All us nerds have a “sweet spot.” I’m talking about that 5-year window of formative years where your nerd tastes were pressed into the squishy clay of your being, likely around ages 9-14 or somewhere there about.
My nerdy sweet spot was 1983-1988.
My 9-year-old self had discovered Spider-Man comics and playing with GI Joes was all I wanted to do. I had a D&D book by this time, although I didn’t really understand the rules and just created characters.
Indiana Jones was in the theaters with Karate Kid, The Goonies, and Back to the Future.
A couple years later, I began to devour Claremont X-Men comics. Ultimately, I got my Nintendo Entertainment System and my life was consumed by Zelda and Metroid.
It’s hard to overstate how formative those years were. They made an indelible mark on my being. Those nerdy properties endure as my absolute favorites to this day.
Sure, I was picking up new stuff in college but my primary motivation at that point was picking up girls. So I certainly added some to my nerd repertoire in those college years. But ’83-88? Man, those were my years.
Those years shape my hobbies to this day. I’ve added miniature painting as a hobby, but that is simply building on my childhood love of D&D. I love the current Hickman comics but that’s only because ’83-88 made me a life-long X-Men fan. Board games are a new hobby for me but that’s a hobby not too far afield from my formative years.
Why do I bring this up? Well, I’d love to hear about yours. What era shaped you? Why was it formative for you? And in what ways?
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