Why do you Collect My Little Pony?

[KarentheUnicorn]

I had an empty wall that needed filling.

[Lollipop]

Nostalgia & They make me happy  & because my boyfriend encouraged me to collect when I got some of mine out of the loft in the summer 

[HavACrumpet452]

The thrill of the hunt for sure. I moved in fall so my new pony room is not near complete yet. There has been a lot going on in my life so I haven't had time. I'm level-headed enough to know that real life takes the front seat and plastic ponies can wait until I have more time and they are going to be there when I do. At the same time though, I still like to go pony hunting in the local thrifts, even when I don't have my pony room ready for new additions.

I dunno why ponies though. I always loved animals and dogs and horses always topped my list. I also collect realistic Breyer horse models and little plastic horses of all sorts. One of my friends in elementary school was horse-crazy and she was contagious apparently. I used to be into puppy in my pocket before then (the nice older ones that looked real) and wanted ALL of them. That's why I got hooked on pokemon as a kid, lol. Gotta catch em all.

No therapy for me. They're actually kinda stressful having to set up the room and find room for them and the money spent of course. I don't do a whole lot of pony cleaning usually. Sometimes I get up the energy to have a bath day for new ponies, other times they go on the shelf as they came. I hate doing hair so brushing it down is just about it for me. I do love to photograph ponies though and will clean them up for pictures.

[FarDreamer]

Because I love them.  I know that's not much help, but that's it.   

[shabbychicdee]

I started to check all the boxes until I read the directions!   

I guess my top two reasons would be nostalgia and a sense of community, although I feel that all the other options apply to me, too.   

everything said here

[Tribble79]

1. Because I love what they look like and how they make me feel - happy and nostalgic.

2. because they are not breakable like other collectibles. I collected unicorns when I was growing up. I had unicorn everything! My favorite was Unipegs. Anyway so many of those items got broken what with dogs and other pets knocking them down.... These don't break but if I don't notice them knocked down, they could be chewed.

3. They are so much fun to play with and to customize.

4. I want to have an army one day but don't want to force an army on myself I want it to come "naturally"

[Lucky_Ladybug]

Collecting makes me feel like I'm claiming something back from my childhood that limited funds at the time prevented me from throughly enjoying.

This. I feel like I'm finally able to give something to that little girl who longed for it so badly without luck, since the Ponies she wanted were off the shelves.

I've been pondering lately why it was always Ponies, though. I loved a lot of things as a kid, but I don't think I bonded with any toys (aside from my action figures) as much as I did Ponies. Dancing Butterflies has been with me all my life, and that's probably part of it. But I think with the other things I wanted extremely badly, I was able to get almost all of them (never could get that Mad Dog figure from Disney's TaleSpin, and now I don't even know if it really exists, since a lot of people claim it was never made). Ponies were an exception to that; I wanted them so badly and couldn't have many of them and couldn't find most of the main ones that caught my eye. (I was able to get Ruby Lips, whom I absolutely adored from Sunbeam's backcard. Year Ten is probably the G1 year that makes me feel the most nostalgic, since all but two of my childhood herd were from around then.)

I was excited about every generation, although I didn't get any G3s when they were in stores. I was focused on buying other things at that point. But I should have asked for some.

I'd idly thought of collecting G1s again in particular, but I didn't do anything about it until last year. And I should have stuck with my childhood list, but I started discovering more and more that I liked, and my list grew and grew....

[MorningGlorysParadise82]

I have been collecting MLP as an adult since about the time I joined the Arena. As a child MLP held so much magic, imagination and happiness.
As I started getting older, especially after the 10th anniversary and they were no longer NEW, it became a "Oh! a Pony!" and I had to bring it home.

I still have most of the non-toy extras like books, puzzles, etc, that I had since childhood. I think by hanging on to my MLP stuff it allowed me to still feel that...peace...is the only word I can think of, I had as a kid while still being a grown up.

I will admit there was a part of me that was thinking I might be too old for "toys" but I learned about the same time that if it makes you happy and it's not disruptive to your daily functioning, then who cares!?

It wasn't long after I came here and found all these lovely GROWN UP MLP fans who still bought and played with Ponies. I felt much better about me, so I guess the sense of community here helped me to go ahead and complete my sets without thinking or feeling strange about it.

Where Barbie collecting had this strange mature or rigid atmosphere, MLP opened me up to a more relaxed atmosphere and I actually started finishing my JEM collection and some Disney stuff. I even started collecting Monster High because of the awesome fans I met through the Arena!

So all the above apply to me but I did narrow it down to the Nostalgia of it and that it made me happy. Especially since it has given my 9yr old daughter and I something to bond over!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Because I've always had MLP in my house and I don't plan to stop any time soon. 

[Echan]

I too wanted to tick all the boxes, because all these apply 

[Star Spark]

I put nostalgia and "they make me happy" but "thrill of the hunt equally applies"- I was pretty devastated as a kid when my mom sold most of my G1 ponies, and as I got older, rediscovered them on the Internet, and was more in control of my own money, I started to seek them out second hand (unfortunately, this was around the time everyone my age was doing the same, so they became surprisingly rare.) Over the last few years I've discovered local flea markets and thrift stores, and there's little I love more than finding a G1 (or G3s, since G1s are far and few between now- I think other collectors have noticed the same stores) or another old toy from the '80s and early '90s. I think, between my "new" acquisitions and childhood survivors that I've held onto, I now have more toys from this era than I did as a kid! And I love it; being surrounded by a world where the likes of My Little Pony, Lady Lovely Locks, He-Man, Jurassic Park, Little Pet Shop, Transformers and G.I. Joe all co-exist makes me feel young again.   

[xeevee]

All of the above really. Mostly nostalgia and therapy I think.  I collect for therapy for sure.  I know when I'm depressed or anxious is definitely when I buy more ponies.  I collect ponies for nostalgia.  Community is why I hang about here regardless of if I'm actively buying or not.

[spottedslug]

Sorry, can't select enough options, lol. All of the above?

[Zapper]

The voices in my head command me to.

[Eurocoin]

I like to build my collection, though I don't like to hunt the things I want, I get no thrill from it. I also collect, because it makes me happy.