2019 Hetalia Tag Raids

The 2019 Hetalia Tag Raids were a series of conflicts between antis and fans of the webcomic-turned anime and manga series Hetalia in the summer of 2019 that took place on Tumblr and Discord.
== Background ==
For further information about the controversies surrounding Hetalia see: Hetalia: Axis Powers#Criticism & Controversy. 
During the early 2010s, the Hetalia fandom was seen as a very toxic, large fandom that was known for various controversies (for example: the notorious Anime Boston Incident of 2010). However, after the series faded from relevance and fans left for other corners of the internet, the reputation and general reputation of the fandom had cooled considerably.https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/croh3p/tumblr_discoursehetalia_axis_powers_tumblr_starts/?rdt=49247
== Events ==
The events of the raids were heavily researched and best preserved by a contemporary account by reddit user jadeandgypsum who made the post "[Tumblr Discourse/Hetalia: Axis Powers] Tumblr starts a crusade against a 'problematic' anime fandom, everyone is upset" on the subreddit r/hobbydrama in 2019. 
It is difficult to pin down exactly when the events occurred, but based on the fact that most contemporary commentary seems to come from the later part of the month of 2019 and Hetalia was trending on tumblr on August 18th, the events appear to have took place on or around the 18th.https://watsonmj.tumblr.com/post/187044129468On August 18, 2019, one tumblr user posted "Was I supposed to know there was Hetalia Discourse in this Year of 2019, or was I supposed to see the show trending on Tumblr all by myself?" The dating of this post give some indication as to when the tag raids themselves were happening. Most sources do not provide a specific date but the commentary mostly comes from the following days. 
The controversy started when a Hetalia user (referred to in jadeandgypsum's write-up as "Eggs") made a post about the Japanese character creation platorm PicCrew. This post discussed issues such as racism. In response, user Skullgirl (who was later shadowbanned) accused Eggs of being a racist for being a fan of Hetalia and stating that she had no place to comment about racism.
Within the hour, skullgirl "amassed a group of several people to raid several Hetalia discord servers at once, spamming death threats en masse." Eggs and other Hetalia fans on Tumblr were also attacked with hateful anon messages. Other antis impersonated Hetalia fans "before turning right around before turning right around and spamming hateful stuff." In addition, the #Hetalia tag on tumblr was then flooded with anti-Hetalia messages; eventually, the tag ended up trending due to the surge of activity. 
These events sparked a panic within the Hetalia fandom. Many fans attempted to defend themselves. One Discord server apparently ended up befriending the anti-Hetalia crusaders, which resulted in an apology.In the midst of the drama, a BNF in the Hetalia fandom, George deValier, ended up deleting his account and all of his fanfiction. This might be unrelated, but added to the drama.
== Commentary ==
== References ==
Category:Hetalia: Axis Powers
Category:2010s Events
Category:2019 Events