Forum - View topicIs This an Inconsistency with FMA and Transmutations?
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totalgeek
Posts: 307 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Not sure why this didn't occur to me sooner. In several episodes, Ed is able to spoiler[transmute his automail arm into a short sword, and in the episode "The Other Brothers Elric" he is able to transmute his arm into a metallic umbrella.]
Now, if Ed was able to spoiler[transmute his arm into other forms, why, when his arm started to fail in Laboratory 5, couldn't he transmute a repair for his arm? It seems like it would be a piece of cake to transmute an extra screw from a little bit of the arm's metal.] Further, why does he need Winry to spoiler[make a longer arm and leg for him as he grows? It would seem like he could just transmute them to be a little longer, so long as he gathered a little spare metal from the trash or something. After all, he has proven twice that he can transmute a new suit of armor for Al with junk metal.] |
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RoByte
Posts: 13 |
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In order for an alchemist to transmute something, he must understand the composition of both the source and the target. Ed would have to have intricate knowledge of auto-mail in order to transmute such a complicated piece of machinery.
Any time he transmuted his arm, he left it intact and merely extended the blade out from his fist. Near the end of the series spoiler[after his hand gets blown off, he creates a new hand out of some spare metal, but is unable to move the fingers. He merely created a piece of metal that looked like a hand and stuck it on the remnant of his arm. ] |
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totalgeek
Posts: 307 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Okay, that sounds logical. But in the first episode Al transmutes and fixes a broken radio. So, either this means that he understands the electronic workings of a radio, or he merely transmuted it back to its original form. If the latter is the case, then Ed SHOULD be able to transmute his arm back to its original working form. |
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msi435
 Posts: 465 Location: Behind you! |
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It's probably the first case; I’m sure transmutating a simple device such as a radio is much easier than trying to re-create a working human arm out of metal. I know FMA dose have some inconsistencies through out the series but, I wouldn't look too deeply into it, just accept it for what it is because you can never change it, everything is set in stone. |
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shadow_guyver
 Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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I agree with msi435. That radio was an old, simple device, unlike the hideously complex radios of today with their digital displays and other fancy doo-dads, and most certainly unlike auto-mail, which seems like it would have to have ludicrously complex inards if it can so perfectly imitate a real limb.
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Emerje
 Posts: 7396 Location: Maine |
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I don't think it had so much to do with being a simple radio, but because all of the parts are there he just needed to use alchemy to put them back together. It's not like he had to rebuild parts from scratch, he used the existing parts and the alchemy put them where they needed to go. With the screw in his automail he'd need the understanding to both make the correct screw and then manually put it in place.
Now, if you're really convinced that Al has the understanding to make a simple radio, I could probably support that as well. We do see Al make a scratch built loudspeaker for Ed without using alchemy so a simple radio wouldn't be too far removed from that, but I still say it's an example of the difference between creation and repair. Emerje |
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Aokage
 Posts: 160 Location: The Chaparral of California |
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I have not seen very far into the series, but from what I can gather, alchemy can only create when there is a literal equal exchange. When Al fixed the radio in that desert city, all of the pieces were there. He just restored it. When Ed summons a spear or makes a door, the size of everything remains the same. To take from his own arm to create something that was never there, seems to be one of the restrictions of alchemy. Since the screw is missing, there is nothing there. Now he could take something the same size as a screw and make it into a screw, but he couldn't just shape a random part of his arm, into a screw...at least from what I can gather.
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Mitsuhide A.
Posts: 200 Location: somewhere where you aren't |
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i seem to recall that spoiler[ during a fight between Ed and Scar (I believe it may have been their first fight), Scar recognizes that Ed is able to transmute by clapping because of his automail ] so with out the use of the use of his arm it would make sense that he wouldnt be able fix his arm. Then again, i also remember Ed doing a transmutation while his arm is broken. So i guess my memory is worthless for this question.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Ed can only "magi-transmute" when his arm is attached, but it doesn't have to be functional.
If his arm was smashed into pieces, and he had ALL the pieces, he might be able to reconstitute it (but he likely couldn't put it back on hims shoulder himself). In this case, a single piece was missing. He didn't know what, or where it was (even after the fact apparently), so there's no way he could fix it. |
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totalgeek
Posts: 307 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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That isn't true. Ed CAN transmute without his arm, but he requires use of a Transmutation Circle as evidenced in the episode where spoiler[Barry the Chopper removed his arm. Ed was able to scratch a circle into the chains that held him to the chair and he transmuted the chains into a spear.] The reason Ed can transmute without a circle is because he uses his arms to form a transmutation circle (according to Scar). Other alchemists have to have the circle somewhere on their bodies (Scar) or clothing (Mustang). But, it does make sense that since Ed wasn't sure what was wrong with his automail that he probably wouldn't have been able to transmute a repair. I still think he should be able to transmute his own extensions to the automail as he grows, though. |
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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This may seem like an unrealistic question, but are the transmutations nuclear or chemical reactions? The actual definition of "transmutation" is the changing of one element into another by means of nuclear decay, as I recall. Some alchemic reactions, however, appear to be more chemical in nature (formation of compounds). Anyone with a little more knowledge of nuclear physics have a theory on this?
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radicaledward
 Posts: 776 |
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I think the answer is safe to say that the transmutations are both chemical and nuclear. Chemical because of the fact that they use transmutation to reassemble parts, and nuclear because sometimes they are creating new elements spoiler[as shown when Ed creates the gold bars to deceive the army officer]
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kusanagi-sama
 Posts: 1723 Location: Wichita Falls, TX |
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One would also wonder if Transmutations obey the law of physics where matter can neither be created or destroyed.
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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I was under the impression that the meaning behind "matter is neither created nor destroyed" (1st Law of Thermodynamics, I think) is that the matter becomes an equivalent amount of energy, as dictated by E=mc^2. Theoretically, I suppose it's possible for energy to be converted into matter as well. After all, if your body has a wavelength, light has momentum, and subatomic particles are made up of two-dimensional "strings," I don't see why that wouldn't hold true.
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shadow_guyver
Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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I'd say Conservation of Matter/Energy is observed, under the rule of Equal Exchange.
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