Harvinger Studios, Savage Crucible

[docsilence]

I reckon people who misuse runes and misuse kanji are basically the same picture, Office-meme style.

 

[Damien]

I reckon people who misuse runes and misuse kanji are basically the same picture, Office-meme style.

Basically. To be entirely fair -- I really do think it comes from a place of being peripherally interested most of the time. You think runes are 'cool' (or kanji), then you see or hear someone say 'this shape means this concept' and you just absorb it as correct because why would someone just say a thing that is wrong as if it's factual, when it's something so trivial and unimportant?
And that's how you end up with basically everyone I've ever spoken to about runes confidently having no clue what they're talking about while doing a lot of talking.

 

[docsilence]

Basically. To be entirely fair -- I really do think it comes from a place of being peripherally interested most of the time. You think runes are 'cool' (or kanji), then you see or hear someone say 'this shape means this concept' and you just absorb it as correct because why would someone just say a thing that is wrong as if it's factual, when it's something so trivial and unimportant?
And that's how you end up with basically everyone I've ever spoken to about runes confidently having no clue what they're talking about while doing a lot of talking.

Tell you this much, makes me relieved I didn't have the money or time to get that Runic Compass tattoo I thought I wanted when I was 18, and not just because a shave-headed white American with rune tattoos has to verify before talking to someone that he is not, in fact, a white supremacist. (I've actually still got a cheap silver ring I got when I was like, 16 with just the runic alphabet wrapped around it. Too many years of boxing means I can't really get it on my hand anymore, but it's one of those things I just can't not keep.)

 

[Damien]

Tell you this much, makes me relieved I didn't have the money or time to get that Runic Compass tattoo I thought I wanted when I was 18, and not just because a shave-headed white American with rune tattoos has to verify before talking to someone that he is not, in fact, a white supremacist. (I've actually still got a cheap silver ring I got when I was like, 16 with just the runic alphabet wrapped around it. Too many years of boxing means I can't really get it on my hand anymore, but it's one of those things I just can't not keep.)

For the record - you can verify all you want but nowadays people probably still wouldn't believe you, haha.

There's a few 'Viking' (they're actually not, people are just gullible and dumb) tattoos that immediately make me assume someone is almost so definitely a white supremacist that there's very little they could say to convince me otherwise. Unfortunately, some of these have just become generally popular and it's muddying the waters and making it hard to tell who got them for ideological reasons and who got them because they're a fucking poseur.

 

[docsilence]

For the record - you can verify all you want but nowadays people probably still wouldn't believe you, haha.

There's a few 'Viking' (they're actually not, people are just gullible and dumb) tattoos that immediately make me assume someone is almost so definitely a white supremacist that there's very little they could say to convince me otherwise. Unfortunately, some of these have just become generally popular and it's muddying the waters and making it hard to tell who got them for ideological reasons and who got them because they're a fucking poseur.

I still won't listen to Heilung anywhere people can hear it just so I don't sound like I might curb-stomp people for fun and I know they're just weirdo neo-hippies. I do think runes were popular long enough that the waters are muddied - more of a "pause, ask for more information" warning than a "that's a fucking Iron Cross you Nazi" thing. Definitely sets off alarm bells though.

And I don't know if it's in my defense or not, but I wanted a runic compass because I was in love with Bjork as a young man and I feel like that was the hormones talking rather than something more nefarious.

 

[Damien]

And I don't know if it's in my defense or not, but I wanted a runic compass because I was in love with Bjork as a young man and I feel like that was the hormones talking rather than something more nefarious.

You're talking about the Vegvísir, right? That's a popular one and I generally have to stop myself from laughing whenever I see it. Not because theres's anything wrong with it, but because SO many people get it as a 'Pagan Viking' tattoo while it is literally neither of those things.
So that one, for me, USUALLY just screams 'this person has no fucking idea what they're talking about and I can safely ignore anything they say.' And I only say that because I have a very generalized disrespect for people that are willing to carve shit into their bodies without like.. a quick Google.

I still won't listen to Heilung anywhere people can hear it just so I don't sound like I might curb-stomp people for fun and I know they're just weirdo neo-hippies. I do think runes were popular long enough that the waters are muddied - more of a "pause, ask for more information" warning than a "that's a fucking Iron Cross you Nazi" thing. Definitely sets off alarm bells though.

I think runes, specifically, have always been one of those 'okay, you might have this for a lot of reasons.' But some of the symbols are VERY racist-coded. Like the (what we call, but is not the historical name) valknut: the three interlinked triangles. We don't actually know what it means, so while some people do get it because they just really like viking shit - it seems like most people that REALLY like viking shit enough to tattoo it on their bodies also know that we don't know what it means so it's kind of a weird tattoo. But white supremacists fucking LOVE it for some reason.
So, when I see it, I immediately think 'white supremacist - prove me wrong.'

 

[docsilence]

You're talking about the Vegvísir, right? That's a popular one and I generally have to stop myself from laughing whenever I see it. Not because theres's anything wrong with it, but because SO many people get it as a 'Pagan Viking' tattoo while it is literally neither of those things.
So that one, for me, USUALLY just screams 'this person has no fucking idea what they're talking about and I can safely ignore anything they say.' And I only say that because I have a very generalized disrespect for people that are willing to carve shit into their bodies without like.. a quick Google.

That's the one, and part of why I didn't get it was while googling the fuck out of it I still was like "I don't actually think I know what this actually means." All of my ink ended up being either art of animals or mythogical creatures I drew myself, or poetry I could actually fucking understand myself (Ovid, Tennyson etc). Latin? I can translate Latin, I studied it long enough. Runes? Let's not make a permanent fuckup. (I am glad I never got a Sandman-specific tattoo though given... everything)

 

[Red Ogre]

I was just catching a bit of the SC livestream and caught something not directly toy related that irks me a lot. It doesn't MATTER, but it's a personal bugbear of mine so like... who cares, but also I do so it's in the tags.

Spoiler: Pedantic Nonsense

Bear in mind, this is not an attack on anyone.

One of the guys holds up a treasure piece from the new blind packs with an Elder Futhark rune on it and confidently says it's the 'rune for wealth.' It really bugs me when people speak confidently about this stuff because the result is the slow spread of misinformation. Not to say it's a purposeful thing. Elder Futhark is confusing and VERY old - to the point where it's the stuff of actual linguists to even try to suss it out. But it's absolutely not so simple as some kind of logographic language where 'this rune MEANS this concept.' Runes were specifically used to engrave short inscriptions in stone or metal (and probably wood).

If you wanted to write 'wealth' - you would SPELL out wealth using runes in the runic language according to the sounds the runes stood for. Because runes (both Elder and Younger Futhark) are -an alphabet-.

Saying the 'F' looking Elder Futhark rune 'means wealth' is a misunderstanding of how we interpret and -name- runes (emphasis on 'we'), mostly based on comparing them to Proto-Germanic, NOT based on what we can be certain people using them would have called them. And to clarify why it's so muddled in uncertainty - bear in mind that Elder Futhark predates the Viking period by hundreds of years. The people we tend to unilaterally call 'Vikings' would have used Younger Futhark and probably wouldn't have even been able to read Elder Futhark with total accuracy.

In short, the 'F' rune does not mean 'wealth' and people should stop saying it just because they heard it from someone -else-, who also said it way too confidently.

I absolutely loathe being corrected, which is why I put so much effort in to being right from the start. I hold on to 30-year old shame because I was wrong about the taurine in Red Bull coming from bull semen.
Strap a rocket to your pedantry, because I'll ride it to the moon if it means I'm more informed.

 

[Damien]

That's the one, and part of why I didn't get it was while googling the fuck out of it I still was like "I don't actually think I know what this actually means."

You made the right call.

All of my ink ended up being either art of animals or mythogical creatures I drew myself, or poetry I could actually fucking understand myself (Ovid, Tennyson etc). Latin? I can translate Latin, I studied it long enough. Runes? Let's not make a permanent fuckup. (I am glad I never got a Sandman-specific tattoo though given... everything)

Yeeah, that last bit is just another good reason to be really careful what you put on your body.

 

[Red Ogre]

Yeeah, that last bit is just another good reason to be really careful what you put on your body.

For better or worse, I don't have a tattoo. Generally, the only thing I've been a stalwart fan of (I know some bristle at that word but, eh, words change) is Star Wars and comic books. Specifically, the only thing that has really resonated with me is Matt Wagner's Grendel and it's moto of "Devil By The Deed". An unapologetic statement of I-am-defined-by-my-actions pushes me to be better. The observation that we judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions gets put under a microscope.