#and how tma fandom absolutely loves jon

[always-a-joyful-note]

It really is my firm belief that most well-written medias will have you love the protagonists equal to or more than the side characters. So shoutout to Bamco for making every single i7 character lovable in the sense that they all drive me equally insane

[twwings]

so I spent the last few months just marathoning The Magnus Archives??? I was curious and I have a long-ish commute that I need to fill with audio, so I went for it. I was somewhat spoiled by fanart I saw randomly over the years but not entirely spoiled, and I quite enjoyed it. Some thoughts (both positive and negative thoughts below) because I wanted to write them down as I chew over the show. Also my ramblings might be pleasurable to folks who are big fans and enjoy hearing about people listening to their thing for the first time?

Spoilers for all of TMA, but as I haven't listened to The Magnus Protocol yet (I'm sure I will) no spoilers for that.

thoughts in no particular order:

didn't know that my trypophobia could be activated aurally! thanks, season one. it's good to learn about yourself

because I had seen lots of fanarts around, I knew that Jon/Martin would eventually be a canon thing, so I just spent the early episodes making fun of Jon whenever he was mean about Martin. Jon would be like "ugh, Martin, amirite?" and I'd yell at the car speakers like "lol you're gonna MARRY that guy"

sometimes I found the show a little boring or too expositiony (like the episode where Leitner shows up) and it made me think a lot about the conditions of production, like, having fans who were super into the show and red stringing it up clearly made them want to explain things sometimes in a way not necessary to the story - or, at least, it didn't feel necessary to me as a casual listener who was coming in after the fact and not part of the fandom. maybe it felt necessary for other folks, or to the cast and crew at the time.

relatedly, oh god, I did not keep up with all the plotlines and stuff. like it took me a WHILE to realize that the show was not just gonna be standalone/anthology stuff and would have an overarching plot so I did not pay attention early on to repeated names or plots. and because I was listening on my commute I was like "welp, can't google it, gonna let it go" and I did. I'm here to tell you that the magnus archives is still enjoyable even if you don't care that much about what's going on

when I did really start to care was the end of season four/season five. absolutely love that they went there with the end of season four (I thought it'd just be a buffy-style "now we fight a BIGGER big bad at the end of this season" escalation forever, but no, they unleashed hell on earth, baller move, A+, loved it

so I was spoiled that Martin (and Jon? I wasn't sure) died at some point, though I didn't really know where or how. I also saw someone post something like "oh TMA, great show, too bad it ends after five minutes into episode 160" so from that I kind of extrapolated that Martin died in episode 160? so my experience of listening to that one was REALLY on tenterhooks because the first five minutes was Martin going for a nice walk! and then Jon getting taken over by the statement! so while listening to the middle bit of 160 I was convinced that when Martin came back from his walk Jon was gonna kill him (while possessed, obviously) as part of the ritual thing. so really the following 40 episodes of Martin being alive were pretty sweet to me. Every episode after that when Martin was alive I was like, score, bonus, love it, I'm glad Jon didn't stab him three seconds after they got into a relationship

kept listening for a physical description of Jon to match all the fanart and never got one? I guess the fanon of what Jon looks like is just super consistent for some reason?

hated Tim, I can't disguise it, I hated Tim and I was glad when he died and I was glad he didn't come back, sorry Tim fans, live your truth and I will live mine

wish there weren't so many cops on this show, tho the show did seem to recognize that a little in S5 and try to do some things about it

I'm just a huge sucker for every genre experiment in S5. omg I loved it. Terminus gets a coroner's report, The Unknowing gets slam poetry, The Flesh gets a gardening manual?????? mwah. it made me excited for the format of the statements again when they'd gotten stale. so many smart and interesting genre experiments in S5! and I, like Jon, don't even like poetry (just write some prose! I've never identified with a character more), so you know I'm impressed when I'm exclaiming about some poem

seriously! the genre experiments!!! so good

"queer couple navigate their new relationship and also The Hellscapes" = amazing, ty, also ty for doing it twice

somehow I managed not to notice the line about Jon being asexual at first and then I saw some tumblr post about it and I was like, wait what? my brain had gone pretty far down into some non-asexual fanfiction stories before I got that bit of canon and had to record-scratch freeze-frame. anyway I am pleased by the ace rep and hope to go read some non-sexual D/s for them in the future, please tell me if you know some good stuff

please also tell me if you know about fanfictions where Martin consensually feeds Jon his own memories and it's weird and intense

saw a cute fluffy domestic fanart where Jon was blind (ie had blinded himself to escape the eye) and I laughed and laughed that this is a fandom in which the happy fluffy AUs are the ones where the characters have violently blinded themselves. not to say I'm not gonna read the fluffy AUs where they've violently blinded themselves, I am, I'm sure they're lovely, it's just funny

don't think I wasn't thinking about Crowley and Aziraphale in the episode where Jon is like "what if we ran away together" in season four. When Jon is like "What if we ran away together, you and me, we could do it, what if we did" and he absolutely knows that Martin is not gonna say yes and maybe he doesn't want Martin to say yes but he wants to ask him anyway, he wants to try it anyway, because the fantasy of escape, together, is overpowering. anyway don't think I didn't think about Crowley

also laughed and laughed at the like four episodes at the end where Jon is like "maybe I should . . . . . . . . . . . become the Torment Nexus? From the classic scifi novel, Don't Become the Torment Nexus?" and first Martin and then everyone else is like "Jon, don't become the Torment Nexus" and it's really clear that you should not become the Torment Nexus but then later Jon says fuck it and becomes the Torment Nexus

I say it's really clear but the idea that you should strand and isolate and burn out the powers is not a bad one. I did like that the second to last episode was just a debate on morality with no clear resolution. that's a lovely way to send off your characters. tho it didn't matter a lot to the end plot? but still.

Jon "I think I'll just become the Torment Nexus" Simms, istg

THE TORMENT NEXUS

Sue Simms' voice is incredibly hot, Gertrude Robinson is absolutely deadass smokin, love how the Legend of Gertrude just built up over the seasons until by the end she was this like powerful callous avenging angel, no notes, might build a shrine in the woods with pictures of Gertrude in little jars

Gerry and Jurgen were both madly in love with her and she didn't notice or care because she was too busy kicking ass, no notes AT ALL

I really like the bit at the beginning of S5 where Jon is depression-listening to old archives tapes, like it's really effective to do the birthday party flashback just there when the world's just been apocalypsed, but I can't stop thinking about how Jon is listening to that tape and, in retrospect, being like "did Elias/Jonah use his all-powerful knowledge and vision to find out that there was cake in the office?" idk it really feels like Elias's motives in that flashback are like "eat cake" and no one else realizes that he's used his monstrous evil eye power to locate cake. anyway I imagine that Jon had all of these thoughts during his depression

Basira made me laugh ALL THE TIME, the voice acting was so good and she was so over everyone's shit. but at the same time there's this real softness to her at the end of S5 after she's killed Daisy, like she's still tough and grounded in her own perspective but suddenly more compassionate or sympathetic. she has such a good journey over the show

were Basira and Daisy a thing? I could not tell. maybe I should not ask. maybe I am not meant to know. maybe even asking shows how little I know, because their intense and murderous bond exceeds traditional relationship categories

I had a really nice time!!!

I will need to read fanfictions

I will need to watch animatics

I will need to seek out fanarts

the end

[magpod-confessions]

I'm a huge fan of anything stranger related, it's themes have been a staple of my life, so it fit just right in when I was introduced to TMA. Yet while I was listening, I was a little disappointed to find it felt quite unexplored when it was introduced with the whole unknowing arc. I wish we got more on those who followed it and how they were claimed, similar to how we got an peak into the lives of the followers of the lightness flame. However i do understand how this can also ruin the tension and build up if handled wrong. I just think it would have been so cool to see Jon having a much more cryptic and surreal build to realising that the stranger wants something from him. I also think Nikola is an absolutely great villain, and would have benefitted if they created a bigger reputation for who she is and what she presents, i prefer this idea much more than just her somehow appearing where Jon is. I thought it kinda ruined the moment and the idea of her being this big representer to the stranger. This is my personal opinion however, a quite nit picky one at that. I do still absolutely love the way they handled it, Jonny is a fucking amazing writer.

Further on about Nikola. I also think she's become quite underrated within the fandom to a small extent. Other than that one audio that absolutely EXPLODED in virality, you never see much of her or the stranger, its slowly just sorta fizzled out. However I'm PRAYING for more stranger related stuff upcoming in protocol.

.

[tideswept]

For the character breakdown ask game, would you mind maybe doing Padmé or Jon (whichever you prefer)?

Rubbing my hands gleefully. Okay, you asked for it!

How I feel about this character: Jon will always be special to me. He is the messiest of hot messes. He's brilliant. He's a dumbass. He's clever. He's dense. He's brave. He's a coward. He relentlessly wants the truth but is also afraid of it. He's hungry, he's lonely, his kindness leads to death and misery; he's a flawed human and a beautiful monster.

He's hilarious. He's tart and finicky but also soft and introspective. He's tired. He trusts too much and then too little. He's a sliver under the skin and a comforting blanket. He's everything and I love him. No one will ever replace him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: JonElias is my true love, naturally, but I have room in my heart for the utterly doomed TimJon and the fucked up mess of JonPeter. They all feed different hungers and I was never quite as well fed as when I got to write all three. 😘

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Tim or Gerry. Jon needs someone practical who can also kick ass.

My unpopular opinion about this character: The entire JonMartin relationship was toxic as fuck and if the narrative/the fandom had acknowledged that, I would have happily shipped it as the wretched thing that it is. Let me gobble up that dysfunction. DELICIOUS. Let Martin Blackwood be the absolute bastard he was born to be. But as it exists: not for me.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Fam, I could write three different thesis on this 😂 but needless to say, my experience listening to TMA became an increasingly grim exercise in exasperation halfway through s3.

📚 [GIVE ME A CHARACTER; and I’ll break their ass down:]

🍓 [quick jump to ask inbox]

[deconstructthesoup]

I'm kind of realizing that the reason why I love The Owl House and The Magnus Archives so much is partially due to the way they mess with the Chosen One trope.

With The Owl House, it twisted it up into little bitty knots right outta the gate, and honestly, it's not an exaggeration for me to say that I was---to borrow a phrase from the Dimension 20 fandom---episode 2'd. Luz gets sent on a Chosen One quest, it turns out to be a total scam, and she gets told by Eda that she has to choose herself. And she continues choosing herself, and it seems like this is how the show is gonna go---this girl arrives here by accident, but she still has a positive impact because she tries.

And then... she meets Belos. And he recognizes her.

And then we figure out why.

In a way, Luz was supposed to go to the Boiling Isles, because she was supposed to go back in time and indirectly help Philip become the dread emperor in the present day. It wasn't a prophecy, but it was a cruel twist of fate nonetheless. And for a while, she feels like that's the card she was given. She was meant to come to the Isles for a greater purpose, but the purpose was for something terrible.

But when she meets the Titan, he tells her that she's still important. He was helping her along the way, not because a prophecy told him to, but because she was there, and she was a good witch. No prophecy, no fate, God just thought she was cool and saw how happy she made his kid. And even before he gives her the anime powers, he lets her make the choice.

TMA, on the other hand, has another fascinating avenue to explore, being a horror story that's allowed to be just a straight-up horror story. We don't think of Jon as a Chosen One when we meet him---he's just our nerdy, kinda standoffish window into this kinda spooky world. Is he a guy who's mind-numbingly stubborn about accepting the horrors? Yes. Is he a guy who's constantly getting thrown to the horrors for no reason? Yes. Is he completely oblivious to his useless coworker's hopeless crush on him? Oh, absolutely.

And then he becomes The Archivist. And then he gets all these cool powers.

And then comes the moment where you realize, with dawning terror, that those encounters with the horrors were deliberate.

Jon was marked as a Chosen One since he was eight years old, but he wasn't meant to be made into a hero. No, he was made to be a destroyer, a catalyst, the end of the world---maybe eventually, he would be a savior, but that would mean just dooming another reality. And yet, despite all of this... he still chooses to be a hero. He still chooses to be kind.

So, uh... yeah.

(I'm already working on an Archivist!Luz fic, but if anybody got a fic out there with Boiling Isles!Jon, that'd be great)

[xshimaeraxx]

How easily do you find yourself joining fandoms or ships?

I'm so easy, I just see a really pretty art piece or a lovely little story and I'm boarding the boat.

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

pretty easily, id say! like i joined the tma (the magnus archives) fandom purely bc i found a jon playlist on yt, saw the many-eyed green-themed half-eldritch-monster half-man, and fell down a absolute rabbit XD LMAO

[whumpy-wyrms]

are u in any fandoms? what are ur interests besides whump? u don’t have to answer i’m just curious!!

someone’s asking me about my interests i can’t NOT answer

this got a bit long tho so i’m putting it under the read more for people who don’t care/are only here for the whump

OKOK. so i’m kinda in the starkid/nerdy prudes must die fandom rn but i know for a fact if i finished adventure time and started watching fiona and cake, that would quite literally become my entire personality for the next 3 months because simon and prismo (and marceline and princess bubblegum and all my other favorite characters) make me insane. but i haven’t done that because well. i’ve gotta write tllr yknow..

anyway, my absolute most favorite pieces of media of all time are undertale and deltarune guys. i cant put in words how much those games mean to me holy shit. as i’m writing this i’m sitting next to my jevil and sans and spamton plushie and they are saying hi. anywayyy yeah i was in the deltarune fandom for a bit it was fun. spamton is silly fucked up creature. jevil is my all time favorite tho

AND THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES… my favorite thing ever fr. y’all. LISTEN TO TMA SERIOUSLY YOU’LL PROBABLY LIKE IT!! it’s a horror podcast and it’s seriously the best fuckinf thing ever it’s so amazing seriously. it’s a bit hard to get into at first because season 1 is less story driven BUT HOLY SHIT. AHHHH ITS SO FUCKING GOOD. jon is one of my favorite blorbos ever and so is michael because he’s a silly distortion guy. just trust me and listen to TMA it will actually change your life.

also i love the amazing world of gumball so fucking much. i wasn’t allowed to watch cartoon network as a kid (idk why??) so i first watched tawog last year and holy shit holy shit it’s my favorite thing ever. rob. ROB!!!! ROB IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE CHARACTER. SO IS MR SMALL. AHHHH!!!! anyway i love tawog i’ve drawn a lot of fanart and even wrote a 60k word fanfiction (about what happens after The Inquisition because that ending fucked me up) that i’ve Never and will probably never show anyone because it’s probably Not that good. but it was sooo Important to me back then. tawog just means so much to me it :))) it changed me as a person. nobody’s a nobody and everybody is weird like you and me.

i also really like hollow knight! i haven’t played it in a while but i was at 111% completion on one of my playthroughs (CURSE YOU PANTHEON 4). i’m also super fucking excited for silksong obviously and i will say this now: WHEN SILKSONG FINALLY RELEASES… i will probably go on hiatus here LMAO. sorry but guys. SILKSONG…. honestly same for new deltarune chapters. the second chapters 3, 4, and 5 release it is sooo over for me. i probably won’t post much here for a few months during that. but that’s fine!! i’ll never abandon tllr but sometimes some things are more important to my silly little brain :3

gravity falls quite literally changed my life in 2018. like i can’t even explain it, but it’s how i was introduced to online fandoms and fanart in general. dipper LITERALLY made me trans (not literally but pretty much). it’s how i started watching other amazing cartoons and series i love, it’s literally what made me get into drawing art and writing and stuff. it’s what made me start making ocs. it literally made me an artist guys. which is how i started writing. without gravity falls and it’s effect it had on me, this account might have never existed?? i’m being super dramatic but wowww. i was so autistic about that silly cartoon

minecraft i love. i’ve been playing minecraft for over a decade and won’t stop because it’s like, probably a special interest of mine? i’ve watch minecraft youtubers forever too, hermitcraft and the life series are my favorite. i’m a huge grian fan too, been watching him since the evo days. anyway if u play minecraft and wanna play with me sometime, feel free to ask!!! :D i love making new friends and playing video games with people!!! let’s make a world together!!!

also i like terraria and stardew valley, and animal crossing new horizons but i haven’t played that in a few years. hmm other games i like are oneshot game, NITW, omori, celeste, cuphead, fnaf (although i’ve only played the first 5 games and am super super behind on the lore), ori, dead cells, untitled goose game (this is for u anon), and probably more i’m forgetting! feel free to recommend me some video games and we can even play together :3

other series i love are the umbrella academy. soooo autistic about this show it’s fucking AMAZING!!!!!! klaus is my favorite character. anyway i also like what we do in the shadows. it made me super autistic about vampires (before i watched this show i kinda thought vampires were cringe IDK WHY I’M SORRYY). the netflix show lucifer made me insane a few years ago and is what probably indirectly inspired me to give Dew wings. i also like our flag means death, breaking bad, moon knight, and camp here in there (another podcast i HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend, will wood made the soundtrack!)

i LOVEEE FINAL SPACE!! avocato has been my pfp on this account forever and now i feel like i can’t ever change it (i don’t want to). final space is seriously amazing!!! but it was cancelled and basically got fucked over by the networks- infinity train style. idk, stuff happened and it was removed from hbo max so there’s not really anywhere to watch it (legally) except for netflix international iirc? but it’s getting removed from that too i think. super fucking sad :( it ended on a huge cliffhanger too BUT there is a graphic novel being made!!!! super excited about that!

other cartoons i like are over the garden wall (dressed up as wirt for halloween last year), the owl house, adventure time, regular show, steven universe, infinity train, bojack horseman, rick and morty, mlp, the midnight gospel, and so much more i’m forgetting. OH anime i like are death note, demon slayer (haven’t caught up yet on the latest seasons tho), and MOB PSYCHO 100!! vampire in the garden on netflix is really amazing as well.

this is sooo long but now i gotta talk about my favorite music artists. WILL WOOD (AND THE TAPEWORMS) IS MY FAVORITEEE. I ALSO LOVEEE JHARIAH!!! AND HARLEY POE!!!!! top three of all time. i also like toby fox obviously, and glass beach (LITERALLY GOING TO SEE THEM IN MARCH AND I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!), mcr, shayfer james, weezer, mitski, lemon demon, set it off, tally hall, gerard way, and probably more i’m forgetting. i also like musicals!! (i was in the spongebob musical earlier this year for school! i was larry the lobster :))

so guys. GUYSSS. IF YOU LIKE MUSICALS, GO WATCH NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE!!!! OR JUST WATCH THE ENTIRE HATCHETFEILD TRILOGY!!! WHILE UR AT IT, WATCH ALL THE STARKID MUSICALS ACTUALLY!!! this is my current hyperfixation. the lords in black are amazing, npmd is amazing. i love everything about it. go watch it seriously, it’s fucking awesome and the soundtrack is AMAZING!!!

i think this is it. this got super long but i’m super passionate about my interests so yeah. this is pretty much everything. one very important thing (literally my special interest) that i didn’t mention are my other ocs. i have wayyy more ocs that are completely separate from the tllr ones. i don’t wanna post about them here though, cuz they’re not whump related and i want to keep my main account separate from this account. but they’re my favorite blorbos in existence so…

if u WANT to know about my other ocs, u can feel free to dm me for the username of my other fandom/oc account. that’s where i post other stuff that i don’t post here, like my fanart and my other oc stuff. i don’t post writing or anything like that there, so ur not missing out on that.

anyway those are most of my main interests! things i didn’t mention that im also really interested in are reptiles (snakes specifically), and animals in general. i have two leopard geckos named Lars and Alphys and i reallyyyy want a pet snake but my family hates snakes :(( anyway i’m rambling

thanks for the ask!!

[go-to-the-mirror]

any thoughts on basira and daisy for the ask game?

[ID in alt: @isnt-loving-lovely’s ship bingo. The title is “ship bingo.” From left to right, top to bottom, the spots are: “I’d read a fic,” “sure i can see it,” “otp x 1000,” “the angst. the drama,” “t4t,” “qpr,” “unhealthy in a good way,” “been married for 30 years,” “unhealthy in a BAD way,” “best in a certain part of canon,” “canon no, fanon yes,” “they sure do exist,” “free space,” “I didn’t know about that one,” “rotating in my brain like a microwave,” “theyre exes,” “i can see the appeal,” “I have So Many Headcanons,” “awwe I love them :),” “I used to like them a lot more;” “no,” “part of a bigger polycule,” “fandom doesn’t know them like I do,” “canon did them Wrong,” “wlw/mlm solidarity.” Crossed out in purple is: “unhealthy in a BAD way,” “free space,” “i can see the appeal,” “no,” and “fandom doesn’t know them like I do.” “i can see the appeal” is only crossed out a little. “no” is crossed out a lot. /End ID]

(CW vague mention of TMA canon-typical police stuff)

Alright, I have Feelings about Dasira, but I’m mostly going to be talking about it in an aromantic way, because I am not the person who knows enough to talk about TMA and cops. (But I will say that if one more person headcanons Daisy with BPD I am going to Die, please Stop.)

So, as an aromantic person, I appreciate that canon!Dasira is completely platonic. They absolutely suck ✨ platonically ✨. They’re a toxic ✨ platonic ✨ relationship. Basira has double standards about Daisy killing people versus Jon taking people’s statements, but her feelings for Daisy are completely platonic.

Yes, queer romantic relationships are important in fiction, I acknowledge this and I’m not going to say it doesn’t give me warm fuzzy feelings to have queer romance be a thing, I love it as much as the next person, but as an aromantic person, I absolutely adore how Daisy and Basira can be so devoted to each other — to the point of it being harmful to the people around them, don’t think I have forgotten — and have the relationship still be completely platonic.

I have a problem with the TMA fandom and how a lot of people just sort of… assume romantic!Dasira is canon, when it’s not. Some of my favourite fic authors are guilty of this (I will not name names because. No. They’re lovely. I don’t know if I have the power to make people do anon hate and I don’t want to find out), and it’s just… hhh. It makes me annoyed. Ship and Let Ship, yeah yeah, but also, aaa, just. It doesn’t sit well with me, personally.

Also, not the right person to be talking on this, but while I really like Daisy’s redemption (?) arc and the message of forgiveness not being necessary but trying to do better being necessary, I… hm. Idk. I just don’t want to say something wrong, so I tend to just stay away from Daisy and Basira as characters. Don’t have much experience with it and have not done enough reading on it.

Anyway, thank you for the ask, you’re v snazzy, and if anyone else wants to… uh you can send stuff for:

MCYT (specifically Hermitcraft and adjacent, but I can do any MCYT, I’ve absorbed some stuff via osmosis), BNHA/MHA (I had a phase), PJO (and related fandoms), TMA, Malevolent, WTNV, RQG, TMC, and any other fandoms you fancy but those are the main ones.

[marmolita]

Magnus protocol 1&2 thoughts! Here be spoilers and also spoilers for TMA! Also fyi I'm gonna be tagging with "the magnus protocol" for tmagp stuff and continuing to use the fandom name plus "spoilers" for anything spoilery.

Stuff I like:

Diving right in with the majorly fucked up "statements," 100% here for it!!! I liked the second one better than the first because I felt like I actually understood what was going on in it better, and it was sufficiently fucked and creepy.

I like the idea that this is basically like the archive, but it's in a different form where they have to read/listen to/watch the statements and then categorize and file them

I ♥️ Sam, he's wonderful so far 😍

Gwen is fascinating and I appreciate a girl who's a stickler for filing things properly (I'm an Amy Santiago type of person myself). I'm interested to see how things go with her and definitely interested to see what goes on with her and Lena

Lena 👀👀 who is she? how did she get here? how much is she in the know? Presumably she's aware that she's running basically a Beholding archive but also presumably this universe does not have a living Jonah Magnus so her backstory is probably very different.

Jon and Martin zapped into the computer like Freakazoid is a great callback to the computer ep from tma and that they're not really alive in the same way they were before (assuming ofc it's them). I'm definitely interested to see who else is in there with them 👀

I like the way the statements start off in computerized voices and then gradually fade to normal voice and then back again 👍

Stuff I don't like:

Probably unpopular opinion: I absolutely cannot stand Alice. I want to like her and I'm hoping that the storyline will change my mind, but she's just kind of a jerk? Like the whole "go ask Colin about the app" thing was just a dick move, and the aggressive irreverence comes off as rude and irritating to me. Presumably she has a tragic backstory and this is some kind of put-on act to cover up her emotional turmoil but would it hurt to be a little nicer to people? Gwen is rude too but she's owning it, not pretending that she's nice. As a listener I feel like I'm expected to find Gwen disagreeable but I'm expected to find Alice charming, and I really, really don't.

The audio in the break room is terrible. I assume part of this is that we're supposed to be listening from the perspective of an electronic device, maybe a copy machine that's around the corner or something, and I get that, but I cannot fucking hear what they're saying. I'm usually either listening in the car or in an environment with lots of other sounds and it's just inaudible for me.

This is true for some other sections as well, though the break room is the worst. I have enough trouble just understanding accents sometimes since I'm not British (I watch all BBC tv shows with the captions turned on 😅) so when audibility is low this becomes even harder.

Some of the transitions were unclear. I loved the artist statement, but it was not clear to me who was listening to it, how it was getting played, or what was going on. I'm not familiar enough with the voices yet to identify people and for a minute I thought Lena was taking a statement in person.

I assume I'll figure this out in time, but I can't tell Lena and Gwen apart.

MY SOFTWARE PROFESSIONAL NITPICKS oh my god I know this is an eldritch abomination of a computer system but some of the technobabble is just conflicting! If it's ancient, then it can't be breaking when it auto updates, because 1) your OS and SW did not auto update back then, and 2) if it's been around and auto updating for years it would be newer and not ancient anymore! There was some other technobabble I can't recall at the moment that bothered me too, which I'll probably remember five minutes after making this post. These are all nitpicks that are only annoying to me because software is my day job though so I will accept them.

[fridayyy-13th]

20 questions for fic writers

tysm @three-magpies-in-a-trenchcoat for the tag!!

How many works do you have on Ao3? 4

What's your total Ao3 word count? 13,296

What fandoms do you write for? i used to write for the Hermitcraft fandom, but i've discontinued the one fic i started for it and moved on to The Magnus Archives. i've got a couple story ideas for other fandoms, but idk if they'll go anywhere.

What are your top five fics by kudos? well, i've only got four! but from most- to least-kudosed, there's: - Double Trouble (Hermitcraft, rated G, incomplete multichapter) - Know What Can't Be Shown, Feel What Can't Be Known (TMA, rated T, oneshot) - Time Enough to Spend Some Time Alone (TMA, rated T, oneshot) - Here, Nowhere, Somewhere With You (TMA, rated G, oneshot) and i'm totally not salty my two most kudosed fics are an incomplete work and something i posted at 3am, respectively.

Do you respond to comments? hell yeah! i love answering comments <3

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? gotta say Time Enough, bc it's more refined than its predecessor, Know What Can't Be Shown (man i really need to stop giving my fics such long titles, i always end up shortening them when referring to them). but for reference, both are pre-Unknowing jmart kiss fics; it's a favored headcanon of mine. Time Enough also spends more time musing on how Jon and Martin are feeling—that is, they feel Bad. Absolutely Terrible. sad and scared, both for the Unknowing and for each other.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Here, Nowhere, Somewhere, absolutely. the ending itself is pretty open, but Jon and Martin have reunited post-MAG 200, admitted they still love each other after its events, and found themselves Somewhere Else. it's the most hopeful.

Do you get hate on fics? not yet, thankfully. i'm not a well-known enough author for that lol.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i do not! and i doubt i ever will. props to everyone who does, though.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? i don't really write crossovers, at least none i ever planned to publish, but i do have a couple fusion AUs in the works (that is, taking one story's premise and combining it w/the characters of another). and funnily enough, both are based on songs.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? i sure hope not.

Have you ever had a fic translated? no. though if someone offered to, i'd be honored!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? technically? a friend of mine and i made a couple AUs for a few different MCYT fandoms that never really went anywhere, but i've never co-authored something that's made it to publishing.

What's your all time favorite ship? probably jonmartin. i've read a ridiculous amount of fanfic for them, and i think pretty much all my WIPs feature it if both Jon and Martin are there (sometimes i'll make them queerplatonic, and sometimes they'll be part of a poly ship like jongerrymartin, but jmart tends to be pretty Do Not Separate in my mind lmao).

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? ages ago i was reading this one rom-com webcomic where two people wound up as roommates bc the landlord accidentally rented the single apartment to both of them, which i thought was a really cute premise, but then BAM there was some really awful transphobia in it. when called out in the comments, the author doubled down, so i snatched up the concept and decided "i'm gonna make this t4t out of SPITE." but uh i've found spite doesn't work very well as a fuel source for my work, and i can get the same awkward domesticity/mutual pining out of a safehouse fic, so it'll probably just stay buried in the WIPs folder.

What are your writing strengths? dialogue. or at least, making a character's dialogue sound like their voice. vocabulary, things like stammering or using filler words, cutting oneself off or pausing a bunch, that sort of thing. though sometimes the dialogue itself feels a little clunky. i also think i'm rather good at writing emotional scenes, especially once i'm in the editing stage of things.

What are your writing weaknesses? over-editing. my utter beloathed. i sometimes get really caught up in trying to make everything as clear as possible, when that just makes the work 5,000 words too long and takes way more time to do. i'm trying to be better about it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i think it's neat! but if you're monolingual you should read up on writing bilingual/multilingual characters beforehand, don't just wing it.

First fandom you wrote for? probably Pokémon? i'm not entirely sure.

Favorite fic you've written? Time Enough, hands-down. (though uh, hypothetically, if i wanted to make some small edits to it, would it be weird to do so? especially seven months after posting? there's a handful of lines i wish i'd phrased a bit differently.)

tags (no pressure!!): @radical-dadical-rafael @dramaticdads @winterswrandomness @ollieofthebeholder @ladydragonkiller @incandescentis @cornmazehater @jewishjon

[blue-orchid-boi]

MAKING A LONG WINDED EXPLANATION OF MY DESCENT INTO THE XFILES FANDOM BCUZ I CAN >:3

As some of y’all can tell from a couple of my previous posts, I recently had a short yet intense hyperfixation on the Magnus Archives. And while I still really love tma, I now feel the burning need to talk about my newest hyperfixation: the xfiles.

And I know what you’re thinking;

“Orchid, that show ended years ago!” And “It wasn’t even around when people were really making fandom space accessible!” And “Why would you, a tragically queer gen z, get into a show where the main relationship is blatant heterosexuals??”

Well, do I have a story for you, my friends.

Only a few short weeks ago, when I was in the throes of my tma hyperfixation, I did what any neuro-spicy individual would do; I info-dumped to anyone who would listen, ie: my parents. And being the generous, yet clueless parental figures they are, they let me ramble. I very poorly explained the plot of several episodes, including MAG 6, 18, and 32. I also gave a rather feeble attempt at explaining the meta lore, which ended in my repeating “But it’s all connected!!!” over and over again.

My dad, being much more invested (or at least better at hiding his disinterest) than my mom, offhandedly recommended the xfiles to me after one such session of ramblings.

And while as a member of gen z I was less than enticed by a show that began in the 90’s, I eventually agreed to watch the first couple episodes to really see if I was interested.

And let me tell y’all, I was hooked.

We’re on season three now, (and yes I know that’s not impressive considering the sheer amount of content in the xfiles universe) and I literally cannot stop watching. It was exactly what I needed when my tma obsession was mellowing out, because on a general level, they’re in the same genre of content.

Both are some type of workplace comedy (definitely), both have rather weird/gross/fucked up episodes, both are set in the perspective of academia (while Mulder and Scully deal with more of a bureaucratic side of academia, Jon and Martin are inherently researchers and employees of an academic institution), and both have the main characters as love interests!!

And I’ve been playing a game, as we slowly plow our way through the absolute mountain of content that is the xfiles, I call it “Assign an Entity”. I’m sure you can’t guess what it entails :3

I’m genuinely having so much fun watching the show, and my parents are excited about getting to introduce me to a show that was a large part of their late-college lives.

We watch a couple episodes almost every night and it’s genuinely, like, the highlight of my day. Despite how much I yell about Mulder being dumb or how much I despise the antagonists, my parents constantly letting me yell out my theories and silly comments is what makes it such a fun experience.

Anyways thanks for comin’ to my Ted talk I’m so obsessed with this show lmao

[its-your-mind]

I posted 10,158 times in 2022

That's 6,390 more posts than 2021!

233 posts created (2%)

9,925 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ickyprincetothesun

@fangirlingpuggle

@larrythepistachio

@justablah56

@annabelle--cane

I tagged 706 of my posts in 2022

#tma - 124 posts

#the magnus archives - 94 posts

#jonathan sims - 42 posts

#dracula daily - 27 posts

#dracula - 24 posts

#jonmartin - 22 posts

#martin blackwood - 21 posts

#tma spoilers - 20 posts

#statement remains - 16 posts

#tma fanart - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#whereas martin is just chuggin along in his life when ope here’s a person i can help time to get them tea what do you mean i’m in love

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

“Oh, Martin saw Jon be a complete mess of a human being and thought I can fix him and that was the reason his crush started”

you fools. you absolute circus clowns. you avatars of pure silliness.

Martin is EXACTLY as unhinged as Jon even before they ever meet each other, and becomes even more so after we meet him. Behold:

List of Reasons why Martin Kartin Blackwood is just as (if not more) unhinged than his avatar-of-all-evil-knowledge-boyfriend:

in order to get a job, he lied on his CV. Not too bad, fuck academic elitism, etc, but this man. claimed to have a very specific degree in a very specific field. and then he got hired. because of that degree

and no one noticed. for ten whole years.

(except the head of the institute, which doesn’t count bc he’s an evil mind reading bastard)

Also claimed to be like ten years older than he really was (him and jon share this unhinged fun fact which is fuckin wild)

ALSO also didn’t have a middle name so just kinda. gave himself a middle initial. for funsies.

let a dog into a building bc it tricked him with its cute face

but also carried out a con for months on an avatar of an evil fear god by just. frowning and nodding.

could have been an avatar of manipulation and control, instead decided to be in love. icon.

actually, could have been an avatar of three different fear gods. said no thanks I will be in love instead ty

boss is specifically an asshole to him. decides to fall in love anyway.

had to be told to put his hands in his pockets so he would stop touching plastic explosives

wanted to kill an old man bc one time that old man kind of threatened to throw him off a rollercoaster

after being trapped in his flat for three weeks by a bug lady, brought a jar full of her bugs with him back to work to prove a point

willing to damn an unknowable number of other realities

met himself. he was an asshole. to himself.

“sorry elias I can’t hear you there’s a door in the way”

decided with no evidence that he was going to take his bf on a hiking trip and figure out a way to shove the fear gods back into their little box

has dreams of making out with his bf over their ex-boss’s corpse

“Hey, Elias! J o n a h M a g n u s !!!!! …. OI DICKHEAD”

big strong rowing arms

(that’s not unhinged i just wanted everyone to remember that martin has big strong arms good for rowing and giving hugs)

thinks tea is cure to all emotional ills

certainly has a large fun patterned jumper collection at home

also advocates that he and his bf “get their murder on”

stole a possibly evil tape recorder to record poetry bc lo-fi vibes

spent several months talking to tape recorders more than humans

See the full post

6,854 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

#4

Help I’m late to the party re: cryptic Rusty Quill Magnus Archives news and don’t know how to catch up!

You have come to the right place! Here I will summarize The Bullshit™️ with time stamps where able. I will also update this post when new things come to light.

Let’s go one day at a time!

10 October

Rusty Quill Twitter and Instagrams post UNPROMPTED, UNEXPLAINED eyes

See the full post

7,837 notes - Posted October 12, 2022

#3

tma fandom for the past year and a half: the ambiguity of the ending was so beautiful, I love that we just Don’t Know what happened to them. Horror tragedy is a heart-wrenching but also amazing genre.

tma fans today: mARTIN? Martin my beloved bby boy?? Is here???? Is aliVe??? THANK FUCK THIS IS WHAT I WANTED ALL ALONG now where is my jarchivist whom I love so dearly rusty quill if you keep him from me I will never forgive you

11,420 notes - Posted October 13, 2022

#2

I did not have “tumblr book club forms and reads a classic horror novel delivered via email; immediately begins to roast and fall in love with protagonist” on my 2022 bingo card, but I have to say I am enjoying myself immensely

18,645 notes - Posted May 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I feel like neil gaiman’s regular presence on this hellsite is like… an unintentional secret that we all have. I never question it, and yet it’s just like… on your right you will see the queer podcast fandom. on the left you will see author of coraline and good omens and the sandman. yeah he’s here. yeah sometimes he’ll appear in your notes or respond to a shitpost when you least expect it. it’s fine.

30,370 notes - Posted August 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[catfishofoldin99colours]

Daisira and Scarian (god i hope i got that right?) for the ship ask game 👀

Clair I love you SO much 💜💜💜 (and YES you got that right!!)

Ok SO

Daisira: SHIP IT

What made me ship it: big scary murder werewolf has one (1) person she is weak and will bend for, what the fuck is NOT to ship

Ok but fr I saw most of the daisira ship on Tumblr as I was getting into tma more and before I really got to the end of S3 and it just looked kinda cool, I think what really made me take off with it is that I just fell head over heels for daisy herself and went 'oh no I can also put blorbo in Situations with Feelings attached' and well it was all downhill from there

But since then I have thought more about them and I do really find daisira interesting as a duo, they're fun to pick apart in how they connect and what connects them and how much they know about each other and interact and why and what they're willing to reveal to the other and how much of their relationship can be inferred from really very limited interactions with each other in the podcast itself vs what they say to other characters

They're fun! They're interesting!! I also like comparing their relationship with their relationships with the other characters too - like how daisy perceives basiras attention and approval vs how she interacts with jon, and how basira's relationship with Melanie and Martin differs to her relationship to daisy and so on.

That also answers the question about what are my favourite things about it (aside from the fact that they make for good smut scenarios lol) so;

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I seen to be in the minority of people who hc daisy as taller than 5 feet sjdjsjajaj so that's probably it??

I mean I also hc daisy as transfemme which various parts of the fandom seem to disagree with a lot but. I do what I want and I'm not hcing her as that because she's aggressive and brutal like come on I know better than that jesus christ

Anyway! Onwards

Scarian: SHIP IT

what made me ship it: 3rd life. Not much else to say djsjja

What's my favourite thing about it: oh man, they're just Not Normal about each other no matter what you do - grians always dancing around scar like a pigeon on cocaine and whether it's in exasperation or excitement it's always just absolutely nuts to watch

And scar is just also not normal, I mean he's not normal in most scenarios and about most of his hermit friends but there's something about how he interacts with grian, either in hermitcraft or the life series, and they're just. God.

They just love each other a lot and it's so obvious how they're such great friends and how much they do love each other and I'm talking about irl interactions mostly but in lots of fic and art and au stuff they're just kind of insane to look at and the fact that they are so Not Normal in irl interactions they make for such interesting dynamics to play with in au stuff, it's FUN. God I love them so much

Is there an unpopular opinion I have about my ship?

Don't fucking get me started ohmygod - there's so much angst already and I actually don't mind that, angst is so good when done well and to their credit, most angsty fics I've read do a great job of balancing it with appropriate levels of fluff and emotional care and healing between them

It's just. There's part of the fandom. That. Idk. Babies both of them??? In the sense of 'grian can do no wrong' which sometimes also goes in hand with 'scar is a victim and unable to stand up for himself' (which is also especially egregious when the actual Minecraft youtuber is physically disabled and has been for almost his entire life like. Just say you think physically disabled people need to be infantalised) and it's just like. Shut up.

What I love about scarian is that they're BOTH terrible and complex and weird and yeah they have bad traumas (depending on what mcyt lore you choose to engage with for them both) that certainly can exist as explanations for their behaviours and attitudes but personally I find it more fun if they're also just Like That and just fucking weird about each other and kind of fucked up??

Ajdhjajaja that post that's like 'gay sex would make this situation worse but we should give it a shot anyway' AND that post that's like 'things that would be deeply unhealthy for any other ship but given its these two its Actually the best case scenario' like THESE TWO ARE JUST SO FUCKED AND WEIRD AND INSANE ABOUT EACH OTHER LETS LEAN INTO THAT and stop infantalising scar while we're at it and also stop making him just take shit from grian because he doesn't and he shouldn't and it makes me personally offended when I see people making scar just take shit from grian in fic and art and stuff

Anyway! There's my thoughts, thank you for asking ^^

[loonymagix]

The Magnus Archives is a treasure that I want to binge and quickly catch up.... BUT Season 4 is kind of draining me. I think this is the first series I have ever found hard to binge. This is my 4th day after finding it. I have literally binged one season a day... BUT I think I need a break. I want to catch up so I can safely read Fanfics and look at Fanart without fear of spoilers buuuuut I think catching up in around 4 days is pushing it.

I get way too emotionally invested/attached to characters and it is kind of beating me down. finishing season 3 was rough and starting 4 right after was like repeatedly punching myself in the gut and i am only like 6 episodes in. SO!! break time. I think I’ll go play some fun video games and doodle some cute fluffy pictures of Martin and Jon. That should cheer me up and hopefully prepare me for season 4. 

I think I so desperately want to catch up so I can actually be a part of the community before it all ends. I really wish I had found The Magnus Archives sooner because it is just perfect.... aside from the fact I have Trypophobia.

[tired-fandom-ndn]

Some fandom questions! What are some of your favorite Jonelias headcanons? What about JonGeorgie headcanons? Have you ever thought about writing an original TMA statement and if so what would it be about? If Jon were a cat, what would he look like? What are your favorite kinks for Jon?

Jonelias headcanons:

Elias is so soft for Jon. He didn't expect to be, but he just adores Jon so much and would raze the world to the ground if it meant they would be together for eternity.

They bicker-flirt CONSTANTLY. All the time. It never fucking ends.

Jon is really frustrated with Elias basically acting like his sugar daddy and trying to pay for everything for him and being genuinely controlling but. . . it's also really nice to be taken care of for once.

Peter is technically part of their relationship. He will deny this to his last breath.

They bought a nice house together with plenty of outdoor space for Jon to have the garden he desperately wanted. They even had specially made cat-proof fencing put up so that their cats could hang out outside with them and not escape their house :)

Elias is entranced by Jon's eyes. Jon was always told that they were boring, just plain brown, but Elias thinks they're deep and rich and so beautiful that he could get lost in them for hours. Jon, who hates eye contact, would prefer if Elias Did Not Do That™

Jongeorgie headcanons:

Urban exploration! They met through an urbanex group! Melanie is in it too :)

A lot of their earlier relationship was fraught with arguments and tension because they were young and traumatized and didn't know how to communicate what they wanted or needed to each other. Once they both grew up a bit and put more effort into actually talking, they settled down fast.

Jon is bi ace and Georgie is pan and they're both polyamorous :)

If they did break up after uni like in canon, I like to think that when they meet each other again years later, they slowly fall back in love and start rediscovering the things about each other they forgot and learning about the things that have changed since they've been apart.

Jon is classic punk, Georgie is trad goth, and they have a youtube channel where they play video games and do each other's makeup and talk about shit like horror movies and the supernatural.

Jon regularly guest stars on What the Ghost to talk about statements that the Institute receives. This actually leads to a HUGE boost in popularity for the Institute and more people coming in to give real statements, so Elias doesn't really care that Jon is technically breaking his contract.

I don't do original statements or statement fics so I've never thought about it, sorry!

If Jon was a cat, he would absolutely 100% be a domestic longhair brown tabby. He would look like a feral rescue though, scarred to high hell and a chunk or two missing from his ear and always just a bit too skinny for comfort.

And finally, my favorite kinks for him are objectification and dehumanization! Anything where he isn't expected to be an active participant and where he's basically just an object for his partner(s) to use. The less he's acknowledged, the better.

[dathen]

I love your analysis and comparing fandom’s interpretation of Jon to how he acts in canon. Something that interests me, in season 1 Jon was *trying* to seem more skeptical than he was because he was afraid, and then the fandom latched onto it and ran with saying Jon denies everything. In season 2 Jon is paranoid and sometimes aiming it in the wrong direction but often aiming it in the *right* direction. But because his wrongful paranoia of Tim and Martin at this time is what’s highlighted by other characters and himself when looking back at it. Jon swears he’ll never do it again and he’ll trust the others and he won’t burn anymore bridges but by then it’s too late, and so it’s what’s remembered by the fandom and gets blown up while the fact that Jon also rightfully suspected NotSasha (and Elias) gets forgotten. I just think it’s interesting how it seems like Jon’s own perception of himself (or purposeful way of presenting himself in the case of S1) seems to have affected how the fandom views him despite us having canon evidence to the contrary.

Absolutely! This one has three main factors I feel need to be taken into consideration for fairness’ sake:

First, it’s an audio medium where many details are conveyed a split second at a time. Me going through transcripts to compile a season summary is going to get a lot more detail and accuracy than someone just listening through. TMA is also especially sparse on narration and repetition, and often the details are pretty spread out; for instance, it may have been years since people listened to the episode that confirms that Sasha didn’t have an information science degree, and the episode where she and Tim say they felt like she should have gotten the job.

Second, the writers seem to have this…excessive aversion to coddling their protagonist? To the point where he will be berated over and over for faults he shared with others (the nonconsensual surgery, which was Basira’s idea and on her orders), or vague “he deserves my hatred, I just won’t give specifics” (s5 Melanie). He gets dragged over the coals for suspecting his coworkers of being murderers, but there’s no hint of the same for Tim suspecting Jon of murdering Sasha. Jon’s faked skepticism gets much more spotlight and correction than Sasha and Melanie’s genuine skepticism (“Prentiss danger is exaggerated” or “everything supernatural is fake except ghosts only”). Jon’s friend makes fun of him for accepting the Head Archivist position while unqualified, while Sasha’s friend jokingly offers to kill for her so she can get the position she is also unqualified for. Jon hating Martin for no reason is his biggest sin and the first thing he needs to grow from, but Melanie hating Jon for no reason gets validation instead of pushback.

(Or like my earlier post discussed, both Jon and Martin break their promises in the finale, but because only Martin gets accusatory over it, the perception is that only Jon broke a promise.)

Third, a lot of fans joined after the end of season 4 and binged to catch up, which means they’re a lot more likely to rush through the first two seasons to get to the meatier plot and romance, then absorb their understanding of those seasons through fanfic and joke posts. And boy, do the joke posts making fun of Jon ever get traction.

THAT SAID….I honestly have never seen a fandom so eager to dunk on and diminish the protagonist to this degree, and will never wrap my head around why “Jon is so stupid and everything is his fault and everyone is better than him” is such a source of humor and delight for so many people :// So my work is cut out for me!!