What got you started collecting?

[Cwk123]

I don't collect ponies...but I do collect Barbie, Monster High and SSC. Started with Barbie...saw the Wizard of Oz dolls and picked them up...it was downhill since then! Then I started realizing how many people collect toys/dolls and was in awe! Collections started and have been growing ever since!
What's your story?

[pukunui]

Well, I grew up in suburban America in the 80s and 90s and was thus constantly bombarded with "Collect the whole set!" marketing. I was very spoiled as a child and had tons of toys (Lego, Playmobil, Transformers, etc), but the first thing that I actively started collecting would've been AD&D 2e RPG material and the associated novels. I bought most of the game books and some of the box sets and such that were put out in the 90s. Then it was D&D 3.5 books in the noughties. Then I moved into collecting D&D miniatures and then the Star Wars RPG books and miniatures.

When both those lines ended, there was a bit of a void that ended up getting (briefly) filled by G4 My Little Ponies. I started photographing my ponies and posting the pics on Flickr, where I started associating with people who took photos of both ponies and dolls, and the more I saw of the Monster High gang, the more I started liking them myself. I haven't bought a pony in about a year, probably, but just in the past few months, I've spent far too much money on MH dolls and accessories.

[Taxel]

When I joined dA, I discovered BJDs and Pullips. I couldn't afford BJDs but I was able to get some minis and then a Pullip for my birthday. My best friend got me into MH, and then a link to The Toybox Philosopher blog got me into Livs and a lot of other toys/dolls. Right now my focus is on getting more clothing for my Livs (official or not) and fun accessories (mostly Barbie).

[Shenanigans]

We had a Barbie fair here in Mobile in 1997 and was in awe at all the beautiful collectible Barbies. They had a sign up sheet for people that wanted to be members of a Barbie club so my sister and I joined (I was 13 and she was 11) My mom faithfully took us to the meetings every month and our Barbie addiction grew and we all became collectors Since then I started collecting My Little Pony, Disney, X-Men statues and figurines, and I have a small collection of Lady Lovely Locks I've always been most drawn to My Little Pony though because they were my absolute favorite toy as a child and thankfully kept my childhood ones! I started collecting MLP heavily when G3s came out

[kamakazee82]

well, i've always loved MLP, so that will always be my one true love lol and i hated dolls with a passion ... couldn't stand the cookie cutter big boob blonde hair  blue eye sickeningly sweet sappy crap out there ...

then i saw monster high i live, eat, sleep, breathe monster movies and horror movies, even when i was little lol ... but wasn't too taken with any of the characters too much ... then they released ghoulia ... and it was my death knell lol i have always been a HUGE fan of zombies ... the whole idea of never really being dead intrigues me with the not feeling pain, etc lol and then i got a few more monster highs ... and then last july ... i got my first Taeyang ... and now i've got 15 JP/groove dolls ... with two more on the way lol

[Knibitz]

I joined marching band because they had gotten a new xylophone and I thought it was cool
on a band trip I got a hermit crab
when I got home from the band trip I joined a hermit crab forum where I met pony customizer CowPriest(I think that's who it was)
So I got into pony customizing and joined MLPArena
I can't remember if I found out about pullips through the Arena or deviantArt, but I think it was the Arena.
Joined a pullip forum and bought my first pullip, and then from the pullip forums I found BJDs
and then I bought my first BJD on the arena from AnimeAmy

aaaaaaaaand the rest is history
So I collect dolls because my high school got a xylophone :B

I'm not even really sure why I was initially drawn to dolls, as I'd been pretty hardcore tomboy my entire life. I just think I thought they were cool with their posability and chibiness (pullips)

[justkitter]

I've always been a "collecter" much to my family's dismay.  I always take it too far.  Like, completionist MH collecter, too far:)  One of my prouder collections are my Sweet Valley books.  Almost have them all, now.  Every series, every book.  But you didn't come here to talk about books.  You came here to talk about dolls.

I saw an ad online for MH, and fell for the art.  The art is what hooked me.  I loved that each character had a bio, favorite colors, that they were related to classic monsters, and the list goes on.  But I blame Picklepud for hooking me on the actual dolls themselves:)  I could have been content right clicking box art, but Pickle's photos...... if you've seen them, you know.

I started lurking on the Arena for probably a year before I came out of hiding to introduce myself, and I've never been happier:)

[Gingerbread]

I've collected MLP forever but even as a child, hated dolls. I still hate dolls. They are creepy, saccharine-sweet unrealisticly proportioned idealistic....


...and then I saw some of Tuneys MH pics. Then I looked through all the pics I could find on the Dollhouse and saw Spectra. I fell in love with Spectra, ended up coming home with SS Frankie one day and the rest is history...

MH is completely anti-doll, I think that's why I like them. The best part of MH though is because they're so photogenic. I LOVE taking pics of them, even more than MLP as you can't pose a pony. There is so much stuff you can do with them

 

[Zombelina]

I'm like grzankitter, I've been a collector all my life When I was a kid (mid-80s baby) my great loves were plushies, Disney dolls and MLP. I didn't really like any dolls but Disney because they were people (I was obsessed with each movie as it came out ). And I loved animals and fairytales and fantasy so my G1 ponies were perfect fodder for my imagination.

I kept all my collections... when growing up/moving out/trying to shed childhood stuff as one is supposed to do, I just couldn't part with things. I kept everything in storage for a long while before I realized I was denying myself the stuff I liked for nonexistent "But I'm an Adult" reasons and why the heck shouldn't I still indulge my imagination if I wanted to?

So almost 2 years ago I started collecting Disney dolls again, which led to poking about on doll sites and discovering this amazing thing called Monster High that combines my love of goth and spooky with cute and fantastical! (Yes... I am pretty much a bubblegoth, lol) And since then, it's all monsters all the time, (with a pony collection rejuvenation on the side!)

Fun stories everyone 

[aellos]

I actually was never much of a collector as a kid. I let my parents do it (I actually had a decent hotwheels collection that I'm mad got sold).

I started with Disney store dolls. Thankfully I'm no completionist, but it started feeling like collecting with G4 ponies, then a few G1s and then MH.

[Moss]

This forum!

Seriously. I came here for ponies, and then I wandered into the MH thread one day. I saw the amazing work of some of the members here (coughtuneycough), and I fell in love with the MH dolls! I'd seen the commercials before, and I thought they were pretty cool, but the pics from here totally sold me!