| Microball | |
| Author(s) | Various |
|---|---|
| Website | Various |
| Launch date | 31 August 2010 |
| Alternate name(s) | MicroBall, (archaism) Erusiaball |
| Genre(s) | Political cartoons, comedy. |
Microball Comics (popularly referred to as Microballs) are a form of micronational comic designed to satirize current events within the MicroWiki sector and the East Asian Micronations Wiki. The comics do not have any single author, being created regularly by many different micronationalists. A Microball is a representation of a micronation depicted in the comic - these are typically circular in shape, have white eyes with a black outline, and feature the flag of the nation they represent.
History[]
The predecessor of the Microball phenomenon was PolandBall, a similar set of comics satirizing recognized states. After Polandball's creation, the comics became wildly popular. A few comics portrayed Sealand, which may have sparked the Microballs series being created by other micronations and the MicroWiki community.
The first Microballs were created in late August 2010. Microballs were originally shared over Skype, mainly in the Yellow Bear Micronational and Micropolitan Lounge chatrooms, and later came to be shared on both the MicroWiki and OAM Forums, where a thread made to accommodate them can still be seen on the former.
Some minor styles are sprouting on micronational organizations around the world. For example style Tian has a flex-ball shape complete with mouth, eyes and flag. This style occurs only at Association of Indonesian Micronations
Backs of characters[]
In several issues of Microball, some characters have been viewed from behind. This started right at the beginning of the meme in early September 2010, when a Microball depicting Austenasia and Moylurg burning Erusia showed the former two from behind - the lines seen on the front of their flags were displayed as so on the back, but without the facial features given to them on the front. In later issues, (especially the Ultamiya Microball series published by David Salapa), flag designs have copied onto the back, but with any major features such as charges and symbols removed.
Examples of comics from East Asia[]
Legal status[]
Microballs are generally considered to be in the public domain, as they prominently feature the flags of nations and no claim of copyright is ever known to have been attached to a Microball comic.