Nikki Bower

Nikki Bower (better known as Nikki B) is the main character in the lonelygirl15 mini-series Nikki Bower Report. She posts video in which she purports to be an investigative reporter following a trail of clues all over the country to investigate and help TAAG. She recently graduated college with a journalism major. She is a big fan of Nancy Drew and considers her her idol. She also has had a long-standing crush on Jonas, and often comments on his toned physique.

Nikki admits that she is not a science expert, can't really decode codes, doesn't really know much about the water or marine biology, and can't swim. However, she is always there for TAAG when they need her most.

Hot on the Trail
Nikki Bower began posting videos in November of 2006, soon after Bree's religion was revealed to have dark intentions. The complex nature of what was happening intrigued her, and she decided to investigate. following a tip from a mysterious source, she started out at Topanga Canyon, where the "Ceremony" had taken place a few weeks earlier. There, she found a box containing what was later revealed to be a Watcher symbol, along with a lock of hair on the inside. After Bree and Daniel go on the run, she attempts to locate the hotel they are staying at, but to no avail. However, she successfully located a movie theater that Bree had visited shortly before Thanksgiving, but found no sign of them. While there, however, she discusses the OPAPHID acronym, and reveals that she is aware that OpAphid is a person as well, and that she had responded to a message Nikki had sent her regarding the acronym, saying that there were many fairy tales people tell children.

After Jonas posts a video offering Daniel and Bree shelter, Nikki decides to check to see whether he is sincere or not, but is unable to locate his house. However, she reveals that she personally finds Jonas to be trustworthy. When Gemma is revealed not to be trustworthy, Nikki focuses her efforts on trying to find out more about her. She locates Gemma's apartment building in LA, and waits in the shadows, eventually spotting Gemma and Lucy. Shortly after she is informed by her "producers" that she is being sent to an undisclosed location over the New Year, she has to put her investigation on hold, although she finds the time to try to find the warehouse Daniel and Bree stayed at while Homeless. She posts a video wishing everyone a happy holiday, and asks Jonas to call her.

Upon her return, she reveals that she was in the Middle East, but doesn't elaborate too much on it, instead focusing on what happened while she was gone. She goes to the Coral Tree Cafe where Bree and her dad met, but doesn't find much there to go on. A few weeks later, she tries to find the bowling alley where Daniel lost his ID, but finds nothing useful there either. Frustrated, she decides to focus back on Gemma, but puts the venture on hold when Daniel goes missing. She attempts to locate The Cowboy, but becomes nervous when it appears that she is being watched. She decides to look into Gemma after all, but finds no trace of where she is or that something had happened to her. Disappointed, she buys an Orange Slurpee.

Breakthroughs
Nikki finally begins making major breakthroughs in the investigation, and she successfully locates Lucy's apartment building. She gets a clear shot of Lucy entering the building, and decides to find her way inside to spy on her. She and her camera-person climb over a gate and make their way onto Lucy's balcony. There, they spot her making martinis at 11:00 in the morning, and Nikki decides to leave, as it is clear that Lucy is having company.

After BDJ go to Jonas's cabin, Nikki decides that she would be of better use if she did some investigating from home (stemming from her dislike of the cold). She brainstorms on what the initials on Jonas's father's manuscript could stand for, and asks Jonas if he could take off his shirt. Feeling festive, Nikki decides to make a pilot for a cooking show, which ends badly after she burns the food. This can be attributed to her classifying the guests at Alex's party as in or out of the Order, and expresses her dislike of Beth, another reporter.

She decides to do some on-the-scene investigating once more after BDJ are captured in Las Vegas, and she receives a tip from a mysterious informant giving her the address of an EPOGEN warehouse. She decides to go to the address on the shipping label of the boxes stored inside, and discovers that it's actually a motel room. Upon making her way inside, Nikki finds evidence suggesting that the occupant was the person who had captured BDJ in the desert, including a message on his Blackberry reading "Retrieve the girl. The principles of the Hymn of One have failed us. Beware the Watchers because they will go to any lengths to protect her." Nikki also discovers a plethora of drug paraphernalia stashed inside the room as well, later revealed to be Shadow drugs.

Nikki continues to make progress, and identifies a girl on YouTube, callmejules24, as the new Ceremony girl Alex referred to while in Mexico. Another user, soccerstar4ver A.K.A. Taylor provided information regarding her location: Zavalla, Texas. Nikki decides to go there and try to help BDJ, however, in a forum post, she reveals that she had "a run-in with a bull at the rodeo" and was unable to continue. She mentions that she has been doing some serious investigating during her recuperation, The nature of which wasn't revealed until her next video: Undercover at a Hymn of One retreat.

When she is kicked out after being caught with chocolate, she reveals the day to day activities of Hymn of One members. They drink Orange Blossom tea, watch M. Night Shyamalan movies, and sleep with their windows open. At one point, she broke into one of their sheds, and found it filled with First Edition Nancy Drew books. Once she has left, she reaches out to Spencer, and offers her assistance to the TAAG.

Tagging along after TAAG
She is given the opportunity to help when the TAAG are trapped in a warehouse by Bree's Watcher. She goes to pick up a message regarding Bree's location from an associate of the mysterious Deep Throat, and, with the assistance of forum-member VoyBoy, rescues TAAG. Although Nikki's help proved vital, TAAG were ultimately unable to save Bree.

When LaRezisto began posting videos immediately after Bree's death, Nikki and members of the forum brainstormed to try to figure out what it meant. They manage to successfully track down the location of the graffiti seen in the video of the LaRezisto symbol. After this, Nikki watched from a distance as events continued to unfold, but her desire to investigate wins out, and in a fit of "stir" crazy, breaks into The rented house to find out more about what was going on. Nobody was home, so Nikki proceeded to fantasize about Jonas and talk about it to the camera. After getting that out of her system, Nikki begins to seriously investigate Claire and LaRezisto in general. Once Claire was revealed to be a Shadow, Nikki investigated the abandoned house that she had used as a headquarters. Though she doesn't find anything new, she uses the opportunity to express her distrust of Sonia and Virgil.

Once the situation resolves itself, TAAG focuses on the project that Sonia had informed them of. Jonas and Sarah were "abducted" by the supply van they were investigating and ended up at the Lullaby Project itself. Eager to help, Nikki decides to hide in a similar van in hopes that it will take her to the Lullaby Project. However, the truck ended up in Koreatown. Utterly lost, Nikki somehow made her way to Mexico, but got held up in Tijuana after her mother/camerawoman fell in love with the club scene. While her mother was out partying, Nikki evaluated the events of the last few months and helped members of the forum crack the password to Jack's voicemail, and later helps figure out Emma's boggle message.

When TAAG discover that a California politician named Edward Salinas has put a hit out on them, Nikki helps them infiltrate a campaign fundraiser. There, Nikki uses her feminine wiles to distract Salinas's bodyguard so that Daniel, Jonas, and Steve can take care of him. However, the plan fails, and TAAG flee, leaving Nikki behind. Nikki assists them again by helping them locate Emma after it is discovered that she is in danger, and also helps to decipher Jonas's message to her.

Most recently, Nikki has provided input in figuring out what happened at the LG15 Prom. The Creators have confirmed that despite the series finale on August 1st, Nikki will make another appearance. Whether this appearance will be in LG15 or another spin-off show, or whether Nikki will be interacting with characters or making solo videos has yet to be determined.

Early suspicions
Since her first video was posted on youtube on November 1, 2006, many fans have speculated about whether Nikki is an official character of the LG15 series. Some fans speculated that she may become an official character eventually, much like Gemma and Jonas did. Others believed that she may have been created as a source to disclose information to LG15 fans without straight-out saying it in one of the other official videos. On January 25, 2007, after Nikki Bower was identified as being played by actress Alli Danziger, Nikki posted a disclaimer that she was not canon. However, on April 17, 2007, Bree referred to Nikki by name for the first time in New Girl, making references to Nikki's most recent video, which strongly suggests that Nikki has moved into a more canonish status.

The production value of her videos always suggested she may be an official character; however her videos lack the repeated cuts found in other canon videos (which gave away both Gemma and Jonas). This suggests that her videos are not edited by the lg15 team. In her first video she displayed the full URL of the forum, which many fans speculated might point to her being official (trying to attract fans to the forum).

In comments after Nikki's sixth video "Where Is Jonas?" a YouTuber called Memewhile declared "This is another actor hired by the Creative Artist agency in LA as part of the Lonelygirl15 series. She is reading a script written by Ramesh Flinders". Nikki responded by saying innocently, "Who's Ramesh?"

More clues
The most significant clue that points to her being an official character is found in her video What I Found at Topanga Canyon - NBR 2. In this video, Nikki Bower finds a small box near the site of The Ceremony with a lock of blond hair in it. Engraved on the top of the box is the Watcher symbol. This video was posted ten days before Gemma's video A Watcher, in which the symbol was first officially introduced.

However, one theory that addresses this issue is that Nikki is simply a fan who has been receiving tips from the Creators. In her first video, Nikki goes to Topanga Canyon but doesn't find anything, and asks for ideas from other fans. In her next video, she says that "I got a lot of tips, and I am back here in Topanga Canyon." And later: "I was told in a private email message, that longitude may have more significance than we think. And it may have to do with footsteps." When she takes 118 steps (corresponding to 118 degrees longitude, where the canyon is located) she reaches a bridge. "One of you guys told me to keep my eyes out for the bridge... this is the bridge." And looking around the bridge, she finds the box. It is quite possible that the anonymous tipper was the Creators, who got excited at Nikki's first video and decided to plant some clues. Later, in NBR 7, Nikki finds Gemma's building after "I was lucky enough to get an anonymous message that gave me the ZIP Code of where Gemma is residing. I don't know if it was from Tachyon herself or one of her cohorts..." So it seems that Nikki is not exactly an official character, but simply a fan who has caught the attention of the Creators - a pawn, if you will.

Nikki uncovered
On January 25, a post on Milowent's blog revealed that Nikki Bower was portrayed by Alli Danziger a friend of the Creators, however, Nikki has stated that she is not canon. (See forum post.) It is clear however that despite being revealed as fictional, Nikki is determined to remain in character. Also, it has now become apparent where Nikki gets her anonymous tips from, however, the question remains whether or not she is truly canon. It is possible that Nikki is working independently of the Creators fueled with insider information. Alli D had done a previous Nikki B style roving news journalist bit as part of her acting training. This is very likely the well from which Nikki B sprang with the blessing of the Creators. Either way, whether she is canon or not, much of her information obviously is. Additionally, many fans feel that Nikki B brings a much needed levity in the face of the increasing darkness of the main story line and are thankful for her contributions no matter where they originate from.

Since her discovery, she has appeared in a few official Lonelygirl15 videos, giving the debate on whether or not she is canon new life.

Other Miscellaneous Info
In her video Watchers Everywhere, Nikki reads from a copy of Nancy Drew's Guide to Life, a book that was found in a Tachyon drop. She reads the following quote from the book:
 * "Don't discount faint lines or indecipherable blotches on discarded pieces of paper. A magnifying glass might reveal them to be very small words."

In most of her videos, Nikki is walking around and the camera is following her, even though she is clearly not holding it. Nikki never acknowledges a camera person, but it is obvious that she must have one. When asked who her cameraman was by a YouTuber, she replied that it was her mom. (comment on NBR 6)

The YouTuber Moldova pointed out that a tag on her third video is "nikkiebowerreport" (note spelling with "e") leading one to ask the obvious question: who spells their own name wrong? However, it is possible the "e" is her middle initial.

You can learn more about her home at Nikki Bower's house.