GOT fans prepare for the end
WINTER is coming for Game of Thrones diehards.
With just two episodes of season eight left to air, ‘Thronees’ – as they call themselves – are sweeping shop shelves of all Got-inspired merchandise to fill their dragon void when the credits roll on the latest instalment.
Office administrator and self-confessed Game of Thrones devotee, Denielle Thompson (pictured), admits she will miss the series once it’s finished, but plans to have regular game nights with fellow fans.
“I will be devastated when it’s over,” Ms Thompson told Dubbo
“Once it’s finished, I’ll probably just re-watch it from the beginning and Eleanor (also pictured) and I are planning to do monthly board game nights.”
Along with her board games, the 35-year-old mother of one also has seven Game of Thronesthemed shirts, two coffee mugs, two colouring-in books, a collection of Pop Vinyl figurines and a family tree poster that links all the characters.
“Anything I see that is Game of Thrones, I get it. The other day I was at the shopping centre and I wasn’t going to buy anything, but I saw a Game of Thrones keyring and I had to have it,” she said.
And while she has spent an uncountable number of hours engrossed in the television show, Ms Thompson is yet to read the novels.
“Once it’s finished, I’ll read the books,” she said.
“The books and the TV series will have the same beginning and same ending, but apparently everything in between is different.”
While there hasn’t been a new book released since 2011,
Rae Craft from The
Book Connection said the series is “always in stock and they just sell all the time”.
“The first three novels were released between 1996 and 2000, so they have been around for an enormous length of time and it’s just become an absolute phenomenon since the series was released.”
Dubbo’s JB Hi-fi media coordinator, Belle Mcguire, said fans have been stocking up on DVD boxsets so they can go back and re-watch the series after the season eight finale.
“We’ve actually got a specific section for all our Game of Thrones stuff because of the release of season eight, and things have literally been flying off the shelves. We have had a crazy amount of stock sold,” Ms Mcguire said.
“It’s not only the fans who are getting ready to binge, but it’s people who haven’t watched it before and they’ve seen the hype online and want to get involved.” EB Games, which sells the Game of Thrones Playstation game, board games, Pop Vinyl figurines and t-shirts, has also seen sales surge.
Retail assistant Alex Ryan said: “One of our best sellers is the Game of Thrones Monopoly version which plays the theme song. That always sells really quickly.”
For those who are yet to be sucked into the vortex (like the author of this article), Game of Thrones is a television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy novel series, “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know it’s one of the world’s most talked about sci-fi sensations, officially knocking The Sopranos off its perch to take out the title of most watched program in HBO history.
In fact, the first episode of season eight, which premiered last month, won a Guinness World Record for being the ‘most in-demand TV premiere.’
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