I went to the ToyCon last Saturday and had an epiphany – it was not my scene anymore. That meant a lot given that I was co-conspirator of the UP Anime Manga Enthusiasts anime fair and yes, I was president of that org too. I mean, I still maintain an interest for some areas in the local geek culture. Enough to fuel my drive to be still part of Sugoi Stuff. But to totally immerse myself and enjoy it like I did years ago? Not anymore.
Perhaps it’s the people. As many veterans in the scene would note, it’s all about piss and vinegar and nothing more. Kids just have a lot of money and a lot of easy access to these things. Gone is the rigor. Gone is the effort. In any case, I really don’t care about these kids anyway. They don’t know me and I don’t know them. I hate rich people in general and that’s that.
So if not that, perhaps it’s the question of quarter-life crisis. I feel that I do not want to be 30 and still be spending all of my earnings on some collectible, forcibly intellectualizing anime, games, and toys, and engaging kids half my age in “debates” regarding trivia. In a few years time, I’ll be starting a family. I would just want to avoid the scenario where I have to pawn my mint-condition limited edition collectible to buy baby formula for my kid since I lost my job socking my boss in the mouth just because he said that anime is for losers.
Well, this is just my take on the matter and perhaps I’m just really more into exploring a wider world now.
Or it could also be that you weren’t into the scene in the first place. Not really a bad thing when you think about it.
As for me, I guess I got tired of seeing the same old crap over and over again. It’s annoying when you realize that no one dares to innovate even though we’ve proven in more than one occasion that innovation is not that expensive or even risky.
well, Alex, that’s not quarter life crisis. you’re not supposed to be in a crisis at so young an age. let’s just call it growing up, or growing out of whatever. cheerio
Ditto here… I hate to call it “growing up” but I guess that’s it. At some point in our lives, most of us go through this and it just happened that this “phase” occurred earlier for some than the others.
That and there are hardly any intellectual anime left. 🙂