Let's get this out of the way now. I love my Powerbook, my iPod, my digital camera. I have 3 (three!) video game related tattoos. I have an Apple logo tattooed on my right wrist along with the universal power symbol. I know the names of minor characters in Star Wars (all 6 movies) and have a collection of action figures, Legos and books.
For fun, I paint pewter miniatures and play several different tabletop war games. I own a PS2, GameCube, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis, Sega Master system, NES, Super NES, N64, Nintendo DS, Sega Nomad, Sega Game Gear, tons of old Atari stuff and a Neo Geo Pocket.
I have a small collection of anime, some sci-fi on DVD and a decent amount of anime and video game collectibles. I do enjoy video game soundtracks and have played a few MMORPGs.
I do not dress up as any of the characters from any of the above items. Well, except for Halloween, when I was a Mac and Scott was a PC. And I was Mario at work. But that's beside the point.
I am not, nor will I ever be, a member of the sub-nerd culture that we were exposed to today.
To be honest, I'm not sure if I have the right words to describe the scene that unfolded. We were only there for about 4 hours. It was something greater than fear; they knew we weren't one of them. Like it was hard to tell we weren't into live action versions of cartoons. Or manga.
Scott and I spent part of Sunday afternoon at Fandemonium, the local anime/sci-fi fan fest. We were there to demo Warmachine, our war game of choice. Since we were doing a demo, we got in for free.
This thing started on Friday. This was the last day. I'm really, really afeared of how things looked on Day 1.
We had a few folks interested in the game we were playing. We decided to throw down a 750 pointer with bigger versions of the armies we used in Saturday's tournament. There was a nerdling who took interest and I think he wasn't sure how to handle being spoken to by a human female. Didn't like to make eye contact, took sideways glances, that kinda thing. He seemed interested in the game, then had to run off to play Magic with a friend. *sigh*
Lotsa folks in costumes came in and out of the room -- which was designated for table top gaming. There were some pen & paper RPGs going on and some flavor of Games Workshop miniatures gaming. The guy with the straight jacket and scary mask made me giggle. His friend had black and white facepaint and looked like a reject from Inane Clown Posse. There was the guy with what was supposed to be a Sonic the Hedgehog costume. He was affiliated with the BSU Anime Club. Note to self: Never. Getting. Involved. With. That.
There were folks dressed up as various anime characters I recognized -- recognized but couldn't name, thankyouverymuch. Sonic the Animehog was scary. That was before I saw the sub-nerd with the wooden katana shoved through his belt loop.
I think the thing that bugs me the most about the sub-nerd dorks is the fact they think everything Japanese makes them cool. They were drinking overpriced Japanese soda, eating overpriced Japanese candy and dressing up as bizzaro Japanese characters. Katana Boy was just sad. What he supposed to be?
"I'm Mega Gaijin! I will impress you with my trivial knowledge of all things Japanese! Did you know that shoyu is Japanese for soy sauce? Did you know that miso is made with fermented tofu? Did you know that tofu is made from soy beans? Hey, wanna go hang out in my basement and watch Dragonball-Z and play with my Wii?"
After our volunteer time was over, we walked around the Nampa Civic Center to check out the sights. Plenty more costumed folks, ranging from Strange Girl in Kimono, to Squirrelly Boy with Really Big Sword to Ohmygawd I Don't Know WTF You're Supposed to Be But You Scare Me and I'm Walking the Other Way. Then we gathered our belongings and went in search of food.
Leading up to this weekend, we had joked about how I could be pursued by the white & nerdy set. Asian gamer geek female with video game tattoos; plays video games and table top war games. It was suggested I could end up in some nerd's closet as the latest addition to his All Things Japanese Collection. Yeah, there was no way I was going anywhere there alone. But it didn't hit me until we were in the car: Until we arrived, there was a conspicuous absence of Asians.
But really. I can completely understand the lack of Asians. If I wasn't there to demo Warmachine, I would have stayed far, far away. And ethnicity aside, would you really want to be in a convention center with things like this:
*
*Not an acutal image from Fandemonium. These are random folks found on a Google search for cosplay.
The fandom way of life isn't my thing. I'm a collector. I collect series of DVDs, I like to have all of the music from some artists, I like to have every unit/model for the armies I play. I count that as OCD, not fandom. Am I a Mac fan? Hell yeah. Apple and Macs are a way of life. And I guess the argument could be made for anime and manga being a way of life. But I don't need to put on a costume for my lifestyle, nor do I need to immerse myself in another culture to be "cool." I can respect the people who do the costume thing well and aren't complete flaming dorks about it. I will keep a safe and healthy distance from the others.
But hey, I got blog fodder out of the whole thing. I left unmolested and without having anyone try to talk to me in Japanese -- which I don't speak since dropping language school around 5th grade.
And I owe it all to this guy:
Just call him the envy of all nerds.
It really does pay to have a boyfriend who looks like an axe murderer. ;)
balanced
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