#I'm thinking about the bit with shou tucker

[waitineedaname]

just letting you know if you do write that almei fic about al being absolutely not impressed by scar's shovel talk _please_ ping me about it I would love to read that %) we need more of al being a snarky little shit who faced god and won. he has as much rage in him as ed he's just more polite about it

now I definitely need to write it!! that'll be the next thing I write I think :]c it's tricky because i don't write shovel talks very often, but I will do it so that al can be as snarky as he deserves. al is NOT meek or a pushover, that kid knows how to stand his ground and he absolutely contains just as much rage as his brother. the difference is ed's fuse is so short (like the rest of him) and his anger tends to be rather explosive and dramatic, but tbh al's anger is more intimidating to me because you know you've really gone too far when he's pissed off, and his anger is more subtle and scarier than ed's

[phantomrose96]

Thinking about Edward Elric as the Amestrian Military's specialest little unfireable boy

State alchemists can be fired for underperforming. We know this up front from the likes of Shou Tucker. And this makes a ton of sense from the homunculi's standpoint since the state alchemists are sacrifice candidates, and the homunculi would want to cull the weakest candidates and focus only on cultivating the strongest ones who stand the best chance of opening the portal.

........Then there's Edward. Who's already opened the portal.

There's no need to cultivate him. No gamble taken on whether he's good enough to open the portal. He passed the final test already. Graduated 4 semesters early.

And as such, has a free pass to do Absolute Fuck All.

And I'm imagining how funny this is from like an outside perspective.

Some newish state alchemist who'd only ever read up on the stories of Edward Elric, ready and excited to start their career of being paid handsomely with endless freedom to research and travel and do anything they want in the pursuit of science... surprised and confused to find themselves put on probation their first month for things like "ignoring orders." Which is, as best they had thought, a famous Edward Elric pastime.

Roy showing a slight bit of stress about his yearly state alchemist report, and Ed just snorting and rolling his eyes at Roy because every year HE just hastily does his on the train ride over (canon in the manga, a travesty it was left out of the anime) and it gets rubber stamped. Ed not realizing that other alchemists' reports get genuinely scrutinized and torn apart while Ed is free to turn in whatever absolute bullshit he thinks of 36 hours ahead of time. One year his report was about whether alchemy could be done via dance (conclusion: no it can't) and no one cared. Roy WANTS to tell Ed there's some kind of unknown favoritism around Ed making him literally bullet-proof but Roy has no way to phrase this that doesn't sound like he's just in denial and mad at how good Ed's train-reports are.

Guy from the Internal Amestrian Affairs sector who's responsible for auditing other internal military personel for any suspicious activity hitting about 1 million red flags for Edward Elric, issuing a STRONG and URGENT recommendation to suspend the alchemist pending further investigation into things like "literal bunk-buddies with two members of the Xingese royalty (enemy nation)" and "spent $10,000,000 of his stipend on a librarian to make her re-copy (what he seemed to interpret as?) military records in some extremely transparent effort to unearth state secrets (it was a recipe book but he was literally asking her about state secrets)" and "literally has never once obeyed an order, ever, not even once in his career, and is on public record having said 'I do not care about the goals and protections of the Amestrian Military. I am in fact only pursuing my own interests several of which are diametrically opposed to the safety and well-being of the governing body of Amestris'"

The issued recommendation is intercepted before it even reaches its intended desk. President Bradley himself has taken issue with it and denies it before a single set of eyes has seen it. The President's veto stamp is a terrifying hammer, used rarely, and it is now sitting on the auditor's desk.

The auditor sleeps with one eye open from then on out.

[blorbologist]

Hello yes I would like to know more about your Fullmetal Alchemist AU because that was amazing. The Ashari doing alkahestry, *chef's kiss*. Delilah as Envy, genius move. Saundor as Lust, perfect casting is perfect.

Vex with the title of Sewing Life Alchemist, much better person than the original holder of the title. And that Truth took part of her heart, oh that's good.

!! Thank you so much! I love this AU but it has so many moving parts it's hard even for me to juggle them sometimes pfft.

God there's so much to talk about uhhhh:

It's a super complicated AU in part because I'm including Campaign 1 PCs as the older cast (Vex, Vax, Percy, Pike and Grog are all in the military, Keyleth gets a bit of Scar and Mei's roles, Tary is Somewhere) and the Campaign 2 PCs as the younger (Beau and Caleb fill the role of the Elrics, Jester is probably Winry-ish with some Mei elements, Veth is a chimera, idk what Fjord is up to, Yasha is likely Ishvalan, Essek gets to be Ling <3, idk what I'm gonna do to Molly and Kingsley. Probably terrible things. He might be Hoenheim/Father/idk. Maybe he'd fit better as Ling then Greed but I Like Essek Best Ok). Which is complex enough on its own (I can get conflict between the kids and their military babysitters with Beau and Percy butting heads), but what makes it extra dicey is the homunculi. I want to try and ensure that the main villains have a good balance between CR1 ones and CR2's, but whereas many of VM's antagonists are connected (Vecna/Sylas/Delilah/kiiinda Ripley, all the Conclave), the M9's are very disperse - and with all these enemies it's hard to unite them under one goal. Do I include the Conclave? What about the Iron Shepherds? Lucien's group? Avantika? So for the oneshot I just said fuck it and narrowed in on the most Perc'ahlia relevant information (and had Keyleth there instead of Jester, to stick to the C1 cast).

I've shuffled around a lot of the alchemical signatures of several characters due to what fits and what doesn't - for instance, though Vex neatly fills a lot of Roy's role, she is never associated with fire. Caleb, however, is, so the Ed-equivalent gets to be the Flame Alchemist. As a Ranger, Vex is very difficult to make fit into the State Alchemist system, so I made her role more research-focused (while still keeping with the terrible guilt and shame that Roy has that I think fits Vex nicely as well). As the Sewing Life Alchemist, she can be a more successful Shou Tucker: I figure she stumbled on Trinket (an early state-made chimera), tried to learn how to fix him, and so ended up roped into that research division to keep her from blabbing. A lot of her research focused on healing and accelerating growth, and she has a knack for using every ounce of power offered by Equivalent Exchange; as a result it was easy enough to slot her in with the team creating viable human-animal chimeras - the people who originally fucked up Trinket. By that point, it's too late to get out. So she has a lot of Guilt <3 Elaina died either to plague (like Trisha Elric) or got burnt in one of those staged conflicts to get souls/blood for the nation-wide array. Vax gets to snipe up bits of Hughes, Havoc and Nina's roles in the story: I'm unsure of if he's been used to keep Vex in line before, but he certainly gets fucked up by Lust. I'm unsure if the military then steal him away and turn him into a chimera, or if Vex is forced to do that to her own brother to keep him alive. I really want to include some thematic nod to 'take me instead you raven bitch', though, so. Help?

Nixing the up-and-coming Colonel being the Flame Alchemist also impacts Percy's role: I knew I wanted him to be tattooed with secrets like Riza (if you cant tell from Get your hands dirty, I love the concept), but without Flame Alchemy, what could be worth hiding? After some fanangling, I decided that the de Rolos have a decent lineage of military service, especially as State Alchemists, and though Percy never showed the knack for the magic aspect he grasps the theory very well (and instead tinkered with guns). So, as the spare, he offered to get the family's research tattooed on his back. Least he could do - until the estate was swarmed and everyone was killed by some fuckers and Percy was tortured for the code to the notes on his back. Envy (Dewiwah) and Dr.Ripley were behind most of it, with Delilah taking on the faces of people Percy knew both to get her foot in the castle and to torment him. He joined the military in an attempt to protect himself, only to slowly start figuring out that they were the ones who ordered the hit, at which point he stages a lab accident and has Vex heal his back juuust enough to maintain functionality but otherwise ensuring it scars. I'm suspecting the secret was either that his family stumbled on the nation-wide array or something that put Father's plan in huge hot water. Cass is probably a hostage-ward of the Briarwoods and might not know Delilah is responsible for anything given her changing face :D

[kimium]

For the anime ask: 4, 12, 15, and 24! 💜💜💜💜

(From this ask HERE)

Thanks friend! I'm so excited to answer these!!! There are a few minor spoilers so be wary. Also, these are just my opinion and this is all for fun!

Let's start!

4. Least favourite anime character

I'm sure I could pick some horrible villain like Shou Tucker, but that's obvious. No, my least favourite anime character is Sasuke Uchida from Naruto. There are many reasons, but to sum them up I dislike Sasuke because I feel the cast immediately forgives his terrible actions and attitudes. It doesn't feel organic and instead it feels like they're clinging to an "ideal" of Sasuke without seeing who he really is. Just feels like Sasuke got a free pass to be a terrible person with little to no consequences. (Though I should note this is just from my memories of Shippuden which I haven't read in years. I'm also not watching Boruto.)

Also, Sakura could have done so much better.

12. Anime that should get more attention from others

To Your Eternity. Please, I'm begging everyone: watch this anime. The story's central questions of: What is the meaning of life to an immortal being? Can an immortal being ever understand humanity and what makes us human? What makes up our humanity? are fantastically explored. It's a character driven anime, but the plot and richness that comes from the characters is breathtaking. The emotional weight of the story also makes this anime a "I will cry watching this" series, but when it comes from the same director as A Silent Voice, what else would you expect?

Just... please I need someone else to to SCREAM WITH ME at all the plot twists and excitement over S3.

15. Anime you never get sick of watching

There are a few, so let's get to it.

-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: FMA is my favourite shonen anime/manga series of all time. The story, the characters, the plot, the action: it's all perfect in my eyes. While I know Brotherhood can feel a little rushed at the beginning (because they felt they were re-hashing elements from the 2003 version), I promise once the manga bits hit, the series goes full force and never, ever misses a step.

-Cardcaptor Sakura: I know the original anime stretches out the number of cards to 52, thus making it follow a "monster of the week" formula for a bit, but I don't care. There is something so pure and sweet about this series, as if CLAMP really bottled and captured childhood joy, imagination, and delight all into a bottle. There is just the right amount of action and tension to add danger, but doesn't cross the line of whimsical magic and wonder.

-Fruits Basket (2019): I know the reboot has only been out for a few years, but if FMA is my favourite shonen series, Fruits Basket is my favourite shoujo series of all time. The manga was there for me at the perfect stage of my life and I'll never ever not be grateful to it. The plot, the characters, the emotional journey: all of it breaks my heart but also mends it.

-Yu Yu Hakusho (S2): Okay, finally we're at the series with a few stipulations. While I don't dislike S1, S3, or S4, nothing will ever top the Dark Tournament arc. It's perfection and despite the 90s animation style, I think it only adds character and depth to the series, which makes me enjoy it all the more.

24. Popular character you hate

Hate is a bit of a strong word here but a popular character I'm not really into is Makima from Chainsaw Man.

I didn't trust her from day one and I have no attachment to her what so ever. Now, her character concept is fantastic, amazing, and interesting. On paper and executed? Yeah, just never got into her as a character. I couldn't get into her when the series tried to play her as "mysterious with dubious morals, don't 100% trust her" or as "The veil has been 100% lifted and you know her entire motivations and powers".

[maguro13-2]

Shattered Hero ~ Origins of the Ink Demon: Episode Maka Pt. 15~

[Soleanna ~ Forest - Mariko Nanba]

Winry : Yosh! I win again!

Lan Fan : Ah nuts! You win again, Rockbell! You bested me again.

Mei Chang : Yeah, girl. You just realized that this is the sport or game that we are playing. We're playing Toe Wrestling aren't we?

Riza Hawkeye : And tell me why we are doing the Soles wrestling to see who's best at wrestling toes, this is much weirder than any kind of wrestling?

Major Armstrong : Not to worry that much. I do any kind of wrestling, and besides I doing arm wrestle with Edward's teacher.

(WHAM!)

Major Armstrong : SWEET JAMBA JUICE! MY HAND!

Winry : And what about Edward doing the thumb wrestling thing?

Lan Fan : Oh yeah! I know someone who does a little bit of thumb wrestling.

Ling Yao : Ow! Ow! Ow! Let go of my thumb, man! You're hurting me! I'm tapping out! I'm tapping out!

Lan Fan : Nah. I'm just sticking to this kind of form of wrestling. That's why this sport was originated from a flirting game that everyone plays.

Winry : On the contrary, that's a sexual attraction, not to mention it. But I do know that I have been the winner of the Toe Wrestling championship. I hold the title as "the First Automail mechanic to ever be a Toe Wrestling champion". Pretty cool, huh? I win Toe Wrestling every day, and I was king of it all! Nothing says about my soles being that quite strong.

Lan Fan : How did you excatly make your soles way stronger.

Winry : Well, perhaps, I did some yoga when I as the age of this, I used my toes to go tippy-toes on it. Get it, "Tippy-toes"? Like I was standing on one feet at a time and I also did some push-ups, without my sandals on!

Lan Fan : Heh, you're kinda funny by the way. But if you really think that you're the the first automail mechanic as Toe Wrestling champion, I won the achievements of as "the First Xing Mercenary to ever be a Toe Wrestling champion". And therefore, my soles are vicious predators at night and they contain the most ancient forms of sole wrestling. Once, I used meditation and one step on my toes, and that's reason that I am famous.

Mei Chang : So does mine. They are the strongest type, so what if I'm ready to take the next challenge.

Winry : Alright! You insist! The first one to win the Toe-Wrestling is the winner!

Lan Fan : You're on, Rockbell. Let's get to it!

(scene flips)

Winry : What!? Ahh, you bested my soles, Lan Fan! No one in the world would ever beat me in a Toe Wrestling battle!

Lan Fan : I told you, my soles are the deadliest forms in all of toe wrestling, Soles or no soles, I get to win.

Winry : Well, I'm getting the last laugh. Alright, let's go again!

[BOOM!]

Winry : Uhh, Lan Fan? Did your feet just even stomped to the ground and cause an earthquake?

Lan Fan : Uhh, that's not my feet that is stomping to the ground.

Winry : Then what's with the--

[BOOM!]

[Zakat - Toshiyuki Kakuta]

Darkside (?) : ELRIC BROTHERS! I'VE COME BACK TO GET MY REVENGE!

Edward Elric: Oh no! Shou Tucker! The most hated characters has been turned into a heartless! AKA, the worst father known to man!

Scar : Damn! So he turned into a heartless? I see.

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : Hahahahaha! That's right fools, after I was killed by that guy wearing shades, I have the rights to have my heart swallowed by the darkness, and with that, I will get my revenge on you two state-alchemists!

Edward Elric : Not if after what you did Nina and her dog, everyone in the world will never forgive, even the Black Arms leader thinks that he's a dick to the people of Mobius, including the robotniks!

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : Oh, that? Fair enough. If Arakawa that she created the most controversial character to known man, this proves that I will unleash the power of Darkness to have your lives ruined!

Winry : Oh yeah?! Then just go back to hell, Shou f**ker!

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : Then you can all go to hell, without me!

Winry : Yeah, I don't think so! But not today, Shou F**ker! Here comes video game logic! Ready, Lan Fan!

Lan Fan : Ready! (both eats a mega mushroom and to enlarges their selves)

Winry : You think you can that you can easily defeat us in that kind of form? Heh! You may have bested the keyblade wielders, but you haven't bested the world's greastest sole fighter in all of humanity! I'm the first automail mechanic to fight barefoot and that is why we call it earthing on the ground!

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : I should've known that by now!

*DBZ SFX : LIGHT SHINING*

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : That light! coming from underneath, what's that!?

Winry : It's the power of light, baby. And you know it that creatures like you aren't the ones that are interested any girls that are barefooted all the time.

Lan Fan : But this will make yourself going back to hell!

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : Oh! Dang fetishes!

*DBZ SFX : STRONG KICK+EXPLOSION*

Winry : The light within our soles can really kick your ass!

Lan Fan : Huh! That's should finally putting you back in to your own place.

Darkside (Shou Tucker) : Why did ever deserve this by the likes of you girls!? (disappears into nothingness)

(Winry and Lan Fan shrinks back to their normal sizes)

Winry : Hey, I'm back to my normal size!

Lan Fan : Me too! I just don't know what happened when our soles were shining from the light underneath us. Some women just like to go barefooted all the time during earthing.

Edward Elric : Thank goodness, Winry! You just kicked that heartless butt without your sandals and used your "bare soles" to knock that guy back into hell! How on earth did you do it!?

Winry : Basically, it's a mystery Edward and I bet you won't even know it.

(scene later cuts)

Winry : Now that you mentioned it from earlier before, why did the light shined on my soles like that? Is there a reason what's so special about not wearing sandlas or shoes. I think there might an answer on how did our soles managed to use the power of light? I'm getting weird facts that powerful soles don't exist, but it's actually true. We did destroyed the heartless of Shou Tucker when my sole was in enlightenment. This is power in our soles is just weird, can't seem to feel anything. But where does the light coming from my feet? If that matters.

Lan Fan : No dice, no light. But I get the feeling that the light in my sole shines brighter than the sun. I wonder if we destroyed when light and darkness is coming from our soles underneath. Sounds like a mystery of having a weird supernatural ability that is used by our soles behind.

Mei Chang : You're bight about that. When there's darkness and light from within in the soles, they shine a greater power than before. You've known being barefooted is not the only thing that I'm interested at. When we don't know that whether we wear something, we found that our "Soles" can be used as weapons to defeat the evil, that's why I trained meditation and did a little earthing after you guys. Promise that we make take care of our feet, just don't make Arakawa get the fans a little "pervy" about it. And I have one question about it. You sure that Edward's leg doesn't have athlete's foot.

Winry : ....Umm, Mei? *Angry vein* For the last and 412th time...*RUMBLING* (yelling) THE NEW LEG THAT I MADE FOR HIM IS MADE OF METAL, YOU IDIOT!

Mei Chang : Oh...Whoops! My mistake.

Winry : Even though, after a horrible accident that Edward made the ultimate taboo, It only costs him an arm and a leg that would eventually the steep price to pay.

[PigeonBlood OST : Discretion]

Winry : Ever since that since fated incident between two countries, Maka Albarn was mistaken for being a villain as the world turned against her. The inhabitants of Soul World treated the one who framed her as a slave to Shinra's kind. She was then founded by the Mobian Death God Grim and imprisoned at a room in Hang Castle, prior to given herself a 10 year sentence in the castle. Three years later, Grim had to release her when they are strange occurrences going on over in the year 2006. Bad things started to happen and when things changed, everything will never be the same. So that's why we just gotta move on, and face the fact that who or what killed my parents on that tragic day. But that all changed when I finally realized that revenge is not the answer!

Lan Fan : ...Lan Fan....CHOP!

*BAM+BOING!*

Winry : Sorry! I meant to say that Revenge is a dish best served cold and is also even not the right answer.

Lan Fan : That's better.

Winry : So, Lan Fan. Do you think we could ever be trusted that knowing that our Soles might have light and darkness?

Lan Fan : That's your call. I both have the light and the Darkness within my soles, but yours have the light within them, aren't you? Of course, as a matter of my appreciation, I trust you.

Winry : That's good to hear.

News Anchor : Once again in our top story news! Kamek the Magikoopa who disguised himself as the Meister Ox Ford, who is running around at three stormy areas, Stormy Cushy Cloud, Final Fortress, and F-Zero's Lightning area with Harvar D Eclair's true killers! All citizens of Real World must evacute the three remaining areas. We repeat : All citizens of Real World AU must evacute the three remaining...

Winry : The ones who killed that Shikimaru wannabe! They're at the stormy areas! The Final Fortress was the part of the crime incident caused by Metal Sonic around three years ago! We gotta get there on time and stop that crazy magician from running rampant!

Lan-Fan : Come on, Winry! We don't need our shoes without a proper fight. The one solution to fight against evil, with the amazing powers from our soles!

Winry : Yeah! Let's defeat the evil with our soles!

"It'll be just like the Devil's Foortprints."

"The word Devil is the codename to the oldest hero, Shinra."

"Our soles have never been this blessed by it's wisdom."

~ Act 15 : Soles of the Devil's footprints ~

[has-gilgamesh-doneanythingwrong]

for the fandom thing I'd like to request... dragonball! but there's a chance you haven't watched/read it so if not, how about hmm, Fullmetal alchemist? if you aren't familiar with either of them I'll think up something else LOL

Hello, Sigurd blog! Thanks for the ask. I am willing to do both...though I only know bits and pieces about DB if I'm honest XD. The part I remember the most is only DBZ (i need to watch it properly)

Fullmetal Alchemist

THIS IS SO HARD FMA HAS SO MANY GOOD CHARACTERS

Blorbo: GREED/ LING YAO!!!! Holy shit their combination was so cool, Greed was my favorite of the sins and their storyline and the way they worked together was so awesome! And my favorite fight BY FAR is Greed vs King Bradley HOT DAMN!! I cried at the end because they were my blorbos BY FAR!!!!! I wish Greed could slide into my dms actually XD

Scrunkly: MAES HUGHES ;; He was my third blorbo in FMA and I just adored this loving papa who doubled as a badass military officer with all my heart man...each and every scene with him in it was a gem! Love this scrunkly a lot.

Scrimblo Bimblo: Chris Mustang's vibes...One hell of a cool lady. But I also feel like Izumi Curtis deserves much more recognition, she was a real highlight for me personally.

Glup Shitto: I have two. First is Miles, he was pretty cool. Also his seiyuu is one of my favs. I really enjoyed his confrontation with Kimblee as well. Second is Maria Ross, I became very attached to her character and really felt the feels for her story arc...I wish I could see more of both of them....

poor little meow meow: Father when he was just a little homie in a flask, that was one heck of a backstory. Also I'm not sure if Scar qualifies as a poor little meow meow because although his actions were not 'correct', his intentions were understandable seeing as his people were very unfairly persecuted. Actually I just like Scar XD

horse plinko: I put Father in the horse plinko for some suffering. Shou Tucker can join him there too.

eeby deeby: DEFINITELY Sol J. Kimblee, I will send them there for the rest of time...I really disliked his character an awful lot despite loving his ponytail :(

Dragon Ball

Blorbo: Most likely Vegeta! I really like his character development.

Scrunkly: Innocent Boo is the cutest, most adorable creature ever.

Horse Plinko: Master Roshi, I'm tired of his hijinks and pervy antics!!! oh my gosh :(

Eeby Deeby: Majin Boo was such a force of complete chaos, a complete nightmare. Superhell is the only option sadly ;;

[pilot-boi]

please tell me more about about FMAB au!!

I'm intrigued!!!

Okay, so this really just came about because of tfw the hyperfixation hits. And take a wild guess at what the current one is?

Get ready for a LOT of info, mostly told in a really terrible order

The plot is mostly the same as FMAB, but I like some of the early stuff from the 03 series so I’m throwing that in there at the beginning. Mostly just the stuff that happens when they’re still really new into the military, because it’s real cute

We cut to FMAB I think just after Barry’s thing happens. It’s changed a little bit obviously, but yeah that’s where we switch to Brotherhood

Or I guess Sisterhood in this case, since it’s Ruby and Yang

We (mostly me but also @harmonylight) have got most of the characters figured out with who they should all be. Some of them we are a little iffy on, so that irritating, but everyone mostly fits really well

I can go into all the intricacies of why each person is who in a different ask, or what tiny plot details change, but for now I’ll just go over the basic stuff

Ruby and Yang are Ed and Al respectively. Weiss is Winry, and Maria is Granny Pinako. Ren and Nora are Mustang and Hawkeye, and Jaune is Maes. Pyrrha is of course Gracia, and I think we made Oscar be Elicia. Because sadness.

Sun is Ling, Hazel is Scar, Neptune is Havoc, and Ilia is Ross. Oh and Velvet is Sheska. The rest of the Mustang Gang we haven’t figured out yet, so if you have any suggestions I’d be happy to hear them.

On the baddies side I started getting really iffy. But right now we have Cinder as Lust, Tyrian as Envy, Ironwood as Wrath, and Mercury as Greed. Not sure on Sloth and Pride yet, which is :/

Ozpin and Salem should be fairly obvious who they are, because I mean. Who else are they gonna be.

Oh and most importanly: Watts is Shou Tucker, and Penny is Nina :)

[shinxeysartgallery]

What’s ur opinion of fma 03

Well, I might as well do a full opinion piece, eh? I've seen the entirety of FMA '03 (including CoS and the OVAs), and I honestly didn't really care for it that much overall. I can't really say it was bad or anything like that, though. There were things about it that I honestly hated, but stuff about it that I liked, too. I'll go through them both here under the cut. (Spoilers for likely both animes and the manga.) Also, this is gonna be a bit long, so brace yourself. And before I begin, I just want to say that this is my own personal opinion and isn't meant to hate on '03 nor its fans.

I think the main thing I disliked about FMA '03 was how it seemed to focus way too much on drama at times and it made the story kinda drag, imo. I'm not saying that having drama is bad at all, but there were several points when I was watching the show where I just got bored because literally nothing was happening other than characters talking. It was enough that it made the pacing feel really off, imo, especially around the 5th Lab arc. On the contrary, the first two episodes in particular seemed really rushed to me. The ending was the next part I didn't like. Whether you count the 52nd episode or CoS as the series finale, it just honestly wasn't a satisfying ending. There were still loose ends that were never tied up or acknowledged, and it just wasn't really a good ending overall (not necessarily a bad one, but not a good one, either). CoS was also like a fever dream, I swear.

Other than those two main things, the rest are tiny gripes, mainly about changes.

-The fact that the Gate is tied to the real world and the entire plotline surrounding that was really weird. That whole plotline is part of what made the ending so crappy to me, tbh. I think removing that part from the plot would seriously improve the overall story.

-The Homunculi's origins. Granted, the storyline surrounding that was done well, I just honestly wasn't a big fan. I do much prefer their origin story in FMAB/the manga. Despite their story being done pretty well, there were still some holes that were left unanswered by the end. One in particular being that Envy mentioned that Lust was the "new Lust", and that was brought up several more times within the show. I believe it was mentioned with Sloth and Wrath, too. So that brings the question: What happened to the old Lust? The old Sloth? The old Wrath? Also, since in this version, they're created when someone attempts human transmutation and then fed red stones and they're all named after the Seven Deadly Sins (relating to the sin of their maker), what happens if eight people attempt it? What happens to that eighth Homunculus? When Scar's brother made Lust, did Dante go and kill the old Lust to have room for the new one? You never do see the old one or get mention outside of them existing at some point, so is it possible there's two Lusts, and if so, where IS the old Lust? Well, we'll never know, because that was never answered! :D

Also in regards to their origins, most of them have an origin story; Wrath was Izumi's baby, Sloth was Ed and Al's mom, etc. But what about Pride and Gluttony? We know Dante created them, but who were they? Where did they come from? Why did Dante "revive" those two? How is Pride able to age, while the others can't? At least FMAB/the manga gave an explanation for that because FMA '03 sure didn't.

-Also the fate of some of the characters/alternate characterizations. Most notably, what happened with Shou Tucker. And my god, some of the changed character designs were UGLY, ngl. I get that they changed the art style and coloring a bit because of budget (or at least that's what I've been told), but man... Like Dolcetto, for example. I love the guy, but my god, his '03 design is ugly. What did they do to my poor boy? :(

-And finally, sometimes the soundtrack seemed to drown out the voices, and that got kinda annoying. But that's minor.

Well, this wouldn't be a full opinion if I didn't also talk about what I liked about the show, now would it?

-For starters, I REALLY loved Lust's character arc. The mystery of her origins? The questioning of humanity? The eventual betrayal of Dante? Chef's kiss Beautiful. I actually prefer this characterization to her canon one, ngl.

-On the subject of the Homunculi, I also really loved this version of Sloth and Wrath. They were cool. And this version of Sloth is more interesting than the canon Sloth, ngl

-I like several of the other '03-exclusive characters, too, but especially the Tringham brothers. They're precious... <3

-I also like how Martel got to do more in this version. I wish the same could be said for the other chimera, but I'll take what I can get. lmao

Also I know I said I hated a lot of the altered character designs, but I actually kinda prefer Martel's '03 design. IDK I just think the pink tattoo especially suits her more than the green.

-I also really loved the dynamic between Mustang's group. Not sure which version I like more, tbh, they're both great.

-While bits of it are kinda shaky in places, I do think that '03 adapts the beginning better than FMAB in several cases, most notably, the Dublith arc minus the second half of Greed’s arc (ESPECIALLY the part about Ed and Al's time on the island). It actually includes the train and Youswell episodes, too, so that's awesome (still dunno why FMAB cut those, especially considering the important context of the latter, but whatever). Granted, other things, like the 5th Lab arc, I think FMAB did better, but it didn't do EVERYTHING better.

-The overall soundtrack is awesome!

Overall, I still think FMAB is the better anime, but they both have their flaws. After all, we know the manga is the best version! Still, though, I don't think the original anime should be ignored because there are some good things that you miss out on by not seeing it. Who knows? You might decide you like the OG anime more. And if you do, that's awesome.

[kingofthewilderwest]

9, 10, 12, 19, 20, 21 for the fandom asks! (i'm gonna create the question for 21. it is "which fandoms have you inadvertently become a part of through osmosis from friends?" or "which fandoms did you infect your friends with?" whoops two questions, whatever. enjoy, nerdface. my specialty is being a nosy fucker with too many questions)

Love you too, you obnoxious fucker. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Fandom Asks Memes

9. Do you like prequels?

I find absolutely nothing wrong with prequels! My philosophy is that, for any universe that can be cleverly and beautifully expanded upon with heart, doing so is a positive effect. The key to this is that it has to be done with inspiration and good intent. Crappy prequels that have nothing to say are bogus. Good prequels that provide a positive contribution? Yeah, sure, totes, go for it. I’d be interested in checking them out.

There’s lots of inherent dangers to writing prequels that mean some of them can be crappy. But I’ll enthusiastically endorse any contribution to media so long as I think it holds merit to its existence in the broader franchise.

10. Characters that deserved worse? >:]

I don’t believe in “deserves worse” for real life humans, so I think about that even less when we’re talking fiction. So long as it’s written well narratively, I’m fine with villains getting away with anything, antiheroes not being reprimanded for questionable actions, etc.

That said. Watching FMA 2003? I fucking wanted Shou Tucker fucking dead 3,000,000,000 episodes ago. WHY DID YOU GUYS KEEP HIM ALIVE!?!?!?! UAHGHGHGHGHGHghghghghghghg. Every time he was on screen, I was seethingly thinking, “I want that motherfucking thing dead, I am so sick of seeing him on screen.”

12. If you could change one ending to a book/show/game/etc, what would you change about it?

Alright! Let’s see. Can we call “The Hidden World” the “ending” of the broad How to Train Your Dragon franchise? I don’t want to change just the end of HTTYD3; I want to change HTTYD3. I would write a movie in which the villain had more apparent impact to the world around him, I would focus on Toothless having leadership problems with the dragons as a whole rather than centering a plot around him and one female, I would write Hiccup interacting with more sense of leadership over the whole tribe instead of hanging out merely with his group of young buds, and I would axe (intentional choice of words) the will-we-won’t-we subplot regarding Hiccstrid and marriage. For starters.

19. If you could be a part of any story, which story would you want to tag along in?

Take me to Narnia.

20. Name a song that reminds you heavily of a specific fandom or character.

Mars by Sleeping at Last. It describes the Ishvalan War, the fear of the Ishvalans, and the young Amestrian soldiers like Roy, Maes, Alex, and Riza who found themselves, to their horror, on the wrong end of a genocide.

“We were full of life. We could barely hold it in. We were amateurs at war, strangers to suffering. We made our families proud but scared at the same time. We promised we'd be safe--another lie from the front lines. Our backs against the wall, we're surrounded and afraid, our lives now in the hands of the soldiers taking aim. Our questions ricochet like broken satellites... how our bodies, born to heal, become so prone to die.”

21a. Which fandoms have you inadvertently become a part of through osmosis from friends?

How dare you ask me two 21′s. ;)

I’m not sure on this one. Maybe Doctor Who. In high school, a bunch of my friends invited me over for a movie night. Well, when I got there, they were cooking a bunch of foods. They decided to watch The Eleventh Hour, and when it came time for the Doctor to try eating a bunch of foods, my friends started eating fish fingers and custard, like some sort of fucking ritual. And I was like, “What the HECK is happening?!?!” My friends had been talking about how great this show was. This was my first exposure to it. Over the next few years, I did get a bit into Doctor Who, and followed it through the first half of college. XD

Also in the junior high, I had multiple friends who talked about Runescape so frequently that, even though I never even saw a SCREENSHOT of the game, I knew so much about it that I was able to follow along and contribute to their convos. Never played Runescape though. 

21b. Which fandoms did you infect your friends with?

[cackles] now that one? quite a ton!

I don’t mean to. I hate people coming up to me and saying, “You should watch X!” or “You NEED to watch Y!” I don’t like being judged for my tastes instead of letting me decide my own taste. I have so many things I already want to watch and I don’t want someone else trying to change my priorities around, even if I know they’re just trying to recommend something fun to me. I don’t have time for these things and I don’t want people assuming that I have time for those things. I’ll never get to anything someone says. I don’t like recommendations. Especially after this tumblr blog got big and I got a ton of unsolicited recommendations, it became a pet peeve. So I try hard not to force friends to watch anything. I don’t want to annoy them either with unsolicited recs. I want to be nice. <3 But I guess my natural, unending enthusiasm for things has gotten my friends curious and pulled into the same fandoms I love. XD XD XD Whoops! XD XD XD XD XD One second I’m screaming about a fandom... the next, three of my friends are screaming to me about it, too!

I have seen groups of friends follow me into...... Undertale, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Mass Effect, Deponia, Gravity Falls, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. And I guess also bluegrass. If that can count as a “fandom.”