[thechris]

You know, in all fairness, I RARELY get teased about collecting toys. I don't know if I've been sheltered from this stuff or just somehow went to the right High School, but I was never really teased for collecting toys except by one girl who I dated and she wasn't even born in Canada and was a rich snobby brat. In my schools and workplaces, people weren't so much teased for their interests (at least not on a wide scale) as they were for poor hygiene or deviant behaviour.

And yeah, if you're going to work smelling like pee, picking your zits and boogers and leaving a trail of dandruff everywhere you go, then I'LL kick your damn ass myself. Like I said, maybe I was sheltered from it at times, but I really don't think toys are the problem. It's because some of the people who collect toys have bad hygiene or exhibit deviant behaviour or both. Plus I've said this before, not all geeky nerdy people are nice people and it's often assumed that they don't deserve some of what they're getting.

I mean surely I'm not the only person who feels this way. Example:

Guy acts "creepy" and smells like pee and doesn't shower for days, probably weeks at a time. His scalp scabs over from his sheer lack of personal care. He's always scratching and leaving dandruff everywhere. He picks at his face and his nose and assumes just because people don't always point it out, that he's "getting way with it". He acts arrogant and often treats others like crap and takes advantage of people. He's also extremely paranoid and thinks that people are talking about him ALL the time. He also happens to collect toys. He's teased for the WHOLE package, but because the only thing he can hang onto and defend is that he collects toys. He comes onto these toy forums and tells us that he's teased for collecting toys. WE can't smell him. WE don't know what he's done. He's obviously not going to tell us he hasn't showered in weeks.

I collect toys, I don't get teased for it, I'm rarely embarrassed about it (though I sometimes joke about it in a pseudo-self-deprecating humour sort of way). I'm comfortable with my hobby. I'm sorry, if the only thing you're doing is collecting toys and someone just won't lay off, then that person is an idiot. I have rarely seen this happen, though.

Sorry, just another long dark post from me.