The Age of Nerd, Part One: Three Shows That Changed Nerd Culture.

By Greg Stokley

As some of you may have noticed, the Nerd Culture's propulsion from obscurity and mocking to acceptance and, dare i say it, cool, is a major theme around here. For anyone who has grown up a Nerd or has found themselves within Nerdom in the last decade, you have undoubtedly seen the rise of Nerdiness. Sure, there are pockets of Nerd Culture that are still relegated to certain stereotypes, but for the most part the Nerds have begun to see their heyday.

While there are a plethora of reasons why this has occurred, I intend to use this series

as a way to examine what I believe are the main contributors to the rise of Nerd Culture in recent years. Thought this topic is multi-faceted, I intend to shed light on the most crucial areas, the first of which is Television. I contend that there are three main shows that have aided the cause of the Nerd in the past 5-7 years: Game of Thrones; Arrow; and The Big Bang Theory.

Game of Thrones

The most risque and mature of the bunch, HBO’S Game of Thrones is adapted from the epic fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R.R. Martin. The first book, published in 1996, launched readers into a very different kind of fantasy world that was heavy on the realism and light on the magic. Since then, readers have eagerly waited for the next installment in the series. Twenty years later, the seven-book series still isn’t finished.

Just waiting for The Winds of Winter.

This did not stop HBO from grabbing the rights to this brutal yet fascinating world, and the pilot to Game of Thrones (taken from the first book, titled A Game of Thrones) premiered to the world on April 17, 2011. Almost six seasons later, the show has generated an ENORMOUS following, and has become one of the most diverse fandoms in existence. The finale to Season 5 alone brought in over 8 million viewers. This obscure, Nerdy book series has become an international hit.

The Sopranos never stood a chance.

Suffice to say, Game of Thrones has had a significant cultural impact. As Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation said, “They would never cancel Game of Thrones. It’s a crossover hit! It’s not just for fantasy enthusiasts. They’re telling human stories in a fantasy world!” No truer statement can be spoken. This show has broken barriers and caused the non-Nerd to ask, “What else is like this show? There’s books? Should I read them? What else should I read?” The fantasy genre should be thanking Game of Thrones. This show has not only popularized a fantasy series, but it has also opened the door for fans of the genre to speak out and say, “Hey, we’ve got more where that came from!!!”

God bless you, Mr. Wyatt.

This moves us to the next show.

Arrow

The Superhero genre has skyrocketed in the past decade. With that comes the advent of superhero television.

Enter: Arrow.

Based off the DC comics character Green Arrow, this show does what no other hero-themed show did before it: it eliminated the campiness associated with and found in the superhero genre. With dramatic flair and fantastic writing, Arrow brings home the desperate story of Oliver Queen and how he, through circumstance and pain, became the hero known as the Green Arrow. To many comic book fans, this was a stellar opportunity to see this hero come to life and bring aspects of the DC Universe to primetime TV. Yet, to those who are not intrigued by comics and superheroes, this show gives them something to look forward to without all the superhero cheese. Arrow is a fully accessible show for the fan and non-fan alike.

Lois and Clark, you have failed this genre.

However, there is another fantastic thing that  Arrow has come to establish: a shared, TV universe. The TV crossover is back in full force with Arrow and other show set in the “Arrowverse.” Shows like The Flash, Constantine, Legends of Tomorrow, the upcoming Vixen, and even Supergirl, have found their way into one interconnected television universe that makes the characters and their plotlines all the more intriguing. This has given Nerds the opportunity to say, “Oh, you like the crossovers? The comics do it all the time!!!” Again, Nerd Culture is expanded thanks to a successful television show.

Now, for our last (and most comedic) show.

The Big Bang Theory

As far as Nerd Culture goes, this show is the most controversial. Being the oldest of the three shows here (the pilot episode airing in September 2007), The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom that follows the misadventures of a group of university researchers and their plight as, well, Nerds. This show is presented as a look into the life of a Nerd. From frequenting comic shops and having Battlestar Galactica marathons, to melting down about the loss or destruction of collectibles, this show does a decent job at giving a general audience a look into the life of a Nerd, however stereotyped it may seem. In fact, I would say that it is the stereotypical nature of the show that has seen many Nerds split between despising it and embracing it. Yet, here is the main contribution of the show, and the reason for it’s inclusion in this article.

Penny.

Naive to the ways of Nerd.

Penny is the neighbor of Leonard and Sheldon, two CalTech physicists and mega Nerds. A great deal of humor comes from her interactions with Nerd Culture, since she comes into friendship with her neighbors not knowing anything of Nerd. This is where we must place focus in this show. The show isn’t about the Nerdy men, but rather it’s about non-Nerdy Penny and her exposure to things she would have never been exposed to on her own. This show is about the non-Nerd’s inclusion into Nerd Culture, and thereby resonates with the general audience. Many people have come to me and said, “Hey, I saw X on Big Bang last night. What is that?” This show has opened wide the doors of interest into Nerd Culture. Nerds, be happy that our stuff is being covered on a primetime slot.

I mean, it's doing better than Game of Thrones.

Conclusion

Though this article was a brief one, I have little doubt that it has hit the nail on the head. As I said before, there have been many contributors to the rise of Nerd. Those will be addressed in time. Yet it is by belief that, on the medium of television, these three shows have been key to the wider acceptance of Nerd Culture in recent years.

Game of Thrones says, “Nerds are sitting on some brutal realism.”

Arrow says, “No longer are superheroes campy and unrelatable.”

The Big Bang Theory says, “There’s nothing wrong with Nerds. In fact, the stuff they like is kinda cool.”

Nerds, we are in a better light now than we’ve ever been. So, strap on your seat belts, folks.

The Age of Nerd has come.

The Thursday Review: Fallout 4

Hello, Nerds!!! 

Derek Jordan, here, taking a break from the wastes for a bit to give you my thoughts on Fallout 4. It is hard enough to take a break from the game in my free time, so do me a favor and appreciate this enormous sacrifice of mine. Cool? Great, then let's get started!!!

Background:

    I am in no way a professional. I am just a guy like anyone else enjoying a game made by Bethesda. I played the original Fallout about a billion years ago, but since that only lasted about an hour, so I can’t really remember how that went. I played through Fallout 3, but I got it for Christmas and ran through the main story as quickly as I could. I had Fallout 4 to play, so I had get through it as fast as possible. Basically, this means that I knew practically nothing about the Fallout line of games when I started playing Fallout 3. Even then, I barely tapped into what it provided in playability.

    I have now gone full force into Fallout 4. At this time, I have still not begun the main story quest. Now don’t worry, there won’t be any spoilers here, but I will say that I like how this game starts. I also want to be clear that I have also put in MANY hours of gameplay.

    From here on out, I want to focus on a few aspects of the game and lay out my thoughts.

Graphics: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] (9/10)

My first point here is this: a good game does not need good graphics. That being said, Fallout 4 delivers them spectacularly. Keep in mind, I went directly from playing Fallout 3 to Fallout 4, so I had a drastic jump in quality. No matter how long I’ve been playing, when I open up the game I can get lost in the look and beauty of just the menu backdrop.

    One of the things I find really cool about the look and feel of Fallout 4 is how it can be so desolate and broken, yet at the very same time capture an untold beauty. Just a proper mixing of pixels and coloring in the right moments slow me down in my game and force me to appreciate the scenery around my player character.

Gameplay: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] (9/10)

    

There are several factors in Gameplay that I just find to be spot on. These make the game enjoyable and, honestly, addicting to play.

Leveling System:

I found the leveling system in Fallout 3 to be slightly easier to understand than the one in Fallout 4. It was easy to understand the point system, which told you what level you needed to be at to achieve certain things. However, I think that without knowledge from Fallout 3,  this system would have been easier to understand from the start. That might not make sense, but when you go from "you need a score of X in Y to do Z" to "I can't do that" you can see my difficulty in navigating the system. 

 The system still works with numbers, but said "numbers" are now stars. Each category of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. can be increased, giving you access to differing perks. While I liked having almost full access to all possible perks based on my level, I find it makes more sense for the perks to be dictated by attributes. So, ultimately, I like the Fallout 4 leveling system better, even though it has a steeper learning curve.

If you plan on playing the game, I recommend finding a video or write-up of some kind so you can get a better understanding of how to use your perks. Once you know this, making decisions throughout the game are easier and clearer. Knowing where to start your character and how to level them as you progress will be extremely helpful.

Forgiveness:

    There is a good degree of forgiveness built into the game, especially in the leveling system. You get a chance or two to change your attributes and you can also use your level increase to increase your attributes throughout the game.

    When making choices, you can play them through a bit, keeping a save if you don't like the outcome of your choice. However, the truth is, you might not understand what your choice does until it is too late to go back, sticking you with that outcome. It honestly makes the game more compelling.

Playability:

    I found movement, aiming, and just all around playability to be fairly standard. Usually smooth, it’s what you would expect from a first person view. You can toggle to third person view, but I have not played much at all from that standpoint. In my opinion, the third person view does not feel right for this game.

Adaptability:

    Without have some kind of cursory knowledge of Fallout, you can certainly play the game. Yet without it, you may quickly make decisions you did not intend to and you will find that yourself in an unfortunate position of some kind. Most of this occurs in the leveling system, but things can crop up from decisions you make in interactions with NPCs.

    The world will shift in degrees depending upon your choices. I could not tell you how much, mainly because nothing I have done seems to have changed anything drastically. I do know the way I have played has differed from my brother, but that is because of my focusing more on my settlements rather than the main game. I am sure that multiple playthroughs with differing choices can result in some differences in your game.

Settlement Building/Crafting:

    I believe this is one of the biggest things that this game has in it. There is SOOOO much that you can do across the whole map, and with that you get even more access and control over settlements. You can do as much or as little as you like. You can make this work for you (which is my goal) or you can just be annoyed by the added "work" the game asks you do.

    I really, really like this because you can focus on a settlement, build, and tweak it; yet still be leveling up. This is the same for crafting. Let me be clear on this; I HATE CRAFTING in most games. I find it annoying to have to try and figure out all the things you can make and what you need in order to do it. Case and point, I crafted one or two things in Fallout 3. First off, it took too long to get the "ability," and second it was pretty much useless.

    In Fallout 4, one of the first things I did was craft and upgrade my gun. As soon as I saw that I gained experience points for doing so, I knew I would be doing it much more often. So, I try to upgrade all my weapons and my armor frequently. The other crafting I focus on is in the cooking station. I really enjoy being able to take the meats and such from defeated enemies and improve their quality in healing and aid, as well as gain experience points for each item cooked.

   

Rating: M for Mature

Now why is this?

    Violence:

    The game is crazy violent. They don't really hold back on that. There is an entire race of Super Mutants that basically eat humans. There literal sacks of gore laying around. I do wish for an option to turn off gore, but it would be an insane undertaking and re-haul of the game.

    Using close quarter weapons can lead to a mess of gore as limbs and heads may come off as you fight. This also occurs when shooting shots, the worst being the head shot. Heads just pop right off. This is the way I play pretty much every game; headshot, headshot, headshot. So,  I constantly have severed heads around in the game. Sadly,  you won't avoid this if you don't play in this way. There are bodies all over because of the nature of the wasteland around you.

    Language:

    All NPCs pretty much have naughty mouths. Some more than others. I have been playing for hours and hours, and there are times I don't notice at all. Then someone attacks and says things that I certainly don't want to hear, and are certainly not fit for my kids. I, personally, like to play with a headset on so the kids don't hear much.

    Drug Use:

   This is a different one. I can't think of too many games that I have played in my life that have as much drug use as this one. I like the idea that you can get addicted to them, mainly because it throws a bit of real life into the mix. I do what I can to not use alcohol or many of the other drugs in the game. This is due to my personal beliefs (odd that I feel that way, but still will shoot or hit someone with a sword in the game), but mostly because becoming addicted to it in the game can be quite harmful.  

Final Thoughts

Fallout 4 has amazing depth to it. If you don't enjoy getting totally caught up in all the extra stuff, then you still can play and blow through it. Yet if that is how you play, you are just not getting your money's worth. This game has more than it's fair share of content. If you are used to games with very linear storylines, then you will find yourself getting lost and wonder where you went wrong. The truth is, don't worry about getting lost. If you are 20 miles off your trail and exploring building after building, you are still playing the game the way it’s meant to be played. Just allow yourself to become immersed in it. This is what I enjoy most about Fallout 4. It can handle practically any play style, letting you make those choices in the way that you play. You are the one that make it fun.

So, have fun and game on, Nerds! 

I give Fallout 4 a Talkin’ Nerdy rating of 9/10.

You can watch me live on Twitch : Openedeyes02

You can check out the full playthrough on Youtube : Openedeyes02

The Rise and Coming Fall of Funko Pop

By Matthew Coker

When I was 15, I dressed like an idiot. Overly-sized baggy pants, long sleeve shirts with holes cut out of the wrists for my thumbs to go through, chains and other odd accessories dangling all over, beanie caps even in the summer, spiked and bleached-blond hair... your typical "punk rock" teenager.

Where did I go to find my fashion sense? Why, Hot Topic of course! 15 years ago, that place was the punk and goth kids’ dream. The first thing you notice as you walk in is all the black, followed by the music playing overhead (which was mainly just fast-paced growl-yelling), and finally the general "screw the mainstream" attitude of the whole place.

Would you like some teen angst with that?

Fast forward to 2016. If you walk into a Hot Topic today, you will still see a lot of black, mainly because they paint everything black to give it that "rebellious" vibe. However, you'll start to notice some things that are just... SO not goth.

First of all, music. Some stores still PLAY the harder stuff over the sound system, but then you check their music racks and you will find stuff like Owl City, Justin Timberlake, and *shutter* One Direction.

Coming to steal your girl AND your goth clothing store.

Beyond the music change, you'll also find that things in there have gotten a lot more... Nerdy. You will find merchandise for superheroes, anime, Power Rangers, Doctor Who,etc., as well as an entire wall of little 3.75" collectibles known as "Funko Pops".

Funko Pops are small collectible figures (some are bobble-heads) that originally featured a basic body shape (the bodies are much more detailed and distinct now) and a giant head with minimalist features, focusing heavily on the eyes.

The Green Lantern Movie: Better than a hundred Deadpool's?

This was the first one I picked up - Hal Jordan from the critically reviled Green Lantern movie (which I still kinda like). I mean, seriously, for an origin story that cramed his entire 60 year backstory into one movie so he would end up ready for the Sinestro Corp War (which happened less than a decade ago), they did surprisingly well. On top of that, why all the hate on the CGI costume? Was that really the biggest fashion faux pas in big screen superhero history?

Bat nipples, anyone?

But I digress.

Funko started cranking out these Pops in 2010 at San Diego Comic Con, originally under the name Funko Force 2.0 (sold in a plastic clam shell), which built off another line of toys they had. When it looked like these were going to surpass everything else they sold in popularity, they renamed them "Pops" and repacked them in their familiar and super stackable white boxes.

Since then, Pops have exploded and were featured just a few months ago on the big morning shows as the "Hottest Collectible on the Planet" or something like that.

When I bought my first one, ol' Green Jeans up there, I thought it was the only one I was going to buy. Green Lantern is my favorite hero, that's all. I'm not a Pop Collector.

Then I saw The Dark Knight Rises and thought, "Well, I could at least get a Batman one too."

When my wife bought me a Spider-Man Pop for my birthday, the addiction finally took hold of me. Within just a few months, my collection increased to a dozen - Iron Man, Superman, Sheldon Cooper, White Ranger, etc. - I couldn't stop.

I still can't.

It's 3 years later now and I've become known as the "Pop Guy" in my social circles. For Christmas, all I get is Pops. For my birthday, Pops. For "thank you" gifts, Pops. I just got back from my buddy's wedding where I was a groomsman. My groomsman gift? POPS.

I have an entire room dedicated to my Pops (and other collectibles, but mostly Pops) and since I keep running out of space for them, I have to expand my displays once every few months. My collection has grown to the point where when people ask me, "How many of these things do you HAVE?", I no longer feel proud to give my answer. I feel embarrassed, like I have a serious problem or something.

Yeah. This.

I'm addicted, and I've successfully infected at least 6 other people I know of, too.

When they first started making these, the only ones they made that really interested me were Marvel and DC. Since they've taken off, Pops have branched out to every franchise known to man. I mean, this year's Funko Toy Fair catalog has concept art for Pops based on the Golden Girls in it. That's right, it has exhausted so many franchises in the past 6 years that it is moving on to TV Land.

There are THOUSANDS of these Pop figures and they keep coming out at a maddening pace. There are rare ones, store exclusive ones, convention exclusive ones, subscription box exclusive ones, and some that are so rare that they are worth HUNDREDS of dollars now.

People on the outside look and see one thing: Beanie Babies.

I don't need a man when I've got 7,000 Beanie Babies to keep me warm in bed.

Sure, Funko can't ride this high forever. The bottom will drop out one day and these figures will stop being made. However, there is a big difference between Funko Pops and Beanie Babies, and that difference is that Beanie Babies were almost exclusively their own thing - their own characters, their own stories, their own gimmick. Funko Pops, however, are almost entirely based on franchises and characters, most of which have already stood the test of time. Funko Pops might not always be popular, but Superman will be - so my Superman Pops are safe. Same with any superhero, WWE wrestler, classic sci-fi series, Disney movie, or Nicktoon. The characters won't die, even if (when) the toy line does. At the rate in which they are burning through franchises, this can't be too far off.

I had to find something to do with the almost 400 Funko Pops in my collection. So, shortly after I started collecting, I created an instagram account - @PopMatt - and I've been taking photos of my collection ever since. In the future, I'll be sharing some of the best shots of my collection with you, showcasing some of my favorite Pops and franchises.

Today, we'll end with sharing just a few of my favorite shots from 2015:

Yes, that IS a tiny, 1-inch tall Ant-man standing on a stack of coins.

To bring this article full circle, let me try to explain to you just how big of a deal Funko Pops are. Hot Topic has become known as the main Funko Pop outlet. The collectible is now their number one selling item. Hot Topic gets dozens of Pops exclusive to their store every year, and they also get to sell some entire series of Pops 90 days before any other store (currently, this is happening with the second series of Doctor Who Pops). Hot Topic employees have even been given exclusive Pops just for them (The Pop is of a semi-generic Hot Topic employee - Hot Topic Guy - which at one time was being sold on eBay for over $300 - I got mine for $30).

Since Hot Topic's big success, other stores have started getting their own exclusives, including GameStop, Target, Walmart, Toys 'r' Us, Barnes & Noble, and Walgreens (of all places). Many online stores and comic shops also get their own exclusives and every year when San Diego Comic Con rolls around, you can guarantee at least a dozen special limited-run convention exclusives.

It is now impossible to walk into a mall and not see them in almost every other store. I've seen them in candy shops, hat stores, sports stores, and even at Kohl's. I don't know why that last one astounds me, but it does.

One thing is for sure: You can't buy just one.

Consider yourself warned.