So this is sort of related to posts #398, #470, and #471.  Respectively they are posts about the fact that in my head, growing up just means that you can buy all the shit you wanted as a kid, the geeky gardening post, and the post about poverty in fandom.

Stay with me.

So, because an awful lot of us were either poor as kids, or in some cases, had parents who hated joy, and were not allowed to buy the cool, nerdy shit we wanted then, we buy it now.

Which explains why so many of us, once we have our own money, spend waaaaayyyy too much on shit like maquettes, comics, artwork, plushies, t-shirts, replica swords, blasters, etc…

I had the 18″ Princess Leia doll and my sister had the “18 Darth Vader, but that was it for Star Wars toys or paraphernalia until I was an adult and could buy my own stuff.  For Battlestar Galactica I had the 18″ Commander Adama and my sister had the 18” Cylon. (Are you picking up on a theme here?) I think the reason I got the Commander Adama was that by the time they went on sale, that was all that was left.

No action figures, no models, no vehicles, because we couldn’t afford it.  No Strawberry Shortcake dolls (totally dating myself). We had the off-brand Legos called Brix Blox, which only came in red, white, and blue, but did have some neat shapes that Legos didn’t at the time.  In particular a curved piece that you could build some awesome chimneys and periscopes with. We did get some cool lunchboxes, because even the licensed ones were the same price back in the olden days.

My first lunchbox was a Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt lunchbox.

We did get a fair amount of toys at Christmas, from my relatively conservative relatives, so no “boys’ toys” for us.  Just a lot of Barbie shit.

Sigh.

And we got the occasional Hot Wheels, but mostly those cardboard cards of 8 cheap metal cars, that were frequently 1-4 types of cars painted (badly) different colors.

So, as an adult, I have a tendency to buy things like actual Hot Wheels cars, Star Wars and Star Trek stuff, comic book related crap.  Seriously, guys, my bedroom art is like three sexy prints/drawings, one original oil painting that was the cover to a horror anthology, and a ton of Captain America stuff.    I think I’m growing out of the ‘BUY ALL THE THINGS’ phase, finally, but I still pick up a fair amount of purely frivolous shit because I can.

Now that the original “ZOMG! I can buy shit!” has worn off, I am getting a little more discerning in what I pick up, only getting things I really, really like as opposed to everything.  But I get the desire to buy all the things and keep them all forever.  It comes from a place of want and a lack of “can have,” often times from childhood.  Or from maybe having had, and then losing them all. Like me and my Richie Rich comics or Seanan McGuire and her My Little Ponies.

But mostly we buy the stuff we desperately wanted as children that we couldn’t afford or our parents wouldn’t let us have.

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