My contribution to the 2024 Hetalia Anthology Zine
No you have not misread the title, I have in fact contributed to this wonderful thing known as the @hws-anthology
Mine was of a writing work that I would be very happy if you were to read as well, along with seeing all the other wonderful work everyone has done
I also have an upcoming bonus surprise related to this that shall be revealed in due time
As for the fic itself
A Mundane Date
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Tw: N/A
Characters: Prussia/Gilbert , Hungary/Erszébet
Ships: PruHun / Prussia x Hungary
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Sunnary:
Formality and social conventions are both widely regarded as important aspects of love.
Erzebet and Gilbert would beg to differ.
Dates don’t need to be outrageous and formal to be special.
Or in another form, Gilbert and Erzebet go to dinner, decide formality is overrated, and defenestrate social convention with no remorse whatsoever before going to where the wild things are.
I continue to think the funniest thing in Hetalia was Roderich telling Ludwig marriage is the solution to everything.
Like imagine you’re 19 going through the hardest time in your life so far, and your 5 times divorced gold digger uncle tells you to forget any logical solution and get married instead. Sign a prenup that’s heavily in your favor while you are at it.
While i voted for post ww2 for those of yall curious what "Divorce with Hungary" means and entails, it like refers to the collapse of Austria-Hungary after WWI
While there's a lot I could say about it (and how Austria-Hungary was a hot mess that really shouldn't be seen as a happy couple, and that Austria and Hungary weren't the only nations in the empire), to keep this short just check out these which are a lot more detailed and go into a lot more depth of what happened to Austria post war
.
The End of Austria-Hungary: The Treaty of Saint-Germain 1919
#cultural hetalia is kinda like the #historical hetalia tag, expect #cultural hetalia focuses on culture; folkclothing, folklore, traditions, etc mixed in with, well, hetalia. I find it easier to tag my stuff this way, so I just wanted to share it with you all, feel free to join in
(Edit: I see now that #cultural hetalia has already been in use before me, so shoutout to the actual og creators, including @ifindus)
I AM NOT WHITE, I AM A POC. I am not writing this because I’m a butthurt white person who gets pissy when someone makes my white faves nonwhite and thus unrelatable to me for ‘some’ reason.
I AM NOT PERSONALLY ATTACKING ANY INDIVIDUALS WHO RACEBEND OR IMAGINE THEIR NATIONS TO HAVE A DIFFERENT ETHNICITY THAN WHAT THEY DO IN CANON; ON A SIMILAR NOTE, DO NOT ATTACK SUCH INDIVIDUALS FOR ME. This is a discussion of general fandom trends and a larger phenomenon, the issue I am talking about cannot be solved on an individual to individual basis.
I AM NOT TRYING TO STOP FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE FROM RECLAIMING THEIR NATIONS. As I am not First Nations myself, I would not wish to deny what these individuals emotionally and mentally reap from reclaiming their nations.
I AM NOT THE “POC AREN’T ALLOWED TO HAVE FUN AND SEE THEMSELVES IN THEIR FAVES” POLICE; I AM NOT YOUR MOM, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. Again, this is a discussion of fandom trends and a larger phenomenon. I think it’s almost always worth examining why we do the things we do and the reasons behind a trend.
I AM NOT AGAINST RACEBENDING IN GENERAL. This is specifically an essay on racebending in nationverse Hetalia and other personified nations fandoms.
PREFACE
As stated before in my disclaimers, this essay is not intended to be a condemnation of individuals who participate in racebending. Rather, I intend to make a macro-critique of wider structures and patterns. For this reason, this essay is not accusing anyone engaging in racebending of holding any specific belief. I cannot stress enough how much I do not know you, the hypothetical reader who engages in racebending.
Again, my intent is to critique wider structures and patterns.
This essay is a conversation I would like to have with other POC and other marginalized groups, especially POC based in white, Western countries. Thus, I ask people not included in the above groups to refrain from weighing in on this.
ALTERNATIVE GOOGLE DOC LINK HERE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Difference in Reception for Racebent versus Non-Racebent Characters
The Inherent Politicism of Personifying Nations
The State of POC Representation in Hetalia
The Assumption of Interchangeability in POC Experience
The Myth of Multiculturalism
“It’s Just Fandom, Why Are You Trying to Control POC Who Just Want to Have Fun and Want to Represent Themselves?"
Conclusion
The Difference in Reception for Racebent versus Non-Racebent Characters
I will start this essay off with an acknowledgement of my station in the Hetalia fandom and how it uniquely equips me to talk about this topic – I am very fortunate to enjoy a follower base that primarily follows me for non-Western characters, whether they be canonical or my own original characters. As someone who mostly posts non-Western characters, I can confirm that there is a wider disparity in reception between drawings of my white characters and non-white characters. The following example is not from myself, but from the artist miyuecakes who similarly focuses on predominantly non-white, non-Western countries. You can see there is a drastic gap in the amount of notes that post focused on five nations considered to be non-Western versus a drawing of Female America.
Stating this fact of the fandom is fairly noncontroversial. I would also assert that the following statement is equally true, however given recent reception, is far more controversial: “There are far more instances of racebent canonically white/Western characters, which receive far more traction than their non-racebent counterparts, whether canonical or not.”
I want to make clear what my statement is not saying:
Racebending is only done by white people seeking to score clout and diversity points without having to care about canon non-white characters. In fact, the vast majority of racebending in the fandom is done by POC looking for representation; given the amount of white canon nations compared to any other nation, POC who engage in racebending see it as a way of “evening” the disproportionate overrepresentation of white countries.
POC who engage in racebending are doing so to score clout and diversity points with a white audience. Refer to my above point.
Racebent canonically white characters are met with no controversy or racist/bigoted vitriol. It is fairly well known that there have been multiple harassment campaigns, particularly on Twitter, against artists and editors who’ve engaged in racebending even outside of the Hetalia fandom: see the Black Anya edit, Thumin’s artwork and resulting hate. POC being visibly POC in online spaces will always garner backlash.
On a similar note, I am not including POC cosplayers cosplaying white or light-skinned characters in my definition of racebending. Being angered by POC who cosplay characters of a different complexion is blatantly racist; anyone who is angered by this has nothing of value to add and not worth arguing with.
I am a bitter artist who is mad that I don’t receive enough notes on my posts with non-racebent characters compared to posts about racebent white characters. As stated earlier, I am grateful for the audience I’ve cultivated who specifically follow me for non-racebent non-Western content; I am also more than aware that my content is not what people who seek out racebent content are looking for, and have no interest in changing either my content or their tastes. The last thing I would wish to do is to label POC creators who engage in racebending as “the enemy” and POC creators who don’t as “my side.”
With that out of the way, I bring up this observation because I think it’s worth asking ourselves, POC specifically, the following questions: Why? Why is there this discrepancy in frequency and reception between these kinds of characters and content? Why do people racebend in lieu of focusing on existing POC and creating their own non-white characters?
The easy answer most would give is because white characters are over-represented and given more screen time and attention in the canon, so people, especially POC, will become attached to them and create variations of them that hit closer to home for them; this is especially the case if you are a POC who has had experiences living as a minority in a Western country. Some POC may also use racebending as a way to subvert national myths that have historically excluded people of color for a variety of racist, imperialist reasons. I know I used to subscribe towards a depiction of non-white passing America and Canada for this very reason.
In the rest of this essay I would like to examine and critique the practice of racebending national anthropomorphisms traditionally and typically depicted as white in the context of Hetalia and by extension other media involving similar premises. This essay argues that while racebending may be harmless for most other anime, Hetalia – by virtue of its content centering real life nations – carries political implications that are not necessarily appropriate.
I stress again that I can’t stop you or what anybody in the Hetalia fandom does. I do not have that kind of power nor the will to do such a thing. All I ask is for you to listen to the following with an open mind, and if there’s only one thing you take away from this, I hope it’s to realize that POC in particular have valid reasons to dislike racebent depictions of white nations; holding such a stance does not make them anti-POC representation and somehow no longer POC and instead, a member of the white oppressor class.
The Inherent Politicism of Personifying Nations
Firstly, I repeat that a series about personified nations is deeply political and every creative choice carries political and socio-cultural ramifications, whether intentional or not and made by the creator or the fan. Even if you mostly interact with Hetalia in a depoliticized context, others may not, and given that nationverse Hetalia is about personified nations, this is perfectly reasonable.
Let us look into the canon material of Hetalia- It is shown that nations on average have close ties to their governments, viewing them as their bosses and carrying out actions for them. We are shown that there are nations who go against the orders of their governments, such as Germany; this does not mean all nations follow in that pattern, however, and there are many who are in lockstep with their governments and their actions.
Therefore, for individuals whose ethnic groups and nations have suffered great harm from oppressor nation-states (Philippines v. United States, Indonesia v. Netherlands, India v. England), it is not irrational for them to be unsettled by their oppressor being racebent- especially when said oppressor nation-state is depicted as being the same ethnicity as the very group(s) they marginalized. This is uncomfortable for multiple reasons:
There is an implication that a member of a marginalized group possibly chose to take part in atrocities and misdeeds that the said marginalized group historically not the major perpetrator behind. In more egregious cases, a member of a marginalized group willingly chose to commit atrocities and misdeeds on a large scale against their own group.
The oppressor state personification was forced by their government to commit these grievous acts of harm against members of other marginalized groups/their own marginalized groups; thus, the personification of the nation-state, the people, has little to no culpability as an oppressor, and is instead made into a fellow victim of their own government.
This deflects blame from the embodiment of the state of being an oppressor. The suggestion here is that the state is somehow completely separate yet intertwined with the government – it was simply the government who perpetrated the crimes… the people were just unwillingly complicit. This can come across as an erasure/rosewashing of the very purposeful policies used to harm and disadvantage colonized/oppressed groups.
This can also erase the fact that in many cases, the people gave the government’s actions their tacit approval whether it was through whole-hearted enthusiasm or apathy towards the suffering of others.
In the case that the racebent nation’s minority ethnicity was historically involved in such acts, this involves highly sensitive conversations about minorities’ complicity in crimes and assimilation into the white/majority order (e.g. Chinese and East Asian settlers in Hawaii after America’s illegal annexation, Korean collaborators with the Japanese annexation of Korea, African American soldiers in the Philippines); these are extremely touchy subjects that should be had within the relevant ethnic groups, and should not be appropriated by outsiders, particularly white people, especially for fandom purposes.
(I will discuss insiders racebending nation-states to their ethnic group that have suffered mistreatment and oppressed by said nation-states in “The Myth of Multiculturalism.”)
Additionally, racebending may end up justifying those very same crimes, especially in the case of settler colonialism. For example, during French rule of Algeria, the French government began a program of confiscating Algerian land from indigenous Algerians and giving them to French and European settlers. Over the course of two centuries, more and more land was taken away from indigenous Algerians, forcing them to move to the margins of society, where they were barred from accessing employment, higher education, and the other societal amenities.
Many would be able to identify how personifying Algeria as a white, French individual would be erasing indigenous Algerians and implying that the French settlers represent all of Algeria. However, conversely, making France an Algerian man is also playing into colonial French propaganda. The French viewed Algeria as part of France and the French homeland itself, unique even among other French African colonies, and made plans to make Algeria a full-fledged French province, or department. To make the national personification of France Algerian then, is to suggest that this belief was and is correct, that the Algerians are a part of the colonial core of France, even if the intention is to represent the modern day Algerian diaspora in France.
IMPORTANT: I will expand on the politics of representing diaspora populations in the section “The Myth of Multiculturalism.”
Given all of these reasons for why POC may justifiably react negatively to a racebent white nation personification, some may argue against these with:
“Why is it that when the nation is white, they never have to deal with any of these heavy discussions of imperialism, bigotry, oppression, etc, but when they’re racebent they suddenly have to? Why are they suddenly politicized when they’re racebent?”
My response to that is that they were politicized, even when they were white because the act of personifying a nation is inherently political; to ignore a white nation’s history of oppression is a politically charged move in of itself. Are we really depoliticizing POC when we racebend a white nation and try to maintain that same ‘depoliticization’ and omission of historical oppression but this time for a POC face? To racebend a white nation is to refuse to contend with the contradiction of transforming an oppressor class to the very group they marginalize - making racebending an inherently political act. It is not necessarily that whiteness is unpolitical but rather that an active refusal to deal with this contradiction makes the political implications much more obvious.
Additionally, this rebuttal raises another question- Were we to completely forget about a character’s background as the personification of an oppressor state and the political weight of that, would that truly solve the problem of POC being politicized? I don’t think so- In the current world we live in, POC are always political. But exclusively racebending oppressor states makes no attempt to depoliticize non-Western POC states, creating a divide between POC that get to be “depoliticized” and POC who don’t based on their proximity to the West.
The State of POC Representation in Hetalia
Some would argue with the points of my last paragraph saying that I am not including POC who both engage in racebending but also create non-Western POC OCs; if equal attention is given to both, there would be no division between racebent Western POC who get to be humanized and non-Western POC who don’t, right?
To answer this we must acknowledge wider trends in racebending in Hetalia. Consider the following: When somebody has a North African! Romano, how many other North African nations (canon or non-canon) do they show appreciation for? Create content for? Expound the same amount of mental and creative energy for? Furthermore: If they do have another North African nation(s) they create content for, are they allowed to exist as their own separate beings, and not purely exist to be North African! Romano’s tie to North Africa?
Chances are, Romano is reduced to being the token brown character in a largely white cast and isn’t allowed to ever exist without whiteness surrounding him. This is a very diaspora experience, but I find it unfortunate that in a piece of media that enables us to explore any number of cultures and experiences over all of time and history, we (and I’m including myself as another POC who grew up in a primarily white environment) are unable to imagine ourselves outside of this setting and celebrate ourselves without having to exist against a white mainstream. Stories about white engulfment are allowed to exist and should be told, but why is this so common? Why do these stories disproportionately outnumber POC stories where whiteness is minute or absent?
As my audience is intended to be mostly POC, I will not elaborate on the following scenario too much, but I will ask us to scrutinize the ethics of it. What about cases where white individuals racebend some of their white favorite characters and position them as POC representation in lieu of actually focusing on POC, non-Western nations, canon or not? Does this not have implications about what kinds of POC and diversity are considered more palatable and appealing?
Furthermore, when another North African nation does exist alongside racebent Romano, their character and depiction is almost always heavily dependent on their relationship to Romano, a Western nation. This still perpetuates the same inequality I was talking about earlier where POC nations are humanized based on their proximity to the West, whether because they personify a Western nation or happen to have a relationship with a Western nation.
We should not just be talking about having “more” non-white representation, but also the quality of it. It is completely understandable why some POC may not be satisfied with the representation most racebent content provides, even beyond the reasons outlined previously; this type of representation excludes POC who do not have a relationship to the West, and is still largely focused on the West.
IMPORTANT: I am not saying that contact with or influence from the West makes POC somehow “less POC” or that stories from Western-based diaspora are a “diluted” form of representation. I will expand on this in the section “The Myth of Multiculturalism.”
“Well if it’s not good enough for those POC, then they should just mind their business and make their own representation! There’s plenty of non-racebent content out there!”
Many POC do exactly that- creating their own representation without racebending. However, as established earlier, racebent white characters receive far more attention and feedback compared to canonical non-white characters, despite the fact that both depictions fulfill the purpose of “representation.” This can be especially disheartening in a fandom that already heavily tokenizes canon POC nations, whether it’s India being presented as the “nanny”/surrogate parent in Commonwealth group art or Seychelles as the “adopted child of color” in FACES family. To POC content creators, it feels insulting that the wider fandom, rather than developing POC canon characters (or taking advantage of the source material’s potential by making OCs) and viewing them as representation, the fandom chooses to racebend Western nations and celebrates them instead.
I want to make clear again what I am not saying with that statement:
POC who engage in racebending are doing so to score clout and diversity points with a white audience. Again, it’s a fact that the vast majority of racebending is done by POC looking to create their own representation.
POC who engage in racebending should all go stan Seychelles and Cuba instead. This is an extremely individualist solution to what is a wider phenomenon. I do not blame POC based in Western countries for feeling disconnected to the few POC nations we have in canon.
Racebent POC content is more popular than content of non-racebent white characters.
What I am describing here is how an audience (the Hetalia fandom) receives two creations, both made by POC in the pursuit of creating more representation, and the difference in reception. The difference, it seems, is that the wider fandom deems certain kinds of POC representation more appealing, and thus, certain kinds of POC worth focusing on.
The Assumption of Interchangeability in POC Experience
Earlier, I mentioned that one of the possible reasons for POC to engage in racebending is the desire to see an iteration of their favorite character that is closer to their own reality and lived experience. Therefore, some may choose to racebend a white character to embody a marginalized minority in the country instead so they can share more experiences with the formerly white characters.
Here, I will not be dealing with the practice of POC racebending their own country to their own ethnicity, which is the focus of the next section. Instead, I will be delving into the practice of POC racebending another nation to embody a minority (one which they do not belong to) for the purposes of ‘putting themselves in their interpretations.’ I argue that to do this requires assuming a certain level of interchangeability between POC experiences.
First and foremost, POC are not a monolith- we lead drastically different lives depending on our ethnic backgrounds, where we live, our socioeconomic class, our political and racial context, and etc. Therefore, we cannot presume that our experiences of marginalization mean we’ll always succeed in properly representing other minority groups elsewhere; in fact, the goal of projecting our own life experiences onto them means that there will be an obstacle to properly representing these minority groups.
Take the following example: Imagine a Chinese-Malaysian individual greatly enjoys the character of Spain. Wishing to better relate to him, the individual racebends him to be also Chinese. However, a great deal of historical, cultural determinants and nuances separate the experiences of Chinese people in Spain and Chinese people in Malaysia. There are similarities, yes, but this Chinese Malaysian cannot hope to properly represent the Chinese population in Spain if their primary goal remains self-projection. Now imagine that our Chinese-Malaysian individual wished to racebend England to be Indian; an even wider gap separates the experiences and history of Chinese people in Malaysia and Indian people in England, making it even less likely that our individual will succeed in representing the experiences of Indian people in England.
Another point to consider is that attempts at racebending certain national personifications to represent minorities in the country end up erasing representation for the majority population of the country. For example, there has been a historical Japanese community in Peru that dates back to the 1800s and made a large impact on Peruvian culture. However, it would still be inappropriate to make a Peru OC that is mostly Japanese in race, because besides just being not representative of the 99.9% of non-Japanese Peruvians, it would also be taking representation from Peruvian mestizo and indigenous peoples, who make up over 80% of Peru’s population.
This isn’t even taking into consideration cases where nations are racebent to personify ethnic groups that do not have a numerically significant or historically significant population.
“So what if it’s inaccurate? I just want to self-project onto my favorite character!”
If that’s your response, then I encourage you to read the section “It’s Just Fandom, Why Are You Trying to Control POC Who Just Want to Have Fun and Want to Represent Themselves?” where I address assertions of "fandom is not activism" and similar points.
For now, I will ask you to consider the feelings of those very minorities you are ostensibly representing, even if your primary intention is to project your own experiences onto a character. Chances are, they also suffer from little to no representation that depicts them in inaccurate and unflattering ways.
Hetalia is a media property supposedly centered around exploring and learning about other cultures, but so often fails to accurately and sensitively depict many cultures and nations. Should we not show them the grace that canon Hetalia fails to provide?
The Myth of Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is typically defined as a celebration of a nation’s ethnic diversity. This is generally considered to be a good and progressive value to have, but a closer and more critical look at multiculturalism in practice suggests that not even a value directed at xenophobia is immune to in-group out-group biases. When enacted by the state, multiculturalism is less an acceptance of diversity as it currently exists (especially in regards to non-indigenous ethnicities) and more an assimilation of these “foreign cultures” into the dominant national one.
For example, Singapore has built much of its national identity as a “multicultural” society. This is shown through government policies in language and education, where the languages of the 3 ethnic groups (Chinese, Tamil Indians, Malays) are all officialized and the government promotes education for ethnic minorities in their mother tongues. However, the label of “multicultural” hides the reality of power inequality between the various ethnic groups. Minorities face pressure to display literacy in the language and culture of the Chinese majority for greater societal acceptance and inclusion. In fact, the assertion that Singapore is a multicultural society that treats its ethnic groups all equally, is often used as a cudgel to shut down any allegations that Singapore fails to live up to this national identity. As my audience is intended to be predominantly POC, especially those living as minorities in Western nations, members of my audience are of course familiar with insistences of “But Canada/United States/etc is a melting pot society! Racism isn’t a serious issue, POC can’t be treated poorly in those countries.”
By racebending a national personification to be part of a marginalized population, this is making a political statement by asserting that the marginalized population is in fact a part of that nation, and has always been, despite historical exclusion. The act of racebending is an overly idealistic and uncritical agreement with multiculturalism, without considering how the value actually applies in practice. It rosewashes the reality and existence of cultural imperialism enacted on immigrant/outsider groups.
Racebending can therefore accidentally act as multicultural propaganda, especially when the invokement of multiculturalism is used to stamp out valid critiques of othering and racialization by ethnic minorities. (E.g. “Singapore can’t have problems with racism against Malays! Singapore himself is Malay!”)
IMPORTANT: If you want to argue that nation personifications are not inherently representative of their government, refer to the section, “The Inherent Politicism of Personifying Nations.”
“Well, POC based in Western countries will naturally feel more connected to their Western countries than their homelands, often because of those policies intended to break their connections to their homelands. Why can’t they racebend to reclaim? To feel connected to their Western countries in contrast to their realities of ostracization and othering?”
I have already discussed why other POC (those affected by a white regime’s actions) would be uncomfortable with the implications of tying a POC/marginalized group with said white regime’s misdeeds in the section “The Inherent Politicism of Personifying Nations” so I will not discuss it here beyond mentioning it.
Firstly, I must acknowledge that this argument is fundamentally an emotional one. I do not want to deny what POC in Western countries emotionally derive from racebending the nation-state, even as a fellow POC based in a Western country. Instead, I will approach this argument from another angle.
I ask the following: When trying to represent our experiences as diaspora and minorities, why is personifying a diaspora/minority community not a popular option? The act of choosing to personify a community is inherently political, and we can use it to empower ourselves as diaspora or minorities. For example, by personifying diaspora communities, we can acknowledge that diaspora experiences are different enough from those in the ‘homeland’ to warrant another personification, and also avoid accidentally justifying colonial possession of those ‘homeland’ states.
Additionally, by personifying diaspora/minority communities, we can 1) better reflect our unique day-to-day experiences of being racialized and separated from the mainstream, 2) avoid many of the earlier uncomfortable implications of minority collaboration in majority perpetrated acts and condoning colonialism, and 3) stress our independence and autonomy despite the efforts of the state and majority population to take that away.
To put it another way, why are there so many stories of minorities striving towards being included, or from another angle, subsumed, into the white nation-state despite its frequent rejection of them? Again, what does it say that these narratives of “inclusion into a historically white nation-state” disproportionately outnumber POC narratives where whiteness is minute or absent?
IMPORTANT: I am not singling you, the hypothetical POC diaspora individual who engages in racebending, out. I am asking about wider patterns of representation in media.
“But by personifying diaspora and minority communities separately from the personification of the nation-state, isn’t that basically saying that minorities will never be seen as part of the nation-state? That we will never be included when people think of our nation state?”
I believe this response takes too narrow a perspective on what multiculturalism is and “being part of a nation-state means,” and thus views having separate personifications as ‘justifying’ or ‘promoting’ our exclusion from the nation-state when it may not be the case.
Look at it from this way- Is it not also problematic to have only one avatar for, say, America, and thus imply that there is one true way of being “American?” Having multiple American personifications, in contrast, is a more true depiction of the realities of being American, and more true to the values of multiculturalism; it instead suggests that there are many ways to be American, that we don’t have to be subsumed into the mainstream to be considered “American.”
“Isn’t that functionally the same as different interpretations of the same nation-state coexisting? Why can’t fans just all have a different Alfred/America specific to their own experience who are all equally considered American?”
Once more: I am not trying to stop anyone from doing anything. That’s not within my power to do so. I agree with this statement that largely, having multiple American personifications and multiple America/Alfred fulfills the same purpose of showing that to be American means something different to everyone. However, the reason I advocated for the former approach is because it achieves the same goal with a lot less uncomfortable questions and unique benefits (minority autonomy), as detailed above.
“It’s Just Fandom, Why Are You Trying to Control POC Who Just Want to Have Fun and Want to Represent Themselves?”
First off, I am presenting this essay as a conversation with other POC because I want to make it explicitly known that my position here is not that of a white person seeking to silence POC and lecture them about what is and is not good for them. Secondly, it's because I want to talk about racebending as it currently exists in the Hetalia fandom, something mostly done by POC who wish to represent themselves and create the diversity missing in the source material. I believe pointing out that white people who are uncomfortable with POC characters or only racebend for self-centered reasons likely have a racial bias is obvious, especially to other POC, and wish to progress the conversation beyond this. This is why my discussion on racebending is moving beyond white bias.
As part of centering this as a discussion among POC, I am also assuming good faith from my interlocutors, that their desires for representation and diversity are sincere, and that I don’t look down on them. I hope then, that this assumption of good faith can be afforded to me as well- that my interlocutors believe me when I say that the last thing I want to do is control POC, as a fellow POC.
Having gotten all of that out of the way, let's address some rebuttals to the arguments I've made thus far.
"Who are you to decide what kind of representation resonates with POC?"
You're right. I can't decide what kind of representation resonates with POC. Again, I am not intent on controlling POC, and again, I recognize that many of the arguments in favor of racebending white nations come from an emotional place; I can’t control how POC feel, even if I wanted to do that.
However, it's precisely because of this that I've made my arguments based on factors other than emotional ones, such as the political implications and questioning the inclusivity racebending provides us with. POC joy and happiness is crucial in the face of a system that seeks to crush and suppress us. But from one POC to another, it's not much of a discussion if your response to my points is simply, "Well, it makes me feel represented and happy, and that's what matters most." If we argued based on that, we could go all day. Am I not a POC myself? Do the feelings and happiness of POC who are uncomfortable with racebending not matter? For that matter, who are you to tell the people whose families and people have been historically affected by white imperialist states to stop disliking racebent versions of those imperialist states?
For white people, it is easy for them to shut down racebending, because they don't understand the experience of never seeing yourself in any form of media. I have asked white/non-marginalized people to refrain from this discussion for that very reason. But in exchange for that, we should be able to discuss the ramifications of racebending national personifications, and look deeper at the arguments for and against racebending.
"You're taking this too seriously. People giving more attention to racebent versions of Western countries versus non-racebent POC countries doesn't say anything deeper about someone's political beliefs. People just like the silly anime about personified countries, and that silly anime happens to give more attention to the canonically white countries."
To a certain extent, I get this rebuttal. We cannot solve racism or the privileging of the global north by reblogging Hetalia fanart of Seychelles and Cameroon. Everything I have described here is symptomatic of much, much larger issues that affect billions. But it's symptomatic: fandom is not immune to the ills of wider society. We do not shed our innate biases and prejudices when we enter supposedly apolitical spaces like fandom. In a series about personified nations, our prejudices and biases are naturally magnified because the source material’s nature is deeply political, dealing with history and personified nations and states.
Again I ask: What does it mean that the POC representation made by POCs is so often limited to racebending canonically white characters, in the context of the world order we live in where proximity to the West automatically confers certain privileges?
IMPORTANT: Refer to the section “The Myth of Multiculturalism” if you respond to this with “Are you saying depictions of Western-influenced POC experiences are a lesser form of representation?”
If that fails to convince you, and you still believe the inequality in reception between racebent and non-racebent nations doesn’t say anything deeper, I respond with the following- Isn’t it still worth it to try and show the same support and energy to the non-racebent, non-Western countries and their creators, regardless of whether that content speaks to you or not?
One last time, I’ll clarify what I’m not saying with that:
Stop liking America and Russia and England. I repeat, I cannot control what POC like or feel or do, and I repeat, what characters you personally like is a very individualistic view on a wider, systemic issue.
In the section “The State of POC Representation in Hetalia,” I discussed how disproportionately giving to racebent countries versus non-racebent non-Western countries is not an intersectional form of POC representation, and fails to address the underrepresentation of non-Western countries and cultures given the global colonial hierarchy. My above statement is therefore saying that if we POC want to achieve a more intersectional form of solidarity and representation, to create a fandom that’s more non-Western friendly, to generally support all types of POC creators, we should not neglect certain kinds of POC content just because it doesn’t personally resonate with us.
You don’t have to. Fandom is not activism. For many, fandom is an escape from the grim realities of the outside world. But in a media property all about exploring other countries’ cultures and histories, can we not strive for the spirit of the source material, and be a little more open-minded in exploring other countries and other forms of POC representation? Even in this miniscule way?
CONCLUSION
I would like to conclude this essay on the matter of irithnova, and the recent controversy she’s been embroiled in for stating many of the points I have made. Yes, our tones were different. But no amount of harsh tone warrants the outrage and rather racist backlash her post received. irithnova has been one of the most active voices in the Hetalia fandom speaking out against racism, from the exclusion of POC in j-ellyfish’s character polls to myrddin’s behavior. However, as soon as she, a Filipino, expresses personal discomfort with certain depictions of a nation that’s caused great harm to her people, other POC were the first to get mad at her for seeing the political implications of a POC personified America, to the point of trying to deny her reality as a feminized and racialized member of the diaspora living in a colonial European country and calling her functionally white.
POC solidarity doesn’t mean we have to all agree with each other, or even like every other POC. But I want to note the irony here of people committing the very act they accused irithnova of doing- telling her, a Filipino, that she wasn’t allowed to criticize racebent depictions of America, thereby trying to control POC.
If your response to this is “Well, sure irithnova didn’t deserve the harassment, but she was still wrong to criticize racebending because it wasn’t her place!” I would like to remind you of the following points:
Scroll up to the top and read this essay again. Regardless of tone used, there are valid reasons for POC to dislike and criticize depictions of racebent countries.
irithnova, as a Filipino living in the West and has Filipino relatives in the USA, is intimately aware of the nature of American imperialism and racism against POC. The United States promised to help the Philippines achieve independence but instead robbed it of its sovereignty, putting down resistance to its takeover and instituting American rule because they viewed Filipinos as “lesser” and incapable of governing themselves because of their race. If it isn’t irithnova’s place to feel uncomfortable (and thus criticize) racebent America, then whose is it?
Finally, I want to emphasize one more thing- First Nations/Indigenous individuals have a unique relationship to the colonial settler states that occupy their land. Like I’ve said so many times, I cannot tell any POC how to feel or what to do, and even more so in this case because I myself am not First Nations/Indigenous; I’ve only provided arguments about the pitfalls of racebending and the merits of other forms of representation. But just as how I cannot tell you what to feel or do, nobody can stop other POC feeling put off by a racebent America.
At the end of the day, despite the who-knows-how-many paragraphs I’ve spent articulating the reasons against racebending canonically white nations, I cannot stop anyone from racebending nations if they wish to. But I do hope readers come away with a better understanding of the flaws of racebending, and the benefits of looking away from the Western mainstream and looking elsewhere to represent our experiences as diaspora and minorities. If you’re someone who engages in racebending, but still chose to read this 6K word long essay on the Hetalia fandom, I can’t express my gratitude enough for hearing me out. Honestly, anybody who read through this entire post deserves an award- Thanks for reading 💖
In which Alfred confesses twice and Soojin is at a loss each time
Word Count: 2.7k words
“Hey, South…?” Soojin heard the familiar voice of Alfred F Jones as she turned to her hotel room. He sounded a little…serious. But this late at night? She sighed. The Opening Ceremony already took most of her energy out of her after socializing with an overwhelming amount of countries she either did or barely knew. “What is it, Alfred?” Soojin turned to look at him. He looked nervous, eyes darting around at the hotel decor before looking at her.
“Could you…walk with me for a little?” He seemed to find a framed photograph of Rose of Sharon flowers quite amusing. Soojin weighed her options. It wasn’t like she did anything bad, and she didn’t really take him as the type to attack her while nobody was around. Even if he did, she had about two thousand years of military training. She could quickly pin him to the ground, or cause him to lose consciousness, or break his arm. Whichever came first.
As they were walking, Alfred began his whole spiel about how proud he was of Soojin, and how quickly the country was able to rise from its ashes and open themselves to the world stage(“what better way to do that than host the Summer Olympics, am I right?”), and that he’s glad to have helped make the Miracle happen.
She tuned him out in her head. Ever since the War, she had become a sort of... spectacle for the other nations to watch. Every single meeting or gala she attended always involved Alfred sneaking up out of nowhere, introducing her to every single country and holding her by the waist as he went on and on about how the South was well on its way to become a successful nation, with his help of course.
The War. She can’t help but think back to her older brother. How is he doing now? She thought. She had missed her brother and wanted him to be there for the Olympics, but that would be impossible now given North Korea’s boycott.
All of a sudden, Alfred stopped walking. Soojin followed suit, only to find that they were outside. The sky was an inky black, with few stars illuminating the sky due to the many city lights overwhelming it. Though it may have seemed like a long time, to Soojin it felt like Korea’s urban development and economy all happened in the blink of an eye.
“Soojin? Soojin, are you listening?” The wave of his hand in front of her eyes snapped her out of her thoughts. Soojin looked up at him. “You kinda zoned out for a while there.”
She cleared her throat at a lazy attempt to save face. “Why did you stop walking?”
“Oh, yeah, that,” he sniffed a nearby bush of flowers, voice wavering, “I…wanted to tell you something.”
She stared up at him expectantly. “Well? What is it?”
There was a short silence. Heart pounding, he took a deep breath. “I…like you.”
She didn’t know what to think. Her first option was denial. There was no way he liked her, romantically, when there were probably tons of other people that were more likely to date him.
“That’s normal,” she said, “…Friends like each other. That’s what friends do.” She used the word friends sparingly. If someone asked her about her relationship to Alfred, she wouldn’t know how to respond. Friends? They had genuine conversations together, talking about their siblings and childhoods as they tried to pass the time. But she wouldn't consider herself very close to Alfred. He'd always assert and impose conditions onto agreements or deals or anything else. Whatever was offered came with a hefty price.
There were times where she absolutely loathed him. She couldn't pretend to enjoy his presence at a time where he was showing her off at galas as his "success story" while her people and their livelihoods suffered at the hands of the military dictatorship he set up.
So if she had to answer honestly, she would probably say no. Not a friend, but an acquaintance.
Or that’s what she told herself to help her sleep at night.
Alfred's voice pulled her out of her contemplations.
"Not like how I like you."
He sounded like a middle schooler confessing to one of their classmates.
She hated it. She hated how he could say things that would make her heart swell with all the happy feelings in the world, things of hopes and dreams and now love. She hated how he talked about her right in front of her like she was a commodity, a tale to springboard his own reputation as a protector of the world. She hated how he never gave her a moment of peace, even when he wasn't in the country. She hated how the government and its politicians all reminded her of Alfred as they promised reform and justice and peace, while destroying the foundations of those ideals. She hated his laugh, the sound haunting her when she was in world meetings. She hated that smile of his. She hated Alfred.
Soojin hated Alfred F Jones.
His ego was a giant beast, and she didn't feel like feeding it any longer, especially if she accepted his confession.
She took a deep breath and looked at him. She could see right through him. It looked like he was trying to keep his composure, but on the inside he was falling apart. Every second of silence felt like death to him. She almost felt bad for what she was about to say.
"I appreciate that you feel that way towards me, but I must reject. I apologize for not being able to reciprocate your feelings in kind."
His face scrunched up in confusion, and it looked...painful. "What? Why?"
"I already told you." She was about to leave as he grabbed her wrist.
"No, why? Why can't you like me back? Why can't we do this?"
"I don't want to be your "success story" as much as I already am now! You use my pain for what? Praise towards you alone? You might think you're out there playing world police and fighting dictatorships around the world, but you created one right here in my own home! The reason our Miracle happened was because we managed to finally turn things around after 3 decades of suffering! You already have enough control here! Isn't that enough for you?" She sighed, out of breath from pouring out 40 years of her inner turmoil out on him.
They were right. The truth really does set you free.
Soojin looks up at him. His eyes are cast downwards, staring intently at the sidewalk. She's a little shocked. This is the first time she's ever seen him this quiet before. Giving him what little sympathy she had left for him, she quietly leaves to allow him to ponder his own thoughts.
And so he did, toying at the hem of his shirt as the past 4 decades flashed through his head.
So much has happened since then. World Cup. Asian Games. Gangnam Style. K-beauty. K-Fashion. K-Dramas.
Since the end of the Miracle on the Han River, South Korea skyrocketed into international fame, largely due to soft power. Kpop had bursted in popularity, with EXO-Ls, ONCEs, and ARMYs all over Asia, Europe, and America.
America...
Alfred.
Their relationship was...thawing to say the least. Every diplomatic mission involved congratulating Soojin on something new she had accomplished.
He made it a habit to make Soojin watch a new kdrama with him whenever he visited her.
Slowly, she found herself laughing alongside him at the comedy scenes.
Was she beginning to...enjoy his presence?
...No, that couldn't be it.
"Yeah it is!" Taiwan whisper-yelled as she sipped her frappe. "You like when he's around!" Soojin, Mei, and Hyungsoo were eating lunch at a busy cafe, a week left until the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics started.
"Soojin, please don't tell me you like him. There's no way you like him of all people, right?!" Hyungsoo shook her violently in desperation. "Please, I'm not as antisocial as everyone thinks! I know a few guys, just please not him...!"
"O-oppa, stop! I'm trying to figure it out myself, okay?" She squeezed his arms to get him to stop. "You know, I can't help it. I hated when he would come over, but now I count the days until the next time he comes! I used to hate him but now-now I don't know!"
As her lackluster attempt at defending herself was over, something vibrated in her purse. Soojin checked her phone to see a text from none other than Alfred F Jones.
Alfie: Let's hang out after the opening ceremony's after party!
Before she was about to ask him why he wanted to hang out with her all of a sudden, Hyungsoo shrieked. "Alfie?" You entered his contact name as Alfie?"
Mei's ears perked up at the nickname. "Aww, isn't that cute!"
"It is not!" Hyungsoo snapped.
"Yes it is!"
"Anyway," Soojin broke up the fight. "He asked me if I wanted to hang out with him after the ceremony."
"Say yes!" Taiwan yelled.
임수진: okay!
The three of them stared intently at the checkmark and the three dots following after. He was typing a response.
Alfie: what about your hotel room?
"WHAT?" Hyungsoo screeched. He then realized he was in a busy cafe. "what?" The Korea twins reserved a shared hotel room together–further symbolism of the two nations becoming one for the year's Olympics. If Alfred were to...hang with her...in their shared room...
"Come on, Hyungsoo! They clearly have some issues they need to work out! Please?" Mei squeezed his shoulders.
"No."
"Please? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?"
Hyungsoo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No."
"Ok, how about i post those sexy pics of your abs on my instagram then-" Taiwan pulled out her phone.
"Okay fine! ...But don't...do the do, you know? Don't get all hot and heavy... I mean don't have–"
"I won't, oppa!" Soojin's face erupted into a bright red. She focused on texting to distract her from what her brother said.
임수진: sure!
Alfie: alright, its a date!
The three looked at each other after reading that last message.
Taiwan wiggled her eyebrows.
As much as South Korea considered herself a "social" person, she forgot how exhausting it was to host events and have to greet and make small talk with about a hundred nations. She was more than ready to pass out on her bed.
Her "date" didn't make that easy.
She was busy talking to Turkey and France as a hand wrapped around her waist, and she smelled a flurry of cologne.
His cologne.
She sighed. "Is it time already, Alfred?"
"Wow, how'd you guess? Probably because you know me so well after all these years, huh?" His chipper voice hammered against her eardrums. "Anyway, let's go! Your room, right?"
A question had never sounded louder.
Sadik spit out his sparkling water and France gave...one of those smiles.
"Ohonhonhonhonhon...have fun you two~"
Soojin was sure she'd die on the spot if she was human.
"Alfred, please," she sighed as they both walked down the hall, "don't say it like that, especially out loud..."
His face flushed red. "Hehe. Sorry about that, guess I got way too excited!"
Now to ask him the important things. "Why did you want to hang out with me anyway? You know how tight my schedule is," Soojin stopped at the door of her room. Well, more like her and her brother's room. All the countries had their flags on their room doors, but on Soojin's and Hyungsoo's room door was the unified flag of Korea, a white flag with the Korean Peninsula in blue.
His eyes darted around the room as if he was making up a lie(he was, she could tell). "Uh.. I wanted to congratulate you?"
Soojin scoffed. "You did that already–about twelve times if I counted that right. Now, the real reason, if you don't mind?"
"Well... I wanted to apologize."
Well. This was new.
"Apologize? For what, exactly?"
He mustered the strength to look into her eyes and steeled his nerves. "For everything. For separating you from your brother and making you two fight. For starting a military dictatorship that terrorized your people. For all that my military has done to you. And for continuously wronging you again and again, seeing you as my strategic location and nothing else, thinking I was doing the right thing..."
Soojin was shocked. She knew he was capable of a multitude of things, but she had never once seen him apologize to anyone. And he sounded so serious too, there was no way he was being ingenuine. As soon as she believed she got over the shock, he apologized for one more thing.
"And... I'm sorry for expecting you to love me back way back then. Back in '88, and now, as I ask for your heart again."
Ah....
Taiwan was right.
Why else would what he said shoot straight through her heart?
Alfred nervously chuckled. "Y-you know, you don't have to answer right away. This is about you, not me. I'm willing to wait however long it takes for you to give me your answer."
She clutches a pillow and breathes into it, burying her face into the white plush. Her stomach burst into a thousand butterflies, and a million thoughts were spinning through her head. She did like him...a little. But she wanted to make sure, and she didn’t think it would be smart to immediately brush everything over and accept his confession.
"Alfred, I... Over the years, I've enjoyed your presence a lot. I'm glad you took the time to apologize for your actions. It's a first, actually," she chuckled nervously, "to hear you genuinely apologize for something. I truly do appreciate it." Looking up to see him shifting his weight from foot to foot, Soojin decided to make it quick.
"However, I don't think I can accept your feelings right away. That would be like rewarding you for the bare minimum. I like what we have now, so let's keep that, if you don't mind...?"
"Oh...alright." If Alfred had puppy ears, she could see them droop down. "If that's what you want," he smiled bitterly.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Soojin stared at her pillow. Alfred wiped his tears on his sleeve and looked around the room. After about a few minutes, he mustered a smile and asked her something, staring at the colorful box holding the latest game console in the corner of the room. They still needed to hang out, after all.
If not lovers, then friends. He'll be okay with that.
"Wanna smash?"
Soojin smiled.
It was two in the morning when North Korea bid Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong goodnight to head to his room after an exhausting after party. He was deep in his thoughts.
How could Soojin betray me like this? I thought cohosting meant it was a partnered effort! She knows I hate hosting events alone! Oh well, I knew about it anyway...
He made a turn in the hallway and noticed the flag that marked his bedroom. He smiled as he noticed the unified Korean flag on the door. "Maybe in a distant future...?"
He opened the door to see them playing video games and eating chips.
"What...are you doing??" He asked, incredulously confused.
"Playing Super Smash Brothers," Alfred said through a mouthful of chips.
"Wanna join?" Soojin handed him a third controller. He looked at her, eyes sparkling and crumbs dusting her mouth as she smiled at him.
Chuckling, he took the controller, mirroring her smile, and connected to the screen. He thought back to the lunch outing with his sister and Taiwan.
If they did get together during the time they were alone, he supposed he didn't mind.
And if they didn't? Well, he'd understand. If he was Soojin, he'd reject Alfred as well, considering the damage he brought upon the both of them. He didn't take her for someone that would immediately forget, even after she made amends with someone.
But he had a feeling that she would come to terms with how she feels soon enough, whatever that would be.
This is my first fanfiction, so please go easy on me!! Its kind of like brain vomit but cleaned up a little
N. Ire was the local punk with a gold heart, Bela was the goth with a collection of every knife made since 1378 and an electric guitar, HK was the nerd with an unreasonably high amount of rizz, Sey was the chill laidback friend who also seemed to have the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, Ice was the introvert who tried to act hard but was actually a big softie, and Liech was the valid victorian with a side hussle of running the school's contraband trade
do. do you think Alfred has to pick up Ludwig's role as the "boring straight-edge killjoy" re NATO meetings. like I'm sure he's not quite as strict as Ludwig but is Alfred the one who's like "hey yo we all gotta give reports on our defense expenditure budgets next go around, mkay?" Like is Alfred the one breaking up fights between Sadik and Herakles? is Alfred the one who has to hunt everyone down to submit their budget reports? is Alfred the "bro if you stall this summit any longer I'm gonna lose it"? is Alfred the "NO FIGHTING IN THE WAR ROOM" one? is he the one trying to give Feliciano orders and then being disappointed? guys we are sitting on a goldmine of potential comedy.
I like seeing Alfred put in leadership roles, mostly because I think it'd be hilarious and he'd actually fucking hate it lmao
Alfred gives out stickers to nations who meet the 2% expenditure target. he, Feliks, and Herakles have them all over their nameplates. Arthur does too; he keeps picking them off but they keep reappearing.
Man imagine Timo coming into this and just watching Alfred trying to get everyone to cooperate and do their job while he is just "Did I come into the wrong meeting or-"
As we all know as Hetalians, shipping is a key part of fandom space, with many of the most famed writers and artists in the fandom being known for their ships!
And as we know, there are many many ships, sometimes it seems like an endless number of them! However, there are a very finite amount of characters in Hetalia, and only so many ways you can arrange any set of characters in a duo or trio.
This of course naturally raises the question, how many ships can possibly exist within the fandom? 50? 100? 250?
That there, my guys gals and enby pals is what this post hopes to answer!
The key to answering this equation without manually listing every possible ship is a little known thing called the Combination Equation. What is the Combination Equation?
It is this beauty! Now, for those of yall who aren't familiar with Combinations and Permutations, this may seem like some complex abomination. But in reality, it is a very simple equation!
To explain it, imagine you have 6 fruits - an apple, orange, pear, grapes, kiwi, and banana - in total but can only fit 2 into you lunch bag. How many Combinations of fruit can you have? Rather than manually calculating it by counting every single combination, you can just use the equation!
You have 4 fruits, so you put n = 6, as n is just how many of whatever you have, be that fruits or Hetalia Nendoroids. Next, because you only have enough room for 2 fruits, you put r = 2, as r just means the size of your combination groups, be it space for fruits or how many Nendoroid stands you have. Then you just put it in a calculator and hurrah! You have 15 possible combinations of fruit! It is also very important to note that the difference between Combinations and Permutations is if order is important; Combinations view ABC, ACB, and BCA as all the same, while Permutations view all three as seprate.
Now we understand the basic math, we can move onto the core question: How can we use this to find how many possible Hetalia ships are there?
Well to begin with, we need to figure out our n value, which in this case is just how many characters are in all of Hetalia! Well, almost. In Hetalia, if we include only canonical characters and only those that are 1pHetalia ones, we have a total of 71 Characters. However, 8 of those character, meaning we really end up with 63 characters! So our n = 63!
Now for the r value, to start, we will just say r = 2 to represent ever 1x1 ship!
But before we can put it all in, we need to add one thing: - s. Why? Well, because at the moment we have one issue, that being this equation has ALL possible ships, which also means it includes less savory ones. However, we don't want to remove one character and their dozens of ships over just a single unsavory one, so we can set s to equal however many ships we wish to disregard. In this case, I will set it to s = 6, meaning 6 will be removed from the final total.
So what number do we get from this?
DRUM ROLL PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE
ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE!
Meaning, if we set ourselves to 1pHeta and 1x1 ships, there are 1,885 ships! That's a lot You have to admit, but l can't help feel that's a bit small, and that's largely because we put on very strict restrictions; So how about we try some more generous ones?
To start with, how about we double our n value so instead n = 62, we set it to n = 124! Afterall, Nyotalia or 2ptalia are very common in the fandom, so how about we account for them in our ships as well? Doing so, and setting s = 12 to account for the doubling, we wind up with this equation
And from this we get...
7,614! Now that's a hell of a jump I'd say! Certainly, our 1x1 shippers out there will have no shortage of ships for a long long time!
But what about our polyamorous and trio loving friends? Fear not, you have not been forgotten, as by changing r from r = 2 to r = 3, even with just the original n = 62, while leaving s = 12 just to be safe, this will undoubtably make a difference as our equation now looks like such
And how many lovely polyamorous loves and bff trios are we rewarded with?
Even more than before at 37,808 trios! It really goes to show there will never be any shortage of ships or trios for a long long time, and that if you pick any three characters at random, chances are you'll have a trio no one has ever made before, that's crazy!
Now, how about we break this?
If we multiply 62 by four, we get n = 248, accounting for every single 1pHetalia, 1pNyotalia, 2pHetalia, and 2pNyoCharacter based off canon ones that exist, a truly massive number. To show some mercy, let is return to r = 2 and double s to s = 24, which seems like a very harsh restriction and gives us the equation of
So what do we get from this equation?
...well that wasn't supposed to happen, lets see if we can figure out what went wrong
248 - 2 = 246, and since its a factorial, lets plug it into another site to see what we get from this
Ah, well them... Perhaps Scientific Notation will be able to clarify this?
Well no wonder Desmos broke, at *10^482, that's a number bigger than the amount of atoms in the universe - quite literally, as its estimated there are 10^80 atoms in the universe, not even a fifth as big as the number we got as the total number of atoms in the universe vs 246! is 16.598%, or in otherwords, if ever atom in the universe was a number from 1 to 246!, you would only get 16.598% of the way there before you ran out of atoms.
Its crazy to think our little fandom can literally create something bigger than the number of atoms in the universe! And, if you want to toy around with possibly universe breaking numbers, or something more mundane just like how many lesbian ships exist in Hetalia or how many European squads there are, I present to you: The Hetalia Fandom Ship Calculator
Entirely free for anyone to use, just follow all the attached note info, and use it as you please to learn as much as your heart desires!
But for now my lovely guys and gals and enby pals, I must go, I promise to return soon, and until then, drink some water, get some food and rest, and have a most lovely of days!
Do you think the nations can make/have children with each other or humans?
Yes, nations can have children with each other and with humans
Yes, but nations can only have children with humans
Yes, but nations can only have children with other nations
No, nations can not have children with other nations or humans
Something Else (Please let me know what you think)
Voting ended onApr 17, 2023
Just curious what the fandom thinks of the status of nations having kids, be it with other nations or with humans, and as it should be implied, this is in the context of a Standard Nationverse world, no human AUs or omegaverse or anything else as those are separate cases
Ya know how the nations are immortal? And death is less “horrific, deep, and massive tragedy” and more “minecraft falling down a ravine and loosing 64 cobblestone”?
Do ya ever wonder if and what the nation's more funny or weird deaths were like and how many times they've happened?
Like yeah they almost certainly died of say bubonic plague or got blown up in a war by artillery or some other major grand scale and pivotal event in their history
But what I mean is all the more random and inconsequential stuff
Like maybe, Romano getting smoked by choking on a tomato and only N.Ita knows and teases him about it because "how did you die to a tomato lmao"; Or like France being overdramatic on a rooftop in Paris after his breakfast got burnt, leans on a rusty guardrail he kept putting off maintenance for, and learns why that was a bad move as it just falls he splats on the ground and thus loses his favorite morning gound
Just random kinda stupid stuff like that that can happen when you're immortal and regenerate/respawn from death as easily as you do in Minecraft
alfred rocking some different flight jackets (nerd stuff under cut)
The flight jacket, an iconic piece of any aviator's outerwear. Before they ever became symbols of fashion and the 'exalted' place that came with the occupation of pilot, the flight jacket as we know it was first made for function. Aircraft of World War I and the earliest designs were open cockpit machines, and many would remain that way in the Interbellum. All that to say this paramount paraphernalia's original purpose was to keep an aviator warm in the sky.
Keep in mind that the images above may not reflect every specimen of their type. Jackets differed in design by manufacturer, production block, and even by the military branch (Navy jackets also often have a different name) & unit ordering them. A great example is the wide range of looks for the quintessential B-3. My apologies in advance for them being all American designs. I would love to show off some of the British flight jackets, but I would rather do a little more research (and practice drawing Arthur more)!
A-1 (1927-1931)
A thin leather jacket designed for lower altitudes and made with a flattering fit high on the waist, the A-1 was the kickstart to the wide variety the Army Air Corps would come to know. The A-1 had differing designs between the Navy and the infant Air Corps, and early A-1s are distinguished by having seven buttons and a knit collar, which later models did not keep. However, later models did retain the knit waistband and cuffs.
A-2 (1931-1943)
The direct successor to the A-1, the A-2 quickly replaced its older brother. This is one of the more recognizable jackets from the States after becoming the standard for the Air Corps in the early 1930s. The quality of the jackets would fall due to wartime rationing, with early designs of horsehide and silk becoming goatskin and cotton, however, the general look remained. The A-2 was still primarily for open cockpit designs, lower altitudes, and warmer climes. Identifiable from the A-1 by its snap-down leather collar, zipper, and varying shapes and sizes of a hook-and-eye clasp at the collar to close it.
G-1 (1938-present)
This looker would replace the A-2 in form and function during the 1940s, first becoming popular with the Army and Navy before being adopted by USAAF. Originally named the ANJ-3/AN-J-3 the jacket gained its new designation by the time the Air Corps caught on. The G-1 came with a mouton collar and a bi-swing back to allow for greater arm movement, meanwhile, it lacked the over-zipper 'wind flap' of its predecessors. A keen eye for pop culture might realize that this is the jacket from the 1986 hit Top Gun.
B-3 (1934-1943)
Ah, the B-3! Commonly known simply as the "bomber jacket," the B-3 was made with a high-altitude bomber in mind, unlike previous designs. Incredibly bulky and lined with sheepskin the B-3 was made to keep crews at 25,000 feet above from freezing in their unpressurized cabins, with many such as the early B-17 Flying Fortresses possessing open waist gunner ports. The wide collar could be closed with two leather straps and the jacket did not come with the famous knit waistband or cuffs that others did. "The General" was a B-3 design made specifically for General George S. Patton, who popularized the B-3 outside of the Air Corps. (The B-3 had a slimmer cousin - the B-6 - designed as the 'quality of life' inside bombers improved, such as pressurized cabins.)
B-7 (1941-1942)
Short-lived, the B-7 Parka was manufactured for pilots operating in the brutal cold of Alaska. However, not much is known of it due to its limited production. In fact, the B-7 was discontinued swiftly due to its high manufacturing cost. Either way, the B-7 is a funky one-off that is easily distinguishable from the lineup by its three-quarter length and coyote-lined hood.
B-15 (1944-1954)
The infamous green flight jacket that many today typically know as the "bomber jacket". The B-15 quickly replaced its older brother, the B-10 (1943-1944). Like other designs it had many variations. Similar to the G-1, the B-15 shared the same pocket design and lack of a wind flap, yet the B-15 was cloth with a mouton collar and a knit waistband and cuffs. The shell was produced in a range of materials including nylon and cotton-rayon. It was lighter weight and far less warm than its sheepskin predecessors and spoke to the advancements in aviation technology. A quirk of its design that soon became standard was the designated pen pocket on the upper left arm.
