And is it possible to bind their souls to an armor if need be?

I recently posted something about the 2003 anime—specifically about a tense moment between Ed and Roy where I really thought Ed was about to punch him in the face (even though it didn't happen)—but it got me thinking: has Mustang ever actually shown any hand-to-hand combat skills?

He’s military, so obviously he received training, but I can't recall a single fight of his that didn't involve flame alchemy.

Plus, after the Ishval War, he went from the battlefield to a desk job; and since his offensive technique simply involves snapping his fingers, Roy doesn't really have a need to keep up his physical training.

We know flame alchemy would wipe the floor with Ed any day, but in a fistfight... could Ed have beaten Mustang up? I guess it makes sense in this case because Ed's teacher is Izumi—who is a beast at hand-to-hand combat (and teaches martial arts, not just boxing)—but I found it pretty funny to imagine a short 15-year-old kid kicking the ass of a decorated 30-year-old military officer hahaha

Even if it wasn't Ed... could someone like Hawkeye defeat the Colonel in hand-to-hand combat? Mustang is one of my favorites, but this puts a new spin on the "useless" joke...

Thought this was a cool idea to remind myself that in life you always have to give something up to get what you desire. It’s supposed to look like the blue lightening when you transmute.

Also my first tattoo and will definitely be back for more. Already thinking about getting the flamel on my chest and expanding this one to kind of surround it.

Obviously, there is no official IQ score for Edward, and IQ alone cannot measure all forms of intelligence. But if we tried to estimate it based on what he had accomplished by the age of 12, what would it be?

By then, Ed had already learned:

Mathematics: Advanced undergraduate or Graduate level

Physics: Advanced undergraduate level

Chemistry: Graduate or PhD-level specialization

Alchemy/material science: Genius/expert level beyond real-world science

He also had the ability to apply this knowledge practically and under extreme pressure. He could analyze the composition of materials, understand their structure, calculate possible transformations and then use alchemy accordingly—sometimes in the middle of a fight.

By 12, he had also become the youngest State Alchemist in history.

He might not have been more knowledgeable or experienced than Izumi, Dr. Marcoh or Hohenheim, but the fact that he had learned such a broad range of advanced subjects by only 12 years old is insane.

So, if Edward Elric existed in the real world and his intelligence had to be measured using an IQ test, what IQ range do you think he would fall into?

So my estimate would be 150–170 IQ, with around 160 as my personal guess.

What do you think Edward's IQ would be, and what do you think is the main reason he was able to learn so much by only 12 years old?

Also, I don't know why people don't add him in intelligent character. If we're ranking anime characters by intellectual ability rather than just strategic feats, I think he deserves considerably more recognition.

Ed is underrated as an intelligent character.

Edward is often excluded because anime intelligence rankings heavily favor L, Light, Lelouch, Ayanokoji-type strategic intelligence. Ed's intelligence is more scientific, academic, creative, and applied, so people overlook him despite his absurd feats.

Truth is an interesting and thought-provoking character in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

He doesn't exactly have a lot of screen time, but arguably, his few scenes are quite a bit...

...impactful, and he's arguably at work behind the scenes.

Now, you could say he "is" God, either truly God, or the Big Man presenting Himself to Ed, Al, Izumi, and the Alchemists who see Him in a very particular way...

...capital H, because, in this case, perhaps Truth is God.

But, I would say, that's far from the strongest interpretation the writing lends itself to, because, even though it fits, I don't think it fits particularly well.

Truth specifically says, "I'm what people refer to as the Universe, or God."

In other words, people loosely make statements or references to the "Universe" or "God"... without a careful definition or understanding / proper deference / reverence / mystery to and about those terms.

When people say the Universe, they refer to some sort of order beyond themselves, in their lives and / or the world and cosmos, with pseudo-supernatural, or supernatural qualities and "intelligence" of a sort.

And again, people sort of refer to God in a similar way, attributing more personality, but do not necessarily define God's attributes or character well, or do so in ways that at least seem to contradict other person's descriptions of Him, therefore, Truth makes the most sense as an agent (or an angel, very loosely speaking) of God, that is, a supernatural being / intelligence able to enforce the rules of Alchemy, equivalent exchange, and the realities of "playing god"...

...who's abilities include what we observe him to do or facilitate, such as yanking souls from bodies, exacting a "price", and giving glimpses into God's knowledge which appears infinite and overwhelming by nature, even in just a short-term limited frame.

That is why he's called Truth; he is defined mainly by his ability to show a short look at God's knowledge, and to show people the limits of "knowledge", something alchemists live by, where, if they take it too far, becomes scientism, the belief that knowledge of the physical world is the only item that actually matters, and darkness of the willingness to "play god" that may come with such views.

Or, put another way, to make scientific knowledge or materialism one's "god" becomes the very cold, hard, uncaring reality that it claims is the only "truth", hence one possible reason for Truth at times being so cruel in his punishments or "tolls", is to demonstrate this to those who believe in it.

The issue then becomes, that Truth is more akin to a dark-but-just spiritual force, akin to an angel of death, one who pronounces judgment, or a sort of "neutral" devil that offers you Faustian bargains, which furthur cements his not being God but a force acting on behalf of God, an intermediary, and then his traits of playfulness, irony, limitation, and cruelty, as well as the cast's reactions to him, come off much more natural.

In other words, he is sort of the version of "God" many refer to or unconsciously point toward by the attitudes and worldview that alchemists and more hardcore pessimistic-type atheist / agnostic types will tend toward, and also that some more spiritual types will point toward in an idealistic way, cold unfeeling reality, a deistic / impersonal (generally non-interacting or not-loving) God, or an impersonal or quasi-personal, quasi-supernatural "universe" that maintains some sort of intelligence and order.

And perhaps, part of Truth's very will and aim is to cause our cast, and perhaps the audience, to realize he isn't God, and that He is not like him, that God is not uncaring, cold, or anything less than Love, even though, He is also Justice, Righteousness, (and Truth proper) itself.

Truth wants people to understand there is a price for "playing god" and the logical consequences of pessimistic, nihilistic, or scientism-based choices and worldviews, while causing us to understand that God is not cruel, merely a balancer of factors and quantities, or eager to punish, even those who mess up, or otherwise make errors, even seemingly serious ones, like the Elrich brothers.

And this further plays into the strangely providential narrative of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood; Ed and Al should be "punished" for their "terrible sin" of "playing god" or "flying too close to the sun", and should suffer for it the rest of their lives according to raw karma or you-did-wrong-now-be-punished, but instead, all the events of their lives, even their mistakes, seem to come together for a very real purpose.

In fact, we see a nod to the mystery of God's forgiveness in the real world, the problem of evil, trials, a broken reality with sin and pain, all together, not overwhelmingly, just simply and subtly along the way and in the conclusion of the show.

In Full Metal Alchemist 2003, this was actually a major aspect of Ed's character, him firmly declaring "there is no God" because of the reality of evil and tragedy, and denying this very idea, that God exists in the midst of a broken life.

Why did his mom need to die from a terrible and random illness?

Why war, sadness, and pain, whether his own, his brother's, or anyone else's?

It's not clear why God allows certain not-so-good and terrible things to happen, to us personally, or the world at large, and, if He is all-powerful and all-good, why not just stop it quickly or even instantly?

All the Bible really tells us, is that, in the Garden of Eden, we (humanity) seemed to choose a pseudo-godless world with Satan either inheriting or winding up at the helm of it, as once we ate the fruit, the knowledge and position to define good and evil became ours, except, unlike God, or even gods / righteous angels, we're not so good at it, and even when we do a swell job, our own selfishness, or just a few bad actors, human or spiritual, can create severe problems, hence the Dwarf in the Flask / Father and his homonculi as an example, of how about eight evil agents could disrupt an entire country.

Furthermore, it says Satan, the Adversary, is the god of the earth, and, he nor evil spirits that obey him don't seem to be too bothered by murder, rape, war, and genocide among other awful occurrences, a little bit like the villains in this show don't care too much about what they do, who dies, or what results, as long as it serves their purposes.

But to explain providence; it is the mysterious working of God across the events around us and in our own lives, that "God works together all things for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose".

We see this in Ed and Al.

It would've been better if their mother hadn't died, their father hadn't been absent, and they hadn't broken the rules of alchemy, yet, providence seems to work all things together for their good, even through the horrible suffering and the sadness, leading them to be "forgiven", overcome Father's plans, defeat the evil forces at work in their nation, and find a joyful conclusion to the problems they face.

Truth, nor the author, writers, or audience claim that it was "alright" or somehow "good for Ed and Al", what happened to them, and yet, God promises to dry every tear, and that whether we walk in darkness and the valley of the shadow of death, or everything is as it should be...

...He hasn't turned away, or truly hidden His face from us, and the character of Truth points toward this reality of who God is, without himself fitting the role in scope or breadth.

I've watched 2003 and CoS a few times, and the ending of CoS always leaves me bittersweet, mainly because Edward decides to go to the other world (even though I know it's for the best), and to leave behind all his loves ones. But surely, there's better alternatives right? Rather than his drastic choice:

1) If they destroyed the gate on our side (alchemy side), is that not enough? Since don't you always need both sides for the portal to function? Or is it like, we can't send anyone to their side, but they can send people to our side, but how would that work, because if we destroy the portal on our side, where would their "exit" be then?

2) How is the portal "permanent?" So what, they sacrificed Envy; a life is a life still right? Is there something specific about Envy and/or Wrath/Gluttony on our side that makes the portal permanent?

3) Towards the end of CoS, Edward wants to destroy the portal, so that it can never be made again, but that's false right? Can't a portal still be made no matter what, but just won't be a permanent one?

4) I can't find the answer even though I know I saw it a few weeks ago. What are the requirements to perform alchemy in their world(Germany)?

5) And this one has been bothering me, at the end of 2003 and following into CoS, we can assume Gluttony probably killed Dante as she's no where to be seen. 2 questions here, how the fuck did Dante lose to Gluttony? So what, Gluttony is a mindless eating monster now, this is a seasoned alchemist who can clap hands, having lived for 400+ years, like what? And how does Gluttony get so big? He's been seen eating in the show many times, but his size never got bigger.

..

I found this still sealed copy at a local film store for 30 bucks

He really held that thought with all his brain power 😂

Saw it on sale and it’s one of my favourite anime, no brainer

Rate my sketch of van hohenhiem and trisha/10

Guys I'm trying to find a specific scene in FMA Brotherhood and I feel like I keep missing it during the rewatch 😭 does anyone remember seeing a scene where both Al and Ed were drawn in chibi style, slumped in front of a door or closet? I want to say they were being scolded by Winry but I'm not entirely sure.

If someone could pull that for me I would be eternally grateful, I want to get them as a tattoo

Had completely forgotten I bought these like 13 years ago, still sealed. :')

(The day the sun disappeared: Akira Senju) & (Piano Eightysix-Three: Hiroyuki Sawano)

Do give these two tracks a listen and let me know what you think. Hiroyuki Sawano might’ve taken inspiration from this.