Ponies as a child vs ponies as an adult

[katrine2309]

I was looking through my collection earlier (it’s not on display so I’m shuffling through it once in a while) and it got me thinking. I grew up with G1, born in 1982 and I loved ponies as a kid. But I had some favorites and others I almost never played with. For me, the ultimate pony was my sister’s Gusty and baby Gusty. I’m from Europe, so we didn’t have the BBE babies. I loved everything about the Gusty’s. I loved the pose, colors and symbol. They were the best ponies out there. I got baby Glory as a substitute and she was a good substitute. Unicorns were special to me, and the white ones even more so. The baby unicorn pose was beyond cute and easy to play with. Gusty’s pose were also the best adult pony pose. The first pony I had to have as an adult were baby Ribbon and Gypsy. They had both been on my wishlist since I was a kid. Glory came in as a third pony I had to have.

But as an adult I find myself loving ponies and poses I NEVER played with as a kid. I love my CP Bowtie from childhood even though I never really liked her as a kid. Now she is one of my most favorite ponies. The same goes for Posey and her trotting pose. Now, I like the CP and trotting pose much better than Gusty’s pose. And even though the baby unicorn pose still is a huge favorite, I fell in love with baby Blossom and her pose as an adult. I love that pose, and so many of the baby ponies that have it. I find myself looking at ponies differently and ponies I never liked (probably because they were difficult to play with) I now really love!

Is it the same for anyone else? Have you changed your mind about ponies from childhood to adulthood? Or is it the same? Do you still have your number one pony from childhood as your number one today?

[BlackCurtains]

It's funny, because I wasn't really into ponies as a kid. I was born the same year as you and I had exactly 5 ponies in my childhood; Raincurl, Rosedust, Racer, Baby Rainribbon and my first pony Baby Firefly. My favorite toys were the original Littlest Pet Shop and nicely detailed vinyl animals (like Schleich or the kind you'd find in Zoo giftshops). I liked my ponies as a kid and definitely played with them. I know I saw RAMC at some point, maybe more than once. But ponies weren't a huge part of my childhood.

When I was first on the internet around 1997, I found a Kenner LPS forum, much like the Arena. And I bought several sets from eBay back then. It was my main focus as far as toys and collecting them. When I found the Arena, it was because of custom ponies, but as I learned more about MLP and saw how many there were I got sucked in as a collector

It's kind of odd, actually, because I had plenty of other toy horses. I had the briefcase full of Funshine horses (a favorite) and these really cool bendy leg horses that I played with a lot. So it wasn't like my family didn't know I liked horses. I think I got the majority of my childhood MLP from extended family. I guess they figured I was a girl who liked animals so MLP. I do remember playing with them with my best friend who I usually played LPS or Puppy in my Pocket with. She had more than me and I vividly remember how cool Up Up & Away was. She had some Breyer too. I inherited some Breyers from my mom but not until I was older. I'm getting off topic

So, yes for me my mind has definitely changed. I like them a lot more now Due to nostalgia though, Raincurl is still my favorite. But a lot of other ponies come close.

[katrine2309]

I never had the LPS as a kid. Always thought they came later, but recently I discovered the Kenner LPS and they are adorable! Really cool - I would have loved them, but I have absolutely no memories of them as a kid. Maybe they didn’t sell in Norway?

It’s strange- how we change with the years! For me, I think it was a part of how easy/difficult the ponies were to play with. That is not so much a prerequisite anymore so now other ponies increase in popularity I guess.

[goddessofpeep]

Some of my favorites have shifted around since I became an adult collector, but part of that may be due to a world of new ponies opening up with the internet and international sales. Ponies like Nightlight and Greek Ladybird didn’t exist for me as a child. Though some of my childhood favorites have remained top tier loves, and my two most wanted but never got as a child ponies(Baby Glory and Windwhistler) are now favorites in my adult collection. 

I did change my opinion on a few ponies over the years.  I originally detested the Dance ‘n Prance ponies.  Absolutely hated them. Saw them in the store, and was actually offended that they even existed.  I carried that opinion until my first ponymeet as an adult collector.  Someone at the ponymeet had a fully functional one, and for the very first time I actually saw one in action.  I was in love. It was the most hilarious thing I’d ever seen.  I now have all of the USA ones(with all accessories), and I’m just missing one of the Argentina ones.  Going from absolute hatred to absolute adoration was the biggest opinion swing, but it wasn’t the only one.

I also wasn't that fond of the Fancy Pants ponies.  I had one in my childhood collection(a gift from a friend), but it never did much for me.  Then one day out of nowhere I took real notice of them. No idea why I started to really like them, but I did.   Maybe it was an ebay auction, maybe it was seeing them in person at a meet. Maybe it was the Argentina ones. No idea, but they really started to call to me as an adult.

I had a couple Magic Message ponies as a kid, but it took an adult eye to really appreciate the unique colors from that line.  I really started to like them as an adult. I never disliked them as a kid, but I wasn’t all over them either.  I am now:p

[SunPony]

Hmm, interesting question.  I think my preferences have stayed pretty much the same as far as the ponies themselves.  I would say I liked accessories and playsets more as a kid, while as an adult I'm more into just collecting the ponies themselves.  This make sense given I was never really into COLLECTING ponies as a kid, just into playing with them, whereas now it is the opposite.

[toyjunky]

Hmm, interesting question.  I think my preferences have stayed pretty much the same as far as the ponies themselves.  I would say I liked accessories and playsets more as a kid, while as an adult I'm more into just collecting the ponies themselves.  This make sense given I was never really into COLLECTING ponies as a kid, just into playing with them, whereas now it is the opposite.

I agree with you on the accessories and playsets. As a kid, my older cousin was given a Show Stable one Christmas and I was so jealous because I really wanted one. So as an adult when I first got back into ponies it was like "I WANT a Show Stable" and found an inexpensive one (this was many years ago) on Ebay with most of the accessories. It was fun for a little bit to finally have one, and then I wanted a Paradise Estate, thankfully did NOT get one (kept being outbid beyond what I was willing to spend the multiple times I tried to get one years ago). Truthfully though, the Show Stable spends almost all of it's time sitting on a shelf in the closet, with the accessories packed away in a box. At this point I'd rather have the ponies themselves rather than the whole playset.

I have had my mind changed as an adult though in regards to the various "gimmicks" that were used by Hasbro. Initially when I started finding G1's at the swap meet a couple years ago I didn't really think I wanted any of the ones like brush n' grows, happy tails, twinkle eyes to name a few. After seeing them in person though and holding them in my hands, they can be pretty cute too. I have NOT changed my mind though about those Beddy Bye Eye ponies. I always thought they were a bit creepy as a kid and they were my least favorite baby ponies, I had Baby Ribbon BBE and BBE Tiddly Winks. I have only bought one BBE as an adult and that was Baby Half Note.

[Ponybookworm]

When I was a child, the only Ponies who existed for me were those in the UK (except sometimes I'd go to France somewhere & see their Ponies). Like most of you it was G1 I grew up with. I HATED certain poses, & would often avoid pink hair, yet it STILL showed as the most prominent hair colour by a mile because when it came to second-hand stuff I was just PONIES...

Nowadays pose doesn't bother me. Variants do. Bye-bye childhood me who had three Baby Sea Shimmers & traded one of a Baby North Star. Hello adult me who picks five (Butterscotch, Twisty Tail, Trixiebelle, Starcatcher, & Twilight Sparkle) Ponies to get variants of who can't be classed as 1: twins (Napper & her green-haired twin, Splashes & hers, Butter Kiss & hers are three examples, & all have different hair colours, while Tootsie's twin is a different body colour); 2: so wildly different as to almost be another Pony (my Dutchies & my two adult Argies testify to that, & I'm happy for the latter to remain my only two adult Argies). Every other variant Pony I pass on. I don't want US Confetti, Tickle or Trickles as I have UK Confetti & the other two are italian. I don't want Collector Pose Applejack or Bowtie, Flat Foot Blossom, or Concave Foot Minty. I don't want twenty of Ivy, Skywishes, or any of the other G2s & G3s who have multiples. I don't have Retro Plush Blossom or Cotton Candy, but searched high & low for the Snuzzle.

And i also learnt about international Ponies too. I have US Ponies I never knew existed, German Ponies, Greek Ponies, Argie Ponies (the Babies in particular), my three Italians, all of whom I never knew of as a child. I'd also love more unique Argie & Greek Babies (top of the list being a Baby Butterscotch), the other unique Greek, some unique Spanish Piggies & the Piggy Butterscotch (Greek Butterscotch too), & I keep my eye on the extremely pricey, have-to-be-a-millionaire-to-buy-one Colombians, & also the Brazillians.

[katrine2309]

Thanks for sharing everyone! It’s so fun to read all your experiences

[Strawberry Swirl]

I always like telling my story regarding my child self's relationship with MLP, I find it so so funny and it's a perfect example of irony.
(I was a 00's kid btw for context)


I spent most of my childhood HATING pony. I had some interest very early, but by the first grade it was my greatest enemy. What's interesting is that I didn't reject other 80's toylines that had reboots at the time, ie. care bears or strawberry shortcake. It was just MLP that was "for babies" *insert thinking emoji here*
I remember having a thing about being treated as a child, as if it were demeaning. So maybe that was a part of it.

I got over it though when I was about 14 because the whole brony thing blew up, and suddenly it was "cool" to like MLP, but ONLY G4. I didn't give any previous incarnations any chance until I watched some of the G1 programs around 16 and found a lot of them had similar themes to FiM (WRT having plots that involved fighting bad guys or similarly more adventurous things). I later was lucky to find my very first pony ever (and ended up making it into an original persona character, as you can see; even using the name in MLP online spaces) plus a handful of other ones I had in childhood that I apparently completely forgot about.

Although I have my own opinions on the brony part of pony fandom, I'm still glad I got into it, because then I wouldn't have grown out of the whole "I'm too old for XYZ" spiel (or at least not until much later); and more importantly, I wouldn't have had the extra time & money to grow my collection to what it is today.


I started properly collecting at like 15 (get this, I promised myself I would only get the mane 6 inspirations...YEAH RIGHT), and I'm 25 now... With an entire wall's worth of ponies from different time periods, I'm excited to see where the next decade or so will take me!

[Taffeta]

There are definitely some differences. I was a lot more pose picky as a kid. I didn't like the tootsie pose, although now I do. I was also influenced a lot by the comics, and used that to decide, often, which ponies I wanted from sets. The interesting thing is that I never played games based on the comic. But the characters that caught my imagination were the ones I used to really want. Where I live had bad distribution, though, so I ended up with other ponies from these sets (or none from some sets). Many of the ones I had as a kid I now like more than the ones I originally latched onto (for example, Tropical Breeze over Wing Song xD).

Glory and Medley remained favourites for me as a child, though, Also Powder. I couldn't get them here, so they were longed for but never seen when I was a kid. I started to think they were mythical. Paradise was another - she of course doesn't exist But the brazilian one is close. I still love Glory and Medley like I did as a kid. Finding the BF ones was so nice. I am sad not to have Powder.

I loved meeting all the ponies that the UK didn't get, when I first got online and realised they existed. I remember getting really into the 2nd set princesses (hence my name xD) and some others that I never could have had as a kid.

I really don't like Sundae Best. I never saw one as a kid. I liked them in the comics. I am not a fan irl. Although their name merry-go-round is interesting, the ponies themselves are a bit insipid and smell horrible. :/ Glad I had a Sweetberry instead.

[katrine2309]

@Taffeta: It’s so funny to read your experiences- I recognize myself a lot!! Except for the comic- part because unfortunately we didnt have the comic. At least not as I can remember :/

[Koudoawaia]

I always liked MLP as a kid. Only had four of them my entire childhood though but really loved them and sometimes I'd play with them when I was playing with my  other animal figures. My favorite cousin had an entire flat long binful of ponies and I remember being a little envious of how many she had. Think they came from her paternal grandmother.  As an adult I'm much more into them and have a whole lot more than just four though I still do have my childhood ponies. I no longer play pretend with my ponies though. They get displayed on shelves now.

[LadyAmalthea]

Pose-wise, my tastes haven't changed much from when I was a kid. The baby unicorn pose was and still is one of my favorites. I grieved the loss of it when I saved up to buy Baby Glory and by the time I had enough money to get her, my mom took me to the store and to my horror, that line was gone and had been replaced by BBE babies!! I hated the Surprise/Heartthrob pose, and the Dancing Butterflies pose because I thought they were hard to play with, and I still don't like it even though I don't 'play' with them anymore.

I've embraced some of the gimmicks as an adult a little more. I wasn't a fan of them as a kid, because I thought they were distracting. I thought Twinkle Eyes were kind of soulless-looking, so I avoided them. But they have some of the brightest and most interesting colors, and I enjoy collecting them now. So Softs were too 'other' from the rest of my collection, so they got ignored. Plus they got dirty. I can appreciate a good condition So Soft now, but I still don't seek them out. Brush-n-Grows just pretty much came after my time; I remember my youngest sister getting one, Ringlets, and we thought she was weird with her yellow eyes and aggressive looking pose. But her hair sure was fun to play with, though! We made her into a witch or something. As an adult, I love the BnGs!

[Kitcatepic]

I only knew about g4 ponies when I was young my g4 pony toy collection was kinda a mess I didn't know what series of ponies was supposed to be the main series at first I got all the main six fashion styles and the princesses (the Applejack and rainbow dash were really plushies but I didn't care because they were the same size as the rest) then I thought the blind bags were the main series so on and so forth it took until much later for me to get a decently sized collection of the regular g4 brushables also I had no clue that any previous generations happened my first encounter with g1 was when I went to the library thinking they would have different my little pony episodes from the ones on Netflix they did but it was g1 I took it home and played it then I was like wait a minute what the heck is this

[sweetstuff85]

Definitely had similar thoughts as an adult collector.

My favourite ponies to play with as a kid were the ones I saw on the TV shows and movies, I had quite I few of those ponies and was able to reins to RAMC, Escape From Cartrina and the Movie.

I always got nee ponies but had less attachment to them… I never really loved my Rainbow Curl Pony, Rockin’ Beat, or Merry Go Round Ponies… I even cut MGR Sparkler’s leg off for some reason. 😬

But as an adult I really love those sets and find them really pretty, but as a kid I thought they were kind of ugly.

Go figure.