I am not talking about germs. That's the easy part.
I am specifically talking about pink/blue/chartreuse highlighter-attacked/hair-bleed victims; glue-discolored, marred, cut, abused and neglected ponies that can find their way to listings with two photos that make them look in marginally collectable condition with some light TLC, (left and right sides) where one of them is nothing but the hair which has the tendency to cover up major issues.
For instance, I spent a bit on a really lovely G1 Brilliant Blossoms Merry-Go-Round only to find that there was something growing inside of it, which (at the end of the escapade) forced me to behead her because the tail and the mane had to be removed due to the funk eating away at the glue, rusting the tail and discoloring the hair from scalp up. And it stank.
Oh.
My.
God.
Did it ever stink.
The inside with covered in a slick, slime mold layer over the ENTIRE inside surface area AND in the head that had discolored the white vinyl from the inside-out. I have a feeling that the person I bought it from knew what they were selling because they gave me the runaround for almost 3 weeks until I got eBay involved over it not being as described. They relented, but it seems that I was not the only observant buyer they did that to as their account was "newer" from 2017 and is no longer registered. All of their ponies were being passed off as owned by an "adult collector".
That experience, and two others with similar problems completely turned me off from wanting to go head-first into G1. I think being burned 3 times was enough.
Lesson learned- I refuse to purchase any pony without more details unless I feel that I can trust the source. I ran into too many problems with G1 ponies being passed off as "semi-collectable condition" when they were total baits at the beginning. I am very wary about G1s because of my experiences. I am more likely to consider buying them face-to-face rather than over eBay. If it's in a lot I see it as collateral damage since it's more likely to have deep-rooted issues that the seller doesn't know about or don't care about. And if the seller doesn't reply to my questions then I won't bother buying from them. It's too risky, and too much work to restore the dears to their best condition, especially if you have to remove the head of the pony to do a thorough clean.
That's why I skipped right to G3. New to 7-year-old ponies are easier to restore than ones that are 24-36 years old, and I am less likely to run into issues with a dishonest seller because of the striking value difference between generations.