#JONNY SIMS IF YOU CAN HEAR ME

[badboi-goodheart]

i hate this goddamned website because i just saw so many TMA posts and if i don’t consume the entirety of all information about it RIGHT NOW IM GONNA START PHYSICALLY CONVULSING

kinda like a demon being exorcised but the demon is just a re-awakening hyperfixation

[thesiltverses]

Hello! I found the silt verses about three weeks ago and have listened to it several times since. I have a few things to say.

I absolutely adore that episode about the national grid workers. I think it’s my favorite episode of any podcast I’ve ever listened to. My favorite part of that first episode Paige is in is how she justifies not standing up for Vaughn, that cognitive dissonance that you wrote so well. This episode gives me what I wanted from that episode, the workers all banding together to stop the wasteful sacrifice of one of them. The actor who played the foreman did an incredible job as well. I think that having him discuss which of his workers he would sacrifice was such a significant moment, despite how brief it is. It cuts right to the big question that I took away from the podcast which is, “How much is someone willing to sacrifice in order to maintain their comfort?” And the utter disrespect of Glodditch (apologies for the spelling) refusing to cancel even the radio but asking grid workers to kill themselves for 200kw/h! Top tier episode.

I grew up in the south and went to college in Appalachia. I saw the disparity in technology and “advancement” if that makes sense that poverty brings, and the way you set up the world invokes that feeling in me again. You are an amazing world builder and storyteller.

I really enjoyed the cameos - I’m a big fan of malevolent/devisor, Old gods of Appalachia, and all of Jonny sims work, so hearing familiar voices was an absolute delight. Harlan Guthrie as an acolyte of the snuff gods might have been a bit too on the nose with some of the things that man writes, though… /pos

I’m transmasculine, and something that I really appreciate is how you manage to make a trans man do some objectively awful things, but still manage to make him a complex, full character that I was rooting for very frequently. Brother Faulkner is so, so important to me as a character. Paula Vogel has a play called “Indecent,” which is about the true story of a troupe of I believe German Jewish actors between the years of 1910ish and 1940s putting on a show called “God of Vengeance” by Sholem Asch, also a Jewish man. “God of Vengeance” has queer themes and received a lot of criticism from the Jewish community for showing Jewish folks in a “bad” light at a time when there was already so much hatred for Jewish people. Brother Faulkner being as complex and, in my opinion, malicious and cutthroat as he is at a time when trans people face so much bigotry, especially legislatively in the United States, brings this conversation about “God of Vengeance” up again for me. I also love how normalized non-binary people are in this world, without question. “Sibling this or that,” the hunter, adjudicator Shrew - big thanks from me for all of this.

All of this to say, I love this podcast. Can you talk more about the rhetorical gods? Is Babble one? What makes them one if they are, or why aren’t they? I’m fascinated by them. Can you talk more about the propaganda gods too?

Thank you so much for the thoughtful and kind words!

I'll check out Indecent, it sounds really interesting and I'm very glad to hear Faulkner works for you as a character. I think the topic of how to include and write queer characters who are capable of terrible things and thoughts (because, after all, these characters are human beings and not tutelary exemplars), within the context of both a rising movement of transphobia right now and centuries-old scapegoating / pathologising portrayals more generally, is a really knotty but a really important one, and I always want to make sure I'm approaching it with care and due responsibility as well as a sense of humility around the limitations of what, as a cis writer, I can actually achieve.

To that end, I don't want to ever take the audience response for granted, but I'm always really grateful to hear that the portrayal is working for a listener!

Propaganda gods: gods whose prayer-marks or ritual verses are fed directly to the enemy, enforcing destructive or sabotaging changes to reality (so rather than sending a destructive saint or angel to rampage over the foe, you might drop pamphlets or send radio messages to the enemy to 'convert' them).

Rhetorical gods: gods whose followers possess reality-warping powers of language itself (which is why 'rhetorical god' is a polite way of saying 'liar's god'). In other words, the paranoia around them comes partly down to the fact that a disciple like Val may appear to be a limitless shaper of new forms, rather than shaped into a limited form of their own, as a result of their worship.

[magpod-confessions]

Hi, no worries about my og ask being deleted, because I’m a weird little freak that writes drafts for my asks in my notes app. So here’s it again:

This is a completely personal opinion, and I’m not faulting anyone for having this headcanon, but I absolutely hate Asian Melanie headcanons, specifically Chinese Melanie.

The reason why is because I am Chinese, and I hate the idea of sharing anything in common with her.

But also, I don’t really like any PoC headcanon for Melanie. I’m not black so I can’t really say how bad it would be, but to me, headcanoning one of the most physically aggressive characters in the show as black is… not great.

And I understand that there are a lot of PoC that relate to Melanie, or see her anger as righteous fury that so many minorities feel.

But to me, she is 1,000% white, mostly because her anger sounds so entitled to me, she’s like “I fought tooth and nail for everything in my life” and it’s… a YouTube channel. Not “I worked so many jobs trying to climb the ladder but everyone looked down at me.” (Which Sasha did have) or “anywhere I go, people look at me with scorn.”

All her anger and the only thing we see that she’s angry about is that she became a meme.(an oversimplification, I know) And maybe she did have to work a lot of jobs until she got to where she is, but we never really hear about it, so it’s a moot point.

I am of the opinion, that all the characters that don’t have a canon race, are written as white, because Jonny Sims is white and he wasn’t trying to write a story about race. But for a lot of them, making the a PoC doesn’t really change their story, but I’ve seen people think otherwise.

The one I’ve seen most is saying that if Jon is brown, it changes his story because of the way Jonah was manipulating him and that he is a victim of police brutality, but I don’t really think that would really affect his story, because Jon isn’t a character that, to me, takes his race in to account for how others treat him. However, Melanie definitely is, if she were anything other than white, she would be loudly declaring the racism that she is met with all the time, as is, she only talks about her experience with sexism.

And I know I’m digressing, but it annoys me to no end when people are like “Jon has to be white, because if he were a PoC he would have been suspicious of Elias, and wouldn’t have been so shocked that he was the murder suspect. And if you think that he could be brown, you’re stupid and racist” And then they’ll turn around and say that one of the other ambiguously raced characters is a PoC.

Like, you’re going to say Jon has to be white because he he didn’t think he was a murder suspect, but turn around and say Martin “you’re the police” Blackwood isn’t one of the whitest characters in the show.

Race doesn’t really make a difference for any of the characters, but some do have more hints of being stereotypically white than others, and Melanie is definitely one of them to me.

Sorry, this got long. And once again, to be clear, I don’t really mind people headcanoning any character as any race, if I see something I don’t like , I just try to scroll past, and I never say anything on the post. I just needed to vent about the general situation of race in TMA, and put my two cents in. (Melanie was just a good starting point for it, and the one I personally have beef with) (also, sorry if it’s confusing, it’s pretty much just all stream of consciousness)

Anyways you can all tell me how wrong and racist I am if you want. 🗣️

Ask that ties to this

Yeaa I definitely see what youre saying. Personally I dont think much abt characters races, bc yea. The majority of it is rly ambiguous but I definitely see what youre saying - rosette

[disappointingcabbage]

TMAGP 22 thoughts, spoilers under the cut

Lena what the fuck why is your reaction to Gwen almost getting killed “ok but why didn’t you get their contact info”

Also I love that she referred to [ERROR] as the “watching figure” like I know the transcript last week initially called them Archivist but it’s nice to have confirmation that wasn’t immediately backtracked on lmao

I don’t know how to feel about Gwen getting demoted for this one, I think she did the right thing when she ran away, and that’s what Lena seems upset about. However, the real reason she should be getting demoted is the classism and condescension that pissed off ink5oul in the first place tbh.

Also I’m sure Gwen retaining her title in order to not look bad on the inspection totally won’t force her to have to go back to actually talking to externals ever /s

Also, Mrs. Kelley? She’s MARRIED? She’s either Elias-style repeatedly divorced or her partner is equally cold and autistic there is no other option

ooh Augustus time

Shejdjrjdiejdi Hans Berger is such a name teehee hamburger

Oh no, they’re experimenting on dogs :(

and people

is this a case of Hans going “hey dude your recipe’s fucked up” *proceeds to describe how exactly he did not follow the instructions* because it sure sounds like it.

Unless I’m misinterpreting and the instructions he received from the guy he’s corresponding with said to do the silver replacement thing bc I thought he got the silver idea from someone else

Okay now he’s using methods from ANOTHER guy. Dude how in the fuck are you blaming Richard for this?

Okay now he’s just pulling a new technique out of his ass. Of course your findings were weird, you didn’t use Richard’s technique, just something very vaguely similar

Bro’s really trying to create Jekyll and Hyde right now. Has he not read the book? Shouldn’t he know how terrible of an idea that is???

Ah yes, the standard 1920s activity of insulting your wife’s work speed while she’s working with a completely new configuration of equipment. Prick.

Also love the fact that the Hyde part of this dude can only communicate through Hans’s equipment

“Can you hear it?” Jesus Ursula that’s literally the most ominous thing you could say right now

Of course Hans assumes that she’s talking about the obvious equipment noise

Oh shit, Doctor Malpractice over here gave this poor dude a grand mal seizure

oh no this poor dude HANS YOU MADE HIS BRAIN MALFORMATION BURST WHAT THE FUCK YOU KILLED HIM

…are we ever gonna find out what Ursula was hearing?

you didn’t think to look over your data until weeks after the fact? are you shitting me? the data wasn’t even part of the investigation into this poor dude’s death?

Oh she was hearing exactly what this guy was saying via the telegraph. That’s really fucking cool, actually.

Well, Jesus. The second consciousness was not having a good time, apparently.

Oh this is the same night as the last episode

Sam catching onto Alice deleting his files immediately is peak comedy

Obviously he’s pissed about this

“You just want to control me again” oh that’s why they broke up

“That if I showed you the ropes we could” YOU COULD WHAT ALICE

ooh Celia has Magnus info?

JONATHAN SIMS AND MARTIN BLACKWOOD??????

FUCK YOU JONNY AND ALEX YOU CANT JUST END THE EPISODE THERE

[shootingstars-or-airplanes]

Woke up late today so I'm live-blogging the episode today. Right off the fucking bat, this title has me so concerned

(spoilers under the cut)

Sam you sweet summer child even Lena is telling you to stop with that fucking response paperwork. PLEASE RUN!

CHESTER!!!!! <3

Ok so I have audio processing issues so I usually have to listen a couple times or read the transcript to fully get all the case info, so this next bit might be disjointed

This case is somehow so Flesh-coded while having nothing to do with flesh

The fucked up desires theory is strong with this one

For some reason the use of "her" to refer to this thing makes my skin crawl

Stage 2 is reminding me of Putting Down Roots (which is my absolute favorite case/statement from either series)

The line "last night I watched my stomach unzip" is so fucking good

Oh fuck so like this bitch knows she's replacing herself... Damn...

Yeah ok some of this shit is hitting too close to home

THE BOYS THE BOYS THE BOYS THE BOYS

I JUST CHOKED ON MY SODA

Basira?????? Helen????????

Also Celia quit lying!

WAIT THERE'S STILL 10 MINUTES LEFT?? (give or take ads)

Gwenny no! Gwenny baby! (Fuck when did I start liking Gwen?)

I can hear the distant screams of all the dyhard shippers

Alice still deep in the "capitalism is the real monster" mindset and honestly, she is so real for that

IM SORRY GWEN DID YOU SAY EYES?????

Alex Newall and Jonny Sims are Pavlov. I am the fucking dog.

Yeah ok wow as a writer, ending on "I don't know" is so satisfying. But as a listener YOU MOTHERFU-

Waiting for the credits to see which one of them I can blame for my emotional distress and it's neither of them??? (I'm assuming that was the writer of the case and Alex and Jonny wrote the OIAR stuff as part of the "additional materials" but now who am I supposed to scream into the void about????)

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 7, MAG 7 The Piper, Spoiler-Free Version

This is a spoiler-free analysis of Magnus Archives MAG 7, The Piper. One of the best-written episodes in the series. Pure poetry.

Facts: Statement of Seargent Clarence Berry regarding his time serving with Wilfred Owen during World War One. Statement given November 6, 1922.

Statement Notes: "Hey you know Wilfred Owen? The famous poet Wilfred Owen? The guy whose poems you had to read in class Wilfred Owen? Yeah, what if he was possessed? Wouldn't that be fucked?" -Jonny Sims at the Rusty Quill pitch meeting.

In all seriousness, this episode is incredible. The description of the three faces of war is so detailed, yet so brief. I want to take a little time to explore each face and set of arms.

The First Face: "One to play its pipes on scrimshaw bone." This line is apparently where the title "The Piper" comes from. As the story goes on, both Berry and Owen describe hearing strange music. This seems to be the "song of war" that the Piper plays, signaling a truly gruesome battle. This song doesn't necessarily warn off or compel the soldiers, but seems to do a bit of both. A war song doesn't just encourage a soldier to fight, but also warns an enemy. Wilfred Owen believes this being is The War itself, therefore its song should encourage violence from all sides, but also instill a deep fear in every soldier.

To me, this face fits with the hand raised "in a crisp salute." This hand and face prevent a false majesty and honor to war. This face tells the soldiers fighting is good, they will be rewarded, they will be valued. But of course, underneath its muddied green coat, all that the War has is a scarred and bloody body. "Nothing remained but the wounds themselves."

The Second Face: I've chosen to associate the face that "screamed its dying battle cry" with "the arms gripping blades and guns and spears." This face seems to represent the adrenaline violence and war brings, even as it kills you. I've always thought adrenaline not as good or bad, but creating more tangible and real emotions than other things can.

The Third Face: "One that would not open its mouth, for when it did blood and sodden soil flowed out like a waterfall." I associate this face with the hands begging for mercy. Clarence Berry is under 22 when this statement takes place, and (the real) Wilfred Owen would be between 22-24. These are practically children. They are going to die. They are going to die before their time, before it is fair. They are going to beg for mercy. This is the nature of war, and so is the nature of The War.

There is an implication that The War kept Owen alive so he could create poetry that glorifies The War. I wonder if this is out of ego--it wanted to be seen as glorious and beautiful--or simply to drag the battle on longer. If it seems inspirational, it will continue.

Overall I think this episode demonstrates the tentative balance World War One held between being "the writer's war" and "the technological front." The war represented a shift in humanity's ability to be brutal, but also spawned art and innovation. This doesn't justify the violence that occurred, but rather the acts of destruction and creation during the war existed in tandem, like two sides of a coin.

Character Notes: I know that Jon was speaking through the statement when he was making fun of Owen's poetry, but the idea of Jon being a cannon poetry hater is too funny for me to ignore

[hoeswater]

I'm Talking about MagPod and Archives Again

I know that those of us in the middle of the Venn diagram of “Magnus fans” and “People who actually know how archives work” have really given Jonny a hard time about the way that the Magnus Institute archives and artefact storage are shown as working (or, I mean, not working) in the podcast. Not just in terms of best practices (where) but also like… archives can be spooky, it can be a spooky job, but not really for those reasons, you know? Anyway, I think that Protocols Episode 9 actually engages with the archives’ role as an archives in a way that’s really, really interesting. Qualifications: I’m almost done with my master’s in Library and Information Science/Archives Management and have been working in actual archives of various types for a year and a half. 

Specifically, I’m really interested in how Dice Guy engages with the horror within the context of the donation process. We hear a lot about the horror that objects in this universe cause while they’re still in the possession of their pre-Institute owners-slash-avatars, and a lot about the horror that these objects cause when they’re mishandled (looking at you, Jon “It is Remarkably Easy to Buy An Axe in Central London” Sims) while being stored at the Institute, and every now and again we get to see Jon or Gertrude accept or turn down an offered object (the teeth apple, Eric Delano’s page, etc) in TMA. But this is one of the only places in the podcast(s) where the process of donation and acquisition registers as a part of the horror story for the people giving or receiving the object. I’m thinking specifically about the beginning of the “statement proper,” where the statement giver says:

“So yeah, I tell you all about them, how I got them, all that crap and you just… You take them away, right? You accept them. Good. I think. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. It’s how it worked for me, at least. Put them in whatever vault you like, bury them, drop them in the ocean for all I care. All that matters is that they’re yours now.” 

At surface level, this disclaimer seems pretty similar to some of the other things that statement givers say in TMA: I just need to tell someone, I just need somebody else to know, You have the power to do something about this and I don’t, etc. But this statement differs from the ones we saw in TMA because it’s not just about catharsis or reaction to a terrible thing happening; it’s the actual change of ownership of the dice that gives this moment meaning within the horror story for Dice Guy. And this hinges on the fact that Dice Guy, like a lot of real-life people, sees the purpose of an archives as being locked vaults designed to keep non-expert people away from things they don’t know how to handle, rather than their actual purpose, which is to preserve things for the express purpose of making them accessible to the public. I imagine that the Magnus Institute, if it were real, would have some pretty strict access policies due to, you know, special circumstances– the stuff it holds generally having the ability to kill or maim or otherwise make people’s lives miserable– but it’s fun to think about. If Dice Guy had understood the fact that archivists and staff and conservationists and sometimes researchers interact* with the materials in their care, would he have still donated the dice? Was he at the point where it didn’t matter who got the bad luck, as long as it wasn’t him, or was he leaning on the stereotype of archives being locked vaults as a way to absolve himself of the guilt of giving the dice away to a person, because people use the things they're given and he thinks archives don't? 

It also raises some interesting questions about ownership. Real archivists think about the ethics of donation, acquisition, and ownership a lot. What does it mean for somebody to give something to an archive? What does it mean to accept it, therefore a) accepting responsibility for the preservation of the object and b) assigning cultural/historical/ideological value to it? This is where TMAGP comes pretty close to real archival theory: Dice Guy thinks that he’s nullifying the dice’s power by giving them to the Institute, but isn’t it true that to accept an object into an archive assigns it a level of power? The notes at the beginning of the statement seem to suggest that the dice coming under the Institute’s ownership lends them power beyond what they had originally, as well: “Viability as Subject,” “Viability as agent,” “Viability as catalyst,” “Recommend referral to Catalytics for Enrichment Applicability Assessment.” To me, this says that maybe the dice were in the running to potentially be chosen for the role that the tape recorders fill in TMA– to facilitate, or serve as a catalyst for, the narrative/the fears’ growing power by being passed to the “agent” (Jon or Jon-equivalent) through the Magnus Institute. We, the audience, know that, if the dice had been selected to fill the tape recorder role, that would give them the potential not just to make one individual’s life more miserable, but to fundamentally change the entire world a la TMA 160 and 200. 

*In TMA canon, the Web uses the Magnus Institute as a site for agents and catalysts to interact, just as much as the Eye does if not more. The fact that the archives is a site of interaction between people and particular objects is critical to the narrative as told by the Web, even if it seems incidental to Jon–and even if Jon doesn’t understand the archives that way. It’s an interesting way to look at the Magnus Institute and archives as functioning in a similar way to actual archives, which serve as sites of interaction between people and historical objects (in spite of Jon’s complete lack of ability to function as a regular archivist.)

[jazzically]

the magnus protocol episodes 4 through 7 — my live reactions not clickbait

magp 4

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IS THIS THE STATEMENT AND/OR ORIGIN OF ALFRED GRIFTER

omg i love how the literal only reason for hearing statements from the 1800s is gwen being behind on her work

ALSO I FRICKING LOVE THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL THEME

Oh my lord you know it's a good sidequel when you can already feel the itch to relisten to everything you just listened to

magp 5

Ok i do not know whether we say "a blast from the past" in America but i have heard that phrase like five times now from Brits all on the RQ magnus feed so im wondering if that's just an alexander j newall thing or !!! what (love it tho. i love it)

faith the unholy trinity referenced???? faith the unholy trinity!!!!!!?

aint no way he won the contest by coincidence LMAO

OOOH THIS IS SUCH A COOL FORMAT!!! ahh ... just how many ideas do they have for digital first-person storytelling mediums?? cuz with every new one i am fascinated

i wonder if jonny just flipped between soft speaker and robot while recording or if "[UNINTELLIGIBLE]" is a digital insert. if it's the latter i am VERY impressed although it's characteristic of jonny at this point lol

OOOooooOOoOoO personal relation is always extra spookyyy

i am also extremely impressed by the similarity in writing style. i can see it (in a good way) now that i'm looking harder, but i would never have guessed jonny didn't write all the episodes

also i just love how alex and jonny swap announcer roles sometimes (jonny as credits, alex as title/episode) for tmp

NOTE TO SELF: check out the cellar letters!!!!! omfg!!! it sounds fire!!!!

magp 6

aw that's such a sweet dedication message

URGH HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE THE TMAGP THEME

i always wondered what the muffled falling-down-the-stairs noise at the end of the original theme was. it always put me in mind of the aesthetic of the beginning of portal 2 (and, later, the Buried coffin) idk why

I LOOOVE ALL OF THESEEEE none of them have been hard to get through at all?? which is rare for me bc i fail to pay attention to things for long unless they come in more than two forms of stimulus simultaneously (video + music, audio + fidget toy, video + candle)

AWIEE SAM AND CELIA 😭😭😭

Yes alice you do that matchmaking you are SUCH a girlboss

magp 7

OMFG CELIA DEFINITELY KNOWS SOMETHING

lmao jonny says ree instead of err ee now (for "re:"/regarding)

[ThEory time babes woooOoO]

heyyyy is this one of those other worlds that the fears got banished to. actually what happened to the dread powers? am not exactly clear on that (i hope it's on purpose). maybe the place where the dread powers exist alongside "our world" in tma is also adjacent to other worlds in exactly the same way?? like how a hexagon can be adjacent to six other hexagons??? that'd be sick and it would also explain why there wasnt an overwhelming amount of supernatural incidents in "our world" such that everyone was familiar with the dread powers and normalized safety procedures and such ... interesting au idea ... also the idea jonny proposed about a post-apocalypse world in the s5 qna... that one is cool too............ writers get on that (/j/j/j)

is tmp a separate world ??? they only said it was in the same universe as tma iirc

[wild speculation over]

RAAAAAA i LOVE the robotic voices' VAs' abilities to slowly transition into humanlike speech

cLaYtOn!!!!!? do i know that name or am i going crazy

perhaps i am yet again thinking of the worker of clay (see previous post)

LOOOLL "better than norris, whiny little toad"

OHMYGFUCKING GOD WAIT I RESCIND MY EARLIER STATEMENT!!!!!! THAT'S CANONICALLY JONATHAN SIMS' FRICKING VOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehehe ooooh you're evil writermen. how dare you use our constant uncertainty as to which characters you're referring to induced by your earlier repetition when naming characters (really there should be a limit as to how many michaels can be in one story) so that we are still unsure, even with prior knowledge, whether sam's mysterious "john" is actually the archivist or just some other john. good lord (im obsessed)

HOLY CRAP COLIN KNOOOWSSSSSSSS THINGSSS i just adore his role as the town crazy old man

omg alex's writing is incredible

[a-mag-a-day]

Unfortunately, probably won't be listening to this one today. However, this is one of the episodes that I've relistened to multiple times.

I need to preface that though with this caveat. So I think we can all agree that Jonny Sims' voice acting is spectacular, and he manages portray a wide spectrum of emotion and physical well being just through his voice, yes? So Jonathan Sims the character is frequently in distress, particularly in this episode, and if I want to feel a certain way when reading fanfiction I just listen to the first and last part of this episode.

Also, can I just finish with how once again Jonathan Sims cannot seem to grasp the very obvious and instead interprets it into something it isn't? First he he hears a statement about how the Not-Them is sealed in the web table and decides to go after it with an axe. Now he collates several statements over time to show not that people are drawn out of the Fears by those people they care about, but instead that they must have had physical anchors and his needs to be a body part. Truly embodying that Beholding trait of Seeing but not understanding literally anything. He's so dumb 😊

Jonny is just so good at voice acting and making me feel things because of said voice acting.

I also love that nobody really seems to point out to any Beholding person that knowing something and understanding something are two different things. Then again, it is the power of blindly seeking knowledge even if it will lead to that person’s demise.

Ashes edit (because I will FOREVER defend Jon!): I really don't think he was dumb in any of those times. So many listeners who already know the outcome say his choices were stupid but with the table Jonny himself admitted that with the table Jon was genre savvy! I would also assume that if the monster is tied to the table it would hurt it to destroy the table! Also when Jon was in the buried in the very next episode he says "My anchor, my – the rib; I can f– I can feel – I know the way." The tapes worked because the rib was there. It wasn't Martin it wasn't love. It was the tapes and it was the rib he was absolutely right about that. Nothing is more strongly connected to you than your own body and as isolated as he is right now he has no proper attachment to any object (he lost everything, even his clothes) like shakya and I believe would definitely be correct to assume this is the best option for him.

Jon 👏 isn't 👏 dumb!

(end of rant sorry)

[beaft]

Your mangus archive season 5 opinions are sooo fucking correct I listened to it so hard for the four seasons and I got so into it I have a game design doc for a tma game that I made for a class and then. Season 5 dropped and it was kinda...anyway I stopped listening part way through and I've never gone back

right! there was a lot of potential and so many cool ideas and the actual execution was just... it didn't work for me, and i found it hard to get through. it felt like a slog. the writing was still good, and so was the voice acting, but it felt like some key ingredient was missing.

honestly, i think part of the problem was that it kept trying to stick to the same format as the previous four seasons when the setting and the stakes had drastically shifted. tma essentially started as a join-the-dots horror anthology, with the "statements" helping to construct a gradual picture of the world and the characters in it. they were both entertaining short stories in their own right and vehicles to move the plot forward. each season had a similar format: slow build-up, information revealed piece by piece, and then an explosive finale. it wasn't a particularly original structure, but it worked.

then season 5 hits, and we've shifted genres to a full-on post-apocalyptic cosmic horror situation. it's gone from "mystery" to "action", and the "statements" no longer serve their former purpose (dropping breadcrumbs for both you, the listener, and jon, the character). it feels like the plot keeps grinding to a halt just so we can hear yet another statement that doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.

and then we get the finale, which - i like that it's ambiguous, i like that we didn't get a saccharine happy ending, but i can also understand why everyone was so pissed at having sat through a full season to find out what was going to happen at the end, only for jonny sims to go, "well, who knows?" and disappear in a puff of smoke.

honestly, i think i liked it best when it was a fucked-up office comedy.

[rustyelias]

omg please i'd love to hear u yap ab how you feel protocol contradicts the tma ending 👀

jumps up and down!!!

🚨spoilers for magnus archive protocol🚨

okay so in episode 22 and 23 we get two sets of name drops. The first Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood. Honestly this didn’t lay right with me at all! Archives ended and we didn’t know the fate of the two! My own interpretation of this ending is that without the fears anymore both Jon and Martin are free there is no beholding anymore meaning there is no need to know! But my own interpretation aside I love the way the ending was written Jonny let us as the listener decide what happened to them, did they simply die? Or perhaps in an alternative universe? Happy? Sad? Or simply gone?

the ending is super tragic when we think about Jon in season one yelling that he didn’t want to become another mystery and guess what that’s what he becomes!

I also need to talk about how Alex and Jonny said that you don’t need to know anything about archive to enjoy protocol. Technically yes you can go into protocol blind to archive but the big moments of oooo Jon and Martin will leave new listers being like huh okay because they don’t get why that’s a big thing!! this is me being very very picky but it bothers me! from what they said I assumed we would get very small hints to archive but from the looks of it they are going to be relevant to the plot??

Archive was fully planned out as it was written! It was said multiple times that archive had a megaplot!!! Jonny knew how he wanted it to end! And I really hoped protocol would change archives ending but naming the two main characters in protocol isn’t going that! to me Jon and Martin are being ripped from there graves the beautiful ending of tma has been erased to me! You could argue that it is a alternative universe so it has no effect on archives (I’m pretty sure Jonny said something like this but I could be wrong so don’t hold me to that) but still it feels like they are draining archives for all they can get.

oh wow I really have just rambled here if anyone read all this I’m sorry for my shitty grammar and spelling mistakes and thank you for reading my yapping bajsjsjsajjsjs

[starship--aurora]

episode one liveblog (sort of) let’s go

jon sims you dramatic fucker. /aff

did not miss the four minutes of ads LMAO

you can HEAR the contempt in his voice as he talks about gertrude.

”i don’t count martin” giggling, i love asshole jon.

”tim, sasha, and. yes, i guess, martin.”

ANGLERFISH ANGLERFISH ANGLERFISH.

”recording by jonathan sims, head archivist of the magnus institute, london” DUDE. i don’t know why that took me so aback.

mike. like michael. goddamnit jonny sims, what’s it with mikes and michaels.

THE STATIC.

“can i have a cigarette?”

i love the background music so much.

i remember thinking how much he got into it, how much of a theatre kid he seemed to be.

ANGLERFISH.

”i looked at their feet, and saw that they weren’t quite touching the ground.”

torch. i always forget that torches are the same thing as flashlights.

“statement ends, this was fucking stupid”

sasha mention <3

”look at this drunk creeper, ell-oh-ell.” i hate how he says lol, i don’t know what it is about it LMAO.

episode two!

JOSHUA GILLESPIE <3

i remember one time while rambling to my mother about joshua, she kept thinking i was saying “lesbian” and not “gillespie”.

got bored this is being continued hours later.

joshua gillespie you absolute fucker, i love you and want to kiss you on the mouth.

oh no, what ever shall you do, waking up with the key.

”perhaps a bit elaborate” Joshy Boy Elaborate Is What You Need.

”it’s odd how fear can become as routine as hunger.”

yeah, my living room coffin is making weird noises, Music Time.

ooo, knock knock.

hi john. surprised to see you, shocked to see me.

smash smash on the ground.

breekon and hope, let’s go. i love.

joshua gillespie, the hero. we salute you.

”it’s always nice to hear my hometown isn’t always devoid of odd happenings”

giggle that was great.

episode three!!

tmagp ad, oh em gee (<- this loser listened to tmagp premier today and is very normal about it)

”she sleeps with other women” what is this ad, i want to listen to this podcast. /hj

”rusty quill presents… the magnus archives…” stop with your verbal ellipsis, dude. LMAO

”jonathan sims, head archivist of the magnus institute, london”

GRAHAM!!!!! I love Graham so much.

”hey man, i always see you writing, how’s your notes coming along?” “i. i don’t take notes?”

sexy graham rights.

the amount of times i’ve had to rewind because i didn’t process it.

“hey graham” “HOLY SHIT”

public transport is scary, no judgement there.

i honestly never understood the statement giver’s discomfort with graham. to the point you couldn’t even let him see which building.

yeowch graham what did you do. 😔

“apparently he was gay.”

weird hooks weird hooks weird hooks woo.

graham’s notebooks 🥰.

graham honestly sounds like an interesting guy, i think if i’d ever met him, i’d befriend him.

TABLE. WAIT, IS IT THE TABLE USED TO TRAP NOTTHEM?

wait. wait wait wait. oh my god.

it is i think.

stalking your coworkers is Creepy. jon, please don’t take ideas. (jon then proceeds to take ideas)

driving through ohio at night is fun, ngl.

i saw him take one of his notebooks. he ate it.

wowza, all sexy gay people eat notebooks, do you eat notebooks?

“i even saw him freak out at the ice cream truck” that is honestly me. any loud sound? i panic like there’s no tomorrow

memorizing his pizza order <3

fuck capitalism. (“i had to drop out of the college course to work late nights”)

notthem notthem notthem wooohooo

okay i take it back, ohio backroads are NOT fun at night.

notthem <3

yeah i kinda. just stood there.

the background music slow rising!!

”from my months of watching” haha

not!graham!!

imposter? like…… among…

i love the description so much.

aw man, bye notebooks ✌️

hey amy, i’m going to come to your house.

statement ends!

tim mention ❤️❤️❤️.

“i trust coworker testimony as far as i can burn it.”

ohio hills and sharp turns at night are not fun, my stomach is in my throat.

JOURNAL JOURNAL JOURNAL JOURNAL

KEEP WATCHING.

[testicularmanslaughtrr]

Okay listen. I forgave yall for not warning me about Ben Meredith’s facial hair.

That I can overlook

But when I heard in passing “Jonathan Sims was in a band” and kept hearing the name The Mechanisms, when I finally put two and two together

THATS’S NOT WHAT THE FUCK I THOUGHT YOU MEANT.

When I hear “oh your rival Jonny sims sang in a band” you all failed to mentioned the fucking steampunk goggles and CUNTY EYELINER.

You guys need to WARN ME.

[missimbalance]

You hyped for Magnus Protocol?

This answer is loooong overdue, and probably will be much too long, but no matter how much I think about it, I'm not sure.

I definitely want it to happen. I want it now, I want it enough to throw my money at them.

But then I already have my perfect spiritual successor: Tiny Terrors. The fact that they have an in-universe TMA expy only makes it sound more like The Universe to start all the other verses (and also that's where I can hear Mike LeBeau).

But on the other hand, it's unfair to look for spiritual successors elsewhere when Jonny Sims is right here, and writing (and could possibly see this if I'm unlucky).

On the other other hand though, what if I won't like it? Would I still love The Magnus Archives as much as I did? I'm more worried that it might not be for me, rather than simply not good enough - that would be the ultimate alienating experience.

So, yeah, I'm trying to keep my hopes up.

[dorriostareyes]

Annddd here it is~

31: If I were Jon I would've quit a loooong time ago.

32: Oh this one is so good. I love hearing Prentiss' perspective on her situation. Stream of thought can be very fun.

1) yes yes yes YES! Humanity in the supernatural! I wanna say more so badly about this but I shant.

2) Ah yes, predator and prey. Those roles.

3) It is strange, isn't it? ;)

4) ;))

5) 👀

33: TIIIM! Is Jon incompetent? Keeping Up with the Lukas'? Hmm feeding the supernatural...

34: Respectfully, I disagree. This statement was a fun one for me and listening to this guy react to what is going on was entertaining as heck. Just the dawning realization that monsters are attending the classes and what the actual hell is he supoosed to do. And then the apple? Oh the apple was a perfect way to end it. They were so polite! Giving their teacher an apple to show their appreciation! The apple was great way to conclude. Maybe not a terrifying listen, but it was funny in a dark way.

35: YEAH GERARD! Love the accents for Breekon & Hope deliveries.

36: Spider Zippo

37: Why was a picture of Gertrude there indeed.

38: Mmm, Salesa. Oh yeah the vase! That was a fun one.

39:

2) Well, to be willing to deal with all this supernatural shit you'd have to have SOME reason, right? Especially if you felt like something was watching you. Honestly I am loving these little things you've noticed.

You ship them? Well I can't blame ya. They DO bicker like an old married couple in this episode.

I love the explanation for why Jon uses the tape recorder.

Idk man, Elias is acting like a true man in charge. Not giving a fuck about the staff. Priorities!

Tim is wonderful. We love Tim here <3

Uh oh, Not!Sasha.

40:

Elias: Nah he's not shady, wdym?

Tim: Yeah worms are weird, huh?

Sasha: :) MICHAEL!

Martin: RIP Martin he is going through it. They ALL need a vacation.

Jonathan: Oh Jonny boy don't tempt fate.

In conclusion...

Ho hum! Interesting theories my friend. Both on Elias & the Lukases as well as Michael.

Yeah Mr. Sims (the author) has compelling writing and knows how to keep intrigue. But yes! This is only the first 40 episodes and there is so much more to go! :D

TMA - Chapters 31-40: One mystery solved, 300 left

And so, here we are. We reached the end of season 1.

Let’s not waste too much time here: I want to see what it will be about and if there will be any juicy foreshadowing of season 2.

<< Main Masterlist < Previous post 

_______________________________

MAG 31 - First Hunt

“Hunted. Yes, I think I’m starting to know the feeling.”

Are you, Jon? Are you? Then why are you still recording statements in this goddamn Institute? Have you not listened to all the times I told you to go away?

I don’t understand what is he doing: he knows there are worms everywhere, he knows they’re surrounded, he’s not even leaving the Institute anymore. And he is the one asking what is Jane Prentiss waiting for.

No, Jon, the real question is: What are YOU waiting for? Why are you still here? Is it possible that the “crimson fate”/curse/whatever is keeping him there? Did the curse activate already? Can someone please grab this man and ran out of the Institute?

Speaking of the statement… it’s so useless, even Jon refused to pay attention to it. And if Jon didn’t care, then why should I?

_______________________________

MAG 32 - Hive

Wow. Wow. That was truly something else.

Seriously, I love the emotional rollercoaster that is this series: if one statement is meh, the next one is a bomb. If one is forgettable, the next one is memorable.

And this is no exception: if the previous statement was boring, this one is huge. Honestly, I didn’t expect Jane Prentiss’ statement now… and I definitely didn’t expect it to be like that! I think this is the most captivating statement so far and not just because of its content, but especially because It’s different, both in style and structure.

It’s different in style because if all other statements have this problem of sounding all very similar to each other (and not because Jon reads them, but because the vocabulary and the stylistic choices are the same, no matter if the statement comes from a student, a criminal, or an old guy), this one has its own voice: Jane Prentiss’ voice. This writing style is unique to her and to her only.

And it’s different in structure because, unlike all others, this isn’t an account of events but rather a stream of consciousness, that offers us a wonderful insight into Jane’s mind and feelings.

And, at least in my case, it made me think about a couple of things:

*

1) The humanity in the supernatural

Until now I saw Jane just as another supernatural creature, detached from us and from any other human being. She isn’t like us. She is clearly alien to humankind. She is something else.

But here, we see her being a human, just like all of us. She is fearful, doubtful, scared. Just like any of us would be. She has conflicted feelings: she wants a connection with the hive, she feels it’s the right thing to do. But she’s also very scared. It’s so simple and yet, it conveys her humanity so well.

Especially because she does what everyone else would do: she searches for help.

*

2) Prey or predator?

It’s very interesting that Jane decided to go to the Institute to ask for help. Until now, we have seen a lot of people going to the Institute to record statements - in some cases, even right after something happened. In a way, it’s as if they all subconsciously feel like it’s the best thing to do. As if the Institute can “protect” them from whatever they met. As if, by giving their stories to the Institute, they have an “immunity” from the danger.

If my theory is correct (i.e. the Institute hides the scariest supernatural shit of them all), then Jane went to the Institute because she subconsciously knew the thing hidden inside it was more powerful than the hive. So she did what prey do: they hide behind a bigger predator.

But Jane isn’t a simple prey anymore: she is becoming a predator. She is connecting with the predator. So she can see further than a prey and recognize the real prey:

This part is wonderful, because I can perfectly picture the scene in my mind. I can see Gertrude Robinson giving Jane a pen and paper, then leaving. I can see Jane looking at Gertrude through the glass. I can see her gaze. It’s so powerful and stylistically perfect. 10/10, Love it.

*

3) Food or connection?

Another element that caught my interest is how Jane always refers to “the song” the hive sings: a song that talks to her, reassures her (“Sings that I am beautiful”) and promises her good things (“I can be consumed by what loves me”).

But do you know what this song doesn’t do? It doesn’t lie. It doesn’t lure Jane into a sense of false security. On the contrary: even if the song tells her good things, Jane is still scared and full of doubts, to the point she asks for help.

That's strange, isn't it? If the hive just wanted to eat/consume Jane, then why scare her? Why give her the understanding that something awful would happen and that she would take part in the violence? Why didn’t the hive sing just to deceive her? It could’ve just sung that she was beautiful and perfect and they would’ve been happy together forever.

But no, the hive’s song was honest. It was a song that helped her understand the hive.

Hence why I don’t think the hive ever wanted to hurt Jane. On the contrary: the hive wanted to find someone receptive enough to “resonate” and “understand” it.

*

4) All other supernatural shits

If I am right and all the hive wanted was to find a human being who better resonated with it… then was it trying to do the same with every human being it “latched to”? Was it trying to do the same with the girl from MAG 6? And with Timothy Hodge?

In MAG 26, Michael said that “the flesh-hive was always rash”: is it because the hive latches to human beings without truly connecting with them as it did with Jane?

But also: if this is what the hive tries to do… is this what every other supernatural shit tries to do too? Is every supernatural shit “singing a song” and trying to find the human being who will better resonate with them?

And if this is what they’re doing, then how many of the previous statements I read were not just recordings of weird events, but actual attempts to connect? Is this what Simon Fairchild tried to do with Robert in MAG 21? Is this what the supernatural shit in the Institute tried to do with Gertrude Robinson? Is this why she died? Because she didn’t connect with it? Is this the “Archivist’s crimson fate”? A sort of test to see if the Archivist can resonate with the supernatural creature in the Institute?

*

5) These little shits have names!

If this one is called “the hive”, then I suppose everyone has names. Micheal already has a name, but considering the MAG’s name is “A Distortion” I suppose his name is… idk, Mr. Distortion? That’s kinda funny, but I prefer Michael: it better shows how much of a good boyo he is.

_______________________________

MAG 33 - Boatswain’s Call

Mh, there’s a lot of interesting stuff here.

First of all, we have Tim. Hi, Tim! Glad to know you’re the organized guy here.

This, again, makes me think: this series started with Jon being all like “This place is a mess, I’m here to organize everything and put some order”. But now we find out Jon made a shit ton of mistakes. Very weird, coming from the guy who talked so big about being precise and organized.

So now my question is: was it done on purpose by TMA’s author? Were the mistakes intended to be there? I’ll admit it, I didn’t notice them because I suck with dates and numbers, especially if they have no sense like the case numbers (by the way, I appreciate the explanation, because I thought they were just random numbers).

If these mistakes were made on purpose, then it was a clever writer's choice, because it showed us more about Jon as a character. Now we know he’s not as perfect as he seemed. He can make mistakes. He can be faulty. And being faulty is what makes a character more real, so extra points for that.

However, these mistakes made me think about something else: what if they are proof that Jon isn’t as qualified for his job as he seemed? I mean, Tim looks like a more proper Head Archivist to me: accurate, detail-oriented and with a good memory. Still, it was Jon who got this promotion.

Before MAG 32, I would have joked about Elias being so useless as head of the Institute to hire the less qualified candidate, but now, there could be another reason why Elias chose Jon despite (probably) more competent people. Maybe it’s because Jon has something that can better resonate with the supernatural shit in the Institute.

Ah, so Martin is so scared by the worms to show his tongue to Tim all the time and asks if “it’s infested”. Nice try, bro, next time tell him that you’re oh-so-very-infested and only a French kiss will save you.

O-oh, so this statement features another member of the creepiest family of all time: Peter Lukas. Is he Evan Lukas’ dad, uncle or grandpa?

And, again, the Lukas family appears associated with a fog. Is the fog a supernatural shit? After all, weird things happened in the fog with Naomi too, so maybe it really is the fog.

Also because the fog kinda ate Sean Kelly. Just like the tomb at the cemetery in the fog tried to “eat” Naomi. It’s also very interesting that the third mate refers to this event as “a hard choice”, as if they were forced to feed someone to the fog.

Is this how this supernatural shit in particular works? It needs to be fed? Well, after all, I think that the supernatural shit in the Institute needs to be fed too, so maybe that’s another aspect of these things. Just like they need a human to resonate with, they also need to eat. I really want to know more about them.

One last thing: Elias “gets very twitchy when we look into anything that might conceivably have funding repercussions”. I’m starting to think he gets “very twitchy” not because of money, but because he knows something/he’s in cahoots with the Lukas family and doesn’t want anyone to look too much into them. I want to know more about this guy, he’s just too suspicious at this point.

_______________________________

MAG 34 - Anatomy Class

This statement was weird.

I immediately noticed something was wrong with these names, mostly because I knew John Doe is the placeholder name usually used to refer to dead people whose identity is unknown. I searched for Erika Mustermann and found out it was another placeholder too. So I asked myself: what if all of them are placeholders? It was extremely satisfying to find them all.

And it was great from a writing perspective too, because it perfectly explains why Dr. Elliott doesn’t remember what these guys look like: it’s because they’re all unknown. And since these names are usually used for dead people, it also explains why they’re all very silent and soulless.

I also really liked the idea of them “adjusting their bones” and asking simple questions, because it plays around the concept of “unknown figures” who are trying to look human/alive by asking things and trying to “replicate” them.

It’s a great idea, so the statement should be great too. But it’s not. It’s barely interesting. And I don’t know why, but it’s just… okay.

However, I would give a point for the heart lesson, because it was hilarious. Just imagine, a class with seven creepy figures, each of them with a beating heart in their hand, spraying blood everywhere, trying to look as scary as possible… and Dr. Elliott just points at one heart, then leaves. It was very silly and it made me smile.

Speaking of the apple: it’s weird, fine, but it’s just an apple with teeth. Again, not creepy enough to get my interest.

_______________________________

MAG 35 - Old Passages

“He was dressed all in black, with heavy looking boots and a T-shirt with the logo of some band emblazoned on it”

One sentence and I just knew it was him. My man, the searcher of Leitner’s books, the rebel goth/punk of my heart. The man who just appears and deals with the shit, because mommy “knows everything of this stuff”, but she clearly taught him everything too.

And, since my man Gerard is back, my other favorite man is here too: Jurgen Leitner, aka the menace for mankind. Of course he’s from Norway, I can bet everything he’s from Alesund and he probably looked the supernatural shit of the Institute in the eyes and this is why he has this weird power of creating creepy books. I love him too.

Also, how hilarious it is, to see this man being all like: “Sure, sure, I have all the permits you want, just dig a goddamn hole in my office. What? Do you still want to talk to the owner of the building? But I have everything! Listen, you don’t deserve explanations, powerful shits are working in the back. Okay, you know what? Fuck you in Norwegian”. My man Leitner has business to do and chaos to spread, how dare they stop him from doing his job.

I also loved how Gerard apparently has a sixth sense about where to find Leitner’s books. Or he can smell them like a dog. Still love him.

So today's Learner book was hidden in the shadows and little bones fall from it while Gerard runs away with it. Mmmh, where have I heard something similar?

“Mary Keay took the book back from me and passed it through the shadows once again. More bones fell.” (MAG 4)

So that’s how Gerard found it. He stole it from… Leitner’s weird hidden library or whatever? What an absolute boss: he went, took the book and vanished with some weird magic. I love this rebel boy.

And in the end, even more familiar people: Breekon and Hope deliveries are back! And they have voices! And they talk in the creepiest possible way, almost overlapping the end of Breekon’s sentences with the beginning of Hope’s. And there’s a package for Jon.

How much are you gonna bet that it’s more silver worms? I can almost hear them crawling inside that box, ready to jump on him. Gosh, I really hope that I’m wrong. But in any case, please, do not open the package. If MAG 2 taught us something is: do not open the weird shit delivered at your door.

_______________________________

MAG 36 - Taken Ill

Another okay statement about a weird illness that takes control of a building, the obligatory Guy Who Doesn’t Exist (John Amherst, in this case) and lots of dead people.

But hey, we have something very interesting here: an old man and a young woman with a deep scar over her right eye. Who are these two? And why did Jon immediately think about Trevor Herbert, the Vampire killer from MAG 10? Could it be that he’s alive somehow? Well, I won’t be too surprised: after all, I think Gerard is alive too, so why couldn’t Trevor be alive as well?

And since we’re fishing people & stuff from previous statements, what better way to end this one, if not with more connections? As soon as Tim said they got a table, I KNEW it was the one from MAG 3. I asked for it to come back, and here it is: my beautiful table with the missing piece.

While speaking of the Zippo with the spider web design, there are two possibilities:

the Zippo is a reference to Spider Mom from MAG 16

the Zippo has been delivered by the spider lady I vaguely remember. And that means she will come soon. And if it’s true, can’t wait to meet her.

_______________________________

MAG 37 - Burnt Offering

Well, Jon, if Elias told you to burn the damn table, you burn the damn table. If even this guy, who is suspicious AF tells you to get rid of it, you do it without a second thought.

But nooo, let’s “preserve the knowledge”, “self-preservation is overrated” and “Andorra isn’t a nice place to live”. Goddamit Jon, don’t make me enter the story and throw you out of this Institute.

Speaking of the statement itself, it would just be “guy finds a random circle in the woods and suffers the consequences”, if it wasn’t for two details that caught me by surprise.

The first is that despite Jason North’s concern, it wasn’t his son Ethan North to die, but Jason himself. I wasn’t expecting this, I almost expected Jon to say that “oh look, this poor alcoholic took the life of his son”.

The second thing is, of course, Gertrude Robinson’s photo in that weird ritual circle. Why was her photo there? Who put it there? How many supernatural shits were messing with her? I thought it was just the one in the Institute… but this circle? Really, I don’t know what to think :/

_______________________________

MAG 38 - Lost and Found

I vaguely remembered the name Salesa because it was just too weird to go unnoticed and I was right: he’s the same guy from MAG 14. And if Gerard can smell Leitner’s books, Salesa seems to have the same power of attracting weird supernatural shit.

Also, he has “several crates packed to the brim with heavy-looking volumes” and I can bet everything that in these crates there are at least a couple of Leitner’s books, waiting for their chance to spread chaos in the world as their author intended.

Speaking of the statement, the idea that a supernatural creature lives inside the vase and steals stuff from whoever owns said vase is pretty funny. In the end, it literally said: “Jeez, fine, take back your book and your shoes. I’ll steal yo husband instead”. Adorably stupid, it put a smile on my face.

what an ending! First the epic return of Spider Mom or one of her friends, then Jane Prentiss’ worms: there are too many creatures in this Institute and they’re not cute at all. Gosh, I hope Jon and the gang are all okay.

_______________________________

MAG 39 - Infestation

All the stuff that happened here. ALL THE STUFF THAT HAPPENED HERE.

Let’s take one thing at the time:

*

Martin is insane (and yet, perfectly IC)

This man spent his time in the Archives analyzing how the worms were moving and the angle and the speed, trying to find out the best weapon to get rid of them. He’s insane.

But you know what? It’s actually coherent with what we saw from Martin until now: he is an anxious guy, he overthinks stuff and he has no self-preservation instinct at all. It’s not so strange that he kept thinking about the worms and tried to find weapons to protect himself - and using them too.

*

Jon and skepticism

I’ve spent my previous post repeating that everyone had to leave this godforsaken Institute asap, but I was still accepting them not doing it because I know it’s necessary to suspend my disbelief for a while, in order to enjoy a story.

However, since the author of this series is a competent writer, he knows insufferable readers (like me) will probably question why these lovable idiots are still in the Institute and find it annoying/boring/clichè too.

So, he provided an answer. An answer that:

shed some lights on Jon’s character

is coherent with what we know about him until now

Now, I understand why Jon kept recording statements despite all the weird shit happening around him. Now I know and I understand. He’s not doing it because he’s blinded by skepticism: he’s doing it because he wants to know what happened to Gertrude and because he doesn’t want to leave a mystery behind. If he dies, he wants other people to know.

And yes, this is coherent with what we saw until now! Just think about it: at the end of every goddamn statement, Jon always tried to add evidence and make some research: he always tried to bring something real, concrete, tangible. Something that would prove these statements are not just shapeless words.

Speaking more about skepticism: I love that someone finally addressed Jon about it and I love it was Martin, who has proved to be much more prone to believe in the supernatural.

And I love Jon’s answer. Again, it’s very realistic: they have a storage full of supernatural shit, of course Jon believes it’s real. They have actual tangible proof.

So he pretends skepticism. And he has a very valid reason to do it.

*

The supernatural shit in the Institute is watching

Now I am 200% sure that Jon is actually being watched. There are too many eyes in this series to be a coincidence and I’m starting to think they all belong to whatever supernatural shit is hidden in this place. That thing watches Jon and it probably “possesses” him or similar considering he “loses himself a bit” whenever he reads and I LOVE LOVE LOVE he mentioned it, because I noticed how Jon was getting too much involved every time he read, but I didn’t say anything.

One example? MAG 38:

“I’ve been in the antiques business for a long time. It’s not what it used to be. [Nervous chuckle] I’m sorry, I know.”

This statement isn’t being recorded by the person involved, Jon is reading it. But the nervous chuckle isn’t something someone who is reading would do: this is a reaction someone who is speaking would have. Someone who is telling their story.

When I listened to it, I immediately found it a very odd detail and I thought it was just a writing mistake from the author. But now, I find out it was made on purpose.

TMA’s author is more competent than I thought.

*

Jon and Martin are the best couple

They’re already bickering like an old couple. I love them. And yes, I’ve decided to ship them. Don’t care if they don’t end up together, still ship these two.

*

“Real statements”

Jon’s words about the real statements are extremely enlightening and, again, they make the whole series much more realistic.

Until now, I supposed Jon is just a vintage guy who likes to record stuff on a tape recorder because it was more fitting with the atmosphere of “uuuh, old Archive” and because there was no Internet connection at all. Sure, in MAG 1 Jon talked about bringing a laptop, but he also said: “I believe the first computer to ever enter this room is the laptop that I brought in today.” So I simply assumed this place hadn’t a connection. After all, we’re talking about an old place: it’s plausible there’s no Internet.

But now, we have a much better explanation about why Jon uses a tape recorder! And it’s because of the nature of the statements themselves. Only the real ones can be recorded on tape.

I was very pleasantly surprised when Jon said: “Of the hundreds I’ve recorded, we’ve had maybe... thirty, forty that go on tape.”. Not only it’s much more realistic that, in all these months, he didn’t record 38 statements only, but hundreds, but it’s much more immersive too: we are not listening to all the useless pile of stuff, we are listening to the “selected” material.

*

Tim is my new favorite character

Tim is the best character. Sorry Gerard, sorry Leitner, sorry Michael: as soon as Tim did this, I fell in love. He’s a wonderful idiot and he deserves the world <3

*

Martin and Jon are the best couple part 2

They are the best couple, period.

*

A lighter?!

Sasha needs a lighter? I know one, I know one! the spider Zippo! Use that one! Will someone use it? I hope that.

*

Elias is finally here

Finally, Elias decided to show up. Thank you, Elias, for honoring us with your presence. Where have you been until now? To the Suspicious Guys Anonymous Club?

I mean, just look at how he expresses his concern: his new Head Archivist is trapped with most of his staff and they will probably die if he and Sasha don’t do anything, it’s a dangerous situation, they should do something immediately… and his main concern is that he doesn’t really want to find another Archivist so soon.

Wow, a man who truly values human life, now I definitely trust him, yes sure.

Tim is the best character

I love how Tim casually addresses being surrounded by death, before tripping on a shit ton of gas cans Martin hid “from the worms”. The beautiful clash between Martin’s insanity and Tim being the best character <3

I also love how he just… pulled down his pants? To make them check if he was bitten?

Tim is the best character, period. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

*

WHAT THE FUCK

So Sasha found the table from MAG 3… then Not!Sasha found her.

What.

The.

Actual.

Fuck.

Is… is Sasha alive? Is she dead? Where is she?!

*

Final showdown!

Jon VS Jane Prentiss. I didn’t know I needed this fight, until I reached the end of this recording.

I am ready.

_______________________________

MAG 40 - Human Remains

Wow. What a ride has it been.

So, let’s examine every statement:

Elias: he’s still the most suspicious guy ever but you know what? I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Show me your innocence, Elias. Show me you’re a good guy.

I mean, he seems surprised about the discovery of Gertrude Robinson’s body. And he seems to know nothing more aside from “Gertrude wasn’t there and her desk was covered in blood”. Let’s see how innocent he is.

Tim: my new favorite boy got attacked by the goddamn worms, even though he did some pretty cool stunts. But he also said something very interesting about them: it’s as if there is something in the Institute that makes them “sluggish”. Yes, I’m pretty sure that it’s the supernatural shit of the Institute that did that.

Also, the worms tried to make a doorway for a weird room hidden in these passages? What? How? I don’t think I understand, but my explanation is still the same: the goddamn supernatural shit of the Institute. All its fault.

Sasha: if my boy Tim got hurt, at least he’s still alive and in one piece. Can’t say the same about Sasha. Where are you, Sasha? Have you completely been replaced by Not!Sasha? Where did you hide her, you impostor?

Also, Not!Sasha literally called Michael “Yes, Michael... With the bones in his hands.”. So that’s basically a confirmation that he really is the one mentioned in MAG 8. And she said: “We still don’t know much about him, do we?” which, translated from author-to-reader means “Michael will come in season 2 and we will learn about him”. Yes, please, more of my Best Boyo.

Martin: poor Martin, he really REALLY doesn’t deserve any of this shit. He needs a proper vacation, away from all this shit, where there are no worms and no problems. My offer still stands: Andorra is still a beautiful place to live.

Vacation aside, just how many goddamn rooms are hidden here? Tim found a room, Martin found a room, if we’re not careful we will find 200 rooms hidden everywhere.

And in this room, here she is: Gertrude Robinson. And she’s not dead because the supernatural shit in the Institute ate her, not because some other shit sucked her blood or made something else. She has been shot. Just shot. Three times in the chest. It was a goddamn execution.

…

Welp, sorry Elias, you had your chance. I can already see you with the gun in your hand, pointing it at Gertrude. It was you, you goddamn suspicious man. I know it was you.

Jonathan: so, some tapes have been stolen. What a coincidence, they are the tapes of MAG 24 “Strange Music” and MAG 26 “A Distortion”. What a coincidence, they’re the only two tapes in which Sasha talks. Wow, I wonder why these two tapes in particular disappeared, I wonder who made them disappear…

Not!Sasha, I know it was you. Everyone knows it was you.

And Jon, instead of being satisfied with this resolution of Gertrude’s “case”, he’s even more determined to get to the bottom of this.

“I’m going to figure this out, and I’m not going to stop. They’ll have to kill me first.”

Just… don’t tease them, Jon. whoever is behind all of this (read: Elias and the Lukas family) I doubt they would think twice before shooting you in the chest like they did with Gertrude. Don’t test your luck too much.

_______________________________

In conclusion

Update on my theory about the supernatural shit in the Institute:

This shit (which I will call “Big Brother” for obvious reasons) is watching everything. The Lukas family brought it from Norway and uses the Institute as a “feeder” to feed it. Gertrude Robinson, as Head Archivist, was supposed to be “tested” and see if she resonated with it, to become… I don’t know, Big Brother’s new body or something similar.

But before the right time came, she found out what Elias/the Lukas family wanted to do. And she tried to defy them/escape from her fate. First, they tried to get rid of her in some magic other way (like the ritual circle from MAG 37), but when they somehow failed (maybe Gertrude had someone protecting her, just like Jon seems to have some “protectors”), they resorted to a good old gun and bam, problem solved.

And yes, I’m sure it was Elias who shot her.

So, since Gertrude was dead, Elias & the Lukas family decided to just feed the rest of the staff to the supernatural shit and find a new Head Archivist that will resonate with Big Brother and, hopefully, become its new body.

Jane Prentiss was somehow okay with Big Brother - or just with the idea of bringing more violence. While Michael wants to protect Jon. And same goes for the Spiders Gang, which includes the spider lady I remember and Spider Mom - who I think are the same person. Maybe the lady can turn into a spider, why not?

And since I’m speaking of turning into other things, I have a theory on Michael. Since TMA’s author seems very competent and creative, I want to give him more credit. Hence, I believe there is a reason why this season has been packed with a lot of people named Michael. And no, I don’t think the reason is a sudden lack of creativity - especially coming from a guy who invented a ton of different stories and names. I think there’s a reason if all these guys are named Michael and the reason is that these Michaels are all the same Michael: Michael the Supernatural Shit.

After all, this Michael can warp/twist/change his bones and (probably) body too, so would it be so impossible that all the random Michaels in several MAGs were always him, just with a different appearance?

One last thing: my impression about the series until now is still positive. This first season served as a introduction to the characters, the mysteries and the structure of the series itself and did its job very well. There’s a closed ending with the resolution of Jane Prentiss’ mystery and we find out how Gertrude died too. But there are also enough open questions to keep you involved: what really happened  to Gertrude? What is the Institute hiding? What about Michael? What about all the other mysteries?

Sure, not all statements are perfect and the writing isn’t perfect either - and it’s a shame, because considering all these statements come from different people, it would’ve been a great writing exercise to give a different voice to each of them.

However, I’m not too critical of this. Mr. Sims (TMA’s author, not the character) wrote 40 statements each with its own kind of horror/mystery and they are all connected to the main story that will develop throughout 5 seasons. That’s A LOT of work: expecting perfect writing from each statement would be unattainable and, from my side, unreasonable.

What’s more important, for me, it’s the attention to details and boy, there’s A LOT of it. When I started this series (and like I do every time I start something), I didn’t give any trust to its author: it’s too easy to find sloppy works made without any care, than find something meticulously organized.

With these 40 statements, Mr. Sims is proving to me that he has a vision, a big picture and that he knows how to put it into words. There is love and care, there is attention, coherence and internal logic.

Hence why, now I want to give him more credit. And with that, my expectations are rising as well: first I just wanted something good, now I want backstories. Why? Because backstories explain the present. Decisions, personalities, events even: all can be explained with a logical, coherent background.

Let’s see if Mr. Sims really thought about everything ;)

So, one season done, four more to go. How many things will happen? Will Sasha ever come back? Will Elias stop being suspicious for five minutes? Will Martin take a vacation? Will Jon survive all of this? And what about my favourite boys? Will they come back too?

I am hyped for season 2 and ready to start, so I’ll surely be back in a week with more posts.

>> Next post

(How about a coffee? ☕)

_______________________________

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[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 7, MAG 7 The Piper

Thank you for your patience while I worked on these! This is an analysis of Magnus Archives MAG 7, The Piper. One of the best-written episodes in the series. Pure poetry.

Facts: Statement of Seargent Clarence Berry regarding his time serving with Wilfred Owen during World War One. Statement given November 6, 1922.

Statement Notes: "Hey you know Wilfred Owen? The famous poet Wilfred Owen? The guy whose poems you had to read in class Wilfred Owen? Yeah, what if he was possessed? Wouldn't that be fucked?" -Jonny Sims at the Rusty Quill pitch meeting.

In all seriousness, this episode is incredible. The description of the three faces of war is so detailed, yet so brief. I want to take a little time to explore each face and set of arms.

The First Face: "One to play its pipes on scrimshaw bone." This line is apparently where the title "The Piper" comes from. As the story goes on, both Berry and Owen describe hearing strange music. This seems to be the "song of war" that the Piper plays, signaling a truly gruesome battle. This song doesn't necessarily warn off or compel the soldiers, but seems to do a bit of both. A war song doesn't just encourage a soldier to fight, but also warns an enemy. Wilfred Owen believes this being is The War itself, therefore its song should encourage violence from all sides, but also instill a deep fear in every soldier.

To me, this face fits with the hand raised "in a crisp salute." Reminding me of MAG 163, this hand and face prevent a false majesty and honor to war. This face tells the soldiers fighting is good, they will be rewarded, they will be valued. But of course, underneath its muddied green coat, all that the War has is a scarred and bloody body. "Nothing remained but the wounds themselves."

The Second Face: I've chosen to associate the face that "screamed its dying battle cry" with "the arms gripping blades and guns and spears." This face seems to represent the adrenaline violence and war brings, even as it kills you. I've always thought adrenaline not as good or bad, but creating more tangible and real emotions than other things can.

The Third Face: "One that would not open its mouth, for when it did blood and sodden soil flowed out like a waterfall." I associate this face with the hands begging for mercy. Clarence Berry is under 22 when this statement takes place, and (the real) Wilfred Owen would be between 22-24. These are practically children. They are going to die. They are going to die before their time, before it is fair. They are going to beg for mercy. This is the nature of war, and so is the nature of The War.

There is an implication that The War kept Owen alive so he could create poetry that glorifies The War. I wonder if this is out of ego--it wanted to be seen as glorious and beautiful--or simply to drag the battle on longer. If it seems inspirational, it will continue.

Overall I think this episode demonstrates the tentative balance World War One held between being "the writer's war" and "the technological front." The war represented a shift in humanity's ability to be brutal, but also spawned art and innovation. This doesn't justify the violence that occurred, but rather the acts of destruction and creation during the war existed in tandem, like two sides of a coin.

Entity Alignment: This is such a good Slaughter episode. As much as the Slaughter is associated with war, you don't see many battle episodes in the series, so this is a cool intro.

I wonder if "The War" is an avatar of war or if it is specifically the embodiment of World War One. The latter has the horrifying implication that mass events can not only be caused by entities, but feed entities. Even more frightening is that, in spite of the sheer volume of terror and violence, the war wasn't big enough to be the Slaughter's ritual.

Character Notes: Wtf is up with Joseph Rayner. Is he a Maxwell Rayner incarnation? Is he related to Maxwell Rayner? Why is he fighting in the British army? Why is literally never mentioned again?

I know that Jon was speaking through the statement when he was making fun of Owen's poetry, but the idea of Jon being a cannon poetry hater from season 1 is too funny for me to ignore.