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The Collector's Species (TOH) and The Observer (Serina: The World of Birds) are Interestingly Similar

Despite being from two unrelated fandoms, both fulfill the exact same role.

First thing's first; Their designs.

The Collectors' are shown to wear robes with star and moon iconography, and generally seem to have an association with celestial events as shown in the paintings lining the walls of The Archive in "For The Future". They also seem to depict themselves as almost a part of the night sky.

The Observer, on the other hand, has a more ethereal form. They are described as having an eye that glowed bright like a star, whilst manifesting an aurora like physical form that was meant to be familiar to the intelligent life it was speaking to, as to not scare them.

This art (Drawn by Bombnyx) depicting the Observer talking to a character, further shows the celestial symbolism, showing him as if they are literally the stars and cosmic clouds that make up the space around the planet. (Including this because it's probably canon)

These designs visually imply that the space in which they reside (being everywhere around the planets they observe) is under their complete control, making them nigh omnipotent beings that are virtually unstoppable.

Secondly; Their Overall Goals

The Archivists are very mysterious beings, so we can only guess what they do based on what our Collector has told the audience. In "For The Future" the first part of the storybook that King reads to him implies that his species lives to observe life on planets change and evolve over long periods of time. In order to preserve their species in the case that they go extinct (naturally or not) they collect members of their species to be preserved.

The Observer does something very similar, albeit in a much less invasive manner. Instead, they terraform a previously lifeless moon and seed it with a select amount of organisms from Earth. The way they archive is through cataloging species in numerous posts, similar to a naturalist studying wildlife. By looking at the character development of The Observer during the story, it could be inferred that at first it seemed to almost not be "aware" of its own existence. As if it was a computer program simply executing code for an unknown goal.

Thirdly; Both Have Messed With the Native Intelligent Life

When the Archivists discovered that the dominant intelligence in the Demon Realm had magical powers that could cancel out theirs, they engaged in a covert genocide against them (the titans). They presented themselves as gods to the lower lifeforms, the original Titan Trappers, and presumably gave them weaponry and knowledge to wipe out the titans.

As seen in "O Titan, Where Art Thou" a connection could be made through allowing the Collector to access dreams, as seen with King in later episodes. (SPOILER WARNING) Furthermore, in "Watching and Dreaming" the Collector uses dream manipulation to torment King, Luz, and Eda with their worst fears.

Now, what does the Observer also do? Manipulates dreams, specifically with the intent to commit a genocide "for the greater good of the project".

For some background, the dominant species on Serina at the time are penguin like canary descendants known as Gravediggers. There are other intelligent lifeforms too, but they are not nearly as adaptable as the former. The Observer begins to realize the horrifying potential the species is capable of when they discover massive coal deposits, which they use to directly warm the planet. Granted, this is to keep the narrow waterway of their nearly frozen over planet from closing, but a Pandora's Box was now open.

The only way he sees the Gravediggers not plunging the planet into a hellish nuclear war is to directly intervene. Using his almost omnipotent knowledge, he finds the perfect candidate in the form of a crow like bird named Brighteye. He is special, being the only member of his species to be sapient and understand more abstract concepts, the only one with the ability to dream.

After experiencing his brother, Whitecrown, nearly get brutally slaughtered at the hands of his own family due to his albinism, the Observer swoops in to give him hope of a future for him and his brother. He pushes Brighteye to find others like him, and there they will be safe. But unbeknownst to him, doing these actions would make him a harbinger of the apocalypse.

The story is much more layered than what I'm describing, but by the end of it the apocalypse does come to fruition, and by Whitecrown of all characters. Him fighting and leaving his sibling was guaranteed by his instinctual behavior, something that the Observer always knew was going to happen. Although he isn't sapient, he is still intelligent, and replicates the fire making abilities of his brother to hunt animals.

Remember those "massive coal deposits" I mentioned earlier? Whilst flying above the grasslands, Whitecrown accidentally drops the burning stick onto one of them, causing a massive explosion that kills him and the rest of his flock.

As the smoke gets to Brighteye, he hears the Observer one last time...

The fire continues to expand outward, soon consuming the entire continent in flames. The warmth from the fire will melt all of the ice, plunging the land of the Gravediggers under several hundred feet of water. For a time, it also turns the atmosphere into something akin to an oven, cooking / suffocating anything that's too close.

Does this sound familiar?

In the second half of the storybook King reads, underneath scribbled crayon markings, it states;

"But should they meddle in our affairs..."

"...We'll clean the planet and scorch the air."

...

Now, there are a lot more things that I haven't covered, but I think these are the three most important ones. In no way am I saying one of them copied the other, considering that The Observer was first mentioned all the way back in 2015, and the fact that neither of these fandoms are connected in any way.

Still, I find it cool how remarkably similar they are to each other in those ways. If anyone is interested, here's the link to the Serina website, where the story of these strange birds continues:

sites.google.com

Serina: A Natural History of the World of Birds

~~~ Imagine, if you will, a hypothetical world much like our own, but overseen by a mysterious cosmic entity. While our world's rich diver