Shipping before Hetalia

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

Hi guys!

I was wondering if this happened to you....

Did any of you, upon first hearing the premise of the series, think about pairings before actually reading or watching a single strip/episode?

I'm asking for two reasons:

1)this happened to me in both directions; pairings I'd never had thought of (GerIta, without going further) and pairings that I shipped as soon as I heard "gay male personifications of countries" (which immediately prompted "France and England LOL" from me).

2)The second reason is that people seem to ship pairings between characters that have yet to appear, like New Zealand/Australia, Argentina/Brazil, Philippines/America, England/Portugal, Mexico/Spain....while some are evidently following previous interactions of characters in similar relationships (any colony/empire ship, for example, seeing as there are hints to five of these couples in the canon), some of them don't follow this logic. So people ship countries now, not characters...usually following a Real Life Politics/History logic, or at least that was my case with FrUK

I'm curious if this happened to you guys before you got into Hetalia, like it happened to me...



EDIT. as a post-thought question...what did you expect the characters to be? did you immediately think about some character's characterictics? did they end appearing in Hetalia? were you disappointed if they weren't?

Comments

[badlucktuckxl.livejournal.com]

When I was a bright eyed and bushy tailed little girl that loved Social Studies, I actually thought that France and Spain would be best friends. But this was way before Hetalia, even before I knew what anime in general was.

The first thing of Hetalia I saw was a USxUK demotivator, so after I got over my confusion I assumed it was one of the main parings. I was right, but I don't really ship it.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

I remember semi-shipping some countries during history, but not as people, haha

I like that they keep up the France vs. England rivalry here, though

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

lol Philippines/America


I was surprised that they picked up on Switzerland's gun thing instead of making it a feeble neutral country (my Swiss friend likes The Third Man but not the "cuckoo clock" quote from there).

Another friend and I were just discussing about how there needs to be two Belgiums, though.

[didgeridoodle.livejournal.com]

lol Philippines/America

Well, somebody ought to put America in his place on occasion. And that I mean in the NSFW kind. ♥

They do have strong historical connections, so it's totally plausible.

[miezen.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't get into Hetalia because of "gay male personified countries". My friend that told me about it described it more along the lines of "Political and historical satire/comedy with personified countries, mostly set during WWII". So I really wasn't even thinking of pairings coming in. I was more thinking "I like WWII humor! I wonder if it'll be similar in tone to The Great Dictator? I hope so!" I don't remember having and pre-conceived notions of what the characters would be, except that I was pleasantly surprised that France's main characteristics weren't cowardice and white flags.

...Sorry, that was rather off topic.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

THE GREAT DICTATOR MENTION FTW

except that I was pleasantly surprised that France's main characteristics weren't cowardice and white flags.
yeah, I liked that they picked some other stereotypes to use for many countries.

[riot-of-flowers.livejournal.com]

Argentina x Brasil, Argentina x UK and Argentina x Chile is so canon not made canon 8D *shoots her patriotism and fangirlism*

Well, considering the stereotypes and all, I liked the european characters a lot. I thought I would dislike Spain a bit at first, the concept about spanish people here (Argentina) is made up mostly of jokes and they are quite hurtful (well, all the jokes argentineans make are awfully cruel, we are masters in the area of having a huge ego and bad mouthing), so when Antonio showed up it was fantastic.

He is a cute dork but at the same time he has that insensitive/doesn't get the point we joke about but in a good way, in an adorable dorky way that makes the character perfect.

Same goes for UK. I thought he would be more stuck up, drinking tea 24/7 (like chileans do) and would say "lovely" all the time with his particular accent, but this UK is both dorky and strong and makes me love him so damn much.

Even though I wish he said "lovely" most of the time, even if it was misused and abusing engrish, because it's UK's signature because when you say "lovely", you think of England; and when you say "gotta", "gonna" or any of those words, you think of USA.

I just wish the Scandinavians (?) showed up more frequently because I feel Iceland and Norway have little to no personality, no offense intended, and also more Cuba and Canada because I love the american continent <3

*hugs*

[riot-of-flowers.livejournal.com]

Ah, to add to the logic shipping. Brasil, Argentina, UK and Chile have had so much history in common that is not odd for me to ship them even if they don't exist (well, they do but fanmade and thus it doesn't count).

I ship FrUk, Spain x Italy (any of them) and France x Spain for the common history they do also have (Mostly France x Spain x UK because I have it tattooed in my brain with all the history classes of how Argentina got its independence thanks to the international situation at that very moment, plus the Malvinas/Falklands war, plus Triple Alianza, plus Arthur always shows up at some point of latin american history again and I must know what he was doing in that very moment ASAP).

*hugs*

[mcelligots-pool.livejournal.com]

Even before learning that the characters leaned that way I shipped France/England. It was literally my first thought XD

"A fandom about countries? Dude, France and England are TOTALLY fucking!" And well...that's what got me into the fandom OTL It was later I found out they were both male and well...yeah XD

As for countries that haven't appeared in the comics. I sorta ship Canada/Australia for the lols. That's based on the personal demographic I hold that all Canadians think Australians are the hottest things on earth.

[iamelegentmess.livejournal.com]

I sorta ship Canada/Australia for the lols. That's based on the personal demographic I hold that all Canadians think Australians are the hottest things on earth.

IMA GET ME A CANADIAN BOI.

[zulenha.livejournal.com]

Argentina/Brazil/Argentina is canon like you wouldn't believe. Even if they don't exist in canon, IT'S CANON IRL. /bias

So, yes. I was introduced to Hetalia by a friend who is a fujoshi master, so I already had some pairings in mind (GerIta, Austria/Hungary) when I got into the fandom. But France/England was my automatic absolute OTP, since the first episode of the anime (I started from the anime), because I've always been interested in the relationship between the two countries, and Hetalia only made it better. <3

And, hmmm, I expected the US to be smarter than he seems to be on the strips. Idk, world powers will never be naïve in my head... and Japan is way too nice. But I got used to both of them :B

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

But France/England was my automatic absolute OTP, since the first episode of the anime (I started from the anime), because I've always been interested in the relationship between the two countries, and Hetalia only made it better. <3

Oddly enough, I still think more of History lessons than Hetalia when I mentally ship those two. Hetalia could do much more with themXD

About America and Japan...well, America IS a genius at electronics and computers in the series, he's just an idiot at understanding people, situations and cultures. Some notes might suggest even a conscious disinterest in doing soXD. Both atittudes are very AmericanXD.
As for Japan...I gotta say everybody is nicer than they ought to be, lol.

[materia-indigo.livejournal.com]

Ha ha! It's funny you should ask this.

I was shipping gay male personifications of Russia and America long (years) before Hetalia, during the Cold War. They just looked a little different, is all. I also shipped Canada and Texas, for some reason. LOL. But here's the freaky thing: my headcanon of Canada looked A LOT like how he looks in Hetalia, right down to the purple eyes and curling hair. 0.O Collective consciousness, anyone?

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

Wow. Purple eyes as well? You're weird and coolXD

I didn't even think of State-tans until I encountered that wonderful comm about America mpreg, and I was "Oh, this sounds really cute; it also makes him the world's whore" xDDDDDDD
It gave me opportunity to ship him with Spain to make the obviously awesomest state, Florida xDXDXDXDXD.
It also made me crazy about my own OC province tans; Spain has 52 provinces, almost all of them different medieval kingdoms once, three of them with their own dialect, another two with different languages, and another one of them heavily influenced by the muslim Cordoba califato. It's fascinating how easy it is to create different characters for them; it also allows me to make Spain sleep around with most of Europe to create themXD (and it's even easy to guess which father would be for each provinceXD)

I hadn't thought about AmeRu, but I knew I was missing something. I already shipped FrUK and latched pretty quickly to USUK, but I felt I was missing a major America pairing, and then I stumbled upon it and it all clicked; that was what I had been missing. I'm such a Foe Yay ho xD

[khcrazeexd42.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think about gay country pairings before watching Hetalia. I just began shipping characters after I watched all the episodes that were out at the time I first started watching it xD

But before Hetalia I did think of USxUK though. Yes, I believed my own country was gay for England LAWL.

I actually got into Hetalia because a friend of mine told me it was hilarious and awesome. xD

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

I didn't get into Hetalia for the gay! LOL, if I have to be honest, I entered because of the 'tsundere' entry in tvtropes, which linked me to England's profile and it fascinated me that there was a series with a character stereotype for each country, and with focus on Europe.

But before Hetalia I did think of USxUK though. Yes, I believed my own country was gay for England LAWL.

I hadn't even thought of them before, because in Spanish, we don't have a term for the Special Relaitonship. The minute I came across that page, I thought there was no contemporary couple as historically canon as this oneXD (but that happened after I got into the fandom)

[sir-blinky.livejournal.com]

Funny you should say that, really. I remember shipping countries (empires especially) and their colonies. Things like Britain/India, Netherlands/Indonesia, Portugal/Timor L'este, etcetera. Then, there was also America/Any South-American country because I fail history and geography like that. But I remember that the most distinct of them would have to be Egypt/Greece. Specifically, Mama Egypt/Mama Greece. Because I was an ancient history nerd before I got interested in WW1, WW2, and the Cold War.

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

Seriously? I never thought about colony/empire pairings because empires were so mean to them ^^U
For some reason, Portuguese fans usually ship Portugal with Macau more than his other colonies, which is weird; I thought Brasil/Portugal would completely dominate Porty's colonial pairings.

Then, there was also America/Any South-American country because I fail history and geography like that.

But...but...what about us (Spain)? *pout*

I think I've always shipped Roman Empire/Mama Egypt. I'm such a Caesar/Cleopatra fanXD

[arial-destiny.livejournal.com]

The first I thought of was Japan x Germany x Italy, because of the Axis. That was pretty much the only one I thought of, I was actually quite surprised by the other characters. Like the Baltics, I didn't even know they existed. xD Never thought of Sweden x Finland either, since I always thought of Sweden as a girl and I didn't know Finland existed. xD

As you can see, my knowledge of Europe outside of the world wars is very limited...

I always thought France and England will probably hate each other though. xD And Portugal and Spain, since they were rivals too.

And I really don't like people making up nation-characters. Most of the time its just an excuse to put OCs into a story without backlash. :\

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

You didn't know the Baltics existed? You're not from Europe, then, right?
I'm always amused to see this, because you are not the first time to discover them through Hetalia. But I wonder, what countries did you think were under the Soviet Union rule?XD

Sweden as a girl? LOL, why? Not that I'm surprised, I always thought of Canada as a girl and Italy tooXD

But Portugal and Spain weren't really rivals...it was mostly us (Spain) being a pain in the ass and pushovers all the timeXD. Old time rivals of Spain have always been France and England. But mostly FranceXD

You think so? I think this is one of the very few series where OCs have a reaosn to exist. Hetalia fans usually create characters with lots of research behind and/or an intimate knowledge of the country in question. Which almost always results in good characters ^^

[kenethyra.livejournal.com]

I actually ship Male Mexico/ Female Texas/ America three-way from the begining of this addiction! In my head Mexico and Texas were both bitches to America but he was was so damn blind when it came to his for Texas and the western land that Mexico owned that he never stopped chasing them. Mexico was always pictured in my head to have affairs with Texas ( yes incest ;D). Oh my gawd, I love the idea so much and I had even liked the idea of Liberia/ America because of research I was forced to do in my eigth grade year about slavery ( in my head canon America was very nice to Liberia and Liberia was really quiet but wise) I was so devastated to see that almost none of Latin America or Africa had any countries personified.

Spain and Porugal was also a huge thing I got nerdy about.

[lovelylurker.livejournal.com]

Once I heard about Hetalia, I was like "the US and the UK are totally gay for one another."

And then I read the comics and lol'd.

I've never been a fan of "my rival is my lover" relationships, so I guess Russia/US or UK/France (oh lord they just... beat each other up. A lot. A lot.) never crossed my mind.

I also assumed the US and Canada would be gay for one another as well. The brothers thing works out just fine for me, though.

My current headcannon is that all countries of the world who use the English language and base culture meet at least once a year to have hot, passionate group sex (this includes but is not limited to: England, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Philippines joins in sometimes when it feels like it, as well as Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. They've also invited South Africa and India to join every year, but the two always politely decline.).

The weird, real world side-effect is that the cultural ties between them all are re-affirmed. :P

[didgeridoodle.livejournal.com]

My current headcannon is that all countries of the world who use the English language and base culture meet at least once a year to have hot, passionate group sex (this includes but is not limited to: England, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Philippines joins in sometimes when it feels like it.

hnnnngh DO WANT.

Your headcanon = ♥. Given that the Philippines has a strong affiliation and history with America, I'd say that this is totally possible.

[raisexyourxhead.livejournal.com]

Sitting in history class, I was giggling my pants off over the Epic Adventures of Pope Headdesk The Seventh and the Holy Roman Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_Controversy). I imagined something very much like Hetalia.

In fact, I would KILL for that part of history to show up in Chibitalia. Having Romano show up and ransack Rome would make my day.

Though man. I have to say that Russia is nothing like the stereotype I grew up with. I always imagine... Rasputin, or Ivan the Terrible. Not blond, that's for sure. I was also surprised that France wasn't a coward, given the American stereotype also. That was a pretty pleasant surprise though, France has actually warmed me up to the country. *cue "the more you know" *

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

You should be elected Namer of the Strips foreverXDXDXDXD
Well, thanks to that link, I can now see HRE crushing on Romano way before Chibitalia came into the picture, and Romano going all menacing "Imgonnahavetosmackabitch??!!" and being all hardcore.
And then Spain came and took him, 300 hundred years later. And assaulted Rome. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_%281527%29)

I never imagined Russia like Hetalia's, but in my mind he was definitely blond. Is it a stereotype that most Russians are blond? I thought they truly wereXD

Why do the Americans think the French are cowards? French military history shows them to be badass nuts always at war with the rest of Europe for the lulz xD

[creation48.livejournal.com]

I shipped Germany/Italy before knowing of Hetalia, but also: France/England, for the historical love-hate relationship and France/Belgium because I live with it! ( Yes, I'm belgian and, if you don't know about it, the country is liable to split in two in a near future, the southern part 'wanting' to get annexed to France.)

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

OMG, seriously??!! I've been living abroad for the past six months, so I didn't know that something as major as a EU country division was happening. Whoa. What does the rest of Belgium think about that? Also, thank you, I now discovered a new ship ^^

FrUK is totally canon history, I believe so *nod nod*

You shipped GerIta before Hetalia? Why? it's jsut, this pairing never occurred to meXD

tl;dr

[min19.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAH UM ABOUT THAT

Yeah, I never really heard about Hetalia from anyone. I saw some art for buttons on dA, and saw some discussion about it in the comments. So I actually created a whole idea in my head about what the series was about, and I came up with a highschool/university anime where there were different students from around the world, representing different countries. Basically, your typical Gakuen AU.

Clearly, Himaruya is way more creative than I am.

So when I actually started reading the scanlations, my mind was pretty much blown because I didn't expect it to be about history at all. To be honest, I didn't even like history until I read APH. (NOW ITS MY FAVORITE SUBJECT HURHUR &hearts)

But... getting off topic here. When I learned the actual premise, my first thought was immediately AMERICA/KOREA. But being my blood country, Korea turned out way different than I expected, LOL. I was actually expecting some stuffy guy obsessed with education and technology, probably with my dad's personality. I was happy when I learned how cute Korea was in APH, b-but I do admit that a few of his comics I overlook it, and overall, he's way better than I expected him to be portrayed. I just don't think some of his stereotypes are completely accurate. :D

My second thought was US/UK. Because being historically oblivious at the time, I only knew early USA history, pffft.

Re: tl;dr

[blowjobsalways.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you about Korea- from what little I know about it- I had a Korean roommate, but that's about it. I think if I were Korean I'd be a bit offended too. I guess that's because all the countries have something likeable to them, and get their redeeming moments, or are at least good at something- ie. Germany actually being sensitive, and France being the voice of reason (sometimes). And while I agree with Koreans being ridiculously photogenic, it just didn't seem like he had anything else to offer. And in comparison the stereotype, he could have been a little more... I don't know something.

I know this has all been said before, though. I'm sure if Korea got a few more strips and character development it wouldn't be so bad- but I wonder if that's ever going to happen now...?

[coraltum.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't really ship much at all, even when I first got into Hetalia. Even in the first month of fanboying over it, I was hesitant about pairing countries up- it was only a matter of constant exposure to the fandom that I did.

Before that, I just naturally assumed some countries just have some natural affinity with one another. Generally, I was under the impression that the British didn't like Americans all that much, and the Americans weren't too fond of the British either, but there's no denying that they both speak the same language, they share similar idealogies, and when it comes to western pop-culture, USA and the United Kingdom rule supreme. So yes, in real life, the United States' relationship with the United Kingdom seems to be one of the closest, if not the closest- I mean 'Special Relationship' (something I found out through the Hetalia fandom) isn't thrown in there just for nothing, is it? So, okay, I got into Alfred/Arthur after spending time in the Hetalia fandom. But before then, I knew the countries were closely affiliated due to ideology, discourse, the media, and politics.

But I still retained a bit of the mindset I had when I first got into fandom- I really cannot ship the rest of the countries as much as the majority of the fandom. Although, I ship Sweden/Finland pretty hard now as well. :\

EDIT; For the after-thought question, I'd have to say 'no' to that as well. I had no expectations. I had no idea what I could expect when I watched the first episode and then I was hooked. But it just puzzled me why the episodes were so short- five minutes? I just couldn't believe it! I thought YouTube had ripped me off and I was searching for "complete" twenty minute episodes. But I digress- yes, no expectations, no idea, I was just ready to go with the flow.

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's impossible to resist the shipping allure in the fandom, right?XD

I got to know of the Special Relationship through Hetalia as well, so the thought hand't crossed my mind either; like you, I was under the impression that those countries didn't like each other very much. I'm a big fan nowXD

I didn't know Sweden/Finland were as canon as they are, but I knew some of their previous history, so I could have shipped them. I didn't, though, I didn't even think about them *shrug*

Haha, I also thought it'd be longer, but went to Wikipedia immediately and found out.
I had some previous expectations; I thought Italians wouldn't be considered such good lovers, and it's clearly something the author doesn't know how to handle, since they are the best...but they're virgins. LOL. Does not compute

I also thought South and North Italy would have swipped personalities to the way they are in canon; I'm living in Italy, and northern italians are more like Romano, and southern are more like...well, not like Veneziano, but more like him than like Romano.
I thought Spain would be the stereotypical Toros y Flamenco mixed with a bit of Bloody Conqueror and was very pleasantly surprised it wasn't. I get so fucking tired of that.
I don't know what I expected English to be, but it wasn't as awesome as the character.. At all

[whak-hat.livejournal.com]

America and Canada as soon as I heard about it. I still kinda like that pairing but the premise about it has changed.

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

I had never stopped to think how closely entangled those countries were before Hetalia. Now I do, and I ship ♥

[kasumicc.livejournal.com]

No, I wasn't planning to ship when I got into Hetalia. I hadn't thought about country pairings either xD

In fact, I never shipped any yaoi pairing before Hetalia, and anyways, I didn't know of the yaoi Hetalian fanbase before getting into Hetalia. For me, Hetalia was...human countries, and cute DA drawings :P

I got into Hetalia because of the premise. Historical comedy? WWII? That was totally for me. However, as I got into the first episodes of the anime, I couldn't help but to notice GerIta and HRE/Chibitalia. And I ended liking them :B
I follow the pairings with a basis in the comics, but I prefer when they also happen to have historical reasons. I'm one of those weirdos that prefer canon over real history xDU and that's why I won't ship South American countries, LOL

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

I didn't get into the fandom for the yaoi either, but seeing as I read "historical parody of WWII with gay moe anthropomorfisms" and learnt about plot and characters at the same time, I started shipping from the get-go. Just FrUK, thoughXD

You are a FMA fan and weren't a yaoi shipper? LOL, that's pretty rare. I salute you ^^

I definitely prefer history over canon, because that the really special thing the series offers. But that's cool, because they usually go hand in hand! I like OCs, just not too many; unless it's states, and it's mostly for the crackXD

This is also the third manganime verse that's made mpreg plausible and not squicky to meXD (the others were Angel Sanctuary and oddly enough, FMA itself, because of a ficcer called Rainjoyius or something like that; I don't really liked her Ed characterization, but her explanation for him being able to get pregnant...awesome)

[valerieholic.livejournal.com]

yes, it happened to me. Since I was in primary and middle school, I always thought of a love relationship between Spain/UK .. later I thought of Spain/Mexico (this is not going to happen, I know)France/UK, Austria/Spain.
SpainUk because of the pirates era when "spain's invicible armada" was defeated by UK. Then their fight for the New World. UK seemed very tsundere, always watching over Spain in attempt to be always better, but certainly Spain was more interested in its own development rather than any other country's affair.

I totally didn't expect USAUK to be my favorite pairing xD Since first of all, I never thought UK would be THAT tsundere and uke...
I always had a thought of how France was going to be, but it turned out better than expected.
I'll be honest, before hetalia, Austria was just another country sounding similar to Australia... now I can't stop mentioning in whenever EUROPE comes to the topic. If I had to say, I didn't expect also for Austria to be so reserved and polite. Probably I wanted him to be more pimp/host like.. you know, because of all the marriages, he should've gotten used to persuading women... and why not? men also :D

I'm still having a doubt.. in Hetalia, Austria got to be married to Spain? *-* It so would improve my school grades~

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

I always thought of a love relationship between Spain/UK .. later I thought of Spain/Mexico (this is not going to happen, I know)France/UK, Austria/Spain.

...I wanna live in your head.
I love all those pairings with a burning pasison. It helps that I'm Spanish, lol. In fact, UK/Spain/France is my ultimate OT3.
Why is Mexico/Spain not gonna happen? Mexico gave us asylum when we run away form our craz dictator back in 1940. Most Spanish love Mexicans very much ^^

UK seemed very tsundere, always watching over Spain in attempt to be always better, but certainly Spain was more interested in its own development rather than any other country's affair.

You know, at that time, our major concerns were the Netherlands (such an obsession, our dear kings and royal counsellors had) and France. France has always been our main enemy till we shared royal bloodlines. And it all went to hell in the end with the French RevolutionXD. I was really surprised that we were portrayed as friends in Hetalia

what's that about Austria and marriages? *amused*
It seems this series has discovered many non-Europeans great European powers in history, like HRE, Prussia and Austria. I went to Vienna last summer and it was gorgeous.

I think in Hetalia Austria and Spain were indeed married. It also happened IRL.

[minavanhelsing.livejournal.com]

...Yes.

So much "yes", it isn't even funny. I was a huge Austrian history nerd for about a year before I heard of Hetalia, my favorite period being Franz Joseph's reign (1848 to 1916). During which, funnily enough, the Dual Monarchy was established (1867). xD

So the first thing I did when I discovered Hetalia was check to see if Austria and Hungary were paired. And I was so delighted to find out they were canon... <3

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna give you a little envy and say that I went to Vienna this last summer; Sissi's museum was fascinating, and the royal palace splendid (a pity that we didn't get to see the Schönbrunn). That was a really fascinating time in history, specially because the wheels of war were turning at great speed then, and I'm a fan of conspiracy theories of World War I xD

[abceza123.livejournal.com]

I wasn't expecting England to be a ex-pirate alcoholic, I imagined him as a strict headmaster, but I think the Hetalia version is much more accurate. I do still think my country is really a badass seme, you'll always be Seme to me Arthur. *sobs*

I was also disapointed when I heard there was no Portugal. Not thaat it stop me shipping with him.

I knew I'd be into RussiAmerica and VietnamAmerica, partly because my GCSE History was basically GCSE Unresolved Sexual Tension and America

I thought I'd be into USUK, unfortuatly didn't count on France being such a sexy French bastard.

I was expecting a slightly more...Jerk Jock America I guess, as opposed to a Goofy guy with glasses.

Also was not expecting Poland to be a crossdresser, but it was a delightful suprise.

I was expecting a more badass kung-fu wise grandmaster China. As opposed to an adorable spaz with kung-fu skills.

I was also expecting AmericaXChina to have a bigger following. TALK ABOUT UST.

Since the only Austrian I know is Arnie S....my idea of what Austria would be like was...misled.

[materia-indigo.livejournal.com]

Don't cry. Arthur is a seme in my headcanon too.

[disownmereturns.livejournal.com]

I shipped Italy/France, Germany/Scotland, Russia/China, Russia/Japan and Japan/US because of Beyblade

Ohoho~ Y'don't need to ask X'D

/is a dork

Norway and Scotland~

[vamprincessnoa.livejournal.com]

I never shipped countries before I got into Hetalia. In fact, the concept of Hetalia was so weird to me when I first heard about it - but it didn't take long for me to get my head around it. I DID always have a soft spot for Germany though - I didn't necessarily view him as a 'human character', but yeah, I've always had a soft spot for Germany, so I squeed so hard when I found Hetalia and saw what Germany looked like and that he was paired with such an adorable Italy XD

As for the second question... a while back I would have said 'no' to that too, that I don't ship pairings where one country doesn't even exist in Hetalia yet, but that's changed recently. Now, I've always been a bit 'meeh' over England representing the ENTIRE United Kingdom of Great Britain and N.Ireland. Considering Scotland makes an off-screen appearance in the Battle For America strip, I've always believed Scotland exists as a separate character in Hetalia (can you tell I'm Scottish??). I didn't really think much about Scotland's interaction with other countries other than England (who he hates) and France because of their crappy Auld Alliance - which was crappy, like I said. I don't care who tries to romanticise the whole alliance thing between Scotland and France; it mostly sucked for Scotland in the end XD

But then, a friend of mine who loves the Nordics mentioned something about the Shetland Bus during WWII (Shetland is the northernmost group of islands in the UK and belongs to Scotland btw, but centuries ago belonged to Norway)... and we both began to dig around to see if there were any other links between Norway and Scotland. At first we were doing it for fun, looking for information and stuff, but the more we researched, the more historical connections started popping up between those two.

And now I ship Nor/Scot. Seriously ship them... they're in top 5 list of Hetalia countries that I ship ~_~

It always makes me wonder though... if anyone else out there (other than my friend and I) ship this pairing too??

Re: Norway and Scotland~

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland would be represented too. (I'm American but I find it interesting.) I did chuckle when Scotland was a disembodied voice yelling at England, though.

long comment is long

[blowjobsalways.livejournal.com]

And biased commenter is slightly biased orz

Canada/Netherlands

Oh we've been shipping that one for a long time. Just- every Canadian knows the story of the tulip festival, and when we think about it we get all happy and warm-feeling. I think there's kind of a country wide crush for that reason, and a lot of young people who plan on "backpacking across Europe" usually make the Netherlands a mandatory stop. Except we never really voice our crush because they probably have a lot of other countries they send flowers to, and we're really not that special, and it's been such a long time since WWII, and we don't want to seem arrogant about anything, and really they don't have to send them every year- even though we love it so much...

So on a related note, the portrayal of Canada is pretty accurate that way :)

Canada/Cuba
Omg we all just fucking love Cuba. where else can you go that they won't mistake you for American?. And the accents are beautiful. I went there for Christmas last year. At first Cuba seems so militant and scary, but then you realize that the people are SO nice. A lot of the military works in tourism. Story time: there was a guard at the beach who was on lookout for night and he was kind of rigid and stoic. We passed him on the way to the beach, and when we came back, he'd made my sister and I bracelets out of beachgrass- guess he got bored or something :D. There was also a stray kitten sitting at his feet, which yeah, took some of the edge off of him :D So the Cuba character was also spot on.

Prussia/Canada I blame entirely on Hetalia though.

Re: long comment is long

[blowjobsalways.livejournal.com]

oh- and to add, I agree with most of the Nation's portrayals- France is perfect, Austria and Hungary are perfect, and America was spot on (stereotype wise anyway). Canada was a bit weird at first, because I always thought he'd be a girl, and not blond, because we make a point to really emphasize our native roots (well, we do now anyway...). Plus there are so many minorities- but I guess that's kind of true for every nation.

Although I thought North Italy would look a little more... Italian. I guess Romano does, but Veneciano's red hair kind of confused me. Not that I know that much about Italy to begin with, but in terms of the Italian stereotypes, that's definately not what I pictured.

[pureapollo.livejournal.com]

I got into Hetalia because it was popular, and seeing it everywhere, I naturally got annoyed and was like, "Let's see what all this fuss is about!". When I found out what it was, I think it was the concept more than anything that intrigued me. I didn't think much about pairings before I got into Hetalia. (Though all the gay certainly is a plus.)

When I first got into APH, I was still used to basing canon on the actual comic, so US/UK annoyed me and I much prefered GerIta. Gradually, though, those feelings reversed.

Before I got into Hetalia, I was reading the wikipedia article, and upon seeing America's description, I immediately pictured K from Gravitation. I was like, "Oh, great. Another Aryan American in a Japanese comic." I was half annoyed and half resigned to the fact that he was a junk food addict. (Despite these prior feelings, he's now my favorite character. XD)

I would have pictured Switzerland more like Japan does. 8D And the fact that England doesn't mumble or have a Beetles' cut astounded me. Also, the fact there was tension between the UK and US every time they appeared together in the strips shocked me; yes, we criticize each other and occassionally have comment wars on youtube, but for the most part, I thought British & American culture was too deeply intertwined... And honestly, when was the last time somebody English held the American Revolution against us?

Italy's design annoyed me, too. I love him now, but jeez, he's got to be the least Italian Italian I've ever seen. I was also surprised France wasn't more of a coward, though the rest of his characteristics didn't shock me at all. X3

_{I feel like I wrote too much. XD;;}

[sara-rojo.livejournal.com]

Before I got into Hetalia, I was reading the wikipedia article, and upon seeing America's description, I immediately pictured K from Gravitation. I was like, "Oh, great. Another Aryan American in a Japanese comic." I was half annoyed and half resigned to the fact that he was a junk food addict. (Despite these prior feelings, he's now my favorite character. XD)

wow, now that you mention it, I think my thoughts were along a mix of K and Asuka from Evangelion. And I expected to hate him with a burning passion (helped along by my then intense dislike for the RL country). What a surprise it was when he became one of my top five favourite characters and made me revive my hope and fondness for the USA as a country ^^

My Swiss view mainly consisted of a clock maker chocolate druggie stern man who always remains neutral in conflicts. Yeah, I was shockedXD
I don't know what I imagined England would be...but the character so far surpassed my expectations I've never had time to be disappointed at all ^^

And honestly, when was the last time somebody English held the American Revolution against us?

I know what you mean, but it's probably different for the country itself, lol. It's different to have your granfather's dad be great once and a different thing to have been great yourself onceXD

Italy's design annoyed me, too. I love him now, but jeez, he's got to be the least Italian Italian I've ever seen. I was also surprised France wasn't more of a coward, though the rest of his characteristics didn't shock me at all. X3

I've seen many people complain about Italy...I assume you refer to his anime's red hair, because the manga Italy is completely an Italian, as far as I can see from my Italian windowXD
As for France...I've asked before and I'll ask again: why do Americans think that the French are cowards? If you look at French military history, they're always engaging everyone and giving it their all; and for many centuries, winning all too. The fact that they fought Great Britain constantly is a testimony of their badassery: you have to be a crazy badass to fuck with BritainXD