#tmp theory

[the-butterbun]

"There's something familiar in the figures i paint. I don't know what it is. They are so impossible in their shape and yet i feel like they all had names at some point. Like this one, Micheal, I think."

[magnus-glitch-archive]

The Magnus Protocol, Episode 31

Gwen: "It could be anyone's severed hand." Regarding the hand found in the server rack.

Gwen: "That's not what happened!" Responding to Alice's statement that the computer ate Collin.

Gwen: "I'm sure we can leave." Responding to Alice's assertion that they're hostages.

Gwen: "Just like that." Answering Alice’s questioning regarding her being given Lena's job.

Celia: "Sam will be okay." Comforting Jack.

Celia: " Mummy was okay, so he will be too." Still speaking to Jack.

Celia: "I recognize it from a case." Explaining to Alice how she knows anything about the tear.

Celia: "Something like that." Responding to Georgie’s joke asking if a spreadsheet caught fire.

Gwen: "It did not eat Collin!" Responding to Alice's fears that the computer ate Collin.

Gwen: "I'm sure that as long as we don't follow in his footsteps we can maintain business as usual." Trying to assuage concerns about using the computers.

Gwen: "I'll even add a competitive severance package, which I think is more than generous, given the circumstances." Giving the offer for Alice and Celia to quit.

Gwen: "Now if you don't mind, I am very busy." Dismissing Alice and Celia.

[elliekillsu]

SO theory time

We now have to cases of dead people narrating how they died to their greatest fear, as called out by Sam which gives two options

One; they are victims from the eyepocalypse come through to this universe

Two; the [ERROR] released from the institute Is somehow killing people with their worst fear and making them do this, which does seem to align with the idea the [ERROR] is a mess of all the fears, I mean it's literally making zombies and they narrate their death and worst fear that caused it

[agnesmontague]

tmp - tma connection theory

i do not claim full credit for this as @anthonyampersand and i were bigbraining it (and screaming) in chat together but our current theory for how Archives and Protocol connect are as follows :

tl;dr : TMP and TMA are a setup for each other's premise respectively, feeding into each other like an ouroboros. we know that TMP is on some level a "sequel" to TMA (i.e. celia may possibly "remember" events from TMA that we know to have "already happened", such as the eyepocalypse) but it's entirely possible that events in TMP will influence those in TMA in turn, without much concern for actual temporality.

more specifically : it appears, at least so far in the canon, that fears in the TMP universe haven't really split themselves into categories the way they do in TMA. we've seen a case that sounds an awful lot like a Slaughter statement (the bloodthirsty violin), with others that overlap across several Smirke Fears (the very first one read by norris is a healthy mix of Stranger and Lonely, it appears to me), and others that don't strike me as being any particular fear (a malicious, hungering liminal space...? Spiral, Lonely, Extinction...?).

this is ironic because, well, the protagonists' very job is to do that kind of categorization. Dolls comma Watching, or Dolls comma Skin? it's the very type of job that smirke himself seems to have tried to undertake in TMA-verse (and ultimately succeeded). which means....

maybe there ISN'T any fear-categorization in this world prior to the OIAR. maybe, in the end, the way to "defeat" whatever Fear(s) stalk this world is to split it up into little parts that antagonize each other, and then send them away. in short, the OIAR crew are who will send the Fears into the TMA-verse in the form we see them in TMA.

there are some other indications that time may be a flat circle here. why did lynne hammond suddenly change her name to celia in s5 of TMA? why would it suddenly "feel right" to her out of the blue, unless it was the name she vaguely remembered using Elsewhere? of course, since TMA was written before TMP was even conceptualized, it's not extremely likely that it was some kind of deliberate foreshadowing back then ; it is however possible that they took this little detail to build TMP to fit "retroactively" with it. the archives of the magnus institute in TMP-verse being pristine and free of papers could indicate a sending-away or timeline-wide interference as well. and to say nothing of hilltop road, of course...

the tagline for TMP is "Fear takes many forms". sure, it's a pun (fear receives a lot of paperwork). but perhaps it's also a warning for what's to come. fear takes on many forms, in TMP--perhaps even as many as fifteen?

[miraigis]

TMAGP THEORY - EXTERNALS AND THE INSTITUTE

i just finished binging tmp and my personal theory regarding the origins of externals is that they are results of failed alchemy transmutations / failed alchemy "experiments" in general / using previous alchemists's works that were related to the "great work"

like for an example of the last one: inksoul trying to replicate the designs of an old alchemist/artist only for their tattoos to become supernatural as they did it and over time that power started to kind of nestle inside them and take over them.

most if not all externals so far have had mutilated and/or inhuman bodies (needles on skin, literal mascot with organs, etc) and i think its safe to assume that they were people who experimented on by the magnus institute, in order to serve their "great work" whatever it is.

we HAVE seen human transmutation attempts in canon before, specifically in sam's "statement" which takes place at the institute.

hell i think that the "gifted child program" may have been to find suitable human bodies to "experiment" on and try transmutations OR to raise possible future alchemists to aid in the great work

now for my thoughts regarding the archivist, the external that arguably has the strongest connection to the institute. since the institute operates differently in this universe i believe the archive's purpose would be to document and, well, archive past works of other alchemists, sort of like a catalogue or a reference. or if it was statements again (which is also likely due to its tendencies to take people's statements and kill them) it could be statements about the people's encounters with the institute's failed experiments, sort of like? risk assessment? now, the archivist is described with many eyes and wearing old rags. which implies that its been around for a while so my guess is that the archivist is just a failed experiment that never left the institute. OR it was intentionally mutated into a creature whose sole purpose was to feed on fear and encounters

idk man its one am and im shaking cuz i watched like 10 episodes today and finally caught up.. honestly i dont know if this is a previously thought or widely accepted theory in the fandom, i was just randomly thinking while going through the wiki and then ran to tumblr to gather my thoughts, u guys r my favorite autism dump website

[the-kingofdoritos]

Today's ep was wild, but HERE IS HOW SASHA JAMES CAN STILL COME BACK

[idkwhyyouaskingm3-blog]

It really seems like FR3-D1s trying to help people find the truth they're looking for. I don't know if this is to be nice or with evil intentions (I actually think it's neither). Detail below:

Sam's determined to work out what happened to him and the Magnus Institute and he gets fed statements that help him work it out (and sent emails with information that wouldn't fit in a statement). This is the most obvious but it should also be noted Gwen, who's running behind on her case load because she reads cases too thoroughly, did not know what the Magnus Institute was. FR3-D1 doesn't necessarily want people to find out the truth about TMI he wants Sam to.

Ceila gets sent cases that relate to interdimensional travel and presumably pushed her towards looking at alchemy. It's interesting that it sent her a case that "isn't exactly the same" type of travel she's done almost as if to say that the rules are different here? This is the first time she's mentioned Jack being unable to travel back with her so I wonder if now it knows that it might start being more direct with the statements.

Gwens main goal is to take Lenas job. FR3-D1 gave her the blackmail she needed to achieve this and then, when Lena wouldn't tell her what Mr Bonzo was going to do, it gave her a case that told her exactly that. (On a side note does anyone know who listened to the first Mr Bonzo case? It can't of been Sam or I don't think he'd have laughed. If it was Gwen then surely she'd have questioned Lena a bit differently. Ceila did get the Lady M case so maybe her.)

Alices main goal is to protect Sam and her brother imo. FR3-D1 feeds her the information she needs to do that when she gets the notification about what Sam is searching for. There's a few cases that start out sounding like an Alice case but end with Sam listening to it which makes me wonder if FR3-D1s trying to keep her in the loop she's just ignoring it. Hence the errors. It's FR3-D1 throwing a tantrum because she won't listen to him.

[transratbastard]

what if there is a time difference between the TMA universe and the TMAP universe

like how darian turned up in the TMAP universe malnourished and there were some weird time differences in their pasts (his day being alive at his own funeral)

could explain why if we go by the times in TMA, jon and martin would have died in their teens

idk i haven’t looked into the dates much but it’s something i’ve been thinking about

[emerlandlady]

I don't know what y'all think but let's be honest with ourselves:dying in a cycling accident is totally a Martin thing.

Like I love the character but I can totally see it: Martin on his bike swerving so as not to hit a pigeon or something random like that and getting himself right in front of an oncoming car.

[starborn-storyteller]

SHE KNOWS SHE KNOWS I'M RIGHT I HAVE TO BE OMG OMG OMG OMGOMG

ok so, magnus protocol theory (spoilers for, like, all of tma & tmp)

we don't know that georgie & melanie's followers died. we ONLY know that they were taken. where to, you ask? THE FUCKING WEB. THEY WERE TAKEN TO THE WEB AND DROPPED THROUGH. maybe to test that people could go through? BUT THAT'S WHY AND HOW CELIA'S HERE. also don't think I didn't notice hilltop!

she OBVIOUSLY knows: she recognizes jon's voice, that quip about tape recorders, her question at the beginning that CLEARLY references the buried, SHE KNOWS AND I'M RIGHT.

[mice-and-moonbeams]

Hi yes I would like to start down this rabbit hole please because I'm totally normal about this ... I am convinced Jon and Martin are part of a tape drive. It links with the tapes from TMA and the trailer for TMP especially with the opening computer screen (I already posted about my thoughts on that).

What is a tape drive?

A tape drive is a device that stores computer data on magnetic tape, especially for backup and archiving purposes. Like an ordinary tape recorder, a tape drive records data on a loop of flexible celluloidlike material that can be read and also erased.

Tape drives differ from hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) in the way data is read and written to the storage media. Tapes store data sequentially, whereas HDDs and SSDs use rotating disks with rapidly moving seek heads, nonmoving flash memory or similar technology to transfer data.

Drives come in many sizes and capabilities. They are sold as standalone units or stacked in data center racks, creating tape libraries. The tapes themselves are often housed in sealed cassettes that can be inserted into the drive and activated.

There are several benefits to using tape drives, particularly for backup and archival uses. They include the following:

Capacity. Tapes have a large capacity for storing data when compared to HDDs.

Low cost. They are economical when compared to other storage media.

Life span. Tapes stored in a suitable environment can last for decades, an important factor for archival storage.

Transportable. Tapes can be easily moved from one location to another and are considered off-line storage.

Disaster recovery. Tape is often the storage medium of choice for data backup and DR. Storing critical systems and data on tape creates an air gap between systems that are at risk from cyber attacks simply by removing the tape cassette from the drive.

Security. Today, tapes support encryption such as Advanced Encryption Standard-256 and provide varying levels of data protection.

[risengrood]

Digital Tea! you can't taste it.

ft: Digital assistant Marto

[magnus-glitch-archive]

The Magnus Protocol Episode 30

Colin: “Yeah.” Responding to Alice’s suggestion that she’ll come by the next morning to talk.

Colin: “Sure.” Again in response to Alice’s suggestion.

Gwen: “Not at all.” When questioned if Lena made a scene before she left.

Trevor: “I’m sure you’ll do a fine job” After congratulating Gwen on getting Lena’s job.

[elliekillsu]

Can someone confirm or deny that this newest statement isn't from either universe?

So yes it's FROM the protocol universe but originally the person wasn't; they arrived in this universe

But that couldn't be from the previous universe right? We only knew one way for people to travel dimensions that was through the cracks under hilltop, but from what I can tell this person traveled through meditation?? Maybe pulled through? But even if that was the tma universe, why would Martin and Jon be in some therapists office

I think we've officially got universe 3 on our hands

[out2pasture]

Deciding to propegate my mother's theory (we listen to tmagp every thursday!!)

My mother was relistening to TMA and pointed out the Peter had martin working on *something* to do the the computers in the archives, a plot thread thats meantioned but never really tied off.

My mother insists this may have something to do with why Chester and Norville sound so familiar.

[leptonlord]

ok so TMA's themes were all about how we cope with fear and whether we allow it to change us or if we fight against it ect, using avatars like Jane to personify accepting and giving into fear to cope with it and Jon to personify someone who is almost just trying to make it go away without changing.

I am actually very excited to see how TMAGP goes now because it seems like some of the themes have been carried over from TMA but we have been given a new one: Vices/toxic attributes. 2 cases so far have been about incredibly unhealthy gambling problems, small adjustments was talking about the never ending urge to make yourself "perfect", Bonzos whole thing is the creation outgrowing the creator and consuming their entire life, Taking notes talked about someone so determined to reach their goal that they forget about the harm it does to themselves and others.

its about horrible facts about people. things that they would try to hide, say arent a problem. But they are problems, and so far in the statements we have seen people so consumed by their toxic traits/the bad situations they find themselves in that they can never get out. I wonder how this will be extrapolated to the main cast.