#but tma's fear of manipulation is just. eh.

[afklancelot]

i think the funniest consequences of reading tma is that it made me really annoyed with spiders and symbolisms involving it, not because the podcast made me afraid of spiders, but because The Web was just so boring

[continuallycowardlycod]

How likely am i to be a victim or avatar of an entity in tma.

The Buried

Victim (6/10) : I like the comfot of being in small warm spaces but i dont like being trapped. pretty obvious.

Avatar (2/10) : Eh, not really feeling that.

The Hunt

Victim (3/10) : I mean yeh i dont like being chased but i dont think about it much

Avatar (1/10) : If i existed in this world and knew about monsters i would mor likely end up in a reasearch/assist role.

The Eye

Victim (5/10) : im a chronic oversharer with no secrets, i would go for the forbidden knowledge tho

Avatar (10/10) : yES ok look i know a lot of people say they would be because the eye is the main focus of the series but i definatly feel a great connection with this. I often find myself passive during incidents or time or turmoil not because i dont care but because i almost forget im really there and not just an invisible observer, completly disconnected.

The Slaughter

Victim (4/10) : I dont go out to haunted locations or concerts so.

Avatar (1/10) : same reason

The Vast

Victim (6/10) : I like the sky and sstuff and the vast victims are typiclally people who like vast stuff so???

Avatar (7/10) : Air go wooosh.

The spiral

Victim (8/10) : Bad experiences with fake freinds in the past so....

Avatar (1/10) : I would not reach the centre of the distortion i would simply sit and not move and cry.

the stranger

Victim (2/10) : I dont really get the uncanny valley? Also i dont make a habit of going to circuses

Avatar (0/10) : no

the corruption

Victim (11/10) : You can not convince me i am not already a victim of the corruption.

Avatar (9/10) : I hate diseases but also i love biology.

the dark

Victim (5/10) : I have a mild fear of the dark but no more than the average person.

Avatar (3/10) : Not really, no thanks.

the desolation

Victim (6/10) : Most people wouldnt like loosing everything so yeh.

Avatar (1/10) : Not joining a cult. Nope.

the web

Victim (8/10) : Anyone is prone so...

Avatar (2/10) : I Can Not manipulate people i feel bad :(

the flesh

Victim (6/10) : icky but Im vegetarian ( for a bit but it's been going too long now I can't give up ) and I would not go to a gym alone and stuff lol

Avatar (0/10) : no.

the end

Victim (10/10) : everyone dies

Avatar (7/10) : I do contemplate death a lot...

the lonely

Victim (5/10) : would have been more in the past but I'm better now =]

Avatar (2/10) : not willingly anyways

the extinction

Victim (9/10) : climate change is scary ha

Avatar (1000000000/10) : I love you forboding spikes I love you nuclear power I love you radioactivity, radiation is the only reason I didn't fail physics I love it.

[equalseleventhirds]

napping did provide some Clarity and i think.... i think. i liked the THEMES of the tma finale. and i liked the CHARACTER STUFF in the finale. the mutual betrayal, the love in spite of it, the differing moral standpoints, martin stabbing jon, all good stuff.

but ever since 197, maybe even 196, i’ve been ambivalent at best about the web’s whole... thing, with being sentient and having a plan and stuff? so i simply could not connect to its plan going through as The Big Ending like, emotionally.

and part of it is just that like... what we were previously told about the fears was so contrary to this; that they are not sentient like humans, that they do not know themselves, that they are far removed & different from humanity, that no one not even jon in the apocalypse can really understand them or their thoughts, that the way humans interact with them is based on vague and confusing feelings and arbitrary definitions that fail to capture their fullness.

(like, yes this is about soup, but it’s also not about soup, it’s about the entities being unknowable and far distant from human sentience, and then kind of abruptly very knowable and pretty close to human sentience after all, and throwing that in there in the last episodes of the podcast felt..... weird, to me.)

like, way way back in s3 when gerry explained the fears, they are alien and unknowable and everything people think about them is guessing. simon in s4 has that whole thing about how none of the avatars know what the fears really want or how to give it to them, and the monsters have it even worse. at the start of s5 jon is super clear that he can’t Know anything about the fears directly, like, at all. but now he does.

and maybe he just got way stronger (altho having him do the fears’ statement like, the very next episode after he said the eye can’t see its own beginning? what?) but it didn’t feel like we’d been leading up to it. it felt sudden, and jarring, and out of step with how the whole fear entities situation had been talked about before.

...actually i think that’s. how i feel i general about the finale. not the character stuff, that was spectacular, but the whole big plan? it felt sudden and jarring. to me. maybe i just did not pick up on the hints, but like...

season one, we’re dropped jane prentiss EARLY. we know about her! and then she attacks martin, and then the worms bother the institute for ages, and michael shows up and is ominous about her, and then when she attacks the institute we’re like. expecting it.

(we maybe weren’t expecting the not-them, but we’d heard about the table and not-graham, so it happening to sasha, a minor character, is not such a surprise.)

season two, we know about the not-them. we can see this conflict building, we know jon’s paranoid and about what, we know not-sasha is gonna pull some shit. and then we have her revealed, and she does, and that also is the big attack jon has to deal with!

once again there is a startling reveal about elias (altho that was hinted at a little bit, before he killed leitner), but once again it is an attack that happens to a minor character. jon had his big confrontation that had been building, and this is secondary, and also sets up the next season.

season three, like, we know about the circus all along. like, all along. we also know about elias all along! so the only surprise in the finale was jon still being alive, but tbh that’s not so surprising, he’s the main character.

season 4, we know about peter lukas being a threat, we know jon must confront him to save martin. additionally, we know about all the attempted rituals. jon keeps trying to stop them, but we also have it hinted that they never work, although we don’t know why (we think it’s gertrude, and then we meet manuela, and learn that no, it’s not always gertrude...) we also have extinction brought up, and so while it’s a twist that extinction is not the big bad, we are so emotionally & mentally prepped for ‘end of the world’. elias? elias is a sinister presence hinting ominously at things, and he escapes prison and then leaves when jon goes into the lonely, so he is totes the catalyst.

season 5............ we build up elias. we build up jon. we even build up annabelle, a little bit, although not as much as i would have liked.

we... don’t really have much buildup to ‘the web is sentient and has an elaborate plan to spread to an infinite number of universes.’

like, it’s not hinted at. we know from ages back that hill top road is some kind of crack in reality, but it’s not like... a threat, to our characters or their world. the web having a big plan doesn’t feel particularly hinted at either, like oliver talks about how the end will win but the web isn’t brought up there, as an opponent to that.

like, i know the web’s manipulation is meant to be subtle, but i could’ve used. some more about it. there aren’t a lot of overtly web statements, and i think in the apocalypse there’s only ‘strung out’, which is a very different sort of message, but like... idk, a web domain or two about passing things along or something? might’ve been. helpful. like the spider in ‘strung out’ gives jon a rly pointed message about how it’s totally under his control, which is the total opposite of the web’s eventual plan.

like, it’s just... i am content, with the tragedy and the ultimate messages of the finale. it just felt like a very sudden shift, in a kind of weird way, that upset some previous worldbuilding and plotbuilding that had been established already, so i feel... kind of eh about that.

[rnoonsetter]

tma fear ranking list because NONE of you have any taste

The Buried pros: dirt nap time! sometimes, being crushed is kinda comforting? cons: this does not help my claustrophobia overall: my gravedigger, sweating: how are you eating the dirt so fast?? 7/10

The Corruption pros: cool worms i guess? cons: literally everything else overall: -2/10, so gross

The Dark pros: very comforting at times. avatars of the dark probably get GREAT sleep cons: no animal crossing :( overall: kinda sexy ngl, 8/10

The Desolation pros: VERY sexy. cool fire motif and all that. sure you ruin peoples’ lives but you can just intentionally target rich people right? also free transition my skin is wax now babeyyy cons: literally none overall: 10/10 jude perry kiss me already

The End pros: when you’re dead, you don’t exist. cons: pretty much everything else overall: 7.8/10, too much death

The Eye pros: cool wikipedia shit, you can see through any kinda eyes, possibly body hopping? cons: making people relive their trauma is mean :( overall: the only fear i’d join just for the powers alone, 9/10

The Flesh pros: cool bone tricks, diy trans time cons: i like animals and don’t want them to die overall: makes me wanna become a vegetarian, 5/10

The Hunt pros: becoming an avatar of the hunt means you are instantly sexy. daisy tonner? sexy. julia montauk? sexy. trevor herbert, homeless old man dying of cancer? sexy. cons: all the fucking cops overall: just target rich people n stuff, 9/10

The Lonely pros: alone cons: alone overall: self isolation turned out kinda horrible -9/10

The Slaughter pros: murder can be kinda sexy sometimes cons: war is.... bad. overall: please stop doing wars, 3/10

The Spiral pros: fractals and stuff are interesting. the idea of uncertain truth is just inherently cool imo cons: makes me think of uzumaki which was great but so fucking terrifying overall: madness is inherently a little bit sexy, 8/10

The Stranger pros: i’m kind of a sucker for mannequins  cons: mannequins also creep me the FUCK out overall: 7/10, i wish i was unknowable :(

The Vast pros: whats that one post about vast avatars and cheerful nihilism cons: eh goes on too long overall: nothing matters! 6/10

The Web pros: manipulation is kinda sexy cons: i do not like the spiders. overall: drop the spider motif and i’m on board, 7/10

the extinction pros: nothing, i do not respect this bitch and i never will cons: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA overall: you ever think we live in hell? -10/10

[vestzmc]

Ok now I did some research and finally fixed the ninjas into how they'd fit into the Magnus Institute so here's the stuff, GET READY FOR A RAMBLE :DDD

I have the notes

NOTES:

This AU's timeline is not the same as the original Magnus Archives' timeline! The ninja boys took over the institute long after Jon and the others passed away so have no fear of spoilers for the podcast aside from the existence of entities! :D

Context:

For those who don't understand the TMA universe it is a world where the supernatural exists and people who experience it goes to the Magnus Institute where they give a statement, via letter or a personal statment to the archivist who mostly reads the stories and records it by a tape recorder (because they're old style).

They put it in the records data and gather more information about the supernatural being on whether it is avoidable or could be solved. Sometimes it doesn't even need to get solved and a statment of a supernatural event is good enough.

This supernatural is tied to 14 entities that manufactures these beings through fears. Avatars are people who are tied to these beings either willingly or unwillingly by ritual which gives them certain abilities. You gotta die for it tho.

I'm not gonna go on full detail what these entities are but I will describe my important ones and their traits to have more context to the characters.

The Desolation: what a bitch this entity is, seriously. It's the entity that feeds on fear of pain, loss, burning, fear of unthinking or cruel destruction. Always has a grill party in the backyard. It has a cult.

The Eye: are you a private person? Well Nord VPN can't save you this time. It feeds on the fear of being watched, exposed, followed, having secrets known, drive to know and understand even if it destroys you. Fun times.

The Buried: feeds on the fear of being trapped, pressured, crushed, drowning, heaviness, and sinking. Kinda cool until you find yourself trapped in a coffin for 2 weeks.

The Vast: feeds on the fear of our own insignificance in this universe, loosing yourself in too much space. Basically 12 year old me.

The Web: you like spiders? Well, this entity manufacturers on the fear of being controlled, entrapped, being trapped and not knowing it, your will not being your own, or being manipulated. It is often seen in the symbol of spiders. *shivers*

The Hunt: i love this bitch, the Hunt is so gucci to listen in action. It is the animalistic and initial fear of being hunted/chased or becoming prey. It's Avatars are called Hunters and gain enhanced health and seem predatory and feral.

Now that the entities are out of the way

ON WITH THE CHARACTERS!

Kai Smith

He was invited by Wu to work on the Magnus Institute as a new archivist. Needing a job, Kai agrees where he meets Cole, Jay, and Zane where they soon become great friends after solving a statment that has been abandoned for dacades. Kai is unknowingly an Avatar of the Desolation, which gives Kai has the ability of sharply noticing things others don't, such as information or sentences that doesn't seem important but actually is. (y'all thought i'm giving him fire, hah! Let's not focus too much on that)

Jay Walker

Worked for the institute with Cole and Zane for 4 years before Kai became the new archivist. He works on finding information in high places such as police records or government files. Jay discovered the Vast entity when he was 14, living in the desert with his parents and kind of became an Avatar by accident because he really freaked out when he was suddenly lost in sand dunes with no one around. He has the ability to paralyze people, locking them in place as if frozen even if they're on air.

Cole Brookstone

I've seen plenty of people put Cole as the Avatar of the Buried but GET THIS: HUNTER COLE. Enhanced strength and health, hunts down mosters and avatars he'd love to kill??? :DDD He did get into loads of trouble that connects to the Buried entity but he never really terrified of it so, maybe it's like a respectable fear for it to Cole. He works as the protector and searcher for the institute, the first person hired unwillingly by Wu by binding but soon got used the institute and Wu. At least he can still freely move from place to place rather than just staying in the institute. He can hunt down people easily with just a place and a name and as a Hunter he has this ability to know where people are by touching the ground.

Zane Julien

Second hire after Cole, so both of them are quite close. Zane is orphaned at a young age and couldn't remember remember anything before that. Was hired by Wu which he accepted. Zane was poorly troubled at the thought of his unknown past that he nearly went to the hospital on how unhealthy his research was. The Eye soon made Zane a Avatar, from Zane going mad by paranoia and fear of where he came from that Cole had to stop his hunting schedules and keep Zane down and help him. Zane and Cole eventually was able to heal from Zane's lost past by jokingly making up stories of where Zane came from when Jay arrived. They sometimes tell Jay he is a emperor from japan, that he is a robot heavyly programed to do good and cook kickass food, that Zane trained in a clan of ninjas before Jay learned not to trust anything the two were saying. Jay and Zane enjoy talking alot since they'te both knowledgeable on tech than Cole and Kai. Zane has the ability to put ideas into people's heads that affect their actions, that the 'victim' would think said actions was their idea, like walking out a door.

Lloyd Garmadon

Not part of the Institute. He's a student journalist that goes around poking into people's business and most especially into the Magnus Institute's records which gave a bit of a bad first impression on the guys when they caught him snooping. Lloyd is however allowed access in because of Wu's influences and soon became friends with Kai first, then the others. Lloyd isn't a Avatar which is great because being controlled by an entity kinda sucks but Lloyd is hunted often by the Web because of his fears of being controlled without his will and him going after people and areas with supernatural encounters because, journalism! Cole babysits Lloyd from afar. He often finds comfort around the ninja crew and likes spending time with them other than in school where he's often avoided and ridiculed by his peers. After several weeks the ninjas have all decided that they are willing to die for Lloyd, who they all treat as a younger sibling. Also! Lloyd is totally trans in this au.

And that's that for now! Might write about the side characters if any of you guys want more. It's kinda OOC about the avatars really because it basically canonically takes loads of years for an entity to charge up enough energy to posses an avatar but eh, creative writing for power using boys.

Also you guys probably noticed I didn't make the boy's abilities as their original elements? weeeellll it's kinda because it has to fit in the tma universe where everything is more subtle than outgoing when it comes to powers.

I also noticed that the only way I can write long ass sentences is when I ramble so that's a thing.

Have a great day! Statement ends.