How many people know you collect?

[cricket]

I'm fine with people knowing I collect and all of my family and friends know.  I do try to keep my personal life separate from work so not many coworkers know.  I am running into a dilemma with FB showing my posts in pony forums on my news feed though since I do have friended coworkers.  While I am not ashamed to collect I have run into people who make fun of me for it and since I have a high level position at my company I choose to keep it a secret.  It's much easier that way. 

[moonflower]

My family know I collect but only my husband has actually seen the majority of my collection - it never been on display before as everything used to be kept in my bedroom wardrobes. We have recently moved house though and I will have my very own pony room once everything else around the house is sorted. Once I can finally display everything I can invite my family to have a look (although, many think it is crazy!).

I wish I could be more open about my collection. I find I am less bothered about what people think of it, although I would still hate for my work colleagues to find out so I have to keep a low profile.

[Bekuno]

Most people know I do. My family doesn't aside from my parents and my aunt and uncle but most of my online friends a lot of people at school know. It's one of the things I share when teachers ask things about you on those first few days of school. Plus some of my school supplies /clothing has ponies and my phone background is bowtie. I'm pretty open about it.

[Juliepants]

Quite a few of my friends know, and my immediate family. I think most are a bit bemused by it! My husband went thru a phase of announcing it to our friends, I'm not sure if he was trying to embarrass me out of it! I've had the "pity" look from one or two, but most are quite excited by it! One of our male friends was impressed by the fact I was so organised with them, I keep a list of what I've got. That appealed to his accounting side! I'm kinda hoping that the more people I tell, I might end up getting donated some by someone! One can dream!

Jules x

[TWILIGHTCOOKIE]

The only people that know are my mom, sister ( also collects ponies),  husband and a few other family members. Facebook friends also know since I post pony pics.
One Facebook friend ( my moms acquaintance) says mean things on Fb when I post pics, such as " what's with all these toys, you going through a baby stage?". I just fire back that I don't want kids because I enjoy my fur babies more, that shut her up, lol.

[zombienixon]

Apologies in advance for being long-winded.

Honestly, I would have preferred to have only other people who are also into MLP know about it (with maybe the exception of my sister), but a couple of people in my family know. 

My sister knew that I liked it when I saw her looking at it on Netflix and she got defensive, and I told her I watched it, too.  She and her husband both saw my (at the time very small) collection when they went into my room to feed my cat when I was out. 

I told my Mom about it when she said she came up to the house and checked on the cat.  I thought that meant she went into my room, and that I had to explain why her 22-year-old son had a room full of little girl toys. As it turns out, she never saw a thing, she just looked in at the cat and shut the door.  She seems to be okay with it, though.

I can be particular about where and to whom I'm more open about it.  I have worn pony shirts out in public sometimes, but I still get uncomfortable wearing one when by myself, even if it's far away from home.  Get me in with a group of people, though, and it's not a problem.

Oddly enough, on any kind of website, forum, etc. where I'm especially active, I usually use a pony avatar. And I've even been kicking around the idea of doing some video reviews of MLP toys (mostly just for fun).

And the funny thing about it all is that I've never had anyone call me out on it or say anything even remotely negative about it yet, but I'm still really timid about it.  I guess that's mostly because I really don't like to draw a lot of attention to myself, especially with something like this.

[Elfpony]

Oh, everyone knows about my collection!  If I don't bring it up to people in conversation, one of my friends is sure to.  I don't mind.

At work, I have 11 McD G3s and a G4 plush Pinkie on my desk, so no hiding it there.  Lots of co-workers ask me about them and seem genuinely interested in them.  My boss and office roommate and our admins were all very keen to hear about my Fair trip this past summer, and I've had lots of past co-workers ask about the Fair as well when I see them.

At home, we have a party every year in December to celebrate Xmas, Hanukkah, Yule, and each year I set up a pony display for the holidays (which I also share on here).  Every year I have a bunch of people who's first question is "when can we see the ponies!"  The most fun is seeing the reactions of the people who haven't seen the collection yet.

Elf

[CottonTALE]

I usually wear my Fluttershy dog-tag when i'm out and about, so most people who interact with me regularily know but only those who come visit me at my home know the true extent of my pony collecting (since my pony collection is in the living room)

[Ledbyrd]

This is a great thread! My immediate family know and a few close friends. My pony shelves are in my bedroom which is also where some of the house mess goes when friends come over (when I need to clean up quickly...hee hee). So I don't usually invite folks to see it.

I have only shown my collection to one of my really good friends who just started collecting herself. I was worried about what she would think but she was just mad that I had a Gusty and hadn't told her since it's her favorite pony...lol.

My husband doesn't seem to mind the ponies taking over our room and my daughter loves them! My sister is super supportive and my Mom thinks they are fun. I'm pretty sure my Dad thought I was nuts when he saw them but that's ok.

My husband must have spilled the beans to some of my other friends because they just bought me the Rainbow Dash and Rarity Build a Bear plushes for my birthday. So I guess that's not a bad thing!

One coworker at work caught me surfing eBay looking at G1 ponies during some down time. He gave me a puzzled look and I just said, "I collect vintage ponies". And he was like "that's cool".

So yeah, I don't really try to hide it. I wore my Rainbow Dash t-shirt to get groceries at Walmart today...lol. But I don't really show my collection to everyone.

[Harmonie]

I don't go around announcing it... My parents would think it childish of me "Why aren't you saving that money for school?" and would find it strange that I got into MLP as an adult and not when I was younger. So I keep it down low even around them. Although they're not completely oblivious to it.

Nevertheless, several years ago I began to keep my interests to myself aside from a few close friends. I figured I was probably just annoying every one, so I pretty much stopped talking about anything other than my interest in music/musical instruments. But even still the majority of IRL people only know that I play the bassoon. They don't even know about tenor saxophone, or much less that I got an oboe. So ultimately... I've clamped down altogether. lol

Naturally MLP was one of the interests I would keep to myself. Only about five of my friends know that I like MLP and have started collecting. With them it happened because I don't drive and when we'd go out together and I saw something pony related that would be one of my few chances to get it and I think they've probably built up this image in their minds that my whole life revolves around MLP. Surely not because they're my best friends, but I could see how it could easily make them think that way. They've unfortunately ended up being on the very receiving end of my MLP fangirling.  At least one is a childhood MLP fan so that helps me not feel so bad. xD

[Einhornbaby]

Only my family and closest friends (who are collecting MLP too) know. I tried to tell people but it always led to being laughed at and being called "not fully sane", so I quit telling. Sometimes though I still do... for example to that nice clerk at Build A Bear last weekend. We had a nice little chat about MLP when we were there to buy some BaB-ponies lol. Well, I did not name 'collecting' itself but we surely chatted about how unfair it is that Germany is still not getting Applejack, Trixi, Zecora and how cool it would be to have them all and so on. She was my age, so maybe she knows MLP from the 80th too, but I was too shy to ask.

[Tulips]

I'm a bit shy but I basically tell people even if they don't ask, it's fun to bring up in conversation and I'm always kinda of hoping that some day someone will say that they still have their childhood ponies and would I like to have them?
lol wishful thinking!

[Beldarna]

I don't go around telling every new person I meet, but some friends know, my family knows and some coworkers. When one of them found out, she went home to her parents, looked through her childhood ponies and sent a picture of them to me. I thought it was rather sweet of her. People will find out if they ever wander in to my bedroom, but since one of my coworkers asked if I was a brony I'm a little more restrictive with being open about my collection. I am a collector and don't want to be associated with the Brony community as I have no interest in the G4s at all.

[Sarah-Bee]

Everyone. Literally

[Elwyn]

My family and my friends knows.  I don't go around telling people about my collecting but I'm not shy about it either.