Photo Credit: spike55151

I’ve noticed a few situations when it comes to letting out your passion for something you love. It ranges from being an Anime Otaku, or an avid gamer. Not only this is limited to video gaming, but all kinds of fandom, especially with Anime fans. One scenario in the Anime fandom are “imperfect” cosplayers. “Imperfect” as in being a tad bit overweight or different from the original character. (Mild NSFW warning, I think..) The cosplayer has every right to dress up as whoever they like, but there are times where the cosplayer needs to think twice before putting on a skimpy outfit. If they decide to put on that costume that’s a tad too tight, it may not be perfect to the eyes of the purists (and embarrassing to the cosplayer), but it may turn out to be a fun experience…

Here are some 3 Common Problems in Geekdom. As little word of warning: this post may insult some people, but this post was meant to clear all of that up up, so to speak.

1. People With Positive (or Negative) Views

Personally, I’ve been insulted in the past for saying something about MMORPG players who take shortcuts to get what they want, such as botting. Fortunately, since the existence of this blog, I have only received very few bad comments, and of course they have not seen the light of day. People have the right to say something bad on a matter that is actually good for the elitist (from a normal players point of view). People are entitled to their own opinion, but choosing just the opposite can lead to some problems for others.

2. Purists

This one actually should fall under the first one above, but it’s not limited to only gamers, but Anime fans as well. People always brag about how bad English dubbed anime sounds, when in some cases, it’s not bad as it sounds…as it did back in the late 90s-early 2000s. Certain English dubs do need work, but the more anime that gets licensed, the better it gets. Thanks to the purists, many of them are moving on to Fansubs, which is destroying the industry as we speak. They also don’t like it when someone says subs are a waste of time due to limited attention spans.

3. Muggles - aka “Normies”

In the Harry Potter universe, people with magical powers refer to people who don’t have special abilities as “Muggles”. This is the term I will use for the sake of this post to define people who aren’t familiar with Japanese Otaku culture. When fans are around Muggles — “mainstream” citizens, that is — many things are bound to happen. There’s the staring contest between the Muggle and the geek, especially when the Muggle is a senior citizen (didn’t mean to offend the elders), then possibly a rude interaction from the Muggle, like being asked where the screening room or the dealers room is at a convention–that happens to host a business seminar that same weekend. There are many people who normally raise their eyebrows at things like this, who are have gotten used to it. If it’s the elderly, perhaps they were once fans of Japanese cartoons (Speed Racer, Astroboy, and Gigantor come to mind). Not only are senior citizens are subjected of getting frightened at the sight of a Cloud cosplayer, but anyone else who have not watched a TV in all their life, regardless of how old they are.

These are the common problems in geekdom that happens on a daily basis; it’s nothing new, and will be around for a while. It started when Star Trek fans clashed with Star Wars fans, and it wages on today. Since Japanese pop culture is on the rise in the United States, and the rest of the world, it’s time to let those who aren’t familiar with the concept–and the side effects– of what today’s youth is interested in today.