okay, counterpoint for Schwarzwald: Jon yells "Good Lord Martin, please put on some trousers" or something like that mid statement and it makes me laugh everytime
Counter point to Mag10: The vampires are sufficiently weird in distressingly unusual ways that they fit rather snugly into the Magnus Archives and their lack of importance beyond being Trevor's backstory vibes very well with the cosmic horror at the core of the series.
Anatomy class is one of my favorites. It's relatable as a student, and it's just wonderfully weird. The entities also don't feel evil to me in their curiosity. Very cool
@@tirwd Lol, yes of course I too have fellow students who are puppets learning anatomy. Nah but the attitude of the teacher and the atmosphere are familiar is all
Fun fact, I first listened to Tucked In at one in the morning in a strange swedish hotel with the window open as a misguided attempt to help me sleep. My God. The blanket never did anything. The pure fear of watching the outline of the curtains flutter, listening to my sister breathing without being able to see her face and staring at the shadows to make sure they weren't coming towards me is a feeling I don't think I will forget. The dark is the scariest entity to me no question. That was definitely worse than listening to vast statements on the plane, that just made the turbulence more fun.
I’m just at episode 102 myself, but I find it fascinating how certain episodes affected us differently. I don’t dislike the Dark or Eye episodes, but the Corruption episodes make my skin crawl basically every single time.
I personally think that the vampires serve the web! As you've said the vampires seem to not be good with fire but something you forgot to mention was that they can't talk. They cannot open their mouths but are still able to convince others to trust them, to like them enough to get their victim alone. Which I really feel represents that feeling that someone is manipulating you in a way you can't explain. So yeah, web serving vampires real.
The vampires don't cultivate fear via manipulation though. That aspect of them needs the victim to think absolutely nothing is awry, hence no fear. The fear comes from the eventual uncanniness and attack, which lends more to Stranger, Hunt, or Flesh.
I'm surprised I didn't find this video sooner, it was fun to listen to. although 7:10 "why would the hunt target it's own ?" there's are multiple episodes based on this very premise (MAG 112 and MAG 176). my takes on Vampire is that they serve the double purpose of feeding the hunt through fear _and_ bringing humans into it (as we could see with Trevor and them being known by section 31)
That's a really good point, actually, although usually the fear generated in the Hunt attacking its own is shown within the pack or a tight knit group rather than from an external source, but I suppose there's no reason why it wouldn't be (such as we see in the fight between Daisy and the other Hunters at the end of Season Four). Thanks for bringing that up!
To add on to this, I read it as they also feed the Hunt through the fear of the hunter becoming the hunted. A hunter that gets complacent enough, lax enough in its hunting to allow something else with a stronger drive to Hunt it in turn. Also, with the Hunt being focused on the chase, I view it as cyclical, there always has to be another Hunter, otherwise the chase would get stale. [another line break to hopefully cover s5 spoilers] I think that second point is exemplified when Jon, and to an extent Melanie, catch Trevor. He's lost without Julia, he loses his edge, and Jon takes part in the Hunt just enough to give Melanie an opening [building on the theme of pack tactics and how not all Hunters are the one to perform the kill]
To further build on this: I don't think the fear entities are necessarily entirely conscious beyond the awareness ascribed to them by humans (though some seem to be right on that line between inspiring/driving a certain kind of fear and plots to further it and planing themselves, mainly the web) and as such may not always manifest in ways that are planned as much as just reacting to the general things humans fear, which may lead to similar fear entities causing issues for each other. Most of the rituals, hierarchies and such tend to be very much based on human creation rather than direct intervention, as such it's entirely possible that vampires are a thing because they're a common folklore motive, with the hunter avatar(s) they may inspire both tying into the folklore/media depictions and incidentally furthering the hunts goals, insofar as the hunt has goals, but neither necessarily being part of a bigger plan. Further evidence for this would be that the fear(s) first became several recognizable categories through perception and consciousness which allowed people (and to some degree I may include somewhat intelligent animals in this, I don't think we got an exact timeframe of when what emerged) to fear more and more abstract concepts. While this doesn't necessarily preclude direct/active/planned intervention it definitely shows that the fears are very much shaped by perception.
1:03:05 Ok so i absolutely love this episode and it falls into the comedy area for me because the boy really Decided to bring his monster boyfriend along on a trip with his unknowing father and when asked about the Mosquito Clapping Noises™ coming from their tent their reaction was "Oh yeah i hate blood suckers" Biggest tragedy on tma is that we never got a follow up from his point of view
Thanks for the comment, it's good to see people are enjoying this video. I'm glad you found the experience to be entertaining, because that can be really hard to do with an hour and a half long video.
@@FinalFantasmagorie Mic quality was good and you sounded interested in what you were talking about. I also like TMA a lot, so I didn't mind the length.
I disagree with some of your season 1 low ratings but am overall glad that you rated season 5 so high. I've shared TMA with friends and my enjoyment of the last season has seemed otherwise isolated. Thanks.
I actually do think that, as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, Season One's rating were a little lower than other seasons mostly because it was the first one I went through, so I didn't have time for scaling creep to set in yet. Actually, I'd probably say that Season One is my third favourite season overall behind Season Two and maybe Season Five (I could go either way). Regardless, glad you enjoyed the video!
Norwegian spooky book boy was just vibin in the basement AND got beaten to death by pompous eye man because he was going to tell the other pompous eye man too much.
It remains the only episode of the series that I absolutely cannot stand. While other episodes are unpleasant, Schwarzwald is the only one I would feel comfortable skipping on a relisten.
I have listened to this Episode 5 times and i can't recall shit about It. (I need everyone to understand 2 of those i was listening with The sole purpose of understanding what happened) All i remember is that he was afraid of entering The Scary Place™ and that Someone on Tumblr pointed out that the forest translates to blackwood
@@princessadrigirl6774 It ties into a later "Magnus letter," though I don't remember its number, and it helps set up the Eye. Mostly there just to get the books established, but, yeah, you can skip it and miss nothing when the later episodes comes around.
You can really see your care for the series and this definetely made me want to do a rewatch! It reminded me of a few episodes i really like but had forgotten about. Phenomenal video, I can't imagine the effort it must have taken to remember to take notes, make the recording, show the drawing process and sprinkle in some memes, thanks for the engaging watch!
How the hell does this only have 31 views?!? There are like 50 things I want to point out that are amazing (The jokes, the accurate rankings, the drawing and my GOD that Annabelle Caine design in the background) but I guess my favourite thing would have to be hello john, apologies for the deception but I wanted to make sure- In all seriousness, awesome video!
Thank you so much, man! I'm glad you enjoyed it, 'cause I was kind of worried this one would flop. Also, good to hear you liked Annabelle's design, because it was by far my favourite of the ones in this video, and I intend to do more with her in the future.
i think every season had narration pitfalls here and there but the overall consistancy is very impressive and the meta-plot becoming the plot is something i kind of expected and even anticipated as the story approached the end. but in terms of shere excellency of prose, S5 is peak for me. i also thought the appocalypse roadtrip with sprinkles of rom-comedy in the first half was very refreshing after "getting stuck" in the Institute for so long alongside the characters.
Disappointed I didn't find you sooner, I cannot begin to describe how starved I am of Magnus content. Overall, I respect your thoughts on the series, though have my disagreements. I truly can't bring myself to rank any episode lower than a 6, because the just the form and prose of Sims' writing, the way he creates unique povs in almost every statement is simply sublime. As for the Magnus letters and vampires, I differ in that can't get enough of them. The former taps into the gothic tradition of Frankenstein and Dracula, especially in the 19th century language that I find enjoyable and eerie to listen to. As for the latter, I just like vampires.
Regarding the 6 thing, I ABSOLUTELY agree, all of TMA is excellent (except maybe Schwartzwald), this was moreso a ranking relative to the series as a whole. I definitely do have to redo these rankings, though, since it's been almost a year and there's definitely some stuff I've found I disagree on as I've analysed this series more. The whole vampires thing is fine, I do like that TMA at least does something interesting and horrific with them, but my biggest issue is just from the perspective of someone who likes to categorise the Fear entities (little "e" entities, not big "E"), which is to say that I'm frustrated I can't figure out where they go. Of course, I love Burroughs' statements and that's a whole heaping pile of mess, so I don't know. They're definitely some of the episodes I have on my current mini-relisten list, and not just because I MIGHT be doing a video essay soon figuring out exactly what Entity (big "E" this time) they serve. As someone who loves Gothic fiction and has read and enjoyed a truly shocking number of epistolary stories, I think the reason the Magnus letters don't land as well for me is primarily their contents. I love the worldbuilding, don't get me wrong, it's helped a lot with my Entities Explained series, but they are definitely much slower episodes, and they feel very out of sync with the style of the rest of the series, probably intentionally so. That's why, despite being a letter episode, I really enjoy MAG 152: A Gravedigger's Envy. It's an episode that feels like it's pushing forward the themes of the series and is written in a similar style, while also having plenty of strong moments. TLDR: I need to remake this video at some point.
14:47 A few days before listening to Mag27 I experienced hallucinations of someone knocking on my bedroom door for minutes on end (hallucinations were a weird side effect of antibiotics I was taking at the time), so when listening to it for the first time it hit particularly hard and was the first one to genuinely freak me out enough to have trouble sleeping that night, definitely one of my all time favorites
This podcast, along with Echo and Omori, holds a very special place in my heart. It was one of the greatest helps in me realizing some of my own mental health problems, especially with entities like the stranger, the web, the spiral, and the dark. The cult episode is one I hold in very high esteem because, although it might have still taken me a few months to realize it afterwards, it sowed the seeds for me to realize that I grew up in a cult. So many other episodes really helped me figure out some things, and now I'm working with a therapist and psychiatrist to help get me diagnosed with schizophrenia. So horror is a genre that has been extremely important to my self discovery and mental health treatment
I find it interesting how personal preferences play into the rankings, I was comparing my own to yours as I listened and I generally ranked the desolation, buried and vast more highly, whereas i didn't really vibe with a lot of the spiral and web ones - not that they aren't amazing writing, just that they didn't work for me as well as others. Great video!
I don't have the intense hatred for Leitner that everyone else seems to have... Maybe because i was kinda late to the fandom and listened to it all in a row.
Wow, some of the episodes you REALLY dislike are among my favorites! Thrown Away and Schwarzwald are near perfect for me. In contrast, there’s a few episodes I thought were awful that you seem to have really liked - Trail Rations and Upon the Stair, namely (though I don’t dislike the latter nearly as much as I used to). Definitely agree with you on the series working better as anthology horror than a serialized audio drama, btw. I am still harsher on Season 5 than you for reasons I think are too nuanced to really spell out here - if I had to summarize it, it’d be that I think the “horror theme park” that is the world after Jonah’s ritual just isn’t all that effective at being scary relative to horror invading our world.
I really wish season 5 had focused more on the theme of what trauma does to someone and Jon's internal conflict with what he's inadvertently been a part of and become. There are a few great moments throughout the season when this theme comes to the surface, but it gets completely lost, and the forward momentum gets killed, after getting to The Panopticon and Melanie and Gorgeie are reintroduced. Unfortunately, they don't have much to add to the season except to continue to be unjustifiably horrible to Jon. Basira and Dasiy's conclusion was my favorite part as it finally forced Basira to grow as a character and accept her complicity in police corruption and Daisy's murders. Unfortunately, I didn't think they handled the lead up to the Jon×Martin relationship well. It felt like unhealthy trauma bonding instead of a proper supportive relationship. If that had been explored, then I wouldn't criticize it as much; but, Martin comes off as the worst kind of partner in the season. He doesn't understand Jon as a person. He basicly encourages Jon to abandon one of his last bastions of his humanity: his morality; by encouraging him to destroy other Avatars.
My favorite statements tend to be the ones that are more abstract, which usually end up being the Spiral. Among my other favorites are Stranger and Stranger and most of the domains in s5. I don't know what it is, I like when the writing format for the statement changes and when the horror is a bit weirder than usual
One thing i was pleasantly suprised by with the series, is that as the “understanding” of how the entities worked became more fleshed out, I worried the statements would all become predictable, and for the most part they did not
When i went back to rewatch everything, I was so pleased to make all the connections i had missed the first time around because i didn't believe names or side characters mattered lol
I really love how you changed the format for season 5 (and breaking it Mikaele's episode), was a pretty nice detail Also I will admit I was a bit funny hearing you go about how the vampires "Make no sense", doesn't that remind you of certain architec trying to classify the entities? Great video
It's interesting, you and I seem to have listened to this podcast for different reasons. Personally, I often tuned out when the statements were happening, up until they would get interrupted by the metaplots and season 5 is for certain my absolute favorite season of the whole show. Edit: Sorry, hadn't gotten to the season 5 section yet when I made the comment. My first point remains the same, though.
While I STRONGLY dissagree with some of your takes (most specifically, that I deeply prefer the meta plot episodes to the statements), this is still a really good video. Thanks for making it.
it’s so cool to see how other ppl see the episodes. personally i love the first season but some of the ones i think may be my favorite are some that you hate lol
That's totally valid. Honestly, I love this series entirely and, while there are underwhelming episodes in my opinion, most of my really negative opinions are played up for the camera (except for MAG 23, that episode unironically put me to sleep multiple times and I still struggle to get through it). I also have since realised that I definitely had scaling creep as the series went on, since I'd just put so much in 7 and 8 that it felt disrespectful to put some episodes lower than an episode I definitely think could have moved down. Either way, yeah, always awesome to get new perspectives on something I enjoy so much.
Im still early on in the video but on the vampires. They were definitely one of the weirder monsters that kinda feel they wanted to ignore after awhile and are very unclear on who they serve but i do have to disagree a bit on why they may not serve the hunt. Multiple times in the series servants of the hunt go after each other from Daisy hunting Julia ans Trevor, to murder club (who do seem closer aligned with the hunt) to one of its domains at the end where hunters start hunting each other if theres no prey around to go after. The Hunt really doesnt seem to care if they go after each other and almost at times pushes its servants to after all what better prey than one that you know can give you a bit of a fight as you give chase.
Also, I’m reaaaaally glad I’m not the only one e that feels that vampires feel so out of pocket even when they are so freaky just the fact that they are called vampires takes me out
I don't want to tell you how to draw, but when you were drawing the old guy with green eyes and grey hair, one of his arms is a bit thinner, you should draw it a bit more thick to match the other hand
GOD YES THANK YOU FOR THE SCHWARZWALD DESECRATION ITS HORRIBLE I ALMOST STOPPED WATCHING THE SERIES BECAUSE OF IT. TOOK ME LIKE 6 WATCHES TO GET THROUGH IT UGHHHH
Bro we always have so many polarising opinions I just laugh I come back after every ten episodes while first twenty episodes our opinion were quite similar but after that and particularly S2 ending -S3 mid we have so many opposite reactions and thought.Maybe its my first time watching or idk🤣Currently I am on S3 and show just keeps getting better except the first twenty odd episodes of S1 which will always hold a special place where I didn't think everything was so linked and just standalone episodes.
what drawing software do you use. ihave been looking to find a new one to learn before my laptop that i currently use my drawing tablet with craps out and i loose the software i currently use (sketchbook).
I use Krita, which is totally free. While it's missing a few features and is a little beginner unfriendly, it works like a charm as far as I'm concerned. Certainly works just as well if not better than Sketchbook.
Regardless of what you think about the episodes, I liked all of them, some episodes clearly don't have any ties to future ones, but a lot of episodes connect to events that you'll only hear about in future episodes, someone who can't appreciate that don't really have a lot of room to talk
okay i'm 2 years late and someone probably said this but the comment on vampires is a horrible misrepresentation of The Hunt- The Hunt *would* and *does* target itself, that's the point, it's not the HUNTER, it's not the PREY; it is the HUNT. Good video so far tho
It’s super interesting to me how different things makes us scared and changes the rating, I don’t like the statements that are set too far in the past, that makes them less scary to me, I love the statements about technology like the guy who uploaded himself into a computer and the one that kept a scary website, there are two episodes I will never listen again, killing floor and cruelty free, I just can’t, and since I really don’t care about the overarching plot season 5 was a complete drag to go though
The only truly terrible episode imo is episode 21. Maybe I'm biased because I love skydiving, and open air and sky in general, but it's not a good episode. Spending the whole episode trying to make skydiving seem scary, when it's pure unlimited joy from start of finish. Not to mention, it gets skydiving all wrong. No one counts, (you have an altimemeter), the guy closes his eyes and stops enjoying it (so far from realistic for someone who skydives for fun), and the line 'Enjoy Sky Blue' as something to be scared of is so stupid it's not even funny. That episode pissed me off something fierce when I first heard it, but now it just sits a reminder of how little Johnny Sims must know about the world of adrenaline-seekers.
This is definitely biased, because as someone with massive basiphobia, skydiving is my worst nightmare. You like skydiving, so it wouldn't be scary to you, but to someone like me, that episode preyed on all of my neuroses over falling through open air. Your feelings on that episode are similar to mine on episodes like "Arachnophobia". Fear of spiders is so ridiculous to me, since they are really not a threat to the average person, and they are my favorite animals on Earth. However, I'm not going to act like people fearing them is completely nonsensical, because it's a common fear many people have. Plenty of people are scared of skydiving, and of the feeling of being lost in the massive emptiness of the universe (a prominent theme with The Vast). Episode 21 isn't realistic to you because you don't have that fear, but I listened to it and thought of nothing but how much I related to the character in the end.
"Take her not me, take her not me..." lost johns cave literally gave me nightmares
okay, counterpoint for Schwarzwald: Jon yells "Good Lord Martin, please put on some trousers" or something like that mid statement and it makes me laugh everytime
The only acceptable Schwartzwald encouragement.
Fanservice
that literally made me have to pause the podcast for a minute straight just to catch my breath
Counter point to Mag10: The vampires are sufficiently weird in distressingly unusual ways that they fit rather snugly into the Magnus Archives and their lack of importance beyond being Trevor's backstory vibes very well with the cosmic horror at the core of the series.
Anatomy class is one of my favorites. It's relatable as a student, and it's just wonderfully weird. The entities also don't feel evil to me in their curiosity. Very cool
Relatable???!!
@@tirwd Lol, yes of course I too have fellow students who are puppets learning anatomy. Nah but the attitude of the teacher and the atmosphere are familiar is all
Fun fact, I first listened to Tucked In at one in the morning in a strange swedish hotel with the window open as a misguided attempt to help me sleep. My God. The blanket never did anything. The pure fear of watching the outline of the curtains flutter, listening to my sister breathing without being able to see her face and staring at the shadows to make sure they weren't coming towards me is a feeling I don't think I will forget. The dark is the scariest entity to me no question. That was definitely worse than listening to vast statements on the plane, that just made the turbulence more fun.
Lost Johns Cave might actually be my favorite episode in the entire series spooks wise. Scared the shit out of me
I’m just at episode 102 myself, but I find it fascinating how certain episodes affected us differently. I don’t dislike the Dark or Eye episodes, but the Corruption episodes make my skin crawl basically every single time.
I personally think that the vampires serve the web! As you've said the vampires seem to not be good with fire but something you forgot to mention was that they can't talk. They cannot open their mouths but are still able to convince others to trust them, to like them enough to get their victim alone. Which I really feel represents that feeling that someone is manipulating you in a way you can't explain. So yeah, web serving vampires real.
The vampires don't cultivate fear via manipulation though. That aspect of them needs the victim to think absolutely nothing is awry, hence no fear. The fear comes from the eventual uncanniness and attack, which lends more to Stranger, Hunt, or Flesh.
I'm surprised I didn't find this video sooner, it was fun to listen to.
although 7:10 "why would the hunt target it's own ?" there's are multiple episodes based on this very premise (MAG 112 and MAG 176).
my takes on Vampire is that they serve the double purpose of feeding the hunt through fear _and_ bringing humans into it (as we could see with Trevor and them being known by section 31)
That's a really good point, actually, although usually the fear generated in the Hunt attacking its own is shown within the pack or a tight knit group rather than from an external source, but I suppose there's no reason why it wouldn't be (such as we see in the fight between Daisy and the other Hunters at the end of Season Four). Thanks for bringing that up!
To add on to this, I read it as they also feed the Hunt through the fear of the hunter becoming the hunted. A hunter that gets complacent enough, lax enough in its hunting to allow something else with a stronger drive to Hunt it in turn.
Also, with the Hunt being focused on the chase, I view it as cyclical, there always has to be another Hunter, otherwise the chase would get stale.
[another line break to hopefully cover s5 spoilers] I think that second point is exemplified when Jon, and to an extent Melanie, catch Trevor. He's lost without Julia, he loses his edge, and Jon takes part in the Hunt just enough to give Melanie an opening [building on the theme of pack tactics and how not all Hunters are the one to perform the kill]
To further build on this: I don't think the fear entities are necessarily entirely conscious beyond the awareness ascribed to them by humans (though some seem to be right on that line between inspiring/driving a certain kind of fear and plots to further it and planing themselves, mainly the web) and as such may not always manifest in ways that are planned as much as just reacting to the general things humans fear, which may lead to similar fear entities causing issues for each other.
Most of the rituals, hierarchies and such tend to be very much based on human creation rather than direct intervention, as such it's entirely possible that vampires are a thing because they're a common folklore motive, with the hunter avatar(s) they may inspire both tying into the folklore/media depictions and incidentally furthering the hunts goals, insofar as the hunt has goals, but neither necessarily being part of a bigger plan.
Further evidence for this would be that the fear(s) first became several recognizable categories through perception and consciousness which allowed people (and to some degree I may include somewhat intelligent animals in this, I don't think we got an exact timeframe of when what emerged) to fear more and more abstract concepts. While this doesn't necessarily preclude direct/active/planned intervention it definitely shows that the fears are very much shaped by perception.
@@teaartist6455 that is an excellent analysis !
1:03:05
Ok so i absolutely love this episode and it falls into the comedy area for me
because the boy really Decided to bring his monster boyfriend along on a trip with his unknowing father and when asked about the Mosquito Clapping Noises™ coming from their tent their reaction was "Oh yeah i hate blood suckers"
Biggest tragedy on tma is that we never got a follow up from his point of view
HAHaa WHAT? DID I MISS THAT EPISODE?
This is a _hilarious_ way to see it thank you very much. Now I imagine them smuching after killing the bloodsucking things in the Everchase
This is my new headcanon, thank you for your insight.
Very fun to go through all the episodes from someone else's perspective, thank you for your thoughts!
Thanks for the comment, it's good to see people are enjoying this video. I'm glad you found the experience to be entertaining, because that can be really hard to do with an hour and a half long video.
@@FinalFantasmagorie Mic quality was good and you sounded interested in what you were talking about. I also like TMA a lot, so I didn't mind the length.
"A post mortem report on reality" is so good
I disagree with some of your season 1 low ratings but am overall glad that you rated season 5 so high. I've shared TMA with friends and my enjoyment of the last season has seemed otherwise isolated. Thanks.
I actually do think that, as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, Season One's rating were a little lower than other seasons mostly because it was the first one I went through, so I didn't have time for scaling creep to set in yet. Actually, I'd probably say that Season One is my third favourite season overall behind Season Two and maybe Season Five (I could go either way). Regardless, glad you enjoyed the video!
Loved the key in the ice coffin guy. He was super clever and deserved his win
Just finished season 2 and I love this podcast!!! Also love that Norwegian spooky book boy was just vibin in the basement
Norwegian spooky book boy was just vibin in the basement AND got beaten to death by pompous eye man because he was going to tell the other pompous eye man too much.
@@FinalFantasmagorie season 2 in a nutshell “Martin said hello to me. You know who else says hello…MURDERERS THAT WHO!!”
Season Five was just so consistently phenomenal.
Great video!
I am here for the Schwarzwald slander 🤚
It remains the only episode of the series that I absolutely cannot stand. While other episodes are unpleasant, Schwarzwald is the only one I would feel comfortable skipping on a relisten.
I have listened to this Episode 5 times and i can't recall shit about It. (I need everyone to understand 2 of those i was listening with The sole purpose of understanding what happened)
All i remember is that he was afraid of entering The Scary Place™ and that Someone on Tumblr pointed out that the forest translates to blackwood
Does it even tie in to anything later? Like at all? I’m struggling to remember what purpose that statement actually serves
@@princessadrigirl6774 It ties into a later "Magnus letter," though I don't remember its number, and it helps set up the Eye. Mostly there just to get the books established, but, yeah, you can skip it and miss nothing when the later episodes comes around.
You can really see your care for the series and this definetely made me want to do a rewatch! It reminded me of a few episodes i really like but had forgotten about. Phenomenal video, I can't imagine the effort it must have taken to remember to take notes, make the recording, show the drawing process and sprinkle in some memes, thanks for the engaging watch!
Glad you enjoyed it! It took a long time to do, but it was certainly worth it for me in the end. Really loved making this video!
How the hell does this only have 31 views?!? There are like 50 things I want to point out that are amazing (The jokes, the accurate rankings, the drawing and my GOD that Annabelle Caine design in the background) but I guess my favourite thing would have to be hello john, apologies for the deception but I wanted to make sure-
In all seriousness, awesome video!
Thank you so much, man! I'm glad you enjoyed it, 'cause I was kind of worried this one would flop. Also, good to hear you liked Annabelle's design, because it was by far my favourite of the ones in this video, and I intend to do more with her in the future.
Well I'll a hundred percent stay tuned. Can't wait to see what you do next!
i think every season had narration pitfalls here and there but the overall consistancy is very impressive and the meta-plot becoming the plot is something i kind of expected and even anticipated as the story approached the end. but in terms of shere excellency of prose, S5 is peak for me. i also thought the appocalypse roadtrip with sprinkles of rom-comedy in the first half was very refreshing after "getting stuck" in the Institute for so long alongside the characters.
It’s stupid how proud I felt when you gave my favourite episode (The Piper) 9/10 LOL
Mostly on point but Schwartzwald is one of my favorite statements so 8/10 (fr great video)
Disappointed I didn't find you sooner, I cannot begin to describe how starved I am of Magnus content. Overall, I respect your thoughts on the series, though have my disagreements. I truly can't bring myself to rank any episode lower than a 6, because the just the form and prose of Sims' writing, the way he creates unique povs in almost every statement is simply sublime. As for the Magnus letters and vampires, I differ in that can't get enough of them. The former taps into the gothic tradition of Frankenstein and Dracula, especially in the 19th century language that I find enjoyable and eerie to listen to. As for the latter, I just like vampires.
Regarding the 6 thing, I ABSOLUTELY agree, all of TMA is excellent (except maybe Schwartzwald), this was moreso a ranking relative to the series as a whole. I definitely do have to redo these rankings, though, since it's been almost a year and there's definitely some stuff I've found I disagree on as I've analysed this series more. The whole vampires thing is fine, I do like that TMA at least does something interesting and horrific with them, but my biggest issue is just from the perspective of someone who likes to categorise the Fear entities (little "e" entities, not big "E"), which is to say that I'm frustrated I can't figure out where they go. Of course, I love Burroughs' statements and that's a whole heaping pile of mess, so I don't know. They're definitely some of the episodes I have on my current mini-relisten list, and not just because I MIGHT be doing a video essay soon figuring out exactly what Entity (big "E" this time) they serve. As someone who loves Gothic fiction and has read and enjoyed a truly shocking number of epistolary stories, I think the reason the Magnus letters don't land as well for me is primarily their contents. I love the worldbuilding, don't get me wrong, it's helped a lot with my Entities Explained series, but they are definitely much slower episodes, and they feel very out of sync with the style of the rest of the series, probably intentionally so. That's why, despite being a letter episode, I really enjoy MAG 152: A Gravedigger's Envy. It's an episode that feels like it's pushing forward the themes of the series and is written in a similar style, while also having plenty of strong moments.
TLDR: I need to remake this video at some point.
14:47 A few days before listening to Mag27 I experienced hallucinations of someone knocking on my bedroom door for minutes on end (hallucinations were a weird side effect of antibiotics I was taking at the time), so when listening to it for the first time it hit particularly hard and was the first one to genuinely freak me out enough to have trouble sleeping that night, definitely one of my all time favorites
I think the vampires serve the stranger because the episodes that involve them touch on the uncanny valley
This podcast, along with Echo and Omori, holds a very special place in my heart. It was one of the greatest helps in me realizing some of my own mental health problems, especially with entities like the stranger, the web, the spiral, and the dark. The cult episode is one I hold in very high esteem because, although it might have still taken me a few months to realize it afterwards, it sowed the seeds for me to realize that I grew up in a cult. So many other episodes really helped me figure out some things, and now I'm working with a therapist and psychiatrist to help get me diagnosed with schizophrenia. So horror is a genre that has been extremely important to my self discovery and mental health treatment
Me reading the title: Hahaha, oh you’re serious. Oh… oh dear…
I find it interesting how personal preferences play into the rankings, I was comparing my own to yours as I listened and I generally ranked the desolation, buried and vast more highly, whereas i didn't really vibe with a lot of the spiral and web ones - not that they aren't amazing writing, just that they didn't work for me as well as others.
Great video!
I know what I’m listening to while I clean tables after work
dudeeee i loved this series so much i created a spinoff podcast. its such an amazing universe and i couldn't resist expanding it. its just so good.
I don't have the intense hatred for Leitner that everyone else seems to have...
Maybe because i was kinda late to the fandom and listened to it all in a row.
Wow, some of the episodes you REALLY dislike are among my favorites! Thrown Away and Schwarzwald are near perfect for me. In contrast, there’s a few episodes I thought were awful that you seem to have really liked - Trail Rations and Upon the Stair, namely (though I don’t dislike the latter nearly as much as I used to).
Definitely agree with you on the series working better as anthology horror than a serialized audio drama, btw. I am still harsher on Season 5 than you for reasons I think are too nuanced to really spell out here - if I had to summarize it, it’d be that I think the “horror theme park” that is the world after Jonah’s ritual just isn’t all that effective at being scary relative to horror invading our world.
I really wish season 5 had focused more on the theme of what trauma does to someone and Jon's internal conflict with what he's inadvertently been a part of and become. There are a few great moments throughout the season when this theme comes to the surface, but it gets completely lost, and the forward momentum gets killed, after getting to The Panopticon and Melanie and Gorgeie are reintroduced. Unfortunately, they don't have much to add to the season except to continue to be unjustifiably horrible to Jon. Basira and Dasiy's conclusion was my favorite part as it finally forced Basira to grow as a character and accept her complicity in police corruption and Daisy's murders.
Unfortunately, I didn't think they handled the lead up to the Jon×Martin relationship well. It felt like unhealthy trauma bonding instead of a proper supportive relationship. If that had been explored, then I wouldn't criticize it as much; but, Martin comes off as the worst kind of partner in the season. He doesn't understand Jon as a person. He basicly encourages Jon to abandon one of his last bastions of his humanity: his morality; by encouraging him to destroy other Avatars.
51:31 I still haven't pieced together what "sneak preview" means can someone explain
Edit: OH I THINK I GET IT
56:36 if Jonny ever does a stream with media share someone needs to submit this audio with no context lol
Found a new comfort video!
I am so lucky to have found this gem of a video I enjoyed it every second thank you!
The only episode I have ever skipped was Arachnophobia. I have arachnophobia and uggggggg
My favorite statements tend to be the ones that are more abstract, which usually end up being the Spiral. Among my other favorites are Stranger and Stranger and most of the domains in s5. I don't know what it is, I like when the writing format for the statement changes and when the horror is a bit weirder than usual
My personal favourite is 88, body builder
One thing i was pleasantly suprised by with the series, is that as the “understanding” of how the entities worked became more fleshed out, I worried the statements would all become predictable, and for the most part they did not
A power outage during MAG 52?!!? Did you check the water coming out of the taps...
When i went back to rewatch everything, I was so pleased to make all the connections i had missed the first time around because i didn't believe names or side characters mattered lol
im glad someone else was painfully tired of the old man rambling about vampires. genuinely thought i’d lose my marbles he WONT STOP TALKING
this deserves so many more views
I fuckin loved episode 11, it really itched the macabre curious knowledge-seeking part of my brain. Top 5 for sure.
I really love how you changed the format for season 5 (and breaking it Mikaele's episode), was a pretty nice detail
Also I will admit I was a bit funny hearing you go about how the vampires "Make no sense", doesn't that remind you of certain architec trying to classify the entities?
Great video
I loved this video, didn't agree with everything but hey, I respect your takes and it was nice going through the whole series again.
Love this rating list, it's so accurate to my preferences. Good opinions!
Also great drawing, looking very cool.
It's interesting, you and I seem to have listened to this podcast for different reasons. Personally, I often tuned out when the statements were happening, up until they would get interrupted by the metaplots and season 5 is for certain my absolute favorite season of the whole show.
Edit: Sorry, hadn't gotten to the season 5 section yet when I made the comment. My first point remains the same, though.
While I STRONGLY dissagree with some of your takes (most specifically, that I deeply prefer the meta plot episodes to the statements), this is still a really good video. Thanks for making it.
it’s so cool to see how other ppl see the episodes. personally i love the first season but some of the ones i think may be my favorite are some that you hate lol
That's totally valid. Honestly, I love this series entirely and, while there are underwhelming episodes in my opinion, most of my really negative opinions are played up for the camera (except for MAG 23, that episode unironically put me to sleep multiple times and I still struggle to get through it). I also have since realised that I definitely had scaling creep as the series went on, since I'd just put so much in 7 and 8 that it felt disrespectful to put some episodes lower than an episode I definitely think could have moved down. Either way, yeah, always awesome to get new perspectives on something I enjoy so much.
@@FinalFantasmagorie #about to rewatch this video
@@FinalFantasmagorie also i literally have not been able to listen to 23 all the way through like i zone off so fast
Im still early on in the video but on the vampires. They were definitely one of the weirder monsters that kinda feel they wanted to ignore after awhile and are very unclear on who they serve but i do have to disagree a bit on why they may not serve the hunt. Multiple times in the series servants of the hunt go after each other from Daisy hunting Julia ans Trevor, to murder club (who do seem closer aligned with the hunt) to one of its domains at the end where hunters start hunting each other if theres no prey around to go after. The Hunt really doesnt seem to care if they go after each other and almost at times pushes its servants to after all what better prey than one that you know can give you a bit of a fight as you give chase.
vampires are stranger i think
Someone please remind me to go back to this video in a few weeks cus I want to finish my relisten and this is great
YESSS I FUCKING LOVE MAG 29 YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT ABOUT IT BEING THE BEST EPISODE
Also, I’m reaaaaally glad I’m not the only one e that feels that vampires feel so out of pocket even when they are so freaky just the fact that they are called vampires takes me out
I always thought the vampires were less about about being vampires and more so giving Trevor something to hunt? Also, great video
The vampires are of the hunt and the hunt targets itself because thats what its about
I don't want to tell you how to draw, but when you were drawing the old guy with green eyes and grey hair, one of his arms is a bit thinner, you should draw it a bit more thick to match the other hand
Trust me, I know. I like to think that my art skills have improved since making this video XD
Definitely didn't check the release date now T_T@@FinalFantasmagorie
GOD YES THANK YOU FOR THE SCHWARZWALD DESECRATION ITS HORRIBLE I ALMOST STOPPED WATCHING THE SERIES BECAUSE OF IT. TOOK ME LIKE 6 WATCHES TO GET THROUGH IT UGHHHH
Bro we always have so many polarising opinions I just laugh I come back after every ten episodes while first twenty episodes our opinion were quite similar but after that and particularly S2 ending -S3 mid we have so many opposite reactions and thought.Maybe its my first time watching or idk🤣Currently I am on S3 and show just keeps getting better except the first twenty odd episodes of S1 which will always hold a special place where I didn't think everything was so linked and just standalone episodes.
what drawing software do you use. ihave been looking to find a new one to learn before my laptop that i currently use my drawing tablet with craps out and i loose the software i currently use (sketchbook).
I use Krita, which is totally free. While it's missing a few features and is a little beginner unfriendly, it works like a charm as far as I'm concerned. Certainly works just as well if not better than Sketchbook.
Regardless of what you think about the episodes, I liked all of them, some episodes clearly don't have any ties to future ones, but a lot of episodes connect to events that you'll only hear about in future episodes, someone who can't appreciate that don't really have a lot of room to talk
How do you recognize season 5 has so many banger episodes yet its not your favorite?
Hypocrisy.
I started tne serise and i'm gonna watch this as a reward
You should finish the series, then come back. Wouldn't want to spoil anything!
@@FinalFantasmagorie MY REWARD HAS BEEN CLAIMED
and also LEAVE HELEN ALONE
Any episod is a comedy if you think about what actually happens too hard
This has inspired me to relisten to tma before tma 2 starts :)
okay i'm 2 years late and someone probably said this but the comment on vampires is a horrible misrepresentation of The Hunt- The Hunt *would* and *does* target itself, that's the point, it's not the HUNTER, it's not the PREY; it is the HUNT. Good video so far tho
cool video and nice voice!
It’s super interesting to me how different things makes us scared and changes the rating, I don’t like the statements that are set too far in the past, that makes them less scary to me, I love the statements about technology like the guy who uploaded himself into a computer and the one that kept a scary website, there are two episodes I will never listen again, killing floor and cruelty free, I just can’t, and since I really don’t care about the overarching plot season 5 was a complete drag to go though
i mega agree on shwartvald thats mostly because i hate the episodes thatare from the jonah magnus era
hop off episode 10
The only truly terrible episode imo is episode 21. Maybe I'm biased because I love skydiving, and open air and sky in general, but it's not a good episode. Spending the whole episode trying to make skydiving seem scary, when it's pure unlimited joy from start of finish. Not to mention, it gets skydiving all wrong. No one counts, (you have an altimemeter), the guy closes his eyes and stops enjoying it (so far from realistic for someone who skydives for fun), and the line 'Enjoy Sky Blue' as something to be scared of is so stupid it's not even funny. That episode pissed me off something fierce when I first heard it, but now it just sits a reminder of how little Johnny Sims must know about the world of adrenaline-seekers.
This is definitely biased, because as someone with massive basiphobia, skydiving is my worst nightmare. You like skydiving, so it wouldn't be scary to you, but to someone like me, that episode preyed on all of my neuroses over falling through open air. Your feelings on that episode are similar to mine on episodes like "Arachnophobia". Fear of spiders is so ridiculous to me, since they are really not a threat to the average person, and they are my favorite animals on Earth. However, I'm not going to act like people fearing them is completely nonsensical, because it's a common fear many people have. Plenty of people are scared of skydiving, and of the feeling of being lost in the massive emptiness of the universe (a prominent theme with The Vast). Episode 21 isn't realistic to you because you don't have that fear, but I listened to it and thought of nothing but how much I related to the character in the end.
A vast avatar wrote this
Man I just don’t like mag 166
38:18