Gram Costume Sword

[gell]

I like having physical props from movies/games. I own a few lightsabers. I really wanted a Gram, so I made one.

 

I'm not a very crafty person, and time was ticking, but I learned a lot and it was fun. With E3 a couple weeks out, I had to finish the Gram. I completed it Wednesday morning, the day I was headed off to E3. I was a few hours later than I had hoped to be, but I still managed to get there and do THIS:

 

(image tweeted by Rebecca: https://twitter.com/rebbford/status/344986521989959680/photo/1)

 

Btw, Steve commented that I was holding the sword wrong, but look at it in game and notice that whoever animated the two-handed swords placed one hand ON THE BLADE and I was actually emulating that. I blame Gefu.

 

Here it is in non-E3 lighting:

 

Here's a quick look at the process, with text commentary:

https://plus.google.com/photos/102495826594079325144/albums/5889522692925772033/5889522716189435522?authkey=CI7m2vOE2sCExAE&pid=5889522716189435522&oid=102495826594079325144

 

Hope you like it! Maybe one day I'll make that Frost cosplay I've been dreaming about.

[Mudriski]

You've got a good dedication towards the game.Respect and nice Gram!

[.Fyr.]

great..its live !

[vasRayya]

Electroluminecent wire, used it on some other stuff. Looks awesome!

[AlienTetris]

awesome gram :D

[AXCrusnik]

Pretty awesome prop...

 

and yeah quite a few of the animations could use some work. I noticed that the Orthos seems to swing with the face of the blade pointed at the enemy rather than the edge, similar to the slide slash of the Scindo where you spin, hitting enemies with the side of the axe.

[Oni-shi]

cool and oh so true

[Amistyrja]

Fantastic work, friend.

[ra9una]

Neeto!

[GratuitousLurking]

So this is the mythical Gram mentioned in E3 vid 3 ',' Very very shiny!

[Sixty5]

+1 for High Lord Gram

[Guest]

righteous brah...

[Kalenath]

Btw, Steve commented that I was holding the sword wrong, but look at it in game and notice that whoever animated the two-handed swords placed one hand ON THE BLADE and I was actually emulating that. I blame Gefu.

 

Interestingly enough, many people I know who USE two handed swords in combat (mock combat SCA style mind you, the cops get all excited when limbs and heads start flying in Real Life...) sometimes use almost the same grip you showed. One hand on the hilt, another about 6 inches up from the guard. The idea for them is leverage.

 

If you have a lot of space, and enemies all around, you can swing wide and long. The original idea of a two handed sword was to cut the heads from pikes, rendering a pike wall a somewhat useless thicket of NON-sharpened sticks. Or you could do what the Highlanders were known for. Have five or six BIG guys charge at the enemy WAY out in front, swinging those to make a big mess while the REST of the clan charged in their heels. And uh, yeah... Those were generally the ones who painted themselves blue and didn't wear anything when they charged. Psychological warfare at it's best.

 

But for CLOSE combat, you did NOT want to swing with abandon. You want to keep the sword in motion, but at the same time, you did NOT want to lose control of it. Especially when there are friendlies anywhere nearby. (tends to alienate what friends you do have...) Say the sword DOES lose momentum, say it hits something heavy ((like a Grineer :) )) then you have problems. In close combat, the sword is slower than most shorter blades, so leverage helps a great deal. Shorter swings and leverage equals big advantage. The further apart your hands are, the more leverage you have. It is NOT a baseball bat. I know that from staff fighting.

 

Now, I am not saying I am an expert on sword fighting. I always preferred a staff or naginata. But I have seen people wield a two handed sword with one hand on the hilt and another on the blade. Many two handers had an unsharpened area just below the guard for exactly that purpose. Cold Steel makes a 'Great Sword' with a leather covered grip below the guard. http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/88WGS/TWO_HANDED_GREAT_SWORD.aspx

 

So, that grip might work. It might not in a sci-fi ninja setting. But it is NOT historically inaccurate.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Kalenath

[gell]

@Kalenath

You're right, and if you look at many great swords, the bottom part of the metal blade is not actually sharp. It had dull edges in order for leverage, if needed. When you didn't need the leverage, you could swing with greater range by holding only the hilt, but that was more of a slashing attack.

 

I'm no sword expert, but I have looked into it a bit myself. Thanks for the input!

[Kalenath]

Np, you do good work. :)

 

My own idea of 'crafty' is paper airplanes lol.

[corpseshock]

More like a Plasma Sword. Or ... you and Rebecca are huge ?

 

Well, who would want to drag a 2m Sword around the whole day on E3.

 

Nevertheless, good job.

[gell]

More like a Plasma Sword. Or ... you and Rebecca are huge ?

 

Well, who would want to drag a 2m Sword around the whole day on E3.

 

Nevertheless, good job.

 

 

The sword I made is properly sized, at least to my proportions. I am not sure where you got the "2m" from, but I based my sizing on this image: http://images.wikia.com/warframe/images/a/a9/Gram1.jpg

 

Yeah, it's a little inaccurate, but the point was to make the sword fit me, if I were the size of a Tenno. I assume Tenno are pretty big, all of them probably 6 feet or taller, but I'm 5'6", so I sized the gram accordingly.

 

I originally designed the sword to holster onto my back, but the magnet system I implemented was a little too loose in practice and I didn't have time to fix it for E3. With that in mind, I definitely could not make a sword that was larger in relation to me (based on that image). top of the hilt had to start at my shoulder and the tip of the blade had to end around my knees, and that's what I did. Just like Yoda had a smaller lightsaber than most Jedi, I assume my Gram is slightly smaller than the Grams used by larger Tenno.

 

Just for actual reference, for the sword I made, the blade itself is 40" long, and the hilt is 9". You're right in that I would not want to drag around a 2m sword all day in a crowded convention, but I don't think the Gram is 2m anyway.