Latest Posts by edelweissko - Page 2

At some kind of negotiations, except they share a singular braincell and they fight each other who gets to use it.

[Loads of yapping under the cut.]

This was supposed to be set in 1605-ish, around the outsets of Jülich succession crisis. Let’s pretend a fucking lamp is not there okay??Prussia is still a Polish fief duchy, so kinda irrelevant? Well, nevermind, he got dragged in as it is Anna of Prussia who carried Brandenburg‘s Electors‘ claim to Jülich-Kleve. And along with her husband, the Elector‘s son, she was in favour of more decisive actions regarding Jülich, as far as a pre-emptive strike. Whereas the Elector himself hesitated, supporting a more cautious approach.

At that point Prussia knows what is coming.(okay, maybe Brandenburg‘s Elector marrying the younger sister of his own son‘s wife juuuuust to make sure no other family ever gets a chance to claim Prussia was a bit too— nevermind). He got the point. He knows he has no other option really, and that he and Johann are kind of…stuck in this ever since the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order happened to be a Hohenzollern. And thus he makes what he can out of it, trying out what strings he can pull and when.

After all, he‘s painfully aware that Johann may seem like a schemer with a long-term plan, but in fact? Will hesitate and push for neutrality when a firm decision is most needed. If Brandenburg is good at something, that is masking his indecisiveness with cautiousness. And Prussia wonders how, or rather when he will be able to use this to his advantage…

[this writing stuff is very experimental and very much a WIP and both interpretations and characterisations are subject to change !!! Be warned !!!]

Oh, yeah looks like I have my time to create stuff back? I was just testing that one technique when you draw stuff in grayscale and then colour it. It‘s torture, but damn, I like the result. Shit took 4 days to render. And I just gave up on the bg sorry not sorry.

Meh, It’s always „how do you get along?” and not „how do you even get. there. at the first place.” I was just thinking – 700-ish km between Berlin and Königsberg. Imagine. 2-3 weeks horseback through swamp sand and shit and you’re there except it’s too late and noone cares. Must’ve been hell.

By the way physically they‘re..? 15-16, I would say here? Brandenburg is a bit older, not really much, but he‘s taller lol.

Other versions because YES ITS HARD TO CHOOSE A FILTER RRRAH

How does one become this silly

Itz a secret🫢🫢🫢

Oh, great Edel (idk what I should call you) please spare us your wisdom

HAHA WHAT—

literally it‘s Eligh/Eli although whatever great Edel will do too

also what wisdom this is literally me

although the overthinker in me is thinking they‘re being sarcastic. who knows

ships with ukraine are not beating trophy wife allegations, would it hurt you people so much to give her more of a personality than just being caring, motherly, and nice? like really, so much of ship stuff with her is ukraine being an object of adoration and the one giving affection but not so much receiving it as much. she's always perfect, somehow, often in contrast to her partner. and it's quite a Problem, portraying a woman, especially an eastern european woman, like that.

and to make it sound less vague, i'm referring to canukr (not all of it, and i generally like the ship) and engukr (a rarepair, but still)

~ (¯´★`¯)

I think, being Ukrainian, the cherry on top to just living through a genocide of your people and news about more and more rape, deaths and destruction every single day, is the constant gaslighting and whining from russians and some non-russians alike about us being so russophobic for daring to not appreciate the great russian culture.

Babes, this IS russian culture. Genocide, theft, rape, murder - that is russian culture. Everything else (ballet, literature, and the like) basically exists to facilitate, justify or disguise the things mentioned above. And everyone defending that culture, promoting it and giving it platform and awards participate in this genocide, willingly or not.

And until the russian people themselves process their identity and culture and the issues with it and work on it, it's not going to change.

MAGMA COLLAB WITH @yummyseadas 🫨

FINALLY laid my hands upon the physical copy. life is alright again guys. haven’t been this happy for a while

he looks a bit shocked

worst honeymoon ever

Gilbert at some point hoped that Johann was dead for good, not even purely because he hated being tied up in a personal union so much, but in that moment mainly because seeing first-hand that a nation could simply live in an un-healed body like a gravely injured human would makes him fear for his safety in a way he never did before

“Ah how good that we only live once! Had it been twice, I wouldn’t have fuckin’ handled it”

drawing Ukraine into Ukrainian memes as self care (original under the cut)

i mawst apologeize fowr zhe lack of origgginal cowntwnt on zhis blog lateaealy, art hasn’t been arting and life not exactly lifing either. also my birthday is in less than a week and the very idea is terrifying.

прікол я спочатку думала що ʼхуй потягнувʼ типу…буквально потягнув. як мʼяз(?). не знаю чи це щось про мене говорить.

when the meeting is going so bad you gotta pull out a song and dance that wont exist for another 61 years. (A v cool song that i didnt use fully so click here to listen to it!!!)

Edit : FUCK I FORGOR TO SAY THANKS TO @hetaestoniahq FOR THE ESTONIAN TRANSLATION! THANK U SM!!! THE ACTUAL ESTONIAN U SEE IN THE ANIMATIC IS THANKS TO THEM!!

(historical notes under read more)

Ok! The animatic is mostly comedic and very much started out as a shitpost (hence the fact that nobodys clothes are era apropriate etc) , but i did make it with history in mind so heres some history!

the Bulduru conference of 1920 was a conference that lasted from the 6th of august to the 6th of september 1920 in Bulduri (a part of the city of Jūrmala), Latvia. (Latvia was the host which is the reason i'm having Latvia be the main one who talks to ppl through the animatic)

It was a conference between Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine (Ukrainian Peoples's Republic) (sort of. Ukraine was either a member or an observer depending on the source.)

The UK and France were observers and Belarus (Belarusian Democratic Republic) was an unofficial observer (again. some sources say they were just an observer and some say they were unofficial).

Belarus and Ukraine at that moment held none of their land.

(Ukraine had lost the Polish-Ukranian war and was losing the Ukranian-Soviet war due to a lot of reasons that I'm not the best person to explian)

(one of them was France favouring Poland - a reason that i am mentioning bcs one of the things that i held in my mind during this whole animatic was the complex relations between the Baltic+Co countries and France and UK. both sides understood very much that they were just using eachother to get what they want. to France and UK these seperatist countries were needed as a shield against the Soviets (but they would have really prefered the Russian Empire to still exist and win the Russian civil war instead) and the Baltic+Co needed the wests guns and resources to win against the Soviets and/or Germans when they were involved.)

(Belarus, from what I can tell, lost all of its land to its Soviet alternative Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia very fast after German troops left its teritory. People who know Belarussian history better than me please correct me if im wrong.)

The Bulduru conferences whole deal was creating a Baltic Union between Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

A goal that was ultimatly hopeless due to Polands and Lithuanians disagreements over Vilnius and their subsequent war.

A war the others tried really hard to be neutral on - wanting both the Poles and the Lithuanians as allies. (Latvia once asked Estonia to make a Baltic Entente with them and Lithuania (and Finland if they wanted) - to which Estonia declined because they didn't want to get on Polands bad side (also Lithuania was also against the idea bcs their whole plan was trying to befriend the Soviet and German states in the interwar period while Latvia and Estonia saw them as a danger). Later in 1934 a Baltic Entente would still be made - but as history would later tell - it didn't really acomplish much, due to lots and lots of reasons that i wont bore you with atm)

(also - just in general - if im wrong abt any of this history feel free to correct me. i did do reasearch but all of it was in latvian and english so i can very much be wrong abt things that consern the other nations)

None of the agreements that were signed during the Bulduru conference were ever ratified.

The Many Ills of Canon South Korea(as explained by a South Korean)

Ik a lot of people might feel a knee-jerk reaction to this and go "why are you making this? it's been a long time since the character was banned and went into oblivion," and that's true. However, I find that a lot of characteristics of how South Korea was written has been carried on by some Hetalia fans, which are still problematic and rooted in pro-Japanese imperialist sentiment.

Here, I'll try my best to go over some major points, starting with Korea's canon design.

Character Design

Looking at this for the first time, I felt like I was on some kind of trip. It looked like Himaruya was indecisive of whether he wanted Yongsoo to wear a durumagi or a jeogori, so he said "let's make the undershirt as long as a durumagi!"

For reference, left is a jeogori and pants outfit and right is a durumagi and pants outfit. These are the 2 main hanbok types for men.

I can't think of a single character whose character design was this flawed and so inaccurately done. It's like he didn't even care or put any thought into Korean traditional wear. It makes me laugh when I see how Japan is given such accurate clothing in contrast.

His clothing is a caricature of what Korean wear is. Thankfully, I don't see a lot of art of him wearing it anymore, but when it does appear it really does feel disrespectful.

His Personality

I don't really have a problem with his energetic personality, but if you know anything about his depiction in the manga, you know what I'll be talking about:

His "hobby" where he takes credit for inventions, and his weird "quirk" involving sexually harassing Japan.

What...was the reason for this exactly? A lot of personality quirks and gags of characters are rooted in some existing stereotype many people attribute to the country, like

America -> eats a lot of food, bright colored cake -> US's reputation as a country with a lot of fast food and artificially colored desserts

England -> food is inedible -> England's reputation of unappetizing foods

Korea -> claims credit for other countries' creations(Mostly Japan's), sexually harasses Japan -> ?????

This is why I don't accept some Westerners trying to brush South Korea aside "because everyone gets dunked on in Hetalia!" yes, but to what degree?

A Japanese man writing his Korean character to be stealing from the Japanese one says a lot, that Korea doesn't have a culture of its own, or most of it isn't their own. Or daresay, Korea takes Japanese culture and claims it to be their own. All three of these conclusions are problematic, and audacious coming from a person hailing from the empire that attempted to stamp our culture out and penalized those trying to preserve our culture.

The "grabbing Japan's chest" bit originates from an ongoing political dispute of an island known as Dokdo, or as Japan calls it, Takeshima. Personally, I'd agree that Dokdo belongs to Korea, referring to maps produced by Japan from the 1800s:

Yellow is marked as Korean land, with even the writing labeling it as "Joseon Land." But regardless of which side is correct, there is something about taking an ongoing territorial dispute(it was a much bigger issue while Himaruya was writing Hetalia) and applying it with the context of "haha he grabs Japan's chest."

It paints Korea as unreasonable and a sexual assaulter so that Korean grievances against Japan can be dismissed. Additionally, both countries have a rampant sexual assault issue(my phone's shutter sound cannot be turned off–a feature of phones only made in/for Korea and Japan), which is why it's also insensitive to give this trait to Korea and make light of this sensitive topic, while also...not extending this to Japan.

Let's not mention making Korea the harasser given the history and Japan's position too. Korea's red light districts and sex/entertainment industry was started by and formalized by the Japanese occupation so they could exploit Korean women.

"Korea had been a Japanese colony since 1910, and the proximity of colonial Korea to Japan, its established colonial bureaucracy and transportation network, and the presumed “cleanliness” of its young female population meant that likely the largest percentage of comfort women came from Korea. Another reason for the large numbers of Korean girls and young women in the comfort women system was the well-developed state of the Japanese colonial sex industry in Korea and its networks of human trafficking. This industry, which had been growing with Japanese encouragement since the late nineteenth century, blossomed under the Japanese colonization of Korea (1910–45) and provided networks for obtaining and trafficking sexual slaves." - Music and Dance in the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” System: A Case Study in the Performing Arts, War, and Sexual Violence by Joshua D Pilzer

Now, the "claiming everything is Korean" bit. The whole gag is Korea is delusional haha look he's claiming something Japan made as his!! While Japan is just looking at him like "ok...sure..go off whatever ig." Again, making Korea to be an unreasonable childish character while Japan is mature and just trying to get along, let bygones be bygones! Look at the sassy child I have to deal with guys!!!

Speaking of "sassy child..."

Korea's age

I haven't checked the wiki in a hot minute, but there were 2 details of his age I remember.

he's 15

he was "born" 1945(liberation of Korea from Japan) or 1948(Creation of South Korean govt)

This would be contrary to even the manga, as it references a painting by a Japanese artist in the 1700s of what he assumed were Joseon messengers stealing chickens during their mission to Japan. Korea was alive then as depicted in the picture referencing the real one, so it's safe to say his existence should predate even 1945.

(Interesting to note that Himaruya says that Koreans interpret it as Japanese bullying the Korean envoys, when Korean sources actually suggest it could be children playing around.)

Even if Korea was set to be born 1945 or 1948, it doesn't do us justice. Why do we not have a history before colonization? How is it that Korea could be even younger than America, when the Joseon Dynasty was established a century before Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492? How is it that Japan gets to be older and Korea doesn't?

It's glaringly obvious, but Korea's "childish, immature personality" stems from Japanese imperialist rhetoric of Koreans during the Colonial Era, of people needing to be civilized.

"In April 1919, Baron Goto Shinpei (Home Minister, 1916–1918) addressed a luncheon attended by US Treasurer John Burke. Goto contended that Japan did not act duplicitously in 1905, but instead, “with the full cognizance of the United States government.”  "He added, “under the efficient government of Japan, the Korean people rapidly advanced in civilization and enjoyed the blessings resulting from the development of productive industry, as well as the spread of education." - The March First Movement in America: The Campaign to Win American Support by Brandon Palmer

The most important thing to remember in all of this was that during the time of Korea's controversy, Anti-Japanese sentiment was still quite high because of the unhealed wounds as a result of 35 years of Japanese Occupation. When you think about your colonizer making a personification of your country and depicting him as

-someone that copies from the colonizer and harasses them, a contrast to the "mature" colonizer

-someone with barely a history before the colonizer

-someone who's clothes are so wildly inaccurate

then wouldn't you too be enraged? This is what caused the National Assembly to ban the official airing of the anime, and official releases of the manga. You'll notice even these days Koreans are hostile towards Hetalia, even as the incident happened years ago, whereas the Countryhumans had a large Korean following and creators, because one of them was openly treating their country like a personification from a political cartoon found in a 1920s Japanese newspaper, and the other was fan created.

I hope this perspective was helpful in explaining why certain qualities of canon are disrespectful. Please remember before defending "canon" Hetalia, Hetalia is made by a Japanese author who was found to have been on Japanese right wing forums. Don't try to convince a Korean that his depiction/canon of Korea is respectful.

monitor Miku

idk if its a hot take, just a dilemma that makes me stand borderline on quitting the fandom.

Is re-interpreting a really badly portrayed character, but still leaving them within hetalia «frameworks» does worse in the long term as it is still supporting Himaruya’s shitty portrayal, or is it for better, as it is better for a re-interpreted version to exist at all then to not exist? damn.

~ (¯´★`¯)

Unfortunately, hetalia is notoriously bad when it comes to accurate representations of political and historical relations between nations. Russia is the most obvious example with both the show and a distinct portion of the fandom being too uneasy with the idea of portraying the absolute hatred most if not all Eastern European nations feel towards Russia. Actually, the main reason hetalia is so widely hated by most people who happen upon it is because it tries to downplay these conflicts to try and make the show completely unpolitical, so instead of correctly portraying the baltics or Ukraine for example at least heavily disliking Russia, they try to make it into this massive joke where Russia is this scary (but of course ultimately harmless which is even more gross) goliath of a man while the baltics are these snivelling cowards who fear Russia but don't hate him (because of course not)

And I'm sure a lot of Russians have issues with how they're portrayed too, but it's not nearly as heinous. The best way to portray a character in hetalia is to try and actually look into the history and culture of this nation. Hell, tumblr is a huge platform, I'm sure if people wanted to accurately portray a nation, they could just go and ask someone from that country for their opinion, and if even that is too hard, they could at least make the character completely blank and flat so they don't end up offending the people of that nation.

I can totally see why having a character that's supposed to represent my country in a fun and digestible way be this stupid, snivelling coward who has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Honestly, how is that supposed to reflect on actual Estonians who didn't elect that as a representative of their history and culture. This show was literally banned in South Korea because of how their country was portrayed in it. Heck, I've had my issues with how my own country is portrayed, and I've always said that much. Ukraine's portrayal is actually just a war crime in my opinion.

So, yeah, it's not exactly surprising that hetalia gets a bunch of hate.

Also, I know I'm probably not the best person to make a comment on this as I am actually a hetalia account, and I've actually had problems with this before where I have incorrectly based my information on a country through hetalia. It's just so shitty because most of the people who are guilty of this literally just don't know how to accurately portray these nations because of the harmful stereotypes hetalia has enforced. Nowadays, I try to reach out to people from the nations I post about to ask about my content before posting it. I avoid tagging nations that I know are often portrayed badly in this show.

Yes, hetalia is supposed to be harmless fun, but it's only that way for the countries that Himaruya thinks deserve it.

Anyway, sorry for the rant.

I had to take a few days to digest this ask. It's a long one, for sure! It's good to know some Hetalians are critical of the source material and understand why many people are upset with the show.

I will reiterate that the blog I reblogged and criticised deserved it. I understand they have been called out before for inaccurate portrayal that borders on ignorance at best.

I am aware that me reblogging a smaller blog is not great. Then again, @ask-computer-nerd-estonia has unforgivably crossed the line.

Estonia and Russia are not friendly countries. Russia has occupied our lands, tried to kill our people and threatens our existence regularly.

To say, even in character role-play, that these countries are friends is a gross misrepresentation of actual facts and history. Doing it days away from the anniversary of one of the worst days in Estonia's recent history and tagging it in a way Estonians will see it (by using the words "estonia" and "eesti" in tags)? Well, absolutely tasteless.

Now, for my own nefarious reasons, I asked my German (Schleswig-Holstein) friend today if there are any stereotypes about modern Brandenburg federal state in Germany, and she sent me this ABSOLUTE GEM

(Since I follow the chain of events that today’s Bundesland Brandenburg is personified by the same guy as personified the former Margraviate, part of the kingdom, etc, etc, these days Gilbert-Prussia would absolutely annoy the shit out of him with this song I CAN FUCKING SEE IT HAPPENING. With the other Bundesländer joining in.)

Basically the stereotype is that the area is very rural and there’s nothing to do and everyone’s moving out and shit and yes stereotypes are bad but in no right does this song have to be so fucking funny🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

PLEASE.

I CAN’T.

Wah, I made almost the same joke the other day!

OH YES MARK BRANDENBURG.

also a meme spoiler to a WIP which is the only reason I haven’t drawn this. YET. Except this was made before I even heard the song and this is just his normal face.

Also, here’s where the screenshots are from and where u can find English translation and stuff. I’M REALLY SORRY.

i am about to create an au SO self indulgent. the target audience is 1 person and that person is me

OH. MY. 😈😈😈 I LOVE THIS. I LOVE HER. WONDERFUL.

by the waaaaaaay, if anyone‘s wondering what the hell is UPR, what‘s the deal with Ukraine in the period, etc, etc – under the cut are a few okay-ish English-speaking youtube video essays on the topic 😈😈😈 it‘s a whole drama, I swear it‘s worth it. One of them topics I‘m Very Normal about

Can I request Ukraine? Idk if you draw historical setting, but 1917-1919 (Ukrainian People’s Republic) would be cool🥰

MAMMA MIA. I'M SO SORRY FOR THE 10 DAYS RESPONSE 😭😭 but anyways,,

honestly idk much about ukraine's history,, but i did look up the outfit for this one so i hope this is accurate enough! ^^

Final round of my Brandenburg doodles using using  ヒラ’s old Brandenburg OC design because its my friend’s favorite. 

Murderer: I want to keep murdering. I killed this person's entire family, and if I stop, it's only to catch my breath before killing some more. The victim (bleeding, fighting for their life, surrounded by the dead bodies of their loved ones): I want to live. I want to survive. Trump: I am in the middle, I’m for both the murderer and the victim. Also, I'm giving the victim this amazing, great, huge, really good opportunity to sign me off all of their possessions, completely voluntarily, in exchange for me not helping the murderer (probably)

☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼

every time i see a dumbfuck in this fandom fundamentally misunderstand whatever may possibly be the problem with the prevailing characterisation of hetalia ukraine and her relationship with russia and belarus the urge to gatekeep her and preferably all of eastern european characters gets stronger

um. hear me out-

I was reading some things, and then this guy randomly spawned in my head. Throwing him at you and running away😼

My guy used to personify the Margraviate of Brandenburg, then post-1815-ish, the province of Brandenburg, and these days a Bundesland in Germany by the same name. His relationship with Gilbert is – um – complicated. Inherriting an unruly polish fief dutchy was one thing, but actually dealing with him turned out to be a whole other. But Prussia learnt to use the situation to his advantage. After some time. Eventually.

The name’s Johann Friedrich (von Beilschmidt); I doubt it would make sense to make him and Gilbert directly related, but they‘ve been using the same family name ever since the personal union; at least on paper.

— That quote that kind of sums up his personality was taken from “The Iron Kingdom” by Christopher Clark, where it was also quoted by the author; I haven’t read the original work by Valentin, unfortunately

me when ppl hc south italy as X percent arab when italians invaded colonized and committed massacres against north africans, going so far as to commit a genocide in libya:

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

my piece for the @hwsfemmephenomenon zine, featuring Ukraine!! she's in a traditional uzbek chapan, eating somsa next to uzbekistan wearing traditional ukrainian vyshyvanka and eating strawberry varenyky!! I gave ukraine blue and gold to reflect the colors of her flag <3 I hope you enjoy this piece, and pls check out the awesome pieces from the other collaborators in the zine, they've all done so wonderful <3

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

Hetalia Ukraine Headcanon #1: hair colour

…or new unexpected and un-asked for series, where I yap in detail about one headcanon on physical appearence, personality or history of my Ukraine interpretation at a time

This has been a thing that confused the hell out of me for ages, because her hair colour in the anime & official art exists on a spectrum from grey to white to blonde to ash blonde to yellow ??? (which may or may not be due to an art style change and had hapenned to 75% of characters at least) but REGARDLESS, I decided to put a twist on it

So, in my vision, her hair colour is best-described as «світло-русявий натуральний колір волосся»; which would, as per most suitable photos I found on the internet, loosely mean this:

So, you see; blonde, but not really blonde; depends on the lighting; the best English equivalent to «світло-русявий» my brain could think of was a borderline between «dark blonde», «light brown» and «ash-blonde», which coincidentally could all be applied to describe Ukraine’s hair in different depictions at different points

Furthermore, many Ukrainians on my experience would describe their hair as «русяве», ranging from темно-русяве for darker colours, to світло-русяве for lighter, to the point where it seems like a safe option in case your hair is not exactly dark or not 100% light and you are not sure what to reply. And even in folklore you’ll find a «руса коса до пояса»; «русява коса – дівоча краса»; or occasionally hair being compared to gold as well, i.e. «ой у полі жито, а в дівчини коса золота», translating too «there was wheat in the field, a girl had a golden braid» (more to come on her hairstyle!!)

by the way WHEAT. YET ANOTHER WAY I LIKE TO THINK OF HER HAIR COLOUR, is that it has the colour of wheat

I know you know what wheat looks like, just a moment of appreciation

And finally — Ukraine’s русявий hair colour changes slightly throughout the year! In the summer, when she gets lots of sun, it bleaches Ukraine’s hair a bit (UV light breaks down melanin in the hair blah blah blah); moreover it looks lighter in contrast to the skin tan she gets (again, we’ll get to this later); compared to winter when the tan fades and the hair would look visibly darker due to less sun exposure. And I mean like:

So, to sum up, I see Ukraine’s hair colour as „світло-русявий”, something closest to „dark blonde”, „light brown”, „ash blonde” or simply „wheat colour”, which tends to look darker in winter due to less sun exposure and lighter in the summer ;)

by the way fun fact, I’m NOT ignoring your guys’ asks; I just wanna draw something for each and do them justice, which happens to require some time (!!!)

Sometimes I wonder why people find spa mano so amusing, not only Spain literally raised Romano as a kid and its shippers lowkey romanticize irl spanish domain on south italy, but that ship in general is just bland as fuck, how do people even enjoy it, it's crazy😭

at first I saw the new art and thought oh no arthur did u die but then no way is he going to heaven

original meme:

ARTHUR KIRKLAND ENTHUSIASTS WAKE TF UP!!!

🫂🫂🫂

I see you worried over making "vent art" but please don't stop. You NEED a place to escape from the hard reality, right? You need to make your voice heard like everyone, so stay confident with yourself and keep drawing Ukraine. We all love your personif country here.. 💛💙 Accept this as a kiss and a hug from me!

www. Thank you, but im not Ukrainain - im Latvian.

But Ukraine and all Ukranians deserve all the Hugs and Kisses yes 💙💛 and a country free from war and bitch ass neighbours!!! 🔥

The vent part of the art was more me being mad and tired about hearing our neighbour and friend get dogpiled and slaugtered by the guy who's saying that everyone else who dares to have a border with him is next. And watching live as one of our biggest allies turns their back on Ukraine and the rest of us.

Which in no way compares to actually being dogpiled and slaughtered by said guy.

But by God is opening the news and seeing 'Trump blames Ukraine for starting the war' or 'Ukraine kept out of talks about Ukraine' or 'The new Molotov - Ribentrop pact?' disheartening and infuriating.

But yea. Thats why i drew Ukraine together with the Baltics and Poland. I got tired and mad abt it all (an emotion shared by many) and drew the squad tired and mad together.

🤝 Were all holding hands on this 'fuck Russia, support Ukraine' train 🤝