#First Listen

[woundlingus]

Oh how Hozier has written an album about the absolute worst humanity has to offer, all our sins and crimes laid bare, and he says you are forgiven with so much tenderness. This is what makes you human. This is what makes you complex in the most beautiful ways. Look at the tragedy around you, and look at the survivors. Aren’t you all just so beautiful in your efforts to strive forward and begin again.

[fabled-table]

tma headcanons i have as of MAG173

Gerry claimed that his poorly dyed hair had "character" but in reality he thought it looked like shit as well

Gertrude once was into the alternative scene but y'know, work stuff happened so she just turned into the librarian-looking old women she was--this is also why she thinks so fondly of Gerry as well.

Michael Shelley is a direct descendent of Mary and Percy Shelley, not just because of last names but also just...vibes

Jon eats lettuce plain, no dressing, no other salad elements, just lettuce (don't worry man, I do too)

Peter hates worms on strings, he has seen exactly one and decided that he hates them.

Martin, on the other had, loves worms on strings

Elias is religious (Christian, specifically) and still believes he can get into heaven...just imagine basically the devil incarnate, a guy making an antichrist, sitting in the pews acting all pious and shit

Samuel Johnson (historical figure, not a guy in canon) was an avatar for the spiral and the eye a few centuries ago but he was too unbothered to do anything but decide to do the most "fuck it we ball" things (see the deciding at a puppet show that he could do a better job jumping than the puppets...he couldn't, as evident by his shins afterwards) and write a dictionary

Sasha is transfem.

Helen hated real estate.

Melanie has a collection of sporks. If you as her why, she will tell you it is for self defence. As it turns out, all her sporks are metal.

Daisy likes lattes (though she will never admit it)

Everyone at the archives has an interesting music taste Gertrude: 20th century classical music and early goth, to Michael: twee and post-punk, to Elias: anything and everything, will be an angry dictator appropriating punk to Martin: twee and folk (not the stop clap hey ho cheer whooo stuff but like, the Oh Hellos and the Crane Wives) to Peter: whale noises.

No one in the Archives gets scared of horror movies.

Georgie likes smoothies but hates the sound of blenders.

[imasillygooose]

I genuinely get so excited whenever Tim shows up in an episode I love him so muchhh, he's been through sm I hope nothing bad ever happens to him again I just want to protect himmmm

[emrysthemerlin]

Magnus Archives Episode 186 spoilers!

It’s interesting to think that if Jon had been a victim in the eyepocolyps he likely would have been in Martins domain. The fear that no one would remember you or care.

“I don’t want to be a mystery.”

I think one of Jon’s main fears, the original ones I mean was that he’d end up forgotten without anyone really looking into it. Another dusty file on the shelf to molder away in the dust of the archives without anyone knowing or caring what happened.

[barbaricjester]

I have finished. The Magnus Archives.

[purple-egg-yolk]

Solomon being convinced the devil has taken ahold of his child is so funny when the actual devil is busy fighting cowboys and having an existential crisis over developing rudimentary bonds to other people, and probably doesn’t even know Percy exists.

[mesmericmonad]

I just finished Spirit. I wish I could write out many more thoughts than I can do rn. This was some of my favorite Doctor Who content overall tbh. Leela and Romana's differences in personality, beliefs, and logic on full display are exactly what I didn't know I needed. Leelas unique and curious role as an outsider in these high-stakes political games was always a factor playing into her character through the series, but it was really the focal point here in a great way. Romana and Leela both represent radical ends of an irl split in epistemic beliefs. I guess people would see Leela as "superstitious," but I really don't think anything she said even comes close to superstition. It isn't religious or fantastical to suggest that there's something "more than" simply biological fact, and everything Leela brings up ("The fruit IS beautiful"; "How does a bird fly for months to reach its home?") is perfectly compatible with rational metaphysical schemas and certainly with evolution. Narrative-telling is constitutive of humans' biological reproduction. If anything, Romanas insistence on a purely empiricist paradigm over Leelas metaphysical tale only reveals that both are just two sides of the same coin. They are both frameworks to apprehend and predict causal efficacy. They both lead to unique and intense views of how the world operates. But neither is wrong. They're both complimentary.

This comes full circle when the two seem to gain parts of the others' personality, which supports the other side of the coin. Romana suddenly *feels in her body* instead of always in her head. She isn't intellectualizing everything through an analytical lense. Instead, she's really feeling her body for the first time. She probably never could feel the way that oxygen cleans her bloodstream so clearly as she did then. Leela feels uncomfortable with her new intellectual abilities. She isn't relying on the multitude of sense-organs distributed across her body to synthesize the presented data. Instead, she's intellectualizing every wave of information, and her brain organ is perhaps much more hyper-active than it was before. In short, Romanas reliance on a rationalist-empiricist epistemology aligns closely with her *inability* to utilize her sense organs deeply, accurately, and with intimacy. Leelas reliance on the specifically neuromuscular and sensory knowledge allows her a more nuanced interaction with the corporeal landscape around her, but perhaps forbids her from constructing a systematized methodology of propositional logic in the way Romana could.

Neither side of this coin is "better" and in fact us humans have the task of delicately tending to both parts of our makeup, both sets of data-gathering tools. The metaphysician and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead essentially investigates the foundations of these differing personalities in his magnum opus Process & Reality (1929). P&R is one of my favorite works ever and to see the Gallifrey series so brilliantly convey the gradation between his categories of "withness of the body" and "presentational immediacy" through the relationship between Leela and Romana has been an absolute delight. Amazing series

"You think of your body as a machine, but it is not. How can such a big mind be so narrow?" -Leela

"But we must—to avoid 'solipsism of the present moment'—include in direct perception something more than presentational immediacy. For the organic theory, the most primitive perception is 'feeling the body as functioning.' This is a feeling of the world in the past; it is the inheritance of the world as a complex of feeling; namely, it is the feeling of derived feelings. The later, sophisticated perception is 'feeling the contemporary world.' Even this presentational immediacy begins with sense-presentation of the contemporary body. The body, however, is only a peculiarly intimate bit of the world. Just as Descartes said, 'this body is mine'; so he should have said, 'this actual world is mine.' My process of 'being myself' is my origination from my possession of the world." -Alfred North Whitehead

[james-spooky]

bring gordon back to me i’m in pain

[the-archivist-taperecorder]

Finally actually listening to tma (yes we have been in the fandom since 2021 and have two TMA/tmagp fictives and have never actually listened to a single podcast episode)

[smashviolet]

How could I pause binging woe.begone after that top-notch impersonation of a 🤌fucking terrible🤌 Raylan Givens impersonation in 44?

Touched my dark crystalline heart, through my ears, through my headphones.

[lovelyladzzzz]

Martin: Spiders are just misunderstood! They aren’t that bad!

Me: …

Me: So Martin’s gonna get eaten by a giant spider right? That’s how he’s gonna die? Yeah? That or he turns into a giant spider. Either way this boys getting wrecked by some spiders.

[jacks347]

I MISSED THE NEW BVZ PREMIERE (THANKS JOB)

So now y'all get my live reaction! (I've never done one of these before, this is gonna be fun)

SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT

Intro is great as always, I love this song so much

Here we go~

WHO?? WHAT??

OFF TO A STRONG START

"Lack of cooperation" My guy it's Albus, that's literally his entire thing

On your family?? YOU LEAVE FAITH OUT OF THIS (and Kerano and Devlin)

OH??

HI DEVLIN WHAT

That design is so good, Glowbat you wonder

Plot twist #1, I expect many more

We're not even 5 minutes in, this post is going to be a fucking Bible-

Does Devlin have freckles?? Did he always have freckles?? Beautiful

Oh Devlin got sassy during the break I like :P

Of course he calls for his brother, the strongest person he knows how sweet <3

Miracle of faith, in more ways than one

Oo, that sounds painful

~DINNER BREAK~

ALBUS! LANGUAGE!

Ooo scary protective Albus

"My brothers. My battalion." Oh-

Aaaaand there's the Albus we know and love XD

"Fuck you and your hat!" Pfft you leave Devlin's fedora alone XD

Oh, back to our regularly scheduled program

Waiter I'm afraid you got some capitalism in my cowboy fantasy

GIMME CROSSBOW I WANT A CROSSBOW

I don't even think Albus knows where Albus went, he just heard his brother calling and left

Ewwwww TMI Albus

LIGHTSABER?? WHO LET ALBUS PICK UP A LIGHTSABER

Oo who's at the door? And why do I not trust it-

Oh it's just Devlin-

Uh oh, Albus has to explain his family~

Hi Mahatma! I still don't entirely trust you!

Why am I playing organizing Tetris-

...oops

"Can I ask you something?" I mean you just did so-

"Do you ever feel...powerless?" Well ain't this a pleasant conversation

"Like you can't save the people you care about" WELL AIN'T THIS A PLEASANT CONVERSATION

Look at Hipswitch showing off his detective skills! I'm so proud

Oh? What's on that ship??

Oh god not more new characters-

The mafia's back that's not good-

Why is the mafia fighting the Triad I'M SCARED

THE MAFIA SHOT DOWN THE PALADIN SHIPS?? WHY?? I DON'T LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING

Another point to the man that can't even fuckin read that he's just a tad bit stupid :P

Boys, boys! You're both pretty stop yelling XD

"Interesting" is certainly a word for it Doc, wait until you hear about the woman they're both in love with-

"Caused any distress" ...do you hear yourself Devlin?

...awkward silence...

Paladins of Cindergorn eh? Looks like we are gonna learn about Faith today

Devlin being a smartypants, Hipswitch giving the most sass I've ever heard in a single sentence, this is great

Ewww I hated everything about that metaphor

"Something doesn't feel quite right" Of course it doesn't because nothing here is ever simple

WHY IS DEVLIN CHANGING COLORS??

"Is there anything else you can actually swallow?" ...Doc that is the wrong person to ask

"Oh...eugh" 10/10 Love that reaction XD

Poor Devlin, he spent enough time single-handedly running a ship-

When did Albus attempt to learn to cook?? And why??

"Don't worry about me" Faith's healer senses are tingling

"I saw you get goosebumps, did I scare you?" Honey considering how this story is going I don't think it was fear-

HIPSWITCH THIS IS NOT THE POSITION YOU WANT TO BE IN WHEN DEVLIN GETS BACK

Oh the secondhand embarrassment is crawling up my spine and it hasn't even happened yet

Please God get off of him before I explode-

And we're safe thank god

"You don't trust him at all, do you?" Would you if you were in my position?

This is really just the backstory episode isn't it

Albus, the hired gun where his last job got him killed, wasn't too keen on being a bounty hunter until he saw the paycheck. Okay that stings a little-

"I'm sure they're fine" *Cut to them being very not fine*

Devlin proudly proclaiming he can't read, 10/10 tension diffused

"We won't tell a soul, right partner?" Sir I couldn't even if I wanted to my mouth is literally just for decoration at this point (don't take that out of context-)

Destroy a sacred scripture surrounded by Paladins of Cindergorn, a certain priestess just felt her eye twitch

Yes Doc, show off that psychology degree you worked so hard for (hi I'm a psych student so it's also the degree *I'm* working so hard for)

"Is Devlin a father?" He's not just a stepdad, he's a dad who stepped up 💪 (that was so bad forgive me-)

Devlin...what did you do...

Okay I do not trust any of what just happened, what are you after Devlin?

Oh god the mafia's back

DOGS?? OH GOD PLEASE NO

NOT DOC!! ALBUS SOUNDS SO WORRIED

Show em what you're made of Albus

Don't talk to Albus like he doesn't know what being trained from birth to be someone's dog is like-

Devlin's going through it again, someone save the poor boy from his flashbacks

Y'know, Redacted being the one getting killed instead of doing the killing is rather cathartic in a bittersweet kind of way

Time to rewrite history! Again!

"What exactly can he do?" Great question, I'll tell you when I find out

Oh great, GB's back on his villain shit what piece of lore are we getting today

I don't trust that music, what's about to happen and is it a sand worm like this is Star Wars (we already had a lightsaber it wouldn't shock me)

I KNEW IT!! ASK ME HOW I KNEW GO ON ASK

WHO IS THE MAN IN THE MASK I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS

"I have someone for this kind of thing" Yes go visit your wife and her special bandage technique :D

"Is it a hooker?" "No! It's not a hooker!" He sounded so offended for her, I love that

:O Let someone else fix you up?? And betray wife?? Wait no Wife is Gienne (hello GB Twitch chat :P)

Where's Faith I saw the cast list where is she

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU BIRD NOSE FREAK

:D KERANO BABY

Oh that art is adorable

SHE CALLS HIM DAD MY HEART IS GONNA EXPLODE

Oop there's Faith-

And Kerano calls her Mom ughhhhh I'm not gonna make it y'all

"It's been x amount of time" Kerano I love you

"Death is too good for him" Yikes

"That's a relief!" "It is?" Pfft-

Faith went from furious to worried in 2 seconds hearing about Albus, that's our girl

"You didn't tell him about your father's death" HEH?? HONEY YOU DIDN'T TELL *ME* ABOUT HIS FATHER'S DEATH WTF I THOUGHT WE WERE IN THIS TOGETHER FAITH

Oh poor Devlin :(

"I miss him, Faith" Is that the first time we've ever heard Devlin call her by her name? Back in BW he always just called her Sister

Awww hug him for me Faith

Oh yeah, Faith is the only who can actually read-

"Something called Operation Sub Delta" ...what

Oh my god don't read it Faith please god don't read it

And she's reading it-

"You just want an excuse to see him again" Oh look, he's reading the thoughts of the fandom (YES WE WANT ALBUS TO SEE HIS WIFE AGAIN SO SUE US)

"I've actually met someone" EXCUSE ME?? DEVLIN YOU HOE WHO IS IT??

"Look at my choice in men" Ah so she realizes it XD

Come on Faith, connect the dots, I know you're smart enough

And she's done it

Who is Agent and what the hell is happening

Uh oh-

They have the files of the subjects that Devlin doesn't

Which means they can use Albus like their own weapon by probing his training like Kravatas did

Oh I really don't like where this is going

WHAT??

THAT'S THE END??

YOU CAN'T JUST END IT ON THAT WHAT THE HELL

Oh my god this series really loves throwing me for loops doesn't it

OKAY ENDING THOUGHTS

Absolute 100000/10 episode GB you madlad you've done it again

Was completely worth the wait, love seeing the whole cast together again including our new players!

The art is flawless, I expected nothing less of Glowbat

Keep doing what you do you mad genius GB, I'll be holding my breath for the next one (try not to kill me I can't do another 4 months-)

[fabled-table]

starting season 5 of TMA and all I am thinking about is how much Jon reminds me of Tomcat Disposables (will wood)

i know its about a rat but it also kinda seems to be about wanting more, and a bit about ambition, naivety, and hubris

or i just fucking love that song and im tired so my thoughts are jumbled

[imasillygooose]

Guys there's gonna be more Michael content right

Like he's gonna come back????

He hasn't been replaced by Helen permanently, right?????????

RIGHT????????

[emrysthemerlin]

The fact that Gertrude literally ran out of assistants and Elias keeps adding more to Jon’s plate when they die horribly (replacing Sasha/not Sasha with Melanie and tossing Basira on for funsies) is amusing to me. Like yeah

(about Gertrude) she’ll probably live on her own and I can’t keep expensing funerals

(About Jon) he’s a wet stray cat who’s getting in fights and needs to be surrounded by people more expendable than him.

[atomicfunnightmare]

Okay it's great but the John(Jon?) being able to describe everything perfectly in great detail? Unrealistic (ar least for me)

Also I just imagine him saying "good boy" every time Arthur does something he asked