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pardi-real · 1 year ago

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Weapon Review part 1(?)

Warning: will describe what weapons do

Let's review how well the weapons fare against angels and what they're gonna do with it. By your local akuneko brainrot patient (me). The bonus points aren't really counted.

The types of weapon listed here are unofficial and merely what I think they are.

I'm pretty sure the weapons aren't scaled in actual size in the pictures because Lucas's scythe definitely looks bigger in-game and Lato's daggers aren't that big.

Daggers/Combat knives

I was searching for materials regarding why daggers over swords for research purposes, but then I remembered Lato uses daggers too. Daggers are so cool.

It's lighter than swords and should increase his agility

And it has holes, holes on blades to reduce weight (usually) so further increase in agility

It's perfect for stabbing and easy to carry

Maybe he can throw it because he has multiple. Requires mad skills tho

The hilt makes it look like a trench knife (maybe it is, idk)

It mainly stabs. Too short for fatally slashing (different story if he wanna torture or something) What he gonna do, stabs angels eyes? Actually do angels have the same vitals as humans? Then he can just stab their hearts

Generally lower damage and shorter range than swords

I wish the blades were serrated to make it cooler (+ easier to tear off limbs)

7/10 +3 from being cool

Double-bladed polearm

Looks graceful to me. Polearms aren't for throwing because they're longer and heavier than spears.

With blades like that I think Berrien can use it for stabbing, except with more force because of the momentum

Looks like it can slash too but I don't think it's effective. It may be a quick attack but it needs space to do a rotation. Maybe it'll do well when surrounded by angels and that's when double blades come into action, he only needs half of the rotation, maybe less if there are many angels but not enough damage Imo

It definitely has long range

The long shaft can drive away things, defend, and maybe for bludgeoning too just like what a metal pipe would do *insert falling pipe mp3 here*

Hard to use in a cramped space

Double blades like that is actually quite heavy, and he should be rotating/thrusting that around

Actually would get Berrien in big trouble if an angel closing in

8/10 it's good. I like how he stores it under his bed

Double Ax/Labrys

Practically, the point of Double Ax is so that the blades can have different degrees of sharpness. Lumberjacks can use one side for felling and the other for limbing. But Fennesz isn't a lumberjack so you know whose limbs,

Definitely dishes out big damage

Labrys is a symbol of power, it should looks intimidating, it sure does but I don't think angels can feel intimidated (if they feel anything at all)

There is a lot Fennesz can do with it, it's primarily for chopping/hacking but it can also do thrusting, hooking, slashing, and so on. For maximum damage he can do an overhead strike... No wait I just realized this Labrys has longer shaft than usual

Increased reach I guess

It's heavy, no matter how strong Fennesz is, it might drain his stamina

Create openings especially when gaining momentum

He'll get in big trouble too if an angel closing in

7/10 DPS enough ig, +3 for being pretty and loosely looking like a butterfly

BFS

Look at that extra-broad broadsword. I wonder which one is heavier between this and the double ax

Big damage but with speed, Bastien is known for his insane speed

What else does it do other than damage…? It looks very cool I guess, like a shounen protag or Guts or Cloud

Just like usual sword it's good for stabbing, thrusting, slashing, piercing, etc but because it's wide it can be used for shield too maybe

Heavy

Despite the speed he still leaves openings and results in plot-points. What a deadly weapon

5/10 too deadly +2 for shounen

Thorned/barbed whip

What was Ammon thinking when choosing this? It's less of a killing weapon and more like a torture device. Looks very aesthetic tho since it resembles a rose

Can make the opponent bleed profusely. Can angels actually die from blood loss? (Do they even have blood…?)

Long range, and can keep angels from getting closer

It's noisy so it can intimidate & scare things away. Again, if they can even be scared at all

Fictionally it can be used to tangle, trip, or holding enemies in place ala Indiana Jones with his bullwhip (requires mad skills)

It barely does any fatal damage

Difficult to control/aim

With it barbed, it's more likely to cause accidental self-injury. Or injures companions. Unless he's really really skilled… Well, I sure hope he doesn't train often. *Insert uncanny mr incredible png*

Then again it would be difficult to not harm any companions in a cramped place

It can't do any slashing, thrusting, hooking, or literally other type of attack, it mostly whips

Also would get in trouble if an angel closing in

4/10 it's cool but impractical, +3 for being pretty

You know what, I know way too little about angels or maybe I just don't remember

Maybe to be continued in part 2

I started writing this for no reason so yeah why not post it.

#Ramblings #Brainrot #Idk man #Akuneko #I actually feel bad spamming the akuneko tag #Weapon #Woohoo #daggers #axe #Thorned whip™#BFS #send help #Double bladed polearm

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featherbreak · 1 year ago

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Camilla Hect's sworddaggerknives: an exhaustingly comprehensive weapons inventory

(alternate title: "In Which Tamsyn Muir Tries to Kill Cosplayers with Imaginary Weapons", or "How to Consult a Swordfighter for the Fight Scenes but Not Give Nearly As Much of a Fuck About the Implements Used")

Written in hopes that this will either spare other Cam cosplayers some misery, or bring them to the commiseration station --

Gideon The Ninth - Canaan House Cam: In Which We Meet the Weapons Nerd of the Sixth

When we first encounter Camilla Hect, she's using a somewhat traditional sword + offhand combo against Gideon:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 12, bold emphasis mine, italics canon -

She dropped the wedge of sculpture with a clonk, drew her sword from its shabby scabbard before the wedge had bounced once, and advanced. Gideon, neurons blaring, drew her own. She slid her hand into her ebon gauntlet—the grey-cloaked girl let the flashlight fall, drew a knife with a liquid whisper from a holder across one shoulder—and their blades met high above their heads as the cavalier leapt, metal on metal ringing all around the chamber. ... Blow after lightning blow rattled her defences, each one coming down like an industrial crush press, the short offhand knife targeting the guard of Gideon’s blade. ... her opponent dropped as though shot, crouched, kicked her dagger up into her hand, and did a handspring backward down the stairs.

Anime physics aside, we have also immediately established Tamsyn Muir's love of using "dagger" and "knife" interchangeably. The sword is described as a rapier a paragraph later, at least:

Gideon was stronger; the girl’s arm was buckling—she brought up her rapier to harass Gideon’s blocking arm ...

We get a closer look at it in the duel against the Second:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

The rapier looked, like Gideon’s, maybe a million years old. It was the first time she had seen it in a good light, and here it looked as though it had never been designed to take an edge blow; the blade was light and delicate as a cobweb. The offhand looked like Camilla’s whole House had gone searching down the back of the sofa for weapons. They had come up with what looked more like a long hunting or hacking knife than a duelling dagger: thick, meaty, cross-guarded, with a single sharpened edge. The whole effect was sadly amateurish.

We quickly learn that she can still deliver a drubbing with this combo. However, it is not clear whether her offhand in this duel is the same knife as the one she fought Gideon with - which is described as a "short offhand knife" compared to the "long" knife against Marta - and we can call that into question more confidently once we learn that Cam is PACKING LOTS OF STEEL:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 27, emphasis mine -

There was no question about whether or not Camilla inhabited the horrible cot attached to the end, cavalier-style. It sagged beneath assorted weapons and tins of metal polish.

Gideon, being a weapons nerd herself, calls Cam on her setup bluff partly by elaborating on Cam's pile o' pointies:

“So, hey. What do you really use when you’re not pretending the rapier’s your main wield? Two short blades of equal length, or one blade and one baton?” Her keen eyes narrowed into black-lined slits. “How did I mess up?” she asked, eventually. “You drew your rapier and your dagger at the same time. And you’re ambidextrous. You keep cutting like both your blades are curved. Also, there’s six swords and a nightstick on your bed.” “Should’ve tidied my mess,” admitted Camilla. “Two blades. Double-edged.”

Gideon refers to Cam's offhand in the duel with the Second as a dagger here, too, despite having previously observed that it looked more like a knife. She also refers to all the blades on Cam's bed as "swords", but it's clearly a mix of blade types. Gideon is only as consistent or reliable a narrator as Tamsyn is; her terminology is equally laissez-faire.

Cam, meanwhile, is not more specific when she describes her main wields: they're just "blades." We finally meet them when shit hits the fan later on, but they are confounding:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

With only the faintest liquid whisper of metal on sheath, Camilla drew her swords. Gideon had never had the opportunity to study Camilla’s two short swords before: they were more like very long daggers, slightly curved at each end, wholly utilitarian.

So Gideon's observation that Cam cuts as if the blades are curved seems to hold water, but Cam specifically only identifies her blades as double-edged - which is much less common on curved blades longer than a few inches. In the same breath, they're implied to be shorter than short swords, but remarkable enough to call "very long" for daggers, which also means they're longer than the "knife" length in which having double edges is relatively common without making tradeoffs in durability/blade structure.

(This is where my brain broke.)

To add insult to injury, for the rest of the chapter, Tamsyn calls them knives:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 36, emphasis mine -

She crashed into her from the side, her two knives flashing like signal lamps in the sunlit hall. ... Camilla Hect off the leash was like light moving across water. She punched her knives into the Lyctor’s guard over and over and over.

Well, mostly. That would be too easy. Here's the lone exception:

Camilla slumped next to her, swords crossed over her knees.

SWORDS AGAIN?

We also see Cam with a single knife. It's unclear if it's one of her main dual wields or another one she had stashed:

Camilla, as she’d seen from above, had caught up with Cytherea the First. She had one hand in the Lyctor’s singed curls, dragging her head back. The other hand pressed a knife against the smaller woman’s throat.

Whatever it is also is well-balanced enough to throw -

Her good arm was up behind her head, holding the blade of her knife. Gideon ducked. The knife whistled over the top of Gideon’s head in a flashing blur and buried itself in Cytherea’s upper back.

- which usually implies something shorter and less medieval dagger-y. Different knife? or more Anime Physics? We don't know.

In conclusion: Canaan House establishes Cam as Very Hot and Good At Pointy Objects. Who the fuck knows what they are, though.

---

Harrow the Ninth - Random Planet Encounter Cam: Still Kickin'

At this point, Cam has been chugging along under the tender mercies of BoE, hauling her pulverised necro around, and comes face to face with a delightfully lobotomized Harrow. She's still dual wielding, although whether they're her Canaan House blades is doubtful, and they're described as knives all the way through:

Harrow The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

... you were astonished by the speed with which Hect drew those big, balanced knives from each shoulder, and hurled herself at your skeleton like a stone from a sling. Her first sweep with the butt of a knife shattered the ribcage—it coalesced back; you now disdained skeletons not made of permanent ash. ... Camilla Hect sheathed her knives with as much speed and fury as she had unsheathed them, and she said: “No sudden moves.”

Still a badass, obviously. And "big" knives seems to imply they're still of a long-dagger/short-short-sword length as Gideon described. "Butt" instead of "hilt" or similar terminology seems to imply they're more pedestrian than daggers. What the hell does Harrow mean by calling them "balanced", though?

Who the fuck knows. That's all we get. Onward to:

---

Nona the Ninth - New Rho Cam: More Badass & More Bonkers Than Ever

Cam is living her best worst best-given-the-circumstances guerrilla fighter rebel operative life. This means she's just...armed to the teeth all the goddamn time, and it's knives all the way down:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 2 -

... Camilla looked the person deep in their eyes and casually touched the hilt of the knife she kept down the waistband of her trousers, and then the person moved to the back of the queue.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 9 -

Camilla had been crouched down, wiping her knives on one of their jackets. ... Then she had equally normally set to putting her knives away – sticking them in the bands down her thighs, inside her trousers –

Nona The Ninth, chapter 12 -

Almost all of the knives Camilla had strapped to her got taken away, but not the very hidden knife, or at least the one hidden knife Nona knew about. There were probably more.

This could be because they're actually knives, or because Nona's vocabulary only goes so far, and her narration - backed by Tamsyn's established lackadaisical approach to pointy objects - is too simple for disambiguation.

To hint at this: when upon prepping for the final mission(s) of the book, Cam empties out the hidden armory, and Nona goes so far as to compare two of her blades to kitchen or filleting knives:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 22, emphasis mine -

Pash said, “Your people... that obsession with swords.” “We are our swords,” said Camilla. She shrugged on a criss-cross halter of black plastic straps and clipped it tight across the front of her chest, and then she opened a box and took out two long, plain knives, the type of thing they used to chop up fish at the market. All of Cam’s secret knife stash, Nona thought, numb with anticipation.

Cam seems to only say "swords" to mirror Pash philosophically, not to describe her weapons, but it's worth noting.

A detail that is mentioned once and then never brought up again, though, is that she's carrying at least four blades into the fight. Earlier in that chapter:

Camilla flipped open boxes and took out a belt, which she tied around her waist, and she secured a hook to the side of the belt. To this hook she reverently attached a long plain black scabbard, then a shorter plain black scabbard, and she tested the hilts in her hands.

So: two unseen blades of possibly different lengths - described only by the hilts, but stored in scabbards of two different lengths - in addition to "two long, plain knives" that are presumably stashed in the shoulder? back? chest? "criss-cross halter" holster situation. Or something.

Say it with me: WHO THE ACTUAL FUCK KNOWS.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

Just for shits and giggles, Tamsyn throws in the only use of "daggers" to describe Cam's weapons in the whole goddamn book right before the final duel with Ianthe:

The two uniformed soldier zombies knelt Camilla, roughly. They squeezed her wrists until, with an agonised hiss of breath, she dropped her daggers. They clattered softly on the carpet.

Her main dual wields of choice, this time, seem to be single-edged, likely the "fish knife" pair:

She mopped a little at her chest... she was bleeding freely and messily... and she picked up, from where they had fallen, her two long, plain, one-sided knives.

Even Ianthe agrees that they're knives:

“I didn’t mean to take anything to this planet I couldn’t replace,” said the Prince. “I shouldn’t have bothered. Why two knives?” “Shock and awe,” said Camilla.

And then Paul happens and my heart broke forever that brings us to the end of Camilla Hect As We Knew Her x Bladed Weapons OTP For Life is too short and love is too long.

So what's our takeaway on accurately portraying Camilla Hect, you might ask?

tl;dr: use whatever the fuck you want. go loud, Cams.

do not be like me and spend a cumulative 15-20 hours spread out over three weeks debating how to accurately portray her weapon shape because fanart seems to mostly depict her with daggers.

---

as for me? I've finally gone with utilitarian but elegant hunting daggers (long, cross-guarded, single-edged, curved at the end) for Canaan House Cam and a scrappy pair of Bowie knives for New Rho Cam, after polling a bunch of Cam fans; votes were overwhelmingly in favor of curved blades being more important than double edges. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

with the utmost thanks and apologies to the patient & best beloved folks in the Library for responding to my Cam poll, and for emphasizing & reassuring me that cosplaying On Vibes is kosher and encouraged in this fandom

#double-edged blades that curve at the end and are longer than a dagger but shorter than a short sword? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE my head hurts #tazmuir's Final Fantasy fandom pedigree is REALLY SHOWING HERE #raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by tamsyn muir's approach to weapons #listen i know that any kind of realism is kind of besides the point in this damn series but could we get some CONSISTENCY #also who's going to write Cam using the nightstick?#insert magic stick joke here please and thank you #camilla hect #tlt cosplay #tlt meta #tlt canon analysis #the locked tomb #sixth house #the sixth house #camilla the sixth #the locked tomb meta #cosplay reference #the locked tomb cosplay #tlt cosplay reference #featherbreak rambles

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