If you want to use the Polandball version, you do not need to credit me, but I would appreciate it. Likewise, you do not need to credit me if my flag appears modified in a publication, such as in the form of a Minecraft banner. However, should you want to use the bare flag in a publication, then please e-mail me at [email protected] for permission. Printing my flag may only occur under special permission. You may not claim this flag as your own.
The ratio is 3:2, the same as most flags in the world, including that of the Netherlands, which I am proud to be a citizen of.
The blue and white are my personal colours. The blue is Motropolian Blue, defined as precisely #0094ff, or the (11,1)th colour on the Paint.NET default palette. The white is purely for contrast, which I tend to create often, even though I am a supporter of nuance in discussion.
The cross and diamond can represent a multitude of things. The cross on its own represents Saint George's Cross, representing my proficiency in English as a non-native speaker. The diamond on its own represents unbreakability, which is true in the present day, but not so much when I designed this flag in 2017. Together, the cross and the diamond make four flags. This represents my love for vexillography, ergo nations, ergo worldbuilding.
Finally, the Triskelion in the middle represents Motropolia, my oldest continuous worldbuilding project. It is an extension of my patriotism for my homeland, the Netherlands, and how I want it to become a major player in worldwide affairs. In a way, you can also see the blue as the Yin to the Netherlands' Yang, but that interpretation is not canon.
I designed this flag in 2017. That is all I know. I can no longer remember who I first showed this to, when I first started using it properly, or how to find dates for any of those. If you do remember, please contact me.
Before I designed this flag, my de facto personal flags were that of Motropolia, which did not contain the cross of this flag, and that of the Netherlands. This was mainly because I was an even more adamant political freak back then, and Motropolia was where most of my political and professional fantasies could be expressed. Far earlier than that, though, I used the Dutch and English flags interchangeably, because I thought I was reincarnated from an Englishman. While not held as true anymore, there are still some traces of this idea in my later works.
The first confirmed Polandball adaptation is artwork from November 2018, where it was shown as a background prop:
This version of my identity, my persona if you will, was cemented at the same time as when Hibot Awesome, my persona up until then, fell into disuse. This adoption provided a catalyst for me to use the flag as more serious online identification, leading to me using it as my personal banner for SMPVideo in 2020, as well as the idea spilling over into public information in the Anecdotal Version of SMPVideo S2E1.
Finally, in 2021, the apex of my identification with the flag was reached when I got the flag physically, on my 18th birthday:
It is simply precious.
Hibot3000, 9th of November 2021