Happy Hearth's Warming Eve

The four princesses of Equestria are hosting a Hearth's Warming Eve party in Canterlot tonight!

All the ponies of Equestria are invited, and they're beginning to arrive at the castle. The princesses have been busy preparing everything, and of course the friends of the Princess of Friendship have been lending a hoof.

"Oooooh, cookies!  Cakes!  PIE!" Pinkie Pie might be a bit excited about tonight's party.  "Uh, Pinkie, try not to eat everything before the party gets started."

"Howdy, Muffins.  Thanks for helping out.  Now, uh, just don't touch anything else, ok?"

Princess Twilight Sparkle is currently entertaining the fillies who've already arrived, reading them the story of Hearth's Warming Eve while they wait for the party to officially get under way.

Spike is helping out by directing all the newcomers up the stairs into the main hall.  That's where all the gifts that everypony has brought are being displayed.  Later on, they will all open a gift that was brought by one of their friends.

Up in the main hall Princess Cadence and Shining Armour are greeting all the ponies arriving at the party.

Down in the courtyard, Lyra is tuning up the piano and getting ready to lead the carol signing.  She's already got a few eager listeners.

Fluttershy has had only one job all day: keep Discord out of trouble.  Looks like she's succeeded, although Discord has an interesting take on dressing up for the holidays.

"I believe that now we are ready to receive, all the Little Ponies for Hearth's Warming Eve!"

It seems like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna agree with Zecora.  They're just about ready to officially open the festivities.

Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, everypony!

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So this year's display ended up being a G4 celebration.  I was originally intending to focus on the G2s this year, since I finally got the G2 castle this summer, but Yule came early and how could I resist playing with my new, giant Canterlot castle?  (Also, it's about an inch too tall for the space I had planned for it, so it looks like it will be living on the display table for awhile).

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season full of family, friends, and ponies.  I will be back in the new year with new custom ponies to show off.

Elf

Pony Census!

Last week I was struck with a sudden urge to count my ponies.  It's been sometime over a year (maybe two) since I last did a headcount, and I was curious to see how many ponies I was up to.

The herd in 2013 - 544 ponies

The count below includes only brushable ponies.  Not included are other figurines (Funko POP, Blind Bags, etc.), differently-sized ponies (My Pretty Pony, fashion sized, etc.) or other pony-shaped merchandise (plushies, customs, etc.)  So how does the herd shape up?

Generation One
Total count: 304
Of those, 113 are babies. 41 are Nirvana / European ponies.
The G1s have been, and always will be, my favourites.  They are the ponies I grew up with, and I have a lot of good memories of family and friends associated with them.  I will always be sad that I don't have my childhood ponies, but I enjoy collecting them now, as well as G1s I never knew existed before the internet.  I'm looking forward to finishing cleaning them all and having them displayed in family groups again.

Generation Two
Total count: 32
Of those, 8 are babies.
The G2s are by far the smallest group, not because they are the least favourite but because they are rather difficult to come by on this side of the pond.  Also, the sheer number of re-released characters in this gen means that I'll never have a large G2 herd.  I've been lucky enough to pick up several that were complete with their accessories, so I've gotten somewhat spoiled by that, and now am trying to hold off on some purchases in order to do the same again.

Generation Three
Total count: 268
Of those, 24 are babies.
I remember a time when G3 was the largest portion of my collection.  Being a gainfully-employed adult when these were in stores made collecting nearly all of them relatively easy.  There are only a few left on my want list, so this number isn't likely to change much.  Actually, I've been trying to figure out if I can move these into the closet portion of the Geek Cave, seeing as I know exactly how much space I need for them.  I'm not sure if it's practical, but I keep considering it.  Maybe someday when I have a week of free time and nothing better to do with it.

Generation Four
Total count: 63 (not counting several that are waiting to be un-boxed)
Of those, 7 are fillies.
I'm really enjoying the G4 line currently, in spite of the numerous Mane 6 re-releases.  Actually, I'm somewhat glad of them, as it usually means there are only one or two new characters per wave that I need to hunt down (and spend money on...and find room for).  However, this also lead to the beginning of my Pony Army habit, as it proved to be impossible to chose between Princess Twilight Sparkle figures and keep only one.

Grand Total
667 Ponies!
Goodness, that escalated significantly in the last couple of years.  I had sort of thought I was close to 600, not well past it.  Well, I've always said I could keep track of which ponies I had, not necessarily how many I had!

Elf

Happy Halloween from Ponyville

I`ve been wanting to set up a Halloween display for ages now, but time always seems to get away from me.  Not this year!

Every year the Apple Family throws a Halloween party to celebrate the end of the harvest.  Everypony is invited, and everypony looks forward to dressing up for the occasion.

The Apples have hired Fluttershy to make sure all the best moments of the party are captured on film.  And the party is already hopping.

The dance floor is full.

The (not very mysterious) caterers have outdone themselves this year, with all manner of pies, treats, and anything else you could want for a Halloween party.  Of course, there`s plenty of candy for the baby ponies (and several of the older ponies with a sweet tooth).

Midnight Dream is telling fortunes, reading hooves, and entertaining everypony.

The Princess Costume contest is well underway (Some years it seems like everyone is a princess!)  Sunrise, dressed as Prince Charming, will choose the winner.  It might be his girlfriend, Green Apple.

Applejack is running the bobbing for apples contest, while talking like a pirate.  Pumpkin Tart is up first, but lots of other ponies are waiting for their chance.

The party will be going for quite awhile yet.  Later, after the babies have gone to bed, the bravest ponies will stay up for a classic horror movie marathon.  First on the line-up is The Horse on Haunted Hill.  Good luck getting to sleep tonight, ponies!

Happy Halloween!

Elf

Let's talk Customs!

I'll be joining the cast of MLP Talks this coming Wednesday for an interview on customizing!  We'll be discussing everything from the basics of customizing to some deep questions about how the customizer fits into the wider MLP Collector community.  Please listen in if you can!  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/my-little-pony-talk

 I've also decided to slow down updates on my blog.  This is partially due to my own busy schedule lately, and partially because (as is often the case) I've been working mainly on commissions and gifts lately, which I'm unable to share on the blog until they're delivered.  I will aim to have updates posted approximately every two weeks (with some variation).

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Commissions: all 8 finished!
Rehair in progress: 1
Rehair in the queue: 3
Other customs: 2 in progress
Collection pictures uploaded: 0
Collection ponies cleaned: 0
Preparations on new display...pending

Restoration - BBE Sleepy Pie

I've had this BBE Sleepy Pie in my collection for several years now.  She's in near perfect condition with one exception: her symbols were nearly gone.  I've tried twice to upgrade her, but in both instances the new pony's condition was less than perfect.  Finally, I decided to repaint the symbols on my original Sleepy Pie instead.

There was enough of her original symbol left to use as an outline for the new symbols (in this case, the symbol was not so much faded as it had bled away into the plastic, leaving a pale pink aura around the original paint).  I aimed for a close colour match to the original, although mine is a bit darker.

Both symbols were repainted and sealed.  She seems a much happier pony now.

Elf

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Commissions: 7 done, 1 to go
Rehair in progress: 1
Rehair in the queue: 3
Other customs: 1 in progress
Collection pictures uploaded: 31
Collection ponies cleaned: 9

The New and Improved Geek Cave Part 2

Here's an updated look at the Cave now.  Not pictures is Roomy's section, where all the MOTU people have fallen over (I'm told they've had a little too much to drink).

 On the (mostly) vintage side of the room, the ponies have some more room to breathe now.  This is good both because I have less worry of colour transfer between ponies, but also because now I can see everyone better. 

 I've stared arranging the G1s into family units rather than store sets.   I like displaying them this way.  It makes the whole thing more interactive in my mind because it's like having little stories laid out on the shelf. 

 On the modern side of the room, the G3s are slowly getting more spaced out as well.  I'm also matching up the families here.

I gained some extra display space above, for a few things that don't really fit elsewhere.

 The G3s and G4s are sharing space in a slightly more organized way now.

And finally, the main G4 space, in the closet.  The G1 Plushies are hanging out near Twilight's castle until the next giant castle arrives.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Elf

The New and Improved Geek Cave Part 1

I call my Labour Day, pony-related staycation a great success!

Cute little German baby

First off, I send a thank you note through the blogosphere to my Roomy, for building all the new shelves.  We're very happy to have all the shelves white now, it both brightens up the room and shows off the ponies.

New CD rack shelving and 2 new shelves for the closet

I spent the better part of two days on the weekend re-arranging ponies and and pony-related things.  It was great.  Just the kind of break I needed after a busy summer.

Summer Berry

Partway through re-arranging things I decided I'd better do some cleaning as well.  The first part of the weekend wasn't too humid, so it was an excellent time for some pony bathing.

One of my favourite sets

I cleaned about 20 G1s and 20 G3s this weekend, and then photographed and cataloged them (and spent the better part of Monday waiting for pictures to upload to my Flickr account - damn our paltry upload speed!)

Playing with hairstyles

It was nice to get back into the swing of cataloging.  It's been one of my favourite collection-based activities in the past year, and it's fun to spend some time with each piece.

New wings

More next week!

Elf

Addicted to Collecting?

I'm putting off the 'big reveal' of the newly improved Geek Cave for a week due to another excellent article that appeared in IO9 last week, "Help, My Partner is Addicted to Collecting Toys and it's Freaking Me Out."

I do agree wholeheartedly with Rob Bricken's take on toy collecting, although I would also have liked to see more of a differentiation between collecting and hoarding (if, as I do, you consider there to be a wide difference between collecting and addiction).  But the general idea behind the article is more than sound.

I would also point out that the letter writer (naturally) gives us only one side of the story.  Much is implied: that the toy collection in question is cause for financial difficulties (is it really, or is it that the girlfriend doesn't like spending money on toys?), that there isn't space for the collection (how much space is it taking up and what percentage of the living space?), and that the collector can't stop buying (has he been asked to curtail his purchasing, and has he realized that this is an issue in the relationship?)

I won't go on again about my thoughts on collecting vs hoarding, living with a non-collector, and so forth (you're more than welcome to visit some older posts on the blog if you're interested) but I do encourage other collectors to check out Rob's post, and to share your own thoughts and ideas on the matter.

Elf

Playing in the Pony Room

I'm taking a little mini vacation over the long weekend to play in the Geek Cave.  By "play" I naturally mean move stuff around, install more shelves, and generally make a mess while having a great time.

First stop on Thursday is the Giant Ikea (home of the perfect pony shelving) for additional shelving.  I know, I know, I'm sure I've said before that we've added the last shelving piece to the Cave.  I lied.  There's totally more room in there for the using.  :P

Thursday night, Roomy will build the shelves for me (because she's better at it, and actually enjoys doing it) and we'll fit them into their proper places.  On Friday the real fun begins as I'll be re-arranging ponies all day.

I really have no plans for the long weekend other than to play in the Cave, although I'll probably also take time to work on some of my commissions and art for Roomy's books too.  Probably also clean some ponies for my collection, as the super humid days of summer are passing us by.  I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit of collection cleaning and photographing.  I've been a bit remiss on updating my catalogue with the last few waves of ponies added, so I'll have some catching up to do.  I find this kind of playing with my collection to be some of the most fun.

Updated pictures from the Pony Vacation coming next week!

Elf