I’ve covered the stutter, but that isn’t the only affectation of nerdiness that has been grafted onto Bob Farrell over the years. He’s also had glasses in some of his more prominent appearances since the year 2000 (of which, God knows there have not been many). He wore the glasses in the Supervillain Team-Up book that brought us the stutter, but unlike that, Van Lente did not originate the glasses. Bob was first seen wearing glasses in the story in which he was in prison and was first seen alongside the Hypno-Hustler. I may not care for that story, but it has given me several things I like, apparently.

And I do like the glasses. Like the stutter, I think it is unfortunate that glasses are considered symbolic of “nerdy” people, but it does work for Bob as a tech guy. Also like the stutter, we’ve got decades of evidence that Bob did not always have glasses. Photos of him as a child show him not wearing them, and most of his adult life he’s been without as well. But still, you can need glasses without having them, especially if you’re from a low-income family. It could be that he didn’t realize he needed them until he was doing crimes and could afford to get some. It’s also very likely that he wears contacts on occasion. Bob has currently only made one appearance without his eyewear since they were introduced, attending a funeral, so maybe he just felt like contacts when he was dressing up that day?)

And, it is important to note that every iteration of the Rocket Racer’s outfit has included eyewear. Before and after his civilian eyewear came into play, he’s had visors and goggles as a part of his equipment. He has only occasionally had a helmet, but always something to protect his eyes. It would be perfectly believable to me that the Tinkerer or someone could make sure those things work with his prescription. I’ve also always kind of assumed the visor has some sort of HUD going on, but vision correction could be involved too.