The Magnus Archives | Season 3 starts November 23rd

More_Badass · Dec 4, 2017

RoyaleDuke said:
I feel like The Magnus Archives is one of the best lovecraftian style works to come out in ages. I'm about 8 episodes in.

It does that "unknowable incomprehensible horrors lurking just beyond the bounds of what we know" atmosphere beautifully

Angler Fish works really well as a first episode and primer for the series. Short and sweet and just enough details to let you imagine things but not enough to lose the sense of creepiness. It instantly presents this sense of a normal world where unknowable and insidious things lurk just in the shadows off main street. The setting isn't some creepy house or some haunting or an isolated cabin. It's a city street corner and some guy walking home. If you're not safe there, if something like this could happen in such an innocuous place during such an everyday moment...what else could be out there?

Magnus Archives sets the foundation with episode one.

RoyaleDuke · Dec 4, 2017

More_Badass said:
It does that "unknowable incomprehensible horrors lurking just beyond the bounds of what we know" atmosphere beautifully

Angler Fish works really well as a first episode and primer for the series. Short and sweet and just enough details to let you imagine things but not enough to lose the sense of creepiness. It instantly presents this sense of a normal world where unknowable and insidious things lurk just in the shadows off main street. The setting isn't some creepy house or some haunting or an isolated cabin. It's a city street corner and some guy walking home. If you're not safe there, if something like this could happen in such an innocuous place during such an everyday moment...what else could be out there?

Magnus Archives sets the foundation with episode one.

I love everything about it, several of the stories are recited like literal Lovecraft stories, that sort of first-second person account of events and histories. I love it to death so far, and it gets worse and worse in a way that only cosmic and weird fiction can supply. It also fills me with more inspiration to keep writing on my current novel. :p

More_Badass · Dec 4, 2017

RoyaleDuke said:
I love everything about it, several of the stories are recited like literal Lovecraft stories, that sort of first-second person account of events and histories. I love it to death so far, and it gets worse and worse in a way that only cosmic and weird fiction can supply. It also fills me with more inspiration to keep writing on my current novel. :p

I'll just say you haven't even scratched the surface in terms of the lovecraftian/cosmic horror depths that the Magnus Archives delves into

Jugendstil · Dec 4, 2017

More_Badass said:
I'll just say you haven't even scratched the surface in terms of the lovecraftian/cosmic horror depths that the Magnus Archives delves into

YES! I'm so excited for people listening for the first time. If you're hooked in the first few episodes, the later ones and cumulative effect of the excellent world building will really blow you away.

parrotbeak · Dec 4, 2017

Mushroom said:
It's pretty good so far, friend.

Caught the first 2 new eps and yup, more greatness. I keep saying I need to do a relisten from the start but that's probably not realistic. I've listened to S1 a few times already, guess I'll just start relistening to S2.

Newlib · Dec 4, 2017

So glad this show was backed. Picked it up this summer. I was really interested after Angler Fish and Do Not Open, but Across the Street got me hooked (and I still think its the best episode along with Taken Ill and A Long Way Down).

RoyaleDuke · Dec 5, 2017

I'm at episode 50.

Yup. This show is fucking amazing. Thanks Mr.Badass will be my new Thank Mr.Jackpots. :p

More_Badass · Dec 5, 2017

RoyaleDuke said:
I'm at episode 50.

Yup. This show is fucking amazing. Thanks Mr.Badass will be my new Thank Mr.Jackpots. :p

Weren't you on like episode 8 yesterday?

My other favorite audiodramas are Sayer, Fairy Tales For Unwanted Children, and Tracks

Sayer hooked me with episode 6; I don't think it is as consistently great as Magnus, but it has some amazing highs if you like high concept sci-fi mixed with pitch black humor and horror

RoyaleDuke · Dec 5, 2017

More_Badass said:
Weren't you on like episode 8 yesterday?

My other favorite audiodramas are Sayer, Fairy Tales For Unwanted Children, and Tracks

Sayer hooked me with episode 6; I don't think it is as consistently great as Magnus, but it has some amazing highs if you like high concept sci-fi mixed with pitch black humor and horror

I'll look into those other podcasts, and yes I was lol, I have awful insomnia so I tend to listen to podcasts/work/play a lot of games in my restlessness.

Jugendstil · Dec 5, 2017

More_Badass said:
Weren't you on like episode 8 yesterday?

My other favorite audiodramas are Sayer, Fairy Tales For Unwanted Children, and Tracks

Sayer hooked me with episode 6; I don't think it is as consistently great as Magnus, but it has some amazing highs if you like high concept sci-fi mixed with pitch black humor and horror

Thanks for the recommendations. I've been dying for something new to binge since I caught up on Magnus. Tried Knifepoint Horror, couldn't get into it at all. Sayer sounds great, but I'll definitely check out all three!

Sulik2 · Dec 5, 2017

That Eyewitness episode was great. A very different type of episode having it deal with only the meta narrative mostly. Great world building there. Also, don't mess with Elias.

More_Badass · Dec 6, 2017

New episode today

An effective return to format. I imagine that I'm not the only one who thought they had an idea of what was going to happen once mannequins were mentioned. Scary mannequins tend to behave a pretty specific way in horror stories.

But not in Magnus Archives! Rather than simple coming alive or moving when not looking or whatnot, we get subtle unsettling changes that creep people out and body horror mess of limbs.

An obsessed Jon investigating on his own with mysterious statements being sent to him by an unknown party is an interesting direction. Given the nature of lovecraftian fiction, it could be another organization, or the followers/cult of these beings trying to manipulate him, or even one of the beings themselves using him to its own end

parrotbeak · Dec 7, 2017

More_Badass said:
New episode today

An effective return to format. I imagine that I'm not the only one who thought they had an idea of what was going to happen once mannequins were mentioned. Scary mannequins tend to behave a pretty specific way in horror stories.

But not in Magnus Archives! Rather than simple coming alive or moving when not looking or whatnot, we get subtle unsettling changes that creep people out and body horror mess of limbs.

An obsessed Jon investigating on his own with mysterious statements being sent to him by an unknown party is an interesting direction. Given the nature of lovecraftian fiction, it could be another organization, or the followers/cult of these beings trying to manipulate him, or even one of the beings themselves using him to its own end

nice symbolism for Jonathan of the finger on the lips

AmethystEnd · Dec 7, 2017

Really curious why the mannequin thing killed Lana but not the other girl. How does it pick its victims?

Also: "What?... I could be on drugs!" Fucking lol, Jon.

studyguy · Dec 7, 2017

Ah I need to catch up on season 3's episodes. Forgot it started!

Atrophis · Dec 7, 2017

Sounds right up my street. Giving it a go now.

NTGYK · Dec 9, 2017

Okay, I feel like I missed something, but who is Georgie? I thought she was the paranormal investigator at first, but it's definitely not that harpie.

Also "What!? I could be on drugs!" was hilarious

Voror · Dec 9, 2017

NTGYK said:
Okay, I feel like I missed something, but who is Georgie? I thought she was the paranormal investigator at first, but it's definitely not that harpie.

Also "What!? I could be on drugs!" was hilarious

She was mentioned in an episode with that investigator who spoke highly of Jon, which I think surprised Jon a bit. Sort of got the impression they may have been in a relationship in the past, but might be off track. This season is the first time she's been featured in person.

NTGYK · Dec 10, 2017

The most frustrating part of this show is having to wait a week between episodes. Binging on 80 EPs in a month spoiled me

Voror said:
She was mentioned in an episode with that investigator who spoke highly of Jon, which I think surprised Jon a bit. Sort of got the impression they may have been in a relationship in the past, but might be off track. This season is the first time she's been featured in person.

Ohhhh I see.

Skittles · Dec 14, 2017

ep 84: Oof, another lamb to the slaughter

Elias' seems to be have been implying the past few eps that John is bound to the Archives. I wonder if Elias and John are both backed by the same entity, or the entities are just collaborating right now.

BigDes · Dec 14, 2017

Just finished Season 2

Fantastic series

Jugendstil · Dec 14, 2017

Skittles said:
ep 84: Oof, another lamb to the slaughter

Elias' seems to be have been implying the past few eps that John is bound to the Archives. I wonder if Elias and John are both backed by the same entity, or the entities are just collaborating right now.

I think it was pretty much confirmed last season in episode 80 that Elias and the Archives are part of the power called The Beholding and that John (and anyone associated with the Archives) has been marked by its power. Its also sort of alluded to by Mary Keay in her statement in episode 62.

Brot · Dec 14, 2017

I'm still busy catching up and I just got to episode 77 ("The Kind Mother").

Holy crap, is this good. The chills, goddamn. I love the end. Gotta get right to the next episode.

Jugendstil · Dec 14, 2017

Brot said:
I'm still busy catching up and I just got to episode 77 ("The Kind Mother").

Holy crap, is this good. The chills, goddamn. I love the end. Gotta get right to the next episode.

Watch out, you'll be caught up before you know it and then you'll be like the rest of us poor slobs, anxiously awaiting a new episode every week.

AmethystEnd · Dec 14, 2017

Aww man, Melanie better not get rekt.

Mushroom · Dec 14, 2017

AmethystEnd said:
Aww man, Melanie better not get rekt.

She's gonna get rekted.

I liked the idea of having different narrators, I really liked all the Gertrude eps. I really didn't like the actual statement this time around though, didn't seem complete.

More_Badass · Dec 14, 2017

Mushroom said:
She's gonna get rekted.

I liked the idea of having different narrators, I really liked all the Gertrude eps. I really didn't like the actual statement this time around though, didn't seem complete.

I've always liked that about Magnus. All we can ever get from these statements are what these people experienced. We might not get answers because the people telling their story have no idea why or how things happen, we might not get the end of a story because the person ran away or went unconscious or whatever. It helps make the horrors maintain that sense of the unknown and part of what makes them feel more real compared to other horror stories from other audiodramas IMO

Mushroom · Dec 14, 2017

More_Badass said:
I've always liked that about Magnus. All we can ever get from these statements are what these people experienced. We might not get answers because the people telling their story have no idea why or how things happen, we might not get the end of a story because the person ran away or went unconscious or whatever. It helps make the horrors maintain that sense of the unknown and part of what makes them feel more real compared to other horror stories from other audiodramas IMO

I get that, that's why I love horror, or good horror anyways builds on mystery and tension.

I mean't to say that it just felt "incomplete" from a writing stand point, the story wasn't as engaging as other statements. I'm sure there's some tie ins with the overall narrative, but at the time being it didn't really grab me.

corasaur · Dec 14, 2017

Brot said:
I'm still busy catching up and I just got to episode 77 ("The Kind Mother").

Holy crap, is this good. The chills, goddamn. I love the end. Gotta get right to the next episode.

the last stretch of season 2 had some great titles and episode descriptions that got me really hyped to listen.

i think it was episode 78 that went

statement of ____ regarding something that was not his cousin

and I was just like, you poor bastard I need to hear how you suffer right now.

and of course, episode 80's spoilerific title and description.

i guess season finales are good for that though. episode 40's got me pumped too.

Mushroom · Dec 14, 2017

The Kind Mother is one of my top favorite eps.

Atrophis · Dec 15, 2017

Its slow progress so far but I'm up to episode 15. I've really like a lot of the episodes but I definitely prefer the ones that are a bit more grounded with weird things that are just a bit out of the ordinary. The ones where random crazy shit gets piled on top of random crazy shit don't work as well. Favourite episodes so far: Across The Street, Thrown Away, The Piper and Piecemeal.

AmethystEnd · Dec 15, 2017

Atrophis said:
Its slow progress so far but I'm up to episode 15. I've really like a lot of the episodes but I definitely prefer the ones that are a bit more grounded with weird things that are just a bit out of the ordinary. The ones where random crazy shit gets piled on top of random crazy shit don't work as well. Favourite episodes so far: Across The Street, Thrown Away, The Piper and Piecemeal.

All of those are fantastic. And I think you'll find there're more of the kind of episodes you prefer than not :).

Mushroom · Dec 15, 2017

Looking back at the lost of eps, it's surprising how great those first 10 eps are (Do Not Open, Vampire Killer are top tier for me), MAG is one of the few podcasts that I consistently relisten to eps.

AmethystEnd · Dec 15, 2017

Mushroom said:
Looking back at the lost of eps, it's surprising how great those first 10 eps are (Do Not Open, Vampire Killer are top tier for me), MAG is one of the few podcasts that I consistently relisten to eps.

Same here. I'll put in on constantly when I'm doing other stuff. I should download all the episodes and set them to random.

Jugendstil · Dec 15, 2017

AmethystEnd said:
Same here. I'll put in on constantly when I'm doing other stuff. I should download all the episodes and set them to random.

Same! I put it on at work all the time while I'm doing other stuff. I've relistened to my favorite eps a bunch of times already and I only started listening to the show last month.

Almeister · Dec 15, 2017

Yeah, I have some really weird associations at places in my town - shops, streets etc - because of messed up stuff I was listening to from the Magnus Archives when I was there!

I just finished series one - the acting in the finale felt like it was stretching the capabilities of some of the actors but it was still pretty intense. Looking forward to getting into S2.

More_Badass · Dec 20, 2017

The concept was unsettling, the uneasy intersection between memory and perception and the thing on the stairs. The description of his mother's bloodshot unfocused eyes looking at him was some haunting imagery

Jon trying to understand the meaning of why the statements are being chosen and exploring the statement's supernatural aspects head-on is a good evolution of the concept, and I liked how the contradictory nature fit Lovecraftian/cosmic horror perfectly.

Jon got a bit too much into character in this one IMO though

AmethystEnd · Dec 20, 2017

FUCK, this is the first one this season that made me shiver. Partly because the poem is one I knew before, and the poem by itself has always creeped me out a bit.

Mushroom · Dec 21, 2017

Great F'n episode.

I'm really enjoying the new format with the added time for dialogue between characters and Jon's pondering.

Man the story was pretty fucking creepy. The whole concept of consciously being taken over is too spooky. The dinner with his parents implies to me that he went through physical changes. Although I didn't quite get it, was it able to kill and then turn the parents?

It seems like people react differently to this. With some, like Michael are probably able to act as rouge creatures. Now I'm thinking about Michael, the doppelgänger thing and the people who were in Anatomy Class.

More_Badass · Dec 21, 2017

Been listening to Season 2 again, because I didn't remember many of the episodes like I do for Season 1, and I forgot how much I liked the actress for Gertrude Robinson. I hope we get more statements from her.

More_Badass · Dec 21, 2017

I think Magnus Archives has my favorite setting among new media horror (ie podcasts, webseries, creepypasta, etc., not sure if that's the proper term) since SCP. I might like it even more than SCP; SCP has since gone way over the top and silly with a lot of its stuff, while the lore and world of Magnus is so consistent and clearly very meticulously crafted

Other favorites would be Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, SCP, and Emily Carroll's works

Mushroom · Dec 21, 2017

Rassilon · Dec 21, 2017

Mushroom said:
SCP?

http://www.scp-wiki.net/

You may be familiar with some SCP articles through cultural osmosis.
In essence, it's a faux wiki site of paranormal entities, objects and monsters.

There are some really great examples that mess with the format of an article, and others that just have really solid and scary ideas.

Voror · Dec 21, 2017

Unit 333 said:
http://www.scp-wiki.net/

You may be familiar with some SCP articles through cultural osmosis.
In essence, it's a faux wiki site of paranormal entities, objects and monsters.

There are some really great examples that mess with the format of an article, and others that just have really solid and scary ideas.

It's also possible to get lost in it given just how many there are and how detailed some get with extra articles.

Rassilon · Dec 21, 2017

Voror said:
It's also possible to get lost in it given just how many there are and how detailed some get with extra articles.

It's almost an SCP in itself!

AmethystEnd · Dec 27, 2017

MAG 86:

Holy shit, I didn't expect the beginning sequence of this new episode. This is so fucking good.

Tim is so full of hate. And that interaction with Melanie was fantastic.

Will edit when I've listened to the rest.

Edit:

So I don't know if Melanie's voice actress was directed this way intentionally, but I thought it was cool how when she started the statement, it was like she was just kind of reading it, but as the minutes went on the way she read got more and more "in character" and "into it". I was super fucking worried she'd open that plastic bag and touch the dark stains. And that ending with Jon was great; I hope he really does tell her everything.

One note though. I feel like the dead guy from the statement didn't do enough to protect himself. He kept going to sleep alone. He should've tried things like going to public places at night, or hell, even getting intentionally arrested to protect himself.

Skittles · Dec 27, 2017

Ep 86:

The delivery of the line "the blanket never did anything" was fucking sublime. Chills

this fucking podcast

Mushroom · Dec 28, 2017

Man what a great fucking episode. They're doing a great job at blending in humor, and bringing in different characters into focus.

Anyways, my new take on the new ep,

Really enjoyed this episode, i'll be honest I was kind of bummed at first when I heard Tim's voice, but I was glad with the small twist of having Melanie take over. Their interaction was great, and the whole Sasha discussion probably has Tim wondering what really is going on. I don't feel like he's purposely being a dick, more like he's just going through a denial stage much like Jon did.

Melanie's read was great, and the story itself was pretty good and creepy and was fleshed out. I'm wondering if these shadow entities are similar to the ones the police encounter, MAG 73:Police Lights, and for some reason I keep thinking of that weird episode about the old man and his bedroom door, I forget the episode.

Both Tim and Jon warm Mel about the institue, and just adds to the mystery as to why Ellis brought her in.

P.S. I still want to know what that thing that Sara encountered in MAG 28:Skintight.

AmethystEnd said:
MAG 86:

Holy shit, I didn't expect the beginning sequence of this new episode. This is so fucking good.

Tim is so full of hate. And that interaction with Melanie was fantastic.

Will edit when I've listened to the rest.

Edit:

So I don't know if Melanie's voice actress was directed this way intentionally, but I thought it was cool how when she started the statement, it was like she was just kind of reading it, but as the minutes went on the way she read got more and more "in character" and "into it". I was super fucking worried she'd open that plastic bag and touch the dark stains. And that ending with Jon was great; I hope he really does tell her everything.

One note though. I feel like the dead guy from the statement didn't do enough to protect himself. He kept going to sleep alone. He should've tried things like going to public places at night, or hell, even getting intentionally arrested to protect himself.

I think part of him new there was nothing that he could really do.

H.Protagonist · Dec 30, 2017

Man, they're really hitting it out of the park this season. This one and Upon the Stair were fantastic. The small humorous touches really sing against the creepy backdrop. If you guys haven't yet, you might think about leaving a review on their FB page. I'm sure they could use more love to help sell it to new people: Rusty Quill FB

More_Badass · Dec 30, 2017

This one was really creepy, some wonderfully eerie imagery. I definitely remember those kinds of fears when I was a child.

But more importantly, so much plot stuff in this one. Jon having someone on the inside should be very fruitful

The Magnus Archives | Season 3 starts November 23rd

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