In one alternate universe, the cast of Fullmetal Alchemist can be found in a world very much like our own. When they all have the time, the Elric brothers, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Ling Yao and Greed can all be found playing a tabletop RPG similar but not identical to Dungeons & Dragons with Maes Hughes as the GM. Hughes has based the campaign's characters on people who can be found in the community, and its story follows a path that will be very familiar to most readers...
Information on this AU (as well as the occasional illustration or comic set in it) can be found here
.
Tropes
- Academic Athlete: Winry, enormously so. Not only is she writing groundbreaking independent research papers that are starting to change the field of prosthetics, she's also a star on her college's basketball and volleyball teams.
- Adaptational Job Change:
- Most of the military characters are now cops, with some exceptions (such as Hughes being a journalist).
- Van Hohenheim is a college professor in this universe.
- Adaptation Name Change: In this universe, "Greed" is just a nickname, and the man's real name is Gier Jin.
- Age Lift: All the teenage characters (including Ed, Al, Ling and Winry) are slightly older than they were in canon, though they're still technically teenagers.
- Animal Lover: Hashim, to the point of running a no-kill animal shelter.
- Bait-and-Switch: One comic set in this AU has Al confess something deeply personal to Ed. Ed initially thinks he's coming out of the closet and is completely supportive... but then it turns out that Al was confessing to loving country music. Ed, being an obsessive metalhead, doesn't take it well.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: In this universe, Solf J. Kimblee is a shady businessman who's constantly trying to use underhanded schemes to have Hashim's animal shelter shut down so he has an excuse to take possession of the building it's in.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Greed's employees at the Devil's Nest all have some serious baggage:
- Bido became homeless at age 20, having never learned how to take care of himself. Greed met him at a shelter for endangered adults, and realized he wasn't getting the care and attention he needed despite the best intentions of the staff.
- Martel grew up in the foster system and never had a permanent home. She started drinking and using illegal drugs at a young age, and eventually dropped out of school to run off to the big city. Unfortunately, things didn't improve for her there, as she found herself stuck in a dead-end job and an abusive relationship.
- Roa made a mistake and ended up behind bars for three years. After getting out, he had serious trouble finding a job and ended up homeless.
- Dolcetto served in the military overseas, and got discharged after a bad head injury. He turned to the bottle to deal with his PTSD and soon found himself homeless and friendless. Greed found him almost freezing to death in the alley behind his bar.
- Ulchi, due to undiagnosed anger issues, spent most of his teen years in juvie and eight of his adult years in prison for crimes like assault and battery. Even after getting the medicines and therapy he needed, he still had trouble finding a job.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Since this is a far more mundane AU where turning people and animals into Chimeras is impossible, Mrs. Tucker died in a car accident.
- Disabled in the Adaptation:
- Nina Tucker is a double amputee and a paraplegic, having lost both her legs in a car accident that also killed her mother.
- The males of the Elric family are all on the Autism spectrum, as is Bido.
- Ling is diabetic, and unfortunately, he often forgets about his blood sugar.
- Even the Girls Want Her: It's said that all the girls who know Paninya are at least a little gay for her.
- Evil Twin: Since homonculi don't actually exist in this AU, Father is Van Hohenheim's twin brother.
- Fandom Rivalry: In-universe; Winry and Lan Fan often argue over whether Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Office (US) is the better sitcom.
- GMPC: Maes Hughes has his own player character based on himself. Since his campaign follows the canon plot, he kills off his PC early on to help establish the stakes and how serious a threat the antagonists are.
- Happily Adopted: Nina gets adopted by the Hughes family after being taken out of her father's custody.
- Homemade Sweater from Hell: Ling owns a seemingly endless variety of hideous sweaters. Every Christmas, he wins the ugly sweater contest hands down.
- Hopeless with Tech: Zigzagged with Ed. While his automail makes it very difficult for him to use smartphones, tablets and keyboards without damaging them and his profane tendencies confuse Siri a lot, nobody can build and print an array faster than he can and his programs to figure out the components of materials are flawless.
- Intrepid Reporter: Hughes is an investigative journalist known for being as brilliant as he is nosy.
- Jerkass: Kimblee is constantly inconveniencing and annoying people and generally acts like an asshole. At best, he doesn't care how his actions bother others; at worst, he gets his kicks from being a jackass.
- Jewish and Nerdy: This version of Winry is explicitly Jewish and just as skilled a mechanic as she is in canon.
- Lighter and Softer: Since most of the canonical angsty stuff is confined to an in-universe tabletop RPG campaign, it's only natural that this AU would be a good deal fluffier.
- Local Hangout: Many of the characters spend a significant amount of time at the Devil's Nest, a bar owned by Greed that's a lot classier than the sketchy name makes it sound.
- Meaningful Name: This AU's version of Greed has a very appropriate real name: Gier is German for "greed" and Jin is Chinese for "gold".
- Named by the Adaptation: Scar and his brother are now respectively Hashim and Alim Mahdi.
- Really Gets Around: This version of Lust has dated and/or slept with many different people — of both genders, no less.
- Real Men Cook: Roa works at the Devil's Nest as a cook, and is a damn good one by all accounts.
- Related in the Adaptation: Greed is Ling and Mei's cousin.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Dolcetto served in the military, getting discharged after a bad head injury. He struggled with PTSD and used alcohol as a coping mechanism, but he managed to turn his life around with some help from Greed.
- Show Within a Show: The 2003 anime also exists in this universe as a Darker and Edgier story Ed and Al write based on the campaign.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- While Nina loses her legs in a terrible car accident, she and Alexander are both still alive in this universe, thanks to it being a more mundane one.
- Maes Hughes also doesn't die like he did in canon.
- Unlike in canon, Trisha Elric is alive and well.
- The Stoner: Jean Havoc and Heymans Breda are said to get stoned frequently.
- Supreme Chef: Roa is stated to be a master cook.
- Take That!: In-universe, Maes bases some of his campaign antagonists on real people he dislikes.
- Traumatic Haircut: One time, Roy showed up at the police station with a mustache. He didn't leave with it.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Martel started drinking and using illegal drugs at a disturbingly young age. Fortunately, she managed to get clean with a lot of help from Greed.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: There's a good deal of tension between the Van Hohenheim and his sons, owing to him traveling a lot for his job.
- Wife-Basher Basher: When Greed saw Martel's boyfriend abusing her, he stormed over and beat the snot out of the bastard.
