#Was the whole time thanks for coming to my ted talk

[theliteraryluggage]

Okay, disclaimer, I'm coming at this entirely from a manga viewpoint.

The manga was my first experience of FMA, and to me it will always be the best.

I have seen and enjoyed both 03 and Brotherhood, but BH is closer to my heart, because it's closer to the manga, simple as that.

Generally speaking, I don't disagree, I recommend people watch 03, but I also think it shouldn't be the first encounter with FMA you have. Because while they share the name, the cast and, to a degree, the worldbuilding, FMA03 is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY.

That is not a criticism. I appreciate 03 for what it is, for the themes it covers, for the emotions it conveys. But imagine someone watches 03 first, and then goes back to read the manga, expecting to see the 03 storyline in manga form, they will be disappointed.

My main issue is with the arguments that are repeated over and over again, that the beginning of 03 is more faithful to the manga because IT IS NOT. Yes, 03 takes a whole lot longer to cover the same events than Brotherhood, but that's because they change and add a bunch of stuff, to set up for the diverging part of the story. Yes, they take more time to flesh out the relationship between the Elrics and the Hughes and Nina, but they do it in a way that is completely different from the manga. Because you know what? The entire Nina story, from first meeting her to her death in the manga is ONE CHAPTER.

In that sense, BH is absolutely more faithful to the manga; episode 4 is basically a 1:1 translation of Ch 5 into anime form.

Again, I'm not criticising 03, they way they're handling it makes sense for the story they tell, for the character development they're setting up, which is different from the character development in Mangahood, but it is NOT a faithful adaptation of the manga, and I am tired of hearing it.

A while ago for fic research purposes I compared the Liore story arc in the Manga, 03 and Brotherhood. Directly compared them. Early on in the story, covered by both adaptations, let's see, right?

And yes, neither adaptation is completely faithful. Yes, BH changed the pacing and made the fights more dramatic and flashy. But 03 changed the actual plot beats and worldbuilding. ALREADY the plot is diverging from the manga this early on in the story.

So, I'm sorry, my ire isn't directed at you, OP, but at having to hear over and over and over again that (the beginning of) 03 is the more faithful adaptation. I get the feeling the people who are saying that haven't read the manga in a very long time, or not at all and are just repeating what they have seen other people say about 03.

Generally I think the whole which-is-better debate is completely pointless because again, they are different stories, so they have different beats and pacing, and are trying to achieve different things.

Stop pitching them against each other!

(not directed at OP, but fans in general)

And also, go read the manga. There. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Okay but the weirdest thing about the whole "Brotherhood is better you should skip 03" discourse that's become commonplace now, it sort of forgets the world Brotherhood came out in and why you should watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist. When Brotherhood came out, the original Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the most beloved and most watched animes of all time. Brotherhood assumes you the audience have already seen it because of course you have, everyone has seen it, so it skips important information and speeds the story up because it doesn't want to bore you with things you already know. Have you ever wondered "hey why does the first episode of Brotherhood kind of suck, and why am I being introduced to like 50 new characters, and why are they acting like I know what the hell an alchemist is?" It's because Brotherhood thinks you've seen 03.

The first 7 or so episodes of Brotherhood constitute dozens of chapters in the manga, and the first 25 or so episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The Nina Tucker episode in Brotherhood, in FMA 03 takes up nearly three episodes. Yoki gets a backstory in 03 and it's genuinely one of the best episodes and taken directly from the manga and Brotherhood glosses over it because: duh, you've already seen it. And so if you skip the original you miss out on dozens of really great character building episodes like Ed and Al meeting Hughes for the first time and getting to spend a whole episode helping him free a train from terrorists, or Ed and Roy having a duel that expands on the relationship they have, or episodes where the brothers just help out random people in towns before the major story gets going.

The original also paces itself quite a bit better than Brotherhood and is more in line with the mangas storytelling. In the manga we don't find out about The Gate until nearly two dozen chapters in, and the same goes for the original anime. Like, that's a twist reveal in those stories, and it's weird that the most watched series is the one where they tell you all about The Gate in the first two episodes because they assume you've already seen the original show.

What's more, people don't know that Hiromu Arakawa helped write for the anime while she was still in the middle of writing the manga, and as a result was inspired to write scenes in Brotherhood that the anime did first. That scene of Edward getting impaled by a falling beam? Directly inspired by a similar scene in the original anime. There's a lot of little instances of that and they're great when you can recognize parallels and things in Brotherhood that are direct references to the original anime, but people don't notice any of that anymore. Because the original anime is just an automatic skip these days, and it's a bummer because people don't realize what a giant it was back before Brotherhood was released. They treat it as *bad,* not realizing it was one of the most beloved anime of its time and the problems people take issue with have a lot more to do with personal taste than any kind of actual flaw in the writing. Brotherhood was never meant to dethrone it, and the original anime was always supposed to be part of the viewing experience which is why those first few episodes of Brotherhood are so fast paced. So like, please stop telling people Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 is a skip, or it's bad, or you don't need it because Brotherhood is better. Regardless if you think Brotherhood is better or not, the original wrote Brotherhood's check. It was huge, it was beloved, and Brotherhood is *banking* on the knowledge you've seen all of it and loved it. And trust me when I say there is so much to love about the original series. It's still my favorite branch of the FMA franchise, and it's worth your time, I promise you.

[elliesglock]

what is your pazzi timeline?

oh boy, i'll give like a brief summary

2016: paige meets azzi first. i think paige had a whole secret admirer thing going on because she mentions meeting azzi 3 years ago in the 2019 slam video with them even though azzi has said she knew paige for 2 years at that point. seems like paige knew and was kinda crushing on azzi before a knew about her.

2017: they meet officially at u-16. they become friends i think paige still has a crush on azzi. azzi doesn't really reciprocate because i personally believe she didn't know she liked girls atp. a lot happens mostly just p being a simp ofc. azzi this year doesn't really seem to view paige as anything other than a friend.

2018: azzi starts to like paige back, beginning of in my humble opinion a very long homoerotic friendship.

2019: casually dating. paige would've been a junior and azzi would've been a sophomore. lots happens...paige flying to see azzi after her acl tear, wore p's jersey at her championship game, lots of plane rides to see each other. gives to me long distance sorta casual fling thing. weirdos idk

2020: def starts to get weird here. in my personal opinion, i think they're pretty exclusive here. there's different opinions out there but seeing how paige goes to live with a's fam it's very clear they start to really get close here. i think this time together really made them realize how much they loved each other.

aug 2020-2021: p goes to college, azzi stays home to finish hs. kinda seems like an amicable break-up/casual fling situationship they have here. streets say p was seen with other girls so i think they took time off from their relationship because of my guess the distance and in turn them having different focuses. however, in my opinion, i think they were in a kinda "she's still my girl" situation. like seeing other people but they know where home at type shit. again i know weirdos idk i never said my girls made sense yall 😭

aug 2021 is when azzi goes to uconn which leads me to my next part.

2021-2023: dating again. however weird tiff in 2021 where i think they're still being weird and not together. streets say azzis with a football player, p stops being seen with girls however. azzi is at college with p. the ice live oh lord. i think they're just getting comfortable with being around each other all the time again. LOCKED IN by the end of 2023.

2024: wives. wedding bells. locked in forever they have kids together. only goes up from here

thank you for coming to my pazzi ted talk anons

@azpb535 has an amazing tl that goes into great detail better than mine btw

[vanillablankcanvas]

How I Believe Cliva Would Organically Happen Post-Band Together

*clears throat*

Viva’s POV

Viva never thought of Clay that way.

They were a great team. They were best friends and their found-family.

They, along with a lot of the other PuttPutt’s, didn't really look into finding partners, getting married, or having kids. Some did. But the world just seemed too dangerous to bring children into.

When the PuttPutt Trolls were reunited with Pop Village and the Bergen threat was resolved, it opened many doors for many new opportunities/ experiences/ possibilities.

Viva decided she maybe wanted to move on with her life and maybe start a family.

Poppy asked, “Why not Clay?”

Viva laughed saying he’s always so serious, he didn’t seem like her type. Nothing wrong with him, just not for her like that. Even still, she doesn’t think he would want someone like her. He wouldn’t want someone so loud and out of control like her.

From then on she just happens to start noticing another side of Clay that she’s never seen before.

This Clay was relaxed, happy and a lot of fun to be around. (Whether he admitted it or not)

She noticed how he would interact with Trollings and laugh with his brothers but still put in every effort to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Suddenly her potential suitors just… weren’t Clay.

Uh Oh!

Viva officially had a crush.���

Clay’s POV

Same original opinions as Viva.

Never considered her as a potential love interest before.

Never considered anyone really. They were always so busy surviving.

They made a great team and she was his best friend.

His brothers continuously teased the both of them.

Clay tolerated it.

Other random Trolls mistook them for a married couple all the time.

He and Viva would laugh about it.

Viva said she was sorta sad that she couldn’t speak Spanish to anyone.

Clay learned the whole language to surprise her.

Clay also happened to be writing a book called Rooster and Hare.

It was loosely based on their experiences in the Hole n Fun. ⛳

Clay would read his drafts to Viva and bounce ideas off her. She loved the story and always looked forward to the next chapter.

Then Tresillo happened.

At first Clay didn’t mind, he was just another Troll.

He noticed the back and forth flirting between them.

Goddamn it, he spoke Spanish with Viva before Clay could surprise her.

But he’s totally not jealous…He was happy for her.

Viva can go to Tresillo now…He can be the one she laughs with and hugs and seeks comfort from…

If she wanted to marry him? Fine! If she wanted to have Trollings with him? Fine!

Clay was fine with that…

Right?

…

Uh Oh! 💚

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Do you see the vision? 😆

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

It’s disability pride month, you know what that means, you are now legally obligated to make all of your favorite characters disabled

[gazumirei]

the pressure fandom right now

[12u3ie]

reminder that anyone telling you not to vote is either an idiot or trying to strip away your rights 😊

[rbtlvr]

AND ANOTHER THING. i know that on a meta level this is literally just How Video Game Bosses Work. but also with how well the game mechanics work into the story in many other cases i don't think it's unreasonable to look at it from an in universe perspective

SO

i think it really says something that loop only uses their stronger attacks in their second phase. i think it really says something that you have to bring them down to 0hp four (4) times, attacking them repeatedly + proving that you are willing to genuinely hurt/kill them, before they'll use their most powerful attacks on siffrin

[bookinit02]

honestly going to be a little brave even and say that the reason buck kissed tommy Like That at the hospital is because he was so pent up from the bachelor party and seeing eddie shirtless getting vodka poured down his throat that he was like . i need to make out with a man immediately or i will die.

[jup1tersparx]

rick rounds autistic and gets away with no one ever picking up on it via pretending all of the autism traits are 1) him being rude on purpose and 2) him just being a REALLY dedicated and stoic leader.

he never makes eye contact with anyone and seems to ignore to half of the things you say when talking to him? yeah he’s locked into that sigma grindset bro he doesnt have time for your bullshit. he refuses to let anyone touch him? oh is he also gonna cry and tell you about his feelings while you’re hugging 🥺🥺🥺? he barely makes any facial expressions, his voice is always monotone and he won’t react at all if you break down crying in front of him? yeah hes hardcore man completely unreadable. he gets really loud and angry and unpredictable when theres a lot of people and noise and lights? yeah hes a fucking wildcard bro you dont wanna mess around near him trust me. we need real men like this leading America forward thank god men are finally being masculine again 🙏🙏🙏 (/s)

[blindaysblogforturtles]

Guys. Guys hear me out.

Remember that originally Venus de Milo was basically just female Leo because producers wanted a female turtle? And they shared a lot of simmilarities like being the responsible one + blue theme?

Ok. Ok. Now, still with me? Ok. Transfem Leo. Blue Mask, responsible, kinda mystic in some versions.

Leo chooses Venus as an alternative name after he comes out. Boom. Goodbye.

[crimsonbreeze]

I need to talk about Kate Moreau

Because I have never seen any character be given such importance only to end up being so under utilized. The lack of explanation to the mystery that was Kate just left me feeling cheated. I wanted to know this character. I needed to know this character. Even just a little bit. I got..well, next to nothing.

(Spoilers for the whole series ahead so new viewers read at your own risk.)

Kate is the driving force for all of Neal's actions for the entirety of the first two season and yet throughout all of this, she remains nothing more than a plot device. There isn't any one scene in the show where we ever get to see anything from Kate's perspective. We only ever see Kate from other people's POV or we hear other people talk about her, see how they feel about her and how she influenced some aspects of their lives but never see how other people influenced her or how she felt about them. Maybe this was just me but I just kept on waiting for a scene or an episode where her actions would be explained and we would get to see exactly why did everything she did. I kept feeling like it was coming but it just never happened. All we ever got was a quick minute of Adler confirming that Kate really had been on Neal's side all along but the plan went somewhat sideways and so he killed her. It just didn't have the impact that it should have and it was made so much worse by the fact that Neal seems to kind of just gets over it after he gets this answer and then is just entirely focused on the treasure in the next season. The lack of insight into Kate leaves the storyline feeling incomplete despite having spanned two entire seasons.

There's just so much wasted potential. I particularly would have loved to see the dynamic between Kate and Peter had she lived. Kate and Peter were sort of pulling Neal in two different directions and it would have been so interesting to see them interact some more. Peter clearly didn't trust her but it also heavily seemed like he just didn't like her. Same goes for everyone else too, honestly. So did they just dislike/distrust Kate as a person or was it just because they didn't like how much Neal loved her? Pretty much everyone was telling Neal that Kate was playing him by the end of the season to the point where he truly begins to doubt her. I needed the aftermath of that and I never got it. I wanted to see Neal be angry at himself for doubting her when all she wanted was to run away with him. I also really wanted some kind of confrontation between Neal and Peter where Neal's guilt kicks into overdrive and he lashed out at Peter and blamed him for making Neal question Kate and for Peter never giving her a chance (because seriously Peter vilifies her from the get go). Even as a plot device she's under utilized.

The scene in season 5 when Neal is running to Rebecca triggered something for me (cause that hug they had was the hug I had been waiting for between Neal and Kate that I never got) I couldn't stop thinking about it especially after learning that Rebecca had all that intel on Neal's old girlfriends. For some reason, I can't help thinking the person she she was emulating the most was Kate. I don't know why but the feeling wouldn't go away cause even though we knew pretty much nothing about her, it was what I had been imaging Kate to be like the whole time. So I wound up going back and rewatching all of the scenes that Kate is in or mentioned cause I needed to get to know this character and I thought rewatching the scenes and focusing on her would help. But no.

Kate has no personality. We never get to understand her motivations or emotions before she's just very suddenly killed. Which I could accept if we got even a little bit more insight into her character but even though they spent an entire season with Neal trying to figure out who killed her and why, her death still doesn't feel like it got the attention that it should have because we never get to see Neal grieve. I wanted to see him missing her, thinking about her, maybe wanting to talk about her but struggling with it. I wanted more flashbacks even if it was just him seeing her face for a split second or remembering her laugh. Literally anything that would have given us some sense of what she was like as a person.

At first, I kind of blamed it on bad acting by Alexandra Daddario but after watching the scenes a few more times, I think it has more to do with just bad writing and I think she actually did a pretty good job in the flashback episode. The bones of the story are so good but it's just not enough so it leaves the entire storyline feeling hollow. I feel like they just couldn't decide if they actually wanted Kate to be good or bad so they just told the actress to be mysterious which lead to her not really being able to show a lot of emotion. We see a lot more emotion at least in the flashback episode from Kate and get a small sense of what she might be like but again, it's ALL from Neal's pov. Same thing when she has that meeting with Peter. it's all from Peter's perspective and we see it as him retelling what happened in that meeting to Neal and Kate is skewed by his perception of her ( i looked into her eyes and I didn't see concern for you). The only time I remember see kate's feelings or reactions to something is for a few seconds in 1x06 when she's on the phone with Neal where she smiles when she says hi to him and then the five seconds of focus we get on her when Neal tells her he's not telling her where he hid all the things he stole.

Kate feels like a puzzle where we've been given a lot of the pieces but I can't get them to fit together. We never see her emotions or hear about her feelings but we get snippets of the kind of person she is. The easy and obvious stuff is that she's beautiful and into art. On a less obvious scale, it's implied that she's very smart. Based on the flashback, she spent somewhere between 1-2 years just avoiding Neal and hiding from him and Mozzie while working (most likely solo?) as a con artist and a fence. How was she managing that? She wasn't a conwoman before Adler took off with her life saving so obviously, she picked up on things quick for her to be able to pull off hiding from Neal for as long as she did. She knew immediately when Neal tried to con her and she called him out on it. Was she working a legit job and fencing on the side? How was she affording to be moving around from place to place every week? What was her living situation like? Did she have family other than her dead father (we never got to see what clue she had left there for Neal, only the flower from Alex instead)? How did she feel about the fact that she was the reason Neal eventually got caught the first time? Did she feel guilty? Did she blame herself for him being in jail? How did she feel when she found out he broke out with only 3 months left on his sentence just for her? How did she feel about him working with the FBI? How did she feel about Peter? He used her as bait to catch Neal and then years later basically threatened her to keep away from him. Did she think he was using Neal or did she believe him when he told her he was Neal's friend?

She seems to be scared for Neal's safety but she was bold enough to make a deal with Fowler and later go above him to make a deal with Adler to let them both go once he got the music box and to point a gun at Peter (even though they make it pretty obvious she didn't have it in her to actually pull the trigger, you can kinda see her hand shaking as she points the gun and Peter doesn't even flinch cause he knows she won't do it which is the only unbiased thing about kate we get from that scene). What was going through her head during all this? Was she scared? Was she angry? Desperate and just throwing a hail Mary? Why was she in contact with Adler when even Fowler wasn't? Did he contact her when he learned Fowler had roped her into his mission to get the music box? Was Adler upset about Kate getting involved? She seems to stay calm under pressure, she's funny and charming and friendly from what we get from the flash back episode that gives her a certain gentleness that contradicts what most characters kept saying about her to Neal in the first season. The later seasons paint her more and more as a victim and an all around good person. Her leaving the painting for Neal in season 3 when she could have taken it, Neal using the word innocence to describe her in season 5, Keller telling Neal that Kate was dead the moment Neal laid eyes on her making it seem once again that despite his love for her, Neal was the worst thing that ever happened to Kate...

Again, so much wasted potential. I feel like we could have had such a great, nuanced female character in Kate and we were robbed of that cause the writers decided they wanted to move on from the Kate storyline without ever actually giving us her side of the story. Don't get me wrong, I loved the mystery and the intrigue it created but the mystery needed to be at least somewhat unraveled at the end and what we got just wasn't enough.

Anyways... this disappointment has lead to me creating an entire personality and backstory for Kate in my head based off the very little we do see of her. I think she had the potential to be an amazing character and also, I just wanted to see more of the couple. My obsessive rewatching of those scenes led me to me fall in love with the Neal/Kate ship in all it's tragic glory. Causes the one thing the show did make very clear to me was that these two loved each other more than anyone and I think they were perfect for each other. I still would have loved to get to know Kate a little bit more but I also get the sense that maybe the writers couldn't figure out a backstory for ther that made her so special for Neal. Seriously what is it that could make Neal Caffrey fall that hard? I can make do with my head canons but it just sucks seeing the groundwork and realizing how great the character and the ship could have been.

[jevilowo]

TOP TEN WORST TYPES OF TF2 MISCHARACTERISATION: (in my opinion)

Woobified Scout (we've all been subject to it at some point)

"Feral" (rapist) Sniper (scary)

Not smart Heavy (man has a phd, smh)

Seme/Uke ass Heavymedic dynamic (and also woobified Medic)

Those "it was a girl all along" type Pyro fics (they fill me with such raw feral rage its insane)

Asshole dad Spy (can be fun in small doses but gets taken way too far 80% of the time)

Racist/Homophobic Soldier (HE WOULDN'T. Unless told to predjudice the enemy BUT THATS IT)

To the same extent, needlessly assholish Soldier (only exists to add another billion Scout Angst fics to the pile)

When Engie is "the normal one" (he's a maniac with a god complex, get it right)

Demo being ignored, or just having his alcoholism be the only thing about him

An honourable mention is making Ms Pauling straight /j

[retros-artandstuff]

vriska + a transmasc dave doodle

[kindlythevoid]

Listen, Ethan Hunt is at his core a silly goofy guy. Can he improvise? Sure! Guy loves to do it, does it all the time in fact, favorite way to do things. Anything that requires an actual thought?? A single thought spanning more than the next hour?? Nothing. Not a single braincell of his is working. This man hopped into the helicopter knowing nothing other than the fact that it was constantly yelling at him and that was a Bad Thing. Why? He doesn’t know. Listen. Listen. The man is smart; we all saw him do physics in the third movie when he pendulumed across a building. But also?? This man gets by with the Bare Minimum amount of Critical Thinking Skills (tm). The amount of times (at least two) he has gotten through a mission hoping the targets had never seen each other before?? Jumping into/through/generally towards something with the wish that he makes it and then doesn’t!?! I love Ethan, but it is because the only two thoughts going through that man’s head is Love Friends/People and Jump/Climb Things.

[monstrsball]

the thing with kurosuga is it can be so good but not many people are right about it.

[lillybearrie]

Anyone else look at Icarus in season 1 and like after actually listening to the words they say immediately go "oh you didn't get hugged enough by your care giver as a child huh? You had to work your ass off for the slightest bit of approval didn't you? I bet the parental figure never hit you but they did emotionally neglected the fuck outta you huh buddy."

...K good to know