Internet

This Is How the Internet Reacted to Benedict Cumberbatch on the Cover of TIME

TIME's cover snub proves rather...cumbersome.

By Kelly Conniff @kellyconniffOct. 17, 20130

You can’t always get what you want. Especially if what you want is a copy of a magazine featuring your favorite dreamy movie star on the cover.

It’s a lesson we here at TIME learned today after we put actor Benedict Cumberbatch, also known as the owner of the sharpest cheekbones in the land, on the cover of the International edition of TIME Magazine (U.S. subscribers, he’s in the magazine as well!). Some fans were upset—maybe spitting mad is the more accurate term—that the Cumberbatch cover is only available outside of the U.S. Others were just happy that their object of Internet affection is getting some face time within the red border. And let’s not forget this swoonworthy GIF we made for you.

Below, some of our favorite reactions.

@bryanrwalsh @TIME I was going to buy it on my way home. Just not fair. I know he's not a household name here yet but he will be.
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Sandy (@DRWHO32) October 17, 2013

Cumbercupcakes: Benedict Cumberbatch in TIME magazine, so proud of you #BenedictCumberbatch http://t.co/5iRpjoxGnd
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delightfully (@vereentjoeng) October 17, 2013

As soon as I unfollow @TIME they do this: Something in the way he moves ti.me/1etJA9m twitpic.com/dhq3p5 AAAND back I go.
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Erika (@Scimommy) October 17, 2013

@TIME when does the print copy with Benedict Cumberbatch on the cover come out????!!!!! Take my money!!!!!!!!!
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Lisa Rae (@lehrkl1) October 17, 2013

I'M NOT CRYING IT'S JUST BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ON THE COVER OF FLIPPIN TIME MAGAZINE IN MY EYE.
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Syafiqah Pippin (@SyafiqahPippin) October 17, 2013

Interesting hair choice. MT @anglophenia: Cumberbatch on intl cover of TIME magazine: bbc.in/1fFMzP5 #BenedictCumberbatch #Sherlock
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jennifer abella (@nextjen) October 17, 2013

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, @TIME MAGAZINE?!? http://t.co/Fg5ZDtWR05
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Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) October 17, 2013

See Cumberbatch on @TIME cover, drives home, yells 'DAAAAD, where's the TIME?!?!'. #thatshowIroll
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Carolina (@ac_palma) October 17, 2013

@TIME This is the cover everyone gets EXCEPT the US? Y'all really suck.
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Linda Smith (@linorr258) October 17, 2013

darnit, i'm trying not to, but i can't help but swoon RT @TIME: Something in the way he moves| ti.me/1etJA9m twitpic.com/dhq3p5
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Annie [cumbercookie] (@annie996) October 17, 2013

CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT TIME MAGAZINE BC BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH LIKE ASDFGHJKLJHGFDHSJKL
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verified geeoner (@jaiilukeyy) October 17, 2013

Ideas for the next TIME cover? Someone from Doctor Who, perhaps?

26 comments

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becker

Finally, TIME gets it.

AlejandraGarcia

This is utter ridiculesness!!!! Im at a loss for words .....Really Time..ugh...Could you at least make the International version available!! Take my money .TAKE IT. I want Benedict Cumberbatch.

Nelsonmom

I'm sorry but you guys really blew it. This definitely qualifies as a pinhead decision. You should at least make the international magazine available to us for sale in the US over the internet for a reasonable cost. This would go a long way to make amends. And think of the sales! $$$$$$$

ZhengWang

US Time, though I still bought the one with Texas on the cover, only for the interview (I checked they are there before I pay for it!!! FYI)

You really can consider Canada as a Country, AND GIVE ME THE INTERNATIONAL COPY WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ON THE COVER. I DON'T CARE ABOUT TEXAS AT ALL!!

OliviaLiu

I went to the supermarket looking for a copy, couldn't find it, so I bought a copy of Esquire instead, in which there are 16 pages of BC's beautiful pictures. People, if you don't know this yet, go get a copy. The cover is Scarlett Johanson.

Dee_Sea_

so.... does this mean you'll get rid of Texas and give us Benedict? We want answers people!

DebTepe

I've long suspected the media of hiding important information from us, here in the US, but to hide Benedict? Totally unfair & mean, plain & simple!

MaryJoWelsh

That last line in the article tells me you don't get it, Time! :-)

LizzyMuransky

As a grown American woman, old enough to know better, old enough to know how to control myself...if there is one human being that makes me lose my sh*t it's Benedict Cumberbatch. Oh and Time? NOBODY wants Texas on the cover, we want Benedict. We demand Benedict. We have money, we know how to spend it so start listening!

Hollywooddeed

I am a grown up, adult woman and I have a celebrity crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. I admit it.

DCY1212

Who is going to buy this with Texas on the cover? Texans? Does Time not know how big Lips & Eyes is in the U.S.? Idiots

micmoc

I want to buy one. But in China it's hard to find it. So I have to buy it by my friend in London and have to pay for the international frieght.

TamiBeyersdoerfer

I'm tired of looking at Texas. I've seen enough of Texas, quite frankly.

SherlockHolmes

The US is crap. And people wonder why I hate living here! Perhaps... because this stupid country is so self centered they have to replace a beautiful man with itself?

erin1213

i am incredibly disappointed over the choice of the U.S. cover.

KaityBergquist

So you see the reaction, write a whole article about it, and you don't make a change? Come on.

cindy999

This is not fair! Why don't we get BC cover here in US? We love Texas map more instead? Are we mad? I am furious! Are we allow to have a happy moment in US after this awful government shutdown? Please put his photo on the next cover immediately!

Sherlocked4ever

While I am THRILLED that Benedict is on the cover, I am very UPSET that my country, where the photo shoot and interview was done, does NOT get the cover. Ebay is selling the magazine for $25.00 already and I know it retails in stores cheaper than that. Not fair Time Magazine. Anyway, thanks for noticing a beautiful and brilliant actor and we will be seeing a lot more of him in the future!

030891posts

Who cares? He is still on the cover of Time freaking Magazine! I sure hope this isn't the last we see him on the cover!!!

Idontwanttobehere

Seriously though, it actually makes me mad that the US cover is so different. Our media sucks and our people ignorant...This is not helping.

josephfinn

Like there weren't other people noting just how bad your US covers are in ignoring that the rest of the planet exists.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/19insert-word-here-differences-between-time-magazine-us-and

babylove0306

Why the spite in the last sentence? Are you really trying to compare The Cumberlord to Doctor Who?

TwilightilDawn

Can we buy the international Time magazine with Benedict Cumberbatch cover online? #Cumbercollective USA

AllForUSophia

Put Hiddles on your next cover TIME! Loki and his army deserve it!

EdLen

@AllForUSophiaIt's Hiddleston's fans like you who totally don't have any sense of reality that got me out of the possible hook of him very early on. And believe me, I can't even begin to describe how often I've seen this kind of comments under articles related to other actors, may it be Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Ben Whishaw and any actors who have worked with Hiddleston and been viewed by TH fans as competitors to strike down. *shake head* Save me from enduring the perpetual second hand embarrassment! Phew! Thank goodness!!

030891posts

@AllForUSophia Ehhhh. Do you guys really need to shoehorn him in everything?