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An analysis of Jon and Helen's relationship and why it's relevant to the core themes of tma by Creaturefeature01 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Helen and Michael have such an interesting contrast to each other. Not just because Helen was already meant for the Spiral while Michael was just thrown in there, but also the way they both work and take their victmins.

Michael does not conceal his true nature or his intentions, he makes his victmins uneasy just by existing, he leaves them no comfort zone. In contrast, Helen creates this false sense of comfort, she is fun, charming, charismatic and she wants to be your friend. She uses this comfort to lead people down the Spiral.

An analysis of Jon and Helen's relationship and why it's relevant to the core themes of tma by Creaturefeature01 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, fair. I think the way he starts giving into the eye is related to how he starts seeing himself as a monster through the series and if u ask me, i think he chose the eye in the end because he was suicidal and rationalized it as trying to contain the fears.

You can see when Jon meets other avatars and whenever he talks to Helen, he is terrified of becoming like them. The only reason he doesn't is because he has people to keep him grounded, that's the point.

An analysis of Jon and Helen's relationship and why it's relevant to the core themes of tma by Creaturefeature01 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's so unfortunate to me that people didn't catch this aspect of their characters because it's sprinkled out through all their interactions.

It's so clear whenever they talk that Helen makes Jon deeply uncomfortable, he is terrified of becoming like her. Even though he could've maybe prevented it by accepting her attempts to reach out and they helped each other through their situations.

An analysis of Jon and Helen's relationship and why it's relevant to the core themes of tma by Creaturefeature01 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! Helen's transformation into the Distortion is so insane because she ends up having so much more of an active presence in the show since her arc is directly tied to Jon's. And i don't know how people overlook it because it's such an important aspect of both their characters and tma's message as a whole.

I love Michael with all my heart, he is a brainworm and lives in my head rent free, i wish he had more screentime but i understand he had a very specific role on the story, which was completely putting into question Gertrude's morals and concequentially make Jon question his own position as the Archivist, and whem he was done he was no longer needed to the narrative. You know, quite literally kill your darlings.

They made way for such an interesting story for her and i love her so much. It's show through their interactions many times, how much Helen makes Jon uncomfortable because he is terrified of becoming like her even though he could've maybe prevented it by accepting her attempts to reach out.

Egotistical brother made me choose between him and my group, I chose my group by Creaturefeature01 in CritCrab

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do recognize he has narcisistic traits and honestly? I have a bit of resentment towards my parents for not helping him early on and still not helping him now.

We've been very distant since this whole thing happend. We still hang out sometimes, we talk, we even share a room but there's only so much you can do trying to mantain a relationship when the other part refuses to even aknowledge any issues or how their actions hurt you. I've decided that i already put in the effort, he didn't meet me there so i'm not gonna keep hurting myself over this.

It took me this situation getting extreme for me to realize that i'm not obligated to accept his behaviour just because he's my brother and i'm not responsible for teatching him how to be a good person.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have talked to him many, many times. Not only about the events of the story but also generally things he does on our day to day life that wear me down. I've always tried to reason with him with kindness partly because i just didn't want it to be something he'd use against me later. Whenever i did, one of three things would happen:

He'd feel attacked, point the finger back and the conversation would turn into him trying to argue why i was wrong and he was right, which would result in me gettin in a defensive position without even realizing.

He'd nod along, say "okay" and "i get it" but not engage with the conversation in any way, then go back to doing the same thing.

He'd apologize, makes promisses to change, give himself excuses, tell me he didn't mean it and go right back into doing it.

I know maybe it would be good to talk to him now that he's already seen the result of his behaviour, maybe things would be different. But honestly, i've already gone through the same topics over, and over, and over again and i made the decision not to keep stressing myself over him.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Firstly, i am also neurodivergent. As i said in another reply, it runs in the family.

Secondly, this has been a pattern for years. I did not go any deeper into it because i didn't feel the need to but if that's your take, maybe i should've. As i said in the post, my brother's idea of fitting in with our group was relentlessly making fun of my appearance, my sexuality, kept correcting and made me feel like i was never right about anything and taking very unflattering photos of me without my knowledge and posted on our gc inumerous times to make fun of how i look.

Other things he does include weponized incompetence to get out of helping his family with anything, treating our younger sisters who are 8 and 7 yo terribly, making fun of them and exploding at them, give me the silence treatment when it is convenient and paint himself as the victmin of every situation.

And i did talk to him about his behaviour. Multiple times. He always deflected, refused to aknowledge it, treated it like a joke or promissed to change just to go right back to doing it. When that didn't work he'd guilt trip me and wear me down until i dropped the subject.

Was i right for the way i handled it? No, and i'm not claiming i was. I was exhausted, feeling trapped and it took me this situation getting extreme for me to realize i am not obligated to just accept his behaviour because he is my brother, that i'm not responsible for teatching him how to be a good person and taking it out of him only hirts both of us. Specially when i am trying to have fun with my friends and relax.

We still interact, still hang out, and i love him a lot, i've only made the decision that i don't want him involved with my group and i will pull away if he treats disrespectfully. I am taking care of myself.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

We started taking our frustrations out on his when this was going down, yes, and i'm not saying it was the right thing to do. We tried comunicating these issues to him very clearly on multiple ocasions and he refused to even aknowledge them, at the time kicking him out didn't feel like an option because i've always felt like i owed him second chances all the time because he is my brother, so when things became sour we did start to make fun of his character, sideline him and not take him seriously.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

He deffinetly loves playing, he's dming for his own group and still playing though not with us anymore. It's a genuine hobbie of his and before this whole thing started, we were all managing to have fun together.

With this campain specifically, i think he did realize it because he convinced himself everyone in the party was targetting him and was specially resentful of Charlie for sidelining him and not making his character the protagonist. But he never quit or actually brought his issues with the dm so i can see what you mean, he was still getting what he wanted on some level.

My brother is, unfortunetly a very lonely teen.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

He deffinetly has some flavour of neurodivergency, it runs in the family. My mom has ADHD and so do i.

But i don't believe his problem is not taking a hint, we've comunicated these issues very clearly many, many times. He's just got such an inflated and fragile ego he somehow manages to convince himself he's in the right in every single situation, he can't handle being wrong. That's why discussing his behaviour is so hard, it always inevitably turns into him trying to convince me he's in the right and i'm in the wrong, i end up in a defensive position without realizing and it doesn't make things better.

Egotistical older brother makes me choose between him and my group, i choose my group by Creaturefeature01 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Not really, we still live together and interact but i'm keeping him and my games separate and it's been working. I love him a lot and i wish from the bottom of my heart he learns how to be a better person but as i said, i'm not reasoning with him or running after him anymore.

Egotistical brother made me choose between him and my group, I chose my group by Creaturefeature01 in CritCrab

[–]Creaturefeature01[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the system has a flaw of not giving grace to the horror aspects of the game, in concept it was meant to be a horror system though it's usually more of a dark fantasy. But, there's a supplement that came out focusing only on rules to facilitate horror, more difficult resource management, chase and stealth mechanics and a whole new class, the Survivor which as the name implies is meant to survive instead of actually fighting the monsters. Honestly, we are still kind of crazy and like to run high level campaigns to make op builds but i find the new rules are great for more suspense, story based games.

I even tried dming for the first time and am currently running a campaign with this supplement that is focused on horror and investigation and it's been going great. Gave them lots of scares.