#because maybe they're both from the original TMA universe

[griftersbone42]

I haven't seen enough people talk about how Celia woke up ON THE SIDE OF A MOTORWAY in her pyjamas, and acted like it had happened before

[tmagpposting]

The Fears and TMAGP

It seems to be a pretty popular theory, or at least a popular possibility acknowledged in the community, that things will function differently than they did in TMA, and our previous categorizations won’t necessarily hold up. A lot of people seem to be split on this, and I’ve seen a lot of other content that positions episodes/incidents in TMAGP in the same framework used in TMA. I wanted to offer my two cents on this issue, after thinking about it for a while now. Basically, I don’t think TMAGP will use the same system for quite a few reasons, both logistical and lore related. Massive (like, seriously series ruining) spoilers for TMA past this point if you haven’t already listened, as well as minor ones for TMAGP up to ep. 4. 

I specifically decided to write this after seeing this post, where a lot of other people have brought up good points in the reblogs. I think we will get something different from Smirke's 14/TMA's categorization of the fears regardless of how much they've actually changed from the previous series, for a few reasons:

1. The fears have probably changed or evolved in some way, especially since the Web (at minimum) had the capacity to learn and plan, and they've already brought about one apocalypse so far. They could've changed from learning from the events of TMA, or just inherently warped from the process of being pulled from another universe and spit back out into a different one (maybe they were altered in transit by being in an extra-dimensional space, or they merged with some similar cosmic force that was already in present in TMAGP's universe when they got there, the possibilities for how this could go are basically endless and I’m honestly so excited). This change could also work really well if it came about because of some combination of the above, since these options aren’t mutually exclusive in the slightest. Personally, I really hope it involves both but highlights the first option in some way, since it'd be really fun for past listeners of TMA to see the fears get more formidable by becoming more strategic as well as see events of that series directly influence this one in such a huge way, and it wouldn't necessarily detract from the experience of new listeners if they did this subtly. Either way, I think it'd be stranger if they behaved exactly as they did in TMA, given everything that happened in the finale.

1.a. Specifically, the fears now have the explicit incentive to cooperate with each other, even if they represent "opposites" like the Buried and the Vast, because all of them must inherently be present in an apocalypse as we saw in TMA. Assuming that it still works the same way, the fears will probably work more in harmony and synthesize elements of each other more than before (even far beyond the Web influencing each in turn) because we've seen that this is a more advantageous course of action for them to take if they want to successfully complete a ritual. This is also supported by the massive amount of keywords the OIAR categorizes incidents with: categorizing incidents using various traits/specialties/calling cards from the original Smirke's 14 as they work together in various combinations would inherently create a ton of different specific keyword combinations, mathematically/logistically speaking.

2. The fears are inherently very hard to categorize as abstract inhuman forces that don't really function in a way humans innately empathize with or like humans think they should. They don't work like gods with similar cognitive processes to humans, like how a lot of avatars thought of them/wanted them to work to some extent, and they're just as willing to prey on non-human life to generate fear and sustenance, just look at the Flesh. As we saw, Smirke's list didn't fully work in the first place, since all the fears had to get pulled through to cause the apocalypse or any ritual would inherently fail, and they functioned less as 14 separate things than as 14 different organs/systems inherently connected in some way by the same nebulous conceptual body. Think of the metaphor from later in TMA with the ants in an ant farm perceiving human hands, eyes, etc. as different antagonistic entities rather than a single contiguous being (i forgot which ep this came from or which character said it, if anyone knows tell me and I'll add it in). Basically, even if they haven't changed at all from TMA, the people of TMAGP could decide on a completely different system of categorization simply because it's arbitrary at the end of the day, given how abstract and nebulous the fears have always been.

3. As several others have said, given that TMAGP is aimed to be friendly to new listeners who haven't necessarily listened to TMA before, it makes more sense to use a new system. This is good for the show for 2 reasons. First, this takes away some of the advantage TMA fans would have in the process of theorizing if everything worked the same way as it did in the previous podcast, especially since TMAGP is more interactive given its ARG element (which I am woefully uninformed on, to be fair, i have next to no idea what's going on with that aspect of the show, and if anyone knows more about how/where to get in on it, lmk). Second, it is actually more rewarding for past fans of TMA to be able to experience this theorizing process in full/from scratch without necessarily knowing major things about what’s going to happen (like how the fears will work), potentially for a second time if they were involved in theorizing about TMA as it was first being released.

4. Having a new and different system, particularly one that is less rigid and more nebulous than Smirke's 14, would work a lot better with TMAGP's emphasis on including guest writers on the show, in addition to working better in terms of the story itself as I outlined in the previous points (at least imo, though I have no experience running a project like this, so this is HIGHLY speculative on my part). Trusting a ton of other people to follow specific rules and emulate Smirke's 14 in a way that feels authentic to TMA, when that was almost totally written and conceived of by Jonny on his own, seems like it would be really difficult to pull off without ensuring each guest writer is also intimately familiar with TMA and/or incorporating a ton of editing and oversight to change episodes to fit better with TMA lore after they're initially written. It could definitely be done, but I think it'd be pretty hard, and it seems like it'd create a lot of redundancy and potentially wasted effort for the editors and producers of the show as well as the guest writers.

If anyone sees something I missed or didn’t touch on, please add on to this post, and if you have evidence to the contrary I’d be interested to see that, too. I’m really interested to hear the fandom’s thoughts on this overall, since it’s an issue I’ve seen coming up in the background a lot lately, but I haven’t seen a post explicitly addressing it yet.

[vestzmc]

Ok now I did some research and finally fixed the ninjas into how they'd fit into the Magnus Institute so here's the stuff, GET READY FOR A RAMBLE :DDD

I have the notes

NOTES:

This AU's timeline is not the same as the original Magnus Archives' timeline! The ninja boys took over the institute long after Jon and the others passed away so have no fear of spoilers for the podcast aside from the existence of entities! :D

Context:

For those who don't understand the TMA universe it is a world where the supernatural exists and people who experience it goes to the Magnus Institute where they give a statement, via letter or a personal statment to the archivist who mostly reads the stories and records it by a tape recorder (because they're old style).

They put it in the records data and gather more information about the supernatural being on whether it is avoidable or could be solved. Sometimes it doesn't even need to get solved and a statment of a supernatural event is good enough.

This supernatural is tied to 14 entities that manufactures these beings through fears. Avatars are people who are tied to these beings either willingly or unwillingly by ritual which gives them certain abilities. You gotta die for it tho.

I'm not gonna go on full detail what these entities are but I will describe my important ones and their traits to have more context to the characters.

The Desolation: what a bitch this entity is, seriously. It's the entity that feeds on fear of pain, loss, burning, fear of unthinking or cruel destruction. Always has a grill party in the backyard. It has a cult.

The Eye: are you a private person? Well Nord VPN can't save you this time. It feeds on the fear of being watched, exposed, followed, having secrets known, drive to know and understand even if it destroys you. Fun times.

The Buried: feeds on the fear of being trapped, pressured, crushed, drowning, heaviness, and sinking. Kinda cool until you find yourself trapped in a coffin for 2 weeks.

The Vast: feeds on the fear of our own insignificance in this universe, loosing yourself in too much space. Basically 12 year old me.

The Web: you like spiders? Well, this entity manufacturers on the fear of being controlled, entrapped, being trapped and not knowing it, your will not being your own, or being manipulated. It is often seen in the symbol of spiders. *shivers*

The Hunt: i love this bitch, the Hunt is so gucci to listen in action. It is the animalistic and initial fear of being hunted/chased or becoming prey. It's Avatars are called Hunters and gain enhanced health and seem predatory and feral.

Now that the entities are out of the way

ON WITH THE CHARACTERS!

Kai Smith

He was invited by Wu to work on the Magnus Institute as a new archivist. Needing a job, Kai agrees where he meets Cole, Jay, and Zane where they soon become great friends after solving a statment that has been abandoned for dacades. Kai is unknowingly an Avatar of the Desolation, which gives Kai has the ability of sharply noticing things others don't, such as information or sentences that doesn't seem important but actually is. (y'all thought i'm giving him fire, hah! Let's not focus too much on that)

Jay Walker

Worked for the institute with Cole and Zane for 4 years before Kai became the new archivist. He works on finding information in high places such as police records or government files. Jay discovered the Vast entity when he was 14, living in the desert with his parents and kind of became an Avatar by accident because he really freaked out when he was suddenly lost in sand dunes with no one around. He has the ability to paralyze people, locking them in place as if frozen even if they're on air.

Cole Brookstone

I've seen plenty of people put Cole as the Avatar of the Buried but GET THIS: HUNTER COLE. Enhanced strength and health, hunts down mosters and avatars he'd love to kill??? :DDD He did get into loads of trouble that connects to the Buried entity but he never really terrified of it so, maybe it's like a respectable fear for it to Cole. He works as the protector and searcher for the institute, the first person hired unwillingly by Wu by binding but soon got used the institute and Wu. At least he can still freely move from place to place rather than just staying in the institute. He can hunt down people easily with just a place and a name and as a Hunter he has this ability to know where people are by touching the ground.

Zane Julien

Second hire after Cole, so both of them are quite close. Zane is orphaned at a young age and couldn't remember remember anything before that. Was hired by Wu which he accepted. Zane was poorly troubled at the thought of his unknown past that he nearly went to the hospital on how unhealthy his research was. The Eye soon made Zane a Avatar, from Zane going mad by paranoia and fear of where he came from that Cole had to stop his hunting schedules and keep Zane down and help him. Zane and Cole eventually was able to heal from Zane's lost past by jokingly making up stories of where Zane came from when Jay arrived. They sometimes tell Jay he is a emperor from japan, that he is a robot heavyly programed to do good and cook kickass food, that Zane trained in a clan of ninjas before Jay learned not to trust anything the two were saying. Jay and Zane enjoy talking alot since they'te both knowledgeable on tech than Cole and Kai. Zane has the ability to put ideas into people's heads that affect their actions, that the 'victim' would think said actions was their idea, like walking out a door.

Lloyd Garmadon

Not part of the Institute. He's a student journalist that goes around poking into people's business and most especially into the Magnus Institute's records which gave a bit of a bad first impression on the guys when they caught him snooping. Lloyd is however allowed access in because of Wu's influences and soon became friends with Kai first, then the others. Lloyd isn't a Avatar which is great because being controlled by an entity kinda sucks but Lloyd is hunted often by the Web because of his fears of being controlled without his will and him going after people and areas with supernatural encounters because, journalism! Cole babysits Lloyd from afar. He often finds comfort around the ninja crew and likes spending time with them other than in school where he's often avoided and ridiculed by his peers. After several weeks the ninjas have all decided that they are willing to die for Lloyd, who they all treat as a younger sibling. Also! Lloyd is totally trans in this au.

And that's that for now! Might write about the side characters if any of you guys want more. It's kinda OOC about the avatars really because it basically canonically takes loads of years for an entity to charge up enough energy to posses an avatar but eh, creative writing for power using boys.

Also you guys probably noticed I didn't make the boy's abilities as their original elements? weeeellll it's kinda because it has to fit in the tma universe where everything is more subtle than outgoing when it comes to powers.

I also noticed that the only way I can write long ass sentences is when I ramble so that's a thing.

Have a great day! Statement ends.