#They can't do this to me at the same time as the magnus protocol

[stillboredbuttrying]

I just finished ep48 of Hi Nay ( @hinaypod) after binging for like 2h. It keeps getting more tragic but the Donner phone call was so sweet 😭. Also I'm happy Mari's naynay is still alive, I started to think that she was actually dead and Mari was doing the whole voice message thing to cope.

I love how every villain they meet turns out to not be too villainous but trying to unmade the focai.

Also the story of Mari's nay getting asked to curse people for petty things (not the killing people part) reminded me so much of people in my place going to old ladies that know how to work and protect from the evil eye to curse people for petty reasons and find out if they have been cursed. A continent and a sea divide us, but people are people everywhere 💀

Anyway the real question is: did Mari and Donner kiss under the mistletoe 👀?

[ckret2]

How do you have the willpower to not consume content from any of your other fandoms? I always get pulled in and out of the same ones and it stops me from getting projects done but I get so bored! Teach me your ways!

So the downside of ADHD is that it takes a ridiculously high amount of effort to push yourself to do things—even things you want to do and like doing—unless you put even more effort upfront into making it convenient for yourself.

But the upside is, if you know this about yourself, and if there's media you want to not be consuming, you just...... don't do anything to make it convenient to consume.

I don't have Amazon Prime. All I have to do is not bother to get Amazon Prime (easy!!) and not bother to hunt out a way to watch Hazbin some other way (also easy!!) and bam, I've got a 100% success rate of not watching it.

Do you know how many Transformers series I'm currently behind on? I sure don't! Because I haven't put the effort into looking it up! I can't be assed! There's like, at least three I think! Don't tell me, I'm not currently interested in finding out!! It would take work for me to figure it out; I can just go "work?? Naaah. Not doing that."

You can resist temptation by just being too lazy to pursue it! Make that ADHD work for YOU!

Caution: if you can't get yourself to put effort into doing anything that brings you pleasure, that's either Pretty Serious Depression or it's gonna cause Pretty Serious Depression and it's not good. However. If you master the art of ADHD, you can save up the effort you didn't put into distractions, and use it to put effort into different activities that also make you happy.

Last year I picked up a podcast about cults. It's all right. But because I'm already listening to it and spotify keeps pushing it to the top of my screen, when I need a low-effort audio distraction, it's easier for me to default to putting on the podcast about cults than it would be for me to, say, dig up The Magnus Protocol to start it. And bam! Now I'm doing more research that'll help me write about a cult leader, for free, by listening to a podcast I'm not at risk of hyperfixating on!

Part of avoiding breaking your own hyperfixation is figuring out what media you enjoy, but don't hyperfixate on. Because you still need to, like, have fun. That's why you wanna watch The Things You Like, because it's fun. If you're not having fun you'll wanna go watch The Things You Like, and rightly so. So you've gotta make sure you're having enough fun with things you don't hyperfixate on.

Like, I know that when I watch Columbo or read Poirot, I find the detectives charming while I'm observing them, and then almost as soon as the mystery is over I stop thinking about them. They aren't the kind of characters that latch into my brain. I know they won't become blorbos. So I'm safe there. I know I enjoy horror movies but 99% of the time totally forget who the characters are, like if there's 2 white guys and 2 white girls it is guaranteed I won't be able to tell them apart, so they're safe to watch, I'm not gonna hyperfixate on them. I know that I enjoy nonfiction/educational books & podcasts, but I only hyperfixate on fiction, so it's safe for me to pick up nonfiction. If it's nonfiction that's somehow thematically relevant to whatever I'm currently hyperfixated on, it even helps feed the current hyperfixation.

And those are my "protect your hyperfixation" lifehacks.

On the other hand, if you, anon, don't personally have ADHD, then I can't help you. idk how people with executive function function.

Final advice: if you know you keep falling in and out of the same 3 or 4 fandoms, maybe try writing a crossover fic about all 3 or 4 fandoms at once. That way it won't matter which one you're currently into. You win no matter what. I've never actually tried this, don't trust this advice.

[laora-ryn]

Chester, [ERROR], and Jonathan Sims: The Anthill Theory

Hello Tumblr, may I present a follow up to my initial thesis that [ERROR] is Jon? As well as a rebuttal to the argument I've seen floating around:

"[ERROR] can't be Jon! Jon is in the computers!"

Why are you treating these like two distinct eventualities?

Jon died as an omniscient, omnipotent demi-god half a step down from The Eye itself. Jon died at the exact moment that he was pulled through a rift in space-time. If Jon survived that, I doubt he'd end up human on the other side. He'd probably end up as something else entirely.

Something none of us, and none of the Protocol-universe characters, have ever seen before.

"Imagine you are an ant, and you have never before seen a human - "

1. We have Chester, who has Jon's voice, and has shown signs of autonomy and a personality where Norris and Augustus have not.

I have another meta post picking apart the fr3-d1 stuff, but for the sake of staying on topic, I will show an abbreviated, summarized list from that post below:

Mystery emails sent to various OIAR employees:

Episode 4: Gwen receives an email from an unknown source showing Lena trying to kill Klaus

Episode 4: "the system" sends Alice a notification that Sam searched for "Magnus" and "protocol"

Episode 7: Sam receives an email from a "John" with an internal email address, with Gerry's name and address

Episode 20: Sam receives an email from a garbled email address, with documents from 1999 regarding Starkwall and TMI

Error messages:

Episode 3: Alice receives a jmj error that Colin troubleshoots. Freddy snarks back at both of them

Episode 17: Alice receives a jmj error that Gwen troubleshoots. There are plenty of error noises, but imo it comes across less snarky than it did in episode 3

Other miscellaneous interactions:

Episode 5: Alice: "what the hell is wrong with everyone today?" OIAR computer, not having been touched or interacted with: [error noise]

Episode 17: Chester reads a universe-hopping statement to Celia

Episode 19: Sam asks Alice to talk with him about the Magnus Institute. Immediately, Alice's computer throws an error, like it wants her to stop working and talk with Sam

Magnus Institute Statements read to Sam:

All of the below statements are read out by Chester, and are (meant to be, in 21) read out to Sam specifically:

Episode 1: RedCanary

Episode 9: the cursed dice Magnus statement. This one starts on its own, while Sam is doing the Response Dept paperwork

Episode 14: the snake emporium. I'd almost mark this one as too much of a stretch, but Sam himself caught the Institute mention and was bothered by it

Episode 19: the one with Newton's alchemical tree that talks about the Protocol

Episode 21: the one about the Dome construction in the 90s, which Alice intercepts on Sam's computer

As far as I can see, the only statement that mentions the Magnus Institute that isn't read by Chester to Sam is the one that is read by Chester to Celia, as mentioned above

In terms of Norris and Augustus:

Martin was pulled through the rift at the exact same time as Jon, except as someone mostly human. Relatively human.

Jonah was too, but Jonah was already a static dead body at the moment of the rift - it wasn't the released potential energy of his death that catalyzed and pulled everything through the rift.

It makes sense, to me, that if all three of them are here, Jon is in a uniquely powerful/sentient position in comparison to the other two. Which leads us to point 2:

2. We have [ERROR], exhibiting characteristics that are indicative of Jon and no one else

See my other meta post for more info, but in summary:

The tape recorders spawned specifically for Jon in TMA, via the Web

Did even Elias show abilities to compel people to give their statement? He could tell people their statement, and force images into their heads, but could he force it out of their mouths? I don't remember seeing that

Along with the other evidence that isn't Jon-specific but is indicative of a TMA character:

They were initially trapped underneath the Magnus Institute - which could also be Jonah, or Martin

Their apparent desire to protect Gwen and "all of them" - which could also be Martin, or some non-familiar benevolent being

Jon being Chester and Jon being [ERROR] are not mutually exclusive.

Who's to say Jon, the Archivist, or what's become of him, or what's left of him, isn't the fingernail, and the boot, and the eye? Maybe he's even something else we, the ant, never live to see, or don't have the senses to perceive at all!

Additionally!

I think this might even tentatively explain why [ERROR] is voiced by Beth Eyre instead of Jonny - beyond "it would be way too obvious if they want it to be a plot twist"

If Jon/the Archivist is split into multiple parts of the same whole, in this universe. If, in the chaos of interdimensional travel, traits/attributes/parts of Jon were not distributed equally or correctly. For our anthill example, perhaps the color of our gazing eye, or the rubber material of our stomping boot, was applied to our fingernail instead. Maybe [ERROR] should have Jon's voice, but they don't. Maybe they didn't have a voice at all. We didn't hear them say anything at all in episode 10, only take a deep breath

Maybe they had to take a voice from one of their victims. Do you think there was a reason that we heard the autopsy statement secondhand, after the doctor transcribed it, rather than the victim's voice herself?

(When, as far as I know, the common ways to record information during autopsies is either with a voice recorder, or dictating to a secondary person to write, who was demonstrably not present? When, by all rights, there should have been a voice recorder present?)

I'm currently working on a master TMAGP timeline (and a TMA one otl), but an extremely abbreviated, specific version of it is as follows:

9 March: Sam and Alice visit the Magnus Institute and release [ERROR]

20 March: the autopsy victim is found dead in a park

22 March: Alice encounters the drowning woman

12 April: [ERROR] appears during Ink5oul's attack on Gwen

How many victims do they have, since Sam let them loose? Is it just the ones we've already seen, or were there others too?

This could go off in about 5000 different directions so I'm going to cut it here, but what I'm getting at here is - it makes a LOT of sense to me that we might be looking at another "creatures far beyond our comprehension" here; it'd make a lot of sense thematically; and it's just really freaking cool, if I'm being honest!!

[gnomebinary]

This is my protocol bingo! (Thank you as always osric.com).

Lena is just doing her evil job - No thoughts, no morals, no alligence. Girlboss.

Nobody ever finds out Jmart's real names - I just think that would be tragic, and fit in with what RQ have been saying about this not being too attached to Archives.

Redemption arc - There was a notable lack of these in Archives even though forgiveness and making a conscious effort to behave morally were important themes in the later seasons. I'm ready for Mr Bonzo to have Kylo Ren's exact redemption arc where he's redeemed mostly through kissing. I don't even care who he kisses.

Froyo trip - It's pretty clear that we're being told that this is Somewhere Else through things like the Archives staff having tea and the OIAR staff having coffee. The s1 Archives gang iconically got icecream, so I'm gunning for a froyo trip, and a Gwen monologue about preservatives.

Colin dies first - He's just so killable. Plus, Celia can't die until they do her reveal and they'll probably want to build up to it, Sam can't die because he's the driving force behind investigation into Magnus, Alice can't die because she kinda makes the whole show, Gwen can't die because she's mid-arc and it is of the type that if left unfinished it would be anticlimactic not tragic, and Lena can't die because the impact would be pretty low.

Nostalgic PC games - I LOVE that RQ appears to be into old tech. I want to see Chester and Norris play Catz 5. Lowfi retro charm.

Dyhard - I go back and forth on this one, it feels too obvious what with the hot drinks imagery workplace annoyances to lovers stuff, but at the same time it does Just Make Sense.

Somebody becomes disabled - In Archives people were injured a lot, but none of that amounted to a long-term physical disability, except for Melanie's blindness. Feels like something to do in Protocol.

Police brutality - Feels like a theme that Jonny still has more to say about, and an incredibly easy one to weave into this kind of story.

Alice is hiding something - I actually think she isn't but y'all are saying it.

Alice naming stuff has consequences - She does it so much and Colin warned her off it, clearly seeming concerned but not explaining why, I think it will have unforeseen and damaging consequences.

Someone has a pet - In Archives, especially in the earlier seasons, everyone was notably unattached. Martin has a mum to take care of, but nobody has partners or children. I think this was partly because it made them easier to manipulate, and partly because it meant that tragedy could be dialled up: Sasha dying was sad, but not as gutwrenching as Daisy dying because Daisy's relationships were more fleshed out because it was later in the series. We're already bucking that trend with Celia's son, so I think we might see a pet too. Also, the pet will probably die.

Alice dies in the last season - Alice is very killable but she's also the heart and soul of the character relationships, so I think they will kill her but they'll wait to do it, and then do it mid-final season as an OOH THEY WENT THERE turning point, like how Tim dying brought in a new, darker era for Archives.

Conclusion that love isn't what makes you human - At London Comicon in October, Alex or Jonny (I forget) said that if Archives was about what makes you a monster, Protocol is about what makes you human. I think it's kinda trite if love is the answer, and I think the conclusion re love will be that monsters can love, because that's cooler. Hell yeah romantic monsterfucking.

Celia evil - I LOVE that we're seeing another Welsh person, but she doesn't sit well with me.

Agnes returns but we don't hear her speak - The tree on the other side of the rift is still alive, and if that universe was this one then that means that Agnes may still be alive. Jonny and Alex have said that they regret not doing more with Agnes, and I don't think they'll miss out on the opportunity to use her again. However, I think the fact that she doesn't speak is central to her tragic character and role as Jon's character foil, and I don't think they'll change that. I actually posted a tiktok about this.

Scene on London public transport - We're already seeing our gang at the pub and on dates, I think we're going to get some tube content.

Jmart fate worse than death - They're going to have us WISHING that they died in mag200.

Fears never treated as separate - I just think we're over that.

Breakup - They're getting the character relationships in early, so I'm predicting an onscreen breakup, because that's one of the few ways that we didn't see relationships between characters going bad in Archives.

Gerry's life gets ruined again - I'm sorry guys but I don't think they're going to let him have peace. He's going to get dragged into the OIAR situation and he's going to suffer.

Alice's brother lives - People are already noting similarities between Alice and Tim, I think that it'll be essentially the same character beat again if her brother dies. Adapt, improvise, overcome, RQ.

Another Michael - Just another character called Michael, unrelated to the four existing Michaels. I wasn't going to put this because Jonny is very aware of the four Michael problem, but this man plagurised his own full legal Christian name, so anything is possible.

Jack is Agnes' Jack - I think it's cool if we all think about how there was actually a massive age gap between Agnes and Jack because she didn't seem to age past her twenties, so he was absolutely a child when she was an adult. Not that I want to have Discourse or anything, that relationship was hecked up and complex in plenty of other ways, just because it's interesting.

Onscreen kiss - They said they wouldn't do it during Archives and then they did and it wasn't that gross, so I'm ready to see it happening again. They might have a relationship between allosexuals this time, I don't think they're going as far as onscreen fucking, but I'm game to be surprised. Insert joke about reusing the whimpering noises from Archives here.

[thevoidcannotbefilled]

One of the main issues into trying to get into tma is the lack of balance between the statements and the characters. I adore this slow drip format don't get me wrong, but it led to the statement heavy nature of the episodes needing to take center stage and sometimes as a result being forgotten. It doesn't help that until season 5, all the formats were exactly the same, just a person saying their statement or a statement being read. This isn't to say this format isn't effective, I mean look at the popularity of the show, but you do have an awkward inability to progress plot without a long statement. Season 3 in particular made the statements and post statements feel incredibly separated on the assisant's side of things. Most of the time (with a few notable exceptions) you can change out the dialogue between characters post statement and the statements themselves in any particular order.

So far with the magnus protocol, that definitely is not the case. For one, the dialogue between the characters and the horror findings/statement (not sure what to call them) are incredibly integrated. It at once creates this tension, not knowing exactly when you'll hear the statement and also a sense of experiencing alongside everyone. There's also the formatting. Between three episodes we got an email, a reddit thread, and a therapist session. All of these seemingly fit into the same format, and most importantly, can be a variety of lengths depending on how they want to tell the story. Statements in TMA took up an entire episode and there were no more than one statement per. Now, while we most likely won't get more than one or two, there are options in not only how they're presented but also when and to what extent.

Season 4 of TMA was my favorite for a variety of reasons, but one of them is how they handled the statements. Statements usually paralleled what Jon was dealing with at the time be it loneliness, his own sense of humanity, or guilt. From what I see so far with TMagP, that sort of styling of statements is going to be the entire CORE of the show. The first episode seemed to have the main themes and while I'm unsure of what Daria's session has to 100% do with the cast, there seems to be crumbs of set up there that I'm excited to see later.

To also note, episode 1 is centered around meeting the cast and setting expectations, episode 2 mainly focuses on the statement with elements of the greater cast sprinkled around it. With the new format they can do that and bounce around as needed for whatever structure they're going for of the day. It's a bit more chaotic in that regard. You can't just put a statement on and then listen like for TMA, so you have to pay much closer attention, but I find this structure choice very interesting.

Overall? I'm very interested as to what The Magnus Protocol has in store for us. Just with this new structure, the doors are opened with very different story telling options and to have TMagP have its own identity outside of TMA.

[buk-kakyoin]

Magnus Protocol Theory —

(Spoilers up to ep. 5)

I think I've figured out the catch of OIAR staff being able to "quit at any time"

It's not immediately obvious why they can't quit the same way it was in TMA because, well, Teddy quits in the first episode! And he seems quite content with fucking off from the OIAR and never coming back, but he has this exchange with Collin:

TEDDY Colin, mate, you know you’re never getting out of here. COLIN Christ, don’t say that. TEDDY Even if his nibs lets you off the hook, which he won’t, you couldn’t bring yourself to just leave. Not 'til you’ve figured out all these fun little errors. COLIN Or they finally kill me. TEDDY I mean, sure, that too.

What do they know that we don't?

Bear with me on this one, but I suspect it has to do with how the Fears function in this world. I've been seeing quite a few theories floating around saying that the Fears in this world are more likely tied to Desire and I think they're right.

Every story so far has been driven by some kind of want or yearn or need—the yearn to hear a dead lover's voice, the need to understand why a place is marked "cleared," the desire to look different, the need to hide from the repercussion of your actions, the hunger for recognition as the best, the itch to feel real fear. Every time, the supernatural experiences commence after a desire(or obsession) is expressed, and every desire is granted in the most fucked up Monkey's Paw way possible.

How does this apply to our merry band of fucked up civil servants? Why are they still here?

Well, Collin's not gonna quit until he makes sense of the computers, and we're already seeing the negative effects this obsession has on him. Gwen wants Lena's job and to be the best of the department (and possible something else that we're not privy to yet). Sam wants answers to whatever the fuck is wrong with the OIAR/their cases and likely has some personal obsessions involved (*cough cough*the Magnus Protocol*cough cough*)

Alice is a bit of an outlier since she doesn't have any obvious "wants" that we've seen, but she seems way more conscious of what this job does to people than the others. From telling Sam to report Collin's behavior to telling Same this:

ALICE I wasn’t messing with you earlier, you do need to compartmentalize for this job. Make a box in your head and at the end of the shift you dump everything in there and hit the incinerate button okay? You do not want to be thinking about this stuff outside of here. It’s not good for you. I’ve seen people go weird before now.

Alice seems to at least somewhat understand what's going on—she's seen people go "weird" and knows that getting obsessed is dangerous, which is why she herself tries to stay as separate from the work as possible, tells Sam to do the same, and why I suspect she tries to have Collin reported(to keep him from sinking any deeper). But I suspect Alice is ensnared in her own way, possibly by the brother she keeps fielding calls from at work.

It's not a whole lot to go off of yet, but she keeps referencing her next paycheck while talking to him and overall implies than her brother musical career is unsuccessful but that it might turn around soon. Maybe she stays working there because she wants to support herself and support her brother's career?

Tl;dr the fears in his world are based in desires and obsession. Technically, anyone can quit the OIAR and they do—so long as they don't get obsessed. And if they do get obsessed, they won't stop until they either get what they want or, as Collin said, they die.

[lyx456]

Magnus protocol episode 9 thoughts:

-pfff i fucking loved the dedication and me too dude me too

-oh Sam is still filling out the creepy response department thing that will surely end well

-those questions are so normal dunno what's suspicious there

-why?

-Celia can't find crap about the magnus institute that's interesting

-OH HI JON WHAT

-bro heard magnus institute and the neurons immediately activated, it is intriguing that this is the first time one of the voices said something without the input from anyone

-OH FUN THIS IS LIKE A CLASSIC STATEMENT LETS GOO THE NOSTALGIA

-okay so I really fucking liked the statement it was pretty simple but so so cool

-it was mostly thanks to the statement giver being just a horrible person lmao that is always fun to listen too

-also bro was 100% a web avatar you won't change my mind (or well was at least on his way to become one before the remorse hit)

-the fact he started dressings like a creep? Icing on the cake

-rip to my man Gary that was a nasty way to go

-Gwen is about to meet her first HorrorsTM good luck to her

-NO TEDDY MY MAN GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN (he probably can't already tbh with not being able to get another job and all)

-SAM SAM YOU ABSOLUTE IMBECILE DONT GO TO THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE YOUR FIRST CHESTER/JON STATEMENT WAS ABOUT A GUY WHO GOT FUCKED BY DOING THE SAME THING

-ALICE DONT GO WITH HIM WTFFF

-oh I can't wait for the next episode they will surely find something fucked there rip to their eyeballs

[neverwalka1one]

Magnus Protocol 27

Yes I skipped making one of these for 26, it was a week and a half and mostly it consisted of me going 'plz stop poking the Spiral Lady she might eat you' at Celia, so.

Kidnapping/consumption, there is no way that classification can mean good things, nope.

Sam just kind of... sucks at grunt work. Like. I know he never meant to do a busywork type of job, this was a fallback, but... look. If Lena wasn't bound and determined to Not Have To Hire More People, Sam would be out on his ass in a week. You don't get that sassy with an overbearing manager and not eat asphalt. Sam, that's a clue, take it, please, omg.

Lena is tidying away Colin's files. Can someone get us proof of life on Colin?

$10 says Lena's planning on feeding Sam to one of the externals.

Oh Gwen, living down to middle manager tropes are we?

Hi Augustus, horrible to hear you, what ye olde times horror do you have for us you utter psychopath?

Strong alchemy vibes, gotta love it

So the institute is instituting (Magnussing?) by committee, I think I'm seeing why the Institute didn't overpower this world.

.... this is Jonah Magnus. THIS IS JONAH MAGNUS HI JONAH YOU ASS WHERE DID YOU PUT JON AND MARTIN

The eeeeeeeeeeeeeeye [snork] dude, stahp.

... uh. That coach ate a dude.

Hey Magnus. Magnus. Go get et by a coach.

Boyle! I got that reference. And Boyle is from the same time as Newton, so like... what, is this a committee you get to join because you inherited a seat? What, my daddy's rich and in this secret society I am too? .... actually nm that's pretty on point.

So if Boyle and Newton are from late 1600's (ish), and these letters are from nearly 200 years later... were there earlier Magnuses? It sounds like the institute is being named after him personally, so if there were, why is he so special? If there weren't, how did he get into the >200 year old rich boy's club? Why is it still a committee? Or was Newton more part of what the government bit is, that wipes Institute-esque things off the map when they get too powerful? Halp.

Jonah Magnus magnussing over here feeding his colleague to a coach with very little to no remorse I applaud Archibald (who tragically does not appear to be a real person) for spending his last moments cussing out Jonah Magnus.

Jonah has figured out about the Fears. Smirke's coming up next, isn't he? Oh no.

'Do you ever get weird emails' '[deadpan] I'm openly trans on the internet.' Read her to filth, Alice. Get her ass.

'We're not doing this now.' Doing whaaaat, Gwen? Sorta hate-flirting? Approaching romance sidelong like it might bite? C'mon, you were having fun.

Nooooooooo not the breakrooooooooooooooooooom FINE I'll break out the transcripts.

'What was that?' 'That was sex, Sam.' OOF. Sam, my shrimp king, never let Alice know Celia said that, even in jest, she'll roast you forever. Also 'pretty decent' sex? Damned by faint praise much? Or is this one of those 'if I vaguely praise it it was awesome, but if I'm very enthusiastic I think it was trash' British things?

Trevor Herbert is the MP????? That hobo-ass vampire slayer? Oh god, at least he'll get on with Lady Mowbrey.

Nope, still hung up on TREVOR being an elected official, I can't, help.

Whoop, Celia is spooked by the Archivist, what, you didn't clue in... ohhhh. oh no. She didn't hear the story last week. With the eyes. hahaha oh no.

Oh sure Celia, you just 'happen' to find the Hilltop Road property, just coinkidink, yup, just got a 'feeling' about it, yah-huh. If there are spiders there I'm going to be yelling so loud.

[anonymousad]

read MORE carefully when you feel attacked, not less

I honestly wonder about the reading comprehension of some people because some of the reactions to my posts seem to go like this:

me: I think pancakes are better than waffles other person: WHAT THE FUCK, WHY DO YOU HATE WAFFLES

and... no, that isn't what I said?

I didn't say people don't deserve to be compensated for their work, I said that you can't be trying to pay people like it's a salaried job without having that kind of stable and consistent business income. that's literally how businesses go bankrupt all the time.

I also didn't say that you can't/shouldn't be able to make money in audio drama, I said that you need to do it SUSTAINABLY. off the top of my head I can name several shows that do just that (WOE.BEGONE and Malevolent being two I've mentioned in the past), not to mention people like Lauren Shippen. timing and luck have a lot to do with success, absolutely, so that isn't to say it is easy or guaranteed if you follow in those kinds of steps, but it does show that it can be done in ways that are self-sustaining rather than constantly asking for large cash drops to stay afloat.

speaking of, I didn't compare Harlan to JK Rowling, I pointed out how "death of the author" has been deployed by people who don't want to face HER hatefulness while still engaging with Harry Potter (I know many people like this as we all do I'm sure) as an example of why you have to be cautious when throwing it around as an excuse.

and I definitely didn't say that a Black woman was hoarding resources by having a crowdfunding campaign with a high goal??? very weird assumption for you to draw from what I actually WAS talking about, person on Bluesky. almost like you didn't actually read and understand that whole section before trying to jump down my throat about it.

I have found, both in writing this blog and generally in life, that the more people feel defensive the less they are able to engage with what is being said. anyone who has ever tried to argue for trans or gay rights with a right winger has experienced this, it's the reason that "debate bro" types are so successful. you pick out the parts that make you feel angry and you go on a tirade about them, rather than stepping back and trying to synthesize the whole message.

not once has one of the people defensive about the crowdfunding stuff addressed my key point of it being "unsustainable" in their responses to it. that is literally the thesis, sidestepping it does not make it go away. it just reinforces to me and others that you are not thinking long-term about what will and won't work for us as a community.

I should also say that none of what I post comes just from me. every single thing I've said on this blog has come from at least a few different people. it is not a one-person opinion party, something I'm not sure I've ever said outright. especially with the crowdfund stuff I have had conversations with at least a dozen showrunners who all think the current methods do not work, are not sustainable, and are only benefitting the same people over and over. I have these conversations with my "colleagues" (because I can't think of another word) in the space because I find it interesting and important and valuable. I am engaging with these conversations outside of this blog because I have an emotional investment in us as a community figuring this out so that we can thrive.

I still regret not making this blog when I first desperately wanted to to talk about The Magnus Protocol campaign. (I do have thoughts on the TMA ttrpg though, as a general thing that exists and also based in some basic understanding of how the selected system was a bad choice for what people will be hoping to get from this thing so people will likely be disappointed once they actually play it)

anyway, that's all I have to say on that right now.

tldr: I know my posts are long and there is a lot to get through sometimes. but if you are going to fixate on one sentence and ignore the larger context you are setting yourself up to misunderstand the actual point being made. and yes, there is usually a point, one that I find important enough to bother writing about in the first place.

actually, I should also say that I would be more than willing to have a conversation with Tal or someone else from that part of the community who believes that the current crowdfunding model is working and will continue to work in the long run. seriously, if I am missing something obvious then explain it to me so I can understand what about this is working. and I don't just mean working for you, I mean working for the community and creators as a whole. because I still see a lot of campaigns fail for much less, even when following the vague tips being handed out about how to run a successful campaign.

[welcometogrouchland]

i'm suffering under the curse rn BUT. i am 3 episodes in to The Magnus Protocol and so far my thoughts are that it seems pretty good! on the one hand i should probably do my best to separate tmagp from tma but at the same time, i mean, the only reason i'm listening to tmagp is bc of prior attachment to tma, so it's interesting to me to contrast and compare them (though in all fairness it's been a while since i listened to tma).

the new cases are definitely cool so far in terms of allowing for more formats, i wonder if we're gonna get any future explanation for their eloquent presentation like we did in tma since idk if there's any hints so far at what the whole worldbuilding deal is with that so far in tmagp.

i will say that- do to the different formatting and immediate bigger cast who gets more focus and whatnot- tmagp feels more 'TV' in a certain way. which isn't a pejorative statement and i actually really dislike it when ppl assume something being 'TV' means it's low quality or shallow, lol. tmagp is a good example of something feeling 'TV' but it's a notable difference and is casting my mind back to the discourse/discussion about a tma tv adaptation and what that would look like back when archive 81 got one. i imagine it'd feel a lot more tmagp inspired.

cast is cool so far! i admire alice's actress for being able to pull of the extremely tumblrific dialogue (which i know is on purpose but was also VERY off-putting to me at first- it's the kind of thing that i love when written but spoken aloud in a fictional setting sometimes raises my hairs for some reason). i already love gwen, she's defs gonna be the toxic woman i get attached to and then regret it (assuming i listen to more episodes which i hope i do? i'm not great at it but i do like finishing things, my brain is just pulled into all directions rn if that wasn't already apparent). Colin you're great, i can't wait to watch you break down. Sam you're great too in a way that your personality rn makes me very excited for your potential future corruption arc (obligatory reminder i'm only 3 eps in and just making educated guesses based on what jonny and co did for tma, though i do acknowledge that there's a lot more fingers in the proverbial protocol pie rn)

in general i'm curious about the direction of the show, namely how they're gonna make it tragic in a way that's different to tma? bc i always maintain that the beauty of tma is the slowburn, and how everything happens so slowly that by the time you realise what path we're on, it's too late to stop any of it, and the more you learn about these people and this world, the more you realise it was always going to end like this, even if it didn't have to.

it's a tough feat to pull off and the inherently different structure of tmagp makes me wonder if they're gonna have to pivot what kind of tragedy this is. it's probably apparent right now to anyone who's properly caught up but as for me? i'm curious and cautiously interested. idk if i'm ever really gonna get involved with the fandom like i did with tma (bc that was a mostly great but also wild and formative experience for me and in general i'm bad at being multifandom no matter how much i wish i could be bc it would make my life sooo much easier. but unfortunately the shape of my autism (title of my new movie and/or hit single /j) does not allow for it with any ease. only struggle)

anyway i have an essay on political cinema to write so i really need to close this window lmao. will perhaps consider some kind of liveblog or sequel post to this as my listening progresses

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Running on Empty

While I have nothing but sympathy for the poor tutor who had to mark that essay, I must admit I enjoy the return to stories where a survivor recounts a bizarre supernatural experience.

It's not that I can't take an episode where the monster wins – those can be very effective. But, well, while I enjoyed the overarching plot in the fifth season of The Magnus Archives, I must admit I enjoyed the individual stories significantly less than the ones in the previous seasons. Mostly because they weren't stories so much as descriptions of suffering. Because the victims generally had little sense of a time before or after their torment, you missed out on all the bits about how they got themselves into this mess, how they got themselves out of it, and what they thought the whole thing meant. The personalities, the individual characters who came and went after their one weird thing, were part of the fun. And they were largely absent.

The cases in The Magnus Protocol aren't exactly like that, of course: you can glean a bunch of background, at least, by reading between the lines. But still. There's something immensely cheering about getting a couple of stories where someone essentially rolls in to declare "So that was weird, right?" and then wander off again.

Also, apparently Norris doesn't like the night shift.

It's interesting how similar the last two cases are. Dianne didn't seem like the type to use terms like "liminal spaces", but Hilltop Road has very literally been a threshold between worlds:

Martin/Annabelle Once there was a house, a building that, for all it might have looked like those around it, was not the same. Stop, no. It didn’t start with the house. It was here long before any might have thought of it as a home. Once, there was a patch of land, not quite as firm in this reality as that which surrounded it. Stop, no. It’s not about the land. Mud and soil has no part in what is there. Once, there was a point in space that did not quite obey all those petty rules that decide what can be allowed to happen in a world. Stop, no. It’s not a point in space. The Earth spins and hurtles through the darkness, but it still carries it along. Let us simply say that once there was a place. A place where the universe had… cracked. – The Magnus Archives: This Old House

And if you don't know that, then you do know that Hilltop Centre's status as a charity shop makes it a way station for objects of all kinds. And this place let those almost-human people in, and let them bring their weird objects with them.

The people in Running on Empty put me in mind of the gibbering crowd in Lost in the Crowd, whereas the volunteers in Give and Take reminded me of the students in Anatomy Class, but that's more a question of degree than kind. The latter put on a good enough show that it took weeks to really confirm there was something wrong with them; the former could be spotted almost instantly. Both are stories of the uncanny valley: the thing that is almost but not quite human. And in both cases the victim is very nearly overwhelmed by the crowd: objects crushing, or "people" biting, sure, but both instances of being isolated, outnumbered and then assaulted.

Poor Terrance is a perfect victim, as well: he already has a nervous breakdown on record, which will mark him as an unreliable witness, he is isolated enough that nobody reported him missing after his incident, and his job requires him to spend a great deal of time alone.

Norris is describing the situation in the OIAR perfectly. They are a small number of people working a night shift in an old building clearly intended to contain more staff:

Celia Sure, no worries. I’ll be honest, I thought there’d be more people working here given the size of the building? Sam Yeah, no we’re, uh… Alice Streamlined? – The Magnus Protocol: Introductions

The point of their work is deeply obscure to them:

Sam Where does it go? Alice If I were a betting woman, I'd say some long dead database that no-one will ever look at or care about. Sam So why do it? Alice Because that's what they're paying us to do. – The Magnus Protocol: First Shift

Their odd hours put them out of step with normal social conventions:

Gertrude To what do we owe this early morning… pleasure. Sam Oh yeah, sorry we work nights so… Gertrude So? – The Magnus Protocol: Running on Empty

And the place has high turnover and burn out rates. Colin is clearly not coping – he is absolutely right about the electronics being weird, but he isn't dealing with that information very well – Sam is struggling with the sleep schedule, Gwen is stressed enough that she's about to commit a murder over an empty kettle and Alice ... unflappable Alice is worried:

Alice Just been a lot of changes round here recently. I don’t love it. Teddy, Sam, Celia, and did you hear Lena put Colin on “mental health leave”? – The Magnus Protocol: Running on Empty

It's not clear whether the computer voices are aware of each other, so calling it coordinated is probably overstepping the available evidence at this point: but Chester and Norris do seem to have delivered almost exactly the same warning. What might the staff of the OIAR be in danger of letting in?

The story also continues its thread of visual communication, with Gerry's painting. Gerard Keay has always been a painter, of course. But if The Magnus Archives needed to give you a visual, it simply did:

Archivist/Dominic Swain Instead, my attention was fixed on a picture attached to the one small area of wall not covered by bookshelves. It was a painting of an eye. Very detailed, and at first I almost would have said almost photorealistic, but the more I looked at it, the more I saw the patterns and symmetries that formed into a single image, until I was so focused on them that I started to have difficulty seeing the eye itself. Written below it were three lines, in fine green calligraphy: “Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.” – The Magnus Archives: Pageturner

But here there is:

The video you could not watch

The alert that was not read out by a text-to-speech program

The email you could not read

The painting you could not see

The painting might not be anything, of course. But if you knew something could hear you but not see you, a person might resort to communicating purely through a visual medium. "John" apparently sent Sam Gertrude and Gerry's address. But nobody knew that until they got there, and so they travelled unmolested.

It's hard to say for sure what this universe's Gertrude knows – although I'm going to assume she knows something of significance, or she wouldn't be here – but it makes an interesting contrast to The Magnus Archives. There, the primary concern was being seen, and Gertrude was paranoid enough on that front to cut out the eyes from the illustrations in all her books. So one might expect equally paranoid behaviour if the concern was being heard.

The actual arrival of Gertrude and Gerry is fun: I enjoyed both characters, so I'm happy to see more (although if I get to wish to see an existing character, it's Adelard Dekker; I was always a little sad that we never got to properly meet him). It is suggestive of the way the world works that they're together, though.

I mean – I know this isn't the kind of alternate universe story where the Roman Empire never fell. It's recognisable modern day Britain, so I assume just about everybody still hates Margaret Thatcher and it's customary to drive on the left hand side of the road.

But it's a different world, and the history relevant to the story has not played out the same way. And yet, Gertrude and Gerard Keay are still a duo. Are there some things that are always true, then, no matter the world? I'd be interested to learn how it came about, though. That Sam was personally traumatised by The Magnus Institute isn't exactly surprising: he hardly hid his interest, after all. But Gerard Keay? Signing her kid up for a "gifted" program at The Magnus Institute doesn't sound like Mary Keay's style at all: she valued her independence too much. So what happened there?

And what is Georgie doing? It does make one wonder what life would have been like for her and Melanie – the first ones, I mean – when the world was put back together. Everyone clearly remembered what had happened, or they wouldn't have bothered to murder Simon Fairchild. So they would always be set apart.

My general thoughts on the plan are that it is reasonable to pass the entities along. Sure, it's a trolley problem. Nobody likes a trolley problem. But you are setting a risk of harm to the denizens of other worlds against the certain deaths of everyone in yours. So – sure, have at it.

But if you do that, you have now made yourself responsible for those worlds. You know what these things are, and you know how they operate. The people in other worlds likely do not, and won't know how to defend themselves.

So maybe, now, you have a responsibility to do something about that. Ha. Like make a really good podcast about it.

[asterzratz02]

BIG MAGNUS PROTOCOL SPOILERS FOR EP 1 AND 2! YOUVE BEEN WARNED!

Ok I have a theory. Has this already been posted? Probably, but I'm brain rotting.

It's mainly based off of this bit in the transcripts (pls note im getting my transcripts from the unofficial transcript archive, however as far as I know these transcripts are still accurate and the the same as the official transcripts)

This is literally from the first episode, the first non-spoken lines are about a computer listening. No, sorry not listening eavesdropping. As a writer you wouldn't use the word eavesdropping unless it was ment to personify something. Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but like- this is only where my decent into tmp madness starts. Ofc Norris and Chester being voiced by Jonny and Alex heavily implies that some part of Jon and Martin's soul has been transferred into the computers, or programs, files, or whatever you wanna call it. There's not quite enough info to determine how much of them is trapped in the computers, but im quite certain more than just there voice is trapped. There's emotion in the voices, especially Martin's (because ofcourse there would be, my favorite poet-) once again personifying the computers. Now, im not sure if the eavesdropping computer was 'Norris' or 'Chester' or even 'Augustus.' At first I though 'Oh well lots of people are theorizing that Augustus is Jonah and I was convinced. Not the mention that supports my connection to the eavesdropping computer. Because ofcourse, Jonah would be eavesdropping, especially seeing as we're all theorizing that Gwen is related to Elias. (Bouchard lastname)

NOW. HEAR ME OUT. The Bouchard lastname isn't inherently connected to Jonah Magnus. Before Elias was possessed by Jonah, he was just some guy. I can't remember excatly what ep of mag that's in, but I distinctly remember someone mentioning how odd it was that Elias went from a low level position at the institute with issues of some kind? I forgot what kind? Anyways what I'm trying to say is while yes, it makes sense that Elias and Gwen are related, that doesn't mean Qwen has anything to do with Jonah. Especially since as far as I know, Jonah was obliterated. Like... he's gone gone- and this universe were listening in on is most likely (this might have been confirmed, I'm unsure) a whole alternate universe from the one the magnus archives took place in. Wait I think it was confirmed? Seeing as it burnt down in 1999 in this universe as far as I recall, and the tma podcast takes place in the mid 2010's. So pretty sure tma and tmp take place in different universes, tied togethor via the web. Think spider man into the spiderverse if your confused. (Sorry im really just rambling at this point)

Anyways. Now I'm thinking, the Jonah Magnus in the tma universe was destroyed.... meaning Augustus probably isn't Jonah? HOWEVER. I just though of something. Was the Jonah Magnus in the tmp universe destroyed??? Maybe he's just some guy who died before coming to use the power of the watcher, but... maybe not? Ok so... the main question I'm left with then is who's useing the computers to eavesdrop? Maybe it is this universes Jonah, whoever he's possessed this time... my bets on Lena, but that's a whole other theory that I don't feel like going on a tangent about rn. Maybe it's Chuch, Norris, and/or Augustus. Maybe Augustus is Annabelle? Idk.

Anyways, I'm gonna use this as a thread and add onto it the more thoughts I have on this :3

[regulus-needs-swimminglessons]

Heya people, yes I am alive and here to celebrate the new Magnus Protocol episode (Ep 12 "Getting off") with my life reaction. So like always, spoilers ahead:

First of all what sort of Titel is that??? Jonny, Alex...do I even wanna know what the episode is about?? Welp let's get into it

Sam...baby...darling...honey... I saw that with all the love in my heart...for fucks sake you gotta stop being such a simp

Don't get me wrong I love Sam even when he makes stupid decisions and I'm happy he got a date and all but god damn it have some confidence dude.

Jack? Another one? The same one from the last episode? You can never tell with Jonny can you? Is Jack going to be the new Michael? Maybe

Good lord another report of Mr bonzo

I'm going to have this stupid song stuck in my head for the next week ;-; 'Mr. Bonzo's on his way, he wants to stay he wants to play "

Okay but like he gotta be part of the Stranger right? I was kinda considering Spiral too but now... that's definitely Stranger material right there

...damn...just yoink of someone's arm I guess lol

The lord yeeth and Bonzo yoinketh way

And there goes the head too, damn okay you go off king lol

Annnd they are trying to fight -_- I get the mental stress that they must be under but like he's already dead guys, it's time to *ruuun*

That's disgusting I'm so here for it lol

Okay so Bonzo is filled with some kind of fluid and rancid meat...but that's still Stranger potential right?

Damn Martin, sorry Noris, you don't have to sound so judgemental, a...mascot... Gotta eat alright, and they could have ran, but no they stayed and now they get munched

Homeboy just stood there and watched lol, should have ran too

Welp at leat he survived

Dude is just mad he can't bartend anymore because his hand got munched and he is so real for that lol

I love Alice so much <3

Gwen is so horrified, like fair but also baby you wanted to be in this...what ever it is...

Honestly probs to her she's asking questions... probably won't do her much good but she tries

Okay Gwen we're getting close to the Tim mentality and that's danger, don't want you to blow up too ;-;

Alice, love, I know you know more and I need you to tell meeeee

Welp that was a fun episode... can't say I'm a big Bonzo fan but I can see the appeal

I need more Colin content, I miss my husband ;-;

Hope y'all are having a good time

Bye

[marlequinncos]

I finally got caught up on The Magnus Protocol and I have some thoughts

Long post and spoilers ahoy!

Overall, I'm enjoying it, though I don't think it caught my attention the way the first eps of TMA did. I think that's due to the robotic voices giving the statements; I know they're meant to lack emotion as speech-to-text, but I do miss the more storytelling-type of way the statements were read in TMA.

Character-wise, I like all of the main crew. I think my favorite is Colin. And with Gwen's last name being Bouchard, I hope she's related to TMA OG!Elias, or the Elias of this universe who's hopefully also just a lil stoner dude.

The statements are interesting, though I find them less scary than TMA (probably due to the delivery). I think they'll get more involved and spooky though, especially due to all of the connections to TMA that are popping up.

Poor Sam has already committed the cardinal sin of curiosity/wanting to know more.

Celia has to be the Celia from TMA who was part of Georgie and Melanie's cult in season 5. The way she mentioned tape recorders, being buried alive, meat, etc. makes me think she's from the original universe. Plus she thought she recognized "Chester's" voice. And that same episode where she says that, Hilltop was mentioned, which is very sus.

I lost my shit when Gerry appeared (he's still goth and I will die on that hill), alongside GG/Grandma Gertrude. He sounded so happy, which on on hand made me happy (because that poor boy deserves it), but also makes me concerned that Jonny "I can't wait to kill again" Sims has something devious planned, like killing him off on-screen this time or something about the fact that he seemed almost too happy.

Georgie was mentioned so I hope we see her and Melanie and Basira! This also makes me wonder if we'll see Tim and Sasha in this universe too and I hope we do. Also if Michael Shelley (non-spaghetti boy version) appears, the writers will probably be able to hear me screaming all the way at the RQ offices in the UK.

(This is how Doorkeay/GerryMichael can still win.)

As for whether Jon and Martin are trapped in the computers, I'm not sure. I could see that being the case, but I do think it would be interesting if they weren't and there was some other reason why it has their voices (Web reasons?). That said, if it is them in the computers, then "Augustus" is definitely Jonah Magnus.

The email that Sam got from "John/Jon" is what led him to Gerry and Gertrude, right? Is it likely that that was from our beloved Archivist? Yes. But John/Jon is also one of the most common English names, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone else entirely. Perhaps even this universe's Jon Sims.

Last thought is that I don't think Smirke's Fourteen applies here. The statements we've gotten so far have all had some similarities (the violin being tied to The Slaughter, the movie being tied to The Eye, etc.) but there are enough differences that I don't think that original categorization will work. And besides, TMA established that the fourteen all overlap anyway, and trying to categorize them by human standards is futile. I saw that theory about the new entities being "desires" rather than "fears", but I'm not sure I buy that yet.

[dearfeathers--lovelaz]

To My Dearest Feathers,

I don't know why I'm doing this. Why I made a tumblr specifically for this. Why I'm addressing this journal to you. I guess it's just easier to write things down when I pretend somebody still cares enough to read it. And considering most of the stuff on my mind recently is you, your name just kind of became the default.

I probably shouldn't even address it as 'my' dearest Feathers... You aren't mine anymore, after all. Doesn't change the fact that you're still the dearest thing to me, though. It's been a month and a half since you left and yet you still effect everything I do. Everything I think.

Everything just makes me sad now. There isn't a part of my life you didn't touch. I can't even finish watching Gravity Falls or Adventure Time. Can't listen to The Adventure Zone. Can't bring myself to listen to The Magnus Protocol, simply because you were the entire reason I even listened to The Magnus Archives in the first place. I've been trying to watch Hazbin Hotel but honestly that somehow reminds me of you, too. Even animals make me sad now...

Work has been... stressful. I nearly lost my job the day you left. I couldn't focus enough to hit the target productivity. I've finally managed to get it above goal the past couple of weekends, but it was difficult. You were always good at hyping me up and making me proud of my accomplishments... Now it's just another day at work.

I've lost some weight. I guess that's a good thing. I don't know if it's due to all of the walking at work, or because I cut back on soda and have been drinking more water, or if it's honestly just the stress. But I hope it's not the last one. You would've been proud of me, I hope...

I bought myself a giant stuffed animal for Valentine's Day. The tag said it's a brown dog, but I personally think it's a fox, and everyone who's seen it agrees. I hope it's a fox, anyway... Then I can pretend it doesn't remind me of Alouis sometimes. It was a treat for myself... something I can snuggle without constantly thinking of you. I haven't bothered to name it. You were always better at coming up with names for them...

Amy won't come out of her room. I don't really blame her. The one time she did she ended up seeing a post of artwork of Lois Lane and Superman... Needless to say she went back inside and hasn't come out since. Andy's making sure she still takes care of herself... Not like they're doing the same for themselves.

I hope you're doing well. I really do. Sometimes I wonder if you ever actually loved me... If you ever even cared at all. Honestly I'm kind of hoping you didn't... I wouldn't wish this heartache on you. Is that stupid of me? To hope that you leaving didn't also hurt you, like it did me? Am I supposed to be angry at you for leaving? I guess I am, sometimes... But more often than not I'm just sad, or numb. I just wish I could stop crying. Could enjoy the things I used to, without remembering that you are the reason I even partook in them. But it isn't that simple to move on. To forget.

Anyway... I doubt you'll ever see this. But if you do, you can always come back. You know me... I'm a bleeding heart. I will always be here when you need me. You know where to find me if you change your mind.

Love Always,

Laz

February 29th, 2024

[barbwillbrb]

I can’t say the same for everyone, but when a hyperfixation gets to the point where I am actively engaging in the fandom, let alone creating for it, it just becomes part of the random braincells floating around in this noggin’ of mine. One braincell might be taking up the center stage at any given time, but the others are there, always lurking. A good example is that while I am posting a ton about BG3 currently, I am working on my first Mass Effect and Magnus Archives OCs, as well as more serious art for those fandoms (in fact the very second the Flesh rears it’s ugly head in TM: Protocol, I am gonna become a DEMON). In other words, I really don't know how to like/engage with things casually, haha.

If I do feel myself start to get a little tired of a current interest, I will simply switch to one of my others/give it a break.

Also, creating original characters/content related to a fandom really helps me cling on tighter to a hyperfixation. I personally take my own OCs and remake them into my favorite fandoms (similarly, I might take some of my favorite characters from my favorite fandoms and try them out in different AUs).

TBH, I only ever dropped two fandoms/fixations:

Harry Potter. I was really into it as a teen and ran online roleplays with my friends about it; plus I had a total crush/obsession on Alan Rickman. Rowling's rising bullshit in the 2010s, my growing interest in literary criticism that made it completely impossible to ignore her text, and Alan Rickman's death killed that one.

Undertale. This one I still like as a story and the game means a lot to me, but parts of the fandom made me feel bad for liking it? I dunno; it's been a while, but I feel there was this idea that if you were an older teen/young adult who enjoyed the story you were a pervert/pedo? I just remember being made to feel like I was bad for liking the game, which fucking sucked because it helped me so much through a really dark time in my life and just wanted to talk about it. I dunno man; I was dealing with undiagnosed OCD at the time and did not need some internet strangers making me feel like shit over pixels.

Basically, tdlr:

Enjoy the hyperfixation as long as it is here, but don't force it if it goes. Ask yourself what drew you to that interest, and find new content to consume (or create your own! I often use hyperfixation burnout to work on my original content/characters!)

While I can't say it works the same for everyone, hyperfixations are like an ever-rotating carousel for me; once a fandom/interest reaches that status with me, it's here to stay. There might be a day where BG3 content takes a small back seat to TMAP or Mass Effect (hell-- we might even see some Hunger Games make a retro pop up), but it will be here to stay...

... unless the creators/artists behind the thing do something super fucked and supporting them would be causing harm.

Additionally, as a whole, fandom spaces need to not be jerks to people or we will lose them (looking at some of you, Astarion and Raphael fans; some of you guys can be kinda mean/telling people their faves are problematic/indicative of some moral failing, which is pretty rich... >___> ). Tumblr for the most part is pretty cool compared to Reddit and X, but we're not perfect here either.

Also on a very final side note: if you find yourself not just losing interest in one hyperfixation but many in addition to other interests, that might be indicative of depression (coming from someone who's just now accepting depression/bipolar might be a thing with me) or external factors causing you stress. A healthy personal life is key to a healthy creative life (which is rich coming from me given half my posts are "why does my body hate meeeeeee" but hey, do as I say not what I do lol) .

anyhoot this is just my personal experiences with fandom; just some thoughts.

Hi. I want to ask you. What about the end of hyperfixation? A character, a game, series, books...I mean, when you arrive at that point where you don't feel enthusiastic about your blorbo or brainrot source.

How do you know you are there? How do you usually feel?  Is another hyperfixation the reason you abandon a fiction world? Is it real life? Has it happened to you? If so, which was the most memorable of these changes?