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#hetalia world united
panda-panoptic · 1 year
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Evil fucker.
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ask-alaska-and-hawaii · 11 months
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Hawaii's Obsession
Alaska: Father.
America: Yes, 'Laska.
Alaska: Please. PLEASE. Take Lani's Switch away.
America: Wh-what? Why?
Alaska: She has been playing that new Zelda game non-stop. I can hear Link's screams of pain in my sleep.
America: Um...That seems a little extreme.
Alaska: See for yourself.
America: Okay. Lani!
*Hawaii appears with Nintendo Switch in hand and she looks unkempt*
Alaska: See.
America: Uh...Lani, how long have you been playing?
Hawaii: I don't know. I stopped counting after the fourth day.
America: You're right, 'Laska. Lani, give me the Switch.
Hawaii: In a minute, I'm almost done with this side quest.
America: No, Lani. Give me the Switch
Hawaii: *growls* My precious!
America: LANI! GIVE ME THE SWITCH!
Hawaii: NO!
America: LANI!
*cue tug of war*
Alaska: This is why I don't use electronics.
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renonv · 1 month
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Don’t do drugs kids!!
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starfruit-grafitti · 2 years
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“who do you ship america with”
me:
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deadgoatproject · 7 months
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I was suddenly inspired by Coleridge.
Imagine Arthur taught little Freddie how to spell :\
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stirringwinds · 3 months
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i know people talk a lot about the us and UK special relationship but it kind of fell after the Suez and France kind of sneakily stole it didn't he? I mean did the same before the wars
thanks for the ask! ngl, as a londoner, i've always personally felt the representation of the "Special Relationship" as this mega-close and affectionate dynamic is kind of...an un-holistic understanding of the UK or England, as well as of the United States. don't get me wrong, it's one of their most important relationships and there's a lot of deep history there—my issue is mostly with rose-tinted interpretations underpinning it and what biases they showcase. these were heavily biased by Churchill's (imperialist) gaze of envisioning Anglo-American affinity and leadership on the world stage. this interpretation quite significantly downplayed the rivalry, power struggles, conflicts and differences that historians existed between the US and the British Empire, or how US presidents tended to see it in far less majestic terms. like, Churchill rather downplays FDR's vehement disagreements with him over the issue of Indian independence lol or decolonisation (because the US was eyeing the world as a chessboard, re: new markets and also whether or not support for the old colonial power would be a bulwark against or risk soviet or other communist influence).
so, while you're right that Suez was a pretty low moment in US-Britain relations due to the US being pissed at Britain and France jeopardising its ostensible goal of swaying Egypt away from the Soviet sphere of influence (sidenote: Egypt itself was trying to navigate the mess of the Cold War rivalry to secure its interests), i don't really see it as "falling" after Suez or stolen by France simply because that dynamic Churchill painted a picture of never really existed in that way. plus, Europe (France included) and the ex-colonies of the British Empire (like the dominions and India) weighed heavily on British foreign policy/its national outlook too; i tend to find an overemphasis on a rose-tinted view of the "Special Relationship" leads to a lot of US-centrism that shuts out this understanding. to me, Arthur and Alfred's relationship is most interesting when we situate them properly amidst all these other imperial and geopolitical cross-currents. of which Francis is an important one, from the time he helped Alfred during the Revolutionary War, to the Entente Cordial, WWI and the post-WWII world of NATO, the EU and so on.
in hetalia-verse, it's one of the reasons I personally headcanon Arthur and Alfred as father and son. their bond is lasting, forged by the blood, steel and saltwater of empire, and all the familial, deep and troubling implications that implies. they are "stuck" with each other in some ways, because post 1945, it's a familial dynamic of the old king and the young, ambitious crown prince who thinks his father is out of time—and out of line. francis never really "steals" anything because he and arthur's relationship is on a very different axes: francis is the neighbour who has been by arthur's side as his enemy, friend, lover, rival in imperial douchebaggery, ally (for better and also for worse, like in suez...)—and everything in between. whereas arthur and alfred have some real patricidal/regicidal, titanomachy-level father-son power struggles going on, mixed in with this dysfunctional level of understanding and them also colluding together shadily (you are different from him in many ways, there are many things he'll never understand about you—but you are your father's son, alfred; to be powerful is to be tainted).
so in conclusion, i see alfred-arthur and arthur-francis as both very important foundational dynamics crucial to arthur's character, but conceptualised differently from that understanding of the "special relationship" because they're two different kinds of relationships, even if there is the overlapping dynamic of power, rivalry and empire. ✌🏼
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hellonerf · 1 month
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suicide is discouraged in the workplace
im not even gonna try to be coherent here. this is not an analysis post i am braindead. if i was a better artist makima wouldve been my muse when i was deep into chainsawman. actuallt she kind of was but i pussyed out
OK everyone here can subconsciously understand this connection. dont get too hung up on makima's strong motherhood theme and i just thought about what if ame was motherly and i couldn't kill myself right aftee thinking that as i have no means to it. that was a joke its late and im just me. i decided i wasnt a fan of motherly ame though so all suicidal thoughts erased. i am really chill now
old makima fanart i drew that im trying not to rip my hairs out over thinking about it with ame. also dont worry if this makes tou find my mainblog or main accounts whatever
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actually theyre really different in many ways now that im looking at these. ame is so much of a son and makima is so much of a mother its like oppsoite spectrums. but thay makes the commonalities fun actuallt. i keep thinking about the movies and makima hating bad movies. ame is not an art kid by any means does he even care of the beauty of the world? i doubt it. but he likes bad movies and he likes cheap entertainment so who knows... they'd disagree on that. well i think makima's opinion on that was pretty extreme so i think most would disagree with her really
i could imagine ame going "Chainsawman. Doesn't spit." and smoking for the first time to look cool like in movies only to pathetically cough. thats their common trait... artifice... humans... but in a way that loops back to being Really Human i guess. holds a kind of arrogance and hubris that is so associated with humanity. it cant be anything else. ame should kill himself i think he should get moments of clarity and awareness and want to kill himself rqlly bad
both concepts of control. awesome. SUICIDE IS NOT ENDORSED IN THE WRKPLACE. ame goes to protestant church once or twice and sleeps because hes useless. makima is baptised and goes to local catholic churches not the cathedrals she supports the local christians.FUCK i just remembered the country mouse city mouse thing. ame is a liar and hates everything and loves everything and never feels content. i like to imagine him as a country mouse so fucking bad i want him to chill out one day and go to those middle of nowheres i know exist in america(can i shove cana in here and get away with it). why are they in the city if they are country mice? because..... you know..... you understand..... another w for eternal unhappiness (refer to title of this post)(suicide is discouraged in the workplace)
they are evil bosses i am the employee and when i ask for a break they gaze at me with a vacant stare and smile and i know in my heart they are viewing me like i am beneath them. i get scared and run away but truth is they didnt hear my request. they do not register individual people
if they met they would know immediately and viceversa. because everyone knows subconsciously because lying is futile and everything melts away. ame:i know a toxic boymom when i see one... okay im kidding makima is a toxic boymom if u push the chainsawman in ur head 🙂 ame as a kind of control devil works inmy head. i really believe ame was a polite child but demanding in many ways. sincerely wanting.
ame:gun devil i'll give you one year of the lifespans of the american people. in exchange i want you to kill makima—that is... the control devil (i never got around to drawing this)(ame and gun devil can you imagine)
or:gun devil i'll give you one year of the lifespans of the american people. in exchange i want you to kill alfred f jones—that is... the united states of america (paradox)
throughout all this i wanted to cite the best makima artist in the world ever but i'd feel bad if they wouldn't want to be associated with evil hetalia america blog. also i want to be normal and not cringe at being cringe just becayse i think makima was a thunderstrike of genius that i shouldn't taint. ame is a more flexible character to me for obvious reasons. this is how i'd shove ame into makima's role. but u couldn't put makima as ame. only one way. im okay with that. concept idea consensus words fear control blablabla u get the point i hate using words dont care sleepy now
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artistically-hershie · 6 months
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6 Stars Unit: Ivan Braginsky
Another Unit was added to the pool.
Yet he is looking for a friend in this new world... would you summon him?
Once again credit for inspiration and the background goes to Tourdog Studio ((the one who created Alchemy stars)) and Hima for Hetalia / Ivan
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aph-japan · 5 months
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“‘Come out, English soldier; come out here to us.’ For some little time we were cautious, and did not even answer. Officers, fearing treachery, ordered the men to be silent. But up and down our line one heard the men answering that Christmas greeting from the enemy. How could we resist wishing each other Merry Christmas, even though we might be at each other’s throats immediately afterwards? So we kept up a running conversation with the Germans, all the while our hands ready on our rifles. Blood and peace, enmity and fraternity - war’s most amazing paradox. The night wore on to dawn - a night made easier by songs from the German trenches, the pipings of piccolos and from our broad lines laughter and Christmas carols. Not a shot was fired." -Peace on the Western Front: Goodwill in No-man's Land - The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce {Smithsonian Magazine}
Hetalia ~ Episode 100 ~ Japanese Version + Germany & England
Gifs by @aph-japan {Do Not Repost or Reproduce without my Permission} {Do Not Remove Caption} {DO NOT Use my Posts for overly negative commentary} [Positive or Respectful is OK!] (Please ASK to Use)
During the first eight weeks of World War I, French and British troops stopped the German attack through Belgium into France outside Paris at the First Battle of the Marne in early September 1914. The Germans fell back to the Aisne valley, where they dug in. In the First Battle of the Aisne, the Franco–British attacks were repulsed and both sides began digging trenches to economise on manpower and use the surplus to outflank, to the north, their opponents. In the Race to the Sea, the two sides made reciprocal outflanking manoeuvres and after several weeks, during which the British forces were withdrawn from the Aisne and sent north to Flanders, both sides ran out of room. By November, armies had built continuous lines of trenches running from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier.
The Christmas truce (German: Weihnachtsfrieden; French: Trêve de Noël; Dutch: Kerstbestand) was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914. The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies ran out of men and munitions and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the Race to the Sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres. In the week leading up to 25 December, French, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carolling. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce. Hostilities continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies. The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from commanders, prohibiting truces. Soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916; the war had become increasingly bitter after the human losses suffered during the battles of 1915.
The truces were not unique to the Christmas period and reflected a mood of "live and let live", where infantry close together would stop fighting and fraternise, engaging in conversation. In some sectors, there were occasional ceasefires to allow soldiers to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead comrades; in others, there was a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised or worked in view of the enemy. The Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation—even in quiet sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable—and are often seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent conflicts in human history.
-from Wikipedia's article; "Christmas truce"
"Having a gunfight on {a Holy night/timeframe} wouldn't be right." -Germany
Say what you will about "Hetalia", but this sequence was semi-based on real historical events - Real events that should be much more well known.
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panda-panoptic · 1 year
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49 Random Facts About Alaska in My AU
No one knows his actual birthday but he celebrates it on January 3rd.
He’s actually older than most states but do to his age being stunted by Russia due to not developing him in the slightest when he was his colony, he hasn’t been able to grow at all.
He’s autistic.
His only real friend is Hawaii.
He was raised by wolves for 20 years until her was brought into civilization by a group of huntsmen that killed his pack.
He fluently speaks many Yup’ik, Russian, and English.
When he first met America, he couldn’t speak a word of English so a Russian to English translator had to be brought in.
He has a bit of a rivalry with Texas since Texas hates the fact Alaska is bigger than him and will be taller when he’s in adult while Alaska just finds him annoying.
He drinks a lot of alcohol when he’s depressed.
He loves dogs and has 15.
He does not get along with his neighbor Yukon.
Alaska thinks Chris McCandless was a moron.
Alaska is somewhere between Libertarian and Republican but mainly stays out of politics.
He’s very loyal to America but not very close to him.
He’s adopted.
Alaska hates the fact he looks so much like his biological father, Russia.
His hair is actually fairly long under his cap.
He doesn’t enjoy flashy clothes and bases his outfits purely on practicality.
He’s very good at mountain climbing and hunting.
He lives nearly completely off the grid except for a landline phone and that’s only because America insisted.
He can drive a plane.
He owns many guns like most Republican states.
He could easily survive a zombie apocalypse.
He trained his dogs in Yup’ik so that they will only understand him.
Some people believe he’s raising a dog army to invade either Russia or Canada. They might be right.
America is very concerned for Alaska and has tried to get him to seek proper therapy many times but Alaska always refuses.
He hates being in large crowds as they overstimulate him in minutes.
He’s a huge bookworm.
He’s a fan of Jack London’s Call of the Wild.
He was a abandoned as a baby by his mother’s tribe since they saw him as a curse for the fact he couldn’t grow up.
Ukraine is the only one of his biological family he cares for and he’s deeply worried about her.
 During WW2, he fought off the Japanese on his own. He even gained the title of the ‘Shiori Akuma’ which literally means ‘White Demon’ because of his white camouflage uniform. 
Alaska is so self-sufficient, the nanny America hired just takes cares of his dogs when he’s at the 50 State Estate.
His nanny/dog caretaker is a Canadian-American woman named Alexis.
He also has PTSD from everything he’s experienced in his life.
No one knows he’s secretly rich because of how simply he lives.
His cabin is one room with a loft where Alaska sleeps. It’s also deep in the wood.
When he’s angry no one will ever know until it’s too late.
As much as he loves Hawaii, he is jealous of the fact she had everything he didn’t growing up.
He has a restraining order against his aunt Belarus after the 4th time she tried to to kidnap him.
He hates TV and technology since they always give him a headache.
He once had a crush on someone but she’s dead.
Alaska doesn’t like talking about his life before 1867 even with Hawaii.
He hated being called Seward’s Folly.
He will either do the world’s weirdest things when drunk or just pass out.
Alaska loves cute puppies.
He’s bisexual but has been scarred against anything romantic.
His nicknames are either ‘Laska or Nicky. Never Pete, Petey, or Nick. 
Sealand accused him of stealing his human name of ‘Peter’.
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renonv · 6 months
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He’s fiending 😡
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he’s offering!! 😳
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kulay-ng-banaag · 4 months
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In the spirit of releasing all emotional debts on New Year's Eve, I’m going to open up about my frustrations regarding Desa aka dinosaurusgede aka the creator of Maaf.
For context, she made a Twitter account around the time that Himaruya properly introduced the newly canonized cast of SEA nations (Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia). Like many other fans, she rode the nostalgia wave in creating content of them. By this point in time, Maaf was more or less a “finished” story to her — whatever Hetalia/SEAtalia content she published from that point onward was not as a continuation of, nor even as a reboot, of Maaf (although she did mention entertaining that idea). For the most part, the newer works she uploaded on Twitter were independent stories and were not necessarily linked to one other either.
Regrettably, I cannot present the problematic page/s for a more thorough and guided scrutiny because she deleted her Twitter account. Unless someone out there saved them, and frankly I wouldn't know who did nor would care to find out, everything was lost to the void. I’m literally working on what was imprinted in my memory by spite, so I apologize if I misremember details.
This will include discussion of anti-indigenous racism and other issues pertaining to colonialism.
She had an IndoPhil story titled Trust Me? and it was inspired by a fanmade BruPhil AMV wherein Indonesia was manipulating Philippines into believing that he was married to Indonesia and not Brunei. Trust Me? kept that concept of a manipulative Indonesia; the key difference being that Indonesia’s motivation for it (in Desa’s story) was the mix of hurt over Philippines “losing his precolonial memories” — based on popularized misconceptions of early Philippine history — of and how that was “aggravated” by his Westernization™, made worse under the United States (350+ years in the convent getting ratio'd by 50 years in Hollywood is hilarious ngl).
That was a lot to unpack, but before we even get there:
Indonesia and Philippines were having a tender moment when HWS America (as in the Hetalia personification that is Alfred F. Jones) walks in calling out "MY LITTLE BROWN BROTHER!"
Indonesia entered his Joker arc because he recalled how HWS America dumped the Philippines in a human zoo at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. There was an explicit panel of Philippines in Igorot* dress and a painfully forlorn bearing.
What "triggered" Indonesia was when, after the flashback, Piri goes up to Indonesia and asks him if he's a Bolshevist 🥺 (the idea was PH being brainwashed by Red Scare propaganda). Cue kabedon moment from Indonesia, and basically a yandere walk down "memory lane."
I did not have it in me to finish reading that comic...
*Igorot is an outdated umbrella term for the upland indigenous peoples of Northern Luzon
Aside from the clearly intended shock value of that depiction, I was taken aback by the painful lack of objectivity on her part when it came to the reading of history. To be fair on Desa, she never specialized in history studies, so it was only courteous that we could not expect her to have as developed of a critical reading as trained academics of history. Unfortunately, that was precisely why I disagreed with the popular notion of Desa as both a great researcher and a great storyteller of her research — all the more when Maaf was just the mangafication of certain Wikipedia articles.
To be fair as well on Wikipedia, it was, at best, a satisfactory jumpstart into more in-depth reading, and we could give it the benefit of the doubt that revisions had since been made to at least some of the articles that Desa relied on while making Maaf (more than 10 years is more than enough time for change). Nevertheless, the articles themselves did not teach users how to scrutinize the sources — most especially the biases of the sources’ author/s — utilized in building up the information.
That mattered because much of the retrospect narratives about the St. Louis Fair had a tendency of raising awareness through the newspaper articles that covered the exhibition at the time. These chronicled the impressions of the visiting authors, who likely (and I say likely because we would have to more exhaustively discern their personal politics one by one) were biased in favor of the “benevolent assimilation” of the Philippines — and the sights that they beheld only validated it further. They did not, however, explain why these Philippine indigenous peoples were brought in in the first place — information that could have further cemented Desa's reputation had she truly spent the efforts, even while understandably juggling other commitments as we all do. Instead, she only perpetuated the habit of sacrificing the veracity of equally important, finer details to the bigger picture in order to sensationalize righteous fury against colonialism.
The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was also formally known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, giving away its purpose as a commemoration. More appropriately, it was the centennial anniversary (technically delayed by a year though) of the acquisition of French Louisiana, expanding the territorial bounds of the United States. Additionally, the point of a world’s fair was to showcase the achievements of a nation, and one could also think of it as the sale of a fever dream — what more for a fast-growing, fledgling power the likes of the United States, itself a former colony? On another note, the St. Louis World’s Fair was not the only one of its kind so no, the US is not that original lmao.
One could thus see how the inclusion of a dedicated exhibit to the newly acquired colony that was the Philippines neatly fit into the themes of a world's fair centralized on the US. It was all the more a paramount topic of debate, with prominent Americans the likes of Mark Twain (here are selected excerpts, but I highly recommend reading the entirety of his To the Person Sitting in the Darkness) publishing anti-US imperialism opinions, even after the endgame of the Philippine-American War essentially favored the pro-imperialists. While dissent from the American side at the time remains poorly studied AND THAT'S ON OVERRULE BY BIAS, we at least have a glimpse, if mostly obscure still, of its existence.
If we can assume that it must have indeed been a prominent discourse in America, loud enough to get the White House furrowing its brows, then it's plausible to understand how it was of utmost importance that the the Philippine exhibit was to be carefully — because, in a way, America had to sell itself as the "lesser evil" vs notable "rivals" — curated while still ultimately corroborating assimilation of the Philippines. Thus, enter Truman Hunt, the man who oversaw "the Igorot Village" of the St. Louis Fair, having won the hearts of the native Igorots for a powerful reason:
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Section from Claire Prentice, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century, New York, NY: Amazon Publishing, 2014.
While the cholera epidemic that occurred at the onset of the American Colonial Period was arguably the worst in the history of cholera epidemic management in the Philippines, I want to make it very, very clear that it was not the first and only wave that hit the archipelago. There had been a handful in the prior century alone — all of such magnitudes that it embedded a deep collective trauma; farmers refused to harvest their crops for fear of infection, tragically enabling famines and contributing starvation & nutrition deficiencies on top of a viral & swift killer (the experience of severe, rapid dehydration is such that one can fall dead within hours of infection).
Given such an imaginably harrowing experience (and it was an awfully painful topic to study as someone who got infected with and survived COVID-19 and has family working as frontliners), how could the natives turn away a stranger with such miraculous powers? Who knows how they comprehended it (e.g. a benevolent sign from heaven they must accept) because, unfortunately, we have yet to discuss preserved accounts on that matter, if any at all.
What is known, however, is that there were Igorots who were not just enamored by the "opportunity of a lifetime," but the selected lucky candidates clearly expressed their consent to participate:
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More sections from Prentice, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island.
I will quickly add that, unfortunately, a few members of the Igorot delegation died from illness in making the trip, and Hunt aged like milk over the years (fell into the trap of capitalism in pushing for more subsequent exhibit trips, to the point that less care was extended to the Igorots and he was ultimately arrested for embezzlement). Given that our scope remains to be the 1904 St. Louis Fair, any signs of abuse inflicted upon the Igorots during their stay based on preserved photographs is simply not clear. To assume that they were in a pitiable state would be to enforce a presentist reading that might betray not just their memories & experiences but also their right to self-determination.
EDIT (01/02/24): A good example to demonstrate what I mean in analyzing photographs, here's an article on the author's personal, genealogical research into the Igorots — specifically, the Suyoc — who were at the St. Louis Fair.
It truly is ironic that a Filipino is making these points as if to defend the United States as a whole (no I am not, and if you think I do, lumayas ka). I agree that white people gawking over the peoples of the Philippines with such fascination that borders fetishism warrants all the eye-rolls. At the same time — and it is even more ironic that I am pointing this out as a lowland, Christianized Tagalog based in the metro (not just any urbanized part of the country) — there is a character of patronizing these indigenous communities in the unspoken assumption that their participation is the fault of their ignorance. Pay attention, once more, to the demographics that constituted the Philippine exhibit in the 1904 St. Louis Fair — what kind of "Filipinos" were included and who were left out? There were also Negritos*, Visayans, and Muslims from Mindanao (historically referred to as Moros) in the same event, yet we hardly hear about their experiences. Perhaps it might have to do with how they were considered "more civilized" than these upland groups.
*OUTDATED term (and please blame the Spanish for it); these are the Aeta.
I understand Desa's reservations against US imperialism and sympathies for communities marginalized by Western colonization. I just hope that I was able to clarify as best as I could why I was so taken aback in how she depicted the Hetalia personification of my country the way she did. I agree that, as far as I ever got to interact with her, she is generally very polite and kind. That's why I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she approached me in DM to apologize for how her narrative choice was offensive. As someone who despised red tape in academia, I tried to talk to her about how there were valid reasons as to why the American Colonial Period was considered a mixed blessing, even by PH historians.
Instead, she pulled a complete 180.
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She said that — to a Filipino who condemned imperialism (no matter who started it), who also happened to study history as a profession, and was also a Hetalia fan who wants to explore Hetalia narratives differently from what was popularized. Half of the reason was because some fandom takes left a bad taste, like eating a dish with ingredients that even Gordon Ramsay would tell you shouldn’t go together; the other half was because I saw things differently and wanted to express it because why not?
I want to say it's not necessary to bring up something from a private conversation, but I will anyway to reiterate that my issue is not that she isn't nice. Bluntly, however, the way she said those words so formally did creep me out, but ultimately, my issue lies in how her biases have led her into making off-putting takes from time to time. I will not say more, but Trust Me? was not the only Twitter comic by Desa that got bombastic side-eyes.
And if only because Sukarno got dragged in, I felt compelled to briefly debunk that as well: even he initially viewed the United States in a very positive light: “The United States occupies a very distinguished part, a very distinguished place, in the hearts of the Indonesian people.” That was uttered in 1961, and it took a very specific historical context to instigate a complete shift by 1964:
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Sections from Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, New York: PublicAffairs, 2021, 121-123.
EDIT (01/02/24): Note that Desa was citing Sukarno's later sentiments in the late 1960s as her reason for characterizing Indonesia as such in her comic. However, the setting of the story was the late 1920s (Indonesia's visit was based on Tan Malaka's abscondence to the Philippines). I'd dare say the anachronism was not due to oversight but a deliberate choice in using a certain fictional character — namely HWS Indonesia — as propaganda for Desa's anti-Americanism.
It's definitely depressing to think about all the "lost" history & culture that thrived before the arrival of white colonizers. It's why I'm surprised that, for a fiction work, she didn't project all that anger onto Spain instead — it had to specifically be the United States. Was it because they basically cockblocked Philippine independence, even though Spain practically sold the Philippines to the US? The implication that Spain should be permitted to wash its hands clean of all accountability was an awkward message to convey.
I understand that nothing could be 100% accurate (I'm actually quoting Desa defending herself on that matter) in fiction, but the level of projection coming from a certain non-Filipino reading Philippine history was so silly. And again, how did it all justify the explicit depiction of HWS Philippines as an indigenous man in a human zoo? (END OF EDIT)
As my professors will also never tire of saying: you can disagree with a historian’s interpretations but you can never disagree with the evidence in themselves. You don’t have to morally agree either, and I can guarantee you that many Filipinos do not. I, myself, resented the endgame of the particular war that brought that period about in the first place. How dare, then, she said it was “not her place” to defend US imperialism, while granting herself the freedom to express her country’s feelings on the matter?
Oh, it’s all just fiction? I do not condone the subsequent treatment she received, but why then couldn’t she stop trying to “educate” NLID shippers? I do not know how both sides talked to one another, only that what caught me eye was: Why does everyone else have to respect her fiction while she gets to disrespect others’ fictions for not aligning with hers?
EDIT (01/20/24): Just to clarify further on that point — over a decade ago, she went ham in the comment section of someone's (APH) America x (fem!OC) Indonesia. That ship is not in my lore either simply because I follow a totally different route. To cut to the chase, she took that fanart very personally and infodumped on US war crimes that involved Indonesia.
I know Tan Malaka started the whole North Indonesia agenda, but come on, neither was it Desa's place to just treat HWS Philippines the way she did. An Indonesian schooling other Indonesians on ID history is not surprising, but an Indonesian schooling a Filipino on PH history? I'd be humbled if they had the credentials. She didn't and, unless she enrolled herself in a graduate program, she still doesn't.
By all technicalities, she can’t ship IDPH because the Philippine government was (unfortunately and grossly) complicit in the chain of events that led to the 1965-66 genocides in Indonesia. Yet, she does despite of that fact. We thus circle back to Trust Me? and how that was a manifestation of her stubborn refusal to acknowledge any nuances by projecting HWS Indonesia as a self-proclaimed savior of HWS Philippines from the beguile of US neocolonialism.
I empathize with her anger. I'm sorry that the US government by extent enabled what her family went through. I agree that it's not her place to defend them; in fact, she shouldn't. But when even the so-called "highest of Malay nations*" is worth her neutrality, how can she expect me to forgive her?
*That is literally what the Philippines is to her; I know this because she explicitly said so to me in DM. DO NOT ASK FOR RECEIPTS, I am not comfortable revealing that particular conversation.
I cannot — in fact, NO ONE SHOULD — afford to be neutral about Duterte or Marcos, etc., and for her to be so flippant about her privilege (by way of ethnicity/citizenship/cultural upbringing) to be neutral** about Philippine politics, while simultaneously NAGGING ON EVERYBODY TO RESPECT INDONESIAN POLITICS, is annoying at best and plain selfish at worst.
**Also explicitly said to me in DM. Again, DO NOT ASK FOR RECEIPTS.
(END OF EDIT)
I’m not Indonesian but I do not have it in me to politely accuse a native Indonesian of allowing their personal biases to misread their own history. As a Filipino, however, while I'm not surprised by the reductionist chronicling of the histories & cultures of the Philippines, I am at a loss for words over the continuing idolization for Desa & Maaf, when she was not the best and most reliable narrator, especially given her negligence in representing indigenous peoples through her comics.
I mean, guys, I'm not saying this as if the Trust Me? comic was the first and only instance when this was literally Maaf canon that sat comfortably in the internet for over a decade, and continues to be appraised as THE BIBLE OF HISTORICAL HETALIA.
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EDIT (01/20/24 — originally added via a reblog): I cannot believe this needs to be said because this is the consequence of when Hetalia fans take their fiction too literally because creators have made careless takes.
There were SEAtalians joking about how the Yolngu are a dead people.
I repeat.
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THERE WERE SEATALIANS JOKING ABOUT HOW THE YOLNGU ARE A DEAD PEOPLE.
(END OF EDIT)
So as 2023 comes to a close we enter 2024, I'd like to conclude this post with the following points:
At best, Wikipedia is a satisfactory jumping point, but please believe me when I say no historian will respect you for (over-)relying on Wikipedia. And given that anyone with a decent device & internet signal can access Wikipedia, Desa is just not a GOAT in historical research.
At worst, idolizing Maaf patronizes the work of historians. It doesn't help that PH historians have been targets of harassment because of dis-/misinformation campaigns. I bring this up because it's already bad enough to have to confront that reality outside of fandom spaces on a regular basis in standing our ground for more just historical truths. I hope that folks understand why that's a particularly sensitive struggle for me, and why receiving such comments like the one I shared above deeply hurt. She was not apologetic about that — and every time she would post about apologizing for the moments she has offended others, or when others compliment her for being so open-minded, I cannot help but feel bitter.
Other BIPOC — yes, not just other SEAsians and that's on literally drawing nations other than SEA — have spoken up on the matter. If you can talk about how you learned so much from Desa, you can also learn as much from other perspectives. I hope that in raising all of this, more SEAtalians understand that we risk othering non-SEA BIPOC.
The idolization of Maaf (and the creator in question) is personally far more off-putting than the problematic points of Maaf or any comic she has ever made, because I think she caved to peer pressure instead of learning to wield her fiction more sensitively without being too reliant of the opinions of those she has pleased. Not even Hidekaz Himaruya writes his nationverse characters like that — the one time I’ll admit that canon trumps fanon.
I’m not stopping people from liking Maaf or Desa anyway. I just cannot help but take issue with how the SEAtalia fandom feels less of a safe & inclusive community than it is a cult centered on one person — almost as if her fiction is unquestionable canon and anyone who disagrees gets the boot. Once again, I do not condone the subsequent treatment she received in retaliation, but frankly that's just not what I'm addressing here.
I'm also not saying it's wrong to give words of reassurance and validation to people you admire, only that some of you need to understand you're forcing a parasocial relationship with your idols. It may feel good to you, but please be mindful of the unwarranted pressure it imposes.
I apologize for dumping all of this at literally the end of the year. I want to let it all go in a manner that is clear, concise, and not overwhelming to digest. I do hope that my candid thoughts will push the fandom one step forward in critically consuming media without having to resort to crab-mentality tendencies — because it's been especially hard seeing the demeaning takes made about the Philippines in this fandom.
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council-of-beetroot · 9 months
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FYI hetalia fans these are the nations competing in this year's women's world cup
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,
China, Colombia, Costa Rica
Denmark, England, France,
Germany, Haiti, Ireland, Italy
Jamaica, Japan, Korea
Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand
Nigeria, Norway, Panamá
Philippines, Portugal, South Africa
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
United States, Vietnam , and Zambia
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hartage · 3 months
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gimme mother (erzsi)
i am trying my best not to turn this into a long-winded aushun post, but aushun is one of the central ships that i focus on & hungary is a huge component in my own canon / historical hetalia stuff ?? 
but here a few things i think about:
the relationship between both rodi and ersz​é​bet is very complex and runs deep -  the two of them know each other incredibly well, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t like cat and dog in their younger years. 
ersz​é​bet genuinely saw rodi as a means to an end when she married him, and vice versa. the 1848 revolution i think was a turning point for both of them. before, hungarian nobles did convince the hapsburg government that they were a “...special unit of hapsburg land and had to be ruled in conformity with its own special laws.” but, it was clear that rodi didn’t take that seriously, and worked for cultural hegemony rather than accepting erszi for who she is. a central theme to all of is this is that erszi is a victim of her own soul searching. she desperately wants to be accepted for who she is, and all of her-- not just bits and pieces. 
erszi is a woman who’s brash, rude, ‘unladylike’ (in victorian standards at least), and a non-conformist. she is a beautiful representation of being the complete opposite of rodi, who constantly seeks to keep the status quo. erszi had always known that rodi did things for his own interest, and out of his own self-preservation. but she saw him as a means to an end, that to dabble with rodi was the only way to give herself autonomy. 
rodi is a complex man himself, and i could go into his own thought process later, but its clear that rodi’s self-preservation cannot allow any provisional ‘thorns in his side’. he’ll get what he wants, even if that means ruining whoever or whatever is trapped in between. 
however, post 1848, rodi was at a point where he knew that the situation between himself, and the rest of europe was dire. rodi performed horribly during the deutscher bruderkrieg (austro-prussian war), and now with the aspect of ludwig (a young child at this time) being a central theme in gilbert’s motivations, it meant that rodi and erszi had to act fast. marriage for them was their only solution.
i think people often like to say that both of them hated each other throughout their marriage, and that rodi’s marriage to erszi was the last of his ‘political marriages’, which the latter is true. 
however, a political marriage does not mean that there wasn’t any mutual feelings between the two. the complexity of keeping a relationship during the mid 1800’s-- a time of significant societal and political upheaval, is central to how ersz​é​bet changed. i think erszi became a completely different person between the time of 1873-1914. i say 1873 rather than 1870, or even 1867 because there was a bit of time where erszi intensely loathed rodi, and throughout their marriage felt a tad bit of remorse for being the ‘preferred one’ compared to her counterparts like nikoleta (czech), or other nations in the empire. she went from a complete life of struggle and hardship to a luxurious lifestyle that made even some of the biggest world powers envious. her lifestyle back allowed her the comfort to let those things go to her head.
however, during the fin de siècle, i believe rodi’s attitude began to bother ersz​é​bet. she saw him go completely neutral during crimea, and it left her hopeful that rodi had grown from the militarism that dominated their relationship in the early days. however, after the mayerling crisis, and the assassination of empress sisi, ersz​é​bet began to see roderich’s attitude change wildly. he became obsessed with revenge, to the point where erszi grew arguably a terrible coping mechanism-- forcing herself to become indifferent to rodi’s worsening mental health issues, and ignoring his abysmal actions in the balkans. 
 much like the PM at the time (istván tisza), erszi was originally opposed to the war. i think at this point, specifically during the july crisis, it brought erszi to realize that rodi once again was only doing this for his own self-interest, that his selfishness was not sagacious, nor was it even resourceful to the betterment of their peers at all. tisza is quoted with saying "it was a difficult decision to take a stand to propose war, but now i am firmly convinced of its necessity", while still being against the annexation of serbia. it was clear that erszi had become parsimonious with her opinions, because even if she didn’t solely believe in the things rodi was doing, she perpetuated it. she never spoke up. 
erszi probably would argue with people like nikoleta that she was afraid to speak up against rodi at the time, but i think it’s quite obvious that erszi wanted to have the best of both worlds-- the luxurious lifestyle she gained from rodi, coupled with the idea of holding enough power to never be controlled again. 
“tough to those above and humane to those below" is the best way i could explain erszi in one sentence, but this sentence doesn’t mean that erszi was always like that. she fell victim to her own ego, like many of us do.
in 1918, woodrow wilson was intentionally vague with his tenth point, “the people of austria-hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.”
wilson saught compromise between the two goals that he had. to keep stability-- but also giving each nationality the choice to decide their fate; a wink towards revolution, and the beginning of the end to ersz​é​bet’s relationship with rodi and the emergence of her (and other nations’) independence.
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coffeepilled · 6 months
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*     IRON HAND, VELVET GLOVE / IRON GLOVE, VELVET HAND    🃏  
sharing to tumblr a fic that i posted to ao3 a little while ago! i adore it very much still. COLD WAR RUSAME CALLS TO ME... pls heed the content tags!
➹ contents: historical hetalia, cold war, top russia, bottom america, hatefucking, gun kink, voice kink, masturbation, edging, phone sex, general toxic yaoi shenanigans
rusame (russia/america)
2,084 words
1960s/1980s (and related geopolitics of the era)
preview:
1961 — Washington, D.C., United States
The black rotary phone click, clink, clanked right back into place, the abandoned number not fully dialed.
The Soviets had shot their cosmonaut up into orbit today, and now Alfred holed himself up in his private office in the White House — more than a little bit pissed off.
His boss had sent him, hours after the news, to go issue a few congratulatory words to Russia, just as he’d soon be doing to Russia’s boss. Politics — they were such fickle matters. Even when they were supposed to be sworn enemies, there still had to be some degree of politeness, if only to keep up the illusion of ‘peace.’
And so, Alfred tried another time… pushing his fingertip into the circle holes for each digit, clenching his teeth. The rotary clicked and clacked methodically, until the dial tone started, and he leaned back into his swivel chair — swallowing his bruised ego.
Sputnik had already been a hit to his pride, and now it was the first man in outer space…?
Ring, ring, ring.
Alfred prayed he wouldn’t answer — he kicked his legs onto his desk-top and rested them there.
Ring.
He adjusted his glasses, and began distracting himself with twisting up the curly landline cord between his fingers.
Brrring-brrring.
The other line finally flared to life:
“Have you come to grovel in shame, Alfred~?”
[...]
1981 — Kabul, Afghanistan
“You are not supposed to be here, Alfred~ ♪”
No shit he wasn’t. “No shit.”
The Afghan sun and sandstorms have given him absolutely no reprieve — and now dusk loomed, with the promise of desert cold that’s worse than the burning heat of day, somehow. 
It was even more unfortunate how the lone cluster of stone shacks off the side of a random road, that he’d gone inside of to hide and rest, just so happened to be a Soviet mini-outpost. Empty, except for one—
The last time he’d actually seen Ivan in person…ah, it’d been too long, but also not long enough. Not since the multiple shitshows in Cuba, and the very massive one in Vietnam, both of which he’d rather pretend never happened. 
“I was hoping you could keep a secret,” he joked. Alfred already had his M1911 drawn before entering, and now he steadied his aim with the iron-sights on Ivan, whose back was to the door. 
He was sitting, creaking in an old wooden chair tucked into an old wooden table, the top of which had marked maps and manilla folders, and a lantern with a dying flame. Alfred wasn’t even entirely sure how Ivan had known it was him without looking, or even moving — maybe it was the unique sound of his footsteps, or the way he smelled, or just a sixth sense about each other that all the nations seemed to possess. 
It didn’t matter, anyhow. Ivan stood up carefully, glancing over his shoulder with a cheery look. “Secret? I am no good at keeping those ♪”
America was not, officially, supposed to be in Afghanistan. The CIA was not supposed to be involved in the war here, training and funding the rebels as they fought off the occupation of the Soviet Union. It was already bad enough that this was a not-so-well-kept secret to the rest of the world, but now he was face-to-face with Ivan…
͟͟͞☆ FULL WORK HERE
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