2025-03-07 8:16:17 ¶ ●

Every single ship with Jon has chemistry and an interesting dynamic except for jmart. This is truly heartbreaking

2025-03-09 8:04:59 ¶ ●

##

This isn't really an argument but I've been thinking about it a lot - Mike crew was killed too fast too soon- Daisy irritates the crap out of me and Jon's hate towards her is more than justified - Sasha was killed too soon- I don't have the energy to plead all my cases and again I'm just about willing to see any other options

To be perfectly honest i didn’t even notice Mike Crew died when I first listened. I found that out only when I joined the fandom.

I don’t really have a strong opinion on Daisy, but from what I can remember her story and development are quite interesting. She hurt Jon terribly and he’s the only one that understands her. He tossed himself into the coffin in order to save the person that wanted to kill him. Two monsters, discarded by everyone, united together. And the whole thing with Basira liking the Hunt in Daisy, and becoming colder towards her when she was free of it? Delicious.

I read somewhere that Sasha was killed just because the voice actor had to leave for some reason. I don’t remember what it was tho. But I think it’s actually cool that the killing happened so soon - because of that I completely missed it and had the full Jon experience of him finding it out.

2025-03-11 19:10:06 ¶ ●

It’s really odd to me that in s5 the canon doesn’t really utilize the fact that Martin is also an avatar. He got tossed into the Lonely, got marked by it, got his own domain in the eyepocalypse, but that was it! The rest of the time he’s just hiking through the Fearscape. Feels like wasted potential to me.

Especially since this fact could be used for further jmart bonding. Sharing their experiences of feeding the Fears etc. But the narrative made Martin completely unaffected by his avatarhood, just so he could be that oh so necessary anchor for Jon’s humanity. They should’ve both gotten a bit more monstrous. It would’ve made them worse but also infinitely more delicious.

2025-03-11 23:43:54 ¶ ●

##

ive seen your jmart hate and analysis (and i think its starting to sway me), so i ask you… how do you feel about jon/gerry ?? ik they only have one episode together but even then (to me) their chemistry was so good, plus how gerry seems to be FAR. more accepting of jon’s avatarhood than martin in s5. for example when gerry asks “do you like it?” in reference to Compelling people and his role as archivist and jon replies “i suppose i do,” gerry doesnt seem phased at all. he rolls with it. and dont even get me started on jon promising to burn his page.

also if you dislike jon/gerry i wont attack <3 im just a big fan of them hoping to discuss . if you dont like them, who do you ship jon with (if anyone)?

Ooooohhhh. JonGerry. JonGerry my beloved. Imo best Jon ship cause they fit together so perfectly.

Gerry is almost a polar opposite to Martin (especially concerning their respective relationships with Jon). He was practically raised among the Fears. They’re his reality. His entire life was dedicated to them - from tracking down Leitners and disrupting the rituals with Gertrude, to being Eye-aligned himself. He is painfully aware of the Fears’ impact on the world, and, more importantly, the people around him.

He and Jon would work really well together, both as friends and as partners, because when it comes to it they’re quite similar.

Both Jon and Gerry were used by others for nearly the entirety of their lives. Jon was a puppet of the Web since he was a little kid, being subtly nudged and poked so that eventually he would become the Archivist and doom the world; he was also manipulated by Elias during his time in the Institute. Gerry was a tool for his mother; being isolated from his peers because of his upbringing, he had no choice but to become involved in her work. He hunted down Leitners, at first for her, and, when he realized the degree of Mary’s selfishness, he begun to seek them out in order to destroy them. Later, when he met Gertrude and started working at the Institute, once again he became the assistant; and while Gertrude was significantly kinder to him than Mary, he still ended up getting used and discarded.

Gerry hated his mother for her obsession with the Leitners, but couldn’t run away from her because she raised him in the knowledge of the Fears. Because of that no other person could understand him or his point of view, so he had no choice but to stay. Jon grows to hate Elias because he’s the one who (indirectly) caused him to become a monster, and yet Jon still would turn to him for help and advice because only Elias ever truly understood him.

Gerry would be much more accepting of Jon’s avatarhood because he himself had a very similar experience, and thus he’d be capable of understanding him, sympathizing with him, and not just call him a cruel monster like most of the cast. He would be able to understand Jon at his worst, and thus be capable of appreciating him at his best. Other people see Jon’s human side as the only part that’s truly “him” (“How much of you is even left now?” - The Jon that Martin is in love with and Avatar Jon are regarded as two different people), but Gerry would actually have knowledge of how the Fears work. He would be aware of how much the “human” Jon and “avatar” Jon are intertwined. He would see Jon as a whole. He wouldn’t divide the man into “pre-avatar” and “post-avatar” categories, because he knows it doesn’t work like that. He knows that it wasn’t Jon’s fault he became an avatar, and wouldn’t blame him for it.

To summarize I think they’re perfect for eachother. They get eachother so well ughhh. Can’t really say much about their interaction because I don’t remember it that well, but I recall it being significantly smoother than whatever Jon had going on with Martin.

2025-03-13 18:49:35 ¶ ●

I’m going to try and see something

Your favourite person from the Archives crew?

Jonathan Sims

Tim Stoker

Martin K. Blackwood

Sasha James

Melanie King

Alice “Daisy” Tonner

Basira Hussain

Elias Bouchard

Rosie Zampano

See Results

2025-03-15 10:03:46 ¶ ●

The Eye being fond of Martin is really strange because it implies the Watcher has Jon’s wellbeing in mind.

This kind of reasoning contradicts everything we were told about the Fears before that. If Martin hadn’t been with him, wouldn’t Jon have given in to his urges more and therefore been more useful to the Eye? Why would a man that constantly bashes Jon’s avatarhood be in any way worthy of appreciation of an eldritch being that feeds on the very fear Jon extracts? This just doesn’t make sense.

This bit feels like it was tossed in to patch up the whole “the Fears won’t hurt you as long as you’re with me” thing. It’s just there to make the ship seem cute bc “the Eye approves of it! The Eye is a JMart shipper haha!”

2025-03-15 11:34:46 ¶ ●

The whole “ceaseless watcher’s special little boy” thing that people love so much misses the whole point the podcast made. It seems cute but the fans make it seem as the only reason Jon became an avatar - because the Eye liked him. And that takes away the tragism of his character. The fact that he did absolutely choose this path, even if it was unknowingly. The fact he would’ve always ended up as the Archivist because of the way he is.

2025-03-15 14:11:52 ¶ ●

Very few people realize how tragic post s5 jmart would actually be. Provided they really end up Somewhere Else, Jon possibly would’ve been freed from the Eye. He would be without the thing that made him the person he knew himself as. Having to find himself again. Not even knowing if he has the strength to do so.

Imagine how Martin would’ve reacted to that. At first he would be happy with it - after all, it’s the Beholding-less version of Jon that he grew attached to. But after some time he would realize how little of that Jon is actually left. How much of Jon’s very being was intertwined with the Eye, and is now lost forever. A part of your beloved is dead and you will never get it back, not as you had known him.

Still, that helpless Jon would be Martin’s favourite Jon. He could finally dedicate his time to taking care of him, just like he always wanted. His perfect little scenario of them living a domestic life could finally be realized.

The thing is, Jon doesn’t like being weak and helpless. He had always taken care of himself, and he can do it just fine. It’s mental support that he needs. Those “monsters” may be gone, but the Fears, their statements, the suffering - they all linger in his mind still.

But Martin has already left those events behind. He doesn’t want to go back to them, because why would you want to relive those awful moments? You’re fine now! Here, I’ll make you some tea. It will make you feel better. Just try to sit down and relax.

2025-03-15 18:55:42 ¶ ●

Look at the sky, Martin. Look at the sky.

It’s looking back.

Slapped some random eye themed phone wallpaper on the background idc anymore. Dies

2025-03-16 19:27:06 ¶ ●

##

Sometimes I mourn for the version of season 5 I thought I was going to hear. I loved the whole plotline of Jon trying to save Martin from the lonely. Because Jon felt responsible for him, and Martin was the only one of Jon's assistants left. and I was convinced I was going to see Jon realising that he actually didn't like Martin.

Because like. throughout the podcast Jon is continually choosing to try to get power and information in order to protect the people around him. He's willing to sacrifice his friendships, his safety, his humanity, because he cares, even for people who have tried to kill him. He tries to kill Not Sasha, someone he remembers being friends with, in order to protect the others. And then Martin gets offered the chance to kill Jonah Magnus and free all the employees and he turns it down because he's a person! and he wants to have friends!

and they're just so incompatible and I thought we'd get to see Jon wondering if it was worth it to save Martin, and all this delicious stuff. and the creators said they wouldn't make the relationship canon!

and then we got season 5 instead.

any thoughts?

Yeah. You covered basically everything I’ve been criticizing. Literally every single tma critical post I’ve made circles around these topics. (Under the cut bc I just learned how to make those)

Season 4 felt like a build-up to something huge. We got nearly all of the cast hating Jon for something completely out of his control. We got Martin trying to pull off a self-sacrifice. We got introduced to the Extinction, told that it was a terrible danger to everyone and that it had to be stopped. A lot of things were happening at once, and there was a looot of tension between the characters.

Then comes time for the big reveal, and it really was big. We found out what happened to Jonah Magnus and the real reason why the Institute was built. Martin also got to show that he’s not as weak and helpless as everyone thought.

Jon’s desperate attempt to pull Martin out of the Lonely was little more than that. By that point, Martin was literally the only person that didn’t outright despise Jon for becoming an Avatar, and that might be simply because he and Martin didn’t even talk once. Another reason for Jon’s lack of hesitation might be that he realized the crush Martin used to have on him, and so saving the man might’ve given him the hope of finding someone who’d treat him like a person, not a monster. All in all, it had less to do with romantic feelings, and more with desperation and the difficult situation Jon had found himself in.

There is no real build-up to them getting together. It’s just… one moment they’re in the Lonely, desperate to find one another, and a moment later they’re saying “I love you” and kissing eachother. When did that happen? And don’t say “well it was during the time they spent in the safehouse together!” Then why are they so painfully incompatible throughout season 5? Seriously, I get the whole “grasping at eachother for balance” thing, but was there really a need to make them a couple so soon? The build-up felt more like it would lead to a friendship, not outright romance - which is why their relationship felt so surface-level in the following season.

I completely missed the transition to the Safehouse on my first listen, and honestly I’m still not sure how it all happened. Jon and Martin’s conversations there seem light and at ease, but they have no real basis for a meaningful bond.

And yeah, there’s the issue with their contributions to their relationship being unequal. Jon is bending over backwards trying to accommodate Martin, leaving when he feels the need to make a statement, trying to explain everything as best as he can while carrying the weight of the world’s suffering on his shoulders. He’s not perfect, but it’s more than enough considering the situation they’re in.

But Martin? He’s selfish in his behaviour, even if it’s not outright visible. He refuses to listen to Jon talking about the fearscape because it makes him uncomfortable. He doesn’t try to look at the situation from Jon’s point of view - admittedly, that would’ve been very difficult, but he could’ve at least tried to show some support. He’s repulsed by Jon’s new needs, and, when they’re at Salesa’s, he laughs at Jon when he’s stripped of the Eye’s power. All of those behaviours are understandable of course, but it makes their relationship that ordinary kind of unhealthy; even tho they have their moments, ultimately they’re just two people staying together despite not getting on very well. It was spelled out for them by Peter Lukas:

(I’ve lost count of how many times I used this screenshot)

Peter was trying to upset Jon here of course. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s true. They just don’t have a basis for a meaningful relationship, because they barely even spoke. And yet they’re the focus of an entire season.

Yeah, yeah, it’s because of their circumstances, sure. But nearly every single fan looks at their relationship through rose-colored glasses. Better yet, I’ve seen people describe TMA as a “gay horror podcast” just because of jmart. And it’s infuriating, because their relationship gives us nothing. These two men talked for the first time in what? Months? And the writers decided “yeah we’ll make them boyfriends! This will be a hit with the gay fans for sure!” and then they wrote the blandest possible relationship they could’ve. It’s like your parents who constantly bicker yet don’t want to get a divorce. Just two coworkers in an apocalyptic world, and suddenly it’s “gay horror”.

Also they’re so obviously unhealthy, and yet the narrative just… ignores it. There aren’t any real consequences to their lack of compability, which is weird!! Really? No consequences? In MY inevitable consequences of your actions podcast?

Let’s talk abot Martin, because of course it all comes back to him. My main issue with the man is that he thinks in black and white. When the Avatars kill people it’s for their Patrons and out of their twisted desire, and so they’re bad and evil. When he kills people(through Jon), then it’s taking revenge on those monsters that hurt him, so it’s right, and it’s good. When Martin first witnessed Jon’s new “powers”, it’s him who came up with the idea of using it for revenge. And as long as it’s his initiative and Jon is only doing it for him, then it’s good and morally correct. But when he noticed Jon started to enjoy the killing, then suddenly it’s “wrong” and “not okay”, because “you weren’t supposed to enjoy it this much!” (Please be for real.) His perception of “right” and “wrong” is whatever is most convenient for him at that moment.

My other issue with Martin is that the Lonely barely even affected him. It was more like “heavy depression but make it Supernatural”. Season 4 started sculpting him into an interesting character, someone who’s ready to sacrifice himself yet cannot stand the thought of his friends getting hurt in the process. His whole Lonely arc gave him depth. He was focused. He had a plan. He made a decision and was ready to pull through with it.

But then he gets thrown into the Forsaken by Peter, and by the time Jon pulls him out, he’s exactly where he started. The same insufferable brand of nervousness and indecision and lack of understanding. Turned back into the nerd emoji. Like… the whole “Martin being an avatar of the Lonely” thing could serve as an explanation to the shallow nature of their relationship - it could be the Lonely pulling them further apart! Or Martin realizing he lost feelings for Jon and quietly distancing himself from the man! Delicious inescapable tragedy!

So yeah. There’s not a word said about their shitty bond, and it’s the main focus of the last season. Boring boring boring!!! The wonderful opportunity to make them both monstrous was MISSED!!! Of cooourse Martin is unaffected by the Lonely, it’s because he’s with Jon! Martin helps Jon regain his humanity! The Eye approves of their relationship!! Also the whole “you are my reason” part was, like, the easiest way to make Jon not suicidal, for which he had all the reasons imaginable. That man hated himself for being a monster, and everyone else hated him too!! But noo he’s with Martin now! The power of love cured him of depression! But not Martin tho, he deserves to wallow in his suffering, even though Jon had it just as bad if not worse. They had to divide them into “the one who’s a monster and losing himself” and “the one responsible for keeping the monster at a leash”. I apologize for the odd wording, i don’t know how else to phrase it.

Perfect opportunity to make fucked up monstrous tragic gays, and we got toxic teenage couple instead. The whole apocalyptic setting was TERRIFYINGLY UNDERUTILIZED!!!!! Also the s5 plot felt like they were just. Dragging the whole thing. The finale was cool, moral dilemma and all, but everything before that? Unremarkable. Questionable, even. I only liked the statements. (But tbh I mainly only like the statements.)

2025-03-16 21:26:28 ¶ ●

Imagine if Tim hadn’t actually died and instead became an avatar of the Desolation. Imagine Jon in season 5 looking for Jude in her domain and finding Tim instead. Imagine that

2025-03-17 21:16:08 ¶ ● ⬈

levaagrace:

> Y’know it fucks with me how much Jon being an orphan informs everything about him, considering it’s a throwaway aspect of his backstory that is never mentioned or talked about again.

> Do you think that’s where his need to know started? Like. Even before Mr. Spider. Do you think that when he started to realize and recognize that he had a different home life than his peers that he started to ask his grandmother questions? Questions she would refuse to answer. Like. How high was his father when he fell? What routine surgery was it that ended his mother’s life? Questions only a child would ask because a child’s thought would be ‘what if I ended up that high up or needing that surgery?’ How could he prevent his own death unless he knew what to avoid? But because she wouldn’t answer, would tell him he was being tactless and rude, he would seek it elsewhere. Giving him a lifelong need to research and know on his own terms, because he was taught no one else would give it to him. Which also lead to being unable to GRIEVE HIS PARENTS. She never talked about it, from what I remember of his personal statement. She was too wrapped up in her own grief, her own pain, to care for his. And what else would lead Jon to his guilt but the fact he never learned GRIEF.

> I’ve already said I’m going to the mental hospital willingly, you can stop pulling on me.

2025-03-19 12:22:11 ¶ ●

People saying Elias was the sole cause of Jon’s suffering don’t get it. The whole tragedy of it all is that Jon would’ve gotten harmed by the powers whether he was the Archivist or not. The only difference is he wouldn’t have survived it.

2025-03-22 11:47:10 ¶ ●

Idea: Jon and Martin have eachother but they’re still lonely -> Martin’s Lonely aspect is showing -> Martin WANTS to be alone and he also wants Jon to stay with him -> Martin purposely isolates Jon from everyone else so that Jon has to stay with him, can only stay with him.

Martin’s Lonely aspect should’ve been highlited more in season 5 instead of just being a vessel/medium for his angst. He should’ve been shown as more monstrous pleeeease. His relationship with Jon should’ve been portrayed as more supernaturally unhealthy. Hurting people is not always physical, and you’re not always aware that you’re being hurt. The Lonely would’ve been so cool if it were also shown as a weapon, as something that can hurt you just as much as the Eye’s compulsion. Not just as a tool for Martin’s character development. The harmful isolation motif should’ve been maintained in season 5 as well instead of being discarded for the sake of the human-monster dynamic.

Every day I mourn monstrous Martin. They could’ve been so much better auuugh…. AND it could’ve made Martin drop the weird superiority thing he has over Jon in s5. That or he would become the ultimate hypocrite (tasty)

2025-03-23 19:23:45 ¶ ● ⬈

levaagrace:

> From a young age you knew you weren’t wanted.

> It was in the way your grandmother hesitated when calling your name, as though primed for a different one, and the fact you weren’t him wore at her as surely as you did simply by existing.

> From a young age you knew you were cursed.

> It was in the way that, by the will of some cosmic force, you weren’t allowed to keep your parents. Not even the memories, as you were just too young to have any that last aside from their ends.

> From a young age you knew you were hated.

> It was in the way that someone ten years your senior never once relented in causing you harm over the years you knew him, your grandmother never once intervening despite its regularity.

> From a young age you knew the world was unjust.

> It was in the way it should have been you, not the one who hurt you, to die. It should have been you and the fact you lived was a crime you could never repay but with your future as collateral.

> From a young age you knew you weren’t meant for this world and you feel like everyone else knows it too.

> It’s in the way they talk about you behind your back and in front of your face. No matter how civil you try to be. No matter how gregarious and magnanimous. You know you deserve nothing and so do they.

> So you stop. Stop trying to be wanted or loved. Stop trying to care for anyone but yourself. It never got you anywhere anyway. Instead you turn to knowing and learning. Maybe you can understand why what happened to the poor unfortunate who took your place happened. Maybe you can understand why the world is unjust. Maybe knowing will give you a place in the world, no matter how small or awful.

> Your name is Jonathan Sims and there was never any hope for you to not become what you did. It was already written for you before you even started.

2025-03-27 20:17:57 ¶ ● ⬀ ⬈

levaagrace:

> Anyway, Jon would never be able to recover from his trauma in a ‘good end’ scenario if he was still around Martin and Melanie and Georgie and Basira because none of them would think he was capable of change or recovery and give him no support and sabotage any support he is given outside of them because they don’t think he deserves it. Y’know. Like in canon.