Batleth Contest Highlights

[michael38921]

these guys have little muscle, and are not even attempting to push each other away. they are fighting like scared cats. the repeated jab and dance routine would be ended by a single knockback. many of their moves break any meaningful grip and leave just a single hand on the weapon - which would easily get knocked out of their hand. just sayin'.

[Mythobeast]

@michael38921, This is "fencing style batleth". If you attempted what you're suggesting, you'd be put out of the game pretty quickly. You want "sumo style batleth", where a touch has to be a serious impact, and it's a valid technique to bull rush someone completely off of their feet.

[STSWB5SG1FAN]

@ 2:45, they're swinging it like its a broom or baseball bat. Haven't any of these people listened to Worf : "You must make it part of your arm, part of your body, part of your soul"

Or something to that effect, I'm too lazy to go look up the exact quote right now.

[Mythobeast]

@STSWB5SG1FAN, Neither of those guys placed in this contest.

[Mythobeast]

Ha! Just because we aren't using YOUR technique doesn't me we aren't using technique. You should use your eyes more and your tongue less.

[GlennRoxWyo]

No technique by ANYONE

[Bitemis]

Those cowardly p'tahks.

[Freddan303]

Oh jesus christ... is THIS the best they can perform? I want to cry...

[THEEND123321]

look close are anyone of these guys the 711??????

[THEEND123321]

love that middl eastern music bro!!!!! kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill !!! bater111

[MaBu888]

Petaq

[CdrSalekSutai]

@DragonZord90

This is closer to reality than you would think. Remember that TV stuff is choreographed.

The IKVs Melota, Bayou Serpent, and Deliverance have been having interstate competitions since 1999. We use correct weight weapons, again of plywood. Consider the "Best of Batleth" series for viewing experienced, for trophy combat. You will find that it is not much different than you see here.

[billybones69420]

I would like to see the dog brothers in here.

[Nej82]

I love how when everyone of them lunges forward and swings, they pull back in fear of the other's weapon. Then start flailing the thing around with no point to it. They dishonor the klingons by being such wimps.

[CdrSalekSutai]

@Nej82

You try it. Take a broken bone. I have broken an opponent's nose. I have broken a different opponent's arm. I have had both thumbs dislocated and taken a broken rib through my "light" armor. In my videos, I'm either wearing a white armor vest with the IKV Melota logo, or I am wearing a black brigandine (35 pounds).

[Nej82]

@CdrSalekSutai you hit anyone with a stick you can break a bone. I've broken someone's collar bone with a nerf bat. It doesn't change the subject that everyone is being a wimp. If you're going to "fight" with weapons, take the hit. Or don't swing weapons, go take up knitting. :D

[CdrSalekSutai]

@Nej82

"If you are going to 'fight' with weapons, take the hit." BINGO! That is the correct attitude! Some of the stuff that you will see in the Best of Batleth series is brutal. One reason that we fight daktags as "skins" is that the bruising helps the judges score the bouts.

[Mythobeast]

If anyone is interested, wooden bokken batleths are now available on eBay. Just search for "bat'leth bokken"

[Mythobeast]

Even with real weapons like swords, it is traditional to perform competitions with a non-lethal replica, like a bokken or a shinai. Admittedly, these boffers are on the extreme end of wimpy, but we had to play by the rules of the competition.

[pamchanayanami]

But thats what the bat'leth's are for! (fictionally)! battle, slaying etc, not jumping around like drunk karate kids swinging it about. They don't even land a blow,and it's wooden! If they wanna role-play, get some latex rubber ones and go jump about in a field. This can't be considered competition. I love trek but I can't take this seriously.

[pamchanayanami]

that was terrible. They looked like kids playing with plastic swords. Give them steel sharpened blades, that would be worth watching.

[Mythobeast]

Great idea, if you want to see dead people. Personally, I prefer to live long enough to get good at it.

[fggoodman]

qaplah!!!!!!

[Mythobeast]

@DragonZord90 You won't find one in the realm of batleth combat until there is a more realistic competition structure. Anyone who claims such right now is either a poser who knows the moves but has nobody to practice them against, or a poser who has watched too much television and thinks that equates to skill at arms.

[bseligson]

Where is the next contest being held? I would like to attend!

[Mythobeast]

They hold a contest every here at Mile Hi Con here in Denver. Unfortunately the Vulcan Undiplomatic Corps is just a memory.

[Mythobeast]

The ones in the video are made of PVC pipe wrapped with several layers of light weight foam, compressed together with duct tape. You can google "boffer" to get the idea. Our team actually practiced with five pound wooden ones wrapped in heavy weight neoprene shells because we wanted skills that would translate to one of the metal ones.

[Kirmse1990]

You look like nerdy idiots...but i think ...almost everyone would do....

Thats life :D

GG FTW L33T OMG

[Mythobeast]

If I lived my life fearing that someone on Youtube would decide I was a nerdy idiot, I'd never leave the house. As it is, this was a lot of fun to do and a great experience in team building.

Cheers, MB

[saitheninjedi]

Holy spock i could win this!

[schneee]

Man, you ten-year-olds sure do know how to have fun!

[vp21ct]

wow, alot of those guys don't even go into the axe or sword grips for the reach, they just stay on the shield grip.

[Mythobeast]

Yup. And we beat the soundly. :)

[mvallin]

lmfao at these guys. sick batleth skills! LOL. yall look like idiots

[DukeLito]

I love you guys !!!!!!!

[Rockybushi]

this is so fuckin' ridiculous.. thousands years of martial arts and warfare and no culture ever made a "weapon" like this.. ever asked yourself why? freaks...

[Mythobeast]

Well, (A), you're wrong. The shaolin developed a weapon that was a pair of crescents, one on either side of a stick. Also, (b) the current form of batleth requires a greater aptitude in metallurgy than existed before guns made hand-to-hand impractical.

Today, the batleth is just as impractical as a longsword. Both of them are way too cumbersome to carry on a daily basis, and are completely worthless against a gun. OTOH, they make for good exercise and look cool on your wall.

[Rockybushi]

Don't try to tell me anything about martial arts OK? It's just ridiculous! You guys wanna have fun? OK great! Then enjoy to play with this Bathleth! (I'm serious now!) But stop thinking that this could be a good weapon! btw... anything could be a weapon...

Trust me.. it's just for having fun, but whats wrong about that? nothing! so enjoy..

[Mythobeast]

You know all there is to know about martial arts? Impressive.

"Things that can be used as a weapon" is a scale, not a hard line. On that scale, batleths lie somewhere between swords and nunchuks. They're big and slow, but they combine a great deal of reach with a shield, and add in the speed of double-ended attacks, like a quarterstaff does. It's certainly not the BEST weapon, but it's also not the worst one out there.

[sniperteam88]

Is that Cannibal 44 your playing on the last song? Its been years since i heard that song .

[Mythobeast]

No, Boris Mikulic, "Break Free". It's good to dance to , too.

[PrivateSlacker]

The girl referree was a hottie.

And she's a trekkie too.

That makes her double hot.

[Mythobeast]

Yes. Yes, she is. She's hot and she can configure a Unix system. What else could a man ask for? She'd have been in the ring fighting, too, except that she was two months pregnant at the time of the tournament.

[LorreesWorld]

Hmm... maybe one of them was the guy who robbed 2 7-11's in colorado springs!

[Mythobeast]

Dunno, never saw the 7-11 security tapes. Those robberies were about an hour away from where this was filmed.

I doubt it, though. The report said that it was a miniature batleth that was used, not the full sized version. That suggests a weapons aficionado, as opposed to the science fiction fans who are most of the folks in this video.

[Mythobeast]

The ones in the video were wimpy boffers. Maybe a pound and a half. Our team (the winners in all videos posted here) practiced with batleths cut from hardwood plywood padded with heavy weight neoprene foam weighing in around five pounds. We broke some ribs with them things.

[MrTlTO]

What was the wight of the bat'leths used ? They seem light.

[Eregon111]

Magnificent? This looks nothing like the way they fought with bat'leths in Star Trek. It's so...not graceful like it's supposed to be.

[koradan]

That's because Trek had it choreographed. This is real!!

[Mythobeast]

You can tell the difference between someone who has actually fought with one and someone who has learned from Startrek because the latter holds their batleth horizontally. You do that in a real competition and you'll get your legs cut out from underneath you.

[Xinsama]

Magnificent.