I was ten years old the first time I saw that film.

I don't remember much else from that year - not the school, not the summer, not what I got for my birthday. But I remember the shield. The way it moved. The way it came back to his hand every time. To a ten year old, that was the most perfect object in the world: a thing that protected you and still hit harder than anything else on the screen.

My brother felt the same. So we did what every pair of brothers does with a story that gets under their skin - we acted it out. We had no shields, so we used what we had. Pillows.

He would take one, I would take the other, and the living room became a battlefield. We would charge each other, block, spin, throw the pillow across the room and expect it to come back like it did in the film. It never did. We would run after it, pick it up, and go again.

My mother was not thrilled about the pillows. Looking back, I think she knew exactly what we were doing and let us do it anyway.

Why that shield stayed with me

It took me years to understand why that particular object stuck when so much else faded. It is not a sword. It is not an axe. It is not a weapon of attack at all - it is a shield. The whole idea of the character is built into the shape of the thing he carries. He steps in front of people. That is the point.

I think that is why it lands so hard with kids. You don't need to understand the politics or the history behind it. You see someone holding a circle of metal between danger and everyone behind them, and you understand it immediately.

Years later I ended up in a workshop, working with steel. And of all the things I have made since, the round shield is still the one I think about most.

So we built one

To be clear about what this is: it is our own fan made tribute piece, inspired by the round shields we all grew up watching. It is not an official product and it is not affiliated with any studio. It is one workshop's version, made by people who loved the same films you did.

I will also be honest with you: I don't know whether ours is the best one out there. I have not held every version that exists. What I can tell you is what we did and why.

We built it in metal, not resin - because a prop that feels light in the hand breaks the illusion the second you pick it up. We worked to get the proportions right rather than guessing. We painted and finished it by hand, front and back, so it looks right from any angle - including hanging on a wall, which is where most of them end up.

Straps are fitted so you can actually carry it. It is made to be held, photographed, worn at a convention, handed to a kid who will do exactly what my brother and I did with those pillows.

That is the honest goal: build the thing I wanted when I was ten.

A note, from one fan to another

Every one of these is made to order in our own workshop, by hand. That means it takes a few weeks, and it means no two are perfectly identical. If you want a different size, a different finish, or something else entirely - a different shield, a different design - just ask. Send us a photo and we will tell you honestly whether we can build it.

And if you grew up doing the same thing we did, throwing something round across a room and waiting for it to come back - you already know why we make these.

- Mike, Ragnar Armoury

All pieces are independent fan made tributes. Not official merchandise, and not affiliated with or endorsed by any film studio or rights holder. Character names and logos belong to their respective owners.