Crankiness warning activated: this week has been messy, complicated and exhausting. I no longer have the patience or energy to engage with people who have the luxury of being angry all the time about everything – whether it’s about work, life or horses.
I finally made it to a Tractor Supply this week and saw the Indian Pony Sayan. She is very pretty, but I am still not motivated to get her. I wouldn’t mind getting the Stablemates, but the store I visited didn’t have them, and I have a suspicion that I’m not going to see any of them any time soon.
My work schedule might be changing, again, so I literally have no idea when I’ll get back.
I did make it to a few Five Below stores this week to investigate the latest Breyer Mystery: these new Classics-scale “Paddock Pal” Horses and Unicorns. I haven’t found the horses yet, but I did buy the four Unicorns. My favorite is “Cherry”:
When I first saw them on eBay earlier in the week, I made the erroneous assumption that they were possibly Reeves’s entrée into the 1:6 Scale market: they looked a lot like the vintage Marx Horses preferred by military miniaturists, both in terms of style and materials. The box was also very similar to the “Touchability”boxes used on the Breyer-branded Plush Aurora releases, some of which can now be found in the toy departments of some Meijer superstores.
(Meijer is a slightly more upscale, Midwestern equivalent to Walmart that very occasionally carries Breyers. But none currently: the plushes are distributed by Aurora.)
Some of the initial speculation about the origins of these models was… interesting, to put it politely. When it was discovered that they appeared to be a Five Below exclusive, my first thought was: Oh, so this is how Reeves is trying to break into the “Discount Store” market.
One of the few bright spots in the retail market has been the rise of Discount Stores like Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and my personal local favorite, Debby’s Dollar.
A lot of name brands have been tailoring products for the Discount Store market, and I was just wondering when – or if! – Reeves was going to tap into that market. Reeves had dumped some of the Walmart Stablemates at Five Below before – and some of the more recent Blind Bags are also showing up there again.
As for the criticisms about the materials, the quality, or the fact that they’re even in discount stores at all, I find most of them moot. These are intended as an inexpensive, entry-level product. For most non-hobbyist consumers – we’re talking parents, grandparents and younger children – a plastic horse is a plastic horse.
They’re a significant step up from the usual equines available at this price point, and are therefore more attractive product for a child who may potentially outgrow their horse phase. And for those that do not, the brand recognition is built-in.
I find them interesting. There are several Five Belows in my area, but I do not know if I will go out of my way to find the horses: as I mentioned before, my time is currently at a premium.
(FYI: I still think they need to do 1:6 Scale horses.)
7 comments:
I have no problem with these being $5 toy horses. I did find it annoying when everyone was oohing and awing over them when the were $26 on eBay. That's more than most Classics cost for models that are clearly not Breyer quality. But for $5 they are a good buy. I personally don't think they are are worthy of being called Breyer, but hey, I grew up in the 1980's. Breyers were what I bought to get away from all the cheap junky horses that were unrealistic even to a child's eyes.
PS. I LOVE the plushie! Where were these things when I was a kid? I don't think I had a single stuffed horse. Now there are stuffed horses all over the place. :)
Okay well that answers my wtf are these about those paddock pals . And I have a decent collection of the little bits myself I love them. The resins on bases they did a few years back were really close size at least the one Andy I managed to snag was my second chance surat finally arrived and he's as much a second as second chance but regardless I like him and know I like the mold better than first seen in his initial release leopard
Yeah, these are definitely not $25 horses. The secondary market is so crazy right now that it's made a lot of hobbyists... also crazy. I have no luck at all speculating on store releases, so waiting a couple days for this situation to shake out was worth the (thankfully) minor risk.
I figure Reeves is trying to cover all the bases here, model-horse-wise, and the only "cheap-ish" stuff they had were the Stablemates. The discount store chains were probably all like "your stuff is great, but you got anything bigger at a similar price point?" and this was the logical conclusion.
As far as being seen as "beneath" the brand, let's not forget the controversy a while back when resins became a bigger thing that many hobbyists were openly deriding OF Breyer collectors for continuing to collect lowly plastic models, because resins were obviously superior in every way.
It sounds great to me! If only there had been a step-down line of cheap, styrene Breyers, meant for kids who couldn't grasp the concept of "they're for collecting, not playing!" (myself!), back when I was young and obstinate. Only I'd want them to be the proper Chris Hess sculptures....
And yes, I'd say the Breyer brand makes a difference. When I found styrene Hartlands for sale- once- at a Toys R Us (1987?), my mother cautioned me against buying them. And she was not a model horse fan, just concerned about me buying something that wasn't up to standard.
P.S. Congratulations on finding that crazy Five Gaiter!! :^)
Just like those "play line" Stablemate six-packs that everyone was yelling about earlier this year because they "look cheap" -- these are meant to be played with in the dirt and bathtub. And if the kid wants something a bit more realistic and durable later on, as you say, the brand recognition will be already there .
My husband works at Five Below and gets the cheap Breyers for $4.25 with his discount. Can’t believe people are asking $25 on eBay!
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