Like I said in this video, I think this whole debacle was born of a misunderstanding. I'm sad that my original videos meaning didn't get properly represented and Shad's response, and I'm concerned about how badly my clips were taken out of context. But I'm not going to ascribe to malice what was probably just a mistake. I hope Shad takes me up on the invite to do a public live stream, so we can clear up any lingering misunderstandings. NOTE: I expect this video to get attacked in downvoted by angry fans just like my other one was, but PLEASE!!! do NOT go to Shad's video and post hateful or mean comments. Please let's prove that sword community is better than that 😁
See David that's the one thing I disagree with you on. Not a misunderstanding since that involves lack of intent but rather an intellectually dishonest attempt at discrediting you by willfully and knowingly taking bits of your videos out of context in such a way that it reflects poorly upon you. I didn't much care for that guy before but now what little respect I had for Shad is gone. Distasteful, dishonorable actions those were on his part. Now ignore the haters! You and Skallagrim have gotten me into fencing and to commit to my first kit! So keep up your amazing work! Also Skall is a real one, I'd love to see you two team up for some longsword content. And yeah he fences! You both keep up! Love your videos!
I knew Shadiversity wouldn't be happy when I saw your original video. It's the kind of thing he's argued against before; see his older videos about back scabbards. He claims more than once that if something is theoretically possible, then past generations would have been able to think of it, and *somebody* surely tried it, and maybe we don't have evidence of it for various reasons. The possibility to him is as good as certainty. If someone could have done something, then that's equivalent to being historical to him, and valid even if it's ahistorical. He digs in on his own ideas, and does a lot of ad hoc justification after the fact. It's saturated his content to the point that I avoid all of his videos these days. It's frustrating to watch that sort of intellectual dishonesty, even if he's one of the people he's being dishonest with. The sort of people attacking you in your comments are not his only fans, but it's telling when such people align so strongly with a creator, in such numbers. For instance, a lot of people are commenting here, as their first move, instead of running over to Shadiversity to leave comments on his video. Although I'm sure there will be a few that do so, I hope they actually comment on his video, and not just attack him personally as you've had to deal with.
Real montantes/zwei sparring are crazy dangerous, unless you plan fighting in like full plate or something. Seen some actual channels that do live demonstrations of actual montante techniques and seeing what they can do to other smaller swords and the velocity you can get properly using them is enlightening.
Me and a few others have been pioneering ways to do sparring with greatswords in a safe manner. Hoping that eventually we'll get things down so we can teach it as well, esp since Sigiforge and Regenyei armory have been working on safe for sparring steel versions of the Montante and Zweihander
even with full plate+padding, the amount of inurtia behind a (blunt)greatsword swing is enough to seriously hurt somebody. with how many techniques target the face/neck, concussions are pretty much inevitable in a sparring context. the sparring swords, even with proper protection, simply need to be softer/ have less mass.
yup, one of my mates freaked out twice while rehearsing a choreography: with a flail and with a zweihander. Would not recommend fucking around with either.
Two instructors from a group I trained with did Montante sparring, even wearing all the protective gear they had and doing it carefully they still ended up with melon-sized bruises and cracked gear. Shit is terrifying!
@@LordCrazyMike Good Luck? And I really do mean that sincerely. There is enough mass/inertia in steel montante trainers to seriously injure you unless you dial it way back and/or you are in full plate harness. Even full typical HEMA gear isn't going to cut it unless you dial speed and strength way back beyond what you would for any long sword trainer. That said, I wish you well!
"If you want useful opinion on a paintbrush, you ask a painter..." Became a far funnier use of analogy when I remembered Shad's embarrassing tirades about is AI "art" :V
@@theoldhermit2601 dawg whatttttt that's insane. How delusional do you have to be to think being an AI wannabe makes you any better than any real artist???
@@MartinTraXAA 'I'm an artist, but I don't like to draw, now that may strike you as rather odd?' (Paraphrased) I'm a swordsman, but I don't like to fence, now that may strike you as rather odd? Same energy.
You know @swllswardArt, I don't understand why by shouting "full counter" the attack of my opponent does not bounce. Did I miss something with the technique? 😂
As to the thing about danger of greatswords, In larp the most injuries occur from two sources:- Badly pulled blows from 2 handed weapons, and overdrawn shots from bows. The swords you were sparring with are less rigid and with softer foam than most great weapons/polearms used in UK LARP. Some of the major LARP fests in the UK run competency tests with those weapons before you are allowed to use them on the field tbecause of the danger of them. We have had broken legs, dislocated kneecaps, cracked ribs, concussions, detatched retinas and others. Two handed weapons should be treated with the greatest of respect/
reenactment steel weapons have even greater safety proficiency tests, but then they are used with even less autheticity than foam larp. larp weapons have got soooo much better in recent years, edge, shape, in early 90s they were pool noodles.
From my experience from Softcombat, wich is a similar sport to fencing but uses larp’s equipment, most injuries come from the terrain(bumping with trees or triping on holes in the dirt), ilegal tackles(mostly from shields) and 3D printed weapons, becouse most weapons in softcombat are handmade and are highly tested and verified to be extra sefe. But its cool to see somebody take part in a similar sport down here in the coments :D
@@tigretam9106 loads of us used hobnail boots or barefoot as slipping in smooth leather boots means you could impale yourself on someones steel. the larping i did very briefly was always at night for some reason and i had no night vision, safe enough but trip hazards....shields, now some people used these as clubs, i got a split lip as some hit me in the face with the rim/bass, an illegal move, but their argument was i should have been intimidated by it and backed away as he was a well ard viking ( and i was saxon) wven tho i had 6 inches and 50lbs on him....thats why with all the safety tests and hindrances, what ever form whetehr larp/hema/reenactment theres always compromises and what we do is not authentic to the period. while hema uses manuals for accurate moves, it doesnt cover any form before the manuals were invented. so viking era fighting isnt covered by treatises,so a lot is made up, but hema will asist, theers only so many ways to swing a sword.
I still don't know how anyone could feel attacked by the original video. You didn't claim that the entire sword community is only valid if everyone practices HEMA... of course not, that would be silly. People can enjoy swords as pieces of history, collector's items, epic icons of fictions, martial tools, etc. But when it comes to understanding real-world swordsmanship in particular there are several pieces of the puzzle: 1. Historical background 2. Knowledge of weapons (design & purpose) 3. Knowledge of their use (historical sources) 4. Practical application (technique drills, sparring) If we're talking about the entire sword community we're adding things like knowledge of the modern sword reproduction market, interest in swords as depicted in media, familiarity with the tropes of fictional storytelling, etc. Either way, this is not a contest of out-nerding each other. We all like what we like and have our own backgrounds. Even IF there was gatekeeping or an attack on someone's knowledge/experience/whatever (which I don't think your video was)... so what? Swords are not serious business nowadays, we don't use them to fight for our lives. It's just an opinion. Also I think it's important to keep an open mind and self-reflect. If what someone says bothers you it's an opportunity to think about a different perspective. What are the arguments they're making? Is there some valid criticism in there that could be useful for self-improvement? Here's where I think some of the confusion / disagreement comes from: In RU-vid videos and on the internet overall there is plenty of ambiguity. When you see a video of someone talking about sword fighting in a fantasy context, you may think they're claiming authority on swordsmanship. Maybe they do, or maybe they are just having fun with the topic and mean for the video to be more entertaining than educational. The intention matters, but it's often not obvious from a single video. As an example, people have often referred to me as an "expert", and I've explicitly rejected that label a number of times. Sure, I have a certain amount of knowledge and experience, but "expert" suggests a very high standard that I'm not arrogant enough to claim, if that makes sense. :) But there are so many videos on my channel that most viewers wouldn't know I've said that, and they may still jump to the conclusion that I consider myself an expert. So I guess it all boils down to transparency. It's good to be aware of the limits of one's knowledge and skill, and it's good to let people know what sort of background you're approaching a topic from. You don't have to be a chef to talk about how a dish tastes to you, but if you want to talk about the art of cooking it's reasonable to expect you're pretty familiar with the process, in a hands-on kind of way.
I mostly agree, and definitely respect your analysis. One point I might add is that, especially when you're not talking directly to someone, how you say what you say matters. Case in point, the title of this video is "Shadiversity 'attacked' me..." Even if it's not meant literally, it's the sort of charged language you would see in the headline of a news article that shows a bias. Not necessarily saying that it's bad, but it might be all that's needed to set the stage for how someone views the rest of the video.
@@Uberfoxbob Well Shad had it coming by claiming Sellsword attacked him and did so both in his video and his title. Despite the fact that Sellsword never mentioned Shad’s name and used no such language. I am happy to be proven wrong in the case of Shad himself but it seems like Shad and especially bad actors in his community bombarding David with slurs are the ones attacking.
I'm more on Shads side for now since he put out a lengthy video and was pretty thorough with his response. But even I would want to see a duel go down. Bonus points if he brings the Double Bladed Sword against @SellswordArts. SHOW EM HOW IT'S DONE, DAVE!!! 🤺⚔ I sincerely hope, this response clears up things.
shad's old and has some fairly serious medical problems, not sure that'd quite prove anything, but for pure entertainment value yeah id love to see it. Doubleblades only though.
I mean... that commenter does know that it was a hobbit who literally saved the entirety of Middle Earth, right? Isn't the whole point of the trilogy that the smallest person can have the most profound impact on the world?
yes, along with the idea that evil ultimately is its own undoing, for example gollum’s death in the book was not being pushed into the volcano, he was simply dancing around for joy of finally having the ring back and he just slipped off the edge like an idiot
Thanks for a short and to-the-point response. I stopped watching Shad some time ago when he started to get really, really full of himself. He went from being an authentic nerd with a lot of passion and some impressive wood-working skills to a wannabe expert on history and HEMA pretty much the second he had taken his third class or so. And with him, you can really see when RU-vid started to become his livelihood. He tries to serve the algorithm, retain sponsors and not go back to... whatever his job was before. Partially, I can understand that. Still, he's a hack from down-under who over sells his expertise waaaaaaay too much - and he knows it.
100.00% accurate summation. I also used to legitimately like him. Nothing wrong with admitted, nerdy experimenting. I do it with weapons on my channel (ones I'm not trained in). But yes, he started getting more and more arrogant, all while insisting on being treated as an expert without doing the work to become one.
No. Being a pretentious twat and talking out of both sides of your mouth and being purposefully obtuse instead of direct which causes people to be judged unfairly is why he was "attacked". People who ride the fence between accusations and insinuation are true cowards and deserve a lot of criticism.
I've seen people claim sellsword was the one with an ego and not Shad, which is crazy, considering one of these two is on video putting down and berating his brother who's a professional artist, claiming he's actually the better artist; and it wasn't sellsword who did this giant example of ego stroking. I used to like Shad, it's sad to see him act like a clown non stop, between this and the AI art
Shad is sensitive because he gets attacked a lot. Both Sellsword and Shad are acting similarly. "This other RU-vidr attacked me, so he is my response."
@@PeregrinTintenfish This is an admittedly clever way to obscure the reality. Neither are behaving similarly. Shad is being highly emotional, egotistical and wrong.
Uh... actually shad video was mainly referring to the double blade sword inaccuracy in sellsword and the fact of beign addressed about them not being competent swordsmans. I also like the part of the "attack" shad made by comparing the flexibility of real sword vs foam sword vs steel sword and after that they made new test of the double sword with steel-made and the result were the double sword (used like a polarm, as it should be) smashed the longsword Well, now I'm curious to see if this comment will be deleted...
"If you don't do the art, you can't talk about how to do the art." The problem is this perfectly reasonable statement triggered Shad's insecurity. He's always been a weapons/martial arts YT creator that wants to be an authority but is unwilling to do any real work. He's never trained seriously in any weapon or art, which is fine... but don't pretend to have expert-level views then. He bills himself in a recent video as an, "experienced swordsman." He makes another video claiming to have determined what sword type is best, etc. Sorry but those are insults to the countless people who seriously train with swords, who've put in God knows how many hours of sweat into the art.
It says a lot about Shad that someone says you got to actually use a weapon to fight to be able to accurately explain how that weapons works, the gets mad and makes a bad faith hour long rant. He's been going down and down ever since his AI videos and his mediocre novel and I believe he's just desperate for more views.
It’s cool to see civility in the internet but personally I think you should just settle it with a duel. You seem like a really thoughtful and respectful person. Wishing you all the best.
@Sellsword Arts Legitimate question, misunderstandings aside, I don't believe you talked about the double-bladed sword comparison. You'll notice in Shad's video(the original dual blade and the response that prompted this video) that the weapon they crafted/use has a much longer shaft/handle, while yours was roughly the size of a normal longsword. Do you think you'd see the same positive results they did if you extended the handle length and used it like a polearm instead of a sword like they did?
First of all, I want to state the reason we didn't address any of his points about the double-bladed sword is, I simply don't care. Shad is allowed to disagree with me on a test, Just like I should be allowed to disagree with him without him launching a personal attack against me. The only thing I felt the need to respond to was his accusations, and his editing that cut my message out of context and misrepresented me. As for the double-blooded sword test We talked about this in our original video. Exting the handle wouldn't do a whole lot. The issue is, this is a bad sword and a bad pole arm. The swords advantage is the fact that it's versatile and maneuverable. It can move all over the body and it's very light and quick. The pole arms advantage is that it is long, and usually has a good amount of impact. It's fairly a long, and usually has a good amount of impact. It's versatile, but not necessarily maneuverable. The double-bladed sword it takes away the advantages from both sides while adding the disadvantages of both sides. A sword must maintain edge alignment, isn't very heavy, and has very little range. A pole arm isn't very maneuverable, and is considerably slower to swing (thrusting with a spears still very fast) We are going to do the experiment again with a longer handle, and with a bunch more fencers
@@SellswordArts this right here is one of the best indicators you are legit. Willingness to say you don't have the information instead of winging it for content. Intellectual honesty goes a long way. You got a new subscriber, cheers!
Fair and proper response, as someone that watches both yours and shadiversity's content, i was somewhat scared that this would devolve into a bigger drama. Your response being calm and collected reassured me on the fact that this should not devolve to much.
I wish people just not get involve in drama like David and choose side Like many highlighted comment here. I know they want to support but are clearly like Peter ready to stab everyone that attacking David lol. I mean for David that has power with reasonable amount of fans could really create of tire some drama. But I love to know that is just misunderstanding.
@@jeusmarcomascarina4102 I agree with the sentiment you're expressing. Our behavior as David's fans reflects on David's part, whether civil or poor. We should all be standing with him without malice or lashing out to show that we share David's desire to resolve this situation with upstanding behavior.
So, civility is not dead. That's great to see. I know that RU-vid tends to reward angry drama, so seeing someone refusing to rise to that is really heartening. Good on you.
It would help if people, both commenters and RU-vidrs, use the "principle of charity" in ethics and philosophy more before responding, ie. trying to understand what the video/uploader is actually saying in its strongest or most rational form instead of cherry-picking quotes out of context.
@@justanothercomment4701 Its important to remember the mental side of things too though. If you feel attacked, you can make mistakes trying to "Defend yourself." I think it all comes down to the chat they have. Honestly I don't even want the chat to be a video.
I used to watch Shad but I feel like he got really sucked into all that “red pill” stuff a few years ago. Shame too because, like I said, I think his older content was pretty fun and lighthearted and approachable while still being educational which is exactly what we need more of. I honestly wouldn’t know half the stuff I do about medieval, European castles if it wasn’t for him. Eh whatcha gonna do I guess.
Recently fans across all communities seem to be looking to create friction between them and other fandoms, which then pulls in the creators. Frankly, it's disgusting.
It is disgusting but also... I'd love to watch RU-vidr duels, but not from hate, and I think that might be why the communities are so desperate to hype up a none existing beef
@@als3022 Honestly the fans are doing that more than the creators, and unfortunately it's the fans one specific creator that are behaving in a really off-putting manner. I wouldn't have even considered that there could be any "sides" until reading the comments on Shad's video, many of which are truly, truly messed up. In contrast, well, the comments here are seemingly more normal.
Sadly i think i saw a short of him adressing this point and i think he does not prefer to do this kind of content, he a different type of "sword" channel ig
fensing can be dangerous and someone can get really hurt. if someone gets hurt when they do something wrong or not wearing a complete kit. i do agree you cant just watch some random person who doesnt know anything about the art and expect to learn the right way when the person that made the video is doing it wrong to begin with
I can't speak for any other martial artists but my Jujutsu instructor and recently my HEMA instructor did make a point of showing me how to take on multiple opponents if I had no other choice. There're specific things you can do and they're very high risk, I've managed to beat 3 of my friends armed and unarmed at once but I got hit and thrown around more than I like. Best advice is the same as any other, calm it down or get away from it
Shad has a tendency to say that people should analyse a point from both sides and be unbiased before drawing conclusions. But not only does he fail to show things in an unbiased way on his channel, but he fails to recognise that lots of people don't just drop a bias. They accept Shad as right because if he speaks so factually he must be, right? Then they attack the other content creator. This isn't that entire community obviously but it's clearly a part of it that exists.
Well i think personal bias is more often the root of a problem than we realize and that's exactly what caused that entire drama here. Nobody is perfect so I'm not judging... man I know that I'm guilty myself from time to time!
I think Shad's theory on how to approach things is better than his practice. That makes him human. Bias is hard to avoid, and everyone has their own context in their head. Avoiding bias is harder than just not being bias. One has to actually wrestle with oneself.
Speaking of longswords, you should really check out Peter Johnson Swordsmith. I think you and ScholaGladitora would really appriciate him. He made the hero swords for the new game of thrones show, and all his swords are based on research made by him or professors in Uppsala University. Its really quite fascinating.
To me it goes beyond it being the internet. Shad is a deeply insecure man with borderline incel views. This one is on him more so than it is on the medium where it happened.
@@richardmarin2538yeah, this is the the third time something like this happened with Shad where he drums up more drama than necessary. And at least two of the times, Shad isn’t mentioned directly at all.
@@DaddyHensei the worst part of it to me is that Shad has no actual credentials at all to be an authority on any of this stuff, and people with credentials have repeatedly been willing to welcome him in to the fold and work with him, until shad insists on acting like an ass every time. It's like he's being welcomed to sit at the table at a 5 star restaurant with world experts and he keeps refusing to observe basic table manners.
@@richardmarin2538 I kind of doubt that, I have seen insecure man in my life and he looks just like a man with a brand of tism. I have one and probably you. I had good interactions with him, his community on the other hand, lets not start the debate about how archers carried arrows, there is a lot of people who think that being an archer is performing parkour while shooting.
all he is good for is making broad sweeping statements like "x weapon is bad" without the context it would be used on anyway and frankly the guy just thrives off drama literally cannot live without spreading his hatred around the internet lol
I would love to watch you and shadiversity spar with a Longsword and the Double Bladed sword. It would be interesting. And both of you could come out with some interesting insights in the dynamics of such a sparring. Love both of your contents. I don't think any of you were doing this out of malice. Never ascribe something to malice when it can be attributed to a mistake or misunderstanding. Good Luck! :D
@@lustrazor44 True. He talked anonymously and then let his mob of fans to do all the dirty work for him. He deleted comments criticizing him but never comments straight up insulting Shad. Funny isn't it? And even if he didn't mean Shad, his entire video was super arrogant and full of his own ego. David has 1.2 million subs and averrage of 10 000 views on video. Sometimes even as low as 3000. Who has the victim complex now?
Funny thing is, I didn't even catch the drama with shad and other channels until his response to sellsword. Shads video seemed very ragebaity. Shad mentioned that others have cut ties with him and that's when I looked into it. So, Shads response is why I ultimately blocked his channel.
I'll be honest this doesn't surprise me, shad seems like a fundamentally insecure individual and looking at how he talks about art and tries to pass himself off as an artist despite being an ai promoter with basic Photoshop skills even though his brother is a genuinely fantastic and successful artist it really seems like his lashing out is coming from a place of insecurity. I don't want to ascribe intention to him, but after how he's responded to legitimate criticism from the art community i can't help but think his defensiveness is similarly motivated
@@risky_busine55 There's nothing wrong with being an AI art generator "promoter" so long as one doesn't claim to be an "artist" like Shad does. Reading comments sections of any AI art generator shows those who use them are more interested in how to combine various models and Loras with specific prompts. to achieve certain effects or results. It's a hobby which becomes quite technical at times, certainly not a group of people who try pass themselves off as artists. And it's a tool which actual artists and graphic designers and concept artists use to augment their skills and remove drudgery. Just saying.
You waited about 2 and a bit days and Shad came in at 45 minutes. I haven't actually watched it yet, but based on Shad's very deep and consistent body of work I am going to guess he will wuffle his opening argument about five times without actually advancing a point, show some examples that support his argument (with the actual context being extremely open to debate) say something about 'community', claim that he at no point attempted to do something he clearly did, mention his extremely supportive community, mention is religion, twice, possibly something about the long and hard work he has put into helping promote the Sword Community, name drop Brandon Sanderson, name drop Lindy Burg (sp?) despite the fact that Lindy is an entertainer who likes history and is actually very cringe as an actual historian, mention his religion and sum up about how he is deeply hurt and absolutely the victim. Why do I say this? Because this is his form. The variation to this is when he hasn't fully been exposed and he plays the 'We opened up some discussion and that is a good thing' card. Sorry Shad but you pick very low hanging fruit, say some slightly foolish and easily disproved things and then you are corrected by other people. It is TECHNICALLY opening discussion in the same way that being told the Italian carriers were not involved in the battle of Midway is opening discussion. Sorry kids, but Shad is at best a harmless bogan with a few fragile ego issues and at worse a Victorian. The middle he is a bogan with a fragile ego who gives sword fighting advice that is actually dangerous and a Victorian.
With combat sports you absolutely need to be able to execute the ideas you're espousing. Otherwise you end up with dudes who talk themselves up but don't spar because their moves are too deadly (lol), or an instructor who forbids students from learning other disciplines to keep them in the dark. Knowledge is very important and the whole of HEMA depends upon people theorizing but it *must* be tested via practical application otherwise it's just sitting around going "wouldn't it be cool if?". There's a certain type of person who identifies as an intellectual and gets really bent out of shape that their infinite wisdom isn't granted the same respect as training and experience. Literally we have people coming in who have never fought but think they're going to dominate based entirely on theory. That's setting aside how much it irks them that physical competence is critically important and they can't just smarts their way to victory. The general quality of instruction and number of experienced fencers has improved massively in the last decade or so, it's not the wild west anymore (eg we had aluminum swords and padded leather gloves when I started). Entertainment channels shouldn't be used as a resource for training when there are so many legit fencing channels available. TLDR: Respectfully, instructors should be about doing that shit and not just talking that shit.
A great example of this is MMA. There was a whole lot of "disciplines" with silly and dumb stuff that doesn't work in the real world. Then, when MMA came along, a lot of those "disciplines" failed the test miserably. We should have a sword community content creator tournament!
@@tyvandm A crapton of these theories end up putting the cart before the horse - my own experience was that prior to joining a club, I could read up and think of all these fancy things to do, and then they'd just fail unless the opponent basically fed me the exact sequence I wanted to counter (sound familiar?). Rather than reject the theory entirely, I concluded that I lacked basic bodily mechanics, distance, timing, 'fight Iq', and understanding to pull these things off (with the exception of one that actually worked the way I expected it to - zwerchau against descending cuts. Love that move.) I joined the HEMA club, they taught the basics and turned the smallest bits of theory into actual experience, and suddenly I can pull off half the techniques I thought were niche or could never pull off in the real world, often with significant modifications to make them much, much faster or usable in far more contexts. Not claiming to be an expert on any of it, but it's eye-opening the difference between 'here is the form, cut the air, why can't I make this work?' and 'whaaaat so that's how the schielhau blasts right through middle guards that's the one move I couldn't make work before!'
@@DarkwarriorJ "unless the opponent basically fed me the exact sequence I wanted to counter (sound familiar?)" Sounds like a lot of video games. Which frequently sacrifice realism in the interest of a good game.
I rarely comment, and realize that I'm late to the party, but i admire your candor and transparency. Having seen videos on both sides it seems to me that not only were your comments misunderstood, it does seem that perhaps your words were deliberately taken out of context. This has led me to remove certain creators from my subscriptions, as i abhor dishonesty and drama. Thank you for putting out honest and informative content in addition to the fun and hilarious stuff.
@@kdolo1887 They are both armchair warriors. They're about as much warriors as someone who plays Warhammer is a general. They both dress and play fight with shiny toys.
@@kdolo1887 way to echo his sentiment, why don’t you have thought for your own? just because he has an opinion doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about. Either you are trolling or you don’t understand how silly that really is.
My favorite part of this whole controversy was the fact that your original video was meant to call out things like biased tests and people who don't know as much about the subject as they let off, and Shad just came out of the woodworks to screech "i know you're talking about me bro". As Skallagrim put it when a similar situation happened to him, "If the shoe fits..."
And like this is all super fair to say. I keep seeing the one clip Shad himself used from his double sword video where they are sparring like children and the foam double sword literally gets blocked and bends around it to slap the other guy. Like it just isn't going to tell us anything
I'm late to this party, but just seems ANOTHER controversy Shad is getting himself into. I'm beginning to suspect he feels controversial videos get more attention and views, but in general he seems to be slipping deeper and deeper into a worrying mindset that everyone is against him - perpetual victimhood, that permeates his content and often distracts from any reasonable points he might actually be making...
I used to be a subscriber to Shad's channel and even read his (frankly quite mediocre) book but I think he's one of the unfortunate examples of people who have been affected by all the fame and fortune in a very negative and unpredictable way. When he was sticking to topics he was actually knowledgeable about like castles and fortifications it was OK but with time he started to pretend to be all-knowing on all topics, making completely bogus claims, misrepresenting what others said and regularly dismissing expert opinions. I wouldn't pause for even a minute to reply to whatever Shad is saying or has said in the past 5 years or so.
I discovered Shad a while back when his channel just started to take off (30-40k subs if I remember correctly one of his videos about katanas) and I was actually a large fan of his content for a long time. But I must say the quality of his videos diminished greatly. I find it somewhat ironic that about a year, year, and a half, I wrote an almost verbatim comment under someone's other video who Shad thought besmirched his holy name. There I stopped watching altogether, now every time he is on my side feed is about some ridiculous thing he said and drama. As a lapsed fan I won't lie, I miss old Shad, and from time to time watch few from nostalgia but now most he does is mindless drivel he thinks will draw views.
I watched Shad years ago (3-4) then i corrected something wrong they said about democratic socialism (him and his brother) amd the instantly became very rude and aggresive, when i posted proof of my correction they became even more rude and demeaning, so stopped following, but also suddenly through other channels i had been following or found later, found out they were very biazed and dishonest.
Love the positivity and openness. If deleting negative comments is something that improves your mental health, or the health of the community, it is completely understandable. It is not like your videos are about hot discussions or polarizing content. And even in those cases, deleting unconstructive out-right slurs is the right thing to do.
As someone who used to watch shad some long time ago; i think he change his direction at some point and is weird specially how he presents topics reminds me too much of the news; a very exagerated way and less interesting to me. I much prefer to watch your videos rather than the ones shad does. P.d. to any shad fans: Im not saying shad videos are worthless, i just dont like them.
From the perspective of a competetive fencer it is obvious that you know how to fence and it only takes a look at any of Shads fencing videos to see that he does not pracitce enough.
Matt, I Publicly Apologize for Unsubscribing to you. I was in "the heat of the moment" type , and poor choice, I didn't realize how much Shad had divided the communities. I can't blame You for being Angry with me, I Am not a Mormon, but definitely an Unapologetic Christian. I Truly should've kept my mouth shut. It's a Live & Learn type deal. Over the Year's and Still, I Highly Respect Your Expertise on Historical Swordsmanship. Again, I am Sorry Matt, sometimes Ignorance is bliss.
@@mallardtheduck406 I really appreciate your message. I have never had any issue with Christianity. I'm only anti-intolerance. That's all. Hope to see you back in the comments section. 🙂
Honestly i hope and wish to believe that this misunderstanding is merely that. That both groups can and will walk away better for this. Idealistic yes. But i rather stand on these ideals until im forced to step beyond them.
Shad has pulled this sort before when Jack Saint responded to his thing on the Mario movie, the one where he complained about Peach wearing pants in the trailer. I really wouldn’t hold out hope that he’s responding in good faith.
If I'm being completely honest, Shad's not a guy for civility. He's the kind of guy who thinks that any amount of experience he has (no matter how minuscule) makes him the authority on whatever topic he's on.
As others have a stated. Shad did this on purpose. He intentionally clips people out of context to stir up drama. He ALWAYS has to be a victim and being attacked when he clearly isn’t. He did this because he is losing views. Shad is a known liar and intentionally manipulates clips to make himself out to be a victim. But, David got a new sub from me over this. Had no idea who he was. Saw this pop up in my political channels. I sadly know of Shad cause my partner used to be a fan. I stopped taking Shad seriously and knew he was a bigot when he defended boob armor and how it is somehow needed for women with big boobs, like myself, to be able to wear armor. And he threw out all previous knowledge about what you do when wearing armor and didn’t stop to think that women would bind their chest as well. Cause yeah, it hurts to run without binding your chest, like a sports bra. But, I do like watching sword stuff from time to time and David handled this clear attack on him and his character very maturely, civilized, and professionally. Which shows a lot of who he is as a person. Unlike Shad.
I have been practicing HEMA for the last two years and I have been enjoying for content for about six months. I have also followed Shad for at least five years. Shad’s content might be “informational” but I enjoy your content because it is practical. Especially because you talk about applying what you talk about in sparing & it has given me a lot to think about. I even share your content to other members in my club. Misinterpretations happen regardless of your intentions. Keep doing what you have been. You do a wonderful job!!!
Ah you just missed the time when Shad got called out by the Hema community for posting edited video supposedly beating a 6 month beginner (the only one he'd fence in Daniel Pope's club) and the reality was he got tuned up. Then he made an apology video justifying his actions and deleted both. Shad's always been a fraud.
David, I can honestly say that your videos are some of the most refreshingly sincere & enjoyable I've had the pleasure of watching. I've been involved in martial arts for nearly 30 yrs & learned long ago there's always going to be some self-proclaimed "expert" looking to stir things up to distract from their own shortcomings; it's easier to tear others down than it is to do the work of letting yourself grow.
i'm curious as to what the full context behind this beef is, can someone summarize it for me? all i know is that shad is an ai bro and as such is in the wrong in all scenarios he finds himself in
Sellsword: Hey guys, keep an eye on the creators that you listen to when discussing swordsmanship. Not all of them practice the art themselves, and their advice isn't always good. Not saying anyone specific here, just keep an eye out. Shad: He's obviously speaking about me. I'm going to respond point by point to his video as if it were an attack despite the fact that he never mentioned me in said video. I'm also going to blatanly mis-characterize an argument and take what was supposed to be a small, harmless video and turn it into a huge debacle. Summerizes it pretty well. Shad felt attacked by Sellsword's video, despite it never mentioning Shad. Shad then proceeded to blow the whole thing out of proportion because his ego will never allow him to admit when he's wrong.
Yo! I like your videos, the live stream is a good idea. Now the important question, where do I get those pants my guy?? They are fire and I need a pair!!
Knowing that Shad is apparently a Sargon of Akkad fanboy and has some pretty dog water opinions outside of HEMA and swords, I’m not too shocked that he would make an attack on you. You wear your heart on your…. Well lack of sleeves and don’t shy away from your support of communities that Shad seems to be bigoted against. Plus, insecure people get really touché when those with confidence and skill are present around them. Keep it up, I love your videos and the hate from losers aren’t worth the time or effort. This response was both elegant, and concise. Bravo. 🎉
Can we not drag politics into our hobbies? People can be immature or dumb no matter what kind of political views they have. Shad was always lazy with his research, you don't need to do a political background check to realize that.
@@kamilszadkowski8864 1. Everything is political 2. If not everything was political, then basic respect for people and their human rights also sure as hell wouldn't be. You categorizing your cishet rights and feelings as normal, everyday, common sense stuff, but the same for queer people suddenly as political and necessary to keep out of hobbies, is the oldest barely veiled homophobia in the book.
@@amvee5527 if everything is political then what is the political stance behind buying trading cards and playing trading cards Note: I am using this argument because everything means literally everything so if one thing is not inherently political then not everything is political
@@kamilszadkowski8864 The trouble is, Shad's channels and fanbase are politically motivated these days. He's practically a pariah in the HEMA community. Just check his comments, his video, and you'll see the none-too-subtle politics in it. Turns out, if you go batshit with politics, soon enough, batshit politics is all you have.
i enjoy your work and also where can i get some o them pants? legitimately i need a pair of those pants, probably several pairs. anyway keep doing your thing!
I have a question, regarding your quote about doing the art and talking about it, and I'm asking it in good faith I promise. I'm also preemptively sorry for the long post, but I think you'll agree that the context matters. What about those that are self-taught? Speaking from the perspective of a martial artists who has had some degree of training in a lot of different weapon types over many years, including swords (mostly Japanese kendo and kabuto, unfortunately there's no HEMA/fencing classes in my area), I obviously recognize that there's a great benefit to learning from experienced instructors and having another pair of eyes to examine your form and techniques for mistakes and point out where there's room for improvements, but not everyone has access to that, as you well know considering the instructional videos you're working on. I ask because if you go back in time far enough you'll eventually reach the first people, who we would today consider to be master swordsmen, who had to kind of invent it on their own because, well, they were the first! Obviously we wouldn't accuse them of not being able to talk about the art, they wrote the literal book(s) on it, but there's other people who might study and learn swordsmanship (or any skill) in similar ways. I don't want this to come across as hostile or accusatory, so I want to be clear that I'm asking for clarification on your stance respectfully because, as you pointed out in another comment, words matter: Are you saying that people who learn the art this way have no right/authority to talk about how to use a sword in general, or only that they can't talk about how to use one in relation to HEMA/fencing techniques because they aren't learning HEMA/fencing directly from a certified instructor? More specifically, is your usage of the term "the art" in this quote meaning the art of swordsmanship as a whole, or just specifically to refer to HEMA/fencing? I guess I just have to pause and mull over the idea that it sounds like HEMA/fencing is being regarded as the be-all-end-all of what it means to use a sword "properly" with language like that. I don't think that's actually what you're saying, but I can't read your mind, so I'm asking. Obviously there are many other sword styles and traditions from other cultures and regions throughout time, and I'm not saying you're intentionally discrediting those, but that's the sort of subtext I'm reading from this back-and-forth as a neutral 3rd party observer and I'm not sure how I feel about it if that's the case. Thanks for your time.
If you have no experience in a topic, you can not speak as an authority on that topic. If you have some experience, you should only speak as an authority to the experience you have.
@@theevol29 I agree, fundamentally, but as he has a rather large audience of viewers I'm asking David to clarify his language on if he's calling swordsmanship "the art" as an umbrella term for all manners and disciplines of handling a sword skillfully, or only in reference to specifically the chosen style(s) he practices. There's people out there who are very skilled in different forms of swordsmanship, who I'd argue are qualified to talk about how to use a sword effectively, that don't actively practice HEMA, or never have, and I feel like it's very easy to assume based on the way it's often talked about in online discourse that taking HEMA classes is the only way to 'get good', as the kids would say. I'm not attacking HEMA (I like HEMA!), or David or his opinions, I just also think words are important. Have a great day!
@jchart He's specifically referring to fencing, which is synonymous with swordsmanship. Again, his message is If you have no experience in a topic, you can not speak as an authority on that topic. If you have some experience, you should only speak as an authority to the experience you have.
@@theevol29 With respect, while I'm hopeful and inclined to believe you're correct, I'm asking for David to answer my question, since he's the one speaking the quote and putting himself out there as a public authority figure on the matter. If you are also doing that (do you attend his classes or know him personally to know what's he's thinking?) then alright, fair enough, but at this moment for all I know you're just another viewer like myself.
I hope Shad takes you up on the invitation. Speaking directly should help dispel any misunderstandings and to elaborate on differing opinions. Sounds like it could be fun in my opinion.
Everyone is a armchair warriors Noone really sword fight anymore ......and this is coming from someone with 32 years in swordsmanship 😅😅😅😅😅😅yall are all being ridiculous 🙄
@user-ln6sx9nt7e That is hilarious. There are thousands of fencers and weapons martial artists to this day. Some with unbroken links to the far distant past.
As I see it, when it comes to "presenting info about how to do a thing" you have two options. Do the thing yourself, or directly reference someone who did the thing themselves. That's the part so many armchair historians fail to do. You can be a person who has never held a sword and still have opinions, but when those opinions go from "here's what the experts say" to "here's what I say" without actually having the experience to back that up, you become an unreliable source of info.
It's crazy how toxic shadiversity and his community has become. I used to watch his videos every once and a while, but now he is just constantly getting into drama where he clips people out of context and tries to drag their character through the mud. Keep up the good work though, your vids are nice
Is so funny, because his brother is like, so unproblematic and considered to be the glue of the art comunity. Jazza is so beloved while Chad is always getting himself into some drama.
Remember when he made a video on castles and the defenses? Remember when he made a recreation of Whiterun as a 3D model? Remember when he played with the concept of giving fantasy races weapons? Shadiversity was good! That's the part that I hate the most.
@@Namewriter EXACTLY those are like EXACTLY the old videos I was thinking of like damn dude what happened. it makes me worry a little about his wellbeing but in reality I think he's just a grifter now. depressing.
Yeah, I don't know what happened to him. One time a few months ago he clashed with Skallagrim about the Barbie movie, which came out of left field, and I was completely stunned by just how bad his content had become.
Thanks for your epistemic humility on kendo. We don't always see this from the wider sword community. Kendo is a competitive fencing system created and curated by people who can be said to have understood kenjutsu if anyone post Tokugawa shogunate can be said to. Kendo is not a combat simulation. We use kendo to build up our athleticism and understanding of initiative. If we wanted to test techniques we would be doing something else, more similar to what the HEMA community does.
Shad just throws a tantrum at anyone better than him at anything. Look at him flip out about his brother being a better artist. He used to be a good amateur source but now he's just a ball of ego. If you are a fencer, you know more than historians at how this works because you do it. Fact. You can talk about a gun but if you don't shoot, you are less knowledgeable.
I feel like he didn't do any favors to himself in that vid, he picked the blame from what was clearly a misunderstanding, talked about how other creators didn't like his content and instantly puts everyone that follows him on the same misinterpretation like if we couldn't think for ourselves.
It's pretty clear what David meant. He talks about not listening to creators who "aren't trustworthy" on the grounds that they don't fence. Anyone is going to interpret that as not watching their content. Fencing isn't the only school of swordsmanship. At first this point alone doesn't bother me because it's an opinion. However when he started deleting comments simply for disagreeing with him from a different perspective David has lost me altogether.
I would like to encourage, as I have an the pinned comment and everywhere else I could including discord, for my followers not to go spew hate into anybody's comment section. I think we're all better than that
The fact that i suggested this vert thing on your YT short 5 min before seeing you actually did it has me both embarrassed and appreciative at the same time. Good on you to try and clear up the misunderstandings
Hello Mr. David, may you explain to me off hand attacks in fencing? I'm a rogue swordsman (learned mostly from myself), born from taekwondo... my friends assumed the sword in my classes when we would train with weapons (very rare btw), me choosing the bow staff... i had alot more kick attacks and palm strikes with my off-hand, and i was wondering if swords have the same? Edit: I know this isnt on topic for the video but i wanted to ask this on your latest video.
Im not Mr. David but i have been practising some HEMA and since no one answered this up until now, heres my answer; 1. With only a single handed sword: The free hand can be used to grap the opponent, push him off-center or try and grap his weapon/disarm him, but mostly used when binding swords with the opponent and very carefully, since the free hand is a nice target for the opponent 2. Single handed + dagger: Mostly for parrying hits and attacking same tempo with the main hand, tho there are some interesting disarm/wrestle techniques with the dagger if the combat gets very close quarters 3. Twohanded: Very rarely since lifting the off hand off your sword loses a lot of leverage, but there a moments where methods similar to point 1 can be used 4. One handed + Shield (disclaimer i tried this only once or twice, so not much experience): you have a shield keep it up and cover yourself, if the opponents gets too close *bonk* him These are just some notes from my personal experience (and i am nowhere near the level of a trainer or expert), so take these answers with a grain of salt or something
This should be part of a tutorial on how to respond to haters. I imagine that you've been under a lot of stress dealing with the negativity but you seem to be handling it really well, hopefully things calm down soon and you can get back to making more excellent content.
Shad really needs to mature emotionally. Like his Twitter spat with Skullagrim.Grim in the beginning, was a a bit rude with his comment about shad’s media critiques but Shad made that little mole hill in to fucking Mount Everest.
I disagree because This conversation should be over. sellswordarts shouldn’t need to dignify any further grief they get from someone who misrepresented their videos to manufacture content by having a filmed back and forth about it. Peaceful convos are great but it matters who you decide to spend your time on.
*simpsons squinting meme* still not sure if actual beef I'm leaning towards yes because of how serious this video is and although I haven't watched the shadiversity one they wouldn't make an hour long video for a bit. I was skeptical because I thought you were on good terms considering their memey response to your reverse grip experiment, for one.
Shadiversity also has a startling history of getting pissed at... well, everything, really. Whenever he sees anything as an affront to him he always responds with EXTENSIVELY long videos, often taking clips out of context to back up his arguments. He seems really insecure tbh, and i've lost a lot of respect for him over the years.
Love and appreciate you so much man! You're the nicest sword RU-vid guy I've ever come across. I used to follow that guy ages ago but he got so negative as the years went on. It's unfortunate that the people watching him have also gotten more and more toxic. I stopped watching almost any sparring and sword content for a good while then i saw some of your YT shorts and I've started coming back around to HEMA and sparring content. I've loved swords since i was a toddler so im glad to have fallen back in love with rhe hobby
So my understanding ( I went to watch the original video ) you didn't name drop anyone you were speaking in general etc and it seems Shad I guess felt insecure and felt like he was being attacked personally? That's what I'm taking away from this. Isn't there a saying, "A hit dog will holler."? Sounds like he felt hit?
But that's the first point Shadiversity made, isn't it? That he never mentions anybody by name, but that he CLEARLY refers to a quite small subgroup of content creators (there aren't that many big swords channels, are there?) and that creates ambiguity and might feel targeting somebody who you do not target. Now, the OG video isn't as bad as Shad is portraying it, BUT Shad did raise a few good points.
@@Bartolomeus-dl5ec I could understand the ambiguity part but for me If I know it doesn't fit me I wont try to make it fit me. I think Shad felt what was said fit him the most. I don't think anyone (cant say ive looked ) outside of Shad responded to what he said negatively because they either A. Already knew or B. It didn't apply to them.
Like many HEMA practioners, Shad was one of my first entry points to swords and to fencing. As I've learned and grown, became seasoned in tournaments and instruction, his takes have become less and less important. It's very clear that he's firmly stuck in the Dunning Krueger slump
Are some of those comments expecting you to have sword dueled to the death? That's really really weird. Anywhoo, this is all good on you, but if there's another content creator I'd really like to see you collaborate with, it's Skallagrim.
Really hoping this gets cleared up. I like both channels even though I'm no swordsman. Also hoping this gets cleared among both channels' fans but that's a whole another box to open as I see some similar comments from both channels. Let them handle the misunderstanding. Pretty sure they're both adults that can do it. Just hoping for the best.
Yes is silly. Wouldnt be the first time shad did something like this. Also i dont understand why youtubers in general dont talk mre bhind scenes and jump to generate drama.
This was great. Short, concise and just looked to add clarification where needed. If like Shad great you do you. But the original vid wasnt an attack at shad and this tries to clarify without attacking yet again. Think comments on either side should discuss things, disagree even, but try and act respectfully
There are Australians in the top 50 fencers in the world that Shad won't interact with. You've got very little chance to get him to work with celebrity fencers.
Shad attacks *everything* that he fails to understand, and to be completely fair that failure is often intentional to preserve his own ego as a cultist and as a crank. Art, evolutionary theory, LGBTQIA+ people, valid literary criticism of his mediocre novel and its rapey power-fantasy protagonist, and many more.
With the foam swords, could you weight them safely in such a way that they could feel and seem like a real enough sword in terms of weight, David? Definitely with you on real and practise swords being very different to one another. I was wondering also, what about polypropylene swords? I also don't think there's any need to create enmity among people in the sword community. Too many awful, snide, dismissive and childish people attack each other as it is.
It's good to see an athletes perspective on HEMA so I'd encourage you to keep doing what you're doing axactly how you're doing it. I think people get to caught up in the reading and not enough in the actual doing of HEMA so it's important to have someone with some physicality debunk some of the less realistic techniques propesed by other youtubers
If I wanted to learn about Baseball I'd probably want to learn from someone who played it. I think it makes more sense if you compare it to other sports because it seems blatantly obvious to me that you'd want a coach that has played the sport to teach you the sport.
However: I do not need to be a helicopter pilot to share my thoughts on how well a helicopter was flown. When I see it crashing into a tree, then I, as a layman, can say: He messed up.
As some who did mma I can say I agree. I will say you should always only listen to ppl who have actually trained and or competed in the sport on the sport and how to do the sport or for real information on the sport.
My dude I've followed you for years now and you've never offended me,your content is smart,funny and best of all correct. The approach you take towards teaching is totally appropriate for all because you care and really enjoy sharing your knowledge. Blessings young man and thank you 🤘🙂✌️💖
You know its funny that instead of commenting on your video to clear up certain missunderstandings he instead tries to make a video to put you in a bad light. These are the types of argumenting i just find childish, i am glad you remained civil and kept the original intent of the video in mind. I understood it because what you said is logical to me ofc it isnt everyone due to different interpretation but when has it become difficult to just ask what you ment or to reword it in the comments? Sorry you got the hate especially being one man be blessed my man.
I have to say that after seeing his response before I watched your video, I was dumbfounded by his reaction to it. Then I saw this video. David, I'm a very new subscriber. It's amazing that you dignified that gross misrepresentation with a response, and come off as so affable and level-headed in both videos. Great show, man.
Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope that this all fades away quickly. I have cool swords stuff to get back to, I know that's what you guys want to see 😁
I just subscribed because of your calm and mature response. I ve watched some of your shorts, laughed a lot and its pretty obvious that you know what you are talking about. Nerding out about fantasy weapons and talking about historical stuff is great, real fencing is great, but both are a whole different ballgame and not to confuse if one doesnt know both. I will watch your content very attentively, while I am not a HEMA Practitioner, I am trying to do some reenactment fencing (if my health allows it) and I am always eager to learn.
I have great respect for you wanting to keep everything polite and friendly, and I'm sorry to detract a bit from that but as somebody who watched him for quite a while before realizing he really wasn't as good at the things he claimed to be good at and shifted to watching content like yours, I feel the need to point out that Shad Brooks has run up to the problem in that he has a very narrow understanding of the majority of topics he speaks authoritatively on and is ultimately boring and un-curious as a person, and as HEMA has grown and "sword youtube" has gotten more and more figures that noticeably know far more than he does on the things he's built his brand around, he's being replaced as an authority on the subject. As such, he's decided to do what all failing content creators desperate to maintain their position do - Became a politically charged reactionary that tries to start drama and fights with people he feels slighted by. Your video was purely about "if you want to learn about actual, practical sword fighting based on historical manuals and the real-life sport, make sure you watch people who actually do those things instead of watching breakdowns of fantasy media and people who can't demonstrate any meaningful knowledge on the topic". Which is true for literally everything. If you want to learn about how to build an engine, you go to a mechanic who builds and repairs engines. You don't go to a guy who judges engines in anime and doesn't actually know anything about engines besides the fact that they have pistons and make cars go. If you want to know about how to shoot a gun, you go to somebody who actually knows how to use a gun, you don't go to somebody who judges Destiny 2 fantasy guns but has never fired on in their lives. Anybody who thinks you were in any way incorrect in your assessment or that you're "gatekeeping" by telling people "if you want to learn about how to actually fight with swords, watch people who know how to actually fight with swords" is just a dweeb unworthy of consideration or respect. Keep making content, keep doing what you do, you're what Shad can only dream of being. And sorry you have to put up with a swarm of parasocial warriors rushing to attack you to defend Mr Backscabbard lmao
Not sure why RU-vid is recommending this to me now of all times, but I find it funny that the very next video that RU-vid recommended to me was Shad's response to this video.
