I had many fanboy encounters when I worked at a now-closed used/import game store from 1996-2005. Some of the most memorable encounters include:
-Dragoncon '96: We had a booth set up and used our time there to hock Japanese games to the great unwashed attending the convention. Apart from selling an entire set of Dragonball manga to one of the members of GWAR, one fanboy who stands out in particular was a guy who absolutely jumped at the chance to get his hands on the GREATEST FIGHTING GAME OF ALL TIME-- I'm talking about of course Battle Arena Toshinden 2. After wiping the drool from his chin, the guy bought the game and asked any of us if we knew any secret codes. I, being the rookie, made the mistake of saying I knew the boss code, and then the guy runs behind the booth, gets in front of me, drops to his knees, and proceeds to bow at my feet, loudly proclaiming me his new overlord. The stench was vomit-inducing.
-The 30 year old Yu-Gi-Oh! Player: In the last few years before the store shut down, my bosses decided to start carrying trading card games, and after they started selling well, started holding tournaments on Saturdays at one store location, which I unfortunately had to go and work at from open to close for a period of time. There was a regular crowd of pre-teens every week, but also occasionally this group of creepy 30+ year old guys that would come in to trade cards with the kids and even take part in the tournaments. One unfortunate Friday, one of these guys comes in alone to thumb through the boxes of single cards for sale at the counter. He pulls out the cards, organizes them by type, and then proceeds to start going through them all-- this took about three hours. I made the mistake of allowing him to use the store bathroom -the place was FOUL for thirty minutes afterward- and during his absence, I phone another location to tell another employee about this loser. Turns out he had been at that store earlier in the day, for four hours straight doing the same thing.
-The Macross Uber-Fan: From the time he came into the shop until the time he left two hours later, this guy did not stop flapping his gums about Macross and how much he loved it. I got into a "fight" with the manager at the the time over who got to be the lucky one and leave to go get food for the two of us. He won, and I had to stand around listening to this guy go on and on over something I didn't know or give a shit about.
-The Light Gun Enthusiast: This was a phone call I received-
Me: Can I help you?
Him: Do you have Area 51 for the Sega Dreamcast?
Me: Area 51? That never came out for the Dreamcast. Maybe you mean the Sega Saturn?
Him: No, the Dreamcast.
Me: Well I'm sorry, but we don't have it, and to my knowledge that game only came out for the Playstation and Saturn.
Him: Can you tell me what gun games you do have on the Dreamcast?
Me: Sure, let me see here...we have Death Crimson OX, Virtua Cop 2, House Of The Dead 2, and I think there's one more...it's...hmm...let me see...
Him: AREA 51!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Phone Slams Down On The Other End*
The Anime X Overlord: This guy fit one of the anime nerd stereotypes at the time: Pale, skinny as a toothpick, goofy haircut, and tacky Hawaiian shirt. He looks at the tapes we have for sale and then asks me if I like anime. I was always hesitant to say yes, so I just said I'd seen a few things, and he DEMANDS to know what. "Uh, I like older stuff like Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, that kind of thing," I say. "Oh okay," he snorts, "I'm the president of Anime X, and if you had said Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z, I would have turned right around and walked out the door." The rest of this guy's annoying question-filled-no-purchases-made "visit" was spent with me wishing I'd said Dragonball.
