CURSED fantasy armor designs
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Let's take a look at some of the most cursed fantasy armor designs!
For 16 free meals with HelloFresh across 7 boxes AND 3 free gifts, use code SHADIVERSITY16 at bit.ly/3emMpiN !
If you like the content and want to support the channel, you're welcome to do so through Utreon, Subscribe Star or Patreon:
utreon.com/c/s...
www.subscribes...
/ shadbrooks
Come check out my other channels!
THE SHADLANDS: / @theshadlands1142
KNIGHTS WATCH: / knightswatch
Subscribe to my website so you don't miss an upload: www.shadmbrook...
Follow me on Facebook: / shadiversity
Follow me on twitter: / shadmbrooks
My novel, Shadow of the Conqueror Audio Book affiliate links:
US: www.audible.co...
UK: www.audible.co...
CA: www.audible.ca...
AU: www.audible.co...
Ebook, Paperback and Hardcover available from most major book retailers, here are a few of the main ones:
Amazon affiliate link (be sure to navigate to your country's amazon site):
amzn.to/2XErUaR
Barnes and Noble:
www.barnesandn...
Kobo:
www.kobo.com/a...
Awesome Shirts and chainmail print clothing: teespring.com/...
Visit Calimacil for the best replica foam swords and LARP weapons: calimacil.com?aff=38
Buy my sword IMPERIOUS from Calimacil: calimacil.com/...
Community run discord server: / discord
#medievalmisconceptions
It's all genre savvy armor. We know that in TV land, a blunt hit to the head just causes immediate sleep, thus helmets are not needed. A stab in the abdomen isn't usually fatal for women, they'll just faint for a few hours, while men will die after giving the main character some dying words.
Also, fantasy armor is pathetically thin, because fictional swords can slice through anything depending on what the script dictates, that's why fully armored soldiers still carry a shield.
We know the strongest material however is PLOT, and it's invisible and extra light. It will never inconvenience the protagonists, but its weight can always drag down the story, so its best to use sparingly.
In TV land blunt hits usually dont do anything at all. If your hero gets hit by a sword or axe your hero might be wounded because people understand blade = cut and thats going to leave a scar but being bashed about with a club or something for some reason means you're fine.
Ok if ever gona be fataly wounded i need to have my mout shout, you never know who main hero is.
I was playing Tomb Raider and it literally has the abdomen thing.
She's running with a hole in her abdomen, for several days, and even crawling in sewage, but makes it almost intact.
Her mentor takes a back wound and gives his last speech.
you're right: copper, bronze, iron, steel, gold, diamond, mythril, adamantium, leather, cloth, boob, plot
Perfectly stated!
Hey shad, I figured out why they don’t use folds. Many types of Japanese armor use segmented tacets instead of folds. The artists are basically combining the lower half of Japanese armor with the top half of European armor. It’s also why you see a lot of segementation in the lower bits of upper armor as well. So a lot of the people drawing this are Japanese or using anime influence.
Faulds, Tassets. I know someone's going to correct you, so I thought I'd just let you know now. Cut them off at the pass, and be That Guy.
@@MrJinglejanglejingle thank you for being that guy, because I would’ve spelled it folds.
@@roefane2258 No worries. I did a quick Google Search just to be absolutely certain. Always better to check your shit before you open your mouth. Or, rather, in this case, hit "reply".
That makes a lot of sense. I hope Shad sees your comment.
Polish hussar armor is made that way and it's not that restrictive.
The Black Knights armour may be over exaggerated but it still manages to look cool. Also within context the guy is inhumanly strong to the point he can just full on sprint at you like that. Although Fire Emblem tends to play up strength for fantasy purposes anyway.
Pretty much.
Also said armour is enchanted to be nigh impervious to almost any conventional weapon, some overdone design in exchange for almost complete protection isn’t that bad a trade off.
@@rustkarl As long as its a trade off thats fine. The question is what magical nonsense went into justifying the design over something more practical. Most times you coulda just had proper armor. There was no religious or occult significance to the design and it really could have been anything and stil retained those properties.
My point is that its only a trade off if there was a point at which you had to choose between practical armor and magical powers.
surprised they didn’t go to critique the armor for women in certain subclasses in conquest instead lol. to be fair tho there’s already plenty of bikini armor on the internet anyway
@@Merilirem To look like a chess piece was the intent I'd assume.
@@Merilirem
In-universe? Not a damn thing.
In terms of meta-design…
It’s a design geared for two things: intimidation, overbearing in form so the player understands that this opponent is one to run the hell away from, and concealment, to obstruct the figure and identity of the one wearing it up until the reveal.
in regard to the tassets, I think they might be inspired by Japanese cavalry armor which were designed to hang loose so that they could be spread out when the samurai was straddling his horse and they would hang down to protect the horse and the riders' legs. Also, the asymmetrical incomplete armor set might also be influenced by medieval Japan where many samurai would commission armor piece by piece or scavenge it off defeated enemies because it was so expensive that most couldn't afford to get the whole set at once. This makes even mor sense when you consider just how prominent these tropes where in old anime and that most of the western versions came after (I could be wrong on that last point)
Also, I think the oversized pauldrons might be based on jousting armor, which were extra-large/tall to protect the head from both getting hit and from shrapnel/splinters when the lances shattered on impact
Dungeon Punk is also fond of scavenging armor from all over, asymmetric -colors not matching as well.
To be fair, the Black Knight's armor is even said to be impractical in-game; Ranulf complains that he shouldn't be able to move as fast as he does. Still, good show.
When the Black Knight emerged from that house in Chapter 11 of Path of Radiance and I got a look at his stats, I almost shit my pants. 27 speed?! With that armor?! For some perspective for those who don't know Fire Emblem, the maximum speed stat is 30. Oh, and his Strength, Defense, and Skill (affects hit and critical hit rate) are also all maxed at 30. The dude is an absolute monster. And he heals 10% per turn and can ignore your Defense stat with an alarmingly high probability (though Nihil fixes that). I'm not sure it's even mathematically possible to beat him without landing at least one Aether, even if Ike's stats are capped.
And then to find out in Radiant Dawn that he was holding _way_ back, and all his stats are almost 10 points higher than that. He could reasonably hold his own against Ashera, and she's a goddess. _The_ progentor goddess of the game's world. Given his strength, his true identity, and his unique relationship with Ike (the protagonist, for those unaware; the Black Knight is a "villain" and a rival of sorts), he's one of my favorite Fire Emblem characters ever.
Certainly unpractical, but easily the coolest armor design of the bunch, here. And Alondite is a badass sword (and my favorite name for a weapon ever, hence my username) that he swings around like it's a damn plastic knife.
@@alondite215
Both him and Ike uses such a weird sword style too where they literally swing huge heavy metal swords with one arm
@@alondite215 fun fact, alondite is a corruption of arondight, lancelot's sword
@@ninototo1 it is indeed. I actually think it's a direct Romanization of the Japanese pronunciation of "Arondight."
I actually prefer "Alondite." "Arondight is still cool, but it's much more common.
@@alondite215 Same, I fell in love with the name the moment I first read it. It sounds so feminine and nice, which contrasts the menacing Black Knight.
24:45
An addendum to the Black Knight’s armor that should allow it a pass from you, Shad. His armor and sword are enchanted and the armor makes him invulnerable from any weapon that isn’t similarly enchanted. He doesn’t move too much when fighting and he is INCREDIBLY slow when he does. The game takes into account the armor’s shape in his animations. He’s also abnormally strong, so there’s that, too.
Yeah until you see him fight in a cutscene where he blitzes ike
@@bobowon5450 I wouldn’t call that a blitz, though my memory of it is a bit foggy. Really need to replay those 2 games
Yeah, except he has a nearly capped 27 speed in Path of Radiance, and still has 30 speed in Radiant Dawn after the armor's blessing had faded and he had to bear its full weight. He's just insanely fast and strong naturally, the blessing on the armor is just the cherry on top.
I mean, under his true identity he's the top general in the world's largest and most powerful nation, and likely the strongest soldier alive until Ike eventually beats him. And Ike is canonically the most powerful hero in the entire Fire Emblem universe, so the Black Knight being only a shade weaker than him says a lot.
@@alondite215 I did not know that about Ike.
@@Cloudrunner62 It was stated in Heroes, or maybe one of the 3DS games, I can't remember. That he was the "Strongest in All the Universes" or something to that effect.
I'll admit, part of me wants to see you go through tonnes of Fire Emblem art now. True, Zelgius, aka The Black Knight, is one of the more 'wtf' designs for those massive pauldrons, but I blame the artist responsible for that rendition. For the most part, the armour designs throughout the franchise are pretty grounded. They've certainly inspired me throughout the years as an artist.
Yeah it would be interesting if he'd analyse them. Especially with the more toned-down armor from Three Houses / Hopes.
@@LadyIno Armour in Three Houses is generally toned down, with the main exception being the fortress knight armour, and some of it, like the soldier armour, is pretty decent. However, a lot of it does suffer from certain problems:
1. Spikes. Spiked armour is impractical and dangerous to the user, and yet it is everywhere in Three Houses.
2. Pauldrons that are too rigid and wouldn't allow the shoulders to move properly. This is mainly a problem with the cavalry and flying classes.
Yesss
The knight class in the GBA games is one of my favorite heavy armor designs in fantasy, namely when it's in motion.
(I don't know, something about the chest plate doubling as a shield when going mobile is just really appealed to me as a kid, haha.)
I think the main problem with armour designs in Fire Emblem is the absence of chain mail.
Imagine the stroke Shad might have if he were to examine the armour of Executioner Smough from Dark Souls.
I mean unlike some off the stuff in this vid Smogh's armor actually qualifies as armor and protects him
I feel bad that Shad had to comment on massive pauldrons in Fire Emblem. Especially BK, who is meant to be one hell of a knight, but yeah even in PoR I thought the massive pauldrons made his head look tiny. I thought it was a style thing.
Personally, I hate the weird armor scarves that Knights had in Awakening (see Kellam or Kjelle's base art) which look like they block the arm movement even more.
And I wonder what Shad thinks of the Knight attack animation from the GBA games like in Sacred Stones. The one where the Knight's breastplate unhooks to be a handheld shield for a one-handed thrust attack with a spear.
I imagine the big paldrons are leftover from sprite based games to make armored units more distinct
No wonder the armour knights only have 5 mov.
Kjelle looks like she could be Buzz Lightyear's sidekick.
Yeah, the design for cavaliers is also weird, the neck pice of the armor almost looks like a toilet as in the Sully and Stahl designs. The game is great though.
THE BREASTPLATE *WHAT*
I would love to see a follow up video, featuring Jazza, where you two create fantasy armour that is both cool AND functional.
He doesnt need Jazza for that.
Yes
I've noticed that a lot of vthese cursed armors have same issue that plagues a lot of poor robot designs as well: they're designed for one SPECIFIC pose and angle, and the artist just haven't thought of how it would be working in a different situation.
They don't really need to. The point of an ilustration is just to look interesting and cool. Loads of iliustrations have broken perspective and shit, but they do it to create a morr pleasing image. The problems only show up if you're trying to adapt it in 3d
@@auqifx If you want your design to look plausible and good, no, you kind of need to.
Else you end up with stupid shit like in this very wideo, armor with spikes that are apparenly designed to disembowel you should you decide to bend forward a little.
@@DarthBiomech Plausible, sure. Purely aesthetic - no. Just as some of the proportions are super stylised and weird, the same is done with the armor. They're seen as shapes instead of actual components. Trying to find an interesting silhouette and then fun details
It's a common problem for rookie character designers across the board. They want to give a character a dynamic silhouette with strong shape language, but they forget that a useable character design needs to work from multiple angles. It's one of the things that separates true professionals from amateur artists.
Ya know now that I take a good look at the Black Knight from Fire Emblem. His armor was properly designed to be viable. His shoulder pads and the armor pieces around his hips looks like they connected to some sort of latch on his limbs for both protection and mobility, so props for the designers for putting in that much level of detail into a character where everyone are basically super humans. That and wow, the Black Knight's proportions are surprisingly lanky, I bet Zelgius would kick his ass.
Honestly, having to look intimidating is pretty much all Black Knights armor needs to do, considering all its defensive utility is divine (As in, that is litteraly God blessed armor that can't be hurt by non-blessed weapons... or a hammer (that being a bug btw).
Yeah it makes sense in context, but I understand that for an outsider looking in (assuming Shad is an outsider) none of that context is available and they have to judge it based on nothing but the armour design. I don’t fault him for thinking it’s a bit ridiculous, and even I see those massive shoulder pads getting in the way despite its lightweight
A hammer works against the Black Knight in Radiant Dawn because the armour lost its blessing after the fight with Ike in Path of Radiance. It's not a bug.
@@matthewmuir8884 Just looked up a bit of stuff and found it. To be fair, he says it in that ungodly hard to get convo during the third chapter, I assume that is why many (including me) assumed it was a bug.
All fantasy armors exist only to look cool.
Sometimes even suede takes the hits better than steel plate.
The black knight is also a half-human and has inhuman strength.
Id love to see you go through what "To do and not to do" when designing fantasy armour! Things you love and hate to see and so on.
1:54
Shad's laugh is simply priceless.
He's doing Ozs job now for some reason xd
Everyone has a gas-based attack within their arsenal.
Shad should do a whole video looking at Fire Emblem armor designs! I sure it would be super funny seeing his reactions to those lol
Hi Shad.
Can you explore good fantasy armor designs in the future?
Yes.
@@shadiversity can you also explore the weapons of the Warhammer franchise, like Ghal Maraz?
Well, ghal maraz is kinda bad example cause sigmar was demigod who willed himself into actual godhood and any next bearer basically had his blessing iirc
@@shadiversity Cool
@@shadiversity I'm still barely into this video, and you've *already* made a kind of joke *I* often do, even *phrased* it the way I often do; lol.
Also, in the *second* one, I don't think that's supposed to be a *fauld* on her left hip; I think it's supposed to be her *shield* hanging from it. It's *shaped* like a sort of midway between a heater shield and a kite shield after all.
The one at 18:00 makes me wonder if we're missing context. When I look at it, I feel like the artist wants to convey two sides of a specific character and show us both her warrior and civilian side at the same time.
I highly think this is ceremonial armor, not meant for fighting but rituals or parades. So, i give it a pass. :)
For Shadiversity, to simply put, the third armor you looked at, the character was designed to be very tanky. There are other characters from where she comes from that have smaller more mobility practical armor that is better for real life use. To note the character comes from the series Fire Emblem.
As for the seventh armor that was observed, the horn on the top could be purely ornamental, like how Japanese samurai have ornamental pieces on the top of their kabuto. As for the large opening the back, the only thing I could think of as justification for such a large opening for the hair would be to lessen the weight on the head, if she is suppose to be a horse rider being apart of a cavalry unit, then there is less of a need to have armor in the back so long as you keep your enemy facing your front. The armor over the lower jaw for her helmet is reminiscent of Japanese menpo or face masks, some were more practical in design for protecting parts of the face in combat while others may be ornamental or for intimidation. So the jaw armor of her helm may be practical if it sits snugly against her. Though for the chest region, I will say you could be right for the breast feeding part and there could be a detachable chest plate somewhere that could be attached via latches or quick release belts like modern plate carriers today.
As for the eighth armor in red and black, there isn’t much to justify except the neck guard, it probably is to have the same function as what US soldiers did in WWII against the Japanese where there where soldiers who would a large strap of leather around their necks to protect and hopefully prevent decapitation by an Imperial Japanese soldier who has abandoned their rifle and decided to use their sword.
As for the tenth armor with many layers, Japanese armor does the same but for the sake of mobility and flexibility there are sections that are scale or a form of mail mixed with plates along with areas that are protected by leather and wood, which I would assume would be bamboo for the sake of being able to grow bamboo quickly meaning it is easily replaceable parts. So while the idea of many layers isn’t bad, this armor does it bad with it being a bunch heavy plate, if it were thin plates, maybe, but if this is the average thickness of knight armor, then that is too much. As for the tassets hanging off of the cuirass of the armor, that is more Asian inspired I think, given Samurai armor does the same with the skirt armor that goes over the thigh armor, so that is two layers of protection over the upper legs.
Moving to armor fourteen, you were saying that they aren’t tassets, then I would say an armored skirt or skirt armor, Samurai had faux skirts in the form of armor, the Romans had faux skirt armor, and so did other civilizations around the world. So it could be a form of skirt armor rather than a tasset. Though to point out, the crotch in the armor is hidden by cloth in this armor and some of the previous armor so you don’t know if they have a cod piece on or not.
For armor 23 with the giant pauldron one side, I think the opening is for when you turn your head you can behind you a bit with that opening, with how huge it is, I think it also acts as a neck guard for most of the back of the neck and shoulder.
From the previous video I had this comment: I don’t know if you ever talked about this comparison in a video, but unlike the longsword vs katana topic, what about the Chinese Jian to a longsword comparison, when it comes to similar sword comparison, I don’t think people outside of the sword and weapons community every really consider the Chinese Jian to the longsword, although, some would basically say a Jian is essentially a Chinese longsword, it is at least a more comparable weapon to the longsword than the katana, even more so for the four major weapons of China, a sword to compare to the katana would have been the Dao than the longsword and jian.
For artists who draw fantasy armor (especially Japanese), its all about aesthetics and not at all about practicality.
It just has to look cool and sexy
Reminds me of many of the things you see at fashion shows. I can't imagine a lot of those things being worn in real life.
@@jwessel1969 LOL!! How true!
I don't mind stripper outfit. It's designing stripper outfits and telling me that they are armor what offends me.
@Weyland Punani You're probably right that most people don't know any better, especially in regards to any sort of armor worn by men. However, I'd wager that it wouldn't matter regardless. I think people would accept it the same way they accept any other unrealistic thing, like superheroes or dragons. What's worse, I don't even think it'll stop them from complaining about sexy armor being impractical, even though literally everybody knows it's not and that it only exists for looks. Well unless it's justified by the setting or something.
To be fair, the Black Knight's armor (And everything about him really) was just made to be as intimidating as an overleveled enemy that appears from a random house and can completely ruin your run can be, besides that, he his blessed by a goddess on both the armour and sword in order for him to be able to even run on that armor, and also react incredibly fast (As shown with him blocking Ike's Aether)
For any of you that fast forwarded through the sponsor's bit:
Shad just casually mentioned that he has 5 children.
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how much content this guy puts out while being a father to FIVE kids?
For real, just how many hours does this guy fit in a day!?
A king needs an heir... or several of them😂
5x the chad genes
24:50 Ah, the Black Knight. impractical as hell, but also looks way better in cutscenes IMO.
speaking of which, itd be really interesting to see your takes on more stuff from the fire Emblem series!
I'd love to see Shad design his own fantasy trope armour. How close can he remain functional while sticking to the tropes.
14:50 It's probably a cavalry armor, so you don't really need plated groin protection - it is protected by saddle. You also got it backwards with the shoes: pointy shoes served for making it easier to put your feet into stirrups (this also proves it's a horseman's armor), and civil fashion was mimicking that piece of armor. It's probably inspired by reiter armor or three quarter armor.
your point about pointy shoes isn't really right, beacuse we don't talk about just pointy shoes, but about ones that have at least dozen cm of unnecessery length of that spikege
I'd really like to see you check out more Fire Emblem armor. You looked at Effie and the Black Knight but there are plenty of armor designs across the series and I think it would be cool to especially check out a lot of Three Houses armor. Though I would also say that it would help to check out some of story like how the Black Knight has enchantments on his armor and is actually much stronger than a normal human which makes his huge armor less ridiculous. If you could get someone who knows Fire Emblem lore it would be a big help.
*watches for research reasons I promise
11:46 when an armor is so cursed it takes Shad a moment to see the cursed Sword
alongside a few other commenters I've seen, I would also request a couple videos analyzing both the looks and practical functionality of armor and weapons from the Fire Emblem franchise of video games, as that could prove both enlightening and entertaining. I love your videos, Shad. Keep it up!
@Bryce Pruitt as well as the multitude of weapons in the series, notably fresh in my mind being the Hero's Relics from Three Houses, as those are LITERALLY made of the bones of the Nabateans (long story)
@Bryce Pruitt it has, yes, though with Shad's more analytical mind about... Well, just about darn near everything fantasy, and given his actual experience that we've seen with the weapons involved in the triangle, I agree his take could prove one of the most insightful. Personally, Lances over Swords makes a lot of sense, as lances tend to have a much longer reach than your typical sword and you would likely be able to kill an opponent who was using a sword before they could get to you while using a lance.
24:47 The Black Knight from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and the sequel Radiant Dawn. He is playable in Radiant Dawn btw. He literally has super slow movement but cannot be harmed by anything unless the weapon has a similar enchantment to his armor and sword. His theme music also plays into his character very well. It is fair to say that in Radiant Dawn his armor bears several battle scars and damage from his fight with protagonist Ike, including a MASSIVE gash across the breastplate.
Also, here's his themes (there's two versions depending on whether he's in a cutscene or battle):
(The Black Knight/ The Black Knight Lives) Path of Radiance/ Radiant Dawn Story/ Cutscene Theme: ruclips.net/video/MaN2wQ3yMnc/видео.html
(Against the Black Knight/ Unstoppable Destiny) Path of Radiance/ Radiant Dawn Battle Theme: ruclips.net/video/gqrCmPga46w/видео.html
Would love to see your takes of the ARMOR from the Monster Hunter series! They actually have had legitimately good armors, and crazy stuff like these ones!!
A lot of the durability comes down to certain parts containing actual energy from the monster it came from. Or the non-monster material itself depending on which armor.
I hope Shad keeps up these cursed armor videos, cause then we would have Shadaversity for Cursed Armor, Skallagrim for Cursed Weapons, and Brandon Herrera for Cursed Guns....LOL.
Now we need this format to spread more ... Nux Taku does cursed anime things, but not in this format.
5:02 Hi, Effie, how you doing? Just btw, this is an alternative outfit of hers in Fire Emblem Heroes, her normal armor actually looks way better (it's still a bit much, though). No cape, pauldrons are much smaller, she has more armor on her legs and torso. Artist: Asatani Tomoyo
24:46 Ah, yes, Zelgius. The whole point of his armor is just to look intimidating and disguise who he actually is. Not really much else. This art was done by: Daisuke Izuka
Shad seeing anime armor: "It's so unnecessary!"
Don't question anime logic, Shad
On the one at 25:50, it might not be that bad if most of those layers are aesthetic or etched rather than being actual separate plates that are 4-5 deep at places
Honestly, something I've noticed from these fantasy armors, is that a lot of them just include attached "shields" which replace regular armor, and lots of layers, so it's like instead of pouldrons, they just have either giant shoulder-shields, or layers upon layers of metal, or nothing at all.
Same goes for the things that hang around the waist sides, they're often more like hip/thigh shields than armor pieces.
A lot of fantasy armor prioritizes protecting the arms and legs as opposed to the vital organs around the chest and stomach.
The three categories of fantasy armor are: No armor, Partial armor, and Statue Armor.
The no armor category provides little to no actual protection, but sometimes you just wanna walk around half nude on the battlefield without being accused of being reckless.
The partial armor category provides some decent coverage for certain areas while completely ignoring others.
And the statue category stacks so much metal on the human frame that your main goal is to just stand there, look cool, and hope all the enemies get so tired swinging at you and bashing against your metal shell, that they fail to notice that you can't move at all and have basically entered battle in a semi-portable panic room.
P.S. Also if you're someone who actually wears traditional, functional, not over the top armor in a fantasy setting, you're either a joke character who complies to every stereotype about medieval armor, or cannon fodder that's going to be slaughtered.
The way you describe fantasy tassets is more or less fitting. Those things just look like nothing but shields and despite it all being fantasy with magic and all that, I can't even imagine those actually being comfortable to have around my hips and waist if it was actual armor. Also for the PS part, one would honestly hope down the line there's one work or instance where the joke character or cannon fodder not only manages to be the better armored person in a fantasy setting but even surpasses the rest.
Well, Japan, Japanese armor had shoulder shields I guess allot of those could from Japanese armor designers wanting European looking armor design without understanding how it works, or just a clear indication that this guy is a an unstoppable wall of metal.
The worst I think is some of the armor in Wow where they try have a set which is a fortress of metal in the limbs and half naked on the torso, essentially hindering a persons ability to move but not covering them where it matters. Go half naked or unarmored or go super armored, protection or mobility! Pick one! One trope or another, not both!
17:17 if he can swing that thing in his hand and lift that 3 cm thick steel sheild I think weight of the shoulder pouldron wouldn't matter to him.
It's not a fantasy armor if the shoulderpads aren't two towers of magma glowing RGB with volcanos of magic.
11:48 This looks more like a Leatherman.
Edit: 13:17 This one indeed looks heavy, but I think it makes much more sense than the other ones.
Edit2: 16:05 This one made me laugh so hard, and the El Risitas meme would be perfectly fitting there.
Edit3: 25:02 Is this the Black Knight's armor that everyone has been talking about in the comments? Damn. It's really cursed.
Dear Shad,
I seriously enjoy watching and hearing your takes on fantasy armor and weaponry; so much so that I actually view such armor and weapons with a more critical lens now from all the media I view. That said, I just now I arrived home from work and saw my husband playing "Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE." He was playing some dark suited character that had one of the most insane looking swords I'd ever seen; it's apparently called "Noble Rapier" and it looks just like a spiraled unicorn horn or giant screw. Immediately I questioned how in the world such a weapon could function as it would have no cutting power at all, but, seeing as it's called a rapier and all, I figured it'd likely be used to pierce rather than cut. That then got me wondering, would this weapon be better than a regular rapier with stabbing? I mean, the spirals would likely cause it to do more damage but I feel the force required to puncture armor would be much higher unless the sword somehow spun like a drill. Still, given that this is a fantasy world with super humans and the like, would such a weapon be better at piercing through armor than a standard rapier assuming the wielder has super strength? I sort of feel it would, but only because a similar shape is found on narwhale tusks and they use their tusks to break through thick ice. So I feel nature likely made their tusks spiraled for a reason, and, even just scaling it down a bit, I feel it'd be similar to taking a hammer and hitting a screw into something vs hitting a nail. Yes the nail will likely puncture will less force but the screw will seriously tear up whatever material it's being forced into.
If you see this, I'd love to hear your take on this crazy sword. The fact that I don't believe such a weapon has ever been used historically makes me feel as though this is a crappy design, that and the fact that it can only pierce and not cut. I also wonder how parrying with it would work given it's spiral ridges....
Thank you for another video Shad. I’m excited to watch it!
The one thing I really dislike in fantasy armours are spikes that would stick into the user's body when trying to move around. The lady at 2:15 is a good example of armour that is painful to look at.
21:01 In case anyone is wondering from where this one is from, the sauce is: Asobinin wa Kenja ni Tenshoku Dekiru tte Shittemashita? Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta Lv 99 - the character is Tina Panetta, though I`m not sure if it`s a page from the Manga or an illustration from the Light Novel, it's good stupid fun.
Why thank you, you see, I have this “friend” who was curious about that…
Shad just plainly destroying anime designs for half an hour
Crusader's armour from Diablo III, was pretty wonky but mainly just the pauldrons, but the size of his armour doesn't really affect them as they are The Nephalem and are immortal and the strongest being in the Diablo Universe if you choose that class.
Editing: Oz and I are of the same mind. Yeaahhh
Edit 2: naming
I'm currently playing Diablo 3 for the first time, and I don't really mind spoilers. I'm curious, is the Nephalem thing the reason why the Barbarian can use magic now?
@@piercingmoon24 I believe it is, since the Nephalem were the children of Demons and Angels, and were stronger than both physically, mentally and ability wise. So you've basically got access to a fusion of angel and demon abilities. Which is why you can basically beat any being in current existence.
Can't have a Blizzard game without the signature oversized pauldrons although now that I think about it, that's probably an influence from Warhammer (Fantasy for Warcraft and Diablo, 40k for Starcraft).
@@aquapendulum yep I completely agree, and yes it's 100% influenced by 40k
@@NoSoulJoel177 Well, Warcraft is Blizzard-brand Warhammer. Didn't get the license, from what I heard, so they made their own version.
Could you do some "armor review" videos about popular franchises? I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on some of the armor seen in series like Fire Emblem (one of my favorites), Final Fantasy, and other video games and films.
Whenever you do one of these kinds of critical videos I always want to see you having a go at doing the same thing but more grounded in reality, like you did with the Elden Ring weapon animations. If you designed some fantasy armour, what would it look like?
I knew that Fire Emblem would be on this list, love the games and not all the armor is that bad, but most of it does fall into that uncanny anime armor.
That arsenal bit drew a wheeze from me. Bless you, Shad. Bless you.
Or curse you. Whichever.
I have this Idea. There should be thing in the discord where we can submit drawing of armors, weapons, and midevil drawings in general and Shad should critique the drawings for inaccuracies and such for a video.
21:02 caught me by surprise 😆 🤣
I think a Shad discussion/tier list about "optimized pauldrons" video is in order. Nearly all of these examples had significant issues for him. A break down for movement flexibility, over all protection, intimidation factor, and general fashion aesthetic would be interesting from his experienced perspective. It always seems like the coolest looking are usually the most impractical or could cause self-injury with spikes/hinder combat movement leading to loss. I'd be interested to see what a viable one that meets most of the criteria looked like.
The pointy armor shoes is usually used for Calvary because there foot is at head level for anyone off of horses. Calvary just kick them in the face and the point would pierce their face.
16:12 Shad talks about the weight the extra layers would have, but the armor is worn by a demon who is at the strength level of being able to fight dieties.
Always an improvement when Oz is involved.
When he says SPACE MARRRINES my parrot kept imitating it and head banging. Tried to catch it on camera but she KNOWS when i am trying to film and wont do it lol
Whenever Oz is involved you know its gonna be good, i wasnt let down this was comedy gold.
Shad, you gotta check out some of the armored characters from the Fate series. Some of them would rival these cursed armor sets
let's see... Siegfried wearing the bare minimum armor over a fancy shirt. Saber Elizabeth being the most literal bikini armor possible. Mordred either having no armor pieces at all or having the hugest pauldrons, a gigantic horned helmet and what is practically a long dress made of steel plates. the only parts of Muramasa being covered in armor being his legs. Tristan looking like a boyband member in his first ascension (he do be pretty though). Leonidas and Romulus... being Leonidas and Romulus. Artoria Lancer and Artoria Lancer Alter deciding less armor would be better with each ascension (they do be gorgeous though). Gil deciding to just take off his armor when he ascends. Caenis. yeah... they won't be running out of material.
@@sharzinlalebazri5673 don't forget the fairy knights. Also, I would argue that Mordred's aren't that huge. And that helmet is one of her Noble Phantasms
@@jtreed3296 true.
That arsenal bit made me drop my head, I had to hold onto my leg to keep my head up. Jeez, Shad...
27:00 that armor on his shoulders could be for shoulder impacts in a brawl actually. Something to charge and ram with besides his bare flesh. Especially if he needed to bust down a door.
22:56 It's good to see Oz finally nailed that comedic timing! That was great, bastard made me have to clean up nose-beer from my desk after that one.
I came mainly for the reaction on Ellies Armor at 4:51 , because in my opinion it was just aweful Design, but your reaction was godlike
Thank you for this Shad! This was hilarious! These armor "tropes" were so awful, ha ha. Hail to Oz as well!
Some of those pauldrons could come in handy when charging into arrow fire. Do a side step run and duck your head into it, that one even had a viewing window so he could see out the back.
Shad's reaction to these Pauldrons make me REALLY want to see his reaction to the Garlean armor from FF14 :D
14:35 I am pretty sure it's supposed to be in fashion of a type of Rhinoceros beetle. Granted it's still impractical but the whole armor seems to be themed around it
Y'know, now I can't help but wonder how cursed my own armour designs would be in light of this. I mean, they'd be cursed purely on merit (or lack thereof) of artistic quality (or lack thereof), but maybe at least the designs would be salvageable by a competent artist...
1:54 that laugh was the most cursed thing in this video
In defense of Giant Pauldrons:
Shut up, giant pauldrons look cool.
I'm a sci-fi person writing a sci-fi book series but I enjoy your videos. Entertaining and informative from another perspective.
Shad, what is the book in the upper right corner of your bookshelf near the end of the Hello Fresh section? The one with two knights riding towards each other.
I really enjoyed his hellobfresh shoutout and seeing him prepare and eat with his friends and people. Thank you for letting us in to see that briefly. That was pleasant.😋😂🤤
Jill Bearup rates the worst armor designs as "Just Stab Me Now".
Shad looks like he wishes he could use the same rating regarding these armors.
Seeing the Brandon Sanderson books on your shelf was a delight. I have recently finished all of his publish books,.roughly 5 months after starting Mistborn series.
With the last barbarian... how is the left pauldron fixed to him? The right one is held by a leather strap, but what about the left? Is it glued on or bolted into his bones? oO
Getting a weird sense of deja vu, here. I distinctly remember either you or skallagrim making this exact same video before
11:50 that "armor" looks like it could work for a vampire, vampires don't mind getting cut in the abdomen but definitely would want to protect their heart from sharp wooden objects.
21:01 for reference, the mc (whose a jester/sage) keeps on gaining new party members and they all have obnoxiously huge breasts. It is horrible armor that has no intended functionality but something you realize about anime/manga is that comedically large breasts are used for fanservice and comedic purposes
Also, where would she even find a breastplate to cover those?
For the sake of whatever unfortunate soul feels the desire to whack to this
Sauce?
17:50
The accent was bloody brilliant
1:52 Seriously, that joke wrote itself.
At 16:25 the dude is mostly a magic user and that is a decorative piece of armor so he isn't moving much with that
Its hard to tell with Shad when he's being serious and when he's just having a laugh at the time. Cause like... cursed feels a little overkill with verbage but then again, I'm someone who likes some of these design cause simply for 'rule of cool' and cause I draw cartoons/anime/exaggerated designs in my own work.
The picture at 23:23 looks like he had to put on a smaller dude's armor and put only the pieces on that would stick :), this was funny thanks!
I want to say the reason why they always exaggerate the size of the shoulder pauldrons is because they are thinking more about silhouette and shape language, at the expense of practicality. It's a common pitfall for artists because they're trying to make something recognizable and unique
The "armor" at 19:45 seems to be one of those armors that don't sit on your shoulders, but instead float around my magic or technology. This sort of "armor" is usually reserved for people who don't expect to fight properly, but instead need protection from assassins and arrows. Like mages.
Either way, it usually needs to be removed when you actually engage in a swordfight.
Shad, you missed another part of the curse on most, if not all, of the female sets here... _Stiletto heels!_ Try walking across a battlefied, particularly a muddy one, in those!
Shad actually may like a Crunchyroll clip from Black Summoner labeled "Wear Sexy Armor and Pay the Price." Which shows the MC smashing two guys who are wearing armor that leaves their abs exposed into a wall.
‘What’s protecting his tummy?’
His abs of steel, obviously!
Actually there are some things that you might get wrong. Under tabard there might be normal armor. And if pauldoins have joints close, they work, except for a ton extra material used.
I'd like to see a video of what armor is supposed to be like, especially the folds and tassets stuff
18:10 i think this is supposed to be a fantasy gladiator type of armor.
The elbow thing looks exactly like some types of Secutor armor.
It only covers half the upper body, like for many gladiators, etc.
20:15 same for that one, but in weirder.
1:49 top 5 Shad jokes of all time
For the half armor (where it covers her one side and not the other), other than the spikes, it _might_ serve as fencing or similar armor where for the most part only one side of you is generally exposed to your opponent (if you're doing it right). This would allow you to have armor with a greatly decreased overall weight. Not sure that's _useful_ enough to be there, buuuut...
...In defense of Fire Emblem's beloved Black Knight (24:45)... His armor's divinely blessed, so there's only a couple weapons in the whole world that can even hurt him, so... Maybe he wanted the cool factor more than mobility? :P
I’m reading Rhythm of War and I saw you mentioned as an advisor. Could you do a video discussing what you contributed.
I love These medieval misconception videos theyre always such interesting takes on common tropes
16:48 in wh40k the armour appears so thick as it is layered in such a way as to be partially or mostly hollow so it may be the same thing here, potentially useful against firearms which rely on crushing through armour rather than penetration, but I'd love to know if mig welders are canon within the lore cause how do they make it?
Powered armor, space marine armor is motorized.
Gotta be honest, I'm actually surprised that you reacted to Resplendent!Effie's and The Black Knight's armor (the latter is actually 'blessed' armor, but not in the way you mean), but didn't check out Amelia's (normal) armor from the same game; you'd likely have come close to dying just from laughing... it is probably THE most cursed armor in the game (and that's not even counting the toilet-bowl design of Awakening's armor).
Too bad you didn't check out Arden; aside from having THE BEST artist in the game, his armor design is actually quite practical (for FE standards) and generally enjoyable.
for the missing folds and 'tassels', is there something that explicitly prevents some proper armoring of the groin area simply being hidden behind the loincloth parts featured on most of the images where this was complained about? As for the armor at 18:14 it seems like an obvious piece of what's either ceremonial armor and/or dueling armor? as I recall they had stuff like that at some point when duels with swords was popular since having the added protection on the side of you that would be facing the enemy is an advantage and... well, leaving the other side not so protected wasnt as big a downside in theory since you're supposed to keep that side well away from the other person?
These really are pretty cursed lol. I'd believe it if 19:40 were intended as some kind of magical jetpack. Sad that such would be *more* plausible than using it as armor lol.