TR Contest: Most Shameful Nerd Argument

?Time to do what Topless Robot does best — provide a venue for nerds to reveal embarrassing moments about their lives. That passion that makes us nerds is that same passion that makes us utterly unreasonable when certain topics and positions are brought up. Thus, what I want to know is: What is the most shameful, nerd-based argument you’ve ever had? It can have been with a fellow nerd or with a civilian. It can have been the nerdiness of the topic — possibly about how the treasure got divvied up in an RPG session — or it can be your passion on the subject — say, threatening to knife someone who declared that Chewbacca was Han Solo’s pet. However, you must have come to the conclusion you were being an insane nerd and are currently properly ashamed of it.

As per usual, I’ll give you one of my own. In the early days of Anime Insider, I was the only guy in the office who knew jack shit about anime. This led me to believe that everyone should just do what I said all the time — which my boss was not always happy to do. I remember one time when I insisted we should be calling Sailor Moon “Usagi,” her Japanese name, instead of “Serena,” her American dub name. My point was that Sailor Moon had been off the air for a while, and the only Sailor Moon fans who were going to pick up AI were likely hardcore anime fans and would’ve preferred Usagi.

I think my reasoning was sound, but my boss said no. I didn’t let it rest, and the more I argued, the more he didn’t care. Even though I didn’t and still don’t give a single shit about Sailor Moon, this turned into the most important thing in my life. I begged and screamed and pleaded to no avail. Eventually, I was so furious I had to stomp out of the room. It was insane and utterly asinine. Not one of my prouder professional moments.

But I’m sure you guys can do me better. One entry per person, and the contest ends at 12:01am on Monday the 28th, EST.