"What happened in your childhood?"

[MaronaPossessed]

@ShortyBoo

I am so very sorry for what you been through, and I'm glad My Little Pony has helped you through it and have you to recover from it. Blessings to you.

@kissthethunder

Hun, You don't have to go through that. You can report to the police about this. Your cousins will be witnesses and there are tests for that too. I really hate to delve into this, so I'll just say I'm glad My Little Pony helped you. Stay strong, and remember, Friendship IS Magic . Blessings to you.

@Salli

You are a role model. Do what you love to do and inspire others!^_^ Blessings to you.

@Zombelina

I, too, suffer from depression. Suffered for about 10 years so far...it can really eat you up. Also suffering anxiety during stressful situations. PONIES MAKE IT ALL BETTER! But in seriousness, I'm glad it helped you^_^.

Well...I guess I can give my share. Been bullied in Junior High severely for a year. Refused to go back...was home schooled, cut off from society. Video games were my life. 6 years later, got arrested for writing a "threatening" letter to my school. Still felt like a little kid, but I started growing up. Got in a Christian Celebrate Recovery group which helped me. Still suffered from social anxiety, but recovered thanks to my group, my team fortress 2 clan, and MLP: FIM helped me improve much more to be more understanding and making myself trust people easier. (Because back in, the only people I trusted was my family.)

I guess you can say...MLP: FIM is helping me live a "girly" childhood I never had before (since I was more into videogames thanks to my brother )

Edit: oh god why do I have to be first on the page?! WHYWHYWHY?!!?!?

[Taxel]

I'm 18, but don't really associate with many people my age. A have a few closer friends, one is younger than me and the others are all older. And none of them shame me for it or anything like that. I've been collecting dolls since 2008, and have always been "odd", so my family doesn't really mind as far as I'm aware. They buy me MLP/doll stuff, and one of my great aunts got a kick out of the fact that I watch FiM and so does her daughter's boys. That great aunt and her sister even collect(ed?) dolls. My great aunt had a decent sized collection of beautiful dolls on display in her home when I was growing up, and her sister (my grandma) asked friends/coworkers for years to pick up dolls for her when they traveled. Another aunt of mine (used to?) collects Living Dead dolls. I think doll collecting runs in the family.

As for my childhood, it was bad. Not as bad as some, but still. I was abused and neglected. Other bad things also happened to me that I'd rather not get into, and I was very depressed for many years. I met my boyfriend, and things changed (we've been dating for about three and a half years). But the past two-ish years have been incredibly hard on us. We had an unexpected pregnancy and ended up putting our son up for adoption. A few months after that his grandpa died and his grandma lost the house, and it was up to us and his mom to move a hoarder out of a mansion. We're now facing the fear of being homeless very, very soon. Both of us are depressed and incredibly stressed out. I started collecting ponies a few months after my boyfriend's grandpa died, and haven't stopped.

My dolls and ponies are not only wonderful models (I'm a photographer), but they make me very happy. Their sweet, innocent faces help keep me sane. When I buy something new for my collection, no matter how small, waiting for the package and/or being the one to first open it is really fun and exciting. They're a wonderful distraction from the harsh, mean reality of life. When my boyfriend was in Mississippi going to school my dolls/ponies were one of the few things that brought light into my life and helped keep my head above water. My collections make me happy, and if people don't like them I don't need them in my life.

[keikokukien]

I don't know who else watches the show "Criminal Minds" but there was one episode where they sort of explain Garcia's (the hacker/cracker woman) love for bright and innocent things like toys on her desk, ext. Personally, toys are a way for me to escape and focus my thoughts. Things in life haven't always been easy to deal with/really unkind, and like several others here and the character Garcia, I needed something to focus my energy and distract me in a positive manner.

Another way that toys have helped is storytelling. I used to write all the time. Toys are a way to display thoughts and ideas tangibly. For me, if I had an idea, I could take a toy down and sort of use it as a memory key. The next time that I picked it up, I could write that idea.

And ponies /horses have always been "pretty" to me. I never want to ride one, but they are beautiful creatures in real life. They make for awesome toys too.

[shockponie]

I'm a guy and I show my ponies to everyone. 

I hate prejudices, period, but the ones that have absolutely NO REASON WHATSOEVER make me even madder LOL

I have toys all over the place, and so does my 64 year old. mum.  C:

I like that you're not ashamed, hyenacub. Awesome. Sounds like your mum is too.  Well said on the prejudices! I agree.    & I lol'ed @ 20% cooler than any other collection

[Appleseed]

I'm only 14 and have been collecting ponies only since last year, but they give me something to do, something to feel proud of when I see my collection on my shelf, neatly arranged with their hair done and everything. I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said (although my heart goes out to all those who had depressed/abusive childhoods, or are still enduring that). But I've always felt uncomfortable around the typical teenage pressures. I asked to be held back a grade once because of it! There are tons of teens that love toys/MLP now but I still feel strange about it sometimes. Then I realize there isn't a single thing weird with it. I intend to keep my collection for as long as I live (and if not, maybe give it to other kids, it depends).

[Flutterblossom]

Well I'm 15, and I've only been collecting MLP since summer 2011. I didn't have anything wrong with my childhood, and I'm so sorry for all of you who had tragic childhoods!! It's so weird when I see some my peers now, I remember it was just 5 years ago when they were obsessing over Webkinz and bringing toys to school. People really do change when they make that leap from elementary school to middle school. And middle school to high school. But I'm still here, still buying toys and having fun with my little sisters. Hey, it's better than some of the bad things teens are doing today.

 My friends did give me strange looks when I was the only one who accually bought something (MLP's) when we were in the big ToysRUs in NYC. But I didn't care. You shouldn't care. It's your life, enjoy what you want to. Also, I've seen bronies in the MLP sections of stores sometimes, so it feels normal for me to buy them now. But it hasn't always been like that for me. I used to collect other toys (Zhu Zhu Pets) before I liked MLP. I really love hamsters, and the ZZP are just so amusing and cute!  I got a ton of joy out of collecting and playing with them, they were just so crazy and fun! There was not that many other older ZZP collectors out there, but I still continued to enjoy them. They were my little escape from the bad things in life. I stopped collecting them because the effort and quality has dropped, and they have stopped making them unique in personality (sounds). I find the 2009 and 2010 hamsters/playsets to be the best designed and most fun, although I did collect until 2011. MLP FiM kinda took them over, and I started collecting those instead.

Now that I'm taking out all of my childhood g3's, I remember all of the fun times I've had playing with them with my sisters. Now I collect all generations of MLP!!! My ponies always bring joy to my day, and I love rearranging them, taking photos of them, styling their hair, or just looking at their cute faces.  Collecting toys has always been something fun for me, and it can (and should) be enjoyed at any age. Toys and ponies should be for everyone!!! 

[StoryDreamer]

I'm 29. Luckily, nothing horrible happened in my childhood. I've collected MLP since I was in middle school basically. I used to go down the street after school with my mom to an little thrift store, and I look back at my ponies and remember all the places I got them with her. I never stopped (except when I couldnt find anything or ran out of money) and it was just a nice thing to do. 

[scarletjul]

First of all, to everyone.

I used to get more embarrassed about my toy collecting than I do nowadays.  I've always been a toy (if not pony) collector and in middle school and high school, I didn't really advertise it because I was shy and worried about being teased.  I didn't have a bad childhood; my childhood was pretty normal but I was very shy and I hated elementary school.  I only had a few close friends and I got teased until I transferred schools in fifth grade.  So, in middle school and early high school, I think I worried again about being teased and fitting in.

But by the end of High school and definitely by college, I was much more comfortable in who I was/am and who my friends were and are and I no longer cared so much about fitting in.  So, I went back to the stuff that I really liked, including Disney and Barbies.  And my close friends and family, who really know me, understood that these things made me happy and unique - and it was my best friend who re-introduced me to MLP, although she isn't a collector.

So, my best advice is to tell you that the people who love you and understand you really won't care what you collect, provided it's healthy.  And the people who don't know you shouldn't care, anyway.  And if they do, just try to ignore them because there is nothing wrong with collecting ponies (or almost anything else) if it's safe and makes you happy. 

[RAMChYLD]

Well, my childhood wasn't a very good one. I was constantly picked on and bullied at school (the bullying only stopped when I entered college), my parents tend to side my sister because she's younger earlier on in my life (everything she did wrong, it's my fault ), and well, compared to other kids, I don't have much toys.

So yeah, my depression? all those bullying in school had taken it's toll that I can't get over it even though I've been out of school for 13 years- I left school for college at 17. I'm turning 30 this year.

In the end tho, the toys aren't just my way of reliving my childhood to get it right- they're also my way of creating my own world to escape this pain that's haunting me.

[LadyMoondancer]

Once there was a guy who collected beetles with such ardor that he let his college career suffer.

But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them and rarely compared their external characters with published descriptions.

One day when he was skipping class, overturning rocks and old leaves, he saw a beetle he didn't recognize. Excitement!!  He picked it up immediately!  But then, lo and behold, he saw a SECOND beetle he didn't recognize!  OMG!!  So he picked that one up with his other hand.

But then . . .

I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one.

The man was Charles Darwin.

Whether we collect ponies, beetles, doilies, or dolls, we all share a common excitement and passion and (possibly) a little craziness.  And I am perfectly happy with that. 

[sweetsong100]

I never had a childhood due to abuse. Now that I'm older I have that need to relive it. I collect ponies, and other toys, and if people think it's weird..oh well. I don't have children yet, so I'm the child to myself. If adults want to collect toys, no one should be bothered by it. Collect what you want, when you want!!:)

[Folly]

Honestly, for me, I don't think I'm reliving my childhood... I prefer to think of it as "embracing" it.  I never really stopped playing with toys, I just play with them differently now.
I think that there are so many sad things in the world, and so many stressful things, and so many things that people give up in the name of being "grown up" that they really don't have to- people use "adult" as a term of approval, and I think that it's silly.  When you're an adult, you're expected to work all the time and fend for yourself, and deal with financial strain and take care of yourself when you're sick and all sorts of crazy stressful things.  It just doesn't make sense to me why you have to give up the simple, silly little things that made you happy as a kid.  Maybe I just refuse to grow up, but I'd much rather deal with grown-up troubles if I have a shelf of toys that just looking at makes me feel all happy.  I just don't see the point of "growing up" by society's standards.

[michelle53]

I don't want to talk about what happened to me as a child.  All I know is that I love MLP, and nothing can ever change that!   I'm not trying to relive anything; I just appreciate ponies and the joy they bring me. 

[hyenacub]

hehe shockpony, thanks!  My mom rocks.  Cool username, btw.

Yummy...beetles...  LOL

Honestly, for me, I don't think I'm reliving my childhood... I prefer to think of it as "embracing" it.  I never really stopped playing with toys, I just play with them differently now.
I think that there are so many sad things in the world, and so many stressful things, and so many things that people give up in the name of being "grown up" that they really don't have to- people use "adult" as a term of approval, and I think that it's silly.

oooo well said!  Very nice!

:empties hugs from bin and tosses them all over the thread:

[Angelshy]

Wow, so many interesting and varied stories about why people got into collecting.

For me, it's not so much a matter of re-living my childhood, as I don't think I've actually managed to grow up yet , but more a matter of "I like cute things and they make me happy".  I think my family and some of my friends think I'm strange for purchasing a whole bunch of ponies and having my bed covered in plushies (there's hardly room for me) but I just tell then "I'm an adult and I do what I want".  I work hard for my money so when I have a little extra I'm going to spend it on things that make me happy.

I guess as an adult I'm supposed to go buy shoes or something. You can't really cuddle shoes or talk to them or stuff them in your pocket and take them on adventures, though.  There was nothing wrong with my childhood but I do get lonely sometimes so it's nice to come home to my toy "friends". That's all, really