Belated Birthday sketches

[secondlina]

Happy birthday to kokumi009  (Piku-chan on deviant art). A little Hetalia sketch! I understand that you love Hungary and Turkey. So here you go XD



I don't know anything about Hetalia myself. The whole idea of countries as people and drama events used as metaphors for WW2 events sounds interesting (and oddly educational). I never really got into Hetalia thought. This is another case of "the fandom online scares the hell on of me". There was also a very rude fan at a con. It was the first time I saw Hetalia. It was in the form of fanart. I had assumed the fanart was an original art and praised the artist for her idea. The artist then laughed and mocked me for not knowing what Hetalia was. Yeah. Gotta love rude people at cons. Bad, bad marketing.

Urgh, you guys, remember what I said about feeling better? Forget about it. My stomach decided it was taking over my live. And inflicting pain!

EDIT : Sorry, Piku-chan. I though your birthday was on JUNE 19th. I was told it was actually JULY 19th. Oops. Enjoy the sketch anyways? I'll do another on the right date XD

- Isa

Comments

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that you're still feeling sick. I got mocked at a con too. This year, during our Avatar cosplay. The "fan" made me cry.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Hetalia is actually really good. It sounded odd to me, but once I watched it out of curiosity (and not having people tell me I "have to watch", which just bugs me) I got hooked and watched all of it. I'm happy to be ignorant of the fandom.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

I personally never understood the appeal of Hetalia. Maybe I just don't get it. I dunno. But yes, it's another one with a scary fandom.


*shudders*

[isabiunleashed.livejournal.com]

Oh no! you should get a new stomach. A bionic one, lined with lead and gold-plated (the last part is just for the bling-factor.)
But I do hope you'll get better soon! you should go see someone about that, it's not normal that you're always this sick! :(

[engelen.livejournal.com]

I like the concept of Hetalia... I just hate the fact that it's humour... *buzz kill*
I just find it all kind of offensive...

I hope you get better AGAIN soon D:

[lunaoh.livejournal.com]

...It's her birthday? *bonks head into a wall for not remembering* Stupid, stupid me! DX

The picture's lovely. I like Hetalia a lot, but the fans sure can be obnoxious.

Hope you get better soon!

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

Oh novel idea! =D I love this!

How rude? You praised her art, and in turn she mocked you? :/ What an ass!

Aw :( Sorry to hear you're not feeling well hun *hugs* Here's hoping you feel better soon!

[kuridee.livejournal.com]

Aww! Great drawing! :DDD

I actually really like Hetalia, but I stay as far away from the fandom as humanly possible--especially at cons (one word: yaoi. It comprises 99.9% of the fandom). I'm happy enough to just read the webcomics, watch the show, and look at pretty fanart.

And I hope you feel better soon! :DDD

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Some fans are just not cool.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

It does look funny. Since you like it, I probably will too. :D Who's your favorite country?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing, history with hot guys? What do you know, Hollywood does that too.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I keep going to see doctors, and the only two responses are "It's nothing, just a minor flu" or "It's minor and your stress makes it worse". So really, I just need to be less stressed. I'm not even that stressed! It's strange.

I would take the bling bling stomach though.

*hugs the other Isa*

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I guess recreating WW2 with comedy could be horribly offensive. Then again, everyone from charlie chapling to the monthy python did it. I guess it's the response of the fans that determine is something is okay or not.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Apparently I got the month wrong, so no worries. XD Oops.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Some fans are really weird. And act like you owe them compliments. I don't get it.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The yaoi is pretty strong there. Heck, I didn't even know there WAS female characters before drawing this. I though the point of the show was yaoi. Talk about fans distorting the image of a show huh?

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

That's a tough question since I like quite a few of them for different reasons. I really get a kick out of the relationship between America and Canada though. Poor Canada keeps getting mistaken for America since they look absolutely the same (they wear different clothing and talk differently, that's really the only way to tell them apart), so anyone angry at America takes it out on Canada. But I really like all of them for different reasons. I'm something of a history buff, so having history broken down to relationships between a select group of people is interesting - not to mention entertaining.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd say the intended target of the comedy matters, too.

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

She came back later and half apologized, but I was having none of that.

[engelen.livejournal.com]

I think it's got to do with the context... Chaplin and the guys from Monthy Python were from Europe, so it's like... they understood how and what could/couldn't be mocked (as in, what could be a painful memeory and the proper way to approach it). I don't know if there are a Japan and a China in Hetalia, but I don't think they'd find it all that funny if some westerners took on to making comedy out of the Japanese invasion of China and Korea.
I believe there was actually some controversy regarding the anime in South Korea, but I didn't pay it much mind.
Then again, I'm probably being waaaaay too srs bsnss (at first I too thought it to be an interesting concept, then I saw the art and that Italy was supposed to be a dumbass and America just ate burguers all the time... I was like "... JAPAN... again, not understanding the western world...")

[kuridee.livejournal.com]

Oh I know, I didn't know there were female characters either! Which is pretty bad. :<

And they're not only distorting the show...they're distorting the fanbase too, I think. I know "it's all yaoi" is a harsh generalization, because I'm sure there are fans who are not into yaoi (*raises hand*) but... D:

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

I guess that's what it is. Although I hear there are some girls in it as well.

yeah, Hollywood History is something else entirely.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Everything made in japan as a twisted relationship with it's past. Japan is strange that way.

I get your point though. Very good arguments

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I think it's got to do with the context... Chaplin and the guys from Monthy Python were from Europe, so it's like... they understood how and what could/couldn't be mocked (as in, what could be a painful memeory and the proper way to approach it). I don't know if there are a Japan and a China in Hetalia, but I don't think they'd find it all that funny if some westerners took on to making comedy out of the Japanese invasion of China and Korea.

I hear ya. Back in high school, I once got mad at a fellow anime club member because he brought in a Urusei Yatsura movie and there was a scene in the beginning where the characters were having a German themed school dance (so they were decorating the gym with swasticas and pictures of Hitler!). -_-

Japan isn't a very diverse country. So many of them don't understand sensitive racial issues like an American or a Canadian would because they don't have to deal with it.
I used to follow a blog written by a black man who was an English teacher in Japan. He wrote MANY posts declaring his eternal hatred for MTV because his Japanese students learned everything they know about black people from MTV (so they naturally assumed that calling him a "ni**er" was a compliment). O_o

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Rude fans can really bring down a con. Once at Anime Expo I approached a girl and said, "Your costume is fabulous! Who are you dressed as?". She looked at me like I was the dumbest person on earth as said "*sigh* I'm [character] from [show]!!" in an unbelievably condescending tone.


I've thought about checking out Hetalia. But the fandom scares me. Though I guess it's not entirely fair to judge a show based on its fandom. After all, one of the best cartoons ever (Avatar:TLA) also has the most frightening fanbase in existence.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with that. Living in Canada has made me more aware of diverse culture. That poor professor! His blog sounds interesting though. Link?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

So does Harry Potter. And Harry Potter is excellent!

In the case of Hetalia, I don't think that fandom actually scared me as much as the ATLA one. But the fandom did misinform me. Most reviews I found were pretty vague and most fan communities where shouting "OMG the YAOI" rather then provide interesting insight on the show itself. So yeah.

Before watching ATLA, I was fully expecting a crapload of angst and love triangles.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the vocal minorities of yaoi fans taking over?

I think yaoi fans like to take over fandoms because they don't really have any mainstream shows that are for pure yaoi (You know, aside from stuff Clamp does). Maybe people should look into that. Would the market itself be big enough? I know they have manga series, but I have yet to see a 52 episode tv series.

[kuridee.livejournal.com]

...you know, I never thought about it like that! It makes sense. At the same time, though, maybe it's the whole not-mainstream aspect of yaoi that makes it so popular. If that makes any sense. Once something is canon, do people really ship it anymore?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Sure they do! A bunch of people ship canon. I'm sure a yaoi tv series would be pretty popular.

[engelen.livejournal.com]

so they were decorating the gym with swasticas and pictures of Hitler!
GAWWWDDD

SERIOUSLY, JAPAN, WHAT THE FUCK!?

I don't have anything against Eastern cultures. I understand Japan to be a very different country from Greece, France, England, America, Mexico, USA, Canada, etc. However, what they try to do is to emulate the western culture... and fail at it... majorly.
I remember that blog!!! The entry about that kid wanting to touch his penis was weird... I read it a couple of times. I learned SO MUCH about Japan from it. It's great learning about a country through a person who is not a deranged fanatic who will only see all the possitive things.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

That poor professor! His blog sounds interesting though. Link?

Most of his posts are archived here:

<http://outpostnine.com/editorials/>

I HIGHLY recommend the "Moeko's Owl" story. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever read. :)

[kuridee.livejournal.com]

That's true. I've been outta fandom for awhile, I guess. XDD