What's the point of sacrificing a limb to do free hand alchemy

>have to get buff to have the surface area in order to properly draw the alchemy circles
Ed could never get /fit/ enough with that midget body.

>>152303788
>I bought myself a shake weight. TEN MINUTES A DAY, EVERYDAY!

>>152303727
>with a few tattoos
And a few thousand lives

History is the cycle of people going "FUCK, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT SOONER" whenever a newer, better discovery is made/imported from another culture

You do things the way you know how to do them, until you know a better way.

>>152303727
Well is not like loosing his limbs in exchange of free hand alchemy was a voluntary choice from Ed.

Firstly, it's not sacrificing a limb, it's sacrificing something symbolically appropriate to why they committed the taboo. In Mustang's case he lost his sight because he was pursuing his vision of what his country could become, and that one teacher woman lost her womb since she was trying to bring back her baby.
Secondly, clapalchemy is just an unintended side effect of attempting human transmutation.

>>152303727

Free hand alchemy was a side effect not the goal dude. I imagine if it was the goal the Truth would go out of its way to fuck you over EXTRA hard in the toll paid.

Mustang and Armstrong had circles on their gloves which was good enough, so it's not like nobody does it

>>152303788
Or you could just eat your fucking burgers.

Pretty sure no one ever did a human transmutation just to get no circle alchemy.

>>152304459
If they did theyd probably lose their hands for it
Wouldnt that be a lark

Actually just have to see _the truth_ to clap.
So, go to /pol/ and you'll gain kek powers.

>>152303788
It's actually easier to build muscle mass as a manlet.

The caveat is, you're still a manlet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABC5TRSj9gE

>>152304514
Ed could do it with an automail hand, no reason why you couldn't do it with two.

>>152304594
Wait a second...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8F9xVRNHoU

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What's the point of getting few tattoos if you can accomplish the same effect with just a drawing on the glove?

>>152305524

Mustang is using the same circle for a similar effect every time.

Circle-less alchemy permits variety, obfuscation and mixup potential.

In 90% of cases, Mustang is going to throw fire at you. If his gloves are damaged, he needs to retreat to re-gear or draw a circle.

>>152304209
Mustang didn't even want to practice human alchemy, Pride just booted him through the Gate.

>>152305647
Well, most of Mustang's problems were solved by throwing ALL THE FIRE at it.

>>152303727
Technicaly anybody could actually learn free-hand alchemy.

The only thing the alchemists who visited Truth got was the knowledge of how to do it, not necessarily a super power or anything like that.

I have no doubt somewhere in the future of this world Free Hand alchemy has become a class course/study that people regularly learn.

>>152306143
I think it's relatively unlikely that clap-alchemy can be taught conventionally. It's a very simple form of symbolic circle and while the particulars of why something works is necessary to execute on it (see: flame alchemy only being known by Roy Mustang) we never see anybody capable of it even attempt to convey it to somebody else despite its apparent simplicity.

Either it's mind-bogglingly unconventional or it's something that can only be feasibly learned by exposure to the Truth.

>>152305524
Tattoos allow you to perform an effect that you are expecting to repeat consistently and are harder to damage into non-functionality than a pair of gloves.

Honestly speaking it'd be "safer" for Roy to have tattoos under his gloves and a spare ignition tool than what he actually does, but I'm sure plenty of people don't want to deal with that sort of nonsense.

>>152304732
yeah it's a thing, not original to joshiraku
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugemu

This is actually a good thread.

>>152306854
>Honestly speaking it'd be "safer" for Roy to have tattoos under his gloves and a spare ignition tool than what he actually does, but I'm sure plenty of people don't want to deal with that sort of nonsense.

That's probably just a hard nerf so he doesn't nuke everything. Like, imagine if in the first time Mustang meet Scar it wasn't raining. Scar would go down right there, Mustang is absolutely broken, no wonder he was so confident.

>>152304623
Fairy nuff

>get tattoos for your signature alchemy
>Basically forget how to do any other sort of alchemy
So much wasted potential. Especially Ed since he just brings out his sword arm like 90% of the time even though he can do so much more with ease

What happened to Roy in the end?

>>152306085
>>152305647

He isn't THROWing the fire at all, you speedleaders.

He transmutes the composition of the air towards the target and then lights it up with a spark (either from his glove or from a lighter).

>>152308327
He becomes god emperor capable of burning down whole cities while naked

>>152303727
It was rare knowledge. Scar's bro had to research it by himself and Scar had to do additional research for the other arm. Ed didn't know shit about the eastern tech which is why he got gimped by Father every time.

>>152303727
i wonder how he would fap

>>152304000
hindsight is 20/20

>>152308336
We don't know that

>>152308602
Yes we do. The author said that.

>>152308602
>When attacking, Mustang raises the density of the oxygen surrounding his target to a level at which it becomes volatile and creates narrow pathways of oxygen between himself and his target through which he can direct the ensuing flash fire that blossoms from the spark of his gloves. As a result, he can incinerate any number of enemies in the field while deftly avoiding any adjacent allies. The 'snap' sound heard at the start of these transmutations is caused by the instantaneous speed at which the highly concentrated gases and sparks react together and pop (and not Mustang's fingers actually 'snapping', to common belief.)

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>>152304565
/pol/ is nothing but lies. Believe nothing you read on the internet and question everything.

>>152308720
Source. That sounds like speculation.

>>152308696
No she didn't.

>>152308769
https://www.amazon.com/Fullmetal-Alchemist-Profiles-Hiromu-Arakawa/dp/1421507684

>>152308720

B-bakana!!

>>152308720
How did people not already know this
He extremely commonly had a thin line of sparks that made an explosion further away if he wasn't just blasting something right in front of him

Honestly, Mustang really was absurdly powerful
The scene where he wipes out the army of homunculi at the door was such a huge reminder both for the audience and the cast

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>>152308602
>>152308769
im sure theres a better explanation somewhere, but this is the best I could quickly find

>>152308327
He stayed on the military, though Arakawa implies that after that he will become the new fuhrer (after the old general retires).

>>152309111
Did he cum inside Riza's virgin cunny lots?

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>>152303727
what's the point of having sex if you can do it with your hand?
>that's how autistic you sound op

>>152309152
No

>>152309152
>At the epilogue, he has already been promoted enough to gain a grand achievement, becoming one of the few fully-fledged Generals in the history of Amestris, and Hawkeye still loyally holds her position as his personal adjutant.
>http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Roy_Mustang

Maybe... i guess?

>>152303727
free hand alchemy is a side effect of a failed resurrection, its not a goal

>>152309215
>drawing symbols with crayon on the ground is better than having radical tats

That's how yuo sound.

>>152309265
Scar didn't attempt to resurrect anyone with Alchemy. He didn't open his gate, just like he didn't open his other gate, to no man.

What decides what kind of Alchemy a person can perform?

>>152306065
It's called loophole. He paid the price for going through the gate. Whether he wanted to do it in the first place is irrelevent

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>>152309293
being able to use your own wifi,but bothering the neightbors just so you can use theirs.
>That's how you sound

>>152309340
The knowledge of the transmutation to be performed, the appropriate circle symbols and the act of putting them together

>>152309340
nothing, theoretically anyone can do any kind of alchemy, the only problem is that alchemists keep their research a secret unless they take an apprentice
im guessing alchemists just choose whatever subject interests them the most when deciding which type of alchemy to study

>>152309406
So you can create broke as fuck alchemy that can take over a country involving tree, earth, and wood generation?

>>152309624
I mean, until a guy who can incinerate entire towns shows up to kill you, sure

>>152309696
but what if I create gundams alchemy

>>152308075
Mustang got owned by Bradley, Scar went hand to hand with him immediately after.

Scar is way too fast for mustang, Mustang has firepower but that's it

>>152308463
Since it's his brother's arm, would it feel like someone else was doing it?

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>>152303727
>tfw after 10 years I JUST realized they are literally praying to god

>>152310518
I think they even lampshade it at one point, too.

>>152306065
Yeah, what happened to Mustang shows that Truth is just a dick.

It's been a while, but wasn't Scar almost completely incapable of doing regular alchemy? His Tattoos let him do the first two steps, separating atoms and splitting shit apart, but he couldn't recombine them into anything coherent.

>>152312528
I think eventually he was able to do the recombining stuff with a second set of tats.

In the 2003 version he never did though, and he also died turning Liore and all the soldiers he lured there into a Philosopher's Stone. 2003 Scar was great.

It really bothered me how pretty much everyone near the end had circle-free alchemy. Felt like how hand signs vanished from jutsus as Naruto went on.

>>152312602
At least it was somewhat justified within the premise. It's just the main character becoming less special snowflake instead of an established rule being dropped entirely because it's hard to draw.

>>152310518
They're forming a transmutation circle with their arms. Someone does comment that it looks ironically like praying though.

>>152312528
Scar got construction tattoos at the very end. Used them to surprise Bradley.

>>152308752
Cease this slander at once! /pol/ is a board of peace.
#notall/pol/acks

>>152310518
Prayer is but another form of alchemy.

>>152304209
>>152306065
>>152309371
>>152312461
I always figured the reason that Truth took Mustang's sight instead of his eyes was because he knew Mustang didn't go through willingly. He had to take a toll, but he didn't make it as bad as what he took from everyone else.

Mustang even regains his vision at the end of the series, so it was really more of a minor setback that lasted about a day or so?

>>152310518
>>152311563
>>152312639
Ling comments that it looks like Ed is praying when they escape from Gluttony's stomach.

ISHVALLANS WERE RIGHT

GOD DOES HATE ALCHEMY

>>152314746
>losing your sight is better than losing an arm

Damn son. You dumb as heck.

>>152315051
Congratulations, you can make other people sound dumb by distorting an argument to make your own point sound more valid.

Losing your sight without any other repercussions for a few days is better than losing your arm for several years and almost fatally bleeding out on the floor when it happened.

>>152304623
Then they'd probably lose their elbows

>>152306854
So like Wizards vs Sorcerers, DnD style.

>>152308285

It's kind of glossed over in Brotherbood, but alchemy actually requires academic knowledge of the things youre transmuting. Like actual chemical compositions, ratios of elements, etc. the reason why most alchemists stick to one type of alchemy/material is because it's what they know and are good at. Ed transmutes his automail and makes metal spears all the time because steel is the material he knows best. Hence the Fullmetal/steel alchemist title.

>>152314746
We never really got confirmation on the rules of Truth's trades. Taking Mustang's sight without taking his eyes? With no brain damage, that's like taking his retina or something. That's a tiny body part. He could just take some skin off his toe.

Truth is BS because there are no real rules. He lets Ed offer his Gate, but he just takes what he wants from everyone else. One of the less developed parts of the series really.

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>>152309324
>implying Miles didn't fuck him

I prefered the original anime to Brotherhood

>>152315679
You have shit tastes

>>152315529
Truth seems to mete out symbolic punishments only. I guess the reason that Ed is able to choose what to give up at the end is because he winds up at the Gate without performing Human Transmutation?

It is pretty weird, though, yeah.

>>152315125
>Losing your sight without any other repercussions for a few days
That's another reason Truth is messed up. The philosopher's stone is lives/souls. Truth will take the lives of other people and give you stuff in return. What sort of equivalent trade is that?

Not to mention Father's country-sized Gate. What was Truth doing there?

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>>152316056
Ed did human transmutation at the end.

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>>152308720
This is some hardcore pseudo science right here.

>>152316350
Wait, why did he draw a transmutation circle when the whole point is that he could do alchemy without one?

>>152315596
MUH DICK

>>152316235
It's at the cost of your own humanity. Even if you don't commit mass murder yourself and just happen to find a stone, you're still obliterating human souls. Father treated his philosopher's stone as a tool, it came back to bite him at every turn (cf. Hohenheim). In a more physical sense, souls are literally the source of alchemical power. Amestrians who use alchemy are literally tapping into Father's philosopher's stone whenever they transmute anything. And, as alchemy is only possible with a Gate, it makes sense that Truth would be a human trafficker.

As to the country-sized Gate, everything has its own individual Gate (and individual Truth). Father wanted to obtain universal knowledge, so he opened up the universe's Gate to find the universal Truth.

>>152303727
cant you only do one type transmutation with a tattoo though, whereas with human transmutation side effect you can do any?

>>152318021
Ed's abilities have nohting to do specifically with human transmutation. It just came because he met Truth.

>>152316419
>pseudo science

Just because you can't understand it doesn't mean it's pseudo science. It's perfectly realistic application of the alchemy ability everyone else has in the universe.

>>152316500
I think it's implied that certain, more complex forms of alchemy still require a circle to perform, especially if it takes a lot of energy. Father could do alchemy without even lifting a finger, but still needed to turn all of Amestris into a circle.

>>152316056
>I guess the reason that Ed is able to choose what to give up at the end is because he winds up at the Gate without performing Human Transmutation?

The citrinitas stage of the alchemic process means that the matter finally attains the power to shine with its own light. Ed paid for Al's body using only his own potential, so he let him have it. It's the exact symbolism for someone reaching perfection and self sufficiency through alchemy.

>>152308336

Lol mustang could have been 10x deadlier if he just didn't ignite , just transmute CO2 and watch people die without realizing they're dying

>>152316350
I like how his recently recovered arm is all clean and long-nailed unlike the other one.

>>152318472
Yeah, just like he would be more OP if he could kill people by looking at them.

Changing the air composition to have more O2 on the way towards the target doesn't mean he creates O2 out of nothing and doesn't mean he can turn it into CO2 at will.

>>152315336
>tfw Chemists in our world would be broke as fuck in FM world.

>>152318589
Sorry I mispoke. I meant turn the existing CO2 into CO without actually burning the oxygen. He's an alchemist so he can do this

>>152303727
With a circle, tattoo, drawn sigil etc. you can only do one thing. For example, Mustangs gloves can only concentrate oxygen, Scar's tattoos can only decompose people, Kimbley can only make bombs, etc. Ed can do all of those things with the hand clap.

>>152318824
>Ed can do

>implying he can

He can't do anything now. He is just an overrated manlet riding on his glorious days of old. Winry is going to divorce him in a few years, when their kids are still young, to ruin their lives.

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>>152318999
Okay, you know what I mean.

>>152309624
>wood
>organic material
>alchemy
Good luck with that

>>152315149
Ed lost his entire arm you god damn retard.

>>152318824
>Ed can do all of those things with the hand clap.
Then why didn't he do it?

>>152319129
Because he is a manlet.

>>152319129
Well, he didn't use any of the abilities I mentioned because Ed didn't like killing people.
He did a bunch of other stuff that would be impossible to do with just a circle, though- like turning Greed's hardening soft, or transmuting dynamite into fertilizer to paralyze the chimeras, or hardening his automail.

>>152319125

yeah actual full mechanical nerves and muscles is bigger magic than alchemy but noone cares lol

>>152319129
He doesn't have the knowledge to do so.

Did Brotherhood Ed end up taller than 03 Ed?

Why was fire alchemy so rare? It seems like it would be something a lot of people would research.

>>152319626
Probably a lot of people accidentally burning themselves researching it.

>>152319626
As you may know if you do any actual science, creating new research is hard.
Plus there aren't that many alchemists in FMA, and most seem to be mediocre and have knowledge quite dependant on who was their master. Mustang himself got his stuff from Hawkeye's dad.

>>152319626
most went up in flames. Others that succeed go into hermit mode and tattooed the fuck out of their daughter's back

>Pride's true form is a fetus
>Greed is a ski mask
>Envy is Steve Buscemi

What's Lust's true form?

>>152320785
thicc

>>152320785
>>Greed is a ski mask
kek

>>152320785
Futanari

>>152316419
>I don't understand how it works
>Witchcraft!

>>152320785
Soot

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>>152320785
kek

>>152316419
it's literally alchemy

>>152319626

The dude who invented it realized how dangerous it was and didn't want it falling into the wrong hands. It took him until his deathbed and proof of mustangs undying loyalty to his daughter to reveal it to someone. Mustang respected his wishes.

>>152319081

You can still perform alchemy on organic material. It's how Marcoh healed people, how Ed healed himself, and how scar scrambled people's brains.

How much of the manga's ending was a reaction to the downer ending of the first series?

>>152319129
He still has to know the chemical makeup of the thing he's transmuting.

>>152324023
I think the mandala probably had it planned from the start, desu, so doubt it was a reaction at all.

I actually preferred the 2003 ending a lot more though.

>>152324313
>mandala
Mangaka. Autocorrect revealing me as a phonefag

Winry is the more erotic one.

But Riza is the better waifu. She gives me feels that aren't just erotic or romantic.