on Feliciano, and the chibitalia chapter
You know, it's kind of strange that alot of the big fic-writers in this fandom don't really seem to like Feliciano.
Oh, they like to write Italy, Italy the place, but they don't seem to like the character that Hiryumara based on that place as much, because they're always changing his personaility. Have you noticed how many fics there are that have either Mafia!Veniciano (nevermind that the mafia is shown in canon to be Romano's domain, and he doesn't like them very much) or PsychoticFascist!Veniciano (nevermind that the Countries are shown to be fully capable of misunderstanding or detesting their bosses, as seen in the Black Ships strips with America and the Wish on a Star strip with Germany)? And yes, I did once try to write Evil!Veniciano. The fic sucked because Feliciano's personality doesn't bend that way.
And then I've seen one or two fics where Feliciano's cheerfullness is all just a maaaaaask, because apparently a character has to be made ANGSTY if they're going to be in a fic that is a dark, angsty take on canon. Which is rather uncreative, especially looking at canon.
Because Feliciano is already really, really fucked up.
Let's look at main storyline. In chapter 1, Germany is looking for Italy, "the heir of the Roman Empire", and finds...Italy. Feliciano's very nervous, and after begging Germany not to shoot him, starts asking him a ton of questions, poking/hitting him to get his attention, and then begs Germany not to shoot him when he actually GETS Germany's attention. I can understand why anone would be nervous and scared in these cirmunstances, but Italy seems extremely neurotic here. When Germany takes him as a prisoner of war, he complains but doesn't actually try to escape. Then, at the beggining of WW2, he thrusts himself into the war... but the only things he brings are white flags and food. Even when he gets himself into a war, he seems very, very determined to avoid confrontation. I think it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that when Feliciano decides to go into a war, he doesn't actually think about the fact that war involves FIGHTING until he's actually in the war, and then panics because HOLY CRAP PEOPLE FIGHT IN WARS.
Chapters 2 and 3 don't really add much that wasn't already shown in Chapter 1 to Feliciano's characterization. He's incompetent, he's a scaredy-cat, we get it already. Then in chapter 4, Italy has the nightmare about Germany and Japan leaving him behind, and wakes up screaming, running over to Germany's bed to beg to him "DON'T FORGET ME." The next day (after asking France for advice), he writes a note asking if he and Germany "will be friends forever, right?" Interestingly he adresses it to Germany only. Germany then has to make a pinky promise with him for him calm down. Why is Italy so scared of being left behind?
BAM. Chibitalia chapter.
Chibitalia isn't like the other strips about character's past. It's part of main storyline. For a chapter about babies in Midieval and Renaissance Europe to inturrupt a story taking place in WWII, it better be pretty important.
It totally is. More than you could ever imagine
THIS is why Feliciano avoids confrontation. THIS is why he's so scared when Germany starts mustering up good relations with Russia. As a young child, he lived with his grandfather, the Roman Empire, and saw the scars all over his grandfather's back that were caused by Rome's contant battling ways, and he knows that building up to big an empire is what killed his grandfather. He's already lost one important person in his life when the rest of Europe is beating him up, when Austria conquers him and crushes any rebelions he makes against him. He's already lost one person when the Holy Roman Empire, another young nation who practically worships the original Rome, wants to "become the Roman Empire" with Italy, when Italy starts developing feelings for the Holy Roman Empire but has to refuse, becuase becoming an empire means getting hurt, and he doesn't want to get hurt, he doesn't want the Holy Roman Empire to get hurt. He's already lost one person when the Holy Roman Empire has to leave to fight, when Italy gives the Germanic nation his panties as a reminder, when the Holy Roman Empire promises "I'll definately come and see you when the fight is over!...We'll see each other again!"....
...and the Holy Roman Empire has thust himself into a long, long war.
Italy's lost two people he loved now because of battle. Isn't it understandable why he would be terrified? He doesn't angst. He's not an angsty person. But he's got deep abandonment issues, and sometimes things happen that bring them up to the surface...
And when one is a Nation, one can't exactly avoid battle if the boss says to fight.
Ad yet he still smiles! He still manages to be happy!
He's a complex character, and nobody in this fandom gives him (or the author) enough credit for that.