autismprotocol

[autismprotocol]

I think this is a really compelling theory/idea… but I want my favorite lil guys back 😭 truly the dichotomy of being a magnus fan

Been really enjoying how the Magnus Protocol has been playing with the idea of ✨️nostalgia✨️. Sam obsessing over the Magnus Institute, Alice wanting to rekindle her relationship with Sam, Celia looking into familiar names from TMA.  Even the monsters are a bit of a throwback - a mascot from a 90s TV show, a member of British aristocracy, [ERROR] with her cassette tapes.

And on a meta level - the listeners are playing into this nostalgia, too. The theories that Jon/Martin/Jonah are stuck in the computer. Our excitement at hearing familiar voices again. Trying to  assign the Smirke 14 to the O.I.A.R. cases...

The thing is - nostalgia is actually just  corrupting everyone. Sam's obsession is putting the O.I.A.R. crew in danger. Alice's attempts at reshaping their relationship to how it used to be is harming her current friendship with Sam. Celia's investigations just keep leading to dead ends.

And us, the listeners, our inclinations to apply the old lore from TMA to this new series...it might be causing us to miss some big clues in Protocol...

so yeah, I just think it's really cool how Magnus Protocol is playing with the dangers of nostalgia, especially considering it's a sequel!

[autismprotocol]

i need everyone to look at the character playlists that the rusty quill voice actors made for their characters right now

disclaimer that these are not "canon" in any way but they ARE by the vas and oh my god ohhhhh my god

[autismprotocol]

TMAG Theory Board Update (EP 11-12)

Hi guys sorry about the late posting I've just started a new quarter of college and its been pretty hectic. also got into my school design BFA program so pretty stoked about that! Anyways lets get into the Episode Breakdowns because even though not a lot of lore related things happened I still have a lot to talk about

For the breakdown I'll separate each by episode in sequential order

What Happened in Episode 11: Marked

Celias Rude Awakening- we jump right into the weirdness straight away with Celia waking up on the side of the interstate. she indicates that this is not a weird occurrence and ends the scene by telling someone named Jack that she's "on her way." If you remember episode 8 after Celia and Sam talk to Gerry and Gertrude, she mentions stuff about wanting help with her own mystery. When Sam asks about it she says she's looking into Time travel, other dimentions and teleportation. Many people have theorized that maybe Celia is just a super heavy sleepwalker, but I think the she teleports random places out of nowhere. This could be a side effect of her reality hopping if this Celia is originally from The archives universe.

As for the identity of Jack I'm not quite sure about that yet. I cross referenced the name Jack with past episodes of TMA. The only thing that came up was Jack Barnabas from the statement about dating Agnes Montague (aka an avatar of the desolation and Jesus-like figure for the cult of the lightless flame) So Unless Celia is secretly Agnes of Agnes reincarnated , I can't find any way to link Barnabas to Celia. (if anyone has a theory feel free to send it my way.)

Sam Lore- this one is pretty minor story-wise but I thought it was interesting. Before the statement for the episode is presented we get some classic Sam and Alice Banter ™ most of it is pretty lighthearted but I noticed Sam mention something that could indicate he might be an amputee.

These could not mean anything and I find it weird that it hasn't been mentioned until now but thought it was kind of cool and I will probably be drawing sam with a prothetic leg in the future cause I really like this head-canon. It also begs to question if he is missing a leg. it might have anything to do with his past as a Magnus institute test subject but then again could just be a fun character detail added by Jonny and/or Alex .

The Statement- Getting into the statement we get another Ink5oul appearance. Also possible Ink5oul identifying as she/they. (and lets be honest being a fear avatar is pretty non binary core). I found this Episode gave me a feeling of a hybrid between the Vast, Buried and the Flesh some people are theorizing that is might be a new entity called the Deep but I think that the fear of the ocean could easily apply to the vast or buried. Not much to say about this story though pretty standard Magnus horror that also gave us a hint to what Ink5oul's goal could be/which entity they serve.

Post Bonzo- Gwen has a debrief with Lena after her first Externals Liason assignment and her meeting with Mr. Bonzo. Undoubtedly Gwen is still pretty shaken from her encounter, even arriving late to work due to sleeplessness. Gwen is able to ask Lena a few questions mainly she wanted to know who's name was written on the letter given to Bonzo

Lena is largely unhelpful but tells Gwen she should have worked it out by now and if not to pay close attention to the case load for the next couple of days. before the latest episode my guess was Klaus because that is the only person mentioned so far that the OIAR intends to kill. but more on that later

Marked- Now were getting to my favorite thing about this episode. This episode title can have two meanings. The first is the more literal interpretation. Tattoos are marking of the body and the case this episode was all about tattoos so easily a good name would be marked. But I believe this is a red herring meant to misguide listeners who have not consumed all 200 episodes of TMA because if you know the world of Magnus Archives the term Marked takes on a entirely different meaning.

In TMA the term marked is used to indicate that somebody has been influenced by one or more or the fears and are one their way to becoming an Avatar. I think this could be a coded way to tell the audience someone in the OIAR has been marked. I have two potential candidates

Alice Dyer- Alice has been having dreams about the Institute after her and Sam's adventure into the ruins. also she mentions feeling like someone's watching her (common to people influenced or fed upon by the Ceaseless Watcher/The Eye) My guess if she is marked it would be by the Eye.

Gwendolyn Bouchard: Probably the most likely culprit. The main way an entitly tends to mark people is through encounters with other avatars. Gwen has just had an encounter with Mr Bonzo last episode who I strongly believe must be an avatar of some sort.

What Happened in Episode 12: Getting Off

Aww Sam!!- Sam asked Celia out and it was adorably awkward. not much to say I just loved this interaction and I'm longing for a new Magnus brand office romance hopefully is wont be an agonizing slowburn that ends tragically like a certain pair of morons from Archives (I love you Jon and Martin but Jesus christ)

It's Bonzo time bitches!!- Probably one of the most gruesome Magnus statement I've ever listened to (good work Alex) Mr Bonzo completely annihilated some poor dude at his bachelor party. Based on the date of the Incident the I can confidently say that whoever Baz (the groom) was he was our mystery person the OIAR sent Mr Bonzo to get rid of. Along with some of the bloodiest imagery we learned a few things about Bonzo. The most interesting detail is that Bonzo has to be summoned by playing his theme song I think the CD of his theme song acts somewhat like the tapes did in TMA by materialising out of nowhere. Also fun fact you know that torn seam that is right down Bonzo's middle? that is actually is his mouth lined with rows sharp teeth so I guess I know that now (so fun) Moral of the story dont f*ck with Mr. Bonzo

Alice knows something: Theres been this recurring audio glitch throughout TMAGP thatnks to a few extremly observent fans we have started to relize that these glitches are not at all random and are actually letting the audience know when a character is lying (i actually reposted somones deepdive into all the istances of this glitch so far if you guys are intrested in knowing more) why i bring this up now is becuase since we know when any charater is lying we also know when they are being truthful if there is no glitch when they say somthing and at the end of this episode this interaction occurs

Alice goes ahead and makes a joke about this to annoy Gwen but the fact theres no audio glitch when she says "I know" means she does actually know who is behind the OIAR and is activly refusing to share it with Gwen or the others. What do you know Alice!?

and that's about it im already loving these next batch of episodes and am so excited to learn more (ERROR has to show up somtime )

thanks to everyone who resonded the poll on the last update I will continue to include drawings into the breakdown even if it takes me a little bit of time to post. anyways I wrote this all in one sitting and I'm about ready to pass out so thanks again and the ask box and comments are always open for discussion and theory crafting.

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

Update: turns out Jonny was not in on it so only Alex is to blame

Also no lore just a lot of bonzos

Did I just listen to 20 minutes of the Mr. Bonzo theme song thinking there would be hidden lore? Yes

will I continue to listen the the entire episode in hopes of finding hidden lore knowing full well that it’s April fool day and this is definitely just Jonny and Alex trolling us?… also yes

[autismprotocol]

Did I just listen to 20 minutes of the Mr. Bonzo theme song thinking there would be hidden lore? Yes

will I continue to listen the the entire episode in hopes of finding hidden lore knowing full well that it’s April fool day and this is definitely just Jonny and Alex trolling us?… also yes

[autismprotocol]

Guys I made a discovery!! (Spoilers for EP 4 and EP 9 of Protocol)

I’ve been re-listening to all the current protocol episodes with my grandma over spring break (me and her have been listening to tma together for 2 years) and I think I noticed something that I haven’t seen anywhere else. In episode 4 when Augustus is reading the statement about the hunger violin, the statement mentions a few things the stranger has in is sack along with said violin

When I heard gamblers dice be read my jaw dropped to the floor!! there is no doubt this stranger was carrying around the dice from episode 9: Rolling with it. Because of this tie-in I think this strange trinket man will be a recurring avatar. My guess is he will take a similar rolls as Salesa, dealing in cursed artifacts that were gifted power by the entities.

Just in case it comes back here’s a list of all the stuff mentioned to be in the Trinket man’s sack

Battered knives

Chipped porcelain

Fine jewelry (this one is kind of vague tbh )

Ivory figures

I’m guessing because the dice are mentioned with extra emphasis, we won’t see anymore of the for mentioned items but you never know

I think we all need to be on the watch for The Trinket Man

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board ( EP 10)

Hi guys sorry for the late post I ended up drawing a lot for this update especially because it's the last one before the hiatus so wanted to give it a little more pizazz :D

What Happened in Episode 10: Saturday Night

Interview with Nigel Dickerson. The inccident report this week was all about Mr Bonzo. If you remember from last episode Nigel is the famous tv personality who created the character of Mr Bonzo. During this interview he recounts the rise and fall of Bonzo while being ominous and on edge the whole time. what I gathered from the interveiw is that Bonzo is either trapping Nigel or Bonzo and Nigel are linked somehow. (when he say "he won't let me leave" and refers to himself as "us") we also learn about the murders that are connected to the Bonzo suit, first by the serial killer Terrance Menki and very recently 3 unsolved murders. Nigel also mentioned that the actors who wore the Bonzo suit would be prone to injuries on set which is also really stange. Could be they were used as Bonzo's victims near his begining

Gwen meets Mr Bonzo. The other section of the episode dealing with Bonzo is when Gwen goes to Nigel's house on her first assignment as the Externals Liason. So turns out Bonzo is maybe a hitman for the OIAR! Also, big thing Mr Bonzo is atually alive and is introduced with some kind of practice almost resembling a ritual. I heard somone mention they think Bonzo is an avatar of the Stranger and I can definitely see this. I'd love to hear if anyone else has a theory for what entity Bonzo may be connected to.

The Return of Colin. Colin isn't dead!! Shocking absolutley everyone Colin is still kicking. a few episodes ago he was sent on mental health leave by Lena after his parnoia caused him to mentally snap. Celia sees him while on break and they have a short convorsation. Colin tells Celia that he need to figure out the computers. also big thing Colin is back without the permission of Lena. It will be interesting to see what hes looking for and if he'll continue to sneak behind Lena's back.

Sam and Alice's Adventures into the Institute. Probaly the biggest development lore-wise was Sams and Alice investigating the ruins of the Magnus Institute. They don't find much (but I'm still am gonna talk about it for awhile) Alice mentions that there were weird carvings in the floor which she later equates to the worms on the ground. If you are a Archives listener hearing about worms in the archives starts seting off all kinds of alarms. This means in this universe the Jane Prentiss attack still happens, which is especcially iteresting because If I'm not mistaken in TMA the worm attack happened spesiffically to mark Jon with the corruption. Was Jon ever part of the institute? or if not Jon there must have been an archivist role in this Magnus Institute that would require Jane to attack it.

ERROR and the Tape Recorders so far in protocol we have been listening to the characters through either the computers or though their phones. But during the last few minutes we here the click of a tape recorder. and TMA fans around the world rejoiced. The magnus archives is entirley told through tape recordings and are a tool used by the web (spesifically the avatar Annabelle Cane) does this mean Annabelle made it to this universe? or it could also signal the presense of Jon (since the tape recorders are linked to him) Alice and Sam investigate the archivist office looking for a place for the key when the floor collapes and Sam drops the key. After some Sam and Alice banter, they leave but the recorder stays running we then hear the scraping sound and some shutterd breathing. This is when I highly suggest going through the transcript after listening to an episode becuase they specifically what were hearing and who is breathing.

I included the snippet from the transcript that pinpoints every not verbal sound we hear

water from the pit under the archives is disturbed

thud on wood then a rattle of a padlock

Key being dragged across the wood then fumbled into a lock that clicks open

trapdoor opens and ERROR imerges

ERROR takes 3 breaths

ERROR has been used before for redacting the roles played by Johnny, Alex and Tim (aka the voices of FR3-d1) during the cast anouncements for protocol. This makes me think that ERROR must be someone from the Archives universe my running theory is that it is a entity that houses Jon, Martin and Jonah's souls or consiounous. but It could literally be anyone. I'm also thinking ERROR has been locked in the tunnels under the archives (Mentioned in TMA)

And thats about Everything! plese let me know your thoughts or if you wanna correct me on any mistakes :)

Also I would love to know if you guys would prefer this style of post where I illustrate moments and scenes from each episode? it would probably delay when I'm able to post the breakdowns but I'd love to know if you guys perfer that format over the less illustrated one.

[autismprotocol]

Sorry for the late post (I work nightshifts) but I figured I should give more info on the Hungers thing. It's a theory I've mostly seen being floated in the youtube comments or one-off tumblr posts, so I'm not sure where it originated. It's one of those "this is either the key to the whole series or a fan-created red herring that will be discredited by the end of season 1".

The primary evidence of it is the fact that for the first 5 episodes the horror has been entirely driven by a passion or desire of the statement give, and their desires have gotten more focus then their fear.

Harriet wants to see her dead husband again, even if he's come back wrong. RedCanary seems driven by the thrill of urban exploration and a desire to clear the magnus institute first. Darla has body image issues (hence why the probable flesh avatar ink5oul can get her) and thus wants to feel pretty (ink5oul also is only willing to work on her when she states a clear desire). Samuel Webber wants to be with the wife he murdered. Voilin guy from episode 4 (who tumblr user fandom-geek stipulated might be James Smithson of the Smithsonian museum) wants his musical talent to be recognized even if it costs blood (and Stranger McArtifact gives him his deepest desire rather than his worst fear). Tom the horror fan is ecstatic to get a personal screening of an obscure horror movie he's been searching for.

Again, any theory based on the first 5 episodes should be taken with a grain of salt. Needles doesn't really fit into it (I guess he wants people to be afraid of him?) and the stranger and buried's charity auction from hell in episode 7 certainly doesn't fit in (unless the "good cause" is playing ironic genie to the people the artifacts are being sold to). It's just an idea I've seen being floated around about how the powers might be different in this timeline.

Thank you so much for the extra info on the hungers/desires theory! when discussing it with my roommate we are starting to beileve that what we're seeing in this world is the birth/ creation of avatars and they had the theory that avatars (at least in protocol) are born from a strong desire I really love this idea so I'm gonna try to prove the few from the newest episode under this theory that

EP 8: Give and Take - for this one we actually can't fit that cleanly into the theory (if you have a theory about how it could fit in please leave it in the comments or send a ask :D ) we are thinking that the inccident read in the episode about the brutalist liminal spaces was a ritual, rather than the birth or the individual act of an avatar.

EP 9: Rolling with it- this avatar (Evil dice dude) was born from a desire to control his luck.

Ep 10: Saturday night: Neil Dickerson is tricky i still have no idea if he's an avatar himself or if it's just Mr Bonzo but either way Bonzo was created from Nigels desire to be famous,

I'll be interested to know if this pattern continues into future episodes. So far I see the Desire theory being a pretty strong case to explaining the origin of the esoteric inccidents the O.I.A.R files.

also just a quick update: I'm working on a Episode 10 breakdown but Its taking a while because I wanted to illustrate some scenes to add some visual flair :0 it will hopefully be out by tomorrow or monday!

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

places where the audio distorts

image ids under the cut

tmagp 4:

tmagp 5:

tmagp 7:

tmagp 8:

the audio distorts when people lie.

I imagine this knowledge will come in handy later.

[id: ALICE: This is not something you go poking around in. Not if you want to keep your job… or your neck. SAM: (a little amused) Okay, okay! I get it. Consider me scared straight. "Consider me scared straight" is highlighted. end id]

[id: LENA: Now, while I understand your concerns, you need to understand that Colin has held the IT Manager position for some time without incident, and although he is somewhat… frustrated with his current assignment, he can request help from the central IT team at any time. I am certain that should he find his responsibilities unmanageable, he will request assistance. Or resign, of course. Either way, the problem will resolve itself. "Or resign, of course" is highlighted. end id]

[id: CELIA: Is there any way to look up specific files? ALICE: Like what? CELIA: Oh, I don’t know. Every case about… being buried alive, or meat, or… whatever. ALICE: Well, there’s a search bar, but it doesn’t actually do anything. You’d have to dig through them all manually. (suspicious) – Why do you ask? CELIA: Just figuring it all out. Ah well, I guess I’ll need to find Bigfoot on my own time. "Just figuring it all out" is highlighted. end id]

[id: GERTRUDE: I see. Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think Gerry can help you – GERRY: (casually) Yeah, I barely remember any of it. "I don’t think Gerry can help you" is highlighted. end id]

[id: GERRY: Oh yeah, but I was pretty young. I remember filling in a bunch of forms and questionnaires, then some old men asking me questions about what books I liked to read, who did I look up to, that kind of thing. And then I left. SAM: (disappointed) That’s all? GERRY: Yeah, afraid so. Other than just sitting around with a bunch of other kids in a room that smelled like old books. "Yeah, afraid so" is highlighted. end id]

[id: CELIA: I’m trying to look into… Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation, all that good stuff. Freddy doesn’t really do searches, so you could keep an eye out and let me know if any come up in your cases? SAM: Uh, sounds a bit sci-fi compared to our usuals. What’s this for? (amused breath) You’re not doing research for that podcast you were on, are you? CELIA: (surprised) You know about that? SAM: I might have given you a quick Google. CELIA: Then… yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie. "yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie" is highlighted. end id]

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board (Episode 8-9)

Hi guys sorry about the missed week of theory crafting my schoolwork has been extra demanding and I haven't been able to get around to updating the board until now so here's the updated board

Episode 8 especially was insane so I'm gonna break the episode breakdown into two sections.

What Happened in Episode 8: Running On Empty

New Norris Statement! it's been a while since we heard from our buddy and he did not disappoint. though there's not much to say story-wise this was just a cool incident report I loved the way they described the Lonely as a constantly hungry entity. I also noticed that the pattern of Norris's statements having to do with lost love continues to be true. it's much more subtle than his previous two incidents but the statement giver does mention losing his wife because of divorce. which I believe still follows the pattern I've theorized is taking place. 

Something up with Alice. She seems more depressed and serious than she usually is in this episode. (through episode 9 I think I know why but I'll get to that later. I don't believe she is completely in the dark like some of the newer employees and after hearing about Gwen's promotion she is getting suspicious. we have yet to know if Alice knows what's happening. but her behavior in this episode might give us a hint about how naive she actually is.

Colin is Absent. After his freakout in EP 7, Colin is MIA. according to Lena, he's on a mental health break but I would not be surprised if that is a lie.

Gerry and Gertrude are Alive!! Probably the most exciting development in this episode was meeting an alive Gerry Keay and Gertrude Robison. Sam is on the hunt for info about the Magnus Institute after the emails Jon has been sending him and he and Celia end up meeting Gerry who in this universe is considerably more happy and lives with Gertrude. I'm interested to know what role Gertrude plays in this universe is she at all connected to the Institute? I definitely think something is up with her because of the way she tries to deflect Sam's question to Gerry.

Celia Lore. after the meeting with Gerry leads to a dead end for Sam, Celia asks him to help her with her mystery. "I'm trying to look into... Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation" More proof for this Celia being from from Archives. why else would she be looking into other dimensions specifically if she wasn't trying to figure out what happened at the Panopticon. (Remember as far as we know Celia before the change in Archives was just a normal person she had no connection to the entities or the Institute.) when Sam asks, she says it's for her friend's podcast but I think she's lying. or not telling the full truth.

Georgie Barker Perhaps? speaking of the friend. our last reveal of the episode is Georgie in protocol. I don't think she is from Archives because Georgie appears after Jons's sacrifice in MAG 200. 

And thats it for episode 8 so im gonna move on to Episode 9

What happened in Episode 9: Rolling With It

Sam is back to filling out onboarding paperwork but the questions on it are strange. asking about past traumas, how many dead things you've seen recently, and the infamous question why? similar types of questions that appear in TMA job interviews.

A Magnus Statement!?! After Celia tells Sam she can't find anything at the Magnus Institute Sam considers cutting his losses and letting it go. But then Chester without any prompting begins reading a Magnus statement incident to Sam. I still believe Chester is Jon and he acts as a mentor to Sam trying to keep him safe by providing him with bits of the answers he's looking for. (this way Sam won't be in danger of looking for answers elsewhere and maybe he won't be targeted by this unknown force that had killed RedCanary and driven Colin to extreme paranoia.) the statement reveals that the institute collected and stored artifacts much like the Institute in Archives. 

What's the deal with the Institute? the statement Chester shares this episode is pretty standard Magnus stuff, magic fear dice is just another Thursday for TMAG enjoyers. but what I found most interesting was the pre-statement info. What does this viability survey mean? viable for what? I and my roommate have a kind of joke theory that the Institute in this universe is a hub for training and creating new avatars but now I'm starting to think this might actually be the case. I think they are looking for people who have the potential to become avatars as subjects. for the agents, they might be employing avatars to work for the institute and the catalyst has to be finding an avatar that can complete the ritual and bring the Change. The unknown statement giver in this episode can't be a subject because they are already claimed by a power from the dice (still unsure what power it is ) they have low potential to become an agent because based on the end of the statement they now want nothing to do with the dice stepping away from their identity as a fear avatar and then dying. and for some reason, the institute must see some potential that this individual can serve as a catalyst for the ritual. I'm hopeful we'll get another avatar statement and maybe we can revisit this Viability survey again 

Gwen's First assignment. Gwen gets her first Liason assignment and it has brought up a major player from the protocol ARG. Mr Bonzo is this weird mascot character that showed up multiple times in the ARG that was launched back in the fall of 2023. Gwen is tasked with delivering an envelope with a name and address to Nigel Dickerson someone who according to Gwen is known for Mr. Bonzo. Basically, I have no idea where this is going but I definitely think it must be important. 

Poor Alice. Alice meets with Teddy to catch up. Nothing story significant happens here but we do learn that maybe Alice still harbors some romantic feelings towards Sam.

The Ruins. After her conversation with Teddy Alice is approached by Sam with a request. He wants to go to the old Magnus Institute ruins and wants Alice to come with him. This is definitely a bad idea but she agrees and that's where we leave off

and thats it for now. The story is getting so good and I'm already attached to all the characters so im terrified to see what Sam and alice dig up at the ruins (Sam clearly didn't heed the warning of the RedCanary)

[autismprotocol]

JUST MY THEORY: probably not a good one, but I would like to see your thoughts on it :)

Do you think that the needles guy could be another new entity? If I remember correctly, the entities were created by having enough living things afraid of them.

Is possible that in this universe, more people are afraid of being pierced? Like fears of being stabbed or poked with things such as needles or knives, yet not necessarily being killed by them(if that makes any sense)?

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on it. Keep up the good work on the theory board :)

I really like this theory and we have seen it happen before with the extinction so its not completely out of the realm of possibility!

My roommate and I have been thinking a lot about the role the fears/ entities will play in the Protocol story and mostly about what may have happened to them post MAG 200. Our ongoing theory is that the fears may have gotten scrambled or messed up when they were ripped from their universe to this one (if protocols universe is somewhere else.) we are basing this off of the fact that almost every incident so far in Protocol doesn't fit cleanly into any one fear. we're thinking the fears have maybe mixed themselves together and this could result in Avatars and entities that are branched off of multiple powers. with Needles we have been theorizing they're a mix of the slaughter and the spiral the way Needles toys with their victims is very similar to how the Spiral would act but the needles piercing into the body falls pretty solidly into the Slaughter (maybe a little dash of the Flesh) . Another example that we found of these hybrid avatars/ entities is Samuel Webber from Episode 3 (tree guy) his situation falls pretty cleanly into Corruption with the whole rotting flesh and toxic relationships thing. but he also makes a strong case for the flesh being involved how his body is mutilated and destroyed slowly by the transforming process.

I do think that needles is a avatar rather than an entity just because from what we know about the entities, they aren't able to physically manifest in the world the only way they can enact their way is through avatars so i think needle fits pretty cleanly in that role.

thank you so much for sharing your theories I absolutely love discussing this podcast and love hearing everyones theories on whats going on in the tmagp lore.

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

Hey, sorry if this is long, but I really like what you guys are doing and have nowhere else to put my theories, so...

Firstly, sorry to be that person, but I actually think you mislabeled the entities for two episodes. Needles reads like an avatar of the slaughter to me. It's like Lietner said, the physical description is less important then the emotional or metaphorical. Needles' thing isn't "look at this scary trick I can do with my flesh body." It's "I am going to cause you intense pain at random by stabbing you with my needles. Please be scared of me :)"

I was also surprised you didn't mark Putting Down Roots as a filth statement. Illness, rotting alive, swarming flies, a deeply unhealthy romantic love. All reads as corruption to me.

Now let's get to my fun crack theory. Episode 7 almost reads to me like the point the powers breached into the new world. Think about it, hilltop road was suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of artifacts and "people" (avatars) that map to many different powers (I counted stranger, slaughter, dark, filth, and possibly hunt among the artifacts present). The timeliness doesn't quite match up (we have a statement from the 1800s), but maybe the powers are capable of having retroactively always existed. Or maybe the fan theory that the entities are now the "hungers" that feed on obsession was true until the fears intruded into the world.

Omg thank you so much for the ask I absolutely love over analyzing this goofy lil podcast and i really wanted to have this board be a collaborative and community thing for all of us TMAG/TMAGP fans out there!

starting with the board corrections you pointed out you are absolutely right after reading this I ended up rereading the wiki entries about the Entities because its been a hot second since I've read up on those goobers and I've kinda forgotten how many little nuances that each one has. I had no idea how we missed the clear corruption tie-ins that were occurring in Samuel Webbers journal (Putting Down Roots) especially when you brought up his toxic relationship to his partner.

As with Needles before doing my reread about the fears I just assumed flesh because body modified with needles. but looking into it, sudden piercing needles more cleanly falls into slaughter.

I actually have this ongoing theory originated by my roommate and other blog contributor that the fears might have been scrambled when crossing dimensions. maybe because of this many minor powers have begun to branch out from the main 15 and with that hybrid avatars and entities have been created. With needles I think maybe they fall under the umbrella of slaughter and spiral because of the way they mentally toy with their victims. also could explain why needles has to convince the man on the phone that they're scary because this hybrid power may be new and people have not gotten fearful of it yet.

I'll be making those changes for next weeks board so thank you for pointing them out :D

on to your theory that would make sense especially since this episode (EP 7) is kind of serving as the catalyst for the story to shift into high gear. I think that if the Hilltop charity shop was the entrance point for all of the fears to enter the world it would make complete sense. Hilltop is the one place in the Magnus canon that people have reported traveling to different dimensions. also the date of the incident falls right about the time that Archives started early 2016 so the fears may have also gone back in time to when Jon became the Archivist in TMAs universe (since Jons death is the catalyst that forced them to jump dimensions.) I'm really liking where your theory is heading

also real quick if anyone has more info about the theory that Protocols world lived off of hunger and desire pre the fears appearing I'd love to hear more about that because I've never heard of the until now.

Again thank you so much for the ask I'm so happy you're liking what we're doing here and I hope you continue to share your thoughts and theories with this blog.

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board (S1 EP 7)

Dang that episode was a RIDE Hope everyone had a relaxing week because after the newest protocol episode I am screaming!! so lets get right to it

What Happened in Episode 7: Give and Take

Celia seems to know something about the powers with her references to the buried and the flesh in the opening conversation with Alice

Celia recognizes Chester's voice!! since the introduction of Celia's last episode, I wanted to see how she would react to hearing Chester and Norris and we got that in this episode. It's safe to say that Celia recognized Chester's voice as Jon. This piece of evidence makes me almost 100% sure that this Celia is the same Celia/Lynne from Archives

Jon is Back!!! after Chester's statement (more on that later) we learn that Sam has been getting emails from someone named Jon. He also mentions it in an internal email. This helps support the theory that Jon and Chester/FR3-d1 are fused somehow which is what I (and a lot of the fandom) have been thinking. This leaves me with a lot of questions how else can Jon communicate through FR3-d1 with the outside world? Are Martin and Jonah sentient as well? Also, my big question is if this is the first time Jon has been able to signal to the OIAR Staff or if he has been trying to get them to listen since he manifested in the world and Sam was the first one to notice him or is this his first attempt to make contact. I'm interested to learn more about how Jon will continue to influence Sam. I think he's either trying to warn Sam about the OIAR's true intention or is he looking for some way to escape FR3-d1 and needs Sam's help.

This week's statement involved a place called Hilltop Centre branch of the Oxford people's trust. if you were like me and my roommate all your lore alert bells started ringing the moment Hilltop was mentioned. for people who are new to the Magnus Universe Hilltop Road is a major location for avatars (usually web-aligned ones) and also was the childhood home to the desolation avatar Agnes Montague. Hilltop is a big deal in TMA. Hilltop Centre being located in Oxford also lines up nicely with where we know Hilltop Road is located. I'm interested to know if we will hear anything about the house at 105 Hilltop Road being student housing because if that is true then we can connect the statement giver Anya Villette From MAG 114 to being from protocol's world. if that's true there could be a way to get to the Archive Universe through the gap in reality (a wormhole that exists where the house was built) Anyways definitely will have to listen for any more mention of a place called Hilltop in Oxford 

Gwen was promoted by Lena to external liaison and is officially "In" It's time to learn the OIAR's secrets! after doing some research into the job title of external liaison it seems that Gwen is almost gonna be acting as a messenger between the OIAR and another party which is unclear at this time. my guess is it has something to do with Starkwell which was the private military contractor that was mentioned in Episode 4 but that's just a guess and me trying to fit in pieces that have not found a snug place in the lore yet. could be someone else (I'd love to hear your thoughts)

Remember our Buddy Klaus from Episode 4 who we thought was killed by Lena? turns out Klaus is still alive we learn through Gwen and Lena's conversation, that Lena was paid by someone to kill Klaus but failed.

Colin is more paranoid than ever! could be because of the eye or the institute but he does not want to be near technology right now.

Ooh boy that was a lot I'm still reeling from this episode so I'll leave it there for now. honesty I'm most stoked to hear Jon's back in the story and excited to see what role he'll play in Protocol.

Hope you guys have a wonderful week ask box and comments are always open and I'll be back next week for the episode 8 debrief/theory crafting

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

"the magnus protocol had a whole ARG beforehand? what?"

yes! it did!

"oh so I need to have participated in this whole big thing to actually understand the podcast?"

not at all! from the official post-mortem put out by RQ, "while the ARG was not something that was necessary to participate in to understand the magnus protocol, it was designed to contain a wealth of background story and context that would enrich any player's listening experience."

"a wealth of background context that would enrich my listening experience 👀👀👀 how can I learn about this?"

SO glad you asked. sadly, many of the materials made for the arg have been taken down since the game ended 😔 (ex., the official OIAR, magnus institute, and bonzoland websites. though @strangehauntsuk is still up!), so we're a bit low on primary sources, but in terms of learning about what happened:

for a starting point, I would really recommend this video by @pinkelotjeart

it's super accessible, it was made in real time as the game progressed and follows the solving and revelation of clues as they happened, it hits all the major points of the mystery and moments of community insanity while eliding some of the nitty gritty puzzle grinding, 10/10 would recommend.

here's the official summary put out by RQ, and I'd recommend reading through this once you've already gotten a basic handle on the flow of the story and the basic connections between major clues and events. it's got some fun behind-the-scenes info and lays out the thought process behind the puzzles in simple terms

here's the full masterdoc of all puzzles and resolutions put together in the statement remains discord server. masterdoc my absolute BELOVED, masterdoc my bethrothed, masterdoc my soul mate. I'd recommend this as a second port of call after the above video as it either contains all details about the puzzles or links to other expanded docs that do.

here's the narrative summary doc that lays out all the plot and lore discovered in three pages of plain prose. if you just want to get to the good bits as fast as you can and get blasted directly in the face by contextless lore bombs, this is the doc for you. if you don't want to start with the video, I'd say this is another good entry point.

once you've got the lay of the land, some of the game materials that I found particularly interesting include:

the in-universe east germany expat usenet forum, with all content translated into english. most of it is irrelevant space filler with occasional extremely sus lore, but I still found it fun to read through. love to soak in some fictional forum drama.

chdb.xlsx, the spreadsheet of the names of all the children the protocol 'verse magnus institute was studying/experimenting on. EDIT: here is a version of the sheet without any annotations and with all of the names in their original order, kudos to @theboombutton for catching that the commonly shared copy had the order swapped around.

klaus.xls, a (very corrupted) spreadsheet with what looks like the classifications of a bunch of old OIAR cases.

EDIT: have a few more saved materials from the game that I forgot to include.

an in-universe audio ad to apply to the OIAR that ran before archives episodes and kicked off the whole game.

an in-universe video ad to apply to the OIAR, this one is an official upload that's still up from the game itself. you can subscribe to the OIAR's official youtube channel today, if you so chose.

the robo-voicemail greeting from the OIAR's phone line.

once you start poking around in these documents, you'll find a bunch of links to others with further information, the materials I've included here just contain what I feel to be the most relevant details to getting a broad feel for the whole game. once again, huge shout out to the statement remains server, I was barely in there as the ARG was in progress and only ducked my head in every so often to find links like these. true mvps of the fandom.

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board (S1 Episode 6)

Hey sorry for the slight delay in posting the weekly theory board because some new characters were added and I ended up drawing character cards for all of them (they will also be included below)

Anyways heres this weeks theory board update

What happened in Episode 6: Introductions?

This week's incident report was wild! I'm guessing we've met our first Protocol Avatar you guys and they are amazing!! I believe that Needles is one of the first emerging avatars in this world and an avatar of the flesh (that could also explain why the flesh has been so prevalent so far in the story maybe because it was able to influence someone into becoming an avatar first and therefore will get a head start in manifesting into the universe.) going off of that I find it super interesting how when Needles calls the emergency operator they don't appear afraid of them this could be just be this specific person is not afraid of needles like he said, but I think it would be cool if that operator is meant to show how this world is new to the powers, so the sense of fear of them has not had a chance to build yet

Ok lets talk about Celia First of all I love her and I really hope nothing terrible happens to her but I'm more interested in the fact she is not new to the TMAG canon. back in The Magnus Archives, Celia was originally a statement giver named Lynne Hammond but she is later introduced back in as one of Georgie and Melanies cult members. after the change Lynne lost her memories and began going by Celia because she couldn't remember her name both Archives Celia and Protocol Celia share the same voice actor (me and my roommate have been checking every new voice to see if they have any connection to the Archives universe after the Chester and Norris having Jon and Martin's voices happened) I started thinking maybe this is just this universe's Celia and not Celia being transported along with Martin and Jon. But if that was the case she would be going by the name Lynne not Celia ( because the change never happened so her memories stayed intact) Nope this is without a doubt Celia from the Archive Universe. This begs the question why is she at the OIAR? she seemed to be a normal citizen not associated with the ceaseless watcher was there something more to Lynne's original statement? I'm guessing she didn't just happen upon the OIAR by accident Her connections to TMA are to strong maybe she's looking for Jon and Martin who she knows would be the most likely to be transported to somewhere else with her. what will be her reaction to hearing Chester and Norris then?! Theres so many questions with this character and I cant wait to find out more about her

Also lastly this was not related to the events of this weeks episode but I updated the Augustus(Jonah) character card and instead of having a silhouette I made a crusty looking Jonah Magnus illustration hope you guy like it as much as I do (even though it is of the crustiest stinkiest man)

Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this update and thank you for reading all the way through my hyper-fixated rants about these silly lil goobers. Reminder the ask box is open 24/7 if you have any thoughts to share about any tma/tmagp related topics. Hope you guys have a amazing week and I'll see you guys next Thursday.

-Echo

[autismprotocol]

Little gift for me to you all this Valentine’s Day 🥺🫶

Yes Martin you are his reason 🥺💕

Happy Valentine’s Day!! Have some jonmartin as a treat

And nothing bad ever happens to them. I absolutely loved making this if you read my previous post drawing Jon happy was supplying me with a months worth of serotonin fr

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board Update (Episode 5)

Hi Guys hope everyone had a relaxing week. what did everyone think of the new episode? After I finished digesting the episode I got to updating the board so Here it is!

I also wanna start adding a list of the new evidence and story we add on the board below in case the image is to blurry or you don't want to try and navigate through the image to find a specific piece of info

What Happened in episode 5: Personal Screening

Sam told lena he's been noticing Colin acting strange avoiding security cameras and installing extra locks on his door ( Is he just a normal paranoid IT guy or is he being watched?). Lena brushes Sam off saying " the problem will solve itself"

Chester (Jon?) gives us a new incident that ends up connecting back to the eye much like his last one (RedCanary) but unlike that incident this one is not connected to the Magnus Institute (I notice a pattern emerging that Chester seems to read statements that connect to the eye and also incidents that occur on internet blogs and/or forums.)

Gwen asks Alice about if she knew anything about the IT guy before Colin "A german guy, lots of tattoos" . Alice only seems to remember that their old IT person Amelia complained about his work a lot (why is Gwen suddenly asking about this person? the german bit ties back into when Colin informs Sam that FR3-d1's source code was written in german. does this IT guy have somthing to do with Chester (Jon?), Norris (Martin?) and Augustus (Jonah?) being part of FR3-d1?)

Lastly Since the first board update I found out about the TMAGP ARG set up by Alex and his team back in fall. I ended up reading through Alex's full post and searched through some of the links that were still running and found some info about the Manchester Magnus Institute so thats been added to the board as well. on a post from the Tumblr blog @strangehauntsuk (this was created for the ARG) at the bottom there is a post about the Magnus Institute ruins saying that the Magnus Institute's main facility burned down on December 24th 1999

It also mentioned that the Magnus Institute ran educational programs for gifted children and adults (had a much different purpose then The Magnus Institute from TMA's universe)

Anyway thats it for me until the next episode drops feel free to leave any comments or send any asks if you have something you wanna discuss or theories you want to propose ask box is always open

-Echo