Arena Interview - goddessofpeep!

[BlackCurtains]

I'm back on track with this Friday's interview! I spoke with the amazingly knowledgeable goddessofpeep!


Personal Interview-

Where did you get your user name?
Waaaaay back in the late 90s, I went to the marshmallow Peeps website around Easter time and saw they had Peep themed e-cards you could send out. They required a username to send, but everything I tried was taken. As I love Peeps, and since it was appropriate for the site, I tried goddessofpeep. Nobody had taken that, and it’s been shockingly unclaimed elsewhere on the internet.

How old are you?
Old enough to give my neighbors a slight side-eye when they let their kids play on my lawn:p

What are your hobbies?
I collect a lot of different things. So, so many things.  I also play video games, mostly older 2D games, but I also got into Pokemon Go to get more exercise.  I watch and collect terrible movies(Sharknado, Sherlock Holmes vs Dinosaurs, etc), and do various crafts. I’m also very big into Halloween decorating! I turn my breezeway into a haunted swamp complete with a swamp creature every year, and my Halloween living room display takes days to put up.

Do you have any pets?
I have the world’s cutest bunny!  She’s a 9 year old tiny black and white Netherland Dwarf, and she’s adorable!  Unfortunately she’s also the sickest rabbit ever right now, so I spend a lot of time cataloging bun poop and sitting in ER vet parking lots these days. 

What do you like/dislike about yourself?
I’m a pretty good cook, but I do procrastinate a lot.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
New Zealand.  I visited a few years ago and fell in love:)

Do you collect anything other than ponies?
So much stuff! I collect miniatures, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Magic the Gathering cards, figurines, plush animals, “squished” pennies and the occasional coin or token, “roadside” attraction souvenirs, fossils, rocks and minerals, mini glass figurines, dinosaur stuff, anything to do with the Loch Ness Monster, stickers, magnets, video games, Steiff, old board games, Halloween related stuff, 80s stuff, and a lot more.  I joke sometimes that I collect collections. And not all collections are equal. Some are much, much larger than others, and some are quite small.  I usually go by the rule that one of an item is an anomaly, two is a coincidence, and three or more is a collection(rarely do they stay at 3 once they get to collection status).  And not all collections are active at once. They tend rise and fall, but they never 100% go away.

Ponies-

How long have you been collecting ponies?
I got the original Show Stable for Christmas in the 80s and was into ponies pretty much solidly from then until now, with only a 4 year gap in high school. I did keep all my childhood ponies though.
As for collecting as an adult, I started in the Pony Community in 1997 at the original Trading Post(before it was even a message board) and as a member of the Pony People mailing list. Pretty much as soon as I got to college and found the internet, I found the very early pony community.

Why did you start collecting ponies?
I got the Show Stable with Lemondrop for Christmas one year, and it was love at first sight.  I never liked human dolls, so ponies became my main toy obsession as a kid.

Who is your favorite pony and why?
Nightlight!  I adore her colors, her symbol, her pose, and she looks excellent in ponywear!  My husband also got her for me for my birthday, so she’s a sentimental favorite.

Who is your least favorite pony and why?
After two generations of incredible overexposure, I have developed an irrational hatred of Pinkie Pie.

Who is your favorite pony from another country?
Nightlight of course, but also Baby Minty and Ladybird.

Who is your favorite fakie?
I have this weird blue sitting donkey/horse thing that has chest hair that I got in a lot years ago.

Who was your first pony?
Lemondrop with the Show Stable for Christmas one year.

What pony did you get recently?
I’ve been going through my collection recently, looking to fill in some holes. I found that I’m missing some Baby Sea Ponies, particularly the watercolor ones. So I’ve gotten a couple of those recently.  I also have been filling in some accessory holes - mostly brushes and combs.  My last big acquisition was MOC Argie Coolbreeze.


What is your favorite generation?
I’d have to go with G1, but I have favorite aspects of all the generations. 

I love G1 for variety, the nostalgia, the accessories(especially the ponywear), the creativity, and the quality of them. 

I love the G2s for the babies, the bold and unusual colors, the accessories, and how unique they are. 

I love the G3s for the return to the chubby(er) ponies, the holiday ponies, the large percentage of just straight up gorgeous ponies, and the wild chase they were to collect as they came out.

I love the G4s for the size, the whole Ponyville line gone wild, and how interesting the early line was.

I’m also very into all the smaller sub-lines(G1 Petites, the G3 and G4 Ponyville lines).


What is your favorite part about collecting?
I love just looking at my display and moving things around when I get a new piece. And I love cracking open my collection bins for the first time in a while and seeing the stuff I haven’t seen in a while, and may have even forgotten I had.  It’s like the world’s most amazing flea market where everything is an incredible find, and it’s all free for me!

How big is your collection?
I don’t exactly know. It’s massive, but due to space issues, a lot of it lives in bins. It’s so big that just counting it is a massive undertaking.  I actually got a laptop last year solely to help me track my collection, and it’s still slow going. It’s not the biggest collection I’ve ever seen(I’ve been inside the Delaney’s pony room at the height of their collecting, and I’ve been in other pony rooms of some really big collectors), but it is firmly in that big time collector range.  I could easily fill out a pretty big pony room and still be looking for more space.  I have a tiny pony room, and it’s really not nearly enough. Less than 5% of my collection is actually on display. It’s also pretty varied.  I don’t just have the ponies, I have Petites and Ponyville items, stickers, accessories, ponywear, playsets, merchandise, and all sorts of stuff.  I collect all generations(not so much G5, but I’ve nibbled on the small stuff).   

The last time I did a full inventory it was over 700 ponies - and that was sometime around 1999-2000, and I believe only G1s at the time.  I’ve been busy in the last 20 years.  Really, really busy. Since then I started and completed the entire G2 line, kept up with all the G3s and most of the G4s.  I also expanded my accessory collection, my ponywear collection, my pamphlet/inserts collection, my puffy/flat sticker collection, my merchandise collection, and completed the Petites.  I also started in on Nirvanas, Lil Litters, and nearly completed my US G1 collection.  I started in on g1 puzzles and some plush as well. I have almost all playsets released for Generations 1-4.  It would be all the playsets, but I ran out of space, and got picky with the later G4 playsets. Overall it’s just huge. If I had to guess, I probably have *at least* 2000 ponies alone, plus all the other stuff, and that’s likely a very conservative estimate.  Plus I have bins and bins and BINS of trade/sale stuff I need to deal with some day. There’s several hundred ponies in there too, plus accessories, ponywear, and merch, though none of that counts towards my collection count.

What do your friends and family think about your collection?
They’re all cool with it, and many of them have contributed to it at some point, from birthday/Christmas gifts to “I found this while traveling” kind of thing. 

Do you still play with your ponies?
I brush them and dress them in ponywear!

What rare or popular pony makes you ask why!?
I just don’t get going after Nirvana ponies that look almost exactly like their common counterparts.  If I’m going to pay out for Nirvana prices, it better be A) something never released elsewhere(Baby Minty for Ladybird for example), or B) so different from the US version that it’s basically a whole new pony(Brazilian Milky Way or Venezuelan green Posey).   

If you had to have a pony symbol tattooed on your butt, which would you pick and why?
No idea. Needles and I don’t get along.

If you could have any pony remade in a different generation, who would you choose and why?
I’d like to see G2 Princess Silver Swirl as a full G1 Princess pony as part of a third set of TAF style Princess ponies. Maybe have some smaller crystals imbedded into the designs instead of the big medallions.

What has been the worst part about collecting?
People who contact the sellers of completed auctions to buy them out from under the winners. It’s happened to me a few times, and it’s always infuriating.

What is your ultimate collecting goal?
It evolves over time. My focus shifts, and I’ll concentrate on certain ponies, accessories, or other things for a time.  I don’t think I’ll ever be finished.

What is your biggest collecting accomplishment?
My G1 ponywear collection is one of the best in the world, possibly the best.  At one time it was definitively the best, but a few other collectors may have caught up over the years.  I still have a few pieces that are possibly the only known examples in the community. I have the most complete Indian ponywear collection in the world.

What is your biggest collecting regret?
I passed up MIB Greek Baby Minty for $100 during the month in 2002 when the market was flooded with MIB Greek babies and they were all dirt cheap. 

Who is your grail pony and why?
It evolves over the years as my collection focus shifts from time to time. G2 Springly and Springdy were the last two G2s I needed, and it took me over 10 years to get those two(they had to be complete). Baby Minty was another one I chased for over a decade. I’ve had a lot of grail accessories as well. I don’t really have one single grail pony, more like a series of them.
Do you have it?
Most of them, though a few of them have gotten into the too rich for my blood range.

Do you prefer loose or MIP ponies?
I like to handle my ponies, so loose.   Also, I have extreme space issues that don’t mesh with a large MOC collection.

Quick! Close your eyes and grab a pony! Who did you get?
Lavender Woosie. I’m still trying to find a spot on my display shelves for her!


Are you a customizer?
No.
Would you ever be?
Probably not.  I lack the skill and the talent, and I stink at removing pony heads without destroying the pony.

What do you think of custom ponies?
I’ve seen some incredible ones, and I have a few.

What are acceptable and unacceptable pony flaws, in your opinion?
Unacceptable:
Haircuts
Age spots and regrind
Plastic damage
Large stains and marks
Large scrapes
Badly frizzed or matted hair
Head/body mismatch

Acceptable:
Minor marks
Slight hair frizz and occasionally a minor trim
The odd scrape
Writing under feet


Would you rather have a bait pony or a fakie?
Probably a fakie if it’s weird enough.  I have A LOT of bait here already.  Though I have gotten in”bait” ponies that cleaned up to collection pieces before!

Do you watch pony shows/movies?
I have
Which ones?
I did watch FIM, and I’ve seen pretty much all the old stuff.  I never got into the whole Equestria Girls thing, or any of the newer stuff.

Do you read pony comics?
Not really.  I do have a few vintage comics though, but most of them are in languages I can’t read. 
Which ones?
I have some German G1 comics, a few French G2 comics, and some UK Annuals.

What is the worst thing you've ever done to a pony?
I had a beef with the Flutter Pony Yum Yum as a kid. I got her for Christmas one year, and she was my first ever Flutter Pony.  It took less than 15 minutes for the first wing to break, so she was on my crap list from day one. It didn’t help that she’s got a bit of a snotty expression as well.
Our house had a huge clothesline in the backyard. Turns out that Yum Yum pose fits reeeeeally nicely on a clothesline if you’re looking to launch something.  She’s small, so she’s aerodynamic. The legs are long, so you can get a really good grip on her to pull the clothesline really taut.
Yup. Yum Yum may have been a disappointing pony, but she made a heck of a good missile.  I still have her, and she’s got rope burns on her belly, and quite a few dents and scrapes from all the impacts.

Fill in the blank!

"I wish Hasbro would show the MLP anniversaries the same respect and effort as Transformers and GI Joe"

"When I was new to ponies I didn't know anything about non-USA ponies"

"I think the most underappreciated pony is the Magic Message set because they had a completely unique color scheme from any other set"

"I think more ponies should have butterfly wings like the Windy/Summerwing ponies"

"I don't like Hasbro’s Mane 6 direction because it makes the whole line boring"

"I love Nirvana ponywear because it’s so creative and funky"

[Carrehz]

Great interview! I always wondered about your username Peep

What rare or popular pony makes you ask why!?
I just don’t get going after Nirvana ponies that look almost exactly like their common counterparts.  If I’m going to pay out for Nirvana prices, it better be A) something never released elsewhere(Baby Minty for Ladybird for example), or B) so different from the US version that it’s basically a whole new pony(Brazilian Milky Way or Venezuelan green Posey).   

Agreed! I get if it's an army pony for you (general "you") and you're trying to get ALL the variations, otherwise I admit to being a little puzzled by the hype around these sort of Nirvanas

[BlackCurtains]

Fantastic interview! We share quite a few non pony collections

[Ponybookworm]

Great interview! I always wondered about your username Peep

What rare or popular pony makes you ask why!?
I just don’t get going after Nirvana ponies that look almost exactly like their common counterparts.  If I’m going to pay out for Nirvana prices, it better be A) something never released elsewhere(Baby Minty for Ladybird for example), or B) so different from the US version that it’s basically a whole new pony(Brazilian Milky Way or Venezuelan green Posey).   

Agreed! I get if it's an army pony for you (general "you") and you're trying to get ALL the variations, otherwise I admit to being a little puzzled by the hype around these sort of Nirvanas

I can only afford five Ponies to dupe like this: Butterscotch (my first), & the four Mascots (see sig pic). With everything else, I agree with this sentiment.



Re the actual interview, great to read!!! Also hi fellow trypanophobe!!! And I didn't know there was such a thing as Indian Ponywear (need pics!!!)

[goddessofpeep]

Sadly, ever since Photobucket turned evil, I’ve had a hard time finding some place to host pics.  The Indian ponywear is crazy though. It’s obviously closely based off the same outfits we got in the USA, but it’s also so unmistakably Indian, I almost expect it to cause any pony wearing it to break out into a Bollywood style dance number:p

[ashlyne]

What a fun read!  Much of it I knew already but not all.  Having had the honor of spending some time in your ponyroom, it's incredible and nicely done. 

[brightberry]

Love your username story.  I've always wondered.  The rest of the interview was also a very fun read.

[Heart Of Midnight]

  Interesting and good interview! It's nice to get to know goddessofpeep a little better. 

[Beldarna]

Wow. I wish to see pictures of that collection. It must be a dream, and such a hassle not being able to display all of it. I love the long informative answers, very interesting pieces. Lovley interview.

[BlackCurtains]

Sadly, ever since Photobucket turned evil, I’ve had a hard time finding some place to host pics. 

There are a lot of great alternatives now. ImgBB is good and simple. Imgur is another one as long as you keep your posts private, otherwise the community can be rough.

[goddessofpeep]

Will any of those hosting sites allow me to post pics in this thread without signing up for the paid version?  It used to be such a basic part of image hosting, but now every place I’ve found that could do that is locked behind an obscenely expensive paywall.

I miss non-evil Photobucket, and I miss the Arena gallery service:/
Those were the days! 

I’ll try to post pics if I can sort out some form of solution to this problem.

[BlackCurtains]

They both do have paid versions, but they also have a free service. You do need to create an account with them, but after that you can upload and grab the image link and post that to the forums, and your pic will show up

[goddessofpeep]

Let’s see if this works:

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She’s not ponywear, but she’s cute!  I already had these pics. I’ll take pics of my collection stuff a bit later. 

[BlackCurtains]

Aw, Oreo bun!

[Ponybookworm]

Let’s see if this works:

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She’s not ponywear, but she’s cute!  I already had these pics. I’ll take pics of my collection stuff a bit later.

Cute bunny!!!