Discussion History WesternAnimation / TheBlackCauldron

And while we\\\'re on the topic of FMA, Mei Chang is included with the only qualification being that she develops a crush on Alphonse, even though this never deters her from her own goal (which she, admittedly, fails in but for reasons completely outside anything to do with her feelings for alphonse). And she certainly never becomes less effective in pursuing it, so why she is linked to Badass Decay is beyond me. Her skills are never downplayed, before or after the crush, and persuing a romantic life with Al becomes, at best, a secondary goal for after her main goal of saving her family is over with. Her problem is that she is overshadowed by awesome, not that she can\\\'t can\\\'t do anything herself.

And while we\\\'re on the topic of FMA, Mei Chang is included with the only qualification being that she develops a crush on Alphonse, even though this never deters her from her own goal (which she, admittedly, fails in but for reasons completely outside anything to do with her feelings for alphonse). And she certainly never becomes less effective in pursuing it, so why she is linked to Badass Decay is beyond me. Her skills are never downplayed, before or after the crush, and persuing a romantic life with Al becomes, at best, a secondary goal for after her main goal of saving her family is over with.

I would like to contest Winry\\\'s entry. First off, she takes her inspiration from her mother and her father equally and actually learned her automail skills from her grandmother. We mainly see her treating Ed, but it\\\'s clear that she has other customers, and doubly so once she goes to Rush Valley where she gets a job and serves various people other than Ed. Later in the story, she gains an important role in deciding the fate of Scar, not based on anything Ed says or does, but based on her own moral resolve. I find it difficult to accept that she is this trope when she has her own aspirations, a female mentor (2 female and one male if you count her learning how to be a doctor from her parents notes), a life outside Ed, and her own agency on making important decisions like how to react to her parent\\\'s killer. Edit: In fairness, I just remembered that she does gain a male mentor in rush valley as well, but she still accomplished a great deal before ever meeting him and he was essentially never seen again, with all scenes of Winry at rush valley afterwards have her operating independently at another place. With how minor a role that male mentor is given, I never got the impression he was pivotal to her success. It\\\'s clear she is a prodigy in the medicinal field, as evidenced by her picking up her grandmothers skills at such a rapid rate and understanding her parent\\\'s doctor notes, so it comes across that she would have pwned regardless and he just happened to be the fastest way to get there.

I would like to contest Winry\\\'s entry. First off, she takes her inspiration from her mother and her father equally and actually learned her automail skills from her grandmother. We mainly see her treating Ed, but it\\\'s clear that she has other customers, and doubly so once she goes to Rush Valley where she gets a job and serves various people other than Ed. Later in the story, she gains an important role in deciding the fate of Scar, not based on anything Ed says or does, but based on her own moral resolve. I find it difficult to accept that she is this trope when she has her own aspirations, a female mentor (2 female and one male if you count her learning how to be a doctor from her parents notes), a life outside Ed, and her own agency on making important decisions like how to react to her parent\\\'s killer. Edit: In fairness, I just remembered that she does gain a male mentor in rush valley as well, but she still accomplished a great deal before ever meeting him and was essentially never seen again, with all scenes of Winry at rush valley afterwards have her operating independently at another place. With how minor a role that male mentor is given, I never got the impression he was pivotal to her success. It\\\'s clear she is a prodigy in the medicinal field, as evidenced by her picking up her grandmothers skills at such a rapid rate and understanding her parent\\\'s doctor notes, so it comes across that she would have pwned regardless and he just happened to be the fastest way to get there.

I would like to contest Winry\\\'s entry. First off, she learns takes her inspiration from her mother and her father equally and actually learned her automail skills from her grandmother. We mainly see her treating Ed, but it\\\'s clear that she has other customers, and doubly so once she goes to Rush Valley where she gets a job and serves various people other than Ed. Later in the story, she gains an important role in deciding the fate of Scar, not based on anything Ed says or does, but based on her own moral resolve. I find it difficult to accept that she is this trope when she has her own aspirations, a female mentor (2 female and one male if you count her learning how to be a doctor from her parents notes), a life outside Ed, and her own agency on making important decisions like how to react to her parent\\\'s killer. Edit: In fairness, I just remembered that she does gain a male mentor in rush valley as well, but she still accomplished a great deal before ever meeting him and was essentially never seen again, with all scenes of Winry at rush valley afterwards have her operating independently at another place. With how minor a role that male mentor is given, I never got the impression he was pivotal to her success. It\\\'s clear she is a prodigy in the medicinal field, as evidenced by her picking up her grandmothers skills at such a rapid rate and understanding her parent\\\'s doctor notes, so it comes across that she would have pwned regardless and he just happened to be the fastest way to get there.

I would like to contest Winry\\\'s entry. First off, she learns takes her inspiration from her mother and her father equally and actually learned her automail skills from her grandmother. We mainly see her treating Ed, but it\\\'s clear that she has other customers, and doubly so once she goes to Rush Valley where she gets a job and serves various people other than Ed. Later in the story, she gains an important role in deciding the fate of Scar, not based on anything Ed says or does, but based on her own moral resolve. I find it difficult to accept that she is this trope when she has her own aspirations, a female mentor (2 female and one male if you count her learning how to be a doctor from her parents notes), a life outside Ed, and her own agency on making important decisions like how to react to her parent\\\'s killer. Edit: In fairness, I just remembered that she does gain a male mentor in rush valley as well, but she still accomplished a great deal before ever meeting him and was essentially never seen again, with all scenes of Winry at rush valley afterwards have her operating independently at another place. With how minor a role that male mentor is given, I never got the impression she succeeded because of him in particular and more because she was just a prodigy in the medicinal field, as evidence by her picking up her grandmothers skills at such a rapid rate and understanding her parent\\\'s doctor notes. It comes across that she would have pwned regardless and he just happened to be the fastest way to get there.

I would like to contest Winry\\\'s entry. First off, she learns takes her inspiration from her mother and her father equally and actually learned her automail skills from her grandmother. We mainly see her treating Ed, but it\\\'s clear that she has other customers, and doubly so once she goes to Rush Valley where she gets a job and serves various people other than Ed. Later in the story, she gains an important role in deciding the fate of Scar, not based on anything Ed says or does, but based on her own moral resolve. I find it difficult to accept that she is this trope when she has her own aspirations, a female mentor (2 female and one male if you count her learning how to be a doctor from her parents notes), a life outside Ed, and her own agency on making important decisions like how to react to her parent\\\'s killer. Edit: In fairness, I just remembered that she does gain a male mentor in rush valley as well, but she still accomplished a great deal before ever meeting him and was essentially never seen again, with all scenes of Winry at rush valley having her operate on her own capacity.

And while we\\\'re on the topic of FMA, Mei Chang is included with the only qualification being that she develops a crush on Alphonse, even though this never deters her from her own goal (which she, admittedly, fails in but for reasons completely outside anything to do with her feelings for alphonse). And she certainly never becomes less effective in pursuing it, so why she is linked to Badass Decay is beyond me.