Blade doesn’t get enough credit as a movie that broke the Marvel curse. It was the first big-screen Marvel movie that both made it to more than a handful of screens and didn’t suck wildly. It’s still well-regarded among nerds and action movie connoisseurs, though, to the point where the Man At Arms web series decided to reforge his weapons.
For those unfamiliar, Man At Arms is a series about Tony Swatton, a master armorer and blacksmith who’s worked on an impressive number of movies. Swatton generally walks viewers through the process, and then his recreations are shown off. The results are always fascinating and show how much work goes into even the most minor prop. Have a look:
Of course, if it’s a video about something sharp posted to the Internet, that means something is getting destroyed with it, possibly by somebody in a cosplay outfit. And sure enough, the Man At Arms team doesn’t disappoint:
It was a vampire watermelon, you see. Joking aside, the whole process is detailed, and it answers a lot of questions you never realized you actually had about weapon props. And that you probably shouldn’t mess with Tony Swatton, but that went without saying anyway.