#Gerry analysis

[chaoticbuggybitchboy]

Narratively speaking, having Gerry be goth makes so much sense. Individualism, self expression, going against the accepted norms. Most importantly, the acceptance and appreciation of the dark, mystical, and the scary. Having Gerry be the sort of person who not only accepts the existence of the Fears, but who finds beauty in them.

This leads, of course, to how did Gerry become so identifiably goth? Did Gerry stumble upon it as a child and, once learning about the idea of finding beauty in pain, relate it to his own life, so full of fears and hurt? Did he find it and find it hard at first to find beauty in it all? Did he initially reject goth culture? Or did he fling himself into it, having found a word for something he’s always felt, a word that connects him to others who feel the same? And which came first: his alignment with goth ideas or his love for goth aesthetics and music? Were goth music and clothing the first things that Gerry found beautiful, so he decided to investigate and find that it fits him? Or did he find goth as a way to describe his habit of loving the things other people feared, and later used goth fashion to express those ideas and find a sense of community?

Gerry using goth culture, both the connectedness and the ideology, as an anchor and coping mechanism against the fears. Gerry having always found beauty in scary things because it was the only place he could look for beauty, so he found it. Or Gerry forcing himself to learn to find it beautiful, because he knows that if he can’t find the beauty in the fear, he’ll never be able to experience beauty at all. Gerry spending time at goth clubs and shops as an escape from everything. Gerry using goth culture to have an identity of his own, one his mother couldn’t control.

All of this, and his actions, lends itself to the idea that he’s not someone the fears can truly claim. Sure, he might be aligned with the Beholding, he might feed the fears and be fed by them to some extent, but he is not beholden to any of them the way we see other avatars being connected to their fears. Gerry is not the sort of person that any of the fears could ever fully own, not when he finds beauty in place of fear.

Just. Gerry being goth is brilliant because it’s something that most people would recognize and it’s something that grants a fairly deep insight into the character and it fits him so well.

[this is not to say that all goths feel this way or anything like that. This is a character analysis that dives into something that was probably meant as a mostly superficial description, but really does fit the character very well on a deeper level]

[I do, however, think that if you’re goth you’re much more resistant to the fears than the average person]

[short-and-ugly]

Canon irken eye colors

All the time I see all these fancy ocs with really bright ass eye colors and a wide variety of them too!!! And it got me thinking...

Do we even actually see all of these colors in the show?

So I'm gonna compile a list of all the eye colors we actually do see in irkens :-)

Starting with four images:

1) Is all of the irken invaders lined up together! Look at all those eyes just ready for conquest. No. no not really ANYWAYS here you can really only see a few colors: Magenta, maroon, fuchsia, and surprisingly, a pale red, a dirty orange-red, dirty yellow, and a lavender from Zee! Honestly the magenta and fuchsia are kind of a stretch because. The show irkens eyes are all really dark and dim compared to the movie. They get super duper saturated there.

2) Redrick and Ourp themselves... self-explanatory. We actually see a shitton more purple irkens than we do red ones!! At least main-character-for-single-episodes irkens. Sizz-Lorr and Tak <3 then there's also the Tallest's advisor, who has muddied green eyes!!!

3) Very light blue/teal!!! I'm not attributing the brightness to shading at all because the skin looks normal-colored. I'm fairly certain this is the ONLY guy with this color of eyes.

4) All the navigators together because they're all beautiful <3 If you look at the green closely you'll notice that it's all actually leaning more towards blue than yellow.

Now, what do we do with this information?

Speculate :3 it's what I do best!!

Bear with me though for these poor edits. I'm on my phone at four AM making this post.

Here's a color wheel where I blotched out all the colors that I don't believe exist for irken eyes :-) We don't see a lot of dark shades of colors so even the dark reds or magentas might be a stretch but we also really don't see any bright yellows or oranges. They're all really muddied and shaded when we do see them! And we also don't see any saturated or dark blues -- opposite to yellows, we only see tinted blues!

This wheel is notably missing cyan but. I'll go out to say that that's probably not an irken eye color either. Or it is, but it's super duper rare for an irken to have that color.

It's also missing the really saturated fuchsias and magentas that we know are there because of the movie irkens... but shh......

Anyways. What did we get out of this ramble?? Idk. That having shit stain brown eyes is more common than having baby blue ones and that Miyuki probably didn't have cyan eyes.

I'm gonna go back to sleep now and contemplate changing my orange-eyed irken to be rust colored :) goodnight

Edit: ITS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THERE IS THIS GUY

His eyes are blue! But again, it's a very tinted/washed out blue.

(I'm on a computer now)

So... strong vibrant blues are still likely a no-go. But you could still make a cute little guy with what's available.

[its-your-mind]

*deep breath in*

the fears 👏 have always 👏 been (in one way or another) 👏 parallel 👏 to 👏 desire 👏

let me explain.

so many of the statements given by actual avatars center around some sort of need that was met by their entity. Lots of them even had a positive relationship with the fear that drove them.

Jane Prentiss is an excellent example - the Corruption has always been about a form of toxic and possessive love, but she personally has a deep desire to be “fully consumed by what loves her,” and finds a perverse joy and relief at allowing herself to be a home

Jude Perry is another - she fucking loved watching people’s lives be utterly destroyed. The Desolation only offered her a power of destruction on a grander scale, and then gave her a more intense rush of joy as she did its work. When she tells Jon that he needs to feed the Eye before it feeds on him, it’s almost as an afterthought; she was happily feeding the Desolation long before it burned her into a new existence.

Simon Fairchild. Every time that old loose bag of bones wanders into the picture, he is having a fucking EXCELLENT time playing with the Vast. He loves showing people their own insignificance, and he loves luring them into situations where he can throw them into the void as he smiles and waves.

Peter Lukas (hell, the whole Lukas family (except Evan. RIP Evan.)) hated. people. all he wanted was for them all to go away, to leave him alone. The Lonely only fulfilled that desire.

Daisy, Trevor, and Julia, all devoted to hunting those things they deemed monstrous.

Melanie, holding tight to that bullet in her leg because on some level, she wanted it. It felt good, it felt right, it felt like it fit right alongside the anger and spite that drove her to success.

Annabelle Cane first encountered the Web when she was a child, running away from home in order to tug on her parents’ heartstrings in just the right way to have them wrapped around her little finger. Later on she volunteered to be the subject of an ESP study. Hell, she’s the one who dangled the “Is it really You that wants this?” question over Jon’s head in S4.

And that brings us to Jon, beloved Jarchivist, the Voice that Opened the Door. Ever since he was a child targeted by the Web, he was looking for answers. He joined the Magnus Institute’s Research Department looking for them, he stalked his coworkers in search for them, he broke into Gertrude’s flat and laptop out of desperation for them. And when he realized that all he had to do was Ask to get truthful answers to his questions? It was only natural for him to jump at that opportunity.

Elias told S3 Jon that he did want this, that he chose it, that at every crossroads he kept pushing onwards, and the inner turmoil that caused was one of the focal points for Jon’s character through the rest of the podcast.

There’s a certain line of thinking in many circles about the power of the Devil: he’s not able to create anything new. All he’s able to do is twist and warp that which was already present, making it something ugly and profane while still maintaining the facade of something desirable.

Jon didn’t choose the Eye. But he did wander into its realm of power, exhibiting exactly the qualities it was most capable of hijacking and warping to its own ends. Jon didn’t choose the Apocalypse. But Jonah picked at him little by little, pointing him towards each Fear individually. Jon didn’t want to release the Fears. But the Web tugged on his strings just so and laid a pretty trail for him to follow until he reached its desired conclusion.

Jon didn’t choose ultimate power, or omniscience, or even his own role as Head Archivist. But he said “yes” to the right (wrong?) orders and kept on pushing for the right (wrong?) answers. He wanted to succeed at the work he had been assigned. He wanted to protect his friends. He wanted to rescue them when they were lost. He wanted to prevent the apocalypse, to save the world. He wanted to know why he was still alive, when so many had died right in front of him.

The Great Wheel of Evil Color that is the Entities might not fit as neatly into categories in this universe - maybe there was no Robert Smirke trying to impose strict categories on emotional experiences, or maybe the ways they manifest in the world has turned on its head (goodness knows many of them have been showcased and blended in some very fun and new and horrifying ways so far) - but their fundamental foundations seem to be the same. Hell, in episode one we learned that there had been enough individual incidents to create a distinction between “dolls, watching” and “dolls, human skin.”

Smirke’s Fourteen isn’t going to be relevant as common parlance, RQ said that already, but I don’t think that means the Fears themselves (and their Dream Logic-based rules) are different - I think it means that the levels of understanding, language used, and personal connections among people “in the know” are going to be entirely unfamiliar

[anyatomy]

everyones having fun with calling him gerry robinson but we cannot forget our roots. we cannot forget eric delano. i doubt protocol would entirely change his family structure- if gerry and gertrude were actually related, its more likely she'd be his mom given the period eric worked at the archive. even still, i don't think they're actually related. in TMA, they used the grandmother-grandson lie; i think that's just how they explain their relationship to each other. i think how happy gerry is is wonderful but we cannot assume that's because of gertrude, the brief glitching noise we hear at around 21:04 when gertrude is prompting a response from gerry is enough to keep me VERY wary of her intentions. we cannot forget how gertrude continuously lied and used gerry throughout them knowing each other.

i don't really think that's changed all that much in protocol.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 10, MAG 10

Do we think Jonny Sims has read Twilight?

Spoilers ahead

Facts: Statement of Trevor Herbert regarding his life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter. Statement given July 10, 2010.

Statement Notes: I just love that Trevor's episode is right after Julia's. It really lets you see the wheels turning in Jonny's head as he planned out the series.

On my first listen, this was one of the statements I truly did not believe was true. The combination of Trevor's traumatic childhood, cancer, and admission that he killed a "non-vampire" made the whole thing seem like a complex fantasy. But on the second listen, I realized that is exactly how the horrors work. They specifically target vulnerable people so that their experiences will be dismissed or explained away by more "rational" people. You don't believe Trevor because you aren't supposed to.

Jon says he can't find the "vampire teeth" in the Archives or in the "Secure Containment Room" (Btw both "Archives" and "Secure Containment Room" are proper nouns in the transcript). Is this an early name for Artifact Storage or a subsection of it? It would make sense for the Institute to have a separate facility for the dangerous artifacts, but this raises questions regarding how "secure" this facility is. Assuming this is where the real artifacts like Leitners and the table are held, Jon can access it fairly easily at the end of season 2, but he's relatively high-ranking at the institute. Would Elias ever allow an outsider into the facility like he allows them into the library? Or would that violate his desire to hoard knowledge?

Character Notes: This statement is a "photocopy of a photocopy," which speaks to Gertrude's organization. Something had to have happened to the original, whether she destroyed it or Elias took it, but she had a backup. Knowing that Trevor Herbert is still active in monster hunting, she made another copy to preserve the information. Presumably, she was hoping Sasha would find it and be able to access Herbert when she became the Archivist, but instead it was found and dismissed by Jon.

This episode also establishes that Martin was there when the statement was taken. Many fans assume Martin was hired to work in the archives, but this statement was given SIX YEARS before Gertrude's death, meaning that he would have had to work in research or another facility before the archives. Also, he's worked at the institute for at least 8 years by the time he reveals he lied on his resume, meaning he was TWENTY-TWO when this statement was given and was told that Trevor Herbert died.

The rumor of Herbert's death raises other questions. Why would that story spread? It seems to be another part of Elias' long game. If Martin--who he specifically selected to eventually be on the archival staff--believed Herbert was dead and told Jon so, then Jon would not seek him out and put himself in danger too early. Additionally, he would not be able to find the skin book and speak with Gerry before the time was right. Elias needed everything to run on his schedule.

Entity Alignment: With Trevor, there is a definite Hunt alignment. His whole life is driven by the desire to seek out and kill vampires. It's become the core tenant of his identity and drives him to forsake all personal relationships and attachments, centering his life around the fear of vampires and the need to kill them. The need to eliminate his own fear is what leads to him becoming an avatar of fear itself.

But I struggle to find a clear connection to what fear the vampires are connected to. They could be Hunt avatars or aligned creatures themselves. They have a desire to find and destroy living things, mindlessly hunting. It would also make sense for a Hunt creature to draw in Herbert and turn him into a Hunt avatar, turning him into what he fears most. This tactic is seen throughout the series with multiple fears, but I am specifically reminded of the Hunt in MAG 112 as the book club turns against itself.

There is an element of the Flesh within the vampires, however. They turn humans into food, removing their identities and degrading them into their physical existence. A large portion of the Flesh is dedicated to removing any idea of a consciousness or soul and reminding us that we are meat, which the vampires seem to do effectively.

I also noticed connections to the Stranger in the vampires. While their ultimate actions don't match with the Stranger's modus operandi, their mannerisms are similar. The primary similarity is the fact that vampires don't speak, as if they "don't have a voicebox," yet they still manage to be understood. The Stranger draws people in with its apparently human attributes, and only when it's too late do victims realize something is off. So long as the vampires are understandable, victims don't realize the not talking is odd until it's too late. Furthermore, the first vampire Herbert meets offers him rotten fruit, and many Stranger-aligned creatures and avatars give strange gits as an attempt to form a human connection while still unsettling people (tooth apple, metal heart, etc.). The fruit made Trevor uncomfortable and afraid, but he didn't leave the old woman because he reasoned she was trying to be kind in a twisted way.

But I also wonder if the vampires are aligned at all. Trevor describes them as being driven only by the vague desire to feed. While this could signal a Hunt or Flesh alignment, they don't have a connection to the rituals of these entities nor their other avatars. In Mag 111, Gerry explains "What's out there doesn't care about blood," before correcting "Yeah, obviously except for the vampires." Again, the need to consume blood could align the vampires with the Hunt or Flesh, but they don't seem to be driven by the desire to cause fear. If the vampires are fueled by an actual, physical need to consume blood for survival, could they accurately be associated with a fear-driven entity? Or are they just another monstrous thing that exists in this universe?

[twelvebooksstuff]

Some Jurassic Park Daily Reflection-ft Life Finds A Way

I know I’m a few days late to when this chapter was the assigned reading, but I’m still going to make a post about this specific part of the book. I want to highlight the quote in the post title “Life…Finds A Way”. This small phrase has essentially become the slogan of the whole entire franchise, and arguably taken on a life of its own (no pun intended). So I want to talk a bit about the scene where we are first introduced to it, before even the iconic scene in the first film, to when we see the equivalent of that scene in the book.

It’s part of a much larger spiel, which is pretty par for the course for Book!Ian Malcolm, who is prone to long diatribes, many paragraphs long, detailing his opinions on everything from fashion to capitalism to natural history and beyond.

Anyway, the scene where this spiel takes place is actually not the scene in the laboratory like in the film, but rather a scene with an injured stegosaurus (triceratops in the movie). Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant are trying to help the vet Dr. Gerry Harding assist the dinosaur to recovery, and Tim, Lex, Ian, Ed Regis (a PR representative who was not in the film) and Donald Gennaro (the lawyer, who is essentially a different character in the books) are all crowding around, too. Lex gets board and tries to play catch with some of the adults-Gennaro agrees and has a sidebar conversation with Malcolm at the same time. During this conversation, Gennaro essentially says that he thinks Malcolm’s use of chaos theory is too broad (“is anything not predicted by your theory” he point blank asks). He is skeptical, but Malcolm is able to provided specific examples beyond “things are unpredictable”, which Malcolm is able to do, listing many specifics. When trying to explain his underlying perspective, we get the basis memorable monolouge from the film: “The history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way…I don’t mean to be philosophical, but there it is.”

What’s most interesting to me is that unlike the pristine lab setting where we get this in the film, Malcolm outside talking to his colleague who’s playing catch with a young kid. Not only does it seem less grandiose, in a way, but it seems to have a more practical application, too. Oftentimes, in the later films or even other media, this idea of “life finds a way” takes on this “humanity will survive” kind of context that feels totally applicable, but a bit disconnected from the film scene imo.

But in the book, the entire spiel is happening over a game of catch, a game that means a lot to Lex, who, not fully known to Ian and Gennaro at this point, is having a very rough time at home. She feels unheard and ignored by all the adults in her life, and excluded even by Tim at points. But in this moment, Gennaro takes the time to indulge her game, and as far as Malcolm’s concerned, the more people to hear him talk, the merrier. In the midst of this hectic tour of a prehistoric zoo, they have found a small moment to connect, to build bonds, to be a community, and that represents the survival of humanity and the human spirit to me in a very visceral way.

It makes all the “life finds a way” tied to humanity exclusively make even more sense, too. Because while Malcolm is talking about things on a grand history scale, he’s also doing so while participating in/witnessing this small human moment, and it’s kind of perfect, in a way.

Anyway, I have a lot of thoughts about this and wanted to share!

[avatorofthelonely]

On Mary Kaey and mag 111

Mary Kaey can easily be read as an exploration of the intersection of the privilege of whiteness and the disadvantages of being working class.

In many ways, she seems to feel as though she’s been denied the privilege that should come along with her whiteness. Gerard says later in the episode that the Keays are related to a German line of aristocracy — the Von Closens. Mary “wanted to write a destiny” for them.

[applciuux]

The parallel to early series succession is great this episode, specifically with the echoes of Romans reactions to scenarios in which he doesn’t get what he wants. the way roman immediately after being told by Gerri that basically his actions (firing her out of insecurity, sending unwarranted d*** pics) lead to consequences (her not just automatically forgiving him or passing his firing off as unserious) is so reminiscent of how Kieran said abt s1 roman that his essential character trait was that he felt like he could do anything without consequences. And these consequences, throughout the series, do exist, but ofc only in an emotional, psychological, and public image well-being sense (not a physical/survival sense) due to his father. Ofc this is true for all of the succession offspring, but i think the lack of forethought and acting on a whim just because they’ve been taught to do that their whole lives is the most apparent with roman, at least to me. His reaction to Gerri showing him that he can’t get whatever he wants romantically, sexually, and emotionally, even if that is degradation and mothering (which is a whole other post), is unheard of for him if it is something he genuinely wants that is not given by his father or mother (who give material over love) (NOTE: Tabitha does deny him necrophilia but i don’t think roman really knew what he wanted or needed from her so this rejection is different imo). So, how does he react? He yells at Connor to do what he wants , shames him and calls him the same insults that his father also did, in order to “succeed” through power of influencing an election. Logan did the same thing countless times. He would fail business wise and then immediately pivot to exerting his power in different ways, albeit more gracefully — for example, uncertainty about pierce —> boar on the floor. Shiv’s “dinosaur cull”? -> knock out romans tooth (ofc these incidents aren’t just this but they illustrate my point). I am so happy to see Willa and Connor stand their ground against roman, but it is hard to see roman try to yell at someone to cope with his insecurities — a painful behaviour he inherited thru observation, subjugation, and degradation from Logan.

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

Roman and Gerri are a dynamic that is hard to handle and I'm not saying there is a definitive answer but I am saying that one can't just conveniantly leave out important dots that were made to be connected. Not denying that there is fondness between them, their humor and general assholery seems to be on the same wave length, which is why they enjoy the company they keep, but this is a deeply exploitative dynamic on both ends for different reasons. I wrote way too much about this, but here it goes-

Gerri's perspective:

Before their brief phone conference era, Gerri fixes the rocket launch disaster for him and notices that he takes to her because of it; think of him calling her about Vaulter. After the Hunting insanity he asks her advice which is when she realy knows there is something to be had here and then the phone call happens, which... look. Is there ever an indication Gerri enjoys this on the sexual gratification (not attraction, but I'll get there) level that Roman does? Not really, she can't quite believe it, finds it funny/ interesting but it is simply also such a perfect bonus to know this Roy sibling is with her while Kendall is out and god knows what Shiv might be up to. On the yacht he is also the one to defend her right away about cruises which on one hand, sure, is because they are fond of each other but you can't deny how conveniant that is as well. Throwing her weight behind Roman also seems to be paying off during season 3, he literally causes her to be interim CEO by nuking his own chances. It all blows up though with the dick pic, something that is implied Gerri isn't comfortable with (rightfully so, obviously) but seems to have maybe accepted for a time because of their "alliance". But when it all blows up, especially towards the end, she turns her back because it isn't worth it. "How does it serve my interests" is a fun callback but it is also quite literally the entire summary of Gerri's approach to the relationship. She might feel sorry in a way, but season 4 clearly shows how she does not talk to Roman after this, does not interact if she doesn't have to. Like, why would she comfort Roman on the boat, he just tried to fucking fire her and then he actually fires her because he is spiraling. The last real interaction between them has to be at the election party, because at that point it isn't just 90% business for Gerri, it's 101%. She will get something out of this and, honestly, good for her that she gets re-hired in the end; if anything she was made for this type of environment. It actually speaks to her character that she isn't into the funeral recording, a very human moment but it's important that that is the only thing we get from her on screen. What about the script? Sorry, didn't really happen, did it and it is for the best. (I would have found it insane if Gerri was the one to get through to Roman when Shiv can't, like, no)

Roman's perspective:

Not exactly news that he can't seperate business and family; getting the top spot is literally earning daddy's love and the only motivation for Roman in the first place. So, in comes Gerri, a person he has known for a long time (I want to let the implication "since childhood" slide, because that sounds unnecessarily creepy, but just know I have considered it), and she fixes his mess and holds out a helping hand. She provides guidance that he wants from his father but can't have, because it makes him weak and therefore less in Logan's eyes. He keeps reaching for Gerri in the way that, in an ideal world, he would for his father. But, and this is the most important thing, Roman goes to Gerri whenever he fails to perform masculinity (= heteronormativity=business). Dad calls him a moron? Gerri. Failed phone sex with Tabitha? Gerri. Failed sex with Tabitha? Gerri. Tabitha didn't want his proposal (it's not how you get someone to stay), maybe Gerri does. This is so interesting, because that is the text pretty directly pointing out that whatever Roman and Gerri have is neither romantic nor sexual attraction; because this is in many ways what he had with Grace and Tabitha- only this time it is someone who can actually fill out the paternal role (not mommy, never mommy) because of the business side of things that parallel Logan. Gerri playing into the humiliation kink on the phone is paralleled by Roman listening to dead Logan's fake voice message. And when he sent that dick pic to Gerri but it ended up with Logan... do you really need me to go on?

On a side note; isn't it interesting that any form of "sexual" interaction between Roman and Gerri needs this layer of seperation- phone call, screen, or bathroom door, a home video on the TV (okay that one isn't sexual anyways but still), you get to pick. And then in season 4 he can't even look at her... well. Season 4 also generally cashes in on the Logan and Gerri parallel; when she tells him "i could have gotten you there" and walks out on him a few days after his father, who had just made a business related promise, died..huh. And when she walks into Waystar at the very end, unaware of him, it might as well be Logan's ghost which is why Roman reacts the way he does after.

tl;dr: This ain't romantic or sexual, and it is a shame to not afford it the complexities of being fucked up; it's also not some doomed romance like... no. Gerri kinda got what she wanted in the end, Roman didn't. Shouldn't. At least he's out.

Picture of me after typing all that:

[the-magpie-archives]

MAG 4 - 'Page Turner' - The odd attraction of antiques.

This statement has a lot of significance to me as an antique book collector. Being able to relate so clearly to that experience goes a long way to making the whole thing more unnerving. A collector of any object will be able to relate to the burning, jittering urge to acquire an object for your collection, but there's something else with antiques, books in particular.

The knowledge that not only does the object matter now, but it's mattered for decades, centuries, even. Its touched the souls of many through the years, and has reached through time and holds its hand out to grasp yours. A thing- an object, yet it outlived its creators and owners; a subtle defiance of the natural order, or so it feels.

But a book? It's all this and more. A tome that's educated its readers and is imbued with information and knowledge that someone was so desperate to share that they went to the effort of publication. A story or a theme that was so important an individual asked for it to outlive them. It's pages marked with fingerprints, coffee stains, annotations, even blood- all of them out of the control of whoever left them.

And that is just a book. Though the idea of 'just a book' does make me chuckle, the idea of a book with real, tangible, undeniable power does not. 'From the library of Jurgen Leitner', a mark of terror and rightly so. Some people are of the nature that means they're drawn to books, but a book with the power to draw in those that aren't? That's dangerous. Even outside of the awful power those books posses, a book in the hands of the wrong person can be a terrible weapon.

But can you imagine the feeling of having real power, control, otherworldly means of action. It's addictive, as proven by many other statements, it's hard to let go of if you end up with the right one. If the power fits the soul of the hands it ends up in then can it ever be released?

Even though the book wasn't supposed to be for Dominic Swayne he had a connection to it, it affected him. Micheal Crew is proof that if the book fits, it can do all sorts of things to you.

This, to me, poses an interesting question. If it was you, and if the book really spoke to you, however evil, would you be able to hand it over? To watch its destruction?

I don't think I would.

[chrundle-kingofrats]

looking for succession blogs to follow! ill check out anyone that's not crazy

bonus if you're a:

- roman enjoyer (but not apologist)

- shiv enjoyer

- romangerri enjoyer

- blog that writes long analysis posts (fck yeah gimme those essays)

- IASIP fan also

DNI if:

- tomgreg on main (no disrespect but its not my thing)

- kendall woobifyer

- any character woobifyer

[short-and-ugly]

Really normal length Skoodge analysis

Gonna just start with the simple things. Things you can get from watching one time alone. Maybe. Probably not I don't think you people think about him enough to gather any of this. No. I'm sorry I love you all. I'm just a specific level of detached from average not-Skoodge viewers and don't know what all is expected. It's that one meme "Even when compensating, experts in any field will overestimate the average person's knowledge."

It's rough. Let's get into it.

Speech is probably an easy one! Yeah? Yeah.

A lot of the things he says are very literal... there's a lot of tacting things that are currently happening. A lot of stating the obvious.

("I'm afraid!")

Admittedly... this is probably a byproduct of him not being a "main character." His dialogue is a lot less important than that of characters like Zim and Dib. But it's still worth talking about! I'd like to think it's genuinely just his personality to be obvious and talk about things as if people aren't already aware of them. Maybe even have him be a bit tone-deaf. That's more headcanon territory though! So let's walk on past that before I confuse myself and all of you.

DOUBLE NEGATIVES...!

... only happen once. In the background. While he's being talked over by a bunch of teammates.

("Yeah; really that's actually good and more logical cause I don't really wanna make a chain or nothing like that.")

His speech is a lot more casual and, in transcripts for unfinished episode(s)(?) almost innocent!

frothing at the mouth at this one actually i dont like it. not good. this is just exposition. he would not fucking say that (probably wrong) (this was written by the shows writers) (it still makes me angry)

This one I just wanted to add because it's silly. Look at how silly he is. He's just a fun loving guy. Why does his mind go to dancing straight away? We'll never know... the inner machinations of his mind are an enigma.

Skoodge reads as... more impulsive than anything (and maybe a little anxiety-riddled but that might also just be me projecting). He doesn't strike me as a critical thinker who really tries to like... weigh the consequences of his actions. He just does shit and when it doesn't work out he does more. I imagine that's what most irkens are like, actually, now that I think about it...

His gut instinct must be controlling him because if it isn't then I honestly can't find any good explanation as to how he's survived for so long.

Which perfectly segways me into something a little more analyzing-like:

Skoodge is a cockroach.

He got shot out of a cannon and still comes back to the Empire. He... really does seem to believe that being here will help him out somehow. As if it hasn't already been proven that nothing he will do will satisfy the society he hails from.

Desperation can make you do desperate things; and Skoodge's entire character just reeks of desperation.

From apparently being considered to eat his own skin (before being deemed too much by the network) [no screenshot available because I don't even know how I'd begin to look for it] to the more canonical screaming-like-a-baby whenever something happens to him, it kinda makes you wonder how the hell he even got to where he is in the first place.

Now, this is more speculation than actual evidence, but I think it's a fair enough bet to say that Skoodge earned his title as an invader. He has no height to propel him forward in society, so whatever he did would've had to've involved sheer tenacity and an inclination for survival.

He is almost definitely, genuinely, afraid of death. And because of that, he just... doesn't die.

I know at an objective view, he doesn't die because it's funnier that way, and helps with jokes and gags, but like... c'mon. This is a deep analysis post. I'm allowed to get a little indulgent with it.

Treading into more theorization-territory here.

Irkens are raging Xenophobes.

And Zim fits this bill perfectly! He's slotted himself into this mindset without any issue, making up... unique slurs for humans and other things he comes by. Because he tries too hard to be a perfect irken. Maybe. That's a topic for someone that's insane about Zim, not me. This is about my guy.

If Zim is the perfect representation of an irken soldier (on a purely superficial level), then Skoodge is an outlier. Not in that he's good at his job; he's supposed to be! No, rather, his differences lie in his temperance. His composure, whatever you call it. He is far too complacent and even possibly a bit meek, if you wanna go ahead and call him that.

You see that? That right there is respect for a... honestly almost certainly, by irken standards, inferior species.

Now, this could either mean one of three things.

Either A) Skoodge is not space racist (best case scenario)

or B) Skoodge lacks self-confidence; not seeing himself as superior, and thus being compliant and respectful to the obvious figure of authority in front of him.

or C) Skoodge does not have respect for his Empire (very unlikely, seeing as the only reason he's still here is because he's trying to gain a promotion from said Empire)

Shooting down option A immediately with this dialogue here (Battle Of The Planets)

Sorry folks... he is very much so still space racist.

As for option B...

I'm going to be completely honest here. I think I've been interpreting this wrong in my series. I have a whole lot of complex reasons explaining why Skoodge doesn't have much confidence, but honestly, he reads as more... chill. And down-to-earth, than he does as self-loathing.

There is possibly evidence of him having a more quiet and subdued personality, instead of just him not being a xenophobe; and it comes from the very first episode!

Crying in front of the tallest at the Assigning. Admittedly, Larb cried too; but he at least had enough push in him to say something.

Skoodge doesn't. He's even disheartened by the Tallest's initial jeering of him! Which admittedly, might not be the best example of low self-esteem, because those are the literal Leaders of his fucking Empire... but it is definitely a shift from him being the proud, confident, short-and-ugly invader that he's shown to be in Battle Of The Planets. Invading Blorch must've really (rightfully) inflated his ego.

Which he normally lacks.

He lacks ego, but that doesn't mean he lacks confidence. He knows that he's good at things in spite of his flaws, and takes pride in it! Even though that pride ends up shooting him in his own foot. Sad.

And why is it that he lacks ego? Every other irken thus far (sans maybe Sizz-lorr) has demonstrated just how... important. It is for them to have one. How almost ingrained into their nature their egos are. Why does Skoodge not go on to boast about his glory when any other irken in his situation would? Again, it's going to be another one of those things that I just can't be too sure about, but I'm going to hazard to say that it's because he's so physically flawed. Short and ugly. (Probably the reason why his uniform is stained. Why put forth the effort to make your uniform look good if it's impossible for the rest of you?)

There is. Almost no doubt in my mind, that he's had to fight tooth and nail to get to where he is, claw his way to the top. And if he's done that, he knows the struggle of being lower? He knows because no matter how high he gets, he'll still always be that "lower"? augh. what the fuck.

Skoodge has been humbled by this because he's been reminded of it at almost every point in his life. He doesn't boast to inferiors because he knows that there is nothing to boast, that he is technically one of those inferiors. Because even despite his successes, someone will always go on to point out his flaws.

Which really brings attention to Battle Of The Planets, to the Tallest pointing out his flaws. He just had his greatest success. Purple gave him one flaw, he gave another. And he gave it proudly.

... SECRET FOURTH OPTION D YEAHHHH BABY!!!!

FAWN RESPONSE.

With his inclination towards survival it would make sense to reason that he's only polite in front of potentially-threatening company because it means that he's less likely to get pummeled for being. Anything else.

Being polite is just as credible a survival technique as anything else! We just don't get to see any other irkens using it.

Skoodge is. Competent. He conquered his planet first!

He's a good invader. And that's probably because he knows when to run.

He's very vocal about it, if he knows (or thinks) that there's someone around to assist him. Silent with his impending doom (ha) at the Assigning, but very very loud when being chased down in the canyon by the hogulus in Hobo 13.

Now, I don't know about you, but irkens don't really strike me as the kind of species to back down from anything. To me, they read as more of a "do it or die" kinda group. Again, this whole trait kiiiinda almost begging to be pegged as outlier. The only thing that makes me on the fence about this one is, again, the fact that it's a cartoon and Skoodge's fear might be for the sake of gags.

That doesn't really explain this though. He has literally no reason to be scared here. In this specific scenario (Day Of Da Spookies! unfinished episode) he's disguised as a human. Every person there is none the wiser to him and his alien nature. He's just... like this...? All the time? Apparently? Maybe?

Or maybe! There's other things at play here!

Skoodge is competent...

... but.

A friend put it into better words than I could:

His brain turns to mush whenever he's around Zim.

(Honestly, the volunteer line might actually add on to his possible lack of self-respect? Hard to say if it's that, or if he's just that desperate to give respect at the sign of any spare bit of authority, even if that authority comes from an irken shorter than him.)

It makes me wonder if most of what we've seen of him is just Zim's influence on him. Scared at the Assigning? He didn't know Zim was there, so that had to have been genuine. Saluting to an inferior species? He had to have known that Zim was there, because Zim introduced himself first (and very loudly at that), but I think it was also genuine because Zim wasn't directly influencing him?

Screaming because of the hogulus and running like a child from some humans? Those are almost definitely Zim's doing. I just. Don't know How.

Screaming is a weakness, I think; at least it should be (in the eyes of irkens), and when Skoodge does it he does it because he seems convinced that Zim will help him. And yet Zim never does! Skoodge has no reason to believe this!

But still, believe he does.

They had to have been... kind of close? At one point in their lives.

Potentially. I don't know how close a person can get to Zim, but Skoodge has just barely managed to do it, by virtue of the fact that he is quite possibly the only living thing in the universe that can tolerate being around Zim for more than five seconds.

And his cockroach-itude. That definitely helps. You can't be killed by Zim's passive destructive radius if you genuinely just can't fucking die at all.

But that explains nothing of his weird eagerness to do things for Zim. It borders on obsessive. It might actually be obsessive, since he's apparently been living in Zim's vents ever since the events of Hobo 13. Without telling him.

Skoodge is fucking deranged. Skoodge doesn't even register as a blip on Zim's radar of people-to-acknowledge, but he will still always just do things for him, and be excited to, too!

I don't know what's wrong with him. The less easy and definitely one too many steps detached from canon explanation would be that he views Zim as the ideal irken and strives to be like him. The easiest explanation would be that he just really likes Zim.

Gosh. Even that still raises the question of how or why he would. Zim is fucking terrible to not just him, but everyone. He is unbiased in whose life he ruins.

And Skoodge is perfectly content with just letting Zim ruin his.

man. i hate him. i really really do.

[marmalade-mir]

mira HI (it's ferver but from somewhere else ^_^) i see you've become sucked down the succession rabbithole as well... i believe it's a bit of a contagious disease that i too have caught and the subsection of qblr going mad with the succession craze is both astonishing and beautiful to me <3 do you happen to have a favorite part/character/arc/anything from the show 🎤

hi fervererrr i wanna know ur succession opinons too 😊 <333 okay so i’m still on season 2 but i have been spoiled and spoiled myself many many many times. my faves rn are shiv & roman…. i am sorry kendall kenny ken ken i love u too but unfortunately i have a case of youngest sibling syndrome :/ and yeah. it’s fatal :///

what got me hooked was the dog motif please talk to me about dog motifs. i think i would consume anything with a dog motif…. or be consumed by it yk 💕 i’ve been lured by it in the past and i will Continue to be lured by it forever and for eternity. anyone up listening to fetch the bolt cutters and newspaper rn ??

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 12, MAG 12 First Aid

"American student agrees to visit UK demon hospital to beat medical bills. More at six."

Mag 12 analysis, spoilers ahead!

Facts: Statement of Lesere Saraki regarding a night shift at St. Thomas Hospital. Statement given February 11, 2012.

Statement Notes: Really great episode. There is so much built-in here that, to a new listener, doesn't make any sense, but drives a relistener listener crazy. It's an incredible balance of mystery and horror. Before you're aware of the metaplot, you can't understand this episode and are afraid like Saraki. But once you are aware of the metaplot, you understand how the events of this episode contribute to the rituals and Gertrude. Having finished the series, it's easy to view the central mysteries of the series being "What is Elias' goal?" or "What are the entities?", but fans often forget that the main question of the first two seasons is "How did Gertrude Robinson die?" This episode, though not holding many clues, reveals how Gerry did his work, contributing to that mystery. Events like this episode are likely what was important to Jon in season 2, not things that are important to him later like the Lightless Flame or Hilltop Road.

The video footage of everyone leaving the waiting room was very concerning to me. There are a lot of episodes in which the entities seem to manipulate the actions of people around their targets to insight more fear, or at least manipulate their target's perception of other people. However, this just seems like straight-up mind control. A mass manipulation of everyone in the hospital at once. As a show of power alone, this is very frightening. The lack of an explanation is also very concerning. Jon doesn't even attempt to brush off this case as mass hysteria or drug use. I can't explain what made these people behave like that, and clearly, he can't either.

Entity Alignment: This is a very strong Desolation episode. The imagery is so incredibly descriptive. Everything from the warped door handles to the exploding soda bottles to the boiling saline solution is so vivid. The image that particularly stuck with me is Saraki examining Gerry's wounds (side note, it's very sweet to me that she felt so bad about ruining his new leather jacket). She doesn't go particularly in-depth, but the thought of perfectly pristine clothing covering utterly burned skin really emphasizes the violent nature of the Desolation. It burns and destroys, but only targets things it can cause fear and pain.

There's also a ton of Eye mentions in this episode. When Gerry is "praying" over the other victim (don't even get me started on the religious associations people make with the horrors), Saraki steps aside to let him work and watch. Gerry tells her "For you, better beholding than the lightless flame.” This insinuates that, with the prayer he is using to kill the other burn victim (presumably a Lightless Flame member), he is calling on the Desolation. It's a bit surprising that someone deeply affiliated with the Eye can call on another entity. However, we have to remember that technically the entities are all a part of one larger eldritch being, that we as humans simply cannot comprehend the scope of. This means that any avatar can work with or call on any entity, though it is likely easier for someone like Gerry, who is more aware that the Entity is a nuanced being and understands it academically, than it would be for someone like Jared Hopworth or Mike Crew, who are deeply entrenched in the specific aspects of the Entity.

In this vein, Gerry's tattoos not burning demonstrates his connection to the Eye and possible avatar powers. There's evidence in the show that different entities cannot hurt each other directly, but need particular circumstances to do so. For example, Jared Hopworth can take Jon's ribs when he consents, but cannot kill Melanie while she is associated with the Slaughter, and can be captured by Helen, who cannot be killed by Melanie. There is certainly some dream-logic, rock-paper-scissor-style power ranking of avatars. But this episode seems to prove that although Gerry can be harmed by the Desolation, the Eye will still protect him to a certain extent. This also helps with my issue with MAG 4 regarding Gerry's Eye art and tattoos.

While I do believe on a practical level there are differing levels of protection and power for the avatars based on their affiliation, commitment, and abilities, I would also like to return to the single eldritch Entity. Since the entity is one thing, it makes sense that it would hurt its avatars, but not itself. This would mean that Gerry is so deeply connected to the Eye (or at least the arcana of his tattoos is) that the entity will not hurt him because it considers him a part of itself. This is further proven in season 5, as Jon can essentially kill any avatar or person he chooses, but is untouchable to others because of the Eye's protection. The Entity has the ability to make its avatars a part of itself, and refuses to hurt them because it would only cause it more harm.

More specific to the episode, Gerard attempts to associate Saraki with the Eye. This seems fair, as Saraki only watches what Gerry does and does not interfere, merely observing the horror of another. The Eye/Elias is also clearly observing her as an Eye flashes on the CCTV screen and she reports feeling watched later. But again, genre awareness is very important in this series. The goal of the entities is to make people afraid, so those who choose to move on or take practical actions are less likely to remain targets. Saraki plays the game, she goes along with Gerard, muscles through the horrors, and moves on. She never has a paranormal occurrence again.

Character Notes: Sasha is just so incredible with computers. I wish we could see her in TMAGP universe where tech skill are actually useful. I think the key difference between Archivist!Sasha and Archivist!Jon is that, while Jon has an insatiable desire to obtain knowledge he cannot always feed, Sasha has a great ability to obtain knowledge but a duller and more practical drive. This could be part of the reason Elias chooses Jon over her, because his desire would push him to go further, while his information gaps would cause him more anxiety and fear.

Also, I know Martin very well could have googled the Polish phrase or just know a little bit and this is part of his CV lies, but can you imagine a Polish-speaking Martin? Just live in that world for a second.

Still, since Martin canonically lied about speaking Latin and it is likely he speaks little-to-no Polish, the fact that he would research and/or share this phrase with Jon seems to be another lie to get people to like him. While it don't think his lies/manipulations are as malicious as Annabelle makes them seem in season 5, they are definitely present.

[fluffywuffle]

Before we get into the depths of The Magnus Protocol we need to establish something that I've been wanting to put into words for a long time:

Smirke's Fourteen is not real.

Remember what Gerry said about the Fears as colors? How they're a broad spectrum of concepts that we have only applied names for arbitrarily? I feel like that's critical to understanding the world of The Magnus Archives. And now that we're in The Magnus Protocol, I feel that it's doubly important. We need a fresh understanding on the Fears without the baggage that some old white guy applied. There is no Eye, there is no Web, there is only Fear.

So when we start posting analyses on The Magnus Protocol, please, please stay away from conceptualizing it under our given framework. Instead, craft new, exciting, terrifying ones. Or, OR, don't give it a framework at all. Fuck Smirke, fuck whatever replacement for Smirke's Fourteen you can come up with. Do something weird. How do the Fears interact with power? How do they interact with systems of hierarchy (sorry I'm an anarchist I have to ask these questions)? For example, without giving a full analysis on TMagP after only two episodes, I feel like the relationship between Fear, power, hierarchy, and survival under capitalism is going to be important. But that's just me. Come up with your own ideas, and kill Robert Smirke.

[annabelle--cane]

it's fascinating to me the way that different social media platforms result in different types of fandom behavior. while s5 of tma was airing, I spent a good amount of time on tma tiktok (I log back in about once every two months now, going back to in-person school after a year a half of lockdown seem to re-blanace my brain and made me once again not really enjoy the format) while still using tumblr as my main socmed, and while there was a lot of overlap in the fan culture, some things were notably different.

tumblr tma fans had near-encyclopedic knowledge of the source material, but it was kind of an ongoing joke for tiktok tma fans that everyone binged the whole show in a week-long fugue state and lost memory of about 35% of it. tumblr has virtually no character limit and allows posts to be passed around by users indefinitely, which lends itself to fairly in-depth meta analysis being made and shared until most any fan could say "the time and space discrepancies at hill top road? psh yeah, I know all about them, I've read seven scrupulously cited posts that lay out all the details." for the entire time that s5 was airing, tiktok videos could still only be a minute long, and I know from a lot of personal effort that there's only so much you can fit into a one minute script that you also have to memorize and record (and cc manually with tiktok text stickers, as they didn't add the caption feature until april 2021) if you want the process to take less than four hours of your one mortal human life. and then you only see the video if your following or fyp algorithm shows it to you. there were a few tma meta-ish videos that got popular because other people would make their own videos referencing them and tag the account so their followers could see what they were talking about, but it's much harder to circulate content you like there. several times I saw people post videos saying "I got into cosplay to film some [agnes or annabelle or gerry or another secondary character] and I just realized I have no idea what their deal actually is 💀".

a thing that tiktok tma fandom was definitely better at than tumblr tma fandom was accurately remembering certain pieces of characterization and the flow of certain scenes. I've seen a bunch of posts on here where someone is trying to argue a point with excerpts from the text ("x character is nicer than you all give them credit for" "x character is so mean to y character in this scene" "z theory can't be true because y character said a line that disproves it") where the argument only holds up because the poster has gotten these excerpts from a transcript dive and hasn't listened to the episodes they're from recently, because while the text alone can be construed to mean one thing, the way it's delivered on-podcast clearly intends another. tiktok, being an audio and video based medium, allows audio clips to be shared around a lot, and cosplayers would often all make videos acting along to the same show clips of juicy interpersonal drama, and so tiktok fans, though they may have had less overall memory of what characters said, always had a better grasp on how they said it. an average tiktok tma fan might not have remembered melanie's subplot about war ghosts, but they would know the nuances of how the way she talks to jon changes between mag 28 and mag 155.