#oh and lore! lore was my first horror podcast

[mutsukiss]

I have to find another horror podcast to hyperfixate on, do yall know anything similar to ogoa or twv?

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted Fandom Challenge - 2024

In our earlier Numbers post we shared the top ten spots for the unlisted fandoms. Below is the full list of the remaining write-in fandoms - yes, all 105 of them.

For the first twenty, a single additional signup will move them up to join the tie for third place. If ANY of them should manage four additional signups, they'll snag the lead.

Know folks who work in these fandoms? Share our signup post and encourage them to participate —we'd love to have them join us raising funds for great causes via the creation of awesome fanworks. As ever, we welcome even more new fandom write-ins, too. (But please do not use the ' | ' character in the fandom name - or elsewhere in your signup form!)

Putting the list under a cut for length -

2 Alan Wake/Remedyverse 2 Ancient Greece Religion and Lore 2 Cosmere 2 Detective Conan 2 Dune 2 Formula 1 RPF 2 Glee 2 Guardian/Zhen Hun 2 HBO War 2 Imperial Radch Series 2 Mob Psycho 100 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury 2 Riverdale 2 Shades of Magic 2 Ted Lasso 2 The Bear (TV) 2 The Stormlight Archive 2 Venture Bros 2 Wolf Pack 2 Persona 5 1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series) 1 American Gods 1 Among Us 1 BBC Ghosts 1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival) 1 horror 1 Blue Beetle 1 Buffy: The Vampire Slayer 1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF 1 Call of Duty 1 Cats the musical 1 Cherry Magic 1 Chronicles of Narnia 1 Cobra Kai 1 Coffee Talk (Video Game) 1 Criminal Minds 1 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 1 Death Note 1 Dice Punks (podcast) 1 Digimon 1 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds 1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast) 1 Endeavour/Morseverse/Inspector Morse (ITV/Dexter) 1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda) 1 Falsettos 1 Fargo FX 1 Farscape 1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16) 1 Firefly 1 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Grantchester 1 Greek Mythology 1 Grey's Anatomy 1 Gundam 1 Hatchetfield 1 Hawaii 5.0 1 Honkai Star Rail 1 Horizon Zero Dawn 1 IT (Movies - Muschietti) 1 Jeff Satur - music videos 1 Law and Order 1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) 1 London Spy 1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic 1 Magnificent Seven 1 Mrs. Davis 1 My Little Pony 1 Narcos (TV) 1 NU: Carnival 1 Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 1 Omori 1 Orphan Black 1 Pacific Rim 1 Professional Wrestling - New Japan Pro Wrestling 1 Professional Wrestling: All Elite Wrestling 1 Re-Animator 1 Simon Snow Series 1 Slam Dunk 1 Slow Horses (TV Show) 1 South Park 1 Starry Musical 1 Super Sentai 1 Sweeney Todd 1 Team Starkid 1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension 1 The Adventures of Tintin 1 The Artful Dodger 1 The Empyrean Series - Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing) 1 The Good Place 1 The Last Kingdom 1 The Lunar Chronicles 1 The Mechanisms 1 The Mummy (1999 franchise) 1 The Pairing (Casey McQuiston) 1 The Radiant Emperor Series (She Who Became The Sun & He Who Drowned The World) 1 The Saint of Steel 1 Three of Hearts 1 Tin Can Bros 1 Tower of God 1 Undertale 1 Voltron: Legendary Defender 1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers) 1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[tewwor]

get to know the rper questionnaire .

tagging: stolt from @rcguish ! tagged by: EVERYONE!!

NAME?: ro, kc, kermit, whatever yall want

PRONOUNS?: she/they

MOST ACTIVE MUSES?: uhhh cruor, jie, jackrabbit, spencer (?)

RPG CLASS I'D BE: a little bitch— bard, lets be so fr

FAVORITE COLOR: orange! green!!! purple.....

FAVORITE TYPE OF THREAD: now, if you take a look at my powerpoint and pie chart ( points to blog ) — the consensus is fighting/action, ridiculous silly scenarios, hidden angst, hallmark romance moments, found family, and integrating your muse into one of my lores :o)

FAVORITE THING ABOUT MY MUSE: i'm just going to blab about cruor, because jie's had his time on the other blog BUT LIKE —i just think he's neat! and it's interesting ( fucked up on my part ) how his phobia of blood wasn't innate, but rather a result of having experienced death first hand and coming to realize 'oh shit, i actually died, and i can still feel flashes of it in my head, and now i'm panicking'. also, how overachieving for him isn't something necessarily good. yes, it's wonderful that he's able to heal people. but to push himself beyond what the marked tell him to look after? just because there's this drive he's applied to himself to heal as much as he can, as if he can heal himself or his mother's grief in a way? yeah, no, it's doing more harm than good. and he's kind! the sort of kind that most people might think of a too much or silly. and he's shredded as hell, lets be real here.

HOW YOU LIKE TO RP: i'm holding everyone's hands as i say this.. it's just like consulting a magic 8 ball. i'm so serious ( pensive ). sometimes quick one liners work! other times random ask memes are good! half the time it takes some plotting and getting to know my writing partner's character a bit more! a lot of time it's just yelling in dms. just depends on my brain, your preference, and the stars aligning or something.

FAVORITE PLOTS: injured or sick + someone helping them....... oh shit, i guess we're stuck in a Situation....... literally any dumb hallmark scene ( i think it's so funny )........ fake! dating!!!!!!!!! arguing / trying to pull someone's head out of their ass to help them...... showing care, in just about any form.... horror :-)

WHERE YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM: ahem, ahem, YALL!!! we're all lil' creative generators here, even if it feels like you're in a slump! i can say with full confidence that all of my mutuals have wonderful, fantastic characters and worlds they bring to life!!! also, podcasts, the few films or tv shows i come by, books.. sometimes......... fever dreams and dreams in general tbh

FACT ABOUT YOU: the ogs know this, but i thought i could crack a glowstick with my teeth. i was right. i also happened to ingest half of the liquid inside because i bit into it too much :o)

[fictionkinfessions]

unpopular opinion but i hate ln3 and that fucking podcast i think it ruins the entire point of little nightmares and the mystery of it especially since ive heard it said theres a fucking lore book theyre following which RUINS THE ENTIRE GODDAMN SERIES. the qhole fun of little nightmares was that everyones interpretations were different and. seeing people already kinfirming the new characters is making me wanna bang my head against a wall

frankly i am afraid for the future of my series especially since people are fucking eating it up. like it looks so generic and does nothing for little nightmares as a whole. the original creators never wanted this!!!!! i literally interviewed tobias lilja, way before little nightmares 3 was announced, and he outright said he was done with it and they were done with it!!!! hes not telling me shit about the lore. oh my goddddd im losing it

ofc this hits hard cuz little nightmares is a big interest of mine but also i have so many memories n shit of the world and this new addition is making me want to kill someone. they're just making horror for the sake of profit and its really doing a diservice to me, six, raincoat girl and the others.

am i rlly salty cuz im the main character of ln2 and im the protagonist of the dlc of the first game and i think its fine as it is? yes. do i still think these new additions are soiling little nightmares? also yes!!!! fucking god

-mono, runaway kid (#💐🌻🌺)

frog

[arthurtaylorlester]

malevolent pt 31 liveblog ''the nightmare''

arthur is sleepy i'm so glad

WAIT WHAT

KELLIN??

WHERE'S JOHN

WHY THE FUCK IS KELLIN THERE

DOWN THE TOWER??

WHAT

IS

GOING

ON

oh wait i get it

is the whole episode a fever dream

THE HEAD!!!! RETURNS

samantha is its name

girl what is going on did i miss something

yes you are daft arthur

where is john

i miss him

i cant have him gone again after s3

the voice being distorted?

ayo kellin lowkey sounds like john what is going on

the butcher?? the apartment??

i think i get it. arthur is like dreaming and his memories are blending. kelling and john function as the same person

UNCLE? this is definitely a dream

OH GOD ARTHUR TRAUMA AHHHHHHH

LISTEN TO JOHN GODAMMIT

the train? oh this is getting good

PERCIVAL !!!

NO NOT HIS WIFE WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KILLED HER

JOHN !! YES LISTEN !!

who is john?

wdym you DONT REMEMBER

I WAS RIGHT KELLING = JOHN RN

yes bbg you are dreaming

noooo you didnt drown your girl arthur

wait is kiy has the dreamlands does he have dreams as well

LISTEN !! TO !! JOHN !!

YES HE IS YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS

why is you trying grunting real hard dude wtf

oooh please be yellow or somehting

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD

''i'm not a piece of you'' THE LITTLE BITCH IS BACK !!

''clever boy'' dude wtf

yellow repaying arthur for being called ''good boy'' by him that one time

PODCAST ACHIEVEMENT!! worms obtained

yeah arthur what ARE you doing

ohhhhhhhh what did happen

this is such good horror wtf

oh ok i was just talking about this with finch but the line ''you are me screaming at me'' @ kellin who is functionally john this ep makes me think about like, how arthur and john are the same person, fundamentally

yeah why not even john?

''because'' what

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ARTHUR YOU DON'T TRUST JOHN EITHER

YES YOU'RE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION PLEASE!!!!

PLEASE YES KAYNE !!

what

what is he slipping away

no

no no no he can't fracture more can he

aughhh i get why this wasnt good for april 1st

well deserved angst post fluffy eps like 29-30

yellow isnt the king sooooo

OH GOD ARTHUR THINKS HE RUINED YELLOW

THE SOUND MIXING THIS EP IS AMAZING AGHHHHH

OH NO BELLA LORE

WHERE WERE YOU ARTHUR

DANIEL???

arthur not wanting to go to the caves what happened dude

is this like omori with repressed memories oooooohhhhh

THE WRAITH !! AND THE BABY !!

GOD BLESS THIS BABY STANCZYCK

yes arthur you didnt kill this baby !! slay !

you saved it :)

this is like a mega malevolent recap

mmmmm yellow watcha doing there

YES ARTHUR YOU HAVE AGENCY

tentacles?

OH YEAH THE LAKE SORRY MY MIND WENT ..... ELSEWHERE

oh god this is so fucking well done i love this episode !!

HIS SCREAMS GAHHHHHH THE ACTING !!

OH GOD THIS SEQUENCE WAS SO GOOD

kelling as arthur subconscious is such a good literary choice

because he took the things he loved FROM HIMSELF

HE LEFT HIMSELF TO DIE METAPHORICALLY TOO

mmmmmmmmmm i fuckign love this godforsaken podcast

not a piece of media i enjoy more

hmmmm kelling being john and also a part of arthur subconscious? i was literally just thinking about this a few hours ago

the episode still has 30 more minutes i'm scared

AUGHHH THE METAPHOR OF ARTHUR BURYING HIMSLED/KELLIN/JOHN STAND-IN

go off girl about evil

you are so hot when you're smart /hj

ahhhhhh arthur trauma is so :(((((

OH GOD BABY NO HE'S SO FUCKING HUMAN

nooooo you were moving on you werent happy she died

arthur confronting his trauma is sooo

i feel so fucking bad for arthur and he isnt even real

so youre gonna sleep. in a dream. okay ig

oh wait you meant metaphorically oh ok

KELLIN (ARTHUR'S SUBCONSCIOUS) AND PAST BEING BURIED AND HIM WISHING HE FINDS HIS GIRL

DARK WORLD ARC WHEN ????

also yes i've been saying same deck of cards, two sides of the same coin

wait who

oh larson

AHHAHAHA NEW NICKNAME ''golden boy'' ''your undefeated''

oh god

yellow being yellow but john being golden

harlan guthrie you goddamns genius

john did take away everything from arthur but gold is malleable, changeable

THE POEM HE POSTED ON TWT A FEW DAYS AGO

GOLD IS NATURE'S FIRST GREEN !!

nothing gold can stay

oh god this is beautiful

fave malevolent episode EASY FOR SURE

YOU ARE CHOOSING TO STAY OR ARE LARSON AND YELLOW ACTUALLY THERE THROUGH SPOOKY MAGIC SHENANIGANS TO TORTURE HIM

arthur married and had faroe young .........

smh larson arthur is just built different and comprehends the horror

there's a beauty in horror

yeah you tell him it's not horror

flashback??

BECAUSE THEY GOT MARRIED BECAUSE THEY HAD A KID AND WEREN'T MARRIED

HE DOESNT LOVE HER

AROMANTIC FR !!!!

oh a pity fuck?? dude

hmmmmm you cant live for someone else

it's wrong? for you? oh girl you got a big storm coming

james. new character alert.

YOURE GONNA LEAVE YOU'RE WIFE AS SHE'S GIVING BIRHT?? ARTHUR NOOOO

hmmm yeah arthur kinda deserved that

OH DAMN JAMES

BELLA WASNT THE ONLY PERSON TO LOVE HIM

he has uh..... an evil eldritch monster

god arthur you idiot you deal with it and your wife dies before you get to the hospital

faroe was alone in the hospital for a goddamn hour

no larson he was feeling silly i still love him

the hour oh goddddd

he fr does not care about bella AT ALL

AJHDSFJHEFHSJDFHJDHFGKH WALLY

he really loves insulting himself

he's so me-coded

he's over this guys you heard it here first

the demon yes i forgot about it !!

YOU COMBAT IT WITH JOHN !!

LISTEN

oh faroe :(((

oh the fics that we'll get

oh god she was so little

he cared so much for faroe AGGHHHH

SHE LIKED STORIES :(((((

''are you there troll?'' I'M SOBBING FR

oh god the game

jadhkjhfhjdfj the monster

seen WHO?

JOHN?

KIY?

YELLOW?

TENDRILSSSS

oh god no don't tell me it was throat oh okay

stomach oh my fuckingggoddd what

WHAT IS HE PULLING OUT

THE INTESTINES OUCH

THEY'RESWEET

HE WANTS TO FUCKING EAT YOU

stabbing him might free himt though

he's delirius

JOHN YES FINALLY BBG YOU'RE HERE MY BABY

i fucking knew he was sleepwalking

200 years???

how old is this woman

this thing is wow

idk why i ent the whole ep thinking it was the kiy

he's going to fucking eat you

oh god oh fuck i'll cry this episode is amazing

wait what

did he fucking get a new pet

HE'S HIS FAVOURITE????

arthur's trauma was so tasty he fucking got a fan

uh oh

this isn't any good is it

YOU CALL IT MADNESS RETURN??

NO? OKAY...

okay this episode was phenonget ready for a whole new month of ranting

[crossnamara]

distraction time! you talk about tma quite a bit, i don't really have any idea what it's actually about but from what i've heard it sounds pretty cool (feel free to go into spoilers if you want :])

OH MY GODDDD OKAY SO

the magnus archives starts as a horror anthology series narrated by the same guy (with the same name as the writer and va. jonathan sims you bastard), but it later goes into some SERIOUS PLOT SHIT. and SO MUCH OF IT IS CONNECTED. i really dont want to spoil things because its really amazing and you should listen to it, but it has some really interesting lore and character and the mc is bi and ace and there are so many queer people and there are EYES. SO MANY EYES. AND EYE IMAGERY. YOUKNOW WHO ELSE IS JUST WATCHING.

sorry. im a little insane about this podcast

and theres a SEQUALISH SERIES CALLED THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL

the yaoi archives vs the yuri protocol. sorry.

its still ongoing but its REALLY INTERESTING SO FAR. but if youre interested in tmagp, its honestly pretty important to listen to tma first. but it is oh so long. 5 seasons 200 episodes

[luci-z-wont-shut-up]

Episode 2

Bro snow in the desert is not actually that wierd

Bro. Bro u srsly need to rethink ur tourism program like what the fuck. FREE RADON FOR EVERYONE

I'm sorry but as soon as he said "it changes colors" I immediately envisioned a fuckin. Caramelldansen cloud XD

OH SO IT KILLS PPL. O K A Y .

Bro if literally Existing in Nightvale is so dangerous, how does the population stay afloat. At all.

Sounds like just a normal day in the post office tbh. Also Racist Magic Guy is starting to grow on me. His oblivious stupidity and self-sure incompetence have captivated me.

Honestly a floating cat in the men's bathroom sounds like the least abnormal thing so far. Cats are just Like That™️.

"This message was brought to you by Coca-Cola" yeah that tracks X'D

"Because all of us are normal" bombastic side eye. Criminal offensive side eye

Ah so the secret Boy Scout cult has finally achieved immorality. Good to know. Just another Tuesday ig. Also d a r k s c o u t XD

WAIT "Sign-up is automatic and random" um wat. Hi what. Does. Does this perchance have anything to do with the Ominous Helicopters

This man has *clearly* never been a father. Or had siblings. Or cousins. Ever. Maybe *don't* bring children near the Caramelldansen Cloud of Carrion?

...oh so they just have straight up dragons. Ok. Dragons who commit insurance fraud? *throws hands up* why not

"McDaniels was pulled over for speeding last night" UM SIR how big was that car?!? Actually ykw nvm it prolly just had a pocket dimension or amthn this is fuckin Nightvale why am I trying to use logic

Okay #1. Secret Dragon Society that's actually Not That Secret is kinda cool, #2. WTF DO YOU MEAN STOP SIGN IMMUNITY. like don't get me wrong I *understand the temptation* but also why would you allow dom3thing so profoundly stupid and unsafe as a r e w a r d for

... for being an Alert Citizen. Ok. Ok I guess I can kinda see where they're coming from. Maybe. [Didn't sleep well last night and I'm tired so sorry if my commentary's getting lackluster]

Also stamp system for being compliant with the secret police. Yeah that's not sus at allllll

Bro I wish I could schedule my workplace to be Unknowable some days. Dot Day sounds... ominous, for a number of reasons but more so their implications than anything actually ominous, yk?

[I need sleep]

Bro I would NOT pay $5 for a music lesson like that, let alone $50

"Bake sale proceeds go to blood space war" okay invader zim

"Wednesday has been cancelled due to a scheduling error" XD honestly w my terrible sense of time that just sounds like a normal thing to me

Tfw a your perfectly good ice cream outing is inturupted by a dead lion dropping from the sky

[Continuing this like 3 weeks l8r so sorry for the Commentary Continuity Disruption Leik Woah]

Uhhhhhhhhhh so in the weeks I've been gone I threw myself back asswards into TMA content [so yes v much Spoilers First Bc I Had No Patience] and? I am. Very much getting a Smirke's Fourteen vibe from the Carrion Cloud. Also is Mr radio man. Like. Okayyy??!?!?

AND NOW THE WEATHER

🎶Waitin for the bus in the rain in the rain in the waitin for the bus in the raiiiin 😎 🎶

Damn this is actually a legit bop I would make this new ringtone no question

(Don't get me wrong I fully expect this to have Lore implications later on but for now I'm just Vibin)

NOT SURE WHAT HAPOENED MY ASS

oh. Oh, Tapes, you say??? Well. *strokes imaginary beard*

What. The fuck? Genuine Life Advice? In my horror/weirdcore podcast? It's More Likely Than You'd Think. What. qhat even is this.

Ok so vanilla smell is Important.

This List is probably important but my brain refuses to hold onto any item in detail for longer than 3 seconds. Also "clear plastic binder sheets" made me laugh SO hard for some reason

Genuine question to anyone reading this, how much should I be paying attention? Like is this a Pepe Sylvia red-stringing sort of podcast where every detail is crucial later on, or is it more sort of a go-with-the-flow, Embrace the Absurdity sort of thing?

Why was that "Goodnight, listeners" so threatening?!?!?

*deep, deep inhale* ohhhkay

Next FUCKING EPISUDE I GUESS

[sustainably-du-mortain]

10, 11 and 12 from the ship asks for my favorite triad <3 (@ do-this-for-me)

Thank you so much for the ask!! 💖 (Oh boy! This is going to be a long one and I'm not sorry about it)

10. Do they share hobbies or interests? How do these things bring them together?

They do! One of Jonah's love languages is quality time so he loves finding things he can do with Adam and Nate. This includes:

LOTR - Jonah is a nerd™ for lotr and I hc that Adam shares the same nerdiness for it, at least for the book. They discovered this shared interest because Jonah has a whole shelf of his bookcase dedicated solely to collecting different lotr editions and other books about the universe and Adam made a comment on it and Jonah started rambling until he realized that Adam understood which scenes he was referencing while talking and they went *insert spidey meme here*. They regularly have reading dates dedicated to lotr where they annotate the book, or Jonah adds onto his already annotated copy and Adam annotates the brand new copy Jonah got him, while they share their thoughts. I also hc that they got Nate into lotr (I know N reads a ton, but lets be honest there are too many books out there, Nate just had not gotten to reading lotr yet). So they dragged Nate into it, and he's not as into it as these two are, but his two nerds are quite adorable when they get into arguments over lore. Jonah also got Adam to watch the movies (the extended versions, because that's the only correct way) and let's just say Adam got even nerdier (and a little gayer too)

Reading & baths - Okay so, Jonah isn't that big of a reader BUT he is a glutton for knowledge so when he gets into a new interest he tends to read everything he can get his hands on about said subject and he loves to share that with Nate. Especially reading in the bath. Jonah is a sucker for baths, they get him to relax and everything but that's not why he loves reading in the bath. He loves it because, weirdly, he is able to focus better on reading while taking baths. But while Jonah is a sucker for bath he's actually not really good at making it an enjoyable experience, before meeting Nate he'd just fill his tub with water and that was it, that was all he needed. So you can imagine Nate's horror when he saw him do that the first time. Nate had to introduce him to bubble paths, scented products, the whole thing. So now they regularly have reading session in the bath with a little music playing in the background, candles and a little wine.

Mechanics - Jonah wasn't really into mechanics before Adam, but he did minor in engineering, so he's always interested in how things work and seeing the inside of things. When he learned that Adam was into it, he got curious and, as I said before, not only is quality time a love language of his, he's also a glutton for knowledge, so he asked Adam to show him how all of it worked. So he loves to hang out with Adam when he's working on his car.

Tech - Now, this is an interest of his that he shares it with Nate. I know, N is bad at tech, but that's the whole reason they share this together. Jonah actually takes the time to not only teach Nate how to use everyday tech, but actually get some enjoyment out of it. He introduces Nate to audiobooks and e-readers or even podcasts.

Yard sales - Jonah goes to a lot of yard sales to expand his record collections, so he started dragging Adam and Nate with him (and Bo). He knows Nate loves antique furnitures and yard sales can be great to find just that. He also convinced Adam to come with him because you can sometimes find car pieces there. But, in reality, he just loves going on a walk with them and Bo.

And last but not least Music - So this is not something that they do together, but music is Jonah's way to express how he feels, so he ends up writing quite a lot of songs about Adam and Nate, and he sometimes shares his songs with them. Not all of them though, because singing about them in front of them makes him feel very vulnerable, so when he does sing for them this is always a very intimate moment.

Their relationship is all about bonding over a shared interest or getting to know the other through a particular interest and spending time together.

11. How do they feel about nicknames/pet names? If they like them, what pet names do they use? If they hate them, why do they feel that way?

Jonah loves pet names, but not in public. He is not comfortable with pet names being used to refer to him and with using pet names to refer to his partners in public. But behind closed doors, and in front of the other half of UB (they're the exception to the rule), he loves using them and that they're used for him. They make him all mushy.

He uses French petnames for both Adam and Nate, because he grew up speaking it and they flow naturally for him. And bonus point French makes the both of them all flustered (especially Adam).

His petname for Adam is mon amour (my love). This is a pretty standard pet name, but it fits Adam perfectly.

His petname for Nate is joli coeur (literal translation is "pretty heart", but it has two meanings in French. It was used in old French to refer to a lover/ suitor but nowadays it's used to refer to someone who is really flirty). He started using it as a way to tease Nate, especially considering its meaning nowadays, and the pet name simply stayed.

Now, while these two are the petnames he uses the most, he also uses other pretty standard ones both in French or English that he casually throws in conversations.

12. Do they have a difficult time when separated from each other, or are they fairly independent?

Jonah is a fairly independent person, so he can deal with being away from Adam and Nate, but when he can't see them he always sends them a text in the morning along the lines of "Take care of yourself today / Be careful. Have a nice day. Love you" and one before going to bed telling them about something that happened during the day, if anything interesting happened, or to tell them he loves them, just as a little reminder.

Other than that, he's not really cranky or anything if he can't see them, unless it goes on for a while and by "a while" I mean over two weeks (I'm talking deep into the relationship here). After two weeks he'll start getting a tad grumpy because he misses them.

But he's got Bo, so it helps a little when he's away from them.

Ship ask game

[croik]

I was also really upset by the Bella lore we got in season 4. That is to say, that we learned almost nothing about her as a person, and more about how the men in her life felt about her, and the ways in which they didn't think or feel about her at all. It's one thing to realize you made a mistake and find yourself in an untenable relationship. It's another for a horror podcast to go pretty far out of its way to make it clear that the protagonist, whose wife, child, and parents have already been egregiously fridged, isn't even all that upset about her agonizing and isolated death. It was more important for Arthur that the demon in his head not judge him for wanting to leave her, than it was for him to reflect on her death. And the choice the creator made to highlight that point so emphatically does say something, I think.

(oh it got long it's under a cut)

But the overall issue for Malev and women, as I see it, was really driven home by Marie at the end of part 39. Not every story needs to be about all things or all people, I don't fault the show for not having as many female side characters as men. But it is, in my opinion, fundamentally not interested in women or their stories. They exist off screen as a motivation for men, they die off screen when they are no longer needed, or when we learn that they were never needed in the first place. Which is really obvious when at the end of the multi-part side quest of Arthur hunting and battling Scratch to save Hattie, her sister Marie only wants to talk about her son.

Her sister has been confined to her room for years. Marie was willing to kill her husband to try to save him, but she wasn't willing to kill Hattie. At long last, her sister is back, she can live the rest of her life as herself. But we don't get to meet her. There's no catharsis for that rescue, because rescuing Hattie was only ever a motive of convenience for the plot. She was never a character, and Marie's affection for her disappears entirely once there isn't a need for it. Instead we get a speech about her son (who didn't exist before that moment? I don't remember if he had come up before), and a punchline about how Marie has plans to go out for the evening.

Marie's last appearance as a character is to reinforce how much she cares about having men back in her life. Not about a woman's love for her sister. Arthur absolved himself of the sin of having loosed Scratch by... well, not defeating her in any sense, but he did get Hattie back after losing her. But he doesn't care about her as a person, and neither does the podcast itself. Malev does not care about any of its women as people.

(Hell even Noel, who was in the show for all of 2 parts, spat out his entire backstory, faced his demons and came out stronger, made friends and had catharsis, got Arthur to wail over him... Scratch was around almost the whole season and we didn't get to meet Hattie at all!)

Anyway that's my take on Malev and women. It is utterly uninterested and a lesser show for it.

And I don't want to hear "it's a one man show" ever again!!! He is part of a network now, he is hosting other podcasts run by women on his discord, he has access to the best voice actors in the business. "Only me" is a rule he imposed on himself and a choice he can make or unmake at will.

Ok wait I’m not done with this. Gender in Malevolent is driving me insane.

The way that women in the narrative are so absent, that the hole is so huge you can’t help but stare into it. And I do think a lot of the gender stuff is unintentional, it’s just that the way it’s unfolding fascinates me….

I actually stopped watching the show for a full year after episode 31…. The way Arthur talked about Bella’s death upset me in a way the other visceral horror didn’t. He didn’t resent Bella, he didn’t really…. Feel anything super deep about her. He got stuck with her, she was better than him, she was an equal to him but her life and death didn’t affect him the way every other loss in his life did. He didn’t want a wife, and in the end that’s all he saw her as….

Kind of insane how he finally shows some sort of emotion for Bella in the name of mutual rebellion, she didn’t like what her dad stood for either. Arthur thought he was making a sacrifice for her and Faroe by marrying her…. But she didn’t want it either. Arthur was honour bound she was actually literally trapped. She made the sacrifice.

Everything about Bella makes me so mad. I hateeee the dead wife trope. I feel like a type of subversion was attempted but idk. When I think of this situation from her perspective it becomes a much scarier horror podcast, lol. We all know Arthur Lester is a mess, his flaws make the show. But for this one. Arty when I get u…

I actually thought Bella was gonna turn out to be a figure like Anna Stanzyck when I first started listening. Idk how to elaborate.

[quack-city]

what the fuck have you been watching

1. Pillaged custom minecraft music disc

2. Survive the internet gallery of a game i don't remember playing

3. Quackity inspired playlist

4. Shulk custom minecraft music disc

5. Door simulator 2000 minecraft story mode season 1 episodes 2-4 by technoblade

6. I've NEVER done a series like THIS before! Minecraft 3rd life SMP (pretty sure it's smajor but i don't remember)

7. A brief history of: chernobyl

8. Forcing eddy burback to drink thick water (i don't know why i still have it opened, i watched this episode when it came out)

9. BoBoBo-Bo BoBo-Bo was SO WEIRD by billiam

10. How subnautica below zero was awesome by mistake

11. I went on my first date in minecraft if im not mistaken i think its either tommyinnits video or maybe it's Quackity's love or host.... I honestly don't remember it's been there for a while (update: it's tommys)

12. Behind the scenes i bought the most haunted place on earth....... Its slimecicles but i legit was convinced that it was jacks for some reason

13. Julian casablancas + the voidz - human sadness (instrumental something something i don't remember why i have it opened

14. Despicable me - the franchise ruined by facebook

15. Why shrek the musical is hot garbage

16. Love or host with justaminx jschlatt decides edition

17. A brief history of: the tammiku radiation event 1994

18. Minecraft b-team #2: weapons n farms

19. Dream's mask was a misunderstood disaster

20. The problems with blaire white misinformation and "moderation" by TRO. I've watched a half of this video im pretty sure. Good soup btw

21. The adventures of tintin and the shadows of giants no idea tf this is

22. Chilliad gamings greatest mystery no idea tf this is either

23. Detroit become human: it's bad I've watched this one recently and forgot to close it for some reason

24. The disturbing truth behind family channels

25. Dear evan Hansen is the worst movie musical ive ever seen

26. Pipergate: a youtube rabbit hole

27. Cinderella (2021) the cursed remake nobody wanted

28. The worst commentary video on youtube

29. Instagram boomers

30. 3rd life - 01 - TREE. T. S.D.

31. Caves&cliffs || new music by lena raine & kumi tanioka (good soup!)

32. This sponge bob theory channel has hidden lore

33. Weird unban requests with jack manifold on niki's twitch

34. The quackity exclusive - chuckle sandwich podcast

35. Disturbing health&beauty fads from the victorian era

36. Until dawn: the terrifying interactive horror movie (p sure it's rtgame's playthrough)

37. Last life episode 7 - OH NOOO!

38. Beyond two souls: david cage's biggest disaster

39. glitches galore! | hermitcraft 8 | ep 01

40. Fact-checking insane articles written about me (kurtis conner my beloved)

41. The internet's unknown predator

42. I beat skyrim in VR with 500+ mods

43. The thieves guild's weird little secret (oh tes lore my absolute beloved)

44. Dream's escaped prison Tommy's twitch

45. Quackity has a sleepover with georgenotfound

46. Quackity plays new jackbox games with ranboo, Wilbur soot & more

47. Disney's FastPass: a complicated history

48. Defunctland: the history of the worst seaworld ride, submarine something something idk

49. LOST was weird: a show no one wanted to make | billiam again

50. Minecraft has splashes now?

51. Sneegsnag reacts to what pretending to be crazy looks like (my favourite series ever lmao and this one's probably one of my favourite videos from it)

52. Just opened, Sneeg's recent JCS stream

+ a couple of tabs i just opened that are basically "the best Internet privacy browser". But here are all of my current tabs. There used to be more.

[ghostbustermelanieking]

some thoughts on mag 200

i’ve been having trouble articulating this, but i wanted to get some thoughts down on mag 200, and the ending of tma as a whole, now that i’ve heard the finale twice and had some time to process it all. putting this under a cut in case people don’t wanna see it -- there’s gonna be a lot of praise here, but also some legit criticism. this is a way to sort through my feelings more than anything else.

first off, relistening to the finale, and sitting on it for a while, has made me feel a hell of a lot better about the whole thing. the episode comes off a lot better when you’re not vibrating with fear and anticipation, in my opinion. the final statement was very fitting and cool -- not my favorite ever, but i can appreciate it a lot as a final closing for the fears. and i don’t have an ear for soundscaping but the sound in that statement was cool as hell. the jonah magnus gets fucking murdered scene is incredibly satisfying. a lot of other people have said this, but i love that jon finally got his revenge, and was able to lash out against jonah for all the years of manipulation and beng used, and for tim and sasha and everything else. that was perfect. i genuinely thought we might not get a scene like this after 193 but i am so glad we did. incredibly satisfying. the girls made it out!! i am very glad that they’re ok and moving on and seem to be leaning on each other. (By God I Will Wring Found Family Out Of This Podcast If It Kills Me.) and the admiral’s okay. love that

and the jonmartin ending. oh my god. while i was never the biggest fan of the possibility of martin having to kill jon, the way it went down was so painful and good. i loved that final scene. i love the ambiguity -- that they might have died but maybe they didn’t, maybe they’re all right and happy and we can decide for ourselves -- i love that i got exactly what i wanted, that i get to have my cake and eat it too, all the angst of a jmart death and still the possibility of happiness... i am going buckwild. i love it. the longer i spend with this ending, the happier i am with it. i really really loved it

on another note... i do have some reservations about the finale and the season as a whole. i understand peoples’ irritations with the finale, and while i’m trying to focus on the things i did like, i definitely have some irritations. for one, i definitely wish the finale had been longer. i would’ve loved to see more of what wtgfs and basira were doing, and the actual lighting of the archives, etc. and while i completely understand why the scene at the panopticon went as quickly as it did -- it comes off very much as wild, frantic impulse in the heat of the moment where they’re in danger and trying to protect each other -- i do wish it had gone a little slower. 

in my mind, the biggest issue in season 5 ended up being pacing. and this might be a personal preference thing -- there’s a lot of things within the show that i don’t personally vibe with, but i don’t necessarily think they’re badly written. but i do think season 5 was slow. and while slow things can certainly work in a certain context (season 4 comes off wildly slow til you listen to 160), i wish more of what actually happened in season 5 had been baked into the end game. the season felt like it had a lot of filler, which drives me mildly crazy, because the end game feels rushed and i don’t think it NEEDED to be. i liked a lot of what season 5 did -- there’s some impeccable episodes, the character interactions are weirdly lighter and softer than they have been in previous seasons, and i wouldn’t trade a lot of the things that it’s given us (all the jonmartin interactions, jon and georgie briefly rebuilding their friendship, martin and melanie friendship, wtgfs scenes and intimacy, backstory, lore, etc) for anything. but i do think it could’ve been structured and paced a little differently. i also think it could’ve given some more screentime to the character stuff we got from episodes like 161, 170, 186, 190, 191, 192, 199... i absolutely love both martin centric monologue episodes, but i hate that we didn’t get anything like that for jon. (or for melanie or georgie or basira...) the best episodes of the season, imo, are the ones that broke from traditional form of domain statement domain, and the ones that focused in hard on backstory, lore, character introspection, character interaction... i wish we had more of this. 

when it comes to the jonmartin arc... i know this has been a point of contention with a lot of people, but i don’t hate it at all. maybe it’s just because i relistened to the majority of the season back in january, but a lot of the more grating moments that seemed large week to week (martin pressuring jon to smite people, the disagreements they had earlier in the season, jon using martin as bait in 176, etc etc) come off a lot more minor when you’re binging. personally, relistening to act i made those interactions come off as things they were struggling with through continued support and reassurance. there were absolutely things i wanted addressed, especially with the “kill bill arc” -- the disagreements early in the season, and how it seemed to turn on its head in the argument they have in 194. (i didn’t like martin blaming jon for the kill bill arc and i was hoping it would get brought up.) i also wanted to see a discussion of martin going with annabelle in 194 -- i wasn’t really ever mad at martin for doing it, but i did want to see them talk it out. 

but! after relistening to 200, i think i have a better handle on why that couldn’t have happened. martin goes behind jon’s back to go with annabelle and they don’t talk about it; jon goes behind martin’s back to sabotage the plan everyone agrees on in order to prevent the fears from spreading. if they’d had a big talk about trust, and working through martin going off with annabelle, and then jon turned around and did the same thing, more or less... it would’ve completely soured that discussion. jon and martin needed to be in a place of discourse for this ending to work. 

honestly, the more i’ve thought about this final JM arc, the better i feel about it. sure, jon and martin are in a bad place, and they’ve gone behind each other’s backs and been somewhat selfish, but i don’t think this ruins their relationship. for one, martin’s break in trust comes from a place of wanting to save jon and the world. and for another, jon genuinely feels he is doing the right thing, making a decision he can live with. (i have my own opinions as to how ethical jon’s decision was, but that’s another post. and i think the muddy ethics of this ending are on purpose -- it’s horror, a genre that often doesn’t offer ethical decisions.) their final decisions and final moments come from a place of love and protectiveness, and they change their decisions for the other. they still love each other, through all of it. i don’t think these late stage betrayals equivalate jonmartin necessarily being doomed as a couple (not that anyone has said that, but it’s worth saying). and i think it’s important to remember that this is still a relatively new relationship. it existed for approximately three weeks before the literal apocalypse, and it’s been under an immense amount of stress, as well as the constant fear that one or both of them would die. (which they did.) i’m not saying that excuses certain things they’ve said or done, but i am saying i don’t think the relationship is doomed. i think, if jon and martin have survived, they’ll need to work through things. they’ll need to talk it all out. and they’ll be able to! they’ll heal from this one way or another. the tragedy isn’t that jonmartin is doomed, or toxic. it’s that these moments of betrayal are what dooms them. and the beautiful undercurrent of it all is that they still manage to come together, and make decisions that mean they stay together. and that wherever they are, they’re still together. 

all in all, i don’t think season 5 has been perfect, and i can make my peace with that. (tma’s worst is a hell of a lot better than most shows’ best.) (i also think it might be worth considering how covid could have affected certain aspects of how the season was written -- pandemics are stressful, and i can’t imagine what it’s like to finish an enormous, in the works for years project like this in the middle of that. personally, i’m impressed they’ve managed to finish the show through all of this and keep it to a similar quality.) i think critiques are valuable and worth discussing. and i think plot aspects aside, there are several other critique related things that could be brought up about this season that people have articulated much better than i ever could. but i also, personally, want to walk away from the show feeling satisfied. i tend to be weirdly positive about things i love (the x files finale was horrendous, but i managed to get to a place where i was happy with it, for example), and i think that applies here -- even more so because i really did love so many aspects of that finale. i don’t necessarily want to linger in my own mind over what i disliked, especially considering the show is over. although i did want to air out my thoughts. 

i still love this show. i loved a lot of episodes this season, frustrations aside. season 5 will forever be my only live tma experience, and it got me through one of the worst years of my life, and i am very grateful for this. i genuinely did just want to air out my thoughts and get them all down on paper. these are just my opinions -- i don’t want to criticize anyone who feels differently about the finale, or the season as a whole. everyone’s opinion is their own. 

i feel a lot, lot better about mag 200, to the point of genuinely loving it. i hope my appreciation only grows as i get further from that frenzied first day and have more time to sit with it. and i can’t wait to see all the art and read all of the amazing fics that are going to come out of this ending (and write some of my own). it’s been a wild ride. i’m glad i was here for it.

[misstrashchan]

Hi!

I have seen you are into podcasts? I wanted to try consuming some stories in this media format because I am curious... however, I do not know much.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you!

Okay, so I don't know what kind of genres or stories you might like or be looking for, but the majority of podcasts I'm familiar with and can recommend are mainly horror, or have horror elements. So, fair warning there. (Most podcasts on this list include trigger warnings in the episode descriptions too)

The Penumbra Podcast- I'd say this is a good, safe starting point to see if you like consuming stories in podcasts. The first season started out as an anthology series for a variety of stories, ranging from sci-fi noir detective mysteries, swashbuckling westerns, haunted houses, knights slaying monsters, etc. The main premise of the podcast is "stories you've heard before told in ways you'd never expect".

There are two reoccurring storylines, Juno Steel (sci-fi/noir) and the Second Citadel (fantasy/adventure) that the show focuses on more so as it goes on and drifts away from the anthology format, but you can choose to just focus on one and come back to the other later, as the two stories are completely seperate from each other and don't need to be listened to understand the other. Same if you don't want to listen to the horror anthology episodes like Shaken and Home and would rather skip them over (though they are fantastic if you do like horror). It's very engaging, fun, diverse and energetic, and excellent voice acting and sound design. Just a good time all round.

Currently there's three complete seasons out, episode runtime ranging 30-45 minutes and a currently ongoing series. Here's the teaser:

Alice Isn't Dead- So this is just a firm favorite of mine in podcasts, hell, it's one of my favorite stories in general.  Keisha, the narrator – a truck driver who is driving across America, delivery to delivery, is looking for her missing wife, Alice. We listen to her speak into the truck radio, partially musing to herself, partially addressing Alice as though she is leaving her a voicemail describing her travels and the bleakness of the road ahead – and worse, the potential of what follows her. It's a horror, a psychological thriller and a mystery, told in short, sharp chapters. The way in which the story is told makes excellent use of the audio medium and actively incorporates it into how the story at hand is being told, which I just adore when podcasts do. (There's a book version out and it just doesn't quite hit the same mark as it does in podcast format). In general it makes for a very intense and intimate experience that just keeps you hooked all the way through.

The story is complete at three seasons with 30 episodes each with a 20 minute runtime.

The Magnus Archives- If you follow me, or if you've been on Tumblr in general, you might already have a vague awareness of this series because of how popular it is, and for good reason too. It's a completed slowburn 200 episode cosmic horror/tragedy/drama that at it's core is an anthology series, every episode being a seemingly self contained short horror story.

Given as "statements" by people who have had paranormal or esoteric encounters to the Magnus Institute based in London, which is dedicated to researching such things, is then recorded onto tapes by the narrator and protagonist Jonathan Sims, (one of my favourite tragic heroes) the newly appointed Head Archivist after his predecessors mysterious death, who appears to have purposefully disorganized the Archives, much to his annoyance. But then patterns begin to occur within the statements, characters and previous statement givers appear in other's stories as they intersect like a huge web, and it's clear that there's something much larger and sinister at play as an overarching narrative comes into view that then draws the Archivist in.

Similar to Alice Isn't Dead, the Magnus Archives makes use of the audio medium and actively incorporates it into how it tells the story with how every statement is recorded onto tapes, as well as the events of the strange happenings in the Archives that the main characters (the Archivist, his research team, and the head of the Magnus Institute) experience themselves. Though without spoiling anything, the tapes themselves have a far more relevant and a active role in not just telling the story, but as the story and world itself.

This was a passion project for the writer, Jonathan Sims, (yes that is the name of the main character which he also voices, yes it is confusing) for a long time, and you can absolutely tell with how planned out the meta plot and intricate lore is, as well as just the quality of the writing in general. It covers all kinds of horrors and explores the concept of human fear itself, our personal relationship to it, which ties into the themes of agency and humanity the series also explores.

(trailer starts at 1:00)

The Silt Verses-

Let Me Speak First of Revelations

And Next of Dark Deceit

Then I'll Speak of Champions

Of Lovers, Gods and Beasts

My Song is Long and Twisted

It Winds, it Worms, It Rends

It Carries Few, It Drowns Many

And Those I Love, It Rends

This podcast is a fairly recent newcomer compared to the rest on the list, the first season is still ongoing, with only nine episodes out so far out of its fourteen with a season two planned ahead as well (with a roughly 40 minute episode runtime) but is absolutely divine. I'm genuinely frustrated that I'm not articulate enough to properly describe just how clever this series is, and can't recommend it enough.

A folk horror/religious fantasy serial drama that follows Carpenter and Faulkner, two river worshippers of an outlawed god, travelling up the length of their deities great black river, in search of revelations. As their pilgrimage lengthens and the river’s mysteries deepen, the two acolytes find themselves under threat from a police manhunt, but also come into conflict with the weirder gods that have flourished in these forgotten rural territories.

If you like themes of religious existentialism, how capitalism will commodify everything once deemed sacred, the indescribable horrors that arise from religious fanaticism/cults, rich lore and world building and complex morally grey protagonists who act as fascinating character foils to one another, lyrical and poetic narration, an eerie atmosphere, and don't mind the occasional intense scenes of body horror, you will love this podcast.

Oh, and crabs.

(I would also highly recommend I Am in Eskew by the same writer, his previous and completed podcast at 30 episodes, about a man living day to day within the monstrous city Eskew, but as an overall story and characters the Silt Verses is the much stronger of the two.)

[emergencysurvivalkit]

Three ships: Caleb/Essek/Molly (critical role), Beau/Jester/Yasha (also critical role), and Jon/Martin (the Magnus archives) [also Sir Damian/Rylla/Lord Aram is a new favourite, I love triads at the minute]

First ship: gods no idea, probably from Buffy. Buffy/Angel -> Buffy/Faith though Willow/Tara obviously too

Last song: Low Budget Horror by RedHook

Last movie: The Eyes of Tammy Faye I think? Or the Banshees of Inisherin, think I watched both in one day

Currently reading: The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon, Piranesi by Susanna Clark, and Sandman vol 1 (I need variety xD )

Currently watching: Neverafter on dimension20 (and dirty laundry to calm down)

Currently consuming: The Penumbra Podcast (relistening to Juno and listening to the Second Citadel for the first time), the Murderbot Diaries feel like consuming cause I just need another as soon as I finish, Malevolent the podcast and Critical Role. Oh and Lore Olympus for a change from my usual horror/scifi. Also copious amounts of coffee, like so much

Currently craving: Second Citadel stories of how my favourite monster Triad is doing, more critical role episodes because arghhh need, and more time for playing DnD. Craving DnD IRL especially but it's so much harder to organise. Also forever craving a sequel to Nimona by Nate Stevenson 😭

@femgineerasolution @acemartinblackwood @booknerdcaleb @librarianlirael sorry for random tags >.< Only know like two people I'm mutuals of

Thank you @queerinyellow I love doing things like this!

3 ships: Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), Jarthur-qpr (Malevolent), Jonmartin (The Magnus Archives)

First Ever Ship: Violet and Duncan (Dunclet) from A series of unfortunate events (specifically the show)

Last song: evermore by Taylor Swift? I cant remember lmao. It might have been a Queen song

Last Movie: Summerland

Currently Reading: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuistion; The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Currently Watching: 1899, The Magicians, New Girl, Greys Anatomy, The Last of Us

Currently Consuming: in terms of media...mostly podcasts: Welcome to Night Vale, woe.begone, King Falls AM, The Amelia Project, The White Vault...I'm also obsessed with looking at fanart, especially of Malevolent. And I've started reading fanfic for the first time, it's pretty fun

Currently Craving: Garlic Butter Noodles :]

9 people you want to know better: (no pressure of course, I know some of you already 👀!) @eyes-sheep-song @eyeldritch @nightvale-is-gay @staellaris @averysaurus @brokenrecordofahuman @fivehargreaves @threearmsally @mrfroag

(I'm gonna add 2 more) @stobotnik @hello-from-the-night-archives

[arodabi]

Could you talk about horror/lore? (I personally don't listen to podcasts much because audio processing issues, but sometimes the voices are good background noise for studying and the like) idk like mysteries that haven't been solved, or the mandela effect as examples? Or conspiracies etc

Yeah actually my first episode was on the Mandela effect and glitches in the matrix! I guess my thought process for how I approach topics is I feel like it’s hard to find concise sources about strange topics. I’ve spent years reading about and listening to things concerning weird stuff but then I talk to people and I’m like “oh you know number stations” and everyone gives me a blank look because apparently I’m the only person who knows about them lol

I also have an ep on Havana syndrome which is a bit of a conspiracy theory. The only types of conspiracy theories I won’t do are probably ones that are rooted in like racism or antisemitism. So no flat earth or anything like that. I’m not here to validate any of that stuff

[bisexual-horror-fan]

okay so idk how you feel ab stranger things but if you love it as much as i do i’ve got exciting news

they gave robin a podcast called rebel robin: surviving hawkins, first episode is out now ive only heard snippets but it sounds AMAZING like it’s added hawkins lore through the eyes of everyone’s favorite lesbian and her favorite teacher, mr hauser. and it focuses more on the more average monsters in life, namely, being a lesbian in a small town in high school in the 80s (it’s the companion podcast to the ya novel rebel robin)

ROBERT ENGLUND IS APART OF THE CAST FOR SEASON TWO OH MY FUCKING GOD ROBERT FUCKING ENGLUND THE KING HIMSELF THE OG FREDDY ONE OF THE GODS ON 80S HORROR IN A HORROR SUSPENSE SHOW SET IN THE 80S HOLY FUCK

that is all <3

Hey Danny! So I love Stranger Things! Like a lot, it is such a great show and I did not hear about the podcast! I am very curious and will have to check it out and I KNOW! TINA AND I HAVE BEEN SCREAMING ABOUT THE FACT ROBERT IS JOINING THE CAST FOR THE NEW SEASON!

He is just ugh SO good, SO, SO GOOD!

He is actually been confirmed to be playing a serial killer to so you just know he is gonna end up on my character list!

[nat-20s]

i woke up at 4:30 in the morning with this messy meta about the comparative horror styles of welcome to nightvale vs the magnus archives and how i like them both very much this is not a one is better than the other post because they’re DIFFERENT but also why, personally, nightvale has freaked me out more than TMA  (the magnus archives- im gonna use the abbreviation from now on and in scientific papers u gotta ESTABLISH the acronym and it’s actually kind of annoying bc they’ll establish it ONCE in the abstract and then never say what XJFEFJDOSM or whatever stands for again so if ur like wait WHAT was that again u gotta scroll all the way back up and it’s a whole thing but I digress)   and it has to do with WORLDBUILDING and FRAMING DEVICES and USE OF SECOND PERSON and only a little bit how if a character unironically says “innit” i automatically can’t take them seriously. Anyway it’s stuck in my head so you know I had to make it your problem. Also I’m putting this under a read more bc fjsdjlks holy shit this is gonna get LONG and RAMBLY and D E E P L Y nerdy 

WORLDBUILDING, FRAMING DEVICES, AND (THE USE OF) YOU IN MANGUS AND NIGHTVALE

Part A: whose universe is it anyway? Welcome to horror where the lore is made up and the logic doesnt matter

so I am not the first or last to compare (/maybe wanna crossover a little) the worlds of

wtnv (welcome to nightvale) and TMA and like for good reason bc in many ways they feel very similar but in TMA it’s like What the FUCK is going on with all of these horrors and nightmarish scenarios I am FREAKED out where as WTNV treats it’s horrors as typically mundane which

A: plays into why when WTNV is like “remember how we’re a horror :)” it’s like OH SHIT bc if Jon Archivist is scared you’re like well yeah it’s scary out there but if CECIL PALMER, general attitude of a peppy cheerleader when facing terrors beyond imagination, is scared, you KNOW shit is FUCKED

B: isn’t entirely accurate, because I don’t actually feel like they are set in the same world. here’s where things get sticky when it comes to realities and whatnot but I do wanna stress that yes I know WTNV and TMA are both works of fictions BUT I would personally say that

TMA is set in a parallel universe:  a reality that’s similar to our own but also distinctly separate from anything that we, the audience, can witness but never participate in

WTNV is set in a hidden universe: it is set in our (the listeners) own reality, and is done in such a way that it feels like if you looked hard enough for it or if you just had a bout of bad luck or if you happen to drive down a certain road in a long stretch of US desert (side note: if there’s any real life place nightvale would be set in it’s definitely new mexico have you ever been in new mexico it’s called land of ENCHANTMENT for a reason if I drove into new mexico and drove back out a few days later and like THIRTY YEARS had passed I’d be like yeah that tracks) that you could end up in the reality of nightvale. Who’s to say there’s not a faceless old woman secretly living in your house? Are you sure there’s nothing odd in your mirror? Who can ever be sure time is working correctly?

Which brings me to

Part B: You(yes, you!)’ve Been Framed!

Listen. I fucking love a good framing device. Every time a podcast is like “here’s why the events of the story are recorded in the world of the story” I go bonkers in yonkers that shit SLAPS. TMA and WTNV both do this, but (at least up to ep 176 of TMA, this whole fuckin essay could still be blown out the water) TMA’s framing device doesn’t account for an audience, where as WTNV’s the audience is a core component

the framing device of TMA is that these spooky stories are being recorded by an archivist in order to have an audio version of written statements. Cool! It tells the audience why these recordings exist, and why they’re episodic. Later in the story, the tapes begin to spontaneously show up because of Spooky Reasons that have yet to be Fully Revealed, but it still isn’t for an audience. When Jon Archivist records these tapes, they’re basically being recorded for a Void. Yes, the tapes are originally for a potential researcher to listen to, but that ain’t you chief. You are not part of the narrative (so far at least! Again, maybe the audience will be brought into the story when it’s revealed What’s Up with the spontaneous tapes, but so far nah), there’s no in universe explanation for why you personally are listening to these stories. You aren’t present in the story, in the framing device, so you are not a part of that world.

The framing device of WTNV is that you are tuning into the community radio of a small desert town, Nightvale, that you are a part of. After all, if you are tuning into something local, you’re strongly implied to be local. Thus, we have a framing device that explains both why it’s recorded AND why you’re listening. The audience is absolutely involved in the narrative rather than a simple spectator. Cecil Palmer is not recording into a Void, he’s talking to listeners of which you are a part of. (side note: this makes nightvale liveshows SUPER fun if u get an opportunity to go to one I HIGHLY recommend it bc while there’s not ‘audience participation’ in the classic sense of like magic or comedy acts the narrative IS constructed in a way that you feel less like a witness of a story and more of a participant like the one I went to most of us pulled our legs onto out chair bc oh SHIT maybe there IS an escaped librarian under your chair making a grab for your feet SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF IS FUN AS HELL YALL)

These framing devices are enforced and enhanced upon by who the “you” in a narrative is.

In TMA, when there’s a “you” being referred to, when there’s a listener, it’s usually an in universe character. When there’s lines like “i’m sorry, that’s not what you came here to listen to” it’s not referring to you personally, it’s talking to Jon Archivist or Gertrude Archivist or Insert Archival Assistant. When TMA does use a more general “you”, it’s still in universe rather than the external listening to audience. You can include yourself as part of that general you, but it’s not inherently built into the narrative. If you want to distance yourself, you can also do that. You are not automatically in this world, even if much of it feels repeatable and/or similar

WTNV sometimes uses you to refer to an in universe character, because conversations do happen, but in the episodes where it’s like LMAO THIS IS A HORROR, the “you” and general second person is actively both discussing a known character and the listener personally. One of the most recent episodes, ep 171 “Go to the Mirror?” is a BRILLIANT example of this, where Cecil is simultaneously discussing himself and his experiences AND you as well. There’s something he can only see in the mirror, something with such sharp claws, on his shoulders, but it’s also something you personally can only see in the mirror, something on your shoulder.  You are not exempt from the story, you can’t be exempt from the story, because you’ve always been a part of it. (Also side note go to the mirror is SO fuckign good it made my heart fuckin POUND the amount of times that despite knowing it was fiction I looked over my shoulder so many times. I know a shit ton of people listened to WTNV in like 2012/13 and dropped off and felt guilty and never caught up again but like. Catch up on nightvale it’s good for body and soul and also Cecilos just keep winning)

WAY too long; didn’t read: to me personally while I LOVE both TMA and WTNV, WTNV is scarier to be because TMA feels like a story that you’re bearing witness to (also thank god british people aren’t real and were made up for the Peppa Pig Cinematic Universe), WTNV feels not just like a story that you could be in but actively already are and that makes things SPOOKY

Also this isn’t related to the essay but shout out to whoever first decided that horror narrators should have nice even voices we really all be soothed by some grisly ass stories the amount of people that fall asleep to WTNV/TMA is WILD