#ARCHIVING THIS FOR REASONS

[mkniesy]

[carryondrawing]

An alternate universe where The Archivist forgets to top up his oyster card and misses the train

[thebreadmantm]

Georgie my beloved ✨

(Plus the admiral)

[stompandhollar]

actually, contrary to popular believe i think they’d get along swimmingly 😌

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

Here’s the thing, I absolutely agree with the fact that the way Jon was treated in S4 was awful, dehumanising and often cruel. It impacted how he viewed himself in harmful and permanently damaging ways that then bleed into every choice he makes after, because his self-worth is never going to recover from that.

However, if you end this point with ‘and he was treated like this for no-reason at all’, I am going to have to sit you down and have a long talk about nuance, and how every character in TMA has a reason for what they’re doing, even if it’s not right. Engage with the material at hand. I am begging you.

And Jon being a victim, particularly in S4, does not absolve him of the consequences and harm his own actions have done. There’s a very twisted irony to me in the fact that the harm Jon does to feel a sense of control — a common C-PTSD response — is often stripped of that agency and nuance. Please, the Web does that to him enough.

The above also applies to pretty much most TMA characters, especially the S4 Archive Crew. It goes without saying that yes, Basira is a hypocrite, that Melanie clings onto Jon as a scapegoat before she takes steps to improve herself etc. All these characters have been hurt in some way, and they are reverting back to what gives them a sense of safety, even if it means hurting others people or each other. It’s not good, but you can, at the very least, understand why it is they’re acting this way.

I think it’s easier to understand S4 when you go in with the mindset of ‘these people are all victims, and they are not perfect ones’, rather than the mindset of it’s Jon Vs Everyone, even if it feels that way at times.

[sabertoothwalrus]

I really like how Chilchuck made a huge deal about keeping his private life separate from his work life but objectively he’s not even that good at it. They’d ask how old he is and he gets overly cagey and defensive like 😡😤🤐 “THATS TOO PERSONAL!” which just makes everyone more curious. Like he’s practically waving around the fact that he’s keeping secrets.

meanwhile Senshi is ACTUALLY mysterious, and so casual about it. He barely shares anything unless asked, but every time he does, you realize there’s so much more he’s definitely not telling. He doesn’t seem bothered by most questions, but it almost seems invasive to try to pry for more. What has this man seen. Where has he been. What has he done. There are so many decade-long gaps in his timeline. It’s not even like he’s trying to hide anything (except, y’know, the griffin thing) he just doesn’t talk about himself much.

[whore-man]

if there was ever a tv adaptation of the magnus archives i think sasha should be played by the same person as notsasha the whole time.

there are perhaps a few polaroids shown briefly in the background with someone you don't recognize during s1, but they disappear in s2.

in the end, the viewer doesn't remember the 'real' sasha either, because she was never acting in the show. all you have is memories of notsasha.

the first time we actually see the actor in the pictures from s1 is in the flashbacks at the beginning of s5; sasha and tim talking, jon's birthday, sweet memories that just- don't seem quite right, even though you know this is the true version.

[maeo-png]

peter lukas enjoyers how are we feeling tonight

[tecochet]

mary jane's husband and his boyfriend

[lavender-wiitch]

what compels me the most about jmart in TMA is how they’re the exact contrary of the “fall in love in every universe” trope. no, they’re not fated to meet, much less to even remotely like each other. they met under these extremely weird and specific circumstances from their world, and as jon himself said, if weirder circumstances didn’t happen they wouldn’t even get along. tmagp furthers this by making a point to showcase how, in protocolverse, they lived and died without ever knowing of each other’s existence.

they don’t fall in love in every universe. they only have this one. this one chance to make it work.

and they’re not perfect! they’re fucked up! they’re messy!

their communication is flawed, martin is jealous and manipulative, jon is too emotionally distant, they are each affected by their own traumas and it bleeds into their relationship, and they keep trying! and failing! and trying! until their tragic end. and you know what? that makes them EVEN MORE COMPELLING both as a couple and as characters!

we don’t need to ignore these aspects of their romance to make them interesting, and i’d argue that these complex factors and their flaws are the exact things that DO make them interesting. they had one shot, and it was flawed as hell, but they did their best to make the most of it under incredible stressors, such as the literal apocalypse. is that a less interesting kind of romance story than the others, just because they’re flawed and not always healthy and not at all fated? do we have to pretend they’re something they’re not to be enjoyable?

[akanemnon]

How to be an annoying little jerk 101

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference

[indigonite]

Belated happy new year, everypony ✌️

[future-crab]

It occurred to me today that the Magnus Archives is only 200 episodes long, which means that MAG 6 (the worm sex episode) and MAG 102 (the beetle wife episode) make the series fully 1% bug sex episodes by volume.

[thebreadmantm]

Season 3 Jon sketches cuz no matter how bad a day your having, his is worse

[sepezzz]

this stinker, Tma character sheet #6!

[niinnyu]

Sasha! ... Sasha?