Since you opened up your blog for others' unusual opinions, how about you type down your own for once? :)) My personal question to you is: What made you hate all those popular ships? And are you even interested in shipping altogether? I'm really curious! (btw if this ask makes you uncomfy, just ignore it)
You should see my DeviantArt, main Tumblr and Pixiv - I’m actually really into ships and have quite a number of them. XD however, most of them tend to be rare or crack. This is a rather interesting question because honestly, at times it’s hard to pin down how I truly feel into words so this may turn out long. But, I’ll try. :’) (and don’t worry - I’m not uncomfortable at all with answer this question, but thank you for your consideration. :D)
Warning: This post contains my opinion. It will contain my dislike of certain ships which include and don’t include Hetalia ships. There is nothing wrong if you ship any of those ships and I am not bashing anyone who likes these ships, either. I’m just here to answer a question and express my opinion. That is all.
In all honesty, this isn’t just a Hetalia thing. Nowadays, I tend to dislike most popular ships in nearly every medium. It’s rather odd because back when I was in high school, I was all for popular ships. However, I think it may do with how times are changing and so is the general consensus of why a ship is so popular.
Back in my high school days, I was into things like Fruits Basket, Sailor Moon, Skip Beat! and Ouran High School Host Club with the odd one here and there like Elfen Lied. However, all of those mediums, I loved the popular ships. Even today, I still like those ships. For instance - nearly everyone I knew who liked Skip Beat! shipped Kyoko x Ren - nearly nobody liked Kyoko x Sho. Long story short - nobody liked shipping the girl with the massive douchebag who used her and never appreciated her efforts.
However, nowadays, tsundere attitudes seem so common in shipping that it’s boring to me. I always had a massive dislike for the tsundere character archetype so that may explain why majority of Hetalia’s popular ships are an instant nope to me (i.e. USUK, Spamano, DenNor). What really doesn’t help is that fans tend to flanderize the worst of tsundere (i.e. the hitting and verbal abuse). If it’s a first-time only thing, I’d give the benefit of the doubt since it’s a first-time, but it’s so prevalent it gets tiring.
Another common attitude I’ve noticed in shipping is the whole “bad boy meets good boy/girl” which I find rather annoying and want to proclaim in the most exaggerated whiny teenage girl voice, “I can change him mama!” Call me a cynic but there are some people who just won’t change because they’re ~in lurve~ and you need way more than “the power of wuv!!” if you want a relationship to survive. However, I blame social media and YA novels for giving this mindset. It’s not really common in Hetalia but when it is, it’s annoying (i.e. 2P x Reader). I dunno, but bad boys never appealed with me because I see them as that - bad boys. Ergo, not for me since I have no interest in boys (men all the way for me, baby).
Another reason why I don’t like most of those ships is because of how most of them contain a demonized party (e.g. PruCan doing this with Cuba, Spamano doing this with Belgium, France, Turkey and Italy, etc.). I can understand why you may need someone to fulfill your antagonist role (hell, nowadays I’m using more Hetalia and even Nyotalia characters to fulfill the role of antagonist), but can you do more than just make them the shallow bitchy obstacle who “gets in the way” of your pairing? Actually give them some sympathetic qualities? A legitimate backstory? Make them an actual character instead of a caricature?
Thirdly, it also has to do with negative interactions with fandumb (i.e. the dumb portions of a fandom). The reason why I placed Spamano as higher in my hated ship list over USUK is because of a personal experience with a Spamano fanbrat. Long story short, they bullied my friend who shipped SpaBelg, I stepped in, and they harassed me and my friend for two years leaving pathetic yet disgusting messages. They’ve stopped now, thank God, but needless to say, it’s highly soured my opinion on Spamano and I can’t help but feel wary as a result.
I also had a negative experience in an RP with USUK in my earlier years of Hetalia. It was supposed to be a group party RP (spin the bottle, I believe) but it became this USUK drama soap-opera (Nyo!America and America both liked England, England rejected Nyo!America, she attempts to commit suicide by overdose, is hospitalized, the two blame themselves blah blah blah blah). There was a Germany and an Austria there as well, and they were just as clueless as I was. When I tried to include myself because, y’know, this was supposed to be a group RP, by trying to comfort America who gets drunk out of guilt, they then said, “Get out of here, you damn Asian.” I was RP’ing as Nyo!Vietnam, but actually being an Asian (Filipino, to be specific), I couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed at that.
Finally, it’s just me being highly picky, overall. Whenever I look at things, particularly relationships in media, I always have a tendency to analyze and deconstruct. When I look at a ship, I would think “Would both parties grow and develop?” And I’d tend to put personality characteristics and attributes together to see if they’d match or one party has a personality attribute that can counter or meld. But when I see two characters being too similar or having too many similar traits, I tend to not ship it because I just don’t find it interesting. Though at times, I simply just can’t answer properly why I don’t like a ship - sometimes I just don’t.
TL;DR - I’m actually really into shipping but nearly every ship I like is rare or crack. The reasons why I hate most Hetalia popular ships are because:1. Could be because times are changing and I’m just getting older.2. Flanderized tsundere characters.3. Fandumb (dumb portions of a fandom).4. Just me being a Picky Penguin.
Hope that answers your question! :D
