Ok I have to be honest by the time Tim died I hated him so much that I wasn’t sad and that “I don’t forgive you,” pissed me off because what don’t you forgive him for, being a victim also? Being correct about everything? Actually trying to help and change things? This is how I felt about most of the character I started to hate them because they all treated Jon like shit and dehumanized him and blamed him for everything to the point that he believed all of it, believed everything was his fault believed he was a monster to the point of opting to destroy the world and die out of the guilt instead of the possibility of giving his pain to someone else
Once again seeing people mad at John for the choice he made, going to the Panopticon before everyone else, as if that’s the “evil” choice and not an incredibly human one. He’s been manipulated his entire life, every action he’s ever made manipulated into something else no matter how hard he tried to do good, to help people. Of course he’s going to fight this horrible fate he’s been forced into. Anyway here’s a fic I wrote about his thoughts beforehand because I think he made the right choice and it’s arguably more selfish to doom innumerable worlds to save one. He saw more than anyone what sort of suffering everyone was going through, how horrific it all was. Of course he wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone else.
Realizing that in trying to keep from making any posts complaining about anything related to TMA, that I don’t really have any reason to engage in anything to do with it? Like. Part of why I cared was cause of righteous indignation. If I’m not seeing things that piss me off about people’s opinions of Jon, then I don’t really have anything to say as a whole. At least, anything that I haven’t already said MULTIPLE TIMES.
Like. The show is over. Even when TMAGP comes back and the live show is finally available for the public, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll go back to the level of fervor I was at. Like. Unless Jon ACTUALLY appears in TMAGP, then I think I’m just. Done.
the craziest conversation must have happened after mag028 because imagine you find out that your friend-crush’s ex is that one fucking asshole you just met. smallest world ever
the parallels between episodes 111 and 154 are killing me
Eric being unsatisfied and disappointed after his final statement, meanwhile Gerry finally finding his peace and being ready to die once and for all???
(also, Eric really wanted to give that statement, while Gerry was like “eh, why not”)
Eric choosing Mary over Gertrude (“at least she was honest”), and Gerry choosing Gertrude over Mary (“at least Gertrude tried to do something worthwhile”)???!?!?!?!??!?!
The Magnus Archives in Statement Chronological Order
You find yourself in an old storage unit. No one has claimed its contents so it went to the only person nearby that has an interest for old, dusty things: you. Honestly, your plan was to find interesting decor or jewlery for yourself and the rest throw away if it was too personal or too dirty to sell, but they don’t need to know that.
Without a specific plan, you pick a random big box and open it. It’s full of documents, they look official. You set them asaid for later, it seems like too much work and there are other boxes to open, but for some reason, curiosity is eating gnawing at you, What could those document be? Against your better judgment, you take the box with you when you’re leaving. it’s heavier than it looks.
At home, you start taking out the old papers and notice that all of them have a case number and a matching cassette with said case number. This could be interesting. You’ve always loved a mystery, a case.
Without reading them, you start sorting them by date and paring each document with its cassette. When you’re done, you start listening to them and find that there’s more to this story that what is written in the files…
Welcome to this experience I called: What if someone listened to the tapes in actual chronological order and had to piece what is happening in the background when it’s all mixed up.
Look. I see your butch Daisy and I understand it, but hear me out-
Daisy growing out her hair in the few months after the buried. She’d always kept it short before, for practicality. Less likely to get in the way, can’t be used against her by someone yanking it, etc. But when the hunt isn’t with her, she decides to stop caring about it. Lets it grow for the first time in decades.
Daisy who walks in to Melanie painting her nails in the break room. Melanie is still a bit unnerved by her hovering and just tells her to sit down, stop lurking in the corner. Daisy ends up with her nails painted- it’s a stupidly bright blue that she would have rejected before. Bright colors didn’t work well when you needed to lay low. But she keeps finding herself looking at them, and when it all but chips away into specks, she decides to get her own
Daisy who, when her now longer hair is getting all in her face and is about to chop it all off again out of annoyance, is sat down by Melanie, who is rolling her eyes as she shows her how to keep it back with hairspray, and throws some hair ties at her
Daisy who sees Melanie dying her hair in the archive bathroom and decides why the hell not when Melanie holds up the jar of dye in question. Basira has to do a double-take when she sees her after a week away
Daisy who still finds skirts entirely impractical, but ends up wearing them more often. If anything, she reasons, the extra fabric will hinder her, and might buy the others a couple extra seconds to run if she loses herself again. Rationalizing all of these other things similarly. Brighter colors will let the others spot her better. The hair can be used against her if she has them pinned. And if she finds herself idly swishing her hips to watch how the fabric sways, turning a bit faster so it twirls, no one needs to know
Daisy who, in those few months, finds a bit of herself in the impracticality of femininity that the Hunt would never have let her explore
was scrolling through tma on ao3 cus i wanted to find some fics and also make a part two to this post and there is. so. much. sex.
i get don’t like don’t read, i get filtering tags, i get it, but fucking hell is still annoys me that man is canonically asexual. yes asexual people can still have sex however it is explicitly stated that he specifically doesn’t. you have tim, he’s the outgoingly horny bisexual who’s sleeping with police officers for information, choose him and leave jon out of it. idk. you people have everything let the rare asexual rep be asexual.
eps 169 and 172 (that we know of) and it’s established in episode 173 that this is not necessary at all to get john out of his statement haze and that you can in fact rouse him just as quickly without causing harm at all. (presumably by gently shaking him or something but it’s unclear exactly what martin does) martin is notably unapologetic about hitting his boyfriend each time. and it took him abt 5 seconds to get to a point where he was entirely comfortable with the idea of hitting his boyfriend even in a situation where there are plenty of alternatives and plenty of time to test these alternatives (referring to 172 here specifically because id give him more grace if it happened just once while he was panicking about jude. even if he didn’t seem that panicked.)
i literally don’t understand how no-one except me seems to ever notice this 😭 like not even judgementally im just so baffled by it like can someone pls explain if they have any theories on why they missed it because like it was lowkey soooo jarring for me 😨
I usually don’t like to be super argumentative on here, but this is something I’m really tired of seeing in the tma fandom and I just need to talk about it. So here’s my long-ass rant about why the tma fandom should stop doing nsfw stuff to my sex-repulsed asexual blorbo Jonathan Sims:
1) It’s not even that hard
Although he is the main character, Jon is just one of the literal hundreds of characters in the tma world, including a whole bunch of major side characters, the majority of whom are NOT ace. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure Jon is, like, the only canon ace character in the whole show? There are so many other characters and ships who are either canonically allo or don’t have a specified sexuality. Heck TimSasha canonically had sex and it’s pretty heavily implied that the wtgfs do too, and don’t even get me started on Elias and his harem of old men. There are just so many characters and ships to choose from if you want to make nsfw tma stuff, it should not be this hard to just leave Jon out of it.
2) Your usual argument doesn’t even work here
The usual excuse I see when people sexualize ace characters is “well asexuality is a spectrum/but some ace people still have sex,” which doesn’t even work in this context? They don’t even say Jon is ace in the show, they say “Jon doesn’t [have sex]” (then Jonny clarifies Jon’s sexuality in a Q&A), confirming that Jon is in fact one of the many ace people who don’t have sex. Another argument I’ve heard is “we change straight characters’ sexualities all the time, why should this be any different?” While I see where they’re coming from, I think its much better when people do this in a way that increases representation, changing a character from a widely recognized/nonoppressed sexuality to one in the minority. I think it’s different when a character’s sexuality is switched from one minority to another, as it erases the character’s value as representation for their original sexuality.
3) Just… don’t?
Maybe just respect ace people and their choices? Yes, Jon is just a fictional character who can’t be personally offended by what you do to him, but he represents a very real group of people whose identity is constantly being erased and invalidated in a sexnormative society. Your depiction of this ace character impacts your viewers’ perception of ace people in general and can perpetuate harmful ideas about the identity. There’s a big lack of ace representation out there, and it would be great if everyone could just respect the few characters we get without forcing them into compliance with the idea that sex is required for healthy, committed relationships. Ace people can have fulfilling lives and happy relationships without sex, and I think we should celebrate that in ace characters rather than erasing it.
To sum it up, I really think the tma fandom should stop sexualizing Jonathan Sims. Aside from how easy it is for you to just leave him alone, the sexualization of ace characters in general contributes to harmful perceptions and expectations of real ace people. I don’t want to get aggressive about this, many of the people who I see doing this seem like otherwise cool people, but I wish you’d stop (unknowingly?) contributing to ace erasure with Jon. I also get how hard it can be to understand asexuality from an allosexual viewpoint within a society where sex is basically painted as the end goal of existence, but ace people are real and valid, and it is completely possible to live a fulfilling life without it. I do also see plenty of people within the tma fandom being accepting and respectful of Jon and his identity, and I really appreciate you guys! I don’t think the sexualization is even that big in the fandom, but I’ve seen it enough that I felt the need to say something.
I’m at a point where I’m so pissed about ‘asexual people can still have sex’ discourse that I’m just about to blanket state that I don’t believe that if you ever willingly had sex that you’re asexual. I’m tired of gray-asexuality being used to speak over and belittle asexuals that have never and will never fuck anyone their entire lives. Which really fucking sucks of me to feel and say but Jesus Christ I am SICK of everyone using that as an excuse to create porn of the very VERY little amount of representation in media we have.
There are so many other characters you can make porn of that doesn’t imply that every asexual person just needs the right dick or pussy to not be asexual.
shout out to repulsed aces and aros who have no safe spaces in fandom because it’s just everywhere you turn and it’s in all the fanarts and all the fanfics and all the posts except for like … 5% TOPS.
shout out for enduring the horrors every day for the few rare posts that have nothing to do with sex or romance
I usually don’t like to be super argumentative on here, but this is something I’m really tired of seeing in the tma fandom and I just need to talk about it. So here’s my long-ass rant about why the tma fandom should stop doing nsfw stuff to my sex-repulsed asexual blorbo Jonathan Sims:
1) It’s not even that hard
Although he is the main character, Jon is just one of the literal hundreds of characters in the tma world, including a whole bunch of major side characters, the majority of whom are NOT ace. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure Jon is, like, the only canon ace character in the whole show? There are so many other characters and ships who are either canonically allo or don’t have a specified sexuality. Heck TimSasha canonically had sex and it’s pretty heavily implied that the wtgfs do too, and don’t even get me started on Elias and his harem of old men. There are just so many characters and ships to choose from if you want to make nsfw tma stuff, it should not be this hard to just leave Jon out of it.
2) Your usual argument doesn’t even work here
The usual excuse I see when people sexualize ace characters is “well asexuality is a spectrum/but some ace people still have sex,” which doesn’t even work in this context? They don’t even say Jon is ace in the show, they say “Jon doesn’t [have sex]” (then Jonny clarifies Jon’s sexuality in a Q&A), confirming that Jon is in fact one of the many ace people who don’t have sex. Another argument I’ve heard is “we change straight characters’ sexualities all the time, why should this be any different?” While I see where they’re coming from, I think its much better when people do this in a way that increases representation, changing a character from a widely recognized/nonoppressed sexuality to one in the minority. I think it’s different when a character’s sexuality is switched from one minority to another, as it erases the character’s value as representation for their original sexuality.
3) Just… don’t?
Maybe just respect ace people and their choices? Yes, Jon is just a fictional character who can’t be personally offended by what you do to him, but he represents a very real group of people whose identity is constantly being erased and invalidated in a sexnormative society. Your depiction of this ace character impacts your viewers’ perception of ace people in general and can perpetuate harmful ideas about the identity. There’s a big lack of ace representation out there, and it would be great if everyone could just respect the few characters we get without forcing them into compliance with the idea that sex is required for healthy, committed relationships. Ace people can have fulfilling lives and happy relationships without sex, and I think we should celebrate that in ace characters rather than erasing it.
To sum it up, I really think the tma fandom should stop sexualizing Jonathan Sims. Aside from how easy it is for you to just leave him alone, the sexualization of ace characters in general contributes to harmful perceptions and expectations of real ace people. I don’t want to get aggressive about this, many of the people who I see doing this seem like otherwise cool people, but I wish they’d stop (unknowingly?) contributing to ace erasure with Jon. I also get how hard it can be to understand asexuality from an allosexual viewpoint within a society where sex is basically painted as the end goal of existence, but ace people are real and valid, and it is completely possible to live a fulfilling life without it. I do also see plenty of people within the tma fandom being accepting and respectful of Jon and his identity, and I really appreciate you guys! I don’t think the sexualization is even that big in the fandom, but I’ve seen it enough that I felt the need to say something.
As a local aroace aggressively agreeing with this I’d just like to add onto this with the fact I see an unfortunate amount of content specifically playing into the trope of Jon exploring sex with Martin and ‘learning to like it.’ And suggesting that the only reason he avoided it before was because he didn’t feel inclined to with Georgie specifically, downplaying their relationship/suggesting he ‘didn’t really love her’
It. Pisses. Me. Off.
Was Georgie and Jon’s relationship healthy? No, most likely not, due to the fact they were both heavily traumatized and lacked proper communication. But he still dated her, and still clearly cares for her after the fact. Just because they didn’t have sex and Jon later gets into a relationship with a man doesn’t automatically mean his relationship with Georgie ‘wasn’t real.’
It’s bi erasure on top of ace erasure and it makes me want to scream.
To be honest I can understand why y’all adamantly refuse to accept that Jon is sex-repulsed and even asexual at all. Cause otherwise you’d have to accept that Melanie outed Jon behind his back and that Georgie is petty enough to complain that they didn’t fuck to someone she knows doesn’t like him. Can’t have your precious image of them marred.
No one will believe me if I say that my opinions on TMA change depending on if the person who’s expressing their opinions I’m reading is annoying.
“Martin and Jon’s relationship is so wholesome and good!” Actually, Martin physically assaulted Jon several times while at the most Jon dismissed Martin’s thoughts and feelings.
“Martin and Jon’s relationship is toxic and not even in the interesting way.” Actually, considering that they had their own shared and separate traumas, they did pretty well to make things work.
“Basira, Georgie, and Melanie had every right to treat him how they did because of how their trauma interacts with his.” Actually, if Jon’s trauma isn’t an explanation and excuse for his behavior, then neither is theirs.
“Basira, Georgie, and Melanie should’ve shut up and let Jon eat more people’s fear cause they were okay with others doing the exact same thing.” Actually, considering how they faced the same retraumatization he did his victims, they had a right to try and stop him.
Like. I could go on. But you understand? It’s when I personally find the person espousing whatever take they are reprehensible that I am able to have a nuanced view. Cause if that person thinks something then I sure as fuck ain’t gonna agree with them.
There’s a thing I see people do with Jonathan Sims (fictional) on occasion which both amuses and infuriates me. So:
Canonically, Jon does not fuck. This is fully stated in the text. Yes, It’s as gossip about him, but it’s very reliable gossip.
Because of this, a lot of people have gone “Ah-HA! Jon is Asexual! Wonderful, good representation” and this is not a massive leap to conclusions. If a character who has been in multiple romantic relationships does not fuck, then it’s not a massive leap to say “this character is asexual.”
People learn about their asexual friends and role models and people of interest to them, and discover that some asexual people have sex for a bunch of different reasons, even if they do not experience sexual attraction. Cool! Wow learning is fun
People combine 2 and 3 and go “In my canon-accurate fanwork, asexual Jon fucks nasty”
And like yes of course do whatever you want forever But! This is a character about whom all we know of him sexually is: romantic relationships with a man and a woman; does not fuck. And this really clear asexual representation gets kinda rolled into a weird reverso where if you say “but canonically, he does not fuck” you get a sort of “oh my god asexual people aren’t all celibate open your MIND” thing thrown at you and it just bugs me.
Anyway do what you want forever but that boy does not fuck. Probably because asexual! Possibly celibate due to his own secret reasons! Definitely not an asexual who gets about, there are like, three other characters who fit that better
Do you think that just for a second when Jon was reading Elias’ statement in 160, he was taken back to his childhood reading A Guest For Mr. Spider. Do you think the words pouring out of him reminded him of looking up to a terrifyingly familiar door, that lack of control over the movements?
The thought that even in an apocalypse triggered by the Eye, the Web was right there as it always had been?
Can’t remember if I ever brought this over from my main blogs drafts but…
Wild how Jon flat out says ‘the possibility of me dying is better than sticking around here and becoming worse’. Wild how Martin points out it could kill him. Wild how both those things, then Martin berates him for having a survival instinct. Despite previously berating him about NOT HAVING A SURVIVAL INSTINCT. Which he then proceeds to continue to flip flop between being catty about how Jon does or does not care about his survival. Because. As we all know. Being suicidal is bad. But wanting to live… is also bad.
I note here that this ‘“bad”’ type of living is… bad… because it is at the detriment of other people. In which case suicide is then good? As dead people can’t exploit others? But realizing that’s your only option and attempting to follow through is bad because… I don’t know, that’s as far as this draft got.
Whatever, I’m just posting this and being annoyed that there’s genuinely nothing Jon could have done in any direction that wouldn’t make people call him a selfish, egotistical monster.
Why don’t we usually talk about the Georgie half of the JonGeorgie relationship?
Discussions of their dynamic always feel so Jon-centric. And like, yes, he is the protagonist, but it’s just… weird. I went on my rambling before about how she’s written off by the fandom as like. A segway to jmart and a plot device for Jon’s character but come on. She’s got her own thing going
It’s also the fact that any discussion I see of how their uni relationship ended 99% of the time blames Jon for how it fell apart. Did we forget that Georgie, at the time of meeting Jon, was only just getting most of her emotions back after like, a year of being numbed-out by the End? That she was probably grappling with fits of different bursts of emotion completely unrelated to Jon? Jon is a chronic under-communicator, and that likely wasn’t helped by the fact that a lot of her behavior at the time was probably unexplainable and impulsive as she relearned feeling
And this isn’t me pointing and going ‘it was all her fault boohoo’ because it wasn’t. But it also wasn’t all on Jon in the way a lot of people seem to frame it.
I could see their relationship being literally founded on a lack of clear communication. Georgie getting a rush of energy and dragging him out on some night of activities, Jon not knowing whether the intention is romantic or platonic when she’s holding his hand and laughing but not speaking up to clarify, and too many of those nights blurring together until neither of them truly knows when their first ‘official’ date was, only that at some point along the way cuddling on the couch and nitpicking the special effects in old horror movies became normal
It was never meant to be a serious commitment on either of their ends, and Jon didn’t realize he’d entered what she considered a proper relationship until suddenly she’s adopted a cat that’s supposedly theirs and is saying he should move in. And, well, he likes Georgie, has talked about wanting to own a cat, and was looking for a place for the next semester anyway, so yeah, might as well. That’s what people in relationships do, and they’re two people in a relationship. It doesn’t phase either of them too much when he spends most nights in what was supposedly their guest room.
Their relationship is casual. Easy love. She’s often the one initiating, and he’s happy to reciprocate. But from both of their ends, it lacks proper communication.
Georgie will find herself sobbing at random stupid things, or getting angry over trivial mistakes. Because she’s still not used to feeling so strongly. And it gets taken out on Jon, who, instead of trying to clarify what’s really wrong, assumes he must have done something if she’s this worked up, and shuts himself away until she calms down, because that’s the only way he’s really learned to deal with his issues. Which only makes her feel worse, because she didn’t really mean to get snippy with him, and then leads to frustration when she tries to clarify that later and he dodges around the subject
He never comes to her with problems. She wants him to, and struggles to understand why he won’t despite her repeated offers of help and reminders she won’t judge whatever’s going on. Because at this point, fear is lost to her, and despite knowing it has to be nervousness holding him back, and trying to be sympathetic to that, his constant unease is just a reminder of the part of herself she’ll never have again
She wants to be able to take his fear and soothe it. Help him work towards overcoming it. But when he won’t even take the first step in addressing it, it’s useless
I don’t think their breakup was anything dramatic. Jon wouldn’t want a confrontation, and potentially even just said a quick goodbye when the lease was up and ghosted her, thinking it a less painful end
For a while, she just sends him periodic cat photos, and he’d like them. But when he doesn’t return the effort of staying in contact, she eventually stops.
And when he shows up on her doorstep years later, a disheveled mess, for potentially the first time directly asking for her help, a favor, just a night, he swears- she isn’t about to tun him away
Of course, when he starts shutting off again, she knows fighting him on it won’t get her anywhere, so she stops
And when Melanie starts going through a similar strife, but where Jon shut away, she is actively pushing herself to open up, that’s where Georgie finds her genuine connection. In someone who she doesn’t have to push so hard with to talk to her, in someone who wants to let her help, even if she isn’t sure how
In the end, it’s why Georgie knows that despite all of Jon’s claims he’ll follow what they planned, she knows she has to have his lighter in hand as insurance. Because he’s always dealt with his conflicts internally, even with the people he cares for most. And Martin might have managed to get through more walls than her, but Jon is still Jon
She wishes she could be surprised when they find no evidence of either of them in the aftermath. Wishes she didn’t have to doubt him. But in the end, she knows him, and she was right
Her knowledge of him inadvertently was as crucial to ‘saving the world’ as Martin’s dedication to him. And that’s not talked about enough
It’s a lovely morning to remember that Jon would never have sex with anyone ever and does not find anyone physically attractive in any capacity at all.