#mag 115

[redlobter]

Episode 115, Taking Stock. Originally I was going to draw the meat grinder for this episode but then I was like "nah.... I wanna draw Helem🤤" and so I did.

[thenarrativehauntsme]

never give me shrooms and a meat grinder, i fear i know exactly who i would become

[hezekiahwakely]

Rotating this line delivery by Helen in my head 24/7

[nyxofthelonely]

"Besides, it's not like he was paying me in instalments" as an ending to an episode about eating human flesh is so funny to me

[phinnking]

okay so im sure people have already posted/talked about this before but like, guys, we are aware that someone has gone through the portal at hilltop road and ended up in a universe only slightly off-tilt from their own before, right? because im gonna be so honest, i did not notice that until relistening to MAG 115 just now and its honestly readjusting the entire way i've been viewing tmagp. like. the statement giver came from from a universe two chronological weeks ahead of the time of the tma universe. the house on hilltop road had been rebuilt and was about to start being used for student housing. the tree in the yard was still there. the people she knew exist in the tma universe but don't recognize her and her favourite coffee shop isnt there. i would go so far as to argue that the fears existed to some capacity in her universe (though im not overly sure and id have no clue what the implications of that are), or at least they touched her universe because it was the Web that dragged her through. it also likely ties into that "balance" thing Celia was talking about because she kinda just disappeared after giving her statement with no evidence of her ever existing. and obviously she couldn't have been from tmagp universe because hilltop road in that universe is the hilltop center, but still. I just- yall see what im getting at here right? i am not awake enough nor knowledgeable enough to do much with this and it's totally already been said before but like. the connections are connection-ing and i am so unbelievably intrigued

[imadetheline]

jon can you please stop purposefully pissing off eldritch beings like it's your job (even if it kinda is)

[opossum-arts]

jon trying not to compel his coworkers/friends :(

[shadow-the-crow]

Okay, i just listened to mag 115, and i have some thoughts about Helen. I think it's mostly just gonna be an addition to my mind theory, but i just want to put my thoughts somewhere.

So the Distortion is Helen now. But at the same time, not really. It's not Helen Richardson, just like it wasn't Michael Shelley. And - i think this is important to remember - this is not a new person. It's still the same creature that just became someone else. Honestly, i love thinking about this. I love how impossible it sounds - while somehow making perfect sense to me.

Helen is still disoriented. The Distortion has to adapt to this new mind, just like it probably had to get used to Michael Shelley's mind. And here's the tragedy of the Distortion: It still feels wrong. It feels like who it is isn't what it is. It feels like it wasn't supposed to become this. Again. The Spiral still inflicts its worst suffering onto its own servant - because contradiction is still the very nature of the Distortion. It can never feel at peace with itself. It can never simply and clearly be itself.

So i've already talked about why being Michael felt wrong on here. But being Helen seems to feel wrong on a new level: The Distortion suddenly doesn't like killing anymore. Looks like a conscience came with Helen's mind, and the Distortion doesn't know how to deal with that. Despite its conflicting identity, it has apparently never had a problem with morality. Which is weird because it makes me wonder: Did Michael's mind not have that sense of morality? I mean, if the Distortion had already experienced this problem before, it would have said that, right? But no, seems like this is why being Helen feels wrong in a way that being Michael didn't. (Makes you wonder if that sweet boy really was that innocent, huh?)