Tag: thanks for stopping by

Is there any joke in Hetalia that’s ever made you laugh a lot?

One is just a structure Himaruya uses. I find it funny when
he does that little side bubble thing, where the characters give snarky
comments with a miniature version of their faces.

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I also think the political and economic jokes he makes about
the EU are quite funny. Obviously, not the situation itself but dark humour never
hurts!

Ex: Spain and Greece attaching themselves to Germany.

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What are your thoughts on the human names? Should people use them?

Well, other than the suggestions and nyotalia ones (which are also suggestions), the original official names that Himaruya gave were deleted. Technically, they’re not canon and weren’t even all that accurate. 

This is only my opinion. No one’s forced to agree with it. 

As for their use? 

I don’t have a definitive stance. I think that if you’re doing a canon nation AU, then their names should be more culturally accurate. Human AUs, on the other hand, I’m more lenient with if they’re anglicized. It’s different when they’re representing a country. 

Up to now, I haven’t been the best with the names in fics, but I do realize that there’s a juggling act between the names that fanon recognize and making the name easy for the audience to read vs. tending to cultural accuracy. It’s a tricky endeavor to navigate, but I am leaning more toward the latter.

As someone with a name that’s already been 2/3 anglicized, I personally don’t get offended when people anglicize it further. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up in such a diverse city that it doesn’t really bother me lol. You get used to people not being able to pronounce your name and making their own variation of it. There’s usually a 50/50 chance whether it irritates the person; I’m not one of them.  

Ex: My middle name in Hebrew is Rachael, but I always get Rachel. Ariella, my first name, becomes Ariana (somehow, people clearly can’t read lmao) or Ariel (close enough).  

My Greek friend, who already shortened his birth name to Takis to make it easier for people to refer to him, is still called things like Travis or Trevor. We both laugh it off. 

I’ve mentioned this before [x], but the anglicization and changing of names isn’t exclusive to English. It’s a practice done in all languages to make it easier for the native audience to recognize. Whether people agree with it will always be a heated matter.

Happy Fanfic Writers Appreciation Day! Your work is amazing and I can’t help but keysmash and scream (sometimes out loud) and I love, Love, LOVE your work!! It always makes me happy to see you do something that makes you happy and see you be brave enough to share it with the world. You inspire me so much to be a better writer and I couldn’t be happier to be able to read your work. Your meta posts abt characters are the groundwork for my own fanfics and im rlly glad you do this for us. TKSM Ella!

😭

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😭

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This genuinely inspired me. I’m so glad that my works have been able to move you to create. It’s both a blessing and a privilege that I don’t take lightly. 

I’ve still been struggling a lot in my personal life and can’t thank you enough for your support. I’ve been so busy and muddled lately with responsibilities that I haven’t had a full day to just… write. 

My writer self is very nitpicky and doesn’t like writing sections of chapters at a time; it’s all or nothing. 

Thankfully, I have this blog that still allows me to write shorter content and engage with incredible people like you. Again, thank you so much!

Happy Fanfic Writer’s Appreciation day to @mandelene @feyna-v @skye–walker @lluviadinoche @codevassie @december-dragon @aphchiptease @talentlychallenged6096

The cardverse AU is based off of Himaruya’s artwork of some of the characters dressed as Kings, Queens, Jacks, etc. and was included with the release of one of his art books. The actual AU has nothing to do with legit playing cards.

I’m aware. You still have to have a general understanding of the meaning and symbolism of cards to understand each Kingdom’s position, no? 

That’s what I had initially meant. I literally have no knowledge of cards at all so that’s why I didn’t think I was the best person to explain it since I’ve never been into the AU + directed them to a tropes website that would. 

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There is no real way to
read Hetalia. It’s all over the place 😛 What I did was divide it into
sections. I read the volumes, then the non-linear strips, then world stars,
then Bamboo Thicket, and so on and so forth.

It’s a lot of material,
so good luck!

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Welcome! Sorry, friend. I
don’t play cards and don’t understand how they work, so I’ve never been into
that AU. There are some trope websites that explain the AU better than I can.

As for advice…uh…

– Don’t expect historical accuracy, otherwise you’re
setting yourself up for disappointment.

– Hetalia walks a fine line of offensive humour,
so it’s not meant for everyone. It’s a satire based on stereotypes that aren’t always
accurate, so you need a certain type of humour for it.

– Instead of being harassed and engaging with
someone you don’t agree with, just block them. It’s better for both parties.
Tumblr has an extension where you blacklist certain tags.

– Fiction does not give anyone in the fandom an
excuse to be culturally insensitive. Unlike other fandoms, Hetalia has real-world
implications with real people and real nations.

– Find your niche! Join Rp groups, discords, or other similar
communities. The fandom is a lot more welcoming and tamer than it used to be. On
the other hand, our feedback culture is generally poor and it can be discouraging
at times.

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 Well, think of it this way. The series is based
on stereotypes, right?

Let’s use
African nations whose populations have an overwhelming majority of Blacks (obviously, this doesn’t include every
African nation). 

Since there’s a much higher percentage of them than there
is any other ethnic/ racial group, it would make sense to have these nations be
depicted as darker in skin tone. Skin tones vary and so do ethnic groups, yes,
but Hetalia is very much oriented around stereotypes, which includes the majority
and/or perceived majority.

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I can tell that
wasn’t your intention 🙂

I really appreciate
that you recognize the difference between the dub and canon. I’ve done a few posts
with sources on the subject if you’d like to check them out [x] [x].