Growing up, being a geek wasn’t considered cool. If you liked Pokemon, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and comic books, you were someone to be made fun of. I don’t know what happened but the paradigm has certainly shifted and calling yourself a geek is now something to be proud of. All of a sudden, even the cool guys were into Iron Man or The Force. It’s great because now there’s always someone to talk to about things that were once considered niche.
There are many types of geeks and here are the five types you can encounter in Manila:
1. The Box Office Master
Citizen Kane, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, In the Mood for Love. These are just some of the films that movie geeks will most certainly have watched. They are infinitely fascinated by the styles of cinematic giants like Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, and Wong Kar-Wai. They can go on for hours about Andrew Bujalski’s creation of Mumblecore or the brilliant use of color in Zhang Yimou’s film Hero. Movie geeks are as diverse as the genres and subgenres in the cinematic universe. They make movie watching more exciting giving insight into the inherent artistic value of a film you’re watching, they even have a movie line apt for almost any occasion.
2. The King of TV
The TV geeks know what shows are generating buzz. They hold a treasure trove of TV trivia, from long drawn-out jokes in Arrested Development to the tropes explored in the Amazing World of Gumball. They can go into the lore and political theory behind Game of Thrones and even revel in the parodies of Rick and Morty. They even take pride in knowing every ’80s reference in Stranger Things. They go on and on about the newest Netflix hit or that new Korean drama starring Park Bo Gum. They are incredibly obsessed with everything on television, making them the perfect partner when you just want to stay at home and chill.
3. The Comic Book Connoisseur
Do you know who Bill Finger is? Who are the original members of the Avengers? Or maybe you find yourself asking what influenced the art of Alex Ross? If you know the answer to these questions you most certainly are a comic book geek! You’ve gone with countless reboots, powered through different timelines, and went with one-shots just to know what happened to your favorite superhero. You are the indisputable source of comic book information, you can recite the Green Lantern Oath, and even identify all members of the ever-expanding roster of the Justice League.
4. The Gamer Guru
May it be the classics like Super Mario, Starcraft, and Street Fighter or current ones like I am Setsuna, Overwatch, or Fire Emblem, you can bet that they’ve already played it. It’s no surprise that they’ve run through almost every console imaginable may it be a PlayStation, Xbox, or a Nintendo 3DS, a Switch, or a fully spec’d out PC especially dedicated to gaming. Some idle time while on their daily commute? They’d spend it hunched over their mobile phones playing the latest game. Though they are the paragon of the techy gamer, they are still passionate about old school board and card games. They’re master tacticians whether in Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: The Gathering and they can handily defeat you or any foe in whatever battlefield you choose.
5. The Anime & Manga Hustler
They’ve watched it all, from the classics like Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragonball Z, and Voltes V to the modern masterpieces like My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, and Rakugo. They’re also enamored with the source materials, pouring countless hours to reading manga like Shingeki no Kyojin, One Punch-Man, and One Piece. They know every trope and almost every subgenre. And best believe they’ve read almost all types of manga they can get their hands on. Some even go as far as studying Nihongo and traveling to Japan to visit some of the largest animation studios and manga publishers in the country. Now if you can’t call that devotion, I don’t know what is!
If you recognize yourself (or you’re a different type of geek not mentioned here), drop by Headquarters or HQ! HQ is a concept store that curates officially-licensed merchandise from different parts of the world and makes them more accessible to Filipino fans. It aims to be the go-to store for rare and unique finds that appeal to a wide range of interests, may it be comic books, movies, anime, video games, music, or other areas of pop culture.
This story is in partnership with Headquarters. HQ is located at Uptown Mall in Taguig City. For more information, follow them on Facebook and Instagram.