AmeCan

Daily Hetalia Fact #99

Russia does not put up with France’s ego.

Latvia

Name: Raivis Galante House: Ravenclaw Age: 11 Year: 1st Blood Status: Muggle-born Patronus: Adder Snake Hobbies:  Wizarding history. Anything Extra: Raivis is a very soft spoken boy. He came from an extremely rich muggle family and was supposed to go to an expensive school abroad. But instead he went to Hogwarts. he was very shocked to find that he was a wizard and is still having a hard time accepting it. Most of the concepts of the wizarding world he doesn’t find a use for and is very pro doing things the muggle way.

Doodle for Star Trek crossover with Kiku as Spock and Alfred as Kirk.

Daily Hetalia Fact #165

Germany’s car is sturdy enough to drive off of a cliff and land on another road without even bouncing.

~Paris, June 1940~

Two passionate men who don’t work well together as of yet.

what do you mean this isn’t how buon san valentino happened

Daily Hetalia Fact #2

Canada is surprisingly good at strategy.

England’s character tends to get a lot of criticism, for, well, how critical he is of America. Don’t get me wrong either. England can be exceptionally mean. At the same time, however, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, he can also be just as sweet, considerate, and thoughtful.

To understand why England tends to take out his frustration onto America, it’s important to situate this behaviour within the context of the Revolutionary war, both before and after (duh).

The isolation and constant mocking that came with being the “Black Sheep of Europe” took a huge hit on England’s self-esteem. Of course, being as sensitive as he is, he responds with anger and keeps the accompanying feelings of stress and anxiety to himself.

Things were different with America, who functioned as England’s stress relief. England’s even noted to feel at peace when he’s with America.

This can be attributed to the fact that America’s youth and naivety led to his unconditional acceptance and love for England. America was the one person England could feel at home with. While the rest of the world hated England, America didn’t.

That said, England became dependent on America emotionally. He didn’t have to worry about being rejected by America…that is until America began fighting for his independence.

To put it simply, America going against him broke England’s heart. He felt like he could trust and rely on America to have his back, only to be betrayed (in his POV) and isolated once more when other European nations sided against him in America’s favor.

History repeats itself, and England found himself all alone again.

While subtle, there are significant hints about just how deeply the Revolution hurt him.

For one thing, it’s said that he’s suffered from 100 years of heartbreak. Likewise, an even more telling emotional omen of the past is that in one his character notes, three important pieces of information are given.

1) “His temper was quite stormy during the decades after America’s independence.”

– Anger is a maladjustive way of either expressing one’s need for something or acquiring it. In this case, it could be a reaction to the loneliness he experiences after losing America.

2) “He’s quite bad at expressing himself. He himself knows that people often misunderstand him, he uses this fact for self-depreciating jokes.”

– This ties in with how easy it is to see him as an angry person when he’s  actually extremely sensitive.

Taking the latter two bits of information, you can see why Hima then says this about England:

3) “He could easily be the most pitiful one in this webcomic.”

In other words, England thinks lowly of himself, cares about others’ opinions of him, poorly expresses his sadness by acting out in anger, and yet doesn’t bother to fix these external misconceptions.

Like I said before, America was his best friend, and because he can’t articulate his feelings well, England went from using America as a stress ball to a punching bag (this term is used loosely).

For example, England is notorious for being a “scathing” critic of America’s movies.

Nonetheless, what you’ll also notice is the subtle hints of America knowing that England cares about him.

Here, America –with a noticeably teasing look, as if he understands more than what he voices– allows England to poke holes in his proposed world defense plan.

Also pay attention to how England “commends” parts of America’s plan.

Aside from these faults, the strengths in England’s character prevail when they’re most needed. Even though any mention of America’s dependence causes England to get sick, he visits America and celebrates the occasion with him. 

It causes him a lot of pain to do so, but he still commits to it. Not only that, but he gives America the liberty bell on the 100th anniversary of his independence, worries over and offers to repair the bell in 1958 despite the offer being turned down by American officials, and gives America a new one another one hundred years later.

While America is amused by England’s evident embarrassment, the next panel can easily be interpreted as him crying and laughing from happiness.

Please note that the anime handles this scene quite differently, as it’s depicted more as in America laughs so hard that he cries.

I think it’s also important to end this by mentioning that England was also America’s best friend. America is arguably just as lonely as England.

When he was younger, America was scared to sleep alone. Regardless if England always fell asleep before he did, America still needed him.

In “We’re Shipwrecked Too”, we get this awkward moment where both of them consider sleeping closer to each other for warmth, but in the end choose not to.

The tension here reveals that England isn’t the only one having trouble working past the difficulties in their relationship.

Nevertheless, we also get moments where America reaches out to England.

Ex: During a blizzard, he asks England to come and play video games with him, but is turned down.

As seen in more modern strips, the two of them are slowly working towards reconciliation and visit each other often. The perfect ideal would be if they’re able to become best friends again, not just in their hearts, but openly and expressively without any qualms of what others might think.

(adm: This was supposed to be a simple art trade with my sister, but then I accidentally turned it into a comic so I thought I should share it with you. XD)