April 2025

hello mr boss man i have a burning question!

was the abbreviation of The Magnus Institute being “TMI” an on-purpose funny or just a quirky accident?

Ha!

We clocked it at some point and just figured, “yeah that scans”.

So it wasn’t intentional but we certainly weren’t complaining.

I’ve looked around and I’m struggling to find it. Who voices Mr bonzo?

What an odd question.

Mr Bonzo voices Mr Bonzo.

Who voices you?

What was the thought process behind naming TMAGP 12 “Getting Off?”

“Shit. I need a workplace pun that could also refer to a strip club…”

“Screw it, I’ll put ’Getting Off’, it works for now and whoever vetos it will have to come up with something better.”

3 weeks later…

“Ah. I see what happened here.”

Hi, Alex

This might be a weird question, but it's something that I think about A Lot. I know that you enjoy your gross sounds (worms for example) in the podcasts, and they're all great sounds honestly. Is there ever likely to be any sort of gagging or vomiting noises in the episodes in the future, and if that is something that would be in an episode, would that be included in the content warnings given on patreon/the episode descriptions? It's a small thing, and I realise it's not something that needs to be thought about by most people, so if you can't say, that's totally fine.

Hey fair question.

So I try to avoid vomiting sounds in my work where possible. I think its been normalised in media when actually it is quite a violent bodily motion, especially in audio.

That said, it is sometimes necessary in horror (though I will always err on the side of almost puking where it’s an option.)

Our work should have Emetephobia in the content warnings when it occurs but if you ever catch an episode where it was missed just let the folks over at mail@Rustyquill.com know and they can see about fixing it.

Fun fact: I was sick for a lot of my primary school years with some obscure illness which meant I missed a lot of school due to constant vomiting and other issues. Like you I have also thought about this stuff more than most people.

the mangus protocol

“I am Joanna Mangus, head archipelago of the Mangus Institution, Kent.”

hello bossman!! have you ever considered changing your tumblr pfp to something less murdery and scary? or do you enjoy bringing terror to the masses??

I’ll be honest, I take like one picture of myself a year.

Since I was last in public I have grown a beard, lost a beard, gained weight, lost weight and right now resemble a badly shaved beaver trapped behind a desk with no idea what it’s doing.

Y'all will be waiting a while before I bother to put a new image up.

do you know italian brainrot?

if not: look into tung tung tung tung tung sahur

1. This is my first taste of Italian Brainrot.
2. I’m afraid I am underwhelmed.

Hiii I love your work! What's the most amount of drafts an episode of magnus has had so far?

Thanks!

Hard to tell without diving into our own (real) archives. I know one episode of protocol has gotten up to something like 10 drafts before then going into production (where it gets redrafted some more as part of recording, dialogue editing etc.)

I suspect Archives had less drafting in general because there were less people involved. That doesn’t mean it changed less, just it went through less iterations because it was only Jonny and I working on scripts back then.

hello, bossman!

ive been wondering if there’s any words you particularly like when writing. i’ve noticed jonny, for example, uses the word “acrid” far more often than is reasonable than an average enjoyer of the word. also apotheosis but he’s explained that one! so: any words you’re fond of and use more than reasonably? (or perfectly reasonably. you’re the bossman after all)

Goddam “apotheosis”. (sighs)

So if you want a deep cut on @jonnywaistcoat he loves the phrase “burst like a rotten grape”. I think @rq-producerperson have caught him adding it to Protocol on three separate occasions normally accompanied by the world “Bulbous” and we have edited it out.

I try to work in the word “Maelstrom” in every creative work I do.

I also try to sneak in arbitrary asinine alliteration as its awesome to assimilate.

Hey Alex, hope you’re having a good day :)

Just finished listening to MAG Protocol Episode 37 and was absolutely blown away, what a phenomenal episode. No spoilers, just fantastic stuff. Especially with a particular character appearance ;)

Were you always interested in the script writing side of things? What inspired you to have a go at writing for Protocol?

Thank you (& Jonny & the RQ Team) for all the hard work and spooks!

Thanks for the kind words!

So fun fact, I am actually a formally trained script-writer with an MA from CSSD and I think there’s probably a bit more of me in the Magnus Archives scripts than people might think.

I’d develop the story with @jonnywaistcoat before writing then after he wrote first drafts I would redraft the episodes with him before recording. Statements were normally only small changes but dialogue and character work was a bit more full on especially in later seasons. Don’t get me wrong though, @jonnywaistcoat is very much the horror guy of the two of us.

For Protocol though, @jonnywaistcoat explicitly asked that I generate the metaphysics (fancy word for fear logic etc.) and so I offered to co-write and that means getting to do first drafts.

Personally, I think I am probably better at writing than I am directing but I suspect directing is a rarer skillset so I get more work in that vein.

Left to my own devices I would probably do a lot more writing, I’ve wanted to write a YA series for years not to mention a dark fantasy trilogy and some sci fi but there’s just not the time for me to sustain something like Rusty Quill and write novels so I guess your stuck with me podcasting for a while yet.

Hello Bossman Alex! How are you doing?

This may be be a weird thing to ask (I wasn't even sure to ask Jonny this too), but have you ever had someone say that your voices sounded like someone elses, like familiar to them?

I ask this because, I was listening to TMA with my father (second time for me, first time for him) and we were on episode 22: Colony and my mother, who was in the room with us, said that your voice and Jonny's voice sounded familiar to her despite never hearing your voices before.

Sorry for the odd question again.

P.S: I find your voices comforting and calming whenever I relisten to an episode.

Interesting question.

In my experience when people meet @jonnywaistcoat they tell him he has such a distinctive voice/face/vibe and he’s a unique special bunny.

Meanwhile I get told I am more normal/average than people had hoped and they thought I would be more interesting.

(@rq-producerperson can confirm)

Make of that what you will.

what is your favorite animal and would you ever have one as a pet

my favorite animal is an axolotl and i would not keep one as a pet because i dont think i would be very good at it and axolotls deserve better

Favourite animal?
Pangolin. (with honourable mention for Octopi)

Would I keep it as a pet?
Abso-fucking-lutely not. They are endangered due entirely to human stupidity and deserve to be as far away from us as possible.

Greetings Bossman!

Bit of a strange question, but have you ever read any of the mediaeval Icelandic sagas? I'm taking a course on them right now and I feel the need to ask—they're so incredibly ridiculous, I can't help feeling like they might be of some entertainment to you.

I highly recommend looking up Breeches-Aud, Ivar the Boneless, and the unfortunate state of Egil Skallagrimsson, the berserk part-troll part-werewolf poet.

Unless you have something against excessive toponymy or characters with "Thor" in their name. Then I suppose I'd suggest staying far away.

Yes.

I studied Medieval Languages incl. Old Norse, Old English and Middle English.

Egil’s saga is an interesting read. Nothing like praising your seven year old son for a particularly bloodthirsty murder.

Hello Mr Bossman!

I wanna ask you something that I've been wondering about for a while - are you familiar with Zdzisław Beksiński's work? I have absolutely no idea to what extent he's known internationally, but the first time I listened to TMA, the fearscapes you and Jonny created in season 5 reminded me so much of his paintings.

Cheers from Poland, have a great day!

Cześć! Miło mi pana (panią?) poznać!

Zdzisław Beksiński był dla @jonnywaistcoat dużą inspiracją artystyczną i oboje nawiązywaliśmy do niego w 5 sezonie Archiwów.

Mam nadzieję, że to odpowiada na Twoje pytanie. Przepraszam za moją gramatykę. Minęło kilka lat, odkąd ostatni raz próbowałem mówić po polsku, więc w niektórych miejscach musiałem korzystać z Tłumacza Google!

[I probably won’t reply in Polish again as I’m really embarrassed by how bad I have gotten!]

Hello Mr Bossman, I hope you’re having an Above Average day.

Every time I check your answers I see a new “I learned this” or “I did that” (not a complaint, mind, it’s kind of the point) so to change it up: what have you NOT studied but wish you had? What have you NOT studied and wish to keep staying far, far away from?

Thanks for lifting my spirits on the regular, you spark joy.

Great question.

So I am a bit of an auto-didact. Left to my own devices I’ll try to teach myself new skills etc. in random areas. I actually keep a list of about 100 skills I want to learn that I haven’t gotten round to but that said, a sample of random stuff that I always wanted to but never got the chance to learn yet:
+Formal PPE (Philosophy Politics Economics)
+Lip Reading
+Computer Coding
+Proper Plumbing (i.e. more than just fixing sinks etc.)
+Proper electroinics (i.e. repairing circuit boiards etc.)
+Horticulture
+Acgriculture
+Piano
+UK sign language
+Blues Harp
+Motorbiking
+Formal CQB (I don’t seem the type I know!)
+Rock Climbing (I rarely get to climb and never learn)
+Parkour (it just looks like constant fun)
+How to actually maintain a healthy human body

Stuff I don’t want to learn:
+Anything more about how people can be nad to one another.

This is the way.

do you have a favourite layer of the rainforest bossman?? I'm a canopy fan myself

Probably Emergent?

I just assume all the animals up there keep yelling down
“I can see the misty mountains from here!”