I am thinking about what choices would be available if TMA was a choice based game, so here's batch from each season. (I hyperfixated on this and it got long. Whoops. I think my ending ideas are cool though.)
Season 1:
Flirt with Martin, Sasha, or Tim. I made a post about this, actually!
Believe Naomi in "Alone", or be skeptical of her story. This plays into how skeptical you'd want Jon's mask to be. If you believe Naomi Jon will let his mask break a bit and say strange stuff is out there, if you are skeptical of her story Jon will keep his mask and act how he does in canon. (Believing Naomi raises entity points, being skeptical of her story raises humanity points, because remember, Jon is acting so skeptical because he feels like he's being watched.)
Admit to Martin that you believe in the "paranormal", or don't admit to Martin that you believe in the "paranormal". In the safe room during the worm attack, you can either answer Martin's question about Jon's skepticism honestly or refuse. If you answer honestly the canon events of TMA will happen where Jon opens up to Martin about his paranoia, if you don't, Jon will shut Martin down and say he's just like that and there's nothing more to it. Being honest gives you a major relationship increase with Martin, shutting him down causes a major relationship decrees.
Go with Sasha, Tim, or Martin during the worm situation. If you with Martin, Jon will be there to find Gertrude's body, you will also raise relationship points with Martin. If you go with Tim you will raises your relationship with him, and Tim (High on fire extinguisher) will help Jon walk on his leg. if you go with Sasha you will raise your relationship with her, and then Sasha and Jon will be separated and Sasha will become Not! Sasha! On this route Jon will noticeably be off put by Not! Sasha's presence because he was JUST with her and now she's acting...odd.
Let Tim go home, or make him give a statement. At the end of the episode, Tim will refuse to talk about what just happened, and say that he wants to go home. If you let him go home he'll walk away, and the player never gets to learn his POV of events. However, Jon and Tim won't loose relationship. If you do make him give a statement, you will get to learn about the events through Tim's POV, however, the downside is that Tim and Jon's relationship looses points and becomes more strained. (If you make Tim stay you get entity points, if you let him leave you get humanity points.)
Season 2:
I'm imagining like a scene with a big board with a red string on it, and for a choice Jon has to pick who he finds the most suspicious: Martin, Tim, Sasha, or Elias. Depending on your choice, Jon will treat whoever you choose with more suspicion when they talk. (If you choose Martin or Tim, your entity score will go up. If you choose Not! Sasha or Elias, your humanity score will go up.)
More Under The Cut!
Attack the figure in the tunnel, call out to the figure in the tunnel, or hide from the figure in the Tunnel. When Jon runs into "Sasha" in the tunnels early in the season, you'll have a choice on how to handle a strange figure approaching you in the tunnel. This is really just to let the players "flavor" their Jon a bit, and play into what part of his personality they want to lean into.
Agree to let Melanie into the library or not. If you agree to let Melanie into the library you can be on better terms with Melanie when she gets back from her trip, and Georgie will thank Jon for helping. If you refuse to let Melanie into the library, she'll cuss you out and her and Jon will be on worse terms when she gets back, Georgie will also be annoyed by Jon's refusal and will make a comment about him being snooty.
Tell Tim and Martin about your suspicions about Not! Sasha, or don't. If you don't tell Tim and Martin, Jon will say that he is "sick," like in canon, and Martin and Tim will follow behind Jon later. If you do tell them, Martin will be horrified and Tim will go into denial but INSIST that they go with Jon to figure it out and "prove that nothing's wrong with Sasha." This choice will give you more Martin and Tim content, and Jon will give them a little more context about the whole situation.
Tell Leitner, or don't. I like the idea of this choice being vague, and the player is left wondering "Tell Leitner what???" If you choose to tell Leitner Jon will allude to "A Guest For Mr. Spider," and tell Leitner that his life was ruined by one of his books. But you don't actually the specifics of that until Season 3. If you don't tell Leitner than Jon will ask if he felt guilt for letting the books get into the hands of the public.
Season 3:
Tell Georgie the truth or protect her from it. When you're staying with Georgie in Season 3, you can either tell her the truth or try to protect her from it. If you tell her the truth she tells you about the dead women walking and her fear. However, she distance herself from Jon because she just can't be involved in that. If you protect her from the truth, she'll stay close with Jon but be annoyed at him for not confiding in her, and when she finds out what's happening later, she gets very upset that Jon was risking dragging her into it and not even saying anything.
Tell Basira not to sign the form or stay silent. When Elias hands Basira the form, you can either tell her it's not worth it, or just stay silent. If you stay silent nothing will happen. If you tell Basira not to sign the form, Elias will be more attentive of you, however, you will get the option later to reconcile with Basira at the end of the game. (If you stay silent you get entity points, if you say something you get humanity points.)
Go through Michael's door or refuse. When Jon is kidnapped, Michael will offer him a way out. Jon can agree to go through the door or refuse. If you agree, Michael will tell Jon his story first like in canon, and you get learn more about Michael Shelley. If you refuse, Michael snaps and goes on a rant about Archivists thinking they're so above him. Instead of getting his human backstory, he'll tell you what the first few years of his life were like as The Distortion, and his few failed attempts to go after Gertrude Robinson.
Burn Gerry's page or refuse. If you burn Gerry's page canon will happen. If you refuse to burn Gerry's page, Jon will call upon him later and Gerry will be PISSED and refuse to tell him anymore. He'll say that Jon is just as bad as Gertrude and his Mother, and he wouldn't help him even if could save the world just out of the principal. Gerry will then get so upset that he'll accidentally reveal some lore about Gertrude, or Mary, or the fears, or just something that makes his knowledge real. So Jon will learn something new, but the very real of cost of that is loosing his newfound friendship with Gerry. (If you burn the page you get multiple humanity points, you don't burn the page you get multiple entity points.)
Take Tim to The Unknowing, or don't. Before The Unknowing, Tim insists that he's going to go, and as Jon you can either accept or refuse. If you accept canon will play out and Tim will die thanking Jon for this. However, if you refuse Tim will follow you to The Unknowing instead, and be significantly more hostile when he reveals himself in the theater. This will have ruined their relationship for good, and Tim will die telling Jon to go fuck himself.
Season 4:
After waking up in the hospitalyou can tell Georgie that you're still the same or tell Georgie you've changed. If you tell Georgie you've changed she'll gently say she knows, and give Jon a quick pat on the back before leaving. If you tell Georgie you haven't changed, she and Jon will get into an argument about whether that's true or not, then Georgie will angrily storm out. (Saying you haven't changed is plus one to the humanity counter, saying you have changed is plus one to the entity counter.)
In regards to Melanie's bullet you'll have two choices. You can either tell Melanie about the bullet, or do surgery on Melanie when she's unconscious. (Like canon) If you do the surgery canon happens and Melanie will become more distrustful of Jon. If you tell Melanie about the bullet she'll argue and try to fight Jon (Because of the bullets effects) which will leave Jon's character model with a new scar. Basira and Jon will end up having to force it out anyways. However, Melanie will trust Jon a bit more on this route.
Go into the coffin or don't go into the coffin. Since choice based games are notorious for having choices that change the flavor of the story but don't change the actual story, Daisy will be spit out of the coffin if Jon chooses not to rescue her. Since she'd give up in this route, she wouldn't be feeding The Buried fear anymore so it would release her. If you don't rescue Daisy she'll distance herself from everyone and you'll be locked out of seeing how her relationship with Jon could have developed. if you go into the coffin to save Daisy, you'll get Jon and Daisy's canon mutual understanding after The Buried, and they'll get closer. (Not going in the coffin raises your entity score, going into the coffin raises your humanity score.)
Hug or kiss Martin in the lonely. In true choice based game fashion, you get a friendzone or romance option with Martin.
Keep reading or stop reading during the final statement of Season 4. This choice changes nothing in the main plot, I am just mean. (Keep reading raises your entity score, stop reading raises your humanity score.)
Season 5:
Use Martin as bait or don't. During the Trever Herbert confrontation, you can either use Martin as bait, or tell Martin to stay close. If you use Martin as bait canon will play out. If you tell Martin to stay close Jon will be the one who gets grabbed. This is another humanity vs entity choice. You get humanity points for telling Martin to stay close, and you get entity points for using Martin as bait.
Make Jordan an avatar or leave him to his suffering. When you run into Jordan in "Like Ants," you can decide to free him from the domain through avatarism, or decide that's a fate worth than bug suffering. If you leave him Jordan will call out in agony and Jon will be upset about his choice despite knowing why he made it. If you turn Jordan, Jordan will be distraught to be an avatar, and Jon will feel less guilt about the choice because he "saved" him the best he could. (Turning Joran into an avatar makes your entity points higher, leaving Jordan makes your humanity points higher.)
Kill Simon Fairchild and continue the vengeance streak, or stop. If you kill Simon, Martin will happy with you and Jon will feel more affirmed that his vengeance spree has been well-deserved. This choice makes him very self-righteous. If you don't kill Simon, Martin will be disappointed like in canon, and like canon Jon will admit that the vengeance spree hasn't been all that it lived up to be, and he's uncomfortable with some of the choices he's made. (If you kill Simon, you get entity points, if you let him go, you get humanity points.)
Stay with Salesa or leave. When you get to Salesa's house, you can either agree to stay the night or confess to not feeling well and you and Martin will leave. If you stay you get two different scenes depending on if you romanced Martin. if you romanced you get a cuddling scene, and if you friend zoned him you get a scene where him a Jon sit and drink tea together. If you don't stay you get a scene where Jon and Martin talk about just how bad Jon's eye dependence has become. (Staying raises humanity points, leaving raises entity points.)
End the world or end yourself. This is the ending choice, and I think you could get four endings depending on whether you have more humanity or entity points. If you have mostly humanity points and decide to end yourself, Jon will be able to lapse free of The Eye's power and stab himself to try and doom himself alone. Martin will find him before that happens and Jon will encourage him to just go back and live his life. Maybe whether Martin agrees or decides to die with Jon would depend on how high your relationship points with him were. With a high relationship Martin will choose to die with Jon, while with a lower relationship, Martin will very hesitantly agree to Jon's wishes and say goodbye before going back downstairs.
If you have mostly entity points and decide to end yourself, The Eye will have enough power to revolt against Jon's choice. Martin will be struck down by The Eye's power, and Jon will be forced against his will to be the king of a doomed world.
If you have mostly entity points and decide to end the world, Jon will decide to let the world die out to keep the fears contained to his universe. Martin will be angry with him, but Jon will be resigned and promise to keep him and their friends safe and as happy as he can until the end. The status of their relationship is left ambiguous.
If you have more humanity points and decide to end the world, then the episode 200 ending will happen where Jon will try to keep the fears contained, but be swayed by Martin's emotions to send them away and stay together with the hopes that they can be sent somewhere better.
I'd also think it would be cool if there was a relationship sheet at the end, that showed if you managed to reconcile with the main cast. I think Jon could reconcile with: Georgie, Melanie, and Basira if you picked enough correct choices, dialogue options, and had more humanity points than entity points. If you managed to reconcile with them, they'd have kinder and more affectionate things to say about Jon in the epilogue.
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Thinking about TMA being a choice based game AGAIN, and I just wanted to write some more dialogue options for different relationship statuses Jon could have:
This dialogue choices would all be an option when Martin is telling Jon about his run in with Jane Prentiss, and Jon is deciding what to do since Martin can't safely go back home:
Jon's Low Platonic Relationship With Martin (And canon in the series) Dialogue Choice: "Very well. In which case there’s a room in the Archives I use to sleep when working late. I suggest you stay there for now."
Martin: "Okay… thanks. To be honest I didn’t, didn’t expect you… to take it seriously."
/
Jon's High Platonic Relationship With Martin Dialogue Choice: "Um. Well, if you have concerns about going home, I do have a guest bedroom open for you, I suppose. I'm not one for roommates typically, but I'd prefer you to not be eaten by worms."
Martin: Oh!! No!!! I, that's very generous Jon, but I wouldn't want to intrude. I was actually thought I could maybe stay, uh, here. If that wouldn't be a bother."
Jon: "Right. Yes. I can help you get the cot set up, but the offer still stands if you change your mind."
/
Jon's Romance Dialogue Choice: "Martin. I'm sure you have bigger concerns at the moment, but um, are you alright?"
Martin: "Huh? Oh yes! I'm fine. I mean, I never want to eat any sort of canned food again, but I'll be alright. Thanks for....asking."
Jon: "Of course, just let me know if you need anything. I don't mind pitching in to help you get a room at a hotel or something of the like. You could also stay here of here of course, but the cots not exactly five stars.
Martin: ".....I think I'll be alright here. Thank you really, you've offered, more than enough....I didn't expect...I mean it's just, It's um, really nice of you. I'm going to go get settled in. Goodnight Jon." (That awkward moment when you and your unattainable crush have a moment of genuine connection and care.)
This would take place in a cutscene in Season 1 where Tim could ask Jon whether he wanted to go out and eat with him.
Tim: So what do you say boss, want to get some Thai?
Jon's Low Platonic Relationship Decline - "I'll have to decline. I have plenty to get done here."
Tim: "Whelp. Did my good deed for the day by trying to help the office shut in. See you."
Jon: "I'm sorry? Tim?!"
/
Jon Low Platonic Relationship Accept: "I have been staring at these statements for hours...oh alright. Where do you like to go?
Tim: "I underestimated you. I thought you'd say no to keep staring at old parchment paper. Lucky for you, I'm much more fun.
/
Jon High Platonic Relationship Decline: "That does sound tempting, but I have more than enough to get done here. I don't understand how Gertrude Robinson managed to make this much of a mess out of an Archive.
Tim: Right. Well I'm sure it would suck to get dinner with your friend instead of slowly morphing into the office shut in. We're going to have to get black out curtains so you don't wither in sunlight at this rate."
Jon: "I'm not...Maybe I'll join you next time, but I have a lot to do tonight."
Tim: "Right. See you."
/
Jon High Platonic Relationship Accept: "I could go for some Thai. Do you think Sasha....or I suppose Martin, would want to join us?"
Tim: "I already asked. Sasha had plans to hang out with some of her other friends or something, and Martin got so worked up about getting dinner with you that he declined. He's adorable."
Jon: "I have absolutely no idea what you mean."
Tim: "You never do."
/
Jon Romance Decline: 'Tim, I'm quite busy right now. Feel free to help me organize the archives if you wish, but I can't just leave in the middle of sorting. I still have a whole stack to do...."
Tim: "Seriously? You'd rather spend your whole night in a dusty archives instead of getting dinner with me?"
Jon: "I didn't say that. Tonight's just not a good night."
Tim: "Well let me know when there is one."
Jon: "I'll...keep you posted."
Tim: "Right. Well, I'm going to go."
Jon: "Are you...upset with me?"
Tim: "....I just thought....Ugh! Never mind. Have fun. You have my number if you change your mind."
Jon: "I do. Goodnight, Tim."
/
Jon Romance Accept: "I um....Yes, I'd love to. That sounds great. It's been awhile since I've had a...work dinner."
Tim: "Is it still a work dinner if I didn't invite Sasha or Martin? That sounds more like a friendship dinner to me...Or a romantic dinner depending on how things go. I wouldn't blame you for falling for my charms."
Jon: "Uh huh. Right. So what type of place is this. Do I need to change into something a bit nicer first or?"
Tim: "No. The sweater vest is a good look on you. I like the boss look."
Jon: "I'm already regretting this."
Tim: "I'd say you could fire me, but I think you'd miss me too much."
This conversation with Sasha happens when she's telling you about her encounter with Michael.
Sasha: "As I was about to exit, though, it called after me, and said if I was interested in saving your life it would be waiting at Hanwell Cemetery."
Jon Low Platonic Relationship Response: "My life? What would it want with my life?"
Sasha: "I don't know, but it was unsettling enough where I feel like I didn't have a choice. I'm just....to curious I suppose."
Jon: "I can relate."
/
Sasha: "As I was about to exit, though, it called after me, and said if I was interested in saving your life it would be waiting at Hanwell Cemetery."
Jon High Platonic Relationship Response: "My life? Not yours or Tim's lives?"
Sasha: No. Not mine. He mentioned you, and Tim, and Martin though. I didn't know what to make of it, but you're all close enough to friend's for me to worry."
Jon: "Close enough?"
Sasha: "It's nothing personal. I try to avoid overlapping my life with work when possible, but I do like you all. I've had much worse jobs."
Jon: "Oh! Well, I suppose I understand. I enjoy your and Tim's company well enough too. Err...So what happened once you got to the cemetery?
-
Sasha: "As I was about to exit, though, it called after me, and said if I was interested in saving your life it would be waiting at Hanwell Cemetery."
Jon Romance Response: "My life? You uh, went to the cemetery to save my life?
Sasha: "Don't put it like that. It mentioned Tim and Martin too. It's just, your just so....you....I decided to check it out. You don't peg me as someone who does particularly well in danger, and I would heavily prefer if you didn't get eaten by a monster."
Jon: "I would also heavily prefer to not get eaten by a monster, but Sasha....in the future try to avoid putting yourself in danger for me. If something like this happens again call me. We can investigate it together."
Sasha: "...I'll try. But Jon. It's fine, really. I'm just glad you're in one piece and not monster food. And now that I'm here, we can work it out together at least."
Jon Sims - Jon thought about getting a tattoo in college. Georgie was going to get a flower tattoo and asked if Jon wanted to go with her and get a tattoo of his own. He thought about it. Decided that he would do something since these were his "youthful years," which Georgie pointed out was grandpa reasoning. Then he decides he'll get a small cat on his arm that can be covered, goes to the appointment with Georgie to get his tattoo....then watches Georgie get hers and chickens out because just watching that was too stressful for him to handle.
Martin Blackwood - Martin with a little rain cloud tattooed behind his ear that he hides with his hair. End tweet.
Tim Stoker - Tim has a a lower back tattoo, also called a trap stamp, that he got in his early twenties. He thinks they're hot and make him look fun and approachable to anyone who sees in a crop top in the club. Sasha saw it in full detail during their hookup, he randomly lore dropped this information to Martin, and Jon spotted it once when Tim's shirt rode up and he saw a phoenix on his very lower back.
Sasha James - She has a butterfly on her ankle. As she tells Tim, it represents transformation and change. She got it in a stagnant period of her life and just needed something new. She decided to go for the symbolism route, which is why she also has a shooting star on her hand. It symbolizes making a wish on a shooting star and she considers it a lucky charm. Granted, she's not sure if she actually believes in lucky charms, but she likes the the thought of them.
Melanie King - She has a dagger tattoo on her neck because she thinks it looks cool. It symbolizes her determination and fighting spirt. (Yes, BG3 did inspire me for this one.)
Georgie Barker - Georgie has multiple tattoos! She has a ghost on her hand, an orange cat on her shoulder, and a red spider lily going up her leg. She wants more, but hasn't sketched out any new concepts yet.
Basira Hussain - She doesn't have tattoos or want them, but she and Daisy have joked before that they're going to get matching flower tattoos on their hands.
Daisy Tonner - Daisy begged Basira to get matching hand tattoos with her. She wanted Basira to get a daisy for her, then she would also get a flower of Basira's choosing. However, Basira didn't want that and Daisy didn't want a lone tattoo. She views them as a good bond thing, but not something she necessarily wants on her own.
Peter Lucas - Peter has sailor tattoos! He has an anchor on his arm, and a siren with no mouth surrounded by fog on his leg.
Elias Bouchard - The body of Elias has a stick and poke tattoo of a weed leaf on his ankle. Jonah in the body of Elias wears high socks to make sure no one sees this ever.
Gertrude Robinson - I like to think when she was in her early twenties she decided to do something fun and get a tattoo. Ironically, and clearly not chosen with hindsight, she got an eye in a sun on her back. It really is just a coincidence, but it's a bad one. She also has a tattoo of a little grey cat on her ankle, which she also got in her twenties.
Gerry Keay - Gerard got his eye tattoos to claim himself. He didn't want the other fears to get the chance since he finds them much more...distasteful. But the other element to them is that he got them after Mary died, and she HATED tattoos. She said they took up "Good ritual space," which he didn't fully understand until, well, she showed him in the worse way possible. They were an act of rebellion from him. Both towards his Mother, and the other fears that would love to get a hold of him.
Hezekiah Wakely - He doesn't have tattoo's. If he did it would probably be of a shovel. I mean. What did you expect from the dirt guy.
Jane Prentiss - She has a tattoo of the wheel of fortune tarot card on her upper arm.
Agnes Montague - Agnes has no tattoos, but in another life she might have had forest vines(Like where she was born) tattooed on her.
Jude Perry - Jude said she got her back tattoo as a tribute to The Desolation, but the irony is that getting something fun like a tattoo is indulgent and not very "embrace all consuming loss" of her, which aligns with how she reacts when Jon kills her, becoming afraid and trying to barter for her life with words instead of embracing The Desolation.
Oliver Banks - He has an evil eye tattoo on his wrist. He got it as a symbol of protection when he still worked at the gem store and the dreams had just started. It was a comfort to him at the time, but unfortunately didn't stop his nightmares. However, he still likes it.
Jared Hopworth - He got a tattoo on his arm of a barking German Shepard once because he thought that would look scary. Then he decided he was bored with it and tore it off and remade the flesh. The joy and horrors of being a flesh avatar.
Michael Shelley - He has a stick and poke of a smiley face on his thigh. It was a spontaneous thing he did when he was 18, and when he's older he's deeply embarrassed about it because his art skills at 18 were...not great. The tattoo currently looks less like a smiley face and more of a weird smudge, which he does keep as The Distortion. He switches from a weird smudge to a visible smiley face.
Helen Richardson - She never had tattoos. She didn't like how they looked, which is very ironic considering the occasional spirals that happen under her skin as The Distortion.
Nikola Orsinov - Nikola has had tattoos here and there, they come with skin sometimes after all. However, she doesn't have any tattoos at the moment.
Michael Crew - Mike doesn't have a tattoo. He did kind of think about getting a tiny book based on Ex Altiora on his finger, but then decided that he just wasn't feeling it that hard.
Simon Fairchild - He has a sailboat on the back of his neck.
Anabelle Cane - She has spider webs all over her back. They're very large and noticeable, going in a crisscross pattern all up and down her spine, like she's being held together by webs.
I think it's a skill to write a character who's writing I love, yet totally agreed with her that she needed to die narratively.
I think Daisy is one of the worst avatars. She's not like Mike and just randomly finding people to get fear from, she's using a system to hurt people she decides deserves it and perpetuating police brutally and corruption. While Mike, and Jude, and sometimes even Jon aren't stellar people, none of them use such a systematic issue to get away with their violence. In that way Daisy is uniquely awful because she's taking advantage of a broken system to hurt people.
In that way I think she's irredeemable. I don't think the story could have, or should have, ended with Daisy skipping off into the sunset. What she did isn't a "Oops, my bad," level of mistake, and I really think the only way her story could end was with death, because it's not like the jail system could be trusted to hold her accountable.
However, what I find REALLY good about Daisy's writing, is that when she ends up free from The Hunt, she realizes everything I said above, and she tries to do something we don't really see avatars do, and that's change.
Changing as an avatar isn't simple. As we see with Jon in Season 5, you can't just cut your supply once you're a certain amount of entangled. You'll die by refusing to indulge the fears anymore. So with that in mind we don't really see avatars change (or even want to in some ways) to reject their fear. They go towards it, get more pulled into, and get more dependent which will stop them from ever being able to change without killing themselves to do it.
But Daisy knows she's done things that can't be taken back. And unlike Mike, or Jude, or even Jon up until the end of Season 5, she decides to take true accountability over her actions and her life, no matter what that means. She knows she's going to die eventually, but she would rather do that then go back to her immoral actions, and really that's the closest thing to redemption a character like Daisy is ever going to get.
Then in the end, she DOES give up The Hunt, but not because she hates monsters. Before that's why she would have sacrificed herself, because she would hate Trever and Juliet for being something like Jon. However, this time when she sacrifices herself, she sacrifices herself for the people she cares about. She's lost her fight, but she gain some integrity on WHAT she was fighting for right at the end.
So yeah I think her writing's amazing, and she's one of my favorite characters just because I think she's insanely well written. She's terrible person obviously and I'm going to even attempt to excuse what she because the things she does is inexcusable, but damn Jon (The creators) pen was on fire while writing her.
What are your most controversial opinions about TMA?
To be honest, I don't think I have any that are CRAZY controversial. Both the positive and negative things I could say about this show are usually pretty aligned with the overall fandom opinion, but I'll do my best to think of something interesting.
Uh. I think Martin's flaws are a lot more interesting than his positive character traits. I do love his positive traits, don't get me wrong, but I feel like "Sweet teddy bear love interest," is kind of a basic trope. That's why I find his manipulative tendencies and sometimes self-centered or Jon romance-centered traits to be really fascinating, because I feel like they really deconstruct the idea of "the perfect love interest that has no personality outside of endlessly loving and showing loyalty to the MC."I really love Martin, but I don't think I'd his character half as fun if I thought less things were wrong with him.
I would have preferred Simon dying and Mike staying as the "main" Vast avatar. Oh and with that, I don't really care for Simon's character. There's no "real" reason, I just was kind of over the "avatar who's having fun with it," idea quick, because to me, I just personally find the avatars with more complex emotions significantly more interesting. Especially because I think we often do explore avatars having fun with their abilities. In fact, I think Season 5 is mostly about this exact topic, with Jon going on his revenge spree and struggling with his humanity VS his natural inclination to The Eye. I am maybe just not whimsical enough. Sorry to the Simon fans that I was a film critic in another life.
I think Melanie/Sasha could have been insanely good and interesting. I also really like Melanie/Georgie as a concept, and they are very cute, but I kind of wish they did more with them. Especially in Season 5 with the cult and the end of the world impacting their honeymoon stage. I just think their dynamic had a lot more room for exploration.
I wish Season 5 would have had only a few statements. Like, I wish they might have done a few episodes talking about the domains, and then just moved onto the plot/the experiences of people and monsters we've come to know along the way as they face the apocalypse. My biggest criticisms about Season 5 is that it feels very rushed in places, and I think cutting down the domain statements significantly would have helped that maybe.
And I would choose for TMA to have an overarching plot, BUT there is just a small part of me that wishes we had five seasons of a monster of the week show about a skeptic reading statements. TMA seasons 2-5 are fantastic, and enjoyable, and Season 3 is my favorite actually, but there's something about Season 1 that's magical. A part of me wouldn't have minded the series not growing.
Jon is a very flawed person, and most of the time in TMA when someone gets mad at him it is valid to at least an extent, but because we have all the thoughts and emotions of Jon literally read out to us, it's easier to sympathize with him than someone like Tim or Melanie because we don't get their POV in the same way we get Jon's. If Tim was the protagonist and he was making statements about his boss was watching him through the bushes, and how scared and isolated and betrayed that made him feel, Jon would be a lot more disliked.
I also think it's easier to side with Jon because he wants to move the plot forward and wants to learn the truth, which is what we the audience want because we're watching a show and we want something interesting to happen. However, if you think about Jon from inside the universe, I think it's easier to sympathize with everyone being like "Can you fucking stop?" I would be SO MAD if I told one of my friends "Hey. Can you please not feed the forbidden knowledge entity anymore? That's not going to end well and every time you push forward you make something worse," and they just kept pushing forward until they ended they world. I would be livid. Like, I love Jon, he's my favorite character in the whole show, but it makes me sad when people under analyze certain characters because they're mean to Jon. Most of their emotions towards him are understandable to at least a degree, and Jon pushing the plot forward was actually a really bad thing in this particular universe.
I think that's all really. I don't think I have any explosive takes TBH.
I'm rewatching TMA again because fork found in kitchen. But I actually forgot one of my actual controversial opinions!
I think "Arachnophobia" was a very silly episode and I was surprised the fandom liked it so much. Not that there's anything wrong with liking it, I don't hate it or have an intense negative feelings towards it, It just came off very "A character in a sitcom has a phobia of spiders." to me.
So actually I do have an opinion that doesn't align with the overall fandom.
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The irony of Laura Popham (Statement giver from "Lost John's Cave") saying "She used to joke that it felt like the earth itself was trying to kick her ass. If only she had known," without knowing that her sister was likely a target of The Buried getting some fear out of her before the final cave incident happened is such good dramatic irony. Alena wasn't the only one who didn't know everything. Laura did not even know the main plot of the series she was in.
Just weighing in on some not so controversial TMA controversies because I have thoughts on them but not long enough ones to make my own post each.
Weighing in on the "How did the statement giver from Lost John's Cave manage to lie about what happened when under Jon's compulsion" thing, I think my simple and honestly boring headcanon is that Laura had repressed her part in her sisters death so bad she had managed to even lie to herself. I think she created this false memory of escaping the cave on her own because that was easier to sit with than the idea that she escaped because she sacrificed her sister to save herself. Trauma does crazy things to people and can absolutely alter how they perceive reality.
Though this would have interesting implications that compulsion doesn't force a 100% true recollection of events, it just forces someone's perceived recollection of events.
Then as for the vampires and if they belong to the fears: I actually think it's more fun if they aren't. I think it would be cool if the fears existed AND supernatural beings existed, and it's actually pretty easy to mix the two up if you're new in the paranormal field. So my personal headcanon is that supernatural beings are just real, especially since we knows changelings are real lore in the universe.
But if you wanted me to make an excuse for their existence that aligned with the fears: I would say they're beings aligned with the hunt. They're compelled to hunt for victims all their life, and I actually think their existence gives hunters a more wide variety of prey. They could have even been created by The Hunt itself to give hunters something to do, since "monster hunter" is a well known concept and one of the only jobs that lets you kill people without technically killing people. That could easily be compelling to a hunter, like how we see with Trever and Julia who are trying to do a noble thing with their work...at least in their own heads.
So basically my interpretation of the TMA lore is "realism" and "Sure. I love magical vibes." I am nothing if not inconsistent.
I am thinking about TMA being a choice based game again, and I am thinking about how Tim's death dialogue could change based on if Jon romanced him or not, and if Jon let Tim go with him to The Unknowing, or refused to take him just to be followed by an insanely angry Tim anyways. So yeah, here's that:
Tim Not Romanced, Let Him Go To The Unknowing - "Jon, if you can hear me, I don't forgive you. But thank you for this."
Tim Romanced, Let Him Go To The Unknowing - "Jon, I need to tell you. God I hate you for making me want to forgive you. But I guess you always did a great job playing with my feelings. In that regard you were consistent right until the end....Just try not to die, alright? Thank you for this."
Tim Not Romanced, Try And Stop Him From Going To The Unknowing - Jon, if you can hear me, I don't forgive you. All you have ever done is make things worse, and nothing about what's about to happen is going to stop that. Fuck you.
Tim Romanced, Try And Stop Him From Going To The Unknowing - Jon. I need to tell you that I hate you. I hate you more than I've ever hated anyone and for some reason that makes me hate you more than I already do. I wish you were who I thought you were....Fuck you, Jon.
Do you think Tim would have lived if Sasha hadn't died?
No, but this is very based on my interpretation of what would have happened if Sasha lived.
I feel like if Sasha lived, their friendship was likely doomed. Sasha was very eye-aligned and wanted to solve the mystery of what was going on around her, while Tim quickly grows to hate the situation he's involved in. I think Sasha would get further involved in the mystery and fall more towards The Eye, and Tim would not.
I almost think he grow to be resentful of Sasha, especially because he seems to be closer to her than Jon or Martin. I could see Sasha going full detective mode, and Tim just, not being able to fully forgive her for that because from his perspective she's doing kind of what Jon did and standing beside the mystery even at the cost of their friendship.
Jon would likely be less paranoid if Sasha lived because the Not! Sasha wouldn't be under nose, so I think Tim might be less mad at him at first. However, I still feel with Jon's character he'd almost inevitably end up crossing some sort of line of Tim's, because Tim's thing wasn't entirely about Jon's paranoia (Though that was a lot of it.) It was also about his dislike for the fears in general, and being trapped as a servant to an evil entity. I don't think Tim would see Jon fall to the eye and not pissed, and I don't think Jon would or maybe even could change from who he is, which is someone who will go to any lengths to find out forbidden knowledge.
So I feel like Tim and Jon would still have a falling out, Martin would still side with Jon, and Sasha would likely be less close with him which I think could cause Tim to be resentful of the circus almost in the same way if she had she died. And regardless of what happened with Sasha or Jon, I still think he'd want to avenge Danny and free himself from the fears push come to shove.
I do think Jon and Sasha's death do contribute to him being so fine blowing himself up in canon, but in this hypothetical I think Danny's death, his own desires to be free, and Sasha maybe (Probably??) pulling away from him and Jon's near inevitable line cross, would be enough for him to sacrifice himself in The Unknowing. So I think Tim dies no matter what. I think he didn't have a long time the second he learned The Institute was evil and he was stuck with it to be honest with you.
The Buried - "Bury The Bully." (Strictly because the word bury is in the title.)
The Corruption - "Honey Queen."
The Dark - Literal Monster (So here's the deal, I was stuck on this one, and this is actually the last one I'm writing because I never write in these in order, so my thought process is "Literal Monster" because a lot of people fear the dark because they're scared a literal monster is under their bed!....Yeah I was stuck bad.)
The Desolation - "Killer Track."
The End - "Black Friday."
The Extinction - "What If Tomorrow Comes."
The Eye - "One Thousand Eyes."
The Flesh - "The Nibbly Ditty"
The Hunt - "Feast Or Famine"
The Lonely - "Just For Once."
The Slaughter - "Hatchet Town."
The Spiral - "The Summing"
The Stranger - "Not Your Seed."
The Vast - "Inevitable" (Playing with the fact that The Vast is also the fear of insignificance before the universe, and inevitable is about how Emma's struggles were insignificant in the grand scheme of things because she's already in a musical, the ending was inevitable.)
The Web - "The Witch In The Web." sounds like The Web trying to win someone over.
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"The few friends I did have after a year of outburst and cancelled plans." This is what Oliver Banks says in "Dreamer," and it makes me wonder so much about Oliver's social life.
I assume his breakdown about his powers probably made him lose the last few friends he had, either because he pushed them away in fear of seeing a tendril, or because he was starting to act erratic in a way that hard to understand/handle.
But what if it didn't, and he still had some friends when the boat incident happened? Then one day he came back wrong and they weren't able to reconcile with it.
Or worse, he still had friends with the apocalypse happened, and ironically, becoming the ultimate avatar of death also meant him loosing the people he cared for to the chaos.
I wouldn't think that concept was that crazy. If they stuck by Oliver at such a bad time at his life, then they were real friends who cared about him a ton. They might have stuck around all the way to the end, which makes Oliver getting so entwinned he's not even able to care anymore even more tragic.
I want to know more about the fate of Oliver Bank's friends.
I get so bummed when people are like "Oh! Now that you posted these headcanon's about what kind of pets the TMA characters would have or something I kind of want to write headcanon's of the same concept but I don't want to copy you."
Because everything I write is just me being on the autism express, and getting more content about ideas I was broadly thinking about it is my actual end goal in all this. Where you say copying, I say my plan all along.
What I think TMA character's favorite desserts would be just based on vibes:
Jon Sims - French Silk Pie.
Martin Blackwood - RIP Martin Blackwood for being British. He would love southern teacakes. (I know Britain has teacakes, but they're different things and according to Google not technically a dessert.)
Tim Stoker - Molten Lava Cake With Strawberries On The Side.
Sasha James - Cherry Pie.
Melanie King - Lemon Bars.
Georgie Barker - Mango And Chili Sorbet.
Basira Hussain - Rice Pudding.
Daisy Tonner - Carrot Cake.
Peter Lucas - Vanilla Milkshake.
Elias Bouchard - Peanut Butter Cookies.
Gertrude Robinson - Peach Cobbler.
Gerry Keay - Literally any flavor of gelato.
Hezekiah Wakely - Dirt Cake.
Jane Prentiss - Before the worms she liked angel food cake,
Agnes Montague - Red Velvet Cake.
Jude Perry - Cinnamon Cayenne Cookies.
Oliver Banks - Chocolate Lava Cake.
Jared Hopworth - Sanguinaccio Dolce. (Chocolate pudding made with pigs blood, and flavored with cinnamons and cloves.)
Michael Shelley - Vanilla Pudding. (He likes banana pudding too, but he slightly prefers vanilla.)
Helen Richardson - Tiramisu.
Nikola Orsinov - Caramel Apples.
Michael Crew - Blueberry Delight.
Simon Fairchild - RIP Simon Fairchild for being British. He would love deep-fried Oreos.
Some TMA LGBTQ+ headcanon's because guess what I am. Some are meant to be serious. Some are just meant to be funny.
Jon Sims - Jon did not realize that asexual was not the default until he was in his 20's. He heard songs about wanting sex on the radio, and read books where lust was a driving emotion for characters actions, but he thought it was all overexaggerated feelings for media. It was actually when he was with Georgie that she told that some people actually do feel that way, much to his shock.
Martin Blackwood - He realized he was gay later in life than most people on account of being sort of a late bloomer who wasn't really into anyone until he was in his early twenties. He's always amazed by the people who just knew who they were. That was always kind of a battle for him.
Tim Stoker - He's a trans man, and his name was picked by Danny shortly after he came out. He actually thought "Tim" was kind of dull at first, but after some thought it really grew on him, and he liked having such a meaningful connection to his biggest supporter.
Sasha James - She's always looking for queer spaces because that's where she feels most comfortable considering her own identity. Meeting Tim, Jon, and Martin, and getting the chance to work with them was one of the best parts of her job, because it gave her a bit of community.
Melanie King - Melanie has never "technically" come out. She just started dating women and waited for everyone else around her to catch up.
Georgie Barker - She attends pride parades whenever they're around her. She like to be surrounded by community and see's pride events as great opportunities to make more connections. She has a lot of casual acquaintances from there, along with pins that she picks up from booths.
Basira Hussain - She spends a lot of time reading up on queer history. She finds it all very interesting to see how far LGBTQ+ people have come even with the various challenges. She's probably the most educated on this list, and various other characters know a lot as well! (Georgie, Jon, Gertrude, Martin, Especially.)
Daisy Tonner - She's a "I knew I was gay since I was two," person. So many people she knows have really long and nuanced stories about coming to terms with their queerness (Which is extremely valid!!!) while she just sort of always knew.
Peter Lucas - He headcanon's his boat as gay. It feels more familar that way.
Elias Bouchard - He loves rainbow capitalism. He launched the idea to Gertrude once about hosting their own pride night in June, but Gertrude pointed out that would be very homophobic/transphobic considering they would be plaguing queer people with nightmares. Elias thinks that's ridiculous since he's bi and doesn't care THAT much about the gender of his hosts, but whatever.
Gertrude Robinson - Gertrude has a small pride flag on her desk that Gerard left there. She leaves it because she's noticed that it makes statement givers more comfortable with her.
Gerry Keay - Gerard's gender is genuinely "whatever." He has intense gender apathy and is totally fine going by any pronouns. It's all on the table.
Hezekiah Wakely - His love language is writing letters, because he likes having something physical to remind him of all the sweet words he and another shared. Yes, this does have to do with his friend Nathaniel.
Jane Prentiss - She just gives me the vibes of someone who had a WLW situationship in college who fundamentally changed who she was as person.
Agnes Montague - She LOVES pride month because she finds the look of rainbows to be absolutely darling. She looks so forward to it.
Jude Perry - Conversation Jude has had at one point probably: "Have you ever noticed that the orange of fire kind of looks like the orange in a pride flag? No? Look harder then!"
Oliver Banks - He/they pronouns. A big reason he liked working at the gem store is because he got to wear a name tag with his pronouns and people respected them greatly.
Jared Hopworth - He has severely underanlayzed feelings for his childhood friend that was in "The Boneturner's Tale."
Distortion Michael - Michael made the homophobic vase because he was mad that being a spiral creature meant less men hit on him. If he can't be gay than no one can.
Distortion Helen - She sometimes spares LGBTQ+ during pride month to be themed. She kills them once the month is over, but the thought is there for 30 days. #LoveWins.
Nikola Orsinov - Less of a headcanon, more of a story. I read TMA on Github before I listened to it, and some fucking how I thought Nikola was a guy the entire time I was reading. I figured it out once I listened to TMA and actually registered the "her" pronouns Jon was using, but something about me being confused about her gender feels very genderfluid in a way I think a stranger creature would appreciate. But the actual headcanon is: They will take on other genders whenever they get bored with the one they currently have.
Michael Crew - Mike is romantically interested in men, but he also doesn't think about that a whole lot considering his life circumstances, so he's unlabeled. And don't try to label him on his behalf because he hates being boxed in. If you call him bi/gay then he's going to make a big deal about possibly being the other one just out of spite. It doesn't matter if you're technically correct or not.
Simon Fairchild - I feel like he's a very "he's confused, but he's got spirt!" type. Like, if he met a gay person it would go like this: Simon: "Do gay people like roller costars?" Gay person: "We aren't a hivemind." Simon: "Oh." Simon: "Do trans people like roller coasters?"
Anabelle Cane - Lesbian. That's my only headcanon for her but that's the one that feels most important to me.
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People don't actually crush on Jon a lot, so a lot of time Martin knows he's being kind of silly and Jon is playful about it because he's not going anywhere.
But then every once and while Jon meets someone he just connects with, because that's just the type of person he is. You either love him or hate him, and when someone loves being around him, they really love being around him.
And that makes Martin's jealously from "kind of silly," to something more serious that Jon is probably going to have to be really reassuring about, and even that likely isn't going to solve the whole problem, because Martin's jealously isn't really about someone liking Jon in general, it's more about the fear of abandonment. He worries that Jon will like someone more than him, or be happier in someone else's presence, or even leave him for someone else. And Jon does make genuine attempts to reassure him, but the doubt is something Martin really struggles with, so sometimes he has bad days where he can get caught up in his feelings about Jon seemingly connecting with someone else in an area which he "failed" at. So jealously is a struggle for Martin.
Then I think Jon is on the total opposite end of the spectrum, where if someone hit on Martin he would be more likely to just raise his eyebrow a bit, maybe have some light banter, then move on with his day. I don't think he would really read into Martin's innocent interactions with other people, or even have big reactions to Martin being flat out flirted with. Which I think could cause an issue in itself, where Martin see's Jon as "not caring," because he doesn't get jealous in the same way, but Jon's had more relationship experience and therefore he's just more settle into the dynamic of a relationship in general.
Plus, unlike Martin, I think Jon's self worth issues are more the loathing sort. Where Martin worries that he's not enough, I think Jon's self worth issues are more so along the lines of letting other peoples opinions of him having a large power over how he see's himself, guilt for things he limited control over, and unease about his wanning humanity. I don't think of any of THOSE issues would turn into jealousy. I think he's more likely to have "What do you see in a monster like me?" moment then a "Did you enjoy talking to that man more than you enjoy talking to me?" moment, where I think Martin is vice versa because his trauma presents very differently from Jon's despite being similar on paper.
And yeah I don't really know how to end this post. TLDR: Martin would probably struggle with jealously even if Jonmartin could be together in a better world. Jon probably wouldn't, because his trauma affects him in a different way.
Evan Lukas is a super underrated character, what do you mean that he not only turned away from his family that worshipped loneliness, but saved someone else he loved from it as well. Once in life by just being there for her, and another in death, by helping her find the path to get out of the fog and onto the road.
By freeing himself from his loneliness he was able to free someone else from his families grip as well. And even after being punished for leaving with death, he still found a way to cling to connection. He still found a way to speak with Naomi after death.
Even death could not make him lonely. In the end he truly won over his family, and the fears himself. Making him a pretty unique character in a podcast where it's near impossible to win once a fear starts plaguing you.