Meanwhile, in the Geek Cave...

The G1s are cleaned, photographed, catalogued, and reorganized.  Huzzah!

Here are a few updated pictures of the G1 shelves.

I've also managed to shift a few things out of the Cave that had been stuck in there for quite a while.  This means there's more space in the Cave for the things that are supposed to be there.

Work on the catalogue continues.  Playsets and pony wear still need to be done on both the G1 and G3 sides.  The G4s are next on the list.

Elf

Bonus Post: Holidays at Elfpony's Roomy's!

You know that Roomy is also a collector.  This year she started re-arranging her collection while I was setting up my Pony Holiday display.  So of course...

Ah!  The Holidays on Eternia!  Of course the party is happening in Castle Greyskull.  The twins are exchanging gifts for their birthday.  It looks Cringer got something for Adam, too.  And Seahawk has arrived with a gift for Adora.

Orco and Teela are checking out the other gifts under the tree.  Some of Adora's friends have arrived with more gifts.  Frosta is on the lookout for He-Man and the mistletoe.

Bow is providing some dulcet tones on his lyre.  He's got quite an audience, too.

Man-At-Arms seems to have brought a very large gift for someone special.

Yes, the Holidays are a time for giving.  Giving your Roomy a new display!

Happy Holidays!
Elf and Roomy

Holidays at Elfpony's 2016 Edition

Every year, at the start of the Holiday season, Majesty hosts a special party at the Dream Castle for all the Ponies who have had something special happen or have accomplished something special during the past year.  All the invited ponies dress up in their best for an evening of food, drink, socializing and recognition.

The Ponies are just starting to arrive for this year's celebration.  Some other Ponies have been hired to bring the invitees to the party in style, in a two Pony open sleigh.

Majesty and Spike greet everyone at the drawbridge and welcome them inside.

The Ponies are serenaded with carols from Medley's Choir.  The musical Ponies will be performing all night.  Don't they sound wonderful?

The Ponies are mingling, enjoying the music and the company.  Everyone is in a festive mood.

Stockings and Merry Treat are there to oversee the party, as usual.  Stockings has made sure the Dream Castle is looking its best, with lovely decorations, while Merry Treat has been hard at work preparing the cakes, pies, and other treats for the guests.  Doesn't everything look so lovely and tasty!

Happy Holidays!
Elf

Random Pony Thoughts About...Minty

Let's take a moment to consider a specific pony.

Various and sundry Mintys

What is it about Minty?  Why is she so popular?  Is it because she's green?  Because she's appeared in three of the four generations of MLP?  Because of her enthusiasm for socks?

G1 Minty.  Perhaps the least minty-Minty

There should certainly be more green ponies.  It actually irks me that one of the Mane 6 isn't green, which would have completed the rainbow.  All the Mintys are green, though, and it makes them stand out among all the pink, purple, and white ponies.  Green ponies often seem to be some of the most popular with collectors.

Nothing says Christmas like a pair of Mintys

G3 Minty is one of the few characters who's at all interesting, mainly due to her starring role in A Very Minty Christmas.  She gets as much character development in 30 minutes as any G3 pony gets in six-odd years of cartoons, back cards, and merchandising.

I'm just saying

Does anyone else think that when Hasbro designed G3 Minty they confused G1 Minty with Mint Dreams?  There's definitely more of a resemblance here, I'm just saying.

I swore I was going to stop with the Mane 6

Minty is like a potato chip.  You can't have just one.

Elf

You're damn right I'm celebrating!

Hell yeah, they are!

Eight and a half years where one of two paycheques each month went to my loans.  Because that's what a loan is, it's an amount of money that you borrow, and that you're expected to pay back, with interest.

Four jobs: one retail, one mail room, one that I'd rather have stabbed myself in the eye than go to every day for four years, and one I enjoy and where I use what I've learned in university on a daily basis.  Because sometimes you have to do what you need to, before you can do what you want to.

Am I working "in my field?"  Technically no, but as I said above, I use the skills I learned in university all the time.  I have a job where I research, write, communicate, negotiate, and problem solve daily - all the skills I enjoyed using as an academic. I'm not saying I'd keep going to work if I won $50M, but as working for a living goes, I'm finally in a good place now. Because good things come to those who work for them (although sometimes it doesn't feel like you'll ever get there).

I've worked hard.  I've paid off my loans a year before they were due.  I've gone without some things I'd have liked to have.  I haven't travelled as much or as far as I wanted to.  But I've also slowly grown my collection.  I've gone to the MLP Fair every year and saved my pony money to spend there.  I've bought a house that I love and that I can afford.  Because life is like that, ups and downs, good times and bad.

That's why I feel it's so important to stick to your budget as a collector (as a human!)?  The fact that I have more disposable income now is not going to change that. My only debt now is my mortgage and I want to keep it that way.  That paycheque is going into savings now.  I want to retire early.  I want to do a few things around the house.  I want to have more emergency savings than I have now and more savings generally.  I want to give more to causes that mean something to me.

But first...one paycheque...one full paycheque is getting spent.  On whatever the hell I want for myself.  It won't be entirely on ponies (a lot will be on ponies) but it will be fun.

You're damn right I'm celebrating!

Elf

Rainbow Pride

Rainbow Pride was a quick custom - obviously made from a Rainbow Dash.  Her symbols were designed to cover pen marks on both sides and match the colours in her hair.  Since her hair and eyes were in perfect shape, I kept them original.

Elf

It's a Collector's Prerogative...

...to change her mind.

I've changed mine numerous times over the almost twenty (!) years that I've been collecting as an adult.  The first was probably relatively early on when I decided that, if I was going to end up with a couple of hundred ponies, I should decide on a focus.  The focus that I chose was to decide to collect ponies rather than ponies and LPS and Pound Puppies and action figures and etc, etc.

(couple of hundred ponies...teehee)

See-through ponies were not on my original list...

A few years later, as I was updating my want list, I realized that I was coming close to having all the G1s on my list.  I'm not going to lie, I panicked a little bit.  As much as I live the belief that a collector should be able to find enjoyment in their collection without having to constantly add to it, I do enjoy adding to it, as well.  This moment of mild panic caused me to re-evaluate my want list in a way I hadn't previously.  This was the moment when I moved past my original collecting goals (that I wasn't even fully aware of) and consider ponies that I hadn't considered before.

...Neither were molded symbol ponies...

...Or Sea Ponies.

There were still ponies that didn't make the cut, however.  For years I hated the look of the Shady pose, to the point that I wouldn't have any pony in that pose in my collection.  The broad forehead, square stance, and thick legs did nothing for me.  It was only years later, when I had bought a couple of ponies in that pose for a swap partner, that I re-evaluated.  By which I mean, I suddenly realized that I didn't hate that pose.  I'm not sure if it was living with those ponies for several months that did it, but it opened up another avenue of collecting for me (complete with several moments when I chastised myself for not adding some of these lovely ponies to my collection earlier).

Can-Can line of Shady pose ponies

I've gone on record numerous times saying that I disliked certain types of ponies (3-D symbols, sea ponies, princesses, and others).  Several of these have since joined my herd.  I think of this progression as a natural part of a collector's life.  You learn, you grow, you re-evaluate, you enjoy.  Collecting, like all things in life, should be a journey, not a destination.

Just remember: Geek Cave =/= TARDIS.  ;)

Elf

Phoebe

Another free-form custom, Phoebe was created in a similar way to Iris.  She started out as a Pinkie Pie, again with many ink marks on her body.

She was dry-brushed, adding colour to cover the ink stains on her.  She also had shimmering patterns added, as well as sparkle glaze and jewels around her forehead.

This was the first custom that I added tinsel to the hair.  It's a bit unmanageable, and I'm not sure I'll use it again, but it does add some additional sparkle to her.

Elf

Iris

Occasionally, I like to do some free-form customizing.  That is, taking a general idea and running with it, rather than fully planning out a custom.  That's how Iris came to be.

Iris started as a Desert Bloom with a great many pen marks, but very nice hair.  I kept her original hair and began adding sections of paint to cover the pen marks, also leaving much of her original body colour visible.  The paintwork was done completely with brushes - no airbrush was used on her.

On later layers of paint, I added shimmering colours, some of which were done using pattern stencils.  I also added glitter sealant to give her some extra sparkle.  And to finish her off I added several jewels and microbeads around her face.

Elf

Sparkle So-Softs 2

They're sparkly!  They're fuzzy!  What more can I say about these customs?

SS Surprise

SS Twilight

All of these but Magic Star are McDonalds ponies whose manes have been sculpted.  They were all fully repainted and sealed to match existing G1 So-Soft ponies (except in the case below, of course).  I then slowly began to apply the sparkle flocking to each pony, beginning with the symbols and working my way around the body.

SS Elfpony

SS Magic Star

Magic Star was a blind bag Rainbow Dash whose wings were removed for another custom.  It is difficult to apply the flocking evenly.  A few of these are not as fully covered as I would have liked.  The yellow in particular looks patchy, but I'm quite happy with how the others have turned out.

Elf