#fmala

[robertphilip]

Stop following me! You’re going to Pinako’s, right? I am too.

[kingofthewilderwest]

my sexual orientation is Riza Hawkeye

[royedfullflame]

I'll be honest here, my mental image of one and only Roy Mustang in a real human form is way more like:

(Young Gackt)

than like:

(actual Roy Mustang actor Dean Fujioka)

[littleslice]

Me, seeing Shou Tucker alive in the 5th Laboratory: Shouldn’t You Be Dead Already

[taylor-doodles]

Fullmetal Alchemist Live Action

Spoilers!!! (DUH)

Surprisingly, it was a well thought out movie. Considering it was a live action adaptation, I thought they did a great job with the characters and scenes! Sure, there was a lot missing, but Fullmetal Alchemist is a very large series, and the live action would most likely be 5+ hours if they tried to fit everything in.

I thought it followed the 2003 series more than the manga/brotherhood just because they didn’t include many characters introduced in the manga/brotherhood (Ling/Lan Fan/Scar/etc).

That being said, it in itself was its own take on FMA. Many memorable characters were left out (Granny/Fuhrer Bradley/Rosé/Hohenheim) however it was for the best. They also had Ed /almost/ use the philosophers stone which I thought went well because it really showed his desperation to get Al’s body back (I was definitely scared for a minute there). Their choices in characters were definitely interesting.

What I found interesting is that they definitely played into Winry’s character much more, as she stayed with Ed throughout the movie. They also made Shou Tucker one of the main antagonists, along with General Hakuro.

They kept true to the story though. Such as Ed and Al transmuting their mom (damn she died within the first minute), Truth, Hughes dying (dammit), Nina and Alexander (that was creepy as hell), the Pastor (ew), and Lab #5.

Also, the characters looked SO GREAT. Al’s armor was fantastic, Ed’s Automail actually looked like real Automail, the characters even had the same hair color (except for Winry, ???).

I guess I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see Ed and Al get their bodies back, but I thought it was a great kind of intro into the FMA universe. It had the fundamentals of FMA and overall, it was a great movie!

[bubbly-sugar]

PLEASE CAN SOMEONE GET A GIF OF THAT MOMENT IN THE FMA LIVE ACTION MOVIE AFTER GLUTTONY GETS HIS MOUTH PORTAL AND STARTS WADDLING AFTER THE MILITARY DUDES LIKE A POWER RANGERS VILLIAN PLEASE I NEED IT 

[humming-fly]

greed in his new live action outfit because it keeps making me laugh, happy Tits-out Tuesday everyone

[psycho-alchemist]

What did you think of fma live action? Is it worth watching?

Thank you for asking!! Honestly I’m touched that someone would care what I have to say

First of all, I want to shout out gomboc123 once again (and wrongnote earlier in the evening) for streaming the movie. They absolutely didn’t have to, and regardless of whether people liked or disliked it, it was very thoughtful, and it was fun to watch the movie with other people! 

I went into the movie not expecting much. I actually didn’t plan on watching it at all, because I didn’t want it to ruin my mental image of the series, if that makes sense? But because I expected so little--and because I had nothing better to do with my evening--I decided to watch it. If you expect the movie to hold up to Brotherhood’s standard, then no, I do not recommend watching it. If you don’t have much time to watch movies and you’d have to sacrifice some study/sleep time to watch it, then no, I do not recommend it. But if you have low expectations or just want to know what happens, then sure, go for it. Even then I wouldn’t highly recommend it to anyone, since I wasn’t the hugest fan of it.

I am glad I found the time/attention span to watch the movie, just because I wanted to be able to analyze it and compare it to BH. Obviously it wasn’t going to hold up to BH’s standard, but I think the movie was disappointing on a few different levels. Without providing any spoilers to the actual story, here are my main issues with the film. Note that these points do include descriptions of some of the characters.

I would never have wanted or expected the producers to fit 64 episodes into one movie. Ideally, 5 movies would have been awesome, but even 2 would have been maybe possibly doable. But the producers did this weird in-between thing, where they took tiny pieces of the plot from all over the series (as early as episode 1 and as late as episode 53) and tried to mush them together without actually making the story coherent.

The producers had to get rid of a lot of characters in order to make the story fit. That’s understandable, but I can’t say I understand why they threw out some characters. The Xing crew? Scar? Pride, Sloth, Wrath or Greed? Father and Hohenheim, the true main characters of the anime? Don’t know them, sorry.

Along the same vein, a couple characters got way too much screentime. My biggest grievance was with Tucker. He went from being a pretty minor villain to returning as a major villain and even getting his own melodramatic monologue. The screentime he got could have easily been redirected to one of the characters I listed above.

Riza and Alphonse really get the short stick in terms of character development. Alphonse is really submissive for some reason, and just passively goes along with the story. He doesn’t show much emotional or autonomy at all. He exists more as a little brother and not really as his own person. And don’t even get me started on his lack of emotion during the Nina scene.

Riza has always been more on the stoic side, but the film just makes her this :| person in the background who just watches everything Roy does. She lacks the depth that the anime gives her, and she’s largely turned into a damsel in distress, minus one scene near the end. Even one of her scenes defending Roy is reversed so Roy is saving her instead.

Remember how Brotherhood spent a LOT of screentime showing Roy’s struggle with giving into his broken anger or forgiving? Remember how long the characters spend trying to prevent Roy from turning into a vengeful monster? Well, fuck all that lol the producers didn’t give a shit

So those are my main vague criticisms. I would love to elaborate on them more, but I don’t want to spoil anything! All of that said, here are a few things I liked about the movie:

Watching it via stream was a fun experience, since I could discuss the movie with other people!

I was interested in watching the movie for the sole purpose of comparing it to Brotherhood, and I definitely think the movie renewed my appreciation for Arakawa-sensei’s storytelling.

Winry’s acting was really great. Her performance during the “Created Feelings” segment of the movie really sold the scene to me, when Edward/Alphonse’s performances felt lacking to me.

Hughes was fantastic, as always.

Hughes’ death scene had a really cool twist to it, and I think the way they shot and revealed the twist was really well-done. We were all screaming in the chat!

I hope this was helpful! This is all just my opinion, so if you want to watch the movie, then by all means please do! But if you’re short on time or don’t really like watching movies unless they’re really good, then hopefully this helps you decide. :)

[edwinrys]

[areyousanta]

School and life are attacking me from all angles but this screen cap had me SHOOK I had an urgent need to draw him.

 EDIT: I took the colors away because the more I looked at it, the more I hated it

[paybackraid]

You: I can't believe they couldn't even put Riza's bangs on the right side...!

Me: There she IS!! The queen!! Lookin fierce in a new hairstyle!! Everything she does!! Is perfect!!

[robertphilip]

Ah, that’s better. I’m touched by how nice people here are. Thanks so much.

[kingofthewilderwest]

As the trailers and images come for the next installments of the FMA:LA, I feel hype. It looks so good as it’s displayed!

I know it’s probably going to be the same caliber as the first live action. I have no blinders there. I’m not going in with the expectation it’ll be The End All adaptation. But that doesn’t make me less excited.

In many ways, it makes me more excited, because it means I can Just Have Fun with whatever Is.

Once upon a time, years ago, I argued there should be no FMA live action because I doubted it could be done justice and would only lead to disappointment. Why adapt something in mediocre quality, a mere shadow of the brilliant original?

But now, at this point, I’m just here to have fun. The first LA gave me fun, didn’t need to be perfect, wouldn’t have even needed to be halfway good for me, could have been the worst thing in the world; it gives me the opportunity to kick back with one of my all-time favorite franchises. Simply seeing a live action Hughes or Riza on screen for a few seconds is a contribution to the world of FMA and my imagination.

It’s just like the video games and movies and books and everything else, good and bad, are contributions: they provide me a richer landscape of constantly delving and exploring FMA without exhausting the media. I love franchises wherein I can always fish for more. I might rant how much I dislike the Sacred Star of Milos, but I would much rather have rich franchises that pound out the occasional dud or two! My life and fandom experience was still enriched for Milos being there. It gives me more facts, more discussion points, more angles by which to engage the world of Fullmetal Alchemist.

To be clear: I think franchises go bad when they wear the world out too thin and exhaust the story beyond what should be exhausted. There are start points and end points. If you force beyond the narrative end point, you’re breaking the heart and soul of the story. Some stories can only be small, whereas other franchises are a giant playbox wherein you can imagine many new things. FMA is somewhere in the middle, so a contribution of new materials is... a contribution!

Ergo now, seeing all these characters from the show and manga be portrayed by live action people... that’s an excitement and a positive in itself. No matter how good or bad these movies are, it’s an addition I celebrate and will keep celebrating.

[himurakenshin]

they killed doctor marcoh? hello???? what the hell is going on

[ear]

anyway sorry for discourse on main im gonna go eat some ass now, later yall

[eruriku]

Does father even appears in the Fma movie?

he doesn’t!