Five years of Earth-2.net!

[Missy]

This Thursday Earth-2.net will celebrate its fifth anniversary. To honor the occasion, we've decided to explore our individual geekiness. Each day this week an Earth-2.net writer will open his heart to share his life as a geek; we're going to look deep into our pasts, examining what shaped us along the way, and what defines us today. In so doing, we hope to honor all geeks, and, with any luck, you'll share your geeky stories with us too.

Cheers,

Michael David Sims

[Missy]

If you wish, you can use this thread to share your "how I became a geek" stories.

[Venneh]

I guess I only just recently blossomed into geekdom, really.

I started realizing I was a geek in middle school and high school; I really liked a lot of stuff most of the people at my school would never even look twice at. I had friends who were into those things, but even then they always kind of looked down on you if you really got into them.

It's only when I got to college last year that I met people who encouraged me to pursue what I loved, and damn what other people thought. And in the last two years, I've gotten into so many different things and found other people to geek out with them over.

And only just recently did I go into a comic book store alone for the first time.

So, we'll see where this whole geek thing takes me. But I've found wonderful people along the way.

So, cheers. To five years of Earth2.

[Erin B.]

I think the moment I first realized I was a geek was in the fifth grade, which is about when I started doing theatre. I had gone to my director's office, to ask him a question and I saw an action figure of the Silver Age Green Arrow sitting on his desk. I asked him who that was and he told me. From there it led to an hour long discussion about comic books and superheroes. When I turned thirteen, my interests shifted away from superheroes. In fact I shifted away from many things that I loved. I retreated into myself until I was about seventeen, which is when I saw my first Justice League DVD: Secret Origin. Shortly thereafter, I bought The Brave and The Bold DVD. And that was all she wrote, as they say.

I began collecting Silver Age comics and DCAU DVD sets, when I stumbled upon a podcast called World's Finest. I was hooked immediately and through that podcast and Earth-2.net, my inner geek, which I had buried away deep inside, broke loose again and I have had no regrets. Letting my inner geek loose has helped me to find some of the best friends I could ask for and a guy who loves me because I am me.

Happy Fifth Anniversary Earth-2.net! Let the good times keep on rolling!

[Molly]

Honestly, I can't remember when I *wasn't* a geek.

[Koete]

I'll post my story later, but I just wanted to say congratulations on five years of Earth-2.net. It's a great site and I look forward to the next five years.

[Stavros]

My geek roots probably go back to when I was around 3-4 years old and started picking up the Marvel UK Transformers comics that my brother got. After a few years he stopped buying them and I picked up right where he left off up until the cancellation of the Generation 1 line in 1991. I probably had around 70 transformers by the end and several hundred issues of the comic, although my mother decimated that collection by forcing my to pick out one box-worth and binning the rest. If she tried that now things would be VERY different. We had a betamax copy of Transformers: The Movie which I watched countless times. It must have been at least 12 years since the last time I'd seen it that the DVD was finally released and yet I knew every line, every plot twist, every quirk in the animation as though I'd seen it the day before.

During the 90's British kids programming put on entire runs of the Spider-man and X-men cartoons during the holidays and I used to make a point of watching those, thats my grounding in the Marvel universe and why I consider myself more of a Marvel guy. BTAS was on itv occasionally but the show lacked the multi-part storylines and the consistant transmission times of its Marvel counterparts so I could never follow it as closely.

Of course that was just the beginning. Gerry Anderson productions like Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Stingray had kept me amused post Transformers but their biggest contribution was drawing my attention to certain timeslots on BBC 2. Sunday lunchtimes Anderson programmes were supplimented by old Doctor Who, and after 6 during weeknights a whole variety of material became available. Star Trek TNG and DS9 dominated, and were soon added to by Sliders, Buck Rogers, and others.

I knew that Star Trek geeks were looked down on before I ever saw the show itself, so in that way watching it was like watching something forbidden. You wouldn't admit in school that you liked it. Strangely what you could admit in school was being a Games Workshop geek, which I definitly was until my impatience with painting and playing with the figures won out. I really wasn't looking to spend huge amounts of cash on little models when what really interested me was the mass of source material available on that universe. That stuff I enjoy to this day, even if its usually a few years between visits to the stores.

Of course several years later the biggest show in my youth was another addition to that post 6pm lineup, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was a lot of buzz at school amongst those who had been the advertising. The show just had the single stupidest/best name EVER. Buffy would be the first show that I watched right from the beginning up until the conclusion of its spinoff Angel, and was instrumental in broadening my appreciation of what tv could be. It was the first show I really enjoyed that was using genre material but applying it to teenagers, combining violence, humor and lets face it, hot chicks. It felt so much more relevent than Star Trek, and I found quite a few friends through it. Heck, the people I live with now are the people I used to watch new Buffy with.

Comics-wise I was lent a copy of Batman: Sword of Azreal by a friend when I was around 14, and started getting occasional issues of Spider-man and X-men at the time (Clone Saga and AOA storylines were in these UK releases). I finally started walking into proper comics shops when I was 18 and haven't really looked back. My interest in podcasts span out of my interest in pro wrestling (which began when I was 17 and everyone else was losing interest), and of course Yoda is a member of the Pro Wrestling Oratory and one day he plugged his site at the right time and I checked it out. I think its been worth it.

Congratulations Earth-2!

[SuaveStar]

Hey Stavros!

That's CITV!

Anyway i would always say I was a geek type person and will ramble into a longer thing tomorrow about my love for figures, loving the batman tv show, all superhero cartoons and all things cartoons and never really growing up then.

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

Picture the 80's........... everything except the clothes that is.

I first became a geek when He-Man, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, M.A.S.K., etc etc were on TV. As well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I could list tons of other "geek" TV shows and movies, but then this post wouldn't really be a story about how I became a geek. I remember in first and second grade using an Apple IIe and playing around with the program called Logo. My very first computer was an Apple IIgs.... which was a great improvement over the IIc and IIe. I had tons of He-Man figures and a few Transformers as well. I even had gasp......

The Wheeler Captain Planet figure

yes I liked that show when I was a kid! I would have to say my defining geek moment as a child was when Batman 89 came out. Other then the 60's TV show in reruns on Tv in the 80's Batman 89 was the best thing ever..... back then. I had all kinds of toys and stuff from that. I even had tons of Spider-Man comics... I had one Batman graphic novel that my mom found in some consignment shop. I couldn't tell you what it was or where it is now. I remember I was nine years old and just looking at the images in the book they were very gory and tons of blood. I am such a geek my first books I read were the Bearenstein Bear books... that was sooo coool. I then moved into The Hardy Boys Casefiles books. I always have enjoyed reading and I could always imagine myself within the story. As far as video games my very firt system was an Atari 2600 then I got the Sega Master system and after that a Super Nintendo. I never had the NES, but my cousins did and I spent tons of time at there house playing the various games that they had. While my tastes might be very different from anyone else on here I don't think they're bad or anything. It just makes me a very enique Geek. There have been a ton of things that I've geeked out on in my life. Thankfully in the late part of 2007 I found out about podcasts and found a very fun and entertaining on called World's Finest Podcast. You guys do a superb job, better then most podcasts I listen to. And I really enjoy Earth-2.net I know for a fact I'm on here more in the forums then any other forum on the internet that I might be a member of. So here's to Earth-2.net congrats on 5 years strong... and I look forward to the next 10-20 years MUH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

In recognition of Five Years of Earth-2.net I've made these collages from podcast art and banners I've saved over the last year. If I had the Animezxing Podcast art before episode 23 I would have added that, as well as the Dread Media art... but I don't have those images. Congrats on 5 Years

They were made using the Photo Paper app on the iPhone which I'm a huge fan of:

[drqshadow]

Here's to five more, then!

I don't know that I have much of a story of when I became a geek - like Preston, I think it's just always been in my blood.

[SuaveStar]

Well heres my story:

I was a kid who loved to watch TV and play video games.

I hung out alone a lot and had fun with my own imagination and always wanted to write and stuff and just have fun with it.

I also had a lot of figures when i was a kid.

10-15 years later I still love to write and have a lot of figures, theres some irony there.

[annericelover]

I've always been a geek in some form or another. The geekem that I exhibit on this site comes from my love for movies and video games. Not many people I know care to sit there and listen to me analyze one scene in a film, while trying to make sense to it. Earth-2.net has always been a sanctuary of sorts for me to be able to expose that love.

Not to mention WFP was a big draw for me, I love the DCAU and with that podcast, it really helped me get into comic books. A childhood hobby I never really got to experience.

I've also got to meet several great people, Yoda, James D, DCAUFan..., Suavestar and many more on this forum. So thank you earth-2.net and keep up the great work.

[prez]

I just found this thread, sorry. I fell out of touch with Earth-2 for a long time not long after it began... I'm really glad I found it again. Congrats, Yoda, and all the writers and contributors, for making this into something great.

Also, I don't remember NOT being a geek. I think it had something to do with my massive pile of comics. Yes, pile. We didn't really bag shit in the '80s.

[purewolfblood]

congrats earth-2!!!!

We can all thank my geekieness to the WB's Afterschool Cartoons.

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

I don't know how he did it, but my dad had managed to score almost a complete collection of MOTU heroes and villains, and also threw in Snake Mountain, Castle Grayskull, some vehicles, and a handful of She-Ra figures for good measure.

I'm still jealous from the E-2 episode where you or Mike revealed that you have/had the Palace Of Eternia Playset I so wanted that. I've had my Castle Grayskull for over 20 years now and it's the only thing remaining of my He-Man colection. When I was 6 years old I went to visit my dad and play with all the He-Man toys I had to find them gone. My dad said I was too old to be playing with toys. I was 6 damnit!!!!! grrrr

[Nicolette Opal]

I primarily learned to speak by watching E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Over,

and over,

and over,

and over.

While this meant I began speaking younger than my contemporaries and in complete sentences, I also said, "Penis breath!" a lot.

[Dread]

I primarily learned to speak by watching E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Over,

and over,

and over,

and over.

While this meant I began speaking younger than my contemporaries and in complete sentences, I also said, "Penis breath!" a lot.

[SuaveStar]

Am I the only person who didn't enjoy E.T, ever?

[Stavros]

Am I the only person who didn't enjoy E.T, ever?

I'll back you up man, I never thought much of it. Then again I probably haven't seen it since I was 7.

[Dread]

Am I the only person who didn't enjoy E.T, ever?

I'll back you up man, I never thought much of it. Then again I probably haven't seen it since I was 7.

Ditto this.

[James D.]

E.T. was boring as shit. Fucking hate that movie.

[Stavros]

All I remember is a lot of plastic sheeting, and irritating puppet and even more irritating child actors. I remember being happy that they were really ill at one point.

[slothian]

Not to look like a bandwagon-jumper, but I've never liked ET. The best thing it has ever done is to inadvertantly lead to Paul Rudd's Mac & Me joke on Conan O'Brien's talkshow.