At Last, Another BreyerFest Buckshot!

You can tell that the Early Bird Ticket deadline is approaching, with not one but three different releases announced this week.

Two were obvious, or semi-obvious: a Bobbi Jo in a minimal Chestnut Pinto, and the “Samba” Surprise, which suggests to me either the Marwari mold (the Dancing Horse of India) or a Croi Damsha (whose name means Dancing Heart). The only thing dissuading me from those two ideas is that they were both released on very well-received BreyerFest Special Runs last year.

Releasing the same mold as a Special Run in consecutive years is not unheard of, but I’d like to give Reeves a little more credit and originality than that, in spite of evidence to the contrary. (Part of my mild apprehension to the Brahma Bull release Zebu is the name: calling a Brahma Bull release “Zebu” is like naming a Holstein Cow “Dairy”. Really, guys, that is the best you could come up with?)

So it’ll most likely be something else that’s a little less popular and more vaguely prancy, like a Ranch Horse, Rejoice, or Marabella. I also wouldn’t mind a Western Prancing Horse, but I’d rather not spend time tracking down any rare ones that would inevitably show up in a Surprise release, so forget I even mentioned it…

I like the Bobbi Jo, though I thought they’d go with something a little further away from the Premier Club release’s Red Dun Overo, and the Vintage Club Charlie in Chestnut Appaloosa. I do love minimally marked pintos, though, so I’ll definitely keep her under consideration.

But the one release that was a genuine Surprise – and a bit of a delight – was the Diorama Contest prize Pele – a Gloss Dappled Bay on the Buckshot mold?

Well, hello there, handsome. 

Didn’t see that one coming. The Buckshot mold has only been seen once before on the BreyerFest “circuit”, in another Solid and Glossy and Very Scarce release: the Gloss Charcoal Raffle Model Winchester in 1994.

If one thing can be said of the Buckshot mold, Reeves has not been shy about dressing him up in some of the most fabulous patterns and paintjobs, starting with his original release in that funky Blue Roan and/or Grulla Appaloosa. It is so distinct a colorway that it is often referred to it as “Buckshot Blue”.

As far as I can remember (long day) Buckshot Blue has only been used on one other Production item, a Special Run from the mid- to late-1980s onslaught of Special Run mail-order Belgians. (In other words, a Vintage Club release in that color is a bit overdue.)

But as one of Breyer’s more “artistic” molds – indeed, he was originally released as part of the “Artist’s Series” of models in the mid-1980s – Buckshot doesn’t get a lot of hobby-love.

Another factory in his lack of popularity is the fact that he’s also one of the most tippy of the Traditional molds. That’s why, in spite of my fondness for the mold, all of my Buckshots are currently in storage right now. There’s no amount of QuakeHold putty that would save them from The Vita.

I wouldn’t mind winning a Pele, but considering my luck on those sort of things, I won’t worry about the potential storage or display issues unless it actually happens.