Jason Powers: 
I have two. The first, and if you know me, or have read any of my previous blog posts, this will come as no surprise, is the successful landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover. The rover was launched on November 26, 2011, and touched down on Mars on August 6th of this year. Watching the live feed from NASA, and seeing the command center erupt with cheering and hugging and high-fives in a giant nerd-gasm, was a sight to behold. Once the rover started sending data and images slowly back to earth, a new found interest in space and space exploration started sweeping the nation. This is a good thing for both the country and the program.
The second was the release of “The Avengers”. This was just a great movie. I saw it twice in the theaters, and that is saying a lot since I have three kids and a limited budget. The movie went on to make a gazillion dollars, silenced all of the Joss Whedon haters, and secured the franchise for innumerable sequels and a T.V. show. This is a great time to be a nerd.
Matt Clayton 
Somewhere on my list is Nate Silver and his oracle like knowledge of polling date during the 2012 Presidential election. The author of The New York Times blog “FiveThirtyEight” correctly predicted the electoral outcome when everyone around him had thought it would be too close to call. In the truest sense of the word, Mr. Silver is the biggest “Nerd” of 2012.
Other great nerd moments of the year must include “Game of Thrones” season two, “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Avengers.” Any of these are great options, but there’s just something about Nate Silver and his use of nerdy numbers that makes him my selection for 2012. Well done Mr. Silver.
Chris Moore 
One of the biggest moments in 2012 came from the realization
that geek armies are out there and they will indeed mess up your life if you mess with them. In July, A contributing writer for the website Destructoid started questioning Felicia Day’s credentials to geek culture on Twitter. He asked things like: “Do you matter at all? Do you even provide anything useful to gaming, besides "personality?" and then proceeded to call her a “Glorified Booth Babe”. Within moments, Felicia Day’s fans were ready to defend her and lashed out at the writer. Within a few hours, Destructoid responded and ended their relationship with the writer.
The big thing about this: Felicia Day pretty much said nothing to this person online. She remained idle on her Twitter account and her followers stepped up to defend her. These people felt some connection with her and they rose up and they definitely made a difference in someone’s life.
This was one of those moments that proved that when you say things on the internet, they have a lasting effect on you. Also: it showed that geeks are ready to defend their own when they are attacked. Watch your words, people and overall be nice; not just to geeks, but to all people in general.
Anna Codutti 
The moment that stuck out the most to me in the past 12 months was a nerdy night at the theater in July. Two remastered episodes from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" were being shown at movie theaters across the country as a marketing tool for the July 24 release of season 1 on Blu-ray. Nerds from coast to coast were all gathered together at the same time for what would prove to be an amazing moment only fellow nerds could appreciate.
Between the two episodes, some of the extras from the Blu-ray disc were shown - a teaser for what those who shell out $75 would get to enjoy. So, at about 8:45 p.m. on July 23, we got to see Patrick Stewart's wardrobe/makeup test for his role as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise. It was an epic moment, and I wish I could find the video so I could share it with you (I suppose CBS has an interest in keeping its Blu-ray extras closely guarded).
So in the 90-second makeup test, you simply see Stewart standing on the bridge in uniform, and that silver fox certainly made a show of it. His expression goes from serious, to wry, to mischievous ... and, if the audience I was watching with was any indication, fans were gleeful to see Sir Patrick in his prime showing off all that theatrical training. I can barely come up with enough adjectives to explain the diverse range he emoted. I myself had a hearty laugh (along with the rest of the crowd) when Stewart had fun with his expressions, but I also got a little hot under the collar when he shot his smoldering bedroom eyes at the camera. If I had a Blu-ray player, I'd fork over that $75 just to get to relive that moment and share it with my fellow lady nerds who always found Picard sexier than Riker.
James Royal 
The opening of “The Avengers.” This kicked off the “Summer of the Comic Book Movie,” with “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” joining the latest movie from Marvel Studios as the top grossing movies of the season. All told, “The Avengers” brought in $623 million domestically and $1.5 billion worldwide to top the box office charts for the year and reach No. 3 all-time domestic and international. Comic films were already a staple in Hollywood, but the success of “The Avengers” spawned changes to the entertainment industry that will be seen for years to come.
Michael Dambold 
Biggest nerd moment for me was seeing the Avengers in theaters. I've grown up reading Marvel comics, and so not only see a movie about one of the best teams in comic book history, but seeing it well done and being part of a crowd reacting to it just blew my mind.
Seeing Nick Fury, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and even the Hulk beating up Loki on the big screen was just amazing, because I had read so many of those stories as a kid. That's my biggest nerd moment of 2012.
Micah Choquette 
The biggest nerd bomb for 2012 for me? The release of the Avengers movie. I think pretty much everyone was kind of on their toes about putting so many A-list characters in one movie - it's been done before and the results were rarely good (Batman and Robin, anyone?). I was also unsure about the use of Loki as the main villain, if only because we'd already seen him in Thor. Nevertheless, it seemed that everyone performed his or her role almost perfectly, even the new guys we weren't familiar with, such as Hawkeye. Nobody got too much screentime and the director assumed you'd already seen all the movies leading up to this one, so you knew who everybody was and what they were going through right now. In my own opinion, they best decision they made was calling on Mark Ruffalo to play the part of Bruce Banner. The Hulk has had a rocky past in theaters, but Ruffalo played that part better than all of his predeccesors combined.
