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Description

Now that I can confirm that it's been successfully shipped out and received, it's time to unveil the second custom LARP weapon commission that I undertook this year. Like the previous one, this was something I did on behalf of another cosplayer - and like the other one, this *isn't* an ordinary prop at all. This sword & scabbard set belongs to my convention friend, Cattzs, whose page is here:

www.facebook.com/CattzsCosplay…

The weapon itself is another world's first - the first LARP-safe foam latex replica of General Esdeath's rapier & scabbard from the popular anime & manga series, "Akame ga Kill." One of the series' major antagonists, Esdeath was probably the show's most popular character and arguably one of the most famous villains out of all the anime which aired that season.

vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/a…

The rapier & scabbard themselves were created by Artyfakes Action Props in England (www.artyfakes.co.uk/ ), the same studio that created the LARP-safe Sayaka Miki saber & scabbard from "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" I had commissioned before, which can be seen here: fav.me/d9tn2tz But the nature of this particular project was very different, and in some ways, more ambitious. Whereas the previous project's aim was just to create a LARP-safe replica of Sayaka's sword & scabbard that struck a balance between screen-accuracy and practicality, we had a few specific design goals that we needed to achieve with this one.

First, there's the question of screen-accuracy. Unlike Sayaka's sword, I don't believe I have ever seen any replica of Esdeath's rapier that truly matches the way the weapon was designed in the franchise's original concept art. The reason for this lies in the series itself: Esdeath's sword is drawn ridiculously inconsistently. When we see the full sword, its design is dramatically simplified to the point where some details - especially the exact shape and construction of the cup-hilt, knuckle bow and pommel - are very crudely represented. But when we see the weapon up close, it's revealed that the knuckle bow and hilt have a much more detailed construction with some very specific shapes.

Unfortunately, most replicas of Esdeath's sword - especially the cheap, low-quality, Chinese-made cosplay shop props, are based on the "distance shots" of her sword from the anime where the details are very poorly and inaccurately represented, a combination of inattention to detail and more focus being placed on speed and cost-effectiveness over a quality product. I was determined to address this, and obtained screen caps from two particular scenes where Esdeath draws her rapier and we consequently get to see the exact construction of the hilt, handle and knuckle-bow. As a result, this prop has a radically different hilt & handle construction from just about every other Esdeath sword prop out there - one that's a far closer match to how the weapon was really designed, and which makes it arguably the only *truly* screen-accurate Esdeath sword in existence.

But we didn't stop at show-accuracy. I also drew on my own personal interests in fencing and the history of martial arts to make the weapon "historically accurate" as well. Capitalizing on a "loophole" in design, I realized that General Esdeath's sword was drawn so inconsistently in "Akame ga Kill" that we can't even tell exactly how long it really was, and consequently, Artyfakes and I had room to play around with the weapon's scale and dimensions while remaining arguably "show-accurate." With this in mind, I made a radical new design decision: the dimensions and balance point of Cattzs' Esdeath sword would be modeled on a very well-known real-life weapon:

www.museumreplicas.com/p-729-m…

This is an example of an early rapier, what modern-day sword collectors would probably call a "Sidesword." It dates to the Renaissance, with several extant examples preserved in museum collections in England and elsewhere, including the famous Wallace and Higgins collections. The museum pieces generally date to between 1600 and 1610. This pattern of sword is often claimed to have been issued to the town guards of the city of Munich in Bavaria, Germany, and is an example of an earlier time in the development of the rapier, a transitional period when the sword blades were shorter and wider than what we're used to seeing in "Zorro" or "The Three Musketeers," resulting in a design in between the medieval broadsword and the "Destreza" style Spanish rapier, a sword that's becoming specialized for thrust fencing but can still lop off limbs with little effort - a fighting style that was a good match for the way Esdeath uses her rapier in "Akame ga Kill."

www.higgins-collection.org/art…

The Munich town guardsman's sword is very well-known because several examples survive in museum collections and reproductions from a number of companies are widely available for purchase, so I asked Artyfakes to duplicate the dimensions and center-of-balance of the Munich sword when designing their LARP version of General Esdeath's rapier. Consequently, with the exception of the overall weight (this prop weighs less than a pound, while the real sword would have weighed three pounds), the prop weapon's handling characteristics are at least somewhat similar to those of the real sword, a very desirable characteristic for a prop that, like the LARP Sayaka sword before it, meets the strictest European LARP safety rules and is specially designed to be fully capable of combat.

The final result is a weapon exquisitely unique in concept, design and execution, the result of a cosplayer's love for a character and a friend's desire to do whatever it takes to develop a superior quality prop for that character. This sword, however, was one of Artyfakes' very last custom LARP weapon commissions. Around the time they began work on it, they stopped taking commissions altogether to focus on teaching "foamsmithing" classes and other, larger-scale aspects of the industry. With Artyfakes out of the LARP weapon business, it's unlikely that we'll ever see another LARP Esdeath sword like this again - so for now, like the Sayaka sword, this is the only prop of its kind.

Here are some basic stats for Cattzs' General Esdeath rapier & scabbard from "Akame ga Kill," created by Artyfakes Action Props in England:

Prop Type: LARP-safe foam-latex weapon w/ carbon-fiber core & Kevlar-reinforced tip

Prop Identity: Esdeath's rapier/scabbard from "Akame ga Kill"

Additional Design Influence: Munich town guard's sword of 1610

Classification: Cup-hilt cut-and-thrust sidesword ("spada da lato" or proto-rapier)

Hilt Style: Spanish cup-hilt w/ reinforced knuckle bow

Blade Style: Straight, double-edged, non-fullered w/ spear-point
Blade Cross-Section: Hexagonal (six-sided)

Overall Weight: approx. 0.66 pounds

Overall Length: 42 inches (Munich swords vary from 39" to 43")

Blade Length: 31.5 inches

Center of Balance: 1.25 inches down the blade from the cup-hilt

Scabbard Length: 33.5 inches

Scabbard Mounts: Two adjustable belt loops w/ buckles

Recommended Fighting Style: Joachim Meyer's German rapier system, as taught in "Kunst des Fechtens (1570)"

(Note: images in this collage were provided courtesy of Artyfakes Action Props.)

Description

Now that I can confirm that it's been successfully shipped out and received, it's time to unveil the second custom LARP weapon commission that I undertook this year. Like the previous one, this was something I did on behalf of another cosplayer - and like the other one, this *isn't* an ordinary prop at all. This sword & scabbard set belongs to my convention friend, Cattzs, whose page is here:

www.facebook.com/CattzsCosplay…

The weapon itself is another world's first - the first LARP-safe foam latex replica of General Esdeath's rapier & scabbard from the popular anime & manga series, "Akame ga Kill." One of the series' major antagonists, Esdeath was probably the show's most popular character and arguably one of the most famous villains out of all the anime which aired that season.

vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/a…

The rapier & scabbard themselves were created by Artyfakes Action Props in England (www.artyfakes.co.uk/ ), the same studio that created the LARP-safe Sayaka Miki saber & scabbard from "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" I had commissioned before, which can be seen here: fav.me/d9tn2tz But the nature of this particular project was very different, and in some ways, more ambitious. Whereas the previous project's aim was just to create a LARP-safe replica of Sayaka's sword & scabbard that struck a balance between screen-accuracy and practicality, we had a few specific design goals that we needed to achieve with this one.

First, there's the question of screen-accuracy. Unlike Sayaka's sword, I don't believe I have ever seen any replica of Esdeath's rapier that truly matches the way the weapon was designed in the franchise's original concept art. The reason for this lies in the series itself: Esdeath's sword is drawn ridiculously inconsistently. When we see the full sword, its design is dramatically simplified to the point where some details - especially the exact shape and construction of the cup-hilt, knuckle bow and pommel - are very crudely represented. But when we see the weapon up close, it's revealed that the knuckle bow and hilt have a much more detailed construction with some very specific shapes.

Unfortunately, most replicas of Esdeath's sword - especially the cheap, low-quality, Chinese-made cosplay shop props, are based on the "distance shots" of her sword from the anime where the details are very poorly and inaccurately represented, a combination of inattention to detail and more focus being placed on speed and cost-effectiveness over a quality product. I was determined to address this, and obtained screen caps from two particular scenes where Esdeath draws her rapier and we consequently get to see the exact construction of the hilt, handle and knuckle-bow. As a result, this prop has a radically different hilt & handle construction from just about every other Esdeath sword prop out there - one that's a far closer match to how the weapon was really designed, and which makes it arguably the only *truly* screen-accurate Esdeath sword in existence.

But we didn't stop at show-accuracy. I also drew on my own personal interests in fencing and the history of martial arts to make the weapon "historically accurate" as well. Capitalizing on a "loophole" in design, I realized that General Esdeath's sword was drawn so inconsistently in "Akame ga Kill" that we can't even tell exactly how long it really was, and consequently, Artyfakes and I had room to play around with the weapon's scale and dimensions while remaining arguably "show-accurate." With this in mind, I made a radical new design decision: the dimensions and balance point of Cattzs' Esdeath sword would be modeled on a very well-known real-life weapon:

www.museumreplicas.com/p-729-m…

This is an example of an early rapier, what modern-day sword collectors would probably call a "Sidesword." It dates to the Renaissance, with several extant examples preserved in museum collections in England and elsewhere, including the famous Wallace and Higgins collections. The museum pieces generally date to between 1600 and 1610. This pattern of sword is often claimed to have been issued to the town guards of the city of Munich in Bavaria, Germany, and is an example of an earlier time in the development of the rapier, a transitional period when the sword blades were shorter and wider than what we're used to seeing in "Zorro" or "The Three Musketeers," resulting in a design in between the medieval broadsword and the "Destreza" style Spanish rapier, a sword that's becoming specialized for thrust fencing but can still lop off limbs with little effort - a fighting style that was a good match for the way Esdeath uses her rapier in "Akame ga Kill."

www.higgins-collection.org/art…

The Munich town guardsman's sword is very well-known because several examples survive in museum collections and reproductions from a number of companies are widely available for purchase, so I asked Artyfakes to duplicate the dimensions and center-of-balance of the Munich sword when designing their LARP version of General Esdeath's rapier. Consequently, with the exception of the overall weight (this prop weighs less than a pound, while the real sword would have weighed three pounds), the prop weapon's handling characteristics are at least somewhat similar to those of the real sword, a very desirable characteristic for a prop that, like the LARP Sayaka sword before it, meets the strictest European LARP safety rules and is specially designed to be fully capable of combat.

The final result is a weapon exquisitely unique in concept, design and execution, the result of a cosplayer's love for a character and a friend's desire to do whatever it takes to develop a superior quality prop for that character. This sword, however, was one of Artyfakes' very last custom LARP weapon commissions. Around the time they began work on it, they stopped taking commissions altogether to focus on teaching "foamsmithing" classes and other, larger-scale aspects of the industry. With Artyfakes out of the LARP weapon business, it's unlikely that we'll ever see another LARP Esdeath sword like this again - so for now, like the Sayaka sword, this is the only prop of its kind.

Here are some basic stats for Cattzs' General Esdeath rapier & scabbard from "Akame ga Kill," created by Artyfakes Action Props in England:

Prop Type: LARP-safe foam-latex weapon w/ carbon-fiber core & Kevlar-reinforced tip

Prop Identity: Esdeath's rapier/scabbard from "Akame ga Kill"

Additional Design Influence: Munich town guard's sword of 1610

Classification: Cup-hilt cut-and-thrust sidesword ("spada da lato" or proto-rapier)

Hilt Style: Spanish cup-hilt w/ reinforced knuckle bow

Blade Style: Straight, double-edged, non-fullered w/ spear-point
Blade Cross-Section: Hexagonal (six-sided)

Overall Weight: approx. 0.66 pounds

Overall Length: 42 inches (Munich swords vary from 39" to 43")

Blade Length: 31.5 inches

Center of Balance: 1.25 inches down the blade from the cup-hilt

Scabbard Length: 33.5 inches

Scabbard Mounts: Two adjustable belt loops w/ buckles

Recommended Fighting Style: Joachim Meyer's German rapier system, as taught in "Kunst des Fechtens (1570)"

(Note: images in this collage were provided courtesy of Artyfakes Action Props.)