Musings of a Hetalian Veteran

Literally nobody:

Not a single soul:

My brain at random intervals:

A lot of people, including myself before have claimed that this fandom is ‘dying’. My opinion has changed since joining tumblr.  I don’t think that things are that bad just yet because people are still very much in the fandom.

The problem is that we aren’t very active. This is what I’ve noticed so far.

1)      The Popular Blogs Aren’t Active: To have and keep your fans, you need to make consistent material, rather than posting occasionally. It’s what makes people excited and inspires them to create their own content. Even if it’s just one post a day, it’s still really important to post (if you can, of course), as it maintains people’s interest. Especially when you have such a large platform of followers!

Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing Hetalia blogs that post several times everyday, and I’m always looking for new ones to follow!

2)      Not All Fanart Is Equal: Another thing about our fandom is that new artists aren’t given a chance to thrive. There are amazing new artists out there, but people only reblog the work from the popular blogs. Why not all?  If you see great content, reblog it regardless of how much attention that blog has received.

3)      Reblog Reblog Reblog: Reblog everything, friends. The more you reblog, the more people see content and want to get into it. Simple!

 4)      Fanfiction: The fanfiction community hardly has any responses nowadays, in comparison to what it used to be. Fanfic authors spend hours of their spare time for free to create stories for you to read and enjoy. It’s so important to follow, favourite, and review. Most of the time, authors reach out and post material to connect with their audience (as is with artists too). If there aren’t any responses, then they aren’t going to bother posting.  Good Fics have gotten a lot of people through some tough times, so I would hate to see that part of the community die out.

 If you have an account, support the stories you read. It makes no sense not to, and any comment, no matter how short, means the world to them. It doesn’t take you nearly as much time to support a story as it does to create one. Don’t be lazy if you’re a reader – the stories aren’t going to create themselves, they need encouragement and praise to continue :)

5)      SUPPORT ALL CONTENT: All art, stories, head canons, RPG’s, RPs, and anything else in this crazy fandom needs to be supported. If you love the fandom and want it to thrive, support is your greatest tool to make it happen.

I know some people are going to think I’m being melodramatic by writing this. Or perhaps I care too much. Still, I think the Hetalia fandom deserves better. Sure, there’s some really freaky content, but we’re a bunch of history nerds and weirdos anyways, so whatever, as long as you’re not being offensive.

This is the one fandom that I haven’t ever gotten bored with. The concept of countries being personified is just so ripe with creativity and potential. There is so much you can do with the large list of cast members, i.e. the mecca of ships and AUs. We’ve created a ton of content thus far, so why stop now?

We’re a community, so don’t you think we should start acting like it by becoming active again and supporting each other? The fact that we trended last week makes this even more possible!

Hasta la Pasta, let’s make Hetalia awesome again!

I believe everything you stated here is true. These are all real factors regarding the fandom's decline over the years. However, there is another overarching factor we need to consider. One that plays a huge role in contributing to the other ones you've listed. And it's one I haven't seen many other people talk about.

The vast majority of Hetalia fans, those who got into Hetalia back in the fandom's heyday, are now adults. The reason this is important is that once you become an adult, life gets progressively busier. Many of us now have part-time or even full-time jobs, bills to pay, errands to run, family members to look after, a romantic partner or spouse... Heck, some even have children to take care of.

It's not that many of us don't want to get as involved in the fandom again. I would love to see the fandom get revitalized with older fans popping in every now and then to reblog, comment, etc. It's just that, for many of us, adult responsibilities have taken priority over fandom.

A lot of people, including myself before have claimed that this fandom is ‘dying’. My opinion has changed since joining tumblr.  I don’t think that things are that bad just yet because people are still very much in the fandom.

The problem is that we aren’t very active. This is what I’ve noticed so far.

1)      The Popular Blogs Aren’t Active: To have and keep your fans, you need to make consistent material, rather than posting occasionally. It’s what makes people excited and inspires them to create their own content. Even if it’s just one post a day, it’s still really important to post (if you can, of course), as it maintains people’s interest. Especially when you have such a large platform of followers!

Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing Hetalia blogs that post several times everyday, and I’m always looking for new ones to follow!

2)      Not All Fanart Is Equal: Another thing about our fandom is that new artists aren’t given a chance to thrive. There are amazing new artists out there, but people only reblog the work from the popular blogs. Why not all?  If you see great content, reblog it regardless of how much attention that blog has received.

3)      Reblog Reblog Reblog: Reblog everything, friends. The more you reblog, the more people see content and want to get into it. Simple!

 4)      Fanfiction: The fanfiction community hardly has any responses nowadays, in comparison to what it used to be. Fanfic authors spend hours of their spare time for free to create stories for you to read and enjoy. It’s so important to follow, favourite, and review. Most of the time, authors reach out and post material to connect with their audience (as is with artists too). If there aren’t any responses, then they aren’t going to bother posting.  Good Fics have gotten a lot of people through some tough times, so I would hate to see that part of the community die out.

 If you have an account, support the stories you read. It makes no sense not to, and any comment, no matter how short, means the world to them. It doesn’t take you nearly as much time to support a story as it does to create one. Don’t be lazy if you’re a reader – the stories aren’t going to create themselves, they need encouragement and praise to continue :)

5)      SUPPORT ALL CONTENT: All art, stories, head canons, RPG’s, RPs, and anything else in this crazy fandom needs to be supported. If you love the fandom and want it to thrive, support is your greatest tool to make it happen.

I know some people are going to think I’m being melodramatic by writing this. Or perhaps I care too much. Still, I think the Hetalia fandom deserves better. Sure, there’s some really freaky content, but we’re a bunch of history nerds and weirdos anyways, so whatever, as long as you’re not being offensive.

This is the one fandom that I haven’t ever gotten bored with. The concept of countries being personified is just so ripe with creativity and potential. There is so much you can do with the large list of cast members, i.e. the mecca of ships and AUs. We’ve created a ton of content thus far, so why stop now?

We’re a community, so don’t you think we should start acting like it by becoming active again and supporting each other? The fact that we trended last week makes this even more possible!

Hasta la Pasta, let’s make Hetalia awesome again!