Berserk Cosplay

[The Herald]

Even with all of that being said, the only thing a metal DS would be useful in a real world sense would be a movie or photo ops. It would not be allowed at conventions. I know from experience . At the 2006 AE con in Vancouver I brought a really dull katana that had never been sharpened. It got taken away to the security holding room. It was funny though, by the end of the day all 3000 people there knew about it. It was fun saying it was my katana. Some people said I was stupid, others I was cool. All I know is that that sword is legal on the street as long as I don't hold it menacingly. In Vancouver BC anyways.

[War Machine]

It was fun saying it was my katana. Some people said I was stupid, others I was cool.

Isn't that reason enough?

[Brainpiercing]

I found a link where you can see a sax blade of folded steel, which was taken to Japan to be polished and examined by a master sword polisher. The blade is even older than I said earlier, it's actually a germanic blade from the 5th to 8th century. And considering it's been lying in the ground for so long, it looks pretty damn good in polished state.

http://www.archaeologie-online.de/magaz ... r_oeffnen/

It's in German, but there are pictures. There is also a longer article here concerning the finding of nano-wires and carbon nano-tubes in damast steel - and the excitement this caused by non-scientific media.

http://www.archaeologie-online.de/de/ma ... t/seite_1/

Also, there is one striking difference between the price of historic weapons today, and in the past: In the past, workmanship was cheap, material was expensive. Now it's the other way around. So a sword that would be incredibly expensive to make now is so expensive because a master smith (rare) needs many work hours to perfect it (with an appropriate hourly rate). In the past, many more people knew this kind of craft, so you would find a lot more people actually forging swords. They may not all have been of equal skill, but their work hours were far cheaper than today.

Also, a sharp blade does not have to be more fragile, at least when treated right. The sturdiness comes from the broad back or midsection, which is tough and elastic, while the cutting edge is hardened and brittle. This knowledge is quite old, even in Europe people knew how to do that - and a long time ago.

[Istvan]

Also, there is one striking difference between the price of historic weapons today, and in the past: In the past, workmanship was cheap, material was expensive. Now it's the other way around. So a sword that would be incredibly expensive to make now is so expensive because a master smith (rare) needs many work hours to perfect it (with an appropriate hourly rate).

But we aren't talking hours here, to make a high quality folded steal blade we're talking days and weeks of labor. A "regular" western sword would be hours. Since a skilled smith was one of the best paying job possible for a non-noble, we're talking some very serious money even in that period.

Also, a sharp blade does not have to be more fragile, at least when treated right. The sturdiness comes from the broad back or midsection, which is tough and elastic, while the cutting edge is hardened and brittle. This knowledge is quite old, even in Europe people knew how to do that - and a long time ago.

I'm not saying the blade itself was fragile, or would break if made sharp. I'm saying that (for a non folded steal blade) the edge would shatter if made too sharp. Because the sharper it is the weaker it is, and without the folding process a truly sharp edge wouldn't be able to withstand the stress of a hard impact.

[lon3vvolf]

Hey you guys and gals!

I've got a serious question. What happens when you take awesome Berserk costumes, awesome Berserk music, mediocre (at best) acting, and just a bit of magic?

Oh wait... you get this:
[youtube]IClObo_A_oM[/youtube]
And another version:
[youtube]AVdyuuXoJeo[/youtube]
Looks like those guys from the pics doesn't it?

Gutts biting the sword was a nice touch.
Made me roffle. Its awesome on so many levels.

[War Machine]

Did they have to move that slow? Their acting left much to be desired, but it was a great effort nonetheless.

[Brainpiercing]

Even though it may not look that good on the screen, show fighting has to be a bit slower than even necessary for the choreography, or else people won't be able to follow. There are also some problems with that setup. You have Griffith dodging a lot, which isn't that easy in that armour. The DS is of course probably really heavy, even when not made of steel, you can see the guy panting at the end.

It was a nice performance, nothing groundbreaking, but a good show for those costumes.

On an entirely other note:

I'm watching the Chinese series "Return of the Condor Heroes" at the moment, AND IT HAS A DRAGONSLAYER IN IT!!! It's almost a perfect match, with the exception of a brass decorative band down the blade centre, where the DS just has rough iron. It's probably a bit shorter than the DS,too, but not much.

[Fuji Nagase]

!YAY! awesome! those guys are my heros for..uh, the next few weeks at least! i didnt get any of the sound because of the computer i am using but it was such a nice effort!! chances are they are lurking here watching us praise them over this in silence, but none the less i will praise. i dont care if they bought the whole damn thing, they did a great ode to Berserk and Miura and they should be fucking proud. i wish i saw them in person.... T.T

[MournfulWoods]

That made me wat to cosplay. The choregraphy is cheesy but the costumes are really cool. But there's really no Convention for anime or comics in Quebec.

[Fuji Nagase]

Otakuthon is one is i am not mistaken. its was aug. 4 and 5, sorry you just missed it, but maybe next year?
http://www.otakuthon.com/en/



so i found the cosplay.com accounts for both of the berserk cosplayers and decided to PM them to come to EG and say hello and of course tell them what an amazing job they both did. so maybe they will come by?

...my caska feels so shotty now..well at least its already in my plans to fix it and wear again this year!!WOO!

[The Major]

Hi there folks,

Fuji invited me over from cosplay.com, she told me some of our Berserk Project pics had made it here. Reading through your comments, thanks for any praise and critics, both come in handy for improvement. I'm glad you liked the show, even if it had its own flaws and mistakes.

We'll try to keep up and produce some more material later on (winter scenes, video clips, etc.)

[Aetherfukz]

Hello and Welcome!

Your outfit was really awesome and the show, while a bit slow, was inspiring non the less. Biting Griffith' sword was probably the coolest moment.

Cheers

[psi29a]

Indeed, welcome aboard.

Glad to see fellow fans.

[MournfulWoods]

Thanks Fuji, for the Link. Shame on me for not doing a proper search for this. This is coolness I'll try and make it for 2008. I only need a character to Cosplay now

Your Caska costume was really great. If you improve it, post some pics, I'd like to see.

[Gabriel]

Hi everyone!

Well... Fuji found me too. And thanks for your comment about the show. I know it became an avarage due to some major consequenses but at least we enjoyed it. Ahhh... and yes. The armours are real, made of 1,5 mm thick steel and Gutts' DS was quite heavy. We tried to make everything exactly how it's in the manga. If anybody has questions, comments about our cosplay, you're welcome. Here's my cosplay.com page for the detailed pics: http://members.cosplay.com/costume/112210/
And Gutts said it right. We will make some videos like the winter scene...

[dialdfordesi]

Damn it is so cool that we have the Guts and Griffith cosplayers on our message boards. I warmly welcome you both!

[Brainpiercing]

I vote that Gabriel gets Fuji a steel armour for her Caska cosplay, and a steel sword as well. That's really the only letdown of the Caska costume, although even the fake armour doesn't look bad. Fuji still has the obvious hot chick advantage, so I think if the three of you ever stand somewhere together, she needn't worry about being overshadowed at all.

You guys really belong to the creme of the cosplay scene, rock on.

[The Prince]

Hi everyone!

Well... Fuji found me too. And thanks for your comment about the show. I know it became an avarage due to some major consequenses but at least we enjoyed it. Ahhh... and yes. The armours are real, made of 1,5 mm thick steel and Gutts' DS was quite heavy. We tried to make everything exactly how it's in the manga. If anybody has questions, comments about our cosplay, you're welcome. Here's my cosplay.com page for the detailed pics: http://members.cosplay.com/costume/112210/
And Gutts said it right. We will make some videos like the winter scene...

I really think you and the Major pulled off Guts' and Griffith's likenesses the best I have yet seen. And as far as the cosplay crowd goes, I imagine you two must be well known worldwide. As an american who didn't even know what cosplay was before joining this site, even I have grown to admire the vision you both share.

BTW, please disregard any subsequent silly comments I may have made. I'm a "player hater", what can I say.....

[True Sheol]

Folding steel is only necessary if you have low temperature forges, furnaces, and low quality ore. Repeated folding removes voids in the metal, burns off impurities, and homogenizes the steel (distributing carbon throughout). Contrary to popular myth, a monosteel sword is tougher and more durable than a folded blade as the internal weld points are weaker than the steel. Europeans, Indians, and the Chinese developed blast furnaces and more efficient bloomeries, made folding unnecessary. By the High Middle Ages, quality steel was a commodity in Europe.

Blade geometry is a reflection of usage. Longswords were used for both cutting and thrusting. Moreover, it was expected that enemies would wear metal armor. Thus, the well-honed longsword/hand-and-a-half sword cuts quite well with or without a sharpened blade. Another example of the latter.

With the proper blade geometry, as found in medieval European swords, the DS could hew very well.

[Tonbo]

That's pretty cool Sheol, I learned something!!
And here I thought bloomeries just made Victorian era harem pants.

[The Prince]

Folding steel is only necessary if you have low temperature forges, furnaces, and low quality ore. Repeated folding removes voids in the metal, burns off impurities, and homogenizes the steel (distributing carbon throughout). Contrary to popular myth, a monosteel sword is tougher and more durable than a folded blade as the internal weld points are weaker than the steel. Europeans, Indians, and the Chinese developed blast furnaces and more efficient bloomeries, made folding unnecessary. By the High Middle Ages, quality steel was a commodity in Europe.

Blade geometry is a reflection of usage. Longswords were used for both cutting and thrusting. Moreover, it was expected that enemies would wear metal armor. Thus, the well-honed longsword/hand-and-a-half sword cuts quite well with or without a sharpened blade. Another example of the latter.

With the proper blade geometry, as found in medieval European swords, the DS could hew very well.

I saw a documentary comparing the evolution of sword combat, that took into consideration both the sword itself and the technique used to wield it properly. Can't remember all the details, but in terms of fencing or one-on-one combat the katana was isinuated to come out on top, over the rapier and long/broad swords of Europe and those taken from China (many types). I also was always under the impression that the Samurai sword represented the pinnacle of sword craftmanship, as if it were common knowledge. But based on reading through some of these posts and links provided, what constitutes a sword being superior over another isn't something that is necessarily so cut & dry....pun intended.

This may be slightly off the subject, but I recall in their famous duel, Miyamoto Musashi went ahead and wielded a water-logged (foregoing his katana), against Sasaki Kojiro and his famous "drying pole/swallow cutter".....rumored to be over 5ft in length. Where due to the length of his sword, Kojiro had to keep his sword sheathed on his back (just like someone we know), something uncharacteristic among samurai at the time.

In regards to Musashi wielding a waterlogged ore, though its probably just folklore, one would think that wielding something so BIG and HEAVY, especially against an opponent considered to be among (if not) THE best of his era, was pure nutso. Though looking back at the result, maybe Musashi was in fact a long lost relative of Guts.

[Fuji Nagase]

wow...so many posts in a day. im happy Gabriel and Major came to say hello and that i didnt come off as a complete creep. its hard with cosplay.com PMs i think, hahaha.


well i am fully open to getting real armor made..and the sword too. its hard to find andything to base it from because its so short. it was the last thing i made and was total shit. i hated having to use it but i didnt have time to do anything better. any real sword was out of proportion and i HATE it when cosplayers do that. usually it means they didnt make it(or do measurments correctly) or they didnt do enough research. so its one of my priorities for fixing caska to get her a better sword. my armor was, no, not real, but it did end up impressing a number of people with how durable and hard it actually is. cons can be hard to make your way in so i try to make all my costumes tough to withstand crazy photoshoots, time, the flight there, lots of walking(not near the peace bond people mind you) in crowded halls, fanboys, and of course my occational clumsiness.

i have a few good plans to fix a lot of things for caska this year but who knows how it will turn out.

as i said in the PMs i sent to Gabriel and Major: if you guys are ever in the US, we should have ourselves a awesome berserk photoshoot!

[True Sheol]

I saw a documentary comparing the evolution of sword combat, that took into consideration both the sword itself and the technique used to wield it properly. Can't remember all the details, but in terms of fencing or one-on-one combat the katana was isinuated to come out on top, over the rapier and long/broad swords of Europe and those taken from China (many types). I also was always under the impression that the Samurai sword represented the pinnacle of sword craftmanship, as if it were common knowledge. But based on reading through some of these posts and links provided, what constitutes a sword being superior over another isn't something that is necessarily so cut & dry....pun intended.

Television documentaries should be taken with a grain of salt. While many try to be factual, they aren't the same as research managed by subject-matter experts, subjected to scientific, engineering, or academic standards. They are entertainment with degrees of educational content. There's nothing magical about metallurgy and promoting myths does nothing to preserve knowledge, though it does tend to garner better television ratings.

Of course, there's nothing realistic about a full size Dragon Slayer sword, but it's a fun idea. More realistically, you could make a scaled down version to test the design's performance. Hmm... that might be an idea for a blade smith.

[Gabriel]

I've read the comments about us...
First I wanted to "recomment" but then dicided not to...
And for Fuji!
Thanks for the invitation and omedeto for you Caska outfit. That must've been hard to make it seriously... And getting a real armour... Well, it's not as easy as everyone thinks. Findig a good blacksmith is just a matter of time, and luck. But preparing for the armour is an extremely hard work. Maybe it's so hard as to learn to drive and get a car. But nonetheless your Caska cosplay is the best I've ever seen. And about the travelling... I would realy love to but just imagine, packing this "stuff" into the plane and our everyday clothes... Ergh... Even if it's possible, noone has that amount of money. Even delivering through the city with a car is a special torture for us. And Gutts sword was nearly too long to be transported by an ordinary car. But you're right, it would be wonderfull if the three of us could meet somewhere... Till then, I hope I wont be fatter...

[Fuji Nagase]

the girly response to that is: i hope i dont either. but i know of course for me anyway, i cant control my weight fairly well. i actually go on special diets and training for conventions. but im sure you're fine!

one day maybe, i hope to meet more serious berserk cosplayers but i believe that most real berserk lovers are not coincidentally cosplayers or con goers...but thats okay. it makes the good ones great and more special. i understand the cost of travel and how hard it is to get large props to a con even if its in your city...of do i.


these two wings i made all by myself in less than 3 weeks. i had to take it in pieces to get it through the small NDK con doors and then put it together in our hotel room. we barely fit in the elevators and going through a busy sat night con hallway we had to continually say "im sorry!!" as our friends tried to stop the wings from hitting people...though they did...a lot.
http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=967904



and this baby is one of my favs. its 7 1/2 feet long and it was about 1 inch away from poking holes in many of the lobby ceilings (i say proudly of course) but the peace bonding con guys were all Alita fans so they let me go with no peace bond for my photoshoot.
http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=627384


and the damascus had its own set of problems...lets just say that the DIA will never forget me and my friend. they had to pull out my dmascus, flip it open, pull out caskas sword from the package some idiot at the ticket counter SAID i could bring on the plane with me and inspect them..in front of hundreds of people. i wont go into it but i ended up shipping it to my hotel in CA. its only about 6 feet long but fun because...well its a huge butterfly knife.

http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=1170427


but dont worry! im sure one day when all the berserk cosplayers are located in one place, we shall have ourselves a fucking awesome shoot. just let me know if you ever drop by the states and happen to have a private jet to take all the berserk cosplay.


oh shit! i forgot to say thank you for the nice comments about my caska. ...thank you!