More Unpopular Nerd Opinions.

Last week I wrote a blog where I listed some of my unpopular opinions on matters in nerd culture.  I got some nice feedback from it, so let’s do it again!  As the title of this entry states, here are some more of my unpopular nerd opinions:

– The Joker is overrated.  He’s an interesting enough character and a creepy villain, but I don’t think he should be considered the end-all-be-all bad guy in the comics world.  I feel like one or two comics authors wrote amazing Joker stories, and then everyone else’s attempts to equal them or one-up them turned the Joker into this insane genius criminal mastermind who, for a dude in facepaint, is almost untouchable.  Iconic performances of the character in Batman movies only made the Joker more popular, to the point where I think it’s gotten out of hand.  Personally, I think the Joker should’ve been killed off years ago.

– Firefly wasn’t that great a show.  It was good, and it had a mostly likeable cast of characters, but I don’t think it was that great.  This unpopular opinion of mine has a bit of history with my friends, too.  They were all huge Firefly fans and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t head-over-heels in love with the show.  It just didn’t hook me like it hooked so many others!  So, my friends spent months upon months trying to win me over.  They had me watch episode after episode, skipping some of the lackluster ones in favor of the ones that were the “really good ones.”  They did nothing for me.  Their repeated attempts, combined with folks at conventions who also couldn’t believe I wasn’t crazy about Firefly, made me so sick of the show that it soured my opinion of it.  Enough time has passed that the bitter taste has gone, but I still don’t think it was that great a show.

– Vampires are better when they’re monsters, not a fantasy to aspire to.  This unpopular opinion flies in the face of a whole industry built on sexy vampires.  I didn’t grow up with vampires as misunderstood heroes.  I grew up with Count Dracula, as played by Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee.  I grew up with the vampire as a problem to be solved, not a character to befriend or understand.  I later discovered Nosferatu, whose amazing design was years ahead of its time.  Gary Oldman was an amazing Dracula, and despite having some depth and sympathy was still a monster and a villain.  When vampires are monsters we get one of my favorite heroes in the horror/monster genre: the vampire hunter.  (I have not seen What We Do in the Shadows yet, but vampires as comedy is always a great in my book.)

– H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle stories are better than much of his Cthulhu Mythos stories.

– Avengers: Infinity War was not a good movie.  The more I think about this one, the more I get aggravated.  (Spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen Infinity War yet, stop now.)  Major settings and peoples from previous movies were killed off-screen, like the Asgardians and the city the Guardians of the Galaxy spent their first movie trying to save.  The “Marvel movie banter” felt incredibly out-of-place given the scope and seriousness of the events.  The normally charming Star Lord was a bumbling oaf.  Loki and Gamora died undeservedly looking like chumps.  And every scene that was supposed to be suspenseful had the tension cut by Thanos simply going “lol nope” and undoing the drama with a wave of his hand (or a snap of his fingers).  I don’t have a problem with the good guys losing the day, as Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the classic Star Wars films.  I don’t have a problem with most of the heroes dying at Infinity War’s conclusion, as I read Infinity Gauntlet and oh my god they all die so much more horribly in that book.  I have a problem with Infinity War’s execution of those elements… no pun intended.

Those are a few more of my unpopular nerd opinions.  As before, I’ve had arguments about these things in person with so many people, so don’t feel the need to try correcting me or winning me over to the other side.  My friends tried that with Firefly, and you see how well that ended for everyone involved.

But maybe, somewhere out there, are a few other souls who share my curmudgeonly opinions about things most nerds find beloved.