totally forgot to mention

[davemerrill]

Last Sunday was World Hetalia Cosplay Day. I learned this when we drove past Queen's Park and noticed three cosplayers crossing University. Then we saw that the park was full of people in Hetalia costumes.

It's fascinating to me. Hetalia is one of those things that was popular among fans before there was an R1 release, its fandom came out of people seeking it out, finding out about it, saying, hey, this is cool, translating it themselves, and enjoying it without the benefit of localization. Now the R1 release has engendered discussions about whether or not the fandom will be ruined with the influx of all the newbies. In short, it's a very old school fandom, that happened in spite of what 'the market' felt was 'the next big thing'.

I'm also totally jealous and wish there was a World Yamato Cosplay Day or a World Gatchaman Cosplay Day.

In the meantime it's coming up on Halloween so here we are with a Halloween themed Found Sound!!



That's right, Count Floyd cut an album! Did his attempt to cash in on SCTV fame pan out? Or did Joe Flaherty's cameo in STRIPES take up all his valuable record-promoting time? Listen to FOUND SOUND and judge for yourself!!

I like Halloween but it's beginning to get on my nerves. Well, Halloween isn't, but the fact is that people simply will not shut up about zombies, witches, wizards, vampires, ghosts, Satan - let's face it, it's Halloween every day. And it's getting old. After Oct. 31, can't we just let Halloween rest for six months or so? Can't we read fiction that doesn't describe itself with the word "dark", let the Universal monsters take a break, let the axe murderers and Texas Chainsaw Massacrerers have a vacation? I say "yes".

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That Hetalia story is fascinating, a flash-mob microcosm of the entire history of anime fandom. Almost like it's the normal evolutionary path.

Gotta wonder, did the same thing happen with, say, wrestling or Nascar or rap music?

-Tim E.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I would say 'no' to wrestling and Nascar, but 'yes' to rap music, which came from a wide variety of musical subcultures and organically grew, simply because people enjoyed it. The side benefits of 'enormous profits' and 'scaring white people' came later.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

But I do wonder if it's a case of looking at one tree and forgetting the forest.

Seems to me MOST of the fans of Hetalia are 14 year old girls who get all tingly thinking about pretty boys who might, just might kiss and stuff.

From my (admittedly biased and isolated) POV it's nice and all there are people discussing history and looking into various painfully obscure matters of dusty fact...in search for more things for pretty boys to almost kiss (and STUFF!) over.

And let's not forget, dressing up as Nazis is fun. NOBODY is going to be worried about that.

Still and all, I'll give it that it's positive and at least there's not going to be an explosion of foam hair and orange karate Gi.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

There aren't any Nazis in Hetalia, and while the majority of fans are female, they aren't all 14.

I will say it's amazingly funny to see the grumpy middle aged man-fandom getting all grumpy about teenage girls liking anime.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

I will say it's amazingly funny to see the grumpy middle aged man-fandom getting all grumpy about teenage girls liking anime.

yeah. i mean, who gives a shit? since when was whatever teenage girls did relevant to your life at all? if they liked high school musical you'd grump but not care about the fact that they were Ruining Your Fandom.

not to mention that hetalia is carefully created specifically to appeal to them. in that sense, they have more right to be here than you do.

'course i speak from a perspective of "not really an anime fan anymore".

[animejump.livejournal.com]

I watched the first season of Hetalia this week - it's OK. The humor is kind of hit-or-miss-- the stuff that specifically mentions WWII is a little creaky, but the broad gentle, stereotyping is usually pretty hilarious-- there's a great bit where Germany is waiting in line, and getting increasingly incensed because the counter is run by Spain, who works slowly and won't stop talking to Italy, who's happy to stand and gab and encourage him. Then Russia wanders over and cuts in line and Germany is FURIOUS-- the only person angrier is Austria, who is directly in front of Germany.

Also, like Walter Amos pointed out, this stuff is leading teenagers to history, which is very valuable. I'm all for sixteen years old girls actually knowing what the Crimean War was.

If I could complain about any aspect of it, it's the flagpoles at conventions. They're too damn bulky and every Hetalia cosplayer has one.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

When you put it that way Mike, it does make sense (this coming from someone who bothered taking a class on WWII in high school without a cartoon to lean on in that sense).

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's the simple fact of teenage girls liking anime that they're grumping about, I think it's more a case of "where the hell were they when I was a teenage BOY?" that is the genuine root of the grumpage.

Besides, gotta grump about somethin'.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I see some genuine distaste towards the teenage girls in some places (I'm not talking about anybody here, of course.) in FB comments, etc. A general "this is our fandom, what are these GIRLS doing here?" kind of thing. Of course you see this in comic shops too.

What these teenage girls - and guys - are doing is saving your fandom, fellas. A fandom that's nothing but the same growing-older people staring at each other watching each other's beards get greyer is not a place people want to be.

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

Wasn't that OUR reaction when the literary sci-fi types snubbed us when anime fandom was just starting? I seem to recall thinking along the lines of "fine, you don't want us around, we'll go off and do our own thing" and started our own cons, et al.

The only part I resent about the teenager girls is the way they're allowed to get silly about gay (and semi gay/implied gay/kinda looks gay/probably not gay but let's say they are 'cause any two guys at any given time MUST be gay) fiction and "aw, isn't that cute", while when our contemporaries were that age and did the same thing, they were vilified and made to wander the streets like a leper.

But fresh blood in the fandom? Heck yeah.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

I'm not complaining, but it is sad to think it's not about "us" anymore.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm, I'm not quite sure it was ever "about" us, or in fact "about" anyone in particular. It was and still is about finding a balance of art and story that's marketable to consumers with time and money. If something positive is accomplished along the way and the people making it get to have a good time, great. But that's secondary.

Taking it further, nobody has anything logical to complain about here. No teenage girls can ever "ruin" my hobby for me unless I allow them to. I would like to hear somebody with that gripe describe exactly what it is that gets ruined. Do they look at their books, CDs, and DVDs and suddenly think they've become tainted by a shift in context? Weird. But complaints always reveal something about the complainer, don't they?

-Tim E.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

as a gay man i fucking hate that shit. completely. but my solution is not to whine about it, cos it's girls being silly. it's to fucking avoid it like the plague.

fortunately they do make comics for me and i just buy those. there's, shall we say, a difference.

[x-expat.livejournal.com]

Well, I remember objecting to the "these characters are prolly not gay, but let's say they are cuz any 2 guys at any given time MUST be gay" trend (when it was called "slash" instead of "yaoi," and "bishie" was just starting to invade the vocabulary), and being vilified for it. And I was in their demographic (female, teen-ish) back when anime was just G-Force and Star Blazers. I resented it back then.

[cmndr-x.livejournal.com]

It's not a new thang in anime of course; the specific series-fandoms and shows change but the cry is usually the same. Like when Full Metal Alchemist came to the States via Adult Swim's anime bloc and such, I remember there being much hysterical wailing and rending of clothes by folks who thought the series was going to be "dumbed down" by the American distrubtors somehow and be absolutely RUUUUUUUUUUUUINED (sob, choke, sob) by this influx of newbie fans as well.

[mr-sadhead.livejournal.com]

Count Floyd! I remember that EP. Had a copy. Or rather, had a friend who had a copy, which is why I don't have one now.

[cmndr-x.livejournal.com]

I like Halloween, and quite a bit of my entertainment intake year round is horror - literature mostly, books new and old, major publishers and small press, even less horror films interest me these days than the miniscule amount of new anime I check out.

People (especailly nerds, NERRRRRRRRRRRDS!) who use Halloween as an excuse to behave like even more of a socially-retarded goofball locked in terminal adolescence than they usually do get on my nerves however.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

There's a mother I know who still gets in the spirit via decorating our house every year for the event, and I have to admit, she does a fine job turning our front yard into a cemetery complete with several animatronic characters, lights and other props. The only drawback is that we live on a rather major 4-lane street and barely see kids come down for trick or treating, but we hope it may change.

[x-expat.livejournal.com]

I think a Gatchaman or Yamato cosplay day would be all kinds of awesome. The closest we can get nowadays is San Diego Comic Con (four or five fans turned up in costume last year).

As for Halloween, I love the holiday. Decorated my yard, bought some pumpkins to carve up, and have been watching suitably spooky movies/reading fiction. Vampires? Meh, but I'm tired of zombies. Everything seems to be coming up zombies these days.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Zombies are easy, Zombies are cheap, Zombies are an easy metaphor for whatever bugaboo one needs to vilify.

I suspect there's a thesis in just WHY Zombies are 'hot' nowadays.

I used to love Halloween but something got beat out of me (in a manner of speaking) some time back and I just want the day to be over so I don't have to sit in the dark and pretend I'm not home. I think the neighborhoods I've been living in is a factor.

[tohoscope.livejournal.com]

Eh. As long as they don't block the hallway I'm okay with it. Hetalia fans will fade away in time, just like the fans of Orange Road, Ranma One Half, Tenchi Muyo, whatever the last group of shrieking crazed tweens was devoting themselves to at the last con I went to. And the cycle of abuse continues...