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Can be anything from any source, movies, books, comics, video games, manga, anime etc.
Pic related is mine, the dragonslayer from berserk. I like it because it's simple. It's just a big fucking sword, no fancy bells and whistles like enchantments or spells.
Second runner-up is sting from lord of the rings, I like that it glows blue when orcs are around and it can be used in the dark as a light source.
The Parlamentarian
No idea what is it, but it's made up yet more powerful than anything
American powerscaling has gone off the rails
On the topic of bigass nonsense swords, I'm a big fan of Soul Edge (mostly for Soul Calibur 2 nostalgia reasons)
Always loved it too in those games, it's like William Birkin from RE 2 and the dragonslayer had a kid.
"Favorite" is a strong word, but I really like the caber from Beastmaster.
It looks like something impractical that some artist would draw, but then it turns out it's pretty similar to throwing weapons that certain African tribes used
In the real one the purpose of the shape is to ensure that a sharp part of the weapon always hits your target, IDK if the movie prop would function that way but it certainly evokes the same feeling when I look at it.
There are a lot of contenders, and I guess my favorite is going to depend on various different categories. But the first one that popped into mind just because I think it's really cool is Fromsoft's recurring moonlight sword. Started in King's Field and then carried on into the Souls series and even Armored Core has an equivalent.
I like it because it's a cool design and also has a cool effect. It's the full package, ya know?
The Buster Sword from FF7 is just what a santoku kitchen knife dreams about becoming when it grows up. Chopping onions will never be the same again once you slot in a Mega All materia.
I'd say any fictional iteration of Gáe Bulg because I fucking love mythical spears. I also really like the grotesqueness of the relic weapons in fire emblem three houses.
Spears don't get enough love.
They really don't. It's the People's weapon, after all.
I get that swords are cooler for a fantasy setting but spears are THE weapon. You put the pointy bit on a long stick so your foolish swore-wiedling opponent can't reach you. Fantasy has neglected the importance of the spear for far too long.
Ice 9
I think maces need more love. All the movie and game heroes use swords but a mace would fuck somebody up. Maybe a flail if we want to get fancy.
Maces generally were used against armored opponents in medieval warfare afaik, but yeah a flail could break bones or knock someone unconscious or outright kill them with enough force to the head.
It's a club on steroids. A primitive and brutish weapon but undeniably effective. It's like the scientific answer to the cave man "me hit hard" question.
Fukken lightsabers, man
Yeah they're cool but they got so played out unfortunately.
Nah man, they're like vwmb bwmmm PSHYEWWWWWcrrrckhrkhrkhr. Shits dope
Nah for real though, even when Star Wars is tired and shitty, the bits with the light sabers are usually the best part
the kirkhammer from Bloodborne is one of my favorites! pretty much all of the weapons in Bloodborne are all-around fantastic but the kirkhammer specifically is the one I had the most fun with and I love it's design
Honorable mention: Detritus's "Piecemaker"
*edit: https://wiki.lspace.org/Piecemaker
There is a tradition, right across the Multiverse, of macho law-enforcers toting ridiculously heavy sidearms, which surely represent overkill for normal policing duties. Dirty Harry had his .44 Magnum; Detritus carries a siege weapon with a two thousand pound draw.
As Detritus considers this a waste of energy if all the energy devoted to drawing back and cocking the string is only expended on a single arrow (which from a human point of view is a six-foot lance), he has adapted it still further, so that it shoots a bundle of twenty or so arrows bound together around a central core. Due to the violent force acting on them, the arrows tend to disintegrate into a cloud of supersonic (a significant fraction of local lightspeed) shrapnel which bursts into flame from air friction. The resulting fireball scythes everything in its path totally clean. Hence the name. It not only opens front doors, but frequently creates a back door as well.
Reading through the City Watch series and loving it. On Night Watch now.
Gotta read these books.
Pratchett was insanely good at mixing the real and fantastical in both deeply meaningful and very witty ways. There is a reading order of sorts, but you can dive in at just about any book and work out the actual timeline later without ruining the experience.
there are torrent packs out there for both the books and the audiobooks. after another user mentioned it here i've been using the audiobooks to sleep to.
Guild Wars 1 had a lot of unique and weird weapons but the Fiery Dragon Sword is one of those rule of cool weapons even though it makes no sense practically.
The glaive from Krull
Such a goofy thing
Loved it as a kid watching that movie, also the monsters in that scared me.
I'm partial to absolutely ridiculous weapons like a coffin that shoots bullets or beating someone to a pulp with a literal full sized cross that jesus would've carried. The most unwieldy impractical things possible.
Generally I don't like larger than life stuff unless it's swords like the dragonslayer I posted.
This show is literally JSDF military propaganda (actually funded by them) but I love Rory's design and the utterly ridiculous axe that is literally bigger than her https://youtu.be/Wvxqxa34caE
Peak character design honestly
Yeah it's honestly really good character design whether or not the show is propaganda. One of my favourites.
I kinda like that the show shows of Japan doing literal imperialist resource theft against lesser technology fantasy kingdoms while dressing it up as "we're the good guys". It's oddly honest in a way that can be watched from the left. Even the building of refugee camps and doing negotiations with medieval kingdoms for things they don't understand the value of is really on-point. You're supposed to walk away from it supporting the JSDF but honestly it takes extremely little criticism to turn the show on its head. Even scenes showing off their power come off as perverted power fantasies. Especially the helicopter scenes.
i liked the soul stealing chaos runesword from the Elric series
Gonna second this. It's surprisingly underrated, but so is Michael Moorcock, much to his seething.
I like keyblades because they're customizable and beating the shit out of characters like Sephiroth and literal titans with a giant key is just funny.
SORA!
Havana syndrome launcher
Gae Bolg
Roland's revolvers from The Dark Tower. Forged from the melted steel of Excalibur. I really hope the next adaptation they're doing will be good
side note but I really enjoyed how the character raelza in this handyman saitou anime has a similar sword to Guts's but it shows a slot on it/her armor that she locks it onto and it's like, nice, they actually show that instead of the sword just being stuck to their back like a magnet
[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]
Did someone say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]?
That or Frostmourne (original lore version)
“Here is my sword,” said Intra. “Your semiotics cannot contain it. Its blade is made of gloaming steel, look how it whispers!”
“But Lord Intra,” said the assembled, “You have no sword!”
“So it is,” said Intra.
-Psalms
(text taken from Kill Six Billion Demons lore)