Shiny and Bright

I have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the model horse conversation today, other than the fact that I bought a lot of stuff today that I shouldn’t. 

In my defense, I have been dealing with a lot of very dumb people recently, and at least one of the purchases (a box lot) will yield me a small profit, once I pull out what I want from it. 

That’s a good way to salvage a kind of crummy week, especially since I haven’t had an opportunity to intentionally make a lot of purchases for resale purposes. (The Sarong is still very much up in the air.)

The Merry and Bright Stablemates were a “for myself” purchase, not a “for profit” one, unless I get two identical pieces. I like them all, and the colors are neat, and very reminiscent (probably deliberately so!) of vintage Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments. 

I’ve decided against getting the Collector’s Club Gloss Palomino Emerson Chadwick – not because I don’t want him (I do!) or can’t afford him (I can!) but because I’m prioritizing my hobby money until the end of the year. If I do make any hobby purchases, I want that money to go towards Vintage items, rather than new ones. 

I’ve had very good luck finding high-quality Vintage items around this time of year, so it seems like a wise strategy.

Unlike the Stablemates, which is just an insane market in general, most Collector’s Club items are not particularly difficult to obtain second hand anyway (and in the case of recent special sales on the Breyer web site, first hand!), so I suspect my gamble will be a pretty safe one. 

I am slightly worried about the potential Winter Web Special animal, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, like I always do. Still hoping for a Dog mold, an Elk, or that Piebald Deer Family I have been clamoring for for years now. 

Another bull? Probably a pass, depending on the color scheme and actual mold used.

Blue Emerson

That eBay Benefit Auction Emerson? Of course I love him:

This color has only been used on a handful of releases in recent years. Aside from the Lancelot mentioned in the listing, last year’s Stablemates Club Gambler’s Choice Dahlia on the mini Croi also included it.

An Appaloosa variation of this color was also seen on the Best In Show Stock Horse Web Special Calvin in 2017, and a darker and more metallic variation appeared on the BreyerFest One Day Stablemate Big Lex in 2018.

That Stablemate was inspired by the life-sized statue of Lexington designed to promote the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. A small (slightly larger than Little Bits scale) resin of Big Lex was released at BreyerFest in 2010, which probably represents Breyer’s first production release of the color.

There were also a couple of Traditional Man o’ Wars painted to decorate a jump designed for Children’s Activity Area at BreyerFest, before it became all about Stablemates Painting. One of those Man o’ Wars was allegedly stolen, but if it was it hasn’t been seen since. 

There have been a few Stablemates Chase pieces in Iridescent/Interferenced Black-pointed Blue, too, mostly recently on the G2 Morgan for the Canadian Walmart market – aka “the French Stablemates”.

And there was last year’s “differently colored” Ansel, in Metallic Blue Overo.

Others have pointed out that the Emerson mold is actually a pretty good match for the Ukrainian Riding Horse, which is probably why the mold was chosen specifically for the purposes of charity. 

Out of all the previous releases, the only one I have is the Stablemate version of Big Lex. I didn’t buy the mini Lex because I am clumsy and break resins. Money was tight so I didn’t buy a Calvin at all. The Gambler’s Choices of both Dahlia and Lancelot gave me different colors, and I’m reluctant to pay the premium for either. 

Same goes for the Stablemates Chase pieces, except the premium is even moreso, because they’re Stablemates. (I saw how much the 2009 Frankenstang went for on eBay. Ouch!) 

And while I would have preferred the Blue Ansel to the Holographic Silver Uffington, because I really wanted the Cremello Uffington, I’m not going to complain about that one too much. (Other than finding myself in the weird position of having to pay two to three times as much for a regular Uffington compared to the holographic one.)

Part of its desirability is in its scarcity, but Reeves could throw us a bone or two our way in the form of a larger production run. Any mold will do, really....

My Monday

Checks e-mail.

Sighs.

Crosses Emerson off my “I Collect This Mold” list.

Wonders why I even bothered.

Buys some random cheap horses on eBay.

Goes outside to pull weeds.

Comes inside, opens newly arrived box with a completely different and significantly cheaper Breyer Race Horse:

I still can’t believe I bought a #936 Woodgrain Race Horse with its original Gold Foil Tenite sticker for less than the cost of… well, almost anything else now.  

I had a Woodgrain Race Horse before, but it wasn’t the one I was hoping for. This one might be – unless I manage to find an even nicer one at an even better price, though I doubt it. 

Eventually this market bubble will burst, so I might as well take advantage of the bargains where I can find them. 

Incidentally, this is only my third model with a Tenite sticker – including a Brahma Bull and a Family Arabian Stallion, both Woodgrains. 

Tenite stickers are a little harder to come by than the Blue Ribbon variety, and are mostly but not exclusively found on Woodgrains. 

I think Breyer originally intended to use the Tenite sticker on all of their models when it debuted ca. 1959 – I’ve seen it on Western Ponies and Old Mold Arabians in other colors – but it eventually morphed into a Woodgrain thing. 

Most of the Woodgrains – with the exception of the Family Arabians, and the Fighting Stallion – were discontinued by the time the Blue Ribbon stickers debuted ca. 1966. Consequently, they’re the only Woodgrains that can (very rarely) be found with the Blue Ribbon stickers.

Thriving in Chaos

Oh dear: 

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/west/crime/2021/05/07/four-arrested-after-fight-target-brookfield-victim-accessed-gun-concealed-carry-permit/4995203001/

Although I’m a good shot, I’ve had a couple of years of fencing lessons, and I can more than hold my own in a knife fight (I think), I am not getting in a physical altercation over a model horse. 

Other than a few possible elbows thrown in the NPOD during the heat of the moment – done more to protect myself than my acquisitions – the only time I recall actually getting physical in pursuit of anything was when I intentionally stepped on a guy’s foot at the flea market. 

And that’s only because he literally stepped in front of me at the last possible moment, as I approached a vendor’s table to scoop up some early Silver Age DC Green Lanterns for cheap. (Gil Kane issues, man!) 

Aside from him totally deserving it anyway, I could pass it off as an “oops” moment because (a) I have very big feet, and (b) the jerk really did nearly knock me over. 

But seriously, seeing multiple people casually mention that they’re only entering the drawing for Crane, the latest Birds of a Feather release, strictly for the money is kinda depressing. That means my odds of getting one as a person who just wants one to have one are significantly diminished. 

There are already two unobtainable Emersons – Noir, and the Pinto variation of Rocket – and I don’t want Crane to be the third. But my hopes are not high.

Even though I am – technically – one of those people you may have heard about who is actually coming out of the pandemic in significantly better financial shape than when I went into it, I am not throwing more of that money into the collectibles market. 

(It’s a long story and you know I don’t discuss personal details like that on the Internet, but I basically did a lateral move that has paid off very well for me.)

My budget for that nonsense is pretty much the same as it has always been, even if the targets themselves have had to change.

Since my tastes are pretty eclectic, this has not been much of a problem. But it does feel strange that I just upgraded a somewhat scarce vintage Woodgrain in my collection for less money than an average Slyder is going for. 

I think it’ll be a better investment in the end, too, but that’s a secondary benefit. 

Learning Things

Well, the video would have been done last night, but for some reason I decided I had to completely redo the last two minutes of it – new script, new photos, new animation. I am still not 100 percent satisfied with it, but I’m rarely 100 percent satisfied with anything I do, so that’s about par for the course.

Especially since I essentially did this thing completely and utterly from scratch. (Note to self: add “Working knowledge of Adobe Premiere Pro” to resume.) 

Will I do another? I’ve found that I don’t hate my voice as much as I thought I would, and once I figured out the basics of the program it wasn’t too difficult to learn. (YMMV: I’ve been working with Adobe products for nearly 20 years.)

But the month of May looks like it will be completely booked with other projects and stuff, so it’ll be at least a month before I will have the space to think about launching a multimedia model horse empire from my basement.  

So, what’s up for May?

Housecleaning first. Then the garden. Then maybe – maybe! – I can actually get one contest entry for BreyerFest done. Probably the Diorama thing because I already bought the supplies for it (one bottle of paint!) and since I’ve been stress eating a lot lately, I need to lose some weight before I think about doing any costuming in the near future. 

Speaking of contests, they finally released a picture of the Customs Contest prize model Noir, and all I can say is Damn You:

It’s close enough to the Tractor Supply Eclipse from last year that it shouldn’t bother me, but nevertheless, what we have here is another unattainable Emerson. Already. I had entertained notions of maybe saving up the cash to buy the Pinto variation of Rocket, but with prices being the way they are for everything right now, that money is staying in the bank. 

Sure, I could enter the Customs Contest and hope for the best, but all the ideas I have would require more than six weeks for me to complete to my satisfaction, and also involve learning (or relearning) how to use some tools and equipment. I just went through a couple months of that very process, and I’d appreciate the break. 

If I do try to learn anything new in the next six months, it’s either going to be (a) learning how to make real Turkish Delight, or (b) taking guitar lessons. 

(The latter one surprises me, too, but it’s actually been in my head for about a year, and the only thing that’s been staying my hand is the fact that I think I really need in-person lessons. Which look like a possibility by the Fall.)

The Choices Given

My Gambler’s Choices are…

…the Glossy Winx and the Appaloosa Valerio! 

The Winx was what I was hoping for, but the Appaloosa Valerio is a surprise, because I usually don’t get the Appaloosa option with Gambler’s Choices. I thought it’d be either the Rose Gray (who I think is the prettiest of the four) or the Unicorn (weird, but awesome in its own way).

Like most of the Valerios out there, he does have the “squish” problem with his neck, which some hobbyists are assuming – and as someone who did work for a plastics injection molding plant for five years, I nod in agreement – is probably a consequence of him being molded out of Cellulose Acetate instead of ABS.

As someone who sometimes goes out of her way to collect mold oddities, it doesn’t bother me in the least. Though I do hope that they resolve the issue for the 2021 Deluxe Club Membership Stablemate Alborozo, because I know my fellow hobbyists are not as forgiving. 

The only (slight) disappointment about the 2020 CCA offer is finding out about the other Glossies that they only hinted at. And that one of them was the Sable Island Pony. 

Dang it! I was afraid of that.

I’m definitely not considering trading my Winx for one, because her gloss is nice and thick and her shading is top notch and I love the Emerson mold. But I might consider trading either of my previous CCA Glosses (the Pinto Wixom Jake, or the Pinto Roxy Kodi) for one. Eventually. 

Or for a Gloss Catch Me. The ones I have seen are pretty nice looking, too.

Ah well, probably better to savor the choices I have been given, and not worry so much about what I haven’t.

In the meantime, I will be spending the rest of my weekend cleaning up and sorting out the horses that are now out of the car. Turns out that that most of the them are in better shape than I expected (yay!) except for one of the sets I was hoping to keep (boo!) The Bay Old Timer looks pretty good, and is more appealing than I remember, though it might be the nostalgia talking.

There’s also a freakish neon yellow and tan Shrinky Misty in the lot too that I shouldn’t keep, but I find myself… hesitating. The weather is going to be nice all weekend, so pics may be coming of her, next time.

Hindsight Is So 2020

How is it only Thursday? This week has felt at least a month long! 

The first thing I’ll say is that I will devote an entire post to the Celebration Horse controversy, but not today, because I’m still recovering from… all the other stuff.

I get that Reeves is trying to recoup some of the sales “lost” to the absence of an in-person BreyerFest by extending their holiday sales promotions into October. But I paid off my credit cards earlier this year and I kind of want to keep it that way by the end of it, you know? 

I mean, my family is going to be asking some questions in the next week or so about the sheer number of Reeves boxes getting dumped on our doorstep… 

Anyway yes, to start the week I did participate in the Customer Appreciation Sale: all of the revealed/mentioned items – Winx, Buckeye and the Catch Me – were acceptable to me. The Winx and the Buckeye had already been “revealed” through leaks to dealers a while back, but the Catch Me was a surprise. 

The one I’m most forward to seeing in Gloss is the Catch Me: all the ones received by my local retailers were heavily picked through before I got to see them, and therefore probably not the best or most representative examples. And I do love the True North mold.

Like everyone else, I am all hubba-hubba-yowza about a Gloss Winx: Emerson, in Gloss Dark Bay? Sold. 

And I’ve been casually searching for affordable Brown Sunshines for a big chunk of the year, without much success. I had no idea how popular that mold is right now!

Just last week I was thinking that I should probably put together a couple of alternate CCA “buy” lists, but since they dropped it on us two months early, I just went the easiest route possible and bought 5 of the 6 Fairytale Friends. I was planning on getting them all anyway, saving them as order fillers for free postage, but since my week started out pretty rough (not hobby-related) and I didn’t feel like doing any complicated math, in the cart they went. 

(The last one in the set will get added to my Honeybunch order here in a day or two, because you just know I’m not going to pass up an affordable Pearly Possibly Pinto Palomino Fell Pony Emma.)

As for what other Glosses might show up in the CCA mix, I have no idea. I saw some suggestions that the Brick and Mortar Special Lionel could be a possibility, and I am very much in favor of that, please and thank you, especially since I never got to see any locally and I had plans on handpicking one. 

But I am not going to worry about what I get, regardless.  

Patience

By the time I found out about the Tractor Supply Specials being online on their web site yesterday, the 30 percent off discount was effectively no longer operative – everything was listed as “no longer available”.

I figured the sale was some sort of mistake somehow anyway – why on Earth would they be on sale before they had even shipped them to stores yet? – and I figured I’d rather wait and handpick anyway.

There was probably also an element of hobbyists… taking advantage of the situation and ordering multiples, especially the Black Pinto Emerson Eclipse and the Christmas Horse Shannondell.

Tractor Supply Specials are not that limited and they will restock both, so have some patience and don’t give in to the not-so-nice people who might have gotten lucky enough to actually get one or more at the discounted price.

As we’ve learned with Vita, rewarding unpleasant behavior just leads to more unpleasant behaviors. Scalpers have less incentive to be scalpers if you don’t buy from them.

Same thing goes with Web Specials and other stuff like that. I just don’t understand to impetus for someone to buy a Web Special from someone else – sometimes at a significant markup – when they haven’t finished pulling the waitlist yet.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people who get drawn after purchasing it from someone else. Sure, I never get pulled from the waitlist, but I’ve also learned that if I wait long enough, I’ll eventually get what I want anyway, at a price not much more than the original offering.

It took me years to get a 1984 Just About Horses Saddlebred Weanling at a reasonable price. And a Golden Charm Man o’ War, too. And most of my Hagen-Renakers. And the thing that’s currently on its way to me.

(But let’s get this out of the way: Marshall is probably never going to happen.)

Sure, I would have loved to have gotten any of this year’s TSC Specials at the discounted price, but I don’t have access to the Internet most of the day and I am not even sure where my phone is most of the time. It was unlikely to begin with, and I have to be okay with that.

Waiting for the Tractor Supply Horses

Another busy weekend: I reorganized my main flower garden yesterday (and am I feeling it today, oof!) and I apparently made yet another grail purchase.

But you should know the drill about these grails by now (waiting until it gets here, yadda yadda).

I was hoping that all I’d have to worry about with regards to the upcoming Tractor Supply Special Runs would be whatever Stablemates (Blind Bags and otherwise) they’ll be adding to their standard store assortment. But based on the plan-o-grams floating around the Internet, it looks like it’s going to be more complicated than that.

The Alabaster/Aged Gray Classic Brabant is definitely a given, since I’ve managed to keep my little collection of the mold complete so far (and it comes with a wee blanket, squee!) I still haven’t opened up my Greenman yet, but horse inventory stuff is part of my extended Labor Day weekend plans, so soon:

I might even buy another Mighty Muscle in the near future for customizing purposes, but that will depend on the progress I make on all my other projects in the next month or so.

I am hoping that this Tractor Supply Special will be the last new release on the Brabant mold for a while, though. At least through the end of the year? While I don't expect the TSC Brabant to be all that difficult to get, I still could use the break.

You also know I’m also a big fan of the Emerson mold, so the Black Pinto Emerson in the TSC assortment will also likely be coming home with me. I’ll have to see what the Marabella and the Boomerang look like in person (and how my inventory plans go!) before I make any commitments.

I am intrigued by the Marabella; while the mold has come in an assortment of pintos over the years, her upcoming TSC release will mark the first time she’s appeared in Appaloosa.

Chasing Rainbows

From what I’ve seen of the Seattle Soiree models, I think I’ll be okay: I have no “mighty needs”. I certainly wouldn’t turn down a Black Blanket Appaloosa Idocus Nirvana if it were offered to me (at a reasonable price, of course, which is not going to happen).

They dropped a few more reveals on us today to brighten our spirits, including the rainbow-hued thingie they sneak-previewed in the March newsletter: it’s a Goffert named Crystalline!

I actually… really like this one. I was just thinking to myself last week that, other than the 2014 BreyerFest Celebration Model, I don’t actually have any Gofferts in the herd, and I’d like to remedy that. The colors remind me of Larkspurs and Delphiniums, flowers that I’ll be reintroducing to my garden once the weather warms up a bit more. (All of my previous ones have either died off, or spent themselves.)

They also “officially” announced the Winx portrait, on Emerson. The only surprise there is that they’re shipping by the end of this month. Since all the stores that would have her in stock are all closed as non-essential businesses until the end of April, I’ll just have to wait until May for the luxury of shopping for one in person.

And finally, the BreyerFest Saturday Raffle Model, Order of the Thistle:

Don’t get me wrong, he’s drop-dead gorgeous and if by some improbable bit of good fortune I win one he’ll be staying with me forever, but I continue to be amused by the lack of fuss being made about the mold choices this year. I am not quite sure how a Gold Champagne Tobiano Pinto Saddlebred on the Hamilton mold really fits into the theme here.

The only surprise is that most of us assumed that this mold was going to appear as a Store Special, not a Raffle model, because the only semi-reasonable way they could shoehorn a hot new mold into a theme it was unsuited for was as a portrait model of a guest horse or performer.

Nah, they decided to go the Woodford route: give an inappropriate mold a gorgeous paint job and a name that fits the theme, and call it a day.

No Peeking!

As I expected, I did not get in on the first selection go-round for the Seattle Soiree. I am not one of those people who gets picked for everything I enter, and I do not have a whole lot of sway or say in the matter, regardless.

All I can do is put my (single!) entry in and like everyone else, hope for the best.

With a caveat: I can only give myself until the end of January as far as waitlists (ha!) go; after that, the cost of travel goes up, and decisions about other plans have to be made.

This whole week – aside from that OMG moment in the Crisis on Infinite Earths event on Tuesday (THAT CAMEO!!!) – has been kind of a wash.

Some of the 2020 models are hitting the stores now; if I’m feeling up to it, I might coast by one or two of my local stores on Friday to check them out to cheer myself up. I have no plans on buying anything, though, but we all know how that works. 

I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen any more BreyerFest Special Run reveals or teases yet – the first actual tease last year was on January 15th. All the hubbub about the Soiree is probably monkeying up the works a bit.

The only unintentional (and allegedly unauthorized) “sneak peek” currently making the rounds is Winx, on the Emerson mold:

I don’t know any more about it than anyone else; there’s some speculation that it will get an earlier release overseas (like Australia), which would make sense, since that was the source of the original leak.

I am presuming it is going to be a Mid-Year release, and therefore available by BreyerFest – in the store, or through dealers either foreign or domestic – so while I wouldn’t classify her as an official BreyerFest model, it’s certainly something a lot of us will be looking for in Kentucky this July.

Incidentally, I am giving serious consideration towards throwing caution to the wind and marshaling all my resources into saving up for the Pinto variation of last year’s Rocket that just about broke my spirit. If I can’t have a Riddle, maybe a Pinto Rocket will do.

BreyerFest 2019, Part One

I’m not yet done unpacking and my brain is still stuck in unfiltered mode (four days in the hot Kentucky sun shorts it out that way) so how’s this deal: something short and rambly today, and something longer and more focused on Thursday?

Good? Good.

I managed to snag my two primary wants from the SR line, Bucky and Rocket; I couldn’t get a Quill or a Diana because my place in line with my second ticket was teh awful, so I ended up with what was left: (another) Bucky and Pepper.

No fun variations to be had in my selection, which is what I expected: I haven’t gotten anything “awesome” in the Ticket SR line – Glossy or Rarity – since 2012, and I wasn’t expecting that to change. I am not one of those people.

(Yes, both the Pinto Rocket and Benasque Blue Bucky did make me whimper. Quite a lot, actually. Mostly in private.)

My prediction of the Surprise Andalusian was spot on, and the variation bonanza did not surprise me in the least – other than the scope of it. I do like how that managed to draw some of the focus off the Surprise Special a little bit.

I know it did for me.

I like the Moody Andalusian and have several, including that glorious BreyerFest Special of yore Galahad, but knowing that I had a shot at a possible variation with all of the other Specials made it easier for me to stick to my original choices, rather than attempt to get one of the Surprises I wanted.

Which were the Medicine Hat Pinto and – you guessed it! – the Translucent Lime Green Silver Filigree. The latter was not my idea, but to the currently unknown somebody at Breyer HQ who dreamed up that confection: you get me.

(And no, I had no idea they’d be going with that when I wrote the post about my love of the color lime green back in May. Another coincidence, people. Seriously.)

I have no info about the variations, though what I’ve been hearing is 30 different variations total, with 30 pieces being made of the rarest (like the Pinto Diana, another heartbreaker for me) and others being 50/50 splits.

I am hoping that they’ll publish all the details soon, if only to quell the rumors floating around.

I neither like nor dislike next year’s theme, which is “Celtic Fling”: this seems to put me in the minority. I have nothing against it (except the inevitable onslaught of leprechauns) and I will say that I already have some ideas for Costume Contest and Diorama Contest entries, depending on what the exact focus of these contests are. (Especially the Diorama: for as much heartache as that contest gives me, I do love the challenge of assembling my entry.)

I am also giving some serious consideration to both the Live Show and the Custom Contest, but right now I just want to spend my time recovering from this year.

(And quilting. Lots and lots of quilting.)

The 2019 BreyerFest Program

In case you didn’t know, this year’s program is up. First, the important bits – Special Run piece counts and prices:

Pop Up Store Items:
711351 RCMP Musical Ride (Classic) - 1000/$30
711352 Officer Oliver Plush - 1000/$18
711353 Sarge (Stablemate) - 2000/$10
711354 10 Piece Celebration Horse Miniatures 2010-2019 - 2000/$60
711355 Defiant (Crystal) - 750/$45

Store Specials:
711349 Zipped in Black Magic - 1000/$75
711356 Rico - 1000/$75
711366 Hal - 1250/$70

Tent Models:
711341 Banner - 800/$65
711342 Bucky - 800/$55
711343 Hero’s Welcome Surprise - 4250/$85
711344 Pepper - 1545/$65
711345 Diana - 1800/$70
711346 Rocket - 1725/$65
711347 Quill - 1680/$65
711348 Natasha - 1650/$60

A few breakdowns and takeaways…

The total number of Tent pieces is 14,250(!) which means that they’re planning for approximately 7,000 3-day tickets sold, under the assumption that each attendee fully redeems their Tent SR tickets.

(Their calculations are probably a little more sophisticated than that, but close enough is good enough.)

It’s interesting that they’re producing more of the Store Special Hal than they are of the Rico; you’d think they’d know the popularity of the Silver mold and plan accordingly. My guess is they think that since the Hal is the first non-club release of the Dundee mold, more of him might be necessary for completists and customizers.

Unlike last year, when the Vendor Pack list “accidentally” revealed who the Gloss/Matte Split model was, we’ve gotten no such clues so far. It’s more likely to be Quill or Natasha, rather than Pepper or Rocket, because it’s easier to divide even numbers in half. (If it is Quill, my shopping plans might change...)

I have nothing interesting to say about the revealed Live Auction pieces so far, though I wouldn’t mind owning that Chestnut Pinto Emerson:

People are trying to read more into this particular statement on the BreyerFest blog about Lot 13:

Lot #13 is another one of our extra-special models, and you will just need to wait until Saturday, July 13th to see it unveiled!

The possibility that they might be holding out on the reveal of it until the actual auction is just another twist on the “mystery lot” thing. Previous Auction mystery models haven’t been that mindblowing, so I doubt that the “double secret mystery” lot is going to be something all that special – but then again, you know I set the bar pretty high for what I consider special.

Another Bowl of Ice Cream

Great, more Butter Pecan…

Because I really do want to add an affordable and attractive Emerson to my collection, I’ll just use the fact that they didn’t directly reference any character in their blog post and pretend the name is referring to someone different and/or better, like Milestone’s Rocket, the somewhat obscure Justice League International character Rocket Red, or even Dave Stevens’s Rocketeer.

All that’s left is the Decorator release, and… I got nothing on that. I kind of like the idea of a Translucent Camouflage model, but inexplicably they seem to be hinting that the military-themed model – Hero’s Welcome – will be the Surprise.

This makes no sense to me, since if any Special Run is inherently suited to a super-heroic theme, it’s one that involves a model whose true identity is a secret until it is almost literally unmasked. (But what does the comic book nerd with a complete original run of Booster Gold in her closet know, right?)

Regardless, if there is a Translucent Camouflage Special Run anywhere in the lineup – as a Surprise Horse rarity, or not – it’ll be on my list.

So at this point, my selections are going to be the Emerson, probably the Saint Bernard, possibly a Surprise Horse, and either the Appaloosa SCO or the Diana, depending on which one I like better in person. (And if I’m not in love with the Surprise, then definitely both.)

I’m not sure I’m interested in any of the Store Specials yet, though I do want to get a good look at the Dundee Hal first. I think that one is going to surprise a lot of people.

As for everything else, it’ll all depend on my mood, my budget, how much space I have in the car, what the Stablemates are, the slim possibility of winning something (ha!), and whatever I find in the NPOD or the CHIN.

In other words, the usual.

A Plethora of Pintos

From all the previews that dropped over the past few days, you can tell the end of the year is approaching fast…

First, the third of the Premier Club’s three 2018 releases, Emerson:

I think he’s my favorite of the three Traditional releases for the year. He reminds me of those lean and leggy Thoroughbreds you’d see in illustrations and photographs from the late 19th or early 20th century. He’s also reminiscent of the Love Classic Man o’ War, and that’s not a bad look to emulate!

(I have been sticking fingers in my ears, covering my eyes and mumbling nonsense phrases over and over in a desperate attempt to pretend to unsee the Stablemates Dundee Lipizzaner they previewed in the Collector’s Club Tent at BreyerFest this year. You guys finally release a Stablemates Lipizzaner, and you have to make the first one nigh-unobtainable?

Life is easier if I just pretend it does not exist, until it does.)

I’m a little bummed that Emerson will probably be a little off my financial radar. But likely not for long, because if past history is any guide, we’ll probably see him and all of the other 2018 releases in an assortment of Special Run or Regular Run releases in 2019.

(Put him in that gorgeous “Brass Hat” Bay, and ooh boy….)

The Out of the Blue is the first Collector’s Club Special Run for next year, a Black Roan Tobiano Pinto on the Bobby Jo mold:

While I’ve generally liked the open-ended, larger run Collector’s Club Specials, I haven’t loved them enough to order most of them. The only older one that I think I might cave in and get eventually is Moondance. I think the color and pattern are a good fit for the mold, and the Forever Saige mold is chronically misunderstood (and consequently undervalued, I believe).

I am seriously considering Out of the Blue. I like the mold, I love roany pintos in general, and the relative simplicity of the pattern – reminiscent of one of the original Weather Girl releases Partly Cloudy – is very appealing, and a nice change of pace from the more elaborate paint jobs we’ve been seeing throughout the year.

The third is the final Stablemates Club release for the year, Tabatha Pack’s Darley, I don’t know what to think about, to be honest:

The color is great: I am loving the Gulastra Plume, and I am not as bothered as others are over Reeves’s obsession with Pinto paint jobs this year. (I’m not thrilled by it, either, but that’s what sells. End of story.)

Usually I am all for crazy, awkward or unconventional poses, but I am not quite sure what the heck is going on with Darley. I’m assuming it’s one of those “Arabian” things?

I’ll probably love him once I see him in person. That’s how these things tend to work.