Tag: thanks for stopping by

Thank you, that’s so nice of you to
say!!

I don’t want to speak out of turn because
neither are my countries, but there is a wide range of skin colors in Spain
like you mentioned. There’s the inaccurate stereotype that all people from Spain, Portugal, and Southern Italy are tanned,
which is probably the primary reason for their portrayal in canon.

As for fanon? I don’t know… your
opinion is your opinion. I don’t want to be dragged into dictating how others
should feel. It leads to a slippery slope where right and wrong become
discrete, erasing the room for grey areas and discussion.

It’s an interesting double-standard
when you look at it objectively. If fans get mad at other creators for white-washing
characters like Seychelles, should the same logic apply to characters who are
made to be darker?

Himaruya didn’t create the AU. He
created illustrations in the artbook and fans made something out of it.

People are capable of learning from
their mistakes. Progress is impeded when others can’t recognize that. Even from
just two years ago, I look back and cringe at some of the jokes I made.

Did Veneziano really make a fish face when asked by Germany what would happen if it was a handsome man? Or was it a duck face he made? I make a he wasn’t thrilled by the idea and that’s why he made the face… Dang it, I wish I could remember the chapter and exact wording Germany used!! Hate my memory sometimes.

I’ve always interpreted it as Italy teasing Germany. Italy’s admitted to Germany in Buon San Valentino that his first love was a boy. 

The strip you’re talking about is from Chapter 4 of World Stars [x].

Is there are real evidence that Italy may have forgotten aspects of his childhood rather than hints and your beloved metaphors? I’m just teasing, love your blog :DD

😀

I’ve been looking at this panel a lot lately [x]. 

It’s not just “I knew you when you were this little!” 

Italy’s shocked by news of his old height. Also, why is Hungary telling him that she was married to Austria when all three of them lived in the same house for a substantial period of time?

image

*Trigger warning: Please DO NOT READ
THIS if you are sensitive to mentions of sexual assault.

Yes [x].

Sexual
assault and groping are prevalent up until around 2010. I’ve warned of this before
and plan to make a master post with a guide that includes trigger warnings for
certain topics. It’s painful to go through certain strips, but I have to brace
myself to jot down canon information. What’s always disturbed me is that in the
holiday events where most of these take place, fans are actually requesting
these scenes and are encouraging them.

Younger people
who are acclimatized to the more hyperaware and conscious environment of today
wouldn’t know how common r**pe and m*****ing jokes were. People threw them
around as if they were hilarious, which is revolting and disheartening looking
back on it. In hindsight, the joke culture then permitted a lot of things that
wouldn’t fly now. I think it’s important to contextualize this and understand
that this type of shock humour may have raised eyebrows, but it wouldn’t have
raised the pitchforks and torches that it would today.

Ex: In my
middle school and elementary years, “r**pe face XD” and “ah that test totally r**ped*
me were normalized forms of humour (still exists, but not as common). You see
this trope in dated memes made by fans with characters like France, Austria,
Germany, and Prussia.

I have a
post talking about France’s old characterization that states my full stance on
the issue. The basic premise is that it’s just as harmful not to acknowledge
these old characterizations as it is to hold onto them and use them as evidence
and a reason to hate a certain character [x]. 

You can
acknowledge and condemn the old characterizations without having this affect
how you interpret and analyze their present characterizations.

I agree with you in that the
earlier characterizations were terrible. It was exaggerated and perverted shock
humour that can’t be justified or excused.

I understand completely why
characters can be tainted in the eyes of others, but it’s also common sense to
those who read the material to recognize that these characterizations are no
longer valid; the old tropes that defined them no longer do. They were much
cruder.

Holding onto them, to me, is
counterproductive. I’m not saying to not acknowledge them but rather I wish
that people could grasp at the idea that these characterizations are husks of
what they’ve evolved into now. If you’re going to find a reason to dislike a
character, it would be more useful to draw on present characterizations that
are actually relevant to their personality. By all means, condemn the harmful
tropes of old characterizations, but to criticize newer characterizations on
the basis of the former is a pretty shoddy justification in my opinion.