What Are Your Favorite Things About Branpru And Lietukr?

haha so real

Prussia's handwriting is illegible by today's standards. He writes in a mashed up mess of Sütterlin, Kurrent, and nerve-damaged muscle weakness. (Examples under the cut)

Sütterlin (1924 - 1941 in Germany) Example:

Kurrentschrift (12th/13th century until the mid of the 20th century):

«Prussia hatched from a cannon-ball»

– Napoleon Bonaparte, at some point.

I mean this explains why Gilbert has got a pet bird doesn’t it?

so random i know but silly sketching while i can ok?😔

Hetalia Ukraine Headcanon #2 – or, rather, my take on Ukraine in Hetalia canon.

upd: I might have worded it a bit shitty, but the entire purpose of this post is that „canon/common fannon“ uwu crybaby Ukraine is bulshit and fuck canon we ball anyway. That I will be re-creating her character the way I want, and that‘s literally it. Damn. Pls don‘t misinterpret things, I‘m not defending Himaruya or anything

This is something that has to be clarified before I proceed, and even before I answer to any further asks.

I think of Ukraine in „canon Hetalia" as Russia's perspective, what he tells others about Ukraine and what he wants them to think of her, for his own purposes.

Because, if you recall, the episode where she is introduced (Axis Powers, ep 42), it is Russia telling England about her. Just like episode 43, it's Russia's memories and perspective. I hate that this fact is often overlooked, as it makes total sense for Russia to want others to see Ukraine as a weak crybaby that is dependant on him. In fact, this no shit is the attitude russians have to ukrainians. Almost inferior, (quote) unable to fend for themselves. It is not cute. It is very much toxic. The scarf moment is extremely fucking funny. Because, (and again, this is Russia's memories), Ukraine gives him her favorite scarf. But what people overlook, is that in return she asks (in dub) FOR CONTROL FROM BLACK SEA TO POLAND. HER TERRITORIES. THIS- THIS IS NOT A CUTE MOMENT. SHE IS TRYING TO GET AWAY. AS SHE ALWAYS HAS. FOR CENTURIES. Or, in sub, she asks for „inheritance rights to Kyivan Rus", so again, reclaiming a part of her identity. After which, russia concludes that maybe they've never been close at all. srsl I wish russia realised that in real life and fucked off already

To me, this is the first moment that shows that there is much more to Ukraine than what we see, and that Russia must in no way be trusted on his word when it comes to her.

Especially since In her next appearence, Gakuen Hetalian Newspaper Club part 1, Ukraine is nothing like that. She wants to join the choir club, where the baltic trio and others are, and we find out that the choir is targeted by the so-called „soviet club". Lmao. Nor she is in any of the Halloween episodes she appears in subsequently. Moreover, in the 2013 haloween series, Ukraine is shown dressed up as a reference to a Ukrainian(!!!) urban legend about a ghost train. So, she is not afraid to express her identity even at that point. Yes, she is emotional, but not a complete mess of a crybaby whose every 1 in 2 words is „Russia". Which further backs my theory.

The latest appearence, where in Chapter 389 of Hetalia world stars, Ukraine asks Lithuania to „sent spare paper Russias" to her if he ever gets any, because, quote „THIS RUSSIA IS OBEDIENT, QUIET, AND LISTENS TO WHAT I SAY".

Does this sound like a weak crybaby Ukraine whom Russia was describing to you?

No. That's the point.

Btw the only point in history I can think of where she could be referring to when she says it's „like we've gone back in time", is 7th - 10th century; when the principality of Suzdal (later: Muscovy→Russia) was just freshly colonized by Kyiv and Polatsk (later Ukraine and Belarus) and was paying fiefs to them. Which is like, literally 40 years before Suzdal’s prince plundered and burnt Kyiv down in 1169. A first russo-ukrainian war for you.

So, even from "canon hetalia", the idea of Ukraine's character that this fandom often percieves her as derives mostly from Russia's POV. Which is sad, ironic (represents the influence of russian propaganda irl), but also thanks fuck, this means we see so little of her that her personality can be easily interpreted in a multitude of ways that reflect history and reality way better

—Have you heard the new song that came out recently?

—Huh? *awkwardly scrolls down through mixed Irish and Ukrainian rebel music playlist, frev-napoleonic wars music playlist, „Legio Aeterna – Aeterna Vitrix“, Finnish Talvisota playlist, Polish resistance songs playlist, that one giant Ukrainian resistance songs playlist, German medieval/early modern songs playlist and honorable mention – the fucking metal cover of Preußens Gloria that has singlehandedly brought me out of misery* Huh?

…I like my music about century old at least, I guess??

'you still listen to music from 10 years ago 🤨?' bitch if prehistoric humans had audio recording technology id be sat up here listening to grog and unga bunga's greatest hits don't play with me

It needs to be more taboo for people to use traditional marxist symbolism, especially the kinds of symbols associated with the USSR.

The kinds of human rights abuses that mainstream Marxism engaged in are horrific, and not worthy of glorification.

The outright denial of Marxist atrocities common on the far left is shocking and astounding.

SKSHSKGSJS HER

Was too busy to draw anything new, so let Ukraine be:

"Shut your fucking mouth, it suits you well."

GUYS. THIS. IT MAY LOOK LONG, BUT PLEASE. READ. THIS.

hi, so im kind of wondering what is your thoughts with hetalia especially the fact that it hasnt age well and specifically what do you think of the way hetalia Ukraine's character is handled

oh that's a great question, thank you! oh i sure have a lot of things to say but it'll be difficult to make it concise and readable

early hetalia certainly has aged like milk, the idea of making axis powers the main characters Did Not Spark Joy. it seems that himaruya made an effort to distance hetalia from that since then, there was this whole rebranding from "axis powers hetalia" to "hetalia world stars" and the comics no longer touch on ww2 but rather modern day, sometimes history, some fun facts, and sometimes have no basis whatsoever. it's hard to judge the intentions behind that. sure it has ironed some of the problems but general inaccuracy and disrespectful portrayal of countries remains an issue. and personally i just find himaruya's writing bad and unfunny.

and now for ukraine. oh dear.

to start off easy, a short note on her appearance - as a ukrainian, it's a bit weird to see her blonde and blue eyed? the beauty standard here for centuries has been "black hair brown eyes" and it's seen in folk songs, poems and novels. and yet it's not just hetalia that does that. it's not a mistake really, i'm just weirded out, especially after how western far-right and far-left has been explaining support for ukraine as "because ukrainians are blonde and blue-eyed".

but onto her most prominent visual trait, let's talk about boobs. in hetalia collezione from 2021 (i think?), on ukraine's character profile himaruya has written that he was inspired by naked female protesters upon creating her.

the "naked protesters" are femen, a radical feminist activist group famous for topless protests. it's a group of like, 15 people. they were last prominent in 2013. i think most ukrainians barely even remember them. it's fucking wild to me that he based an entire country personification off of that. it is, however, quite telling of him that himaruya saw feminist protesters and only saw potential for cheap jokes about boobs.

i chose a good screenshot, it shows some other problems as well - "crybaby", "poor" and "she loves russia chan". i'll save the latter for last. let's focus on her being a crybaby and poor. "but actually very strong!", himaruya says, except i can't recall any examples in canon where ukraine has been shown as strong. instead her whole personality and appearance reeks of 2000s perception of eastern europe, influenced by both western and russian chauvinism to show them as inferior. ukrainian women have been stereotyped like hetalia ukraine - poor, huge tits, weak in a "traditionally feminine" way, whores. it was disgusting back then, it's even more disgusting that in 20 years himaruya didn't bother to revisit that at all.

politically speaking, these jokes, about ukraine being poor and weak and dependent on russia, while have some basis in the reality of 1990-2000s ukraine, are very insensitive to the causes of these issues and just feel like punching down.

and now, "she's loves russia chan". lol. lmao even. in 2021 no less. it has been another consistent trait of hers, as shown on the screenshot above that she just wants to get along with her "siblings" russia and belarus. to talk to russia "like i used to". there's this sense that they somehow grew distant, and all of them regret it, but it's never shown what happened.

what it really reminds me of is the russian narrative "big bad evil politicians (and/or big bad evil west) want to divide our brotherly nations, the people just want to live in peace but have no say in it" and shit like that. it's not the case. what happened is the russian state trying to tie ukraine in its sphere of influence, using economic blackmail to influence its political decisions, and then punishing ukraine with occupation of crimea and parts of donetsk and luhansk regions for choosing eu over russia. even before that, but especially after 2014, the amount of chauvinism russian media and russian people has shown has been enormous. i grew up in an environment dominated by russian media showing how ukrainians were nothing more but dumber, poorer rural russians. since 2014 they also started calling us nazis, child eaters, ukrainian identity - fake and made up by austro-hungarian empire, ukrainian lands - gifts of lenin, and so on. i will stress again - not just russian media. but russian people. even the supposed "liberal opposition".

but yeah sure, we're brotherly nations. nothing but love between ukraine and russia. ironically, the last appearance of ukraine in hetalia comics as of now is a comic from late 2021 about how much ukraine loves russia. since then it seems himaruya has been too much of a coward to draw her again. thank fuck, really.

and fandom is no fucking better by the way. whenever i go into hws ukraine tag it's still half full of fanart of "soviet siblings" (the fucking audacity to use that name too), showcasing that "brotherly love" between ukraine and two aggressor states towards it.

but y'know, a lot of people in this fandom will claim that it's apolitical, that these are just characters. so, a few questions:

if it's apolitical, why does hetalia cover political events, like brexit?

is a country not a political entity? is a nation not a political entity?

is the genre of satire not political?

if these are just characters, why call them country names? why not just make them your human ocs? why tie their lives to historical and political events?

it just doesn't make sense to me. "it's not political" is an incredibly flimsy excuse. everything that has to do with portrayal of countries and cultures is inherently political. and if you want to be a decent person, there's a responsibility to portray these nations and cultures respectfully: do your research, talk to people from these countries, otherwise you're building with no foundation. it's not even hetalia-specific advice, this applies to writing any character from countries different to your own.

this was. very long. can't think of how to shorten it nor i really want to, i tried to answer this as fully as i could.

there's not much point in explaining all that to people who after 2 (10) years still don't get what the problem is. i expect this post only to get attention from people who already agree with it, and mostly ukrainians. but eh, maybe a miracle will happen and someone from outside my bubble would read it.

A short explanation of my layer by layer drawing of Central/Eastern Ukrainian folk attire, for anyone who might be interested.

Chernenko - added a translator. Himaruya didn't say anything about Ukraine's last name

So, I revisited the wiki page and the link to Himaruya’s post regarding this; and you’re right. I wonder why did that surname appear in her wiki at the first place. Thanks though, I’ll correct my old posts

To be honest, kinda feels like the pic below, NOW I CAN COME UP WITH ANY SURNAME I LIKE FOR HER, FREEDOOOOOM

fr lol

Imagine hating someone just for the fact of their existence that even random pics on the internet drives you mad.

But of course you don't think about it when you repost russians. They are so harmless little uwus who just wanna play in the sandbox too aww 🥺

I'm tired of banning ya'll. If you are russian, just delete yourself from my blog. I don't wanna play friends and idc what your intentions are. It's so damn hilarious to see how you like my posts on neutral topics and prefer to ignore posts where I speak about the war which your country started.

We don't care if you support us, like our blogs/art/culture etc. If you are russian, please

JUST LEAVE US ALONE WE DON'T WANNA BE FRIENDS WITH YOU PERIOD