Monday, May 31, 2004
Eat my shorts, Superman
Although I love going to Wyldstar in the 'shwa, and I generally give them a certain amount of customer loyalty, there's one guy working there who I almost consider to be the "hard sell" type. Perhaps that's unfair -- it's more that he thinks certain things are cool and lets his enthusiasm show by making suggestions without being prompted. Of course, he typically gives me all kinds of suggestions, most of which I ignore. We simply have incredibly different tastes in most things geek. The only suggestion so far that I liked and that ended up causing me to make a purchase (and become a regular reader of a series) was Superman/Batman. I like it. It's a good series.
For the most part, though, we have totally different ideas of what's good and what's not. It's kind of funny. He knows I'm a gamer and a comic reader, so I get suggestions in both categories. On Saturday, in terms of comics, it was Jim Lee's Superman and Joss Whedon's (y'know, the Buffy guy) The Astonishing X-Men. I just kind of nodded and said something brilliant like "oh yeah." Then I promptly moved on. I'm not a big Supes fan (when he's on his own, that is -- and I'm not a big fan of Jim Lee, either, for that matter), and Marvel pissed me off with the X-Men titles too many times in the past. As far as comic books are concerned, Professor Xavier et al have lost my business forever.
On the gaming side, I just couldn't nod and make some non-committal statement. My opinion had to be known. I couldn't believe he suggested Wizards of the Coast's The Expanded Psionics Handbook for D&D. Anyone who's ever gamed with me knows I despise psionics in my D&D games. In fact, I've gone off on some pretty nasty tirades against psionics in medieval fantasy games in general. I just don't like them, and I refuse to run or play in a D&D game that uses them. The poor guy didn't know I hated them when he made the suggestion, though, but even after my first negative reaction, he tried to convince me that the psionics rules were "fixed." The truth is I don't care if they're "fixed;" the whole concept is broken in my mind. The only way to "fix" psionics is to eliminate them from the game line entirely.
Anyway, I left the book on the shelf, as you can probably expect. I'm pretty sure that guy is starting to seriously dislike me. Heheh.
For the most part, though, we have totally different ideas of what's good and what's not. It's kind of funny. He knows I'm a gamer and a comic reader, so I get suggestions in both categories. On Saturday, in terms of comics, it was Jim Lee's Superman and Joss Whedon's (y'know, the Buffy guy) The Astonishing X-Men. I just kind of nodded and said something brilliant like "oh yeah." Then I promptly moved on. I'm not a big Supes fan (when he's on his own, that is -- and I'm not a big fan of Jim Lee, either, for that matter), and Marvel pissed me off with the X-Men titles too many times in the past. As far as comic books are concerned, Professor Xavier et al have lost my business forever.
On the gaming side, I just couldn't nod and make some non-committal statement. My opinion had to be known. I couldn't believe he suggested Wizards of the Coast's The Expanded Psionics Handbook for D&D. Anyone who's ever gamed with me knows I despise psionics in my D&D games. In fact, I've gone off on some pretty nasty tirades against psionics in medieval fantasy games in general. I just don't like them, and I refuse to run or play in a D&D game that uses them. The poor guy didn't know I hated them when he made the suggestion, though, but even after my first negative reaction, he tried to convince me that the psionics rules were "fixed." The truth is I don't care if they're "fixed;" the whole concept is broken in my mind. The only way to "fix" psionics is to eliminate them from the game line entirely.
Anyway, I left the book on the shelf, as you can probably expect. I'm pretty sure that guy is starting to seriously dislike me. Heheh.
// posted by Chris @ 3:43 PM 
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