Hello again ^_^

[LoftyWings]

Woah. So I stopped checking the Arena in...November? And all the sudden I return to find this brand spankin' new site! Shiny ;D

Anywho, not sure if I'm supposed to make a new intro post now that we've switched over, but I figure why not? This way all my info will show up in my post history here for anyone who never went to the old forums.

Hi all! You can call me Lofty. I'm a 24-year-old longtime pony fan from New England. You can thank the custom pony artist Keet for referring me to the site!

I got into poines in the early '90s when I was a very young child by way of the original cartoon show and immediately started collecting and playing with the figurines. It was by far my favorite show (until Sailor Moon came along, but that's a story for another forum) and I loved the toys, the show, even the comic books which I acquired thanks to a friend with family in the UK. I think the start of my truly becoming a collector of poines, though, started when I found some at a tag sale and immediately begged my family to take me to more to see if we could find more poines. For a time whenever we passed a tag sale on the street I'd make my mom stop just in case there were ponies to be found.

Over the years I grew up, and while ponies still kept a very special place in my heart I lost my strong passion for collecting them. A few years ago, though, there came a trend in the cosplay community (I'm a cosplayer/costumer, you see) to make costumes inspired by ponies. I didn't get around to one until this year (my friend solicited a group of us to dress as the Sundae Best ponies) but it really rekindled my love for MLP.

My main drive now is finding a figurine of my favorite pony: Baby Lofty. I made mention of this to Keet while I was admiring her artwork at a convention earlier this summer (as I was in my CocoBerry costume I might add) and she suggested I check this place out. I am excited to really get back into collecting and to better learn about the figurines. I am partial to G1s because that's what I've got in my collection. Little interest in G2s & G3s and no interest in G4s, though I do enjoy the new cartoon show (just not the figurines).

A note to add, as of September 24 I did find and purchase Baby Lofty. She arrived about 2 months later, all the way from Brazil! I'll post about my collection later.

[Tiella]

Welcome back, have fun! The new site is wonderful!

[SourdoughStomper]

Welcome back to the new Arena, LoftyWings.

[teresat]

Welcome back!

[kittybethy]

Hello and Welcome back!

 Good to have you!

[Shenanigans]

Welcome back! Glad you got your Baby Lofty

[kiwimlp]

Welcome to the new forum!  I'm sure you will love all of the new features

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Glad you found us again!

[Shajana]

Welcome back! 

[bigmlpfan]

Hello and welcome back

bigmlpfan xx

[mlpfan]

welcome!

[CrystalCrown]

welcome back, LoftyWings!

i remember you from the old arena!

[LoftyWings]

Thanks everyone! Yes, Kiwi, I already love the new features! And I remember you too Behemouth! Admittedly after I got BabyLofty I've had a lot less Pony stuff to talk about, so I'm not surprised my visits to the arena waned. I never meant to leave for good, of course! I've been very busy in my other life of cosplay is all.

Speaking of which, anyone who is interested in learning more about cosplay and costuming should check out my blog: EffectiveCos. I gear my posts toward relative newbies to the costuming hobby. I also have another cosplay site/project called The Cosplay Safety Project where I try to promote safe practices for constructing and wearing costumes, such as what protective gear to wear when using power tools or how to properly care for contact lenses. It's still in it's early stages, though. I'm also working on a giant costume project for an upcoming convention near me. I can't give away much, but it's a HUGE and incredibly ambitious group from one of the Final Fantasy video games. You can be sure I'll share a video of our skit somewhere on the forums once it's available (either here or in the "off topic" subforum).

To bring things back to ponies, though, I still have plans of making a Lofty costume at some point. She may have to wait until next year, depending on my other projects, but I'm really excited for the day I finally am able to realize that idea. My design concept is steampunk inspired (because of the common correlation between steampunks and hot air balloons!) and I already found a pattern for it months ago, I just need to find the time to make it! When the time finally comes I will be sure to share all the details from construction to convention with you all

Edit: All that about drifting away from the forums said...I'd forgotten how addicting this place can be! <3