I watched the first few episodes of Brotherhood at a tiny comic show and they really seemed to whoosh through things. By the time I could have gotten my hands on my own copies, I'd kinda soured on the canon due to the fandom. *points at your comment*

So I really do want to give it another try at some point but it'll probably be 03->Manga->Brotherhood.

I feel like 03 did a really good job of just taking some of the central ideas and Making Shit Up and I'll always like it for that.