Why Nirvanas?

[Stormrave]

So until now I've stayed away from this forum and your plastic crack   but since this summer is my first trip to the My Little Pony fair all of a sudden I'm surprised to find myself thinking seriously about getting a nirvana pony.

I have a whole bunch of North American G1's and, to date, six UK exclusives.  The "crown jewel" of my collection is Baby Berrytown with her funky gradient hair.  And yet all of a sudden part of me thinks it might be cool to have a pony that most people in North America don't even know exists.  Something like a pony from Argentina, or Peru.  Something you could never buy at a store in north america.

So I want to hear stories about why you collect Nirvanas?  Is it that you think they're prettier, you have all the North American G1s already, you want something unusual or more challenging to find? 

(And do you have any advice for a newbie?)

[kaninchen]

currently, i collect only the ponies i remember having as a child (which i've completed) and moonstones. moonstone is a very important pony to me, she was my first and the only surviving member of my childhood herd. i wanted to "honour" her importance to me - and collecting every version of her i can find somehow made sense to me. it gives me a definitive purpose to my collecting.

[Brightglowpony]

I find items from other countries fascinating, and the fact that ponies were made in other countries is just an added plus   Also, I collect mainly Italians because that is my heritage so I have a soft spot for them  

As far as newbie advice, in my experience buying nirvanas, Italy ponies and Mexican ponies are typically the least expensive.  There are some very pricey variants, but many go for only $10 or less. 

[invaderhorizongreen]

I was on a site called ghost of the doll and I saw some of the UK ponies and play sets that is what got me hooked. Then I leaned about the many gen 1 from around the world and have a list running.

[lunar_scythe]

if you mean strictly non-HK or China made, my first Nirvana was what started it; I won a lot with a "TAF Buttons" in it, but instead of TAF Buttons, it was actually Argie Buttons!  Then I got some Italians in a lot, including Windy and Blue Belle(of course) and it just kind of grew from there.  Now I have 30 non-HK Blue Belles, plus a few other Nirvanas(not counting my weird ones!)

[Pumpkin]

At first I've collected the HK, China and UK ponies. I really hated the Italians so skipped them. When I had the groups together (So Softs, Rainbows etc.) I started to select the ones I really liked and started to sell the others. After selling them I got more space for more special ponies and started to go for Frenchies. While collecting them my interest went also to the AB Italians and  some variants of Minty and Moonstone. I'm interested in nirvanas now because they are more special and it's great to have some variants of 1 pony in an army together. I like the Frenchies because of the hair quality and metalic symbols, they look more refind. Mexi's are so cute with their poor conditions and beautiful eyes. Etc.

[maycrestmom]

Main piece of advice is collect what you love not just based on value or rarity as that can change (sometimes incredibly quickly)

scour the pages of the nirvana gallery for variants that you will love staring at for hours = there is plenty of eye candy to get lost in ;-) and then set a limit on what your wallet can lose... otherwise

you said it = plastic crack

take it slow

oh and worse case, is if you tire of your nirvana, chances are there will be others here who will love to "adopt" so you can usually find a way to balance out the habit, I mean hobby, by selling and then buying... usually... hopefully!

Why did I start?  An excuse to teach my kids geography and I just think it is so amazing that kids from all over the world were playing with ponies :-)

now that is my idea of nirvana :-)

[Whippycorn]

I get (or try to get ) nirvanas that I like the look of, either from the nirvana gallery or from people posting here.

But my budget is limited so I mainly stick to the cheaper nirvanas so far. 

The first nirvana I bought was Macau Jenny. Bought her from Ebay on a whim without really knowing anything about her. Then I got some Italians and joined the arena to learn more about them.

Then I realised that two of my childhood ponies are Indian! 

[Icecrystalline]

I love italians. It's their eyes. So elegant. Such poor factory control though, so I look for minty ones if possible. I'll hold out for as long as it takes to get perfect ones.

[ravengusty]

I have Italian Peachy (which I bought last month) and didn't know Italians were Nirvanas but now I do so I've accidentally joined the club lol. Most Nirvanas are way out of my price range but Italians seem to be a lot cheaper and the Macau's I've seen on ebay are cheaper than things like frenchies and argies.
I like the look of some of the argies I've seen so I'm looking forward to getting at least one at some point. It's interesting to see them from different countries and in different poses and colour schemes.

[pinkkittywinks]

I get (or try to get ) nirvanas that I like the look of, either from the nirvana gallery or from people posting here.

But my budget is limited so I mainly stick to the cheaper nirvanas so far. 

The first nirvana I bought was Macau Jenny. Bought her from Ebay on a whim without really knowing anything about her. Then I got some Italians and joined the arena to learn more about them.

Then I realised that two of my childhood ponies are Indian! 

really? how did you end up with two indian ponies in your herd?

love pkw xxx

[Chinabun]

currently, i collect only the ponies i remember having as a child (which i've completed) and moonstones. moonstone is a very important pony to me, she was my first and the only surviving member of my childhood herd. i wanted to "honour" her importance to me - and collecting every version of her i can find somehow made sense to me. it gives me a definitive purpose to my collecting.

I love this answer and find my self weeping over all the ponies lost too me (i had tons of the G1 as a child). I might try to "get back" my faves from then too. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Whippycorn]

PKW, I grew up in Asia! I also have two indian ponywear outfits. I keep trying to find out more about them but information seems scarce.

I lived in Thailand for a bit, but sadly I do not own a Thai mountain boy.   

[LadyGuinevere]

For me it's about the quest for information and the thrill of the hunt When I first started collecting, there was a lot to learn just about the normal US issue ponies, and many of them weren't sold here and it wasn't as easy to buy from abroad, so I got it from that. But as time went on, I wanted something a bit different. Plus, there are some gorgeous Nirvanas out there that are different from the norm.

Now, I love the differences between the different countries, and it's so fascinating to see how different countries interpreted  the same line. The value of them isn't a factor  for me - some of my favourite ones are not that expensive at all - but it  does limit my purchasing ability sometimes, which is probably a good thing, lol

[baby_gusty]

Good question! A very fun thread, keep posting, I really enjoy reading all your answers

I live in Sweden and my first ponies was NSS Cupcake and NSS magic Star. I really remember that christmas and the joy I felt when I got my ponies. Later when I started collecting I realised that my Cupcake only were sold in Scandinavia (and one more country which I can´t remeber now, Australia? Austria?) and her original pony where a fluffy SS. I´d never seen one of those before but it got me thinking.

I love all the differences there is between the countries, some can come as a uni in one country and a regular in another. So fascinating! So when I started collecting the very first pony I got was Gusty, always loved her in the movies but I never had her irl. When I saw that there where ponies from different countries and I even discovered baby gusty I was hooked. I had to have them in all variations