#jon at the end of s1 thought martin was a ghost and in s4 jon misses martin and hardly sees him kinda like a ghost

[sleepeven-deader]

I won’t cry for you I won’t crucify the things you do I won’t cry for you See, when you’re gone, I’ll still be Bloody Mary

I wanted to draw a little tribute piece for episode 154 of the magnus archives. It’s one of my favorite episodes and it has one of my favorite jonmartin moments…even though it’s really sad…

(Click for better quality)

[ghostbustermelanieking]

funniest things that happened while i binged the magnus archives (in no particular order)

my primary motivation for starting the podcast went like this: a) i am bored, b) my dear friends sarah and novena asked me to listen to this like 3 months ago, c) my dad just got a treadmill and i thought, i should have something to listen to while i do it! motivator! C was the biggest motivation. i listened to the podcast while walking exactly 3 times and had to stop because i couldn't focus on the podcast

approx. 4 episodes in i was trying to consciously listen for plot and important things, so i texted sarah after episode 4 all proud of myself like "i'm guessing this jurgen leitner guy is important" Except i spelled it something like "yorgan lightner"

the worst the podcast ever scared me (like startled me in the moment) was in season 1, i cant remember the episode, but jon starts saying "end recording" and i visibly began to relax (bc i thought it was over!) and then he stops in the middle and bellows "MARTIN" and i jumped like a foot

i listened to the last two episodes of season 1. and i NOTICED when sasha's voice actress changed! but i didnt realize it was a different actress i... actually didnt know what was going on so i texted sarah like "is sasha good she sounds real weird does she have a head cold or something" and then i heard not!sasha in the credits and was like OH

but i didnt realize she was dead! i think i was like "so when are they gonna find sasha?" to sarah a couple days later and she was like "oh she's dead" and i was so fucking dumbfounded it happened so quickly

i listened to the killing floor episode the night before we went to a drive through zoo and i had to look directly into the eyes of many cows

that was also the day i learned what a Scottish cow is. bc they were at the zoo and we thought they were yaks and then my dad figured out they were from Scotland. i did not know they would appear in the season 4 finale

so i started playing games originally to have something to do so i didnt zone out during the podcast and i could keep my hands busy. and it was a really good system at first. now i'm 500 levels into candy crush and i will deadass zone out during statements because i get really fucking frustrated when i cant beat a level

i was like "i'm gonna take this nice and slow, listen to a couple episodes a day and enjoy it" and within a week i was listening to like 5-10 every day and i finished in about half the time i planned on

me at the dinner table the other night: if i listen to like 5 or 7 episodes a day i can finish before the new episode comes out my sister: or u could do it at a pace that's actually enjoyable me: how is that not enjoyable??

you know that post about people misconceiving TMA as a found family dynamic? well that was me until like mid s3 and i was fucking thrown by the realization and have had a lot of trouble reevaluating my view of the dynamics. during Martin's s4 "we're not friends" rant to daisy i was like "wow this feels pointed" very sadly

ok so in the s4 q&a when they say elias's voice is supposed to be a smug version of jon's! i was like "THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE" bc i deadass got elias mixed up w jon sometimes in the first two seasons. like i listened to the s3 trailer and was like "oh thank god they know elias did the brutal pipe murder and not jon" for like half the trailer

i tried to listen to an episode in the car exactly once before being like "no you know what i need to be able to absorb and react to things not on the road"

i thought i'd try and play an episode while i showered one morning, but the audio couldnt be heard under the water and the fan, and i considered showering in the pitch black for like 5 seconds before deciding that was a bad idea

me half asleep one morning: they should make the Admiral a significant plot point, like the cat in captain magnus... i mean captain marvel... he should just fucking kill things

the time when my dad was explaining how hamburgers are ground up while we were cooking, and i'd just listened to the meat grinder episode, and i told him the plot of the episode, and he got the same exact disgusted expression as me

i still cant remember anyone's name last night sarah was like "it's dark watch out for maxwell reynar" and i was like which one is that again

when i described the trip to stop the unknowing as the "clown field trip"

i pictured martin as like this slacker who gives a fuck personality for a WHILE in s1 before i ever actually met him

that one episode where jonny and the voice of georgie do an intro, and they said something that made it sound like what the ghost was a real podcast, and i was like ?? so i googled "what the ghost" and google gave me lots of definitions of what a ghost is

i was talking to my friend rachel and i referred to my cat georgia as "georgie" and she made a georgie denbrough from IT reference like "oh dont let your cat near the sewers" and i was so deep in tma that i was like georgie... barker? oh wait right different interest

i was texting with this friend i dont talk to a lot in person, and i thought that she would like tma, so i asked if she had listened to it. she was like "oh i just started" and then she asked me what was up with brian. i couldnt remember a brian, so i googled "brian the magnus archives" and the only thing that came up was episode 100. i assumed i missed something so i was like "i'm sorry, i cant remember, who's brian again?" and she's like "the intern that gets roasted" and i was like oh oh you mean martin?? but i was too embarrassed to correct her, and we havent discussed it since, but now i feel bad that i DIDNT correct her

[thezolblade]

with all the talk about fandom squicks and triggers and social media content-curation going on, i’m gonna try and get down my tma squicks, to - help organise my thoughts on what i still do & don’t enjoy - help connect with anyone who wants to talk about the things that are common interests without hitting on a squick accidentally (bc i’m feeling like trying to dip my toe in the water of fandom means walking on eggshells in that respect). - behind a read more, avoid the negativity if you like. there’s nothing beyond pg-13 meta though.

tma squicks

- the apocalypse. y’know how people can feel ‘what’s the point?’ about a pyrrhic victory? this isn’t even that. it’s a total defeat. rocks fall everyone dies, or suffers a fate worse than death. all the billions of people in the world, all the children and babies, suffering so thoroughly they don’t even get to function as people anymore, just living ghosts. except a few characters who are still wandering around for now, but we already know from word of god that they’re not going to get a happy ending or accomplish anything. the previous seasons were already horror, but this... feels a lot more pointless and flattens the world they built. i’m curious enough to keep listening, but with less investment i guess.

- ‘fluff’ set in parts of the timeline when the some of characters are hurting people, and other characters are not okay with that, but the ‘fluff’ has them act as if they don’t actually care. (not fix-it fic that actually fixes the problem. not fluff set in au’s where the problem doesn’t apply. not evil characters being ok with being evil together. i’m just talking about stuff that’s specified as canon-compliant, where the characters don’t seem to give a damn, even though they do in canon itself.) e.g. late s4 stuff where rather than commiserating, recuperating and trying to plan out how to deal with their problems, jon and martin are just... happy for jon to keep haunting his current victims so long as he doesn’t add to their number, and have no plans to go back to london to deal with things once it’s safe enough, despite asking basira when that’d be possible in 160. or s4 peter/martin where martin’s ok with peter murdering people, likes him as a person anyway, rather than lying about it.

- s1/2 (or anytime) jon being depicted as someone who doesn’t care about people, rather than as someone who cares deeply for people’s safety even while getting into arguments easily. 

- s1/2 (or anytime) martin being depicted as scared of jon, rather than just frustrated that he can’t impress him or convince him to take better care of himself & get along better with the others.

- the way the tragedy of everything that’s gone wrong supernaturally - the deaths, the apocalypse - feels like the villain getting away with everything because the odds were always stacked overwhelmingly in his favour, not the protagonist seeing the consequences of his tragic flaws. because jon’s made mistakes, and hurt the people around him, but... if he hadn’t made those mistakes, that wouldn’t in and of itself have been enough to avert jonah’s plans. jonah just needed to arrange for avatars to attack jon until he’d been terrorised by everything, while jon was unable to escape. and even if jon had left by blinding himself, jonah would’ve burned through as many archivists as it took. (158 was the only time anyone had a chance of stopping him, and martin only refused bc he didn’t know what was going on and didn’t want to cooperate with evil. that’s... not so much of a flaw that the apocalypse is cathartic as his tragic comeuppance either.)

- jonah, considering all of the above. just. jonah.

- the other pure evil characters most of the time, tbh.

- the uncertainty of not knowing how much of daisy’s past police brutality basira turned a blind eye to, bc the more she knew, the worse her preference for the old daisy & double standard with jon’s hunting.

- jon’s hunting, for that matter. that’s on the list. and the fact that jess is probably in the buried now, forever. (if not there, then somewhere just as awful.)

- interpretations where early-s4 jon completely knew what he was doing, rather than genuinely deceiving himself until he read annabelle’s statement, though a mix of denial, the excuses he’d convinced himself of (which tied into following gertrude’s example to save the world, knowing she’d hurt people too), and the fact he was coerced by an entity in a way that he hadn’t felt before (it was the eye, not the web, and even heavy coercion isn’t the same as being completely forced, but it’s sure not the same as choosing freely either).

- s3 jon/tim where tim doesn’t acknowledge that jon was factually right about some of the things he was afraid of s2, alongside jon acknowledging his own mistakes. otherwise tim’s s2-3 attitude is too much ‘i hate you for being wrong, i hate you for being right, i hate you for being genuinely scared of me, and i hate you for trying to rebuild this bridge now you’re not scared of me anymore’.

- the idea of s1 jon/tim, considering tim was being all false-cheerful and mildly sarcastic with the ‘boss’ nickname while really thinking he shouldn’t have gotten the job. all while jon sincerely valued tim’s opinion as an academic. sure, tim was right to look down on jon’s abilities, but that situation makes me wince. a fluffy ship needs more respect, a dark ship needs less goodwill, a slowburn needs the characters to move past that kind of thing somehow.

...all in what, what that leaves as content that’s not squicky, that i still enjoy:

- Total AU’s, where any ship can be set up in ways that avoid the elements above.

- Pre-apocalypse canon-divergent fic - happy or sad ending for the characters involved, so long as the world doesn’t end for everyone.

- Time travel fix it (in a crackfic way).

- Early-seasons gen/humour/character study canon-compliant fic.

- Cracky humour fic.

[i-swear-this-is-for-homework]

TMA characters as John Mulaney Quotes

The Archives team reacting to literally anything that happens in the never-ending horrific tragedy that is their work environment:

s1 Jon accepting his new job: I was just shiny and dumb and easy to trick.

s2 Jon: I’m feeling sort of existentially insane, but I’m trying to hold it together.

s3 Jon: Late at night, on the street, women will see me as a threat. That is funny, yeah! It’s kinda flattering in its own way, but at the same time it’s weird because, like, I’m still afraid of being kidnapped. 

s4 Jon:  Do my friends hate me or do I just need to go to sleep?

Martin: I try to stay a little optimistic, even though I will admit, things are getting pretty sticky.

also Martin: None of us really know our fathers. Anyways...

Tim: You know how I’m filled with rage? 

Sasha: Nah, sister. You’re not getting me to no secondary location!

Not!Sasha: Shut up! You’re all gonna die! Street Smarts!!!

Basira: When I saw the perp approachin’, I chewed up a tab of Alka-Seltzer I carry with me at all times. This created a foaming-at-the-mouth appearance that made it look like I had rabies. Now I’ve thrown him off his rhythm. 

Daisy:  Hey, do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you.

Melanie:  Oh, I get it. So rather than violate these meaningless politeness rules, I’ll just go to bed in a smock like goddamn Ebenezer Scrooge. Why don’t you give me a candle for looking in the mirror and a floppy hat and I’ll tremble off to bed in my long Victorian nightgown?

Georgie: God, I guess they’re finally going to kill us all. Alright. This is younger than I thought it would be but I guess we’re all pretty big assholes.

Gerry: Was there ever even a ghost, Mother, or was the dead victorian girl you saw me all along?

Elias: He was a man most acquainted with misery. He could look at a child and guess the price of their coffin.

also Elias: [Imitating French accent] “Oh, the things I have Seen, you cocksucker”

Peter Lukas: In terms of instant relief, cancelling plans is like heroin.

Gertrude: Brush your teeth. Now, BOOM, orange juice dynamite! That’s life.

Leitner: When I was younger I thought the world would be simple and nice. But now, at the end of my life... [extended sounds of brutal pipe murder]

Helen: Oceans 11 would never work with women, because two would keep breaking off to talk shit about the other nine. 

Jared Hopworth: You kids have no upper body strength.

Robert Smirke @ Jonah Magnus: You have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair. 

The Entire Fandom:  I think eventually everything’s going to be okay, but I have no idea what’s going  to happen next. except maybe everything won’t be okay

[efortmanteau]

TMA Headcanons

I sort of spoiled myself in terms of headcanons for The Adventure Zone, so now I try to finish/get caught up on podcasts and form impressions entirely in my head before introducing visual ideas via fanart. And lately I've been focusing on The Magnus Archives SOOOO here we go:

My headcanons for The Magnus Archives. A few were originally written after listening through s2. I've added my s3 thoughts below characters or in a new section. I'm only 3 episodes in to s4 so no spoilers after the end of s3.

Jon (I only recently discovered that there's no H in his spelling, whoops) aka The Archivist - Obviously Jon doesn't really have fun ever, so the main word I think of is 'austere.' He's a pale white guy with dark hair and greyish or brownish eyes who basically always dresses formally--collared shirts, slacks, maybe even vests, usually neutral colors. He's thin, but not fit--just the type of guy who doesn't put on weight since he doesn't focus much on food. Rectangular face, maybe has facial hair… I haven't decided, but if he does, it's like a goatee/mustache scenario that's always well trimmed. In my mind, he's young to mid 30s, but could look older. When he's scared or disshevelled though, he looks a lot younger. I think he's also kind of short, maybe 5'8", so he keeps really good posture to make up for it. Ben Whishaw is almost right, but he'd have to be homelier. S3 updates: Not really any? Although apparently it's Jon without an H. I've confirmed that he looks older than he is since the spider picturebook episode (which I would love Don Hertzfeld to animate, perhaps with assistance from Jules Feiffer who is 90 gd years old… that episode is so vivid in my head). Also I forgot Jon has worm… scars? Pock-marks? Not sure how that works, but you probably don't see them much, given I can't imagine him in short sleeves or shorts, although maybe he has a few on his neck visible pretty frequently, above collars. I'm was pleased to learn he is canonically asexual, but not all that surprised. Something about the way he interacted with Georgie in her apartment had me wondering… maybe it reminds me of me and my ex (I'm the asexual one, my ex isn't, but we still get along).

Martin - I immediately imagined Marty (Terry Gross Waters-Waters SAT tutor in Gayle) when I learned more about soft, sweet lad Martin, so Matty Cardarople has always kind of been in my head. That is probably just a similar name situation, but it's kind of perfect. Since Martin said he wasn't the smallest of guys but still made it into a basement window, I imagine he's kind of tall and chubby, but doesn't seem tall, slouchy, not the most confident person. Sort of a Neville Longbottom situation (before the glow-up). I think somewhere between Matty and Nick Robinson is around the correct appearance: a little more clean shaven and formally dressed than Matty often is with shorter hair (but still flippy), but softer than Nick is. This guy wears sweaters a lot. I guess he's canonically 29 at the end of s1--I had imagined him in his mid 20s somewhere, but I guess he was pretending to be older since he claimed he had a master's degree. S3 updates: Martin is probably the one who was most easy for me to imagine. I never really thought of his fixation on Jon to be a crush, which I'm really intrigued by in terms of character development. I was parsing it more of Martin being a bit of a subservient character, that he was like that to everyone in the office, but we only saw it from Jon's POV as the primary narrator. If I do a re-listen, I'll be very interested to pick out some Martin/Jon moments now that I have a different context.

Sasha (or maybe Sascha) - I sort of had Sally Donovan from BBC's Sherlock in mind initially. I tried to stray away from that and looked up "half black actress." I picked out Zawe Ashton without even realizing that she had in fact played Sally (in one episode, so not her main actress) because of her hair and skin and the fact that her face is pleasant, but not the typical hyper-button baby doll face that some actresses have. Sasha has natural hair with light curls (sometimes straightened). I originally pictured a small afro, but I think in s2, they refer to her as having long hair, so I guess not? I'm also not clear if that was Not-Sasha imitating her, or just straight up not looking like real-Sasha at all. She's slim, pretty posh/minimalist in style--grey herringbone peacoat, umbrella, boots. I imagine she's half Russian heritage-wise, since is a common Russian diminutive for Aleksandra. I would put her in the 25-27 age range. S3 updates: I caught on to Not-Sasha (partially because I saw the name in the voice actor credits, whoops), but I think I also caught something in Lottie's flat affect that clued me in. I thought that the imposter was just good at disguise, not that people had been cursed to forget what real Sasha looked like, so Melanie's introduction and take on Sasha/Not-Sasha threw me off a bit. I don't remember if the "long hair" comment was for real- or Not-Sasha. But I don't have any headcanons about Not-Sasha… just that she looks nothing like the original.

Tim - In my head Tim is the tallest main character, maybe 6'2", and pretty fit. He's imposing at first glance, but since he's so congenial and laid back (at least in s1 before Jon totally pisses him off) everyone who knows him knows he's a nice, fun guy. He's black, with fairly dark complexion, short hair, clean shaven. He probably wears sweaters too, but like… the thinner kind. None of this bulky knit from grandma that Martin rocks. I first think of Alan from Russian Doll (Charlie Barnett), but darker, just black instead of more mixed. I'd say he's around Jon's age. S3 updates: RIP in pepperinos. I guess him being fit is not unreasonable since he is… canonically? (does Alex and Jonny joking about it make it canonical) an outdoorsy adventurer. I certainly missed his friendly nature, but my headcanons didn't really change. He just looked a lot more tired up until the end of s3.

Elias - He is older than the rest of them, I would guess in his 40s or 50s, but given that it's canon that he rose in the ranks kind of quickly, maybe he's not that old after all. I don't really have a good mental picture of him, maybe because I can't differentiate his voice from John's a lot of the time until I piece the context together. In my mind he has a beard and mustache though, kind of full, and maybe dirty blonde hair that's greying a bit. S3 updates: I wouldn't be surprised if he carried a cane that was actually a sword or a gun (I'm American, so having a gun seems very easy to me, so I'm not sure if that would be rare in England). Also, did I hear something about having a grey bun? Maybe I'm completely confusing it with something else, but I'm chuckling about man bun Elias.

Michael - Well, he isn't human… but he looks kind of like a really pale guy who is mishapen and thus wearing a lot of clothing at first glance? He probably wears a lot of clothes so you can't really make him out under the trench coat, scarf, hat, etc. (I might be confusing him with someone else). I think it's canon that his hands are large and maybe have too many bones. For some reason, Michael reminds me of tourmalinated quartz--black and white for the most part, striations cutting through the clearer crystal--sort of like a metaphor for how he kind of… dimension hops? Ends up where he isn't supposed to? I imagine striations of his appearance sort of blip in and out when you look at him based on the static he causes on recordings. S3 updates: I now know that he was an assistant to Gertrude. I guess my idea of his human form is basically the same color and demeanor, just not other-worldly in proportions and bone count. Probably the tall gangly type of white guy. ALSO I guess he's kind of Helen now…? I'll do a separate one for Helen.

---BREAK to add characters I didn't write about until the end of s3---

Basira - I assume she is a Muslim woman, based on her name. I imagine she wears a hijab. I picture her as Middle-Eastern, perhaps Iranian, but she could also be black (there are a fair amount of black Muslims in America, not sure if it's common in England). Other than the hijab, she's not very feminine in her styling. Being on the force probably means you want pretty functional, utilitarian garments. I don't remember if she talked in great detail about how she joined the police, whether it was straight from school, but in my mind she's late 30s.

Daisy - I think I recall she has a back tattoo? She's a murderer so she has a tough air about her, but she's also a subtle murderer, so nothing about her screams that she's dangerous… you just get that feeling, you know? I imagine a white lady, short blonde hair, blue eyes. Kind of like Brienne of Tarth, but more plain than ugly. She's maybe early to mid 40s. I'm not sure if her relationship with Basira is supposed to be romantic or not. I kind of prefer this weird closeness that doesn't always equate to trust given their specific experiences. Regardless, I imagine they are around the same age.

Melanie - Melanie is probably the youngest, early to mid 20s. Typical build and height, maybe a little chubby, but not unable to climb fences or anything (gotta hunt them ghosts). She has a short, asymmetrical bob, dark hair, but part is dyed a bright color of pink, purple, maybe green. I imagine she has a go-to windbreaker that has some neon colors.

Helen - I'm so sad that we had to lose Michael to gain Helen. I really love the Spiral and the characters we've met who are involved with them. Helen in my mind was a badass realtor, ready to close a deal, very driven… and that carried over into becoming SpiralHelen. She sort of outsmarted it with the locked door, didn't she? I can't imagine that's very common for humans/avatars to get the better of their entities. She seems really strong willed, so I'm excited to see where she goes as a human who is becoming an avatar. I think her personality translates into her being 40-something but like lowkey hot? She probably rocks a suit with a skirt in bold colors that men's wear usually doesn't offer (all over red suit, tailored to her, pumps, straight brown hair, nice makeup). I'm not sure how the Spiral would affect her… maybe her angles just get a little more pronounced? She's probably not yet to the point of disfiguration that Michael was anyway.

Georgie - She is like a terrier who will bark at a big dog because they don't know to be afraid of it (or… how to be afraid of it, in her case). She is short, 5'2" or less (I just remembered that a lot of the listeners probably use metric measurements, so sorry for that, but I'm not going to bother converting). I imagine she is cute--she dresses up for her dates to Hungarian restaurants (my favorite detail omg girl get it) and wants to look hot, but really she can't get away from cute. Brown curly hair, big brown eyes, button nose. But resting bitch face… gotta ward off those catcalls and get taken seriously somehow.

Jergen? I can’t spell, it’s Jurgen - Jowly white guy. Wispy caramelly colored hair that's going white. Probably pretty tall, which I'm sure what an annoyance in those tunnels.

Gertrude - At first glance, just some old white lady. But after you get to know her, you realize she can probably murder you and is nowhere near as frail as you think. Curly, wiry grey hair.