Sword swing

A wind-up, a hard swing, and a short follow-through; the whole body commits to the strike and settles back into a ready stance.

A cartoon person leaning back with its right arm raised high, winding up, and a dog beside it.

Use it in a cartoon Open it in the block editor The pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Sword swing is the attack of a sword-and-shield duel, or any big, committed swing: a bat, a club, an axe. The whole body leans into it, not just the arm, so even without a sword drawn yet it reads as a real swing rather than a wave. The marked moment partway through, where the swing lands, is where the site's duel pairing lines this move up against another character's Block.

The principle it shows: anticipation

Before the swing itself, the arm winds back almost straight above the body, over nearly a quarter of a second, easing to a stop at the top of the wind-up. That pulled-back pose, held just long enough to be seen, is anticipation: it tells the audience a hard swing is coming before the arm ever moves forward.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  glide right arm 168, right forearm 36, left arm 18, left forearm 46, rot 4, dy 4, right leg 16, right shin 12, left leg -14, left shin 10 over 0.23 s (out)
  glide right arm 96, right forearm -4, left arm 6, left forearm 26, rot -8, dx 18, dy 8, right leg 28, right shin 20, left leg -20, left shin 6 over 0.17 s (in)
  set flag_hit to (tau)
  glide right arm 62, right forearm -10, left arm 6, left forearm 26, rot -6, dx 16, dy 8, right leg 28, right shin 20, left leg -20, left shin 6 over 0.16 s
  glide right arm 42, right forearm 64, left arm 24, left forearm 58, rot -3, dy 6, right leg 16, right shin 12, left leg -14, left shin 10 over 0.24 s

when it starts — begins when the move is put on a character.
glide right arm 168, right forearm 36, left arm 18, left forearm 46, rot 4, dy 4, right leg 16, right shin 12, left leg -14, left shin 10 over 0.23 s (out) — the right arm winds back almost straight above the body, the stance widens and the body leans 4 degrees back, slowing as it reaches the top of the wind-up.
glide right arm 96, right forearm -4, left arm 6, left forearm 26, rot -8, dx 18, dy 8, right leg 28, right shin 20, left leg -20, left shin 6 over 0.17 s (in) — the arm swings down fast, the body leans 8 degrees the other way and drives forward 18 pixels, speeding up into the strike.
set flag_hit to (tau) — marks this instant, when the swing lands, as a named moment called Hit!.
glide right arm 62, right forearm -10, left arm 6, left forearm 26, rot -6, dx 16, dy 8, right leg 28, right shin 20, left leg -20, left shin 6 over 0.16 s — the arm keeps moving a little past the hit before it slows.
glide right arm 42, right forearm 64, left arm 24, left forearm 58, rot -3, dy 6, right leg 16, right shin 12, left leg -14, left shin 10 over 0.24 s — and the whole body settles back into a stance much like Ready stance's, ready to swing again.

Try this

Slow the wind-up from 0.23 s to 0.5 s. The character pulls back for much longer before swinging, a bigger, more menacing telegraph of the hit to come.
In the program: ramp · over 0.23 → 0.5
Swing the arm down to 140 degrees instead of 96. The strike travels further round, a wider, more committed swing.
In the program: ramp · to.part:arm:1 96 → 140

How it differs from Throw and Ready stance

Throw winds up and releases something from the hand rather than striking with it, and its follow-through is a loose, relaxing arm rather than a settle into a stance. Ready stance is the held pose Sword swing settles back into: no wind-up, no strike, just the wait before one.

Works on

Worked out by the build: it plays the move in the engine on each body and checks what moves on screen. Nobody types this table.
Body	Moves?	What moves
2 legs (a person)	yes	whole body, arms, legs
4 legs (a dog)	yes	whole body, front legs, back legs
no legs (the monster with no legs)	yes	whole body, arms

c4c:beh:sword_swing · version 1.0.0 · c4c-free · by Jabbertoon