What started you collecting ponies again?

[Haruna]

So what started you re-collecting ponies? Did you find your childhood herd and get inspired to start collecting them again? Or did you watch Friendship Is Magic and fall in love with the show? Or did you never stop collecting at all? I'd love to hear your stories.

I had pretty much been collecting since I was a little girl, buying online (once there was an Internet) and being an active part of the pony community that existed then, but stopped in my late teens, partly feeling it was a little-kid kind of thing to do. I still loved my ponies, of course, and thankfully didn't sell them. There were several events leading up to my starting to collect again, but the 'final straw' was that in Christmas 2012 I went to an antique mall with my cousin and mom and randomly saw a Moondancer, Parasol, and Forget-Me-Not on the shelf. Forget-Me-Not was so beautiful, and I brought her home (I had the other two). The rest is history.

[reanna-mator]

When I watched Friendship is Magic, I told myself I'd just get a few G1s... now I have over 800 ponies over all the generations. >.< I have an addictive personality that likes collecting and completing so I should have known that my original plan wouldn't last.

My first G1s were Wind Drifter (my childhood pony) who came in a lot with Forget me Not and Cloud Puff.

[SpookyTrees]

Well I had a huge collection as a little girl in the early 80s that got donated out from under me. Fast forward 3 decades and I have 3 little Pony fans of my own. I've always said I would start replacing my collection, but I never did. I'm turning 40 in a month and it's sort of a bucket list to have my original 6 FF's again. That won't happen but I have started a decent G1 collection and have managed to get Snuzzle, my first ever pony, for my oldest daughter to 'surprise' me with on my b-day (she so badly wants to!) A friend in the US got her off eBay and will ship her to me so I'm hoping she arrives in time!!!!

[Roseprincess1]

For me it was pure nostalgia.
I stumbled upon what was left of my child hood heard. Some had been thrown or given away.
But i had several left..
and i was like.. OK.. im gonna get ONE g4 to match.
i bought a twilight sparkle and a feather may and i was doomed.

[unluckyrabbit]

I started after learning my cousin threw away a box that had all of my old g3 ponies in it (my mom made me give it to them).I was determined to get back all the ponies I lost but I fell in love with the Gen 1 ponies and welp now I collect them.

[Dreamer]

I'm not a fan of Friendship is Magic, but it was the show who started all this brony crazyness. Curious to find more about, I discovered customization... and went here to the Arena just for a few customization tips... learned more about G1 pony world.. and the rest is history

[SourdoughStomper]

The advent of G3s. My daughter had just had a birthday (maybe it was her 4th?) and was given ponies as a gift by one of our friends. I didn't know that Hasbro had been making a new generation and I did a happy-freak and went to go get myself some, too.

It was shortly after that that I discovered the Arena and I joined. I remember all the happy-glees we would experience when we saw the new waves of ponies come out. So much variety in those days, I miss them.

But I also discovered the power of Paypal and the internet. I was able to continue my G1 collection where I'd left off as a kid. That was so way cool for me back then.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I never stopped collecting unless you count the G2 era...I moved onto thrift stores then!

[hathorcat]

I had a fit of nostalgia and decided to look out my old favourite childhood toys...after a fruitless search of the loft and storage cupboard no ponies were to be found. I was seriously upset. My poor mum then had to admit she had given the ponies away years previously to the little girl along the road. After making her feel really guilty I then hit up the dial up, plugged in internet in order to see if it was possible anyone out there was feeling the same as me about their childhood toys. I found some collectors groups and eventually ebay and the rest is history!

[sarka1]

I was obsessed with ponies when I was little in the late 80s and early 90s. They were my favorite toy for a long time. I lost interest in them in in the mid 90s as I started collecting other things, such as LPS and Grand Champions. I put my ponies in the attic and forgot about them until recently.  I have an Etsy vintage clothing shop and am always looking for stuff at thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales and estate sales. I started finding 80s and 90s toys that brought back so many memories.  I got my old pony collection down from the attic and am so glad I kept them! Now they are all displayed on two big shelves.  I started collecting them again, especially G1s and some G3s.  I love cleaning them up and making them pretty again! Now my room is full of 80s toys and I am going to start another Etsy shop to sell some because I have run out of space! But I will definitely never sell my childhood collection.

[Sweet Tooth]

My story is a little weird, but here it is:

About three years ago, I took a theater class in school, where we had an assignment to get in groups of three and create a scene based off of a TV show. So as soon as we were all in groups, and we started thinking of possible shows, one member suggested the FIM show. Of course she was joking, and she had only seen it because of her little sister, but both me and the other group member that was with us agreed just because we were running out of time and needed to get to work. So, we all went home and watched it so we could collaborate on the different episodes we had seen, and i decided I really liked the show!  It also made me think of my G3 ponies I had when I was younger, and made me want them back...

I got my first pony when G3 first came out I played with them until I think 2006. After that, I kind of grew out of them, so my mom took them to the daycare she worked at, where they got absolutely no attention! 

Flash forward a few years, where they continued to sit in a bucket on a shelf, not being played with. Well that was good for me because nobody would mind me taking them back when i got interested in ponies again!  So I still have most of my originals except for a playset or two and a couple of ponies that got sent to goodwill sometime in the middle of all of this.

Then I started looking at ebay lots and foraging through buckets in garage sales, and pretty soon my eight original ponies were joined by a big herd! 

[PinkiePosh]

I kind of...never stopped. I was a collector as a kid and I have always been collecting.

[gemini_pony]

I only started collecting ponies as when G4 came out. When I was younger I only had like 2 ponies and a couple sea ponies. The adult ponies I picked up with my yard sale money and the sea ponies where the only ones I ever opened new.

[achab1984]

Well when the G3 ponies started to show up in the stores back in 2003! I had to have them all!! I got back into ponies big then! I collected all the way till the core seven came out. I stopped collecting cause they were to boring for me. I did not come back till later 2011. It took me a while to warm up to the G4 ponies. There are still some that I just cant find cute. But for the most part I collect them to. I also of course collect the G1 ponies that I grew up with as a child and G3 ponies. They make me very happy when I look at them every time I go downstairs

[kellyponyfeathers]

I never really stopped, though there have been pauses when I couldn't afford it.