Why Do YOU Collect My Little Ponies?

[starstrider]

I came across a YouTube video with some of the old MLP commercials from the 90s, and I found myself smiling with the nostalgia without even realising it.  It made me wonder why DO we continue to place such value on these toys and why are we still collecting them decades later? What drives us to collect them and prize them the way we do?

For me, I think that somehow these pretty little ponies are a link to my childhood, and having them helps to keep my inner child happy and healthy.  I live with MDD and a few other not so fun issues, so finding something that lifts my spirits is really important.  Everyone has different collecting goals, of course.  But why do YOU collect My Little Pony?  What does it mean to you? 

[kingluke]

I collect them because they make me very happy, and I've been looking to collect and focus all my attention on since monster high and ever after got that 'reboot'.
Other then that I simply adore them and bringin new life into them makes me really happy. I just have to find a way to make clothes for them

[Mami Tomoe]

They're adorable

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

They make me really happy! My Little Pony is my main special interest and taking a look around my room and seeing all my wonderful ponies makes me very happy.

[Nemesis]

I’ve been enchanted by MLP for as long as I can remember... I still have all of my ponies from early childhood (G1/G2). When I was in my tween years, they released G3 and I was ecstatic. As an adult, I got into G4.

So I guess ponies have been with me all my life! As to the “why” of it... I’m a child at heart. (I even play with my pony collection when no one is looking. ) They bring me joy, and relief from a lot of the stressers in my life. Everyone has a hobby—toy collecting is mine. ^3^

[Einhornbaby]

I collect them because they make me happy and fill me with good thoughts. They make memories come back from back then when life was good and easy and the worst you had to worry still sounds like fun compared to today <3

[Kazzellin]

As others have already mentioned, they make me happy. They’re cheerfully colorful, and the designs can be quite fun. Also, hunting down all the little bits and bobs they came with is a nice challenge.

[poniesthatsparkle]

They make me happy! I love their bright, cheerful faces and pastel colors. Many of them have such gorgeous color schemes and designs that bring joy to my life. It's so nice coming home after a long day and seeing so many little ponies smiling at you. They aslo have hair that's fun to brush and style!

[Sky_Rocket_Sammie]

I collect them because I often wasn't allowed to have them as a kid. Plus I had a really crappy childhood and some of the happier moments included ponies. So it's a fresh start and they make me smile every time I see them. They don't even have to be mine and I smile.

[cyberunicorn]

I don't actually know why I collect them to be honest. I think I just enjoy looking at them as they remind me of simpler times

[PoserBeachball]

They make me smile every time I look at them, they are such fun.
Love the variety of colours and poses and the creativity in restoring those that have seen better days.

Also because they are Pony, as opposed to horse, models/toys with pony proportions and cheeriness  (I've been a pony-nut since my first real-life Welsh Mountain as a wee kid - still have native ponies now as an adult). 

[emily_katie]

As a child I didn't actually have ANY interest in MLP (I grew up with G3). Instead I had a fascination with 'old' toys as they fed into my interest in history and the past at the time  I collected 90s polly pockets, and I still have them all. I haven't collected anymore since simply because I have not found any since about 2009?

Back to ponies. I started my small collection in January, for a number of reasons.
One because I enjoy searching for vintage toys of any kind, its like a treasure hunt in my eyes.
Two because I saw a large lot of G1 in a games shop and I realised 'huh, they are ADORABLE'  .
Three because as I said earlier I love vintage toys, I love giving them a happy retirement and if they need it a good clean, its very satisfying   
Four, I also think they display better than any other vintage toys that I own, Some of them are close to being 40 years old and you wouldn't think that, a real testament to the love that was put into their design and build

[Esbayne]

As everyone else has said, they make me happy and are wonderful stress relievers!
I love artsy, colorful, whimsical things, and I love fantasy and horses. Also, they're so adorable.
It started when I saw ONE pony commercial for G3 (this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuUBZDIInU specifically) when I was what, 6? and that was it. I was hooked. I NEEDED PONIES! So I asked for nothing but ponies for Christmas and got two + the Cotton Candy Cafe which came with four bonus ponies, for a total of 6 first ponies.

I love how each and every one of them is unique, and there are an insane amount of ponies to collect- Everyone can have a ton of ponies but no one's collections will ever be the same! It adds so much variety! I love the color schemes, their poses, their whimsical names, their symbols, their history, their weird and lovely gimmicks, everything really. And, as much as it can be a pain sometimes, I love their real brushable hair. I also do enjoy pony-hunting and fixing them up.
I could gush for hours about everything I love about ponies... They truly do rope you in and keep you captivated for life. I also got into dolls a few years ago, fantasy/sci-fi/horror dolls, BJDs, anthro cats, etc. While I do love them all dearly and am admittedly also very obsessed with all of them, I'll be honest and say I love the ponies more, and I always will. They've been with me for life and have been through everything with me, the good and the bad. Funny how hundreds of simple, little rainbow plastic ponies can have such a huge spot in my heart.

I've been obsessed ever since and never stopped collecting! I still have all of my childhood ponies, along with like, a billion more now. >.>

Also I want to throw in there, I love the community- that's always been a big factor for me too, having awesome people to talk with about ponies. Hands down, Pony People (that's my official term for all you guys xD) are the nicest and most interesting bunch of people I've ever associated with. A lot of other toy collecting groups, oddly enough, are very full of anger and hate and judgement and prejudice and all sorts of other weird crap that makes no sense and has no place in a hobby as fun as toy collecting. Every so often something bizarre like that pops up in the pony community, but it's pretty rare and gets shot down quickly. Overall, Pony People seem to all look out for eachother and go out of their ways to help out others or do nice things.

[Taffeta]

I've always had ponies as long as I can remember, but they weren't always the complete focus of my childhood, nor the only toy I ever was into. If you look at early photos of me, you see me more often with my fraggle toys or other things than ponies, up till I was about five. From then I was really into ponies, and I am sure it has to do with the comic and how much I connected to the characters. I never played pony games according to the stories, but things that stay with me are usually things that captured my imagination, not just the hoarding instinct to collect.

I don't think that it is a reminder of simpler times for me. I don't really remember childhood as being particularly simple. I wasn't diagnosed with autism till I was 23, and there were a lot of challenges for me as a kid growing up, a lot of misunderstandings because I was "bright" therefore must be doing things wrong out of defiance.  I was picked on at school by the staff and headteacher, and I often had arguments at home with my family because of a difficulty in communicating things that I couldn't explain. Then my mother got sick when I was about nine, and everything got even more complicated for a while.

I guess the stable thing throughout all of this was my imagination. Also, my close bond with my sister. I had friends as well who played with ponies. It was a common ground we had and shared although I know I was definitely engaged in buying new ponies for longer than any of my friends, even if they still played with them. I had ponies to mark important events, and as presents, but we never had extraneous cash to buy lots of ponies at a time, and as my sister likes to joke, I got her instead of a whole lot more ponies. But because we both shared that love for them, it was something we both kept going even to now. I think that it's still something I am more obsessive about than she is, possibly because autism makes interests more vivid. But I think I still love ponies this much because they are a part of my life, good and bad.

I've had other collections, and still do - but if I had to choose only one to keep, this would be the one.

[cookifaa]

I think I still collect them because they remind me of when times were simpler and when everything used to go over my head.

I've not had an easy life at all, I'm only 16, but I've been through things that most people won't ever experience and so for me my ponies are the only link back to the childhood that I lost. I am still technically a child so I am trying to hold onto that for as long as possible, and plus, they make me incredibly happy!

I was diagnosed with depression and social anxiety back when I was 10 after an accident, and I lost a lot of love for many things I used to dote on including my ponies. But now, looking back, I've realised that through all the tough times I have always gone back to the ponies. There are actually pictures of me at my Year Six Leavers Party holding my aunties Cotton Candy. So even though I've drifted, I've never really left them! I've also noticed that when I feel myself getting really anxious, I gravitate towards them and I spend ages playing with their hair. Probably not the best thing to do >.<

They also hold a great amount of sentimental value for me and my mother. Like me, my mum had an incredibly hard childhood, and so she tends to also randomly buy ponies. She loves my collection as much as I do.

I guess they're just small pieces of happiness we hold onto to remind us of those long gone days?

This got depressing really fast wow.