#mag 65 binary

[artfulacrostic]

Tessa Brooks, The Magnus Archives Episode 65: "Binary" // Colin Becher, The Magnus Protocol, Episode 1: "First Shift"

(haha i'm soooo not worried abt whatever the fuck is going on w the computers in TMAGP. i'm fine they're fine we're all fine. let's not spend too much time thinking about it!!!!)

[drownedbycoffee]

Just thinking how if Jon and Martin are uploaded into the computer, and if the myth of Sergey Ushanka is true in the Magnus universe, and if the 'statements' they read out are a way of them thinking and trying to communicate, then do the angles cut them when they try to think? Does it peel their mind like knives? Are they thinking "there’s no feeling, but the no feeling hurts"? Or "it’s cold without blood"?

[witchinatree]

with chester and norris basically being confirmed to be jon and martin (.jmj error) (why wouldnt they be??) i can't help but think about sergey ushanka

“it feels like thinking through cheese wire,”

“there’s no feeling, but the no feeling hurts,”

“it’s cold without blood.”

“The maze is sharp on my mind.”

“The angles cut me when I try to think.”

(mag65 'binary')

our boys are suffering. even if they're somehow aware of the other's presence they can't possibly be interacting. they're in pain together and they might not even know it. what have they done to us.

[silly-tma-headcanons]

in the archives universe, the sergey ushanka myth actually comes from security tapes of colin getting pissed at a computer and smashing it to bits (and then promptly passing out from rage) being publicised and people twisting the story. he is not happy about this. he also has no clue where the name "sergey ushanka" came from.

[eldritch-ace]

Something so good (horrid) about humanity and emotion being reduced/diluted/cut off because of being trapped in an electronic vessel

Like yes! Try to fit yourself into circuit boards, wires, and algorithms!!!

[parsleysaauce]

Chester and Norris- *gets hit with a lead pipe*

[miraculousmaker]

The thing about ep 65 (Binary) is that it was once of the truly visceral statements that most of the fans had deep reactions to, right? And I wonder just how much that influenced the writing on Protocol, because we know exactly how much it hurts. We know the pain that our guys must be going through, and we are all being rocked by the knowledge that, considering who writes the stupid podcast, our guys might never know peace. They may be destroyed, or are already destroyed (like the voices are the only thing left, and the web is using the voices for the same purpose now), or they may never escape. They may never hold one another again, or live happily ever after. And the fact that protocol starts with a warning feels like a dark omen. Like, Archives was a cathartic ending—it made sense thematically. But now we’re left with new stories, new plot, new fears… and I’ve made posts on what I think the new theme of Protocol is. But now we have to face the very real possibility that our two favorite characters, who deserve happiness and rest after everything… may be everything we wish to ignore as a possibility from Archives ending.

[kaylaschaoticrandomness]

TMAGP and MAG 65: Binary

I was re-listening to the Magnus Archives, and was struck by similarities between Binary and the jmj.error. Both cover people trapped in computers. But there are several notable similarities.

1. Obviously, people’s minds/consciousness in computers

2. The wrongness of minds turned digital, and the incapacity to fully function and slaves to the program (or perhaps protocol?)

3. The lack of escape/skip button. In Binary, Tessa says the video of Sergey Ushanka’s “conversion” as it were, followed her until she watched it. The jmj.error doesn’t end until someone lets it play all the way through.

4. And this is relevant, but not fully a connection as it were, the focus in TMA on digital vs analog and the computers age, as well as the tapes and human brain being described as analog. What does this imply about Jon, Martin, and Jonah? And about the fears as a whole?

Basically, long live spooky computer horror, and the mystery of OAIR.

[my-magnus-rabbithole]

Jon it’s unprofessional to ask a woman, who was forced to watch a 17 hour long video of a guy eating his keyboard and then dying, to hack your dead predecessors computer.

[innominately]

Another bit of silly nothing that I stumbled upon while relistening to the Magnus archives. It made me think of Chester and Norris too strongly to ignore and makes me sad.

I’m inclined to believe that Chester and Norris are emulations of Jon and Martin, rather than them actually being trapped in the computer, but I wonder how much of Jon would transfer over, and how much of the Archivist. If they are in the computer, how much of their humanity would’ve survived?

[likhopinetree]

starting my yt career by making edible computer and keyboard and eating it on camera

[aiiidoneus]

love seeing so many sergey ushanka connections and parallels, so i'd like to propose another episode for tma listeners to mull over: mag 123 - web development

[drownedbycoffee]

Spoilers for Tmagp3 and Tmag65

I think I've found some sort of foreshadowing for Tmagp?

(TW for mentions of cancer, unreality, transhumanism, self-harm, mutilation, body horror, eating nonfood items, existential horror, death, mouth harm)

I don't know if anyone else is talking about this but you know when Sam says in Tmagp3 "Better than being force-fed my own keyboard by Colin."? (Referring to when Alice is trying to get him to call IT support and Sam is refusing and she says how he's made a powerful enemy tonight). Yeah, well, it just reminded me of MAG65 Binary. And now that I'm skimming the transcript, there are quiet a few similarities and parallels.

The first thing that really sticks out to me is when Sergey Ushanka uploads his brain to his computer. And I'm not saying that Martin, Jon and Jonah uploaded their brains to Windows 95 as a way of escaping dying from cancer, but the whole 'being uploaded online and turning into a sort of impossible or confusing code' just seems way too similar to be coincidence, especially considering it's Jonny who's writing this.

Also when Tessa in Mag65 is giving Jon her statement, she describes how people online often use Sergey's story as "a running prank for people who like to code text parsers and chatbots." She then goes on to explain the mechanics of it: "You create a program which appears to be a chat window with a stranger who identifies themselves as Sergey. The responses should be as naturalistic as possible to begin with, and in the best ones it’s hard to tell if you’re talking to a bot for the first minute or two. But then the responses start to break down, become more sinister, and keep referring to how much pain Sergey is in. Eventually, the only response the bot gives you is screaming and pleas to be released. The idea is that the chat bot is Sergey Ushanka’s mind, and he doesn’t like being in a computer nearly as much as he’d hoped. If it’s well-executed, it can be genuinely quite unsettling." Remind you of anything? Yeah, the whole thing where Chester, Norris and Augustus become more human as they continue to read out the 'statements' - I know it not exactly the same, but I think the method and logic behind is way too similar to be ignored or written off.

I think this also links to the theory that some parts of Jon and Martin, or at least a version of them, are trapped in the Web. Specifically to the theory that they are choosing what statements to read out as a way of trying to communicate with the world. Norris reads out in Tmagp2: "I said the only thing I could think:

“Arthur? Is that you?”

And that voice I have loved for twenty years answered:

“Some of him.”" Really links to the idea that maybe Jon's and Martin's brain have retained a level of conscience and is really similar to the whole thing of Sergey's mind trying to communicate online.

Also when Tessa's screen turns into the Video file in Tmag65 and there is that grainy image of a "balding man. He appeared to be in his late 30s, I thought, and was shirtless, with a face frozen in pain or distress. [...] He reached down, to what I assumed would have been the keyboard, but he didn’t seem to be typing. Instead, there was a sudden jerking motion, and he raised his hand to reveal one of the keys, that he had apparently torn off. He brought it to his mouth, and began to eat it. I could just about make out the snap of his jaw, as the hard plastic shattered between his teeth. And as he reached for the next one, I could see a trickle of blood from his lips." - which links to where Sam says about being force-fed his own keyboard.

I don't know this could all be nothing, but I just thought it was kind of an odd thing to say in a conversation and sort of niche and it just reminded me of that episode. Maybe it's a way of Jonny trying to tell us more about Jon and Martin's situation?? I don't know haha

[fluffyfrogfriend]

I recently forced one of my friends to listen to MAG 65 Binary (the one where the computer gets eaten) and they really like computers and coding n stuff. What follows is me causing them immense psychic damage:

[ineffable-gallimaufry]

sorry to be sappy about the end of mag 65 again but it's just like. the way that it's so soft about it. jon and tim were just arguing so hard and then it just stops. neither of them can leave, neither of them can say goodbye, it's something they can't quite understand but they just can't let where they are change because despite the fact that tim is mad at jon and hurt and despite the fact that jon is scared and mistrustful of tim, there's still something there. something binding them together to that place. idk. just thinking

[gunpowdertimsleftgun]

i could go for a keyboard rn.... it'd take a 17 hours or so but it'd be worth it