My awesome friend was nice enough to take me to the dining hall last weekend. While we were eating, a friend of hers, and an acquaintance of mine, decided to join us.
I had only talked to this kid a few times. We had a couple of classes together, but that was about it. So we proceeded to engage in the typical small talk: How’s your summer been? Oh, you’re taking classes. You found a co-op? Congrats!
As he stood up to leave, he casually commented,
My friend and I both looked down in confusion, since she was wearing a normal pair of boots and I was wearing an ordinary pair of sneakers. We looked at each other. We all laughed. And then my friend excitedly blurts out,
I froze.
Because I was. But it wasn’t obvious. At that moment, I was dressed as a character from the Disney show Gravity Falls:
Since, that weekend, I was attending Anime Boston. I hadn’t bothered changing my outfit because I knew that, unless you watched the show, it would look like I was wearing normal clothes.
My friend didn’t recognize my plea and went on.
AHHHH!! HEY!! WAIT!! STOP! I barely know this kid!
I had no choice but to admit to it.
He gave me an odd look, assured me he didn’t judge about that kind of thing, and walked away.
I was mortified.
Later on I was still beating myself up about it. Darnit, now I’ve been forever branded as the weirdo who dresses up in costumes. And then I realized something even worse:
Which almost seems absurd, considering what I do. I write a blog using comics. I have a tumblr full of nothing but anime gifs and Pokemon fan art. My current Facebook profile picture is me, dressed as Link, next to a Skyward Sword Zelda. I love this stuff so much that I’ll dish out fifty bucks to attend a con with other nerds.
Still, I know that not everyone thinks highly of the dorks. When the Prudential Center was overrun by people with costume this weekend…
The lines for Panda Express and Sarku Japan were loonnnnnnnnnnnng.
…it was hard to miss the looks of pure judgement from the passerby.
Despite what I do online, when I meet people in real life I don’t exactly advertise that I like to draw comics or dress up in costume or spend hours and hours playing Katamari Damacy.
Being a nerd nowadays is less of a stigma than it was, say, 20 years ago. Still, at moments like those, I can’t help but think
Because the fact is, to a lot of people, my interests automatically make me “strange.” Or a “freak.” Or a “loser.” Even some of my friends think it’s weird. If I wasn’t into all of these things, what would my life be like? Would I have more friends? Be more fashionable? Party hard?
Yeah, if I wasn’t a nerd, I definitely wouldn’t have gone to Anime Boston this weekend.
I wouldn’t have gone to see the great performances by Yousei Teikoku, Raj Ramaaya, or Origa.
I wouldn’t have seen this ballin’ One Piece figurine set in the Dealer’s Room…
…or this Heart Container necklace…
…or this orgasmic wall of tapestries.
I wouldn’t have 400+ photos sitting on my hard drive from last weekend, when I accosted tons and tons of people to get a shot of their awesome costumes.
Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
A very good-looking Flynn Rider from Tangled.
Lightning in her Final Fantasy XIII-2 armor.
And most importantly, I wouldn’t have had a blast bonding with fellow Gravity Falls fans
and Legend of Zelda fans
A fellow Link!
Groose!
Skyward Sword Zelda!
…who had traveled miles and miles to Boston last weekend to share our love for these series together.
If I wasn’t into all of this stuff, maybe I could actually be a cool cat. But if I wasn’t into comics and video games and… *sigh* cosplay, then I’d miss out on awesome things like Anime Boston. I wouldn’t get that little bit of happiness every time I see the Kotetsu Kaburagi keychain on my phone. And I most certainly wouldn’t be drawing comics.
Yeah, sometimes I’m embarrassed to be a nerd. But I sure as hell will never stop being one.
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Anyway, I had a lot of fun at Anime Boston this year! Here’s some of my favorite photos from the weekend. Also, I made a video last year if you feel like watching me awkwardly talk to a camera. Enjoy!~
I think in comics. 
I AM YOUR FRIEND AND A NERD AND PROUD OF BOTH! I WOULD COSPLAY WITH YOU WITH GLORIOUS AWESOMENESS!
A GROUP COSPLAY WOULD MAKE MY LIFE!!! ONE DAY WE SHALL GO TO OTAKON AND MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!
There are pros and cons about it. I get treated relatively normally even though I have a bunch of anime-related buttons on my messenger (seemed relevant) bag. It’s a pretty socially acceptable thing nowadays though, and anyone who avoids you or mocks you for it would be a pretty shitty friend to have anyway. Generally if people have similar interests, they’ll talk to you about them. If they don’t, they won’t. If they harass you about them, again, probably a pretty shitty friend (unless jokingly). Show off your pride and keep up the interesting posts.
Thanks! Haha I have anime buttons all over my bag as well. I’m really glad to have made friends who are able to accept my nerdiness (or are just as nerdy as I am) and you’re right, being nerdy has become more acceptable these days. Thanks for reading my comics! 🙂
If you already watch Extra Credits, then disregard this. But it deals quite well with the kind of thing you’re describing. Granted, video games and not general nerdiness. Also, awesome cosplay. =)
I finally got around to watching this! And it was excellent. It pretty much embodies how I feel sometimes being a nerd!
Now I feel like I should watch all the Extra Credits videos… agghh, Tim, I’m about to go waste many more hours now! XD
Oh Vy,
why are you so worried about what other people are thinking?
Did you hurt anybody?
Did you meet nice and interesting people?
Did you have fun?
So…..ENJOY !!!!
RoBo
Hahaha I like this! That’s right– as long as I’m not harming myself or others, who cares what I do? 😀
Oh, btw., the drawings are GREAT !!!!
RoBo
Anime Boston this year was my first convention ever. Before this, I didn’t really get why people were so into cosplay…
Aaand now I’m wracking my brain trying to think of a character I can go as next year. I think if people just went to one con, they’d never look down on them again. I swear, the moment you walk through the doors, it just clicks. What an incredible place to be.
It’s totally true. I didn’t cosplay either at my first con (a really small one near Philly) since it just seemed like too much trouble. Then I spent the whole convention people-watching in total amazement…
It’s hard to explain how much fun it is to cosplay to people who haven’t experienced it. People at cons like AB are just so open-minded and friendly, it’s awesome!
I know how you feel, but when it comes down to it, screw being ‘normal’ and ‘cool’, EMBRACE THE NERD AND ALL THE AWESOME THINGS IT CONTAINS! XD Cool cosplay outfits! 😀 I wish I could attend one of these amazing things (but unfortunately Adelaide doesn’t like to embrace the nerd -__-) so I could dress like Sora and have an excuse to take my cosplay Keyblade out in public XD btw, I love your comics! 😀
Ironically, my friend just linked me to this site the other day since I’m going to Australia soon: https://www.avcon.org.au/
So yeah, it seems like there’s a quickly growing anime con in Adelaide! It looks like it’s in July this year, so if you have the chance, you can always whip out your Keyblade there. (Also, can I say that I’m jealous that you have a Keyblade? I have two Keyblade necklaces, but not the full-size thing!)
Thanks for reading my comics! I’ll do my best to embrace my inner nerd! 😀
Sick!! Thankyou heaps for letting me know and sending the link! I’ll have to see if I can rope my brother into coming with me 😀 I’d love a Keyblade necklace, but the full-size thing is pretty awesome too 😉 Even has the chain with the Mickey mouse symbol and all! 😀
Ahhhh even the chain? That’s so cool! Where did you get it from?
I got it from an awesome geeky store in Adelaide called Shin Tokyo that sells so much anime and drool worthy items 😀 there is probably somewhere online they can be found as well though! ^_^
I used to get the same looks from fellow teachers and some administrators when I would give up my free time at school and some after school to play and run a “Magic the Gathering” MTG group for the students, throughout the school. I would really get looks when I admitted that I would buy thousands of cards at a time and that I had over 39,000 cards in my collection. I also read comics now and people look at me funny. All I can think is … Oblivion and Skyrim rock! So, who cares?!
Scott
Comics have long been thought of as a “kid” thing here in the USA. I think only recently it’s begun to change! That’s awesome that you used to run a MTG group at your school. I’ve never been into any TCGs myself, but I do remember when my roommate freshman year ordered a 1,000 pack of Magic cards on Amazon. It was pretty rad.
The people who would judge you for being a dork aren’t worth impressing, anyway. They’re beneath your contempt.
Fair enough! After all, there are tons of other people in the world who’ll love you for what you are! 🙂
I can totally get what you mean about that. I’ve felt that way sometimes before, too. Sometimes, I do the same thing.
But yeah, nerd on!
Speaking of nerdiness, I wouldn’t mind some captions of the photos in this post (that aren’t in the slideshow). I’ve never heard of Gravity Falls, or for that matter, probably some of the other cosplay characters, but I’m curious!
Oh yeah, I can do that! Let me add some now.
Thanks! That’s awesome!
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