Nostalgia Time. What got you into ponies? (Or back into ponies)

[icecreamgirl]

I was about 9 or 10 when G1 were first released. I fell in love with them straight away and my first pony was Bluebelle. I collected for a few years but then grew out of them so to speak as I went through my teens.

My childhood ponies got stored in the loft and it was only 2 and a half years ago that my Mum cleaned out her loft and they were found again! That was it as soon as I saw them again I was bitten by the bug. I started researching on the internet and couldn't believe all the amazing ponies I missed out on over the years! I just had to start collecting again and have added G3 and G4 to my collection!

[Freeindeed]

I've been in and out of the community for years... I still remember before there was an Arena, and everyone congregated on either the MLPTP or alt.toys.my-little-pony. Also, the ponypeople mailing list. Now I'm really dating myself.

I grew up with the G1's, and they were some of my favorite toys back in the day. I remember being horrified the first time I saw G2's, but then they grew on me. Sometime in the late 90's I went on eBay and discovered that there were old My Little Ponies for sale, and that was it for me. Man, those were the days... there was only maybe 5-10 pages of ponies, but at the time it was super impressive. Most listings didn't even have pictures, just descriptions, so you never quite knew what you were going to get. And Paypal didn't exist yet, so you had to pay via check or money order.

Also, G1's were EVERYWHERE at the flea markets and thrift stores! I would come home with bags of them every weekend, and trade the extras online. People don't seem to trade much anymore, but ah well.

I miss those days...

[Elfpony]

I started in the early days too, first pony was  Cotton Candy. Collected and played with them all through childhood, I had close to 70 ponies and most of the play sets. Stupidly, I gave most of my stuff away when I was 13 and regretted it almost immediately.

Then in university, in 1997, I saw G2s for the first time in store. They immediately rekindled my love of MLP. Shortly thereafter I found the Dream Valley website, and then eBay. I've been non-stop into ponies since then, although it took me until the G3 era to join the boards online.

Elf

[Miniature Sheep]

I originally got into ponies during my childhood when my (totally awesome) aunt handed down her G1s to me, and I stuck with them up until the end of G3. Unfortunately, my dad gave away all of my G1s and I only have a couple of the G3s left, as I had to get rid of a lot of stuff a while back. What got me back into ponies was when my dad and I busted open an old wardrobe that had a lot of my childhood toys in it a few years ago. I was hoping that my G1s would be in there, but evidently they weren't; that put me on a mission to replace my old favourites. In the process of doing that, I remembered just how happy ponies made me during my childhood and that happiness came back with flying colours, so I decided to roll with it and here I am, still buzzing about ponies!

[hathorcat]

I actually dont know what started the need to collect. One day I just wanted to find my childhood ponies and when I couldnt I set to the world of online to replace them...never looked back since But as to that initial trigger absolutely no idea!

[BethyVic]

I was born in 1984, and had five ponies by the age of 5.  Unfortunately, they must have been given away at some point as I got older.  When I was 17, I found a pink sweatshirt at Hot Topic, featuring the six original G1 ponies, as well as little pink ears on the hood.  When I would wear it, I would think about those old ponies and wonder if anyone still had ponies around.  I searched online and found the MLPTP as well as ponies on ebay.  I bought Blossom and Cotton Candy first, and in the past 14 years, I have added about 400 more to the collection and enjoyed the MLP community that has played such a great part of my life. 

[miss_skaife]

I had ponies as a kid in the 80s. However I only started collecting when the G3's were released, I was excited when I found out they were going to make them again and I wanted to start buying them for if I had a little girl one day. The day they were due to hit the toy shops I was there, but as lovely as they were they were not what I was expecting .... I was a bit disappointed (but bought them anyway). that night my husband (perhaps stupidly) mentioned that maybe I could get the original ones (G1s) on eBay.... I could. I now have a collection of over 400 ponies with a goal of collecting the entire G1 US UK and Australia releases.