2019 Hetalia Tag Raids
| Event | |
|---|---|
| Event: | 2019 Hetalia Tag Raids |
| Participants: | Hetalia fans on Tumblr Discord vs. anti-fans |
| Date(s): | c. August 18, 2019 |
| Type: | Wank |
| Fandom: | Hetalia |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The 2019 Hetalia Tag Raids were a series of conflicts between antis and fans of the webcomic-turned anime and manga series Hetalia in the summer of 2019 that took place on Tumblr and Discord.
Background
For further information about the controversies surrounding Hetalia see: Hetalia: Axis Powers#Criticism & Controversy.
During the early 2010s, the Hetalia fandom was seen as a very toxic, large fandom that was known for various controversies (for example: the notorious Anime Boston Incident of 2010). However, after the series faded from relevance and fans left for other corners of the internet, the reputation and general reputation of the fandom had cooled considerably.[1]
Events
The events of the raids were heavily researched and best preserved by a contemporary account by reddit user jadeandgypsum who made the post "[Tumblr Discourse/Hetalia: Axis Powers] Tumblr starts a crusade against a 'problematic' anime fandom, everyone is upset" on the subreddit r/hobbydrama in 2019.
It is difficult to pin down exactly when the events occurred, but based on the fact that most contemporary commentary seems to come from the later part of the month of 2019 and Hetalia was trending on tumblr on August 18th, the events appear to have took place on or around the 18th.[2]
The controversy started when a Hetalia user (referred to in jadeandgypsum's write-up as "Eggs") made a post about the Japanese character creation platorm PicCrew. This post discussed issues such as racism. In response, user Skullgirl (who was later shadowbanned) accused Eggs of being a racist for being a fan of Hetalia and stating that she had no place to comment about racism.[1]
Within the hour, skullgirl "amassed a group of several people to raid several Hetalia discord servers at once, spamming death threats en masse." Eggs and other Hetalia fans on Tumblr were also attacked with hateful anon messages. Other antis impersonated Hetalia fans "before turning right around before turning right around and spamming hateful stuff." In addition, the #Hetalia tag on tumblr was then flooded with anti-Hetalia messages; eventually, the tag ended up trending due to the surge of activity. [1]
These events sparked a panic within the Hetalia fandom. Many fans attempted to defend themselves. One Discord server apparently ended up befriending the anti-Hetalia crusaders, which resulted in an apology.[1]
It's a frustrating debate, because most of the fear surrounding the fandom can be resolved by doing research about the series and reading the source material. But if one is this staunchly against a series, one won't, and it's highly understandable. Hence, arguing. Calling Hetalia fans Nazis, calling it Nazi propaganda. The fandom is desperate to come out as the better party, for good reason. So, at this point, it's encouraged that members should just block people and move on. Likewise, anti-hetalia fans have created a blocklist of Hetalia fans. Some have posted in the tags that they were excited about the Hetalia crusades.jadeandgypsum, 2019 https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/croh3p/tumblr_discoursehetalia_axis_powers_tumblr_starts/?rdt=49247
In the midst of the drama, a BNF in the Hetalia fandom, George deValier, ended up deleting his account and all of his fanfiction. This might be unrelated, but added to the drama.[1]
Commentary
The whole hetalia discourse is like someone finding a group chat from a decade ago and deciding to start shit in it like bruh you’re late what do you want?angelic-tokkii, 2019 https://hoppiti.tumblr.com/post/187064117271
Yeeeeeeeah, I'm never gonna be cool with how Hetalia handled WWII, but I'm not going to assume the fandom supports the problematic parts of the media they watch. I watch a lot of things that I generally enjoy but criticize the bad parts of it. I would assume that most of the Hetalia fandom is the same, right? Fandoms often outgrow the source media - look at Harry Potter. We basically ignore JKR now. Half of the GoT fandom rips on the newer seasons. The Once Upon A Time fandom is RUTHLESS in our dislike for certain entire seasons.MamalehChaverta, 2019 https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/croh3p/tumblr_discoursehetalia_axis_powers_tumblr_starts/?rdt=49247
The whole hetalia discord raid thing is like if you had a rat problem in your house in 2010 and it kind of eventually went away on its own so you forgot about it but then like, now, almost 10 years later a teenager shows up at your house and is like “im here about the rat problem” and youre like “what ra—“ but before you finish your sentence theyre going ham at your walls with a baseball bat and release like a swarm of rodents that r like old and feeble but still absolutely full of rabies. Or something like thatlarkstonguesinaspicpart1, 2019 https://jaxonkreide.tumblr.com/post/187106254959
Many fans themselves, and I, have criticized older aspects of the series itself when it was in its early stages. Many of us don’t like several aspects of the early fandom as well. We certainly don’t look back at the disgusting things and mistreatment of extremely serious issues that happened with a sense of pride or a smile on our faces. So many of us want to move on. It’s a common rule in several fandom spaces— like Discord servers— to not bring up Nazi content or anything else sensitive. We tend to shudder at the new and current fans that ignore our general distaste for this, and we do also tend to tell them something about it or tell others not to follow in this person’s footsteps. And those cosplay incidents from years ago? We don’t condone those, and there were countless fans back then that were just as shocked and appalled by these happenings.I’ve been into Hetalia for 10-11 years, and I’ve seen so much good and bad over the years. I’ve seen a lot of growth from both the fandom and the series itself. Things have been changing for a while now, and Hetalia hasn’t focused on WW2 in a long, long time.
...people are more than allowed to feel uncomfortable with the series. No one should try to stop anyone from a completely valid feeling or saying completely valid criticisms. But not everyone is stating their dislike and issues in a level-headed manner. This is where a major— and one of the two real issues come in— Several extremists are:
•sending death and rape threats •making pedophilic jokes at minors •whitewashing the entire fandom and trying to revoke POC fan’s ethnicities/races •provoking fans to harm and/or kill themselves •invading fandom spaces with the intent to do everything I’m mentioning right now •spamming instead of explaining themselves and trying to drown out anything we have to say •refusing to listen to non-aggressive rebuttals and explanations and saying stuff like “brain rot” or sending terrible memes •creating fake fandom groups to lure in fans to harass •attempting to blend into fandom spaces as a fan themselves •raiding Discord servers and taking screenshots of our conversations to share with their friends and on Tumblr, spying •going through over a decade’s worth of fandom content in search of incredibly dated receipts to use against us •going through people’s blogs in search of more people to harass through DMs and asks and finding material to use against us in their attacks
None of this is okay. This is half of what SHOULD be the main focus. The other half is that these people are expending so much energy on harassing and cyber bulling us when this attention should be going to the far more important matter of real Nazis.
Hetalia is no way shape or form Nazi propaganda, and I’m not saying that as a fan of the series. I’m merely looking at things objectively. Even with its flawed beginnings in both the series, and the fandom. To call something Nazi/imperial/etc propaganda when such ideology is never brought up or because of the tiniest bits of “proof” perceived to be aiding bad people, is not a good idea. This makes light of very real propaganda and helps real Nazis/white supremacists slip through the cracks. It can be the beginning of a horrific pipeline, and this is just something I feel so strongly about. It’s extremely important to study history and know what actual propaganda looks like. I can guarantee you that no child or adult is going to walk into Hetalia and suddenly become a full fledged Nazi. The only legitimately bad people coming close to that sort of variety are people who are already bad people and twist the series to be about so many horrific and disgusting subjects because the actual point of this light-hearted comedy went right over their heads.
On a side note, the series was never meant to be a legitimate history book or a mirror to hold up to reality. Countless people have failed to grasp that. Both people in and out of the fandom.moophinz, 2019 https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/croh3p/tumblr_discoursehetalia_axis_powers_tumblr_starts/?rdt=49247
References
- ^ a b c d e https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/croh3p/tumblr_discoursehetalia_axis_powers_tumblr_starts/?rdt=49247
- ^ https://watsonmj.tumblr.com/post/187044129468On August 18, 2019, one tumblr user posted "Was I supposed to know there was Hetalia Discourse in this Year of 2019, or was I supposed to see the show trending on Tumblr all by myself?" The dating of this post give some indication as to when the tag raids themselves were happening. Most sources do not provide a specific date but the commentary mostly comes from the following days.