FMA 107 thoughts

[cornerofmadness]

Need I say spoilers. I wrote these comments as I read so sometimes I answered myself



Greed is probably lucky Riza and Olivia are wounded or he’d be needing his ultimate shield after that comment about two chicks going away

I see Olivia has been promoted to ruler (her excellency) by her people

Greed it’s very funny no one is listening to you at all. Some Emperor you’llmake

Hmmm I didn’t expect Olivia and Scar to be left behind, injured or not. Of course Scar is about to die…

Oh fuck Mei isn’t dead yet. Damn it all to hell. Why won’t Mei Sue die??

Oh no, Alphonse!! And to protect little Mary Sue Mei-chan? Really not worth your sacrifice, sweetie.

Ed…yeah, you wrecked your arm again. Even if you GET yours back I give it a year before you lope it off by accident. Did you notice your brother is in pieces or where you blasted into a different quadrant. I’m betting on the latter.

How amused am I that Father is a shrimp?

Yay as anticipated Roy can clap and do alchemy now. Go team Royai! You rock hard.

Ling, you and Greed make my day, just saying

Armstrong you’re great too…thought your eyes are almost too close together jus like Ed’s.

Yay, I predicted Father would try to pull Greed back out of Ling. Go me.

Um Roy are you just trying ONE blast? You did so much better against ENVY. WTF? Pretend this dude killed Maes or something buddy. Ed’s getting torn the hell up.

Roy are you hiding UNDER Riza? Umm…

See Ed, this is what I mean. Now your good arm is wrecked? Pretty soon you’re going to be nothing but automail. What is it with you and rebar? Must you fall on it every time?

And once again fucking Mei Sue has perfect aim to save the day. I’m so beyond sick of this I’m getting glad we’re near the end. I can’t handle much more of Ed and Al fucking up and needing her to save them. And seriously Roy and Armstrong seem uninjured (unless I missed something) WHY are they just standing around?

I have so many problems with Al’s sacrifice. I really really do. It shouldn’t be possible to give Ed back his arm. Hell Winry HAD to have taken more of the arm off to get the automail jack on. There should be a gap between his arm and the rest of his shoulder plate. There should be a human arm just lying there.

I know ultimately that this is Ed’s fight. But it just doesn’t work for me that the rest of them are just standing around with their thumbs up their asses.

I do feel sorry for Greed, I really do. He’s always tried to make friends but his nature gets in his way


I'm completely and totally conflicted by this. So much I did like but ulimately...huge chunks of it didn't work for me. I wanted Ed and Al to work this out on their own. ANd yes Al made the sacrifice but not on his own and that's what bothers me. I can't help feel profounded betrayed by this. You know if it had been anyone but Mei maybe it wouldn't have bothered me so but no, we have multiple injured but still in the fight Alchemists standing around doing nothing and we need Mei to save the day. If I went thru this I'm sure we'd see a shocking number of times she did this. It's not her story. She shouldn't be the only one with abilities and answers.






ETA - hopefully i'm not coming across as too bitchy. I've strong opinions (and I'm in a bad mood so maybe I AM being a little more strident than necessary)

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I think I'll post my thoughts in my LJ.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

do that please

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I had some.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

Oh god, Mei is so irritating. I haven't kept up with this series in a while but I'm disappointed she didn't die a horrible death a long time ago.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

so am i and I really hate she's the mcGuffin every time the boys are in a jam

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

That's too bad, because I generally like her female characters for the most part.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah same here. she writes some of the best strong females in manga

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was originally what struck me about it.

I need to get back into it. I've picked up a bunch of volumes recently, just haven't had the time.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

overall it's still one of the best stories I've ever read

[enemytosleep]

I loved the Greed/Ed (predictably).

I hated Ed getting his arm back. Was Ed becoming a stone a bad translation last chapter? Hope he loses the arm soon.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

well yes

Yeah I didn't want him to get his arm back. just didn't . I don't find it credible. Yeah that Ed becoming a stone thing..i'm not sure what the hell was up with that.

Why did Roy just stand there?

[enemytosleep]

I have a feeling the arm will be taken away soon. I don't think Hoho has enough in him to take down Father and Bring Al back.

Because he didn't want to fry Ed? He can't control it that well without seeing where everything is. Riza told him to let loose when they were shooting of fireballs before, but now Ed and Greed are there.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about that. I guess we'll see what happens to the new arm


Hmm yes but before that. He and Armstrong started something then just let it fizzle. it was odd. or i could just still be pissed about Mei. it's hard to tell

[andromakhe001.livejournal.com]

I thought Roy did pretty good considering he can't see anything. :) He's walking around in the dark with all manner of noise and action going on around him, entirely dependent upon inexact verbal instructions.

He got off two or three good shots at least in a crowded chaotic environment. The first one, when he was off by 5 degrees, the second one which hit it's target but which Father eventually "sent back" at him in a fireball(thus him creating the wall with the "Hey this clappy alchemy CAN be convenient" comment) and a third time when they tried to create an "oven" but Father blew apart the walls.(That bit was a little confusing for me, but it looked like Armstrong, or it could have been Izumi I guess, was trying to surround Father in walls and then a large stream of flame from who could only have been Roy, shot into it, but Father blew apart the walls). But it seems that all of that contributed to helping to "use up" Father's philosopher's stone.

That explosion I think just knocked everyone off their game for the moment, thus the pause in the action and then Greedling and Ed got close to Father.

I assume Roy's inaction after that it was because he didn't want to fry Ed. :)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Roy did do good up to a point then there came a point where everyone just stopped and it felt very contrived, like the only way to move forward was to have miss mary sue run to the rescue while three high powered alchemist do nothing but stand there, giving up the whole idea of draining Father's Philosopher stone

I think more than I'm unhappy with Roy I'm unhappy that once again Mei is required to save the day

[raceulfson.livejournal.com]

I think Ed's going to lose his left arm, as I've seen rebar puncture wounds and they are horrible. That said, yay for Roy finally getting to do something, even though it was not nearly enough for me.

As for Mei, she's a bit too precious for me, but I can see why Al said she was the only one who could help him right then - 1) I think she was the only one close enough by to hear him, as there was a lot of noisy stuff going on and 2) she could do the distance alchemy needed so that Al didn't sacrifice himself for an arm than fell on the concrete with a wet schwapp. I think she reattached it, after all, Al could open the gate himself. She is the only one there any good at healing alchemy - the Roy said he was no good at it...

I do think Hohenheim and the others could have, you know, chucked a rock or something to distract Father. I cut Roy slack because if Riza isn't telling him, he wouldn't know where to chuck it - and may not have known at all that Ed was pinned.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that's a possibility but he had a rebar injury through his gut. I've stitched together enough gut wounds to know they don't heal like that but he did have Kimbley's stone...

Well yes I can see why Al would call on Mei but really, the perfect toss? again with her being the only one to do anything, I'm really tired of it.

Man i didn't even think Mei helped put the arm back on. that makes it even worse.

well yes Roy does have his handicapps which apparently includes quiting after he tries once

[raceulfson.livejournal.com]

It was an I-beam through the gut, said the one who deals in structural metals for a living. And although Ed did use alchemy to keep himself alive, he was out of commission at that clinic long enough for the others to walk all the way from Briggs to Loire. I got the impression it was weeks, at least.

Aww, Roy isn't a quitter. He blasted at least 3 times, and provided the fire for the Bake a Father Trick. He only stopped when stuff blew up and again, that could have been because Riza wasn't feeding him coordinates anymore.

I'm just glad Al's body was still there - I was afraid it wouldn't be.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I have to think an I-Beam would be even more damaging but yes he was out of commission for a while. Gut wounds are dirty nasty things.

i think it bugged me that they stopped fighting when Father destroyed Armstrong's cocoon. ah well.

yes I was wondering about that. Al pretty much has to live. I'm not sure i'd ever trust Arakawa again if Ed and Al both die at the end of this

[raceulfson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do some crazy impossible stuff but Arakawa does tend to make them pay with hospital stays and such. I've never read another manga where so many characters actually spend time with doctors. At least she tries.

Oh, I never even considered Ed or Al dying. I would fly to Japan and cry on her personally if she did that. With snot bubbles.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes she does try. She hurts them and they get scars or never walk again or go blind...that's better than most.

yeah I've considered them both dying. not all stories have happy endings...but mostly I rather wish they had at least a semi-happy one...is also very afraid of Roy/Riza dying. I might never recover

[flybynight00.livejournal.com]

re: Roy under Riza -- Riza specializes in flinging herself in front of Roy. Sheesh, her first line in the ENTIRE SERIES is "Please step back, sir." Blinded, Roy doesn't have a chance. RIZA THE PROTECTOR 4EVA.

Mei Chang... it took me a while to realize, but she is the Xingese Edward Elric. She's stupidly skilled for being so young, set out to save her family with only one trusted companion, journeyed far away from home, and allied herself with the morally questionable to pursue her (obsessively single-minded) goal. For comparison: Ling Yao crossed a desert with two highly trained awesome ninja escorts and ended up half-dead in the street in Rush Valley. Mei crossed the desert with a tiny mutant panda, walked into Youswell on her own two feet, had a quick snack, and saved a bunch of miners from certain death. She annoyed me for a long time, but I've warmed a bit. When you compare Deus ex Mei-chana to all the times Ed has suddenly popped up with a solution... eh.

re: Ed's arm -- had a ton of metal shit sticking out of it from his automail port. I can't believe he can move it at all, and long term it must be fucked. Although I certainly don't object to him getting his arm back on principle, this would seem to be problematic.

[flybynight00.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I guess my real thought on Mei is, ask yourself "If Ed had done this, would it have been retarded?" If the answer is no... well.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

If Ed had done it, I would be more accepting. He IS the hero of the story. He should be the one doing it

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure out why Roy was on the ground in the first place. I assume Father was winging out energy or something.

I suppose that's one way of looking at it. It's not the deus ex mechina that's bothering me, it's that Mei is perfect. She never does anything wrong. She's a Mary SUe and if one of us had created this character with all she did as you just listed out, we'd be booed off the internet for writing a Mary Sue. I'm tired of her and I hope she dies a painful horrible death preferably at Ran Fan's hands once this is all over.

yes i did notice all the junk sticking out of Ed's arm (i.e. the remains of the port) and no he shouldn't be able to move it. that's where the bracial plexus runs but that doesn't even exist any more, hence no arm movement but again I must kill the medical part of my brain to get thru this

[ghostfriendly.livejournal.com]

Good point about the Automail stump; Al's transmutation would have to have disintegrated that (easy compared to replacing the arm, combining them makes a complicated transmutation, but possible).

You've got to be glad that Mei isn't squeeing around with little romantic thought bubbles anymore. I've never thought of her as a perfect Mary Sue because she's done several foolish things, and lacked the power to save everyone she wanted to, as she does in this chapter

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i suppose in that respect Mei isn't the perfect Mary Sue but she has been the one to the rescue far too many times for my tastes

[randomcheeses.livejournal.com]

Leaving aside Mei-Sue, this chapter was indeed OMFG AWESOME!!!!

How awesome is Blind!Roy and SeeingEye!Riza? Very awesome!

Plus it's interesting that Roy creates a wall to protect himself and Riza. Proof that he is something more than just a pyromaniac when it comes to alchemy. The man has skillz!

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

Well, I agree that I really don't want Ed's arm to stay (but for non-medical reasons, really - enemy has said it better than me on ELD's journal about the conscious sacrifice he made for Al when he gave it up). I have always thought in my complete medical ignorance that they'd have to do a further amputation to fit the port, which presumably locks into his empty socket that would originally have had the ball joint of his humerus and a little bone stump?

But re. medical stuff in FMA in general, there's a lot of slightly non-realistic medical stuff throughout the manga as far as I can see. And you'll have already noticed that Al's body can stand, sit and walk short distances, and definitely doesn't have completely atrophied muscles, pressure sores, etc., wasted as it is. Which I guess is good news for Al?

Anyway, that aside, I thought Roy and Riza were really awesome, and I loved the clapping. And if you put aside the fact that it's Mei, it's very Al to just stand in front of someone smaller and more vulnerable than him (i.e. everyone?). He's used to being invulnerable and shrugging off bullets. I think he would have acted without thinking, even if it had been someone he'd never even met instead of Mei.

I did note that Olivia's troops have promoted her, but I think we part ways here. Besides the fact that I just can't see her initiating democratic reform as Fuhrer, Roy has struggled so long to get to the top. People have sacrificed so much so he can get there, and he has that 520 cenz promise to keep too - if he doesn't make Fuhrer, Ed will kick his ass, and Riza, Havoc and the ghost of Hughes will join in on the butt-whumping too. XD

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh yes there would have to have been stump modification before the automail was joined (something else i dealt with in Sorrow's Dark Array). So yeah really issues with the arm

I do love that Roy was a fast learner when it came to the clapping and that he didn't l ike it for the fire.

yes Al would definitely try to save anyone. that's Al.

No, Olivia really wouldn't make good reform. THat said I don't believe that Roy wants to be fuhrer. I never have. It seemed far more like Maes's idea. Roy is too soft to be a ruler and he's a mutt and I don't see the country rallying behind him (not htat I haven'tmade him ruler before). Olivia has the lineage and clout to be embraced. Idealy I see her and him coruling as president/vice president sort of thing

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, did you notice it's all little and wussy compared to his left?

I really need to read Sorrow's Dark Array. Ever since Dr H did her orthopaedics rotation, assisted at hip replacements, and TMIed me on the gore, I've been sort of fascinated by Winry the eleven year old second surgeon and her adventures with kidney trays and hardware tools.

Well, this is a big discussion. Suffice to say Roy may be a sap but he's tougher than many of the Prime Minsters we've had in the last fifty years - and he and Olivia co-operating and arguing the toss over policy would be priceless. In lieu of further discussion, I think I'll just link you to our (mildly NSFW) campaign poster from the poll on my lj. Now there's a slogan we can all get behind ... (http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy254/threeflyingducks/RoyleatherpantsGUH.jpg)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes I did notice it was a little less big but probably not enough. Ah well. Yes, hip replacements are grusome fun. You can't even explain the sound of breaking bone. that wet pop gives me shivers

Oh thanks. I clikced on that picture and now h ave to face 20 10 year olds...yay.

and MY GOD YUMMMMY

Olivia and Roy would probably either kill each other or drag Riza into some hot president's office sex just to release the tension

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

Well, you do always add those special icky medical details to your writing to great effect. I always love watching operation footage on documentaries - sounds prurient, but I think it's amazing to see what's going on inside the human body and what surgeons can do. After knowing what goes on in a hip replacement I'm amazed old ladies ever manage to recover from that. It's hardcore.

20 ten year olds - did the students fall in the shrink ray?

But yeah, that picture's quite special, isn't it?

Ha, I'm tempted to prompt that now for springkink.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

we have tons of medical shows on our tv here. I'm not sure how accessible it is for you but it sounds like you get a fair share as well. Neat stuff.

I volunteered to handle 6th graders. 20 at a time for a total of 60 squawling brats

that picture is hot.

I think I'm just dusting off all the ones not done last time and resubmitting since so MANY of mine didn't get done or got taken and still not get done (In fact only ELD did her stories)

wonders if i can turn that picture into wallpaper...