The Switch Glitch

"Here I was, huddled in a ball and crying. I was being so lame. Edward Elric was nothing like this. He was tough, strong, and he swore like a sailor."

The Switch Glitch is a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction written by Zilo Sugarpill. It takes a commonly-used plot (fan finds mysterious way to switch bodies with a main character) and actually makes a genuinely good story that has a devoted fan following.

The trouble begins in the first arc when 14-year-old Risty May Fernandez promises to use a chain letter sent by a crazy fangirl. The letter guarantees it will send her to her favorite anime, but Risty May fails to follow the instructions properly. She gets a headache and passes out on her bed, and when she wakes up finds herself in Edward Elric's body.

Risty May proceeds to embark on the challenge of impersonating Ed until she can find a way to get back to her own body. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near as easy as it might sound. Ed has a lot of enemies, and Risty May is unfortunately not an Instant Expert in alchemy. Add to that that she's a timid girl easily moved to tears who has to worry about not ruining Ed's reputation or getting herself killed in the process.

Meanwhile, Ed wakes up in a strange place, suddenly in a girl's body. He doesn't even try to impersonate Risty May and has to work with Risty May's best friend Zoe Ferguson (and later, Risty May's mother Rose) to get himself home via the mysterious chain letters...

In the second and third arcs, the original plot of accidental bodyswapping is summarily scrapped for a more traditional fan-falls-into-anime-world plot, except not. Instead of going out shopping with Ed and following him on missions while they slowly fall for each other, Risty May has her hands full trying not to "spoil" the series and ruin it, while also attempting to avoid the all-seeing Homunculi, except for Envy, who she likes. And yes, she does fall for Ed, who doesn't really show any signs of reciprocating her feelings.

The story is complete and has a sequel up, which is currently being updated. There are also two side stories, one focusing on Envy's thoughts about to Risty May, and the other something of an AU/crack/Omake mashup of what might have happened if an OOC King Bradley threw Risty May a birthday party to disguise random attempts on her life.

Examples of Tropes Include:


 * Ascended Fangirl
 * Adults Are Useless: Zoe's opinion on every adult, except for Rose Fernandez and Izumi Curtis (who quickly earns her respect via a beatdown).
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The chain letters.
 * Armor Piercing Slap: Zoe gets one when she comes to apologize to Risty May.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Risty May's full name is Marista May Lidia Fernandez.
 * Badass Normal: Zoe doesn't know a lick of alchemy, but can hold her own in a fight.
 * Break the Cutie: What, don't believe me? Let's count: Risty May switches into Ed's body and subsequently gets beaten up, attacked by a chimera, almost killed several times, and then kidnapped. Then she is beaten up two days in a row during a horrible interrogation, undergoes a condensed Training From Hell, and then nearly killed AGAIN by the same person who beat her up before. When she finally
 * Latest developments?
 * Boobs of Steel: Zoe has a much bigger rack than Risty May, and is a much better fighter.
 * Colon Cancer: The Switch Glitch: The Movie: The Extras, the section with extras in Zilo's profile.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: Risty May's finally standing up to Envy. "Do you really think I give a flying damn about all your painful-sounding threats?!"
 * Cute Clumsy Girl: Risty May, so much. She can even trip and fall over nothing.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Though not touched on very much, Word Of Zilo says that Zoe used to be a gang member, which is the explanation for her fighting skills.
 * Driven to Suicide / I Cannot Self Terminate: Risty asks Sloth to drown her because of her.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Fan Girl: Risty May to some extent, EdwardsWife77 much more so.
 * Fan Preferred Couple: Mostly EdxRisty, but a sizeable percent percent of the fandom likes or roots for EnvyxRisty
 * Flaw Exploitation: Envy uses Risty's fangirly affection to properly manipulate her. The question is, is that what he's still doing...?
 * Freaky Friday: The entire plot of the first arc, and the reason for the title.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself Man: Izumi does this to Risty after the latter
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: Risty May goes a step further than this and makes up her own swear words.
 * Which makes it all the more jarring when she finally does swear at Envy.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Risty May and Zoe.
 * Important Haircut: Risty May hacks her hair off in a fit of upset rage, seeing it as symbolism of her weakness and girlyness.
 * Informed Ability: In her profile, Risty May is described as having slightly above average intelligence. This is mentioned a grand total of once in the actual story.
 * And at the beginning of the story, she fails a math quiz. See The Ditz.
 * Informed Flaw: Apparently Risty May is slightly overweight, jobless, and terrible at most of the skills/classes she takes up, such as needlework and psychology. In an aversion, her clumsiness and lack of alchemy prowess are actually portrayed more than once and come into play in several situations, both for laughs and drama.
 * Instant Expert: Amazingly averted. Risty May practices alchemy on and off for months and still can't do much more than blow things up.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Risty wants Ed to be happy. Oh, and Al too.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Zoe keeps an entire list of fanfic cliches.
 * Not only that, Risty May often mentions that things aren't going the way they usually do "in the fanfictions".
 * Memento MacGuffin: The necklace Izumi makes for Risty.
 * Missing Mom: More appropriately, Mom In Another Dimension.
 * Moe: Risty May to a T.
 * More Than Mind Control: Sloth uses this tactic to get to Face Heel Turn.
 * No Periods Period
 * Oddly Named Sequel: The sequel is called "The Switch Glitch: The Movie". It's still a fanfic though.
 * Omake
 * Parental Substitute: Izumi for Risty May.
 * Ship Tease: All the EnvyxRisty scenes. No exceptions.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Risty May's alchemic specialty.
 * Tear Jerker: Zoe crying on Risty May's bed, Risty breaking down.
 * The Ditz: Even though she's supposed to be something of a genius, Risty May usually says and does silly things and at one point walks straight into a moderately obvious trap.
 * The Glomp: Risty May tends to hug people. A lot.
 * The Nicknamer: Zoe
 * The Pollyanna: Risty May, although she has moments where she breaks down.
 * Theme Naming: All of the chapters have a regular title, and then one or two alternate titles which are always "Don't (Insert Action Here)" such as "Don't Spoil" and "Don't Run Without A Plan". The sequel scrapped that entirely, except for one chapter named "Don't Deny Your Feelings" (even though feelings are still denied in it).
 * Tsundere: Zoe is a definite Type A, really only going deredere for Risty May.
 * What Would X Do: Risty at one point adopts a "WWZD" or "What Would Zoe Do" attitude to deal with a difficult situation.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: Risty uses one of these on herself

The Switch Glitch also has the occasional Omake after chapters. Tropes specific to the Omake, side stories, or Author's Notes include:


 * Continuity Nod: Suspendospense, the emotion-sapping drug.
 * Crack Pairing: LustxRisty, PridexRisty, ProfanityxEnvy.
 * Insistent Terminology: "Ess. Authoress."
 * Parody Sue: May Sue Reigh, who can sing doors open. Also spoofed in the Omake about Risty May winning the "No. 1 Mary Sue" award.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: From the birthday side story: "Um, I mean, aren't you evil without me having any idea whatsoever that you're a Homunculus named Pride who wants me dead?"
 * The Wonka: The Interviewer.