What is your collecting story?

[Cwk123]

What got you started collecting?
I used to collect Ty beanie babies in college...then got some Barbie dolls after seeing the cute Wizard of Oz dolls. Just bought a few...then BAM! I lost interest in the beanies but continued with Barbies and other dolls. Once the collecting bug has bitten...there is no going back! It's so much fun 

[Vintergatan]

I was born in the mid 80s and ponies were by far my favourite toys (even though I had Barbies as well). for some reason my pony love never ceased and I remember having many dreams in my lifetime of being able to find G1s in stores however I never considered actually collecting (even though I still had all my childhood ponies) until I moved to Iceland and saw an add - someone (a member here ^^) was selling a whole bunch of ponies, mostly G1s and I was thrilled!! That kick-started my collecting. that ,and the fact that I can find a lot of ponies in charity stores here.

[DoctorMowinckel]

One of my friends has been into ponies for about a decade. I've known about his hobby for ...since as long I knew him, I never really thought much of it. When FiM rolled around, he suggested it to me knowing that I was into animation. He's a good friend so I didn't think 'PFT! PONIES!', I thought 'well, if he likes it, it must have some merit'. Checked out the show, enjoyed it. Bought the Mane Six G4s, said I was going to stop there. Got into styling ponies, needed more ponies to style, said I was going to only buy G4s, and what could fit on my speakers.

Now I have about 40 G3s and about 30 G4s, and am looking for a bigger shelf so I can add to my collection.

[terabithianprince]

I used to like MLP as a kid(still own a dream beauty. Last year I reunited with a high school friend and she had lots of ponies. I helped her to open blind bags and then I got some myself. I started getting g3s and g1s recently. All I need is a G2 and will own all generations.

[scarletjul]

Ooh, I love reading people's stories! 

I was ot into ponies into a child; I just wasn't that aware of them.  But about six years ago, my best friend gave me a g3 themed MLP birthday present, including Merriweather.  And I thought that the gift was so cute and that Merriweather needed a friend, so I got Silver Glow.  And then I remembered having a coiuple of g1s when I was a kid and I started looking for them online.  I realized you could buy them on ebay and I identified who I'd owned on Dream Valley and then I found the Arena. . .  and my collecting snowballed. 

So, now 200+ ponies later it's all thanks to my best friend.  Whenever I spend money on ponies or my mom sees me get another one, she likes to thank her. 

[foxyfennec]

Lifelong obsession, GO!!! 

I was given Blossom for my second birthday in 1982, and it all started from there.  I amassed over 100 G1s as a child, and once I was in college (and the Internet became widely available), I started tracking down all of the ones I wanted but didn't get as a child.  TE Locket was my first online purchase.   I've since managed to collect all of the Twinkle-eyed ponies.  They were always my favorites and it was my one major pony goal in life.

I was STOKED when the G3s came out in 2003.  Not exactly the same as the G1s, but a pony is a pony.  I never got any of the G2s while they were out in stores, but wound up collecting them later on.  Go figure.  

My original collection is still complete and intact.  Most of my ponies are in great condition, since I was very careful with my toys as a child.  I'm not sure how many I have at this point.  Somewhere between 200-300, I'd wager.

[Taxel]

I've admired custom MLPs from afar for years, just over four at this point, but never gave them much thought due to their price tags. I'd rather buy a doll than a $100+ custom, lol. Anyways, last April or early May I'd guess my best friend (who is an MLP collector)/it being everywhere got me to finally watch FiM (my friend had been telling me about it since it came out). I really loved the show and watched all the previous episodes on YouTube. For my birthday I got the molded hair set with Celestia and the blind bag four pack. And that's how I learned about Hasbroken. XP

Not long after I got into older generations and bought my first pony, a lovely custom named Osaka for $11.50 and soon after bought G1 Sundance and not long after that G1 Baby Stockings. I think before I bought Stockings I signed up here. And that's how I lost all of my spending money. xD

[Rachel-Eyes]

I started collecting through Beanie Babies too! I was absolutely a '90s kid, being born in '89, so it was popular and convenient for me. Through the years I also collected Raggedy Ann, but she was too expensive for my 13-year-old girl budget. I also have a collection of Spongebob and octopuses because they are my favorite animal, and I absolutely adore Spongebob. (But only seasons 1-3). I got out of collecting after about the age of 15, but always secretly missed it.

It wasn't until this summer that I got into FiM, customizing, and fakies, that I decided to start collecting ponies. I think part of the appeal of ponies for me, is that I missed a huge chunk of G1, but still remember MLP and even had two of them (in my sig!). In a way, it's like I'm reliving my childhood, but still discovering something new, because of missing out on almost an entire generation.

[Timepiece]

I'm not really a collector, but I do love to collect some TYs, mainly cats and rabbits. The idea of collecting TYs was from my mom's side, whom she stored the other TYs on our storage shed, as well the Barbie dolls of the 90s (unopened)... But I do not like Barbie so much. (Even though i'm ashamed that I got into the dolls at 5th grade +...)

As for pony-collecting, i'm not aiming for my own shelf, so the quantity was still ratter low and I have to spread them. My proud completed collection was the G4 McD ponies: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, RBD, Rarity, Celestia, and Cherielee. All don't have bases, but they fit enough on my transparent plastic candy cases, along with my other anime figures.

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Closest picture I can find with the collection shown behind my hand. The one shown at front was a spare Applejack, whom I purposely gave her away to a fellow Pegasister.

I also have random plushies, mostly a bit of Care Bears/Cousins ('03 ver.), Disney, bunnies, a kitty, a few Pokemon, and of course my G3 Rainbow Dash (whom I did not brag about since not sure if anyone is into G3 merch.)... And now my G4 Pinkie Pie on my bed. I also have other things that are stored in my "collectors tins", which include from a few Neopets McD plush toys to some non-TY beanies...

[PonyMonsters]

My collecting story starts with my wife saying "I want to get my old ponies out at take a look at them".... Going on to "they need some friends, ooooh you can get ponies on eBay!"......... One year later we have about 800 ponies!

[hathorcat]

So here is how it goes....I have a rush of nostalgia for some random reason and think "oh I think I ll get out some old childhood toys from the attic"....trots up the stairs and starts going through boxes....hmmmmmm.....where are the ponies? goes in search of mother...."mum? where are the ponies?" insert rather embarrassed mum admitting she "gave" them to the little girl up the road a decade and a half ago as she thought I would no longer want them....suddenly I no longer "just wanted to look out my childhood toys" being deprived of them means I actually need them now and am emotionally traumatised....ha ha!!! I think, "ebay!" Off to the computer.... "just to collect a half dozen or so, Cotton Candy, Apple Jack, Bow Tie, etc"....BAM! 6 years and a complete G1 UK and US collection not to mention the G3s and G4s which make it to my house....I may have over done it!

On the plus side my mum was the one who found the Arena and encouraged me to join so she more than made up for giving my ponies away! Lol....

[Ringlets]

I love to read everyones stories!!
 
My own story is this.. I grew up with G1 ponies and had some since they were first released in the early 80's ( my neighbour had a Bowtie which I fell in love with and so mom surprised me Bluebelle and Butterscotch .. who were soon joined by many others ) . I have 250 childhood ponies , playsets , merch etc.. I still kept them all out and displayed, wrote stories and did pony art until I was 18. Then my best friend moved on (we had collected etc together since we were 8) and I was kinda sad   .... so I packed up a lot of the stuff and stored it for a while, but I never stopped loving my ponies, or writing the stories.  Then sometime later  I met my hubby . A toy collector himself, he encouraged me to get all my stuff out of storage and display it (up until then I had only had a few out on display - hehe he was in for a bit of a shock when he knew how many I actually had even then!!! ). He helped me to restore childhood ponies and then he helped me to buy more ponies from ebay, and then he started to buy ponies as well   Oh and of course while I was buying ponies on ebay I came across a reference to the Arena, and after lurking a while discovered how awesome it is and joined (YAY!!   that accellerated the collecting as well  LOL    )
  Soooo more than 1000 and something ponies later (yes I deliberately lost count some years back at over 1000 ) , me and hubby are still happily collecting together, and everyone knows about my collection now. I like to be open with people - means more people to help hunt ponies IRL!! dad and mom, my gran , aunt, and others have helped me so far

[OctoberFlash]

My story isn't that exciting, but here I go. xD

I had ponies as a kid; I was 6, 7, maybe 8 when I had my ponies. One was a Kimono in the Sunny Daze pose, the rest were Cabbage Patch fakies. I eventually gave them up, though, they went to my friend's little sister, bye-bye. I never played with them any more by that point (I was 11 or 10) anyway.

Fast forward to March of last year. I was surfing Know Your Meme when I stumbled upon their MLP:FiM entry. I thought "WHAT" and went to see why on earth My Little Pony was a meme, read up on it, and decided "well, if all these guys are watching it, can't be that bad." Watched about halfway through episode 1, didn't really like it (although I LOVED the style), gave up on it.

On April 4th (yes, I remember the exact date ), I was convinced by some people on a pet sim site I go on all the time to try it again. They had a little MLP:FiM fan club, and they looked like they were having so much fun, and I decided maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. Watched the first episode. Then the second. Then the third. I think I got to the fourth or fifth before stopping - I was in love!

I watched the entire rest of the first season, and then, after finding out about this place (MLP Arena! ), I looked around a bit. I fell in love with some of the custom ponies I saw and decided I had to make my own; I made my first one, a rather badly-made G4, over my summer break. And from there on, I started making customs.

By the time I finished my fourth custom, I had decided that there were some ponies I really liked. I was looking around here when I found out I loved some ponies, some G1s and G2s and G3s and a couple G4s, I had to have them! So now I collect, too, and customize. My collection is small (I have... maybe 8 ponies now?), but I love it. <3

[Varkolak]

i had joined the trade post hoping to find a childhood pony i had, she was a hard plastic, but i figured i'd give it a shot there and make a thread seeing if anyone had her. come to the conclusion it was a dream beauty fakie! but still no pictures of her
i bought some care bears and a tamagotchi off there, and kept getting intregued by the ponies. my boyfriend didn't want me to start another collection, as i already had a lot going. club penguin plushes, bella sara stuff, care bears, tamagotchis, etc..
well a lady in my local area listed a bag of ponies for sale for $5 and i was like "ME ME ME ME" because i had been thinking of owning ponies, but never really had any. well she bumped the price to $10 after she saw how bad i wanted them, and my mom picked them up on her way to work. when she brought them home, and i cleaned them up, i had to have more. and here i am, a few months later with a little over 100 ponies in my collection, i pretty much stopped collecting everything else LOL my boyfriend was happy with that part at least!

[Dragonflitter]

lol it is so much fun to read everyone's stories, especially the youngsters who got into the toys thanks to FiM. *grins and ruffles the little people's hair* Makes me feel like an old lady lol. Though I know there are collectors older than me on here!

I had a whole backpack full of the G1's back when I was a kid in the 80's. They were in storage for many years until I entered college. At that point I was very much into the nostalgia craze--I love buying dvd's of 80's cartoons and any toys like Care Bears that remind me of my childhood.

In college, 2004, I started noticing MLP's back on the shelves and thought "Whoa I remember those! Gimme!" It was an instant hit with me, I now have over 200 G3's. I started to go online trying to identify them all, as well as my old childhood G1's, which is what led me to the Arena and MLPTP!

Once the G3's hit the G3.5 stage I kinda stopped collecting. To me it's a real turn off if a company is only going to invent six characters and then put them out repeatedly, sometimes with a different purse or a scarf, but always the same character over and over again. >.<

At NYCC 2010 I saw a huge billboard advertising the Hub with Pinkie Pie on it and I was like "PONY CARTOON WUT!?" lol But then I promptly forgot about it, partly because I didn't know what The Hub was and partly because I was still annoyed with Hasbro for the G3.5 toys and told myself it probably would be like the G3 animated features, which weren't that great.

Until I heard from some online guy friends in 2011 that the cartoon was gaining a huge following so I started watching and found it pretty decent, and to my joy the G4 toys are ADORABLE! And here I am back at the Arena, collecting again.