The Week In Geek 12/30/15

This Week In Things Too Geeky To Discuss With Your Friends.....No matter how you feel about Star Wars: The Force Awakens (sorry, but I'd be happy if my movie had a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes), you have to admit it's nice to have the nerd community geeking out about Star Wars again in a less abstract, fan fictiony way. It's also nice that the introduction of John Boyega's rogue trooper character, Finn, has created a reinvigorated sense of community within the Star Wars blerd fandom. I was personally getting tired of debating over Samuel L. Jackson no matter how awesome it was that he repelled an entire enemy platoon singlehandedly. My favorite thing is that, since Star Wars is a very self sustaining marketing engine that responds to its fans, you end up getting cool shit like this action figure based on everyone's favorite electro baton wielding stormtrooper. 

He wasn't a huge part of the initial marketing campaign, but after the movie released and the internet lost their shit (though I still don't understand why...I mean, he lasted for half a lightsaber fight). Now, the movie is barely two weeks old, ready to surpass Titanic sales and now he has his own action figure. He doesn't even have a name but he has an action figure. Disney wastes no time.

And the amount of detail that goes into this universe is ridiculously geeky. Nerds....we have a cross section book. My relationship with bookstores over the years has left me privy to some wildly geeky shit, but after all this time, sci-fi cross section books still stand firm in my pantheon of the geekiest shit a human being can purchase in public in front of other people. I mean, it's basically an automotive manual for vehicles that don't actually exist. Neil Degrasse Tyson is basically America's wacky Science Uncle and even he isn't THAT geeky. Isn't it fucking awesome?  

This Week In Wonderfully Nerdy Women That Don't Know I Exist.... Readers, there is simply not a higher note to start the year on than talking about Ariell Johnson, the sister from Philly who is opening up her own comic shop. The idea behind Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse is to build a sense of community in the Kensington part of Philly around two things that a). get blerds through the day and b). are both not Meek Mill: comics and coffee. It feels like the next logical step, given that the past couple of years in the industry have really been focused on creating more conversations about diversity in comics as well as the way geekdom treats women. The fact that safe spaces are happening on a physical level as well as a conversational one is an exciting prospect and a wonderful omen for the possibilities of things to come in the blerd community.