It might not be obvious to some of our readers out there, but a few of us on the staff are Bronies (male adult fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). I’m especially hyped to finally see Season 3 starting up on November 10th. There’s an unfinished, unpublished article right now explaining this little cartoon renaissance I went through last year that started with my watching of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and then spread into shows like Adventure Time, Gumball, Regular Show, Transformers Prime, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and The Looney Toons show. When it came to the merch of My Little Pony, from the beginning I said I wouldn’t buy the toys. Yeaaah… But make no mistake, I loathe the brushables and much prefer the molded hair ponies. And I’m still not interested in buying those small blindbag ponies (even though I’m constantly tempted when they actually bother making a new mold instead of Mortal Kombat-ing the whole thing).

But one thing I wanted to avoid was the trading cards. My personal experience with trading cards is… somewhat turbulent early on and ended with a silent phase out at the conclusion of my highschool years. So what’s getting me back into trading cards again? What is it about this cross-eyed little wonder that’s enticing me into collecting these small pieces of printed paper. Hit the jump and find out.

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