jmart is codependence by circumstance to me, and I 100% agree fanon Martin is a huge mischaracterisation. That being said, I’m also with you on exploring the canon-accurate relationship there — what does it mean to be clinging on to each other as a last-ditch effort to keep a semblance of humanity?
Jon is with Martin because Martin keeps him grounded. Martin only likes the “human” part of Jon - the part he can easily wrap his mind around - and so belittling the “monster” part of the man is no problem to him. Without Martin, Jon would’ve succumbed to avatarhood wholly. With Martin “keeping him in check”, he’s only toeing the line and can be (harshly) pulled back a bit, if necessary.
Martin stays with Jon because it offers him protection. Without Jon, he would be likely to succumb to his own little Lonely domain (which we get a brief view of). It’s also stated that by staying with Jon, Martin is shielded from the physical aspect of the horrors - he’s still scared by them, but they cannot hurt him or wound him, and so he can walk freely through the Fearscape in the role of a viewer. It’s the best case scenario for him.
Also, by staying with Jon, who is by default more monstrous than him, Martin gets to reassure himself - by looking at Jon being very far gone, he feels more stable in his own slowly deteriorating humanity (he’s ashamed and afraid of the fact that he, too, has a domain, which makes him the perpetrator following the Fear-infested world logic - he cannot bear the thought of being just as harmful as the other avatars, who he deems terrible monsters that should be killed)
They don’t have many other reasons to stay together, because they simply hadn’t had the time to get to know eachother as people outside of their grotesque eyepocalypse hiking trip in which Jon is actively being consumed by an eldritch being.
In the half an episode we got of them pre-apocalypse, their relationship seems to have had only started blossoming. There is nothing more than the usual kind exchanges between two friendly people. It’s a nice beginning for something bigger, but it certainly isn’t love, not at that time.
After the apocalypse starts, there is suddenly a lot of weight put on their bond - they are quite literally the only ones left. They cannot afford to be casually lovey-dovey when their wellbeing and sanity are at stake.
Had each of them been on their own, I’m sure that witnessing the sufffering of countless people would have its effect on their mental health; it’s also very likely that they would’ve turned into avatars of their own. By staying together, they are also distracting eachother from the horror surrounding them.
Their days are spent walking through fear-filled landscapes, not to mention that each of them has to deal with their own problems - Jon has suddenly found himself in a position that makes him both very powerful and very fragile, and Martin is fighting off his desire to isolate himself and his fear of Avatar-Jon. Every time they say “I love you”, all I can hear is “please don’t leave me”.
ur martinblackwoodhaters fan but im YOUR fan. i'm YOUR biggesg fan
If that was true then you wouldn’t be saying this to me anonymously you coward
What's your opinion on The Extinction? I personally was very disappointed that a whole new fear was used just as a plot device in S4 and nothing more, I was hoping we were going to get something real big in S5 considering the situation, but at the same time, the Extinction is a young fear, so it kind of makes sense it wouldn't be as prevalent as the others (but i think we should have gotten more than just one statement of it)
I feel the same way. What was the point of introducing an apocalypse-related fear if it wasn’t going to be present in the season set in the apocalypse?
It fit perfectly with the fifth season and the Eyepocalypse. But of course it had to be used for Martin angst! Poor boy, overworking himself and cutting everyone off because he wants to protect them from the Big Bad Extinction!
The setup for it was neat. And I think they could’ve gotten away with making it a red herring, if the following season had literally anything of substance to deliver, instead of a romantic end-of-the-world hike and an oddly framed moral dilemma.
Also, the podcast literally stated that the Extinction was emerging rapidly, and that they had limited time to act and prepare - and then nothing happened. There was no “defeating” or “overcoming” the Ritual - it wasn’t even there. It just disappeared abruptly.
The Extinction was hyped up so much just to be unceremoniously tossed aside the second it became irrelevant to Martin’s story.
ok fine ur martinblackwoodhaters fan but IM your fan. non anonymously
I mean it’s cool that you’re on my side ig. Who are you tho
Who cares if you don’t think the role swap would work, people posting about it shouldn’t make you this frustrated. Perhaps you meant well and it was just the way you phrased your words, but really you were raining on everybody else’s parade. It doesn’t matter if it wouldn’t really be possible or you don’t like it, just let people make whatever they want. The tone in which you wrote could easily be interpreted by artists as hurtful and scornful, and discourage them from having fun.
Well there’s a bunch of people who care apparently 😋 and I don’t think a gimmick blog could have that much of an impact on the entire fandom. Plus I put in the tags that I don’t care all that much you can draw whatever you want yadda yadda. If someone interprets this as a personal attack then idk block me or something
Plus I said that the only appeal of this au is that it looks cool or whatever. You can draw it idc. I’m just not a fan of mischaracterization
I prefer you over the actual hater account because lately he's just kinda been insulting the people behind TMA and trying to paint them as bad LOL
It’s cool that you like me or whatever but when has the hater insulted TMA writers. I once saw him say he didn’t like Alex Newall thats it
You don’t actually see him post TMA criticism anymore. He’s just answering the asks about why he’s posting about TMA if he doesn’t like it lmaooo. I don’t even know which of his posts these are referring to and I’ve read all of them
Gerry and Oliver making out with Jon. Send tweet. Martin doesn't get invited
Wonderful idea. Also I need to think of Jon and Oliver more. There’s a lot of potential here.
Both of them, at their lowest points in life, being slowly consumed by a power which they do not yet understand. Trying to fight it, go against it, and ultimately failing. I really need to finish my relisten ugh I can feel something there but am not quite ready yet to put it into words
Love these blogs (yours & martinblackwoodhater's)
I got into TMA backwards. It's the first podcast I ever listened to, but it seemed daunting at first. MAG200 had just released & tumblr was up in arms about it... I heard the ending of MAG200 first before knowing anything else about it. I wanted to get into it, but 200 episodes seemed like a hell of a commitment at the time.
So what did past me do but read fanfiction first to get an idea of the content. HDJDHDHD
It did not prepare me for how far fans of Martin have to stretch to really make him kind & compassionate... because the guy is a prick in the podcast. Like did we listen to the same thing ? fanon Martin is lovely, I wish there was a trace of him in the actual show lmao...
I hate, hate, hate him in season 5. My main gripe is that we had NO time between jmart in season 4 & then suddenly they're thrust into this relationship... where it is so apparent they know nothing about each other.
Martin has never been able to tell when Jon is making a joke, even before season 5... which makes the fact that he still Can't even worse. They don't really banter, it's more them arguing about Jon's decisions... his hypocrisy also drives me up the wall.
It's so clear he doesn't trust Jon at all !! & not only that, he wields him like a gun.. but also has the audacity to say he can't "be that for him" in terms of Jon & the statements...
like sorry Martin.. maybe you'd know about his new needs if you actually bothered to be around him in Season 4. Getting to know what's happening to him instead of isolating yourself for his "protection."
And the... hgghhghh... what do you mean "I take back my apology"? fuck youuu. goddd.
you know how Jude is like. "You've finally got a sniff of power & now you want to settle some old scores." i feel that is true for both of them, but the only means Martin has of that is Jon. it feels so much like he's only using him for his benefit/protection instead of being a loving partner. & it isn't even framed to be unhealthy so it's just. WEIRD.
....
It hurts to be a queerplatonic jondaisy truther. I loved their dynamic in season 4... they were both so isolated & yet they went through something.. beyond traumatic together. they were both seen as monsters (though Daisy was treated like a liability which served for her isolation). They actually spent time together !!! more than jon & fucking martin !!
JON & GERRY HAD MORE CHEMISTRY IN ONE EPISODE THAN JMART IN THE WHOLE PODCAST !!!!
anyways - thank you for reading my rant. HDJDHD
Getting into TMA fandom-first sounds like an absolute nightmare. I’m sorry.
I think that since Martin was a very simple character from the beginning - bland shy guy with no real flaws - fans held on to that vision of him, which in turn made them completely overlook any nuance that might’ve been there. They only noticed those moments that fit their image of the man - Martin bringing tea on their apocalyptic hike, Martin accidentally calling Jon adorable - and overlooked those that weren’t so sugary sweet - Martin refusing to acknowledge Jon’s needs and frankly anything the man said, Martin not caring about anything that doesn’t involve him directly.
I’m not gonna say more since it seems you share my point of view and I would be just repeating myself. JonDaisy is a great ship, same with JonGerry, but that is also because every single ship with Jon is better than the canon one. Almost all of the cast had more in common with Jon than he had with Martin