Collecting taboos

I've been away in Florida for awhile, and while I didn't even get to go Pony shopping or anything fun like that, I did have an interesting conversation with a fellow collector. She showed me some pictures of her collection, which was small, but quite lovely.

When I showed her some pictures of recent purchases, she became quite irritated by the fact I had photographed fakies mingled together with regular MLPs. When I told her I mixed Ponies and fakies on my shelves as well she became almost livid. I quickly excused myself from the situation, but it left me amused and curious.

Do you have any collecting taboos? Will you only buys a certain Gen? Only buy mint? Only buy blue Ponies on the third Wednesday?

What are your collecting no-nos?

I don't mind other people keeping fakies or displaying them with MLP, or if a person wants to display their ponies with their Care Bear collection in their ponies backs even:LOL: it's your collection and you can display them as you please. Anything collected and cherished is sweet Having a case of OCD myself I can understand some people's want to keep gens togeter, or colour co-ordinating ect, ect, but it would not bother me if it wasn't my collection. Having all the ponies standing upright and all pretty and having one fallen over, now that would bother me hahahaha!
I'm not personaly fond of fakies, with exeption of a few. I have a G3 look alike fakie (my son's) that I love, and I like those made from the Hasbro moulds, but I think that is it
I like all gens, but I will never collect G2, I just dont like the look of them

I know in an earlier post I said I would not collect anything past G3 MLPs but... the last two days I have been to two different charity stores and I found a My Little Pony: Get Pretty, Beauty Set with mermaid Scootaloo and Cherrilee for $5 and it was still packaged with accessories in a pretty decent condition box.

Today I went to a charity shop hoping to find something and hidden amongst a pile of board games and soft toys was a McDonalds Rainbow Dash which is currently being sold in Happy Meals and I did not have this particular Rainbow Dash.

For me a collection is what makes you happy. Just recently I found a G3 "My first library" collection at another charity store. I bought it because it is another thing to add.

I don't think there is any taboos with it. Many fakies are said to be from old MLP moulds anyway.

Lemontea said:

I don't think there is any taboos with it. Many fakies are said to be from old MLP moulds anyway.

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It's like fakies are MLP's illegitimate children.

I don't have any pony no-nos myself. Though I'm sure I "break" some. Right now there is a tiny figure of the female Muto from the new Godzilla movie (my boyfriend collects those blind bags and gave me the extra) just chilling with my Funko Minis. All of my gens are mixed about. Sometimes I display some ponies more dominantly then others.

My collection is my collection, so I can display it however I want. And if anyone gets snooty about it, that's their problem. So Poo-poo~

Any no-nos? If it's not fun, it's a no. But that's hard to come by with mlp ;-)

My only no-no that I can think of it to NOT COLLECT ANYTHING ELSE! OMG, it's so hard! Especially since in my etsy store I sell 80-90s toys and I want to keep them! I can't remember dates, times, or places, but I can remember just about every toy from my childhood (even if I didn't own them) and they all have sentimental value. SHEESH!

I promised myself I would only display MLP but I'm seriously considering mixing in my modest collection of other toys... and Disney toddler dolls. :LOL:

I agree with its your ponies you can do whatever you would like with them. I like fakies I have some G1 types. When I display I don't have alot of room so it is usually the G1s I like to display. I think every collection has purists like that. :rollingeyes:
I have a hard time saying no also to other collections. I have a strawberry shortcake collection but its nothing big. I also found out I have small collections of other things. I think it just is a part of who I am. I guess the ponies are the biggest of what I collect though.

Personally, I don't like or collect fakies. There are some G3 fakies that look pretty nice, but I don't like buying things that are imitation/knock-off/counterfeit. The quality is usually a lot lower than the official licensed products. If I did buy a fakie for whatever reason, I definitely wouldn't display it with my other ponies, unless it really didn't look out of place (i.e. if it wasn't that obviously a fakie).

I only collect G4s at the moment, but one day I'd like to also get G1s, G2s, and a handful of G3s. Then I'll display them by generation. I'm far too orderly to be able to display them all together when I have a lot of each. I categorize my boyfriend's games by platform and then alphabetize each category, and generally they're kept in separate places. It doesn't work too well to have PS3 games with DS games on the same shelf due to the size and shape difference; it looks disjointed. I think I'd feel the same way with ponies – G4s would get drowned out by the larger G1s and G3s if they were displayed together.

Lately I've been desperately wanting to start collecting Zelfs too, but I'm trying to finish off one collection at a time. If I do get Zelfs, they'll probably be displayed near my G4s, though I don't know if I'd display them together. It may look really cute to have them together, but as the two series don't have anything to do with each other, I don't know if I'd be comfortable mixing the two collections. If I ever get Sylvanian families, though, then maybe I could tolerate mixing those... they have a size and body shape that are similar to each other.

I've got a couple of Bratzillaz at the moment that are just lying around, and I don't know what to do with them. I'm not planning on collecting more of them (though I don't know if that'll ever change in future), and their size makes them stand out too much from my old Barbies. I think if I ever get a couple of Monster High dolls then I may display them together, as their size is similar even if their shape isn't. But I'm not really planning on doing that either, as they're very expensive. Thus, only time will tell what happens with my doll collecting.

Everything I've said is, of course, my personal opinion. I have been clinically diagnosed with OCD, so I have my own concept of "order", and the things I do typically only make sense to me. I do things according to how they make me feel. But I definitely don't have any problem with other people displaying their collections in any way they feel like it! If you have a lot of stuff, then it's entirely your decision how you want to display it. Ponies categorized or mixed together, separate from other collections or alongside, anything can work. If it looks fine to you and it makes you happy, then there's nothing wrong with it. Nobody else can tell you what to do with your collection.

Except if you keep that collection in a box. Then you seriously need to make some room to display it! Why collect things at all if they're only going to lie around in a box or a bag, never to be seen by anyone – even you?

Geez, what set off that lady you were talking with? I don't collect fakies, and only collect G1's, G2's, and G3 exclusives, but I don't see why my collecting habits or Aadra's or yours (collective) are of any concern to anyone else. Displaying fakies doesn't make her collection any less awesome or sentimental or valuable.

My only real "taboo" is displaying my childhood collection with my adult collection. I won't do it. My childhood girls are stored separately and compared to my display pieces look super-baity. But I love them!

When I started out I told myself that spending more than $15 on a single pony was off-limits. Let's just say I now own 3 European-exclusive ponies and most of my trimmed wishlist now is comprised of rare-ish/htf ones, and you can see how well that went.

Other than that, I don't think I have any no-nos, so to speak. The thing is, ponies are just one of the things I collect. Other collections/hobbies I have include videogames (mostly the PS1 era), DVDs, Barbies, misc. action figures, and I just recently got a BJD, so my collections are carefully selected for the most part, since I don't have the money or room to sustain a large collection. And even then, sometimes I'll just flip out and get one extra pony I didn't even have on my wishlist because I never noticed she looked so cute and everybody loves combined shipping amirite hehehehehehehe

...Ahem. Hm, correction, I guess there are only two things I really don't do.
One is buy fakies. Mostly because I like My Little Pony, the brand, for being, well, My Little Pony. Fakies aren't actually MLPs by definition, so yeah.
Another is buying doubles. Kind of a non-problem since I don't usually buy lots, but I don't like having clutter around the house, and selling is a problem because shipping internationally from my country is normally crazy expensive (or at least it was, last I checked).

Other than that, I don't think I have any taboos regarding ponies. =p

Skeen said:

Geez, what set off that lady you were talking with? I don't collect fakies, and only collect G1's, G2's, and G3 exclusives, but I don't see why my collecting habits or Aadra's or yours (collective) are of any concern to anyone else. Displaying fakies doesn't make her collection any less awesome or sentimental or valuable.

My only real "taboo" is displaying my childhood collection with my adult collection. I won't do it. My childhood girls are stored separately and compared to my display pieces look super-baity. But I love them!

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Y'know, I found her response so vehemently inappropriate to the situation at hand that i sorta just made my excuses and fled as politely as possible. I'm still scratching my head as to exactly what her malfunction was. She seemed rather down to earth and friendly before that.

I guess her Pony collection is serious business.

I do something very similar to you. My sentimental Ponies, those received as gifts and whatnot, are separate from my collection. Some of them are very homely, but I dearly love them. Some I love simply because they are so homely!

Lovin' all these responses. We Pony collectors are really a varied and unique group!

Because people who create taboos for collecting a child's toy take themselves too seriously~

...imo

Wow, what was that ladies problem? Its your collection, you can do with it as you please. I don't have any taboos myself. I personally won't collect G4s or buy any single equine goody over a certain price but that's a personal choice of mine and some of those fakies are awfully cute. I'd love to see your collection if you've got a link for it?

Leave a Whisper said:

Wow, what was that ladies problem? Its your collection, you can do with it as you please. I don't have any taboos myself. I personally won't collect G4s or buy any single equine goody over a certain price but that's a personal choice of mine and some of those fakies are awfully cute. I'd love to see your collection if you've got a link for it?

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I hate to admit it, my collection is in boxes and corners all over the house! Poor little Ponies have no stable of their own, and I have no idea where they're going to end up! I'll probably have to put them i my studio eventually. It's the only place with room for more shelves.

I do have some pics I'm taking of all the Ponies i bought on a trip, I'll be posting those tomorrow!

evilbunnyfoofoo said:

I hate to admit it, my collection is in boxes and corners all over the house! Poor little Ponies have no stable of their own, and I have no idea where they're going to end up! I'll probably have to put them i my studio eventually. It's the only place with room for more shelves.

I do have some pics I'm taking of all the Ponies i bought on a trip, I'll be posting those tomorrow!

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looking forward to it then. ^_^

Rehaired ponies. I'd rather buy a pony with cut hair, 'cause I prefer it as original as possible. Don't get me wrong, I love restored ponies! I think it's awesome when people do that, and I do that myself too. But I won't count a rehaired pony in my collection as having said pony, but rather a custom.

Other than that I'm very open to anything. Missing paint, pen marks, cut hair, missing limbs. I buy any pony pretty much, but I just upgrade them later. I often feel like 'If I don't buy this pony, who will?' XD

I think it should be taboo to "deflock" So Soft ponies, they are meant to be that way!

Tiffany said:

I think it should be taboo to "deflock" So Soft ponies, they are meant to be that way!

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If the flocking is in good condition, I agree that it should be left alone. If it's a complete mess, though? I'm not so sure.

I think I have a taboo against calling a pony that mostly just needs a good cleaning "bait", which a lot of ebay sellers seem to do.

PurplePowder said:

If the flocking is in good condition, I agree that it should be left alone. If it's a complete mess, though? I'm not so sure.

I think I have a taboo against calling a pony that mostly just needs a good cleaning "bait", which a lot of ebay sellers seem to do.

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Ah, but perhaps your not looking on the bright side of the nicer baits. They're practically a steal!

I would have asked, out of curiosity, what other things that lady happened to collect. While fakies might not be a big deal in the MLP universe there are plenty of collections where fakes are a traumatic bane among the community.

For me, it's my collection in MY house. I'm not collecting in the hopes of hitting it big (investment) by reselling and I'm not collecting in the hopes of seeing this collection in a museum one day. The only person that needs to be pleased with the aesthetics are the people exposed to it daily, that would be ME.

I am also of CannibalCow's mold. I do prefer a pony to be as close to its original condition (cut hair vs reroot) but I do appreciate a custom… I just don't like to see those lines blurred. But they can stand next to each other on a shelf. I also tend to be sentimental, and have a 5 year old mentality. ":cry2:OMG she will feel unloved and rejected if I don't give her a nice home!"

If you can't have a childlike happy disposition about collecting… then maaaaybe MLP is just not the collection for you.