Alex Louis Armstrong

Alex Louis Armstrong is a character from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga.

Alex also known as the Strong Arm Alchemist, is a State Alchemist and officer in the Amestrian State Military. The scion of the illustrious Armstrong family, Alex is a remarkably caring commander and friend as well as an invaluably skilled ally to Colonel Roy Mustang and Edward Elric.

Appearance
Alex Armstrong is a remarkably large man at a whopping 212 cm, who absolutely towers over most of the other characters in the series, making him very easy to spot in a crowd or at a distance, and has an exceptionally-sculpted and well-defined musculature honed from years of enthusiastic physical training. While his physique is usually barely hidden beneath his uniform, it seems he need only flex all his muscles at once to tear his garments to threads and leave him shirtless and bulging - a carriage he seems to generally prefer.

His complexion is rather light in comparison to other characters and, while he seems to have blond hair like the rest of his family, Alex's head is completely bald save for a single lock of curly blond hair hanging from just above his brow. His eyebrows, too, are bare of hair and he sports a thick, blond handlebar mustache, which hides his mouth while accentuating his strong, cleft chin. Though these characteristics give Alex a rather menacing visage, his eyes are blue and kind-looking with notably long eyelashes that appear to run in his family to some degree.

Personality
Despite his towering presence and intimidating physique, Alex is decidedly softhearted and almost comically emotional, quickly bursting into tears of sorrow, compassion or joy in most situations. He is a particularly caring individual, who goes out of his way to offer aid to people in need and takes great pains to look after his friends, allies, and subordinates - though his great propensity for giving hugs frequently does unintentional harm to those unfortunate enough to be embraced by his powerful biceps. With a rather boisterous demeanor, Alex appears rather fond of loud, grandstanding speeches and dramatic comments, can be unwittingly pushy in his attempts to help others and is particularly protective of youths like Edward, demanding that they eat, sleep and exercise well in order to grow healthy and strong. Proud of his own physique and believing it to be a supreme work of beauty and art, Alex frequently removes his shirt to show it off in both welcome and unwelcome attempts to buoy the spirits of those around him. He will take off his shirt on many occasions, whether it is to partake in labor, confront someone in battle, to cheer someone up, to show off and boast, or feeling an extreme emotion of any kind.

As a member of the illustrious Armstrong family, Alex takes his honor very seriously and proudly wields his great strength of body and character for the military he believes exists to serve the people of Amestris. As such, he is very respectful to his superiors and an adamant protector of others on the field of battle. Alex is very seriously affected by the deaths of innocents, friends, compatriots and even enemies, freely shedding tears when faced with another human's untimely demise. As such, Armstrong dislikes violence and, while always ready to fight, prefers to settle disputes peacefully despite the known fact that his softheartedness and unwillingness to kill have kept him from receiving a promotion in all his years of military service. Alex has also shown himself to be particularly perceptive, as he was the first to recognize that The Scarred Man was using alchemy in his serial murders and is quite skilled in delivering and deciphering surreptitious messages.

As a result of his failure during the Ishval Civil War, Alex silently carries a personal sense of shame and strives toward exemplary fulfillment of his duty in an attempt to redeem himself.

Abilities
Remarkably talented in many fields, Alex excels in such eclectic practices as portraiture, tracking, cross-country running and wood-chopping, taking the time after each of these extraordinary feats to remark that his skills have been "passed down the Armstrong line for generations."

Combat Prowess
Armstrong is also a highly formidable hand-to-hand combatant, able to fight on equal grounds with such highly skilled and dangerous fighters as Scar and The Chimera Roa. Befitting his large and well-defined physique, Armstrong possesses tremendous strength and endurance bordering on superhuman, able to endure with only minor damage blunt force trauma that would render most people unconscious or crippled. His punches are able to easily plow through solid surfaces and his strength is able to nonchalantly move large and heavy objects out of the way. Despite his size, he has been noted to be deceptively fast and agile, able to dodge and maneuver against close-range attacks with surprising balance and efficiency. Armstrong's combat style resembles boxing using strong and swift punches to overwhelm an opponent and agile dodges and swift footwork to evade attacks.

Combat Alchemy
Major Alex Armstrong utilizes a style of combat alchemy that has apparently been passed down the Armstrong line for generations and mixes alchemical skill with physical prowess. With the aid of two metal gauntlets strapped to his fists (both marked with transmutation circles), Armstrong transmutes objects mainly by punching them. It is possible that this method transfers the kinetic energy of his blows into the alchemical energy, enhancing the speed and force of his transmutations, since he mainly uses alchemy to rapidly produce large stone spikes, walls or other objects from the earth at a rate among the fastest in the series. The spikes in particular are extraordinarily sharp and strong, as they managed on several occasions to tear right through the Homunculus Sloth without being affected, whereas bullets, rockets and even tank shells had no effect on him. Additionally, the Armstrong style allows Alex to double as a source of heavy artillery, transforming raw stone or brickwork into projectiles which are then launched with the force of his punch. With his Alchemy being combined with hand-to-hand combat, it is notable that Alex is the first of the few State Alchemists to survive a direct fight with Scar.

Armstrong's gauntlets both are inscribed with encircled triangles and a trio of runes. Inside the triangle appears to be the Hebrew word often associated with "God" (as described by Edward Elric in Chapter 53). Additionally, there is a ring of inscribed text around the outermost circle on each gauntlet. While difficult to make out, the text on the right gauntlet (as shown in Chapter 7) reads "Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen" while the left gauntlet (whose text is made legible at the end of Chapter 58) reads "Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held". In Chapter 59, the text on the right gauntlet is shown to be identical to that of the left. It is unclear whether this is a continuity alteration or whether Armstrong had the text altered in the years since the Ishval Civil War (since chapters 58-9 take place during the flashback of Volume 15), however the latter seems likely, as in Chapter 95 - when the gauntlets are once again shown clearly - depicts them with the shortened text.

Trivia

 * The text on his gauntlets "Froh, / wie seine Sonnen fliegen / Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan,/ Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,/ Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen" is a line from Friederich Schiller's poem An die Freude ("Ode to Joy" in English) which translates to "Happily, / as His suns fly / Through the glorious plane of Heaven, / Run, brothers, your course, / joyfully, like a hero going to victory".
 * Like nearly all military personnel in the Fullmetal Alchemist series, the Armstrong family is named after a military vehicle, vessel or weapon, in this case, the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (A.W.38 Whitley), a British bomber from early WWII. It is also possible that the weapon namesake to him is the Armstrong Gun, a British rifled cannon with examples measuring up to 100 tons.
 * Alex was placed as the 11th most popular character in the recent popularity poll.
 * It is possible that Alex Louis Armstrong may also be named after Louis Armstrong, a popular singer and jazz trumpeter.
 * According to Arakawa, Armstrong was the easiest (human) character for her to draw.
 * The English dub fails to apply the French accent to his middle name, pronouncing it like "Louise" rather than "Louie" as it was intended.
 * Armstrong's appearance is likely, though not confirmed, to have originated from the design of a character which shares its name with the anime/manga from which it comes from, Kinnikuman, who Hiromu Arakawa has cited as one of her major influences in her artwork.
 * Armstrong's appearance is likely, though not confirmed, to the real fighter Ivan Poddubny.
 * Armstrong shares the same English and Japanese voice actors as Garland from "Dissidia: Final Fantasy" and many different characters from "Dragon Ball Z", including Vegeta.
 * According to episode 16 of the 2003 anime, and episode 6 of the 2009 anime, he has an obvious gift for drawing.
 * In the 2003 anime, Armstrong was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel, but in Conqueror of Shamballa, everyone still refers to him as "Major."
 * Alex's appearance is reused as the gym teacher in Arakawa's manga series "Gin no Saji", including the Armstrong sparkles but adding hair to his head in place of the spitcurl.
 * In the 2003 anime, Armstrong's sparkles are pink, while in the 2009 anime, the sparkles are orange.
 * All alchemical creations have slight cracks/lines on them that reveal their crafted nature. Major Armstrong's creations however are always blemish-free and expertly crafted, seemingly sculpted by hand rather than synthesized on the fly.
 * Whenever he fights, he always announces his technique comes from the Armstrong family line
 * His State Alchemist title Strong Arm, is his family name Armstrong with the words that comprise it switched around.