Saturday, March 15, 2008

March 15, 2008
2
You like cutting stuff up? Slice it to pieces so small that they are almost transparent? A master chef can do it to cucumber. Arthas can do it to your brain. Arthas? Arthas menethil you mean? Yeah, that evil lich king incarnate that you'll be fighting as the last boss in Wrath of the Lich king.

But, so can you.

What? We can too?

That's right, aparently some company called "Epic Weapons is selling real life copies of Frostmourne. Go check it out.

Before you go crazy and order one of these things though, make sure you got the cash for it. Each blade will cost you an estimate of $379. Dollars? bwhahah, we europeans laugh at your dollars!! That means it'll cost you only 250E, excluding shipping and handling fees however. On top of that spiffy steel sword you also get:
* Collector's display mount (e.g. stand, not a creature, sorry guys)
* Limited edition poster
* Certificate of authenticity
* Game 2 Gear Handheld authenticity reader

Not bad for 250 Euros.

The sword itself will be about 47 inch, or about 119.4 cm long. The blade of the sword will be 28 inch, or 71.1 cm long. The grip of the sword is bound black leather. There's also a Game 2 Gear RFID (radio frequency ID tag) embedded in the weapon somewhere, so you can use the handheld reader to ensure it's the actual thing and not some fake copy. Not that it'll be easy to copy in the first place.

Although the sword is sold by the Epic Weapons site, it's actually crafted by a group called Weapon Masters.


Caution

Now, before you happily tread along and buy any of these things, a word of caution. Frostmourne is not an "actual" battle ready swords. Sure they are made of metal, perhaps even actual steel, and you can probably stab somebody to death with it if you really wanted to. But these are swords made specifically for display purposes. That means you can unfortunately only hang them on your wall, and have them look pretty for all your friends to see. Which is all cool and all, but not all that.

If you're like me and you get your hands on a big steel weapon like this, you will not be able to resist the urge to go into your back yard and swing it at some fruit and vegetables, and watch it break in half. Sadly this is the grim reality of display swords.

So, before buying swords online, i'd like you to read this website. It is an online sword buyers guide which contains several links and examples to bad and good swords. Before you decide to buy any kind of sword from an online store, check and double check the quality.

A fully functional, high quality katana can cost you anywhere between $500 - $2000, even as crazy as $30.000 for a genuine Japanese forged Nihonto. But you will know you are dealing with quality if you can chop stuff with it without breaking, as a good sword should. You think that's crazy though? There are even genuine antique swords available at prices ranging up to $80.000. All i'm saying is, don't expect to go on a killing spree with a simple $400 steel display quality sword.

There's also the interesting legend of damascus steel, some stores sell it like it's the real thing, at least their prices seem to indicate it is. But true damascus steel is a lost technique, perhaps someday...

And there's the ditch bottom of $25 for a sword like this. Don't expect that to last long in combat, but it does look nice on your wall.

I don't doubt that the sword offered at Epic Weapons is made of decent quality, it's sponsored by blizzard after all. But I can assure you that you do NOT want to try cutting any kind of material with a display quality sword (See the FAQ). Amazing as it might look, don't be surprised if it breaks in half if you swing it at a tree.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice external link site :) thank you :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent post. As a fellow collector and dealer, we also recommend that you call the company before you purchase the sword. Make sure you are comfortable with the information they are providing. Reputable companies should be able to answer everything from craftsmanship to care.