Update, 4 p.m. Friday: The nerd rally has since come and gone. Although fewer nerds showed up than predicted, the lack of costumes didn't deter the rally from calling for the dethroning of Snyder as "one tough nerd."

Put on by AFSCME, the American Federation of State, City, and Municipal Employees, the rally called for an end of emergency management and redistribution of tax dollars. 

The "surprise direct action" promised was for the few hundred participants to walk into the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Woodward and Jefferson, stand in the lobby to protest for approximately ten minutes, and then exit. A portion of the protesters remained outside to march around the exterior of the building.


Some of the nerds. Geek or hipster?

2:30 PM: Remember when then-candidate Rick Snyder aired his "One Tough Nerd" ad and you were like: "Finally, a governor who might understand how Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the perfect allegory for my romantic frustrations"?

Snyder's reign of nerdom was going to be so awesome. Battlestar Galactica fan fiction would be a roadmap for revitalizing Michigan, State of the State addresses filled with the wit and wisdom of Yoda, and our nerd-governor might even sacrifice himself to fix Michigan's warp drive after Ricardo Montalbán sets off the Genesis Device. 

Sadly, it was not to be. Instead of preparing Michigan for the zombie apocalypse, Rick Snyder just passed Right-to-Work. Now a lot of nerds, mostly of the liberal political persuasion, are like: "Wait a second, Rick Snyder isn't a really a nerd!"

They kind of have a point. Snyder is so One Minute Manager, we doubt he even understands Wins Above Replacement. Not even a baseball nerd, says the math club as they shake their heads in disappointment.

So, in the spirit of Goose's character from Revenge of the Nerds, some nerds are going to symbolically strip Snyder of his "one tough nerd" moniker in Hart Plaza this afternoon. They say Snyder is too much of a "bully" to truly be a nerd. 

"July 12 at 2:45 p.m., at least 500 hundred nerds will storm Hart Plaza to strip Gov. Rick Snyder of his self-described "tough nerd" moniker, and then launch a surprise direct action downtown," according to the nerds' press release. 

How will we identify the nerds at Hart Plaza? Will they use supernerd science powers to fix the fountain? No! Instead, the anti-Snyder nerd crew will be "sporting thick suspenders, taped glasses and pocket protectors." Although, guys, if you wouldn't mind taking a look at that fountain, Detroit would appreciate it. Seriously.

We can only hope the "surprise direct action" is a formal challenge to Snyder for a Dungeons and Dragons game to the death. Two nerds sit down at someone's parents' dining room table and neither gets up until one player captures all the 12-sided dice (that's how you win D&D, right?) and the undisputed title of toughest nerd.

Photo illustration by Lauren Ann Davies.