Wow, this thread does bring back a lot of memories! I started to collect in 1999- I was 18. I remember going through my toys in storage and coming across the only 2 She-ra figures I owned. I remember how I thought it would be so awesome to collect them, but at the time it felt like an impossible feat. Shortly after that I saw eBay advertised in a magazine and the rest is history. I became a total eBay addict for the first few years. My collecting started with She-ra then Rainbow Brite and then to all the other 80's toy lines that I loved. Currently MLP is what I actively collect the most of right now, because I have almost completed my other toy lines and except for a few pieces missing here and there.

I remember:

-going to the post office very frequently to buy money orders- so happy when they came out with PayPal

-The discovery of toys/ characters from familiar lines that I didn't know existed till the Internet and what an exciting discovery they were

-when a lot of auctions on eBay didn't have pics

-Dream Valley also when the card back pics were used- I still enjoy visiting there

-Various individual toy collector web sites for items for sale/trade such as Trish's Treasure Trove

-I did trades a lot more back then

-Dial up and how frustrating it was especially if sites were pic heavy

-Hitting the refresh over and over at the end of auctions- I sniped a lot of auctions back then and had some sniped from me, too

-Also as someone mentioned when I discovered through message boards that there was a large community of adults that collected toys. I was so embarrassed when I first started to collect toys that people would find out.  Now I really don't care who knows that I'm a toy collector. I enjoy my hobby

-Toys were much more affordable back then. Now it seems like sellers want an arm and a leg for some things especially if MIB/MOC.

My favorite pony as a child was Quackers, because of her rainbow hair(even though I thought her jewel eyes were weird) I think if I had Starshine as a child that she would've been my favorite.

My faves in my herd now are:

-Starshine
-Moonstone
-Windy
-Gusty
-Glory
-Sparkler
-Majesty
-Masquerade
-Gingerbread(looking for an upgrade of her)
-Mimic
-Quackers
-Sweet Stuff
-Baby Stocking
-Baby rainbow ponies

I find myself drawn to ponies with white bodies.  Unfortunately it is harder to find them in better condition- at least in my experience.

I have an extra Starshine tin if anyone would want to trade for a Glory tin Send me a PM if you'd want to trade. Thanks!

It usually takes us a little while to name our kitties. Here are their names and stories. We have 7

-Harry was born at my boyfriend's house(now my husband) and his brother named him and I think he was named that because he is long-haired.

-Skippy. I adopted him from work. I work at an animal hospital. He runs and jumps really high so that is why we named him Skippy. We also nicknamed him Skippy Mouse cuz he is timid and meek and a big scaredy cat

- Moppet. We found he at McD parking lot searching for food. I caught her with chicken nuggets. We say she is the best prize that we ever got in a happy meal. I was trying to think of a unique name for her and Moppet seemed to fit.

-Little Man. I feel in love hard with him at work. He was a kitten that someone found along the road that was expected to live. He did and I took care of him and the people who brought him in didn't want him- they just wanted to do the right thing. So I took him home and my hubby named him Lennon after John Lennon, but the name just didn't seem to suit him. We started to call him Little Man and it stuck.

-Chloe was an adult cat who was brought into work to find a home. She was pregnant and had 5 babies there. After the kittens were adopted she still needed a home so we took her and my hubby renamed her Chloe after Chloe Sullivan on Smallville.

-Moses was the cat about town when we lived in our Apt. He went to various people's houses to get his dinners. We made him a little warm cat house for winter which he used a lot. The neighbors on the end apt called him Moses and another neighbor called him Blackie. He really did kinda mosey around so Moses was perfect. We lived there for almost 3 years and as far as I know the only ones who fed him on a daily basis. I couldn't leave him there not knowing if he would get fed or not especially since we moved in the winter time. So we let all the neighbors know that we were taking him. He now is a happy indoor cat.

-ZuZu was a stray kitten also at our Apt building who came around searching for something to eat. It took  a couple months to catch. When I finally caught her a put her in a cage for a few days- my was she a wild one! She finally calmed down and let us pet her. I tried asking various people if they wanted to adopt her cuz we already had 5 indoor cats and Moses who we were feeding outside. We ended up keeping her and someone later said about her being a nice cat and I jokingly said you're too later the offer is off the table now Hubby named her after the little girl in It's a Wonderful Life and it really fits her. She is a Zu!

If you like MOTU, he-man.org has a good forum.

Gabriel Brothers/ Gabes also got in the Starshine mug in. I was so excited when my husband surprised me with one!

I have her, but it took me forever to get her. She was on my wants list for many years. I love the rainbow ponies!

My husband saw the mug set at Kmart when we were shopping out of town. I was sooo excited! It was the last set there. I also saw a small tin with jelly beans in it with the birth flower pony at Cracker Barrel. My husband works at Gabriel Brothers and found me bags of hot cocoa with Starshine on them. I really really want the Starshine mug- is that one sold at Ross or Bon Ton?