Organising and cataloging Pony collections

[Sanadaookami]

With my collection creeping up on 700 ponys last year I made a new years resolution to get my pony collection cataloged- I decided to use the Ponydex to do this because I like the search function, ability to add photos of each pony (very visual person, and it helps with all those variants and G3 re-releases) I'm happy to say I've got it up to date, at least as far as ponys are concerned.

Now I have another quandary, what about my heeps of accessories, merchandises and playsets? Should I put those in the Ponydex as well or is that just be over kill? It would be nice to be able to search for them- much quicker then sorting though my 6ish accessory boxes to see if I have something already, and I can use it on the run as long as I have my smart phone. Downsides would be- how do I organize it? Each accessory added to the gallery of the pony it belongs to? What about ones I don't have the pony for yet? like accessories grouped together in one entry with notes on what is what? It would also though off my count on how many ponys I have- Right now I can just look at my statistics page to see roughly how many are currently in the collection.

So any recommendations? What have others done to keep track of all those little odds and ends?

[hyenacub]

Do it!  : D

[hathorcat]

Yes! I think you are best keeping everything up to date somewhere [speaks the voice of reason who has not even managed to do this herself!] - if for no other reason if prevents you purchasing anything again which you may already have! 700 plus ponies is tough enough to remember let alone all the accessories you have that go with them!

Good luck

[ringlets_]

Yes.  It helps to know what you have and what you need.  I'm fairly low-tech and use word documents or excell, but am starting to work on digital photo albums.  I didn't have a great camera when I started so I didn't take too many pictures, now I have a lot of work to do.

Plus you may want to insure your collection someday.

Unless you keep all your accessories with your ponies I would list the miscellaneous items separately.  Grouping suggestions: playsets and their accessories, accessories that came with a pony (alphabetically by pony name, including year/set if necessary for rereleases), ponywear (G1 is about the only one this is for), & merchandise by type (fabrics, electronics, puzzles, books/movies, paper/office/party supplies, etc.).

[jwalraven]

I was starting to organize my collection and then you posted this! I'm loving the Ponydex so far. I still have a quite a bit to add to it (and I'm a newbie collector too).

[butterflybuttons]

Personally I'd try and organize the accessories by pony.

I keep starting to organize, but then get distracted with styling their hair, or notice they need cleaning

[Moonracer]

I agree. For weeks now, I've been searching for some form of a checklist. One which I could easily print out and then check all the ponies I have. Many collecting fandoms have those in SPADES (like the Transformers and G.I. Joe ones), so it's high time MLP got something similar.


It'd be really cool if someone, with computer/web design skills, created something similar to Shmax.com, which  Transformer fans use as a form of a "checklist". Sure, Shmax.com has it's own flaws and such, but at least it's quite effective as website.

[Chrissytree]

I'm a fan of excel files so I have lots listing all sorts of different things.  You can search through them too.  It takes a little while to get familiar with all the tools but once you know what you're doing it's very useful

Link to accessory file in my siggy.

[Sanadaookami]

Yes.  It helps to know what you have and what you need.  I'm fairly low-tech and use word documents or excell, but am starting to work on digital photo albums.  I didn't have a great camera when I started so I didn't take too many pictures, now I have a lot of work to do.

Plus you may want to insure your collection someday.

Unless you keep all your accessories with your ponies I would list the miscellaneous items separately.  Grouping suggestions: playsets and their accessories, accessories that came with a pony (alphabetically by pony name, including year/set if necessary for rereleases), ponywear (G1 is about the only one this is for), & merchandise by type (fabrics, electronics, puzzles, books/movies, paper/office/party supplies, etc.).

I have some accessories out with the ponys but most things are in little sorted baggies with the name of the pony it belongs to wrought on the front. I think I will just add ones to the page for the pony it belongs to, and make one separate entry for item's I still need the pony. I am already working on getting insurance on my collection the Ponydex is really helping me keep up on the value of what I have as well.

I agree. For weeks now, I've been searching for some form of a checklist. One which I could easily print out and then check all the ponies I have. Many collecting fandoms have those in SPADES (like the Transformers and G.I. Joe ones), so it's high time MLP got something similar.


It'd be really cool if someone, with computer/web design skills, created something similar to Shmax.com, which  Transformer fans use as a form of a "checklist". Sure, Shmax.com has it's own flaws and such, but at least it's quite effective as website.

To start with I got some of the pony collecting books they are quite useful if you just need a checklist. Also Lady Twilight's web sight has some nice checklists for G1 accessories. http://www.greatponies.com/acc-info.html

I'm a fan of excel files so I have lots listing all sorts of different things.  You can search through them too.  It takes a little while to get familiar with all the tools but once you know what you're doing it's very useful

Link to accessory file in my siggy.

That's neat! It seems a lot of people use Excel. I use Open Office rather then Microsoft's stuff but it was still interesting to look at.

[Water_Fire]

I love the idea of the Ponydex! I've signed up, just waiting for my confirmation email. It's a good excuse to take pictures of ponies, at any rate.

[KaibaGirl007]

If it's easier for you to keep track of them on there and you're willing to spend the time to enter them then I say do it.   


My accessories are kept together in bags for each playset or group of ponies that they belong too. I daren't brake them down and list any further as it would drive me crazily insane if I didn't match the correct shade of brush/comb to a pony as I find some of them hard to ID properly without a dozen of the same colour to compare against which I don't have. I don't go out of my way to buy accessories for this sole reason.