People also seem to forget that new Hetalia merch is released all the time + we just got the musicals, and we would NEVER get them if the publishers thought there weren’t enough people who want to buy/go to see them. Some of the merch is also expensive (like the dolls dor example), and I’m sure only fans of the series buy them (if they have money). So they wouldn’t release them if Hetalia was “dead”.

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Hetalia is NOT Dead

I’m going to be outright with it:
Unironically calling Hetalia a dying fandom is a slap in the face to those
content creators still in it.

To call something
dead just because you’re leaving/have already left the fandom is disrespectful
on so many levels. There are still people creating content, and to have you
dismiss their hobbies and interests as something doomed to fail discourages
active members from contributing further to the community.

There are people
struggling and working every day to get recognized, and yet you have the
audacity to say that it’s dead? What gives you the right to wave off those
invisible artists and writers? What gives you the right to take away the hope
from those who want to get recognized? What gives you the right to declare a
fandom dead when there’s people who still have a genuine and active interest in
it?

Only those who have
left the fandom have a dead interest in Hetalia; don’t project this onto the
rest of us.

The Popularity Argument:

I’ve seen this
justification enough times that it really makes me question if people know what
a fandom is. Sure, Hetalia isn’t as popular as it was years ago…SO WHAT?

A fandom is a
community. A community involves personalized interactions. If you’re so pent-up
on numbers, then it’s time to re-evaluate why you’re here. You shouldn’t (note
the word shouldn’t, as not everyone’s the same) base your gratification from a
fandom based only on numbers. The community may be smaller now; we’re
tight-knit.

But that’s just it,
isn’t it? We don’t have to be big to form our own little niche. If anything, it
makes the experience more satisfying to know those who you interact with. I
understand where others are coming from when they say that the responses aren’t
the same as they used to be. However, if you’re using that same argument,
activity and numbers have been on the rise lately.

Nonetheless, a
fandom doesn’t have to be super popular for you to be able to enjoy it. The
Hetalia fandom is just big enough where it’s still thriving with new content
every single day. That hardly seems like it’s dead to me.

Yes, numbers
matter, as they derive from interaction. But, if you’re really here for the
fandom experience, huge numbers shouldn’t be a first priority. We’re here to
fulfill and sustain meaningful relationships, not some self-validating line graph.

Why Hetalia Declined in Activity:

I say activity,
because a lot of what goes on in this fandom is smoke and mirrors. There are
still a TON of people in this fandom. The only problem is that most of said people
only follow accounts and can’t be bothered to like or reblog. In no way are you
obligated to like or reblog content either, don’t get me wrong. Still, it’s
this unwillingness to share content that’s made the fandom smaller.

In other words,
people are interested in the content, but when it comes to sharing it, that
interest dissipates. Everyone here has the power to make this bigger again (not
that it needs to be). Regardless, it’s your call whether you want to invest
that extra minute in supporting your favourite creators.

Another problem
I’ve noticed is that those who do reblog don’t use their tags. This is probably
the biggest explanation as to why we’re so invisible on tumblr’s fandometer. If
even half of us wrote the simple tag of “hetalia”, we’d be up there for
sure.

Again, it’s your
call.

“You’re still into Hetalia…?”

I get it, I really
do. Based on circus performances from mostly older members, this fandom has a
horrible reputation. What I don’t understand is how that horrible reputation
somehow translates into it being embarrassing to like the series. The actions
of others should not be reflective of the entire fandom.

Which brings me to
my next point. Yes, Hetalia is based on stereotypes. It’s inevitably biased,
and I admit, some of the earlier content could have been executed with a lot
more research and sensitivity on Hima’s part. Point is, that was over a decade
ago, and his new content has proven that he’s learned from these mistakes.

It would be
impossible for Hima to create a series using this medium without necessitating
the need for stereotypes. What a lot of people don’t seem to quite get is that
stereotypes are conceptual tools; that is, they’re flexible.

What’s wonderful
about this fandom is that Hima’s general use of stereotypes allows fans to step
in and add their own personal touches and corrections to the characters.

Also, I cannot
stress this enough, but this series promotes peace, not war. It’s easy to look
at the series’ summary and automatically think: “They’re glorifying Germany
during WW2!”

NO! Not once have
they ever promoted fascism, nor is any of the
horrors that happened covered. What the strips do show is the nations fighting
each other, as is what happens in war. More importantly is that the nations
have been shown on countless occasions to abandon wartime rivalries and act as
friends above all else.

I mean, the series’
theme is literally “Draw a circle, that’s the Earth.”

You can’t honestly
tell me that this isn’t pushing for worldwide consolidation as opposed to
division.

Why Hetalia has Remained:

Hetalia has remained
as one of the most versatile fandoms out there. You have both human and nation
AUs that can be recreated and re-formulated over and over again. On top of that,
you have 11+ years of canon character information to work with. The fandom is
full of depth, flexibility, and future potentialities for people to explore new
ideas with the characters.

You don’t typically
see this with other fandoms. Usually there’s one big boom. Then people realize
that they don’t have all that much to work with and move on. People haven’t
completely moved on from Hetalia because it’s still rich enough to keep
producing new content from it.

Likewise, not many
other fandoms provide the motivation to engage in learning about the world and
its history. Hetalia made me want to learn more about what I was reading.

And before anyone says
“Hetalia is simple, there’s nothing to it”, I implore you to reconsider. If you
really pay attention to the inner workings of Hima’s craft, you’ll find countless
inter-texts, foreshadowing, easter eggs, and dark themes running all throughout
it.

To Those Leaving the Fandom:

Thank you for all
the content you’ve created for us, truly. I wish you all the best. But, if you
do leave, all I ask is that you respect those who are still in it.

Just because you’re
leaving, doesn’t mean that the fandom has died. It just means that you’ve lost interest. Please don’t attribute
this loss of interest to a fandom that’s “dead.” If anything, it’s because of lower
numbers and activity.

To dismiss us as dead means that you’re
overlooking those who are still here. Not only that, but if you had a large
enough following, you’re ruining the aspirations of those who idolized you.

Leave behind your
legacy with class. Set a good example. Allow those to eventually climb up to the
peak you reached in the fandom rather than tearing it down and frightening
others into leaving with you too.

…

With all that said,
I want those reading this to remember one thing. We’re still a community. We’re
in Hetalia because we share a common interest.

It’s about sharing
what you love, not loving something because it’s shared.

What’s the most patriotic thing you’ve seen America do?

He used to walk for three days just to reach polling stations.

Friend: You know Hetalia is addictive, right?

Me: Yep. *consumes content anyway*

Doesn’t it bother you when people say that the fandom is dying?

You know what? It absolutely does. It takes a lot to irritate me, let me tell you, but this is something I will fight tooth and nail to counter.

Rant coming up tonight.

What other psych-talia posts do you have lined up?

Please note that Freud’s concepts are allegorical in nature and are not meant to be taken on a literal level…

Psychoanalyzing the German brothers’ personalities + childhoods

Psychoanalyzing America’s personality + childhood

The effects of being weaned off too early; in other words, gaining independence and autonomy at a young age.

Psychoanalyzing Belarus:

She clearly has a phallic fixation, and at least alludes to Freud’s notion of castration anxiety. The amount of times she talks about ripping off male genitalia/ anything to do with them is the biggest clue of this.

Psychoanalyzing Hungary:
Hungary also has a phallic fixation, except it’s more to do with Freud’s notion of penis envy (again, this is allegorical). The amount of times she talks about having male genitalia during childhood is the most obvious clue of this.

Note: This theory will make use of Freudian theory. While I
recognize that Freud’s ideas do not bear much contemporary relevance, that
shouldn’t take away from the fact that many of his concepts (i.e erogenous
zones, childhood memory repression, catharsis) are nonetheless employed by Hima
in the series. The purpose of this post is to give some insight into the
psychologies of the characters.

Comic Diary 3…an old strip
that’s very easily forgotten despite how crucial it is in allowing us to get a
good understanding of what Italy may or may not remember from his childhood.

In Italy’s dream, he conjures a lost child that looks exactly
like Chibitalia. When encountered by an unknown man, the child asks to be taken
to a person with a face exactly like them.

The pair go up to Italy. What the unknown man says
next is crucial.

“I have a lost child here.”

The scene then takes a disturbing turn for the worse as the
child eerily repeats “Please acknowledge me” over and over again. Even more important
is that Italy refuses to acknowledge the child.

Freud had a profound interest in dreams, as they act as a
pathway in gaining access into the unconscious mind of the patient. Your
unconscious mind is where your deepest desires, worries, and insecurities lurk;
you’re not aware of them. If a memory is traumatic enough, especially in
childhood, then they too can be pushed into your unconscious mind so that
you’re unaware of/ unable to remember them.

In the context of dreams,
this is where your unconscious has the free reign to express itself. What you
experience in your dreams has both a literal and a symbolic meaning. It’s the
symbolic meaning of dreams that psychologists look at. Basically, your
unconscious paints the dream in a way that something irrelevant – such as an
ordinary everyday object – could represent a repressed conflict, vulnerability,
or unpleasant trauma that is plaguing your mind.

Manifest Content is the
literal element of the dream. It’s what you see and experience. For example, in
this case, it would be Italy encountering a child that looks just like him and
reacting fearfully towards it.

The Latent Content is the
symbolic element; the underlying meaning. It’s the unconscious aspect of the dream that is masked by
the seemingly normal manifest content. Because these aspects are a representation
of unconscious conflicts, when brought to the conscious level they can cause us
to experience discomfort.

What I want to focus on is the latent content of Italy’s dream.
The lost child could be symbolic of ltaly’s lost childhood. Likewise, it can
also act as a lost childhood memory that Italy has repressed and refuses to
acknowledge.

The trauma of losing Holy
Rome could have motivated Italy to actively forget about that part of his
childhood. It would follow, then, that Italy’s childhood self appearing in the
dream is the presence of an unconscious conflict and repressed memory, thus
causing him to respond fearfully.

On the same note, it’s not
impossible for the nations to have limited memories, let alone forget bad
experiences. Russia can surely testify to that.

That said, while Italy may have repressed some of his childhood
memories, we know from Buon San Valentino that he hasn’t repressed all of them
as he at least admits that his first love was a boy.

Perhaps this vagueness of
statement means that Italy’s memory about Holy Rome is muddled… that he knows
just enough, and yet, not enough to cause
him to remember and relive the pain of losing his first love.

Prussia: Is your country running?

Holy Rome: We’re hardly unified, what do you think?

Prussia: Well, I better go put it together.

…

[on the phone]

Prussia: Is your country still… is your country running?

Germany: Listen, I don’t have time for this.

Prussia: Kids these days. So ungrateful.

Are there any strips where Italy masks losing his cool?

Remember when New Zealand messed up pizza so badly that Italy went through an identity crisis…with a smile on his face?

So…Is Russia good or bad?

I don’t think he’s either.

Used loosely here, a ‘good’ person has a righteous morality, meanwhile a ‘bad’ person has an unacceptable morality (immoral).

If you’re incapable of understanding the consequences (both good and bad) of your actions, then you can’t possess morals. Russia’s too complex to box his character into one category. Having any morality means knowing the difference between right and wrong, an ability that Russia doesn’t consistently possess.

In other words, Russia’s amoral. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t show moments of kindness or have good intentions..