Solf J. Kimblee (FMA 2003)

Solf J. Kimblee is a minor antagonist in the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist. Unlike the original manga and Brotherhood version, whose story differs radically from the original anime series, this version's Kimblee is a rather different individual, both story and character-wise.

Story
Major Solf J. Kimblee, also known as the Crimson Alchemist, is a demented psychopath and a veteran of the Ishval Civil War. During the war, Kimblee gained infamous reputation for his ruthlessness and according to his own words, he "indiscriminately made both women and children go boom". He was also responsible for slaughtering his own comrades as well, when they interfered with his businesses, earning him a nickname "The Mad Bomber". He is first seen in a flashback laughing maniacally while destroying the city with alchemical explosions. In another flashback it is shown that Kimblee also murdered Scar's brother (along with other Ishvalans) in a desert ambush and tortured Scar blasting him apart piece by piece, giving him the recognizable scar in his forehead and detonating his right arm. However, Scar's brother revived him, giving him one of his arms which costs him his own life. After the civil war, Kimblee was imprisoned for his war crimes. During the events of the series, he is sent by Envy (disguised as Basque Grand) to Laboratory 5 as a human sacrifice for the Philosopher's Stone. There, he manages to escape, using one of the inmates as a bomb and bumps into Greed and his chimera friends. Kimblee then decides to join his gang of chimeras.

Later, Greed sends Kimblee and Bido to infiltrate South City Headquarters to capture homunculus Wrath. There, he encounters Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer and Major Armstrong, who is shocked to see that Kimblee is still alive. Archer then makes a deal with Kimblee which allows him to get back into the military later on. After the failed capture of homunculus Wrath, Kimblee assists Greed to kidnap Alphonse from Dante's mansion.

While Edward tries to get his brother back from Greed, Kimblee betrays Greed in order to get back into the military, allowing Lust, Gluttony and Archer's unit to infiltrate Devil's Nest and steal the skull of Greed's former body. Kimblee is then recruited back under Archer's command and is promoted to Lt. Colonel. While Archer's and Roy Mustang's units are travelling to Reole to locate Scar, Mustang is visibly disgusted that Kimblee is back in the military, knowing well that he is a sadist. However, he can't do anything about it, since Führer Bradley has promoted Archer to Colonel rank during the mission, making him equal in ranks with Mustang.

Martel, the last surviving member of Greed's chimeras, encounters Kimblee in Reole and tries to kill him in revenge for what he did to her boss. Alphonse interferes and after a brief fight, manages to break Kimblee's arm, earning him his wrath. Kimblee then promises Al that he will detonate his armor some other day. Later, Bradley orders Kimblee to stir an uprising in Reole with the help of Shou Tucker's chimeras. While destroing the city and mercilessly slaughtering civilians in the process, Kimblee encounters Scar, who wows to get his revenge for what he did to his brother. Al tries to stop them from fighting, but Kimblee uses Al's armor as a shield to distract Scar and turns his left hand into a bomb. However, Scar blows off his left arm with his tattooed one and critically wounds Kimblee by puncturing a hole in his abdomen.

Before dying, Kimblee manages to turn Al into a bomb, just like he promised earlier. Scar then uses his corpse to lure Archer's unit in Reole and activates the city-wide transmutation circle, dying in the process and managing to rescue Al with the newly created Philosopher's Stone.

Skills
Unlike his manga counterpart, who causes the surrounding air to explode, this version's Kimblee mainly focuses on turning humans and other living or non-living organisms into bombs. Although he can use whatever he can to make a bomb, Kimblee mainly prefers to use humans for no other reason than to fulfill his sadistic urges. While creating a bomb, Kimblee can designate it to explode immediately or after a specific amount of time has passed. Using an incomplete Philosopher's Stone to increase his power, Kimblee can cause explosions further, making it similar to that of his manga counterpart's skills.

Personality
The manga counterpart of Kimblee, who was a nasty individual in its own right, had still his owns standards, for example accepting his atrocities as a part of his job and visibly detesting hypocrisy. However, the 2003 version of Kimblee is even more psychotic and sadistic, living purely for the sake of causing explosions and seeing people suffer. While fighting Scar, Kimblee states that people (including himself) are empty, worthless beings and nothing more than good material for chemical explosives. This version's Kimblee had no gentleman-like attitude and he behaved rather rudely and sarcastic with everyone he encountered. He also had no photographic memory, remembering Scar only for his X-shaped mark in his forehead that he recognized as his handiwork.