Nostalgia Time. What got you into ponies? (Or back into ponies)

[NichiTsukinoko]

So I was looking at when I first joined the arena and getting back into ponies and it got me to being all nostalgic. I was wondering if anyone else does this? What got you into or back into ponies? Do you remember? Who helped suck you back in, as it were? Or did you just stumble upon ponies on accident and get hooked?

I was brought back into the pony community by Chibi Skittles. I don't know if she's still active anymore. I know I haven't been super active recently. But anyway, she introduced me to the Arena because I was looking for someone to restore the glitter symbols on my G1 unicorns. She told me that one of those crazy people called "customizers" might be able to help. Little did I know that one day I would be one.

From there I met K Cherry Ka who did end up restoring my ponies for me, back before I knew how to do such things on my own.

I then was introduced to Cards4Me who it turns out, I went to church with her mom. And from her, I bought my first G3's. And got totally hooked.

Does anyone else have any stories or memories like that? Or am I the only person who goes through occasional nostalgia trips down memory lane?

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I was off of ponies after a while.. the end of G2 in America and pretty much sometime during when I was into Grand Champions but stopped buying those as well..

It wasn't until 2007 or 2008 when I got back into ponies fully (I still loved them just didn't buy them) when I met someone on Furcadia and I think she ended up pointing me to the Arena. It wasn't till 2009 when i actually joined. It was either 2007 or 2008 when I bough my first G3, which I said on Pony Talk it was Soda Float but it could have been Paradise Island that I bought first... they were both the same year..

I've been with ponies ever since despite G4 not quite what I hoped for..

My only regrets is not having enough space and giving up Strawberry Swirl's hat

[ladybastilla]

I joined the Arena in fall 2010 because I was looking for somewhere to discuss Monster High. At the time I really didn't have a deep interest in ponies--I was here for the dollhouse. I didn't grow up with ponies, at least not in a big way I can remember. The MH dolls started out hard to find and then there got to be so many I couldn't keep up. (Didn't have the money or room.) I wandered off and did other things for years.

My return to the Arena came in February 2015 when I was introduced to Friendship is Magic through my bf's younger brother. I really liked the show and I wondered if anyone here was discussing it or its characters. Since some of those are based on older ponies from g1 or g3, I ended up looking at those generations. Since I was very interested in how everything tied together (I'm a writer and a history geek) I spent a lot of time looking at the ponies in detail and ended up really liking both of these gens.

Fast forward to now, and I have a pretty solid g4 collection that mainly focuses on the characters I like best from the show and a few side characters that I find aesthetically appealing. I have a dresser top full of g3s as well as an MIB g3 wall shrine that loops all around the wall behind my TV / PC Monitor. I also have a slowly growing bookshelf full of g1s, most of which I have received from people during swaps or that I've bought for myself while buying for swaps.

Ponies aren't my only or even primary collection. All of my collections sort of hop in and out of the spotlight as my mood cycles through them. The great thing about ponies, for me, is that since I love the vintage g1s and g3s most, I don't feel a massive pressure that I need to get them "now!" the way I do when I'm buying a modern toy. Building my collection slowly, steadily, and visiting with people here is actually what makes ponies unique from the majority of my other interests.

[moevelvet]

Ooooh...  My first two ponies were given to me when I was two, but I wasn't really into MLP until I was seven and I picked out a G3 Minty as a gift for a friend.  I wanted her sooo badly.  My parents bought me Skywishes and Butterscotch and I amassed a small army of fakies from the library's summer reading program.  But I still searched everywhere for Minty.  I had a keychain and a tiny tin and a McDonalds figure, but I could never find the actual pony.

[rosierjay]

i got back into ponies when i had an art booth at a convention and someone requested i draw g4 rainbow dash in a g3 style. no idea what they were talking about. well turns out it was a pony. so that was the first pony art i ever did, and i found out about the reboot tv show and got sucked in. without the show i wouldn't be into ponies now. (started collecting as a kid-said i wanted a pony for Christmas, so my family gave me blossom. )

[Sweet_Stuff]

Ever since long-haired Medley! 

[lunar_scythe]

I'm an old school collector, I had probably 75 or so ponies as a kid, and when I got older, I passed them off to my little sister.  I never really stopped picking up ponies at yard sales and flea markets, because then they were for her. One day, I found a color swirl Springy, and I'd never had any bride pose ponies, had never seen them at all, so I was really confused!  The eyes were obviously mlp...so I bought her, even though my sis no longer wanted ponies, and looked up mlps online for the first time.  The rest is history, haha, and I scrambled into the garage to find them all and clean them up.

[scarletjul]

I was never really into ponies when I was a kid, but I did have a few.

Flash forward twenty years later.  About eight years ago, my best friend gave me a G3 themed MLP birthday present, complete with a pony (Merriweather.). She was all excited, asking me if I remembered MLP from the 80s but I didn't really.  Still, I thought they were cute and I bought Silver Glow at TRU that night so that my pony would have a friend.

And then, about a week later, I was on eBay and I decided to start looking up vintage ponies.  And then I began to truly collect. 

[CloudyGlow]

I started collecting during early g3.  I don't know why other then I thought they were pretty.

I went on hiatus for a while until around 2012 when I watched the new show, Friendship is Magic.  I started collecting blind bag figures and dug out my old g3 ponies.  Eventually learned more about pony history and wanted g1 and g2 ponies.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

... I never stopped...

[Kittywhiskers]

I never actually had any ponies as a kid. At least, not MLP ones. My dad said they were stupid and tried to keep me away from them. I did manage to get a pair of fakies at one point but sadly I seem to have lost them.

Eventually I got into FiM and managed to use that to get him to understand there's nothing wrong with ponies. Then when I had my own money I tried getting some blind bags of the characters from the show and it spiraled out from there.

(Note: my dad isn't that bad a guy or anything, but when he gets an idea into his head it's almost impossible to argue.)

[Ringlets]

Love this kind of thread!! its always so interesting to read how others got into ponies 

Personally I've been into ponies since the very first days of G1 (yes I'm showing my age ) when mom bought me Bluebelle and Butterscotch (with their UK accessories) from a catalogue for me as a gift after I fell in love with my neighbours G1 Bowtie and didn't want to give her back
I had over 200 childhood ponies - I still have them all   you know who my faves are of course - that hasn't changed since 1989/90      I did stop collecting for a while when I went through my late teens /early 20's due to peer pressure but TBH then I got old enough to know I didn't care what anyone else thought of my toy collections and started to buy again - especailly when G3 were in stores. G2 never appealed to me so I went on a hiatus while they were about , but G3 = . My hubby encouraged me to get *all* of my childhood G1 ponies back out of hiding in 2008 ish  (he is also a toy collector. We have enough toys to have our own toy shop now   )  and I haven't looked back since.  I collect all generations now and have prolly around 2000+  (I conveniently lost count sometime after 1000 and that was in early 2010 I think . I have bought a lot since then   

Its more fun to find ponies from my childhood that I never had and to meet other collectors here/buy from other collectors  than to buy from a store IMO. Hunting ponies on ebay is pretty fun too     .
 Pre -internet I never knew how many MLP collectors of all ages and genders there are all over the world - it was sooo awesome when I first found that out! and when I found the Arena  (I lurked a bit before finally joining early 2009)   I've met some truly amazing people here and even if I take a small break from buying ponies, I still love them and  I'll always keep coming back to ponies even though I have other collections as well

[Baby Sugarberry]

Ponies for life, yo. 
Applejack or Blossom were my first G1's back in ye old 80's, and it never really stopped from there.

[buttonso]

I had G1 ponies as a kid and loved them, but just kinda grew out of them for awhile. Then I got into the FIM app game a few years ago and kind of casually started watching FIM and getting the odd blind bag here and there.

Then a few months ago, I got on eBay on a whim and started looking at random 80s toys, and got nostalgic for my old ponies, so I got my childhood ponies out and started cleaning them up and also bought a few new ones on eBay. I found the MLP Preservation Project website, which led me here! And I've been wayyyyyyyy into it ever since 

[Leave a Whisper]

I grew up playing with and watching MLP in the 80s. My mom got rid of my entire collection because she thought I was too old. Then when G3 toys first came out, I had to have some and I started buying G1s again too.