The Magnus Archives is a Podcast

"The Magnus Archives is a podcast" is a meme local to the fandom surrounding the horror podcast *The Magnus Archives,* which ran from 2016 to 2021. Each episode of *The Magnus Archives* (*TMA*) ends with a copyright statement, and fans on Tumblr and Twitter often repeat the first few words of that statement to express feelings like shock in response to the show's cliffhanger endings and wild turns in plot.

## Origins

In full, the copyright statement the meme stems from reads as follows (with minor changes to the lines after the first one over time and as needed):

> "The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Today's episode was written by Jonathan Sims and directed by Alexander J Newall. To subscribe, view associated material, or join our Patreon, visit rustyquill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us @TheRustyQuill, visit us on Facebook, or email us at mail@rustyquill.com. Join our communities on The Magnus Archives Forum via the website, or on Reddit at r/themagnusarchives. Thanks for listening."
>
>

The statement is read by Jonathan Sims, co-writer and narrator of the show. Sims' narrator is an uptight, lowkey traumatized archivist who reads scripts with a slight flair for the dramatic. He reads the copyright statement in that same voice, which likely is part of the reason the statement isn't skipped over as most tend to be. It also comes right after the close of each episode, so many listeners have those first few words, at least, stuck in their heads, especially after listening to all 200 episodes.

## Recognizable Features

* The phrase itself ("The Magnus Archives is a podcast").
* Use in reference to *TMA,* often to express a kind of disbelieving reaction to the show.
* Emphasis or italics on the word "podcast" to express further disbelief.
* Use in posts and media made by fans of *TMA* and shared in spaces devoted to *TMA.*
* Variations on the phrase to refer to other podcasts ("Stellar Firma is a podcast").
* The sentence structure "[Noun] is/was a [noun]" (Critical Role is an actual-play D&D show").
* Capitalization in title case for emphasis ("The Magnus Archives Is A Podcast").

"The Magnus Archives is a podcast" was revived anew in December 2020 after *TMA* shared a YouTube stream in which Sims began reading the statement and was interrupted by a giddy Alexander J Newall (producer, co-writer, and actor for the show):

> **Sims**: *The Magnus Archives* is a podcast--
>
>

> **Newall**: *Fuck, dude, yeah, it sure is!!*
>
>

Several creators produced animatics of this version of the meme (for instance, this example from woodland dreams and this example from TawnyEvergreen), and some iterations refer to Newall's interruption as well as Sims' original words.

Another iteration of the meme comes at the end of *TMA*'s final episode, in which Sims tells listeners that *TMA was* a podcast, emphasis on the "was."

This meme might be considered **local** or **chill** in that it isn't meant to be viral: its use is limited to a specific group, and it wouldn't make sense to many internet users outside that group. Additionally, those who use the meme often do so in text posts or comments rather than image or video files. In other words, it's used casually--enough to be noted by fans of *TMA*, but not so visibly that its memetic nature is obvious to those not in the know.

## Cultural Context

*The Magnus Archives* is one of several popular podcasts whose fan communities are composed in large part of queer and queer-allied users of (usually) Tumblr and Twitter. It's often recommended to listeners of other narrative podcasts that feature queer characters (for example, *Welcome to Night Vale* and *The Penumbra Podcast*), enough that most fans of one of those three podcasts who view or produce fan works on websites like Tumblr have at least heard of the other two (if they haven't already tried listening to them).

The fandom surrounding *TMA* grew exponentially as episodes came out, particularly after listeners realized that the stories shared in episodes were connected to each other (and not one-off stories with no relation to each other). While its first episodes largely consisted of fictional statements on horrific happenings dictated by Jonathan Sims in his role of archivist, *TMA* soon contained many recurring characters, and larger plot arcs began to form around the individual statements read in most episodes. Eventually, thriving communities grew on websites like Tumblr as fans of *TMA* reacted to the show, created fanart and fanfiction of it, and attempted to predict how its wild fifth and final season would end. "The Magnus Archives *is* *a* *podcast*" has an unspoken emphasis in its second half in part because it's an expression of fans' awe that a podcast could seem casual at first glance but turn out to be wildly complex in its design.

## Audience

The audience for "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" is largely limited to fans of *The Magnus Archives,* particularly those who spend time in online spaces dedicated to the show like those on Tumblr or Twitter. It's an innocuous enough phrase that its use could go entirely unnoticed by internet users unfamiliar with *TMA.* Users who follow or friend fans of the show might come to recognize it secondhand after seeing the phrase crop up multiple times, but "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" is a bit of a **stealth meme** in this respect: without context, the phrase is simply a short sentence. With no visual elements required to invoke it, it's easy to use, but only for those who know to use it in the first place.

## Circulation

"The Magnus Archives is a podcast" is circulated most often within the *The Magnus Archives* fandom, usually via inclusion in text posts. It can also be used as somewhat of a throwaway phrase: if you're not sure how to caption a work of fanart for the show, for instance, you might default to using "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" or a similar iteration of the phrase.

How many users have engaged with this meme is hard to tell in that searches for the text itself often pull up transcripts for *TMA* episodes themselves, each of which use the phrase at least once. Searches of the phrase inside quotation marks via specific websites like Tumblr, however, do find a smattering of posts that make the phrase's memetic nature more apparent.

## Ethical Issues

Uses of "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" don't seem to bring about any ethical issues. This is likely because **a)** its origins are so straightforward and innocuous in nature, **b)** it's usually used to speak positively of *The Magnus Archives* or other subjects*,* and **c)** its use is limited to a relatively small group of people in comparison with more popular, global memes.

## Impact

The impact of "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" as a meme is limited: most people will never know about it, and it's easy enough to use its few words that users might not even regard them as a proper meme. "The Magnus Archives is a podcast" has spread memetically, however, and its chill, local nature maybe even adds to the pleasures of invoking it. It's not a world-changer, but it's a fond memory (one that will likely be revitalized as the upcoming sequel to *TMA* is produced and made available in the near future).

## Gallery

* the magnus archives is a podcast- - YouTube
* the magnus archives is a podcast // speedpaint!! - YouTube
* The Magnus Archives is a podcast... - YouTube