Jonny Sims: I am literally the worst casting for the Archivist, I apologise in advance for making you hear the voice of Jonathan Sims coming from (gestures) this body.
Also Jonny Sims: (proceeds to perfectly and amazingly embody the Archivist for 2 hours and 30 minutes)
Just wanted to congratulate you and the team on such a fantastic show and performance of The Hilltop👏🏼
There will of course be no spoilers here, but the acting, staging, story- getting to see moments of Magnus come to life in a way I thought I’d never see- astonishing and I can’t applaud you all enough!!!
Can’t wait to rewatch and relive the experiences when there’s a recording available!
Also, it was so much fun to meet Hannah, she is beyond wonderful!!!
Seeing as this is meant to be an ask and not just undying applause, without any spoilers, what was your personal favourite moment of opening night?
And thus, something terrible started… a creative collaboration that withstood a decade of twink monsters, rabid fandoms *shudder*, and horrors beyond anyone’s comprehension.
Idk i’m feeling grateful for my hyperfixations recently.
did yall know the mechs was actually an inspiration for rusty quill gaming.
specifically the album ulysses dies at dawn (he was at one of their gigs, i dont remember if this was where alex and jonny first met or not though)
i forgot which episode he said this in, it mightve been in an early qna but dont quote me on that
Simon has a completely different relationship with the world’s hopeless lack of happy little columns from Jonah, who was born in the Enlightenment and has a fondness for spreadsheets only seen in the most zealous of bureaucrats.
Still thinking of the little ways Jmart works because of their flaws rather than in spite of them. The fact that Martin tries too hard often, in a way that comes off as awkward or pushy, but that’s exactly what Season 2 Jon would have needed, for exemple, someone who kept trying hard and fussed over him despite his paranoia.
Or the way Jon might be kind, when stripped to the bones, but nobody would ever accuse him of being nice; he’s a prick, but the contrast of him (kind/prick) was what attracted Martin to him (and specifically, I’d argue, the idea of someone who’s a prick to other people would be kind to Martin specifically. Like, mommy issues and all, but I feel that’s also just the sort of fantasy that people have when they read dark romances and such).
Martin’s bitchy side goes wonderfully with what Jon might consider funny, considering his own snark and dark humour. But Jon’s workalcoholic side also works well for Martin who seemed at his most comfortable loving from a bit of a distance at times. (Thank god, in fact, that Jon loves his work so much, because considering how tender and besotted he sounded once they were together otherwise, I believe Martin would have died suffocating if Jon didn’t have something else to focus on).
also i don’t want to give spoilers to the play, and I don’t think it is per say, I just now firmly believe that those guys would loooove roleplaying being back in the Archives with Martin working as Jon’s assistant. I just know it.
There’s a different Season 4 out there where Jon, desperate to find proof that being a Fully Fledged Avatar that Eats People Trauma can still, somehow, be good in some fashion, doesn’t find Fanshawe’s letter first and therefore immediately concludes, with no shred of doubt (and with endless self-loathing because he’s mirroring, his boyfriend is ghosting him, nobody is happy he’s back, and he’s like few episodes away from jumping in a coffin being like ‘eh, it ever works or i die’) that Jonah Magnus was an evil man all along and there was never anything good to the Institute.
Maybe instead of he finds a letter from Jonah to Smirke that tells the fall of yet another of their friends, maybe a letter that, on paper, is perfectly polite, but that Jon reads with the undertone of anger and fear (you said balance is the key but prevention is doing nothing we need more knowledge, we need to understand more, Robert-). Maybe, if we want to keep it at “we never hear from Jonah directly” (which does also have sexy implications, find) he finds a letter from yet another friend who actually recalls WHAT happened the day Smirke told his buddies about all this, that shows that Jonah immediately was with Smirke on the whole “balance thing”, at least on paper.
In any case, what he finds is not a downright “oh, Jonah bad” and Jon wants to believe SO badly that he can still do some good; also he’s obsessive and doesn’t know when to quit, as we know <3 so he just keeps. finding new letters to read, which, of course, parallels his own journey, and so, of course, when we reach the final, actual reveal of Elias being Jonah, it’s just. oh. Oh.
(Side note: got distracted by the end of this post because I was reminded again that, genuinely, when this podcast is good it’s brillant, and Elias going “Exactly where they’ve always been, Martin. Watching over my institute.” is just. so. fucking good. what a delicious, perfect, satisfying reveal. I adore him so much. It’s just so perfectly dramatic. that whole scene!! THat whole episode. god. anyway. what was i saying? i don’t remember)
feeling controversial so. daisy elias fandom misogyny parallels
one is a queer woman masculinized because of the belief that violence and single-mindedness are masculine things (plus the idea that masculinity is “less work” and “less effort” and so she’d become more masculine as she becomes more dedicated to the hunt, despite that. not generally being true, Especially for people societally recognized as Men) while the other is a queer man repeatedly feminized due to his indirect control over varying aspects of the plot and treated as more incompetent because of it
literally just begging yall to acknowledge the stereotypes you’re perpetuating while posting. please. someone being violent doesn’t mean they’re masc. someone being manipulative doesn’t mean they’re feminine
Sorry to vague post but there’s criticism and being baffled at an author’s creative choice and then there’s what I just read that is just mean and horrible and what the fuck
Please touch some grass and remember that fictional characters don’t exist contrary to the real people who created them and deserve respect as fellow humans
Reminder to myself to give myself breaks between big tasks instead of expecting to do everything in succession and then not being able to do anything and then freaking out
The amount of anxiety I accumulate every time I don’t plan something properly is insane
another thing is that jon is basically in captivity for the first four seasons. he can’t quit the head archivist position so that makes him. a captive. and the archivist job is intended to make him a victim of prolonged and repeated trauma. it’s not immediately apparent because he isn’t being kept in a literal attic but figuratively he was in the attic. the attic just happens to cover his whole life. and elias is responsible for every assault (by proxy), but since his alignment with the eye, i.e. role as the watcher naturally precludes him from getting personally involved in any of it (“My inclinations, predictably, were more toward watching than doing the deed myself.” - mary keay in MAG 62), their relationship is operating on this weird and ambiguous note where jon is aware that elias is responsible for his captivity but he’s never been subjected to the experience of elias personally hurting him. he’s very condescending and paternalistic with jon (father moment) but he just won’t. do that. in s3 jon knows there are monsters out there who want to hurt and kill him, but not elias! elias is the only one he can look to for any semblance of protection, elias is the only one he can ask, “am i still human?” because you see. he has absolutely nowhere else to go.
And I think that’s partially why Jon has never truly blamed Jonah. Like rationally he obviously knows Jonah is to blame, but emotionally he never seems to acknowledge the extent of Jonah’s abuse on him.
Isn’t it interesting that when Jon confronts him at the end he’s not taking revenge for himself, but only for other people? Especially considering that in the same season he repeatedly takes revenge on other people who hurt him?
And Jonah’s lack of direct action against him plays so well into Jon’s guilt complex! It makes it so much easier for him to believe that he’s responsible for everything, which obviously makes him miserable but also ‘helps’ him to deny the fact that Jonah has literally made an object out of him (an archive, not an archivist) in order to use it for his purpose. Until he has guilt he has agency.
So he never confronts Jonah, not really, even when he’s more powerful than him! And I’ll never get over it.
elias is such a hilarious character because his whole motive is so cartoonishly evil (world domination, immortality, the whole Bringing The Apocalypse thing), yet his whole demeanor is so serious and down to earth.
elias “don’t be so dramatic” bouchard looks everyone dead in the eye and tells them that it’s very important to file their paperwork properly and if they waste company funds he’ll have to write them up and reprimand them on their next performance review.
then everyone leaves the room and he continues orchestrating the end of the world, as if financial responsibility and Ending All Humanity are tasks of equal importance and significance.
Will never be over how Jonah provided the most functional definition of humanity in the entire show (tied to physicality, mortality, and free will since those three are the things that tend to disappear when an avatar is subsumed into their entity). Not true, since a true definition of humanity is impossible and he knows it (that’s more than can be said for a lot of the “real” humans out there), but almost flawlessly functional to the purposes of the question in the context of avatarhood. He has clearly thought about it a lot and come to his conclusions.
Sorry for barging in but it’s particularly interesting that while he obviously wants to leave humanity behind by achieving immortality and a post-psychical state with the apocalypse, it remains important to him that his will is his own, to the point that in that same episode he repeats it three times.
In the last one he’s talking about jon as much as he’s talking about himself.
That’s the only way he’s trying to preserve his humanity, because it gives him the sense of agency and control that he desperately needs (and don’t we all)
Is there was a piece of media (book, movie, podcast, etc.) you wish you could have downloaded to everyone’s brain in the world? Whether that’s because you love it or you want everyone to be cursed because you experienced said piece of media…
I can’t hear this speech without crying. I think it still matters.
[For anyone confused, yes he is dressed like Hitler. It was the first time audiences had ever heard his voice in cinema and he used it to mock and condemn Fascists at a time when people weren’t taking enough action to stop them.]
Hello! I wanted to first say how AMAZING Hilltop is and how lovely it was to meet you. Your insightful answers and genuine care to answer mine and my friend’s questions was so refreshing and it’s a genuine joy to see someone who has a true love of their craft.
Although I do need to let you know that Johnny did not in fact have an immediate answer to the question, although the one he gave was again lovely to hear.
I once again ask you; In relation to the zodiac, what is your sun, moon, and rising using the fears instead of the zodiac signs
I haven’t forgotten this, this is just literally the first time I have had to sit for a moment since we spoke!
I remember this question and it is a tricky one as you are attempting to hybridise two rubrics with quite different functionalities. The Zodiac takes external context and imposes it inwards to try and articulate the self whereas the Fears are in some ways the reverse, externalising internal pressures (of fear specifically) into a broader material context. That makes for a good question but a tricky answer.
To hazard a guess from my VERY limited understanding of real Zodiac:
Zodiac element > explanation > Fears element > Reasoning
Sun > core drives > Hunt > I am obviously over ambitious
Moon > inner needs > Lonely > I secretly struggle to people
Rising > outward persona > Spiral > Equally “respectable and chaotic”
This is an interesting idea but I fear it falls foul of the problem with all personality breakdowns: it oversimplifies to better cater to the desire to comfort oneself through labelling rather than engaging in the messiness of real self reflection and it falls down at ambiguities between self-perception and perception-by-others.
In general I find these tools can be helpful when first conceptualising fictional characters but not very helpful when dealing with real messy humans.
As always sorry as I don’t think its a satisfying answer but I gave it the ol’ college try. Typical cardinal-fire Ares, Earth-snake amirite!?
