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

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

Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 7

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 it's a particular type of kryptonite for me - Plushies.

I have a weakness for plushies (not just MLP, but all plushies).  I have several giant plush (mostly unicorns) in various areas of the house.  I have a really hard time saying no to a plush I like, so I've really tried to curate which MLP plush I've bought.  This has been...relatively successful.

The majority of my plush live on these built in shelves in the closet.  The top shelf is vintage G1 plush, and custom plush by KitKatVintage and Anita's Mom (part of my Snuzzle/Peachy army), as well as a few small G4 hanging plush that are taking advantage of some existing hooks.  Funnily, for years I was not a fan of the vintage G1 plush.  I wasn't a fan of the eyes, mainly.  Several years ago I found a Starshine second hand in really excellent condition and picked her up thinking I would sell her on.  Well, I found myself liking her, and I wasn't sure I wanted to sell her.  I found Lofty a bit after that, liked her too, and here we are.  All of these but Blossom and Cotton Candy were found second hand.

The shelf below is where my 20th anniversary Care Bears live.  I bought these a few at a time back in the early 2000s.  The Care Bears fit well with the Ponies, for obvious reasons, and I liked that these were close to the look of the vintage plush, but different enough.  Mini SSC Pupcake is living here too.  Luckily there are only a few SSC plush that I'm interested in getting, and they're all the mini ones.

The lower shelf are larger plush: G3 Sweetberry from Australia, G4 Twilight Pillow Buddy, G3 25th Anniversary Pinkie Pie and G3 Sweet Tune.  You can also see the top of giant Sunny Daze's head.  I won her at the Fair in Orlando.  Lucky thing we were driving that year.

There are more plush displayed above the door.  From right to left we have G4 Pinkie and Twilight, my single G2 beanie plush, two custom Bushwoolies by Ivy's mom, the few G3 plush I kept (mainly Sweetberrys), a few custom and fakie plush, G4 mane six Hallmark plushies, and a custom Firefly by Dizziness.

The Bushwoolies are my favourite things up here.  They're just so happy, it's impossible to not smile when I see them.  It's also amazing I didn't come home with more of these (I have regret, but space is a real challenge).

Did I mention I had a weakness for plushies?  The Build a Bear MLP took great advantage of this.  I had been enamoured with BAB for some time, but had so far avoided actually buying any until the MLP plush came along.  I really love these, the quality is phenomenal.  Aside from Trixie, I didn't buy anyone's outfits, but AJ had to come home with a hat, and the roller skates just cried out to come home with Pinkie Pie (N.B., if one is keeping plushies on roller skates on top of a bookshelf, one would do well to remember that said plushie is up there when it's time to move the bookshelf lest one receive a serious goose egg on the head when said plushie rolls off the moving shelf).

You may have noticed that the BAB plush live on the so-called Vintage side of the Cave.  This is strictly due to space issues.  I could fit them onto the Modern side, but I wouldn't have room for anything else that's currently living on top of those shelves.

Not to be left out, I have a small Elfpony custom plush army, who have recently been displaced and are looking for new accommodations.  These were made by Anita's Mom (two), Roogna, and Dizziness.  I love these girls, and their former home was a bit too tucked into a corner where they were hard to see.  They're hanging out with Giant Sunny Daze for the time being while I find a better location where they can be properly appreciated.

Elf

Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 6

Continuing on with the 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 time we're adding some POP to the mix!

Roomy's vintage POP, that is.  The Princess of Power vintage line only lasted three years, so Roomy has most of the figures, including a rare complete Spinerella at the bottom right of this picture. The POP line didn't follow the She-Ra cartoon that much in terms of how the characters appeared, but the toy line had some fantastic designs.  It's a very shiny line, it's a wonder there wasn't tinsel in their hair as well as all the metallic and holographic material on their clothes and accessories.

There are also some variations within the main POP line, as well as 'nirvana' variants from various countries (often made by the same toy countries that made MLP nirvanas) and fashions, so Roomy still has things to collect. The majority of the main line variations involve colour variations in hair, jewels, or paint, with Castaspella's varying boot paint patterns being among the most obvious. The artwork on the POP packaging is some of my favourite 80's toy art. It's just stunning, they don't make toy packaging like they used to.

The lower shelves of Roomy's POP display is the stables, with various horses (and one cat) ready to spring into action.  The central Spirit and Swift Wind on the lower shelf were my childhood toys.  I love the pose that was created for these horses.  It's dynamic, but they also stand solidly, a combination that is often lacking in toy design.

The bottom two shelves are part of my G2 display.  The G2s are displayed along the same lines as the G4s.  That is to say, they're displayed on and around their playsets.  I quite like the G2 designs (even the body shape has grown on me), but there aren't that many more that I want to add to my collection.  This is why they have only a few shelves of display space in the Cave (there are more that we'll see later).  I really like the playsets that were made for this line.  There are a lot of details and fun accessories that make them really interesting.  It's a shame there was no narrative in a cartoon to support this line, I think Friendship Gardens could have been a magical addition to Ponyland.

That's all for now.  PS: did you spot Look-ee on the She-Ra shelves?

Elf

Geek Cave Tour 2020 Part 5

In which we continue 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.

We've made it to tour number five and we're not even halfway through the Cave!  I can do this all night!  This week, it's G3's turn to shine!

The G3s are the most condensed collection for their size. They're the second largest generation in my collection, but they've only been afforded two shelving units.  Now that G4 is done I may look at ways to condense the G4 shelves to spread out the G3s a bit more

 I like the G3s partly because they're the closest reboot we've had to G1.  I love that there were a number of throwbacks to G1, as well, reusing many G1 names, and yet there were original designs and fun little things like bunny slippers, ghetto blasters, and needlessly elaborate desserts.

The G3s are organized by theme.  The top shelf above is all food-related ponies, along with the too-few unicorns (why, Hasbro?).  The second shelf is a few more food-themed ponies, celestial-themed ponies, Halloween ponies and Valentine ponies.  I really liked the seasonal/holiday themed ponies in G3. I wish more of them had been available to buy in Canada.

A little lower down we continue on the holiday theme, with Christmas/Winter and Easter/Spring Ponies.  The Spring Ponies also have a collection of pet chicks (because why not).  Below that we see a little bit of Ponyville.  The Cotton Candy Cafe is open for business beside the Bloomin' Blossoms Shop.  Just beyond the Wishing Well there's the Nursery.  Several Ponies are out and about too (mostly food-themed ones - they were many of my favourites).

Travelling south we find Butterfly Island, home to the Pegasus ponies (with Skywishes visiting in her hot air balloon).  The Pegasi are enjoying the tropical atmosphere, surfing, playing on the beach, and enjoying the odd mocktail.

That's a wrap on tour number 5.  Tour number 6 is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Elf