Tucker Family

The Tucker Family were characters in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga. The family consists of Shou Tucker, his daughter Nina Tucker, his wife Mrs. Tucker, and the family pet Alexander.

Tucker was formerly also known as the "Sewing Life Alchemist" when he was a State Alchemist. He became famous after producing a chimera that could speak, albeit only one sentence: "I want to die." The chimera eventually starved itself to death, and was later revealed that his wife was used as an ingredient in constructing it.

In the Manga
In the manga Shou Tucker was a minor character at best. He met Ed and Al a few years after Ed became a State Alchemist. After the Elrics had been visiting for a few days to study his vast library of notes, he became worried about research deadlines and decided to turn his daughter and her pet into another chimera. The Elrics discovered this and turned him over to the authorities after Ed nearly beat the life out of him. His deeds became public knowledge and Scar 'executed' him and euthanized his daughter.

In the 2003 Anime
Like Rose, Shou Tucker also played a much more pivotal role in the anime.

Tucker hosted the Elric brothers while they studied for the State Alchemist exams. Tucker was under considerable stress at this period; State Alchemists are tested every year on their accomplishments in research or their combat abilities. Tucker's position as State Alchemist and all the privileges consequent depended on his research showing fruit, since Tucker's alchemic abilities were useless in a direct battle. Pressured by his sponsor, Basque Grand, Shou resorted to using his daughter, Nina, and his dog, Alexander, as ingredients for the new talking chimera. The Elric brothers had in the meantime realized how Tucker had made his chimeric breakthroughs: the chimera Tucker created two years ago was his own wife. By the time they arrived to stop Tucker, they were too late in preventing Nina from losing her humanity. Shou explained to an enraged Ed that he would have lost Nina either way; that as a alchemist, he couldn't help but try what might be possible. He pointed out that Ed himself attempted forbidden human transmutation.

Tucker was reportedly sentenced to death by the military to cover up the truth of the talking chimeras and General Grand's involvement. But in reality, he was sent to the 5th Laboratory to continue his research in Grand's super soldier project.

Shou Tucker, after becoming a chimera, is seen here with the soulless doll of his daughter Nina, in "Human Transmutation". After his failed attempts to revive Nina, he joined up with the Homunculi with the promise to create a Homunculus in the form of his daughter, with his memories of her to serve as basis for her new soul. Paranoid and very unstable, Tucker joined up with anyone who could offer him the protection needed to complete his goal. He joined with Greed's group briefly, most likely on the promise that he could give Greed the immortality that Greed desired, as well as serve as a doctor to the other chimeras working with Greed.

After the demise of Greed and his followers, Shou accepted Frank Archer's offer to rejoin the military under his command with alacrity. Using his new-found military privileges in return for building an army of chimeras for Archer and the Führer, Tucker used his research to create lifeless dolls in Nina's image by transmuting her remains. Since Nina was a chimera at the time of her death, Tucker had to use the law of equivalent exchange on himself, to filter out the dog she had been mixed with. This left him a hideous beast, with the appearance of a man crucified upon the back of a humanoid dog. Learning that Al became a vessel for the Philosopher's Stone, he deceived the boy by offering to teach him how to master the Stone when in reality, he only wanted to use Al to transmute a fully-human Nina from his chimera-dolls. Though Tucker succeeded in the first flawless Human Transmutation, Sloth pointed out that Tucker's will was not strong enough to bind Nina's soul into the new body made for her. This bit of information drove Tucker further mad with his hopes shattered. Tucker was last seen drawing alchemy arrays on a wall with the Nina doll in his arms, either bent on bringing his daughter back or trying to relive the happy times before his daughter became a victim of his research.