3 Complete Big Brothers...

[Lorelei Redfern]

I know the feeling. This friend of mine one of the guys he knows that vista every weekend his wife has mib g1s. And I said hey can I buy them? So he asked and apperntly she wants to keep them because her niece or someone is going to have a baby and if it's a girl she wants to pass them down.  And I'm thinking... What's a baby need mib g1s for?

[scarletjul]

  That must have been so frustrating.

I can (hopefull) see her wanting to keep them for sentimentality but I hope you find a good score soon

[NovelNerd]

I know it's hard sometimes as collectors to get past the "ponies going to children" thing, and I might be the odd person out here. I actually like the idea of ponies being with the kids instead of for example with me. They were meant for children, and the ponies I have the fondest memories of were the ones that I had during my childhood. I agree with several that it might be for sentimental reasons or just wanting to keep something for the kids. Not everything is for sale or has a price tag.

[katieklassified]

I hate when people act like that...there's no way they're *that* sentimental about the ponies if they're letting their kid play with them. My super nice toys won't be going to my kids...not until they're old enough to appreciate/not completely trash them, that is. If I display them, they're DISPLAY toys, not meant to be played with. And aren't G1s supposed to be something you DON'T give kids to play with anymore? Something about lead or something?

I hate when people pull things like that. She probably realized they were rare/worth money when you went nuts and asked to pay the $100 for them. Bet they turn up on ebay or something, with crazy starting prices.

[elish2]

My kids have their own mlp toys (g4) and then there are my ponies, and they know they are not allowed to touch them. I figure I am saving them for when they are old enough  to understand the value.

[PinkRosedust]

Uuuuuugh!!

One time I bought a lot of G1s from a woman - her childhood collection. An amazing haul at a good price (though I still paid well). A few mail orders, various other rares, tons of accessories, and all in good/great/mint condition.

The woman was pregnant...with a girl. She said that she had gone through the ponies and picked out those that were most special to her, and was saving them for her daughter. One of those ponies? Rapunzel. Now I didn't see these ponies myself, but I believed her (being that she did have other MOs). Also, I *think* one of Punzie's barrettes was actually mixed in with the accessories I got. :O Also in the lot was the princess baby buggy but no Baby Princess Sparkle...guessing that was another she kept.

Not quite as bad since I did still get some great stuff, but I definitely feel your pain. >.<

[Rosencrantz]

My boss was like that. When she found out I collected ponies, she liked to brag about her daughter's 'perfect' collection that she'd, in my boss's words, never use again but would never give up. However, given my boss thought ponies started in the 70s, I was less inclined to care much about whatever she was up to. I never asked to buy them once.

However, on the topic of toddlers and ponies, I gave a bag of mid-condition ponies to my niece, because hey, I suddenly had a niece (step) and she had no toys when she was visiting grandpa and grandma.

But I like giving toys to kids I know. My stepbrother gets legos, my cousins got warcraft toys, my high school bff's foster sister got kelly dolls, my new cousins get g3s, stuffed toys, etc.

Toys are meant to be played with. It can be painful when you really really want that toy, but that's something that you worked through once as a kid, when your friends had toys you really wanted.

...although in my case I stole the pony friend camel when I was three. I'm... I'm so sorry. 

If, uh, any of you happened to have lived in a cruddy neighbourhood in Edmonton across from some drug dealers, and a dorky blonde three year old girl (not associated with the drug dealers), in the eighties and your camel went mysteriously missing, I am so ashamed.

[Oak23]

so you offered a woman you barely knew money for sentimental keepsakes she took very good care of who'd rather share with her own daughter than sell them off? I can understand disappointment but the venom towards this woman seems unjustified especially since it seems a bit presumptuous to just offer to buy something from someone without really knowing who they are.

[tealslippers]

I find this topic and the responses odd.  They are her ponies and she wants to give them to an important child in her life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just because you want them doesn't mean there is a great tragedy here.

[AusMLP]

I find this topic and the responses odd.  They are her ponies and she wants to give them to an important child in her life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just because you want them doesn't mean there is a great tragedy here.

This! If someone I didn't know tried to push me into selling something I wanted to pass on I'd be kicking them out my door. Very Rude!

[Jinxxy]

UGh! Nothing is quite as bad as that "I nearly had them!" feeling.
That happened to me a few months back at Value Village.
I was digging though the bags and didn't see anything, but I saw a lady wtih 4 bags in her hand and a whole buncha kids.
There were MINT G1s in the bag! I could see original curl and unfaded pink hair in the bags.
Nothing toooo rare that I could see aside from maybee Satin and Lace.. but still! They looked so nice!

[Enolaalone]

I find this topic and the responses odd.  They are her ponies and she wants to give them to an important child in her life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just because you want them doesn't mean there is a great tragedy here.

This! If someone I didn't know tried to push me into selling something I wanted to pass on I'd be kicking them out my door. Very Rude!

Yeah I agree. Just because we are collectors doesn't mean everyone else has to be. Also, just because someone has kids it doesn't mean they have to be brats who will wreck ponies. *shrugs*

[cleverLC]

It is really hard for me even to find traces of g1 ponies where I live. Not even at garage sales or thrift shops. At work a few of the other nurses are catching on that I like MLP and a few have said "oh I have a bunch in my attic" and I'm like BRING THEM TO ME!!! and they just don't do it. I have told them I would buy them...but nope, they haven't brought them yet. One gal even told me she has all her original mlp in perfect condition including Dream Castle with all the accessories....aghhhh

See, and this is why I honestly think there are some people who get some sort of horrid joy from having things that they themselves don't want or need, but know that someone else really wants it. So petty...ugh.

I will never understand the dog-in-the-manger attitude.  If you don't want it, why keep it around to clutter up the place?

[elish2]

I find this topic and the responses odd.  They are her ponies and she wants to give them to an important child in her life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just because you want them doesn't mean there is a great tragedy here.

This! If someone I didn't know tried to push me into selling something I wanted to pass on I'd be kicking them out my door. Very Rude!

Yeah I agree. Just because we are collectors doesn't mean everyone else has to be. Also, just because someone has kids it doesn't mean they have to be brats who will wreck ponies. *shrugs*

I do concur with this sentiment. I understand this thought completely with what I am doing with my girls. In fact they play with all my g1s and they know better than to be rough with them. I do keep rare ponies aside, but they still get the joy of the g1s along with the g4s. The g3s will be when they are older as they are mib.

That aside, it is different when there is someone telling you that they have a bunch sitting in the attic collecting dust that they have no intention of doing anything with. That gets and ugggh, and is frustrating, but in the end, it is their stuff and their decision to give them up or not.

[FantasticFirefly]

The health issues (the reason vintage toys are technically illegal to give to children in the USA) are due to lead. Unsure if our vintage ponies contain lead, which would have been used in the pigments to colour them. But they DO contain phthalates, which along with lead you don't need to lick or chew on the toy to get that into your system- it's absorbed through your skin. Phthalates have been banned in baby bottles, and dishware here as well.

When I sell toys locally, if someone mentions "I'm looking for my young niece/daughter" I put away the vintage and haul out the G3's and explain. Heck, I try not to over-handle my collection and wash my hands well after.