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Real, functional Attack on Titan swords: This man’s year-long project will blow your mind

Preston Phro May 7, 2014
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As popular as Attack on Titan is, it’s hardly surprising how many great cosplay outfits have been made by fans. And with a live action movie in the works, we wouldn’t be surprised if the level of pure awesome of AoT cosplay explodes a few hundredfold.

But it’s going to be tough to top these real, functional swords one university student made in his free time over the course of a year. The best part is, he might even make a pair for you!

Now, making props of any kind is never easy, though there certainly are a lot of people out there who do an excellent job of bringing out favorite weapons from fiction into reality. While Man At Arms may have the market cornered when it comes to blacksmithing, it looks like there’s some serious competition coming from Japan. Ratten, the online name of a university student with an aptitude for CAD projects and attention to detail, recently posted photos and a video of his year-long quest to make real, functional Attack on Titan sword using real metal.

And, holy cow, did he ever complete that quest.

▼Take that, you evil, titanic daikon!

The swords, as you can see in the photo above, are able to slice through your average full-bodied daikon–though they don’t have proper blades, so they won’t work too well without a good swing. The grips will also have mechanisms to hold the blades in place and to allow them to be removed as well.

▼”It seems you won’t be able to use them in the kitchen since they don’t have a blade.”

▼Removing and reinserting the blades.

▼The detailed mechanisms inside the pistol grips.

▼Design specifications Ratten created himself for this project.

To start the project, Ratten first found a close-up of pistol grip in the anime and made a detailed trace to turn into a pattern. From there, the university student created a cardboard model for reference.

▼”I felt as if I were starting to see the truth of the universe.”
It took six hours to insert all of the rectangles on the trigger.

After spending two weeks worth of hours in CAD, our ambitious metalworker had a digital pattern which was fed into an automated lathe. The device, which failed on the first run, eventually produced the grip and moveable parts after about 60 hours of cutting. Of course, Ratten then had to remove the pieces from the mold and file everything down to size, so this wasn’t as easy as poking a button and heading out for pizza.

Once the pistol grip body was ready, it was time to work on the moveable pieces and assembly, which included grinding levers by hand, cutting springs down to size, and drilling bolt holes.

▼None of that sounds like very much fun, so here’s another look at the complete product.

In addition to the beautiful meatlwork, Ratten notes that he ended up having to cut the diamond shapes into the wood by hand. Following that, he soaked the wood in finisher and stain to create the gorgeous color you can see in the photo above. Normally, this much attention to detail would get you thrown in an insane asylum…

▼”At long last, the 3-D, fully functional, full-metal model swords are finished!”

While Ratten’s work is nothing short of freaking amazing, his dedication is almost more impressive–his estimated cost of materials for the finished swords is around 500,000 yen, which is about US$5,000. Of course, a large part of that money went into finding the right metal for the blades and replacing broken pieces.

Currently, Ratten is offering to make more for interested parties using the leftover material. He estimates that there is enough to make 8 more swords, for which he plans to charge enough to make back the $5,000, which means about $625 per sword. Considering the time and labor that goes into make just one of them, we’d have to say that’s a steal.

To see the swords in action and get a sense of just how much work went into manufacturing these amazing replicas, check out the video below.

Honestly, just watching the video wears us out. We are truly in awe of the incredible work that Ratten has done! Now, we just need to pool our cash and buy a pair of Attack on Titan swords for Halloween. We bet Mr. Sato would make a dashing Levi!

If you’re interested in ordering a pair for yourself, check out Ratten’s website. It’s all in Japanese and we’re not sure about the logistics of shipping these overseas, but if you’re interested, we’d encourage you to try to get in contact! He does emphasize that, as a university student, he won’t be able to finish production very quickly, but good things come to those who wait, right?

Sources: Gigazine, Ratten Gijutsu Kenkyuushitsu, YouTube
Images: Ratten Gijutsu Kenkyuushitsu, YouTube