Anon 1: As someone who’s also
extremely busy, my advice would be to break it up into parts. For example,
focus on reading World Stars, then the non-linear strips, then Bamboo Thicket…and
so on. It’s a lot of content, but even if you read snippets here and there, it’s
better than not getting any of the reading you want done!

Anon 2: AusHun without a doubt.

Anon 3: Thank you! (Ah…you must
be reading old fics).

Basically, I don’t care
if people favourite or don’t favourite/ unfavourite. That’s up to you, and it’s something I can’t force people to do. Favourites are one of the most flattering honours, though 🙂

I get offended when
people unfollow only after a fic is finished.
It’s not a nice feeling when you complete a story, only to have 10-15 people
unfollow right afterward. That’s why I feel used, although I used to be a lot
more sensitive lol. 

Point is, there’s really no reason to unfollow either since you’re not going to get the alerts anyway. Sometimes –because I’m silly–I’ll follow a story
even though it’s completed, just to show my support for it.

Anon 4: Not being able to answer
all my asks in a timely fashion. It really eats at me, and I feel bad. As
always, anyone is always free to DM me. I’m much quicker with replying (it’s
not months like some asks, yikes). 

Anon 5: Did you mean defense
mechanisms? If it’s a defense mechanism, then that sounds like reaction
formation. 

There is one strip where
you see something similar to what you’re describing, sans the resentment. Japan
invents mind-reading binoculars and puts them on Italy. He doesn’t believe what
he sees and concludes that the binoculars don’t work [x].

Anon 6: Why not? It’s heartrending.
As someone who has poor self-esteem and is used to being neglected and
forgotten about, this moment is not only foreign but beautiful to him…Perhaps
I’m projecting a bit too because I grew up being ignored by my classmates, but
eh. I like it because I like it.

Some of the content in them are more than bad. They’re
unacceptable. There’s no mistaking that, and it’s something that I’ve
consistently pointed out in my posts. The early fandom’s offensive behaviour
didn’t emerge in a vacuum either. It came from the inappropriate ‘humour’ in the
original content itself – obviously, humour is used very loosely here.

If Hetalia was the same as it was back then I wouldn’t be in
this fandom. I won’t deny that there are several times in the past where I’ve
been revolted and disturbed by certain characters, otherwise I would be lying. What
I’ve also pointed out is that those strips are from over ten years ago. The characterization
has changed dramatically and Himaruya has since – very clearly – learned from
his mistakes.

It’s from
approximately the third volume beyond where the series takes a shift for the better.  Harmful tropes that you saw before were
completely discarded. It’s the fact that they’re not seen again that allows me
to appreciate the series for its later creations – about eight years worth of
it.

What I want to stress is that content creators are capable
of growth. I’m not saying to completely disregard the old characterizations. It’s
not helpful to ignore them if we’re to recognize how far the series
has come.

On the other hand, to
hold past characterizations as a standard to measure the characters today is
ludicrous to me. The cherry on top is that people who bring up old evidence of these characterizations don’t
even give context in the occasional case where it’s needed. They just continue to slander a character without giving a full explanation, all to suit their own narrative. I’m not disputing that these earlier depictions are blatantly wrong. They are and some can never be justified, but not every example I’ve seen used is delved into in full. That’s a big problem.

What’s also wrong is to show one side of the character with the intentions of baiting people, stirring up an unnecessary frenzy, perpetuating
old stereotypes about the fandom, and just overall irresponsibly presenting information.

That said, I will continue to address and condemn these
older characterizations. At the same time, I can still enjoy and admire recent characterizations. This is just my opinion in how I approach the series.