>>51268It's reflective of a greater normie, Web 2.0 trend of trying to be "unique" and "special" and using what they like (or pretend to like) as the social capital to achieve that without any substantial involvement in the actual hobbies. Like how edgy "ironic weeaboos" on tumblr think they're cooler than "real weeaboos" because they have Oyasumi PunPun on their dash and listen to Fishmans, Melt Banana and shitty artists like omocat instead of those who like moe or jerk off to loli (woah that's "problematic") or listen exclusively to anison. See, "cool weebs" have cool shirts with stolen art and characters and shit on them and say cool edgy meme things like "FUCKING WEEABOO" or "HIKIKOMORI" or "HENTAI 00" and have unnecessary Japanese that the people wearing them can't even read; "real weebs" have old, ill-fitting shirts with cum stains on them. This goes beyond TBBT "nerds."
A "cool nerd" is an oxymoron. It's all masturbation. And it's especially irritating when this is coming from the same people who would've made fun of you for liking this shit only a few years ago.
This has been bothering me for a long time. But I think in such an environment so fixated on pretense, the "coolest" otaku/nerds are those that wholly lack that. The most smelly, unseemly, autistic pieces of human waste, with no self-awareness, good only for their absurdly detailed knowledge on things as useless as porn games and who animated a particular sequence in some popular children's anime. I have nothing but respect for these types because I know their passion is true. It's not an especially realistic image, but it's the ideal standard that I've adopted to compare self-proclaimed "otaku" to. For those who aren't trying to co-opt decades worth of subculture for their meticulously designed tumblr pages and colorful t-shirts and don't really care and just like watching anime and shit, carry on.