y'know when Ed's wearing his boxers and you see that piece of black peeking out from underneath? what is it? i heard somewhere that it was spandex, but that seems just plain impractical to wear spandex AND boxers, especially when wearing as tight pants as Ed does. before i thought it was just some kind of censorship thing, but now i'm not sure. little help?

I've wondered that too. Probably for his own modesty so Winry and Granny Pinako can work on him without worrying. And he doesn't wear them all the time. I think in a later episode he is just wearing his boxers, but I don't remember correctly. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Or maybe it's just the sunlight from above casting a shadow.

Light does that, you know.

Exactly. Just so you know, everything does not have to be something. It is just the shadow from his boxers. I think that the animators did that so you don't think you see something that isn't there.

I vote shadow too. The black is never seen any other time.

I don't think so, because if you look at the pic above, it looks like the sun is casting its shadow over Ed's skin BELOW the area in question. You can see by the somewhat darker shaded area of his skin.

There will always be some places where the viewer can see but the sun will not reach. Those places will always be in the shadow.

You're a shadow Quistis

Just kidding.

How did you know I painted myself black over the weekend?

i thought it was a shadow too, but why make the shadow completely black instead of the darker skin color, like they normally do for shadows on the skin. it would look lots better and would just make more sense.

i can see y thats so puzzling but ive never seen that ep so i wouldnt be of any help to you. sorry

thats definately the shadow because when he would squiggle on the ground the black would go away then come back.

They may have made it completely black to show the contrast between those shadows and the more "visibly obvious" shadows elsewhere.

And a little logic lesson for the littl'uns:

(1) Humans are sometimes lazy beings.
(2) Animators are human.
So, (3) Animators are sometimes lazy beings.

Hope that solves the problem.

I always just assume shadow for most of these things.

I can see where you would think it was spandex though.

Heh heh, spandex.

I don't think they even had spandex back then, in their world.

HAHA GOOD POINT

Does it matter if its a shadow or not....is there nothing else in this ep. to talk about.
Like the poket watch or maybe the sole attachmint in Al.
===ITS A SHADOW..stop thinking about Ed's underware==
(This means you fan girls and (if any) fan boys)

Sry if i sounded rude.

Its ok.
Does anyone know whats up with the "dont forget" and then the date that i cant remember at the moment is about? i mean, like ive only seen 2 eps so its not like i would kno this. (ep 16 and 17)
THANKS

this is a thread specifically about the mysterious black stuff. there's an Episode 17 thread if you want to talk about the other parts of the episode. (sry if i sound a lil rude)


the date is the date that Ed and Al burned down their house. it's to remind Ed that he has to keep moving forward and not dwell on the past.

back to the spandex...

i think i did that right....

if they didnt have that... seriously dought that they would even have guns back then either... but then of course this is not a real world, so they could have both...

i'm pretty sure they had guns in the early 1900s. while i don't actually believe it to be spandex because i seriously doubt they had synthetic materials like that back then (i just said spandex in the first post cause thats what someone else mentioned), i'm pretty sure that they aren't exactly being true-to-form with the technology of the day and age. i mean, theres no way in hell that early 1900 technology could make a mechanical limb that was the actual size of a real limb, let alone being able to connect nerves to wires and such. but hey, its just a fantasy world. they have their own timeline.

I vote some sort of cloth because in later episodes, there is a picture of him indoors and that black strip is there.

I say it's a shadow. I'm glad it's their because I don't wanna see up Ed's shorts.

however, i think many fangirls would heartily disagree

but i agree, i'm glad its there. not because of the whole looking-up-Ed's shorts thing (not that i want to, of course), but because things like his and Al's fight seen in episode 18 would look rather odd. (up goes Ed's pant leg and - woop! - nothing there! Ed turned into a ken doll!)

Perhaps a jacket? I'm not sure, it sure looks tight though. You would think he would get hot in that much clothing though.

Sorry to bring this back up guys but it IS spandex, or some form of underwear. Take a look at the screenies I took below; I doubt those are shadows. If you look at where the sun is striking Ed's leg, his pants wouldn't be casting a shadow there and even if it did it wouldn't be that dark. Spandex it is

It's underwear. I'm a cosplayer--I pay a lot of attention to the characters' clothes and how they move, in case I end up making them someday. Ed's black shorts are visible in various other scenes in that episode, including the scene when they reattach his automail and the fight scene with Armstrong, as well as in later episodes when they revisit Resembool. They don't move like shadows, they move like tight clothing. They don't even follow the light sources along with the other shadows onscreen; instead they stay exactly where they are, no matter how he moves his legs.

So yeah, Ed wears two layers of underwear. Considering the size of his fangirl population, I call that a pretty clever backup plan.

Ohh, thank goodness for screenshots. So, they are a second layer after all, but not necessarily spandex.

We're never gonna figure out what kind of material is. Let's just say that it is really tight underwear and be done with it.

can i get an amen!

In regards to ken doll=darn.
And I'd have to agree; I wouldn't mind seeing up Ed's shorts XD. *is a fangirl who heartily disagrees*

And in regards to spandex, I can never tell if this is set in the past or the future. Every time it leans toward future, I see somehting like an old fashioned phone that makes it the past, and so on. Perhaps a long time ago in a galaxy far away kind of thing, for example.

and Amen! lol

as many times as i have watched the first dvd, it states the year as 1910.....so that could only mean that it is set in the eary 1900s.....i hope that that this helps because also in the episode where they go back hoem with armstrong, pinako marks inside ed's watch a date for him to remember......cya all soon.....

Aaah, gotcha.

you're welcome.....i am just glad that i could in some way......that is the one thing that has always stuck inmymind about the time period......cya all soon

<Merging "Questions On Homunculi" thread with the following 4 pages of posts (many of them unrelated OT or Spam posts) to "ashamed To Be Asking This" since questions asked were many "pop" questions (many of them not related to the thread title) and none of them really developed into any significant discussions. Checked the posts continuity, and confirmed that the the posts continuity will survive after the merge. 02/19/07 ~Tombow>

These questions have been bugging me: Do homunculi have souls? If they don't have souls and they're not technically human, then why do they have powers? Do homunculi age or change? Is Envy a man or a woman? (I can't tell...T.T).

Alchemistgirl zero: They lack soul, but the Blood Stones in their bodies function i their power source. And Envy's a guy, he just has a feminine voice due to being voiced by a woman in both versions.

Another question to add to this... are they all people that someone has tried to bring back? Because I'm pretty sure at least 2 of them are...

Yes homnulcus are the results of a failed human transmutation. For example...
[spoiler]Lust was the woman Scar's brother tried to revive, Sloth is Ed and Al's mother, and the rest are also. But they aren't really the same person since they have no soul. They have the sme appearance, voice, and some memories, just no soul. Some we never find out who they were in their past lives but we find out who created them at least.[/spoiler]

Who would ever want to bring back Gluttony....?

Haha...

I wanna know how you kill them...

*Spoilers for Maes_ Hughes*

You need to show them something associated with their past life.

o_O;;; Sloth is Ed and Al's mother...? So, if you kill homunculi by showing them associated with a past life, won't Ed and Al kill Sloth?

Ed: Hey, in your past life, we were your kids!
Sloth: Oh no! *BOOM*
Al: ...that made no sense....O_O;;;

Don't bother to try to understand. The anime is inconsistent in handling how homunculi handle their weaknesses. It is all for dramaticsm.

This is true, but from what I've seen in the anime series, it's a part of their former bodies. For example, Lust's weakness was her hair in the locket, Greed's was his skelton, and Pride's his skull, etc.

The way to WEAKEN a homunculous is buy showing them a part of their old body. You must use a special summoning circle to remove the blood gems from inside of them (the blood gems are what is making them invincible and giving them their amazing powers). By removing the blood gems, this basically turns them into humans (without souls), and very killable.

Oh, I forgot that Lust's locket had her hair in it
I thought the locket weakened her...

Oh, I see. Cool.

"Today, on Fullmetal Alchemist: The danger of wearing Lockets"

and if you do wear a locket, always check for the hair or toe nail clippings from your old body.

Being done in by a toenail, that would suck so hard.