Changes: The Angry Video Game Nerd (character)

Revision as of 14:15, 29 June 2018

The Angry Video Game Nerd

Portrayed by	James Rolfe (2004-present)
Occupation	Game Reviewer (2004-present) and GameCops employee
Character's First Appearance	Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (2004)
Arsenal	Power Suit, Super Mecha Death Christ, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Pens, and NES Zapper
Opponents	Freddy, Jason, Bugs Bunny The Nostalgia Critic

"This game sucks..."

—The AVGN's first spoken words

The Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN for short, formerly the Angry Nintendo Nerd, often abbreviated as simply Nerd, and the Fucking Nerd) is the title character and main protagonist of the Angry Video Game Nerd web series, portrayed and created by James Rolfe.

In most episodes he reviews a different variety of poorly made video games, he does this by complaining and overreacting while often shouting and swearing at the graphics, controls, difficulty, music, quality, or gameplay.

Since episode 25 of the Board James series, many viewers believe that the AVGN and Board James character are the same person, however, James Rolfe has said that he sees the two characters as separate existences rather than Board James' split personality. A possible explanation could be that Board James are hallucinating that he is the Nerd.

Physical appearance

The Nerd looks like a stereotypical nerd. He wears a pair of glasses and dresses in a white dress shirt (sometimes short or long-sleeved). In the shirt pocket, he has some pens tucked away to throw at whatever frustrates him. Lastly, he wears a pair of khaki pants. In the episode, "Desert Bus", he is seen wearing a pair of blue jeans rather than his usual khakis. The Nerd also occasionally wears a silver Atari jacket, and may wear items of clothing appropriate for the time of year, e.g. Santa's hat for Christmas, and even dressed up as a vampire for a Halloween episode.

During tough fights, the Nerd equips his NES accessories to kick the ass of anyone or anything in his way.

Once he dressed as the "BatNerd" when reviewing various Batman games.

During the RoboCop episode, he is sporting a custom RoboCop inspired costume but with a front-loader NES as the visor and his breast pocket protector.

Personality

To put it lightly, the Nerd has serious anger issues, to the point of even destroying some of the games he reviews. He often drinks beer (either Rolling Rock or Yuengling), attempting to relieve his frustration and sorrow.

The Nerd's trademark is his filthy mouth. In almost every review he repeatedly swears to insult games. He's often quoted as saying that he would rather succumb to violent and scatological acts than have to suffer through the game he's reviewing. He seems to have few, if any, friends or acquaintances, even insulting children trick-or-treating at his house in the Halloween episode. That being said, the Nerd often acts very mean-spirited and cruel, and is generally unfriendly to most of the guests on his show. Despite all this, the Nerd also does reviews in a positive light on occasion, such as in the episodes: Nintendo Power, Back to the Future Trilogy, Wish List (Part 2) and EarthBound.

In a Game Theory episode that focuses on the Nerd, it is suggested that the Nerd's anger and poor bowel movement consistency (when shitting on games) comes from the fact that he suffers from Paranoid schizophrenia as well as Crohn's disease. This has not been proven to be fact.

It could also be said that the Nerd is a masochist, as he spends his entire life doing nothing but playing video games that he hates. He even indirectly calls himself one at the end of his "Super Pitfall" review.

More aspects of the Nerd's personality are heavily revealed in Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie. It is shown that he does have a kinder and more noble side to him, as he has a strong love and care for his fanbase and puts himself in danger quite frequently to keep them safe.

He is also revealed to have a friend in a fellow gamer and fan named Cooper, and that he values video games above other things that most normal people would be more interested in. This is the reason why the Nerd tries to avoid romantic relationships or involvement with females ("Nerds before Birds").

Notable quotes

"What were they thinking?!"
"ASSSS!"
"I'd rather (various masochistic behavior)"
"Shit the Fuck?!"
"You want some shit? Bombs away, Bugs Bitch!"
"It's like you touch the top of the building, you die, you touch the ceiling, you die, you touch the floor, you die, too far to the right, you die, too far to the left, you die, you die, you die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, DIE!"
"Cowa-fucking piece of dog shit!"
"Yeah, you know what, that’s a pointless argument right there. That’s like if your dad says, 'I fucked your mom.' It’s like, 'I can’t argue with that!'"
"One die?! NO CONTINUES?! Like, seriously, give me a reason why there's no continues! WHY ARE THERE NO CONTINUES?! WHY ARE THERE NO FUCKING CONTINUES?! WHY?! ARGH!!"
"WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THIS GAME IS AN ASSHOLE!"
"DIE, BOOB LADY!"
"Welcome to DIE!"
"THIS IS A FUCKING 8 HOUR GAME!!!"
"I'D RATHER PUT MY BALLS, IN A CROCODILES MOUTH, WHILE SHOVING MY HEAD, UP A, UNICORNS ASSHOLE!!"
"IT'S A SHITLOAD OF FUCK!!"