How close are you to completing your collection?

[goddessofpeep]

I keep moving the goal posts.  I just keep finding more to collect.  Sometimes it's pony sets I didn't have much interest in originally(Dance 'n Prance, Fancy Pants, etc) that I suddenly fall in love with.  I mostly ignored petites for years - until I suddenly decided to get them all.  I'd pick up stickers often, but I didn't go crazy - then I started to collect them hardcore.  I used to collect accessories with an "I'm happy to have one example of each type of item" attitude - now I've started down the completionist path of getting every accessory, for every pony.  I completely ignored the entire Lil' Litters line - then I had a good year of the things at the top of my wishlist. 

Other times, the focus expands slowly to include just one more thing, until it becomes a full on collection subset.  I didn't really collect Nirvana ponies.   I ended up with a few, and thought they were neat, but I wasn't what you'd consider a Nirvana collector.  First I picked up a few to fill in holes that the USA line had(Baby Minty, Baby Posey, Baby Medley, etc).  Then I started after the unique ones(Greek Ladybird, Mexican Star Pony, etc).  Then I started to go after at least an example of something from most countries(at least one piggy pony, one Venezuelan pony, etc).  Now I'm starting to poke at the lesser variants of the USA ponies.  I've developed a bit of a taste for the metallic symbols on Italian ponies:/

I'll complete something, and then I'll find something new take its place.  I basically finished my petite collection - then I shifted my focus to UK ponies.  I recently finished my G2 collection - now I'm working hard on filling in my accessory holes. I literally spent 20 years trying to complete my G2 collection.  I did it, and had a few days of happy dancing, and then I was back to scouring ebay for a yellow ice cream barrette.   

[mlp4me]

US store releases (not including sea ponies) I am done with. That was my goal a few years back. I don't necessarily count slight variations that only a few may have found.

My goals right now are to attempt to find some boxes for sets that I'm missing and to complete the MO pearly babies...

Literally, this is my wish list. Have a cry; it's not cheap.
sea ponies:
Adult:
Sea Breeze
Sea Mist
High Tide

Sea Sparkle Baby:
Salty
Dipper
Sea Spray
Sea Breeze

I will slowly customize the more expensive MO's so I at least have something to place in my collection... (Rapunzel is done.)

Mail Orders (ouch, my wallet):
pearlized baby ponies-baby glory )---I am ISO of her for under $20 if anybody has her...
day at the beach mom/baby
baby sugercake
Sweet scoops
satin n lace-magenta
Twice as fancy baby ponies: milky way, sugar berry, sweet tooth, dancing butterflies.
Pink Sprinkles
Rapunzel


I wish HQG1C would release plain white sea ponies in all of the adult poses; I would make myself some very nice place holders for the ones that I am missing... :o)

[Taffeta]

I lean heavily towards the North American releases, simply because those are what I grew up with and have the strongest nostalgia and feelings for. I imagine it’s much the same for you and the UK releases.

Yeah, exactly.

When I first came online it was the point at which the (mostly US) community online was starting to learn about UK and European ponies and a lot were not even documented on online sites so I was involved in that at the start. And I guess it just carried on from there, especially since people kept making up stuff or repeating wrong information and I am so detail obsessive about correct data that I couldn't just let it go xD.

Unfortunately the whole thing has slid back to that kind of place where there are a lot of mistakes and people don't care. So of course that makes my determination to keep researching stuff even greater...

Sigh, the endless web of knowledge O.o.

[Shatyr]

I am 67 ponies away from completing the US releases. Then I'll be looking into the Europeans.

I also collect Keypers and the original PVC posable Care Bears. The Cousins are so much harder to get than the actual Bears.

These will keep me going for a while, I'm sure.

[Taxel]

Hmm... I don’t think my collection will ever be complete. I like to think of myself as a sort of hobbyist “toy historian”... I read up on the history of toylines, brands, and manufacturers, I watch old TV commercials, I browse old catalogues... Not just MLP, but dolls, action figures, plushies, and lots of other things. I like to watch the changing trends and patterns in new toys, too. As long as there are awesome things to collect, I will collect them.

This somewhat resonates with me too, though I am more specific (mostly G1 ponies, though I did some stuff with Jem some years back). It's a project, it's about the toys but also their history, who was sold where, when, and so on. I think the historian in me has taken over a little bit, but since pretty much everything mainstream online focuses on only one geographical region of MLP release, and I didn't grow up there, it's always driven me to find out what happened here instead.

The US line is the only mlp line that is logical, well publicised and clear. For those reasons it holds zero investigative appeal to me I love the ponies the US had but couldn't care less about US release dates, set names, pony names except to contextualise other more unpredictable pony releases. The hook is in the stuff that doesn't follow the US timeline, and hunting for that information is a kind of collecting that never ends.

Yeah, the U.S. releases are pretty well-documented. I’m more interested in the overall history of the toy market: what competing companies were doing, how and when fads emerged in the industry, how play-styles and advertising have shifted over the decades... I like to study the ebb and flow of the U.S. toy market in its entirety, more-so than any specific line or brand. I lean heavily towards the North American releases, simply because those are what I grew up with and have the strongest nostalgia and feelings for. I imagine it’s much the same for you and the UK releases.

For me, toy history kind of represents the brightest parts of any given era. It’s the history of something joyful and fun, invented to make people happy and inspire imagination (and of course, to make money for the manufacturers). A lot of history is full of ugliness and strife, but there’s far, far less of that in something like the toy industry. It makes me happy to look back at times gone by and say: “Whatever else was happening in the world back then, there were still children playing with Barbies, MLPs, superhero toys, and plushies.” That’s oddly profound to me...

Also... I still play with my toys, and that’s something I truly cherish. X3 I love that I still get hyper and excited over a new pony. So I guess shifting toy trends fascinate me in part because they still impact me, haha.

Have you heard of Mel Birnkrant? He's a toy collector (Mickey Mouse and vintage comic things mostly) and used to be a toy designer. He's got a website that's absolutely packed with all kinds of really cool information about the toy industry. A few years back I binged his whole site and I learned so much. I don't recall anything about MLP (though it may have been mentioned in passing; he didn't work on MLP) but there's tons of info on both "boy" and "girl" toy lines, mostly more obscure ones I don't see mentioned much in the toy communities I'm part of.

[heftysmurf76]

I can literally count on one hand all I need to have complete North American and UK/Euro collections with a rare few custom stand ins, I am only needing Daddy Berrytown, Daddy Sunbright, Scribbles and a Rapunzel...and Punzie will have a custom stand in...that's literally it and I'll have all MOs, Dream Beauties,Litters, etc etc...I don't collect teh petites, that's my one other exception...

[katrine2309]

I’m done! But there is always someone sneaking in I have a small-ish collection of under 40 ponies. Most of them childhoods or ponies I wanted as a kid. One or two of them are ponies I wanted as an adult I am not done with my Megan and Sundance set, my puffy stickers and my backcards though. To me they are equally important in my collection

[nessa16]

I would say I am roughly 75-85% done with my MLP collection.  Until they add the next gen and not counting merchandise, anyway.  I do not know where I stand on my other collections as much like Rainbow Brite and SSC.  I know those wish lists are considerably shorter as are the things I actually want.

[brightberry]

I rarely buy ponies aside from Basic Fun these days.  But there are a few G1 originals I wouldn't mind having.

[Cristar]

I just have to find:

-Tootie Tails (from Tropical Ponies set)

-Two unicorn newborn twins (Sandcastle and Shovels for example!)

-a Big Brother (just one of them, but I still don't know which one I prefer)

-Italian Majesty

-Italian Starflower

-Italian Snuzzle (the white "Polly" version would be great, but I think it will remain a dream...  )

[Pumpkin_Tart]

I still have a quite a few to get. (Coughs) A lot more....

[NovelNerd]

I’m starting over again so there is a long way to go. Now my ponies have to share a room with my rabbit and ferret though. Space is limited since those guys need a place to run when they are out (separately). I’ll havw to decide which ones I really want I guess. Since money is forever tight right now with medical bills it’s just one here and there at a time.

[SkyCakes]

I don't think I ever would be done but, I did downsize which I never thought I would do with G3s. I may start on the G4s. I do love all ponies but lack of space rather put me off. Id  need shelving to the ceiling. I still have mail orders for G1s and some sea ponies. I also on a HQG1 collector kick. Im interested in the 35ths as well. So I really don't think done is in my pony vocabulary. I just shifted my interests around.

[Nemesis]

Have you heard of Mel Birnkrant? He's a toy collector (Mickey Mouse and vintage comic things mostly) and used to be a toy designer. He's got a website that's absolutely packed with all kinds of really cool information about the toy industry. A few years back I binged his whole site and I learned so much. I don't recall anything about MLP (though it may have been mentioned in passing; he didn't work on MLP) but there's tons of info on both "boy" and "girl" toy lines, mostly more obscure ones I don't see mentioned much in the toy communities I'm part of.

I hadn’t! Thank you for the info, I’m definitely going to check out that site.

[nhal039]

I will never be done. My tastes change over time so I am always finding new ponies I like, I sell off the ponies I have grown out off.