Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Surprise - Another Palomino Ruffian!

Well, that is interesting. The Dead Heat is going to have variations, but by color, not finish or mold:


It’s been a while since Reeves let us know about a BreyerFest Gambler’s Choice model ahead of time. The very first one, in fact: the Quarter Horse Geldings in 2009.


Even then they didn’t clue us in on the extra rare ones – the Charcoal, Smoke and Silver Filigree – and this is why I can’t completely dismiss the possibility of other variations (long tail/short tail, or Gloss/Matte) of Dead Heat showing up.

The Traditional Ruffian mold hasn’t come in a lot of lighter colors or dilutes, but she should, because I think she looks darn good in them. It’s a nice a visual antidote to all the darker colors and more conservative patterns she’s been released in so far.

But I can see the Palomino variation is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea – in fact, I see a lot of features and details others may shake their heads disapprovingly at: a Vintage “orangey” hue, unstriped gray hooves, a pearly mane and tail, and blue eyes?

No surprise here: I like her, a lot. Aside from all her weird and funky details, she could be a big sister to my two Classic Palomino Ruffians!

I am unsure if I’ll be penciling her in as a possible addition to my herd: it’s partly the budget thing, partly the size thing, but also because my luck on getting the Gambler’s Choice I want has been rather dicey in recent years.

If they do a 50/50 split, a Chestnut one won’t be that hard to trade, but I’m all about minimizing the hassles of BreyerFest this year.

This is also why I decided to forego the Customs Contest a while ago – that, and the fact that the body I wanted (a Carrick) is still too new and too expensive for me. I just can’t imagine paying more than $10-15 for a body that I might end up ruining completely anyway.

(I’m the same way with quilting supplies, incidentally. Having to pay more than a couple bucks for a yard of fabric practically gives me the vapors.)

I’m happier experimenting with the body box leftovers anyway: I’m currently eyeing a Standing Stock Horse Foal with a broken leg and a dinged up Mesteno’s Mother body as potential victims, when the weather gets warmer.

Both of them came out of that doomed box lot I bought a while back: they’ve already been written off as a loss, and a Mesteno and one of the lesser Hess molds didn’t have much salvage value to begin with. I can mess with them to my heart’s content, guilt-free.

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