Seems like we have had a bunch of period pieces come out lately and a few that are insanely popular. So one would figure that would rub off on the industry. Seeing how long the wait times are amongst the custom sword and scabbard makers I am assuming this is true.

I'm pretty sure the wait time has ways been insanly long. Even the production swords made by Albion has couple months of wait time.

But that's not new, is it?
Waiting times for custom weaponry - or even some of the production stuff - have always been quite long and GoT in that sense only follows the trend that started years ago.

Lord of the Rings, Troy, 300, Gladiator, The Pirate of the Caribbean Films, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood... the list of recent (Year 2000+) more-or-less sword-related films that achieved quite a bit of popularity is endless and their respective merchandise - especially the swords - must have been the first contact to the world of blades for quite a lot of people.

And that's only looking at movies or TV series, videogames or history/fantasy books will also take their toll as well.

I have no data to back this up, more of just a hunch but my guess is that the popularity of these movies and shows rubs off on the industry in the Windlass/MRL space where official or unofficially licensed swords are offered. We certainly see a ton of movie swords at MRL.

I wish it were the opposite. I wish history would rub off on the film/tv industry. :lol: ..........McM

Lord of the Rings probably started the 'modern' boom in film swords. There were quite enough movies with swords before this, sure, but the LOTR films were among the first to really focus on merchandising such distinctive swords. Game of Thrones is just riding the current flow. Sooner or later it'll taper off and we won't have to deal with useless dreck such as the Percy Jackson 2 movie sword. That thing is ghastly...

Anyway, I think the main thing affecting the growth in the sword community that we've seen of late is probably just plain ol' Internet. It has afforded sword-minded people the chance to share our interests and spread the word. I imagine quite a few niche communities have had the same happen.

And with this growth in niche interests by being more able to share them around the world, these interests then start to drive external factors such as film merchandising, sports, popular culture... etc.