< Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)

Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Tropes G-P


Tropes for the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and Brotherhood

Entries G-P

G

  • Gadgeteer Genius: Winry Rockbell
    • Also her grandma Pinako Rockbell, and Garfiel and Dominic and most of the business in Rush Valley. Winry is just a particularly standout example because of her youth; she fashioned Ed's first automail at the age of eleven.
  • Gainaxing: In the episode where Lust reveals herself to Roy and Havoc (although Havoc already knows her as his girlfriend, Solaris) the camera zooms to the tattoo on her chest as they gasp, "The Ouroboros!" The camera stays on her chest for a beat, and then her breasts suddenly go 'Boing!'. Literally. That's the sound they make. Then we see Roy and Havoc, with Lust in the background, still boing-ing, as Roy says, "I can see why you were deceived by her..."
    • Riza gets a minor one as well in an early episode when she pulls a gun and shoots at Barry the Chopper. God bless you and your dedication to realistic movement, Bones Animation Studio.
  • Gaiden Game: Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel/Curse of the Crimson Elixir/The Girl Who Succeeds God are side-stories to the manga (even though they use some music from the first FMA series).
  • Gallows Humour: It goes so far that deceased characters appear on the flap of the manga volumes ascending into heaven and in Omakes parodying their own death. Ed and Al's mutilation and their resulting anguish is played for fun more than a few times too. It's just a bit less extreme than the humour in Saikano, but it tries hard.
  • Gambit Pileup: In later chapters, with Roy, Olivier, and even Grumman's plans set in motion, it's hard to tell who's manipulating whom.
    • Father and the Homunculi still have a hand in everything that is going on.
  • Gate of Truth: Trope Namer
  • General Ripper: Many of the top military brass, most prominently General Raven. Possibly Grumman.
  • Genre Savvy: In the flashback of episode 30 of the anime, Mustang warns Hughes that the guy who brags about his wife on the battlefield almost always gets shot in all the movies.
    • Subverted, when he dies during one of the few times in the series when he isn't bragging about his family.
      • Then again, one of the last things he says to Envy before she/he shoot's him is that he has a wife and daughter waiting at home for him. *sobs*
  • Genius Bruiser: Alphonse and Major Armstrong look like Dumb Muscle at first glance, but they're anything but dumb.
  • Genius Ditz: Sheska; arguably, Hohenheim.
    • Considering how he acts sometimes, I'd say Hughes qualifies for this trope as well.
  • Gentle Giant: Alphonse is an example; Major Armstrong straddles this and Boisterous Bruiser. Sig Curtis counts as well, though he can and will beat the crap out of you.
    • Actually, that last part can count for all of them.
  • Geometric Magic: Again, Alchemy.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Ross does this to Ed for his recklesness in Warehouse #5 incident.
  • Ghibli Hills: The countryside around Resembool.
  • The Ghost: The Emperor of Xing. He's never seen on-screen, but his desire for immortality is the motivation behind Ling and May Chang's actions.
  • Girl Next Door: Winry
  • Giving Up the Ghost: Ed gets smacked so hard on the head by Winry's wrench and starts bleeding profusely to the point that he passes out. His soul starts to drift out of his head wound, and Alphonse grabs it so it doesn't get away.

"I've got your soul, brother!"

  • A Glass of Chianti: Not wine, but this trope seems to be invoked when Father drinks the Philosopher's Stone residue after melting down Greed out of a fancy-looking chalice.
  • Glory Hound: Several of the less sympathetic military officers.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Mustang. The first time he does it, it's meant for humour when he threatens to fry Barry for lusting after Riza. The second time? ...Not so much.
  • God Is Evil: Father, temporarily.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Sloth. "Living is too much effort", indeed.
    • Also Buccaneer, who died along with Fu to finally wound King Bradley. Manly Tears were shed.
    • Chapter 105, Bradley, while saying that his life had been a good life.
    • In chapter 106, Kimblee, who helps Ed defeat Pride by restricting his movement, is seen doing this just before fading away.
    • Chapter 108, Hohenheim dies happily in front of Trisha's grave.
  • Good-Looking Privates: Most, if not all, of the military characters.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Wrath has an evil scar over his Evil Eye. Scar has an antiheroic scar. Roy gets a heroic scar on the back of his right hand when he cuts a transmutation circle on it to incinerate Lust, and a huge burn that presumably scarred. Riza has a burn scar on her back that is technically heroic, but subverts the trope in that it's ugly. Ed has a heroic scar where his automail arm connects, and another that appears repeatedly on his forehead.
  • A God Am I: Father, even if he's not human to begin with.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: How the Elrics got in their current condition.
  • Gorn: The manga and Brotherhood are nearly as violent as a Seinen manga such as Hellsing. Characters are speared, blinded, disintegrated, burned to ash, shot, stabbed and eaten. No age group is spared. Homunculi especially are torn to bloody ribbons, over, and over, and OVER with shots of viscera and exposed bone common. Awesome and yet disturbing.
    • Extra special attention was given to watching Homonculi regenerate. Every bone, muscle, and sinew are given special detail in close-ups as they grow back.
  • Government Conspiracy: The homunculi and all the upper echelons of the military are in on a plan to create a utopia.
  • Grand Finale: Chapter 108 is a whopping 113 pages and leaves no plot thread hanging.
  • Grand Theft Me: Subverted. Trying to pull this on Ed is a good way to get your ass kicked.
  • Gratuitous English: "Aye, ma'am!"
    • Kinda justified, because if the newspaper headlines shown are anything to go by, Amestris actually is an English-speaking country.
    • Also, the third opening has a LOT of English phrases thrown in.
  • Gray Eyes: As of Ch. 102, Roy has these as a result of his sacrifice when he's forced (not as in threatened, physically forced) to perform human transmutation. Milky White Eyes in the manga.
  • Grim Up North: Briggs. That is all.
  • Gross Up Close-Up: We get a close up of Lust's half-regenerated face after she starts growing back around the philosopher's stone Roy ripped out of her.
  • Guinea Pig Family: Shou Tucker and his wife, daughter, and dog.
  • Guns Are Worthless: Used and Subverted. The Homunculi can be slain by them if killed enough times, though alchemy is much more effective since they can make them need more flesh regenerate. The super, zombie soldiers released by Central can only be killed by destroying the crown of their heads, something that is nearly impossible to do with bullets alone. Hawkeye lampshades this trope in one chapter...

Riza: They don't work on anything these days...

  • Guyliner: Pride seems to develop this to highlight his evilness near the climax of the anime, also to go along with the Animation Bump.


H

  • Hammerspace: Winry keeps wrenches there, dutifully lampshaded by Al.

Al: "Where did that come from?"

  • Handicapped Badass: Havoc during his "pension", who changed from paraplegic ex-soldier into civilian smuggler who can smuggle artillery and such from a remote country into a militaristic country.
  • Hands Off My Fluffy: May saving Scar from the Elrics.
  • Happily Ever After
  • Happily Married: Izumi and Sig Curtis, Maes and Gracia Hughes, Ed and Winry eventually and possibly Al and May.
    • Even if they weren't technically married, Trisha and Hohenheim could count.
  • Harmless Freezing: Averted. The whole Briggs episodes shows what could happen if you walk around with regular metals making contact with your skin or walking in snowstorm unprepared (hint: it's bad). Then there's Sloth, but this is a homunculus we're talking about....
  • Heal It with Fire: Mustang. As said on the page, bonus points for doing himself. He also sears Havoc's wounds shut.
  • Healing Factor: The Homunculi all have this power (save for Wrath), being powered by a Philosopher's Stone. The only way to get over it is to destroy the stone or force them to regenerate until they use the whole thing up.
  • The Heartless: Possibly Father, at a metaphorical level, at least.
  • Heel Face Turn: Scar, almost all the Chimerae, Greed.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Ling Yao and Greed. Ling spends alot of his earlier scenes in the series picking sides based off of who he felt could provide him with the most information on immortality, such as running around with Barry the Chopper. Greed on the other hand was already a defector from the rest of the antagonists to begin with, but he goes through losing his memory and working for them again, regaining his memories and becoming an Ineffectual Loner with a taste for taking over the world, and then finally performing a Heroic Sacrifice, cementing his place in the series as an Anti-Hero.
  • He Knows Too Much: Hughes, who realized the entire Government Conspiracy far before anyone else. Many of the main characters are threatened and watched very closely for knowing too much. In Brotherhood, this is revealed to be why Isaac McDougal was killed. What? Did you think his line about "what this country is trying to do" was just insane blabber? HAH!
  • Hellish Pupils: The Homunculi.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Greedling displays a variant of this. He can encase his whole body in impenetrable armor, but almost never protects his head, even though it's repeatedly endangered (he's shot at least twice, and Wrath almost beheads him). He finally conjures the head armor when he's about to be hit by a rocket.
    • Not helmets but neglecting use of protective headgear nevertheless: why, for the love of Truth-kun, does nobody in Briggs cover their head or at least ears against the cold? The scalp has lots of circulation, which causes it to lose an awful lot of warmth, and uncovered ears freeze very easily.
  • Hermetic Magic: Yet again, Alchemy.
  • Heroic Bastard: Ed and Al, as Trisha and Van Hohenheim never married (Edward says their parents were never 'registered'). They are given their mother's surname.
    • Fridge Brilliance when you think about it though being unregistered would prevent Father's minions from finding out Hohenheim has a family, let alone finding where Hohenheim lives
  • Heroic Sacrifice: More than once.
    • Especially in chapter 107 when Al uses his soul to give Ed back his arm, so Ed (who is pinned back and without his automail arm) can avoid being killed by Father.
    • Al really seems to like this. He also gives up his chance to get his body back so he could fight in a strong state. And a couple of chapters before, lets himself get trapped in a huge dome with Pride.
    • And even earlier when Fu tries to take Wrath down with him, with several sticks of dynamite tied around his body. It was almost a Senseless Sacrifice, since Wrath just cut the fuses (along with Fu's stomach), but it allowed Buccaneer to pull one of these off himself, finally wounding the homunculus.
    • Also subverted in 108 in the case of Hohenheim, who offered to use the last of his power to get Al back. However, Ed takes the third option.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Barry the Chopper.
  • Hero-Killer: Scar and the Homunculi.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Scar went from a victim of genocide by alchemy to hunting down and killing every state alchemist he could find... with alchemy. Later on, Ed, Al, and Winry pretty much call him out on this. Then Riza, Ed, and even Scar try to keep Roy from falling into this.
  • He Will Not Cry, So I Cry for Him: Winry does this for Ed and Al at first, until Ed asks her to stop as it only makes things harder for him. He promises her that the next time she cries for him they'll be tears of joy and he and Al would be back to normal. He keeps that promise!
  • Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Most of the State Military wears a blue uniform. It doesn't really blend in anywhere, but is excusable (sorta) considering the time period. But then they go to fight in the desert. Instead of giving more practical desert colors, the solution? Issue white coats out to the soldiers, which blends in better to a degree, but is an extra layer to wear in the desert and they still wear blue underneath.
    • Rule of Cool applies.
    • They're burnouses (pl?), commonly worn by desert nomads in North Africa. Makes perfect sense.
  • High Fantasy: albeit set in some form of the early 20th century, but all the elements are there.
  • High-Pressure Blood: When Riza has her throat cut to force Roy to open the Gate, we have a Discretion Shot where all we see is a huge burst of blood exploding in the air. Then we see the thug with the blade drop Riza. It doesn't work that way!!!
  • Hilarious Outtakes: An extra in the final volume of the dub.
  • Hollywood Darkness: Ed uses alchemy to cause a blackout in order to gain an advantage over Pride, who can't use his powers in complete darkness. The characters can't see, but to the audience, the lighting is only slightly darker.
  • Hollywood Healing: Pretty much avoided. One notable instance is Mustang and Havoc's encounter with Lust. Roy takes many chapters to heal, and the scar from cutting a sigil into his hand can be seen in much later chapters. Havoc is, of course, paralyzed. He is shown in a photograph to be in rehab at the end of the manga.
    • Also avoided in a somewhat odd example, in that the plume on Al's helmet is never restored after being in the Crocodile.
    • Also avoided in the way Ed receives a cut from his fight with the Slicer Brothers and, because of his constantly being in and out of fights, the wound continues to re-open from not having fully healed. Arakawa certainly did not let her heroes heal quickly.
  • Hostage Situation: To keep Ed and Mustang in line, Fuhrer Bradley subtly threatens the safety of Winry and Hawkeye. He also transfers Roy's other subordinates to distant places, but specifically makes Hawkeye his personal assistant. By holding the women they care about over their heads, he effectively makes both alchemists unable to (visibly) go against him.
    • Bastard-doctor-with-the-gold tooth has one of his zombies slit Hawkeye's throat to get Roy to do a human transmutation - he tells Mustang, in short, "You leave her like this and she'll bleed to death, but do a human transmutation and I'll cure her." Mustang initially freezes up and can't make a decision, until Hawkeye gives him a help-has-come eye signal; then he refuses, keeping his cool until the Chimeras pull a Big Damn Heroes moment. (Well, if you can call staring at her with tears in his eyes and begging her to answer him "keeping his cool"...it's difficult to say how he would have coped without the assistance of May's lifesaving alkahestry.)
    • Inverted when it's the "good guys," aka Mustang's team of rebels, that kidnap Mrs. Bradley. The hostage part of it is eventually subverted as well, when they show her the Fuhrer's true nature and she allies herself with the rebellion, helping them gain the public's acceptance.
  • Hot Dad: Hohenheim has quite a bunch of fangirls.
    • Hohenheim? He is...HOHO PAPA!!!
    • Hughes could also qualify.
    • Ed eventually, with Winry as his Hot Mom wife.
  • Hot Mom: Trisha was quite the looker back when she was... Ya know... Alive.
    • Gracia Hughes is quite attractive as well.
    • Winry eventually, with Ed as her Hot Dad husband.
    • Izumi definitely counts, even if her baby died.
    • Even though Pinako's a grandmother, young Pinako was pretty hot. And tall.
  • Housewife: And God knows Izumi won't let you forget it!
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Sig and Izumi
  • Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: Ed and Al.
  • Humans Are White: Even ignoring the fictional Ishvalans, notably averted through the presence of the distinctly Asian-looking Xingese and black Amestrians like Paninya and Jerso.


I

  • I Am Not Weasel: Shao May is constantly confused for a black and white cat rather than a tiny panda—not that an Amestrian would know what a panda is. There's also the fact that, while searching for Shao May, the characters encounter a black and white cat that does look like a panda.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: Late in the manga Scar reveals that during the Time Skip he was able to complete his brother's research and duplicate his "creation" arm.
  • Icarus Allusion: A parallel is drawn between Icarus and the Elric brothers, who believed they could successfully perform human transmutation despite the fact that no one ever had before. Of course, they failed.
  • Iconic Item: Ed's watch and red coat, Roy's gloves. Ed's armblade transmutation seems to be used a lot within fanon and artwork, but doesn't really depend on it that much within the series.
    • Lampshaded slightly in the manga when Ed enthusiastically buys a length of red fabric to remake his coat, saying he 'needs all the luck and morale he can get'.
      • Ed used his armblade far more in the first anime which likely explains its popularity in the fanon. Also: It's really freaking cool.
  • Identification by Dental Records Maria Ross' apparent death. She turns out to be alive - it was a ruse by Mustang. To elaborate: Roy made artificial teeth through her dental records, and they were good enough to fool most doctors. However, he needed the rest of the body to get away with it, so he made the bet that Dr.Knox would lie when examining the "corpse".
  • Idiot Hair: Ed, who tries using it to cheat on his height! Especially hilarious when Olivier threatens to "cut off that ridiculous antenna."
    • Mustang has one but it's easier to see from certain angles. (Mustang's appears to come and go, depending on the seriousness of the scene.)
    • THE IDIOT HAIR HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS! Seriously, even a flower lady that's been working for the family (for generations) has one!
    • Maes Hughes
  • If I Do Not Return: When Ed prepares to transmute himself to bust out of Gluttony's stomach. Ling gives the standard response.
    • Captain Buccaneer gives such a request to General Armstrong. She doesn't follow through, giving the officer in charge of keeping track of the time they spend down there a broken watch.
  • If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Scar is actually aware of this, and goes on killing State Alchemists anyway, believing that he's already beyond redemption, after killing Winry's parents during his huge Freak-Out.
  • In-Series Nickname: Ed refers to Father as a "bearded bastard".
  • I Got Bigger: Ed eventually grows from being the shortest of the main cast to a respectable height throughout the series.
  • I Have Your Wife: Used several times by villains who keep the heroes, Ed and Roy in particular, on good behavior by threatening their loved ones. Eventually turned back at them by Mustang's rebellion, which kidnaps Mrs. Bradley and shows her that her husband and his supporters are the bad guys, winning her over and helping them win support from the populace.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ed to Ling when he gets turned into the new Greed. The latter shows signs of snapping out of it when Ed mentions Lan Fan.
  • The Illegal: Played for laughs with Ling, although it later serves the plot when Ling is in the right place at the right time (I.E., in prison).
  • The Illuminati: Between the symbolism and the massive evil conspiracy, Father, the Homunculi, and Central Command are very much this trope without the name, to the point their defeat becomes that much sweeter for any viewers that may have heard of it.
  • Image Song: Ed, Al, Ling, Lan Fan, Riza, and Winry have at least one. Ed and Al have two duets. Roy has a song too, but there's no actual singing.
  • Immortality Immorality: Father. Plus the homunculi.
  • Immune to Bullets: Lampshaded.

"They don't work on anything these days."

  • Implacable Man: Sloth
    • Also, Wrath. Seriously, the guy breaks into a Briggs-overtaken Central HQ with nothing but his swords and a hand-grenade, with which he promptly blows up a freakin tank!
    • Also, Greed!Ling when he assaults Amestrian soldiers to honour Buccaneer's wish and Fu's demise. He even does the notable Slow Walk and Out Of Inferno ala Terminator in the process.
  • Implausible Fencing Powers: Wrath can kill a tank with a sword. And take your legs off with his teeth! You thought that five-sword technique omake was just a gag? Wrong.
  • Improbable Age: Much is done to justify twelve-year-old Ed being accepted into the military.
    • Although, in retrospect, it's obvious why that happened: In his State Alchemist test, Ed used alchemy without a transmutation circle, and because of this Bradley (or Father, who controls Bradley) was able to tell he had opened the Gate. As Ed once remarked, one function of the State Alchemist system was to collect candidates for human sacrifice, and Ed was an ideal candidate, so of course Father would want to keep him in his leash. As a dictator, Bradley's word is the law, so if he said that Ed be accepted to the military then Ed would be accepted.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Riza Hawkeye manages to pull up a sniper rifle and shoot Envy (in human form) with it. Apparently she just does not care that it is nearly impossible to hit someone with a sniper rifle (even at close range) without carefully aiming first.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Trisha
    • Subverted with Izumi. She has the cough, and the blood everywhere, but she doesn't die from it. Hohenheim partially heals her.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: The State alchemists' watches. And Father and Hohenheim fight each other with dragon-shaped attacks at some point.
    • It's a single frame, blink-and-you'll-miss-it invocation, but after Mustang is blinded and Hawkeye is directing his attacks, his initial fireball from off camera is shaped like a lunging dragon.
    • While not dragons, Ed's sense of "style" certainly involves a lot of horns and skulls. He's constantly called out on it.
  • Instrument of Murder: A piano, of all things, used by Catherine Armstrong to attack Yoki when he tried to steal money from the Armstrongs, which is, in itself, pretty stupid.
  • Infant Immortality: Subverted with Nina.
  • Insistent Terminology: Izumi is not an alchemist. She is a housewife.
  • Instant Runes: Averted. You have to draw them or already have one ready.
    • Although a lot of these people are amazingly quick with chalk.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Scar and May.
  • Iron Lady: The queen of this trope is of course General Olivier Mira Armstrong, but some other ladies, like Izumi and Riza, have their moments.
  • Ironic Hell: Pride and Father. Pride because he was a homunculus, and he's now a normal human, being raised by normal humans. Yes, the very people he despises. However, this is a weak example since Pride has no memory of being a homunculus and appears to be very happy. Father, on the other hand, fully experiences everything that he said about the Truth giving despair to the conceited.
  • Irony: Mustang tells Hughes during the Ishvalan War not to talk so much about his wife on the battlefield since that's how people tend to die in novels.
    • Even more ironic is the fact that before Envy kills him he does in fact talk about his wife.
  • It Got Worse: The Elric Brothers' backstory can easily be summed up this way. They start with their two parents. Then Papa leaves. Then Mommy gets ill. Then she dies, making them orphans. Then? It Got Worse.
  • It Only Works Once: A successful human transmutation requires the person performing it to relinquish all of their alchemical abilities, preventing them from ever doing it a second time. Either that or Ed is the only person who will ever successfully do one.
    • Well, it also requires the person in question to not be dead. (Al was not dead, only trapped at the Gate.) And for the person who gives up their alchemy to have another gate to be able to get out of, meaning the alchemist would need to have their soul connected to the person they tried to bring back.
  • I Uh You Too: Even at the very end of the manga, some people still can't get over their chronic Cannot Spit It Out disorder.

{{quote|[[spoiler:Ed: Winry! Uh... Um... How do I say this? Er... Like an appointment, or a promise, right? Winry: Huh? Just spit it out. Ed: Equivalent exchange. I'll give you half my life... so give me half of yours! Winry: (Confused, then frustrated). Argh, why are alchemists like this?]] }}

  • I Want Them Alive: Justified and subverted. The Homunculi need alchemists that have tried human transmutation for their master plan, so they go out of their way to make sure they survive. They're not afraid to rough them up, though, and they will kill them if they prove too big a problem. They have multiple candidates, after all.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Pinako, apparently, was pretty hot back in the day.
    • She was—there's a picture of her drinking with Hohenheim. She looks kinda like Izumi.
      • We get to see more of young Pinako in episode 27, one of the few high points of the Recap Episode.
  • I Will Wait for You: Trisha for Hohenheim In an omake in the end of Volume 27, it is shown that Trisha is STILL waiting for him, despite having been dead for 10 years


J

  • Jerkass Gods: Despite ostensibly being a neutral force, The Truth seems to enjoy his job a little too much.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This series is full of 'em. Edward, Roy, Izumi, Olivier, and arguably Greed.
  • Jerkass Facade: Mustang's an expert. And his teacher was Grumman.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Various hints are dropped early on until it all starts coming together much later.
  • Just Between You and Me: Causes Cornello's downfall. Averted with the homunculi, who never share just what their plan is. Although Envy enjoys dropping hints.
  • Justified Extra Lives: The Homunculi.


K

  • Karma Houdini: If the omakes are to be believed, most of the baddies, even the likes of Envy - who killed Hughes and an Ishbalan child - and Zolf J. Kimblee - who loves turning innocent people into bombs, even his own allies, and Loves the Sound of Screaming - are going to Heaven after they died. Chew on that for a second.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Noticeably subverted with Dolcetto, who looks like he'll be something of a Badass when he shows up with a katana, but gets quickly trounced by everyone he ends up fighting. When he goes toe to toe with the cavalry saber wielding Bradley, he is swiftly and fatally bisected.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch Rather than using some alchemical trick to kill Envy the way Marcoh did, Mustang just torches him over and over again, making sure to do so in the most painful ways possible. It's presented as Mustang being just short of the line of being consumed by revenge, but more than a few people found it cathartic.
    • In all fairness, it wasn't about saving Envy's life, but about preventing Roy from crossing a line he won't return from. Ed, Scar and Riza all agreed that Envy needed to die, but letting Roy kill him for revenge was not the way to do it and would only push Roy in a direction he would - in retrospect - not wish to take, particularly after his experiences in Ishbal. After all, a major theme of the series - as demonstrated by Scar much earlier - is that revenge is wrong and unhealthy. Given the author's Buddhist faith, it really shouldn't be surprising that it was handled like this.
  • Kill and Replace: In the film Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Atlas did this to Julia's brother.
  • Kill'Em All: Father succeeds in turning everyone in Amestris into a Philosopher's Stone, leaving just the five sacrifices, the remaining homunculi, Father himself and May (and her panda) as the only survivors. Fortunately, it doesn't stick.
  • Kill It with Fire: Gee, I wonder who this could apply to...
  • Kill It with Ice: Briggs is a wonderful place. Right, Sloth?
    • Also Melvin Voyager a.k.a. Ashley Crichton, Julia's brother.
  • Kill It with Water: Isaac McDougal from episode one of Brotherhood uses water, ice, and steam.
  • Kill the Cutie: Nina Tucker, poor Nina....
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Al, perhaps a bit too much...
  • King on His Deathbed: The reason both Ling and May are in Amestris (searching for the secret to immortality).
    • The reason that Father was able to leave his flask in the first place was because he tricked the King of Xerxes into creating a Philosopher's Stone for him by promising him eternal life.
  • Knife Nut: Hughes
  • Konami Code : There's one written on a door in chapter 47.


L

  • A Lady on Each Arm: Greed is introduced this way.
  • The Lady's Favour: Winry gives Ed her earrings as they separate on Briggs.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: Armstrong is a straight example but Al has one built right into his armor for some reason.
  • Large Ham: ARMSTRONG'S HAMMINESS HAS BEEN PASSED THROUGH THE ARMSTRONG LINES FOR GENERATIONS!
  • The Last DJ: Roy appears to be an inversion at first (has no morals and is only after promotions) but we eventually learn that he's a straight example, since part of his plan for what to do after taking over the country include ending the military dictatorship, which would strip away his own immunity from being charged with the war crimes he committed while "just following orders." Riza, who would likewise lose her immunity from the charges, fully supports his efforts. There's also Armstrong, who refuses to follow orders and kill indiscriminately in favor of his own sense of honor and justice, and he flat out gets told that's why he is never promoted.
  • Left for Dead: Lust leaves Mustang and Havoc to bleed to death. Mustang cauterizes their wounds and then proceeds to incinerate Lust until she dies.
    • In the film Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Atlas did this to Julia's brother, after all, he is Just a Kid.
  • Let's Get Dangerous:
    • Ling. When he's introduced, he doesn't seem to take anything seriously, he mooches food, and generally acts flippant. He's the last person you probably expect to put up a decent fight against Wrath while carrying his injured bodyguard. Is it any wonder he survived being turned into a homunculus?
    • Dr Marcoh defeats Envy in a single transmutation. Turns out a guy who can create a philosophers stone also knows how to destroy one.
    • Yoki hits Pride with a car.
  • Life Energy: Souls have power, quite literally. In fact they're what a Philosopher's Stone's made of.
  • Life or Limb Decision: Lan Fan cuts off her own arm, attached it to a dog, and wandered around in the sewers for a few hours to lure away the two Homunculi chasing after her and Ling. (This was in imitation of a less painful example earlier which Ed does with his automail arm when they fought.)
  • Lighter and Softer: Compared to the first anime in some ways. The ending is a lot happier after their journey finally ends, they travel around with a cute little girl and her panda, Homunculi are made from red stones instead of the body of a failed human transmutation, less good characters permanently die, and the ruthlessness of several characters is toned down compared to their incarnations in the first series, or are Played for Laughs like Barry The Chopper. Not necessarily a bad thing, and the dark side of humanity is still shown on several occasions.
      • It's simultaneously Darker and Edgier than the first anime though; it's bloodier and more graphic, the added backstory to some characters can make their ruthless actions more heinous and the morality grayer, two episodes are devoted to watching a genocide occurring, the Homunculi are powered by the lost souls of an entire country's worth of people, who were brutally sacrificed all at once for the purpose of becoming mindless energy, and that last event happens again to almost everyone ever mentioned in the plot.
  • Light Is Good: Although there are many subversions (see below), this trope is occasionally played straight—the Elric brothers and Hohenheim have both Hair of Gold and Eyes of Gold and are good guys, and the Phenotype Stereotype features of the Armstrong family seem to be a mark of them being Amnestrian nobility; and there are several good blond characters.
  • Light Is Not Good: The very first villain faced is a megalomaniac priest who pretends to be a kind messiah like figure. From there, we also have The Truth, Fullmetal's version of God, who appears as a white form and is quite cynical and sadistic; Scar, who often wears white or other lively colours and has some religious symbolism attached to him; Solf J. Kimblee, who also pretty much wears white and has light symbols that form the alchemical circle on his hands; Dolcetto, one of the chimeras following Greed, who isn't particularly dark and also wears white; Pride, a living shadow-made Eldritch Abomination who's powers only works with a source of light; and The Man In White, a gold-toothed scientist who works for Father, who himself also has a lot of light symbolism, specially in the Brotherhood anime.
    • Not to mention Father himself, who wears white robes and resembles Zeus and whose evil lair is more or less lit up until he sheds his human skin... Which leads one to believe that Father was the one emitting that light in the first place.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The gigantic, slow-witted Sloth is the fastest of the Homunculi. As in, you won't even see him move.
    • Also, Scar's biggest asset is his speed. He literally dodges bullets.
    • No mention of Alex Louis Armstrong? He's outsped both Scar and Sloth.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Ed spends years trying to undo his big mistake; Hohenheim spends centuries trying to undo his. And (for an inversion), during Hohenheim's climactic counter-alchemy, notice how he didn't need to draw a circle, either. Hohenheim even remarks on the trope's presence, saying that Ed is "just like I was at his age."
  • Literal Split Personality: Father has this down to a science.
  • Living Shadow: Pride's real body is not this, but can make any shadow one and control it, OM NOM NOM.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters
  • Local Reference: An offhand comment about an "eastern island" from which Shogi was imported.
  • Lock and Load Montage: Mustang and Hawkeye have this in chapter 50.
  • Look What I Can Do Now!: When Ed and Ling are having trouble fighting Gluttony Lan Fan shows up and kicks his ass with brand new automail.
  • Love At First Punch: It was implied by King Bradley's wife that they fell in love soon after she slapped him for his rudeness.
  • Love Hurts: Mustang and Hawkeye have each been near-directly responsible for almost all the things in the other's life which cause him/her guilt and pain. Not on purpose, of course, but still. And in spite of this, it's made ridiculously clear that they pretty much can't live without each other.
  • Love Is a Weakness: At least, the Homunculi think so. Wrath certainly has no qualms about using it against Ed and Roy when he threatens Winry and basically takes Riza hostage. It doesn't help that the two men's reactions confirm his choice of targets - Ed flies into a rage, while Roy has a brief Heroic BSOD.


M

  • Magic A Is Magic A: This trope lies at the very core of alchemy.
  • Magic by Any Other Name
  • Magic From Technology: Alchemy is used as an explanation for the Dieselpunk setting.
  • Manly Tears: Armstrong does it a lot (both for humor, and in all seriousness). Roy, once (almost twice). Ed, on occasion. Al has many moments where he would cry, but can't, due to his "condition." Hohenheim had a pretty spectacular Manly Tears moment when Ed told him Trisha's last words. Ed was actually very weirded out at this reaction. Ling after Fu's Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Roy's moment (blaming his tears on the rain, on a cloudless day) doubles as a brilliant metaphor; Roy is powerless, and useless in the rain. That's how he felt. Sniff. Also serves as a Ship Tease moment, since the only person who witnesses the tears is Riza - who agrees that yes, it is raining.
    • Let's not forget the family picture with Hohenheim, Trish, and young Ed and Al. Manly Tears indeed.
  • Mauve Shirt: The Chimeras working for both Greed and Kimblee. Kimblee's survived and pulled a Heel Face Turn. Greed's didn't.
    • Roy's team, as well as Maria Ross and Denny Brosh.
  • Maybe Ever After: For Roy and Riza.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: Hohenheim and Trisha, on account of him being several centuries old.
    • Episode 27 of Brotherhood may even hint at a Jail Bait Wait and/or Precocious Crush story between them, as Hohenheim has a dream involving Trisha as a child, asking him to dance. The episode is anime-only so the dream isn't considered Canon, but it's not too much of a stretch to think he did know Trisha when she was young, since he was stated in the manga to have been drinking buddies with a younger Pinako. Some may go as far as to consider it a hint of Wife Husbandry, although that's a bigger leap considering he turned her down in his dream.
  • Meaningful Echo: Not dialogue, but in the family photos. The poses of the family members in the portraits of Hohenheim, Trisha, Ed, and Al are largely identical to the one at the end of the series with Ed, Winry, and their kids (other subjects in the photo nonwithstanding). They differ in the expressions of the father and elder child in each: Hohenheim is crying in his photo while holding young Ed by the armpits, while Ed holds his unnamed son while wearing a shit-eating grin which his strongly resemblant son is imitating.
  • Meaningful Funeral: Hughes
    • Roy and Riza have their own private one for her father, Roy's alchemy teacher.
  • Meaningful Name: The Fuhrer is named King Bradley although in his case it was on purpose. There's also sharpshooter Riza Hawkeye (it's even lampshaded a couple of times, especially in the manga where Roy is said to have 'the Eye of the Hawk' protecting him). Everyone in the Armstrong family seems to be ridiculously strong, and on a subtler level, Roy (Roi means King in French - guess who wants to replace King Bradley as Fuhrer?). "Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim", the full name that Hohenheim was intended to receive, is the real name of the real world's most famous alchemist, Paracelsus, plus Riesenburg being his home. Amestris was the consort of the Persian king Xerxes. Ścieżka is Polish for 'path', and she is a living path to lost documents.
    • Of course all of the Homunculi as well.
    • Riza Hawkeye becomes more poignant when she becomes Roy's eyes when he goes blind.
    • Xingese alchemy is called alkahestry. "Alkahest" is an ancient name for the Philosopher's Stone.
  • Measuring the Marigolds: Edward can be this trope, especially in the beginning.
  • Mega Manning: Pride eats Gluttony and promptly gains his sense of smell... and insatiable hunger.
  • Meganekko: Sheska. Also Riza, on those occasions when she wears glasses as part of her Clark Kenting disguise.
  • Me Love You Long Time: Al and May
  • Mildly Military: The Amestrian military has more of the feel of an urban police department than an army.
    • Considering over the entire run of the series, there are no police, only military police, this can pretty much be assumed to be true.
  • A Million Is a Statistic: Averted when it is shown that Van Hohenheim actually took the time to come to an understanding with EACH and EVERY ONE of the 536,329 souls now trapped in his body as a result of Father's destruction of Xerxes.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Pinako.
  • Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Between the Elric brothers' attempt at human transmutation, the murder of Maes Hughes, and the revelations about the Homunculi and their massive conspiracy for Father to Take Over the World via containing every soul on earth plus the power of God, at least two points in the story could be considered either the minor crime or the major plot.
  • Monkey Morality Pose: A rather creepy example—in one of the eyecatches for episode 51, three of the mannequin soldiers are shown the classic "See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" pose.
  • Monster Modesty: Al still wears a loincloth despite being an animate suit of armor. (Though later he puts that spot to good use as a hiding place.)
  • Mood Whiplash: The series goes straight from an epic chase sequence involving Alphonse Elric, Roy Mustang, Barry the Chopper, Ling Yao, and several Homunculi to jokes about the Gag Boobs and then straight back.
    • In Volume 10, an Omake makes fun of this:

Editor: Chapter 38 is supposed to be serious stuff. Take out the comedy.
Arakawa: Hmm...You're right. The plot may flow better that way.
Editor: Yeah, that way we can replace 'em with more action.
Arakawa: Sure thing...But can I keep the boobs in?

Editor: Of course! You must keep the boobs in!

Arakawa: I'm so glad you're my editor, Shinomura sir.

    • The fight between May and Lan Fan, with Knox putting them in their place, is entirely played for laughs. Then we have a flashback to Ishval and Knox talking about how he doesn't want to see kids killing each other. Whiplash enough to rattle brains.
  • Mook Face Turn: All four of the Chimeras that were with Kimblee, after being saved by Ed and Al on different occasions. Not one of them had a name until they turned.
    • The soldiers that were sent to capture Olivier and Alex Armstrong, after the Armstrongs saved them from the Cyclops Soldiers and Sloth.
  • Mook Horror Show: Lan Fan has a He's Back moment in which she shows that she's recovered from the loss of her arm by rescuing Ed and his group from Gluttony by cutting Gluttony to ribbons with the blade attached to her automail. It's an awesome scene, but it's initially shown from the perspective of Gluttony, an Obliviously Evil Psychopathic Manchild who is overwhelmed with pain and fear.
    • Toward the end of the series, Mustang goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Envy, and despite Envy being one of the most sadistically cruel characters in the series, you actually feel kind of bad for it.
    • "Greedling" helps the rebel forces hold back the soldiers loyal to Central Command. This entails a Terminator-inspired scene where Greedling is in the Ultimate Shield Instant Armor and smashes tanks like toys while the enemy soldiers futilely try to shoot him. Someone on the heroes' side even comments "Good thing he's on our side."
    • Badass Teacher Izumi has a couple of scenes where she takes out soldiers while sporting Glowing Eyes of Doom, and it's shown from their perspective.
    • In a humorous example, at one point, Ed is being hunted by soldiers from Central Command after going rogue. In a scene shown from their perspective, an unseen Ed calmly takes out the group looking for him, finishing up with the unfortunate soldier who, when describing Ed, just had to note his short stature.
  • Morality Chain: Lust seems to have served as Envy and Gluttony's: Gluttony becomes directionless (except regarding Mustang obviously) and Envy begins heading toward Stupid Evil after her death.
  • Morality Pet: Both King Bradley and Selim have a soft spot for Mrs. Bradley, despite being heartless homunculi and, at times, complete bastards.
    • May has acted as a morality pet for several people, but most often she's Scar's.
    • Riza is occasionally this for Roy, in part because of the promise he extracted from her that she will be his conscience and shoot him if he strays from the righteous path. Particularly, when he goes on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Envy for Hughes' death, she threatens to kill him because his vengeance is consuming him. She then informs him that once he's dead she will kill herself. He's brought up short by the fact that he's being lectured by Ed and Scar, a child and a guy who previously tried to kill him, but mostly by the fact that he's caused Riza pain again. He even says afterward, "It was the Lieutenant who brought me to my senses."
  • More Dakka: Basque Grand's favored strategy.
  • Motherly Scientist: Winry acts motherly with Ed, taking care of his automail and worrying a great deal about him (although it could be argued it's more of a "Motherly Technician").
  • Mr. Fanservice: Roy Mustang and Edward Elric are proof that God loves fangirls and wants us to be happy.
    • Ling and Havoc have their appeal, as well.
      • Father after absorbing God/Truth. Whew.
      • By extension, teenage Hoenheim. The fact that he looks like a taller, blonder version of Ed is pretty sweet too.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Lust does tend to be popular among the series' male fans. I wonder why?
  • Murder-Suicide: Discussed. Riza tells Roy that she is willing to keep her word and shoot him if there is no other option, but then she'll kill herself too as she sees no point in living without him.
  • Must Make Amends: The events of Fullmetal Alchemist all get their start when Ed and Al try to bring their dead mother back to life, and pay a terrible price. Their quest to set things right and get their bodies back is a major theme of the show.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The five Human Sacrifices who survived the Gate. Ed in particular because he has to bear the burden that his little brother lost his entire body in the process. Al in a lesser but still meaningful sense since it was because the price of his soul being bonded to the armor was Ed's arm.
    • Greed, who anguishes in an enraged manner when he regains his memories and realizes he killed the last of his former followers.
  • My Greatest Failure: Nina for Ed and Al.
  • Mysterious Parent: Hohenheim.


N

  • Naked First Impression: A non-embarrassing male variation: When Al finally gets his human body back from the Gate, he's naked, which is the first time everyone except Ed, Hohenheim, and Izumi & Sig Curtis sees the real Al. He does have a blanket over his lap, though.
  • No Face Under the Mask: In the film Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, it is revealed that Julia's brother's face was stolen by Atlas forcing him to don a White Mask of Doom.
  • The Napoleon: Ed, and he is not happy about it. Apart from being played for laughs in the manga though, it is now directly linked to Al's possible recovery of his body, which is still alive and mooching off Ed's at the Gate of Truth.
    • No longer applies as of the end of chapter 108. He's still not the tallest guy out there but he's at least grown to a decent height.
    • It's also explained, in the Profiles book, that the weight of his automail helped to stunt his growth somewhat. Which only makes sense, because Ed outgrowing his automail would've easily gotten in the way and raised so many questions…
  • Natural Spotlight
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: Amestris itself, when one General makes clear his feelings on the Ishval massacre.
    • The Nazi connection is MUCH stronger in the original anime, though. Word of God says that Amestris is based just as much on the British Empire at its peak as it is on Germany (which is why all the names are English-sounding).
  • Necromantic: Trying to bring back the dead with alchemy is a bad idea.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: In the English manga, at least, the "next volume" previews always seem to take panels out of context, or translate certain sentences in such a way as to change the meaning of what is being said to make it mor dramatic or to give it different implications entirely.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Alex Armstrong vs Sloth. Alex's arm is dislocated, and Sloth fixes it when he tries to crush him. Cue Moment Of Awesham.
  • Nigh Invulnerability: Homunculi, and Hohenheim and Father. Tied right into their immortality.
  • Nightmare Face
  • Night of the Living Mooks: Cyclops soldiers. It doesn't end well.
  • Ninja: Lan Fan and Fu are as close as it's gonna get...
  • No Conservation of Energy: Averted hard.
  • No Loves Intersect: If you live in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist you may have to accept Ship Tease, Love Hurts, Unequal Pairing, and Cannot Spit It Out getting in the way of your potential relationships, but you'll never have to deal with a viable Love Triangle. Especially remarkable since this is a land where almost Everyone Is Single and heavily populated by Good-Looking Privates. The closest there's ever been to a Love Triangle are Al mentioning that he used to fight over Winry with Ed and Ling hitting on her a few times.
  • No Name Given: Scar and his brother.
    • Hey, don't forget the "gold-toothed doctor".
  • No One Gets Left Behind: Mustang (with Havoc and Hawkeye), Ling (with Lan Fan) and Olivier (with her scout team in the underground tunnel).
  • Non-Serial Movie: Appears to be the case with The Sacred Star of Milos, considering that it involves an armored Al and new enemies.
  • No Romantic Resolution: Few romances are actually resolved or given anything beyond subtext.
  • Nosebleed: In an omake...

Roy: When I become Fuhrer, all female officers will be required to wear... TINY MINISKIRTS!


O

  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Hughes. King Bradley, oh so much. To a certain extent, Roy, Ling, and Hohenheim.
  • Ocular Gushers: Al shows this in comedic moments despite not having any tear ducts. Also Armstrong, whenever he sheds his Manly Tears. May can put out fires with her tears. Denny when he finally sees Maria again.
  • Odd Friendship: May, cute little princess with the pet panda, and Scar, alchemist-hunting serial killer, get along surprisingly well.
  • Offered the Crown: In Chapter 108, instead of Olivier or Roy taking Bradley's place, they instead allow General Grumman to replace him as Fuhrer.
  • Official Couple: As of Chapter 108, we've got four that count. Ed/Winry is confirmed, Al/May is pretty much confirmed, and Roy/Riza and Ling/Lan Fan are, as ever, very, very strongly implied.
  • Oh Crap: Many. For example, the faces of the Briggs' soldiers when they hear Mustang's back in Chapter 107. "Hit the deck" indeed.
    • The climax of episode 41 has two massive ones for Ed, likely shared by the audience. The first? Oops, Kimblee had two philosophers stones. The second? Ed seems only moderately injured from falling down a mine shaft. Must be Made of Iron, right? Wrong. He notices his Blood From the Mouth, looks around and sees he's been impaled on a girder. Then the pain sets in and he collapses, unconscious. Meanwhile, due to the empathic bond between Ed and Al, Al collapses in the snow and is drawn towards his body, presumably because Ed is close enough to death that Al's body would be unable to survive without his soul. Oh Crap indeed.
  • Omake: Hiromu Arakawa has one mean sense of humor and it shows in the "extras" pages in the back of every manga volume. The content of them occasionally make it into either of the anime (two words: TINY MINISKIRTS).
    • They've been animated as DVD extras. FUCK YEAH!
  • One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: Edward Elric is (unlike almost every other Alchemist on the planet) able to do alchemy without first drawing a circle.
  • 108: The manga ended with exactly 108 chapters.
  • One-Sided Arm Wrestling: At Rush Valley.
  • One-Winged Angel: Envy, Gluttony, and Pride all have monstrous true forms.
    • There's also a fairly big subversion of this trope during the final fight between Roy and Envy: Envy transforms into his True Form and gloats that there will be no holding back. Mustang's reaction is to set him on fire while berating him for stupidly making himself a bigger target. Envy responds by reverting back to his humanoid form and running away as fast as he can.
    • In the new anime, Father Cornello gets this during a fight, in true Batman Beyond fashion.
    • In chapter ninety-seven of the manga, Father reveals his true form to be a humanoid shadow covered in eyes and mouths, just like the shadows Pride uses to attack.
      • And then in Chapter 104 Father somehow manages to go One-Winged Angel AGAIN, having opened the Gate of the entire planet, turning the entire population of Amestris (except our heroes in the center of the circle) into a Philosopher's Stone within himself, and absorbing the knowledge of God to cross the Bishonen Line.
  • Only Mostly Dead: Everyone not in Father's sanctum from the end of chapter 104 to the middle of chapter 105.
  • Ouroboros: All the homunculi (save Pride and Father) sport one somewhere: Lust - above her breasts, Gluttony - tongue, Envy - upper left thigh, Greed - back of his left hand, Wrath - left eye, Sloth - back of his right shoulder. Pride probably has one somewhere, we just never see it.
  • The Other Darrin: Brotherhood replaced a good deal of the Japanese voice actors from the first anime. Two who returned ended up playing different characters. In contrast, the English dub retained nearly all of the original voice actors; the changes basically amount to Al, Scar, Hohenheim, Marcoh, and Breda.
  • Over-Enthusiastic Parents: Hughes, oh so much.
  • Out-Gambitted: Hohenheim inflicts this on Father in chapter 105. He clearly learnt from his past experience as an Unwitting Pawn.
  • Overprotective Dad: Hughes confronts a trio of three-year-olds who want to play with his daughter with a gun. Complete with Scary Shiny Glasses.


P

  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Lust and Izumi. There's a good reason in both cases: Lust is an artificial human and Izumi is deathly ill from losing some internal organs.
  • Freudian Trio: A villainous one formed by Lust (Superego), Envy (Ego) and Gluttony (Id). Until Lust is killed, that is.
  • The Paid for Harem: Greed's girls.
  • Paint the Town Red: Scar is the initially the biggest perpetrator of this while he's killing State Alchemists, but Wrath becomes an even bigger perpetrator of it after Scar's Heel Face Turn.
    • Homunculus/Father is the ultimate perpetrator/instructor of this, what with the crests of blood needed to carve out the points needed for his nationwide transmutation circles in both Xerxes and Amestris.
  • Pair the Spares: According to the picture montage in Chapter 108, Al and May got together.
    • To be fair, the pairing has constantly been hinted at since early in the series.
  • Papa Wolf: Hohenheim is one absurdly powerful and protective case of this, even if he doesn't act like it the first time we see him. Also Fu to Lan Fan, which makes him a Grandpa Wolf.

Fu: So, who is this man who remains uninjured despite both our best efforts?
Ling/Greed: That'd be King Bradley.
Fu: "Oh ho! I've never seen him with my own eyes...So this is the man who severed my granddaughter's arm!!!

  • Parental Abandonment: Ed and Al. It's worth noting that in Brotherhood, it's stated that their mother died ten years before the present day events. As Al states their ages later, this means that they were orphaned at the ages of four and five.
  • Party Scattering: Fuhrer Bradley feels that Colonel Mustang and the people under him are capable of dethroning him, so at one point in the story, Bradley uses his position to reassign the entire Mustang group to far corners of the country, each doing a job they're not very good at. They aren't reunited until near the end of the story with added allies, one of whom does kill Bradley and appoint Mustang as the new leader of the country.
  • Path of Inspiration: Cornello's cult.
  • Patrick Stewart Speech: Multiple characters deliver these to the homunculi in response to claims of humans being foolish animals. Envy commits suicide after hearing one too many of these.
  • Pec Flex: Armstrong's manly physique has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations! (Looking at some of his sisters, it has.)
    • At one point, he has a flex-off with Izumi's husband. They end up as friends as a direct result.
  • Percussive Maintenance: In episode 45, Ling meets up with Ed after a fight with Wrath. In the middle of their conversation, Greed tries to take over Ling's body. Ed starts hitting him on the head to stop this from happening.

Ed: (To the rhythm of his hits) Hey! Hey, hey, wait, wait! No, no, no, no, no, no! Fight back you idiot! Don't let him overpower you!

  • Person of Mass Destruction: Arguably, every State Alchemist can be considered this; Mustang even commented that their job is like an "artillery person who gets sent in when everything else fails". Father and Hohenheim also count.
  • Pet the Dog: Hawkeye with Black Hayate. Plus, Scar really likes cats.
  • Phantom Zone: Gluttony's stomach.
  • Phlebotinum Breakdown: If you don't know your stuff, alchemic reactions can backfire on you pretty spectacularly.
  • Photographic Memory: Sheska and Kimblee. Falman may not be quite this level, but it's still described as being "so sharp it's scary."
  • Physical God: Father after he literally ate the Truth/God. Among his powers are the ability to create a mini-sun in the palm of his hand (using nuclear fusion), the ability to fire tremendous energy blasts in front of him or above, and the power to control the weather itself.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: Twice in one scene. After Riza's throat is slashed and Roy escapes from the goons holding him, he rushes to scoop her up in a very Pieta-like pose, urging her to open her eyes and answer him. Once May saves her from bleeding to death in the alkahestry circle, he does it again, this time holding her closer and pressing his face into her hair.
  • Pin-Pulling Teeth: Olivier Armstrong does this when she takes a grenade from a fallen soldier to attack Sloth. Lan Fan in episode 62 against Father.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Ed (just don't call him that) and May Chang.
  • A Plague on Both Your Houses: Lust gets a good one off at Roy. Envy's, meanwhile, probably sounded hollow even to himself considering the remainder of the scene.
  • Playing with Fire: Roy Mustang is not called the "Flame Alchemist" for nothing.
  • Please Wake Up: Hughes, spoken by his daughter.
    • When the Elric brothers visit their teacher in chapter 20, there's a little girl who comes to Izumi in hopes that she would fix her cat since she won't move.. It takes a while for Izumi to explain her that you can't bring back living once they're dead. The fact that it's Izumi telling her this with Ed and Al standing behind makes it just even more sad. And the backstory we see afterwards.
    • Mustang says this almost verbatim to a dying Hawkeye after the gold-toothed doctor's Mook slashes her throat. Fortunately, unlike the other two examples, she's not dead and does wake up.
  • Plot Based Photograph Obfuscation: Hohenheim's face is obscured on the only family picture the Elrics have. It's to hide the fact that he looks exactly like the Big Bad, and also that he is crying in it. The hiding is a bit of Fridge Brilliance - Ed loathes his father and probably arranged the photographs so he wouldn't have to see his face.
  • Poisonous Captive: Envy, when trapped in a flask. Even as a prisoner he was dangerous enough to talk his way out.
  • Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: All the dang time.
  • Posthumous Character: Several. Trisha Elric, Scar's brother, Riza's father, and Winry's parents for starters.
  • The Power of Blood: Used in Ed and Al's attempt to bring their mother back.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Used as The Reveal twice.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: Various scenes are either omitted or tweaked from the manga (be it time or budget), but Brotherhood stays quite spot on with the key elements.
    • Brotherhood also condenses the events of the beginning part of the manga which were already covered in the first anime adaptation (before it Overtook the Manga). For example, Hughes dies in episode 25 of 51 in FMA, but episode 10 of 64 in Brotherhood.
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Ed gets one inside of Gluttony, during his and Ling's fight with Envy's true form.

"Let's pump this guy full of hurt!"

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