Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 9

The multi-week virtual tour of the Geek Cave continues.  I'm going to post pictures and discuss one shelving unit a week for the foreseeable future.  I'm also going to switch up generations, areas of the Cave, and even types of collection as I feel like it.

We're back to G4 this week, and even more castles.

The G4 playsets, while beautiful, are often gigantic and one solid mass of plastic.  This makes displaying on shelving units difficult, unless one is prepared to remove all but two shelves from a unit (not a practical use of space).  This is why I hacked many of the playsets, taking them apart and/or repositioning bits and pieces.  This is how I ended up with the Canterlot display on the half height shelves.  I've mimicked the multi-level look of Canterlot in the cartoon here, and managed to squeeze three relatively large playsets into a relatively small area, along with Rarity's Boutique.  The majority of my G4 ponies are displayed on these shelves.

In nearby Ponyville, there are some shops borrowed from the Li'l Woodzeez toy line.  The general store and bakery were just too good to pass up, and as you can see they fit perfectly with the G4s.  Both these playsets came with upwards of 70 highly-detailed accessories, which I've used in many dioramas.

After some shopping, the ponies can head home using either the train or Pinkie Pie's helicopter.  I've never yet had the entire train track set up in the Cave, but I plan to use it in a holiday display at some point.

Of course, Cheerilee's schoolhouse and Sweet Apple Acres are also in Ponyville.  These two playsets are perhaps the cheapest in pony history.  Both are flat, minimal structures with few interesting features apart from some of the accessories that came with them.  They might almost be flat cardboard backdrops, which is more or less how I'm using them in the display.

Finally, under the sea is Seaquestria and the few sea ponies made in G4 (mostly mane 6).  This is the bottom half of the Canterlot and Seaquestria playset, that I had to take apart because it was too damn big! It's nicely detailed, and came with some fun accessories, but I don't think I would buy it again if I had to do over.  I do love the pufferfish Spike, though.

We're nearly through.  Next time we leave Ponyland for the last time.

Elf

Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 8

The multi-week virtual tour of the Geek Cave continues.  I'm going to post pictures and discuss one shelving unit a week for the foreseeable future.  I'm also going to switch up generations, areas of the Cave, and even types of collection as I feel like it.

We're back on the vintage side of things this week with G1 and G2.

There are certain shelves that have themes, and then there are other shelves where ponies are just kind of put together there but they don't share much similarity.  The top shelf here is both of these.  The Merry-Go-Round set are displayed together here, but the rest of the shelf is taken up by three families who don't really share any similarities. I quite like the MGR ponies, except I'm not overly keen on the colour combination for Tassles, which is why I don't have her.  Maybe this is partly because most of the ones I've seen have discoloured bodies that make them look yellowed.

In the front row of the shelf below, we have ponies with a games or playful theme (I had actually forgotten I'd done this until I looked at this picture).  The back row is slightly less organized, but the Glow 'n Show set is here (with a custom rehaired Dazzleglow), as well as the Sleepover set and Bright Bouquet family.

These next two shelves are some of my favourites.  They are both filled with food-themed ponies, which in MLP parlance mostly means sweets.  One of my other passions is baking, so I'm generally a sucker for any Pony with a baking or sweet treat theme.  It's going to be a struggle to fit any other ponies onto this shelf.  Within this picture you might notice Mexican Swirly Whirly, German Baby Cherries Jubilee, and UK Baby Lollipop.  There are also the Lickety-Split triplets (Play and Care, BBE, and First Tooth versions of this baby).  I was perhaps most excited to get Baby Sugarberry and the MO Babies Li'l Sweetcake and Li'l Cupcake.  All three were on my want list for years before I was able to add them to my collection, and I was not disappointed at all when I finally got them.

On the shelf below, we side step to the rest of my G2 collection.  These Ikea pantry shelves are an ideal way of using empty space beside a large playset, but I do want to replace them with white versions at some point.  As I'd mentioned previously, the G2s have a very limited amount of space in the Cave, and this works well because they are relatively small, and there are relatively few of them that I still want to add to my collection (mainly unicorns).

I am really in love with this castle.  It is easily my second-favourite castle in this room (behind the Dream Castle, of course).  I love the design of it, and all the details included inside it.  I also love that it folds up into a small space when it's not on display, a feature I really missed with the G4 era playsets.

Last, but certainly not least, is the second shelf of Sea Ponies.  I may add some display elements to this shelf later on to make it look more like the ponies are in or near the water, but I also need quite a bit more space for additional Sea Ponies.  I have a love-hate relationship with the shells.  I love the look of them and how they support the Sea Ponies, but they do take up a lot of space.  Funnily enough, the two adult Sea Ponies I had as a child have yet to join the herd here.  Sand Dollar and High Tide will make an appearance at some point though.

Next time, it's back to the 2000's.

Elf