Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Sure Fires

Here are two of the horses I found in my supply closet last week – a pair of Sea Star “Sure Fire” Foals from 1997-1998:


The other horses in there I might have forgotten about, but I knew about these two; they were one of the reasons why I decided to undertake the task in the first place.

Why they were in there, I’ll get to another time; that’s another ongoing project I am trying to resolve this year. As to why I had two rather than just one, the second photo will clarify:


Their belly spots are different! I saw them side-by-side at a local Toys R Us, and I had such a hard time trying to choose between them that I decided to not decide at all, and kept them together as a set.

I loved the deep chocolately black color, the minimal crop-out pinto pattern, and I already had a bit of affection for the homely little Sea Star mold anyway.  

It’s difficult to see in the first photo, but one Foal also has brush-painted pinking on her nose, as opposed to the standard airbrushing. At first glance it looks like something somebody did after the fact, but an up-close and personal inspection shows it to be factory paint.

Hand-painted factory touch-ups and corrections are unusual, but not necessarily rare; most of the time they are in less noticeable places.

Sea Star is the least seen, and least loved member of Breyer’s Misty “trio”. The original Sea Star had solid, 8-year run in the Regular Run line (from 1980 through 1987), but unlike Misty and Stormy she hasn’t been given any Reissues since then.

There have been a fair number of other releases of the mold since then, but the most recent was the Palomino in the Pony Picnic Gift Set in 2010-2011.

Aside from these Sure Fires, the only other Sea Stars I currently have in the collection are multiple variations of the original Sea Star.

Because I’m weird that way.

4 comments:

Yvonne said...

I remember being at the actual Chincoteague Miniature Pony Farm when the Sea Star mold was first released and I just fell in love with that scrawny, knock-kneed foal! One of the few models that has been boxed up for storage and sits proudly next to my only 2 Breyerfest Raffle models!

Yvonne said...

Oops! That has NOT been boxed up for storage!

PixelPerfectStables said...

My 10 year old cousin loves Sea Star! She got the buckskin one at BF last year and already had several, including a Sure Fire from my carpet herd. :) She needs a couple more to have a complete conga!

Anonymous said...

I love the little guy! I have an original Sea Star but have also been wanting to add Sure Fire (and Bright Socks) to my collection. Not sure why I didn't buy them in the 90's. :D