New Arrivals

Today I received a shoe box filled with Euro exclusive goodness! A seven-pony lot which I purchased for one single pony; alternate hair Baby Candy! I paid more than I normally would for this lot for resale simply because she was in it and of course I will be keeping her. I'll make some of the cash back by selling the others, which are duplicates, and then cover any surplus with the other lots I'm selling. That's the beauty of buying lots and selling them on individually; the ponies are now pretty much paying for themselves. That, and me having my hair done, ahem.

The Post Office

I seem to have spent rather a lot of time, and money, at the Post Office lately. It's the only place I know where you hand your cash over and come out with less than you went in with.

The pony sales are going very well and are the main reason for my regular, lengthy, Post Office visits but as well as that I decided to give up the ponies in my bait box, so I have been sending those out to members of the Arena, free of charge, they've just paid for postage. They really were the batiest of baits and I couldn't see myself doing anything with them, especially as some of them have been in that box since I first started collecting nine years ago! There were mouldy ponies, rusty ponies, ponies with bits missing; even a fakie head! I considered letting them go before but never got round to it. They were all spoken for in less than 24 hours of my post on the Arena. I'm just glad someone can make use of them instead of them being wasted under the spare bed. I hope I get a few 'after' shots of what people have done with them! That would be pretty neat.

In other news, Baldy, the pony who I gave to Olivia to have the presenters of Look North sign, has met a tragic end! She was left in a dressing room for one of them to sign and ended up being thrown away! Poor Baldy! I asked Olivia about her yesterday and she sent a very apologetic reply telling what had happened and that she had ordered a new one to have signed. Bless her, I would have sent another pony but I bet she felt bad telling me. She was going to tell me once the other had arrived and been signed. I'm looking forward to seeing the new pony, complete with signatures, but can't help but wonder which one she's bought; in other words I'm sincerely hoping they're not going to be signing a rare pony! I doubt it, she probably picked a similar looking one, or a cheap one from eBay. Still, I can't help but wonder.

Primark have a new pony t-shirt in, well some Primarks do, my local one doesn't. Typical. I went at lunchtime, all hopeful, and they just had the Gusty one in that I already have. I was going to offer to buy them on behalf of people on the Arena but I'll have wait to see if they get them in stock first. So far, we've had pony knickers and two t-shirts from Primark this time around; I hope there are more to come!

New Arrivals

This morning the postman brought me So Soft Hearthrob and Surprise; only one to go then I have a complete set of So Soft ponies and Cherries Jubilee is en route.

I cleaned up various ponies for listing on eBay tomorrow which was quite hard work given that I'm a bit under the weather and don't have much in the way of energy or patience so I'm not entirely looking forward to the listing phase of the process but hey, needs must. 

New Arrivals

I've been pretty under the weather this week, which is quite apt as it is, yet again, pissing it down. Stupid April showers. More like April downpours. So that's why the blog's been quiet but luckily I've received various ponies and won various pony auctions this week which have helped to cheer me up, as has having my hair done.

Yesterday I picked up two parcels on the way to work, one of which contained the last two of the birthday ponies I ordered. Poor things were stuck in customs for ages, they took a month to arrive. I am now the proud owner of Garden Glow, the last Sweetheart Sister I needed to complete all the Sweetheart Sisters and So Soft Wind Whistler. I also received my latest order from Taobao which containted Princess Cadance and Shining Armour as I don't want the playset they will come with when they are officially released, just the ponies themselves, so I thought 'why wait?' I ordered an extra Shining Armour to sell on eBay but he's not selling for a vast amount so I have arranged a trade with someone on the Arena for (fingers crossed) Fashion Styling Applejack.

I also received two pony lots to do up and sell on yesterday and another earlier in the week which also contained a pony for me.... German Princess Tiffany! She's gorgeous and can't wait to unwrap her from her neck brace to see what she looks like now I've cleaned her and done her hair.

I intended to list my next lot of eBay ponies on Tuesday but I just didn't have the energy! I'm shattered and I'm full of cold so I crashed and burned instead; same yesterday and same will apply tonight, though my friend Chris is trying to get me to sign up to Twitter so I may have to do that tonight unless I can pursuade him that the world won't end if this waits, along with my eBay listings, until the weekend.

All Photo'd Out

The pony photography session was somewhat troublesome to begin with. Firstly, I thought my camera was charged but it turns out it actually wasn't, so that delayed proceedings. I selected a really nice spot in front of some pretty foliage in the garden, set it all up and then when I went back outside the sun had come out from behind a cloud and was glaring right on that spot so it was too bright to take photos there. I relocated but I didn't like the background but by this point a huge cloud was wandering across the sky so my original spot was now nicely shaded again. Naturally, once I'd set back up there the cloud shifted course and the sun came back out. Off I go again and this time found a suitable new area. From then it went relatively smoothly, aside from one or two creepy crawlies wandering into my shot and a few instances of dead leg. I'm now fully caught up on my pony photos; thank goodness for that! I'm back to feeling pretty tired now so I'm looking forward to my nice hot bath later, followed by lazing in front of the telly.

A Pony-Filled Day Ahead

I've been pretty run down this week and feeling the effects of being extremely busy for the last couple of weekends with not much time to sit and relax, so today while Joe is out I expected to not be doing a great deal other than sitting around in my pyjamas, eating chocolate (as my diet starts tomorrow!) and watching The L Word. I also fully anticipated a hangover as I was out with friends at our local haunt last night and played an epic game of Kings (drinking game) with Desperados as my tipple of choice. However, I have awoken in a very good, if not a little silly, mood and don't much fancy sitting on my arse all day; I'm going to pony!

The weather is lovely (finally!) so I'm venturing outside, once I've finished rambling here, to photograph the ponies that I cleaned up last weekend, then order prints of them for my album, which is now huge since I added the refills I bought for it. I also have ponies from the lots I bought to list on eBay and then I may consider some laziness for this evening.

New Arrivals

Yesterday I was woken up by the postman, which was strange as it was about 3.30 in the afternoon so he was pretty late. I was napping because I wasn't feeling too well but felt a lot better to see my new additions. This was another eBay lot that I'd bought so the majority are for resale but there were four new ponies for my collection. It was a foreign auction and I couldn't use Google Translate at the time as it's blocked at work (I work in a college so I suspect it's blocked to prevent students cheating in foreign language classes) so I was guessing at some of the information. I knew there were two definite new additions as 'Spain' was mentioned, so no matter which pony this was, I didn't have her already as I don't have any Spain-marked Spanish ponies, just a few No Country Spaniards and a Piggy. This one turned out to be Hopscotch. There was also alternate pose Moonstone who I didn't have. When they arrived, the Sunlight in the lot turned out to be Italian and there was a different version of Italy Cotton Candy that I didn't already have so it was a great lot to receive.

New Arrivals

The day before yesterday my new addition was Play and Care (Euro) Baby Lickety Split, aka "Non-Beddy-Bye-Eye" Baby Lickety Split. I got her for a really good price and have wanted her for a while so was very pleased when she landed.

This set of baby ponies caused me some confusion lately; I wasn't sure if they were UK only or European and I was confused about Baby Heart Throb and whether or not the one that I had previously thought was a German release was the same as the Play and Care version. Luckily my Arena friends cleared it up which resulted in another pony being added to my want list, as there are two different Baby Heart Throbs; the Play and Care version and the German version. It just goes to show that even a seasoned collector can learn something new.

I prefer to refer to this set as 'Play and Care' rather than 'Non-Beddy-Bye-Eye'; much like the European set of 'Movie Star' ponies, I prefer that name for them rather than 'Non-So-Soft'. The 'Non' names were obviously a result of US collectors, who are our majority, discovering them and comparing them to their 'Beddy-Bye-Eye' and 'So Soft' ponies, but the addition of 'Non' implies a negative to me and that they are alternate. They certainly are alternate for the US girls and boys who grew up with their versions but to we UKers they are the standard and as such I prefer their true names.

New Arrivals - Derp Derp!!

My new arrival yesterday was the amazing Derpy! As yet unreleased, extraordinarily expensive Derpness! I love her, she's amazing and she smells like pineapples. Chi, if you're reading, thank you a million times for selling her to me! My new favourite G4 has landed.

Derpy, much like G4s Minty and Sweetie Blue, are ponies which cause me to have mixed feelings about their release. On the one hand, I want everyone to be able to have one because I have so many fantastic pony friends on the Arena, but on the other there is a very small part of me that hopes they aren't put on regular release. This isn't intended as a selfish wish, I don't 'wish' it, but the collector in me of course wants to have that rare, sought after pony, plus there's the amount of money that I've spent on them! Seeing Derpy for sale for £14.99 in Toys R Us would be slightly annoying given the price I paid for her! That said, if that did happen then I would still have no regrets. It's always risky spending a lot of money on an unreleased pony as it may one day be released, but what if it's not? Plus, I do want my fellow collectors to be able to have these as well.

To the BBC...

Well I was very pleased with the way the BBC piece turned out, Olivia did a great job with it and she definitely picked out the best bits to use! Joe looked adorable on it, I'm really happy we did this together, it makes it even more special.

My Dad's going to attempt to get it onto a DVD for me but if all else fails I'll video it with my iPhone and then at least I'll have a permanent copy if it.

Without further ado, here is a link to it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-17668955

The Filming

The filming for the BBC went well. Olivia who did the interview was very nice and put me at ease, or at least more at ease than was! I was pacing around the place just before she arrived and kept declaring "I'm scared".

She asked me various questions, most of them the usual; 'why do you collect?', 'why ponies?', 'which one's your rarest?' and the like. Then she took some shots of me messing around with ponies on the shelves and brushing one of their hair, which I was a bit dubious about as I don't really tend to sit and brush hair, but I did it anyway. She filmed me cleaning up a pony and then took various shots of the pony room, including one of our cats, Magpie, sat on the bed. She also interviewed Joe, who is now kicking himself for declaring that he has his own My Little Pony, which just happens to be a pink baby one.

I have mixed feelings about watching the programme; 98% good; it's exciting and I can't wait, but I don't like seeing myself on film or hearing my voice and I don't want to have made myself look like a complete dork! By that I don't mean looking like a dork by talking ponies, I mean in general! I guess we shall see what it's like tonight at 6.30.

Joe's had some texts from his friends who have seen the programme this lunch time! We haven't missed it as they air the same show at lunch time and tea time, but this just means that it's definitely happening today! Scary! Exciting!

I asked Olivia to take a pony for the presenters of Look North to sign so she took 'Baldy', as she was dubbed, and she will come back to me with various autographs and I will re-hair her. I only decided to do this in the few minutes before she arrived to do the filming; I've never prepped a bait as fast!

On the magazine front, I had my 'read-back' of the article over the phone at lunchtime today. It seems I'm talking to journalists almost daily at the moment, it's bizarre! The article was really nice and will also feature some other people with their collections which I like the idea of. There was only one part which was incorrect, which was the hair colour of Rusty (Reverse Gusty) so now that's corrected it's good to go. I still don't know when, I don't mind when, I'm just happy it's happening.

BBC Update...

I had a call from the BBC this morning to arrange a time for them to come and do some filming for Look North. They wanted to come round straight away! I took one look at myself, my house and the many ponies currently in neck braces (they've been cleaned, they have tissues wrapped round their hair) and swiftly told them I was unavailable today. They said they'd call back to arrange another time but I wasn't expecting them to ask to come later today! I could get everything in order and Joe would be back from gaming by then so I agreed.

Since then I've been frantically tidying the chaos that is my house but decided I needed a break so I came to talk pony and have a cuppa.

Left to do, I have hoovering, dusting, de-neck bracing of ponies and making myself look less like a vagrant. Wish me luck.

Pony Salon

I finally found the motivation I needed to clean the unclean ponies! It began with cleaning up the pony lots that I bought, which have also now been listed, what an undertaking that was! I figured my own ponies weren't as unkempt as the ones from the lots so it couldn't be that bad, right? Thankfully it wasn't too bad and now I have a bunch of girls and boys awaiting their photo taking.

I was hoping to take the photos today but even though it's stopped raining it's still pretty wet outside and I don't relish the idea of sitting on the wet floor to photograph ponies. I hope it dries up as I really would like to get them done.

New Arrivals

Yesterday I received my second lot of ponies to clean up and sell on and also my set of 2012 McDonald's ponies that I bought from someone on the Arena.

Today I arrived home to my third lot of ponies as well as a package containing more of the ones I ordered with my birthday money. As a surprise the seller, also an Arena member who I've dealt with a lot in the past, included some more McPonies as a gift! She's such a sweet girl and it was a really nice surprise! I'm going to trade some of the ones I bought myself and keep the gifts.

The birthday ponies were Sweetheart Sister Pretty Belle (I remembered the name of a Sister!), Sun Glider and Twist.

I also received some refills for my photo album and the last of my perspex display racks, which are actually intended for nail polish bottles but fit G4s in perfectly.

I'm just waiting for two parcels now, fingers crossed they'll arrive tomorrow!

Put on the Telly... to the BBC!!

Yesterday I came home from work to a card through the door from someone at the BBC which said "Give me a call about the ponies". I thought it was for the radio but it turns out that it's for the TV show Look North! They want to put me on TV with my ponies!! Wow, this whole magazine article idea got way out of hand. I like it, it's fun!! The guy from the BBC is calling me tomorrow to talk about it.

And now I have The BBC by Ming Tea stuck in my head, hence the blog title.

Customs Charges

This post comes with a warning about ranting and potential foul language!

Between 2003 when I started to collect ponies and about last summer I had, at most, three or four customs charges. Whatever, I can deal with that, even the £40 one I had to pay on a lot of about 100 ponies. However, this year alone I have so far paid nearly £100 in customs charges! What the hell happened?! Why have they suddenly gone nutso checking packages?? To top it all off they don't just charge the VAT aspect, they also charge an £8 handling fee every time! What a crock of steaming festering shite that is!! Not content with charging VAT on things that, if bought in the UK wouldn't even have VAT on them because they are second hand and bought from private sellers, they also want to charge me for the "privilege" of them going through my stuff, something I very much do not want them to do in the first place! What a bunch of arse holes! There is no point what-so-ever in trying to speak to anyone regarding the charging of VAT on secondhand goods because anything run by HRH (insert sarcastic salute here) or our sham of a Government is just too big and arrogant to actually listen.

It looks like I'm going to have to take serious consideration as to where I'm purchasing my ponies from in the future, which will obviously have an effect on what is available to me. It will also affect my new venture of buying pony lots, though I have to say the majority of the ones I'm finding are worth buying in order to re-sell are in the UK, due to the cost of overseas postage, so the effect on this will hopefully be minimal.

The fly atop this steaming mound is that the woman who attempted to deliver a package today to Joe while I was at work was a complete and utter bitch to him, declaring that payment by credit card and cheque were not possible, it had to be cash only, which he didn't have on him, so she stormed off stating the package would have to be returned to America if we weren't able to pay! She picked the wrong people to mess with! Joe was straight on the phone to UPS customer services which resulted in a phone call from the bitch, who was swiftly kicked into touch by Joe who demanded immediate re-delivery since discovering she could have taken credit card or cheque payment and at the very least she should have arranged a re-delivery once we had payment available, and as a stroke of luck for us but not so much for her, her boss lives on our street. He will be visited by a disgruntled Joe later today. The moral of the story? Don't fuck with Joe, especially over his wife's ponies.

Rant over.

My Fondest Pony Memories...

Some of the best pony-related memories I have are those when my Grandparents used to take me pony hunting to the second hand market in the town where I live. Actually nowadays you'd call it pony hunting, but at the time, in the mid-80s you didn't exactly have to try very hard to find them. There were literally tables and tables of heaps of ponies! There were two or three regular sellers who took various other toys to sell, but mostly they sold My Little Pony in these vast mounds. I was always so excited to go to town on Tuesdays with my Grandparents in school holidays because it always meant ponies! I loved looking through the piles of ponies, finding the ones I didn't have and choosing the one I would be allowed to have that day. If I asked my Granddad really nicely he'd sometimes let me have two if I couldn't decide on just one.

My Granddad passed away when I was 17. One of the many wonderful things that My Little Pony reminds me of is him.

The Quest for the Holy Grail

Every collector has that one pony that turns their eyes to the size of saucers every time they see or hear mention of her; the Holy Grail. A lot of us have mini grails or grail-esque ponies; ones we really want but will be relatively easy to obtain, at least in comparison to the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail, or just Grail, is the one you dream of, you will save and save for, and pray that when eventually you have the funding, she will be available for you to buy.

This is my Holy Grail; Greek Ladybird

(I don't know whose picture this is, I found it on Google, if it's yours let me know who you are so I can credit you, or if you want me to take it down)

The first I heard of her was when she appeared on eBay, way back before I joined the Arena or even knew Greek ponies existed. I was in awe, and my eyes? Yep, saucer-sized. She's been the pony I've wanted most ever since; my Grail. I'm not sure what it is about her, I mean I like ladybirds and I like the sitting pose but I don't know what it is that makes me want her so badly. But I do.

Someone was selling one on the Arena a few years ago and I was scrabbling for some sort of solution to allow me to buy her. I offered a payment plan to the seller but it was too long a time for her, understandably, it was about ten months! I sold all sorts to raise the money (not ponies of course) but alas I couldn't raise enough. Since then I've resigned myself to the fact that I will get her someday, but it's going to take some time. I actually bought a pony much more expensive than Ladybird, and indeed I could have bought my Grail instead, but another chance to buy the alternate pony again in the future were slim to none, so I chose to wait for my Grail. I have a tin, which I cannot access without the use of a tin opener, which I keep dropping cash in - odd bits of change here and there and hopefully soon some notes too - and when it's full I shall get my Grail.

I nearly had her just a couple of weeks ago. She was for sale on eBay at just below £500 and Joe being the sweetheart that he is said he would buy her for me for my birthday. So he bought her, paid for her and she was on her way... when I went onto the Arena to find a thread in the Nirvana Forum about a Ladybird on eBay with the wrong head... it was the one we had bought! I could overlook her few marks and non-display side symbol rubs but I couldn't get past the fact that she had a Cotton Candy head in place of her own. Thankfully the seller was very understanding and hadn't intentionally sold half a Ladybird to me, so I returned her for a full refund. It was nice to have her for the short time she was here and I was sad to send her back but I couldn't settle for half of my most coveted pony. She was really cute though to be honest, if the seller lowers her price I'd be tempted to get her back. I offered him $150 for her when I had her in hand, but even that was more than I wanted to pay. I think I would pay $100; what's that? About £75? Yeah, I'd do that. I'd have to have a complete Ladybird as well though, it would be rude not to.

So my quest continues. Maybe my buying and re-selling of pony lots can aid me in my quest?

Shelving Project: Phase II

Yesterday Dad came round to help me with Phase II of a two-phase shelving project in the pony room. I added new shelves probably about a year ago when I started to collect G4s and needed some more room for my customs and always planned to add more shelves, as well as some little display houses for Petites and G4 Pony Friends. Yesterday was phase II; I didn't think it would come around so quickly but those G4s just seem to be breeding! Joe is highly amused by my "phased" approach to shelving.

I once started to put a shelf up on my own in the pony room and quickly discovered I needed a masonry drill. Luckily Dad has one and even more lucky was the fact that he came along with it because frankly the thing is terrifying. We have a good system, I pass him what he needs, I hoover the red brick dust up as he's drilling and we have a good laugh while we're shelving. He's always more than happy to come and help with shelves and even turned the top of an old desk into a big shelf to put all my plushies on. As someone who regularly jokes that the cause of any problems I may have, financial or otherwise, is to do with having too many cats or tattoos (just my Dad's sense of humour) I would have thought that 'too many ponies' would have also come into that, but he has not once said anything of the sort. I think so long as it's making me happy then he's happy, Mum too.

For as long as Hasbro continue to make ponies I'm sure B&Q will continue to make shelves. And then there are always home extensions that can be built. Ahem.

Giving up My Little Pony....

Did I scare you? Did you think I was giving up ponies? As if! Has hell frozen over? Have pigs sprouted wings? Have bears stopped shitting in the woods? No! Well I'm even less likely to give up my ponies, so come on now! Tisk. April Fools?

No, what I'm referring to is when I did give up My Little Pony. When I 'grew out of them', or so I thought. I had about a hundred ponies when I was little. They lived in what my Mum called an 'Ali Baba basket', that is, a tall wicker laundry basket that looked like one a snake charmer would have. They lived in there when I still played with them but they had been sat there for a very long time, untouched, in my bedroom. I was happy for them to just stay there, they weren't in my way. I never did anything with them any more, they were just there, part of the fixtures. My Dad has a thing about getting rid of things that are no longer of use and had pestered me to think about giving them up for some time. I finally conceded and didn't think too much of it, except for I couldn't let my favourites, Applejack and Fireball go, they stayed in my box of memories. So off my girls and boys went to the charity shop without much of a second thought.

Oh how I regret that now! If only I knew! Well, I say 'regret', I don't really 'do' regrets, there's just no point. What's happened has happened and there's no changing it so regret really is a wasted emotion in my mind. That said, do I wish I'd kept them? Yes, of course I do. They were some of the most loved and played with ponies imaginable so as a collector I would of course have had to get some upgrades as well as my childhood ponies, but I would love to have them now. They'd have their own little place, for all the hair-cut and mega-frizzy girls who'd spent hours with me in the bath! They'd be their in all their rusty mangled glory! I remember one time me and my cousin decided it was a good idea to see if they could fly and proceeded to throw them out of my bedroom window when my parents weren't looking. The same cousin took it upon himself to post them all through my Grandma's letter box. You know who you are - Daniel!! Excellent memories made for very baity ponies. I only hope that some other collector discovered them and at the very least customised them into something beautiful again. I'm going to choose to believe that happened, I don't relish the thought of them in a landfill somewhere.

The two ponies I kept, Applejack and Fireball, sadly I have no idea what fate befell them. I know I kept them but for the life of me I cannot find them. I've moved house four times since I last saw them and although my parents still live in the house I played with them in, we still can't find them. Even as recently as last year I got upset about them, wishing I could find them, which has a lot to do with the fact that my Granddad bought Fireball for me, but Joe has helped me accept that they are gone. It's such as shame. I can cope much better knowing that I gave up the majority of my childhood ponies because, even though there was gentle persuasion from my Dad, it was my decision. I chose to keep Applejack and Fireball and now I don't know where they are and I just want them back, I didn't choose for them to go. Alas, I know I'm not going to get them back.

My new Applejack and Fireball, along with all the other girls and boys who keep them company in the pony room are, however, very much here to stay!