Kaoru Koganei from Flame of Recca

This might be a fairly niche topic, but we’ll see how it goes.  Definitely won’t be connecting to stories that don’t have action scenes.  After all, why have a weapon that can be transformed if you aren’t going to have combat?

To explain, I’m talking about a weapon that can be quickly changed into another one.  I know there are some real-world weapons that can be modified using time and special kits, but that’s not what I’m thinking about.  These are fictional weapons that you can change into entirely new ones.  For example, the character above has one that can be turned into a halberd, boomerang, bow and arrow, giant scissors, and a kusari-gama.  All different weapons combined into one.

The practicality situation is the hardest one to get over here.  Most readers will argue that you can’t transform a weapon on the fly without getting hurt, so it isn’t useful.  You will have to pick one version and hope it can get the job done.  If not, you have to hide and change it again, which makes it a terrible weapon.  So, suspending our disbelief is necessary for such a thing to work out.  Thankfully, they occur primarily in fantasy and science-fiction where that’s already happening.

Magic or some kind of energy tends to be the catalyst, which counters the time it takes to transform.  Simply channeling the power source or thinking of the weapon changing causes it to do so.  This means it’s an instant effect, which authors will use to create some wild action scenes.  I think the fluid shifting from one form to another during active combat is what makes this so appealing.  There’s a sense of excitement as a character keeps switching from melee to range while battling for their lives.  You feel that one wrong transformation will get them killed.

There’s an added challenge here too.  The transformations have to make some kind of sense.  If you are allowing the weapon to turn into anything then you need to explain how and put on limits.  A sword can’t be turned into every other type of weapon in an instant without there being some limitation.  Otherwise, it’s overpowered and the audience will hate the concept.  For example, there was a manga long about called ‘Beet the Vandal Buster’ where the main character had 5 weapons he could summon from his soul.  He couldn’t use them naturally, so he had to master each one in order to make use of this power.  This isn’t a transformation, but the limitation can work.  So, if the weapon is incredibly powerful, the weakness should be with the wielder.

My personal preference is to use a transforming weapon sparingly and only if it makes sense for the character.  I’m actually more of a fan of giving these to villains because it’s more interesting to me.  Having my heroes figure out how to counter a weapon that can change shape and use during a battle is a challenge.  They have to be cautious and ready for sudden shifts in combat instead of barreling forward.  Creates a chance at maturity and development for the heroes and possibly the villain who might depend on this tricky weapon too much.

What do other people think of this transforming weapon concept?