I don't mind, as long as they are being preserved in a safe place. Plus they will get passed down to other collectors eventually.
Collecting is selfish no matter what - that's the point :P None of us NEED plastic ponies in our lives.
I have a small army of Raincurl and even though she isn't HTF or rare, I don't feel bad about it. If someone has an army of Ice Crystals they shouldn't feel bad about it either.
I've said it before and I'll always say it - my collection is not community property. No one should feel bad or feel obligated to *not* collect whatever it is they want just because someone else doesn't have what they have.
I think it's selfish to take ponies away from the target audience like buying up en masse and/or scalping to get collector cash while the kids stand in front of empty shelves (hyperbolically speaking).
I don't care if people have thousands of dollars to spend on plastic horses, that would be the common entitled adult fan thinking: "I make my own money and kids don't, so I am the more valuable customer" - no.
So long story short, if it's still on shelves I have an issue with armies. Or more precisely, bulk buying.
I don't really get mad if a collector spends 10000000 on a Mimic squad. I pity them. It's like in The Last Unicorn where an evil lord captures all unicorns in the sea.
He had the ultimate army of rares but nobody liked him for it :lol:
It can be frustrating to see someone with twenty identical ponies that aren't variants when I'm desperately trying to find one, lol. I haven't been actively collecting in years due to funds and space issues... but I can remember some of the armies I saw really turned me off of even trying to obtain my most wanted G2s. Just one baby Swirly or Princess Crystal... :think:
Yet, I never really liked when people buy things they don't necessarily want for themselves but buy them just so that someone else can not have it. That behaviour is ... less pleasant =)
G1 Twilight the unicorn is my army pony. That being said I only have 2 Twilights in the army and the rest are custom versions of her.
Yet, I never really liked when people buy things they don't necessarily want for themselves but buy them just so that someone else can not have it. That behaviour is ... less pleasant =)
That is the only time that seeing someone's armies upsets me.
Ponyfan
Yet, I never really liked when people buy things they don't necessarily want for themselves but buy them just so that someone else can not have it. That behaviour is ... less pleasant =)
This is an interesting discussion, I love seeing different points of view on this. What about when there’s only a handful of a pony known to exist, and one person owns all of them/immediately buys every new one that crops up?Those ponies could have a worse fate. That’s how I think of it.
*taps foot waiting impatiently for Basic Fun retro Gusty release* :P
To me, it depends on a pony. Army of Peachy . . . This pony is so plentiful that there will still be plenty on the market. Army of G2 Nosy & Click, who were ONLY released with the French G2 comic and are very rare . . . Yeah, IMO that would be selfish. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Kind of on the fence I guess as well as others.
I mean, sure it is a bit, but it's not morally wrong, you can spend whatever money on whatever you want and buy what you please, and collecting in general is a little selfish. (Some people even claim we are "taking toys from children!" LOL.)
I usually dont consider it an army if it is the same pony but different versions.
This makes me wonder whether there is someone out there with a Cha Cha army just keeping them all hidden away from me?
I guess there are people that collect without being part of any of the communities, too. I collected on and off for years before joining here, I'm sure I can't be the only one... Maybe some of the HTFs are in "private" collections like that?
(Personally I consider an army any collection of a certain character. I don't go in for collecting multiples of the same toy - unless they can be customized/differentiated somehow, like, a doll can be redressed - but I consider my hoard of Pinkies an army ^^)
This makes me wonder whether there is someone out there with a Cha Cha army just keeping them all hidden away from me?
This makes me wonder in a broader sense how many sleeping collections there are out there...people who collected back in the old days when they were cheaper but no longer do...but who have not sold up their items and still have them (either in storage or because they still love them but are no longer actively collecting).
I think probably more of the htf ponies are tied up in those collections than in armies, but it would be interesting to know.
I've never really understood why some people collect armies of ponies. I mean, to each their own - we all collect for different reasons and have different goals. And I'm never going to give another collector a hard time over having different collecting goals. But pony armies do perplex me. If they are all variants and nirvanas I think that doesn't really count, because they're all different from each other. But collecting multiples of the exact same pony genuinely puzzles me. Did the army begin as a single pony which got upgraded a dozen times? Is the collector striving for world domination using a clone pony army? Help me to understand!
I guess there are people that collect without being part of any of the communities, too. I collected on and off for years before joining here, I'm sure I can't be the only one... Maybe some of the HTFs are in "private" collections like that?
(Personally I consider an army any collection of a certain character. I don't go in for collecting multiples of the same toy - unless they can be customized/differentiated somehow, like, a doll can be redressed - but I consider my hoard of Pinkies an army ^^)
I am thinking more of the people who were here and who are no longer, but who still have their ponies.
I know of at least one such in the UK, and there must be more.
I guess there are people that collect without being part of any of the communities, too. I collected on and off for years before joining here, I'm sure I can't be the only one... Maybe some of the HTFs are in "private" collections like that?
(Personally I consider an army any collection of a certain character. I don't go in for collecting multiples of the same toy - unless they can be customized/differentiated somehow, like, a doll can be redressed - but I consider my hoard of Pinkies an army ^^)
I am thinking more of the people who were here and who are no longer, but who still have their ponies.
I know of at least one such in the UK, and there must be more.
oh, I know, I just meant maybe there are 'private' collectors *as well* as inactive collectors.
I've never really understood why some people collect armies of ponies. I mean, to each their own - we all collect for different reasons and have different goals. And I'm never going to give another collector a hard time over having different collecting goals. But pony armies do perplex me. If they are all variants and nirvanas I think that doesn't really count, because they're all different from each other. But collecting multiples of the exact same pony genuinely puzzles me. Did the army begin as a single pony which got upgraded a dozen times? Is the collector striving for world domination using a clone pony army? Help me to understand!