Awesome / Fullmetal Alchemist

For being a show with some long Tear Jerker and Nightmare Fuel pages, Fullmetal Alchemist has a truckload of absolutely epic moments to balance things out.

For the first anime, see here.

"Get up, you novice! I'm about to show you how outclassed you really are! THIS FIGHT YOU LOSE!"

Edward Elric

• He uses Scar's destruction technique to defeat the Slicer Brothers.
  • And learns to cancel it during his second fight with him. Lampshaded in Brotherhood's second opening.
• Ed sorts out things with Al after Al has a Heroic BSoD by kicking his ass in a fight and then reminiscing about their childhood to snap him out of it.
• He figures out how Greed's "Ultimate Shield" works — then he breaks it.
• He manages to find a way out of Gluttony's stomach — which exists as an entire dimension unto itself.
  • In that episode of the dub, Ed says, "I'm sorry, but I have to use you" before he opens the Gate. Later on, Hohenheim says the same line before he uses the souls of Xerxes to create a transmutation circle that protects all of the souls in Amestris. His father's son indeed.
• He defeats Darius and Heinkel with old dynamite — by transmuting the ammonium out of the nitroglycerin to overwhelm their heightened senses.
• "I'm back and revving at full-throttle!" Then he transmutes a car into a more "badass" car to avoid detection by the military.
• He figures out how to render Pride powerless — turn out the lights — and blocks Pride's attacks after the lights come back on using Greed's Ultimate Shield technique on his automail.
• He verbally (and rather sadly) rips Envy apart by reading the Homunculus' motives perfectly; when Envy realizes the irony of his entire existence, he destroys his own Philosopher's Stone. Ed never has to lift a finger to do it, either — he merely talks Envy into suicide.
  "Now I see. You're jealous. You're jealous of humans, aren't you? We humans, according to you, we're supposed to be nothing when compared to Homunculi. And yet, when we're beaten down, when we stray and fall, we face the challenge again and again. Our loved ones are always there to pick us back up. And you're jealous. You envy us because of that."
• In Brotherhood, Ed manages to one-up the manga at the end of Episode 26. During the scene where he travels back from Gluttony's stomach, he sees Al's body as he gets dragged back through the Gate of Truth. Moments after it closes, he punches the Gate open and promises Al that he will come back soon. The manga has the same scene and the same lines, but it doesn't have Ed punching the Gate.
• When his and Al's alchemy stops working in Episode 28, he decides to turn the fight against the Homunculi around... by using Scar. He tells him about how the Ishvalan War started because of Envy, who disguised himself as a soldier and shot an Ishvalan child. He does this knowing full well that Scar's rage, plus his power, would be more than enough to defeat the Homunculi.
• When Pride taunts Ed that he's never faced a shorter opponent before, Ed quickly gets the upper hand and yells, "I KNOW EXACTLY HOW SHORT PEOPLE FIGHT!"
• In Episode 41, when Kimblee blows up the ground to escape from a fight, Ed falls through to a mine and wakes up impaled through the stomach with a metal pipe. He's saved the lives of two of Kimblee's Chimera soldiers, who go over to Ed to see if he's alive. Ed asks them to pull the pipe out so he can transmute his life force to stem the flow of blood and rejoin his undamaged organs. When they do, it hurts even to watch, but it's pretty damn amazing once you realize how much pain he was in.
  • To that end, although it ended up with him in the above situation, Ed finally getting to directly confront Kimblee now that Winry was no longer a hostage. Ed makes use of his much lighter norther automail to move in on Kimblee much faster than he can react, and actually manages to surprise him by rushing behind him and kicking the Philosopher's stone out of his hand. When Kimblee then tries to transmute, Ed slashes his palm before he could clap his hands together, destroying the circles on his hand. If you look at Kimblee's face during the encounter while Ed's engaging him, he's clearly shocked at how much he underestimated the Fullmetal Alchemist and was taken completely off guard by his speed and skill. Note that were this any other alchemist, this would have effectively neutralized them immediately. Too bad it turned out Kimblee had another Philosopher's Stone he was hiding, but it's worth noting that Ed was one of only two characters up to that point (the other one being Scar) to actually get the upper hand on Kimblee and best him in overall skill, and if Ed didn't abide so strictly to his Thou Shall Not Kill policy and went for a killing blow, he would have WON, Philosopher's Stone or not. Kimblee knows this too, and he even lampshades that he should have gone for the killing blow when he had the chance.
• He finishes Pride off with a nasty case of Your Head Asplode. This also doubles, strangely enough, as a Heartwarming Moment: Ed not only lets Fetus Pride live — despite how Pride had nearly hijacked Ed's body — but he places Pride on his jacket for comfort and warmth.
  • His method of taking out Pride should count, too: Ed uses his soul as a Philosopher's Stone to force his way into Pride's consciousness, then he suppresses the Homunculus' own Philosopher's Stone, which severs Pride's contact with the souls that support him. Basically, he beat Pride by possessing him, something that only the Homunculi could do.
• Ed engages Father/God in a fistfight — and wins.
  "Get up, you novice! I'm about to show you how outclassed you really are! THIS FIGHT YOU LOSE!"
  • He said something similar to Father Cornello ''way'' back at the story's beginning.
  • He pulls off the most awesome of Awesome Moments near the end: he pulls Alphonse out from the Gate, malnourished but alive and whole, with no new injuries to either himself or Al. Everyone in the world considered this impossible without either the help of a Philosopher's Stone. How did he do it? He offered up something that even the Truth considered an Equivalent Exchange for Human Transmutation: the ability to perform alchemy.
    • The entire conversation between the Truth and Ed during this moment has to count, too. In the anime, the nonchalant, fair, and sometimes cruel in-universe God even laughs in joy about Ed's offer.
    Truth: You've done it! That's the right answer! (Ed claps his hands) Good job! You beat me! (Ed begins the transmutation) Go ahead, take him home. (Truth begins to dissolve) The back door's right over there. Good bye, Edward Elric. (Truth disappears completely)
• The fact that, even after losing his leg, losing his brother, and seeing their failed attempt at human transmutation, 12-year-old Ed had enough strength left to try and bring Al's soul back. He was willing to give up his arm or his other leg as long as it meant getting his little brother back. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
• One of Ed's most awesome and heartbreaking moments happens when he manages to talk out Winry from killing Scar to avenge her murdered parents. Poor Winry has mentally splintered, is about to shoot a man dead and not just for the lulz... and Ed not only talks to her to help her pick up the rest of her heart, but gently makes her open her fingers so they won't hold the prospect killing weapon any longer, and then lets her cry into his chest:
  "You helped a woman give birth in Rush Valley, and saved her and her baby. You gave me an arm and leg so I could stand again. Your hands aren't meant for killing people. They're for helping them live."
• When Miles first reveals he's part Ishvalan, he accuses that Ed and Al's people slaughtered his. In turn, Ed bluntly points out it was Ishvalans who once attacked Resembool. That took guts to mention, knowing what happened in Ishaval without glossing his own personal experience with Ishvalans. Miles even commends him for bringing it up, saying he's frankly fed up with people pitying him because of his heritage. Double Standard does not apply.

Alphonse Elric

• A very minor one, but in the manga when Shou Tucker continues reaming Ed with his "Not So Different" Remark even after Ed nearly beats him to death, Al gives him a perfect Shut Up, Hannibal! counter by warning him that if he goes on it any longer, this time he'll be the one laying into him rather than Ed.
  "Mr. Tucker... if you keep talking, this time I'll shut you up."
• He manages to evade capture from the chimera for a time by using his form to his advantage, by running away from them, planning to tire them out.
• When he Took a Level in Badass by figuring out how to transmute without a circle.
• Al defends a BSOD'ing Hawkeye from Lust.
  "NO! I'm sick of watching people die, and I can't just sit back and take it anymore! I won't let anyone else get killed! Not when I can protect them!!"
• Trapping Pride using himself as bait. Also overlaps with Hohenheim's CMoA, see below.
• The entire Al vs. Kimblee and Pride battle is pure win.
• And in Chapter 102 he refused to get his body back, since that weak flesh and blood body cannot be used properly for combat, and he needs to be able to fight in the Final Battle. Yes, it's much more awesome and emotional than it seems.
• Al shines on more than one occasion, but his comeback against Kimblee and Pride is probably the one where he is most badass.
  • When Pride chopped off his arm and threw it back, he transmuted it into a sword! That kind of quick thinking is just sheer badass.
    • It gets better. Al, with his creative alchemy, had his sword swing blocked by Pride. So what does he do? Transmute the blade to flex around the shadow and connect the strike! More badass quick thinking on Al's part.
  • The anime's version of the scene premiered the fifth ending, "Ray of Light," playing in the background. It is even more awesome.
• In Chapter 107, Al first shielded May from Father's Wave-Motion Gun, critically damaging his blood seal. Then, when he saw that Edward was pinned with Father about to kill him, he asks Truth for a refund by transmuting his own soul for Ed's right arm. The last part also qualifies as a Tear Jerker.

Colonel Roy Mustang

• After Lust tears a water pipe and drenches Mustang, he reveals he isn't so useless with water. After all, his transmutation circle moves oxygen. And water has plenty of oxygen in it. And, more importantly... hydrogen. And Havoc has a lighter. See where I'm going with this? KABOOM!
  • Fire, or, rather, the process of combustion, is essentially the process of oxygen binding itself super quickly to just about everything it can reach. Water doesn't burn because it's H2O, or Oxygen that has already been joined to a pair of Hydrogen molecules, hence, already burned. So, with all that water in the room, Mustang simply slices the bonds between the oxygen and hydrogen in the water and has Havoc use his lighter to start the Combustion process and rejoin them. All at once.
  • Then Lust stabs both Havoc (paralyzing him) and Mustang and tears up Roy's gloves, leaving them both for dead. Later, with Hawkeye BSOD'ing and Al struggling before her, a sudden blast of flame blows Lust off her legs. We see Mustang, revealing that by using Havoc's lighter and his specialized circle that he carved into his own hand he was able to cauterize both their wounds. He then incinerates Lust, proclaiming that no matter how many times she regenerates he will kill her, and keeps blasting her over and over until her Philosopher's Stone runs out and she dies. With her finger-lance centimeters from his face.
    • The most awesome part of that fight, when Lust asks how he can still move with his wound: "I sealed it with fire!" BAD. ASS.
    • Plus the fact that he carved the transmutation circle for his flame alchemy into the back of his hand in order to be able to seal his and Havoc's wounds. To be able to flawlessly recreate such a complex design by carving it into his own hand, while nearly passing out from both pain and blood loss, is nothing short of incredible.
  • To add more: after medical assistance arrives, he insisted them to treat Havoc first. Then, later, he chides Hawkeye for her BSOD, stating that she is the last person he expected to behave like that.
  • What makes this scene so impressive is that it is the first major victory the good guys have that cannot be somehow twisted to help the villains. This is so apparent in the scene where Envy chews out Wrath for letting Roy live, it's clear Lust's death was like a slap to the face of the Homunculi, making them think "Oh shit, we're not invincible after all!"
• When he killed Maria Ross by burning her alive, everyone hated him. Then we found out that he actually saved her by faking her death and smuggling her to Xing.
  • Not only that, he practically made a whole, fail-safe scheme to get her off the hook on the fly. Knox wasn't in on the plan, but when he saw that the corpse actually wasn't Maria Ross he knew that Roy was up to something, and decided to support him. Roy never directly spoke to Knox until after the autopsy report was filed.
    • And it was solid enough to fool the villains so that they still thought Roy had "killed" their framed murderer, thus allowing Maria to escape from Amestris.
  • Maria Ross's parents and former partner aren't in on the plan. To them, Mustang is still the revenge-seeking bastard who burned to death an innocent woman. So, he also has to shoulder the role of villain, even though it's really the opposite.
• Mustang owns Ed and Scar by defeating the Cyclops Army with a single snap of his fingers. What they both couldn't manage in a couple of chapters, he did in one panel. Ed's expression of complete disbelief was absolutely priceless. Also, making Riza blush should be considered an impressive feat.
  • Even cooler in Brotherhood, where he incinerates the whole lot of them (while avoiding the heroes in a bird's eye view) instead of simply burning their legs off.
• Horribly, horribly subverted in Mustang's response to finally finding the person who killed his best friend. It seems like this is taking place when he proceeds to fuck Envy up fifty ways to Sunday, including, but not limited to: evaporating the fluid in his eyes twice, thanking him for turning into his monstrous true form because it makes him a bigger target, blasting his lower jaw off to shut him up (just like he promised), and torching him while he looked like Hughes... But the reader/viewer is NOT supposed to be cheering for Roy, but to be worried because he is about to become He Who Fights Monsters and completely lose what's left of his sanity and morals, which is seen in how Roy clearly goes more and more batshit as the fight progresses. Therefore the "Moment of Awesome" is not exactly for Roy, but for Ed and Riza: they tell him that yes, Envy has done everything in his powers to deserve the death Roy wants so badly to deal to him... but then they add that if he does it, he will betray the ideals that he, the dead Hughes and others have upheld for years. And then Envy kills himself anyway, which is actually a much more fitting end for him.

• Using a military line for calling his "girlfriend"... and directing the "girlfriends" in coordinating attack to locate the Homunculi.
• Episode 1 of Brotherhood... after being drenched by Isaac, Roy furiously blows up part of the regenerating ice wall later (with replacement gloves via Riza). "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY FLAMES NOW, YOU BASTARD?!"
• In Chapter 107, he proves that not even blindness holds him back when he returns to the fight and repeatedly incinerates Father, while Riza clings to his side and gives him directions.
  • Also: "Defense... like this? Hmm. This clapping thing is convenient."
• In the epilogue of the manga, Roy Mustang is suffering a Heroic BSoD due to his blindness making it impossible for him to continue on his intended path for re-shaping the country, at least until Dr. Marcoh shows up with a Philosopher's Stone to heal him. In the Brotherhood anime, however, this scene plays out a little differently: When Dr. Marcoh shows up, Mustang is memorizing Ishvalan cultural facts so he can serve as a diplomat and ambassador. That's right — Mustang is such a Determinator that he won't let blindness stop him from making the world a better place! Really, it suits him a lot better.

Riza Hawkeye

• Riza to a disguised Envy: "When we're alone, the Colonel always calls me Riza." Then: "Just kidding. Thanks for blowing your cover."
  • And goes Guns Akimbo to Envy (emptying two handguns and a rifle clip) while Envy can't do a shit about this. Envy can only turn the table by using his tentacle to pull Super Rug-Pull.
  • To clarify, she twigs that something's up, then acknowledges and subverts the UST between Roy and her to trick Envy. Awesome.
  • Snapping Mustang out of his Roaring Rampage of Revenge by telling Mustang that after she kills him then she will kill herself so that the knowledge of flame alchemy dies with her.
    • Not to mention that this is also a little scary, seeing as she almost outright states that she wouldn't hesitate to kill her superior officer/love interest if she thought it was necessary, even if she'd commit suicide afterwards.
    • Yes, but back when he made her his aide, he told her to kill him if he ever "strayed from the path"; so she's following his instructions.
• Earlier, during her "love conversation" with Mustang, Gluttony appears behind her. Her response? Calmly saying "I'm sorry. It seems that a nagging customer has come for me." then firing her rifle to stop Gluttony, with help only from Black Hayate and Fuery. Then later, she chides Mustang for nearly blowing his cover and endangering the whole mission, despite the fact that he saved her ass.
• In Episode 5, Mustang steps forward to confront Scar, unaware of the latter's extreme speed and face-crushing tendencies, and too focused on the man who had been about to murder a teenage boy to remember that his Flame Alchemy doesn't work very well in wet weather. Riza, living up to her perceptive namesake, sees it coming, catches up with the Colonel and slide-tackles him from behind to make him duck Scar's hand. And as if this wasn't enough, she comes up dual-wielding pistols, forcing Scar to back off.
• Her dog-disciplining method is this and Funny.
• Chapter 107. Revenge of the Meaningful Name, as Hawkeye acts as Mustang's eyes to roast Father.
• "Don't worry, we have eyes of a hawk watching over us."
• During the fight against the Führer-rejects, she is the only one who actually manages to take some of them out. This is made even more impressive by the fact that she's the only Badass Normal in the group.
• When Riza is confronted by none other than Selim aka Pride, she manages to keep at least a part of her Nerves of Steel and reminds him that it's not a good tactical move to kill her since she's his hostage. She was clearly scared out of her wits, and with very good reason since Pride has just told her about his true nature and has extended a web of Living Shadows around her, but she manages to get out of there pretty much unhurt aside of a cut on her cheek.
  • On a related note, Riza knows that Selim/Pride can easily be listening in at any time, so she uses a brilliantly subtle method to out him to Roy, spelling out a message using the names of their various acquaintances.

Other Characters

• May Chang's introduction in the manga. She first appears in Youswell, the town Ed saved. When the entrance of a mine- and the bridge to it- collapses , she uses her remote alkahestry to fix the damage!
• Even the panda gets a moment of awesome in Father's lair during the finale (specifically chapter 104)! May was injured and unconscious, and the next time she's seen she's waking up in a healing circle with Shao May hovering. Shao May healed her!
• In Brotherhood, when Scar learns the Homunculi were responsible for the Ishvalan war.
  Scar: Now tell me, for what purpose did you choose to slaughter all of my people? Depending on your answer, I'll send you join God. No! You don't deserve to stand by God alongside my fallen brothers! Your only solace from my wrath will be DAMNATION!
• Basque Grand; The Iron Blood Alchemist. Even though he lost against Scar, he put up a valiant fight before going down — indeed, part of the reason he lost was because he simply had no way of knowing what Scar could do. That, and if Word of God is anything to go by, he might have been dealing with a hangover at the time.
  • It's also worth noting that his alchemy involves making functioning cannons. In order to do this. he would have to make all the moving parts, chemicals, and cannonballs required for the endeavor. Most alchemist make only one element/compound; Basque Grand made several. Really, the Elric brothers' radio repairs may, in fact, be Mundane Utility.
• Marcoh revealing to Envy that since he knows how to make Philosopher's Stones, he knows how to destroy them. Since Homunculi are created from Philosopher's Stones, Envy is in trouble, to say the least. And by "in trouble", we mean "Marcoh blew his giant monster body apart and reduced him to a tiny, cowering tadpole-thing, with one transmutation." Doubly awesome given that Marcoh is possibly the least threatening character in the story (Besides Yoki. BUT SEE BELOW).
  • In Chapter 8 of the manga, Marcoh, long before his fight with Envy, gets to show his chops (which unfortunately was cut from Brotherhood) when he is confronted by Lust. Lust skewers Marcoh with her Ultimate Lance in order to interrogate him about the whereabouts of his research notes. However, Marcoh uses the blood from his own wound to draw a transmutation circle and skewer Lust herself with a pillar with the intent to kill her. Of course, being a Homunculus, she quickly recovers, but Marcoh was unaware of that fact and he was still the first person in the series to score a kill shot against one of the Homunculus. In the end, Marcoh only gives up his information when Lust threatens to murder a young girl who came to visit him.
• Dr. Knox shows us that doctors should not be messed with. When May Chang and Lan Fan wake up in the same room, their first response to seeing one another is to try to kill one another. Even Al can't stop them. Right before the situation can completely escalate, the doctor appears, whacking them both on the head and demanding that they stay in their beds like good patients. When they refuse, the doctor shouts them down, then reminds them that, as a doctor, he has the knowledge and means to SERIOUSLY mess them up. Nevertheless, they complied. Also a Funny Moment.
  • Brotherhood English dub:
  "What the hell do you two think you're doing!?!?"
• Two different Awesome Moments one right after another: Ling Yao gets his fighting King Bradley in a sword fight while holding Lan Fan after Bradley has grievously injured her. While escaping, Lan Fan tries to kill herself so that she can no longer be a burden to Ling, while Ling tries to stop her. Bradley, following her trail of blood, sees her arm attached to a dog — Lan Fan had cut her arm off, and escaped into a sewer.
  • "A king is there for his people. Without people, there's no King!" Then "Yes, a king cannot exist without people. But people without a king would be lost as well".
  • Ling's sense of honor and duty really shines at one point in the siege at Central HQ. After getting a Heroic BSoD over his inability to heal his allies with his Philosopher's Stone, a dying Buccaneer asks him to defend the gate against the Central troops, stressing that with their dwindling ammunition, Ling is the only one who can do it. Ling immediately asks Greed to lend him his powers –- notable not just for Greed's casual permission, but that Ling wanted to repay his allies himself rather than ask someone else to do the work. And then there's this exchange:

    Buccaneer: Will he [Greed] help?

    Ling: Yes. I promise. (He begins armoring up and advances on the Central troops) And the people of Xing always keep their promises.

    • The fight with the Central troops is the most awesome thing ever. In the manga, he tears through a truck with his bare hands; in the anime, he fights his way down the tunnel leading to the gate, which culminates in the lift exploding and falling down the tunnel, destroying it.
  • Even better is Lan Fan's fight with Envy, totally cut from the anime. Envy tries their very best to attack Lan Fan, who manages to evade and counterattack. They can't even lay a finger on her as she totally outclasses him. Later, Ling shows up and they fight until dusk. The only thing that stops the fight after consecutive hours is Pride echoing through the streets for the homunculus to stop. Even better, this occupies Lust's allies as Mustang takes her out.
  • While Ed and Ling are trapped in Gluttony's stomach, Ling refuting Ed's worry that he might be Envy in disguise, who had also been pulled in with them, and then deliberately pressing Ed's Berserk Button (i.e. mocking his height) to make sure he isn't Envy in disguise, qualifies as an Awesome Moment as well as a Funny Moment. Ling isn't afraid of being assaulted by Ed!
    Ed: How do I know you're not Envy in disguise?
    Ling: Oh, come on. Do you want me to recite the Hotel Service Menu from top to bottom?
    Ed: Alright, you're Ling.
    Ling: And what about you? How do I know you're not Envy, you little runt?
    Ed: (thoroughly pissed) WHO YOU CALLING A LITTLE RUNT, YOU JEEEEEEEEEERK?!?
    Ling: (holding off Ed's attacks) Okay, it's really you.
• Ling Yao finishing the fight against Gluttony by shoving a grenade into his mouth, blowing it up, then quickly tying him up while he's regenerating. All in less than five pages. He also gets a minor CMoA when you see him actually lift Gluttony into Hawkeye's car.
• Another one is when he forces Greed to regain his memories after Bido dies at his hand.
• Ling gets to kick Gluttony's ass again later on in the story: he convinces Greed that he can fight Gluttony in the dark better than he can, regains control of his body as Gluttony lunges at him from behind... and then grabs the thing by the back of its head and slams it into the ground effortlessly.
• Lan Fan gets another one when she reveals that she has fulfilled her promise to get an automail arm, and be back in fighting condition in six months, in time to help the rebellion by stopping Gluttony just as he was about to go into "devour everything" mode.
• Wrath's utter pwnage of Greed, giving him no time to shield himself and repeatedly calling him pathetic, ultimately paralyzing Greed by skewering him with his swords.
  • Of course, Greed got his own in round two. He didn't win, but he didn't lose either, since he'd clearly learned from the previous encounter.
  • To add to that, during the fight Greed has to cope with memories rushing into his head (an experience he describes as "clawing the inside of his skull" and is shown to be extremely painful) and possibly Ling fighting him for control. So in other words, Greed had the flu and still managed to fight Wrath to a draw.
• Father's would be when he stamps his foot, and Ed and Al can no longer perform Alchemy until Father wishes it. The idea that the Big Bad is so powerful that even the best alchemist from Amestris are helpless against him is chilling.
  • That scene did double duty. The fact that Father managed to stop the Elric brothers' alchemy was frighteningly awesome... the fact that Scar and May Chang shocked everyone, Big Bad included, by still being able to transmute was a more traditional variant of awesome.
    • Oh, it wasn't just the Elric Brothers. It's revealed later that he shut off the Alchemy of EVERY SINGLE ALCHEMIST IN THE VICINITY, IF NOT ALL OF AMESTRIS.
    • Then Scar going for the kill for Father. Father's response: "A destruction alchemy... interesting." Without. Moving. A single. muscle. Scar's realization of his failure, and either Father's counterattack or his own failing alchemy backfiring on him are pure awesome.
• Pride eating Gluttony was a Kick the Dog moment and terrifying, sure. But it also went to show how badass and deadly he is, as did his epic fight with Kimblee against Al.
  • He also gets another small one when trapped with Al. While trapped, he spends the time tapping on Alphonse's helmet with a stick. The audience, and Al, thinks it's because he's bored and just playing with it. But when the chimera Heinkel speaks with Al, he notices that Pride is not just tapping randomly, he's transmitting an SOS through Morse Code. Cue both Heinkel and Al having an Oh, Crap! reaction right before Kimblee blows up the dome, freeing Pride and nearly killing Heinkel.
• In a flashback, after being ordered by his ridiculously vile superior to execute an Ishvalan peace envoy, Basque Grand informs him that many of the highest-ranking soldiers who died in the Ishvalan genocide were killed, not by Ishvalans, but by their own disgusted soldiers. Grand then walks up to his superior and does exactly that.
  • After being told that, as an officer, he should stay in the back, Grand tells his subordinate that he belongs on the front line, and alchemically slaughters the enemy.
    Basque: I AM BASQUE GRAND, THE IRON BLOOD ALCHEMIST! IRON AND BLOOD! MIGHT AND MANPOWER! IF I DON'T LEAD THE ATTACK, WHO WILL?!
  • Brotherhood adds a moment. In the manga, Grand dies off-screen at Scar's hands. In Brotherhood the battle is shown, and while it's short, it's clear that the Brigadier-General is still at his best. Despite being surprised by Scar he has the upper hand for much of the fight, and actually manages to trap him in a giant steel box, losing only because he is unaware of the latter's ability to destroy by touch. It's a very nice moment for fans of Grand in particular, who get to see that he didn't go out like a chump.
• Olivier acting as The Mole in a meeting with the treacherous General Raven. You can tell that Olivier, who believes that the strength of the army lies in each individual soldier, is getting extremely angry as Raven rants on about mindless Super Soldiers, so once she gets the information she needs out of him, she stabs him, cuts him down and shoves him into wet cement. Ridiculously cool. And she didn't even bother to deny it when confronted by Bradley.
  • Her introduction alone is Moment of Awesome. She makes Ed squirm in fear while taunting him about his height.
  • Then when Sloth appears, the scene turned into Moment of Awesome for the whole Briggs brigade. They systematically tried to eliminate him. When Ed reveals that "Guns and fire won't do anything on him!" She retorts,
    "If that the case, then I'll give him something more painful than fire."
    "I'll show you the Briggs Way!"
    "You can hibernate there until spring, you big lummox."
  • She continues her habit of killing members of High Command after one of the Generals holds her at gunpoint. She stabs his arm, causing him to drop his gun, and then in one smooth motion, she picks up the gun and points it at a second General. She then points out that their cause is not noble, nor is she like Mustang — and shoots him in the head.
    • She then takes the first General as a hostage, holding him at both gunpoint and sword point and orders his subordinates to call off the men defending Central. When they don't comply, she stabs his foot. After all that, the General then pulls off his own moment of awesome, telling his men not to comply with General Armstrong's orders. While General Olivier Mira Armstrong holds him with both a sword and a gun. That takes guts.
      Close the north, south, east, and west gates of the Central Command Center! Do not let a single one of Briggs or Mustang's soldiers inside!"
  • And when they revealed that they can hold her as hostage, she said, "You don't understand, do you? Our motto is 'survival of the fittest'. If I had to die here, then it's just proves that I didn't have what it takes to survive." This is what happens when you mix Social Darwinist, Determinator, and Mama Bear.
  • Then she manages to convince the Central soldiers to work with her against the Cyclops Army. Though it's granted that Central Circle is Bad Boss in general....
    • Then, after all the crap they gave to him, Sloth finally focusing his attack toward Armstrong siblings. Alex realizes this, and telling the soldiers... "Stay back. We are the targets". And what they do? These soldiers, who are less than three chapters before are ready to kill Olivier and Alex without a single thought, instead pull a You Shall Not Pass! to Sloth. The Armstrong siblings are so awesome, their awesomeness turns the opposition.
  • The Briggs soldiers, taking out the head command, when the commander is about to commanding the civilian area bombardment. And then...
  Izumi: When people ask, I say "I'm a housewife!". It does make sense. But today, I've shed that particular disguise. I AM AN ALCHEMIST!!
  • Olivier arriving on an elevator. IN A TANK.
• Major Armstrong and Sig Curtis instantly bonding and tag teaming on Sloth. A manlier scene has not been seen in anime since Fist of the North Star.

  Major Armstrong: COURAGE RAISED A HUNDREDFOLD! MUSCLES RAISED A THOUSANDFOLD!!!

  • Even better they were in perfect synch without communicating at all.
• May manages to clock the utterly surprised Elric brothers in tandem and rescue Scar from military police capture with a powerful combination of long-range alkahestry and wicked martial art skills.
  • Bonus points for drawing a perfect transmutation circle on the ground with her foot while highly limited on time. May clearly knows exactly what she's doing here.
• The four chimera introduced in the Mt. Briggs arc have already gotten some even though they were recently introduced, and are minor characters:
  • Zampano and Jerso manage to defeat Scar through careful study of his observed tactics. Later on, Zampano tricks Envy into a trap by pretending to betray the Elrics. Both of them then help Scar and May fight him.
  • After Pride has captured Al for a second time its revealed that Al doesn't have the Philosopher's Stone... but Marcoh does, and he's used it to heal Heinkel. Pride then notices that the wind has changed and tries to warn Kimblee, but it's too late as Heinkel chomps down on Kimblee's neck.
  • Before that, Heinkel convinced Al to use a Philosopher's Stone to fight Kimblee and Pride.
  • Heck, Heinkel having noticed and hung onto Kimblee's Philosopher's Stone in the first place is a minor moment of awesome in itself, considering how important the thing ended up being later.
• Hohenheim: "Don't EVER insult my son." Seriously, don't insult his son.
  • Hohenheim destroys Father's container by letting Father absorb some souls from him. How did that destroy Father's container? Hohenheim had gotten to know each and every person within his body. All 536,329 of them. Whereas Father saw the Philosopher's Stone only as a bundle of energy, Hohenheim like Al saw that the Philosopher's Stone contained people. Who were really pissed off at Father for ripping their souls out of their body and stuffing them in Hohenheim for over 400 years. The souls then rip Father apart from the inside. Too bad Father no longer needed his container.
  • Chapter 105, holy goddamn hell. HE CAUGHT A GENERATED SUN. A FUCKING SUN. WITH HIS HANDS.
    • This is a guy who'd earlier admitted to not being much of a fighter. Hohenheim took about ten levels in badass right there.
  • What about the fact that Hohenheim had spent the past couple hundred years figuring out a way to stop Father's plans? It's one of the most subtle and slow-burning moments of awesome ever. And the way he does it? By using Father's plan against him. As a solar eclipse covers Amestris, Hohenheim reveals that he created an Alkahestric reversal circle using the calculated shadow of the moon placed on top of the nationwide alchemical transmutation circle!
• Chapter 89 is pretty much nothing but awesome. In short order:
  • Mustang and his crew (that's FIVE people) begin a guerrilla war against the entire Central Army. After they are surrounded, the opposing Captain tells his men to kill everyone but Mustang (including the captive Mrs. Bradley), and just when it looks like the end, the soldiers are shot by Mustang's old platoon from Ishval who had already sent King Bradley into a river.
  • Mustang and crew do all this without killing anyone. SIXTY injuries, NO fatalities.
  • After a large number of troops are sent to take down Mustang's forces, and the High Command of Central declares that they will defeat Mustang even if they have to use their secret weapons, Olivier tells him "Right on cue. You're nothing but bait for the bears of Mount Briggs. I wonder if your precious dolls will be able to stand up to them?" The bears of Mount Briggs then proceed to attack. They had hidden in the Armstrong mansion while it was being renovated. Magnificent.
  • Roy foreshadowed this in Chapter 85: "'Large' doesn't even begin to describe this mansion. In fact... I think you could fit a company... maybe even a full battalion here."
  • Riza's friend Rebecca shows up with new weapons, an armored ice cream truck, and Maria Ross. Mustang's mysterious benefactor calls him, saying "Serving the community for 80 years, this is Havoc Sundries. From underpants to armored cars, we're your one-stop shop for anything and everything! AND we deliver!" He's even grown a beard.
    • Also, the look on Roy's face is absolutely priceless.
    • "Second Lieutenant Maria Ross, returning to active duty without permission, sir!"
• Kimblee gets a crowning moment of psycho-awesome when, as he's being escorted out of prison, he thanks the warden for his "kindness" with a friendly smile and a handshake... transmuting the man's watch into a bomb, resulting in general terror and panic before everyone realizes it's a fake. "Just a toy, my dear warden. A gift for your children."
  • He got another one, during the first part of his fight with Al:
  Al: Why are there only two options? "Save yourself and abandon everyone else" [or] "Give up on returning to normal and save the world." Why are those the only two options? Why can't I choose "Save the world and get our original bodies back"?
  Kimblee: I see. Experiment thoroughly enough, and you may discover new laws [besides Equivalent Exchange] that the world must then abide by. That would mean there is a fourth option: "You lose your chance to return to normal, and fail to save the world."
  • And his fight with Ed, who knows that destroying Kimblee's transmutation circles is pointless while Kimblee still has his Philosopher's Stone. So Ed disarms him of the stone, cuts Kimblee's circles, and declares victory. Kimblee simply laughs and calls Ed naive, saying something to the effect of "It never even occurred to you... that I might have another Philosopher's Stone, did it?" And he proceeds to bomb Ed, nearly killing him.
  • And then, just when we think he's died in an anticlimactic, but fitting way, he's back for one more EPIC gloat in Chapter 106. Helping Ed pwn Pride? T'was awesome.
    • How about the fact that he survived out of all the souls in Pride because, as he put it, "Howls of anguish...are like lullabies to my ears!" Along with that, the last we see of him is him waving goodbye, holding his hat in the air, and in a perfectly white suit. That has got to be one smooth criminal.
    • It's also worth bearing in mind that he was perfectly willing to let Pride kill Ed because he simply wanted to see how Humans v. Homunculi would legitimately play out. What pissed him off was that Pride cheated. The man may be an acknowledged and completely self-aware psychopath, but he's no hypocrite...
      Pride: Why are you interfering, Kimblee?!
      Kimblee: Eh, well, if you had just stuck to your convictions and fought, I wouldn't have done anything. But in the same breath that you boasted of your "Pride as a Homunculus," you ran screaming to steal the flesh of one of the humans you look on as inferior to escape your predicament. You are...hideous.
  • Made even stronger in the French translation where "hideous" was replaced by "unworthy".
• Sloth reveals that he is in fact the fastest of the Homunculi when he has to exert himself, attacking both Armstrong siblings, hitting them constantly before they have time to react. Also hilarious when the Armstrong siblings are shocked and pointing in different directions.
• When it looks like Sloth has killed Olivier, it's revealed that Alex, using nothing but pure strength, is holding back Sloth, and then punches the ground to collapse the floor to save his sister. Bear in mind that Sloth was barely perturbed by a tank crashing into him.
  • "Some minor broken bones" was pretty awesome, too.
  • And when Alex finally trashes Sloth in one strike, using his alchemy. Harming a Gentle Giant's older sister (even an ungrateful, foul-mouthed, much-more badass than he sister) is really a bad, bad, bad idea.
  • Dear God, Chapter 95. When Sloth finally manages to pull the spike out of his mouth, he delivers Alex another beatdown, ending in Alex's arm being pulled out of its socket. Alex's response is to let Sloth beat him up even more, ultimately knocking his arm back into place, then punches Sloth full of holes and then drives a spike into each hole!
    • Best part of that moment? Alex's line immediately after doing it (at least in Brotherhood): "This artistic muscular and artistic alchemic collaboration..." And at this point we expect him to say the ever famous "Has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" But no, he instead follows it up with: "...is excellent and elegant!" In other words, that technique hadn't been passed down the Armstrong line for generations, Alex was just badass enough to trash Sloth with his own power, skill, and ingenuity. Truly awesome.
    • Lampshaded by Olivier. "Forget him! My brother is trained well enough to survive a few of those lovetaps!"
  • A minor one, during Chapter 57.
    Alex: The military's methods were unconscionable, of that I was certain. But I deserted. I turned my back on on my soldiers. I should have remained on the battlefield and fought this wrong!! Ever since I fled from the Ishvalan front, Not a day has gone by that I felt ashamed of straying from my values and giving up. And now that I am on the battlefield once again. How can I put my tail between my legs and flee!?
    • Which he brings up again in Chapter 96.
• Yoki gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he rams a car into Pride. In his own words: "I'm tired of you guys hogging all the cool parts! Let me be in the spotlight for once, dammit!". Keep in mind that in the matter of under 10 seconds, he blocks an attack on Marcoh, rams a Cosmic Horror and liberates Al from it, and brings in an escape vehicle to get away from said Cosmic Horror and towards the bigger battle.
  "I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING! I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!"
  • He also stopped Marcoh from blindly running to Alphonse's aid. Sometimes being a coward means you know the difference between "being brave" and "being reckless."
• "It's not like they have tanks."
• Lan Fan, who got an automail implant, a painful process which normally takes three years to recover, and takes Determinator Edward Elric a full year to recover, comes back in action only in six months. "If this shrimp can do it one year, I'll do it in six months."
• A bunch of bit characters get a moment of sneaky badass in Chapter 94 when they throw off the Central military bosses by claiming to be hostages, while in reality, they're gleefully working with Mustang's crew to broadcast 'the most amazing scoop ever'.
  "NO ONE CAN SILENCE THE MASS MEDIA!"
  • What, blowing up Bradley's train doesn't count?
  • Even better in Brotherhood (Which seems to be a common trend), where you can see one of them laughing his head off in the background the whole time and the look on the Central commander's face after one of them pretends to have been shot to avoid a request to talk to Mustang. Absolutely priceless, and if that wasn't enough, followed up quickly by a Heartwarming Moment and "It's not like they have tanks."
• The end of the Sloth fight gives us two moments:
  • Izumi Curtis just shows up and throws Sloth like it's the easiest thing in the world, sending him to her husband.
    • Best part of all? Even Olivier is shocked; the expression on her face is priceless.
  • Sig shows off how his muscles are not just for show, and teams up with Alex to finally kill Sloth by throwing him into a spike that impales him.
• So, Riza and Roy sit down at a table together during lunch — keep in mind that Riza is now Wrath's bodyguard as a way of keeping Roy's crew away from him — and have an innocent conversation about old friends and stuff like that. Later on, Roy goes into a bathroom stall, writes the first letter in their name down, and gets this message: SELIM BRADLEY IS HOMUNCULUS.
• The Gold-Toothed Doctor is a repugnant bastard, but he does prove a worthy minion of Father. When Scar, Edward, Roy, and Riza corner him beneath Central, the doctor remains completely calm and distracts them with some well placed mooks while he activates the transmutation circle that absorbs the human sacrifices, kicking off the next phase of Father's plan. Then his minions subdue Roy and Riza, and he nearly forces the former to commit human transmutation.
• The return of King Bradley. All of it. He makes his first appearance announcing that he's going to stop the coup, he then attacks Briggs head on telling them that "What need is there for a king to enter his OWN castle through the back door?", then destroys the tank by himself in a Curb-Stomp Battle. He then defeats Buccaneer and demands that Falman open the door.
  • With a sword. He destroyed the tank with just his sword.
    • He did finish the tank off with a hand grenade.
    • If anything, Brotherhood makes it EVEN MORE BADASS, as he slices a Tank shell in half, cuts through an entire brigade to get to the Tank, which is backing up the passage to Central Command, while firing at him. Sweet lord.
  • Falman refuses Bradley's order, raises his gun and gets ready for Bradley to chop him to pieces. Falman has balls.
    • Despite crying like a little girl. But it's not like we can blame him.
    • "Don't cry like a little girl when acting like a man!!"
  • Buccaneer gets one immediately after this by standing up and announcing that he can still fight even with his automail arm destroyed and having suffered numerous slash wounds.
  • And then, as Bradley scoffs at their futile effort to resist, asking if that was what humans called "bravery in the face of death." The one who answers his question isn't Buccaneer or Falman, but Greed/Ling, setting up for a hell of a rematch.
  • King Bradley's final match as well as the events before it. Despite being half dead and missing his Ultimate Eye, one of the chimeras stated that even with all of them combined, they would lose. Even Scar himself, using both his alchemic powers only managed to barely win. Even in his dying moments, he still proves to be awesome.
• Buccaneer's abs are stronger than a tank! King Bradley stabs Buccaneer, but he can't pull out his sword, forcing him to fight with combat knives.
  • Which is a CMoA for Bradley, too. "Dear me. I guess I'm not quite as proficient with these..."
  • The Hulu episode summaries are pretty good here.
  [Bradley's] first opponent is an armored tank. His second foe is even tougher
  Bradley unleashes death on those who dare engage him
• After finding out the truth about what High Command planned, the Central Soldiers who fought with Olivier become so disgusted they rip off the Amestris Insignia and drop them at the Brigadier General.
• Let's not forget Fu, who in addition to taking out all the guards so quickly you can't even see him also manages to avoid a point blank stab from Bradley and chip one of his combat knives. It's obvious he's not happy to see the man who cut off his granddaughter's arm.
• Izumi is full of this.
  • Survives six months in Briggs, beat the crap of soldiers there (not just any soldiers, they're Briggs Bears, for god's sake) and stealing their supplies, and, when she found that her teacher is not an alchemist teacher, beating the ever-loving crap out of him, despite his martial artist status.
  • Storming Devil's Nest, filled with Chimeras, just to chew out her late-came-to-home students.
    • She makes her entrance dragging the unconscious body of a man she probably beat up outside, and ignores the dozen or so Chimeras and one Homunculus who just kidnapped her student, and instead throws the unconscious man at her aforementioned student.
    Izumi: HOW THE HELL COULD YOU LET YOURSELF GET KIDNAPPED?!
    Al: I-I'm sorry!
  • Lampshaded with Ed:
    Bradley: I find this teacher of yours interesting. Shall I enlist her as a State Alchemist?
    Ed: Nah, that's a bad idea. Unless you're ready to lose a whole army.
    • Which, later, he tries. He sends the army to start looking for her somewhere around chapter 74, and they never find her. In Chapter 93, almost 20 chapters later, she turns up at Briggs of her own will, adding another moment to the list.
    Soldier: Point P, respond! What the hell are you fighting?!
    Izumi: A housewife!
  • The Brotherhood anime adds a moment in which Izumi uses Ed's trick against Greed to soften the latter's armor before throwing him into the wall.
• Sig even gets a small and admittedly Funny Moment to himself. Bradley shows up with Armstrong and tries to ask where Izumi is, trying to recruit her, and Sig just stands there and lists off the butcher shop's menu, refusing to let the military find his wife.
• Fu orders Greed to armor up to prevent Ling from moving, then announces his resignation and tries to commit a kamikaze attack on Bradley, only for Bradley to instead cut the fuses off the dynamite, and take Fu out. Buccaneer then takes out Bradley's sword and impales Bradley by going through Fu as Bradley can't see past Fu's body. Buccaneer than tells Fu that they'll take Bradley to Hell together.
  • But Bradley survives, though. And Lan Fan and Ling don't take it well. To give you the details, Ling is so outraged that he manages to override Greed's mind, uses Greed's diamond-hardened fist to break through Bradley's sword, and destroys King Bradley's Ultimate Eye.
    • And he one ups it the next chapter by finally giving us the return of Greed's Ultimate Shield. Cue Unstoppable Rage fueled asskicking.
    • And for those of you who liked original Greed:
    Greed: Anyone who has a family, a lover, or just doesn't want to get hurt, get outta here now. Women too! I prefer not to hit girls!
    • T-100, you can eat your gun. Now.
    • "Hey, daddio, hand the center of the world over, wouldja?"
• Roy's response after Riza's throat being sliced, and being toyed with by that mad doctor: "I understand, lieutenant. I WON'T do a human transmutation."
  • The Chimeras are back!!
  • With May Chang as well!!
    • And she chooses the lives of an "ally" over the philosopher stone! Thank you very much, now, Riza is saved!!
  • What about Riza herself? "I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."
  • And Bradley is back too! And Se...lim... bloody hell, that's not good at all.
    • Given that Pride and Wrath are not only the last Homunculi, but the strongest out of the seven, and that saying they're pretty much pissed off at that point is an understatement, I'd bet it is quite troublesome, yes.
    • "Now, you all have seen the state I'm in. Who shall win everlasting fame as the one who defeated me? The Chimeras? The foreigner? Mustang's loyal dog? Or perhaps... you all like a shot at immortality?"
    • Not to mention that Bradley is bleeding and blind in one eye and not even in his prime as a fighter, but as one of the pretty Badass Chimera's said, that even with Bradley walking around already beaten up he's terrified of fighting him.
    • "A battle to the death between two nameless warriors... I like it."
    • Alphonse is given the opportunity to take his original body back, but refuses, because that body, weakened and underused, would be useless in the final battle.
• Chapter 103. Scar and Wrath are fighting when Wrath finally manages to trip up Scar and put him on the ground. He stabs Scar's right arm and is about to impale him with his other sword...when the ground erupts in spikes, sending Wrath flying. He looks at Scar with a look of complete surprise on his face, as Scar stands up and reveals that while his right arm has the power of deconstruction, his left has the power of reconstruction. Wrath's face pretty much says it all.
  • This has the benefit of being both pretty darn awesome in its own right, but also demonstrating just how much Character Development Scar has gone through.
• From Father: "I believe this is yours."
• Maes Hughes figures out what's going on ages before anyone else. As in, Chapter 15 early. Too bad he gets Killed Off for Real for his trouble.
• Father eats the countries of Xerxes and Amestris, then finishes with the God/Eldritch Abomination the Truth. Keep in mind that Father started out a wisp of black gas inside a flask, which would cause his death if broken.
  • Read that again. For several minutes, Father had won. He had accomplished all of his goals. Father had bested Hohenheim in one on one fight and captured him. He bested 3 alchemists (Izumi and Elric brothers) and captured them. The only reason his plan failed was because the victory was undone later.
• Chapter 105 is full of this. It might as well be called a Crowning Chapter of Awesome.
  • Hohenheim (with May helping to protect the rest) is able to return everyone in Amestris their souls back.
    • What makes this even more amazing is the way he does this. He hid some of the souls that composed the Philosopher's Stone within him in strategic points of the Earth's soil that he knew would have the effect of releasing the Amestrians' souls from within Father's body. And then he completed the transmutation circle with the shadow cast on Earth by the Moon during the solar eclipse. That would be the very same eclipse that was central to Father's own plan. And he'd been planning this for years. It's not only a HUGE and ridiculously risky plan, it might be the mother of all Crowning Moments Of Awesome. EVER.
    Father: Even now you still think you can stop me. YOU'RE A FOOL, HOHENHEIM!
    Hohenheim: That's the very reason I came back. IT'S TIME YOU REMEMBERED YOUR PLACE, DWARF IN THE FLASK!
    • Considering that it was Xerxian souls who helped Hohenheim to rescue Amestris, it serves as one of the best moments when The Dog Bites Back!
    • He later manages to deflect a blast with the power of a sun when Scar activates the Alkahestry circle.
  • Scar is able to finally defeat King Bradley by removing his arms, but Bradley is able to weaken Scar by slashing him with the sword held between his teeth.
    • It's like the Black Knight, but dead-serious and incredibly awesome.
  • Ed and Al going to help and encourage Hohenheim while he's deflecting Father's attack is both this and a Heartwarming Moment, especially considering Ed hates his dad.
    • "I may have been a terrible father, but at least I can show my boys something cool!"
• King Bradley showed up to observe the joint training exercises of the Northern and Eastern armies under General Grumman personally. The problem? Grumman, Mustang, and General Armstrong are planning to take that army and attack Central with it. So Grumman deliberately leaks their plans to the enemy. If Bradley stays where he is, Central is left undefended. If Bradley goes back to Central, his train gets blown up by a bomb planted by their allies... and Central is left undefended. His smile just says it all. And in the anime, the closing theme starts up right there, making it even better.
  • What's even better that bad guys realised that, but they couldn't do anything! And even though King Bradley survived, they still had a big setback.
• Scar's Brother figured out what Father has kept hidden for 400 years. He placed a buffer under the Earth's crust so that he could control when Amestrian Alchemy worked, then purged all knowledge of Alkahestry so no one could figure out what he had done. Scarbro got the knowledge from caravans from Xing which allowed him to learn it and fashion a counter.
  • The man is obviously Ishval's very own version of Maes Hughes. The glasses should've been a clue.
  • Let's also remember that during his lifetime, while he was doing this research, Scar's bro was the only Ishvalan that didn't hate alchemy. Which makes Scar and the other Ishvalans' use of this counter to free the Amestrians' use of some of the same alchemy that pillaged them from Father's control that much more beautiful to see.
  • Scar’s brother’s awesomeness doesn’t stop there. Remember that most Transmutation Circles and Arrays allow the user to perform a particular kind of specialized alchemy (Like Mustang’s Flame Alchemy or Kimblee’s Explosion Alchemy). Those circles and arrays themselves usually take years of research, study and passed down knowledge to be created. However, by studying and combining Alchemy and Alkahestry, Scar’s brother managed to create a set of tattoos that allow their user to, theoretically, perform any kind of transmutation in a similar way Ed and other clapping alchemists do, provided they possess the knowledge behind said transmutations. And the guy did it all by himself, just by reading and researching whatever book he managed to lay his hands on, while living in a society that shunned those studies and practices, and everything without ever leaving the commodity of his home. Scar’s brother truly deserves to be a candidate for the title of the smartest character in the story.
• In Chapter 106, Father deliberately creates horror for the sole purpose of freaking out his opponents long enough to let him blast them all while they're distracted. Unspeakably horrible (but when is he NOT?) but very awesome indeed.
  • What about everything else in Chapter 106? Ed having a standoff with Pride, to the point where the Homunculus attempts to take over Ed's body, claiming it's possible due to his lineage connected to Hohenheim and therefore Father. Who shows up to help him, of all people? Kimblee, who had been assimilated by Pride earlier in the story, which allows Ed to release all the souls inside the homunculus and put Pride back in his original form: a baby fetus, of all things. Mein gott.
  • To go further in depth on Kimblee's resurfacing? He managed to maintain his sense of self amongst thousands of wailing, pained souls simply because he's so batshit insane. "Screams of agony are like lullabies to my ears!"
• And what about the time Winry kicked two soldiers, two chimeras, and a homunculus out of her room, with only a single swing of her wrench no less? Ed's expression in the anime was priceless, and even her Dog, Den, looks stunned.
  • Her first Moment of Awesome was delivering Satera's baby in Episode 11, and later earning enough respect from Dominic for him to recommend her to Garfiel.
    • Something that makes this even more awesome? Ed states that she read a lot of her parents' medical books growing up, but she's never actually delivered a baby yet, meaning she's effectively doing this from memory. And it works. Not to mention, Winry is clearly nervous, but she still remains considerably calmer than everyone else.
  • Her confrontation with Scar in the north: "Young girl... you have every right to take my life in vengeance." Scar's immobilized and heavily wounded, giving Winry a free shot at avenging her parents. Instead, she bandages his arm, saying that it's what her parents would've done, and then angrily tells Scar that forgiving and enduring are two different things when he misunderstands the gesture. Winry completely invalidates the worldview of a serial killer who lives and breathes revenge, killed her parents, and attempted to kill her childhood friends several times.
    • And when you take this into account when Scar's fight with Wrath enters the picture, every single hero who kills one of Father's children was faced with and overcame that deadly sin. Scar had every reason in the world to kill Wrath in revenge, but his reason for fighting the Führer came down to simply needing to get through him to help the other heroes. Scar fought with restraint and self-defense, and his choice to make use of alchemy during the fight echoes Winry's lesson on enduring without forgiving. In other words, because Winry (and earlier, the Ishvalan elder) showed Scar how to deal with his wounds without resorting to revenge, she is directly responsible for Scar's victory over Wrath.
• CHAPTER. 107.
  • Roy using circleless alchemy, with Riza to judge the distance.
  • Al transmuting his soul for Ed's right arm, also a HUGE Tear Jerker. And he does this as he's already falling apart because he shielded May from Father's psycho Beam Spam. The poor kid never stops giving.
  • After getting his right arm back, Ed GOES TO TOWN on Father; with the chapter ending on the same words he gave Cornello in Chapter 1!
  • Also, the Briggs soldiers. In an attempt to provide some support to the protagonists, they unload everything they have from small arms and mortars. Their response when Father doesn't even seem to be phased by their attacks? They keep shooting.
    • And what's more? They don't drop like flies like most other Redshirt Armies.
  • The cover pic is likely the best one we're going to get. For bonus points, check around the edges, especially the upper right corner.
• Doesn't the author herself, Hiromu Arakawa, deserve a mention for her storytelling? She took the concept of revenge, and clearly defined it, something that Masashi Kishimoto is still working on in Naruto, and shows it through Roy Mustang and Scar as the story progresses.
  • That, and that she keeps managing to up the ante. Seriously, pretty much every chapter from about 85 or so on is listed under CMoA, CMOH, Tear Jerker, or terrifying, and often more than one.
  • She has an impressive use of Foreshadowing. You know your story is well-planned when the shape of a certain hallway turns out to be important.
    • For something even more awesome about this entire storyline that Arakawa has concocted, let's seriously pay attention to The Illuminati trope and conspiracy theory and list off a number of ways that the Amestrian conspiracy can be said to be similar. We're talking about a shadowy cabal few people know exists secretly ruling all facets of how this country operates, engineering bloody wars and conflicts for its own sinister purposes, working for a being that could in so many ways be called the series' version of Satan himself, all to fulfill this being's purposes of not only ruling this entire world, but taking over the seat of God, and all believing that they will share in this being's glory. This work, at its core, beyond the remarkable science-based superpowers and further enhanced by the terrific story mechanics and beautiful characters, is about an ever-growing group of willing and capable human beings (and even a Noble Demon), all scarred by the deception in some form or another, waking up to the truth and coming together to DEFEAT THE ANCIENT WORLD-DEVOURING CONSPIRACY. Whether you believe in this sort of thing or not, you have to admire the way Arakawa tackles the theoretical issue, with a story that entails all the pitfalls of a world at least partially dictated by such an organization while still insisting that they can be beaten.
• 108. Greed does a Heroic Sacrifice. Enough said.
  • While Greed is sacrificing himself, Father asks why he's disobeying him. Greed replies with, "I have finally reached that rebellious age, father!" Awesome.
  • Ed punching Father through the chest, Truth giving Father his long-awaited comeuppance, and let's not forget Ed sacrificing his own ability to do alchemy by transmuting his Gate (and in the process impressing Truth). Hell, Truth gets his own in that scene with his last words:
    Truth: The back door's...over...there...
    • Ed's probably one of the only people to EVER accomplish this, as he needed to use Al's gate to get back
    • Even more awesome in the anime, as Truth jawdrops.
    • Hearing and seeing this scene in the English dub of Episode 63 only drives it home even further that this was God here, clearly celebrating the fact that someone finally got it right. ESPECIALLY with the twist on Truth's voice during that scene (see Funimation's crowning moments a bit lower on of the page).
  • And of course, seeing Father, now back to his original form as Homunculus, getting punished by Truth for all the shit he pulled thorough the series is very satisfying. Specially when Truth says it is exactly what he wished for...
    "What gives you proper despair for so that you do not become boastful, is truth. And so, I shall give you despair, as well. Despair for those who have become boastful. That is the outcome you desired."
  • What about when Lan Fan cuts off Father's arm after Greed makes a Heroic Sacrifice?! That was AWESOME.
• It's a much quieter awesome in the face of a series full of sheer balls-out badassery, but let's just look at what Mrs. Bradley had been through since Chapter 89. Her husband goes missing, she's taken hostage only to find out that Central command is perfectly willing to let her be a collateral casualty, her son goes missing, then it turns out that both he and her husband are inhuman monsters who've been using her since the beginning of their 'family'. Then her husband is killed, and her son is returned to her as a broken shell. With full knowledge of how deeply she's been tricked, of what her son really is, and with everyone left at the top of the military telling her it would be best to get rid of any lingering threats, what does she do? Takes Selim home and raises him into a kind, polite child who worries about injured birds, on nothing but willpower, love, and good parenting. And helps Grumman cement his position as Führer while doing it. Best mom.
• When Gluttony attacks Scar from behind and Scar doesn't even turn around, just reaches behind him and manages to grab Gluttony's head and toasts it.
• Lust is one of the most badass characters in the series. She blows things up. Nearly oneshots Roy's ENTIRE team (sure she may have failed but she gets points there). Hell, she fuelled the awesome during her battle with Roy. She also attacked Scar and nearly killed him, sparing the Elric brothers. And winning against Marcoh and threatening him.
  • Of the homunculi, Lust's death could be argued to be the catalyst for the breakdown of the organisation as a whole. Gluttony and Envy are fairly useless without her leading them. Additionally, she only ever fails due to her arrogance caused by 250 years worth of her own badassery, rather than a lack of power. Mustang's just lucky that she wanted him to suffer before dying.
• Barry the Chopper barging into the prison and swatting people aside (and terrifying them!) in order to bust the innocent Maria Ross out of there.
  • Also, cottoning on to Mustang's girlfriend-code-talk right away when Mustang implies that he needs to use a safer telephone line to speak, was this and a Funny Moment.
• The way various members of the Northern and Eastern Command are able to transmit information to Roy (who everyone knows is being watched). Basically, except for a phone conversation between Buccaneer and Grumman and a more direct conversation between Grumman and a female soldier named Rebecca, each person meets casually with another and then surreptitiously slips a piece of paper with important information to them, casually mentioning that they should say hi to the next person in the chain. The total effort is a truly impressive example of sneakiness.
• Funimation earns a CMoA for reuniting nearly the ENTIRE ORIGINAL CAST for the Brotherhood dub. Even those that are not playing who they played in the original are back. (Aaron Dismuke playing Young Hohenheim, Monica Rial playing May Chang, Troy Baker playing the second Greed).
  • They also earn an extra CMoA for actually accentuating a moment that's already been mentioned. Specifically, it involves Truth. Whereas in the Japanese version Truth's Voice of the Legion would be an accentuated form of whoever's voice Truth was speaking to at the time, Funimation had Truth strictly voiced by Luci Christian. Except during Truth's shout of approval as Ed sacrifices his alchemy in Episode 63 — Maxey Whitehead and Vic Mignogna took over as Truth right at that point in the conversation, creating the effect that Truth broke into a legion voice of Ed and Al out of sheer pleasure at seeing Ed's selflessness!
  "YOU'VE DONE IT! THAT'S THE RIGHT ANSWER! GOOD JOB! YOU BEAT ME! GO AHEAD! TAKE HIM HOME! THE BACK DOOR IS RIGHT OVER THERE! GOODBYE, EDWARD ELRIC!"
• Where's the love for Isaac McDougal? Sure, he shows up and dies in the first episode, but he STILL nearly destroys the military's headquarters, which we later find out is the home of the bad guys! And he does it all by himself.
  • AND he'd hijacked Father's Philosopher's Stone to do it, which is why Father makes two blink and you'll miss it appearances early.
  • And he didn't just happen to target and nearly destroy the home of the bad guys. He knew EXACTLY what was going down. Albeit in cryptic language, he essentially said as much, and Ed figured out what he meant halfway through the story. Pretty awesome for a filler character, eh?
• The Truth's morality is certainly questionable, but no denying that its "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Father was awesome. It tells him that he's the same as when he when he was inside the flask and that he's no better than humans, that he was a fool to assume that casting aside parts of his emotions would elevate him above humanity, and that all he's done is steal power from others.
• From the 4koma theater, we have the entire Bradley family, including the Führer's wife, teaming up to fight Greedling. Mrs. Bradley even says that Wrath and Pride wouldn't know anything about fighting without her.
  Bradleys: BRADLEY FAMILY TOTEM POLE JETSTREAM ATTACK!
• When Scar is facing Kimblee for the second time (atop a speeding train no less) he's at first outmatched by Kimblee's alchemical skill, while Kimblee taunts him about killing his family — particularly his brother, who was bleeding from a left side wound. Then Scar thinks outside the box and, instead of trying to use his deconstruction again, skewers Kimblee with a pole, which Kimblee definitely wasn't anticipating, and would have killed him if Kimblee hadn't escaped.
• Darius taking on Gluttony when the latter ambushed him, Greed, Ed and Heinkel. He goes in with minimal explanation on who Gluttony is, even after seeing his deadly eating abilities, and does it with gusto.
  "My animal instincts are calling me an idiot for listening to you." (transforms) "SO I GUESS I'M AN IDIOT! THE FIRST STRIKE IS MINE!"
  • Heinkel also gets some points for how long he lasted against Pride. Sure, he got cut off by the lights coming back on, but he still manages to give Pride some pretty good scratches in the meantime.
• An understated one that was exclusive to the manga: a train the Elric brothers are on is being held hostage, and we see that two gunmen are forcing the workers to continually shovel coal to make sure it won't stop. Ed takes out the first gunman. Then, as the second gunman prepares to shoot him, one of the workers bashes him in the head with the shovel before both of them knock him out for good. The workers and Ed give each other thumbs up afterwards.

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