Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Tropes A-F: Difference between revisions

* [[Action Mom]]: Izumi.

* [[Actually Four Mooks]]: The Slicer Brothers.

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Ed and Roy. Paninya and Solf.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Quite a few villains, but Greed, Kimblee and Wrath are probably the best examples.

*** Lust does show her sin, but it's not the type of lust most people think of: it's ''bloodlust''.

*** None of them show the said sin quite so much in the manga or Brotherhood, rather they are a target of Father's misunderstanding. He hungers for knowledge, so Gluttony is a gate of truth, Lust has her appearance because that's what Father believes to be a target to human lust, Pride is the son because a son is a father's pride and joy, etc. Though Greed and Gluttony show their qualities, they show enough traits of victims. Others, Lust and Sloth most notably, minimally show the sin.

** Isaac McDougal, The Freezing Alchemist in the first episode of ''Brotherhood'', is an unhinged [[Shell Shocked Senior]] who kills multiple soldiers. He's motivated by disgust over the genocide in Ishval. Anyone who's read the manga can easily see where he's coming from.

** Greed also doubles as a [[Noble Demon]]. He's going to treat his henchmen well because, after all, when word gets out that he's good to them more people will want to work for him.

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: At some points, ''it was like a lottery''.

** Actually [[Subverted Trope|subverted,]] since most of good guys make it alive to the series finale. However, injuries are portrayed rather realistically here {{spoiler|like when Havoc got paralyzed.}}

* [[Apocalypse Wow]]: Chapter 104. {{spoiler|Father eats the souls of everyone in the country, turns into a giant, and then eats Truth.}}

** {{spoiler|And then it all comes crashing down when it turns out that [[Out Gambitted|Hohenheim had prepared his own transmutation circle,]] ''using the moon's shadow,'' to restore the souls of the people of Amestris. It's not enough to thwart Father completely, but it's enough to prevent his apotheosis.}}

** Played straight in the same incident with Maria Ross and Ed, whose face is not made of metal, and she successfully calls him out on his reckless charge into the 5th Lab.

** Winry averts the [[Fridge Logic]] of this by hitting Al in the head with her [[Wrench Whack|wrench]].

** Hohenheim is confirmed to be so in {{spoiler|chapter 105}} where it's revealed he managed to [[Out Gambitted|outgambit]] {{spoiler|Father}}. This makes him a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Badass]].

** Kimblee shows that in FMA, even {{spoiler|deceased}} people are badass. Yeah.

** [[Badass Adorable]]: May Chang. Long range alchemy is awesome!

*** See also her miniature dwarf panda, Xiaomei. She mimics May's kung fu moves rather well, and she can swallow your fist whole in the blink of a second.

** Major Armstrong gets a few during his fight with Olivier in episode 45 of Brotherhood. They only add to the humor of the scene.

** Ed in chapter 107, when {{spoiler|Al sacrifices his soul in exchange for Ed's right arm}}.

* [[Bishie Sparkle]]: The entire Armstrong family.

** "'''[[Large Ham|These sparkles have been passed down the Armstrong line for GENERATIONS!]]'''"

** Major Armstrong, as far as Hiromu Arakawa is concerned. She ''loves'' muscled men like him.

*** [[Author Appeal]], then?

** Or as he's identified on the [[Eyecatch]], {{spoiler|[[Meaningful Name|Our Father]]}}.

* [[Blade Below the Shoulder]]: Ed can transmute his automail arm into one, and {{spoiler|Lan Fan's}} automail also includes one; Lust's Ultimate Lance is a variation, and similarly, Greed sometimes does this with his arm, using the razor-sharp claws he has in his Ultimate Shield form.

** [[Running Gag|"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!"]]

** {{spoiler|[[She Is All Grown Up|Not anymore...]]}}

{{quote| ''"More like a joke than gossip... [[Cute Kitten|Scar feeding cats]], undying humans, {{spoiler|King Bradley is a homunculus}}..."''}}

** Watch closely, in both the manga and the anime, the episodes during and possibly just before The Devil's Nest. If you read the sign outside (and also the board on the wall inside) you will see a list of meats available:

** There was one (plus [[Kneel Before Zod]]) even on ''an episode preview'':

{{quote| ''"Poor, confused humans: feel this suffering, for it is proof that you are alive. Then, with both hands on the ground, kneel before me."''}}

{{quote| '''Ed:''' What?<br />

'''Winry:''' Nothing. }}

* [[Code Name]]: Every state alchemist gets one. It's where the series gets its title -- Fullmetal is Ed's code name. The Homunculi also have code names of sorts, though not all of them are stated in-series (Wrath is the Ultimate Eye, Greed is the Ultimate Shield, and Lust is the Ultimate Lance).

* [[Colonel Badass]]: Roy Mustang. So much so that when word gets out that he's coming to the front lines, his ''allies'' [[Bring My Brown Pants|need brown pants.]]

* [[Compliment Backfire]]: It's more like gentle teasing, but you'd think [[Urban Legend Love Life|a suave guy like Mustang]] could pull it off...

{{quote| '''Roy:''' But wow, this place brings back memories, Lieutenant. It reminds me of your crying face. I'd like to see honest tears like that from you again someday.<br />

* [[Creepy Child]]: {{spoiler|Pride}}, who is also an [[Enfant Terrible]].

* [[Cross Dressing Voices]]: Played straight with Ed and Al in the Japanese version. Averted with Ed in the English version, but unlike the first anime, Al plays it straight in ''Brotherhood'''s dub.

** Ling usually is just tying to weasel a free meal out of anyone he can and generally making Ed look silly, but if you threaten Lan Fan or anyone else that he cares about, he can fight well enough to keep up with Wrath.

** Sloth sort of qualifies. Although he is gigantic, imposing, and incredibly strong, you don't find out until almost the end that {{spoiler|He is THE FASTEST homunculus, and he normally moves slowly just because moving at lightning speed to beat the living crap out of people is "such a bother."}}

 

== D ==

* [[Dark Action Girl]]: Lust - she nearly oneshots Colonel Mustang's team, and if Roy didn't live, things would be bad.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Greed post-[[Heel Face Turn]] (and "Greedling"); all of the chimeras.

** The [[Animated Armor|animated armors]] look quite intimidating, with the [[Spikes of Villainy]] and the red glowing eyes, but only one (Barry the Chopper) is evil (and even so [[Affably Evil]]), while Alphonse is one of the two main characters.

*** The other [[Animated Armor]], the Slicer {{spoiler|Brothers}} is likewise intimidating, but quite honorable. While this sounds to be playing this trope straight (like Al), having commited countless crimes (like Barry) [[Subverted Trope|this trope isn't exactly averted, either.]]

*** [[The Hero|Ed]] typically wears a black outfit.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]/[[Bloodier and Gorier]]: ''Brotherhood'' is more violent than the first anime, and the [[Media Classifications]] reflect it; at least two episodes are rated TV-MA by [[Adult Swim]], and some of the DVD boxes are rated MA15+ in Australia. (The original anime was never rated higher than TV-14 in America and M in Australia.)

* [[The Dead Have Names]]: Van Hohenheim has quite a list of them. {{spoiler|They're all the souls trapped inside him, and [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|over the centuries]] he's talked to all of them, convincing them to stand with him in his fight against Father.}}

* [[Devour the Dragon]]: {{spoiler|Pride devours Gluttony to replenish his Philosopher Stone and gain Gluttony's ability to follow others by smell, though that may have been simply an added bonus.}}

** {{spoiler|Father eats the goddamn TRUTH.}}

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: A ''very'' minor example. In one episode of the dub Ed is reciting the periodic table to distract himself from his feelings for Winry, and he skips Boron.

** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: That could actually have been intentional, suggesting he's not fully succeeding.

** {{spoiler|And then Ed punches him in the face. Repeatedly.}} And it is [[Moment of Awesome|AWESOME]].

* [[Diesel Punk]]

** And then {{spoiler|Kimblee pulls one of these on Pride in a [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]}}.

* [[Doesn't Like Guns]]: Ed.

** Most Western fans have little to no clue of who the Ainu people are, or their relation to Ishvalans. Ironically, though, they notice a strong (but likely accidental) resemblance to the Islamic peoples of the Middle East (single god, desert-dwelling, very traditional yet advanced culture and a reverence for not messing with "God's creations"), and given that Amestris [[A Nazi By Any Other Name|seems pretty well based on a certain European power]] and the time period of the show [[World War One|(self-proclaimed to be in the 19-teens)]], it's very easy to see why everyone west of the Ganges would come to that conclusion.

*** Not only Westerners. Interestingly enough, track #20 of the second ''Brotherhood'' OST, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-nCtkY-43E Land of Ishvala]'', has a decidedly Oriental/Arabic tone.

** Many characters react with horror to Pride's cruelty and callousness toward his allies {{spoiler|particularly when he ate Gluttony}}, even ''Kimblee''. {{spoiler|Even more surprising is when in chapter 106, Kimblee, previously devoured by Pride, rebels against him out of disgust at Pride's hypocrisy, and helps distract him long enough for Ed to destroy him}}

* [[Everyone Can See It]]: Arakawa loves this trope to death. See [[Shipper On Deck]] and [[Ship Tease]] entries below.

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: King Bradley arguably serves as this to several characters, but Ling is the most obvious example. They are both figures with authoritative positions, but while Bradley sees the people f his nation as little more than [[We Have Reserves|cannon fodder]], Ling strongly believes in the idea that people with power exist to serve those who don't. The parallels become even stronger when {{spoiler|Ling becomes a human-based homunculus like Bradley, but unlike Bradley who lost his original soul (in addition to all the other souls in his Philosopher's stone rendering him unable to regenerate like other homunculi) in the process of becoming Wrath, Ling manages to assert and maintain his consciousness within Greed. It is also interesting to note that Bradley was the 12th candidate for Führer and Ling is the 12th crown prince of Xing}}.

** Greed himself serves as a counterpart to Bradley, as he too values the existence of his underlings {{spoiler|and as stated before becomes the only other human-based homunculus}}

** Even Roy has his parallels with Bradley due to his [[A Father to His Men]] nature and desire to become Fuhrer to better Amestris.

*** Another parallel is that Fuhrer Bradley's first name is King and Mustang's first name, Roy means "King" in French.

** Animals reacting badly on the Promised Day.

** Black Hayate is given the honorary rank of Second Lieutenant because of his ability to detect the presence of Homunculi, and in fact ''attacks Gluttony'' to protect Riza. He's also shown alerting Riza to the presence of Barry the Chopper (only in ''Brotherhood'').

** Same with Barry the Chopper.

* [[Expy]]: Jean Havoc's characterization and design originates from an earlier Arakawa manga, ''[[Shanghai Youma Kikai]]'', along with those of Lust.

** Lan Fan's design is nearly identical to the main heroine of Raiden-18, yet another one/two-shot from Arakawa.

* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: Gluttony.

* [[Face Stealer]]: Played straight in the film ''Fullmetal Alchemist: [[The Movie|The Sacred Star of Milos]]'', is revealed that {{spoiler|Atlas}} did this to {{spoiler|Julia's brother}}.

* [[Fake Memories]]: Barry the Chopper suggests to Al that his memories aren't real, that Ed created him himself, and the human boy Al never existed. {{spoiler|He's just screwing with him for giggles, but Al believes him until Ed and Winry set him straight}}.

* [[Fandom Nod]]: 503 as shorthand for Ed/Winry shipping, {{spoiler|Ed calling the new Greed "Gree(d)ling"}}.

** {{spoiler|Pride attempting [[Grand Theft Me]] on Ed may be a nod to ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist Bluebirds Illusion|Bluebird's Illusion]]'', where Ed is made into the homunculus Pride.}}

* [[Finger Snap Lighter]]: Roy, of course.

* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: Al is an empty suit of armor and Ed has two artificial limbs.

* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Ed doesn't believe in God, which is strange given that he has met the man.

** He once once went so far as to say that [[Selective Obliviousness|if he and Al ever went to see God]] that [[You Are Worth Hell|they would probably just be sent back]]. They did, and they were.