What time is it?

Pony Fair preparation time!!!

Pony luggage!

It's actually been prep time for awhile now, but we're down to the wire now.  The Fair is only a week away and we're all into excitement/panic mode!

I will be sharing booth space with Stormrave this year, and of course Roomy is coming along as well to sell the ponies and generally keep us collectors in line (i.e., make sure we remember to eat between activities.)

So many accessories!

There's still lots to do before we head off next Thursday.  The cat/house sitter has been arranged but that's about all that's ready so far.  There are still ponies to pack, accessories to pack, customs to finish (my contest entry STILL isn't done!  But more on that in next week's post.)

This year's Fair is even more exciting than usual, as for the first year there is a Hall of Fame dinner on the Friday night.  And Bonnie Zacherle, the creater of MLP will be attending again this year.  I'm looking forward to seeing her again and getting her autograph.  It's also always great to see all my collector friends who I only get to see once a year.  It's like going to summer camp, but with Ponies, so that makes it even better.

I've still got all this to organize!!

Less than a week to go!  I can't wait!

Elf

Sharing the Pony Room

When we moved, we decided that Roomy and I would actually share the Pony Room.  Along with the Ponies it would house Roomy's She-Ra and MOTU collection.  We're calling it the Geek Cave.

A small part of Roomy's She-Ra collection

Roomy setting up her brand new Crystal Castle

The room is still 90% Ponies, however.  I definitely have the larger collection of the two.  Although Roomy is expecting to add a giant castle to her collection in November...we may have to negotiate on space at that point...:P

"What do you mean negotiate?"

Seriously though, negotiation is an important part of any collector's life.  If you live with another collector, you have to figure out how your two (or more) collections are going to share space.  Who gets the prime display space?  Do you rotate what's on display or does everybody get their own little piece of real estate?  Setting down the "rules" early on will be key to avoiding disagreements later.

If you live with a non-collector, negotiation becomes even more important.  People generally like to hear a little bit about something you're passionate about - they don't necessarily want to hear a 3 hour discussion on the minute details of Pony variants.  This is even more true of living with your collection.  A non-collector might be supportive, but they won't necessarily want to see Ponies in every room of the house, every day, in every little nook and cranny.  Keeping the goodwill of your non-collector cohabitant by having frank discussions about space and expectations (on both sides) and sticking to those decisions will keep the three of you (collector, non-collector, and collection) living happily together for years to come.

Elf

Build A Pony

This post is rather late to the game, but since the Ponies arrived at BAB while I was on hiatus, I'm just getting to posting now.  I've been wanting to Build a Bear for ages now, but I've held off because I have limited space for plushies.  However, when they're offering plush Ponies, how am I going to say no to that?

And because I have a serious weakness for plushies, I got both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash.  I couldn't help myself, they were far too cute and well made to pass up.

Also, my Pinkie Pie has roller skates.  Because, Pinkie Pie!  On roller skates!

Elf

Pony Room Org

It begins.

I've started moving around the shelving and sorting out where things will go.  A few of the Ponies have made their way onto shelves too.

The smaller shelves will house Ponies.  The larger ones will house playsets.  I'll have a small table in the centre of the room that will act as a display space and showcase certain playsets at certain times.

There's a ways to go before we get to that stage, though.

Elf

New Pony Room

It's Christmas in the Pony Room!  Well, at least there's a lot of boxes to open.  :P

First off, I just want to say that Anime North was a blast this year!  I had a great time, had some fantastic co-panalists, and enjoyed all my panels this year.  And I managed not to blow all my budget in the dealer's room.  ;P The cosplay was, as usual amazing.  My hat goes off to all the dedicated cosplayers, especially those who were clearly freezing in the lower than normal temperatures.  My hat also goes off to the organizers - they did an amazing job, not only with the behind the scenes work, but with the panel staging and assistance too.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Ponies would be unpacked as soon as they were moved, and so they were.  Of course, this isn't their proper place, nor is there any order to their arrangement, they're just out on the shelves.  Luckily there were built in shelves in the closet that were just big enough to house most of my collection.  They'll stay there until their proper shelving home is set up.  Heaven knows when that will happen.

The closet shelving is also handy since there are of course no curtains up on the windows yet.  The Ponies don't need to be fading in the sun, and this way I can close the closet door and keep them safe.  The playsets are all boxed up in the closet for the moment as well.

Incidentally, this is what 16 years of Pony collecting looks like when it's all laid out together: my entire brushable MLP collection (544 ponies) arranged by colour.

Elf

Anime North

This weekend I'm on my way to my second time attending Anime North and I'll be participating in four MLP related panels:

Brony vs Collector Saturday at 10am in  room Toronto A (Doubletree): teaming up again with DJ Midli, we'll be looking at the MLP fandom from both sides.  I've been told that CBC may be joining us.  :O

History of MLP - From Firefly to FIM Saturday at 8pm in room Ottawa (Doubletree): a brief history of the MLP line - that's been around for 30 YEARS!

MLP Customizing Saturday at 10 pm in room Ottawa (Doubletree): fairly self-evident, I'll be talking about the basics of customizing and showing off a few of my finished customs.

Collecting 101 Sunday at noon in room Hamilton (Doubletree): teaming up with Marie Bilodeau (otherwise known as "Roomy") we'll be talking about some of the basics of collecting like pros and cons of online communities, knowing your prices and spotting a varient.

Anime North Momiji custom ponies

Should be a great time.

Elf

Moving Ponies

Moving house means moving Ponies.  In my case, the Ponies moved before Roomy and I did.

Moving  500ish Ponies, plus accessories, plus playsets, plus books, plus merchandise, plus shelving, plus packaging, plus...well you get the idea...is a lot of work.  Heck, just packing all that is a lot of work.  But many hands make light work, and luckily I had the help of Roomy, fellow Pony Collector Stormrave, and Stormy's husband, The Doctor.

Me and Stormrave, in the living room with piles and piles of Ponies.

So we packed, and packed, and packed.  And then we loaded the cars.  And then we unloaded the cars.  And the Ponies, etc were all in their new home.  Doesn't sound like much when you write it out, but it was a solid two days of work just to get everything from the old house to the new.

All in all it was a pretty entertaining weekend.  At one point The Doctor slipped on some ice while carrying a giant box of G3 playsets (this was back in March, remember.)  Luckily he wasn't hurt, but when he fell one of the playsets activated and began playing the MLP theme.  We're still having an occasional laugh over that.  Too bad for us that I didn't have a camera at the ready, but I suppose that's for the best for The Doctor's pride.

One small corner of the new Pony Room

 And so begins the process of organizing the new Pony Room.  *sigh*

Elf