The source was Strider himself. He said he's a nerd.

Sir, I have ascended from mere Nerd-dom. For now I am... a Geek.

..Geeks and nerds aren't the same thing, nor an extension of one another. You can be both a nerd AND a geek.

If you say you have ascended from 'mere Nerd-dom', you are simply a huge nerd, not a geek. One can be a geek without ever having been a nerd.

Ah, Speedy, allow me to introduce you the Nerd's Evolution System (NES). It proceeds as follows:

Dork --> Nerd --> Geek

You begin as a mere Dork, with an infatuation with <Insert fandom here>. Once you grow into said fandom and start collecting objects revolving around that fandom, you evolve into a Nerd. The Nerd phase is usually the longest, but once you break out of collecting other's creations and start making your own (IE. Custom figures, games, app, etc) you evolve into the final form of Geek. 🤓

    5 days later

    Strider

    ..Nah, pretty sure you're all three, not some levelled up version of the first two. 😛

      4 months later

      First message of the year and it's me once again stating Strider's a huge nerd. And a huge geek. And ofcourse, a huge dork.