Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 104. Elevating the Nerdy Voices of the Rainbow: Episode 17 - David!
Transcript
- 0:16Hello to all the comic fans, Marvel geeks, and all the nerds
- 0:18in between. Welcome to another episode of
- 0:20the Vigilante Vice podcast where we talk all things Marvel along
- 0:23with other fandoms, but without the toxicity that's taking up
- 0:26way too much space in each and every fandom.
- 0:28I'm your host, Megan Nicole, and today I'm joined by the person
- 0:32behind the oh gosh, where did I go?
- 0:35Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll start that over.
- 0:37I'm your host, Meg. I have like 3 different ones,
- 0:41three different intros, and I read the wrong one.
- 0:43I'm your host, Megan Nicole, and we're here to have another
- 0:46episode of Elevating the Nerdy Voices of the Rainbow where we
- 0:49lift up the voices of the LGBTQ plus communities.
- 0:52Today joining me, the person behind non-stop Nerd.
- 0:55I have David and I'm very excited to talk to you.
- 0:59Hello, how are you today? So good, I'm so glad you're
- 1:02here. Happy to be here.
- 1:04Yeah, we've talked a little bit back and forth throughout the
- 1:07Facebook groups for a while. It's cool that we actually get
- 1:09to meet now. Yes, it's really nice to to
- 1:12finally meet you outside of like Facebook comments.
- 1:15Yeah, Facebook comments are great, but like, you know, it's
- 1:19not the same. Right.
- 1:21Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about you all?
- 1:24Right. Well, like you said, I'm David.
- 1:26I run Non-stop Nerd. It's a blog that I've been
- 1:30running for like 5 or 6 years now that I talk about anything
- 1:37under the nerd culture umbrella, whether it be video games,
- 1:39movies, comic books, tabletop games, you name it.
- 1:44Anything from this, my own opinions or just making fun
- 1:49lists like some of the coolest things on Star Wars, or just
- 1:54movie reviews, video game reviews, just whatever is on my
- 1:57mind. I, like a lot of nerdy folk,
- 2:04like to go on tangents about what we love and what we're
- 2:07passionate about, and I find the blog can be very therapeutic so
- 2:13that we're not talking so much ear off.
- 2:15I'm kind of just putting it on the page and posting it.
- 2:19I am a writer in in many sense of the word where the the blog
- 2:23is what I write mostly, but I am working on my first novel
- 2:27currently. Currently editing the first
- 2:31draft to eventually start the second draft.
- 2:33I'm hoping to have the second draft by the end of the year.
- 2:37I've also have another work in progress that is a collection of
- 2:42comedy horror short stories that is not very far along.
- 2:47My novel's much more further along than that.
- 2:50And I also write for a 'cause I'm in Buffalo, NY, I write for
- 2:55a local online magazine called Buffalo Rising, where I have a
- 2:59column called Nerd Scene where I I write about local conventions,
- 3:07gaming stores, comic shops, and anything that's kind of nerdy in
- 3:10Buffalo, NY. You're a busy guy.
- 3:13Oh my gosh. Yes, 'cause then I also have a
- 3:16day job and, you know, hobbies like playing the video games and
- 3:20watching the movies. Oh.
- 3:22My gosh, how do you fit all of that in and on top of creating
- 3:25your own novel? Yeah, it just just busy.
- 3:32So you like that's, that's very fair.
- 3:36I like what you said about it being therapeutic to do your
- 3:40blog 'cause I totally get that. I think that's why a lot of us
- 3:42do this. But what are some of the things
- 3:46you like to put on your blog? You said lists, you'd like
- 3:48things you're passionate about. What are you passionate about?
- 3:52Some of this might be a long answer.
- 3:55Some of the things that I love most is in nerd culture,
- 3:57something that I just love in general.
- 4:01Like DC Comics is is one of the absolute biggest ones for me.
- 4:06That goes back to, you know, when I was a little kid and my
- 4:10brother and I had Batman and Robin pajamas.
- 4:12He had Batman pajamas, I had Robin pajamas, and I grew up
- 4:16watching the DCAU. Those cartoons really shaped
- 4:20helped shape me I feel. Other big ones being Sonic the
- 4:25Hedgehog. That goes back to also being a
- 4:30kid with like the first Sonic Adventure game.
- 4:33Kind of teaching me that a video game can have a much more in
- 4:38depth story than just saving the world, just stopping the
- 4:42villain, just saving the Princess.
- 4:44As much as I love, you know, Mario, etcetera, Sonic Adventure
- 4:49had six overlapping stories, all with a character growth and I
- 4:54thought that was really interesting.
- 4:55I feel like that really got me to latch on to that series.
- 5:00And now it makes you so happy that the I feel like it's this
- 5:03is an amazing time to be a Sonic fan with the movies, the games
- 5:06coming out, Lego sets. There are tabletop games of it
- 5:10now. Like there's a lot of cool
- 5:11stuff. The comics, the the IDW comics,
- 5:14I've only read the first collection so far and they're
- 5:16incredible. Other big one, Teenage Mutant
- 5:22Ninja Turtles is something that I will always sit in front of
- 5:27the TV for, play the video games of, go to the theater for a
- 5:32variety of video games being Crash Bandicoot, Jack and
- 5:36Daxter, a lot of mascots, Sly Cooper, etcetera, things like
- 5:42that. So all these things that I
- 5:44really love end up showing up in my blog a lot.
- 5:49I'm a big movie fan in general. My original career goal was I
- 5:56want to be a filmmaker. That has kind of changed into
- 5:59focusing on writing and being an author.
- 6:01Because the more I hear about filmmaking and just, oh, the
- 6:06studio rejected the script that I spent five years writing, that
- 6:10sounds horrible. Or hey, this, this actor took
- 6:13control of my project. Well, that sounds awful.
- 6:16I don't want to do that. That sounds even like indie
- 6:19work. That just doesn't sound
- 6:21enjoyable. This way I can just write the
- 6:25book the way I want. And I plan on self-publishing so
- 6:27I don't have to deal with a publisher taking control of
- 6:31anything. I can just write it and people
- 6:33can read it. And sure, I'm not going to be
- 6:36some millionaire author, that's fine.
- 6:38I just want to get the art out there.
- 6:40Just want to get the story out there because I spent so much of
- 6:42my time, so much of my life talking about pop culture.
- 6:46I kind of also want to like create it and be a part of it.
- 6:49Yeah, yeah, totally get that. I mean, nerd culture is such a
- 6:54huge world. And I, I get it.
- 6:57I want to put my footprint in there too, somewhere because
- 7:00it's like, it's such a beautiful thing to be involved in.
- 7:03Like people don't who aren't involved in don't really get it.
- 7:06But it's so vast, it's so big. There's so many different parts
- 7:11of it, and all of it stems from what you're passionate about.
- 7:15Absolutely. I think that part of that too,
- 7:20with what we're passionate about, I think that comes from a
- 7:23connection to it or, or you feel safer in it than you might in
- 7:28the real world, whether it be work or school or what have you.
- 7:32You know, I was always, you know, a much quieter kid growing
- 7:36up. And eventually I realized I was
- 7:39like a pansexual, pan romantic man and, you know, afraid to
- 7:44tell people certain things, afraid people to tell people
- 7:47about myself or, you know, I was picked on.
- 7:51I mean, my main bullies were like my own siblings, my own
- 7:54family. But that's let's let's not jump
- 7:55into that. But when you know, I'm the butt
- 8:00of jokes or what have you, I feel like, I feel, I feel like I
- 8:05can be safer sitting down and playing Crash Bandicoot or
- 8:10watching Power Rangers. And I feel, and because of that,
- 8:13I forms connection with that more than people sometimes, you
- 8:18know, and I feel like other people are the same way and
- 8:21talking about, you know, the latest Marvel movie or what have
- 8:25you. I feel like brings that level of
- 8:28comfort that we all need. Yeah.
- 8:33I agree. So you said you're a pansexual
- 8:36man. Could you kind of tell me what
- 8:39that means because I'm a straight woman?
- 8:43This is all so new to me so I'm just trying to learn as well.
- 8:47Yes. So the root word pan technically
- 8:52means all. And when I was, you know, kind
- 8:58of figuring out my own identity for a while, I, I kind of
- 9:03thought of myself as being bisexual, but then eventually I
- 9:07was kind of thinking like by means 2 and that doesn't feel
- 9:10right where I do have attraction to other genders as well.
- 9:16So originally I was thinking of myself as pansexual because, Oh
- 9:19my try to tell anyone of any gender, but people have there's
- 9:25kind of a discussion within the LGBT community about, hey, maybe
- 9:28that's somewhat by erasure because bisexual doesn't
- 9:30necessarily mean to, to genders strictly, It means two or more
- 9:36genders. Pansexual is more the attraction
- 9:41regardless of gender and after learning the real meaning of
- 9:45pansexual, like no, I am still that because that also feels
- 9:48very correct to me. Someone's gender is like like
- 9:53caring about someone's gender in terms of like finding a partner
- 9:56is like caring about eye color or hair color or height.
- 9:59Like, sure, you might have like that preference, but if you find
- 10:03your person and they're like a different eye color than you
- 10:06usually like, is that really a big deal?
- 10:10Like, I don't know, like gender just isn't at all an important
- 10:15detail for me. I care more about someone's
- 10:19heart and mind. I care more about intelligence
- 10:21and humor and common interests. I.
- 10:24Think that's pretty fair. I mean, that's really
- 10:27interesting. I can imagine that's hard to
- 10:30kind of figure out because there's a lot of things in the
- 10:32LGBTQ communities that if I saw myself in that position, I would
- 10:36be like, how would I even like know, like asexual asexuality?
- 10:42Like I look at I'm like, what if I think I'm just really picky?
- 10:45What if I don't know? I feel like you have to really
- 10:48be in really good terms with yourself to come to that, not
- 10:55that label, but to know what you are.
- 11:00Yes, yeah. Honestly, it was kind of a long
- 11:03journey for me, and it could be longer for other people.
- 11:05And that's very OK. You know, I grew up, I was born
- 11:09in 93. Growing up in like the 90s and
- 11:11early 2000s, you know, people used gay, gay as a slang term
- 11:17for bad. Oh, I don't like that shirt
- 11:18that's gay. Like so it was you looked at as
- 11:21a bad thing to not be straight. So like I think like I forced
- 11:28without even like realizing, just subconsciously like forced
- 11:31myself to like only look at myself as straight, only look at
- 11:36women for people who I'm attracted to.
- 11:39And, you know, it was something that I kind of couldn't fight
- 11:44myself with for for too long where eventually I would have
- 11:49like crutches on other boys. And I would look back at like
- 11:53other friendships I had when I was even younger thinking like,
- 11:56oh, I don't think that was just a friendship.
- 11:57I think that was like a legit crush on this boy.
- 12:01And I, you know, was not in a situation at home where I felt
- 12:08like I could tell anyone for a long time.
- 12:13And I kind of just suddenly I just kept to myself and me, I
- 12:19was kind of well, was wondering different things about myself,
- 12:23like, oh, like, is it just physical attraction versus
- 12:26romantic attraction? Eventually, you know, I'd
- 12:29realize that it's everything. But eventually, like in high
- 12:36school, you know, had found out like because of other people and
- 12:40their experiences that like, hey, like other people who are
- 12:43in my circle are very accepting of this.
- 12:45Very slowly, like very, very slowly, it came out like, oh, I
- 12:49think I'm bisexual. I told them like, hey, maybe it
- 12:52is just physical attraction. I don't know.
- 12:55My attraction toward women is much stronger.
- 12:58But part of that goes into, again, maybe I wasn't allowing
- 13:03myself to just feel attraction openly to other people because
- 13:07of this negative stigma that I was taught as a kid.
- 13:11And you know, even if it is just physical attraction to some
- 13:16people and romantic to others, that is also OK.
- 13:18Everyone feels attraction differently.
- 13:20It's a very wide spectrum. But then when when I kind of
- 13:25like started letting myself just feel attraction, I started
- 13:29really like, oh, I have a romantic crush on this person.
- 13:32I want to date this person. I'm physically attracted to this
- 13:34person. And then like I've noticed like
- 13:38I have, I'm pickier in some areas, like masculine presenting
- 13:41people I'm a little pickier with, but that doesn't mean I'm
- 13:45not attracted to morass and the people is There's exceptions for
- 13:47everything. Like I don't use like with not
- 13:50being attracted to people who are very masculine.
- 13:53I don't usually like people with beards.
- 13:55There's definitely been exceptions to the hat do.
- 14:00You think that's because you have a beard?
- 14:05That that I mean, that went back to long before I had one.
- 14:08Oh, OK. I was always curious about that,
- 14:10'cause I, I don't know. It's so I, I like see a gay
- 14:15couple together and I'm like, I like when there's differing
- 14:18personalities together. I think that's really cute.
- 14:21So when I see two guys with a beard, I'm like, damn it, you
- 14:25guys could just like break off and make these other, I don't
- 14:28know. Yeah, no, like I think it, it is
- 14:35just personal preference because like everyone has preferences.
- 14:38But also wonder if that goes back to me, just tell myself,
- 14:41no, I need to only be attracted to women or people who are
- 14:45female presenting. But again, as I've aged, I've
- 14:48kind of just opened myself up to, hey, like, maybe look at
- 14:54this person as more as like who they are rather than the beard
- 14:58or their eye color or their gender.
- 15:00And yeah, again, the preferences still exist, but none of it
- 15:06really matters as much. You know, like I'm married to a
- 15:09woman. I'm just like, I'm in a very
- 15:11straight passing relationship. But.
- 15:15And I, you know, only ever want to be my wife.
- 15:18I love her to death, but that doesn't make me not a pansexual
- 15:23man. But I've like, wondered like,
- 15:28you know what? Like, if I somehow didn't have
- 15:31my wife like I it, I don't think the gender of my next partner or
- 15:36a different partner would matter at all to me.
- 15:39I've been on dates and updated men, updated trans people.
- 15:44Elvis just didn't work out for one reason or another, 'cause
- 15:47I'm with my wife and I'm happy with my life.
- 15:49But yeah, just, I think it just, yeah, kind of went on a little
- 15:58bit of ramp, but kind of just to say that I feel like I'm
- 16:04somewhat more attracted to people who are female
- 16:07presenting. But I could definitely still see
- 16:11myself with someone who is very masculine and very manly.
- 16:17It just, you know, for whatever reason, my brain is like, yeah,
- 16:21you're very, my brain just tells me you're very open to a variety
- 16:27of people who are female presenting, whether it be body
- 16:34weight, body shape, different faces, etcetera.
- 16:38And that doesn't matter. We're like with men or masculine
- 16:41friendly people. I'm a little pickier, but I feel
- 16:46like it doesn't really matter in the long run compared to who
- 16:51they are as a person. Well.
- 16:54Thank you for explaining that, that made you made it make a lot
- 16:56of sense. I we all have preferences, you
- 16:59like what you like, but so in all of the nerd cultures, have
- 17:04you seen any kind of representation that you feel
- 17:07best portrays being a pansexual man?
- 17:12There's not tons from what I've experienced or or seen or read.
- 17:17I think the biggest example for a pansexual man in media is
- 17:20Deadpool. Oh yeah, he is canonically A
- 17:23pansexual man. I haven't read tons or any of
- 17:28the Deadpool comics from being honest, so I don't know tons
- 17:32about his relationship history. I know that he is or has been in
- 17:35love with death, which is just awesome.
- 17:39And obviously there's the Deadpool movies, which I love,
- 17:41and he assuming he's pansexual in the movies.
- 17:45He hasn't said one way or the other he is with Vanessa or
- 17:50spoilers for Deadpool Wolverine. They're kind of, they have a
- 17:54rocky relationship right now. And I'm happy to see that he is
- 17:59with Vanessa, regardless of the partner's gender because I feel
- 18:03like they work so well as a couple and I find myself really
- 18:06fighting for them to stay together.
- 18:10But it is also really cool to see a, you know, a pansexual man
- 18:12in a straight passing relationship in media like
- 18:15Deadpool, because in a lot of media they have, you know, oh,
- 18:20this person is not straight, Therefore they're with someone
- 18:22of the same gender, which is also, you know, super valid.
- 18:25But I I'm in a straight marriage to a woman who I love to death,
- 18:33but that doesn't make me any less pansexual.
- 18:35Same thing with Deadpool. I do wish that somewhere in the
- 18:37movies that they would kind of like mention it just to like
- 18:40confirm like, no, this is what this is.
- 18:43But obviously do so organically brought up a guy he did in high
- 18:48school or something. I don't know, but that would be
- 18:50kind of cool. Any other example isn't
- 18:55explicitly pansexual but just LGBT open for interpretation in
- 19:02general. A big example for for that is
- 19:04Steven Universe. I don't know if you're familiar.
- 19:07It's probably one of my favorite shows where people like the
- 19:14characters just talk about love and who they love.
- 19:18And there's several couples who are same sex couples.
- 19:23I mean, they're, I mean, they're also like aliens made out of
- 19:25light. But so gender is very, very not
- 19:30important in that respect. But for the sake of the
- 19:35characters, they are very clearly like women date like in
- 19:37relationship with with other women, But then they talk about
- 19:40men they're in love with and they never explicitly talk about
- 19:44sexuality. They just talk about love and
- 19:46who they're in love with and what they love and the
- 19:49relationship relationships that they have.
- 19:50And they, we see them talk about what makes their relationships
- 19:53work and like we're, and they never bring up gender, They
- 19:57never bring up their like sexuality.
- 19:59They just talk about like the feeling of love.
- 20:02And that's really what it, what's important at the end of
- 20:05the day, I feel is just love and happiness and comfort.
- 20:09And Steven Universe is like the perfect representation of that,
- 20:13I feel. Another another one that was
- 20:18kind of touched on in the Marvel Universe was Loki.
- 20:21He's a pansexual man and it was mentioned in the first season of
- 20:27Loki, but it was more they kind of left it open for
- 20:30interpretation if he's bisexual, if he's pansexual, because he
- 20:33just kind of dropped a little bit.
- 20:36Yeah, see, that's that. That's a good one too.
- 20:37He kind of just seems like, hey, whoever, you know.
- 20:41Yeah, I think it's perfect that he's clearly in love with.
- 20:47I've only seen Season 1 and I saw when I first came out.
- 20:49What's her name? Sylvie.
- 20:51Sylvie, 'cause that's himself. And I think Loki being in love
- 20:56with himself is perfect. It's very on brand for the
- 20:59character. But clearly, you know, gender is
- 21:03not something that he cares about in a partner.
- 21:07Again, going back to like, you're straight, but like how
- 21:11much do you care about the eye color of your your partner?
- 21:15You might really like blue eyes, but if you found someone you're
- 21:18level with who has brown eyes, does it matter?
- 21:21Yeah, yeah, it's not a deal breaker.
- 21:22And that's how I look at at gender really.
- 21:24Like it's just this very minor detail.
- 21:26It's that doesn't take away from who they are as a person.
- 21:32That's really cool. Like as a straight woman, it's
- 21:34hard to relate to that because I just like men.
- 21:38I like the things that come on men.
- 21:39I just like the package men. So I can't imagine like looking
- 21:44at yeah, you get it. I can't imagine looking at a
- 21:48woman and being like, yes, but there are some women that make
- 21:52me think like I could probably give it a go.
- 21:55I could probably try just to see it.
- 22:00Yeah, and I mean that's part of the the spectrum too.
- 22:03Like, I know people who, you know, are gay and they consider
- 22:09themselves very gay, but then they've had like one
- 22:11relationship where they were with with someone who was
- 22:15opposite gender or vice versa. Like, Oh no, I'm very straight.
- 22:17When they had that one relationship that was someone
- 22:20who was the same gender as them. And I think it just, you know,
- 22:25again, this is a spectrum. Everyone just feels attraction
- 22:28differently. And at the end of the day, what
- 22:30matters is, you know, if they're happy and they're comfortable
- 22:35and who who cares? Yeah, I also think there's some
- 22:40relationships or sometimes when you get with someone that it's,
- 22:45there's nothing physical about it.
- 22:47It's emotional love that it's like it goes beyond the body and
- 22:54what you can do with those things.
- 22:55So I think I have seen, like I have some friends who are gay.
- 22:58They said, yeah, I was in a straight relationship once.
- 23:01I mean, they just kind of felt right.
- 23:04But I wasn't a physically attracted to her.
- 23:08And it that took a while to kind of figure out 'cause like in my
- 23:11brain I'm like, oh, wait a minute, are you bi or it's,
- 23:16it's, there's so much that goes into it.
- 23:19And I don't envy anyone that has to go through these emotions and
- 23:23figure it out for themselves because it's such a big thing.
- 23:26It seems so hard. Yeah, it it has caused a lot of
- 23:32stress in my life, especially when I was younger, like high
- 23:38school throughout most of college.
- 23:39I kind of like really figured everything out when I was in
- 23:42college. And that was oh, God, like 10
- 23:45more years ago. But something that like a way of
- 23:51thinking that has helped me that I've kind of developed is sure,
- 23:55like there are these words, these labels, pansexual,
- 23:57bisexual, gay, straight, non binary, asexual, whatever.
- 24:05And you know, I'm a writer. I have a degree in English and
- 24:09creative writing. So like, words do matter to me
- 24:11and words are very comforting, but they also don't matter in
- 24:16the long run as long as you're happy.
- 24:17Like if I were to describe to you or just say anyone were to
- 24:22describe to you how their attraction works and you think,
- 24:25oh, that that's what bisexual is, That's what this is.
- 24:31But if they think of themselves, no, no, I'm gay.
- 24:34If if that word at the end of the day is what makes them happy
- 24:38and comfortable with themselves, they're gay.
- 24:40Great. Like the definition doesn't line
- 24:43up there technically, but for them, that word, that one word
- 24:47brings them happiness to call themselves that, then that's
- 24:51what they are. That's all that matters.
- 24:54I could see it. I definitely can see it.
- 24:56Some people, you know, they've spent so much of their life not
- 25:00fitting in not, and wondering why they can't fit in and they
- 25:02finally find a label or a word that they can identify as and
- 25:07they're, they hold on to it. And I get that.
- 25:10I, I think that happened to me when I became a mom.
- 25:13I, as soon as I did, I was like, I'm a mom, I'm a mother.
- 25:17And I held on to that word because it's like, that's mine.
- 25:20That's who I am. Yeah, I mean that.
- 25:26I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, people,
- 25:29regardless of sexual orientation or gender or what have you, hold
- 25:33on to the word of like nerd. Like I write A blog called
- 25:39non-stop Nerd and I write about nerd culture and you can only
- 25:43see parts of my office around me.
- 25:44But like, nerdy posters and decor.
- 25:46I have nerdy tattoos and I just love anything that's nerdy, and
- 25:53I think part of that is just finding this word or this
- 25:57community that makes us feel comfortable with life in this
- 26:03the world around us. Yeah, I, I definitely get that
- 26:08about the word nerd. I think we're all kind of like
- 26:12at one point all of this stuff we are passionate about was so
- 26:15taboo. It was like it was just not the
- 26:17thing to do. And now it's like, being a nerd
- 26:21is cool and like, I like that. I like that it's becoming more
- 26:24mainstream so that younger people can love this stuff
- 26:28without the fear of being judged.
- 26:31So I think it's great that people want to cling on to the
- 26:35word Nerd 0. Yeah, when I when I was a kid, I
- 26:38was made fun of for like me and my friend were talking about
- 26:41Song the Hedgehog and we were made fun of for it.
- 26:45I remember freshman year of high school, I was reading the first
- 26:47comic ever read, which was comic that I bought from my friend for
- 26:51Johnny the Homicidal Maniac was created by Jonan Vasquez, who
- 26:56made Invader Zim. That's who got me to read it
- 26:59because oh, I love Invader Zim. I grew up in with Invader Zim.
- 27:01Let me read this comic and I would like read it in homeroom
- 27:05and there's a lot of dark humor in it.
- 27:07So, you know, I would read it and I would laugh and I would
- 27:10hear like several rows down at some other desk, like a couple
- 27:14of girls, like look at this guy, like read the comic for a bit
- 27:18and laugh at himself. And I'm like, all right,
- 27:19whatever. Like let me read this comic and
- 27:22be happy. So like, now that, you know,
- 27:26it's cool to to be reading those comics, to be watching these
- 27:30these movies, to be playing these video games.
- 27:32It is nice that people can do that without explicitly being
- 27:36made fun of for that. Kids are now growing up with
- 27:40video games and superhero movies being the norm, and that's
- 27:44excellent. I do see, like, for whatever
- 27:47reason that's created, the idea of it being cool has created a
- 27:50level of toxicity within their community which it should not
- 27:54have because people are, you know, want to gatekeep and they
- 28:00want to claim it as their own. Like, oh, you suddenly like, you
- 28:04know, Fantastic Four because the movies come up.
- 28:06But I, I grew up reading this. You can't take that for me.
- 28:08But they need to realize, like, no one's taking that from you.
- 28:11Yeah, more people are just enjoying it and that's OK.
- 28:15Well, it's like if someone said, oh, you relate to Deadpool
- 28:18because he's pansexual, but you haven't read the comics so how
- 28:20can you even relate to him? It's like, OK, well wait, whoa,
- 28:23wait, who cares, right? Like.
- 28:26Deadpool's also in movies and. Videos.
- 28:29He was an animated series he guest starred in.
- 28:33It's like if you're a fan of the character, you're a fan of the
- 28:37stories, then you're a fan just as much as a comic read.
- 28:41I'm a comic reader. But like, you and I are both
- 28:45equal Deadpool fans. That's fair.
- 28:47That's what it should be. Yeah, like probably the like the
- 28:53number one character that like I would be like is like my
- 28:56character like is is Batman. You can see the bat cave sign
- 28:58above my. I I have been looking at that,
- 29:00yeah. My my wife made that for me,
- 29:01actually. Oh, really?
- 29:03Yeah. And like, my first tattoo was
- 29:05the bat symbol. And, you know, I love Batman the
- 29:10Image series. I love the Batman Arkham video
- 29:13games. I love the the, you know, the
- 29:15Michael Keaton to George Clooney movies.
- 29:18I love the Christian Bale movies, this and that.
- 29:20And there are people who have, you know, have only seen the
- 29:23Christian Bale movies or they've only play the Arkham games and
- 29:26they love Batman for that. But they haven't, you know, seen
- 29:29Batman the Image series. They haven't read the comics,
- 29:32That's OK. They love the character.
- 29:34It's fine. The character exists in just
- 29:37about every form of media. So like to love Batman because
- 29:40of the video games without reading the comics is fine.
- 29:42Like, just because I've read the comics doesn't mean that I'm a
- 29:47bigger fan than someone else, you know?
- 29:50Yeah, I don't know why there's this competition between nerds,
- 29:54like who's read for so long, who likes the most, who knows the
- 29:58most. It's like, who cares where?
- 30:00If someone doesn't know, that's a great time to say, you know,
- 30:03there are these comics that you can learn more about them if
- 30:06you're that big a fan, you know, just to broaden what you know
- 30:10about them. It's not you don't know anything
- 30:11about them. You haven't read the comics,
- 30:13First of all, I've read the comics.
- 30:15I still don't know anything about them.
- 30:17Comics are weird. Comics change.
- 30:19They have the whole universe thing.
- 30:21Like, relax, you're not. Oh yeah, you're just wild.
- 30:25Oh yeah, like, I'm, I read DC Comics and you know, like they
- 30:29bring up a character and I'm like, who is this?
- 30:32And I like immediately bring up my phone, go to like Fandom
- 30:34wiki. I'm like, oh, this character
- 30:35from the 30s, Never heard of them.
- 30:36OK. Yeah, like in the.
- 30:40Sorry, go on. No no, let's say the the current
- 30:43run of of Justice League. Just like Unlimited.
- 30:45In the comics, a character who plays a major role is Doctor
- 30:48Occult. I've never heard of Doctor
- 30:51Occult. I looked him up, it turns out
- 30:53he's actually the oldest recurring DC character before
- 30:58Batman, before Superman. And I was like wow, I only
- 31:01learned that in 2025. I've been ADC fan since I was
- 31:06like in preschool or kindergarten.
- 31:08Yeah, well, it's like with White Tiger and Daredevil born again.
- 31:13I've known of White Tiger. I know of Ava the the daughter
- 31:17of Hector I I've known that, but I didn't know that he was the
- 31:20first Latino superhero. I found that out like 2 months
- 31:24ago. I had no idea.
- 31:25Yeah, I would have would have never guessed.
- 31:27I know about the only white tiger I know about is just in
- 31:31the the Marvel Snap card game. That's that's my that's my
- 31:34knowledge of the character. I and they've seen it a lot
- 31:38with, you know, Marvel rivals being if you've played it or, or
- 31:42seen it played or heard of it, but that's been a really big,
- 31:46you know, part of the gaming community lately.
- 31:50I think it's a great game, I think, and I have a lot of fun
- 31:53with it. It's a very addicting game.
- 31:55I see a lot of people, a lot of videos of, of cosplayers,
- 31:58etcetera, like someone's interviewing cosplayer and
- 32:02they're like, oh, I'm Squirrel Girl from Marvel Rivals and
- 32:04they're clearly like the version of Squirrel Girl from from
- 32:06Marvel Rivals. And a lot of comments is, well,
- 32:09she's not just from Marvel Rivals, she's from this and
- 32:12that. And I'm like, maybe this is
- 32:15their introduction to the character and they fell in love
- 32:17with the character from this game.
- 32:19Why is that a bad thing? Like people, there's a lot of
- 32:23people, and I'm willing to say potentially most people nowadays
- 32:27who are familiar with Marvel because of the MCU.
- 32:30Yeah, that only started in like 22,000 and 10:00-ish era.
- 32:35Like Marvel existed a long time before that.
- 32:39Yeah, it's true. And plus Marvel rivals, their
- 32:43suits look so good. But why would you not want to
- 32:46cosplay as that look? The character designs in that
- 32:49game are excellent. Are fantastic and I've played
- 32:53the game. If you've ever, if I've ever
- 32:55been on your team, you'll know me 'cause I'm the one that keeps
- 32:57getting killed by just the land shark.
- 32:59So sorry guys. Oh, so everyone.
- 33:03Well, it's like, you see everyone like Spider Man coming
- 33:05in. You see like Venom doing his
- 33:07thing. And then there's me.
- 33:09I'm like usually I'm the Punisher and I'm just Spider Man
- 33:14killed me the other day. And I was like, you know, man,
- 33:16fuck this game, I don't care anymore.
- 33:18I was so mad. I'm just one of the many penny
- 33:23parkers leaving landmines for enemies to step on.
- 33:28Well that's they love stepping on my landmines.
- 33:31And that's OK. You're you're adding to the
- 33:32team. That's fine.
- 33:34I do like when one of these big games come out.
- 33:36I'm not a gamer by any by anywhere.
- 33:39I will play Mario and I'll play Marvel Rivals.
- 33:41That's all I got in me. But I do like when these games
- 33:44come out and there's this, this buzz, this excitement going on.
- 33:48Like, do you remember when Pokémon Go came out?
- 33:51Yes, that was one of the best summers ever.
- 33:54I swear, like we were living. I remember when it first dropped
- 33:58that weekend. Everyone was out, everyone was
- 34:01having a fun time, Everyone was just vibing, everyone was
- 34:05chilling. If we all showed up at the same
- 34:07park, we knew why. We knew we were there to fight
- 34:10that Gyarados. Yeah.
- 34:12That that united humanity for like a couple months.
- 34:16I did. That was the last.
- 34:17That was like the last chance we had at World Peace.
- 34:20Yeah. I want that to happen again.
- 34:24I want something like that to happen again.
- 34:26Because that was just, it was like all these people who had
- 34:30nothing to do with each other, we all were like, so like who
- 34:34was your starter? You know, like we just kind of
- 34:37all chilled. It was fantastic.
- 34:39Oh yeah, I remember that. I remember, you know, hanging
- 34:42out with like current friends to play like Pokémon Go.
- 34:46And then we'd be like going to college campus or a park and I'd
- 34:50see someone that I was good friend with back in like middle
- 34:53school. And I'm like, hey, Pokémon and
- 34:55everyone's like time with Pokémon.
- 34:57And I'm like, I remember around like Gen. 3, I felt embarrassed
- 35:01to like Pokémon. So I kind of like stopped
- 35:03watching the anime because I was, you know, my mom and my
- 35:06siblings were like, why are you watching that?
- 35:08So I kind of just forced myself to stop.
- 35:10But now it's back to everyone, regardless of who they are.
- 35:14Is is like yo, I love Pokémon. Like where was that?
- 35:18Yeah. Where was that like 10 years ago
- 35:20when I was bullied about liking Pokémon?
- 35:22100% I remember when Pokémon Go dropped, me and my best friend,
- 35:28we would go out, we would stay out all hours of the night
- 35:31looking for gyms, looking for everything.
- 35:34And I remember like it was such a big deal.
- 35:36Cops were like, they'd be like, what are you guys doing 'cause
- 35:39we're just walking around at like 2:00 AM like clearly.
- 35:43And he's like, you're just playing Pokémon.
- 35:45That that's it. And like, that's all I'm doing.
- 35:48But I mean, I agree. At one point it was like, you
- 35:52like Pokémon. And then there was gatekeeping
- 35:54as a kid. They're like, you can't like
- 35:56Pikachu. That's the easiest one.
- 35:58It's like the what? So gatekeeping's always been
- 36:02around. It's just never been so much in
- 36:05your face. Right there, there was once also
- 36:10in middle school, I was just wearing AI was wearing a
- 36:12Nintendo hoodie. It was just a plain red hoodie
- 36:15with the word Nintendo on it, like the Nintendo logo with like
- 36:18the Oval. And it was a really, really
- 36:21comfy hoodie. It was very warm, but I was just
- 36:23wearing it and 11 kid just walked up to me and he like got
- 36:29real in my face. Like one of the tallest kids in
- 36:31school got my face. He's like Nintendo's gay.
- 36:34And I was like, OK, I backed away against like walkers, like
- 36:37all right. Meanwhile, they're like kind of
- 36:42the kings of of video games. Like, I don't know, he says.
- 36:46He says that, but I guarantee he is playing Super Smash Brothers.
- 36:50Yeah, yeah. I've noticed that people who
- 36:55talk trash about Nintendo are the first ones to say they will
- 36:59humble you in Mario Kart. And it's like, hang, hang on,
- 37:03pick a side here because like, I don't understand what I'm not
- 37:06picking up what you're putting down.
- 37:08Absolutely. So stupid.
- 37:11So we're kind of getting to the end of our episode.
- 37:14It's been such a joy having you here.
- 37:17Would you mind telling your listeners where they can find
- 37:19you? Yes, you can check out my blog
- 37:24at nonstopnerd.com. That's where I write about, you
- 37:28know, all things nerdy for my social media where I do post my
- 37:34articles for my blog as well as updates on my fiction rating.
- 37:40You can find me on social media either under just nonstop nerd.
- 37:45I think on Instagram it's nonstop under score nerd and
- 37:48then like some other I think maybe like Twitter, it's like
- 37:52nonstop nerd blog. But any variation of like
- 37:55nonstop nerd or nonstop nerd blog, you can find me.
- 37:58The profile picture should be the same of a little like chibi
- 38:02cartoon version of me, like doing like the Superman thing
- 38:04with like the Yeah, like opening the share of the Superman logo
- 38:07there. That that's me.
- 38:11Yeah. So yeah, if you that that's
- 38:13where you can find me if I either on social media or it's
- 38:16on my website and also up nerd. But I recommend social media
- 38:21where I can see what I eventually post about my book
- 38:24being published in the future. Yeah, and wherever you guys are
- 38:29listening to this episode, just check the show notes and you'll
- 38:32see all the links to where you can find David at non-stop Nerd.
- 38:36So thank you so much for being here.
- 38:39Like I said, you're an absolute pleasure.
- 38:41It was so nice getting to know you.
- 38:45Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
- 38:46This is a lot of fun. Like a lot of people who are
- 38:50going to come on here, I love talking about nerdy things, so
- 38:53this has been a blast. If you ever want me on again in
- 38:56the future for, Yeah, this series that you're doing,
- 38:59another series, I would love to just come on and talk nerdy
- 39:01stuff with you. Yeah, you know, I'm always down.
- 39:04You're welcome back anytime. It would the IT would be my
- 39:08honor. Great.
- 39:10Thank you. Yes, so thank you for listening
- 39:12to this episode of Vigilante Vibes.
- 39:14Wherever you're listening, click that subscribe button so you
- 39:16don't miss any of my amazing guests like David or any future
- 39:20episode. Thank you for listening.
- 39:22I hope you enjoyed it. Have a marvelous night.