#im not done with tma yet but i will be at one point in time

[thdebtcollector]

if i had a nickel for every queer horror character ive seen with the surname Blackwood i'd have two nickels

link to the martin art

[derkattun]

i dont ever post my own shit but im thinking about magnus protocol so hard. i dont know if anyone else has made these connections yet so please dont come at me too hard.

i DO know people have drawn connections to these cases and the monkeys paw, and im building off of that. i know this most recent statement seems to draw most to the fears, ie slaughter violin, but i still dont think the TMA fears, smirke's 14(/15) exist here at all. i think it is ALL desire.

think about it (lots more under the cut)

(also some stuff specifically with alice and the security notification too because it leads into that)

case 1.1 - lover wanted their partner to come back. partner does come back, or "some of him". they got what they wanted, but not really. got it back wrong

case 1.2 - redcanary wanted to explore the magnus ruins, wanted pictures, wanted to figure out what was going on in there. we all know what happened to redcanary, at least enough to assume they figured it out and then Paid The Price

case 2 - she wanted to be perfect, she wanted something about her to be perfect, she wanted the tattoo, she wanted to fix the parts of herself that werent "right"

case 3 - he wanted his partner back (again) he wanted to live happily and for a long time with her, he wanted to escape what he had done

case 4 - he wanted to shed the shackles of his family, make something of himself, be a musician, be famous, and was willing to do whatever it took to get to that point

i think, i THINK, if we stop trying to categorize this as fear and start thinking of it more as desire, MAYBE gwen isnt as much of a red herring as i, at least personally, thought. she wants nothing more than to be in lena's position, and lena has told her, literally, she "doesn't have what it takes"

sam's desire, we're figuring out pretty quickly

i also think we have colin pegged pretty well

alice. alice is a fun one. i think she was the most well-adjusted in the OIAR because she didn't have, or at least didnt act, on any specific desire. but she is now. alice's desire is all about keeping sam safe, showing him it's better to NOT have desires about the job.

how did she get access to a security notification that didnt go to someone with adequate clearance?

[fenraheart]

Welcome to my rant on why Mike walters is a worse person than Jon sims so people should be nicer to jon by the transitive property

I think a lot about comparisons between woe.begone and tma because they’re both hyperfixations but anyways here’s my unfiltered 2 am thoughts

(Spoilers for both ahead)

(Making the note now that “mike walters” refers to a collective of ALL mikes walters)

Something I find interesting is that mike walters is probably a worse person than Jon sims (despite Jon being sort of the cause for actually literally the end of the world), and yet mike’s friends are more sympathetic to mike than Jon’s friends are to Jon.

Like, Jon was manipulated into that, obviously he didn’t *want* that. I don’t really attribute that to him. Tbh the worst he’s done is eat some fear and kill some evil ppl but that’s not that bad. (My standards have been shifted so far due to mike walters LMAO)

You could *argue* that mike has been forced into doing shit but half the time it’s mike’s future/alternate self doing the forcing. He’s literally going “yeah I’m doing this to get time travel (power), not to help Matt” in season ONE. Part of the reason he wants power is because people are trying to kill him but like. It’s the pursuit of a horrifying technology beyond what humanity should have (cosmic horror, but that’s a separate tumblr post I’ll make at some point). I struggle to find a reason WHY Mike wants more and more power so bad but that’s part of the point. There isn’t really a point, other than to be the strongest one, the one on top.

Like, Jon is really trying to save the world. Mike wants power so that he can’t be pushed around by those above him. Both are willing to kill/hurt to survive, but mike’s motivations are inherently more selfish.

(There’s also the “mike(y?) kills 1500 people” thing but tbh im currently coping and hoping hunter’s lying about that one 🙂)

Anyways. Arguably Jon has a higher kill count if you count the apocalypse, but I don’t, so mike has the higher kill count and I love him for that.

Which brings me to my point. Why are people so mean to Jon??? He’s literally trying to do the right thing and manipulated at every step of the way. If mike “killed way more people than the average person” walters can have nice friends then Jon deserves nice friends. Mike will shoot someone he doesn’t know in cold blood if someone convinces him it’s for Edgar.

I’m spitballing here but it might be their meow meow factor. Jon tries to be appear more competent than he is, tries to cover up the inner pathetic meow meow. Mike is whiny and he canonically has “puppy dog eyes” and looks at people like 🥺 when they’re trying to kill him. He’s literally a cat he knocks things off the shelf (kills people) but then he goes 🥺 and you can’t stay mad at him. He openly admits to attempting to appear MORE PATHETIC to get a guy choking and threatening him to stop.

I have a databases midterm tomorrow so here are some functional dependencies of questionable accuracy of what a functional dependency is

Mike is a worse person than Jon —> his friends are nice to him

Jon is an okay person —> his friends are mean to him

Jon is an okay person —> mike is a worse person than jon

And here’s the kicker (transitive property):

Jon is an okay person —> his friends (should be) nice to him

[iceeckos12]

tma fic recs

I’ve seen a couple of fic rec posts floating around. since ive been reading so many excellent fic recently, i thought that id make one as well! please note this list is going to be 99% jonmartin. also buckle up, because this is going to get long.

Completed

the umbrella by Wildehack (tyleet)

"And to think—all of Jonah Magnus’ carefully laid plans, the centuries of scheming, the murders, the sacrifices, all of that work could have been completely undone if Martin Blackwood had gone back for an umbrella" - holdthosebees

Notes: This is probably my go-to fic if i want an apocalypse never happened scenario. The jonmartin is wonderful, as is the h/c.

Diary and Prenon-nous la main by luftballoons99

Diary summary:

Not for the first time since they ran away together, a camera reel of all the things they don't know about one another whirs behind Martin's eyes, and he can't help but look at all the sprawling magnetic tape and wonder if they’re going to wind up a romance or a tragedy.

or: Office parties, garage bands, and the joy of being known.

Prenon-nous la main summary:

They still haven't talked about it, any of it, not even to pass the time on the long train ride to Scotland. Instead, Martin fell asleep in the seat next to him, pressed into his side from shoulder to knee, and Jon thought about love confessions and verb tense and how the two fit together when you think you're dying.

or: Good cows, mediocre poetry, and other crucial topics of discussion.

Notes: Do you love impeccable safehouse jonmartin characterization? do you love characters grappling with the mortifying ordeal of being known? do you love softness so tender that it makes you want to weep? please read these fic. im begging you.

i’ll tell you about all the times i’ve smiled because of you by cryptidkidprem

Summary:

Martin thinks about their shoes, sitting beside each other on the floor by the bed. Thinks of the way Jon wears Martin’s cardigans more often than he wears his own, the way Martin’s started keeping elastics around his wrist because Jon always forgets his own when they go out.

He thinks about all the gentle touches and fussing over each other they’ve done, and how much is still to come over the next… however long Jon will have him.

They have a long way to go, an entire life to build out of the wreckage Jonah Magnus and Peter Lukas left them, but laying together in a comfortable, sleepy quiet, Martin thinks they’ve got a good start going.

Or, Jon quits the Institute, saves the world, and it turns out to be exactly what he needs in order to heal and start moving forward towards building a life with Martin.

Notes: how many times have i reread this fic? more than i can count. jon quits the institute and it’s just full of soft jonmartins. they get married! god i love them.

go softly by doomcountry

Summary:

And there is nothing else besides this.

Notes: every time i remember this fic i reread it. please heed the tags because martin is blinding jon, but he’s like. blinding jon in the most heartbreaking way possible. idk how the author made this so tender but i know i was certainly crying so!

The Reverb in These Holy Halls by  Wolftraps (AlwaysBoth)

Summary:

Undoing the apocalypse would have been enough for Jon, if all his people survived. Without them, Jon's only recourse is making it so it never happened in the first place. He's going to do better this time.

Notes: Do you like time travel fixits? i sure like time travel fixits. reverb is an excellent one. heavy on the h/c, I wanted to hug jon so so badly. 

Yesterday is Here by  CirrusGrey

Summary:

"Who the hell are you?" Jon could feel his hands shaking. The man laughed, taking a step forward and raising a hand to point at him. "I'm you, from the future!" he said, then swayed, eyes going unfocused, and collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. -------- Post-season-four Jon and Martin time travel back to the season one Archives.

Notes: Yet another time travel fixit! also excellent. the teasing was HYSTERICAL. also Im just going to say this now - CirrusGrey in general writes incredible tma fic. You can’t really go wrong.

unassigned supplementals by  bibliocratic 

Notes: I won’t put in a summary just because it’s a long series of oneshots, but bibliocratic’s writing is amazing. Again, you can’t really go wrong with one of their fic!

let the soft animal of your body by autoclaves

Summary:

Standing in the warm kitchen, slats of sepia light filtering through onto the counter in front of him, Martin doesn’t know what to do with his hands. He half expects them to go through the countertop entirely, glossy and solid as it is. He isn’t used to any of it, yet. The safehouse. Jon. Beams of sun pouring into his hands. After being deprived of everything of significance for so long, the longing that crashes over him is almost painful in its tangibility. He wants to laugh, to sob, to scream and hear it echoed back against the neat, square walls of the safehouse.

In the end, he doesn’t do any of these things. He makes eggs instead. He can do that, can’t he? Use his hands for something simple and plain and good.

(Or: In the safehouse after it all, Martin starts cooking.)

Notes: this fic really speaks to me a) because i project on martin like crazy and b) because food is also my love language. this fic is incredibly soft and it’s all about cooking!

“Have you tried turning it on and off again?” by shinyopals

Summary:

I hope you find your new role as Head of the Institute as rewarding as captaining the Tundra, wrote Elias Bouchard, to Peter Lukas. There are so many people working there: all with their own interesting lives, and all desiring your attention and support. I'm sure you will relish the challenge it will bring and enjoy every moment spent with the fine men and women of the Institute. In time I'm confident they'll become like a family to you.

The Magnus Institute has a new boss. The Magnus Institute also has a new tech support technician. These two facts are unrelated, except they both happen at the same time.

Meanwhile Jon's woken up from being dead for six months and for once he's trying his best. He just wishes Martin would stop avoiding him and answer his messages...

Notes: if you’re looking for a good laugh, this fic is SO SO SO FUNNY. i was dying. basically the magnus institute being an absolute bureaucratic nightmare.

hello my old heart  by  firebirdsuite

Summary:

Peter’s wrong, of course. When it’s all over, Martin does still want to tell Jon everything. It’s just—well, there’s a few things they need to work through first before they can get there.

Martin and Jon find each other again in Scotland.

Notes: it’s all about the yearning. and trust me, the yearning in this fic? im just. i sure do love jonmartin, and this is such soft, loving jonmartin it just makes you want to cry

two ships passing by pyrites

Summary:

Gerard Keay is 10 years old the very first time he tries to run away from home, right around the time that Jonathan Sims has just come into possession of his first Leitner.

Or: One dropped stone can change the way the whole ocean moves.

Notes: again, JONGERRY. MY GOODNESS. this fic is beautiful, the writing is absolutely breathtaking and it owns my heart. im so in love with it. the author said you’re going to have emotions about jon and gerry and jongerry and i said OKAY

Terminal Sight by viv_is_spooky

Summary:

Spider silk weaves through the visions of two Seers. Monstrosity is dawning on them both.

Notes: I’d never read a gerryoliver fic before this, but the execution is EXCELLENT and now im sold on the ship forever. This fic has wonderful prose and great characterization and i love it a whole lot.

Incomplete

assistant archivist au by  PitViperOfDoom

Notes: I won’t put a summary since I’m reccing an entire series, but. it is absolutely no secret that i adore jongerry. pit’s assistant archivist au slapped me over the head with some gorgeous jongerry oneshots and then gave me the gift of the main fic (which is still in progress) about head archivist martin. i love this au so so much

dustsceawung by  callmearcturus

Summary:

Martin had always been favored by the summer courts, and moving up north to the little village of Lacuna is a difficult adjustment. It's rainy and lonely and everyone seems to have a strange, distant relationship with the local faerie court.

However: there is a strange man in a cloak who walks past Martin's remote little cottage every few days.

However: there is a moth that keeps getting stuck in Martin's house during the rain.

These events are not as disconnected as they first appear.

Notes: you ever just read a fic that you didn’t know that you needed until after you read it? yeah. featuring the fae and moth jon and excellent characterization.

Illicio by ThatOneGirlBehindYou

As the new Archivist debates between life and death, the Eye ponders on what to offer him in order to avoid an encore of the unfortunate situation with his predecessor.

-----

Gerard Keay opens his eyes at what feels like fuck-ass in the morning, inside a room with far too little space and far too much dust.

Notes: This is also the moment where I reveal that im a sucker for jongerrymartin. please read this fic. gerry is brought back from the dead in s4 and everyone is far better off for it.

where there’s a will, we make a way by bubonickitten

Summary:

"So, what does happen if an Eye learns to See within itself?

What happens is this: the Archive Beholds the Watcher – and the Watcher blinks first."

________________________

Jon goes back to before the world ended and tries to forge a different path.

Notes: this time travel fixit is shaping up to be an absolutely incredible read. i love the way this author writes jon so so much, and the characterization is spot on. this whole fic just satisfies some little part of me. god. also!! bubonickitten’s writing in general? beautiful. please check out their other works.

The Timeline of Theseus by Applea

Jon tries to force the Spiral to send him back, but the Sprial's corridors never twist things quite the way you want them to. Back in 1996, Elias has no idea why or how the Eye made such a powerful Avatar out of an 8 year old, especially when said 8 year old doesn't actually know he has any powers at all. Clearly such a child cannot be left outside the Institute's care. 

Notes: This fic is legitimately brilliant. The author manages to capture the big ADHD mood and the precociousness of baby Jon while managing to write a wonderful storyline. Time travel! Elderly lesbians! A Jonah who is wildly in over his head but was walloped over the head with paternal instinct! Baby Gerry! What more could you possibly ask for?

rooms full of people who do not love each other yet by seaer

Summary:

“Wanted to ask about a book.” The boy has his hand on the counter, and he leans into it, nonchalant. The library is air-conditioned, but by no means frigid, and Jon can’t help but feel sweaty just looking at the layers he’s wearing; what looks like old leather over an olive-green Magnus pullover over his school shirt. “Do you have A Journal of the Plague Year?”

Jon says, tetchily, “We’re about to close.”

“I know. Do you have A Journal of the Plague Year?”

Notes: I am so in love with this author’s writing style and the way they write the characters!! The jon and gerry friendship is PERFECT and the character interactions are all darling.

if you read these fics please send the authors some love, they definitely deserve it!! 

[mspainttaz]

Sell me on TMA i have all the time in the world rn by my executive dysfunction refuses to start things without help.

first off i really feel the struggle youre having here starting new things is. awful. i just cant tbh

okay: why to listen to TMA, under a cut because why not.

tldr? its good quality, low emotional investment is demanded of you to start due to the simple nature of its algorithm and the gradual story/world building, the writing is interesting and the episodes are short with good atmosphere. if spooky gets to you too badly, dont worry because theres a trigger warning list somewhere on the internet, and the writing is respectful.

tma selling points:

its good and consistent quality from the beginning. its a simple answer but honestly the hardest part of getting into new stuff FOR ME is the first few episodes where im Put Off by trying to understand this new tone, all while the creators are still figuring out what theyre doing which... makes for a rough start sometimes.

tma has a very simple algorithm. dude named jonathan sims is working at a place that collects peoples accounts of “possibly supernatural encounters”, he’s recording himself reading off the story, (or its a recording direct from the person), he tells you what research they’ve done on the subject, the end. here and there you get to hear about the stuff thats going on at the place jon works at, building a second layer of storytelling to the whole thing. its fun, its easy to listen to, and 

you dont have to get super invested right away. just turn on this podcast where they, in like idk twenty minutes?? tell you about something Scary that happened to Someone Else and that has no effect on you or your life but still has all the chilling atmosphere and Very good writing that makes it an enjoyable time. i mean YEAH it gets scarier and more personal later but by then youre ready for it.

this one is a personal note but, like, i get it. its intimidating seeing the fandom being So Passionate because it gives the message that you too!! have to gear up to get super into this wonderful fantastic compelling emotional heartbreaking story uwu. nothing wrong with fandom being passionate thats....... what its there for...... but that specifically has made it hard for me to get into new things before.

just let yourself enjoy it at your own pace tbh. i really enjoyed it before i got overwhelmed by fandom stuff and took a very long break but like. block all the tma tags, hit play,and have fun. thats my advice.

you get to hear someone try to sound spooky while reading off the required licencing info at the end of the podcast and its pretty funny but endearing

the writing is good. the voice acting is good. jonny sims knows his stuff and he really enjoys what he does and it comes out in what he creates.

if you dont like one or more of the stories/statements? look up the triggers list for the episodes to get mostly spoiler free warnings. or skip the statement part of the episodes you dont Vibe With and just listen to the bits at the end where you get to hear about jonathan sims and friends wacky adventures. yes the creator is named jon sims and the person he voices in this podcast is also named jon sims. sorry.

others have said this but i will too: its respectful horror. 

no sexual assault, misogyny, racism, able-ism, homophobia, etc is used as a punchline or as the shock factor. aka the main reason i dont care about the comedy or horror or... lots of other movie genres. its just not funny. literally the first statement that even mentions sex is this guy going “yeah we were both totally on board but she seemed to be going through some personal stuff and so i kept checking she was cool with it, i wanted to be respectful” and then cutaway to afterwards.

or like. theres a statement with a characters with a skin picking disorder WHICH is like. hm. a triggering topic for a lot of people but also my favorite statement there is. as someone with a skin picking disorder, i was Not Expecting to have to confront This Subject and so was a little taken aback at first like. no one talks about this stuff yanno. but i personally didnt find it disrespectful, or misinformed, or too triggering. which. idk man good for jonny for making that Work.

executive dysfunction hates starting new things like oil and water so if you dont listen to it because your brain simply is Not ready to lease space to a new podcast yet? thats cool too. if you do though i hope you enjoy it because its a good podcast and it makes you think which like, right now? i think we could all use more stuff in our lives that keeps our brains active and thinking. 

[echo-inthevoid]

Season 2 q&a and overall reaction

Jonny stealing everyone's names XD 

Is martin going to be ok!? I also need to know! 

He said no;-; 

ok ya, no one's gonna be ok. 

Ya, he must do sooo much research. 

Ya, except for "fatigue" lol.

Eyyy the mechanisms!! 

What's the red string brigade? Ok, I guess a group of fans theorizing about stuff. 

Oh ok so someone else did martins poetry. Ooh, there's more martin poetry out there! *grabby hands*

Ok ya, Alex clarifying that Jon isn't stupid he just makes poor decisions. Probably if he'd paused and thought about it (like I did lol, I had to go do some stuff in the middle of that ep and thought about it a whole bunch lol) instead of immediately going out and buying an axe and further isolating himself and panicking immediately he probably would have figured it out. This is why it's bad to panic in a crisis guys. 

Eyyy! Jonny's parents voiced Gertrude and Leitner! That's so cool. 

XD Jonny grumbling about having to work with his parents. 

Hmm, I hadn't really thought of Gertrude being like a mother figure in the story? She just seems very cut-throat I guess from what Leitner said. Idk so far I've been very suspicious of her. Especially since that one statement where her photo burned a whole bunch of people or something. She just seems very shady... 

Alex chortling over Jonny's pain. XD

Side note, Every time there's a q&a I just can't stop noticing Jonny's voice going in and out of archivist range? Like most of the time I'm just listening along and then he'll say a sentence a bit grumblier and my brains immediately like "ARCHIVIST! That's THE ARCHIVIST!!" 

Martin would be the last one alive in Friday the 13th! It's official! 

(Is it bad that this gives me hope)

Jon likes Nonfiction, documentaries, and probably collects something just a little bit weird. *writes down for use in potential fics* 

also while im at it I remember jon saying he dislikes coffee at one point,  and so many people have him liking coffee in their fics! This has been your daily reminder of that fact because ever since then it keeps bugging me lol. (But also do whatever u want.)

Alex's spluttering sounds so much like Martin.

Yes!! I want to hear jon sing!! Yes! Musical Episode When!!?

Ah yes yes yes! All the characters are so unique!!? How does he do it!! 

Ya, it being in audio format sometimes makes it hard to understand what's happening in the live-action bits. (Live-action is the wrong word but u know what I mean.)

Oh ok ya, how he mentioned he got a pipe was quite clever I didn't realize that that's why he mentioned it at all. 

Ooh, there's a manga where there's something similar to Michael? I'll have to look that up later...

XD Alex and Jonny arguing about apples. 

Ok, so all the statements we're hearing ARE for reals. I kinda assumed but good to have it confirmed.

They used to hang out together!!? Work function curry nights!! ;-; 

Ya Ya! Who made the leitners!?

"You are assuming a book needs to be written" ...ok then. (but it has to have been created somehow??? Did they just spring fully formed from the powers? why? And why take the form of books?)

Alex's mischievous laugh about whether jon has friends *trembles in fear*

Yes!! Micheal is so good! I'm so happy they love him too! Yesyes! His laugh! 

Ah Yes!! Mary kaey was so creepy! 

XD yes yes yes fatigue was written on zero sleep, I knew it! 

Akskdjdkd I love them so much. Also, I've looked up Michaels voice actor luke booys and he does some other horrory type sketches n stuff and I kiiinda want to do a little animatic with some of those but it's Michael like annoying some poor soul lost in his halls... I think that'd be fun. I wonder if anyone's done that yet? If so someone send me the links I neeeed iiitt :3

Season 2 summary:

Uuuuu ya so this season was really good. I kinda listened to it in bursts of about ten episodes every couple weeks and then have been saving up the reactions to post later so these are usually going up about a week or so after I actually listened to the episode just FYI. 

I also do have a lot of spoilers cause I can't keep myself away from fanfic and people don't always tag for spoilers and I kiiinda wana know what's coming beforehand anyway? Idk it's hard man I get very stressed about what might happen and then also listening to too much at a time is too spooky for my poor little heart so I gotta read the less spooky fanfic to fulfill the hyperfixation you see. (If anyone has fanfic with spoilers only up to season 2 that'd be great btw) 

Anyway, I try not to take spoiler type stuff into account unless I'm just so sure of it I can't really not acknowledge that I know about it. 

Also, can I just talk about Michael for a minute?? Cause he's such a unique character? And I guess maybe there are other characters like him but I haven't ever seen one -tho to be fair tma is only like the third horror thing I've ever really got into (the other two are the SCP Foundation in its various forms and Little Nightmares. Hence why I keep making reference to SCP it's really the only thing I know similar to this.) But he's such a cool concept!!? Like someTHING that still has a personality? He's so not human? Like I get what he says but also I don't really? Idk im pretty sure he's an avatar right? Right?? Idk if that means he was a person at some point? But all this to say that he is probably the most inhuman character I've come across so far and I'm trying to figure out what it is about him that's so "other" to me? Like... I don't really know what Micheal's deal is? he seems to want to be sort of a neutral mischief-maker but also it seems like he keeps getting invested. But also I just love the way he talks about himself. Like he's a monster that has a personality and is fully intelligent but isn't just evil but isn't neutral either and certainly isn't benevolent. Like he's so complex and just,,,, the idea of a "thing" that's got a personality?? I love it? Kind of like dryads or spirits of things? Like the idea that after a long time things gain personality just by existing? Not that that's what Michael is necessarily? but that same sort of concept applies to him I think. Like the way he IS the maze and wants to help but wants to just watch but wants to kill them all. He's just so interestinggggggg. (And another vision of what jon could become?)

 also "es Mentiras" is a beautiful name 💕

So are him and not-Sasha avatars? Not-Sasha also seems completely inhuman and I was under the impression that avatars were (or used to be) human? Or are they like personifications of their power? Do all the powers have personifications of themselves. not-Sasha seems even less human than Michael? Like she seems to just really genuinely enjoy causing fear? Tho I guess we didn't really get to hear a lot of her. She just seemed kinda gleefully angry most of the time we heard from her. Was she... Human once!???

Anyway. Also, can I just talk about leitners line about jon belonging to the eye!!? Just..*chefs kiss* hnnnngg I need more jon grappling with that. I just need more everyone dealing with the fallout post all of the finallies ok? I still need more of jon angsting over his worms scars and stuff and now I also need jon freaking out about belonging to a fear god power thing. 

Also Martin! Is Martin ok? He sure did a lot of yelling which he doesn't usually? Look I love him and he actually thinks before he acts (unlike SOME people *looks at jon*) and he writes poetry and it is pretty good poetry ok!! And he cares about everyone and just wants a happy ending and aaaaa😭

Petition to get some statements from Martin's pov tho? I mean that's not gonna happen cause Jon's the archivist but I want more martin pov!! Maybe we can get some of his poem tapes??? Pls????? 

I feel so bad for Tim. It sounds like he's kinda fallen into despair.

Also Elias!!? Is showing his spooky side!!? He can control cameras and beat a man to death with a pipe!!? This is his "place of powerr"!!? I am afeared!!? At least jon knows he shouldn't trust him now. Oh jeez, I wonder if jon will listen back to the tape and know what happened. Thhhatsss rough. Oh dear, I hope he doesn't feel guilty cause Leitner did keep trying to hurry him and now everyone thinks it was him. Even martin thinks he did it? Wich like I kinda want to hear more of his thoughts on that? How much does he believe that jon did it? Tim certainly seems pretty certain but he's a bit biased and cynical right now so. 

And they were in the maze for DAYS? 

Now I need martin recovering from being stuck with Tim in Michaels maze for days being angry and worried and hungry etc... Dksjdksa knowing jon could be dying RIGHT NOW and there's nothing he can do. Please someone give me the fic links if this exists!! I've already written like 5 drabbles based entirely on spoilers/other fics (which I'll probably post (w/ links to their inspirations) once I'm caught up and can make sure I'm not just completely demolishing cannon lol. 

Leitner didn't even scream or yell or anything when he was murdered. Literally the chillest dude ever. F

Overall super great, Elias is terrifying, let's dive into the next season!!! I've got 2 seasons to finish in like, less than 2 or so weeks(?) if I wana be caught up by season 5 hhhh,,,

Better get started I guess. 

[piplupod]

lemme see some of them felted needle wool creations it’s almost four am and I saw a post of yours regarding it and I’m 👀👀👀 id love to check out needle felting myself at some point but idk if I can yet rip lmao

I’M A MILLION BILLION YEARS LATE TO THIS ASK BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO FINISH MY BRANCH IMP BEFORE I ANSWERED!!! its done tho finally and I am SO HAPPY YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MY NEEDLEFELTING OMG??? you are LOVELY and I LOVE YOU MY DEAR FRIEND!!!

here’s all my creations from first made to most recent:

this is a porcupine/hedgehog that kinda turned into a monkey LMAO, but he is very sweet and cute and my first thing I ever made so that counts for something!! he is not amazing to look at, but he helped me learn how to needlefelt and the basics of it all!!

this is my second creation! its my friend, Jo, the teacup dragon!! pics don’t really capture the detail I put into the body shaping very well, because its all the same colour roving, but OH WELL LMAO!! I promise you it is a thousand times cuter in person and I wish I could get a good photo :(

theres also some fun detailing in the tail! this has been my smallest and most intricate creation so far, and also my SECOND THING EVER TO MAKE LMAOOO 

here’s my third friend! his name is Michael Pookie, and this was my first time using plastic eyes (you can see a lil bit of hot glue crust around the eye closest to my thumb :( ) I love him very much and he is so friend shaped and also I named him Michael after Michael Spiral from TMA because I was listening to TMA while making him and I love Michael a lot LOL

AAAAAND heres my latest creation!! fourth! this is the branch imp!! I think you’ve seen the post I made about this lil friend but I cant remember for sure so I thought i’d just throw another pic in here just in case LOL! his lil mouth makes me smile and I am very proud of myself for this one!! 

lowkey thinking about opening a shop for my needlefelt creations bc someone messaged me yesterday asking if I was selling this dude and i’m SO HONOURED??? that's not the right word I think, but honestly that person has made my entire week :’) if I ever did open a shop, I think branch imps would be one that i’d make a few of!!

AND HERE’S A PEEK AT MY CURRENT WIP, IT IS VERY ROUGH BUT IT IS GOING TO BE A ROBIN bOrb FOR MY WONDERFUL FRIEND!!! if anyone has any requests for me to make and show, LET ME KNOW!!! I am so open to requests omg!!!

its very rough bc I just stabbed the beak onto it last night bc my sister wanted to play Minecraft and WHO AM I TO ARGUE LMFAO!! it’ll look better tho when its done, dw!!!

ANYWAYS RE: DOING NEEDLEFELT YOURSELF: I would honestly say just go for it!! it’s fun and easy to get into in my opinion, and I've found it to be easier than I expected! I don't have the patience for knitting or sewing, and I feel like those supplies are really expensive, but needlefelting? I bought a beginners kit off of amazon at the beginning of march for $25ish CAD and have been going ham since it arrived!! and the colours are really pretty LOL so that's fun!! but yea I think its a very fun hobby and very therapeutic (stabby stabby, u know) and I could even make a quick video on how to start so you could see if it’s interesting to you!! I watched like... one video before I started and then I just went for it and its been really fun and easyish!!

also pro-tip: if you do start needlefelting, don’t be like me! wear the little finger protectors or else you’re going to end up stabbing ur fingertips until they’re numb (idk if it shows up in any of the photos but my pointer and thumb are all stabbed up LMAO)

okay im gonna SHUT UP now, thank you for being interested, I just LOVE needlefelting so much!! I’ve been looking for a new hobby for the last few years and this one is so good and i’m so glad I decided to try it out!! also THANK YOU for showing interest, it means a lot to me ;A;

[ryanberga]

TMA has 5 seasons. One season = 40 episodes one episodes = let just say 30 minutes. One week = 8 days. 40 : 8 = 5 episodes. 5 × 30 minutes = 150 minutes = 2 and a half hours ( or idk 3 hours.). So TECHNICALLY i can finish TMA by the 5th week or atleast 1 month plus a week. Yes, i want to actually finish this. Cause i really love your reaction it made it seem so interesting. Also i went anon im afraid that my math is wrong. If my math wrong. Ryan ghost wrote this. I went off anon if im right.

From that tma math ask, yes i know there is a non cannon also q&a but im talking about the cannon one btw. Still it might be wrong ahskdldl-

omg FIRST OF ALL i'm no mathematician so i'm not gonna double check your work here lmaoo except to point out that a week is 7 days not 8?? also most episodes are closer to 15-25 minutes, very few are actually 30 mins or over! but if you want to listen to the magnus archives you definitely should! i think dedicating a couple of hours to it a day or setting a goal of listening to a few eps a day would be a good idea to get thru it quickly especially for the first season or two because you don't really see the meta plot much until the end of season 2/season 3 iirc. season 1 took me forever to get through because i wasn't too invested in it yet, but after season 2 i became addicted and listened to it literally whenever i was able to. so definitely keep that in mind if you don't feel like you vibe with the first season, just stick around and see if things improve in season 2 because everything does connect together and form a much bigger plot that you initially think

SECOND, i'm not sure if you mean you want to finish it in 5 weeks or if you want to finish it before the 5th season is over? but either way, the 5th season finale (and the grand finale!) isn't set to air until march, so you have plenty of time to catch up, don't feel like you're in any rush!! enjoy it for what it is instead of trying to meet a deadline :)

THIRD, i'm glad you enjoyed me crying over tma ahsjdks it was so much fun listening to it and tbh not at all what i expected it to be when i first started it. it's definitely the most interesting fiction podcast i've ever tried listening to, it's got horror and mystery and a great complex meta plot and emotional depth and great characters and wonderful character dynamics and explores really complex issues (such as morality, mental illness, trauma, etc etc), and it's also got great social commentary and draws fantastic parallels to real-life situations. i promise you, it's so much more interesting than i could put into words

and LASTLY, i'm not exactly sure what you mean by non-canon q&a? i'm not in the tma fandom or anything so idk all the ins and outs of it, but i know alex (the director of tma and the voice actor for martin) and jonathan (the writer and the voice actor for jon) do a q&a after every season ends, and those are all "canon" (unless they say otherwise, which they have done). regardless, while the q&a's are not at all necessary to listen to, they are HIGHLY interesting and i'd definitely recommend you listen to them when you're done with the corresponding season! not only do they answer some questions about things you might have missed otherwise, but they also go into their creative processes and talk about behind the scenes stuff, which is super fascinating. not to mention, alex & jonathan have a great dynamic and are very fun to listen to, you can tell that they mesh really well and are very good friends :)

sorry this answer got so long but uhh tl;dr this is my plea to all of you to please listen to the magnus archives🥺

[speyeraling]

right!! so!!! here is the book that was initially meant to be for notes during my tma relisten. i decided shortly after finishing it that i wanted to use a different notebook for it (which i also made a new cover for), so the fate of this one is now... unclear. ill use it for something, im sure.

(........or itll just go in the pile with all my other unused notebooks. both possibilities are equally likely.)

that said, i did promise a process post, and at this point even though its use will most likely not be tma related, this is where ive been posting about it previously, so it is where i will continue to do so. but thats unimportant!! this post is meant to show my process of creating the book cover, not... whatever this is. again, i did not make the entire book, only the cover. i also genuinely had no idea what i was doing and just made it up as i went along. if youre looking for a post about actual bookbinding, youre probably better off looking elsewhere.

this is already getting long and will only get longer, and will also have several progress pictures, so ill put the rest under a cut!!

(please excuse the mess in these progress photos; i was in the middle of cleaning when i decided Hey Lets Drop Everything And Make A Book Cover Instead.)

so here is the initial book i started with!! it looks pretty normal, right? pretty standard soft cover book.

no.

for reasons i will likely never understand, the cover actually works like... this. the back cover is ridiculously long, folds back over on itself and all the way around to the front where it has a flap that rests behind the actual front cover. i would love to know who came up with this and why because it confuses me greatly.

so the first step was to cut that off.

well that still looks weird, doesnt it. and yet!! it was exactly what i needed. this was always the plan for this notebook, in fact. i bought it months ago with the intention of making a new cover for it. i will admit that it did get a bit out of hand though...

so onto actually making the thing. i didnt have any cardboard thick enough for the cover, but i did have several sheets of thin cardboard, and a can of spray glue.

(spray glue, by the way, is incredibly useful but also incredibly frustrating, and also probably not the best glue to use for the majority of this project, especially with how many places i had to mask and then remove the masks from to actually attach pieces. alas.)

so i glued those sheets together, cut them to size, and i had a base for each side of the book cover. you can see i also cut out a piece for the spine. i realized later that was entirely unnecessary. had i attached that piece, the spine would not have been flexible enough to allow the book to open fully. it was promptly tossed out.

next was making the inner spine of the cover. measured the spine onto a sheet of paper, added some extra space on each side to attach to the paper. there is a bit of a gap between the spine and where the covers attach – this is intentional and gives the book a bit more flexibility when opening. this is also something i had to look at an actual book to figure out, because my initial attempts were not working. this piece was attached to the inside of each cover to better fit around the edges of the book. i also added another strip of paper to the outside of the spine for reinforcement, which you can see in the first and second images.

and in the third image, you can see Spray Glue Mishap Number One.

after that was dry, it was time to cover the.. cover. my paper wasnt long enough to do a full wrap, which meant i had to do two separate pieces, which also meant i had to do a third piece for the outside of the spine. measure, cut, glue, fold the flaps down, glue those. while i used spray glue for the majority of this, i did have enough sense to use a glue roller for the flaps.

and again, measure/cut/glue with the outside of the spine. for this part i did fold the edges under themselves and glue those in place (with a glue roller) before actually attaching the piece to the cover (with spray glue) to give it a nicer, more defined edge, although i didnt take any photos of that part.

see also: Spray Glue Mishap Number Two. i tried to wipe it off with a tissue. i dont know why. it obviously did not work.

at this point the cover itself was finished, and all i had to do was attach it to the book. this was far more terrifying than it had any reason to be. 

more masking, more spray glue, and so much more anxiety later, i had attached the original covers of the book to the inside of the new cover, and i was done! the book was finished. thank god.

(as a quick note, the first page being attached to the inner cover was not a mistake on my part; that was how the book itself was made. unfortunately i couldnt really think of a good way to detach it so i just left it as-is.)

in the end i did it all over again with a second notebook, with a few modifications. since the new book itself was thinner and more flexible, i only used a single sheet of cardboard for the cover. i also did not reinforce the spine but rather just glued it directly to the spine of the actual book. i probably couldve done the same with the first book, but it wouldnt have looked as nice. the second book was much more suited to an attached spine. here are a couple phots of the one ill be using instead, as well as a comparison between the two:

at this point i have no idea how im going to decorate them. im not too worried about it – theyre functional as-is, so theres no need to make them look fancy before i start using them. ill figure something out during the course of my relisten, im sure. still, any suggestions are welcome!!

[sazandorable]

magnus archives end of the decade ask meme which im just gonna answer entirely bc it’s really cool!!

the archivist: when and how did you get into tma?

June 2018, so I’m at about 18 months of obsession now (and have literally been thinking about it at least once a day every day since). MAG104 Sneak Preview was the first episode that I had to wait for after being all caught up; it dropped right on my birthday, and gosh what an episode!

sasha: which episode you were most afraid of on your first time listening?

MAG018 The Man Upstairs and MAG024 Strange Music were the ones that most scared me, though others have unsettled or fucked me up more. 024 is now one of my favourites and does nothing to me anymore, but 018 still holds the title of most unpleasant, I think. I hate neighbours.

tim: at which part of the decade do you think tma would've scared you most and/or which part would it have scared you least?

I AM REALLY GLAD I ONLY HEARD THE MAN UPSTAIRS AND CONTAMINANT AFTER I MANAGED TO MOVE OUT FROM THE MOULD-RIDDEN FLAT I LIVED IN IN 2016-2017

For some reason though I think I’d have been completely immune to the scary elements while I was studying abroad in London in 2010. 18-19 yo Aza was an unwisely fearless idiot.

martin: which entity(s) would you have been an avatar of at the beginning of the decade? at the end?

Probs would have been a big fan of the Spiral or Stranger

basira: did you meet any new friends through tma?

Yes!! Basically 80% of my twitter friends and all of my discord friends are from TMA(/RQ). I’ve met up with quite a few IRL once or more and had a great time. (... I also dragged quite a few old friends into TMA, including some of my oldest best friends who are not big in fandom.)

melanie: out of the podcasts you've listened to over the past decade, how does tma compare among them?

Best overall, on all accounts, be it writing, plot, worldbuilding, natural-sounding dialogue, voice acting, editing, pacing, character development, handling of exposition, soundscaping, representation, humour...

to note, i’m not a huge listener of podcasts, but I’ve listened to WTNV, TPP-Juno Steel, Wooden Overcoats, and last week I binged the first two seasons of The Bright Sessions and was really enjoying it... and then it blindsided me with straightness I just absolutely couldn’t swallow, instantly dropped it and haven’t picked it back up x’’D Anyway, imo TMA beats all these shows on most if not all accounts; it also (imo) avoided losing steam and turning into a repetitive rehash of itself after a season or two, and doesn’t ever feel too fanservicey (to note, i’m fucking thrilled at no one being straight on Mars, TPP just happens to be just a little too campy for me). It also has a fantastic feeling of everything tying together and making you work and engage with the content, which I haven’t yet encountered in other podcasts.

(I also feel like RQG is better on all accounts than TAZ-Balance, the only other actual-play podcast I’ve listened to yet, although I really enjoyed it too.)

elias: did any episodes remind you particularly of any memories you made over the decade, whether scary or not?

MAG048 Lost in the Crowd, as well as the S3 mini arc of Jon travelling the world, reminded me of my own travels, although I had never gone on an entire vacation alone — it inspired me to start doing it, though, so now relistening to MAG048 reminds me of specific memories of travelling alone!

MAG053 Crusader and MAG064 Burial Rites reminded me of my time studying Egyptology and archaeology in uni >w< I came very close...

and MAG081 always reminds me of my own childhood curled up in public libraries.

georgie: what did you do while listening to tma? did you listen with friends or other people?

I usually listen to podcasts while doing chores or cooking, playing video games, or in public transport. In the case of TMA i also binged it at work. Consequently, I have specific memories of:

cooking meat while first listening to MAG018 The Man Upstairs

while cooking, cutting my finger deeply while listening to MAG034 Anatomy Class

my face lighting up while walking in the middle of the street as Melanie described the giant fucking thing in space in MAG106 A Matter of Perspective

reshelving books alone at work while relistening to the same episode an hour later and bursting into tears upon catching that holy shit is Jon ace

and I associate TMA with Stardew Valley and Breath of the Wild.

daisy: over the past decade, did you visit any of the locations featured in the statements?

I’d already been to London a lot. I’ve been to some places mentioned in passing like Lyon, Oxford, Edinburgh and Florence.

Post listening to TMA, I’ve made a point of going to the Tate Britain and see the Panopticon whenever I’m in London, and last time I was in Paris, for the francophone meet-up, we went to see the Rue Lagarde from MAG134! (Also Oscar Wilde’s grave for the RQG fans)

leitner: did you do anything this decade you wished you'd listened to tma before doing? likewise, did you do anything that you wish you'd listened to tma after?

God I’d have liked to have TMA while I was staying in London in 2010. Also wish I’d already found RQ in general and “had” it to help me through 2015.

Otoh it’s probably good I only found it after I was done with my librarian studies because it would probably have influenced me to stick to my original desire to go into archivistics or museum sciences, and I’m not sure I would actually have liked that as much as I enjoy being a public librarian instead.

michael: did the "influence" of any entities feature prominently throughout your decade? which ones?

Lonely, but in a positive way! Well, I’ve fucked a few people over, but that was self-defense, toxic relationships I had to cut off. Overall I’ve grown into my independence and am very happy about it!