Pony mail!

I was really jonesing to buy some ponies this past weekend and I'd just gotten paid for some art commissions, so I made a couple purchases on eBay.  (I know, but I still do a lot of my pony shopping on the 'Bay just because it's easy)  My G1s came yesterday and G3s today.  Super fast, I'm so thrilled.  I forgot what it's like to get lots of pony mail; I don't usually buy so many at once these days!

I've had the lavender star-symbol Baby Ember for many years now, but never got around to the rest of her doppelgangers.  After cruising eBay for a while and not really deciding on any G1s to buy, I eventually found these three in a lot together!  Not super-high on my list of desired ponies but definitely a collecting goal that I can scratch off, nonetheless!  

I'm officially out of room in my G1 nursery though, so maybe I shouldn't buy any babies til I get my new shelves this summer...

The G3s were all from the same seller.  I wasn't gonna get this many G3s during this shopping binge, but the combined shipping sweetened the deal so I grabbed these three girls!  

Sweetberry is another pony that I don't specifically love, but she's the only one of the original G3 cast of eight that I was still lacking.  So, again, I was able to mark off a collecting goal.  And tbh that feels as good as getting a beloved pony.  

Starswirl is to replace mine which has gone missing.  I haven't been able to find her anywhere and I have no idea where she could be.  I don't think I would've sold her or given her away, always loved her. D:  So I just got a new one.  

And omg I've wanted Darling Dahlia since she was released but she was too expensive second-hand back ten years ago.  She's been high on my want list since that time, so it's amazing to have her in my hands, finally!

They all need a bit of TLC on their hair.  I don't buy dirty ponies anymore because I've become too lazy in my old age to do full washings and tackle restoring.  Their hair is all in great condition, it's just a bit messy and tangled.  Quick shampoo/condition and comb-through and they'll be gorgeous.  Pink Ember does have some gray smudges on her nose that didn't show up in the photos and weren't mentioned, but hopefully they'll come off.  If not, I just won't take macro shots of her face *shrug*  not that I take many photos anymore...

I NEED TO USE THIS BLOG MORE I KNOW but I do go through phases where I'm in a collecting mindset more than others.  I see my ponies every day, think about my collection, but only update this blog and buy ponies in rushes a few times a year. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Collection!

Here's everyone!  Sorry about the Instagram shot, I really will have to unpack the fancy camera soon here. :p

My collection.. actually.. seems very small to me displayed this way.  

I have the G1s two rows deep with risers, since they won't all comfortably fit in a single row.  And I'm going to need to do my G3s two rows deep as well!  I don't like how they look on top of the shelf like this (I'd rather put my few small plushes and large accessories/playsets up there - things I don't mind gathering more dust!)  I don't want to display them much lower on the bookshelf though, because the cat will play with them.

So.  Eventually we'll get another bookshelf like this.  I'm not actually liking the glass-front hutch for ponies these days, it's not as bright as I'd like.  Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy having all of my collection together again* but I'm really dissatisfied with the display at present.

I'm liking this setup though:

Not crazy about the G2s in the castle windows, though.  I like my collection displayed in rows, lined up, shelves looking full.  Like a "proper collection".  I'm not a fan of the more organic/natural look for pony displays, where they're all like in little scenes and such.  It's cute for photos but I like whne collections look like collections.

Once I move some things around I think the G2s (and two G4s) will have a nicer, cleaner display.

** I DONT KNOW WHERE MY SEAPONIES ARE.  I only have two, but one is Celebrate with all of her accessories and she wasn't with my pony bins at my mom's house.  I'm really mad about it - she was minty and with all her accessories and I got her for a good price!  I have no clue where she is.

New home for my G1s.

 

Apologies for the sad phone picture, but I finally have most of my G1s in their new home!  

There's quite a few missing.  Namely my Year Ones (Cotton Candy, Minty, and the other collector ponies) as well as most of my Year Twos (Applejack, Firefly, Majesty, etc).  When I grabbed my G1s from my parents' place last August, I noticed that the first half of the top row was developing some mold (this kind).  I think it started from FF Butterscotch but it went down to Majesty! (they were lined up more-or-less in order of release)  So they're still in baggies, probably a dozen ponies.  I need to research how to take care of it; I've used bleachwater in the past but half of them have glitter symbols. T___T

I'm also missing about a half-dozen or so that were on display at our old place (these guys were all at my parents') and are still in a box somewhere... I forget where I packed them. ;__;  When I do get them unpacked I'll probably have to find a new spot for the Sunny Daze shrine (and put the two other G3s I have here with it)

I have a fair bit more Sunny Daze merch, but in August I finally got the fifth release of her, so I have each of her brushable releases!  It's taken me enough years.

It's nice to have almost all of them all out, finally, though.  Now I can hopefully get around to grooming them; they looked good before but they've been in storage for six months or so and their hair's all flat and sad LOFTY'S FACTORY CURLS  /mourns softly  Seriously though, I think I'll feel better when I get everyone together.  I can really feel the incompleteness. :P

G3 wish list

The exact ponies pictured are the ones that I want.  I want some ponies in a particular pose/release!  (images are from StrawberryReef.com)

Completionists.

completed set of Dazzle Bright ponies (2005)

I'm not really a completionist when it comes to my collection.  While some people collect with the intent to acquire all the ponies in a set, just as many people cherry pick their favorites from here and there with no real rhyme or reason to their selection.  "Why collect an entire set when you don't even love them all?" they ask.  And I mean, it's a fair question.  Why waste money acquiring ponies that you think are ugly, just to get the whole set?

There's a lot of discussion about what makes a collector's mind tick.  Do people with certain traits tend to be collectors of things?  Personalities?  Situations?  Is it a hoarding behavior, is it just the good feeling of getting stuff (not dissimilar to "retail therapy")?  Giving in too much to nostalgia?

As a collector of something, there's often a certain satisfaction in the act of acquiring itself.  Sure, at the end of the day, the ponies on the shelf are your reward, they're what really makes you happy.  But the hunt is a big part of it too.  There's a major satisfaction in saying, "Well, I have them all now."  It's very nearly impossible to collect ALL the ponies!, especially so for most collectors.  So we go by sets.  I have all the first and second set of Rainbow ponies.  I have all the Flutter ponies.  Maybe even better than the feeling of owning those ponies is the anticipation when you just need two more, just one more, and when you get your hands on the last one.

And see, that's okay.  I'm not knocking that.  At all.  There's nothing wrong with that (unless of course you're going broke because you want to collect every So-Soft in mint condition before Christmas).  It's one of the joys of collecting.

When the G3s were coming out, I was collecting them as they hit the shelves.  But I missed a few, especially early on.  I missed about half of the first eight main characters in 2003.  I don't even like Wysteria all that much, but I really had to have her to complete that set.  I still need Sweetberry, I think she's the last one, and I don't like her at all.  But I just can't shake the feeling of needing all eight together.  The feeling that they need to be reunited (let's face it, I personify my ponies way too much).

I made sure to get the entire Dazzle Bright set pictured above.  I had three, I might as well get all six, I reasoned.  It irked me to have the set half-finished.  So I got the last three, and I felt good for a while.  Then I noticed just how many G3s I was amassing.  And I started weeding out a couple to get rid of.  I don't like Ribbon Wishes but I kept her.  I couldn't break up the set!  I got rid of a few more, some that I liked a little more than Ribbon Wishes, even, but I kept her with her sisters.

Bleh.

About a year after I first considered getting rid of her, I finally did.  And... it was hard.  And I don't even like her.  But that stupid collector's brain kept nagging me.  To shut it up, I also got rid of Beachberry and Coconut Cream, both of whom I kinda like.  (actually Beachberry's still in the outbox and I keep considering putting her back on the shelf, I can't decide if I wanna keep her or not!)  And the nagging need to keep the set together slowly subsided.

Then there's sets where I have one pony from it, or two or three, and I don't think twice about it.  I'm not sure why I feel committed to completing some sets and not others.  I don't like Star Hopper but dammit I have to get both variations of her or I'll never die happy, you know? (it's those sparkle ponies, they're addictive)

I still feel good when I look at that group picture up there, though.  Something about having complete sets makes me ~feel like a real collector~ as if that's even a thing.  I feel... competent?  Dedicated?  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it feels good.  And I still regret getting rid of them at times.  Not a lot, just enough to make me sigh and pout for a few seconds before I get over it.

Sunny Daze - beautiful cosplay!

Today I can't get over this "everyday"-style cosplay of Sunny Daze by the german cosplayer Canary.  I absolutely adore renditions of ponies (or any other non-human characters) that are simple and everyday, yet still honor the character.  It's really cool to see some love for the G3 line, which seems to have been forgotten between the fervor for FiM/G4 and the insistent nostalgia for G1.

And of course, Sunny's my favorite G3.

I wish the wig had more vibrant colors, but I know from experience that it's hard to get a good, strong color when you're dying wigs!  My favorite little detail is her nail polish colors.

My favorite photos under the cut.

Kimono

I've wanted Kimono since I started collecting.  But I missed out on all the first main eight ponies except for Sunny Daze when they first came out.  I wasn't seriously considering collecting yet and by the time I was, these guys weren't on the shelves anymore.  Kimono got released once or twice during the G3 run, but never in her proper pose.

By the time I really looked into getting the first main eight, Kimono was going for well over $10.  It might even have been more, my memory's getting fuzzy in my old age.  And I couldn't justify it.  Well, I just got ahold of her from another collector for $4.  Even the once-popular G3s have gone way down in value :\  But to my benefit, I suppose!  I wish I'd looked into acquiring her sooner.

While the G3s aren't my collecting focus right now ("right now" being the last few years and onward), they're also rather cheap at the moment.  Everyone's either into FiM or nostalgia-bombing on G1, so G3's gotten a bit forgotten in the fandom these days.  They're going for so little since all the collectors got them as they hit the shelves.  I have a lot that I want to unload, thinning the G3 herd and all, but I'm happy to use them as trade bait or just to sell very cheap to friends.

But anyway, Kimono. 

I don't even like purple very much.  But there's something gorgeous about Kimono.  Her pose is one of my favorites in the G3 line.  I do like purple and yellow together.  The particular shade of her mane is a purple that I do rather like.  And her green eyes are such a nice touch, such a great pop of a new color in there, that she's just overall very beautiful and simple.  I dig that in a pony.

Now I believe the only pony from the first main eight that I still need is Sweetberry.