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Post by Hades on Jun 10, 2009 8:09:58 GMT -5
Thanks a lot for the comments and suggestions . Advent and Napoleon, thank you for your lengthy bits of advice. You both sparked some extra ideas for other things in this story. Jodie, I watched those videos. That weapon seems quite unwieldy, and in need of a certain style of fighting that I can't see my character using. I appreciate the time and interest you put into your reply though :] I've weighed it all a bit and I really can't envision my character brandishing some big hammer or axe, or swinging a flail around. Not to mention it would he difficult to figure out how he could easily travel with such weapons. As much as I want to avoid cliche, I guess I'm going with sword. Now the question is - do I go fantasy with this thing, or stay more realistic? If I go more realistic, I'd just come up with a stylized claymore or something. As for fantasy, I made 3 quick examples. I went for less length and more weight (looks like they weight a lot). My personal favorite is the bottom one, which I kind of obviously spent the most time on. I'd like some opinions on these :]
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Post by skyfire on Jun 10, 2009 8:41:01 GMT -5
The thing to keep in mind with large blades is that the bigger they are, the harder they are to reasonably wield in battle. Ruroni Kenshin actually did it right with Zanoske's huge sword; although Zanoske was super-humanly strong, the sheer size of his blade meant that he could really do very little in combat outside of attacking multiple foes at once. ** If you want a real-to-life "big" sword that was also sufficiently badass in design, try looking at the macuahuitl, a sword used by the inhabitants of Central America. The blades were made of volcanic glass, meaning that they were at times sharper than the metal swords of the conquistadors; one account has a single blade nearly decapitating a horse with a single stroke. The wood and volcanic glass construction means that you can reasonably write them into even low-tech fantasy settings, or for coolness points you can come up with a futuristic alternative made of metal and whatever is impossibly sharp for that day.
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Post by Jodie on Jun 10, 2009 14:07:36 GMT -5
Ooooh! I like the curved one! I imagine that you could hook someone, draw them in, then slash them to peices! (Obviously I have a fascination with curves and sharp edges. )
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Jun 10, 2009 16:38:16 GMT -5
Hmm...what style of fighting are you going for?
Without knowing that, I'd have to say that the bottom is my personal favorite. Although, the dimensions of the hilt seem a bit off. Just a tiny bit.
Also, about the advice, you're certainly welcome.
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Post by Haseen on Jun 10, 2009 18:19:12 GMT -5
I like that hooked sword. You could also add a spiked shield -- he hooks an opponent and pulls him into the shield.
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Post by Napoleon the Clown on Jun 10, 2009 21:53:17 GMT -5
Zweihander. Claymores are big. These are bigger. Keep in mind that a big fucking sword will also be a real bitch to travel with. Especially with the kinds of designs you see in fantasy. A stylized version of a realworld sword will be a lot more original than a pure fantasy design. Last, but not least, no matter what design you go with, keep in mind this one thing: Nothing's stopping him from punting a car at someone who he finds particularly annoying. If he's going to be using ridiculous sword in the first place, the laws of physics won't cry any harder about someone punting a car a few hundred yards when the protagonist uses a big enough sword that, by all rights, he shouldn't even be able to keep his balance simply by merit of the center of balance between his weapon and himself means he'll simply tip over.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Jun 10, 2009 22:31:37 GMT -5
However, suspension of disbelief does not always work like that. I WTF whenever Cloud jumps in AC, even though it's not hugely different from his sword, ridiculousness-wise.
Speaking of FFVII, I love the semi-official explanation for how they can whip out such unnaturally large swords: MAGNETS!
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Post by lunarxero on Jun 10, 2009 22:41:30 GMT -5
Love the bottom sword. It kinda reminds me of a sword used in Ancient Egypt.
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Post by John E on Jun 11, 2009 11:37:12 GMT -5
Hi, jumping in well into the conversation, because I haven't been online for a couple days... There are some pretty darn big swords that were actually used in combat (The claymore and the zweihander have been mentioned), and they aren't as unwieldy as you might think. The problem with huge anime swords is not just their length (they are often no longer than a claymore), it's their width. A medieval greatsword usually has a 2 inch wide blade. Anime swords like the buster sword have blades that are 8-10 inches wide! THAT is what would make those swords unusable. In short, big swords are fine, as long as they are realistically proportioned. The blades that you drew look cool, but they are WAY too wide, even for very short swords. A certain amount of exaggeration is fine, of course, but keep it reasonable. I made this to illustrate my feelings on oversized anime swords.
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Post by Old Viking on Jun 11, 2009 14:01:14 GMT -5
A really big problem with crabgrass?
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Jun 11, 2009 15:01:34 GMT -5
It's not as bad when the character is stated as not being exactly a normal human. But when the series is going for a "realistic" approach, & they have a humongous fucking blade like that, I just can't get into it.
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Post by Rime on Jun 11, 2009 15:06:04 GMT -5
Zweihander. Claymores are big. These are bigger. Keep in mind that a big fucking sword will also be a real bitch to travel with. Especially with the kinds of designs you see in fantasy. A stylized version of a realworld sword will be a lot more original than a pure fantasy design. Last, but not least, no matter what design you go with, keep in mind this one thing: Nothing's stopping him from punting a car at someone who he finds particularly annoying. If he's going to be using ridiculous sword in the first place, the laws of physics won't cry any harder about someone punting a car a few hundred yards when the protagonist uses a big enough sword that, by all rights, he shouldn't even be able to keep his balance simply by merit of the center of balance between his weapon and himself means he'll simply tip over. If I recall correctly (and I may not), the Zweihander had a purpose, and it served quite well. Swiss pikemen had them as a secondary weapon and used them to crop polearms to short staves and close combat with mounted troops. They're also balanced extremely well so they handle easily for such a huge weapon, but they were likely quite pricey when you compare them to pikes and partisans.
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Post by gotpwnt on Jun 11, 2009 15:19:37 GMT -5
I know it's very Freudian but I've always figured that large weapons, especially swords, is a direct or indirect euphemism for a penis. I suppose that it is just stroking the male fantasy of having a huge member and unlimited energy and power reserves, which male anime characters with large weapons also seem to possess. Certainly there is no way one could read too much into this. Did you really have to do that?
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Post by Napoleon the Clown on Jun 12, 2009 5:17:12 GMT -5
Yes.
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Post by CtraK on Jun 15, 2009 18:15:40 GMT -5
Questions:
a) are range weapons entirely out of the question here, and if so, why?
b) my other question is now irrelevant, given a reading of the OP.
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