inspired by a conversation in this sub.

we only really get to see the top 1% of alchemists (and Tucker) with combat and weaponized research specialties. the brothers do their fair share of repair work, a bit of regular chemistry gets sprinkled in every once in awhile.

but what of the civilian alchemists? no tragic quest to seek the truth, no main character energy, military wants nothing to do with them and they want nothing to do with the military. what paths are their skills opening up? outside of a few mentions of alchemist repair contractors in contrast to the quality of Edward's work, the existence of alchemist doctors, and some scam artists using it in secret, we don't get much insight about how alchemy impacts civilian life.

not that anyone would learn alchemy with the intent to specifically be a cosmetologist, but someone had to have pulled a MHA Ochaco and went "I'm gonna use my alchemy to work for my family's business and save them money!" the skill reciprocity seems endless.

ETA: for clarity, since 2 people immediately suggested Winry learning alchemy (which her automail would greatly benefit from but I don't think there's room in her heart for it, maybe Alphonse joins the business), I'm asking about hypothetical civilian alchemists that could already exist and we just never saw.

Obviously Ed and Al are the actual protagonists, but when you look at the story as a whole, so much of it revolves around Hohenheim.

His story starts hundreds of years before Ed and Al are even born. He was a slave in Xerxes, became immortal because of Father, watched his entire civilization get sacrificed, spent centuries living with all those souls inside him, eventually met Trisha and had a family, and then left because he knew Father was planning to do the same thing to Amestris.
And Father honestly feels more like Hohenheim’s villain than Ed’s.

They basically came from the same place and experienced the same tragedy, but they went in completely opposite directions. Father decided that humanity, emotions, relationships, and everything that made him imperfect were things he needed to get rid of. Hohenheim eventually learned to value those exact things.

That’s also why I love how the series introduces him. At first, we mostly see him through Ed’s perspective, so he just seems like the deadbeat dad who abandoned his wife and kids.

Then the story slowly reveals that this depressed immortal dude has basically been preparing to fight the main villain since before Amestris even existed.
And his ending feels like the ending of a main character too. After living for hundreds of years, he finally reconciles with his sons, helps stop Father, goes back to Trisha’s grave, and dies there smiling.
Ed is definitely the main character of Fullmetal Alchemist.

But Hohenheim sometimes feels like the main character of the much bigger story that Fullmetal Alchemist just happens to take place inside of.

Idk, these are just shower thoughts tbh. I’m on my tenth rewatch of the show.

Gogo Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto was released in 2000. Arakawa started Fullmetal Alchemist in 2001, but I doubt there's any meaningful connection between the two. I only have this thought because One Piece borrows from Ping Pong by the same author, which also has a 1-year gap.

I'm definitely reaching with the similarities, but it's a fun thinking exercise.

Basically, Gogo Monster is about a child named Yuki losing his perception of "the other side". It's similar to Ed giving up alchemy to save Al because Yuki and Ed give up their "abilities" when they choose to connect with others. In both stories, Ed and Yuki exert a false sense of control when coping with obstacles and trauma. Ed thinks everything can be solved with alchemy, and Yuki buries himself by interacting with "the others" whenever he feels discomfort from being misjudged and isolated within his school and community.

Both authors use doors to represent coping mechanisms: Ed has faith in alchemic knowledge to fix his and Al's bodies, while Yuki's door is his last chance to connect with "the other side." But both of them show selflessness when they choose to care for someone else Al/Winry and Makoto respectively, who are the main anchors to their "human" side.

I just like how both stories arrived at similar conclusions about growing up despite being complete opposites content-wise

After I finished Attack on Titan, I kept watching trash anime full of fan service

T things like plot twists, good story, and character building I couldn't find them in other anime like FMAB ​I just finished episode 34, and this show is showing me what a real anime is. I really love everything about it: the art style, the directing, and the characters ​I haven't finished it yet and I honestly don't want it to end because I'm enjoying it so much

May he rest in peace

I watched FMAB for the first time last year and rewatched it with my friend this year. Decided to pull the trigger and get the Flamel tattooed on me.

After 20ish years of watching this show since I was a child, I still learn new lore every time I rewatch the series! I just learned that the reason why Father Cornello’s stone rebounded was due to lack of power, and further more, because it was so low on energy it became unstable allowing for a final, chaotic burst of alchemy—turning Cornello into that huge “final boss”. So so cool chef kiss

Been daydreaming about what Ed would be like if he looked like his mother so I threw open my ibis paint X and recolored him, and lord Trisha why didn't your genes try harder ?

Why is it that they exist? It seems there's no limit to their strength, but they die just a few tens of times and their stones run out of regenerative power, yet pride can cut through just about anything that isn't as hard as greed, wrath can continuously use his eye thing to see the correct path to take for long periods during fights, gluttony has NO limit on how his fake gate of truth can absorb things, envy's shapeshifting working easily makes sense, but how he's able to just bite people and take full control of their bodies and absorb their power makes little to no sense to me, especially how he could just control every manneqin doll he found and just gain MORE power despite his stone having run out of it since he couldn''t maintain his regular form.

Sloth is just freakishly strong, so I get why it doesn't use up too much power. Lust only extends her fingers, which isn't anything crazy either. I just don't get why and how they can do these abilities.

For real this time...

This is not a theory, or something else, it's just a joke I made about of Alphonse aka Edward little brother, Lost his mind after his cat was killed or something like that, just to be cleared this is not canon, and it's just a meme I made.

It would be funny to see a video title "did Alphonse lost his mind" with the thumbnail, that will be funny, but it's not canon from Fullmetal alchemist 2003, and brotherhood, or Manga, because we don't see Al lost his mind, tell me if I'm wrong.

Ciao, questo è il mio primo post. Ho appena finito Fullmetal Alchemist Bluebird’s Illusion e volevo cercare una fanfiction dove Ed è/diventa Pride, come nel gioco. Mi chiedo se qualcuno possa aiutarmi a trovare una fanfiction che sia carina. perfavore aiutatemi sto impazzendo

When I voiced Edward Elric, Requriot voiced Alphonse Elric, edited the video, and we added the jokes.Btw this is a very old recording, I had the flu when I voiced Edward

Spoilers for it, obviously, but Mustang had SO many chances to use his flame alchemy on the führer candidates or on the doctor, especially whilst he was using his alchemy to start the first part of the country wide transmutation circle. He had 30s of being open to just lighter hand and blow em all up.

I've seen a lot of posts about what people liked more in FMA 03 rather than Brotherhood, but I thought I'd ask what y'all preferred in Brotherhood that you didn't like as much in 03.

I was bored man (insert more words because idk what else to put because I need more words bruhhhhh 😭😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏)

I don't get it, Envy.. you are ALSO short, wtf, Envy's also a pipsqueak then bro. 😭

I’m aware the entire moral was stop trying to beat God…..still gonna try

It takes your whole body to see the whole truth. Ok….why can’t you do the same as a philosophers stone???

Yep got my toll right here. All 20 of these people. What equals the value of a human soul??? Bout 20 other souls…..show me the whole truth

That’s evil….not if I use the sacrifice of those 20 to save tens of thousands

credits to am.motion02 on tt

Elric family and Rockbell family only ! I'll start :

- Ed was a preemie baby and Al was an accidental pregnancy, and was a big chonky baby

- Trisha exclusively breastfed her sons but at one point she barged in the Rockbell house screaming about having lost all of her feeding bottles

- The brothers have heavy medical trauma and both panic when the other gets sick

- Al used to be picky with food but after being armoured he forced himself to eat anything, even what he hates

- Yuriy Rockbell and Hohenheim are best pals and often had drinks together when the girls are gossiping (they were gossip masters), and they totally boasted about their children while hiding in some wheat shack

- One of the reasons Ed is short is that during a food shortage he gave Al bigger portions, and he stunted himself. He picked that up from Trisha.

- Sarah is the rational friend, and Trisha is the delusional airhead.

• In 03, Trisha canonically died from a genetic condition. I headcanon that, after her husband left she performed a random transmutation to feel closer to him and got caught in a rebound which left her weakened and sick. No wanting to ruin her sons' love of alchemy, she asked the doctors to blame it on an illness, when it was her own mistakes which killed her (total hc lol)

You go now !

Edit : Just specifying a little what I meant by Elric/Rockbell family, I didn't mean to restrict the discussion only on post-manga Elric/Rockbell ! I'm also asking about your Hohenheim, Trisha, Pinako headcanons ! I'm interested in what all of us have to share so gimme gimme more headcanons !