Really as a child, I didn't really have a lot of friends.
And then watching these shows,
with their teamwork and friendship,
I just connected to them.
I was like,
“I wish I had friends like them.”
I'm Fwee Carter, and I collect things
that fuel my '90s nostalgia.
And I have around 1,228 things.
I collect from pins, to Funko Pops, to figurines.
The theme of my collection is teams—
teams like “Sailor Moon,” and “Power Rangers,” and “Pokémon.”
My collection—
I would say it takes up the walls of my apartment.
Because we put shelves up, so they're not in the way.
My boyfriend, he is a designer, so he knows how to create space.
So there will be more and more stuff coming in.
Trust me.
I don't wanna relive my childhood.
It's just remembering the good moments of it.
As a kid, I was very quiet.
“Power Rangers” really made me wanna make more friends.
Toys for me, it was a way to express myself.
It was hard to get the female versions of the toys.
Because it was like,
“Oh! But you're a boy.”
I wanted to be like a boy and
just be normal, as in what people in society thought was normal.
But then I was like,
“I also wanna play with that thing, and play with that thing.”
In the ’90’s, there was a huge stigma.
That was when McDonald’s—
they had the boy and the girl toy,
and you had to get the boy toy.
And I find that so weird that they still ask that,
because it doesn't matter.
Because a girl could be a “Pokémon” fan.
And them labeling “Pokémon” as a “boy thing”
is one of the most ridiculous things, I think.
And then as an adult, I realize like,
“Oh, I really am like these characters.”
And I just really grew into that—
like having information, making sure I'm always prepared.
The year that I started collecting?
I'm gonna make a guess and say 1995.
Because that's around when “Power Rangers,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and
all those different shows.
And I'm like, “I want the team! I want that one, I want that one—”
Sometimes, I'm not even looking for these things!
And I see them, and I'm like,
“Oh! I need that in my life.”
That feeling that I get when I find that last item
is like the most amazing thing.
Fast-forward, they're releasing a new thing.
And I was like, “I need to get that now.”
My favorite one would be
this “Beast Wars” transformer I got.
Because when I watched “Beast Wars,” I was obsessed.
I love them.
I wanted all the figures.
But I was getting too old to own them.
I looked everywhere and I couldn't find it,
until I went to a convention and I saw it.
And I was geeking out so much.
And I would say the second thing
is this figure I made for my friends and myself.
Me and my friends did a “Sailor Moon” and “Power Rangers” mashup.
And for Christmas,
I created actual action figures of us.
The looks on their faces when I gave them the gifts was—
It's the most amazing feeling.
–This is the best gift I've ever received in my entire life.
–I’m an action figure!
–And look at that pin! That is hilarious.
I noticed that women would keep getting sexualized
in comics, and TV, and all different venues.
I'm like, “What if it was the men?
Like the female gaze on them, and the gay gaze on them.”
So I created this thing called The Sexy Nerd Project back in 2014
when I moved to the city.
Having been sexualized in different superheroes and different genres—
like “Aquaman,” and “Iron Man,” and “Captain America,” and even “Digimon”—
the message that I wanted to convey with this project
was that nerds could be sexy.
Geeks could be sexy.
Doesn't matter what type of body you have.
Being sexy doesn't mean that you have to have all the abs and everything.
It's sexy being who you are.
What a wonderful day.
Thank you again.
It was really a pleasure to meet you.
–What I want to do with my collection
is keep collecting.
Keep building on them.
I mean, I have a lot of space to keep putting up shelves.
So it may look small, but we can make it work.
I would have to say if this collection
outgrows this apartment,
then we need a bigger apartment.
My fandom is a full-time job.