The MLP Arena

Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Angelshy on April 04, 2012, 06:57:12 PM

Title: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Angelshy on April 04, 2012, 06:57:12 PM

Hi all  :)

As I mentioned in my intro post, I'm rather new to pony collecting. I've noticed however, that my parents aren't too pleased about my current hobby XD.

It's kind of strange, since they've tolerated me 'collecting' all sorts of things over the years (mostly models of sea creatures and fairies, and plush toys) but the other day Mum actually said she disapproved of my pony collection...possibly because I'm an adult now XD

Some of my friends are fellow pony fans (one even bought me ponies as a graduation present  :biggrin: ) and those who aren't are pretty tolerant (though one said he only tolerates it because I'm female, which is kinda silly)

How did/does everyone else's family/loved ones react to their pony collection? 

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Juri on April 04, 2012, 07:08:26 PM

I think that my mother isnt surprised by much these days lol. Its just another one of my 'quirks' :P

My partner is very nice about the collection, and keeps me in check when I spend too many pennies :)

Everyone I find either has an expression like this --> O_o
or laughs because they expect that kind of thing from me.

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: mlp4me on April 04, 2012, 07:13:41 PM

My Mom isn't very supportive, but then again, she's a minimalist.
My Dad thinks I like Strawberry Shortcake and only thinks this because I tried to sell a bunch of vintage stuff at a rummage sale. I don't know Dad, usually when you sell stuff you don't like it anymore. Guess he kinda knows that I like 80's stuff...lol Does he support, well, we don't discuss these matters.
My husband has his ups and downs of supportiveness...
My BFF is an enabler; we both need some pony therapy daily.

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: josiekat on April 04, 2012, 07:13:54 PM

My family and friends are very cool about it. I get ponies as gifts from most people. My coworkers are interested in it too. They love looking at pics of my collection. People tell me that they can't wait until I have my pony room set up when we get our house so they can see it all together. My husband is the most wonderful about it. He makes his fun of it, but is really supportive too. I have found that if you sport your collection with pride, people tend to not make fun. Cuz, even if people make their comments...it's not like they are going to stop me. lol

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: rybett on April 04, 2012, 07:19:52 PM

Let's see, hubby thinks it's nuts.  However, we have a 6 yo daughter, so that helps.  He thinks customizing is dumb.  Cough...  Slot cars... 
Co-workers accept it as part of "me".   Except for the admin.  He's jealous that he will never get one, like some of the other staff have.  ;)
Have not polled Dad or siblings.   

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: kirei_na_sakura on April 04, 2012, 07:44:09 PM

Hmm...my dad said something along the lines of "That's fine if you like My Little Pony as long as you are not drinking bottles and wearing diapers" :(
I thought that was kind of mean, but he did buy me the FS Luna & Celestia right afterwards.

My mom is not surprised as I like to collect cute things in general. She really went all out for my birthday last week and got me MLP balloons and an awesome MLP cake.

My boyfriend is really good about it. He watches MLP FIM with me all the time, and doesn't get annoyed when I want to go to the same stores frequently to see if they got new MLP merch. :P

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: gemini_pony on April 04, 2012, 07:58:08 PM

My family is fine with it, but my Mom always want me to try to sell them to make money xD...but they are very tolerant of my hobbies....and my hubby considers himself a Brony.

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: hyenacub on April 04, 2012, 08:11:09 PM

My mom collects, too.  XD  As for my friends, well they're not too surprised.  lol

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Akemi-chan on April 04, 2012, 08:16:20 PM

First person that I lay my pony collecting habits on was my bf.  He was super supportive since he has his own collection of odds and ends (books, LEGOS, and Warhammer models).  I then told some of my closer friends and even dragged my best friend at the time to Target to pick the latest G4 releases.  While I know he probably has his own sarcastic opinion about the whole thing (because he's just catty that way) he generally approves.  I've learned to just take people's reactions with a grain of salt because at the end of the day, the PONIES make me a happy camper (besides the bf of course, ^_~)

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: MsTwilight on April 04, 2012, 08:23:57 PM

My family seems ok with it. My Mom even buys them for me. Sometimes from certain people in my life I have to hear that saying "put away childish things yada yada" and I just wanna scream.  :mad:

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: ThriftyPony on April 04, 2012, 08:32:33 PM

I haven't told my coworkers really. My one coworker Jose let it slip that he likes anime and everyone seemed to react negatively so I just decided to stay quiet about my ponies, lol.

My boyfriend isn't really in love with it, but he accepts it since I keep my ponies displayed in my closet. When he first heard about bronies, he was eager to tell me about it because he figured I'd be excited about it, so that was kinda cute. :) My boyfriend is a man of few words and very minimalistic so I gotta take it for what it is, lol.

My family... Even though they all collect things they don't support it anymore. They don't get that you don't buy them because you want to play with them (well, some people do, :P ), you get them to collect. MY G1s are an asset -- if I decide to sell, I could get a couple hundred dollars after all is said and done. They're vintage, and I love vintage things. I don't have a huuuge collection, and I don't spend that much on ponies. Months go by between purchases, so it annoys me that they care at all, but whatevs. My life, not theirs.

As long as you are reasonable about your collection -- if it makes you happy, why care? I gotta admit, I am jealous of people with supportive family... :/

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: scarletjul on April 04, 2012, 08:40:08 PM

My family and friends are generally supportive although I do get teased from time to time - they were already used to me collecting toys.  My mom's the best, though; she even collects with me.  And my best friend is the one who got me into collecting in the first place so I occassional give her g1s - and last Christmas, she bought me Feathermay.  :)

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: TwistedWindSox on April 04, 2012, 08:41:10 PM

My family and friends tend to be very supportive... A couple of my male friends have even given me MCD's toys and other pony trinkets. And, although I think my parents think it's silly, they're pretty supportive of me as well.
My boyfriend is amazing about it... He buys me ponies and pony things on occasion, and helps me buy ponies when I don't have the money right away for them. I think this is because he collects pokemon, and we both support each others' collections. ^^
I feel very lucky to have such a supportive and caring family... :blush:

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: hathorcat on April 05, 2012, 01:59:53 AM

My family and friends love it! My mum tends to tell everyone about my pony collection and is always on the look out for ponies for me...she ll check out the toy shelves just for ponies I may be looking for...she knows the names, she knows the gens...I adore her just because of how willing she is to support my "habit"...

I have always been a little bit of a retro geek so my friends completely understand where the pony love comes from and even though he may not like ponies even my little brother will put up with me going "oooooh look at his lovely new Princess Cadence....isnt she so pretty!!!" every now and again...

I think the nice argument back is 1) people collect weirder things than little plastic ponies [seriously my gran has a teaspoon collection - to each their own!] and 2) dont people prefer you spend your "spending money" on plastic pony than other things [I always say if it wasnt for ponies my local supermarket would be permanently out of margarita mix]

Not everyone is going to be supportive...unfortunately sometimes family and friends will be judgemental and that can hurt...but hopefully once they see how much you love collecting and how much ponies are a part of your life...over time they "hopefully" will come to accept...be strong and if anyone ever gets you down about your ponies you know you can pop on the Arena where all of us are equally enthralled with the little equines!

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Angelshy on April 05, 2012, 02:22:11 AM

It's funny because my latest ebay acquisition to arrive in the post today was a Shine Bright Twilight Sparkle :D

It's nice to read that people's families are supportive. Mine aren't actively against it, they just think it's a little strange for an adult to be getting excited over toys for little girls, or something.  They'll come 'round  :P

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: koolkaci86 on April 05, 2012, 02:32:40 AM

I always have got mixed reactions.

My big collection is Sylvanian Families which stands at around 2500 figures, 1980s buildings and furniture. I no longer collect newer buildings because of being moaned at about space. Understandable though.

I've also recently started recollecting G1 MLP after selling my smallish collection between 2006-2010. I missed them too much but am now just collecting the ones I like/ones I had as a child. Don't think people have particularly cottoned on to the fact I am collecting ponies again yet.

Generally I think my family think I am a little crackers but always support me, particularly with Sylvanians by cutting out vouchers and telling me which shops have offers on. The G1s are a bit harder because people can't just buy me them as my main source for them is Ebay or the Arena. I did finally tell my friends I collected Sylvanians and regularly put pictures on my Facebook. I have explained it to them like this. I have a friend who collects books (she easily has 1500), I have a friend who enjoys travelling, I have a friend who collects Tinkerbell and then a friend who has lots of pets. So really it's just about what we enjoy spending our money on. My friend who enjoys travelling is perhaps the least understanding. However, I did say to her that I have no desire to travel and I find her jetting off somewhere once a month bizarre but then I am a bit of a home girl. I also get friends saying "Oh but you're trying to save for a house". Which yes I am and I know if I didn't collect anything I'd get there much quicker but I'd probably be unhappier for it and once I'd bought my own house I'd end up wanting to recollect anyway. I wrongly thought selling all my ponies would help me get a house quicker but the reality was house prices/mortgages went funny in the recession so unless I had a huge deposit I wouldn't get a mortgage anyway, so I ended up out of ponies, without a house and without a large chunk of my Sylvanian collection. So I decided budgets were the way forward so I can have the best of both worlds. However, my friends still don't really understand this part but that's why we're all different.

And I think most people collect something, even unintentionally - clothes, DVDs, mugs, CDs etc it's just that toy collections are a bit more unusual. Particularly ponies and Sylvanians. However, whenever I go to toy fairs nobody bats an eyelid at all the car and train collectors there. Always makes me smile. Each to their own I guess :)

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: zzzova on April 05, 2012, 04:50:34 AM

I always been a bit weird so it didn't really surprice my family.
My dad evan drow me 4 hours to get my display case and when he comes over he asks about my new ponys, looks at them and poke them whit his dirty hands xD (he is a building worker and comes by on his lunch break :p). Hw is more supoortive about my ponies than my manga, wich is really werid sense he "collect" comic books (he buys like 3 a month and never trows them out)
My mother thinks it's cute and kinda happy about it, since she was the one that bought them for my and my sister when we was small, and she helpt me go trow all her storage rooms to find them :)
MY sister thinks its cute/I'm cute (a bit weird since I'm the older one) and my broders really dont care.

My bf thinks its awesome and he is really happy about it :p He thinks its thanks to me that he plays magic the gathering (he was a bit worried that it was to Nerdy, but I bought a lot for his birthday, told him that he already was a nerd so there was nothing to worry about and that he should go for it) so he is happy that I found something to.

I have two frieds I known for about 7 years; one stared collecting ponies the same time as me and the other one think we are wierd, but she did that before and we think she is weird 'cus she loves cars so its fine  :P
My other freands dont really care (as I sad: I was already weird so it didn't surprice them )  ^.^

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Sarah-Bee on April 05, 2012, 04:58:31 AM

Mine have all been really good about it. Before me and my hubby Joe got together we were friends and he had his "OMG why have you just spent £30 on THAT" moment and then realised it was no different to his Warhammer collecting and then when we got together he saw how happy it made me and now he couldn't be more supportive. He buys ponies for me as gifts, doesn't mind me bleeting on about them all the time, goes to car boot sales with me and even to Ponycon :lovey:
 
My friends all like that I collect ponies, just because they see it makes me happy :)
 
My parents are really great too, Mum came round just to look at them the other day since I'd just put some new shelves and stuff up, and Dad was the one who put the shelves up for me :D yet more shelves that is, and was happy to help. He also listened to me going on about them for a bit and didn't mind when I wasn't helping him so much because I was getting distracted by my ponies :P hahaha
 
 

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Taxel on April 05, 2012, 05:04:16 AM

I started collecting after I moved in with my boyfriend, so he got to adjust to collecting at the same time as I did. He's very supportive, even if he doesn't like G1s (what I mostly collect). He teases that they don't look like horses, lol. He thinks horses should be elegant, so he likes SHS best I believe. I collected dolls since before we began dating, so I don't think ponies was too far off. He's always been super supportive. For my birthday one year he worked his butt off to buy me a Taeyang. He prefers the ponies over the dolls though, hahaha. :)

My boyfriend's family is also supportive, or at least don't mind it. His mom and uncle have bought me pony presents (you shoulda seen my Christmas haul from them, omg xD) and his grandma has commented on how cute they are (she's only ever given me money and Neopets NC cards for gifts).

I don't talk to other family members much, but my parents bought me some G4s for Christmas. My aunt/uncle and grandma bought me toys two Christmases ago when I was collecting the LPS Blythes. I doubt my ponies would/do bother them. Not sure if my grandma knows I collected them though, so we'll see how it goes if I'm able to visit during the summer and ask if we can check our yard sales together (we did that a lot when I was a kid, and even back then we looked for horse stuff). xD I'm not really close with any other family members, but I'm sure they'd be tolerant at the very least and most would likely be supportive even if just for the fact that it makes me happy.


Edit; Oh, and friends!
Hm, well my only close friend got me into pony collecting so yeah. xD And beyond her I don't care what anyone thinks. I don't really have many friends, but no one I've mentioned it to/has seen my Facebook cares enough to say anything if they "disapprove".

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: ApertureScience on April 05, 2012, 05:09:46 AM

My parents don't exactly support it, but they don't try to stop me either.  Plus, I get a decent allowance every month that I can spend on anything I want, and I think that they're just happy that I'm spending it on ponies and not alcohol, tobacco, or weapons (which I couldn't buy legally if I wanted to because of my age).  They are kind of encouraging me to see about getting a job designing ponies for Hasbro, though.  And they seem to like my customs, even the craptastic ones.  :)

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Skeen on April 05, 2012, 09:21:09 AM

My family is supportive, in that they don't care one way or the other.  I'm self-sufficient, stable, and happy.  What do they care what I send my extra money on? 

Now, my friends and husband and coworkers are supportive in a GOOD way, lol!  I've gotten SO MANY PONIES from them for free over the years.  I wouldn't have a lavender Dream Castle if not for them.  Mr. Skeen has a knowledge of ponies that continually surprises me.  The other day he said, "Oh, by the way, I saw a BIN on ebay for (pony I wanted).  The price was a bit higher than I thought it should be but I got it anyway since she came with some accessory.  Don't know if it's hers or not but you don't have one.  I looked.  You're welcome."  And he went back to his video game. 

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: Mohawk on April 05, 2012, 09:44:53 AM

My sister is the best; we played with our ponies together as kids, and every now and then she gives me one of her old ones. My father has few opinions about anything. My mother... just laughs, although sometimes she gives me that silent, disapproving, why-are-you-wasting-your-money look when she sees me get more. (She gets how poor I am. What she doesn't get is that I actually budget for ponies because they're that important to me.)

My non-brony friends all take it in stride, because they know that my "pony thing" is possibly the least weird thing about me. XD

Title: Re: Family's (and others) reactions to your collection?
Post by: TheBeatlesPkmnFan42 on April 05, 2012, 10:34:08 AM

My mom thinks they're cute. My dad teases me, and my brother likes G4. My mom likes my 3.5 Starsong! XD