Archive of Our Own

Welcome to Equivalent Exchange, a low-pressure Fullmetal Alchemist exchange that welcomes fanfiction, fanart, and characters and ships from all existing versions of FMA canon!

Follow our Dreamwidth community for exchange updates, clarification posts, and mod communication.

Exchange rules, links, contact information, and FAQs can be found here.

The 2021 schedule can be found here.

Contact the mods at [email protected].

The Basics

Minimum requirements are a 500-word fic or a clean sketch (on unlined paper if drawing traditionally).

Single characters, romantic/sexual relationships, and platonic relationships are all eligible for this exchange.

This exchange welcomes gen of all ratings, SFW ship fic/art, and NSFW fic/art.

Characters from all existing iterations of FMA canon, including movies, light novels, and games, are eligible for this exchange.

All works produced for this exchange that include graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con, and/or explicit depictions of sex involving characters explicitly stated to be under the age of 18 in the work must include the applicable AO3 warnings for violence, non-con, and/or underage, or a "chose not to use archive warnings" label.

This exchange is not the place for you to kinkshame, ship-bash, or otherwise harass other fans. If you don't like what another participant is requesting, don't offer it. If you don't like what another participant has written or drawn, don't click on it. If you feel incapable of being exposed to works dealing with a certain character, ship, or theme, AO3 Savior is free to install and the mods encourage you to utilize it. Being a jerk to other people within the context of this exchange is the (probably only) way to get yourself banned. "Being a jerk" includes but is not limited to:

- writing spitefic or drawing spiteful art;
- shaming or criticizing another participant for their requests in an assignment, a treat, a "Dear author" letter, or the optional details of your request;
- any kind of harassment or trolling targeted toward requests for this exchange on this comm, other dreamwidth comms, or other websites.

Just don't do it. If for any reason you feel you will be unable to abide by this rule, do not participate in this exchange.

Eligibility

Characters from all existing iterations of FMA canon including movies, light novels, and games are eligible for this exchange.

Characters without canonical names are welcome, but they must be nominated with an objective description and not a headcanon name (e.g. "Briggs Doctor With Glasses", not "Patricia"). Headcanon names may be included in the optional details of your request.

Group relationships including three or more characters are eligible. Romantic/sexual relationships (e.g. Paninya/Winry Rockbell/Lan Fan), platonic relationships (e.g. Paninya & Winry Rockbell & Lan Fan), and combinations thereof (e.g. Paninya/Winry Rockbell & Lan Fan) are all welcome.

Characters from non-FMA canons are eligible only in relationship nominations. Crossover relationship nominations must be made following the format: "group: Character A (Fandom 1)/Character B (Fandom 2)" and at least one FMA character must be involved in the relationship.

Generic FMA OCs may be nominated as single characters or as part of relationships at the mods' discretion. OC nominations that may pigeonhole a writer or artist into creating something with a specific storyline, style, and/or characterization will not be allowed.

Examples of acceptable OC nominations: Pinako Rockbell/Original Female Character(s); Original Ishvalan Child Character(s); Original State Alchemist Character(s); Van Hohenheim/Original Xingese Character(s); Edward Elric & Original Nonbinary Character(s); Scar/Original Male Ishvalan Character(s) & Original Cat Character(s)

Examples of unacceptable OC nominations: Alphonse Elric/Dimension-hopping American High School Student(s); Original Female State Alchemist With Deep Brown Eyes and a Dark Secret/Her Music-Loving Morally-Conflicted Wife & Their Pet Octopus Chimera; Original Briggs Lieutenant Who Loves Sharks, Activism, and the Color Yellow; Greed/Envy & Their Five-Year-Old Shape-shifting Daughter

Specific pre-existing FMA OCs may not be nominated, but may be requested in the optional details of your signup form with their creator's permission if an applicable generic OC has been nominated. For example, if "Major Miles & Original Briggs Soldier(s)" has been nominated and your friend has a super cool Briggs soldier OC in their fanfic, with your friend's permission you may request that relationship and mention that specific OC in your optional request details, then link to the relevant reference/information. The inclusion of specific OCs is optional on the gifter's part: you may request them but your assigned gifter is not required to write or draw them.

Nominations

Nominating is the process of electing characters/ships that can be requested and offered in this exchange. You cannot request or offer characters or relationships that have not been nominated.

All characters and/or relationships, including crossover relationships, must be nominated under the fandom "Fullmetal Alchemist: All Media Types". Do not nominate a specific version of FMA as your fandom. If you have a preference for a certain version of FMA, you will have the option to make that clear when you sign up.

Each participant may nominate up to 20 characters and/or relationships.

Relationships between two or more characters are still nominated as individual "characters." To nominate a relationship, use the following format:

group: Character A/Character B or group: Character A & Character B or group: Character A/Character B & Character C, etc.

There are two types of relationships you can nominate:

Romantic and/or sexual relationships are indicated by a / sign between the characters' names.

Platonic relationships (friendship, familial, etc.) are indicated by an & sign between the characters' names.

If nominating crossover relationships, please use the format "group: Character A (Fandom 1)/Character B (Fandom 2)."

Do not specify "Brotherhood/manga" or "03" in your character or ship nominations. Ships between BH/manga-exclusive characters and 03-exclusive characters are not required to use crossover nomination format. If you have a preference for a certain version of FMA, you will have the option to make that clear when you sign up.

Signing Up

Once nominations are closed and sorted out, mods will open signups. When signing up, you choose which characters/ships you'd like to receive a gift about, and which characters/ships you will offer to create a gift about. You may only request and offer characters/relationships that are in the tagset.

You may request 3-20 characters and/or ships. You may request either fanart, fanfiction, or both. You may request a work that draws from the characterization and worldbuilding of the manga/Brotherhood, the 2003 anime, or both.

You may offer 3-20 characters and/or ships. You may offer either fanart, fanfiction, or both. You may offer a work that draws from the characterization and worldbuilding of the manga/Brotherhood, the 2003 anime, or both.

The "Any" box means "any character or ship that has been nominated for this exchange." It does not mean "any character or ship in the fandom as a whole". Use this option wisely.

In the "Description" section of the signup form, write some prompts for your gifter to get a better idea of what you want. It's generally a good idea to list out tropes or kinks that you like, as well as prompts specific to your requested characters/ships.

You can also include DNWs (Do Not Wants), which are things you don't want to see in your gift. These can include anything, but may not be used to railroad your gifter into making one exact type of gift (e.g. "DNW anything except a Supernatural crossover where the Elrics and the Winchester brothers investigate a haunted warehouse and Ed gets turned into a cat"). Do not list DNWs that contradict your requests (e.g. requesting a "/" relationship and then DNWing shipping). If you have a DNW that seems to contradict a requested character, ship, or prompt, you may be asked to elaborate by the mods.

It is up to you to make your DNWs clear and specific. For example, if for whatever reason you do not want to receive a gift that depicts sex between characters under the age of 18, it is a better idea to DNW "depictions of sex between characters under the age of 18" rather than to DNW "underage" or "child abuse", which may not clearly communicate what you don't want.

Please note that this exchange uses "or" matching, and your gifter is only required to create something based on one of your requested characters/ships.

"Dear author" letters are not required, but they are welcome and encouraged!

Assignments

For your assignment you are required to create a gift focusing on at least one of your recipient's requested characters/ships, in one of their requested mediums, while respecting their DNWs. Fic must be at least 500 words minimum, and art must be at minimum a clean sketch (on unlined paper if drawing traditionally).

If you aren't able to be matched as a recipient, your requests will go out as an initial pinch hit. You don't have to do anything.

If you aren't able to be matched as a gifter, we will make a post mentioning that we have unmatchable participants. Then we will send you an email asking you to add to your requests.

If you have questions about your assignment and want to ask something of your recipient, do not contact your recipient. Instead, email the mods at [email protected], and we will act as an intermediary.

Defaulting

Defaulting is dropping your commitment to create your assignment. If for whatever reason you feel you can't write or draw what your recipient is requesting, please default ASAP so the mods can find a new gifter for that request and they can have plenty of time to work on it.

There are no penalties for defaulting, except the following: If you default, and the gifter assigned to you also defaults, you will not be sent out as a pinch hit.

To default, go to your Assignments tab on AO3. You'll see an option to either fulfill or default on your current assignment. Click Default, and the mods will be automatically notified.

Pinch Hits

A pinch hit is an assignment that, because of defaults or bad luck during matching, does not have a gifter assigned to it. Since everyone deserves a gift, these assignments need to find someone new willing to write/draw them.

Pinch hits will be posted to this journal. To claim them, comment on the PH post with your AO3 username and the number of the PH you want to claim. (Comments will be screened.)

Pinch hits are first come, first serve, so the mods will assign the request to whoever asks for it first. You will receive an email notification from AO3 that you have a new assignment if you successfully claimed a PH.

You do not have to be signed up to claim a pinch hit.

Treats

A treat is an extra gift you've made for someone you aren't necessarily assigned to.

Treats do not have to meet the minimum requirements, but they must fulfill one of the participant's requests and steer clear of their DNWs.

You do not have to be signed up to write or draw treats.

Treats can be posted at any time, even after the exchange is over.

To post a treat, click the "Post to Collection" button on the collection page. Post the gift as you would normally, making sure you put the username of the person you're treating in the "Gift this work to" box.