I am Michael Cthulu and Discovery gave me a TV show and I make giant swords! Hello!

Do you feel spiritually like you're carrying out Crom's will when forging steel ?

YES!!!

How do I get in contact

https://www.facebook.com/Michaelcthulhu is the easiest way to contact me.

Hello Irish Mike! You are crazy cute!

Thank you. But I'm married. Are you male? Most people who say that are male.

I'm so late....

But I made this: /r/BigGiantSwords

Let's party!

Thank you! This is awesome! I hit the big time now.

I have my own subreddit.

Or should I say...super-reddit.

Michael Cthulhu? How's Dave Yog Sothoth and Jim Nyarlothotep?

They're doing just fine.

Serious question:

What will I get from watching your show that I won't get from watching your YouTube channel? I'm not particularly fond of the forced drama many of today's reality series have. Is your show going to focus on making badass swords?

The show will focus on making badass swords, but more of my personality will come through. On my YouTube channel, SOME of that comes through, but I don't generally get an opportunity to talk for long periods of time. If you like my personality, it's more of that on the show.

Sorry, that was very confusing.

As a follow up, how much say do you get when it comes to the crew filming you; things like location, time, or context of a conversation you're having? Is it just open season on Mike, or are there things planned out ahead of time with boundaries and everything?

Of course the crew had schedules and things they had to keep. Most of the time they had a very very loose idea of what they wanted to film, and then I would improvise around that, or outright change it, depending on my mood.

You're sign is upside down... did you do that on purpose? Also, when did you discover you have a gift for making swords?

Two separate questions eh?!?!

I don't do anyting on purpose! And do I have a gift?

Relax, I'm a professional. I'll ask the questions here.

Which came first, the beard or the swordmaking?

The sword-making. I had a leetle, tiny pre-pubescent goatee. and then I started making swords. And now i have a beard.

Ergo: Swords give you beards. It's science.

Me before i started making swords

It's marvelous is what it is. Does it pose any sort of workplace hazard?

Nope. It's like an early warning system when something's getting too close to yer face!

Brilliant! Ok, last question before I abandon my current career to become a blacksmith.

In the event that you are approached by a duck of epic proportions, perhaps even horse-sized, which weapon from your arsenal would you choose to battle it with?

I'd use the one from my recent video Happy New Year. It's large enough to attack an epic-oversized duck, but not large enough that I wouldn't be able to use it!

What would you say is the most ambitious sword you've made?

Lightning's Gunblade from FINAL FANTASY XIII. It had over 100 parts!

Pics?

This album shows all the pics of me making it.

Nice! Was this a situation where you could have made it in fewer pieces, but it wouldn't have been as cool, or would it have been impossible to make this sword at all without a crapload of individual parts?

I could have used less parts if I included less detail, yes, 100 parts was what I got it down to after careful consideration, the minimum to do it properly.

What about Squall's Gunblade from FF VIII?

I could make that one too, but it's a lot of work for something that does not a whole lot. But I guess Lightning's Gunblade was like that too. So who knows, I might make it some day.

OK, so whose idea was the "Big" "Giant" combo?

Don't look at me...I am sure those big Discovery execs know what they're doing.

Is Discovery going to use one of their stupid narrators that spouts all kinds of irrelevant nonsense and use their silly little editing trolls to turn what might have been interesting content into tween-drama drivel?

I'll find out tonight I guess! (I haven't seen it either)

You're the star of the show and they haven't let you watch it? What the hell?

They were still editing it last week. I've shouted concerns and recommendations at them, but I have yet to see how it all turned out.

Hallo Mike.

Is it just swords yer doing, or does your creativity extend to other media?

What do your kids think of your job?

Hallo, I also like doing (like making/designing) Nerdy tabletop games and such. Here's a link to a prototype of a videogame version of a boardgame I made:

Windas: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8fr11njr72ne8r/TheWizardGamePrototype_v01c_Windows.zip?dl=0 Mac: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gzu1d7and4mqfe9/TheWizardGamePrototype_v01c_MacOSX.zip?dl=0

Of any of the swords you've made, which one do you think you could wield most effectively against a horde of attacking chinchilla?

Ehm... chinchilla's you need something with a lot of reach, cuz they're down low. So I'd go fer the Massamune.

Have you stopped making regular sized swords altogether just to focus on the big giant ones now?

YES! There's lots of very talented people making regular-sized swords. The world des not need another person doing that!

Would you ever want to work with the Man at Arms team to make something?

Ehm... OF COURSE I would! I would have nothing against that. I would kill for access to the tools those guys have. Perhaps I will kill for access to the tools those guys have.

I mean, you do have a plethora of weapons that could easily kill someone.

Yeah but I don't think any of them are very efficient! Maybe if I tallied them all to a car and drove into the place... they have weapons too, and theirs are actually easy to use!

How did your family come to be named after an Eldricht abomination?

When I went to sign up for a YouTube account, my actual surname "Craughwell" was taken.

I've never been happier since.

Happy circumstance.

There are a lot of YouTube personalities and some of the genres are very competitive. What do you feel makes you unique and sets you apart from everyone else in your niche category? Also, how does it feel to be given a TV show for being a complete badass?

XO's to you, A, N and C :)

That was a LONG question.

Ehm, I'm not sure what sets me apart. I just did the interviews and they thought I was fine, I guess?

The person typing for me says this: You've found something unique and run with it.

if there was one midget you could turn into a fully functioning sword who would it be and why?

looks distrustful

One midget that i could turn into a functioning sword? I always loved Wee Man from Jackass? I'm not sure I understood yer question. Then Wee Man from JACKASS is my favorite little person.

basically add a handle to them and weild them like a sword

Oh, then the answer is still WEE MAN! He's the toughest little person I've seen!

hed make a great weapon in modern combat

Does it have to be a handle? Can i put him on the end of chain.

What are your average prices? Did you have any project that you really disliked but did anyway? What kind of projects are you the most likely to reject? Do you have any bad-client stories to tell?

Everyone, so far, has been telling me i charge not enough. $2,000 gets you a nice sword. But maybe I should charge more.

Ehm... there's been 1 or 2 of the custom swords where I wasn't able to convince the clients that a certain element of the sword was going to make it inoperable. And they really wanted to go ahead and have it anyway, because they thought their understanding of physics was better than mine, but I won't name names...

Standard, historical looking swords. Even if it's from an anime or manga, if it's not obviously weird, I won't accept that commission. Like if somebody wanted me to make William Wallace's Claymore, which is no different looking than anybody else's Claymore, I was disinterested.

Ehm... I've learned to be incredibly stoic when people tell me that they train every day, or to channel their Chi* and they'll be able to wield that Darius Axe just fine...

Yes you need to charge moar ... like double that

WILL DO!

Have you ever trained any martial arts?

No. (Wife in background says "ha"). Ludo.

Favorite breakfast food?

Pfbbbbt. Caffeine!

is this your full time job?

Like i told the other fella - it is now!!

Hi Micheal ! What is you favorite sword of all time and why ?

(My favorite is the Fierce deity sword from Zelda Majora's Mask)

I don't know that one!!! Ehm... my favorite sword of all time... is Atrox the junk sword, because it's supposed to look all bashed up, so it doesn't matter it if looks bashed up even more!

You'll certainly love Fierce deity sword. A giant double sword. What a good challenge for you.

I'm sure it is?

Okillydokilly, thank you everyone (I might check in here laters) !

where do you make all of your swords?

In my workshop! On Martha's Vineyard.

thats awesome man, i live a couple hours away

In Ireland a couple of hours away is a huge distance. I'm still not used to the American scale.

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I am not a blacksmith!

Also, I do not have time to teach people. But if somebody already KNEW how to build everything wanted to help... that would be cool.

What would you think about making a chainsword? It's... a working chainsaw sword.

I think it would be awesome, but I don't see how you could make it so it wouldn't get sucked out of your hands the second you touched something.

Mike, what's the best cautionary tale you can impart on the subject of working with large metal things and/or industrial equipment?

Not really a cautionary tale but more an excuse to tell ye about an awful thing that happened to me. Once I was trying to use a tin-snips on a piece of metal that was far too thick. To get more leverage, I put it on the table and pushed my full body weight down on its handles. My testicles wandered in between the handles...and when the tin-snips snipped the piece of steel, the handles crushed my testicles.

Only use tin-snips on appropriate thickness of metal.

On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily cautious about the appropriate use of tin-snips now. Testicular trauma is among the greatest of behavioral motivators.

I felt immediately cold all over, but it didn't hurt until an hour later

How long were you out of commission for? That's a truly prodigious amount of force to take right on the beanbag.

Luckily I was young (18) and recovered. I have 2 kids to prove I recovered. Painful for about a week.

This should be featured on an episode of your show

I don't want to replicate it in real life, and I don't think I'm good enough of a thespian to recreate what actually happened.

Who is your favorite sword wielding character?

CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Specially the way he appeared in the SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN COMICS.

Are you a big gamer? And just saying, really excited to see your show tonight!

THANK YOU!!!

I used to play lots and lots of video games. Now I play mostly the small indie ones. Ye know, things like LIMBO and HOTLINE MIAMI and at the moment, I'm playing one called Volgarr the Viking - smaller indie ones that don't take much time.

I just want to say that every time I see a commercial for your show I end up grinning ear to ear and my wife scoots to the other side of the couch. I love the ridiculous extremism and the straight up "if brute force doesn't work you're not using enough" mentality that it and you seem to give off, and am stoked to see what this looks like in show format. How exactly did discovery contact you and ask this, and how did you react? We're you aware they were thinking about it or did this take you by surprise?

Someone sent me a Facebook message, I thought it was a scam, I ignored it for ages, but then the guy's LinkedIn account seemed legit.

So I responded. And so the rest is history.

Well, I thought it was a scam. So yes, i would say it surprised me.

do you watch other youtubers? if so who are some of your favorites?

I quite like Hank from SciShow... Crazy Russian Hacker, I keep up with Man At Arms... Me and the kids like watching videos of people falling down the stairs.

Michael, how the hell do you spell your own (stage) name wrong in your own AMA post?

The result of dictating to a Reddit employee. They are being whipped soundly as I type this myself. Later they might even be punished.

Have you ever thought about what you will make when/if you get tired of giant swords? Armor maybe?

I could make armor. But being a giant nerd, I also have a million role play game and board-game type ideas that i occasionally try to publish.

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You can have one if you have a big pile of cash! Also, desire to do metalworking: I always liked building things, and working with steel, I never had the tools till I went to Art College... and I think that ruined me. My time at Art College ruined me.

favorite snack?

Sugar or caffeine. I like chocolate. Candy. I'm not big into real food.

whats your favorite genre of music/favorite bands of your favorite genre?

My favorite genre: I like heavy metal, I like 8-bit... like retro 80's and 8-bit style stuff. I'm not sure I have favourites? DeathClock are funny but I don't know if it's just cuz they are funny. I probably don't need to shout!

Hi Mike, Long time fan here. How come you can't spell your own han-dal?

Because you touch yourself at night.

Besides Swords, is there something else you've been itching to summon to reality?

Pyramid heads helmet.

Oh I can see it now! That'd be FUCKIN' BRUTAL!

(Figured you may appreciate this animated gif)

That is a pretty cool gif. Is it part of a longer video? If so I would like to see it.

Any enthusiasm for Ulfbehrt swords?

I appreciate them as nice historical objects. But that's really different to what I do. A historical sword is like a well-made sports car. The things I build are more like the crazy contraptions you see ridin' around at Burning Man.

I seen a picture of Darius Axe, what was the hardest part when making it?

Strangely enough, the little decorations on the handle took a long time and were boring to make - those zig-zaggy wrappings on the handle.

Will you only prioritize giants swords or will there be other weaponry(i have seen you have made the darius axe so i am wondering) or perhaps even armors(but like, badass impossible armors)?

YES! I will make anything that is WEIRD or unusual or it feels like somebody else wouldn't make it. I'll even make small weapons if they're weird enough!

I'm sure every sword is different but on average how long does it take from concept to finish?

A super simple one is a week. A fairly complicated one, like the Crisis Core Buster Sword, is a month. A super complicated one would be 2 months.

Is the Darius Axe the heaviest weapon you've made thus far, or has something else been more unwieldy?

No - it is definitely been the heaviest weapon I've built thus far. Back in the day I used to convince people to make things smaller, but I'm more concerned about authenticity and keeping to original proportions, hence it being ridiculous.

You should see if Discovery will pony up the money to find a guy big enough to swing it and fly him out. Like one of those dudes that pulls train cars with his teeth.

That would be nice, I guess. Maybe next season, if there is a next season.

What inspired you to start maing swords? A videogame, a comic, a tv show, etc? You seem to be the nerdy type (like most of us, I'd guess)

Maing swords? When I was growing up in the 80's there was a lot of fantasy films etc. Child of the 80's. Yes. I am nerd. FF7 was the start of me being totally in lust with giant swords.

I've watched your youtube videos for a while and I think you are an amazing craftsman.What's your favorite steel to work with?

For most of my giant swords I use a type of hardened plate called "Hardox", it's hard enough to make a good blade, but not so hard that it makes brittle welds.

I've been a fan of your YouTube channel for a long time and I think it's great that you're finally getting to do what you love to make a living.

About how long do you think it'd take for you to make the original Buster Sword from FF VII? (without the intricacies/details of the Crisis Core version)

And would you ever be interested in making smaller-scale, more affordable versions for people who can't afford the giant ones?

I could make the original version in a week or less (I'm all booked out at the moment though). I pride myself on making actual replicas, so while I've made smaller buster swords in the past, I don't really want to do it again. There are some swords I'm sure, that are weird enough they'd interest me but simple enough they'd be affordable. It's not my job to find those, dear reader, that's your quest.

I love swords and have been following you forever. Could you make me one? I know you make giant ones and all but I could settle for a regular sized one... or even a tiny sword. I could settle for a tiny sword.

I have currently no interest in making regular or tiny swords. Maybe someday.

If you made giant metal dildos do you think you would still have a show?

Yes, but it would be on a different network.

My husband and I are LOVING the show. Not a huge fan of Eric, but Jamie seems like a great kick back and have a beer sort of chick.

Have your orders gone nuts since the show has been on for about a month now? Have you started CHARGING MORE?! Gotta keep Mrs. Cthulhu happy!

My inbox has indeed become a scary thing to behold. Yes I should charge more I know.

Who won the winkle race?

I need to know the answer to this!

Amerimike. While his volume of urine was poor, it was exceedingly dark, which is actually better for my purposes.

Irish Mike! Love the show and can't wait to see more of your shenanigans and work! You and Ameri-Mike have the most hilarious interactions in the show. Has he gotten his driver's license yet?!?

Nope to the nope.

Ever heard of the game Kingdoms of amalur reckoning?That game is like a giant sword heaven.

No I haven't but maybe I should. What system is it for?

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,and in game the greatsword is the category you will be looking for

Unfortunately, I have a Steve Jobs machine so no game for me.

well at least if you have the time give the swords a look,i have linked just a few of them(these are ingame menu screenshots,the character with the weapon is on the right) http://i42.tinypic.com/9h74b8.png http://i.imgur.com/nylFK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ki4mQ.jpg

Purple is a hard color to do.

Are you worried that the reality TV producers and directors are going to make a mockery of you and what you do?

Surely they couldn't do any worse than I do already.

Have you played any of the Monster Hunter series? It could, in my opinion, be one of the greatest repositories of improbably-giant swords in gaming today. A lot of the designs utilize large pieces of dragons/dinosaurs/large beasties, so they might be no good, but there are several interesting designs (like this) that are purely metal.

People have asked me about that sword before, it's cool looking, although a genuine replica, much like the darius axe, would not only be unwieldable, but unliftable.

Just watched the episode, and I gotta say, it was WAY more entertaining than I thought it'd be. I'll be watching this moving forward. Good job.

My question is, did you meet your wife here in America, or in Ireland?

In America! I met her at a nerdy sci-fi convention called BosKone in Boston. She did not believe I was Irish. She still suspects nothing.

I am not one for TV shows much, but my children and I have enjoyed watching yours. Does Discovery Channel pay you enough to pursue your art without worrying about taking commissions anymore? Your blacksmith seems to be smitten with you.

It's the first season of a reality TV show, so I'm definitely not rolling in the big bucks yet, maybe someday.

Will you have already solved the Riddle of Steel when you face Crom in the afterlife and have you heard of the band Helcaraxe's album Children of Ygg?

Ehm... Yes! But that's boring.

I certainly hope so.

But I'm nowhere near there yet.

No! Post me a link!

Just watched the show, congratulations! Your sense of humor (the kind that makes me want to facepalm) reminds me of Mick Dodge, onNational Geographic Channel. Have you ever been to a Renaissance Faire? I think your swords would be a huge hit at one of those. Pun not intended.

No, maybe someday I will have enough time to set up a stall at a Renaissance faire. But at the moment, the demand for my swords is too high, and I have no spare ones sitting around.

Did you come from a family that worked with metal or is this something you found on your own?

No. No one in my family, as far as I know, worked with metal.

How do you do a lot of your fabrication? Guessing bandsaw cut outs and then belt sand and angle grind to size? Or do you have mills and lathes?

I wish I had mills and lathes. Plasma cutter, angle grinders, mig welders. That's about it for me and tools. If this show is successful maybe I can get a mill.

Did you get any inspiration from AWE Me? Or have you even heard of them?

Both of us draw inspiration from the same source, not from each other. Although, to be fair, I was doing it first.