I believe he means that it would be set in the past. For example, Lord of the Rings doesn’t fit into any real time line, but if it did, it would probably be in the 1000’s, when gun powder was invented.
Anyway, I hope we get some better shots of Merida and the other characters. And I hope she’s beautiful!! She looks too much like Ariel in that fanart, IMO. And I reeeally hope Michael Giacchino does the score!! 
I think he meant first “period” movie. It’s definitely not a historic film.
And The Lord of the Rings is just High Fantasy. It’s another world with another time, so it doesn’t fit in ours.
Sorry. I just thought I could compare it to brave. 
But Brave is set in our world, in Scotland.
Maybe it’s early on in the movie, and she’s witnessing the beast in its natural habitat and keeping a sword out just in case. Maybe she doesn’t even have the passion to be in archer yet when this picture is set.
Extreme speculation 
As much as I love archery, I wanna see some classic swashbuckling sword-fight. I hope there’s at least one.
I wish Merida was prettier. 
Hey, I have the same problem
I hope the concept art is just sketchy, and the real CGI girl turns out a lot better.
Take a look at concept art for other Pixar films. They are very different from the final product, especially when the concept art is drawn out and the finished product is in CG.
Yes, that’s why I haven’t given up on her yet.
I think it is quite daring of Pixar to feature a heroine wielding such heavy weaponry as a bow and arrow and a sword! 
If this is an epic adventure/war movie along the lines of Princess Mononoke or How to Train Your Dragon, I’m really excited! I think Pixar’s got something very special going on here, I wouldn’t be surprised it ends up being the ‘Rango’ for 2012 with its matured characters and plotlines!
That’s exactly what I’m excited about. A more matured plotline and central theme (raising your kids, balancing one’s inspirations and circumstancial constraints, etc.), while not losing the Pixar’s storytelling touch. A fairytale without a cute, big-eyed princess will be some fresh air to the already-existed fairytale land in Disney.
I’m a member on another online community (Fanpop) and on the Disney Princess spot, there is a lot of talk about Merida. There’s a lot of discussion as to if Merida will be a part of the Disney Princess lineup.
I personally don’t want this to happen. The lineup with 9 princesses is already pretty full, and they’re starting to phase out Jasmine products to make room for Rapunzel. They wouldn’t overload it.
I wouldn’t be suprised if they added her to the lineup, it all depends on the movie’s popularity.
I almost feel like Brave is a deliberate attempt to be the opposite of a “Princess Movie”. Everyone keeps describing it as very dark, and the word gritty keeps popping up as well. Merida is a strong warrior as well as being a princess, and isn’t particularly attractive or cutesy. This is very much the impression I get of the movie.
The disney princess line is all about taking strong heroines, and making them all into the same boring personality. Some people like that sort of thing, and I don’t expect the fans of the princess lineup to take well to a gritty action movie, and its “ugly” female lead.
Merida looks like to be the hero, the heroine in the upcoming film, opposite to many other princesses, the ones that always are the victims
That is true of the first three Princesses. However, once the Renaissance came about, the Disney princesses were much more moderenized. (Take Mulan, she’s quite the hero! And yes she’s a Disney Princess, according to Disney’s official line up)
Well, I also don’t like the addition of Rapunzel to the line up, cause she’s CGI and doesn’t look good next to the rest.
And yet the Princess lineup always portrays her in that dress from the beginning of the movie when everyone was trying to make her the perfect lady during the “honor to us all” song. The whole merchandising thing seems to go entirely against the message of the movie, which is why I’m opposed to the princess franchise.
Its also why I wouldn’t want Merida to be included in it, it would feel so wrong, and probably be like Mulan and weaken a strong female character.
I understand what you mean. The whole Princesses franchise is just taking those characters out of context.
It really weakens the characters, and ruins their movies. It is actually the one of the many reasons that I can’t watch Cinderella, which is my least favorite film in the Disney canon (that I’ve seen).