1118 Nerdtopia.

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My cousin starts school tomorrow. I have to say I don’t envy her. As much as I like learning things I always hated school. The prospect of a whole new year of people being generally mean and irritating did not appeal to me. Then, of course, I found out that this is how the world is all the time when you are an adult and was even more sad. X3

Anyway, I’m going to play some Mario Brothers with her rather than make a long post because I feel someone should and I’m feeling nervous on her behalf. So, you guys enjoy the comic and I’ll come play with you in the comments later, Okay?

66 Comments

I am pretty sure I was clinically insane in high school. I kept starting every year expecting it to be different and awesome. .Never was

I immigrated to nerdtopia when Zelda first came out. By Ocarina of Time you’d have thought I was born and raised.

I entered Nerdtopia in 1978 when I joined in my first D&D session. :)

I was probably born there. My initiation beginning with “Ultraman” and “Lost in Space” on afternoon broadcast TV. My baptism into D&D didn’t happen until probably ’84.

Now, now. Nerdy and sexy are quite compatible.
Personally, I’ve nearly always enjoyed school. Of course, by general consensus, I’m also nearly always considered weird.

Nearly always enjoyed school as well, then I hit high school and the teachers are a bunch of fucking morons.

I was pretty much the same way. I hated high school so much that it really pushed me away from going to college (OK, that and the fact that I was poor.) I didn’t even try to go to college until I was 40. I started off at a tech school, then transfered over to a state school so I could get better (e.g., harder) classes and something closer to the traditional college experience.

I’m enjoying it quite a bit and think if HS had been anything like this, I would have continued on and gotten my CS degree first. (Although so many of the classes I have now wouldn’t have been available. Go figure.)

I thought I liked high school until I graduated and joined the rest of the world.

Other than failing most of my classes, I didn’t have a bad experience with college. Of course, I’m doing quite well now. Only took me 4 years to get to this point…

Nerdtopia welcomes all types. Join us. Don’t be afraid.
…
Actually, most readers here are probably already residents.

…I feel like we need to have an a/s/l thing right now… :P

Well, I’m thirty(mumblemumbleahem)/m/And oh my god I’ll read anything with words on it. I think I’ve read books in every single genre (including romance deargodshelpme) and when people ask me what my favorite book is I just stare at them helplessly. Beyond that I’m into whatever the heck I’m currently doing. Which at the moment is reading webcomics and trying to get all the achievements in the new Tomb Raider release.

like “us” as in everyone not “us” as in us, that would be weird and oddly flirtatious :/

like, I’m 25/f/ love D&D, Exalted, Bioshock series, Kingdom Hearts series, and of course Zelda series

Pics or it didn’t happen.

It won’t let me add images, so here! Screenshots asked for and CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/klynn088/library/?sort=3&page=1

Heh. Cocoa Butter and baggy T, every horizontal surface cluttered (too busy to tidy up) — Authentic Female Nerd Alert! Okay, so where are the bookshelves lined with every Manga known to Nippon?

I’m more of a soft nerd… meandering somewhere in the middle. I don’t like sci-fi books so much, though the more fun sci-fi shows I can get behind (Farscape, Stargate, all the Star Treks). I guess my first sci-fi/fantasy things were Neverending Story and the book A Wrinkle in Time. E.T. and Gremlins were my favorite movies when I was little. My mom says it was Jaws, that I was rapt when it would come on tv but I think I was just catatonic.
I like D&D 3-4 (no, I don’t spit venom at 4.0. Playing is playing and I’d personally like to get back my Eladrin Warlock.), Pathfinder, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Bastet. I’ve been known to try just about any RPG including just about everything old school WoD. Never tried the Exalted series. That’s about when we were getting out of WoD. I tried to get into the new stuff like the Requiem but, aside from the fact that no one would play anymore, the pictures weren’t as cool in later editions so I sold those a couple years ago and our town never got Werewolf: the Forsaken. I didn’t like the toning down of the garou anyway. Other stuff, like Bubblegum Crisis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sailor Moon BESM (yeah…), Rifts, even Warhammer once and some odd Ambush Bug RPG DC put out forever ago.
As far as books go, I like Edith Nesbit, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Madeline L’Engle , Kim Harrison, Jane Austen, and crappy vampire novels.
I love animation and comic strips. Cartoons got me into anime which got me into manga. I hate it when people are so segregated about their cartoons, thinking American cartoons are crap (“Except for Disney and Pixar. Those are okay.”) and loving anime or vice versa. I am really enjoying the new My Little Pony and Adventure Time, Venture Bros, Futurama, Bob’s Burgers. I like a lot of 80s/90s/2000s anime more than newer stuff but my faves are Utena, Escaflowne, Twelve Kingdoms, Ranma 1/2, Robot Carnival, Hare+Guu (Which… just has the most infectious opening ever and is just bloody freaking hilarious. It’s a travesty it didn’t become popular here… I have raw vhs tapes of it. I didn’t even want to see it. It was on after Star Ocean: Second Story and I loved the game so I made a point to watch it and Hare Nochi Guu came on afterwords and quickly became my favorite and, at some point, I stopped recording Star Ocean and started recording Hare Nochi Guu.), Dragon 1/2.
Games, I loved Harvest Moon :P , Pokemon, LEGO games, Star Ocean: Second Story, CHAMPIONS OF NORRATH!!!, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Neverwinter Nights (just the first one… cuz fixed camera…); Skyrim, and… probably the one I wasted the most time on, RPG-Maker. And the… world builder in Neverwinter Nights. I kept building things in that damn thing only to have something I changed break it and I would get stuck in my game at a level I couldn’t handle yet, or alternately, stuck in a cave and then the computer would crash and… at one point it got fried… I mean… the computer got hit by lightening. So **** that. At any rate, I like RPGs. Turn based, action based, I don’t much care, really. I like to level. No old school games, though, really. Cuz I was pooooor and by the time I could afford anything I had a PS1…. And I’m not so much a console/pc gamer as a tabletop/board game player.

Board games, I like to play Arkham Horror. I’ve got 4 expansions for it. Er, well, actually, I guess I could just link to my whatsis. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/manekochan?own=1&subtype=boardgame&ff=1

Um… I bought into the Kingdom Death: Monster and Reaper Miniatures kickstarters at enough of a level to be embarrassed… That alone ought to get me into Nerdtopia, right?

Does that comment count as a text wall? (see the Monday comments). And folks think I’m long winded… We love ya’ anyway, manekochan…

It’s totally text wall. It was supposed to be down at the bottom of the page so no one felt obligated to read it as a reply but my computer tricked me… grrrr….
My boyfriend was like, “WHAT are you DOING? You’ve been typing that forever. Is that a dating profile?” 9_9; “No.” “It looks like a dating profile.” “It’s not. It’s nerd talk.”

Don’t know when I joined. Probably as a child. I seem to recall stories about a 3 year old me telling an uncle, “Shhh! I can’t hear the tv!”

I actually know exactly when I joined. Sixth grade, I had read everything on the bookshelf in my room. I went to my dad and said, “Dad, I’m out of books. What should I read?” and he pulled down an Anne McCaffrey paperback. Science fiction and fantasy were the only things I voluntarily read for the next 15 years. Technically, I probably started earlier with the Chronicles of Narnia and other books, but sixth grade is when obsession set in. :)

I remember getting books from the library and reading them, then, when I finished, reading my sister’s books so that I could hold over her that I knew the endings since she was about 4 times slower. :)

Uh .. where did the sexy Jo pic come from – the one that’s right above your Twitter/Tumbler banner? Muy cute ..

Jess is always great – I’m always looking for another unguarded moment in their apartment. Y’know, just in case.

And .. Kaci, I didn’t know girls played video games! I mean, everyone in WOW says they don’t.

Check my screenshots of me with my KH2 case :P

I have a WoW character myself, but I’m only level 9; it’s hard to find time to level.

Also, girls who don’t understand fashion end up with videogames. It’s a rule.

It’s not called a screenshot if you used a real camera. ;-)

I’m kind of at a crossroads as far as Nerdtopia goes. I’m wondering if I should leave, since I really want to get heavily involved in aviation. Of course, that’s a different kind of nerd. You think peoples’ eyes gloss over when you talk about TV shows and games?

Just try and start a conversation with someone about Sonex, Navions, King, Piper (or even Aeronca) cubs, or the Beechcraft Staggerwing. Never mind all the controversies in the aviation community. You think gun owners have it bad in this day and age? Don’t get me started on the 100LL debacle.

The debates on gun ownership pale in comparison to much of what’s going on in the aviation community.

But I will say this. It is a true thrill to listen to radial engines rumbling behind the singing staccato of the prop it drives.

I’m waiting to see Planes so I can see it with my whole family. I’ve been quietly looking forward to this movie since I saw the sky-writer in Cars. At the time, I wasn’t sure it was going to be made. I became immeasurably excited when I saw some of the special features on Cars 2 that hinted at Planes.

Okay… A rant is imminent if I don’t stop now. Trust me, I have not yet begun to rant when it comes to aviation.

I also am a huge fan of the God of War series. KRATOS IS THE BEST

I’m “celebrating” 8 years on WOW day after tomorrow.

Betweenfailures, ShotGunShuffle and QuestionableContent are the only things that keep me connected to reality.

Well, sort of reality.

I remember the last day of summer vacation, and the nights leading up to bed time before I would start a new school year. I would spend the entire day playing some BS video game in a last ditch attempt to beat it.

What the hell am I saying? Games like Megaman, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country- None of those were BS games, but I can remember waking up in the morning with a bowl of fruity pebbles and spend the entire last day of summer to see the boss of the game.

Being a college student, I don’t seem to get that luxury as much. Ah, I miss those days, but they have been replaced. Who knew, that at 21- I would be doing what Thomas and John do at work. Taking in my DS and playing Mario Kart, or Pokemon, or even one of a hundred old GBA games just to pass the slow times.

It took me two such summers to beat Battletoads (in 1996). I wouldn’t find out until later that there were people who thought that beating Battletoads was impossible.

Consequently, when I Wanna Be the Guy was making its rounds, I didn’t get very far before I decided to quit. I mean, I had beaten Battletoads. I didn’t need IWBtG.

Ha! I know that sentiment: I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with learning, but I hated school. I didn’t have any amazing problems with bullies or anything, but everything in general was just…well I guess that’s how it was. “School” was the thing kids hated. Just the way of things. Every cartoon and TV show displayed it as the things kids hate. I took to a lot of new things when someone explained something, but something about sitting in a classroom just sucked my attention in the complete opposite direction. I HAD to find something else to do, and school was just a place that took my time until I was free to use it my own way.

*sigh* if I could go back in time, I think I’d try to fix that sentiment. Find out who I would be if I could have retained a lot of that information. Especially in college – spent a lot of that time trying to reverse my years of training to sit in a class and not pay attention.

I think I was born part nerd. I always was obsessed with fantasy books since I can remember. Then Harry Potter cemented it when I was like 10. The video games and anime started at 13ish. Now I can’t imagine being anything but part of the awesome nerd world.

Okay, I’ve made a few posts up to this point, but I guess I’ll dig a little and flesh out my experiences.

I remember watching Star Wars on network television when I was very young. It was neat, but I really didn’t think about it much at the time.

Nickelodeon started me off with anime before I knew what anime was. Heck, this was before I knew what “Japanimation” was. Lost City of Gold, Big Ben, and the flying lighthouse. (Not real sure on the name of the last one.) If there were more, I wasn’t aware of them.

When VCRs were starting to become popular, my parents rented Unico for us a couple of times. I haven’t had a chance to watch it lately, so I have no idea how it stands up in this day and age. I also remember movies like Flight of Dragons, The Last Unicorn, and other similar movies. This includes The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Dark Crystal was my first favorite movie. It really piqued my imagination, but I remember being frightened by it, as well. Even so, I really liked it. Then came The Neverending Story. It would be a few more years before I would find out about The Labyrinth. Oh, yeah. I guess there was The Princess Bride and Monty Python’s Holy Grail. I never did like Holy Grail as much as everyone else did. Princess Bride I liked, but it kind of got over-done around me.

Backing up once again, I remember my first adventure game was Below the Root on PC. We had a Tandy 1000 back in the day. I played this game quite a lot, even though I didn’t really figure out much about it without watching my brother first. I then found out there was a series of books that this game was based on. It was the first trilogy I ever read. I still wonder what it would be like to don a shuba and float among the trees.

Then came the NES. I liked quite of lot of NES games. The SNES really captured my imagination, though. I could go on, but I’m going to go on about other things, as it is.

I remember my first imaginary friend. Cass. (Or Cassie?) She was a character in a book we used in first grade. I think it had to do with a magic school bus or something. It’s kind of vague, but I do remember her. My 2nd imaginary friends were centaurs. I still hold centaurs among my favorite fantasy creatures.

I’m just going to list other works that have influenced me over the years at this point:
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Black Cauldron (Disney)
Tchaikovsky (I was in orchestra. Played the string bass. Made high school something I looked forward to.)
Jean Sibelius
The Black Stallion (He only did it once, but I still remember my dad reading this to me with me sitting in his lap.)
DnD
Shadowrun (SNES and the tabletop RPG)
Game Boy (Handhelds are still among my favorite consoles.)
Nintendo DS (I had so many games…)
Doom II
Quake & Quake 2
WarCraft II &III
Unreal Tournament
Battlezone 2 (PC game, Pandemic studios version)
Lineage 2
World of WarCraft
Auto Assault Digital TCG (briefly, but remember fondly. Never got into Magic, btw.)
Diablo 2 (Soooo many years…)
Dwarf Fortress
ElfQuest (Of course! How could I forget? Probably my favorite representations of elves.)
Webcomics (I’m not even going to list them. Just going to say Lethal Doses started it all.)
StarCraft
All those Drizzt books.
Forgotten Realms books.
MiG Pilot (Not really a nerd book, though.)
To an extent, the Marines. Funded much of my gaming experience, which is extensive.

Yeah. That’s enough from me. All of these memories. Don’t know if I’ll ever completely walk away, but I do mean for it to become less important to me.

I’ve never not been a resident of Nerdtopia. In fact, I’m Emperor Emeritus of Nerdtopia. I was nerd before nerd was cool (it is cool, right?). To give you an idea of just how long I’ve been a nerd, the first thing I remember reading was ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ in “The Flash” #123, 1961(yes, I had to look up the date and issue number). I read it new, so that would put me at about four years old. If I still had it, it would be worth over $80,000, mint, which of course it would not be. Hey, I was four.

At a guess, I’m probably about twice the average age of the readers of this strip. Nonetheless, I and my daughter enjoy it a lot.

If any further evidence of my nerdiness is needed, ‘Caerelon’ is my most powerful D&D character, though not my favorite.

You and I are probably skewing the average age for this webcomic, I was born in 1957.

Ha! Another child of the 50’s! I was born in 1956 myself. I’ve never been quite sure what month that issue of The Flash came out, but I remember thinking of myself as four.

My, how things have changed in our lifetimes! I remember when we only had a wood-burning Internet. Now if we can just get these kids to get off our lawns!

I think when my Dad read me The Hobbit at 5 there was no looking back. From there I’ve dabbled in a bit of it all. I can debate the relative merits of Gauss Rifles and AC20s. I know why you shouldn’t take Dodge on your DnD 3.5 character. I know what a Walch 12-shot navy is. “The slow blade penetrates the shield.” I love Terry Brooks and can’t stand Terry Goodkind. I have won multiple FNM’s and lost many games of Pandemic. I roleplayed on Yahoo Groups/Clubs and tanked the Lich King. I know why there are rats in the walls… I love Wil Wheaton and hate Wesley Crusher. I am a fan of Kyp Durron but not the Sun Crusher. I’ve beaten Super Mario Brothers faster than you. (Unless there is a speed-runner here) I have studied Kung Fu and fought with sword and mace against an Uruk charge. I’ve made armor and shilled at the Ren Faire. I own both a Diabolo and a set of flower sticks. I prefer initiation to support and can’t carry worth a damn. I prefer Barry Allen but think of Wally fondly. I have studied Ancient Greek, but can only speak English (with a smattering of Elven and Dwarf) This could go on…

OMG, lemme think. Did a book report on The Hobbit for Fourth Grade, read the LOtR Trilogy in Fifth. Asked for and received a DIGICOMP I kit (an early mechanical computer, about 1970 vintage) for my 13th Christmas. As a Sophomore in High School, I voluntarily enrolled in a Computer Math course: 1972, IBM Selectric terminals hooked up to the IBM 360 computer at the University of Connecticut. Hung out with the Wargaming Society (Risk was invented at UConn) but sucked at strategy. Gary Gygax didn’t publish D&D until halfway through my Senior year.

I ‘inherited’ Dad’s fondness for Science Fiction and his collection of ’40s and ’50s Golden Age novels and magazines. One of them was the premiere and only issue of Venture Science Fiction, the second issue of which was pulped before publication, like the magazine in the Far Beyond the Stars (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars) episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Born and raised chumps, born and raised!

Got very lucky to have friends of family get mainstream cable when it was first becoming really popular (though in retrospect watching heavy grade anime at age 4-7 probably put me on the weirdest f-ing path ever). So I’m pretty well steeped in every cartoon/anime of the past three decades or so. Thank God for re-runs.

Hit the video game craze late, but made up for it with sheer enthusiasm, and of course I was reading high school level novels in early grade school. And not gonna risk Lady Ace showing up and outdoing me, but I’m not bad with movies and TV shows either.

So yeah, Nerdtopia 90s era model, damn proud too.

I think I was born in Nerdtopia. Grew up on Sci-fi and action movies. Played D&D when I was about 13, the ITL version. Since my family lived under a rock I didn’t get into video games and anime until I was older :( I think my first manga was Barefoot Gen. Even with all that I wouldn’t call my self a hardcore nerd. I finally finished Oblivion, over a thousand saves and 400 game days later! But my whole family are nerds of one type or another. Mom was complaining when I visited her last: “I kept getting distracted listening to your brothers talk about rocket science. I’m trying to work on the structural design of the new house. Then I hear them, and start trying figure out the theories they are working on!” Sorry for rambling, sometimes I like hearing my self type. :P

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