I am obsessed with the way Mustang just took over the role of Ed and Al’s dad. He took one look at those boys and went “oops guess im a father now” whether he was aware of it or not.
“It’s been awhile since we saw each other… why don’t we have a cup of tea?”
HE MISSES THEM AND WANTS TO HAVE TEA WITH EDWARD TO TALK ABOUT THINGS. THIS MAN IS LITERALLY A FATHER.
AND THE WAY HE JUST?? SETS UP MEETINGS WITH PEOPLE TO HELP ED??? (Yes, even though Tucker is a horrible person, he potentially had a lot of information that could’ve been very useful to Edward. And Mustang wasted absolutely no time in helping him.)
AND THE WAY HE SENDS HAVOC TO GO PICK THEM UP. HE LITERALLY PULLED THE “Sorry I’m busy and I can’t pick up my kids can you go get them for me”
I love how in 2003 Ed in the beginning is so shy! In the dub he stutters as well and flip flops over how to properly Adress Mustang it's absolutely adorable.
He has like respect for people older than him, he's not stepping over boundaries of people he barely knows, he has manners -
Like he used to be a really sweet boy before the world decided to take a massive shit on him daily.
Makes you wonder how he would've turned out if he wasn't exposed to cruelty so early.
2003 really puts an emphasis on the relationship Ed has with adults and facing his own maturity and growth as a person and how all that is significantly influenced on the people around him.
Ed doesn't really start off disliking Mustang until he realizes that mustang basically tricked Ed into
1. Proving himself to be capable.
2. Using him to partially deal with his dirty work.
Although I don't think roy was being super malicious and was putting Ed into alot of danger, sure alot could've gone wrong but he knew where the train would arrive and that Hughes and falman (?) were on
(roy trusts both of them and knows they're capable)
They were on board so if things were to go wrong they would be there at least.
It was just a controlled environment to see if Ed was actually capable to deal with far worse shit in the military because at that point in the narrative Ed is still super naive and childish, he's not all sunshine and lollipops but he doesn't really get the heavy implications that the title of state alchemist bears either.
Just look at how happy he looks after he got it, holding it up like a kid would a medal, presenting it with pride.
Anyway after the train arc Ed developes his iconic rivalry/"hatred" of roy that we all love to see on screen <33
Afterall, in Ed's point of view he's been tricked, he's been bamboozled, he's been Lied to.. ect
Ed's face of pure disbelief as the dying embers of respect he held for Mustang dies out: