For anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, school days often meant loading up on stationery inspired by our favorite anime, comics, and games. Think pencil cases, erasers, pencils, sharpeners, and desk mats. Sure, most of it probably got tossed once it was used up, but those items were pure childhood gold.
Fast forward to today, and a Japanese X (formerly Twitter) user just dropped a photo of a pencil with the caption, "Could you ever bring yourself to sharpen this?" What was it? None other than a "Battle Pencil" from the iconic "Dragon Quest" series, released over 30 years ago! The post immediately unleashed a tidal wave of collective nostalgia, especially for anyone who lived through that era.
This isn't just any pencil; it's a "Battle Pencil" (or "Batoen" as it was affectionately known), a "Dragon Quest" series merch sensation that took Japan by storm in the mid-1990s!
Turns out, these were the OP's childhood stationery. One day, they asked their mom, "Hey, I need a bunch of pencils for work tomorrow, do we have any?" Mom's reply? "Of course! I kept all the pencils you never finished using as a kid." And out came the stash of "Battle Pencils." The OP was speechless. Mom, oblivious, asked, "What's wrong? They're new, still perfectly usable, right?" The OP, in agony, responded, "I... I can't sharpen them... I really, truly can't..."
These "Battle Pencils" were a stroke of genius from the then-ENIX (now Square Enix), launched in 1993 as "stationery you can play with." Each pencil featured a "Dragon Quest" character, and the game was simple: take turns rolling the pencil, and depending on which side it landed, you'd attack or cast a spell. First one to zero out the opponent's HP won! It was ridiculously simple but insanely fun, becoming an absolute phenomenon among elementary school kids back in the day.
They got so popular that some schools actually banned "Battle Pencils" from classrooms – because, let's be real, no one was paying attention to lessons when there were battles to be fought!
Sure, you *could* theoretically sharpen them and use them like normal pencils, but for any kid who owned one, that was practically sacrilege – like destroying a precious artifact! The OP admitted that even though the "Battle Pencil" craze is long over, a part of them still screamed, "Sharpening it destroys its value!" In the end, they tearfully decided to go through with it, sharpening just the number needed.
Afterward, they lamented, "Once I sharpened them, it really felt like I'd lost something incredibly important... My mind kept replaying the corrupted BGM from when my 'Dragon Quest' save file got deleted back in the day." That kind of pain? Anyone from the "Battle Pencil" generation *gets* it.
The post clearly struck a chord, with comments flooding in: "I wouldn't have the guts to sharpen these either..." "My school banned them back then, such memories..." "I think I still have a box at home... still sealed away." Many users who shared the same memories agreed: these weren't just pencils; they were childhood, they were memories, they were a way of life!
While you can still snag these "Battle Pencils" on Japanese auction sites, for those who actually owned them, they're pure, unadulterated nostalgia. No wonder, even after 30 years, the OP still felt like that kid again, unable to bring themselves to sharpen them. Talk about a blast from the past!