#the tma characters that will be present

[mossy-bonez]

I want to talk about this au. So let’s begin with the TMA characters that will be around.

Jonathan “Jon” Sims: look it’s the silly eye man our poor little meow meow. Anywho this wet cat of a man just became the pupil of the eye so his powers and connection to the eye are much greater now, I mean so long as he feeds himself properly and he’ll definitely do that, won’t he? No no he won’t, at least not at the beginning, what were you expecting Jon Sims to properly take care of himself? When has he ever done that without being forced too? Any way he still looks mostly human, I mean he has more eyes then most but he tends to keep those closed or hidden, and his eyes are such a bright green that they almost look like they are glowing(they actually are), and if you look at his skin too closely you might notice black lines that almost look like a web of shattered china, but that’s fine. Also small green eye symbol float around him, most can’t see them all the time but they may catch glimpses of them out of the corner of their eyes. Tape recorders still follow him about they feel different now though, less like they’re from someone else and more like they’re from him.he is very much the ceaseless watchers special little boy, and it fucking shows, so much favoritism.

Martin Kartin Blackwood: he is an avatar of the lonely, like he is fully an avatar now. It’s fine everything is fine, he’s just choosing not to think about it for now, that will make it go away. Any way he’s pretty much how he was at the end of season 5 bit less stressed given that he’s not currently going through the apocalypse, but he’s definitely not forcing himself to act small anymore, he is actively choosing to take up space and stop putting up pretenses. He’s here an a new universe with his boyfriend and come he’ll or high water he is going to make the most of it.

Helen: she is alive because I miss her, also I think distortion door shenaniganery would be fun. Any way he just didn’t kill Helen this time that’s all, and given how little of the distortion is human, or really ever was, she got whisked away to somewhere else as well

Monster Pig: he is my baby and he is here if I say he is, I would kill for him so he is alive and well and freed from his concrete tomb. Anyway depending on if I make this au pre or post weirdmageddon his situation is a bit different, either he replaces waddles and is babyfied, or Mable finds him in the woods and befriends him and now he is waddles’ brother. Either way new pig friend for Mable, and my boy is thriving and being lavished with love(and maybe he occasionally just eats whatever problem they are dealing with, because he is a good pig 🐖)

Simon Fairchild: I know that in canon he is left behind but you can’t tell me that this 600 year old sky grandpa was human enough to be left behind, also as a vast aligned person I can’t leave my evil grandpa behind. He is here and he is having a blast just vibing and slowly adopting any vast avatars that show up to rebuild his family.

If y’all have any other characters I can add and good reasons for them to be able to show up, I will maybe add them

Next up will be some stuff about the gravity falls side of things and a definitive decision on weather or not this is set pre or post weirdmageddon

[vulto-cor-de-rosa]

Dream blunt rotation

[totheidiot]

i am going to combat the babygirl-ification of elias bouchard by saying that he is balding. the top of his head is hairless and he has got a little ring of gray hair around his head.

[mildcicada]

[salswisteria]

As a TMA and WTNV listener only, (so far at least.) Malevolent is giving me culture shocks rn holy shit.

[under-a-lilac-moon]

this conversation had nothing to do with tma we were talking about a random teacher but i simply must bring him up everywhere

[yellowocaballero]

No Name on the Bullet was so good (so good!), breath of fresh air the fandom needed! I know you don't have anything in the works atm, but do you think you might write more trigun fanfic in the future? I'd totally understand if not but I would be so excited to see what else you might come up with.

I am truly sorry about this one, but I think I've said what I wanted to say. There's definitely Trigun stuff I'd like to do - finish up this one short story, write canon!Vash to prove that I can - but for the most part I'm satisfied with the Trigun I've written. There's things to say about the themes and message of Trigun, and I said them in a way that satisfies me.

I know it's a small handful of people out there who are writing non-ship, long, and robust Trigun stories, so I am. Indeed very sorry about this. Sometimes I feel as if so many Trigun writers are so uninterested in Trigun itself. What I wrote had like 10% to actually do with Trigun so maybe I also fall under this umbrella but imho it's more important to keep the spirit than the shape.

Maybe when/if I finally get around to reading TriMax....?? But don't expect anything soon. An ORV fic is definitely next and baby if I don't pull out all of the stops on weirdness I am disrespecting ORV's considerable efforts towards being as weird as possible.

[cleocatrablossy]

Okay. So. Grain has a ring master skin?? Like… Y’know for a circus. It’s this:

And to anyone else who’s listened to TMA and is too far into the TMA/Hermitcraft AUs on ao3… he could make a very good(or at least decent) vaguely stranger-aligned character. Especially with how he’s ‘unknown’ as the man in the chicken costume even though it’s obvious who it is. I mean sure there’s watcher stuff which fits better with the eye, but characters in TMA can sorta be influenced by two entities at once right?? And he started out in minecraft(at least according to how EVO registered skins) as a just slightly-off Link mimic. Grumbot even could be pushed a little to fall in somewhat similarly to the mechanical Turk from 116.

Plus also depending on how you take him becoming a watcher it could even be more of a ‘not-them’ scenario(sorta like the hunger au’s[by definitelynotshouting] way of Grian becoming a watcher- but he’s just killed and replaced outright instead of it being a parasite) and he gets pretty into the theatrical elements of the life series.

Also just the general thing of void eyes and a soul-linked waffle head. And being a watcher but still acting as a player. Just being ever so slightly… off. And the waffle being connected to his being as seen with the whole Mumbo is a potato thing.

Plus since the stranger can dip into the spiral in the antics around it, it could fit with the Mooners and the door stealing(either as something to do with the overlap or due to the stranger and spiral not getting along) and maybe even the rift shenanigans

Like there’s more but it’s 3am so I’ll probably come back to this later

And there are also probably entities that fit him better but this would be fun

[screechingsandwichhologram]

Just realized you like tma, that’s so cool! Who’s your favorite character?

YEAAH !! i've liked tma for like. two years ish now it's my fav podcast !!

also my favorite character is either helen distortion or mike crew , though i also really like sasha <33

[mifithemuffin]

Do you like to do character analysis? Are there any characters you'd like to ramble about?

THANKS FOR INDULGING MEEE

I have such an intense brainrot about Daisy from TMA rn!!!! I'll try to not go too deep into specifics to avoid spoilers but

I'm so so weak for feral characters wallowing in their animalistic rage!!

when a complicated character is reduced to nothing but unapologetic bloodlust, when all they know is the thrill of the hunt. tearing someone else's throat using your teeth, being forced to lose your humanity and succumbing to something so familiar, so prominent in your veins that it feels like the second nature to you. or rather the only nature you really have.

Daisy tics all of the boxes for me: her wrath is ferocious, unrestrained, she uses some fucked up moral code to justify her killings but it doesn't cover her actions up, not in the slightest. I love seeing her elbow deep in someone else's guts, I love how she's going for the most brutal kills just because there's nothing gracious in The Hunt, nothing intricate or sophisticated. she inflicts as much pain as she can in the most inhumane ways possible just for the sake of it. she doesn't know any better. all her life she barely knew anything else.

I love the idea of the humans, at the very core, being mere animals!! just predators and prey, no other categories

also there's something about a woman not confirming to the societal standards and going rampant instead, fully expressing her rage when there are literal centuries of teaching us the opposite.

I love feral women covered in blood!!!! I support women's wrongs!!!!

[noclosertoheavenmp3]

Sometimes I think about daisy tma fandomization and just seeth with rage

[theleanbean]

My tma discourse is that I didn't care for Michael both as the Distortion and as his own character dude showed up for 5 seconds and then died Twice

My second tma discourse is that the Distortion isn't your friend and never was. By changing faces from Michael to Helen the Distortion was able to break down everyones walls into trusting it because no one trusted Michael. I wish that Helen Distortion had been given a chance to backstab the protagonists beyond saying that she would try to prevent Jon from stopping the protagonists and a single line from Melanie.

[teddyqd]

{ID - art of a lean person with brown skin and dark brown hair (with grey streaks. they are wearing a purple sweater vest over a white shirt, as well as round gold-framed glasses. they sit at a table, poised in thought next to a large tape recorder and a book. END ID}

Hi Jonny, if you don't mind I have a question about the TMA TTRPG! So I noticed that on the player's guide there's this guy, who my friends and I assumed is probably Jon. If it is him, is this a canon design, or more like some of the non-canon stuff that's in the merch?

So, I hope you don't mind if i use this ask to go a bit off on one. I'm not specifically dragging you (I'm actualy glad you asked, as I've thinking about posting on the topic), but all the discussion around the RPG art and how "official" or "canon" it might be is, to my mind, slightly silly.

First up, is it "official" art? I mean, yeah, its art for the officially licenced Magnus Archives RPG. This means Monte Cook Games have commissioned someone to do a beatiful illustration broadly based on some aspect, episode or character from the podcast and it goes in the book. But that's kinda all it means. "Official" is a legal distinction, not an artistic one. The fact that it's in an official product doesn't make it any less one artist's cool interpretation of a character that has only been vaguely described in audio.

Second, is it Jonathan Sims the Archivist? I mean, it's probably based on the idea of him, but it's certainly not set in stone. When we were first discussing art with MCG, we advised that character pictures be more vibes-based and not explicitly tied to specific people (ie. a portrait inspired by Tim wouldn't be captioned "This is Tim" and wouldn't be placed opposite a profile for Tim Stoker, archival assistant.) This was mainly because we wanted the artists to have plenty of freedom to interpret and not feel too tied down by the need to know everything about the podcast. But, to be frank, it was also because we know that there are a few fans out there that are kinda Not Chill about what they've personally decided these characters look like and can get a bit defensive over depictions that differ.

It strikes me as particularly strange to be having this discussion about art that's for a roleplying game book. Something that's explicitly and solely designed to give you the ability to play in your version of the Magnus universe. The idea that this is the thing where we'd for some reason try to immutably establish unchangable appearances for these characters would be pretty funny if some folks weren't taking it so seriously. Similarly ridiculous is the idea we could reasonably have said to MCG "We'd love for you to make a huge beautiful RPG book of our setting... Just make sure you don't depict any of the iconic characters or events from it!"

But... is it "canon"? Now, to my mind, this highlights a real weakness in a lot of fandom thinking around "canon", which is that it generally has no idea what to do with adaptations. All adaptation is interpretation, and relies on taking a work and letting new creatives (and sometimes the same ones) have a different take on it. Are the appearances of the Fellowship of the Ring in the LOTR movies "canon"? How much, if at all, does that matter? Neil Gaiman's book Neverwhere was originaly a 90s BBC series made with a budget of 50 pence; is anyone who makes fanart of Mr Croup that doesn't look like the actor Hywel Bennet breaking canon? What about the novel that describes the character differently? Or the officially licenced Neverwhere comic where he looks like neither of them? Which is his "canon appearance"?

Canon is an inherently messy concept, and while it is useful for a creative team trying to keep continuity and consistency within a creative work, for thinking about anything beyond that it tends to be more hinderance than help.

Anyway, all this is to say that the above picture and all the others in the RPG are exactly as canon as every other picture you've ever seen of the Archivist.

[windmill-ghost]

Want to think of what to call the version of Jon in the AUpocalypse because he is also kind of a distinct thing. He has mannerisms and motivations distinct from the previous version.

[noahnopesbest]

A short guide to my favourite characters (please bear in mind that these are applicable to more than a single person)

Mildly (or not) deranged blond

✨Fabulous✨ hair

There’s no such thing as too tall™️

Older gentleman (and by ‘older’ I mean ‘in or around their forties’~ except in one specific instance where I actually mean like really old)

What the everloving fuck is wrong with you? (affectionate, but with the tiniest hint of exasperation)

Haven’t they been through enough bullshit already? Haven’t they?!

My father is a rat bastard

Pretty lady who could kill me without breaking a sweat

Intimidating murder machine vibes on the outside, big softie on the inside

Resident braincell owner

My feelings about you are conflicted (as in ‘for some reason I like you, but given half a chance to punch you in the throat I would take it in a fucking heartbeat’)

And then the extremely specific

Saw him and my brain went “this is a you problem now” (I’m looking at you, Present Mic)

Man after my own heart (Dino Nuggies X Drake)

And

Actual polar bear (I mean, this one is pretty much self explanatory, isn't it?)

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

Relistening to Checking Out, and I’ve always liked this scene in particular, as it is one that’s very open to interpretation.

I believe, from what I’ve seen personally at least, one or the most common interpretations is that Helen’s observation is either incorrect, or intentionally misleading, and that Jon’s response actually stems from touch aversion, or a degree of it, attributed to his trauma, particularly moments where he’s been left helpless and at the whims of others. E.g. Kidnapped by the Circus, almost killed by Daisy etc. And while I think this interpretation is both interesting and plausible, I don’t think I’ve seen much for the opposite interpretation, which is that Helen’s observation is correct.

It can be difficult to talk about Jon’s humanity sometimes, as there’s a lot of nuance and layers to cover. The fact is, Jon, especially in season five, does not completely think like a human. He is simultaneously a painfully human character such with deep compassion and guilt and self-loathing, while also being a being of immense knowledge who sees and understands the world in a different light, and in a way no one else can possibly comprehend, which has to be very isolating all things considered.

As with everything in TMA, Jon makes a choice, and his choice is to end the apocalypse, to stay with Martin, and to stay as human as he possibly can. We know from Annabelle that had she have taken Martin, who is presumably acting as one of his main anchors to humanity, Jon potentially would have snapped completely, the final push over the edge as she puts it. It has to be a difficult thing for him, to try and balance his existence when he is so fundamentally changed, and when this world naturally feels right to him, and you could argue that him snapping at the mother here is simply his instinct, being what he is.

He is The Archivist, the meant-to-be Pupil of the Eye, one of the most important beings present, and so it makes sense there’s almost an instinctive detachment from the victims. He is meant to Watch them, and Watching means no physical interaction. By touching him, the mother has broken this barrier, and so, instinctually, he reacts — with anger, notably.

I’d say it’s meant to contrast how we see him acting prior to the touch, where he seems genuinely sympathetic with the mother, and he is trying to help in what little way he can. Because before she touches him, that gap between Watched and Watcher is still firm in place, and so he can handle that.

Bearing in mind, I haven’t re-listened to the rest of season five with this, so I may have missed something.

I also think both interpretations can co-exist too, and that could be just as interesting to explore. Either way, I find that, with Jon, it’s important to consider his status in the Eyepocalypse and his nature vs his choices, although, his nature vs his choices goes for the whole series I think, as choice is such a consistent theme in TMA and in the Avatars.