One Target around here did the exact same thing.  It was the first to start the reset, so I was *constantly* checking it for ponies, and it ended up being the last of at least 10 Targets in the area to actually put out the ponies.  However, eventually they popped up again.  There were no ponies and no tags for ponies anywhere for a good two weeks.  However, the Target that did this is now fully stocked with ponies again.

I am crazy short on space, and I have 2 massive collections, and several smaller ones.  I must have well over 1000 ponies.  I had close to that last time I counted - in 2001, and G3s hadn't even come out yet.  I live in a 1500 square foot house with no basement and very few walls that can accommodate shelves.  Space is a real premium over here.

90% of my collection is in storage at this time which stinks.  I do rotate sometimes.  I have been "going up" to get more ponies out.  Risers can help, but you can also start putting things on top of other things.  An example:  I have a large shelf on my desk.  It became full and cluttered with stuff.  I had a small display case with 3 glass shelves I had been using for my collection ponies, but I wasn't using since we moved to this house and I got a REAL display case.  I put that on top of the shelf, so now my collection is going up the wall but still looks nice.  Also, if you have large pieces, the top of a bookcase is a good(if your ceiling is high enough).  That's where my large playsets tend to be.  Playsets take up a lot of real estate, so putting them on top of things is a good way to display them without using up all your prime shelf space on one item.  Also, some playsets can be used as a sort of shelf for ponies.  The G3 pop up castle is GREAT for that, as is the new G4 castle.

You can get some wall shelves and put them up in whatever wall space you have left.  You can get creative with the tops of bookshelves.  Decorate the top of other items in your room(on top of your stereo or TV) with parts of your collections.  You can also start to hang things from the ceiling.  I saw a really nice display of Windy/Summer Wing ponies hung from the ceiling once.  They used clear fishing wire so it looked like they were flying.  It would work with flutters and pegasus ponies too.  There are also hanging baskets you can buy that might work for some items. You can get some magnetic strips and stick the older G3s(the ones with magnets) up the walls, and maybe even hang them from off the ceiling.  I used to have some of my G3s stuck to the bedroom fuse box. 

And just remember, any flat surface can display a pony.  Even some MIB ponies can be used as risers for other ponies.  If it's flat and stable, you can put a pony on it.  In fact, using collection pieces as risers does double the duty.  Plain risers may allow you to have several layers of ponies in one shelf, but they take up space too.  It's better to use that space to display other collection items if you can. 

Another trick I use is using the sizes of things to their best advantage.  It's an obvious one, but you can display twice the ponies in the same space if you have two lines of them - adults in the back and babies in the front.  You don't even need risers.  Staggering the ponies so that each pony in front ends up between two in the back(so the heads of the ponies in the front don't block the heads of the ponies in the back) can also help. 

I will say there is one advantage to storing your collection items.  Whenever you go through them, it's like Christmas.  I swear.  I just cleaned out my desk, and I found so much stuff I forgot I had.  It's kind of fun dumping out a bin and finding something that's SUPER COOL, but you forgot you even had.  The downside to this is if you're not organized(I'm not), you might forget what you already have and re-buy it.  It's happened to me more than once, but it is still fun to go through your collection and rediscover all the wonderful things you own.


Here are a few of my displays:

My desk.  My desk actually has a lot of other collections and very few ponies.  That's ok, the entire "guest room" is actually a pony room.  You can see the small display case I put on top of my desk's shelf.

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Next is a wall cabinet that I got at Ikea.  It's attached to the wall so it can float over the futon in the guest/pony room. I use the top for my other main collection(Doctor Who), but you can see how even though I don't have risers, I put small items in front so you can still see the back items.
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I do the same in my main display case as well.  And I put the Ponyville mermaid castle on top.  It makes a nice display topper, and I don't waste a bunch of prime space on something that doesn't display a lot of individual ponies.
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*UPDATE*

This Zecora is on temporary hold for a few days.  If you still are interested, feel free to email me and I will keep you in mind if she becomes available again, or I am able to locate another one in stores. 

*END UPDATE*


Brand spankin' new MIB Zecora for trade, in hand and ready to go!   

Please *email* me if interested as I think some of my PMs might not be reaching me.  You can contact me at:
goddessofpeep @ gmail . com
(remove spaces)


I have checked her over without removing her from the box.  She has the following factory issues that I can see in the box:

There's a small paint smudge on the inside of the plastic.  It is not touching the actual pony, but it may be irritating to someone who wants to display her MIB.  This can be seen in the first picture below.

Her symbol has a small defect in the center of the swirl.  It can be seen in the second picture below.

There's a tiny thin scratch on her gold bracelet that runs through several of the thin blue lines.  It can be seen in the first picture below.


Otherwise she's lovely.   Her hair looks really nice.  The rest of the paint looks good from what I can see, though I can't see her non-display side.  Her tail is wrapped tightly.  I can not tell if she's got dents, so I make no claims about that.  The box is in excellent condition with no tears, dents, or crushing.

Smudge is on the PLASTIC, not the pony:
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I am currently working on my wantlist, but I am open to many different things in all generations.  In particular I need the Wave 2 blind bags.  I do need Afternoon Picnic with Cheerilee, and Cheerilee's Ponyville Schoolhouse as well.  I might be looking for some other G4 items, though I have almost everything that's currently out in stores in the USA.

I'm located in the USA, but will ship internationally almost everywhere, though I reserve the right to refuse to ship to any country that has notoriously bad mail service.

I got used to accepting this while collecting the G3s:p  It's a rare pony indeed that comes out of the package "mint" these days.  Some things you can check while in the packages(paint rubs, mystery marks, off color head, etc), but some stuff is a surprise after you open the pony(dents, weird hair issues, stains from accessories touching the pony, etc).  I just got the castle in the mail last week, and Princess Cadence has a permanent mark on one nostril. 

I was not happy to see the seams on my Trixie that I found yesterday.   It's terrible, but I just got used to accepting most of this due to the G3s.  I check as best I can, and hope for the best.  If I returned every pony that's got quality issues, I would be at the store for hours every week. 

Good luck with your recovery!  Dental surgery stinks, and I hope you have an easy time.

When I had my wisdom teeth out, I ate the following things:

Cream of wheat
Mashed potatoes
Macaroni and cheese(I mushed it up with a fork)
Canned pasta
Scrambled eggs
Instant pudding
Jello

My sister in law had a root canal the day before Thanksgiving, and in addition to having mashed potatoes and other soft foods, I took some of the pumpkin pie filling and baked it in individual cups for her so she could have dessert without the crust.

Shepard's pie might work for you if the veggies are cut very small and cooked until very soft.

I have a fondness for potato leek soup that might work for you.

 You need:

2-3 trimmed leeks, cut into small pieces
3-4 potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
Chicken broth, enough to fully cover all the potatoes and leeks plus another inch or so
Ground pepper
Salt
A bit of butter

Cook the leeks in the butter, and add a pinch of salt and some pepper. When the leeks are soft, add in the broth and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are as soft as you need them to be. Ladle some of the soup onto a blender, and blend until smooth.  Be careful!  If the top pops up, the soup can burn you!  Pour the mixture back into the pot and stir. 

I buy from the UK all the time, some months I have multiple packages coming from over there in a week.  UK to USA used to take a week, sometimes a bit more. Something happened about a year and a half ago. Now I consider 2 weeks to be super fast. 3 weeks is about average, and a month isn't uncommon. The longest so far has been 3 months, and I've had more than one in that range.

It's totally random too.  I bought two items from the same seller a week apart. Item A was won, paid for, and shipped a week before item B.  Item B arrived in a little over two weeks.  Item A arrived almost a month after item B!  Same seller, same type of item, same shipping method, but one item took two weeks, the other took six weeks.   And I checked the dates when I got the package.  Item A was sent when the seller said.  The item I bought *second* arrived before the item I bought a week before.   Shipping from anywhere in the UK is just crazy.  I've probably bought hundreds of items from the UK in the last 4 years alone, and I've seen long shipping delays of around a month or more on probably 30% of them since things changed. I heard it was new security policies, but who knows?

Getting a MOC pony can be an easy way to get a complete and(hopefully) mint pony.  Some people buy to keep on the card and display, some people only care about the pony.  The ponies with nice cards generally go to people who want the MOC to display since card condition factors into the price.  Really bad condition cards are popular with people who just want the pony to be mint and complete since opening up a pony on a severely damaged card isn't considered as bad as opening a really nice MOC.  They're also popular with collectors who don't have the cash to buy the really expensive MOCs, but still want to own a MOC pony.  For every MOC pony out there in every condition there's a buyer who will love it for their own reason.  Same is true of loose ponies.  Some collectors enjoy the challenge of restoring baity ponies, some collectors just want the mint ones.

I'm not a MOC collector though I've been collecting long enough to have a few in my collection.  I kind of like the old price stickers.  Some of them are from toy stores that don't exist anymore, and I think it's fun to see how much ponies went for in stores because the certainly DON'T go for that now!  It's a little bit of pony history right on the card!