Swordsticks in Carmen Sandiego

 I blogged recently about the Netflix series Carmen Sandiego, which I have been watching eagerly with Wolfie. We absolutely love it. I also love how it mixes old and new tropes. One of them is the sword cane, or swordstick, as it is also called. It is used by one of the villains (well of course), an snobby upperclass Brit (well of course). I blogged in August last year about swordsticks, because I love them as signature weapons. As not so many people use canes anymore, unless they are elderly, it is not very much featured in modern fiction, so I was glad to see it make a come back in a animated series. Sword canes mix danger and elegance, often with a heavy dose of deceit. Sometimes, little details like this make you enjoy a work of fiction more.

Swordstick

 Today, I want to blog about (drumroll)... swordsticks. Why? Just because. I have always been quite fascinated by the swordstick, or cane-sword, as I knew it. It's a weapon that has elegance, stealth and, well, it's deadly in the wrong (or the right?) hands. It belongs to the stories of old, though: old adventure stories, or early crime fiction, maybe even spy fiction. Maybe because, from what I understand, it is pretty much illegal everwhere. And nobody uses canes anyway, except the elderly. When was the last time you saw someone wielding a swordstick in a movie or a TV show? If it was the case, it must have been a period piece. Or maybe a certain dystopian sci-fi film (which happens to be my favourite movie). Although in that particular one, the swordstick was more a knifestick. It was still cool though, as well as fitting the general retro-futuristic aesthetic of the film. The swordstick is generally used by a villain, but I could definitely see a darker (but elegant and gentlemanly) hero or an antihero wielding it in times of need. What do you think? In any case, swordstick is the word of the day.