- By: William Bush

I think sometimes we take the world for granted as it stands today. Especially the world of fandom, video games, and electronics in general.

I'm myself am a 34 year old man living in an age that his mind can barely comprehend. All around us we now have access to video games, music, shows, comic books, anime, manga, and just about anything else we can fathom. Easy access to a world that one use to have to explore the reaches to find. I was playing Skyrim today on the Nintendo switch. That statement is lost on so many people, but for someone like me that grew up with a monochrome puke green screen, it is unbelievable.

I can remember when the Game Boy launched with only two games. Tennis and Tetris were the only choices and everybody wanted this thing. Nowadays the switch launches with a library easily seven times the size of that original Gameboy, yet people still complain that the library is simply too small. This isn't true of everyone of course, but I find it to be true in an awful lot of aspects.

We live in an age where the electronics that we take with us produce AAA titles like Skyrim and looking back only 10 years ago, it was impossible to even imagine a game of that size and beauty walking away from your house with full functionality. Does anybody still remember the very first Dynasty Warriors that went portable? Trust me, it was not pretty.

My whole point is that in this fast-paced world where we want everything now and we want it perfect, I think we take for granted what we've already gained. Take a moment to enjoy the things you have. Think about when we used to have to wait by the radio and Rewind the cassette. Think about how we used to rent video games or spend nearly $90 on a Nintendo title that turned out to be Silver Surfer. Think about how the only source of reviews at our fingertips was Nintendo power, that gave Fester's Quest an almost perfect score. Remember the fact that the Gameboy did not fit in your pocket unless you were wearing cargo jeans. Remember how you knew when you were a kid that you would never see a worthwhile X-Men or Avengers on the big screen.

There's so much negativity spanning not just the main media but the fandom media as well. How often do we go on YouTube to watch reviews about games where people get mad or talk about how awful the experience is. It's true you can find the positivity if you're looking for it, but there is an abundance of negativity surrounding everything we love. Instead of reviewing Comics that are masterpieces, or that bring us back to a simpler time and allow us to smile while turning the page, we watch things like a top the fourth wall where Comics burn. I'm not necessarily saying that these shows are not enjoyable as I myself am a fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd and so many like him. I myself on my own personal Channel have ranted and raved about games that are not worth playing and made fun of the aspect at large.

I'm just saying from time to time it would do us some good to take a breath and look at your wall of games. Check your computer for the list of good music. Glance your shelf or your downloads for the movies you swore you'd never see as a kid and realize that we're living in the age of fandom. I think we should take more joy surrounding ourselves with these things instead of constantly finding the best way to throw a jab.

Well I don't expect the World to change by any means, I would tell you that in this busy lifestyle of constant work and constant movement without rest from the political storm and the oversaturation and commercialization of everything we see, touch, and hear, we owe it to ourselves to step back.

Look at your shelf of cool action figures. Pick up your comics and enjoy the level of art that is profoundly better than what could be produced at the time. Watch a movie that you never in your life thought you would even have the chance to see. Allow yourself to laugh at the ridiculousness of the fanservice in your manga or specific video game. Take a single day to appreciate what surrounds us and you may find that what we have in the age of fandom is great and getting better every day. There are bumps along the road, but as you sit down to play Skyrim on your front porch, read a comic book in the open without the ridicule that used to come with it, or enjoy Black Panther on the screen that was unreachable in our childhood. Don't just let it pass you by. Take a moment with it and enjoy while we have it, because when it collapses I promise you'll miss it.