#fact based history

[hastalavistabyebye]

Canon mandalorian art and the Murals of Sundari

There's a very interesting thing about canon mandalorian art. Outside of Sabine's graffitis and armor paint, the only canon mando figurative art (that I have found) are the statue of Tarre Vizla -which go perfectly in star wars' long tradition of dead historical figures' statues, especially for Jedi- and the three murals of Mandalore. I said figurative because there is also the Memorial Shrine on Sundari that was bombed by death watch during the clone wars that is definitely not figurative. But that's another subject.

Of those two exemples of mandalorian sculptures that we know of, we have an old, historical, imposing rendition of a past Mand'alor (and in both medium and subject, what I personally headcanon as the favored type of art by Mandalorians) and a series of murals depicting one of the victories of the Mandalorians over the Jedi, during one of their war. And that mural is the only major art we see in Sundari, the New Mandalorians' Capital.

And that's what I'm going to talk about.

Those three murals have obviously been inspired by Picasso's Guernica. I'm absolutely not a Picasso specialist nor do I wish to be (he was an asshole first category, thank you very much but ew). But. What I do know is that Guernica was commanded to Picasso to illustrate the city Guernica's bombing and denounce fascism, and later on was a symbol of the horror of the war (especially the world war 2 which started two years after the realisation of this imposing painting). The blatant difference with Guernica in those murals is that the violence isn't denounced at all. It's highlighted. The Mandalorians Crusaders have halos, they're bigger, standing, orderly, majestic. Opposed to that are the Jedi, distorted, chaotic, small, at the feet of the Mandalorians. This is obvious propaganda in favor of the victors of the battle. (Of the battle only because it's the Jedi who won that war.)

Using Guernica was an interesting and easy way to show "A War" even if the soul of it is completely reversed (which is really interesting too) but yeah, that's a smart and quick way to send a mood to the person watching those episodes of clone war, without needing to focus on the art. You see the style, you understand roughly what's the meaning of it. End of the parenthesis.

What is interesting is that this is the only figurative art I've found for the New Mandalorians. More than that, that last mural was right under the speaking balcony, above the royal platform of Sundari's palace. Satine Kryze talked about her ideals just over the graphic depiction of Jedi being decapitated. This, added to the cultural genocide the New Mandalorians were making, paint one hell of a picture.

For that last part on the New Mandalorians, @/fox-trot made an amazing explanation of it, in some of their tags once but I can't find the post again :( roughly, they were highlighting how, notably in Legends, the Mandalorians used to be a vastly diverse people, different colors of skin, different species.... But with the arrival of the New Mandalorians, not only we can't see any art but those ones, not only do they want to erase entire parts of their traditions and culture (armor doesn't mean war, you could change the warrior and blood culture without taking the armor out, cue Jedi and their weapons lightsaber), but they also are all human, white and rich. Boba and Jango Fett aren't seen as Mandalorians at all. The Wren are Death Watch so traitors and terrorists. The New Mandalorians are good and safe and refuse any way of protection, are more passive than neutral in that regard, and are a white, human elite.

That elite have hid/erased/we-can't-even-know-because-it-can-only-be-seen-in-it's-obvious-absence all of their traditional art but those murals, depicting the massacre that was one of their victorious battles in a war they ultimately lost. This is one hell of a propaganda and rewriting of History.

You can read it in many ways, two I can think of are :

-the New Mandalorians Government want to send the message "See how bloody and terrible and not-good mandalorian culture is. We need to be pacifists to not-be-like-that"

-but what it can look like is the symbolic reality of what they're doing : a cultural genocide painted in glorious light.

Anyway you want to look at it, with such a critical light of the new mandalorians or not, that those murals are the only art display in Sundari's palace still send one hell of a message.

[aether-link]

Great now I’m thinking of Obito. I always loved how tall he was when he was little and with his team, little guy was T O L. Specially if he was near kakashi, poor kakashi was somewhat tiny 😭

Then like, when he was older. Some panels/frames Obito was STILL taller. Fr fr I’d be looking up looking at this Uchiha tree standing around.

All my personal au’s lately I picture Obito being the tallest Uchiha on record in the clan that are all alive. And little Sasuke calls him kirin as nickname/joke. (Kirin as a joke way is giraffe.) ANYWAYS.

OBITO TALL HOURS. LETS GOOOOOOOOO

[owl-house-facts-i-just-made-up]

OWL HOUSE FACT #22: During the reconstruction of the Isles this hole was turned into a pool after it was discovered that the Emperor’s Coven scouts didn’t harm it during their raid. After they both passed of old age the pool was named after Luz and Amity, for their bravery in saving the Isles and being the spot where they began their lifelong relationship.

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville] was the only member of [Crown Prince Edward of Westminster's] original 1471 council not already on the king’s council and her name headed the list of those appointed as administrators in Wales during Edward’s minority. [She remained on the council after it was expanded in 1473 and granted significant new governing and judicial powers]."

"In 1478 Prince Richard [of Shrewsbury] married the Mowbray heiress. Like his elder brother he had a chancellor, seal, household and council to manage his estates. His council, like that of Prince Edward, comprised the queen [Elizabeth Woodville] and a group of magnates and bishops, few of whom were Woodville supporters [...] It was Elizabeth who mattered, for Richard resided with her and Rivers treated his affairs as their own."

-J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Michael Hicks, Richard III and his Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses

[evilliousfunfacts]

Evillious fact #24

The line “Now we are all sons of bitches” that Nemesis says in The Master of The Hellish Yard is likely referencing what Kenneth Bainbridge said after the trinity test succeeded. (The first nuclear test.)

[aceredshirt13]

gang i have to share this P. G. Wodehouse quote with you all because ever since I found it I can't stop thinking about it. it's from a letter he wrote when he was 78 years old to his friend Guy Bolton (many thanks to P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters)

I have been on the sick list myself, but am better now. Inflamed bladder or chill on the bladder or something, the symptoms being agony when I passed water, as the expression is. It brought back the brave old days when I used to get clap.

he really said "yeah the pain from my bladder issue reminds of the days when I used to have so much sex I repeatedly got venereal disease"

[fitzrove]

Fun facts about crown prince rudolf 🥰💖

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria was this super tragic figure whose super tragic life was always tragic and very sad. Also he was an irredeemably evil sexist jerkface and if you like him you're a pick me girl who wants WOMEN TO DIE,, anyway here are some fun facts about him!

He died in 1889 from suicide :( Or he may have been murdered by French agents sent by his friend Clemenceau,, listen I know they were friends who were aligned politically, but Empress Zita said this ~40 years after Rudolf's death, and because she's distantly related to him through marriage it must 100% be true!

He shot himself in the mouth, I don't know why all of these adaptations change it to be the temple lol

He infected his wife with syphilis >:o

According to his writings (mostly Eine Orientreise where he frequently admires the fresh manliness of his Arab hunting companions) he was heteroromantic polysexual <3 representation

He used to keep this creepy sex register where he used different colors of pens to mark what kind of woman he slept with (virgin, of noble birth, etc...). No trust me bro it's legit even though nobody has ever presented proof of this register existing anywhere or even a credible primary source citation to point to someone contemporary describing it

During his travels in Egypt and Palestine Rudolf acquired many cultural and historical artifacts for museums in Vienna as well as for his personal collections<3 Explorer king. Wait what do you mean imperialism, graverobbing and arson?? Noo I wouldn't describe it as such haha...

He was really sexist and that's not ok tbh :/ How can anyone be interested in him when he was horrible to women :( I mean it's kinda hard to find 19th century european men who would not have been and a lot of our still-revered statesmen had comparable attitudes that people let slide, but actually when it's someone that was also mentally ill in a Scary Violent Way it's ok to center his negative traits and ignore everything else about him haha. Also women are only allowed to enjoy researching and discussing historical figures who are unproblematic and good representation<3 ALSO women are not allowed to make arguments about historical figures being interesting or sympathetic based on their political views/positions if those figures were awful people in their personal lives, it's like the rules of feminism or something! ~~

He was involved in this crazy conspiracy to crown himself as king of Hungary. Also he was really hyped about hungarian nationalism and independence and totally wasn't an imperialist first and foremost who would've seen the ideology as ultimately destructive regardless of any personal fondness for Hungary

The italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni actually really wanted to fuck him and this was a motivating factor for Lucheni's assassination of empress Elisabeth in 1898 😳

[THIS POST IS SATIRE (inspired by) and the "facts" are purposeful misinformation kfkfkfkf. If anyone can provide actual proof of that sex register thing that does NOT come from greg king and penny wilson (derogatory) I will graciously not duel them in the hofburg parking lot xD I hate that this disclaimer needs to be included because it ruins the joke, but a lot of these are such common takes that I can't not]

[separatist-apologist]

Hiiii how are you

Lucien was looking forward to the fight. And when famed Gladiator Rhysand stepped out, bare chested and adorned in his strange tattoos, the crowd erupted with excitement.

I'm doing fine and very normal, thanks for asking. how are you??

[roe-and-memory]

if adding facts about the real racer that a character in cars 3 is inspired by was a job i would be absolutely rolling in the dough

[wring-wraith]

I don’t think y’all understand that you can just make stuff up on any AP history exam

[spotsupstuff]

here's a neat vid, go watch it if you haven't yet

there's Some things that i don't completely agree with personally, like attributing the Third sin to Materialism rather than Connection (i'd argue that the Ancients had no big issue with being materialistic, considering their golden attires and such- and that going with Connection overall better addresses both the core of Materialism and relationships overall) and then attributing the word Dynasty specifically to asian cultures but that's more history/word definition beef more than anything djgklsjlcgjkd

oh how i'd love to have a debate with this guy about Ancients...

[moongothic]

I LOVE your crocodad theory I'm an obsessed believer but did u ever get romantic vibes from crocodile & robin business relationship? Many people get lover vibes from them & I never understood why. They seem VERY strictly business/stab each other in the back relationship. (Plus crocodile is TERRIFYING).

I think Croco/Robin as a ship exists kind of like... out of circumstance? Kind of?

Quick disclaimer, I only got into OP in like 2008~ish at the age of 13, I can not comment what it as like being in the fandom before that because I wasn't there (and when OP began in 1997 I was like two whole years old). So whatever I say here doesn't come from like, a fandom veteran who knows the entire history of the OP fandom or anything. I'm just attempting to rub my braincells together here

Like in the year of our lord 2023 we have many wonderful Crocodile ships to classify as OTPs and NOTPs etc, but if we go back to like 2006 or so, long before the Summit War Saga was even a thing, try to think about what characters you would have shipped Crocodile with? Because for a long time, the only canon material Crocodile had appeared in was just the Alabasta Saga (+one brief cover story), and we don't really see Crocodile interact with that many characters during the story. Like. Really the only character Crocodile has multiple, extended interactions with aside from Luffy and Vivi is Robin. All the other characters he interacts with maybe once or twice for very brief scenes, so based on canon material alone, there isn't much for fuel for shipping purposes.

It really wasn't until Marineford when we finally started getting other characters to ship with Crocodile, mainly the Ever Loyal Daz who seems to be willing to follow Crocodile anywhere (romantic as fuck) and Doflamingo after he and Croc tried to kill each other twice at Marineford (people seem to love a tsundere Croc) And now with Cross Guild we also have Mihawk (and Buggy) as far as shipping options go. And of course there's MORE than just these ships, there's the more crack-leaning ships (like Dragodile and whatever you'd call the Cobra-ship) and some others (Jinbei, Whitebeard, Ivankov, Galdino, Luffy even) etc etc

The only difference is that Croco/Robin got to kind of be like, "the default Crocodile ship" for like 8 years without major competition. And because the ship has "history", even when new ships pop up the one that has been around the longest will still stick out. Not to mention, although we have options now, even those have very little canon material to actually work with when compared to Croco/Robin. Like Dofuwani exists because the two had like three whole pages worth of interactions, but compare that to the screentime Croc had with Robin? It's not even a competition

Not to mention, Croco/Robin is just. Like it's kind of the mandatory het ship. Like there aren't many straight options with canon material to work with, and there's gonna be people who really want to have a het ship with Crocodile if you know what I mean. But also, let's be real. There's a lot of straight women who're horny for Crocodile. Valid as fuck. And Croco/Robin could have like, a self-insert-y quality to it, like some people might be able to see themselves in Robin? Also valid. And that can apply to some straight men too, like I'm sure there's cishet men who look at Crocodile with that "god I wish that were me" energy, who love seeing Crocodile ship fanart with Robin, as they can project onto Crocodile etc. This is also valid. Point is that the ship appeals to cishets by simply being a het ship, but also it might make for an easy ship for a lot of straight people to project onto for one reason or another.

But to be fair, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I think Croco/Robin has the potential to be a really interesting ship. Like they ARE the Baroque Works Boss Pair, literal partners in crime, the most powerful members of the secret criminal organization who run the whole operation, they worked together by themselves for four whole years, Crocodile protecting Robin by allowing her to hide under his wings. They were together, ready to take over an entire country and obtain a weapon of mass destruction And then Robin betrays him. And Crocodile admits he never trusted her to begin with.

Like on paper alone, this is great material for a juicy romance.

Especially now when we understand why Robin was on the run and why she feared being betrayed, and how looking back at Crocodile's reaction when Robin "reads" the Poneglyph for him, he genuinely seems a little sad about her betraying him (mystery trauma etc). This is a genuinely interesting character dynamic, like even without any romantic context I would love to see Crocodile and Robin meet again in the storyline and like, see what Crocodile thinks of Robin having joined the Strawhats vs what Robin thinks about Cross Guild, how the two might interact etc. They are interesting to me

Like personally, I agree, I don't think the two were actually ever romantically involved with each other (frankly I don't think Crocodile trusts anyone anymore enough to let them get close him like that, dude's been voluntarily celibate for like two decades lmao), their relationship was surely just business-only. And while the ship doesn't personally interest me (just kinda "meh" for me), I do understand why the ship appeals to others and why it's popular to this day

But yeah, I do think a lot of the reasons Croco/Robin is as popular as it is due to circumstance. It's been around the longest, it still arguably has the most canon material to work with, it appeals to lots of people. God knows shippers don't actually need the characters to like each other, otherwise people wouldn't be shipping Croc with Buggy as we speak

[saltyfilmmajor]

Not that I recommend everyone read the 286 page court opinion to understand why search engines suck ass now, it's exactly what i'm doing actually

[variousqueerthings]

Kilroy was here is a meme that became popular during World War II, typically seen in graffiti. Its origin is debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle became associated with GIs in the 1940s: a bald-headed man with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with his fingers clutching the wall.

[mur-art]

It’s pretty much canon at this point that PA is Gov’s dad. What if in some kind of AU situation Gov and IDC were actual kids back in the day and PA actually had the opportunity to raise them like a normal dad? Anyway, here’s that AU... 

It’s still PA’s birthday here and that’s all that matters. 

Why is PA wearing glasses? Because my own OC versions of PA have always worn glasses so it’s kind of a habit at this point. Plus at least one east coast state needs glasses and I vote for PA. But only for reading. He’s an old-ass man after all.

[alpacinoinheat]

im rewatching jonathan strange and mr norrell and im about 98% convinced there must be a parallel universe where this show has a fandom as big as good omens or ofmd