I've kept my favourite shelf for the end. This unit has many (not all) of my favourite G1s on it. In many ways, it's the best representation of my childhood G1 collection, as many of the ponies I had as a child are represented here.
Of course, the Dream Castle is here. In my opinion the Dream Castle is still the best MLP playset, and has always been my favourite. Actually, the reason I don't have and don't want the Paradise Estate is due to the MLP Movie, where the ponies chose to keep the Estate over the Castle (poor choice, ponies). Majesty has her hooves full with an accidental Spike army, as well as several other dragons and bushwoolies living in the Castle. The year 3 unicorns are all here as well, and in my childhood herd they were the royal guard who protected Majesty and the Castle. Here they appear to be off duty, and are displayed with their children. Behind them I've made use of the space beside the Castle with more Ikea kitchen shelving.
The next shelf down is largely taken up with some childhood favourites, which doesn't necessarily mean ponies that were part of my childhood herd, with a few newer favourites thrown in. Needless to say, the early years of G1 have always been my favourites, particularly the unicorns. Year two was like kryptonite to me.
The next shelf down is a bit of a mixed bag. There are more of the early favourites, as well as some ponies I only discovered or came to fully appreciate as an adult collector. I've also got Li'l Tot here. In my herd, she takes care of the babies when they're in the Nursery, and so the baby ponies that haven't yet been matched up with a parent are here nearby. My two Pony Friends are here as well. They are slightly reluctant additions to the collection. Even as a child I wasn't overly keen on these (I had Spunky, but I wasn't sure if I actually liked her or not). I found another Spunky second hand last year and she's stayed around, and been joined by Zig Zag. Likely I'll add a few more of these, but I can tell you that some of them won't be coming home with me until I find them for a much lower cost than market value.
The next shelf down has a decidedly beachy theme to it. Although I don't have any ponies in the collection that I truly dislike, I'll admit that nearly half of this shelf are here because they were lucky finds and not because I sought them out. However, I made the decision that I liked them well enough to keep. Mimic, however, was a lovely birthday present from some of my best friends, many years ago. She was a pony that I was absolutely in love with as a child, but didn't have in my collection. Considering I gave away my childhood collection, I'm not actually too sad about that now.
The final shelf is playsets. I had the Nursery, Baby Buggy, and Dance Studio as a child (not these ones, although they are from a friend's childhood collection), and I remember spending so many hours playing with these. I was blissfully unaware of the Schoolhouse and Crib sets as a child, but rest assured I'd have wanted them badly if I'd known they existed. I still think the design that went into the 1980s playsets is some of the best toy design ever, and the newer sets just can't hold a candle to these.
And that's the end of the tour. When I started this I never thought it would take so long to go through the entire Cave. I hope you've enjoyed this look into the Geek Cave. Collecting is a funny thing, because many of us do it within a community, but at the same time we're somewhat isolated within our own collections because our community is so widely dispersed. This year we couldn't come together at conventions, but we've been able to keep in touch through the internet, and thank goodness for that.
Until next time, happy collecting!
Elf
