This was recorded back back in June, but I forgot to upload the finished video. Good thing though, as I'm still busy editing the mountain of museum footage from the recent UK trip. If you don't want to miss that, keep an eye on your Subscriptions tab. Not the Home feed. ;)
I think the best way to use this .. Would to think of it more like a brass knuckles and essentially boxing.. But when u get an opening your drag the blade across them causing lacerations.. And downward stabs when practically..
If I remember correctly, the description of the Ulaks in the game defined them as a more lethal brass knuckle. The use of them meant to enhance the normal martial arts of the ones who had developed them. So, that comment of being like brass knuckles is very important with those. So, they were designed to follow the punching and grappling style.
Having only one side of the grip connected to the blade makes it much worse for either of those purposes, though. When punching, the only thing preventing the spine from rotating into the pinky is grip strength, which not only increases the risk of injuring yourself but also dampens the impact of the strike. When grappling, the weapon would be much harder to retain, as there's nothing to stop it from sliding right off the end of the grip if you open your hand.
You both make valid points. These seem like something in between brass knuckles and a katar. They seem very deadly for both the wielder and the opponent in certain grappling situations. Since I would only use weapons for art or self-defense, I don't think I'd ever use these. They only seem good for killing and there are more efficient ways to kill.
yeah this is earliest i can remember of him, at the time i thought thats some wacko nutjob flailing weapons in front of the camera, fast forward many years and i watched hundreds of hours of content on historical weapons and firearms.
Same here! Always loved the Ulaks and it was cool to find someone talking about them and actually thinking about their practical use. Stuck around ever since :D
I think the main thing for the design is... "it looks cool" but also maybe like it was a repurposed item/tool like a riddick equivalent to a shiv. maybe the "teeth" at the top served some purpose like teeth in some gear/sprocket and the knives were cut into a shape from it and sharpened (the curve of it being less by design and more by necessity) i'd be more concerned by it looking like a strong downward strike the hand might slip off the grip
The designs of the knives make me think a bit of that hinging part of a pair of legcuffs. Imagine a character that kept all the restraints and shackles they were once put in, to have them repurposed/reforged into a weapon or armor. Would be thematically pretty sick.
It would make sense if these are more of a modified weapon than something purpose made. To me they've always looked extremely similar to an ice climbing pick.
In the practical, Riddick works in the clinch or from ambush. Leaving people or whatever very little to no time to react. These blades fit that niche and like Laura mentioned, Vin trained in Krav Maga, a very close in, clinch style of fighting. These blades also align with that style. The tiger teeth on top are meant for catching and binding opponents and you don't need to use them against another blade as these can bind flesh pretty easy. Not a very practical design of blade, but it is an actual design in use I think for some kind of material working. So honestly, Riddick using an un-assuming tool in absolute lethality incarnate.... makes them pretty cool. Like the Sai, Kama, Tonfa, Gari-kusama, the really weird weapon/tools of ages past.
We did the naginata/sword fight in Japan. Spear weapons are great from distance, unless the other guy can catch your spear with his sword, knock it up out of the way, take one step in and now your spear is pretty useless.
4:50 Those look like the "Bearded Axe" style Ulu, Alaskan Ulus can look like a Flemish Axe with a Handle Hole in the Center. Side-note it's a "Traditional" item and thus *cannot be taken* by the Law from you , as a "Push Dagger" or "T-Handle Knife" as it's a Leatherworking tool that has many unique forms, and even the Fighter Forms are just tools that work well for both.
Also like the idea of you're in your everyday life with your tool someone attacks you with a dangerous weapon and suddenly you're defending yourself with that tool like a sickle etc. The peasants and other crafts only had their tools which they had to "retool" when they were "revolting", fighting against their oppressors.
Ad stopping the slice with palm of hand - the problems with these "deliberations" is that if the opponent reacts and shortens the arc of the slice, you will end up with one arm sliced open. The same applies for all that bare-handed defenses against swords when the defender steps in while the opponent cuts overhead and stops his arms or wrists - a good swordsman just changes footwork and cuts with backstep instead of a lunge. Every theoretical defense against blades somewhat assumes that the man with the blade must react slower or not at all.
That's true. A lot of theoretical drawbacks about a weapon design wouldn't make all that much practical difference depending on the opponent and situation.
@Skallagrim yeah, I also remember some other guys talking about this weapon, and the way they treated it was as basically sharp knuckledusters that could also stab and slice. Or an ice pick grip knife that you can also punch straight forward with without having to change grip
thatswhy I like the variants where you use a jacket or cape and there is evidence of blade & cape usages in Latin America still today I think Mexico? using a jacket also is great improvisation and multiple layers of clothing are good at binding blades, on the other hand Id rather have this awesome blade umbrella from that tv show :D
5:55 Honestly most serration is for show, this might help with grappling, gripping, or controlling your opponent without having to let go of the blade.
There are ways to fight with does blades. As somebody who owned a pair for over a decade, and dabbled in Wing Chun and Kali, I figured out ways to make them work. First, in a boxing ready stance, make sure that the blades points either horizontal or diagonal, and never vertical. Boxing strikes work if you angle your punches in circular motions. Upper cuts and hooks work the best. When blocking your pairing, you block and/or parry the arm holding the weapon, not the weapon. If the opponent's weapon keeps you out of reach, learn to duck and dodge. With that said, make sure you step in and around from the direction the opposing strike is coming. It's crucial to never stay in one place when on the defensive. And if you're going to stab, make it count. Those weapons are meant for slashing and punching mainly, with stabbing has a possible option, but not recommended. Add most importantly. Get a sense of the construction of the blade. Learn which part to block and counter with, and which part to strike with. This weapon's design was based off a combination design between a chef's knife and an Eskimo woman's hand cleaver, so there's some utilities to it, other than offense.
Good points. And generally applicable to knife fighting. I've heard some kali instructors give similar advice. Now I kind of want to make wooden replicas and experiment.
About its other utilities, it makes a great pizza cutter if youre ever in need. Also to thrust with it effectively, you just switch grips so that the point is facing out like an actual knife, it actually has a very powerful thrust when used like that
Not really? I mean, there is a bit more risk of that than with a traditional dagger or knife, but between the handle having a bit of a bend to it for hand ergonomics, and it being wrapped in cord or leather, you'd need to be holding it pretty loosely to slip on a stab.
I quite like that Krav Maga was brought up because Riddick’s style of fighting reminds me of a mix of Krav Maga, Thai Kickboxing, and Escrima. Brutal, fast, and always inside your guard where you don’t want an opponent. But Riddick never favors ranged attacks and weapons as far as I can remember. No matter the enemy he wants inside their reach where their weapons simply can’t be used effectively, helps that he faster than normal. He can use other things, is shown to occasionally, he knows the mechanics and benefits of them and will adapt if necessary. But his motto (if he had one) would probably be “adapt, overcome, overwhelm.”
He DOES KNOW an is probably pretty good with Projectile arms. He has been shown using them as weapons of easy opportunity a few times BUT he prefers an specializes in hand to hand combat an blade to "X" combat
Yeah, I always got the feeling that the character learned to fight in cramped conditions with fists and shivs. I like it when the fight choreography is actually rather thoughtful and supports the storytelling in those small ways. (Plus I'm sure they thought it would be more entertaining to see very close fighting :)
@ well he has been in and out of prison planets, slams, and so on fighting in the dark and in cells. So cramped spaces, low light, and multiple opponents at once. Safest place to be would be right up against someone, half in their guard half using them as a meat shield. Makes sense to me. Is it the cleanest fighting style? No. But then it wouldn’t be Riddick. Story telling supporting fight choreography, fight choreography supporting character building, and on. It was well done I agree.
In universe dialogue you guys ALSO hints he's an "Alpha" or Elite Extremely rare an exceptional "cream of the crop" among his people which apparently was that franchises Madalorians or Klingons. An apparently he was classed among the best of them. He's ALSO got experience as a doctor or Medic too. Probably as a part of someone's outfit in his early, probably just BEFORE, the franchise as we know it an prison days.. Maybe even part of a formal army l/navy of someone's which explains how he KNOWS how to fly all sorts of things, can shoot well but prefers hand to hand an blades another then discussed already had at LEAST some sorts formal training on a number different things. Probably as far as to say he knows multiple fighting styles or least 1 or 2 styles an things he picked up over years. Not to mention well versed like said in arms. He seems to even have LEAST limited leadership abilities too. Seeing as he seems also adept at leading smallish groups repeatedly when needed. Though if could be said if he's General level leadership material is harder to say since we know he once ruled the Necros the Lore don't specific what all he did an how he did it so if he led them in any sorta conflict to journey somewhere it don't say. Would like to know MORE bout him an throughout all these eras if there's no existing material anywhere detailing these things
the top part reminds me of the non-lethal "predator" military self defense device from real life, but was also featured in "Men Who Stare at Goats". I can easily see this as an extension of one's grappling ability including a bit of psychological warfare given the look of it. Constantly making the enemy think they are going to get stabbed when in reality they are getting another blow as if from a brass knuckle which would also be good misdirection.
.....holy.....is this some nostalgia! Your video on Riddick's Knives was literally the first of your videos I saw back in....2013 I think? I swear. So much stuff happened since then to me. Starting and finishing High School, starting and finishing the colledge, going through a massive political roller costers of my ideology, and discovering so many new cool channels and media I became a fan of....god, so much has changed since then. And tou be reminded of this? Boy did th nostalgia hit.
The benefits of this are mainly control, basically being hooked on a spike by a person who has peak human strength, then being unable to disengage. Riddick is the type to drag a person into a dark corner, or to use them as a human shield. My first thought when I see that serrated part is "pain control". If you were a criminal assassin wanted to interrogate someone, you can grab them and then press a blade against them, explain that its there and demand answers. Fear of being cut may make them compliant, but if they decline your option is cut them or don't. But with the serrated parts above the blade, you could jam those into the underside of the jaw, into the armpit. The person would feel it instantly, you could apply greater or lesser pressure to move them where you want them, to press (heh) further into questioning or to ease off as part of negotiation. If in the end negotiations go poorly, you can use the serrations to rip, or move a short distance down the blade for a conventional slice rather than turning a dagger 180 degrees.
Love the video, as always, very high quality. I think someone else mentioned this but Riddick is a convict and assassin style fighter first so it wouldn't surprise me if these were made out of something like a tool and designed to be less conspicuous than a regular knife with a distinct hilt.
9:10 And I Will Comment as *One of Them* Good Show, thanks for the blast from the past, those really look like they're meant to be some kind of exotic climbing tool/utility tool that he uses for combat. Either way it was great to watch.
Ok something I always find funny. People always say holding these knives point up is the "wrong way" to hold these. I'm pretty sure that's not true. In the movie, before the mercenaries and prison guards have their stand off, we see 1 of the guards playing with 1 of these knives with that grip, like it was a normal knife. I'm pretty sure that are supposed to be used normally and are just exotic or unusually designed knives and Riddick just made them work
Hmm idk, Im just kinda thinking what the force would be like if you were to stab in the upside-down grip. Because of the shape it looks like the force down the blade to the handle would make it almost try to rotate at the peak of the curve an cause the handle to wedge outward into your fingers if that makes sense. Thats alright in the normal grip we see since you have your thumb wrapped around it to keep it in place. In an upside down orientation, you don't have a thumb there to stop it from slipping down and out backwards out of your hand. Stabs would probably be really hard to hold it in that style.
Good video. I think the main takeaway is that every weapon has a design and style to fight with it. When you start thinking 'well if I use it this way, it's no good' you begin to miss the point and it becomes too easy to find flaws. Then because you've 'found' a flaw, you become convinced you're correct. The game of What If can always have another if added so it never ends.
Ulaks are a cool looking sci-fi stealth weapon, meant for a cool looking Sci-Fi DnD character who mains a rouge class and his character got his eyes shined like a predator to see in the dark. Always loved the idea of them as someone who loves to play sneaky rouge spellswords.
Riddick is one of my favorite fictional characters. I believe his fighting style is generally more assassination over direct fighting unless forced too which plays into him being an escape artist. So I think the hypothetical idea behind those blades is generally for that
I bought my brother a set of these for christmas right after that movie dropped. We were like 14 and 11 and loved the Riddick movies. I still remeber he loved em and its one of my favorite memories. Still love the movies too lol pitch black is a all timer and Chronicles a guilty pleasure i still watch
So I've actually got a copy of those knives. And one thing that I find really works, (at least against the cutting mats) is hooking punch style slashes. It's more defensive, closer range, so yeah, I could see it being more dangerous to use them or rely on them, but they cut *deep* when used that way.
Basically they're great for FMA an any art that likes to punch and/or do a lot of locks an arm grapple attacks like Judo, Aikedo an like. Since that's how you'd attack them anyways. You already would know how in those arts only would have a perfect weapon for it in hand to do it.
It wrestled its prey down and then bit the throat. Remember, those cats were extremely muscular and also those teeth were rather thin, so quite fragile in fact. So no hanging onto the prey just by the teeth, like you see in some older documentaries. I don't really see something like this being applicable here as a standard technique.
@@sihilius The way I remember hearing about it, they had -extraordinary- range of jaw motion, basically being able to almost unhinge the lower jaw to let it swing out of the way, then slam the teeth straight down into the spine of the prey as they sprang from ambush. They'd literally headbang their knife-teeth into the target's back, severing the spine in one go.
@@Vyrexuviel The "unhinging" part is correct, although it was not actually unhinging it's jaw, but rather it actually had that insane range of motion. So that's basically unsheathing a dagger and rather than keeping the sheath in front of the blade, holding it in your off-hand, somewhere out of the way, maybe behind your back. - If we want to draw a comparison here. The wrestling down the prey first, then get a save kill-bite part however is the latest theory on smilodon cats that I am aware of, as someone with a little bit of an interest in prehistoric animals (and tons of other stuff). So it could be outdated already. Ok, honestly, while writing this, I had to google, and I stumbled upon an aricle by the Smithsonian on the matter, called "How Did Sabercats Use Those Outlandish Fangs?". It describes roughly, what I described here. Granted it's from 2017. It's also specifically theorized that smilodon used it's teeth to specifically target soft parts of the neck/throat-area, rather than the spine. Hmm, sometimes you really have to wonder about how advanced those animals were back then already. Very impressive. But the again, in the grand scheme of things, smilodon is just about as old as us, so quite young, really. There also seems to be evidence for smilodon penetrating each other's heads with their teeth, but I'm not entirely convinced that this was a standard move for them to do. Personally I would think that this is exclusive to fighting other predators, as they are probably not as easy to wrestle down as prey animals, especially huffed ones. Wow, came here for some weird blades and now I am overthinking smilodon. Anyway, cheers. Got to go to bed. I am freaking tired.
One thing about trying to grab or block and attack from those, if you don't take control over them they can then maybe be twisted or just pushed through the grab/block to slice into the hand and possibly reach the wrist.
My favorite thing about these videos is how Skall not only critiques the weapons in question, but also tears holes in his own logic while being analytical.
I love Ridfick's daggers. They're a definite vibe. I think you're thinking in straight lines too much though. I always thought of them as the Chinese wu shu fighting aids.? Riddick is very fluid in his fighting style and those would be very effective I think. One use for the point like that could be a hooking stab technique? You'd grab your enemy with one point (he'd be fairly maneuveable as such) and then coup de grace with the other. Either a stab or slash. The serrated bit could be used offensively, but it'd be more like a knuckle duster stun and an upward slash? You could use them reversed in an upward thrust for an assassination move. Between the fourth and fifth rib, that's where I'd go. I'll put a twist at the end if I wanna make sure. Now I'm wondering if you know any Chinese martial artists who could do a bit of a theory test..? 🤔
While there are a few design elements that could be tweaked to make it more effective, I can only come up with one actual flaw. And that is that whether one holds it facing upward ir downward, stabs and thrusts might make the weapon pop out of the hand if the blade hits hard or dense enough target. The flip side is that it would be easier to yank it out of a target and less likely to get stuck. In any case, the fix would be to make the handle long enough to have the hilt curve toward the hand like sabers and other weapons do to increase weapon retention. If that were done, along with pointing the tip slightly more outward and adding a catching/parrying spike where the knuckleguard part is, then the weapon would probably be much more useful, perhaps even against armored opponents.
It's definitely a usable weapon which we cant say for all hollywood weapons for sure. Two changes I would make, a little curved part at the base of the handle to hold it in place when stabbing, and sharpen the back edge near the tip to be able to filet/slice with hooking and pulling back motions.
He also used a key and a cup as weapons, you gonna review those too lol I really loved this franchise (still do) and I love weaponry and martial arts. thank you for the content.
In a sense, over thinking is better than under thinking. I saw the original video you did, back in the store, so this is a terrific follow up. Other follow ups could be nice to see once and a while from you. Honestly, I looked at as more a punch/slash/stab in close weapon. Never forget the Indiana Jones Lesson otherwise said as “Never bring a sword to a gun fight”. I like the philosophy of avoid the fight. Not always run but just try working out any differences peacefully.
One thing I note about these is that you can do punching, slicing, and stabbing attacks without changing your grip. That would make these good at dealing with different types of protective gear, right? That could be a big deal for an ambush fighter like Riddick.
Could be easily adapted to functional shape: closed handle to avoid slipping, multiple blade supports from the handle to redirect impact to the palm of the hand, and a wider, thin blade to dig deeper before being stopped by the inevitable thickening at the hand. The main advantage would be versatility, as one could use it both as an ice-pick grip knife and a bladed knuckle-guard at the same time. Could even be turned around to use more as a hammer-grip knife, or have a shorter length bladed protrusion opposite the longer one.
Hey random question, what brands of foam sparring swords do you recommend?, ideally on the lower proce range, just sparring eith friends nothing professional, enough to take hits tho
In some source material, the blades were used defensively by monks before riddick got his hands on them. Another note is how close range you can get with those and still have viable attack movement.
Leaving aside the closing comments about maybe changing fighting style to use a particular weapon… I had to pause and zoom in to see that those “brass knuckle” points are actually pointy. So, if you go to block it as you described you’ve chosen six smaller puncture wounds over a single, though presumably deeper slash wound. Sounds like a great trade off at first blush, but I’ve had shallow puncture wounds in the palms of my hands and they can severely impact your ability to grasp things especially if a tendon gets hit. As always there seem to be no good choices there, only less bad ones.
It has been a while since I have seen the movies, but I seem to recall Riddick wasn't so much worried about parrying with these blades as he was waiting for an opening and then using his agility to get in close for some sweeping hits. My memory is picturing him moving under someones strike, slicing the gut, spinning and slicing the gut again before stepping past. The times I remember him stabbing others he was using shivs or other 'standard' knives... even if they're half a gram heavy on the back end... or tin cups.
Imagine trying to do a run-by slashing at super high speeds, which presumably Riddick would have been doing. Stabbing would be risky, because the blade could get stuck, so with a normal knife of some kind, you'd obviously hold it in an ice pick grip. But if the blade caught as it was slicing, it would be trying to pull it out of your hand. The one advantage I could see for the design he was using is that if they got caught a bit while slicing, it would pull it more firmly into your grip, rather than out of it.
The ulaks i always assumed were to augment a punch. Riddick is a brawler, i dont think hes trained in any martial art (i could be wrong. Its been years since i watched it) but his attacks always seemed to be get in close, grapple and or just render the weapon useless then kill. Funny thing, you can grapple with the ulaks while not fropping them. The curve hooks them on your hand
I always thought about the teeth on this blade as a defensive thing, but not really a parrying thing. More of a 'if your opponent's blade comes into the contact with yours there is less chance of it slipping on the smooth surface and into your wrist'
I remember the first time I saw these knives in the movie, I thought to myself "why'd they give him a flaccid knife?" and I've been unable to think of them as anything else ever since.
The problem with this things is, that if you hit with them the "stabby" way, there is nothing to stop your hand just slip from the handle. You just cant hit hard enough with it. Or you just loose the weapon. Also, if you punch with it, it'll wrench itself out of the palm as it's connected only form one side and all the force goes trough the lever especially if it's closer to the tip of the blade. Not ot mention it'll be very unpleasant.
Great video. Those don't look very practical until you start thinking of unique uses they might have. They definitely would require a totally different fighting style from regular fists, knives, or swords though.
Double edged it kind of reminds me of something you see with the warrior Poet Society Clinch shiv. Counter Ambush is modern knife fighting so like the Libre guys know what they're talking about. Dude give Ed Calderon some fantasy weapons to play with in that little Mexican ninja will blow your mind. Same for Scott Babb with his Filipino martial arts background or Doug marcaida Kevin Secours or Frank Mastro. The curve design of this weapon reminds me of a lot of Middle Eastern style tools especially like a Persian dagger. Assassin tool is probably Dead on. Even the Sica Tripa gives a nasty curve. It doesn't matter which side the curve is on all that matters is that you understand your shock Zone Target acquisition drill for self defense. Matie Florian is a combat genius for this. Even the scallywag Tactical Team would scare you with a fantasy weapon. I'm on my nerd trend for the Assassin's Creed hidden blade studying counter Ambush so.... Thank you for covering it I know it doesn't look modern because we're thinking fantasy right now, but it almost mimics a bayonet.
2:02 Also, a knife in an icepick grip wouldn't have a leaver action in relation to your hand when stabbing, so the stab would be stronger, this one creates an extra effort in your hand that you have to deal with. I think I would prefer a "trench knife", it has basically all the benefits widout the disadvantages.
It's funny that you mention Mantises. Those would actually be _nasty_ weapons if you approach them with a Mantis-Style method, getting in close and hooking or stabbing with them, slashing with the forward edge and punching or raking with those serrations. The closest things in history I can think of that are similar to Ulaks in concept are Deer-Horn knives, which look like a whole other pack of viciousness XD
I have these knives and held point up they are pretty great knives. People seem to think that since Riddick held them point down then that is the way they are meant to be held but remember that Riddick always held his knives point down. Theoretical these were made to be point up but he chose to hold them in his usual fashion
I'd also probably choose a regular knife, or maybe a "deer-horn" knife or even some kind of sickle or axe... Just something that doesn't limit me to ice-pick grip or allows movements closer to punching or stick-fighting. (And I have heard weebs saying that a double-edged sword is bad because one edge is facing you. Conversations about weapons get really weird :)
Reverse grip on the blade allows you to impale beneath the rib cage or flesh and offers a hold and control point. Also, when combined, both blades upwards, the "serrations"(what else to call them? bumps?hm) makes a fine overhead or downward catch, singularly makes a decent catch/deflect, less catch and maneuver. I agree with the sweep of the blade coming forward more, but otherwise, i don't believe you actually give the design credit. It isn't meant as a means to parry or fight swords, they were meant to complement and absolute brawler. The release or usual look of these blades makes them hard to hold, handle wise. I replaces mine with wooden grips and aluminum pins rather than the plastic insert and fake manta hide used. Though a leather tong wrap and thinner wood, similar to a katana's handle would work as well, i suppose. The fighting style for these is both stealth, ( yes, reverse gripping them works, also one gripped as normal, the other reversed add interesting options as well) and for close quarters especially where a sword would be inconvenient. It also does a pretty decent job with blade deflection, though I'd not recommend it for blocking horizontal slashes, you expose too much of the fingers, cross blade is better. Is it better than a dagger, boot knife, sax, or whatnot? To be honest, in scenarios, it could be better than each one, they all served their purposes(though, as far as pokes go, you're not poking as deep, which could be detrimental, depending). I'm just saying you're not giving it a real fair shake. If a competent fighter were to pair it with a longer blade to replace a dagger, it could also serve that purpose, albeit...perhaps not as adroitly.
They sort of reminded me of deer horn knives (Chinese origin) minus a few points. Sorry can't remember the proper name of the wepon Deer horn knives acts like a mix of a parrying dagger and Buckler. Super close quarters (grappling ) Other names might be - crescent knives -Duck blades
When stabbing with this knife, one would be working against their grip. With most knives, there would be a guard in the way preventing an equal reaction from moving much, but with this one, I feel like it might actually be hard not to move down the handle.
To me, these look like a modified polearm that has no pole! Maybe Riddick considers them more of a multi-purpose tool rather than just a weapon. It's nice that the blade acts a bit like a guard, though any thrust makes the blade pull out of the grip rather than push on the fist 🤷
I was given a pair of 'slingblade trainers' like that, and the only way i can firgure out to use them well is impale and manipulate with one claw and slice/stab with the other claw. Like stab into the chest and use that to move them around
Human reaction time is less than stellar. Skal says you can block it... and you may try because you've noticed that isn't a sharp part of the weapon. But if you are too slow.... that's going to be a nasty cut. Even if you do, the weapons come in a pair. You stop the first blade by putting you hand on the top. Okay now the enemy has another knife, touch awareness of exactly where your hand is and that hand is committed. If you block me like that, my next strike is going to be to ruin that arm and hand. Maybe a downward cut to penetrat the limb or to leave a long laceration that could be impossible to close (down the street, not across the road. IYKYK). I see this being useful in a crowd or tight space, possibly against multiple people. Skal has rightly complained before about spinny moves in fighting being pointless, but in a crowd you can often get moved, turned or pushed in ways you can't predict. You may turn your back to another's back as you turn to face someone and end up doing skinny stuff up close. Being very close fit but with a long cutting edge I can see this being ideal for use in a riot or tight packed melee. Feeding into the Krav Maga aspect. Finally, and this may be a niche use, once you impale this in a shoulder or chest, you can drag the torso and attached person around and use them as a barrier. Again... potentially useful in a tight fight. But then this world has narrow ship passages, dense crowds and prison riots... ranks of troops marching wall to wall in city streets... seems like a lot of close up fighting is available.
This was recorded back back in June, but I forgot to upload the finished video. Good thing though, as I'm still busy editing the mountain of museum footage from the recent UK trip. If you don't want to miss that, keep an eye on your Subscriptions tab. Not the Home feed. ;)
Mountain, you say :)
Exciting
It would be cool if you could revisit the museum and analyze other swords. For instance, Mugen's sword from Samurai Champloo with its sai-like guard.
I think the best way to use this ..
Would to think of it more like a brass knuckles and essentially boxing..
But when u get an opening your drag the blade across them causing lacerations..
And downward stabs when practically..
ADD is a cruel mistress lol
I would treat these as somewhat exaggerated trench knives.
Riddick only needs a teacup to kill anyway
He doesn't NEED anything, lol
Well, soup cup, at least. ;)
@@xXCORRONXx he occasionally don't kill 😅
Or one of those small flat keys
I know a man that killed three men in a bar with a pencil
If I remember correctly, the description of the Ulaks in the game defined them as a more lethal brass knuckle. The use of them meant to enhance the normal martial arts of the ones who had developed them. So, that comment of being like brass knuckles is very important with those. So, they were designed to follow the punching and grappling style.
Having only one side of the grip connected to the blade makes it much worse for either of those purposes, though. When punching, the only thing preventing the spine from rotating into the pinky is grip strength, which not only increases the risk of injuring yourself but also dampens the impact of the strike. When grappling, the weapon would be much harder to retain, as there's nothing to stop it from sliding right off the end of the grip if you open your hand.
You both make valid points. These seem like something in between brass knuckles and a katar. They seem very deadly for both the wielder and the opponent in certain grappling situations. Since I would only use weapons for art or self-defense, I don't think I'd ever use these. They only seem good for killing and there are more efficient ways to kill.
Honestly, I see these used more l, as you would a kukri. They just need a small hoop at the end to prevent sliding grip.
They look like they would break really fast if you tried to punch with them
And I just made a comment comparing them to a pair of karambit knuckles 😂
That video was the first of yours I ever saw. Glad to see you’re still going strong after so many years of good content.
yeah this is earliest i can remember of him, at the time i thought thats some wacko nutjob flailing weapons in front of the camera, fast forward many years and i watched hundreds of hours of content on historical weapons and firearms.
Funny, started around the same time watching Skal's videos. I remember him working at the knife shop.
Same here! Always loved the Ulaks and it was cool to find someone talking about them and actually thinking about their practical use. Stuck around ever since :D
I think the main thing for the design is... "it looks cool" but also maybe like it was a repurposed item/tool like a riddick equivalent to a shiv. maybe the "teeth" at the top served some purpose like teeth in some gear/sprocket and the knives were cut into a shape from it and sharpened (the curve of it being less by design and more by necessity)
i'd be more concerned by it looking like a strong downward strike the hand might slip off the grip
The designs of the knives make me think a bit of that hinging part of a pair of legcuffs.
Imagine a character that kept all the restraints and shackles they were once put in, to have them repurposed/reforged into a weapon or armor. Would be thematically pretty sick.
Jokes aside, needs a pommel.
It would make sense if these are more of a modified weapon than something purpose made. To me they've always looked extremely similar to an ice climbing pick.
@@jurtheorc8117minds me of a scene when Uncle Iroh used his restraints as improvised weapons against the Earth bender soldiers.
@@jays.6843 That's what the holes are for. You screw in some pommels, just in case.
In the practical, Riddick works in the clinch or from ambush. Leaving people or whatever very little to no time to react. These blades fit that niche and like Laura mentioned, Vin trained in Krav Maga, a very close in, clinch style of fighting. These blades also align with that style. The tiger teeth on top are meant for catching and binding opponents and you don't need to use them against another blade as these can bind flesh pretty easy. Not a very practical design of blade, but it is an actual design in use I think for some kind of material working. So honestly, Riddick using an un-assuming tool in absolute lethality incarnate.... makes them pretty cool. Like the Sai, Kama, Tonfa, Gari-kusama, the really weird weapon/tools of ages past.
If there were a perfect weapon we wouldn't have so much variety.
Spears: am I a joke to you?
😅
Behold the greatness of the pointy stick! 🗿
The spear is far from perfect. It's just ironic how effective one of the simplest weapons is.
We did the naginata/sword fight in Japan. Spear weapons are great from distance, unless the other guy can catch your spear with his sword, knock it up out of the way, take one step in and now your spear is pretty useless.
Pokey poke!
Plate Armor: yes.
4:50 Those look like the "Bearded Axe" style Ulu, Alaskan Ulus can look like a Flemish Axe with a Handle Hole in the Center.
Side-note it's a "Traditional" item and thus *cannot be taken* by the Law from you , as a "Push Dagger" or "T-Handle Knife" as it's a Leatherworking tool that has many unique forms, and even the Fighter Forms are just tools that work well for both.
Also like the idea of you're in your everyday life with your tool someone attacks you with a dangerous weapon and suddenly you're defending yourself with that tool like a sickle etc. The peasants and other crafts only had their tools which they had to "retool" when they were "revolting", fighting against their oppressors.
@@kleinerprinz99 The peasants have always been revolting; now they're rebelling!
@@TheRealSkeletor Clever :D
The Unwashed Masses
Ad stopping the slice with palm of hand - the problems with these "deliberations" is that if the opponent reacts and shortens the arc of the slice, you will end up with one arm sliced open. The same applies for all that bare-handed defenses against swords when the defender steps in while the opponent cuts overhead and stops his arms or wrists - a good swordsman just changes footwork and cuts with backstep instead of a lunge. Every theoretical defense against blades somewhat assumes that the man with the blade must react slower or not at all.
That's true. A lot of theoretical drawbacks about a weapon design wouldn't make all that much practical difference depending on the opponent and situation.
@Skallagrim yeah, I also remember some other guys talking about this weapon, and the way they treated it was as basically sharp knuckledusters that could also stab and slice. Or an ice pick grip knife that you can also punch straight forward with without having to change grip
In defense of Skall, if you are slower than your opponent there isn't much you can do anyway.
thatswhy I like the variants where you use a jacket or cape and there is evidence of blade & cape usages in Latin America still today I think Mexico? using a jacket also is great improvisation and multiple layers of clothing are good at binding blades, on the other hand Id rather have this awesome blade umbrella from that tv show :D
5:55 Honestly most serration is for show, this might help with grappling, gripping, or controlling your opponent without having to let go of the blade.
Especially in designing movie prop they probably wanted another design element on it.
Yeah imagine that pressed into your side and twisted. That is going to be incredibly painful
SKALLS FOR THE SKALLTHRONE
And now I need to see a world eater chaos marine with a chainsaw knuckle duster
I love that google translates this into 'Skulls for the Skullthrone" Google is part of Chaos confirmed?
LOL your original video with these as my first ever Skall video!
There are ways to fight with does blades. As somebody who owned a pair for over a decade, and dabbled in Wing Chun and Kali, I figured out ways to make them work. First, in a boxing ready stance, make sure that the blades points either horizontal or diagonal, and never vertical. Boxing strikes work if you angle your punches in circular motions. Upper cuts and hooks work the best. When blocking your pairing, you block and/or parry the arm holding the weapon, not the weapon. If the opponent's weapon keeps you out of reach, learn to duck and dodge. With that said, make sure you step in and around from the direction the opposing strike is coming. It's crucial to never stay in one place when on the defensive. And if you're going to stab, make it count. Those weapons are meant for slashing and punching mainly, with stabbing has a possible option, but not recommended. Add most importantly. Get a sense of the construction of the blade. Learn which part to block and counter with, and which part to strike with. This weapon's design was based off a combination design between a chef's knife and an Eskimo woman's hand cleaver, so there's some utilities to it, other than offense.
Good points. And generally applicable to knife fighting. I've heard some kali instructors give similar advice. Now I kind of want to make wooden replicas and experiment.
@beowulfshaeffer8444 same. Let me know if you come up with any new developments.
About its other utilities, it makes a great pizza cutter if youre ever in need. Also to thrust with it effectively, you just switch grips so that the point is facing out like an actual knife, it actually has a very powerful thrust when used like that
5:00 Considering it's probably an Ulu, no you can hold it that way as a "Gut-Hook"
I was more worried to slip off when stabbing with the tip. Not losing your weapon doing it like Riddick would take an insane grip strength.
To be fair I doubt Riddicks knives had handles that were woman sized and wrapped in paracord.
Not really? I mean, there is a bit more risk of that than with a traditional dagger or knife, but between the handle having a bit of a bend to it for hand ergonomics, and it being wrapped in cord or leather, you'd need to be holding it pretty loosely to slip on a stab.
@@tonberryking42 Or if you have sweaty or bloody hands, but when is that ever going to happen in a knife fight?
@ the stab I mean would be downwards when the sudden impact would stop the blade but nothing stops the hand moving.
It's worse with knives that don't have a guard, where your hand slides onto the blade if the grip slips.
I quite like that Krav Maga was brought up because Riddick’s style of fighting reminds me of a mix of Krav Maga, Thai Kickboxing, and Escrima. Brutal, fast, and always inside your guard where you don’t want an opponent. But Riddick never favors ranged attacks and weapons as far as I can remember. No matter the enemy he wants inside their reach where their weapons simply can’t be used effectively, helps that he faster than normal. He can use other things, is shown to occasionally, he knows the mechanics and benefits of them and will adapt if necessary. But his motto (if he had one) would probably be “adapt, overcome, overwhelm.”
He DOES KNOW an is probably pretty good with Projectile arms. He has been shown using them as weapons of easy opportunity a few times BUT he prefers an specializes in hand to hand combat an blade to "X" combat
@ agreed, no arguments. He’s also shown to be crazy intelligent with an incredible comprehension a danger in and of itself.
Yeah, I always got the feeling that the character learned to fight in cramped conditions with fists and shivs.
I like it when the fight choreography is actually rather thoughtful and supports the storytelling in those small ways. (Plus I'm sure they thought it would be more entertaining to see very close fighting :)
@ well he has been in and out of prison planets, slams, and so on fighting in the dark and in cells. So cramped spaces, low light, and multiple opponents at once. Safest place to be would be right up against someone, half in their guard half using them as a meat shield. Makes sense to me. Is it the cleanest fighting style? No. But then it wouldn’t be Riddick. Story telling supporting fight choreography, fight choreography supporting character building, and on. It was well done I agree.
In universe dialogue you guys ALSO hints he's an "Alpha" or Elite Extremely rare an exceptional "cream of the crop" among his people which apparently was that franchises Madalorians or Klingons. An apparently he was classed among the best of them. He's ALSO got experience as a doctor or Medic too. Probably as a part of someone's outfit in his early, probably just BEFORE, the franchise as we know it an prison days.. Maybe even part of a formal army l/navy of someone's which explains how he KNOWS how to fly all sorts of things, can shoot well but prefers hand to hand an blades another then discussed already had at LEAST some sorts formal training on a number different things. Probably as far as to say he knows multiple fighting styles or least 1 or 2 styles an things he picked up over years. Not to mention well versed like said in arms. He seems to even have LEAST limited leadership abilities too. Seeing as he seems also adept at leading smallish groups repeatedly when needed. Though if could be said if he's General level leadership material is harder to say since we know he once ruled the Necros the Lore don't specific what all he did an how he did it so if he led them in any sorta conflict to journey somewhere it don't say. Would like to know MORE bout him an throughout all these eras if there's no existing material anywhere detailing these things
Revisiting old fantasy weapons is super easy, barely an inconvenience
Wow wow wow wow... Wow.
the top part reminds me of the non-lethal "predator" military self defense device from real life, but was also featured in "Men Who Stare at Goats". I can easily see this as an extension of one's grappling ability including a bit of psychological warfare given the look of it. Constantly making the enemy think they are going to get stabbed when in reality they are getting another blow as if from a brass knuckle which would also be good misdirection.
The original vid was your 1st vid i watched. i can't believe i been watching you for so long. and i watched it when it was new.
.....holy.....is this some nostalgia!
Your video on Riddick's Knives was literally the first of your videos I saw back in....2013 I think? I swear. So much stuff happened since then to me. Starting and finishing High School, starting and finishing the colledge, going through a massive political roller costers of my ideology, and discovering so many new cool channels and media I became a fan of....god, so much has changed since then. And tou be reminded of this? Boy did th nostalgia hit.
Loved these movies when they came out. thanks for the breakdown
This takes me back. The original was the first Skall vod I ever saw, been a fan since.
Those blades are Riddickulous!
I will see myself out.
That’s actually quite witty 😁
Cool! That’s the video I first found your channel back in 2013 or 2014. I have been following ever since.
Keep it up Skall!
Seriously, this content made my day!
I appreciate the willingness to think and rethink. I find more value in the thoughtfulness than in being presented the "correct" answer.
These are basically mall ninja inuit Ulu knives (which are not fighting knives by the way, but kitchen knives used for preparing fish)
I remember the 45min knife unboxings.
Honestly... It looks like a great shape for a pizza cutter.
It divides a necromonger into smaller more manageable pieces😄
For pizza I maybe would use it tip pointing to up 🤔
Try a mezzaluna.
@@elio7610 those would work too, I used one of those to cut quesadillas when I worked in a kitchen.
Bloody fuckin balls; you're right. Prefect for cutting vegetables into thin slices too.
The benefits of this are mainly control, basically being hooked on a spike by a person who has peak human strength, then being unable to disengage. Riddick is the type to drag a person into a dark corner, or to use them as a human shield.
My first thought when I see that serrated part is "pain control".
If you were a criminal assassin wanted to interrogate someone, you can grab them and then press a blade against them, explain that its there and demand answers. Fear of being cut may make them compliant, but if they decline your option is cut them or don't.
But with the serrated parts above the blade, you could jam those into the underside of the jaw, into the armpit. The person would feel it instantly, you could apply greater or lesser pressure to move them where you want them, to press (heh) further into questioning or to ease off as part of negotiation. If in the end negotiations go poorly, you can use the serrations to rip, or move a short distance down the blade for a conventional slice rather than turning a dagger 180 degrees.
That makes a lot of sense.
Looking forward for your next upload!
the Riddick's Knives video was the first Skallagrim vid I watched, way way back in prehistorical times.
Wait, I actually got the notification with knives in the title ??? Yaaay TH-cam stopped discriminating lol
Trump is already making America great again and he isn't even in the white house yet
Love the video, as always, very high quality. I think someone else mentioned this but Riddick is a convict and assassin style fighter first so it wouldn't surprise me if these were made out of something like a tool and designed to be less conspicuous than a regular knife with a distinct hilt.
9:10 And I Will Comment as *One of Them*
Good Show, thanks for the blast from the past, those really look like they're meant to be some kind of exotic climbing tool/utility tool that he uses for combat.
Either way it was great to watch.
Ok something I always find funny. People always say holding these knives point up is the "wrong way" to hold these. I'm pretty sure that's not true. In the movie, before the mercenaries and prison guards have their stand off, we see 1 of the guards playing with 1 of these knives with that grip, like it was a normal knife. I'm pretty sure that are supposed to be used normally and are just exotic or unusually designed knives and Riddick just made them work
Hmm idk, Im just kinda thinking what the force would be like if you were to stab in the upside-down grip. Because of the shape it looks like the force down the blade to the handle would make it almost try to rotate at the peak of the curve an cause the handle to wedge outward into your fingers if that makes sense. Thats alright in the normal grip we see since you have your thumb wrapped around it to keep it in place. In an upside down orientation, you don't have a thumb there to stop it from slipping down and out backwards out of your hand. Stabs would probably be really hard to hold it in that style.
The original video is the first video I ever watch from you and I've been here ever since.
The Riddick quadrilogy is easily one of my favourite film series,it deserves far more credit.
Good video. I think the main takeaway is that every weapon has a design and style to fight with it. When you start thinking 'well if I use it this way, it's no good' you begin to miss the point and it becomes too easy to find flaws. Then because you've 'found' a flaw, you become convinced you're correct. The game of What If can always have another if added so it never ends.
Awesome video! The rule of cool is too OP
Ulaks are a cool looking sci-fi stealth weapon, meant for a cool looking Sci-Fi DnD character who mains a rouge class and his character got his eyes shined like a predator to see in the dark.
Always loved the idea of them as someone who loves to play sneaky rouge spellswords.
I love your channel, so happy to find another sword nerd!!
Riddick is one of my favorite fictional characters. I believe his fighting style is generally more assassination over direct fighting unless forced too which plays into him being an escape artist. So I think the hypothetical idea behind those blades is generally for that
When he want to... He shows time n time again he's DEADLY in a strait up fight..
I bought my brother a set of these for christmas right after that movie dropped. We were like 14 and 11 and loved the Riddick movies. I still remeber he loved em and its one of my favorite memories. Still love the movies too lol pitch black is a all timer and Chronicles a guilty pleasure i still watch
So I've actually got a copy of those knives. And one thing that I find really works, (at least against the cutting mats) is hooking punch style slashes. It's more defensive, closer range, so yeah, I could see it being more dangerous to use them or rely on them, but they cut *deep* when used that way.
And if the opponent were to pull back out of the way, there’s still a chance of catching them with the blade as your fist passes them.
Basically they're great for FMA an any art that likes to punch and/or do a lot of locks an arm grapple attacks like Judo, Aikedo an like. Since that's how you'd attack them anyways. You already would know how in those arts only would have a perfect weapon for it in hand to do it.
Now I want to see you discuss how a saber tooth cat bit its prey. Their teeth had pretty much the same shape as this blade.
It wrestled its prey down and then bit the throat. Remember, those cats were extremely muscular and also those teeth were rather thin, so quite fragile in fact. So no hanging onto the prey just by the teeth, like you see in some older documentaries. I don't really see something like this being applicable here as a standard technique.
@@sihilius The way I remember hearing about it, they had -extraordinary- range of jaw motion, basically being able to almost unhinge the lower jaw to let it swing out of the way, then slam the teeth straight down into the spine of the prey as they sprang from ambush.
They'd literally headbang their knife-teeth into the target's back, severing the spine in one go.
@@Vyrexuviel The "unhinging" part is correct, although it was not actually unhinging it's jaw, but rather it actually had that insane range of motion.
So that's basically unsheathing a dagger and rather than keeping the sheath in front of the blade, holding it in your off-hand, somewhere out of the way, maybe behind your back. - If we want to draw a comparison here.
The wrestling down the prey first, then get a save kill-bite part however is the latest theory on smilodon cats that I am aware of, as someone with a little bit of an interest in prehistoric animals (and tons of other stuff). So it could be outdated already.
Ok, honestly, while writing this, I had to google, and I stumbled upon an aricle by the Smithsonian on the matter, called "How Did Sabercats Use Those Outlandish Fangs?". It describes roughly, what I described here. Granted it's from 2017. It's also specifically theorized that smilodon used it's teeth to specifically target soft parts of the neck/throat-area, rather than the spine. Hmm, sometimes you really have to wonder about how advanced those animals were back then already. Very impressive. But the again, in the grand scheme of things, smilodon is just about as old as us, so quite young, really.
There also seems to be evidence for smilodon penetrating each other's heads with their teeth, but I'm not entirely convinced that this was a standard move for them to do. Personally I would think that this is exclusive to fighting other predators, as they are probably not as easy to wrestle down as prey animals, especially huffed ones.
Wow, came here for some weird blades and now I am overthinking smilodon. Anyway, cheers. Got to go to bed. I am freaking tired.
this weapon was created solely for Riddick's race the Furyan's and has no practical use outside of their way of fighting
I would like to see someone who is primarily a pugilist play with a pair of these. Because I think they compare better to pugilism than knife work.
Yeah, I remember seeing a video about it, and they basically went with that they were knuckledusters you could cut and stab with
Holy shit. My first video I ever watched on Skallagrim was that 2012 video of the Ulluk Ridick knives. So nostalgic 😢
One thing about trying to grab or block and attack from those, if you don't take control over them they can then maybe be twisted or just pushed through the grab/block to slice into the hand and possibly reach the wrist.
whoever designed it must be pretty chuffed that they made a truly unique weapon for the film. That's pretty cool.
My favorite thing about these videos is how Skall not only critiques the weapons in question, but also tears holes in his own logic while being analytical.
I love Ridfick's daggers. They're a definite vibe. I think you're thinking in straight lines too much though. I always thought of them as the Chinese wu shu fighting aids.? Riddick is very fluid in his fighting style and those would be very effective I think. One use for the point like that could be a hooking stab technique? You'd grab your enemy with one point (he'd be fairly maneuveable as such) and then coup de grace with the other. Either a stab or slash.
The serrated bit could be used offensively, but it'd be more like a knuckle duster stun and an upward slash?
You could use them reversed in an upward thrust for an assassination move. Between the fourth and fifth rib, that's where I'd go. I'll put a twist at the end if I wanna make sure.
Now I'm wondering if you know any Chinese martial artists who could do a bit of a theory test..? 🤔
"You worked at a knife shop? I didn't know that."
Her words echo as Skall has PTSD flashbacks.
Customer service forces you to face the depths of human stupidty over and over again. It's... tiring.
While there are a few design elements that could be tweaked to make it more effective, I can only come up with one actual flaw. And that is that whether one holds it facing upward ir downward, stabs and thrusts might make the weapon pop out of the hand if the blade hits hard or dense enough target. The flip side is that it would be easier to yank it out of a target and less likely to get stuck.
In any case, the fix would be to make the handle long enough to have the hilt curve toward the hand like sabers and other weapons do to increase weapon retention.
If that were done, along with pointing the tip slightly more outward and adding a catching/parrying spike where the knuckleguard part is, then the weapon would probably be much more useful, perhaps even against armored opponents.
It's definitely a usable weapon which we cant say for all hollywood weapons for sure.
Two changes I would make, a little curved part at the base of the handle to hold it in place when stabbing, and sharpen the back edge near the tip to be able to filet/slice with hooking and pulling back motions.
He also used a key and a cup as weapons, you gonna review those too lol I really loved this franchise (still do) and I love weaponry and martial arts. thank you for the content.
In a sense, over thinking is better than under thinking. I saw the original video you did, back in the store, so this is a terrific follow up. Other follow ups could be nice to see once and a while from you.
Honestly, I looked at as more a punch/slash/stab in close weapon. Never forget the Indiana Jones Lesson otherwise said as “Never bring a sword to a gun fight”. I like the philosophy of avoid the fight. Not always run but just try working out any differences peacefully.
as a chef, i really want to see skall do a video review of some of the less common cooking knives in use in n. american kitchens.
The 2012 video was the first video of yours I came across, been watching ever since.
One thing I note about these is that you can do punching, slicing, and stabbing attacks without changing your grip. That would make these good at dealing with different types of protective gear, right? That could be a big deal for an ambush fighter like Riddick.
Could be easily adapted to functional shape: closed handle to avoid slipping, multiple blade supports from the handle to redirect impact to the palm of the hand, and a wider, thin blade to dig deeper before being stopped by the inevitable thickening at the hand.
The main advantage would be versatility, as one could use it both as an ice-pick grip knife and a bladed knuckle-guard at the same time. Could even be turned around to use more as a hammer-grip knife, or have a shorter length bladed protrusion opposite the longer one.
I love Laura's point that if there were a perfect weapon, we wouldn't have any other weapon.
Hey random question, what brands of foam sparring swords do you recommend?, ideally on the lower proce range, just sparring eith friends nothing professional, enough to take hits tho
In some source material, the blades were used defensively by monks before riddick got his hands on them. Another note is how close range you can get with those and still have viable attack movement.
Leaving aside the closing comments about maybe changing fighting style to use a particular weapon…
I had to pause and zoom in to see that those “brass knuckle” points are actually pointy. So, if you go to block it as you described you’ve chosen six smaller puncture wounds over a single, though presumably deeper slash wound. Sounds like a great trade off at first blush, but I’ve had shallow puncture wounds in the palms of my hands and they can severely impact your ability to grasp things especially if a tendon gets hit. As always there seem to be no good choices there, only less bad ones.
It has been a while since I have seen the movies, but I seem to recall Riddick wasn't so much worried about parrying with these blades as he was waiting for an opening and then using his agility to get in close for some sweeping hits. My memory is picturing him moving under someones strike, slicing the gut, spinning and slicing the gut again before stepping past. The times I remember him stabbing others he was using shivs or other 'standard' knives... even if they're half a gram heavy on the back end... or tin cups.
Imagine trying to do a run-by slashing at super high speeds, which presumably Riddick would have been doing. Stabbing would be risky, because the blade could get stuck, so with a normal knife of some kind, you'd obviously hold it in an ice pick grip. But if the blade caught as it was slicing, it would be trying to pull it out of your hand. The one advantage I could see for the design he was using is that if they got caught a bit while slicing, it would pull it more firmly into your grip, rather than out of it.
Riddick's knives kind of remind me of Baguazhang Deer Horn Knives.
Or sun/moon knives.....
The ulaks i always assumed were to augment a punch. Riddick is a brawler, i dont think hes trained in any martial art (i could be wrong. Its been years since i watched it) but his attacks always seemed to be get in close, grapple and or just render the weapon useless then kill. Funny thing, you can grapple with the ulaks while not fropping them. The curve hooks them on your hand
I always thought about the teeth on this blade as a defensive thing, but not really a parrying thing. More of a 'if your opponent's blade comes into the contact with yours there is less chance of it slipping on the smooth surface and into your wrist'
I always thought these were super cool but impractical since these are based off of an Ulu skinning knife.
There's still more of these? NICE!
I remember the first time I saw these knives in the movie, I thought to myself "why'd they give him a flaccid knife?" and I've been unable to think of them as anything else ever since.
The problem with this things is, that if you hit with them the "stabby" way, there is nothing to stop your hand just slip from the handle. You just cant hit hard enough with it. Or you just loose the weapon. Also, if you punch with it, it'll wrench itself out of the palm as it's connected only form one side and all the force goes trough the lever especially if it's closer to the tip of the blade. Not ot mention it'll be very unpleasant.
So you mean, they need a pommel?
Great video. Those don't look very practical until you start thinking of unique uses they might have. They definitely would require a totally different fighting style from regular fists, knives, or swords though.
Double edged it kind of reminds me of something you see with the warrior Poet Society Clinch shiv. Counter Ambush is modern knife fighting so like the Libre guys know what they're talking about. Dude give Ed Calderon some fantasy weapons to play with in that little Mexican ninja will blow your mind. Same for Scott Babb with his Filipino martial arts background or Doug marcaida Kevin Secours or Frank Mastro. The curve design of this weapon reminds me of a lot of Middle Eastern style tools especially like a Persian dagger. Assassin tool is probably Dead on. Even the Sica Tripa gives a nasty curve. It doesn't matter which side the curve is on all that matters is that you understand your shock Zone Target acquisition drill for self defense. Matie Florian is a combat genius for this. Even the scallywag Tactical Team would scare you with a fantasy weapon. I'm on my nerd trend for the Assassin's Creed hidden blade studying counter Ambush so.... Thank you for covering it I know it doesn't look modern because we're thinking fantasy right now, but it almost mimics a bayonet.
2:02
Also, a knife in an icepick grip wouldn't have a leaver action in relation to your hand when stabbing, so the stab would be stronger, this one creates an extra effort in your hand that you have to deal with.
I think I would prefer a "trench knife", it has basically all the benefits widout the disadvantages.
It's funny that you mention Mantises. Those would actually be _nasty_ weapons if you approach them with a Mantis-Style method, getting in close and hooking or stabbing with them, slashing with the forward edge and punching or raking with those serrations.
The closest things in history I can think of that are similar to Ulaks in concept are Deer-Horn knives, which look like a whole other pack of viciousness XD
6:38
A bit wierd how she pronounce krav maga but she is absolutely right
I have these knives and held point up they are pretty great knives. People seem to think that since Riddick held them point down then that is the way they are meant to be held but remember that Riddick always held his knives point down. Theoretical these were made to be point up but he chose to hold them in his usual fashion
1:10 That sounds more about forward grip vs reverse grip problem to me.
Skallove ❤
This video reminds me of the classic moon knight’s hand blades that are a similar crescent shape. Thanks for the video!
I'd also probably choose a regular knife, or maybe a "deer-horn" knife or even some kind of sickle or axe... Just something that doesn't limit me to ice-pick grip or allows movements closer to punching or stick-fighting.
(And I have heard weebs saying that a double-edged sword is bad because one edge is facing you. Conversations about weapons get really weird :)
Reverse grip on the blade allows you to impale beneath the rib cage or flesh and offers a hold and control point. Also, when combined, both blades upwards, the "serrations"(what else to call them? bumps?hm) makes a fine overhead or downward catch, singularly makes a decent catch/deflect, less catch and maneuver. I agree with the sweep of the blade coming forward more, but otherwise, i don't believe you actually give the design credit. It isn't meant as a means to parry or fight swords, they were meant to complement and absolute brawler.
The release or usual look of these blades makes them hard to hold, handle wise. I replaces mine with wooden grips and aluminum pins rather than the plastic insert and fake manta hide used. Though a leather tong wrap and thinner wood, similar to a katana's handle would work as well, i suppose.
The fighting style for these is both stealth, ( yes, reverse gripping them works, also one gripped as normal, the other reversed add interesting options as well) and for close quarters especially where a sword would be inconvenient. It also does a pretty decent job with blade deflection, though I'd not recommend it for blocking horizontal slashes, you expose too much of the fingers, cross blade is better. Is it better than a dagger, boot knife, sax, or whatnot? To be honest, in scenarios, it could be better than each one, they all served their purposes(though, as far as pokes go, you're not poking as deep, which could be detrimental, depending). I'm just saying you're not giving it a real fair shake. If a competent fighter were to pair it with a longer blade to replace a dagger, it could also serve that purpose, albeit...perhaps not as adroitly.
I remember that 2012 video.
How far we've come
Treat them like Fancy War Ulus, in fact treat them like *Half* a War Ulu.
They sort of reminded me of deer horn knives (Chinese origin) minus a few points.
Sorry can't remember the proper name of the wepon
Deer horn knives acts like a mix of a parrying dagger and Buckler. Super close quarters (grappling )
Other names might be
- crescent knives
-Duck blades
They always reminded me of climbing ice picks. As if Riddick took climbing gear and turned it into a weapon
There's a strange abundance of content about Riddick trilogy lately in my feed, even though I watched the movies like 3 years ago last time
stilll one of my favourite films and weapons I just love the visual design
It protects the hand well...good defensive blade IMO
These and the Klingon bat'leth are probably the only unique sci-fi blades I can remember
When stabbing with this knife, one would be working against their grip.
With most knives, there would be a guard in the way preventing an equal reaction from moving much, but with this one, I feel like it might actually be hard not to move down the handle.
With the deep serrations and cut-outs at the 'base' of the blade, does that not seriously weaken it at the point of maximum leverage?
The first rule of knife fighting is expect to get cut, second rule of knife fighting is Carry a gun 😂
To me, these look like a modified polearm that has no pole! Maybe Riddick considers them more of a multi-purpose tool rather than just a weapon. It's nice that the blade acts a bit like a guard, though any thrust makes the blade pull out of the grip rather than push on the fist 🤷
I was given a pair of 'slingblade trainers' like that, and the only way i can firgure out to use them well is impale and manipulate with one claw and slice/stab with the other claw. Like stab into the chest and use that to move them around
Human reaction time is less than stellar. Skal says you can block it... and you may try because you've noticed that isn't a sharp part of the weapon. But if you are too slow.... that's going to be a nasty cut.
Even if you do, the weapons come in a pair. You stop the first blade by putting you hand on the top.
Okay now the enemy has another knife, touch awareness of exactly where your hand is and that hand is committed.
If you block me like that, my next strike is going to be to ruin that arm and hand. Maybe a downward cut to penetrat the limb or to leave a long laceration that could be impossible to close (down the street, not across the road. IYKYK).
I see this being useful in a crowd or tight space, possibly against multiple people.
Skal has rightly complained before about spinny moves in fighting being pointless, but in a crowd you can often get moved, turned or pushed in ways you can't predict. You may turn your back to another's back as you turn to face someone and end up doing skinny stuff up close. Being very close fit but with a long cutting edge I can see this being ideal for use in a riot or tight packed melee. Feeding into the Krav Maga aspect.
Finally, and this may be a niche use, once you impale this in a shoulder or chest, you can drag the torso and attached person around and use them as a barrier. Again... potentially useful in a tight fight.
But then this world has narrow ship passages, dense crowds and prison riots... ranks of troops marching wall to wall in city streets... seems like a lot of close up fighting is available.