FINALS WEEK IS OVER! AND YA'LL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
More posts and hopefully better content!
So I happened to come across this little comic during one of my late night study parties and it got me to think. What is the reason why I play Yugioh? Why do I like Gundam? Why do I like the things that I do, and does this have an influence on the buying habits that I have. It was a real soul searching question and I think I was able to come up with an answer.
I like nice things.
Its a really simple response, but its true. The anime that I like are all pretty, and I won't go near anything that I deem to hold my standard of beauty. You can say that in a way its shallow and you're entitled to think that. But for me to deny it and for anyone to deny that they don't have their own personal standard of aesthetic is just plain ignorant. So then how does this apply to the hobbies that I do? Well for model kitting, it makes sense. I like the way that the model looks and I am able to shape the way that it I see fit. I can color it, mold it and customize it. And that's really the heart of modeling, it isn't based on competition or who has the most money, its about making something that you personally like, something that appeals to you, and to make it the way that you want. Its a perfect form of art and a great form of expressing yourself.
So that's for Gunpla, but what about Yugioh? Well I think that the anime plays a good part in it, I like the character designs as crazy as they come. I like the action, the adventure, the music, and the fluidity of the animation. But most importantly I like the cards. I like the fact that something that the characters in the show has is something that I can myself own. It isn't a model, like the kits that I have, but something straight out of the show and something that I replicate in real life with the card game and by actually playing with the card.
This all goes without saying that I like playing the game and that I like keeping up with the meta, which of course is entirely different from what the show conveys. So when I was thinking about how the comic applied to me and Yugioh, I noticed that over the past couple of years that I was caught up in the playing and the meta of the game. I was concentrating on winning and cycling through the newest cards and trying to keep up with the best players. In light of that, I had lost why I liked Yugioh in the first place. It wasn't a lucrative reason, by any means. It was simply that I liked collecting the cards, and I liked having something that was similar to what the main characters had in the show.
So after reading the comic, I had decided that I would take a new stand on my hobbies. I wouldn't be buying as many products as I had been in the past, but that doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy it and engage in it.
For Gunpla, obviously my next step would be to work on the kits that I have available with me and work on them till I have reached my own level of perfection for each kit. Of course this means that I will be spending a lot of money on supplies and working on my tool box of modeling techniques.
As for Yugioh, I will still be playing, but mostly on Dueling Network. I'll be fun to try out the new decks and see what they all are about. But in terms of buying cards for the meta, its gotten too expensive and has truly taken up a lot of my life that I won't be able to get back. Not to say that there's anything wrong with it. But right now isn't the best time for me to be fully active in the metagame of a TCG. In response, I will still be buying cards, but they'll be more for collecting purposes than for playing. I believe in this way I'll get more satisfaction out of the game, and at the very least my wallet will be a little happier. Most of the popular cards on the show have been reprinted numerous times, so the prices should be fairly low. And even if I get a card that I like, it won't matter how much the price rises or drops, cause the worth of the card to me wouldn't be the monetary value of the card, it'll be what it means to me personally. Haha kinda like how Yugi's grandpa treated his Blue - Eyes White Dragon.
The best example would be a 2 years ago at Anime Expo when I bought my Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning. This was before the card had been taken off of the banlist so it was fairly cheap at a somewhat reasonable $12 for a first edition IOC. Even though it was worthless game wise, it was the best purchase I had ever made, cause it was a card that I liked both aesthetically, its connection to the TV show, and because of what it meant to the game that I played. A similar experience happened at YCS Long Beach when I had finally purchased my very own Chaos Emperor Dragon Envoy of the End for a reasonable $5.
Out of every purchase that I've made of my cards, these ones are the ones that I'll always think of more highly than all others. And it was because I got and did what I liked doing, rather than getting it just cause someone else said that I should, or cause it would be profitable. This is why I'm going to focus my future purchases on an anime collection. Of course I'll be buying mostly reprints of cards as to not break my wallet. And I'll be updating the list on one of the side bars to the right of the page.
No comments:
Post a Comment