Fanon or canon personality? Does it influence your purchases?

[Moss]

Considering the fact that I buy only ponies from the show now (my attempt to set a limit), I'd say that I do let fanon influence my purchases. For example, if it wasn't for fanon, I never would have started looking out for Lyra in the show... heck, I probably wouldn't know she existed!
Yet I don't always take fanon personalities as law. Again, using Lyra as an example, I like the fanon idea that she's obsessed with humans, but I'm not sold on the relationship between her and Bonbon.
But, hey, they're toys! Considering the fact that they can't talk, I'd say you can make up their personalities however you want!

[Pinkie21]

My purchasing these days is exactly like it was in my childhood:  I buy a pony because it's pretty.  I make up my own personalities for my ponies.  Even the G4 main characters.  They are not at all like their show counterparts  (for instance, my Applejack is like the G1 AJ, and my Rainbow Dash is an artist).  So I guess canon or fanon doesn't really affect my buying.  Which i guess is why I can't seem to give up collecting G4's like I wanted to do. 

[keylimepony]

I don't really know much about fan canon so it doesnt have any impact on my purchases. Ive always had my own opinions. When I was little my mom bought all my ponies but they were never ones I remember being on the show.

For G4, I don't think I would love Pinkie Pie or have bought her toys if I didn't like her show personality. If she was a background character I probably wouldn't have looked twice at her or added her to my herd. I don't really like Rainbow Dash for her personality and her style isn't really my thing either. I like all the others and would probably pick them up if one happened to appeal to me. I do have a G1 Applejack so I don't know if I want a G4 one anytime soon. There are a lot of G1 ponies I would rather put my money towards at the moment. I love Fluttershy and I am so picky about what qualities I want that I haven't bought a toy of her yet. I don't want duplicates so I want to buy the right one.

[Saiko]

Hate, hate, haaate~ Trixie as a character, but I will definitely buy her toy. So beautiful, and such a change from the usual pink/purple designs. Besides, her arrival was a defining moment for Twilight, so she's important. Lyra too, although I don't know much about fan interpretation of her character, other than she's dating / married to BonBon, which I support and it's practically cannon now. She's lovely shades of green.

I guess Pony is not as appealing design-wise, but I would still love her toy (unlikely as that is ;_;) based on her character. Her actions are extremely cute.

[InkyMilk]

It's interesting reading how little/much collectors are influenced by show or fanon personality! Since I'm in the US I may decide to wait till I can just purchase the TRU set if I decide I really want Trixie and Lyra. It's hard for me to pull away from personalities I feel have already been set in place, though since Lyra's personality is mostly fanon created, she may be a little easier for me to create my own interpretation of.

Admittedly, sometimes I feel bad though for disliking Lyra as she seems to be such a huge fan favorite, but I think BonBon is quite ugly so I don't prefer to have to see them together and since I don't like humans in Equestria her supposed "obsession" with them is quite annoying to work around. If it were up to me she'd be closer friends with Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, perhaps sort of the "middle man" who helps them bond through their love of music. And Trixie would be revamped completely as a long lost playmate who Twilight has forgotten about and who now feels slighted by Twilight's ignorance of her and subconscious pity for her lesser skill in magic.

[HavACrumpet452]

I just buy the ponies. The pose and look of them makes their personality to me. Don't care how they are in the cartoons.

[scarletjul]

I think the way the character is portrayed only influences me one way--if I really like a character, I am likely to pick up the toy.  But even if I don't like the character, I will still pick up the toy if it's a pretty pony design

This is how I look at it, too.  I had no interest in owning Rarity until I saw the episode where she designs dresses for the Gala Ball - and then I had to have her.  However, I don't care for Trixie's character but I still intend to buy her because she just looks so pretty - I can always give her a redemption arc if I feel the need to make her a nicer character, anyhow. 

I do the same thing with g1s.  Always loved Wind Whistler and her character on the tv show just made me love her more.  But I didn't want Shady until I saw the movie and then I definitely wanted her. 

[xeevee]

the way fanon characters are portrayed makes no difference to me, as I don't really pay attention to that kind of thing.  I do like the Doctor Whooves pony, because I can also see a connection, and I'm a huge doctor who fan.  Plus I think the Pony eye thing is cute, but more so because I actually spotted that in the episode it first appeared too.  So it's funny they made a toy like that.  Otherwise, I actually have no idea how the fans portray her, or any of the other characters such as Lyra.

I pretty much buy all the ponies.  That is what I want, all the ponies   The ones I remember or prefer may have shown up in shows as characters I like in shows (such as G1 whizzer and firefly and G4 Luna) but there is a slim correlation because my favourite ponies are usually my favourites because of something else, and in the case of G3s I actually couldn't stand the show or any of the characters in it, but I still like the toys.  Most of my favourite ponies, are my favourites because either I really like the colour/cutie mark combo.  Or because of some happy memory I have of the pony.  Or in most cases both. 

[Koudoawaia]

I won't buy Trixie even though she does have a pretty design because I really don't like her personality in the Boast Busters episode. I'd probably want to knock her over or throw things at her everytime I looked at her. XP

I won't buy Snowflake even though I think she's pretty too because her talent is a lame thing that anyone can do: catching snowflakes on her tongue. Please, that's so lame. =p

I also don't buy G4 Pinkie Pie because she really annoys me in the show. Way too hyper for me. I did make an exception with a McDonald's one in a thrift shop last year because it was on model but even then I gave it to my sister later. XP G3 Pinkie Pie on the other hand, she's gorgeous and I have no idea what she's like in G3 so I'm happy to have her in her G3 form in my collection.

[Starly]

I'm surprised at how many people here dislike Trixie's personality in the show, it's not THAT bad.
She's just a performer to me, of course she's going to act boastful, AJ, Rarity, and Dash acted no better, if not worse. I guess TV shows are always doomed to make you root for the heroes and main characters and shun those that disagree with them. Cue my favorite characters, the ones all the main cast hate and get no love in show. Sigh.

[Gonzo]

There's some fanon that annoys me (mostly the kind that apologizes for Discord), but not to the point that I'll avoid buying a pony because of it. Ponies is ponies, and fanon can vary from person to person.

[will2Bfree]

I think the way the character is portrayed only influences me one way--if I really like a character, I am likely to pick up the toy.  But even if I don't like the character, I will still pick up the toy if it's a pretty pony design

This for me too.

For instance, I really don't like Rarity's personality, but I think she's a very pretty white unicorn so I got her anyways. And I like about half of Lyra's fanon. I don't care for pairing her up with Bon-Bon, but I think her human obsession is cute. It's refreshing to have a pony adoring humans for a change. For me, it kind of reflects all the humans here who adore ponies, even if their family and friends don't "get it".

Even with ponies that haven't appeared in the show, I can be influenced to buy based on their backcard descriptions. I really liked Feathermay's. It's such a shame every single one of her I found had such extreme head/body mismatch. I don't think any description could go quite far enough to make up for that.

[RAMChYLD]

Neither fanon or canon personality influence my purchases. My ponies will harbor the personality I (read: my imagination) create for them. I buy ponies because I like the designs, not because of FIM. *to self* doesnotexistdoesnotexist

[sweetstuff]

I honestly don't *get* the whole fanon/canon thing. Those things weren't around when MLP first started. I had ponies because I loved ponies, not because of some TV show. 

That being said, there are some canons I agree with. I remember being very excited when I saw Rosedust as the queen in the movie, since I thought she was so pretty and so she became cousin to Majesty.

Other cannons I hate - Sweet Stuff has a horrible voice IMO, she never sounded or acted that way in my herd. *lol*

I also seriously hate G3 Rainbow Dash cartoon. I bought her because I love her colors - the whole "dah-ling" thing was over the top. I did like PP and Minty's voices/personalities.

As for G4 - I haven't collected the toys aside from some blind bags. My daughter has 3 ponies now. AJ, Plumsweet, and Baby Sunny Daze. I had no idea of AJs personality when I got her the toy. Still have no idea who Plumsweet is, but she's a pretty pony.

[starrypawz]

Not really. Well I'm more inclined with the g4's to get the ones I really like first, my main three I want are Fluttershy, AJ and RD (although I have a Pinkie and Fluttershy, I wanted an RD but when I was looking I couldn't find one without marks)

I don't pay too much attention to the fanon for mlp and don't devle that far into the g4/fim fandom so I'm inclined to buy a pony because it's pretty. I'd love to get DJ-PON3 as she's just awesome