thinking back on my life...

[SpookyTrees]

I was born at the perfect time I think - MLP was the toy of choice. The idea of a doll like toy that was an animal appealed to my parents and me, I guess. They were very much the toy of my childhood. I am fortunate in timing more than anything else.

But I dont think it matters too much when you start collecting or loving MLP As long as we come to the right "pony" side eventually.

This. If you were born mid-70's then you were old enough for MLP to really become a big focus. We didn't have VCR's, we didn't have a lot of TV, we had very little exposure to things via any sort of media. Just what looked appealing on the toy shelves of your local stores. My daughters asked me who my fave princess was growing up. Well, none actually, because I didn't have access to the movies, the folks weren't a big thing back then, etc.

Oh and my first movie was in 1981, for my 7th Birthday, we rented a Laser Disc and The Black Stallion (my choice) - if that shows you where my interests lay

So yes I was pony MAD I won't lie. And I'm so happy I grew up alongside G1.

[mlp4me]

I missed the beginning of the rise to fame, but still had a small herd in the late 80's. They've always been around...

[lela]

Well, I grew up in generation 3, so my fixation for them, I think the g1 cute, yes, but I'm thinking coldly and go to the G4, has some that please me much, but I remember that when I was a child, not played a lot, read a lot, which children aged 5 years read? Cinderella, Snow White? I do not, read chronicles, biographies and even, research on the second world war, I was always fascinated by the words, and never cared about toys, until, in the purchase of children's day gifts, I saw, so gleaming in shelf as a diamond in a lonely, so beautiful as the sunrise, she, the desert blossom, fell in love madly, but guess, my father gave me a karaoke, and to this day I can not sing, then I always nourish this " wound "until my husband buy it for me, ha two years ago, was one of the happiest days of my life, and from that day, the feeling of receiving a pony at home and almost as addictive, so collect g3,

[Artemesia's Garden]

I had the Grooming Parlour but somehow my pony was Cotton Candy and my sister got Peachy, who is still my favorite. Then she also got the Show Stable and Lemondrop and a lot of other ponies as well! For some reason I never seemed to get many new toys and I don't remember ever opening a new My Little Pony. I got a bear that looked like Booboo as in Yogi Bear, but I called it Yogi, and I also got a Care bear that I didn't like much, it was called Friend Bear but I didn't have any and this bear didn't do much to make up for it  So I think my childhood of always seeming to get hand-me-downs has made me an avid collector and restorer, so if I can't open new G1 ponies at least I can have as many as I want and make them look like new.  I am so happy about G4 and how good the cartoons are and I genuinely do love the G4 brushables, at least the small ones anyway.  I also love how it has increased the community and made MLP a living breathing thing for me to go and find out about rather than just memories.

[Jinxxy]

I didn't get into mlp until I was 14-15 (I'm 28 now)
I was a major tomboy growing up... aside from KittyKittyKittens and Grand Champions everything I had had wheels or teeth.
I had two fakies as a kid...but they weren't my favorites.

It wasn't till MLP when I started getting in touch with my girly side...
I was given 5 G1's when I was 15... a bit later when G3 came ali g I got really into ponies, and have been hooked since!

[Shimmer Mist]

When I was a kid I played with a variety of toys but I loved my animal figures most. My "horsey" toys were at the top of my list but I didn't really differentiate that much. I just lumped my model horses, MLPs and fakies into the "horse toy" group.

[Sandi]

I liked MLP as a kid and had a few G1s and G2s. I also watched the G1 movies/episodes and played the G2 PC game. They weren't my favorite toys though. I liked Pokémon, Digimon, plushies and realistic animal figures more than I liked MLP. I like MLP more now, as an adult, than I did as a child. So nostalgia is not the main reason why I collect, I just really like the look of them, especially G1s and G2s.

[Esbayne]

Ponies have been the only girly thing I've ever been into. For me as a kid it was always cars, dinosaurs, dragons, and animals. Never got into all the war games other little boys were into though.
But for some reason ponies always kind of grabbed my attention. Well, maybe mermaids too for whatever reason.

[Shenanigans]

I was born in 84 so by the time I was old enough to really get into ponies, it was ending! The only ponies I remember being in stores were the Sippin' Soda ones. I have lots of fond memories of going to the flea market and finding used ones though They were a huge part of my childhood and one of my very favorite toys

[ghouldilocks]

I was born in 84 so by the time I was old enough to really get into ponies, it was ending! The only ponies I remember being in stores were the Sippin' Soda ones. I have lots of fond memories of going to the flea market and finding used ones though They were a huge part of my childhood and one of my very favorite toys

I wouldn't say it was "ending" by that time. I was born in '85 and MLP was the major thing I enjoyed playing with as a kid! It was always either MLP, TMNT, or make-believe play. I don't remember G2 in stores, though, but when I was in middle school, I was more into Powerpuff Girls and Beanie Babies than MLP. It wasn't until G3 was pretty well established that I started noticing them again and getting back into collecting as an adult.

[Iris Patch]

You're not alone! I had maybe three ponies as a kid and I wasn't super attached to them. I was more interested in Beast Wars transformers and dinosaurs. So loving ponies like I do now was surprising at first. xD

[LadyMoondancer]

I was WAY into MLP as a kid.  It was the only "girls toy" I was really into.  I didn't like Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, or Rainbow Brite, but I loved horses and I was nuts about those pastel ponies with the brushable manes!

[kaoskat]

I was around for G1. I was a total tomboy. And I loved MLP. I got my first when I was 3, the year they came out, and I've adored them ever since.

[moonsugar]

Oh yeah, I was such a tomboy I rejected anything and everything pink on principal when I was a kid. Ponies were an absolute no-no! I only ever remember G3 ponies on the peripheral though, Barbie was my biggest enemy lol.

But midway through Art College, when G4 started, I realised I was being stupid and I should allow myself to like pink and ponies and whatever else! Being girly wasn't a bad thing, society's views of gender are just messed up.

This! Exactly this.