One of the most iconic weapons in the Final Fantasy series of role-playing games, and perhaps in gaming in general, is Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword. Barring some minor details, the style of the sword has changed very little since it debuted in 1997, but the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake in 2020 has spurred a new wave of inspiration among both creative gamers and cosplayers.
Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword is a gigantic single-edged broadsword that could only be realistically wielded in a fictional universe. It is about the same length as Cloud, so approximately five to six feet, and roughly one foot wide. In most iterations of the sword, the handle is a reddish-brown color, sometimes wood and sometimes leather wrapped. The blade itself is riveted onto the handle with five bolts on each side, and two Final Fantasy materia slots are located near the handguard.
A Reddit user going by the name of SirFranku recently posted images of their detailed real-life rendition of Cloud’s Buster Sword, with the design specifically taken from Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The sword seems true-to-life, standing as long as the creator is tall, with a wrapped handle, five rivet points near the handle, and two slots containing green materia. In the Reddit post, SirFranku explained that they had been toying with the idea of creating the Buster Sword for the past three to four years, and that it would probably take 40 to 60 hours of work to rebuild the sword from scratch.
SirFranku’s version of Cloud Strife's Buster Sword can be broken apart so that it fits in a suitcase, although it takes about 45 minutes to put it back together. One unique aspect of the images shown on Reddit is that the sword is shown in various stages of assembly, displaying the interior structure, the various elements that make up the blade, and the sheath that gives the sword its outer appearance.
Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword has served as a source of inspiration for many creatives, and an online search of “Buster Sword” will result in a variety of images of people’s various versions of the weapon. Last year, a YouTuber called Crafty Transformer created a Buster Sword made entirely out of cardboard and shared the templates online so that others could build their own.
Another Final Fantasy 7 Remake fan, YouTuber Allen Pan, decided to go the more realistic route, building a replica of the Buster Sword that weighs about 50 pounds. However, the sword’s weight distribution requires 150 foot-pounds of torque to actually lift. So Pan spent $900 to buy an exoskeleton that would enable him to more easily swing the unwieldy sword.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available on PS4 and PS5.
Source: Reddit