Hetalia fanon
Aug. 9th, 2010 03:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transemacabreThere's tons and tons of fanon for Hetalia, some of which is based on history-canon, and some of which is just plain made up. Unfortunately, sometimes its hard to tell what is and isn't canon. With that in mind, I'm trying to document FANON that is commonly mistaken for CANON.
1. America and Russia hate each other. This is pertinant to my interests as a Russia/America shipper, because a common argument against my OTP is that it's 'OOC' because America and Russia allegedly hate each other.
The truth is there's not much in canon to suggest that they DO hate each other. All that Yandere Cold War smut is based on very little -- there's the strip where America and Russia are sending each other boxes of extra-small condoms to psych each other out, which to my mind is hardly the basis to portray them as having a crazed hatred. There's not much evidence to suggest that they're in love, but neither is there much to suggest that they hate each other.
2. Canada being portrayed as delicate or petit. Poor Canada gets stuck with being 'the girl' because of his wallflower personality. He is shown in the manga and anime to be the same approximate height/build as his brother, America.
3. Poland crossdressing. He DOES crossdress a couple of times in the strips, but its a bit of a stretch to portray him as a transvestite. He is, if anything, turned into 'the girl' more than Canada is, which is a shame because he has unique personality traits of his own, such as his shyness, his utter refusal to die, and the fact that he appears to be the only character who isn't afraid of Russia.
4. Russia stole Finland from Sweden. Not touched upon by Himaruya yet, but there's been several fics that portray Russia snatching Finland away from Sweden in 1809. Historically, Finland willingly left Sweden to join Russia. I imagine this upsets shippers who prefer to look at Sweden and Finland as being happily married lovebirds, but I think this has waaaaay more potential for interesting fic than yet another Ebil Rapist Russia keeps Sweden from his True Love Finland scenario.
5. Russia notices Canada. I've seen this in several Russia/Canada fics. Russia straight up sits on top of Canada in one strip, people. Canada is totally invisible to him. It's canon that PRUSSIA notices Canada, not Russia.
6. America is stupid. America is without a doubt self-centered and sometimes an asshole, albeit one with good intentions. But at least some of his idiot/oblivious persona is an act -- if "I'll just pretend I can't read the mood" in WDC World Dancing doesn't convince you, Himaruya has stated that America pretends to be stupider than he is.
7. There's no such thing as state-tans! There are no known personifications for America's states, but other personifications have been shown: Japan's prefectures is an obvious one.
8. Nazi Germany/Nazi Prussia. Himaruya was sensitive enough to sidestep this issue and he doesn't portray Germany or Prussia as being passionate Nazis, even during the WW2 storylines. Its canon that Germany thought Hitler was crazier than a shithouse rat. Because Hitler was his boss he couldn't go against him, and there's not much to suggest that he or Prussia are passionate Nazis. This is a major pet peeve of mine because so many braindead fangirls use this as an excuse to draw 'sexy' pictures of Germany and Prussia in Nazi uniforms, or to cosplay as Nazi Germany and Nazi Prussia and go around seig-heil'ing like idiots at cons.
9. America is a jock/popular kid. I see this one a lot in AU stories, but it crops up in regular fic, too. Canonically, America's only real friends are Lithuania, England, and Japan. Clearly, several other characters such as Canada are important in his life, but this idea that he's super-popular or 'rules the school' or something is totally uncanonical. I think its plain that he bugs the shit out of most of the other characters.
1. America and Russia hate each other. This is pertinant to my interests as a Russia/America shipper, because a common argument against my OTP is that it's 'OOC' because America and Russia allegedly hate each other.
The truth is there's not much in canon to suggest that they DO hate each other. All that Yandere Cold War smut is based on very little -- there's the strip where America and Russia are sending each other boxes of extra-small condoms to psych each other out, which to my mind is hardly the basis to portray them as having a crazed hatred. There's not much evidence to suggest that they're in love, but neither is there much to suggest that they hate each other.
2. Canada being portrayed as delicate or petit. Poor Canada gets stuck with being 'the girl' because of his wallflower personality. He is shown in the manga and anime to be the same approximate height/build as his brother, America.
3. Poland crossdressing. He DOES crossdress a couple of times in the strips, but its a bit of a stretch to portray him as a transvestite. He is, if anything, turned into 'the girl' more than Canada is, which is a shame because he has unique personality traits of his own, such as his shyness, his utter refusal to die, and the fact that he appears to be the only character who isn't afraid of Russia.
4. Russia stole Finland from Sweden. Not touched upon by Himaruya yet, but there's been several fics that portray Russia snatching Finland away from Sweden in 1809. Historically, Finland willingly left Sweden to join Russia. I imagine this upsets shippers who prefer to look at Sweden and Finland as being happily married lovebirds, but I think this has waaaaay more potential for interesting fic than yet another Ebil Rapist Russia keeps Sweden from his True Love Finland scenario.
5. Russia notices Canada. I've seen this in several Russia/Canada fics. Russia straight up sits on top of Canada in one strip, people. Canada is totally invisible to him. It's canon that PRUSSIA notices Canada, not Russia.
6. America is stupid. America is without a doubt self-centered and sometimes an asshole, albeit one with good intentions. But at least some of his idiot/oblivious persona is an act -- if "I'll just pretend I can't read the mood" in WDC World Dancing doesn't convince you, Himaruya has stated that America pretends to be stupider than he is.
7. There's no such thing as state-tans! There are no known personifications for America's states, but other personifications have been shown: Japan's prefectures is an obvious one.
8. Nazi Germany/Nazi Prussia. Himaruya was sensitive enough to sidestep this issue and he doesn't portray Germany or Prussia as being passionate Nazis, even during the WW2 storylines. Its canon that Germany thought Hitler was crazier than a shithouse rat. Because Hitler was his boss he couldn't go against him, and there's not much to suggest that he or Prussia are passionate Nazis. This is a major pet peeve of mine because so many braindead fangirls use this as an excuse to draw 'sexy' pictures of Germany and Prussia in Nazi uniforms, or to cosplay as Nazi Germany and Nazi Prussia and go around seig-heil'ing like idiots at cons.
9. America is a jock/popular kid. I see this one a lot in AU stories, but it crops up in regular fic, too. Canonically, America's only real friends are Lithuania, England, and Japan. Clearly, several other characters such as Canada are important in his life, but this idea that he's super-popular or 'rules the school' or something is totally uncanonical. I think its plain that he bugs the shit out of most of the other characters.
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Had to write a response…I guess I just like being contrary…
Date: 2010-10-22 08:51 pm (UTC)Even before The American Revolution was over, the Thirteen Colonies, which pre-date the U.S. by definition, realized they needed some a national government to replace the British that they were throwing out. However, the last thing anyone wanted was a powerful national government; seen as a step towards an American tyranny. So they deliberately wrote the Articles of Confederation to make the national government weak and protect states. This was nearly America's undoing. The government couldn’t collect taxes, which meant America had to raise money by asking the states politely; consequently it could barely perform the basic functions of government. It also couldn't coerce states or regulate commerce, which led to conflict between the states putting up tariffs between each other, resulting in overall hardship(…Alfred was not amused… a good portion of the Constitution was written to make interstate tariffs impossible) The final straw for was Shays' Rebellion, which had to be put down by *state* militia due to America’s ineffectual response.
So they got back together and wrote up the Constitution of the United States, which was ratified in 1789. Since no one likes to share power, the Constitution sets up a "Federal" government. This means the States have power over stuff in their state and the national government has power only over national issues, like trade between states, national defense, foreign policy, and so on. Today, thanks to Marbury v. Madison , if the federal government decides to pass a law, etc, and the states don't like it, everyone goes to the Supreme Court and it decides who wins.
But to contest your point directly, there are four states that were once considered independent countries. They are Vermont, Texas, California (for less than a month, but still applicable in my opinion) and Hawaii.
Vermont 1777 -1791(Vermont was an independent nation from 1777 until it joined the Union in 1791. a certain number of Vermonters still cling to the notion that they have the right to secede, and an active secessionist movement there is "committed to the peaceful return of Vermont…as an independent republic ".)
Texas 1836 -1845 (Texas, oh Texas. Where to begin? First there was the Texas Revolution—originally not to secede from Mexico, but to balkanize the Mexican state of Coilha y Texas to give the recently immigrated Anglo Texans more control over local politics. Eventually it favored complete separation, when Mexo said it wasn’t going to compromise. Ten years later, the Republic of Texas peacefully annexed to the U.S., and the territory's original borders were balkanized—parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico once belonged to Texas. Texas then seceded from the US during the Civil War, though it saw little action compared to the other Southern states. Texas has, even unto the present day, had secessionist movements, which gained some notoriety after the 2008 election and the rise of the Tea Party movement. Just try to find an article about Governer Perry that doesn't reference his apparently pro-secessionist comments in 2009. )
California 06/14/1846 -07/09/1846 California was briefly a sovereign nation, at least until US troops moved in and forcibly made it a territory as part of the Mexican-American war.
Hawaii 1810-1898(Hawaii was definitely a sovereign Nation under King Kamehameha and his descendants until the USA took over in a bloodless coup d'état deposing Queen Liliuokalani and Hawaii was added to the US. To this day, the Native Hawaiian community itself is divided over what they want to do about it. )