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20 years is the time it takes for things to get cool again. In the 80s, we began liking the 60s again, in the 90s we were treated to ABBA and other 70s paraphenilia (bell-bottoms, etc). Now the radio stations have 80s lunches, etc.
I think this is because (hold on, the idea's coming) we like things
as kids, hate them as teenages, then wax nostaligic for them as we hit our adult-hood.
I'm 31 - in the 70s I loved disco and StarWars. In the 90s I was simply freakin' out about Episode I, and I bought the best of both ABBA AND the BeeGees. Last week, I bought an Atari 2600 at a yard-sale, and recreated the early 80s.
So here's the idea. Build a 20-year resurrection into electronic things (too hard to do with non-electronic toys, etc). Like your GameBoy. Wouldn't it be cool if (15 years from now, when all the kids who were playing with these 2 - 3 years ago are in their 20s) all the Gameboys suddenly came to life, whereever they are? Nintendo could coincide this with a re-release of best selling games, for the original GameBoy.
Other examples would be mp3 players or discmen.
The point is not so much the product, but the media that we love now (or 20 years ago, 20 years from now). Imagine if you walked into your attic/basement and your turn-table had suddenly turned itself on, ready for you to relive your child-hood. Obviously we have to start now, because turntables can't turn themselves on, 20 years from now. But mp3 players could.
It would take a long-life battery, that would run a micro-processor/timer (for the 20 years) and then power up the appliance. Even if the battery then only lasts for a short while (I'm not talking AAs here, I mean like a CMOS battery that would be INSIDE the appliance), it should be enough to spark *someone's* attention.
Maybe it's all just wishful thinking. I wish my spirograph would come to life again.
(?) Online SpiroGraph
http://math.ucsd.ed...ava/SpiroGraph.html
sigh. [Matty, Jul 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(?) Online Etch-a-Sketch
http://www.hairytongue.com/etchy/
similar to [hippo]s link to Jinbish's Giant Etch-A-Sketch [Matty, Jul 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(?) YesterdayLand
http://www.yesterdayland.com/
Toys, cartoon, etc. [Matty, Jul 04 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(?) Online Lite-Brite
http://www.sfpg.com...ion/liteBrite.html#
Not quite so exciting as the spirograph [Matty, Jul 04 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(?) Virtual Chemistry Set
http://www.kidsdoma...activchemistry.html
ActivChem (play version) [reensure, Jul 05 2002]
[link]
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Sorry - I didn't know exactly where to put this idea. |
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you get a croissant just for the online spirograph link. I loved my spirograph as a kid....I shall pop over to e-bay now and see if I can find one to buy.... |
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I can see it now. ll our kids will be wearing Khakis, and it will be cool to have retro microsoft stuff. "Check out this cool retro cordless mouse" "Check out my dads computer fromthe attic, its running windows 98, and has the smallest hard drive, only 40GB!" |
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[runforrestrun]: I bet you won't... |
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Nick, that shows how much you don't know me... |
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I bid on a couple of different sets from 1967 and one of the 64 piece super sets from the early 70s |
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you'd be surprised how many sets there are on e-bay for sale....and, if you search on the word "spirograph" you also get really weird Canadian money that had spirograph like markings.... |
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I'm envisioning myself in 2022, clearing out my attic one day, and seeing something blink: |
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"What's that? What IS this thing? Omigod look at that. Well I'll be a borg's uncle - it's my old PalmPilot. Wonder why it's blinking - look it still works. Wow - they don't make things to last like that anymore. I wonder if I still have cribbage on this thing - hey I do! Honey! Honey - get up here! Look, I found a cribbage!" |
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Went through the toy box in my mom's basement and
found not only my spirograph, but my Dad's old
metal/chrome version from the 1950s that operates not
with the gears but with a metal arm that you adjust using
and angle thingy. So it's coming back at least twice. |
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Still have Spirograph and Art-A-Matic at folks place - can't for the life of me find the bongo drums or James Bond Radio/Gun combo - maybe my cousins got 'em - weasels. Online Spiro is worth a croissant in itself. |
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[ElectraSteph] Regarding the cyclical nature of toys, I agree. The 20 year rule seems to be followed by a 40 year rule, for the original users (ie your 40 year-olds who rediscover their youth as they hit middle ages). But additionally, I used to love playing with the toys my dad played with as a child, simple because they were so weird - clockwork thingies and war-toys from just post-WWII. And Lincoln Logs are back à go-go too. I've got a few more links for those of you searching for something you've lost (Bobo?) |
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What I would really, seriously, like is if my computer, on a set day (tomorrow), would boot up with MSDOS and Windows 3.xx, and I could relive the days when my screen didn't look like a cobalt blue "See 'n Spell" from the toystore (ie Windows XP). [I know, I know, you can change the colors, blah blah blah...] So a croissant for you for thinking of this. |
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I bet [Matty] is waxing over his Atari right now![+] |
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