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the-magnus-archives-wiki · 2 years

Video

youtube

im here for things getting weird tbh :vc

Transcript below the cut

[Music]

Alex: Hello Everybody

Jonny: I'm Jonathan Sims, the writer and narrator of the Magnus Archives

Alex: Visionary Nightmare Merchant

Jonny: Visionary Nightmare Merchant, ooh I like that, I like that

Alex: and I'm Alexander J Newall, I am the founder and CEO of Rusty Quill Ltd and for magnus I was the co-creator with Jonny, alongside director and producer. Why are we here today?

Jonny: Oh, cuz we're doing it AGAIN!

Alex: yeah!! I know! Everyones like "Oh I maybe - maybe theyre doing like a little halloween special? NO!

Jonny: Magnus. Archives. Two. Not that Actual Title

Alex: We wont - no. There's a better title

Jonny: I'm really.. I'm not done

Alex: Your not done. Don't tell them the title.

[Beep]

Alex: We need to tell you a bit more about it Like, whats going on? okay. So In order to do this, we are looking at doing a Kickstarter

Jonny: Kick. Starter.

Alex: to start the kicking. Um, and that basically means that We are going to be doing a pre-signup, Which is going to be available on the 30th of October, this year If you head to kickstarter.com/projects/the-magnus-archives2/the-magnus-archives-2 On the 30th You'll be able to pre-sign, and that means that you will get alerted when the kickstarter is live and that means you will be the first to get in there for early bird goodies and things like that where you will only get it if you are getting there right out of the gate But, we are trying to get this going with a BIG kickstarter So that we can do THREE seasons. Three full seasons!

Jonny: Three seasons. It is going to be canon. It is going to be a continuation of the Magnus Archives universe But not necessarily in the way you would expect.

Alex: Its gonna get weird. Its gonna get really weird.

Jonny: its gonna get real weird.

Alex: So, we're also going to be selling limited edition merch

Jonny: limited edition merch! that was it!

Alex: So the limited edition merch is only going to be available for basically the period we are going this kickstarter, and these are designs that are going to disappear You will never be able to get them again. ever.

Jonny: Cuz if you try, i'll come round and burn them.

Alex: He'll come and burn it. In order to get ahold of those probably, you'll want to go to www.rustyquill.com and there will be more info there, but its pretty much going to be available anywhere that you can buy our designs so your looking at you know, redbubble, and tee public, things like that

Jonny: Can I get a mug?

Alex: yes.

Jonny: Can I get a t-shirt?

Alex: I believe so, yes.

Jonny: Can I get, your face as a cat scratching post?

Alex: Uh yes, but you will have to pay SIGNIFICANTLY more thats going to be a custom item and we will talk more on that later

Jonny: Oh no, I was inviting you over.

Alex: aww

Jonny: just to hang out...

Alex: aw shnookums!

[laugh]

[beep]

Alex: Why now? Its ben a while, we could have done it immediately but we didnt, why?

Jonny: I mean... cuz i fucking love magnus and i want to do some more of it

Alex: right? I kind of miss it.

Jonny: its been, since it finished, a lot of stuffs been just... percolating, and...

Alex: yeah.

Jonny: we were talking and we were like should we just? should we do? do you wanna just to a bit more?

Alex: we should do it. Yes, we are going to do, or we are AIMING to do I should say a three season epic is a strong word. life changing event?

Jonny: yeah? yeah.

Alex: we are looking at a larger number of guests we are looking at going big from the start we have learnt a lot of lessons during magnus 1 and we want to hit the ground running

Jonny: Lesson 1: Trust no one.

Alex: [laugh] okay. cool i feel like-

Jonny: Lesson 2: Plan your exit, on the way in.

Alex: I feel like we are honing back in to season 2 there so maybe steer us away from that... But yea we are -

Jonny: Lesson 3: dont listen to Alex. he's already compromised.

Alex: stop compromising all of the fandom with your MENTALITY

[beep]

Alex: in order to take part, to reiterate on very last time. If you head to kickstarter.com/projects/the-magnus-archives2/the-magnus-archives-2 You can get on there for the pre-sign from the 30th of october and then youll get more info or you can get all of the limited edition merch that WILL DISAPPEAR and for more info on that, go to RustyQuill.com

Jonny: The day before halloween. Halloween? Scary. before all hallows? its before all hallows... and so this is halloween-ee-een its Halloween squared baby. its even scarier

Alex: [snicker] thanks jonny.

[laugh]

Jonny: thats what I'm here for.

Alex: Bye everyone!

Jonny: Bye!

#the magnus archives #tma #also kinda unsettled by how much jonny looks like my ex in the video #bbut hmm i just like the sound of weird

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world-fire-entity · 2 months

Text

Can we agree that Needles is just Jonny Sims f****ing with us? The joke is Sims couldn't find a more creative name than Michael for a very similar character and went with needles (I bet his name is revealed the be John with an h tbh)

But I feel like we think this solely because Needles is f***ing with the policeman and through that Jonny, Sims is f***ing with us.

They both exhibit the same speech patterns for being annoyingly vague and creepy, but Needles feels so much more like an imitation of Michael (Or some horror movie antagonist). Michael has the horrific elder god experience and the title of distortion to back him up. He has the default ability to cause fear and confusion when he speaks because he's literally the spiral, Something that has existed for hundreds of years. When he talks, your default is to be scared because this thing is threatening your sanity solely by interacting with you even if you don't know what it is.

He is a monster with a few human qualities attributed to Michael.

Needles is literally just some guy covered in needles. ITS SO FUNNY. This seems to be his first few murders as evidenced by the police not being able to identify who he is (Death by Needles feels infamous enough to stick) and he's baffled when "I'm Needleman and I'm going to hug this man" doesn't work by default. He has NOTHING under his belt to justify why he would speak this way. In fact, He literally stops doing it for like 2 sentences when he figures out (what was obvious to us) that the policeman doesn't believe him. "Not sca– This isn’t some poxy blood test, some little pinprick, this is hundreds, thousands of razor-sharp points pushing into your flesh. We’re talking about the embrace of an iron maiden, an excruciating agony formed from a thousand tiny hurts." He repeats the policeman in shock, interrupts himself while doing it, and then starts using what I think is human slang. "Poxy" - Lousy in British apparently Some - Informal We're talking about - Informal. A thousand tiny hurts - Idk if British people just talk like this but this phrase is adorable to me, an American. like aw

Contrary to Michael, He has to convince, not that this is real, that this is scary. It feels really human of him, to be honest. In addition, he does that thing where we learn something in a movie, and it turns out to be incorrect/not the whole truth. Like "Wdym you can't find my location, I thought police could track phones."

LIKE Michael feels like a monster that has become a poor imitation of a human. He still speaks like a monster and is a monster even if he has a name now. Needles feels like a human trying their best to become a poor imitation of a monster. Attempting to speak like a monster and scare like a monster and stumbling while doing it.

I'm gonna be honest. This whole post is just me begging for a reveal that Needles was never a monster. He's just some guy who spent a week gluing needles to his free hugs short and occasionally guesses police stations in London.

#I love him. All he does is hug people and guess police stations in london.#Is that really a crime?#needles tmagp #tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp theory

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go-to-the-mirror · 1 year

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Hello, @a-mag-a-day. Apologies for the deception but I rather wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself. I'm assuming you're alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. I wouldn't try too hard to stop reading; there's every likelihood you'll just hurt yourself. So just listen. Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

Statement of landscaping-your-mind regarding episode 160 of The Magnus Archives.

Statement begins.

So, from all the stuff I scheduled for today you can probably tell I really like episode 160 of The Magnus Archives, right? Like, good lord, it is... it is a time. (Also, the words were really good (and also there's poetry) so :D incentive!)

Firstly, though, I have to say something. It's not the Watcher's Crown. The Watcher's Crown is the ritual Jonah Magnus attempted years ago. This is unnamed in canon, but Jonny said it could've been called The Magnus Archives.

Secondly... I would like to draw your attention towards the description of the youtube version of this episode. (to paraphrase)

The Magnus Archive discovers that some escapes are a lot easier than others.

Ahahahahaha AHAHAHAAHAHAH WHAT-

I hate this so much. Like, with a burning passion. "The Magnus Archives discovers that some escapes are a lot easier than others" COME TO MY HOME AND KILL ME YOU COWARD! It just hurts, it just... hurts.

He can escape London, but he can't escape his ✨ purpose ✨

You ever think about how The Magnus Archives follows the story of Magnus' Archive? I do. A lot. I haven't even started listening yet, god, this episode am I right?

MARTIN (Joking) Or, (huffed laugh) or it is, and she just cleaned it up really well. (They both make uncomfortable chuckles) ARCHIVIST …Yes. (The Archivist makes an uneasy noise)

THEYRE BOTH SO AWKWARD THEY HAVEN'T TALKED TO A NORMAL HUMAN IN OVER A YEAR

Just their really awkward laughter, oh my godd they're so endearing your honour, I'm so glad this episode and TMA ends at the 5 minute mark (< in denial)

ARCHIVIST Hopefully a long way out there. (soft) But I think we’re okay

THEY ARE IN LOVE YOUR HONOUR

I just love how soft Jon's voice gets around Martin, like, like, eeeee i just love them i love them they're the reason im aro bc i know i will never love someone romantically as much as jmart loves each other /j

MARTIN Oh, n-no, not yet. I was actually gonna head down into the village to go pick something up?

Ooooh yay I get to share my "where are they in scotland" headcanons! I think they're near Dunnet, because it's pretty far north and in the Highland area, and it's also got allegedly the only full time gunshop north of Inverness, and... yknow, it is Daisy's safehouse.

ARCHIVIST Anyway, don’t tell me the phonebox down there doesn’t appeal to your retro aesthetic.

your honour they're lightheartedly teasing each other <3

ARCHIVIST I’ll be fine.

SOFT!

(update im wrtinging with a cat on my lap now hes big. im balancing my computer on my leg.)

MARTIN I assume it’s her attempt at a- a, a varied diet? Eating your greens, you know? ARCHIVIST (Amused) Probably. (reassured) I’m sure it’ll work fine

hhh them <3 it's just like they're so... they're happy. they're so happy, and it's like nothing gold will stay or whatever

they had such a short amount of time

i wish they were ok

MARTIN …I will give you some privacy. Go for a walk. ARCHIVIST (Warmly) Let me know if you see any good cows. MARTIN Obviously I’m going to tell you if I see any good cows.

I'm...

them being happy is almost worse, right. because what once was a surprise we now know will happen, we have to deal with the dread, and it's all bitter now, the happiness is rotten because of what lurks after.

some people can listen to the first five minutes and feel okay, but me?

for me it just hurts.

ARCHIVIST (CONT’D) (Pleasantly) Statement of Hazel Rutter regarding a fire in her childhood home. Original statement given August 9th, 1992. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. Statement begins.

He sounded so happy... he sounded so happy.

This is the first time he's happy before he reads a statement. He was happy, he was hiding from the police and the hunters and Daisy and Not!Sasha with his boyfriend in Scotland. And then, and then Jonah Magnus comes in and decides to end the world like a bastard.

I don't want to hit play. I don't want to know what comes next. I want to stop listening. I want Jon and Martin to be okay. I want it to be the real statement of Hazel Rutter.

I just want it to be the real statement of Hazel Rutter.

I get it, right, horror tragedy! This was the desired effect. I am supposed to be feeling these emotions. These emotions being very sad. Well done to Jonny, lovely writing. Fantastic! I love TMA with my whole heart. I think that it's fantastic. I don't want to hit play though. I'm here for the characters suffering, I got in through The Hermit Archives, I wanted more of the horror! I am here for suffering! I'm here for the suffering. I'm hitting play.

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. Statement begins.

He could have just ended the world. Like, the whole... forcing Jon to monologue about all the times he was manipulated into furthering Jonah's plan? That's fucked. That is fucked. Just put the ritual there you slimy piece of shit!

It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through the voice of another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

*me to my dog, in the "talking to a dog" voice* You wanna kill him too! Hey! You wanna kill him too!

Like, okay, so you're Jon and you're reading this statement and you can't stop, and this bastard says "you can't tell me you're not curious." Tell me that's not going to make him think that if he tried a little harder then he would've been able to stop reading. Tell me that's not going to make him think that a part of him wanted to end the world, and that's why he's still reading. Tell me that's not going to make him blame himself even more.

The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself.

He's so bloody arrogant. He puts himself above the entire world. It makes sense, he's from Regency era England, but like, it's still... really awful. Awful person.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

When I fear death I distract myself, not try to end the world. Like, this guy is just so evil. His only redeeming quality is being funny sometimes.

Everyone dies, Jack Magnet, you just chose to be a bastard about it.

Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it, was born.

Right, so The Magnus Protocol's Magnus Institute was located in Manchester, and I'm not an expert on the geography of the United Kingdom, and basically know nothing about Manchester, bar that it has the... football, I want to say, team Manchester United? I don't know how I know that. But it seems as though Jonah Magnus didn't attempt his ritual, or attempted it some other way in that universe.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain through lines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

I wonder what the others are. The Dancer could be one - The Dancer in The Unknowing. I think Jonny said in a QnA, but you know, the author is dead, he's speaking to us posthumously, that The Architect could have been one. Not sure what others. If y'all have any ideas... 👀

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt; but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

Ok, Mr. Jonah "orchestrates twelve traumatising events for this one guy and gets him to end the world" Magnus. He cannot talk, he cannot talk at all. Sure, she sacrificed people, but she wasn't malicious. She did it for a cause. Did she believe she was good? I'm not sure she cared.

Jonah Magnus is just awful for his own self gain.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the panic of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral? Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down. To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Gerry's colour explanation makes a lot of sense if you don't conceive of it as a traditional colour wheel. They're growing out in every direction, they all overlap with each other.

Sure, the fear of The Eye may seem in direct opposition to the fear of The Stranger, but let's take Jon, for instance. Is it not sort of Stranger to have some guy in a coffee shop staring at you with his autistic eyes, a person you don't know, but who definitely knows you?

What about the fear of The Buried and the fear of The Vast. Episode 195 covers that pretty handily. They're all interconnected with all of the others. Separating them makes them easier to understand (and invertedly makes them actually separated), but it isn't them, not truly. They are connected intrinsically.

Even the coffin! The fear of being alone in the dark is a part of the coffin.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that, well, it’s a bit of a misnomer. It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive. Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering dread of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you. You are a living chronicle of terror.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this. The Archivist is something... defined by how they feed their patron, but The Archive is defined by how they've been hurt to bring it into the world. He's not defined by even a person-like role, he's something molded by Jonah Magnus' desires to end the world.

I wrote a little poem about it, which I shall share here, because I am cringe but I am free, unlike Jon. RIP

He's not a person with a name, He's a vessel of destruction, He's not a person who feels pain, It's necessary for production, That he's scarred and marked, By things that lurk in the dark, Believe himself useless, Or it'll be fruitless, And at the end of the day, He's no person, no name, He's a plan that has come to fruition.

Also, he calls himself The Archivist, perhaps viewing himself as... something that hurts others, rather than something that is hurt for a purpose.

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but my god, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as a sort of implicit blessing on my whole project and, do you know what, I think it was.

"I chose you" "I'll admit, my options were somewhat limited" Mr. Magnet, he was chosen by the web. Jonah's just not afraid to be puppeted.

So, when Jane Prentiss attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

This line fucked me up. "One hand on the gas release from the start." Just... like it just sticks in my mind. How he held all their lives in the palm of his hand, how he let Sasha die, and Tim get eaten by worms, because he wanted his bloody perfect Archive.

One hand on the gas release from the start, while all of them almost - or did - die(d).

Like, what gets me is how fucked up Jon was afterwards, how he was asking everyone for their statements, shutting them up before they got to the part where they'd mention Jon and Tim getting eaten with worms. What gets me is how Elias was there and Jon was what, looked like a bloody mummy! He didn't have second thoughts when he saw...

He knew everything. He saw everything. He saw how fucked up Jon was over e v e r y t h i n g. (everything)

That's what gets me.

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its door, you’re marked very deep by the Spiral.

And, you know, the manipulation, the gaslighting, the betrayal. I saw an interesting post on this, but I can't seem to find it. I'll look in the posts I've rbed tagged TMA meta, I'll link it in a reblog if I find it.

Honestly, I had nothing to do with Melanie and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so whenever her rage bubbled over you were right there, a ready target.

You know after Jon's second kidnapping that could have totally been resolved how Jonah made Jon stand in front of Melanie while she wanted to kill Jonah with a knife, and how it's like oh, right, yeah, use Jon as a bloody meat shield to get her angry at him, make him the scapegoat, that was intentional. It was intentional to destroy everyone in the Archives' interpersonal relationships, and then have Jon. A ready target for hatred and vitriol.

How is Martin, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

I think that Jonah Magnus should eat shit and die.

The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

If you replace the Ceaseless Watcher with Determination then it reads like an Undertale save.

* The power of Determination flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, Jon. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

This also ties in with the above, I hate that he says "our victory" "the world that we have made." Jon didn't consent to this, Jon didn't want this, Jon was made to be an unwilling conduit of the apocolypse and Jonah Magnus is insinuating that he chose it, the victim blaming little prick!

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right. Come to us in your wholeness. Come to us in your perfection. Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies! Come to us. I OPEN THE DOOR!

GREAT INCANTATION! 10/10! And it's actually recitable, unlike the TBI one.

ARCHIVIST Look at the sky, Martin. Look at the sky. It’s looking back.

That is a fucking fantastic final line of the episode. All of it, four seasons leading up to this moment. Look at the sky. It's looking back.

Fuck dude!

(The Archivist begins a fractured, delirious, humourless, laugh that does not end)

That laugh.

That laugh is just... haunting. I love it so much. It makes me want to cry. I used to have it saved on my phone and I'd just listen to it over and over and over again and get more and more disturbed and heartbroken.

That laugh. That broken, horrific laugh.

I can't get over it.

And thus ends season 4 of The Magnus Archives. With a broken laugh in front of a window, leading out to the doomed world.

Episode 160 is quite possibly my favourite metaplot episode of The Magnus Archives, the way the whole plan was revealed, the awful manipulations that were exposed... that laugh.

I leave you all to think on this. To think on the Archive née the Archivist née Jonathan Sims, laughing at the world he has unwillingly and unwittingly doomed.

Goodnight, a-mag-a-day, goodnight. /ref

#tma #tma meta #the magnus archives #the magnus archives meta #mag 160 #jonah magnus #jonathan sims #elias bouchard #tma spoilers #tma s4 spoilers #a mag a day #i am so abnormal about this episode you do not even know #well i think you do now-#landscaping your mind chapter one

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skeletonsloverockcandy · 1 year

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After having read the synopsis for the Magnus Protocol on the kickstarter, the brain worms are starting to kick in oooo I’m so excited

It clearly takes place Somewhere Else in a universe where Jonah Magnus existed but perhaps was not supernatural as this Institute was based in Manchester not London, and burned down in 1999, the same year there was supposedly a mass statement leak in the TMA universe. And this follows the work of Office of Incident Assessment and Response, some sort of civil government service organization in England with the characters Alice and Sam, our new main characters, dealing with the “legacy” of the Archives “almost 25 years after it burned down” and will put them in “grave danger”.

This being a world that is Somewhere Else, it means that it previously had no Entities and now it has Entities, so I think that’s what the grave danger will be, and Jonny and Alex have said that we may here some old voices, but not in the way we expect.

So here’s what I’m positing, my theory, one might say, tho I see it more as a possible fanfic idea than a likely turn of events:

Wouldn’t it be awesome if this government agency stumbled onto some of Jon’s tapes from the TMA universe that were brought over with the entities by the Spider, and this Incident response team was like “welp, that doesn’t make any sense, this is dated 2016-18 and the Magnus Institute burned down in 1999” and so they have to form a protocol for when they find these tapes. What if they’re like Lietners in this universe, at the very least in the concept of someone having something named after them even if they didn’t cause the phenomenon, like the books for example? Or what if they DO cause supernatural phenomena to happen? Then that’s really interesting because then there are consequences 😈 and Bad Things Happening. I think then anything supernatural that happens after these tapes are found will be linked to the Magnus Institute or the tapes by proxy, since this world has no prior experience with this level of supernatural phenomena, and so the government needs a solution, or a protocol for these things, if you will, and thus The Magnus Protocol is born.

Now say that our main cast of characters from TMA all still exist in this universe, but never joined the institute because it burned down. So they could be walking about their normal lives, none the wiser and working normal jobs not accosted by Fear Entities. Now imagine these tapes, if they appear, do not appear in order, and so now there is a mystery a foot, and quite frankly some disturbing things to put to rest in these “statements”. And so they investigate, and find that one Mr. Jonathan Sims lives in London working as a researcher or museum curator or publicist or actor or band member or coffee barista or whatever his job may be in this new world, and take him in for questioning.

Imagine how juicy that would be, here is this Sims, none the wiser to supernatural entities or horrors, and then some shady government agents take him in without telling him why, and 2 low level agents come in, trying to keep stoic and cool, but are just a little bit spooked when they look at him and know who he is. Now Jon is here really confused and he starts asking why he’s here, is he in trouble, etc., and they say they just want to ask him some questions. They ask him if he’s ever been to or worked at the Magnus Institute, and he says no, what’s that? Or didn’t that burn down? I was 8-9 at the time so obviously not, that’s impossible. His captors share a glance and then pull out a tape recorder asking if he could please explain this then please. He is like, what. You want me to talk into that old thing? It looks ancient. Are you sure it even works? And they’re like, oh we’re sure Mr. Sims. And we don’t need you to talk into it, just listen. And they press play. And say, maybe the Spider still has a soft spot for old Jon here, and isn’t above inflicting some old terror in a new way. So say the statement they pull is MAG 81, A Guest for Mr. Spider. So this Jon, wildly confused and now beginning to get scared, hears his voice on the other end, describing accurate details of his childhood, and an incident that never happened, and wait is that Georgie? He knows Georgie, he dated her in uni, and he’s on the run for framed murder?? Jon is agape, but recovers and begins angrily demanding if this is some sort of prank, who set this up, it isn’t funny, how did they get his voice? And he’s scared. The 2 agents, Alice and Sam, glance at one another again and tell him that’s what they would like to know. They have dozens of these tapes with his voice on them, dated from 2016-18, and claiming he’s the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, and Mr. Sims, if this is some sort of elaborate game, or ARG, or fiction project of his, they would like to know that now so they can put this to rest, because if these are real… then that presents a whole new challenge, doesn’t it? When it’s clear Jon doesn’t know anything, they let him go, but he’s shaken badly by the incident, wondering if he has a doppelgänger out there somewhere impersonating him, but if that’s the case, how did they know so many personal details about his childhood and his grandmother? Given a bit of time to think, I think he would try to do some investigating of his own, maybe discover what this Other Him had to say on these tapes or where they came from or what they mean, maybe return to this organization and ask if he can listen to more of the tapes or try to help in their investigation. Or else go full on season 2 full paranoid Jon mode and begin questioning if anyone he knows is in on this as well. Either way, this presents a fabulous opportunity for reoccurring side character Jonathan Sims! Head of nothing and not the Archivist :) would love to see him get brought in again for breaking and entering into a place he was trying to investigate to look for clues and Alice and Sam just get slowly used to his shenanigans and like “Oh Sims is in again.” “3rd time this week?” “You know, I’m really regretting bringing him in for questioning the first time.”

Anyway that’s my idea, I think it would be great :)))

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jovialtorchlight · 1 month

Text

AS YOU ONCE WERE

A short play by Jonny Bolduc

Characters:

VOICE: You, in a dream.

YOU. You, as you are.

CHILD: You, are you once were.

---------------------------------------

VOICE:

The door flies open.

YOU:

Damn. This is it. The house I grew up in. The blue armchair in the living room, the hardwood floor, the desk by the window. I remember every divot in the carpet. Can I…go into my room?

VOICE O.S:

It’s your dream. You can do whatever you want. But there’s something you should know. The junk drawer, the one that squeaked really loud every time it opened and annoyed the shit out of dad is stuffed full of handwritten apology notes.

YOU:

Apology notes? To who?

VOICE:

I’ll tell you in a moment. But get this. The hamster you buried in the backyard in 2005 is scurrying across the kitchen countertops. Fresh sheets, still hot from the dryer are parachuted on the bed. Sims 2 is loaded up on the white brick computer.

YOU:

Holy shit. Can..can I stay here?

VOICE:

No.

YOU:

Oh.

VOICE:

Tell me something.

How are your days? How have you been living?

YOU:

I haven’t. I haven’t really been living. I have given myself to the flow of

the days that do not understand mercy or what it means to cry “uncle”. I have burned this house in my mind. I have razed this memory to the ground. I have tried to end my life twice.

VOICE. O.S:

Huh. Interesting. You know, I think someone here might be able to help you.

Come on in.

A CHILD enters, clad in a baseball cap.

CHILD:

Hi.

YOU:

Hi. Are you…?

CHILD:

You? Yeah, I am.

YOU:

Me. As a..kid?

CHILD:

As a ten year old.

YOU:

Woah.

CHILD:

Yeah!

YOU:

So. I was, uh, wondering something.

CHILD:

Whatsup?

YOU:

Can I stay here?

CHILD:

I don’t think so. Why? Is the future not good? I mean, are we not happy?

YOU:

No. We’re…not.

CHILD:

Why not? What’s wrong? Are we not a famous writer?

YOU:

No. And look, it’s just…time hasn’t been kind to us. Time has taken and taken and taken and we’ve been battered by the unrelenting force of the days. The terror of the nights.

It’s like every day, another heavy stone is dropped onto my chest. I just…I can’t take it anymore.

I gave up.

On life.

CHILD:

You gave up on us? What? How could you?

Why? Is there nothing else to learn? No books to read? No time to go look into the water of a pond and see the water teeming with tadpoles and triops and waterbeds and life? No good video games? No time to give mom a hug?

What could be so bad that you would want to do that? I mean, things can be dark and scary and bad, right now. The dark corner of the basement where I saw a ghost. The terrible roar of the furnace echoing in the dark. When I get real trapped in my thoughts and my chest gets tight and I get sweaty and panic. When I get sad for no reason and want to get lost in the woods and never come back to school. But I keep going.

You’re telling me…we aren’t worth it?

YOU:

I’m so sorry.

I’ve tried to get better. To get help. But every fucking day—

CHILD:

That’s a bad word.

YOU:

I’m sorry. Every day is full of stress and terror and failing. I just…I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t get better. I’ve tried so many times and I keep falling back down into this pit of black.

CHILD:

Look. It's okay. Want to play Animal Crossing? That always makes me feel better when I'm sad. Or we could look for frogs at the grassy edge of the retention pond.

YOU:

I would love to. But do we have time?

CHILD:

Of course we have time. Obviously, you can’t stay here forever. But you can find someone like me. A kid who needs what we needed when we were younger. And if you help, if you make things better…some of the sadness will go away.

I can’t stay here forever, either. I’m gone. I’m a part of you, now. But we can do this. We can find the light again. We can feel safe.

We can do it together.

YOU:

I’m so sorry.

CHILD:

It’s ok.

Want to play Super Smash Brothers?

YOU:

Absolutely.

I’m going to beat you.

CHILD:

No way!

Grabs cap off of CHILD’s head. CHILD reaches for it, and they run off, laughing.

END

#short play #playwriting #poetry #jonny bolduc #jovialtorchlight

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sadpersonmadeoffruitpunch · 7 months

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hey so. i saw you were wondering what the mechs are? well. boy do i have An Answer for you!!!!

the mechanisms are a queer prog-rock concept band that began in the late 2010s as “Doctor Carmilla and The Mechanisms” before later changing to simply “The Mechanisms” after the aforementioned dr carmilla left the band.

NOW. the band, being a performing band much like Steam Powered Giraffe, have a storyline. they have lore. they have characters and backstories.

the mechanisms? they’re space pirates. immortal space pirates to be exact!

they have four main story albums that sort of function as musicals/podcasts and retell popular stories and legends as space opera tragedies! they’ve got one about european folktales only it’s a clone war with tragic lesbians, the odyssey except it’s cyberpunk and also a heist (staring another tragic lesbian), arthurian legend except they’re cowboys in space (with transgender and polyamorous cowboys), and then. well. norse mythology except it’s about trains in space. and also it’s a murder mystery. and a cop drama. also starring tragic lesbians!!

if you’re curious about the trains and the fucking… well. “The Bifrost Incident” is all about trains! and also the origination of the phrase “fuck you and fuck your train.”

you might recognize some of the singers if you’re a fan of the magnus archives, as well! jonny sims, the guy that plays jonny dville in the mechanisms, is usually recognized more often as jonathan sims, the archivist from TMA that he also plays! and then there’s jessica law, who acts as both nikola orsinov (tma) and the toy soldier (the mechs), there’s also frank voss who is both basira hussain (tma) and ashes oreilly (the mechs). oh and tim ledsam, who’s jordan kennedy (tma) and gunpowder tim (the mechs).

anyways, what i’m really getting at here is that you should check out the mechs if you’re interested!!! they’re a really amazing group of performers, and their storytelling and music making is truly incredible. the fandom is very welcoming and we’re all very silly and here to have a fun time!!!

please, send me an ask or a DM if you have any questions (or navigate to my blog and scroll on my pinned post until you happen upon the linked tag with all my intro posts to the mechs)!!!!

They sound fudging awesome! I’m totally gonna check them out!

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obii-wan-kenobiii · 2 years

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what is the mechanisms? based on your posts i'm 50% sure they're a band?

hi omg okay permission to infodump???? if you say yes i will reblog this and ramble for half an hour. actually i don;t want to wait so im just gonna put it under the cut (skip to the end for a very short summarized verison of everything)

SO THIS IS THE LEAD SINGER AND HIS CHARACTER IS JONNY DVILLE (he’s played by jonny sims) AND SO THEYRE ALL IMMORTAL SPACE PIRATES BTW AND SO IT’S SIMILAR TO A MUSICAL

SO TO BECOME IMMORTAL THEY GOT A PART OF THEIR BODY REPLACED BY SOMETHING WHICH IS CALLED THEIR MECHANISM(hence the band name) AND SO JONNYS IS HIS HEART AND SO HE HAS A MECHANICAL HEARt AND HE GOT MECHANISED BY THIS VAMPIRE NAMED DR CARMILLA WHO LEFT THE BAND; SHE ORIGINALLY FORMED THE BAND TO BE HER BACKING BAND BUT THEN LEFT AND THE ‘canon’ explanation for this is that jonny pushed her out an airlock

marius!!! so his name is marius von raum and his mechanism is one of his arms

he plays violin for the band and voices some of the screamier characters

oh!! jonny dville is the lead singer btw :)

okay and uhhhhh nastya rasputina!! she left the band in early 2015 for personal reasons but i still love her and am pretending she is still there she plays violin and doesn’t voice any characters but has appeared as herself in one of the albums

oh!!! also their spaceship is sentient and named aurora and her and nastya are dating <333 lesbian rights

and this is aurora

drumbot brian!! as the exact opposite to jonny, his mechanism is everything but his heart, and he plays banjo and sings a bit too and he has this switch that has two modes, means justify ends and ends justify means which are two morality modes and so on mje he can’t do anything he would consider immoral but on ejm it’s the opposite of that

( my autocorrect changed ejm to run at first and that’s accurate honestly 😭😭)

oh did i mention jonny dville has canonically committed every non sexual crime?? jonny dville mr king of consent ily. maybe you’re a bloodthirsty murderer who kills people for fun but <333

okay uhhh ashes o reily!!! mx. o reily i love you please marry me i love them sm okay. uh the crews resident arsonist, plays bass and voices a few characters!! their voice is so hhhng. they burned down their entire home planet

brian got shot into space pew pew pew and floated there for a while until he was eventually found by doc carmilla

and jonny is the first mate, he’ll tell you he’s the captain but don’t listen to him

brian is the pilot

ashes is the quartermaster

nastya is the engineer, oh and nastya’s mechanism is her blood!! i don’t think i mentioned that lol

and marius is the doctor (he says he has a degree but nobody has actually seen it so.) not that you really need a doctor when these nine kill eachother regularly but anyways

but raphaella la cognizi, the ships science officer!! as cruel and brutal as she is… science! plays piano and voices multiple characters, her mechanism is her wings

ivy alexandria!! the ships archivist :) her mechanism is her brain, she plays the flute and one other instrument i believe? she doesn’t voice characters afaik but she has appeared as herself in an album once. she stores information!! she’s like a living data collection center

the toy soldier!!! it’s… present, as usual. we’re not really sure what it does, nobody is, all we know is that it showed up and won’t go away. it’s just happy to be there

and finally!!! gunpowder “prettiest mech” tim!! he’s so,,,,, hhhhhhng. his mechanism is his eyes!! he plays guitar and voices a few characters in albums!! he’s the weapons guy

ABDHDHHSHD ALRIGHT NOW THE ALBUMS

okay so one thing you have to understand before all this is that they take old folk stories and retell them but make them either in space, cowboys, and much, much gayer

their first album, once upon a time (in space), think disney but much more violent and also lesbians

and then there’s ulysses dies at dawn!! it’s like green myth but mafia!!! ahdhhfhsjd it’s so good

tales to be told is just backstory songs/songs that didn’t make the cut for albums, it’s still great it’s just not one defined plot line as each song follows something different unlike the rest of the albums

high noon over camelot!! arthurian legend but cowboys and also mordred is trans and arthur guinevere and lancelot are all dating eachother ( i,,,,,cried at the end of hnoc :)))))

THE BIFROST INCIDENT!!! MY FAVORITE ALBUM OKAY

SO THINK NORSE MYTH BUT MAGIC TRAIN IN SPACE

AND THE MAIN CHRACATER IS LYFRASSIR EDDA

so basically

odin sends a train, the ratatosk express through the bifrost to get from midgard to asgard but the train arrives in midgard eighty years late and so lyfrassir edda is assigned to investigate it and so it’s like this whole super elaborate plot and it’s amazing

and takes to be told. vol 2 is the same idea as the first one so

and then finally,,, death to the mechanisms :( they broke apart in 2020 and they recorded their final concert and released it as an album and it’s always rlly sad to listen to :((

and finally,,,,,,,,,,,, backstories,,,,,,,,,,,,,

so jonny killed his dad bc he had collected debt and then proceeded to kill the person who made him kill his dad bc of said debt and then ran away with doc carmilla

nastya ran away from her family after she accidentally got them killed? fun fact thta i noticed bc i read too far into everything: so nastya’s name is actually anastasia but she doesn’t go by that, and nastya means reborn AND SO SHE WAS REBORN AFTER SHE ACCIDENTALLY GOT HER WHOLE FANIMY KILLED AND AHHDHFHSHJFF

i have émotions abt these characters

tim fought in the war against the moon kaiser and when his ,,,,,,,,,,,best friend’’’’’’’’ got killed he blew up the moon bc he got mad and also he went on like a massive killing spree

marius doesn’t actually have a set backstory yet!! his actor is working on an album but they haven’t released it yet

raphaella also doesn’t have a backstory yet i believe?

ashes burned down their entire home planet bc some guy screwed them over

brian got shot into space pew pew pew and floated there for a while until the doc picked him up

ivy lived in a library and doesn’t remember her life, she got picked up by the doc and mechanised after she died

the toy soldier was made as a toy to serve someone and it stole its voice from an angel (heavily implied to be some sort of singer but i’m not sure) and it’s just stayed there

so this was. badly summarized and not well said but also hhhng thank you for asking me!!! basically the people in the band play characters who do retellings of stories, and they play characters in the stories. they’re all immortal space pirates and have a mechanical body part which is how they became immortal. they retell the stories like ten times gayer and it’s fantastic anyways.

#yayyyy badly done ramble #ill probably edit this later but

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petrichorvoices · 2 years

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we’re looking for some specific Sims 4 CC, so if anyone happens to know where we could find any of these, please let us know!! i’m just going to copy+paste the list from our commonplace book

Sims 4 CC looking for:

a casual low ponytail for Mim

lightning mascara/face paint for Jonny

eyes under eyes CC for Cecil, Kevin, Ice7, and maybe Jon arn Jonathan

large burn scars for Cecil

mechanical wings for Raphaella

pure purple eyes for Ice7

another casual low ponytail for Ice2 because the game has none that are good, they all have braids or whatever

more sliders are always nice

anything we could use for Ivy's side of head brain thing

mechanical eyes for Gunpowder Tim

a better prosthetic arm for Marius would be nice, red if possible

stitched closed third eye for Uze

wood skin texture for Toy Soldier would be nice

so would like, obviously drawn-on facial hair, also for the Toy Soldier

any tops with belts or belt accessories for Jonny

more scarf accessories for the Ices

controllable pets mod for Dr. Crow

also glasses for dogs, also for Dr. Crow

anything that could look like SCP-963 for Jack

a third eye under an eye, for AClef

subtle/faint scars, of various types, for various people

better, fainter smile scars for Kevin would be nice, since the ones we have now are really pronounced

simple silver bracelets for Jon arn Jonathan, preferably one on each wrist

#Sims 4 #ts4cc #rambling #okay to reblog btw

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skelelephant · 3 years

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people I invent to make funny posts often ask me, “Erin Skelelephant, what is your creative process?”

and I look at these people and I say “well it’s very simple. I just find a character that I can relate to, and then realize that a lot of their flaws and emotional reactions reflect onto my own in ways that are perhaps indicative of a need to see a therapist. then I draw them gay kissing someone.”

#that and a lot of introspective walks while listening to the playlists I’ve made for them #oh jared hopworth we’re really in it now #ngl I will quite literally never get over that he was the one #Jonny Sims I just wanna FUCKING talk #if anything I’m worse off now than I was back when I made that big post talking about his character #I’m in even deeper now #rlly was just sitting there like ‘haha cool body horror character’ during my first listen through #meanwhile Jonny is standing there holding a gun with 131 and 171 respectively loaded into it #and he fucking kills me #god.#sun in an empty room

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heir-of-the-chair · 4 years

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JOOOOONNNNNN!

#tma ep 146 #five people #five BLOODY people #JON!#JONATHAN!#also like it’s definitely not Annabelle #like she’s definitely planning SOMETHING it’s the web we’re talking about after all but I don’t think she’s making him do it #or at least not entirely #I’d say that’s most him being an avatar #JOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNM #he’s turning into a monster and I DON’T LIKE IT #why did I start listening to this podcast #I blame the web it made all of the podcast fandoms so closely knit that I had to listen to it and now I can’t stop #my brain really chose a great thing to be my new hyperfixation #the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #I am in severe emotional pain #the entities my feed off of fear #but I am 100% sure that Jonny and Alex just feed off of our collective pain at seeing all these characters either die or turn into monsters #DAMN YOU RUSTY QUILL #DAMN YOU JONNY #DAMN YOU ALEX #it’s working #the angst is working #and it started from like even before everything with Melanie!#like the beginning of season four!#this wasn’t meant to be so long #the heir speaks

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trensu · 3 years

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Jon's Creeping Terror Fun Fact Corner!

You know how Cecil has his Fun Fact Science Corner segment on his radio show? Well, Jon has his own show produced by The Magnus Studio. It's an educational kids show all about the Entities of Fear!! It's a very specific kind of kids show. You know the ones. Those kids shows that children are absolutely mad for but any adult in their vicinity is left deeply unsettled by them? Yep. On the surface, the show seems fine but if any adult dwells on the content for more than five minutes, they are left feeling very very unnerved, especially since the host, one Jonathan Sims, seems more than a little unhinged half the time.

The show is so popular it gets almost 15 whole episodes! (It gets cancelled at 14 bc at that point it had received far too many retrospective complaints from parents to continue any further). Sometimes, the episodes even have special guests!! Although it got cancelled, you can obviously still find it on the internet if you know where to look. There's even compilations of all the show's best Unhinged moments.

The Vast Episode

Jon: Today's episode is about the Vast! And to tell us more about it we have Simon Fairchild visiting us. Kids, if you ever see this man in person, please run very far in the opposite direction.

Simon: Thank you for that warm introduction, Jon. Now children, who here likes ROLLER COASTERS?

Jon: And that's it for our special guest [proceeds to literally kick an old man until he's off screen] Do not trust this man and please be careful when going on roller coasters in the future.

The Lonely Episode

Jon, reading from the teleprompter: We have an expert of the Lonely with us, Mr. Peter Lu--what? No!! Why's he here? Get him off my set! What do you mean no? I don't care how much funding he gives the studio!! He tried to take Martin away!

[scene cuts off and starts back up with Martin sitting next to Jon, looking particularly sweet and cuddly in a knitted jumper]

Jon: Here we have m-my Martin, I-I mean my ASSISTANT Martin Blackwood. Say hi to Mr. Blackwood, children.

[Jon is a twitchy mess and cannot even look at Martin's direction. Martin looks flushed]

Martin: Er, yes, h-hello.

Jon: Martin has experience [this is hissed with all the venom he can muster] with the Lonely. He's going to teach us the best way to avoid that evil, conniving bast--

Martin, hastily cuts in: Yes, well! Kids, who do you have in your life that you love? It can be anyone! Your siblings, your pets, your friends! Anyone at all!

[at the edge of the set, just barely visible, Peter can be seen crammed into a cage gleefully guarded by Daisy]

(it's during this episode Jon finds out that he's not allowed to use naughty words on the show. All the stuff with the murder and the skinning and the worms and such is fine! Just no cussing. Jon is befuddled and aghast. This is why Hopworth was not allowed as a guest; he's a very swear-y man)

The Corruption Episode

[Jon is seen clutching a jar of ashes throughout the entire episode with absolutely no explanation as to what it is or why it's there]

Jon, gesturing manically: and that's why it's important to see a doctor when you're sick and have an exterminator on speed dial.

[Martin comes onto the scene with a worried look on his face. The screen goes to black for a moment, then reappears with Jon still clutching his jar but looking significantly calmer. He smiles at the camera and it almost looks normal]

Jon: To finish the episode, can you demonstrate the proper handwashing technique we taught you at the start? Be sure to tell your parents what you've learned about infection control and have them show you where the CO2 is kept in your home!

The Hunt Episode

Jon, earnestly happy: This is my best friend Daisy! She's going to help us learn about the Hunt. She's one of the bravest people I know.

[Daisy turns away to hide a shy smile before clearing her throat and starting in on a rehearsed lecture. The episode ends with her and Jon making the children repeat the "don't listen to the blood, listen to the quiet" mantra and also "all cops are bastards."]

(Basira, in post production: ...yeah, that's fair.)

The Flesh Episode

Parents are horrified when they hear their children singing "you are what you eat, meat is meat!" whenever they play after that episode airs.

(Martin: Just to be clear, we're encouraging cannibalism??

Jon: no! ...maybe? i don't know, Martin, they told me it tested well with the focus group children

Martin: yes, okay, but WHY did you come up with that jingle?

Jon: Don't look at me like that, I'm not crazy, Martin! I wouldn't just eat a person. But, well, if someone asked me to eat them like, after they died, I wouldn't necessarily say no...?

This conversation was recorded and leaked somehow. And that's how Actual Cannibal Jon Sims became a trending meme. He has to do a PR statement confirming that he "has never knowingly eaten a person" and that that was "a completely hypothetical discussion." This convinces as many people as you think it would.)

The Stranger Episode

Nikola: I don't much like children. Not enough skin on them to do anything really fun.

Jon: Why are you--how did you even get in?? S-Security! Someone come get her out of--

Nikola: oh, but I have information for the little ones! [she pulls out a basket of high-end skincare products and looks directly into the camera with her featureless face] These are the lotions that are best for Archivist flesh but I'm sure they work for the kiddies as well! You all want to grow up to have lots of beautiful skin don't you? Here, let me show you how to use them! [attempt to lotion Jon]

Jon: [flinches away] Security! O-or Daisy. DAISY!

[growling is heard and we get a flash of a wolfish Daisy body-slamming Nikola to the ground. The rest of the episode has Tim shoving Jon off screen and going on a rant about circuses and how to best explode them. This becomes one of their most popular episode amongst the children]

Breekon and Hope show up occasionally in the background of various episodes and become something like an Easter egg for fans of the show.

Anyway, I love the idea of kids adoring socially awkward, neurotic mess of a man Jonathan Sims. Jon is completely confounded by his popularity but also, he's glad of it bc that means the children will be more prepared if they ever encounter any of the Entities (most parents think it's all fiction, except for the ones who've had Encounters with one of the entities; Jon ends up with a sort of underground cult following comprised of survivors of fear encounters)

I blame @lemonisinplay (and Jonny Sims) for the entirety of this post, tbh. She came up with the name and half the stuff here XD

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #daisy tonner #basira hussain #tim stoker #peter lukas #simon fairchild #nikola orsinov #jonmartin #trensu tells stories #jon's creeping terror fun fact corner

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alittlecrumbplz · 2 years

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mag 177. the previous episodes had the sounds of the suffering in the distance. But here, it’s up close and uncomfortably personal. We hear the rattle of the pills and the patient thumping against his restraints. This is individual, particularized suffering. For a few minutes I thought that Jon was the one actually harming the patient. He assumed the role of Dr. David too well. At what point does Jon “losing himself” to the statements mean that Jon might actually become the role? After all, all these fears now work under the purview of the Eye’s power. IIRC, the previous statements of S5 have been in an observational narrator's pov, while here, it’s first person. Jon is Dr. David. Jon is causing the fear. It’s the difference between, “behind him, he saw the...” and “Hmm, I see. Violence then, is it?”

At no point in 177 does he distinguish himself from Dr. David in any way. No 3rd person pronouns. No descriptions of the room. Nothing but pure dialogue that an actual person would say.

We’ve seen him struggle with not taking victims in S4, but with his nihilism? the apocalypse? What is he supposed to do? Martin tells him at one moment to be a murder-hobo exacting revenge and in the next moment telling him to save humanity. Jon needs to know if Martin is in danger, but he can’t invade his privacy. The lines are blurred and so are the lines between statement and archivist. He is melding into the “Archive” itself, which is exactly what Elias wants.

I feel like this season is beautifully executing the feeling of being adrift. Each previous season focused on Jon having a set goal, or at least feeling like he did. S1 was to organize the archives. S2, who murdered Gertrude. S3 the unknowing. S4 maintaining his humanity.

The goal of S5 is obviously undo the apocalypse, but how. Jon is literally a quasi-omniscient being, and he knows that he might not be able to. At this point, all we know is that we’re heading to the panopticon like it’s fucking wizard of oz.

this season really hits different lol. I had midterms to study for, so after 160, I forced myself to wait for 2 weeks before continuing. I gorged myself on statements the weekend after the last exam. But now, I feel myself hesitating. I know I’m nearing the end, and I don’t want these characters to go. In an old draft, I talked about how I usually don’t care for horror because it’s focus on “scary stuff” normally comes at the expense of any meaningful characters. The characters of horror movies are mere plates for creators to serve horror on. But Jonny Sims. sheesshh. The arcs, the faults, the growth, and no wimping out by giving us finality of death! These characters are real; they’re smart, dumb, selfish, and humanly heroic.

#tma #tma s5 #mag 177 #jonathan sims #the magnus archives

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see-arcane · 3 years

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I love your posts because me and my friends have been screaming about how badly Jon was treated by the Archive Crew despite him doing his best, and also about how the poor man never got any agency in the end. It’s nice to see that we’re not the only ones who have Issues with the Finale.

The thing is, this really is a masterwork of eldritch/existential horror within its genre. Amazingly terrifying, infinitely soul-crushing. Where similar stories play up the dread by keeping the bogeymen in the dark and their purposes Arcane and Unknowable, Jonny Sims put 15 spotlights on his entities and still managed to horrify us so much more than some random evil squid god. It’s a good story and a great tragedy.

But yes, the Issue with the Finale is very much the absolute vacuum where Jon’s agency and validation should be. The man got fuck-all from the narrative and even less than fuck-all from the holier than thou hypocrites he was forced to call friends for lack of anyone better around him. Much as I am very much onboard with blaming the Web for most of Jon’s plight, I’ve come to revise my initial hope that the others on Team Archive were being forced to be cruel/isolating to Jon.

Now I’m forced to believe the Web’s only move there was arranging things to have Jon surrounded by the least supportive support network it could give him who would be malleable enough to use for its own ends once they reached the climax. People with just enough moral fortitude*** to slap Jon’s wrists through s3-s4 for simply surviving, only to have them turn around and jump at the first easy fix-it for themselves at the cost of others’ lives in s5.

The Fears I can hate because they are the Fears.

These people I hate because they did the one thing Jon never did throughout the entire series, including MAG 160--they chose to willingly deliver torment unto innocent victims for their own sake. Maybe one world’s worth. Potentially many more. Potentially an infinity more. They spent a total of ten fucking minutes pretending to ‘debate it’ before coming to the decision.

And the only excuses they can make for themselves is ‘Well, we don’t know for sure; the best we can do is hope!’

So say these understandable, believable, traumatized people--who have suffered less than an nth of all the torturous bullshit Jon has been dragged through. Jon, who was so conditioned by the narrative to bite the bullet that he was willing to pull a euthanasia on the world he’d tried so hard to save just to be sure the Fears would die with them, never to touch or torture anyplace else.

“If anyone’s listening… Goodbye. I’m sorry, and…good luck.”

Fuck off.

#in which I Am Still Very Bitter #the magnus archives #rant #spoilers

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tma-ficrec · 3 years

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Five All Time Mod Recs

To start off this blog, we decided to submit ourselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known and show y’all our TMA top fic recs!

These are fics of very different premises and categories that stayed with us and soothed our souls. Feel free to ask for more recs (or more specific stuff) because we’re definitely not done. Enjoy!

Mod Ami:

Statement Ends by @martivist 4k words. Jonmartin. Angst. Post-canon AU. Ending Speculation. Lore speculation. S5 AU.

"Final statement of Jonathan Sims. The Archivist. Statement given… I think it’s June? We haven’t done very well counting time since the days stopped. Summer 2019, call it that. Statement begins.

We’ve found a way to send them back where they came from. All of them."

Forty-some years after the apocalypse abruptly ends, the final acts of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood come to light.

Mod note: This fic... goddamit this fic. I read it halfway through s5 and I genuinely think this is one of the best endings the show could have had. It hit all the points Jonny made and then some. This fic is pain, yes, but the best kind.

Ninety Feet To Home by @judesstfrancis 33k words. Jonmartin. No Powers AU. Baseball Players AU. Fluff. Pining.

Jon isn’t really Martin Blackwood’s biggest fan. And he knows it’s a him problem, because it’s not like Blackwood is a terrible person or like he loses on purposes just to ruin Jon’s life, but he can’t help it. In his defense, if you were on a hot streak and the same person kept coming in and ruining it for you every single time, you'd harbor a bit of resentment towards them, too.

Mod note: I’m so obsessed with this AU that I broke my vow of not making fanart for TMA and made fanart of it. Yeah. Sue me. It’s the perfect levels of pining, ridiculousness and it brought me (an argentinian whose only baseball reference is the HSM musical number) tremendous joy. As the us-statians would say: home fucking run. ALSO, MARTIN BLACKWOOD IS LATINOOOOO.

Maybe not the stuff of legend by imperfectcircle. 14k words. Jonmartin. Post-canon AU. S5 AU. Ending Speculation. Lore speculation. Angst with a Happy Ending.

Martin forgets slowly at first, and then all at once. One moment he's grasping at memories, desperate without knowing why to retain even a single image of an angry, scarred stranger saying incomprehensible things about eyes, and the next, nothing. He can't even remember what had him so anxious just now. A car alarm, probably, or a dog barking in the distance. He's always startled easily.

Mod note: I still quote it to myself from time to time. ‘’Martin, you ate the megalodon’’ makes me giggle and also terribly sad. This is an excellent way of exploring entities lore, as well as grief and hope.

the garden of forking paths by @bibliocratic. 49k words. Jonmartin. Post-canon AU. Ending Speculation. Angst with a Happy Ending. Use of Spiral Doors.

Whatever he had predicted might happen, Jon wasn't expecting to survive upon demolishing the Panopticon. He certainly wasn't expecting to be rescued.

Instead, he wakes up in an alternative universe where he's never been the Archivist, and Martin Blackwood doesn't exist.

Martin Blackwood wakes up somewhere else entirely.

Mod note: I’m argentinian and the major element in this story is a Borgues book. OF COURSE IT’S HERE. This fic is an absolute ride and so so so beautiful - multiple universes and Jon and Martin doing the same thing over and over and over again, with hope of finding each other.

Family, Found by Dribbledscribbles. Gen fic. 9k words. S4 Divergent. Canon Divergence.

It’s Basira who catches onto it.

The collective shift that seems to come over them when heading in or out of the Institute. Not just the oppressive sensation of being observed, their every move catalogued for the voyeuristic cravings of some unseen Eye(s). That feeling remained with them even when they left the Institute these days, but it was always stronger inside its walls. That wasn’t the change. Nor was it the point.

The point was: making life worse for Jonathan Sims.

Mod note: Do you want to hit the Eye? Do you want all the Entities’s plans to be twarted by the power of found family? Do you want everyone who blamed Jon for everything in S4 to sit down and apologise? This is your fic.

Mod Ebby:

the apple of the eye by gocrazygostupid. 2.8k words. Fluff. Lore speculation.

TELL ME, ARCHIVIST

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?

i'm not sure. i don't really get the chance to listen to music

if i told you, what would you do with it?

Mod note: I am absolutely weak towards any fic that gives the Entities some form of sentience, no matter what canon said. Especially when these interactions are so surprisingly soft.

I WOULD PLAY IT

I WOULD LISTEN

in the chillest land and on the strangest sea by imperfectcircle and raven (singlecrow). 19k words. S4 Divergent. Canon divergence, in the space between 159-160

Jon remembers a statement he read years ago given by a Jesuit priest, who said that the shortest prayer he knew was, just, fuck it, as in fuck it; it's in God's hands. He takes Daisy's hand and trails on after her.

or; hope is a thing with feathers.

Mod note: Everytime I read this fic, I end up at least a little teary eyed. It’s not exactly happy, more bittersweet, considering, but I still love it.

Come Love This World (Come Hate It, Too) by cedarbranch. 3.3k words. Character Study, fluff and angst, spans s1-5. Canon Compliant.

Jon never liked poetry, until Martin.

Mod note: Yes I am picking fics that personally came for my heart one way or another, not much else to say, besides that “it feels like loving you” haunts me still to this day, in a good way.

i love you, i'm glad i exist by kissyourlocalmoth. 1.7k words. Scottish safehouse period. Fluff. Established relationship.

Martin was thinking of a poem. It’s name sat on the tip of his tongue, aching to get out. It was a lovely one, too: something about how life felt easy now, at peace; how the small things felt like everything, a poem about… the importance of the little moments. These last few days had been like that, he thought. He couldn’t stop smiling to himself recently, and even Jon teased him about it sometimes, though he was hardly less giddy. He thought of the immense joy the little things brought him now, the mugs of tea they made for each other, how he would lay in their bed late at night staring at the ceiling, his love nestled against his chest, overflowing with so much contentment and fondness he did not know what to make of himself.

Mod note: Short and sweet, it was the first time I read that particular poem, and now it’s forever intertwined in my head with little scenes of jon and martin in the scottish safehouse before 160 happens.

exit wound by autoclaves. 3.1k words. Post-canon AU. Ending speculation.

Suppose there is a house on a hilltop. Suppose there is a story. There is always a story, and every universe is always expanding.

Mod note: I would’ve liked to tag this more, but it would probably spoil the twist it has. Reading back on it, the narration reminds me of the statement from 196, which I find fitting and a funny coincidence, considering.

#the tags used for each fic are tags we plan to use in the future #authors: feel free to ask us to untag you if you wish!#mod rec #fic rec #tma #magnuspod #the magnus archives #fanfiction #fic rec list #the fanfiction archives #list: mod rec #tag: jonmartin #tag: post canon

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