Heraldry Influencer Gains 200K Followers With 'Rate My Blazon' Series

A 24-year-old heraldry enthusiast known online as BlazOnFire has amassed over 200,000 followers on TikTok with a series in which she brutally critiques submitted coat of arms designs in 60-second videos. 'This is giving vert on vert with a chief of confusion,' she said in a recent video, holding up a printed submission. 'The ordinaries are fighting each other. Your supporters look hungover. Two out of ten, would not marshal.' The account, run by Oxford heraldry student Phoebe Quarterly-Pierce, has brought armorial design criticism to a demographic that traditional heralds describe as 'alarmingly young and disturbingly enthusiastic.' 'I started it as a joke,' said Quarterly-Pierce. 'I'd rate my friends' made-up coats of arms after a few drinks. Then it went viral when I called someone's family crest a hot mess of unregistered ordinaries.' The College of Arms has watched the trend with cautious optimism. 'On one hand, young people are finally interested in heraldry,' said a spokesperson. 'On the other hand, they keep calling everything a vibe check and we don't know what that means.' Not everyone is pleased. Retired herald Sir Aubrey Fretty called the videos 'a grotesque trivialization of a noble science,' before admitting he had watched 'several dozen of them' and found himself 'grudgingly entertained.' Quarterly-Pierce's most popular video, in which she described the arms of a minor German principality as 'giving medieval clip art energy,' has been viewed 4.2 million times. She has since been offered a book deal, a podcast, and an honorary position at a heraldic society she suspects 'might not be entirely real.'