So now that the Game of Thrones show has come out on HBO, I'm wondering if this will somehow affect the sculpts to come out in the future. I really love the miniatures as they are, and enjoy the fact that they are the product of imagination and not limited to by what is seen on the screen with the visage of set actors. I just wonder if in the future, the miniatures will become a little more similar to the characters on the show or if they will retain their independence. I'm hoping the latter.

Independence all the way. HBO has the limits of actors and their general heights/sizes along a budget to keep in mind. We do not. Our Mountain is almost 8 feet tall just like in the books. HBO's will be more like 6 foot 5 due to available actors. So we will push our miniatures to be as close to George's true vision as possible.

Actually, George gave copies of our miniature line to the HBO folks so I would not be surprised if it was the other way around on certain character outfits and such.

The Hound helm in the series is almost dead-on to the original Dark Sword sculpt (which there would be no way possible to do this without seeing our sculpt first). I thought their hound helm would end up being more rough around the edges looking than what Tom did, but it is very very close to what Dark Sword produced.

I enjoyed Episode 1 for what it was (as there is no way to do the books exactly) and look forward to two full seasons now that they have renewed for a second season.

Thanks!

Jim
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com

Good to hear you'll be maintaining artistic independence. I watched the first two episodes and have also enjoyed them quite a bit. My biggest problem with the show is that the episodes seem to fly by and leave me hanging for next week.

So has the show created any increase in interest in your guys' figures?

For me, if anything, the show is actually *distracting* me from thinking about the GRRM minis. (Don't worry Jim, I get your newsletter so even if I forget to check here as often I will know when new ones come out and definitely plan to keep buying them whenever there are enough new ones available to justify shipping to Canada!) :o) But I have read that the books are selling better than ever since the series began; great news for GRRM, who has got to be a very happy guy these days, what with the success of the series, its speedy renewal, the increased book sales, finally finishing Dance a few days ago, making Time's top 100, the successes of his other various projects, getting married recently, etc...

That's really cool to learn that GRRM gave HBO the minis to help design the look of the characters! Love how they seem to have modeled the Hound's helm on Tom's sculpt; I hadn't noticed that, but now that it's been said, I can't help seeing it!

I liked episode 3 a lot, but it didn't have a distinct 'holy crap!' highlight moment like #1 and especially #2 did. Nothing that left me trembling for the next 5 minutes like that one scene in #2 did, even though I knew it was coming and am not normally squeamish at all about any sort of TV violence etc. I don't want to say which scene in case some fans haven't watched it yet, especially fans who may not have read the books (guessing not too many of those here but I could be wrong), but I'm pretty sure anyone who has seen it will know which scene I'm referring to. But even if there wasn't one moment that really stood out, they introduced enough great new characters that I really enjoyed it anyhow.

I can't wait until next Sunday!

I do agree the week-long wait between episodes is hard to bear, but luckily HBO is airing each new episode almost every day throughout the week, and they're very re-watchable.

LOVED episode 3. The show keeps getting stronger and stronger in my opinion. HBO is getting it right in my opinion.

George is VERY involved and vocal about the miniature range Dark Sword is producing so it makes total sense to be able to show HBO what he envisioned things to look like if there is a real 3-D object to show them that he approved.

I know the scene you are talking about in the 2nd episode and it really stunned me as well even though I knew it was coming.

George has had one helluva ride these past 12 months, no question about it.

FYI - You can see pictures of George's visit to MN on the Dark Sword Facebook page.

Talk to you soon!

Jim
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com

That actually makes a lot of sense if Martin is heavily involved with both the miniatures and the show. When I saw Varys on the third episode and then the miniature afterwards, I thought they looked pretty similar, and even Littlefinger kind of had a similar feel.

I just wanted to thank you guys too for keeping such a nice and updated site. It really looks good and I find myself going to it almost daily to see if there are any updates or changes, as inevitably you add things pretty frequently. Very nice work and excellent figures and godlike paint jobs to display them!

Thanks for the kind words Mark.

Wait till our new site launches. It is much cleaner and better!

Jim
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com