User blog comment:Hannadzor/Official Dub: Supporting characters announced!/@comment-1271618-20100708174434

@Yao - I heard murmurs about it in mid-late '08, became a fan around late December/early January, time flies fast and it's hard to remember specifics XD. But the anime controversy definitely jump-started my interest even more and I burnt through reading a bunch of scanlations. And I've been stuck in it since.

I didn't start out knowing too much, but when I get into some things, I kind of like absorbing information and seeking out more. It's been fun for Hetalia. 2ch and the Japanese fan-run wikis for characters have helped that a lot, and then there's DougaBBS (where Japanese fans post up deleted/hard to find images from Kitayume, including Hetalia stuff). I've found the earliest Axis and Allies profiles for '06, but I'm not sure if they'll be scanlated. The very first Italy one has an image of Romano with BLACK hair and it looks so odd to see him that way (and so happy too).