#tma trivia

[nocteville]

So, I made a regency era uquiz earlier, and I hope it’s not too hard (and that it works properly. I’ve never made a uquiz before, and my test run seemed fine? But I still worry lol). Anyway, here it is for anyone who may be interested!

[jazzically]

the library is an archivist's grocery store. imagine jon gets hungry but he cant go around eating people's experiences anymore so he starts devouring memoirs instead and becomes the world's leading expert on every autobiography ever written

[beepbeepdespair]

this is random but as a trivia murder party enjoyer all these vagueposts for tmagp are particularly hilarious bc we call the tmp host [REDACTED] and so with all these "oh my god are we gonna meet [REDACTED]" and "they're gonna have to go to [REDACTED]" posts i'm having the time of my life imagining him just showing up in a statement and causing chaos

[ryutarotakedown]

do you miss the days when tumblr was full of trivia quizzes? do you want to read bad jokes written by my previously-a-high-schooler self on this beautiful january 1st/2nd? do you like the feeling of being beaten painfully on the head?

well then! you should take my tma uquiz :]

[elias-magnusnt]

B—Elias.

May I enquire after Barnabas's wellbeing? I, ah, understand if you do not wish to answer, considering that he rather does not wish to see me. I merely wish to know whether he is—he is well, isn't he? Please?

‐J.M ( @jonahmagnus-research )

He may be still breathing. I think most of his blood is still in him.

Also, he's got the beginning of a cavity on his upper left molar.

[lemondoddle]

Love my worm wife ❤🪱

[I.D. copied from alt: a pencil drawing of Jane prentiss from the magnus archives lying on a bed of giant writhing worms, looking at the viewer with a dreamy expression and a heart above her head. she also has one leg slightly bent with her hands resting on her midsection. End I.D.]

[orchidbreezefc]

ok. years have passed and we've had some distance, so i'm finally gonna take the leap of faith that tma fandom is finally ready to hear me on this. let's talk about tannins.

161 was the first tma episode i heard on early release, and i felt the bit where martin declines wine and cites tannins was pretty obvious in its implications. cool, got it, say no more.

imagine my surprise when i was one of maybe three people i saw read between the lines there, in a fandom famous for red stringing--a fandom that immediately caught the much less obvious thread of ignition sources in the same episode. i'll spell it out: alcohol is an issue for martin.

maybe it just felt obvious because addiction is a pet issue for me--as it is for jonny, who has said everything he writes is filtered through a lens of addiction. i don't know if that's due to his own experience or a loved one's, and i won't speculate; i also don't know if martin personally struggled with drinking or just avoids it for fear he would, but alcohol would fit what we know of his family. his dad walking out and his mum spiralling into bitter wallowing and verbal abuse? i'd bet one or both of them drank, yeah.

on a basic level martin tries to decline alcohol, and that alone should have raised eyebrows given what we know of martin and, again, a fandom that dissects everything. we already knew martin "K" blackwood lied about his personal life and his family in particular, especially pre-canon, which is when this flashback took place. i was shocked that everyone took his flimsy excuse at face value with no further questions.

and the excuse is flimsy. martin turns down wine by--nervously--exclaiming tannins are "a proven headache trigger!" which sounds like trivia from a magazine cover and not the words of someone who actually has headaches--and it hasn't come up before or since. jon, confused, points out that tea, a drink martin consumes to a degree that is memetic both in- and out-of-universe, also contains tannins, and martin squawks a panicked, "what?!"

if tannins are enough of a concern for martin that he knew they're in wine and so avoids it, why didn't he know they're in his drink of choice? why does he still drink tea at the time of canon, and why doesn't he struggle with constant headaches from consuming 'a proven headache trigger' day in and day out? why, indeed, would someone avoid wine and not tea?

when sasha insists martin drink he caves and agrees to 'just a drop'. i imagine him pouring it in a plant, which admittedly he could have done if tannins really were the issue. i will say that i, for one, would be less likely to falsely agree to something that makes me physically ill than to a private issue that i'd rather not be pressed on any further. this scene also establishes martin's birthday was an ice cream party instead of the more traditional visit to a pub.

also, this scene was in the first episode of the final season, as one of three flashbacks that could have been to any pre-canon event in the archives. prime narrative real estate. not really time one would waste on establishing the important character context that martin has... headaches. which never comes up before or after, even regarding the week he spent in spiral town. but you know what is pretty crucial character background...?

it felt like a no-brainer, and yet all i saw was h/c fluff about jon attending to martin's headaches. and i hate feeling bitter about disability representation. i want folks with chronic headaches to feel seen and have fluffy escapist fantasies. i don't want to be mad about people portraying a character with a disability. but, guys? you got the wrong disability. jonny sent a clear message, and it went over fandom's head.

[jaycewithawhy]

I saw your tags on the post about liking over sexualised female characters and PLEASE CHEEK OUT HIGH NOON OVER CAMELOT BY THE MECHANISMS!!!!! Please please check it out, if you love trans guy Mordred and tragedy that's the album for you, Mordred is played by non-binary singer Ashes O'Riley and oh my god ls their performance amazing. Also there is canon polyamory, cowboy bikers in SPACE, and I fucking cry every time I listing the last song.

Please please check it out!!! (Sorry I'm slightly insane about this band)

First of all, you are so valid.

Second of all, you are preaching to the choir. I've been obsessed with HNOC since I first listened to it back in 2016 at @mordredoforkney 's insistence. It is hands down my favorite Arthurian adaptation and favorite Mordred. The Mechs really took a bunch of my favorite Arthurian headcanons and went "what if we wrote a kickass space western with great music?" And it was awesome.

[marspumpkin]

NO ELLE ALLOWED TMA SPOILERS

this is the funniest piece of trivia on the tma wiki to me like. hes so me. i too exclusively love martin blackwood and cats

[webs4ribs]

Chillin’ with the Lads™ at Camp Magnus

(Heads up that the TMA discord that I mod for is hosting a “Camp Week” packed full of super cool daily events hosted from July 1st to July 7th and if you’re interested, you should definitely join! The link and more information can be found below the cut.)

Welcome to The Magnus Institute!

We’re a 15+ TMA community and daily live-listen discord server with over 350 members that’s here for you to make friends, chill out, and prepare you for The Magnus Protocol!

Our goal is to foster a community that can involve anyone and everyone: from hardcore TMA veterans to those who have never listened to the podcast before. We've got some epic channels that create fun spaces for artists, writers, gamers, and theorists, along with those who’re just into chilling out.

The start of Camp Week means lots of events! Feel free to join the server to check out the full schedule, but here’s a short list of some events we’ll be hosting from Saturday July 1st to Friday July 7th;

An art contest, a writing contest, quiplash games, trivia nights, presentation nights, daily campfire stories, Gartic Phone games, bracelet making, DJ sets, karaoke, a Bob Ross painting sesh, daily YouTube movie nights, among us, green screen edits, a frantic fanfic sesh, tarot readings, and more!

We’ve also set up cabins to create a little bit of camp spirit and competition! By participating in events, you’ll be able to win points for your cabin which will be tallied at the end of the week to determine who reigns supreme! You’ll be able to choose to join 1 of 4 cabins; Gertrude’s Goobers, Leitner’s Losers, Mikaele’s Malewives, and Smirke’s Seniors.

We also have a Minecraft Server dropping on the 1st along with the start of camp week! So if you’re into mining or crafting, make sure to check out the server.

I should also note that a big part of our server’s draw is the daily live listens. We’ve been listening to an episode of TMA every day since March, and as of today (the 26th), we’re on MAG 92 - Nothing Beside Remains. So, if you’d like to join us (or catch up) and listen to the last half of the podcast alongside a live chat every day at 6pm BST and 6pm PT, then we’d love to have you!

That’s about as much condensed information as I can give you without making this wall of text even thicker. If for any reason the discord link doesn’t work for you, or you’re having trouble accessing the server, just send me a DM and I’ll be happy to help you out!

Can’t wait to meet you guys! Have fun!

[crossnamara]

who wants to play my favorite game with me (you ask me weirdly specific tma trivia questions and i . answer themm)

[avatarofthetired]

Im playing a new game once again

Search “tma” in all fandom discord servers and read every related message

Search “tma” on every personality and trivia quiz site and do them all

This podcast is consuming me

[atinyladybug-art]

Ezekiel Kravitz! The Oldest Sibling out of Adam's Siblings (Making them Abirt's Uncle)

They're my TMA OC (Kravitz Family Lore is that they are everywhere in different unvierses and timeline) and they're an Avatar of the Web.

Some Ezekiel trivia:

Nonbinary [They/Them]

They molt. As spiders do.

Their hair is almost entirely made of spider silk now

Adam's oldest brother

The spider chest piece having two limbs on the head instead of the torso was a semi- accident. It's to represent how some spider species imitate ants by raising their front legs to join the ant colony (and in this case, Ezekiel pretending to be human despite being an Avatar)

Also rich but in a Morticia and Adams way. Fucking Loaded Ass.

Doesn't really kill people now. They grew out of that phase a long ass time ago (old ass) but that doesn't mean they won't. It's just that they found other ways to feed their patron without murder (Bodies can be so hard to get rid of, you know. Plus, if you kil them, you have to go out looking for more to feed on.)

[slow-writer]

TMAGP (and TMA, indirectly) Spoilers and Thoughts...

You have been warned...

I wasn't part of the original TMA crowd back when it was first airing. I'd heard mutterings of it, but never really thought much about it. To be honest, I probably wasn't mentally ready for it back then. Instead, my younger sister started listening to it last year and then kept talking about it until something she said made me go, "Y'know what? Okay. I'm in."

I ended up bingeing through it during work this past October, and holy sh*t. I fell down the rabbit hole hard. (Maybe, in this case, it would be more akin to running face first down those coffin stairs? I digress.) Being so new to it when everyone else had already been swallowed up by the sky, it was cool to dig into the Wikis that had already been made, to see the links and foreshadowing.

But now, it's the beginning of TMAGP, and I actually get to listen the day they release, to jump on here, or reddit, or tiktok, or wherever to be a part of the theorizing AS IT HAPPENS. And boy oh boy, I'm happier than Simon Fairchild in the stratosphere.

Do I have a notebook to jot down my thoughts as I listen? Of course, I do. Do I have multiple tabs open, some with ARG info, some with TMA info, and yet more with references to alchemical symbols and practices? Duh. Have I started my own spreadsheet for it all? Well, if you knew about my Lego Dimensions spreadsheet.... nevermind. Yes, I have.

But nothing beats being able to talk (or type) about it with other fans, like my sister, or those faceless avatars (lol) of the interwebs. And man, has my brain been CHURNING.

First, let me get out of the way that I wasn't able to take part in the ARG as it was happening, and my goodness! I'm so happy there are other people out there like me who were able to sum up and load it up for the rest of us to learn about. No idea how much of it will be *necessary* to unlock all the secrets, but I'm the kind who loves to know trivia just cos. And the details I am learning definitely pull me deeper.

Second, I feel like in the beginning of TMA, there was barely anything for the listeners to dig through. One guy working on behalf of an organization, trying to dig through seemingly implausible and overly spooktastic first-hand statements dating back centuries that are in crazy disarray from the previous archivist, and he's laying on a hefty helping of "this is utter balderdash, complete poppycock, and absolute piffle" opinion. It was a slow burn, something that (as an American, and being exposed to so much more instant gratification in storytelling than necessary) UK storytellers seem to be experts in, and was even more expertly done in this case, since so many little things had to eventually build up without listeners automatically assuming what would happen next, without them getting bored.

But TMAGP is already so full of so much extra stuff, so many little things (even before it was released) that we may all get BURIED in the sheer amount of data we think is vital. We're not listening to tapes this time, we're definitely listening via internet-connected devices, like computers, mobile phones, and security cameras. So, while TMA had old tape recorders magically appearing (or were they being dragged by hordes of spiders?) and switching themselves on so they could hear all the random happenings within the archive, TMAGP is no longer reliant on such hand-wavery. Whatever/whoever is listening can do so from anywhere to anyone they want. That makes the world of TMAGP

SO MUCH BIGGER.

Third, I know not everyone who listens to these things is like me (or, let's face it: us--there are so many fans doing regular deep dives on here, we should have our own categorization on the wiki). There are bound to be listeners who just leave everything at face value and wait for the story to unfold itself organically, and when it's done, it's done. But even as an adolescent, when I got into something, I did my best to listen to, watch, or read everything I could find on that very niche thing. At least for a while. (Hello, undiagnosed ADHD!)

So, I watched/listened to a couple interviews and Q&As regarding the new show prior to release. And while both Alex and Jonny have been clear saying you don't have to have listened to TMA to enjoy TMAGP, I kind of think just saying that is leading us TMA fans in a very specific direction. And I think it's very intentional, and that a lot of fans either haven't heard about it yet, or are choosing to ignore it.

They say that TMAGP is tangentially related to TMA in that there will be familiar themes, but

it's taking place in a completely different universe from TMA;

time in TMA worked differently (especially during the Entity Torturepalooza in S5) towards the end, so dates of events there may not line up with dates or events in this universe; and

the main or overarching theme is different.

In TMA, the story was "what makes a monster a monster?" As in, is there a line one crosses that they can't return from? Is it a physical manifestation, like it alters their appearance? Is it an action they have to take? And does that action have to be done willingly, or can it be coerced? Does becoming the monster to protect someone else, or to achieve a greater good... does any of that matter?

In TMAGP, they've already said that the story will be "what makes a person a person?"

The implications of that sentence are many and mind-boggling.

I first thought it had something to do with the idea of the humane (not human): kindness, empathy, compassion. The ties that bind us together as people (like being fans of a little horror podcast from across the pond) could be part of this.

But, now that we have 5 episodes out, and a metaphorical army of lore-deep-divers digging through every word and sound effect and episode title, I think we can truly start to figure out where we're heading.

Artificial Intelligence.

It struck me as I was re-listening to the first episode this morning. (I really am trying to fill out my spreadsheet in a semi-logical manner and with as many pertinent details as possible, really. That's the main reason I was doing that this morning. At least, that's what I tell myself.) We are hearing all these happenings over web-connected devices (don't think I don't see you, Alex and Jonny, and your oh-so-hilarious punning!), the OIAR employees are working on a modified business-forward version of Windows NT 4.0 that precedes Windows 95 that has a name that we interpret as 'Freddy' (or Freddie, depending on where you are in the transcripts), one of the documents from the ARG was a spreadsheet called 'Klaus' (which IS the name of the former IT guy Gwen's asking about because she heard/saw young Lena arguing with him), and we have at least 3 text-to-speech "voices" that Alice has given names (Chester, Norris, and Augustus).

All of that was running through my brain, and then I heard this passage within the first few minutes of the episode:

LENA - Nonsense. Sam is the only one who has had any cake so far. GWEN - And that was only because you practically forced it down his throat. SAM - No, no, it was… nice. LENA - People like chocolate cake.

People like chocolate cake? She didn't even ask her employees (all 5 of them at that time) what flavor they'd prefer, or if they'd want something else? No. She just knows a fact that "people" like chocolate cake, so of course, her employees--who are people--would like chocolate cake.

Almost like a computer following a logic-based workflow, perhaps?

Lots of people have been trying to figure out who in the office is the Big Bad, and many are saying Gwen just because of her ambition and her last name (Bouchard), but I think her name is a red herring. Others are saying Alice knows more than she lets on (and so many are hating on her, and I will NOT ABIDE THE ALICE DYER SHADE because I love her and I would very probably hide bodies for her) but I agree that certain things she's said are a little sus, though they really could just be her personality. I really have known some women like her, and they are some of my favorite people. (Plus, the fact that we now know that she's the most tenured employee at the OIAR--save possibly Lena--does make the brain churn some more.)

But with this line about chocolate cake, and how she was unable to join them at the pub, and how we haven't had a scene with her outside of the OIAR office, it makes me think that Lena might just be part code.

[Let me also add this really quick: I've seen A LOT of people trying to make the current episodes fit into Smirke's 14 +Dekker's 1, but I don't think the Entities as we codified them are what we're dealing with in this universe. I think trying to link everything back to that show will be a lot of wasted thought, because as they said, this isn't a direct sequel. (Do I think it's actually Jon, Martin, and Jonah--yes, Jonah, not Jurgen--trapped in the computer system? A bit, but it won't shatter my appreciation if the voices are something else entirely.)

Plus, I've seen others saying that the statements we've heard, while creepy, aren't all necessarily to do with fear. Most of them are about desires and obsessions.

The woman who wanted so desperately to see her dead husband again that she'd get scammed over and over to possibly resurrect him;

the person who wanted to spelunk an 'unsolved' site to the point of crime;

the woman who wanted to finally feel comfortable in her skin to the point of disfiguring herself;

the man who wanted so badly to climb out of his assigned station and achieve fame that he'd regularly 'feed' his violin blood from other people;

and the man who wanted to feel the same terror he felt when watching scary movies with his dad when he was a kid to the point of chasing down 'borderline illegal films' and ignoring LITERALLY ALL the red flags to the end.

I think that theory is the closest to what we may actually encounter.]

I've seen others on reddit saying they think that this series will be about the race to create the philosopher's stone--the stone that creates the elixir of life and, essentially, immortality. I think it's a valid idea. But, what if it went further than that?

Because with all the alchemical hints dropping in the show's logo, the ARG, and the 3-category system to the statements (yes, I'm keeping track) that could make one think of the spirit, the mind, and the body in alchemy....

What if they're trying to create life from software?

What if these entities or desires or whatevers have been working through some ancient busted code, feeding off statements from "real" humans experiencing strong emotions, watching the employees that work with it every single night, so they can create something as close to a human as possible from just wires and 3 decades of unreadable code?

Oh lord... it just occurred to me that--due to this being a HORROR podcast--they might need to collect a skin suit for the Not Quite Human. Is that what happened to Klaus? Ick. And now I'm hoping I'm wrong.

[a-queer-query]

@aixabi my butterfingers accidentally deleted your ask MB BUT HERES YOUR ANSWERS

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation?

Genshin Impact - pre-release fanart on instagram lol, it took me a week or two before I decided to play it after its release but it's become a reoccurring hyperfixation. Hate it sm (I love it)

The Magnus Archives - I actually don't remember but probably from tumblr fanart.

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

Genshin - During the Fontaine archon quest, when Focalors/Furina have their final dance? I CRIED. It was amazing. Also when Wriothesley did that slide while running away from the primordial seawater. I really liked Fontaine.

TMA - MAG 160 - when The Eye opens. Just the whole episode.

🎶 if your hyperfixation has songs/an ost, what is your favorite song from it?

Genshin - the Natlan battle theme goes SO hard. But a classic for me is Thunderings of the Merciless.

TMA - the calliope music from that episode where the cheating ex gets turned into a doll. I love it sm.

I'll try to find links for both of these and reblog em.

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

Genshin - Kaedehara Kazuha. I saw his trailer on YouTube and it actually got me back into the game, after a couple months of not playing it. Honestly I don't know why I like him sm, but his design is great, I love his personality, and his playstyle/kit is so damn good. He's my only limited 5 star I've gone for constellations on (as a f2p player) and I have him c2. Also got his signature weapon on his last banner.

TMA - I just answered this for the icon of a man, Joshua Gellespie. I would not have been that calm if I had a coffin crying in my living room.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

Genshin - you can pry haikaveh from my cold, dead hands, actually. They're both bisexual trust. Neuvillette is so aroace coded to me (projection 101), and him and Wriothesley are in a qpr. Definitely. In other headcanons, Xingqiu has dyslexia and half the cast has ADHD. No reason (projection 101 x2)

TMA - Elias is divorced. Doesn't matter from who. He just is. Also jonmartin is a t4t relationship.

🍀 do you have any kins or comfort characters from your hyperfixation?

Genshin - I'm a Layla kin through and through! My comfort character is Kazuha.

TMA - I don't think I have any kins or comfort characters from tma. I just like seeing them put Through The Horrors (tm)

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?

Not that I can think of atm for either.

[elias-magnusnt]

Mh? Whatever are you muttering about, Jon. I acknowledge that is not an everyday topic of conversation, but I do not think the shape of my or your head is such an inappropriate thing to discuss and gasp over. See below...

You're an oval. That's why you could stand to cut your hair a little shorter.

Bouchard.

If the Institute is in such good hands with yourself, where did it acquire that reputation of being a den of crackpots and fools? It is, frankly, enough to make even one who believes in the supernatural both discredit and fear your institution, for worry of what a lair of incompetents might do to them.

You have a silver tongue, I shall grant you that. Though, your other posting, as unprofessional as it is, will hardly give the Institute more of an air of respect. Frankly, seeing the way you speak with people here only makes its reputation worse.

If you are such a good Head, I recommend you cease to constantly make yourself look as though you are an idiot, in public. You may be, in some fashion, the Watcher's head priest, but that does not mean that you ought to disregard the eyes of the masses so, and doing so only makes you seem like a damned fool.

Yours in distaste,

A man with good reason to enquire.

I do not claim to know where in your own journey towards discovering the wider world you are, anonymous, but you seem quite naive. A sad fact of our world is that the human mind will grasp at every pretense, no matter how outlandish, before admitting the world is dark and full of terrors.

Yes, my Institute collects statements from everyone, without burden of proof, as I've found that to be the best way to get as many as possible and not miss the truly paranormal experiences. But, rest assured our research and follow-ups are nothing but rigorous and my researchers skilled and qualified (for the most part, at least. There are always exceptions where efficiency must suffer)

And none of it matters. Do you know why? Because accepting the truth is an endeavor that most will simply never get into.

Paranormal institutions are always going to be rumored dens of crackpot conspiracy theorists and fools. Because accepting they might be something more is something the general public will simply never accept.

I do wonder what your "good reason to enquire" is, however. Did any experience with my Institute give you reason to doubt us? Are you a patron of ours? Do you have a statement to give?

Are you part of the masses, or are you ready to see the truth?