#Thinking about what Jon’s protocols would be

[1nk20ul]

I would love to know the birthdays of the other tma characters (particularly Gerry, Micheal Shelley, and Tim)

TMA Birthdays Revealed (Continued)

You've got it.

Let's go in the order that you requested, starting with Gerry Keay.

(This is a continuation of my previous post, where I determine Jon and Martin's birthdays to the best of my ability. Make sure to check it out if you haven't yet!)

Spoiler alert: Gerard is one of the few characters for whom we have an objectively correct/confirmed answer. Just like last time, I'll list all of the results in the tags as a TLDR. Let's begin!

As I said, Gerry's birthday is shockingly the easiest to find out of everyone in the entire main series. However, none of our clues are actually found in Archives. Rather, it's the Magnus Protocol ARG that flat-out gives us this answer. Compared to last post, I feel like I'm being spoiled.

For those unaware, chdb.xlsx (Child_Database.Excel) is a 250-row list of participants in the Magnus Institute's Gifted Child programme. Of these, last names like Dyer, Nolan, Barker, Baldwin, etc. appear, although it's possible some are simply a coincidence.

One we know is not. Behold:

(Yes, his last name is spelled Kaey in this dataset. It's an easy typo to miss in a 250-row document. Don't worry about it.)

According to Chdb, Gerry's birthday is 4th February, 1988. For those paying attention to my original Birthday post, this is exactly two days after my calculation for Jon's birthday, down to the year. This pleases me.

I'll even throw in a bonus for you. Based on his data, he is quite empathetic - yet not very susceptible to peer pressure! You're welcome, Gerrianators.

Let's move to Michael Shelley.

Unfortunately, we're not as lucky this time. Michael's age is just as twisted up as what became of him. Here's what we know:

Michael worked with Eric Delano prior to Eric's resignation in 1990, but was also hired to replace Fiona Law during or after 2003.

Michael's death was sometime between 2009-2011, however was supposedly already distorted in 2006.

Jonny joked on Twitter that Michael "is 92 at all points in the timeline."

There is virtually nothing to go off of here... The month and day are an absolute mystery to us as well. So congrats! His birthday is 92.

Thankfully, Tim is a little bit easier on us.

We need to use Danny Stoker's death as a starting point here. We know that Danny died in 2013 at no younger than 21 years old. Beforehand, Tim spent the previous 5 years at Victory House Publishing. Before that, in 2007, he completed his First in Anthropology at Trinity College. As a Bachelors degree typically takes three years to complete, we can assume Tim was most likely 18 in 2004. The birth year is easy to calculate from there.

For month, all we can do is process of elimination. Let's start with when his birth month isn't. Since the tapes contain no mention of a birthday party like Jon and Martin had prior to MAG 40 (when shit hits the fan), we know that it is less likely to be between September to mid-March, although this is mainly a mix of speculation and educated guessing. We can at least confirm the September cutoff, though, by cross-referencing age requirements for schooling in the UK. Unfortunately, this is where our luck ends. All in all, I think we still did quite well here.

Our final result is April-August 1986. He died at 31 years old. Bonus: He is anywhere from 1-6 years older than his brother. This is not a surprise to absolutely anyone.

A recap of our final results:

Gerard Keay - 4th February, 1988

Michael Shelley - Permanently 92 years old

Timothy Stoker - April-August, 1986

Thanks again, everyone. I have a wonderful time making these, it's great fun! I have a few more posts in mind that I'd like to make, so feel free to leave an Ask. See you next time!

[anaceshornyblog]

What if we put MonsterJon in the unethical experiment cube and Jonah was in charge of researching him. I think this would fix me.

[honeysucklethornsandalligtrhorns]

'i'm fine with elias simps but i draw the line at lady mowbray you people have clearly never met old rich ladies-' i'm not in it for the money i'm in it for the senseless violence and killings. god forbid a woman do anything.

[tired-chimera]

Somewhere else it is Christmas

Somewhere else the fragments of a herald and lonely man curl up by a fire

Somewhere else they trade stories of childhood and joy

Somewhere else the air is heavy not with fog

But with the smell of cinnamon and Christmas roast

Somewhere else they are going to be okay

Not here though

Here they are names, footnotes of footnotes of tragedy

Here they are the whisper of danger and fear the world aches to forget

Here, they are ghosts as the world grows cold

Flowing on from the ebb of the stagnation proximate to fear

Here, they are pleased to be memories

Mourned by the mourner-less as another mystery of the apocalypse

Here they are unmarked graves in a pile of ash, with only soil under the flowers

Because somewhere else they are warm

Somewhere else they are together

[trees-to-meet-you]

Listening to MAG Season 5 Q&A - Part 1 and hearing Jonny talk abt how if he were to write more Magnus stuff he’d probably do a prequel but it would undermine parts of the original story and writing so he’s not very interested in writing spinoff stuff is kinda fun while knowing full well that Magnus Protocol exists

[koneko-chan]

TMAP 23 SPOILERS////

i've been saying for weeksss gwen and alice are the only people who can match each other's freak!!

[oakt733]

ok theory time

so far, it feels like there are hints towards Jon and Martin being in the radio waves, not just the computers. Especially after todays episode. It would explain why we are watching through phones and cctv as well as the computers, and the telegraph thing in the case.

There have also been so many things to do with the deep as a sentient power or being. But i feel like in the dream the way he says “unknowable, not even rippling the surface” could be more about how Jon and Martin are unable to interact with this new world in physical meaningful ways, then Bergers actions after the dream with the machine he built could show that the choices of the people in this universe could result in them becoming Real again.

I am also thinking that Bergers actions have been the stone in the pond, or the flap of a butterfly wing, and the ripples from that action are going to result in something big. Because it’s not just Jon and Martin in the computer, there is Augustus as well.

Possibly, the deep power being something that someone needs to tap into to result in the connection of the radio waves?

Ok so everyone is REELING after the last episode of tmagp!! I’ve seen lots of discussion about the name drops at the end and the “HELP ALONE TOGETHER OUT OUT OUT”, but I haven’t see anyone talking about Hans Berger’s dream yet

Two forces, alone and separated, with no way of knowing about each other. The complete incompatibility of them, despite being right there; maybe in another universe…?

It feels significant regarding jmj, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Can anyone else articulate it?

[ceaselessims]

thinking about what melanie said about the avatars being mostly people either in power or in search of power and how that relates to the themes of both tma and protocol

because i think as the show goes on it will show that the externals in tmagp-verse are (typically, with exceptions) victims or the ones being exploited.

in this universe large governmental and political forces are taking advantage of their fear-gifted citizens and using their gifts to up hold the status quo, using the protocol in order to maintain general ignorance of these things so there is no support network for these gifted individuals outside of what the powers that be are offering.

needles and his morbid curiosity of what he's become, ink5oul and their demanding to know what is happening to them, bonzo's worshipper being involuntarily committed (likely for study or experimentation imo), and even lady mowbray and bonzo himself just being mere tools of the oppression instead of the oppressive systems themselves like in TMA.

all culminating in the mystery behind ERROR/tmagp!archivist, whom i think is a likely a foil to jon. we have only met Error as The Archivist, this is their starting point, and as they feed on people and hurt them they are becoming more coherent, more human. I suspect that their humanity will slowly come to them, in conversation with how jon's slowly fell away.

and once Error is seen as a person, a human who has been traumatized and exploited for things that were natural gifts (or maybe unnatural! maybe an extra dollop of trauma would be that every external is created by the oppressive force), then there will be a conversation about how people may do awful, terrible, horrific things but they are still people, who deserve the chance at repentance and redemption, something jon never believed he could earn or achieve in the end.

[imaginable-horror]

I haven't been keeping up with The Magnus Protocol fandom so I have no idea about people's theories about what's happening, but my vague theory is that the reason the fears have been so hard to distinguish in each statement is because when Jon and Martin brought the fears through to other realities they became more concentrated as a single force. Gerry describes the fears as colours, all being technically the same thing but distinctly individual at the same time. They are able to be distinguished and seperated through human perception, the way that we arrange things to try and understand them despite these cosmic forces being beyond human comprehension, but the reality that we force isn't true and exists only within the confines of the pitiful limits of human understanding. We seperate them to make sense of them and because they are partially influenced by human perception, human fear, they can somewhat be categorised. When the fears are brought through the rift in reality at hilltop road however, Jon, himself as the conduit, brings them all together to extract them from TMA's reality and send them on to the next. My theory is that they remained bundled together, unable to establish themselves as distinct individual forces as really they are parts of a whole. It tracks that they would remain smushed together after they were all collected up and dragged through the hole in reality, and therefore aren't as separate anymore. They overlap more now, are harder to single out. The fears work on dream logic and symbolism and I think that being channeled through a single conduit would have tied them all closer together; muddied the colours, if we wish to continue with Gerry's metaphor. If in TMA the fears are fingers pushing into reality, each distinctly seperate but belonging to a larger whole that remains out of sight, then in TMagP the full hand is pushing its way through. You can still see each individual finger, recognise it, but there are more places where they are connected, the spaces in between fingers harder to individualise.

[jouxlskaard]

Strap in, fuckers. This is a long one.

I've seen a lot of discourse and discussion recently about why TMAGP isn't resonating with listeners as much as TMA did, with a lot of people pointing towards the infrequent structure of each episode and the lack of subtlety that TMA had once excelled in. And while both of these are true, I think the main culprit that has caused these problems for listeners is one thing: the pacing.

TMAGP is only going to be 60 (Edit: 90) episodes long, compared with TMA's absolute behemoth of 200. When I'd found out about this, I'd assumed that it meant TMAGP would have a much smaller story - not having to establish as much information as TMA did, and allowing the story to have lower stakes as a result. This certainly wasn't a bad thing, as many sequels that have tried to one-up their predecessors have gone disastrously wrong, but I knew that the structure would be different to TMA as a result.

However, from the 12 episodes that we've seen so far, it appears that TMAGP is going to have similar levels of stakes to TMA - not the same stakes, of course, but they'll likely be on close to equal footing. This means that TMAGP has to establish the same amount of information to listeners with significantly less time to do it in, and the pacing has to speed up to adhere to that. In the first 12 episodes of TMA, we had established one possible recurring statement character (Gerry), a disturbing worm woman (Prentiss), and the fact that Jon doesn't like his assistant and refuses to believe any of the statements. In the first 12 episodes of TMAGP, we've established every important protagonist and what they sound like, two recurring statement characters (Bonzo and Ink5oul) with one that has already physically appeared, much of Sam's backstory and his ties to the Magnus Institute and the fact that something is deeply wrong with their workplace. That is a big difference.

This difference in pacing is what I believe is turning listeners away from what they'd originally enjoyed about TMA, because there's no longer that warm, comforting atmosphere when you listen to it. Its sound isn't designed to come from a tape recorder and a tape recorder only anymore; it's no longer a sit-down and listen to the Archivist tell you spooky stories for 20 minutes anymore; and, like I mentioned earlier, the structure is no longer the same throughout each episode. The horror anthology aspect, whilst still being there, has now taken a back-burner to the metanarrative because so much has to be established in so little time. To many, that's a bad thing. They listened to the original because they liked the statements, and the little things connecting them hinted to a much larger story at play. When this story was revealed, we got to see Jonny Sims and his brilliant prose at its best, because there was no longer anything to hide and the statements were in their purest forms - no longer having to establish information to the audience, and simply basking in the fear.

I'm sure we'll get to see the same thing in TMAGP once the narrative reaches that point, but the current pacing has uprooted a lot of listeners' expectations for the show. I'm going to listen to the entire thing, personally; yeah, it's different, and it doesn't deliver the same vibes and comfort as TMA did, and I probably won't be able to fall asleep whilst relistening to the more obscure episodes like I could before, but in a frankly disturbing way, I'm still fascinated with what Jonny, Alex and the other writers have created. This type of horror is the only kind that I genuinely enjoy, and I'm excited to see what direction Protocol goes in.

Edit: I feel like I should clarify that I don't see this comparison as something that takes away from TMAGP. Alex has said that it's going to be different from the get-go, and I do think that comparing it to TMA is an exercise in futility to an extent. I just wanted to talk about the shows together because I feel like they complement one another, and the narrative beats that I've talked about are less to do with TMA on its own and more to do with general narrative structure. We have buildup, payoff and pacing no matter what show it is, because that's what makes a story. I think TMAGP could be taken a little bit like Deltarune in terms of its relation to the original source material: separate entities with some overlap in character and themes. At the end of the day, it's still early days for the show and this entire spiel could just end up gathering dust - I just think it's a cool thing to think about, and it gives me an excuse to infodump about how pacing can affect a narrative and the audience's response to it.

I wrote this while my cat was laying on me. Have a picture as a reward for reading this whole thing.

[thanatos-zagreus-shagreus]

Yeah you're right about Alice finding Bonzo as having a high W value, instead of Fredi recommending Bonzo! What I meant was that I don't think that W needs to be upped for the balance. We know that Bonzo scores high on W, and we've heard quite a bit of Bonzo. If what we've heard is representative of the total caseload (which is absolutely not a given!) then we must already be high on W (although I admit I haven't actually run any numbers yet, which I suppose wouldn't be difficult to do, so I might do that later). Then Fredi might be pushing for more W to break the balance, by lying to Gwen about which values are low.

The following got way longer than I intended, oops!

I believe I've read in another of your posts some theories on what DWPH might stand for. My current (entirely ungrounded) theory is that whatever W stands for is more aligned with the Fears from tma than the other values. This would hook into my other theory, so I'll expand on that first:

I think that whatever the fuck is going on in tmagp is indeed its own thing, separate from tma, BUT that the tma finale has let the Fears into this universe. The oiar cases don't show that very clearly, because their system is built for their own paranormal stuff, not for the Fears, so they are trying to see the stuff from the Fears through their own lens. And to be fair, their own lens is good enough for their own paranormal stuff, which was already happening since forever, and hasn't stopped since the Fears got added to the mix. So we're not just figuring out a new paranormal system, we're also figuring out how it's newly interacting with the Fears. For instance, Ink5oul seems to have their own powers centered around transformation through their tattoos, but I remember them saying something along the lines of later coming to enjoy the fear in their clients as they are tattooed. I think that when the Fears got into this universe, they immediately felt the amount of fear Ink5oul inspired in their clients and other people, and made them an avatar. If you want a specific Fear, I'd say a mix of the Corruption and the Spiral, but we should remember that those are just categories. Becoming an avatar would be the moment that Ink5oul started enjoying the fear of their clients.

Within that framework, I think it would make sense that the Eye latched onto the OIAR. Like, come on, an organisation spying on literally everything and being able to get cases of people experiencing massive amounts of fear, even if classified as top secret? That's like catnip to something called the Beholding that feeds on fear. So the Eye threw its own avatars into the computer there (bc it needed to do something with them, I guess), and bam! it has a new headquarters. Whatever reason caused it to be unable to access digital systems is apparently not hindering it here (my bet is on the reason in tma being that the Web did something to make digital stuff inaccessible, so the Eye would instead use the tapes, which of course weren't really of the Eye, but of the Web. In tmagp the Web is also new in this world, so it hasn't been able to set up such precautions while technology was developing). With the Eye in the computer systems, that would also explain how we got the podcast. In tma we were listening through the tape recorders: we, the audience, were the Beholding. Now in tmagp we're listening through security cameras and computers. So if the Fears have come to this universe, I don't think anything's changed. We're still the Eye, but we're finally able to use better microphones (not to mention, microphones on devices that are a lot more common than tape recorders).

With the Eye in the computer system (and thus in Fredi), I can imagine that it's trying again to cause some kind of apocalypse. With all of the information available to it, it's probably already figured out what needs to happen: the quaternity needs to be out of balance. Getting back to the W value, I think that since the Fears have arrived and caused additional incidents, W has risen, and the Eye is using that by telling Gwen that more W is needed. In a horror podcast, paranormal always means scary, but I think that the kind of fear that the Fears embody might be more W than D, P or H. This would mean that not only are we seeing how alchemy paranormal stuff interacts with the Fears, we are also seeing the achemy getting directly imbalanced because of the Fears.

What even is the OIAR

This is not really a theory, more like a series of questions, gut feelings and ramblings of a madwoman.

I feel like we are led to believe that the OIAR, like all official government agencies, are doing some sort of service to the people, albeit with dark undertones. Occasional civilian sacrifice to keep the horrors at bay, and all that. It seems to track with everything we know about keeping a balance, about sending a Bonzo out to brutalize some party-goers, and about Colin's ramblings about what too much sulphur or mercury might lead to. But I have to wonder.

Why did Colin bring up Stasi? If the OIAR is a British government agency, why was he concerned with the East German secret police that doesn't even exist anymore? I have to assume that Fr3-d1 (or its prototype?) was created in the DDR, and for some reason the system along with the operations were moved to the UK. But why? If the OIAR is concerned with keeping a universal balance, surely it would take much more than one British organisation using their limited local externals. Does every government have their own branch? Or is there something deeper hidden in their history?

What rubs me the wrong way is the symbology in the logo, which at this point I've overanalysed to death. We have the symbol for the Philosopher's Stone (inverted, which could mean something or not), the laurels that were used to symbolise the completion of the Great Work, and the motto "Non vacillabimus", which conveys the idea of not faltering/hesitating/wavering. These do not feel like symbols of stability or balance, they feel like symbols of conviction towards a goal. The Philosopher's Stone is not created by merely keeping things balanced, it's the end goal of repeated, transformative processes.

This is where I'm going off the rails a bit, but I have to entertain the possibility that the OIAR was never meant to be a government agency to begin with. As has been pointed out, the logo does bear a striking resemblance to the royal coat of arms (with the lion and unicorn and all that), which is why no one would even think to question it. But the lion and the unicorn are also common symbols for the sun and moon, which must be brought together in union to make the Stone. And the quaternity (or circle divided in four) in the middle is similarly a common symbol found everywhere in alchemy. Additionally, the emblem doesn't even say "Office of Incident Assessment and Response", it says "O. I. A. R." Do we know for sure that's what it even stands for? It could just as well be an Order of some kind, and god knows there wasn't a lack of those in Germany.

The OIAR could have been established in Germany as another type of organisation, such as an alchemical fraternity of some kind, and then repurposed into a British government agency. Why? I have no clue. I just have this nagging feeling that all is not what it seems. And it doesn't help that they hid a major plot twist in the Magnus Archives logo and I didn't notice it until way after I'd finished listening. TMAGP being about alchemy, which is specifically the art of hiding secrets in plain sight, makes me more paranoid than ever.

No conclusions, local madwoman out.

[witchinatree]

thinking about how in the magnus protocols universe tim and sasha are (probably) alive, and don't know each other

thinking about how basira and daisy are still cops, (probably) slowly getting corrupted by the hunt (again)

thinking about how georgie and melanie may finally be able to be healthy and happy together (fear and eyes in tact)

thinking about the other jon and martin. the other jon and martin who have not met. without the magnus institute, without the horrors, they never would have fallen in love.

thinking about our jon and martin, in love and in a computer

thinking about what would happen if they met their others. the others of their friends. thinking about

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board ( EP 10)

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

What Happened in Episode 10: Saturday Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

water from the pit under the archives is disturbed

thud on wood then a rattle of a padlock

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

trapdoor opens and ERROR imerges

ERROR takes 3 breaths

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

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

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

[laora-ryn]

so I have a Magnus Protocol theory. it's not an airtight theory, but I think it holds enough water that I feel confident posting this today now that ep 21 is live

I think [ERROR] is Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. or what's become of him. or what's left of him

The short version:

Tape recorders spontaneously appear around [ERROR] and their victims

People are compelled to start reciting statements. We have an n of 3 total, but an n of 1 (of 3) where the statement and [ERROR] are directly linked

They were trapped in a water-logged space beneath the Archivist's office of the Magnus Institute, before Sam accidentally let them out

They seem to have a vested interest in protecting Gwen "Jon Sims' closest archetype in Protocol" Bouchard

The long version is under the cut because hooooo boy did it get long

I'll start with the obvious question. "[ERROR] is credited as voiced by Beth Eyre! we do hear their voice in Breaking Ground, and it doesn't sound like Jon!"

Answer 1: it would be extremely way too obvious if Jonny voiced this character, if they didn't want people to make the connection immediately

Answer 2: I doubt what [ERROR] sounds like right now is going to matter too much in the long run, if it isn't meant to, because it sounds like they're probably some kind of ghost/apparition, and their appearances are so heavily distorted audio-wise that I just. don't really trust them myself, tbh?

But it probably would be silly to forget that Beth Eyre did appear in TMA, exactly once. She voiced the lady who witnessed the attempted Flesh ritual and came to give a statement to Gertrude about it. As far as I can tell, that lady didn't meet Jon at all. I feel like it's probably premature to say this is a simple case of "reusing the VA because we like them," but I don't think it's completely out of the question

so to the matter of [ERROR] themselves, the only physical description we get of them is "manky old git," courtesy of Ink5oul. They seem like the type to think anyone over 30 is "old," so take that with a grain of salt lol

The in-scene descriptors we get of [ERROR] are as follows:

Episode 10:

The water is gently disturbed below. Then there is a thud on the hidden wooden trapdoor and the rattle of a padlock.

There is the distinct sound of a key being dragged across wood, then being blindly fumbled in a lock which finally clicks.

The trap door opens, the lock falling away and [ERROR] emerges and takes a shuddering breath..

Episode 21:

A Figure emerges, shrouded in a cloak of whispers.

The Figure continues to emerge, a nightmarish specter of an older world, slowly enveloping Ink5oul’s brash bravado.

Ink5oul reluctantly releases GWEN. She sprints away still gabbling as she flees.

The Figure does not move.

Beat. The Figure turns to Ink5oul.

The Figure breathes deeply, a strange and disconcerting sound, enveloped in pained whispers.

The Figure recedes.

Voice lines from episode 21:

"MINE"

"ALL OF THEM, MINE"

"THERE IS MORE"

"NO. NOT HERE. ELSEWHERE..."

So here's what I'm taking away from this list:

[ERROR] is at least in some way corporeal, in that they can interact with the physical world

They seem to do a lot of breathing. it is unpleasant to listen to

They appear to be followed around by whispers? I'm taking the transcripts' word on that one, because my hearing is crap and I can't hear the sound effect. But I'm including it because it might be relevant

They have either a powerful enough presence/aura, or did something visibly that we didn't hear, enough to make Ink5oul back down. Ink5oul, who three minutes ago cut off a man's arm because he thought about getting in their way. Ink5oul, who definitely was Not going to let Gwen go without a fight. Ink5oul, a powerful new avatar, backed down after barely a fight at all

"a nightmarish spectre of an older world" has terrifying connotations I am not yet ready to tackle!

So... to go through my points from earlier I guess aha:

THE TAPE RECORDERS

We've seen tape recorders pop up 3 times so far:

episode 10 in the Archivist's office

episode 15 when Alice encounters the drowning woman

episode 21 when Gwen is cornered by Ink5oul

Two of these, [ERROR] shows up directly. In episode 15, we have no [ERROR] that we can see, but we DO see someone who is very likely one of [ERROR'S] victims? after-effects? which leads into:

THE COMPELLED STATEMENTS

We've heard of 3 (4, ish) compelled statements so far:

episode 15, the drowning woman

episode 18, the woman who started speaking on the autopsy table

(arguably) episode 20, where Ink5oul gives a monologue that sounds Very Much Like a statement. However, the mechanism of how this happened is still unclear

episode 21, Gwen spontaneously starts giving a statement relatively coherently when she's been hysterical - immediately after Ink5oul's tattoo gun touched her skin, and literally three seconds before [ERROR] shows up and lays claim to her

Two of these are recorded on tape recorders, as above. One of them (Ink5oul's) is recorded on Gwen's phone.

Episode 18, according to the coroner's report, was transcribed longhand by the doctor while the victim was speaking. Presumably, they eventually loaded it into her chart, where it was picked up by Freddy. However, it feels significant to me that the initial recording of the statement was done in a non-digital way

THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE

Does this even need to be a section tbh? lol

I would like to point out some oddities from episode 10 that may or may not be relevant to [ERROR]:

Alice and RedCanary both specifically call out a weird floor carving in the atrium, that somehow survived the fire

The key to the trapdoor was at the bottom of a filing cabinet?

The LOCK on the trapdoor, which appears to have been keeping [ERROR] trapped, was on the UNDERSIDE of the trapdoor??

THE TIES TO GWEN

Please consider Gwen Bouchard for a moment.

Gwen is a young employee of the OIAR who's worked there for four-ish years. She's recently been promoted.

She's finding out very quickly that she's in over her head with this job, but doesn't feel able to ask her coworkers for help.

She's rash, and has a short temper, and has exacting standards, and doesn't think very highly of her coworkers. She's an ass, but she's not a bad person - when she realizes that something she did caused other people to suffer, she was genuinely horrified.

Her boss is deliberately obtuse and unhelpful. Her boss is deliberately sending her into dangerous situations without all the facts or even any information at all, making her go face to face with monsters with the power to seriously harm or even kill her.

All this, while she barely has any concept that the monsters she's been reading about are very real and very dangerous. She has, just moments ago, been visibly marked by a monster who's been stalking her with a stated intention to cause permanent, even fatal, injury

EDITED TO ADD: Gwen had a childhood encounter with something presumably supernatural. Something involving a door that shouldn't have been opened

It feels very, very in-character for Jon Sims, or what's left of him, or an Archivist that has any scrap of Jon Sims left in them, to see her and see her trajectory, and say "no, absolutely not." Jon Sims, who - last time we saw him - said "I'd rather kill our doomed world myself than make anyone in another hypothetical reality go through what I have."

"[She's] mine - all of them, mine." Gwen Bouchard, a young member of an office with a job she can't even begin to understand. Her coworkers: Alice Dyer, a friendly, sarcastic woman with a cheerful front and a younger brother she adores. Sam Khalid, a man far too curious for his own good, who will follow a lead into danger if it means he might get some goddamn answers. Colin Becher, a man who's starting to understand what they've been wrapped up in, and who is quickly letting it consume him. And Celia Ripley, a woman [ERROR] may or may remember or recognize from the last time they were anything approaching human

Jon, or what's left of him, or what he's become, seeing all the same parallels that the audience has been seeing since episode one, and deciding to do something about it. To be the protector he, and Tim, and Sasha, and Martin so desperately needed. Laying claim to the OIAR staff in order to prevent them from being harmed by other monsters. Helping in maybe the only way he can, as he is right now

And maybe I'm wildly off-base! Maybe I'll be proven wrong in episode 22, or episode 30, or episode 90! but the more I think about this meta the more I love it, and the more sense it makes to me

[jazzically]

NEW TMAGP EP LETSGOOOOOOOOOO

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD do uou understand the joy that arose in me upon seeing "scrutiny" and "xxxxerror"

hahaha i bet theyre running out of watching-related words to title their episodes with tma and tmagp combined

SCREAMS

oh i forgot i have homework

whatever this takes priority :333 (whats my work ethic you say? i call it tmagp)

yaaaaaah i knew it sounded familiar ok anyway starting episode

Oh. oh my goodness it's not just any eye statement it's THIS ONE

pardon me but how did i not notice they called him "Archivist" here

UUUUGH time for my monthly fall-apart-over-the-monumentally-intricate-plot-planning-of-s1–s4-tma break

break over back on track sorry i had to savor this moment

LMAO THE VERY FIRST COMMENT BRO

sighhh this theme brings me such joy

S C R U T I N I Z E THIS WRETCHED THING

hahahahahaha the way he said that was perfect

weeks of medical treatment?!

oh yeah it's real-time-ish

OHMYGOSH ARE WE GOING TO GET TO SEE MELANIE??? I AM A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL OF INSANE RIGHT NOW

MY BETTER HALF. just kill me now before i die of dehydration from my own tears

mUsTaRrD gAs i love the transcripts

OOOOOH OOOOOOOOHHHHHH

UNKNOWN!!!!!!!!!! DUDE!!!!!!!! +1 million points for that excellent choice of words

........that hit me like a truck............. this ashe person is a BRILLIANT voice actress

i adore this sort of dystopian social commentary in fictional media. i feel like there is so much more to talk about and explore with the concept of the fear domains and their implications outside of the story

oh this is horrible.

see there's no way one frog spattered over the whole classroom. this sort of subtle exaggeration of personal fears is gorgeous

i love how they get to continue inventing fear domains with this new format in protocol even if jon and martin didnt have time to explore everything aaaand now guest VAs get to read their statements

this hurt. Like in my soul

the sad thing is that crippling insecurity and ceaseless judgment can Absolutely spawn this exact kind of constant negative self-talk. like its barely exaggerated in my opinion. this can be what goes on in my head sometimes. bit personal sorry anyway its just hitting how much realism this domain description has

also how dare they start with toxic family :(

(how dare as in my emotions are getting whooped immediately instead of gradually)

Kids this is your reminder that you are worth more than you think about and the demons in your head are constantly contradicting themselves which means they're wrong

ASHE GOT KILLED??? NOOOOOOOOO I LIKED ASHE

i love how george didnt even bat an eye at sams arrival cause she already knew abt parallel universe shif

whoa vibe switch

They don't have electronics???

HOLY FREAKAFRACK I DIDNT REGISTER I WAS HEARING MELANIES VOICE TILL I WENT BACK TO THE TRANSCRIPT

ohhhhhHHHHMY GOD MELANIE !!!!!!!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH HOW HAVE YOU BEEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!! MALENNIEEEEEFHDODBDOFJKDNDKDNDKFKDHDI

shut up stop i actually missed her so much im THRILLED I LOVE GORGEOUE AND MALENIE i meant t type georgie whatever w e (i) are calling them gorgeous and maleficent now

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD WORLDBUILDING IM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!! i bet alex and jonny had a lot of fun writing this bit. i do imagine it would be difficult to make it sound authentic and not just like an infodump but i think its great

Yet another perfect representation of the dichotomy between human travesty and community

I LOVE YOU MELANIE

[click]

OHHHH YAAAYYYYY MORE MELANIE AND SAM DIALOGUE AAAAAWWUUUGHHHHH please continue talking about the magnus institute™

"dear" aaaauhhhww m omg i go crazy

OH MY GOSH

my bRAIN JUST MELTED.

that is all for today i need to process that hOLy FRICKALICIOUS

[annabelle--cane]

I really hope Celia survives at least until the beginning of the next season, because so far they haven't fully explored the narrative potential of including a character who cares for a child in the cast. What if Celia has some conflict with an External or is stuck in a supernatural situation and therefore has a time limit to return home and check on Jack? What if one of the OIAR employees, unaware of Celia's involuntary teleportation episodes, finds Jack alone? How much would that deconstruct their perspective of her?

in both archives and protocol we've had a few iterations of characters who are suddenly put into positions of power over dependents and seem to resent or be held down by this in some way. martin had to care for his mother, jon's grandmother had to become his primary guardian, georgie and melanie became responsible for their cult's wellbeing, and reading between the lines a bit it seems like alice had to take up the mantle to look after luke after their parents passed.

so far it looks like celia is the first person to really take to this sudden caretaker role, she likes having a child and she isn't straining against his "burden." him being in her life complicates matters, but she appears to be at peace with that, her dialogue in magp 21 suggests that she's already chosen staying with jack over trying to go home and is figuring out how to make that work.

I already like this just as a character detail, I like seeing a single mum who is happy and competent even as the situation around her brings challenges, but I also think exploring her dynamic with her son could say something interesting about celia's approach to responsibility and circumstance. she's not shying away from being in a position of power, but she also seems to have her head on straight about it, she's enjoying the circumstances life has given to her and she's making the best of it.