Tmagp Speculation - Tumblr Posts

What if- (and idk if this makes any sense) the case number isn’t that of the case that’s being talked about in the episode but instead thr entire recorded episode?

We’ve already seen how the OIAR deals with voicemail and videos outside of the seemingly typical forms- what if the case numbers refer to the larger recording that whatever (and by extension we) is/are listening to?

Episode 21 brings me back to a question I’ve had for a while: where do the case numbers in the episode descriptions come from?

I don’t think it’s the staff anymore. I think it’s Fr3-d1.

Consider the case in Episode 21: Alice didn’t categorize it, she deleted the case. Yet the episode has been coded.

Episode 20 has a number, but we see in Episode 21 that none of the staff are acting as though Gwen is in active danger.

Both Episode 20 and 21 have case numbers that show they were coded on the same day, the day of Gwen’s encounter with Ink5oul.

Episode 3 has Alice suggest a coding for the case that is slightly different from what’s in the episode description. It could have been Sam entering it differently, or it could be a correction.

Episode 1 mentions misfiles; the very existence of misfiles means that someone or something is comparing what the staff enter to another source.

I think the computer is categorizing them.

Possible reasons for the human coding:

Humans are basically doing AI training (similar to CAPTCHA) and/or

To force them to engage with it for Reasons (likely Spooky and/or Evil reasons)

10 dollars says Alexander J Newall did the vfx for baby Rupert.

Having now listened to TMAGP 28, I'm still pretty sure that the archivist that's targeting the main character is Jonah Magnus, doing his body swapping shit. I mean we never found out the full extent of his abilities in TMA, and even if it wasn't one of his abilities there, he may have different abilities in this universe

Magnus Protocol Speculation

Thoughts about Episode 7, Give and Take.

If this is not Celia from the end of TMA, I will be very surprised. But if it is, it opens some interesting questions.

Why send Celia? (I'm assuming she didn't just fall through Hill Top Road, or decide to come all on her own) My thought: her experience burned the Fear out of her, so she's safe (and Georgie had done her bit).

For what purpose? What is Celia in the world to accomplish? Best guess for now: looking for Jon and Martin on behalf of the other survivors. Possibly just following the Fears to see how things are going for the newly invaded world.

Can anyone move between the worlds? (Presumably via Hill Top Road) Hard to say at this point. Other than *cough* Chester, Norris, and Augustus, we haven't seen any other definitive worldwalkers (and those were presumably pulled in with the Fears)

Stopping for now, though I have a few others I could add... letting them percolate a bit more.

Choice in TMP

Since it's going on hiatus, I relistened to (nearly) all of Protocol yesterday (still have ep 10 to go). And I was thinking about a lot of people saying things like, "They're Desires now, not Fears!" And I don't think that's quite it. What I noticed is that in nearly every case, there is a voluntary act, a choice, that allows the horrors in. And since actions generally follow from desires, it feels like desire is playing a stronger roll in this show.

I've been prepping to run a Mothership campaign for my friends, and the Warden's Guide talks about the TOMBS system of understanding horror: Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber. In TMA, the Transgression was often just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in TMP, it seems like there also has to be a choice made, almost an invitation, for the horrors to Manifest. In TMA, a choice was required to become an Avatar, but not just to run into the Fears. Perhaps something about how the Fears entered this world changed this? Maybe Archivist-Jon had enough influence to create some new rules, or Martin's choice that brought them through echoed into the manifestation?

Anyway, I could be entirely wrong, but I'm going to go through the episodes pointing out the Choice (and where it doesn't quite fit).

Episode 1: Arthur's wife reached out to a mysterious company (we don't know why, but it seems likely it was claiming it could put her in contact with her dead husband) Red Canary chose to visit the Magnus Institute Ruins

Episode 2: Daria chose to get the tattoo.

Episode 3: The Doctor chose to follow the smell of jasmine.

Episode 4: The narrator chose to take the violin (but I am less clear on how choice impacted what happened to Oliver Bardwell; that's a bit that doesn't quite fit)

Episode 5: The blogger chose to enter the contest and to attend once he'd "won".

Episode 6: The mugger chose to attack Needles. (And I find myself wondering what Choice Needles made to became as he is)

Episode 7: DMargolis chose to advertise for assistants AND chose to accept the first rather questionable applicant.

Episode 8: Here, the weirdness started before he made the Choice, but he did Choose to enter the elevator to (attempt to) escape. Another that doesn't quite fit, but still has a Choice.

Episode 9: He chose to take the dice (though it does feel like rolling them may be compulsory in certain instances).

Episode 10: There was definitely a Choice made to create Bonzo the character, but I'm not sure we have enough context to figure out more than that yet.

Matches my own thoughts about Choice. Glad I'm not the only one seeing that as a pattern!

(minor TMA spoilers and general TMAGP spoilers) Having so much time to think about incidents in TMAGP due to hiatus made me realize that all of them, to some degree, contain the theme of "sealing your own fate" or "consequences of greed/hubris".

You see, while I do not believe that TMA had a consistent theme every statement was based on, the overall messege seemed to be that horrors are inevitable. Once you've been marked you cannot escape, no amount of therapy or running can release you from it. I think Michael Crew is the best example of that:

"The thing that chased me, you see, it was an arcing branch of the Twisting Deceit, taken shape to follow me. (...) And I knew within that book was something that could not only release me from my pursuer, but chain my being to that rush of wind and vertigo forever." Michael Crew in "The Coming Storm"

You cannot escape it once you've been marked, only bind yourself to different one and this marking is, most often than not, nonconsensual. Jane Prentiss would run around and infect random people, Not!Them didn't need anybody to come to them before it was sealed and Peter Lukas also tended to just disappear random people just to feed. The fears were very predatorial and active and the victims were selected based on their own fears and anxieties. This is not to say there weren't victims who failed due to their own curiosity/hubris/greed, but I think it's telling that few of the most greedy/curious people in the series, Mikaele Salesa and Jurgen Leitner, stayed largely uncorrupted by the fears not cause they avoided interacting with them, but simply avoided getting marked by them.

Now we come to protocol and every incident so far has the main subject of that incident actively engage with the horror and have one or multiple points at which they could stop and leave, but they do not. Daria went to the tattoo shop on her own accord, Harriet wanted her husband back no matter what and even Dr Webber was described to be able to leave the garden whenever he wanted, but, due to hiding from authorities, chose to stay until it was too late for him. Every incident so far seems to have this theme of consent, characters detailing very clearly that consent was given to engage with the abnormality:

"Ah well that’s a tricky one. Sort of? In many ways he stabbed himself on me. By the time he saw the needles we were already very close. Close enough to smell his sweat and cheap aftershave. In fact, he barely had time to be afraid before we embraced. He’s terrified now of course…" Needles in "Introductions"

"The young man's interview was not exceptional as he had no experience in charity work, no driving license nor any demonstrable experience in retail. He claimed however, to know the Hilltop Centre better than anyone and as he was the only applicant in the role I elected to give him a try." Dianne Margolis in "Give and Take"

"I hesitated a moment but before I could consider her strangeness a particularly high tide of color swept down the corridor toward me. I panicked, and before I realized what I was doing I had darted inside the lift and slammed the close-door button." Terrance Stevens in "Running on Empty"

It does not matter some of these are under duress or deception, all of them contain some type of action "confirming" consent. Mind you I do not believe all the victims of of these horrors confirm consent in some way, like people who get killed by Bonzo probably didn't agree to it (though considering he's most likely a hitman, some degree of "you agreed to this by overstepping your boundaries" philosophy could be applied), but subjects of the incident very much pay for consequences of their own actions.

That brings us to OIRA itself, and how every character so far seems to actively dig themselves deeper by their own accord, Gwen wants position of power, Colin wants to figure out the system, Sam wants to know why he wasn't chosen and Alice is in it for the money (for her brother which still counts as consent). This is literally said directly to us in episode 1:

"If you hate working here so completely, you are perfectly within your rights to resign. No one is forcing you to stay here." Lena to Gwen in "First Shift"

All of this, all this horror is happening due to their own accord, curiosity, obligation, greed for knowledge or just for the money, it does not matter, the choice is there, but they delve deeper anyway. We will see how long it holds up, but I will be on the look out for this theme in the future.

Relistening to some TMP eps and just had the thought, "Oh, no. Alice's brother is either going to run into Grifter's Bone*, or become them."

*Or whatever the equivalent in this universe is called.

Going to ponder about Protocol for a bit...

What can we guess about "The Magnus Protocol" in-universe?

It is at least as old as Isaac Newton.

It seems to be a way of keeping the Fears in check or balance or some such.

The O.I.A.R. "externals" are part of this effort, getting to use their dread powers to keep other powers from getting too strong.

And some vaguely related speculation:

It's a bit unclear how the timelines between Protocol and TMA connect/overlap/line-up/work, but since it seems that the fears have always been in this universe, presumably once they "enter" a universe, they have been present for the whole of that universe. Does that mean whatever's left of Jon and Martin has also been present for all that time? If so, they could have set up the Protocol themselves, to try and keep the Fears from turning this world into another hellscape. But then, why did their voices only show up on OIAR computers a few years ago?

Hang on. In TMA, Jon needed to read statements (or, well, extract them) to Feed. Are the voices in the computers doing that for him (or whatever's left of him)? Did he have another source that dried up a few years ago, so that he invaded the OIAR computers for a fresh source?

As for what happened to this universe's Jon and Martin, I wouldn't draw any conclusions until we see the bodies, lol. The "reveal" was from weak data and a lot of guesswork.

That's probably enough rambling for tonight.

So it occurred to me this morning that Lena might be unable to feel fear. The only place where we hear sound at all afraid (and even there it might be sadness mixed with frustration) is in the video Gwen uses to blackmail her.

Places I can think of where you would expect someone to be afraid, and Lena very definitely wasn't (probably not exhaustive) :

Finding out an employee is attacking equipment with a hammer, and might have injured another employee.

Finding out an employee was attacked by the external she sent her to recruit (Gwen was very definitely afraid; Lena, uh, nope)

Dressing down Gwen for bringing Lady Mowbray into the OIAR. Lena sounds angry, but not afraid.

When an employee tries to blackmail her with a (failed) snuff tape.

Honestly, it would make sense that they'd want someone immune to fear in charge of the OIAR.

Tim Fearon speculation

My current theory for who Tim Fearon is playing is that it is a character that has been mentioned at least once through out the series who hasn't been heard on tape before. Now my current evidence for who I think it is is that 1. he has never been heard before 2. he is old (compelling evidence I know) and 3. his over all connection to the rituals. So my overall prediction for who Tim Fearon will be playing is Robert Smirke, now I know he is canonically dead but I do think that Elias/Jonah fucking with the panopticon and his overall connection to rituals and the entities could possibly have him come back in some (probably) non-physical form

Alice Dyer is actually aware of us and is making as many references to the fears as she can so she can drive everyone insane

Personally, he reads as spiral to me

Can someone please actually explain to me why so many people think Needles is slaughter aligned, please I'm reeaaaaally confused

CURRENT PROTOCOL ARG NOTES POST! Hope any of this helps people!

If you have any info about the ARG or about any forums to talk about it, PLEASE LMK I NEED TO BE PART OF THIS!

Also current theory is that the algorithm (FR3-D1) is some kind of AI, possibly extinction aligned, OR is either Jonah Magnus, Jon Sims, or Sergei Ushenka in digital form. HEHEHSHHDKDJR !!!

HOLY MACKEREL GUYS YOU COMPLETED THE ARG ALREADY?!!!?? I’m soooo proud of this community

Some of my first impressions as quick concept sketches I made in class! I’m so happy and excited. Alice is a Scene Queen that never grew out of it, but that might just be me. Love all of them!!!! Love them so much!!!!

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE GRIFTER’S BONE?!!?!?!

guyyyys augustus is NOT jurgen leitner it’s a different VA 😭 i’m telling you

Sorry y’all but i am NOT hopping on the “fears are actually desires” train… Why would (if we can assume that Fr3-d1 includes Jon/Martin/Jonah and released the fears into the world) Fr3-d1 read off statements relating to an entity completely other than the fears? My prediction is that the fears existed in the TMAGP universe but had different classifications than the ones in TMA.

I think we can infer that there were a separate set of fears that existed in this world before the 1990s from the old statement dear old Grandpa Augustus read, and the new ones/ones from TMA’s universe came in through the puter, along with JMJ.

I could be totally wrong but these are my current theories and stuff.

Prediction that Alice will become some kind of dark avatar, due to her desperation to remain ignorant and opposition to the eye’s schemes

(that is assuming fears still work the same way!)