×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Daily Cosplay - Hetalia: Axis Powers' Germany and Italy


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Looks more like Prussia than Germany.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:06 pm Reply with quote
Are we the baddies?

SS regalia = NOT GOOD. There's always something dubious about the people who collect this shit.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:19 pm Reply with quote
I sometimes see Schrodinger cosplayers at cons.
He's the catboy from "Hellsing" who wears a Hitler Youth uniform.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
doomydoomdoom



Joined: 08 Mar 2013
Posts: 278
Location: Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:38 pm Reply with quote
HA, I see the image was cropped and the disclaimer added. I'm not really offended by the uniform, though I did do a double take when I saw someone in an SS suit on ANN's front page.

Although come to think of it, doesn't Germany wear a green uniform with an Iron Cross necklace? I've never seen or read Hetalia so I'm just going on what I've seen in promotional images and such.

I do wonder what lengths these people go to to get authentic-looking Nazi costumes. I know they're banned on a lot of retail sites. REAL uniforms have popped up on iOffer. I agree that those who collect such things are "dubious". Nazi memorabilia is like black mass materials to me, I'd be spooked having it in my house. Jeff Hanneman gets a pass from me though I guess. >_>
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:56 pm Reply with quote
I think the Iron Cross gets a pass because it's not wholly related to the Nazis. It goes back a long way (as far as the Napoleonic wars) and even current German forces use a variant of it.

SS regalia is purely Nazi though, so not a good look, even though the uniforms were designed by Hugo Boss.

Friends of mine once went to a military memorabilia show with another friend of theirs, and were horrified to see how much Nazi regalia was both on sale and being worn.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:39 pm Reply with quote
Believe it or not, Nazi chic is popular in Japan.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:18 pm Reply with quote
It's when they wear swastikas that it becomes uncomfortable. Hell, it's bad enough when you see Japanese Tweets with manji in 'em. You don't wanna make 'em feel bad, 'cus they're not trying to offend. But at the same time, they should get with the program, 'cus they might end up inadvertently 'friending' those Stormfront fooks.

Edit: Oh, swastika pin? Dammit. Mad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
championferret



Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 765
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:02 pm Reply with quote
I'm an ex-hetalia fan and used to be in a cosplay group as Italy but it didn't take me long to want to get the hell out of there. I have first hand accounts of people who think the nazi imagery is 'no big deal' and 'really cool-looking!' and even people who have straight-up admitted to cosplaying germany because 'the looks on peoples faces is so funny xD'. Several of these people ran 'nazi rp' blogs and drew 'fanart' of cutesy chibi nazi doctors covered in cutesy chibi blood and such.

One of the many reasons I am an ex-hetalia fan.

(disclaimer I know not all hetalia fans are terrible, that was a mantra I had to repeat to myself constantly when I was still part of that fandom, but it's a lot easier to notice the Terrible when I'm no longer involved)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Ultimatum



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:03 pm Reply with quote
Personally, it bothers me. If things like symbols of the Holocaust aren't taken seriously, and are worn for costumes/fun, etc, it makes me worried that the significance of the Holocaust will be forgotten, and the Jewish people all over the world will be massacred again.

It seems like an overreaction, but talk to pretty much any Jew, and one of their fears will almost certainly be another Holocaust. It doesn't help that antisemitism is rising in Europe and America.

Just because it's "authentic" to the character doesn't mean it's appropriate. Reminds me of the Hetalia cosplayers doing the nazi salute in front of a Holocaust remembrance museum.

Am I blocking freedom of speech and being too radical? I dunno.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
championferret



Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 765
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:15 pm Reply with quote
I guess I should probably add that this kind of costume at a convention, while still eyebrow-raising, isn't as bad as walking around in public.

which is what someone in that hetalia cosplay group I was in did; walked down the street to the store in full nazi regalia and then talked about how 'funny' it was. (and then also expressed offense that someone yelled 'nazi' at her Rolling Eyes )

I think that people need to really think, like really consider exactly why they want to cosplay certain characters with problematic aspects such as this, and then if they're satisfied with their answer that's fine, go ahead (at a con, for God's sake, -at a con-.). Just remember that in making such a choice you have to take responsibility for it and that not everyone will react favourably.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:20 pm Reply with quote
Ultimatum wrote:
Reminds me of the Hetalia cosplayers doing the nazi salute in front of a Holocaust remembrance museum.


Indefensible. This is straight-up hate speech as public display.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime
Ultimatum



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:44 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
Ultimatum wrote:
Reminds me of the Hetalia cosplayers doing the nazi salute in front of a Holocaust remembrance museum.


Indefensible. This is straight-up hate speech as public display.


Just did a little bit of research (which I should have done before just saying what I remembered off the top of my head, sorry) and apparently it was within 10 blocks of the holocaust museum, not right in front of it. But it was on Passover, and it was a crowd of people doing the nazi salute....aaaaand now I'm starting to feel sick.

Listen, kids and adults in the hetalia fandom who might be reading this post because of the hetalia cosplay. Please, please don't wear nazi memorabilia for your costume. If you absolutely feel the need to, do some research. Find out the holocaust's impacts and aftermath, and what effect it still has on the Jewish people today. Find out about the history of the Jewish people, how they were bounced around the world like a f-ing ping pong ball because everyone wanted to kill them or get rid of them. Look at current hate crimes against Jews. If that doesn't change your mind then I really really don't know what to say.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:58 pm Reply with quote
I have been to conventions and seen cosplayers successfully pull of Germany without the Nazi imagery. Of course taste and preference go with responsibility, and isn't cosplay supposed to be a celebration of a specific character? Why on earth would someone want to personify such a hate-filled chapter in German history and celebrate that specific period as a character's identity and impact?

I can't come up with a reason that doesn't sound insensitive and ridiculous. From an observational standpoint, I am also not trying to create a blanket statement for all Hetalia fans either. If you really are a Hetalia cosplayer who feels motivated to do this, please extend the rest of anime fandom the same courtesy. We may or may not agree with your logic religiously or politically, and you may fail socially as well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kosaka



Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 239
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:33 pm Reply with quote
Re the "they are merely accurately depicting a fictional character" possible argument, I question whether the SS cosplayer is a Hetalia fan honestly trying to depict Prussia or Germany from the manga or the anime. I don't remember Prussia or Germany ever drawn wearing an SS uniform in Hetalia. Rightly or wrongly, I think the mangaka's approach in Hetalia is to stay away from direct references to the Nazis, except for Germany once saying he has a "crazy boss". The character Germany during WWII is basically depicted the same as he was during WWI. My guess is that the cosplayer wanted to cosplay as an SS officer, and is trying to use Hetalia as an excuse or a diversion.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
feuerwerke



Joined: 13 Jul 2012
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:59 pm Reply with quote
Ugh. Prussia doesn't even wear a Nazi uniform in the series, why add the SS emblem and the swastika to his uniform? Why? I just. I love the actual nation of Germany so much and tying the Nazi image to something or someone meant to represent the country as a whole (or in this case a nation that existed before Germany that later became a part of Germany) is an insult and an embarrassment. Damn it Hetalia fandom you never stop being gross do you.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group