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]

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.

[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]

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

[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*

[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]

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.

[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

[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?

[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

[miezen.livejournal.com]

The Great Dictator is seriously the best movie ever and my US History teacher is godly for showing it to us.

[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.

[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. :\

[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

[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" *

[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.)

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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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~