the pursuit of nostalgia vs. living in the present 6 6

[factory sealed]

I have friends that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on vintage comics or toys all in the pursuit to experience or relive moments that have been permanently lost in time.

Admittedly I will say unequivocally my "best" days are behind me and everyone from their own respective generation will have their particular specific favorites. I feel very fortunate to have grown up between the 70s/80s. What an incredible time period this was ranging from comics, cartoons, music, non-sports trading cards, movies, toys, and video games.  

That immense and incredible build up of anticipation before holidays and birthdays or riding your bike to a 7-11 in hopes that the new comic issues had been put out on the rack or walking into an arcade to hear that loud thunderous echoing of five different Defender and Centipede machines being played simultaneously etc.

These core memories and moments are so very special to all of us. I am just curious; especially for folks with OCD type personalities such as myself, how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

[ExNihilo]

To be honest, Hickman's FF/Avengers/Secret Wars epic has ruined me for modern comics.  I haven't read any new titles since then with that kind of scope and quality and I'm not sure I ever will.  That makes it easier to reduce the number of monthly subscription titles I have now.  I still spend a lot on monthly titles, but it's more a matter of completing existing arcs as opposed to plans to continue collecting into the distant future.  So my expectation is that as series wrap up, my monthly subs should decrease.  That all said, that loss of desire for current books, only makes it easier to focus on older runs/books from my youth.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:08 AM, factory sealed said:

I have friends that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on vintage comics or toys all in the pursuit to experience or relive moments that have been permanently lost in time.

Admittedly I will say unequivocally my "best" days are behind me and everyone from their own respective generation will have their particular specific favorites. I feel very fortunate to have grown up between the 70s/80s. What an incredible time period this was ranging from comics, cartoons, music, non-sports trading cards, movies, toys, and video games.  

That immense and incredible build up of anticipation before holidays and birthdays or riding your bike to a 7-11 in hopes that the new comic issues had been put out on the rack or walking into an arcade to hear that loud thunderous echoing of five different Defender and Centipede machines being played simultaneously etc.

These core memories and moments are so very special to all of us. I am just curious; especially for folks with OCD type personalities such as myself, how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

This post resonates strongly with me. I don't have kids in my life so have largely missed out on the connection to the current that they bring. I remember when I was a kid, the whole family watched Top of The Pops, so my Mum and Dad knew all the new stuff. There isn't much like that nowadays that I can see and even if there was, I have no youngsters to bring it into my world..

I find myself very much stuck in the past. All the things I like, have loved, and still love seem to be of the past. They say that every successive generation feels this way but I do think that the era of my youth was the best time the human race will ever see. It was far from perfect, but the post war, pre-internet era had the best of everything. It was people doing everything, not machines. There was variety, experimentation, self expression, risk taking and danger. There was gentleness, the quiet and the paired down. There was the possibility of things to come, fresh, exciting and never before seen. Today I feel that everything 'new' is just an old thing in disguise. You have to feel a little sorry for the gifted, enthusiastic youth of today. What can they come up with that hasn't already been done?

Comics are the reason we are here on this forum and comics are of the past. They exist still today, clinging on for dear life, and there are youngsters in the hobby. But comics - real comics - are of an era that is gone. I could go on for hours about this, and have done in other posts, but I've come to accept that all my hobbies, all my interests, largely exist in the past. It doesn't actually bother me anymore as it once did. As long as I can go and see Morrissey, Costello, Squeeze and David Devant still, pop along to the London Comic Fair and nab things that I've enjoyed in my days from eBay, I'm happy enough. The present is vastly over rated and I don't much fancy it on most days if I'm honest.

Thanks for posting @factory sealed

[DougC]

On 8/7/2023 at 12:08 AM, factory sealed said:

how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

I would love to provide some clever answer, but in short you don't.

While I keep up with current fads to some degree (tiktok, chat GPT, AI Art, especially new books) as the years rush forward I find myself less and less inclined to bother with various "new" things. While I by no means live in the past of nostalgia, I just don't really care as much to learn new things or pretend something "new" is actually new (you can only see differently angled marketing for swamp coolers that provide revolutionary newly discovered AC; before you start screaming at the adds).

It is a balance of losing effort really; the scales start to tip and before you know it, you have been left behind shouting at those lazy youths of today.

[Ken Aldred]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:10 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

There was gentleness

You lived in a very different Bronze and Copper Age Britain to me.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:59 AM, Ken Aldred said:

You lived in a very different Bronze and Copper Age Britain to me.

I know what you're referring to Paul and that falls under the far from perfect element I mentioned. Far from perfect.  I was thinking for kids. Everything today is crash bang wallop and 'going large'. They wouldn't make the Clangers today, would they. And the gallery on Take Hart would be set to rave music, no doubt. 

[Cat]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:22 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I know what you're referring to Paul and that falls under the far from perfect element I mentioned. Far from perfect.  I was thinking for kids. Everything today is crash bang wallop and 'going large'. They wouldn't make the Clangers today, would they. And the gallery on Take Hart would be set to rave music, no doubt. 

It's called EDM now, not 'rave'. 

[evilskip]

When my brother in law died, we wound up with 3 electric train engines that my in laws bought him back in 1956. They look great and they run.

I've talked to 2 of the biggest train collectors in our area of the state. They tell me the trains we have are wonderful and worth some money. However, the "market" for them is dwindling rapidly as the baby boomers numbers are shrinking. There really isn't much of a market for them, maybe 25% of their actual value if a buyer could even be found.

People under 40 are more attracted to video games and don't want to fool with things like train tracks and all the other items that previous generations did.

One person's nostalgia is another person's pain in the tookus.

[lizards2]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:08 PM, factory sealed said:

These core memories and moments are so very special to all of us. I am just curious; especially for folks with OCD type personalities such as myself, how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

Interesting question.

I probably find balance in the present with my siblings, kids, my wife and other people. I attend several hunting camps each year, go to the beach clamming once or twice a year, participate on a wildland fire team in the summers, and routinely meet other federal retirees for lunch (weekly) and hiking (every other day). Additionally, I volunteer and am an officer at the local Elks Lodge, so am busy with additional tasks on a more or less weekly, if not daily basis. So, for an introvert, I guess I have trained myself to be fairly social.

It might help in that I don't necessarily collect the same comics carp that I did when I was a twelve year old Marvel zuvembie, except the occasional upgrade or other purchase. I have branched into multiple other areas of challenging, collecting fun, such as parachute covers, fish-in-the-face covers, men-on-my-mantelpiece covers, etc.

[WolverineX]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:34 AM, evilskip said:

When my brother in law died, we wound up with 3 electric train engines that my in laws bought him back in 1956. They look great and they run.

I've talked to 2 of the biggest train collectors in our area of the state. They tell me the trains we have are wonderful and worth some money. However, the "market" for them is dwindling rapidly as the baby boomers numbers are shrinking. There really isn't much of a market for them, maybe 25% of their actual value if a buyer could even be found.

People under 40 are more attracted to video games and don't want to fool with things like train tracks and all the other items that previous generations did.

One person's nostalgia is another person's pain in the tookus.

Will comics go the way of Electric train engines?  

[Azkaban]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:13 AM, WolverineX said:

Will comics go the way of Electric train engines?  

I feel like they already have 

I also grew up in the 70's and after going thru two collections of comics and toys it just isn't the same for kids today I don't think or maybe I'm just getting to old  When I show these young people today my old comics or toys, things like Shogun Warriors, Megos, Johnny West, vintage Star Wars they just don't seem interested 

[WolverineX]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:34 AM, Azkaban said:

I feel like they already have 

I also grew up in the 70's and after going thru two collections of comics and toys it just isn't the same for kids today I don't think or maybe I'm just getting to old  When I show these young people today my old comics or toys, things like Shogun Warriors, Megos, Johnny West, vintage Star Wars they just don't seem interested 

Yeah, it seems like manga, fortnite, pokemon have all supplanted comics.  Does that mean we should try to sell off our books in the next 20 years?  

[themagicrobot]

how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment?

Yesterday I purchased another motorbike when I already have too many. It is a 1978 Honda, the same model and colour I owned 45 years ago. My thoughts are that I need it in my life as I should never have parted with the first one. It is old but it can be used in the present. If I turned right at the bottom of the street and it was suddenly 1978 again I would keep on going and never return to 2023

Similarly with comics I buy a few old ones now and again (more like daily) cursing my younger self for having sold previous collections of the things

I am buying the new She Hulk comics but they aren’t a patch on the old ones

But most of the writers and artists of new comics are much younger than me with different outlooks on the world

Kids today have so much more disposable income than my generation

Comics and bubblegum cards were all I could afford

Kids today may like the Spider-man movies but will they want an AF15 for £thousands in years to come any more than I would want a Magnet comic from 1923 featuring Billy Bunter.

 

 

[zzutak]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:08 PM, factory sealed said:

how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

My wife, family, and job responsibilities ensured that I was always 99% grounded in the present. 

[B2D327]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:08 AM, factory sealed said: I feel very fortunate to have grown up between the 70s/80s. What an incredible time period this was ranging from comics, cartoons, music, non-sports trading cards, movies, toys, and video games.  

My sentiments exactly. It seems like the perfect median to have an appreciation of the things that came before us as well as having the ability to adapt to the changes that would come as we grew older because we witnessed it all in real time 

[B2D327]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:08 AM, factory sealed said:

 I feel very fortunate to have grown up between the 70s/80s. What an incredible time period this was ranging from comics, cartoons, music, non-sports trading cards, movies, toys, and video games.  

My sentiments exactly. It seems like the perfect median to have an appreciation of the things that came before us as well as having the ability to adapt to the changes that would come as we grew older because we witnessed it all in real time

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

"I am from" the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s time periods. I like that time, every time since then, and now. I enjoyed my schooling, learned a tremendous amount but still know next to nothing of what there is to know; have an abundance of hands-on experience but very little in the scheme of things; met a fantastic person (woman), we got married and have a wonderful daughter; love my job, thankfully; I enjoy my comic book collection and my other hobbies; I love fishing, especially surf fishing; my wife, daughter, and I are healthy; I'm happy; life is good.

Apparently, I'm easy to please.

[AC Skywalker]

Very interesting read.

I started my comic adventure in the early 90s as did a lot of others.  Collected for about 10 years then took a break.  That break lasted 20 years, only returning at the start of this year.

The landscape has changed dramatically.  One thing I find interesting when I watch comic videos or go to local cons, is that the people buying comics are my age or older.

Younger gen (I have a 13 yr old son) are all into online gaming, youtube, twitch etc.  I have a solid vintage video game and comic collection, and I often wonder as years go on will anyone care about this stuff?  Or will it be cyclical like so many other things in history and become popular again?

Nice to see everyone kind of thinking the same things.

[Robot Man]

I grew up in the dawn of the SA. My first Marvel was ASM #3. I watched Batman, The Munsters and Man from Uncle. I was heavily into British Invasion music.

I sucked it all in. I discovered GA books very early. They always had that certain “mystique”. So in addition to current comics I seeked out the early stuff a lot. A lot of it was the “thrill of the hunt”. In addition to comics, I also looked for vintage era toys of my dad’s age.

Over the years, I fairly easily assembled a nice collection of comics and toys of my youth. All along, picked up cool stuff from before my era.

I treasure my youth but don’t live totally in the past. I often say that we are all born and will die within a certain time frame. I have been blessed to grow up when I did. Wonderful times but you got to progress with the times. 

 

[factory sealed]

On 8/7/2023 at 11:08 AM, Robot Man said:

I grew up in the dawn of the SA. My first Marvel was ASM #3. I watched Batman, The Munsters and Man from Uncle. I was heavily into British Invasion music.

I sucked it all in. I discovered GA books very early. They always had that certain “mystique”. So in addition to current comics I seeked out the early stuff a lot. A lot of it was the “thrill of the hunt”. In addition to comics, I also looked for vintage era toys of my dad’s age.

Over the years, I fairly easily assembled a nice collection of comics and toys of my youth. All along, picked up cool stuff from before my era.

I treasure my youth but don’t live totally in the past. I often say that we are all born and will die within a certain time frame. I have been blessed to grow up when I did. Wonderful times but you got to progress with the times. 

 

Any thoughts on this in comparison to your era? For me personally a large distinction of what drives my own personal obsession for nostalgia was the very deep rooted connection we had with a specific character(s) that spanned many different product channels between the comics first but also really well made cartoons, non-trading cards, aisle and aisles of action figures at different toy stores that were stacked to the ceilings, brilliant cinema movies, and allot of younger folks forget but in the 70s and early 80s there were even several super hero prime timeTV shows i.e. Spider-man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk etc. 

So what I'm driving at is there were so many different platforms back in this time frame to consume incredible quality content. It was just everywhere. And obviously when Star Wars came out and then the early 80s cycle of super hero cartoons i.e. MOTU, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats etc. this just took everything to a whole different level.

Funny you mention Batman; before it was syndicated more broadly speaking so you could watch it week days after school in the early 80s, back in mid/late 70s it was only shown once a week and super early on Saturday mornings either 6AM or 7AM. Never missed an episode, Those cliffhangers were just simply awesome.