Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist, or Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, is a steampunk fantasy manga by Hiromu Arakawa, set in a world that resembles early 20th Century Europe with working alchemy. It has also been rendered as an anime twice, produced by Studio Bones, as a novel, in drama CDs, three video role playing games and a trading card game. While the series is generally consistent with the shounen genre, it has attracted many adult fans as well. In addition, Arakawa is female, which some fans feel gives this shounen series a broader, more gender-balanced appeal.
==Canon==
===Synopsis===
This series follows the adventures of two boys, Edward and Alphonse Elric, as they search for a way to restore their damaged bodies after a dreadful alchemical accident. Over time they become increasingly involved in national affairs, both political and alchemical.
===Anime and Manga===
The 2003 anime is based on the manga, and follows it closely for a time, but at about the middle of the anime run and around volume seven of the manga the stories diverge. Arakawa consulted on the creation of the anime, but did not assist with the writing. The ending of the first TV series and the manga differ greatly after the appearance of the character Greed. The second anime adaptation, Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood (usually shortened as "FMAB" or "Brotherhood") follows the manga much more closely, and despite some changes (particularly in the earlier episodes), Brotherhood and the manga are often considered the same canon (sometimes referred to by fans as "mangahood" to contrast with the '03 anime canon).
The differences between the 2003 anime and the original manga has, however, led to a split in the fandom. While the early fandom regarded the two versions as renditions of the same story, later discussion and fanworks have had to distinguish which continuity they are dealing with. This made the common divide between anime oriented fans and manga oriented fans considerably deeper than usual.
Some fans feel that parts of the two versions can still be reconciled. For example, the manga reveals that an early, minor character is the grandfather of a main character, Hawkeye. This is not indicated in the anime, but as there is nothing to absolutely contradict it, some fans fee it can be assumed. Others feel that, since the late anime diverged so greatly, no real continuity should be assumed unless it is directly confirmed in the anime.
===Characters===
* Edward Elric
* Alphonse Elric
* Roy Mustang
* Scar
* Winry Rockbell
* Riza Hawkeye
* Ling Yao
==Fandom==
Fullmetal Alchemist has had a very active fandom since late 2003, largely centered in LiveJournal comms. The central, general community is fm_alchemist , but the fandom has quite a few strong factions or sub-fandoms. Some of the more active comms include the major sexually based divisions fma_gen , fma_yaoi and fma_het , and the manga-specific comm hagaren_manga .
===Fandom Dates===
October 3rd is an important date in the story, which fans of the series commemorate every year with fanart and memes. . Posted 3 October 2019. Accessed 17 April 2022.. Fanart by viria. Posted 3 October 2021. Accessed 17 April 2022. Since it's the same date as a meme from Mean Girls there is also some popular crossover art and discussion of interaction between the two fandoms. . Fanart by alithographica. Posted 3 October 2018. Accessed 17 April 2022.. Post by jentrevellan. Posted 3 October 2017. Accessed 17 April 2022.
Other calendar dates that are commemorated by the fandom include Meat Day (February 9th, based on a pun in Japanese that is refenced in the manga),. Post explaining the pun behind Meat Day by shocotate. Posted 9 February 2021. Accessed 17 April 2022.. Post by fma-facts. Posted 9 February 2018. Accessed 17 April 2022. and International Tumbleweed Day (December 18th, for unknown reasons). . Post by fma-facts. Posted 18 December 2017. Accessed 17 April 2022.. Fanart by indyfalcon. Posted 18 December 2014. Accessed 17 April 2022.
===Pairings===
FMA has a number of quite active pairing-based fandoms. Since the pairings often involve a single character with different partners, this makes for a lot of acrimony between staunch adherents.
One of the highest profile pairing-based conflicts is between RoyEd and RoyAi (Roy/Hawkeye). The prevalence of RoyEd among a handful of prolific fans early in the fandom's expansion may account for the intensity with which some RoyAi fans support their preferred pairing. In addition, RoyEd itself was the center of a different conflict. Some fans felt that, given Ed's youth and Roy's maturity, pairing them was an exercise in pedophilia. Some of the fans that held this view, notably elffromspace, were also involved in the creation of the fma_het comm, feeling that fm_alchemist was acting as a functional yaoi comm.
Popular pairings include:
* Ed/Winry
* Roy/Riza
* RoyEd
* Al/May Chang, more commonly known as AlMei
* Elricest, also Ed/Alfons
* Ed/Envy
* Roy/Havoc
* Havoc/Lust
* Sheska/Winry
* Paninya/Winry
* Roy/Hughes
* Hohenheim/Trisha
=== Gen Relationships ===
* Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric
===Conflicts===
Some conflicts, of course, have nothing to do with the pairings.
One came up fairly early in the fandom's expansion, among fans who felt that the influx of new fans was resulting in a distressing amount of bad fanwork and discussion. This is not an unusual phenomenon, but in this case the fans in question put together a closed-membership community dedicated to fanworks and discussion they felt were of good quality. This was the hagaren comm, active throughout 2004-2005. This led to a certain amount of bad feeling, but not a great deal of active fighting.
Notable conflicts include:
* Winry Rockbell hate/character bashing
* Names, fan vs. official (Winry/Winly, Riza/Liza/Lisa, etc.)
==Online Communities==
===Archives===
Quite a few archives were started early in the fandom expansion, but only a few have been consistently maintained. One of the only FMA-specific archives that is still active is Scimitar Smile . Most fans appear content to have their fic publicized primarily in LJ comms and/or fanfiction.net, or else to make single-author archives for themselves alone.
Significant but now inactive archives include Equivalent Trade and Touka Koukan .
FMA Writers was a LiveJournal community.
===Websites===
Given the complexity of symbol and reference in FMA it is not surprising that a major category of fanwork was the informational site.
Some of these sites are generalist, and contain synopses, purchasing information, media clips, character profiles, background information and forums. Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, Full Metal Alchemist is one of this type.
Other sites focused more closely on tracing out the historical and symbolic background behind FMA's alchemy, military and political organization, and even character name derivations. Fullmetal Alchemist Indepth is one of this kind.
==Example Fanworks==
FMA produces a high volume of fanwork, the majority of which is fanfiction with fanart running a close second.
===Events===
* FMA Big Bang, active 2020, 2021
* Ship weeks: RoyAi Week, RoyEd Week, EdWin Week, etc
* FMA Secret Santa: 2015, 2018,2020 2021, 2021 Gift Exchange
* FMA Fic Contest
* Moms Made Fullmetal, active 2017-2021
* Fullmetal Alchemist Big Bang
* Fullmetal Alchemist Gift Exchange, active 2009-2014
===Fanfiction===
Stories or series:
*The Elemental Chess Trilogy
*Number Twenty-Eight by Sevlow, one of the more prominent examples of FMA chimera-fic, a fandom-specific type of Animal Transformation fic in which Ed (or, rarely, another character) is alchemically bound to an animal, echoing the canonical fate of another character. The author, Sevlow, is well-known for writing angst fic about the character Roy Mustang.
*Roughing It by Jordanna Morgan
*In Defiance Of Reason by metisket, a gen dark!fic where Ed is not able to save his brother's soul from the Gate, and instead of becoming a State Alchemist, he becomes a serial killer. The fic became part 1 of 4 of the series demon alchemist.
* Snipers solve 99% of all problems, gen Harry Potter crossover
===Fanart===
* by magicmooshka, 2021
* by emmm. Pixiv link to original artist. 2018
* by caeboa, 2015
* by veroniikus, 2019
*エド&アル by FISH ZEPPELIN, 2021
*Girls night by marycrispies, 2022
=== Fangames ===
* Bluebird's Illusion (2006)
* HOW (2006) by Xinying (星影) made using Love Game Maker 2 (戀愛遊戲製作大師２)https://web.archive.org/web/20110808195245/http://www.wretch.cc/blog/cinlululu
===Zines===
*The Adventures of Roy Mustang: Sex Ed Teacher
*King & Queen 2018
*Fullmetal Alchemist: Travel Anthology
* , 2020-2021
* , 2021
* Jump for the Stars - cinematic-style zine featuring shounen anime series as movie posters (2022)
* , featuing comics by humming-fly, 2021
* Tribute: a FMA Zine Twitter. , 2017
* , 2018
===Vids===
* Transmutayshun by , 2015
* Protège Moi by Tyler_yj (May 18, 2004) - Song by Placebohttps://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=39018
===Memes===
*Memes about the advertising bumpers in Brotherhood: , 
*Memes about Nina Tucker: , , 
** Also, more specifically, the reactions of first-time watches to the reveal of what happened to Nina: , , , 
===Other===
* , recreation of the Alex Louis Armstrong and Sig Curtis "friendship through muscles" scene by @v_i_e_l, 2021
*Finnish Fullmetal Alchemist Fansite
===Meta===
* Idol Reflection character essays on Jean Havoc, Roy Mustang, and Winry Rockbell
* Shipper's Manifesto pairing essays on Alphonse Elric/Mei Chan, Edward/Alphonse (Elricest), Ed/Envy, Edward/Ran Fan, Jean Havoc/Roy Mustang, Kimbley/Archer, Ling/Edward, Ling Yao/Lan Fan, Roy/Ed, Roy/Hughes, Roy/Riza I, Roy/Riza II, Scar/Lust
* How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character by creative-type
* Izumi Curtis by generic-foucauldian-project, June 2016.
*What Your Favorite Fullmetal Alchemist Ship Says About You by Eldena Doubleca5t
* Comparing FMA Manga, Brotherhood and the 2003 anime
==Resources==
* Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types at Archive of Our Own
** Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003) at AO3
** Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga at AO3
* Fullmetal Alchemist at FanFiction.Net
* Fullmetal Alchemist at Wikipedia (canon resource)
* Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki at Fandom.com
* Pixiv: #Fullmetal Alchemist, #hagaren 
* Tumblr: #Fullmetal Alchemist, #fma, #fma brotherhood, #fma 03
==References==
Category:Fullmetal Alchemist