Geeky Things My Dad Has Ruined

Written by Shae Rufe

While I like to keep my blogs positive, I felt like this one was just too humorous not to write about. Why? Because…why not? The best part about being a writer is having the ability to share with everyone things that I find interesting. Plus, they involve my dad and geeky things! Granted, there’s a long list of things my dad has decided to ruin for me over the years. Perhaps ruin isn’t even the right term, so much as, point out the flaws we all seem to overlook. Isn’t that a dad’s job? To make you question why you love something?
 
Growing up with my dad meant a lot of things. Like watching X-Men, and getting read Edgar Allan Poe, and all kinds of nerdy things. Well, one of my dad’s favorite past times is literally ruining things I like. Case and point, Pokémon. I remember finding it on TV and being excited about it. I loved Pikachu, who doesn’t love Pikachu!? It was a great show and still is to this day…and then my dad sat down and watched a few episodes with me. Then he decided to promptly inform me that this show was about people forcing their enslaved pets to fight. Which, I mean, he’s not really wrong, but he’s also not getting the point of anime! Eventually, dad did come around and enjoy the show, but he didn’t stop making his little comments. Going so far as to leave 'Free Pikachu' notes in my lunch.
 
Similarly, he also decided that Dragon Ball Z was not going to escape his wrath. This was another show we’d watch together, and it was all fun and games until dad pointed out that the fight scenes that were, supposedly 5 minutes, lasted episodes. Making the time in the show a lie. Alright, this I knew, I was all right with it. After he pointed it out, however….he also thought it would be fun to point out that Krilin was entirely useless to the plot, and that Goku really wasn’t that great of a dad. In fairness, Goku had to save the world! He didn’t have time to raise Gohan. That was what Piccolo was for! Dad also pointed out that Piccolo was a better father figure…maybe he secretly works for Team Four Star.
 
The catalyst that had me not watch anime with my dad anymore, however, was when Gundam Wing was on. This was the first anime I literally recorded on VHS tapes, just to watch over and over. So, needless to say, when my dad started watching it with me, I was a little apprehensive. Still, I gave him a chance. It wasn’t five minutes in when dad thought to pipe up. Turns out, he’s not a fan of giant robots, and thought the mechanics wouldn’t work. Also, around the time that Hiro blew up his Gundam in it, my dad literally threw his hands in the air, got up, and left. Because, apparently there was no way Hiro would have survived. Similarly, Sailor Moon had the same effect. I never thought about why the transformation sequences were so long, but if they are in real time, then the enemies were technically just sitting there watching…

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