History Analysis / BFS

Speaking of which, manufacturing and materials would also have been a problem. Even today, making an authentic Zweihander replica is more difficult and expensive than making a longsword or arming sword because it requires more steel, there's more material to pound and grind, it's awkward to maneuver around the workshop, and in the case of smaller workshops it may be too large to fit inside the smith's existing appliances such as the forge chamber, quench tank, or annealing oven. All those difficulties would have been greater back in the days of more costly materials, limited power tools, and lack of control or precision in the heat treatment process. Now once we start talking about "anime-sized" weapons, you can see on shows like ''WebVideo/ManAtArms'' how hard the problems are for even the most skilled and well-equipped smiths using modern technology; even then, what they produce is often less massive and thick than the fictional version. The people in many historical settings might not have been able to produce a large enough bloom or ingot of more-or-less homogeneous steel to make the blade out of, and forge welding together the blank for a massive Buster Sword out of numerous smaller ingots would have been outrageously labor-intensive at best. Finally, once a certain threshold of mass is reached it becomes doubtful that the sword could survive its own blows. The thickness of the tang is limited to the diameter of handle that a person could wrap their hands around, and a relatively thin tang on a blade weighing triple digits would bend or snap off at the shoulders under the blade's weight and momentum; this would be most likely to happen in any instance of powerful motion being suddenly arrested. The blade itself might buckle under its own weight depending on the forces involved. Modern or futuristic materials would be necessary to make such sword dimensions remotely usable.

Speaking of which, manufacturing and materials would also have been a problem. Even today, making an authentic Zweihander replica is more difficult and expensive than making a longsword or arming sword because it requires more steel, there's more material to pound and grind, it's awkward to maneuver around the workshop, and in the case of smaller workshops it may be too large to fit inside the smith's existing appliances such as the forge chamber, quench tank, or annealing oven. All those difficulties would have been greater back in the days of more costly materials, limited power tools, and lack of control or precision in the heat treatment process. Now once we start talking about "anime-sized" weapons, you can see on shows like ''WebVideo/ManAtArms'' how hard the problems are for even the most skilled and well-equipped smiths using modern technology; even then, what they produce is often less massive and thick than the fictional version. The people in many historical settings might not have been able to produce a large enough bloom or ingot of more-or-less homogeneous steel to make the blade out of, and forge welding together the blank for a massive Buster Sword out of numerous smaller ingots would have been outrageously labor-intensive at best. Finally, once a certain threshold of mass is reached it becomes doubtful that the sword could survive its own blows. The thickness of the tang is limited to the diameter of handle that a person could wrap their hands around, and a relatively thin tang on a blade weighing triple digits would bend or snap off at the shoulders under the blade's weight and momentum; this would be most likely to happen at either the beginning or end of the swing. The blade itself might buckle under its own weight depending on the forces involved. Modern or futuristic materials would be necessary to make such sword dimensions remotely usable.

Speaking of which, manufacturing and materials would also have been a problem. Even today, making an authentic Zweihander replica is more difficult and expensive than making a longsword or arming sword because it requires more steel, there's more material to pound and grind, it's awkward to maneuver around the workshop, and in the case of smaller workshops it may be too large to fit inside the smith's existing appliances such as the forge chamber, quench tank, or annealing oven. All those difficulties would have been greater back in the days of more costly materials, limited power tools, and lack of control or precision in the heat treatment process. Now once we start talking about "anime-sized" weapons, you can see on shows like ''WebVideo/ManAtArms'' how hard the problems are for even the most skilled and well-equipped smiths using modern technology; even then, what they produce is often less massive and thick than the fictional version. The people in many historical settings might not have been able to produce a large enough bloom or ingot of more-or-less homogeneous steel to make the blade out of, and forge welding together the blank for a massive Buster Sword out of numerous smaller ingots would have been outrageously labor-intensive at best. Finally, once a certain threshold of mass is reached it becomes doubtful that the sword could survive its own blows. The thickness of the tang is limited to the diameter of handle that a person could wrap their hands around, and a relatively thin tang on a blade weighing triple digits would cause the handle to bend or snap off under the blade's weight and momentum; this would be most likely to happen at either the beginning or end of the swing. The blade itself might buckle under its own weight depending on the forces involved. Modern or futuristic materials would be necessary to make such sword dimensions remotely usable.

Speaking of which, manufacturing and materials would also have been a problem. Even today, making an authentic Zweihander replica is more difficult and expensive than making a longsword or arming sword because it requires more steel, there's more material to pound and grind, it's awkward to maneuver around the workshop, and in the case of smaller workshops it may be too large to fit inside the smith's existing appliances such as the forge chamber, quench tank, or annealing oven. All those difficulties would have been greater back in the days of more costly materials, limited power tools, and lack of control or precision in the heat treatment process. Now once we start talking about "anime-sized" weapons, you can see on shows like ''WebVideo/ManAtArms'' how hard the problems are for even the most skilled and well-equipped smiths using modern technology; even then, what they produce is often less massive and thick than the fictional version. The people in many historical settings might not have been able to produce a large enough bloom or ingot of more-or-less homogeneous steel to make the blade out of, and forge welding together the blank for a massive Buster Sword out of numerous smaller ingots would have been outrageously labor-intensive at best. Finally, once a certain threshold of mass is reached it becomes doubtful that the sword could survive its own blows. The thickness of the tang is limited to the diameter of handle that a person could wrap their hands around, and a relatively thin tang on a blade weighing triple digits would cause the handle to bend or snap off under the blade's weight and momentum when swung. The blade itself might buckle under its own weight depending on the forces involved. Modern or futuristic materials would be necessary to make such sword dimensions remotely usable.

Giant swords are impractical in the real world because of the SquareCubeLaw, which guarantees that a sword that gets too heavy will be slow and cumbersome no matter how strong its wielder is. The sword has to be a relatively small percentage of its wielder's body weight--and indeed a pretty small weight in absolute terms--in order for human muscle power to accelerate and control it at high speed. Even a powerlifter who can bench press over 700 pounds would struggle and fail to use a 15 pound sword for fencing at normal speed, simply because it is exponentially harder to swing a substantial weight around your body at more than arm's length than it is to lift or press the same weight in a straight trajectory towards or away from the body, and whatever you can do with it will be much slower in comparison because a heavier object has more inertia than a light one. Eight pounds is about the absolute limit for what even a six-foot long greatsword can weigh before it becomes too unwieldy for fencing at speed. What's more, wielding a ''truly'' giant sword such as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud's Buster Sword]] would require not only SuperStrength, but also a whole set of RequiredSecondaryPowers. An object that large has tremendous inertia, meaning that it is extremely difficult to get it moving from a resting position, and just as hard to stop it or change direction after it gets going. In order to actually exert upon the weapon the minimum force needed to accelerate it to the speed of a normal sword swing, you would have to be able to push off of the ground without your feet slipping out from under you as you step forward, and then the sword would try to yank you forward along with it as soon as it gathered some speed. In order to step and swing with control you would need to artificially increase your body mass—whether by ridiculously heavy armor or some kind of sci-fi gravity belt—and take similar measures for your overall stability and the traction of your shoes. Once you were able to swing it and keep your footing, you would also need SuperToughness in order for your bones, muscles, and joints to withstand forces that would rip a person's arms off.

Giant swords are impractical in the real world because of the SquareCubeLaw, which guarantees that a sword that gets too heavy will be slow and cumbersome no matter how strong its wielder is. The sword has to be a relatively small percentage of its wielder's body weight--and indeed a pretty small weight in absolute terms--in order for human muscle power to accelerate and control it at high speed. Even a powerlifter who can bench press over 700 pounds would struggle and fail to use a 15 pound sword for fencing at normal speed, simply because it is exponentially harder to swing a substantial weight around your body at more than arm's length than it is to lift or press the same weight in a straight trajectory towards or away from the body, and whatever you can do with it will be much slower in comparison because a heavier object has more inertia than a light one. Eight pounds is about the absolute limit for what even a six-foot long greatsword can weigh before it becomes too unwieldy for fencing at speed. What's more, wielding a ''truly'' giant sword such as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud's Buster Sword]] would require not only SuperStrength, but also a whole set of RequiredSecondaryPowers. An object that large has tremendous inertia, meaning that it is extremely difficult to get it moving from a resting position, and just as hard to stop it or change direction after it gets going. In order to actually exert upon the weapon the minimum force needed to accelerate it to the speed of a normal sword swing, you would have to be able to push off of the ground without your feet slipping out from under you as you step forward, and then the sword would try to yank you forward along with it as soon as it gathered some speed. In order to do this with control you would either have to weigh several times as much as a normal human, or artificially increase your personal gravity, stability, and traction using sci-fi technology or magic. Once you were able to swing it and keep your footing, you would also need SuperToughness in order for your bones, muscles, and joints to withstand forces that would rip a person's arms off.