| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %%% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1387744338032329900 |
| 8 | %% Image tweaked per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1647477052003990600 |
| 9 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 10 | %% |
| 11 | [[quoteright:193:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gamergirls_4.png]] |
| 12 | %% |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''What Montgomery said next was unimportant. She could have called him a ''"[[Franchise/StarTrek tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood!]]"'' She could have gone with the classic ''"[[Franchise/StarWars scruffy-looking nerf-herder!]]"'' She might have chosen, appropriate to the situation, ''"[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 gods-cursed TOASTER frakker!]]"''\ |
| 15 | But in the end, it was unimportant what ''exactly'' she said.\ |
| 16 | Because the entire population of Springfield High heard Montgomery use an insult so geeky, so extreme, that there was no doubt in any other stealth geek's mind what she was.''\ |
| 17 | One of them. |
| 18 | -->-- ''Literature/GeektasticStoriesFromTheNerdHerd'', "One of Us" |
| 19 | |
| 20 | This trope defines a character who is interested in fantasy, sci-fi, computer stuff, or other manner of [[{{Geek}} geeky]] pastimes. The difference between this character and ProudToBeAGeek is their total lack of embracing their geeky nature. To a vast majority of the population, they would never guess their geeky nature. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Reasons for covering up their geekiness may stem from a perceived image of themselves they desire to maintain or running with a group of friends who aren't normally interested in that kind of stuff. Expect {{Freudian Slip}}s when their topics of interest are discussed, and cries of OrSoIHeard in a vain attempt to cover it up. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | See also PublicHaterPrivateFan which can overlap with this. May have a NerdHoard dedicated to ther geeky pastimes. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Examples: |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 32 | * Yukari in ''Manga/AiKora'' is secretly part of a ''doujin'' circle and loves to play video games. |
| 33 | * Yua in ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead''. Whilst appearing to be a normal honor student, she keeps up with the latest anime and starts to buy the collectible figures, whilst maintaining her flawless image. [[spoiler:However, her geek side may be a ploy to earn Takumi's trust.]] |
| 34 | * Kaoruko of ''Manga/ComicGirls'' passes out on her first day at school because she wants to hide her overtly {{otaku}} hobbies, but can't come up with something "normal" enough to answer her classmates' questions. |
| 35 | * Salia from ''Anime/CrossAnge'' is secretly a MagicalGirl aficionado and a CosplayOtakuGirl, but does her hardest to conceal her hobby, going as far as threatening violence against anyone who may expose her. |
| 36 | * Akina Shinozaki of ''Manga/DontBecomeAnOtakuShinozakiSan'' is a Closet Geek. Or, it may be more accurate to say, she ''thinks'' she's a Closet Geek, as she tries very hard to hide her growing interest in otaku activities, but everyone in her class is fully aware of it and even regard her as the oddest of the three otaku in their class. |
| 37 | * Closet {{otaku}} Kanji in ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}''. |
| 38 | ** Ogiue takes this to rabid levels, telling everyone how she HATES otakus. Strangely enough, it's completely justified, complete with probably the most disturbingly realistic FreudianExcuse ever seen in manga. |
| 39 | * The core of ''Manga/HimoutoUmaruChan'' is that Umaru is the image of refined perfection in public (to the point that she tells people she's not even allowed to read manga), but she's really an anime and video game-obsessed {{Otaku}} in her private life, in addition to being a LazyBum. She does her best to ensure that none of her friends find out that she's really an otaku, and has actually invented two separate [[SecretIdentity Secret Identities]] to cover up: when hanging out with Kirie she pretends to be her own younger sister "Komaru", and with Sylphinford she dons a DominoMask and goes by "UMR-san". |
| 40 | * ''Manga/HowHeavyAreTheDumbbellsYouLift'': Satomi Tachibana is a teacher who loves to cosplay professionally under the alias Yulia Riko, but does her best to keep this a secret since she likes to separate her professional and personal life. She often freaks out when she runs into her students at these events, fearing they may find her out. |
| 41 | * ''Manga/ILoveYuriAndIGotBodyswappedWithAFujoshi'': Unlike Hoshina, who is quite open about her love of Yaoi, Yoshida tends to keep his love of Yuri a secret. |
| 42 | * Jotaro Kujo from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' is a stoic, tough-as-nails badass delinquent... who reads technical books about boats and planes for fun, developed his GeniusBruiser tendencies by obsessively watching ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', and whose favorite movie of all time is a nature film/fictionalized biopic about a guy studying caribou. |
| 43 | * In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Yu Ishigami is an otaku for anime, manga, and video games, but does his best to keep people from finding out since he's already unpopular among his classmates as-is. In one chapter, he and Miyuki Shirogane discuss their favorite manga when the Student Council girls enter the room. Ishigami promptly throws his friend under the bus rather than admit to the hobby, which leads to Shirogane lecturing the rest of them about how there's no shame in being an otaku and gets them to admit that they like anime too. |
| 44 | * Izumi Wakase, one of the post-anime characters from ''Manga/LuckyStar''. Unlike the other {{Otaku}} characters who are [[ProudToBeAGeek very open about their hobbies]], she tries to keep her otaku status a secret. |
| 45 | * In ''Manga/MedakaBox'', while fighting with a ''Franchise/KamenRider'' Otaku, Akune admits that he prefers the Heisei-era Riders[[note]]The shows made from 2000 to 2019[[/note]] and, in the original manga, goes so far as to say that ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' is his favorite. |
| 46 | * Mikoshiba from ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'' is a massive videogame otaku, who also collects ''bishojo'' figurines and helps Nozaki draw manga. He hides it from everyone except Sakura (who found out by accident) and Nozaki (who he plays games with sometimes, and lets him store his figures at his apartment) to maintain his "cool guy" image. |
| 47 | ** He temporarily switches to ProudToBeAGeek when Wakamatsu (who also helps Nozaki with manga) tries to offer solidarity, calling himself an otaku for reading shoujo manga, only for Mikoshiba to criticize him for daring to call himself an otaku at that level. |
| 48 | * Jiro Kyoka from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' compiles journals of notes like Midoriya does, only in regard to rock music rather than superheroes. She thinks it's unheroic and embarrassing, but her classmates are quick to encourage her when they decide to put on a rock concert for U.A.'s Culture Festival. |
| 49 | ** Katsuki Bakugo qualifies too. While he is more of a JerkJock and mostly bullies Izuku Midoriya and derisively refers to him and a lot of his peers as "nerds", he himself is quite the geek. Midoriya as a child [[HeroWorship hero worshipped]] All Might to the point of wanting to use a hero name that is some variation of the name "All Might", but in the present day decides against it, because they are big shoes to fill and because it'll be embarrassing. Bakugo, on the other hand, without a hint of embarrassment, adopts the hero name [[spoiler:Great Explosion Murder God Dyna'''might''', as a tribute to his idol.]] |
| 50 | * Sana in ''Anime/MyselfYourself''. He has an entire box full of anime stuff (including an ''VisualNovel/{{AIR}}'' artbook) which he hides from his friends. He also plays visual novels on his laptop in his spare time. |
| 51 | * Chisame from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is a huge otaku and an online Idol in secret, but denies all of this in the real world due to overwhelming embarrassment about her hobbies. |
| 52 | * In ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', Tomoko's middle school friend Yuu became one of these to fit in after entering high school. |
| 53 | * According to the question corner of the 82nd volume of ''Manga/OnePiece'', the {{Bishounen}} and somewhat emo pirate captain [[DeadlyDoctor Trafalgar Law]] collects commemorative coins in secret. In the manga proper, the Zou arc shows him being eager to meet a real ninja in person just like the rest of the (male) Straw Hats, and the Wano arc reveals that he read the comics that were based on [[spoiler:Sanji's villainous family]], and knows enough about the series that Usopp lampshades it. |
| 54 | * Yayoi Kise from ''Anime/SmilePrecure'' is an {{otaku}} who dreams of being a manga artist, but hides it for fear of being teased. |
| 55 | * Kurisu from ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate''. Daru and Okabe discover that she reads [[{{imageboards}} 2channel]] (or "[[BlandNameProduct @channel]]") when she accidentally references its memes. |
| 56 | * Most of the main cast of ''Manga/WotakoiLoveIsHardForOtaku'' conceal their hobbies to some extent, except for Hirotaka who always has a handheld console on him and plays in every spare moment. Hanako and Tarou just keep quiet about it at work. Narumi is the most fanatical about it, even changing jobs when one ex-boyfriend outed her and broke up with her because of it. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'': In ''Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet'', Spider-Man attempts to make a Star Trek reference by declaring "Warp Factor 9, Mr. Spock!" only for Doctor Doom to correct him by stating that it's Sulu who sets the speed. Spidey then proceeds to mock Doom for outing himself as a Trekkie. |
| 61 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''Avenging Spider-Man'', ProudToBeAGeek Peter Parker is ecstatic to discover that Steve Rogers used to draw comic books, and Steve is less than happy to talk about it because he doesn't think it's very ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. He relents at the end, though, when he realizes this attitude has somewhat dented Spidey's view of him, and the story ends with him showing Peter some new comics he's drawn and asking what he thinks. |
| 62 | [[/folder]] |
| 63 | |
| 64 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 65 | * ''Fanfic/AngerManagement'': Downplayed. Lincoln is relatively open about his geeky habits, but still doesn't self-identify as a geek. |
| 66 | * ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' has Chloe Cerise shown as a quiet loner who keeps to herself in the Pokémon world. When on the Infinity Train, she expresses a love of the macabre, a penchant for writing horror stories and a fondness of [[WaxingLyrical reciting very dark and morbid lyrics]] into casual conversation. She has to hide that side of herself because how everyone in her class mocks her for it and instead pressures her to follow in her father's footsteps. |
| 67 | * Patchouli Knowledge in ''Fanfic/MonstersInParadise'' is portrayed as this. Several of her library's bookcases are devoted entirely to stories that she enjoys reading whenever she isn't doing something magic-related, such as The Canterbury Tales, the works of Shakespeare... and ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Star Wars: Heir to the Empire]]''. |
| 68 | * [[TheOjou Erina]] in ''Fanfic/{{Nouvelle}}'' reads shojo manga in her spare time and catches Soma's ''Manga/DragonBall'' reference in the first chapter. |
| 69 | * ''Fanfic/TotalDramaVoyage'': Duncan's revealed to be a secret fan of mystery stories, which according to Gwen, he's always done a bad job of hiding. His time in prison caused his secret love for the genre to grow even moreso as reading mystery books was some of the only things he could do during his free time. |
| 70 | * ''Fanfic/UniverseFalls'': It turns out that Pearl's extensive knowledge of strategy and military experience makes her the ideal ''Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons'' player. |
| 71 | * ''Fanfic/UnbreakableRedSilkenThread'': Thanks to several years of dating Cody, Heather will on occasion slip a movie or even video game reference. While not exactly ashamed of it, she does find it irritating at times. |
| 72 | * ''Fanfic/ArsGoetia'': Edelgard appears to [[NotSoAboveItAll secretly]] be one. After the first trip to Yggdrasil, she stayed up all night coming up with party names for the group. Most of the names she chose are parodies and shout-outs to the names of various teams from the Persona series: |
| 73 | -->'''Edelgard''': This is what I have: the Persona Strike Force; the Masked Circle; the New World Order; the Specialized Nobility Execution Squad, or 'S.N.E.S.' for short; the Investigation Team; the Phantom Strikers; the Shadow Knights; the Garreg Mach Four; Byleth Eisner and the Garreg Mach Three—\ |
| 74 | '''Dimitri''': You can’t be serious.\ |
| 75 | '''Edelgard''': Okay, what about the Garreg Mach Two?\ |
| 76 | '''Sothis''': Hey, isn't the math wrong on all of those? I'm not included in the tally!\ |
| 77 | '''Edelgard''': Hm? Oh. I guess I forgot to include you because you don't have a Persona.\ |
| 78 | '''Sothis''': You didn't have one when you came up with these!\ |
| 79 | '''Byleth''': Do you have an idea?\ |
| 80 | '''Edelgard''': Are-Are mine no good? |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/ShiningAndSweet'' shows [[VideoGame/PunchOut Piston Hondo]] to hide his interest in ''Manga/SailorMoon'' from the other boxers out of embarrassment of liking a franchise aimed at young girls. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 85 | * Sam the weather girl in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' is obsessed with meteorology, and becomes the weather girl to make it seem perfectly natural. Develops a habit of [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness saying something really smart]] and then backing away from the statement to try not to sound too clever due to a history of being teased for her "nerdiness" as a child. |
| 86 | * ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Tyler is secretly a fan of 4*Town, and TheStinger shows that Jin is one too. |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 90 | * In ''Film/{{Airheads}}'', the LAPD digs up dirt on would-be rock star Chazz Darvey, who has [[ItMakesSenseInContext taken a radio station hostage]]. SWAT team leader Carl Mace reveals to the crowd (that has come to cheer Chazz and his band on) that Chazz is actually Chester Oglivue. Chazz admits that he was a nerd in high school, and tells his girlfriend that he understands if she doesn't love him anymore. But members of the crowd start shouting that they were nerds in high school, too, and the FBI's gambit fails. To make things even funnier, one of those people is Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}}. |
| 91 | * ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors:'' Taryn is a tough-talking girl who's fond of punk clothing, but she also plays a fantasy role-playing game with Will and Joey. |
| 92 | * In ''Film/PleaseStandBy'', a cop played by Creator/PattonOswalt speaks [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon]] to get Wendy to turn herself in. When his partner asks him what language he was speaking, he becomes embarrassed and tries to avoid the question. |
| 93 | * ''Film/TheyLookLikePeople'' has a twist in Christian, a handsome, weight-lifting businessman who was a geek in school and has become deeply insecure with feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing. Whenever he reminisces about the past, he hollowly laughs about what a total loser he ''used'' to be. One scene shows that he still has his old ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards stored in a box of mementos. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 97 | * In the ''Literature/AuntDimity'' series, retiree George Wetherhead is initially presented as this over his model trains; he's so shy and retiring about his hobby that when Lori first comes to his door, he seizes her and pulls her inside his cottage so as to avoid having the impending train whistle blast audibly outside his home. Eventually, he is persuaded to show his collection to paying customers, first for a village festival and later on a scheduled basis. |
| 98 | * [[SergeantRock Ben Clouseau]] of ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' is a secret anime nerd. He tries to keep his DVD stash a secret, but [[TheGadfly Kurtz]] finds them and sows havoc (read: extensively taunting him then corrupting the videos). |
| 99 | * ''Literature/HarukaNogizakasSecret'' has Haruka Nogizaka. It's her secret, [[JustifiedTrope and rightfully so]]. Society in general looks down on {{Otaku}} as [[DoubleStandard nothing more than disgusting and perverted freaks]]; and coming from a rich family, she has [[TheAce a certain image]] to maintain. She even got a HeroicBSOD back in elementary school over being discovered and ridiculed for being one of these. [[FromBadToWorse Worse]], her strict father doesn't approve of this hobby either. |
| 100 | * Eriri from ''Literature/HowToRaiseABoringGirlfriend'' is a massive otaku and doujinshi artist, but due to past events hides it from the general public. |
| 101 | * In the second book of the ''Literature/IntoTheLookingGlass'' series, the viewpoint US Marine character is this until outright ''asked'' about his knowledge of science fiction, it having been decided that such knowledge might be useful for the crew of humanity's first starship. The implication is that many of the personnel aboard the ''Vorpal Blade'' were closet geeks until they were thrown together. |
| 102 | * Kirsty from the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy''. In ''Only You Can Save Mankind'', she's very cautious about admitting that, in the game, she calls herself [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Sigourney]]. And in ''Johnny and the Bomb'' she accidentally admits to having a shelf full of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' videos, and immediately claims that "the programme happens to be an accurate reflection of late 20th-century social concerns, ''actually''." When non-closeted geek Yo-less asks if she has a Starfleet uniform, she refuses to answer. |
| 103 | * ''Literature/NaughtyNineTalesOfChristmasCrime'': The Clauses and/or their elves named two of their backup reindeer Yoda and Vader, indicating that the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies made a big impression on the paragons of holiday cheer and gift-giving. Another of the reindeer is named Pac-Man. |
| 104 | * Kirino Kosaka from ''Literature/{{Oreimo}}''. She's popular at school and even does part-time modeling, making her the last person one would expect the least to be a big fan of anime -- much less, [[HGame H-games]]. |
| 105 | [[/folder]] |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 108 | * On ''Series/ThirtyRock'' Jack had an impressive cookie jar collection, which he regularly displayed at conventions in upstate New York under a fake name. When he wants to become the head of GE, his PI convinces him to get rid of the collection, for fear that his colleagues will find out and think he's weird. |
| 109 | * Lexi Reed from ''Series/ANTFarm''. Her AttentionWhore tendencies came to the fore in the Season Three premiere, when she felt so jealous that she applied for the ANT Farm boarding school; however, she still prefers to be the resident LovableAlphaBitch. |
| 110 | * ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': |
| 111 | ** Penny is ''not'' this...in the first season. But after spending time with the guys, she's slowly become one, able to recall ''Star Trek'' plots (and use them as metaphors), kick ass at video games, and quote ''Star Wars''. But, of course, she's not going to admit there's a difference between ''Star Wars'' and ''Star Trek'' to her (very smart, but not into fandoms) friends Amy and Bernadette. Never mind that she saw the new ''Star Trek'' movie on her own and of her own accord before [[ProudToBeAGeek Sheldon]] did. She also admits having seen ''Series/GameOfThrones'' on her own because it had "dragons...[[SexSells and people doing it]]". Although, granted, there's still a lot of fandoms she really genuinely does not have much interest in, like anything to do with comic books. The 6th season, though, has Penny not only get into comics but drag Bernadette and Amy down with her in a battle over the exact mechanics of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's hammer]]. |
| 112 | ** Also Leonard, who is usually a proud geek, attempted this once. It failed. |
| 113 | --->'''Penny:''' What are you doing?\ |
| 114 | '''Leonard:''' No, don't tell her\ |
| 115 | '''Sheldon:''' Playing Klingon Boggle.\ |
| 116 | '''Leonard:''' Ugh.\ |
| 117 | '''Howard:''' Oh come on, like she doesn't know we're geeks. |
| 118 | ** Zack Johnson, Penny's muscular but not-too-bright ex-boyfriend, likes comic books, particularly ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. Sheldon claims that those belong "in the bedrooms of ten-year-old girls", but Zack's enough of a fanboy to know that there's way more to ''Archie'' than that. |
| 119 | * Colin Fisher, one of the rotating set of interns on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', actually admitted to being a closet sci-fi geek. Given their line of work, however, did this really come as a shock to anyone? |
| 120 | -->'''Fisher:''' Okay, I admit. I'm a geek.\ |
| 121 | '''Brennan:''' You're Greek?\ |
| 122 | '''Angela:''' No, geek, sweetie.\ |
| 123 | '''Fisher:''' I love it all, ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}'', ''Series/{{Xena|WarriorPrincess}}'', ''Manga/{{Akira}}''. [[TakeThat I even watch]] ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. |
| 124 | * ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'': |
| 125 | ** [[ActionGirl Faith Lehane.]] She reads comic books, [[WaxingLyrical references songs]], discusses Creator/DrSeuss, suggests Angel claim someone was cosplaying as him, wore a Franchise/{{Batman}} t-shirt when working with Giles, references ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and especially Franchise/StarWars, compares herself to Yoda, likes Franchise/{{Transformers}} and Mayor Wilkens buys her off with a Platform/PlayStation. |
| 126 | ** Here's one better: Angel has admitted -- if only in his thoughts -- to being a serious Creator/DouglasAdams fan. Yes. [[TheStoic That]] [[TheComicallySerious Angel]]. Reading ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Apparently, it helped him through a [[NoodleIncident difficult period]] in TheEighties... They'd end up sharing their own series. BirdsOfAFeather indeed. |
| 127 | ** Spike. While the Scoobies are holding him hostage in Season 4, his biggest concern is missing the next episode of ''Series/{{Passions}}''. |
| 128 | ** Amanda's a BullyHunter in swing choir, but the finale shows her to be a knowledgeable TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons player. |
| 129 | ** Buffy herself shows signs of this, one specific example is when the Scoobies make up a gym for her to train in she says they're like [[Franchise/JamesBond Q.]] Okay, fair analogy, one most fans would get. She then amends it by saying she didn't mean the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' character...wow, most fans would not have even made the obscure connection. |
| 130 | * Clara Oswald from ''Series/DoctorWho'' doesn't really come off as the geek type. Until the Doctor agrees to take her to meet Robin Hood (and she decides to go into full-out cosplay mode), and she totally geeks out about Jane Austen to the point of claiming to know more about her than the Doctor. Exaggerated after an OffScreenMomentOfAwesome where she not only met Jane but apparently ''snogged her'', a fact that she can't resist boasting about to her students. |
| 131 | * ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': A fairly mild example, but it turns out that Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, of all people, has read and enjoyed a fair amount of contemporary science fiction. Creator/HGWells and ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912'' get mentioned by name. |
| 132 | * ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' has Alan, a bully who picks on Sam, Neil, and Bill; after hospitalizing Bill in a prank gone awry, he reveals that the reason he picks on them is that he secretly likes science-fiction and comic books. Bill even invites him to an upcoming convention, but Alan chooses not to go. |
| 133 | * One bit in Creator/JohnLeguizamo's short-lived sketch comedy ''House of Buggin'' was a trio of Latino gangbangers who did movie reviews. One of them was particularly large and thuggish...and almost assaulted one of the others for insulting Captain Kirk. It got worse later...the movie they were reviewing was [[KilledOffForReal Generations.]] |
| 134 | * ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': As King, Viserys is expected to be a very public and nobility-pleasing persona, sponsoring bloodsports like the tourney and hunting, as any medieval king (both in fantasy and RealLife) is expected to do. In private, however, he seems to be far more occupied with the histories of the Targaryen dynasty and that of Old Valyria—as evidenced by Alicent's initial choice of entertainment for him (a history book), the fact that he spends a lot of time playing with a model of Old Valyria's capital city/citadel and dragon figurines, as well as spending time reflecting in front of the skull of Balerion. |
| 135 | * In ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'', it's revealed that Finn is an avid gamer, much to the amusement of some of his fellow detectives. He explains that the hobby helps relieve stress. This is also TruthInTelevision. Rapper, Music/IceT who plays the character, is a proud gamer, especially when it comes to multiplayer shooters and even has his own ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' clan. |
| 136 | * Mitch in ''Series/ModernFamily'' is openly gay, but a closeted geek. An episode in later seasons had him going for the first time to a science fiction convention with ProudToBeAGeek Phil. |
| 137 | * Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s character on ''Series/{{Psych}}'', who, after being a not-so-closet geek in high school, has grown up to be, well, Freddie Prinze, Jr., but still has a secret room (even from his wife) of nerd paraphernalia. Naturally, they had to make a "closet nerd" joke when the room was first revealed. Also naturally, [[spoiler:his wife turned out to be a closet geek as well.]] |
| 138 | * ''Franchise/StargateVerse'': |
| 139 | ** ''Series/StargateSG1'': Jack O'Neill [[ObfuscatingStupidity obfuscates stupidity]] about science, but he's an amateur astronomer; he denies liking "that sci-fi stuff" and claims to have never seen ''Star Wars''. Yet it's him who suggests the name ''[[Franchise/StarTrek Enterprise]]'' for their first big ship, and on a mission in the X-302 he wants his code name to be [[Franchise/StarWars Red Leader.]] Also, from Season 6's Episode "Redemption", while going through an X-302 Pre-Flight Checklist: |
| 140 | --->'''Carter:''' Navigation?\ |
| 141 | '''O'Neill:''' Check.\ |
| 142 | '''Carter:''' Oxygen, pressure, temperature control?\ |
| 143 | '''O'Neill:''' All check.\ |
| 144 | '''Carter:''' Inertial Dampeners?\ |
| 145 | '''O'Neill:''' Cool!... and check.\ |
| 146 | '''Carter:''' Engines?\ |
| 147 | '''O'Neill:''' All Check. Phasers?\ |
| 148 | '''Carter:''' Sorry sir. |
| 149 | ** His teammate Teal'c is TheStoic and a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, but ''Franchise/StarWars'' is his favorite movie. He's seen it so many times that even though he's read ''Literature/TheBible'', the first virgin birth that comes to his mind is Darth Vader, not Jesus. He also catches a ''Film/DieHard'' reference that [[{{Geek}} Daniel]] misses. |
| 150 | ** John Sheppard from ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. He obfuscates stupidity like O'Neill and [[BrilliantButLazy is a really laid-back guy]], but he's also a Mensa-level mathematical genius who throws out pop culture references whenever he feels like it. At one point, he tries to use [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] as an alias. |
| 151 | ** Also from ''Atlantis'', we have [[TheBigGuy Ronon]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Dex]]. At first, he doesn't get why someone would "watch a box" for fun, but after he's been exposed to enough Earth culture, he's making references to ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/{{Alien}}''. |
| 152 | * ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has an unexpected example in Captain Picard, diplomat, badass, and [[TheStoic very serious man]], who much to his officers' amusement had a huge geek-out over the realism of the [[FilmNoir "Dixon Hill"]] holodeck program. Picard also gets really excited about archaeology, and on the away team exploring an old ship, he behaved like a child in a chocolate factory. He's also pretty geeky about Shakespeare to the point where he keeps a treasured ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' in his ready room, usually protected under glass the same way an action figure collector might display his treasures. |
| 153 | ** In a season one episode, they run a feed from Geordi's VISOR to the bridge view screen. Captain Picard sidetracks the mission for a few minutes watching in amazement and asking Geordi what several things are. It takes Commander Riker clearing his throat to remind Picard that they are there because of a distress signal. |
| 154 | * ''Series/StrangerThings'': Lucas' sister Erica teases her brother and his friends for being nerds, but it turns out that she's a math whiz, very politically-savvy for a preteen, and a fan of ''Franchise/MyLittlePony''. Dustin's pretty shocked when he realizes this, and she takes offense when he calls her a nerd over it. By the start of the fourth season, though, she's embraced her nerdy side and become quite the ''D&D'' player. |
| 155 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s Dean Winchester. He teases Sam for being a geek, but he drops references to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Series/TheXFiles'', amongst others. Especially apparent in LARP and the Real Girl, when Sam pulls up a video of the LARP group's activities, Dean comments it looks awesome but turns stoic when Sam turns to look at him. |
| 156 | * Kano Nakamura, the main character of ''Series/TokusatsuGaGaGa'', is an OfficeLady who's secretly a huge fan of {{Toku}} shows. The series largely revolves around the way she relates her fandom to her daily adult life, while also keeping it hidden from the people around her. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 160 | * In ''Radio/NewDynamicEnglish'', Max likes to play "Computer Soldier", which is most likely a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'', but hides it despite that he used to for a computer company and married a computer programmer (which supposedly removes the oddness of his geekiness). |
| 161 | -->'''Larry:''' Actually, I was thinking I might give some of these computer games a try. ''Computer Soldier'' looks like a fun game.\ |
| 162 | '''Max:''' That's a great game!! I play… I mean, my son plays it all the time. |
| 163 | [[/folder]] |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 166 | * In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Luna became close friends with Ivy when they were young due to a shared interest in anime and video games. Once she became embroiled in Nadine's gang, however, Luna cut off ties with Ivy and hid all of her geeky interests so that Nadine wouldn't find out. |
| 167 | [[/folder]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 170 | * In ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' it's revealed that Moxxi is secretly a mechanical geek, just like both her children and the rest of her former bandit clan, the Hodunks. She threatens the player with death if they tell. |
| 171 | * ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'': |
| 172 | ** Rozalin in ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'' is shown to be a Prism Rangers fangirl. She gets annoyed when the Rangers membership lacks all 7 colors of the rainbow and applauds them when filling the roster later on. Then she becomes jealous when Adell is dubbed 'Prism Black'. |
| 173 | ** Mao from ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'' claims that all the manga, anime, and comics he consumes about superheroes is merely research so that he can discover the source of a hero's power and use it to overthrow his father, but really he's a much bigger fanboy than he lets on. |
| 174 | * Cassandra Pentaghast, [[LadyOfWar of all people]], is revealed in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' to be a hopeless {{fangirl}} of Varric's writings, particularly of the ones he himself considers [[OldShame personal failures]]. After this is discovered, she keeps pestering him about obscure details of his books, much to his amusement. |
| 175 | -->'''Cassandra:''' [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain Pretend you don't know this about me]]. |
| 176 | * ''VideoGame/FakeHappyEnd'': During Aeri's date event, she runs away from the protagonist so that they don't discover her day job. She's actually a cosplaying employee at a net cafe. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'' reveals that Ray Bulgarin, a human trafficker and TheDon of the Russian Mafia is an avid collector of rock-and-roll memorabilia. |
| 178 | * Victoria in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' can be considered a closet geek. In episode 3, Max Caulfield finds a newly bought, glow-in-the-dark action figure of a character named "Blubery" inside Victoria's room to which she remarks "Victoria's Secret? She's a geek!" |
| 179 | * In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[RobotBuddy Legion]] is revealed to be a gamer on its own time, having quite an extensive record of achievements. |
| 180 | * In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne'', it's revealed that crime boss Vinnie Gognitti is a huge [[ShowWithinAShow Baseball Bat Boy]] fan and collects every piece of merchandise available. Vinnie tries defending his geek hobby to Payne by saying he's only collecting them for the money they might be worth in the future. Too bad this [[DeathByIrony came back to haunt him]]. |
| 181 | * Fuuka Yamagishi from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' is initially one of these, before the protagonist helps her accept this. |
| 182 | * The Sith Inquisitor PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' spends a lot of time digging through tombs and looking for artifacts of ancient Jedi and Sith. Some dialogue options indicate they've come to enjoy it for its own sake, and not just as a route to personal power the way Sith usually view such things. This can be a point of bonding with their EndearinglyDorky AdventurerArchaeologist companion Talos Drellik. |
| 183 | * Undyne in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is head of the royal guard, and she is as tough as she looks. She also has a secret hobby, but you won't know about it unless you spared and befriended her. [[spoiler:Turns out that she is a massive geek when it comes to anime, due to spending time with fellow fan Alphys and encountering such shows in the context of "human history". She'll even ask you if anime is real.]] |
| 184 | * In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', hacking Maximilian Strauss' computer reveals that he -- a centuries-old vampire warlock, regional leader of the Tremere Clan -- plays the setting's version of ''World of Warcraft'' online with some friends. |
| 185 | * ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Yakuza Kiwami 2]]'': Shoko is a glamourous hostess at a high-end cabaret club by night, but by day she is a huge gag manga otaku, as well as an up-and-coming manga artist. Her character arc is focused around convincing her to let her geek flag fly and try to actually get her work published. |
| 186 | [[/folder]] |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 189 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': Miles Edgeworth is a "closet" ''Steel Samurai'' fan, in the sense that nobody knows he's a fan. In truth, he makes barely any effort at all to hide it, even displaying some ''Steel Samurai'' merchandise in his office right out in the open. It's just that everyone assumes that someone with as much BritishStuffiness as Edgeworth couldn't ''possibly'' like a kids' TV show, so they simply dismiss anything that suggests he does. |
| 190 | * In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', who knew that Morgan, the former gang leader who spent a year in jail, was into fantasy and writes steampunk stories for fun? |
| 191 | * In one of the final scenes of ''VisualNovel/RagingLoop'' [[spoiler:which is neccessary to unlock the GoldenEnding]] Fusaishi needs to go back to the first day and get some information out of Kiyonosuke Nosato, TheStraightMan of the village and [[TheFriendNobodyLikes someone he has never gotten along with for any of the loops so far]]. When Kiyonosuke denies Fusaishi entrance to his mansion like he did in previous loops, Fusaishi tries to troll him by singing the ShowWithinAShow theme tune "Buddha's Ash Rock" into his intercom... Only for Kiyonosuke to turn out to be a huge fan and the two ending up bonding over sci-fi and anime. |
| 192 | [[/folder]] |
| 193 | |
| 194 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 195 | * Billie from ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' might be a [[GloryDays former cheerleader]] who likes to call people NERDS but she uses phrases like "life-force" in casual conversation. The glasses and somewhat chubby physique don't help either... |
| 196 | -->'''Billie''': ''(to Joyce)'' So who'd you play matchmaker with, my young padawan? |
| 197 | -->... |
| 198 | -->'''Ruth''': "Padawan"? |
| 199 | -->'''Billie''': ''Everyone's'' seen ''Franchise/StarWars'', Ruth. It's ''not'' a ''nerd'' thing. |
| 200 | :: Billie later [[https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/olympus outs herself]] as "a dumb nerd who for several of my preteen years secretly ran a fanfiction blog dedicated to [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Kit Fisto]]." |
| 201 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': |
| 202 | ** Mr. Verres If he's not into geeky things, he's at least extremely familiar with them in his role as the man behind covering up real-life SF & fantasy shenanigans. He's been stated to be familiar with the term "Delayed Blast Fireball". For example, when Grace wanted to wear some alien spandex for a workout. |
| 203 | --->'''Mr. Verres:''' Okay, ''fine''. But if anyone asks, you're {{cosplay}}ing as an [[OriginalCharacter OC]] from your Creator/{{DC|Comics}} superheroes [[FanFic FF]].\ |
| 204 | '''Grace:''' I'm ''what''? |
| 205 | ** Diane initially has an extremely negative idea of what a geek ''is'', to the point she can't understand why anyone would claim GeekPride. She doesn't particularly conceal that she's into video games, and novelisations of video games, she just doesn't see why there's a label to go with that. She eventually accepts that her new friends see things differently, and that by assuring them they ''weren't'' geeks she was actually offending them a bit, but she still doesn't get it. |
| 206 | * Shanna from ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'' spends much of the early part of the series denying her geek-ness. Justified in this case because obsessive fangirl behavior was one of the early symptoms of her mother's mental breakdown; Shanna's afraid that her own fangirl tendencies are signs that she's going insane, too. |
| 207 | * ColonelBadass Maxima shamefully admits to having been a gamer in ''Webcomic/GrrlPower''. She also knows a lot about the ''Lord of The Rings''. |
| 208 | * Joe from ''Webcomic/ItsWalky''. He acts like a macho man but hides an inner brainiac. His profile even calls him a closet nerd. |
| 209 | * Amal from ''Webcomic/TheLessThanEpicAdventuresOfTJAndAmal''. [[http://tjandamal.com/starfleet.jpg Here he is]] with his [[Franchise/StarTrek Starfleet uniform.]] |
| 210 | * According to ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'', all the references to ''Film/TheyLive'' and ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' made by VideoGame/DukeNukem were not coincidental. |
| 211 | * ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': The head of security for a SpaceStation housing a cutting-edge research installation has Marigold whisked off to a private room on arrival... because he noticed the romance mangas in her backpack and [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2121 wants to share.]] |
| 212 | * Colbie from ''Webcomic/RadioSilence''. Colbie tries to play off his obsession with the Franchise/HarryPotter franchise. |
| 213 | * Nancy from ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'' takes things very seriously, but she does like her [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/comic/06242010/ science fiction.]] |
| 214 | * Lily from ''Webcomic/ScalieSchoolie'' enjoys {{Magical Girl}}s, cosplay, and anime figurines, all of which she tries to keep secret from her students. |
| 215 | * Mark of ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'' is literally the 'were'geek of the title. When the full moon rises, he gets more interested in geeky hobbies. He hides it from his co-workers and girlfriend for fear of being laughed at but gradually starts to feel interested in the geeky things on a more regular basis. Eventually, he is simply an outright closet geek rather than responding to the full moon. |
| 216 | * In ''Webcomic/TheWotch'', one of the [[JerkJock Jerk Jocks]] that Anne [[GenderBender transforms]] into the Cheer! Squad turns out to have been a closet geek, playing D&D with the local nerd-squad... who were sworn to secrecy on penalty of severe beatings. His new female form, Lita Harper, is somewhat more open and outgoing about her geeky interests, which includes both D&D and [=WoW=]. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 220 | * WebVideo/AskThatGuyWithTheGlasses makes constant references to geeky stuff, has written fanfiction, and prefers instead to mock the living hell out of nerds. |
| 221 | * Carl Copenhagan from ''WebVideo/DemoReel'' mocks Donnie and Uncle Yo for their dorky con bromance, but knows enough about ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' to make sexual puns about it to sexy cosplayers. |
| 222 | * Website/FourChan refers to this trope as "[[Anime/DragonBallZ hiding your power level]]". The general opinion is that your power level must be hidden at all costs, and nobody must ever know that you have such "shameful" interests as anime, video games, comic books, etc. Overlaps with EvenNerdsHaveStandards, as many power level hiders look down on open/proud nerds, and think that if you aren't ashamed of having nerdy interests, then there must be something wrong with you. |
| 223 | * Even though the mask slips ridiculously often, WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick will never embrace the nerdy fangirl within. |
| 224 | [[/folder]] |
| 225 | |
| 226 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 227 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'' Chrissy is a big ''Franchise/StarWars'' geek but hides it from her popular friends, "The Clones", who are three {{Alpha Bitch}}es who act and dress exactly the same. She'd always been the most independent of them. |
| 228 | * Lana Kane of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' is an ActionGirl, SassyBlackWoman who is secretly (or not so secretly) a CovertPervert, familiar with cosplay, likes dressing up, and going by her familiarity of Palpatine and even imitating Vader a big ''Franchise/StarWars'' fan. |
| 229 | * On ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', football jock [[DumbJock Kevin Thompson]] is a fan of ''Series/TheXFiles'' and attended ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' with his girlfriend, [[DumbBlonde Brittany]]. He's also apparently a fan of a comic book called ''Ratboy.'' |
| 230 | * Trixie Tang from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' loves comic books, but hides it because the other popular kids would probably reject her if they knew and even goes as far as disguising herself as a boy whenever she visits the local comic store. |
| 231 | * The AlphaBitch Trina in ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' is a closet math geek, who attends math competitions as a glasses-wearing nerd with a pencil in her hair and the nickname "Trigonometrina". During one of the competitions, Tina becomes ''real'' friends with her NumberTwo and fellow math geek Mina. |
| 232 | * John Stewart's ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cartoon incarnation. As an adult, he's a no-nonsense former Marine, but as a kid, he was an avid comic book reader. When a dimension-hop allows him to meet his childhood heroes, he admits to a bemused Flash that if he hadn't had those stories as a kid he might not have ended up wearing the [[RingOfPower Green Lantern Ring]]. When he, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are changed into pre-teens, he uses the power ring to create giant mecha-armour for himself. He also used to wear glasses (making him look like [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]]), but change it into a stylish mask (resembling Kyle Rayner's in the comics). |
| 233 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'' episode "The Maltese Mantis", Master Shifu forbids Po from attending the Festival of Figurines, a convention for kung fu action-figure combat... out of fear that Po might see ''him'' there. Which, of course, Po does, and eventually persuades Shifu to embrace his inner geek. |
| 234 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep Read It and Weep]]", the ever-athletic [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicRainbowDash Rainbow Dash]] discovers she enjoys reading and is both ashamed to admit it and ridiculously determined to secretly finish her first book by any means necessary - including breaking into a hospital to retrieve said book after it's accidentally left there. She grows out of it, later being shown going into long-winded discussions with Twilight in front of everyone else with no shame whatsoever. |
| 235 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': |
| 236 | ** When attending a sci-fi/fantasy convention in "Nerds of a Feather", Candace cosplays as Ducky Momo in a full-body costume, as a means of hiding herself so that no one will know that she likes a show aimed at preschoolers. |
| 237 | ** Regardless of whatever [[PunchClockVillain so-called bully]] Buford says about being there to beat up nerds, the fact is that he was at that same convention. ''In {{Cosplay}} gear.'' |
| 238 | ** ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieCandaceAgainstTheUniverse'' reveals Candace's crush Jeremy is secretly into {{LARP}}ing. He's so embarrassed about it that when Stacy stumbles upon his gear, he begs her not to tell Candace. |
| 239 | * Ashley T. from ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', one of an IdenticallyNamedGroup of {{Alpha Bitch}}es, is implied to be a closet fan of comic books. In "Chez Vince", she bribes T.J. by giving him one of her ''Senor Fusion'' comics. |
| 240 | * Sierra, the AlphaBitch on ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'', has a secret love of a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' expy. This is how she ends up bonding with Todd, who's also a fan. |
| 241 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': Egon is a fan of ''The Murray the Mantis Show.'' (So is [[ProudToBeAGeek Ray.]]) When Peter grills him on it, Egon hastily stammers, "It's a morality play. *clears throat* Full of complexities." |
| 242 | ** This is repeated in ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' when one episode reveals that Eduardo is a fan of J.N Kline's horror comics, which is an obvious take on J.L Giles and Creator/HPLovecraft. It becomes a major factor in the plot, and Eduardo's knowledge of the comics is what helps the Ghostbusters defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek. |
| 243 | * In ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', while our Lower Deckers are known for their knowledge of a lot of ''Trek'' incidents, [[Characters/StarTrekLowerDecksBeckettMariner Beckett Mariner]] absolutely loves old starships, but she would deny it with a passion if she said it out loud. In the crossover with ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'', Boimler teases her a bit over her geeking out at being in the Starfleet Museum and in the season 4 premiere, she's ecstatic to be going on board the USS ''Voyager'' before quickly brushing it off and claiming it's Boimler who would be. |
| 244 | * As an ActorAllusion, Raven in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' turns out to be a closet fan of ''[[MyLittlePhony Pretty Pretty Pegasus]]'' (her [[Creator/TaraStrong voice actress]] is the main character of ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship is Magic]]''). After spending the duration of an episode trying to hide it, it turns out the other Titans (or at least Robin) are ''un''-closeted fans of the show, with Robin being another ActorAllusion (this time to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends''). |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / ClosetGeek
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
