How many ponies?!

[Stormness_1]

Hey guys, I know, you think this is going to be another one of those 'how many ponies do YOU have?' kinda threads, but you'd be both right and wrong in assuming so. I was thinking about rare ponies and how the heck we figure out that ponies are OOAK, or super rare, and I got to wondering how many ponies there are in the community, like in the community total? Could we fill a stadium with ponies? a town? Wouldn't it be a cool number to actually see?

Now you're saying, what a task! But if everyone checked in their pony total, we could just add it up, right? And if you are paranoid about pony heists, or shy about your exact number, you could just PM your numbers in to me, and I'd add them in, or you could go for a round figure, which is good for those of us constantly adding and subracting ponies! I don't know about anyone else, but it sounds fun to me! First we'll have to decide what to include. What would you like to include? I'll go first:

INCLUSIONS:
*Brushables
*Fashion Style
*Minis (BB's, Ponyville, Petites, Mommy Charms, Breezies - minis for all gens)
*Styling Size
*Dream Beauties
*Pony Friends
*MOC
*Sales ponies

And the Total Number of Ponies entered is: (will start once we've settled the inclusions!)

[Haruna]

I think this is a super cool idea! My sister actually keeps an organized Excel spreadsheet of our respective collections, so I'll check with her and post again when I can get the number. I am curious to see how many ponies we (collectors) own altogether.

[CloudyGlow]

Oh man, I have to get my excel sheet cleaned up.  It is currently a bit of a mess.

Are we only counting official merch?

Do pony friends count? What about Dream Beauties? Should we include fast food (like McDonalds) figures? Plushies? Miscellaneous? Like I have a Twinkle Twirl molded figure that came with in a bubble buddies bath set.

[Honeycomb]

I have always wondered that about MOC and MIB G1 ponies. It would be neat to know how many of each are known to exist.

[Snapdragon]

Oh man, I'm waaaay overdue for a count! I definitely want to join this, so I'm leaving a comment to save my post in the thread!

[Taffeta]

I don't have a total either way. My spreadsheet only got as far as 1987/8 and then I started my PhD so I haven't been back to it since.

The big question for me is do we count all generations? I have no idea how many G2, 3 or 4 I have either. Not many G4, downsizing G3, but I keep finding random G2 stuff in boxes I'd forgotten I had.

For me, I would count the following (I'm including only G1 as that's what I consider my collection, obviously other generations will have slightly different categories)
Ponies (all regular types)
Dream Beauties
Petites
Pony Friends
MOC (but do we count as separate ponies ones we have loose and MOC? And what about upgrades and variations?)

I have a list of my MOC but nothing coherent for anything else. It kinda lives in my head, so I know I have a pony when someone asks, but not how many I have in total.

I don't personally include plush ponies in my count. I actively can't remember what G1 plush I have aside from Honeycomb and the babies as they are the only ones that live in my room still. Some people might count them though?
Also things like attendants, ponytoppers, ceramics - where do they come in?

I think this thread might become a discussion on what constitutes a "pony" rather than how many ponies does the community have?

I also would personally like to know how many MOC of each pony are existence still, and on what style of card they are on, and language of card, so that we can track and catalogue. This is important because of compiling accessory information and the fact so many have been lost over the years through one thing and another. Maybe that's another thread discussion though. I dunno. I just thought it recently when I asked about MOC Honeycomb and nobody answered, I know there were MOC Honeycombs in the community - the question is, where are they now? Are they just in collections of people who are no longer online active? Have they been lost? With UK style card stuff it is becoming increasingly rare to find them.

[mlp4me]

I have always wondered that about MOC and MIB G1 ponies. It would be neat to know how many of each are known to exist.

This would be absolutely amazing. To compile every single MOC/MIB/in bag image in one place with a running tally of how many exist within the community.

[Sweet_Stuff]

I collect G1 ponies, only no merch. 58 currently..and counting.. 

[Taffeta]

I have always wondered that about MOC and MIB G1 ponies. It would be neat to know how many of each are known to exist.

This would be absolutely amazing. To compile every single MOC/MIB/in bag image in one place with a running tally of how many exist within the community.

Do you think, if we started a new thread relating to MOC data collecting, it would actually reap information? I know some people are uncomfortable declaring things in their collection...but it would be useful to know what still exists, hopefully so that we can ultimately preserve as much MOC heritage for future accessory collectors as possible (bearing in mind that decent ID websites have already and may in the future disappear into nothingness)

[Rhubarbpie]

I roughly know my number - I have a lovely A4 note book which lists all my ponies. I collect G1, G2 babies, G3 and G4.  I have Dolly mix, blind bags, McDonalds, brushables of all sizes, plushies, some MOC's/MIB's and Equestria girls dolls. I am somewhere between 900 and 1000!!

[Stormness_1]

okay, so lets recap, and I'll update the title thread. If we don't include your category, don't take it personally, what you collect is up to you, but we have to draw a line someplace. So we've included say:
*Dream Beauties
*Pony Friends
*MOC
I don't think we should include McDonalds, I mean you can have a gazillion of those things... at one stage I was selling lots of 50!
Plush seems to have a mixed reaction, and I'm among that sentiment, I know the G1 and G2 plush lines were easy to follow, but after G3 there's so many different lines that it's super hard to identify a licensed plush from a picture, or with the tags cut off, so I think we'l leave them out.
EQG I think we'll leave out. They're just too far from the pony line, in that they're not really ponies at all, just pony characters.
What does everyone think about Mommy Charms? In or out?

As for MOC/loose and upgrades, even your sales ponies, YES! include them! They are ponies, inside the community, so we need to tally all of them. Another thread for MOC ponies is a great idea too, and yes, a valuable tally for preservation purposes. This here is just a bit of fun, we're just seeing how many collectors we can get in on a total tally, to get some huge ridiculous number!

[Taffeta]

If Petites count, charms should count. If Petites don't count, charms should not count <--my opinion

Also how do MOC petites and MOC newborn twins etc count (multiples in the package but one package?)

[Stormness_1]

Awesome, I'll pop them in the minis list. I wasn't sure how G1 purists viewed them in terms of where they sat on the collecting scale. I only have the one, so I thought yes, but didn't want to put them in in case peeps were like "Those aren't PONIES!" Haha, I should know better around here though!!

[Harabel]

My small contribution: 82 g1, just ponies 

[Sochy]

80 G1 if I dont count my two Pony friends  And also I dont count all the ones that are in middle of their travel to Uruguay.