![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A while back, I mentioned that one of the reasons I'd been getting sidetracked from working on Chapter 8 is due to a little art/design project of my own, which has mostly been worked on during classes via doodling. (In my defense, it actually helps me remember things in class better!)
After a few rather boring stretches in Intro to Biology (no offense to my instructor, since it is a fairly enjoyable and informative class, but it is about 40% Death-By-Powerpoint...), I wound up with a rather nice-looking version of one of the project's forms, and figured it was finally time to share it.
This is the new form of my avatar's, Will Rennar's, signature weapon, the Henkouken, or "Changing Blade." In its previous incarnation, it had been designed as a crystal that, in a rather TARDIS-like display of non-Euclidean geometry, contained the components for its various forms within itself...after doing the above-linked drawing of it, however, I finally came to grips with one immutable fact: it looked a bit ridiculous.
That crystal has since become a sort of magical computer, inspired by the Devices from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series, and was named "Falchion." For a while, Falchion would, as the 2nd image (a now slightly outdated model displaying its magical staff form, Henkouken "Harkonnen" ) indicates, be in the heart of the weapon. Since then, however, I've elected to remove it and simply have it summon all the parts remotely, to assemble together as needed.
As the crystal was originally part of the weapon, it bore the device's name for a while, hence why it's called "Falchion" in the images. Once I came to realize how much I liked this new weapon design, however, I decided to officially update it to the Henkouken's new form.
While its overall look may be radically changed, the transforming abilities of the Henkouken are still present, and much more streamlined. The handle can telescope (by means of compressed space within the hilt and telescopic collapsing canonically, and by means of parts-swapping for an actual version) from a one-hander length all the way to a polearm, and the "warheads" (the blade portion of the weapon) can be swapped out on the fly; only 3 of the pairs of connecting bolts actually hold it in place. Removing both Connecting Bolt pairs 1&2 and the top pair 3&4 will allow the blade to be removed and replaced with an alternative warhead; for example, by swapping the Harkonnen form's tuning fork-style warhead out with the "Glaive" warhead (a longsword-length blade), the weapon instantly becomes a spear. Likewise, taking the Einhander form, which normally uses the "Glaive," and swapping in the "Halberd" warhead, would turn the weapon into an axe. (Doing so in polearm form would instead turn it into...well...a halberd.)
As I mentioned, the bottom picture's a bit outdated; a few design concepts have changed since then, including the total omission of parts D (the Shoulder Rest, which I decided was ridiculous looking) and E (the Variable Grip, which I ditched simply because part D went), while both parts B, the Inner Faceplates, how have a narrower, squared top rather than the "dogbone" shape displayed there. A couple of connectors changed as well to give the whole device a better connection to the handle; I decided 4 mounting screws probably weren't going to cut it. Still, the diagram still does a good job of showing how the whole unit is assembled.
I was also wanting to update its look to be something that could actually be made, no longer stuck outside the realm of physical possibility by means of a reality-warping crystal. I intended to stick with the original cross-hilt design at first, but eventually the sides of the pommel gave way to a narrower, more streamlined design. The Einhander form (which looks just like the Zweihander form, but with the grip limited in length to the middle ring and the blade somewhat shorter) wound up looking like a Chinese sword, and the Zweihander looking like...well, like a much bigger version of it.
The weapon, as I said, is variable in form and size, able to exchange and extend/retract parts on the fly as needed in combat. Its default form, the Henkouken Zweihander, should give a good idea on its overall size.
LENGTH: 4' 8"
GRIP LENGTH: 10"
GRIP DIAMETER: 1.75"
POMMEL DIMENSIONS: (LxWxD) 6" x 4" x 6.25" (6.25" from tips of jeweled mounting screws)
BLADE LENGTH: 3' 4"
BLADE WIDTH: 4"
WEIGHT: 5.2 lbs
So anyway, yeah, that's it. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Kanji in the spoiler tag spelled "Henkouken."
After a few rather boring stretches in Intro to Biology (no offense to my instructor, since it is a fairly enjoyable and informative class, but it is about 40% Death-By-Powerpoint...), I wound up with a rather nice-looking version of one of the project's forms, and figured it was finally time to share it.
This is the new form of my avatar's, Will Rennar's, signature weapon, the Henkouken, or "Changing Blade." In its previous incarnation, it had been designed as a crystal that, in a rather TARDIS-like display of non-Euclidean geometry, contained the components for its various forms within itself...after doing the above-linked drawing of it, however, I finally came to grips with one immutable fact: it looked a bit ridiculous.
That crystal has since become a sort of magical computer, inspired by the Devices from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series, and was named "Falchion." For a while, Falchion would, as the 2nd image (a now slightly outdated model displaying its magical staff form, Henkouken "Harkonnen" ) indicates, be in the heart of the weapon. Since then, however, I've elected to remove it and simply have it summon all the parts remotely, to assemble together as needed.
As the crystal was originally part of the weapon, it bore the device's name for a while, hence why it's called "Falchion" in the images. Once I came to realize how much I liked this new weapon design, however, I decided to officially update it to the Henkouken's new form.
While its overall look may be radically changed, the transforming abilities of the Henkouken are still present, and much more streamlined. The handle can telescope (by means of compressed space within the hilt and telescopic collapsing canonically, and by means of parts-swapping for an actual version) from a one-hander length all the way to a polearm, and the "warheads" (the blade portion of the weapon) can be swapped out on the fly; only 3 of the pairs of connecting bolts actually hold it in place. Removing both Connecting Bolt pairs 1&2 and the top pair 3&4 will allow the blade to be removed and replaced with an alternative warhead; for example, by swapping the Harkonnen form's tuning fork-style warhead out with the "Glaive" warhead (a longsword-length blade), the weapon instantly becomes a spear. Likewise, taking the Einhander form, which normally uses the "Glaive," and swapping in the "Halberd" warhead, would turn the weapon into an axe. (Doing so in polearm form would instead turn it into...well...a halberd.)
As I mentioned, the bottom picture's a bit outdated; a few design concepts have changed since then, including the total omission of parts D (the Shoulder Rest, which I decided was ridiculous looking) and E (the Variable Grip, which I ditched simply because part D went), while both parts B, the Inner Faceplates, how have a narrower, squared top rather than the "dogbone" shape displayed there. A couple of connectors changed as well to give the whole device a better connection to the handle; I decided 4 mounting screws probably weren't going to cut it. Still, the diagram still does a good job of showing how the whole unit is assembled.
I was also wanting to update its look to be something that could actually be made, no longer stuck outside the realm of physical possibility by means of a reality-warping crystal. I intended to stick with the original cross-hilt design at first, but eventually the sides of the pommel gave way to a narrower, more streamlined design. The Einhander form (which looks just like the Zweihander form, but with the grip limited in length to the middle ring and the blade somewhat shorter) wound up looking like a Chinese sword, and the Zweihander looking like...well, like a much bigger version of it.
The weapon, as I said, is variable in form and size, able to exchange and extend/retract parts on the fly as needed in combat. Its default form, the Henkouken Zweihander, should give a good idea on its overall size.
LENGTH: 4' 8"
GRIP LENGTH: 10"
GRIP DIAMETER: 1.75"
POMMEL DIMENSIONS: (LxWxD) 6" x 4" x 6.25" (6.25" from tips of jeweled mounting screws)
BLADE LENGTH: 3' 4"
BLADE WIDTH: 4"
WEIGHT: 5.2 lbs
So anyway, yeah, that's it. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Kanji in the spoiler tag spelled "Henkouken."