Plagued Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[whitepumpkin]

See, what if someone was to be engaged in sports/movies/gaming their entire life and decide to get into the business. They spend their lives in that business.
By this logic they are consoomers.

No one disagrees with the assertion that some level of consumerism is okay. To be absolutely clear here, I'm not trying to say that we should just abandon all frivolity and live a utilitarian and frugal existence. That would be fucking miserable. Some frivolity is okay, but people genuinely forget that it's literally impossible for all 8 billion humans on the planet to consume like any "developed" country does.

Yeah, no one in this thread is advocating to throw everything away and live in a tiny house with a sink, toilet, and bed and spend your days meditating or whatever. We all have shit we're autistic over - we wouldn't be on the farms if we didn't. But there's a massive difference between enjoying something and CONSOOM.

Look at most of the videos @NoReturn posts. Starbucks girls, makeup hoarding, flexing "brand" giveaways and buying plastic shit off amazon. Guys hoarding so many Nintendo games or keyboards that they build entire basements to their shrines. Even though I adore Tolkien, I'd be abhorred to have some sort of shrine setup to the books/show because you elevate the material beyond criticism and put it on a pedestal that becomes your religion. Yet some people do that because they either have a need to get these things to fulfill some part of their personality. Or because they genuinely have been rewired to thinking happiness only comes from BRAND so in order to be happy, consoom BRAND.

That's what this thread mostly makes fun of. No one could care less if you like Star Trek. Or if you own the boxset and re-watch the show every 6 months. If you do it while in a replica Star Trek living room, wearing Star Trek shirts and pants, with fake Vulcan ears, eating off Star Trek plates with your Star Trek funko pops sitting on your bookshelf full of boxes of toys and figures that you will never open... Then yeah, we're going to be like "Consoom much??"

If you crafted those plates yourself, or made the ears, or recreated the shirts, that at least would show you have skills and a passion enough for the show that you want to express yourself. Making movies? Creative. And you learn from your craft by watching and studying other films. Sportscasting? Well, you have to put effort in to learn every mechanic - again, manifesting a skill.

There is nothing skillful or amazing about pulling out a credit card, paying for those items that are overpriced from china, and then placing them on a shelf to never be touched again lest the "value" go down. A value only you and a niche sector of humanity hold for it and will diminish as time goes on.

 

[Minx95]

When it comes to Youtubers who talk about pop culture, which ones are good and which ones are bad.

 

[Jolyne THICCujoh]

When it comes to Youtubers who talk about pop culture, which ones are good and which ones are bad.

There are no good ones. As soon as they start sperging about Marvel, anime or comic book shit, it's all downhill.

 

[NoReturn]

What a goldmine of cringe. Majority of these aren't collections, they're assortments of random trinkets and junk they've amassed.

Fun fact, you can use redditsave and similar sites to download embedded reddit videos as you would a TikTok or YouTube video. Use that knowledge how you will.
This, however, is not a video:

 

[You're The Man Now Dog]

When it comes to Youtubers who talk about pop culture, which ones are good and which ones are bad.

Internet Historian. Because when he talks about pop culture he does it purely to shit all over it for comedic value, even if he likes it.

If you're edgier, SsethTzeentach. He makes fun of video games but he still enjoys them. He also makes a lot of jokes that are too hot for television.

If you're even edgier, E;R. He hates everything and isn't afraid to say things that would get him put in prison if his real identity ever got out. But he's also very funny.

 

[NoReturn]

Look at most of the videos @NoReturn posts. Starbucks girls,

makeup hoarding,

flexing "brand" giveaways

That's right. She's not even keeping the shit from her "haul".

Spoiler: More and the rest of this post below the cut. Shit got long.

and buying plastic shit off amazon.

Guys hoarding so many Nintendo games or keyboards that they build entire basements to their shrines.

Even though I adore Tolkien, I'd be abhorred to have some sort of shrine setup to the books/show because you elevate the material beyond criticism and put it on a pedestal that becomes your religion.

Yet some people do that because they either have a need to get these things to fulfill some part of their personality.

TL;DW: According to this guy -
Minimalist = "Justifying being broke"
Skater boy = "The guy who gets all the attention but isn't over his ex."
Techwear = "Likes Cyberpunk and anime."
Hype beast = "The Applebees of streetwear"
eBoy = "Wants to be famous."
Sneakerhead = "You put all your points into one stat."

Or because they genuinely have been rewired to thinking happiness only comes from BRAND so in order to be happy, consoom BRAND.

 

[whitepumpkin]

That's right. She's not even keeping the shit from her "haul".

Why'd she get it all then. Why. (I know she said for her subscribers but she barely knows half the shit she got. Just that it's from "amazon!")

I also now know what it's like to have a full-body shudder at viewing a video. That LOTR Museum was just... too much for me. It really sounds like the reason he's doing it is for the thrill of the find, you just have to ignore how much he's spent to get to that point of being surrounded by vinyl and plastic.



Holy balls you could make this yourself with garden rocks, fake moss and dead sticks, and some $4 glowing paint and save yourself $495. I think I'm more impressed that you can sell shit like this for exuberant amounts of money than for the actual item itself.

 

[The Lawgiver]

Personally, I stopped caring too much about getting gifts for Christmas. I mean, it’s nice getting a gift you weren’t expecting, especially if it was homemade, but I’m more concerned about getting gifts for my loved ones than anything.

Besides, if I wanted something, I’d get it myself. And too much stuff leads to clutter.

I've had trouble with what I want for christmas the last 6 years or so now. Only things I can think of wanting for christmas this year, aside from some shit that'd help with my art and tool shit, is small shit like cheap but extremely limited quantity art figures based on long dead franchises.

Fun fact, you can use redditsave and similar sites to download embedded reddit videos as you would a TikTok or YouTube video. Use that knowledge how you will.
This, however, is not a video:
View attachment 2782175

God, this reminds me how somewhere, god only knows where, I have a bunch of roughly 2 or 3 foot tall Sonic plushes I won at a boardwalk over a decade ago. They're official shit, and I stop and think sometimes about how cheap they fucking were compared to shit nowadays where stuff thats around that size is like 200 dollars. I think there's still boardwalk/arcade vidya promo shit these days, but I haven't seen something of the scale and variety of these things in some time. Despite the size, they've eluded me since they went missing once during cleaning way back in the day. I actually caught a glimpse of the Shadow one a few months back off a storage shelf I don't remember him being on it was like the fucking start of some kinda shittypasta horror story. I need to find the others sometime and make some form of dimensional merge-ass shitpost with them if they aren't like laced with some filth other than just dust. They're not shit quality but there are some that are of similar size that may or may not be bootleg and shit quality, though I remember there was some fugly ass sonic merch for a certain timespan.

By the way, sonic plush shit (sonic merch in general) is a fucking nightmare scalper world online and has been for years now. Shit predates corona scalper madness. Considering this is reddit I can only fucking imagine what this fucker paid for these things. I saw a weird crane game prize one that's part of a line of just the characters from classic sonic holding tiny wicker waste baskets and it's dated like 1996 or some shit people on ebay want 200 dollars for the damn thing. I'd pay maybe like 18 or 30 dollars tops for some shit like that it's too fucking weirdly specific to be something someone should go "ah yes the 200 dollar eggman wicker basket plush!! Valuable and rare!" Shit's literally a mass produced crane game prize you could win for like the japanese equivalent of a quarter or 2 probably and they want 200 for it lmao. Haven't checked if anyone bought it it's been months since I saw the listing.

 

[Vingle]

Only things I can think of wanting for christmas this year

extremely limited quantity art figures based on long dead franchises.

Yea, this is something I really don't want to put on my wish list myself. As I know the gift givers is people that have a hard time using computers, and practically only can buy stuff in irl stores. The problem with that, they don't have anything of what I want. Which is the reason for why I almost always send my money out of the country.

At the same time, owners of shops in my country whines about people people buying stuff for less online and out of country. Well, no shit. Time moves on and the public are catching on you scamming them.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Open solution everything is horrible

Is this still a trend for office spaces ? i remember open offices were a thing years ago when i still worked inhouse, the justification was that it reduced the isolation of cubicles which allegedly caused stress but in practice is way worse since an open office is effectively a panopticon where you are always stress from people looking over your shoulder and having no sense of privacy at all.

Ban that shit, from offices, from homes, from life, i want open nothing.

 

[Vingle]

Is this still a trend for office spaces ? i remember open offices were a thing years ago when i still worked inhouse, the justification was that it reduced the isolation of cubicles which allegedly caused stress but in practice is way worse since an open office is effectively a panopticon where you are always stress from people looking over your shoulder and having no sense of privacy at all.

Ban that shit, from offices, from homes, from life, i want open nothing.

View attachment 2782891

I guess, but I was thinking mostly on open solutions in apartment. With the kitchen as an example, the food odours will spread to the whole apartment. As the exhaust fan will not take everything.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

With the kitchen as an example, the food odours will spread to the whole apartment. As the exhaust fan will not take everything.

I hate trends pretending to reinvent the wheel when they are just throwing away common sense conventions that have stood the test of time for a good reason, like clearly separating living spaces.

The more schizo side of me just sees it as more conditioning, more oppresive offices sold as more progressive, getting people used to living in pods with less space, i wonder if in 10 years we'll see toilets in the middle of the kitchenlivingroom and articles claiming is the hip new thing to live shitting right next to your bed as in a prison cell

 

[Vingle]

I hate trends pretending to reinvent the wheel when they are just throwing away common sense conventions that have stood the test of time for a good reason, like clearly separating living spaces.

The more schizo side of me just sees it as more conditioning, more oppresive offices sold as more progressive, getting people used to living in pods with less space, i wonder if in 10 years we'll see toilets in the middle of the kitchenlivingroom and articles claiming is the hip new thing to live shitting right next to your bed as in a prison cell

Someone selling an apartment near me, and it's actually sold now. Anyway, it's pretty shit. The "bedroom" is behind that beige/pink walk, god awful colour btw. The point with a partition like that is vanished when there's not a god damn door there. And it would be better if the door opening was in the direction to the hallway, because having it right in the living room looks retarded.
They have teared down the wall to the kitchen too. Like, god damn. They have ruined the fucking apartment

 

[Minx95]

So I watch Jimmy Broadbent.
He's a guy who focuses on sim racing content, who's managed to make a career out of it.
He's a host on the Gran Turismo World Championship.
This year he got signed by Praga and now races in Britcar.
But he's one who doesn't like the fanboyism of some sim racers going after one another over which one is best,
Just tells people to enjoy it because that's the whole point. Its for fun.
Does he get competitive, sure. But he's laid back and does it for the fun and its a fulfilling hobby to him.

I wouldn't say thats a consoomer, rather someone who has turned his passion into a business and a career.
I'm perfectly fine with that.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

The more schizo side of me just sees it as more conditioning, more oppresive offices sold as more progressive, getting people used to living in pods with less space, i wonder if in 10 years we'll see toilets in the middle of the kitchenlivingroom and articles claiming is the hip new thing to live shitting right next to your bed as in a prison cell

Anyone who runs a plumbing company should get in this before it gets hot. Just imagine the hip trend of bedroom toilets as promoted by bugmen and vapid chicks on Tiktok and Instagram. Pay some plumbing company to install the line, show off your hip new toilet with MCU branding or shaped like Donald Trump. Shitting in a bathroom is for boomers and is probably racist too since PoCs were fine with living in one room huts, that clearly means it's a custom invented by evil rich white men!

Yeah, I could totally see this, the only problem might be competition from the geniuses who reinvent the chamber pot.

 

[Pissmaster]

See, what if someone was to be engaged in sports/movies/gaming their entire life and decide to get into the business. They spend their lives in that business.
By this logic they are consoomers.

Honestly I think its fine to keep your childhood stuff for sentimental value.
Send toys to kids and they'll be ruined in minutes.
Now I'm not saying HOARD stuff.
But to me I'm fine with someone being a normal human being whilst enjoying some autistic stuff as well.

I can guarantee someone will find someone else autistic on this site.
Hell if we have this argument on what makes consoomers
then I think its fair to say consoomers are subjective based on what one thinks is "over the line"

Consoomerism bothers a lot of us because I'd imagine a lot of us either used to be consoomers, or at least came damn close to it. I know I have.

Video game communities are rife with consoomers. There will always, always be a subset of people, usually the most dominant ones, who lose their fucking minds if you ever criticize their favorite series. No matter how tiny, polite, or constructive your criticism is. They'll take it personally, and act as though you're harming them. What's worse, they'll take it even harder if you have some cred to back it up, by way of a big collection, or great scores in their favorite game. It's a really fucked way of thinking, but that's just how those people fundamentally are. They've tied their entire identity into some line of products, and they let it control their lives to the point where they view other people through the filter of this product, seeing you as an outsider if you're not at least a fan of it. You may have a big Amiibo collection, but, oh, you only buy the characters you like? You don't own the special Bowser amiibo that only comes with a shitty, very overpriced Skylanders racing game for an obsolete console?


Well, I guess you're just fundamentally a lesser person.

That really is the mentality with the consoomers I've encountered. Ultimately, it seems to come down to treating a product line exactly like a religion, zealotry and all. It gets to a point where you're in a mindset to where you might not actually want the Bowser amiibo, because Bowser isn't your favorite character anyway, but there's a looming sense of dread at the concept of not buying him, as you'll make your collection that much harder to complete, and you will be a fundamentally lesser person than all the other consoomers that did buy one. Your mind starts scrambling for reasons to buy one that don't make you sound so pathetic, but ultimately, you're buying it because you're in a loose cult, and you have to keep up with the group, lest you lose respect from people you're currently calling "friends".

 

[Overcast]

Man, I forgot Skylanders was a thing. I haven't seen any mention of it for like... five years now? Used to be everywhere it feels, but now it's replaced by Fortnite as the big game franchise for kids.

 

[Airbrushed Van Art]

Going into a Gamestop or Hot Topic is a surreal experience when you see that there’s an entire section devoted to a franchise you haven’t thought about in 20 years and the tattooed-pierced blue haired teenager gushes about how awesome it is.

Sometimes, however, you get young folks who seem really fascinated with old stuff, getting carried away with talking about it and forgetting to do their jobs. It’s very endearing, actually, but I wonder where that passion came from in that shallow, cheap, overpriced plastic nightmare world. Their passion seems genuine!

 

[Dread First]

Their passion seems genuine!

That's because 9/10, it is. Speaking as an ex-retail wagie, you don't start off a bitter and jaded employee. You get conditioned into being bitter and jaded with time as you deal with corporate bullshit and customer bullshit.

Working at Hot Topic was every preteen's dream job like 12-15 years ago. Hot Topic (and Spencer's) is a shell of its former self, but that still doesn't stop wayward high school graduates/college freshmen from applying for part-time work. Also, it must be said: their "generalist" approach to stocking pop culture stuff often means that you'll find merchandise for stuff that was popular a decade or two ago.

The last time I went to Spencer's (I think it was back in late 2018/early 2019), they had fucking Daria shirts on display. Granted, they were plain black shirts with Daria's face on it and nothing else but hey, glad to see Daria's still getting some merchandise love in the (then) current year. Funnily enough, I think Hot Topic is more likely to go bust than Spencer's because at least Spencer's sells sex toys and shit. Hot Topic in the current year is basically Newbury Comics, but without the option to buy actual comics.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

Granted, they were plain black shirts with Daria's face on it and nothing else

Wouldn't Daria's character have a shit fit over mech like that if she saw it?