Collection Expansion

[WaterRaven]

So, just wondering what got you started with collecting and if you intended for your collection to grow as big as it has. Here's my break down:

!) I watched the original series as a kid. I loved my ponies, a part from my dinosaurs, they were my favourite toys hands down.

2) I grow out of them and foolishly sell them at a yard sale.

3) Fast forward to my late 20's and I see my first ever custom My Little Pony. A fire ignites and I am searching the internet for hours, consuming as many custom MLP photos as I can possibly find. I come across G1 ponies and my heart just soars. I get that feeling again, like when I was a kid and played with my toys. I love it and become addicted. I decide to collect the ponies I used to own for a *small* display in my room.

4) I start going to thrift stores, telling myself I'm going to buy up old ponies and make all these amazing customs and sell them.

5) I come across first Gen ponies and end up keeping them. As I collect more ponies for customs, I find that I rather like the G3's. They're very similar in appearance to the G1's after all. I'm becoming a fan.

6) All the customs I make, I end up keeping. LoL. With the exception of a few. I love them and want to keep them and display them with my now growing heard.

7) While I'm working on a custom, I put the new MLP show on Netflix. Up until that point, I hated the way the ponies looked. I thought they looked like deer. I even made one into Bambi http://ravenscollectibles.tumblr.com/post/121123888791/my-bambi-mlp-custom-i-made-him-a-couple-years-ago to prove my point, but as I watch the show, I instantly become attached. And now I'm addicted to the characters and creatures.

8) I start to branch out from just collecting and customizing to taking photos, creating a tumblr account; putting accessories aside for photos and Christmas decorations, and then branching out into keeping a few play sets; wearing pony shirts and gear, buying plushies, and so on!

9) I am not a complete collector. I mostly thrift and keep the ones I like and set other ponies aside to sell or customize, but I do put certain items on a wishlist and slowly pick them off with visits to Toys R Us and ebay/Amazon/MLP Area/MLP TP

10) There you have it

How about you?

[buttonso]

I liked MLP as a kid but I wasn't a collector until about a year and a half ago. I was perusing eBay and started looking up things from my childhood and ended up buying a pony. Then I dug out my childhood ponies and found the MLP Preservation Project website and started cleaning my old ponies then I bought more ponies then I found the Arena and things exploded pony-wise and now it's my Thing.  I had maybe 25 ponies in my childhood herd and now.... let's just say there's a lot more. 

[northstar3184]

1) I adored MLP as a kid and used to watch the original cartoons on weekday mornings before preschool. I had a accumulated a herd of ~20 ponies during my childhood.

2) My parents didn't approve of a boy playing with ponies and often pushed for me to get rid of them. At around age 8, I sold most of my herd in a yard sale (keeping 4). I later acquired three additional ponies, but then sold my whole herd by age 11.

3) When G3 debuted I became very nostalgic and often contemplated buying a couple (especially Autumn Skye), although I was too embarrassed to do so.

4) In 2009, I began secretly collecting petite ponies. I ended up with ~10.

5) In 2014, I finally caved and began buying G3s. My goal was to just buy a handful but I now have ~50.

6) I began to miss many of the G1s I had as a child  and began replacing my favorites (Sweet Stuff, Raspberry Jam, Blueberry Baskets). I also began buying other G1s that I really liked. I accumulated ~20 G1s.

That's where I'm at now.

[Sweet_Stuff]

I also liked MLP as a kid and grew up with G1..I still had many of my childhood ponies and started collecting in 2005..Career and life got in the way and I ended things before it really took off...lol.
Fast forward 10 years later in May 2015 and I find a BST toys FB group, which led me to Facebook friend a pony collector, who mentioned the Arena and sold me my first group of ponies, and ta-da.. here I am!
I started with like 35? Currently have roughly 110? I don't have an exact count after 102.. And no, I never thought I'd have this many. 

[Mewtwofan1]

I grew up with the third gen, and it just so happened at that time, I was a part of the target audience. A few years pass, I grow out of my pony phase. Then in 2013 fall right back into it, uncover the old ponies in my basement and it all just spiralled from there.

[WaterRaven]

I love all these stories! I love how a lot of us grew up with G1 too ^_^ Warms my heart  I love the new show, but it's great to connect to collectors that grew up with the one I did too.

1) I adored MLP as a kid and used to watch the original cartoons on weekday mornings before preschool. I had a accumulated a herd of ~20 ponies during my childhood.

2) My parents didn't approve of a boy playing with ponies and often pushed for me to get rid of them. At around age 8, I sold most of my herd in a yard sale (keeping 4). I later acquired three additional ponies, but then sold my whole herd by age 11.

3) When G3 debuted I became very nostalgic and often contemplated buying a couple (especially Autumn Skye), although I was too embarrassed to do so.

4) In 2009, I began secretly collecting petite ponies. I ended up with ~10.

5) In 2014, I finally caved and began buying G3s. My goal was to just buy a handful but I now have ~50.

6) I began to miss many of the G1s I had as a child  and began replacing my favorites (Sweet Stuff, Raspberry Jam, Blueberry Baskets). I also began buying other G1s that I really liked. I accumulated ~20 G1s.

That's where I'm at now.

I am so sorry to hear your parents didn't approve! I am glad you came back into collecting



Post Merge: December 27, 2016, 08:01:24 PM

I grew up with the third gen, and it just so happened at that time, I was a part of the target audience. A few years pass, I grow out of my pony phase. Then in 2013 fall right back into it, uncover the old ponies in my basement and it all just spiralled from there.

The G3's have a great look and series of poses. I have a couple of the play sets too. I love seeing them with my G1's. Glad you came back to collecting!

[Taffeta]

Hrm. Let me see...

1. It's Christmas 1984 and I'm almost 3. Mum sees Windy the Rainbow Pony in BHS and thinks, "that looks pretty". I get Windy for Christmas that year. I'm not that interested.

2. It's my birthday, 1985. Mum thinks, let's try once more. I get Baby Blossom. Suddenly I have Mother and Baby and accessories. Now MLP is a hit.

3. Between 1985 and 1993 I collect ponies. In 1987 my sister is born and I'm given Sunburst the Mountain Boy "from her". It is the start of a pony collecting partnership that exists till today. My sister gets her first pony, a second hand Fizzy, in 1990.

4. 1993. I go to secondary school. Ponies go in the attic. Mother tells me, don't get rid of them, you might regret it -put them away and see how you feel in a year.

5. 1994. Mother was right. My ponies come down again. Dismay when I discover no ponies in stores any more. I write to Hasbro, they tell me MLP is over and send me some information, a list of ponies produced and 2 teeny tiny ponies.

6. 1995. We start going to Car Boot Sales. Parents also discover through a friend's parents that Hasbro have sent all their leftover stock to a store in London to be sold off. We therefore have several old ponies new in packaging between 1995 and 1997/8. Carbooting is very successful, lots of ponies between 1995 and the early 2000s, some of which later become trade items.

7. Summer 1997. I am 15. I use the internet at the library for the first time, discover the Trading Post and Dream Valley. I don't have an email address then so I send a message to be put on the Trading Post (with permission) including my phone number. I get a call from a collector in the US a few weeks later. This is the first of my trading partners overseas, and someone I still think of with incredible fondness.

8. November 1997. American trade partner sends some ponies early, in time for my sister's 10th birthday, and also one pony for me. They are ponies we will give her trade items for when she visits England in Spring 1998. The pony I have is Mimic. This is my first ever trade pony from overseas. For Christmas that year she sends us our first two bushwoolies. In February 1998, she sends me Baby Shady as a "sweet 16" present, after I tell her how much I loved Shady as a kid, and how sad I was that baby Shady was never sold here.

9. April 1998. I meet my trade partner. We go to the carboot sale and then trade ponies. We find Mountain Boys and she's really excited. We then trade, and it's a trade of about 90-100 ponies on either side. Many of the ponies I dreamed of having as a child are now right there in my possession - Sparkler, Pinwheel, Starflower, Flutterbye, Skyflier...Twilight...Firefly and Medley. We also get the internet at home. RIGHT before my school leaving exams! Somehow I manage to study things other than Dream Valley.

10. August 1998. I persuade Dad to join ebay for me so I can buy adult sea pony Sea Breeze. She costs $5 and postage is $3. I have to send cash - no paypal back then. Online buying and trading is now up and running.

My website about UK ponies comes into existence some time later this year. It's pretty basic and ugly at this point but it is the start point for the Scrapbook site that exists still today (which is much more comprehensive and I hope, less ugly!)

From then it's kind of been an ongoing thing. I've taken breaks from the community at times. I collected some G2, some G3, some G4 - but my collection is really G1. The vast majority of my ponies were acquired between childhood and 2000, largely through trade and carboot sales. Now I focus mostly on packaging, MIP ponies, and occasional weird variations on a theme. I'm very much more in and out of pony collecting than the obsessive years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I have never lost my love for the G1 and I imagine I never will do.

The most recent addition to my collection was MOC Nightglider who arrived on December 22nd. That means that from Mimic to Night Glider, I have been dealing with traders and sellers in the US for eighteen years.

[Elfpony]

I also grew up with ponies in the 80s. My first was Cotton Candy when I was 5 and the collection just expanded from there. However, when I was 13 I gave away all my childhood ponies and regretted it almost immediately. I had a few odds and ends still that had been stored away from my other ponies (most notably the near-complete birthday party set with its box).

Fast forward to 1997, second year of university. While walking through a department store I discover G2s and get bowled over by nostalgia. It takes me forever to chose one to buy (Sky Skimmer). Shortly thereafter I discover Dream Valley online and reminisce about my childhood ponies while also discovering all the G1s I hadn't known about. Then I discover eBay and...yes.

I collect all four generations, although G1 will always be my favourite. I have over 700 ponies now. I did not think I would ever have that many back when I started collecting. Now I'm sure I will break a thousand some day.

Elf

[Miniature Sheep]

I had a load of G1s along with a couple of MLP storybooks and accessories handed down to me from my aunt when I was a kid, and they were among my favourite toys. At some point my G1s disappeared somewhere without me knowing and when G3s came out, I took a shine to those and bought one every week with my pocket money. Back then it was pretty much "ponies for ponies' sake" so my collection was really random - I did display them nicely though; they weren't MIB but I took the cardboard inserts out the boxes, taped them up if need be and had the ponies standing in them with their brushes and any other accessories.

In college, I'd kind of 'outgrown' ponies and gave most of them away, keeping a few of them which I eventually pared down to just two. A few years back, I was feeling nostalgic about my old G1s and really wanted to start a little collection - not sure what prompted it but the first one I replaced was Posey, my childhood favourite, and the joy I got from just that one pony set me on a slippery slope!

For a time I had a blog on Tumblr to post about my collection but - joy of joys - rude people ruined the fun of it for me. I may try doing my own little pony website/blog sometime though, that way I can really make it my own!

The size of my collection has fluctuated over the past few years, probably between 10 at the very least and 25 at most, I think (it's currently about about 15.) Nowadays I'm more careful about choosing ponies (and other toys) rather than picking up whatever seems exciting at the time because they have to share space with other things that I like to collect. When I have more spacious digs, I would like to build up my herd a little bit though, just ones that have been on my want list for a long time, then they'll be extra special!

[zombienixon]

Okay this is kind of a long one, and also a time lapse of my collection.

It's been five years since I first got into MLP (I think it was around Mid December 2011), and I never intended to have a collection at all.  The reason I got into all of this was because of FiM, and I remember when I first started watching it I told myself, "I'll watch this but I'm not going to buy a bunch of little girl toys." Five years later, I can't stop.

The first ponies I bought were blind bags around July 2012, I had watched the first season of FiM the previous winter, and upon discovering there was a second season around May, I started to want some merchandise.  Blind bags were perfect since they were cheap, looked more like the show than brushables, and were easily hidden. I wanted to just get Pinkie and Twilight, but then I ended up getting all of the Mane Six, plus an extra when I got from mixing up the codes.

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A few months later, I decided to treat myself after completing a 3 month long project at school by buying a few more blindbags, a card tin (not shown), and the first issue of the FiM comic. I also got my first brushables, a two pack with my favorite ponies- Pinkie and Celestia.

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Not long after that, I bought a bunch of blindbags, McDonald's Ponies, and trading cards with the money I got for Christmas. About a year in, I had bought almost everything I told myself I never would (except for Equestria Girls, which was only a matter of time) gradually overcoming the expected opposition a man in his early 20s would have to buying things made for young girls- brushables, fashion styles, plushes.  Soon I had to start to make space on my computer desk for all of my ponies by adding a small shelf, the first of many amateur woodworking projects solely for finding new space for my ponies.

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In April 2014, I started to do some construction work for my Stepdad, and a month later graduated and started working at my current job. My reaction to this sudden influx of disposable income was of course to buy a crapload of ponies and my first Equestria Girls. There was no space left on my desk, and I had to build more shelves to hold them all.

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Eventually, I ran out of room to put my ponies in, and they were all stuffed in the closet, waiting for when I would move out and get my own apartment. I finally moved out in April 2015, and finally had plenty of room to display my whole collection.

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I then started planning to get enough shelving to hold my entire collection for at least a year or maybe two. I got a couple of Billy shelves from Ikea, and made some custom risers for them. I finished in June, and they got almost completely filled up by about September.

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Here's the latest photo I have of my entire collection (minus 6 T-shirts and other odds and ends) from October.  Since all of the best sales are during the Holiday season, I've saved up and bought about another 30 or so ponies.

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Right now, I want to redo how I have my two Billy shelves, and want to get another two sets for my birthday in June. Hopefully then I won't have to redo it again for several years.

[northstar3184]

Hrm. Let me see...

1. It's Christmas 1984 and I'm almost 3. Mum sees Windy the Rainbow Pony in BHS and thinks, "that looks pretty". I get Windy for Christmas that year. I'm not that interested.

2. It's my birthday, 1985. Mum thinks, let's try once more. I get Baby Blossom. Suddenly I have Mother and Baby and accessories. Now MLP is a hit.

3. Between 1985 and 1993 I collect ponies. In 1987 my sister is born and I'm given Sunburst the Mountain Boy "from her". It is the start of a pony collecting partnership that exists till today. My sister gets her first pony, a second hand Fizzy, in 1990.

4. 1993. I go to secondary school. Ponies go in the attic. Mother tells me, don't get rid of them, you might regret it -put them away and see how you feel in a year.

5. 1994. Mother was right. My ponies come down again. Dismay when I discover no ponies in stores any more. I write to Hasbro, they tell me MLP is over and send me some information, a list of ponies produced and 2 teeny tiny ponies.

6. 1995. We start going to Car Boot Sales. Parents also discover through a friend's parents that Hasbro have sent all their leftover stock to a store in London to be sold off. We therefore have several old ponies new in packaging between 1995 and 1997/8. Carbooting is very successful, lots of ponies between 1995 and the early 2000s, some of which later become trade items.

7. Summer 1997. I am 15. I use the internet at the library for the first time, discover the Trading Post and Dream Valley. I don't have an email address then so I send a message to be put on the Trading Post (with permission) including my phone number. I get a call from a collector in the US a few weeks later. This is the first of my trading partners overseas, and someone I still think of with incredible fondness.

8. November 1997. American trade partner sends some ponies early, in time for my sister's 10th birthday, and also one pony for me. They are ponies we will give her trade items for when she visits England in Spring 1998. The pony I have is Mimic. This is my first ever trade pony from overseas. For Christmas that year she sends us our first two bushwoolies. In February 1998, she sends me Baby Shady as a "sweet 16" present, after I tell her how much I loved Shady as a kid, and how sad I was that baby Shady was never sold here.

9. April 1998. I meet my trade partner. We go to the carboot sale and then trade ponies. We find Mountain Boys and she's really excited. We then trade, and it's a trade of about 90-100 ponies on either side. Many of the ponies I dreamed of having as a child are now right there in my possession - Sparkler, Pinwheel, Starflower, Flutterbye, Skyflier...Twilight...Firefly and Medley. We also get the internet at home. RIGHT before my school leaving exams! Somehow I manage to study things other than Dream Valley.

10. August 1998. I persuade Dad to join ebay for me so I can buy adult sea pony Sea Breeze. She costs $5 and postage is $3. I have to send cash - no paypal back then. Online buying and trading is now up and running.

My website about UK ponies comes into existence some time later this year. It's pretty basic and ugly at this point but it is the start point for the Scrapbook site that exists still today (which is much more comprehensive and I hope, less ugly!)

From then it's kind of been an ongoing thing. I've taken breaks from the community at times. I collected some G2, some G3, some G4 - but my collection is really G1. The vast majority of my ponies were acquired between childhood and 2000, largely through trade and carboot sales. Now I focus mostly on packaging, MIP ponies, and occasional weird variations on a theme. I'm very much more in and out of pony collecting than the obsessive years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I have never lost my love for the G1 and I imagine I never will do.

The most recent addition to my collection was MOC Nightglider who arrived on December 22nd. That means that from Mimic to Night Glider, I have been dealing with traders and sellers in the US for eighteen years.

This was really cool to read , especially the parts about Hasbro responding to your letter with a list and two tiny ponies. The fact that you've been doing international trading & buying of ponies for almost 20 years (almost since the dawn of the internet as a public medium) is just...wow.

[StrawberryScoops]

These are really cool stories to read everyone! 

I grew up with the G1s. I was born in '85 so it was around '89 that I really got into them and voiced my interest in them. My mom had started me into ponies. My first 2 were Sundance and Surprise. She picked them up second hand. A lot of my ponies were gotten at yard sales and flea markets but I was lucky enough to get some new from the store too. I hadn't seen the cartoon but the 2 specials and movies were rented from the video store as often as my mom would take me there. I did watch My Little Pony Tales too. I remember being so disappointed when I couldn't find ponies to buy in the store anymore and was excited with the release of G2 that ponies were in stores again. I did pick up 3 G2s but didn't like them as much as my G1s and didn't understand why they looked so different. It was shortly after this that I stopped playing with my toys as I got the feeling from my peers that playing with toys were no longer cool. So my toys, along with my 20 or so ponies were packed away in the attic.

Fast forward a couple years to 1999. The Ty beanie babies craze hit. I thought some were cool but I wasn't that into them. However, with people starting collections I started browsing the Internet and discovered Dream Valley. I knew then what I was going to collect. While my friends chased beanie babies I decided to chase My Little Ponies. My childhood ponies came back down from the attic and for awhile, yard sales, flea markets, etc. Offered up a lot and my collection expanded. I was buying everything I came across, but had favourites from Dream Valley that I wanted. Along with trying to hunt down the ones I wanted as a child and the ones my friends had had. Money was a little tighter in University so I had started just buying the ones I liked. I made a list of my most wanted that I was supposed to stick to. Over the years there were times I'd hunt with more intensity and times I'd take a break. I was still too nervous to try eBay or any online avenues for finding ponies.


Then 2003 came with the relaunch of ponies. I was super excited. G3 ponies reminded me of the G1s and I was in a position to be able to buy them all new. It was frustrating not to have been able to get all the G1s but wih G3s I felt a confidence that I opulent miss out. It didn't take long for that to go away with bad distribution and store exclusives. At the time we didn't have any of the stores with exclusives anywhere near where I lived. They also started rereleasing the same ponies in new poses which bugged me. I lost interest pretty fast, which did cause me to miss out on a lot.

A few years ago I started using Kijiji to find ponies. It has really been useful over the years and connected me to some people for my first trades. After positive experiences there and making 2 great pony friends I decided to join here and the MLPTP to find more people to trade with as I had accumulated a lot of duplicates over the years. Access to the online pony community and all the opportunities to find the ponies that alluded me soon led to me abandoning my original G1 want list with a need to get them all. I also learned more about the G3 line that I had stopped following and decided I needed to pick back up with them too.

After G3 came G3.5, which I really disliked (still have no interest in them). Then came G4. I really didn't like them either. They didn't look like ponies to me. I ended up getting into the show though and they grew on me a little. I still didn't want any of the toys until the water cuties came out. I couldn't resist them. That started a spiral where I now like G4s. I don't like all the multiple releases of the same characters though and really dislike the reboot line.

So I loved ponies for as long as I can remember and nostalgia and beanie babies got me into collecting. From there my interest keeps growing and expanding. G1s are my favourites and the most important to me, followed by G3s. The more ponies I get though; the more I want. G4s have made their way in too. I'm not sure I'll ever like G3.5s. G2s have been of less interest too, but I've also kept myself from learning much about them. I have seen more as of late that do catch my eye, but am trying to keep my distance. We'll see what happens 

[WaterRaven]

Okay this is kind of a long one, and also a time lapse of my collection.

It's been five years since I first got into MLP (I think it was around Mid December 2011), and I never intended to have a collection at all.  The reason I got into all of this was because of FiM, and I remember when I first started watching it I told myself, "I'll watch this but I'm not going to buy a bunch of little girl toys." Five years later, I can't stop.

The first ponies I bought were blind bags around July 2012, I had watched the first season of FiM the previous winter, and upon discovering there was a second season around May, I started to want some merchandise.  Blind bags were perfect since they were cheap, looked more like the show than brushables, and were easily hidden. I wanted to just get Pinkie and Twilight, but then I ended up getting all of the Mane Six, plus an extra when I got from mixing up the codes.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


A few months later, I decided to treat myself after completing a 3 month long project at school by buying a few more blindbags, a card tin (not shown), and the first issue of the FiM comic. I also got my first brushables, a two pack with my favorite ponies- Pinkie and Celestia.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Not long after that, I bought a bunch of blindbags, McDonald's Ponies, and trading cards with the money I got for Christmas. About a year in, I had bought almost everything I told myself I never would (except for Equestria Girls, which was only a matter of time) gradually overcoming the expected opposition a man in his early 20s would have to buying things made for young girls- brushables, fashion styles, plushes.  Soon I had to start to make space on my computer desk for all of my ponies by adding a small shelf, the first of many amateur woodworking projects solely for finding new space for my ponies.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 

In April 2014, I started to do some construction work for my Stepdad, and a month later graduated and started working at my current job. My reaction to this sudden influx of disposable income was of course to buy a crapload of ponies and my first Equestria Girls. There was no space left on my desk, and I had to build more shelves to hold them all.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Eventually, I ran out of room to put my ponies in, and they were all stuffed in the closet, waiting for when I would move out and get my own apartment. I finally moved out in April 2015, and finally had plenty of room to display my whole collection.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I then started planning to get enough shelving to hold my entire collection for at least a year or maybe two. I got a couple of Billy shelves from Ikea, and made some custom risers for them. I finished in June, and they got almost completely filled up by about September.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Here's the latest photo I have of my entire collection (minus 6 T-shirts and other odds and ends) from October.  Since all of the best sales are during the Holiday season, I've saved up and bought about another 30 or so ponies.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Right now, I want to redo how I have my two Billy shelves, and want to get another two sets for my birthday in June. Hopefully then I won't have to redo it again for several years.

Good for you!

I hate how society labels things girl toys or boy toys. I think the Brony movement was great. I think it's amazing that you expanded your collection and what a collection it is! I REALLY love that gigantic Pinkie Pie!!!!!!!!

I see some older gen ponies there too! That's awesome!

My husband is a carpenter and LOVES the MLP show. He loves to go pick up a pony haul with me from thrift stores or online ads. He even helps me clean and brush them He likes the show the most though, I catch him singing the songs   Our fave is Pinkie's smile song.

Post Merge: December 29, 2016, 11:34:14 AM

Hrm. Let me see...

1. It's Christmas 1984 and I'm almost 3. Mum sees Windy the Rainbow Pony in BHS and thinks, "that looks pretty". I get Windy for Christmas that year. I'm not that interested.

2. It's my birthday, 1985. Mum thinks, let's try once more. I get Baby Blossom. Suddenly I have Mother and Baby and accessories. Now MLP is a hit.

3. Between 1985 and 1993 I collect ponies. In 1987 my sister is born and I'm given Sunburst the Mountain Boy "from her". It is the start of a pony collecting partnership that exists till today. My sister gets her first pony, a second hand Fizzy, in 1990.

4. 1993. I go to secondary school. Ponies go in the attic. Mother tells me, don't get rid of them, you might regret it -put them away and see how you feel in a year.

5. 1994. Mother was right. My ponies come down again. Dismay when I discover no ponies in stores any more. I write to Hasbro, they tell me MLP is over and send me some information, a list of ponies produced and 2 teeny tiny ponies.

6. 1995. We start going to Car Boot Sales. Parents also discover through a friend's parents that Hasbro have sent all their leftover stock to a store in London to be sold off. We therefore have several old ponies new in packaging between 1995 and 1997/8. Carbooting is very successful, lots of ponies between 1995 and the early 2000s, some of which later become trade items.

7. Summer 1997. I am 15. I use the internet at the library for the first time, discover the Trading Post and Dream Valley. I don't have an email address then so I send a message to be put on the Trading Post (with permission) including my phone number. I get a call from a collector in the US a few weeks later. This is the first of my trading partners overseas, and someone I still think of with incredible fondness.

8. November 1997. American trade partner sends some ponies early, in time for my sister's 10th birthday, and also one pony for me. They are ponies we will give her trade items for when she visits England in Spring 1998. The pony I have is Mimic. This is my first ever trade pony from overseas. For Christmas that year she sends us our first two bushwoolies. In February 1998, she sends me Baby Shady as a "sweet 16" present, after I tell her how much I loved Shady as a kid, and how sad I was that baby Shady was never sold here.

9. April 1998. I meet my trade partner. We go to the carboot sale and then trade ponies. We find Mountain Boys and she's really excited. We then trade, and it's a trade of about 90-100 ponies on either side. Many of the ponies I dreamed of having as a child are now right there in my possession - Sparkler, Pinwheel, Starflower, Flutterbye, Skyflier...Twilight...Firefly and Medley. We also get the internet at home. RIGHT before my school leaving exams! Somehow I manage to study things other than Dream Valley.

10. August 1998. I persuade Dad to join ebay for me so I can buy adult sea pony Sea Breeze. She costs $5 and postage is $3. I have to send cash - no paypal back then. Online buying and trading is now up and running.

My website about UK ponies comes into existence some time later this year. It's pretty basic and ugly at this point but it is the start point for the Scrapbook site that exists still today (which is much more comprehensive and I hope, less ugly!)

From then it's kind of been an ongoing thing. I've taken breaks from the community at times. I collected some G2, some G3, some G4 - but my collection is really G1. The vast majority of my ponies were acquired between childhood and 2000, largely through trade and carboot sales. Now I focus mostly on packaging, MIP ponies, and occasional weird variations on a theme. I'm very much more in and out of pony collecting than the obsessive years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I have never lost my love for the G1 and I imagine I never will do.

The most recent addition to my collection was MOC Nightglider who arrived on December 22nd. That means that from Mimic to Night Glider, I have been dealing with traders and sellers in the US for eighteen years.

This was really cool to read , especially the parts about Hasbro responding to your letter with a list and two tiny ponies. The fact that you've been doing international trading & buying of ponies for almost 20 years (almost since the dawn of the internet as a public medium) is just...wow.

Agreed! Totally wow'd!

Post Merge: December 29, 2016, 11:40:10 AM

Just love reading these stories!

[Galactica]

Great stories!  I am also especially impressed (jealous?) that Taffeta wrote to Hasbro when they ended ponies and they sent her TWO teeny tiny ponies!!!!  How sweet was that!  And international trading- how awesome!

I was a toddler when I got my first pony, and my mom bought my sister and I a few every year until the line stopped.

I recall being shocked and dismayed at the G2 ponies when I first saw them. I liked G3 but it got a little out of control- G3.5 the less said of the better-  I didn't like G4 at all at first but for some reason after I started watching the cartoon- I did.  So there's marketing for ya.

I never did get rid of my vintage ponies- and when I discovered ebay in 2000... things got a little out of hand. Ponies are so small and easy to collect- they can quickly pile up.  I tried thinning things down but noticed recently that my G4s are getting out of control so it's time to thin out again...

[WaterRaven]

Great stories!  I am also especially impressed (jealous?) that Taffeta wrote to Hasbro when they ended ponies and they sent her TWO teeny tiny ponies!!!!  How sweet was that!  And international trading- how awesome!

I was a toddler when I got my first pony, and my mom bought my sister and I a few every year until the line stopped.

I recall being shocked and dismayed at the G2 ponies when I first saw them. I liked G3 but it got a little out of control- G3.5 the less said of the better-  I didn't like G4 at all at first but for some reason after I started watching the cartoon- I did.  So there's marketing for ya.

I never did get rid of my vintage ponies- and when I discovered ebay in 2000... things got a little out of hand. Ponies are so small and easy to collect- they can quickly pile up.  I tried thinning things down but noticed recently that my G4s are getting out of control so it's time to thin out again...

I hear that! I am attending a toy fair this January and sharing a table to try and thin out my herd. I agree G3's are out of control, just SO SO many. I'm trying to get rid of the ones that I'm not crazy about. Especially since I'm collecting more G1's and G4's. I got more into the show and ended up collecting more G4 ponies, especially with the Guardians of Harmony etc and now I need to make some room for everything. Geesh. I'm more of a fluid collector, with some ponies always staying in the collection and others in transit. I don't collect G2's or G3.5's either. Just not my thing.