Looks like Norrsken moved fandoms at last. Well, that's a bit disappointing, but for some reason I'm much less upset than I would have been, say, a year ago. Maybe if there is something Nordic-related in the 4th volume, she will make some more art, but I'm not getting my hopes too high, neither for art nor for the volume. To be honest, I've been
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I've been kind of flip-flopping lately... In general my love for Hetalia has been good - and by this I mean the canon and the general idea of it. I decided to do a canon review for roleplay recently and it really reminded me why I love this series. But my love for the fandom has been becoming kind of lukewarm. So much of the writing that turns out is not to my taste, and some of the fans are... well, you know. And I guess it doesn't help that I can't write a sentence as of late.
But it's the same as with the volume: I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic about everything!
One of my friends really enjoys Tiger & Bunny - and from what she's mentioned, it's good. But it doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd be into. :Va Though who knows, if I'm bored enough at some point, I might poke my nose into it and take a look.
Re: reading. I generally avoid reading two books by any author in a row when possible. I find that generally if I read an author's books one after another with nothing in between I tend to feel a bit, hmm, I don't know what the right word would be. Exhausted, maybe. And I tend to notice a lot of repeated or reoccurring things and it starts to feel too repetitive. And this happens even with authors I really like. Better to have it "fresher".
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It's pretty much the same for me. I love the manga dearly and there is so much history yet to cover, but the fandom has slowed down lately and my own writing doesn't satisfy me at all. It's the lack of fresh art that is the main letdown, though, I'm not much of a fanfic-reader. Has the quality dropped overall or it's just 'it's not bad, just not my sort of thing' situation?
Being bored and wanting to take a step back from Hetalia was the main motivation for me actually. :P It's been fun so far even though I can't say I feel really involved.
Good strategy! Not gonna lie, when I'm very hyped about some author I can just pick up book after book without side-effects, especially when they are new for me. It helps to get a better feel of their writing style, tropes they tend to lean on and such. On the other hand, yeah, flaws and small things that just rub the wrong way become way more evident too. I guess it's a good way to learn whether (or how much) I really like the author - if bad things start to outweigh so soon, it's quite telling.
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The fandom slowing down doesn't bother me so much, though you do have a good point about the lack of fresh art. It's disappointing. Though who knows what sort of turn it will take when the new volume really picks up.
With regard to fanfic, I think there are two things going on.
1. There is a large volume of it (I'm primarily talking about the kink meme here) and it always seems that when the overall amount goes up, the harder it is to find anything that's actually good.
2. I'm getting more, eh, particular about what I read. There are things that I would've read in 2009 that I would've enjoyed, but to read the same thing now, or a similar thing with the same sort of characterization... I wouldn't be able to get through it, and I'd backbutton almost immediately. Whenever I go looking for fic it seems I always end up ranting on twitter about "WHY THE HELL CAN'T I FIND A SINGLE DENMARK/NORWAY FIC WITH CHARCTERIZATION THAT DOESN'T SQUICK ME OUT GODDAMINT" it's a slight exaggeration, but... I suspect you know what I mean. :Va
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Hmmm, I see. I'm weird when it comes to fanfiction - like, super picky and laid back about it at the same time. I have a couple of authors that are just spot on to me in terms of DenNor characterization, as for the rest - I just know in advance it probably won't be a perfect fit, so there is little to no disappointment if it turns out underwhelming. There are several things that squick the hell out of me (tsun!Norway, abuse from either side, slapstick), but now they are not as prevalent as before. So, I rarely end up starry-eyed and squeeing after reading something, but mostly it's... okay. Gives some food for thought, at least - different interpretations of characters, foreign headcanons, ideas I can recycle.
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A lot of the stuff I read nowadays is by anonymous, so it's hard to know what I'm going to get until I read it. Often the premise sounds really good, but the execution is really bad.... maybe I'm just really frustrated as of late.
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I'm pretty sure we get a strip or two - first, Denmark and Sweden appear in that strip with Russia and Prussia (although I take it, there will be no interaction between the two), and then there is also Norway with a loudspeaker (?) - he has to belong somewhere. But yeah, so excited! I didn't expect all those small goodies - like Nordic elephant jokes or colored Norway. <3
Haha, true, on kinkmeme I often get more excited for new prompts than for new fills. Well, at least the fandom generates ideas well.
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