What do you think about Amazon sending these "superfans" to events where they show them new footage after a day of the red carpet treatment? Do you think you can remain unbiased after meeting the showrunners and getting free stuff? Let me know your thoughts below, and as always, thanks for watching :)

“There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

By trashing Peter Jacksons movies they exposed themselves even more as people who have no clue.

Tolkien has readers, not "superfans". He wrote mythology rather than an epic and his work is more comparible to Homer's than say Rowling's. His readers are more concerned with the history and structure of his world. Which is why the appendices are so important to them.

American companies really over estimate the power of influencers. If the series is garbage those few people who follow those influencer's advice will drop it before episode 2 airs.

I remember watching the Dusty Wheel, Naeblis and Daniel Greene at the WoT premiere and them all telling us afterwards that we were going to 'love' the show. I was so relieved and happy because I trusted them. The day the show aired I was actually shaking with excitement. I'd waited so many years and now the books I'd loved for decades was going to be there on the screen. I was so upset at the end of the 1st episode that I cried. Lesson learned and will never be forgotten.

When these "influencers" lose all their subscribers they can wear their waterproof jackets to deflect their tears, use the camera to take a photo of what it looks like to lose your self-respect, and use the journal to write their apology note to the supporters they took for granted.

It honestly disgusts me how disrespectful Amazon are treating Tolkiens lore and the real fans who love either the books or the films.

Good thing is I don't need influencers and "super fans" to tell me how I should feel about anything. I can watch and draw my own conclusions for myself.

You're spot-on about the nature of Access Media. On a much smaller scale than this, I've been through what happens when a company running an event doesn't like what you have to say about it afterwards. They flooded my feed with negative comments, turned good friends against me, and even threatened legal action. Problem is, everything I said was 100% true.

I dont care what Amazon say it looks crap and they do not respect the fans.

I'd never be invited to something like that, but if I was, I'd find some way to tell my real opinion without being overtly negative. "Oh yeah, tyhe event was great, and looks like Amazon is set to repeat their success of Wheel of Time!"

Let’s call this what it is: a bribe.

I spent a semester in England for college. I went to Oxford with friends and, unknown to me, it happened to be the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. There was an awesome display of original, handwritten pages and illustrations from the early drafts, as well as information on the man himself. I purchased a hard copy of The Hobbit and was thrilled to be in a place of revered history. I hated the liberties taken in The Hobbit trilogy because they were so far out in left field. The liberties that were taken in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, however, were somewhat understandable considering the time constraints of the media (who can sit through a 4-5 hour movie without bathroom breaks?). The only thing I took exception to was Tree Beard's reluctance to get involved with Saruman. Tolkien wrote these stories to provide a fitting mythology based on British history. If you want to create a mythology to cover modern sensitivities, create your own. Don't deconstruct an existing creation to your vision of how things ought to have been. Thank you for standing with us in this.

I really like what you said about it being hard to tear apart someone's work who you have met in person and see as a friendly human being. You are absolutely right.

This is how you know what Amazon & the “Rings of Power” show runners are doing is intentionally dishonest. If you’re confident in the quality of what you’re making & truly BELIEVE you’re doing Justice to Tolkien’s work, you invite people who have been publicly critical or worried, with huge subscriber bases, that have integrity, like Nerdrotic, etc. to this event, to win them over & get them on board. Unless, you already know what you made, clearly won’t do that? ie. I don’t think Peter Jackson would have been apprehensive at all, to show his LOTR trilogy to even the most ardent Tolkien fan & discuss it with them, prior to it’s release? Because he had confidence in what he made & in what he was trying to do.

The level of malignant arrogance in all of this production and behind the scene sabotage is astounding and will be studied like star wars for decades

PJ LOTR extended version watch party on the day ROP releases anyone?

NAILED IT! One of my favorite influencers was part of that Wheel of Time caravan & was flown out. He stated the show was good & stood by his opinion. I was flabbergasted, he had hardly zero criticism of that show which completely insulted the book series which founded his channel. Branden Sandersen was bought by Amazon too! Fuck that, i saw through the bullshit & that show SUCKS so hard it isn’t even compared closely to those books. Both of these individuals lost HUGE respect from me, I unfollowed their channels & will never read a Sandersen book again

I cannot wait for the shitstorm of anger from LOTR fans like myself after this despicable disgrace eventually comes out.

Imagine wearing the rings of power merch - unironically

I work at a company where we have to sign a policy to keep us in line with anti-bribery laws. I'm the kind of nerd who will sometimes go and actually read the things and let me tell you, there's a lot to it. A mug would be an acceptable kind of gift. A jacket with a logo, fine. A trip to tour Tolkien's old stomping grounds? That would be a big, easy no-no where I work. But, I guess the entertainment industry has a different definition of bribery.

the thing that I do not understand is what do they hope to accomplish with all this warring with the massive worldwide fandom. Outside of this fandom not many will watch this show and they have ensured that the massive worldwide fandom will never watch this show.

I'm glad you're exposing this. It sucks to have Amazon literally hijacking the existing world and community that I love. After a certain point you can't go back. Anytime I want to talk about the stuff Tolkien actually made all of this will be lurking across the body of that like an unavoidable cancer. Tolkien is something special. Amazon is a modern mega corporation rife with the ideologies and biased of their stakeholders.

I was waiting for Nerdrotic Nooner, so I am here now and enjoying your current video. Bravo, Disparu! I Abhorrent These Dishonourable Shills, Socially Criminal.

No amount of influencer spending or PR spinning will change the fact Amazon has made this show more about wokeness than Middle Earth and this show will fail accordingly for the misdeeds of it's masters who dared to spit on Tolkien's grave with this mockery of his work.

The fact these guys can be bought with a trip and some trinkets is sad and shows how little their word is worth. We should take note of everyone that went and has been bought by Amazon, they should be publicly shamed. Thank you for exposing this brazen bribing of these supposed Tolkien fans. If you can be bought for so little you are not a fan.

Very true bribery 👍 great video dude

What I found interesting with WOT was how many content creators didn't put out much content while the show was on. No good, no bad, just silence. Then it was back to just book content. Hmmmm.... Anyone who had a negative opinion was labeled racist or misogynistic. Pathetic.

I am a huge Middle-earth fan, and I have followed many of these sites and content creators for years. Sites and people who have created good communities and made good content. And I am shocked how fast they turn their back on what they stood for over. Suddenly they all praise Amazon, and no criticism is allowed. Even some of them that did utter some criticism some months ago now suddenly praise Amazon and their upcoming show. Suspicious? If what they saw was so great why can't they argue that, instead of all these strange things about the showrunners beings nice people etc. I am glad you expose these cutthroats and turncoats.

And it will go a step further when the show drops. Fan sites will be manically deleting negative comments, just like dragonmount did with Wheel of Time

This same effect happened with Cyberpunk. A lot of media fans were invited to exclusive events, and they hyped the shit out of the game as a result. Even though it was all an illusion with layers of conflicts of interest.

"Everyone agreed as soon as they started handing out bundles of cash off camera!". I'd love to see the contract they signed requiring them to say nothing but nice things or get sued. By the way, in businesses I've worked in as far back as I can remember it's called 'influencing the influencers', because companies have always had people they rely on the opinion of and if you bribe that person, you get the contract. Nowadays, the public has their opinionometers too. Businesses will dress it up as 'showing appreciation to these people for their time', but it's bribery, simple as that. The access hook is a side effect of the public being fluid, and puts these public influencers in a very precarious place once they bite the hook.

Honestly, the only way to stop Amazon from raping Tolkien is for everyone to not watch it. But, to quote the movie: “The hearts of men are easily corrupted... And the ring of power has a will of its own.” No one has the balls to join me in Boycotting this trash.

I wanna watch this so bad but still at work and have to do groceries ... hahaha

Your reporting is top notch. This video gives me hope for you when you eventually look into the deeper world and outside the bubble of entertainment. You have a very valuable set of skills for figuring the world out. Never take them at their word and always look at the bigger picture.

Tbh, I don't care about so called "superfans" or fansites, Id read Tolkien before the 80s turned up. I know enough on Tolkien to make my decision without their bought opinion. RoP ain't Tolkien, it's a British Leyland Austin Metro with a Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstacy nailed on.

An upload on my birthday? Thanks for the gift man ;)

Totally agree with all the well explained arguments in this video. What Amazon does right now is very scary and sad....

Wish I was there at the preview and the Q&A. I'd have no qualms about pointing out problematic things I see or questioning the directors/show runners intent. I believe strongly enough in upholding the integrity of Tolkien's work that I wouldn't be ashamed even if they kicked me out.

More people NEED to watch your videos on this topic. So many Tolkien content creators and "scholars" have lost all credibility through this, along with the respect myself and many others. It's been thoroughly disappointing to see so many people I've followed over the years sell their souls to a soulless gigantic megacorporation just to feel like they're accepted by people who are diametrically opposed to everything that Tolkien stood for. The same people who screech about Tolkien having been a "racist, sexist homophobic bigot" will unashamedly and unironically use his name and intellectual property to sell you this garbage, and unfortunately I feel like too many people will buy it not knowing any better. Please keep these videos coming.

The beatings will STOP!!! When moral improves.

"One Ring to rule them all One ring to find them One ring to bring them all And in the darkness bind them" The ring verse perfectly encapsulates what Amazon has done with these Tolkien "influencers". A ring given to each one of them, and they were all dragged in the dark pits of Gorgoroth!

Am unsubbing from every LOTR shill I used to watch

This is like when all of those websites and twitter weirdos from access media told us how The Last Jedi was going to be the best Star Wars movie.

Yes to this! I saw that Nerd of the Rings video yesterday and I was baffled... I can't believe that they don't even think about that it's not going to effect them! Thanks for bringing this up.

I wonder if this will be like Batwoman and the sex and city reboot. where no1 is watching the shows but many are watching the reviews of youtubers who report on awful it is are getting huge views

You were great on FNT @Disparu!!! A welcome addition to the vocal side of the fellowship! I have also been watching FNT for years, but I don't know that I will ever change gears and become a content creator, so I will support those with talent such as yourself who take the leap. Good on ya!

They only saw 20 minutes of selected footage of an entire series, and 20 min is enough for them to state that this fanfic will be good ? And the showrunners have a job to do, of course they will try to sell their product no matter if it's good or not. Their "enthusiasm" doesn't mean anything at all. They can say and conveniently show good things now using popular channels as damage control, and when the final product comes out it can still be crap. What a joke !

A content creator that I have followed for years was in this group and took a few posts to admit that the trip to England was on someone else's dime and not just a vacation. And that the show runners were awesome people. My disappointment in this sell-out is deep and therefore I will no longer be following the creator. No matter what or how much any shill says, this series is an insult to the professor and I will not be watching Amazon's Abracadabra.

What I find really interesting is that they took them to all the places associated with Tolkien, I thought they canceled him. I thought they had to change all of his work because it didn't reflect the modern era and he's a racist to boot.

Nice analysis. Thanks for taking the time and effort to make this and share it.

Oh lord let me suffer in peace

Yes. Thank you for this analysis. The passion, money, quality, and even knowledge of the source material is irrelevant. The point is this: the showrunners believe that Tolkien's world view is flawed and needs to be updated to progressive sensibilities. Secondly, they appear to believe that legacy fans are bigots who need be be browbeaten into accepting the showrunner's world view.

I think it's impossible to not be bias after all that. Cool video I didn't know about this

Thank you for your video!! I had friends that went there and I was like " HOW could you not see what they are actually doing??" .. Thank you ✨

As an engineer, I can't as much as accept a basic pen without adding it to a register of 'gifts', so those gift bags are defiantly an interest.

So in essence... Annatar (Amazon) is trying to woo the elves (influences) by granting them gifts. I would say history is repeating itself... except LotR is not history.

Thankyou Disparu. Keep up the good work dude. I'm loving your content.

As a brazilian, im sorry for my stoopid comrades.

Great content as ever. You made me laugh out loud at the end, because at 10.53 min i could have sworn, you said " i think to get through all this stuff and still be objective is NYNEAVE at best" ! would have been a hell of a word play, but only have my ears to blame :o)

Great insight on this issue, eloquent as always.. Well done mate!!

Amazon can't wine and dine each Tolkien fan. They have bought themselves great review scores and a guaranteed first wave of positive reviews, but if the show is dreck, all the hype will be very short lived. And then it all becomes a prolonged battle vs reality, like what's happening with Star Trek.

I really think influencers should have to disclose when they’ve been paid in access and gifts, the same way they would be legally obligated to if money had actually traded hands.

Saw Disparu on Friday Night Tights, subscribed. Enough said. Great content.

Like many, I consider Tolkien's work to be incredible and also consider the film's to be lightning in a bottle. We won't see films of that caliber again for decades...I will not watch a single episode of this shit. Shame on you Amazon.

I saw an article in my newsfeed with the title ' overwhelming amount of fans are excited for the new Rings of power' , now normally I would just laugh, shake my head and move on but this time I actually took the time to stop and report it as fake news. These people are literally lying and pushing that people loved their trailer when in fact the vast majority of people hated it.

Whenever I see a new Disparu video on LotR: TROP, I say to myself just like Christopher Plummer in Star Trek VI: "The game is afoot"!

The sad truth is, Amazon has invested a lot of money into destroying Tolkiens story. Its destiny lies down the same path as Star Wars and Star Trek. We've seen this clown rodeo before, and sadly I'm sure we'll see it again.

bro i loved it, u earned my sub

The fact that they signed an NDA says it all for me. If RoP was confident in what they were sharing they shouldn't have needed an NDA.

Personally, if they have to "buy" their fans then I don't want anything to do with it. If one's allegiance can be bought they're not much of a person, are they?

Glad you're still covering this. With everything happening lately, they thought we'd just forget this abomination.

Love your takes rock on

They may also be trying for a disconnect between the free stuff admission and the review. One month you state you got free stuff, next month the review but no mention of the free stuff. People watching who don't go back and check the old posts may not realize their watching paid reviewers. But the reviewers can still claim the told everyone about the free stuff. It's similar to 'news' organizations who post giant fake headlines then post page 46 corrections weeks later.

BOOM!!! You nailed it!!! I just commented on the Broken Sword's new video after they clearly got bought out and changed their narrative same with NOTR. Thanks for being genuine.

I am incredibly excited to watch the Extended Lord of The Rings on DVD again. The crownless again shall be King.

I would like to see a battle between super friends vs ultra Maga. Lol

Imagine seeing the first 20 minutes of the Hobbit movie. You'd thought it would turn out well. Amazon also showed the first episode of the Wheel of Time for KZfaqrs and they liked it. You know how well that show turned out, lol. So I really couldn't draw any conclusions by those opinions but they seem to have fooled a lot of people..

Have any of the people attended this thing and still come out saying "yeah, they were nice people, but the footage was awful"? This is what censorship on Twitter was so toxic- get 2 or 3 people in a room and have them choose between 2 places to get lunch and you could probably get all 3 to agree, but put 10 more people in the room and give them unlimited restaurant choices and see how likely it is they'll ever get on the same page! Opinions vary. This is also how you spot fake News. When every network agrees and they are all using the same key phrases and buzzwords, then you are not dealing with genuine people.

OK, so how can we counter this move?

You'd think for a show with this large of a budget, they'd want to get the naysayers on board. I'd love to challenge them to invite you (Disparu), Critical Drinker, HeelvsBabyFace, Chrissie Mayr, Nerdrotic, Xray Girl, Mauler, Chris Gore, etc. Have you folk, who are typically objective critics and aren't scared to call out BS and see if they can swing even half of you. If they could win even a couple of the lot of you over, *THEN* i'd give it an honest chance and a fair shake. But as it stands, it's impossible to go into this with nothing but the lowest of expectations. like at this point, I don't see how they could NOT have cold feet, terrified of the release date for their show to get torn apart.

From Page 893 of the 2001 film tie-in Harper-Collins edition: "The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own." (Book 6, Chapter 1: The Tower of Cirith Ungol.)

If there was an award for marketing, we might have a winner before the show even comes out.

Love the video. Think lots of reviewer specially for WOT series lied about the quality of the series I trd two episodes and couldn't force more in its just to sickening

I would love to see both you and Az from Heelvsbabyface do other reviews cause that would be epic!

Can´t wait for this thing to start airing. The memes will be legendary.

100% perfect breakdown 👌

Spot on! 👍 💯

Amazon buying Shills, whatever next. Let them burn the marketing money, the series will rise or fall on its own merits.

Thanks!

This is so goddamn genuine guys! You know when you watch a show and you point at the screen and go like "THE THING! I LIKE THE THING!!!"

As someone who has read tolkien's work and watched the PJ films many times, I will not lie I am very skeptic about the amazon show being any kind of success ever since the superbowl. I think that everyone involved in the show has the wrong concepts in mind when making an adaptation like this. However, the show is not out yet, and I will not give a full judgement of the show, or any opinions given out by influencers until I have seen the show myself. I think it is important to be cautious, but to also not overtly assume things will be awful based on just a very vague article, a bad teaser, and a horrible fans react video. The marketing tactics of amazon could definitely use some serious work, because it's atrocious.

Does anybody actually take anything these individuals have to say seriously anymore??? Seeing as though we know what Amazon Prime’s motives are. It isn’t about good storytelling to say the least. Lol

For Disparu, I watch the ads.

Lol reminds me a little bit of Annatar's tactics funnily enough.

Fantasies ain't even safe anymore

They should send Gary, Az, MauLer and Critical Drinker to one of these things.

AY UP DISPARU

Shill’s make me cringe so hard. Another great video mate!