#also I’m thinking of Shelley not distortion btw

[a-dumbass-jester]

Doorkeay but it’s Alluring Secret ~Black Vow~

[neriumdelusion]

TMA for the ask game!

HOOOLY SHIT OKAY!!! Mwah kisses you on the forehead/p

Blorbo - my blorbo is probably Michael! I was absolutely obsessed with that guy and the system decided to fuck around and get a fictive of him so that was a time! He’s got such an interesting character I love all the discussion around identity and if you have a self. Ot hit very close to home and he is very dissociation actually so that was relatable! Michael Shelley is great , on of the most anger inducing things is people infantilising Michael Shelley. He’s not a kid you absolute dipshit. The distortion itself is such a cool concept and I’m obsessed. Michael distortion is both but also not really either and waaa I love them<3<3<3 ALSO Melanie king! I cannot talk as much about her I have strong incoherent thoughts about her she is wonderful and probs the smartest archive assistant in the show. (Sasha was not ‘the brain cell’ actually she followed some blond weirdo to an abandoned pub) and her and Georgie are so much to me! BUT LIKE…Michael , Melanie and Sasha James too if I had to pick. Sasha means a lot to me and I disagree with the fanon of ‘oh she’s the brain cell’ no the fuck she is not, let a girl be a lil silly omg you guys hate to see a girlboss winning.

Scrunkly - hmm. You see all of them are just SO. I think if I was forced to choose I would go Jane Prentiss! I’m a strong believer she did nothing wrong, her arc hit very close as someone with bfrbs and dependency issues! She is wonderful I’m corruption aligned. I think a lot about her pre corruption and what she said in her statement about going to the park in the sun and drinking wine. It’s healing to imagine her doing the same while with the hive, or post-hive (I read a fic and it was good so now it’s canon) I think she is wonderful! And gorgeous with the worms btw, only lame people don’t think she’s cute with the worms.

Scrimblo bimblo - OLIVER BANKS. Get fucked he’s like sexiest best most epic guy ever he committed identify theft to take a nap and I felt him! Epic guy wonderful I don’t know too much about him but Oliver banks is one of my favourite characters! Not to mention I love end avatars, not aligned with it much myself but it slaps!

Glup shitto - RYAN (mentioned in episode 101, Michael’s statement) AND GABRIEL THE WORKER OF CLAY (I think he’s mentioned more than once but mainly ep 101 again) my lord I have so any thoughts about how Michael and Ryan’s childhood friendship literally lead to Michael becoming the distortion! What if Ryan’s not dead hmm? What I’d they reunited hmm? What if they were besties again hmm? Also the worker of clay is such a cool character, he basically worshiped the distortion and “dissolved his veins in crimson mud” when the great twisting failed. I’m obsessed. Since people like religious themes in relationships so much JUST LOOK AT GABRIEL WORKER OF CLAY!!!! So many opportunities here you’re all sleeping on them.

Poor little meow meow - Jon sad guy Sims my favourite pathetic archivist <3<3<3<3 he’s just sopping wet!! Love him!! Quite relatable but like specifically in seasons 2 and up. Don’t relate much to academic nerd my test week starts tomorrow and I haven’t done any revision. I can however relate to paranoia and suspicion of those who care about you <3 ! Idk if I have a problematic fave? I genuinely dislike Gertrude Robinson but I’m not like weird about it. System Michael feels quite strongly about it and I always disliked the fact she is reminiscent of adults I tried to gain the approval of and failed and got upset. Soooo I don’t like gertie but if you do good for you ! So Jon is my most pathetic guy I like methinks.

Horse plinko - my hc and fic track record would suggest Michael and Jon! And Tim! I love me some good Tim after realising not-Sasha isn’t Sasha! I love Tim but oh my lord that is the good shit. I would torment Elias bc fuck him (mad at what he did to Melanie and Martin specifically I don’t care if he kills people or is evil I’m mad at two very specific events).

Eeby deeby - we’ve already talked about my feelings on Gertrude. I hate her but that’s entirely for bias and personal reasons and she’s a well written and compelling character. I’m not like overly big on hating Elias he’s whatever, I DO hate Peter Lukas, I think people really minimise how awful he really was. He did what Gertrude did but he never had any good intentions! At least gertie was trying to save the world. Peter was just a dick. Of course he’s still funny and I like that he got PLAYED by Martin WOOO go Martin (didn’t fit any of the categories but Martin is very important to me and he’s a badass and cool stop being like ‘soft boy’ bc my lad he is a full grown man you’re just fatphobic.) anyways! Answer? MARY KEAY. I cannot believe I haven’t mentioned my hatred for her before. (She’s again well written the podcast is good so like obvs) BUT MY LORD. she is quite like our mother in some aspects and Gerry’s statement hit quite hard. She’s a bitch with do redeeming features no good intentions I would happily see her rot <3<3

And on that note!!! Thank you sm for the ask bestie I love an excuse to go back to my roots and talk about my lovely archives guys

[taiey]

TMA Character Episode Appearances

I like numbers so I used the wiki to count up how many episodes each TMA character appears in, with some changes. Here’s my list of episodes. Statements from that character are bolded and some of the short quasi-statements are italicised. Question to ask yourself before you read: who do you think is in the third-most episodes?

As the wiki says, it's easier to count the episodes John doesn't appear in. (12 episodes in season 3 and 6 in season 4.) So doing the subtraction, it's 166 episodes as of 184, if you include the liveshow and also 120 and 142, where he is, after all, in the statement.

Martin's in 72; by season, 6 9 17 15 and all of season five. Plus the liveshow, but not including the fluff episode. What I’m looking to count here is sort of a measure of how much content we have about them but also recognising that being spread out does tend to increase the weight the audience gives it. So “here’s the dog incident, btw” is new information but endorsed fanfic is just extrapolation from what we already have, plus personal invention.

The character in the third-most episodes is Basira. 42; 6 in s2, 15 in s3, 17 in s4 and 4 episodes so far this season. And it's not a slim margin. We actually really do have a lot more time with her than most characters.

Then we jump down to—so I previously made a post saying Elias and Melanie are both in 25 episodes? Except I wasn’t counting 160. My count absolutely includes the episode where we learn Elias’s true motivation and backstory, lol. 3, 4, 11, 6, 2—that includes Curiosity. Mentions are different thing harder to count, if you’re feeling he should loom more omnipresently; letters to Jonah Magnus don’t feel like appearances to me.

Tim is also 26 episodes, including the liveshow: 4 in s1, 7 in s2, 14 in s3, 2 in s5. Which basically means we have 5 [/or 7] episodes where things are okay between him and John. ☺

Melanie’s in 25. 1, 2, 12, 10, [pending]. The two statements that cover the end of her youtubing career give us a really solid foundation and then it’s amazing what you can do with key points and blocks of exposition connected by informative mentions.

Daisy's in 22 episodes. Just one in season two, 11 in s3, 9 in s4 and one in season five. We talk about her and Basira as one coequal unit a lot, probably because they are in-universe, but stepping back it’s suddenly obvious that, like, the narrative focus is always on Basira, even when the plots are ones that usually play out with focus on the Daisy character.

Next on the list is Gertrude Robinson, who, at 15 episodes, is quite possibly the only character I was expecting to appear less. Even moreso because I could go up to 21, depending on whether I counted the one with the pig, We All Ignore The Pit (in one paragraph that focuses on Kilbride), Dreamer (in a dream???), Third Degree (extensive description of her actions in non-statement format), Hive (you called me ‘dear’) orrr Burnt Offering?? with her circle and pictures, like??? I’m probably still missing some, honestly;—the more minor a character the more lenient I am about counting an appearance versus a mention; with 15 voiced I lean not but wobbilyly.

At this point I’m switching to an unnumbered list because I'm not sure I’ve thought of every character to check.

Georgie and Helen are in 13 episodes each —counting 47, Helen Richardson's statement, and all the Distortion appearances from 101 on inclusive. She is Helen Richardson, and also ate her. — including the WTG episode even though it wasn't written by Jonny because it was written by Sasha Sienna and doesn't have any other non-Sa... non-Sienna characters in it, that is totally objective ok.

Peter Lukas: 12. This includes Boatswain’s Call, in which he’s characterised so differently from his later appearances it spawned a fan theory that said appearances were secretly Evan Lukas, but not, as you will notice, without protest.

Not!Sasha is in 11 episodes. (That doesn't include the Not!Other!People appearances, because *waves hands* it makes sense to me this way.)

You may notice that Sasha James has not appeared on this list yet; that's because she's only in 5. 3 in season 1 and 2 in season 5.

Trevor Herbert! Almost forgot him. Nine episodes, in a palindromic season spread, 1 2 3 2 1. He gives... one statement that must have been three times longer than most, and half of one with Julia.

Gerry, Julia, and Mikaele: eight. (This includes Gerry’s appearance as ‘on fire’ in 117.) Julia and Mikaele both give two statements—well, one and a half for Julia.

Agnes, Annabelle and Michael Shelley: seven. Agnes’ is marking novel ground around the “appears in statement”/”mentioned” border; Annabelle is just normal and Michael Shelley is the obvious.

Jane and Nikola: six. The wiki says Jane appears in 152 and I find that hilarious but sadly no; it also says Nikola appears in 083 which I am dubious of but ok.

Jude, Oliver and Adelard??? Five??? You may have missed Oliver’s appearances in Hive and Grifter’s Bone, but I feel like this is definitely missing Adelard??? I guess it’s because that’s four statements from him, which is the most we get from any single person. [citation needed]

MANUELA DOMINGUEZ: four, her two statements and the other two from Daedalus.

Jordan Kennedy makes the list for the obvious reason, with three (three!) appearances. (55, 184, and I’m counting 120 because his bit goes on for a while)

okay, that’s all for now. go forth and correct me, please! c: