Marketing with the Hobbit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM--4UklaL4

I had forgotten that the first Hobbit trailer was going to be released yesterday. Over the next 2-3 year tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars will be spent marketing these two films. An opportunity like this has not presented itself since the Lord of the Rings trilogy was in theatres. Movie series like this present unprecedented opportunity for massive growth of foam fighting organization and groups. We as a community need to work together to harness the marketing $$$ of this movie and point it toward us and what we have to offer the world. During the LOTR craze a few organizations like Dagorhir understood this and benefited massively from their simple attempts. I am a firm believer that if we as a community work together a little effort like that across the board will be multiplied massively. But why stop at a little effort? Lets take this opportunity seriously like the once in a lifetime chance it is and work together! Lets start with some brainstorming people!

Motivational Retreat

Reteat, sometimes it's a good idea.

Sorry for my lack of posting lately I have been a bit busy filming my first feature film. No its not medieval and doesn't have anything to do with foam unfortunately. Its a scifi. I hope you all can forgive me and I will try to find some new content to post from time to time (if you have any content tips or ideas please let me know!)

Hobbies Motivational

Hobbies, Because Golf Is For Sissies

Hit Hard, Take Light [vid]

Hit Hard, Take Light is yet another video class project documentary published striate to the internet. Andrew Meredith has done an excellent job crafting this simple 7min video that looks at Dagorhir in Indiana. Unlike other foam fighting web docs, this film take a slower more relaxed approach with less talking and instead focusing more on Eric Pennycoff's beautiful footage underscored wonderfully by Eric Romary's sound design.

My fist national level event (Blog)

A week ago I was finally able to get to my first ever national level foam fighting event. Me and 5 other Canadians traveled to Chaos Wars VX in Hailey Idaho.

Barn Door Motivational

Another motivational poster I ran across. That is one big shield, anyone know who this is?

(Next month I hope to get back to posting regularly, this month has become crazy busy!)

Motivational: Feed a Goblin

A funny Motivational poster made by Lady Death I believe.

Foam Fighting Documentary [vid]

This is a nice little 6 min documentary filmed at the Belegarth realm of Rath In Boise, Idaho. I suspect it was made as a school project, it is fairly well made and has some nice fighting footage in it. The youtube description says only "This is a documentary about Foam fighting a rising sport being played everywhere." other than the I know it was made in 2010. I hope you enjoy it!

How not to kick a shield [vid]

Someone posted this video on the Pro Foam Fighter FaceBook page wall a wile back, unfortunately I can't find the post, but thank you whoever you are for sharing! A mildly amusing video demonstrating 3 ineffective shield kicks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJNk2QkXtFQ

Motivational: Wii Scale

Blogger has been experiencing technical difficulties for the last wile, but it appears to be back up. Her is another Motivational Poster I have found on my journeys around the internet. Anyone know who made this one?

These little LARP-ers have AMAZING garb (#2 & Response)

     I posted this a few weeks ago, but the post appears to have disappeared in the thin air... Not sure what is up with that, must be some kind of blogger glitch and backup problem, not sure. Anyway, since my original post I have had an amazing amount of response.

Why garb matteres (motivational poster)

GARB: Because you don't want to be the one spud ruining the shot.

Battering Ram [vid]

This is one of those videos that just makes me laugh. These guys have built a foam battering ram as a novalty weapon. I was going to give credit to whoever posted the link to these on the FaceBook page, but after 10 min of searching I can't find it. So, whoever you are, thank you to for bringing these videos to my attention.

Comic - Perspective

Click on image to enlarge and see it without the the side bars obstructing it)

Here is this months Pro Foam Fighter Team comic! I hope you like it. From here on I have plans for a story of sorts to begin to unfold.

Nerdy Game or Reputable Sport?

I found this article again in my wanderings across the internet and thought I should share it with you all.


"It is nerdy. This is hard to debate. Dressing in Medieval garb and playing make-believe may not fit everyone's definition of "cool", but the core of the sport proves to be much more than PVC and fiberglass."

Foam Fighting: Nerdy Game or Reputable Sport? is an article written by Stephen Jefferies for the Yahoo! Contributor Network in 2009. Read full article here: AssociatedContent.com

Book Review: Battle Gaming: The New American Sport

"I will be recommending this book to all my realm mates and battle gaming friends. I expect it will end up in my practice bag so I can show it off."

     Shortly after I launched Pro Foam Fighter I was contacted by David Graham asking if I was interested in reviewing his recently published book 'Battle Gaming: The New American Sport'. I was pretty excited. I have never been asked to review anything for a blog before so naturally I (as enthusiastically as e-mail allows) said "yes." I had followed this book’s progress casually from time to time over the past few years. I am a strong believer that the more products, books, blogs and movies there are for the public to find the better it is for growing our beloved game. I am ashamed to say that I had intended to show my support for the book by asking for the book as birthday gift from my family but it had fallen off my radar screen until Dave contacted me, asking if I would review it (at which point he offered it for free, and how can I pass up an offer like that!?!).

3 Motivational to improve your fighting

James Keiller made a post on the facebook page this week, that reminded me of all the good motivational posters out there. These are 3 of my favorites:

Comic - Nice garb

(Click on image to enlarge and see it without the the side bars obstructing it)

"Only in Foam Fighting can you get totally beet up by a guy twice your size and then afterwords have a good discussion about sewing and fabric choices on the side lines afterword."

     I wish I could find the exact quote and who said it but It was a comment I read on a forum when I first started fighting, and it is this is the gist of what inspired this strip.

More Than Nerds Documentary

This short youtube documentary features some classic faces of foam fighting, I find it amazing that it only has 320 some views as it is, in my opinion, in the top 10-20% of foam fighting docs I have seen on youtube.

Comic - Checking Arrows

Introducing the Pro Foam Fighter comic! I have long been hoping to one day make this in to a full series, and I have some Ideas for more. Here is the first:

(Click on image to enlarge and see it without the the side bars obstructing it)

Foam fighting helps fight drug addictions?

     Val's fighting name is Sumé. Like many foam fighters his story of his involvement in hard hitting boffers starts in a familiar way. It took Sumé a few years of prompting before he finally joined the foam fighting group about 9 years ago. "I came out here and was like, oh, this is actually pretty fun!" Sumé says. He not only embraced the fighting but other parts of the game as well "I just really love making costumes."
     But here Sumé's foam fighting testimony veers from the familiar and becomes inspirational "Six years ago, I was really bad in to drugs...". The foam fighting group gave him a way to escape his old life
"And so I actually came out here to get away from that." says Sumé "To get away from all the drugs and all the people I used to hangout with." Sumé is quick to point to his involvement in the club as a key factor in his ability to change his life "This actually is the one thing that is keeping me sober. And keeping me on my sober path...".

Medieval throw down at football game [vid]

I just re-ran across an old video that is one of my favorites, the video shows a large number of foam fighters taking the field at an indoor football arena as the half time entertainment. The video info said that this happened in 2006 at a Nashville Kats Game.  I would love to hear how they got this to happen, it would be an amazing experience. Click "Read more »" to watch video.