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eyeoftheaxolotl · 2 months

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tmagp corkboard grand tour

So I'm gonna just throw out my corkboard here. I made it with Twine, which is a very good tool for making interactive stories and also happens to have just what I need for a corkboard. What follows is my attempt to categorize every statement in TMAGP thus far (currently up to and including Episode 14), including statements that were only mentioned in passing, while resorting to Smirke's 14+ as little as possible. I'm excited to share what I've got so far; let's get right into it.

THE LEGEND

Here is what each color means. These colors will be used consistently for the entire corkboard.

[IMAGE ID: A series of squares. First square: THE CORKBOARD. BOTTOM CAPTION. Second square: Orange = NOT a talker (i.e. not voiced by Chester/Norris/Augustus). Third square: Yellow = the statement was only mentioned. Fourth square: Green = Chester read the statement. Fifth square: Purple = Norris read the statement. Sixth square: Red = Augustus read the statement. Seventh square: Blue = category/link marker (not a statement). Eighth square: No color and has equals sign means avatar/item/location link. END ID.]

For obvious reasons, most statements we know of are talkers, so I marked out in orange any that are NOT. This includes both statements that were explicitly not talkers (both of the mentioned statements, as I'll discuss) AND statements that are voiced, but not by Chester/Norris/Augustus (for example, Needles' statement is just a recording of a telephone conversation, so the fact that you can hear it has nothing to do with the phenomenon of the computers talking. In other words, you can hear it because it's an audio recording, not because of FR3-D1 being spooky.)

Since it can be hard for me to remember the contents of an episode based just on name or episode number, I used memorable quotes from each episode to identify them, as well as the episode they are from.

Let's start with:

THE UNSORTABLES

[IMAGE ID: two squares with no links. First square is marked purple and says ""some of him": TMAGP 1". Second square is marked orange and yellow and says ""dolls, watching or dolls, human skin?": TMAGP 1". END ID.]

Both of these are from TMAGP 1 (First Shift), but other than that I cannot find a way to link them with the rest, or even with each other. "Some of him" is a statement in which someone's deceased partner(?) apparently persists as a zombie. "Dolls, watching or dolls, human skin" is the question Alice asks Sam about his very first statement — which was not "some of him", but a non-talker statement:

[IMAGE ID: Script. SAM: Fine. Sorry. Okay, so… [Pause.] This is—

ALICE: Yeah, they’re all like that. At least this one is short, nice easy start for you. So, once you’ve read it, you get out the binder – [She slaps an enormous ring binder on the desk and starts paging through it.] ALICE: And look up whatever’s mentioned most in the case. Looking at this one, we go to “D” and… Sam, eyes on me now. We go to “D” and, right, would you say this is more “Dolls-comma-watching,” or “Dolls-comma-human skin”? SAM: (a bit shell-shocked) I – Uh – I mean – I guess the human skin bit is only implied, so… both?" END ID.]

So, we know there's dolls involved, they are watching someone, and they are implied (though not explicitly stated) to have human skin. We know it's an email, and we know it's not a talker (the room is quiet as Sam reads it himself). That's it — hence the difficulty in sorting.

Next up:

THE ANTI-CONNECTION

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The top square, purple: "absence despite presence, an architectural hunger. TMAGP 8." The bottom square, green: "it's all for a good cause! TMAGP 7." Both squares are linked to a blue square that reads "uhhhhh. whatever they are, they cancel out." END ID.]

I call this an anti-connection because the "connection" is that they're opposites. "Architectural hunger" (8) is a statement about wanting and not having. It describes hunger in both the literal and metaphorical senses. "Good cause" (7) is a statement about NOT wanting, and yet HAVING too much. This is why I say that, although I don't know what entities these statements deal with, I do think they oppose each other. It's also part of why I've had trouble linking them to anything besides each other.

NATURE + TRANSFORMATION

[IMAGE ID: Four squares. The top left square, green: "snakes, thousands of them....TMAGP 14." The center left square, purple: "the sun is bright, my roots run deep....TMAGP 3." The bottom left square, orange and yellow: "my skin turned into butterflies. TMAGP 7." These three are all connected to the fourth square, blue: "nature + transformation". END ID.]

First, in case you've forgotten, here's the source of "my skin turned into butterflies" (7):

[IMAGE ID: Script. ALICE: And we're not bothered by the whole "my skin turned into butterflies" case?

CELIA: Nah. Can't say butterflies really scare me. Besides, I'm guessing all the cases are a bit "off" and that's why we're assessing them. END ID.]

As a side note, we know this isn't a talker because it's a bit later that Celia brings those up:

[IMAGE ID: Script. CELIA: You mentioned some might get read out by the computer. Is there anything different about those ones? END ID.]

We only know two things about this statement. It's not a talker, and it involves someone's skin turning into butterflies. Surprisingly, that last part alone is enough to link it pretty strongly with "the sun is bright, my roots run deep...." (3), in which an entire person turns into a tree. Skin turning into beautiful insects and people turning into beautiful trees — it reminds me of Corruption in a way that feels almost anti-Corruption, if that makes any sense. Transformation, but not in a way that disgusts.

All this is to say, I think there's definitely some kind of entity dealing with nature and transformation. I think that same entity could also be linked with today's statement, "snakes, thousands of them...." (14), hence the link between all three.

TRANSFORMATION....and just that

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, blue: "nature + transformation". The right square, orange: "the artist becomes the canvas! TMAGP 2." Both are linked to the center square, blue: "transformation". END ID.]

If we drop nature as a prerequisite for the last group, then "the artist becomes the canvas!" (2) joins the last group under the shared ground of "transformation". I'm not personally willing to drop "nature + transformation" as a combined category given this much evidence for it, but it does give me somewhere to stick Ink5oul besides....

THE TATTOO ONES (or just the Ink5oul ones)

[IMAGE ID: Four squares. The left square, orange: "the artist becomes the canvas! TMAGP 2." The right square, green: "it belongs to the deep. TMAGP 11." Each of these is linked to both of the squares in the center. The upper center square, colorless with equals: "inksoul". The lower center square, blue: "tattoos". END ID.]

With only two statements about tattoos (both of which feature Ink5oul) and only two statements about Ink5oul (both of which feature tattoos), it's hard to say if the most proper link between these two is their relation to tattoos or to Ink5oul. I do think whatever Ink5oul serves (if anything!) was in conflict with "The Deep" (or whatever it is) over whose domain the tattooed sailor falls under. It feels a lot like when Mike Crew says the Lichtenberg figure belongs to The Vast, even though The Spiral was trying to claim it. "it belongs to the deep" (11) has another link, but we'll get back to that later.

It's time for the second major branch, starting with far the most solid link in the whole corkboard, for what should be obvious reasons:

THE BONZO ONES

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, orange: "Mr. Bonzo was meant to be funny, make people laugh! TMAGP 10." The right square, purple: "he wants to stay, he wants to play! TMAGP 12." Both of these squares are connected to the third, colorless with equals: "bonzo". END ID.]

Yeah. These are just....the Bonzo statements. The statements about Mr. Bonzo. The statements that deal specifically with Mr. Bonzo. Not much else to say.

GORE

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, colorless with equals: "bonzo". The right square, red: "feed my violin, nephew....TMAGP 4.". Both of these are connected to the third square, blue: "gore". END ID.]

Again, straightforward. The violin statement and the second of the Bonzo statements both involve straight-up gore as a primary element — ripping and tearing limbs, blood everywhere, etc. Since this seems to be what Bonzo does in general, I linked Bonzo himself with this theme. Smirke might call it Slaughter, and I can't say I'd really disagree with him, especially with the next link in the list.

COMPELLING GROUPS OF PEOPLE

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The top square, red: "feed my violin, nephew. TMAGP 4." The bottom square, purple: "he wants to stay, he wants to play! TMAGP 12." Both of these are connected to the center square, blue: "compelling groups of people. NOT like Eye; just causing people to do something." END ID.]

Compelling people (not in an Eye way, but in the general sense of causing groups of people to do something) seems to be a common theme of both of the goriest statements. An entity that deals in both gore and commanding of large numbers....I'll admit, it does sound a lot like Slaughter. However, the main goal of this board is to find a pantheon outside of Smirke's 14+, so that's the most I'll say about that for now. It is, however, definitely worth noting.

On to the third major branch, starting with another strong link:

GAMBLING

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, green: "two dee six. TMAGP 9." The right square, orange: "potential insider trading. TMAGP 13." Both are connected to the center square, blue: "gambling". END ID.]

Both of these statements have very similar themes about gambling and loss of control. They both raise the question of how much you're really in control when it comes to gambling, and they both deal with how much you stand to lose from it.

This is why I think there's some entity dealing in gambling and loss of control. If I were using Smirke's 14+, I'd call it Web, but it's not really about someone else controlling you — it's about you losing the control you could have hypothetically had otherwise. Dice guy isn't forced to handle the dice, nor is bank guy forced to use the app. Nobody asks dice guy to roll those dice one last time at the end of "two dee six" (9), nor does anyone ask bank guy to mangle himself beyond recognition in the hopes of a major turnout at the end of "potential insider trading" (13). It seems like nothing is controlling them except their respective gambling habits.

AN ASIDE: THE INSTITUTE ONES

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, green: "two dee six. TMAGP 9." The right square, green: "canaries should stay above ground. TMAGP 1." Both are connected to the center square, blue: "magnus institute". END ID.]

Not sure if it's worth noting given there's only two of them (three if you count the brief mention of Institute rejection letters in "snakes, thousands of them...." (14)), but if I had a nickel for every statement that deals with the Magnus Institute and is voiced by Chester....anyway.

SELF-SABOTAGE FOR SELF-GAIN

[IMAGE ID: Four squares. The top left square, orange: "the artist becomes the canvas! TMAGP 2." The center left square, red: "feed my violin, nephew....TMAGP 4." The bottom left square, orange: "potential insider trading". All three are connected to the right square, blue: "hurting oneself to get a desired result". END ID.]

The violinist's (4) initial use of his own blood to feed the instrument that would bring him such glory feels like a pretty solid parallel to the "insider trading" (13) guy's use of his own destruction to cash out. And the artist (2) digs into a lot of her own image in order to achieve "perfection". (I should clarify, while the statement-giver in TMAGP 2 does explicitly say she never wanted to hurt herself, TMAGP 2 definitely has a strong SH theme, which is why I grouped it in with the other two. Feel free to disagree!)

On to the fourth of the main branches, in which I link Tumblr's favorite with (in my personal opinion) the most "eh" statement we've got:

FOR WANT OF FEAR

[IMAGE ID: Three squares. The left square, green: "Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. TMAGP 5." The right square, orange: "it's not sadism or masochism....TMAGP 6." Both are linked to the center square, blue: "explicitly about wanting fear". END ID.]

Tom (the statement-giver in 5) calls it his fixation; Needles calls it a source of satisfaction. Either way, it's at least worth noting that these are the only statements so far where fear is the goal. Tom wants something that'll really scare him, ignoring basically all signs of danger just to get a good thrill; Needles wants to drink the fear off of someone, anyone, and he even takes it to a 999 operator for want of dessert.

The final link is more based on a somewhat popular Tumblr theory than anything, but I do think it's definitely worth pointing out:

WARNINGS FOR SAM?

[IMAGE ID: Four squares. The top left square, green: "it belongs to the deep. TMAGP 11." The center right square, green: "Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. TMAGP 5." The bottom left square, green: "canaries should stay above ground. TMAGP 1." All three are connected to the center left square, blue: "could be read as a cautionary tale for Sam specifically". END ID.]

This is based on the theory (lmk if you know who first posed it!) that a lot of what Chester presents to Sam is a warning about what happens when you mess around with things you don't understand. In "it belongs to the deep" (11), we see someone driven to madness by their discovery. In the cases of both Voyeur (5) and RedCanary (1), someone goes missing (see: the classification of the Voyeur case being "Disappearance (undetermined)") after a reckless chain of discovery and exploration. This could be seen as a warning to Samama Khalid himself, who is very clearly messing around with things he doesn't understand and would probably be better off not exploring. I do think this theory holds a lot of water, which is why I bring it up despite not really being a "category".

And, finally:

THE BIG PICTURE

[IMAGE ID: An image of every one of the squares and connections made in this post, now shown in their entirety as a complete map. END ID.]

In all honesty, I think we need more episodes to determine what's what. However, I was definitely excited to get my theories out there, which is why I made this post! Thank you so much for coming all this way with me, it makes me really happy! I would appreciate a reblog, but as always, that's your choice. Send me an ask if you wanna talk theories :)

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #axolspeaks #eyeoftheaxolotl #PLEASE lmk if you have suggestions for either the corkboard or the image ids #i hope i formatted the ids well but if theres any difficulty or anything thatd make them easier to use #reach out!!!!#preferably thru asks

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