Jonah Magnus is a grown man whose drive, intelligence, and strength of will I admire, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wrap him up in a blanket and give him a warm drink from time to time.
“He saw a hopeless reality and resolved to reforge the world and rebirth himself into a god just so he wouldn’t be hurt even if it seemed as impossible as defying gravity itself, which (even if I would never hurt people in real life for my goals) is a beautiful act of rebellion against the natural order, and his struggle against impossible odds is incredibly inspiring” and “he must be in constant unaddressed abject fear that he intellectualizes to the point of barely feeling anymore” are two thoughts that can coexist.
god i don’t know how ANYONE listens to mag 161 and comes away with the impression that they always thought elias was this horrible boss to secretly hate (i mean i do know, it’s memetic mutation and it bothers me), the whole thing, which is exemplified in the birthday bit, is that they were a bit nervous because, as tim said, “double boss”, but he was personable and they liked him and he put in effort to get in good with them and they not only liked having him around and felt comfortable with him (real sasha’s last lines literally included her chuckling fondly over a quirk of elias’s) but that they trusted him with stuff, whether big or small, that they trusted him to look after them (and probably why tim got so angry at elias not doing anything about jon’s season 2 behavior, cuz he trusted elias to step in) which is part of the TRAGEDY.
it’s why we AND the archival crew are meant to take it as hard as we do when we realize that he (appears to) genuinely doesn’t care about any of them and whether they live or die. it’s the classic horror trope of thinking that there’s a greater power there to save you, mrs voorhees arriving at camp crystal lake to comfort alice, only to realize that no, this is even worse, this is someone who is going to cause you harm. his switch from “good boss who cares about his employees and wants to help them and is friendly with them” to “that guy who brutally pipe murdered a dude and WILL kill/psychological destroy his employees if they defy them” is suppose to hurt the audience and it hurts the characters. it’s that horrible gut feeling of not just realizing that no one is coming to help you, but that the person you thought would do so, the person you trusted and wanted to do so, not only isn’t going to, not only can’t be bothered, but will actively contribute to the problem.
and if i see anymore “season 1 era the archive crew secretly all hate elias and thinks he sucks” fics i will start throwing bricks in the street.
So I do agree with most of this and that’s the dynamic I prefer my archives crew to have, actually. But, there is one thing that slightly bugs me. When Elias gets down to the Archives, Sasha goes “Elias?” in a slightly wary tone and i CANNOT figure out how we’re supposed to be interpreting this. Maybe her being still slightly pissed at not being promoted? Tbh I’ve been reading it as the writers retconning things slightly and making the archives crew always having been slightly wary of elias when. I don’t think that’s the vibe they should have at all…
Kind of the samey thing and I guess it could just be them being nervous but the whole interaction seemed a bit. Idk cold? Especially the “happy birthday archivist” and the fact he keeps being sorta creepy and pushing the cake bit it really seems like idk. They forced the “he’s a mind reader” bit when really he should have just been chill with them and I think they should have laughed at his jokes too.
But, yup. Definitely. Elias is a chill manager and while I don’t think any of his employees would be like, throwing their lives down for him I certainly thinks they’re comfortable with him because he knows how to inspire trust and quite frankly he has absolutely no reason to hurt them at this point. The thing with Elias is that he’s not sadistic until he’s pushed way past the limits of antagonism (like with Melanie and Martin)
Anyways the conversation in MAG39 over the fire alarm with sasha and elias is still one of my favorites he’s just so chill and proactive and so well meaning
“I’ll allow it” dude is nicer than half the managers ive had
the joy in jon’s voice whenever he puts a piece of the puzzle together is so endearing. and ofc I <3 whenever he reverently calls sth ‘monstrous’ beautiful
darlingggg. ik Elias is frothing at the mouth listening to this
the skirt in question. Tried to recreate it to the best of my ability but I’m not the most patient person when it comes to patterns😔 also him being scarless is an informed choice this is Jon if he was more Archivisty. in my head. he has less scars partially because he didn’t get as many but also because the eye healed them and turned him into what he sees as himself. This is what I hc happens in s5 too. btw. Ramblings ramblings. Anyways.
There’s nothing in this transcript that doesn’t say that although Jon is pissed at Elias, he’s still sitting in his lap. There’s definitely nothing here to refute that with every counter Jon gives him, Elias is still running his fingers through his hair because he missed him. Jon’s leaning into the touch, because he missed Elias too.
can’t stop thinking about it. of course his body would be vulnerable only to jon. I’m not the biggest fan of s5, but the fact that the core of it is centered around the two of them is nice, I think. previous four seasons were about elias making jon, and now, when jon is thoroughly broken and much stronger than his creator, he wants his revenge. their whole “you made me and I will destroy you; I’m your legacy and I will leave you with none” is very tasty. could’ve been done so much better, though. but alas
i rly dont love these but i spent too long on them to not show them!! metamorphosis project, ink on mixed media paper w cut out collage elements + white gel pen
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
I accidentally just queued this post so I need to remember to go delete that. I’m going to presume Gwen’s snippy-ness with Celia is about having just come off of a fucked up monster encounter where you may or may not have given it a hit or something, and now you need to go report to your boss about that and you have no fucking idea what’s going on.
Alice says “I can’t believe she drank your mocha” to Celia which makes me feel like the coffee interaction for Gwen was “oh, this person is showing me unexpected kindness after something awful just happened to me, not that she knows about it” and for Alice it was like “this is very awkward”
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
I accidentally just queued this post so I need to remember to go delete that. I’m going to presume Gwen’s snippy-ness with Celia is about having just come off of a fucked up monster encounter where you may or may not have given it a hit or something, and now you need to go report to your boss about that and you have no fucking idea what’s going on.
Alice says “I can’t believe she drank your mocha” to Celia which makes me feel like the coffee interaction for Gwen was “oh, this person is showing me unexpected kindness after something awful just happened to me, not that she knows about it” and for Alice it was like “this is very awkward”
Okay, episode twelve, here goes.
Oh. Does Sam have a crush on Celia? That’s disappointing.
And here comes Alice. Great.
Oh dear fucking god this case is incomprehensible in a text format.
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
I accidentally just queued this post so I need to remember to go delete that. I’m going to presume Gwen’s snippy-ness with Celia is about having just come off of a fucked up monster encounter where you may or may not have given it a hit or something, and now you need to go report to your boss about that and you have no fucking idea what’s going on.
Alice says “I can’t believe she drank your mocha” to Celia which makes me feel like the coffee interaction for Gwen was “oh, this person is showing me unexpected kindness after something awful just happened to me, not that she knows about it” and for Alice it was like “this is very awkward”
Okay, episode twelve, here goes.
Oh. Does Sam have a crush on Celia? That’s disappointing.
And here comes Alice. Great.
Oh dear fucking god this case is incomprehensible in a text format.
Just, gore central then?
This one is kind of upsetting to me, although not in a horror way.
Oh Gwen. Oh, Gwen. Poor thing just wanted a promotion and now she’s killed a man by proxy.
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
I accidentally just queued this post so I need to remember to go delete that. I’m going to presume Gwen’s snippy-ness with Celia is about having just come off of a fucked up monster encounter where you may or may not have given it a hit or something, and now you need to go report to your boss about that and you have no fucking idea what’s going on.
Alice says “I can’t believe she drank your mocha” to Celia which makes me feel like the coffee interaction for Gwen was “oh, this person is showing me unexpected kindness after something awful just happened to me, not that she knows about it” and for Alice it was like “this is very awkward”
Okay, episode twelve, here goes.
Oh. Does Sam have a crush on Celia? That’s disappointing.
And here comes Alice. Great.
Oh dear fucking god this case is incomprehensible in a text format.
Just, gore central then?
This one is kind of upsetting to me, although not in a horror way.
Oh Gwen. Oh, Gwen. Poor thing just wanted a promotion and now she’s killed a man by proxy.
Jack’s Celia’s kid. Cool.
Lena don’t talk about balance you sound like Smirke.
This one is also pretty interesting, the idea of betting against oneself. I don’t find it very scary, but I really like the concept. Then there’s a bit of Alice and Sam having a not-quite-argument.
I’m two episodes away from being caught up now!
I really don’t like Alice here. I get having jealousy issues. But come on, she’s your coworker and they’ve been on one date where they mostly talked about work.
The format used for this one was interesting until it became a different thing, I guess? I don’t care about this guy’s dad, and I don’t get why it’s suddenly addressed to him and more personal. Maybe it’d be better in audio?
Oh wait. “Rejection letters from some Institute” yeah ok. Lay it on thicker, I don’t get it yet.
Ok, next episode. Is this the one where we get knockoff Lady Dimitrescu?
Alice please stop being a git. If you wanted them to come you should’ve invited them sooner rather than attempting to override their plans. (Plans that only existed for a few minutes, but plans nonetheless.)
Also how does she eavesdrop on everyone all the time?
Oh here she is! The lady everyone keeps drawing! I like the description of her. The statement wasn’t half bad either.
Oh fuck Celia. Girl get out.
What the fuck is going on? There’s so much. There’s this interaction with Gwen and Lady Mowbray (I think that was her name?) and then Alice and her brother who I do not care about and now there’s this random thing? The transcript labels the speaker as ‘victim’ and we’re jumping in the middle of it. I guess this is a someone-got-attacked-by-an-Archivist moment? I’m honestly not very interested in this. I care more about what’s going on with Gwen.
Also, there is a lot going on to care about. We have the Gwen thing, and Sam’s Magnus stuff, and Sam and Celia and Alice who I assume we’re meant to care about. And then this too. That’s a lot of stuff.
Episode 16.
This is the one where Ink5oul comes back, I assume?
Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention but I don’t really get how Alice and Celia are friends. Maybe Celia is just a very nice coworker but “that doesn’t sound like the Alice I know” doesn’t really sound like it.
Oh dear fucking god this is the influencer one. Ok. I can do this.
Madam E does have the energy of an influencer, at least. I can’t wait for Ink5oul to do something fucked up to her.
Oh, lol, she’s here for a tattoo. A free tattoo. Ink5oul must really dislike her, huh.
This is painful. It’s just AAVE. Genuinely I keep coming back to this tab without anything to say because I don’t want to read more of this. I really hope Ink5oul has given her a deeply fucked up tattoo.
Okay, I love Ink5oul actually.
Oh holy shit, they killed her with a call out post. That’s insane. Imagine what Tumblr users could do with that. Every trans woman would die. Thats fucked up.
I agree with Gwen. It’s dumb that Lena won’t tell her shit and then gets mad at her for doing stuff she wasn’t told not to do.
When Katya said “Of course we’re in love. That’s why i tried to shoot you.” And Goncharov said “If we really were in love you wouldn’t have missed.” 😵💫😵💫😵💫
Lying in bed with nothing to do so I’m reading the TMAGP transcripts. Who the hell is Jack? Am I meant to know this guy
Oh, here comes that coffee moment that makes everyone ship Alice and Gwen. This is the only ship I actually understand.
This case is actually kind of interesting. It’s interesting that they’re re-burying people, and they’re worried about protestors. I hope it goes somewhere interesting.
Huh. Is the sea going to eat them? I’m going to be honest, I think having listened to TMA is taking a lot of the horror out of these. I already know what’s coming.
Is this tattoo another Leitner thing? You know, spooky thing gets named after guy who did it. (Or guy who put his name on it, at least.)
Oh, it looks like I was right. The sea is eating them. Or they’re giving themselves to it or whatever. Call of the void and all.
Oh Gwen’s back! Hi Gwen.
That case was kind of a nothing case. Ooh, there’s a spooky tattoo and it’s compelling you to do weird things and also there’s something in the water. Barely any buildup for a non-existent climax.
I’m not listening to the audio so I can’t tell what sort of tone Alice and Gwen have during the coffee interaction. But honestly, I don’t think I even understand why people are shipping at this stage. It’s eleven episodes. I don’t think we even had Sasha at eleven episodes of TMA. (Maybe we did. Don’t quote me on that.)
do we talk enough about how Jonah was probably listening in on Jon reading his letters and probably had shrimp emotions when Jon said “my dear Jonah”
Oh my god hello
He can’t keep doing this. He told himself he’d stop, and yet here he is, Watching as Jon cautiously picks up the statement, aware of its age and not wanting to damage any part of his Archives, and clears his throat, turning on the tape.
The Eye’s attention on him is palpable, awaiting its offering. Jon shifts a little in his seat, uncomfortable with all the attention. Jonah’s sure he’ll get used to it.
Jon speaking his name - his actual name - is still delightful and terrifying enough to have him flinch in his seat, a tiny gasp escaping him. And the way Jon says it, too: even now Albrecht’s affections for him bleed in, beyond his death and through his terror, into Jonah’s Archivist and into the Eye, and it makes hearing it all the more sweet.
The statement itself was fitting. It had been, after all, Jonah that had gotten Albrecht killed. His love was like that; everyone he’d touched had been consumed. Smirke, and Albrecht, and dear, sweet Barnabas, and now Jon too. His plans for Jon are going to ruin him anyway. Jonah can’t let his love for his Archive destroy him further.
My favourite genre of gay people is “They didn’t have bdsm sex onscreen but, bdsm elements are always lurking in the corner and haunting the narrative through thinly veiled visual metaphorical implication.”