Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 3

I'm doing a multi-week virtual tour of the Geek Cave.  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 week we're back in the 1980s with the G1 half-shelf.

This shelf is situated halfway along the vintage side of the Cave.  The top shelf is home to the Princess Ponies, as well as some HQG1C custom dragons and custom resin dragons and bushwoolie by Soulcookies (the Gusty charm and keychain are also by her).  The Princess Ponies are strategically displayed so that I don't have to look at their symbols, which I dislike.  I held out on getting any of these girls for years, and only started when a vendor at a toy sale sold me her box of ponies, cheap.  Pristina and Royal Blue were in the box.  I like the colours of the Princess Ponies.  I could wish that they didn't have the tinsel (at least not that forelock), and I really dislike their symbols.  They look like they've had something riveted to their flank.  I don't know how I'm going to fit Taffeta onto this shelf whenever I find her. (PS, I had started collecting dragons and bushwoolies long before Princesses).

Next we have more of the Snuzzle/Peachy army (Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinian, Greek, and two Italians), the Macau Ponies, and the World's Smallest mini ponies. I aspire to getting some of the nirvana Peachys and Snuzzles who have more varied colour combinations, but I do love these girls.  And I've fallen hard for the Macau Ponies.  They are so similar to the original versions of these ponies, but also so different.  I just love how they look and their adorable names, and I'm hoping to get Belly and Folly in the not too distant future.

The third shelf has a bit of a theme: Christmas and Birthday.  It took me an age to get Stockings, and she was probably my most wanted on this shelf.  I also didn't have either Birthday Pony or Party Time because, for a long time, I had a strong dislike of that pose.  It was probably 15 years of collecting and having none of the ponies in that pose, before I bought a couple for a swap.  As they sat in my house for awhile and I kept looking at them, I found that the pose no longer bothered me like it had.  This was a good thing, because there were several ponies in that pose that I quite liked otherwise, and I'm glad to have them in my collection.  I also like displaying small accessories rather than having them bagged and boxed up, and you can see a few examples of that here.

There's no rhyme nor reason to this shelf.  It's just a bunch of ponies.  No theme.  Lovely ponies though.  Two of the Seven Tales ponies live here.  It's taking me an age to collect this set.  That's what happens when you buy one pony from a set, every couple of years (I bought two last year!).  Nightglider is definitely one of my favourites.  I love TAF ponies, they were some of the first ones I targeted when I started collecting, but I didn't have them all very quickly for all that.  I don't mind taking my time collecting.

While I do have many complete sets, I don't consider myself a set completer.  If I don't like the look of a pony, I don't see the point of having her in my collection.  For a long time the only Birthflower Pony in my collection was October.  And then, somehow or other, this happened.  I should display these girls so that you can actually see their symbols, since that's the biggest difference between them.  I would like to get some of the Alternate Birthflower girls as well at some point.

At the bottom of the shelf we find some Sea Ponies.  I wasn't overly fond of the Sea Ponies when I was a child.  Sure, they were fun to play with in the bath (adult collector me cringing), but it was difficult to play with them with your other Ponies.  They just kind of lay there on the carpet looking sad.  Because of this, as an adult I resisted getting them for a long time.  Eventually it dawned on me that I wasn't really playing with my ponies anymore, they were sitting on a shelf.  They can display well on a shelf.  I also had some luck getting a few shells and Sea Ponies for a good price, so that made the transition into collecting them easier.

That's the end of our third tour.  See you in two weeks for the next shelf.

Elf