Thursday, June 21, 2012

Egg on my Face

Well, in my defense, I was only mostly wrong about the third Vintage Club release: I did get the "Reeves wouldn’t release the Running Mare without the matching Foal" part right.

And it’s nice to see that Reeves is now acknowledging that the Running Mare and Foal were released prior to 1963, which makes up (slightly) for the time that they misidentified (and misdated!) the Proud Arabian Stallion as the Family Arabian Stallion on their Facebook page.

There was an offhand comment by someone on Blab a few weeks ago about a Reeves employee/rep mentioning that the next Vintage Club release was "black and white", but I had discounted that because a similar rumor about a "buff" (Palomino?) Silver a few years ago never amounted to anything.

Oh well, I guess that just means I’m merely an expert, not a prophet. Major league baseball players only need to get one hit out of every three at bats to be considered "All-Star" material, right? I’ll comfort myself with that thought.

I am getting annoyed that it’s being referred to as a "Charcoal" Pinto, since the colorway that "Salt and Pepper" sport was never formally identified as Charcoal Pinto in any of the contemporary ephemera. (Just as the Smoke Belgian was never actually called "Smoke"!) It’s a nitpick, I know, but hey, I’m the queen of nitpicking. (And their hooves aren’t pink, either, so there.) The Foal’s pattern is based on the Western Prancing Horse’s, but the Mare is a little harder to tell (Shetland Pony-ish?)

My only other concern with the release is that it’s going to make the Breyer web site forums even more insufferable than they already are. (Are they a textbook argument for firm moderation, or what? Sheesh.)

Let’s see, in the next week we should see: a half dozen threads harassing/demanding Reeves release a matching Stallion; several more complaining about the overspray (it’s intentional folks - check out the Regular Run Bay Pinto Fury Prancers); and at least one griping about it not being solid Charcoal instead.

(I love Charcoal, but the obsession the Breyer web site forum-dwellers have with it is making me reconsider.)

Oh, and three or four threads of people crowing/chest thumping about how Reeves listened and responded specifically to their demands. That line of argument especially gets my dander up.

Other than a few extra-limited Special Runs and Glosses, Reeves does not have the ability to execute "quick" responses to collector demand: the factory is in China, for Pete’s sake. The rest of the releases for the Vintage Club - the fourth release, and any other special offers - are probably already either in production, or in the advanced planning stages (subject to minor, last-minute tweaking). 

We all like to entertain the notion that we’re more influential than we actually are. I’m not any different - and I get reminded of it all the time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but in my opinion those are HIDIOUS. Wouldn't display them if someon GAVE them to me. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

I think they are wonderful. Kudos to Breyer for the surprise. Hopefully next year those who really don't know what vintage is (or only joined to resell) won't rejoin the club. Maybe that will cut down on the complaining.

Ha ha, I made a funny. I'm not sure this hobby has ever existed without all the complaining.

Anonymous said...

All it takes is looking at the VIN, which gives month and year of manufacture. Magnus's says March12, and I woudl not be surprised if Salt & Pepper's are February or March.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the forums are already full of that nonsense. More people saying they'll cancel, more griping about the "fake" charcoal, etc. I don't even think the majority of people in the club had seen the picture before the usual suspects started loudly chirping.

BreyerRose said...

I find all the blab too annoying to read so am delighted to get the synopses in your delightful blog instead.