User blog comment:KatDWolf/I wonder..../@comment-2004850-20100518023141

He'll probably be both; like Turkey, Mongolia will have probably once been a powerful empire, but eventually evolved into what he is today. I wish we could get an official, full-body image of him. How long ago did he appear? Was he one of those very early characters who has dropped off the face of the Earth?

I assume Bulgaria would be all previous empires and, like Turkey, will have just evolved over time. Great Bulgaria seems to have split into multiple groups of people, however. Perhaps Great Bulgaria will be Bulgaria's parent, who died and made Bulgaria his main successor. The other groups seemed to have mixed results with creating a state or ruling; I assume Bulgaria would have siblings, such as Volga Bulgaria, and they will be described as having crumbled after a short period of time. Himaruya probably remembers Bulgaria. (Fans must send him e-mails frequently asking about him; minor characters always receive their fair share of love.) It may just be difficult finding a way to incorporate him, especially with characters like Netherlands who have been eagerly anticipated.

Himaruya's best bet would be to take minor characters and drop them in one-by-one until they've all been fleshed out. At this point, adding those characters would feel like adding an entirely new country to the series; we don't know anything about Moldova or Bulgaria or Mongolia. Some up-to-date sketches and character bios would help. Just a few strips where they're formally introduced as characters, past "Bulgaria hits Italy with stick", "Moldova suffers economic hardships", and "Mongolia exists in Asia!".