sideblog

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y’know, hiromu arakawa technically has a fursona

which is actually a fursuit since it has a zip on the back

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Dante failing was a team effort

None of her “helper” homonculi wanted to help her in her final moments.

Lust died after she decided she no longer wanted to work for Dante, and got defeated. Too dead to help Dante, and even if she was alive, she wouldn’t do it anyway.

Wrath wanted to be with a mother, helping bring down Sloth and wounding himself in the process. Sloth and Wrath are out.

Pride was helping Dante, but he was far away and battling Roy.

Envy vamoosed into the gate.

After Edward got killed by Envy, Al decided to use all of the philosopher’s stone, pissing Dante enough to leave because she now she couldn’t use the stone.

Gluttony was too sad over Lust’s death, and so Dante committed her mistake of making him mindless.

lol

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There were many ways FMA could end for the Elric brothers

- Elric brothers get their bodies back + very happy ending (friends gained along the way, save the country, marry someone etc)

- Elric brothers don’t get their bodies back, but learn to live with it.

- Elric brothers get their bodies back at a massive and disatrous cost to everyone else.

- Only one brother gets his body back at the cost to the other brother.

- Only one brother gets his body back, and the other lives with their situation.

- Elric brothers get their bodies back, but for another cost themselves (can be both happy or sad ending). BH’s Ending is a happy variation of this ending, with the brothers getting most of their bodies back (except for Edward’s leg), at a cost of Edward’s transmutation ability, which was his speciality (but Ed is alright since he had all the friends he made along the way).

The ending to FMA 2003 + COS?. I guess it’s some sort of a mix between

- Only one brother gets his body back, and the other lives with their situation. 

and

- Elric brothers get their bodies back, but for another cost themselves 

But I would have never guessed the specifics.

Al has his body back, but as a twelve year old. Edward is happy with his automail limbs (well that one was rather guessable). And they’re both forever in an alternate universe after multiple gate shenanigans. They don’t have hordes of friends on the Earth side yet, but they’re riding a truck with Noah, Alter-Scar and Alter-Lust!

I don’t think by the time of the ending that I can call the brothers either heroes or villains, just boys trying to do their best. Sometimes their actions results in something good, other times, it’s disastrous.

The ending is kinda weird. And my favourite too.

I find the choice of Noah, Alter-Scar and Alter-Lust interesting, for the final characters we see the Elric Brothers meet before their onscreen story ends, and it’s up to our imagination for the rest of the ending. The last characters we could have seen be with the Elric Brothers before they go offscreen could have easily been Alter-Roy or Alter-Riza or Alter-Winry or or Alter-Hughes or anyone else.

But they chose Noah, Alter-Scar and Alter-Lust. I think it’s because they’re important. (Or maybe it was just the good kind of fanservice. I saw one of the commentaries which said how movie audiences squealed when Alter-Scar+Lust appeared).

When I think about those three characters:

Noah is about her relationship with living in the world. Sometimes life is tough and you do want to escape into another world and those problems, but ultimately you live on the world where you live. I don’t think the future will be easy for Noah given the time period, but I think she will try her best to face or rid herself or any future problems.

 With Amestrian-Homunculus-Lust, she was always curious about her human origins. She’s curious, smart, and will find ways to acquire knowledge to solve problems. Perhaps Alter-Lust will be like this too, if she has the same personality.

Alter-Scar is interesting, cause technically he’s un-Scarred (at least on his face, he’s going to be scarred all over his mind when World War 2 starts), and he’ll have an actual name. Is his brother alive if he has one? Amestrian-Scar has been one to protect people and avenge against injustice and not ignore problems. Alter-Scar is a truck-driver who’s willing to pick up Noah and two weirdos, and his truck is filled with people. I guess they find him trustworthy and reliable if they’re willing to ride with him.

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Ending finalisation linked to Alfons dying?

Something interesting I found at the very end of Sinnesspiel’s translations of the script notes was this:

(directly copy pasted from):

"I talked with Director Mizushima about this ending. "I didn't write any part where Ed acknowledges Alfons's death after he returned, so I wantto have Noah's dancing included because it has the nuance of sending off that Alfons" In the end we made so many minute adjustmentsand fixes. I really wanted the movie to be something that could stick with you. So, the final cut is still not quite final. The moment I put Alfons's death into the script, it was the same as deciding absolutely that Ed and Al would be returning to the real world, I suppose."

What I find interesting about this quote was that whether the Elric brothers would stay on Earth or not was still undecided, and that for some reason, it was linked to Alfons being dead.

I’ve thought of four possible options for how the movie could have played out. (not including the options where Edward successfully ditches Alphonse in Amestris because I don’t think there’s anything mentioning that people thought about keeping the bros separated. Alfons will always die because of his lung cancer, but there’s the death by gun too):

- Alfons lives a bit longer before dying from lung cancer + Elric brothers in Amestris

- Alfons dies by gun + Elric brothers in Amestris

- Alfons lives a little while longer before he dies of lung cancer + Elric brothers on Earth

- Alfons dies by gun + Elric brothers on Earth

I’m curious about the link between Alfons dying and the Elric brothers moving to Earth though, because they seem to be rather unrelated events. Edward doesn’t see that Alfons has died until he comes back to Earth, so whether Alfons lives  or dies doesn’t really affect Edward’s motivations while messing about in Amestris, because as far as Edward knows, he last saw Alfons as alive.

So if Alfons dying doesn’t affect any of the character motivations or actions in-universe, the reason why Alfons dying leads to the Elric brothers coming to Earth must be an out-of-universe reason, like, I don’t know, maybe it fits with the theme of the story. I wonder how the story changes with each of the four options...

Option 1: Alfons lives a bit longer, Brothers in Amestris

Alfons says “we’re not just dreams, don’t forget me”, lauches Edward to Amestris, Edward reunites with people, they defeat Eckhart, they live in Amestris (do they close the gate?) Everything is fine and dandy until Alphonse reports in dreams of how everyone is doing on Earth. Alfons is dying, Noah has whatever fate awaits her, Edward feels super bad about ditching everyone, which breaks the theme of the other world not being a dream.

Option 2: Alfons dies by gun, Brothers in Amestris.

Same deal as above, but because Alfons is dead, Alphonse doesn’t report any dreams. Edward maybe feels bad again for ditching everyone. or perhaps he starts to try to forget about the existence of Earth to cope with those bad feelings? (or maybe he never took it seriously and Alphonse not having any dreams confirms it. Or maybe Edward tries to deny it, but not knowing what happened to the Earth-people eats away at the back of his mind, because he spent two years there, and now on Amestris, he keeps thinking about Earth?) It just doesn’t seem like a happy ending in my opinion, like Edward would be stuck between two worlds, or at least physically stuck in Amestris, and having thoughts about what the heck Earth was enroaching on him mentally a lot.

Option 3: Alfons lives a bit longer, Brothers in Earth

Edward returns and Alfons is surprised about that, awkard doppelganger meeting when Alphonse comes out. And then they watch Alfons gradually die from lung cancer, ruining the upbeat mood of the end of the movie. Or who knows, maybe Alfons would be happy about meeting Alphonse  before he dies, and surrounded by friends? Lung cancer sounds painful though, especially if you’re in COS’s time period.

Option 4: What we saw on the movie

Seems like a happy-ish ending.

I wonder if Edward ever feels guilty that Alfons died for him to go to Amestris, but he’s on Earth anyway.

I also wonder if Alphonse is going to run into a billion language barriers and rely on Ed to translate stuff for him until he learns languages

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Alphonse’s Slippery Soul

In COS, Al’s soul can momentarily transfer itself to objects easily. And considering he summoned an army of suits by sticking his soul to all of them, he can do it multiple times. Do you know what that means?

ALPHONSE CAN MAKE THE BEST EVER PUPPET SHOWS! NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

He can scare people and make them think items are possessed or something if he wanted to.

What if he attaches his soul to another person, do we get that Yu-gi-oh situation with 2 people, one body?

What if he attaches his soul to the ground? Doe he suddenly control Amestris-dirt?

Alphonse is too OP, plz nerf.

[Request accepted. Alphonse has been nerfed by transferring to Earth.]

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paninya screenshot edit to see what she might look like with hair untied

i assume she has long front fringes because when she has her hair tied, all her hair is tight against her head, including the hair at the front

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ONLY TUCKER GOES TO HELL?!

I was reading on the wiki, to help confirm a half-remembered detail.

So at the end of a manga volume, occasionally there’s a section called “In Memoriam” for the dead characters, and it shows the dead character flying up to heaven. Except for Tucker who goes to hell.

I can’t remember much about the other characters who died in the manga, but really? ONLY TUCKER GOES TO HELL?

Yes, I know, you know, we all know what Tucker did was despicable. He can have hell.

But why does Kimblee get to go to heaven? He wrecked a whole bunch of Ishvalans willingly without remorse, but he still goes to heaven?!?!?!? How does Kimblee, someone who took part in systematic genocide just because he could, get a pass? I cannot think of a single good reason why Kimblee gets to go to heaven while Tucker can’t. Kimblee has an equal if not more of a lack of remorse, and the sheer volume he killed too, compared to Tucker’s 2 people.

Oh, the Ishvalans killed by Kimblee are in heaven too. Heaven is sure going to be... interesting, if they meet....

Edit:

@sixtyfourk Thanks for your answer for at least some sort of explanation! Now that you pointed out the Homunculi also went to heaven, (despite being literal embodiments of sin which heaven usually cannot stand), the fact that only Tucker seems to be depicted as going to hell is even stranger! #JusticeforTucker2k17! nah nvm :P I wonder who is gatekeeping heaven and hell though in the Back-of-FMA-volumes-universe

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imagine an AU where

Inbetween the events of the final episode and COS:

Edward had perfectly adjusted to life on earth. He is happy and sociable, can drive without crashing, and isn’t a slacker room-mate to Alfons. He has many close friends on Earth!

And Alphonse is also perfectly fine. He still looks for Edward from time to time, but sure as heck isn’t cosplaying him.

Izumi can cope with her illness. She and Wrath are living happily together.

And Roy isn’t out among the snow.

Envy is happy on Earth too.

You know, as I try and imagine this, even my brain is making Fry’s suspicious face at me for some reason.

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difference in slapstick humour

I was wondering why I like the slapstick humour in Tintin or Tom And Jerry a lot more than the one in FMA. I’ve realised why.

In Tintin, the slapstick humour is often brought upon by the character to themself, they’re accidents. (e.g. A character accidentally walks into a pole, they and another character crash into each other accidentally).

In Tom and Jerry, while they’re deliberately hitting each other, Tom and Jerry aren’t friends or family. They’re cat and mice who don’t like each other, and are beating each other up in extremely over the top ways. (e.g. using dynamite)

With FMA, there is some slapstick stuff by people who are supposed to care about each other, hitting each other in plausible ways (e.g. using common tools or fists, not randomly pulling a rocket launcher out of nowhere), and not by accident. That just hits too close to home to real-life unfunny situations.

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When you stream your anime via shady streaming sites and read the comments.

Perfect de-escalation!

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Alter-Lyra

I find that scene with alter-Lyra and Edward in COS funny. 

Alter-Lyra is probably thinking:

Pfff! I can’t believe insolent teenage boys would gawk at me so openly! Don’t they teach kids manners these days?!

While Edward is probably thinking:

Holyshit did-the-evil-bastard-from-my-world-someow-come-here-what-does-she-want-... Nevermind... that was just Earth’s Lyra... I think I’ve offended her...

Did Edward even know what happened to Dante? I’d imagine that Al would know because Wrath could tell him about stuff, but while on Earth, I don’t blame Edward for being surprised at alter-Lyra’s appearance. For all he knew, Dante could’ve crossed over to come personally get him, Envy and Hohenheim if she wanted to for some reason.

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I wonder how Rick and Leo are doing after COS...

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sneaking al

I can’t take any scenes of Al attempting to sneak around anywhere seriously, like in Lab 5. He’s a giant hunk of metal. Not only is he huge, metal is loud, and here he is walking all over the place. The only loud metal things I can take seriously as being stealthy are specially made stealth planes (and holy crap, they were louder than any other plane.) Is Al a stealth plane? No. Therefore I cannot take his attempts to be stealthy seriously.

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oddly well animated

as off-putting that Winry turn-around in the 3rd ending credits is, I have to admit, on a technical level, it looks well animated. As in, it looks like it was done with a high frame-rate, and it whoever drew it clearly had skill because the turn-around was done so smoothly that it almost looked like a cel-shaded 3d model. Nothing looked odd or out of perspective when she leaned back and forth. I liked the hair movement.

Here’s the shot I was talking about:

https://youtu.be/CYjLg2y5h5E?t=56s

I just wish that an extremely well-animated Winry could be something that wasn’t a “fan-servicey” shot.

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Legal personal documentation?

Not too knowledgable about the way people of old-timey periods kept or gave out documentation, but Edward and Alphonse kind of arrived on Earth out of nowhere. They don’t have birth certificates or passports or anything? Same with Hohenheim, what did he do?!

And it’s not like they could commit identity theft because Alter!Ed’s stuff is probably all the way in England and bombed to smithereens, Hohenheim’s counterpart is too old and too dead. Alphonse could possibly ghost Alfons a bit more easily once he’s out of Germany, but he probably isn’t the type of person to do that.

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Edward learning about fairytales

I wonder what kind of fairytales Amestris has. Dante is pretty dang old, I wouldn’t be surprised if a character based off Dante appeared in any fairytales. Would a weird tale based off the disappearing Elric brothers pop up?

And when Edward moves to Germany, maybe to learn the language better, comes across some of the stories by the Brothers Grimm, and wonders what’s up with all the messed up stories intended for children.

Then he tells them to Alphonse when he comes over.

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Cheaters of death?

In a way, the Elric brothers have both cheated death, but still face the consequences of death themselves.

By cheating death, there’s the obvious. Both of them are still alive and wandering around Earth. Edward had got stabbed, and crushed by a zeppelin, and Alphonse had lost his body. But they’re both still alive after everything! (R.I.P Alter!Ed though...)

But one consequence of dying is that you can make no further actions to affect the world you lived in, because you’re dead and dead people usually aren’t moving around in the world (unless people are doing reactions to your death like human transmutation shenanigans). Edward and Alphonse chose to stay on Earth, and never affect Amestris again.

So I guess Earth is some kind of still-alive-”after-life” for them. They might as well be dead for Amestris, but I have to say, the Elric brothers got a sweet deal.

Being alive at least somewhere with someone you love after going through events that should’ve killed you, with a whole new world to explore? If I was in Edward’s or Alphonse’s positions, I wouldn’t believe my luck that this was what we got after everything that had happened. It may not seem like much of a “big good ending” compared to other stories where the heroes pull through and save many people, but that’s alright. Even after everything that was lost, I think the ending is rewarding in its own way.

Simply being still alive after all those chaotic events, is it not a massive achievement? Sure, “still being alive” may be considered setting the bar a bit low, but personally, I think it’s a very respectable goal.