CountryHumans

Countryhumans or sometimes CountryHumans (often abbreviated as CH) refers to a fandom based around characters portrayed as humans but with Sphere heads and a human body. It is related to Polandball, an Internet meme-comic created back in 2009 which the Countryhumans fandom is heavily based on towards Polandball due to it’s Spherical appearances, and Scandinavia and the World, due to each character portrayed with human bodies.

Since its first appearance on the Internet in April of 2017 and later into it’s fame in the ending of the year 2018, the fanbase has had it’s subject and is well-known to Controversy due to its sexual relationships between historical and modern-day countries, most notably USSR and Third Reich, or representations of terrorist organizations such as ISIS. Many users of other communities, especially Polandball users, call Countryhumans as a “Disgrace to History”.

Countryhumans has had many spin-offs including Planet-humans, characters as planets, Social-media humans, characters portrayed based on Social Media applications, Flag-heads, which portrays characters with actual Rectangular heads based on the size of a countries’ flag, and Pride-humans (LGBT-humans) based of LGBT & Homosexuality.

Background
The background/history of Countryhumans is one of the most interesting part about the fandom, however it’s also very debatable. Please note that this section of this article is edited the most, so you’ll see many changes in the upcoming days or so!

The origin of the fandom’s is extremely difficult and confusing to find. The most notable fact was that the fandom was based of Polandball, a community formed in 2009 where countries are portrayed as balls on horrible quality comics. Many of it’s comics are mainly historical and sometimes offensive. It’s also widely acceptable that it was based of the Japanese manga, Hetalia, since it’s characters are personifications of Countries themselves.

The widely acceptable fact was the fact that the fandom is Russian, since it’s believed that the fandom was first formed on the Russian Social Media Site, VK, in 2017. Many are sure that it’s true since many of the oldest appearance of any Countryhuman artworks where made by Russian Artists (some of them Ukrainian) or the character Russia is seen the most. However, no accounts or any works are found. Outside of the Russian community of the fandom, a YouTube video was discovered. Uploaded in April of 2017, it features what it appears to be World War 2 characters dancing around, with their faces covered with flags. In November of that same year, a YouTube creator uploaded a video of countries of East Asia in a Animation Meme-style. This video itself was widely accepted by many as the first ever appearance of any Countryhuman character.

The origin of term Countryhumans itself is also debatable. There are many theories on when the term was first coined. One of these was the fact that a Facebook user named “Country Humans” (Spaced) was formed in July 2014. Formed in Argentina, the account posts characters of Latin American Countries (Mainly Argentina and Chile, who these two has since gained popularity in the middle of 2020) drawn as human/anime characters. The problem is that the characters aren’t formed in the way where their heads are circule and their faces is covered with the flag of that country. But this is one of the earliest appearance of the term being used on the Internet. In a now-deleted November 2014 DeviantArt Journal, the creator of the journal used the term Countryhumans, with the description telling those who were in this “Fandom” are targeted by the user itself. (As like a Death Threat).Other than that, it’s still debatable on when the term was first used.

Ech0chamber, a Newsground artist who used to be active on DeviantArt, did post a drawing of the Axis Countries on September 25, 2016, considering it the first time any of the Countryhumans characters first appeared. However, Ech0’s DeviantArt was permanently banned in 2019, and it’s impossible if she changed the image since Deviants are allowed to change the image of that particular post without just reposting the image.

On April 4, 2021, fellow r/CountryhumansCringe user u/PhotographOk7968 discovered an image of what it appears to be the first ever appearance of Countryhumans. Created on May 3, 2011, The image includes the United States what it appears to be shooting Iran. The image itself included the date of creation and ‘Incent 2800.’ The redditor explained that they had the image saved on his Computer back in 2014 by a 4chan user, where the image was removed from the site somewhere in 2015. The difference between the image is that while the heads are covered by the country’s flag; the arms, hands, and necks aren’t colored with the flag’s color.

Aside from it’s discovery, Countryhumans first gained its popularity in Russia between November & December of 2017, whereas the character, Russia, is consider as one of the most popular & important characters of the fandom. Starting at the end of 2020, many Asian countries (particularly the countries in Southeast) and Latin American countries has since gained many attention.

Russia
Russia is very popular in the fandom partly due to the original fandom being Russian. The character is represented by Artists as an Alcoholic, mainly because Russia consumes Vodka the most, making Russia the 4th Country to Consume Alcohol.

Some can represent Russia as a Homophobic, because of how strict LGBT rights are in Russia. The Character can be portrayed as a Suicidal or depressed due to the Suicide Rate being a Social Issue in the country.

America (USA)
America is represented from the fandom as their most popular character, partly due to the English version of the fan-base. In most recent years, the character is seen as an Uneducated person, a racist, or/and a person into politics.

Other Countries
Similar to Polandball, Country-humans is known for its Portrayal to other countries. In most cases, most of the characters can be seen as someone in their everyday lives. For example, South Korea is seen as the character who's a fan of K-Pop, due to the genre being popular and was first founded in South Korea. Japan is seen as a Schoolgirl & a Furry (to many's dismay) who enjoys Anime and modern-day activities. China could be seen as a person who enjoys culture, mainly with the Chinese Culture, but the character is nostalgically used to be seen as a person who eats Dogs, Cats, or any animal that can be cooked. Germany is seen as a hard-worker, Canada is seen as a welcoming person who enjoys being liberal and a Lumberjack, but in most cases, could be seen as the character who kills Seals for fur. (Also known as Seal Hunting) Australia is seen as a Zookeeper, while appearing on artworks, Australia is hatred towards an Emu, notably, the Emu War. Colombia is seen into Cumbia, a Music Genre first introduced and popular in Colombia and it's production of Coffee.

Controversy
In mid-2017 and in the beginning of 2018, while the fandom was growing into an internet popularity, Relationships between countries were growing. Many of these ships were offensive or unacceptable to viewers, even for those who were native of that particular area. The most controversial ship is the Nazi Germany and Third Reich. This ship has since offended many users, since both are seen as homosexual characters (In reality, both of these countries are extremely homophobic and killed many homosexuals.)

Aside from the ships, NSFW (Not safe for work) has since gained its popularity around 2019 and 2020. These included countries posed in inappropriate poses, such as anal, oral, or other. Some of these drawings included even things like rape, necrophilia, pedophilia. However, those are rarely seen. The most popular countries to be included in NSFW artworks include: the US, Latin America (especially Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Mexico), Russia, Third Reich and the USSR.

On March 27, 2019, Youtuber “Pkrussl” uploaded his video, “Countryhumans: These People Need Help,” where he simply explains how the fandom is quickly getting worse due to the ships between historical countries such as Third Reich, the Soviet Union, and the Japanese Empire. This gained attention towards viewers who aren’t in the community.

LGBT+
The fandom is officially known for the LGBT/Gay characters. Characters such as the U.S, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, etc. are seen as ”very gay”. Many countries, including Jamaica, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, and parts of Russia have made Homosexuality illegal in real life. Countries like Poland, some Latin American and Arab countries are also criticized in the community for being gay because of how religious these are in real life.

Criminalization
There are severe criticisms by users of certain countries against fandom, particularly due to the criminalization of current countries by past actions. This has been highlighted in countries such as: Germany, Poland, UK, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Serbia, Ukraine, Canada, USA, Russia or Israel, in which fans of these countries have rejected the Countryhumans fandom classifying it as very offensive and even racist, there were cases of incitement to hatred and inequality. Generally, criminalization is granted to developed countries while underdeveloped countries are portrayed as "saints". Users often criticize the Countryhumans fandom as a decadent, especially since it focuses only on the negative facts of the history, many times inaccurate, and not on the positive facts of it. As well to "sympathize" with totalitarian political ideologies of the 20th century, such as communism, fascism and Nazism. And even inciting sexual relations between "relatives" such as pedophilia and incest. Which also may lead into the sexualization of the such.

Summary
Countryhumans is currently considered one of the most toxic and rejected fandoms on the Internet, some users have come to classify fandom as sadistic, immoral, macho and a bad image of homosexuality. Most of the criticism are partially from the Polandball community. However, some come from the fandom itself. While there are many negative things about the community itself, it has some positive sides. The fandom has since improved a lot of artist’s art style, created some historical artworks and many has since created new friends.