My Little Pony Obsession

I'm addicted to watching those Strange Addiction/Obsession shows on TLC. It amazes me that there is nothing people won't do or collect...from 5,000 Cabbage Patch Kids whom are considered real children, to consumption of urine. I love grossing myself and being weirded out by my fellow Americans.
With that in mind, I must confess one of my own addictions...I say "one" because I have collected many little things, like Disney pins, gundam model kits or Hello Kitty items...but those are for other blog posts. Today I decided to bust out my vintage collection of generation 1 My Little Pony figures (abbreviated as "G1" MLPs).

I have collected about 92 vintage ponies, either from childhood, thrift stores, or through the online My Little Pony communities like My Little Pony Trading Post. I'm merely a beginner compared to most of the people you find there. I also have the later generations, even the ugly Bratz-looking G3.5...let's not even get into how many G3 I have, it's ridiculous.
There are so many different kinds...like...

Princesses
Skinny ones
Fuzzy ones
Glitter ones, be it on their symbol or entire body
Winged ones
Simple ones with a repeated symbol on their hips
Twinkle-eyed ones
Some with symbols all around their body
Rainbow haired ones, some with hair that can be "grown"

Babies and newborns
Holiday ponies, male ponies, ones with moveable limbs, ponies available in certain countries, seaponies, color changing symbols or hair, scented ponies, animal friends, or ones with 3D symbols.

Different MLP collectors have different reasons for collecting these pony figures. Some put hours into customizing them into pop culture characters or entirely new figures. Others like to restore their hair and paint to its original state. Some just like vintage while others may only focus on the newer generations. A few like to collect only certain colors or want to obtain an army of all the variants of a certain pony from different countries or rereleases, like Lemondrop. There are also ponies that were only made and sold in certain countries. Some can run up to $500 for just one highly sought after pony. I'm personally hoping to find my grail pony, twinkle-eyed Mimic, at a secondhand shop without shelling out $124 for her online.

Steering away from the vintage, I gotta add how cool these art ponies are; some were sold at fairs or San Diego Comic Con (my favorite is the purple one designed by Junko Mizuno)
It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my equestrian obsession. There are tons of people out there who spend way more for them and make my collection look pathetically small. People of all ages have something they love about MLP, be it for artistic, nostalgia or hoarding reasons. And it's not just women. The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show has brought in a slew of male fans who call themselves "bronies"; the 4chan boards are filled with MLP:FiM memes. The show itself is pretty comical and has some tongue in cheek moments. The new line of toys based on the cartoon has brought back the spirit of the classic MLP toys and has renewed the collecting bug in me. There's just something about those colorful plastic ponies.