EARTHBOUND!; or, OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD.

a friend and i were talking the other day about collectibles: the things that we were told in the nineties would be and ultimately weren't. most of our comic books aren't worth what we paid for them, not to mention that we also paid the comic book stores that were selling us all of those collectible editions for all those mylar bags and backing boards. but the thing is that there are those other things, the ones that you never particularly thought would be particularly valuable, but that you kept because you thought that you were going to want to have all collection of the things yourself. you liked video games in the nineties, and so now you have a collection of them in plastic storage containers in a basement somewhere that haven't been touched in a decade. but you're a different kind of nerd now. the thing is, those other nineties nerds (however they affiliated), the ones that grew up to be the kind of nerds with money, well, those nerds want what's in those containers. you didn't realize it until now because you never gave a thought to the things being collectible. but the thing is that now they are. and you can sell them to make up for the psychological debt that you owe yourself for all of those comic books (or those dolls...). the best part is that you have a few games that everyone (who wants nineties super nintendo games) wants. and one in particular. people are crazy for earthbound. and sure, it was an interesting game. it also makes sense, what with the popularity amongst adults of the be-happy-twee of "adventure time," that an rpg about a boy and his quippy dog (in a just-different-enough world of oddities that nonetheless stays consistent to its own internal logic) has gained a cult following. (to the point that i wasted more time than i probably should have trying to find out if pendleton ward had ever played it.) the problem is that people are CRAZY about earthbound. there will be threats. there will be derision. the collector's market of today is also the bazaar of modern american entitlement. of course, after i know that i can get it i feel entitled to my several hundreds of dollars. or else maybe i'll keep it for myself. but no, not really. i put it in the old super nintendo to test it and it worked...but i got nothing. hopefully i will, though. unfortunately, in the testing one of the inserts seems to have gone missing. catastrophe! i want in and out of this tulip bubble before it bursts. out, you might say, of this world.