OOC: Important Update

Wow. This has been a long time on my mind, but it’s time I shared the big news. This might have been a bit predicted because of my absence but-

I’m officially leaving the Hetalia fandom.

There is no personal gripe, really. This was my first fandom- and while everything hasn’t always been smooth sailing- I have made some amazing memories and formed some of the closest friendships here. Starting this blog helped me so much with my art and helped me learn a lot about my identity, too. So I’m giving credit where credit is due.

However, as anything goes, it is my time to leave and do my own thing. I simply have other ideas and stories I want to work on. I’m just not happy remaining in the same bubble anymore.

HOWEVER- this isn’t the end for Maite or any of the characters I made here. They are some of my most cherished OCs and I couldn’t possibly let them go. But... I want to develop them more for their own person and not have them linked to this fandom/nation ties anymore. In a way, I was limited in what I could do and what I could present, but with moving on to my own terms, I can truly dive into the stories I have created.

So, thank you! To all of you and your support! You guys and your love have made these four years so great! We hit nearly 900 followers in this time and it still shocks me to this day!

By tonight, this blog will be officially archived (it won’t be moving but I will be officially retiring it.)

I’m going to be moving onto my other art account @the-luna-sphere. So if you want to keep on supporting me and still see Maite and the gang (and my other OCs), definitely follow me there!

Or if you really want to see more of Maite, my My Hero AU blog @ask-my-hero-maite will still be up (it’ll be going through a mini revamp.) So if you still wanna support me there, do follow!

This probably won’t be my last post here but...

Luna, out!

——————

Where To Find Me:

@the-luna-sphere (new main art and OC dump blog)

@contando-sheep (reblog account)

@ask-my-hero-maite (Independent AU blog with Maite and co.)

@ the_luna_sphere (my IG account)

OOC: Important Update

Wow. This has been a long time on my mind, but it’s time I shared the big news. This might have been a bit predicted because of my absence but-

I’m officially leaving the Hetalia fandom.

There is no personal gripe, really. This was my first fandom- and while everything hasn’t always been smooth sailing- I have made some amazing memories and formed some of the closest friendships here. Starting this blog helped me so much with my art and helped me learn a lot about my identity, too. So I’m giving credit where credit is due.

However, as anything goes, it is my time to leave and do my own thing. I simply have other ideas and stories I want to work on. I’m just not happy remaining in the same bubble anymore.

HOWEVER- this isn’t the end for Maite or any of the characters I made here. They are some of my most cherished OCs and I couldn’t possibly let them go. But... I want to develop them more for their own person and not have them linked to this fandom/nation ties anymore. In a way, I was limited in what I could do and what I could present, but with moving on to my own terms, I can truly dive into the stories I have created.

So, thank you! To all of you and your support! You guys and your love have made these four years so great! We hit nearly 900 followers in this time and it still shocks me to this day!

By tonight, this blog will be officially archived (it won’t be moving but I will be officially retiring it.)

I’m going to be moving onto my other art account @the-luna-sphere. So if you want to keep on supporting me and still see Maite and the gang (and my other OCs), definitely follow me there!

Or if you really want to see more of Maite, my My Hero AU blog @ask-my-hero-maite will still be up (it’ll be going through a mini revamp.) So if you still wanna support me there, do follow!

This probably won’t be my last post here but...

Luna, out!

——————

Where To Find Me:

@the-luna-sphere (new main art and OC dump blog)

@contando-sheep (reblog account)

@ask-my-hero-maite (Independent AU blog with Maite and co.)

@ the_luna_sphere (my IG account)

Devil time, Devil time, Devil time

After popular demand from my friends, I decided to do a redraw. To follow the theme of this month, I redrew some Devil Maite and Vicente. What can I say? I like an aesthetic.

16 de Septiembre

¡Dia de la Independencia!

(September 16th: Independence Day!)

———

(( Another year, another celebration. Even with some tough times, my pride is always strong! ¡Viva México!

This year, we have Maite featuring Chihuahua’s traditional dress ^^ ))

16 de Septiembre

¡Dia de la Independencia!

(September 16th: Independence Day!)

———

(( Another year, another celebration. Even with some tough times, my pride is always strong! ¡Viva México!

This year, we have Maite featuring Chihuahua’s traditional dress ^^ ))

Did the babey get a lot of presents? Which uncle or aunt spoils her most?

Maite: She sure did. Never a dull birthday for my baby!

And... as for who spoils her the most...

Maite: I think Katyusha is winning on that. Much to Natalya’s dismay...

Natalya: Look, I’m not saying she shouldn’t get her stuff. But it’s the fact she gets her a lot.

Maite: Aww. Come on. She doesn’t get to see her often 😅

(( I heard one song, got obsessed, and got some vibes that totally fit my gal-

Speedpaint is available on my Instagram ))

It’s September 1st again. A Happy Birthday to the little rosebud!

So Gaymers, we finally hit 450 followers! I’m really great-full that you guys stuck around with me for more than a year now, and obviously I wanted to try something a little fun.

Sure the rules are already said on the photos, but I’mma say em again

1: please be following, and don’t unfollow after this is over.

2: Like and Reblogging is 1 entry, But if you put down how you found this account and what you like about this blog is another Second Entry.

3: Only 3 winners

4: Don’t be a dumbbutt if you don’t get chosen in the end.

5: If you win and wish for me to draw an oc of

yours, please do provide a full body-colored reff.

6: have fun, stick around, and notify others

7: The deadline is the end of August or when I hit 500 followers.

So other than that let’s get this going!!!!

You are blessing. Thank you. Remember all of those asks about Mexican culture and stuff? That’s me. I’m kinda planing a little presentation for my family. I’ll FaceTime them, of course. I just wanted to say thank you. Muchas gracias mi profesora! Hasta luego!

(( You are very welcome!!! I’m glad I was able to help! ^^

Good luck on your little presentation, I’m sure it’ll be great! ))

Racism in the Hetalia Fandom

Honestly this has been a long time coming and I’m sorry for not stepping up sooner about it.

I’m glad everyone can collectively stand up to an obvious nazi but there is still a shit ton of casual racism that goes on in this fandom that needs to be addressed. Below are a few that are unfortunately pretty pervasive along with a brief explanation of why it’s bad and a link to a more in depth post on the subject if i could find one.

Making all the Asians related:

It may be tempting to say they’re all related because they’re part of the same “group” but that’s exactly why this is casually racist. Asians already face enough racism in the form of “all Asians look the same” and “aren’t you (a non-Chinese person) Chinese?”. This is basically a form of that. Since the Asians are usually taken to be related as a sibling of China (despite the use of sibling terms NOT always indicating relation in Asian cultures) , it plays into those same stereotypes and takes away the individual agency of those countries and basically boils them down to being related to China, and thus each other, in some way. Look, it’s not inherently bad to make them related, but if you aren’t making similar groups like the Nordics, Germanics, or former British colonies all related, you might want to sit down and examine why that is.

De-masculinization of Asians:

This is particularly a problem with ships involving China and Japan. It’s already a problem to woobify a character in a ship because it plays into gross seme/uke dynamics and fetishization of mlm relationships and is pretty darn homophobic and misogynistic because it implies someone in the relationship needs to be the “woman.” When you do it to the Asians specifically, you play into racist stereotypes of orientalism and exoticism around Asians that objectify them. If you headcanon them having a slighter frame that’s fine, but purposefully exaggerating size difference by making the non-white person of the ship super buff and manly and drawing the Asian super slender and curvy and pale is straight up fetishization. Discussion on this.

“The POC characters get less attention because they have less character development”

I often see this as an excuse when questioning why people never give POC characters attention despite publicly proclaiming how beautiful and awesome Seychelles is and how she deserves more love before they go back to writing headcanons on the Nordics and never mention her again. I apologize because I can’t find the original post (if you have it please link so I can give this person proper credit), but someone crunched the numbers and non-white characters had fewer appearances in fanfics than white characters PROPORTIONAL to their comic appearances. Even corrected for their fewer overall appearances in canon, non-white characters still appear FAR LESS in fan content than you would expect. The excuse that POC characters also have fewer appearances than white characters is also plain incorrect in some instances. China and Japan individually have more appearances than any single Nordic, and together have more appearances than ALL the Nordics combined. Want to guess who gets more attention from the fandom? Basically, your excuse that you can’t get into characters like China and Japan because “they appear less/have less development” is flimsy, casually racist, and simply falls flat because it’s plain NOT TRUE for some of these characters. I get that you like what you like and can’t really help it, but either stop using this as an excuse or stop skipping/skimming their comics when you’re reading and maybe you’ll find a reason to like them.

Replacing China with Canada in the Allies

So I need to tell you why replacing the only POC in a canonly established group with a FIFTH blonde white guy is bad? Apparently so, because when I mention this some person always comes out with “b-buh Canadian contributions to WW2!!” That’s cool, why not include Canada as an addition instead of straight up replacing China because the contributions of a western country apparently outweigh the millions of Chinese deaths and Chinese efforts in holding the Eastern front with Japan? (because who knew WW2 involved...idk, the WORLD instead of just Europe?)

Native America OCs

This isn’t about individual tribe/nation OCs. This is about overarching “Native America” OCs that either attempt to represent all indigenous cultures in America simultaneously or just try to be the “main” representation of the collective tribes (like England as the UK, or Germania, are excuses I’ve seen). Frankly I don’t care what your reasoning is. Like making all the Asians related, trying to represent indigenous cultures with a single personification erases the individuality of the different groups and essential implies they are all similar enough to have a single personification which is incorrect. The Cherokee and the Navajo live very different lifestyles with entirely different languages and cultures. Not to mention, most Native America OCs I see use feathered headdress imagery which is native to the Plains tribes and was only allowed to be worn by specific individuals under very specific circumstances. It wasn’t just a pretty aesthetic thing like a lot of people want to think. Here are two in-depth discussions on this one.

Mexico OCs

Great, you have a Mexico OC! Do you refer to them as a “fence/border hopper”, portray them as a constant annoyance to America begging for money/looking for work, make them do drugs, or portray them as violent and thuggish? If so you are wrong and need to stop, because these stereotypes are all extremely racist in nature!

Making dark skinned characters scary/violent

This particularly applies to 2p America, Cuba, and Turkey, but easily applies to any other dark skinned character that may be portrayed this way. Making 2p America in particular a violent thug reinforces stereotypes of dark-skinned (primarily black) people as being violent and prone to crime. I shouldn’t need to explain to you why this is bad and particularly racist. Please look no further than the BLM movement, which is actively combatting this. I know @basement-prussia has done a post on this but I’m having trouble finding it.

OCs in General

I understand sometimes it’s easier to relate to a character of your own creation than a canon character, and that this is some people’s preferred way of interacting with canon. That is perfectly fine, but I implore you: when making an OC, please do your research. Hetalia is unique in that the characters represent a people or culture. Because of this, you can’t just make a self-insert and slap the name of a place on it and call it good. If your OC represents a place that might be prone to any of the issues mentioned above, you need to do your research and do your best to make your OC accurate to that place and not just a two dimensional, racist stereotype. This here is a good discussion of some do’s and don’t’s with regards to makin OCs and not making them racist.

This is not, by all means, a complete list or even a complete discussion of racist things that go on in this fandom, but they are things I see over and over again. If you feel called out by any of these, instead of arguing and making excuses, question why you do them and try to do better. It’s okay to realize you have done some of these and aim to fix it. It’s not okay to do these and reblog this arguing about why you should be able to do it and making excuses about your specific circumstance. That makes you part of the problem. Don’t be part of the problem.

I know I didn’t even come close to covering everything, so if anyone else has something to add I invite you to reblog with your own comments.

Idol Syndrome ❌❌ Sincerity Nature

God. These songs 💕

Yeah, they’re a little risqué but they were the first songs I listened when I got into Vocaloid, so THEYRE pretty near and dear to me. I also love their aesthetic so what better than to draw some OCs in it? A little self-indulgence never hurts despite what the songs say haha.

Thanks to Abby ( @i-am-two-fish ) for lending me Valeria (APH Panama) for this! uwu

(( What if you followed me on my newest blog?

Haha jk...

Unless 😳 ))

BLOG START:

“You’re probably far from home. Just visiting, are you?”

Enrique Santos Mejía || APH Dominican Republic

Human

23

Occupation: Lieutenant in the Astaria Army

“Be careful around here. You’d hate to get caught up.”

Daniela Xochitl Bonilla || APH Guatemala

Quetzal Anima

22

Occupation: Doctor’s apprentice

———

Part of the @aph-anima-au

Sideblog of @ask-united-mexican-states

Petition link

I’m the Anon that asked you about help with me learning about my Mexican heritage. I was wondering what you thought about Puebla and Oaxaca? That’s where my Mexican grandparents came from. Do you have any facts on those places? If it isn’t too much, would it be alright if you could give a Spanish version of your answer? I would like to call them and try to pronounce the answer to them. They might like it since it’s been years since they’ve been there. Thank you, have a nice day!

(( My knowledge isn’t entirely in depth, since I’ve never quite visited either state (well, I’ve been to Puebla, but just passing through). Buuut, I do know about them from research I’ve done!

Here’s my Spanish response:

Puebla y Oaxaca son unos estados bellos. Los dos están llenos de cultura and belleza. Tal vez solo digo esto porque me gusta la comida, perooo estos dos estados han bendicido la cultura mexicana con una gastronomía magnífica; muchos conocen el mole poblano y diferentes tipos de moles oaxaqueños. Puebla es un lugar muy lindo, lleno de muchas curiosidades únicas al región. Oaxaca es, igualmente, extremadamente lindo, con tanta diversidad y colores. Los dos han sido una grande parte de la historia de México, influyendo el país para las décadas. Aunque nunca he visitado ningunos de los dos, mi investigación sobre ellos me han enseñado que son unos lugares maravillosos. ¡Así que espero algún día visitarlos!

And translated to English:

Puebla and Oaxaca are wonderful states. They are both full of culture and beauty. Maybe I am just saying this because I like food, buuut these two states have blessed Mexican culture with a superb gastronomy; many have heard of the mole poblano and different types of moles oaxaqueños. Puebla is a very lovely place, full of many curiosities unique to the region. Oaxaca is also extremely beautiful, with so much diversity and colors. Both have been a huge part of Mexico's history, influencing the country for decades. Although I have never visited either of them, my research over them has taught me that they are magnificent places. So I hope to one day to visit them!

I hope this helps!!! Good luck on it, and a nice day/night to you, as well! ))

Nation Avatars. They’re immortal beings who represent a country. They look human, feel human, but are they really? That’s the question i strive to have answer Are they their own person or their country? Most would say their country. Others would disagree… so what you think yourself?

(( Now this is the question.

I’ve messed around with the concept a lot, and changed it around a lot as I dabbled in it and saw other headcanons.

This is my take:

Both. Yeah, really. After all, they are the land and they are the people. So why not live as both?

They’re a being tied to the “soul of a nation” but to a more eternal degree than a country’s representatives and politicians. I want to say, when they were first spawned into the world, their “soul” attached themselves to the concept within the second. Their attachment is still flexible, though: Depending on what happens to the territory, they will continue to live, or- if the territory is no longer fit- they will cease to exist. Their actions can be motivated by the sway of the world around them; they’ll come back a thousand times until their role in the world is seemingly fulfilled; they’re the ground you walk on but also the fighter by your side.

But despite being this country, and unfortunately also having to engage in many parts of their history, they are still a person. They can make their own choices, befriend or fall in love with who they want to; they also live like any of their citizens would, under the radar but present enough to leave a mark. Maybe they’ll live in the city, in a comfortable townhouse, or maybe they’ll choose to live more rural, in more solitude as they might prefer. You could tell them what you want from them, but they still have the choice to decline it.

I like to work with the duality. Here’s my example:

As Mexico, Maite is heavily involved with the world stage as a trading partner and ally. Most of the times, she’s to work on a more modern basis of relations, which sometimes means working with people she personally does not like. In other words, she’s forced to interact and remain professional with people she detests. To humans, she might look like a person involved with politics. To history, she’s an invisible figure, or maybe a myth. To whatever thing that put her in this role, she is Mexico, and will be until it no longer exists.

As Maite, she’ll be more true to herself. It’s not to say she isn’t also like that as Mexico, but she allows herself to act as she wants to when not on the clock. She’s a passionate person and full of a ray of emotions, and she’s unapologetically crude sometimes. She might not like someone, and she’ll let them know. She’ll get involved in antics with her friends and family. She’ll hold onto grudges for a lot longer. She can be right and she can be wrong: She’s human, after all. To the street vendor around the corner, or the woman she talked to on the bus, she’s just another person you’ll come across in life. And that’s true.

TLDR: The personifications are both the country and a person of their own, depending on their situation.

Hello! I was wondering if you are Mexican yourself. I’m part Mexican, but I never met my Mexican parent, and my Mexican family is too far away to see. I don’t know much about my culture. I don’t even know Spanish (and my Mexican family can’t speak English well). What I’m getting at is that you say you’re historically and culturally accurate. Please help let me learn about the place my family comes from. I don’t want to feel like I’m always in the dark.

(( Hello! Yes, I am Mexican!

I’m really sorry to hear that, but I commend you in wanting to learn about this part of yourself and your culture.

I am more than happy to help share about Mexico with you! I’d say I’m very knowledged in our culture, history, and I’m also fluent in Spanish, if that helps.

Please, don’t hesitate to send me asks about it. I would love to share this information with you and all my other followers ^^ 💕))