So I'm watching FMA for the first time and one thing is

>>135835762
>Psiren had one on her chest, so what's stopping others?

FILLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR She's a shitty filler character,senpai!

>>135835805
So basically she's not canon and you can't just tattoo a transmutation circle just like that?
This is pretty confusing, since you can draw a circle (on surface) with pretty much anything that can draw.

Most of the alchemists that are worth anything in combat do have something to make them able to instantly activate their alchemy.

>>135835762
in Brotherhood, Mustang uses the scars/blood on his hand to transmute and i think he doesnt need a glove for that hand anymore. Most haracters use a glove instead of just tattooing that shit on there. Don't know why.

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>>135835762
Seriously dude, the biggest thing that bugs me is that an armed service in ANY fictional world would enlist/commission A 12 YEAR OLD BOY no matter how good he was. That's just plain silly.
I could never take Fullmetal Alchemist seriously because of this.

Scar uses a tattoo. Kimblee does so as well, but you might not have watched that far yet

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>>135836283
>child soldiers aren't real
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children

>>135836388
This would have been alright justification if Edward wasn't the only child show working for the Amestris State Military...

>>135835762
Say you "invent" a novel better one, the first one is obsolete.

That said, there's a lot of specialisation in state alchemists, and when they go to fight, they already have everything they need prepared, like Mustang with gloves and Armstrong with his cesti. Note how Mustang essentially did the same what you said, but also took problem of ignition. Gauntlets don't only give alchemy circles to use but are also a weapon by themselves.

Also, tattooing gives a bad vibe PRwise. Carving flesh, etc. is a domain of villains. There are at least two people that did so though.

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>>135836489
>the biggest thing that bugs me is that an armed service in ANY fictional world would enlist/commission A 12 YEAR OLD BOY
>even throughout real history, 12 year old boys have been enlisted/commissioned
>actually I change my mind, what bugs me is that Edward is the only underage soldier

>>135836283

Edward was only accepted because he was able to make transmutations without a transmutation circle. King Bradley knew that the only people that were able to do that were the ones that tried to make a human transmutation, so he accepted Edward to keep him close since he could be useful later.

>>135836283
It's kind of bemusing how Japan literally can't write adult characters so you have to get used to the implausibility of their ages. Yet I've heard FMA also get credit for having many adult characters central to the story.

>>135835762
Alchemy circles aren't one size fits all, you actually need a different circle to do different things, unless you're Ed and don't need a circle at all. You'll notice specialized military alchemists do in fact have at least semi permanent circles on them at all times, because they only do one kind of transmutation with them. But tatooing yourself with a circle would be very pointless unless you use the specific transmutation that circle does all the time.

>>135836546
Yeah, and one is famed for being the state alchemist murderer and the other one is a genocidal maniac. Still, Mustang carving his circle into his body was hardcore as shit. Still one of my favorite parts.

>>135836546
This, all of it.

>>135836489
>>135836601
Ed was pretty much a prodigy of alchemy wasn't he? Being able to learn and perform alchemy at a young age was already impressive and by the time he was in the gate he could already think and perform better than most adults.

If I were an alchemist I would at least have a stamp made so I could plant a transmutation circle down without having to draw it every time.

It is because in the country that FMA is set in (the west) tatooing is very rare, Scar is an example for an tatoo'd transmutation circle, and his brother incorperated elements from both western and eastern alchemy to make it work.

The boom alchemist(i forgot his name) probably recived his tatoos while in Ishbal aswell in the war.

TL;DR No tatoo artists in the western world.

>>135836942
Kimblee. Hawkeye has the secrets of flame alchemy tattooed on her back, but she got it burnt off after she saw how destructive it was in Ishval.

I would cut my arm off for an automail in an instant.

Fuck these weak organics.

>>135837064
You can't swim, rehab is incredibly painful and takes at least three years on average, and you'll need to be in relatively decent shape to keep the weight of the automail limb from causing large amounts of stress on your body. I can't imagine that the constant tune ups are cheap either.

>>135837027
Yeah, i said it was very rare, not non-existant.
Probably need to be a pretty good tattoo artist aswell to make those complex tattoo's without them spreading and degenerating over time aswell.

Tattoos is quite hard.

>>135837274
This. If you need a perfect circle, even if you manage to tattoo it, eventually your skin will sag and you will lose it, eventually you will get a scar, etc.

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>>135837274
>complex tattoo's
Now that I think about it, it must've been a pain for Arakawa to draw Scar's tattoo so many times

>>135837064
Archer pls

>>135836283
Any army that exists right now would recruit a 12yo kid if he could fire SAM missiles without a launcher or actual missiles. That's the level of power Edward has

>>135837202
Yeah, but your arm is fucking metal dude

>>135837858
I'm a little bitch, so the idea of three years of painful rehabilitation and surgery sound terrible to me.

>>135838021
Metal
Arm

>>135838033
>you will never again feel the softness of boob with your metal arms
>you will never feel boob anyway

>>135838069
Exactly. I don't see any problem in this. Not like there's someone who'll miss me for 3 years anyway

>>135835762
Crimson Lotus Alchemist and Mustang are the only ones who do this aside from Scar I believe. Mustang uses gloves instead of tattoos though. His weakness in the rain would be completely nullified if he carried a zippo around. What a goof.

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>>135838149
There's also this guy, but he's not really ever relevant

>>135838349
It was a really pathetic death for someone with such a design and personality match up.

>>135838349
I was trying to remember his name, and all I could think of was the Silver General Alchemist, so I gave up. He only lives for a single chapter before Scar kills him anyway.

>>135835762
Nearly every specialized alchemist has the transmutation circle corresponding to their signature ability drawn somewhere on their clothes, and yes some even have them tattooed.

The only time I ever remember seeing people draw them by hand were if they had to make some specialized ones, usually for human transmutation or similar concepts, or when Al did alchemy.

I've watched Brotherhood and thought it was bretty gud (a bit too long though and overrated as fuck). Should I watch FMA 2003 too?

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>>135835762

>>135838759
2003 ending is a million times better and sticks with the initial themes instead of going all power of friendship.

The payoff is incredible, so yeah.

>>135839083
Thanks, will do.

>>135838759
I like '03's music. It sounds almost exactly like Dragon Quest. The first OP also sounds like Bach.

>>135839256
I really wanna fuck Lanfan-chan

>>135838349
arakawa really needs to write more about fma universe

>>135838759
I think the pacing, themes and ending are more consistent in 2003.
But the setting becomes absolutely ridiculous as the story progresses.

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>>135836283
>>135836489
Literally the most irrelevant thing to bug you.
Your posts seems nothing more then shitposting to me.

>>135835762
I'll take it a step further.
If it doesn't matter (for non-special cases at least) with what or how (on a paper sheet placed above, with a stick on the ground...) the circle is drawn and the whole thing comes from alchemist's mind, can't a trained alchemist just imagine a circle on the target (either projecting an image or marking part of it as 'special') with sufficient concentration and use it for transmutation?
Also, if there's no real limit to the size of transmutated object (only overall 'magnitude' of transmutation) and complexity of it's structure, why not to use a line-of-sight cone of air as a part of transmutated object (transmutating it into itself) to do a ranged transmutation?

>>135839718
That's literally what it means to realize the truth of the world, the ability to use alchemy without transmutation circles because of the realization that 'one is all, all is one' or some shit like that. Once you talk to god he mindfucks your brain into seeing it.

>>135839849
No, what I want is to bypass god and use conventional method consciously, but skipping visualisation assisting steps.

>>135839999
I am fairly sure you have a too narrow view as an alchemist.
That said, if you study both alchemy and alkahestry like Scar's brother did you might eventually get onto something.

original best

>>135837604
Imagine the meeting with the editor.

>I want to give this character complex geometric tattoos that have to be lore relevant and consistent in each and every shot.
>Why? No really, you don't have to.
>Because I want to create a world with rich history and a believable system of magic, this serves as a reminder to the audience of the sacrifices made by not just the protagonist and his brother, but of other alchemists in their pursuit of power and equality.
>Just don't make it too complex.
>Oh sorry I didn't hear that last part, take a geez at this awesome tattoo.
>Well you're the one who has to draw it.

>>135839718
You either need a circle for the energy to flow through, or intricate subconscious knowledge of literally everything in existence.

The only way to gain the second is to open the gate as edward did, and the first requires some method of projecting the circle on to a distant target, both of which are explained or occur later in the show.

Just keep watching and it will make sense.

>>135836489
He was able to pull off alchemy without a circle. Those who knew that it meant he attempted human transmutation, like Bradley, would probably want them close for when the time comes.

>>135840410
I'm trying to get the most out of the least.

>>135841716
>distance
If you're referring to Xing ranged method - I've seen it and I can't really figure out how that's supposed to work. I'm proposing a simple shortcut that doesn't go beyond Western alchemy.
>circle
What I'm talking about is a more fundamental matter - why do we need a circle to be explicitly drawn on the object at all if it doesn't matter how do we draw it?
If we draw a circle normally and then place a non-transparent sheet of paper on it, will we be able to use it? What if we just close our eyes?

>>135836283
That's fair. On the other hand, boys were able to join the civil war and even WWI and II by lying about their age. Really depends on the military structure. It's not like they don't let genius level kids go to college, and if the army is the only source of funding for high end alchemy research, they could let a kid join just to have him contributing to the field. It's not like they were sending Edward to a battlefield.

It's not as bad as Sword Art Online where there were no immediate and severe repercussions to a company installing murder devices on their VR helmets.

>>135836169
he doesn't need a glove to transmute because it has a circle on it. He uses the friction of the glove's material to make a spark and then transmute that. Later he draws a circle on his hand and in that instance uses a lighter instead of the glove.

>>135836283
>>135836489
He was enlisted because he just showed up and basically told the army/fuhrer/father "hey, I'm a candidate". so he was taken in so they could control/keep a closer eye on him.

>>135842195
I don't really have an answer for that second one because I haven't watched the show in ages (if it's ever explained thoroughly), but from what I remember the shape is what's important, because it directs alchemical energy to do certain things. Like a circuit board. It works better if the material conducts electricity well, or in this case alchemical energy being transmitted through a circle that is more solid or more appropriate material.

The second part of that doesn't really make sense. Line of sight clearly isn't needed because otherwise the ice walls in the very first episode wouldn't have been possible. Nor would transmuting a whole city.

It's not a matter of needing to draw a circle on the object either, because Al is able to repair the radio just by placing it in his circle, not drawing the circle on the radio.

>>135839849
Truth was such a troll sometimes. You see him when you literally FOR SCIENCE so hard that God basically has to come and slap your shit. Then punish you by taking body parts. Then he says sure, you can have your God-tier alchemy and create a circle with your arms instead so you can keep on sciencing.

Except the whole clapping motion looks like a fucking prayer. Every time.

>>135843050
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember someone drawing a circle on the ground/dirt/whateveritwas without incorporating any foreign material.
Second part won't make sense if we won't figure out first.

>>135844324
I didn't explain that properly.

I meant that the circle is what helps the energy travel, not the material it's drawn with.

Yeah I kinda butchered that sentence, but it's 5am here and I havent slept.

I think mei's daggers create their own circle and thus aren't actually drawn circles, which would count for what you're trying to find.

State Alchemist needed to deliever research once a year? So what kind of stuff were the majority sending in?
I cant imagine guys like Armstrong or Mustang doing much research on their own and Ed was always traveling. Why was the father of the year alchemist the only guy who got into problems with that.

>>135836283
Are you being sarcastic, or are you just retarded?

>>135836283
do you even watch the show?
Edward wasn't enlisted because he was good in alchemy.
he was enlisted because Father need 5 people that already seen/opened the Gate to activate the nationwide transmutation circle.
in other words, he just wanted to keep him on a leash until the promised days.

>>135844566
I want to push it to extreme.
Mei's daggers are still an 'explicit mark' - something a person disconnected from the alchemist's thought process can see.
Like, if we imagine that alchemy is done by some kind of god or semi-intelligent being and the circle serves to 'lure in' that god, necessity of that circle's existence would be obvious. But if it's done by the alchemist alone, why there would be any need for an explicit mark? Having alchemist himself convinced of existence of circle there should suffice.

Several other points:
- circle's shape matters, but it doesn't have to be perfect
- alchemist doesn't have to see the circle, but does have to know that it's there (already mentioned)
- a seal that bounds soul to an object has at least somewhat similar structure and it's effect can be compromised if the seal is damaged

>>135844654
>I cant imagine guys like Armstrong or Mustang doing much research on their own and Ed was always traveling.
Tucker wasn't a soldier/officer/combat alchemist like those three are.

>>135844654
I always imagined that it depends on whether your alchemy has practical uses in research or on the battlefield.

An alchemist whose research could be useful (creating an army of intelligent speaking chimera) would be bound to the once a year check.

An alchemist whose abilities are useful (blowing shit up) isn't bound by the yearly check up, but is required to show up for actual military duty if the military calls them into conscription.

>>135844654
Probably because he didn't support the state in any other way either, unlike Armstrong or Mustang.

>>135836489
Um... am I missing something here? What other child is enlisted as a State Alchemist? Or any other military position, for that matter?
Was this something exclusively in '03? And therefore not canon?

>>135844654
Ed needed to deliever research notes during the Greed arc. He basically made up some shit on the train ride and Bradley passed it without even looking at his papers.

>>135844654
Didn't Edward have to submit a report once? He made up crap on the train and Bradley stamped it without even reading. Armstrong is the type to come up with something in his spare time and Mustang probably procrastinates until Hawkeye slaps his ass.

>>135835762
Just occurred to me; what if having a tattoo *locks* you into using that form of transmutation?
Since you’re always touching that circle, that becomes the only form of alchemy you can use until the tattoo is removed somehow.
That explains why SA’s use clothing (Mustang’s gloves, Armstrong’s gauntlets) so they can perform other transmutations if they need to when out of combat.

>>135845405
There is probably a way you can partly work arround it, but yeah tatooing is only good if you wanna specialise in one form of alchemy.
Like Kimbley who likes thing that goes boom, or that SIlver guy who had some complex as fuck alchemy going on

>>135845405
Isn't that the reason Boomguy's tattoos are actually two halves of an actual circle?

>not watching Brotherhood

Other series shouldn't have existed as far as I'm concerned

>>135845047
No, that's just not how it works.

Even ed has to clap his hands to make a circle, and he doesn't have to make a physical circle.

Not even sure what you're saying is an actual conversation, you're more just wishing that the show worked the way you want it to.

>>135845405
No.

There's no mention of that. Also if that were the case roy would not be able to use any other kind of alchemy after the scene with the lighter and lust, but when he fights father he is able to transmute a stone wall.

>>135846514
>Also if that were the case roy would not be able to use any other kind of alchemy after the scene with the lighter and lust
Why wouldnt he, he didnt tatoo the symbol into his hand, he just pained with his own blood

>>135846514
>after the scene with the lighter and lust
He just drew a circle on his hand with blood, he could wash it off

>>135846615
No, he carved that shit in to his hand with a knife like a badarse so that it wouldn't wipe away with a swift movement of his hand.

>>135845934
why not?

>>135846645
>>135846615
https://youtu.be/AsQ_wETHM-M?t=1m28s

>>135836705

Western writers also use children. Ever read Enders Game? MC is 12 and commands an entire army in a battle against aliens.

>>135846741
Plus more importantly so that there was no possibility of the blood drying and/or evaporating with the heat.

>>135846741
>>135846788
>dubbed
Fuck you

Also if he did scratch it onto his hand, it was probably a very shallow cut with a needle or something and healed right away, not leaving a trace

>>135836705
>this many assumptions
>none of them true

If your target audience is young children to mid teens your characters would reflect this.

>>135846916
>dubbed
>Fuck you

Not my video autist-kun.

>cut with a needle

Because he sure would carry those around with him everywhere.

>it might have disappeared by then
Got anything to back that up with? No? I'm going to go with the evidence then.

are these all serious?

>>135836283
If you actually watched the show, you would have known why they accepted Ed and Alphonse in the army even though they were both extremely young.