Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

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greg
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Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by greg »

Do you have a room dedicated to all sorts of mania obsessions? The very first video I ever uploaded to YouTube was one of the nerd cave I had in my house in north Phoenix. At the time, I was hesitant to even upload such a video, and I figured that it would be the only one I would make. Then later I started thinking, "Hey, I bet I could take some videos of places in Japan when I visit there. I bet people would find that interesting..."

So here is my very first YouTube video, of my otaku room/nerd cave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D6ep7d1DlBuc

I'm at work now, so I can't test the link, but I believe that is it. I made a couple of updates to that video while I still lived in that house. I can provide those later. I then made a new version when we moved into an apartment in 2011. Now that I live in Japan, I have shot some videos of some of the stuff in my new nerd cave, but I haven't done a comprehensive video of it all.

In my nerd cave, I have the following:
  • My entire video game collection in racks along the wall
  • A tall shelf full of anime DVDs from floor to ceiling
  • A shelf of boxed plastic models (most unbuilt, but many built because I don't throw away the boxes because I'm an OCD sperg or something)
  • A nice display case with glass doors for anime figures and built models
  • a computer desk (also home to several figures, robots, and other stuff)
  • my hobby desk, home to all I need for building plastic models and beadsprite art
  • My wife has a small computer desk in one corner for her 12 year old laptop that needs to be replaced
  • On the walls are various anime and video game posters, as well as Perler Bead sprite art I've made of various game and anime characters and such.
What the room does not have is:
  • A TV to watch stuff with or play games with, although I do watch DVDs on my computer.
  • My video game consoles (those are connected to the TV in the living room, which is usually held hostage by my wife and child)
  • My video game controllers and accessories (those are in the closet in the living room)
  • My SF novel and manga collection (those are in booshelves in the bedroom
  • My anime and game soundtrack selection (those are in the hall these days because I've no other place to put them
  • My regular DVD collection (those are in a shelf in my living room)
So how about you? Do you have a room dedicated to nerdy pursuits, or does all that take up your whole place? Having a wife and child, I can't imagine not having such a room in my life, a place where I can retreat to and such. My wife doesn't mind it, as long as I am not neglecting the family and such. Some people may ask if my wife gets mad if I spend my time working on models and whatnot. I tell them that considering how many other guys spend their time going out to a bar and getting drunk with friends, going out on a boat and getting drunk with friends, or go out hunting on weekends and getting drunk with friends... there's really not much for her to complain about. She's probably happy to be married to a nerd, where she knows I am at all times and I am there when she needs me (like twisting off caps from plastic bottles, opening jars, and doing other mundane things that I can't imagine how she can live her life without me. I mean heck, if we weren't married, what the hell would her neighbors think of her? <KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK> "SHHHHHH! Turn down the TV and make like we're not home! It must be that crazy woman who lives next to us. She probably wants us to open another soda bottle for her."

The other good thing about having a nerd cave is that if we have some normal people over, I can just close the door to the nerd cave and try to pretend to be normal and talk about whatever the hell normal people talk about and pretend to be interested in those things. This usually takes a lot of energy and I may require a nap afterwards, but at least I won't freak out the normal people if their brains can't handle the fact that anybody would be interested in the stuff I like.
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ServantOfPriss
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by ServantOfPriss »

The room where I sleep, basically. Although I don't have much right now. It's mostly DVDs of movies and anime in the main shelf, with some airplane plamo on top. A couple of Gall Force posters I got recently adorn the closet's doors. Games are accomodated under the movies, and since they're not much (just Halo PC and a couple of other FPS shooters, plus Kangoku Senkan 1-3 and a BISHOP game.

I got a few anime magazines I get from the local shop or Sanborn's under the books section, and the comics section inbetween has four of the translated Five Star Stories volumes and my cousin's (former for him) copies of Outlanders.

I think I'm forgetting a couple of more things, but that's about it, really.
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by llj »

Since I have my own place and I am a bachelor, I don't really need my own "room" per se.

My nerd stuff mostly consists of books and DVDs and video games. I don't have any posters or many toys/model kits in my pad.
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by usamimi »

Hmm, I can't seem to load the YT link, dunno if it's just my computer acting up or what.

I'd say our bedroom and den/game room are where the bulk of our "nerd" stuff reside. We share the house with one other person (who isn't nearly as nerdy), so we try to make the rest of the house seem relatively "normal". :lol: In the bedroom we have our nice TV with the PS3 hooked up, a good chunk of my DVDs, all my books & manga, random toys, dolls & figures, and posters/prints hanging on the walls. In the den we have all our video game related stuff (merch, displays, toys, and of course the games and consoles themselves), more posters/prints, Nitro's Robot Carnival stuff, and a few more of my figures/toys. We also just recently got a small TV+VCR combo for free from a friend, so now I finally have something to watch VHS on again!
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

I had a big ol' post written up about this but it must have been eaten by Internet Gremlins or something ... which I guess is good because it was probably kind of messy and rambling.

In the rental house my fiancee and I share now, I have a "nerd cave" where the majority of my anime and anime paraphernalia are in the finished basement. I have her large, old TV in an entertainment center with CD/stereo on top of it, a couple of VCRs, tape rewinder and my old PlayStation and games in the cabinets down below. There are a couple of shelves around the basement with my DVDs and a couple of milk crates with my LDs. I have another bookshelf full of manga, anime magazines and some model kits. My un-built models are shelved, too. I have some anime posters around for decoration, too. There's still some things I've not yet unpacked an old box of fansubs and anime CDs, which I should go through soon. It's a cool little spot that if I have a couple friends over to work on convention panels or even if I wind up catching up on the household laundry.
llj wrote:Since I have my own place and I am a bachelor, I don't really need my own "room" per se.
I've never really liked the idea of my nerd stuff out and about simply for the sake of having it out. But how much stuff was out it always depended on the type of place I had. My first apartment by myself was a decent sized one bedroom. Things like DVDs, LDs and Tapes ended up in the living room area with the TV and players but I didn't hang posters or Zeon flags there. Likewise, my manga and magazines ended up on the bookshelf with the other books I had out. When I moved out of that apartment, I went to a 3BR townhouse and that was more when I started compartmentalizing things a bit more. Not really sure if anyone else feels the same way or not.
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greg
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by greg »

Sorry for the broken links! I was trying to figure out the link while at work, which blocks YouTube, so I couldn't just give a clean URL. I actually just created a playlist for my various nerd cave videos, dating back to the very original one.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... dk6N6VL1EF
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by Animusubi »

I plan on having one when I move. I just can't stand having all my things in storage, I'm even beginning to forget what I have in there, and I don't like that. I haven't seen my things in one place in nearly 2 years now and it's driving me nuts. I even have lots of things I bought to add to the collection, but I haven't seen it all together yet. I need an otaku room STAT.
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by ParaParaJMo »

A majority of my collection of DVDs and games are back home in Gilbert, Arizona. I have very little here but my PS3 and some games and my macbook and a good number of manga. My brothers collect Marvel and DC figures and have tons of them on display and aren't ashamed of it.
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

Since greg started this thread as being "media forward", i.e., including a YouTube link, I wanted to post some pics of the basement/closest thing to a nerd cave. However, as it has been in a state of flux regarding how "put together it is", I finally decided that, whatever, better to let the Internet at large see my faults. Maybe that will motivate me to get everything in order :lol:.

Image

This is the entry way coming into the basement. Landlord put a half kitchen in before deciding to rent the place out, so we keep extra kitchen stuff here as well. The big blue box is full of fansubs and other tapes that I've not unpacked for one reason or another.

Image

Here we have the back wall with a shelf full of TV series box sets. One shelf is cleared off because I am thinking of filling it with model kits.

Image

Speaking of model kits, here's a backlog of unbuilt kits and kits that I had when I lived with my folks that I need to try and clean, fix or decide to get rid of.

Image

I got this shot because of the couple of posters and glimpse of some random VHS tapes and model kits.You can also see my manga/magazine/book/mook-shelf. I had a friend over last night and we threw darts for a few hours (we used to play on a league up to a couple years ago, so being able to throw a couple of hands of darts while I do a bit of laundry is just as important as having a good place for Japanese cartoons).

Image

Last bit, I promise. TV/entertainment center at, well, center of the "universe". Stereo system for listening to CDs if I so choose. In the base of the center I have my PSX and tape rewinder on the left bay and stacked VCRs on the right. DVD racks for Singles (TV, movie, OAV). In the black crates are my LaserDiscs; on top is my G1 PS2, PSX box, NES and G2 Genesis. The NES and Genesis I'd like to set up again if I can find room/connections. PS2, I am torn on whether to keep it (still have some games I'd like to try and play again) or sell it (because I haven't played it in over 10 years). I am going to replace the heavy, old CRT TV in the entertainment center with the flat panel LCD as soon as I find a place to recycle the CRT.
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Re: Do you have a "nerd cave"/"otaku room" at your place?

Post by usamimi »

Very nice! Love all your posters! :D
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