The Energon Pub

OK, I have a question for all the guys out there. What would you do if you were out grocery shopping and wearing your favourite Transformer insignia (Autobot or Decepticon) shirt, and a (attractive) girl comes up to you and starts talking to you about Transformers? Would you run away? Or just stand there with a stupid look on your face? Sorry. Yesterday I was in the store and some guy had a Decepticon sweatshirt on and I told him I liked it and he just looked at me like "are you talking to me?" then I asked him if he was a Decepticon fan, he said he was and I said I was one too and he just looked at me blankly. It would be nice to meet a guy who liked Transformers, you know? I am very single. Just about the same thing happened when I was looking at the ROTF novilization, there was another guy looking at the book and I started a conversation with him and then he ran away. I'm not using Transformers as an excuse to meet guys, but I would like to just meet people with the same interests that I have, you know, and I am a very shy person so it is very hard for me to go up to someone I don't know and talk to them. Even writing this makes me nervous. So thanks for reading and please give me your opinion. Why do people keep "running away" from me?

Aww, sorry to hear that. But it shouldn't be too surprising that a lot of Transformers fans aren't the most comfortable social creatures.

But I'd talk to you. X3

But be warned, if we became friends I'd also probably bother you to the point where you'd never want to hear my voice ever again.

Well, if a girl started asking me about TFs, first I'd make sure she wasn't just trying to make me seem like a loser for liking TFs (some cruel people like to diss fanboys), and then if I figured that she were serious about TFs, then I'd trying to find out just how serious of a fan she was by seeing how much TF knowledge she has and by gradually sharing my TF knowledge with her (if she were interested). If the situation remains stable, I try to carry a casual and friendly fan-to-fan conversation.

I wouldn't flee, unless she had some ulterior motive and was just using my interests to just use me. If she did and I caught on to her scheme, then I consider getting out of there. But if she just wanted to chat just to have an intelligent TF conversation, then by all means I would gladly participate in the discussion.

Now, some things do depend on the situation that I would be in before the discussion commenced. Suppose that I was in a hurry to be somewhere right before the talk started. Then I'd be having to choose between wanting the stay and chat and having to go to where I had to be. In this case, I'd probably make a small, brief conversation, and then politely excuse myself when I could spare no more time talking.

But in general, such an occurance to happen to me is very rare. That is, a (attractive) girl casually approaching me in my TF shirt to have a friendly TF dicussion. I can't seem to recall something like that ever happening to me. I know guys have approached me for a chat, but not girls. If only it would happen, I'd a happy guy.

I would stay and talk, I also do that just wish I'de get stopped by more hereto girls. TF convos with girls can be fun, maybe next time just start it off with "Decepticons, Transform and Rise up!"

But you must keep in mind the average TF fan is scared of girls, cos they might fear the girl might want to make fun of them or the girl ends up to be one of those slashfic writers and are scared of what they might do to them.
Apparently, judging by my last AutoAssembly I am worse than slashfic writers and they think I'm sick.......

Dead Metal wrote:But you must keep in mind the average TF fan is scared of girls, cos they might fear the girl might want to make fun of them or the girl ends up to be one of those slashfic writers and are scared of what they might do to them.

Really? I must be an exception then, I'm more comfortable talking to girls than to boys. I am practically a girl in mind, as my other hobbies do not involve so many boys.... Trust me, you don't wanna know how that's possible.

*Ahem* Now if I wore a Transformers shirt and a girl would start talking to me about transformers, I'd just take it as a normal conversation at first. Find out her view on collecting should it come up and give her mine. I won't deny my collecting habits and if she can't handle it, her loss. If she called me names, stick and stones. I am what I am Should we hit it off, great, another contact to add to the list.

But girls being interested in Transformers, let alone collecting them, is a very rare thing overall, as they're boys' toys. I'm lucky enough to be married to a wonderful woman who even advises me on purchases (I'm the worst shopper there is).

Aw, sorry to hear that! Transformers are more of a "guy thing" than a "girl thing" for the most part, and I think some guys feel uncomfortable when they meet a girl who is really into things that they are into. Just have to keep trying!

Don't give up hope... I am a girl. Back when my now husband and I started dating, it only took about a week for us to figure out we both loved Transformers. I was at his house and he was getting something out of his closet. I noticed his box of Transformers and commented on how neat I thought it was that he had them. That's been one of our favorite hobbies/pastimes together!

Now, if a I were a single guy and you came up to me and started talking Transformers, I'd be very enlightened. It's a good thing for couples to have things they both enjoy doing in common with eachother.

Dead Metal wrote:But you must keep in mind the average TF fan is scared of girls <snip>

I wouldn't pigeon hole us that easily. Much like Jelze, I find the fairer sex far more easy to socialize with.

To the OP, I might be a little caught off guard by the sheer bluntness of a random encounter, however i would certainly stay and converse.

Sailor Destron wrote: Even writing this makes me nervous. So thanks for reading and please give me your opinion. Why do people keep "running away" from me?

Ok...looks like I have to be that guy...again.

Are you attractive? Because even getting past the Transformers thing, I mean when I was dating I really wouldn't give an unattractive girl the time of day.

Shallow? Maybe, I mean, you could say that. There's a variety of things that will fall into the unattractive bit though, weight, presentation, clothing, etc.

Because it's hard to imagine even truly socially awkward guys turning down a free opportunity with a girl.

I am more comfortable talking with girls than guys in everything except gaming and sports, so I definitely would talk for a while. It probably wouldn't really go anywhere other than friendship, cuz that's all that I would be looking for. It would be nice getting to know another real Transformer fan that lives in my area. Then again, I like having all the exclusives everywhere for me, means I don't have to go rush to the store the first day.

Sailor Destron wrote:OK, I have a question for all the guys out there. What would you do if you were out grocery shopping and wearing your favourite Transformer insignia (Autobot or Decepticon) shirt, and a (attractive) girl comes up to you and starts talking to you about Transformers? Would you run away? Or just stand there with a stupid look on your face? Sorry. Yesterday I was in the store and some guy had a Decepticon sweatshirt on and I told him I liked it and he just looked at me like "are you talking to me?" then I asked him if he was a Decepticon fan, he said he was and I said I was one too and he just looked at me blankly. It would be nice to meet a guy who liked Transformers, you know? I am very single. Just about the same thing happened when I was looking at the ROTF novilization, there was another guy looking at the book and I started a conversation with him and then he ran away. I'm not using Transformers as an excuse to meet guys, but I would like to just meet people with the same interests that I have, you know, and I am a very shy person so it is very hard for me to go up to someone I don't know and talk to them. Even writing this makes me nervous. So thanks for reading and please give me your opinion. Why do people keep "running away" from me?

I think the question you should ask yourself is WWSD?
What would Starscream do?

If it were me, I'd make a tongue in cheek joke about how strange you are for being a girl who likes Transformers (heart-to-heart, you understand.) Then I'd tease you some more about how you must be another one of those Starscream fangirls (You are, aren't you? It's all right, you can PM me the answer).

Hi everyone. (Sorry if the topic got posted two or three times, I didn't look I was surprised to see that it was posted at all, the server was giving me trouble) Thanks for your insight. You know it happened again, at school, there was this guy, and he was on his laptop, and I noticed that he had ROTF Bumblebee on his screen. I asked him if he was a Transformer fan and he said that he "had a picture of one on his computer" so then I asked if he went to BotCon and he said "no" and obviously wasn't into the conversation. I don't know, like you guys said, maybe he was afraid I would make fun of him.
Am I attractive? I don't know... Let me describe myself: one of my best features is that I'm tall, almost 5'10, blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin(like a vampire), average weight.(ideal for my height)
Again thanks for listing to a (crazy) lonely girl's rantings!

Sailor Destron wrote:You know it happened again, at school, there was this guy, and he was on his laptop, and I noticed that he had ROTF Bumblebee on his screen. I asked him if he was a Transformer fan and he said that he "had a picture of one on his computer" so then I asked if he went to BotCon and he said "no" and obviously wasn't into the conversation. I don't know, like you guys said, maybe he was afraid I would make fun of him.

Actually it sounds more like he simply though ROTF Bumblebee was "cool" but had no other interests in TF's.

It's not uncommon for people to have a picture on their computer simply because they like how it looks but have no further interests in regards to the picture.

Burn wrote:

Sailor Destron wrote:You know it happened again, at school, there was this guy, and he was on his laptop, and I noticed that he had ROTF Bumblebee on his screen. I asked him if he was a Transformer fan and he said that he "had a picture of one on his computer" so then I asked if he went to BotCon and he said "no" and obviously wasn't into the conversation. I don't know, like you guys said, maybe he was afraid I would make fun of him.

Actually it sounds more like he simply though ROTF Bumblebee was "cool" but had no other interests in TF's.

It's not uncommon for people to have a picture on their computer simply because they like how it looks but have no further interests in regards to the picture.

Dude probably had no idea what Botcon was. Some people I know just had a Bumblebee wallpaper for a while, then changed. Simply because they either thought the car looked cool, or liked the movie/character.

Another possibility is that he was either in the middle of or wanting to do something on his laptop that required him to not start a conversation with anyone. I've had cases like this happen to me where I was either about to do something or was currently doing something that required my full attention, when someone approached me wanting to have a talk that related to one of my iunterests. But since I was already occupied, I wasn't able to carry on a chat due to commiting my focus to the current task at hand.

Sailor Destron wrote:I don't know... Let me describe myself: one of my best features is that I'm tall, almost 5'10, blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin(like a vampire), average weight.(ideal for my height)

I would talk to you, maybe that guy played for the pink team or something. I wouldn't let it bother you. Plenty of TF Fish in the sea.

I wear TF shirts alot when Im out and about and its rare for people to talk to me too. Most people who know me, they know I am a huge TF nerd so its all good.

Sailor Destron wrote:What would you do if you were out grocery shopping and wearing your favourite Transformer insignia (Autobot or Decepticon) shirt, and a (attractive) girl comes up to you and starts talking to you about Transformers? Would you run away? Or just stand there with a stupid look on your face?

It would be the happiest day of my life(almost)! In my country there aren't many (hardcore) TF fans(kids under 15 years old and people who just saw and like the movies don't count). None of my friends is a TF fan and they just came with me to see the movies because I asked them to...
The only people I talk about TF are fellow Seibertronians..So,it would be great for me to meet someone(especially an attractive girl ) with whom I could discuss about my favorite hobby...

Sailor Destron wrote:Hi everyone. (Sorry if the topic got posted two or three times, I didn't look I was surprised to see that it was posted at all, the server was giving me trouble) Thanks for your insight. You know it happened again, at school, there was this guy, and he was on his laptop, and I noticed that he had ROTF Bumblebee on his screen. I asked him if he was a Transformer fan and he said that he "had a picture of one on his computer" so then I asked if he went to BotCon and he said "no" and obviously wasn't into the conversation. I don't know, like you guys said, maybe he was afraid I would make fun of him.
Am I attractive? I don't know... Let me describe myself: one of my best features is that I'm tall, almost 5'10, blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin(like a vampire), average weight.(ideal for my height)
Again thanks for listing to a (crazy) lonely girl's rantings!

I'd take you out to coffee. If you could only talk about Transformers though, I don't think I'd be seeing you again. And don't even bring up Sailor Moon.

Dead Metal wrote:
But you must keep in mind the average TF fan is scared of girls, cos they might fear the girl might want to make fun of them or the girl ends up to be one of those slashfic writers and are scared of what they might do to them.
Apparently, judging by my last AutoAssembly I am worse than slashfic writers and they think I'm sick.......

Ahem. Problems with slashfic writers? Bu-but perving up robots is *fun*!!!!

As a girl, I have to say that I wouldn't just bounce up to people in random places. It sounds to me like you gave him a desperate vibe, honestly. Most men don't like women being forward. Yeah, yeah, yadda yadda 21st century grrrl power and all that crud, but, trust me, I see it in my students. Most of them want their girls to be plenty girly. Meaning: shorter than they are, and within their 'looks range'--if you're 'too hot' for a guy to imagine he 'rates', oftentimes they figure, wow, she might be hot, but if she's hitting on ME, she must also be crazazy.

HK, 'scuse me while I rule 34 Sixshot.

I'm not in the habit of running away\blanking people that want to talk - it's rude more than anything else.

Although, saying that - approaching a random stranger and quizzing them about their possible fandom isn't the most normal thing to do, unless it's someone using it as a window to chat them up.

This reminds me a little of another string I read a while back about single mom's in the toy section...The gist of that discussion was to be helpful to women searching desperatley for "something" in the Transformers section (though I'm sure this could apply in other sections as well) at the local Wal-Mart or wherever. I'm sorry. I had to laugh. And then, I had to share by suggesting to some of my single friends that maybe they should hang out in the Transformers section to find dates. It hasn't worked for any of them yet - and I think a couple of them really did try.

Anywho....I went to a comic book store not too long ago, you know, looking for comics. And, ok, to test a theory. I'm not ugly, so, I know that wasn't the problem. I took a shower, so I know I didn't stink. I'm not fat, so they couldn't be afraid that I eat more than they do. When I talked to these guys, they looked at the floor and forced giggles. I didn't get to have a decent conversation with any of those guys! When I was on one side of the store, they were on the other side. It was like being a magnet in a room with magnets of the same polarity. I didn't go alone, so there's a witness, who, well, is just mystified by this curious phenomenon.

Ironically, I think I get the same vibe from guys on this site - and for Pete's sake, we've got something in common - I like Transformers, I've got a tattoo, I've got comic books, I've got some toys...What do I got to do, or any girl for that matter, to get a friend around here? I promise not to laugh at anyone. Anymore.

So, just go to the bar. Or the grocery store. Or, Barnes and Noble. Or Church. Or buy a dog and go jogging. You might not find a guy who has the same interest in Transformers, but they'll eventually learn to live with it. Muhhahahahah!

^It's not a curious phenomowhatsit, it's perfectly understandable. A girl being forward and chatty to nerds in a comic shop is probably going to get nowhere. It doesn't matter if you're a giant nerd and/or look like a giant nerd. A)You're in a shop. B)It's a nerd-hangout. C)Your targets are nerds. The odds are against you from the start.
Ok, maybe if you were an absolute beast, like really, really unfortunate, then they'd talk to you. You don't state your theory, but if it's what I think it is, you're right.

As for making friends on this site, keep trying, it'll result in male forumers posting creepy and obsequious comments, which is always funny.

OP, you might need to work on your banter. Ambushing people in the store for random flirty chat is going to catch anyone off guard (ok, maybe not if their name is Lothario Giggolo Jones the Third). So you have to make the effort. You might just be doing it wrong.

Great advice. Listen, I was in Biology class when I was talking to this guy and told him reluctantly that I collect Transformers and not to laugh. I asked him if he thought I was weird, and get this- he said he thought it would have been creepy if I would have said that I collected every holiday Barbie ever made. So a girl collecting a boy's toy wasn't strange to him, but what would have freaked him out would have been a girl collecting a girl's toy?(kinda get what I'm trying to say, maybe not? just ironic) So I guess not all people look at you funny, just the actual Transformer fans! Just kidding. That one guy on the laptop with the Bumblebee picture, the one who I tried to talk to, I see him when I go to class and I don't know why but I laugh to myself, thinking about how he probably dosen't know what Botcon is, like you all said. I am so mean.
I probably am being too forward, but the thing to understand is that I'm not like this, going up to complete strangers and talking to them, I'm very shy, and personally I would love it if someone started talking to me about Transformers at random, I love it if someone mentions my shirt. I never used to be like this and now I'm just enjoying being a fan, it's rare to find TF fans in my area, so I guess that I get a little overexcited when I see one.

Sailor Destron wrote:personally I would love it if someone started talking to me about Transformers at random

You and me both, sister. You and me both.

KingMob wrote:^It's not a curious phenomowhatsit, it's perfectly understandable. A girl being forward and chatty to nerds in a comic shop is probably going to get nowhere. It doesn't matter if you're a giant nerd and/or look like a giant nerd. A)You're in a shop. B)It's a nerd-hangout. C)Your targets are nerds. The odds are against you from the start.
Ok, maybe if you were an absolute beast, like really, really unfortunate, then they'd talk to you. You don't state your theory, but if it's what I think it is, you're right.

As for making friends on this site, keep trying, it'll result in male forumers posting creepy and obsequious comments, which is always funny.

OP, you might need to work on your banter. Ambushing people in the store for random flirty chat is going to catch anyone off guard (ok, maybe not if their name is Lothario Giggolo Jones the Third). So you have to make the effort. You might just be doing it wrong.

Holy ****. Lookie who's here...