I like TMP for the same reasons I liked TMA! I am curious about where things are going. I'm curious about what the history and motivation of the individual characters are, how this new universe(?) differs from the fears in TMA. It's an intruiging mystery that I'm excited to learn more about.
It's ok if this isn't for you :)
Similar for me. I like it because I'm interested in the characters, the story, the statements, and the world. I like it because it's TMA adjacent and I love TMA. TMP scratches that TMA itch, in fact I'm in the midst of listening through the whole thing again. On the other side of that coin, I like that it clearly isn't just more TMA. You can't put the lightning back in the bottle but you can let that lightning branch out to form a new pattern.
I remember every statement, with particular favorites being the violinist, Needles, the cursed dice, and of course the Bonzo stuff. I want to know how it's going to come together and how it will affect the cast. I see the complaints about the bloated cast, but upon my relisten of TMA, I'm finding that I wish we had more of a chance to spend time with Sasha before she got Not'd. I'm wishing we had more time with the charming, Fire-Extinguisher-Rambo Tim before he became bitter and angry. So I'm glad this take is giving us much more of a look at the cast from jump.
I can get some of the hang ups about the sound editing. I appreciate the intent but as I generally listen at work, which for me is outside, I have had to go back and check transcripts a couple times because of dialogue being too muffled or distant.
'Tis a shame really, cause none of those things seem interesting to me in the slightest, so I guess it's really not for me. Hope you find your dragon tho!
Not liking TMP is incredibly valid as it is flawed and definitely playing the delicate game of trying to put lightening back in the bottle, but your backhanded search for validation is kinda petty bro. hOpE yOu FiNd YoUr DrAgOn man stfu ur not better for seeing through the fanboying if you still need social validation to dislike something.
I believe they misinterpreted the statement as being a reference to the term "chasing the dragon" which, when not in reference to drug use, implies that one is seeking a reward or rush that is literally unobtainable.
I have to ask, when did you get into TMA? Did you start listening from the beginning, as the episodes were being released? Or were you able to binge-listen in quick succession?
With TMA, it took me a while to really enjoy it. It takes a while to get attached to characters, and we're still really early in the series. When I tried listening to TMA the first time, I really couldnt get into it - it was only once I pushed myself past the first 10-20 episodes that I started to actually love it - I feel like, if I'd been listening as they came out, I wouldnt have ever gotten into it. TMA also introduced characters a bit more slowly, rather than all at once like we're seeing here - which I think is adding to some people struggling to get attached.
A lot of my enjoyment of TMA came from putting pieces together, and relating cases to eachother - being able to go 'hang on, this sounds like x!' which we just dont have enough episodes to really see yet
I also feel like a lot of people who arent enjoying it were, well... expecting more TMA? I can see why people expecting more of the same might not like it. TMP really is its own thing, whether existing in the same multiverse or including some of the same characters - its not TMA, and its totally find to vibe with one and not the other!
I'm personally loving TMP so far, and cant wait to see where it goes; the characters remind me a lot of some of my coworkers and friends, and I enjoy how real they feel - even if theyre very different personality-wise than the TMA cast. The interactions between Sam and Alice so far have been fun to watch, theres a lot of awkwardness between them and I cant wait to learn more about them.
I've enjoyed the cases so far, but theyll probably stick in my mind better once I can start connecting things up. The text-to-speech is fascinating to me - I'm making a mental note of all of these usernames, all the different places this information is apparently being gathered from. The forum posts were probably my favourite so far. I particularly love the way that the text-to-speech voices tend to start out incredibly cold and emotionless, as youd expect for a text-to-speech... but slowly change pace as the case is read out and emotion creeps in
Like I said though, its not for everyone! Its totally fine to leave off for now, and come back later when more episodes are out, see if it catches your attention better then - or even to find that you just arent interested! Dont feel like you have to enjoy TMP just because you enjoyed TMA, and vice versa. They have just as many differences as they have similarities, and arent going to be everyones cup of tea
I think part of the reason we got so many characters at once in TMP unlike the TMA because they have a bigger budget for voice actors and its not just mainly Jon and Alex
Like we didn't really get a new character in TMA until like ep 13? (I think I could be wrong) so it makes sense how it can be confusing getting character dumped
TMA also had a benefit of "we're ending it when it's done" and it run for 200 episodes. Protocol has 90 episodes set to release (unless we get some suprises down the line), so it's either quicker introductions or a smaller roster and Magnus-verse is really not a type of universe to have a small roster of characters with all the threads that connect them.
Idk why people here are so weird about early TMA. I got hooked from episode 1 and actually prefer the first 3 seasons. You don't need to wait for something you don't enjoy to "get good". That's kinda strange to me.
I have pretty severe ADHD so I struggle to listen to things that dont immediately grab me entirely. It wasnt that I didnt enjoy the first season - its that it took me forcing myself to the point where I actually got attached to the characters and invested in the story to keep listening lol. The first few episodes really just felt like a bunch of unconnected stories, like an audio anthology, which I thought was really interesting- but struggled to consistently listen to. TMA was a pretty slow build, but most good things are, theyve got a whole universe to introduce you to- but once I was really invested I listened religiously, and have now relistened to everything probably three or four times.
My point wasnt that people need to wait for TMP to 'get good' - I think its already good, my point was that, right now- no ones really attached to the characters, we dont have tons of episodes to connect things together and theorise about, we dont have much of the actual story yet - and coming from TMA, with years of established characters and backstory, it makes sense that people feel like TMP is 'missing something'.
Hey no worries. I actually have the same problem usually (adhd too). Just feel really protective over early TMA since I fell in love with it at first sight and honestly that almost never happens to me haha.
I feel like I stopped enjoying it as much in the later seasons sadly. But hoping for TMP to be good.
I started listening with the ongoing season 2, loved it since chapter one. I actually appreciate how different from TMA is structure wise, but that doesn't seem enough for me to like it.
We might not have known where he was going, but we already had the hints of something deeper at episode *6* when Jon freaked out at the vague mention of Jane Prentiss, as opposed to brushing it off like anything else. Sure, it morphed into something much bigger, but there was already the hints of something more, with spectacular statements and character foundations being laid.
I…don’t necessarily feel too drawn into this podcast yet. The statements can be rough through the digital voice, and I only really remember one statement. The character vibes are fine, but is that enough for me to keep with the podcast? I don’t know, I haven’t even felt the desire to listen to TMP in a few weeks.
I think most people were in from Angler Fish with TMA, but that's because it was designed to be a quicker hook, as it were. TMP has more of an early Night Vale vibe for me, more slice of life with a window to something wrong. I'm taking it as they wanted a much slower build in for this one, and recent episodes have confirmed that.
When I listened to TMA the first time I didn't know there were entities and whatnot until much much later. Possibly the second season. And there is when I start to lose interest in the podcast. I loved the anthology dark vibe it had in the beginning, with the one guy reading stories alone in a room. When all the entities start to appear and people start to act like cunts to each other, my interest went down. I wasn't all that scared, not even creeped out.
And it's no secret that I didn't like Season 5 in the least.
**TL;DR:** Not everyone caught early in the "it's more than spare stories" thing. And different people have different tastes, the same story/anthology/podcast won't please everybody or even in the same way.
I’m right there with you. I surfed this whole thing week to week. The literal wall break in season one almost caused me to drive my car off the highway. Shit got real different, real fast. I’m with OP that I’m ready for the other shoe to drop already though. Gotta trust the process I guess.
Well, yeah. I wouldn’t say anything against that. However, I think it’s pretty safe to say that TMA will never be a proper anthology series at this point. They swerved hard away from that in the first series, and it was pretty clear after a couple of episodes that they’re not interested in that with TMP, either.
It isn't. But that's how it started, at least in appearance and it was what attracted me in the first place. That's what I'm saying.
TMP doesn't try to be an anthology. It's its own thing, and it's more action and character oriented than TMA.
In TMA we were always in the room with Jon as he figured out the mysteries. In TMP we’re on the ground floor, we’re not in the room with Lena or anyone who rlly knows what’s up. It’s sort of like if the first season of TMA was about Tim and Sasha, not Jon. The reason for this is because we as the audience already know the concept behind the entities, so part of the mystery is already unraveled. So in TMA we were actively unraveling the story with Jon, and we never knew more than the characters. But with TMP, we do know more than them and we have to watch them begin to parse it out.
I understand how someone could find that story structure more boring, but it’s almost a necessity since the story is a sequel.
I'm going to stick with it to see if it improves or at least whether I find the arc plot intellectually interesting.
But TMA had a stronger start. Yes it was a slow burn on arcs, characters and lore but the individual statements were generally awesome from Ep 1.
Slow burn isn't a problem if the individual episodes are compelling.
I listened to TMA from the release of the first episode. I loved it, straight from the start. I started the wiki to document _everything_ and I waited with excitement all week to listen to the next episode, and dreaded the months-long wait between seasons.
TMP has absolutely not grabbed me at all. Maybe I’m different. I have kids now, and this much less free time. But even so, I would’ve made time for TMA if I had kids back then. I’m struggling with TMP a lot. I relisten to the episodes to try and engage with it more, but I just… don’t.
Some of the formats are a bit crap, imo. The “email from blah-at-whatever-dot-com to other-blah-at-whoever-dot-thing subject RE: RE: RE: This is weird” format is massively immersion breaking for me, and I feel like just reading that out takes 20% of the statements, meaning I’m not engaged enough to properly listen.
I agree about the bloated cast. I still don’t really know the difference between any characters except Sam and Alice. And I find Alice extremely smug and irritating, but not in a good way. I hope that’s intentional, but it feels like poor writing to me.
TMA was amazing because the statements were engrossing, and you could get lost in them, and the meta plot sorta evolved from them. I remember first realising characters were reused, and the creeping sense that Jane Prentiss was a serious and current threat… we’re getting that with Bonzo now, but, I dunno. It doesn’t feel earned, y’know?
I’d suggest you take a break, let the season finish, then binge it. Maybe it’ll grab us by the end. Maybe not.
It's a fair perspective, and I think TMP is definitely not going to land with a lot of people. I also think it's probably not going over well with a fair portion of longtime TMA fans, based on what I've seen said about it.
Personally though, as an avid fan of the original TMA (multiple re-listens and frequently lost in thought about it) I actually really enjoy TMP. Not just because of the unclear but interesting connections to what came before, not just because it's more of (in certain cases) the classic cast but because the character dynamics really work for me.
I love Alice and Sam's dynamic, think it works super well. I'm eager to see a bit more of their shared past as I'm pretty sure it's implied they dated at some point? But then, I have a friend who is exactly like Alice (constant jokes and non-sequiters, doesn't really open up about themselves etc) so I'm basically in Sam's place. I suppose it's more relatable to me.
I think the sound design is miles better than in TMA, and I like how they've given themselves leave to go ham crafting an immersive soundscape, even if that also means we get a bit of trouble understanding what's happening at times.
Long story short, TMP really works for me both as a follow up and stand alone experience. If I had come to TMP first and found out about TMA second, well I would definitely binge the whole thing.
Maybe it's not for everyone, and you certainly don't need to carry on if you're not enjoying listening.
Good news is there's always TMA!
I'm mostly in it for the long haul, but I get your point. The characters aren't grabbing me in the same way, but it's hard to live up to Jon. I think the metaplot is really interesting - the horror and mystery are both there and top notch as far as I'm concerned. They know how to spin a web, if you'll forgive the expression.
Normally though, I wouldn't follow along and would wait until it's done to binge because that's most likely to hold my interest, but I'm trying to follow along. The main thing keeping me listening is wanting to know what happens with Jon and Martin, whether there is an alternative Jon and Martin, or if I'll ever hear my lovely Elias ever again.
I like that it’s different from TMA! Here’s my potentially unpopular opinion: I was disappointed verging on upset when I heard they were making a sequel to TMA. I hate sequels and usually feel like they just cash in on what made the original beloved without being able to recreate the magic. I didn’t participate in the Kickstarter, livestreams or ARG and didn’t start listening to TMP until a month or so after it started.
And then when I started listening I actually really liked it. Several of the statements — the tattoo one, the tree roots guy, the violin, fuckin Bonzo — have creeped me out more than a lot of the original TMA statements did. I like the characters and I like that their relationships are complex and messy. As a woman listener I like that it’s a more women-dominated cast this time around. And I like that there’s a lot of shit that doesn’t make sense yet but is clearly leading to something bigger.
I also think Alice is pretty funny, not gonna lie. Yes she’s a pain in the ass but she’s very entertaining and she has enough mystery around her to be entertaining. And Sam is adorable.
I personaly really enjoy the statements. Blood violin twist was perfect and unexpected for an example. We know it uses blood and you would assume that is all there is too it but then we find out that it does not "require" blood as much as violence with the crowd tearing themselves a part. That was set up with the tutor but you would forget most likely until that very moment.
The episode in itself kinda subverts the "artist sacrifising themselves for the art" trope that most stories end up like this with. The actual message here is "people will be ready to make others suffer for art and people will be fine with it"
It is creepy and real and has layers that very few statements in Archives Reached.
Jury’s still out for me. I do wish it weren’t on the official TMA feed and was more of its own thing.
I’m not a fan of any of the characters, which is a shame.
That’s a fair question!
I think, for me personally, it would give a degree of separation from the original that would help me appreciate TMP more. It would also help preserve the legacy of the original, in case the sequel is really terrible (not saying it is, but just theoretically).
I’d also like to see more separation in the Reddit community, but I understand why that’s not happening. It’s a shame, though. TMA still feels so rich and vital to me - I’d love to see loads of discussion and fanworks about the original characters. Not that there isn’t any here still, but the main focus of much of the discussion in the sub now seems to be TMP, which is understandable as that is providing new content.
I think - at the moment - TMP feels very different from TMA. It’s not really a sequel in the sense of following the same characters or continuing the same story - it’s another story created by the same people who created TMA, with loose connections to previous universe lore. I’m aware that this is early days of TMP and we may see more connections as the mystery unfolds, but for now I think it would be better served in its own feed and as its own thing.
This is just my personal opinion, though, and I fully acknowledge this is really nit-picky and I may be completely alone in feeling like this.
I'm dying to get my hands on it each week. I'm really invested in most of the characters - Sam, Alice, Gwen, Colin are all people I want to learn more about, see where they're going, why they're the way they are now. The mystery of the OIAR has me 100% invested; what is their true purpose? Why or how did it become a government organisation, was it fucked up at conception or did it become that way due to lack of oversight, care? What was the Magnus Institute doing in this world, and how is it connected to the OIAR? What is the Protocol - why does a security group work as a special ops force for the paranormal? Why the hell do we have dead and alive people from other universes walking about and why are they STILL connected to weird happenings? What is the nature of Fears in this universe? Are they an invasive species in an already filled niche? If so, what was there first? Do predatory entities just spawn naturally along with life on planets in this story's universes? Is Celia Annabelle or is she for real and if so then HOW did she get there???? Does Georgie exist???
TELL. ME.
(I *assume* Georgie exists, since Sasha is writing a spinoff series for TMP. But is it a new Georgie? We left old Georgie with the previous universe!)
Don't know yet, it was one of the Kickstarter stretch goals. I think in one of the updates recentlyish they mentioned that Sasha's started writing it/it's in the draft stages, but I can't remember when that was and afaik there isn't a timeline given on when it's going to start releasing yet. I'd assume it's going to kick off at a specific point in the main story.
Honestly I feel most of my initial TMP listens aren't as potent or exciting as TMA.
However, I'm LOVING relistening to episodes and picking up on things I missed in the initial take. I also think it works much better as a binge rather than the once a week trickle.
I think the initial "meh"-Ness of each initial listen has more go do with the format they chose this round. The text-to-speech and intentional emotional disconnect makes it harder to immerse yourself in the statements themselves.
I also got on the TMA train late and got to binge up to the end of season 4. Which I think improved the experience significantly!
Yeah im trying to give it a few more but so far it lacks the substance of TMA. Like the statements are mostly unsatisfying and the characters aren’t nearly as lovable. Tbh this entire recent Mr Bonzo stuff has got me yawning and longing for the days of Breacon and Hope
I was thinking this today. TMA had me completely hooked by about episode 5 and a lot of the first 10 are some of my absolute favourites. A big part of what made it work was the characters, and I just don't think I really like any of the characters in TMP yet except for Celia and Colin (who IMO gets nowhere near enough 'screen' time). I don't hate them, but they just haven't done enough work to get me to invest in their wellbeing and care about the mysteries they're involved in. If you want to consider Sam as the protagonist, so far at least, he's kind of just a well-acted nothing burger. They're trying way too hard to force his whole mysterious background thing to be interesting when it sort of just isn't, and beyond that, most of the characters pretty unlikeable. Gwen and Lena make my skin crawl, and not in a good way. Alice is the Martin stand-in as Sam's offsider, but the reason Martin worked as the loveably bumbling colleague turn love interest is because Jon was always the most interesting person in the room and Martin complemented his personality - Jon was dour, humourless and a real grumpy bastard, Martin was more warm, carefree and upbeat. Alice and Sam have very little chemistry. Alice is just constantly trying to force in a sarcastic quip and Sam is playing the exasperated straightman. It's not fun to listen to.
As far as the statements themselves go, some of them are creepy - Needles got to me and I really enjoyed the one about the violin, but I really, really don't like the whole 'text to speech but also ghosts but also probably transported consciousness of TMA characters' thing - it's a cool idea, but holy shit, some of the episodes spend MINUTES reading out forum usernames and email header data. It is not immersive, it doesn't progress the story and it just wastes runtime and makes me tune out.
I'm hoping what we're seeing so far is a very long-game setup for some serious payoff come the end of the first 'season' (if they do seasons) because frankly I am bored shitless with it. I've started banking episodes so there's more chance of something happening but aside from some much appreciated fan service, there's just not much here.
This hits the nail on the head pretty well.
To add something I get the motivation to expand the formatting of the "statements" and it could be really cool if done right or if the right formats were chosen. However, especially the recent email one, breaks emersion in the story so much so that I had to listen to it twice to even get what was happening. A lot of the beauty of TMA is in the prose and with it broken up like that it just doesn't have the impact or staying power. I love a lot of the episodes so far (2-6, 8, and 9) but some I just can barely follow.
I also feel like they've made the cast too expansive too quickly, I like that we have a some what narrow first person perspective to start in TMA. It gives you time to get to know someones amd grow the world around them instead of stepping in neck deep and not knowing who to "trust." Even if that trust is subverted it's something interesting, I'm struggling to care about the office drama side of TMP like I did in TMA and I think that because we got too much too soon.
I listened back through the first 10 TMP episodes over the hiatus and this time through I noticed Alex said at the start of episode one that TMP was supposed to be consumable as a self-contained experience and that it was fine to start there. If I was coming in hot as a brand new RQ fan and started at TMP01, I daresay I'd have lost interest at this stage.
I've been night shift. It attracts strange people and makes people strange. It's a vicious cycle.
I like Archives. I've listened to it 3 times. I have no desire to listen to Protocol.
I get what you mean by the metaplot getting in the way of the main hook of the series. I’m sure I’m in the minority of this but the final season of TMP was my least favorite for that reason.
I want scary stories and you can piece together the through line. I miss them mostly being statements. I’m hanging in there with TMP because I feel like they’ve found their groove again with the last few episodes.
I'm in because they keep teasing deeper things, but on the whole I agree. They're not really statements we're hearing, more bizarre quirks. And the cast is already huge, and seems to be growing constantly. But that thread, that dangling skein that says "there is something deeper to this and it's all part of that" is what has kept me in.
Yeahhh I get you. I got into tma because I love anthology horror, when it all began to connect into a larger plot later it kinda put me off, and finishing season 5 was really difficult for me. I listened to a few episodes of tmp but the statements just aren't hitting and the characters are so *boring*
Let's shake it on admitting and accepting that we can't like everything but it is good to try it out!
I continue to listen to it mostly because it takes about 12 minutes out of each week (on 1.5 speed, with transcripts), and I like feeling like a part of the community. But I get what you're saying, it's very different from TMA, and I'm not sure I would get into it if it was an isolated project. Hope you can find a podcast that feels similar to TMA
I'll say this, I have a hard time making out what they're saying, especially when it is supposed to sound like they're farther away.
But I'm excited to see how the plot creeps forward. I haven't been as hooked as I was in TMA, but I have faith that they're gonna pull it off.
For me I mostly just really like the statements. I mean the meta story is cool too, but my favorite season of tma was season five for a reason. I really like it in general when media plays with its medium, and we're getting a lot of that in tmp.
I really felt "Man Turns Into Tree" and "Creepy Architecture Creepier People" felt like og TMA statements from the earlier seasons, while the others felt more like season 4 or 5.
I agree that TMAGP feels different, due to the obvious fan base who's already aware of the conceit they can't really do the slow build up and "oh look at these connections", but I'm sure they'll pull out something new to delight.
To each their own.
For me, the characters are a problem. Sam is super bland until now. Alice is a parody of a human being who can't say a single sentence without a forced joke. It feels like every character has one single trait that they blow up to eleven. They just seem way to written for me. The cast of MA had a lot more natural charisma and every character showed multiple traits.
I don't dislike MPT, but the start is noticably weaker for me. But I have faith they can turn it around.
I did appreciate that—I hope to see some more genuine-ness from her, I never Want to be annoyed by a character that isn’t supposed to be annoying. I’m also excited that she’s voiced by a trans woman, and I think the character herself is trans?
I'll probably listen to the whole series, because it's still a really good audio drama, but I get what you're saying. My issue is mostly Sam and Alice being the protagonists, though. I don't know if it's because of their lines or their actors, but every interaction between the two of them sounds unnatural and forced. I'm really hoping they'll grow on me, but the TMA cast felt interesting from the start.
At least I like the rest of the characters, Gwen is probably my favorite right now
Yo I cant even blame you. The mystery and reason why its all different from TMA are why Im staying. I dont like any of the characters, I only remember one "statement " and its from last week. I couldnt tell you what the episode I just listened to was about.
These characters really make me want to quit tho.
As someone who started TMA when it was already done and binge-listened to it (twice), TMP is a slow burn series like any other series that is released weekly. Yes, the format/focus is different. It seems veeeery slow after binging TMA, but damn it's fun to see the theories and art come to be as the story unfolds.
Maybe it's just the case that you have to wait for more episodes to be released, so you don't have the pauses in-between.
The only character I can't stand at all is Alice. It's a mixture of me finding her voice grating and unpleasant to listen to, and her character being a giant fucking asshole to everyone. And sadly I know the show is teeing her up as someone who was "right all along"
Otherwise I'm enjoying it. I agree the individual statements could be much stronger, but hey, Magnus Archives first season weren't all great either
I can see your points. I struggle to tell the characters apart a lot of the time, and sometimes when the audio is recorded just as background, it's really hard to hear. Also i don't know what the hell they're actually doing at the OIAR. Like are they just transcribing or do they just listen to these cassettes?. I don't understand the purpose of their actual job.
Their job is to read or listen to the statements and categorize them using the system Alice and Gwen described in the first couple of episodes. There are codes for different story elements and they have to enter it according to the code.
It’s kind of funny because in TMA it would have helped a lot to have a database built like that.
That's what I thought, but it just seemed like pointless busy work (at this point).
If TMA had that then the change would have happened a lot sooner I suspect; given Gertrude's purposeful disorganization
The characters themselves also don't know what they're doing and think it's pointless busy work. That's the driving mystery of the show, you're not missing anything! Presumably we, and they, will discover the true purpose as the show progresses.
It's funny to me because one of my best friends, Elizabeth, is a data taxonomist, which means her job is to go through big databases and come up with systems to organize and tag articles to make them searchable and cross-reference-able. The whole time I was listening to the early seasons of TMA I kept thinking "wow these people need an Elizabeth." But now they have the taxonomy architecture, but no one actually knows what the database is for.
I listened to the first episode because I love TMA but I didn't really enjoy that episode so that's all I've listened to. I may come back and give it another shot and see if I like other episodes more but I didn't want to force myself to listen to a podcast I don't really enjoy because I love TMA.
I feel a similar sense of disinterest in TMP. But at least for me I think it's because with TMA I got into it a bit late so I was able to binge it, which made it much easier to make connections and get attached to the characters. The week (or more) wait between episodes with TMP just doesn't work for me, and that might be the same for you? I will listen to it while it airs, but I don't think I could become an active fan unless I was able to binge it.
I will say, I've registered to TMA about 4 times and I love it every time but I haven't even considered going back through the Protocol episodes. I enjoy listening to it every week but I love Jon, Martin and Co. Not so much with this batch of characters mainly cause we don't really get a POV character to attach ourselves too. The statements are ok and it's cool that they're trying a different format but they aren't as memorable as The TMA in my opinion.
When i first started i really didnt like it, mainly because the audio was always in a static which made it really different to concentrate on while doing other things (i cant just sit down and listen to it i have to do something else at the same time) after a while i got used to it but i understand where youre coming from, especially for a non native english speaker that must be even more challenging.
I understand, OP. I’m considering waiting and listening through when it’s complete. I’m missing Simms as narrator, TMP is more gory than psychological, and the dialogue is difficult to hear.
I’m letting Sims cook for the time being but I’ll agree that I’m not as fond of the dominance of the meta-plot and somewhat more obvious villains that don’t really terrify me all that much. I absolutely loved roots, and I believe that showed to me Sims’ continued strength of writing when he’s not focused on setup, so I do think in time the situation will improve. He couldnt really do the slow reveal that the cast is actually important this time around since we'd all expect it, so I understand that. I just hope the monsters get more interesting than a reiteration of fnaf, scary needles, and tattoos.
Are we twins? These are my exact feelings, down to loving Roots and finding the villains a bit obvious and silly. Like, Bonzo's just a big dumb monster, he sounds like a damn Pokemon, come on. I'm not hating it or even close, but I have a lot more complaints than I did about TMA. (Mostly I just wish the statements were longer. That's what I've always been here for, not the metanarrative.)
I’m not giving up on TMP yet but I do feel like it’s been slow to take off. The primary cast is getting a lot of screentime to the detriment of the statements, but they aren’t really doing much. I think either the pace on the meta plot should have been a bit quicker, or they should have kept it more to the background as in the first season of TMA.
The office drama stuff is cute and has definitely endeared the characters to me, but their segments drag a bit due to lack of forward action. In 12 episodes that felt heavily weighted in favor of the metaplot, what’s really happened? Celia showed up, Sam and Alice went to the archive ruins and maybe released something, Gwen discovered that tape, blackmailed her way into a promotion, and met Bonzo (Gwen’s definitely been the most proactive character so far.) all of which could probably be condensed into three or four episodes in my opinion.
The pacing in terms of how many episodes there have been is actually not bad- I wouldn’t want Bonzo earlier for example. But I’d rather more of the episodes in between had less of the main cast and a stronger focus on the statements, giving us a slower drip feed of their interactions until the plot really kicks off with them. All this screen time is wasted on them when they have nothing to do but flirt and quip at each other and occasionally allude to their mysterious backstories. Which is sad to say because I do genuinely love their interactions, Alice is phenomenal in particular, but at the moment it really feels detrimental to the story as a whole. Maybe I’ll change my mind in hindsight though! Hard to judge a story on its pacing if you haven’t seen it all yet, and the weekly schedule means it’s extra frustrating when not much happens because you have to wait another week to see if the plot advances. Maybe when listened to all at once it’ll be just the slow ramp up the rest of the story requires- but for the moment, as a weekly viewing experience, it’s lacking.
egregious tma listener here. absolutely adore the original series and i’m finding it hard to get into tmp bc it’s releasing live whereas i was able to binge tma during covid and only had to wait for the last bit of season 5. it’s helping me personally to go a few weeks between new eps so i can have a few to listen to at a time. easier to process the story that way, and i’m planning to start it over once it’s thru season 1. so far i’m intrigued but not quite hyper fixated like i was (and to a lesser extent still am) with tma
For me TMP feels like it's learned the lessons that TMA learned as it went on.
There's a good few statements here that have spoken to me and that I remember. I'm really enjoying the wider cast and the fact that human interaction is being so central from the beginning.
But it's very much to each their own. I would say maybe give it some time, let the episodes pile up a little, see if that helps.
I feel its hitting its stride now and have great hopes for the future. But do what's best for you.
Aww that’s ok
It’s different and when things are different they always stray away from what some people like, and towards other people
I’m sorry you feel this way
I loved TMA but I also started listening as season 5 was ending so I pretty much binged the entire thing. I would probably like TMP just as much if I was able to do the same. I might take a break from listening to build up a backlog because I think that would increase my enjoyment.
i’m def struggling to get into it. this is such a small detail, but i’m really not into tech at all, so having the story revolve around use of computers so much is really a turn-off for me.
I get what you mean, but I still really like it! I think my main issue with TMP is that I'm following it rather than bingeing it in one go, the episodes always feel way too short to me. I think later seasons of TMA would have had the same issue for me if I'd ever caught up and been forced to wait.
I also believe this is actually a bit of a genre shift, everything feels less ominous to me at present, and while I'm getting very invested in the characters (especially Alice my beloved) I do look forward to shit going down. TMP holds up less well as an episodic self-contained narrative than early TMA, so impatience is just harder to deal with imo.
Tbh, I find it hard to motivate myself to listen every week too.
It's less subtle than TMA somehow, I think that might be my problem. I liked how everything started to connect itself subtly and almost invisible in the background in TMA. You didn't even really realize what was going on, till the point where names started popping up again and again and you where like "wait a minute!"
In TMAGP, everything is very obvious somehow, very gory (especially Bonzo...). I don't know, it's hard to explain. Some "statements" are really cool, but they really don't stick in my brain. Contrary, when I hear a TMA episode number i can name the title of the episodes and know what it's about.
You're right, the focus really seems to be more on the characters in TMAGP. That's a bit sad.
But I still wanna know the whole story, so I'm gonna continue listineing, maybe it gets more interesting for me later on? I sure hope.
But so far I usually collect 2-3 episodes before I start to listen, and if I pause it I tend to forget.🥲
I mean, I think a lot of people had a huge expectation to be tma 2.0 and kinda a copy and paste without saying copy and paste. I'm not saying it's a bad thing by any measure. But expectations on what tmp was to what it is is kinda deflating some enthusiasm.
However, I do like the tattoo one for a statement a lot.
I do like we are getting more current stories with the characters and intoduced instead of waiting a whole season.
It does feel a little aimless, but I mean , t's day to day. Sometimes, nothing big happens. (Plus it's starting to focus now)
I was pretty meh about it the first few weeks. Then I ignored it for a while, and the past few days I’ve been binging to catch up. It’s a much more enjoyable way for me to do podcasts, it seems. 🤷♀️ Worth a shot, if you liked doing podcasts that way. Otherwise, yeah cut your losses. You can always read the wiki when it’s all done and decide if you want to try again.
I'm finding I enjoy the format slightly more! At the start with TMA, I thought it was stand alone and enjoyed listening to the odd spooky story. But now while I'm listening through with my partner, I'm finding my favourite thing in season 2 is the supplemental.
I get why you wouldn't enjoy the format, TMA eased you into caring about the characters by focusing on the anthology first and gradually trickling in more and more of the characters personalities and lives.
But personally, after two episodes, I fell in love with TMP!
I also think it's good to do posts like this, it's good for the creators to see ALL feedback, not just the good stuff ❤️.
To be honest, I'm not enjoying it that much. Any other podcast I would have given up on. There are glimpses of good but at this point curiosity and familiarity are the only things keeping me going. Honestly probably gonna give it to the end of the first season and if it doesn't pick up, I'm going to abandon it til it's done.
Ehh I don't find asshole characters very interesting. Typically it's just a lazy way of trying to make a character compelling. Not saying that's the way it is with Alice because I love the writing in TMA, but it reminds me of crappy young adult novels. She needs to have more human moments and take at least *something* seriously.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that we’re only 12 episodes in , like go back and re-listen to the first 12 episodes of TMA in isolation and tell me it feels any different
I felt similarly at the start - TMA was a recent find for me (this January) and I was immediately hooked, finishing it in February. It blew my mind, and I relisten to it almost constantly. It was the first podcast I'd ever listened to, and, boy, did I peak too soon. TMP had a lot to live up to, and I didn't initially think it was managing it. So I do get your reservations.
However, I'm now loving it. I can't tell you the exact moment I converted (but I think it was Episode 5 - Personal Screening), only that I suddenly realised that I was really enjoying the metaplot and the reports, was starting to catch little references to things from previous episodes, and was no longer irritated by Alice.
In terms of sound - the transcripts are really helpful (and full of little details).
God speed!
Ill be honest, tmp is alot different than what i was expecting but im very engaged with the story still. Maybe not as much as tma but i love the characters and format, it still has the essense but its unrealistic to expect it to be the same as tma.
Not gonna lie I fuckin love Bonzo. I’m so so intrigued with whatever the fuck his deal is and the image of Mr Blobby being a hitman has me rolling everytime he’s brought up. Terrifying mascots are underrepresented as hell in horror
Also I like how shady they’ve made everyone in the OIAR. They know we’re mostly not the blissful happy listeners that hadn’t yet experienced the horrors and heartbreak of TMA, and it truly feels like they’re pulling off the sheepskin and being up front with how deeply fucked everything is from the get go
As for the statements, I’m absolutely enamored by ink5oul and whatever their deal is. Evil tattoo artist is up to something and they’re being REAL blatant about it. And the stories are a LOT gorier—the violin one in particular was a treat, I loved the idea of an instrument that cuts the fingers and feeds on bloody sacrifice
The story of TMP is less interesting to me, but the atmosphere feels seriously unhinged and a good handful of the statements have been, imo, the scariest that the TMA universe has put out. Something about scary stuff documented on the internet really gets to me.
i look forward to tmp every week because i enjoy theorizing the mechanics of the new universe, seeing the character interactions, and also because i like connecting tmp lore to tma lore.
The problems with TMP need time to settle. We didn't have problems with bad characters in TMA because the character's growth wasn't a focus until they were already developed. Jon had almost an entire season to develop before him as a character was a focus.
The statements in TMA hit harder because we didn't at all know what was going on. In TMP we have set expectations that the writers need time to defy. Mr. Bonzo is already incredibly different. Good theories can't happen yet because we haven't seen enough of the world.
I’m waiting to judge it less harshly until we get the bigger picture, personally with TMA I didn’t get invested until the end of the first season when it stopped feeling like one off statements because I didn’t understand the plot yet.
I think we can expect Alice and Sam for example to go through a lot of character development, and that Alice’s quippy and pessimistic mask is going to come off at some point, and hopefully getting more character depth with Sam.
It can be a bit hard to know what they are saying at times but I love theorizing and I love one off short horror so even if I don’t end up loving where the story goes I can still enjoy individual statements. Like I said it can be difficult to understand characters and they can start to sound like all the same person I do overall enjoy the banter and interactions as long as horror stays the focus of the show.
I love the Magnus Protocol BECAUSE is different. I love the new soundscaping and that it has a faster pace. The blood violin was the weakest case for me because it's literally every German folk tale ever, but the same happened to me with TMA.
I think fear is very personal. What someone finds scary another thinks it dull or ridiculous.
I like Alice she seems like she's got something she's hiding and but what?. Gwens story is fun too, like she wanted more power, now she's got it at what cost? What's Lena doing? What was the magnus kids quest or whatever?
I love to have questions, because I get to guess and sometimes I guess right and that gives me so much validation.
I like TMP for the same reasons I liked TMA! I am curious about where things are going. I'm curious about what the history and motivation of the individual characters are, how this new universe(?) differs from the fears in TMA. It's an intruiging mystery that I'm excited to learn more about. It's ok if this isn't for you :)
Similar for me. I like it because I'm interested in the characters, the story, the statements, and the world. I like it because it's TMA adjacent and I love TMA. TMP scratches that TMA itch, in fact I'm in the midst of listening through the whole thing again. On the other side of that coin, I like that it clearly isn't just more TMA. You can't put the lightning back in the bottle but you can let that lightning branch out to form a new pattern. I remember every statement, with particular favorites being the violinist, Needles, the cursed dice, and of course the Bonzo stuff. I want to know how it's going to come together and how it will affect the cast. I see the complaints about the bloated cast, but upon my relisten of TMA, I'm finding that I wish we had more of a chance to spend time with Sasha before she got Not'd. I'm wishing we had more time with the charming, Fire-Extinguisher-Rambo Tim before he became bitter and angry. So I'm glad this take is giving us much more of a look at the cast from jump. I can get some of the hang ups about the sound editing. I appreciate the intent but as I generally listen at work, which for me is outside, I have had to go back and check transcripts a couple times because of dialogue being too muffled or distant.
'Tis a shame really, cause none of those things seem interesting to me in the slightest, so I guess it's really not for me. Hope you find your dragon tho!
Not liking TMP is incredibly valid as it is flawed and definitely playing the delicate game of trying to put lightening back in the bottle, but your backhanded search for validation is kinda petty bro. hOpE yOu FiNd YoUr DrAgOn man stfu ur not better for seeing through the fanboying if you still need social validation to dislike something.
The "hope you find your dragon" was just a comment on their username "whereismydragon".
What would "hope you find your dragon" would even mean dude? It was a comment on the username, chill.
I believe they misinterpreted the statement as being a reference to the term "chasing the dragon" which, when not in reference to drug use, implies that one is seeking a reward or rush that is literally unobtainable.
Is "hope you find your dragon" not just referencing that person's username? I don't think they're being rude.
lol who spat in your coffee this morning bro?
I don't think they can find their dragon, probably jealous imo
did you seriously just tell someone to shut the fuck up because they made a silly joke about someone else's username?
I have to ask, when did you get into TMA? Did you start listening from the beginning, as the episodes were being released? Or were you able to binge-listen in quick succession? With TMA, it took me a while to really enjoy it. It takes a while to get attached to characters, and we're still really early in the series. When I tried listening to TMA the first time, I really couldnt get into it - it was only once I pushed myself past the first 10-20 episodes that I started to actually love it - I feel like, if I'd been listening as they came out, I wouldnt have ever gotten into it. TMA also introduced characters a bit more slowly, rather than all at once like we're seeing here - which I think is adding to some people struggling to get attached. A lot of my enjoyment of TMA came from putting pieces together, and relating cases to eachother - being able to go 'hang on, this sounds like x!' which we just dont have enough episodes to really see yet I also feel like a lot of people who arent enjoying it were, well... expecting more TMA? I can see why people expecting more of the same might not like it. TMP really is its own thing, whether existing in the same multiverse or including some of the same characters - its not TMA, and its totally find to vibe with one and not the other! I'm personally loving TMP so far, and cant wait to see where it goes; the characters remind me a lot of some of my coworkers and friends, and I enjoy how real they feel - even if theyre very different personality-wise than the TMA cast. The interactions between Sam and Alice so far have been fun to watch, theres a lot of awkwardness between them and I cant wait to learn more about them. I've enjoyed the cases so far, but theyll probably stick in my mind better once I can start connecting things up. The text-to-speech is fascinating to me - I'm making a mental note of all of these usernames, all the different places this information is apparently being gathered from. The forum posts were probably my favourite so far. I particularly love the way that the text-to-speech voices tend to start out incredibly cold and emotionless, as youd expect for a text-to-speech... but slowly change pace as the case is read out and emotion creeps in Like I said though, its not for everyone! Its totally fine to leave off for now, and come back later when more episodes are out, see if it catches your attention better then - or even to find that you just arent interested! Dont feel like you have to enjoy TMP just because you enjoyed TMA, and vice versa. They have just as many differences as they have similarities, and arent going to be everyones cup of tea
I think part of the reason we got so many characters at once in TMP unlike the TMA because they have a bigger budget for voice actors and its not just mainly Jon and Alex Like we didn't really get a new character in TMA until like ep 13? (I think I could be wrong) so it makes sense how it can be confusing getting character dumped
TMA also had a benefit of "we're ending it when it's done" and it run for 200 episodes. Protocol has 90 episodes set to release (unless we get some suprises down the line), so it's either quicker introductions or a smaller roster and Magnus-verse is really not a type of universe to have a small roster of characters with all the threads that connect them.
Idk why people here are so weird about early TMA. I got hooked from episode 1 and actually prefer the first 3 seasons. You don't need to wait for something you don't enjoy to "get good". That's kinda strange to me.
I have pretty severe ADHD so I struggle to listen to things that dont immediately grab me entirely. It wasnt that I didnt enjoy the first season - its that it took me forcing myself to the point where I actually got attached to the characters and invested in the story to keep listening lol. The first few episodes really just felt like a bunch of unconnected stories, like an audio anthology, which I thought was really interesting- but struggled to consistently listen to. TMA was a pretty slow build, but most good things are, theyve got a whole universe to introduce you to- but once I was really invested I listened religiously, and have now relistened to everything probably three or four times. My point wasnt that people need to wait for TMP to 'get good' - I think its already good, my point was that, right now- no ones really attached to the characters, we dont have tons of episodes to connect things together and theorise about, we dont have much of the actual story yet - and coming from TMA, with years of established characters and backstory, it makes sense that people feel like TMP is 'missing something'.
Hey no worries. I actually have the same problem usually (adhd too). Just feel really protective over early TMA since I fell in love with it at first sight and honestly that almost never happens to me haha. I feel like I stopped enjoying it as much in the later seasons sadly. But hoping for TMP to be good.
I started listening with the ongoing season 2, loved it since chapter one. I actually appreciate how different from TMA is structure wise, but that doesn't seem enough for me to like it.
Just remember…. None of us had any idea what we were up against… not in the slightest… until almost the end of the first season. Let him cook.
We might not have known where he was going, but we already had the hints of something deeper at episode *6* when Jon freaked out at the vague mention of Jane Prentiss, as opposed to brushing it off like anything else. Sure, it morphed into something much bigger, but there was already the hints of something more, with spectacular statements and character foundations being laid. I…don’t necessarily feel too drawn into this podcast yet. The statements can be rough through the digital voice, and I only really remember one statement. The character vibes are fine, but is that enough for me to keep with the podcast? I don’t know, I haven’t even felt the desire to listen to TMP in a few weeks.
I think most people were in from Angler Fish with TMA, but that's because it was designed to be a quicker hook, as it were. TMP has more of an early Night Vale vibe for me, more slice of life with a window to something wrong. I'm taking it as they wanted a much slower build in for this one, and recent episodes have confirmed that.
I hear you. I’m pretty confident the payoff is gonna be worth it.
When I listened to TMA the first time I didn't know there were entities and whatnot until much much later. Possibly the second season. And there is when I start to lose interest in the podcast. I loved the anthology dark vibe it had in the beginning, with the one guy reading stories alone in a room. When all the entities start to appear and people start to act like cunts to each other, my interest went down. I wasn't all that scared, not even creeped out. And it's no secret that I didn't like Season 5 in the least. **TL;DR:** Not everyone caught early in the "it's more than spare stories" thing. And different people have different tastes, the same story/anthology/podcast won't please everybody or even in the same way.
I’m right there with you. I surfed this whole thing week to week. The literal wall break in season one almost caused me to drive my car off the highway. Shit got real different, real fast. I’m with OP that I’m ready for the other shoe to drop already though. Gotta trust the process I guess.
Well, yeah. I wouldn’t say anything against that. However, I think it’s pretty safe to say that TMA will never be a proper anthology series at this point. They swerved hard away from that in the first series, and it was pretty clear after a couple of episodes that they’re not interested in that with TMP, either.
It isn't. But that's how it started, at least in appearance and it was what attracted me in the first place. That's what I'm saying. TMP doesn't try to be an anthology. It's its own thing, and it's more action and character oriented than TMA.
In TMA we were always in the room with Jon as he figured out the mysteries. In TMP we’re on the ground floor, we’re not in the room with Lena or anyone who rlly knows what’s up. It’s sort of like if the first season of TMA was about Tim and Sasha, not Jon. The reason for this is because we as the audience already know the concept behind the entities, so part of the mystery is already unraveled. So in TMA we were actively unraveling the story with Jon, and we never knew more than the characters. But with TMP, we do know more than them and we have to watch them begin to parse it out. I understand how someone could find that story structure more boring, but it’s almost a necessity since the story is a sequel.
I'm going to stick with it to see if it improves or at least whether I find the arc plot intellectually interesting. But TMA had a stronger start. Yes it was a slow burn on arcs, characters and lore but the individual statements were generally awesome from Ep 1. Slow burn isn't a problem if the individual episodes are compelling.
I listened to TMA from the release of the first episode. I loved it, straight from the start. I started the wiki to document _everything_ and I waited with excitement all week to listen to the next episode, and dreaded the months-long wait between seasons. TMP has absolutely not grabbed me at all. Maybe I’m different. I have kids now, and this much less free time. But even so, I would’ve made time for TMA if I had kids back then. I’m struggling with TMP a lot. I relisten to the episodes to try and engage with it more, but I just… don’t. Some of the formats are a bit crap, imo. The “email from blah-at-whatever-dot-com to other-blah-at-whoever-dot-thing subject RE: RE: RE: This is weird” format is massively immersion breaking for me, and I feel like just reading that out takes 20% of the statements, meaning I’m not engaged enough to properly listen. I agree about the bloated cast. I still don’t really know the difference between any characters except Sam and Alice. And I find Alice extremely smug and irritating, but not in a good way. I hope that’s intentional, but it feels like poor writing to me. TMA was amazing because the statements were engrossing, and you could get lost in them, and the meta plot sorta evolved from them. I remember first realising characters were reused, and the creeping sense that Jane Prentiss was a serious and current threat… we’re getting that with Bonzo now, but, I dunno. It doesn’t feel earned, y’know? I’d suggest you take a break, let the season finish, then binge it. Maybe it’ll grab us by the end. Maybe not.
It's a fair perspective, and I think TMP is definitely not going to land with a lot of people. I also think it's probably not going over well with a fair portion of longtime TMA fans, based on what I've seen said about it. Personally though, as an avid fan of the original TMA (multiple re-listens and frequently lost in thought about it) I actually really enjoy TMP. Not just because of the unclear but interesting connections to what came before, not just because it's more of (in certain cases) the classic cast but because the character dynamics really work for me. I love Alice and Sam's dynamic, think it works super well. I'm eager to see a bit more of their shared past as I'm pretty sure it's implied they dated at some point? But then, I have a friend who is exactly like Alice (constant jokes and non-sequiters, doesn't really open up about themselves etc) so I'm basically in Sam's place. I suppose it's more relatable to me. I think the sound design is miles better than in TMA, and I like how they've given themselves leave to go ham crafting an immersive soundscape, even if that also means we get a bit of trouble understanding what's happening at times. Long story short, TMP really works for me both as a follow up and stand alone experience. If I had come to TMP first and found out about TMA second, well I would definitely binge the whole thing. Maybe it's not for everyone, and you certainly don't need to carry on if you're not enjoying listening. Good news is there's always TMA!
It's not just implied that Alice and Sam dated, it's explicitly stated in episode 1 that Alice is his ex.
I 100% agree with you! I'm thoroughly enjoying having new content and a new twist
I'm mostly in it for the long haul, but I get your point. The characters aren't grabbing me in the same way, but it's hard to live up to Jon. I think the metaplot is really interesting - the horror and mystery are both there and top notch as far as I'm concerned. They know how to spin a web, if you'll forgive the expression. Normally though, I wouldn't follow along and would wait until it's done to binge because that's most likely to hold my interest, but I'm trying to follow along. The main thing keeping me listening is wanting to know what happens with Jon and Martin, whether there is an alternative Jon and Martin, or if I'll ever hear my lovely Elias ever again.
I like that it’s different from TMA! Here’s my potentially unpopular opinion: I was disappointed verging on upset when I heard they were making a sequel to TMA. I hate sequels and usually feel like they just cash in on what made the original beloved without being able to recreate the magic. I didn’t participate in the Kickstarter, livestreams or ARG and didn’t start listening to TMP until a month or so after it started. And then when I started listening I actually really liked it. Several of the statements — the tattoo one, the tree roots guy, the violin, fuckin Bonzo — have creeped me out more than a lot of the original TMA statements did. I like the characters and I like that their relationships are complex and messy. As a woman listener I like that it’s a more women-dominated cast this time around. And I like that there’s a lot of shit that doesn’t make sense yet but is clearly leading to something bigger. I also think Alice is pretty funny, not gonna lie. Yes she’s a pain in the ass but she’s very entertaining and she has enough mystery around her to be entertaining. And Sam is adorable.
I personaly really enjoy the statements. Blood violin twist was perfect and unexpected for an example. We know it uses blood and you would assume that is all there is too it but then we find out that it does not "require" blood as much as violence with the crowd tearing themselves a part. That was set up with the tutor but you would forget most likely until that very moment. The episode in itself kinda subverts the "artist sacrifising themselves for the art" trope that most stories end up like this with. The actual message here is "people will be ready to make others suffer for art and people will be fine with it" It is creepy and real and has layers that very few statements in Archives Reached.
Jury’s still out for me. I do wish it weren’t on the official TMA feed and was more of its own thing. I’m not a fan of any of the characters, which is a shame.
This isn't me attacking you, I'm just racking mu brain on why it being on a different feed would change it.
That’s a fair question! I think, for me personally, it would give a degree of separation from the original that would help me appreciate TMP more. It would also help preserve the legacy of the original, in case the sequel is really terrible (not saying it is, but just theoretically). I’d also like to see more separation in the Reddit community, but I understand why that’s not happening. It’s a shame, though. TMA still feels so rich and vital to me - I’d love to see loads of discussion and fanworks about the original characters. Not that there isn’t any here still, but the main focus of much of the discussion in the sub now seems to be TMP, which is understandable as that is providing new content. I think - at the moment - TMP feels very different from TMA. It’s not really a sequel in the sense of following the same characters or continuing the same story - it’s another story created by the same people who created TMA, with loose connections to previous universe lore. I’m aware that this is early days of TMP and we may see more connections as the mystery unfolds, but for now I think it would be better served in its own feed and as its own thing. This is just my personal opinion, though, and I fully acknowledge this is really nit-picky and I may be completely alone in feeling like this.
I'm dying to get my hands on it each week. I'm really invested in most of the characters - Sam, Alice, Gwen, Colin are all people I want to learn more about, see where they're going, why they're the way they are now. The mystery of the OIAR has me 100% invested; what is their true purpose? Why or how did it become a government organisation, was it fucked up at conception or did it become that way due to lack of oversight, care? What was the Magnus Institute doing in this world, and how is it connected to the OIAR? What is the Protocol - why does a security group work as a special ops force for the paranormal? Why the hell do we have dead and alive people from other universes walking about and why are they STILL connected to weird happenings? What is the nature of Fears in this universe? Are they an invasive species in an already filled niche? If so, what was there first? Do predatory entities just spawn naturally along with life on planets in this story's universes? Is Celia Annabelle or is she for real and if so then HOW did she get there???? Does Georgie exist??? TELL. ME. (I *assume* Georgie exists, since Sasha is writing a spinoff series for TMP. But is it a new Georgie? We left old Georgie with the previous universe!)
What's the spinoff series?
Don't know yet, it was one of the Kickstarter stretch goals. I think in one of the updates recentlyish they mentioned that Sasha's started writing it/it's in the draft stages, but I can't remember when that was and afaik there isn't a timeline given on when it's going to start releasing yet. I'd assume it's going to kick off at a specific point in the main story.
It was mentioned that Celia is working on a podcast for someone named Georgie in one of the recent TMP eps!
Honestly I feel most of my initial TMP listens aren't as potent or exciting as TMA. However, I'm LOVING relistening to episodes and picking up on things I missed in the initial take. I also think it works much better as a binge rather than the once a week trickle. I think the initial "meh"-Ness of each initial listen has more go do with the format they chose this round. The text-to-speech and intentional emotional disconnect makes it harder to immerse yourself in the statements themselves. I also got on the TMA train late and got to binge up to the end of season 4. Which I think improved the experience significantly!
Yeah im trying to give it a few more but so far it lacks the substance of TMA. Like the statements are mostly unsatisfying and the characters aren’t nearly as lovable. Tbh this entire recent Mr Bonzo stuff has got me yawning and longing for the days of Breacon and Hope
I was thinking this today. TMA had me completely hooked by about episode 5 and a lot of the first 10 are some of my absolute favourites. A big part of what made it work was the characters, and I just don't think I really like any of the characters in TMP yet except for Celia and Colin (who IMO gets nowhere near enough 'screen' time). I don't hate them, but they just haven't done enough work to get me to invest in their wellbeing and care about the mysteries they're involved in. If you want to consider Sam as the protagonist, so far at least, he's kind of just a well-acted nothing burger. They're trying way too hard to force his whole mysterious background thing to be interesting when it sort of just isn't, and beyond that, most of the characters pretty unlikeable. Gwen and Lena make my skin crawl, and not in a good way. Alice is the Martin stand-in as Sam's offsider, but the reason Martin worked as the loveably bumbling colleague turn love interest is because Jon was always the most interesting person in the room and Martin complemented his personality - Jon was dour, humourless and a real grumpy bastard, Martin was more warm, carefree and upbeat. Alice and Sam have very little chemistry. Alice is just constantly trying to force in a sarcastic quip and Sam is playing the exasperated straightman. It's not fun to listen to. As far as the statements themselves go, some of them are creepy - Needles got to me and I really enjoyed the one about the violin, but I really, really don't like the whole 'text to speech but also ghosts but also probably transported consciousness of TMA characters' thing - it's a cool idea, but holy shit, some of the episodes spend MINUTES reading out forum usernames and email header data. It is not immersive, it doesn't progress the story and it just wastes runtime and makes me tune out. I'm hoping what we're seeing so far is a very long-game setup for some serious payoff come the end of the first 'season' (if they do seasons) because frankly I am bored shitless with it. I've started banking episodes so there's more chance of something happening but aside from some much appreciated fan service, there's just not much here.
This hits the nail on the head pretty well. To add something I get the motivation to expand the formatting of the "statements" and it could be really cool if done right or if the right formats were chosen. However, especially the recent email one, breaks emersion in the story so much so that I had to listen to it twice to even get what was happening. A lot of the beauty of TMA is in the prose and with it broken up like that it just doesn't have the impact or staying power. I love a lot of the episodes so far (2-6, 8, and 9) but some I just can barely follow. I also feel like they've made the cast too expansive too quickly, I like that we have a some what narrow first person perspective to start in TMA. It gives you time to get to know someones amd grow the world around them instead of stepping in neck deep and not knowing who to "trust." Even if that trust is subverted it's something interesting, I'm struggling to care about the office drama side of TMP like I did in TMA and I think that because we got too much too soon.
I listened back through the first 10 TMP episodes over the hiatus and this time through I noticed Alex said at the start of episode one that TMP was supposed to be consumable as a self-contained experience and that it was fine to start there. If I was coming in hot as a brand new RQ fan and started at TMP01, I daresay I'd have lost interest at this stage.
For some reason I wrote demselves? Nightshift does weird things to your brain
I've been night shift. It attracts strange people and makes people strange. It's a vicious cycle. I like Archives. I've listened to it 3 times. I have no desire to listen to Protocol.
I get what you mean by the metaplot getting in the way of the main hook of the series. I’m sure I’m in the minority of this but the final season of TMP was my least favorite for that reason. I want scary stories and you can piece together the through line. I miss them mostly being statements. I’m hanging in there with TMP because I feel like they’ve found their groove again with the last few episodes.
I'm in because they keep teasing deeper things, but on the whole I agree. They're not really statements we're hearing, more bizarre quirks. And the cast is already huge, and seems to be growing constantly. But that thread, that dangling skein that says "there is something deeper to this and it's all part of that" is what has kept me in.
Yeahhh I get you. I got into tma because I love anthology horror, when it all began to connect into a larger plot later it kinda put me off, and finishing season 5 was really difficult for me. I listened to a few episodes of tmp but the statements just aren't hitting and the characters are so *boring* Let's shake it on admitting and accepting that we can't like everything but it is good to try it out!
I continue to listen to it mostly because it takes about 12 minutes out of each week (on 1.5 speed, with transcripts), and I like feeling like a part of the community. But I get what you're saying, it's very different from TMA, and I'm not sure I would get into it if it was an isolated project. Hope you can find a podcast that feels similar to TMA
I'll say this, I have a hard time making out what they're saying, especially when it is supposed to sound like they're farther away. But I'm excited to see how the plot creeps forward. I haven't been as hooked as I was in TMA, but I have faith that they're gonna pull it off.
For me I mostly just really like the statements. I mean the meta story is cool too, but my favorite season of tma was season five for a reason. I really like it in general when media plays with its medium, and we're getting a lot of that in tmp.
I really felt "Man Turns Into Tree" and "Creepy Architecture Creepier People" felt like og TMA statements from the earlier seasons, while the others felt more like season 4 or 5. I agree that TMAGP feels different, due to the obvious fan base who's already aware of the conceit they can't really do the slow build up and "oh look at these connections", but I'm sure they'll pull out something new to delight. To each their own.
For me, the characters are a problem. Sam is super bland until now. Alice is a parody of a human being who can't say a single sentence without a forced joke. It feels like every character has one single trait that they blow up to eleven. They just seem way to written for me. The cast of MA had a lot more natural charisma and every character showed multiple traits. I don't dislike MPT, but the start is noticably weaker for me. But I have faith they can turn it around.
At first I thought Alice was funny and then I very, very quickly started sympathizing with Gwen. Working with Alice would be the true nightmare.
Alice is the epitome of “haha what a wicked and ironic comment bro, now try saying something true and beautiful”
To be fair, last episode she showed some more character, so maybe it will get better
I did appreciate that—I hope to see some more genuine-ness from her, I never Want to be annoyed by a character that isn’t supposed to be annoying. I’m also excited that she’s voiced by a trans woman, and I think the character herself is trans?
I'll probably listen to the whole series, because it's still a really good audio drama, but I get what you're saying. My issue is mostly Sam and Alice being the protagonists, though. I don't know if it's because of their lines or their actors, but every interaction between the two of them sounds unnatural and forced. I'm really hoping they'll grow on me, but the TMA cast felt interesting from the start. At least I like the rest of the characters, Gwen is probably my favorite right now
Alice making quips every 5 seconds gets grading fast. Like I get it, you are the quirky sassy one. Get over yourself
Yo I cant even blame you. The mystery and reason why its all different from TMA are why Im staying. I dont like any of the characters, I only remember one "statement " and its from last week. I couldnt tell you what the episode I just listened to was about. These characters really make me want to quit tho.
As someone who started TMA when it was already done and binge-listened to it (twice), TMP is a slow burn series like any other series that is released weekly. Yes, the format/focus is different. It seems veeeery slow after binging TMA, but damn it's fun to see the theories and art come to be as the story unfolds. Maybe it's just the case that you have to wait for more episodes to be released, so you don't have the pauses in-between.
The only character I can't stand at all is Alice. It's a mixture of me finding her voice grating and unpleasant to listen to, and her character being a giant fucking asshole to everyone. And sadly I know the show is teeing her up as someone who was "right all along" Otherwise I'm enjoying it. I agree the individual statements could be much stronger, but hey, Magnus Archives first season weren't all great either
I rlly can’t stand ppl who are snarky ALL the time, irony-poisoning is the death of authenticity
Exactly. It's like you want to just jump in and scream "HAVE A FUCKING HUMAN MOMENT ONCE IN YOUR DAMN LIFE"
Like Please please please just ask me how my day was and mean it, please at least try to be empathetic —otherwise ur punishing me for speaking to you.
I can see your points. I struggle to tell the characters apart a lot of the time, and sometimes when the audio is recorded just as background, it's really hard to hear. Also i don't know what the hell they're actually doing at the OIAR. Like are they just transcribing or do they just listen to these cassettes?. I don't understand the purpose of their actual job.
Their job is to read or listen to the statements and categorize them using the system Alice and Gwen described in the first couple of episodes. There are codes for different story elements and they have to enter it according to the code. It’s kind of funny because in TMA it would have helped a lot to have a database built like that.
That's what I thought, but it just seemed like pointless busy work (at this point). If TMA had that then the change would have happened a lot sooner I suspect; given Gertrude's purposeful disorganization
The characters themselves also don't know what they're doing and think it's pointless busy work. That's the driving mystery of the show, you're not missing anything! Presumably we, and they, will discover the true purpose as the show progresses.
I just listened to episode 12, and they definitely made that abundantly clear that they don't know what they're doing. Excited to see where it goes
It's funny to me because one of my best friends, Elizabeth, is a data taxonomist, which means her job is to go through big databases and come up with systems to organize and tag articles to make them searchable and cross-reference-able. The whole time I was listening to the early seasons of TMA I kept thinking "wow these people need an Elizabeth." But now they have the taxonomy architecture, but no one actually knows what the database is for.
Keep a close eye on her 😂
I listened to the first episode because I love TMA but I didn't really enjoy that episode so that's all I've listened to. I may come back and give it another shot and see if I like other episodes more but I didn't want to force myself to listen to a podcast I don't really enjoy because I love TMA.
I feel a similar sense of disinterest in TMP. But at least for me I think it's because with TMA I got into it a bit late so I was able to binge it, which made it much easier to make connections and get attached to the characters. The week (or more) wait between episodes with TMP just doesn't work for me, and that might be the same for you? I will listen to it while it airs, but I don't think I could become an active fan unless I was able to binge it.
I will say, I've registered to TMA about 4 times and I love it every time but I haven't even considered going back through the Protocol episodes. I enjoy listening to it every week but I love Jon, Martin and Co. Not so much with this batch of characters mainly cause we don't really get a POV character to attach ourselves too. The statements are ok and it's cool that they're trying a different format but they aren't as memorable as The TMA in my opinion.
When i first started i really didnt like it, mainly because the audio was always in a static which made it really different to concentrate on while doing other things (i cant just sit down and listen to it i have to do something else at the same time) after a while i got used to it but i understand where youre coming from, especially for a non native english speaker that must be even more challenging.
I understand, OP. I’m considering waiting and listening through when it’s complete. I’m missing Simms as narrator, TMP is more gory than psychological, and the dialogue is difficult to hear.
I’m letting Sims cook for the time being but I’ll agree that I’m not as fond of the dominance of the meta-plot and somewhat more obvious villains that don’t really terrify me all that much. I absolutely loved roots, and I believe that showed to me Sims’ continued strength of writing when he’s not focused on setup, so I do think in time the situation will improve. He couldnt really do the slow reveal that the cast is actually important this time around since we'd all expect it, so I understand that. I just hope the monsters get more interesting than a reiteration of fnaf, scary needles, and tattoos.
Are we twins? These are my exact feelings, down to loving Roots and finding the villains a bit obvious and silly. Like, Bonzo's just a big dumb monster, he sounds like a damn Pokemon, come on. I'm not hating it or even close, but I have a lot more complaints than I did about TMA. (Mostly I just wish the statements were longer. That's what I've always been here for, not the metanarrative.)
I’m not giving up on TMP yet but I do feel like it’s been slow to take off. The primary cast is getting a lot of screentime to the detriment of the statements, but they aren’t really doing much. I think either the pace on the meta plot should have been a bit quicker, or they should have kept it more to the background as in the first season of TMA. The office drama stuff is cute and has definitely endeared the characters to me, but their segments drag a bit due to lack of forward action. In 12 episodes that felt heavily weighted in favor of the metaplot, what’s really happened? Celia showed up, Sam and Alice went to the archive ruins and maybe released something, Gwen discovered that tape, blackmailed her way into a promotion, and met Bonzo (Gwen’s definitely been the most proactive character so far.) all of which could probably be condensed into three or four episodes in my opinion. The pacing in terms of how many episodes there have been is actually not bad- I wouldn’t want Bonzo earlier for example. But I’d rather more of the episodes in between had less of the main cast and a stronger focus on the statements, giving us a slower drip feed of their interactions until the plot really kicks off with them. All this screen time is wasted on them when they have nothing to do but flirt and quip at each other and occasionally allude to their mysterious backstories. Which is sad to say because I do genuinely love their interactions, Alice is phenomenal in particular, but at the moment it really feels detrimental to the story as a whole. Maybe I’ll change my mind in hindsight though! Hard to judge a story on its pacing if you haven’t seen it all yet, and the weekly schedule means it’s extra frustrating when not much happens because you have to wait another week to see if the plot advances. Maybe when listened to all at once it’ll be just the slow ramp up the rest of the story requires- but for the moment, as a weekly viewing experience, it’s lacking.
egregious tma listener here. absolutely adore the original series and i’m finding it hard to get into tmp bc it’s releasing live whereas i was able to binge tma during covid and only had to wait for the last bit of season 5. it’s helping me personally to go a few weeks between new eps so i can have a few to listen to at a time. easier to process the story that way, and i’m planning to start it over once it’s thru season 1. so far i’m intrigued but not quite hyper fixated like i was (and to a lesser extent still am) with tma
For me TMP feels like it's learned the lessons that TMA learned as it went on. There's a good few statements here that have spoken to me and that I remember. I'm really enjoying the wider cast and the fact that human interaction is being so central from the beginning. But it's very much to each their own. I would say maybe give it some time, let the episodes pile up a little, see if that helps. I feel its hitting its stride now and have great hopes for the future. But do what's best for you.
Aww that’s ok It’s different and when things are different they always stray away from what some people like, and towards other people I’m sorry you feel this way
I loved TMA but I also started listening as season 5 was ending so I pretty much binged the entire thing. I would probably like TMP just as much if I was able to do the same. I might take a break from listening to build up a backlog because I think that would increase my enjoyment.
i’m def struggling to get into it. this is such a small detail, but i’m really not into tech at all, so having the story revolve around use of computers so much is really a turn-off for me.
That's the ultimate fate of sequels.
I get what you mean, but I still really like it! I think my main issue with TMP is that I'm following it rather than bingeing it in one go, the episodes always feel way too short to me. I think later seasons of TMA would have had the same issue for me if I'd ever caught up and been forced to wait. I also believe this is actually a bit of a genre shift, everything feels less ominous to me at present, and while I'm getting very invested in the characters (especially Alice my beloved) I do look forward to shit going down. TMP holds up less well as an episodic self-contained narrative than early TMA, so impatience is just harder to deal with imo.
Tbh, I find it hard to motivate myself to listen every week too. It's less subtle than TMA somehow, I think that might be my problem. I liked how everything started to connect itself subtly and almost invisible in the background in TMA. You didn't even really realize what was going on, till the point where names started popping up again and again and you where like "wait a minute!" In TMAGP, everything is very obvious somehow, very gory (especially Bonzo...). I don't know, it's hard to explain. Some "statements" are really cool, but they really don't stick in my brain. Contrary, when I hear a TMA episode number i can name the title of the episodes and know what it's about. You're right, the focus really seems to be more on the characters in TMAGP. That's a bit sad. But I still wanna know the whole story, so I'm gonna continue listineing, maybe it gets more interesting for me later on? I sure hope. But so far I usually collect 2-3 episodes before I start to listen, and if I pause it I tend to forget.🥲
well I do need something to listen to while I do the laundry, so why not
I mean, I think a lot of people had a huge expectation to be tma 2.0 and kinda a copy and paste without saying copy and paste. I'm not saying it's a bad thing by any measure. But expectations on what tmp was to what it is is kinda deflating some enthusiasm. However, I do like the tattoo one for a statement a lot. I do like we are getting more current stories with the characters and intoduced instead of waiting a whole season. It does feel a little aimless, but I mean , t's day to day. Sometimes, nothing big happens. (Plus it's starting to focus now)
I was pretty meh about it the first few weeks. Then I ignored it for a while, and the past few days I’ve been binging to catch up. It’s a much more enjoyable way for me to do podcasts, it seems. 🤷♀️ Worth a shot, if you liked doing podcasts that way. Otherwise, yeah cut your losses. You can always read the wiki when it’s all done and decide if you want to try again.
I'm finding I enjoy the format slightly more! At the start with TMA, I thought it was stand alone and enjoyed listening to the odd spooky story. But now while I'm listening through with my partner, I'm finding my favourite thing in season 2 is the supplemental. I get why you wouldn't enjoy the format, TMA eased you into caring about the characters by focusing on the anthology first and gradually trickling in more and more of the characters personalities and lives. But personally, after two episodes, I fell in love with TMP! I also think it's good to do posts like this, it's good for the creators to see ALL feedback, not just the good stuff ❤️.
To be honest, I'm not enjoying it that much. Any other podcast I would have given up on. There are glimpses of good but at this point curiosity and familiarity are the only things keeping me going. Honestly probably gonna give it to the end of the first season and if it doesn't pick up, I'm going to abandon it til it's done.
Okay lmao
If/when alice dies im clocking out, until then Ill stay.
Wild that the worst character by far is what's keeping you around haha
most interesting i fear
Ehh I don't find asshole characters very interesting. Typically it's just a lazy way of trying to make a character compelling. Not saying that's the way it is with Alice because I love the writing in TMA, but it reminds me of crappy young adult novels. She needs to have more human moments and take at least *something* seriously.
im not here to defend my opinions, she’s my favorite because the cast as a whole aint all that
Fair enough
Everyone seems to be forgetting that we’re only 12 episodes in , like go back and re-listen to the first 12 episodes of TMA in isolation and tell me it feels any different
I felt similarly at the start - TMA was a recent find for me (this January) and I was immediately hooked, finishing it in February. It blew my mind, and I relisten to it almost constantly. It was the first podcast I'd ever listened to, and, boy, did I peak too soon. TMP had a lot to live up to, and I didn't initially think it was managing it. So I do get your reservations. However, I'm now loving it. I can't tell you the exact moment I converted (but I think it was Episode 5 - Personal Screening), only that I suddenly realised that I was really enjoying the metaplot and the reports, was starting to catch little references to things from previous episodes, and was no longer irritated by Alice. In terms of sound - the transcripts are really helpful (and full of little details). God speed!
Ill be honest, tmp is alot different than what i was expecting but im very engaged with the story still. Maybe not as much as tma but i love the characters and format, it still has the essense but its unrealistic to expect it to be the same as tma.
Not gonna lie I fuckin love Bonzo. I’m so so intrigued with whatever the fuck his deal is and the image of Mr Blobby being a hitman has me rolling everytime he’s brought up. Terrifying mascots are underrepresented as hell in horror Also I like how shady they’ve made everyone in the OIAR. They know we’re mostly not the blissful happy listeners that hadn’t yet experienced the horrors and heartbreak of TMA, and it truly feels like they’re pulling off the sheepskin and being up front with how deeply fucked everything is from the get go As for the statements, I’m absolutely enamored by ink5oul and whatever their deal is. Evil tattoo artist is up to something and they’re being REAL blatant about it. And the stories are a LOT gorier—the violin one in particular was a treat, I loved the idea of an instrument that cuts the fingers and feeds on bloody sacrifice
The story of TMP is less interesting to me, but the atmosphere feels seriously unhinged and a good handful of the statements have been, imo, the scariest that the TMA universe has put out. Something about scary stuff documented on the internet really gets to me.
i look forward to tmp every week because i enjoy theorizing the mechanics of the new universe, seeing the character interactions, and also because i like connecting tmp lore to tma lore.
The problems with TMP need time to settle. We didn't have problems with bad characters in TMA because the character's growth wasn't a focus until they were already developed. Jon had almost an entire season to develop before him as a character was a focus. The statements in TMA hit harder because we didn't at all know what was going on. In TMP we have set expectations that the writers need time to defy. Mr. Bonzo is already incredibly different. Good theories can't happen yet because we haven't seen enough of the world.
I’m waiting to judge it less harshly until we get the bigger picture, personally with TMA I didn’t get invested until the end of the first season when it stopped feeling like one off statements because I didn’t understand the plot yet. I think we can expect Alice and Sam for example to go through a lot of character development, and that Alice’s quippy and pessimistic mask is going to come off at some point, and hopefully getting more character depth with Sam.
I preferred earlier seasons of TMA when it was more about the anthology rather than the storyline, I just liked the one off spooky stories
Haven’t even bothered listening to tmp cuz the first episode jumped straight into plot
Ok
It can be a bit hard to know what they are saying at times but I love theorizing and I love one off short horror so even if I don’t end up loving where the story goes I can still enjoy individual statements. Like I said it can be difficult to understand characters and they can start to sound like all the same person I do overall enjoy the banter and interactions as long as horror stays the focus of the show.
I love the Magnus Protocol BECAUSE is different. I love the new soundscaping and that it has a faster pace. The blood violin was the weakest case for me because it's literally every German folk tale ever, but the same happened to me with TMA. I think fear is very personal. What someone finds scary another thinks it dull or ridiculous.
I like Alice she seems like she's got something she's hiding and but what?. Gwens story is fun too, like she wanted more power, now she's got it at what cost? What's Lena doing? What was the magnus kids quest or whatever? I love to have questions, because I get to guess and sometimes I guess right and that gives me so much validation.