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biologists will be like this is a very simplified diagram of a mammalian cell

chemists will be like this is a molecule

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redraws of some of Siffrin's battle sprites i did to make myself feel better

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★ Emmm | FMA Major Arcana collection ☆ ⊳ available for purchase >> preorder ✔ republished w/permission

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In another life…

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In another life…

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Mustang was very brave to build his team with a chronically-single french man, a guy who was born for IT in a world without, a guy who's definitely from their equivalent of New York, two orphans that are homeless by choice, his not-wife that he has a suicide pact with, and Vato Falman

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Goodbye Fullmetal Goodbye General

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So, I had a thought about Roy Mustang, and wanted to share. (Please read all the way through, I’m a huge Roy fan, despite how the first half of this post may seem, this isn’t an anti-Roy post, but rather a character study of sorts).

So normally, throughout the show, we see that Roy is calm, cool, and collected. He doesn’t show any emotion really, beyond smugness, or satisfaction at times. It takes the death of his best friend before we actually see some real emotion from him, and even then, he tries to hide it away, with the infamous, “It’s a terrible day for rain.” line.

Compare that -Mustang, sitting in his office with his team, or Mustang interrogating Major Armstrong following Hughes’ death -to what we see when he goes after Lust. When he goes after Envy.

That’s not even cold anger. That’s burning rage. In those two scenes, Roy is legitimately terrifying. He’s cruel. 

His words to Lust, for example: “You said I couldn’t kill you, but I’d like the opportunity to prove you wrong. So how many times is it gonna take?” Or with Envy later, “Isn’t it interesting how quickly the tongue can be turned into a mess of boiling grease?”

That’s borderline sadistic, when you think about it. We see other people in the show get angry. Hell, in that same scene, Riza starts shooting, cursing, “You bitch!”. We see Ed -many, many times -lose his cool and start cussing out his enemies.

This is something different, though. This isn’t the desperate anger, a person pushed to the edge, and in emotional turmoil.

Roy in those scenes isn’t conflicted. He’s not in turmoil. He’s not desperate. He’s pissed. This isn’t a righteous fury, or desperation. This is rage.

So how do we fit this into Roy’s character? The man who deeply cares about his subordinates, who tries to protect the two boys under his command as much as he can, the man who’s a ‘lady’s man’, suave, cool, and collected? How does this aspect fit in?

Well, like most of Roy’s character development, we have to go back to Ishval. In Ishval, when a twenty-three year old Roy decided that he’d do what it took to get home, so he could ‘climb to the top of the pyramid’ as Hughes puts it. He’s willing to do whatever he has to, to try and make things right.

So he puts it all aside, tucking it away in that little black box in the back of his mind. The betrayal he feels by his government? Black box. The guilt over what he’s done? Black box. The horror at what he’s seen? Black box. The choices he’s had to make? Black box. As he tells Ed, “We keep moving. Whatever it takes. Even if it’s through a river of mud.”

Roy Mustang is the king of denial, the ruler of suppressing, the undisputed champion of compartmentalization. For a decade, this is how Roy survives. This is how he avoids eating a gun, how he gets up in the morning. He just doesn’t think about it. Shoves it down, and hides all those things away in the deepest parts of himself.

So what we see when Roy loses it? When he brutally tortures Lust and Envy? Roy is letting all that pain, all that self-loathing, all the guilt, the shame, the betrayal all out in those moments. What we see there is everything from Ishval making itself known.

And what makes it worse? Roy knows that this aspect of him exists. He knows what he’s capable of, when he opens that black box and let’s it all come bubbling out, like a volcano finally erupting, destroying everything in its path. We know he knows this… because he tells Riza that part of her job is to be ready to kill him if needed. He knows that each time he opens that box, that he lets himself feel everything he’s kept hidden away, tucked in the darkest corners of his mind, there’s a possibility that he’ll lose it; that he’s dancing along the edge of a knife, ready to topple off.

He knows exactly what he’s capable of. That he could very easily become worse than Kimblee. That there’s a part of him that’s just as broken, and dangerous, as Kimblee is.

Both suave, swarmy Roy and cruel, rage-filled Roy are the same person. He’s able to be suave and collected because of that rage. But that rage exists because he’s forcing himself to be so calm and rational.

These two aspects showcase Roy’s trauma in a heart-breaking way. Neither one of them is the ‘Real’ Roy at this point. The real Roy Mustang -the boy who wanted to protect people, who volunteered, the young idealist boy who told Master Hawkeye he was going to help -died in Ishval.

These two disparate parts of his personality are all that’s left of that boy. The man he so desperately wants to be, and the angry boy raging at the injustice and unfairness of it all.

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one thing ive always loved about fullmetal alchemist brotherhood is that it never begrudges a person their revenge. it never paints them as evil or worse than the object of their outrage. fullmetal alchemist will never tell a victim they have not earned their anger, or that it is not right. it does not speak against revenge because your anger is wrong. it only says that you must be careful - that vengeance may destroy you and the ones you care for if you let it consume you.

when mustang hears that scar is ishvalan, he says that, in many ways, his killing of state alchemists is justified, although he's still not keen to become a victim of it. when scar is faced with the daughter of the doctors he killed, he bows his head and tells her that justice is hers to deliver, and that he will not fight if she chooses to bestow it. roy is never told that he must forgive envy, or that hes wrong to want them dead; only that, should he choose to kill them, he will no longer be the kind of man he wants to be. the kind of man he can be. they all agree that envy must die - ed never says that roys anger or grief is unjustified, that his vengeance wouldnt be deserved. instead, he asks "is that the face you plan to wear when you lead this country?" he says your anger is earned, your violence is justified. if you burned them to death like you wanted to, no one would say they did not do it to themself. but is a man who burns a defeated enemy to death the kind of man you want to be?

when scar finally decides to stop killing state alchemists, he doesnt do it because he has learned to forgive, or because they do not deserve it. there is no forgiveness for the things amestris has done to his people, and arakawa never suggests that there could be. rather, he stops killing state alchemists because he cannot build a better world on top of more corpses. his anger is justified, but his violence will breed more violence, his hatred more hatred. it will kill him if he does not stop it first, and it will lead his people to even further ruin if he cannot escape it.

fullmetal alchemist never says that revenge is evil, or that your anger is not reasonable. it only asks, do you know the cost of taking that vengeance? is that the kind of man you want to be?

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20 million votes have been uncounted

Link to this Tweet here

Link to the tweet here for the image above

Link to the White house

If you need further help in a quick format, here is one, but i urge you to also add in the details for requiring an investigation, not just recount.

I know its a shitty situation and were tired but we still have to try to fight for a life that's worth living.

If you can blaze this post, GO FOR IT!!!

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Neuvillette's lovely day off with his daughters

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🫧🪸🐟

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Never let them guess your next move

The twitter people seemed to really like this one so I might as well drop it here X'D

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The most genuine reactions come from the actors who never expected the ending of their play

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hydro dragon, hydro dragon, don't cry

find me on twitter @/driftwoodwoof

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hiiii

last song: elizabeth taylor by erika vikman

favourite colour: blue, blue like the sparkling lake water in the old pokemon anime

currently watching: bocchi the rock (i was told by a friend i should consume some wholesome media for once-)

sweet/savoury/spicy: yes

current relationship status: no

current obsession: my silly little soggy lizard !!

last thing you searched: my ao3 bookmarks (spammed an innocent little soul with bunch of fic recs of the soggy little lizard)

tagging: @ezmerayrune @fawn-tongues @eldritchred @xxx-cat-xxx

nine people to get to know better

ty for the tag @gudgercollege :)

last song: in my life - the beatles. i've also had the my fair lady soundtrack on loop for the past like two days lol

favorite color: usually say yellow but honestly i've been vibing with like dusty mauve lately. love me some muted pinks

currently watching: the latest season of jet lag: the game has me so engrossed i finally signed up for nebula to get new episodes a week early. playing hide and seek across an entire country is my childhood dream and i am living it vicariously

sweet/savory/spicy: savory babey

relationship status: single. hopeless romantic. trying and failing to get over a guy

current obsession: oh god. can i admit that, despite never having given a single shit about the british royal family, i'm genuinely obsessed with this missing kate middleton thing. it's pure concentrated schadenfreude to see how spectacularly the royal PR is fucking it at every possible opportunity. they've reached like bialystock and bloom levels of backfiring

last thing you searched: "audition monologues" because i love putting things off to the last minute <3 (the audition is on MONDAY and i still cannot find a decent one)

now for the final challenge let's see if i can find nine mutuals to tag (no pressure!) @the-common-pigeon @lemoncholy-stars @sparklyshakespeare @droughtofapathy @catboyrichardkarinsky @catboymoses @pealeii @ivorypiano @gingerpeachtea