2020 A Collector's Year in Review

2020 eh? 

Well it was certainly a different year.  No conventions.  No get togethers.  For me, not a lot of purchasing. I thought about skipping the year in review post this year, but I still want to look back on my year in collecting like usual.

2020's pony purchases

To begin with, I took my usual long weekend in February to play in the Geek Cave.  This is a time I set aside every year when I try to get one or two major projects done (usually organizing or moving something).  This past year was extremely successful in that regard.  So successful that I hardly wanted to move anything for the rest of the year!  It was nice to have most of the room clean and organized for a change.  And with the Cave in good shape I took the opportunity to take photos for the tour that made up most of the blog last year.

Many things were packed up to be moved down to a new display space in the basement rec room.  The pandemic slowed that plan down, as we hadn’t yet bought shelves for the new space yet and first lockdown then a run on shelves made it impossible.  My EQG minis, G4 minis, 25^th and 35^th anniversary ponies all stayed in boxes for some time as a result.  It wasn’t until the fall that we were able to pick up some shelves and start getting things out of boxes.

I did not do a lot of buying this year.  I still prefer to buy in person, whenever possible, but I did add a few Pony pieces.  I also started a new collection, Little Pretty Kitties (and Puppies).  I’d have liked to add some pieces to the SSC collection too, but since I’m down largely to more expensive / hard to find pieces, that didn’t happen.

I also didn’t do much in the way of customizing this year.  I had a few commissions that I’ve been slowly working on, but overall I wasn’t feeling overly artistic.  Or perhaps its more accurate to say that I was more focussed on developing my garden this year, because once winter set in I did return to my art space then.  Pictures will be forthcoming as these ponies arrive at their destinations.

And this year?  Well, we’re not making any plans yet, but its safe to say Ponies will be involved.  Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we can meet our Pony Friends in person again too.

Elf

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

 Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Let your heart be light.

From now on our troubles will be out of sight.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yuletide gay.

Next year all our troubles will be miles away.

Once again as in olden days, happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who are dear to us will gather near to us once more.

Someday soon we all will be together,

If the fates allow.

Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow.

So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

I hope your holidays have some happiness, whatever they look like this year.  Season's Greetings.

Elf

We Need a Little Christmas

 Haul out the holly.

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.

Fill up the stocking.

I may be rushing things but deck the halls again now.

For we need a little Christmas right this very minute.

Candles in the window, carols at the spinet.

Yes we need a little Christmas right this very minute.

Hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa dear we're in a hurry!

Climb down the chimney.

Turn on the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.

Slice up the fruitcake.

It's time we've hung some tinsel on the everygreen bough.

For I've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder,

Grown a little sadder, grown a little older,

And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder.

Need a little Christmas now.

For we need a little music,

Need a little laughter,

Need a little singing ringing through the rafter,

And we need a little snappy, happy ever after,

We need a little Chirstmas now!

This carol seemed especially apropos this year, with so many of us decorating early on and looking for a little cheer in the darkest part of the year. The Ponies are no exception, and they're decorating the Dream Castle for the holiday season to come. I hope you will have a good holiday season, whatever that looks like this year.

Elf

Geek Cave Virtual Tour 2020 Part 13

The multi-week virtual tour of the Geek Cave finishes up here, and we're back to G1 to finish things off.

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

Geek Cave Virtual Tour 2020 Part 12

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.

This time look up, then look under.

We've already seen the plush that live on top of some of the bookcases, but they're not the only thing taking advantage of this display space.  On the vintage side I've got some G1 playsets, both My Pretty Ponies, a vintage Sea Pony sprinkler, and two trophies from the MLP Fair trivia contests.  If you're wondering about that yellow show stable with the red roof, it's a customized stable that I call The Cabin and consider the home of the Big Brothers and Mountain Boys.

Still on the vintage side of the room, but on the other side of the BAB ponies is possibly my favourite part of the collection.  This is a factory sample Peachy that was owned by Hasbro designer Liz Knight.  She's a flat foot version, very similar to a mass produced Peachy but with a few slight differences.  She's just a neat piece of MLP history, and a neat part of the Peachy/Snuzzle army.

On the other side of the room are the Pinkie Pie pinata and Crystal Rainbow Castle, easily the largest G3 playset.  When fully opened it's 3 feet tall and probably as wide.  It's a fun set, but I don't pull it out much because it requires batteries to open and I don't like keeping batteries in the playset for fear of leakage (and also it's huge! - I'm thankful it folds down as much as it does, and still displays beautifully).

Much of the rest of the upper space is taken up by ponies that I love to look at, but wouldn't ever pull down to put into a diorama or the rest of the display.  The G3 Fair Exclusives, SDCC Exclusives, and Art Ponies fall into this category.  I love the designs on these, but they truly are more of an art piece rather than a character, and that's why they're displayed up here where they can be appreciated.

The G4 exclusives are also displayed up here, either on top of Billy bookcases or on shelves over the closet.  I also have all my G4s that don't quite fit with the rest of the display, largely meaning fashion styles and other giants.  Much of my princess army is included in here, as well as my accidental Pinkie Pie army.  Possibly my favourite exclusive was the Chicken Pie Pinkie Pie, complete with display bucket.  Someone in the design department clearly had fun with that.

It's not all nice displays in here.  Under the table are a couple of smaller bookshelves that try to be display spaces for miniature ponies, but largely end up being storage space for G4s I haven't opened and merchandise I can't figure out how to display.  You'd think that, being largely at home for months, I'd have gotten through more of this section, opened, cleaned and displayed more ponies, and sorted out the merchandise.  You'd be wrong.

Next time is the last shelf tour, and we're going back to where we began.

Elf

Geek Cave Virtual Tour 2020 Part 11

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.

This time we're back in Ponyland - G3 style.

I really do like the G3s.  I think they can be slightly underrated with collectors.  This may well be because there were so many different characters available at one time, and there was some buying fatigue (we didn't know when we were well off).  It may be due to the repetitions of pink, purple, and white (although other colours were also used quite a lot).  It may be that the initial joy wore off after a few years.  They have their own sparkly charm that (so far) hasn't been repeated in the MLP line.

These top two shelves are tropically-themed ponies (a big thing in G3) and nature-themed ponies. (largely flowers and butterflies).  I've also got some G3 smalls displayed on these shelves.  While cataloging some playsets I remembered how much I loved some of these accessories and decided to take the chance on displaying them out like this.  There's always the possibility that they could be knocked down and go missing, but as the Cave is kept closed, there is only a small chance that they'll actually disappear.

The next two shelves are, for want of a better term, culturally-themed ponies.  These are the ponies with artistic temperaments, those who like a day at the spa, those who enjoy a ride in a hot air balloon, and other similar hobbies.  Essentially, they're the ponies that don't fit into any of the other categories. Also, another street in Ponyville, with the dance studio, salon, and boutique.  Everything a cultured pony could need for an enjoyable evening out.

 Finally, there is the Breezie hideaway and the Celebration Castle.  The Twist & Style Petal Parlour is an interesting playset.  Designed as a display space for the tiny Breezies, it doubles as hair styling gimmick for the regular sized G3s (although it works best with the Super Long Hair ponies).  It's got a lovely design, and I feel as though it's an indication of what was to come in G4 with the very 2 dimensional playsets that function better as a display space than an actual play space.

The Celebration Castle, on the other hand, hearkens back to the G1 era.  This beautiful castle  displays nicely from either side, but opens wide to reveal a good sized play area.  This was one of the first G3 pieces I bought, and I was really excited about it.  I love the detail on this (and all the G3 playsets), and the elevator just amuses me.  All the royalty-themed ponies live around the castle, but not all of the G3s are princesses in this collection.

And that's the G3 section done and dusted (but not dusted lately).  Next time, look up...waaaay up.

Elf

Geek Cave Virtual Tour 2020 Part 10

We're nearly finished with the 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.

This time I'm sharing my Strawberry Shortcake Collection.

I started collecting SSC only a few years ago, when I found several mint condition dolls second hand.  I had been considering getting some of the pets to go with the Pony collection for some time, but had yet to pull the trigger.  Once I had a few of the dolls in hand, however, I started remembering how much I'd liked my childhood dolls.  I am not, as a rule, a doll person.  I got Barbie dolls for birthdays and Christmas from relatives who didn't know what I liked.  SSC was the exception to this, probably because they were not typical fashion type dolls.

So I jumped in with both feet and, with the help of two great Kijiji lots, got most of the basic dolls, pets, and several playsets quite quickly.  I also did research into the line, and I discovered something interesting.  Brazilian SSC dolls.  I love many MLP nirvana, but I might love the Brazilian SSC dolls a little bit more.  These dolls are often quite different from the original Kenner dolls, with great curly hair, dresses with ribbon and lace trim, and adorable hats or other hair accessories.  I have many of them, and I would like to get many more.

I hadn't planned on getting any of the SSC playsets, but several came my way with a lot of dolls.  I was in love with the Berry Happy Home, but there was no way I was ever going to have it unless I found one locally.  Which I did.  It's HUGE!  But it's fantastic.  The details on this are beyond any other playset I've ever seen.  I'm glad I have it, but it does take up a lot of real estate.

Like MLP, SSC had many generations.  There were six generations in total, made by various companies including Kenner, Bandai, Playmates, Hasbro, and Basic Fun. Although I have a few of the Hasbro dolls, I'm not really interested in the other iterations of SSC beyond the original Kenner dolls.  However, Estrella in Brazil used the original doll molds to recreate the Bandai characters for the Brazilian market.  I have nearly all of these dolls.  While I liked the design of the Bandai characters, the dolls themselves were not of the best quality, so the Brazilian versions are perfect for me.  Estrella also made some characters that appeared in the cartoon but not in doll form, so that's also fun.

Aside from the giant house, SSC doesn't take up too much space in the Cave.  The dolls are confined to three CD shelves (which fit them quite well) and won't be likely to get any more space, something I'll need to keep in mind as I've already made a few custom characters.  Luckily I'm terrible at sewing, so full custom dolls will be slow to join the collection.  I'm also missing one character from the original Kenner line (Banana Twirl, the rarest doll), several other versions of Kenner characters, and I still have a healthy want list for the Brazilian vintage dolls.  For now, however, I'm enjoying the collection I have.  They're as colourful and full of nostalgia as MLP for me, and they fit well into the Cave.

Elf