{"id":121780,"date":"2026-04-21T10:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=121780"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:22:18","slug":"march-madness-2026-a-look-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2026\/04\/21\/121780-march-madness-2026-a-look-back\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness 2026 – a look back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Already a week has passed since Middle-earth March Madness<\/a> for 2026 came to a close. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, debated, and generally played along! This year our theme was ‘Clash of the Collectibles’; our team of volunteer staffers offered their own favourite collectibles, and then we voted to get that down to 64 items, which became our opening bracket: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three weeks and six rounds of voting ensued. With thousands of votes placed throughout the contest, we saw items we thought might go all the way – such as LEGO sets and Weta environments – fall in earlier rounds. Finally, just two items remained…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stained glass vs DVDs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Talk about a David and Goliath match up! Some of the best selling DVDs of all time – the extended editions of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings<\/em> trilogy, in box set with collectible statues – versus hand-made, original designs from an independent artist, Geek Orthodox<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At first the contest seemed like it was going to be fairly one-sided, with the DVDs taking an early lead. Gradually, though, the stained glass came back. The final vote margin was 56% to 44% , with the winner being…<\/p>\n\n\n

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Congratulations to Geek Orthodox! A worthy champion, as a creator of unique, beautiful pieces – check them out here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how the completed bracket looked:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thanks again to all who joined the fun. If you have ideas for a future March Madness theme, please let us know – email spymaster@theonering.net See you same time, same place, next year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t forget, you can always join the discussion with fellow fans, at the Collectibles channel on our Discord<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Already a week has passed since Middle-earth March Madness for 2026 came to a close. Thanks to all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":121769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3357,1152,163,1192,88,84,1360,198,82,14,197,22,151,1639,1624,3619,18,83,4152,90,89,4060,1359,110,156,159,86,1514,104],"tags":[2917,4282,3060,3135,221,2014,516],"class_list":["post-121780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-blu-ray-merchandise","category-merchandise-books","category-calendars","category-merchandise-clothing","category-merchandise-collectibles","category-collectibles-shop","category-fans-creations","category-merchandise-dvds","category-events","category-fans","category-headlines","category-merchandise-jewelry","category-lego-merchandise-collectibles","category-lego-merchandise-toys","category-march-madness","category-merchandise","category-merchandise-music","category-oscha","category-merchandise-other","category-merchandise-posters","category-recordings","category-shop","category-merchandise-sideshow","category-torn-announcements","category-torn-community","category-merchandise-toys","category-weta-collectibles","category-production-weta-workshop","tag-collecting-the-precious","tag-geek-orthodox","tag-j-r-r-tolkien","tag-middle-earth-march-madness","tag-the-hobbit","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings","tag-weta"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t