We had reported to us recently that knockoffs of our products were for sale at the Toronto Comicon, and were sold as the real deal when they weren’t. What is worse, the products were sold at premium price levels, not the cheap price points knockoffs normally go for. So the customers who were misled not only ended up with a rather poorly made copy, but also overpaid for it.

Despite paying lip service to protections against piracy on their website. Toronto Comicon’s parent company Hobby Star, has refused to cooperate with us in identifying the vendor. It seems to me as if they actually do not care that much about it. I’ve spoken all the way up the food chain, to the president Steve Menzie, and have not gotten any cooperation. It would appear to me that they are actually doing the opposite of what their website claims, I can only guess as to their motivation.

This lax oversight of vendors and dismissive attitude towards claims of infringement would make me question any merchandise for sale at their events, but for especially swords. If any of you did purchase a sword there, make sure it is the real deal. For our products it should be laser inscribed and come with a certificate of authenticity (and of course, compare the look and dimensions to the product specs we have). If it isn’t, you were probably ripped off, and hopefully you paid with a method that provides you recourse (such as with a credit card).

Christmas Shipping Information: We are now in December, at this point I would recommend all International customers choose UPS shipping to ensure timely arrival. UPS would be able to get it to you with orders as late as the 17th or even 19th or 20th if you choose UPS Express. For US customers the 17th is the cut off for ground shipping nationwide, areas closer to the midwest could wait a few more days, for next day air shipping you could wait as late as the 21st.

We have three regular edition Ice Swords left. These sold out a couple months ago, however one was returned because the recipient refused delivery (and we’ve been unable to reach him to find out why), one was returned because it was an International shipment and it was rejected by customs agents during import (apparently that country doesn’t allow swords), the third we had accidentally shipped to someone who had ordered Needle, and he was kind enough to let us know and returned it. So they’re all new swords still, but the boxes are a little beat up from the back and forth shipping. We’ve waited to make sure none of the people who ordered the sword had it lost in shipping or damaged or something, and no such reports have been made, so we’re releasing these final 3 via auction.

So there will be three auctions in succession for these three swords, and these are truly the last of the stainless steel Ices.

The first auction is up now.

Warhammers have gone out to all backorders. We have a few left in stock only, the second shipment of these is due next week though so there shouldn’t be any interruption in availability.

There is a problem with some warhammers though, the top spike, which acts as a cap for the nut that holds the head on, was supposed to be attached with automotive grade epoxy, but a bad batch was mixed and on some warhammers the spike did not adhere properly. Not all of them, just some of them. Around 300 went out before this problem was discovered and a portion of those will have loose spikes. We’re now checking this on each one before it ships. If you receive one with this issue we must apologize for the inconvenience and we have a couple options for you. We can do an exchange, we can send you epoxy putty so you can fix it, or if you have some already around the house you can just fix it yourself, it is very straightforward and once glued back it will be indistinguishable from others.

Our “A Song of Ice and Fire” book Ice, Sword of Eddard Stark, designed working with George R.R. Martin and coming with a certificate bearing his autograph, is almost permanently sold out.

We only have around 200 left. That might seem like a lot, but when Longclaw got low we sold 100 in a single weekend. Ice could be gone before you know it.

Check out this video by IGN featuring our Longclaw destroying some watermelons.

Also, we have less than 100 of these left now. They are flying off the shelf. If you want to buy the book Longclaw, you’re running out of time. When sold out it’ll go to the land of always winter, never to return. Ice will follow in a month or two as well.

Our A Song of Ice and Fire Longclaw sword of Jon Snow, coming with a COA personally autographed by George R.R. Martin, is almost permanently sold out. This was a limited edition of 2500 pcs and they’re almost all gone. We’re thinking sometime in July, August at the latest, but these warnings tend to spur sales spikes, so it could go quicker.

If you have wanted this, but have put off ordering, we highly recommend you order just as soon as you can.

Also, we still have the special package available whereby if you buy the Night’s Watch Dagger set at the same time you will be sent matching low numbers, while supplies last of course.