Who are the "Oldie Moldies"?

[FarDreamer]

I'm just curious who's been collecting ponies a long time.  I have been since 1999 (I was 16).  You'd never know it by my post count but I've been aware of the trading post and the arena for as long as they've been around.


There's an awful lot of familiar names that I never see anymore.  The website where I bought my first pony online hasn't been up for years.    Where did everyone go?


About a year or so ago I contacted someone selling a HUGE collection on Craigslist.  She turned out to be a collector that had been around for YEARS and I totally knew who she was when she told me her online name.


This is not an insult to new collectors, I'm just trying to track down all the old familiar "faces".  Where is everyone going?

[Starbright]

I'm probably not one you're thinking of, but I started collecting in 2005 so I'm oldER if not pre-2000. I've had a turbulent few years with graduating grad school, moving, jobs and job changes, bills...most of my collection is still boxed up now because I'm renovating and don't have display space. I think the economy really threw a lot of people off, plus I was disenchanted with the 3.5s and repetition of the Core 7. I doubt I would have gotten back to collecting if not for the new show.

[Cinnabar]

I have been collecting since 2004 but did not join the online forums until 2009.

I hope you are able to find some of the members you remember, hopefully they are still around and just not active on the boards 

[STLGusty]

There were a lot of "Gusty"s out there, but I was one of them.  I usually went by Gusty the HockeyPony, and sometimes I'd sign my e-mails with <\____~  Lol.  Occasionally I'd write articles for TabbyMLP's monthly e-mail newsletter.  I can't remember if I had the screen name of STLBlues29 back then or if I was still jdkoester.  Haha...oh my, that last screen name is old.
I've been around on line since around 1998.  I usually didn't sell any ponies... I was a buyer   Still am!

[Chrissytree]

I've been online for 10 years now as of January   I still had a good supply of ponies at a Car Boot sale up until then but when that one closed I had to search for a new marketplace and came online I've been collecting since 1987 though

[Lilja]

Old enough to feel nostalgic about Dream Valley when it was still using illustrations instead of photos for its pony guide: http://web.archive.org/web/20010606093926/http://dreamvalley.freeyellow.com/ponies_list.html

[Foxtale]

I know I'm probably not one of the people you are looking for since I wasn't as active in the early days, but I would say I've been collecting since 96 (technically i never stopped collecting but that is when I transitioned from a child looking for ponies to a pony collector). I only joined the forums in 2003-4 even though I was a lurker for longer because message boards scared me. The interwebs was still an unknown place for me.  

Welcome back, I hope you find who you are looking for!

[01mlplover]

Ive been collecting a long time but i didnt find the pony community til 2003 and that was the mlptp. I only just recently got an account here

[emery]

I've only been recollecting for about 6.5 years so I wouldn't be technically an oldie. The *trend* I have seen over the years is just that people kind of move on when their life changes. They have kids and need more space so the pony collection shrinks, they move and it's just too much to be carting their collection across the country so they have to downsize, they fall on hard times and since many ponies are a good investment they end up selling to make ends meet, or they just get out of collecting altogether as interests change.

I think that MLP will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who loved them, played with them or collected them even if they can't have a collection or focus on them at a specific time in their life.

[wystearya]

I think that MLP will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who loved them, played with them or collected them even if they can't have a collection or focus on them at a specific time in their life.

I agree with everything you said, but only quoted this smaller part. 

I no longer buy nearly as many ponies as I once did, and I have sold more than I now own.  I *love* the ponies I have kept, and will always enjoy them.  But I have found that I actually enjoy my collection more with fewer numbers.   I can have a collection of favorites and childhood ponies without taking up so much room that I don't get to enjoy what I have.  <3

I still buy a few ponies, but I mostly just like what I have.  I may end up selling more, I may someday just have a handful.  But I will always have my joy of the MLPs in my heart. 

[StoryDreamer]

I was just a teen when I started but I was on ponypeople as Northy. I stopped collecting for awhile after lack of money.  I never was allowed to buy/trade/sell or put my last name on the internet when I was a teen so I wasn't very "known."

[VanillaBean]

I technically started collecting in 1997 when I was about 5.     I saw my G2s as collectables as well as toys, so it's ironic that they all got thrown out later on.  D:
I discovered the online community around 2003, & fell in love with G1s & G3s, although I didn't start buying ponies again until 2009. I was a lurker here for many years before joining.  xD
 

[Elisto]

I've never really not collected ponies, although I guess I started to consider myself a collector in the late 90s, around age 12, when I started finding lots at yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets, etc.

However, I had no idea the Arena existed or that there were so many other MLP fans until late 2009 when a friend directed me here. So...old to collecting, new to the fan community.

[PrincessNikki]

I used to be on the MLPTP in 1999 as HeadlessPony.

I was 13 then, but I wasn't able to join the festivities due to my age and my parents lack of consent. So I got frustrated and left.

Recently started actively collecting again because of FIM.

[MercuryStar]

Wow, Foxtale, you sound a lot like me back in my early days of discovering the MLP community online.   I was new to the internet in general, and terrified of the idea of message boards.   So when I looked up My Little Ponies and found other collectors, I lurked for a very long time.   Probably started somewhere around '95 or '96.   I know it was a bit before the G2s came out, I watched while the community exploded over them.   

The most I did before I finally worked up the nerve to join (a little after the G3s came out, I joined Pony Finders) was buy a few ponies from Prancetron.   I would look at a lot of other seller's websites, but just never bought anything.
 

I remember when the Arena was born!   I can't recall if I was linked to it by someone on Pony Finders, or if I just stumbled across it.   I shrugged the new website off... what did I need with two message boards?!


Let me just say, it was rather awkward "knowing" who most people were, and them not having a clue who I was.

As for where all those people are going, I know for a while I sort of lost interest in collecting ponies.   I still loved them, I just couldn't afford them, and so many real life obligations were eating into my internet time.   Plus with internet pony friends disappearing, and me finding new internet distractions, the Arena sort of got lost in it all. 
I still can't really afford ponies, have rl things cutting into my internet time, and more places I pop into on the net, but I am getting better able to handle all of it.  With the new ponies, and the new Arena, I have found myself being pulled back in. 

Edit:  HAHA, Spike!   I had vague memories of Dream Valley with brochure images instead of photos, but I had decided I dreamed it up.   My brain is funny like that sometimes.   It's kind of like when rotary phones were phased out for Touch-Tone.   It seemed like one day we had a rotary, the next a Touch-Tone, and my brain eventually just decided I had been mistaken about ever having a rotary phone.