How did you start your army?

[Divinisity]

Was it completely planned, accidental or maybe even a subconscious pull? When did you decide to start an army if it was planned? Are there any negatives to owning multiples of one pony/character? What's your favourite part of having a bunch of the same ponies?

So many questions! But I hope they will be fun to answer, and to learn more about other people's collecting habits C:

I don't have an army myself, but one day I'd love to own a legion of Party Times! To me, an army seems like such a fun idea, just to keep one favourite pony in every room of the house.

[Tulips]

I don't know why I love Posey, or why I started an army, but it was certainly intentional. Posey was one of the first G1s I ever bought, so I guess it started with wanting an Italian Posey as well (those blue eyes). Then one with pinker hair, then one with better symbols, or faded hair and symbols, a few baits to customise... Then more Italians which led me to discovering other Nirvana Poseys.

It was very fast paced, I was buying Poseys left, right and centre whenever I saw one for a good price... which led to a lot of spending when it all added up but I love each and every one. However it has certainly slowed down, I no longer buy every Posey I can... but as the army grew I felt it needed to be complete and some Nirvana are extremely rare or murder to my wallet! 

I have them all lined up on a couple of shelves, my favourite thing about them is how gorgeous they all look taking a step together. Put your best hoof forward, they seem to say.

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[tinyblondie]

I have a few favorite ponies but Pinkie Pie is the only one available in super large quantities and as my nickname is Pinkie I decided I wanted to start an army! I have 15 at the moment but I hope to get more soon (including possible G1 and G2 customs of her). Any extra big Pinkies are on my wishlist, so the G3.5 Styling Pinkie, the Pillow Buddy Plush and (when I move out and get the space) the AUS Giant Pinkie Pie (although I wish she had plush fur like MO Frilly Frocks and some of the other giants like Rainbow Dash).

[CottonTALE]

My Fluttershy army started out of my love for that pony. She is like me in a lot of ways and her pet is a rabbit (my favourite animal.)

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[mlp4me]

Any army I have that really hasn't been planned out on purpose is MO Rice Krispies baby. I don't really go out of the way to seek them out. If I get tired of looking at them I use them for customs. My favorite part is the tiny variations from pony to pony.
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[salemsparkler]

My Bride army was absolutely not planned - I kept finding loads of them on boot sales. One day another collector asked me to "sell" her some for customising - as I found out later she wanted them for free, because I had so many ;-)
Cut a long story short - I decided to keep them all!
An army is fun and I love my brides!

The negative part of an army is - they take up a lot of space (you could use for displaying other ponies).

xx

[UrocyonFox]

ooo a party time army!?! I'd love to see that. Party time is one of those awesome ponies I don't feel like gets enough love.

[Lorelei Redfern]

my sprinkles army  wasn't exactly planned. i jsut kept finding her!  one here cause i didnt have her..  another  here missing its tail.     my mom  gointo yard sales and  finding them. i  think i  found three sprinkles within 3 weeks of eahc other   so i ended up with like  6  and theni decided.. hey i'll make an army!    lol  i've only aded    two more sprinkles to my  collection of the normal variety and i have two very beautiful sprinkle  rehairs.  i dunno why i like her.. shes just a simple looking pony  no bells  no whistles..   but i love her to bits!

my g4 fluttershy army? i love g4 fluttershy!  and i'm only missing  3 variatons so far which i hope to find.   the royal ball the easter and the train car.

[Divinisity]

Nice armies everyone! makes me kinda envious Party Time really stands out on my shelf with her bright orange, and I love party hats!

Fast paced sounds so exciting, Tulips, it must have been so much fun. Posey has such a nice pose, you are right, they look good stepping in unison.

Pinkie and Fluttershy are both awesome ponies to collect, especially since they are still coming out with new ones C:

I think I like the idea of an unplanned army, like suddenly you have plenty of the same pony, but I suppose it would get a little annoying if it wasn't one you liked a lot! I totally understand that its easy to get attached though.

[cyberunicorn]

My official army is my rainbow curl army I used to hate the set when I was small cos streaky's hair was totally frizzy and out of control (much like my own). but I seem to have a total flip and I love the set. I have a small rule about the army that no two can be the same and each one is a bit different from the other.

I also have one for cherries jubilee and that is only because she is everywhere I go so I guess that she was unplanned.  but all are slightly different from the other so I don't really mind if they stick around.

But I am trying to keep numbers down and under control

[hathorcat]

My main army is Megan & Sundance and it was actually a little of both. I wanted enough Megans and Sundances in order to show all the Megan & Sundance wear. But there is so much variety in them as a release that that needed more and more...then eventually I just surrendered to the need to own them all

[Sky_Rocket_Sammie]

Totally by accident. My AAJA or Accidental AppleJack Army. It started two years ago, when Blind Bags where cropping up in stores. And who would I keep getting? Applejack of course. Which was random because I never went by the codes on the bags, simply buy two or three at at time.

Keep the ones I wanted,gifted the others or extras. But not Apple or her cousins. Last summer I got G3 AJ (thanks SparklerOasis) in the newbie swap. And that sort of sealed my army. Because I'd missed out on G3 AJ back when G3 was new. As a child G1 AJ was one of my favorite ponies but she's long gone now.

So my current army is a nod to her.

[MorningGlorysParadise82]

Mine started in childhood by accident as I got two Baby Tic-tac-toe's for my birthday. Then I came across another baby a few years ago, then a collector gave me an adult Tic Tac Toe, which I gave to my daughter, who since decided she didn't want her. And since I am a sucker lol, I am keeping my spare Adult.
I've never been too keen on armys, at least large ones, because I see in my head the collectors who are looking for said pony and someone has like 30 of them. But I do like seeing doubles, and mostly the armies I have seen have been pretty common early G1's. And since I now possess a small army of my own I can no longer gripe (even in my head) about army's so I just sit back and enjoy!  LOLOL

[shadowlark]

I don't really get the whole army thing, I guess as I'd rather have more different ponies than less variety and one large army.

Having said that, I appear to have an army of sorts in the making. When I started collecting in the past year, I was buying small lots on ebay, as was my mum. I soon noticed that I had doubles of collector pose ponies, and put them aside to look over which were the best and would sell the rest. When I finally got around to inspecting them, I realized I didn't REALLY have doubles - I had say a CF Cotton Candy & FF Cotton Candy, a FF Blue Belle and 2007 re-release Blue Belle, etc. So I decided, well, they are all slightly different, so I COULD collect them all. So now I'm 3 away from having a collector pose army of the original 6 made up of flat foot, concave foot and the 25th anniversary re-releases. All I need is a flat foot Snuzzle, 25th anniversary Butterscotch, and 25th anniversary Minty.   I'll add a pic to this thread when I get those last 3!

I also have a CP Applejack and CP Bow-tie - they'll be the leaders of the CP Army!

(If anyone has an extra of one of the three I need, I have a fairly good condition CF Snuzzle I can trade. Has a couple small spots I think might be cancer but displays great - I can send pics!)

[reanna-mator]

I just decided on my Posey and Fluttershy armies! For Posey, it's because I love the character and it sort of branched off my Fluttershy army, for obvious reasons. In addition, Posey is not super rare even in decent condition, and she is so beautiful and graceful looking!

When it came down to Fluttershy, it was either that or Twilight Sparkle and I decided that since Twilight is the main character and with toys like the mega-huge expensive princess toy, an army of her would get problematically expensive.