Well, he admits it in episode 39 that he is a real believer, just puts on a front because he felt he was being watched. But by this point, he's accepted it and that everyone who cares knows that by now
There's a terrifying 'thing' that definitely is not human and puts people into a weird door maze to die standing in front of Jon and he still manages to be sassy
I wanted Jon to be less of an ass for so long, but now that he's finally nice and empathetic I'm really sad because it shows how traumatized he is. Also Michael is SO GREAT. Perfect unsettling, not-an-enemy-but-definitely-untrustworthy, trying-to-be-friendly-but-doesn't-know-how-to-human intonation. Your creepy, relatively friendly neighborhood monster. I love him. Great acting and sound design.
This fandom looks at the most horrifyingly fucked-up abominations who feed by inflicting life-shattering trauma upon innocent victims and just says, "BABY!!!!"
i feel so bad for helen... also the thing about "does your hand own your stomach" implies michael and the corridor are parts of the same entity and i do NOT like that
I felt weirdly touched when Jon said he believed the woman and the sheer relief in the woman's voice when Jon asked if the man was named Micheal just made me so happy. She must've spent so long feeling alone and helpless and thinking she might've been delusional, and now here she is, not only with someone who said they'd believed her but also proof that this wasn't her imagination but something else, a real thing which she experienced but escaped and there are people working on it. I geared up a bit.
There was a story about demons condemning people to Hell who weren't actually evil. The demons noted that people who sacrificed themselves to save someone else managed to hang on to hope. They could feel there was a purpose, and someone was ok..outside. I wonder if Helen would have that--she knows a supernatural organization recognized her situation and had an idea about the monster who did it to her. She might never completely fall into utter despair, having faith that someone, outside, knew what happened to her.
Unfortunately. I don't think there was ever any escape@@thecondescendinggoomba5552 Imagine having to go the rest of your life knowing where each door you ever enter exit goes to or else you might be stuck in another dimension for the rest of your life
I do this thing where I rate villain laughs. It doesn't matter whether Michael is a villain or not, I think his laugh was a villain laugh, because it was pretty condescending and it definitely felt like one. I loved it very much, I'd rate it 7/10. I hope we hear his laugh again!
I get the impression that analogy about the stomach and the hand isnt as detached from reality as it might seem... He is the active part of this thing that has to be nourished by swallowing people in a massive fractaline corridor to die. He is the hand that feeds the mouth or reaches out to interact with the world on its behalf
Wow, I love this interpretation! You might very well be right, too. Makes me very curious to continue listening right this moment so I can find out more.
that's what i was thinking as well, but it could also be the opposite. Micheal being the thing that needs to feed and the corridors being the hand that holds the food.
In the middle of "Michael" talking, my computer froze, presented a blue screen, and then said "There's been a problem, we need to collect some data and restart. It freaked me out so bad, I had to leave my room.
ok i've got a story for you. when i was listening to MAG 3, Across The Street, i was sitting next to my window, at my desk, like i normally do when binging TMA. they get to the part about graham getting replaced and just as jon says "and as soon as it got in, the light in his apartment went out", a light in the apartment building across from me went out. i legit had to stop and take a second to calm down
Could work for any prior location "This is a dark tunnel full of spider webs and worm corpses. Theres a uh dead body and a creepy entity running around. Could be a nice place to obsess over... or it could uh... could be a _nursery_ 🤭😉"
I can’t explain why but, and there is no way for me to stress this enough, I *ABSOLUTELY LOVE* the voice acting on “Michael”. It’s great, I think I could listen to it talk for hours… which is disconcerting, because it’s a creepy, “not currently malicious but could be” entity that I should NOT love hearing the voice of.
"I decided I had done enough swimming for the day, and so I turned around to face the ladder and get out of the pool, but...and it was the strangest thing..."
Michael's one of my favorite characters, but what happened to Helen makes me weep. Finally finding a grain of hope and empathy in someone who believes what she's been through, and then just casually being thrown back into what she escaped from.
I think this is the first time, after 47 episodes, that actually REALLY spooked me. The never ending hallways were unsettling but I DO NOT LIKE MICHAEL'S VOICE ONE BIT
jesus, the high pitched noises when michael speaks makes my ears hurt. reminds me of when my tinnitus flares up when i'm stressed. good lord. the audio engineering in this podcast is beautiful!
the feedback background noise that happens when he showed up holy heck that was some good audio editing also damn that laugh is definitely not human and I like that he just sOUNDS like he's grinning when he talks
I Do Not Like the ringing that occurred when Sasha entered the room, a similar ringing has only happened when he's reading particularly odd statements or when presumably Jane was near... I've spoiled myself already, but I don't know many details other than I should not trust Sasha right now.
The way he said "oh" when Michael said he wasn't there to kill him was the most hilarious thing I've ever heard- he didn't sound so much disappointed as plain confused XD
Holy shit when Michael said "Do you know they're lying to you?" by /they/ he might be referring to Not!Them ie Sasha???????? +10 Frenzy rn someone give me sedatives
So we've got three versions of never ending areas. The tunnel in lost johns' cave, the corridors in the meat factory (don't remember the name of that episode), and this episode. Is something messing with their perception of distance?
... sort of like distorting their sense of distance? In Sasha's statement when she met Michael, it was title "The Distortion" so maybe Michael has a hand in it.
I just noticed something cool-- micheal's lines have been run through a low pass filter, which is basically removing the higher frequencies from the wavelength and making it feel flatter. Which works super well with his whole deal of being beyond comprehension... not even the tapes can pick up on his full voice!
I'm not sure if you intended to point this out, but I didn't realise/remember the "do you know they're lying to you?" among the other stuff, so thank you!
lmao jon says 'and you decided to come here and stab me anyways?!' in the same irritated voice he mentiones the mess that is gertrude's work upd the first time i felt genuinely scared while listening to tma was when michael started talking very unsettling voice, and the audio distortions.. chefs kiss
Michaels speech pattern and voice is so unsettling. Oh my gosh poor Helen no she had just gotten out that poor woman. I want to believe she will be able to keep dodging him.
*SPOILERS for MAG 101* GUYS. GUYS. For the longest time I wondered how in the world Helen happened to find her way into being the Distortion and I chalked it up to pure chance. But guys. SHE DREW A MAP. At the beginning of the episode while trying to show Jon how the corridors made no sense. She had that map with her when Micheal took her the second time, so it was only a matter of following it and making sense of the nonsense, just like Micheal before her. GAH the subtle detail and continuity in this show is amazing.
Spoiler for season 5 From the distortion's final episode, I don't think she ever 'found her way' independently at all, not like Micheal did. The distortion was just wearing her skin as a way to cause fear, it was never 'her' who came back, it was all a lie.
Oh my God, I love Michael. His first sentence made him my favorite character right away. Nothing is better than a powerful being who choses to be neutral but is just so oddly cheery and obviously inhuman.
// spoilers for later episodes !! I love how when Jon asks 'Micheal' weather he owns the hallways his response is "does your hand in any way own your stomach?", I really like how he implies that he isn't the mind of the distortion, he is simply the hand that feeds it. He's a part of the distortion but so is the hallways and he isn't even the one that fully decides what happens!!
My theory from this episode and what we know until now: The fact that at first she was like "there wasn't a door and then there was, what else do you want me to say?" but then she started making her statement makes me believe that something supernatural is happening, something is "forcing" them in a way to do the statements with so much detail and in the tone they do them. Which is also what happens to John every time he reads a statement, something is making him read them as he does. Also, the way Michael talks about his relationship to the maze reminds me of prentiss's statement about how the hive is everywhere and not only what she sees in front of her and it's calling her to be a part of it etc etc, and it's making me thing that there are entities, supernatural and not-physical, which might also be connected to other dimensions as in the dimensions are manifestations of those entities or something those entities created (the maze in this episode is one of those dimensions) and sometimes humans get lured by those entities and become a part of them and work for them, while also keeping a part of their personality and personal will. So, Michael says that the maze isn't his because he is that supernatural entity but the entity isn't just him, it's other things and people too, so Michael and the maze are only some parts of the whole entity. The door is a portal between dimensions, connecting, in this episode, our dimension with that spiral dimension, since the maze seems to be related to spirals. And since we're talking about spirals, in a previous episode we heard a bit about someone (the father of that construction worker in that house with the bleeding tree) who was close on revealing a secret in fractals and was watched by a man who "had all the bones in his hands" who sounds alot like how Michael truly looks like, so that means that that person was watched (and probably killed too) by either Michael or someone else who is part of that spiral entity. Aaand we've heard lots of times already the lack of ability of the wintesses to describe something or someone who (obviously for us) has a connection with supernatural but the wintesses say "unremarkable" or "as you'd expect" for a description, makes me believe that there is a reason for that too, something like their minds/memories been altered or those things/persons being from the start unremarkable on purpose, in hopes of them staying hidden from the public maybe? Who knows, but it's obvious they don't want everyone to know about their existence, and they go to great measures sometimes to hide it. Also, i don't know how to explain this properly, but all these dimensions are parallel with our own, which explains why when someone enters another dimension and end up getting out of it they're in a difference place from when they entered it. Meaning that you can make a portal anywhere and that portal will not connect to a specific place of the other dimension but it will conect with the place that you would supossedly be if you were in that other dimension already. This explains lots of "i was in that area, then all the spooky started/didn't know where i was/endless space no matter how much i walked ot fell but then came out of it and i was in that other area" that appears in episodes like "alone" and the skydiving one
@@nicholasjohnston1970 every time I get a comment like this, I think "hmm, maybe I should try writing a story myself, since I'm that good at figuring out theories or picking up clues that it makes random people think that it wasn't my first time listening/reading" (I use captions, english is not my native language), but then procrastination hits and I think "eh, another time maybe *shrugs shoulders*" 😝 so thank you for boosting my confidence 😊
Did anyone else notice that when jon started talking to not-sasha there is a slight barely audible ringing that starts to get even louder when Michael begins to speak
that deliberate sound of the opening and closing of a door, so painfully slow... ghhfhf that was, as intended, very disturbing;; (update after finishing the ep) OH SHIT I actually thought it was just a neat little detail bc of the story's theme BUT IT WAS HIM ahhhhhhH
This one and the one with the girl stuck in the caves just scares the everliving shit out of me in a way no other episode does idk why, I'm not even claustrophobic. My lizard brain just freaks out when i hear them amazing job guys
I presume It might be from the inherent wrongness of a never ending corridor. Like, it's all well and good when there is an exit but when you are stuck in an endless loop, the feeling of helplessnes sinks in. The whole feeling of "even with my higher narrative dimension point of view in which I am essentially omniscient I would not be able to escape from that vibe" It does make me feel quite disturbed.
Everytime one of the people or things from the statements comes into the archive or in contact with one of the crew its suddenly so much creepier. It suddenly feels so close. When its just Jon recording a statement it feels like a story somewhere far away. When someone like 'Micheal' in in the room with him, it feels like he's in the room with us.
I actually thought Michael might be a nice entity. Even during the whole hallways ordeal, I thought OK maybe he got inside after her and chased her and pointed her to the right exit... I legit thought he helped, until.. well, the end :') OOF I wonder in what way he's neutral if... he traps people like that;;; a life for a life? Saves one, dooms another so the so-called balance is tipped? Hmm... But wait no, it's not the first time something like this happens... I have a strong feeling the caves episode was the work of Michael as well, I mean there had been no cave there in the first place and all. Yikes. Suddenly he's somehow more terrifying than Prentiss, at least her affliction was parasitic in nature and a bit more... "normal", if I could say so. P.S. So many ppl saying Micheal in the comments hghg
The house of leaves vibes of this episode is off the walls. The door that is suddenly there, the changing corridors that make absolutely no sense to the outside architecture of the building and the horrible entity living inside it. Also, the changing walls and corridors reminds me of episode 41, when Jon is down in the tunnels under the archives. Maybe Michel, who btw is great, is connected to it too?
I just realized something. Michael states "do you know that THEY are lying to you." But in the past someone stated that the use of they/them pronouns was common in one of the past videos. Thinking about it. The replacement. The other or Not.sasha. Michael is referring to her as a they. It's not an organization like we humans use but a creature taking on the form of Sasha. It took on her gender. And how michael talks about himself. "They" don't have genders like humans do. "They" are not bound by that kind of concept. Infact it's seems that kind of thought is alien to them. Makes me want to listen to past videos. To loosen my concept of self and identity in order to better understand. But in a way, that terrifies me. It's hard to explain but if a basic (and yes I know it's not as simple as some make it out to be) concept like genders is alien to them. Then how much more so diffrent are they from us? How much more 'less' human are they, and what dose that mean for survival? It's like looking the Fey folk in the eye and seeing that their torture was just a game. And the game was just a simple thing for them to pass the time. No hate or malice intended. Just them passing time as you go mad.
First time listener here! Literally gasped when I heard Micheal appear. His voice and dialogue is so much fun. I've been binging the episodes these past couple of days and I'm so excited for what's next, this is the best piece of media I have ever consumed and that says a lot considering I do not like to listen to Podcasts normally
I got a full colour copy at book-a-million around a year ago! and yeah, its very clear the author of this has at least skimmed house of leaves. My personal copy has annotations from myself to add another layer for whoever gets it next
several of the prior episodes have centered around phobias of mine, but none have activated my fight-flight-freeze response quite like this one. "michael" TERRIFIES me--the idea of something watching my life as nothing more than a curious short story while I remain unaware... that is a depth of existential ignorance I didn't even realize I feared. My heartbeat is still elevated, and I nearly started crying. GG, Sims. You got me good. Excellent sound design for "michael"
it's only now, years later on registering that I realised... when Miss Richardson left the archive.. the door sounded different... it sounded like... well .. one of the "other" doors
This is a fascinating and well-done episode, but I've got to voice one slight complaint: The high-pitched background noise at the end is really terrible to listen to if you've got a propensity for migraine headaches. I'm just coming out of a particularly bad one, and that sound nearly kicked me back into it.
I like that Jon is nicer to the statement givers this season
Maybe because he has his own experiences. Or maybe because he already knew that Michael is real and a threat.
Well, he admits it in episode 39 that he is a real believer, just puts on a front because he felt he was being watched. But by this point, he's accepted it and that everyone who cares knows that by now
**character arc**
Also this one didn't immediately dis his reccording equipment lmao
That's the trauma
There's a terrifying 'thing' that definitely is not human and puts people into a weird door maze to die standing in front of Jon and he still manages to be sassy
the confidence on this guy tho XDD
That's one of my favorite qualities, his first instinct upon being terrified is sass to make himself seem more confident
"Still decided to come in here and stab me anyway" like hes somehow more offended than injured
@@nikonikoknees4488 that is his signature armor. As he himself disclosed in his heart-to-heart with Martin
@@hamburgerdog25 Legit went "STABBED?!"
-shows up
-says some cryptic shit
-stabs jon
-refuses to elaborate
-leaves
conclusion: he's perfect lmao
Such an icon. First time listener.
Ever since ‘A distortion’ I knew…this ‘Micheal’ guy was gonna be my favorite.
@@musicalsand-axolotls7 same here! Been binge listening
King shit
1,000 likes! I saw the 999 right as I clicked the button
“This place is off limits.”
“I disagree.”
The best way to gain access to somewhere you are not allowed to be
Hahaha
I have a permit (shows a piece of paper that says “I can do what I want”)
@@KenKen3593 🤣🤣🤣
you gonna say no to an unfathomable eldritch horror?
@@albuseisenhorn3385 Yes
“Are you here to kill me?”
“No.”
“...oh”
* Michael proceeds to stab Jon *
At this point I'd be surprised too
@@tearez13 It was a *light* stab, no intent to kill...I assume >-> but it's such a funny image lol
"Are you here to kill me?"
"No."
"Oh.."
*stabs*
he sounded so disappointed by the "No."
"Let her go!"
*"Ha! No???"*
I love the way he says that, like he's genuinely confused 😂
Pffff are you going to attack me?? Lolll
it also rhymes! best line ever.
the tone in his voice just says "you don't know how this works, do you" and I love it
@@hermazingbartels2377 *stabs jon aesthetically*
Jon sounded vaguely disappointed that Micheal wasn't there to kill him.
Hahaha, good one
“oh”
Righhttt? Literally came here j to comment that😂
“Statement begins.
There wasn’t a door. Then there was.
Statement ends.”
This statement was produced as a response to the particular needs of our beloved, short-attention-spaned audience.
Das scary bruh
Accurate lol
I wanted Jon to be less of an ass for so long, but now that he's finally nice and empathetic I'm really sad because it shows how traumatized he is.
Also Michael is SO GREAT. Perfect unsettling, not-an-enemy-but-definitely-untrustworthy, trying-to-be-friendly-but-doesn't-know-how-to-human intonation. Your creepy, relatively friendly neighborhood monster. I love him. Great acting and sound design.
It kind of says a lot, that season two doesnt even phase me anymore. Like .... It's sad, but nothing compaired to season 3 to five like holy hell
damnn i loved his assy attitude imo, but then again im sucker for those types of characters anyways :,)
That's kind of the nature of the distortion. He is scary in how his loyalty is ambiguous.
He stabbed Jon
michael, a terrifying creature who entraps people until they either die or go insane:
the fandom, adopting him immediately: AWW THE SCRUNKLY
Can you blame us?
He’s my scrimblo skrunkly
@@malaizze he truly is the scrunkly
This fandom looks at the most horrifyingly fucked-up abominations who feed by inflicting life-shattering trauma upon innocent victims and just says, "BABY!!!!"
He's adorable
i feel so bad for helen... also the thing about "does your hand own your stomach" implies michael and the corridor are parts of the same entity and i do NOT like that
so if the corridor is michael's stomach... vore
@@user-nw3ol7fk1i NOOO
@@user-nw3ol7fk1i NOOO
@@user-nw3ol7fk1i that makes some later stuff hilarious
@@someoneawesome8717 OMG
I felt weirdly touched when Jon said he believed the woman and the sheer relief in the woman's voice when Jon asked if the man was named Micheal just made me so happy. She must've spent so long feeling alone and helpless and thinking she might've been delusional, and now here she is, not only with someone who said they'd believed her but also proof that this wasn't her imagination but something else, a real thing which she experienced but escaped and there are people working on it. I geared up a bit.
Sad thing she left through wrong door
Given a little bit of hope only to have it snatched away
There was a story about demons condemning people to Hell who weren't actually evil. The demons noted that people who sacrificed themselves to save someone else managed to hang on to hope. They could feel there was a purpose, and someone was ok..outside. I wonder if Helen would have that--she knows a supernatural organization recognized her situation and had an idea about the monster who did it to her. She might never completely fall into utter despair, having faith that someone, outside, knew what happened to her.
Unfortunately. I don't think there was ever any escape@@thecondescendinggoomba5552
Imagine having to go the rest of your life knowing where each door you ever enter exit goes to or else you might be stuck in another dimension for the rest of your life
...and then they had to make her go through a door that *wasn't there*...
Michaels laugh is amazing
Also I wheezed when it was like
“Let her go”
“hA- no
Im frr animating that scene rn of him jus laughin and sayyin no, I OVE IT SMMM (micheal bbg is mine btw- 👹👍🏽)
Jon: So you're him? You're Michael?
"Michael": Yes, that is a real name.
"Michael" 2 minutes later: There is no such thing as a real name.
yes.
he's literally spiral
Classic Distortion. You cant trust anything.
He's like an ai lmao
He's the chaos impersonated
Michaels laugh is just about the best thing Ive ever heard
:D
:)))))))))
I LOVE it
It honestly reminds me of Kevin from Welcome to Night Vale.
I do this thing where I rate villain laughs. It doesn't matter whether Michael is a villain or not, I think his laugh was a villain laugh, because it was pretty condescending and it definitely felt like one. I loved it very much, I'd rate it 7/10. I hope we hear his laugh again!
ya know, Michael can probably tell that sasha is ***not sasha***
He pretty much says so to Jon. His literally first words are "Do you even know their lying to you?" right after Jon got done talking to NOT!Sasha.
@@korickarmstrong3468 good catch. Spiral and stranger are probably close like Web and Eye are close, but not the same.
I don't believe he cares
I noticed that Sasha sounded different!!!!
@@L.clayton. Not!Sasha speaks a bit more... formally compared to original Sasha
I aspire to be an obscure, passively threatening cryptid like “Michael”
Enby goals
Gender nonconforming goals
Same
gender
I get the impression that analogy about the stomach and the hand isnt as detached from reality as it might seem... He is the active part of this thing that has to be nourished by swallowing people in a massive fractaline corridor to die. He is the hand that feeds the mouth or reaches out to interact with the world on its behalf
Wow, I love this interpretation! You might very well be right, too. Makes me very curious to continue listening right this moment so I can find out more.
that's what i was thinking as well, but it could also be the opposite. Micheal being the thing that needs to feed and the corridors being the hand that holds the food.
on my third listen and I nacer really made the hand/mouth michael/corridors connection. this is super cool!
In the middle of "Michael" talking, my computer froze, presented a blue screen, and then said "There's been a problem, we need to collect some data and restart. It freaked me out so bad, I had to leave my room.
Did you leave it through the right door?
ok i've got a story for you.
when i was listening to MAG 3, Across The Street, i was sitting next to my window, at my desk, like i normally do when binging TMA. they get to the part about graham getting replaced and just as jon says "and as soon as it got in, the light in his apartment went out", a light in the apartment building across from me went out. i legit had to stop and take a second to calm down
@@CoasterRoastersStudios bro one of your neighbours got replaced, why did you not call the police or something?
@@comrade_cat303 well we both know how that would end up
Hey, are you still out there, Alyssa?
I can only picture Helen just saying "this is a lovely room to stand around looking creepy in. Or it could be a _nursery_"
Nice reference. 😁
Could work for any prior location "This is a dark tunnel full of spider webs and worm corpses. Theres a uh dead body and a creepy entity running around. Could be a nice place to obsess over... or it could uh... could be a _nursery_ 🤭😉"
michael distortion i have feelings for you
YES
lust
Me too. Not sure WHAT feelings but I do have feelings./neutral
I have Gender Envy feelings
@@missycat7598 i will be stealin that gender if you excuse me
Michael is a chaotic neutrally and I love them
ON THEIR WIKI IT SAYS; GENDER: NO
NONBINARY ICON
@@gamelikers he/it vibes
@@crepezzzzz so true !!
i wanna like but theres already 666 likes
Lawful neutral. It stated himself that they are trying to keep a balance two sides of a war.
“Micheal?”
“Yes... that’s a real name”
Help this response is so funny lmao
im sad for the woman in this story :(((
Ye
Me too. I feel so bad for her.
Same, I thought AW Jon is nice to her what a sweet change. And then... :'(
shes alright lmao
Gwendolyne Bernard Yeah... :(
I can’t explain why but, and there is no way for me to stress this enough, I *ABSOLUTELY LOVE* the voice acting on “Michael”. It’s great, I think I could listen to it talk for hours… which is disconcerting, because it’s a creepy, “not currently malicious but could be” entity that I should NOT love hearing the voice of.
he sounds
like Gman from Halflife but more... normal?
his voice flows better
I also forgot to mention that he sounds like the robot voice in real-time fan of snapcube
The actor is Luke Booys. I adore his work too.
"are you here to kill me?"
"No."
*"O h"*
His 'oh' sounded so d i s a p p o i n t e d what a mood
* proceeds to stab him *
I am not a “who,” Archivist, I am a “what.” A “who” requires a degree of identity I can't ever retain.
haha fuck identity
I don't know why, but for me it sounds sad
Mood
Me, a nonbinary intellectual: big mood
Me when someone asks me what my gender is:
statement lady had the sims 4 experience
hehehehe "Sims" (I'll show myself out now)
"I decided I had done enough swimming for the day, and so I turned around to face the ladder and get out of the pool, but...and it was the strangest thing..."
I just met Michael, but he is now one of my favorite genders.
jon's voice has been progressively getting a lot less edgy
Well, in 39 he admits he was putting it on a bit. He's also been super under pressure lately/
Micheal's voice freaks me the fuck out but seeing everyone thirsting over him in the comments is keeping me sane lmao
i can't get over how deceptively _gentle_ it is. its??? huh???? it makes my brain go mush
I don't know, I feel quite the opposite of sane because of this...
@@skullsnbones_dude holy shit that’s the most accurate description 🤣
Michael's one of my favorite characters, but what happened to Helen makes me weep. Finally finding a grain of hope and empathy in someone who believes what she's been through, and then just casually being thrown back into what she escaped from.
I think this is the first time, after 47 episodes, that actually REALLY spooked me. The never ending hallways were unsettling but I DO NOT LIKE MICHAEL'S VOICE ONE BIT
Askdjsjfjs I love Michael's voice it's so creepy but also like. asmr.
It's almost like a Cheshire cat voice to me! It's so unsettling.
Its like hearing Kevin's voice for the first time in night vale
I love his voice because I hate it. It's the perfect voice that's unsettling and you know for a fact that something is off about him
Me too!!
michael just sounds like the cheshire cat from the old animated disney film lmao
you are so right 😳 i like to think he just slowly appears out of thin air ahahahjahs
I was literally scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else made that connection!!!!
THAT'S WHY I KEEP THINKING OF WINNIE THE POOH WHEN HE TALKS
Swirling madness of contradictory truth is very much a good description of both
Perfect, now I wanna draw Michael like cheshire cat or in costume of cheshire cat
jesus, the high pitched noises when michael speaks makes my ears hurt. reminds me of when my tinnitus flares up when i'm stressed. good lord.
the audio engineering in this podcast is beautiful!
Me rn
the feedback background noise that happens when he showed up holy heck that was some good audio editing also damn that laugh is definitely not human and I like that he just sOUNDS like he's grinning when he talks
holy shit michael's voice is even better than i expected
Even better that's just what his voice actor sounds like lol, minus the crackly SFX of course.
I Do Not Like the ringing that occurred when Sasha entered the room, a similar ringing has only happened when he's reading particularly odd statements or when presumably Jane was near... I've spoiled myself already, but I don't know many details other than I should not trust Sasha right now.
I mean it's clearly not Sasha's voice so uhhhh b e g o n e t h o t
Also there's a ringing when she enters? What? I can't seem to hear it.
@@aileenzhao7951
Either you have tinnutus or are lucky to not be able to hear that specific tone .-.
You mean Not!Sasha, also it is a different voice actrice. Sasha was Lottie, Not!Sasha is Eve Hewitt.
I could be hallucinating but I thought I heard a male voice muttering in the background of not!Sasha talking
When ever John screams it is too high in my register cause I am HoH so it cuts out for a second and its hilarious. Its just tension and silence
The way he said "oh" when Michael said he wasn't there to kill him was the most hilarious thing I've ever heard- he didn't sound so much disappointed as plain confused XD
Man, that spiraled out of control quickly
👉😎👉 *ba-dum-ch*
(because Spiral lol)
Holy shit when Michael said "Do you know they're lying to you?" by /they/ he might be referring to Not!Them ie Sasha???????? +10 Frenzy rn someone give me sedatives
Trade me a level 5 coldblood for the sedative
Oh here 💉🩸
As well as he might be referring to Martin lmao. To all of them, actually-
YEAHHH CUZ THE NOT!THEM USES THEY/THEM !!!
So we've got three versions of never ending areas. The tunnel in lost johns' cave, the corridors in the meat factory (don't remember the name of that episode), and this episode. Is something messing with their perception of distance?
that ep. was killing floor, and there was also free fall, and i think another one too
... sort of like distorting their sense of distance? In Sasha's statement when she met Michael, it was title "The Distortion" so maybe Michael has a hand in it.
Don't forget the endless sky in Freefall
Could under the archives count too? Like when John went exploring.
@@koukonuts I like the phrase "has a hand in it" here👌🏽
I just noticed something cool-- micheal's lines have been run through a low pass filter, which is basically removing the higher frequencies from the wavelength and making it feel flatter. Which works super well with his whole deal of being beyond comprehension... not even the tapes can pick up on his full voice!
NotThem's voice is the embodiment of the :3c emoticon
The spiralling laughter, man.
it feels more like
>:3c
are you talking about michael...?
Got Him vibes from Power Puff Girls.
that's Michael though, NotThem is something else I think
i have only heard micheals voice for maybe 30 seconds and now i love him
When jon screamed Sasha's name, I nearly had a heart attack, I was not expecting that
me too 😂 i’m rewatching(listening?) to it and forgot about that part
15:10 for those of us seeking a special someone
Logan Isanerd god bless your twisted little heart
I'm not sure if you intended to point this out, but I didn't realise/remember the "do you know they're lying to you?" among the other stuff, so thank you!
😳🤣
fjfjsfjsfgsj
I want to kissy the weird monster man
lmao jon says 'and you decided to come here and stab me anyways?!' in the same irritated voice he mentiones the mess that is gertrude's work
upd the first time i felt genuinely scared while listening to tma was when michael started talking
very unsettling voice, and the audio distortions.. chefs kiss
Jon with the sass like “well your to LAaaAaAtE she’s gONEUH”
The sheer horror in Richardson's voice makes this so much more emotionally effective.
Michaels speech pattern and voice is so unsettling. Oh my gosh poor Helen no she had just gotten out that poor woman. I want to believe she will be able to keep dodging him.
Jon’s first time conversation with this entity! Somehow I got a feeling it ain’t gonna be the last (๑･̑◡･̑๑)
Poor Jon. He really did not needed this right now.
Yea :(
I mean he can always leave
Simon Stern Can he though? 😏
"I wouldn't wish to tarnish your ignorance prematurely" hits differently after episodes 101 and 167
oh no ok
uh oh
Yeah, knowing what I know now every thing Micheal says is amazing foreshadowing
Hearing "Did you notice which door she left through?" and realising what just happened made my stomach drop.
Michael saying “no” and his laugh kills me
*SPOILERS for MAG 101*
GUYS. GUYS. For the longest time I wondered how in the world Helen happened to find her way into being the Distortion and I chalked it up to pure chance. But guys. SHE DREW A MAP. At the beginning of the episode while trying to show Jon how the corridors made no sense. She had that map with her when Micheal took her the second time, so it was only a matter of following it and making sense of the nonsense, just like Micheal before her. GAH the subtle detail and continuity in this show is amazing.
... Oh my god, I'd never noticed that. You're absolutely right.
I have never noticed that detail :O
That is a FANTASTIC point omg this SHOW
Spoiler for season 5
From the distortion's final episode, I don't think she ever 'found her way' independently at all, not like Micheal did. The distortion was just wearing her skin as a way to cause fear, it was never 'her' who came back, it was all a lie.
YOOOOO WHAT THE HECK
"you're him, michael" ".... that is a real name"
i forgot how much i love michael in my relisten
its description of its identity is so neat
"That is a real name" god I love Michael
Oh my God, I love Michael. His first sentence made him my favorite character right away. Nothing is better than a powerful being who choses to be neutral but is just so oddly cheery and obviously inhuman.
// spoilers for later episodes !!
I love how when Jon asks 'Micheal' weather he owns the hallways his response is "does your hand in any way own your stomach?", I really like how he implies that he isn't the mind of the distortion, he is simply the hand that feeds it. He's a part of the distortion but so is the hallways and he isn't even the one that fully decides what happens!!
My theory from this episode and what we know until now:
The fact that at first she was like "there wasn't a door and then there was, what else do you want me to say?" but then she started making her statement makes me believe that something supernatural is happening, something is "forcing" them in a way to do the statements with so much detail and in the tone they do them. Which is also what happens to John every time he reads a statement, something is making him read them as he does.
Also, the way Michael talks about his relationship to the maze reminds me of prentiss's statement about how the hive is everywhere and not only what she sees in front of her and it's calling her to be a part of it etc etc, and it's making me thing that there are entities, supernatural and not-physical, which might also be connected to other dimensions as in the dimensions are manifestations of those entities or something those entities created (the maze in this episode is one of those dimensions) and sometimes humans get lured by those entities and become a part of them and work for them, while also keeping a part of their personality and personal will. So, Michael says that the maze isn't his because he is that supernatural entity but the entity isn't just him, it's other things and people too, so Michael and the maze are only some parts of the whole entity. The door is a portal between dimensions, connecting, in this episode, our dimension with that spiral dimension, since the maze seems to be related to spirals.
And since we're talking about spirals, in a previous episode we heard a bit about someone (the father of that construction worker in that house with the bleeding tree) who was close on revealing a secret in fractals and was watched by a man who "had all the bones in his hands" who sounds alot like how Michael truly looks like, so that means that that person was watched (and probably killed too) by either Michael or someone else who is part of that spiral entity.
Aaand we've heard lots of times already the lack of ability of the wintesses to describe something or someone who (obviously for us) has a connection with supernatural but the wintesses say "unremarkable" or "as you'd expect" for a description, makes me believe that there is a reason for that too, something like their minds/memories been altered or those things/persons being from the start unremarkable on purpose, in hopes of them staying hidden from the public maybe? Who knows, but it's obvious they don't want everyone to know about their existence, and they go to great measures sometimes to hide it.
Also, i don't know how to explain this properly, but all these dimensions are parallel with our own, which explains why when someone enters another dimension and end up getting out of it they're in a difference place from when they entered it. Meaning that you can make a portal anywhere and that portal will not connect to a specific place of the other dimension but it will conect with the place that you would supossedly be if you were in that other dimension already. This explains lots of "i was in that area, then all the spooky started/didn't know where i was/endless space no matter how much i walked ot fell but then came out of it and i was in that other area" that appears in episodes like "alone" and the skydiving one
oh shit you're a genius
cool ideas
and
: )
thumbs up
There’s no way you didn’t watch the series first and then commented this
@@nicholasjohnston1970 every time I get a comment like this, I think "hmm, maybe I should try writing a story myself, since I'm that good at figuring out theories or picking up clues that it makes random people think that it wasn't my first time listening/reading" (I use captions, english is not my native language), but then procrastination hits and I think "eh, another time maybe *shrugs shoulders*" 😝 so thank you for boosting my confidence 😊
ok i did NOT need to listen to this at 1:53 am in the dark in a strange room help
yes you did
Did anyone else notice that when jon started talking to not-sasha there is a slight barely audible ringing that starts to get even louder when Michael begins to speak
that deliberate sound of the opening and closing of a door, so painfully slow... ghhfhf that was, as intended, very disturbing;;
(update after finishing the ep) OH SHIT I actually thought it was just a neat little detail bc of the story's theme BUT IT WAS HIM ahhhhhhH
This one and the one with the girl stuck in the caves just scares the everliving shit out of me in a way no other episode does idk why, I'm not even claustrophobic. My lizard brain just freaks out when i hear them
amazing job guys
Maybe it’s partially the ‘creepy’ audio both of them have at one point? Those are the two that spook me most, too
I presume It might be from the inherent wrongness of a never ending corridor. Like, it's all well and good when there is an exit but when you are stuck in an endless loop, the feeling of helplessnes sinks in. The whole feeling of "even with my higher narrative dimension point of view in which I am essentially omniscient I would not be able to escape from that vibe" It does make me feel quite disturbed.
@@ecxscariot335 True. Similar feeling kicks in me when I'm frantically trying to search for an exit in video games, especially tomb raider.
Everytime one of the people or things from the statements comes into the archive or in contact with one of the crew its suddenly so much creepier. It suddenly feels so close. When its just Jon recording a statement it feels like a story somewhere far away. When someone like 'Micheal' in in the room with him, it feels like he's in the room with us.
I actually thought Michael might be a nice entity. Even during the whole hallways ordeal, I thought OK maybe he got inside after her and chased her and pointed her to the right exit... I legit thought he helped, until.. well, the end :') OOF
I wonder in what way he's neutral if... he traps people like that;;; a life for a life? Saves one, dooms another so the so-called balance is tipped? Hmm... But wait no, it's not the first time something like this happens... I have a strong feeling the caves episode was the work of Michael as well, I mean there had been no cave there in the first place and all. Yikes. Suddenly he's somehow more terrifying than Prentiss, at least her affliction was parasitic in nature and a bit more... "normal", if I could say so.
P.S. So many ppl saying Micheal in the comments hghg
From what I get from the comments for Dark Cave episode, there actually was a cave, they got confused because they went through the wrong enter
The house of leaves vibes of this episode is off the walls. The door that is suddenly there, the changing corridors that make absolutely no sense to the outside architecture of the building and the horrible entity living inside it. Also, the changing walls and corridors reminds me of episode 41, when Jon is down in the tunnels under the archives. Maybe Michel, who btw is great, is connected to it too?
Micheal's introduction to TMA is just...I KEEP COMING BACK FOR IT
I love that the comment section is lowkey thirsting for Michael. Y'all wanna bang the creepy stalker thing. Good job team
Poor Ms. Richardson, I felt genuinely bad for her. :(
But also
M I C H A E L
Two years later, but yes, same! I just met her but it hit me so hard, she seemed so nice and was so terrified.
I just realized something. Michael states "do you know that THEY are lying to you." But in the past someone stated that the use of they/them pronouns was common in one of the past videos.
Thinking about it. The replacement. The other or Not.sasha. Michael is referring to her as a they. It's not an organization like we humans use but a creature taking on the form of Sasha. It took on her gender. And how michael talks about himself. "They" don't have genders like humans do. "They" are not bound by that kind of concept. Infact it's seems that kind of thought is alien to them.
Makes me want to listen to past videos. To loosen my concept of self and identity in order to better understand. But in a way, that terrifies me.
It's hard to explain but if a basic (and yes I know it's not as simple as some make it out to be) concept like genders is alien to them. Then how much more so diffrent are they from us? How much more 'less' human are they, and what dose that mean for survival?
It's like looking the Fey folk in the eye and seeing that their torture was just a game. And the game was just a simple thing for them to pass the time. No hate or malice intended. Just them passing time as you go mad.
Is the they more than just Not Sasha? Elias,...?
Well, here I am breaking my "no horror stories before bed" rule to hear this again
'Let her go!'
'No' - literally how every story should go XD like...why would I stop being evil...I'm evil, tf you gonna do about it XD
I love micheal oh gosh. his entire character is innately unsettling and I love that for him.
First time listener here! Literally gasped when I heard Micheal appear. His voice and dialogue is so much fun. I've been binging the episodes these past couple of days and I'm so excited for what's next, this is the best piece of media I have ever consumed and that says a lot considering I do not like to listen to Podcasts normally
"Does your hand in any way, own your stomach." Chilling.
Michael: That is a real name.
Also Michael: There is no such thing as a real name.
"Are you here to kill me?
-No
Oh... [visible disappointment]"
Reminds me of the book “House of Leaves”, the idea is very similar to this story
I've always wanted to read that book.
@@MugetsuFused It good.
@Emma Spaeth The book sadly doesn't work unless you're holding it
Just commenting to remind myself to check this out later
I got a full colour copy at book-a-million around a year ago! and yeah, its very clear the author of this has at least skimmed house of leaves. My personal copy has annotations from myself to add another layer for whoever gets it next
Darker trees
Not human laughter
Warm handle/ Warm temperatures
Long slim fingers / shifting movement
several of the prior episodes have centered around phobias of mine, but none have activated my fight-flight-freeze response quite like this one. "michael" TERRIFIES me--the idea of something watching my life as nothing more than a curious short story while I remain unaware... that is a depth of existential ignorance I didn't even realize I feared. My heartbeat is still elevated, and I nearly started crying. GG, Sims. You got me good. Excellent sound design for "michael"
First time listener and Micheal sounding very Cheshire cat is sooooo unsettling and fitting for his character? Jesus this podcast is GOOOD
it's only now, years later on registering that I realised... when Miss Richardson left the archive.. the door sounded different... it sounded like... well .. one of the "other" doors
I really like 'Michael's' moxie! Excited to hear more of him!
micheal is an escaped sfm character
15:10 is when Michael
Thx
im so keen so see why everyone seems to love michael so much
thx, michael and helen are the sh t !! : )
Jon: “Let her go.”
Michael in flabbergasted amusement that Jon would make such a silly request: “No??”
Genuinely my favourite line
Not!Sasha always seems to say “yes” when replying, it’s so unnerving. Not a casual “yeah” ever, just a straight “yes” every time.
Michael's laugh is truly unsettling i keep having to look back and bakc aure nothing is behind me whem i here, like EUGH (in the best way)
Micheal sounds like the Cheshire cat.
I’m more concerned that Jon hasn’t noticed the new Sasha yet, honestly
Jon screaming Sasha made me physically jump and I rarely do that. It scared me so bad
Michael's voice really freaks me out
MICHAEL’S VOICE GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS AND TINGLES ALL UP MY BODY 👀😳
This is a fascinating and well-done episode, but I've got to voice one slight complaint: The high-pitched background noise at the end is really terrible to listen to if you've got a propensity for migraine headaches. I'm just coming out of a particularly bad one, and that sound nearly kicked me back into it.
Michael now just be messing with people and I'm here for it.
"What door did she leave out of?"
B I T C H when I tell you I GASPED