stephadoo

[snowwgravve]

ohhh alice we r really in it now

[james-spooky]

this is a test

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Protocol launches tomorrow and and I'm soo excited. I'm holding myself to not just go "adhrooorjhf : ) u know what's tmrw?" at random people and infodump. I'm ready to throw all my thoughs and aus and ideas in the garbage because they make no sense anymore. I'm ready for the unfuckable monster to get the whole ass Tumblr sexyman treatment, I want to cry for the knew girlies, I want my "here is how Agnes Montaugue can still win". I just.... A whole ass year actually following a TMA related podcast aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. As the person that always comes late to the party and besides Dungeons and Daddies (thanks to S2) and WTNV (I got rly into it in 2018 so by this point I got there) I gad never been able to follow an ongoing podcast and even in this cases I never got it on the very begging. I'm just aaaaaaaaaaa all over the place.

[ladyjayde]

Okay, I have some things to say about the first season of The Magnus Protocol... This might be a long one but I don't care ✨

SPOILERS OBVS IF YOU'RE NOT UP TO DATE

I'd like to mention beforehand that I absolutely ADORED TMA, and I'm a big fan of Jonny and Alex's work. Maybe this is just me having too high expectations for this series, but I have spoken to some of my friends who also listen to this podcast and have listened to Magnus Archives and pretty much everyone agrees. So here we go

I'm not feeling it. I didn't enjoy this season at all in all honesty. The only moments that excited me was the lore we had for the TMA characters to which, as far as we know, have nothing to do with this story. It was all filler to please the fans which is appreciated, but every statement in this season felt unimportant. Sure, we had Mr. Bonzo and a couple others that we saw again as part of Gwen's work, but they never truly felt like a threat to me. If anything, most interactions they got felt coincidental more than anything.

Which leads to my second point, there was no action in the season and it made it political and boring to me :/ I understand that's this is how TMA kinda started as well, with a lot of build up and set up for the world. BUT, at least we got SOMETHING by the end of the season. There was real danger and survival instinct activated for the characters. TMAGP has none of that... They jump in, no questions asked and no questions answered. There's no thrill, there's barely any suspense. It feels empty.

And now the characters themselves. Well, except from the very charged introduction to all of them at once that lead many fans to be confused and have difficulty identifying each of them in the first few episodes, they are pretty mundane. None of their stories truly engage with me. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, but they feel a bit boring and all too similar to each other. They get lost in the plot and don't feel like individuals. It's like they're forgetting who they are in order to feed into the plot.

Now, with all of that being said, here's what I think could've helped make this a better series.

1. Make it a longer series. As of now, there's only one episode left which, yes, is supposed to be double length, but nothing has happened yet for me to want a second season. Even if it has taken an extra year or two, I would've rather waited. So, unless something very intense happens next Thursday, I don't think S2 will be in my "Need to listen" list. Too much setup, not enough fear. Like, I'm not even worried that Sam or Celia will die in the next episode. They have so much plot armor I'm certain they'll survive.

2. Make the statements have an effect on the characters. Only Sam seems to take interest in them. But with the others just setting them aside and ignoring the stories, it makes us feel like they're unimportant as well. And it sucks, cause TMA's statements had an effect on the characters and changed their ways of thinking. Now, they're just there to be there and not much is coming out of them.

So yeah, this is MY PERSONAL OPINION and I still want to support Rusty Quill for all the beautiful podcasts they create for us, but TMAGP was not it for me. I love this fandom, I love the lore and the writing itself, but the story didn't hook me in as much as I would've liked it to.

I might regret all of this by next week when the last episode comes out, but for now, these are my thoughts.

I'll get back to you all next week to share my overall thoughts on the S1 of The Magnus Protocol.

Feel free to comment or repost with your own thoughts! I'd love to hear if I'm alone in this or if people agree

Love you all <3

[theanxiousghostartist]

TMAGP 19 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Gonna try and organize my thoughts and theories here; sorry if I ramble!

Sam/Celia Conversation:

So Celia and Sam are both looking into alchemy. Sam said that he started through the Institute, who was "...pretty deep into all this stuff." Celia, we know, was specifically looking into transference and spiritual substitution of elements (from Sam's recognizing of the symbols). This gives us more support for the 'Celia is Celia from TMA' theory (which I'm on board with). It's nice to have more evidence for that!

Also, the idea that Sam is "going to drop the Institute research???" Buddy, you might try, but I think Chester (rn I've theorized that they're Jon from TMA) has other plans for you 😭

Case:

I was surprised, at first, with the date on this (1684), since Augustus usually does the older cases, and Chester usually focuses on the Institute, however, I feel like it makes more sense with the statement's content. So it seems like Issac Newton was doing some... unethical experiments that involved creating "seeds of knowledge" that resulted in the subject being turned into a knowledgeable tree (?). First off, I love the Frankenstein vibes off this case. Second, this case sorta feels like an explanation of what happened in Episode 3 with Dr. Webber. He stumbled into the garden, ate some fruit, and began turning into a tree/plant. Newton definitely seems to be marked by the Eye, especially with his thirst of knowledge and the experiment's results being described as:

"It lay down as if to sleep whereupon it grew ever more peaceful and still. I almost believed it dead, poisoned by my companion, but then 1 saw something far more distressing. The creature was taking root. Strands of its mottled brown hair were extruding downwards between the floor, seeking the dark earth below. Then, too, its back began to sprout, radiant branches unfurling and thickening before me, reaching upwards towards the sunlight with a seemingly insatiable desire.

The dog then opened one eye and stared at me and this was the most disturbing thing of all, for that orb was also shimmering with that unnatural light, but more than that, it looked upon me and it knew me not as a beast knows its master but as one man knows another and though such a creature must by all natural law lack that essential and ephemeral anima that is required for such awful knowledge tell you here Robert, it saw me and it knew me."

The author of this letter (Robert) recommended that they use "the Protocol" against Newton. He described the Protocol at the beginning of this letter as some kind of way to destroy knowledge. My theory, at the moment, is that the Magnus Protocol stemmed from the "Protocol" discussed in this statement. It was the reason that The Magnus Institute was burned down. The archivist either got too close to the truth (like Gertrude did in TMA), and they (along with the Institute) had to go, or (more likely), the archivist figured out the truth and burned down the Institute aligning with this Protocol (basically what Gertrude was trying to do).

Alice/Sam Conversion:

Sam is finally putting everything together, yay!

I hope that he doesn't spiral like Colin and maybe can get some help from Chester?

Lena/Gwen Conversation:

Honestly, I love Lena's arc with Gwen starting at

"I don't care about you being mean to me. Stay away, please."

and now going to

"Welp, F you too. I'm tired of your crap. But also, I still care about you since I need to protect my staff, which includes you."

I can't wait to see these two interact more!

Alice/Colin conversation:

Colin feels like S2 Jon from TMA. He's very paranoid while trying to figure out the truth. Colin's goal is not to be seen. He doesn't want "him" to know what he's found out. Now, this "him" could be Newton (assuming he is living on through an experiment or by being an Avatar), Chester/Jon(?) (in the computer/technology), Augustus/Jonah (?) (in the computer/technology), Fr3D1 (the system, could be an entity or avatar), or maybe someone related to "mummy and daddy Stasi." After a quick Google search, Stasi is a nickname for the State Security Service of East Germany that existed from 1950 - 1990. Established by the USSR, the primarily worked in surveillance and espionage. I wonder if this is a reference to the Eye? Or maybe a specific Avatar?

Furthermore, in Colin's mini rant, he says,

"Not that anyone cares as long as it all balances, right? Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad..."

I'm going to break this down, bit by bit, because he's got a lot of information in here.

"Not that anyone cares as long as it all balances, right?"

This seems to be referencing the property of equal exchange or the idea that no thing can come from nothing.

If you've watched/read Fullmetal Alchemist, you might be familiar with this. My mind immediately went to the scene where Edward is preforming the ritual with Alphonse to bring their mother back. The ritual failed, with Edward losing his left leg and Alphonse's body deconstructing. Edward had to sacrifice his right arm to tie Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor so he would not die.

I wonder if a sacrifice like this will be required by a character to save another or beat a foe.

"Not too much mercury or the world ends..."

This, I think, is tying alchemy to the entities, specifically here, the Extinction. Mercury, a toxic element (in its gaseous form), can cause organs to shut down and impair the nervous system and is one of the seven metals of alchemy.

"Not too much sulfur or we all go mad..."

Again, this seems to be tying alchemy to the entities. Sulfur, in alchemy, represents the evaporation, dissolution, exapnsion, and the soul, and as a chemical, is low toxicity (mainly toxic as dust) and may cause irritation or burning, but, in the human body, it is used to build DNA. At first, I thought this was being tied to the Spiral because of madness. However, this could be tied to the Web, with the idea of building DNA and expanding, like how the web works. They build the foundation of their web, and then they expand their ideas and manipulation, either by handing the job over to other entities or by settley nuding situations in order to get the desired outcomes.

My current theory is that alchemy is going to be used in the rituals for the entities and as a way to create avatars. Basically, it's will be similar to how Leitner's function in TMA.

Anyway, this was a great episode! I really want to do more research on Alchemy now, lol. Sorry for the ramble. 😅