Happy (belated) Pocky Day!

tell me about scar fma

You Have Unlocked An Unskippable Cutscene!

he's just. god where do I even begin with this guy. I cannot believe he's a character that exists and is as well written as he is. fma handed me serial killer with religious motivations and had me go "he's got a point though." from the very beginning, I was like "wow, this character is really interesting and complicated and compelling. god I hope he's handled well." and then he WAS. I spent the whole show terrified that they were gonna kill him off at any second because that's what shows do sometimes when they have a morally complex character they don't want to deal with, and not only did that dude SURVIVE, but he also KILLED THE PRESIDENT IN THE PROCESS. legendary.

I just. am so much more compelled by him than any member of the military. sorry. every time I think about scar and ishval, my heart starts aching. he lost so much, his whole family and his home and his culture and so many of his people, and he has to walk around with a physical reminder of that loss attached at his shoulder. to me, he's such a perfect example of the relationship between grief & anger and love & hate. he loved his people so much (I am forever haunted by the manga panel where he says he has nothing left to protect) and he had them violently stolen from him, and that grief and love twisted up in him and turned into a hateful rage against the people who did it to him

and part of that complexity that I love is that he is entirely justified in what he's doing, but he also hates what he's doing and what he's become. he doesn't like killing people, he's not like kimblee. he's just enacting what he sees as justice, even though he knows it makes him a killer too. it's why he doesn't begrudge winry's hatred of him -- if he is allowed his vengeance, then so is she. he also knows he's a hypocrite because he had been so against his brother's alchemy because he knew people would want to use it as a weapon -- and here he is, using his brother's alchemy as a weapon. it's why the reveal at the end about him getting the other set of the tattoos is so satisfying -- he finally accepts both parts of alchemy's potential, the destruction and the creation. so far, he's been destroying out of hatred and vengeance against the nation and people that slaughtered his own nation and people, and now he accepts the other half of the equation, which involves creating a better future for his people. it's not one or the other. that's what the fight against bradley involves, both destruction and creation. he destroys the man who ordered the slaughter of his people, and he creates the opportunity for the country to have a future at all

also I just love him and his kindness. he's not overt about it because he's stern and scowling all the time, but I think there is an incredible well of kindness inside him, and it's best seen with mei. he didn't have to let her tag along, but he did. he didn't have to help her search for xiao mei, but he did. he didn't have to give her envy and urge her to go home to her people, but he did.

this has gotten long. anyway, stan scar forever and ever