Sephiroth's Masamune Sword Forged In Man At Arms

Fanghawk

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Sephiroth's Masamune Sword Forged In Man At Arms

Swordsmith Tony Swatton has crafted one of Final Fantasy VII's iconic weapons, noting how it would fare against Cloud Strife's Buster Sword.

If you're a Final Fantasy fan, you've probably already heard some jokes about how unrealistic its weapons are. Everybody knows Cloud's Buster Sword is too heavy to swing, and nobody's needed <a href=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Gunblade>a blade that's also a gun for about a century. But as a Final Fantasy fan, you also probably don't care because those designs look freaking amazing. Tony Swatton, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130564-God-of-War-Blades-of-Chaos-Come-to-Life>the swordsmith behind Man At Arms, agrees with you, except he constructed a 7' long sword to prove it. No, not Cloud's Buster Sword (<a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xogheZdAO18>he already made one of those); Swatton has added Sephiroth's Masamune to his impressive collection, partly just to see how the iconic Final Fantasy VII swords compare to each other.

The Masamune started out as a 7'2" slab of steel that Swatton wrestled into an 84" long and 1.2" blade. The process apparently isn't that different from crafting a traditional katana blade, although Swatton notes the length makes things more challenging. "It's been kinda fun," Swatton says, "with a red hot piece of metal flopping around underneath the power hammer, trying to keep everything true."

For the handle, Swatton simply repurposed an old chair leg, creating an interior for the sword to fit into, and forging an ingot of bronze for the guard located above the handle. The handle was then covered in Same (stingray skin), wrapped with nylon cording in a criss-cross design, and finally pinned together with chopsticks. "The handle will be pinned together traditionally with [bamboo pins] holding it in a couple of places," Swatton admitted. "We have to go to a sushi restaurant and keep on dropping chopsticks so we can pick them off the floor to take it in to use for fitting the handle together."

After a few more adjustments, the Masamune was ready for testing on several unassuming inert objects. Sadly, holding a battle between the Masamune and Buster Sword would probably destroy both objects, but Swatton noted which he thought was superior. "Sephiroth would definitely win a battle against Buster's Sword," he explained. "Once you get [the Buster Sword] picked up in the air and dropped it on the person, that's your one shot. Sephiroth you can swing it around a few times and actually use it ... to make something that long and still keep it functional is difficult."

In episodes last month, Swatton Kratos' Blades of Chaos [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130934-Fire-Emblems-Falchion-Sword-Recreated-on-Man-at-Arms] from God of War.

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balladbird

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Huh, never heard of this show... but I'm always behind the trend when it comes to youtube. XD

this guy's pretty awesome. I respect how much work he put into everything, and the finished product was just beautiful. A pity it only served to point out how ultimately impractical these weapons really are... but makes for a hell of a decoration.
 

Lunar Templar

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*headdesk so hard the deck breaks*

REALLY?!?! This over sized toothpick is what gets a news story about this guy here?! He's made other swords far more worth of notice then this over gloried butter knife.
 

anthony87

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Lunar Templar said:
*headdesk so hard the deck breaks*

REALLY?!?! This over sized toothpick is what gets a news story about this guy here?! He's made other swords far more worth of notice then this over gloried butter knife.
Not the first time there's been a news story about him on the site.

Bloody chill...
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

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Lunar Templar said:
*headdesk so hard the deck breaks*

REALLY?!?! This over sized toothpick is what gets a news story about this guy here?! He's made other swords far more worth of notice then this over gloried butter knife.
Hey, It's a Gaming Site, Sephiroth is a popular character in gaming culture.
It just so happens that the News Crew thought this would be a good story and I for one think it is.

Besides, even if you think it's not his finest work, the fact that he managed to make a weapon from a Final Fantasy real is still impressive.
 

Lunar Templar

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Diablo1099 said:
Hey, It's a Gaming Site, Sephiroth is a popular character in gaming culture.
Which is a sad comment by it self .....

It just so happens that the News Crew thought this would be a good story and I for one think it is.

Besides, even if you think it's not his finest work, the fact that he managed to make a weapon from a Final Fantasy real is still impressive.
Not really,the Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Meteor Sword is a much more impressive blade, due to being made out of real meteor fragments (which are apparently really hard to work with.)

Even his Sword of Omens in more impressive due to how elaborate that build was.
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

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Lunar Templar said:
Which is a sad comment by it self .....
Good to know you aren't judging us.

Not really,the Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Meteor Sword is a much more impressive blade, due to being made out of real meteor fragments (which are apparently really hard to work with.)

Even his Sword of Omens in more impressive due to how elaborate that build was.
Okay, that does sound pretty awesome, but again, this is what the News Crew got in their feed and what they put up.
Still, if you want to bring attention to that, then have at it, post a few pics in this thread and let people know about it.
Hell, go into Off-Topic and make a thread there if you wish, nothings stopping ya.
 

soren7550

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Lunar Templar said:
*headdesk so hard the deck breaks*

REALLY?!?! This over sized toothpick is what gets a news story about this guy here?! He's made other swords far more worth of notice then this over gloried butter knife.
Four others [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/tag/man+at+arms] have already had articles about them: the Hidden Blade, Diamond Sword, Blades of Chaos, and Falchion.

OT: Cool stuff as always. Here's hoping that he makes Honedge next.
 

Lunar Templar

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Diablo1099 said:
Lunar Templar said:
Which is a sad comment by it self .....
Good to know you aren't judging us.
Always :p Especially when it comes to this whiny mama's boy, and the over hyped game he's from.

Okay, that does sound pretty awesome, but again, this is what the News Crew got in their feed and what they put up.
Still, if you want to bring attention to that, then have at it, post a few pics in this thread and let people know about it.
Hell, go into Off-Topic and make a thread there if you wish, nothings stopping ya.
I would but The Meteor Sword is an older video, much like the Sword of Omens, actually all the swords he made I like, cept the Falchion from Fire Emblem are older vids

but here's a link to the Meteor Sword [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITY1WzbLj8] anyway.
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

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Lunar Templar said:
Always :p Especially when it comes to this whiny mama's boy, and the over hyped game he's from.
Alright, just you seemed to come off as a bit of a prick with that last comment.

I would but The Meteor Sword is an older video, much like the Sword of Omens, actually all the swords he made I like, cept the Falchion from Fire Emblem are older vids

but here's a link to the Meteor Sword [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITY1WzbLj8] anyway.
I'll check it out, cheers.
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

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Lunar Templar said:
Always :p Especially when it comes to this whiny mama's boy, and the over hyped game he's from.
Alright, just you seemed to come off as a bit of a prick with that last comment.

I would but The Meteor Sword is an older video, much like the Sword of Omens, actually all the swords he made I like, cept the Falchion from Fire Emblem are older vids

but here's a link to the Meteor Sword [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITY1WzbLj8] anyway.
I'll check it out, cheers.
 

Something Amyss

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Lunar Templar said:
Not really,the Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Meteor Sword is a much more impressive blade, due to being made out of real meteor fragments (which are apparently really hard to work with.)

Even his Sword of Omens in more impressive due to how elaborate that build was.
And while both are cool, neither is really video game related. Not hard to see why this gets more attention on a gaming site.

Even if you don't like Sephiroth (and I don't, either).
 

Sniper Team 4

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Aw man, I want one...Love how the blade bends like that when he swings it. Clearly only Sephiroth is capable of wielding the Masamune correctly :) . The talent that some people have is just not fair. I wish I could do stuff like this. I'd be making weapons all day. Probably start with those two daggers that Hawke starts with in Dragon Age II when Varric is embellishing the story.

On a slightly related topic, where are those cutscenes from? I'm guessing the PSP game, yes? I've never seen them, and that's the only FFVII game I've never gotten a chance to play.
 

Uratoh

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My favorite is Leona's sword from League of Legends. That thing was kind of nuts, and I think that may have been Ironstylus' wife they got to cosplay Leona >_>.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Ironically, picked the less satisfying one to report on. It looks alright, but it wasn't forged like a katana and it wobbles like fuck when demonstrated. A lot of the other weapons he's done end up more functional that this. Admittedly they're not the washing pole.
 

Gordon_4_v1legacy

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I love this guy; he does such interesting and awesome work. My personal favourite is actually the Sword of Greyskull:


Just a good, solid slab of steel :)

As for Sepherioth's Masamune, it's a lovely display piece but I wouldn't want to fight with it.
 

Maxtro

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Anybody know what kind of metal the sword would need to have made of to prevent the wobble?

Maybe titanium?

Of course that would make it super expensive to make, and I'm sure the in-game Masamune was also a very expensive sword.
 

loc978

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While I appreciate this guy's more traditional approach to smithing, I rather prefer MichaelCthulu's welded swords for pure entertainment value. He made all of these years ago.
The Masamune was actually one of his most boring builds... too simple, too unusable.



Probably his best work, at least for unusably huge fantasy swords:
Also, to anyone who claims to want one, I'm pretty sure the guy still builds to order... not that the swords are good for much more than hanging on a wall or breaking your back. Looks like they make one hell of a workout out of chopping firewood.

Maxtro said:
Anybody know what kind of metal the sword would need to have made of to prevent the wobble?

Maybe titanium?

Of course that would make it super expensive to make, and I'm sure the in-game Masamune was also a very expensive sword.
Definitely not titanium... it may have great strength to weight, but it has terrible strength to volume in comparison to steel. It's more like better aluminum than better iron... and iron has a pretty unique carbon alloy in steel. A titanium sword of any significant length, unless it was very thick, would bend under its own weight and stay bent.

As for preventing wobble with a piece of metal that long and thin... it's probably possible with an extremely hard temper of high carbon steel, but that would make the blade brittle, so you definitely wouldn't want to use it (thus, the wobble in the video is actually the sign of a stronger, more flexible sword. Only the very shortest of real swords don't wobble at all. Traditional-length katanas wobble quite a bit [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH_oLEllyvg]-watch the last cut). Aside from that... maybe some super-dense alloy we haven't discovered, or maybe carbon nano-tubes. Still have no idea why those wouldn't be brittle from some angle or other... but my material science studies have all been strictly amateur.
 

kailus13

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Sniper Team 4 said:
On a slightly related topic, where are those cutscenes from? I'm guessing the PSP game, yes? I've never seen them, and that's the only FFVII game I've never gotten a chance to play.
It is indeed from Crisis Core. Here's the full cutscene if you want to see it.

I'm guessing it'd break pretty quickly if you tried to use it in an actual fight. Looks kind of unwieldy as well, jusding from the dude missing one of the water bottles.