Episode 39: Pimp My Fandom
Host: kriken
Guest: imifos
Fandom: The Hobbit
Kriken: Welcome to Pimp My Fansom for this episode of Slashcast, our guest today is Imifos.
Imifos: Hi.
Kriken: And what fandom will you be pimping today?
Imifos: I'll be pimping the Hobbit fandom, that is the movie that's just come out.
Kriken:Yes, so I think most people know at this point that The Hobbit is a part of the much larger Lord of the Rings books from Tolkien, but today we will specifically be talking about the Hobbit since the movie has just come out and the fandom has kind. of exploded all over the place.
Imifos: Yeah.
Kriken: But just in case there are people out there that don't know that much, do you want o give us a really quick breakdown of what we are looking at.
Imifos: Yeah sure, so the Hobbit movie that's come out in about a month ago, in December in most places which is based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the first part of trilogy of movies and the basic premise is, Bilbo Baggins who is a hobbit he joins a company a company of dwarves, well Thorin Oakenshield is the main dwarf, he joins the company at the request of Gandalf, so that they can reclaim their homeland Erebor which has been by a dragon Smaug. So that's kind of the main story and it's very episodic and you see, it's basically and adventure story and you see kind of whats happens along the way and they try to get there to reclaim the kingdom.
Kriken: Now so for someone that hasn't had the chance to see the movie , I know at least here in the US at least in some places it's still in theaters, where do you think people will be able to find it otherwise?
Imifos: Well i think, I'm in the UK and it's still playing here as well so you might still have a chance to catch it at the cinema, but if not and you don't want to resort to kind of illegal methods, I think the DVD is rumored to be coming out in March and then an extented edition coming out in Autumn sometime. but it depends on how long you wan tot wait for it.
Kriken: And of course there is always the book!
Imifos: And of course there is always the book, which I highly recommend that as well.
Kriken: Although I will say that, since it is a single book and they doing three movies there is quite a bit of extra added in.
Imifos: Yes, they've added for those kind of familiar with the Lord of the Rings, they've added a lot of material from the appendices in The Return of the King and they've also introduced some of their own story elements as well to create some tension.
Kriken: Now there are quite a few characters here, and we cant through all of them but I think it would be fun if you try to do through all of the dwarves.
Imifos: Oh God. There's Gandalf also I should say who is also in the Lord of the Rings who is the wizard and he is the one gets Bilbo who is the Hobbit to join the dwarf company. And then the main dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield who is played by Richard Armitage, oh yeah and I should say that Bilbo is played by Martin Freeman in the movie, Thorin is played by Richard Armitage and he is the king, so basically he is the one who started this whole quest so he can claim back his kingdom and the ones that the fandom has kind of fallen over for is Fili and Kili who are his nephews and then there's thirteen dwarves in total shall I go through all of them?
Kriken: We'll mention their names cause they are fun to say. There are a couple of tumblr posts, that are very useful for getting to know the dwarves, that ties together with family links. Because when you are in a particular family your names all rhyme.
Imifos: Yes it is very handy that way! Ok so there is Balin and Dwalin, then there is Bifur and Bofur and Bombur and Oin and Gloin and Nori and Dori and Ori. And am I missing any? I think that's all.
Kriken: Alright so, with all of these characters we obviously have lot of potential, but what are the main pairings that you are seeing coming out of the fandom?
Imifos: Ok, yes. And I should say that also in the movie, a lot of these characters are now fully developed. There is a lot more focus on some of these characters, which is probably what has resulted to certain pairing as well. Um, but yes, the main pairing which seems to have exploded is Bilbo/Thorin also known as Bagginshield and the secondary, which may overtake it who know, is Fili/Kili who I should also say are brothers, so I dont know if anyone has a problem with that. Um but that is Durincest the ship name. So those are the two main ones when it comes to the dwarves and Bilbo.
Kriken: Well and for each of those,c an you tell us what made fandom latch on to them, what made them so slashable?
Imifos: Yeah, well I dont think many people went into the movie expecting to come out with any slash pairings... For those who have seen the Lord of the Rings, I don't think Gimli was sort of inherently sexy in the Lord of the Rings and I dont think people were expecting to have slashy feeling coming out of the Hobbit. But it kinda seems to have taken fandom by storm a little bit, probably much to do with Martin Freeman.
Kriken: Yeah pretty much.
Imifos: Yeah.
Kriken: I will say that despite the fact that Gimli wasn't the most hansomly portayed character in the Lord of the Rings that didn't stop anyone from shipping him with Legolas.
Imifos: No, that ships itself really. No I think especially with Bilbo and Thorin it's kind of there in the movie I guess. I mean even Martin Freemna himself, he was asked the question why do you think that Bilbo went along with the dwarves because it's not really his nature to go adventuring and his answer was, well maybe he fell in love with Thorin. (laughs) Yeah that was actually his answer. So i think that's official endorsement. Um but also this is also in the book the dwarves sing a lot of songs, but Thorin he sings a song when they are at Bilbo's house, to get him to come with the, and it's Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold is the song. And you kind of see Bilbo undergo a change when he listens to that songs, because it's all about longing for home and this is kind of what seems to shift his mind to join with the dwarves. So there is a lot of there already in the movie and I dont want to spoil anything but there is something that happens towards the end of the movie and has resulted in a lot of shippy, slashy gifs all over tumblr and it pretty wonderful. It also helps that the actors are quite pretty.
Kriken: Yeah that never hurts.
Imifos: Yeah that definitely doesn't hurt at all. And yeah, it just they seem to kind of have a bit of a clash these two characters, because Bilbo want to prove himself to Thorin because Thorin is kind of looking down on the hobbit, like why is he here with us, he is not fit for his quest and you see Bildo constantly trying to earn his place and improve in the eye of Thorin shall we say. So that probably has something to do with the shippiness.
Kriken: Now what about Fili/Kili?
Imifos: Fili & Kili I think, it's probably something to do with Aidan Turner who plays Kili, I don't want to get this wrong, being absolutely adolable. And they kind of work like clockwork these two together. They are kind of inseperable throughout he whole film and you see them constantly cracking jokes or fighting together things like that. So yeah and yeah just adorableness. I think it's basically not very sophisticated.
Kriken: Alright so where would you recommend people who are new to the fandom, would go to look for the good stuff? Whether it be gifsets or fic?
Imifos: So I am mainly tumblr based and there is absolutely tons of stuff. I mean if you are on tumblr you've probably already seen tons of stuff on your dashboard to be honest, whether you want to or not. So you can just, you can look at the main hobbit tag or bagginshield tag or durincest tag all those are good to go. And then on AO3 under the Hobbit 2012, because there is a few, because obviously there are the books as well. But yes The Hobbit 2012 is the one for the movie. And on LJ, there is a news community called Middle Earth News, but that aslo has stuff for Lord of the Rings so it depends on whether you are interested in that as well, and there is also the HobbitFilmFic community which is just about The Hobbit. On LJ, there are some new communities, I mean this fandom is only like a month old so a lot of these communities are quite new, um but there is already tons of fic it seems, so some new communites are fili/kili that's on LJ and Heirs of Durin, which I think is a bit older and there is also the hobbit kink meme and that's hobbit_kink and that's on LJ.
Kriken: So when you go to all these places you must me inundated with all of these fanworks. Do you have a couple, that would be really good for people that are new.
Imifos: Yeah, I should say that because the fandom is really quite new, apart from one shots, which personally I don't really read that much, I prefer kind of plotty fic, most of the fic that's out there is not completed yet so if you prefer completed fic you are better of waiting a little bit longer or focusing on oneshots, but some I've reading and loving are:
An Unexpexted Addition by Karategal, ahh how do I say this without spoiling, it takes place after the end of the Hobbit book so maybe if you ahvent read the book it might not be the best place, but if you have it's brilliant. So it basically Bilbo returns to Erebor which is the kingdom that they've reclaimed with Frodo who has been orphaned, because of course Biblo is Frodo's uncle to tie it in with the Lord of the rings and it's absolutely adorable and that is Bagginshield.
For one that is actually taking place during the events of the film is Beneatht eh Mountains Music Woke by EmilianaDarling and it's all written by Thorin's POV and he realises that he has certain feelings for a certain hobbit. And she just has one of the best written Thorins that are out there I think, just kind of awkward and abrupt which is exactly how be is both in the movie and in the book, and just protective of Bilbo. And it has a wonderful slow build up to Bagginshield which is brilliant.
Then is you wanted some modern AU that is not fantasy related, there is the Sons of Durin by KivlinEngle and its, there's kind of a joke in the movie where Thorin calls Bilbo a grocer, and she's actually made hi m a grocer in the fic. But it's actually, I mean that's probably the only joke, it's actually quite an angsty fic. Um yeah but if you like your AU that's excellent.
Then for something a little bit lighter there is Thorn Oakenshield's Majestic Diary by fruitsie, which is absolutely hysterical. It's thorin keeps a Bridget Jones- esque diary which focused on being majestic and his crush on Bilbo. It's excellent.
My absolutely favourite one at the moment is the Sleeping Series by Keelywolfe who if you are a sherlokian you probably recognise her, she's incredible. And that is both Thorin/Bilbo and Fili/Kili so you get a bit of both, and it's pretty much the hottest thing written in this fandom in my opinion. Yeah just go read it. And i has the novelty of featuring bottom!Thorin and you don't see that often enough in my opinion. Please if anyone has any recs for bottom!Thorin please send them me, cause I want o read more of it, please!
Kriken: Do you have any gifsets, or vids or mixes or anything like that? Other types of fanwork that you really liked?
Imifos: There is some art out there that I, I mean again if you go on the Hobbit tag on tumblr you will find tons of it, some of my favourites are the stuff that gingerhaze has done on the Hobbit, I mean she is brilliant in everything really, but yeah it's pretty amusing. And a brilliant one is, this is not very shippy but it's just funny is Thorin holding Fili like in the Lion King film, yeah over the cliff, and that's done by agehachou over on tumblr, and there is a really nice hot fanart of Kili and Kili kissing and that's by kaciart on tumblr. So yeah those are great, but pretty much the hobbit tag and you will find tons upon tons of stuff. People have been very creative in a very short amount of time it's brilliant.
Kriken: And do you have, well for anyone that maybe has only seen the movie hasn't read the movie, or maybe someone that's coming into this with a completely blank slate, do you ave any recommendation for them any last words that you'd like to say?
Imifos: Yeah I would say that if you've only seen the movie, and you don't want to be spoilt for what happens because something pretty significant happens at the end of the book, um it's quite hard to avoid it, so I would probably suggest maybe read the book, because I dont think you'll be able to not get spoilt unfortunately. this is the only bad thing, sorry!
Kriken: No, for old fandoms like these that cross all kinds of boundaries when it comes to types, when you get books and movies and especially when they span over decades it's really hard so. It's some good advise.
Imifos: Yeah the book has been out since 1937 and even in discussion you probably cant avoid finding out what happens at the end. So yeah just read it. And I know that Tolkien's writing can be a bit tricky, but the Hobbit is very stylistically quite different to the Lord of the Rings and it's much simpler cause it was always meant to be a children's book. so if you tried reading Lord of the Rings and you were put off by the writing don't necessarily write off the Hobbit because it is quite different stylistically and it'd much more jovial and amusing and adventures and yeah there's not nearly as many names as the Lord of the Rings or songs.
Kriken: Alright so thank you very much.
Imifos: It's my pleasure.
Kriken: If any of you are fans of the Hobbit and have any additional recommendations we'd love to hear them. you can find us on our livejournal, our tumblr or on our website and if you want to Pimp your Fandom on slashcast you can leave your comment on the post show post or email us at islashdoyou @ gmail.com Thanks for listening.
Transcribed by: imifos
Guest: imifos
Fandom: The Hobbit
Kriken: Welcome to Pimp My Fansom for this episode of Slashcast, our guest today is Imifos.
Imifos: Hi.
Kriken: And what fandom will you be pimping today?
Imifos: I'll be pimping the Hobbit fandom, that is the movie that's just come out.
Kriken:Yes, so I think most people know at this point that The Hobbit is a part of the much larger Lord of the Rings books from Tolkien, but today we will specifically be talking about the Hobbit since the movie has just come out and the fandom has kind. of exploded all over the place.
Imifos: Yeah.
Kriken: But just in case there are people out there that don't know that much, do you want o give us a really quick breakdown of what we are looking at.
Imifos: Yeah sure, so the Hobbit movie that's come out in about a month ago, in December in most places which is based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the first part of trilogy of movies and the basic premise is, Bilbo Baggins who is a hobbit he joins a company a company of dwarves, well Thorin Oakenshield is the main dwarf, he joins the company at the request of Gandalf, so that they can reclaim their homeland Erebor which has been by a dragon Smaug. So that's kind of the main story and it's very episodic and you see, it's basically and adventure story and you see kind of whats happens along the way and they try to get there to reclaim the kingdom.
Kriken: Now so for someone that hasn't had the chance to see the movie , I know at least here in the US at least in some places it's still in theaters, where do you think people will be able to find it otherwise?
Imifos: Well i think, I'm in the UK and it's still playing here as well so you might still have a chance to catch it at the cinema, but if not and you don't want to resort to kind of illegal methods, I think the DVD is rumored to be coming out in March and then an extented edition coming out in Autumn sometime. but it depends on how long you wan tot wait for it.
Kriken: And of course there is always the book!
Imifos: And of course there is always the book, which I highly recommend that as well.
Kriken: Although I will say that, since it is a single book and they doing three movies there is quite a bit of extra added in.
Imifos: Yes, they've added for those kind of familiar with the Lord of the Rings, they've added a lot of material from the appendices in The Return of the King and they've also introduced some of their own story elements as well to create some tension.
Kriken: Now there are quite a few characters here, and we cant through all of them but I think it would be fun if you try to do through all of the dwarves.
Imifos: Oh God. There's Gandalf also I should say who is also in the Lord of the Rings who is the wizard and he is the one gets Bilbo who is the Hobbit to join the dwarf company. And then the main dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield who is played by Richard Armitage, oh yeah and I should say that Bilbo is played by Martin Freeman in the movie, Thorin is played by Richard Armitage and he is the king, so basically he is the one who started this whole quest so he can claim back his kingdom and the ones that the fandom has kind of fallen over for is Fili and Kili who are his nephews and then there's thirteen dwarves in total shall I go through all of them?
Kriken: We'll mention their names cause they are fun to say. There are a couple of tumblr posts, that are very useful for getting to know the dwarves, that ties together with family links. Because when you are in a particular family your names all rhyme.
Imifos: Yes it is very handy that way! Ok so there is Balin and Dwalin, then there is Bifur and Bofur and Bombur and Oin and Gloin and Nori and Dori and Ori. And am I missing any? I think that's all.
Kriken: Alright so, with all of these characters we obviously have lot of potential, but what are the main pairings that you are seeing coming out of the fandom?
Imifos: Ok, yes. And I should say that also in the movie, a lot of these characters are now fully developed. There is a lot more focus on some of these characters, which is probably what has resulted to certain pairing as well. Um, but yes, the main pairing which seems to have exploded is Bilbo/Thorin also known as Bagginshield and the secondary, which may overtake it who know, is Fili/Kili who I should also say are brothers, so I dont know if anyone has a problem with that. Um but that is Durincest the ship name. So those are the two main ones when it comes to the dwarves and Bilbo.
Kriken: Well and for each of those,c an you tell us what made fandom latch on to them, what made them so slashable?
Imifos: Yeah, well I dont think many people went into the movie expecting to come out with any slash pairings... For those who have seen the Lord of the Rings, I don't think Gimli was sort of inherently sexy in the Lord of the Rings and I dont think people were expecting to have slashy feeling coming out of the Hobbit. But it kinda seems to have taken fandom by storm a little bit, probably much to do with Martin Freeman.
Kriken: Yeah pretty much.
Imifos: Yeah.
Kriken: I will say that despite the fact that Gimli wasn't the most hansomly portayed character in the Lord of the Rings that didn't stop anyone from shipping him with Legolas.
Imifos: No, that ships itself really. No I think especially with Bilbo and Thorin it's kind of there in the movie I guess. I mean even Martin Freemna himself, he was asked the question why do you think that Bilbo went along with the dwarves because it's not really his nature to go adventuring and his answer was, well maybe he fell in love with Thorin. (laughs) Yeah that was actually his answer. So i think that's official endorsement. Um but also this is also in the book the dwarves sing a lot of songs, but Thorin he sings a song when they are at Bilbo's house, to get him to come with the, and it's Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold is the song. And you kind of see Bilbo undergo a change when he listens to that songs, because it's all about longing for home and this is kind of what seems to shift his mind to join with the dwarves. So there is a lot of there already in the movie and I dont want to spoil anything but there is something that happens towards the end of the movie and has resulted in a lot of shippy, slashy gifs all over tumblr and it pretty wonderful. It also helps that the actors are quite pretty.
Kriken: Yeah that never hurts.
Imifos: Yeah that definitely doesn't hurt at all. And yeah, it just they seem to kind of have a bit of a clash these two characters, because Bilbo want to prove himself to Thorin because Thorin is kind of looking down on the hobbit, like why is he here with us, he is not fit for his quest and you see Bildo constantly trying to earn his place and improve in the eye of Thorin shall we say. So that probably has something to do with the shippiness.
Kriken: Now what about Fili/Kili?
Imifos: Fili & Kili I think, it's probably something to do with Aidan Turner who plays Kili, I don't want to get this wrong, being absolutely adolable. And they kind of work like clockwork these two together. They are kind of inseperable throughout he whole film and you see them constantly cracking jokes or fighting together things like that. So yeah and yeah just adorableness. I think it's basically not very sophisticated.
Kriken: Alright so where would you recommend people who are new to the fandom, would go to look for the good stuff? Whether it be gifsets or fic?
Imifos: So I am mainly tumblr based and there is absolutely tons of stuff. I mean if you are on tumblr you've probably already seen tons of stuff on your dashboard to be honest, whether you want to or not. So you can just, you can look at the main hobbit tag or bagginshield tag or durincest tag all those are good to go. And then on AO3 under the Hobbit 2012, because there is a few, because obviously there are the books as well. But yes The Hobbit 2012 is the one for the movie. And on LJ, there is a news community called Middle Earth News, but that aslo has stuff for Lord of the Rings so it depends on whether you are interested in that as well, and there is also the HobbitFilmFic community which is just about The Hobbit. On LJ, there are some new communities, I mean this fandom is only like a month old so a lot of these communities are quite new, um but there is already tons of fic it seems, so some new communites are fili/kili that's on LJ and Heirs of Durin, which I think is a bit older and there is also the hobbit kink meme and that's hobbit_kink and that's on LJ.
Kriken: So when you go to all these places you must me inundated with all of these fanworks. Do you have a couple, that would be really good for people that are new.
Imifos: Yeah, I should say that because the fandom is really quite new, apart from one shots, which personally I don't really read that much, I prefer kind of plotty fic, most of the fic that's out there is not completed yet so if you prefer completed fic you are better of waiting a little bit longer or focusing on oneshots, but some I've reading and loving are:
An Unexpexted Addition by Karategal, ahh how do I say this without spoiling, it takes place after the end of the Hobbit book so maybe if you ahvent read the book it might not be the best place, but if you have it's brilliant. So it basically Bilbo returns to Erebor which is the kingdom that they've reclaimed with Frodo who has been orphaned, because of course Biblo is Frodo's uncle to tie it in with the Lord of the rings and it's absolutely adorable and that is Bagginshield.
For one that is actually taking place during the events of the film is Beneatht eh Mountains Music Woke by EmilianaDarling and it's all written by Thorin's POV and he realises that he has certain feelings for a certain hobbit. And she just has one of the best written Thorins that are out there I think, just kind of awkward and abrupt which is exactly how be is both in the movie and in the book, and just protective of Bilbo. And it has a wonderful slow build up to Bagginshield which is brilliant.
Then is you wanted some modern AU that is not fantasy related, there is the Sons of Durin by KivlinEngle and its, there's kind of a joke in the movie where Thorin calls Bilbo a grocer, and she's actually made hi m a grocer in the fic. But it's actually, I mean that's probably the only joke, it's actually quite an angsty fic. Um yeah but if you like your AU that's excellent.
Then for something a little bit lighter there is Thorn Oakenshield's Majestic Diary by fruitsie, which is absolutely hysterical. It's thorin keeps a Bridget Jones- esque diary which focused on being majestic and his crush on Bilbo. It's excellent.
My absolutely favourite one at the moment is the Sleeping Series by Keelywolfe who if you are a sherlokian you probably recognise her, she's incredible. And that is both Thorin/Bilbo and Fili/Kili so you get a bit of both, and it's pretty much the hottest thing written in this fandom in my opinion. Yeah just go read it. And i has the novelty of featuring bottom!Thorin and you don't see that often enough in my opinion. Please if anyone has any recs for bottom!Thorin please send them me, cause I want o read more of it, please!
Kriken: Do you have any gifsets, or vids or mixes or anything like that? Other types of fanwork that you really liked?
Imifos: There is some art out there that I, I mean again if you go on the Hobbit tag on tumblr you will find tons of it, some of my favourites are the stuff that gingerhaze has done on the Hobbit, I mean she is brilliant in everything really, but yeah it's pretty amusing. And a brilliant one is, this is not very shippy but it's just funny is Thorin holding Fili like in the Lion King film, yeah over the cliff, and that's done by agehachou over on tumblr, and there is a really nice hot fanart of Kili and Kili kissing and that's by kaciart on tumblr. So yeah those are great, but pretty much the hobbit tag and you will find tons upon tons of stuff. People have been very creative in a very short amount of time it's brilliant.
Kriken: And do you have, well for anyone that maybe has only seen the movie hasn't read the movie, or maybe someone that's coming into this with a completely blank slate, do you ave any recommendation for them any last words that you'd like to say?
Imifos: Yeah I would say that if you've only seen the movie, and you don't want to be spoilt for what happens because something pretty significant happens at the end of the book, um it's quite hard to avoid it, so I would probably suggest maybe read the book, because I dont think you'll be able to not get spoilt unfortunately. this is the only bad thing, sorry!
Kriken: No, for old fandoms like these that cross all kinds of boundaries when it comes to types, when you get books and movies and especially when they span over decades it's really hard so. It's some good advise.
Imifos: Yeah the book has been out since 1937 and even in discussion you probably cant avoid finding out what happens at the end. So yeah just read it. And I know that Tolkien's writing can be a bit tricky, but the Hobbit is very stylistically quite different to the Lord of the Rings and it's much simpler cause it was always meant to be a children's book. so if you tried reading Lord of the Rings and you were put off by the writing don't necessarily write off the Hobbit because it is quite different stylistically and it'd much more jovial and amusing and adventures and yeah there's not nearly as many names as the Lord of the Rings or songs.
Kriken: Alright so thank you very much.
Imifos: It's my pleasure.
Kriken: If any of you are fans of the Hobbit and have any additional recommendations we'd love to hear them. you can find us on our livejournal, our tumblr or on our website and if you want to Pimp your Fandom on slashcast you can leave your comment on the post show post or email us at islashdoyou @ gmail.com Thanks for listening.
Transcribed by: imifos