Actually that's part of why I didn't like Mustang as much this time around -- except I couldn't/can't quite put words on my feelings.
I think it's also that Mustang doesn't ever appear to take Ishvalans and what they want in his great plan to rebuild Ishval or whatever. We literally never see him talking to an Ishvalan who isn't Scar. Granted he has good reasons not to talk to Scar and the lack of ANY named Ishvalan characters* (Scar is pseudonymed rather than named, if you know what I mean) is on Arakawa, but still it grates.
* I'm not counting Miles, because I have complicated feelings about Miles and identity. Basically: Miles only has one Ishvalan grandparent and while that might be enough for him to identify as such anyway, it's not a choice he gets to make. Because he looks "Ishvalan", post-genocide, that's an identity that's imposed on him by everyone else because it's all they see. In that context, I feel uncomfortable calling him Ishvalan rather than 'of Ishvalan descent'. Does that make sense?
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I think it's also that Mustang doesn't ever appear to take Ishvalans and what they want in his great plan to rebuild Ishval or whatever. We literally never see him talking to an Ishvalan who isn't Scar. Granted he has good reasons not to talk to Scar and the lack of ANY named Ishvalan characters* (Scar is pseudonymed rather than named, if you know what I mean) is on Arakawa, but still it grates.
* I'm not counting Miles, because I have complicated feelings about Miles and identity. Basically: Miles only has one Ishvalan grandparent and while that might be enough for him to identify as such anyway, it's not a choice he gets to make. Because he looks "Ishvalan", post-genocide, that's an identity that's imposed on him by everyone else because it's all they see. In that context, I feel uncomfortable calling him Ishvalan rather than 'of Ishvalan descent'. Does that make sense?