I too am GEEKCORE.

Inspired by this freakin' awesome post by the Badger Lord arkhamrefugee.

I am geekcore.

I fed in just one more quarter in an attempt to get to the "mud pie" stage in Donkey Kong. I swore at that infernally accurate little UFO in Asteroids. I was chased by psychotic food as I walked over hamburger buns. I bashed buttons into oblivion in Track and Field, threw my Testarossa from side to side in Out Run, and was rumbled by the bass as I blasted vector-graphic tanks into pixel pieces in Battlezone. I remember the slew of arcades that used to compete with each other, their signs proclaiming "12 tokens for a dollar!"; then, the next week, claiming "18 tokens for a dollar!" because the arcade down the street had offered 14 for a dollar. I remember walking into my favorite arcade (Planet Earth in Gainesville, GA) and seeing my initials in the top 10 of every single machine along one wall. A week after its release, I was putting on Dragon's Lair exhibitions at said arcade, where people would give me 50 cents to finish the game so they could watch.

I am geekcore.

I thought a moving square was a perfectly acceptable representation of an "adventurer". I got revenge for the Yars, I raided rivers, and I was eaten by countless crocodiles in Pitfall. I glued little pawns from board games to the discs of the Intellivision controllers in an attempt to make them less thumb-blistering. I bought the ColecoVision expansion packs that let me play driving games and Atari 2600 games -- this last despite the fact that I already owned an Atari 2600. Consoles and cartridges marched in and out of my life like soldiers -- Odyssey 2, Atari 2600, Coleco, Intellivision, Sega Master System, NES, Sega Genesis, Sega CD. I adventured with Link throughout Hyrule, tried to get my completion time for Metroid under an hour so I could see the best ending, and swung back and forth on my bionic arm in Bionic Commando.

I am geekcore.

I remember wandering into the lunchroom of my middle school and seeing people hunched over a strange-looking map, throwing oddly-shaped dice and talking in hushed voices about fireballs and ancient dragons. I remember peering at the red box with that logo "Dungeons and Dragons" (before the word "Advanced" was even a consideration) and reading the passage in the user manual that suggested "Morgan Ironwolf" might be a good name for a fighter. I remember Gary Gygax and TSR. I remember the Keep on the Borderlands and White Plume Mountain.

I am geekcore.

I bounced on trampolines as Sammy Lightfoot, swore at the damn erratically moving deer in Oregon Trail, fought against roving gangs in Autoduel and tried to decipher the "clues" in House of Usher, all on the terrifically advanced Apple II. I wrote thousands of programs in LOGO to make that damn turtle draw just one more shape. I know that darkness means that you are likely to be eaten by a grue, and swore endlessly as I tried to "get past the snake". Loquacious oaths and promises of revenge flew back and forth over endless games of Artillery Battle. I know what "LOAD "*", 8, 1" means. I remember when the IBM PC Jr was referred to as the "Peanut". I called the TRS-80 the "Trash-80". I took King Graham through brilliant 16-color adventures as he quested for his crown, shepherded Roger Wilco through his own hapless life, and marveled at the amazingly lifelike sound of the Ad Lib sound card.

I am geekcore.

I watched Fred Savage as the Wizard and thrilled to the adventures of Kevin Flynn in the computer world of Tron. I greeted friends (and still do, sometimes!) with "Greetings, programs!" I remember chills running down my spine, uncounted and unexplained, as I saw those magic words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...". I remember "No.....I am your father!" and the attendant gasps of amazement. I thought Deanna Troi was hot, Picard was the best Star Trek captain ever, and I wanted to be Wesley Crusher. I wished I was Atreyu so I, too, could ride a luckdragon. I wondered if Jen would ever find a way to heal the Dark Crystal. I watched as Roy Batty mused, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost ... in time, like ... tears, in rain. Time ... to die."

I am geekcore.

I remember the fuss over the whole Clone Mess, er, Clone Saga in Spider-Man. I saw Aunt May have countless heart attacks. I watched, horrified, as Magneto ripped Wolverine's adamantium out of his body...through his skin. I know that the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets. I saw Tony Stark go through countless different suits of Iron Man armor. Every time Daredevil's secret identity was revealed to someone else, I would think "AGAIN??????" I remember when the launch of Image Comics was heralded as a new beginning. I was a bit upset, but rejoiced internally, as the Joker beat Jason Todd unconscious with a crowbar and then left him in the building to die. I lived through the Secret Wars, the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Zero Hour. I saw Bane rise from the hell where he was born and raised to tear through Gotham's underworld and break the Batman. I saw Alan Scott, John Stewart, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner all take their turns as Green Lantern.

I am geekcore.

I followed the crewmembers of the Argo on their quest to Iscandar and tried to style my hair to look like Derek Wildstar's. I thought there was nothing strange about the idea of a space pirate named Harlock. I thrilled to the adventures of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop and Tiny in Battle of the Planets and wished desperately for a Phoenix toy. I owned a die-cast set of five Voltron lions. I know that M.A.S.K. stands for "Mobile Armored Strike Kommand". When people say "Now you know!" I can respond, "And knowing is half the battle!". I got into a fight over who was cooler, Snake Eyes or his opposite Stormshadow, and think that Metal Gear's Solid Snake is a ripoff of Snake Eyes. I can tell you that Jazz's slogan is "Do it with style or don't bother doing it", that Optimus Prime's motto is "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", and that Megatron's is "Everything is fodder." I could argue for hours about whether the most powerful combining Transformer is Superion, Defensor, Devastator, Menasor, Predaking or Bruticus. I blew up all my M.A.S.K. toys with firecrackers and then, years later, paid hundreds of dollars to reacquire them off Ebay.

I am geekcore.

I picked up an interesting-looking book named The Hobbit in third grade and that was all she wrote. I decided that it was more fun to spend time in made-up worlds than those grounded in reality. I watched as Garion grew up to become Belgarion and destroyed Torak, the Maimed God. I proudly sported a button saying "Don't Panic" and thought that Zaphod Beeblebrox was kind of a punk bastard. I wandered through Narnia at Prince Caspian's side and wished I were one of the Pevensie children. I watched the seasons change from autumn to winter to spring in the original Dragonlance series. I followed Allan Quatermain through the depths of Africa. I knew what an R.O.U.S. was, long before The Princess Bride was masterfully adapted to film form. I came to know Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw, Susan Calvin, Hari Seldon and other Asimovian eminaries. I met Valentine Michael Smith, Lazarus Long, Hazel Stone, Deety Burroughs, Scar Gordon, Dan Davis and his cat Pete, Dr. Richard Ames, Pixel the cat who walked through walls, and dozens of Heinlein's other memorable characters. I spent countless happy hours in Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Lady Sally's House, Mary's Place and just The Place.

I am geekcore. There may be others geekier than me, but I am secure in my geekiness. I visit my comics shop every week. My bookcase shelves are stacked two and three deep with fantasy and science fiction. I wear a replica of the One Ring around my neck every day. My comics collection has filled twenty-odd long boxes, yet I consider myself something of a comics lightweight. I would rather spend the day at home with a fantasy book or playing an adventure game on the computer than wandering into a smoky bar with overloud music or playing a bone-breaking sport. Where's the fun in being grounded in reality all the time? I recognize that magic and mystery and wonder are part of my life....and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you're geekcore, tell the world about it! We are the few, the proud....the GEEKCORE.

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Currently playing: one of my 80s collections.