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Vice & Luna - Invasion of the Old-Timers, Part I

Well, at least it was a pretty handsome beardo that showed up.

Damn it.... I'm a beardo

VinceA wrote:

Damn it.... I'm a beardo

Me too, except for the beard.
And he's imagining a Tenchi Muyo t-shirt, not a Robotech one.

In other words, one good reason to listen to your elders, sonny, is the Millennial Fallacy:
Ie., in the real world, it's awfully darn hard to rebelliously impress someone with what you don't know, and/or never had enough curiosity to get off your butt and find out.

(And then, of course, once we do start showing Macross, Ranma or UY, it's "Wow, where do you get this?" Why, we got it the hard way, how 'bout you?
Never PO a gleefully vindictive beardo, we old guys get pretty cranky when aroused.)

This one made me question what am I as a fan. I really mean that... I'm too young be considered a beardo... yet old enough to be a fan during the VHS days, granted the last the last couple years (got in Ranma in 2000 and was into Sailor Moon and Pokemon before that) but still.

Not only that but I didn't have the issues of an anime fan, I grew up spoiled. What do I mean by that... well until last year I lived in San Francisco... I lived there since childhood. And San Francisco is one of those cities that's the perfect place for anime fan because of Japan Town.

So what am I... a spoiled middle-ager?

I got into anime in the late 1990s. By that time it was possible to become a fan strictly on the basis of commercially issued VHS tapes without reference to either fan subs or butchered broadcast series for kids.

Oh yeah, we'll talk your ear off about the days off $5000 two-ep. VHS's--Subbed and dubbed. ... In our day, we had to walk twenty miles in the snow to our nearest Suncoast.

Sometimes, they're actually quite fun to hang around, and sometimes they're a nuisance, depending on how much they've matured since their excited phase and how bound to nostalgia they are.

...perhaps you have better luck than me, but any time I'd try to show something older, the kids just go "Ewwww that's SOOO OLD!"

I like to think of my fellow fans dating from that era as the Older New Wave. We remember tape trading, the sub/dub wars of VHS, the advent of the Pokemon/Sailor Moon/DBZ explosions, the birth of Toonami, the digital fansub revolution, the DVD eclipse, the days of Animerica Extra, the Geneon/Suncoast implosions, and the adventures of Mixx/Tokyopop. The New Wave to me are the ones who grew up alongside the exponential growth of Pokemon/Digimon and never experienced the fan scene of BBSes, Geocities webrings, and xeroxed 'zines. If you didn't ride the Star Blazers or Robotech waves, but predated the Pokemon revolution, you're part of the Older New Wave. That's just my thoughts on it.

But yes. If you were in SF, you were absolutely spoiled as an anime fan. ;D

This observation goes straight to the point, and dovetails something I've learned about interacting with younger fans at conventions. I realized long ago that I can either behave like the stereotypical beardo--to no one's benefit, I would add--or I can absorb the excitement of younger fans and make it fun for both of us.

I don't stream; marriage and career are quite the distraction. When I do have time, I turn to my DVD/Blu collection (I'm a dyed-in-the-wool collector/videophile.) So, at con, I'm always looking for something new to buy, and I engage the younger fans for advice and suggestions. These kids (in my eyes at least) are usually excited and eager to help, and this goodwill is infectious, my friends! The generational barrier dissolves, and they treat me not as an elder, but just another fan. It also leads to some great conversations while waiting for a panel; I can learn about the best of what's currently streaming, and I can reminisce about older shows, still available on hard media, that they could find in the dealer's room if they were interested. The whole thing boils down to mutual respect.

leafy sea dragon wrote:

...perhaps you have better luck than me, but any time I'd try to show something older, the kids just go "Ewwww that's SOOO OLD!"

I so have to laugh! This is an argument I have with my wife, a recent grandmother who is far more attracted to recent 201x digital production than '90s cel-on-film anime. She will watch older anime on occasion, but I have to be selective.