaper, is the word “mentis”, which is Latin for ‘mind’ and most common in English in the phrase non compos mentis, a legal term for someone of unsound mind

But Bethany was living in halls that year, and no one was renting 89 Bullingdon Road, according to the letting agent.

Furthermore Father Burroughs was found in “one of the back rooms” in that same house, sitting in front of the two dead students.

Assorted points of interest:

“It wants your faith.” Plenty of entities are involved in feeding on things from people, but two in particular are associated with faith: The Web (free will & predestination), and the End (...yup). But ultimately here I’m open to persuasion.

Bethany smashes a mirror. Mirrors are associated with the Spiral (MAG47), the Beholding (MAG60), and potentially either the Stranger or the Extinction (MAG147).

‘A man appeared at the door. He was tall and pale, and dressed as an altar server.’ I can list a bunch of people who it’s not (Gerry comes to mind--no bad dye job or tats) but also a bunch of people who it could plausibly be. Idk.

‘It was bright, so bright. Candles covered every surface, each glowing so powerfully that I could barely look directly at them.‘ Other than not the Dark, all I can think is this has something to do with the Destruction (fire) or the Beholding (illuminating everything?) or an anti-Dark ritual??

‘At that moment, the bell rang to mark the start of the mass. It was a single, jarring tone that cut through the air and made me almost double over in pain, so badly did it pierce into my pounding skull.’ I have no idea. The only place I can find bells mentioned is MAG152 ‘A Gravedigger’s Envy’, but that doesn’t quite make sense here. Although it would add in the Buried, who thus far has been missing.

Mark 9:14-19 is the start of a longer story (9:14-29) in which Jesus heals a boy possessed by ‘an impure spirit’. I’m not sure if this is the Web (possessing people is very much in its remit) or the Corruption (impurity).

Other involvement:

Somehow Burroughs gets to 89 Bullingdon Road, somehow the two students are captured, tied up, and killed, someone provides and then removes the scalpel and other tools.

The altar server is most likely this person--if we just knew who it was.

The entire setup feels very much like a ritual, but not for any particular entity, or at least not one of the 14? 8 are explicitly involved (Spiral, Web, Desolation, Beholding, Stranger, Lonely, Corruption, Flesh) and 3 are potentially (End, Extinction, Buried). The only 3 missing are Dark, Hunt, and Vast--and the Dark may be explicitly repelled? At any rate, the whole “take over a person, then ritually mutilate and consume them” seems ritual-y to me.

Gertrude read this statement and deliberately misfiled the second half with the ritual in--”As it turns out the second part of this statement was simply misfiled in the next folder”.

Given that Gertrude has already appeared twice in s5, and that we are now in a world in which multiple entities overlap and collide (see MAG164 and the watchful maypole), and that the timeline for this makes no goddamn sense even by TMA standards, and that Jonny was explicitly asked about the timeline and didn’t answer it (link), and that the house on Hilltop Road is a centre for the Web and a hole to another universe...

We’re going to get an answer on what was up with Father Burroughs and 89 Bullington Road.

If pinned down on it, my current bet is that the Web was experimenting with alternative rituals. Whenever these events happen (2006-2011 is fair game) it’s still contemporaneous with Gertrude investigating and interfering in rituals--although since this one seems to have gone as planned, I suspect she only recognized it as such in 2015, when she escalated to “deliberate non-involvement”. Perhaps this was the proof she needed that leaving the Dark alone would not destroy the world.

#tma #the magnus archives #whoops i meta'd

[radioromantic-moved]

i lied i’ve got thoughts again. these are always long but this one’s Long long since i infodumped for a couple of paragraphs in the middle because i deal with emotions through lengthy rants.

-LOVED fern creature. easily one of my favorite parts of the ep. i especially love that we launched into that right off the bat with no preamble.

-hartro’s good with disguises huh? good with costumes? good with...acting?

-s3 ending leaked. the main cast forms their own traveling theater production. i am speaking that into reality the way i did with enola’s return and hartro’s redemption. merediths if you can give me one thing let it be this

-i badly want to make a joke about helen’s “it’s very tasteful. there’s ferns.”

-me when someone asks me if stellar firma season 3 is any good. is that anything

-something something trexel spiral avatar something something they like ferns

-HARTRO’S RED LINE CONSPIRACY BOARD...you iconic little fucking gayperson i adore you. mwah. 

-okay i am thinking so much about trexel’s protagonist complex both on a meta level and a canon level. i mean on the canon level it’s just kinda sad the way most trexel stuff is. feels very emblematic of how he genuinely really needs people to pay attention to him whether it’s good or bad and it’s just now sinking in that part of that might be because of the parental neglect shit shit shit

-but on a meta level it’s even better. i was actually thinking about this in regards to tma the other day when i was reading the summary of it on the rq website. and so as not to spoil anything it obv just talks about jon trying to get the archives in order and having paranormal experiences, which is so much funnier in context when you know that. from the standpoint we’re at now it feels like that was an entirely different show. which is where we’re going with sf too i think, but the craziest part of that is that going in most people (me included) didn’t even expect david to be the main character. in the summary you’ve got “trexel geistman and his assistant.” if you count the teaser as canon content, he’s technically the first character we hear speak. not even touching on the aerith and bob situation (sidenote he’s definitely trans because only trexel would name himself trexel). then there’s the plot itself, which david and hartro lampshade point blank, and even call it “the plot.” this started as goofy planet-designing adventures and now it’s a socialist clone uprising, with briefs and submissions as the comic relief. and trexel’s not good at consultancy, and i’m pretty sure he knows that at some level, but he knows where he stands with it, and as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing at least he’s not gonna be the one getting hurt. but he’s terrible with change, and would rather stick where he is even if it’s worse for him (david’s place...f). he doesn’t have ideas for this, people keep leaving him out, and he’s becoming -gasp- a deuteragonist. maybe it’s giving him too much credit to say he knows that something big’s going on and he’s not at the center of it, but i just know that learning to be sidelined (or even, wonder of wonders, finding a way to Help?) could be good for him if he wasn’t such a FUCKING ASSHOLE.

-honestly though i really love the trope of “person who’s tried their entire life to be special is wholly unremarkable” paired with “chosen one who would do anything to not be the chosen one.” wait a second that’s oren and dario in scream all night huh.

-TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE.

-they/he david rights!!! but also :( because david is having to put himself down again. fuck you trexel!! be nicer to your only friend!!

-imogen snark is music to my ears. i love her i love her i love her

-wait we get a SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION for SWOLE CLONES??? THAT’S what we’re choosing to delve into? this sounds like i’m criticizing it which i’m not, i actually think that’s hilarious and i LOVE ridiculous scientific explanations of things so actually this might be my favorite part of the episode.

-no this episode’s genuinely given me a lot to think about but i think i’m gonna relisten to it in a little while when my emotions aren’t all fucked up. everyone is such DORKS and i love them (i love david and hartro and imogen. trexel’s on thin ice. i still haven’t forgiven him for threatening to leak everyone’s secrets because of his existential crisis.)

#nyx's sf spam #the gang's all here #trex tag #david tag #hartro tag #imogen tag #if someone had to guess which of the sf characters was on my romantic f/o list based on the way i post about them #they probably wouldn't be able to do it. #abuse m