#the HIStory franchise

[a-great-tragedy]

Listen, you can’t be partners in crime and also be just “Best Friends”cause there is nothing more gay than planning murder

[isabelleadjani]

WINONA RYDER & SIGOURNEY WEAVER as Call & Ripley ALIEN: RESURRECTION dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997

[swan2swan]

Yasammy: Reunited

[dauntingdeclan]

VGK @ OTT 2.24.24

captain disaster

[turqrambles]

All of these are indeed real, by the way. Sorry if some of these sound like a Rayman Iceberg situation.

[artmctalon]

Naru and Sarii (fan art)

A quick sketch of Amber Midthunder's character from the 2022 movie Prey (plus her dog), that I did on a lazy Sunday night after binging a bunch of online content related to the Predator franchise.

It may be a prequel installment for an action-horror-scifi franchise, but Prey has some really darn good representation of Comanche culture, and I was particular enthralled by effort and attention-to-detail that was highlighted in interviews and behind-the-scenes videos I was consuming on YouTube. Producer Jhane Myers put a lot of creative work in to get things right, and I think it's great seeing that indigenous persons were for once exercising creative control of a movie about them.

Btw, I definitely dig Sarii the dog too :)

Speedpaint video:

[astridhoff03]

Hiccstrid in Rtte🥰

[aroaceleovaldez]

Your blog is the only blog where I feel safe enough asking this question. What do you think of Percy Jackson fans who feel as though they and the series have a moral superiority to Harty Potter ? Obviously, Harry Potter and its author are laden with questionable and sometimes straight-up hateful takes and views. But the way PJO fans constantly compare the two, its authors (even though RR is far from flawless), and the two MCs (ignoring how the two both share similarities in the fact that they are both traumatised, abused, angry teenage boys). I'm sorry that this ask got so long, but this has been annoying me for a while now.

This is an interesting question - for one, fandom fights over superiority is a concept that has been around for ages and has never been constructive. PJO and HP fandoms have been fighting in that exact way (and it has gone both ways!) for literal decades (remember, PJO turns 20 this year) so this isn't new, it's just taken on a moral flavor. Let's go over some things though (but please keep in mind i never got into HP and never read the books or fully watched the movies so my knowledge of HP is primarily pop culture absorption/secondhand from my family and friends):

Are either series perfect? No. HP absolutely is full of hateful sentiments and JKR is a hateful person and I do not respect her for that. Disney's marketing recently has absolutely fully leaned into trying to put Rick above her as a moral paragon and emphasizing how progressive he is and his support of diversity in middle grade series, despite some failings to reflect that in the actual text. Are Rick and JKR equally bad? Definitely not. Rick has had tangible good influence on adhd/dyslexia awareness that very directly impacted people like me as a neurodivergent kid going through school in the 2000s. JKR meanwhile has directly negatively impacted trans laws internationally very recently.

Rick absolutely isn't perfect, but he's vocally supportive, has made a lot of effort in the past to be inclusive, and still attempts to do so. Most of his issues simply stem from his own unaddressed internalized bigotry/biases and his research on varying topics not being great (plus poor management decisions such as not hiring a sensitivity reader actually fit for the story he's trying to tell). But he's not hateful. JKR is. JKR is very vocally hateful and bigoted and this is absolutely reflected in her work as well even in earlier HP. They are comparable in that they are both middle grade authors of easily two of the most popular middle grade fantasy (or specifically hidden world fantasy) series out right now. They are not equivalent in the slightest in their bigotry or tangible damage.

In terms of Percy versus Harry, I personally don't think they're very comparable. They share some similarities, but mostly just in that they're both the protagonists of their stories and thus serve protagonist purposes. Beyond that their use within the narrative is pretty different functionally. Their worlds' magic systems are not comparable. The hidden world aspect in both their universes isn't even comparable, since in PJO the "hidden world" aspect is very different from most hidden world fantasy formats because the entire point is that it's functionally not a hidden world. The characters themselves are very different as well - Percy's personality and the way he behaves and reacts to his environment is absolutely nothing like Harry's.

Most of the anti-HP-in-general sentiments stem from wanting to cut off JKR's notoriety, which I think is valid to want to do. And I do think there are a lot of issues with continuing to support JKR's work especially in ways that functionally promote her work or support her financially. Obviously, we will never be able to scrub HP from the cultural zeitgeist. It's just not feasible and I'm very anti-book burning so I do think it's important to acknowledge the role HP has had in pop-culture alongside acknowledging its harmful materials. HP is a text you absolutely can't death-of-the-author your way out of because a lot of the vitriol is baked into the text and worldbuilding in very overt ways - and there are plenty of other pop-culture staple novels like this. But fandom in general, at least true fandom and not mainstream fandom, is so obscure most of the time that I don't think, so long as people are not ignoring negative themes of the source material and are being thoughtful as they navigate engaging with it, that it is an inherently bad thing for HP fandom to just exist at all. It's never going to just stop existing no matter what people do. And HP fandom are not the only ones who should be thoughtful about how they engage with their source material - PJO fandom is not exempt from examining some of the problematic aspects in our own text and figuring out how to be respectful with those topics. It's just a lot easier for PJO fandom to tune it out without it being noticed because there's less of it and it's (at least sometimes) less overt. Honestly if HP fandom decided to go more down the path of a fandom like Warriors or Miraculous Ladybug, where the average sentiment is more along the lines of "Oh god no don't read/watch the source material it sucks/we stopped paying attention to it year ago and it's not relevant at all to what we're up to. We're over here functionally rewriting everything from the ground up/doing our own thing" I would very much support them in that endeavor. I do think there is merit in limiting promotion of the HP source material as much as possible, though.

Hopefully that all makes at least some amount of sense.

[korshrimpski]

December 1999; Coyotes Captain, Keith Tkachuk, was almost traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. And when asked about it that is what he said.

Images: 1, 2 (3), 4, 5 (6, 7, 8), 9 (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16), 17, 18

[lelouch]

its so crazy ppl from other countries On Line have to learn english and american terminology and geography and politics but some americans will get sooo pissed off when you tell them it would be better if they learned from other countries too? insane

[novellae]

alien

[gethighdropacidneverdie]

Saw XI was announced one year ago today with its original release date. 🪚

[samipekoe]

thinking about her...multi

[noctusfury]

Do Dagur and Heather Have Anglo-Saxon Ancestry? (HTTYD/RTTE Theory)

Hello, my fellow Furians! Here's another HTTYD article for you today!

In this article, we'll ask the question of why Heather doesn't look like the other Vikings and why her name isn't a Viking or Barbaric-Archipelago-ian like the others. 

Here is my take on this.

(This is also major thanks to @valiantwarrior37 for helping me out concerning this and we had a lot of fun discussing this several years ago.)

My Theory and Headcanon:

.

.

Their Physical Appearance:

Here's MY theory and headcanon for this question:

Heather — and possibly Dagur — have Anglo-Saxon blood!

If this is the first time you've heard of this, or if this sounds a bit "out there," then please hear me out!

Now, you're probably wondering, "Noctus, why do you think that Heather — and possibly Dagur — have Anglo-Saxon blood? They're BERSERKERS!" 

AH! Well, I didn't say that they were FULL-BLOODED Anglo-Saxons, now, did I?

What I mean is that they're half Anglo-Saxon and half Viking. The Viking half from their father, and the Anglo-Saxon half from their mother. Or even a quarter Anglo-Saxon from their father's side (or mother's side), maybe?

Now, why do I think that?

Because we literally know nothing about their mother and very little about Osvald the Agreeable. We don't know what they looked like, how they met before Dagur and Heather were born, or if maybe the mom died and Osvald remarried—WE. KNOW. NOTHING!

Yes, Heather looks nothing like a Viking; that we can agree with. Neither does her name. My headcanon is that she takes it after their mother, or even grandmother, who's quite possibly Anglo-Saxon by blood. The reason why is probably the hair-color and Heather's physical appearance. It's very common in Anglo-Saxon women. Anglo-Saxons were well-known to have a lot of brunettes (though they did have blondes, too). Black-haired people as well. Even a few redheads, but those weren't as common as the Celtic and even Nordic peoples.

We must, of course, consider, that Dagur and Heather could be half-siblings, meaning that they could've had different mothers.

Now, we don't know what she looked like, nor what Osvald looked like. Osvald could've had red hair and green eyes, while the mother had black hair (or dark brown hair) and whatever-colored eyes she had (let's say, blue, for argument's sake). So Dagur looks like Osvald and Heather looks like the mother. Or Osvald could've had different eyes while the mother had the green eyes, so both kids have their mother's eyes, but Heather also has her mother's looks and hair. 

If Osvald had black/dark brown hair and green eyes (which I doubt because Vikings don't really have that combination usually) and the mother had red hair and blue eyes, then Heather would have the form of her mother yet the hair and eyes of her father, and Dagur would have the form and eyes of his father, but the hair of his mother. 

If Osvald had black/brown hair hair and blue (or brown) eyes, and the mother had red hair and green eyes, then Dagur would've had his mother's hair and eyes and the build and personality of his father while Heather had the form and eyes of her mother and the hair of her father. Actually, the OC that I made to be Dagur and Heather's mother has this combo (though, I'm not sure if I'm going to be keeping that look).

The problem with this though is that I doubt that Osvald has black/dark brown hair and whatever-colored-eyes-that-aren't-green because look at this:

And this:

These are concept artwork of Osvald the Agreeable. The problem though is that none of these look like Osvald in the Race to the Edge series in this shot:

Look at this guy! Oswald in RTTE looks taller and, while buff-looking, isn't a rounded square block. To be fair, though, RTTE is a product of Netflix, not Cartoon Network, so it make sense that the designs for Osvald would be different.

Also, I really wouldn't be surprised if he has red hair and green eyes. Or red hair and blue eyes.

If any of you are experts in genetics, please clear this up for me. 

Please?

Anyway, comment on these two questions:

1) What do you think Oswald looks like?

2) What do you think Oswald's wife looks like?

<><><><><><><><><><>

Heather's Name:

Okay, back to Heather and Dagur — but mostly Heather.

Another possible proof to my headcanon as to why Heather may be half (or quarter) Anglo-Saxon is. . . well, her name. Heather is a Middle-English name used between the 1100s-1400s — though that's most likely its peak period. It wouldn't be surprising if it was used as early as the Anglo-Saxon period. It was used by the Anglo-Saxons (particularly the Northumbrians), the Anglo-Normans, and the Scottish later in the medieval period. So if her mother gave her daughter the name Heather, then she, or Heather's grandmother, would probably most likely be Anglo-Saxon, as Heather is an Anglo-Saxon name, more or less. Keep in mind that Heather is merely an Anglicized version of the name. Her mother, if she was Anglo-Saxon, would've said the name in her Anglo-Saxon language, but when she named her, her mother would've used the Norse language, so it could easily be Lynga or Lyngja or Lynghild or Lyngrid — Lyng meaning "heather" in Old Norse; another possibility is Erika, which can translate into "heather" in some languages. Quite possibly Middle-English as well.

Another possibility — but less likely — is that Heather might've inherited the name from her mother or her grandmother (depending on who was full-blooded Anglo-Saxon). It may have been that her grandmother was the Anglo-Saxon and not her mother. Honestly, we don't know. Dagur says himself that Heather and he are the only family each other's got, which means that everyone in the Berserk family has . . . retired! We know almost nothing of their family and we don't know what any of them look like.

Heck, Dagur and Heather could've been half-siblings for all we know — Oswald's first wife having Dagur and the Anglo-Saxon gal having Heather. We simply don't know.

Ugh! The possibilities are ENDLESS!!!

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Conclusion:

So regardless whether Dagur and Heather's mother was red-haired and green-eyed, or red-haired and blue-eyed, or black-haired and green-eyed, or black-haired and blue-eyed, or whatever hair/eye combo you want to give her, it can literally be any of these combos because we don't know what Oswald and his wife look like. If she has red hair and blue or green eyes, she may be Scottish or Irish (or maybe one of those few Anglo-Saxon ladies that's a red-head). Or she may be Anglo-Saxon. Or she may just be 100% Norse and Heather is simply an Anglicized version of her Viking name that means "heather". After all, Hiksti means "hiccup" in Icelandic, which is the closest form of Old Norse that we can sadly get.

If anyone can correct me on this, please let me know. I'd be interested to know if there's an Old Norse word for "hiccup". 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this article. Thank you for your time.

So, in conclusion, my theory and headcanon is that Heather and Dagur's mother is Anglo-Saxon and that they're half-bloods -- which can explain her appearance and name. It doesn't go against the canon, but it also can't be confirmed either. Though you can't confirm anything concerning Heather, Dagur, and their family because their family is practically "retired" in Valhalla having a grand ole time partying and feasting and fighting people every day for eternity. lol XD

Regardless if she's half Anglo-Saxon, half Irish, half Scottish, or just 100% Norse with an Anglicized version of what would've been her Nordic name, this is just my nest egg on the matter. I hope you enjoyed it.

So please tell me your thoughts, my fellow Furians! Who do you think Heather is? Do you agree with my headcanon that she's part Anglo-Saxon? Or do you think that she's Irish? Scottish? Or just 100% Norse?

Also, what do you think their parents looked like, and what did Dagur and Heather inherit genetically from them? Or do you think that Dagur and Heather are half-siblings?

I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed picking apart this question as much as I have. 

Farewell and happy flying to you all, my fellow Furians!

Long Live the Night!

— Noctus Fury

[disneyfairiesarchive]

Some rough pictures of illustrations from the advance copy of Fairy Dust and the Quest for The Egg

[hopeslastkiss]

started an elf mourn watch!Rook playthrough and it's occurred to me that maybe an orphan with unknown origins might want to seek out their kin and to connect to a heritage they were denied by circumstance. and on that journey of self-discovery they learn about a people defeated, impoverished and enslaved and vilified; scraps of history sewn together with hope and resilience but so much lost, so much destroyed and taken. who else could understand Rook's grief and horror and isolation but an ancient elf recently awoken to confront the same reality? the same oppression he fought against for millennia? once again, much to think about.