Understanding Foam Swords and 5 Iconic Ones to Get

Foam swords bring the most famous weapons of anime, movies, and TV shows to life in foam form. The cheapness of the material and its malleability make it popular among cosplayers who need their props to be super accurate as well as children’s toy makers who need a safe, soft material that won’t hurt children. The latter part especially makes foam swords a best seller among parents because it’s impossible for foam play swords to have sharp edges.

Foam Sword 101: A Guide to Replica Sword Materials

Cosplay swords come in different styles and sizes and are made of different materials. It’s not uncommon for a sword that’s described as a carbon steel weapon in the show to be made of lightweight foam if it’s a massive prop that would be difficult to carry if made with canonically accurate material. 

Similarly, swords that are only supposed to be bokken, or wooden practice swords, in anime may have steel replicas if they have a particularly odd appearance that’s difficult to faithfully copy in the original wood.

• Plastic

Plastic is a common sword replica material for cosplay and children’s toys. This is because plastic is easy to produce and is often cheap thanks to a technique called injection molding that allows manufacturers to pump plastic into a mold that’s already shaped like the final product. The end result is a polished replica that only needs to be painted to be complete. 

Another way of making a plastic sword is DIY-ing your own with a 3D printer though this is recommended for projects that are harder to mass produce because it has a higher cost per unit and can typically only be bought from specialty cosplay prop sellers.

• Steel

Stainless steel is the most popular type of steel used for steel sword replicas since it’s relatively affordable and offers great durability and longevity. However, some manufacturers make limited edition versions of replica swords that are made of high carbon steel which are especially popular among collectors because of their unique sheen and higher build quality. 

• Foam

Foam swords are typically thought of as simple children’s toys but they’re actually a favored material among Live Action Role Play (LARP) enthusiasts because they allow Viking swords and claymore replicas to be light enough to swing for most people. 

Toy swords and poolies are often made of lighter foam with more air pockets. But if it’s a higher end toy foam sword or a deluxe sword that’s meant for cosplayers, it’s likely to be made from high density foam.

Foam novelty swords are at their highest quality when made from polyurethane foam, an elastic polymer that behaves similarly to rubber. 

• Wood

Last but not least, we have wooden swords which are best known for their use in practice samurai swords designed for use in kendo sparring. Wood provides the same malleability as foam but with a strength and rigidity that’s closer to steel. Softer woods are usually not utilized for wooden swords which are typically some type of hardwood or bamboo, a flexible yet strong wood that can survive multiple blows without splintering. 

5 Best Foam Swords You Can Get Online

Whether it’s a katana sword replica for cosplay, a medieval sword for larping with, or a video game sword that you need, foam swords offer a wide variety of designs and sizes geared towards your specific needs. These swords include legendary game swords to knight swords for you to take to checkout.

1. Arthas Menethil’s Frostmourne from World of Warcraft

You can’t purge Stratholme or become an undead lord without your very own Frostmourne, a sword cursed with the power to drain the life of its victims, either killing them or turning them into undead beings. Arthas used this sword to slay the Lich King before becoming a death knight himself. This was the same sword that Arthas used to slay his father, King Terenas.

Though this replica of Frostmourne looks like it’s made of solid steel, it’s actually lightweight foam, making it easy to wield even though the sword is massive and has a thick hilt and unbalanced crossguard by design.

• Material: Foam
• Length: 100 cm

2. Saber’s Excalibur from Fate/Stay Night

Excalibur is the signature weapon of Saber, a character from the visual novel game Fate/Stay Night. Since it first appeared in the Fate series, the sword has unleashed Noble Phantasms on Saber’s enemies and those who wish to destroy the world. The sword’s good nature is rooted in its identity as a Divine Construct, a type of weapon in the Fate universe created by gods. 

This holy weapon is made of polyurethane foam and features a blue and gold hilt atop a simple straight-edge blade. There’s a forge line in the middle of the blade to help sell onlookers on the realism of the sword without adding extra weight to this prop.

• Material: Polyurethane foam
• Length: 109 cm

3. Kirito’s Elucidator from Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online (SAO)’s video game concept means that its characters change swords as they progress through the story by design. As the lead character, Kirito gets the most swords and one of them is the all-black Elucidator that he obtained after defeating an in-game boss.

This Elucidator replica looks exactly like the anime version since foam gives it a chunkier appearance and rounded edges that resemble the shading used in Sword Art Online.

• Material: Polyurethane foam
• Length: 108 cm

4. Thanos’ Double-Edged Sword from Avengers: Infinity War

Thanos’ double-edged sword is a massive weapon that he used to fight the Avengers and destroy Captain America’s shield. The sword is made of an alien, hyper-durable material that’s able to slice through earthly supermetals such as Wakandan vibranium.

This copy of Thanos’ sword looks as if it were carved from solid meteorite, but it is actually painted foam that’s textured to resemble rugged metal.

• Material: Polyurethane foam
• Length: 108 cm

5. Jon Snow’s Longclaw from Game of Thrones

Before Longclaw was Jon Snow’s sword, it was the ancestral blade of House Mormont, another noble family based in the North. Longclaw once had a bear’s head for a pommel but after it was given to Jon, it had a direwolf’s head pommel to symbolize his heritage as a Stark.

This foam longsword has a simple design that features a straight-edge blade, a plain curved crossguard, and a leather wrapped handle topped with a wolf head.

• Material: Polyurethane foam
• Length: 105 cm

Conclusion

Foam swords allow for a greater variety of designs of replica swords because of the material’s softness. This makes it ideal for cosplayers and children alike since it poses little risk while giving sword makers more freedom to make out-of-the-box designs.