Asking for feedback...
So, for my first two weeks or so on nation_ask, I was kind of paranoid that people were going to think kenichi_bokushi and I were being too forward about America and UK being a couple. My paranoia can partially be attributed to the previous America on NA being criticized for OOCness, so I was really concerned about doing a good job at it myself. This is also the first time I've RPed a major canon character [as opposed to an original character or a minor character who I had a lot of freedom to interpretation in portraying]. But I made it almost two months without anyone saying anything, so I figured I didn't have to worry about it. Well, I finally got feedback suggesting that we're pushing US/UK too much, and to be honest... I don't know whether or not I should actually do anything about it. Furthermore, I don't know what I could actually do about it without making America act OOC in my eyes.
In the time I've been RPing America, I've continued to grow more assured in his relationship with UK. I just keep stumbling across more and more evidence in both the Hetalia comics and in articles pertaining to the two nations' real-world interactions, to the point that I honestly can't comprehend them not being a couple, at least from WWII onward. I've also grown more assured that even with all that evidence aside, their personalities are perfect for each other. As Russia-mun can attest, I am very similar to UK in personality. I came to terms with the fact that I'm very tsundere years ago, before I actually knew that there's a word for it [I had just been referring to it as "retarded at relationships"]. The thing about being tsundere that sucks is that you usually don't realize you're doing it at the time, so you end up pushing away people when you have no intention of doing so. So it's reeeeally difficult to get along with people with low self-esteem, because you hurt their feelings without even knowing you're doing it, and kind of suck at reassuring them. So to be in a committed long-term relationship, you need to find someone with high enough self-esteem that they can easily dismiss the things you do that would make other people assume you're annoyed/mad/depressed/etc. And, well... Alfred is the type of person who assumes that everyone always likes him unless they blatantly demonstrate otherwise [and even then, he thinks he'll be able to win them over eventually]. I can't think of any characters who are often paired with UK who would be able to realistically deal with his tsundere-ness like America can [except perhaps France, but there's just too much bad blood between them for that pairing to realistically work out very well in the long term].
True, they bicker and do things that annoy each other and have stupid arguments [which UK-mun and I have been portraying time and time again], but no couple is perfect, and that just makes it more believable to me. They've definitely known each other long enough to know what things are acceptable to make fun of about each other, and what things would genuinely hurt the other's feelings, so it's not like they're really running the risk of getting into serious arguments most of the time.
Then there's the matter of portraying the characters on nation_ask as opposed to in the comics... The comics, for the most part, aren't really focused on the characters' personal lives, they're dealing with them in what could be akin to a professional situation. NA, on the other hand, is constantly having questions asked that deal with very personal matters, like dating and children and even sex. So in that situation, you can only beat around the bush so much before it looks like they're actually ashamed of their relationship and don't have any affection for each other. Even when the question isn't directly related to those things, it still seems to be a more informal situation than, say, war. It also says something that they can let their relationship effect them so much in the comics even when they are in a serious situation [like America going so far as to withdraw troops just because UK didn't give him chocolate for Valentine's Day].
Anyway, I'd really like to hear input on this matter from anyone who has anything to say about it.
In the time I've been RPing America, I've continued to grow more assured in his relationship with UK. I just keep stumbling across more and more evidence in both the Hetalia comics and in articles pertaining to the two nations' real-world interactions, to the point that I honestly can't comprehend them not being a couple, at least from WWII onward. I've also grown more assured that even with all that evidence aside, their personalities are perfect for each other. As Russia-mun can attest, I am very similar to UK in personality. I came to terms with the fact that I'm very tsundere years ago, before I actually knew that there's a word for it [I had just been referring to it as "retarded at relationships"]. The thing about being tsundere that sucks is that you usually don't realize you're doing it at the time, so you end up pushing away people when you have no intention of doing so. So it's reeeeally difficult to get along with people with low self-esteem, because you hurt their feelings without even knowing you're doing it, and kind of suck at reassuring them. So to be in a committed long-term relationship, you need to find someone with high enough self-esteem that they can easily dismiss the things you do that would make other people assume you're annoyed/mad/depressed/etc. And, well... Alfred is the type of person who assumes that everyone always likes him unless they blatantly demonstrate otherwise [and even then, he thinks he'll be able to win them over eventually]. I can't think of any characters who are often paired with UK who would be able to realistically deal with his tsundere-ness like America can [except perhaps France, but there's just too much bad blood between them for that pairing to realistically work out very well in the long term].
True, they bicker and do things that annoy each other and have stupid arguments [which UK-mun and I have been portraying time and time again], but no couple is perfect, and that just makes it more believable to me. They've definitely known each other long enough to know what things are acceptable to make fun of about each other, and what things would genuinely hurt the other's feelings, so it's not like they're really running the risk of getting into serious arguments most of the time.
Then there's the matter of portraying the characters on nation_ask as opposed to in the comics... The comics, for the most part, aren't really focused on the characters' personal lives, they're dealing with them in what could be akin to a professional situation. NA, on the other hand, is constantly having questions asked that deal with very personal matters, like dating and children and even sex. So in that situation, you can only beat around the bush so much before it looks like they're actually ashamed of their relationship and don't have any affection for each other. Even when the question isn't directly related to those things, it still seems to be a more informal situation than, say, war. It also says something that they can let their relationship effect them so much in the comics even when they are in a serious situation [like America going so far as to withdraw troops just because UK didn't give him chocolate for Valentine's Day].
Anyway, I'd really like to hear input on this matter from anyone who has anything to say about it.