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Comment count is 23
EvilHomer - 2014-12-13

SEE?!?! I TOLD YOU GUYS!!!!!!!! THE SWORD TOTALLY WORKS, SO THERE.


Jet Bin Fever - 2014-12-13

Sure, if you hit yourself with your metal crossguard you won't hurt yourself... because it's not made out of fucking lasers.


DrVital - 2014-12-13

I discovered this guy a few months ago while looking for some authenticity in my novels. I've kept him on my subscribe list ever since.


EvilHomer - 2014-12-13

He's really good! Intelligent, down-to-earth, and unlike pretty much every single other sword guy with a Youtube channel, he actually knows what the hell he's talking about.

For those of you who don't follow him, Mr Easton is a friend of Lindybeige. He runs a prominent HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) school in London, and unlike many reconstructionists, who are generally either enthusiastic LARPers or RenFaire guys with a background in theatrical stage combat, Mr Easton is a serious scholar and medievalist who draws on a wealth of primary sources, particularly the 14th century battle manuals of an Italian fencing master named Fiore dei Liberi. He gives lectures at the Tower of London and the Royal Armouries, and his website has links to all the historical manuscripts of the sword-y variety that you could ever ask for.

http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=25


EvilHomer - 2014-12-13

He's also an incorrigible nerd, as you can no doubt surmise from the content of this video.


cognitivedissonance - 2014-12-13

This is not Youtube's top sword guy. That is Lindybeige. If only there was some sort of method, perhaps involving a sharpened steel implement of some kind, wherewith these two dapper yeomen could duel it out, as it were.


EvilHomer - 2014-12-13

It depends on what you're looking for. I like Lindy the best, of course, because he's wonderfully entertaining. However, when it comes to serious swordery, Schola is king.


SteamPoweredKleenex - 2014-12-14

The Fat Swordsman would smother them both.


SteamPoweredKleenex - 2014-12-14

The Fat Swordsman would smother them both.


infinite zest - 2014-12-13

Goddamnit, why did this become such an issue? Episode 3 had whatshisname with a spinny lightsabre and people shrugged and said "eh.. it was actually pretty good after the first two," because it was actually a pretty OK movie. The lightsabre itself had nothing to do with it, and was much more dangerous to the wielder than this contraption. I'm curious because I've seen a lot of really good trailers in the last couple of weeks, and the Star Wars one almost seems fan-made. In fact, there are better fan-made fake trailers for VII than this one. Is the mindset just "let's do the opposite of episodes I-IIIs' trailers," which really did made those moves look awesome when they sucked (except for maybe the third one?)

I mean, I'll see it. You'll see it. We'll all see this fucking movie. It's quicksand and we're trapped in it. But people are arguing about the sword so much that they forgot that the Millennium Falcon appears to be about the same size as a Tie Fighter.


FABIO - 2014-12-13

It became an issue because it's the most emblematic giveaway how awful the movie will be (it's Abrams, of course it will be awful).

It shows they've learned nothing from the prequels. The end of Plinkett's Phantom Menace review goes over everything that was wrong with the lightsaber fights and by extension, the entire run of prequels. It was all dumb gimmicks and over-choreographed fights that were devoid of any meaning or emotion. He shows how even the fight between Vader and an elderly Alec Guinness made for a better scene than Darth Maul, or that dumb robot with his twirly lightsaber propeller. The crossguard hints pretty strongly that they're relying on escalating gimmicks again instead of competent storytelling.

And no, I will not see it. Everyone said the same thing with the third prequel or Matrix movie to see how it ended. I had learned my lessons by then, three times shame on me etc etc.

I will bet my entire non-existant mortgage that this won't be any better than the last Star Trek movie.


EvilHomer - 2014-12-14

Everyone who counts will see it.

FABIO raises some interesting points, and I agree with some of it. However, I do have to take issue with Plinkett's anti-lightsaber fuddyduddery. While Mr Plinkett is usually spot-on with his critiques of Star Wars, when it comes to lightsabers, his childhood nostalgia takes over, and he begins to mistake symptoms for causes. In Plinkett's mind, sword fights are bad, because they are neither driving along the plot nor revealing anything about the characters; if the director must debase himself by including such a fight, it's got to look shitty and be over in ten seconds. Because Art, or something.

Were the prequel fights pretty dumb? Yes, absolutely. The prequels were dumb movies; they were poorly directed, and no amount of cool fighting could salvage them. Are fancy fight sequences *inherently* dumb? No. On the contrary: one can have a great plot AND a great, visceral fighting spirit! Hell, the fights don't even have to have a deeper narrative meaning; they can simply be eye-candy, meant to break up the monotony of relentless plot, and the film will not be any the worse for it. Consider the following list: Oldboy, Seven Samurai, The Matrix, Ichi the Killer, AKIRA, Army of Darkness, Battlestar Galactica, Band of Brothers, The Professional, Samurai Jack, and Starship Troopers. All superb pieces of film and television, all riddled with cool fight sequences, many of which put the "dumb robot" and his sick-ass lightsaber propeller to shame. Hell, even Star Wars has been proven to work with all the extravagant violence of The Prequels left in: The Clone Wars was arguably the most powerful and effective piece of non-KotOR Star Wars media since the first film, and it was able to maintain this level of dramatic impact despite devoting over half of its runtime to Anakin doing backflip saber strikes clean through the twitching torsos of giant evil death robots.


EvilHomer - 2014-12-14

... and with regards to the Prequels specifically, I think it's important to remember that the ridiculous lightsaber fights were the only things actually worth watching. They were the sole element that George Lucas actually got *right*. When your squad fails to accomplish its objective, you don't blame the one guy who was actually pulling his weight!


The Mothership - 2014-12-13

You can chop the hand guard off. Who greenlighted that design? This is one more reason for me to never even watch the trailer


infinite zest - 2014-12-13

I think if you chop it off it just becomes one stream and goes back to regular lightsabre. This is one more reason why I need a girlfriend :)


cognitivedissonance - 2014-12-13

I'll be your girlfriend, Zest.


oddeye - 2014-12-13

The guard is made of Darth Vader's robotic arm covering material so resists lightsabre swings. Or maybe it's a "vibro" hilt. Or maybe it's empowered by the force. Or maybe there is an energy shield that protects it.

Or maybe it's just fucking dumb as all hell


EvilHomer - 2014-12-14

Yes, as I stated in a previous video, it is entirely possible that the hilt is force-attuned or else manufactured from/ reinforced wtih some lightsaber-resistant material, such as Mandalorian iron or cortosis.


EvilHomer - 2014-12-14

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mandalorian_iron
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cortosis

If you check the Lightsaber infobox on the bottom of either page, there are ten other possibilities listed under the heading, "Lightsaber-resistant materials".


EvilHomer - 2014-12-14

Sorry, eight other possibilities. The lightsaber hilt obviously cannot be made of amphistaff or vonduun crab.


Old_Zircon - 2014-12-13

This guy's the best of them.

Why am I so in to sword guy videos lately?

Why are sword guy videos kind of a "thing" on here suddenly?

It is a mystery.


Old_Zircon - 2014-12-13

Seriously, though, men with accents talking about swords must be my ASMR trigger or something, it puts me right to sleep.


misterbuns - 2014-12-14

It's a world with magic stop thinking so hard.


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