How long have you been a collector?

[cricket]

I've loved MLP all my life.  I've always had my childhood ponies but in 2001 I discovered the trading post and have been hooked and actively collecting ever since!  So how about you?  How long have you been collecting and how long have you been a member of the pony community?

[Uninu]

I started collecting as soon as I stopped playing, that is when I was 13 (now I'm 25). I have been in the pony community since 2008. If I remember correctly I first joined the Arena and then the Finnish Paratiisikartano 

[relcelestia]

about 5 years
i grew up with G1 and always loved ponies... my dad bought be a G2 when i was a teenager and i was so happy!
then as an adult i pulled them out of storage and something hit me.... i wonder if there are any on ebay?!?! and about 10 years ago i bought a lot of several CP ponies that i had always wanted... for like $15.
it included a UK bowtie, which of course i had no idea there were UK ponies at all!! and i put them back in storage for another 5 years.
then my grandma got sick and i was very sad an anxious about it.
i found ponies again.
went on craigslist and found a box of G1s for $40.
it was PURE JOY!! and a great relief from the pain of my dying grandma.

i went online searchinng because the lot had a CC that was different from teh ebay CC i bought a few years prior (it was the MO version).
and i made my first post on the MLP Trading Post to see if some collectors could figure out who she was.
aaaaaaand then i began discoverign all the ponies i had never heard about, bought a collectors book... and then the nirvanas  ^_^
and the rest is history!

[Eldarwen]

Well, i've always loved ponies and they were my favorite toys as a kid. But I officially started collecting ponies last summer, that would be 1 year ago now!

It started with Peachy.. then Majesty.. Then my first lot. Now, 1 year later, im at 225 G1 ponies. 

[Honeycomb]

I have loved ponies since I was 4 or 5. I'm 32 now. I never got rid of my childhood herd, I had 32 back then, and even when I was a teenager, I had them stored in a big hidden box in my bedroom, not in the attic with the other toys. I remember that I started to dream about MLP when I discovered ebay, that was in 2005. And I bought the ones I had always wanted as a child, i.e. Surprise, Heart Throb, Sweet Stuff, Love Melody, ... and from then on, I have been addicted.

[mlpkatie]

i loved them as a kid, but I have recently just got back into them in the past year and a half

[wizzer218]

I started the first time I got my first pony....It was flat foot peachy with parlour!.....and I am 32......so yeah ever since my first pony...it has been non stop collecting....begging for ponies when I was small every time I was at any store...then when they were done making  them then the real hunt began...garage sales....used stores...friends...lol....everyone in highschool knew...because I asked them all.. ......then of course there was the awesome discovery of eBay....lol...so yeah I have been collecting 31 years in august ....I'm a lifer!

[CupcakeLoverXx]

I loved My Little Pony when I was little,I had G3 stuff. I discovered FiM in July 2012,reigniting the love for MLP and have been collecting since then,so only 10 months.

[starrypawz]

Since 2008

[relcelestia]

Since 2008

me too!!! twinsies!!
 

[Shrojjy]

I've loved MLP since I was young, but the release of FiM sparked my collecting of it.

[zzzova]

I collected when i was young, packed them up when i was around 10 and than started collecting again in the bwgining of 2013.  atm i habe a few over 200 and i need so many more!!

[kissthethunder]

My first memories as far back as I can remember involve ponies, my sisters peachy, our neighbors baby firefly, and my baby lickety split. I remember clearly have ponies that some how got lost in my early childhood... I'll never get those seaponies back

[shadowdreamer]

I had ponies as a kid..some got ruined, other got destroyed (My neighbor was evil) and others got packed away under my bed, Then in 2012, I was introduced to ponies yet again by my boyfriend that I had at the time. Then once I got my first Fluttershy I was hooked. Now I am going back to my beloved G2 ponies...and even finding that I love G1's! I do not have any G2 or G1 ponies yet...but I want to get some one day.

[Prince Primbrose]

One year! My friend sent me Princess Primrose last spring, and then about this time last year I bought my first G4... It's all downhill from there!