Roblox. I played it as a kid around 2007 when it was just a small Lego-like building game with your friends. It's been really weird seeing it become some predatory, monetized app game that kids play on their iPad now.
For reference, I'm almost 30 and haven't played it since I was like 14. My friend's kid was playing Roblox on his tablet and asked if I "heard of this new app game called Roblox" and it hurt my soul.
if so then name your thing
Sort of I guess: em dashes.
Not to talk about, but to use when writing.
Now they are apparently the hallmark of AI-generated crap.
I spent a lot of time on computers (shocker, right?) and that was seen as nerdy and weird when I was at school. Even after I got my first real job, I remember my girlfriend dismissing things I'd say because "nobody cares about your stupid internet". Predictable rest of comment is predictable.
Rick and Morty
Serial Experiments Lain. I managed to acquire a bootleg Japanese VHS of the show (sans subtitles) in '99 or '00 and fell in love. I bought the English dub as soon as I could find it. I was totally obsessed, even going as far as carrying a messenger bag like Lain had, and making a custom Windows XP theme based on Navi. I even bought a Palm Pocket to mimic the smartphones shown in the show.
Lain shaped my passion for IT, and I feel it changed my life in profound ways.
I'm confused by the sudden popularity. It went under the radar for so long. Now all of the merch goes for insane amounts of money.
Computers
Roguelikes. I'm not saying some of the modern roguelites aren't fantastic, there are many that are. But the genre boom has all but pushed traditional roguelikes (NetHack, ADoM, Angband, Brogue, etc) out of the conversation.
The internet
The Epic of Gilgamesh
There's literally an episode of Doug where Doug's standard outfit inexplicably becomes super popular. So watch 90s Nick to learn what to do.
Ratatat. I got into them through an Albino Blacksheep video, and they were my secret favourite band for a bit.
Then they got popular, and people that I didn't really jell with started casually raving about them, and I found it difficult to enjoy the music because of those people.
Years later, I grew up. Music is for everyone, and everyone forms their own relationship with it that shouldnt impact the enjoyment of the music itself.
Yes, they were sold on the band through mass advertizing channels. Yes, I discovered them through a more organic means. But that's how fans are born, and yes some of them aren't there for the music, but they are there to have a good time and maybe those songs hold special memories for them later in life when they were hanging around with friends.
Battle Royale (2000)
Computer games. Anything that can be monetized will turn into shit.
I am an avid collector and drinker of Chinese teas, particularly oolongs and puerh. I had been drinking them for years when suddenly the absolute asshole Dr. Oz went on TV claiming that puerh tea was some magical cure for anything and everything that you might have.
Normally, I get excited for new people to share tea with, but this fad caused prices to rise across the board and caused the market to get flooded with awful quality tea. These people were drinking some of the worst quality (fishy, shou/cooked puerh) teas and were more obsessed with how to mask the flavors with milk and sugar than actually slowing down and enjoying the tea.
The fad faded and people went back to putting matcha in their morning milkshakes. Even so, I still run into people that reflexively associate incredible tea with Dr. Oz and the disgusting teas he foisted upon his audience. Sad.
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