I do not see how one person represents the community. Yes they are apart of the community, but they do not have to mention anything about the community.

Whether their intention is to represent the community or just themselves is pretty much irrelevant when it comes to this type of exposure.  Pony collectors are becoming more known in the mainstream thanks to FIM and the brony fandom.  People who aren't collectors of anything, just average, everyday folks, have probably had some kind of exposure to MLP in the last year or so.  Unfortunately, the average everyday folks aren't going to remember their MLP exposure because of average everyday collectors, like the majority of us.  It's the things that are shocking, deviant and more "out of the box" than just collecting that people remember.  And then they have that association with MLP in general. 

I recently had a conversation with another collector (non-MLP) and figured "hey, you're a collector!  We have a similar mentality, you could be way cool to hang out with!"  Yeah, then I told him what I collect.  Even as a collector himself, he wants nothing to do with MLP or MLP collectors because of the negative light that's already been put out there, and that's without the help of a national television show that emphasizes the "crazy" in My Crazy Obsession.  I was basically told that I'm a pedophile because I collect MLP's.  In his mind, all MLP collectors = Bronies, and all Bronies = pedophiles.  Thanks to a small subset of deviant people who have been unfortunately vocal about how extreme their passion for MLP is.  Can you imagine what will happen to the community in general once millions of average, everyday folks see MLP as a crazy person's sport?

ETA:  I think it's incredibly niave to think that someone who might do this show could sway the minds of people who watch this program into thinking the subjects are just normal and innocent.  People watch this show because they WANT to see how bizarre the subjects are.  And yes, I'm referring to people as subjects, as that's what they are when they're exposed like this.  TLC is a tv station, they don't exist without viewers and ratings.  A show that's simply informative about collecting is not going to be half as interesting to the average viewer nowadays than a show about freaks who obsess over a toy that isn't created for them.     

My ponies have been stored in plastic totes for pretty much about a decade and I've had no ill effects.  I use the shallow ones that are meant to fit under a bed.  They're just the right height to fit ponies standing up.  I have the ones that are about 2 or 3 feet long (not the kind that go the whole legth of a bed) and I fit about 50 G3's in each one.  I've always stored them in the house, so it's probably not necessary but I always toss a couple silica bags in each one.  The only thing I would warn against it stacking them too high.  I don't know about the G3's, but with a couple of my G1's, I have some smushed unicorn horns from stacking the bins too high, where the lids started to sag a little under the weight.  Luckily they popped back into shape.  These aren't the best pictures, but it'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about: 

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Man, I wish this had happened last year!  I just moved to NC from Locust Grove, VA.  It's pretty much down the street from Fredericksburg!  Might be a good escuse to go back for a visit.  I was just there last week but I could stand to take another drive up!  Don't put me down as a 100% yes, but I might be able to swing it.  Was there a VA meet in the past?

I'm curious to know what their official stance is on customs, plushies and customized items or merch made with their trademarked characters.  They're all over on ebay and private forums for sale, but I've only heard of one instance where a cease and desist was sent.  Is there some kind of rule against using the names, likenesses, artwork, or do they not care? 

500 to the US Con and 500 to the UK Con! That seems an odd split doesnt it...considering the scale of the 2 events compared to one another! Hey...we may be a quarter of the size in population as the UK but I guess we have the same amount of collectors!

At second glance, the 500/500 split may not be quite right.  If I remember correctly, the most pieces Hasbro will donate is 300 and I don't believe that the UK ever placed any actual orders, they just worked with the donated amounts.  However, the year that we had the pink pony in RI, they had the yellow and black version in the UK.  The German con purchased the batch and I'm guessing it was, again, a donation of 300 to the UK.  So there were at least 1000 of the pink RI exclusive.  I know we had more than 500.  I'd really have to go back and look at my files, but god only knows where all that stuff is these days!  I guess you could say this, anything that is a US exclusive there are at least 700-1000 available (with the exception of Bay Breeze), and anything UK exclusive there is a maximum of 300 available (with the exception of the black/yellow one, which Germany got as well). 

And not to hijack this thread, but I have TAF Pinkie Pie from Memphis, TAF Pink from RI, TAF Yellow/Black from Germany, and Peacock ponies all taking up too much space!  Just shoot me a PM if you still need any of those! 

There is a number that is stamped/pressed in to the box that reads 91941.  I sure hope that doesn't mean it's the 91,941st peacock pony in the UK.

Lol!  Nooooooo...The Peacock pony was a special order for us and wasn't meant for extra distribution.  You need a minimum order of 1000 pieces for Hasbro to do a custom run.  Occasionally they would use extras that we didn't purchase from a run for charity giveaways, that's where the 300 for the UK comes in.  I'm not sure if they actually produced more than 1300 or not, but I seriously doubt they would have run more than 2 batches (totalling 2000).  Hasbro tends not to know what to do with their extras, which is why I have a closet stuffed to the gills in my spare room full of "gifts"!  (Not really complaining there!)  So you definitely don't have number 91,941!  The sticker numbers don't really mean anything, as they weren't numbered by Hasbro.  If you see any markings that look like it would have been numbered, it's most likely the batch number for the box printing.  (Pony batch numbers are usually printed on the pony itself.) 

I'm sure what you have is official merchandise.  I don't really recall there being a surge of unofficially released products with this pony.  If you don't have the UK sticker on the bottom, you may just have one of ours from the US.  We didn't sticker every one of them, just those that were picked up at the event.  I think.  Honestly, we may not have stickered the Peacock Pony at all!  Dang my memory is sucking today!  Anyway, point of my long drawn out post is: I'm sure your pony is official!     

Wow, a MIP Rapunzel? That sounds pretty....unlikely. :I Some pics would be appreciated.
Honestly, this sounds more like a story to make new FiM fans look bad. Especially the title.

THIS.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of the fad itself either, but...this is a kind of crappy way to passive agressively get other people on an anti-brony bandwagon.  I have to agree that it seems a little too far fetched to be true, but hey, that's just me.  I'm cynical and skeptical of most things. 

What really bothers me more about this post is everyone being up in arms over how this girl could have done this without researching beforehand.  If she's not a collector, and doesn't know anything about ponies, why would she bother?  Of course it makes sense to us to look up values and do research on things, whether they're MLP or not, because that's the nature of a COLLECTOR.  If this girl wasn't a collector of any kind, she's not going to think like that.  Most people don't go wander through life assuming EVERYTHING has some kind of value.  Plus, it's like it's been said a million times before: her toy, her rules.  She can do what she wants with it.  It's not the collecting community's job to hunt down and save ponies from non-collectors.  It's none of our business what someone wants to do with their personal property.  If this really did happen, just write it off as another cautionary tale and move on.  Why make yourself crazy over something that's really none of your business?