hetalia | The Hetalia Fandom

I have no idea if this is appropriate or not, so if mods think it should be deleted I understand. (It didn't seem quite right for the FAQ, though...) If it's kind of iffy, I will gladly post more icons to pay for the crime. >>

So, I am writing my final paper for my anthropology class called Media, Culture, and Society; in it, we're supposed to pick a media technology and talk about how it affected society and culture (or continues to do so). I have chosen LJ, with a focus on how it's affected fan bases and fandoms, Hetalia included.

I would like to know everything you guys know about the evolution of the Hetalia fandom. How did you first hear about the fandom? Where did you go to first? What were the qualities of all the communities you've gone to (for example, ff.net versus LJ )? What WERE the biggest hubs of fans when you first joined, in your point of view? What are the CURRENT hubs of fan activity, in your opinion? What made you pick LJ as your resting place, or one of them? Do you think the LJ fandom has any affect on Hetalia, be it in Japan or the US?

Any and all thoughts, opinions, links, histories, and stories would be loved. <3 <3 If you'd rather comment on my personal LJ, then click on my submission of a Russia/Belarus cosplaying pair icon.

Thank you~!

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I heard about Hetalia from a friend a few years ago. I instantly got interested about the idea of personifications of nations (I used to draw Mother Russia, Europa, Britannia etc. in my history books) and started to search for a fandom and well, the main reason I created LJ account was, in the end when I couldn't resist anymore, the Hetalia comm here. I've been hanging around here ever since and I always felt like I really didn't need any other places like dA (if we dun count Pixiv). Even tho at the time I joined this comm the number of fans was low and there wasn't much posting every day, I really liked the fandom and got hooked into Himaruyas strips. Thus, I became a Hetalia LJ stalker for the idea and the HUMOUR, oh god the humour <3<3 and for the history. I'm also partly here for the BL (have a problem with that?! D8<) and fandom. I love this fandom and if this fandom wouldn't be so nice, I'd be long gone.

Do I think the LJ fandom has any affect on Hetalia, be it in Japan or the US? It's gotta have some affect. Hetalia fandom in general is really lively and creative and the canon has only a few strips. I think Mochimerica is a perfect example, since it appeared only briefly in Himaruya's drawings but got super popular among the fans (and thus got made into a key chain etc.). LJ fandom is imo like the center of the western fandom, so yes, I think it has some affect (zomg we're being watched!!! 8D).

Like someone already said above I gotta agree about the fandom!secrets wank being the birth of a real Hetalia hatedom (but it brought also more fans into the fandom! Thank you, fandom!secrets!). When the anime started airing and that was pretty much when the fandom exploded but fortunately the fans always continued being lovable. Recently tho, it feels like there has been more complaining and than usually, but I'm good at ignoring things. This fandom has always been very smart compared to some others I've been in and I hope it'll continue being smart in the future, too.

There is so much stuff around the fandom and Hetalia these days that sometimes I just need to go backwards to check out the first strips, MADs (Youtube STOP removing my favorites!!), fanarts and fanfic I ever checked to remember how I at first felt about Hetalia and why I fell in love with it. It really helps me with not getting lost in the fandom :3

That was way too much babbling, but w.e.

Psh, for me, there's no such thing as too much babbling.

Thank you so much for a thorough answer! <3

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