And like that, the numbers are halved. Just 32 made it through – which costumes are still in, for Round Two of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth? Here’s how the bracket looks now:
Let’s take a look at some of the battles of Round One. In the Human/Maiar category, the easiest win went to Aragorn’s ‘hero’ Strider costume, which defeated Beorn with 88% of the vote – fellow fan Pavel will be pleased with this victory, as he has a wonderful Strider cosplay (see below). That one is perhaps not surprising; but there are some astonishing results in this region. Four of Eowyn’s costumes started in this region; but only her coronation gown has made it through, defeating Gandalf the Grey’s robe in a very tight battle (51% to 49%). And in one of the biggest upsets of the first round, 16th seed Theoden triumphed over number one seed Saruman; the white wizard could only muster 39% of the vote! The King of Rohan finds himself up against his nephew Eomer in Round Two; show us your Rohan cosplays!
It is time … time to vote in Round One of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth!
Following our initial bracket reveal on last week’s TORn Tuesday, our Wild Card round at the end of last week saw Bard replace the Dwarf Women for a spot in the contest. So now we begin the match ups! Will Theoden’s splendid armour overcome Faramir’s coronation robes? Can the Haradrim defeat the Easterlings? And in an epic confrontation of elvish beauty, which will triumph: Galadriel’s dress in An Unexpected Journey, or Arwen’s gown on the bridge with Aragorn? Here’s how the bracket looks, for Round One of our contest:
We’ve been encouraging you to rally the vote for your favourite costumes, by showing us your cosplays for some of these characters. Let’s take a look at some we’ve received thus far! Voting begins below as well!
As we approach the end of March, once again, TheOneRing.net prepares for our take on ‘sports ball type activities’; yes, Middle-earth March Madness is almost here!
Last year, we had a hotly debated contest to decide the best scene from Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth films. Newly quarantined and locked down, many of us found solace and entertainment in discussing the match ups; and for the first time in MeMM’s history, we hosted live shows to discuss each round. We also shared a look back at all the previous MeMM contests – you can read that article here.
2021 is the TENTH edition of Middle-earth March Madness – and on last night’s TORn Tuesday, we revealed the theme for this year. It is ‘Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth.’ Looking at costumes from Peter Jackson’s two Middle-earth trilogies, we want to know which outfit is your favourite. You can see the four ‘regions’, with 16 entrants in each, below.
Here’s the key thing: we’re hoping for lots of participation from you this year, and particularly, we want to see YOUR versions of these costumes and characters. In choosing from our ‘long list’, to decide the final 64, we thought particularly of all the amazing cosplays we’ve seen over the years. (That’s why the bracket includes characters such as Gollum and the Balrog – not exactly costumes as such, but we have seen some brilliant cosplays for these characters!) We tried to pick costumes which seem to have been popular with cosplayers; and we’d like you to campaign for your favourite. You can do this by sharing pictures of your cosplays; show us video if you have it; tell us about your creative process; whatever you’d like to share! Convince us that THIS is the costume which deserves to win, because it so inspired your own creativity.
You can share your images on our facebook page; you can email them to spymaster@theonering.net; or you can simply tag us on Twitter or Instagram, and use #middleearthbestdressed. As last year, we’ll have live shows to discuss each round, and we hope to share some of your images on these shows. Staffers are already prepping their armour, as they’re expecting some battles royale! Join in the fun: campaign for your favourite, and get ready to vote when the contest launches at the start of next week.
AND – stay tuned for an announcement coming later today, as we mix things up a bit before Middle-earth March Madness 2021 has even got going…
The awesome folks over at BudK have let us know that The Gauntlet of Sauron is now in-stock and ready for purchase. This thing is super cool looking; if you’re into prop replicas, this one will look amazing in your collection.
You can snag this right now for $349 from the BudK website.
Here is the full product description from United Cutlery:
A handmade, fully functional actor-scale reproduction of the gauntlet worn by the Dark Lord Sauron in The Fellowship of the Ring. Strictly limited to 1000 pieces worldwide, each one is presented with a wood wall display featuring a Sauron graphic motif. Crafted of genuine leather and iron, the gauntlet features more than 35 plate mail parts with an iron black finish and Intaglio surface engraving. Includes the One Ring with inscription, crafted in gold-plated metal.
Last year during Comic-Con at Home our friends at Weta Workshop launched the Classic Series. They’ve now added the first statue from The Hobbit Trilogy with a very requested version of this character. Who is the character? None other than Galadriel herself. This stunning version of Galadriel comes from the White Council sequence during The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Fans can pre-order Galadriel right now for $349, with her expected to ship sometime during September of this year.
We’ve once again teamed up with our awesome friends over at Star Ace Toys to look at one of their Defo-Real The Lord of the Rings series statues. What are we looking at today? None other than the Lord of the Rings himself, Sauron. This Sauron, unlike the other pieces in this series so far, does have some polystone aspects. He’s pretty darn detailed, solid paints, and he looks awesome. You can get him right now for $90, from places like our friends at Sideshow Collectibles.
