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Peers & Your Fandoms

We all have our little interests, fandoms, and whatnot. However, some things are more widely accepted among peers while others are mocked or hated. My Asian classmates love modern Korean music, and they have no intentions on hiding it. Yet, they refuse to talk about it among other students (most of whom are all Caucasian) due to the fact that we know that they'll mock us.

Although I've been in this school for more than three years, people still don't know a lot about me and are surprised when they find out little facts about me. Their reactions are from enthusiastically approving to giving me a disapproving look and calling me weird. One day, after a school book sale, it was recess (free period) and we were all talking about the books we purchased. A classmate, and friend, of mine purchased a book consisting of Sinnoh Pokemon. We were talking about the release of Platinum when all of a sudden, a girl interrupted our conversation and said, "Oh my god, you guys still like Pokemon? Pokemon is for faggots."

Of course, I could have made a witty remark, told her off, or point out to her that by what she just said indicated that she was a faggot, but I refrained. Looking back on it, I should have did the latter as she did a poor attempt at bullying me later on in the school year. But I digress.

The main thing I'm trying to ask here is: What do people think about you when they find out that you like so-and-so? How do they react? Have they known it the entire time because that's how you guys became friends or that's how you had come to like the fandom or interest?
 
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Well I don't usually flaunt around the fact that I like Pokemon, but people end up finding out anyways. Usually, someone will just say something like "Oh.. you like Pokemon?" in a weirded out/surprised/confused way, but won't go into much detail. I guess they just assume I like Pokemon, not that a really huge Pokemon nerd :p

My good friends are aware that I like Pokemon but don't seem to give a shit. If I try to talk about it they'll usually just say something like "Oh my god..." and roll their eyes. But I guess I haven't been made fun of, at least not badly.

Other than Pokemon, I dunno if I have any really embarrassing interests. So yeah.
 

Shiny Motley

2016 Singles Football
Well... seeing as most of my friends and classmates are either nerdy or azn (you can say that azn is a subcategory of nerdy), almost everyone I know loooooves manga or anime, especially shounen-style ones. We always exchange what spoilers we know of with each other of our favorites, update each other when a new chapter comes out, and recomend series to one another when we finish one/get bored of one. Most of the girls also like Korean dramas or kpop music as well, which was how I got into this.

We also have quite a few gamers at school, and since HG/SS came out, Pokemon became a big thing again, which made me really happy (at one point, everyone laughed at me 'cause I was the only one who liked Pokemon... now everyone comes to me for advice |D)

However, whenever I bring up the fact that I have, indeed, read the entire Twilight saga, everyone looks at me and goes like "WHAT!? HOW COULD YOU THAT WAS A HORRIBLE SERIES ESPECIALLY THAT MESSED UP BREAKING DAWN YOU KNOW WHAT HUUURRRRRRRRRRR" and I'm all "yeah, it was okay..." just so I don't look like the odd one out. If I'm honest, though, I actually did enjoy the series because it did have a plot, despite the fact that it was a romance novel/series. That's the only thing I can think of right now that my friends don't really like but I do...
 
I don't really go fan girling Pokemon unless others start talking about it in a positive manner. THEN I show how awesome I am about it.

But really, I'm a lesser fan than my friends when it comes to other animes. Seriously, they've watched all of FMA, D Gray Man, and it's coming to Ouran High School. I really need to catch up cuz that's ALL they talk about T_T. I just can't stand to just sit for hours watching them though. I don't know where they get the time >.>;.

I wonder how they would react to Phineas and Ferb...
 
Like Viril said, I don't exactly tell or flaunt my feelings for pokemon in front of other people, well, except for two people, who are also closet fans.

However, I have known that there is a "secret society" in my school that likes Pokemon. And by "Secret Society", I mean 5 people, plus a few others. Actually, some of my other friends like it too, but their nostalgia fans, as in they remeber how cool Pikachu and Mewtwo were. But most of my friends, and I have lots, surprisingly ::) actually have some of the same interest as I. I found out that many of my friends like Sonic the Hedgehog, as cleary pointed out when one of my friends yelled out "Look! It's Shadow!" when we were in Biology, looking at a projection. THen they proceeded to argue, "No, that's Silver!" yelled some girls, "YOu idiots, thart theyr ias Taels!" which was yelled out by the Redneck-iest guy in the class (hence all the misspelled words).

I also foun out that my friends also like Kingdom Hearts, and unlike most other things, I was actually better at it than them XD Even their girlfriends were interested.

However, most of my friends know that I'm single, and that I have been, forever :( That's what they tease me about. Which I find hilarious, when their gilrfriends speak to me when they leave, "Y'know, he's actually a nice guy." and then I look down the hall to see him put some kid in a locker.

Anywho, as far as my friends go, I really don't have many secrets that embarass me, as I have blackmail on a lot of them, thanks to Psychology class XD
 
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I'll be honest with you - when I came to school, I wasn't afraid to admit I liked Pokémon. This lead to me being flattened by mockery and insults, which were easily brushed off. But after spending a while in school, it turns out quite a few of us like Pokemon. The others though, tend to keep it in secrecy because they are afraid off being insulted. But people from my year (or grade, for all you Americans :3) were completely cool with the fact I liked Pokemon, and knew I was a gamer, and they still treated me like an average person - not some socially awkward twit, which was quite satisfying. I think the only people who can't deal with the fact I'm a gamer are people in the years below me - mainly because they think they're so fantastic because they're in secondary school.

However, most of you may know that I'm into Animé, too. Actually the whole of Year 10 are fine with this as well, as it's all thanks to a certain guy in year 10 who actually got the majority of the year involved in all of the popular animé like One Piece, Naruto and Bleach.

So in school, people recognize me as Toby. The curly - haired - gaming - animé watching - indie, and people are cool with that.
 
Well Pokemon at my School has been quite norm. I don't think many people associate me with Pokemon anyway, I mean mainly because I'm part of that "Cool" group of guys at school, we almost made Pokemon cool. Back when me and my friend used to read the pokemon game guides at school, all the girls seemed really interested, I always remember my crush saying that Growlithe was her favourite because it looked cute. I guess they thought it odd, but maybe they just did it to get with us... Anywho, lots of kids from the year below me are getting into it, and I'm like the guru. I mean they just reading the books, none of them actually play the games... I guess to them its more of a hobby and a bit of an interest, that seems out of reach... anyway, yeah I'm not teased or anything, also I just want to add, since Im like the only one in my grade to draw like "anime" style my drawings are known as "Drawings like pokemon" often when seen drawing they say "Hey, you draw like pokemon" and I know its not an insult, just a bit of, hey I know that style. I just laugh and tell them its a certain japanese style. My class isn't really into all that stuff, but anywho... :p
 
I feel bad for anyone who's still in grade schools and the ridiculous amount of social pressure in those groups, to fit in, to look a certain way, etc. etc. etc. It's sad because none of that shit matters. The "HURR HURR YOU LIKE [X] YOU'RE A FAG" crowd is the saddest thing ever.

These days my friends and I are all nerds and enjoy nerdy pursuits and we respect each others' likes and dislikes. I have a group of friends that I play WoW with and we can talk about pokemon as well. It's pretty awesome. I sometimes tease my friend because he likes Twilight but he realizes what a trashy series it is, and it's okay to like something in spite of its badness.
 
A

Anonymous

Everyone makes fun of me for likeing pokemon (Im stupid and dont know how to spell) it makes me upset that I cant have my own opinion without being bullied!
 

StellarWind Elsydeon

Armblades Ascendant
Staff member
Administrator
Honestly I have no idea what my 'peers' may think of my likes and dislikes, mostly because I only rarely try communicating with them. I tend to keep to myself, y'know... And I honestly don't give two millidamns about what they may think. It seems that most people in this country forgot what PokeMon even is, anyway. XD
 
A

Anonymous

I don't have any "guilty" fandoms, I can respect if people don't like what i do. I only bring up one of my fandoms if i'm with someone who i know likes it, or if the other person bringes it up, though.
 
The most 'guilty' of my fandoms is my affection for furry comics. I am sorry, but I find Furthia High and Concession to be hilarious.

However, I consider Pokemon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Harry Potter, and the others fairly innocent.
 
Fortunately for me, no one in my school ever made fun of anyone for liking anything, so there were some proud Pokemon fans in my school. I, however, don't talk a whole lot about Pokemon, unless someone else brings it up.

One of my more weird interests which does raise a few eyebrows, in my random interest in the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. For whatever reason or another, a couple of my friends and I got back into them. We started buying packs, going to tournaments, etc. Even today, I'm working on another deck. Other than those two things, I really can't think of anything else.
 

Magpie

Feathered Overseer
Staff member
Moderator
I can't say I've ever had any problems. Pokemon-wise I was in school when it first surfaced, and among the boys it became the 'cool thing'. As one of the few girls that was interested I probably got a few funny looks, but if I did I'm not aware of them. I got on with everyone at school, so I suppose that helped. Nowadays the few people that know I like Pokemon are fine with it. Its not something I talk about much, but that's because I know they aren't interested. One of the many reasons I love meeting up with some of the members here is that I can talk about Pokemon and they know what I'm talking about :'D My best friend will listen and nod, but she has no idea what "Argh! Must breed this Murkrow with great IVs!" means.

As for other Fandoms, they tend to get the same response. But then again my friend that's really into Stargate or something like that gets a similar response from me. I try to listen but I'm just not interested enough to really talk back :V
 
At my school I don't really have any problems with being the only one in the school being completely addicted to Pokemon.
Alot of kids in my grade like Pokemon, although they mostly got over it.
I actually get alot of compliments from my addiction to Pokemon, like when someone sees the Isshu Pokemon completely smothering my folders they're like, "Cool, you're awesome at drawing!" or, "Cool otter!". Whenever they say that I say, "It's not an otter, it's a Mijimaru.". then they're like, "Okay? What's that?". Then I have to explain the whole Gen. 5 thing.
Mostly all of my projects have Pokemon all over them. the last project I did that was supposed to be what I liked was pretty much all Pokemon.
Most of my friends are fine with me liking Pokemon, my best friends like Pokemon too. Alot of kids in my grade don't know I'm addicted to Pokemon, although some of those people know I like Pokemon.

I'm not really into alot of other things, although I do sometimes bring in a Pokemon Manga and read it during free time at school. >_<
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Keleri said:
I feel bad for anyone who's still in grade schools and the ridiculous amount of social pressure in those groups, to fit in, to look a certain way, etc. etc. etc. It's sad because none of that shit matters. The "HURR HURR YOU LIKE [X] YOU'RE A FAG" crowd is the saddest thing ever.

You said it, Kel. XD

I haven't had issues with peers and/or fandoms since high school, and even then most people bugged off by grade 10. I openly liked what I liked and didn't take anything too seriously (myself or the morons), so things were cool. People just stopped caring. :X

Once you leave high school and enter the "real world", those things just don't matter. People who'll make fun of your fandoms during Uni/College/at work are probably just asses in general, will always be asses, and need to be flicked off the planet. Everyone else just gets on with their lives. The most you'll get is comments from your parents, friendly jabs from friends, and patronizing pats on the shoulder from co-workers - but it's all good. ;p

I'm guessing I'm 7 years too late for this topic. I had Pokémon plushies and Anime posters littering my residence apartment at university, have Pokémon key chains on my purse (right now it's a Sandslash! :D), and happily throw on my more geeky t-shirts every chance I get outside of work (because they kinda break the dress code). Mostly all of my co-workers know I was at an Anime convention this past August. Some even thought it sounded like fun.

Summed up: Outside of school people don't give a damn about your fandoms. They're too busy judging everything else about you. True story. :)
 

Prof. Cinders

Mathemagician
Staff member
Administrator
I've never really had any problems with my fandoms and people around me, mainly because my year through primary school was at least half-geek. So, anything I played or did at the time was fairly normal at school (lego, pokemon, even random Star Wars stuff, that sort of thing). Same did me through secondary school, and now at uni I'm surrounded by gamers and anime fans. It's pretty awesome. ^^

However, my brother likes pretty much the exact same things as me and is bullied a lot for it. A few of his friends play the same games, but I think he's the only one who plays WoW, and yeah.
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Prof. Cinders said:
However, my brother likes pretty much the exact same things as me and is bullied a lot for it. A few of his friends play the same games, but I think he's the only one who plays WoW, and yeah.

I always figured WoW was one of the lesser evils of the bullying world. Guess I have a lot to learn about today's youth. :X

Random note: When I told one of my co-workers that I play WoW, she stared at me a moment, heaved a sigh, patted me on the shoulder and told me that, one day, my soul would be saved. I love her. :3

(When I asked my boss if I could install WoW onto the work computers, he said I could try but they probably couldn't run it properly. I miss having a geek for a boss.)
 
A

Anonymous

Im the only person in my school who likes pokemon so my friends call me childish recently I lost two of my friends because of my not so secret obsession and now im a loner (dispite becoming a meme for my sticky out teeth and over-chubbiness) I really dont know what that goes to show but people take bullying too far these days...
 
Well, Given truth, there is only two people in my whole life (besides Charms' and other sites) that really know of my total obsession over Pokemon. One of them is my best friend, the other a fan of Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon.

Generally given, yes, no one has found it out, although last year someone came dangerously close to finding out my secret.
Why? I sketched Leaf. when a classmate looked at the Pokeball sign on her hat, she raised her brow, but didn't say anything about it.

Oh, note to LQ - If people try to make fun of you for something stupid you did, just laugh at what you did.
Or say it slipped out of your mouth.

'Popularity' and 'Bullying' these days is just crap. It just goes to show how people can't acknowledge others for their likes, dislikes, advantages, and disadvantages. Instead, they force you to have low self-esteem.
Why can't people face things head on?
I hate being a different person to friends and other people.
 
Not exactly very open about all of my likes and dislikes to those I work with, some people know what I like and tried to pick on me but I shot something back at them which made them stop. I don't open up much to most unless I get to know them, they say it's the Pisces that flows through me is why I behave like that (I know a lot of people I work with who follow horoscopes).
I will hear occasional conversations here and there about pokemon and sometimes I jump right in.
People always try to bash on me for being weird and crazy but I take it in pride and point it out to them, I'm not like the others who are weird and suddenly get all embarassed because of which.
 
Eh, now that I'm in college, no one really cares. The people who do care are the ones who share the interest- it's pretty awesome to be able to talk Pokemon to a whole group of people my age :3

That being said, although I was ridiculed in high school by the greater percentage of the population, I had a group of really awesome friends. Once, we sauntered from one end of the campus to the other singing the Pokemon theme incredibly loudly. Good times, good times.
 
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