Structured or spontaneous when adding to your herd?

[dragonfly]

Generally speaking, are you more structured or spontaneous when adding to your herd?

I'm most frequently impulsive but I will save up and plan for very pricey purchases. Therefore, POTD is hell on my wallet!

[Epona]

Most of my new ponies are from trades so its random depending on what my trade partners have that Im missing.

[Shy Violet]

Spontaneous for sure. I'm very free spirited and hate structure. I do have a list but only because I can never remember who I have and I don't want to be buying doubles. I tend to buy whoever I feel like or who I find for a good price at the moment. I love hunting for ponies in the wild too.

[Taxel]

Almost entirely spontaneous! Sometimes I have a specific pony or other goal (ie a factory error) but mostly I just go with the flow. Pretty much all of my new acquisitions have been gifts or trade-ish for the past few years so you can't be too picky with that!

When I get back to buying I have some ponies I want to grab asap, but I'm sure I'll fall back into "that poor pony looks so sweet... I'll buy that one" soon enough.

[northstar3184]

I'm very, very structured and targeted. I refer to wish lists, and I also keep an image gallery from sites like Strawberry Reef and Ponyland Press of ponies I own and those I see as potential add-ons. When deciding what ponies I want to add I consider factors like how much I want the pony, average cost, etc...

I also refer to the aforementioned images to decide if the pony would add something new to the herd with his/her color combination or if it looks too similar to a pony I already have. For example, I've been debating between Cranberry Muffins and Princess Royal Blue but would never buy both.

[Mermaid]

Spontaneous!!! When I see a deal, I'll go for it! Or if I have extra cash or in a buying mood, I'll browse around what's out there and buy! I like to buy in lots (3-8 ponies) so whoever is selling and has multiples off my wish list, I'll go for it!

[Icicle]

A little of column A and B, but more spontaneous. I am very much a "ooohhh, shiny" sort of person and will fixate on anything that catches my eye, but I do also have a plan with trying to 'finish' stuff. Like, when I started getting 'mom' ponies (Glory, Firefly, and Bowtie specifically) I focused on getting their babies next.. so there is some method to my madness.

[princessluna11706]

Impulsive!  Or used to be, anyway.  In the beginning when I didn't have too many ponies I would go by who was cheapest on eBay at the time

[banditpony]

Impulse! I only have a few must haves on my wish list, but I'm open to practically all of them G1s).

But I must find them in person first. So that's sort of controlled.

I just don't want a flood of ponies.

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

definitely impulse, especially considering that a large chunk of my ponies are from the wild, even tho I occasionally will buy lots on ebay, even that is spontaneous.

[SkyCakes]

very spontaneous I dont plan anything. I just that type of a person. My whole life is unplanned. When I trade it is also whatever someone has. Sometimes there are good deals out there too I just can't seem to pass up.

[Duenia]

I'm very structured in everything up to my spontaneous buys lol. I have a hard time saying no when G2s I'm missing pop up (and G4s sometimes). But I do have lists and will methodically search out certain ponies. Although my methodical buys are much less common than my spontaneous ones.

[Leave a Whisper]

A bit of both. I'm strange in  certain ways about color, gen and species. Recently I've noticed that I've been adding a lot of white and yellow, and a lot of unicorns, so atm I wanna focus  on sea ponies, bat pony, unipegs and pegasus. As well as green, blue and gray ones.

I also have a structure for who I want to try and get  within the year, but will gladly throw a pony back farther in the line if suddenly I run across an OH MAH GAWDZ MAH GRAIL IZ ON SALE! MUST BUY!!!

Or if sometimes another pony further back on my list suddenly grabs my attention like it hadn't before.

And of course the pony I may have been set to buy vanishes from all eBay pages after having been there for days or even months. Mocking me.

Ponies that I've recently obtained higher on my wishlist are:

Port-a-bella
Aurora Mist
Ribbon
Baby Moondancer
Diamond Mint
SS Gusty
Mini Glory
SB Princess Luna
Fakie Unipeg
WC Princess Celestia

Ponies still on my immediate wishlist this year are:
*Baby Ribbs
*G3 Seaspray
*Princess Tiffany
*Wave Runner
Locket
*Wind Whistler
*Star Glow
TP Sea Breeze
*Speedy
Sunrise Song
*PNP Baby Sea Shimmer
Another Fakie Unipeg
*Bat Pony

[Shatyr]

I used to be a "buy all the ponies NAO!" collector and ended up with a lot of doubles in the process. If I ever find them in the wild again, I will no doubt return to that pattern. These days, however, I have a list and I do my best to stick with set completion ponies or the others I have specified for the year.

I have been known to break from this process (and my budget) if a grail comes on the market (Lavender Dream Castle, I'm looking at you...).

[mlp4me]

Generally I prioritize, but right now every pony that I want is at least $30 in value (working on finish up US G1 releases), so if something cheaper comes along (like Euros...) I'll be impulsive.