What’s with all these new Reality Shows based on geeks, geekdom, and the passion of uber-geek fans? We just heard about THE AMAZING RACE producers launching a new series soon called “THE QUEST” all on the heels of FANBOYS screenwriter getting his new show “GEEK OUT” on AMC. Come with us and explore the next wave of television programming tailored to and inspired by our Sci-Fi / Fantasy audience! Welcome aboard our weekly live webcast (every Tuesday at 5:00pm Pacific Time) filled with all things Hobbity and a good deal more. TORn TUESDAY will begin in less than half an hour, hosted by Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and Justin Sewell, bringing you up-to-date info and all the rumors we can fit into an hour. We have Barliman’s Chatroom ready to go and lots of fun planned on our Live Event Page here. See you at 5pm!
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
In celebration of Earth Day, here is a collection of Middle-earth moments in a special BS (Book Spoiler) post in the Main Discussion Board… for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
[TIME and BS entries are maintained and updated by fans of The Lord of the Rings, and are in no way affiliated with <a href="http://www.tolkien-ent.com/">Tolkien Enterprises</a> or the Tolkien Estate. Copyrights and trademarks for the books from which dates and short quotes are taken are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html">fair use</a> clause of the <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/">Copyright Law.</a>]
iTech Post.com: Ancient humans that bear a resemblance to the fictional hobbit creatures apparently had bigger brains than we previously gave them credit for.
The species known as Homo floresiensis was previously thought to have a brain volume of 400 cc, but it was actually 426 cc, bringing their brain size to roughly the same as a chimpanzee. That is, compared to about 1500 cc we currently have as Homo sapiens.
Researchers determined the larger brain size with a high-definition CT scanner.
The remnants of the “hobbits” were discovered on the island of Flores, part of Indonesia, in 2003.
The individuals were roughly three and a half feet tall, and had short legs when compared to their arms and feet.
There once was a little hashtag looking for a cause. Over the past eleven days, #VoteBilbo became a lightning rod of attention and excitement among Ringer fans the world over. In the words of another reporter: “it went beyond viral.” A resounding victory was pulled off by the unlikeliest fandom — an unorthodox lovefest — for an unexpected little hero. Here’s the story of how TheOneRing.net galvanized a remarkable fan audience to achieve a sweet victory!
It started when this year’s MTV Movie Awards announced their vote-in contest for the category “Best Hero” — allowing Instagram and Twitter users to employ hashtags like #VoteIronMan or #VoteHulk — and especially of interest to this phenomenon #VoteBilbo. A few days actually went by without us even noticing there was a contest. Over Easter weekend the staff of TheOneRing.net was working to deliver a great presentation before packed crowds (many hundreds in the standing-room-only hall) at WonderCon, happening right on the tail of a very successful April Fool’s Day prank — so no wonder we were looking elsewhere.
TheOneRing.net first brought attention to the contest on April 3rd with this tweet:
We saw that Kristen Stewart’s character Snow White (from that hunky HUNTSMAN movie) had a stunning 13,556 votes, far more than the other nominees… while poor Mr. Baggins was in very last place with only 226 votes. A pathetic showing that would have me old Gaffer shaking his head in shame.
By using Twitter to muster our troops, within a mere 24 hours we saw a mighty surge of thousands of votes — yes THOUSANDS — and it kept going strong from there. We hit the Twitterverse so hard that #VoteBilbo started trending, everyone outside of our community actually picked up on it, K.Stew quickly lost her lead (causing her fanbase to respond), and thus “The Great Battle of the Fandoms” was in full swing.
We realized that TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN fans were supporting their chosen actress, *not* the character she portrayed, a bit of irony not lost on us. The category “Best Hero” did not really mean “Best Actress You’re A Fan Of From Another Franchise Because You Didn’t Really Watch This Movie.” Their rigorous support for the actress rather than the character made the whole contest a bit of a sham, in that context. Rather unfair, in this Ent’s personal opinion, that a true statement of how we regard our heroes was being skewed so badly. Undoubtedly Twi-hards have been a huge segment of MTV’s target audience, and plenty of naysayers told us that we didn’t have a chance to tip the scales. We were glad to have a challenge: a task to show what genuine fan-love of a heroic character really looks like, with numbers not seen since the Muster of Rohan!
The meteoric trending of #VoteBilbo caught everyone’s attention. Warner Bros. Pictures officially supported the effort with this missive from their Twitter account ‘TheHobbitMovie’ on April 5th, which spurred tens of thousands of new votes:
Our burglar, Bilbo Baggins, is nominated for Best Hero atthe 2013 MTV Movie
The other nominees were floundering: Batman and Catwoman were left in the dust of a deserted Gotham City as Bilbo VS. Snow White became a runaway viral showdown. But the numbers were not quite right. Certain fake Twitter accounts (spam-style “bots”) were discovered processing blank-except-for-the-hashtag #VoteSnowWhite tweets, but they were reported and shut down. Our support for Mr. Baggins was quite organic, and the funny thing was that votes were not coming from some hardcore group of Martin Freeman supporters, though they exist, but rather from Tolkien-lovers who really wanted to make a true statement about Bilbo Baggins.
April 6th proved to be a huge day! The media-watch group WHO TRENDED IT? posted this tweet on April 6th, giving TORn proper credit:
Guess what ! #votebilbo trending in the US ? @theoneringnet did it ! Now, that’s badass. Even as a cold hearted robot, I’m impressed.
Then our friend Emil Johansson at the LOTRProject Blog gave us something masterful: he launched a special page to show statistics of the voting and how it changed in real-time. He tweeted this:
Within his wonderful vote-tracker page we could see exactly what was going on, relative to the timing of our announcements on TheOneRing.net (and our Facebook timeline and Twitter, of course). When there was doubt our votes were less than stellar, we rallied again!
Stars from the LOTR Film Trilogy and even newer actors from THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY jumped on board! Their timing was perfect — and because these actors are actually paying attention to what fans are saying on Twitter, it felt like a genuine grassroots effort was brewing. We had tweets from Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc Brandybuck) and Dean O’Gorman (the dwarf Fili) on the same day Evangeline Lilly (upcoming new character Tauriel) retweeted our comments — pleased as we were to ultimately learn that retweets counted as full votes!):
More ambitious creative folks within our Ringer ranks started posting videos designed to bring a smile to your face as well as playfully jab at Bella Swan — and MTV reported on it, realizing that the race was getting quite aggressive between the two camps. ‘If you liked it then you shoulda put a Ring on it’ had a whole new meaning with Speigel Ei’s Vimeo clip:
“HOBBIT fans went straight for the gut of Team #VoteSnowWhite,
who have to watch as several of the characters from Middle-earth court
Kristen Stewart to their side over Edward Cullen,” declared the MTV blog, and we realized this was indeed a chance to show our resplendent fandom in a unique way. The fact that we have been in love with Tolkien’s HOBBIT characters for 75 years since the book was first published supported the sky-high numbers of votes.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VOTES POURED IN DAILY. When the final weekend of the Awards telecast began on April 13th, we broke 1 million votes. K.Stew voters were trying to keep up; sometimes we crossed above or below their high-end total. Fans started to create one-click Twitter vote buttons, and we supplied a host of #VOTEBILBO avatars and funny images to become viral memes. Fans started creating their own images (with familiar LOLcat fonts) and sharing them.
Our lovely lady friends Kili and Fili from our HAPPY HOBBIT video channel did a fun little P.S.A. style announcement asking Ringers to bring their votes to bear! We were really building momentum as a community. There was more spirited fun to be had with this contest than we first suspected!
Did we have crossover from other fantasy fans? You betcha! *wink* GAME OF THRONES featured our very own Sean Bean (Boromir) in the first season and of course it was appropriate for him to support his halfling friend.
We were not just sending empty or meaningless tweets with a hashtag in place — we wanted to make this relevant. In an effort to really bring our feelings and honest passion to the center stage, TORn decided to host a concentrated “Tweet Quest” on Sunday April 14th, the day of the MTV Movie Awards. During a tightly-concentrated 1-hour block, and then another encore 1-hour, we asked Ringers to declare why Bilbo should be named ‘Best Hero.’ So we put forward the call to arms.
Boy oh boy, did they respond with a flood of hobbity lovin’!
Fans declared things that mattered to us, that mattered to readers, and as lovers of Tolkien we could certainly relate: “#VoteBilbo because he was the one person who willingly let the Ring go, when no one else could,” was my personal favorite sentiment. We have an audience that included older-generation folks who had never used Twitter, so we gave quick and easy instructions to help guide our friends toward their goal. We provided everything we could — and most importantly we gave this effort true SPIRIT.
It was a phenomenal success. In the end the final tally was:
Giving our furry-footed reluctant adventurer a lead of well over 100,000 to claim the win! Although MTV broadcast the announcement of the winner as a throw-away commercial bumper for Axe body spray (indeed it was shown offstage, not really part of the “actual ceremony”), and although no cast member from THE HOBBIT film was present to receive the award, we here at TheOneRing.net were entirely thrilled to have succeeded with a kind of social networking wizardry that was fueled by you, dear readers.
Such a long way to go from only 226 votes! Such an outpouring of love!
One of our volunteer staffers, Magpie, had this to say: “It was like a flash mob. We did it for us (Wedefined as the greater Tolkien fan community with TORn functioning a major player in focusing that fan community). It was a community campaign that was an event in itself.”
Staffer Justin who produces our Live webcasts and our weekly show TORn TUESDAY had this to say: “Over 27,000 Bilbo pictures on
Instagram in one week! Take a look at all the comments and tweets we got, there is something for everyone to run with. Thank you all for making #votebilbo happen. I received several messages at the beginning saying I was ‘crazy’ and it was ‘Folly against Twi-hards,’ ‘Who cares about MTV,’ and ‘What’s the point of a stupid teenage online popularity contest?’ But this is why fans love being fans. Achieving something together. To Prove Their Quality.”
And that, my friends, is indeed the feeling I have at the end of the day. That we have stood up with a flag of unity once again. That we have proven our quality of thinking creatively and acting with great energy! It feels like it was months in the making but it happened over such a very short length of time (making it the more surprising).
The love that brings us together is our love of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works are evergreen. No separation of older to younger generations or access to technology can slant that. The truth will out!
Hulk sad. Too bad.
Batman gave up the ghost. Because we are the most.
Iron Man clad in shame. Shoulda played his own game.
Catwoman felt an itchy pox. Put kitty back in her smelly box.
Snow White drifted. Twi-hards were sifted (out).
But #BilbotheHero wins the day! We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Much too hasty,
Quickbeam
————————–
Follow Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000
Ready to spend some time outdoors? Join Kili to learn a few tips on what to eat and how to avoid getting eaten in the Wild! [Happy Hobbit: Ranger Basics - Episode 15]
The MTV Movie Awards just announced that Bilbo beat out all the other contenders, including Iron Man, The Hulk, Catwoman, Batman, and Snow White, for the coveted “Best Hero” award. A massive fan effort that spanned continents lead to Bilbo’s victory by a margin of more than 100,000 votes. Using the hashtag #votebilbo, fans cast their votes on Twitter and Instagram and forged a dedicated fellowship committed to showing the world that even the smallest person can change the course of the future.
With more than 1.63 million votes, Bilbo was the clear winner, much to the chagrin of legions of Kristen Stewart and Twilight fans who gave our little hobbit a run for the money. In addition to tweeting, fans created thousands of images that they uploaded to Instagram to share their love for our favorite hero. We’ll have a gallery of some of our favorites online soon.
It’s been a true adventure riding the wild voting rollercoaster, and it’s brought many Ringers together and strengthened our community. From #votebilbo, we’re now united under #BilboTheHero. Click to read about how TORn’s MrCere went from thinking this campaign was “harmless but pretty useless,” to wholeheartedly jumping on board the #votebilbo train as, “A funny thing happened during the process: It became really fun on Twitter to #VoteBilbo!”
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Our TORn community all know he’s the bravest little hobbit of them all, but the world needs to know, too! A few days ago, TORn staffer MrCere posted a call to arms. The MTV Movie Awards are asking the public to choose the Best Hero of 2012 using Twitter or Instagram. Our favorite Hobbit, Bilbo, is running neck and neck with (can you believe this?) Snow White. This cannot stand! We need to mobilize our community to show our support for the Master of Bag End.
Use the link above or choose from one of the #votebilbo messages below and tweet your support now! We’ve provided 20 more automatic tweets below. Just click on the vote link and you will be automatically setting up your next tweet. Tweet early, and tweet often. You can also use #votebilbo to share your vote through your Instagram account. MTV says, “Get creative on Instagram—dress up as your favorite hero, tag a selfie, etc. Any photo with the hashtag is a vote, but only the best will be displayed… during the Movie Awards!”
Louisville may have won the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament last night, but the only match-up that Middle-earth fans were watching was that between Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf the Grey. After an initial significant lead, Thorin’s army of fans brought him back from the depths. These two popular Hobbit characters scraped and scrounged for every single vote resulting in an amazingly close final.
As promised, we carefully reviewed the voting process and as it turns out, we are pleased to report there was not a lot of significant over-voting. Any small adjustments made did not affect the final result. So without further delay, we are pleased to announce that the 2013 Middle-earth March Madness Champion is….
See the UPDATE below for final tallies and some additional notes on voting.
Gandalf had the early lead, but Thorin’s army has pulled him into a dramatic 50/50 split! Who will win the 2013 edition of Middle-earth March Madness? Your guess is as good as ours.
A note on voting. We implemented a single vote per user rule in the Elite Eight round. Behind the scenes, we can tell which users are abusing the system and voting much more than once. In all instances, those voters will have their votes stricken and counted only as a single vote. For this reason, we will not have a final result to share until Tuesday morning. Voting ends at 10pm ET tonight, so if you haven’t already voted in this classic match, place your vote today!
We’ve come to it at last. The final match-up of the 2013 Middle-earth March Madness is now set.
The finalists are Gandalf the Grey vs. Thorin Oakenshield.
Thorin’s story in this competition is one of significant achievement. He managed to handle some historic Middle-earth talent by off’ing Fingolfin, Beorn and Smaug. In the semi-finals, Thorin held off a Number 1 seed, Lady Galadriel, with 53% of the vote. He is now riding a wave of popularity into this final match-up with Gandalf.
Gandalf had a bit of a cake-walk in the early rounds of the Angmar Division, easily taking care of Arwen and Merry. He didn’t escape unscathed however. He had a bit more compeition when he faced Gollum and ultimately The One Ring, but he bested both foes. The semi-final match-up with Elrond seemed to be a simple road bump, easily beating the Lord of Rivendell with 80% of the vote.
Now we have a true ‘Hobbit’ final. Who will win? Will Thorin continue to defy the odds and best yet another great of Middle-earth? Will Gandalf finally put an end to Thorin’s streak? Will the Richard Armitage fans out-vote the Ian McKellen fans? So many questions – who will win?!
Voting for the Finals will end on Monday April 8th at 10pm ET. Vote now!
What’s with all these new Reality Shows based on geeks, geekdom, and the passion of uber-geek fans? We just heard about THE AMAZING RACE producers launching a new series soon called “THE QUEST” all on the heels of FANBOYS screenwriter getting his new show “GEEK OUT” on AMC. Come with us and explore the next wave of television programming tailored to and inspired by our Sci-Fi / Fantasy audience! Welcome aboard our weekly live webcast (every Tuesday at 5:00pm Pacific Time) filled with all things Hobbity and a good deal more. TORn TUESDAY will begin in less than half an hour, hosted by Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and Justin Sewell, bringing you up-to-date info and all the rumors we can fit into an hour. We have Barliman’s Chatroom ready to go and lots of fun planned on our Live Event Page here. See you at 5pm!
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
