Showing your friends your collection.

[stopxmotion]

I live in a very small apartment by myself with zero entertainment so I don't really get visitors, but I'm rather self conscious about having a large collection of ponies on display. I've recently gotten a lot more. I don't care about someone seeing a couple sitting around, since they're in my craft room and I have a bunch of other toys and odd and ends in there.
Most of them will probably be put away when I'm expecting company.. for now at least.

My family is another story, they all know I'm weird. 

[Sanadaookami]

I think that the more people that know you collect, the more people there are to potentially help you hunt ponies.. right?!

This^ lol everyone knows about my collection and lots of people bring me ponys. I work in a auction house so all the dealers bring me pony goodies when they find them- its a good thing to because they find them regularly and before I started working there they were just *gasp* throwing them out!

[WickedWonderland]

I've always been very open about my collection. I have a glass case full of G1s in my bedroom that I put my TV on and a huge pile of plushies in one corner, so they're kinda hard to miss.   

Then again... I have most of my ponies in storage, so nobody has seen how massive my collection really is.

[JazzMatazz]

My friends and family know I collect but since at the moment I live with my parents I don't have friends over often. Some have never seen my collection in person before. Usually it's holy cow! you have a huge collection.. I proceed to laugh and usually tell them that some collectors have 2-3 times as many ponies and it shuts them up and then they just are in shock for awhile.

[aerie_star]

Pretty much all of my friends know about it, and my family has started giving them to me for birthday/christmas/just because (my sisters do this). Some of my friends give me weird looks on occasion, but they're getting used to it (I was a closet pony enthusiast for a looong time). Also, a few of my friends are also pony collectors (we all discovered this with FiM), so showing off my small collection usually goes something like this:

"OMG, you got so-and-so?" * squee * "I haven't gotten her yet."

[Oneleo1]

People almost faint when they see my herd...I have had a few gasps and a few 'holy s***' remarks too So I tend to not tell them about the dedicated room and the sheer number of ponies I have...   But I have no problem telling people I collect

[cuddlebuggy]

I'm pretty open about it but quite literally I am a closet collector. My husband is not overly fond of my ponies so I use the walk in closet in our room to keep my ponies ( and Strawberry Shortcake, Sea wees, Shimmers and LPS collections.)

[SailorEarth]

I don't really have people over to my house as I'm not a people person. The family members who have seen them already know I'm a collector but I think some of them were surprised at how many I have, lol. My granny is an enabler, she buys ponies for me if she sees them at yard sales/thrift shops or if she knows there's a G4 I'm missing ^__^

[OctoberFlash]

I'm openly obsessed with ponies, so when my friends found out I had a collection they weren't surprised. One of my friends even said she was surprised my collection had only 7 ponies, because she thought that, for as much as I talked about them, I would have at least 40! Ah, maybe one day. xD

[Marlin]

Well... at first I kept my hobby a bit quiet, but have gradually become more and more open about it - it's hard not to talk about something you love! What can be hard in return though, is not necessarily having the same excitement in return when you spill the beans on the latest, most exciting thing that arrived in the mailbox!!     I'll often get the humouring look! My Dad (an avid collector of various things himself) has been very supportive and encouraging however, and boosts my confidence often by saying I have nothing to be embarrassed about - awwww!   


What will be interesting, is that I just bought a display cabinet... (yah!!!) It's of course now cleaned up and stocked with my collection (previously hidden away in a box bursting at the seams). I've a couple of friends coming over shortly, one who knows about my habit, the other who knows nothing at all.... Guess I'll see what reactions unfold when the full collection stares them in the face!

[apanda0622]

Haha, I will show my collection to anyone--whether they want to see it or not--lol.  Actually, outside of my family, I've only showed it to maybe 4 people.

[sarafina]

My ponies (and LPS) are in cabinets in my bedroom, so most people don't see them, though I'm not intending to hide them...I haven't been super vocal about my collecting, though more and more of my friends know about it, especially since I keep some of my favorites out in our living room (I like to pick seasonal ponies to display...I have my g3 winters out right now).  One of my friends even expressed interest in coming to a meet with me, so they've been super supportive.

[Teabunny]

Well, I'm very shy and still a minor, so I just keep them on two bookshelves in my bedroom and don't really bring it up. When people come in and see them they really aren't that surprised, since I'm known as being a very sweet, quiet, cutesy girl who likes pink and bunnies and the like...and the fact that my entire room is very pink and sweet really softens the blow. The friends who HAVE seen it usually react with "Awwww, that's so cute" or "Hahaha oh my gosh, of course you would!", and my family doesn't seem to mind although sometimes they tease me playfully. My dad likes to come in and go "I'm going to go knock down the little ponies!!!" and makes funny squeaky noises while he knocks one or two off while I pretend to protest.

[SkitLeDee]

Most people I talk to know I collect ponies. I have worn some pony necklaces I have made and even brought a few ponies to school before to show one of my 'brony' friends. My friends are okay with it and the other students usually do not give me a hard time about it (they will ask questions, but they aren't rude or anything).
My Forensic Science teacher actually thinks it is pretty cool and is super supportive. I brought in a few ponies I had for a toy drive we had in the class and my teacher ended up keeping them on her desk until we had to turn them in. I also was messing around in class and made a pony out of clay that we were using to make the muscles and she ended up keeping it on her desk!
 

......Are you me?

[DazzleKitty]

My immediately family knows. My dad used to own a pawn shop and even posted a "will buy Hasbro My Little Ponies" sign in his store to help me build my collection.

I don't tell most people immediately. I don't have much of a social life so no one ever goes into my room. It's obvious I collect because I have two super enormous bookshelves full of ponies in there. If they ask I would explain. I have had some negative reactions before but most people are nice about it. Some people have encouraged me to sell them and of course that kind makes me give a mental eye roll, haha!

I don't always advertise it. I have told some of my coworkers though and even showed some pics of my collection. I haven't had a negative reaction yet but I wonder if some think I'm nuts.