From KY to WY

Just passing through, obviously, since I am in between vacays here, but I thought I’d share a few things I picked up in Kentucky:

Yes, that’s a Glossy Marciea Bey. 

First I swore, then I started crying; I was doing pretty lousy at the show prior to that, and even briefly contemplated leaving early. But things got better, and I managed to exceed my goals in the end. (I mean, obviously: winning a Glossy Prize Model wasn’t something I imagined was possible!) 

Even so, if I ever get the idea to do show at BreyerFest Live again, you are all invited to come to my house (unannounced!) and hit me with a 2 x 4. With a nail in it, if necessary.

Because dang, that was hard work. I probably could have eaten an entire pizza afterwards and not even felt it. 

I also got Fifth in the Stablemates Collector’s Class, but didn’t do diddly in Commonality: it’s kind of hard to compete with people who are willing to spend $15,000 to win a $1,500 prize model. At least I gave it a shot, and I can now check off a couple more things off the Bucket List. 

Yes, that Surprise is Glossy, and represents the first time in over ten years since I’ve been able to pull a Gloss Surprise at in-person, from-the-actual-line BreyerFest. I ended up getting a second in the same color, but traded that for the Decorator; (I almost got the Gloss Roan Pinto, but there was a communications issue. Worked out in the end, anyway.) He’s super nice, too, so he might end up in the showstring someday.

I got both Scurries, thank goodness, so my Emma collection (except for the rerelease, and Test Colors) remains complete.

I also tried to get the Roan Araba variation in the Leftover Line, since my Gloss obviously needed a sister, and because I usually always end up with a Roan every year at BreyerFest. But she was just the regular Black one, alas. When my credit card was declined on the fourth(!) pass through the leftover line, I figured it was time to surrender.

I laughed a little when I saw that the BreyerFest Chevaliere was a Roan, because the majority of my Volunteer Models have been Roans. I ran into more than a few people who assumed (incorrectly!) that I was volunteering, but I just want to remind everyone that that was definitely not the case this year. 

It was a little annoying to see so many Chevalieres for sale, but that’s all I’ll say about it. Eh, I’m more “Team Smoky Black” this year…

I did end up with a Volunteer Model (not Chevaliere!) from a kindly benefactor, but that is another story, for another time.

As far as quantities on the variations, I have no idea what’s going on. They’re pretty scarce, but they don’t seem excruciatingly rare: I have a feeling that they’re going to be in the same range as the Horse of a Different Color variation quantities, so a few hundred of each, perhaps? I think that is a good number/range to shoot for, if they continue to do this sort of thing: that quantity range means that they’ll still be expensive, but theoretically “gettable” for people who collect those molds, especially less popular ones.

Jump and Drive and Wells are both 50/50; the loose mane JD and the Gloss Wells just seem a little rarer right now because those are the variations most people want right now. I also have a feeling the Stagecoach Surprises were evenly split, or close to; the Decorator seems a little rarer because the color is exciting and new and everyone wants it. 

The only other variation I “need” is the Action Foal, since I got the standard Standing Foal, and I don’t think that one will be hard to come by. I will not be in market for one for at least a couple of weeks, and by then we’ll know what the splits actually are and we will all be able to negotiate more fairly.   

There’s a lot more, of course, including some not so nice stuff, but now is not the time to dwell on any of that; I have to finish packing and printing my itineraries and stuff. And also apparently I have been assigned Encore Baby Watch, and I need to make sure my camera is in good working order!

Lost Goodies

I wish they didn’t post that picture of the Gloss Bravour 54s on the Breyer web site: I made a commitment to finish my unfinished projects this year, and nothing I am currently working on can be shoehorned into a Diorama Contest entry. And it is making me a little bit sad, because I do love the old Hess Trakehner, and there are already a couple of them beyond my reach. 

A couple of the customs I’ve been tinkering with are looking better than I expected, but nowhere near Custom Contest territory: all my creative energy went into the garden this weekend, instead. It was the first truly nice weekend this year, and I had to make up for lost time. (Buckets and buckets and buckets of weeds…)

I suppose I could be optimistic and say that since this year’s Celebration Horse was not overly well-received, acquiring a Gloss one second hand might not be as expensive as I anticipated. Kind of like the latest addition to my herd: a Glossy Bandera!

Even though he was clearly the least popular of the Glosses distributed in the Collector’s Club Appreciation Event in 2017, there were still only about 125 of him made. 

Despite his lack of popularity, he’s not all that easy to come by now: I had been looking for one half-heartedly for the past few years, and the ones I did find weren’t at a price I wanted to pay. 

This one I happened to find on eBay, advertised as a run-of-the-mill Bandera, and I ended up getting him for less than I paid for my Regular Run Bandera. (Though, admittedly, I did pay “full price” for an extra dark one in the NPOD that year!)

It kind of fascinates me how more recent models specifically designed for the collector’s market can end up misidentified and/or essentially abandoned in the secondary market. 

Some of it is due to a lack of popularity (like Bandera, obviously) and some of it is via the distribution method: I always wonder what the actual percentage of “chase” Stablemates randomly happen to end up in the hands of people who just grabbed a blind bag or two just for funsies and got lucky. 

I’ve found WEG 2010 models and Vintage Customs at the local flea market, a BreyerFest Shannon and Excalibur at a sale advertised on Craigslist, and over a dozen MOC Special Run Hagen-Renaker mini Cocker Spaniels at an antique store in town, so I know it’s possible to locate these lost goodies on occasion. 

But in today’s super-heated collector’s market, it is increasingly unlikely, even with a mold as “unpopular” as the Hess Trakehner. BreyerFest Glosses, regardless of the mold involved, make collectors a little bit crazy, too. 

That’s about all the thought and consideration I can give the Gloss Bravour 54s, though: I have to focus on getting ready for my “one shot” at potential BreyerFest-specific treasures – the Live Show! – and finish planning for the other vacation. 

(I just booked the tickets and the rental car, so there’s no going back now: I am simultaneously excited and terrified!)

Affectations

Completely missed out on the Vintage Club Grab Bags: I was in-transit to work. I’m actually a little bit bummed, since I suspect that there might be a few Gambler’s Choice items mixed in there, and that’s all I really have a hankering for. (Another Sailor would be nice. Or an Ali!)

That’s okay, I have a neat package to open up today that will make up for it. (Next post!)

My first reaction upon seeing the Patriotic Spring Decorator Washington was “Oh, at last a more easily obtainable and/or affordable Interference Blue Bay release.” And I happened to grow up in Washington Township and participated in a couple of Bicentennial-themed parades back in the day.

(Yeah: I am OLD!)

Then a few moments later: “C’mon you know better.” 

Most of the online dealers are already sold out, and with my current work schedule, picking one up locally is a dicey proposition. So I’ll have to wait and see what the situation on the web site will be. Quick sellout, or will he linger?

Last year’s Patriotic Decorator Anthem isn’t too hard to come by now, so I think I’ll be okay. The Show Jumping Warmblood mold isn’t super-mega-popular, or even as popular as the Ethereal mold. 

I only have two other Show Jumping Warmbloods: the 2010 WEG Special Run Cedric, and the 2020 Celebration Horse Ballynoe Castle RM. All the others I’d like on this mold I was either not drawn for (Magpie, Inconspicuous, Bolo) or are budget-busters (Here’s to You, Apollo). I might pick up a Sugar Maple eventually, if the time and price are right.

One model I will definitely be going out of my way to get is the rerelease of Carltonlima Emma, now with neck sash:

I know a lot of hobbyists are a little disappointed that Emma is Not A Glossy. We tend to forget, however, that Gloss finishes are a hobby affectation: something that is way more popular within it, and not so much outside of it. 

Since it’s being marketed to the general public, it makes sense to release the original model. The neck sash is a nice little perk, even if it does give off strong “Malibu Stacy” vibes.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll save some to Gloss for another promotion – the Collector’s Club Appreciation Sale, Live Show Prizes…

And speaking of that, I had my first BreyerFest nightmare last night: I was 4 hours late for the live show and missed most of my classes. It never ceases to amaze me how my brain tailors my terrors like that. 

Pardon me while I try to figure out whether or not to sign up for one Collector’s Class entry, or two…

Another Shiny Object

It’s a good time to be a nerd, but so help me, if anyone spoils the series finale of Picard for me, there will be heck to pay…

Not understanding why Paramount isn’t doing an IMAX screening in the Detroit area: are they completely unaware of the fact that some of the earliest Trek Cons were held here, and that Detroit was literally one of the first major media market to broadcast Star Trek reruns in the country?

(Frakes and Spiner are going to be at Motor City Comic Con this year; I suppose this will marginally make up for the slight.)

We make a lot of jokes about hobbyists being distracted by shiny objects, but my current distraction is not a horse, but a vintage camper sitting in a neighbor’s driveway with a “For Sale” sign in the window. It’s always been a bit of a dream of mine to restore an old house, but in lieu of that, a vintage camper will also work. It’s a tiny, portable house! 

Alas, this one priced very optimistically, so it really is just a distraction, and not a project in my very near future. That’s something that is both literally and figuratively a bit down the road for me anyway, unless a free or super cheap one ends up on my doorstep somehow.

(This is not an invitation for you to point me in the direction of one. If only because there is no room for one in the garage, which is now full of horses and packaging materials, much to my family’s chagrin.)

I feel that I am obligated to give you a shiny equine object, and I think Poncho Rex, the 1999 West Coast Jamboree Horse will do quite nicely:

In spite of the mold’s popularity and longevity, it didn’t officially appear in a Pinto paint job until 1992’s Limited Edition release Chaparral. Reeves quickly made up for lost time: between 1998 and 2000 there were five production run Pintos, with Poncho Rex here being my favorite of that group. 

Not coincidentally, two of those pintos, including the 1998 BreyerFest Volunteer one, also happened to use the same painting mask of Chaparral. This was back when paint masks were still made by hand, which often limited Breyer’s ability to offer non-solid paint jobs: they were expensive and time consuming to make! After all that time and effort, they were not going to let it just sit there and collect dust...

The Volunteer Model also happened to represent the Fighting Stallion’s first appearance (not including Test Colors) in a factory Gloss finish since the Palomino and Charcoal were discontinued in the early 1970s. 

There have been a considerable number of spotted, dotted and freckled Fighters since then, with the most recent being the 70th Anniversary Assortment in Chestnut Sabino, in both Matte and Gloss. 

Miniature Family

The only thing keeping me awake right now is more than the daily recommended allowance of those new Oreo-flavored Oreos. (They’re my new favorite flavor!) 

I woke up last night with a pretty intense sinus headache that had me seriously considering a trip to urgent care; I took some pain meds and managed to get another couple hours of sleep, but I’m still feeling a bit woozy. Though the mini cheesecake I had for lunch probably didn’t help, either…

Even though my weekend was significantly shortened by work and by Daylight Saving Time, I’m pretty close to finalizing my showstring for BVG Live. I dropped a few Collectibility entries and added a few more Stablemates, since working on my Stablemates was supposed to be my big experiment this year anyhow. 

The documentation is also coming along adequately: if I pick at it a little bit every day, all I’ll have to do the night before is toss the totes, binders and toolbox in the car and head out the door in the morning. 

(I decided to not take the night before off, so that’s just about all I’ll be able to do!) 

Since I’ve either given up most of my worst vices – and am working on the others – just about the only thing I could give up for Lent this year was buying stuff on the Internet, aside from the obligated “club” purchases. I’ve missed a couple of pretty sweet Buy It Nows on eBay, but otherwise it hasn’t been too terrible an experience so far: I need to buy less stuff anyway. 

I just opened my Stablemates Nadira and Zaahir, incidentally:

Much nicer than I expected them to be, especially the Foal Zaahir. The original G1 Standing and Lying Down Foals have come in a Gloss Finish before, as the 2017 Charcoal Vintage Club Bonus Stablemates Licorice and Jellybean. But in spite of the multiple releases the Mare has had, this is the first time she’s come in a true Gloss Finish – and it suits her quite well, I think!

I’m not the first one to point out that, of course, Nadira and Zaahir pair up quite nicely with the 2020 Stablemates Club release Sultan, the Gloss Dappled Bay G1 Arabian Stallion. I would have paired them up here for a photograph myself, but I didn’t feel like digging him out again, especially since I didn’t have any plans of going back into the Stablemates storage boxes until next weekend at the earliest. 

I’m sure it was intentional, and most likely a callback to one of the original Christmas Stablemate Special Runs: the “Miniature Family” featured in the 1975 Sears Wishbook, which included the Bay Arabian Stallion, Thoroughbred Mare, and Standing Foal. 

(It also happens to be the toughest of the Wishbook Stablemates releases to find in its original box, which says something!)

Taking the Win

Things are pretty quiet here, model-horse wise. I did a very, very preliminary show string for the show in April: the Collectibility section was pretty easy (as I hoped it would be!), but the Stablemates division I wanted to focus on this year? That’s going to be some tough sledding.

And it’ll be a couple of weeks before I can go through my stash and pull out some fresh contenders. My success with the Stablemates has been such a mixed bag lately I’m not even sure what I’m looking for at this point…

To go back to a point I made in my previous post about reading too much into things, I think a lot of hobbyists are reading way too much into those BreyerFest Special Run reveal videos posted on Instagram. They’re a little oddly lit and shot, and what we’re seeing in them is not any more representative of what they’ll actually look like in person than the publicity photos.

Seriously people, nothing has happened to the Brighty mold. It’s perfectly fine.

I don’t think we can accurately assess what the models will look like in person until we see some samples in person, and the first opportunity for that will probably be at BreyerWest, at the end of the month. 

I doubt my opinions or choices will change, though. My choices were based mostly on affection toward the mold, rather than the love of the color. Until we get better (less staged) pictures, all we can do is chillax, and maybe get some crafting done in the meantime. (No painting for me though. Stresses me out too much!)

Now for some actual model horse content:

Here’s a model I acquired last BreyerFest that I only recently unboxed: a Gloss Omega Fahim! I traded my Gloss Jake (the Chestnut Overo Wixom) for him; I’m sure the person on the other side of the trade thought they were getting the better of the deal. 

But (a) both of the models were technically the same price in the beginning, which was free and (b) if both ends of the trade are happy with what they get, so who’s to say one side profited more than the other?

There have been plenty of deals I’ve been a part of where I came out the “winner” financially, but my first and foremost goal when wheeling and dealing is to acquire things that I like and want. Selling is (usually) a secondary goal.

And this model is so gorgeous in person: the gloss really brings out the midnight blue highlights that are almost imperceptible in the Matte version. The Jake was nice – and one of the scarcer Glosses of that particular CCA Sale – but I scarcely glanced at him when I owned him. But the Omega Fahim I could stare at it all day. Feels like a win to me!

Elsa and Other Madness

Just a general head’s up here, guys: I’m not in a mood to put up with anyone else’s nonsense for the next week or so. I’m not singling out anyone in particular – everyone in my orbit is being undelightful to be around, and I am going to be charitable and chalk it up to the season, both holiday and weather. 

The darkest times of the year sometimes bring out the darkest parts of us all. 

Go get yourselves some sun lamps, go for a walk, go fire up the Dremel drill and cut up a random body in your body box. Just do something besides getting yourselves riled up over something you read on the Internet. 

(In case you’re interested, I’ll working on an old string pieced quilt top this weekend, whenever I’m not toiling away on a work project.)

I like Elsa. I think she’d make a lovely companion to my beloved BreyerFest Celtic Fling Special Run Angus Bull Hamish. I would still have preferred any other animal (especially since she was already used for another Holiday Animal Special Run in 2017, the Gold Charm Eldora and Sol), but Breyer Cattle collectors are nothing if not devout and loyal buyers:

I do not care that they’re making 1000 pieces of her. I am uninterested in her future resale value: that’s not how I roll. If Reeves thinks they can sell 1000 of her, that’s their business. If they discover that they’ve made a mistake, they’ll eat the loss, learn the lesson, and move on.

I didn’t think they’d sell nearly 500 pieces of that black and gold polka-dotted Bighorn Ram, but they did. I didn’t get picked, and I know I wasn’t the only one. (I’m good, guys: I have no burning desire for one. Bunyan, on the other hand…)

Elsa is prettier, and glossy, and on a Cattle mold, so I understand some of the mathematics behind the decision. I am not keen on the price, but I suspect that they did not have enough bodies lying around since the last time they used her in 2017, and firing up an infrequently used mold is not cheap. (And also not something you do for a few hundred pieces.) 

If the increased production numbers manage to suppress the urges (or profit margins) of potential flippers, more power to them. It’s depressing enough to see so many people so willing to cough up such enormous sums of money for certain rarities (like the Ponies and Palm Trees Centerpiece Afgana, ugh.) 

Even though I’m pretty good at securing rarities myself, I also have resources and a knowledge base that is not typical of most hobbyists. 

I’d rather more people get what they want, rather than the same handful of collectors not only getting what they want, but dictating the market prices for the rest of us.

Matte Black Dapple

I spent most of yesterday working in my garden: the weather was pleasant and cooperative, and I really needed to work with my hands. All it needs now is weeding and watering: I’m hoping that Mother Nature takes care of the latter over the next few weeks because I don’t have a whole lot of time to spare. 

(My schedule changed again this week, and while it’s not a huge change, it’s still a little bit disorienting.)

I know he is old news by now, but I’m still a little bummed I didn’t get picked for the Matte Ulysses Test Color. It’s not that I wanted him more than any other of the Test Color Drawings to date, I just thought I’d have a better shot at him than with other molds, colors, and mold/color combos.

In this instance I definitely saw more grumbling about the price than usual: does the mere absence of a Gloss Finish justify a $1000 price tag?

Remember the prices of the Vintage Club Matte Claude variations were bringing a few years ago? Those make the Matte Ulysses seem like a deal in comparison. 

(I just want to “win” one of these things someday. I am not going to be picky!)

I find it fascinating that there’s such a disparity between the interest in Matte variations of Glossy releases versus Gloss variations of Matte releases. It’s been so ingrained in us that Glossy = More Valuable/Valued that it sometimes blinds us to the reality that this is not always going to be the case.

It’s also interesting that they considered releasing him in a Matte Finish at all. Other than other Test Colors (like that dreamy Black Roan Appaloosa Saddlebred Weanling from last year) I don’t think Matte Black Dapple has even been a thing. Heck, other than the Warehouse Find Dapple Gray Stock Horse Mare, even Matte Resist Dapple Grays haven’t been much of a thing, lately.

Anyway, I have to skedaddle – I have to type up some stuff for work tomorrow, in addition to having to get up earlier, too.

Big and Little

While I was prepared for the inevitable disappointment regarding Robin and Nestling, I found myself more bummed than I wanted to be when I logged into my account and saw the photo list of the year’s previous “Special Run Lottery” models. I noticed I had only been picked for one of the past ten (Zugspitze).

And I know my luck has been better than many, even getting that one. But seeing the visual tally like that definitely makes you think about collecting something more attainable, like Van Goghs or Fabergé Eggs. 

But let’s focus on what we can have, rather than what we can’t. Here’s another not-so-recent acquisition I’ve been hesitant to put on display because he’s still almost as yellow as the day I got him, because both sunlight and window space have been a premium since the day he’s arrived:

Because they usually painted the mane and tail and hooves after they applied the Gloss, finding Vintage Alabasters in good or better condition can be difficult, and matching the gray paint is almost equally difficult.  

Being yellow, fortunately, is the only thing really wrong with this guy, which is why I bought him in the first place. (He is a lot yellower in person than the camera shows. Darn you, camera!) He came pretty cheap, too – less than a modern Traditional at retail. Part of the reason for the cheapness was because the photographs accompanying the auction were not good.

But I noticed his mane, tail and hooves were in excellent condition, and all of the other marks appeared to be mostly surface issues, so it felt like a pretty safe bet. And even if he wasn’t all that, all I had to do was clean him up, de-yellow him, and I’d be able to at least get my money back and maybe a small bit extra to cover my time and efforts.

Like my Semi-Gloss Bay Running Mare with eyewhites, there is also a chance that making the plunge with this purchase will improve the odds of me making a significant upgrade in the near future. I mean, he is pretty sweet, but is not minty-mint, after all...

(The story, if you did not hear it before: after finally spending a nice chunk on what I thought was a pretty good Bay Running Mare, I ended up upgrading her twice within the space of a year, ending with a darn-near-perfect example for eight bucks at the local flea market.)

The only regrettable thing about his purchase is that this Winter has been pretty dark even by Michigan standards, and all the plants and other even-more-yellowed models residing in the window haven’t been doing that well. The seedlings have been moved to grow lights and are doing much better, but the Fighter will have to wait until the weather is warm enough to move the bigger plants outside.

While I’m at it, here’s a picture of the Stablemates Club Dax, as well. You know I was initially a little underwhelmed by him (I am all about the Gambler’s Choice Fjord and Tiny Fireheart!) but he’s much nicer in person than I thought he’d be, and that’s a happy surprise. The new box design is pretty keen, too.

End of the Chase

I was not selected for Montana, which amuses me, but not as much as all the people who were selected who are trying to flip them, without much success. 

I wasn’t selected for the Woodgrain Pig Hawthorn either, but I eventually got one four or five waitlist pulls later. (No, really – it was like two weeks after the initial drawing!) And they made only 350 pieces of him.

I’m not going to worry about it, either way. They made 490 of this goofball SR: there’s going to be plenty for everyone who seriously (or unseriously!) needs one. I am not sure if I fall into either the former category, or the latter. If it happens, it happens. 

Besides, I am still mad about Bunyan, and my well of rage is not bottomless. Priorities, people.

On a slightly more cheerful holiday note, I got the Smarty Jones Chase Piece as my CCA Glossy:

I wasn’t able to track a Matte one down locally, and I wasn’t willing to pay the $125 they were charging for them on the web site at the end of last year, so this is a win-win for me. (The Omega Fahim is also pretty spiff, with no box rubs or obvious seams, so it’s all good here.)

Well technically he was the Chase piece: it appears that this year’s CCA models were not Glossed leftovers, but made specifically for the promotion, and probably in more or less equal quantities. (What those quantities were, I don’t know either, sorry.)

Though if they had been really smart, they would have doubled the quantity of the Palomino Hamilton relative to all the other pieces in the promotion. Contrary to what some folks think, Reeves is very aware of the Hamilton mold’s popularity. 

What’s going on in the secondary market is mostly beyond their control, though, and they have no real obligation to do anything about it anyway. While they can mitigate it somewhat with open-ended runs and backordering, even those options are not entirely trouble-free. Every solution comes with its own set of problems. 

In this case it would have been a variation of “They devalued it by producing so many!” argument pushed mostly by people who see their collection as their retirement fund. It doesn’t make much sense to me if they all easily and quickly find homes. Quantity is only one component of this thing we call “Collectibility” and probably not the most important one. 

Since it’s unclear if the promotion actually “sold out”, I am curious if there are any Gloss Leftovers, and if so, where they are going to go. I wouldn’t mind snagging a Chalky variation of the Andalusian – boy, those sure look way nicer than I imagined! – but I’m not sure if I want to take a chance on a Gambler’s Choice of the leftovers if it was offered. 

I already have way too much stuff to sell as it is, and I’d rather not take a chance on a duplicate, even if it would be a relatively easy sale.

Just Take My Paycheck, Please

This week has been pretty traumatic: dentist appointment on Monday (all good!), family medical emergency on Tuesday (everyone is home, and fine), and the Collectors Club Appreciation Event on Wednesday (got my order in in under two minutes, then went to bed.)

The CCA Event was just as much a surprise to me as everyone else; I thought that they’d be skipping it at this point too, but they decided to go with glossing last year’s 70th Anniversary Models – including the Chase Piece Smarty Jones! – and they all look amazing. 

The only CCA horse I’m slightly meh on is the Andalusian, because he’s not significantly different from previous gray-based Andalusian releases, and if I want to add more Moody Andalusians to the family (I do!), it’s going to be either the Slime Green and Silver BreyerFest Surprise SR or the original Black, with lavender undertones. I wouldn’t turn down a Glorioso, either.

The offer is still up, which isn’t entirely surprising, since (a) a lot of people I know opted out this year due to buyer fatigue, and (b) a lot of merchandise was already sold out or out of stock on the web site. For me, I wanted all of the new individually-carded Stablemates but they have been in short supply all year. So I had to opt for an Obsidian instead, whose sparkling dark floofiness has been distracting me every time I spied one in a store somewhere. 

(Also in my order: Omega Fahim, the Palominos and Pintos Stablemates Set, and both pairs of socks. All things I actually wanted.)

Oh, and I don’t know how that happened, but I also managed to get drawn for Zugspitze. The price was a little… painful, but a lot of that is our own darn fault for turning so many of these Web Specials into cash grabs. Of course the price is going to go up.

I’ve done okay with the Winter Web Specials in general; the only one that still makes me wince slightly in pain at the sight of him is Benasque, and he has that effect on a lot of hobbyists. 

Anyway, so all that’s possibly left for the year are the Christmas Day Special and the Winter Decorator Animal.

As long as the Christmas Day Special isn’t the Fell Pony or something Vintage like the Jeanne Mellin Herrick Friesian or Misty’s Twilight, I might be fine without it? I hope? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. (The current odds-on favorite is the Croi Damsha/Connemara, and I might be able to resist that.)

I’m a little more concerned about a potential Winter Decorator Animal, especially since my mind went to some interesting places last thinking of possible candidates. In addition to my perennial suggestions – the Silver Charm Elk, and a Wedgwood Blue Polled Hereford Bull – my exhaustion- and Benadryl-fueled brain also thought a Gold Charm Saint Bernard or a Rainbow Calico UniKitten would be pretty awesome.  

(You know you want it. Or want to see it!)

Edit: Fifteen minutes later... 

Collector’s Club Exclusive Micro Run named Bunyan. 

Oh Sweet Jumping Jesus on a Pogo Stick!

I will now go into the shower and have a good long cry.

Solutions to Problems

I am going to stop checking the shipping status on my BreyerFest packages and be happy whenever they arrive. It’s always good when an (almost) unexpected box of horses arrives on your doorstep, right?

I am beginning to suspect that the variations popping up are more common than we realize, and possibly at the same ratio as the Matte/Gloss splits on the Surprises. Certainly more than 25 to 50 pieces total each. 

My luck with getting Gloss Surprises isn’t so great, so I am assuming the Ansel and Uffington that are coming my way are going to be absolutely normal-looking and as originally advertised. And I am fine with that, because I chose them specifically because I liked the way they looked, and expected nothing beyond that.

And if I somehow get one of those funky Decos, I’ll also be on the lookout for the “normal” ones. But like I said, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. (Though it would be pretty hilarious if I got the holographic Uffington, because my luck getting Breyer Double Dilutes is even worse than Glossy Luck. Will they cancel each other out?)

The solution they’re offering VIP ticketholders – an exclusive pin, and first dibs on the BreyerFest Leftovers Sale – aren’t what I would have offered. My solution would have been a 1000-piece Gambler’s Choice Special of the Dani in three or four Deco colors – either Red-Green-Blue (RGB) or Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black (CMYK!) One per account, with the remainder either being purchase-raffled off or sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

But what they’re offering is quicker and easier for them, and it isn’t nothing. I just fear that I’ll probably be missing out on the “First Dibs” sale, since I have a suspicion that my work schedule will be changing shortly, in a way that might limit my online access.

If I do manage to get the opportunity, I’m either going for a Gran Cavallo, because I didn’t realize his color in person is that Dark Mahogany color I love so much on the Adios Mesa, or the Peche Merle because while I like him in Bay Appaloosa, I kind of adore its Buckskin variation. He looks so good in that color!

I have been meaning to add a John Henry or two to the collection anyway. One of these days I will finally get around to buying myself a nice brindled variation of the original #445 release, but either Peche Merle will also do. 

It’s All Good

First, let’s start with an unequivocable good: this stunning, drop-dead gorgeous Malik I found at Tuesday Morning several months back that I never got around to opening until today:

While I liked the mold itself, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the color of most of the ones I saw. I thought I’d have to wait until they released him in a different color before I’d finally buy one. And then I was shopping for something else entirely and this guy practically threw himself at me. Of course I had to take him home!

Now they’re on the verge of releasing the mold as The Black Stallion, and now I’m all in on this mold, until they release something I can’t obtain or afford. Which isn’t super likely – it is a Classic (oops sorry, Freedom Series) mold – but I might as well prepare myself for the possibility.

As expected, no Meadowlark for me. I have pretty much consigned myself to the very real possibility of not getting picked for any Web Specials until the current Collectible market boom finally busts.  

I have mixed feelings about the Saturday Raffle model Bonheur:

Positives: the color is beautiful, the gloss is thick and deep, and from what I can see of the markings, there appears to be an attention to detail that’s going to be much more apparent in person, and we all should know by now that models can’t really be evaluated by web site photographs. 

Negatives: Not the fact that she’s solid – I truly do not care one way or another – but that it’s going to open up the “Solid versus Patterned” debate again. Hobbyists complain that there are too many pintos and appaloosas, but when they give us more solid colors, hobbyists complain that they’re boring. 

Whatever happened to the saying “A good horse can be any color?”

The other negative – for me, anyway – is the fact that they named it after Rosa Bonheur. When they announced the Diorama Contest theme, I just knew that a significant portion of the entries – if not the majority – were going to be based on the painting The Horse Fair. And at least a few of them will win, because it’s The Horse Fair. 

Setting aside the historical significance of the painting – because most people are either unaware, or uninterested in it – the image itself has become a safe, conventional and almost stereotypical one today. The antithesis of the kind of artwork that inspires me.  

And possibly one of the reasons why I rarely succeed at these contests. I am the weird kid staring at the reconstruction of The Dragon of Marduk, while everyone else is taking pictures of themselves with the Rivera Murals. (Not that the Rivera Murals are not awesome. They are just... obvious.)

I will not turn down a Bonheur if I win one, though. But it’s been a long time since I’ve won anything.

Suddenly Shiny

I spent a significant portion of the weekend working on my garden, which has improved my mood considerably. 

While I’m still not happy about the ongoing Collector’s Club Exclusive situation, I’m now too tired and too busy to raise any more fuss about it. People have chosen their sides in the matter already anyway, and I doubt I’ll be able to persuade them further.

Another thing that happened was that I also managed to finally score something I’ve been looking for: a Glossy Thorn! You know, the BreyerFest Special Run Appaloosa Trakehner from last year that nobody cared about, until it was revealed that it was the 50/50 Gloss-Matte Split model. 

I got the Matte one, naturally, and all the Glossies either disappeared entirely, or doubled in price overnight.

Man, I hate it when that happens. 

It’s part of my frustration with the “Gloss All The Things” trend in the hobby: those of us minding our own business, collecting more modestly popular molds, suddenly find themselves either having to pay a premium – or do without – because OMG GLOSS!!1)!!

It’s like my mild annoyance at the existence of honey-roasted peanuts. Don’t get me wrong, I like honey-roasted peanuts too, but if sugar-coating peanuts is the only way you’ll eat them, then my belief is that you actually don’t like peanuts, just the sugar-coating they come with.

But what do I know, I actually like ketchup with my steak, which apparently makes me a heathen. (Hey, I’m not a monster: my steak does have to be medium-rare.)

Sorry for the weird tangent. Back to the Trakehner!

I got lucky on eBay and found one at a not completely irrational price, which probably takes care of my retail therapy for the month. 

If I’m brave enough and not completely exhausted by the end of the week, I might actually go to an antique show this coming weekend – more for the experience of actually going to a public event for the first time in a year and a half, than for the actual buying of things.

Though if something happens to show up, I am not going to complain. 

(No worries, people: I’ve had all my shots and take all the usual precautions.)

Letting It Go

The bodies I wanted to strip are proving to be more… intractable than I imagined, so I’ve decided to set them aside for now and occupy myself with other projects, like planning my garden – continuing with last year’s Victorian theme, but adding more scented flowers – and sorting out the craft supplies and paperwork hidden in my Jethro Closet.

(It’s a weird little storage closet tucked under the stairs in the basement where all my wayward things seem to end up, instead. The name is an old family joke, and I’ll just leave it at that.)

While I normally would be head over heels for anything coming in Glossy Dappled Black, the latest Web Special Puffin, the first in the new “Birds of a Feather” Series, is leaving me a little cold (no pun intended). 

I like the concept of the series in general, and I have nothing against the Wixom mold in particular. I’m just not in a buying mood right now, and if I’m buying anything this year that’s Glossy Dappled Black, it’s going to be the Collector’s Club Exclusive Lafayette, on the Hamilton mold. 

It also doesn’t help that my Glossy Cheesecake from last year’s BreyerFest is still not here yet and I am not looking forward to calling Reeves for the fourth time on Monday to figure out what his status is. The last time I called (two weeks ago) it was still at the fulfillment center, but at this point I think I’d rather have my money back and just forget I even ordered it in the first place. 

I don’t think I’ve ever had to call more than once to resolve a shipping issue before they switched to this new fulfillment house, so to say that I am displeased at the moment is... an understatement. Especially since I hate making phone calls in the first place.

I already have the Matte Cheesecake anyway, so I’m perfectly fine with letting the Glossy one go. 

I did enter for Puffin, so if by some stroke of luck I do get drawn, I’ll offer her up for sale at cost plus transaction fees.

Rollercoaster

This week’s been a rollercoaster.

Up: I did get drawn for the La Molina and Masella! 

Down: I don’t have a Benasque, and I’m not about to go wandering through that minefield. I can actually afford it right now, but paying $600+ for a 350-piece release is not something I want to be a party to.

Up: I finally found the Walmart Bay Stablemate G3 Quarter Horse. Now I can see why he was such a toughie to get – the color is dark, rich and slightly metallic, and elevates an otherwise blah release into something special. 

This fellow (gal?) is almost Stablemates Club quality, not something I would have expected from a Walmart release. Woo-hoo, new Stablemate office desk buddy!

Down: Reeves decided to drop early access to the better bits of their Black Friday sale in the middle of the day during a workweek. Awesome for people who have access to the Internet at work or are glued to their phones 24/7. The rest of us? No Fylkirs for you!

Then there’s the latest Test Color Purchase Raffle Piece, on the Hess Belgian:

It’s obviously a Test for the 2002 Just About Horses Special Run First Frost, on the Five-Gaiter, and why they didn’t acknowledge this on the web site is a bit of a mystery to me, but whatever. 

First Frost was one of those Just About Horses releases that I bought first, and fell in love with later. It’s the kind of color that improves every model it gets put on, and I’ve been baffled by the fact that it hasn’t been used more since then. I’m guessing because it is hard to photograph well?

While I’m really trying to not get my hopes up, I’m actually in a position right now that I could comfortably pull off a $1000 Test Color purchase. And me being actually part (human) Belgian myself, I think it would be totally fitting.

But alas, my luck doesn’t really run that way. While it does sometimes seems like I have magical powers, they’re rarely of the kind that seems to benefit me directly. So – like everyone else who hopes to get drawn – I find myself wondering what this coaster has in store for me around the next turn. 

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.  

Some Days Just Be Like That

Yesterday was ridiculous.

First, I apparently wore my tee-shirt backwards the entire day and nobody bothered to tell me.

Second, I had an eBay transaction canceled on me. The seller gave me fifteen minutes (!) to respond to a question about shipping costs. In the middle of the day, when I had no access to any electronic devices whatsoever. 

Third, as I was going through the rest of my e-mails I discovered that there was a second Collector’s Club release – an Appaloosa Lonesome Glory named Sassy – but it was sold out already so never mind.

Truth be told: (a) I wasn’t in a situation where anyone would have either noticed or really cared about the shirt, (b) that deal was probably too good to be true, and (c) I am not all that into the Lonesome Glory mold anyway.

As for the quick sellout on the Sassy, it’s mostly a combination of Glossy finishes making hobbyists dumb and people with multiple accounts taking advantage of their fellow hobbyists’ desperation for anything glossy. 

There’s nothing that can be done to counter the all-gloss, all-the-time mindset; y’all know I’ve tried my best. But we can counter the opportunity for profit-taking by resisting the urge to reward that behavior. 

That’s why I don’t have a Buckskin Adios or the Polled Hereford Bull Marshall and (probably) never will. (Yeah, I saw the Marshall on eBay. Wasn’t me that bought it, that’s for sure….)

I’m good. You know I’ve gotten my fair share of goodies this year. I’m mainly kvetching because of other, more serious nonsense I had to deal with today and it takes my mind off of all that. 

But back to the topic: I don’t know why they switched the Collector’s Club Exclusives to a first-come, first-served basis when they had been doing pre-orders before. I am going to assume that there’s some logic to the decision that currently escapes my tired and exasperated brain. (Too much extra hassle for the additional profit?)

I will get myself a Fabio eventually, but like the Dapple Gray Belgian I was hoping for, I will have to wait until the next in-person BreyerFest. Not going to bother with Sassy, unless I see it in person and find myself smitten. 

That’s it for today; I need to get back to cleaning and sorting out the mess of models that I have, and not worry as much about the mess that I missed out on. 

Show Time

I spent most of the day geeking out in the DC Fandome today, which – to me – has been the most successful online replication of a convention experience I’ve had this year so far.

(For the fellow nerds in the audience, I will reveal no spoilers. Except for the fact that one of Jim Lee’s favorite characters is Matter-Eater Lad, which both amuses and delights me. LLL!)

The first part (this weekend) was essentially a live stream with some interactivity, some taped content, and a store; the second part on September 12-13, and will featuring multiple worlds/streams and more interactivity, and sounds like it will be close to the kind of experience we were hoping for at BreyerFest this year.

DC is, of course, part of a huge multimedia conglomerate that has the resources to pull something like this off and Reeves is actually kind of a small company with very few full-time employees at their physical location in New Jersey, many of whom already have to wear multiple hats to begin with.

But it will be interesting to see if this particular event has any influence on anyone planning virtual events going forward.

Since I am spending the rest of the weekend catching up on my quilting projects (the sewing machine is back up and running, huzzah!) I’ll just close with another Virtual Photo Show photograph I was especially proud of:

One of the difficulties in photographing vintage Glosses is in trying to convey that glossiness without it distracting from or altering the color of the finish, and I think I managed to do that here. The color is a touch more yellow than he is in real life because of the light sources I used, but I couldn’t color correct the photo any more than I did without it becoming obvious or distorted.  

This model, incidentally, was not my first Charcoal Fighting Stallion. My first one was an earlier and browner version with more body shading, but who was slightly more yellowed and that I attempted to unyellow in my car one day

… and who I forgot about the next day when I went to work and parked in a freshly blacktopped lot. On a hot summer day. 

Don’t do that, kids.

Fortunately for me, my “new guy” showed up at one of my local flea markets a couple weeks later, and I ended up selling my original at BreyerFest to someone very happy to add a Bloated Charcoal Fighter to their collection.