And I love the ponytail...It's working for Al...<3

Has it occured to anyone that perhaps nobody else knew that Edward was gone, thus Al imitates Ed as much as he can so that he can use the state budget under the pretense of being the Fullmetal Alchemist? His travel expenses can't be cheap.

Dosen't Kimbley clap his hands when he's using his splodey circles?

I never really understood the movie in the first place, I just make assumptions after reading what everyone else has to say...But that would make sense...XD;

I don't think so. Al isn't in the military, there's absolutely never a single mention of him joining and he doesn't have a pocketwatch to set him apart as a state alchemist. Also, how much money does he need? A. He needs water and he uses alchemy to create a well. B. Ed mentioned in one episode that he could use alchemy to turn grass into bread so it stands to reason that Al has the same ability, C. He can probably repair or create new clothes using alchemy and D. Ed made enough friends that Al could easily call on any of them for transportation purposes. Actually he could call on any of them for ANY purpose. There's no way the friends of Ed (who include Rose, Armstrong, Pinako, Winry, Russell, Fletcher, etc.) are going to allow Al (the brother Ed sacrificed his life for) to suffer in any way. The boy's practically golden thanks to Ed! He's also golden thanks to his own efforts but he doesn't remember them.

Ah...That makes even more sense...I think...XD But it works.

I try. I also remembered that Al is always called Al in the movie, never "Ed" nor is he ever referred to by the title "FullMetal" or by any other title.

Also, the biggest thing, is Al is an extremely honest and ethical person and would never steal money from the state by pretending to be Ed. He stops Ed at one point from rummaging through Marcho's belongings because he says it's not right, and in the episode where he runs away from Ed he tells the two Ishbalan kids that "you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you." Just because he's lost his money doesn't mean his fundamental personality would have changed. He was honest before and he'd still be honest after.

Last, many people don't what Ed looked like but THEY do know in general what he looks like ie. blond hair, short, automail arm. It'd be obvious Al isn't him. And also the people in the military DO know what Ed looks like, they've worked around him for several years. They would know Al wasn't Ed as well.

thisis kinda cool. remember,Kimbly distroyed Ed's pocket watch so, Al doesn;t have his brother's watch.

Isn't it cool though?

yeah, but he'd need SOME watch in order to pass as Ed. He couldn't get access to Ed's money without it I think. When Ed pays Sheska he gives his watch to the guy as proof so he can get the money out. In the Manga he gives his watch, ID number and pin number. Al would need some combination of those three things (and he's lost his memory so he's not going to remember Ed's ID number or pin number) to get at the money AND he'd have to go to central where people know who Ed is and what he looks like.

Al has a lot of friends and several of them are quite well off financially (Armstrong and Winry/Pinako). At the end of the series Al is 10 years old (he has no memory so as far as he knows he's mentally ten as well) and has no home and no family. Yet, he's well fed, well dressed, and is clearly relaxed and enjoying life. There's no money worries to him because he's being protected and cared for. Even if Al had been a jerk he'd have been taken care of just because everyone knows that's what Ed would want. However, Al has a naturally loving and innocent personality and is the type of person that people just want to take care of. In the movie, Rose endangers herself by tackling Al before he can go through the gate so it's obvious he's cared for.

Another thing, we don't know how long Al's been traveling. It's been two years, at the end of the series we see Rose's baby is quite a bit older so it's clear Al stayed at home with Winry and Pinako for quite a while. Then he goes to Izumi's and trains there for more time. For all we know (and this is just speculation of course) Liore (where he ends up at the beginning of the movie) is the first place he'd traveled in the entire two years.


Hey Toby-chan- Yeah, the first time we see Kimbley (in the lab 5 incident) he doesn't clap his hands to use alchemy. His hands are shackled and he just activates the circles on his hands much like Roy does with his gloves and so forth. Then in the episode where Izumi breaks Wrath out of the military compound, Kimbley DOES clap his hands together to blow a hole in the wall. Then later when he tries to kill Al and Martel he doesn't clap his hands to kill that soldier, and he doesn't clap his hands when he turns Al into a bomb before Scar saves him. I guess it's just personal preference. In the Manga, Al loses his memory of what happened in the gate and then, once he regains it, can transmute exactly like Ed can. What's really funny is Ed's reaction to it. He has this little mental image of a scale with taller, better fighter on Al's side and transmute without a circle and brotherly pride (or something like that) on his side. When Al reveals he can transmute without a circle, the scale suddenly tips in Al's favor and Ed nearly passes out because he thinks his brother is now cooler than he is. It's hailarious!

Wow...I just love reading about this....XD

It think that the reason kimbley doesb't clap his hand is because the circle is already on his hand and he has been activating it for like...forever.

Roy clicking his fingers is his substitute for claping his hand. or else it can't be done.

i do wish to know how al looks like with braids. i also think that al's hair is too long for 2 years. even ed's hair doesn't grow that fast.

plus his cloths, it think one of the reasons why al wore ed's clothes is because he doesn't have any other that fits him XD... kidding

Roy snaps his fingurres o make spark via his ignition cloth.
I wonder if he has an Igntion Top hat..

Roy snaps his fingers together to make a spark but he can use alchemy without it as long as he's got the circles physically there. In the episode where he's chasing Ed and Al, he corners them on the rocks by a river. Ed does some kind of attack that gets Roy's gloves wet. Roy proceeds to pull out a booklet of matches and use them to create fire which he then uses in attacks. He does it without snapping his fingers or anything else. He just strikes the match and then Whoosh!

Also, in episode 32? or somewhere around there, Kimbley does use alchemy by clapping his hands together (and therefore the circles on his palms like Al does in the movie). It's the episode where Izumi breaks Wrath out of military custody in that building. Kimbley is shown outside and he claps his hands together and then proceeds to blow a hole in the side of the building (or something like that).

Everyone knows that Kimblee drew circles on the palms on his hands.

With the Roy part- He was still wearing his gloves and used the matches to start the fire.

I know, but he didn't have to clap his hands. Kimbley didn't have to clap his hands together. Roy, Kimbley, that guy in episode 4, all of them had things on their hands or wrists and they could all just mentally activate them and use alchemy, no hand clapping involved. Al, however, apparently has to clap his hands together to use the circles on his gloves. I think he was just trying to be like Ed though. It makes more sense in the Manga where he just has the same ability as Ed though it takes a little longer for him to realize it.

I said this in another post but in theory, Al should be able to transmute just dandy without clapping his hands together when he is wearing his gloves. He just does it to imitate Ed, and eventually gets so used to doing it that it just becomes a force of habit for him.

Again, Roy uses alchemy to manipulate the amount of oxygen in the air, he doesn't create fire with alchemy, he simply controls it after he creates it by snapping his fingers together, which his gloves create because its made of a special ignition cloth.

Kimblee, I don't know. I guess you can say, he has the circles drawn on his palms so he can clap his hands together to make them come into contact, whereas both Al and Roy has the circles drawn on the back of their gloves, so even if they clap their hands, the circles don't come into contact.

No, Al has his circles in the same place as Kimbly, just on gloves as opposed to on his actual hands. Al is just channeling Ed is all. He seems to enjoy it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought Ed didn't start wearing the red coat until after they tried to bring back their mom. And since Al doesn't remember anything after their transmutation, he wouldn't have any memory of Ed wearing the coat. So I always thought that it was the filmmakers' way of showing the subconscious bond between Ed and Al--that they were so close that even if they were growing up separated from each other, they would still end up dressing exactly the same.

It doesn't matter what Al does or does not remember. Winry, Pinako, Izumi, Armstrong, Mustang, and a host of others all remember how Ed dressed. Not only that, I believe that's actually Ed's coat he's wearing. From what I remember in the series Ed left it at Winry's or Izumi's so it would make sense they'd have given it to Al. As for the rest, Al would say, "Tell me about my brother" and they did. You'll notice in the movie Ed asks Al why he's back in the suit of armor and Al says, "Back? Oh right, brother saved me and got me out..." something like that. That's not something he remembered, it was told to him.

^True dat, lol. On the other hand, it sure doesn't seem like they told him a lot--when he first meets Armstrong not only does he not recognize him but it sounds like he had never heard of him either. He's all like, "Oh, you helped me on our journey too?" Anyway, the way I always pictured it happening was Al randomly finds Ed's coat lying around the place and is like, Hey, looks good on me, I think I'll wear it.

Well, there's five years worth of people that Al had to be told about so it's not surprising he might have forgotten about one or two of them. Also, if Al DID find the coat lying around the first thing that would have happened is Winry or Pinako would have said, "Hey, you're wearing Ed's coat!" Even if Al wasn't told everything, I think he'd have wanted to know every single detail about Ed.

Here's something I always thought was weird. The quote I mentioned where Ed asks Al "Why are you back in the armor again?" and Al says, "Again?" and then goes "Oh yeah." I was thinking HOW DO YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?! It was the whole reason Al had lost five years worth of memories, the whole reason Ed was gone, their house was gone, the whole reason he went back to Izumi's, the whole reason he was searching, basically THE WHOLE REASON! So how did he forget for even a second.... "Wait, I was in armor? Oh that's right." ???? I did not get that one little teeny tiny bit!

i don't really care, but it was kinda weird to see him in ed's clothes, i mean, couldn't he of have just gotten his own clothes? rather than use ed's? but maybe he thought that if he wore ed's clothes, and that ed was already dead, he would have at least a piece of ed(his clothes) with him all the time@__@

Hey, I randomly came up with an explanation for that a few days ago, lol--maybe it wasn't that he was forgetting that he was in armor, but that he didn't know that it was that particular armor, seeing as how it disappeared (presumably to the other side) when Ed pulled Al's real body back.

I always thought of Al as different from Ed, and it was disturbing for me to see how they dressed him as Ed, even tried to add his same clothes. For me, it was killing the character

I liked the coat thing *shrug* it was supposed to be that he found his brother's clothes are wore them to connect with him/help find him etc. It was a brotherly bond thing. I think it worked. He looked more official like that anyways.

Thats what I think too. Also it was probably so that people might think he was Ed and he could get around easier.

It was good.. Meaningful enough to show how much Al loves his brother..

yeah, and I thought he looked cute when he was dressed up like that.

He's cute anyways...Does it matter what he's wearing??

I found it as a excuse for BONES to turn Al into a Ed clone.

I agree with that completely. Ed himself became copy of Hohenheim, while Winry and Roy took on traits of Riza and Pride(the hairstyle and the eyepatch). Not very original design work there at all.

Meh, I didn't care for Roy's HUGE eye-patch.
But, I thought Al with Ed's hoody coat was cute.
Maybe it was sort of continuity gimmic, to invoke us of old image of Ed from the series by seeing that coat, but they couldn't have Ed wearing that since Ed got stiuck in OUR world, so they made Al to wear it??

Well, the whole thing with Ed's outfit is that he's in Munich in 1923. (Is it 1923? I don't remember exactly) and unless you want to be pinned as a one man circus, you might need to dress in with the norm. Don't you think? That's just what I think. I mean, Ed has never been in the norm, but still. who knows.

Oh, and.... Roy's still sexy glompable hot.
-windxalchemist

I thought the matching clothes were meant to indicate that Al had become as powerful as Ed was and stepped into his shoes (or, in this case, his coat). In the series Al was always second to Ed. In the movie, when we first see Al it's easy to mistake him for Ed -- he's even in the same kind of desert that they were crossing in the first episode of the series. Then we see him do this amazing feat (w. the water) that surpasses what Ed could do in the same situation.

Al dedicated himself to searching for his bro during the movie, right? So he probably dressed like Ed to remind himself of this task he's set himself to do and for him to remember his brother forever.

Or he spent all the money he had buying stuff you would need to do that much alchemy..like books, chalk,..and whatever else.He probly didn't have a job either, because he spent his time learning all he could.He probly didn't have enough money to buy clothes, so he wore his brothers.

(And Wrath was with him too, so that was another mouth to feed.)

But I think pickledevil has a point too.

I didnt see the movie but I saw his outfit. He looks good in it, and the hair. But I almost thought he was Ed. Why is he wearing Eds clothes anyway? I mean, dont get me wrong, there can never be too many smexy red coats and hot black outfits teaming with beautiful blonde ponytails, but he kinda does look too much like Ed.

I saw the movie it was awesome.
Al does look alot like Ed in it.
And the movie never tells why he wears Eds' clothes.That's why this thread was made so fans can discuss their theories on WHY Al wears Eds' clothes in the movie.

(BTW, in case you want to know the movie comes out in theaters in Sept. and DVD Oct. But that's in the US.)

Al has lost all of his previous memories prior to the day that he attempted to transmute his mother with Ed; for all that he knows his brother could be dead, but yet he chooses to believe that Ed is still alive. I think that Al's choice to wear his brother's old outfit allows for him to feel closer to his older brother and continually reminds him of his task to find him and be reunited with him. His brother's clothing is really all that Al has left of Ed and I think that his decision to wear his outfit is a tribute to him. After being reunited with Ed, we see that Al has cut off his hair in the final scene. I found it rather creepy because he looked a lot like Heiderich. (Maybe Al is just suffering from an identity crisis.)
I think that Ed's change in outfit shows how much he is becoming like his father.

When I was just starting to watch FMA, and I saw pics of the movie...I swear I used to mistake Movie!Al with Ed ^^'


Well, I like the outfit thing. In particular, I love that scene where Al fights against the armors, Armstrong says "it's as if Edward is guiding him" while we see Al and behind him, the clone of Armor!Al ;_; that made me cry...


About Al's design, I don't dislike it but...I prefer Al with short hair. Besides, even though the movie has a beautiful animation, there are some scenes where Al looks really bad drawn...

It doesn't seem like Al, the colours are too loud and Al isn't really that kind of a person. And we are used to Ed wearing those stuff so everytime we see it it's Ed that pops in our head first. The only thing is that Al puts the hood up and *i THINK* he doesn't have the button-ish thing that secures the coat.

It would be more like al if he wore another softer and lighter colour. His hair's sort of brown and not the yellow like ed's so it doesn't really fit that well with the bright colours.

I think Al would look better if he had short hair and didn't wear something like Ed wore...

Neh, I fully adore Al with long hair, he's so kawaii!!! XD My GJ banner has changed because of him! *drool*

It's okay for me well I mean Al did forget everything he did for the past years... So, if I was Al, I'd like something to remind me of Ed as well!

[attachmentid=6927]I thought that was great, I mean Al did look pretty hot in those clothes.

I think Al looked cool wearing something like what Ed used to wear.

Al looked hot but I wish he'd wear his own clothes. He looks like he's obsessed with Ed or something.

And what if Hoho had the same outfit like Ed when he was his age, then Ed got it from him then Al from Ed.... o.o'
Anyway, I like it <3

well when i first saw Al in that out fit ... i thought it was Ed.

And how does it really matter what he's wearing or not.
Though he looked really cool and more like Ed.( actually i think ... he looked a bit better than him in that dress) !!!

I'm mostly indifferent about this subject, but it did confuse me at first. (before I had actually seen the movie, anyway)
That's why I sort of didn't like it. Otherwise, I don't really care that much.

I thought he would've looked better in some nice, neutral colours.
It's sort of creepy that he chose to wear Ed's old clothes, in my opinion. >>
I fortell mental issues in the near future.
But I like his hair long.