Automail Uprising — Michael Joseph Kissling
"Lost my leg to their machine" is not a metaphor. UnitedHealthcare denied a prosthetic limb that Michael's doctor had prescribed, that his medical records confirmed he qualified for, and that the insurance company's own internal review had approved — then overruled. The denial was issued with prior knowledge of his K3 classification. The result was an amputation made permanent by the administrative machinery of a for-profit insurer. This song is the first public record of that decision.
The moral architecture of FMA is equivalent exchange: nothing is gained without something of equal value being given up. The insurance industry's denial apparatus violates this at the system level — it takes without exchanging, delays without accountability, and profits from the gap between what patients are owed and what they receive. "We equivalent exchange but they just take and steal" is the argument in one line. The homunculi — artificial beings created through forbidden alchemy, sustained by the philosopher's stone — are the frame for corporations that sustain profit by consuming human lives. It is not a loose metaphor. It is the argument.
In FMA, philosopher's stones are created from human suffering — lives consumed to produce power. "Philosopher's stone made from what we feel" is the song's central claim: the insurance industry's profits are made from denied care, delayed treatment, and the exhaustion of people who give up fighting. The stone is real. The alchemy is the claim system.
The image that accompanies this song went through six deliberate stages over multiple sessions. Each step had a specific intent. The intermediate images are shown here because the process itself is the argument about how AI tools can serve advocacy work — when the human doing the work knows what they're trying to say.
A real photo of Michael and his dog Skye, translated into FMA artstyle. The alchemy circle on the floor arrived on its own — the AI understood the world it was being asked to enter.
The character was redesigned to exist within the FMA world — its visual language, its costume logic, its weight. Skye was removed. The character that remained was still recognizably Michael.
The character was brought to Resembool — the specific geography of healing in FMA. Not a generic field. The place where Ed returns to recover. The choice of location was deliberate.
Michael's actual prosthetic was added to the character in the FMA frame. At this point the metaphor became literal: a real prosthetic limb, inside the world built around the story of a boy who lost his arm.
Edward Elric was added as an ally — not replacing Michael, standing beside him. The handshake took more attempts than any other step. Hands are technically hard. But the handshake was also the moment with the most meaning, and that resistance felt appropriate.
Two figures in Resembool, shaking hands across the gap between fiction and reality. Ed as the character who understands what it costs. Michael as the person who paid it.
This image exists because someone knew what they were trying to say before they opened the tool. The AI didn't decide that Resembool was the right location, or that the handshake was the moment that mattered, or that Michael's actual prosthetic belonged in the frame. Those were human decisions made in sequence. The AI executed them. That is the correct relationship between the tool and the work.
But I ain't backing down
Steel and flesh ain't what it seems
When justice ain't around
(Oh no, oh no)
To life and death
But we won't wait
Fight back! When the system's lying!
Stand tall! Even when we're broken!
Rise up! Let the truth be spoken!
(Hey! Hey!)
Counting coins while people die
Deny, delay, then give the boot↑ Deny, Delay, Defend — documented insurance industry strategy
But we see through their lies
Roy Mustang's got our backs↑ DOJ / accountability enforcement as Roy Mustang — the investigator who pursues the system
Department's on the case
Time to bring these devils down
Put them in their place
(Oh yeah, oh yeah)
United Healthcare? Time to let them know
We equivalent exchange but they just take and steal↑ The core FMA moral law — exchange requires both parties to give. Denial violates it absolutely.
Philosopher's stone made from what we feel↑ In FMA, philosopher's stones are made from human suffering. The claim: insurer profits are the same.
Truth behind the curtain, pulling back the veil
Insurance homunculi, time to watch them fail
Fight back! When the system's lying!
Stand tall! Even when we're broken!
Rise up! The silence is broken!
This song was used as the soundtrack to an advocacy post on r/FullmetalAlchemist, framing the insurance denial story through FMA metaphors. The post generated 36 upvotes and 56 comments — and it is still generating traffic to AbilityForge today, nine months later, through a Google-indexed translation. The FMA community found the argument. Some disagreed on the solution. They agreed the system was failing people it was supposed to protect.
Criminal and civil penalties for executives whose decisions harm patients. Unjust enrichment clawbacks. The legal mechanism that would make "they just take and steal" a prosecutable description rather than a lyric.
Prohibits simultaneous ownership of insurer + pharmacy benefit manager + physician practices. Forces divestiture within one year. Dismantles the architecture that makes the denial machinery profitable.
S.3829 · S.3822 · Voices · Congressional Accountability · The documented case for reform.