Spirits

A last minute change to the schedule left me with an unexpected but welcome day off. So I did a couple of my favorite, non-horsey things: baked a cake and organized stuff! On the way to the store for supplies for both, I stopped at the Salvation Army and found some horse goodies anyway:

An Ertl, and a Traditional Spirit and Rain! That makes up for the lack of ponies at the flea market the past two weeks.

I don’t have either the Spirit or the Rain in the collection yet, but since both go for crazy-good money on eBay in almost any condition, and I could really use that money right now, it’s off to Internet for the both of them once some paperwork is done…

I haven’t had many of the Spirits in my possession over the years – just a BreyerFest Special Run Ringmaster briefly, purchased for a friend who couldn’t attend that year – and I have to say that now I’ve been able to examine him in greater detail, I’m actually even more impressed by him.

Aside from the cartoony head and the slightly exaggerated proportions on his lower legs, he’s remarkably realistic for a model horse adapted from a cartoon – and he is also, as they say in the animation biz – very “on model”. That’s a pretty remarkable feat!

As I’ve stated several times before, I’m not all that bothered by the “eyebrow thing”: it’s an affectation that the animators used to make animating the horse’s expressions easier, and a (probable) necessary requirement for the license.

That the hobby, in general, has latched on to them as a perpetual source of griping (like dappling, urgh) is another mildly worrying reminder of the hobby’s tendency toward groupthink.

I already have a Rain – the 2007 BreyerFest Special Run Lady Liberty – and I’d like to add a Traditional Spirit in some form to the herd eventually. However, the two Spirit releases I like most – the 2004 BreyerFest Raffle Horse El Corazon, and the 2013 Live Show Benefit Raffle Zuni – are unaffordable.

I wanted to like the Padre; he was a really pretty shade of Bay, and an affordable and long-running Regular Run. But his big black undetailed eyes were a bridge too spooky for me, and a strange contrast to the care that went into the rest of his paint job.

He’s too popular a mold on his own to be tied up with the Spirit license in perpetuity, so I’m sure they’re be a release more to my liking (and my budget) eventually.

Toy Fair and Spirit: Riding Free

One of the things on my personal “bucket list” is attending Toy Fair. It’s not just about the horses (in general) or Breyers (in particular); if you know me at all, my toy nerdery is both wide and deep.

Access isn’t the problem, but time and cost is: I am in Michigan, and Toy Fair is in New York City. So I have to content myself with living vicariously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WmFPVAWqHM

http://legionofleia.com/2017/02/toy-fair-universal-previews-a-range-of-new-fall-toys/

http://www.northjersey.com/story/money/shopping/2017/02/20/state-play-toy-fair-new-jerseys-got-game/98145012/

The only big news to come out of Toy Fair was the official announcement of the Spirit: Riding Free line, which was just about the worst kept “secret” in the model horse hobby ever. But it’s nice to see pictures of the actual, live pieces now and not just the catalog promo shots.

That being said, this line is not designed with someone like me in mind, though I will undoubtedly end up buying at least a few of the Blind Bag Stablemates and possibly the boxed Traditionals. (The Rain mold looks great in Matte Palomino!) It’ll be interesting to see if the third Traditional scale mold in the line, Boomerang, will eventually get incorporated into the regular line as the Spirit and Rain molds were.

There also didn’t appear to be any Toy Fair-specific giveaways, like the Gloss Highland Pony keychain or the Little Bits Chestnut Saddlebred, but my online shopping has been limited to targeted searches on eBay for box lots and specific (and oddly rather scarce) bodies, so I may well have missed it.

Incidentally, Breyer has been represented at the Toy Fair literally since the beginning of Breyer, as this article from the March 1951 issue of Playthings makes clear:

BreyerFest is Coming

I haven’t slept in a couple of days, the office is a wreck, I’m slightly nauseous, and I’m covered in papier-mache and glitter.

On the plus side, my diorama entry is looking pretty good! It’s been coming together really well, much to my surprise and delight, so I’m hoping that I’ll be less stressed out when it doesn’t win. Unlike some of my previous nonwinning entries now hiding in the basement (because I have a hard time throwing out anything I make) I think this one will actually get to live in the office with me, regardless of the outcome.

As per my usual, I haven’t been paying much attention to this year’s auction pieces – can’t afford them, and I’m not the target market anyway – but today’s pretty little Rain definitely caught my eye:

I like the contrast between realistic (paint job) and the fantastic (the mold) with this one; she’s really quite appealing. I was beginning to think that this mold might be the “Surprise”: she’s something well-liked but not overly popular, there haven’t been too many production releases on her yet (just three: Rain, Lady Liberty, and Lionesse!), it’s a quasi-“Spanish” (Mustang) mold, and she’s even got a feather in her hair.

But it’s been a few years since they’ve put up a Surprise piece (the rarest of them, anyway) at auction, so probably not. But I am encouraged to think that maybe we’ll be seeing more of the Rain mold in the near future. Maybe as a Holiday SR of some sort? She’d make a lovely Christmas Horse, I think.

I’m still holding out hope for the Legionario! Since the Surprises have been following a Solid-Tobiano-Overo-Appaloosa pattern, and old “Legs” hasn’t had any production run Apps or Pintos, and precious few Glosses (the 1991 Florentine Raffle Model, and the 1999 Silver Filigree Grane of Gotterdammerung). So there’s lots of potential there.

Current betting favorites are either the Peruvian Paso or the Esprit, and I’d be fine with either one of those, too. I also wouldn’t rule out the Ranch Horse. (That Test Color Ranch Horse they purchase-raffled earlier this year had to be a Test for something, yes?)

I haven’t given much thought to the Volunteer Special this year, either. It will be at least one of three things: Glossy, Decorator, Vintage (Pre-Reeves) Mold.

I’m leaning towards a Deco, because (a) it’s been a while since we've had a “true” Decorator (not just Gloss) – 2003’s Gloss Charcoal Lonesome Glory, and (b) aside from of a couple of Mercado pieces, the Silent Auction Rainbow Five-Gaiter, and Funky Brown Pegasus, there seems to be relative dearth of outrageous models for a Rio-themed BreyerFest.

So there, all my predictions. Back to sanding, spackling, and quietly freaking out in the basement.

Stock Market

Good, good day at the flea market today - lots of cheap, cool stuff, just the way I like it. I could have easily blown my whole wad, without much effort, on things like "Pajamas of Oriental Splendor" (seriously, that’s what the box said!), a chunk of petrified wood, or an animatronic Elvis head (no joke.) I decided to stick to my core competencies: Breyers, books, and minis.

(No pic today - it’s late enough as it is, and my time management skills apparently went on vacation sometime last week. Anyone who’s still waiting on a package or e-mail from me, I am working on it!)

Other than the indiscretion with the Valentine and Heartbreaker set, I’ve been so good with my money over the past two weeks. I’ve been rooting around the deepest, darkest corners of my closets before venturing out shopping, and rocking the coupons when I do have to set foot in the nearest enclosed retail compound.

Money is probably my least favorite topic to talk about in regards to the horses, especially in the contentious area of estimated price or value.

I am not completely uninterested in how much certain models are worth, but I am a little disturbed at how obsessed many hobbyists are with tracking prices - creating spreadsheets, graphs and flowcharts, like it’s the stock market. It is, kinda, but I’ve never been one to think of my horses as that crucial a part of my investment portfolio. (If I come close to breaking even, I’ll be happy.) Its mutable nature also turns me away: my time is better spent tracking down the unknown - and there’s a whole lot of that, in Breyer History - than keeping track of the unknowable.

When pressed, I can spit out the necessary numbers for you, and I’m usually not too far off the mark. I work in inventory services, and any one who works in that industry develops an almost savant-like ability to estimate price and quantity with just a quick glance. But as a general rule, I’m more interested in figuring out the "why" than the "how much".

Like with the Traditional Spirits and Rains: I do not particularly care in how much they’re "worth," except for the fact that their going prices are preventing me from adding them to my collection. I already have a Rain - the Lady Liberty BreyerFest SR from a couple years back - but I never got around to getting a Spirit when I could. (Technically I did own a Ringmaster - for about a week. It was a pick-up for a friend.)

I think there are a number of factors in play with the Spirit and Rain prices. One, neither mold has been in production for three years: that’s an eternity, nowadays. Two, there have been limited number of releases on each mold - two for Rain, and three for Spirit - and because of the cartoonish aspects of the molds, not a lot of future releases seem likely. And three, it’s the movie, silly: movie merchandise sells, and animated movie merchandise sells really well. A quick visit to the toy department at Kmart, Target or Walmart can tell you that.

The fact that the models are fairly good representations of the characters as they appear in the film also helps. (As they say in the industry, they’re very "on model.") That would help explain why the secondary market for the Classic and Stablemates Spirit merchandise isn’t quite as superheated. Out of its proper context (box and/or accessories) there’s nothing to distinguish them from any other Breyer Classic Mustang releases. There’s no mistaking the Traditional Spirit and Rain for anything other than what they’re supposed to be.

That’s also another reason why I have to roll my eyes whenever I see a hobbyist kvetching about Spirit’s eyebrows: you know, if it wasn’t for those eyebrows, you wouldn’t be able to sell your MIB Spirit for 150 dollars now, would you?

Let it Rain

Now I’m not only not getting anything done, I think I’m regressing. This time it’s genuinely the puppy’s fault: I had to baby sit her yesterday, and in the space of two minutes, she came close to destroying our basement as we know it. All because she absolutely, positively had to chew on the quilt I was working on - and that I now have to partially disassemble and repair, among other things.

Little stinker is lucky she’s cute. Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts…

Here’s a happy thought - a Lady Liberty I picked up in the Pit this year:


I’ve really taken a shine to the Rain mold recently. People don’t realize just how hard it is to adapt a two-dimensional animated character into a three-dimensional one. I’m not talking about the popular trend of making cartoons into live action films, a la Garfield, Scooby Doo, or Yogi Bear: frankly, I think virtually all those attempts to make cartoons "realistic" or set in the real world fail from the get go. By trying to make them realistic, they do not look like the characters they’re meant to represent.

(Have you seen any of the Yogi Bear movie stuff yet? Classic nightmare fuel, if you ask me. Those eyes! Argh!)

That’s because cartoons aren’t meant to be - or should aspire to be - realistic. It’s not a lesser medium, it’s a different medium with different goals and aesthetics. Realism isn’t a big part of the equation.

It’s important to point out that realism and three-dimensionality are two different things. Cartoons have been dealing with the issue of three-dimensionality since the silent era - both from a merchandising standpoint, and within the cartoons themselves (stop-motion, multiplane cameras, dioramas, live footage, or rotoscoping.) The most successful attempts at incorporating three-dimensionality into cartoons are the ones that don’t sacrifice the character’s inherent cartooniness.

Good, successful examples of that can be found in vintage ViewMaster reels. Here’s an interesting, older discussion about them:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cartoon-culture/hanna-barbera-in-3d.html

The person responsible for creating the beautiful sculpts featured in those reels was Martha Armstrong-Hand. Some of you might recognize the name, because at one time she sculpted for Hagen-Renaker, working on both more realistic items (such at the DW Persian Cat "Starlite" and her kittens) and on more cartoony ones (such as the Disney licenses.)

I don’t think it’s a coincidence, either, that Kathleen did work for Disney, too, in their Imagineering department. In the translation to 3D, Rain’s cartooniness has not been compromised. I created some line art of the Rain mold a few years ago as illustration fodder for my Sampler, and was amazed at how well it translated back into being a two-dimensional character:


That’s why I find the Rain mold so fascinating. She’s not the least bit realistic, but I find her a more accurate, and more satisfying rendition of the character than the more "realistic" attempts made on the Classic and Stablemates Scale pieces.

We’ve only seen her in her original release (in both a standard plastic, and "chalky" version) and as Lady Liberty, and her overtly nonrealistic nature probably limits her potential for a lot of releases in the future. Though with next year’s BreyerFest theme being "FairyTails," I could easily see her making a very lovely Unicorn. (In an equally nonrealistic color, naturally. None of this white or pearly-pastelly nonsense!)

Before I go back to repairing the damage done to the basement, yes, I am aware of my picture being on Breyer’s Facebook page. I kinda figured it would happen, considering the photographer specifically stopped me and asked to take it.