#not usuk related

[hwsforeignrelations]

@usukweek Day 6: Music

fuck man this one... Ahem excuse me im gonna need a moment alone

[irarann]

hetalia fandom can we stop calling it usuk and start calling it libertea

[kakashi-fangirl-ita-blog]

The beauty of tumblr is enjoying Spamano and USUK fanarts in peace without seeing dumb comments from puritan american teenagers who think their view on the anime is the only acceptable one

[milkdreamspecialmix]

if by spamano you mean “this is a result of some kinda weird emotional baggage mixed with attraction and it’s a bit awkward because of their past and not terribly sustainable” and not “this is the one true love ride or die end game ship and they both live happily ever after” then yes

[straystarship]

Just remembered to open the ask box for anons. Bored rn so maybe I’ll sketch something if anyone asks. Even if it’s weird.

[sepvqiite]

what are our opinions on usuk & nichu ?

[coralcatsea]

If Arthur is Alfred's dad then how come in Hima's Magical Strike, Alfred is the company president's son yet Arthur ISN'T the company president? 🤔 🤔

Checkmate, flat earthers.

[zooweemama143]

OH man your Hetalia post reminded me of a super duper racist Hetalia fanfiction called "Israel's workout" that is still up on fanfiction net!

the WHAT

[gallusrostromegalus]

Ehehe, I see that Josuke Araki has made his way into your script :P

Are there any other JoJo's floating around in Soul Society and beyond?

So I like to populate the background characters of my fic with characters from another series as just a fun reference, but I feel like some people are reading into it a little to much. It's like- well, there's a watsonian perspective on it and a doylist one and a sort of meta-watsonian one.

From the watsonian/in-narrative perspective? You know that line from that Stucky fic everyone loves about "we deserve a soft epilogue?" I like to imagine AUs for main characters where they still live in an animeverse, but are free from the burden of being The Main Character. Usuke Urameshi lives in Karakura town, but he was never The Spirit Detective. He's just some former punk with mild psychic abilities who runs the ramen shop Ichigo goes to sometimes. Josuke is just some guy that has enough power to be a shinigami, but he's just like, rank and file. You see him in crowd shots. They're alternate universe versions of their full powered, main character selves and probably happier than those versions.

From a doylist perspective, it's a fun game of reference tag to play with the reader. A sort of where's Waldo of random characters from related series. Sort of like putting Samuel L Jackson in a bit part in your movie and giving him a purple prop to fiddle with. He's not playing Mace Windu, but for sharp-eyed nerds, he is making a star wars reference. Sometimes it's just for fun, sometimes is a way to lay on some really subtle thematic context. Like overlaying a 8% opacity layer of yellow on a digital piece to give the impression of late afternoon. Nothing explicit. Nothing relevant to the plot. Just a bit of seasoning.

From a meta-watsonian perspective, a lot of how I write fic was influenced by the old Kids WB bumps where the voice actors would play their characters *as though they were actors hanging out on the warner studios lot* Batman was still Batman, but he was also a guy playing Batman on TV. Yugi moto still had the cosmic powers of the millennium puzzle but also complained about how much time he had to spend in hair and makeup. So when you see a character from another series in my fic, they're an alternate universe version of themselves that is Not Relevant To The Plot, and on another level they're like an actor famous on another show, coming in to do a bit part on their friend's show for funsies.

...but mostly I do it so I don't have to make up names for OCs I'm only using for four seconds.

To actually answer your question: Yuzu is a HUGE fan of this educational YouTube channel run by Marine Biologist Jotaro Kujo. He's the only guy who gives echinoderms their due. She shows Ukitake and Unohana and they like him a lot too. Unohana writes to him to put him in touch with Hanataro and the two put together a major survey of venomous marine life with potential medical applications. Ukitake just likes fish :).

[doomspiral]

just generally glad to see at least this part of heta fandomspace has recovered enough to have gerpru, prucan, usuk, and spamano in peace again. now that people dont feel the need to put a disclaimer everytime they draw anything vaguely related to these, i'm seeing varied takes again. idk if theres any hope for the nordics fandom as a whole but we'll see.

[olympeline]

@endlesscolddreams and @liemurienn dropped some really good replies on my USUK vs. FrUK post and it’s made me think about the differences between both pairings and why they might attract their respective fans the way they do.

Let’s begin with USUK, which nearly from series start has more canon on its side. Or rather it has more “serious” moments. Hetalia is a gag show at heart and its non-jokey parts are few and far between, ship tease included. The first gut punch most fans will encounter is Alfred and Arthur’s battle during the American War for Independence. That will definitely stick with a lot of people if for no other reason than it’s so unexpected. The funny, silly anime about pasta and gag war abruptly pivots to a main character sobbing his heart out in the rain while another looks on, stony faced, with no joke at all. This can’t not leave an impression. Even fans who loathe Alfred never try to pretend his effect on Arthur isn’t huge. Then the series carries on teasing the things left unsaid between them in both serious and silly shapshots. With all this is mind, it’s not hard to see why USUK became the big, swinging dick of Hetalia’s ships. Aside from the borderline canon Gerita, nothing else really has the weight behind it I think.

This definitely makes it what I would call an “easy” ship to get into. That sounds bad because fandoms can be very judgey about pairings they find to be basic. Just like everything else in the arts, there’s a perception among some people that if something is popular then it must be dumber/less deep/worse. Pure elitism basically. And it’s bollocks. Just because something is popular with the masses doesn’t make it worse. It just means it’s popular. Plenty of people hate USUK for the perfecly legitimate reason that it just doesn’t gel with them. But there’s always been a minority undercurrent of “I hate this just because it’s the fandom’s most visible ship!” Seen this happen a million times with other communities over the years.

USUK also has the almost universally beloved tropes of Happy, Gregarious, Extroverted one loves Moody, Gloomy, Introverted one. Who loves him back but can’t say it because tsundere. FrUK on the other hand is more subtle. It has Slowburn, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers as its bread and butter. These tropes are well loved but there’s no big, attention grabbing dramatic moment early on that makes use of and cements the FrUK interpretation of them in the minds of fans. Francis and Arthur share a lot of screentime but it’s all jokey and fun. Even the ship tease is all gags relating to Francis being comically pervy and Arthur being comically stuffy and flustered. Francis gets some heart rending moments later (Joan of Arc, the wish for a mortal life) but Arthur isn’t included. Even though he could have been because of what happened to Joan. It’s left up to the fans to add him. In another universe the Closet Cleaning arc was replaced by a Bitter Hundred Years War arc, and FrUK subsequently took the top spot in the fandom’s ship rankings as a result.

Leaving plain, old personal taste aside, I think all this divided the fandom between shippers who wanted something they could leap into and get early gratification (USUK) vs shippers who wanted to expend a little more energy on interpretation (FrUK). Because there’s plenty of drama to be had with Francis and Arthur thanks to the French/English historical rivalry (see above). But it’s not offered up on a plate in canon like with Arthur and Alfred. A USUK shipper gets drama given to them while a FrUK shipper has to dig deeper and make their own fun. Different strokes.

This kind of thing is very interesting to me. Please feel free to add on your own interpretations if you like ☺️

[arthurianlegend144]

I've been wanting to talk about my interpretation of America's and England's relationship for some months now, but I was afraid to do it, because it could sound like I am saying "If you see them in another light, YOU'RE WRONG". However, that's not my intention, I hope y'all can understand ://)

I don't enjoy the interpretation of Alfred and Arthur being a family (parent and child or siblings), because for me, the title of "little brother/big brother" in the context of colonization seems to be just a forced way to make the personifications of the European nations (the colonizers) feel better aka "My people are not exploring their lands and killing people! They are just... Helping me to take care of my little sibling".

This isn't a valid familial relationship to me, so much that after the independence you don't see the colonized nations calling the colonizers "big bro" or something anymore. With the exception of France, he calls himself that, but he wants EVERYONE to call him that not just the nations he colonized.

In the case of America and England, England didn't even want to be called a big brother and he wasn't even there most of the time to enforce this relationship with America, even if it was clear that they both enjoyed each other's company, despite everything that was happening.

And I will say, in real life, a person just sees someone non related as family when they spend a long time together, this is especially crucial in the early childhood. Actually, if a person is related to you, but you haven't seen them for ages, you instinctively won't care for them as family, even if you know they are related to you. So why would America see England as his family? They aren't related - not more than every character in Hetalia must be, but that's a rambling for another time - and America kind of raised himself.

I do ship UsUk, because I think they probably got to know each other better after America became independent, because now they could become closer on their own terms and without the colonization aspect, which is way more healthy to me.

In conclusion, I personally feel uncomfortable with the idea of America and England being family, because of the whole context I just talked about. But that's just how I feel, if you don't agree, I don't mind, be happy :)

[coffebuns]

what other hetalia ships do you like? :0 i've only known you as the engita guy

i feel so honoured to be the Engita guy 😽 Short answer, over the years I’ve loved a lot of pairs:

- Gripan!!!!!

- Robul

- Lietpol

- Romerica

- America x Kenya ( I call it AmeKen)

- Egypt x Cyprus

- India x Thailand

There are some i’m forgetting i know it.

Some more questionable ones I’ve enjoyed are:

- Spamano

- Rochu

- Canfran / Franada

- My first ever ship was Usuk (😿)

- HongIce (bc I was their ages at the time)

Long answer, it’s kinda tricky bc I barely care about the canon show & literally just stole the character designs & personalities to make up my own worlds about? No cap the first 5 years i was in the online fandom i had not watched ONE episode of hetalia 😭 (literally amungus).

So for a long time I didn’t actually realize america & england (spamano, canfran, etc.) had like a father-son dynamic? or all the other questionable war, genocide, colonization-centred pairings lol. Out of nostalgia, still don’t mind enjoying some pairs, but also LARGELY because I actually care very little about nationverse stuff & just like the idea of hot men of different nationalities. miss me with those politics🤕😼

in my canon of the nationverse anyway, those colonized/colonizer ships wouldn’t be related since nations like us & canada didn’t “become” nations after other nations showed up (and i think that concept is kinda questionable).

regardless i think it’s fine & more true to the show canon if people do see certain nations related. I just don’t hc some characters as relatives (and there are some characters that aren’t canon related but i do consider them related!) & would NEVER EVER EVER ship anything as intentionally inc*st 😭😭😭 I need to make that SO CLEAR.

[swordblade]

One of the biggest issues I have with the hetalia fandom and shipping culture in general is y’all will bash and spam hate on Swissliech, reasoning cause “They’re siblings!! She calls him big brother it’s incest!!” Knowing they’re not actually siblings nor are they related in any way shape or form, but that not the issue.

The same people who will hate on lichtenstein x Switzerland for those very reasons will ship Spamano, usuk, and Dennor even tho they’re THE SAME EXACT THING.

England raised America since he was a little kid and they see each other as brothers, it’s one the the most popular ships in the fandom

Both Italy’s refer to Spain as big brother and Spain raised Romano since he was a little kid, it’s one of the most popular ships in the fandom

Norway regularly calls Denmark his brother and they literally grew up together and denmark raised Iceland and literally said “We’re all like brothers anyway!”

THEY ARE BROTHERS. Yet it’s one of the most popular ships in the fandom

Only difference between swissliech and these other ships is that Switzerland never raised her nor did they grow up together. He found her by chance when she was struggling and at deaths door and she chose to refer to him as big brother out of respect.

If you’re gonna hate one ship for a certain dynamic have the same energy for the others with the same dynamic but just mlm. Hypocrisy.

[pandelacreme]

ngl i wonder why the fandom’s favorite ship changed from usuk to rusame lol

i would presume a combination of changing fandom discourse + shifting geopolitical consciousness/awareness of international relations (particularly from the american side) but eye dee kay

[franciskirkland-deleted]

Rating Hetalia Ships - Alfred F. Jones Edition 🇺🇸🦅🗽

just my thoughts on popular america pairings!

RusAme - 10/10 perfection. the classic america ship to me. no real notes or critique. love it healthy or toxic. love when ivan is possessive and obsessed with al. love when they're fluffy. love when they're mutually kicking the shit out of each other. they're bitter exes. they're best mates. they're rivals. they're married til death do they part amen

(RusAme vs AmeRus (i.e. who's taking it in the butt) is so heavily debated and like. i would say i don't have a dog in this fight, i can respect both sides of the coin but i do prefer a very masculine, dominant characterization of ivan, sorry just being real. alfred is more of a bottom to me. except with france. himbo service top superman.)

USFr - another 10/10, tied with RusAme for my fave except the two ships could not be more different. holding myself back from rambling because y'all know i could go on about them for hours. cougar fran. milf-hunter alfred. mommy and her big strong babyboy husband. dumb blonde power couple. they're so pretty and shiny together and so sweet. need i say more??

(next one is controversial and often considered incestuous. my official stance on this is that i have mixed feelings. i understand why some people dislike it + can empathize. in canon they clearly have a familial relationship. but we're allowed to diverge from canon. i'm also not gonna lie and pretend i don't enjoy the ship in AUs where they're not related)

USUK - ehhhh. 2 or soft 3/10 i really do not like bottom england. BUT (haha butt) if anyone can top him it might be alfred (on occasion). they probably switch but to me arthur could never be 'the wife', to use a heteronormative term. they're homosexual your honor.

UKUS - ohhhh yeah baby. 9/10 when done well. don't get me started. the daddy issues. the banter. the sub/dom aspect. the domestic fluffy bits. the big gay. two differing brands of masculinity. i just love both of these characters so the potential is unlimited. they're so malleable and fun to write. OH and i love UK/Nyo!US <333

Ameripan - solid 8/10. humanverse only. nationverse relations are very complicated to say the least and i'd rather not touch on that. anyway. human AU ameripan is cute as fuck. i can see them working great either platonically or romantically. they bring out the best in each other. alfred helps kiku lighten up and have fun, kiku helps alfred get his shit together. they're a very 'opposites attract' kind of couple. (is it crazy that i want to see kiku take alfred to pound town. am i alone in that.)

Prumerica - platonically 10/10. maybe fwb, but in my opinion they're too similar to work out long term romantically. 6/10. like, the idea is cute, i don't dislike it, but nah. plot twist they're both fran's service top puppy boy guard dog cringefail loser gamer BFs. that could work.

AmeChu - hmm. 4/10. not a lot of strong feelings either way. very much an older/younger ship. i can't imagine yao would have the patience to deal with alfred for very long, plus the age gap is a bit much. i like age gaps but yao is so ancient. i can see al having a crush on him tho. again not a fave but certainly not bad.

Romerica - with nyo!america yes! 8/10. but alfred and lovi i can't really see together bc of their personalities (lovino's temper. he's like arthur but worse) sexy in theory but disastrous in practice. 3/10.

AmeCan - to me they're brothers 99% of the time and i'm not a fan of overt/sibling incest. i'm not gonna hate on it, i just can't really objectively rate something that doesn't have romantic potential. even if they're not biologically related they're platonic to me. 0 ??/10.

AmeLiet - ?? no hate i just don't really know why this is a ship. like i know they interact in the later seasons but i don't get it?? umm 2/10. it would be interesting to see him have a threeway with lietpol.

GerAme - no opinion. not here to hate i just don't see it whatsoever.

did i forget anything?