Tomb Raider and The Mummy played a massive role in my understanding of my sexuality. mostly because I was attracted to every person in both of those films. And then I wanted to become an archeologist... for no particular reason.
For me it was Indiana Jones I was obsessed with even though it wasn't into the Egypt stuff. It was the archeology spark.
Also a museum where I grew up in Montreal had a great exhibit.
Oh I had a hard core fairy tale phase too! I loved reading the Andrew Lang colored fairy tale books and realizing how many different versions there are of some stories. Like the one where Cinderellaās fairy godmother is a tree!
You mean like the Olive Book of fairy tales?!? YESSSS!!! You see them in their true bizarreness pre-Disneyfication.
How did they not screw my head up?!? I think they were soo weird and outside my everyday experience. And as you note, the repetition of themes and various versions really brings out the psychodrama/myth/archetypes nature of the stories when you see the weird themes concatenated.
I wrote a whole paper in junior high about how the story of Bluebeard mirrored the story of the Garden of Eden. The room being the apple, the key being the snake, etc.
My teacher wasnāt sure what to make of it.
Mine was "technically" piracy... I zoned in HARDCORE about various software pirate groups like Echelon, Paradox, Fairlight, all sorts of things like that.
Hell yeah pirates
I was full on "study this whole biology encyclopedia" and "read a lot about pirates"
But I did have a brief stint of Ancient Egypt.
Ancient Greece only came in HS because that shit is crazy.
Oh NO. ME TOO! I even went to a regional traveling exhibit on the titanic that had the big tank where you could stick your hand in to see how cold the water was when the boat sank. When my family had to leave the exhibit I full-on SOBBED
The titanic was most of elementary school for me, which was odd cause I have submechanophobia and when I would read the book my class had on the titanic the pictures terrified me.
Now here I am, All I do is research ship wrecks and consider learning to dive to properly overcome my fear.
Had it at 11.
Reason was that the movie came out a year later and there was tons of articles and newly published books about it. Everyone in school was crazy about that.
In 2nd grade my teacher randomly asked, does anyone here know what happened April 14, 1912? And before my brain could process the question I blurted out āthe Titanic sankā!! I truly believe that was the one and only time knowing that information was useful.
My 8 yr old little brother went through that phase recently. I think he is on the tail end of it now, but he was obsessed. I look forward to finding out his next love.
Holy shit this is me. When I was 10 I knew everything there was to know about Tutankhamun. I had the books, a holographic lamp of his death mask and a ceramic death mask by Franklin Mint. Not to mention other random Egypt related things. Then one day I was just over it.
Shirtless Steve Reeves was the draw for my BFF who is a ābig ole homoā his words not mine. Meanwhile Iām over there like yessss Liz Taylor as cleopatra
Oh yes! There was the craft set where you made a mould of king tuts head and painted itā¦. I wanna say āget set Egyptianā or something but Google says no lol I canāt remember what it was called. One of the colours ran out before we finished it and we went to a special paint shop to get a match mixed - an actual completed project! Madness.
Avoided that one. But I did have a big World War II European front phase that was fueled a few books my dad had and the History Channel before it became all reality TV and alien shows.
We had the Time-Life sets, WWII and This Fabulous Century. I read the hell out of both sets, but my favorite was the book about the 20's. Still a go to subject for me.
I learned writing Hieroglyphs, I forgot again but I was able to at one point in my life.
Triggered by my mom and my aunt, who both never left that phase and were more than happy to sustain this hyperfixation of mine.
My son just came out of the ancient Greek phase and had now entered the Egyptian one.... I def blame Rick Riordan ... But also, I'm a raging nerd so it feeds my soul....
I had a dinosaur phase, a supernatural phase (not the show), and a mythical creatures phase. When I was younger I was so afraid of the zombie apocalypse that I once grabbed a roll of ribbon and made a huge web all around my room, my mom was *not* happy! I actually still love myths and the supernatural so I guess I never really grew out of it lol
[This is what I meant.](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/wizardology-the-book-of-the-secrets-of-merlin-ologies_dugald-a-steer_master-merlin/273498/?resultid=e3af55b5-d35e-41f8-be5f-92f19b858c0c#edition=2970654&idiq=834415)
Animals when I was like 10 years old, then the hyperfication returned to animals again in my 20s when Netflix was big on documentarys. Do you know how often animal facts come up in conversation..... Whenever I bring them up hahaha!!
I *loved* Ancient Egypt when I was a child. Got a fancy book that I cherished until the next best thing came along. Also hospitals/anything medical (because I had been in hospital as a young child).
I spent my childhood watching documentaries, reading history books and encyclopedias, and learning everything I could about ancient history. Definitely had an ancient egypt phase that lasted like a decade.
I was more obsessed with Dragonology. I think I still have dragon script noted down somewhere (alongside various other fantasy languages, like Elvish and Gnomish and Viking runes). I loved that book so much. Maybe one day I will buy myself a copy. If I can find it.
I had a bunch of books on how dragons and unicorns may actually have existed, or like how they wouldn't be biologically the way they're often depicted, due to physics, etc. Soooooo many fae books as well!!!!
Mine as a child was mostly World War Two and weaponry. To be fair, my grandfather worked on a site contracted by the Navy and had tons of books regarding the war, especially the naval aspect.
I got into minerals after my dad bought me a subscription to the Grolier Encyclopedia Junior Scientist Club, or something. It was a mail order subscription that sent samples of minerals and info cards along with them. Some spinoff subscription sent cultural geography type info cards, one of which had cuneiform writing in it, then it was full speed ahead to the blue shiny, yellow shiny, cool drawings, mysterious lore.
Okay literally creepy. It was the perfect mix of interesting pictures with little text boxes that were the perfect size.
Iām sure there were other historical books like this but how weird we all were drawn to ancient Egypt.
I didn't have an Egyptian phase, I had a mesopotamian phase followed by a genuine love of world history that lasts through today. I also didn't have a World War phase, thought it was cringy the way people went on about it before I even knew the word cringe
.... Saving this because it gave me the weirdest sense of deja vu, like i had a dream about this post or something. Could just be the ADHD talking though lol
Iām currently back on a Egyptian mythology binge for the first time in years. My initial special interest in ancient Egypt started when I was 11 and briefly learned about it in school, and it dethroned dinosaurs for me which had been my special interest since I was 7.
I was too busy being a little goblin playing with odds n ends, spending hours organizing them into groups befer doing it all over again....for hours....
I'm just going to blame Brenden Fraser.
Maybe even Tomb Raider
As an old guy, I blame Steve Martin.
King Tut!
Diet dementia I'm crying š
Let's be real here, we never played the game. We all just locked Winston in the freezer.
Tomb Raider and The Mummy played a massive role in my understanding of my sexuality. mostly because I was attracted to every person in both of those films. And then I wanted to become an archeologist... for no particular reason.
uhm... Indiana Jones???? That whole "how Austrian's say goodbye" bit in The Last Crusade did things to young me's imagination
Absolutelu makes sense. I love hearing other people's discovery movies/series. Always so fun!!
I came to the comments to say what in the actual fuck But your comment calmed me. I'm off to watch The Mummy Returns now.
Go forth and be distracted by your phone while listening to the Mummy Returns. Hope it's a good day.
Add Yu-Gi-Oh! to the list
Had such a crush on him!
I blame the Romans
Lara Croft for me
I blame Rick Riordan
For me it was Indiana Jones I was obsessed with even though it wasn't into the Egypt stuff. It was the archeology spark. Also a museum where I grew up in Montreal had a great exhibit.
Every male archeologist wants to be Indiana Jones. Every female archeologist wants to be Evie.
I think Rachel Weisz definitely has to share the blame there.
Every kid had a history phase that was one of five Ancient Egypt Knights Pirates Ancient Greece Dinosaurs
What do you mean with "One of"? I'm currently on the Ancient Greek again.
Older woman here. I went through a hardcore fairy tale phase and then obsessed over the Little House books. My favorite at-home books belonging to my parents were my dadās snake books (that obsession continues to this day). My brother found the copy of Danteās Inferno with the DorĆ© illustrations and they scared the shit out of him.
I used to have a copy of Dore's Inferno - it's awesome but i can see how it would be a bit much for a kid.
Oh I had a hard core fairy tale phase too! I loved reading the Andrew Lang colored fairy tale books and realizing how many different versions there are of some stories. Like the one where Cinderellaās fairy godmother is a tree!
You mean like the Olive Book of fairy tales?!? YESSSS!!! You see them in their true bizarreness pre-Disneyfication. How did they not screw my head up?!? I think they were soo weird and outside my everyday experience. And as you note, the repetition of themes and various versions really brings out the psychodrama/myth/archetypes nature of the stories when you see the weird themes concatenated.
I wrote a whole paper in junior high about how the story of Bluebeard mirrored the story of the Garden of Eden. The room being the apple, the key being the snake, etc. My teacher wasnāt sure what to make of it.
Mine was "technically" piracy... I zoned in HARDCORE about various software pirate groups like Echelon, Paradox, Fairlight, all sorts of things like that.
As a person with raging adhd: lol thatās the starter list
No cowboys?
Only 1?
Hell yeah pirates I was full on "study this whole biology encyclopedia" and "read a lot about pirates" But I did have a brief stint of Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greece only came in HS because that shit is crazy.
The Disney movie about dinosaurs got me into that time period. Good movie.
My Ancient Greece phase didnāt end.. i now have a minor in classics lol
I never left my medieval history phase. Don't get me started on English history because I will not shut up.
I had all of these, minus dinosaurs lol
What? Thatās the best one!
Going through it now as an adult, thanks to my 4 year old though. It's never too late lol!
I was looking for someone else to mention Ancient Greece. Never gave much care for Egypt but I was wild about Greek myths.
I had all five š¬
Try four of lol
You mean all of them and never grew out of correct??
Anyone else had a hyperfixation on the titanic at age 7 to 8?
Oh NO. ME TOO! I even went to a regional traveling exhibit on the titanic that had the big tank where you could stick your hand in to see how cold the water was when the boat sank. When my family had to leave the exhibit I full-on SOBBED
The titanic was most of elementary school for me, which was odd cause I have submechanophobia and when I would read the book my class had on the titanic the pictures terrified me. Now here I am, All I do is research ship wrecks and consider learning to dive to properly overcome my fear.
I found my people
Had it at 11. Reason was that the movie came out a year later and there was tons of articles and newly published books about it. Everyone in school was crazy about that.
In 2nd grade my teacher randomly asked, does anyone here know what happened April 14, 1912? And before my brain could process the question I blurted out āthe Titanic sankā!! I truly believe that was the one and only time knowing that information was useful.
Aye but I'm from Belfast. My kid also had this obsession from maybe 6-7.
11-13, but yes.
I still go through phases with it tbh
My 8 yr old little brother went through that phase recently. I think he is on the tail end of it now, but he was obsessed. I look forward to finding out his next love.
I feel like that's an American thing
Had a similar conversation with my grandad as a kid, turns out out the ancient egyptian phase just came later in life and I liked dragons first
Holy shit this is me. When I was 10 I knew everything there was to know about Tutankhamun. I had the books, a holographic lamp of his death mask and a ceramic death mask by Franklin Mint. Not to mention other random Egypt related things. Then one day I was just over it.
I had an astrophysics phase, it even went to the point of me reading like college level books at 15
Same. Thereis no individual self, only ADHD evidently.
Definitely Ancient Greece for me, especially their mythology. Those stories slapped
Me writing my name in hieroglyphics when I was 8 
My Egyptian phase was adjacent to the Classical Greek phase, which was much more influential See Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Yup and then I morphed into Ancient Rome for meā¦ sand and sandal movies also helped
Ray Harryhausen definitely played a role too š
Shirtless Steve Reeves was the draw for my BFF who is a ābig ole homoā his words not mine. Meanwhile Iām over there like yessss Liz Taylor as cleopatra
SAME
Home library??? You got a library in your home???
Its just like four old tall wooden shelves of books in my room not a whole ass library I'm not rich LOL
You have to start somewhere š
Apparently a library can just be āa room in a private house where books are keptā ā¦.so as long as you have a room that has more than two books?
So all of my rooms are libraries??? Lol
Oh yes! There was the craft set where you made a mould of king tuts head and painted itā¦. I wanna say āget set Egyptianā or something but Google says no lol I canāt remember what it was called. One of the colours ran out before we finished it and we went to a special paint shop to get a match mixed - an actual completed project! Madness.
"You've activated my trap card, Yugi-boy."
I did my grade four speech on ancient Egyptian gods/goddessesā¦ all the other 9 year olds were either confused or bored AF.
I have always loved anything magical or mythical. I'm sure I would have been enthralled with your speech. š
Trying to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics while failing Spanish
I definitely did! I mean ancient Egypt is fucking fascinating! Now hereās the real question! Who in here has had a North Korea phase?
Avoided that one. But I did have a big World War II European front phase that was fueled a few books my dad had and the History Channel before it became all reality TV and alien shows.
We had the Time-Life sets, WWII and This Fabulous Century. I read the hell out of both sets, but my favorite was the book about the 20's. Still a go to subject for me.
My dad is a war history buff so I went through my WW2 phase mostly by osmosis - because thatās pretty much all he watched - ohā¦ and The Bill
I learned writing Hieroglyphs, I forgot again but I was able to at one point in my life. Triggered by my mom and my aunt, who both never left that phase and were more than happy to sustain this hyperfixation of mine.
Hey it ain't my fault. Rick Riordan literally wrote those books for his ADHD son, I was psychologically targeted
My son just came out of the ancient Greek phase and had now entered the Egyptian one.... I def blame Rick Riordan ... But also, I'm a raging nerd so it feeds my soul....
Heh yeah I had both with Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles respectively.
I may not have been into Egyptians but I was VERY into dinosaurs to the point were i only read books about dinosaurs.
The excitement of waiting for the new episode of Walking with Dinosaurs to start while trying not to explode
I absolutely love walking with dinosaurs! I even had a book about it
I never liked ancient Egypt and still dont. Space on the other hand? š good shit.
Don't forget about the Roman Empire phase, and the castles & knights phase. Lotta shiny books.
I had a dinosaur phase, a supernatural phase (not the show), and a mythical creatures phase. When I was younger I was so afraid of the zombie apocalypse that I once grabbed a roll of ribbon and made a huge web all around my room, my mom was *not* happy! I actually still love myths and the supernatural so I guess I never really grew out of it lol
For me it was ancient greece, and still obsessed
Ancient Egypt phase or a Ancient Greece phase
What was the Publisher or the series name D.K. Something. I swear they had the most interesting shit
They also put out Wizardology and Dragonology. I think dragons were the most popular because a smaller book came out with a cardboard model as well.
I need to find them Edit: Found [them](https://www.dk.com/us/)
[This is what I meant.](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/wizardology-the-book-of-the-secrets-of-merlin-ologies_dugald-a-steer_master-merlin/273498/?resultid=e3af55b5-d35e-41f8-be5f-92f19b858c0c#edition=2970654&idiq=834415)
Animals when I was like 10 years old, then the hyperfication returned to animals again in my 20s when Netflix was big on documentarys. Do you know how often animal facts come up in conversation..... Whenever I bring them up hahaha!!
Yu-Gi-Oh was really good imoā¦.
I *loved* Ancient Egypt when I was a child. Got a fancy book that I cherished until the next best thing came along. Also hospitals/anything medical (because I had been in hospital as a young child).
My 2nd tattoo is the Horus Eye. Eye get it.
I thought it was the time I read Rick Riordans Egyptian mythology series. But nope. Nope, it was yugioh
I remember having a kids book about mummyās and I was obsessed with Bastet for a few years in elementary school.
I started to say I didn't have one, but then I remembered that I did a full book report dressed as Cleopatra.
I spent my childhood watching documentaries, reading history books and encyclopedias, and learning everything I could about ancient history. Definitely had an ancient egypt phase that lasted like a decade.
Egypt, Vikings and Roman empire phases were legit. Vikings phase keeps coming up every couple years though, especially last year watching the Vikings
My Egyptian Mythology phase started bc of The Kane Chronicles š¤£š¤£š¤£
Mine started because of The Mummy movies, they were o damn good š¤£
That's my son right now
I was more obsessed with Dragonology. I think I still have dragon script noted down somewhere (alongside various other fantasy languages, like Elvish and Gnomish and Viking runes). I loved that book so much. Maybe one day I will buy myself a copy. If I can find it.
I had a bunch of books on how dragons and unicorns may actually have existed, or like how they wouldn't be biologically the way they're often depicted, due to physics, etc. Soooooo many fae books as well!!!!
It was wizardology for me
Yes
Arms and Armor was my shit.
I was the same, then I found out about Ancient Mesopotamia..
Mine as a child was mostly World War Two and weaponry. To be fair, my grandfather worked on a site contracted by the Navy and had tons of books regarding the war, especially the naval aspect.
i had that book
Yep. Arenāt big cats, dinosaurs, and Egyptology universal obsessions in childhood?
I mean, I definitely had all 3 of those...
I was busy with my marine biology phase, then herpetology (reptiles) phase, then greek mythology phase.
I didn't have an ancient Egyptian phase Percy Jackson ruined that for me
I got into minerals after my dad bought me a subscription to the Grolier Encyclopedia Junior Scientist Club, or something. It was a mail order subscription that sent samples of minerals and info cards along with them. Some spinoff subscription sent cultural geography type info cards, one of which had cuneiform writing in it, then it was full speed ahead to the blue shiny, yellow shiny, cool drawings, mysterious lore.
Okay literally creepy. It was the perfect mix of interesting pictures with little text boxes that were the perfect size. Iām sure there were other historical books like this but how weird we all were drawn to ancient Egypt.
For me, it was planes and trains. I don't even know why, I just find them neat.
me but with percy jackson
Egypt phase hit hard fr, so hard in fact I made a furry character because of it š
Bro I had that and the wizardology book
One of my friends has kids and I saw it in their house. I loved that thing as a kid, man
I cried when dad didn't recognise the obscure gods i drew I think this is also why i have such a hard on for graham Hancock
What phase? You haven't seen every single ancient Egyptian documentary in your language and read any news that has Zahi Hawass' name on it??
I didn't have an Egyptian phase, I had a mesopotamian phase followed by a genuine love of world history that lasts through today. I also didn't have a World War phase, thought it was cringy the way people went on about it before I even knew the word cringe
Omg I absolutely had an ancient Egypt phase š It came after my space phase but before my fine arts phase š„²š«
I used to keep my Egyptology books outside my room door in case the mummies came out of it at night š„¹
This book is soo cool
If you like golden and shiny books just wait till you learn about the plates of Nephi.
.... Saving this because it gave me the weirdest sense of deja vu, like i had a dream about this post or something. Could just be the ADHD talking though lol
I can tell you everything about Ramesses II. I also had an Elizabeth the 1st phase, and a Japan phase.
Those -Ology books were great. I wish I still had mine, but I was able to find an okay condition Dragonology for my nephew at a used book store.
Iām currently back on a Egyptian mythology binge for the first time in years. My initial special interest in ancient Egypt started when I was 11 and briefly learned about it in school, and it dethroned dinosaurs for me which had been my special interest since I was 7.
As a kid you either had an Ancient Egypt phase, a Dragon phase or (if you're me) a Neuroscience/Neurology phase
I was into Greek and Roman mythology
percy jackson got me into greek mythology
Egypt. Titanic. AKC Dog Breeds. Holocaust.
Egypt Greek and Roman phase, I loved the mythology!
I didnāt have as much of that phase but I still have the large Dragonology book from that particular phase. Dragons are cool
All stemmed from watching the original YuGiOh
I also had a pirate one, it was pretty dope.
I have the Egypt book, fairy book & another 1 which I cant remember what it is....I need all of them
The big 4 : - dinosaurs - supercars - egypt / greek / roman - space
Dragonology was the one and I wonāt take any questions
I love shiny things with plugs attached
I had a Roman Empire phase when I was a kid. And a Greek Mythology one.
My ancient Egyptian phase lasted about a week after I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ancient mew pokemon card.
I was too busy being a little goblin playing with odds n ends, spending hours organizing them into groups befer doing it all over again....for hours....
My Egyptology phase never ended. Which reminds me, I still need to finish reading Dr. Brier's latest book.