POP King Bradley (Fullmetal Alchemist)

No man is named "King" by accident. King Bradley, in fact, was destined to lead from birth. Not in the sense of destiny, but in the scientific sense. The origin of King Bradley lies in a eugenicist and elitist military program envisioned half a century ago before the events of Fullmetal Alchemist. In order to determine the right autocratic ruler for Amestris, the personalities behind the scenes chose a scientific and unscrupulous approach to determine who would one day hold the reins of the country.

As a young soldier, King Bradley lived with the other candidates, shared meals with them, and watched them die one by one as they were tested. At the end of the trials, when he was the only winner, he was subjected to an alchemical experiment to make him virtually invulnerable.

Thus, for decades before Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse Elric were even born, King Bradley ruled Amestris with an iron fist. And yet, he always appeared sympathetic to his subordinates. His first forays into the plot present him as a kind and almost tolerant senior officer. Severe but fair, King Bradley is a feared but esteemed ruler who does not have to force his authority in order for the country to be administered soundly.

He could have been an enlightened despot, loved by his people, but he will stick to the role he was assigned as soon as he was invested as Führer of Amestris: to gather the conditions of the sacrifice to obtain the philosopher's stone. While Sloth dug the galleries to draw an alchemical circle under Amestris, King Bradley administered his country in a seemingly debonair manner. And this, although he occasionally indulged in massacres to eliminate criminality and, incidentally, those who got wind of his role in the conspiracy that was being hatched in Amestris... It is in this capacity that, despite his status as head of state, he intervened personally to eliminate Greed and his gang. They could indeed expose his complicity in various crimes, starting with the civil war in Ishvald where death and destruction had been sown for the sole purpose of fulfilling a plan.

The Funko POP of King Bradley represents him in his ceremonial uniform, the one in which he occasionally parades as head of state. King Bradley is wearing a conventional military uniform except that his jacket is longer and extends to his knees in the manner of Stalin's ceremonial uniform. On his jacket, the King Bradley POP figure sports a number of military decorations that he has certainly not usurped.

Funko also depicted King Bradley with his sword in his right hand. King Bradley never draws in vain; blood will be spilled if his sword blade sees the light of day. No detail has been overlooked on the Funko POP King Bradley figure, which of course features the black eye patch over his left eye. An eye patch that we imagine useful to hide a punctured eye but which, in reality, hides a secret as we can discover it on the King Bradley POP Chase; that of a sordid plan of which each Homunculus is an integral part.