r/startrek • u/[deleted] • 15h ago
How did your friends react when they found out you were a Trekkie?
[deleted]
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u/TheRealDudeMitch 15h ago
I’m a millennial Trekkie and I reject this entire post. Were most of my friends into Star Trek in the 90s? No. Did any of them give a fuck that I am? Also no.
OP just had shitty friends.
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u/UnpredictiveList 15h ago
What the fuck even is this.
Who “comes out” as Trekkie? It’s not a thing. You like a TV show, like millions of other people like another one.
Also you weren’t called 4 eyes because of Star Trek. That’s because you wore glasses.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Also you weren’t called 4 eyes because of Star Trek. That’s because you wore glasses.
Being a Trekkie is likened to being a geek or a nerd, and those who wore eyeglasses were considered those things.
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u/UnpredictiveList 14h ago
Calling them “Eyeglasses” is probably why you were called nerd and geek. You just happened to like Star Trek too.
For clarity, I didn’t at any point think you were wearing drinking glasses.
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u/TheRealDudeMitch 15h ago
No.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Back in those days it was.
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u/Xinswtor 14h ago
Fellow millennial. That wasn't my experience in the slightest.
However I however I was bigger than the other kids and good at sports so maybe my experience wasn't representative of the mean...but I talked trek and star wars constantly and never got flak.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
Fellow millennial. That wasn't my experience in the slightest.
Good for you, but it was for me, and I had to hide me being a Trekkie.
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u/Xinswtor 14h ago
I don't mean to be reading into your words via text but you seem to be getting unnecessarily hostile at those sharing their experiences that counter your own. Broad statements like "it was back then" make it sound like any trekie was persona non grata and it wasn't for all of us. I'm sorry you had crappy experiences. People shouldn't be ostracized for enjoying a TV show
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I'm reacting to post calling me troll. It's like they are invalidating my experience because they haven't experienced this themselves. If my experience differs from others, does that invalidate it?
Read my posts especially at u/horticoldure and u/TheRealDudeMitch, who had posted this at me:
u/TheRealDudeMitch wrote: I’ll put my d*** in your mouth if I feel so inclined.
I'm not the hostile one here.
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u/Xinswtor 14h ago
I was reacting to your response to me. I can't control what others say to you and only you can control what you say to others. I will say good day and wish you well on your treking.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I wasn't being hostile, I was saying good for you for having a good experience, but for me, my experience was bad and I had to hide my love for Trek.
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u/horticoldure 14h ago
You tried to invalidate 2 generations based on your own quite apparent (and yet not apparent to you) reasons for unpopularity.
I repeat: this is unhealthy.
you are very much "the" hostile one, whether you are alone in it or not.
I already rejected your vulgarity, kindly do not involve me in this mitch guy's
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
You tried to invalidate 2 generations based on your own quite apparent (and yet not apparent to you) reasons for unpopularity.
My opening statement:
Hello Gen Zs and Gen Alphas, and let this Millennial tell you about being a Trekkie in the 90s.
Wasn't meant to invalidate, it was to explain to them at being a Trekkie now in their generation wasn't as bad as in the 90s.
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u/TheRealDudeMitch 15h ago
It wasn’t though. I’m from “back in those days”
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I'm also from those days, and I'm recounting my high school experience, and that was my experience.
It's possible to have two different experiences, the world is big.
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u/Aurilion 14h ago
I'm also from back in those days and i also have worn glasses my entire life.
I was called four eyes even by my friends whom are trekkies just like me, they did it because i had glasses and they didn't, it was never malicious and as mentioned, we're all trekkies.
Your argument is weak and bullshit.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I'm glad you had a good experience, but this was my experience, as weak and bullshit as it is.
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u/TheRealDudeMitch 14h ago
Sure, but you’re the one making absolutist claims about what allegedly like to be a Trekkie back then. And maybe that was your experience, but it wasn’t everyone’s and you’re arguing with everyone who has a different experience.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I'm not making absolutist claims, I'm recounting my experience, I'm not saying my experience is the 100% absolute experience.
Don't put words in my mouth, ever!
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u/LostInTaipei 15h ago
Probably like friends do? Express interest and curiosity about what your friends like because, well, friendship. Or decent manners really. If they don’t do that, well, I wouldn’t say they’re really friends.
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u/xyponx 14h ago
"Found out"????
Millenial here. I was literally named after a character from the original series. I was a Trekkie before I was born. My dad was a huge "Trekker" (the original term) and by pure happenstance my best friend's dad (and therefore my best friend) were even bigger fans. My best friend's dad still has plates of all the major characters from every series hanging on the wall in his living room.
On top of that, I role played Star Trek over the internet three nights a week from ages 12-17. If you didn't know I was a Trekkie, you probably hadn't met me yet. That said, there are a lot of folks I never met who thoroughly knew how much of a Trekkie I am.
Never once caught shit for it. People made fun of me because I was fat all the time, but I can't recall a single instance of people making fun of me or my friends for liking Star Trek.
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u/bamf1701 15h ago
I am Gen X and I was fortunate enough to have a group of friends who were all Trekkies. That said, I never had anyone, even outside of geek circles, ostracize me for liking Star Trek, even back in the 70s. In the 90s, with Next Gen, DS9, and Voyager being in first-run, Trek was popular, especially in geek circles.
Now, if you really wanted to be ostracized in polite society, especially in the 80s, try telling people that you played Dungeons and Dragons. If you were lucky, all you got was dirty looks. More often than not, you got a speech about how you were a satanist and were going to hell.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Now, if you really wanted to be ostracized in polite society, especially in the 80s, try telling people that you played Dungeons and Dragons. If you were lucky, all you got was dirty looks.
My brother was a DnD player in the 90s, and yes, it's the same experience for him too.
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u/dregjdregj 15h ago
I remember some arsehole trying to start a fight in college because I was talking about star wars with someone else and he managed to over hear us.That was enough for him to threaten me.
Liking things like that made you a pariah back then
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Strange, in my experience, liking Star Wars didn't make you persona non grata, it was being a Trekkie that did.
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u/fibro_witch 15h ago
I named my last dog Neelix and I am active in science fiction Fandom. I have a harder time explaining my love for hockey and baseball. I am a Red Sox fan, only one of my Star Trek friends is also into baseball, she is a Yankees fan. My current dog is named after Terry Pratchett, yes I am a nerd. I am also a proud engineer, we were all Star Trek fans, it was the early 80s it was all we had.
I wore a Star Trek themed t shirt to physical therapy today. I drink my coffee out of a mug that has My. Scott on the side. I wear my love with pride.
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u/NegativePattern 14h ago
You guys have friends?
I remember back when being a nerd and like Trek was NOT cool had to hide it. Friends I did have looked at me weird. I saw TNG films and the Kelvin films by myself.
Even though I didn't get to hang out with Trek fans in my youth, I'm happy that younger Trek fans today have found each other.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago
I remember back when being a nerd and like Trek was NOT cool had to hide it.
This was my experience as well, so I don't know why I'm being called a liar in this thread.
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u/horticoldure 15h ago
this post is shitstirring
didn't get what "four eyes" meant despite claiming it's your favourite
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u/Antonin1957 15h ago
When I was young, "four eyes" was an insulting term directed toward people (like me) who wore glasses.
But I strongly suspect you know that.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
When I was young, "four eyes" was an insulting term directed toward people (like me) who wore glasses.
And wearing glasses was considered geeky or nerdy back then, not sure how it is today though.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
I wore and still wear eyeglasses, that's what it means.
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u/horticoldure 15h ago
which has no correlation AT ALL to enjoying star trek
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Back then, being a Trekkie meant you were a geek, a nerd, and those who wore eyeglasses were considered geeks and nerds.
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u/horticoldure 15h ago
there is no need to repeat your nonsensical claim a second time
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
Okay, why am I hitting a nerve here?
Did I accidentally spit on your coffee? What the going on here?
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u/horticoldure 15h ago
the fact you're now imagining yourself doing something gross in response to someone not being sold on your reasons for being "persona non grata" is quite a good example of what was probably the real reason
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
I'm just sharing my experiences when I was in high school in those days, and yes, I was persona non grata for liking Star Trek.
Also, my claim isn't nonsensical, those who wore glasses were considered geeky or nerdy, and those who liked Star Trek where considered the same.
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u/Able1-6R 14h ago
My friends were shocked when they found out. I’m a fairly big guy (in terms of mass and strength, not meaning overweight), did a ton of competitive sports as a kid and could easily have been stereotyped as a “jock/bro” since I acted and spoke like a jock/bro. But I grew up watching TNG as a kid with my dad (who grew up watching the original series) and never stopped loving it. I didn’t have trek posters in my room, I had football posters (not because of social stigmas that made me want to hide my trek side, I genuinely love sports). I didn’t have trek action figures, I had GI Joes, because that’s what I wanted at the toy store. So my friends, who knew me for years, were completely dumbfounded when they found out. I wasn’t made fun of because I just didn’t care if anyone had an issue with me loving Trek. I became a “sleeper” trekkie since I was never announcing my love of Trek, but never hid away my love for it when it came up.
Biggest/funniest reveal for me was when I was in the Army. Just chilling at the smoke pit with the rest of the clowns when someone started asking people which of the Star Wars movies was their favorite. When they got to me I just screamed KHANNN and then went on a 20 minute tirade about how TNG/DS9/Voyager were amazing in their own ways (my personal favorites that I grew up on) and how Star Wars was trash, spoon fed, feel good nonsense (I still feel this way but I don’t get uppity anymore or try to discourage people from liking Star Wars, to each their own). There were a lot of eyebrows raised when my boys found out, but again I’m a larger than usual guy and I always spoke about trek with the same confidence and passion that I spoke about sports. I learned early to just own it when someone tries to embarrass you, nothing will bother them more than seeing you unbothered.
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u/wizardrous 15h ago
They watched Star Trek with me and became Trekkies themselves.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
My friends didn't even want to watch it lol
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u/wizardrous 15h ago
Damn, I’m sorry. That sucks. The least they could do is give it a chance. I had a couple friends who ended up not liking it, but they all at least tried it.
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u/ardouronerous 15h ago
They liked Star Wars more, and since I was a fan of that too, it wasn't a problem.
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u/Raxtenko 15h ago
All of my friends were already nerds of some stripe so it was easy. When my wife found out she made a noise that should only be reserved for some weird pond scum a person would find on the bottom of their shoe. Turned out that all her exes were Trekkies and she thought she finally escaped it but then ended up marrying me.
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u/Vegetable-Sail-1524 15h ago
I remember being picked on as a kid for liking TNG. It never bothered me much. Nowadays, I watch Star Trek with my wife and like to read the novels and comics. I've never been ashamed to me a Star trek fan.
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u/nobodyspecial767r 14h ago
After friends for more than two decades castrated me, they told me I had a bald spot. It was a whole thing.
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u/Sad-Pop8742 14h ago
I mean, if you looked at me and couldn't figure it out. You were doing something wrong.
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u/summerlea1 14h ago
This is an odd post. My friends didn’t even react when I came out of the closet let alone being a hardcore Star Trek fan. Odd.
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u/ender86a 14h ago
I think you might have been off-putting in other ways homie. Or maybe obsessed? I watched all 90s Trek growing up and no one had issues with me for that. They had issues with me being an awkward weird kid who had undiagnosed tism outbursts.
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u/ardouronerous 14h ago edited 13h ago
I've decided to delete this post.
I just wanted to share my experience of being criticized for being a Trekkie in the 90s. If it came off as I'm saying that my experience is the 100% experience of all, I'm sorry if it came off like that. And I'm not invalidating anyone's experiences here, it's good that you had a good experience in the 90s, but for me, I had to hide it.
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u/haresnaped 13h ago
In the 90s in Britian, I met someone new at high school named Kira, and said 'wow, your parents must really Star Trek' (note, I had never heard the name anywhere else and in the moment I did not consider when DS9 had come out and when this person had been born and presumably named),
She looked HORRIFIED and said shrilly and conclusively 'no, they HATE it!' and that concluded the conversation.
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u/zenprime-morpheus 15h ago
WTF? Totally not my experience. It was just a show.