lol i dont think spandex had been invented yet i was wondering about that too, but i think its just a shadow.

@gg2qt4me - Are you, by any chance, responding to the post on page 1 of this thread that was posted THREE years ago??

Please join us for more recently discussed topics. ^^

Yeah, I'm going to move away from Ed's boxers for a moment (it's a shadow, btw)...

I have a question to do with the Dante-Hohenheim stuff. Either I'm missing something or the creators have left a plot hole.

(SPOILERS)

Okay, the two jumped bodies using the stone, each time going into a younger body to escape age and death. The bodies they jumped into are not immortal, so therefore Hohenheim's current body would roughly be around 40-45 years old. Envy is quite old, definitely over a hundred, judging by the fact that Greed was imprisoned for a hundred years, and Envy was the first homunculus ever made, so that places him over a century old. Now my main question is... how can Envy's true face look like Hohenheim (e.g. blonde hair, same facial structure and eye colour), when Hohenheim's current body is only 40 years old?

I'm going to wack myself over the head if it turns out there's a really obvious answer to this.

Please and thanks.

Well from what I can gather, Dante and Hohenheim are at least 400+ while Envy is 400 years old, and was created while Hohenheim and Dante were still together ( obviously ^^; )

The body that Hohenheim was in at the time, must of been the body of the butler that Dante shoved the Philosopher's stone into, in order to save Hohenheim's life...and I can only guess that the butler's hair had also been blonde.
And he was probably still in that body when Dante gave birth to the baby that would eventually die and become Envy.

And if Hohenheim has always had golden eyes, then it would be easy for the human Envy to of inherited them too...especially since he looked a *lot* like his dad.
We also know that Hohenheim hasn't had nowhere near as many bodies as what Dante has, so he might of stayed the same for longer.

Apparently he still knew Pinako in the anime and was originally a drinking buddy with her ( I read it in the anime profiles book!) so his body probably hasn't aged that much in that space of time.

-------

And people say that Envy said in an earlier episode that he couldn't remember how he looked...I wouldn't really call it a plothole.
He probably didn't want to remember how he originally looked, because it brought back the memory of his own creator abandoning him.

Naturally, with the fact that everyone's pasts are being dragged out into the open later on, Envy possibly had no other choice but to face up to what had happened to him and just took on that form.
Plus, he used it against Ed in order to gain an advantage in battle...and since it meant killing off one of his creator's offspring and with how jealous he is of Hohenheim's children, well...I think that was enough he needed to jog his memory.

Thanks Becca-chan. Yeah, the number 400 came to mind, but I wasn't sure.



I'm guessing that when you say butler, you're referring to the guy with the moustache we see in the flash back. I dunno, I don't think he was blonde, and there was such a specific similarity between Envy's true face and Hohenheim's body that I doubt it was the butler's genes. And Hohenheim always having golden eyes? I'm not sure on that either. I associate the body jumping to be much like Ed attatching Al's body to armour, so (even though the idea is pretty cool), I don't see why a body's features would change to suit the new soul.
Hohenheim's current body also looks fairly similar to his original one in the flash back, which raises more questions, unless he just kept the same hairstyle for centuries. Also, the bodies do age like normal humans, right? Or why else would Dante have jumped into an old woman's body, unless it was young when she first chose it.

Still not adding up for me.

You're welcome, Saving_Grace; I'm glad to of helped!

:: Nods:: Yeah, I could only assume that the guy was a butler of some description; so it would of meant that Hohenheim and Dante were aristocrats of some kind
( Or they were just dressed really poshly XD; :: is shot:: ) although it would make sense since they were out on that balcony of a possibly big house.

E-heh heh, the golden eyes thing is just a theory of mine...although it was left unexplained if the hijacked body can actually change it's features to suit the soul that it's housing, or not...so theorizing is the only thing we can do. ^^;

You're right on the butler's hair being undefined too...it's just where the flashback was shown in muted colours, it'd be difficult for us to see what their hair colours were...although because of that I now believe that Dante's original body must of had red hair. ^^;

As for Hohenheim keeping the same hairstyle throughout the years, perhaps it could of been Hohenheim's way of remembering who he was ( and the mistakes that he'd made in the past, with the transmutation of all of those people)

And I find it very cool that his original body looked a lot like Father from the manga ( well...a younger one anyway) with his hair down and everything.
It's almost like it was dropping a hint ( albeit under different circumstances) for what would occur later on in the chapters.

On the topic of Envy...I think that's something that will keep us guessing for quite a while and at the end of the day, it could just be left up to how people interpret it.

As for the bodies aging... :: Nods:: I think they do, although I'm not sure if it's at a normal rate.
I mean with the chimera's, they never seemed to age ( at least not physically) a day after they were transmuted and that seems to go for the manga version too.
I was just wondering if that ties in with the mystery behind Dante and Hohenheim's bodies.

Dante is a bit more of a mystery to me, and once again another thing to try and ponder about...since we may never be given any concrete answers now. ^^;

E-heh, I just wish I could give a better answer than that...but hopefully that's okay.

As for a question on my end, I was wondering just how many bodies have Hohenheim and Dante had in the past? I was just wondering if they ever mentioned it in the dub at some point. O.o
But I swear that Dante told Ed ( although this was in the subbed version of the DVD that I have) that the body count on her end hadn't even reached ten yet.

I'm glad I came here tonight, because I've been pondering this very subject since I finally finished the series (after being w/out cable for many years) two weeks ago. After browsing a few forums, I've found that the general consensus among many fans is that the series goes downhill after the introduction of Dante. If I could go a little OT for a minute, I couldn't agree less with this opinion. It's almost as if many feel that enjoying the anime version of the story is akin to slapping Hiromu Arakawa in the face. This is, on one hand, an exxageration, yet on the other hand, it's not. That's not to say that I don't agree that the anime has a dozen or so inconsistencies - the situation with the body swapping is one of them - but I've yet to come across an anime that doesn't. And, I'm far from an avid supporter of Dante, but I feel as if she's an adequate enough villain for this series, in that her characterization is in line with that of many of the show's "villains" and "heroes." She justifies her "immortality" just as the other characters find a way to justify all the selfish things they do. So, in that case, I feel that she falls in line with the story the anime is trying to tell. Near the end of the anime, Scieska (sp?) addresses this rather profoundly: how is one to know if the homunculi/Dante aren't actually saving human beings from themselves by taking possession of the stone/becoming human? Well, of course we know that Dante isn't out to save anyone but herself, but she's somehow convinced that it's for the good of mankind for a "superior" human being to use the stone for her own purposes. *clears throat* now, all that being said, onto the body-swapping.

Yeah, the show's got inconsistencies, for sure. Many, I feel, can be forgiven, because this is a series that (IMO) appreciates that the audience doesn't need to be led by the hand. However, the body-swapping storyline doesn't exactly fall into that category. I can buy the idea, and it's a good one, but it really should have been explained more. It seems that if the golden eye color Ed inherited from his father is rather rare, so it begs to question if the gold eyes are the mark of the talented alchemist, Hohenheim, or just a trait of the body that fathered Ed and Al? I'd like to think it was the former, but I'd wager the latter because the anime never tells us whether the empty vessel takes on any of the soul's features (if a soul can have features). This certainly never seemed to be the case with Dante. Secondly, and this probably bugs me the most, is that if Ed and Al inherited their alchemic talent from their father's genes, wouldn't that have to mean that the empty vessel was also an alchemist? I suppose it's possible, in sci-fi world, for part of a person's soul to pass into the womb, but again, this is never explained. I, myself, like to fanwank it so that Hohenheim liked to inhabit the bodies of his own descendents (obviously not from Envy, but maybe a sibling's children?) which I think would've made a really neat explanation. But, I didn't write the story.

So, thanks for letting me get all of that off my chest. Now, excuse me while I venture back into OT. Other things I liked about the Dante/Hohenheim saga: I liked how Greed was born, and died, in Dante's mansion. I also like how the story takes a much deeper turn around the Greed arc. It becomes darker and much more complex towards the end of the series than it was at the beginning, IMO. I rather like that Hohenheim was the original creator of the philosopher's stone, and that he and Dante were former lovers (I'm also one of those individuals who likes the idea of Izumi being Dante's pupil. Many may ask [and have] why she chose to take on apprentices in the first place, but she had to be able to afford that huge mansion, somehow. Plus, being an alchemy instructor/pharmacist is a pretty good cover-up for some otherwise shady dealings). I liked that Hohenheim, who was once on par with Dante in the conceit department, regrets it all enough to abandon Dante, yet feels sorry enough for her to leave her stone fragments/not kill her. Lastly, I like the other side of the gate. Yes, it's an old sci-fi trick, but I love how the ability to do alchemy depended on its existence. Clever and creepy, in a good way.

Needless to say, in spite of some oversights, I still think FMA is tops when it comes to Shonen anime. It doesn't necessarily have to be THE best anime EVER, which I think both disappoints and relieves some people, but it's still damn good. Hey, how did I manage to potentially insult a whole bunch of fans with just my second post?? If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention. In any case, thanks for reading all that crap

No, I agree with you; FMA is pretty damn good compared to other animes, and the fact that they don't hand-feed us all the information is definitely one of the things that drew me to it. I swear if I have to watch one more anime where nearly every freakin' thing is explained in some character's whiney inner monologue I'm going to hit something.

Anyhoo. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed the inconstancies; it's slightly annoying that there isn't any definite answer. You know, in all of this I've managed to find just another thing which doesn’t quite fit. It’s really unimportant, but why on earth is the butler guy wearing a suit in the flash back, when the flash back is set 400+?? I mean, Amestris' apparel is relatively close (ish) to what ours was like in the 1920s, so that would lead to the idea that 400 years ago, they would have had similar fashions to our 15th century clothing... We didn't have suits in the 15th century... Oh I'm really nitpicking now...


That's a brilliantly twisted idea, isn't it? Makes Hohenheim seem like even more of a bastard in his past life.



Yeah, I've heard that Dante had around ten and Hohenheim even less. Can’t remember where I heard this, probably Wikipedia (haha).

@ lalique; Hey don't worry about it, you didn't offend me...and I think that was a pretty good explanation of yours, thank you for sharing your theories with us! ^^

@ Saving_Grace; Thank you for the answer! ^^

Well, I'm back to annoy more people with questions!
I'm having a mental blank about the philosopher's stone, could someone give me a hand?

Okay, I remember there being two methods for the creation of a philosopher's stone for some reason. Is this right, or am I going senile at an early age?

Please and thank you.

Isn't the philosophers stone the work of the devil? Recipe for a philosophers stone = a human being. Correct me if I'm wrong.

can somebody answer me?
-------------------------------
~what is Edo's religion ?~
-------------------------------

see ya

I believe in the first volume of the manga Ed said he was agnostic. I believe that agnostic means that you believe in a god or gods, but you do not believe in any specific religion and it's rules.

Hmmm ...I think you're right
thank you

Your welcome! Glad I could help.

No, close. Agnostic means that you are open to the theory of there being some sort of a divine force, but believe that there is no sure way to prove it; sort of the middle ground between being religious and an atheist.

Ed's an atheist, I'm positive on that.

hmm..... another answer Ed an atheist

I think before that Ed was Christian????

there are no sure answer... ><

anyway thank you very much Grace-chan for your help ^^




ETA: March 13

Yeah, that would make sense. Oh, and I'm not sure if this question goes here but does anyone know if the voice actors are gonna be the same in the new anime? I already know that Ed and Al's are, but I want to know how much of the original cast is returning.

@FullmetalOtaku - Aside from Ed and Al, the short answer is No.
For more discussions on FMA series II, you can check our FMA anime series II forum.

Anyway, to answer your question, here is the reported list of new VA casts for FMA-2 (besides Ed & Al) so far:

Winry Rockbell: Megumi Takamoto
Roy Mustang: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese James from Pokemon)
Riza Hawkeye: Fumiko Orikasa
Alex Louis Armstrong: Kenji Utsumi (same as previous anime)
Maes Hughes: Keiji Fujiwara (same as previous anime)
Jean Havoc: Yuuji Ueda (previous anime's Kimbley)
Vato Falman: Kenji Hamada
Maria Ross: Kaori Nazuka
King Bradley: Hidekatsu Shibata (same as previous anime)
Scar: Kenta Miyake
Lust: Kikuko Inoue
Gluttony: Tetsu Shiratori (previous anime's Fuery)
Envy: Minami Takayama
Kimbley: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Isaac: Kouichi Yamadera (this one is reportedly an original character for this anime series)

For further discussions on the new VA casts for FMA series-2, or any other discussions for FMA-2, please go to FMA anime II forum.

~ Full Metal Alchemist Couples~, fma couples in the series ~

im not really sure so i just wanted to ask umm...is roy and riza really couples in the series and do they get together in the end cuz i really want to know and im only up to episode 14 or something and how bout winry and edward.... so what are the couples in the series?
thankyou

This section isn't for Fullmetal Alchemist discussion~

As for characters/couples in general, try:
http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/forums/...hp?showforum=13

For RoyXRiza (Roiai):
http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/forums/...amp;start=14355

And for EdXWinry (EdWin):
http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/forums/...5&start=915

Though, as for those couples (and more) you should browse around the Character Forum (first link), because there's plenty more where that came from.

oh.. right sorry for the trouble!!

Thank you, Little Washu!!

@xX~Mia~Xx - Welcome to the board!!
Yeah, as Little Washu has kindly pointed out, we have many "FMA couples (perceived, imaginary, or otherwise XD)" discussion threads in FMA Characters Discussion forum. Come on over, and please join our discussions there!

Closing the thread.

ETA: Merged to FMA anime Q&A thread.

~ Anyone Know Where... ~

...I can find the FullMetal Alchemist episodes? and i do not mean Brotherhood... x) ... cant find them anywhere... thx!

You can find some by Googlling.

@FullMetal116 - Or, you can rent or buy DVD. By now, the series 1 of FMA anime is available on DVD rental at many places, such as Netflix.


@_Mat - Thank you for being helpful. I edited out the link, but if you would like, you can help out FullMetal116 personally by PM.


ETA: Thread merged.

Hey, i just finish FMA　１st series. I loved it. But then where do i continue?
I mean there is FMA movie and then FMA brotherhood. Is there a chronology?
Some1 pls tell me wat i should watch next pls..

Hello Edward - kun, welcome to the board!
If you have finished watching 51 episodes of EMA-1, then next one to watch is FMA "Shambara" movie. That movie acts like episode 52, and it takes off where episode 51 left off and concludes the FMA-1 storyline. FMA-2: Brotherhood follows FMA manga storyline, which is very very different from the first series of FMA anime. You may like to check out FMA anime (first series) - manga differences thread and FMA-2: Brotherhood FAQ thread. FMA-2: Brotherhood anime series is new, and it's very exciting series in it's own way, and I hope you can join us and enjoy following this new series with us. But, yeah, first, I recommend to go and watch FMA "Conqueror of Shambala" Movie, as that one is the conclusion of the first FMA anime series.

Thank you, Tombow. I'll watch for sure

^ You're welcome! After watching FMA Movie, check out our FMA Movie forum. We got some interesting discussions on FMA movie there.

~ Slicer's Va? Does Anyone Know Who Voiced The Slicer Bros? ~


GUH I've been looking everywhere and I can't seem to find their english voice actors D:
Anyone knwo where there might be a complete list of the voices for the english dub?
If so, please tell me?

@hestetz - For English dub, the VAs for the Slicer Brothers were...

Slicer (Older Brother)/Number 48 (ep 19) was played by Bill Jenkins, and
Slicer (Younger Brother) was played by Duncan Brannan.

The above info is from ANIMENEWSNETWORK's Anime Database which is IMO fairly reliable for this type of stuff. I think we also have a list of English VAs for the first series on our board, but I was on ANN site for checking other stuff for the FMA: Brotherhood series anyway. :P ...


----------------------

Anyone who got more questions for FMA anime (first series,) please post your question on FMA Anime Q& A thread, and we'll try to help you with your question there.

I'll close this and move the posts to FMA Anime Q & A thread later.


ETA: July 11, 2009 Merged thread.

Does anyone know the video the short video that shows ed and al as very old adults?

@Ice Blizzard - The closest I can think of is FMA "Children" OVA that has Ed as "what if" kind of 100 years old Grandpa. Is this what you're looking for?

Yessss! Thanks alot :]

You're welcome.

King Bradley is always referred to as "Fuhrer" in the subs.

Why did they use this word to denote his rank? In Japanese voiceovers, he's never referred to as "fuhrer" (his rank sounds like "dai-soto", doesn't that translate into something like "commander in chief" or "high commander"?).

Just curious.

@Heidern - Welcome to our board!

Short answer:
Japanese word Soutou (総統) or Daisoutou (大総統) ..that means Great Soutou ^^.. is often translated as Fuhrer (most often so for the German Fuhrer during Hitler era.) Hence that is a standard translation, IMO.


Long-winded answer:
The words "commander in chief" in Japanese would be translated something like, "最高司令官" (Saikou Shireikan) if you take the meaning of the "commander in chief" literally, as in someone who is the top of the military type State run organization. I'm guessing you're somewhat referring to the U.S. custom of calling the President (= Daitouryou 大統領) also as "Commander in Chief", to denote the position as THE top boss for the U.S. military. And, while this could be true for describing Daisoutou (大総統) in Taiwan and such, but normally, if "Commander in Chief" is used in this way, then usually it is translated as Daitouryou 大統領 (= President) and NOT into Daisoutou (大総統) IMO, and certainly this happens much less in the other direction, as you suggested, of translating Daisoutou 大総統 as "commander in chief," and as far as I know, Daisoutou 大総統 is more often translated as "Fuhrer," or if that name is not appropriate for the describing country, then as "President" because Daisoutou 大総統 usually has not just the command of the military, but he has the leadership in politics, economy, and other aspects of that nation.


If you got farther questions on this, or any other questions on FMA anime, please post that on FMA Anime Q&A thread, and we'll try to help with your questions there.

If anyone got more questions on FMA anime, please post that on FMA Anime Q&A thread, and we'll try to help with the questions there.

Closing thread. I will merge this to FMA Anime Q&A thread later.

ETA: July 16, 2009 Thread merged.

==============

<Program Note>

QUOTE (Heidern @ Jul 7 2009, 02:01 PM)

Couple things I can't understand from the anime, maybe they were lost in translation?

- Why is it forbidden to transmute gold? And what would stop some alchemist from doing it anyway? State Alchemists have to abide by the rules, but someone can do it in secret...

- Also, why was Red Stone necessary to create gold in Xenotime? Was it so hard to transmute a bunch of rock?

- And what is so awful about the Red Stone anyway? The Red Water is toxic - so what... You don't have to sacrifice people to make it (though the process is slower of course). And the Red Water isn't terribly rare it seems since there was a fountain of it in Xenotime and a ton of it stored in the 5th Laboratory. Why didn't the Military just mass-produce the Red Stone for its State Alchemists?

Since this is your SECOND time opening a new thread just for asking your question on FMA anime, I'm going ahead and merging your above quoted thread to FMA Anime Q&A thread, and hopefully, someone will help you with your question there.

Please post any other questions you have for FMA anime on FMA Anime Q&A thread instead of opening a new thread for each time you have a question, and hopefully, someone will help you with your question there.

~ Alchemy Questions, Gold and Red Stone ~

Couple things I can't understand from the anime, maybe they were lost in translation?

- Why is it forbidden to transmute gold? And what would stop some alchemist from doing it anyway? State Alchemists have to abide by the rules, but someone can do it in secret...

- Also, why was Red Stone necessary to create gold in Xenotime? Was it so hard to transmute a bunch of rock?

- And what is so awful about the Red Stone anyway? The Red Water is toxic - so what... You don't have to sacrifice people to make it (though the process is slower of course). And the Red Water isn't terribly rare it seems since there was a fountain of it in Xenotime and a ton of it stored in the 5th Laboratory. Why didn't the Military just mass-produce the Red Stone for its State Alchemists?

1. If an alchemist were to transmute gold, he'd pretty much have an unlimited supply of money at his disposal. Society is built on the premise of working for a living and if someone were able to get his hands on an infinite amount of cash, that would kind of defeat the purpose wouldn't it? The alchemist would have no incentive to work for the state, thus depriving the military of manpower. If the alchemist were to transmute an inordinate amount of gold, I don't think he would be able to keep it hidden for long. It would probably leave a paper trail or evidence of the transmutation, and exchange of gold would show up at some point.

2. I'm assuming the military didn't know about the red water in Xenotime and the Elric Brothers were the first to learn of it. Even if they did, it would be more trouble than it was worth to mass produce it. The method of sacrificing condemned prisoners is comparatively more efficient. A much greater number of stones can be produced much more quickly with much less risk to military personnel. That liquid in the 5th Lab wasn't red water, but rather a liquid form of an Incomplete Philosopher's Stone, much like the one Dr. Marcoh had with him, only much larger. The Incomplete Stones aren't crystalized upon their transmutation it seems. If that were Red Water, Edward would have instantly died of poisoning from the sheer magnitude of the toxic water he was making contact with. Since all that liquid was probably equivalent to thousands of Incomplete Stones, it augmented his alchemy to the point where it was uncontrollable.

Why is it forbidden is simple: Gold is only valuable because there is a limited amount, making it hard to get a lot of. The more there is that people know about the less value it has.

What is to stop some Alchemist doing it? Nothing but the police. Making Gold is illegal. It's just like counterfeiting.


Transmutations take a lot of energy. Making Gold presumable takes even more energy than normal. The red water would make this far easier by giving extra energy.


Red Stones amplify an Alchemists power. If it gets into the wrong hands that'd be very bad. It's also unstable. You saw what it did to Cornello.
As for it not being rare, you saw one fountain. That would make it extremely rare indeed. The amount Stored in Lab 5 looks a lot but on a large scale it really isn't.

haha.. yeah right.. nice logic uh!!!! im on the shadow side also..

~ Is The Fma Movie The Contiunation Of Fma-1 Series? I'm A Little Confused About The End Of The Fma-1 Series.. ~


Well, I just saw the end of the US verizon of FMA, where it ends with Ed and Al in separate parts of the world...

BUT... is the movie: conqueror of Shamballa a continuation/end of the anime?

and is FMA2: brotherhood just a new spin on the anime that makes it more like the manga, but starts again from the beginning?

Thanks for any answers

Yes Shamballa is continuation of the anime,it takes place 2 years later to be exact.

Fma Brotherhood is just really a spin off I guess,and yes it does follow the manga (almost exactly). Yeah it starts from the beginning,but not really with the first episode.

Hi SaMaster14, long time no see! So, you watched the episode 51 of the first FMA anime series? Then the next step is to watch "Conqueror of Shambala" FMA movie, because that one is the de facto conclusion of the first FMA anime series.

As for the new FMA: Brotherhood, you are correct. It is an FMA anime series based on FMA manga storyline, and hence it has a completely different FMA universe. You can find out more about the new FMA: Brotherhood series on FMA: Brotherhood anime FAQ on FMA: Brotherhood Q&A thread, and if you get more question about FMA: Brotherhood anime, please post that on FMA: Brotherhood Q&A thread, and we'll try to answer your question there.

You can find out more about FMA "Conqueror of Shambala" movie, including spoiler summary storyline, in our FMA Movie forum.

If you got more questions on the first series of FMA anime, or FMA movie, then post that on FMA anime Q&A thread, and we'll try to help you with your question there.

----------------------


Thanks for answering SaMaster14's question. ^^ Although... I wouldn't call FMA:Brotherhood anime as a "spin off" of the first FMA anime series, as it is IMO more closer to "remake" (so to speak) based off on the original FMA story this time around, than a "spin off" of the first FMA anime series. And yes, it starts from the beginning of manga FMA story line, and in the begening it starts off with the very similar looking/sounding story to the first FMA anime series, but even in the early episodes, there are smaller yet key story differences between the FMA:Brotherhood anime and the first FMA anime, such as who killed Winry's parents, etc., and also the underlying reasons for some of the things and happenings we see in the early episodes are also vastly different. Hence, IMO, the stories look similar but these are not quite the same story at all, even in the earlier episodes.

---------------------

Thread closed. The posts will be moved to FMA anime Q&A thread shortly.

Anyone with more questions on the first series of FMA anime, please post that on FMA anime Q&A thread instead of opening a new thread, and we'll try to help you with your question there.



ETA: Merged the thread to url="http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5993&st=855&start=855"]FMA anime Q&A[/url] thread.

Back when he was Hohenhim and Dante's son, how did Envy get Mercury Poisoning?

Ironically on a day trip to Venus.

Mercury poisoning is actually kind of an odd way to have a character die. It causes madness usually before finally doing the person in. My understanding is that people who worked with felt came down with it most often (they use the Mercury to treat the felt when making Hats (see; Mad Hatter.).)

I can't imagine how he'd have been exposed unless he got into their alchemy lab and took a swig of the pretty silver water.

What did majahal (spelling?) loose when he tried to bring that woman back, in the town with Klaus?

Well, I don't think he created anything in the first place, save for those weird puppets of his. And those puppets' creation are not in the same level that the Brothers Elric, Izumi, and Scar's Brother did in their transmutation, meaning Majahal really didn't suffer the major consequences. The only loss for him was the possible consequence of performing too much Alchemy: insanity. A point that both Anime1 and Manga strongly reinforce (Both versions of Shou Tucker, Dante, Papa Hawkeye).

Here's my question: Is Rose's baby really hers? The time period between the Brothers' two trips to Lior (Episode 1-2 to Episode 39, minus the 'Four Years Ago' Origin flashbacks) amounts to probably five months or less, hardly enough to get a baby (As Riza Hawkeye exclaimed to Hughes: "Babies aren't born in five months!"). Rather than scream PLOT HOLE! like most of you, I'd rather conclude that Rose adopted the baby.