Why do you collect toys?

[Esbayne]

Yannow what, my story's actually almost the exact same as yours.

I LOVED toys as a kid.
I was an only child almost my whole life, had a step sister for a few years but we rarely played together if she was even here (all she did was watch TV), so I grew up playing by myself or with my one best friend. I always only had one friend as a kid.
My toys were my friends, I made sure they all felt loved, I took them everywhere (they'd go in rotations so no one would feel left out, lmao) etc. I just loved toys.
When I hit middle school I still played until I hit 7th grade, then I decided I was "too old" and "too cool" for toys. It was really stupid. Sold off a lot of em, kept all my favourites I couldn't imagine getting rid of. Fave stuffed animals, all my ponies, a lot of other stuff. A few stuffies got mixed into the sell pile that I miss a crapload, but can't replace cause it'd never be the same. There's like three of those I miss dearly.
They stayed boxed up for a LONG time. For the most part I was mostly self conscious about the ponies than anything.

Then I hit my junior year in highschool and decided... I don't give the slightest crap at all. Who cares, it's my room, my time, my life, who else should get a say?

I moved on from collecting ponies and am now and avid Monster High fan along with other dolls (even though just like you, as a kid all toys that were girly aside from ponies were "eww gross" lmao), but I still have them all. They're currently on the other side of the US in Kentucky, lol, but I have them. 200 or so of G1-G4, my aunt's ponies are all the G1 so I love the mix of generations and all the love they've seen.

I live with my best friend now, my room is mostly music, horror/fantasy/whatever else books and movies, comic books, lot of mythology stuff, rock and metal and other genres of music stuff, etc. But it's also FULL of toys. Funko pops, I have some Sulvanians, action figures, little vinyl figurines, stuffed animals, model dragons, and a huge shelf of all my dolls. (Which is always the "fan fave" anytime anyone comes over, everyone always wants to look at the dolls lmao. I find it flattering.)

I had a ton of fun in my younger years when I was "too cool for toys," but I have more fun these days. It's pretty easy to juggle being an adult and having a fun, more childish side I guess.
I dunno what the point of this was but I guess what you can from it is, you do you, literally do whatever you want and have fun doing it, take crap from no one.
Honestly, I was SO scared what my friend would think of my toys before they found out, but all I get is compliments about them! Especially the dolls, like I said, they're always a fan favourite and everyone loves to come in here and look at them, except for the Living Dead Dolls which people tend to not like as much, lol.

[DazzleKitty]

Everyone has all these long posts but mine's going to be sweet and simple.... they are colorful, cool, cute, and full of variety. And just plain fun.