Walking Dead: What We Want From Season 2

[shootemindehead]

Katanas are PISS POOR weapons...The heavy-bladed but well-balanced chopping-style Gladius would be ideal. Not the classic late Roman Centurion version, the early Roman or eastern Gaulish (French) version. Hmmmm...I wouldn't agree. A well made katana is much stronger for choppng than a Roman style gladius. In fact the former is made for sweeping chopping movements and the bend in the blade gives it great durability and strength. The latter was designed for short stabbing movements. Effective against a human foe, but useless against a creature that wouldn't even feel the blade penetrate it's flesh.

[Ghoulman]

The heavy-bladed but well-balanced chopping-style Gladius would be ideal. Not the classic late Roman Centurion version, the early Roman or eastern Gaulish (French) version. Light enough to be used common-sense style like a machete, but with an edge and blade thickness/durability/flexibility that would make taking a head with it as easy as anything short of a battle-axe. Hmmmm...I wouldn't agree. A well made katana is much stronger for choppng than a Roman style gladius. In fact the former is made for sweeping chopping movements and the bend in the blade gives it great durability and strength. The latter was designed for short stabbing movements. Effective against a human foe, but useless against a creature that wouldn't even feel the blade penetrate it's flesh. I love online forums man! You can always tell the newbs (me) from the veterans. The veterans always know how to get right to the fucking heart of the matter. It's like being married for twenty years... The foreplay is long fuckin' gone!!

[shootemindehead]

I never really cared that much for the Michone character. I couldn't even pronounce her name properly until I heard Darabont say it. (I was calling her Mick Owen) But, I felt she got better and her story arc is great. I doubt we'll see that play out like for like in the TV show though. Some real hard stuff in there. I felt her character was a bit comic nerd when she first appeared though. A bit "oooh samurais! Kewl!" The zombie pet thng was ok, once it was established that they were a big pain in the arse to begin with and they just sort of gave up trying to bother her. That stikes me as ok. She'll only work well in the TV show if she isn't an OTT "ballsy sassy mouth angry black girl ya ya sisterhood member" stereortype. She should be played understated and quietly assured, without the gob. Her "comicbook weakness" absolutely must be included too.   Remember, she's a mad as a box of frogs"

[Ghoulman]

I never really cared that much for the Michone character. I couldn't even pronounce her name properly until I heard Darabont say it. (I was calling her Mick Owen) But, I felt she got better and her story arc is great. I doubt we'll see that play out like for like in the TV show though. Some real hard stuff in there. I felt her character was a bit comic nerd when she first appeared though. A bit "oooh samurais! Kewl!" The zombie pet thng was ok, once it was established that they were a big pain in the arse to begin with and they just sort of gave up trying to bother her. That stikes me as ok. She'll only work well in the TV show if she isn't an OTT "ballsy sassy mouth angry black girl ya ya sisterhood member" stereortype. She should be played understated and quietly assured, without the gob. Her "comicbook weakness" absolutely must be included too.   Remember, she's a mad as a box of frogs"   I believe what Michonne has is Multiple Personality Dissorder. It's very much a coping mechanism for people who have to deal with extreme hardship in their lives. My wife and I occasionally see it in the public schools where we work... Poor kids.

[EvilNed]

Ohhh. Swords! I love swords! When I was a bit younger I was somewhat of a collector and studied them (on an amateur level, I might add). But my two cents on what sword to bring? The falcata, or the Kopis. An ancient Iberian sword designed for chopping movements. It was so effective that the Macedonians copied it and armed their professional armies with them (hence the change of name to the Kopis). It was kinda like the ancient worlds AK-47. Durable, cheap and trustworthy. Swinging something like a Katana or Bastardsword (they are, for all intents and purposes, identical in this situation) would be nice for five minutes, but it would wear you out eventually. Katanas aren't that light, as some might think. A "good" katana would weigh upwards 2-2,5 kgs. That's a bit heavier than your average Bastardsword (which performs the exact same function as the Katana, as I noted earlier). But problem is that both of these, while they are long and have an okay reach, would wear anyone out after too much use. And BOTH swords are meant to be used on battlefields, or at least wide open spaces. They'd be terribly inefficent in an urban situation, or just indoors overall (and that's where you'll be scavenging for food). They are battleswords, meant for battle. So is the Falcata, of course, but it's slightly shorter, lighter and easier to use. As for a Katana-wielding character in The Walking Dead? That would put such a fucking huge and lame blow to the series. Let's face it, nobody can rely on swords in a undead situation. Swords wear and tear themselves down, and you wouldn't have any blacksmiths around to fix them up, like back in Medieval times.

[Ghoulman]

I agree with you about a character with a sword EvilNed. It might seems hokey and would likely have to be used sparingly. On a similar vien, I'm curious as to why we haven't seen Rick using his trademark hatchet yet... his weapon-of-choice in the show seems to be his "Python". It'll be interesting to see if Tyreese comes in with his hammer as well or maybe a crowbar or something else instead.

[Andy]

True enough. Just like so many took issue with GAR having zombies eating an animal in survival (sacrilege! he's making it up as he goes along! he's raping my childhood), while the walker eating a rat in TWD apparently equals: Darabont is the new king of the undead!!!! I want more dread in the second season and less soap. I dont think the issue was so much a zombie eating an animal in survival, it was more the zombie riding a horse that pissed alot of people off. Zombies eating animals is nothing new, in the original Night a zombie eats a insect and in the original script for dawn, the central 4 characters had guard dogs which were devoured by zombies in the final scenes, it actually makes alot more sense to me that zombies would eat animals aswell as humans, that the role of zombie would be to strip the world of all life, not just ours. Now a zombie riding a horse... people around here complain about them running or jumping or even roaring sometimes.. and then romero comes along and goes 'oh yeah they can ride horses now'.. thats going to go down well isnt it? The way i look at it, bub was about as inteligent as a zombie should ever get, and that was with a intense, obsessive, absolutly insane scientific genius watching over him 24/7.. bub was a zombie at its peak but only becuase of logan, without that external force on him, he would of been a mindless shambler. Thats right, thats the level it should be and thats he issue with big daddy, who was arguably smarter than bub, acting with NO EXTERNAL FORCE like some kind of zombie jesus and the same with a zombie riding a horse.. they should be able to use blunt instruments as bludgeons and that is all they should be able to do.

[shootemindehead]

I think the katana thing will be ok if it's reduced to a side arm thingy and not the main focus of her character. But, if she's wading into 15+ zombies lobbing heads off left, right and centre, then that's a bg no no for me. Even in the comics, the sword action was pretty much dropped in later issues.

[Wyldwraith]

About the Gladius comment, This was why I SPECIFICALLY referenced the exact type. I absolutely agree that the stabbing weapon which became the "sidearm" of the standardized Roman Legions would be useless for fighting zombies. HOWEVER, THIS Gladius was PREDATED by an earlier, heavy-bladed short falchion-like chopping weapon. Basically a thicker, stronger, sharper-bladed machete, used most often for slashing off spearheads, striking at extremities and the upper shoulders where the chest-armor of many "barbarian" cultures were thin, as they were affixed to the body cloak-style. I also made comments about actual Falchions and Bastard/hand-and-a-half swords. Which are easily the most common combat-fit weapons suitable for battle against a ghoul. The reach isn't awesome, but its a DAMN SIGHT BETTER than a baseball bat. As for needing blacksmiths...a well-cared-for blade can remain serviceable for quite some time unless you're very unfortunate. Yes, the burrs and nicks will eventually widen into structure-compromising cracks, but I would give a falchion in excellent condition perhaps use against 50-75 zombies before maintenance you'd need a skilled metal-worker to do becomes an issue. This is assuming that the person wielding the Falchion or Bastard Sword isn't blindly hacking at whatever part of the zombie their non-aimed/barely-directed blow the edge of which happens to hit. Under THOSE circumstances, used baseball-bat-style then yes, a sword would wear out too quickly to be worth carting around. However, with just my basic "Sword and Board" training from my time with the Society of Creative Anachronisms (S.C.A/"Scadians"), I would take a combat-fit Falchion, heavy-bladed shortsword or one of the lighter Bastard Swords LONG before I'd pick up an aluminum baseball bat if the two were lying side-by-side. A blade capable of removing a limb could save a friend/loved one's life from a grasping zombie, where simply shattering the bones of the arm with a bludgeon might not. Finally, and this was the most critical piece of my previous post that wasn't quoted. I freely admitted that a ball-mace/morningstar (not a spiked ball on a chain attached to a handle, that's a Flail). A studded metal head on a sturdy wooden shaft thats well-balanced would be absolutely IDEAL for melee engagements with a ghoul. Hit a limb solidly, that limb wont be reaching for you again. A couple of blows to the middle of the back could easily sever the spine, and (of course) such a mace would be PERFECT for smashing a skull right down to the white-matter of the brain. As anyone who has read many of my previous posts know, I am NOT an advocate of the idea of going toe-to-toe in melee with zombies. You'd be playing to your enemy's strength and against your weakness, as well as rapidly depleting the stamina you'll need in an emergency. Far better to either avoid the zombie(s) if possible, trap them in a permanent way if easily accomplished (going in the front door of a house, waiting for several to pursue you inside, then out the back after closing the door. You or a comrade could then simply close the front door from the outside and voila, instant zombie detainment. If such avoidance/non-detection, or outmaneuvering doesn't work, then (if the situation demands), eliminate them at range if at all possible. Close combat with a ghoul should be a worst-case-scenario that, while you've prepared and are equipped for it, should only happen as the last of last resorts. It isn't a zombie movie so, even if the impossibility of undead reanimation somehow occurred, zombies would have no better than humans as far as perception-acuity goes. Yes, if you run away five miles in a straight line and then stop for a long rest, the relentless zombie may very well catch up. However, if you turn 90 degrees left or right once out of sight/earshot, there's no reason to believe that/those zombie(s) will find you. They wouldn't be bloodhounds, and they wouldn't have a preternatural "life sense" to home in on humans from a mile+ away. Anyways, just wanted to clear the weapon-related comments up. Don't claim to be any sort of weapons expert, just someone who dabbles here and there due to my history hobby.

[Legion2213]

Katanas are good for trenchcoated folk with shades (or maybe people who are actually trained to use them)...me, I'd rather have a heavy machete or a proper flanged mace as a last ditch melee weapon. Good shout on the falcata style sword though, like the kukuri, it is designed for lopping of heads or any other body parts that get in it's path.

[Skold]

For season two i hope people wait to see what happens before they jump to conclusions, and that Wyldwraith learns how to summarize his posts.

[shootemindehead]

About the Gladius comment, This was why I SPECIFICALLY referenced the exact type. I absolutely agree that the stabbing weapon which became the "sidearm" of the standardized Roman Legions would be useless for fighting zombies. HOWEVER, THIS Gladius was PREDATED by an earlier, heavy-bladed short falchion-like chopping weapon. Ah, ok. The "Gladius' threw me then. The name of the weapon you mean is probably a Falx. *edit - Or Falcata, as I've just seen Legion say above!

[EvilNed]

I'm a bit confused as well. Personally, I do not see much resemblence between the Gallic/Iberian Falcata and a Gladius, but I have heard before that it was something the romans adapted. Truth be told, I find it much more likely that the Roman gladius evolved from the Spartan Xiphos, and not the Iberian Falcata. Also, a Gladius is a Roman weapon, not a Barbarian one, as Gladius is a latin name, and also the name of a Roman sword. The Barbaric/Spartan predecessor to the Gladius was simply not a Gladius. It was either a Falcata or a Xiphos (or something else entirely!).

[Sammich]

Hell, just be done with it and give me a lightsaber.

[blind2d]

Noodle used a katana... but again, that was against three zeds, tops. And they were in a nice open field... So yeah, if I were going Japanese sword, my pick would be the lesser-known Wakizashi. This one's the back-up blade. It's smaller and lighter, and mainly used for suicide, but yeah, I think it would do the job pretty well. But hey, my friend's got at least three servicable machetes, so I'd just borrow one o' his, wouldn't I? As for the next season, all I want is... more zombie action, really. And maybe a big stand-off between the two cops (sorry, can't be arsed with names right now). Everything else (if they keep up their standards so far) I think will be absolutely fine.