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Did any of you also love watching The Hobbit cartoon in the 80’s?

Posted by hanshotfirst2233@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 112 comments

Did any of you also love watching The Hobbit cartoon in the 80’s?
I realize the cartoon came out in 1977 but I watched it throughout the 80s when I was old enough and really enjoyed it. It also led me to reading the books eventually.

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112 Comments

VenerealWorld@reddit

I had no idea what The Hobbit was when it was on the tv at another boring Christmas dinner visiting my great-grandparents farm. My poor toys were cold and forlorn back at home. Waiting for us to make the long boring drive across the frozen tundra to arrive just in time for bed. In desperation I sat in front of the tv, at least it was a cartoon and not Hee Haw or Pat Robertson. Every year Grandfather would 'talk to his plate' before we ate, Amen, very religious old man. Ironically considering the pagan influence. I figured the cartoon was a trap, like the other stuff they watched. Designed to teach Biblical morality lessons. I thought the dwarves were a group of elderly Jews, traveling to see King David slay Goliath or watch Jesus get born. It makes it worse now because they look like anti-Semitic stereotypes but it's really terrible character design. After a while I zoned out, it got so weird I had no idea what I was watching. I had to forget this abomination (and Return of the King, I think that was on next, or another Christmas) before I gave the book a chance.
View on Reddit #79653003

Lawdogg0534@reddit

Yes - better than the later live action movies!
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Lever_357@reddit

In the 80s!? Heck I watched it again yesterday. 🤣👍
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That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

Gollum is better in this version than the newer versions. You almost at in as a tragic character in his newer forms, but he was just so all out creepy in this.
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ButterscotchAware402@reddit

The Spiders of Mirkwood... *shudder*
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That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

Just bust out Sting!
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BulimicMosquitos@reddit

This, and the adventures of Lemmiwinks.
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That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

OMG 🤦🏻‍♀️ I forgot about Lemmiwinks. I remember watching that episode with my dad and just losing it laughing together.
View on Reddit #78807363

Luminaire_Ultima@reddit

I loved all of the Rankin-Bass animated fantasies : The Hobbit, The Last Unicorn, The Flight of Dragons, The Return of the King… truly excellent stuff.
View on Reddit #78693055

That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

All those were constantly in my VCR as a kid.
View on Reddit #78807270

Hot_Gas_8073@reddit

I'm a big fan of Rankin bass. Only one I haven't seen is flight of the dragons, still looking for it
View on Reddit #78694796

That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

It's available to rent on prime.
View on Reddit #78807252

LunarGiantNeil@reddit

You can stream it online! It's fun.
View on Reddit #78700835

jkos123@reddit

Yes! All of those are great. My mom was an animator on The Last Unicorn, so I may be a bjt biased…
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That-Jeweler-Girl@reddit

Wow! What an honor!
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Luminaire_Ultima@reddit

Your mother helped create a work of art for the ages, you must be incredibly proud.
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CraigGrade@reddit

Loved it, I had a VHS of this and Return of the King taped off the Disney channel before they had commercial breaks. My parents loved the series and read it to me as well. So for years I was convinced there were also movies of Fellowship and Two Towers and they were just super hard to find
View on Reddit #78804623

jwnight55@reddit

I also have the book with the images from the cartoon. I found it hilarious as a teen when I bought it because the guy at the store wanted to argue with me that it wasn't a cartoon, it was an animated movie. I think I got it at Hastings.
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DarkBusy3818@reddit

It scared me!
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Middle_Earthling9@reddit

Yeah, I loved it, and it’s why I can’t stand the Hobbit live action movies.
View on Reddit #78786900

stripmallbars@reddit

I have the 1980 calendar
View on Reddit #78771744

allforfunnplay27@reddit

Ah for me it was the late 70s. This movie and animated Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe were the stuff of childhood magical fantasy. Watership Down was another great late 70s animated movie. But not magical kid's fantasy.
View on Reddit #78759805

Ok-Bit-3100@reddit

I never saw it, but I definitely remember direct-response TV commercials hawking it on tape.
View on Reddit #78757308

Resident-Device-2814@reddit

Loved it as a kid. Late 2024 on vacation on the weekend ther side of the country I walked into a used video game / magic card shop and they had a copy on vhs for like $3. It flew home with me.
View on Reddit #78756755

Happy-Medicine-3600@reddit

Still do
View on Reddit #78747334

TubeScr3ameR@reddit

I saw the promo commercials every summer on our local UHF Fox affiliate but never watched it until I was an adult. Young me missed out.
View on Reddit #78741600

d00kieshoes@reddit

The music for that one was incredible.
View on Reddit #78691316

ILikeBumblebees@reddit

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL545948224B999E8A
View on Reddit #78736471

flapjowls@reddit

Fun fact…. El-P (Run the Jewels, Company Flow, Rawkus Def Jux solo stuff) sampled from it for the tune Population Control on Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus album.
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Rampasta@reddit

That goblin song, whips and chains, slaps
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graveybrains@reddit

Where there's a whip, there's a way.
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CatsEqualLife@reddit

This song randomly pops into my head a couple times a year. I can’t figure out why.
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graveybrains@reddit

Because it's catchy as hell, I think
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Whybananasrule@reddit

I regularly put on the 10-hour version for my children lol
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Eledridan@reddit

That song is from Return of the King. The goblin song is when they go to the Misty Mountains.
View on Reddit #78693787

graveybrains@reddit

If it's not this one, I'm out of ideas: https://youtu.be/ogTDa-vG2MQ 😁
View on Reddit #78694400

Ineedavodka2019@reddit

Yes.
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Formal-Cut-4923@reddit

Own it on my AppleTV
View on Reddit #78729827

PatchworkGirl82@reddit

Yes! My mom ran the computer lab in my school, which was attached to the library, and I spent a lot of time watching videos after school or on weekends (I was obsessed with how weird the school felt when no one was around, so I tagged along if my mom had work to do) I watched The Hobbit a lot, and both versions of the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (BBC and animated).
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like_shae_buttah@reddit

I love this movie so much
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Fabulous_Audience_92@reddit

Loved this and such a better adaptation than the Peter Jackson version. Its also surprisingly faithful to the book for a children's cartoon adaptation.
View on Reddit #78692930

Acceptingoptimist@reddit

I saw the movie and then read the book and the details were pretty awesome. Even the black butterflies when he climbs above the canopy of the forest. They really nailed it.
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djhyland@reddit

I remember seeing the movie in first grade and being scared to hell of it. But I did like the butterflies above the treetops. It was the one solid detail I remembered from it, and was happy to get to the same part when we were assigned to read the book in seventh grade!
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Zagmut@reddit

Makes sense, it's a beloved children's book.
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MailInteresting9923@reddit

Better version of the Hobbit than that awful bloated trilogy
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BrattyTwilis@reddit

Yes. The Hobbit book was short enough that the gist of it could easily fit into one movie. But then they decided they needed to add in a bunch of unnecessary stuff from the lore
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djhyland@reddit

Not only that, they made up a bunch of "lore" whole cloth. It could have been great as a single movie, but capitalism demands more ticket sales. Still, the Over the Misty Mountains song was worth the price of that first ticket for me.
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poindxtrwv@reddit

Turning their sneaky plan to escape down the river in empty barrels into a major, drawn-out battle scene made me want to throw things. I hated those three movies with a passion. I watched the second one, hoping it would be better. Then I only watched the third one just to have completed it all. I've never wanted to watch any of them again.
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TonyNoPants@reddit

*The greatest adventure is what lies ahead* *Today and tomorrow are yet to be said* *The chances, the changes are all yours to make* *The* [*mold of your life*](https://genius.com/36392421/Glenn-yarbrough-the-greatest-adventure/Mold-of-your-life) *is in your hands to break* *The greatest adventure is there if you're bold* *Let go of the moment that life makes you hold* *To measure the meaning can make you delay* *It's time you've stopped thinking and wasting the day* *The man who's a dreamer and never takes leave* *Who thinks of a world that is just make believe* *Will never know passion, will never know pain* *Who sits by the window will one day see rain* *The greatest adventure is what lies ahead* *Today and tomorrow are yet to be said* *The chances, the changes are all yours to make* *The mold of your life is in your hands to break* A beautiful song.
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Jah_heel@reddit

Where there's a whip, ...X, there’s a way.
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RealPrincessPrincess@reddit

Wrong movie
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OpportunityBig6505@reddit

Wrong movie but also a good one from back then.
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Jah_heel@reddit

Then why did OP say books and not books? Animated Hobbit is og and amazing, but the other movies were solid; and smooth sounds of Glenn Yarbrough maintained the continuity nicely.
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_1JackMove@reddit

*hwhip😂
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seaderforge@reddit

*Down, down, to goblin town* Beautiful song, same singer as The Grinch! Ha for real though, I like this Hobbit infinitely more than the Jackson one.
View on Reddit #78693357

KnownNormie@reddit

https://i.redd.it/tc6kla0ya9kg1.gif
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poindxtrwv@reddit

Yes. I would watch it every time that I saw it playing on the Disney Channel. Then one day I was sick and stayed home from school in 3rd or 4th grade. I finished watching something and it said that up next was "Return of the King". I had no idea what that was and didn't feel like getting up to change the channel (a remote didn't exist for my bedroom TV) and just let it play. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the same animation style, Hobbits, Gandalf, and even Gollum!
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psilosophist@reddit

I liked these ones but absolutely loved Bakshi's LOTR animated movie. The use of the rotoscoping was so effective for me, and the design of the ring wraiths terrified me in the best ways.
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PlagueDrWily@reddit

I only saw this one and Ralph Bakshi’s LOTR once in my youth (both as end-of-the-schoolyear movies the teacher put on in lieu of work). I’ve seen them maybe a couple times in the years since, but these animated versions are more similar to what I picture in my head when I’m reading the books than the Peter Jackson movies.
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elkniodaphs@reddit

Loved it. I rather enjoyed seeing Orson Bean occasionally pop up on things like Match Game and Password. And this film's version of Gollum is still my high standard.
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pertrichor315@reddit

It’s on HBO Max right now!
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TheTinman39@reddit

Still love this movie.
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Taanistat@reddit

The Ralph Bakshi films were my introduction to Tolkien.
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Worried-Trade-6407@reddit

When I sold acid in the 90s this was a movie I made newbies watch during their first trip!
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RedSix2447@reddit

Greatest sound track of any animated move hands down. I watched it regularly as a kid growing up. Had lord of the rings posters on my walls as a teen too. lol Still though. Not as good as this was. /s Lmao. ![gif](giphy|LxakmDSFQIobS|downsized)
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ElBorracho2000@reddit

This is how I became a fan of The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. I remember Disney Channel used to air the animated movie and I’d watch it when I was a kid
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BrattyTwilis@reddit

I had both Rankin Bass The Hobbit and Return of the King taped off of TV. My earliest exposure to the realm of Middle Earth. I still think it's weird they were never tapped to do the whole series, but that might be in part because Ralph Bakshi made a Fellowship animated film first and then it bombed.
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johnvalley86@reddit

That version of Gollum always creeped the hell out of me
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jessek@reddit

loved both it and the book. we watched it a few times at school.
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Imnotonthelist@reddit

I have the book! It was my dads and it scared me as a little kid but I kept it
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MoonlitBlossoms@reddit

Did anyone else have the cassette and book? I listened to it so many times I thought I was going to wear out the tape.
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Aeronor@reddit

The voice acting is absolutely top notch. Gollum, Smaug, Gandalf… very well done and memorable.
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its_raining_scotch@reddit

“Did”? DO!
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Magnetheadx@reddit

No. It scared the shit out of me Goblins want to eat me? AND they’re SINGING about it!?!?
View on Reddit #78694235

Harlockarcadia@reddit

The Dwarves appearing out of thin air as hippy folk music played creeped me out, as did Gollum
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Novel_Illustrator_67@reddit

Still watch it on YouTube to fall asleep to
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MlsterFlster@reddit

It's one of my all-time favorites.
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Hot_Gas_8073@reddit

I have an RV wrapped in images from this film. It's one of my favorites. I just love it. People don't usually know the movie when we camp or travel with it, but everyone appreciates a dragon when they see it out. It's covered for winter and someone knocked on my door recently because they didn't get to see it lol
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crashofthetitus@reddit

Please post pictures of that 🙏
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Antron_RS@reddit

I watched it pretty recently….lol
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Whybananasrule@reddit

Most of it is available on a playlist on YouTube just so you guys know
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Straight-Event-4348@reddit

Hell yeah! I mean i still do, but i used to, too.
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WhosYourPadre79@reddit

I watched it all the time at my grandmas house. She had tons of VHS movies. She would record them when she rented them from the video store. Usually two movies per VHS. The Hobbit VHS also had Animal Olympics cartoon on it. I watched that VHS some much that I wore it out. She rented the movies again and re-recorded them for me. She also made me fresh tortillas with butter as a snack while I watch the movies. I miss her.
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Zsirhcz1981@reddit

Glenn Yarbrough’s The Greatest Adventure rings in my head.
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ThatFalafelGirl@reddit

We just listened to the soundtrack on vinyl yesterday :) I grew up with this film and it is the definitive hobbit to me. And John Huston is the best gandalf.
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dunnkw@reddit

Solid music. Professional job setting Tolkien’s lyrics to music.
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Tallowpot@reddit

My Exe’s Ex stole my VHS copy in in early 2000’s May they rot in hell
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-piso_mojado-@reddit

I watched it again for the first time since the 80s just a couple weeks ago. My 12 yo and I looked and each other while the credits were rolling and silently nodded in agreement. Without a word spoken between us he clicked “play from beginning.” It was a beautiful moment.
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dreadthripper@reddit

I still remember the music 
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Ok-Pineapple818@reddit

The songs!!!!
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AdumLarp@reddit

I believe this movie and the last unicorn are directly responsible for my love of fantasy.
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three9@reddit

My local indie theatre played it last year. Looked and sounded fantastic.
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youbeyouboo@reddit

It’s one of my core memories.
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goodlittlesquid@reddit

I loved all things Rankin/Bass, including this, The Last Unicorn, and Flight of Dragons
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KeySlammer1980@reddit

My kids and I watch this together at least 3 or 4 times per year.
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MartialBob@reddit

This was an instant purchase I made at the five and below store when I found it on DVD.
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HelicopterExact4621@reddit

That cartoon started a lifelong love of fantasy
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hanshotfirst2233@reddit (OP)

Same here🥂
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namarukai@reddit

It’s perfect. The other Tolkien productions this studio did were great but the Hobbit stands alone. It’s a shame the entire LOTR trilogy wasn’t entirely done by them.
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ZzzSleep@reddit

This movie has vibes current movies just don’t have anymore.
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osddelerious@reddit

I still hum the song
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protoman86@reddit

The soundtrack is among the most potent nostalgia triggers for me. And instant transport to being 8 years old again.
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aspect-of-the-badger@reddit

I watch it with my children about once a month.
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Left_Maize816@reddit

Saw it a bunch of times. I was thinking of this one the other day. It’s so weird that the dwarves all sounded like old men. 
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Royal-Network866@reddit

I love this film. A handful of my friends share the same sentiment. Once we drove from Massachusetts to Florida, only stopping for gas, and played the greatest adventure on loop until somewhere around North Carolina. It wasn’t always turned up but it was there and we were stoked.
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phillyrat@reddit

Crack the dishes, break the plates That’s what Bilbo Baggins hates
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SweetCosmicPope@reddit

Had it on VHS as a kid and loved it. Was super excited when I got to fifth grade and learned we were reading The Hobbit, because I loved these movies so much.
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Unfair_Turnip00@reddit

I still remember watching this in 1st grade for our Christmas party.....it was on 16mm film.
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King_of_the_Goats@reddit

First movie I ever bought on iTunes. My dad had it on some dead media format I can’t even remember the name of. He always put in on for us on vacation, lots of memories of that film.
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RezLovesPez@reddit

So faithful to the text. How refreshing!!
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Danno99999@reddit

Got ‘er downloaded.
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International_Link35@reddit

It's how I see The Hobbit in my head.
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