Darth Wiki / Alt-talia

Alt-talia is the Working Title of an Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfiction by WannabeHistorian604 on fanfiction.net, known on this wiki as shonengirl. However, these characters aren't the characters you all know; instead, they have been re-evaluated to fit their culture, mentality, and history better, fitted with more fitting stereotypes replacing the ones that are inaccurate, and much more morally gray. Or as WannabeHistorian herself puts it, "A bunch of stories chronicling the trials, tribulations, relationships, and lives of personified nations. A project I want to do in which I basically write stories starring the nation-people from Hetalia based on history and current events, but with a huge twist; I'll be giving the whole cast one giant overhaul."

It is also extremely different in tone, being usually much Darker and Edgier. more on the cynical side of Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism and a serious drama with focus on historical accuracy, nuanced explanation of modern international relations, and to a lesser extent cultural discussion, or at least as accurately as possible (though there are some entries with a tone closer to canon). It is a series of stories told through both individual, stand-alone fics and massive "event arcs". The author especially places weight on character motivation, writing under the philosophy that as bleak as the world can seem, people rarely commit acts out of pure malice, but more often because of what they think is right; "Everyone is searching for their own utopia".

While the story remains theoretical, the author has written many drabbles about the characters on her profile, and is known to promote the characterizations often.

The many, many spin-off concepts:

Evillious Chronicles × Alt-talia (or "Seven Deadly Sins"): Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a human AU with the Alt-talia characters in the roles of Evillious characters more in-line with the main fics in terms of tone, as well as several others. (As of now possibly cancelled)

Hetalia Emblem: A theoretical three-way Hetalia × Fire Emblem × World Flags fanmade crossover game (Hetalia characters, World Flags weapons, abilities and outfits, and Fire Emblem gameplay) with the distinction of being possibly one of the few works WannabeHistorian would ever think of using canon characterizations in.There's also Feliksball, which are simply Polandball comics drawn with Hetalia characters, occasionally uploaded on her DeviantArt account, erikatheraindeer. Another theoretical idea is Guest House Alt-talia, a Dating Sim to explore what the characters would be like in a more lighthearted environment, and to show how different cultures, as well as characters (due to Alt-talia being very light on shipping and a very hostile climate for even the development of any meaningful romance) approach romance and intimacy.

Alternate History stories. Most of these are written as a bunch of non-linear vignettes:

My Stepbrother, My Enemy: AKA “The Isekai AU”. A sort of extended version but not exactly of a previous 1984 short story, "Airstrip One" (or more the "alternate ending" for the short story, based on the theory that Oceania encompasses only Great Britain, where NATO invades and rescues the Brits in the 2000s), a crossover with America's Stepbrother, America's Enemy starring America and an uncharacteristically idealistic tone more in-line with the author's other works. America gets ISOT’d (or “Isekai’d” as the author describes it) to the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The story details America, his states, and his increasing allies' fight against the superstates.

Konnichiwa, From The Future!: AKA “The Time Travel AU”. A crossover with As One Star Sets Another Rises. Japan and Okinawa suddenly find themselves, with all their land and people on it at the time, in 1939, with no way home. Japan seeks to make the best of his situation, but quickly realizes that with his knowledge of the future he can Set Right What Once Went Wrong. This series also features a mostly idealistic tone, with Japan coming to the past ending up creating a better world for everyone.

Legacy of the Weltkrieg: Crossover with Kaiserreich, a game asking the question "What if the Central Powers won WWI?". Germany achieves his Place in the Sun, but at great cost, as new and old rivals surface, threatening his newfound throne. While Germany is the de jure protagonist, it follows characters all over Europe and beyond as nations deal with the war's fallout and new and old ideologies and alliances clash. Elaborated on in its own article on the page.

World War Z: AKA “the Zombie Apocalypse AU”. Explores the nation side of the eponymous zombie apocalypse novel, through many perspectives.

The Firefly AU: Exactly What It Says on the Tin; a crossover with Firefly. A mini-compilation centering on America and China as well as their children (or those they consider their children). Follows a few "routes", the main one being one where a female America and China (who are married in this route) try to make things work as their family tears itself apart, and make many mistakes in the process.

Worldwar: Paint It Scaly: A crossover with Worldwar: War of Equals, a Worldwar fanfic on Alternatehistory.com, the title of course a reference to Hetalia: Paint It White. An alien reptilian race attempts to invade Earth in 2011, but fortunately, unlike in the original Worldwar novel, humanily is properly armed and prepared, uniting to save humanity from invasion and exploitation. While darker than MSME, it also features an uncharacteristically idealistic tone where almost all nations get to become heroes, with hot blood, one-liners, heartwarming teamups and moments, and heroic badass moments of awesome galore, often all at once.

Iron Harvest: AKA "The Steampunk Mecha AU". A short mini-series focusing on Polonia (Poland), the Saxon Empire (Germany and his father in this AU Saxony), Rusviet (Russia), and others as they test out their Humongous Mecha and play out their lives and the international relations in an alternate Steampunk early 20th Century (plus some battles, with guest stars from the game).

1983: Doomsday: AKA the "Nuclear Apocalypse AU". Mutually Assured Destruction happens in 1983, leaving the world in ruin, and several nations dead. This is the story of the survivors, and the so-called Children of Doomsday, the nations and states that formed out of the destruction. Elaborated on in its own article on the page.

The stories which focus more on cultural differences, which often have a tone more in-line with canon Hetalia, are labeled under the "Culture Clash" series banner, and may be counted as separate.

The series and all its spinoffs also have UTAU covers to accompany them, about various historical events (many of which can unfortunately feature events which have yet to be shown in-story and thus would be full of spoilers), social issues, current events, or just the characters' personalities and philosophies (sometimes only tangentially, however) using voicebanks derived from the anime voice actors or other UTAU if unavailable

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Alt-talia provides examples of:

• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Lower Egypt accuses Upper of this with Kush, even if he maintains that he wouldn't betray her like that, and this is one of the objections she has to the 25th Dynasty. While whether he really does like Kush in that way is a bit ambiguous (Kush does joke about "youthful feminine charms" when Lower asks her how she got Upper to her side without a fight, to her chagrin and Upper's embarrassment), but comes to respect her enough by a few years. The author apparently got a lot of enjoyment writing this due to how rare silly love triangle drama like this is in the series.
• Abusive Parents: Hoo boy.
  • Basically all colonizers are this to their colonies who aren’t their race to an extent, though they try to make themselves believe they are a “civilizing” influence. Towards those who are white they tend to be more neglectful. Whether they actually think of their non-white colonies as their children seems to vary a bit. The author says that for many colonizers, these colonies are in this “ambiguous space of being their child and not their child”.
    • Imperial Japan deserves a special mention. While all of his colonies existed before he colonized them, he basically adopts his colonies, as well as Yong-Soo and Hyun-Soo, except for Father Korea, who he sees more as a brother. And he takes the parent-child thing way more seriously than the Europeans, seeing himself as the rightful patriarch of East Asia who will lead East Asia into a paradise of co-prosperity. He is especially close to Yong-Soo. However, he is also even more of a textbook abuser than any of the Europeans, being described as “BPD-like”, having a “sweet” side that he shows to his “family”, but as soon as he’s defied, seeing the same person he considers “family” as subhuman, making him show his terrifying, raging, abusive side. Yong-Soo is especially subject to this, as the “favorite”, best exemplified in a scene where Japan berates Yong-Soo after messing up his Japanese pronunciation again and slaps him across the cheek, causing the kid to cry; Japan then hugs him, saying that it’s good that he regrets his transgression. As the war drags on he becomes increasingly abusive to his other “children” as well. The worst part is, he believes his own propaganda and thinks he’s the liberator of East Asia until the end. He actually breaks down crying into Yong-Soo’s small shoulders at the idea that he’s lost most of his “family” towards the end of the war, grabbing onto his clothing and swearing he’ll never lose him too.
  • Prussia, while still a better parent than a lot of Alt-talia parents, is a very strict parent to Germany. One of his training methods is actually shooting at the poor kid.
• Acting for Two: Indirectly. Prussia's voice in the UTAU covers is simply a pitched-up version of Germany's voice, which just happens to sound a lot like Prussia's canon voice without the delinquent-ish inflections, leaving a voice that sounds like canon Prussia but harsh, disciplined, and whip-like. The Korea twins are also played by the same UTAU, North Korea just has a voice that is an octave lower.
• Adaptational Badass: Seemingly happens to a metric ton of characters, but for many characters, it's merely a case of their badassery or determination being at least a bit more obvious than in canon; e.g. China, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, etc. Though what is very noticeable is that Alt-talia characters tend to be more traditionally masculine as a whole due to the new tone... including the women. The men more noticeably so, however, as nations by definition are embodiments of their culture, and more traditionally masculine behavior is still expected out of many men in most cultures.
  • Played straight with Italy; while he still isn't the best fighter, one thing that is very clear is that he will always fight back viciously if backed into a corner, and that if he truly puts his mind to something he will make sure that it sure as hell gets seen to the end, even if the things that can get him to this level of dedication are rare. Let it not be forgotten he fought in WWII with canons from literally last century and cardboard-soled shoes, in the case of the latter in the Eastern freakin' Front in winter. He's also terrifying when someone tarnishes his food, confrontational and argumentative, and goes into full Football Hooligans mode when it comes to football.
  • France. In canon, he apparently becomes weaker and invests less in his military after the Napoleonic Wars. In Alt-talia, that is hardly the case. He becomes the second biggest overseas empire for a very good reason, and after the Franco-Prussian War in particular his nationalism-fueled rage leads him to become increasingly militaristic. In modern day, he's also second only to the UK in terms of military strength in Europe, even possessing a nuke.
  • Ukraine. See Xenafication.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Believe it or not, a few examples exist:
  • Germany, specifically modern Germany. In Hetalia, Germany is strict and aloof, always hard at work, and acts like a Drill Sergeant Nasty, having a difficult time opening himself up to others and seeming rather cold and a jerk due to that. This is shown to still be the case in modern day. On the other hand, in Alt-talia, Germany wants to actively avoid that image because he despises his Nazi past, and though he still keeps his serious personality, he’s quite possibly one of the most clearly caring, considerate nations, actively tries to not scare others, and is in fact rather adverse to becoming authority despite finding himself as such often. This is evident in their designs; Alt-Germany always has his hair down and usually has his muscles at least partially covered after about the 1960s or so. He’s even called a “bleeding-heart” at least once.
  • Belarus, who aside from being stone-faced is basically the exact opposite of her canon counterpart. While she isn’t particularly a saint by normal standards, among nations just acting like a normal human is basically so. In this series she not only shows no yandere tendencies, but is quite possibly the least susceptible to them, and is, rather ironically, one of the least volatile characters among the nation cast. While a severe alcoholic and until the 2020 Event Arc at least rather depressed and apathetic most of the time, she’s the most polite sibling of the East Slav trio, the quietest, and the humblest, unlike her sister or especially brother seemingly incapable of becoming an aggressive drunk, a far cry from the brash, foul-mouthed, aggressive, obsessive girl from canon. While at least part of this may be that she just lacks a spine, in the 2020 Arc her idea of protesting is remarkably more peaceful than basically everyone else’s. She was much more aggressive as a child and was more proactive when she still associated with the Commonwealth, but even in the latter she’s way more friendly and cheerful.
• Adaptational Sexuality: The author has stated that she doesn't like writing slash, so as a result few characters are shown to have feelings for the same sex. In fact, many characters such as Russia which have cultures where homophobia is sadly the norm are Heteronormative Crusaders who treat being homosexual as A Fate Worse Than Death, which can be Played for Laughs, be shown as a terrible character flaw, be used to highlight the problems the LGBT community faces in these countries, or just be part of what a character is, using homophobic slurs without a second thought (such as in "Russia and the EU" (pending title) where Russia calls Sweden a "sodomite", or the Balkan characters liberally calling each other "fag"). It's treated as something even more out of the question in pre-20th century chapters in societies where it wasn’t accepted, shown with how things like the concept of "Marriage" for nations of the same sex doesn't even cross the minds of those when forming unions, "Union Brotherhood" superseding it, and when it does come up it's usually with things like Egypt hearing from Turkey that Christian women "fornicate with each other" and shivering at the idea, or a gag in which Portugal flirts with China thinking he's a woman and prays to God frantically to forgive him when he finds out that he isn't. Though during eras where it was accepted in some form, it may be casually mentioned on occasion as gossip. However, it's a bit more clear with some characters, like how canonically bisexual France only flirts with women and is in fact rather dismissive towards men. A notable exception to this non-depiction of homosexuality, however, is Frederick the Great, who explicitly has a crush on France, and him being gay is one of the reasons Prussia doesn’t expect much from him at first.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Common with eye colors, particularly with those who used to have purple eyes. Most commonly, purple eyes become blue eyes, but not always (Finland gets greyish blue eyes, Russia gets grey eyes, Belarus has two with grey or dark blue with which it is never being specified (as in official art depicts her with either), Austria gets light brown eyes, Norway gets turquoise eyes, while Iceland gets bright blue ones with green flecks which seem to shimmer like an aurora borealis when he's excited).
  • Prussia, also formerly having an unnatural eye color, gets cornflower blue eyes, and also his hair apparently only looks silver sometimes, and in certain lighting there's a yellow tint (as is often the case with platinum blond hair), giving him similar hair to Iceland.
  • Eye color changes also occasionally happen with those with normal eye colors; most commonly green eyes, due to their rarity in real life. Lithuania for example goes from having green eyes to a milky greyish green-blue (which Latvia also gets), and Spain, Portugal, South Italy, Hungary, Greece, and Egypt all go from having various shades of green eyes to hazel. Then there are more subtle ones like Lichtenstein having more of a dull green shade than the bright teal she has in canon, and Poland's formerly bright jade eyes also being more dull (these except for the hazel eyes are also pending).
  • Could overlap with Hair Color Dissonance, but everyone in East Asia is explicitly given jet black hair, and described as having such (with the exception of present day Taiwan who explicitly dyes her hair brown), when in canon all of them except for Japan seem to have dark brown hair. Their eyes also are all dark brown, whereas before there were some characters with amber eyes.
  • Seychelles is given much darker skin, while Turkey is given slightly lighter skin.
• Affably Evil: At his worst, Imperial England heavily resembles this. Though whether it's this or Faux Affably Evil varies, the latter mostly when someone gets in his way (e.g. pre-Opium War China). His Evillious crossover counterpart in Judge Gallerian Marlon's role definitely takes the latter interpretation and absolutely runs with it, however.
  • WWII era Imperial Japan seems to be this at his best moments interacting with his colonies. Unlike most examples though, it shatters quickly under pressure, i.e. as soon as they talk back to him.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • In the Firefly AU, America sometimes calls her husband, China, Yaoyao. This also happens to be a common fandom nickname for China in the Chinese fandom.
    • From the same AU, Shadow takes to affectionately calling Persephone “Madam”, a reflection of the fact that she’s a Core World and more “civilized”, acting more like a Proper Lady, than the rest of them.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Or rather, to the back; around the Ming era to the end of the Qing China gets a habit of petting Joseon and Vietnam on the back; Joseon likes it, Vietnam doesn't. The idea started as head patting but then the author found out that that's extremely rude in a lot of Asian cultures outside Japan.
• Age Lift: The nations of course are often old by human standards, but physically they have a set "age". These are changed for many characters in this canon, most being aged up; in modern day, England/Arthur Kirkland and France/Francis Bonnelfey are physically in their early-to-mid-30s, America/Alfred F. Jones is in his mid-to-late-20s; generally, if a character's age was given to be in their teens in canon, there's a somewhat good possibility they're at least in their mid-20s by now. Much of Western Europe is physically even pushing or well into their 30s. Even on the younger end, South Korea/Yong-Soo Lee is 19 instead of 15, Latvia is 22 instead of 15, etc. Prussia/Gilbert Beildshmidt is physically in his late 20s by the time Germany is born, and is shown aging beyond that. Though there are also those who are somewhat aged down, like Greece/Herakles Korais, who is 24. Then there are also very major ones like Moldova/Aurel being 18 instead of 10, most of the micronations being aged down to children around or under Sealand's age, and Cuba being noticeably younger. This is not only notable in modern day of course, as the author tries to tie symbolism to age when possible; America was just about to hit puberty when the Revolutionary War started when in canon he was a young adult, Finland spent all of his time under the Swedish Empire as a prepubescent child (automatically sinking the interpretation that they were like a couple during the era like in canon), Poland and Lithuania pass their canon physical ages of 19 after forming the Commonwealth, becoming some of the few adults on a continent full of teenagers (the pre-release story Superbia even mentions how Poland "shed the last downy vestiges of adolescence, becoming a real man"), and Holy Roman Empire, who is depicted to be a teenager at oldest in canon, is depicted aging rapidly and even going senile (pending).
  • Nations are only as old as when political borders for that country form, unless they started as Egg-Nations (which never age past 6 years old or so), as such this applies for chronological and nation ages as well. Italy/Feliciano Balducci is the biggest, most notable example, as while in canon he was old enough to have known Roman Empire as a child, this Italy at least was only born in 1861, and is the second youngest in the EU by a large margin. If one goes by the interpretation that Germany/Ludwig is the same person as HRE in canon, it's the same for him as well, as he's actually the youngest in the EU in this canon, born in 1871, a baby next to the rest of the Union. Then there's South Korea, who is also used as a stand-in for older Korean dynasties in canon, while the Korea twins in this canon are explicitly North and South Korea and as such are only 70 or so years old as countries despite being slightly physically older than the canon Korea, though they did exist as Egg-Nations long before this point, and the author really isn't sure when they were born as individuals either. America started as the Plymouth Colony in this canon, while America in canon was somehow there before England was, India is only as old as the British Raj, and Spain/Antonio is actually fairly young as well as he was only as old as the union of Castile and Aragon, also living this strange parallel existence alongside Castille and Aragon themselves as sort of an Egg-Nation but sort of not until the 1700s.
• The Alcoholic: A lot. All of the East Slavs, Lithuania, Moldova, and Finland to name some of the most prominent. Certain characters are also portrayed as such in certain time periods. It's also shown that the British Isles, Australia, and especially Austria have really bad binge-drinking habits.
  • Modern Belarus/Natallia might just be the worst case; she's the heaviest drinker and also the heaviest smoker out of the whole cast, which only adds to the depressing air she has. Even Russia finds her alcoholism a bit excessive.
  • Rivaling her is her ex-husband Lithuania, in stories set in modern day especially. He might not drink quite as much as some others, but he's still very much up there, and he apparently binge drinks quite often as well. Transitioning to a capitalist system wasn't quite easy for him, and the 2008 economic crisis not helping things either. He’s often summarized as "A depressed, grouchy alcoholic with a hot head", and is more than a few times shown knocking back unholy amounts of mead, beer, and/or vodka, getting trashed or having to be dragged out of a bar, saying I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!, or moaning about an awful hangover. In a lot of representative official art he’s shown holding a bottle of some kind of booze (most often mead, but beer and vodka as well) and looking tired/grumpy.
  • Of course, Russia is a pretty massive alcoholic; he basically grew up an addict since childhood, so much so that his Czars started taxing booze. In at least one All There in the Manual prompt, he describes it as a family problem, though his sisters only really started sharing their brother's habit after Russia annexed them, and even then by virtue of being women they weren't as bad. While many do try to remedy this, it always hardly worked in the long term, usually only earning them his resentment for their efforts. In the desperate times of the 90s, he actually resorts to aftershave and rubbing alcohol as serious withdrawal symptoms compound his anemia and other health issues. Oh yeah, and he's basically a Russian roulette of drunkenness, as at times he can be a really sentimental drunk, a happy drunk who acts more like his canon counterpart if your're lucky (very rare)... or become terrifyingly violent. And he can go from the former to the latter in a heartbeat. And Poland, David, Lithuania, Estonia, and even Belarus are shown to get the brunt of these rages directed at them in brutal fashion. ...However, in the most modern day stories, it's shown that he's finally starting to kick the habit, as indeed alcoholism rates steeply declined in the 2010s thanks to legislation.
  • Finland must be mentioned again; even at the physical age of 12 while living under Sweden, he was infamous for his drinking habits that could put Russia to shame. He's a major reason why Sweden started imposing restrictions on booze during the later parts of his empire. He actually did recognize he had a problem however, and try to remedy this, enacting a prohibition law soon after gaining independence that he had been considering for ages (which he never got to enact because of Russia's intervention)... and it backfired horribly as he starts experiencing withdrawal immediately. And unlike Russia, he really can't seem to kick the habit, though nowadays he's become progressively more Never Gets Drunk (whereas in the postwar era his drunken rages could scare poor Åland into staying under the table for hours).
  • South Korea/Yong-Soo Lee, despite by physical age (19) not being allowed to drink legally, also shows some signs of this. He's quite high-functioning if he is an alcoholic (it isn't exactly clear), but he apparently grows a bit restless if he goes two days without soju, and it takes 8 shots of the stuff for him to even feel tipsy. He also uses it to drown his stress and sorrows, though he's apparently more of a happy drunk than one would think, acting more like his canon counterpart when drunk, and despite the absurdly high standards he usually holds himself to it seemsthat he thinks nothing about being seen stumbling around Seoul at 2 AM drunkenly singing off-tune K-Pop and bawdy songs he'd probably usually blush at, an occourance that is apparently pretty common. In the Pyeongchang Olympics mini-arc, he manages to scare even North Korea a bit with his drinking habit and rope his poor brother into drinking so much he gets an awful hangover the next morning (pending), and he actually manages to outdrink Russia, to Russia's humiliation and everyone else's bafflement. In the "Tales From a Reunified Future" compilation however, while there is a bit of an implication of coercion from South's part, South's drinking habits are the catalyst for one of the more lighthearted, happy shorts, "Bar Night", where South takes North to one of his favorite bars and the twins get hammered together.
  • Austria has an extreme binge-drinking habit. In fact, the worst in the world. It becomes especially apparent when there's a lot of turmoil in his life like the late 19th-early 20th century.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Or rather, straight-up rewriting would be more accurate. At least half of the cast that is a holdover from canon is altered in some major way, many of them straight-up inverted due to initial inaccuracy. Italy is a sharp-tongued, argumentative loudmouth, Russia rarely smiles, England is the epitome of Stiff Upper Lip, South Korea is a troubled, stressed, incredibly perfectionistic young man, and so on. There's so many of these changes to characters that another page is probably needed to list them all. Even those that do remain similar to their canon counterparts on the surface like America have changes, especially due to the shift in tone. The author also likes going out of her way to highlight these changes. This results in scenes like Italy laying thick Trash Talk on Germany during a football game, Poland making statements like "A REAL man _!" and calling Italy gay for fussing over his messy appearance, Russia being freaked out over others smiling at each other, Finland and Lithuania lashing out at Sweden and Poland respectively, Sweden calling Finland a redneck, a Running Gag of Switzerland mistaking Liechtenstein as one of his cantons instead of remembering she's a country, or Prussia telling Austria that his smile is annoying and Austria proceeding to annoy him further, that are often initially extremely surreal to read for Hetalia fans going in blind (or even those with prior knowledge for that matter).
  • This is also regularly hammered home in art, such as in their portraits, always drawn with their new personalities in mind as well as the Feliksball comics. Then there's things like the two-panel High School AU-esque comic in which Hungary and Romania (pending) are arguing, which the author has admitted to drawing purely to have a group crowd shot which happens to have characters like Poland, (albeit seemingly drunk) Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and India going nuts and chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" (followed by a tiny panel in the corner of Prussia with a "I'm so done with this place" look on his face no less).
• Alternate Continuity: Basically what the Alternate History spinoffs are. There are mini-series for Kaiserreich Legacy Of The Weltkreig, America's Stepbrother, America's Enemy, World War Z, Worldwar: War of Equals, The Thousand Week Reich, and multiple scenarios for Firefly, and several other scattered one-shots (e.g. Iron Harvest). Though some like the World War Z and Worldwar scenarios are more Alternate Universe, sometimes even shortened to "Zombie AU" and "Alien Invasion AU".
• Always Identical Twins: North and South Korea look very similar, the only way to tell them apart being their hair curl being pointed in different directions and the color of their clothes, and North being somewhat taller... at least as children. In modern day, their appearances have very much diverged due to their circumstances; North is shorterand has shorter, 50s-esque hair and looks somewhat emaciated, while South Korea has wider eyes from plastic surgery (much to North Korea's bafflement because he believes it to be altering part of their father's legacy) and is much taller, making the twins very different.
• Always Save the Girl: Apparently even applies to nations, or at least England, sometimes at least, thinks so, citing this during the Corsican Crisis and in protecting Belgium.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: A lot of the quirkier rulers (and there are many), particularly in pre-modern times, are basically this to their realms/nations whenever their quirks show up; despite the fact that 99.99% of the time the nation/realm is much older. Especially if the realm/nation appears to be younger-looking, with the nation/realm being just as likely to act like an embarrassed parent if older-looking. The “Misadventures At The Top” fic compilation is basically just eccentric rulers being eccentric and embarrassing their nations/realms. Though it also serves as lighthearted respite as some of these are remembered fondly by the nation themselves.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Some of the Troubling Unchildlike Behavior is said to be attributed to this in a way, as when, say, nations in the Middle Ages were children such things were acceptable and they didn't know any better. Though they seem way more aware of politics than children should be.
  • Exploited by Prussia when raising Germany. Germany, already basically a product of German nationalism, was probably predisposed to at least some chauvinism already; but to reinforce it, as a general exercise in dehumanization, and because Prussia just plain despised Poles, it's shown that Prussia basically forced Posen (their partition of Poland, who has now been split into three people (pending)) to become Germany's personal Butt-Monkey both via neglect and deliberately when he was very young, encouraging abuse towards him and treating him like a pet, telling Germany that "Poles are savages. They aren't like us." as justification for this. However, probably due to being a nation, it's shown that this conditioning hadn't made Germany entirely impervious to the suffering of those he was told to dehumanize, as he was rather horrified when he heard about the colonial genocides in Africa and the mass-expulsion of Poles with foreign citizenship by Prussia. Though Prussia slaps and eviscerates him verbally for this.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Characters in the 18th to 19th centuries tend to talk like this, except when it completely clashes with their character. ^pendingNot sure about this, since it’s not like I can make Child!England speak in Old English or something, since Old English is basically incomprehensible.
  • North Korea (along with other North Koreans) often speaks like this, plus a few Perfectly Cromulent Words for new words, and the narration often gains a few shades of it as well when focusing on him. The whole Korea family used to talk like this until as late as the 1950s (leading to the strange circumstance of Yong as a child having more flowery vocabulary than he does now), but South has dropped it since then, leaving only North speaking like an old man. The writer has stated this is one of the reasons why she loves writing him so much. This also has the effect of adding to his... overall unsettling-ness. This is, in fact, Truth in Television, as North Korean is in fact more dated and archaic than South Korean due to a dedication to language purity. North doesn’t have much of an accent though, unlike most North Koreans, probably so that his speech isn’t incomprehensible.
• The Atoner: Germany, starting from around the early 60s or so, full stop. He has the distinction of being one of the few characters to acknowledge and repent for what he has done, and in modern day gives nowhere near the militaristic impressions canon Germany gives, wearing his hair down and muscle-concealing clothing, making efforts to not get angry at others, and keep his humility in check. He's one of the few characters who can be called genuinely, completely good in modern day, and tries harder than anyone to be kind, to the point of being a bit of a bleeding-heart. Anything, so he doesn't repeat his past, and he intends on always keeping this burden with him, even for "a thousand years". He has tried so hard to better himself that calling him a Nazi is one of the easiest ways to break him. He is even apprehensive about waving his flag for any reason outside of soccer, and even then France notes the small German flags in the trash after a match. It's even stated that the realization of his crimes has caused the mildly sociopathic instincts that all nations tend to have to be blocked off.
• Archnemesis Dad: Parent-child conflicts happen due to the nature of nations.
  • During the American Revolution, England becomes this to America. Their relationship stays strained after, though eventually they become close and eventually come to appreciate each other as father and son.
  • South Vietnam, Mai An, is actually Vietnam’s daughter (asexually reproduced; she found her, knowing she was a nation from her resemblance to her, in Champa’s home after Champa flees), and during the Vietnam War they obviously come into conflict. By the end, South Vietnam despises her mother and immigrates for a time to America.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Even if less ditzy than his canon counterpart, Italy still often comes across as sloppy and disorganized in thought, which probably contributes to his clumsiness.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: In the pre-release Tumblr fic "The Gentlewoman's Mountain Boy" (name pending), apparently Nyo!England as "Arthur" gets hit on by a lot of Swiss women, to Switzerland himself's embarrassment, as her men are being healed. This parallels England in normal Alt-canon also getting hit on by a gaggle of Swiss women as he oversees his men being healed there.
• Awesome Ego:
  • America, as in canon, has an ego the size of Jupiter. He definitely can back it up though.
  • Ancient Rome, America’s equivalent in ancient times.
  • Both of them are nothing compared to the king of this trope, Imperial China. He thinks of himself as the literal center of the universe, imparting wisdom onto all the barbarians of the world, and the others surrounding him (even if they sometimes conspire against him, and some reluctantly) just accept it because of his sheer charisma and power. He concedes when he hears about Rome that he might be equal to him though. Maybe.
  • Commonwealth Poland as well. A Large Ham of epic proportions, he fashions himself the Bulwark of Catholicism, and can back up his bite, his hussars being the strongest in Europe.
• Badass Israeli: Israel/David Cohen, obviously. He can find a way to defeat you in the most unexpected way possible without breaking a sweat, and will likely be able to defeat you in a fight twice as easy, and also rub it in your face when he does so.
• Berserk Button: England/Arthur Kirkland, despite being a Kuudere in this canon, has certain buttons you should never press; usually something comically mundane like insulting soccer/football (or his team losing) or messing with his tea. Doing so will make him go into chav mode, i.e., Unstoppable Rage. This is more easily triggered when he's drunk or when it's football season too, so careful there especially.
  • Another more comedic one is Italy’s pride in his food; it is absolutely Serious Business. Tampering with it, especially if he or anyone in the family isn’t the one doing it is a mortal sin. Lithuania learns this the hard way when Italy finds out he puts mayonnaise and ketchup on pizza. It’s also shown that this is a family trait concerning regional dishes specifically; even the calmer members of the family like Genoa will easily fly into a rage about it. Even France considers his standards high.
  • In modern day, China hates being mistaken for a woman. Being called feminine is basically to him what being called "short" is to Edward Elric; do not, under any circumstance, do it. Though this also counts as, in a way, a Trauma Button, as it all comes back to his chronic fear of being exploited and being seen as weak.
    • Also being in a weak position in general. He reacts with rage and horror and shoves Anya off during sex in “Nations Have No Lovers, Only Interests” after she confesses that their current position isn’t enough and she wishes to dominate him rather strongly. He is shaking and has to control himself from outright hitting her.
  • Lithuania does not like being mistaken for Latvia, or even worse, being mistaken for a region of Russia. Or Poland addressing him as an old buddy. He already can be a bit hotheaded in this canon, but these will most likely result in absolutely explosive anger.
  • Do not, for the love of all that is holy, under any circumstance, say anything negative about Thailand’s king. EVER. It’s the only way to truly piss him off short of probably massacring his citizens without wearing him down to that point. If you think Japan loves his emperor a bit too much, that’s nothing compared to him (in modern day at least). Unless the king is Vajiralongkorn, then he'll probably join in the insults with you.
  • Reminding Bolivia about her coastline, or lack thereof. Especially if you’re Chile. Unfortunately for her, Chile likes bringing it up, as do others, as well as the fact that she’s landlocked and will forever be so. She was such a sore loser about it she still tries to act as if she still has that province. Note, Chile took it over a century and a half ago.
  • For Greece, calling North Macedonia Macedonia. For North Macedonia, denying he’s Macedonia. Yep.
  • Human example; Prussia’s King Friedrich Wilhelm I and France. No, really, he goes into hilarious, Edward Elric-esque Unstoppable Rages around him, causing Prussia and Brandenburg much embarrassment at public events and requiring them to jump him and drag him away cartoonishly. And no one really knows why.
• Beyond Redemption: Norway revokes his reservations against capital punishment for Les Collaborateurs of the Nazi puppet regime. Though he apparently feels a bit of guilt about it, it just shows how much contempt he has for the traitors, and he knew full well he got it relatively easy compared to most other countries; much of his anger at them was out of compassion for other nations.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Italy has a massive family with all his uncles and a few aunts, and initially especially the family could be extremely harsh on him and be rather toxic. Compared to the German family (where only about half of the family in landmass, mostly Bavaria, really has anything against Germany) especially they are a Dysfunction Junction who cannot agree with each other. The family bullies its poorer members (namely Napolitano/Mezzogiorno/Lavinio and Siciliana/Agata), Piedmontese is a neglectful husband and not so great father, his wife Sarda/Sardinia being barely acknowledged even by Italy himself (albeit due to the influence of the others), Romano has no real idea what he's doing, and South Tyrol straight up does not want to be there and hates everyone. Because of this Italy, representing Italian national sentiment, is incredibly clumsy and awkward. Before the family really considered itself a family, or at least all of them, they fought even more with each other, constantly scheming against each other and forming rivalries over anything. In modern day they're a little better and don't give Italy as hard a time, but are still rather dysfunctional.
• Body Horror: Because damage to countries and other national conditions are represented physically on the nation (e.g. inflation and deflation cause symptoms of high and low blood pressure respectively, depressions cause anemia or medical shock, destroyed land or mass murder of population causes injuries, pain, and bleeding), particularly bad destruction can turn into this.
  • As internal conflict is represented by autoimmune reactions, a nation undergoing, say, an internal genocide for example may get ugly, swollen red cracks all over their body. Ones that may burst and bleed (pending).
• Boisterous Bruiser: America, particularly post-WWII, is ultimately this past all the political mess.
  • Australia, of course. Though not as overbearing and egotistical as most examples.
  • Poland; specifically Commonwealth Poland. And how. In contrast to his rather feminine personality in canon, and despite his slender appearance, Commonwealth Feliks is pretty much the archetypical example of this trope; loads of ham, an open heart, an ego the size of Jupiter, clothing that pretty much was woven from Rule of Cool, and a fondness for big feasts and drunken fights. Though his ego proves to be his downfall as well.
  • Philippines is a female example.
• Black Comedy: Some humorous entries can turn into this. The author actually considered making Alt-talia a satirical series focused on this, a-la Polandball, before settling on dark political/historical drama, though holdovers of it can be seen in the aforementioned entries, and comedic personality traits like England's Unstoppable Rage mode. Also, obviously there is Feliksball, in which this isn't uncommon.
• British Stuffiness: England, obviously, especially during the Victorian era. Albeit, seemingly contradictorily, he can come across as rather serendipitous and lackadaisical as well, to the point of being a Troll.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Italy is a bit of this, especially from his birth until the WWII period (and even more so nearing the latter), as well as in some vaguely canon short comedic one-shots. He’s obviously in over his head, being subjected to stuff like wearing shoes with cardboard soles while invading the Soviet Union in winter, his tanks breaking down at the most inopportune moments, or chronic supply and resource shortage even by Axis standards, cursed with a family who will never agree on everything and his usual clumsiness, fumbling with his guns and tripping mid-charge, and unlike canon Italy doesn’t even have the friendship of the other Axis members, Germany in fact blaming a lot of failures on him even when Italy actually does something right; their alliance can be described as abusive at worst. Though the audience is also made to feel sorry for his sorry state, and depending on the tone of the story he can swing from this to The Woobie. While Germany also gets a bit of a rough childhood, this poor kid didn’t even know what he was, and no one really wanted him for a while; Germany was the child prodigy who others feared, while nothing seems to go right for Italy.
  • Poland gets this treatment sometimes; more commonly in modern day/contemporary stories, but occasionally even Commonwealth Poland can have very bad luck just due to his potential for extremely over-the-top reactions.
  • In the KanColle mini-crossover comedy skits/strips, the Kreigsmarine, especially post 1943, with how few of them there are, how often they get outnumbered, how they often get taken out or die unceremoniously, and how their nation treats them recklessly and expects them to be a One-Man Army despite that being extremely impractical, despite all the resources that went into designing them, sending them out to fend for themselves or in a small party to get a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by enemy fleets. No matter how hard they fight, despite doing basically everything for their nation, and no matter what they do, they will always get shafted until their inevitable, untimely death. Apparently, even the entire idea of the crossover started from this joke, especially after seeing that this was a fact that not even many Japanese battleship otaku knew, and the author also wanted to remind Japanese otaku that Nazi Germany was a bit of a Jerkass. While a lot of the Kantai characters in the mini-series are basically treated as at least somewhat expendable and as objects, and they clearly accept it, even then one can't help but feel a bit of pity for the poor bastards.
• Black Comedy Rape: There has been at least one occasion of a story from The Great Khanate/Mongol Empire’s POV where her doing... unpleasant things, from what it seems violently, with some unfortunate man is mentioned casually.
• Cain and Abel: North and South Korea seem to fit the bill. North... isn’t exactly stable, to say the least, while South is left with the burden of dealing with him and is way more well put together. However, North isn’t exactly malicious, as his violent tendencies, obsession, and Black-and-White Morality are all due to him being specially groomed for these traits, and North truly thinks what he’s doing is right. Ironically, it could be said that North Korea comes across as one of the most sympathetic characters in the cast, as he genuinely comes across as a teenager who is being manipulated. Plus, when he isn’t provoked he comes across as a surprisingly normal person.
• Canon Discontinuity: Used quite often. Outside of the ones that are obvious AU like the Evillious crossover and the Alt-history stories like the Kaiserreich AU, any fics involving a Nyotalia character (e.g. Bons Baisers De Russie), pre-release Tumblr fics which have since been replaced, Feliksball strips, and the Kantai gag strips are all stated to be strictly non-canon, and it’s most likely the case as well for most gag strips.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Hello, Mongol Empire. Her sheer revelry in bloodshed even by medieval standards can Cross the Line Twice due to how unapologetic she is, instead of falling into the contradictory self-defense arguments that appear often later. Though the revelry in bloodshed is also shown to be something she deliberately tries to play up to get others to submit; she would much rather others surrender to her than put up a fight, and she punishes her enemies brutally only when they don't listen to her. If you listen or help her, she will be almost motherly towards you.
• Catchphrase:
  • A good way to tell if Poland is speaking is if there's a "kurwa" somewhere in the line, because he uses it a lot.
  • Same for "Oy vey" for David/Israel; it's less spammable than "kurwa", but he uses it when expressing disbelief or frustration, something very common especially as "David".
  • "It'll sort itself out!" for Iceland; it is also often used to snappily differentiate this version from the more melancholic canon version.
  • In more lighthearted entries and Culture Clash especially, “You wot mate?!” for England; specifically it’s the sign that you’ve pressed a Berserk Button and he’s gone into chav mode. Occasionally he uses it to express simple, genuine bafflement, however.
  • Italy says “Mamma mia” a lot.
    • A dark example in “Mi no frego”, or “I don’t give a damn”, an actual Fascist slogan, for Italy during the fascist era specifically, often serving as his Survival Mantra.
  • Finland’s signature “moi” catchphrase is basically replaced by “perkele”. While not as versatile and as spammed, he pretty much uses the word like Poland uses “kurwa”.
  • France uses “Sacré Bleu!” quite often; in entries taking place before the mid 20th century or so. In stories taking place in modern day he barely if ever uses it.
  • When he was younger, England used “Goddamn” so often France started calling him “Le Goddamn” as an insult.
• Chickification: Belarus, particularly in modern day. Kind of. She's no longer the brother-obsessed knife-wielding Yandere she is in canon, but a soft-spoken wallflower who in fact almost always gets roped into the interests of everyone else and never the reverse (with the one and only exception of in early childhood where she liked messing around with Lithuania's forebearers and participated in Rus politics, proudly declaring herself leader), a Forgettable Character with all but her immediate neighbors. She especially just allows herself to get swung around by Russia and her own dictator a lot, because she believes that that's what will make her safe, allowing her boss to make all her decisions even if she has no say in it (though even she had to object to the anti-homelessness bill that made homelessness illegal, as if people could just choose to not be homeless). All in all she is probably the most docile seeming character out of the pre-existing cast who is bigger than a microstate. Though this version of the character also comes with a lot of Adaptational Nice Guy and stability, a bit of a rarity in this canon; she's generally much sweeter than her fellow East Slavs once her low levels of self confidence and initial stoicness are broken through, is the most neat out of the former Soviet group by far, has never declared war on anyone in centuries (though not being able to was a major factor), never really wished horrible things on others in the 20th century when toxic levels of nationalism were rampant, and unlike the other former Soviets hates getting into fights even when drunk. She also speaks the most politely out of the three, in contrast to her canon counterpart being Madame Swears-A-Lot. Partly because of this the author tends to like her a lot. However, this is subverted as she has fought before, and is willing to do so if necessary, participating in wars with Lithuania even during their marriage (albeit less often), being a very proactive wife, fighting in the November Uprising alongside the rest of the former Commonwealth, and putting up an extremely good against Germany in WWII as a partisan in one of her biggest moments of badass (something she sees as one of her finest hours). She still sees regular military parades as normal, not to mention that in fics taking place during and after 2020 she grows much more of a spine against Lukashenko after he finally goes just a step too far regarding his management (or lack thereof) of the COVID-19 epidemic, making this a downplayed example.
  • Alt-Ancient Greece, AKA Hellas is a quiet, Mysterious Waif esque character who during the Classical period especially only really existed as an idea. Her (male, except one Sweet Polly Oliver) City States speak for her more often than she for herself. The misogynistic, almost objectifying portrayal is intentional, as the view of women at the time was that they were incomplete, deformed men, much like how Hellas isn’t exactly a “complete” identity. Ironically, she appears to gain more of a spine after being conquered by Rome, after what many including Rome presume to be the prime of Ancient Greece.
• Chick Magnet: Those with an extremely high Cultural Charisma can get this as a side effect; or at least, they can make the opposite sex feel... things for them. Most prominently Ancient Rome and China for a great deal of his time as Imperial China, albeit most examples seem to be offscreen, and female nations are shown to be at least attracted to France during when he was most influential; they also aren’t afraid to take advantage of this both as a method of manipulation and in the exact way you’d think (though Rome is far less shameless about his exploits here, and China more so during the peak of the Tang Dynasty, as depending on the dynasty he can also be rather prudish). It’s not made extremely clear how much it affects humans, but all three of them seem to be Chick Magnets for humans as well.
  • A lot of women in the places he’s stationed in during the WWII arc seem to like Feliks... a lot. It’s even a bit of a Running Gag. It’s only for this arc, however.
  • Dude Magnet: In one of the stories written pre-release, Bons Baisers De Russie, in which Marianne is used instead of Francis to represent France, it’s shown that most of Europe finds her hot, though not to the cartoony extent of a Hello Nurse character for all of them (with some exceptions like England, though even he begrudgingly accepts some of her traits are worth envying), which she isn’t afraid to use.
• Child Prodigy: “The Prodigy” or “Wunderkind” is often used as a descriptor for Germany, especially in contrast to Italy. As he becomes one of the strongest powers in Europe a few years after his birth, is talented in both sciences and literature, takes to the military easily and is an extremely fast learner, it’s a pretty apt comparison. He also has some of the issues associated with being a prodigy as well, in contrast to Italy’s inability to live up to expectations. In human A Us, he’s appropriately often cast as a prodigy or at least extremely intelligent for his age (e.g. in EC x Alt-talia an incarnation of him manages to make a poisonous medical potion at the age of 7, and another incarnation of him is an exceptionally good marksman from the age of 9, reading physics textbooks and medical encyclopedias at age 13, and is evaluated to be suitable as a secret police agent at 17. The latter is especially notable as the latter version didn’t have Prussia hanging over him into adulthood).
• Chosen Conception Partner: Female America’s confession to China in the Firefly AU, both routes of how the confession may go, basically tells him that he’s this; that she was told that maybe she and China would be the parents of the new planets they’re about to colonize, and that she wouldn’t mind having his children. He tells her yes to her offer.
• Christmas in Japan: The emphasizing of romance in Japanese Christmas is brought up in Culture Clash, and is also soundly mocked. She is a lot less subtle about her low opinion of Japanese Christmas and Japanese fans assuming that everyone in the world sees the holiday like that in the UTAU videos in which this is referenced (some of the few videos released for a Japanese audience; to a Japanese audience they’re PSAs for how westerners see Christmas, and to a western audience it’s vice-versa), and most blatantly, an Anti-Christmas Song about the singer’s inability to find a date is itself subverted, with other characters butting in to tell Japan about the True Meaning of Christmas (and Hanukkah courtesy of David/Israel), ending on a positive note basically telling bitter singles on Christmas that Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers! (a noticeably lighter deviation from normal Alt-talia).
  All: Because... that’s what Valentine’s Day is foooorrr!
• Cloudcuckoo Lander: All of the micronations to some extent, as they're as eccentric as their creators, and are given more leeway to be so. Though many come off as just having innocent childhood fun and imaginations; and then there's those who show a more anarchic or loony bent, often confusing the more innocent ones. The former are more likely to inspire amusement (or even slight envy) at their innocence and quirkiness than the latter (who may inspire annoyance), and their host nations may also even like humoring them, even if they never would formally recognize them (e.g. England with Sealand and Lithuania with Užupis).
  • Belgium is occasionally shown to say and think some straight-up surreal things and has an odd sense of humor.
  • Russia. Specifically when it comes to weird weapons and tactics that are crazy enough to work.
  • America too, in a similar way to Russia sort of (he actually comes up with the idea to strap bombs on bats to send them at enemies. And yes, that was actually an idea someone had), plus stuff like calling french fries Freedom Fries for a while after getting salty that France didn’t like him invading Iraq.
  • England can come across as one by virtue of being so hilariously unflappable.
  • Wales is a bit spacey, to say the least.
  • The Balts can be a bit... strange at times, if not slightly creepy. Latvia particularly comes off as really spacey for most of his existence.
• Cowboy: From the Firefly AU, Shadow, AKA Colt Wesley, is a young version (about physically 17) of a Working Cowboy; rather laid-back, rough-mannered, and sometimes having a stalk of grain in his mouth. Being the archetypal cowboy is basically the core of his personality. He has a Hotblooded streak, however.
• Crapsack World: It isn't an exaggeration to say that almost everyone has done something awful at one point, and awful stuff keeps happening. All countries are outright stated by Word of God to be "almost mildly sociopathic" by instinct; while they might all act differently, all, when stripped down, are driven primarily by self-interest, often making shifting alliances that no one even pretends are actual friendships, backstabbing, sabotaging, and engaging in extreme amounts of hypocrisy and manipulation, with even strong friendships having the potential to go up in flames or be straight-up forgotten (a great departure from the author's other works which often have The Power of Friendship as a theme). While there are a select few seeming exceptions, they all had exceptional circumstances for this, and only modern Germany seems to entirely have overcome these instincts. Though even then there is an undercurrent of hope lingering, and the moments of international friendship and goodwill shine through even more because of it.
• Creepy Blue Eyes/Occult Blue Eyes: Lithuania and Latvia get blue (or at least bluish) eyes with very lightly colored pupils to give them a more mysterious, slightly unsettling aura. They tend to be depicted with darker shades over their eyes (though Lithuania less so during the Commonwealth era), which increases the effect.
• Crossover: Aside from the entirely human AU EC x Alt-talia, occasionally, even if they’re unlikely to get a full mini-series like America's Stepbrother, America's Enemy or Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg, the author will write/draw a one-off based on a historical, geopolitical, Alternate History, or otherwise relevant story that catches her interest to explore how the characters might differ in the setting.
  • There were also the one-off, sort of Black Comedy KanColle crossover skits which were used to discuss naval warfare and how various countries approached it (e.g. England being uncharacteristically doting, albeit clearly having favorites, while Germany and Prussia both expect too much of them and are comically deadbeat), albeit some stuff is already covered in the main series or even in other lighter stories. Though the author admits that she doesn’t know much about the series, it usually isn’t too notable due to the skits/strips being extremely short (though there are a few deliberate changes like the Bismarck being a masculine crossdresser and the uniforms looking slightly less "anime")... also certain members of the Kriegsmarine and all of the Soviet ships get a Gender Flip due to how certain ships in German and all ships in Russian are male. MMD versions of these skits are actually some of the few Alt-talia related material translated into Japanese, and are available on Nico Nico Douga.
• Curse of The Ancients: The author seems to have a lot of fun with making characters throw around period-appropriate slurs and insults that sound pretty silly today.
  • North Korea still uses these, as part of the whole Antiquated Linguistics thing, for generic swears and insults; or more accurately, he often uses insults like a Fire Emblem character, including not uncommon use of the infamous “dastard”.
  • Even in modern day, characters may say things that are indicative of older generations.
• Daddy's Girl: Xinjing in the Firefly AU. The female Core Worlds are all this and/or Momma’s Girl to an extent, but especially Xinjing. She holds Filial Piety to a high regard and willingly consents to the somewhat overbearing parenting style her parents have, even into adulthood (She’s physically 22 by the latest the story takes place). Hera spitefully calls her this, and the Independent Planets find her and Londinium’s loyalty to their parents almost creepy.
• Decomposite Character: Germania isn’t one character, but more a bunch of unrelated tribes Rome often has trouble telling apart, as is more accurate of contemporary perceptions.
• Deconstruction: The series is basically this for Hetalia as a concept, exploring the idea of national personifications if they actually functioned like nations. The result is extremely morally grey, with almost everyone being some shade of terrible and even mildly sociopathic and everyone is out for their own interests. Even the more lighthearted entries are black comedy half the time.
  • There are also those characters who end up being a deconstruction of their canon selves, though apparently these are coincidental; most notable is Italy before and during the Fascist Era, as outlined under I Want to Be a Real Man.
  • Or the Axis itself, really. The series makes it very clear how the Axis were anything but the close-knit group that canon portrays them as, and in fact despite making gestures of unity and Germany and Japan especially convincing themselves otherwise, in the end they were one of the more loose-knit alliances in history, only out for their own interests. Japan and the Western Axis barely even meet. One very egregious example of how superficial this alliance was was that Germany actually helped China earlier in the war... as Japan was fighting China. Japan also was completely unwilling to risk his neck for Germany by invading the Soviet Union. And the one time they do cooperate, it ends badly for Germany. The author has also gone on record saying she really likes giving GerIta the torpedo, and it’s made extremely clear how awful and shaky their “friendship” is, in the end leaving Italy with a burning resentment of Germany just like the rest of the continent for about two decades. Oh and Germany and Japan have basically gone psychotic by this point and Italy as mentioned above is desperately grasping at something to be proud of and failing miserably, and in the end what drove them into an alliance was that they saw themselves as persecuted rookies who had literally no one else to turn to. The Allies, on the other hand, are shown to be an actual alliance, communicating and networking to best contribute to victory, even if they didn’t necessarily like each other.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Yuuuuup. The characters are all written by what is "mainstream" in a given country. So everyone thinks in ways that are normal for their era and/or culture, no matter how reprehensible the author herself finds it; e.g. early 1900s America doesn't see anything wrong with calling China and Japan "Ching-chong" and "Chink", Fem!France in a pre-release fic sees nothing with threatening Austria by saying “I hope Russe sodomizes you” during the Concert of Vienna talks (note, she would have actually legalized it in law during the revolution), and in modern day Russia and Balkan characters use “fag” as an insult, and (human) women were still demeaned by most until recently. This is also why most of even the OCs are male, as the author doesn't want to contradict the cultures of countries as much as possible. This is also reflected in how pre-nationalism nations work, as before then the countries were, for the most part, bound to their rulers and not their people, as such they often don't feel much connection to the average peasant. The author has stated that the Creator's Culture Carryover trope annoys her a lot, as such a lot of care is taken so that characters actually think and act like someone from their country.
• Do-Anything Soldier: Justified for many nations, who usually have the ability to serve in any military branch, force, or division unless they have a reason to be exempt from it. They can even teleport around so they can be present at all important fronts and military engagements. Occasionally, particularly if that nation has personified subdivisions, a character can spend most of their time in one branch or force (e.g. Milano and Veneziano (as in Venice, not Italy himself) are in the Alpini, Alaska is more likely to happen to be in the Air Force at any given time); before the 19th century or so, however, it is common for a character to be the type of soldier considered the most iconic and/or befitting of their noble status (e.g. Commonwealth!Poland is always a Winged Hussar after their introduction, Spain and Napolitano are pikemen), though even then they often seem to do whatever would be the most cool in the story (one of the more notable examples being how England was a longbowman throughout his childhood but still has swordfights on the battlefield).
• Does Not Like Spam:
  • David/Israel and all Muslim nations, for religious reasons, find pork gross at best. While they might be able to eat other stuff with preparation, pork by itself, even just by itself, is unambiguously disgusting to them. David and Lipka build up some tolerance to it due to spending so much time around Europeans, especially the Polish Commonwealth which by no means dislikes it (and Ukraine’s Trademark Favorite Food In particular, salo, is literally a hunk of lard, though that is enough to make poor Lipka gag and make David cringe at the mere mention of it).
  • A bit of a Running Gag is that Scotland also hates pork, in any form, and has since childhood... For no real reason. He’d eat literal sheep guts, but serve him pork sausage and he’ll act like it’s rotten. Oh, and hilariously, he’s also a bit afraid of pigs. England notes more than a few times that his face scrunches up when he sees pork, and at one point had pork chops served for dinner purely to mess with him. Unlike, say the abovementioned Israel or Muslim nations, he doesn’t really have any reason to hate it, or if he had any he doesn’t remember why, he just found pigs gross and unappealing. While he is able to eat it in modern times, he’d still rather eat any other meat. And yes, this is indeed based on an actual observed phenomena.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Austria’s immediate reaction upon losing the Austro-Prussian War and therefore losing any hope of “fathering” Germany would probably sound like a woman who just had her first miscarriage out of context.
  • Lukashenko's relationship with Belarus is depicted almost like an abusive marriage, what with Lukashenko's boorish, uncouth, controlling, power-hungry personality and Belarus being quite possibly the most timid character in the nation cast. Their massive height difference, the fact that he's a misogynist who questions Belarus' capabilities and often makes remarks about how incapable women are right in front of her, is very quick to reinforce her danger-avoidant personality to keep her in that mindset, and especially if she shows any semblance of discontent, doesn't help. Nor that his wife isn't in the picture, and thus she's the woman who spends the most time near him. In the fic taking place during the 2020 election, his blatant disregard for her well-being is laid bare with his blatant disregard of her fears regarding the COVID-19 pandemic that was occurring that year, proving to be the final straw and she finally speaks up against him.
• Dragged into Drag: One of Russia’s empresses, Elizaveta (not to be confused with Hungary, who is now Erzsébet), on top of her over-the-top parties, throws crossdressing balls; and had a giant sack-back gown tailor made just for poor, teenage Russia to wear to these like a little girl forcing her brother to role-play a tea party with her. Note, he’s a pretty traditionally masculine character and remains consistently so. And yes, other nations laugh at his expense for it. The only reason he or anyone attends them is that the empress looks hot even in drag. In Bons Baisers De Russie, Russia has the misfortune of her telling Marianne “Oh, he loves putting it on!”. Though despite this humiliation and her other eccentricities, he remembers her fondly for not being horrifically abusive or neglectful. ...And yes, this is based in reality.
• Dramedy: A really good example, discounting Culture Clash. While it's mainly a dark drama, there will be comedic chapters every now and again that will probably throw you for a loop, times when the stereotype sides of their characters show through, and there's also scenes like this one as London is bombed in the WWII arc:
  England: Ah, Canada- *cough* How are you *cough* faring?
  Canada: Father, your head is covered in blood, can you not see that?! Please take it easy!
  England: Ah, this? *cough* Terribly irritating, I must say *cough* the blood is stinging my eyes- *coughs blood*
  Canada: GOOD GOD! ...Sorry at the outburst, but how can you call that "terribly irritating"?!
  England: A mere few square kilometers destroyed, is all- *coughs blood again, into Canada's lap*
  Canada: MERE?!
• Denser and Wackier: The micronations. Most of them are pretty cartoony, the notable ones having a very strong "quirk" to define them (e.g. Kugelmugel and Ladonia are artists, Užupis is a laid-back hippie, Other World Kingdom is a Dominatrix and the Token Adult, Hay-on-Waye is a Bookworm, plus the many anarchic ones), even more so since they understandably only occasionally are shown, mostly as a Breather Episode. They resemble early canon Hetalia characters quite a bit in this way, and their Day in the Limelight episodes are also almost always this, which coming from normal Alt-talia can be a bit jarring even if the main story, especially the more humorous entries, can have pretty cartoony moments. Downplayed for the major out of them, Sealand, who is basically a rebellious young boy with a super active imagination, but compared to canon he isn't as obnoxious about wanting to be recognized, as he doesn't care that no one recognizes him as a country, saying he's confident enough in himself to not need outside validation... or so he states. However, there are times where micronations created in response to actual issues are shown, and while they're still very quirky the issues are treated seriously (pending). They generally seem to exist on a Lighter and Softer plane of existence, even becoming mere mortals if their existence is terminated, as opposed to being killed off.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Prussia. And unlike in canon, he keeps “strict military man” as his default personality. Though he’s lighter on the insults than other examples unless they’re someone who’s being extremely difficult like Bavaria or Cologne, that doesn’t stop him from actually shooting at poor young Germany while chasing him on horseback as punishment, taking advantage of the fact that it’s impossible to kill a nation conventionally. This starts rubbing off on Germany eventually, though by modern day the kid completely avoids it, unlike his canon counterpart.
  • Ancient Rome is also shown to be this towards soldiers, even more so than any modern examples. And unlike Prussia, he doesn’t give a damn about your personal honor if you won’t make a good soldier, as such lays on the “Maggot!”s, “Pussy!”s, and ultra colorful swears thick. There are even scenes cribbed out of Full Metal Jacket.
  • Sparta, of course, is the crowning Drill Sergeant Nasty of all Drill Sergeant Nasty. They won’t even go easy on children, boys starting their training at 7. Oh yeah, Sparta is a woman, though the soldiers don’t know this (pending). She doesn’t even care if you die. Athens in particular is baffled at her practices, noting how terrifyingly emotionally stunted her men (and Sparta herself) are. Note, the other Greek City States are hardly soft and nice either.
    Athens: Innocent boys come out as hardened soldiers, but with merely half the souls of men, the other half having been mutilated, worn, and torn away in gruesome fashion. At times, I doubt if the madwoman herself has a soul either.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: China, just like in canon. He also still sounds feminine, as he has the same voice. For the longest time, this was considered attractive, as such he took pride in it; but as mentioned above, in modern day it’s... best not to bring it up to him. Russia learned this the hard way in their first meeting after the Deng Xiao Ping reforms after he mocks him for his appearance. Yes. That Russia.
• The Dutiful Son: Canada becomes this after America leaves the Empire. He saw America as a traitor to the family for the longest time, refusing to see him as a brother on top of the fear of America encroaching on him. This drives him to become even more loyal to his father and uncles, seeing himself as the representative of the British Empire in the Americas, also putting him in contrast to America, the want for which becomes a defining part of his character.
• Dysfunction Junction: Hoo boy. When many of the main characters are actual war criminals and selfish by instinct, functioning like a normal human is actually something pretty impressive. The EU bloc, the most developed ones at least, seem to not be this, but it's just that they're not so much anymore, and even then they still can be prone to many complexes. In fact, it's been said that nations have a different set of instincts from humans, which often manifests as what seems to be very mild sociopathy/narcissism. It's telling that they seem right at home in an Evillious Chronicles setting, and in fact there they somehow seem less morally ambiguous.
• Eldrich Abomination: ISIS is presented as a bit of one, more a manifestation of hatred who corrupts nations by feeding off of the resentment he was born out of than a character per se. He even becomes a black swarm when Kurdistan puts the final bullet in him. Though even this manifestation of pure evil, one of the few true villains of the series, is shown to be a Knight Templar who does honestly believe in his cause. The author has stated that while she did wonder about creating this character, she also wanted to show why the organization came to be and how radicalization of so many people can happen, and as such decided to make him more monster than human.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: When communicating in a language they aren’t native to, their eloquency is highly dependant on depending on the fluency of the overall population, but when speaking their native language they speak very fluently, possibly with accents for parts of countries like states or to convey personality.
• Emotionless Girl: Modern Belarus rarely emotes, though if someone notices her in a positive way she can show a bit of a smile.
• Enfant Terrible: Read Troubling Unchildlike Behavior for more. Nations are nations no matter their age.
• Entitled to Have You: Imperial Japan towards his “Co-Prosperity Sphere”, though for all but probably Taiwan (pending) it's more a twisted familial (?) love than romantic. While he isn’t wrong in thinking that the European Imperial powers don’t have the best interests of their colonies in mind, he believes himself to be a better Imperial master because he supposedly knows and understands his fellow Asians unlike them... despite all evidence to the contrary. In fact, he’s more abusive for the most part than any of them. But because he’s an East Asian just like them, he HAS to be their designated leader to lead them to an Asian Utopia in which they can all be one big happy family. And any suggestion that he’s hurting them more than the European empires ever did is enough to make him fly into a terrifying Unstoppable Rage, especially towards his colonies for being “ungrateful”. For Taiwan in particular, he basically treats her as his trophy wife (pending).
  • Russia could be seen to have an attitude like this towards his sisters. Familial Nationalism can tend to share many similarities with this trope, but Russia in particular feels that his sisters shouldn’t “abandon” him because of their blood ties. Particularly Ukraine.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Mongol Empire is probably one of the few nation characters who can be called a "villain" in the series; she’s basically an unstoppable force who gleefully murders other countries and masses of innocent people, deliberately using gut-wrenching Cold-Blooded Torture that even makes medieval stomachs turn before doing so to make others fear her... but even then she's apparently a loving mother. A precious commodity in the Alt-talia universe. Mongolia only remembers this kind mother, so they (note: gender unconfirmed) take any insults at her expense, no matter how justified, with great offense.
  • Even nations at their most vile, at least post-nationalism, often do such things out of a connection to their people. This doesn’t always mean they’re against throwing many individuals of their own into the grinder, however, so it can come across as hypocritical.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Portugal mistaking China for a woman isn’t the first time it happens, and England and France mistake him for a woman as well. However, this trope is possibly implied even after they find out; they take note of how “beautiful” he is and find him “fascinating”.
• Everyone Has Standards: Examples abound:
  • When people find out what King Leopold II was doing with his "humanitarian money" in the Congo Free State, even the Imperial Powers were in utter horror at what the man had done.
  • Mongol Empire’s cruelty towards her enemies are a bit much even by medieval standards. The medieval Europeans are the same kids who think public drawing and quartering is a perfectly justified judicial punishment and basically exist only to fight in wars.
  • The above-mentioned instances of a younger Germany being horrified by extreme cruelty towards people that he’s been taught his whole life are less than human. It’s shown in general that he’s more kindhearted, or at least openly so, than Prussia, something which Prussia sees to stamping out. But this gets beaten out of him by the middle of World War I, and as we all know, a little over two decades later...
  • Speaking of, most of Europe didn’t particularly like Jews or Slavs in the early 40s. But even then the Holocaust was terrible enough to shock many, and for them to reflect on what they had done.
  • Also of note is that Italy is incredibly reluctant about turning in Jews during WWII.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Characters may change hairstyles according to what was in style at the time. However, some are significant.
  • Germany wears his hair down starting from the 60s, in order to symbolize him realizing the error of his ways, not wanting to appear scary to others.
  • After the Qing fell, which comes after he came to the realization that the past decades have been nothing but humiliating for him and everyone sees him as a joke, China cuts his queue, and for all depictions after has short hair. A major thing with him is not wanting to be seen as “weak”, and he sees being seen as “feminine” as being seen as “weak”.
    • However, in the Firefly AU, America, a while after they start dating, tells him that she thinks he looked beautiful when he had long hair, and wants to see him with it again. China is reluctant at first, but grows it out again, for the first time giving him the same ponytail style he had in earlier Hetalia canon. This is part of the mini-arc he has about learning to be vulnerable around others (mainly America), and corresponds to the author’s headcanoned shift in gender roles in Firefly’s future.
  • Japan’s hair change at the start of the Meiji Era also corresponds to westernization, visualizing his departure from previous tradition, and giving him his canon hairstyle. However, he cuts it shorter during WWII, showing his militaristic nature during this era.
  • Father Korea also cuts his hair with westernization, visualizing his departure from China’s fold and entry into the Westphalian system.
• Fake Relationship: One-sided example; in “Nations Have No Lovers, Only Interests”, a Female Russia confesses her love to China, who, being functionally aromantic since becoming the PRC, doesn’t have feelings back. But he enters a relationship with her anyway to make her loyal to him and use her trust for his own gain. Russia believes that China loves her back, while even by the end of the one-shot China sees her as a good business partner at most.
• Female Misogynist: Just because a nation is female doesn’t mean they respect women during eras where misogyny was normal. They just get concessions to act like men in their mind because they’re countries, and among normal humans they either crossdress or act like how a “proper” woman should, not finding anything wrong with it as that’s what’s normal for them. Though the author does try to make new female countries female when the society is relatively egalitarian to avoid this.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: America and Canada respectively. Though Canada can be a bit snobbish about it.
• Foreign Cuss Word: Used quite often, due to obvious reasons.
  • "Kurwa" is basically Poland's catchphrase. Its use is very versatile, from expressing amazement to Oh, Crap! to Big "NO!".
  • It's similar with Finland and "perkele", and to a lesser extent Russia and "blyat".
  • The author often averts this when a non-English speaking nation curses in a more lighthearted entry, directly translating swears, idioms, or interjections that sound silly in English just for Rule of Funny, resulting in China calling a pedestrian he almost runs over a "son of a turtle", Argentina dramatically shouting at Chile he hopes he gets fucked by a fish, Serbia angrily shouting "fuck your blood!" after Croatia... or any curse word Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, or Bosnia says when translated for that matter. And they do. A lot. For less vulgar ones, there's things like Poland expressing surprise by saying "By St. Hyacinth and his pierogis..." instead of his standard "kurwa" (unfortunately he doesn't say it much anymore), or the myriad of Gosh Dang It to Heck!-esque swears Lithuania and Latvia used for most of their life if the need arose (e.g. "Green Rue!" and "Gritty Flour!”)
• Forgettable Character: Quite a few characters get this gag. In general, nations who tend to be more obscure tend to go unnoticed sometimes, but the most common victims are:
  • Belarus, who goes pretty unnoticed between her way more noticeable and bold siblings, due to her timid personality in this canon and general irrelevance in international politics, with only her immediate neighbors recognizing who she is consistently. And even if they do, they may even be unable to sense she is a nation at first and mistake her for a civilian (as happens more often with the more womanizing characters).
  • Out of the Baltic states, Lithuania seems to get this (though more often he gets called "Latvia") the most often, which is very unfortunate since he tends to react the worst to it.
  • Uruguay tends to kind of disappear in the shadows of the much more loud and brash Argentina and Brazil. He takes it in stride, though.
  • Liechtenstein is another such case, but not really. Switzerland often forgets that she exists as a country... however, this doesn't mean he forgets she exists, it's just that he thinks she's a canton of his, and he's still very protective of her.
  • Canada, unlike how he's often perceived in Hetalia fanon and earlier canon, averts this trope. He does get mistaken for America, but he's never straight-up invisible, and in fact is well-liked by the international community, seen as the non-controversial brother to America (though there has been at least one occasion where others get a bit annoyed with him listing off how he's better than America). ...But however, one of his provinces, Manitoba, is. Or at least, he needs to speak up for the others to even notice him.
  • Among America's states, Wyoming tends to get this a lot. Her case is probably the strangest from a character standpoint, as her personality and rough but conservative appearance wouldn't really lead one to think so (plus she's one of the very few female states or territories in the union), but she just has the "magical" ability to be in everyone's blind spot, much to her frustration. It's stated that this is due to her sparse population, however. Though it's also possible that the others are just messing with her.
• Freudian Trio:
  • The Baltic states: Lithuania, now the most expressive, proud, fiery, and anger-prone out of the three (Id); Estonia, the slow and unemotional but logical, blunt, and practical prodigy (Superego); and Latvia, who is somewhere in the middle, though probably the most shy, conflicted, and least figured out (Ego).
  • The East Slavs: Ukraine is now by far the most emotionally expressive, anger-prone, impulsive, and idealistic (Id), Belarus is borderline unemotional, accepts things as they come, and values order over freedom (Superego), while Russia is basically the default leader and is both emotionally turbulent and stoic (Ego); though it somewhat deconstructs the dynamic as Russia’s relationships with them are hardly healthy.
  • The most prominent members of the German family within the German Empire fit this dynamic quite well; Prussia is always disciplined, practical, and calculating (Superego), Bavaria is proud, carefree, boisterous, and only listens to what he or God wants (Id), with Germany, of course, being representative of the whole union (Ego); albeit, he leans way more towards Prussia so it can be pretty lopsided.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While most countries have to start somewhere, there are some notable cases:
  • Ancient Rome himself starts as a small city-State no one really cares about, one out of many. Needless to say, he becomes the most powerful empire Europe would ever see, his exploits so famed that others want to be him centuries after his death and his legendary status continues to this day; in a way he can be described as the most important character in the series.
  • Turkey was merely the runt of the litter out of a long list of other squabbling petty kingdoms when he started out. He proceeds to rapidly expand his borders and become more powerful so that by 1500, not only is Rûm, the most powerful among them, long dead along with the rest of the kingdoms, but he has killed the Eastern Roman Empire himself, taken Constantinople, become the one true Caliphate, and grown into the largest, most powerful entity in the European-West Asian-North African region.
  • Russia. As Muscovy, he starts as only one of several siblings, much like Turkey the runt of the litter no less, though he’s quickly selected as the Golden Horde’s tax collector. He’s tiny and sort of meek, but is taken under his wing. ^{Alternatively} He’s actually the Duchy of Vladimir, with the other principalities represented by the human kings fighting over his throne, as others have done. This might actually make better sense for his paranoid personality, since he would have seen the invasion with his own eyes? Then, after growing under his care, he usurps him and by driving him away basically leaves him for dead. And not only does Russia become his father’s official successor, but he becomes one of the biggest countries the world would ever see, as symbolized in his massive, exponential growth spurts. Though even after this, he’s still seen as “An untamed, but starved beast” (or as the author puts it as herself, “A Space-Filling Empire of hot air”) as he was a backwater compared to the rest of Europe with no navy and dinky military, outdated and rather isolated. No one except his neighbors pay him any mind, as they have no need to. Compared to them (Denmark-Norway, Sweden, Poland-Lithuania, and Turkey) especially, he paled in comparison, and to show for it was a teenager when said neighbors were very much adults and had been so for a while. Then Peter the Great becomes Tsar. By the end of his reign, Russia is an Empire with a modern navy and massive army who has singlehandedly knocked Sweden out of Great Power status, feared as a legitimate continental power. By the time of Catherine the Great, he’s this towering, terrifying monster of a man who has taken basically all of Northeastern Europe. He also contributes majorly to the decline of Poland-Lithuania and Turkey and the ultimate knocking them out of the ring as well and humiliates Napoleon with sheer force of will. Safe to say, from then on he continues to be feared more and more, culminating in the 20th century.
  • Japan from the mid 1800s to WWII. He starts as a feudal island, isolated from virtually everyone else. At first, most of the European powers done pay much attention to him; then he defeats Russia, much to everyone’s (even England, his ally’s) shock. They continue to not try to give him too much credit, until by the 1930s, he becomes a terrifying, nigh-insane empire tearing his way across Asia.
• Gender Flip:
  • The author sometimes writes stories replacing a character with their opposite gender (i.e. Nyotalia) counterpart to explore certain scenarios, usually including romance (e.g. Bons Baisers de Russie). They often act somewhere between what you'd expect someone of their gender in their culture and their usual selves.
  • A "canon" Alt-talia example; the Philippines. While in canon the Philippines was eventually revealed to be male, because the Philippines was the one nation the author was sure she wanted to be female, she basically just decided to keep on writing the Philippines as female, using the canon design as the opposite gender counterpart.
• Germanic Depressives: Germany, of course; he tends to be pessimistic, a complainer, and rather worry-prone. However, it’s actually a bit downplayed, and in modern day he even isn’t that much of a Workaholic, seeing rest as an essential part of being a hard worker. And even when he was younger, he didn’t epitomize this trope as much as Prussia, who in this canon has No Sense of Humor, is almost a Perpetual Frowner, and once England even remarks he questions if Prussia even has a soul.
• Ghost Planet: An example in the Firefly AU that is also literal. Shadow is literally bombed to death, becoming this, completely abandoned. Hera describes the ruined rock “Shadow’s corpse” in a rant to Persephone. In “The Ruins of Shadow”, Malcom Reynolds feels tempted to go back to his destroyed home, and as the Serenity is due for some maintenance the crew lands there. The planet is of course deserted… Or so it seems, until Malcom meets a familiar face from the war, a black-haired, green-eyed young man in a tattered Browncoat uniform. If there were any doubts in the readers until here, they are shattered when Malcom calls him “Officer Wesley”, and it becomes obvious this is the ghost of Shadow. The two talk, and Malcom tells him about his adventures, also noting internally how he never realized just how absurdly young Officer Wesley was and how he looks like he hasn’t aged a day, but yet he still always seemed strangely old. After Malcom turns away to talk to Zoe, Wesley is gone. Only River, who sensed Shadow, believes him.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: Usually morality functions like this; maybe one side might be darker and the other lighter, but this was one of the goals of the series. Though if narrowed down to specific events, you might get more Black-and-Grey Morality situations like World War II, where the Axis are the clear villains but many of the Allies are also shown to engage in unsavory tactics, and have a history of doing so. Even many of the more innocent-seeming characters have probably done something awful in the past.
• Guilt-Induced Nightmare: In the Firefly AU, Female America is more reluctant about the more authoritarian aspects of the Alliance than her husband, China, is. After Shadow’s death, she is shown having a nightmare where Shadow is once again giving her a breaking speech like before, pointing out to her how much she has changed and abandoned her old core value of freedom, this time with scarily accurate knowledge of her history; when America asks why he knows all this and says that he knows nothing, Shadow changes into her younger self, who rubs in even more how much she has changed. After she wakes up, China tries consoling her, saying that it means nothing.
• Hairstyle Inertia: Subverted often; though mostly because of changing cultural norms, and usually the author tries her best to avoid changing appearance details too much in art to keep the characters recognizable.
  • But there’s also occasional cases like Norway’s curlier hair as a kid that are there for other reasons, such as symbolic or stereotypical.
• Handsome Lech: In modern times China is basically asexual, but earlier in his life, up to the Tang dynasty, he is very flirty and almost a Lovable Sex Maniac. This is based on the fact that Imperial China up to the Tang was relatively sexually open. As a mere teenager he flirts with Gojoseon and tries to bed her, and he does the same with Silla after the creation of their alliance (though he doesn’t threaten Silla).
  China (Later Tang): Oh, so you’re a boy.
  Goryeo: Is… That a problem, Sir?
  China: Aiyah! I would have enjoyed seeing Silla’s successor grow into a beautiful maiden like she used to be, a shame! …However, I suppose this way I can impart my wisdom on you more effectively.
• Happy Marriage Charade:
  • Austria during the Austria-Hungarian Empire likes to pretend that the Empire is running perfectly fine and that he’s perfectly happy in his marriage, while at the same time wanting deep down to become part of Germany.
  • Cameroon says that the situation with his wife (Anglo Cameroon, who calls herself Ambazonia) is under control and that they’re figuring things out. No one believes him.
• Hates Their Parent: Germany, for a good while after coming to terms with the war, denounces Prussia, seeing his parenting as a major reason for him going down the dark path he did. The Allies told him such, citing him being the source of German materialism as their reason for finally killing him. After the turn of the 21st century however, he starts to see him in a more nuanced light. While Germany still doesn’t think his father raised him right, he recognizes why he did so, why he thought the way he did, and how he had a side that wasn’t just militarism.
• He Really Can Act: In a sense. Characters such as Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and Finland tend to have naturally laid back or calm voices in canon, however they often have songs that require them to sound not only angry, but plain enraged, or in the case of those like Russia or Finland, are expected to have a more harsh voice; the results are some amazing examples of just what utagrowl and moresampler are capable of, which makes it so that these voices can vocalize visceral growls and more powerful shouts. It can be genuinely terrifying to hear Japan's normally calm, gentle voice growl and snarl in barely suppressed rage, and Poland and Lithuania sound genuinely angry and bitter in Imitacja Juoda.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Basically what "Union-brotherhood" is supposed to be. How it actually turns out varies, however. In Prussia and Brandenburg/Arendt's case it's pretty much enforced.
  • China (particularly Ming) and Father Korea, though there’s a clear power imbalance. But China still views Korea as second only to himself, which is saying a lot for Imperial China, and Korea in turn basically idolizes him, being proud of his position in China’s eyes.
  • Laos and Vietnam, though much like China and Father Korea, there’s a power imbalance. To quote Vietnam, “Women have to support each other!”, and Vietnam especially is passionate about their friendship, describing Laos as her best friend. They had a war in the past, but after becoming her tributary Laos grows comfortable with it, and they stay friendly after (Pending, Laos may become male).
• He Who Fights Monsters: America genuinely wants to be a beacon for democracy, the shining city upon a hill others can aspire to be, to help others. However, even after two My God, What Have I Done? moments (one after the Philippine-American War, the other after the Vietnam War), he always finds himself getting into wars and playing manipulative games to further these supposed goals which may go against said goals, with many dictatorships and terrorist groups having sprouted up thanks to him, having to be “friends” with allies like Saudi Arabia who go terribly against his values, and alienating the very nations he was trying to help with his post-9/11 Roaring Rampage of Revenge, killing thousands without much to show for it. In the most modern stories he’s going through his third disillusionment, albeit one less extreme than before; however, it’s here he comes to realize that he’s become so intertwined with everything he can’t just pull out of things when they go south, and has to keep on beating problems down until they hopefully disappear. Though it should be noted that even before WWII he wasn’t without his hypocrisies, I.e. his blatant disregard for the natives he came across. There’s a good reason he’s the alternate option for the Wrath sinner in Evillious Chronicles x Alt-talia alongside Germany.
  • Oh Poland, oh Poland... back in his height, he used to take pride in his religious tolerance and diversity, making it a point that he thought all were God’s children regardless of faith. This starts to slip as his condition starts to deteriorate, but right before partition he tries his damndest to reclaim this; after partition his three parts pursue more liberal nationalism, fighting alongside everyone in the PLC, and thanks to that David always sided with him. He becomes the Spanner in the Works to the empires occupying him, and as such Russia and Prussia try their damndest to snuff his culture, language, religion, and identity out, being regularly abused and beaten, in the case of Posen being used to train Germany and be the kid’s plaything, which only causes him to double down. However, eventually his nationalism turns toxic and authoritarian; after he gains independence, one of the first things he does is try to force the same kind of assimilation policy on Belarusians and Ukrainians, and relations between him and David become extremely uncertain. In modern day he’s probably one of the more intolerant members of the EU and seems to value his own pride over democracy as well. While he’s still as stubborn and proud as ever, he seems to have forgotten what he stood for, though there are signs that he might be changing.
  • Imperial Japan wanted to create a utopia for East Asians where they would stand united against the cruel colonial oppressors, helping modernize them and bring them into the 20th century. And while he does show some unsettling signs, manipulation, and brutality early on, it’s nothing by usual colonial standards, and he’s extremely by the book regarding prisoners of war in WWI, treating them like honored guests. His racial equality proposal being shot down in the League of Nations, however, starts him on a Sanity Slippage; he completely loses it after the Manchurian Incident, and ends up treating his occupied territories worse than any western empire ever did, brutalizing POWs and anyone who stands in his path.
• High-Class Glass: England wears one during the appropriate time period, fittingly. He doesn’t wear it all the time, but still a lot of the time.
  • Brandenburg also wears one, as the monocle actually used to be a Prussian stereotype; though he doesn’t fit the personality type attached to the trope as much as England, he’s still shown as usually more cultured than Prussia. Though even Prussia is shown to have one he uses when reading fine print, he just doesn’t wear it often.
• Historical Domain Character: Chock full of ‘em. Though rare, they can even get A Day in the Limelight chapters focusing on them or have segments in their point of view, as well as a few civilians, which serve as an way to view the perspectives of individuals that would have deviated from the mainstream their nation represents, (e.g. opposition politicians, smaller resistance movement leaders, American Communists in hiding, a Japanese anti-Imperialist writer getting shunned by his neighborhood) or to show the human side and cost (e.g. heads of state, prominent writers and scientists, quite a few individual soldiers of varying disposition, refugees, a Romani father sharing a work camp with David, a little girl in Osaka hiding in a bunker innocently complaining about how she can’t watch the “fireworks”), though usually the nation themselves does have a role in the story, whether as a threat, a conversation partner, or just as someone they always see around.
• Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Downplayed example; even with short hair, Lithuania usually keeps his earlocks to some extent (with this trope and iconicness cited as to why). He’s also now the most hotheaded of the Baltics (though that’s not saying much) and is almost fiery when he puts his mind to it, in battle especially though he doesn’t hold a candle next to Commonwealth!Poland otherwise.
  • Greece. While in canon he was very mellow, now his long, fluffy earlocks very much give this effect due to how much hot blood this version of the character has coursing through his veins. Much like Lithuania, even with short hair his earlocks are kept noticeably present.
• Husky Russkie: Russia gets bumped up 8 centimeters so that he towers at an absolutely massive 190 centimeters (or 6 feet and almost 3 inches), explicitly the tallest member of the cast (and by far; the second tallest is the Netherlands, who is still 8 centimeters shorter than him, and Sweden, who was previously as tall as Russia in canon, gets bumped down to a “mere” 179; apparently the outrageous height was to make the now lower 180-range Baltics still look appropriately tiny) and almost has the bulk to match, making him extremely imposing; his voice is also lowered and given more Harsh Vocals, and he has a history of being thought of as this trope by the west, with his character often coming across as unrefined and brutish. However, while this isn’t completely wrong, he’s also shown to be pretty intelligent and introspective, his angstiness being a defining trait, and is as articulate in his native language as anyone else if not exceptionally so. He’s also extremely good at chess and is shown to be a fast learner if he needs to be (especially when France is tutoring him in the 18th century).
• Icy Blue Eyes: Russia is often described with these, fitting his cold, aloof demeanor in this canon. (Pending? I could possibly go for a deep blue)
  • Lithuania and Latvia (maybe?), Estonia, and Finland also get this eye color, with the latter also at times being described as having “icy blue” eyes. Fits well, given their climate, and the latter two’s personalities.
• If It's You, It's Okay: Serbia/Vuk in As A Man Would A Woman; Vuk chastises himself for letting himself be protected by a woman and for his submissive fantasies of Marianne (Female France), as he believes women should Stay in the Kitchen and be protected by men, before basically reaching this conclusion. The title of the story itself refers to a line (also in its parent fic Bons Baisers De Russie) that Vuk dreamily says about Marianne (“I wish she would have me as a man would a woman…”), which he promptly is embarrassed for uttering or even thinking.
• I Hate Past Me: Germany’s child (circa 1885) self is one of the child nations to show up in the present in the “Echoes of the Past” series; while already haunted by his past, here he’s forced to face the fact that he’d always been a chauvinistic racist, even as a child before the Nazis. His child self’s racism and chauvinism, after getting over the initial shock and amazement with the modern world, reveals itself by the second day.
• The Immodest Orgasm: The (obviously NSFW) Firefly AU fics “Wo Ai Ni” and “A First For Everyone” are rather similar; both cover Yao learning to be comfortable bottoming to Amelia in bed sometimes, getting over his fear of seeming “weak”, as well as reawakening his previously rather blunted sexuality, culminating in her getting a strap-on and screwing him with it. His resulting reaction and climax is anything but modest. The author admits “Maybe I’ve read too much hentai lol”.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Everywhere. It’s probably why so many Eastern European countries tend to be extremely prideful. Though most notably, there’s:
  • Poland in modern day. It’s one of the biggest elements of his character, usually played for comedic effect, and when he gets a lot of praise for something he tends to take it very seriously; on one occasion he even cries.
  • Lithuania’s “sidekick complex” regarding Poland and his tendency absolutely blow his top if mistaken for Latvia or a part of Russia shows he’s actually pretty insecure despite his arrogance, though said arrogance isn’t as in-your-face as it is with Poland.
  • post WWI to Fascist-era Italy, actually. Before this point he’s probably the least self-confident major country on the continent, thinking of himself as a coward and an effeminate, lazy, impotent loser who can’t live up to anyone’s expectations; even his nationalists are quick to remind him of his many faults. But after he becomes part of the victorious allies, his confidence finally spikes... only for the victors to make this newly confident Italy compromise with the concessions he was promised. This highly pisses him off, and from then on he really starts to play up the Heir To The Roman Empire thing, so when Mussolini tells him he’ll give him the wealth and greatness he deserves he readily takes it. His very macho, wannabe manly persona is also a direct result of his thinking of himself as effeminate and weak.
  • South Korea. He has quite the ego, but it comes from being abused and his culture denied during Imperial Japan’s rule; as a result, he feels he has something to prove. He’s a perfectionist, being hard on others as well as himself, and seems to be insecure about his appearance, despite him being a very good-looking person.
• Interspecies Romance: If one thinks of nations as a different species from humans, the relationship between England and Queen Elizabeth I is this... sort of. Maybe. Due to the author’s reservations about shipping actual people who actually existed, even after her famous “I am married to my country” speech the furthest their relationship goes is a pseudo-Chastity Couple relationship, though he does have an innocent crush on her.
  • One-sided examples aren’t that uncommon though. The most notable is probably America’s massive crush on Marilyn Monroe which is... way less innocent that England’s on Elizabeth. To the point that there was once a piece of official joke art in which he was cuddling a body pillow of her. Yes, in the 50s.
  • Apparently, it's more likely for a nation to fall for a human than they are a fellow nation, though this is still not very common. This only happens to people in history who are extremely notable, and is rarely if ever completely requited.
• I Want to Be a Real Man: Deconstructed. Italy until a few years after the end of WWII has this as a significant part of his psyche. He pretty much saw himself as if he were canon Italy; cowardly, lazy, effeminate, generally ineffective, as well as hedonistic and an unworthy successor to Ancient Rome’s legacy. Whereas canon Italy seems to be oblivious of this or just doesn’t let it bother him, Alt-Italy in this era is more than aware of them, and combined with his shattered self-image it contributes to a lot of self-loathing. While his appearance is given a slight manliness upgrade in this version, he still looks boyish enough that it’s a massive complex for him (especially as he ages slower than Germany, who is 10 years younger than him but looks extremely masculine), only further contributing to his self-image as an effeminate loser. During the Fascist era itself, he thinks that the new regime is what will "Finally teach him how to be a real man", and he really goes out of his way to seem as masculine and macho as possible, letting himself be subject to heavy emotional repression and abuse as a way of beating it into himself. He’s also incredibly harsh on a recruit who acts somewhat like his canon version, as would probably happen to canon Italy if he actually lived in Fascist Italy, and seeing in the recruit the part of himself he hates. After the war he does gain more genuine self-confidence, even if he still has self-image issues.

  Italy: I... I’m not a girl!

  Germany: Really? This performance speaks otherwise.

  Italy: I’M NOT A GIRL! Blocks his mouth when he hears his voice crack

• Jaded Washout: Downplayed with Poland in modern day. While he’s often described as a “washed-up has-been” by the author, and he is indeed bitter, intolerant, bible-thumping, a heavy drinker and smoker, a massive complainer, and has a raging Inferiority Superiority Complex, he also still has great potential in the future and is a very hard worker, even if he complains the whole time.
  • A similar case, ironically, is Lithuania, who goes from an Extreme Doormat to a grumpy, troubled, but prideful hothead in modern day. He likes to brag about his past much like Poland, if less blatant, and possibly has an even worse Inferiority Superiority Complex (which Poland is a major factor in) which is often described as a “Sidekick Complex”, is a major alcoholic even by Eastern Europe standards, and compared to Estonia he has yet to truly carve out a place for himself in the world. But yet, much like Poland, he is still at least trying to work to make his life better, even if he might say pessimistic things while doing it. Plus, this hotheadedness was also what helped come up with the whole Baltic Way idea.
• Jerkass: Where to start?
  • Modern China/Yao Wang is probably the most blatant example. While others try to justify things to themselves, he's pretty aware of the fact that what he's doing isn't for anything but his benefit; though a good chunk of his decisions are also driven by a persecution complex due to going through an actual century of barely anything but foreign exploitation. Still, he believes that friendship in international relationships is a lie, and his Jerkassery can often wrap around to actually being entertaining. Even he has a good heart deep down though, as shown by when he gives blankets and food to people who got their shantytown bulldozed in Beijing, lets a group of North Korean defectors go out of pity, donates to Italy during the Coronavirus epidemic series, and in a literal Pet the Dog moment buys a dog from being eaten.
  • Israel in fact is kind of proud of this, taking a bit of pride in the fact that at least a few stores in tourist spots have banned him due to him being a douche. Though he more likes to see it as Brutal Honesty, and he's been pushed around and hunted for so long that he really doesn't care about not offending you anymore. However, he's also shown as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to those he cares about and strangers.
• Jerkass Woobie: Safe to say, most of the cast is this to some degree. It’s just that some are more so than others.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Sort of; WWII-era Japan actually saves some Jews from Europe and imports them (including David with them) after hearing about Germany's plans for them... But while the people who sent most of them to him like Chiune Sugihara had genuine intentions, he himself only bought David in because he believed the Nazi propaganda but interpreted it as meaning currying favor with David would grant him leverage elsewhere and use his Magic Jew Administrative Powers for his ends.
• The Klutz: Italy is much less of a Ditz... but almost as if to make up for it he’s at least half as clumsy if not more. He loses things, is very inefficient, can barely hold something without at least fumbling with it a bit, trips anywhere one could conceivably trip, and in one of the official chibi sprites, which are supposed to be representative of the character, papers are falling from his arms as he runs and fumbles with them. If he isn’t 100% invested in something, chances are the results are going to be extremely sloppy - though when he is (e.g. his looks, cooking, art, preserving his independence), the results can be truly impressive. Though this’s is usually played for laughs, it and his overall scatterbrained-ness is also at times played more dramatically, as part of the reason he’s that way is his messy existence for much of his life, and there’s also scenes like a young Italy trying to catch up to the other Great Powers leaving without him noticing and tripping painfully into the marble floor when he tries to catch up, or him fumbling with and dropping his rifle in front of a baffled Ethiopia to show how badly prepared he is, plus how Germany brutally mocks him for it in the WWII arc.
• Kids Are Cruel: Just because a nation may look like a child doesn’t mean they can’t be capable of cruelty. In fact they may be capable of worse.
  • The medieval Europeans can come up with some... creative torture and punishments.
  • Srpska. A teenager by modern day, the kid has few redeeming qualities as a person, and seems to take pleasure in torturing poor Bosnia. Serbia enabling him does not help. Even the author has admitted to finding him rather despicable.
• Kill the Cutie: Iceland is one of the closest the series has to The Cutie, though the bar is pretty low. Still, his not being too much of a jerk and relatively positive attitude for a Nordic is pretty appealing. ...And in the World War Z AU he’s also one of the characters we know for sure to be absolutely dead, all that remains of him being a zombiefied shell.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: North Korea/Lee Hyun-Soo. By God. The extent this guy is overprotective of his brother is borderline creepy and heartbreaking. He genuinely thinks that America is a corrupting influence on South Korea, and loves the idea of killing him brutally, and if he could get his brother back he would be willing to do it no matter the cost; even if it means actually hurting him.
  • Replace “Big brother” with the relevant familial term, and this trope is basically Familial Nationalism in a nutshell.
• Kuudere: England is often described as this as opposed to the canon version’s Tsundere. Though he’s levelheaded and can be downright smarmy if not Faux Affably Evil at his worst, he does show that he does genuinely care for those who are close to him and his citizens. After all, he actually cries when Princess Diana dies.
  • Finland. He’s one of the genuinely kindest characters in modern day, especially towards Estonia; despite being as introverted, alcoholic, and seemingly aloof as he is and the chip on his shoulder, the violent part of the stereotype is dropped (especially in modern day), and he believes firmly in everyone deserving equal opportunity in life and the need for children to live their childhoods, and is also a Friend to All Living Things.
  • Belarus. While the canon version is terrifying, here she’s more of a wallflower in modern day, not really interacting much with other nations and coming off as an Emotionless Girl. However, she’s probably the sweetest out of the East Slavic trio.
• Large Ham/World of Ham: America. While somewhat short of the extent of his canon counterpart, he is also, as expected, quite dramatic and hammy, definitely lets his presence known, and is pretty obnoxious about it, contrasting him greatly with his brother Canada and his father England. It comes with the whole hero complex thing. This is especially so if the topic of conversation involves something that is conventionally Rated M for Manly like the Superbowl. It probably isn't a good idea to be standing near him if he has a reason to be hyped up about something, since he might accidentally hit you or start shaking you; and due to his Super-Strength humans would probably die from that.
  • France has his moments when in the heat of the moment, like when addressing his people during the French Revolution. The most epic example though is probably in the World War Z AU; he and England (Pending) are trying to take back his land. What does he do? He literally goes charging into hordes of zombies with his men, belting out Les Marseilles as he shoots into them and brains them with his rifle once he runs out of bullets.
  • A lot of times, how hammy someone is is directly proportional to how close to the equator they are (though they're just as likely to be laid back, e.g. Malaysia and Thailand). However, Philippines/Maria De La Cruz has to be the queen of this, at least in modern day. This girl has enough hot blood to power a stove and emotions that can pretty much change on a dime. Characters sometimes note how they can almost see cartoony effects above her head she's so damn expressive. Everyone notices as soon as she enters any room. She is capable of keeping her voice down, but she definitely will struggle initially. Unfortunately for South Korea, who she has a crush on, he has to get a facefull of it whenever they meet.
  • Italy. Though even he doesn’t compare to Neapolitano/Lavinio and Sicily, who even Italy can get a bit overwhelmed by.
  • Safe to say, the entirety of Southern Europe with the exception of Portugal, San Marino, and the Vatican (and even then the latter is debatable as an exception) is a World of Ham. Greece probably tops all of them though, a far cry from the quiet, soft-spoken Sleepyhead he was in canon. This also extends into the Middle East.
  • Commonwealth Poland. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in general is a World of Ham, but Poland himself was the biggest one, and there's a reason he's often compared to America by the author. He SHOUTS actual In the Name of the Moon speeches in Latin before battle, gives himself very lavish titles like "The White Eagle of God Himself", and his epic arguments with David can apparently be heard from across the castle. And he’s a total badass to back it up.
  • Also, the entirety of Latin America, with few exceptions (e.g. Chile) is basically one big World of Ham.
  • Also huge swaths of Africa are like this as well. While many may have some of the hardest lives out of a cast that is full of characters with troubled lives, that doesn’t stop many of them from being a joy to be around.
  • North Korea, sort of. He's often shown threatening others in incredibly dramatic ways, grandstands a lot, and his flowery Antiquated Linguistics only add to the effect. However, it's shown that when speaking to his citizens he's surprisingly calm (as long as they tow the party line of course).
• Lethal Chef: England, unlike in canon, actually averts it. Kind of. He doesn't burn everything he touches... He just has so little regard for flavorings and boils things for such absurd amounts of time that anything not meant to be eaten plain tastes impossibly, exhaustingly bland more than extremely awful. He is capable of actually making a decent meal though, it's just that he's incredibly limited and not very imaginative. But when he does make something spicy, at least, he really, really overshoots it, as best shown in a Culture Clash fic in which England brings curry to their family reunion. America, Canada, and Aussie, after being assured that it's something England actually can cook well, try it and end up screaming and running around like maniacs "as if fire was shooting out of their mouths"; even India is a bit surprised and asks "When did your curry become this spicy?" (while England and Scotland try it, are confused, and England rolls his eyes thinking that everyone is exaggerating, only to be surprised by the fact that indeed, yes, everyone finds it that spicy. After which he joins Scotland in basically calling them a bunch of pussies). Also in a comedic fic where France, Italy, and Poland pull a prank on Germany by borrowing England's mustard and switching out Germany's mustard for it; they quickly regret it as it causes the poor guy, who has a low tolerance for spicy food as it is, to immediately fall from his chair, get chills, instantly break out in cold sweat, throw up, and lose consciousness.
  France, panicking: What ze fuck 'ell magic do you put in mustard?!
  England, both amused and horrified by seeing Germany like this: Erm... Mustard powder?
• Literal Split Personality: Happens when a country or ethnic group is partitioned or split up, if they don’t die, there aren’t any backup Egg Nations, and not even a rump state is left. Most prominently Poland, who gets split into three. In this state, the individuals can seem to operate on their own but ultimately share the same personality as well as human name (leading to a bit of confusion), though there may be slight differences in appearance to tell them apart.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: China used to be this, as unbelievable as it would be from his modern self, at least up until the Tang Dynasty. This is mostly shown in his interactions with the Korea family; he flirted with Gojoseon constantly and upon meeting her for the first time tried to seduce her (note, he was physically a child at this point; the author describes China during the Han as basically a Hormone-Addled Teenager/young adult), he offers to sleep with Silla after meeting her for the first time and offers again the first thing after allying with her (after which there’s an explanation that the Tang were also really sexually open, as China is drawn taking a woman to his quarters), and he is disappointed to see Goryeo is a boy upon meeting him because he wouldn’t become a “beautiful maiden” when he was older. Allegedly, how horny he is depends on how stressed he is and how stable things are, and he grows more horny in times of peace. He also really prided himself in how well he could pleasure a woman. Vietnam and Japan bring all this up to the other nations in the aptly named comic “China Was Horny?!”, to China’s massive embarrassment. He grows more prudish during the Song Dynasty, but sometimes still flirts with his tributaries and others as he knows very well how alluring he is. There’s also the comic where he proclaims he’d make the girls wear “Tiny xiachangs!” if he could dictate that, though the author says this wouldn’t make much sense because Ming China was more a Covert Pervert.
• Meaningful Name:
  • In the Firefly AU, Xinjing’s human name is “Chenxi”, or 辰希. It not only means “Star hope”, but it’s homophonic with “Dawn”, symbolizing hope for humanity’s new home.
  • From the same AU, Shadow’s human name is Colt Wesley. Colt’s origin is obvious, while Wesley means “western meadow”, fitting for a planet known for its prairies. According to Word of God he and the rest of the non-Core worlds named themselves, so it’s especially easy to see why the boy who grew up around horses would name himself “Colt”.
  • Hera’s human name is Cassie Tián, or 田, Chinese for “farmland” or “field rich in minerals”.
• Meaningful Rename: The many times countries change their names, there can be a meaning besides “The boss thought it sounded cooler”.
  • Colonies tend to share the same human surname as their colonizer, as do parts of countries like states, and it’s customary for them to change it upon independence. However, while sometimes the surname may be significant to the nation, often it’s picked randomly.
    • In the Firefly AU, Persephone changes her human surname from Wang-Jones to Lux, after the protostar she orbits around, to signify the break from her family. After the Unification War, she’s made to change it back, and every other planet is also made to change their surname to Wang-Jones.
  • Several characters change their human name upon being baptized.
• Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Averted in the Firefly AU; apparently China is male and America female because of this trope, and because of the implications for the past; China has to be male because of his place in the Sinocentric world order.
• Military Brat: While almost everyone is, for obvious reasons, involved in their military, making all children of countries technically this, Germany acts the most like one because Prussia acts the most like a stereotypical soldier. He was raised in a militaristic environment after modern militaries became well established, and he's also determined to continue his father's legacy. It has... mixed results, to say the least. He forces himself out of this mentality after WWII though.
• Momma's Boy: See Daddy's Girl; Londinium in the “main” route of the Firefly AU, much like his twin sister, Xinjing. The twins in particular are very protective of and attached to their parents, and Londinium is especially close to America, his mother. He is utterly enraged and almost punches Hera when she slaps America, and America apparently even still kisses him on the forehead before bed. The Core Planets’ loyalty to their parents disgusts the Independent Planets, who value self-reliance.
• Mood Whiplash: Alt-talia doesn’t have a set tone, and going from one fic to another can lead to this.
  • Listening to the Firefly AU cover playlist. It starts with “Xinji Exodus”, a very cute, lighthearted love song, a parody of the upbeat (though originally poignant) song “Comet Honeymoon”, about China and America being a couple. The next song in the playlist? “Project Miranda”, a song about that same couple experimenting on a girl/planet they consider one of their children, it going horribly wrong, and their subsequent grief, to the melody of the downbeat but somewhat intense “Project ‘Ma’”. Then there’s yet more whiplash when the next song comes up, “Sepia Coats”, a rather bloodthirsty Independent POV anthem set to the intense, extremely passionate melody of “Gurenn No Yumiya”. The author says it reflects the varying tones of the AU well; “Ship fluff, depressing, and angry”.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Enforced. Though there may be some minor adjustments, character designs are edited minimally at most, and physical strength is fully dependant on military firepower. As a result, in modern day the feminine-looking China can pick up a motorbike with ease and the tiny, frail-looking Japan can punch through a table in a fit of emotion, feats which would take much more effort for the more muscular-looking Turkey or Germany.
• My Beloved Smother: In the “main” route of the Firefly AU, America/Amelia. Though she sometimes wonders if her parenting style is right, she tends to be protective and controlling, as does China. Especially China, who is a lot less reluctant about being overbearing. Though unlike most examples, the Core Worlds actually consent to this, would never have it any other way, and the protectiveness is mutual. The Independent Planets definitely see Amelia and Yao as overbearing, but don’t consider them their parents; Amelia and Yao want to civilize them so they would be happier and develop, but the Rim planets are having none of it.
  Amelia: You will accept your mother’s love, young man!
• My Country, Right or Wrong: An often explored theme. A nation's ego is also directly proportional to how many of their citizens believe this.
  • Defied by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and the Abwehr. He tells Germany to his face that his loyalty is to him, not Hitler. Germany is of course baffled by this.
• My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: The author is Japanese; this doesn't mean that she goes easy on Japan. At all. Imperial Japan is a fanatical Knight Templar with delusions of grandeur, overall delusion, implied sexual perversion, prone to extreme violence, a terrible case of Honor Before Reason, We Have Reserves despite the fact that those are his literal flesh and blood, and Double Think, though he is portrayed as more pitiful in the end than straight-up evil who in a twisted way was a Well-Intentioned Extremist. As for modern Japan, he's shown as a kind, polite person, but also ignorant, unwilling to learn about others outside of superficial things at most, apathetic, perverted (though this is more Played for Laughs than it is for Imperial Japan), uncaring towards those who even inconvenience him, and having extremely violent, vindictive thoughts about others under that polite surface, something which is shown to have been an issue for much longer; Imperial Japan was merely this being bought to the surface and amplified into actual action. The author also often laments about how much her fellow Japanese frustrate her and how seeing any political discourse on international issues on the Japanese Internet is an exercise in Cultural Cringe. This is also the reason why the author doesn't plan on translating anything Alt-talia related into Japanese anytime soon, as this type of thing isn't taken kindly by the Japanese Internet, which the author has described as a "cesspool".
  • However, she has described how it's often difficult to depict America doing horrible things, having been born and raised in the United States, and that this bias probably shows through her writing. America is depicted as ultimately good at heart, and most of his bad actions are out of him thinking it's the "heroic" thing to do. She still doesn't shy away from showing him being racist, sexist, etc. during times this was the norm though.
• Mythology Gag: A few references are occasionally made to Hetalia itself, maybe with the context changed or with different characters, along with the traits that were actually imported from canon untouched.
  • America still calls himself a “hero” often. Though here it’s also mixed in with phrases like “Shining city upon a hill”.
  • Tanzania’s “KEEENNNYYYAAAAA!!!” screams as Kenya is about to do something rash is clearly a reference to canon Estonia and his “LAAATTTVVVIIIIAAAA!!!” catchphrase. (Pending)
  • Argentina’s surname is “Vargas”. Argentina is notable for more than half of its population being of Italian descent of some sort (as alluded to in his design, accent, and in-story dialogue), and of course, “Vargas” was the surname Himaurya gave the Italy twins, a name a bit infamous in the main fandom due to being a name of Spanish, not Italian origin, more common in Latin America than in Spain itself no less. Meanwhile, Vargas is a not uncommon name in Argentina (the Italy family gets “Balducci” instead).
  • Then there’s “World Meeting”, an entire one-shot based off of the iconic first episode/comic of Hetalia, except seeing how a comedic world meeting would go between the Alt-talia characters, and as a quick introduction to some of the Alt-talia cast, or at least those featured in the episode. At least, it starts and ends somewhat similarly, everything in between veers in a very different direction. Some highlights include:
    England: Well, it does seem very much like an idea you would think of.
    America: Wow, thanks, dad!

    Belarus: It’s fine, no one cares about me anyway...

    Greece: Look, I swear I’ll pay you back! Give me a break!

    China: And that’s why this ocean has belonged to me for many century!

    Lithuania, swatting Poland’s hand away: Don’t. Touch me.

    Switzerland, eating chocolate pieces from a popcorn bucket: Liechtenstein? What's a canton of mine doing here?
• Nearly Normal Animal: Most pets of nations are basically treated as this; even former Talking Animals like Iceland's Puffin can only emit sounds typical of their species. Occasionally they may act more like a Partially Civilized Animal, however.
  • Then there's Wojtek the bear, who basically was a real life version of one of these already. Poland can even have what seems like full conversations with him, and basically treats him as another soldier who happens to not be able to talk.
• Never Gets Drunk: A lot of the alcoholics already mentioned, for obvious reasons.
  • South Korea should once again be mentioned; his favorite drink is the aforementioned soju, his national drink and Gargle Blaster. Well, it isn't that strong compared to, say, Vodka, but it easily induces Unexpectedly Soused. South Korea can drink 11 shots of it in one setting. America once underestimates it, which leads to him being knocked out cold and a disgruntled South Korea having to drag him back to base; meanwhile, South Korea had had exactly the same amount and he's basically sober. It is shown that he can become drunk however, as it's one of the few times he lets himself loose. It just takes an entire bottle of the stuff to get him to that point. In fact, in one Culture Clash Russia and South Korea somehow get into a drinking contest. South Korea wins, to the shock of every one.
  • China is both this and Can't Hold His Liquor, believe it or not. He never actually gets drunk... he just immediately jumps to being hung over. Though he is surprisingly strong for someone with Asian Flush as he can just barely have one shot of Baiju with minimal symptoms... but prod him to drink more and he's down for the count and red all over the face. Japan is also shown to have Asian Flush, which causes him huge amounts of misery when Bavaria goads him into having too much beer in one of his research trips to Germany. However, as they're social drinkers who drink only with meals primarily and basically never drink for the sake of it, they can usually avoid it.
• Nightmare Fetishist: While many nations can seem to delight or at least be willing to engage in things that would terrify most normal humans, there are some notable cases of this trope:
  • Really downplayed example, but one of the things which differentiates this canon's Lithuania from the canon version is, complimenting his somewhat dark, mysterious aura, his occasionally coming off as a bit weird and ever so slightly creepy (which means, ironically, that now he's the creepy one while Belarus, his ex-wife, was one of the more well put together of the Eastern Bloc, while the opposite was true in canon). For one, he has a dimly-lit room full of scary pagan and Catholic paraphernalia from his childhood/youth that he says puts him at ease (though he still admits that his iconic Hill of Crosses is "Maybe a bit creepy" (though he follows it up with "but it means hope to me. God is to be feared as well as loved after all, and this place is proof of God's protection.") - though note, this is while Ukraine, who is hardly much of a coward in this canon, is huddled on his arm, even if she still finds it more haunting than purely terrifying - according to Poland "Can tell a damn good tale to chill the nerves", very much enjoys the fact that he was chosen as Hannibal Lecter's homeland (though this may also have to do with the fact that he got noticed), and has come to humor the fact that he has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. He also happily recalls that time he literally cooked a Teutonic Knight alive in his armor (then again a lot of nations seem weirdly accepting and at peace with the fact that they were more naive and alright with doing some very brutal things as children, including and especially the usually sweet-natured Nordics). Also despite the trauma of the Soviet Union, the pain of which was very much genuine and real, he thinks the idea of a genuine KGB experience camp is something he wants to share. He doesn’t even realize how weird it is until Poland points it out (pending). He’s also shown to like snakes (albeit grass snakes) due to their old association with life and rebirth in his youth, and as a child unsettles Belarus by keeping one under their bed for good fortune, also having found the idea of a colony crawling under his house to be a comforting idea.
  • And then there’s Latvia. Despite seeming to be merely a somewhat rough around the edges, if sort of shy mix between a streetwise, brawl-loving kid and country bumpkin, like his canon self he has occasional moments of weird behavior or creepy statements; including working at a hotel where he gets to act as an abusive Nazi prison warden and apparently liking abandoned, dilapidated buildings. He’s also even more partial to snakes than Lithuania is, still keeping one by his fireplace as an animal companion which he feeds milk to like a cartoon cat; don’t visit his residence if you’re afraid of snakes, since he also has it loose in his house.
  • Finland. The forerunner to Santa Claus in his country consisted of him dressing up in a terrifying costume and going around demanding food and booze for one (while it was supposed to scare away unwelcome spirits, he also apparently just enjoyed scaring the life out of poor Åland), loves death metal, had a childhood hobby of making knives, still came up with the bizarre "Blood-covered Floweregg" name for their dog, and while it's never elaborated on, he once caused Åland to cry once when he showed her something he drew. Though his interests also include cute things like Moomins (he even has a giant plushie on his bed).
  • Romania at times can be really unsettling as well. For one, his folklore isn’t just vampires, and has tons of other terrifying creatures. He also sees Vlad the Impaler as a hero, despite the absolutely horrific way he killed people, even in modern times, which along with his Legacy of the Weltkrieg incarnation, a psychotic warmonger often drawn with a bloody meathook, gives the impression that he hasn’t gotten over his bloodthirstiness and is a bit too fond of violence.
  • According to Haiti, zombies are "fascinating creatures, once you get to know them!". Though it's heavily implied that he was deliberately playing it up to creep America out. (pending)
  • Imperial China clearly had a fetish for bound feet; which, if anyone has never seem them, look pretty twisted and grotesque when bare. This is also one of the things that none of his tributary states ever adopted, who as shown specifically in a few gags with Vietnam and Ryukyu are pretty grossed out or confused with his fascination with it. Modern China shows no such tendencies, though probably merely because he hasn't seen one in years.
    China: You'll look very pleasing with them!
    Vietnam: I'm sorry... How?!
  • As implied a few times already, nations, particularly those born before the early modern era, can tend to be this to some extent in childhood; there's not only their attitude towards violence, but while some might be afraid of the Fair Folk or other such creatures (where they're treated like monsters under the bed and the sort), others like Iceland seem to accept or even delight in their presence.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Not exactly, as romance does exist in the series. Especially in the non-canon stories involving Nyotalia characters. However, in Alt-canon itself, not only is it pretty rare, but nation instincts make it so that it’s basically enforced, and it's extremely hard for nations to fall in love, much more so mutually, so much so that for certain characters (e.g. Prussia, Iceland), pairing them off with a character who makes sense is virtually impossible without engaging in incest. The series is often inherently hostile to romance development, so the rare romance that exists is pretty notable (and shipping being ubiquitous in human spinoff series like EC x AT can be a bit jarring as a result). The author has also preemptively denounced the shipping of certain characters like ISIS or nationverse North Korea (unless the latter is being shipped after unification) “for the sake of common decency”.
• No Sense of Humor: Not Germany, actually, at least not entirely; his sense of humor exists, it’s just not that prominent, the stuff he finds funny usually doesn’t translate well or is surprisingly immature, and he isn’t a jokey person in general. In fact, he apparently finds the “Dinner for Two” comedy skit so hilarious that he watches it every year despite the fact he knows every single beat of it. However, Prussia on the other hand does indeed barely have one. In more lighthearted scenes, he often comes across as The Comically Serious, responding to England’s wit or Cologne’s jabs at his expense with only the most straightforward, dead-serious responses, in great contrast to his wild canon counterpart.
• Odd Friendship: The author really likes writing nation relationships like these, featuring two or more super distant and/or otherwise different nations that are surprisingly close in real life and/or have some kind of special history together.
  • Turkey and South Korea. The former is a jolly, burly-looking Manly Man who looks to be in his early 30s and is chronologically almost a millennia old, and the latter is an anxious, metrosexual, youthful-looking young nation who is literally across the continent from the former, but the former is still probably the closest friend South Korea has besides America and possibly Australia and Taiwan. As featured in a prompt on the author’s profile (the second drabble for “Candy”, about Turkey giving a scared South Korea a turkish delight), these two meet during the Korean War, and Turkey apparently felt especially sympathetic towards the poor, confused kid. In Evillious Chronicles x Hetalia the author states outright that in the Lust arc (which stars Elif, Turkey’s Nyotalia counterpart) Yong-Soo or his female counterpart definitely plays a major role in the story, even if he doesn’t show up in the fic itself. Similarly goes with Turkey and Japan as well, though that one is stronger from Turkey’s side than it is from Japan’s.
  • Turkey seems to pick up friends on the battlefield, as he and Australia are also very close; while their personalities aren’t as diametrically opposed as Turkey is with, say, South Korea, not only is Australia still physically 10 years younger than him and chronologically basically a baby next to him, but they have the distinction of having met and befriended each other on the battlefield as enemies. Turkey is also the first friend Australia makes outside of his family, and as at this point all of England’s children are under the mentality that their family is the best and that all who aren’t British are somehow lesser, this serves as a vital part of his Character Development.
  • Russia and Greece. The former a grim, angsty, paranoid man, especially towards “western influence”, the latter is a Hot-Blooded Large Ham whose family essentially wrote the book on what “western” culture was, or at least what it was based on, is an EU member, and a NATO member. He’s basically the only one in the EU who isn’t super skeptical of Russia, though he does question his choices, and what brings them together is their Orthodox faith, despite the fact that Russia shunned religion for several decades. ...Though this changes with Russia's attack on Ukraine.
  • Russia has another one with India, a friendship strong since the Cold War era; they seemingly have nothing in common (starting from how Russia is gruff and pessimistic, India is outgoing and ambitious), yet they claim they can relate to each other quite a bit, though it's hard to tell exactly how, and they clearly trust each other quite a bit, which for Russia means quite a lot.
  • The Netherlands and Canada, in many ways. For one, they’re an actual ocean apart, and they barely knew each other before World War II. While politically they aren’t too diametrically opposed, personality-wise Canada tends to be really polite, apologizing a lot and tending more towards passive-aggressive behavior if he has a gripe with someone, which usually annoys the blunt, loud-mouthed Netherlands. However, ever since the war they’ve been almost if not actual Heterosexual Life-Partners, and their distance hasn’t caused them to drift apart at all.
  • The Netherlands is also pretty close with Denmark, who in this canon has a bit of a similar temperament to Canada. Perhaps being such an active international participant and dealing with his sister has made him able to cope with people who engage in what he perceives as dishonest behavior better.
  • Starting from the late 18th Century to the early 20th Century (though it was more on and off from the late Victorian Era onwards), England and Switzerland. The former is polite, a Quintessential British Gentleman who tends not to be very direct, highly values the concept of respectability and reputation, and is also the most powerful empire in the world, but also often seemingly oblivious with his head in the clouds; while the latter is a blunt, unrefined, stubborn, impoverished mountain boy and country mouse who has no patience for elaborate social conventions and no ambitions beyond his borders.
  • Or Austria and Switzerland for that matter, the former being way more aristocratic, amicable, easygoing, polite, and cultured than the latter. They didn't even get along well for most of their history, but after WWII Austria finds himself befriending his relative after a long life of spats or no contact.
  • Sweden apparently likes crashing over at Thailand's whenever the skies of home get a bit too depressing and he has time off, to the point it's kind of become a tradition, and they are pretty close friends as well as business partners. In the 2020 event he complains about not being able to visit his friend, as much as Thailand tries to convince him he's in a protest even without the pandemic so it's a bad idea coming anyway.
• Of Corsets Sexy: While modest by modern standards, the outfits of western women, which Peter the Great’s reforms made obligatory for his women, are noted to be much more form-fitting than what Russia is used to, in addition to pushing up the breasts, much to his shock. In Bons Baisers De Russie in particular, he gets noticeably flustered when he first gets a good look at Marianne.
• Official Couple: Pretty rare in-series for a series with many characters, and unlike in canon Hetalia couples which aren’t explicitly couples rarely have scenes that imply sexual tension (probably largely owing to the author’s slash-aversion), Poland and Hungary aside. However, it’s said that before modern borders romance was easier between nations, and the further back you go the more likely they seem.
  • There are some who are simply there to conceive a character and barely get mentioned otherwise. Frankish Empire and Gallia (the parents of France, the former the sole parent of Holy Rome) are lucky enough to get fleshed out a bit more, mostly the former, though their relationship isn’t exactly the most healthy thing ever.
  • Then there are the purely political marriages, like Austria and Hungary or Piedmont and Sardinia. While they don't necessarily hate each other, for many they seem to be friends at best.
  • Lithuania and Belarus during the Grand Duchy era (Pending). It’s also definitely one of the most prominent.
  • Poland and Ukraine during the late 16th to very early 17th century. Sort of.
  • Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Their relationship development is even elaborated on a bit more. This couple is apparently one of the author’s favorite couples to write due to Rome being a Tsundere and her finding the idea of Hellas seducing Rome to be an interesting concept.
  • Lower and Upper Egypt (the former being the canonical Ancient Egypt in Hetalia, the latter is male) are represented as a married couple, and as Egypt’s mother and father respectively. Despite initially a marriage coming about because of war, where Upper defeated Lower, they may actually be among the healthiest couples in the series, as the sheer length and stability of their marriage shows; they have been married for so long they consider themselves two halves of a whole, even more so than GDL era Lithuania and Belarus, and they remain married until their death. (Pending; at the time both were represented as female and while I rarely use real personifications as reference due to how much of a female dominated area it is, I can’t imagine such personifications were common this early on. But I also just love the idea of nation parents too much. So whether they’re two step sisters or a couple is up in the air).
  • Rather unbelievably for normal Alt-canon, America and China (with America getting a Gender Flip) in the main route of the Firefly AU fall in love, get married, and even have many children together. Though things… Don’t go quite happily for the family, China has taken a much less distant perspective on relationships between nations, even if it's just between him and his now wife and his children, and they love each other very much. Despite their very questionable parenting skills, it seems their relationship itself is also one of the more healthy ones in Alt-talia.
• The Other Darrin: Sometimes, UTAU voicebanks that sound similar to the original canon character, but just different enough to fit their new characterizations are used in lieu of the original voices (e.g. Taiwan is played by Gahata Meiji, Sweden is played by Arashine Yoru, who happens to sound like a higher-pitched, more friendly version of canon Sweden, and Greece is played by Rouon Aro), or, more rarely, may be completely changed.
• Papa Wolf: Prussia may be strict towards Germany, if not borderline abusive, but try to hurt him or get in his way, he will show absolutely no mercy towards you. This alone makes him a better dad than most parents in Alt-talia.
• Parental Abandonment: Both enforced and at times inverted, if that is somehow possible. It is entirely possible for a nation to just poof into existence with no parents whatsoever, and in fact it is quite common, and while it is possible for a nation to have parents, having one parent who doesn't just disappear before they can remember anything, much less two, is more the exception than the rule. However, many characters who had "sibling" relationships in canon (which are extremely common, to the point the author has mocked it as "brother-spamming") are changed to parental ones, e.g. England to his settler colonies, Prussia to Germany.
• The Perfectionist: South Korea. And how. From his looks to his intelligence to resolving problems, he wants everything to be perfect and efficient. He can be harsh in judging others, but he holds himself to the same high standards, if not higher. If something doesn’t go exactly as planned or his makeup runs even slightly at an important moment he straight-up panics, and if he feels that proper justice hasn’t been achieved he won’t back down even if that would be objectively more beneficial to him. Of course, this is a major contributor to his stress levels. A lot of this can probably be chalked up to his youth as a country relative to everyone else and having to prove himself as a prosperous nation separate from his brother or his way more famous neighbors making him overcompensate, and his want to be worthy of his father’s name, plus the Korean family trait of being stubborn as all hell.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: As arranged marriage by some degree is usually the only way for nations to marry, the more healthier relationships are often this:
  • The Ancient Egypt duo. While Upper basically won Lower by force as a spoil of war, and initially saw her as that, he proves to be a genuinely good husband who gives her her space when needed and after the war sees no need to do any of the controlling, manipulative behavior that is common among realms and especially nations. Lower obviously has some objections at first, and both are physically about 12 at most by the looks of it, but they just within a few decades actually fall in love and go on to quite possibly have the longest marriage in Alt-talia (with some hiccups). Athens, being from a culture where healthy, equal relationships are more optional than ideal, is somewhat confused by this, and Sparta even calls them “Those Lovebirds”.
  • A somewhat similar case in Lithuania and Belarus during the GDL era. He wins her as a spoil of war and subsequently get wed unilaterally from his side when he’s barely hit puberty and she’s about 13 at most physically, but he treats her with proper respect despite Belarus (or Polotsk at this point) being a huge bully to his predecessors. He already has a crush on her, and she grows to like him as well as he grows older and stronger alongside her. (Pending in the marriage)
• Phoneaholic Teenager: While not necessarily teenagers, a lot of the physically younger nations appear to be a fan of their phones. But for some it’s especially drawn attention to in their characterization:
  • While said to be physically about 20 to 21, and a rare male example, Kenya is often depicted with if not on his TECNO smartphone. Many of the African countries are actually shown being pretty phone-savvy, but Kenya is shown most often staring at it, and he’s apparently also the type of person to wait overnight in line whenever a new phone is about to come out. But it’s implied that a lot of his usage of it is for business transactions.
  • The Philippines, on the other hand, seems to be a more straight example. She too is more a young adult than a teenager, but it’s not uncommon for her to be introduced into a scene for a lighthearted fic or comic looking at her phone or taking pictures and selfies, and it was apparently her idea of how to get through the pandemic in the 2020 Event Arc; though unfortunately for her, a minor Running Gag is how comically slow her Internet is and her subsequent Angrish). She’s also incredibly easy to flatter, though eventually she starts seeing through it.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Poland and Hungary... Or are they? They say that they're this, and that's the official explanation, but some in-universe can only speculate. They're extremely close that no one would be surprised if they actually were dating.
• Powerful People Are Subs: According to Word of God, Germany/Ludwig is actually a bottom and even at least a bit of a masochist, as due to, on top of his already canonical apparent bondage fetish which is kept in this canon, his nationalism receptors being numbed, he doesn't like ruling or lording over others anymore, but his serious and reliable personality (and large population and economy) has made sure that he's unintentionally become the leader of Europe, making others accuse him of trying to gain leadership again, which of course tends to hurt him quite a bit; and before that point, he was basically raised to be domineering and merciless. Due to this, he apparently likes giving his theoretical partner full control and trust. Though this is only shown in practice in the romance route of The Key to Zorn, a human AU, where Marianne initiates the kiss, pins him onto the bed, and the narration states that "And, for the first time in what seemed like forever, Ludwig fully gave himself to another"; as if to make it more clear, Marianne later jokes "To think that you were such an adorable little puppy last night!". Though the author has also half-joked that due to her, erm, preferences, she kind of likes to think that all adult male characters she writes that she finds attractive are actually bottoms.
  • The final scene of the Tumblr-release Bons Baisers De Russie is a Dream Sequence of Ivan's in which Ivan (who is, once again, Russia), is being pinned against a wall by Marianne before she embraces and makes out with him, saying that she'll "teach him more things you don't know". He also comes across as a bit of a masochist due to how snotty Marianne acts regarding him initially.
• Promotion to Love Interest:
  • Lithuania and Belarus actually get married in this universe after the latter is absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Pending), and ironically they’re probably one of the healthier couples during their first marriage, especially initially, despite essentially getting together as children (though this being Alt-talia, things did go sour quite a few times). Their marriage lasts pretty long too.
  • (Pending) Poland and Ukraine. For a short while at least; they were married and paralleled the aforementioned Lithuania and Belarus in the Commonwealth, though it’s given less attention than the above two, it’s somewhat less healthy, and Poland’s massive ego made sure that any feelings Ukraine had wore off by the 17th century, to the point she starts a vengeful rebellion.
  • Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece/Hellas. While it’s extremely likely that the two at least had sex in canon due to Rome being Rome, here Hellas is clearly Rome’s favorite from the start, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it for a very long while, and they even conceive a son together who would eventually become Eastern Rome. Though it’s never explicitly stated they’re married, Rome calls her his wife if any humans ask, and they often act like they’re married.
  • Inverted with Austria and Hungary; while they do still indeed get married, here’s it’s made clear there’s no romance involved whatsoever, a purely political arranged marriage that ironically enough is more to separate the two than bring them together. Hungary makes it extremely clear that she’s only doing this for her autonomy, though by the end they do respect each other on a purely platonic level. Inverted for all male characters who used to be “married” as well, though these were all political marriages in the first place.
  • Also inverted with Czechia and Slovakia, who are now related instead of a former couple, their time as Czechoslovakia simply making them “Union Siblings” on top of regular siblings.
• Proper Lady: Liechtenstein, just like in canon.
  • From the Firefly AU, Persephone has been described as “a Proper Lady with a rough side”. She differs a lot from the other independents because of her Core background and being more cultured, and Shadow calls her “Madam” (initially a bit condescendingly, eventually affectionately). She doesn’t fight much, but her rough side shows itself sometimes, like in a scene where she wrestles Shadow, offended by him saying she as a cultured lady probably wouldn’t be interested, and manages to defeat him, or how she’s willing to get drunk and sing bawdy songs with the rest of them.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: In contrast to canon, though England only truly started acting like this towards the mid-1700s (in fact as a teenager he was apparently known to be rather emotional), fully adopting it in the Victorian era to fit his Imperial image until it fully stuck, this and Stiff Upper Lip is the personality England in this canon is most associated with and that he is most often depicted with (especially in human AU; almost every single time he appears in EC x Alt-talia he has this personality). However, “chav mode” and this apparently starting to flake off since the death of Princess Diana and the complete loss of his empire heavily imply that this was indeed still a well-cultivated persona.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Finland here is a bit of an inverse of his canon counterpart; while small-framed, he is a rough-haired, heavy metal-loving, rugged, stoic, hard-drinking, uncomplicated, practical Determinator who has a way with knives. However, he also has a lot of Moomin plushies in his bedroom, knits, can be straight-up motherly towards children (human ones at least), and apparently likes interior design (albeit he’s carving the stuff in question).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Most literally with the Korea twins; as Egg-Nations, Yong (South), the cowardly, timid twin, wore blue clothing, while Hyun (North), the more daring, hot-headed one, wore red clothing. In modern day they still have this dynamic, with North being way more blatantly controlled by his emotions and easy to anger, and being generally depicted smiling, while South at least tries to present himself as more logical, is more practically-minded, and cynical, and is generally depicted frowning. This is in great contrast to how their dynamic is perceived in Fanon for the canon series, as South is an Annoying Younger Sibling there, and thus North is thought to be the opposite and more disciplined as part of the whole “oppressive militaristic regime” shtick.
  • America, the Boisterous Bruiser optimist with Chronic Hero Syndrome, and England, the unflappable Quintessential British Gentleman who can seemingly brush off anything with snark and understatement, is probably one of the most major examples. Or America with the polite, calm, but somewhat snobby Canada. Or his rival during the Cold War, the grim-faced, cold, but at times philosophical Russia, ironically as they’re always represented with the opposite color scheme when visually depicted together. Though the latter is also shown to be quite hot-headed in his own right. His relations with Japan and South Korea display this type of dynamic extremely clearly as well.
  • England with Scotland. Or Ireland. Or England with... most of his consistently major relations (the aforementioned America, Australia, Wales, Portugal, India, most of his other former colonies, even France to an extent...) for that matter, him being the epitome of Stiff Upper Lip he is, at least past the late 1700s. He also just happens to be represented by red more often than other colors, especially in contrast to Scotland who is always represented by blue, and France is also associated with blue often, especially during royal rule.
  • Russia (Blue) and Serbia’s (Red) dynamic is effectively this. Russia is also Blue to the way more energetic, loud, fast-talking modern China (Red).
  • Netherlands and Belgium; but despite canon and what their flag color schemes may suggest, the former is red and latter blue. A common thread is Netherlands being a loose cannon, and Belgium silently glaring at him before she elbows him or kicks him under the table.
  • Netherlands and the aforementioned Canada as well.
• The Rival:
  • Ancient Egypt and Kush describe their complicated relationship as this. The author also describes the girls as “shonen rivals” and “frenemies”. They may go to war to steal each others’ stuff and land once in a while, but they’ve known and lived alongside each other for so long they can only deeply respect the other.
• Running Gag: Despite being primarily dramatic, there’s a few of these running throughout the stories.
  • Especially when part of a crowd of other EU members, The Netherlands blurting out either what everyone is too afraid to say or just something extremely blunt, before getting cut off by a sharp "Be Quiet!" Nudge from Belgium. Other characters (e.g. America, Poland, the Baltics, occasionally even Germany) also have this happen to them, but with the Netherlands it’s the most common.
  • America forgetting who his friends are or their names.
    Morocco: You do know I you oldest friend rheeght?
    America: You are?
    Morocco: We have treaty of friendshef more than 200 years.
    America: We do?!
    Morocco: throws papers in frustration Augh, keeds!
  • Italy’s general clumsiness and fumbling with something thrust into his arms.
  • Switzerland mistaking Liechtenstein for a canton of his. Especially notable due to how much of a Knight Templar Big Brother he is in canon.
  • Nations thinking Belarus is a human. Also, in more comedic depictions, Lukashenko literally dragging Belarus around by the arm (or at times her leg). Though the latter is also intentionally uncomfortable to watch and is a further display of the quasi-domestic abuse dynamic the two have.
  • England's "Chav Mode".
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: Russia, of course, possibly one of the more troubled characters in a cast that is already a massive Dysfunction Junction. While most of not all nations didn’t have it easy growing up, his is particularly notable with how recurring it is that his rulers phiysically abuse him; to the point that it can be casually mentioned that he’s being struck, battered, and kicked as if it’s no big deal, and even for a nation his pain tolerance is almost 19-20th century England levels if not more absurdly high. He also believes that Suffering Builds Character, as a result of the teachings of the church, so it's kind of a self-fulfilling thing as well. Though unlike in canon where he becomes a Stepford Smiler, here he becomes hardened, cynical, and a Perpetual Frowner, his character having a strong angsty flavor with tons of sometimes unjustified paranoia.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender inverted, and inverted from canon, is a platonic example; the loudmouthed, extremely opinionated, brutally honest Netherlands, and the more reserved, poised, more phlegmatic Belgium. The former is often described as arrogant despite his tolerant reputation (to which he usually responds along the lines of "What? Why don't you state your opinion then?"; his general life philosophy can basically be described as "Everyone has the right to shout their opinion at the top of their lungs."), while the latter is sometimes called "boring" (something she wouldn't disagree with), though she seems to have her head in the clouds at times. Belgium also lacks in nationalism and has always been more willing to make concessions to others, though if it comes to her independence she’s willing to fight for it. In all official art of them in casual attire and when they are described in the prose, the former wears bright, eye-catching colors and sharp fashion (making him resemble early fanon more), while Belgium wears more neutral, muted browns or greys.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In contrast to canon, in WWII Italy only really allied with Germany because they had goals that didn't get in each others' way and that could possibly benefit each other, and even then he wasn't exactly gung-ho about it; he's the only one of the big three in the Axis who realizes that the war is pointless, Mussolini is an idiot, and that Germany and Japan are idiots for thinking they have any chance whatsoever and thinking they're on some grand mission, and gets the hell out as soon as he can. Germany tries to force him to stay in a... pretty unsettling way. The rest of his family pretty much has the same idea, Sicily/Agata and Neapolitano/Lorenzo being the first to jump ship before anyone.
  • Russia in WWI throws two revolutions and cedes much of his associates just to get out of it. ...Only to trigger another war.
  • The Brexit saga not only began with England basically saying this to the rest of Europe, but ironically ultimately turns into a a revolving door of this for every one of his Prime Ministers until Boris Johnson finally goes “Fuck it” and forces it.
  • Poor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, finally has enough at the end of his reign and abdicates, all but saying this word for word.
• Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny:
  • North Korea sees lust and pornography as inherently bad; however, being very repressed and physically 19, he finds himself grabbing contraband black market porn anyway, describing it as "vulgar" and "licentious", and showing great shame over a natural emotion.
  • Of course, shows up in pre-modern Europe stories at times as well. In Bons Baisers De Russie, Russia initially has this reaction towards Marianne (Fem!France). Eventually, however, he realizes that what he's feeling is also genuine love. Or at least, what he thinks to be so.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Italy; in art he’s often depicted with a dress shirt with the top buttons unbuttoned with a pair of Cool Shades hanging from it or a custom snazzy suit, usually with white or khaki trousers. It’s also been joked by the author that he's one pf the few who can still pull off the 50s fedora look in modern day and look cool. However, he’s also often tripping and fumbling while wearing said outfits half the time, which sort of counterbalances the effect.
• Shameless Fanservice Boy: Even during the 18th century Sweden (as well as Finland and Åland) find nothing strange about mixed bathing, or people seeing them bathing, much to a visitor's bafflement.
  • The Nordics in general are more loose on the nudity taboo, but Iceland is probably the best example out of all of them. He thinks absolutely nothing of stripping in front of someone he doesn't know, even in public, and has no idea why anyone would find that strange. But combined with the fact that he's anything but sexually oblivious and also sees nothing wrong with Everyone Has Lots of Sex, he's also a great example in other senses of the term.
• Ship Sinking: The author has made no secret of the fact she dislikes the fact that shipping is such a major part of mainstream Hetalia fandom; for such a massive cast, shipping is exceedingly rare and Alt-talia’s approach to romance and sexual tension is basically the reverse of canon (almost nonexistent, to the point that nations could almost be described as situationally aromantic)... and she also apparently enjoys nuking ships she particularly doesn’t like out of orbit (most notably GerIta, AusHun, and LietPol, as well as how casually brushed off Spamano and PruHun are).
  • Another notable example for being explicitly canon from one side at least in canon is the torpedoing of SuFin. While their modern relationship isn’t bad per se, Sweden is nowhere near as attached to Finland as he is in canon, seeing him like a bit of a redneck little brother. Sweden in this canon basically raised Finland after all, something which also torpedoes the notion of their relationship even having had the potential to go anything further than platonic during the Empire era (unless one is going to call Sweden a pedo without any evidence).
• Shown Their Work
• Shout-Out:
  • In one comic the author drew, China dramatically says that if he could dictate what tributaries could do, “All female tributaries would be required to wear… Tiny xiachangs!” (Xiachang being skirts in traditional Chinese clothing), much to Vietnam’s chagrin.
• Sibling Rivalry: Due to the nature of the series, a lot of sibling rivalries are less playful jabbing and ribbing and more horrific, drawn-out blood feuds. Even many which are currently more innocent sibling rivalries are likely to have been so at some point.
  • India and Pakistan do not get along whatsoever. Out of their seven decades or so of independence they’ve managed to go to war four times and built nukes basically solely to point at each other. Unfortunately for Pakistan however, India also happens to be much stronger than him and has defeated him all four times, and due to his creation being literally rushed his survival has depended on stuff like destabilizing Afghanistan and housing terrorists. Things which have led to the pretty impressive feat of making not only Russia, but America, France, basically everyone in Europe who cares, Iran, Israel, and Japan back the same country, that country unfortunately being his hated brother. And Pakistan has no friends of any note except for maybe China, who's only using him for his oil and harbor, and Turkey. His young age can make one feel sorry for him at times, though it doesn't change the fact he's housing terrorists.
  • North and South Korea have a bit of an odd case. North Korea actually loves his brother. Maybe a bit too much. He does compete with South, but more out of a want to impress him and show that his way of doing things is superior. As Egg-Nations, he was always the bigger, stronger brother, the one who their father was more proud of, but always tried to be there for his brother anyway, becoming very protective of him. South, however, being the weaker twin formally and the self-made twin, having to grow up in the shadow of China, who still bosses him around in modern day and seems to still think he's a subject, and Japan, his former abuser, and work his way from the ground up to attain his current status and popularity, starts rather resenting him for overshadowing him, among many other things, even though he knows that it isn't completely North's fault. He wants to stand out as his own nation, separate from the presence of his volatile, irritable brother, but no matter what his brother's shadow continues to loom over him. At the start of the Pyeongchang mini-arc this is especially apparent, as he clearly resents North getting the spotlight at an event that should be his chance to shine, not helping that North tried to co-host the Olympics last time.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Aside from the ones mentioned under Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Ukraine and Belarus; in this canon, while both are women who don’t smile much, Ukraine is the more rebellious, passionate, strong-willed idealist of the two sisters, preferring freedom and independence over order and stability, having a strong sense of self. Or rather, she sees her brother as someone who has been a magnet of misfortune for her, resents the fact that geopolitically she’s effectively a meatshield, and believes that distancing herself from him would entail more safety and stability in the long run. Meanwhile Belarus is sweet but passive, appears almost emotionless, preferring safety and stability over freedom and independence, as she doesn't think that she can change anything anyway, sticking with Russia both out of familial respect despite his at times unhealthy behavior and just in order to survive. Ukraine is fascinated by Europe and its promises and has traveled outside her land, but is way more likely to take extreme, almost irrational measures due to her passionate personality, while Belarus generally keeps to herself and tends to be afraid of change or any risk. Of course, this plays a major role in their modern dynamic, though it goes further back, with a similar dynamic being seen in the PLC era as well, even if Belarus isn't the super hopeless downer she is in modern day there.
  • Hong Kong and Macau form a similar duo, the former being the rebellious, independent one and the latter the one favoring stability and prosperity. While Hong Kong values democracy and his right to be heard and is willing to fight to get it, Macau doesn't mind as long as the gambling money keeps coming in. Macau basically grows up crime-stricken and struggling, never really coming to think of himself as a distinct entity, and as such unlike most of the cast he's easily driven by money at the expense of personal pride, and in fact sees Hong Kong as in stupid teenage rebellion for the sake of rebellion. This naturally frustrates Hong Kong, who sees him as a sycophant with no will of his own.
• Silver Fox: Venice is depicted as one of these in modern day, still having a good deal of Cultural Charisma despite not even being a country anymore.
• Slapstick: In more humorous entries, slapstick is sometimes used. One of the most common targets is Philippines.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Unlike the author's other works, this sits more on the cynical side of things, or at least more cynical than her Pokémon or Super Smash Bros. works which often run on The Power of Friendship, her Star Wars content which can get somewhat dark but actively adheres the most to the original media’s idealism, and even her Fate related content (albeit the author has much less charitable interpretations of some characters than canon does), though it can vary by character arc and what time period is being covered. It could also be argued that in a way it is in fact dark but slightly idealistic, as the story tries to make it clear that often, even some of the most reprehensible things are done for each's own "utopia", in the cases of nation a "utopia" for their own people, not just themselves; on the other hand, nations are usually inherently selfish and want to spread their influence by instinct. It could just be argued that the story just covers the real world as it is without really being either.
  • The Cold War arc just happens to be a perfect clash between not just economic philosophies, but also the two ends of this scale: America (The Idealist) and Russia/the USSR (The Cynic). The latter has a bit of an odd cynicism though in that there is still some idealism mixed with it, probably best described in the "Justice Breaker" cover.
  • The Alternate History stories are all over the place.
    • The realistic scenarios like Kaiserreich or Thousand Weeks are about the same as base Alt-talia, maybe somewhat more cynical, due to simply displaying what could have played out if things went about differently, even Thousand Weeks, which shows Nazi Germany fully plummeting deeper into the Moral Event Horizon if that was somehow possible (though within Kaiserreich there are very idealistic interpretations for Austria, and Canada has routes literally called "Paragon" and "Renegade").
    • The World War Z scenario is surprisingly slightly idealistic leaning by the end for its extremely dark tone even by Alt-talia standards and multiple character deaths, due to the nations all having something other than screwing each other over to prioritize for once.
    • More idealistic is Worldwar for the same reason, except the nations aren't being overrun by zombies and are against a more fair fight, with focus on moments of badassery and heartwarming, and most of all nations putting aside their differences to team up and beat back some overgrown lizards. This leads to a lot of The Power of Friendship type moments and the tone at times entering into cheesy shonen territory.
    • ...Then we have the America's Stepbrother, America's Enemy scenario, which despite taking place in the world of 1984 is Catharsis Factor incarnate (especially after reading the 1984 AU short story), and quite possibly the most idealistic things to come out of Alt-talia ever, consisting almost entirely of America and his ever increasing allies beating up the 1984 Threeists. The tone goes full shonen often.
    • The Firefly scenarios are generally the same as base Alt-talia; rather cynical. The only possible exception is “Echoes of the Past”, where America and China spend the rest of their lives compiling Earth’s history.
• Solo Duet: It isn't uncommon for Prussia and Germany (the former whom just has a higher-pitched version of the latter's voice) or the Korea twins (North having a voice an octave lower than South's) to share a song, making their covers these in a meta sense, though not in-universe.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Mongol Empire finds Tang China average looking. He of course takes offense to this. (Pending)
• Space Western: America lampshades this in the Firefly AU, saying in the Wanderer route that he “feels like a teenager again”, and that his/her Frontier children remind him/her of his/her now dead western states. This is also lampshaded by Shadow in the main route, where he says that America should understand him because she used to be just like him.
• Stay in the Kitchen: It’s not uncommon for nations to have such mentality, whether it be historically or currently, even the women. When dealing with female nations such nations may see female nations as lesser, or try to deal with them equally but bring it up as a point against them if relations worsen.
  • In Bons Baisers De Russie and its spin-off Like A Man Would A Woman, Russia and Serbia respectively are rather misogynistic, especially Russia. But Marianne’s sheer cultural charisma and their attraction to her makes them able to see past that to an extent, especially Serbia.
• Suddenly Voiced: All characters who have no voice because they never appeared in the anime get voices by being assigned UTAUs.
• Synthetic Voice Actor: The only "voices" characters have are portrayed with UTAUs.
• Teacher/Student Romance: In the pre-release Bons Baisers De Russie, with Russia’s feelings for Female!France starting when she was his tutor for a few decades. She also later assists him to get his economy up to speed, making them fall into something of a teacher-student dynamic again. She never returns his feelings though.
• Team Dad: Germany de facto acts like this in the EU... despite the fact that he's literally the youngest nation in the group.
• Token Adult: Other World Kingdom, much to her dismay, discovers that she's the only adult-bodied micronation upon meeting the others. Due to her... unique status as basically a BDSM sex resort, her citizenship laws, and the author's own morals, she's physically 18, while every other micronation is 12 at most, and understandably she feels extremely weird hanging around what are basically a bunch of kids with overactive imaginations.
• Token Good Teammate: Well, not so much “good”, but still less awful definitely; Italy among the Axis Powers. Sure, he readily becomes a Fascist, and is in fact the first to do so, and he definitely wasn’t innocent in the war or the lead up to it, with no shortage of him being a pure Jerkass (e.g. using poison gas on Ethiopia and massacring his civilians, and proceeding to be a massive racist Jerkass about it after he wins the war, being complicit in Blackshirts torturing “Socialists, traitors, and fags”, intervening in the Spanish Civil War, pretty much everything about the Disproportionate Retribution in Slovenia). But it’s all but stated that Italy agreed with it mostly because he thought it was a solution to the decades of struggle over his identity and unity he had dealt with since birth, for his family to stop fighting and for him to finally become powerful and respected instead of a laughingstock among Great Powers. And even then, despite all this he realizes that it wasn’t worth it in the end and is the only one of the three to jump ship. Not to mention he’s reluctant to turn in Jews, and he generally comes across as at least slightly normal and isn’t as bloodthirsty as Germany and Japan, who by this point are borderline if not actually psychotic. While all three of the Axis are portrayed to be pathetic and pitiful instead of pure evil in the end, the patheticness in Italy is extremely strong from the start (and even lessens as the war goes on, in contrast to the other two).
• Trademark Favorite Food: Naturally, the cast tends to really love their stereotypical/national dishes. While these are by no means the only things they're seen eating, and they often have many other regional dishes they have a fondness for, some are given more note as favorites than others, or dishes that they especially love:
  • America, unsurprisingly, absolutely loves burgers (as well as fries, Coca-Cola and root beer). Though it’s explained that this at least started because they’re decent-tasting, cheap meals that can easily be taken to work. He also gets another one of these; apple pie, which in fact was his Trademark Favorite Food in every sense of the word from the 19th century until the explosion of the fast food industry, and even then it remained his one true favorite food for a while.
    • For his states, there's avocado toast and oranges (California), cheese (Wisconsin), peaches (Georgia), sweet tea and peanuts (the entire southeast), coffee (Washington), oranges (Florida), pretzels (Pennsylvania), pork rolls (New Jersey), chili and tex-mex (Texas), bourbon (Kentucky), clam chowder (Massachusetts), and SPAM (Hawaii).
  • Canada: Maple syrup. And most of his provinces agree on it too. In fact, according to Canada, it goes with everything. He also apparently visits Tim Hortons at least once every week minimum, and he and Quebec are fond of poutine. It's also shown that Canada and America have Mac and Cheese/Kraft Dinner basically half the times they visit each other. Despite him often chastising America for his eating habits he's probably no better.
  • For whatever reason, anyone who speaks German also seems to be very fond of chocolate (alongside the obvious beer). Switzerland especially apparently carries about three Toblerone bars, at least, with him at all times, but it’s also a recurring thing with both Ludwig and Lutz in The Key to Zorn, and one of the first indicators they're not so different.
  • Prussia also apparently is fond of marzipan (particularly of the Königsberg variety) quite a bit. In fact, in one one-off compilation Prussia actually gets very pissed at Brandenburg for getting into his marzipan, and in another a young Germany gives him chocolate-filled marzipan as a Father’s Day gift.
  • England: Tea with crumpets and scones, roast beef, and tikka masala. Regarding roast beef in particular, he was for the longest time a strong believer in Real Men Eat Meat and generally tended to favor simple red meat, of which roast beef was the most representative; he literally has an entire song about roast beef, made to mock France (because of course) for being too much of a pussy to eat "real" meat. No, seriously. He's also not as bad a Lethal Chef regarding meat dishes, so he makes some of this himself; he's just a bit of an One Note Chef, and making tikka masala is basically the only thing that is more complex than "cook the meat" that he is good at (and that is after India taught him how to make curry).
  • Scotland: Haggis, deep-fried Mars Bars, and whiskey.
  • Dutch speakers also seem to be fond of waffles. Belgium in particular also loves fries, mussels, and chocolate, and the Netherlands is fond of cheese and herring.
  • France, while having a very developed palette for obvious reasons, is said to generally like cheese.
  • Italy: Pasta, obviously, though there's many variations of it.
  • Poland: Pierogis. Pierogis for days. So much he actually has a saint dedicated to them.
  • Latvia, Belarus, and Ireland: Potatoes. They put it in everything.
    • Latvia and Finland, especially Latvia, are also shown to be very fond of ice cream.
  • Ukraine: Salo, which is literally pork fat. According to Belarus, if she were human she’d probably be dead via heart attack several times over.
  • Finland: Salted licorice; while the other Nordics are also very fond of it, he has several massive stashes of it in both his cupboard and his room. And while basically the entire Nordic region is very fond of black coffee, he especially loves the stuff, to the point that his addiction to alcohol is only rivaled by his coffee addiction.
  • Denmark: Hotdogs with remoulade. Also danishes, obviously, but he’s very fond of hot dogs with remoulade, most of which he makes himself.
  • The Korea twins are both fond of kimchi, but North has two food items much more associated with him; Korean noodles and Lotte Choco-Pies. Especially Choco-Pies. It has been said that upon reunification the author imagines he'd be gifted Choco-Pies as a welcome gift, and that he would probably buy up an entire shelf of the things if he had the money and access to it and eat all of them in a week. This was because when working in a joint project with his brother, he was paid in Choco-Pies and was so blown away by the flavor he still drools thinking about them years later. South Korea is shown to have a fondness for slathering stuff in cheese; he has his younger self try cheese-covered corn dogs in the “Echoes from the Past” compilation, and his younger self is absolutely blown away.
• Trauma Conga Line: The Century of Humiliation for China is exactly what it sounds like. It was so horribly traumatic for him it continues to affect his decisions. Or at least, this is what he’s made himself believe later during the actual century of humiliation; for most of it he simply saw them as losses for Manchuria.
  • Can basically be described as the story of large swathes of Russia's life.
  • While most former African colonies haven't really had an easy life, with in many cases their very existence owing to a bunch of unwilling groups of people groups being figuratively stitched together haphazardly, the Democratic Republic of Congo's life has been so utterly horrible that it almost wraps around to being darkly funny.

(More to be added)

• Almost everyone has gone through one of these at some point it seems, especially in Europe and Africa.

• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Pretty much standard behavior for most child nations; especially those born in the middle ages or before, or some colonial nations, which were likely to have pretty much been born into a baptism of fire. They're able to fight as soon as they can hold a weapon, basically half of their purpose is war, and get involved in political things as well, pretty much being born with the ability to comprehend complex concepts. The result is the physically 6-year-old Denmark and a bunch of other men slaughtering an entire monastery without batting an eye, Austrasia (HRE) and Neustria (France) are constantly in bloody conflict from when they're barely physically 6 or 7 years or so years old, 7 to 10 year olds going on crusades, said 7 to 10 year olds suggesting brutal medieval torture methods casually... and that's just Europe (and note, even for the era such things are very odd; in England at least, 7 was the minimum age a squire could be. In training). And in the case of Middle Ages Europe, they constantly went to war, as their will is almost entirely controlled by their king, with maybe some influence from the nobility. In fact, it's pretty much stated that for many a nation's physical age doesn't affect how they treat them. Unlike humans, nation childhood is hardly synonymous with innocence, and in one pre-release story on the writer's Tumblr ("Child of the Soil", of the "Mystical Creatures" compilation) it's explained that childhood is not necessarily any more important or formative to nations than any other era (particularly for those born pre-nationalism). Though they can and often do act a lot like how elementary school children would (even if it is older for those who look to be 6 or so years old), probably a holdover from the fact that the author writes Pokémon fics as well where most of the characters are 11, which can make it all the more disturbing. This is pretty much the reason why nations are born as toddlers at the youngest, as much like deer they have to be able to get up and fight very quickly to survive.
  • However, there are two groups that have many exceptions to this; Micronations, particularly the "quirky" ones like Sealand, Molossia, or Aerica (as opposed to the explicitly anarchic ones, who might act more like edgy teenagers instead, some like Christiania casually using drugs. Though Sealand does have shades of being anarchic, he usually doesn't take it this far. He's genuinely confused and horrified when learning that he's been used as part of a criminal identity theft ring without knowing it), and Egg-Nations, who all act like little children as their appearances suggest and max out at age 6 (though even then they can sometimes seem to act more like 10 year olds). Some are born biologically, like France (child of Francia and Central Gallia), Greece (child of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece), or Egypt (child of Upper and Lower Egypt), and thus as infants, albeit they rapidly grow into toddlers. Some may try to exploit this innocence like how Japan does by trying to brainwash Hyun and Yong-Soo, though the former already is starting to show nation-like behavior. Semi-Nations like Swedish Empire era Finland, however, act like Nations and show the above described unchildlike behavior.
  • Those born in more modern times like Germany and Italy also seem more innocent than their counterparts of similar physical age in earlier eras, though as if to make up for it the above two especially are forced to grow up quickly by nation standards, quite literally; even many of the African colonies come off as initially innocent... but that immediately gets thrown into a furnace. Though this doesn't mean that child nations can't do horrible things. Italy's first war, for example, was when he was 5 years old. Not physically, chronologically. Also let it be known that 11-year-old looking Kosovo saw conducting genocide on Serbs as necessary for the greater good (even if Serbia did the same). Prussia even goes out of his way to enforce this on Germany.
  • Also present with other behaviors; for nations, it is safe to start drinking at any age. And we do mean at any age. Once again, Finland was a lifelong alcoholic by the physical age of 12, and Russia was one since childhood as well, and he says that he's been one since he could remember.
• Truly Single Parent: Nations can reproduce asexually, though it’s often not intentional; the parent nation often just finds them after they appear to them. This is uncommon, but still more common than true sexual reproduction. They hang out with their parent nation as Egg Nations, unable to age past the age of 6, unless they are a nation from the start like Germany. Other nations born in this way include the Korea twins (born to Father Korea/Joseon), Greece (to East Rome), South Italy/Napolitano, Veneziano, and other “first generation” Italian states (to Ancient Rome), and HRE (to Francia). Unlike nations born from true sexual reproduction who begin at infancy, and those who just pop into existence with no parent who begin at about 6 or 7 years old, they start as toddlers, no matter if they’re an Egg Nation or not. The possibility of asexual reproduction causes drama in the Firefly AU though, as America and China think the Border and Rim planets are their children, the planets themselves do not.
• Tsundere: Ancient Rome, hilariously, is basically this regarding Hellas. He actually genuinely says "It's not like I like her gods damn it!" at one point.
• Under the Mistletoe: The tendency of shippers from English-speaking countries to make their favorite ship do this is unsubtly mocked, much like other Creator's Culture Carryover tropes, in the pre-release, non-canon fic “Oh, No, The Mistletoe!”, where a female America tries to get people at her party to kiss, but instead gets a lot of confused and angry looks from the partygoers who are unaware of the tradition, and (female) England getting jabs at the expense of her parenting skills, with one unnamed character even pointing out that it “sounds like assault”. Though Portugal and England do kiss in a bonus scene after. Though western writers aren’t the only one mocked for their narrow-scope tropes regarding Christmas, as in the same compilation (“A Very American Christmas”), America has absolutely no idea what Japan is talking about when Japan starts lamenting his lack of a date, in one of a few other notable cases of the author noting Japanese Christmas’s emphasis on romance.
• Weapon Specialization: Many characters have mastered several weapon types over the years, but some favor a certain weapon.
  • England’s was the longbow when he was younger, along with Wales, complete with Improbable Aiming Skills; England’s signature weapon is also kept as the longbow even in spinoff works whenever possible.
  • Mongol Empire and all her descendants are also great snipers. Thanks to her heritage, Lipka basically becomes the Commonwealth’s sniper due to her incredible aiming skills.
  • Japan, of course, has his katana; even in WWII he carries it around instead of the cheap, military-issue swords all the normal soldiers use... and he does some horrific things using it. However, he locks it into a display case after the war to symbolize him abandoning militarism.
  • Joeson/Korea’s signature weapon is also a bow, a specially made type that was his greatest secret (as much as he loved showing it and his Improbable Aiming Skills off to others, sometimes getting scolded for doing so). The weapons his children are good at in childhood also reflect their personalities, with Yong mastering the bow like his father, and Hyun using a sword. Even in modern day, South Korea is shown to still be a really good archer (and his Olympic records attest to that), though he obviously doesn’t use it in actual combat.
  • Kush’s bow and arrow as well. The few times she’s depicted visually she always has her arrows in their casing on her back.
  • Russia’s Kalashnikov. No matter what the battle, it’s his most trusty weapon, replacing his metal pipe in canon.
  • Finland is a Knife user. Now, in battle, he does use other weapons; it’s just that he’ll always have his knife as backup, and he carries it around with him outside of battle too.
  • Scotland’s broadsword. While it’s not like he uses it for his whole life, it’s definitely the most associated with him, and Anabla uses it in Evillious Chronicles × Alt-talia.
  • Prussia’s Needle Rifle, past the 1840s. While he stops using it in actual battle a few years after Germany is born, it’s still the first thing he grabs to use when training the kid.
• Weirdness Censor: Enforced. This is the official Hand Wave explanation for why, for example, no one thinks it’s weird when Nations never age, hop around military divisions and branches, show unnatural durability, or (to an extent) when a female Nation is more outspoken or has more freedom than may be normal; this is also how nations/realms that look like literal children ranging from just hitting puberty to barely older than toddlers can fight in wars (in fact, it isn’t uncommon for nations to be born to fight against a threat in the first place), get involved in politics, circumvent drinking and child labor laws/physical exams, among many other things. It’s heavily implied that humans can still see that e.g. their comrade or co-worker is a child or heavily injured, they are just physically unable to question how bizarre it is unless it’s pointed out to them. Though heads of state and other members of government appear to be completely immune to this.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all had this in varying degrees during the late 19th century to early 20th century towards England. Though it’s less that they want to fulfill his every expectation than wanting to be in his image in their region, as shown by how Australia lashes out against Japan’s racial equality proposal, despite the fact that England himself was leaning on being for it.
  • Italy was basically this for his whole family. Being born with so much expectations put on his shoulders and being unable to live up to them takes quite a toll on him, especially as it becomes more and more clear to him no one else respects him either.
  • Germany is an odd example. While he does seek the validation of his father a lot, and Prussia controls a lot of his actions, Germany also knows that he’s ultimately working for himself, not for Prussia, and that in the end Prussia is a servant to the personified ideal that is him.
• We Used to Be Friends: While allies becoming enemies is common, it isn’t treated as anything personal unless the two had a connection that went deeper than political. However, Poland and Lithuania are one such example, unlike in canon. During the Commonwealth, after becoming Fire-Forged Friends through their battle against the Teutonic Order and their Union-Brotherhood, they become basically inseparable. But after they regain their independence in the 20th century they start squabbling over Vilnius, which combined with their newfound, red-hot nationalism quickly makes any remaining bond between them explode spectacularly into a war and eventually going no-contact, (which rarely happens, even when two nations absolutely despise each other), as described in Imitacja Juoda (a parody cover of Imitation Black). Even in modern day Lithuania still resents Poland over the belief that he treated him as nothing more than a sidekick (and to be fair to him, he isn’t completely wrong), and Poland is more concerned about Hungary anyway.
  Poland and Lithuania in Imitacja Juoda: City lights swirl
  Tension grips the air
  These overflowing emotions and lies
  Paint it over in black...
  • Nationalism also drives Poland to treat Belarus awfully. To this day he either remains oblivious to it or doesn’t remember it.
  • Most nations in big empires got along casually at least before the advent of civic nationalism, but after it spreads it can absolutely ruin them and tear the households apart from the inside. Granted, by modern day they have mostly made up and some split relatively amicably.
• Workaholic: As mentioned under Germanic Depressives, Germany isn’t as much of this as one might think in modern day. In fact, he has the shortest work days in Europe. He’s still a hard worker, he just prefers that he concentrate his work so that the results are of higher quality. Of course, this wasn’t always the case, and when he’s younger he’s shown to be more of one. And of course, this is a trait he gets from Prussia.
  • Japan and South Korea. To the point it really starts to get at their mental health. South Korea’s perfectionism isn’t helping that much either, and he might just be worse than Japan with this.
  • Not that China is any slouch either, particularly after the fall of the Imperial dynasty. He’s the factory of the world for a reason, and he also mentions that he once worked in a factory for three days straight during his economic growth period. For someone who had his power secured for pretty much all of his life, he was able to pretty much hit the ground running to power his new economy and new lack of resistance to money.
  • The (North)East Asia region as a whole has tendencies like these to some extent. The only exception might be, surprisingly, North Korea, but only because he has a curfew as such the concept of overtime doesn’t exist to him.
  • America, actually, in one of the more noticeable differences from his canon counterpart, is shown to have workaholic tendencies. It’s nowhere near as bad as the East Asians, but he’s far from lazy. In fact it may be part of the reason he loves fast food so much. It’s telling how in Guest House Alt-talia Al is genuinely shocked at the high pay and says it feels odd not having to take loads of overtime at the job he’s taking to pay for his tuition.
• Xenafication:
  • Ukraine. As mentioned many times, the role of the hotheaded one vs. the sweet one has been completely reversed between the sisters, and the soft-spoken, klutzy crybaby from canon is nowhere to be seen. First of all, she spent a lot of time as a Cossack, and constantly got Poland into trouble by fighting with the Crimean Khanate when they were married; also, she is prone to uprisings, and is a lot more wary of Russia. Though she can actually be really feminine when she's just going about her daily life.
• Yandere: Familial nationalism can make a nation seem increasingly like this if no solution or outlet is devised. Post-WWI Austria, as such feelings were kept suppressed before that point, and 1960s Cyprus are good examples of the type who would never lay a finger on their "other half" (Germany and Greece respectively), but in some cases (e.g. Imperial Japan, North Korea) it can even lead to attacking the "other half" themselves. This attraction is officially platonic, but the sheer obsession can make it seem... otherwise. The author is aware of this and has made at least one joke about Austria being a Creepy Uncle because of it.
• You No Take Candle: Used whenever a character is speaking in a language that isn't theirs and they aren't well versed in it. It can still be used in dramatic situations, surprisingly.

---

Tropes present in Legacy of the Weltkrieg

A Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg crossover/AU mini-series. In one fateful day in 1914, a Bosnian Serb nationalist shot the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, dead in the streets of Sarajevo. As we all know, this leads to a war that swallowed all of Europe and their spheres of influence, and the ultimate defeat of the Central Powers, breaking up old empires and starting Germany on a path of darkness...

But what if the Central Powers won?

The mini-series focuses on many characters, with particular emphasis on Germany and Prussia but covering most of the countries in the game, and how them being in the game’s universe affects them and their character.

(Will get it’s own page if I come up with enough stuff.)

• A Child Shall Lead Them: While not actually children by this point, the youth of the leaders of both the Reichspakt and Entente (Germany, quite obviously, and Canada respectively) are a bit of a recurring theme. Canada, according to art and accompanying profiles, as well as his age around this time period in Alt-talia canon, is physically barely 18 or so when he’s first forced into leadership as well, with his segments coming across like the beginning of a Coming of Age Story. Ironically, they represent older, more conservative ideologies while the leader of the most radical, revolutionary major faction is led by one of the oldest nations in Europe chronologically, by far the oldest of the alliance leaders, with the other two members also being old guard who have converted to Syndicalism.
• Archnemesis Dad: England, AKA [[spoiler:Arthur Smith, to Canada. Maybe. It's a bit of a weird situation. Canada and Britain are enemies on a government level, but this is because Canada wants to "rescue" his father, and to him the Syndicalists are the enemy, not his father himself.
• Author Appeal: The author has admitted that a good chunk of her motivation for writing the series is that she likes writing Imperial Germany a lot. However, she proceeded to get really into Canada’s arc.
• Big Brother Instinct: Canada shows this regarding the rest of the former British Empire fittingly for leader of the Entente. Though whether this fades away to give away to a disillusioned Jerkass or fanatical, amoral borderline Yandere, or strengthens, even to the point of encompassing a much more global scale, is up to the player. One entry of “Snapshots from the Second Weltkrieg”, shows precisely this, showing him as a responsible big brother and heading the family and alliance much better than his father ever did, sticking by the colonies (including West Indies Federation) through thick and thin, forcing himself to face the truth of how the empire wasn’t perfect, and putting making his family and friends happy and protecting them over his personal nostalgia, as well as helping nations like the Philippines in need even outside the family, protecting them at all costs. This version of Canada has quite appropriately been nicknamed “Paragon Canada” or “Shining Armor Canada”, and may basically be one of the most popular incarnations of an Alt-talia character ever, due to the route in which a Paragon/Shining Armor Canada returns the monarchy to a Totalist Britain and reunites with his father, or lets his father and uncles go, deciding that he doesn't need him anymore, being some of the closest things to a Golden Ending.
• Butt-Monkey: Bad stuff tends to happen to Liberia quite often, much like in-game. He mostly comes across as not understanding what’s going in and constantly in terrified confusion, as he is merely a bystander who has a stake in nothing that's happening. (Pending)
• Color-Coded Characters: While colors are sometimes assigned to Alt-talia characters in canon (mostly in PVs accompanying covers), they can tend to change in relative to other characters, dynasties, and other factors. In this canon, however, the default in-game map colors are always used, so everyone (except David) has a set color they are associated with in PVs and in some art, and that are used to easily identify them if in silhouette (though England seems to have two, switching between the duller magenta color on the map and the brighter crimson color Britain is often drawn with in fanmade maps, if not both at the same time). They are also almost always shown with at least one clothing article in their signature color when they're depicted out of uniform (e.g. Japan's pink scarf, England's dull magenta hat, the light blue ribbon in America's hat, Hungary's mauve dresses), or in suits (e.g. suits or neckties), if it isn’t most of that particular outfit. The major factions are associated with colors as well, with the Entente getting royal blue, the Internationale red, and the Reichspakt dark grey just like Germany himself's color, with the character color schemes sometimes incorporating a stripe for their faction; though ironically, the leaders of the Entente and Internationale are Canada and France respectively... and Canada's signature color is maroon, while Commune France's is a somewhat smoky azure. Also, due to the sheer amount of characters some colors are hard to tell apart (like Austria, Finland, and Belarus all being barely different shades of white, or even Hungary and Poland, who both are shades of mauve).
• Coming of Age Story: Canada's story is the start of one. Snapshots presents different routes he can develop (or not), and the Paragon Canada route, where he comes to see the flaws of the system he idealized and that his family wasn't perfect, and the one "neutral"/Paragon route where he realizes that his father and uncles are happy with Syndicalism, starting to move on and trying to find his and his remaining family's own happiness and meaning.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Subverted. Hungary’s abuse towards Slovakia is treated as the awful thing it is, as well as are the outbursts she has at Austria.
• The Drag-Along: Dominion India doesn’t exactly like being in the Entente. Especially not helping is that though he tries to do his job in the Entente out of obligation, Canada and Australia seem to deliberately shaft or underplay him. He’s one of the tangible demonstrations that the Entente isn’t as shiny as Canada’s idealism and familial love would initially lead one to believe, reminding people that this is still the British Empire in all their Imperialism. Though as the author points out, if the player can choose to give Dominion India the respect he deserves and give him independence in the end if they so choose.
  • Also part of the Entente, albeit not as a sovergein state, is Quebec. He makes it clear that this was his attitude about the Weltkrieg as well, and is quick to remind Canada how he was right all along about how the war was senseless, and regularly calls Canada stupid and naive for his mission and his loyalty to his father and a royal family "That hasn't done shit" for him. He's the least enthusiastic of Canada's provinces, and generally cares nothing for Canada's efforts. Though through Video Game Caring Potential and as depicted in “I’ll Be Your Knight” of Snapshots, AKA the entry with Paragon/Shining Armor Canada, it is possible for Canada to reconcile with Quebec and get his support as well.
• The Dutiful Son: Played with. Canada’s self-identity struggles are definitely given the spotlight when he’s featured; he still loves his father, and he suddenly finds himself thrust into the leadership position of the former British Empire, increasing his complex about needing to be his father's model son in the Americas. His sympathy towards America is a bit mixed, but generally he hates him for betraying their father and that his current state is a bit deserved. He wishes to “rescue” his father from the Syndicalists; however, at the same time he's trying to find out who he is, and starts thinking about being on complete equal footing, in a commonwealth rather than an empire, with the UK after he rescues them.
• Extreme Doormat: While Belarus is usually already a bit of a doormat, it’s more emphasized here. She doesn’t have much of a national identity, so she just goes along with what those around her say she should do. When told that the land reform might not go through to not upset Prussia, her response is simply a look of deep disappointment, a sigh of resignation, and “I guess it can’t be helped…”. She grows out of this in “Belarus” in “Snapshots”, but in the main route of “A Coup in Minsk”, also part of “Snapshots”, she’s just terrified of what has happened and again, just goes along with whatever her new boss tells her. She does react with shock and balks upon Lastouski telling her that she has to forget her familial kinship with Russia and call herself Kryvich now in the “Kryvich” route, but ultimately the implication is that she just rolls with it there as well.
• Fanfic Fuel: While not a primary goal like Evillious Chronicles x Alt-talia, the author has encouraged people to play the mod and write what happens next in their playthroughs.
• First-Person Peripheral Narrator: As he occasionally does in Alt-talia canon, David has a few chapters presented as journal entries of his; however, he’s even more detached from the events going on than usual, so he’s one of the few perspectives close to a neutral one in this story due to his lack of effect on what happens in this timeline, and the fact that his situation is mostly uniformly crappy across the continent (though ironically Germany seems to tolerate him the most), though he expresses apprehension at the situation in Romania, Russia, and the Sorelians in France.
• The Good King: Or rather, emperor. Kaiser Karl I of Austria, as per usual, is one of the few truly, undisputedly good characters in the mini-series, genuinely wanting peace in the empire. The only person he’s ever even somewhat mean to is Hungary. In Snapshots from the Second Weltkrieg, the "Danubian Federation" route is chosen, with Karl I showing even more of just how much of a Reasonable Authority Figure he is as the war rages on around them.
• I Have No Son!: England along with the rest of Great Britain basically say this to all their colonies, believing that he failed in his role as a parent and severing himself from them “until they’re willing to join the revolution”. Anything that might invoke their better times as a family being thrown out, burned, or discreetly given to exiles to be returned. Though the most loyal members of the empire all continue to have Kirkland as their surname and to call him “father”, to England’s frustration (Pending; I might make England and by extension Scotland and Wales take up a different surname to truly signify the split). It’s also shown that their government is trying to actively dissuade them from remembering their time as a family as well, even being told that “hopefully, you’ll eventually forget that they were ever related to you.” Of course, this devastates his direct children a lot, especially Canada who not only was suddenly denounced by his father, but also suddenly inherits the position of the family patriarch to boot]].
  • Commune France basically does this as well, though unlike with England not many are that upset about this. But National France still claims ownership, so it kind of depends on who’s word you choose to believe.
• Irony: It’s shown that despite winning and getting everything he thought he wanted, its highly debatable if Germany is actually happier in this timeline. He comes out of the war already tired and worse for wear, and ends up facing so much rebellions and political infighting, having to manage a massive empire, and overall having astronomical burdens on his shoulders, that he’s under almost constant stress and has little time, only about 7 years, to actually enjoy his power (and even then said seven years see the start of Syndicalist International); also he basically has a mental breakdown when it becomes clear that he’s losing grip on power again. And unlike in the EU, where Germany actively wants to give everyone a share of the responsibility and he’s not the set-in-stone leader, this Germany wants to keep his grip on power in spite of it all, and while Prussia does help in the end it’s all his responsibility. So despite his wrath at the outcome of WWI in Alt-talia proper, as it’s difficult to see this going the In Spite of a Nail route, our timeline where he becomes a humbled, humiliated, but unprecedentedly kindhearted nation who has risen above the vicious cycle of nationhood may have been the happiest timeline for him in the long run after all.
  • It’s debatable at best for two other victors of the war, Hungary and Turkey, as well. Hungary still keeps all her land and doesn't suffer the humiliation of Trianon, but can’t be satisfied with what she has, leading to irrational amounts of rage and her descending deeper into her controlling, manipulative mindset, in a shaky relationship with her much more reasonable husband. Turkey, meanwhile, just keeps on slowly breaking apart without Atatürk putting the Imperial system out of its misery for him; the collapse of the Ottoman Empire was actually a happy ending for him relatively speaking considering how he was already almost in an And I Must Scream situation before the war started. The only one for whom the end of the Weltkreig could maybe be called a happy ending is Austria, who while struggling and getting into clashes with Bohemia a lot initially manages to suppress his nationalist urges thanks to his Emperor and becomes a relatively stable federation, but it was still a humiliating blow and his power is still a fraction of what it once was.
  • Canada becomes the new patriarch of what is left of the British Empire, thrusting him into his position as The Leader of the Entente, his main goal being to “rescue” his father and uncles from the Syndicalists. Meanwhile, America is never motivated to come out of isolation, by the time of the stock market crash being so isolated it doesn’t have anywhere near as massive consequences as it does OTL, and apparently other nations barely see him anymore in person. As in, it starts looking an awful lot like America is the Blue Oni and Canada is the Red Oni, especially as the years pass. Canada even starts gaining something of a hero complex due to his mission to “rescue” his family, until it’s fully brought home by this quote, echoing both Alt-America and especially canon America’s tendency to label himself a “hero” (and also referencing what would be his in-game Leitmotif):
    Canada: ...I have to be the hero. I have to be the knight. ...I understand now.
  • As pointed out by South Italy/Mezzogiorno himself, he and Sicily ending up the most stable and prosperous in the Italian Peninsula after Italy’s death, due to being almost untouched by the Italian Civil War. Whereas they were previously seen as the black sheep of the family, now most bet on Mezzogiorno to bring Italy back to life. Of course, he really loves pouring salt on his siblings’, especially Milan’s, wounds over it.
    South Italy, mockingly imitating Milan: You northern rabble have “proven” yourselves enough!
• Just a Kid: Livonia of the United Baltic Duchy calls Germany “child” and along with the other Baltic Germans sees him as a kid, citing how he’s several times Germany’s age, though they’re well aware of his power.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Canada comes to see himself as one, or at least take up the persona, alluding to his in-game Leitmotif. This is mainly due to his mission to “rescue” his father and uncles and get his family back, but also because he starts contemplating stepping in to become the new protector of the Americas as America himself retreats further into isolation. It parallels both Alt and canon America’s superhero based persona as well, in a twist of irony. Though unlike America, he doesn't really stand for any ideology as much as he wants his family back, no matter what the morality.
• No Social Skills: This being Imperial Germany, Germany... isn’t too good at social skills. Though it’s serviceable, his understanding of diplomacy can come across as a bit childish at times.
  Prussia: What do you think Chancellor Bismarck would do?
  Germany: ...
  Prussia: ...Deutschland?
  Germany, sweating: ...
  Prussia: Sighs

(The above is a placeholder)

• Psychopathic Manchild: Psychopathic isn’t completely right, as he isn’t exactly the villain as unlike the WWII arc there is no one villain. In fact, he often comes across as calm, disciplined, and mature, and can be genuinely nice to those who cooperate with him like the Netherlands or Ukraine or Belarus. However, one thing that is made extremely clear is that, even if he isn’t the utterly despicable villain he is in vanilla Alt-talia’s WWII arc, Germany is still no angel and is still a militaristic, chauvinist young empire, accomplishing what he believed was his destiny validating his deeply latent ego. His selfishness regarding his plans for Mitteleuropa, in a childish brutal honesty, aren’t even disguised that much. And as he won this time around, this enables him to become the nigh tyrannical leader of the continent; and this is Imperial Germany, not the calm, humble, kindhearted, Reasonable Authority Figure modern Germany who has gone through two devastating defeats, learned his lesson, and would even sacrifice some of his own needs for the sake of others. At his core, he’s a young man way in over his head, not sure what to do with all his power and having a massive empire the likes no one has seen before. His youth is often pointed out, and while he keeps up his cool-headed demeanor for the most part, when he becomes frustrated enough he can throw what seems to be a downplayed tantrum; it’s just that it’s also utterly terrifying as this is an extremely strongly built adult man and the world’s greatest superpower (there’s also the fact that despite being physically and supposedly mentally 20-21, he still is heavily influenced by and dependent on his father, and is just starting to somewhat rebel against him). This is probably best seen when he finally has enough of Poland mouthing him off (pending):
  Germany, his breathing becoming progressively heavier: Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!
  Germany slams Poland in the face, making him fall painfully on the floor, and starts wailing on the poor bastard as Poland painfully gasps and Germany keeps screaming “SHUT UP!”
  • The best example may be the moment in the last chapter when the idea that his hegemony over the continent is starting to wane merely sixteen years after his hard-earned victory starts to dawn on him, causing all the accumulated stress to finally burst. Granted, anyone would have probably cracked under his circumstances:
    Germany: Sixteen years... that’s... that’s it? *starts shaking* No... No, no, no, no, NO! Verdammt, verdammt, VERDAMMT! IT’S NOT FAIR!
• Jerkass: While few are exactly nice in this AU, as per usual, even among them Hungary is an absolute asshole. While in Alt-talia proper Austria’s Sanity Slippage is more prominent, here Austria preserves most of his sanity even if he does show weaker Yandere tendencies, and it’s Hungary who goes off the rails more spectacularly, except that it’s somehow harder to sympathize with her than Austria despite him literally becoming a willing Nazi in normal Alt-talia. Already a character the author has admitted to having difficulties with making likable, she’s even more controlling, narcissistic, and generally unpleasant here now that she got validation for it only for it to immediately get threatened. She even attempts take all of the power of the dual monarchy for herself, and after Germany stops her, she doubles down on her assimilation policy. She then has the gall to go off on Austria and Croatia when the South Slavs practically jump into Austria’s arms at the chance to become his associates and create their own kingdom under Croatia, because Austria, despite his simmering nationalist feelings, still had the decency to agree to give federal autonomy, just because she can’t control and brainwash them anymore. This leaves poor Slovakia under her control, and she takes it out on Slovakia even more, screaming at and beating him for speaking Slovak and messing up the slightest thing. Austria meanwhile seems extremely kindly and loving in comparison, despite his flaws. Even her friendship with Poland, one of her biggest redeeming qualities in Alt-talia proper, is a bit shaky, even if it’s still close. But due to how terrible she is, this may start to taint audiences’ view of Poland as well, despite him not having the opportunity to go on a nationalism-fueled rampage like he does in Alt-talia proper. ...Not in the original mini-series at least (Pending).
  • As in vanilla Alt-talia, the Baltic German brothers, making up the United Baltic Duchy. They’re still overly proud, snobbish, and keep Estonia and Latvia as second-class citizens.
• Literal Split Personality: The Republic of France is this of the Commune of France, who is treated as the “France” we know, as unlike, say, Canada, none of the French colonies were personally loyal to France (pending). The Republic can be told apart by his somewhat darker, shorter hair and tanner skin tone (maybe? Maybe he manifests as a young boy, or his 2P? Also considering the idea of changing their eye colors to their map colors, so NatFrance gets midnight blue eyes), but they have the same human name much like the three parts of Poland did during the partition era. He hopes to merge back with his Syndicalist counterpart, and he has all the exact same memories France had until the split (in fact probably remembering more than his Syndicalist counterpart).
• No Ending: The story is a bunch of one-shots with more focus on character than plot, but many of these do follow some kind of timeline, just not chronologically; the one-shots involving one of the three major factions are particularly more likely to follow a plot throughout them. However, it ends in 1935, with “What happens from here? Well, that is up to you, dear reader.”, where the actual gameplay picks up. Some fans actually have started playing the mod just so they can get to see what happens next.
  • Though the sequel, sort of, “Snapshots from the Second Weltkreig”, consists of certain scenarios in the game the author thought interesting. Still, they’re merely a few scenarios out of hundreds.
• Papa Wolf: Once again, Prussia. He will basically do anything to protect Germany or to keep him in power. And now that his son has proven himself he now is in a slightly more subservient rather than paternal position, though not completely; if Germany wants something, Prussia will make sure he gets it, even if he does make him go through the effort if it’s needed.
  Prussia, to Poland: Your only purpose is to serve him. Now get back to work if you know what’s good for you.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: England actually downplays this and acts more like his canon counterpart or a more subdued version of his “chav” personality due to almost his entire upper class hightailing it out. On the other hand, Canada starts trying to adopt more of this persona in his place. (Pending; this is the most logical route for England’s personality to go. But I kind of want to keep him this Stiff Upper Lip gentleman because he’s very entertaining to write. And I don’t know to what degree.)
• Red Armband of Leadership: All the leaders of the three main factions wear an armband in official gatherings over their uniforms, which the author has admitted are fully because she thinks they look cool and this trope. Though only France’s is red, by far the biggest, with the eye-catching golden Syndicalist gear, hammer, and torch emblazoned on it. At times the other members wear thinner versions of it. Canada opts for a royal blue one, while Germany and Prussia's are in the colors of their flag with a big Iron Cross overlaid on it. (pending)
  • Romania also gets one, a green one with the Iron Guard logo on it, invoking, well...
• Tagalong Kid: The West Indies Federation in the Entente. She doesn’t exactly contribute much to the fight, even if she can be an interesting character in her own right.
• Tsundere: There’s a scene that invokes the trope, but isn’t exactly it; when Austria comments that Hungary’s German has gotten much better, she’s quick to deny it. It’s revealed that it’s because she secretly likes German movies a lot. It may be one of the few endearing traits she has in this AU.
• Wham Episode: Quite a few for those unfamiliar with Kaiserreich:
  • The British Empire collapsing. Then England basically saying I Have No Son! and cutting himself off from his empire.
  • Italy’s death.
  • In “Snapshots from the Second Weltkreig”, “The Jewish Threat”. Now, the title itself is ominous enough, but the real kicker is who it’s about. It starts with David being brutally tortured, with the narration hinting it’s someone important to him. It’s Poland. Yup. He goes full Nazi and goes mad with nationalism. While Poland does grow to have “suspicions” about David and his people in this era in normal Alt-talia, he never actually goes full anti-Semite, and as Poland and David had a very emphasized friendship during the Commonwealth era, it’s especially tragic and if this were part of a full series it may be the point he crosses the Moral Event Horizon in one fell swoop.
  • Romania’s Sanity Slippage. Yes, it is bad. While the dreaded meathooks don’t show up in the fic itself, by his latest appearances he’s pretty much A Nazi by Any Other Name. And the meathooks are also alluded to in pieces of official art and music covers, where he looks absolutely terrifying. If Hungary is a Jerkass, Romania is basically on a rapid descent towards Complete Monster territory.
• The Woobie: Poor, poor Italy. He lives a relatively short life of struggling with his self-image, never able to truly unite, getting involved in a war he doesn’t want to be in as a gamble and getting humiliated further, and being forced under Austria’s yoke despite trying so hard to escape his influence for his efforts, thousands of his countrymen dead being the only thing he has to show for it. He becomes nothing but a loose federation only kept alive from Austria killing him by and sustained by Karl I's kindness, constantly wracked by civil conflict. Then he erupts further into civil war, the lofty goals he was created for pretty much shattering for good in front of his eyes. His dedicated one-shot, “Falling Star”, is just him laying in bed, slowly dying, his family to the south having all but given up on him and his northern family unable to save him to the very end. It’s even worse that he still comes across as a bit childish, putting all the blame on himself. It’s also worse if one thinks of canon Italy in that position. The author even created a version of “Roman Pelusce” (A previous cover of “Tokyo Teddy Bear” with Italy) specifically for this one-shot, specifically what led Italy up to this point; it’s telling how many of the lyrics are barely altered from the original Tokyo Teddy Bear. Though a player can use this to motivate them to bring Italy back to life in their playthrough. But as previous attempts to create Italy weren’t the same person as the Italy we all know, it isn’t even guaranteed that the new Italy players create would be the same person.
  Veneto: We’ll get him back someday. He... he just wasn’t ready for the world now.
  • Slovakia. Just... poor Slovakia. He’s hopelessly stuck with Hungary, enviously eyeing his sister with her autonomy across the river.
  • America of all people. Everything was going right for him, having missed the horrors of the Weltkrieg, until it all came crashing down with the stock market crash, under which he’s left to struggle basically alone, his states growing increasingly restless as he desperately tries to keep everyone together and to keep up a crumbling idealistic persona. Unlike in our timeline, there’s nothing to save him, and the world is going on without him, too invested in their own problems to care. As this is not in the modern day, Canada still doesn't care that much for him, and now has even more reason to see America as a traitor, so he believes his brother deserves it (spoiler:Though that doesn't stop him from taking in the Northeastern states to give back to his brother. Or so he says). And as players of Kaiserreich know, if the submod to circumvent it is not used, it’s certain that America’s efforts will be in vain as he becomes embroiled in a civil war, when he will be forced to watch millions of his people die over many excruciating years. Even those who don’t like Alt-America and think he’s a Jerkass will probably feel sorry for him as he becomes a shell of his former self (a sentiment various native tribes express). Him, along with Russia, getting the only depressing stanzas in Our Weltkrieg (as opposed to the others which tend to be determined, righteous, or at least angry) is pretty indicative about how low he sinks; and it's arguably even more purely depressing than Russia's stanza, as Russia's at least seems to have anger behind his words too. The only condolence is that unlike Italy he will most likely survive... though depending on who wins it may be a Fate Worse than Death.
    America, in 'Our Weltkrieg:' Riches fading in front of my eyes
    Left in a world gone crazy and fractured
    Never-ending conflict
    Today too, I isolate myself
    Thus, (the land of) opportunity and promise weeps...
  • Also Belgium, or Flanders-Wallonia. She barely exists as a state anymore, Flanders and Wallonia still constantly at each others' throats despite them getting independence in all but name, and is generally in a very fragile state, constantly on the verge of death, all the while recovering from the scars of the Weltkrieg. Prussia and Germany also aren't very subtle about the fact that they find her "useless". She can find solace in the minority who still believe in her, but they really aren't that numerous.
  • Estonia and Latvia, though Estonia especially is more of an Iron Woobie; they thought Germany might give them independence, but Germany and Prussia favor the Baltic Germans instead and Yank the Dog's Chain, keeping them as second-class citizens and creating the United Baltic Duchy.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Germany tells White Ruthenia (Belarus) this as she expresses her doubts about her new country, telling her that she exists for a reason and that her people are her people, and will believe in her eventually. Though Germany has ulterior motives for this; Erich Ludendorff told him that she could be a useful asset, and that building up her confidence could make her loyal. This motivates her, however, and the short one-shot “Belarus” in “Snapshots” depicts her Status Quo Focus Tree, beginning with her going to meet Germany, and flashbacking to show the land reform as a smashing success and her people coming to believe in her, and her in herself, ending with her telling Germany that she wishes to be called “Belarus” from now on.

---

Konnichiwa, From The Future!

• Ascended Extra: Karafuto. In main Alt-talia, despite being Japan’s son, he barely had any scenes, with his most notable scene being when he was killed by Soviet troops in a last stand. Japan does mourn him, but not much. Here he’s part of the main cast, is expanded on a lot, and is one of the more complex characters in the mini-series.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Well less Jerkass, but PM Shinzo Abe (and a good part of the conservative government) is, as he was IRL, skeptical of the veracity of war crimes, unlike the original story. Then Sankei Newspaper, a right-wing newspaper, publishes a story verifying it, and he changes his tune. The war crime trials happen later here than they did in the original story, but they indeed still happen.
• Author Appeal: Most of the author’s motivation for writing this AU is catharsis; seeing Japan make up for his mistakes and becoming friends with Father Korea.
  • Also there’s a chapter dedicated to Godzilla Minus One, the author’s favorite movie which she has written several fanfics for before. It apparently becomes a cultural phenomenon, being created to put a spotlight on veterans’ mental health and doing exactly that. It even leads to the government creating a state-run mental health program for former and current Shell Shocked Veterans. It’s apparently very controversial among Pacific War veterans, with those more disillusioned with the war adoring it, and the unrepentant ones despising it, but it apparently brought many into the former camp. There’s also the addition of The Eternal Zero, a previous work of director Takashi Yamazaki’s, among the movies Admiral Yamamoto is shown, though apparently this was written before the author’s viewing of Minus One, and was done purely to include more Japanese movies and that it was explosively popular and iconic (many western movies, like The Bridge on the River Kwai, are removed).
• Awful Truth: In a comic, Japan decides to tell Yong the truth; that his father died in battle in the future, leaving him to grow up into a stubborn young man, a bit of a thorn in his side, and they of course had a tense relationship. But that he grew up into a strong, developed nation from basically nothing, and that he fully understands what his future version meant now. Yong is amazed by what he became, and what very well could be his father’s future, as well as the fact that he apparently became primary representative. Then Hyun barges into the room. Yong tells him that they were talking about their futures in Japan’s time, and Hyun asks Japan what role he played in the future. Japan, sweating, wonders “Oh no. Should I tell him???”
  • In the fic written later though, it’s revealed that Japan decides to tell Hyun the truth too. He tells Hyun that he and Yong were actually torn apart by a war. A war where they hurt each other, in an attempt to unite their family again, a war that wasn’t ever over. And Hyun became a dictatorship ruled by an iron fist. A dictatorship with militaristic rhetoric much like himself in the past, who threatens the world with nukes, with few friends, constantly living in fear, angry at the world. Hyun is saddened that they were torn apart, and at what he became, but Japan assures him that that future won’t come anymore.
• Broad Strokes: Some elements are changed, but reach the same conclusion, as the original story wasn't always compliant with reality; notably, there’s how Taiwan thinks of Japan, PM Shinzo Abe’s stance on war crimes, and how the labor movement happens. Taiwan is afraid of Japan somewhat at first, which is one of the things which makes Japan realize that he indeed screwed up (because he really likes Taiwan, this especially breaks his heart), instead of being completely happy with the annexation like the original story implied. The pacific islands, meanwhile, are released, to keep things simple. Also Shinzo Abe, as mentioned above, is a lot more skeptical of war crimes. The labor movement in this version is started by uptimers, not downtimers, as it was very normal for fathers not to be involved in their children’s lives even in the 1930s, despite what the original story thought. In fact, here the downtimers, especially the former soldiers, are willing to take a lot more abuse for a lot less, which results in conditions worsening for everyone. This, along with an alarming rise in karoushi, is what leads to the labor movement.
• Corporal Punishment: Discussed. To Karafuto, this is just how parents should punish their children, and he is no exception. So when Karafuto yells at Japan that he isn’t his father anymore, he stops, fear briefly flashes across his face, he faces down, and says that Japan can beat him now. After a conversation, Karafuto says to Japan, half-jokingly, that the fact Japan doesn’t beat him shows he’s gone soft.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In “At The UN”, back in 2015, Imperial Japan is summoned to the UN. He is reluctant to go, but ultimately does. There, he meets the rest of the nations, and his pride is wounded by seeing the Koreas there. He goes up to South Korea, and they start arguing; after Imperial Japan tells South Korea that he’d be nothing without him, South Korea snaps and beats the hell out of him. Imperial Japan, with his outdated military and lack of most of it in the first place, is no match; North Korea is cheering, China watches with a smile on his face, and those who have no context on the situation and the government officials can merely gawk, before America has to pry South Korea off. Imperial Japan can only merely lay there, absolutely in shock about his former abuse victim’s strength.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Japan and Okinawa, being from 2015, obviously clash with everyone else. They sometimes don’t appreciate the new values Japan brought with him, and Japan, who was conservative by 2015 standards, is shocked to be reminded of just how bad the bigotry in 1939 was. This is also some of the conflict between Japan and Karafuto.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Much chaos and violence happened after Japan was transported to the past, but ultimately, the world is much better off by the new timeline’s 2015. The series ends on one of two very happy notes in 2015 (there are two endings, which the reader can choose):
  • Japan and Father Korea sitting on Japan’s porch, looking at the moon. The twins are sleeping in their laps. Father Korea tells Japan that while Japan coming to the past caused a real stir, that his arrival was ultimately a blessing. Japan is happy with the praise. Japan and Korea’s tense relationship is but a distant memory.
  • Japan is going to a world meeting in New York City. His family sends him off to go sightseeing. Japan sits in the world meeting, waiting for it to start; Vietnam lights up when she sees him, Thailand walks in with his wife, Laos, and smile and wave, Mexico asks him if they can have a Dragon Ball Z watch party later. Others also wish to sit near him, and try to strike up conversations about anime and such. America gives him a pat on the shoulder, and even China waves upon seeing him. Then Korea sits beside him, and the two reminisce.
• Faint in Shock: In one chapter, Walt Disney taken to Tokyo Disneyland by Disney Japan employees, with Japan and Taiwan in tow. Walt, who is already shocked that he has a subsidiary in Japan, is not told where he’s going and blindfolded, is led through the gates, and when he takes the blindfold off, promptly lays eyes on one of the biggest monuments to how much his company has grown. Japan tells him “Welcome… to Tokyo Disneyland. This is all yours”, as the employees at the front give him a warm welcome. He quietly stares at the massive scale of the park, then the statue of himself… before fainting on the spot. The others rush to catch him.
• Fair for Its Day: Karafuto’s character invokes this. By 1939 standards, he’s progressive. He doesn’t think women in the workforce in peacetime is wrong, and he is kind to people of other ethnicities, such as Taiwan, and Ainu, if somewhat condescending. This is due to his upbringing in the frontier. However, he has wartime Imperial Japanese conceptions of what is obscene and should be censored, and thinks Japan has become pathetic and weak. But part of this seems to come from a fear that Japan won’t be willing to protect him should an invasion happen. Japan proves that wrong.
• Fountain of Youth: In 1946, Japan realizes something; his joints hurt less often, he feels somewhat more energized, and he thinks he looks slightly younger, but he attributes it to just feeling. Then he fixes his work culture in 1947. After this, by 1950, he notices his wrinkles are gone, his hips give out less, and he feels much more energized; he’s aging backwards. Okinawa also starts losing her grey hairs around 1946, though she still looks on the older side due to being a retired nation.
• Heel Realization: Japan does genuinely want better relations with his neighbors even initially, and have guilt about it. However, he’s somewhat in denial how bad he was. He and PM Shinzo Abe come to the gradual realization that yes, Japan was indeed that bad; a group of soldiers coming together and telling Sankei Newspaper about the Rape of Nanking and Sankei publishing a headline about it is the final blow, and Asahi Newspaper publishing their story about Unit 731 days after is icing on the cake. Japan faces the facts, and becomes even more dedicated to repairing damaged bridges, even proposing a trial for the war criminals, which is unanimously approved.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Karafuto and Taiwan both, to both of their embarrassment. In the mini-arc concerning Japan’s ecchi mangas elaborated below in Porn Stash, it's revealed that Karafuto and Taiwan become huge markets for raunchy works, due to their half a decade or so of censorship. The censorship, combined with the two being teenagers, led to their hormones going absolutely wild after the Transition. In yet another follow-up fic taking place two about a year after the two fics described in Porn Stash, it’s revealed a substantial domestic smut industry in these territories has sprung up as well. The purchase of adult content used to be barely regulated, but people are more alert now, and now the kids can’t buy them due to their physical ages; thus, this two-part fic involves, to the embarrassment of everyone involved, Japan and Okinawa buying smut for Karafuto and Taiwan respectively. The half with the men is purely comedic, while the half with the women is also comedic, but also has Okinawa making this a teachable moment, telling Taiwan that her having such urges isn’t shameful, as long as she keeps it private (though she does have to hide the shock she has at how much she wants).
• Humanity Ensues: India becomes a mortal, due to India not becoming a united country. He lives the rest of his life as just a regular human.
• Lower-Deck Episode: There are a few chapters focusing on average humans, not just those of note, just like in normal Alt-talia.
  • One chapter, “My Father, My Ward”, focuses on the best case scenario; a soldier goes to see his son, who was a year old when he left for the war. The son, who is 80 now, and his wife accept him with open arms. He tries to adjust to modern life with them, and meets one of his grandchildren and her children, who introduce him to video games. When he decides to re-enroll in university and go to the computer class his son goes to, his family pitches in to help pay for it.
  • One chapter, “I Will Always Love You”, is about another soldier, who returns to his wife. His wife is of course very old at this point, but is very much the same person, and the soldier realizes he still loves her. They proceed to go on dates and otherwise enjoy the time they have left as a couple.
  • Another chapter, the deceptively cheerfully named “Honey, I’m Home!”, is similar, but a lot sadder. A soldier wants to meet his wife. His search leads him to a nursing home. His wife says “Oh, Masao, you’re home!”, and the soldier realizes that his wife has gone senile, thinks it’s the 40s again, and that he’s just returning from the war. And that he still loves her. Much like the other soldier, he indulges her and tries spending time with her as a couple, even getting permission to stay with her and help care for her. At the end of the chapter, his wife dies, and he laments that he lost his wife again.
  • In “Our War Isn’t Over Yet”, taking place in 1947, a former soldier watches Godzilla Minus One, and realizes the pent-up feelings he had about the war, all the trauma, that he never let himself process. He starts a hashtag, “I Am Shikishima”, on Twitter, and it goes viral. The chapter drifts away from him later and becomes more wide-scale, though.
• Living Distant Ancestor: The time warp results in many of these, with some highlighted in the above-mentioned Lower Deck Episodes. In the first of such human POV stories, “My Father, My Ward”, a 23 year old former soldier basically gets adopted by his 80 year old son. His son calls him “father”, but his great-grandchildren wonder if he should call him “great-grandfather”, because of how weird it feels.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: There are some aside chapters showing what happened to Imperial Japan, who now finds himself in 2015. He understandably freaks out at the world around him, and has a hard time accepting his loss, and who he became in the future. The first of such chapters is named “Meanwhile, Back In 2015…”
• Mistaken for Romance: Sort of with Japan and Okinawa, who are mistaken for a married couple, though that isn’t the focus of the scene. In a short chapter set in 1945, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Karafuto are at Universal Studios Japan. A staff member, after giving them their tickets, tells them “Have a nice family trip!”. Japan wonders if he should correct her, Okinawa blushes, but Karafuto merely smiles, and Taiwan says “Okay, thanks!”. In the chapters after, Taiwan starts calling Japan “father”.
• Peggy Sue: Japan in this story, for obvious reasons.
• Porn Stash: Well not exactly. In an earlier chapter, Karafuto finds a stash of Japan’s ecchi mangas (specifically Monster Musume) and angrily storms up to Japan. Karafuto shoves a manga in his face and asks “What is this?”. Japan instinctively apologizes, and Karafuto explodes at him that he doesn’t want an apology, he wants answers, and asks how many copies this manga has sold. When Japan answers, embarrassed, that he just likes this sort of thing, and that it sold over a million copies, Karafuto gets even angrier and yells about how can’t believe his father would let himself stoop this low and that he isn’t his father anymore. Karafuto then stops himself, bows his head down, and tells Japan he can beat him for saying something so out of line. Japan refuses, and says he just wants to talk. Karafuto says that he didn’t really mean to disown him, that he will always be his father, but he’s so frustrated at his father’s “depravity”, and that he doesn’t recognize him anymore.
  • …Then, about half a year later, Japan finds that one of his Monster Musume volumes is gone. Not just any volume, volume 5, containing one of the most explicit chapters. Japan has a sneaking suspicion, and opens Karafuto’s door, to see Karafuto reading it, with a tissue box also on his bed. Karafuto looks like he wants to disappear. Japan tries not to laugh. This apparently represents the sure fire huge market that dirty content would find in the sexually repressed regions Japan inherited from Imperial Japan. He becomes a lot less prudish after this. This is followed up by a short chapter about Taiwan discovering yaoi, and she apparently has her own small collection of it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Prime Minister Abe, once he gets rid of his war crime denialism.
  • Admiral Yamamoto, the closest thing the original had to a hero.
• Rousseau Was Right:
  • Prime Minister Abe and much of the LDP are assumed to be genuinely misled about the war crimes in China and Korea, and change their tune upon Sankei exposing them to in fact be true. Also, the fact that Sankei was willing to publish this and eat their words in the first place, possibly losing them a chunk of their reader base.
  • The uptime German ambassadors try to play on this trope, and appeal to Germany’s better nature to convince him that the Nazis are wrong. Germany at first scoffs at them, and even says “Why should I care whether Jew and gypsy scum die?”. Unlike the Germans in the original, he and most other civilians are well aware of the slave labor and killings. But while it also takes knowledge of the futility of the war the Nazis are leading him down, he decides he doesn’t want to carry the guilt forever and to always be seen as evil like his future counterpart was, and he and his family ultimately decide to rise against the Nazis. It is him who ultimately leads the angry mob against Hitler.
  • Japan immediately embraces multiculturalism when it comes to Taiwan, as the Taiwanese are his citizens now.
• Running Gag: Japan being described as “a plush toy of a man” in prose when a downtimer sees him for the first time.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: There’s of course Japan, who wants to repair his relationship with East Asia and especially the Koreas before it truly goes south; he stops the war immediately, and helps the rest of East Asia the best he can, giving them time to develop a democracy, helping arm their militaries, and investing in them. He also realizes he mistreated Taiwan as well, and decides to raise her the best he can. By the end, he accomplishes in a way what his past self wanted; an area of influence in East Asia, where all of them respect him and look to him as a beacon of civilization, and a role as their liberator. Except he accomplishes it by legitimately helping them.
  • He also realizes he can do this for everyone else as well, leading to the others also scrambling to make things right. Some take time until they realize they’re going on the wrong path, but many wrongs are righted due to the knowledge of Japan and the foreigners who came with him.
• "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: One of Japan’s main missions is to get the respect of Taiwan and to an extent Karafuto. He tells Taiwan that she doesn’t have to call him “Father” if she doesn’t want to, and that she shouldn’t be afraid of her father. It takes 6 years for Taiwan to fully bond with Japan, and Karafuto about 10 years to understand that Japan sees him as his child unconditionally, but he does earn both of their unconditional love. Though Karafuto never doesn’t love Japan, he just previously was looked down upon and initially is frustrated by Japan’s perceived weakness.
• Willfully Weak: A lot of nations take note of how jarringly (for them) harmless and cute Japan looks now, though that doesn’t stop them from viewing him with suspicion. Japan deliberately plays into this, as he doesn’t want to provoke the others. But when he is provoked, he’s willing to hit back.
• Yandere: Hyun-Soo says, after being told about the Korean War, with a dark expression, “If Yong and I were torn apart like that… Yeah, I would fight to get him back.”. Yong-Soo is a bit scared by the darkness coming off his brother, but Japan reassures him that that future was avoided, so he doesn’t have to worry about it.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Taiwan, much like her normal timeline counterpart, finds an interest in yaoi. Though because she's seemingly in it for the smut mainly, at least from what we see of the initial stages, she’s more shy about it.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Taiwan lacks an identity at this point, and part of her doesn’t mind if she just becomes completely Japanese, though part of her doesn’t want that. Japan tries to tell her that Abe made her a separate state for a reason, but when she says “wouldn’t you prefer it if I just became completely Japanese? It would be easier for you too.”, which Japan also denies, but she isn’t convinced. Japan just tells her to follow her heart, and what feels best for her. Later, Okinawa visits her on her island. Taiwan tells her the above concerns, and Okinawa tells her that she still speaks a different language from them, and that itself proves that she’s unique, and she should embrace that. Taiwan asks if that means she shouldn’t be Japanese, and Okinawa tells her about her struggle with identity, and how she came to terms with being both Japanese and Okinawan. How she has a history and culture she’s proud of, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t Japanese, and she loves Japan, despite all his faults. In the end, she also tells her that what she sees herself as is her own decision, and that she should follow her heart. By 1965, after much self-searching and even reaching out to her aboriginal tribes, she embraces her Chinese (Hokkien), aboriginal, and Japanese identities, and she decides that she’s just Taiwan, the Chinese, Hokkien speaking and cultured, and to an extent aboriginal, Japanese region.
  • Karafuto has a similar conflict. He sees himself as backwards, and while he loves his father, he feels left behind at times by him, at least he did under Imperial Japan. However, Japan now tries to give him the love he needs, and tries to build him up. Karafuto becomes inspired by Taiwan’s journey, and tries to discover himself as well.

---

Thousand Weeks

(Explanation to come later)

• Ambiguous Innocence: The Reichskommissariats are Germany’s “sons”, and all they know is Nazi ideology. They’re ultimate displays of Teens Are Monsters and happily torture the Slavs under them, wishing nothing but to further the “Aryan Race”. There is also Gotenland, the youngest of Germany’s children, who was also raised knowing nothing but Nazi ideology; one can’t help but feel slightly sorry for him as he’s forced to fight for his life, and as Russia and Ukraine implicitly torture him as Gotenland cries for his father.
• An Arm and a Leg: To symbolize him being put under control so he can’t start a war again, Germany ultimately gets his legs cut off after the war and is stuck in a wheelchair forever.
• Back from the Dead: Switzerland at the end.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Father Korea still dies in battle in this AU in 1945, and Yong still struggles to get democracy, but there’s a major difference from OTL; the twins are still together, and they represent Korea as a duo. Yong fights alongside Hyun to earn his democracy, and they get it in the 60s, earlier than OTL, and prosper together. Their one-shot ends with a scene of them together watching the Liberation Day fireworks, holding hands and reminiscing about how they got here because of each other, vowing to stay together forever. (Pending on the ending)
  • Arguably, the Slavs and Baltics get this; while thousands died, they still get their freedom from Nazi Germany after years of not giving up resisting. The end of the war has them side-by-side before they go their separate ways, and Poland and Russia embrace, something that would be impossible OTL, and they stay friends for the rest of the story. The East Slavs also all get along well, and as they fight alongside each other Russia and Ukraine fight as siblings with frightening synergy.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Switzerland, as Germany holds him at gunpoint about to execute him, says this. He’s right.
  Switzerland: Mark my words. You’ll never win. You might think you’re tough now. But one day, this’ll all come crashing down on you-
• Irony: As Yong expresses his doubts as to whether democracy is worth the fight in “The Korean Tigers”, Hyun gives him a pep-talk, saying that democracy and freedom are worth fighting for, and that like Japan, their current government are their oppressors. This is coming from the boy who is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in OTL, the least democratic country in the world. The whole one-shot is basically happy irony, showing the twins growing prosperous together side-by-side.
• Rape as Drama: Implied. Belarus comes back to the Lithuania’s house, absolutely silent, unable to form words. The other two happen to be visiting. Lithuania asks what happened. Belarus simply stares at him, her expression frozen in horror, before bursting into tears. Latvia immediately realizes what is wrong and comforts her, then the other two reach the horrifying realization, and are utterly disgusted.
• Slasher Smile: Russia and Ukraine when they corner Gotenland, as they realize they can take revenge on Germany’s dear favorite son. One can’t help but feel sorry for the kid, even if he was a loyal Nazi, as he screams and cries for his father.

1983 Doomsday

An AU based on 1983: Doomsday, a-la 1983: Doomsday Stories, but with a wider focus.

On September 26, 1983, there was a false alarm in the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow which reported that four missiles were heading toward the USSR from America. In Real Life, the officer on duty was Colonel Stanislav Petrov, who realised that it didn't make any sense for the US to attack with only four missiles and logged it as a technical error, which it in fact was, rather than reporting it to his superiors. (Which, by protocol, was what he should have done - and they would likely have had a more belligerent response.) Because of his sound judgment, nuclear war was averted and countless lives saved.

In the 1983: Doomsday timeline, Colonel Petrov was sent to another installation before September 26th, 1983. The officer now on duty on September 26th considers the alert to be accurate and immediately contacts his superiors. Within minutes, the leaders decide to launch the whole Soviet nuclear arsenal. Logically, the Americans react by launching as well. By the time the first alerted missile is proven to be a false alarm, it's too late. Thousands of nuclear warheads subsequently detonate over targets worldwide. The People's Republic of China was attacked by Soviet nuclear missiles as well, and part of their arsenal is launched in response at the USSR.

The results of this total nuclear exchange are close to the forecasts of almost complete worldwide destruction and the "nuclear holocaust" as predicted by many scientists of this time. This results in as many as two billion people killed initially, and another two billion in the subsequent environmental disaster.

With the world largely devastated and most of the northern and parts of the southern hemisphere in ruins, the estimated 800 million survivors desperately try to keep together what is left of human society. Almost three decades later, the world is still only starting to recover.

The fic series explores what would happen in this post-apocalyptical world from the eyes of nations, focusing mostly on ones from pre-doomsday but sometimes featuring perspectives from the numerous new "Children of Doomsday".(Will get its own page if I come up with enough stuff.)

• Amusement Park of Doom: A particularly depressing example. In “Disneyland”, it’s 1994, a year after the first Japan chapter “Ya Ya”, and Japan goes exploring through an abandoned Tokyo Disneyland. As he goes through it, he has flashbacks of going there opening day, mere 5 months before the bombs fell, about how much fun he had and how grand it looked, and is reminded of America at every corner. He progressively becomes more and more miserable, until he can’t go any further, shaking and on the verge of tears, wondering why he’s even doing this to himself.
• Back from the Dead: Happens to several characters.
  • Italy. Sicily believes in him enough that she and Mezzogiorno dedicate years to bringing him back. And in 1991, they succeed. Italy, after coming back, is shocked and ugly cries from the fact that Sicily and Mezzogiorno believed in him enough to go through so much to bring him back. Hugs and tears are exchanged. (Pendimg)
• Blood Knight: From what little information we have about him, Spokane.
• Body Horror: In one fic, a doctor offers to give China a check-up and to change his bandages. He discovers his upper body is severely burned with ugly scars knotting all over, some still raw, and that he also burned half of his face almost completely and lost his eye, making the doctor question how China is still alive.
• Broad Strokes: Due to the nature of the original work as a bunch of Wikis, some things are added. Some artistic license is taken with the things that already exist though:
  • Estonia uses his tricolor, even after joining the Nordics, saying that too many people died for it.
  • Romania still calls himself Romania, and Bulgaria still calls himself Bulgaria, instead of Transylvania and Rhodope respectively.
  • San Marino joining the Italian Peninsula Alliance appears to have been decanonized, as he doesn’t appear with them.
• Coming of Age Story: Seborga’s arc deals with him dealing with being a real nation and growing up, albeit under the tutelage of Monaco. He finally gets his wish and becomes a real nation, and is understandably anxious about it initially.
  • Macedonia becomes an adult in the Balkan chapters, and his arc follows him growing into his own as well.
  Serbia, As Macedonia holds him at gunpoint: Shit. You’ve really grown up, Macedonia.
• Deader than Dead: While other countries have possibility of revival, the Netherlands, to Luxembourg's dismay, died a slow, painful death sinking into a radioactive swamp killing him 100% for sure, forever.
  • All the surviving German states have according to the official wiki no willingness to revive Germany (though this is never stated in this series), so Germany is also likely this as well.
• Dead Guy Junior:
  • East Germany names himself after Prussia, once again swearing loyalty to a Prussian king.
  • The new America not only looks like a young America, but is named Alfred as well.
• Disabled Badass: Several characters had legs (and other parts of their body) burned and walk with a limp from the nukes, but are able to still shoot a gun and participate in battle due to National Resolve (though in the case of the Koreas Hyun becomes the primary one in the military because Yong is more injured than him).
• Enfant Terrible: This being Alt-talia...
  • Spokane has the appearance of a young teen, but he's ferocious and terrifying, committing war crimes in Utah. Utah gives him no mercy by shooting him in the heart.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: Common, with various nations and states learning that basically most of who they've known are dead, though eventually they find out that others they know are still alive.
  • Wyoming finds this out but sets out reviving the states around her and America... Well sort of for the latter.
  • Palau (later Belau) panics upon finding that America is dead; not just because she lost a friend, but because her economy was reliant on him, and panics even more upon realizing that most of her other fellow nations are dead. As she learns the truth, however, she forms very mixed feelings on the successor government American Provisional Government; on one hand she can't live without them, on the other much like Japan she resents them for the nukes.
  • Japan almost goes insane after decades of believing he's the only nation alive. Siberia is the first to gain contact with him. He... Doesn't take it well.
  • Luxembourg sets out to the Netherlands in 1990 to see if he survived, having already seen that Belgium was dead. To his utter horror, what he discovers is nothing but an irradiated swamp.
  • Taiwan also believes herself to be the only living nation left, but in 1993 is overjoyed to visit the Philippines and discover that civilization, and the Philippines herself, were still alive.
  • Among others.
• Eye Scream: China has half his face bandaged. Along with the permanent burns all over his back and his almost unusable right leg, a scene where a doctor changes his bandages reveals he’s lost his eye.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Suriname and Guyana become best friends as they fight alongside each other, and come to believe that in this new cruel world they are better off working together. They form the Guyana Cooperative together, and raise the new nation together, basically forming the country as a trio, and the duo call each other “Brother”, basically considering themselves such.
• Hot-Blooded: Lakota. While already so in vanilla Alt-talia, here it’s given more time to shine.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: China is still alive; he is first seen near the Korean border, thin and haggard, dressed in rags, as the twins on patrol, in shock to see that he is alive and at his condition, explain to him that they're full and try to keep him out. Yong shows deep pity for him, but he still refuses to let him and the other refugees in; China begs the twins for shelter and grabs Yong's arm, causing him pain and promptly getting shoved off by a protective Hyun, who also threatens him with violence. China then sadly slinks away (or in the continuation alternate fic "China's Outsourcing", Yong convinces Hyun to let him in and he essentially becomes their servant). Now lacking a country, he wanders his lands as a refugee, waiting for his next leader. It especially hurts that he was just starting to claw himself out of years of economic failure. Though eventually, he comes to not hate the wandering life, even leaving safe Taiwanese territory to go help and inform his people of the safe haven. Eventually, he gets a reputation as a helpful man who gives refugees his food.
  China: I have no country.
  Hyun-Soo: ...What?
  China: It’s gone.
  Hyun-Soo: ...How are you still alive?
  China: The Mandate of Heaven is a strong thing. You should know.
• Jerkass Ball:
  • Lakotah comes across as just wanting to protect her people in the normal timeline. Here she goes on a power trip and says that whites don't deserve rights for what they've done to her people. Contrast this with Navajo, who gives her minorities rights and autonomy, cooperates with Utah, and prospers.
  • The Korea twins also come across as massive dicks to China and refugees, especially Hyun; Yong at least questions his decisions. The author has expressed her utter disappointment with them (especially as hearing the Koreas unite on This Very Wiki was one of the things that interested her in the timeline in the first place), and they come across as callous at best (notably, Hyun participates in a death march of refugees; Yong is shocked, and Hyun, while shaken, says that it had to be done. When Yong asks if they couldn't at least feed the refugees, Hyun chillingly rephrases the official mantra and says "We cannot feed ourselves. How can we feed China?". Though it is shown that he did briefly mentally question his orders. Hyun is shown in another chapter shooting at Chinese-manned refugee boats; he once again mentally repeats the mantra "If China can't feed China, Korea cannot feed China"). While N. Korea was known to have a tendency for... Extreme measures due to his rather childish personality, he's been established as generous to those genuinely in need like in the 90s famine scene where he sings a starving child to sleep. Though this may just apply to his own people, and that he was exposed more to the refugees and the sheer deluge of them had tested his patience enough; there's also a strong element of protectiveness regarding his family/Yong (In the above scene where he shoots at Chinese boats, he thinks "He was finally back together with Yong, and he would not let some foreign mauraders endanger their harmony").
• Just Friends: Despite their rough history, Navajo/Dinétah and (Male) Utah/Deseret, after fighting Spokane together, find that they are better off cooperating with each other and form an Odd Friendship. They sometimes have their conflict, like Deseret being Innocently Insensitive about Dinétah's culture or trying to convert her, but they stick with each other ever since, only really talking with each other for over a decade. Dinétah even makes her debut to the wider world, meeting the Municipal States of the Pacific, with Deseret by her side. The author has joked "I ship it", but it's crossed out, making it clear it's a joke. ...However, their leaders do discuss being united in 2009, and the two nations separately discuss it later on the balcony of Dinétah's house watching the sunset, wondering if it would be a marriage or not. They both believe that a marriage would be incompatible between them due to their different cultures (Deseret being obviously Mormon and still seeing Dinétah as a heathen, even if they are friends), and agree if they unite, it would be as friends. But when Dinétah asks if, without such cultural barriers, he would be willing to marry her, Deseret goes silent, leaving their feelings for each other ambiguous.
• Libation for the Dead: When Azores and Madeira, among with the rest of their search party, lay their eyes upon on the destroyed Lisbon with no Portugal in sight, after the situation truly sinks in, Madeira pours a bottle of wine on the ground to her dead father as Azores says a prayer.
• Literal Split Personality:
  • Poland gets split again, though neither knows this initially. For all West Poland knows, he's Feliks, saw bombs blow up, and suddenly found himself in Poznań with pain all over his body, while East Poland found himself in Białystok. They meet up offscreen and know of each other's existence in 1991.
  • Russia also gets split into two, Socialist Siberia (where he gains more Eurasian features), and the Russian Confederation. The former wants to unite with the latter, the latter just has grown disillusioned with everything and wants to be left alone, becoming aware of the futility of his past centuries of struggle.
• Past-Life Memories: America starts "regaining" memories from the first America as time goes on.
• Platonic Life-Partners:
  • What (male)Utah and Navajo are, as far as we know. The duo has shown to be one of the author’s favorites due to their sweet friendship.
  • Also, while an unequal relationship, Monaco and Seborga, after Seborga becomes older. Seborga actually does attempt to flirt with her, but she points out that they may or may not be ethnically related, and he lets up.
  • Tahiti/French Polynesia and New Caledonia form the Republic of the French Southern Territories; they were united, but due to this purely being in the interests of the French community they are not in love, but see each other as friends.
• Posthumous Character: A lot of major characters. The fic's body count includes America, the Netherlands(especially him), Belgium, England, Hungary, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Portugal, France, and Moldova, along with several US states such as Washington and New York, though at least some of these have hope for revival. One, Italy, does get revived.
• The Prankster: Implied for Lakota. In one chapter, Lakota makes America fall into a pitfall and bursts into hollering laughter. Wyoming shouts “LAKOTA! Not this shit again!”, indicating this is common.
• Promoted to Parent: America calls Wyoming "Mom". Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, also all younger than America before, also help raise him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Unlike other nations who are more callous, Switzerland sobs as Austria comforts him after he returns from patrol, where he threatened refugees away with violence.
• Sibling Team: Several:
  • Wyoming and the rest of the states making up the new United States.
  • The Dakotas, making up a duo to represent one state. Apparently, they have reached a stage of half-mortality; if one were to die, the other would become the sole successor.
  • The Koreas unite to form a twin country, with both as the legitimate representative, much like the Dakotas, and much like the Dakotas, they are both half-mortal; one can die if the other survives. However, they vow to stay together no matter what.
  • The Scandinavians work together to get through the post-apocalyptic landscape.
  • The Alpine Confederation, if one considers them siblings.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Japan does not meet America's successor, but absolutely resents him because America failed to protect him.
  He said he would protect him! He said he would! But instead he brings nuclear ruin on him again! He was an utter fool for trusting the same nation who had bombed him with those dreadful weapons decades before. A fool!
• Tell Me About My Father: Sopron asks Austria about his "mother", Hungary. Austria is honest and says that they didn't love each other, but that he still misses her as a fellow nation.
• Uncertain Doom: Hungary has probably been killed for sure, though Partium, one of the Children of Doomsday (AKA Ilona) looks a lot like her (pending). America gets "revived" by Wyoming, but while he looks like Alfred and is named Alfred, unlike the states who straight-up are ressurected he comes back as a toddler and has no memories, making whether he is actually America ambiguous, and the author dubs him "Alfred Jr.". He does eventually start "regaining" memories however, making it even more ambiguous. Whether these two are genuine reincarnations or they are dead for good is left completely up to interpretation.
• Unfortunate Name: Colorado snorts when Manitoba tells the Americans that his new name is Assinoba. Assinoba is not amused.

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Just for fun: Fandom/YMMV predictions

Just a place to think of what might happen if this had a fandom. This is purely for fun where I joke around with what I've observed fandoms do. It's not pathetic I swear.

• Base-Breaking Character: While many characters tend to be at least a bit divisive as to likability due to the fact that they tend to be horrible people, Hungary may be one of the few nation characters who is deemed too much of a Jerkass to have any redeeming quality by a significant amount of people, and for these fans while the humans being gunned down did attract sympathy, her being run over by a tank in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was more a karmic moment than anything; common Kick the Dog moments used against her are the fact that despite fighting for self-determination within the Hapsburg Empire she proceeded to be even more oppressive and overbearing than Austria, the fact she is still sour about Trianon for breaking up her empire and giving Slovakia and the minorities in her territory freedom from her, how she treats Slovakia in general despite the torment she put him through, her modern-day racism, and most of all her complacency and even joy in killing Jews in WWII. The author herself has admitted to it being difficult to make her likable considering what she does, and remember this is a series in which a disturbing amount of characters have engaged in war crimes in the past. There’s also the fact that in modern day at least she’s a complaining jerk. Especially not helping is her Legacy of the Weltkrieg counterpart, who completely drops all pretense of being likable and is probably the least likable character alongside Romania, and maybe Serbia by extension, so much so that some playthroughs of the game by readers of the fic have had them dicking around with Hungary just to give her some kind of karmic justice. However, even then she has fans who like her friendship with Poland or the other friendships she actually has, like her in Culture Clash in which her culture is shown without her ugly history, cite her pre-Compromise behavior, think that she can still redeem herself eventually, and point out how narcissism is a massive problem in much of her peers as well, not just her. Especially cited is the moment where she helps him and his military escape and shelters his refugees, despite being on the other side of the war and it potentially meaning dire consequences for her, with many of her fans saying that this shows she at least protects people she genuinely cares about, something that is debatable for mostly everyone else. But even with her well-received friendship with Poland, for some his association with her taints their view of him as well, expressing frustration at Poland for apparently being willingly oblivious to how terrible his best friend is, even going so far as to blame Poland’s modern less than pleasant behavior on her despite evidence to the contrary, and ignoring the genuinely reprehensible things Poland himself has done under the influence of extreme nationalism. ...However, what most will agree on is that her Legacy of the Weltkrieg counterpart is objectively a Jerkass who should suffer.
  • Slightly less controversial but still divisive is Turkey. On one hand, many like his Boisterous Bruiser personality barely changed from canon, as well as his penchant to make friends on the battlefield, playing a very important role in Australia's character arc and forming a friendship with South Korea that is widely considered adorable, as well as his backstory as the runt of the litter who won despite the odds. Before the 19th century, he's also one of the few who didn't despise David's guts, and the possible start of better relations between him and Greece in the 1999 Earthquake diplomacy entry has been seen as genuinely heartwarming. On the other hand, while most Imperial powers give off the impression that they're reluctant about acknowledging the full extent of their sins as they don't want to think about how they're fully capable of doing things so horrible, the extremely ugly, unpleasant side of Turkey's personality comes out around Greece (before 1999), Assyria, and especially the Kurdistans and ESPECIALLY Armenia. And it is indeed extremely ugly and jarring considering how jovial he is usually. Anyone who has seen a Turkish nationalist talk about the infamous Armenian Genocide knows the type of reasoning he uses, which to many can make him hard to like, and think that he's a Karma Houdini even in a universe where that happens often. Like Poland above regarding his friendship with Hungary, some also have their view of South Korea tainted by their friendship, as South Korea of all people should be well aware of how someone refusing to acknowledge crimes against one's people feels, and that at best he's being willingly oblivious.
  • Serbia. Some find him hilarious, what with his Small Name, Big Ego and dramatic nature, plus his genuinely sweet relationship with his cousin Russia, and in Bons Baisers De Russie his rather comical crush on Fem!France. On the other hand, even in a cast of despicable characters, since the collapse of Yugoslavia he manages to come across as borderline if not actually evil, as even in modern day he refuses to acknowledge the full horror of what he’s done and continues to enable Srpska. The author has admitted that he invokes complicated feelings in her as well, saying at times she wants to punch him in the face but writing him is so interesting.
• Cargo Ship: Tends to be a bit more common than usual in gag portrayals due to the series being inherently inhospitable to shipping and a need for levity, as well as the author’s numerous jabs at shipping in fandoms:
  • Due to a silly piece of official art released as a one-off gag, America x Marilyn Monroe bodypillow. But let’s face it, if bodypillow versions of pin-up models existed in the 40s and 50s, he probably would have bought one. It also doesn’t help that in the author’s supposedly unrelated Pixiv art it’s a bit of a Running Gag.
  • Some comedic depictions straight up give Venice, David/Israel, China, or the Netherlands a Money Fetish. Occasionally England or Scotland as well.
  • Italy x food. Even in the series itself he states that he has a hard time choosing if he loves food or women more.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Can become the case even unintentionally due to the nature of the series, and even the author has admitted to bias. While almost everyone is an awful person to some extent, the sins of some can be forgotten due to being overshadowed, their bad deeds not being given much spotlight, Archive Panic, or just Fan Dumb.
  • Italy is the least evil of the Axis Trio, and his actions until he joins the Allies of WWII are heavily motivated by a want to be respected and to live up to his family’s expectations (that they’re very vocal about him not fulfilling) and his grandfather’s extremely lofty legacy, with a bad case of Can't Catch Up. He’s a massive klutz, which only highlights his pitifulness, gets denied land he was promised (or at least so he though), and in WWII Germany treats him as a failure no matter what he does while his boss continues to throw him at reckless missions. He also shows mercy to Jews, which got him tons of respect, as did his The Dog Bites Back moments at Germany and Mussolini. As a result of this people can tend to forget or give him a pass for the fact that he was still an Imperial power who initially showed little remorse for war crimes in Ethiopia (and in fact gloats about it), Libya, and even Spain, or in the case of Slovenia, went along with attempting on his life; I.e. straight-up genocide.
  • Belgium gets it at times too. Much like Belarus, she has very low levels of self-confidence, and is self-depreciating to the point many kind of have to feel sorry for her, on top of becoming an invasion route twice and becoming absolutely brutalized both times, but also being the quickest to forgive Germany after WWII despite it all. She’s also not super eager about annexing the Congo Free State from her cruel king, unlike everyone else who is gobbling Africa up like fresh pie. ...But people can tend to forget that unlike Belarus, she has some skeletons in the closet too; namely, she was hardly a nice mistress to Rwanda, Burundi, and DRC either, not being the exception to the general pattern of colonizers treating their African colonies as if they were 5, especially towards the Congo, with her "mother knows best" attitude (despite expecting a high resource output meaning he had to subject himself to fragile mines for tens of hours at the physical age of 12 or so), and she was complacent in the very shady actions her government undertook in these colonies after decolonization.
  • In regards to the Kaiserreich AU, quite a few sympathize a lot with the Entente pretty much entirely due to Canada, with his idealism, emphasized boyishness, the way his relationship with Quebec is affected, his self-doubt, and his want to reunite with his father and to bring displaced Brits back home despite his somewhat strained, complicated relationship with him comes across as extremely pure and genuine to many. Or at least, Canada tends to be most well-liked faction leader. However, such people may tend to forget that he’s still very much a colonialist, demonstrated with most notably with the poor treatment Dominion India is subject to, and to an extent Quebec, Syndicalist supporters also often arguing that it's extremely debatable if his father and uncles even want to be rescued, and that most former members of the empire definitely don’t be want to come back, so that he's just forcing the world to conform to his Wide-Eyed Idealist views like America in main Alt-canon, blindly wanting the world to return to how it used to be. Not to mention his alliance with Republican France and South Africa, who both are countries with apartheid. Granted, it’s very much possible for the player to play a Paragon Canada run and fix (most) of these, so these fans either use that to handwave them or still find him most likable due to the aforementioned reasons, or even find his very simple goals relatable, even if not necessarily "good".
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Due to the massive cast, everyone has a favorite (with a lot of people liking their home country). But notable ones are:
  • Poland. In spades. His new Large Ham, Boisterous Bruiser personality in the Commonwealth era (and not being racist), as well as his at times awesome, at times unwarranted ego, his sheer will of iron even by nation standards, and coming across as a comedic Butt-Monkey in modern day has also made the author really like him a lot, and as such he appears disproportionately in official art and other material.
  • Belarus by virtue of being a not terrible person. She’s one of the few characters who doesn’t go mad on nationalism, and despite being a nation she’s also a bit like a civilian character, just trying to survive. In the Crapsack World that is Alt-talia, she’s basically a saint just by virtue of being a normal woman who has gone through hard times and wants to live peacefully. It helps she's a massive Woobie who tends to get the brunt of bad things happening in the general region and in alternate history scenarios. And despite her chronic depression and alcoholism, unlike her siblings she's very polite, neat, and responsible. This, combined with the post 2020 fics showing her going through a relatively simple arc of finding her inner strength and finally standing up for herself against her boss, gets her a lot of sympathy from the small fanbase and she is in fact probably one of the few fans almost universally like or are at least neutral on, a great contrast to the Base-Breaking Character she was in canon.
  • Taiwan may be the most prominent character behind Germany who isn't an awful person, and in fact tries to be wholesome and be the better person in any situation (except when it comes to South Korea, but her salty attitude towards him is way more harmless than other regional rivalries, and is usually Played for Laughs), which has also served to make her well-liked (though some dislike her easily forgiving Japan despite knowing very well what he did), though the shipping part of the fandom, while small, also likes her for this reason (it being somewhat popular to ship her with South Korea or Japan).
  • Iceland to a somewhat lesser extent also due to how detached from the main cast he seemingly is in tone, at least in modern day; he barely does anything that would push the human Moral Event Horizon, is oblivious to formalities, is a carefree daredevil, genuinely a nice guy who is exceptionally curious and he gets treated in a way more moe way befitting of canon often, causing the author to joke about how that if Alt-talia needed a mascot character it would probably be him.
  • The Korea Twins; both because of their complex relationship, as well as their individual character. South Korea for being a total badass who can kill a Vietcong soldier with a single chop to the head and outdrink Russia despite his pretty boy looks, but also the sense that he’s a young man still coming to terms with his past trauma, constantly stressed, seeking closure, being perfectionistic to self-destructive levels, and finding his place in the world (not to mention he actually tries to work with Vietnam over what his soldiers did in the war, as he didn’t want to be like Japan), leading many to relate to him. The author has talked about how his arc feels strangely human, sometimes coming across more like a really flawed human being trying to get by in a harsh world than a nation. And North Korea is fascinating as both an exercise in psychological horror and dark comedy, an abused child being manipulated and browbeaten to live a lie. He ironically is one of the more sympathetic Alt-talia characters, as his sole goal is to get his brother back, even though the cost for that may be disasterous. The author has referred to him as the Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader to the Kim family's collective Palpatine, both figurative and literal scars being kept raw to fuel his anger and volatile behavior to keep them in power.
  • Palau, one of the Pacific islands to get a bit more attention than others, even if that still isn’t very often, has also been well-received for her sweet, jolly personality, to an extent her relationship with America, and her loyalty to Taiwan, despite attempts to hurt her economy because of it from China, making her come across as very innocent and just plain nice. The latter, as well as three other Pacific nations, sticking with Taiwan has especially been perceived as a Heartwarming Moment of kindness in a world of terrible people. Being a rare female character helps.
  • The Great Khanate/Mongol Empire, with her dedication to her villainous, brutal persona yet probably being one of the most loving mothers (albeit, mothers in general are extremely rare) in Alt-talia. Also being the most powerful female character in the series probably helps too.
  • Similarly, Venice/Veneto/Veneziano (not to be confused with normal Italy) has quite a few fans who Love to Hate him due to how much of a comical Insufferable Genius of a greedy Jerkass he was in his peak before England or anyone else did it, while also being one of the few to have something close to a democracy for a long while. There’s a reason why he’s listed as a possible candidate for the Demon of Greed in the extras for EC x AT.
  • Another Love to Hate example in Zulu, who starts conquering and steamrolling all the people around him basically because he felt like it, in a region where wars were basically a joke where few died. And he’s completely proud of it. He’s basically Africa’s Great Khanate. Also because he completely averts the Noble Savage myth, showing how Africans can also be conquers, and being treated like any other conqueror or empire. (Pending)
  • The Empire of Kush due to her being A. A rare female character and of course a total badass, B. Bringing attention to a black civilization and showing her as they Ancient Egypts’ equal and rival, and C. Her rivalry and strange bond with the Ancient Egypts.
• Ho Yay: Even the author has acknowledged that Father Korea’s attachment to China, especially during the Ming era, is very… Close, even borderline homoerotic.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Name: Well less ships, and more duos in general, the author has coined a few in addition to using some pre-existing names to describe units of characters much like the main fandom, appending “Shipping” at the end much like what happens in the Pokémon fanbase in cases of actual ships. The names are based off of what connects the two (or three), and fans have gone to coin their own names for others. The ones suggested by the author are often just geographic descriptors or are otherwise pretty obvious, but can be more unique. They include:
  • Young Euro (Germany and Italy; is also one of the few with a Japanese name, 年少組, or “Nennshou-gumi”)
  • GoulashPierogi/FriendshipDay (Poland and Hungary)
  • Ballet Duo (Russia and France)
  • Clockwork/CrumpetFondue (England and Switzerland. The former is a direct import from the Japanese fandom, however)
  • WindsorTreaty (England and Portugal)
  • ActOfUnion (England and Scotland)
  • MapleTulip (Canada and the Netherlands)
  • KimchiKebab (Turkey and South Korea)
  • Gallipoli (Turkey and Australia)
  • Auld Duo (France and Scotland)
  • ChachaMead (Georgia (country) and Lithuania)
  • MilkTea (Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong)
  • Emblem Duo/紋章組 (Japan and Italy, alluding to Hetalia Emblem, suggested specifically as an alternative to “Axis Flower Duo”)
  • GDL (Lithuania and Belarus)
  • ChineseChampuru (China and Ryukyu/Okinawa. In Japanese: 中華チャンプル)
  • Syndicalist Duo (Commune France and Piedmont (Kaiserreich AU exclusive, though these two are rarely paired elsewhere anyway))
  • Rainbow Honey (Utah and Navajo (1983 AU exclusive))
  • Independence Trio (Shadow, Hera, and Persephone, Firefly AU)
  • The extremely small minority who ship incest among the already small minority who ship tend to stick with the pre-existing pattern of “(Ethnicity/Language family)cest” or “(Geographic trait)cest” if viable (e.g. “Swedecest” for Sweden x Åland, “Baltcest” for Lithuania x Latvia). The author has refused to dignify these, however.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • The author at times explores potential romances using Nyotalia versions (which are non canon but may as well be), which has opened up a lot of shippers to ship even within cultural boundaries. ...However, the most often Nyotalia'd is probably France, with Bons Baisers De Russie, its spin-off “Like A Man Would A Woman”, and The Muzzle of Ludwig respectively giving FraRus, FraSerb, and FraGer a small boost in popularity. And those aren’t the only ones; France in general has been described as a magnet for interesting relations.
  • On both a shipping as well as especially a platonic level, Poland. Not only does he have have his Union-Brotherhood with Lithuania, but he has had interesting and well-received friendships or other relationships with Israel, Ukraine, Hungary, Lipka, to an extent Belarus, virtually every western great power that has been a great power except for Spain and Portugal, and even, in the Napoleon arc, Haiti. Something which really helps his already respectable popularity.
• Les Yay: Vietnam’s protectiveness and attachment to Lao. Vietnam says it’s because women have to support each other in this world of men.
• Memetic Badass: Poland. Especially Commonwealth!Poland. Though his modern character manages to be both this and Memetic Loser.
  • Converging with prior history memes, Mongol Empire/The Great Khanate.
  • Finland, also influenced by previous history memes though also by the character himself. In the series itself he goes outside in freezing weather in a slightly long-sleeved shirt and is only prompted to bundle up when told to, was a silent and deadly soldier as a prepubescent child, and there’s the entire Winter War.
  • Prussia the Soldier Dad, who was hatched from a cannonball and is an army with a country, not a country with an army. It helps that he’s no longer a Butt-Monkey and does indeed have a reputation like this in-universe; the “hatched from a cannonball” and “army with a country” quotes are actual quotes from real life, written in the series.
  • China, due to his now much more masculine, dominant, ruthless personality with heavily flavors of Manipulative Bastard and Insufferable Genius. Also that time he managed to scare Russia.
• Memetic Mutation: Those that exist just tend to overlap with pre-existing history memes, or in the case of crossover have seeped in from the properties it has crossed over with (most notably Kaiserreich), though not all:
  • Austria being a Creepy Uncle, not helped by the fact that the author has also joked about this before. ^Explanationfrom Austria’s nationalism-addled obsession with Germany in the interwar period of the 20th century, with roots before it, not helped by Germany being so young when they first meet and Austria’s misery that he didn’t get to father him, or that he uses even more affectionate language than usual... nor the fact that, as pointed out in other entries of the series, his royal house was infamous for inbreeding even by royal standards. While Austria is hardly even the most obsessive, all those factors combined... and voila, creepy uncle. While Austria disassociates himself from the German family after WWII, some will never let him live it down.
    • “Fick mein ass, dearest nephew!”/”Seize my vital regions, dearest nephew!”^ExplanationA joke quote by an unknown fan (former) and a play on the infamous quote from the canon series where Austria says Prussia occupied his vital regions (latter) which have been associated with the meme.
  • Or just the creepiness of extreme levels of Familial Nationalism in general has led to the Fan Nickname “Incest Disease”.
    • Or quoting canon!Belarus with such characters.
  • Pretty much all of the In the Name of the Moon speeches Commonwealth!Poland makes. Or Alt-Poland's manliness in general.
  • “Of course, they blamed it on the Jews. Because when in doubt, f*ck the Jews, and f*ck you, David.” ^ExplanationA Running Gag in the author’s notes at the end of every chapter some conspiracy is pinned on the Jews/David or a pogrom happens. Which is often. The quote, when shortened to “Because when in doubt, fuck the Jews.”, can also be used to mock anti-Semitic logic and conspiracies in general.
  • "Oh, and Belarus gets kicked to the curb[[/labelnote]]While in the grand scheme of things Belarus probably isn't the nation who has suffered the most, but because of how relatively not terrible she is as a person in this canon she tends to elicit a lot more sympathy in OTL (our time line) based stories, especially in the WWII event arc where she loses a quarter of her population. But Alternate History AU stories where she has any kind of appearance beyond a cameo, with the exception of maybe the Kaiserreich AU (where her situation still kind of sucks but could be a lot worse), perhaps because of this where she doesn't put up as much of a vicious fight as her siblings, have a tendency of subjecting her to really tragic to outright Nightmare Fuel fates; from being one of the first to die and her resignation at the fact (Firefly AU), to standing up to Nazi Germany directly, only to be determined to be the perfect candidate to be made an example of, and get run out of her own cities, literally beaten and worked into submission and the edge of death, is heavily implied to be raped("Thousand Week Reich"), to being left a barely alive Hollow Shell in the care of a now madly relgious Russia (who just so happened to have just started a Gillead-esque captive breeding program...) ("World War Z"). Though in 1983 she survives unlike her siblings, and manages to do pretty well for herself and her new children.
  • “EVERYONE IS AWFUL.” ^explanationAnother quote from the author, a joke at the expense at how pretty much everyone in the series is some shade of terrible person. Can also be used by fans of certain characters in frustration when the inevitable moment the character character does something reprehensible comes up.
  • Lithuania and Latvia’s directly translated “swears” before the modern age.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: While the few shippers there are are usually more civil due to the more mature tone of the series, the more realistic tone can also mean that people treat it as way more Serious Business (as many ships are highly unlikely due to the cultures of the characters, their relationship, or both, and the nations are emphasized to be very much personifications more than people); not helped by the fact that few of the relationships in the series are healthy.
  • (this is more so if this were an original series probably) Holdover ships from Hetalia can clash a lot with Alt-talia due to the nature of the series, even if such occurrences are usually rare. Conflicts between LietPol and LietBel, or worse, the former and PolUkr, PolHun, and JewPol can get pretty ugly (and Lithuania also has the additional dimension of his friendship with Georgia, plus AusHun has been all but discredited to readers of the series). Not to mention that due to the series going out of its way to depict Values Dissonance there’s people that believe shipping most of those (as well as any other homosexual ship) are erasure or disrespectful.
  • USUK is also highly frowned upon due to the fact they are explicitly son and father, though England now has Scotland among the characters he is shipped with by fans as well (And when one of them is female they're always married).
  • Then there's the occasional spat over how viable GerIta, the mostly canon ship in the main Hetalia series, is anymore. Especially as the author hasn’t been too quiet about her love of sinking the ship.
  • In another example of ships vs. nothing, Taiwan and Palau tend to be popular choices for Japan in the shipping community; however, there are also those who find the idea a bit disturbing considering his original intentions for the girls, especially not helped by how naive Palau was and still is to those intentions.
• Ukefication: (basically assuming this is an original work for the most part at this point. OR even an officially licensed spinoff. Somehow.) While not too common due to the more mature audience, it happens. However, they tend to be especially controversial due to the nations being much more clearly based on their real-world counterparts:
  • The Korea twins, especially South Korea. For South Korea, a meterosexual, nervous, stressed, troubled young adult in a region where almost everyone is thousands of years old, this isn't exactly a huge surprise, and the now way more masculine China (and his closest friends being Turkey, America, and Aussie) probably has something to do with it, as does the fact that he was indeed a cowardly crybaby before the Korean War. For North, who is the same age, while he is very clearly abused and manipulated into his behavior some can take his inherent pitifulness a bit too far. They may be portrayed around China like how some mainstream Hetalia fans portray the Baltic trio around Russia (or South Korea specifically may be portrayed having a traumatic breakdown as soon as Japan so much as yells at him or turning into a soft mess around Turkey) when this is very clearly not the case. Not to mention even South mined coal as a child and has the 6th best military in the world, plus a total will of iron that would give Poland or Russia a run for their money.
  • Even the twins’ father can get this, particularly when paired with China, platonically or romantically. It does not help that he basically gets his validation and pride from China seeing him as second only to himself for a very long time.
  • A bit ironically considering mainstream Hetalia, Germany may get this. In modern day he’s a humble, genuinely Nice Guy in a world where humility is in short supply, apologizing a lot if he scares someone, and is even a bit of a bleeding heart who really wants to atone for his sins; even before his militaristic demeanor was clearly at least partially learned, and he’s shown to be nervous and even a bit childish due to his youth. And as stated under Powerful People Are Subs, according to Word of God he would probably be submissive in a relationship due to his dislike of finding himself in leadership roles near constantly (and then being criticized for taking the lead), growing up as a Child Prodigy, and his lack of chauvinism. However, he’s also very firm when he needs to be, and is definitely not self-loathing to the point of Wangst or being an Extreme Doormat. Also, one of his defining traits is being very blunt, almost to the extent of the Netherlands.
  • David/Israel can get this. Especially when depicted before he became Israel. It probably doesn’t help that he spent the plurality of his time around the now very masculine Poland (as such it can be rather common even in platonic JewPol), and that he couldn’t fight much as well. At worst it can be forgotten that David has always been a bit of a snarky Jerkass, didn’t show too much emotion, and wasn’t constantly stuck to Poland. But even as Israel this can occasionally happen due to his traumatic past even by series standards.
  • Iceland, despite his relative innocence, has still lived thousands of years in hardship and is sort of a Wild Child due to the same isolation. And while more emotional than the other Nordics, he’s still rarely if ever depicted crying, and the Cod Wars show he can also be a real Manipulative Bastard as much as any other nation. But due to him being more of a moe character than usual for the series, this may be forgotten.
  • A Chickification example in Belarus; in Alt-canon, while she’s a wallflower with low levels of self confidence and is nowhere near as aggressive as her canon counterpart, there are some who miss the part about her being a stoic borderline Emotionless Girl, and interpret her as weak despite the fact she fought as a partisan in WWII instead of taking the Nazi occupation lying down or selling herself out to the Nazis like some of her other peers did; even if she is nowhere near as strong-willed or tough as her sister or Hungary or Vietnam or Philippines, she still isn't one to easily cry or cower when her people are being killed. There’s also the fact that in the most modern entries, she is starting to grow more of a spine. There are also those who interpret her as merely Lithuania’s perfect housewife before the partitions, or treat her as always having been a bit of a doormat, completely missing her ego in her childhood as Polotsk and the fact that she can fight, has fought alongside every empire she has been a part of, still got into conflicts with her husband, had a lot of freedom in the marriage, and still joined everyone in the January Uprising.

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