Equivalent Exchange 2021

The time is upon us... 

Assignments for the Equivalent Exchange 2021 event are due Saturday, September 25, at 11:59 PM UTC!

Be aware that this may be earlier than midnight in your time zone: A countdown timer is available for reference here.

Remember...

You should post your assignment as soon as it is done - you do not have to wait until September 25!

To post your assignment: Go to our 2021 AO3 collection page and click the “My Assignment” button on the left side of the screen. Then, on your Assignment page, click the “Fulfill” button in the upper right-hand part of the screen. This will take you to a page where you can post your fic or art as normal... our collection settings will keep it secret and hidden for you until October 3! 

A mod will be checking your work at a random time after the due date, so make sure that whatever you upload is complete and presentable.

Gifts will be revealed on FMA Day, October 3! (The due date is a week before gift reveals so the mods can make sure everyone gets a gift... and to give you more time to create treats, if you want!) 

Creator identities will be revealed on October 10. Before October 10, do not contact your recipient for any reason - this will ruin their surprise, and destroys a lot of the fun of this event. 

If you have last minute questions about your assignment or you want to ask something of your recipient, email the mods at [email protected] and we will act as an intermediary.

If you need a little extra time to get your gift done, you may request an extension on your due date. To request an extension please email the mods at [email protected] before September 25 and let us know how much extra time you think you will need (up to 72 hours). 

Remember that treats are welcome in this exchange! A treat is an extra gift that you create for someone who may not have been assigned to you.

You may create a treat even if you are not signed up for the exchange! (You can also create extra treats for the person who was assigned to you after you finish their main gift!)

To see a list of requests that are available to choose between, go to the Requests Summary on AO3. 

To post a treat: Go to our AO3 collection page and click the "Post to Collection" button at the top right of the page. Post the gift as you would normally, just make sure you write the username of the person you're treating in the "Gift this work to" box.

You can always reach out to the mod email, [email protected], for any help, questions, or feedback.

Hello! Great question -- and thank you for asking!

You did the exact right thing by using the "fulfill" button. Additionally, you are welcome and encouraged to post your work early if it is done! The way AO3 exchange collections work, the mods control the settings for the entire collection... so even if your work is posted before the deadline it will be kept safely anonymous and hidden until we unveil all the works at once on October 3 (by changing the collection settings).

This is why it's good that you used the "fulfill" option for the assignment: this ensures your work is kept safely in the collection with everyone else's, and when it is revealed the notification will go directly to your recipient.

The sign-up close date and time for the 2021 round of Equivalent Exchange has been extended to Sunday, August 22nd, at 11:59 PM UTC - approximately 24.5 hours from the time of this post. 

An updated countdown timer is available here. 

Sign-ups for the 2021 round of Equivalent Exchange will close Satuday, August 21st, at 11:59 PM UTC - approximately 30 hours from the time of this post. A countdown timer is available for reference here. 

Sign-ups are open!

Sign-ups for the 2021 round of Equivalent Exchange are now open!

As a reminder, you will only be able to request and offer tags that are in the tagset for this round. If something you want isn't in the tagset, nominate it! Nominations will remain open until sign-ups close.

Nominations and sign-ups will both close August 21, 11:59 PM UTC. Keep in mind that this deadline may be earlier or later in your own timezone, and plan accordingly.

Please review the rules and FAQ post if you have questions about signing up, and keep these guidelines in mind specifically:

Romantic and/or sexual relationships are indicated by a / sign between the characters' names. (If you request a / ship, you do not have to DNW "platonic or familial versions of the ship". That is baked in to the / tag.)

Platonic relationships (friendship, familial, etc.) are indicated by an & sign between the characters' names. (If you request an & ship, you do not have to DNW "romantic/sexual versions of the ship". That is baked in to the & tag.)

It is up to you to make your DNWs clear and specific.

You may DNW anything you do not want to receive, using neutral language. You may NOT use your DNWs to obliquely harass or shame other participants in the exchange. For example, if there are certain ships you do not want to see mentioned in your gift, you may DNW "any non-requested ships" or you may DNW, for example, "Riza/Winry, Roy/Ed, and Ed/Envy", "ships between male and female characters", or "romantic/sexual content between characters who are related, including the homunculi". You may NOT say something like "DNW gross pedo ships or incest shipping freaks", "DNW Royai, abuse is wrong y'all", or "DNW Mariza or any of that lesbian stuff".

It is strongly encouraged to separate your DNWs from your prompts in order to make them as clear and specific as possible.

Please also remember to be generally thoughtful and respectful in the wording of your prompts, DNWs, etc.

If you’re new to AO3 exchanges, the nomination process can be somewhat mysterious. This post might answer some of your questions. 

What are nominations?

For a gift exchange, the easiest way to make sure participants are matchable is to limit the tags they can match on. (If you can imagine trying to match an exchange where participants could request any tag that’s ever been added to AO3, you might be able to see the utility of a defined tagset.) Nominations are the process of allowing users to decide what tags they want to be available in an exchange’s tagset. That way, everyone can request and offer the things they want when it’s time to sign up. 

How do I submit nominations? 

Go to the exchange tagset. Click the button that says “Nominate” at the top of the page. There, you’ll enter the tags you want to nominate, and the fandom you want to nominate them in. 

Remember: For the 2021 round of Equivalent Exchange, all nominations will be made in the fandom Fullmetal Alchemist (All Media Types). If you want to nominate relationship tags, please follow the formatting guidelines in the rules post. 

Do I have to submit nominations?

Nope! You can still sign up for this exchange if you don’t nominate any tags. But when you sign up, you will only be able to request and offer tags that have been nominated. Submitting nominations is the best way to ensure you’ll be able to get and make what you want. 

What should I nominate?

Any character or relationship you might want to receive or offer to create a fanwork about, that isn’t already in the tagset!  (And please do check the tagset for duplicates before submitting your nominations: if something you want has already been nominated, don’t submit it again. Use that slot for another tag you want!)

I submitted my nominations, but I don’t see them in the tagset.

Nominations need to be approved by moderators before they will appear in the tagset. After you’ve submitted your nominations, the “Nominate” button on the tagset page will change to read “My Nominations.” Click it, and you’ll be able to see whether your nominations have been approved.  Moderators will approve nominations on a rolling basis and in a timely manner.

I just thought of something else I want, but I already submitted my nominations!

On the tagset page, click “My Nominations.” You’ll be able to add more tags to any slots you still have available. Additionally, you will have the option to edit your submitted nominations until they are approved. At that point, they are finalized in the tagset and cannot be edited or removed from your list.

Oops, I think I made a mistake in one of my submitted nominations.

Don’t worry! The mods will make posts asking for clarifications on any tags that are formatted incorrectly or are unclear. Your tag will not be approved or rejected until you’ve updated it or nominations are over. 

Nominations are open!

Nominations for the 2021 round of Equivalent Exchange are now open! 

The 2021 tagset is here. Please visit the rules and FAQ post for information about eligibility and tag formatting. 

Please nominate all characters and ships under the fandom "Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types." If you have a preference for a certain version of FMA (manga/Brotherhood or 2003 anime), you'll have the option to make that preference clear when you sign up.

Please remember that all relationship nominations must be formatted as follows: "group: Character A/Character B", "group: Character A & Character B", etc. Placing "group:" before the relationship tag is necessary because relationships are being nominated as "characters" for the purposes of this exchange, and your nomination will not be accepted if AO3 thinks you are trying to nominate a canonical relationship tag as a character. Nominations not in this format will not be approved.

Nominations will remain open until August 21 (11:59:59 UTC). 

Hello anon, thank you for asking!

The answer is: Absolutely! You are free to DNW whatever you want as long as your DNW is clear, specific, and free of judgmental or shaming commentary. Under these guidelines, "incest" would be a clear, specific, and objectively phrased DNW.

Here's our full set of DNW guidelines, quoted directly from the official rules post on Dreamwidth:

[DNWs] can include anything, but may not be used to railroad your gifter into making one exact type of gift (e.g. "DNW anything except a Supernatural crossover where the Elrics and the Winchester brothers investigate a haunted warehouse and Ed gets turned into a cat"). Do not list DNWs that contradict your requests (e.g. requesting a "/" relationship and then DNWing shipping). If you have a DNW that seems to contradict a requested character, ship, or prompt, you may be asked to elaborate by the mods.

It is up to you to make your DNWs clear and specific. For example, if for whatever reason you do not want to receive a gift that depicts sex involving characters under the age of 18, it is a better idea to DNW "depictions of sex involving characters under the age of 18" rather than to DNW "problematic ships" or "child abuse", which may not clearly communicate what you don't want.

You may NOT use your DNWs to obliquely harass or shame other participants in the exchange. For example:

If there are certain ships you do not want to see mentioned in your gift, it is completely okay and encouraged to DNW "any non-requested ships" or you may DNW, for example, "Riza/Winry, Roy/Ed, and Ed/Envy", "heterosexual ships", "Roy being shipped with men", "romantic/sexual content between characters who are related by blood or grew up together", etc.

You may NOT phrase your DNW as "pedo ships like Roy/Ed or anything toxic", "any incest ships including Ed/Winry, I can't believe I have to say this y'all are gross", "Al in gay ships because marriage is between a man and a woman", "Royai, abuse is wrong you guys", etc.

Anyone seen using their DNWs to attempt to harass or shame other participants or requests will be immediately, permanently banned.

What is Equivalent Exchange?

Equivalent Exchange is a low-pressure Fullmetal Alchemist fanwork exchange for fanfiction and fanart of any character or ship from all existing FMA canons. Now back for the fourth year!

Each participant will create a piece of fanfiction (500+ words) or fanart (a clean sketch), and receive one fanwork in turn. Participants are matched based on their sign-ups, so you will choose what kind of content you’d like to make and receive.

What are the rules?

The full list of rules can be found here. We ask that participants read all the rules before signing up, but the most important ones are these:

Don’t be a jerk – no exceptions.

Use appropriate tags and warnings for the content of your work. 

What can I make?

The sky’s the limit! You can make content of single characters, romantic or sexual relationships, or platonic relationships; gen or ship content of any rating, whether SFW or NSFW; and content featuring characters from all iterations of FMA, including movies, games, and light novels. All content is welcome in this exchange, as long as it is properly tagged.

You said all romantic and sexual relationships are welcome, but does that include –

Yes. Questions asking whether specific ships are eligible will be deleted. The answer is “yes” across the board.  

Okay, how does this work?

This exchange is hosted at Archive of Our Own (so you will need an AO3 account to participate). The exchange occurs in three stages: nominations, sign-ups, and creation. The 2021 schedule can be found here.

Nominations: This is when participants decide what characters and ships will be eligible for the exchange. When nominations open, you will be able to submit a list of what you want to receive and/or create. If there’s something you might want, be sure to nominate it! Nominations for the 2021 exchange will be open August 7 - August 21.

Sign-ups: This is when participants narrow down their options. From the list of nominated tags, you’ll offer the types of fanworks you want to create, and request the types you want to receive. You will have the option to clarify additional details here, such as any content you do not want to receive. Sign-ups for the 2021 exchange will be open August 14 - August 21.

Creation: After sign-ups close, participants will be assigned a gift to create based on the offers in their sign-up. The identity of everyone’s gifters and giftees will remain secret as you work on your creation. (The person who’s making your gift will probably not be the same person you’re making a gift for!) The creation period for the 2021 exchange will run from August 22 - September 25. After that, everyone will get to open their gifts on October 3!

For a more thorough explanation of everything, see the rules/FAQ post on the exchange Dreamwidth comm. You can also look at previous years’ sub-collections at the AO3 parent collection to see examples of sign-ups and what people have nominated and created in past exchanges. 

I have more questions!

For good measure, here are some useful links collected in one place: the Dreamwidth comm, the 2021 schedule, and, once more, the rules/FAQ post. Updates and instructions will also be posted on Dreamwidth and here on tumblr as things progress.