#i was in the tma fandom and in the last season there’s a part where the main character and his bf run into some guy

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

i’ve said this so many FUCKING times but i literally cannot fucking believe izzy taunts ed with “piiining for his boyfriend” and people are really out here on tumblr dot com and also twitter i assume idk saying with their entire fucking chest “izzy’s not homophobic. that’s not a homophobic thing to say.” what fucking planet are you people from

#mine #txt #if this post is in the izcourse tag no it isnt u just dont know how to use tumblr #ofmd fandom crit #izzy hands #izzy critical #s1e10 #i was in the tma fandom and in the last season there’s a part where the main character and his bf run into some guy #and the guy is like “who’s this? your boyfriend?” and we aaaaaall understood that this was homophobic!! #like what the fuck is going on. i feel like i’m being gaslighted like what do you M E A N that’s not homophobic??????? #og

[rainbowstargazerlilies]

Time for a new pinned post!

Hi, everyone, this is Becca or Ori! Those in the Mechs fandom might know me for the recent Mechs Ships Tournament (all tagged as "#mechs ships tournament" on here), my Mechs and TMA themed knit dolls (all tagged "#stargazer's four inch friends"), or the TMA and Mechs fics I write (see below). I'm in my early twenties, am currently a graduate student in psych-related fields, and live in the eastern time zone.

If you're interested in my fics, promo for that under the cut. Otherwise, enjoy the chaos!

Why should you read what I mentally call the booty shorts saga, actually known as "The Semi-Annual Non-Denominational Winter Holiday Gift Swap"?

Have you ever wondered what gift swaps might look like in the Magnus Institute?

Do you need to imagine Certain Characters (Jon) receiving so many pairs of booty shorts?

This sticks close to canon, so. . . do you want a story about booty shorts and nonsense to suddenly give you So Many Feels?

This is a collaboration between the amazing @ladydragonkiller and myself, and it was our first foray into writing and posting fanfic. I love it. Go read LadyDragonKiller's other stuff if you're a Mechs fan.

Why should you read The Stars Claim Them?

I started this series with imagining Lyfrassir Edda surviving the Bifrost Incident, and then ending up at the Magnus Institute, so it is a TMA/Mechs crossover.

I've been consistently posting for over a year. Two years as of this March, and I am so excited for that :) Currently, we're nearly 100,000 words in and going, posting right now is concurrent with TMA season 2, and I've had so much fun.

This is the fic where I stare canon in the eye, say "coward", and save every single character I can manage.

Be prepared for a very slow burn indeed, but the Violinspector element is certainly Very Much There.

We've had road trips, heists, blood snakes, rubber ducks, far too many Michaels, and more. I did a whole Peter Pan arc. It's nonsensical and amazing and I love it.

We've got a discord, where we have Very Normal Conversations about the fic, the Mechs, the Magnus Archives, and more. If you like the fic series, you're more than welcome to join!

If you enjoyed LadyDragonKiller's Raphaella backstory, I have some Easter egg references to it scattered throughout, because we brainstorm together. I consider it canon to this series, as far as that goes, and I have fun planting those :)

Why should you read anything from Corner of Dreams?

Those were oneshots I wrote last year as a part of a challenge to myself!

The first one is the angstiest Toy Soldier thing I could manage without crying. Have fun! Bring tissues!

The second is a fun little Violinspector thing that I really enjoyed writing. It just amused me so much to think about. And that ending. . . I like to think it ended happily, but there's no guarantee, is there?

The third is a Brian/Galahad oneshot. It could go so many different directions after the ending, most of which would absolutely change up canon. I like to think it wouldn't end sadly. Probably.

If there's enough enjoyment of these, there's two more I might add one day, based on Alice and on Gunpowder Tim vs the Moon Kaiser.

Also, if you're trying to get a taste of what I've written, one of these is probably a lot easier to start with than TSCT. These are each under 5,000 words.

Why should you read I Got You, Babe?

It's two chapters in and we already have the start of some fun stuff going on. We've got Violinspector angst, Nastya doing interesting stuff post-Out. . . Why wouldn't you?

Also, I'm having far too much fun whenever I get the time to write on it. It's going to be interesting. I can't wait to share more.

#pinned post time!

[bravevolunteer]

GET  TO  KNOW  THE  MUN.

WHAT  MADE  YOU  PICK  UP  THE  MUSE  YOU  HAVE  ?   well you see i liked fnaf and its lore a normal amount until one night after security breach boosted the fandom i thought a little bit Too Hard while staring at the ceiling and decided to add michael afton the next day-

IS  THERE  ANYTHING  YOU  DON'T  LIKE  TO  WRITE  ?  aside from the obvious? in spite of writing a marvel character for years straight i also suck at constant action with nothing else going on (aside from figuring out how to phrase it i really struggle knowing how far to go in those kinds of replies without overstepping what the other muse would do if that makes sense), which is great because for as much as michael gets into fights he is Just A Guy. and uh... for michael specifically, given the ambiguity of fnaf, there are some ideas that i'm not on board with because they don't align with how i see the story you know?

IS  THERE  ANYTHING  YOU  REALLY  ENJOY  WRITING  ?   angst and hurt/comfort sorry i am a predictable bitch i'll eat it up every single time. the softness hits harder when it comes with or after excruciating pain

HOW  DO  YOU  COME  UP  WITH  YOUR  HEADCANONS  ?  possession yeah. i can't force them they just occur to me in sudden visions. who said that.

DO  YOU  WRITE  IN  SILENCE  OR  LISTEN  TO  MUSIC  ?   music always i CANNOT write in silence, i barely Exist in silence. usually i'll use a character playlist (stupid amount of michael ones), however if it's overstimulating and makes writing more difficult i'll loop specific songs that set the mood but i can tune out for the most part

DO  YOU  PLAN  YOUR  REPLIES  OR  WING  THEM  ?   somewhere in between? i definitely like to plot things out, ESPECIALLY with michael, however i prefer plotting that leans closer towards discussing overall dynamics or the general vibe/direction of a thread. i will not hesitate to go super in depth there. while i rotate them in my head constantly before i write the reply, i tend not to go too far discussing a Hyper Specific prompt though because then i'll avoid writing it (both because i've already discussed it so much and i end up hyping it up to the point where i've set impossible standards)

DO  YOU  ENJOY  SHIPPING  ?   yes :) all kinds :)

WHAT'S  YOUR  ALIAS/NAME  ?   ash which is just. my name. real nickname. it's not that interesting of a story DKFHFJDS however if i were to start going by an alias online my favorite option has always been atlas

AGE  ?   21

BIRTHDAY  ?  october 17

FAVORITE  COLOR  ?   always changes because something's wrong with me. been a sage green enjoyer lately like the gay person i am ( but most of my clothes are black )

FAVORITE  SONG  ?   soooo many so you're getting my 2023 winners: song was not strong enough boygenius but my favorite Album was unreal unearth

LAST  MOVIE  YOU  WATCHED  ?   humiliatingly enough i. Think it was the fnaf movie ( at 3am on call while going insane ) i don't think i've watched one since then

LAST  SHOW  YOU  WATCHED  ?   oh god my brain hasn't been letting me watch anything new lately but i THINK it was trying to watch infinity train and then giving up because of that lmao. if podcasts count i'm relistening to tma-

LAST  SONG  YOU  LISTENED  TO  ?  ... once more to see you mitski

FAVORITE  SEASON  ?   autumn

DO  YOU  HAVE  A  TUMBLR  BEST  FRIEND  ?   i have so many beloved close friends i've met on tumblr i can't just list ONE

tagged by: @mischiiefs tagging: yea mak you stole a good chunk of the crew just steal it from me idk DHJFSJDF

#alright morning coffee drank back to the trenches i go #⁂ ･ﾟ: i was looking for a job‚ and then i found a job‚ and heaven knows i’m miserable now ➛ ooc #⁂ ･ﾟ: sometimes the only way out is as a carcass ➛ dash games

[strangelyregular]

tma according to someone who’s never listened to tma

it is called the magnus archives. there is an organization called the magnus institute. it has archives of a bunch of people’s encounters with supernatural shit. more specifically these eldritch horrors called the entities. one of them is called the corruption, one of them is called the vast, one of them is called the spiral, and there are a bunch of others but i can’t remember them

there is a dude. his name is jonathan sims if i can remember correctly, the fandom calls him jarchivist. he is an archivist for the magnus institute and is apparently slowly turning into an unstable mess of eyes and tentacles. calm down, jon! find a boyfriend to gush over! more specifically a boyfriend who is also a confused gay latino scientist from out of town! but make sure he isn’t taken.

there are these things called leitners and they give you wack powers related to the aformentioned eldritch horrors

jon’s boss is a stupid bitch boy who the fandom hates. everyone is gay. 

the eldritch horrors we were talking about? those have hosts. excellent hosts, the homestuck inside of me would say before i beat her to death with a shovel. one of them is a woman named elizabeth and she is made of bugs. one of them is a grandma with fucked up hands.

that’s all i know about tma 

#tma #the magnus archives #the magus archives by someone who's never listened to the magnus archives #jonathan sims #jarchivist #jon's boss the stupid bitch boy #this is not the first time i have written a post summarizing the story of a fandom i am not in that contains a main character named John #and it may not be the last #please help #i'm currently in the middle of listening to wtnv #but when i get to either old oak doors #the season three finale #or the part where carlos and cecil get married #i will take a break from night vale and listen to tma

[dathen]

Between the growing fandom realization that season 1 Martin wasn’t a doting doormat, and my post about how season 2 Martin was ALSO not a doormat, I have the daring conclusion....that Martin was never a doormat in the first place, and that his character arc wasn’t about “learning to stand up for himself.”  

(I’m going full death of the author on this one, because it’s going to depart a LOT from how Alex talks about Martin in the Q&A’s.  This is based off of how I see his actions and relationships in the first two seasons, along with my own personal views on masculinity and emotional maturity.)

On my fourth relisten I keep finding more and more examples of how Martin stood up for himself in the first two seasons.  The thing is, aside from the dreaded Spider Lectures or the time Martin threw worms on Jon’s desk, his methods are fairly peaceful and nonconfrontational.  He goes through official avenues to report Jon, he encourages Tim to talk to Jon directly instead of ranting behind his back, he encourages Jon to get therapy, he tells Jon that he feels Tim is right and they need to work it out together.  He isn’t quiet about his opinions, but because he doesn’t shout in people’s faces he gets brushed aside as “just wanting a tea party.”  This is where views on masculinity come in: this sort of group glue, mediating, emotionally intelligent role is usually seen as feminine, while more blunt, confrontational conflict is seen as more masculine.

The way I receive Martin’s arc, it isn’t about him “learning to stand up for himself,” and definitely not “learning to stop setting himself on fire to keep others warm” (more on that later), but more about how others around him treat him.

It goes without saying that Martin wasn’t treated well in seasons 1 or 2.  In season 1 you have Jon taking out his stress on him, and in season 2 you have Tim dismissing him and Jon treating him with suspicion.  A huge part of Jon’s character growth is how his treatment of Martin changes, and season 3 becomes one of extremes for Martin: on one hand you have Jon’s increasing gentleness and concern, and on the other you have his constant absences, Tim’s hostility, Basira’s “speaking of not cool, where’s Martin?”, Melanie making him cry at some point, his worry over Jon after he had been kidnapped for a month being mocked behind his back, his attempts to share his worries and fears with the others thrown back in his face...  I have a whole separate meta in process for how season 3 is the crux of Martin’s journey to the Lonely, but in short all of his hopes for meaningful connection was being narrowed to a single person, only to have that person ripped away.

Season 4 and and 5 is often seen as the “new and improved” Martin, mostly because of Alex’s comment that at that point he “stopped setting himself on fire to keep others warm.”  I personally see it as the exact reverse.  Early season Martin was not treated well, but he was not self-effacing or self-sacrificial.  Compare that to season 4 Martin who flat-out admitted that he was “looking for a good way to die,” while excusing it to himself that maybe in the process he might be protecting the others in some way.  Season 5 Martin planned to have Jon execute him for no reason or benefit, but just because he didn’t want to have a domain.  Martin was going to also let himself die for no reason just to stay with Jon, rather than getting himself to safety.  He’s gone beyond “setting himself on fire to keep others warm” to “setting himself on fire for the principle of the thing, even if it helps no one.”

This doesn’t reduce the meaning of his Lonely arc, just changes it.  It wasn’t “he needs to be less Lonely, so he needs to change himself,” but shifts the responsibility onto the people around him who were treating him poorly in the first place.  Season 1 Jon wasn’t taking his stress out on Martin because Martin was a doormat, it was because Jon was immature and needed to change!  Season 2 Tim seeing Martin’s attempts at mediation as cowardly wasn’t because Martin was a coward; it was because Tim refused to see the value in what Martin did!  Martin wasn’t the one who needed to mature or change his behavior. 

Over time, Martin did find a single person who grew to see value in what he did, show him respect, take an interest in his life, listen to his opinions, and worry about his safety and happiness.  Unfortunately, we can watch Martin’s well-being narrow to revolving just around Jon, because he isn’t getting that level of validation or support from any other angle.  Martin also went through a great deal of trauma over the course of the show.  He didn’t emerge on the other side as a refined, more mature, more emotionally balanced individual who cast aside his old simpering tendencies.  He was given a single lifeline to his suffocating loneliness and isolation, but drowns without it.

I feel this is controversial to say, because Martin’s most self-destructive lines are often romanticized and celebrated.  “Finally, I had a reason” from TMA 158, saying that at last he had a cause to throw his life away rather than throwing it away for no reason.  “Where you go, I go” as he refuses to run to safety and chooses to stay behind and die.  They’re beautiful lines, but speak of tragedy rather than emotional health.  And tragedy is how his story ends: we never got to see him grow past his self-destructiveness, or find worth in his own life aside from what he can do for others.  We never got to see him find a community that would be there for him as much as he tries to be there for other people, that would help him not hinge his the entirety of his well-being on a single person.

And to end with the spiciest of hot takes.........the main reason why I feel s4-5 Martin is seen as the “improved, more mature” version compared to s1-3.....is because being kind and sensitive towards Jon is seen as a character flaw, and we see a lot more impatience and bluntness towards him in later seasons that we wouldn’t have from early-season Martin.

#tma #the magnus archives #martin blackwood #tma spoilers #tma meta #this is long and rambly but I have to parse a lot of thoughts

[shelobussy]

ASH’S TMA HURT/COMFORT/FLUFF REC LIST 

For the gays. (And @damcrows who’s been dead for the past 24 hours. Rest in peace babe. Read some gay fic. Deny the inevitability of canon. <3)

___

the end, but the start (of all things that are left to do)  by @ajkal2

Jon wakes up.

aka. mag200 tore out my heart

(Very smol, very short, very spoiler. Def recommend for anyone who just finished the podcast.)

remind me how to smile by @tamerofdarkstars

Jon is probably fine, just hiding out somewhere while the whole murder thing blows over and that's... fine. Martin is fine with that explanation. Really. He's got plenty to distract himself - like listening through the entire What the Ghost episode library, for example. Or watching Georgie Barker's Instagram livestreams.

(Yea this was in the last rec list, but you don’t understand THE ADMIRAL GIVES CUDDLES)

Chamomile by Dribbledscribbles

Whatever the ex-tea was, if it really had ever been that last bag of chamomile Martin claimed he’d found tucked in the back of the cupboard, it was fast now.

Martin had tried catching it, chasing it, blocking its way with shoebox lids and plates and an upended footstool, but the thing was just too quick. Jon knew as well as Knew that he might have left off the attempts completely if not for the creature’s preferred game.

The game was, See How Many Times I Can Push Martin Towards Cardiac Arrest Before He Comes at Me with The Broom.

(Scottish Honeymoon Era. Adorable and weird. A vampire gets harassed.)

hey stranger by @ennuijpg

It’s a late night Tesco run, how eventful could it be? It’s not like Martin is going to run into his boss who’s wearing something absurdly different from usual and get the most acute form of whiplash possible from seeing him, right?

(Martin runs into Jon at the grocery store and has an existential crisis.)

roses roses, roses. by @judesstfrancis

Rose scented laundry detergent. Running into Jon in the breakroom. Running into Jon on his way back to his desk. Rose scented detergent. Running into Jon. Roses. Jon. Roses, roses, roses. 

(Canon enemies to friends to lovers au-ish. Martin POV. Very pining much sweet.)

go softly by doomcountry

And there is nothing else besides this. 

(More hurt/comfort than fluff. Scottish Honeymoon Era. Mild eye mutilation.)

Not Alone by @backofthebookshelf

After the coffin, Daisy and Jon are both fragile. They hold each other up. 

(Post-buried Jon&Daisy starter pack. Very hurt/comfort.)

trust my love by antlsepticeye

“you… you’re real, aren’t you?” jon whispers, the fog slowly dissipating from his mind. “it is not a trick?”

“i’m here,” martin says softly, reaching up to grab jon’s hand that was resting on his cheek, intertwining his fingers with jon’s and squeezing. he moves jon’s hand to martin’s chest, resting it over his heart. “you’re alright. i’m alright. take your time, love. let’s just take some deep breaths, okay?”

(TOUCHSTARVED JON HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.)

reaching out by Athina_Blaine

By the time things settled, when Martin had finally managed to crack through his cold shell, feel some of his old self returning to him in bits and pieces, they had found their little routine.

One that had the two of them sleeping in the same bed, making breakfast, going to the mart. Where Jon reached for his wrist while they slept, and Martin luxuriated in the gentle warmth of his fingers.  

But not one where Martin reached back. One that had Martin kissing Jon awake or taking his hand over the breakfast table, because ... Martin never had the courage to try. And then it never became a part of the routine.

And Martin desperately wanted it to be.

-

Martin and Jon have an important conversation.

(More Scottish Honeymoon Era for the soul. Hurt/comfort/fluff.)

Belabor by @janekfan​

Jon's given the position of Archivist and is falling apart at the seams. Tim and Sasha are upset and playing games. Elias is overbearing and manipulative.

And poor Martin is stuck cleaning up the mess.

(THEE first fic I ever read for tma. Season 1, hurt/comfort/fluff, and hints of Jmartin. janekfan is the absolute master of seasons 1-3 hurt/comfort. This is my favorite, but pls check out the rest of their fics.)

tea, blankets, and a damnable stubborn attitude by ivelostmyspectacles

“Are you really gonna stay here and pester Jon all evening?”

“I’m not pestering him,” Martin retorted, sounding vehement if not busy going through the cupboards. “I’m heating up soup.”

“Oh, you might as well make him another cup of tea while you’re at it.”

“Oh, good idea.”

Jon shot Tim a withering look.

(The one where Jon is ill, Martin makes tea and they watch doctor who together. Fluff 1000%.)

A Kind Hand by @voiceless-terror

Jonathan Sims was adjusting just fine, thank you very much.

In which a minor workplace spill causes Jon to realize that he might have friends.

(Ah yes, the other master of seasons 1-3 fic aka voiceless-terror being my other fav author in the fandom. This one is also season 1 hurt/comfort/fluff.)

A Weather In The Flesh by @cuttoothed

"There is a span of years where Jon doesn’t touch anyone other than the occasional hand shake. It’s not so bad. He’s never been someone who’s needed physical affection."

*

Jon has never been any good at making people want to stick around.

(More touched starved Jon! Much hurt/comfort!)

Something Old, Something New by @cirrus-grey

Months have passed, and everyone is doing better than they were. Daisy and Basira are getting married, Melanie is feeling her old self, Georgie is as much herself as she has ever been, and even Jon has stabilized on his wild fall away from humanity. Everyone is doing better.

Well. Almost everyone.

(Daisy/Barsira wedding! Melanie is a bitch and we love her! Jmartin dance! Post-canon (almost) everyone lives!)

The Weight of Love by @voiceless-terror

Jon is a restless sleeper. Martin attempts to adjust. 

(The fic where Jon is literally me and Martin attempts to sleep for 1k words.)

The Art of Conversation by @voiceless-terror

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Jon has a complicated relationship with words. Difficulties come and go.

(Jon has adhd and Martin is in love.)

Novelty by @backofthebookshelf

Jon experiences A Sexual Attraction; Martin has A Concern. They figure it out.

(Any fic that explores the ace spectrum is a 10/10. We stan all ace interpretations of jon on this blog.)

Half a Hug by Dathen

I know you weren’t going to hurt me, I trust you, he said again and again. And then a different kind of fear shone through, hollow and echoing: “Please don’t stop touching me."

-

Or: Life is hard when you're touch-starved but have trauma related to your closest friend.  Spoilers through TMA 132.

(Honestly bless every author who saw jon&daisy and was like. They’re siblings. No I will not elaborate.)

the loneliness never left me (but i can put it down in the pleasure of your company) by Athina_Blaine

It was about Martin making Jon feel safe, treasured, and loved. And it had been so, so long since anyone made him feel that way.

And, in the face of it all, Jon was starting to flounder.

(At this point I just need to make separate rec list for Scottish Honeymoon Era.)

you can watch me corrode by scarletfish

"So, how long have you been pulling this shit then?"

"I… excuse me?" Jon’s indignant, certain she can’t mean what he thinks she means.

"When was the last time you ate?"

(Georgie decides Jon and Melanie need a normal day off. Jon learns that he and Melanie have more in common than he thought.)

(Look, Melanie isn’t my favorite person in tma, but she and Jon are like THE SAME PERSON and I adore fics that elaborate on their relationship.)

Out of the Wind, In From the Cold by @ostentenacity

There are two bedrooms in the safehouse, and two beds.

For a moment, Jon considers asking to share, but decides against it with a wince. “I really loved you,” Martin had told him. Loved. Past tense. And Martin doesn’t exactly have a lot of choices right now in terms of company; it would be cruel to demand he play at feelings he no longer has just to make Jon happy.

(For a moment, Martin considers asking to share. But he dismisses the idea with a shake of his head. Jon has already done so much for him. Martin isn’t about to ask for more, especially not when it’s something he doesn’t really need. He has his right mind back, and he has Jon’s friendship. That should be enough for him. It’ll have to be.)

---

Jon thinks that Martin doesn’t love him. Martin thinks that Jon doesn’t love him. They do not, of course, discuss this. Unrequited love is already awkward enough, right? No need to dwell on it.

(THEE SCOTTISH HONEYMOON ERA FIC. IT’S ABOUT THE PINING, BEING MUTUALLY OBLIVIOUS AND FALLING IN LOVE. 10000/10.) 

I Do by @voiceless-terror

“I, um- this was supposed to be a lot more romantic, I swear.” Martin looks down at the dirty bar floor. “I had it all planned out, I-I was going to take you somewhere nice, and then we’d go for a walk in the square- I’ll still do it!” He hurries to explain, as if that’s the most pressing part of this situation. “It’ll be really nice, I’ve already hired a photographer-”

In a fit of protectiveness, Martin proposes to Jon.

(Everyone lives, Martin accidentally proposes and Jon is crying in public.) 

________

#lmao follow for more fic recs #ash recs #ash's rec list #ash recs fics #tma fic list #tma fics #jmart #jmartin #jon sims #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #tma fic recs

[aerialflight]

Fic Recs (cause it's always nice to give a shout out and get people into things I'm into rn)

[The Magnus Archives] (I recently finished the podcast and I fell into a hole for a while so here you go)

Sing a Song of Sixpence by Kaiel

Ship: Jon/Martin

In which Jonathan Sims is a Siren, and he fails to notice any new abilities granted to him by the position of Archivist. Or really anything about the Entities at all.

Takes place in season 1 featuring Jonah Magnus’s slow decent into madness

(The new mythology interwoven with tma's worldbuilding is so freaking good and I love how all the characters change and develop because of these changes. Also, f you Elias)

Along Came a Spider by Dribbledscribbles

Ship: implied Jon/Martin

Sasha James is the Archivist, as expected. Martin Blackwood is menaced by Jane Prentiss, as expected. Elias Bouchard weaves his web, as expected.

All goes as it should.

At least until something calling itself Jonathan Sims steps in.

(Web!Jon in this makes me want to weep, it's so freaking good. A pretty long, very excellent oneshot on what could've happened if Jon got taken by the web when he was a kid. And Sasha as the Archivist is ALWAYS so cool, we love her in this house.)

A Break in the Clouds by Ash_Rabbit

“I’m eight.” the kid sniffs as if eight was any different from four, maybe not an unspeakable horror then, just a regular horror. “And I heard that the Magnus Institute deals with-” his little nose scrunches, cute. “-spooky things.”

“Do you have a-” he cracks a grin, and then rethinks it as small hands tighten against their burden.”-spooky thing to deliver?” gods he hopes not, it’s bad enough when adults walk in and lay out all of their baggage, but for a child-

“There’s a spider in this book.” the kid says solemnly, raising his textbook sized parcel. “It ate Evan Pritchard.” a bloody fucking Leitner. Of course an eight year old would find a murder spider book. “This seemed like the best place to bring it.”

(I never thought about what the Original Elias could've been like AND NOW I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT BECAUSE OF THIS FIC. I LOVE HIM, HE'S COMPLEX AND HE CARES AND JON CARES AND THEY BOTH CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER. THIS IS THE CONTENT I WANT, OMG. Also, Jon being even smaller than usual is adorable, so cute. No wonder Elias wants to hug him, a LOT.)

See the Line where the Sky meets the Sea by The_Floating_World

Ship: Jon/Martin, Jon/Oliver Banks

When Jon is a child he looks into the infinite abyss of space. The Vast looks back into him.

(One of my all time fave fics in this fandom, no questions asked. I have reread this three times and am open to doing it again, god. Vast!Jon, such a concept. It's written so beautifully and the relationships Jon develops, so good. ugh. My heart. Please please read.)

Sweet As Roses by Prim_the_Amazing

Ship: Jon/Martin

“Come in, Martin,” he says, not looking up from his notes.

“Hi, Jon,” he says, and Jon stops writing at the sound of his voice. “We’re out of the green tea, but we’ve got lemon?”

Jon looks at him. Martin smiles at him in his usual tentative way as he sets the mug of tea down on Jon’s desk. Heat spikes so sharply in his gut that he twitches with it.

“Thank you, Martin,” he says, mouth dry, and he stands up.

“Oh,” he says, sounding almost surprised. He smiles again. “No-- no problem-- um, what are you--”

Jon takes Martin by the shoulders, leans up on the tips of his toes, and kisses him.

(You have no idea how much I howled through this fic, my god. *buries face in hands* The number of times I wanted to cry from sheer hilarity and horror reading this good lord.)

Things Could Always Be Worse by theOestofOCs

Ship: Jon/Martin, Georgie/Melanie

Sometimes, the most horrifying thing of all is what might have been.

Somewhere, Jon could swear he heard a crowd laughing.

Or: in which Jonathan Sims is forced to swap places with his alternate self—a tall, chivalrous hero extraordinaire, who knows neither fear nor nuance—and is sent to the aggressively straight alternate universe the Magnus Archives was never meant to be.

“Whatever place this is,” Jon announced, “I just want to be sure it knows I hate it.”

(I will say this once, THIS IS THE MOST CURSED THING IVE EVER READ EVER. Like holy hell. I can't believe this thing exists. please read it oh please please please)

-

[Supernatural]

heard from your mother (she don't recognize you) by Schmuzz

Ship: Dean/Cas, Jessica/Sam

A man named Cas wakes up in 2003 with no memories, but he's able to piece together a few things:

1. Supernatural creatures exist, and most of them will hurt innocent civilians if he doesn't stop them; 2. He has abilities that no human hunter should have, but he knows enough about human hunters to keep that to himself, and finally; 3. He keeps running into another hunter named Dean Winchester, who seems to be about as lonely as he is if he's willing to put up with those former facts long enough to help Cas unravel the mystery of who (or what) he really is.

For his part, Dean's still (not) dealing with Sam's departure to Stanford, and figures distracting himself with a bit of mystery and intrigue is as harmless as it gets, right? Right.

(THE fic I'm most into right now, been following this from the very start and it's AMAZING. Cas has agency and is making friends and S1 Dean is growing out of John's influence and is becoming a Person and the both of them first being friends then more. The slow burn as their relationship develops, SO GOOD. SO SO DAMN GOOD. *screams* Seriously one of the best spn fics I've read in a long, long time.)

anamnesis by cenotaphy

Ships: Castiel/Dean, Sam/Eileen

Chuck is depowered, Jack is the new god, and the world is free. Dean and Sam get into the Impala and chase down the miles on an endless highway, and their story is finally, finally their own to follow. At least, that's what Dean tells himself. But the diners and motels and painted interstate lines are blurring together and the smallest details keep catching at his brain like tiny fishhooks and he can't quite shake the feeling that not everything is exactly as it should be.

* Fix-it/alternate series finale. Canon-compliant through the end of 15.19.

(THIS IS THE FIC THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE FINALE OKAY. WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN CANON. It's Disturbing and honestly plot-wise this makes more sense. Why couldn't we have had this. *screams*)

-

[Avatar: The Last Airbender]

where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor

Ship: Sokka/Zuko

When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them.

Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

(The fact one of the tags in this fic is, "Sibling Dynamic: Fucked Up But Wholesome" should give you an idea what this fic is like. Chaotic as HELL and I just love Azula here, she loves Zuko so much in her messed up way and Zuko loves her back in the exact same way lol. It's batshit and I am Here For This.)

-

[Naruto]

Eclipse by AislingRoisin (JayBird345) for HybrisAnaideia

Ship: Nara Shikaku/OFC

"In life, it's easier to remain stagnant and wallow in your troubles. But life isn't merely about continued existence, nor is it meant to be gone through alone."

(This is a fic that's slept on and I NEED people to read this. A self-insert fic that I find really interesting in its approach and the worldbuilding for the post-third war shinobi world is fantastic. I feel like there's a certain pattern with self-insert fics, not that is a detriment in any way to how much I enjoy them, so this fic feels fresh to me in a way I haven't read in a while. I am waiting eagerly for this to get updated! Please read!)

On Freedom and Other Formalities by iaso

Ship: Kakashi/Genma/OFC

When push comes to shove, Hiwa Inuzuka doesn't go down easy. Reborn into a new, dangerous world? She puts her past life as a spy to work. Thrown into a war? Hiwa does her duty, for Konoha. And when she's forced into an arranged marriage? All there is to do is beat them to the punch and get married first. Thankfully, Genma Shiranui is willing to lend a hand. Literally. SI/OC

(Listen, LISTEN, it's about the slow burn, the longing, the communication (it both has and hasn't and isn't THAT great??), the messy way you fit three very different people together, it's so freaking good! Also, Kakashi is so Chaotic here this is my fave characterization of him, you can't change my mind. And Genma is a Good Boi who is Doing His Best, along with the Self-insert character who I LOVE SO MUCH, SHE'S FANTASTIC FNEIWOPAF. Sped past this fic in the speed of light, I could not stop reading!)(Honestly, read all of the author's fics, they're all really REALLY good!)

Building a Castle by WhisperingDarkness

Without needing anyone to tell her, Sakura knew that talking to someone no-one else could see or hear would make her weird. It would draw the bad kind of attention to her, something people could make fun of her for.

She didn’t like being weird, but she did like the voice. Her inner voice was helpful and it was a part of her that had always been there. The idea of it not being there would have been so much weirder than anything else.

It was during her first year at the Academy that Sakura realised the voice was not in her head at all, but that it came from a cloudy shape floating next to her.

(Basically a short-ish retelling of Hikaru no Go. Only with more Shogi and Nara and Ninja's)

(Sakura can see ghosts (I'm noticing this is a popular trope for her) and it's really cute haha! Her relationship with Tobirama is sweet and I just enjoyed reading this so much.)

-

[The Magicians]

So Long (And Thanks For All The Books) by IncompleteSentanc (Erava)

Ships: Quentin/Eliot, James/Julia, Quentin/Margo/Eliot

When Quentin is told Julia wasn't admitted to Brakebills, he realizes he has a drastic decision in front of him. If he tells Julia about magic, he'll have his mind wiped as well as hers. But he can't just leave her behind, either. He can't lose his best friend, and he can't let her life a life with her magical potential stolen away from her.

So he makes a third choice.

(Really, and I mean REALLY well-done canon divergent fic, this is the Quentin & Julia friendship fic I have been looking for forever. It explores so much of what could've happened and I just love Quentin here, I really really do. Characterization done so right. I also recommend the author's other works too. Been a follower of them for a long time, they're great.)

-

[Game of Thrones]

The Road to Victory by writing_as_tracey

Too late in preparing for the Night King and the Long Night, the last stand at Winterfell is close to falling. Bran takes desperate measures to ensure victory, and Jon, Sansa, and Arya pay the price for it in a time unfamiliar to them, on the cusp of another war. [GoT, time-travel fix it]

(I swear, this fic made me laugh so many times, all the Stark are BAMF and fantastic, and Rhaegar gets Wrecked lol. It's crack btw, and the plot goes in directions you'll never guess and it's amazing hahaha!)

-

[Haikyuu!!] (I am very very late to the fandom but here I am)

Ballare (To Dance) by MidnightSparks

Ship: Iwaizumi Hajime/Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, and platonic Kageyama & Kentarou (really love their friendship)

Kageyama’s first love is volleyball. His second, however, is ballet.

In one world, Kageyama Tobio is left behind by his parents. In this world, the existence of soulbonds keeps Kageyama’s parents in Miyagi and leaves Kageyama in the care of his grandma and grandpa.

(In which soulmates exist and that changes everything and nothing at the same time.)

(*buries face in hands* I have fallen for this ship so hard and I can't get out fudge me. I understand now. Their DYNAMICS FIEWONPAF)

Kings of Tomorrow by bokubroya (liarielle)

Ship: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru

On the eve of Tobio’s 16th birthday, he counts down the seconds to midnight, and emerges with Oikawa Tooru’s name on his wrist.

It’s been two years since then, and Tobio thought they had an understanding. A silent, never spoken about understanding that this thing between them is nothing, and they’re going to pretend it doesn’t exist.

Of course, it’s just like Oikawa to change the game and leave Tobio wondering what comes next.

(I am WEAK for soulmate fics between these two, I don't even really like soulmate fics half the times what is WRONG WITH ME-)(Please suffer with me, I'm begging you. Its a good fic, thumbs up.)

-

[Crossover]

Honey and Magic by JustARatherVerySillyWriter, White_Squirrel for Super Carlin Brothers

Fandoms: Matilda (yeah you read that right), Harry Potter

Everyone knew Matilda was a rather extraordinary child, but even she didn't know she was a witch. Matilda Honey receives her Hogwarts letter in the year of the Triwizard Tournament, and soon, she will leave her unique mark on the magical world.

(Do I even need to explain how amazing it is to have Matilda in the wizarding world? And Matilda is a HUFFLEPUFF AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL THIS FIC IS GREAT PLEASE READ!!!)

An Eye for an Eye by DpsMercy

Fandoms: The Magnus Archives, Welcome to Night Vale

In which Jonathan Sims is not from the UK but instead, if you took his origins and turned them sideways twice then flipped them over, he technically would be from the US, the town of Night Vale specifically. Elias can’t do shit about it and gets a headache and slowly creeping madness instead.

(Look, I know probably everyone has read this because if they haven't, what have you been DOING with your lives??? Jon interning at Night Vale is Incredible, nothing phases this man, it's Delightful. I laughed so many times reading this, I'm not even kidding right now. Read or perish.)

The Favour by R_Cookie

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Ship: Original Percival Graves/Harry Potter

Percival is ten years old when his grandfather tries to tell him that he's ensured the greatness of the Graves legacy for him, that he ought to be eternally grateful - but the explanation is hijacked by a stranger who manages to intimidate Chester Graves with an ease never seen before.

or: Hadrian (Harry) Potter is the Master of Death, who grants Graves a boon. Nobody could have known that the Deathly Hallows didn't turn you so much into the 'Master of Death' as into the anthropomorphic personification of Death. And so, Death becomes Percival's guardian angel, and Percival does not spit out his cereal.

(Look, I don't know how I stumbled back into the FBAWTFT fandom either, it just happened and I'm grateful for that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found this amazing fic. Their relationship is slow and strange and I just love how Percival is characterized here. Also, one of the tag promises that it deviates from canon so I am really, really excited for that! XD)

baby that's what i do by natanije

Fandoms: Naruto, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!

"Are you telling me," Hidan exclaims, incredulous, "that you collect money all this time to give to orphans?!"

Kakuzu pauses. He blinks a few times.

"Huh. I guess I do."

(Tsuna reincarnates as Kakuzu and it's HILARIOUS. HE'S SUCH A MOM HAHAHA)

#Fanfiction #AO3 #Fic Rec #Fic Rec List #Podcasts #The Magnus Archives #Supernatural #Avatar The Last Airbender #Naruto #The Magicians #Game of Thrones #Haikyuu!! #Crossover #Matilda #Welcome to Night Vale #Harry Potter #Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them #Katekyou Hitman Reborn

[hollenka99]

2021 According to my Tumblr Archive

January

Dream did a ‘face reveal’ at the end of MrBeast’s 2020 rewind video.

I made a Borrower AU after Tommy’s size mod video, causing me to lowkey get into g/t content

The Village That Went Mad episode of Tales of the SMP happened.

Posted Phil’s Little Friends then… never wrote more content for the AU like I said I would

Doomsday caused L'Manburg to be reduced to bedrock

Oh and the Capitol building in DC got raided or something the same night, I guess

Posted Proof of Friendship

Trump got deactivated on Twitter.

Posted Not The Boy He Once Knew

Heatwaves readers crashed AO3 twice

Created the Twobur AU

Tumblr promoted that weird Guy Fieri blog (fieriframes)

I created the Blood and Feathers AU

I made an MCYT artist shout out post

February

Saw Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away for the first time.

The Haunted Mansion TFTSMP stream happened and was arguably the best installment yet.

Got 100 kudos on a fic for the first time.

Destiel Valentine’s wedding organised by a couple of former Supernatural actors that got hinted at then never happened.

The original Origins SMP server got played on for the first time.

The OG 4 Sides got their own Crofters flavours.

Ranboo attempted to murder God through bakery.

March

Posted The Doctor’s Sons

c!Tommy got murdered

Posted The Life and Times of TommyInnit

Posted the first chapter of Unequal Halves of the Same Whole

Wilford Warfstache made a reappearence in the WAIA

Destiel became canon in French

Was given drugs and had my teeth stolen

Destiel became canon in German

The Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal

TMA concluded after 200 episodes

April

SBI pranked their fans for April Fools

Prince Phillip died on Tommyinnit’s birthday

Started reading Homestuck

Heartstopper is getting a live action and the actors started being announced

Josh fight

Let Passerine break my heart

Updated Unequal Halves of the Same Whole with Introductions

May

Israel bombed Palestine

Lovejoy released their first EP (Are You Alright?) along with two music videos

Got into Orphan’s Path

Penis SMP

SAD-ist released her Passerine animatic which caused me to make one of my most popular posts of the year

MCC came back for the first time since December

June

Updated Unequal Halves again with The Futility of Talking

Flower Husbands reuinted as 3rd Life ended and I subsequently got into the series and the other side of mcytblr.

Dan Howell turned 30

Started a certain sideblog

Posted the first chapter of Blood and Feathers for Father’s Day

30 Days/Free Trial SMP started

Posted A Mislabeled Hourglass

Dan Howell came back to be queer for an hour

MCC (Pride 2021 edition), complete with Wilbur’s goddamn fire alarm going off

Good Omens 2 was announced

July

Markiplier said ‘mod is asleep, time to ruin her notes’ because of Sour Patch Kids

That super scuffed SBI Monopoly strream

England got into the finals of Euro 2020

Posted An Abundance of Theseuses

Hershey hunted somebody for sport

Updated Blood and Feathers with Laying Foundations

Tumblr Post+

MCC15 had more viewers than the goddamn Olympics

August

Posted my first fic rec of the year

Sanders Sides came back with a Remus- and Logan-centric episode

BBC Ghosts came back

Destiel works on ao3 surpassed 100k

I finally got to play 22 by Taylor Swift at midnight

Sean Lock died on my fucking birthday

Una Stubbs died like the next day

Puppet History came back for season 4

MMC16 was Ranboo’s first time participating

September

The gang beasts stream (that wasn’t super crucial to note fandom-wise but personally it was exactly what I needed after an emotionally draining week)

Blue’s Clues turned 25, along with a message from Steve

MCC17 where the Orange Ocelots won thanks to Grian’s 3 person clutch

Last Life started

A crisp rat got the part of a famous plumber

Deltarune chapter 2 was released and everyone went wild for Spamton

October

Russel T Davies was announced to be coming back to Doctor Who

Posted the October fic rec that the authors mentioned kept finding over the following weeks

AO3 reached 4 million users

The Professor got sent to prehistoric times and presumably died due to Ryan having enough

All social medias went dark due to technical issues except Tumblr

Game Theory uploaded a theory about ARGbur and every Wilburian started clowning on him

Lovejoy’s 2nd EP (Pebble Brain) was released

Minecraft Live with a victory for Allays and the future introduction of frogs

MCC18 where Tubbo won his first coin and Phil cosplayed as his oc

Critical Role started campaign 3

Brian David Gilbert released AAAH!BBA

November

Ranboo revealed his birthday and we all went ‘oh shit, you’re 18 now’

Unus Annus celebrated its first deathiversary

Sanders Sides celebrated its 5th anniversary

Maidtyn Monday to welcome him to Tumblr

Dan vs Phil returned for Hometown Showdown

Roleslaying With Roman had its debut episode

Encanto was released and everyone went Bruno, our beloved

December

Mangoball

Ranboo did an eye reveal

Spotify Unwrapped had weird categories, including 'dream smp’

Down With Covid Bus

Minecraft reached 1 trillion views on YouTube

Puppet History came back to give The Professor a funeral disguised as a Christmas special

BBC Ghosts fans got a deeper appreciation for Fanny

Tumblr banned a bunch of words for ios users

#holly talks #long post

[pronouncingitwang]

warning: this is fully a complaints about the finale post. there will be negative feelings below this line so if you aren't in the place for that, skip this! I still like the finale and tma in general I just want to get some thoughts down

- I do agree with the ppl saying that they found it underwhelming. That being said, fandom has hyped up the tragedy aspect of this podcast for so long that I can't even imagine a way that would feel like the right amount of tragic

- I wish we had gotten to hear Georgie and Melanie carry out their part of the plan like on the one hand I understand that they wanted the "I told them to go early" twist but I don't think it was that important! can you imagine the tenseness the pacing the building dread... also I just want to hear from Georgie and Melanie more in general

- on that same note! I know there's been a trend in s5 to make this The Jon and Martin Show which has led to some disappointing things (ex: Annabelle plot... though I can't say I expected that much better for her ever since the q&a when someone asked Jonny about inconsistencies between her statement and the janitor's and Jonny said how can we know what Annabelle said was true therefore half canceling out the backstory and depth he'd already given her... grr....), unlike earlier seasons where other characters had like, an arc, and though i understand that, it's not to my taste. Basically I'm saying that I would have liked Georgie and Melanie's last words to have some significance too

- ALSO JON NEVER GOT TO SAY HIS LAST WORDS TO MELANIE. GEORGIE SAID TELL HER WHEN YOU COME DOWN AND THEN HE DIDN'T SAY SHIT AND I THINK THAT THAT LINE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN IF THERE WAS NOT GOING TO BE FOLLOW-UP!

- I also just did not like a lot of the fear lore because we literally had the ep about how Smirke's classification was just one theory made by another rich white dude he thinks he knows everything...... and now it seems like the fear categories were always there and formed in early human times as distinct entities exactly as Smirke said?

- I also don't like the Web being sentient I simply don't! It was gifted a power beyond its brethren?? From who? How???

- overall I am happy with where they took Jon and Martin's plot which is the basis (besides overall horror factor) on which I believe the podcast would like us to judge it, so it's still a good score from me. That being said, I would have liked a little more hesitation on Jon telling Martin to kill him. A little more on the consequences of sending the fears into other dimensions. I also think that the "this podcast didn't do the best job making the listener care about sending the fears into other dimensions" problem and the "s5 has become just The Jon and Martin Show" are perhaps the same problem in that I cannot properly care about the concept of The World in this fictional scope if very few members of that world are granted humanity by the writing

- I think that is it! I want to reiterate that I still overall like tma and the finale and state that a lot of this is due to my personal taste rather than any higher, more objective truth that I'm trying to call upon

#okay to rb but again. #if you're not in the place to read this do not! #i know I got upset at some crit posts earlier bc i was still emotionally tender #tma spoilers #tma crit

[thekisforkeats]

The Joys of Fandom, or, how TMA helped me rediscover my love of tea

So among the many (many) good things The Magnus Archives podcast has brought to my life, none has been quite so profound as remembering how much I love making a good cup of tea. I’ve got a whole post about how it’s helped me categorize the anxiety cloud I live with on a constant basis, how it’s gotten me writing again, and writing poetry which I haven’t done in forever, how identifying with so many openly queer boys going through so much crap has helped me figure out that I want to transition.

But.

Tea is the reason we’re here today, because making a pot of tea has become a daily ritual since I started listening to TMA, and it’s been one of those tiny things that’s changed my life profoundly, and I have TMA to thank for this almost entirely.

I did not grow up drinking tea. I am from the Seattle, Washington area, and I’m just old enough Starbucks was a popular local coffee shop when I was a kid. My parents both drank a TON of coffee, my mother basically runs on the stuff, and by the time I was 6 I was drinking coffee too. Tea, growing up, was Lipton, sometimes iced or sometimes not. I didn’t even realize herbal tea was tea. Green tea was a thing one drank at Chinese restaurants. I was not at all informed.

When I got my first job, I would stop at Starbucks during the bus layover (as once does in the Seattle area) and one day in a fit of teenaged desire to be “cool” and “writerly” because I’d seen a tin of “Writer’s Chai” in the store I bought a chai latte. I loved it, and that became my go-to Starbucks drink.

I still didn’t really get tea, but I at least started learning how to boil water in the kettle and waiting for it to actually boil, pouring it over the tea bag, etc. I didn’t put in milk or sugar because I drank coffee black unless it was a latte or a mocha. I would just sort of... boil the water and pour it over and wait a few minutes and drink the tea with the bag still in the mug.

It wasn’t until I moved to Toronto that I sat down and had a good cup of tea. The woman who hosted the social group I was part of had her particular tea-making rituals, and she encouraged me to try it with milk and sugar, and it was... amazing. Life-changing, even. My perseveration drive kicked into full swing and I had to know everything about tea and its history and how to make a proper cup and so on and so forth. I learned all I could from our hostess, and then turned to the internet.

I bought a kettle to make tea at home but my ex wasn’t really supportive of my desire to brew tea on the regular, so loose leaf and teapots and “does the milk go in in cup before or after the tea” had to wait until I moved out and got a place of my own.

Then I moved to Tallahassee.

In Tallahassee, the coffee was atrocious unless it was from a couple of specific places, mostly serving cafe con leche. But I had my own place and my own dishes and I could have a teapot and make tea and nobody could stop me. So I did. Mostly for myself, while I was contemplating things, and it was really nice to sit and stare out at the ridiculously heavy Florida rain--which hit, in Tallahassee, right about 4:15 in the afternoon all summer so perfect for tea time.

I moved back to Seattle with my spouse, and we moved into my mother’s house. For a long while we didn’t have a kitchen of our own and we had small children, so tea wasn’t a thing I did any more. I had leftover coffee (or canned/bottled coffee) for the caffeine fix, but rarely tea. When my grandmother died and we moved into her old apartment we didn’t have a stove, and I despise heating water for tea in the microwave.

So for the better part of a decade, I barely drank any tea at all. I did discover Oi Ocha in this time, which is bottled green tea from Japan, which is amazing and I love it, but again--it was in a bottle. Not a thing I was personally making.

Then I started listening to The Magnus Archives, and I really identified with Martin Blackwood, because of reasons too complicated to get into here. But it inspired me to want to make tea again, and so I started getting K-cup pods, but it just... wasn’t... right. It wasn’t the same. I mean, it was tea, but it wasn’t... tea.

So I went and bought an electric kettle, and a teapot, and a strainer, and ordered regular deliveries of loose leaf tea, and started making tea for myself and my spouse. I developed my own ritual: cold water in the kettle, put hot water into the teapot (so it doesn’t crack), put three scoops of loose leaf in the strainer. Pour out the water in the teapot when the kettle boils, put in the strainer, pour the boiling water over the strainer. Wait four minutes or so, and while you’re waiting put a splash of half-and-half in the tea mugs (milk goes first so it doesn’t scald and we like the taste of half-and-half best). Then pour the tea into the mugs. The mugs are big enough that I take three spoons of sugar and my spouse four, so put all the sugar into the mugs and then increase the entropy (aka stir) until the sugar’s dissolved. Bring the tea out into the living room, enjoy.

The first time I got it all right, and made a good cup of tea, I literally cried, I was so happy. It was like seeing the sun after it had been dark for so long I’d forgotten what the sun looked like.

The thing I have come to realize about what tea means to me is something that Jon says in the trailer for Season 5 of TMA. Martin brings him a cup of “tea” and Jon goes “that’s not tea” and, indeed, it turns out to be some weird skittering thing. The following exchange really crystallized things for me:

Jon: This is no longer a world where you can trust-- Martin: Tea?! Jon: Comfort.

And that was it, right there. Coffee is fuel, for me. Coffee is “Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There.” (Quite literally; part of playing Persona 5 was remembering how much I love trying out new coffee blends.)

Tea, however, is comfort. Tea is slowing down. Tea is caffeine, yes, and therefore focus for my poor ADD/autistic brain, but it’s afternoon focus. It’s contemplation. It’s sitting and breathing in the aroma and thinking about things in a way that isn’t spiraling or catastrophizing. Whether it’s breakfast tea or Earl Grey or green tea, or an herbal like peppermint or chamomile, tea for me is self-care.

Taking those few minutes to get up and go make a pot of tea in the afternoon, to stop the business of the day and just stand there waiting for the kettle to boil, is something I’ve desperately needed. Coffee is easy to sort of make as “fire and forget,” to the point that I’ve gulped down cold or lukewarm coffee I’d forgotten about just because I need the caffeine. Tea, though, if you’re doing it right you have to stand there and wait for the water to boil and wait for the tea to steep. If you walk away to do something else you’ll ruin the whole thing. I completely understand why Martin is running around making tea for everyone in Season 2 all the time, because everything is falling apart in slow motion and it’s a chance to stop, to focus on making the tea, and then to take the time enjoying the tea itself.

Making tea for others also means love to me. I make tea for my spouse alongside myself. I included one of my teenaged children in tea-making for the first time yesterday and my youngest keeps getting the last bit of tea in the pot, and it’s such a joy to see their faces light up. Bringing someone tea means bringing them a mug of love and care. Another reason I identify with Martin--I often don’t know what to say to help someone, so I try to be sure they’re fed and hydrated and cared for. And I, too, had to learn to stop setting myself on fire to keep those people warm. I had to learn to be sure I was fed and hydrated and cared for, so I could care for them. But even now as I get older and wiser and grumpier I still run around making sure everyone’s fed and has had their mug of tea, I just don’t do it at my own expense anymore.

One of my next crochet projects is a tea cozy in the shape of a green owl, in honor of the Magnus Institute owl, because my little tea-making ritual is always going to be connected to TMA in my head. Also I have a “Fifteen Fears” mug and my spouse has a “Magnus Archives” owl symbol mug, so it’s literally just this really intense connection between TMA and tea, for me.

It’s funny how much comfort a horror podcast has given me since I’ve started listening. There are a few fandoms that have profoundly changed me--Star Trek was the first big one, Babylon 5 was the first that directly inspired me, Mass Effect helped me get out of suicidal depression, Persona (specifically Persona 5) inspired me to take responsibility for myself in a way therapy never quite managed.

And here I am with TMA, figuring out how to navigate anxiety and pain and grief in a world that feels like it’s falling apart around my ears. The concept that what we do matters; that right or wrong you should be making a decision instead of just reacting from fear or surprise; that sometimes you screw up and there’s nothing to be done, that “sorry” doesn’t fix everything, that sometimes nothing you do will fix anything and you can’t let that paralyze you... it’s all been necessary, and helpful, and I’ve been terribly grateful.

Thanks to TMA I’m writing again after years of terrible writer’s block. I’m facing my own fears and accepting that despite (because of?) my terrible arachnophobia I’d probably serve the Web if I served anything (although Eye and Lonely would also get a look in--I did say I identified with Martin pretty strongly). I’m recognizing dysphoria and dealing with it after years of trying to deny the elephant in the room.

I’m also making tea again. And for that, I am eternally, profoundly grateful.

#tma #the magnus archives #tea #martin blackwood #tma spoilers #i guess sort of? #i mean just in case #long post #my writing #seriously i cannot overstate how much tea means to me #it's been one of those things i didn't realize i needed until i started doing it again #i will definitely be posting pics of the tea cozy owl as i make it #because it's gonna be adorable af

[jorts-lad]

If you haven’t already, may I suggest watching the the post TMA episode 200 live stream. You can find it on the past live streams on the Rusty Quill twitch page. It’s a great time and many fun chats about the show from many of the people at Rusty Quill. If you need more of a reason below I have some fun quotes throughout all 3 parts of the stream.

Slight tangent before that, I do suggest continuing watch their streams, they are pretty great and also if you haven’t yet the other RQ podcasts are amazing.

I might not have the exact quotes but eh, I got them mostly.

In character Among Us (Start)

- “I realize we could end up with like 10 Martins at this point, or 10 Johns, but I feel like that will add to the drama”

- “I hate it already”

- “And it will give Robbin Lennox more screen time then he did in the show so it will be really good!”

- “Hey everybody look at me, I’m hot, I’m the fun one, I’m sexy. Sexy Tim.”

- “Keep adding to canon, that’s right, keep adding canon”

- “Your voice has changed a lot over the years, it’s like you’ve lost track of it”. “I’ve started smoking *laughter*”

- “i like fan fic”

- “All season 1 Tim round”

- “You mean a notTim?”

- “What a Tim to be alive”

- “We can’t have John as the imposter because you’d always hear from a distant corner of the ship, ‘Ceaseless Watcher’ ”

- “If I were the Corruption I guess I would just say, *corruption noises*”

- “Enjoy space black?”

- “That’s the key with Elias, just very British”

- “Hot John rights”

- “This is Elias Shiteatinggrin Bouchard”

- “I don’t suppose there’s an open position at the Archive?”. “Fun-ally enough there’s quite a few”

Jackbox

- “Aww, I love those” “Motion Sickness?” “Yeh”

- “I refuse to say Dino Nuggies”

- “So how is everyone?”

- “I cyber bully Martyn a lot”

- Question: A rejected fear from Smirke’s list. Answers: Vacuuming or The Fandom

- “I’m not voting for either because I don’t understand either joke!”

- “Alex told me to turn it on” “Alex isn’t the boss of you!”

- Question: Ah, yes, Elias Bouchard’s only weakness: Answers: Loose Morals and Fast Women or Mirrors and Thigh High Boots

- Question: What did Martyn photoshop Alex as this time? Answers: The Entire Cast of Glee or A Dinonuggie

- “Keen as mustard”

- “I really thought I had it with Senpai”

- “Hello, I’m Alasdair, the unsung hero of The Magnus Archives.”

- “In a real way aren’t you always playing Helen?”

- Question: It’s all fun and games until Daisy... Answers: Runs Out of Bullets or Kills a Cockney Delivery Driver

- “Wow. Wow. Wow. Jonathan.”

- “I took over the Stellar Firma transcripts and I come into the series at episode 60, I have no idea what the hell is going on. And then I have to describe the noise Tim makes with his mouth.” “It’s technically called speech I think”

- “Someone in the chat said, ‘Content warning: Tim Meredith’”.

- “Original recording of Rick Astley doing what?”

- Question: Martin’s favorite sweater had THIS written on it: Answers: This is what a Tea-Drinker Looks Like or Twink

- “I forgot about the good cows” “How could you forget about the good cows?!”

- “Crawdaddy”

- Not a quote but all i’m gonna say is, Autumn PHRASING

- “Alex. But wrong”

- “Content Warning: Daddies”

- “Martin wearing a shirt that says ‘Tea Daddy’”

- “The two genders: Crawdaddies and Regular Daddies.”

- “It’s alright it’s just a podcast” jonny please don’t i’ll start aggressively crying at you.

- *Jonny and Sasha discus what they are gonna eat for dinner*

- *Jonny messing everything up*

- “I used to play Martin, but ya know”

- “Oh wait does that mean Tim is now kayaking with John and Martin?” STOP IM CRYING

- “Do you here the raw capitalism in his voice”

- “Aw Daisy Chains”. “That’s not what it says”. “That’s what I choose to read”

- *everyone making Alex uncomfortable with words*

- “Oops all Ben”

The Huge Chinking’ Quiz of the Season (End)

- *everyone ominously saying Martyn*

- “Episode 69” “And what is the title of that one?” “Nice”

- “Jacky-B”

- “It’s just a spin off where nothing bad happens and ya’ know cause like Gerry Keay said the fears were the only entity and I said no, fuck you that’s wrong”

- “Alexander J. Bone”

- “Dino nuggets”

- *zooms in on Mike’s face* “You’re doing what? On my stream!”

- “Magns Achves”

- *extended sounds of chicken noises*

- “Spider [nonbinary] is my gender”

- “Over 9,000?”

- “Everyone go home Twitch is over”

- “Tim, I mean Mike”

- “Can we not make Tim a verb”

- “Swoon, swoon, swoon, Adelard Dekker”

- “not a soup store, just soup!”

- *talking about Jonah Magnus* “Cause he’s a bitch!”

- “You can’t just pop in a contact lens, ya got to bring in the whole man”

- “I was covered in disinfectant before I stroked him”

- “Don’t just straps your friends down and pull things out of them, I guess”

- “Rusty Quill Streams is a podcast”

- “Rusty asmr hours”

- “Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze aping these ribs!”

- “The Twilight universe is actually set in the Magnus universe” *disapproving* “NO”

- “I thought you said Shrek shaved her”

- “how’s it feel to get the last line in the show?” “VINDICATION”

- “And for the last time, Statement Ends”

#tma #the magnus archives #rusty quill #mag 200 #tma spoilers

[mag134]

ok here’s what i was going to say.

as an asian poc i have always read s1 jon’s leaning really hard into the pretentious accent and uptight academic image in contrast to his behavior in later seasons as deeply reminding me of my own experiences wherein i felt that i, as someone pegged as a “smart person” young (like. oh. idk. having a really high reading level) felt a lot of pressure to conform to the stereotype of asian americans being not only high achieving academics who prioritize such things over “fun” but also people who are very independent and never need or ask for help. yknow. the model minority stereotype. which gives us a sort of artificial proximity to whiteness. which i can DEFINITELY see an asian jon doing in order to impress his white boss when he’s been assigned a job he’s not qualified for. which is also uh. a much more sympathetic and relatable take on jon’s s1 persona than if he was white. bc if he was then it’s like. ok wow just another pretentious white guy faking his way through a promotion by another white guy.

and i’m not really sure what the point of this post is besides sharing my personal perspective and connection to the character as a poc but upon reflection i realize that i on some level feel compelled to make jon nonwhite because truthfully if i viewed him as white i wouldn’t be able to stand him. and that’s like. fine on my part because i’m not white but it really speaks to what the last post i reblogged said about white ppl making jon a poc and then avoiding actually looking at the questions about whiteness that a white s5 jon would raise.

and i don’t really know where this places me at this point? one of the criticisms i have of tma as a story is i kind of feel like it’s trying to do too much at once and in that way a lot of prominent themes can get lost and i think the fandom has very obviously fixated on the whole ‘gay love saves the world’ thing or alternatively, ‘heehehe monsters sexy’ over everything else and that has caused a fandom wide overshadowing of the themes around capitalism and privilege, with (white) ppl only addressing those themes at the most superficial level in order to like, give themselves a pat on the back and/or assauge their white guilt or whatever.

like idk i feel like we turned tma into a hugely character driven story (the whole pretending it’s an office comedy thing?) which isn’t inherently problematic, i love these characters too, but tma really is at its core a horror tragedy which, due to the nature of those two genres, acts as a critique of society and asks a lot of questions about it!! and it was written by a white guy!!! which affects the perspective from white these critiques and questions come!!! idk what the point i’m trying to make is here sorry this isn’t more coherent but if you read all of this thanks i guess

#i wrote this as one giant chunk of text and then broke it up into blocks afterward to hopefully make it easier to read #but i understand if it’s still hard to follow #anyways. it’s just me dumping my thoughts read it or don’t but pls only like the post if you’ve actually read it lol #recordings

[sorptomber]

My thoughts on the TMA finale

before we even get into it: this is a negative post. I am not happy. Does this mean you can’t be happy? Of course not! If you got the ending you wanted then im happy for you but figuring this is where I posted all of my magnus stuff, I might as well make one last post about it here. Spoilers, obviously. (also jonny if you see this dont take it personal xx)

My english teacher always tells us that if we’re in an exam and we’ve written a few amazing paragraphs on an essay, if there’s only 10 minutes left in the exam then you’re better off just ending your essay there rather than add on a shitty rushed paragraph because it’ll bring down your mark rather than raise it because you wrote more. This is exactly how I feel with tma, especially season 5. 

I got into magnus around this time last year, it definitely took me a while to fully enjoy it though. After listening to the first 10 episodes, I hopped onto the tma subreddit and basically asked “is every episode statements?” because I wasn’t interested in them in the slightest. I’d heard about the podcast from jonmartin fanart so I expected a lot more character interaction. I fought through the first two seasons, loved the third season, adored the fourth season just for the angst and got a start on season 5 (I was fully caught up by the time 171 came out) I thought to myself “oh hey, one episode per. domain that’s cool, whatever, kinda boring but at least we’re getting to know this apocalyptic world.” What poor little me didn’t know was that the majority of season 5 would just be worldbuilding. over and over and over again. The fact they repeated fears for domains had me more horrified than any of the other statements. I obviously stopped listening a while afterwards because I genuinely found it so boring. 

I read the transcripts, if I even bothered looking at the episode at all. And I think this is where season 5 absolutely fails and kind of fucks up the entire show. We’re used to one base setting, the archives, and we’ve never really been told much about it’s appearance because it looks like a normal ass archive. Before or after each statement we’re used to having SOME sort of character interaction, jon and tim fighting or melanie going fuckin ham, thats the shit I actually listened for. In season 5 it’s all just walking and talking with jon and martin and while that doesnt sound bad, NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS BETWEEN EPISODES. they just talk about the same things, have bad communication and maybe have a few cute moments so that it isnt all doom and gloom, but besides that there’s not actual substance. tma was a show where it kind of caters to two groups, the lot who just want short horror stories read by a random ass british dude and the lot who want plot and character interaction. Seasons 1-4 had both but season 5 was majority just horror anthology. That’s not a bad thing in concept, but it’s a bad thing if you suddenly get rid of most characters and decimate anything actually interesting for the remaining characters to talk about other than “what do you think will happen,” “where do you think this person is,” and random exposition, exposition which is so constantly repeated that characters within the show bring up how it’s said so often.

What frustrated me so much about the finale was that there was literally no need for it. We’ve spent nearly 30 episodes being told everything, more than everything, about this apocalyptic world, yet when it comes to the finale it’s ALL up to interpretation? I’ve listened to so much shit about this world that really failed to interest me all, telling myself itll be worth it for the ending, just for it to end with “i dont know, you decide.” It really feels like a fuckin punch in the gut. It was predictable (which isn’t always a bad thing, but this was VERY predictable) and unsatisfying. I know I’m not alone on this either, I’ve spoken to friends who have thought the exact same thing. It was altogether just a very disappointing end to such a fantastic show.

Personally, I feel like it could have ended pretty nicely at season 3 or 4, maybe jon could have died at the end of season 3, leaving martin behind to deal with elias plans, thats pretty tragic. Or at the end of season 4 maybe jon could have actually killed jonah himself and then run away with martin to safe house, maybe they decide to start a new life there and they never hear from Basira, Melanie or Georgie again, neither of them know what Dasies fate was. Obviously this is just off the top of my head, and I’m pretty sure Jonny had this planned out from the start. I think he still made an incredible piece of media, it get me out of a really bad case of art block and basically carried me through the first lockdown, but I think it’s the execution that let it down in the end.

I don’t know. this is all just me rambling, but I figured I had to let it all out somewhere. magnus was a great experience and I’m glad I got to be a part of the fandom while it was arguably at it’s peak. I’ll definitely keep an eye on rusty quill and jonnys works, but I have to say that I’m just really dissappointed with how magnus ended after the amazing run it had. 

#tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #spoilers #rant

[ieatmypizzawithaforkandknife]

MAG 016 - Arachnophobia

Summary: Jonathan reads the statement of Carlos Vittery, regarding “his arachnophobia and its manifestations.”

Carlos: “I. Hate. Spiders.” Me: “Cheers, I’ll drink to that bro, guess this is gonna be one of those episodes, huh.” Lo and behold, halfway through listening to this I had a mini heart attack when I thought I saw a spider in the corner of my room closest to my desk. (Spoiler alert: It was a piece of dust. I live for the scares, but I think that, like Icarus, I fly too close to the sun sometimes.)

Anyway, from here on I’ll be formatting the titles of these posts closer to how they’re written on the podcast and, from what little I’ve seen, what’s recognized by the fandom. I still feel like an outsider, being so late to things, but at least my posts won’t look as weird now.

So obviously this episode was about spiders. Well, one spider in particular - and I’ll come back to that. But first I’d like to point out that spiders have come up twice before at this point. The first (and more notable) is in episode 8, when hundreds of spiders burst out of the rotten apple that was inside the box at the base of the uprooted tree at the house on Hill Top Rd. The second was only a mention, and it was in episode 9 (the serial killer episode) when the narrator said, of the shed in her back yard, “As far as I was concerned, the sturdy wooden structure was just the home of spiders’ nests and the rusted garden tools my parents would use once a year to attack the overgrown wilderness that was our back garden.” I almost didn’t include this second one, since it’s so fleeting and seemingly innocuous, but it could indicate some kind of connection between the spiders and the creepy ritualistic murder that was being committed in that shed, which is...disturbing, to say the least.

I find it interesting that the first appearance of spiders had them coming out of a rotten apple though. In this episode, Carlos tries giving Major Tom (the cat) food, but he just sniffs at it and walks away, which Carlos points out is unusual (and any cat owner knows is unusual). At the very end, Jonathan tells us that the coroner’s report said that Carlos had “foreign organic material” blocking his throat (though we don’t have confirmation of what the “material” was) and that “his body was completely encased in web.” But spiders typically wrap their prey in silk prior to eating them. Are all of these things related to that recurring theme of bad/rotten food? I’m not sure yet.

As a sometimes-writer, I appreciated the subtle but definite escalation in the threat of the spider. First, it’s on his kitchen wall - unfortunate, since that’s the room where you go to get food, but fairly avoidable. Carlos shuts Major Tom in there for 2 hours and is none the worse for it. The second time, it’s on his TV screen. Its body was physically between him and something he was going to use, and if he wanted to watch TV he was going to be seeing that spider the whole time. And then finally it’s on the ceiling above the head of his bed. A person’s bed should be a safe and comforting place, a place where you can go to rest and rejuvenate - and this marks the end of the last remaining “safe space” for Carlos, as this thing threatens to descend on him as he sleeps. Excellent writing as always.

Building off of the idea of an escalation in the threat is the idea that there’s some kind of malicious intent in this spider’s presence. “I hate spiders, as I have said,” Carlos says at one point, “but I would have sworn that this one hated me back.” He describes it several times as staring at him, and one time describes its “mandibles twitching with anticipation”. Spiders shouldn’t be malicious, no matter how much a person might fear them or not like them. But this one is. Just like caves shouldn’t be malicious either (episode 15). The world of TMA is a scary place and I’m just glad I don’t live there lol.

Especially scary is the idea that this was all caused by an accident Carlos had when he was a child. He says that he tripped and fell into that spider and its egg sac when he was 6 - and nearly 25 years later it’s coming back to bite him in the ass. But I wonder - was there always something supernatural going on with that spider, even when he was a kid? The story he tells doesn’t have any obvious supernatural elements that I can see, and the “ghost spider” (as Jonathan calls it at the end) only appears after the Jane Prentiss worms. My first instinct would be to say that there’s nothing supernatural at all about the spider itself, and that the spider was somehow...activated, I guess?...by Jane’s presence. But I know spiders are important in the series, so right now the whole thing is a big question mark for me. Which came first, the spider or the worms?

This post is part of a series where I write my thoughts about each episode and obsessively connect dots in an effort to figure out The Big Mysteries of the series. All posts in this series are tagged “is this liveblogging?” Comments and messages are welcome but I have only listened to season 1, so I ask that you not spoil me for anything beyond episode 40. In the words of Jonny Sims…thanks for listening!

(Spoilers for the remainder of season 1 under the cut.)

So I’d like to take a moment to share with you a story about just how much of an Absolute Dumbass I am. Here we go.

I’ve been keeping an ear out for familiar names (of people and of places), so when Carlos mentions his apartment is on Boothby Rd, I did a quick mental check and, nope, don’t believe I’ve ever heard that name before. But wait, it’s in Archway? At that point I hit pause. I thought to myself, I know I’ve heard that somewhere before... Cue me looking back and seeing that’s where Harriett Lee lived in episode 6 (specifically, on Elthorne Rd), and the last known location of Jane Prentiss! Hmm...well, just how big is Archway, anyway? Are those two streets even close to each other? So I pull out a map - and would you look at that, the two roads intersect! I do a little happy dance from putting that together. Unpause. Carlos’ next words were “While nearby Elthorne Road was full of houses and gardens-”. OK, a little disappointing since they “gave” the connection away right there...but it would still take a really good memory (or in my case, really good notes) to remember Elthorne Rd being mentioned in passing 10 episodes ago, right? I no longer feel great, but I still feel pretty good about making the connection. Some 30 seconds later: “Our building had acquired something of an infestation of some sort of insect I didn’t recognize - small, silvery worms, almost like maggots, but slightly longer, and I assume that they provided a good meal for the eight-legged little monsters.” Friends...I cannot describe to you the deep, deep disappointment I felt in myself at this point. Not only had I paused the podcast and done actual research when the answers were literally in the next minute of the podcast, but I had completely forgotten the worms made an appearance at all in this episode. SMH.

#personal #liveblogging #is this liveblogging? #The Magnus Archives

[thezolblade]

not sure how to sum up my thoughts about the tma finale, but to get them down in words & out of my head, and for anyone who’s curious... kinda mixed feelings.

there’s a point where it’s hard to come up with meta, because my thoughts shift from ‘what would be the right thing to do in-universe?’ to ‘what would make a fun or unfun story?’, and there’s not always an easy yes/no, for each category, for each hypothetical way the plot could have gone. especially when the author makes the consequences deliberately ambiguous in canon, by having characters explicitly state that they don’t know what might happen, and that even the information they do have could be unreliable.

the worst-case scenario, complete multiverse genocide? the best-case scenario, the cosmic horror fails to take over another world? neither are a canon consequence, and anyone telling a story (hypothetical future canon or fan content) could decide to tell a story at either extreme or anywhere in between, and it’s all fiction either way.

whether it’s fun or not? a lot of the s4/5 slide into heavier trauma-horror hit too hard for me to feel like ‘so, global genocide or multiverse genocide?’ was a fun either-or to imagine, and that was the binary option that Jon was assuming. So I guess I might not be playing with the finale much in the fandom sandbox. Some people do seem to have found the heaviest parts of s5 fun, so, good for them?

i. ) If the original core of the idea for tma was something like, ‘spooky monsters caught on tape, released into another world, with a survivor giving 4th-wall breaking apology implying that they’re coming for us next!!’, and it’d all been s3-ish levels of ‘fun escapist’ horror on the way there, then i probably would have enjoyed that ending, because I’m not seriously worried about fictional monsters coming for us irl. Imagining it would just be ‘ooh, spooky’.

ii. ) So, that same ending feels like it hit heavier because we had... painfully long audio of victims realistically screaming, and in gradually more episodes I felt horrified to the point of feeling a bit sickened, instead of sad in a cathartic way. So the prospect of ‘entities released into another world to do the same but more’ makes me imagine exponentially more of the worst of it. The difference between this and my last paragraph isn’t exactly in the ending of the show being any different, or the in-universe consequences being any different for the characters making the decision. It’s in how the emotional arc hits for listeners, how much realistic pain we’re imagining.

By the 2nd half of s4 I was more worried about the Archivist’s victims than the main characters, especially when Jonny confirmed that the plot was meant to imply that the Archivist may have driven some of them to suicide off-screen. I was still rooting for the characters to try to fix things - even in a tragedy, the compelling part tends to be seeing the characters make an effort, whether it works or not. I didn’t find it all that satisfying to see the characters forget about that problem by getting desensitized/distracted until the focus shifted to constant gory torture for everyone in the world instead. And then in season 5, the ‘lighter’ moments didn’t have much impact for me because they felt thoroughly overshadowed by the constant gory torture of everyone around them.

I still love the earlier seasons, though. I liked the characters for trying to help people, whenever they put their heart into it. And I like how the worldbuilding explores people’s relationship with fear - how things can go so differently for different people, including all the minor characters, depending on their own emotional landscape and the sort of dangers that target them. And i really don’t want to give up reading ace fic by ace authors, when being able to access an ace community online has meant a lot and gotten me thinking, even if it’s come right around the time I can’t get out of the house much to figure out what sort of ace relationship might work for me irl.

I’ll stay in fandom, even if it means avoiding the parts that I’m not as interested in. I still kinda wish more of the fandom was on the same wavelength about some things, though. Why does everyone seem to treat the safehouse era as fluffy, when Jon was still stalking Jess and his other victims night and day? (He stopped attacking anyone new, but he never blinded himself to free his existing victims - and even if he had, Jonah probably would’ve killed him to bury the knowledge of how to quit before appointing another Archivist...) And the full bodycount / survivor list of the attack on the Institute was still unknown, from what Basira had told them. I used to assume that fandom would treat the safehouse era as the grim starting point for fix-it fics that end up happy, but instead almost everyone seems to treat it as a situation that was already fluffy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fic with, e.g., Martin asking Basira whether any more survivors of the shooting had gotten in touch, on the second day in Scotland. o.0

#the magnus archives #tma thoughts

[the-cookie-of-doom]

2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 22. Release the salt!!

Gladly >: )

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

That depends, how popular is Sciles? I could never ship them; Scott treats Stiles like shit throughout the entire show. The one, single time I wrote them being romantically involved was in a super fucked up fic where a very traumatized Stiles was taking advantage of Scott’s desire to help him recover. It wasn’t even a little bit happy; Stiles was seriously screwed up after everything that happened to him, and he knew Scott wasn’t into guys, he was just trying to make him uncomfortable. 

Aside from that, I’m not really into Thiam. Nothing against it, but I prefer Steo xD

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Hmmm not sure if there’s one I hated, but fandom has def gotten me into stuff I wasn’t interested in before. I can’t think of any specifics off the top of my head, though. All of my TW ships were pretty much there before I ever watched the show/got into the fandom. I read a ton of fics for like 2 years before finally giving in.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Scott. He’s the most useless, hypocritical “hero” I’ve ever seen, and a product of lazy writing through and through. And the sad thing is, I didn’t even care when I first watched the show. I didn’t actively hate him until the Delusional Squad kept trying to bludgeon people into worshiping him, and seeing the various counterarguments for how shitty Scott really is. Now I can’t fucking stand him. 

Aside from him... Allison, maybe? Which sounds terrible. I promise I actually love her, but season 2 Allison?? Total bitch. And it was such a weird path for her character development to take. Like, okay, she’s pissed off, she just found out werewolves are real and one killed her mother, almost killed her best friend, and her boyfriend is one. But to immediately start trying to hunt down her classmates? No. That is totally sociopathic behavior, what the fuck. You don’t get to play Allison as this sensitive sweetheart, and then pull that shit. It’s the inconsistency that really gets me.

Coming back from the next question to say: fuck Monroe. She was a shitty fucking character with the most basic, shallow motivation. They needed a Big Bad for the final season and instead of taking the time to really build someone up, they just decided... what? “Oh, monsters are real, I almost died and this one guy didn’t save me because I was hidden under a pile of bodies, guess it’s time to kill everyone!” Really? And she’s supposed to be a psychologist. 

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Oops, I basically answered this with the last one xD Allison’s arc infuriates me, and so does Scotts. He doesn’t make any character growth - which would be fine, if the writing reflected that. But it doesn’t. We’re still constantly told that Scott is the Very Best Werewolf Jesus, all the way up to the end, when in reality? He fucking sucks. And oh yeah, he finishes the show be recruiting child soldiers into a war he could’ve prevented, if he just killed Monroe. But no, Werewolf Jesus always has to let the bad guys go, because hey, who cares if they kill people so long as the blood isn’t on his hands.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Ohhh I’m sure I’ve got plenty. But actually, I’m going to answer this one for TMA because I have way more hot takes in that fandom. Like, I stopped actively participating last year because I was tired of the bulll shit, and didn’t go back into the tags until my spam yesterday. 

Love the show, love the talented people in fandom, but god fuck there are so many cold takes and “Friendly Reminders UwU” and “We Really Need To Talk About This/Thing About Why You Headcanon This”. There’s a ton of purity wank for a horror-tragedy fandom, I stg. And the mob mentality? Fucking disgusting. I’ve never been more ashamed to be part of a fandom that when everyone mobbed Jonny over multiple episodes last year, but Locked In was the worst. He shouldn’t have to come out with his own trauma to justify the subject matter he writes about. That’s a trend that needs to stop across all fandoms; no one is entitled to someone else’s trauma.

22. Popular character you hate?

Actually, I should’ve answered all of these as TMA, my answers would be way more interesting and less predictable xD (except the character arc one, bc there’s not a single arc I didn’t like in TMA. They were all so well written) 

Again, does Scott qualify as popular? I wouldn’t say so, given how much of fandom is Sterek, and how much of us can’t stand him for how he treats Stiles and Derek respectively xD But yeah, let’s go with that lmao. 

And, just to be clear for anyone that may read: this is a salty ask game, not a debate. If you disagree with any of my answers that’s chill, I promise I won’t care, just don’t try to convince me otherwise.