There was a post on Joystiq that showed off, what was explained as "a guy making an 80-pound replica of the Buster Sword" (which is linked in the article, so it's not embedded above, but rather one of the neater projects from the same guy) but is in reality much much more. This isn't just some guy who slapped together a thing that looked like the Buster Sword and was 'kind of cool, I guess'. No, no, no, no, no, this is much much different.
The 'guy' is Tony Swatton and he is the subject of a youtube-based mini-show series called "Man at Arms". The show, as you might expect given the context so far, is all about replicating weapons from pieces of fiction, be it movies, TV shows, comics or video games, but not only replicating them, but making them actual, viable weapons in their own right. Every weapon this man forges using his 30 years of experience is an actual, honest, deadly weapon that just happens to be modeled after something that you see and can't fathom it as being an actual thing that is made to be like that. Hilariously, in at least one, perhaps two of the episodes of the show, he makes something that's based off of a cheaply made thing you can order to display your fandom with, to have something that is -actually- what it's supposed to be. Specifically, the example I'm thinking of is the Bat'leth from Star Trek, which is an incredibly dangerous piece.
Completely divorced from the fact that he's actually making weapons from games we recognize, like the mentioned Buster Sword and actually a Diamond Sword from Minecraft, or cartoons we enjoy like Finn's Golden Sword from Adventure Time, this is just a legitimately cool thing. There's just something inherently cool about being able to watch a show about something being made from scratch, so you can see what it came from and how it ended up. This goes the next level as not only is that thing being made something that is of extraordinary quality (from being forged correctly, with function in mind), but it's something that most of us generally have no idea on where we'd even start on making it. For instance, I certainly didn't know that metal gets de-magnetized at 1,550 degrees Fahrenheit, but I know that now. Or that, in the instance of Finn's sword, that tempering metal in a 385 degrees for five hours gives it a golden sheen.
Being that it's a new show, there are only a few episodes (as of this writing, there are 12), and the short-form grates on me a little, mostly because I want at least a half-hour dedicated to these episodes, or like 22 minutes with commercials because I would watch it on television, but it's definitely interesting. I don't implore you guys to watch that many things, but this is one of those times where I'm going to have to insist. Mostly because I'm sure none of you will blame me.
Caim's sword from Drakengard anyone? ....anyone? shit, it's just me, isn't it
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