Category Archives: General

Just got the prototype today, opened it up, said “Wow, Awesome.”

It is hard to pick up the subtleties of damascus steel with my meager photography skills, so you’ll all have to wait a little while for really good pictures. First the prototype goes to GRRM for his review, then it can go to the better photographer.

This is a 1060 high carbon damascus steel blade. Truly what GRRM had in mind when he first wrote about Valyrian Steel. It is, pretty, and strong, and expensive.

This sword will probably be a limited edition of 100 pcs. It will probably be for around $500. In addition to having the damascus blade, we’ll see about doing the eyes in actual genuine garnets as well. If you want one, please, by all means, comment on this post. If 150 people say they want one, we might be be convinced to increase the edition size. Even look at it as an investment, once the HBO series comes out they’ll probably appreciate. We’ll also be strictly shipping based on order date, because it is a smaller run, it will be no problem to manually make sure he who orders first gets the lowest number. Though we may run an auction for #1, and then have the first order go for #2.

Anyways, I think we could see this blade being released in very early 2010, but we’ll have to wait a couple more weeks to finish finalizing details.

Needle update: Got the final prototype today, just reconfirming the length, sword should ship within 2 months.

Ice update: The (hopefully) final concept art is on GRRM’s desk right now. It looks great, I can’t wait to show you.

Now… your pictures:

If you live in a country where we previously quoted a shipping cost of over $100 for Longclaw, you may be in luck.

We’ve had some success breaking the rules and shipping this 56inch box to countries that supposedly have a 42 inch length limit.

We’re willing to try, with the caveat that if the shipment is rejected and we cannot get a refund of the shipping cost, we cannot reimburse you for that cost, we will of course still refund whatever you paid for the actual product.

So, that being said, to do this you must pay with a check or money order, because it is special. You can also pay with Western Union, email us for details. So checkout and select “Print Order Form” as your payment method, then print it and mail it with a check.

Using this shipping method Longclaw will only cost $90 to ship to Australia (down from $350). Other countries, please comment here and I will get you a quote.

According to Winter is Coming there is a rumor that Sean Bean has been cast as Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones.

Personally, I think that is great news. I love Sean Bean as an actor, and while he was relatively marginalized in Lord of the Rings, if you watch the extended editions he has some great scenes that ended up cut dealing with his brother and father, of course he has done well in many other roles. I did however think he was too old for the part, but makeup artists can fix that I’m sure. I actually thought Clive Owen would have been the best choice, darker coloring, younger, and able to provide the sort of lordly gravitas needed. Sean Bean can do all that too of course.

I’ve seen some people worry about casting a big name in such a role, but remember, Ned is not actually a big role. He is vastly important to the series, but, he’d be a regular only in one season and then only appear in a flashback as a guest star. Because of the relatively shorter time commitment Ned has always been a role that could attract a bigger name actor. Also, many actors who command millions for movies don’t demand the same price for all their work. Many go and do broadway for a huge paycut, or they do independent films for far less. An HBO production always has the feel of an independent film, and actors may wish to participate for a nice shot at an emmy or other award. It isn’t always about the money. So I wouldn’t worry about the Sean Bean rumor, if it is true, busting the budget.

Edit: Yes, it has been confirmed.

Get out your wallets, Needle is available for preordering now.

Click here to preorder Needle.

At this point we hope to have it out Fall of 2009, September or October, conservatively.

Included with the product information are some photographs for your viewing pleasure. Once we have the finalized box art we’ll post that as well.

If you cannot checkout let us know and we’ll work up a shipping quote for your country.

I’ve seen some comments people didn’t picture Needle like this, they pictured a rapier. I did too, GRRM set me straight, and it makes sense.

Needle was requisitioned for Arya as a lighter sword, not as a Braavosi sword. Jon had never been to Braavos, and Mikken, the man who made it, was a Northman, not a Braavosi. Arya’s teacher was eventually Braavosi of course, but that was long after she had left Winterfell. So, the issue is, what would Mikken, a Northman, have made when asked by Jon to make a light thin sword for Arya? The fighting style in which the sword is eventually used doesn’t change who made it and with what skill.

This is what makes ASOIAF so great, GRRM thinks of these things. A lesser fantasy novel might have Mikken conveniently be a smithing dynamo, familiar with all weapons the world over. But in these novels, characters realistically have limits to their abilities. It is best to think of Needle not as a Braavosi blade, it isn’t, but as an original Mikken creation.

Remember to stick them with the pointy end!

Here is Needle, at last. We finally got the approvals from GRRM so we’re good to go to start mass production. Preordering should start very soon, within a week. Needle is a full tang high carbon steel blade, that comes with a plaque bearing the true Stark colors of grey on white. It’ll have a 24 inch blade and be about 30 inches overall.

It has been awhile since we’ve had an update and so I thought I’d update you guys on things.

Needle’s prototype is done, and is at GRRM’s house right now. He is reviewing it, and as soon as he gives us the go ahead we can start manufacturing and getting the marketing photography done, and then you all can start placing preorders. I do not have shipping cost details yet, but the overall sword price will probably be $190. Again, Needle will be high carbon steel, purists rejoice. So hopefully you can place preorders by early or mid June.

The one issue we’re still niggling over is the length. Is our prototype the appropriate length for Arya Stark? Unfortunately we couldn’t get a hold of Arya for actual testing, she sent a raven saying she was busy in Braavos learning to become an assassin. Not wanting to make her “list” we decided not to press the issue, but unfortunately that meant we had to guess at her height and arm strength, which is somewhat hard. We couldn’t find any local castle-born 8 year old girls either, the Lords around here are all blessed with sons or cursed with teenagers. So, we guess. Hopefully we got it right, or near enough as makes no matter.

Longclaw is still on sale for $40 off. Unfortunately we didn’t sell as many in April as we had hoped (lousy economy) and so we’re continuing the sale. We still want to clear out more room before Needle arrives. We expect (Hope? Pray?) Longclaw and Needle both sell out rapidly once A Dance with Dragon’s is finished, and once the sales pick up the reduced pricing will likely end, so get it while the getting’s good.

Well folks, the economy sucks doesn’t it? We want to help you out, and we want to clear out more inventory before Needle arrives. So, for the month on April, to celebrate hopefully most of you getting tax refunds, we’ve knocked the price of Longclaw down by $40, now just $200 + shipping. This sale will expire at the end of April, so get it now while you can and save.

Buy Longclaw Here.

Today we got our first look at the Needle Prototype, it isn’t perfect. The handle parts need to be polished, and the grip is the wrong color (should be black) but other than that it looks good. Needle has a full tang 1045 high carbon steel blade, purists rejoice. Once we get the changes made and another prototype we’ll get it to GRRM for final approval, then to the photographer, then set a price, and then we can start taking preorders.

Ice is having concept art designed now.

Then we’re also thinking about doing a small edition of Khal Drogo’s Arakh just to get a Dothraki weapon style established. The arakh will be using a different product pipeline than Ice so may come out concurrently or prior to it, despite Ice being started first.

The freight finally arrived this morning, and we worked feverishly to unload, label, and then reload all the boxes. By the time we were done the pile of boxes resembled The Wall in size and temperature (its flipping cold in the Midwest), if not in material.

So at this point, all domestic orders have shipped, and all International orders have shipped. There were a few exceptions but we emailed those individuals.

We’ve started shipping International orders. They’ll really go out Monday or Tuesday (we hope) but we’re printing all the labels and whatnot now so that things move more efficiently once they arrive. So if you get an email confirmation of shipping, that is why. Just remember, they’re not actually shipping out for a few more days.

Also, we’ve turned on (well really there was a bug, which we corrected) reviews for Longclaw. A lot of you have been posting reviews as comments to posts here, and that is fine, but we’d like it if you also posted them here. Of course tell all your friends as well, let them know just how much you like yours so they might buy one for themselves. Word of mouth!

So, Longclaw is in stock for domestic shipping, most orders should ship within 1 business day at this point, and it’ll be in stock for International shipping within a few days as well.