I feel like most of the disadvantages of a tonfa sword dissappear when you just use a regular Tonfa instead. You could easily modify it slightly with a spike or wider for more protection.

Frankly I'm just happy someone is talking about Skies of Arcadia.

If you pay attention, Vyse uses single-edged cutlasses, and one is held in a tonfa grip. And in special attacks, he spins the blade around to extend his striking range.

I could see a tonfa ish item as a more carry friendly shield alternative in urban environment

Congrats to the other swordsman for the majestic beard

Kroenen dual-wielded tonfa swords in the first Hellboy (2004) movie, so they can work in live-action fiction as well as video games. (Then again, IIRC, Kroenen's actor was also the movie's fight co-ordinator, so _of course_ it looked good.)

The arming sword used by the other gentleman is really elegant, it really goes well even with modern clothes.

Having a spike on the end of the handle would make this incredibly effective. It opens up the possibility of quick powerful thrusts and if the handle is actually a dagger, it becomes a powerful cut on the fore end.

The character Talim from Soul Calibur uses a pair of bladed tonfas that are basically tonfa-gripped daggers. The way she holds them, the flat side is against her arm rather than the blade. Really, taking a pair of tonfas and sticking some sharp bits on them (Talim's have a curved secondary blade sticking out from near the grip, presumably to act as a blade catcher) sounds like a neat "original" weapon for a character to use.

If you build a sword up with this in mind from the start, this definitely appears as a viable way to hold a second sword in your off-hand in absence of shields or armour... well, instead of a tonfa-adapted sword you could always just grab your classic tonfa which is much cheaper and edged weapons bind just as well to it. On the why, this isn't a _better_ way of defense compared to a shield or dagger but it still present some unique pros, add that to being a better way to hold a second sword as improvised defense though that defeats my thought of it becoming truly viable with a custom sword.

amazing to see somebody talking about SoA. my takeaway from this is that a tonfa (not a tonfa sword) with a spike at the end (pommel position) for thrusting would be a pretty good off-hand weapon. probaby better to just use a buckler or something but sword+tonfa seems to actually make some level of sense.

Capcom's Strider Hiryu has my favorite sword tonfa design -- the Cypher. It can be used like a regular sword, or held by the sideways grip with the blade forward. I'm not entirely sure how practical it is, but the cool-factor is up there. That, and the iconic sound it makes. Badass.

Yes! this game is one of the gems on the Dreamcast that later got ported to the Gamecube and one of the best RPGs on both platforms (although they did not have many RPGs compared to there predecessors or there rival the undisputed kind of RPGs to this day the PS2)

Im just happy skies of arcadia still lives in someones mind. I love this game so much. I name my ships in eve after SoA ships. Lol

The fact you're talking about Skies of Arcadia in a practical way made me subscribe.

Immensely happy to see skies of arcadia!

I know its all buisnes, but I appreciate Skall for often marekting artists and small buisneses instead of large scale corporations like most youtubers. Bravo Skall!

"if this was curved forward, there'd be less chance of hurting oneself" So, a one handed falx with a crossguard?

I'm impressed by how far you took this and how much benefit of the doubt you gave to this concept. Additionally, it's always nice to see those first-person shots you throw in!

Wow, someone actually talking about this old gem. I loved this game as a kiddo.

Don't forget about Strider! Although he primarily gripped it with the blade forward, as you demonstrated around 6:05 and additionally was his primary weapon.

This reminds me of Tanya from Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, who used a pair of weapons very similar to this whole idea. I always wondered if such a weapon would actually be useful. Thanks for looking into this, Skall.

I love how you're actually seeing if it would work rather than just blowing it off, great video!

Keep it up !! Alot of fun to see. Keep thinking outside the box!! Who knows you might come up with new tools and new techniques.

Thank you so very much for pulling up skies of arcadia the game! Absolutely my favorite game of all time!

I love the fact that he just has cool friends with awesome beards to do the sword experiments with! XD

I'm just glad you're having fun bro. I enjoy all your videos

so in summation: it is just practical enough to justify how cool it looks, thats all I needed to hear baby, sword tonfa time it is

Considering this is a game where the other main character uses an energy boomerang the size of a boogie board, while there's also a steampunk-cyborg Captain Ahab-type who fires his pneumatic hook-hand as a weapon, it's kinda neat to see there's some plausibility to what Vyse is doing with his other cutlass. Also, just writing out that previous sentence reminded me of how cool Skies of Arcadia is.

Skies of Arcadia! I actually enjoy Vyse's fighting style and in a recent replay I was thinking about how functional it is for a JRPG. He doesn't strike with it much, so it's just kind of "on hand" for whenever he needs it. It's highly reversible and the grip can be adjusted to be held like a proper blade. All in all I thought it was pretty creative. I like that only one blade is a tonfa too, and the other is a dedicated weapon. I don't think you could pull off two tonfa-swords at the same time.

Your friend’s beard is awesome 😎 Thanks for video about unusual and interesting fantasy technique!

It's been a while since I checked in with this channel, gotta say you are looking good, my man, glad to see you're taking good care of yourself.

Love the vid! I'm a 3D artist that's trying to fan remake these characters (and this particular character at the moment) with modern aesthetics, and your vid popped up while researching related equipment (scabbards/sheathes/belts). Definitely some leaps of logic in the design. As someone who is always interested in the practicality or history of things, the juxtaposition (or fight...heh) between my logic versus my appreciation for fantasy can be both fun and a little frustrating, especially as somewhat of a designer as well, as I try to "improve" these designs. It's not dissimilar to evil monster designers (or kids/kids-at-heart) drawing spikes on the elbows of their characters, especially on winged creatures, which would causes all sorts of self-harm. There's a funny interaction in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes extras where John Howe (one of two leading artists of Tolkien's work, the other being Alan Lee) is jokingly criticized by another artist, who is experienced with birds, for him drawing spikes at the end of flying beasts' wings, which the other artist says, "Those couldn't work." John responds with, "Shut up. They look cool." lol. They apparently took their frustrations out on each other with sword play on breaks, Howe being a serious medieval reenactor as well. The realistic plausibility/implausibility is always fascinating/funny, which I'm also constantly estimating/researching for. At the moment, I'm trying to figure out just how the heroes would carry their weapons on them most of the time, and what kind of design might work for easy sheathing/unsheathing access to the weapons. In-game and in the illustrations, they're never depicted as ever wearing any kind of scabbards, sheathes, or holsters for their weapons. It was likely intentional, because it makes them seem more non-violent, peace-loving, defensive orientated, rather than militaristic or genocidal (while murding cute and funny looking penguins en masse...). Again, lapses in logic for the sake of aesthetics or fun. Small note, however, that all the playable characters' weapons also change design as you buy new ones. Some versions may be closer to "practical" than others, with the latter evidently and purposely based on "because it's cool" or "because it's cute". Vidya Games. Anyway, appreciate the demonstration!

11:11 the flat tonfa is called a Mae Sawk,a traditional weapon from Krabi Krabong and Silat,used strapped to the arm as mix between tonfa and shield,to offer arm protection,and increase attacking power .

I've been looking for a good novel, thankyou this is right up my alley

8:29 "I strike his sword aside" Me, not paying complete attention: "What, swordicide? Yeah, that sounds about right."

When the use of actual tonfa technique was brought up my first thought was to rotate the blade 90° in relation to the cross guard. That would allow for blocking with the flat as a default, as well as more slicing type movements based on actual tonfs techniques. The blade could even be made a little shorter and wider, and the pommel could even be pointed to allow for stabs.

The originals in the game were a pair of cutlasses, and from what I remember of the super move animations, the swords were usually different sizes (full sized for main hand, and about a hand shorter for his off hand). I figured they did this to make it a little closer to traditional 2-sword styles, while being mixed with an island aesthetic, wrapped in the fantasy pirate themes. Plus, between Vyse and Soul Calibur's Cervantes, what's cooler than a dual-wielding pirate?

Really enjoying the recent videos.

Wow you talked pros about unconventional sword use/design. I haven't watched all of your videos, but usually they have been "why this won't work" this was really cool. Keep up the great work

As mentioned below Kroenen's dual, dual-blade tonfa in the first Hellboy film were interesting in that the "Sword grip" handle was another blade.

Having played the game, Vyse mostly uses that weapon in a defensive style Parry/Riposte/thrust , only using the main grip in Combo moves Slashing on openings .

I'm honestly just happy you talked about Suikoden 2 in the end there :D

I always love when wacky designs and ideas end up being good (or atleast decently passable)

I even know a movie, where they had something like a tonfa sword! In the Prince of Persia movie, the leader of the Hassansins wielded something akin to a scimitar, where the handle was in a 90° angle to the blade. The one he used could only be used like that, though. If you would draw a line straight down from the handle, that line would divide this single blade into a larger section, about the length of his underarm, and a short section, that could potentially be used as a sort of spike. Now this created a wish I didn't knew I had: Skal, could you please do a review of the weapons shown in Prince of Persia? They show an array of really cool and exotic looking weapons I've never seen used in any other movie.

I liked the version used in Hellboy by the villain. Great video.

You made me think of an old Japanese swordfighter who was beloved and opened up SO many genres of later characters. Can you look at "Zatoichi Challenged"? Show #17? Zaotichi is a blind master swordsman, and uses an icepick grip vs an obviously trained samurai, among other fighters as well. Fantastic old show. Fantastic swordplay.

Very informative, thank you for making this.

I think you missed something I’d do often: Switch grips mid-stroke as needed to go dual-wield, switching back immediately after your offensive stroke. Personally, I suspect your source game(?) just did this for the cool factor, seeing it as an eye catcher, but I can see using the position as a parry whilst duel-wielding in the main. Makes me consider new hilt designs :) Thank you for your thought-provoking video!

Talim from soulcalibur has several bladed tonfa like weapons that maybe worth a look. I was always fond of the dual crescent blades, but that may be cause they had the best damage potential in the game (for Talim at least).

BROOOOO THAT GAME!!!! Skies of Arcadia was one of the cooler concepts I remember from my childhood. Had a demo for it on the Dreamcast and always wanted to play it through. I had forgotten. Also I love this "style" being covered. Thanks for another great vid, Skal!

Tonfa Blades, turns out is not as silly as it sounds, also thanks for reminding me of my wish for a Suikoden Collection of some kind.

Here's a thought, you swap the handle and blade, so there's a long handle and short blade so you can stab more easily while still getting the defensive benefits of the tonfa, plus you can use it as a short spear or potentially a club (via the handle) by gripping the long handle.

Man, I remember looking for this game for years as a kid, considering I grew up in the OG Arcadia in Greece. I wonder if I can find a digital copy these days 🤔

Nice to see a Suikoden 2 Picture at the end Thanks Skallgrim. I've always thought the ton-fa style can be effective defensively, hence its use in the police force, but lacks kill ability when compared to conventional sword/s.

Reminds me of the zombie ninja nazi from hellboy, he used dual bladed tonfas

Nobody has an appreciation for shields as a weapon. Spartans loved them for a reason. A good heater shield, with the 3 points at the top and the one at the bottom, could be used very offensively. Obviously, the forward punch with the top point, and the elbow down with the bottom point. But also, what about using the points at the left and right sides of the top, in hammer fisting motions? And let's not forget having a boss or spike right on the front of the shield for normal forward bashing. All of this gives you a great tool you can use to get on the inside with some respectable offensive capabilities.

A great video to watch while actually replaying this game.

Those last 20 seconds summarized everything I was thinking the whole video.

While I do think your analysis is pretty well thought out there is one thing that never really gets discussed in these videos. That is that Vyse is not engaging in many sword duels in the game but is often fighting monsters and other types of beasts. How would his style work against non-human opponents?

"Why not just use a shield" was the singular question running through my mind throughout this episode.

You mention Skies of Arcadia in 2022, you automatically have my like and subscribe! Take it easy, mate.

Hey you found a new way to end them rightly while also punching them in the face lmfao 🤣 Great video.

Not to bring up an old topic, but this brings me back to Shad's topic on "is a weapon viable when something else is simply more effective?" Obviously we're talking about how effective a fantasy style is, but a shield or buckler would be just as if not more effective or as you demonstrated, simply holding it normally. I have a beef with Tonfa and Sai/pop culture weapons as their effectiveness seems to be relative to the amount of suspension of disbelief for the premise.

Hey, I made that design in my early teens. I was inspired by the handle of a hay knife. My design proved a bit too large and heavy though, as it was a two handed sword with a grip on the guard.

I’m so happy to see the tonfa sword and Skies of Arcadia. Used to be one of my favorite games when I was little.

dude, that guy you're practicing with has the coolest beard anyways, sick video and a fascinating concept

I would think in dual wielding, that a blunt weapon would go best with a sword. That way you have the reach and damage potential of a bladed weapon coupled with the armor penetration of say a hammer or mace. Personal opinion.

The main issue with reverse grip or tonfa type weapons is that they can't effectively guard against thrusts or missile fire, where even a small shield offers better defence.

I'm actually making a tonfa sword right now, it should be finished by the end of the month. This video gave me an idea on how to improve it, thank you very much :3

This reminds me of a really old game called Strider. The main character carries a sword called a cypher. It has a tonfa grip in addition to a two-hander hilt.

I think we are missing something, if there is such a weapon, and I would love one, The grip part of your sword would basically be a spike or a dagger and not a grip. That would make a lot more sense than just using a sword like a tonfa... let's make a tonfa sword altogether which is a different weapon as the hilt, that you're using as a grip, would be a different shape to make it an actual grip. English is not my first language and I hope I am making some kind of sense trying to explain my idea.

If used certain ways this CAN work. He's basically using two sabers like they're Tonfa anyways looks like. An some the slashing abilities capable of would be more lethal then some stabs. An so long as the blade side against the arm is not edged or you wear gear of at least minimum protective nature should be easy to make stuff work. An anyone that likes to LITERALLY disarm basically finds that impossible to disable an arm that protected by a whole blade that could anytime be flipped around for lethal stabs an slashes at very close range of their own. All it requires is some outside the box thinking and to be very aware of what one can do with both traditional blades of the suitable kind, Tonfa an such hybrids especially.

Wow! Your years behind on this. I truly enjoye play it still on my N64.

A video about Skies of Arcadia? A surprise, but a welcome one.

What if the blade was perpendicular to the grip like talims weapon

Watching this I'm reminded of the recent Mortal Kombat movie and the bladed Tonfa wielded by Cole Young wherein the short end has a curved blade. I cannot help but think if the curved end were either longer, double edged or had a sharper curve like a Kama, it would add a lot to the offensive and defensive flexibility of the bladed Tonfa.

One thing I do remember from doing martial arts in my childhood, mainly focusing on a hybrid Arnis/Judo/Kendo martial art which also touched base with other Okinawan weapons like tonfa, striking with the pommel. On a couple of occasions where you have it bound either with the "offhand" sword or with the "tonfa" you could strike toward the weapon arm or torso of the opponent with the pommel like a tonfa thrust itself. From memory, just touching on length, the tonfa I used/saw used only extended maybe 3 inches/7cm-ish past the elbow to avoid any accidental self inflicted rib poking as well.

Well well. There is a couple of beautiful beard wins here. Also nice points on this weapon.

What about trying it with the handle quillon tangent to the flat of the blade instead of the edge? Then you could have the flat as the arm shield like you wanted and could spin rapidly between fore and rear pointing positions. Double edged also ceases to be a problem so it works in both directions. I would choose a length that extends only a bit past my elbow, maybe 10 or 12 cm.

I think the moral of the story is Tonfas are freaking awesome

This was way more interesting than I expected

Skall talking about one of my favorite games ever? I couldn't click fast enough!

It seems like a resourceful technique. It's not exactly a reason to bring a two swords instead of a sword and a shield, but if you have reason to bring two swards, this is a good technique. Also I think this would work better if there was a spike at the end of the handle, so it kinda functions like a dagger

I think the coolest Tonfa Swords/Bladed Tonfas I’ve seen are Shingetsu and Mangetsu, the ones wielded by the Japanese God Tsukuyomi in the game Smite.

Me and my husband used to love your videos!

I actually thought of something similar before the video was even made, where you grab the nail instead of the guard so the flat would be against the arm letting blows slide off.

I tried making a tonfa-sword for a LARP. I put the guard/handle on the flat of the blade so that swinging it like a tonfa would hit with the blade. I played a bit with it but never ended up using it with someone else. Do you think it could work? My test also had a shorter blade, only two inches past my elbow. I don't have the same reach with thrusts and tonfa swings but I'm not as likely to stab myself and it helps with dual weilding too. For context, I have no swordfighting experience outside LARP.

Have you ever done a video on the psychology aspects of battle? From war dances to battle music, the mental aspects of battle are just as important as the movements of blades and hammers. It would be cool to see your thoughts on the matter.

Very cool video, I like using my blades tonfa style from time to time (either one or both, though both is less practical), it's edgy, quirky, a bit dumb sometimes, but gosh is it fun !

I feel like, as soon as armor comes into play, the Tonfa Sword would be pretty bad.

My first thought was: "Why not use a tonfa instead?" Then again, it seems more like a matter of convenience, when you want to use something as a defensive weapon in your offhand, but only same sized swords are available. But if I've had a choice to use a weapon in a similar style, I would opt for a bec de corbin with a shortened handle - as would any kid, who picked up a hammer.

I was thinking about Skies recently. I had totally forgot about that part.

SoA is one of my favorite older RPGs on DC and GC. I wouldn't mind a remake.

9:12 Thank you for this meme-able gift. I will treasure it and use it wisely.

Skies of Arcadia was awesome, I hope someday they remake it

Thanks for taking it seriously. Your overall assessment is one I agree with. Its a gimmick, but not completely useless as a parrying blade with some extra utility and leverage.

Definitely an interesting way to wield a weapon, I might use it for a d&d character.

very interesting, ive had this idea in my head for many years after being a fan of the 'Strider' video game franchise. The Strider Cipher deals with many of the features needed as discussed in the video.

Sparring dude's beard is just sublime! My rat's nest is super jealous.