Spot On

Did I forget to mention I got my Spot On the other day? She’s my eighth Connoisseur, so I’ve decided to call her Octavia:


I was not as enthused as I normally was when I saw my name on the Spot On draw list. It wasn’t the Connoisseur "fatigue" that some folks are quick to bring up every time a new Connoisseur is announced; I still get a little thrill every time I "win" one. It’s just that this time, that brief moment of happiness was mixed with concern over where I was going to put her.

I really have to consider my purchases very carefully now, since the recent remodel left me with significantly less storage space than I had before. It’s cheaper and easier to just avoid buying something in the first place, rather than have to go through the agony of purging something later.

I wasn’t going to decline her; I have this silly notion in my head that if I ever skip a Connoisseur opportunity, somehow I’ll never win anything again, ever - Connoisseur, Raffle, Bingo, whatever.

I’m so glad I have her now. Her paint job is simply exquisite. I kept her on my desk for several days, taking in all the nuances of shading and masking. In spite of its busyness, it seems to enhance the detail in the mold: I hadn’t noticed before what an athletic, muscular girl Roxy is. My only other Roxy is the BreyerFest one, and the flat black paint job tones down her muscularity somewhat.

I’m not real keen on her braided mane and tail. Aside from the fact that they’re slightly out of proportion to the rest of the model, the Roxy mold strikes me as more of a "jeans and t-shirt" girl. Don’t get me wrong, she "cleans up" real nice, but she looks more comfortable, and more herself, with her hair down.

There have been five releases of the Roxy mold in her first year of release, though only two - the original Roxy, and the current regular run Bet Yer Blue Boons - are readily available to most collectors. Well, maybe not the original Roxy, for much longer: I have noticed a considerable uptick in interest in her lately, more than your average BreyerFest Celebration Horse.

Five releases in one year may seem like a lot, but back in the 1960s, that was pretty much business as usual. Molds like the Fighting Stallion, Mustang, the Running Mare and Foal, and the Family Arabians all came in multiple colors - simultaneously.

Back then, there were a limited number of molds to choose from, so it made sense to release all of them in as many colors as possible, to maximize sales. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that multiple simultaneous releases became the exception, not the norm. More molds were available, and many of them were breed-specific, limiting their possible color choices anyway. The multiple simultaneous releases, ironically, became more prevalent in special run releases, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s. Special runs of the Pacer, Shire, SM G1 Draft Horse, Hanoverian, Phar Lap, Indian Pony, Balking Mule, Belgian, Bucking Bronco - all were released in multiple colors simultaneously.

Except for the some of the Treasure Hunts, and the occasional Gambler’s Choice release, these simultaneous releases (regular run, or special run) don’t happen very often anymore - with Traditionals. A recent exception has been the Ethereal Collection - I was just skimming the 2010 Collector’s Manual, and it seemed weird to see all four of them there. Doesn’t it feel like each Ethereal should have been discontinued before the following one was released?

Multiple releases are not uncommon among Classics and Stablemates releases today: they come out with so many different gift set combos in any given year, there’s bound to be a little overlap. They’re smaller, and cheaper, so for devotees of those molds it hasn’t been a huge burden keeping up with them - aggravating sometimes, but not as spatially or economically devastating as a Silver or Othello obsession might be.