#mag 61 hard shoulder

[artfulacrostic]

jon: i don't suppose u want to give a statement...?

daisy, who has been projecting IM GOING TO KILL U energy for this entire conversation: okay 🙂

jon: WHAT

daisy: okay! 🙂

fr the biggest early clue about poor jon's compulsion powers, and she gets so mad afterwards bc she doesn't really know why she agreed in the first place

[themagnustournament]

Redemption Round 3 - Match 23

Hard Shoulder comes with 122 votes from last round, and is up against Curiosity with 138 votes so far!

MAG 061 - Hard Shoulder | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Detective Alice “Daisy” Tonner, regarding the traffic stop of a delivery van on the M6 near Preston on the afternoon of 24th July 2002.

MAG 167 - Curiosity | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

An examination of Gertrude Robinson and her assistants. Audio recording by the Archivist.

[es-mentiras]

did not realize Jon's eye powers were manifesting as early as episode 61

[a-mag-meme-a-day]

Poll Series Time!

So recently I've been really into Statistics and making charts and whatnot, which got me thinking: "How Can I Incorporate This Into The Magnus Archives?" Now this is where y'all come in: Over the next little while, I'll be posting polls about favorite episodes and such, and then I will take these answers and make silly little graphs and share them with you guys! Now, for the first question:

This question I am looking for favorite individual Statements, not episodes as a whole. This has nothing to do with Plot, just Vibes.

This is why I will not be including MAG 132 - ENTOMBED or MAG 142 - SCRUTINY in this poll, as they are both pretty much all Plot

Feel free to reblog/comment/ect. any thoughts you may have on why you chose your answer! I really like seeing yalls reasonings, and maybe you might point stuff out that I haven't noticed before!

Below I have linked the Transcripts for each one:

Do Not Open

Lost Johns' Cave

Foundations

Hard Shoulder

Held In Customs

Underground

Dig

We All Ignore the Pit

Dust to Dust

Submerged

A Gravedigger's Envy

The Worms

Have fun, and stay tuned for the next poll!

[written-among-the-stars]

Status: MAG 61 Hard Shoulder

"I have been somewhat unstable"

bestie you broke into a dead woman's house, accused every single one of your coworkers of murder and also stalked them

not sure what I would call this but "somewhat unstable" is not high on the list

[annabelle--cane]

do we have any information on the approximate dates or year that TMA takes place in? I’m obsessed with timelines and I’m so curious about if those dates are Known or not or can only be guessed about

yes we do! some parts of the timeline are a little vague, but every live and "in situ" statement (with a few exceptions) has a date attached to it. I won't go through every known date, and I'm also not scrupulously checking to make sure I've copied all these numbers down correctly so there's probably an error or two in here, but some significant ones include:

s1

mag 13 - alone: the first live statement and the first hard date for the show, 13 january 2016

mag 22 - colony: martin's statement after being trapped by jane prentiss, 12 march 2016

mag 26 - a distortion: sasha's statement about meeting michael, 2 april 2016 (<- that was my fourteenth birthday :3)

mag 38 / mag 39 / mag 40: jane prentiss's attack on the institute, sasha's death, and all the debrief statements afterwards, 29 july 2016

s2

mag 41 - too deep: jon's statement about exploring the tunnels and his first supplemental tape about gertrude's murder, 2 september 2016

mag 43 - section 31: basira's statement about diego molina + the start of her giving gertrude's old tapes to jon, 19 september 2016

mag 47 - the new door: helen's statement about the hallways, we meet michael in person for the first time, 2 october 2016

mag 61 - hard shoulder: daisy's statement about seeing the coffin for the first time, 1 december 2016

mag 73 - police lights: basira's statement about rescuing callum brodie from maxwell rayner, 11 february 2017

mag 76 - the smell of blood: melanie's statement about her investigations into war ghosts, at the end she and jon have a bit of a fight about how That Is Not Sasha, 13 february 2017

mag 78 / mag 79 / mag 80: jon releases not-sasha from the table, martin and tim get trapped in the corridors, jon meets leiter, elias smashes leitner with a metal pipe, all on 16 february 2017

s3

mag 81 / mag 82: jon makes a statement at georgie's place about a guest for mr spider at the same time as daisy interviews the remaining archives staff to try and ascertain his whereabouts, 18 february 2017

mag 89 - twice as bright: statement of jude perry, ft. jon hand crispification, 24 april 2017

mag 91 / mag 92 (/ maybe mag 93?): statement of mike crew, death of mike crew, jon daisy and basira's encounter in the woods, the big elias conversation at the institute, 28 april 2017. mag 93 might also be recorded on this day, I'm not quite sure, because georgie's statement (mag 94) is 29 april, but I don't know if that's fully the next day or if jon got back really late on the 28th, recorded mag 93, and then georgie gave her statement in the wee hours of the 29th. up to interpretation and how little sleep you envision jon as having.

mag 100 - I guess you had to be there: lynne hammond's is 2 may 2017, robin lennox's is 20 may 2017, brian finlinson's is 26 may 2017, and "john smith's" statement doesn't have a date.

mag 111 - family business: gerry's posthumous statement about smirke's 14, 30 june 2017. again, trevor and julia's statement about how they met in mag 109 is dated 29 june, and I don't know if it's an either-side-of-midnight thing or a full day elapsed between them.

mag 118 - the masquerade: martin and melanie pull a fast one on elias while the rest of the gang sets up explosives in the unknowing, 6 august 2017.

mag 120 - eye contact: elias's statement about jon's coma dreams + elias's arrest, 9 august 2017.

s4

mag 121 / mag 122: oliver banks gives his statement about point nemo and jon wakes up, 15 february 2018

mag 128 - heavy goods: breekon deliver's the coffin and jon slurps a statement right out of his head, 3 march 2018

mag 132 - entombed: jon buries himself alive to rescue daisy, 24-26 march 2018

mag 141 - doomed voyage: on the boat to norway jon slurps a statement about mikaele salesa out of a shiphand's head, 11 june 2018

mag 142 - scrutiny: jess tyrell comes in to complain about jon slurping a statement out of her head and haunting her nightmares, 12 june 2018

mag 146 / mag 147: jon gets intervened on about all the brain slurping, they go to hilltop road and find annabelle's statement, 20 july 2018

mag 157 / mag 158 / mag 159: peter releases not-sasha and brings martin to the panopticon for a showdown with "elias," julia and trevor attack the institute, daisy goes monster mode, and jon follows martin into the lonely and saves him with the power of gay love and also slurping peter lukas's brain so hard he explodes badly, 25 september 2018

mag 160 - the eye opens: jon reads a normal statement and nothing bad happens, 18 october 2018.

s5

fuck if I know

[kitkatkitchen]

The Magnus Archives - Fave episodes and final thoughts

I have just done the incredible task of finishing The Magnus Archives. Idk what to really do with myself now besides tell you all about my fave episodes and highlights of the series. So, without further ado, statement begins:

MAG 4 - Page Turner

A classic season 1 episode. A great introduction to Leitner! I originally loved this episode because I love books and loved the gothic and creepy vibes of Mary Keay’s book shop. I now love it because of my beloved GERRY KEAY!!!! You heard it here first, folks, I’m a Gerry Keay stan and will not apologise.

MAG 16 - Arachnophobia

I honestly just love the image of this guy aggressively killing this spider over and over and going mad.

“Perfectly natural explanation for why his body was encased in web”

Thanks Jon… helpful.

MAG 26 - A Distortion

I love the plot slowly starting to thicken during season 1. We ❤️ Micheal on this account.

MAG 32 - Hive

I love the genuine unsettling nature of this statement. A real look into the maddening mind of Jane Prentiss and our lovely Archivist branching out with his acting abilities.

MAG 39 - Infestation

“Statement of Jo Spooky”

All of our season 1 babies fighting it out with a bunch of worms!! Plus Tim being a legend as per usual. This was the episode that I fell in love with Tim. Idk the image of him kicking through a wall while being high on gas is always iconic to me.

MAG 61 - Hard Shoulder

DAISY >>>>

Also Breakon and Hope being creepy boyfriends.

MAG 65 - Binary

This was the episode that scared me the most out of all the series. It made me physically sick and I almost considered turning it off. But that’s all the more reason to love the incredible writing of it.

MAG 80 - The Librarian

Oh yeah Kit must love this episode because of all the big reveals and lore dumps!

WRONG!

I love this for Gerry beating up Leitner and the sounds of brutal pipe murder!

MAG 96 - Return to Sender

We also ❤️ Breakon and Hope on this account.

Also Jon doing a Cockney accent is so inherently funny to me.

MAG 101 - Another Twist

MICHEAL!

MAG 111 - Family Business

You will not be shocked to find out that this is my favourite episode. I am in love with Gerry Keay and this episode made me so sad yet so happy to finally hear his voice.

Also I get gender envy from him. No, I will not be taking questions.

MAG 119 - Stranger and Stranger

NOOOOO TIMMMMM

Such great sound for this episode plus I’m a sucker for dramatic moments.

MAG 128 - Heavy Goods

Once again, we love Breekon and Hope. Boyfriends.

MAG 154 - Bloody Mary

Eric is so cute. Also once again we get Gerry lore.

ALL OF SEASON 5

Incredible. We love John and Martin. And those last two episodes were INCREDIBLE. I have no words

Sorry that was so long!

If anyone has any other podcast recommendations I’d really appreciate them!

[beauty-and-passion]

TMA - Chapters 61-70: Waking up and choosing violence

Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of ramblings about TMA, its characters and, most importantly, its mysteries. Will I ever find an answer to at least one of them? I doubt it, but I’ll keep putting together as many pieces as possible and one day I’ll prove to everyone that the All Michael Theory is the only valid one. And not just because it’s the silliest.

<< Main Masterlist < Previous post 

_______________________________

MAG 61 - Hard Shoulder

Wow, what a start!

We have a new voice: Alice “Daisy” Tonner joins the cast and proves herself to be one of the most badass women - as well as another character who woke up and chose violence. Huge respect for her (with a sprinkle of fear).

Basira suspected Jon was Gertrude’s killer? You know what? From the police’s perspective, this reasoning makes sense: it doesn’t seem like Gertrude had any relatives and Jon was the only one close to her (at work, at least). And, as Daisy said, he showed a ton of weird behaviors and weird behaviors are the first red flag for a suspect. Also, Jon is the only one who actually gained something from Gertrude’s death and that’s even more suspicious.

Awww, Jon was sad Basira suspected of him! Is he starting to feel something from her? Will he end up asking her phone mumber, then a date, then her hand in marriage?

I also find it very interesting that Jon asked Daisy to tell him something about the supernatural events she dealt with. It’s the first time Jon actively wanted a statement. Even weirder, he didn’t ask for a specific one, but any statement. “Whatever you like”, he told her.

That’s a bit odd, isn’t it? In season 1, Jon said he was getting too involved in the statements, now he’s actively asking for new ones. Is this all related to the “crimson fate”/curse? Is this Big brother’s influence? If I was right by saying that Big Brother can somehow “eat” the statements, that means Jon is unconsciously feeding this supernatural shit?

Speaking of the statement, I was HYPED when I found out that the delivery van was from Breekon & Hopes deliveries. Even better, they were transporting the coffin! Coffin from MAG 2 my beloved! And we also find out what’s inside it!

Once again, I’ll quote Jon: the content was surprising, indeed. I expected some creepy shit to come out but we got a weird staircase going somewhere down. It just made me even more curious about the coffin’s origin and now I want to know more: where does that staircase bring? I hope we will find out in some future statement.

Also, what’s with that weird static/vibration? I thought it was just a background sound added by TMA’s author to create the right atmosphere. But since it was mentioned in the transcripts too, I’m starting to fear it has something to do with the plot. Is it related to Micheal? Or Daisy? Or maybe the tape recorder suddenly broke because yes? No idea, but I love that we’re starting with so many mysteries.

_______________________________

MAG 62 - First Edition

HOLY SHIT, MARY KEAY.

Yep, that was my reaction when I found out who this “Mary” was. And her voice is adorably creepy. Love it.

But as Jon said, there is a lot here. And by a lot I mean A LOT.

*

1) Mary and the Institute

The Keays worked for the Institute?! Of course, that’s how they found out about a lot of this weird shit, gosh I feel so stupid for not realizing it sooner!

But Mary also talks about her mother’s “slavish devotion to you and your patron”. Who is the patron? Elias? A member of the Lukas family? Big Brother itself?

*

2) Same side?!

Mary said she and Gertrude are on the same side “Even if Elias disagrees”. That can mean two things only:

Mary Keay is on Big Brother’s & the Lukas' side, even if Elias thinks she’s not so trustworthy

Mary Keay is on the opposite side, but she doesn’t know her job is actually helping Elias/the Lukas/Big Brother

Which theory is the right one? It depends on what side Gertrude was: if she was against Big Brother it’s one thing, if she was pro Big Brother it’s a different one.

*

3) Powers that watched over?

It’s very telling that Mary said Dr. Margaret Tellison was “touched by powers like those that watched over our family”. That confirms the Keays are associated with a supernatural shit - or that a supernatural shit watches over them, at least. Which one? Gosh, I hope to find out.

But also: if there was a supernatural shit watching over them, the Keays should worship it, right? So, why did Mary say “I’ve always found a singular devotion far too restrictive”? Maybe she doesn’t just worship the one watching over them, but a lot of different ones?

On a side note: who the fuck is Eric?

*

4) A Not-Leitner - and actually not a single one was

And here on the left, we can see TMA’s author trolling me with the book that drops bones, by making me think that yes, that’s surely a Leitner. It was also in Leitner’s weird hidden library, of course it’s a Leitner.

And here I find out that actually no, it’s just a fucking pointless book and it was gifted to Leitner by Mary Keay herself.

So not only we find out the Keays and Leitner interacted, but Mary gifted him a book and in MAG 35, among all the 200 Leitners that he could’ve picked from the hidden library, Gerard chose that one: the most useless one. Maybe mommy didn’t teach him well enough how to find them.

But also: Gertrude asked Mary “Who does the book come from?”, which implies Leitner didn’t write it. And Mary herself opened her statement by saying he “collected” them.

That means Leitner never actually wrote these books. He just put a stamp on them. This Norwegian motherfucker simply took books from all the supernatural shits and collected them in his secret library.

What an absolute fucker, he tricked me into thinking he was some kind of evil genius, while he’s just a collector/archivist of sorts. But hey, in this case, I want to know what the fuck happened to him. Where is he, now?

*

5) The End!

A-ah, here is the name of another supernatural shit! This one is called the End, but who or what it is? Mary Keay says “I could never truly serve it - I just don’t find death that interesting”, so the End is death, I suppose. Could it be the same from “Cheating Death” (MAG 29)? It wasn’t exactly a person, but more of a force that took different people. However, we also found out that these supernatural shits can be concepts too, so it could work.

Gosh, I’m so excited! We are starting to get more names of these little shits!

*

6) Mary Keay woke up and chose violence

In one statement, she:

insulted the Institute, by calling the Artefact Storage a “collection of mediocrity”

insulted Leitner by calling him “boring”

killed Dr. Tellison because she didn’t use her power for worthy causes 

insulted tea (which is probably the most outrageous insult for Brits)

insulted Elias’ lazy ass (“He’s not exactly big on action though, is he.”)

insulted the “fake Leitner book”

Sheesh, this woman literally woke up and decided to kill everything on her way. I stan.

*

7) A laptop!

Jon found Gertrude’s laptop and a weird key! More mysteries! More weird stuff! What does this key open? What does the laptop hide? No idea, but I’m thrilled!

_______________________________

MAG 63 - The End of the Tunnel

Ah, so there it is. The Dark, Maxwell Rayner or whatever its name is. The supernatural shit related to darkness, that one.

And… it looks weirdly similar to the figure from MAG 3. Is Not!Sasha an appendix/servant/part of this supernatural shit? Or is it just a coincidence that they look very similar?

Also, is this what happened to Sasha too? Not!Sasha killed her by decapitating her shadow? That’s a very awful death, fine, but it’s also extremely cool. What a sick way to kill, so creative! Love it.

There could be a connection between the Church of Saint James and the People’s Church of the Divine

Host? Maybe, why not? After all, if these things can be worshipped, why not do it in an actual church? Best cover-up. Also, the priest took the camera from Miss Gallagher-Nelson, so it’s very possible he did it to prevent any photo of their supernatural god from going out.

Melanie King is back! I remember her and okay, it’s kinda sad her career is over in the “fake supernatural Youtube department”. Hey, maybe she can find a place here in the Archives! Honestly, it would be interesting if she becomes Jon’s sort-of-protege and he teaches her about his Archivist job. I don’t wish for him to die or for her to become Big Brother’s new food/body/whatever, but I would enjoy a master/protege connection between them anyway.

_______________________________

MAG 64 - Burial Rites

A statement about a mummy that cannot die? Very cool and I love that it’s a nice variant of the trope: “evil mummy wants to kill you”. Rather than you, this mummy was a lot more interested in killing themselves and you can see their desperation in how they took the knife and tried to stab themselves. I felt some pity for this poor creature who just wanted to end their misery.

Considering we recently talked about the End and remembered MAG 29, I suppose this mummy is one of the immortal humans that defeated death, became death, passed the role to someone else and were left with a very uncomfortable immortality - an immortality that apparently goes beyond having your organs removed and your body being closed in a tomb.

Wow, just imagine how awful and terrifying it would’ve been, to feel your organs being removed and your body trapped in a tomb and yet, you still cannot die. It’s a super cool concept and I love it.

Awww, Jon and Basira are bonding even more. This time, over their mutual inability to be proper spies. They’re getting ready for marriage XD

Aside from that, Jon’s attachment to the statements is starting to be a bit concerning. At first, he simply asked for them, now he literally went to the police station because he wanted more statements. Are we sure this poor guy is okay? I mean, I know he’s not, but this weird “hunger for statements” is way more worrisome than some “simple” paranoia.

_______________________________

MAG 65 - Binary

Speaking of this statement, there are a few things I really liked.

First of all, I generally enjoy “deep web-ish” digital horror stories that revolve around the contrast between humans and machines. Hence why, the story of a guy who successfully uploaded his own mind into a computer immediately got my attention.

Second, I liked how this concept was handled here. It wasn’t the usual “scary chat with the dead” idea, but we got a whole ass video instead, featuring a guy eating his computer one piece at a time. A video that keeps following you on every device forcing you to look at it in full. Very cool and very creative.

Third, this particular sentence from Mrs. Tessa: “I can’t stop wondering what it must be like to try and have thoughts, messy human thoughts, trapped in the rigid digital processes of a computer.”. I think it perfectly encapsulates this concept, the situation, the video and its distorted way of communicating.

Oh, so Tessa didn’t come to the Institute just to record a statement: it was Jon who “lured” her there, to get the tech help he needed in order to access Gertrude’s laptop. Glad to see this man is still very clever, despite his paranoia.

MY BOY TIM. MY PRECIOUS BOY TIM. He woke up, entered Jon’s office and decided that violence was not enough, so he used extra violence and:

destroyed Jon, by calling him “you pompous idiot” and telling him he should’ve been fired

destroyed Martin, Sasha, Elias and, if there were some worms, he would’ve destroyed them too. Twice.

I mean, not that he hasn’t a valid reason to be frustrated. While everyone (me included) was worried about Jon’s paranoia and stalking tendencies, no one asked him “Hey, Tim, how are you?”. The poor boy was literally left alone to deal with his own shit. Of course he’s frustrated and angry. Of course he wants to leave.

And it’s immensely tragic that Jon understands, he even offers Tim to leave if he says it… but Tim can’t. And Jon can’t fire him either. And I bet everything that it’s all because of Big Brother’s influence. Goddamn Big Brother.

Hence why, I will soon run into this series, grab Tim and throw him out of this place. My boy needs to relax, possibly in a huge beautiful spa, surrounded by people ready to serve him and give him all the comforts he needs.

Tim deserves all of this.

_______________________________

MAG 66 - Held in Customs

Two lines into this statement and I am perplexed already. What does that mean this is a “Statement of Vincent Yang regarding his claimed imprisonment by Mikaele Salesa”? Now Salesa is kidnapping people too? Wtf?!

But no, the truth is that Mr. Yang basically kidnapped himself by touching something he shouldn’t have touched. And even if Salesa told him “don’t go to sleep”, he did it anyway.

And if all of this wasn’t weird enough, he got rescued by Peter Lukas, who was basically trying to buy that weird wooden crate from Salesa, opened it up and found this poor fucker inside. Best rescue ever.

Jon might be the most paranoid man on the planet, but he’s also the most relatable too. First, he gives the perfect definition of Salesa:

Then he reads my thoughts and anticipates me:

Then he finds out Gertrude was trying to buy a Leitner! And she even managed to get three books:

a special printing of The Seven Lamps of Architecture, by John Ruskin

a copy of The Key of Solomon

a 1910 pamphlet simply entitled A Disappearance

which translated from writer to reader means:

more supernatural architects

a well-known book with a weird twist

a future statement

And yes, Jon is right again about Gertrude: the question isn’t who killed her but why. What did she learn? I thought she just wanted to say “fuck you” to Big Brother and escape from her destiny. But what if she was trying to do something different? I  don’t know if she wanted to connect with it/defy it/connect with another supernatural shit, but oh boy, I can’t wait to find out.

_______________________________

MAG 67 - Burning Desire

Ooooh, a statement about Agnes Montague! Aaaaand we didn’t learn more about her than what we already knew: she’s associated with fire, she probably has some kind of pyrokinetic powers and she’s a supernatural shit - sort of.

This was (probably) confirmed by her words about having destiny. When Mr. Barnabas told her he doesn’t really have one, she replied with “That must be nice”: almost as if she has a very specific destiny to fulfill and can’t escape from it. Maybe because she became the body of some supernatural shit? And since then, she acquired new weird powers, but she also lost the human freedom of making her own destiny and being her own person. Once again, it reminds me of Michael and the importance of identity for some of these creatures.

Okay, time to recap the members of this Cult of the Lightless Flame for future reference:

Diego Molina, the guy who was in the hospital with Gerard (and died in a fire)

Arthur Nolan, Jane Prentiss’ landlord (died in a fire)

another unidentified guy (I bet he also died in a fire)

a short, muscular Asian woman, with a tattoo of a burning guy

Agnes Montague, who is probably the Lightless Flame. Or its embodiment

Also, what did the Asian woman mean, when she said Agnes could’ve been “released” if she did some job? What kind of job it was? Was it related to MAG 8? She felt when the tree was pulled down, after all…

There are still a lot of things to learn about Agnes Montague and this cult, so I can’t wait to know more.

One last thing about the cult: wow, Jon, dramatic much? I use names like “supernatural shit” and “Spider Gang”, you use names like “Cult of the Lightless Flame”. If I were you, I would’ve called these people “Fire Gang” or something similar. But hey, maybe that’s why I’m not the protagonist of this story XD

Speaking of Jon… he wants to visit the tunnels again. Sigh. Life still has so much to offer, Jon. Why trying so hard to get killed? If even Elias “Suspicious” Bouchard is telling you to chill, then you know something’s wrong.

But hey, I suppose Jon should do some stupid shit to end this second season. And what better way to end it, if not by waking up whatever terror is hidden in those tunnels?

_______________________________

MAG 68 - The Tale of a Field Hospital

I said before that it’s a shame most of these statements “have the same voice”, so I was pleasantly surprised by the language used here. Mr. Russo uses a very elegant, poetic way of speaking, especially at the beginning: it conveys the image of an artist very well and it helps differentiate him from other people.

Here we are, back with John Amherst after seeing him dying/not dying in MAG 36. And guess what, he’s a supernatural shit as well. Everyone is a supernatural shit in this world.

In this case, he’s probably The Disease or something similar. I’ll call him the Disease, until I will find out what is his shit’s actual name.

While speaking of the powers, it looks like he gets infected all the time, dies and comes back to life. But hey, look at the bright side: at least he doesn’t feel miserable about it. On the contrary, he seems pretty joyful and he even jokes about being “such a restless man”. Glad to see he takes death so funnily. I wonder what the End thinks of this little fucker.

Was this book a Leitner? I don’t know, it seems like one. After all, the book is about the supernatural shit, so… maybe? I’m not sure :/ I hope we will find a list of all the Leitners or I’ll have to tackle the Norwegian motherfucker and ask directly to him.

Wow, Jon didn’t wait two seconds: as soon as he got the key to the tunnel, he immediately went down and got lost. Right after Elias told him to not do too many secret explorations and put himself in danger.

Look, Jon, look what you’re making me do: agreeing with Elias.

Luckily, Not!Sasha was lurking around like the creepy imposter it is and it seemed like Jon noticed something weird about her. Something small, sure, but still something. Will he find out by the end of season two?

_______________________________

MAG 69 - Thought for the day

So we’re finally meeting, spider lady.

It took her a long time to appear but hey, I suppose that since she’s (probably) the leader of the Spider Gang, she was waiting for the right time to make her entrance.

For what I saw in this statement, she looks both fine and scary as fuck and, just like every woman in this series likes to do, she wakes up and chooses violence. In this case, violence with a side dish of “projectors” doing some magical weird circle.

Uhm… mood, I suppose?

The relationship between Jon and Tim truly went downhill, didn’t it? And I like how it’s addressed because:

I’m not the one who realizes it’s because of Jon’s paranoia - Jon himself knows it. He literally told Martin that working is all they can do together now. He proves he’s still a clever, well-written character.

Even if we feel sad and frustrated by this situation, we can also understand why Jon became so paranoid. And it’s because the story until now makes sense, the events have a logical progression and the development isn’t rushed. Everything happened for a reason and there was always a logical explanation behind it.

Even if we as readers feel like Jon did a lot of stupid shit, deep down we know we would’ve probably done the same, if we were in his same place.

About the last point, it can also apply to Jon’s growing curiosity. Let’s not fool ourselves: we’re also very curious to know what’s hidden in those tunnels. We’re scared to find out, just like him. We know that, last time Jon went down there, some supernatural shit (which I suppose is not Michael?) told him to go away. He knows that too.

But hey, I suppose there’s a reason why curiosity is one of mankind’s strongest aspects. We are all curious and we all would do stupid shit just to satisfy it.

And if some of us maybe won’t go down these scary tunnels, we can still understand Jon, when he says:

“I should just leave it. They’re right. But I can’t not know.”

I just hope this man won’t end up dying just to satisfy his need to know.

_______________________________

MAG 70 - The Book of the Dead

Once again, we have a concept already explored in other works. But, again, I love how it’s handled here: some creative choices are wonderful and I need to give them the attention they deserve.

First of all, how the book looks very old at the start and gets progressively “newer” over the centuries. It gives it more “personality”, you know? And it’s more fitting for the concept of a book that talks about the death of several people throughout history.

Second, it’s a very specific book, that illustrates violent deaths only. This makes it more convincing too, because not everyone in the world dies of violent death.

Third, I adore the idea that death changes according to your own choices. The exact moment Mr. Murray decided not to visit Lancashire, his death changed. Every time he made a new decision, his death changed. And it drew closer too, which contributes to the sense of dread and inevitability typical of death.

And speaking of the inevitability of death, I like how it portrays it here. Death is inevitable, not because “your fate is predetermined and you cannot escape from it”: you can actually change it. But death will still be there. Even if there is no predetermined destiny, death is still inescapable. Great way to convey this concept, loved it so much.

I also found particularly fascinating how, after Mr Murray’s death, there were white pages. Why? Is it because he didn’t pass the book to someone else? Is it because he tried to destroy it? Where is this book now? Are the pages still white?

Yes, Jon, I know. I also thought this Norwegian motherfucker called Jurgen Leitner was the author of these books and yes, I also thought he sold his soul/talked to Big Brother and gained some magical creepy powers. But nope, Leitner is just a guy who took all these books and put them together because… I don’t know, I suppose he woke up one day and said “violence is not enough, I want to see the world burn”. This absolute fucker.

And speaking of more books, it looks like we lost Gertrude’s copy of The Key of Salomon. I suppose she didn’t want to see the world burn, but just this book. But why? Uuuurgh, there are so many juicy mysteries and still so few answers!

_______________________________

In conclusion

I suppose the only real answer we got here is that Leitner is an even bigger imposter than Not!Sasha, because he tricked us into believing he was some kind of genius/powerful entity, while he’s actually just a collector. He’s still a creepy collector and it’s thanks to him we know about these books, but still. Not cool pretending to be more than you are, man. Not cool.

We also learned more about the End (and yes, I suppose The Book of Dead is theirs) and I finally met the spider lady. These little supernatural shits are introducing themselves one by one and I’m thrilled to see more of them, but I’m also asking myself: how will Mr. Sims (TMA’s author) handle all of these characters? Usually, the more characters you have, the more difficult is to handle them all and give each of them a distinct personality/characterization. I hope he has clear plans, because I have high expectations and want to see what his writing choices will be.

Gosh, next week season 2 will end and oh boy, am I scared. Jon is still paranoid, the relationships are all over the place, Not!Sasha is still an imposter and there is a suspicious lack of Michaels. Where are they? Will my Best Boyo come back from the war (he didn’t want to take part in)? Will everyone keep waking up and choosing violence? We will find out next week, I suppose.

>> Next post

(How about a coffee? ☕)

_______________________________

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[zabala0z]

Welcome back to my crappy live blogging. I got 6 episodes to talk about!!! Good luck!!! 🫡

MAG 61: Hard Shoulder

Oh shit Daisy statement!! Or more important, that damn “Breekon and Hope Deliveries” people AGAIN. The cockney guys were there so the same guys Martin saw when they delivered Jons stuff. The gasp I let out when Daisy heard the sound and I was like “oh my god it’s raining, it’s the coffin”

Did not expect staircases! Anyways another thing, the other guy who drove the van said his name was Tom. “Sasha” said her new bf at the wax museum name was Tom as well before. I’m assuming they’re not actually dating but meeting up for some nefarious reason. Or maybe it’s two different Tom’s. Who knows

MAG 62: First Edition

Oh jeez Mary Keay. Yeah she was a bit screwed up as a child. No wonder Gerard does not seem to like her. Not much to note but the way Dr Tellison murdered her patients with the whole flaying and putting up their skin with writing was the same way Mary Keay was found dead. Interesting. I don’t think her son killed her. But I wonder who. Maybe it was Gertrude 💀 bet.

MAG 63: The End of The Tunnel

Eughhhh. Not much on this. It does sound really familiar to MAG 25 with like churches and that cult thing but Jon couldn’t find a connection. Still. Weird.

MAG 64: Burial Rites

Not much on this either! But the dice in the tomb reminded me of Cheating Death with like the games and gambling but it’s probably not related

MAG 65: Binary

When Tessa started talking, I immediately got lost. I had to pause my Minecraft and rewind. Jon the whole time was like “is this related??” And she’s like “y’know analog and digital-! 😀” she’s great.

No connections but oh my god, Tim REALLY laid into him, I literally was listening in like I watching some drama unfold. 🫢 <- like that was me. He’s not even wrong though because outside of Jons perspective, he’s an asshole and also has been stalking his coworkers so I don’t even blame Tim.

But also, that buzzing noise. Throughout the podcast, there was always that buzzing noise in the background whenever there was something supernatural present like with Michael and Sasha. When Tim said he literally couldn’t quit and Jon literally couldn’t fire him, that noise came back.

Is the archives cursed? Can you never quit?? Maybe Gertrude wanted to quit but like couldn’t so she hired someone to shoot her 💀 sorry that’s insane anyways

MAG 66: Held in Customs

Someone get Vincent Yang like a raise. Also, Mikaela Salesa mention!! It’s interesting because he didn’t seem like he wanted Yang in the crate. He made a concerned face and even told him to not sleep which was most likely a warning if anything. He seemed pleasant enough in MAG 38 and he even, at least, like, took him out the crate gently?? Barely minimum I guess

Also Peter Lukas, istg. I know the Lukas family is a patron of the institute and first popped up in Alone, but god why are they involved in everything. STOP. I’m wondering what’s their relation to the supernatural. I mean we have Peter Lukas, Nathaniel Lukas, probably another Lukas I forgot. Oh Conrad Lukas. What is their god damn deal.

Im guessing Gertrude has been screwing up the archival system on purpose because she figured something out, knew she was going to die and didn’t want the next archivist to figure it out as well and die. Obviously Jon is too intrusive and curious for his own good. Or maybe I’m totally wrong but still

Think that’s everything! Currently my page count on my doc is 41 pages!! Yay

[rustyelias]

Part 3 of summarising random Tma episodes

Okay okay mag 61 -hard shoulder

Daisy statement!!! her partner gets got by the coffin and the police were like oh yeah dawg that’s some spooky shit here sign this! Your now apart of the spooky police gang have fun xoxo

[corens-relisten]

MAG 61 Hard Shoulder

Statement of Detective Alice "Daisy" Tonner, regarding the traffic stop of a delivery van on the M6 near Preston on the afternoon of 24th July 2002

PFF just suddenly telling him that they thought he killed Gertrude lmao. dude i love daisy so much shes so silly

spoilers

- if you dont mind me asking, how long have you been sectioned-

- I do mind.

14 years.

why would she answer if she minded? why would she make a statement to someone she dislikes so much. HE ALREADY HAS ARCHIVIST POWERS at least i think

and aaauughh she wanted the people to hit her so she could hit back harder, more brutally BC SHE IS THE HUNT'S AAAAA

spoilers overr!

her voice is so pretty omg (also im going to cry i had forgotten what she sounded like)

big rain, slow car, oki

BREEKON AND HOPE DELIVERIES im going to yell hihi <3

oh wait its tom? oh nvm there they are and hihi tom looks so normal she cant remember himm

YAAA THE RETURN OF THE MOANING COFFIN!! WOO

sooo he puts in the key and the chains just. snapped back. and the coffin opens on its own. coooool okay... AND YAA. STAIRS. WOO.

oh pff she hit breekon/hope and huh. he felt like straight wood. no wonder she hurt her arm but huh...

HIHII aaaaa not her partner going down the mystery impossible stairs. oh? he doesnt seem to have the choice huh? just walking down, almost relaxed, almost asleep... no matter how much daisy yelled.

hihi jon sounds so excited about it :3

ooh the cops deal with vampires huh? they have a procedure and then daisy goes and burns them TT

awwe daisy wants to protect basira <33 ofc shes aggressive about it but still

aaa jon is hurt by basiras intentions ;-;

well he didnt say anything very stupid or paranoid and hes going to rest! im proud >:3

have a good day (:

[themagnustournament]

Round Two Part Six - Match 46

It’s Hard Shoulder, Daisy’s statement about the Coffin! And to think, in less than 60 episodes she’d be much more well acquainted with it. Hard Shoulder faces against Page Turner, which also had 154 votes last round.

MAG 061 - Hard Shoulder | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Detective Alice “Daisy” Tonner, regarding the traffic stop of a delivery van on the M6 near Preston on the afternoon of 24th July 2002.

MAG 004 - Page Turner | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

[tma-newbie]

thoughts on: MAG 61 Hard Shoulder

we’re in the second half of s2 yEET

she’s a police officer like basira

they suspected jon fjffjf

it’s daisy!! i’ve heard about her!

i like her voice

i love her already

weird slow van

breacon and hope deliveries

that’s familiar!!

ordinary-looking guy named tom

anddddd cockney accent deliverymen

weird noises from the van?

WOODEN COFFIN I REMEMBER THIS FROM A PREVIOUS EPISODE

staircase??? in the coffin????

zac nO!! dont go in!!!

he looks like he’s asleep? must be mind control or smth

f in chat for isaac

hell yeah she kills vampires

i’m gay for her

[avatarofthebeholding]

Daisy specific Hunt Leitner

[agnes-come-back-challenge]

"The man who got out looked normal -- so normal that these days I can't really picture his face. Said his name was Tom[...]" (MAG 61, "Hard Shoulder")

Can't believe Not-Sasha dated the guy driving Breekon&Hope's van

[a-mag-meme-a-day]

meme for @a-mag-meme-a-day Day 63

MAG 61 - Hard Shoulder