MW: I promised you early November. It has been over a month (44 days-ish) and I finally have the first chapter of The Fandom done. I thought that my oneshot would be quick, but it took me over a week longer than expected, and I missed the deadline. That deadline was there because my show was coming up and at early November my three hell weeks were starting. So suddenly I lost all my freetime and was staying up till past midnight to get it done. But it is and I can grace y'all with the new story.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the symbolism cheat sheet. It's been a long while, so I probably missed a few things. Also, this is just my ideas. If you see something completely different in this then go ahead and fly with it. I matter not here.

~The Fanboy: Symbolism Cheat Sheet~

Theme

A lot of people fail to recognize that The Fanboy has a dichotomy of themes- not only does it extend on the original's respect theme, but also has one of its own: nothing is ever as it first appears. Many people who judge other fandoms (note: not all) make their assumptions without going into depth. Once someone finds the jewel of what makes up the fandom, the hate one feels with often times decrease.

Larry Sue

Larry plainly represents the hatedoms. The only thing he really knows about Hetalia are the things that he hates, which are the homosexual undertones. Throughout the story, Larry learns just to deal with the things that he doesn't understand and discovers that the things he previously thought were white were truly black. One example of this can be seen from how he originally took Hetalia to be all sunshine and butterflies until going through THE WAR. As THE WAR got more serious, so did his opinion of Hetalia.

Additionally, his lack of knowledge of the show further impedes his abilities to navigate the world properly and to figure out what exactly is going on with the contracts. It's ironic, considering that he claims to have an intelligent, formulated opinion based upon fact.

Larry does, however, learn to get past his homophobia in order to survive. Once the readers realized that he's not as much of a jerk as they previously thought, many of his finer traits become apparent: loyalty, intelligence, wit, determination. I did this as a way for the reader to essentially go through the same realization as Larry did.

Alfred/America/Bud

Alfred helps to expand on the idea of nothing being what it originally appears. Pretty much everyone believed that he really was the good guy until chapter 12. In this instance, this lesson can be applied directly to fandoms since he also represents a kind of fan- the fans who seem really cool and friendly at first, but as you learn more about them and their opinions, you realize how utterly "bad" they are and you wonder how that slipped by you at all.

Mathias/Denmark and Lars/The Netherlands

First of all, 'not everything is as it seems' returns for these guys. This is going to come up a lot.

Secondly, their relationship shows that romance isn't necessary. They don't need to kiss in order to love and care for each other. They see each other as brothers and that is enough for them to be willing to sacrifice everything to save the other.

Antonio/Spain/Aluino/Sokka

Where do I even begin with this guy? Firstly, Antonio was a cat for the majority of the story. Once again, his transformation between feline and human helps to expand on the "nothing is ever what it seems" theme. His switch from being one of the antagonists to a protagonist gives a clear example of the switch many make in fandoms- from being a bad fan to a good one.

Roderich/Austria/Erwin

Roderich helps expand the idea that Larry's lack of knowledge of Hetalia really hinders his quest. If he was able to recognize him in the hospital, he would not have pushed away Lars and Matthias so easily. In fact, if he knew who Roderich was, then he probably wouldn't even have made the contract in the first place.

Agatha Sue

Agatha, once again, helps to expand on the idea of nothing ever being what it seems. She was probably the most impactful of the bunch since, you as the reader, most likely developed a sympathetic connection to her Sherry when you read The Fangirl.

She also brings in a concept of her own, which is romance in reader inserts/OC stories. Her relationship with Turkey was hastily developed, and most likely one-sided in a romantic sense. I did my best to have to play out like many other OC stories, but kept it to it being mainly one-sided, thus producing the never-let-go scenes and the dancing one.

Belarus and Russia

How many times must I say this? These guys also help support the idea of nothing ever being what they appear. These two were very much of a challenge since they were less about Larry's point of view changing and much more the reader's.

Russia started off very much as a water-down version of the Russia the fandom usually enjoys: sadistic and loving it. But as his character progressed, his sadistic side was pushed aside in favor of a more childish one. Belarus, on the other hand, was a more difficult case. Her stereotype as of being the obsessive stalker had to be changed in the course of a few chapters to one more akin to the character Himaruya (the real one) intended. She's still hard, but she has a nice undertone and really does care for other people beside her brother.

Sayaka/Stella Hoshi

Sayaka is also a representation, but not of a fan. Rather, she is an example of a common mistake Hetalians make in their fanfictions. Often times, whether it is for hilarity or simplicity, writers will make an original character of a certain nationality pertain to the stereotypes that Hetalia gives us.

Although Sayaka is known to have emotions, she does a very good job at hiding it behind a smooth and controlled visage. Whether it is due to either politeness or habit, her character is similar to the stereotype of Japan the show has. She may have many other interests, but that fact that her character is based upon a stereotype remains.

AntonioXLarry

This was a test. In The Fangirl, I did a comparison of love lifes to see what people accept, which led to actual proof of the bias against OCXCanon relationships. But I was curious if this just applies to hetro love or all kind of love, so I let Antonio fall in love with Larry. And guess what happened.

Everyone. Shipped. It.

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to take away from that, but this study is yet to be completed. We'll see more of my experiments in The Fandom.

Pirate Setting

There are a couple of AU settings that are really popular for OCs: gauken and pirates. Since the last story already had the school setting, I figured now was the time of the high seas. Additionally, Larry had to learn that Hetalia can be rather serious when it wants to be, so bringing the setting to a more adventure-based one would have been most fitting.

"You"

Many of the romances for Larry (like Russia and Belarus) play out like some of the reader inserts I have read. So when I dubbed this nickname for him, I was bringing the reader in on the joke. So

Doitsu

If you step into the Hetalia fanfiction critiquing world, you will see an extreme hatred for the usage of "doitsu." People got so worked up about it that I thought that they were offended or something. Of course, that meant that I had to make it an actual insult in this story. Then the whole doitsu religion came about and a lot of the meaning was lost.

The speed people adapt to using "straightie" instead of "doitsu" also goes to show how quickly a fandom's opinion can change, which is actually frighteningly fast.

The last installment of the Fanseries, The Fandom, will come out tomorrow. That's right, November 29, 2013. See you there.