2021-10-19 2:01:49 ¶ ●

*uses the Web to be good at chess*

2021-10-19 1:51:44 ¶ ●

What would have happened if someone who thinks of the Fears only as the fear soup, as one big fear blob, did the door-opening ritual? Because we have nice divided-up portions in Jonah’s version because he thought of the Fears in Smirke’s 14.

I guess it would be a huge mess.

2021-10-19 1:48:49 ¶ ●

You know that one statement about the funhouse mirror that led to the cursed carnival thing? That seems so much like an apocalypse domain, and it wasn’t. The resemblance was very interesting, though.

2021-10-18 17:49:11 ¶ ●

Jon has gone through so much though. Think of the TMA statement that scared you the most. The one that felt like Jonny personally reached into your psyche and pulled out your worst fear. Now imagine actually experiencing that…

and doing so 14 times. 13 of them within two years. More, really, since some entities got Jon more than once. All while reliving other people’s horrific experiences week in and week out. All while watching people’s nightmares, having them, every night.

And he also has childhood trauma. What are the effects of that, of seeing something terrible and knowing it could have been you, at just eight years old?

And that’s just mental trauma. There’s the worms that tore into his flesh and it probably never healed quite right. He got burned and he got his lungs possibly scarred from getting strangled and he got stabbed three times and he’d probably have eye damage from looking at the Dark Sun if he wasn’t an Eye avatar. He is missing two ribs, which were pulled out of him. What does that even do to you? He even straight up died at one point. (Well. Two. But don’t get me started on Season 5.)

How is he still alive? How is he still functioning? Just. How???

[slight edit to reflect the fact that he is missing two ribs and I have underestimated the man’s propensity for attracting trauma. In a post about the full scope of his trauma.]

2021-10-18 10:01:16 ¶ ●

guys don’t open any doors today

2021-10-18 6:57:33 ¶ ●

Something that’s always struck me as confusing:

“ANNABELLE

And the book breaks?

MARTIN

It’s not like you’re entertaining company.

ANNABELLE

And it’s nothing to do with the fact that any lost souls in our area also get a break from their torment? Hmmm?” (MAG 196)

A book? Not the camera? I don’t understand what book she’s talking about.

Edit: I understand now. My confusion was that I thought the book was directly influencing the people not suffering. But no. It’s just a random book.

2021-10-18 0:23:36 ¶ ●

“it would be pretty much meaningless, y’know, like… like trying to describe a… shirt by talking about the concept of colour.” (MAG 111)

*thinks about the children’s hospital color theory post*

2021-10-17 7:42:32 ¶ ●

I want to write a fic where everyone just apologizes to each other. I don’t care if it’s out of character because the archival staff are the most stubborn people alive, I want everyone to apologize and become friends.

Has it already been done? Does anyone know?

2021-10-17 7:36:06 ¶ ●

There’s got to be something to the fact that Leitner teaches Jon Smirke’s 14, and Gerry teaches Jon the fear soup theory.

Leitner, an old man who tried to do something to make himself famous and well-known and ended up ruining lives of his assistants and associating himself with cursed books. To the point that any cursed book is called a Leitner. (Supported by the wiki without reference.) Who taught Jon an old theory with strict classification systems that was ultimately flawed and wrong…

as Gerry knew. Gerry, who can’t be much older than Jon, so a millennnial. Also a goth, a counterculture movement. Also one where you dress androgynously. Accordingly, he teaches Jon the theory of the fears being like colors, if colors hated Jon—a spectrum.

Does a strict classification system being replaced with a fluid spectrum by younger people remind you of anything?

2021-10-17 4:17:58 ¶ ●

Are there any fics of an AU where Jon, Martin, and Annabelle all live together? Or something like that? Now that I made this post I want to read something like this.

2021-10-17 1:22:15 ¶ ●

You know how both Jon and Annabelle don’t really give straight answers? They’re both very vague, trying to translate all the stuff going on with the Eye or the Web that can hardly be put into words, all that?

Well, now I’m just imagining if they were friends in some AU where Jon, Martin, and Annabelle all live together. And Jon and Annabelle talk to each other in ways that no one else understands. Martin is just. So confused.

Jon: Has anyone seen my glasses?

Annabelle: Perhaps they’re on the windowsill.

Jon: Ah, yes. Thank you. That reminds me, I need to order some cupcakes for Georgie’s birthday.

Martin, very exasperated: How does that remind you of anything? What? How?

2021-10-16 7:59:07 ¶ ●

Now that I finished TMA, my brain will let me listen to other podcasts. Hopefully. Although I have so many I want to listen to, my brain can’t decide.

Also, my brain just went Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute…our ongoing mission: to explore new life and new civilizations. You get two guesses why that happened. (Yes, two. Not three or one. Go with it. You only get two. /lh)

2021-10-16 6:05:25 ¶ ●

A problem (? is it really though?) with constantly thinking about Jonathan Sims is that you see him in every other main character. It’s like, ‘hmm reminds me of Jon’ *about every character I read about*

2021-10-16 6:02:25 ¶ ●

I saw Julia Montauk’s name misspelled as Montork in a fanfic. I’m not meaning to criticize this person; I just think this is a really cool thing linguistically. (I’m dead serious about not meaning to criticize here. I really do think this is totally interesting. Trust me. I’m like this about linguistics.)

In “A Father’s Love”, Jon pronounces her name [mɑn.tɔ:k] or something close to it. The first syllable rhymes with Jon, the second with talk if you’re from Southern England*. (Ignore the underlines, no idea why they’re there.) He really does sound like he’s saying Montork and dropping the r. That’s because he’s lengthening the vowel, at least a little, which only happens before an r would be written there.

And that sound in (Jon’s) law does sound like an o, so Montork it very well could be.

2021-10-16 2:30:03 ¶ ●

Does the Eye get the color green because the cover of TMA is green and black? I assume that’s why, but I was wondering if there’s another reason.

Edit: this question has been answered. Thanks!

2021-10-16 1:38:11 ¶ ●

Well, uh…I just finished TMA. It’s weird when I already knew what would happen. It didn’t make it much less sad, though.

I almost forgot to go back and start up MAG 1 again immediately after, but I did do that. I stopped when he says ‘statement begins’. If TMA got made into a TV show or movie, it would be cool to have that play that over the end credits at the end. Just the actual podcast audio of the very first episode, quietly.

I wonder if the reason Jon changes his mind (and has Martin kill him) is because he knows Martin is going to die. “One way or another, together.” If he stays, he’ll die, and Martin won’t leave. So Jon is going to die too. I don’t know how much sense that makes, though.

2021-10-16 0:46:47 ¶ ●

In 199, Martin says that Jon explicitly said he would be fine with Martin to get chopped up by the jigsaw lady.

But

“I sent Martin to look into this ‘Angela’ character – not that I want him to get chopped up, of course, but someone had to.” -MAG 14, emphasis mine

???

2021-10-16 0:15:29 ¶ ●

In MAG 198 when Basira asks Jon why he couldn’t do a statement before he went down the ladder, and Jon says ‘that’s not how it works’, it’s the same energy as when teachers ask you why you didn’t go to the bathroom at recess, and the answer is that you didn’t have to go at recess.

2021-10-15 7:59:20 ¶ ●

something about politeness and how it’s something you have to do by social convention and the Web and Mr. Spider and it’s polite to knock

2021-10-15 4:47:27 ¶ ●

Oh yeah! I just remembered A Thought.

It’s super interesting that Jon needs, essentially, a verbal component when he does any Spooky Stuff. He compels by speaking, often Knows things more easily after he or someone else wonders about it out loud, and smiting requires a full-on incantation.

Meanwhile, no other non-Eye avatar seems to have this limitation of sorts. The coffin sings and Nikola has to dance and have music for her ritual, but I don’t think any non-Eye avatar needs to speak to call on their power.

Elias speaks to insert memories into Martin’s and Melanie’s brains. Both Jon and Elias have to speak or read statements aloud, which is probably just a requirement for the audio format anyway. Gertrude…well, we can surmise that she had the same basic powers as Jon, so she needed words too. (Probably hated that.) Gerry can Know stuff, which doesn’t really take a verbal component, but is often easier with one, as said above.

I mean, provided you were quick enough, you could just…stab Jon before he got through the smiting invocation. Now, he probably looks absolutely terrifying and godly and the avatars are terrified, but you could. In theory.

2021-10-15 2:13:37 ¶ ●

Oh yeah, I also listened to the episode ‘Scrutiny’ only now as well. I thought it would be not that interesting…for some reason?

The voice actor for 'unnamed lady Jon fed on’ was really good! I guess that’s what they all would sound like if the Beholding wasn’t keeping them coherent and calm (she was more emotional from what I remember than any other live statement givers). I guess maybe Martin’s Eye affinity (from reading statements, etc.) was just enough to get a coherent story from her, and she did ramble but only a bit.

Also Martin and Daisy were just having this great chat. Daisy is very observant, Martin’s right. It’s funny how friendly they were being, like this one non-Lonely chat in this very Lonely season.

2021-10-15 1:55:52 ¶ ●

I feel like this needs a preamble, but it doesn’t have one. Well, now this is it.

Jon went and saved Daisy from the coffin. Daisy. Who almost killed him. Who made him feel the most powerless and afraid he’d ever felt. He went in there and risked his life. He wasn’t even sure if he would make it back. But he was willing to try if it was even a little bit possible. He was going to save the woman who’d killed him.

How many people would do that? I don’t think he thought twice about it. I’m sure he knew he could very likely die. (I guess we know part of why he went down there, that he didn’t value himself enough to care. But that’s not my point right now, even if it’s a very sad one.) He went down there because he saw something worth saving in Daisy. Even if he went himself because he thought he wasn’t worth anything, he still had someone go down there and try. There was something worth saving, according to Jon, in Daisy, the woman who’d done terrible things and nearly killed him. It’s part of what makes Daisy try to change, to be better.

But he doesn’t think there’s something worth saving in himself.

2021-10-14 8:42:40 ¶ ●

Something interesting I realized recently is a big contrast between Jon and Martin or Basira: that Jon doesn’t really expect others to follow his own moral code/values, while the others do.

I guess it’s easier to show with Basira, where she’s expecting Jon to not feed on people, not be a monster as she says (implies?), because it’s wrong to her. It’s more complicated than that, really, but since it’s something she finds wrong, she likes him less for it.

Martin is mad at Jon for wanting to become the Pupil because he thinks it’s out of arrogance, when it isn’t. Maybe Martin wouldn’t do it, so he expects Jon not to.

And then we have Jon, who has very high integrity and will to do what’s right. He goes and saves Daisy after she nearly killed him, but he doesn’t expect that others should. (This is sort of evidence in its absence, so it’s a bit hard to actually prove.) I’m sure this has to do with his increasingly lowered expectations for how people should treat him, but still.

I don’t know, this sounded better in my head. It’s 10:40 PM. Maybe someone can tease out the kernel of truth in here. Because I think there is something? It’s just. HIdden.

2021-10-14 5:43:04 ¶ ●

Okay, so I assumed that Jon having really good hearing was a weird collective headcanon because I’ve seen it multiple times in fanfic by different authors. But now that I think of it

“Because what sticks out to me, more than anything else in that tape, is the very distinctive floorboard at the end.” MAG 62

maybe it’s not? It’s interesting because I at first thought that was a very interesting collective headcanon. But it might just be attested.

2021-10-14 3:09:14 ¶ ●

It’s tomorrow now! All right, this was my original post:

“What if Annabelle went Full Spooky because she didn’t want Jon to pick her option as part of her plan?”

It’s weird that she turned into some scary spider monster. Wouldn’t that make Jon want to run for his life, especially if he wasn’t the Archivist? I mean, since he has that power, he nearly uses it to kill her. This should not make Jon trust her.

She says they will expect a show and drama and stuff. Which…maybe? Jon saw Annabelle in human form already, at Salesa’s. Now, perhaps Basira would expect a scary spider monster thing. I don’t know. Perhaps she was lying. (Perhaps you know the reason I’m saying perhaps so much.)

Anyway, this would not make Jon trust Annabelle. So maybe that was her plan. It would sort of make sense what with the lighter. Because why would the lighter go to Georgie if, up until the night before, everyone was planning to do the Web’s plan? Jon could have held on to it.

But Annabelle can plan. Jon was probably never going to do the Web’s plan. So she makes sure he never does. Whether she actually wants them to try Jon’s plan and the lighter/the Web moves against her and makes it so the Web wins, or Annabelle wants to do the Web’s plan, that’s up to you, I guess. I don’t know. We never asked her what she wants to do, did we?

2021-10-13 8:04:56 ¶ ●

What if Annabelle went Full Spooky because she didn’t want Jon to pick her option as part of her plan?

2021-10-13 6:25:13 ¶ ●

I’ve never actually heard the fabric rustling noises, come to think of it. I’m on 197, if they only come after that, but somehow I doubt that. I guess I just…my hard of hearing self did not catch it? What’s an episode where there is some, so I can go and actually listen for it?

Edit: thanks to cirrus-grey, I went back and heard the fabric rustling of legend. It’s so funny because it just sounds like everything else, like all the static and SFX in the show. For some reason, I’m very impressed it sounds exactly like fabric rustling, even though it is. Literally. Fabric rustling.

2021-10-12 8:33:03 ¶ ●

I’m curious why Annabelle goes Full Spooky to talk to Jon about the Web’s plan. She says she needs to set the scene because they expect it. I guess I get that, but why would Jon be more likely to listen to a scary spider thing than a human looking person? I mean, either way, he doesn’t trust Annabelle. And didn’t he already see her human form at Salesa’s? Would Jon really expect a scary spider if that’s the case?

2021-10-12 6:59:27 ¶ ●

I love that Jon asks his kidnapper if she’s okay. Why would you do that? It’s so funny. And it’s so…very Jon, I guess. He just cares that much.

(Also he probably just wants to say something. But still. I don’t think Julia cared how he was. But Jon asked.)

2021-10-12 6:45:58 ¶ ●

I love how TMA has all the supernatural creatures in it, somewhere, just because there’s 200 episodes.

Vampires? Yes, though they’re not what you expect.

Werewolves? I mean, essentially. (Like in First Hunt)

Reanimated mummies? Yeah. (The mummified archivist)

Ghosts? Yep.

Giant spiders? Yep.

Creepy dolls? Clowns? Yes. Graveyards? Yes. Haunted houses? Yes. (Hill Top Road) Creepy children? Uh…one (1) creepy child. (Callum) Satanic cult baby? Yes. (Agnes) Psycho axe murderer? Yes. (Elias) Witches? No, actually. Although Mary Keay kinda gives off the vibes.

2021-10-12 5:20:47 ¶ ●

It is very weird, now that I listened to 181, how Martin’s just…laughing at Jon. (If you’re wondering why I’m talking about it in the midst of the 190s, I skipped it earlier.)

Jon is confused and dazed and Martin and Mikaele are just laughing about it. They’re kind of bullying him, almost. And I wonder why. It seems out of character for Martin to do that. I guess because Jon doesn’t have all that power now. But it’s not like he wanted it, or he was gloating about it.

I mean, it’s like later when he gets mad at Jon for having the plan to be the Pupil and says he just wants power and he liked smiting people. It almost seems like he’s jealous of Jon.

Maybe he sees Jon being vague and a little patronizing (which I don’t think is on purpose at all, just a side effect of knowing so much more than someone else and not being used to it) as him kind of rubbing it in that he has power and Martin doesn’t.

I mean, we don’t really see it, but Jon probably isn’t having much fun as the Archivist. All that fear is just getting downloaded into him all the time, from everyone alive. And Martin doesn’t really realize, and Jon can’t really verbalize it. I guess this could tie in with the headcanon of Martin having lower empathy, which means he has to work a little harder to think about how Jon is actually feeling. (It would seem. I’m on the higher empathy side myself so I can’t speak for him.)

But it doesn’t really excuse him laughing at Jon like that. And then saying that ‘he’ll behave’. He suddenly has camaraderie with Mikaele and they’re on the same side, against Jon. (Martin, who’s been on Jon’s side even when Jon hated him!)

Now I wonder if he’s used to allying himself with who’s in power. I mean, he worked with Peter to undermine him. He was (apparently?) nice to Jon even when Jon didn’t like him. And now Mikaele’s in power, and he starts being on his side. Maybe not. Maybe that’s a weird theory. But it’s just so puzzling to me.

2021-10-12 4:42:41 ¶ ●

I read Jon’s voice described in a fic as warm and dry like a towel just out of the dryer.

They’re so right too.

(It was a teacher!Jon fic, but I’m not entirely sure which one.)

2021-10-12 4:21:19 ¶ ●

Jon’s statement voice is like eating cereal in milk in a way that eating cereal with milk never is

Edit: Five people apparently agree with me, for some reason? Or, at least, they liked this post. If you do agree with me, can you explain this? Because I sure can’t.

Edit 2: It’s idealized cereal probably because cereal gets soggy after a few bites. But that doesn’t answer the question of why cereal. The best I can offer is that it’s crunchy. Which is not…really that helpful.

2021-10-12 3:22:07 ¶ ●

“Goodbye, Gertrude. May you find your rest where no shadows are cast, and no eyes may see you slumber.” (MAG 157)

Gertrude Robinson puts the last statement of Adelard Dekker back on her desk. Her hand shakes as she does so, though she’d never admit it. She huffs and walks out of her office, putting the file into a random folder full of statements from 19th century America, and stands there, looking at it.

She’d liked Adelard. He was always trying to do the right thing. Maybe a little idealistic, but…he was a valuable asset. Yes. That must be why she’s still thinking of the letter, when she was able to move on from Michael Shelley’s death, from Fiona Law’s, from Emma Harvey’s, quite easily. Adelard was simply…more useful than them.

She thinks of the fire that burned Adelard and the sick, decaying, stiffening bodies. Like Agnes’s fiery red hair, the desolation of loss. The Desolation seemed to be quite effective in countering other fears, she muses. Yes. That’s surely why she’s thinking of the fire that consumed him, filling the air with the rotten stench of the Crawling Rot.

She considers that she would likely do the same, immolated herself, if she had been infected. It was why she had not gone herself. It was too dangerous. She shakes her head. She’s getting sentimental in her old age.

She turns away and walks back to her office. She sits in her chair and begins to make a plan to stop yet another ritual. It would not do to stop working just because Adelard was dead.

She dreams of him burning that night. The image doesn’t leave for a long time.

2021-10-12 2:54:06 ¶ ●

“MARTIN

What? All this time, through all of this, it, it was just you spying on us?

ANNABELLE

Oh Martin. You have no idea who’s listening, do you?” (MAG 196)

This makes it sound like she’s not who’s listening. I don’t think that’s what she means, but why does she put it in present tense, as if Martin still doesn’t know?

2021-10-12 2:33:47 ¶ ●

“ANNABELLE

No.

I did it in his sleep.

He’d always been accommodating, so… I wanted to honour his wishes.

MARTIN

That’s a shame.

ANNABELLE

Is it?

MARTIN

I mean… he seemed nice. To us at least.” (MAG 196)

“MARTIN

(really?) Oh, yeah, sure; he’s probably a really kind, benevolent ruler of a hellish fear prison.

ARCHIVIST

It’s just – he helped me. Wh, When I was – (short pause) He woke me up.

MARTIN

(flat, flat, so flat) Wow. What a hero.” (MAG 168)

Martin…

2021-10-12 2:31:37 ¶ ●

Martin: “Perhaps the whole ‘answer a question with a question’ thing is wearing a bit thin”

Also Martin, after Annabelle asks a question, literally ten seconds earlier: “Are you going to stay silent the whole way?” -MAG 196

2021-10-11 19:42:19 ¶ ●

I realized recently that Gerry is the only supernatural thing (being a ghost at the time) that didn’t try to hurt Jon in the entire series, or something like that. More than that, he helped Jon. That must have meant so much to Jon. …And then he had to burn Gerry’s page. :(

2021-10-11 0:09:56 ¶ ●

Once I finally end up listening to MAG 200, I’m going to, as fast as I can, not even letting the credits roll, go back to MAG 1 and listen to it while crying. This is in all ways totally a good idea. /s but I may actually do that

2021-10-10 23:40:25 ¶ ●

My last comment on 194 is: Jonny. What in the heck was that statement. What. Apparently that was the Eye telling Jon something. But what? Also. Just what the heck, Jonny?

2021-10-10 23:07:23 ¶ ●

At least Georgie apologized to Jon for cutting him out, though. And it seems like Melanie and Jon are able to have a civil conversation at the end of 194, so that’s also good. It’s funny how well they seem to get along when trying to figure something out. United by a common goal, I guess.

also for some reason I forgot the statement in 194 was a domain statement until it was like “half of her was backwards”

2021-10-10 22:28:36 ¶ ●

On a lighter note, Jon gets very ruffled about apparently not looking holy. ??? You serve a fear god???

Also, I just think it’s very funny that the cultists decided the people most separate from the new god of the universe were prophets and not the vaguely messianistic (?) demigod who serves the Eye and can kill God Jonah Magnus.

2021-10-10 22:22:00 ¶ ●

Melanie in MAG 191 (?): just because Jon’s gone through bad stuff doesn’t mean I should be sympathetic

Me: that’s…literally why you should be sympathetic to someone

2021-10-10 22:18:35 ¶ ●

Martin is…not very nice to Jon in MAG 194, is he? I assume he’s scared of losing Jon, which is fair, but…Jon definitely didn’t like smiting people! Not really, at least. I think some part of him liked how it felt to be that powerful (I may be wrong, though), but he definitely didn’t like destroying people.

It also seems weird because it’s like their positions on stuff switched. Now Martin is saying you can’t change anything so there’s no point in Jon being the Pupil, and Jon is saying he could, possibly. I guess when Jon said they couldn’t change anything, he wasn’t thinking of becoming the Pupil, but still.

2021-10-10 5:04:00 ¶ ●

[ANNABELLE SIGHS, THEN RELEASES A BURST OF WEBBING, GAGGING HIM, AND STICKING HIM FIRMLY TO THE CHAIR] -MAG 197

I’m imagining Spiderman’s web shooters

2021-10-08 6:53:40 ¶ ●

I really want to listen to Rusty Quill Gaming but I can’t seem to actually pay attention to it. I think the people might be too hard to understand because I’m hard of hearing.

Anyone who’s hard of hearing/has auditory processing issues have tips on how I can counter that? Can I? I might try slowing it down.

2021-10-08 6:21:17 ¶ ●

I love how archivistbot makes some of the greatest dialogue. It even made its own OCs somehow? It recognizes that Jon is ace? ??? how?

2021-10-08 4:45:15 ¶ ●

I liked the bonus statement today! I had to slow it down a bit, since he talked way too fast. I don’t know if everyone had that problem. But slowing it down makes it creepier because it sinks in slowly.

The creepiest part for me is the part where it’s describing how he would say exactly the right thing to make people do what he wanted. Not so much that that could happen to me, but if I was in that situation. It would almost…scare me if I could do that. It would feel so wrong for me that it was creepy to hear about. I don’t know if that’s a weird part to find creepy.

2021-10-06 6:06:33 ¶ ●

No one ever just says Peter when they say Peter Lukas, I’ve noticed. It feels weird to say Peter. I mean, you can even get away with saying Gertrude or Jonah or Simon, other common characters that I see both names used for a lot. But no one says Peter.

Saying both a first and last name for him distances him from us a bit. Makes it more formal and detached. Which is perfect for a Lonely avatar.

Edit: going through the statement transcripts, in the beginning of the show he is called Peter Lukas far more often. He even introduces himself as Peter Lukas once. But! Then! We have many, many more instances of just Peter, mostly by Martin. Peter even tells Martin to call him Peter. Elias also calls him Peter, as does Jon a few times. Simon calls him Peter a bunch of times, I suppose from familliarity (like with Elias).

So if we take Peter Lukas vs. Peter it’s 14-63 roughly. However, if we take out mentions by Martin, Simon, or Elias, it’s 14 to roughly 12. And, again, Season 4 is where we get almost all the Peter’s and almost no Peter Lukas’s.

2021-10-05 6:53:57 ¶ ●

SIgn 2342464 that I am Eye-aligned: any time it says something like ‘smile you’re on camera’ I always look around for the camera and look into it