Just a quick post with my favorite Alphonse AMV.

[youtube uRoyBNcNT70 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRoyBNcNT70 youtube]

She spent the rest of the series in a library reading.

Zl urnqpnaba vf gur rnpu fbhy pubbfrf jura gb yraq Uburaurvz gurve cbjre.

I bit late but for once I had time to what the episode. And it's one of my favorites in fact!

-Ed and everyone with him are willing to trap themselves with the immortal army. These guys are heroes.

-Olivier is as badass as always. And I love the moment when Armstrong (calling him Alex seems weird to me...not sure why) saves her from Sloth. Will we finally get an Armstrong sibling team up? Gung naq zber. Fb zhpu zber.

-May. This little girl is one of my favorite characters. Though her fight with the zombies is short it is amazing to me. She's running full speed while balancing a glass jar on her head perfectly. Then she actually fights and, despite being clearly creeped out, her martial art skills are graceful and precise. I can't help but think of how hard she must of worked to master both this and alkahestry.

-The end of this episode is Alphonse's moment to shine. Armor bby you are wonderful.

-For a long time I was slightly uncomfortable with the use of the stone here. I understand the desperation behind it; they're in a really, really bad spot. But the way Lion dude phrased his argument for using it seems off to me. I think it was because he's assuming what the people who were used to make the stone would want. I don't like that assumption. But when I think about Dr. Macoh using a stone to heal others and compare it to Alphonse using this stone to help save the country, I'm okay with it. That does give these souls and what they lost meaning.

Ah. Unfortunately I haven't been able to read any Tamora outside of PotS and the first Alana book. I plan to fix that eventually, but I don't even have time to re-watch FMAB and write episode posts. As much as I love this series (second favorite anime and third favorite show of all time) I've just been lurking.

Qerfqra Svyrf reference, yes? (rot13'ing it just in case someone is reading the series)

That's cool. Have fun on that trip, Mark!

And good to know I'll be able to catch up.

V'yy wbva lbh va obgu gur rivy penpxyvat naq pelvat. Uhturf...

I've been so busy and stressed with getting ready to move to a new city that I completely forgot Mark was watching FMAB. Definitely going to have to keep up with it, though probably won't be too involved with the conversations until everything settles down in about two weeks.

Thank you for reading these. I read the Protector of the Small series in highschool and loved them.

I didn't realize it til years later, but as a child and teen I thought girly-ness/femininity was a weakness. I wanted nothing to do with that. I didn't want to be "weak". Kel's story - her liking being a girl while also becoming a knight - planted to seeds for me realizing how damaging the idea of femininity being a weakness is. After reading this series, I began the very slow journey of embracing my own feminine side and viewing it as a part of myself I can be comfortable and confident in.

So thanks, Mark, for bringing this series back to my attention. Not just for reminding me of the above, but also for reminding me that there are other Tortall books that I never got around to reading. I'm in the process of fixing that now.