->''"I've built aluminum prop swords for a living. These are not aluminum props, this is a properly forged, deadly weapon."''
-->-- '''Tony Swatton'''

''Man at Arms'' is a show on Website/YouTube's [[https://www.youtube.com/user/AweMeChannel AWE Me Channel]], where professional blacksmith teams use their skills to create real, functional versions of various fictional weapons. Initially master blacksmith Tony Swatton and his assistants would defictionalize a weapon based on fan demand. Later, a new season dubbed ''Reforged'' would focus on the Stagmer brothers as they combine weapons from different works into hybrid designs. After fan backlash, however, the ''Reforged'' team returned to adapting existing fictional designs as Tony's team did.

With the shutdown of Defy Media, the company behind the AWE Me channel, the future of ''Man at Arms'' was uncertain for a time. The shop team at Baltimore Knife and Sword wanted the series to continue at some point, but until such time they decided to make their own [=YouTube=] content on their own channel: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEjEAxdJLOg4k854j-oESfQ That Works]]''. Rather than recreating pop-culture weapons, ''That Works'' focuses on Vlog-style recordings of the normal work they do (and did, while they were also making pieces for ''Man at Arms''). In June 2019, AWE Me was released from the Defy legal limbo with new owners, allowing them to upload the remaining episodes that had been completed before the company shut down. As of February 2020, pre-production work is being done on new ''Man at Arms'' content with the Baltimore Knife and Sword team, and in the meantime Matt and Ilya have started making some defictionalized weapons on their own time on ''That Works''. Since December 2019, Matt and Illya have forged several fictionalized weapons.

[[folder:Original series pieces]]
* Jaime Lannister's sword from ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* Oddjob's hat from ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''
* Finn's Golden Sword from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''
* Raphael's sais from ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''
* Franchise/{{Batman}}'s batarangs
* The Power Sword from ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse''
* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's shield
* Gimli's bearded axe from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
* A Klingon ''bat'leth'' from ''Franchise/StarTrek''
* The Sword of Omens from ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}'' (1985)
* An Orcish battleaxe from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''
* Hit-Girl's detachable swords from ''Film/KickAss''
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s claws
* A Diamond Sword from ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''
* Cloud's Buster Sword from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
* Sora's Keyblade, the Kingdom Key, from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''
* The Master Sword from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''
* Ichigo's Zangetsu from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''
* Leona's Zenith Blade from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Sokka's Space Sword from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
* Michael Myers' bowie knife from ''Film/{{Halloween|2007}}'' (2007)
* A Hidden Blade and a pirate cutlass from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag''
* Mjölnir from the film ''Film/{{Thor}}''
* Finnick's Trident from the film ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire''
* Sting from ''Film/TheHobbit''[[note]]technically from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', as the elvish writing that states Sting's name (which was absent from the ''Hobbit'' trilogy) is added to the weapon[[/note]]
* One of the Blades of Chaos from ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''
* Chrom's Falchion from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''
* Sepiroth's Masamune, also from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
* Edward Elric's spear from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''
* Energy Sword from the ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' series
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Honedge from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY''
* Black☆Star's Chain Scythe from ''Manga/SoulEater''
* Daywalker Glaives from the ''Film/{{Blade}}'' series
* Jake's sword, also from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''
* Jon Snow's sword Longclaw, also from ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* King Leonidas' sword from ''Film/ThreeHundred''
* William Wallace's claymore from ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''
* Kirito's Elucidator from ''Literature/SwordArtOnline''
* Frostmourne from the ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' series
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reforged series pieces]]
* A Franchise/{{Batman}}-themed ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} claw gauntlet
* A ''[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles TMNT]]'' "Super Weapon" polearm
* A ''Franchise/StarWars'' lightsaber-themed katana
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''-themed bladed throwing disks
* Rainbow Dash's chamfron from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
* An ''ComicBook/IronMan''-themed sword
* Squall's gunblade from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''
* An assortment of zombie-killing weapons inspired by ''Series/TheWalkingDead''
* Dragonborn's Iron Helmet from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''
* Arno Dorian's Phantom Blade from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity''
* Link's Fierce Deity Sword from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''
* Sauron's mace from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
* Rebellion from the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series
* Tessaiga from ''Manga/InuYasha''
* Ryuko's scissor blade from ''Anime/KillLaKill'' [[note]]Made from real scissors.[[/note]]
* Blades for a set of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''-themed kitchen knives in a crossover with the AWE Me Channel's other show, ''Super Fan Builds''.
* Auron's katana from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''
* Katarina's daggers from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Guts' Golden Age two-handed sword from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' [[note]]Originally misidentified as the Dragon Slayer, [[IconicItem his more iconic weapon]].[[/note]]
* The Hylian Shield from the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series with accompanying [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast Classic design]] Master Sword
* Arya Stark's Needle, again from ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* Loki's Scepter from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''
* Tomahawks from ''Film/{{The Patriot|2000}}'' and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII''
* Predator wrist blades as they appeared in ''Film/AVPAlienVsPredator''
* Narsil/Andúril from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
* Dracule Mihawk's Yoru from ''Manga/OnePiece''
* Soul Reaver Sword from ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''
* Hattori Hanzo's katana from ''Film/KillBill''
* The karambit and butterfly knife from ''VideoGame/CounterStrike Global Offensive''
* The Daedric battleaxe from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' [[note]]The design of the weapon is more akin to that of the Daedric war axe, a one-handed weapon. The creators justified their design by pointing out that it may be a one-handed weapon for a muscle-bound adventurer or Dremora (basically a demon), but it would take someone of more average build two hands to swing.[[/note]]
* Silver and steel swords from ''[[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt The Witcher 3]]''
* The Oathkeeper Keyblade from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''
* Saber's Excalibur from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''
* Diana's Crescent Moon blade from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Jacob Frye's cane sword from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''
* Gravity Hammer from the ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' series
* Katniss' bow from ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire''
* Drax the Destroyer's daggers from ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}''
* Orcrist sword from ''Film/TheHobbit''
* Kitana's war fans from ''Franchise/MortalKombat''
* Pyramid Head's great knife from ''Franchise/SilentHill''
* Erza Scarlet's sword and armor from ''Manga/FairyTail''
* The Saw Cleaver from ''VideoGame/BloodBorne''
* Master Yi's Wuju Sword from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Asuna's rapier, the Lambent Light, from ''Literature/SwordArtOnline''
* Xena's chakrams from ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''
* The Greatsword of Artorias from ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''
* The Green Destiny sword from ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon''
* Fury's Song from ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII''
* The Vorpal Blade from ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns''
* The Blazing Sword from ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''
* The Power Axe from ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''
* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'s Trident
* A traditional Chinese dandao saber, the first entirely non-fictional weapon in the series
* Future Trunks' sword from ''Anime/DragonBallZ''
* A series of weapons from the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series
* Kennosuke Tokisada Ōma's sword from ''Anime/{{Kuromukuro}}'' [[note]]Commissioned by Creator/PAWorks, the studio behind the anime.[[/note]]
* Poppy's Hammer of Orlon from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* The Ulfberht viking sword, the second entirely non-fictional weapon in the series
* A Blood Angels' Chainsword from ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''
* Zara Ghufran's Jambiya knife from ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' (featuring Creator/DannyTrejo)
* The sword of Godric Gryffindor from ''Literature/HarryPotter''
* A Trench Club from ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' (also featuring Trejo)
* Genji's Sword (and Shuriken) from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''
* Excalibur of ''Myth/KingArthur'' (their design became part of the mobile game ''VideoGame/KingOfAvalon'')
* Altair's Sword from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII''
* The Furyan Ulaks from ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick''
* ComicBook/{{Elektra}}'s sais
* A nodachi from ''VideoGame/ForHonor'' (featuring Mark Dacascos)
* A Viking Dane axe from ''VideoGame/ForHonor'' (also featuring Dacascos)
* A Franchise/GreenLantern ring (first entirely non-weapon build)
* Kratos' battle axe from ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4''
* Yasuo's sword from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Ice from ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* Gamora's Godslayer Sword from ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}''
* A Cutlass Challenge inspired by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales''
* Wonder Woman's shield from ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''
* ...and, in the following episode, her Godkiller sword from ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}''
* ComicBook/{{X 23}}'s claws and foot blade from ''Film/{{Logan}}''
* Optimus Prime's sword from ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight''
* Roadhog's Chain Hook from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''
* Prince Nuada's sword from ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy''
* A kunai and some shuriken from ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}''
* Omni-Directional Mobility Gear blades from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''
* Thor's dual swords from ''Film/ThorRagnarok''
* Euron Greyjoy's Axe from ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* Weiss Schnee's rapier Myrtenaster from ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''
* Rose Quartz's sword from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''
* Blade's sword from the ''Film/BladeTrilogy''
* The Hate Scythe from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''
* Ragnar "Lodbrok" Sigurdsson's axe from ''Series/{{Vikings}}''
* The Shovel Blade from ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight''
* Zuri's Spear from ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''
* Virtuous Treaty from ''VideoGame/NierAutomata''
* Jeanne d'Arc's flagpole lance, Luminosité Eternelle, from ''Literature/FateApocrypha''
* Tapanga Machete from ''Videogame/PlayerunknownsBattlegrounds''
* Fury's Blade from ''Empire: Four Kingdoms''
* Chaoseater from ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}''
* Stormbreaker from ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''
* Brisingr from ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''
* Lostvayne from ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins''
* The Sword of Khaless from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
* Man in Black's Bowie Knife fron ''Series/{{Westworld}}''
* Divine Axe Rhitta from ''The Seven Deadly Sins''
* Kenshin Himura's reverse-blade katana from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''
* Sora's pirate Keyblade, Follow the Wind, from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''
* Dawnbreaker from ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
* Spear of Leonidas from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey''
* Soul Edge and Soul Calibur from ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburVI''
* Ghal Maraz, the Hammer of Sigmar, from ''Franchise/{{Warhammer}}''
* Alucard's Heirloom Sword, from ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania|2017}}''
* Spat, the Hydrodynamic Spatula, and the Golden Spatula from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' [[note]]Final episode before hiatus[[/note]]
* Hand of the Patriarch from ''VideoGame/Wasteland3'' [[note]]First episode after returning from hiatus[[/note]]
* Dragonfang from ''[[VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning]]''
* Chastiefol from ''The Seven Deadly Sins''
* An Aztec macuahuitl (wood club with [[AbsurdlySharpBlade obsidian blades on the edges]])
* Eclipse from ''VideoGame/{{Godfall}}''
* Luck/Pluck from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood''
* The Spear of Longinus from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''
* The Sharpened (later Pure) Nail from ''VideoGame/HollowKnight''
* Pale Spear of Alpharius from ''[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Warhammer]]'' ''[[Literature/HorusHeresy 30,000]]''
* The Raven Warhammer from ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim''
* Diane's warhammer Gideon from ''The Seven Deadly Sins''
* Freedom-Sworn from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' [[note]]Actually the Song of Broken Pines[[/note]]
* Boba Fett's Gaffi Stick from ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''That Works'' pieces]]
* Asta's Demon-Dweller Sword from ''Manga/BlackClover''
* Geralt's sword from ''Series/TheWitcher2019''
* Trevor Belmont's Morning Star from ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017''
* The Lothric Knight Sword from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII''
* Imposter Blade from ''VideoGame/AmongUs''
* Tanjiro's katana from ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba''
* Eivor's axes from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla''

[[/folder]]

----
!!''Man at Arms'' provides examples of:

* AuthorAppeal:
** Ilya's speciality is being an armorer. This shows through when they decide to make [[Manga/FairyTail Erza Scarlet]]'s armor on top of her blade. He's also a fan of ''WebVideo/LifeOfBoris'', and spends near all his screen time in the Tapanga Machete video emulating the Slav King and uses the damn thing to make ''Buterbrod'' during the demonstration.
** Matt also really likes making pattern-welded steel, even when it wouldn't be necessary.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Some of the weapons are this despite all the love put in their crafting.
** The Buster Sword is just too heavy to swing around. And that's despite the majority of the blade being aluminum, with only the cutting edge being steel. It's ''still'' an 80-pound sword. As they note when it's brought back out to show side-by-side with Sephiroth's Masamune in a later episode, with the Buster Sword they pretty much just lift it over a target and drop the thing rather than swing it.
** The Diamond Sword has a very uncomfortable grip, but it's still a real blade.
** Mjölnir had to be made with a hollow head to avoid being too heavy to wield. Or even lift, for most people. Tony said that after the video he intended to fill the hollow space with lead so that people visiting his shop would be unable to lift the hammer he'd been swinging around.
** The team had to build the guard of Mihawk's Yoru out of wood, then top it off with brass (instead of making the guard ''solid'' brass), simply due to the fact it would have been too heavy to even consider wielding otherwise.
** The Gravity Hammer is another weapon that's too heavy to be wielded efficiently by one person, and is just dropped on the target rather than swung. Clearly, you'd need a PoweredArmor for the added strength boost in order to lift it.
** This is actually their stated reason for why it took them so long to get around to making the Greatsword of Artorias; it's an amazing piece, but it's also massive and extremely detailed, which would turn it into a very long project for the shop. [[HonorBeforeReason Not that they let that stop them, mind you]], but it did give them pause for thought (for reference, the blade alone from tang to tip is about six feet tall).
** The crew built Voltron's Blazing Sword with the ability to hook up to a propane tank and shoot actual flames out the sides and top of the blade (accomplished by making it a two-piece blade, with hollow spaces carved in to project the flames, welded together). In addition to being every bit as awesome as it sounds (the visual effect is stunning), it's every bit as useless for combat as it sounds: sadly, the fire quickly goes out when actually swinging the sword.
** The Hammer of Orlon is yet another weapon that would simply be too heavy to even lift if it was made realistically; the massive head is hollow with a metal cage inside it, yet it's ''still'' phenomenally heavy and during the demonstration only one member of the crew is able to even lift it to drop it without having to grip it right up underneath the head (rather than swinging it by the handle like Poppy does, and he did it by supporting the hammerhead on his shoulder to give him extra leverage).
** The Chainsword is a truly impressive weapon that cuts through ''everything'' the team throws at it... but it's still a weapon that was designed to be wielded by 7-8 foot tall {{Transhuman}} [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]] in full PoweredArmor. A regular human just ''can't'' wield it like a proper sword.
** Not the weapons themselves, but the materials when making X-23's claws. While titanium can be forged, when cutting components out on the plasma cutter or grinding the blades, the sparks given off where such a bright white that even with eye protection Matt and Kerry could barely see what they were doing.
** When building Myrtenaster, they're pointed out that ''all'' of the weapons in ''RWBY'' have complicated and intricate mechanics to trying to make them useful, starting with Myrtenaster was probably the easiest of the main heroines armory. As well, the Weiss cosplayer forgoes Weiss high-heeled shoes in favor of simple flats.
** Ilya notes while forging Blade's sword out of Titanium that while it is stronger and lighter than steel, it can't be made as ''hard'' as steel, giving it poor edge retention, on top of the grinding issues established back in the X-23 episode.
** Stormbreaker is, once again, a weapon requiring Asgardian strength to wield. Despite having a hollow head, it takes lots of effort to just lift, and it is dropped rather than swung. They even end up breaking the thick wooden table used for the demonstration!
* BadassBoast: In the episode for Raph's sais, Tony talks about not being able to supply a computer file for the Asgardian swords he made for ''Film/{{Thor}}'' to the props department for ''[[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld The Dark World]]'' because he made all thirty swords from the first movie ''by hand''.
-->'''Tony Swatton:''' There ''are'' no computer files, I hit it with a hammer! They're like: "No way, there's thirty of them, they're the same!" Yeah, [[ItsWhatIDo that's what I do]]!
* BaitAndSwitch:
** They start out making the Scissor blade normally: drawing the pattern and plasma cutting the blade out of steel... Which they then throw out, whip out a bucketful of actual scissors, and proceed to forge the blade out of ''those''.
** They forge, polish, and basically make a magnificent replica of Narsil from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', [[spoiler:only to have a Sauron cosplayer come in and use their previously-made Sauron Mace to smash it to pieces, just like the fictional version, as a demonstration on what happens when you don't properly temper a blade. They then use the pieces to show how to properly reforge a shattered sword (since the movie version was CoolButInefficient at best) and turn it into a polished, beautiful, and ''properly tempered'' version of Andúril, Flame of the West.]]
* {{BFS}}:
** Cloud's Buster Sword is by far the most extreme. Tony actually injured his back just by lifting it on his shoulder. It takes two people to use it, and it can only be dropped onto a target, instead of actually swung.
** Sephiroth's Masamune is specifically compared to the above as a much more practical take on the trope; it's still a six-foot katana but you don't need two guys to lift it and you can actually swing it instead of just dropping it on your target.
** Ichigo's Zangetsu is huge and wide similar to the Buster Sword, but is sized small enough that you can actually kind of wield it.
** He-Man's Power Sword and ''Reforged'''s Iron Man sword are more mundane large swords, the former being long enough that they had to forge it bit-by-bit and almost couldn't reach high enough to put it into his vertical heat-treating tank, and the latter described as something that would only be practical if you were actually wearing PoweredArmor.
** William Wallace's Claymore is a more historically accurate example of BFS.
** Squall's Gunblade. That being said, it's not as extreme as Cloud's Buster Sword, but it's still pretty big for a gunblade.
** Inu-Yasha's Tessaiga is also quite a large blade, even though it's sized down to a wield-able level compared to the anime/manga (particularly noticeable is that it's not as absurdly broad as the anime/manga version).
** Guts' two-handed sword is taller than the blacksmiths themselves, and in the ending montage is large enough to crush wooden furniture.
** Miwhawk's Yoru is too long to temper all at once, and despite having an even longer grip than the source material dictates it is noticeably difficult to wield.
** During the making of Pyramid Head's knife, Matt muses that someone in the fanbase must have the knack out for him because they keep suggesting gigantic weapons that they know he'll have to spend hours grinding.
** While forging Master Yi's Ring Sword, which is pretty big, Matt mentions that all the crazy huge weapons they've done for ''Man at Arms'' have basically turned Ilya into the country's -- if not the ''world's'' -- most experienced smith when it comes to giant blade forging.
** The Greatsword of Artorias is even harder to wield than a typical BFS, because it only has a one-handed grip. Even lifting it up to drop on stuff for the demonstration was a struggle for most of the crew. Though at least it could still be done by one person, unlike the Buster Sword.
** The Chainsword is a lesser case, being about half as tall as a man, but it makes up for it by being a ''completely functional chainsword''.
** Chaoseater was at the time the largest sword the Reforged team had done, and like the Buster Sword, it couldn't really be swung, just dropped, even with a mostly hollow interior.
** Soul Calibur is at the absolute upper limits of what could be considered remotely practical, being basically two very long single-edged swords made into one sword and resulting in most of the crew using a half-sword style technique, grabbing the sword by the hilt and about five inches up from that in the weapon demo.
** Soul Edge rivals Chaoseater and the Buster Sword for the title of "largest weapon ever made on ''Man at Arms'', being longer than most people are tall, about a foot from back to edge at its thickest, and requiring two people to haul in and lift before dropping it, as like the Buster Sword and Chaoseater, it can't really be swung.
** A [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] case for the Sharpened Nail. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that due to the fact that the Sharpened Nail and its other forms are just that, nails, it needs to be scaled up to be wielded by humans rather than bugs.
* BifurcatedWeapon: Hit-Girl's naginata is designed to split into two separate pieces.
* TheBlacksmith:
** Tony Swatton, the person the show first focuses on, has, according to the opening narration, worked as a blacksmith for over thirty years, and made props (primarily weapons) for over two-hundred feature films.
** Followed by Matt and Kerry Stagmer of Baltimore Knives & Swords, the SiblingTeam that the ''Reforged'' season focuses on.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: The Predator wrist blades.
* CallBack: Sometimes previous builds will be referenced, like the Buster Sword [[ArchEnemy needing a matching]] Masamune, or the Phantom Blade being made in part using leftover material from the previous series' Hidden Blade.
* TheCameo:
** Creator/MatthewMercer, voice of Tygra in ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' (the 2011 series), gets to try the Sword of Omens.
** Michael Maurino (formerly of Riot Games, designer of Leona in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'') is handed the Zenith Blade.
** Creator/TrishaHershberger (from ''Webvideo/SourceFed'') takes a couple of swings with Link's Master Sword.
** Kevin Lieber (from ''WebVideo/{{Vsauce}}2'') comes to wield Sting and promote his channel.
** Grant Imahara (from ''Series/MythBusters'') shows up to help test Leonidas' sword.
** Creator/NathanKress (from ''Series/ICarly'') has a go with Elucidator.
* CombatHandFan: Kitana's fans, of course. In particular, being able to work with silk was a highlight of its production, going by the narration.
* CoolHelmet:
** Rainbow Dash's chamfron, a cool helmet for ''horses'', complete with unicorn horn for stabbing.
** Dragonborn's Iron Helmet.
** Super Shredder's serrated helmet.
* CoolOldGuy:
** Tony Swatton. He's clearly also a case of JustForFun/OneOfUs.
** From the ''Reforged'' series, Kerry Stagmer.
* CoolSword: All the swords created, naturally, since they are inspired by examples of the trope in fiction.
* {{Cosplay}}: A few episodes feature a cosplayer (in a related costume) posing with the weapon or even testing it for the final sequence.
** Sokka with the Space Sword.
** Leona with the Zenith Blade.
** Edward Kenway and two pirate lasses with the hidden blade and cutlass.
** Ash Ketchum and Jessie with Honedge.
** Blade with the Daywalker Glaives.
** A few ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters with the lightsaber katana, including Darth Vader, Bobba Fett and some stormtroopers.
** The pony painted like Rainbow Dash to try out the chamfron might count too.
** Inu-Yasha with the Tessaiga.
** Arno Dorian with the Phantom Blade.
** A Predator comes into their shop with a busted wrist blade and asks them to replace it.
** Sauron makes an appearance, complete with his mace forged in an earlier episode, to smash Narsil and duel Andúril.
** Diana (''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'') with her Crescent Moon blade.
** Master Chief with the Gravity Hammer.
** Katniss Everdeen (''Film/TheHungerGames'') with her bow.
** Asuna with the Lambent Light.
** Xena with her chakrams.
** Voltron with the Blazing Sword.
** The original five Power Rangers with the Power Axe.
** The Shredder is fully dressed with his helmet and hand blades.
** Aquaman wielding his trident.
** Genji wielding his sword. Also Reaper, Junkrat, Soldier 76, Hanzo and Roadhog. Because why not?
** Green Lantern with his eponymous ring, with Deadpool stealing some jade and popping up in a window earlier in the episode.
** X-23 with the foot and hand claws.
** Mikasa Ackerman (''Manga/AttackOnTitan'') with the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear blades.
** Weiss Schnee with Myrtenaster.
** Alice with the Vorpal Blade
* CreatorCameo: Michael Maurino (a.k.a. Iron Stylus), art designer on the game ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', is seen {{Squee}}ing over the finished Zenith Blade. He designed Leona, the champion who wields said blade.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The main difference between the original series and ''Reforged'': all the team from ''Reforged'' have their own episodes, where they work their pet projects with only minor help from the rest of the crew.
* DeadlyDisc:
** Blade's Daywalker Glaives.
** Captain America's throwing shields in ''Reforged''.
** Xena's chakrams.
* DeceptivelySimpleDemonstration: The demonstrations at the end of each video tend to have multiple examples of this. By far, the most common example is ''smashing'' something made of glass with the weapon.
* {{Defictionalization}}: [[invoked]] The entire point of the series is to make fictional weapons real. It should be noted that by "real", we (and the weaponsmiths) don't mean the aluminum prop swords they make as a day job. Each of the weapons made in the series is a real one with a steel cutting-edge (except for bludgeoning weapons like Thor's hammer or Sauron's mace, of course). Yes, even the Keyblade.
* DestroyTheProductPlacement: The Dandao sword and Narsil/Anduril episodes have them cutting many cans of Smith & Forge Hard Cider, who provided some of the tools used on the episodes.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Matt Stagmer, one of the blacksmiths from ''Reforged'', helps Tony in some of the original series' videos, most noticeably during the making of Finnick's trident.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The workshop equipment is not to be played with. Tony reminds us on occasion that basically everything in his shop can kill or horribly disfigure you if you aren't mindful, like that one movie producer who managed to slash himself, fuse hot metal to his hand, and then dip said hand in acid. His old door had a sign on it saying something like "Authorized personnel only. No admittance. Everything inside is hot, sharp, poisonous, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking offensively rude]], or all of the above."
* FlamingSword: For the ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' Blazing Sword, the team decided to make it shoot flames. This is done by forging two blades, indenting one blade with grooves that act as channels for the flames to burst out, welding the blades together, and integrating a port where one can connect a portable propane tank to.
* ForgingScene: The biggest part of every episode, of course. This is basically ''Forging Scene: The Web Series''.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: One episode of ''Reforged'' has the team creating [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim's]] Iron Helmet, which doesn't even have any pointy bits to maim things with, and the ending montage has them attacking the finished piece with various weapons to show off its durability. This trend continues with every other piece of armor they make afterwards.
* TheGadfly: Ilya is not above ribbing his coworkers for a laugh, like threatening to cut up Kerry's new forklift if the older forklift piece they were forging didn't work out, or swiping and using Matt's personal hammer and ''licking it'' once Matt realizes. Matt retaliates in the Shredder's Helmet episode by stealing some of his pizza while he's not looking.
* HonorBeforeReason:
** On the ''Anime/KillLaKill'' episode, the Stagmers took a high-definition pic of the Scissor Blade, traced it on [=AutoCAD=] and plasma-cutted it with the computer, getting a perfect shape, just to toss it aside and do it manually, by forging together a bunch of actual scissors into the blade. To sum up, they actually made a working prototype that needed only to be sharpened and colored, and used it as a template to forge a weapon the hard way.
** The ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' version of Excalibur. Making their initial piece of metal from a variety of different sources symbolically representing the other six classes of heroes of the franchise is awesome, but it was quite clear that the result of using so many different sources of iron gave the final result a very uneven piece of metal and turning ''that'' into a working blade was not a simple task. But they did it anyway.
** Similar to Excalibur above is the Hattori Hanzo katana from ''Film/KillBill''. Matt noted that many fans wanted them to do a more traditional build, so the crew decided that they would start making the sword from scratch, following the traditional ways of Japanese swordsmiths. That includes ''making a real tamahagane'' (a type of Japanese traditional steel, basically a result of the Japanese hybrid bloomery and blast furnace iron smelting process called ''tatara'') from raw iron ore and ''refine them'' (which is a time and labor-intensive work) into the proper steel necessary for forging the blade.
** A challenge from the video's sponsors had them forge Narsil from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' using only 19th century tools and techniques; the most technologically advanced thing they were allowed was a spring-powered power hammer, and it involved a ''lot'' of hard manual labor. [[spoiler:They threw reason to the wind when they proceeded to use Narsil as an object lesson on why you ''always'' temper your blade lest Sauron smash it like glass, and they then reforged the entire thing from the broken pieces ''again'', using 19th century techniques as per the challenge.]]
** The sheer amount of engraving work that went into their custom Excalibur (the second one) was absolutely staggering. They did it because they wanted to make a blade worthy of the [[Myth/KingArthur original legends]], and also because whatever design they came up with was going to end up in the mobile game ''King of Avalon''.
** For [[Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick Riddick's Ulaks]], they made seven bars of pattern steel, twisted each of them ''seventeen times'', welded them back together and proceeded to twist that unified large bar ''again'' before cutting it into two to make what amounts to... two karambit daggers. Why? Because the end-result would look [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon really, really cool]].
* HumongousHeadedHammer: Hand of the Patriarch, a massive hammer in the shape of [[RuleOfCool a pair of fists]].
* IMeantToDoThat: Said by Grant Imahara after testing Leonidas's sword on a watermelon and only chipping off a little bit.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Mocked in the ''Reforged'' episode with the lightsaber katana; the stormtrooper trying it has a hard time hitting anything.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: OncePerEpisode, one of these gets {{defictionaliz|ation}}ed.[[invoked]]
* ImpressivePyrotechnics: Mentioned during the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Masamune]] video; during the Buster Sword's forging, when they stuck the sword into heat-treating oil, it caused an 8-foot tall wall of flame. They were anticipating something similar to happen when heat-treating Masamune's less-so-but-still-large blade and put on fire safety gear in preparation [[SubvertedTrope and naturally nothing particularly impressive happens]].
* {{Irony}}: Ilya noted the irony that he had a sword that was probably used to kill Russians in the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar, and was [[https://youtu.be/Q598DP27tGA now]] sent Japanese steel to create a Japanese sword even though he's Russian.
* KatanasAreJustBetter:
** The reason for a katana being the weapon chosen by the ''Reforged'' gang to mash up with a lightsaber. A straight-bladed, double-edged sword would more closely approximate the range of attacks available to a lightsaber wielder, but there's no denying that a katana with a lightsaber hilt and a Galactic Empire emblem tsuba is cool. It's also fitting in that the Jedi largely fight like samurai in the ''Star Wars'' films.
** Probably also the reason he used old katana tips to incorporate [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight 5th Assassin]] into Excalibur instead of, say, an old dagger.
** Averted, in that Ilya says that a katana is not superior to any other well-made sword and that many of the techniques the Japanese use, like using a hard steel and a softer steel and folded steel were also used by Western swordmakers.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Discussed in the Erza Scarlet episode. It's pointed out that armor was the most expensive and laborious part of the knight's equipment to produce, and that knights were supposed to represent their kingdom's highest virtues.
* LivingWeapon: Honedge and Black☆Star's Chain Scythe are replicas of such, though this being real life, they aren't actually alive.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Captain America's shield, the Hylian Shield, and Wonder Woman's shield.
* ManInAKilt: To test out William Wallace's Claymore, along with Scottish swordmaster Dan Speaker, Tony and Brian don kilts.
* MasterOfAll: Ilya Alekseyev's specialty is armor, but is there anything he's ''not'' good at? Bladesmithing, etching, leatherwork, he does everything. He's also demonstrated his proficiency in multiple different styles of traditional bladesmithing, both European and East Asian. He also got to demonstrated this as a competitor on History Channel's ''Series/ForgedInFire'', where Ilya won.
* MixAndMatchWeapon:
** The ''TMNT'' super weapon is of course a combination of a bo staff, a sai, a katana and a nunchaku. It comes out as a double-ended polearm, sai on one end and short katana-like blade on the other, with the sai attached to the handle by a chain that can either be secured in place on the end via a bayonet-like locking lug or left hanging loose by the nunchaku chain.
** There's also the ''Bloodborne'' Saw Cleaver, which is a saw that folds out into a large straight razor of a cleaver. It even includes the locking mechanism to keep the weapon in each form it takes, requiring a custom-made spring.
* {{Nerdgasm}}: Each finished piece certainly aims at causing this, and they know it:
-->'''Tony Swatton:''' ''[with the Buster Sword]'' How many geeks out there are having nerdgasms right now?\\
'''Brian:''' ''[with Masamune]'' You mean, including us?
* NewSeasonNewName: The focus shifting from Tony's crew to the Stagmer brothers' team is accompanied by the subtitle ''Reforged''.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Tony Swatton admits feeling affinities with Tolkien's dwarves, being himself a bearded, stocky metalworker.
* ThisIsReality: The team notes again and again that some of the more [[{{BFS}} gigantic builds]] are AwesomeButImpractical. Also, Ilya explains in the historical build episodes and Q&A that making traditional blades will require more time and effort compared to the standard, run-of-the-mill production blades (to circumvent this with the time constraint, the team admits they must compromise by "cheating", as in using more modern techniques and tools).
* RecordNeedleScratch: The usual music marking the completion of a weapon screeches to a halt when Sauron breaks Narsil.
* RetractableWeapon: A few examples thus far, in each case requiring lots of painstaking work on the mechanism.
** The ''Assassin's Creed'' hidden blade.
** The Predator's wrist blades.
** [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity The Phantom Blade]].
** The scythe section of [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate Jacob Frye's cane sword]].
** X-23's foot claw has a mechanism allowing it to spring from a boot.
* RevisitingTheRoots: The ''Reforged'' team, after a few episodes of making combining weapons and receiving massive backlash for it, have returned to their roots and just make fantasy weapons again.
* RoyalRapier:
** Asuna's Lambent Light. We get to see the blade compared to an historically accurate rapier, showing its exaggerated width, frequent with anime weapons.
** Weiss' Myrtenaster as well, which has tons of elaborate etching. In order to simulate its ability to emit Dust, the Stagmers' version has an integrated cap-gun.
* SelfImposedChallenge: In-universe.
** Forging Sokka's sword out of real meteoric iron.
** Forging Ryuko's blade from a bundle of ''actual scissors''. There's no logical reason for doing this.
** The two tomahawks are forged for the most part under a two-hour time limit.
** They go out of their way to forge Andúril ''properly'': [[spoiler:forge ''Narsil'' using 19th century-or-earlier techniques only, smash Narsil into shards, then use more archaic techniques to forge the shards into Andúril.]]
** Making The Bride's katana from ''raw iron, smelted into actual tamahagane'' strictly following the Japanese tradition.
** Basically all the historical and traditional builds, including the Dandao and Kennosuke's Katana (using similar methods to the ''Kill Bill'' build) and the Ulfberht Sword (by using actual crucible steel).
** Making the Fury's Song out of [=AR500=] (read: bulletproof armor plate) steel.
** Making X-23's claws and foot blade out of Titanium.
* SerratedBladeOfPain:
** The Diamond Sword, as a consequence of forging a blade in the cubic/pixellated style of ''Minecraft''.
** Naturally, the Saw Cleaver from ''Bloodborne''.
** The Shredder's helmet too.
* SharpenedToASingleAtom: Tony has said, in response to a question about the sharpest of all his weapons, that his forging will leave blades with a monomolecular edge in nearly all cases, and it's just a matter of which materials will best maintain that edge while being used.
* ShoutOut:
** The Keyblade episode concludes with Swatton [[AxeBeforeEntering breaking through a door]] with the newly forged weapon and yelling [[Film/TheShining "HERE'S TONY!"]]
** The Lambent Light episode features a number of references to ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', most notably the MundaneMadeAwesome depiction of Lisbeth's blacksmithing.
** Ilya made enough references to ''WebVideo/LifeOfBoris'' in their Tapanga Machete video, from his yellow hoodie to the fact that he uses the Machete to make ''Buterbrod'', that Boris himself took notice. He did however, criticize Ilya not adding any cucumber to his slavic sandwich.
* SpoiledByTheFormat:[[invoked]] Seeing them seemingly wrap up the [[spoiler:Narsil]] build half-way through the video should've clued you in that that wasn't the only build we'd be seeing for that video. [[spoiler:Them shattering the sword they had labored over to give an object lesson on why you should temper your blades, followed by reforging the broken pieces into Andúril, however...]]
* StabTheSky: Tony Swatton likes to take this pose with the finished swords. Of course, it's obligatory with He-Man's Power Sword.
* SwordCane: Jacob Frye's cane sword, of course. Includes a short blade on the side of the handle, and a retractable scythe at the tip of the cane.
* TakeThat: The final scene of each episode, where the completed weapon is shown cutting things, sometimes contains one of these. Examples include:
** The stabbing of Sokka's sword through a copy of ''Film/TheLastAirbender''.
** Stabbing Wolverine's claws through a copy of ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''.
** Stabbing X-23's claws (while dressed as Wolverine) through a copy of ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}''.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Whenever the violins kick in near the end of a video you know that you are about to see some flagrant weapon porn.
* ThunderboltIron:
** Tony bought actual nickel-iron meteorites to forge into Sokka's sword. One of the main challenges of the build was having to layer and fold the crumbly and brittle meteorite metal with higher-quality steel in order to get the blade to properly forge.
** Ilya also uses a meteorite to forge Brisingr, like it is in the novels, though he goes about processing it properly and laminating it with Japanese tamahagane.
* TooDumbToLive: Tony often relates a story about a movie producer who came into his shop while he was working and, to say the least, did not respect all the dangerous equipment. He picked up a random knife off a table and slashed it across his palm to see if it was sharp, cutting it to the bone in one motion. After getting first aid, he returned to the workshop and picked up a hot chunk of metal Tony was just forging, melting his skin and fusing the chunk to his hand. In a panic, he dipped his hand in what he thought was water, but was actually a vat of acid. Here's hoping that was exaggerated...
* WeaponizedHeadgear: Oddjob's Hat in the first season.
* WolverineClaws:
** One of the weapons forged is a set of claws based on Wolverine's from the movie with the [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine same name]].
** The first weapon of the ''Reforged'' season is their attempt to create a gauntlet of these claws as if the Dark Knight had designed it himself.
** ''Reforged'' later does X-23's claws, along with one of her foot blades, out of Titanium.
* WreckedWeapon: The ''Reforged'' team neglects to temper [[spoiler:Narsil]] before winding up for the ending montage, only for [[spoiler:Sauron to appear and smash the blade to bits. The second half of the episode features them forging Andúril from the pieces.]]
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