https://linktr.ee/myelasticheart

That is a completely valid experience and you are welcome to any aro identity label that you feel fits, or to just use queerplatonic terminology if that's what you prefer.

As a community, we have a tendency to define aromanticism as the absence of romantic attraction, but it's so much more than that. Aromanticism and related concepts exist for ALL people who find society's prioritization of romance to be stifling. You don't have to fit any particular criteria to take on an aro label besides that it's a useful word to describe how you feel and find community with others who have similar experiences.

Grayromantic, more specifically, exists for those who relate to aromanticism, but also feel like there is some aspect of their experience that doesn't quite fit with it either. Essentially it describes both identification with and disconnection from aromanticism.

So, why then has FMA 03 been so widely dismissed after FMAB’s release? There’s only one reason I can think of: it’s because it’s chained to a franchise whose dominant fanbase couldn’t care less about it. I feel like FMA 03 is shackled by being a part of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise.

So many people prefer the storyline of FMAB (likely due to it mostly following the manga) to what FMA 03 has to offer that FMA 03 is completely overshadowed by its mere association with FMAB. This trend only continues to grow as more FMA newcomers are directed straight to FMAB by the FMAB-dominated fanbase while said fanbase promptly dismisses FMA 03 as “that adaptation that didn’t follow the manga”, drastically oversimplifying the situation and potentially robbing people who might enjoy the vastly different tale FMA 03 has to offer of the chance to do so.

Listen to me, it would be SO EASY to just say FMA as a franchise has a manga and two anime adaptations: one that came out while the manga was in its chapter 20-ish and for obvious reasons diverges from the manga early, and another one that came out almost a decade later to specifically sync its end with the manga’s culmination, and that obviously follows it. Then let people watch, appreciate both with their similarities and differences, and decide which one they like better.

Instead it almost seems like FMAB totalitarians are afraid that people might accidentally check out 03 and like it better, so I guess their solution is to just cut the problem from its root and prevent people to consider it at all?

there's also an actual movement to suppress new blood. I don't know how many people were going to watch 03 because they want to learn about the FMA I am most involved with, and told me that their other friends actively tried to talk them out of it. Some succeeded, I know people who lost interest in the whole thing because of BH stans so aggressively urging them to switch.

Someone who just joined us last year often complains that they see people regularly dissuading people from watching 03 still.

They paint it as doing the other people a favor because 03 is so bad it would be an egregious waste of their time to determine this for themselves, rather than have someone else's opinion imposed on them.

I hate Milos but I don't tell people not to watch it, it's not my call to make and just because I don't like it doesn't mean that's true for anyone else I know.

oh, and don't get me started on all the 03 art and quotes I see attributed to Brotherhood even when they make no sense or contradict Brotherhood canon. Tumblr posts tagged as Brotherhood when they're not. 03 haters that can't even be bothered to check things before sharing them. That takes attention away from their actual source and credits it to someone else, giving 03 less exposure.

If 03 is so bad why are you posting quotes from it all over your social media of choice? Doesn't Brotherhood have its own decent quotes to choose from instead of misquoting from the wrong series?

03 lives in the shadow of Brotherhood because people can't respect that 03 contributed to the entire franchise's fame, or understand the nuance of appreciating both series for their own merits.

I'm actually a fan of Brotherhood but I'm tired of seeing it lauded as a perfect masterpiece, when both series have their flaws and you generally don't see 03 fans going "oh don't watch that other series, it's terrible" when we can instead say watch both and have a chance to enjoy almost twice the content.

Also, story aside, people like to ignore that Brotherhood was made years later and had new tech to work with, acting like 03 wasn't impressive for its time. It came out in 2003.

Nevermind the fact that Brotherhood had six extra years to make an anime that was more impressive than 03 and still fell short on providing an accurate manga adaptation, effectively causing a bunch of manga canonblind BH fans to blame Arakawa for where the anime fell flat in delivery.

but that's not the subject of this post.

This official art here calms my heart.

I don’t care.

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