How are they created?
In the manga & Brotherhood anime, a Homunculus named Father removed a sin from himself. Each one became their own Homunculus named after that particular sin. There does exist two exceptions to this since those two were originally human prior to becoming humanoid Homunculus. But in the original anime, they were created after every failed attempt to revive a dead person.
Thus they quickly got searching for a newly created Homunculus. Essentially they are creatures with traits of those of the deceased including memories. Some of them can be weakened by being in the presence of their human remains causing them great pain. It isn't clear why they were named after the seven deadly sins, Dante created most of them.
What powers them?
In the manga & Brotherhood anime, most of them are powered by a Philosopher's Stone. Which is created by force fusing human souls together. But in the original anime, they are instead powered by a weaker variation of it called Red Stones. Creating a Philosopher's Stone takes time as well as gathering more souls while a smaller fraction of that makes it more common to find.
Whose their leader?
In the manga & Brotherhood anime, A young alchemist named Van Hohenheim aka the Elric brothers' dad created a new life. But in the original anime, Van was in love with a woman named Dante. This being Hohenheim created led to tricking himself becoming immortal while it took on a god like figure of it's creator.
Dante chose to start cheating death after forcing Hohenheim's soul into another body. According to the rules, you can only perform it a few times before you start facing the penalty of decay. In other words, their father goes through two different takes of being an immortal man. On one hand, he created a being who created his own offspring over time for a truly planning.
On the other, Dante was a former lover of his. Her big plan was to attempt saving herself once again. Father's big plan was much worse in comparison. Obviously how the Homunculi were used was very different. Several centuries of being a leader while keeping their actions a secret. Honestly I have to give credit to Father for attempting the impossible.
What's different about the Homunculus featured in both animes?
Let's start with Gluttony, he mostly is a simple minded servant for the most part. The big problem is in the manga & Brotherhood anime, he was a failed attempt at recreating the gate. As in the same gate you would see after attempting to revive a dead person to only fail. But in the original anime, Dante was able to remove or give him feelings.
Next up is Lust, mostly what you see her do stays the same. The big problem is in the original anime, she partly remembers who she suppose to be. A former lover of Scar's that died. Thus later on decided to turn on her own kind. Obviously, in the manga & Brotherhood anime, she stayed loyal to Father.
Alright one of my favorite Homunculus there is, Greed has a very different role in both animes. To be honest I have to leave a part of this for the next section. Don't worry when you get there I'll explain more in detail. In the manga & Brotherhood manga, Greed up to a hundred years prior to the events chose to not be a part of Father's plan leading to his demise.
A similar case in the original anime where he was one of the feed good Homunculus along. He ends up getting most of his power taken to have Edward killed him. He still comes off as a villain with his own goal rather than simply being against Father's plan. Although in the original anime, he was coming after Dante prior to his death.
I have to say Envy has the biggest differences among those three. In the manga & Brotherhood anime, he has a bigger form filled from the souls either given to him by Father or he stolen. Yes we do get to see it's true form without souls. Envy has no true gender while late in the original anime is confirmed to be male.
The biggest surprise was his true identity as Hohenheim's first son. Yes in this canon, Edward is actually the middle child shocker I know. It also turns out Envy had a secret purpose to be a part of an gate leading to a parallel universe. His most powerful form in this version is that of a dragon. Other than that, his hair was heavily changed between both animes.
What's different about the other members of this species in both animes?
Obviously I'm more directly comparing the other members not present in the other anime. But I must get to the elephant in the room here first. As many of you know in both versions, Fuhrer Bradly is a Homunculus with a different name. Trust me when I say this is a little confusing due to the differences. You see how both animes greatly differs on the creation of their kind.
I can safely say General Bradley is two different characters in both animes. Let's discuss what both versions does have in common first. Both of them wears a few similar outfits ruling over a country while secretly working for the Homunculus. They also have impressive fighting skills with an unusual eye.
Now we can start talking about the major differences. In the manga & Brotherhood anime, Bradley was a Homunculus named Wrath who couldn't regenerate. But in the original anime, Bradley was a Homunculus named Pride due to being considered the strongest of his kind. Honestly I'm a bigger fan of him being Wrath.
Speaking of Wrath, the original anime had it's own Homunculus named Wrath. Who was created from two different attempts to reviving the deceased. Most of his body came from Al while parts of him came from their teacher's dead child. This creature acts like a spoiled brat until the movie. Wrath is a weird take of the concept in my opinion.
I must talk about the second Greed character in the manga & Brotherhood anime. Father forces a prince named Ling Yao to become the new Greed. Eventually over time started rebelling against his own kind. Unlike Wrath but like most of his kind, Greed can regenerate. Although he ultimately doesn't need it due to his Ultimate Shield ability making him insanely durable.
This Greed is a much better fighter with greater speed & reflexes. I am very surprised by the poll, the original Greed was higher on the popularity ranking. Greed so happens to be the only good Homunculus of his kind. I felt that's very interesting considering you expect the exact opposite for someone like that.
Oh man Pride is one of the absolute worst of his kind to run into. Bradley's adapted son is only a cover for this monster. The only child of Father whose a lot like him in almost every possible way. Pride is what you would expect. Sure having a body of a child works against him in combat but still greatly makes up for it.
I believe I got two different Sloth characters to discuss. In the manga & Brotherhood manga, Sloth is suppose to represent one with the potential to do anything but chooses to waste it. But in the original anime is more of a water like creature with shape shifting abilities similar in some ways to Envy. This also represents the Elric brothers' mother.
The manga version is a huge man being double the size of one. He is physically one of the strongest of his kind. It turns out he is officially the fastest of his kind. He spent most of his time digging tunnels. Sloth in the original anime has a more notable role due to being more involved with the story.
You see Sloth in the manga was just a hard working servant that was given an assassination job. But in the original anime, Sloth for the little time she was involved helped her kind doing horrible things. Clearly one of the most difficult to kill due to being a water creature. Sloth in the manga is very durable in his own right to clarify.
What was their goal?
In the manga & Brotherhood anime, Father was planning to essentially become a god. He was tired being a part of how God set things. He chose to do a ritual that involved those who attempted to revive the deceased to only fail. They were short of one person until they literately broken the rules further to force a penalty on Colonel Mustang.
This process also involved stealing a lot of souls to help keep God in check. Yes Father got to absorb God very late in this story. But in the original anime, sorry if I already spoiled it in advance. The so called ultimate goal was to attempt prolonging Dante's life a little longer. Ultimately Father gets screwed over twice that led to his demise.
Dante possibly got devoured by Gluttony to become that abomination in the movie. Dante was a human alchemist while Father being a Homunculus created by a human. To me, Dante's plan was flawed in fact stated to eventually fail to work. In the other hand, Father spent centuries to transform himself into a god.
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