in which I should really know better than to engage

[esmenet]

There's this thing in fiction that makes me see absolutely blinding red. That one where writers are like 'how can I show my main character is growing up and becoming a man? oh, I know! have him separate himself off from the women in his life, to show he is a real man who no longer needs mother figures to protect him!'

Which is bullshit in about 837591736 ways.

I mean, entirely apart from the sexism angle, there's this idea in those bildungsroman lone hero stories that he, the hero, must be the one to protect everyone (and if anyone else does it, they don't count). Which is just the most patriarchal harmful nonsense.

One of the reasons I love stories like Fullmetal Alchemist (the manga) and Sailor Moon, is because those say: everyone needs to be protected sometimes, from something. Yes, even you.


(This post brought to you by an FMA:B fic that so fundamentally misreads the character types and the overall ideals of the series I actually begin to understand why people throw books across the room.) (A very popular fic I have previously read in its entirety.) (it has not improved over time.)

Comments

[salinea]

hey, I recently rewatched Brotherhood with a friend and I never looked for fics for it so do you have some recs for some good ones since you're talking about FMA fics? :)

[esmenet]

YES. I have a bunch! Unfortunately I'm on vacation without my computer (and most of my bookmarks) so you'll have to wait a couple days. :(

[salinea]

I'll wait, thanks :)

OKAY FINALLY HERE YOU GO

[esmenet]

First off, I have to rec metisket's fics -- they're all absolutely amazing, though I have particular love for Experimental Engineering, Rest for the Wicked, and Responsible Adults. I think one of the subtitles is 'awkward good times', which is a 100% perfect descriptor of all the fics in question, though without capturing the sheer HILARITY -- which is achieved, I must mention, by note-perfect character voices.

I also really, really have to recommend Estvarya, even though it hasn't been updated in some time, because it's about Roy and Scar and the problems you have to deal with after the war is won. It deals with some of the ethical issues I had with the end of the manga -- namely, Roy and Havoc (being implied to) use the philosopher's stones to heal themselves. It's not exactly a happy story, but it's wonderful.

And then there's no god (but God), which is a lovely quiet thing. The author's summary: Scar, Ishbal, atheism. Or not.

Last and best, Where Sister and Brother and God-kin Know Us. Wonderful, evocative, glowing.


...you may notice that half these fics are about Scar. I LOVE SCAR, OKAY. HE'S MY FAVORITE.

hold on wait i remembered some more

skygiants has some pretty great stuff in her Fullmetal Alchemist tag, mostly her own fic but also some meta and stuff which is all great. A good starting point may be Ghosts of Baschool, which is about Scar and Marcoh and Mei and Yoki, the author's summary being So a serial killer, a mass murderer, a petty thief and a princess walk into an abandoned mining town . . .

fma_ladyfest has a lot of great fics centered around the female characters! (I also wrote one a few years ago (for the author of Where Sister and Brother [...], as it happens) it is here.) It hasn't been running for the last few years, but there are SO MANY GOOD FICS.

Oh, and Restitution is actually set in the 2003 canon, but it holds up pretty well to manga characterization. (Hasn't been updated for a while, but worth the read.)

There's a few more but I don't have the URLs handy. Hope you enjoy!