Alphonse Elric

Review by Animaven

“Fullmetal Alchemist” remains one of my favorite anime - potentially my all-time favorite. It’s hard to tell some days. But one thing is for certain - whether we’re talking “FMA” or “Brotherhood,” it’s a show I will always love, and will always watch. 

One of the reasons for “FMA’s”  success is Alphonse Elric. The brother with the missing body, stuck in an armored suit and undeniably the sweeter, gentler of the two, Al is the heart of the show. Without his presence, working hand-in-hand with Ed’s heroic drive to set things right, it’d be emptier and sadder. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from being a bad ass. 

And here he is!

Let’s have a look at him from the top down, shall we?

As you can tell from the chest piece, he’s a hefty boy. When he falls over he makes some serious noise. He took a header off my shelf in the middle of the night last night; scared both me and the cat. A cat’s terror is pointy. 

At a glance, he looks pretty spectacular. Very Alphonse-ish. His armor is accurate, the paint job really gives the feel of metal and he has all the trademark touches. Of course, a figure this substantial is going to have some substantial joints, too. You can see that on the right side of the picture, in the shoulder joint. It’s crazy visable. This is a point that will come back. 

From this angle, you can see the decorative bit coming off the back of his helmet. It’s rubber, very bendy. You can also see a bit more of the leather strap detail on his arms, and the way the plating on his shoulder sits. 

And from the other side. His alchemy symbol is pretty cool. 

You can see the length on the helmet flair here, as well as the loincloth thingy in the back. It’s segmented, presumably to make leg motion easier. You can also see how the stand plugs into the figure. Right now I’m using the elongated version of the stand to be able to photograph the back a little easier. We’ll look at the normal stand in a bit. 

This is detail inside the knee joints. I was pretty impressed with this. It looks neat. 

Al has teeny tiny feet. He can stand up without the base, but it’s difficult. 

Remember when I said there were gaping, ugly spots around the joints? This is probably the most visible.  

And there’s the stand. He tends to pop the stem off the base with his weight, but it’s a pretty easy fix. 

Oh, and he has one more detail of note…

Let’s do some poses, shall we?

He’s ready for action. These are the main hands - the ones he comes equipped with, anyway. 

He also comes with flat hands. 

Al is known for his martial arts skills.

He can kneel. Presumably, to do alchemy. This next pose was the one I was the most stoked to do, and as such, the hardest one to recreate. 

So he comes with this nifty little alchemy action thing. I wanted to make him do alchemy like nobody’s business, but man, making him not only reach the ground but put both of his hands on that thing was damn near impossible. He’s got too much bulk to make it easy. 

You can, though. Sort of. 

Incoming!

I think he needs to pee.

“Hey, sexy lady. You fiiiine.” 

He looks like he wants to serenade you. 

“Alas, poor Alphonse. I knew him, Mustang!”

“Holy crap, guys! Look what I found in my chest cavity!”

All-in-all? He’s a good, handsome figure. His joints need some work, and you really have to loosen up his joints before you can pose him well. They’re very still right out of the box. He’s a good figure, though; definitely a keeper. You can pick this handsome guy up from Angolz, who were kind enough to send him to us.