Model Horse Melodrama

Generally I’m not a big fan of Victorian Melodramas: it’s not so much the style that bothers me (though it sometimes does: it can be so emotionally exhausting!), but the fact that all too often it feels like I’m living in one.

 

(I picked up a small stack of these at the local flea market years ago, because seriously, why wouldn’t you?) 

I had a couple of really rough days last week and was feeling pretty low, so you guys don’t know how much it means to me that y’all are (mostly!) sticking up for me on this incredibly bizarre BreyerFest Test Color Adventure. I don’t know where this is going, but I am definitely not taking my hands of the wheel until the car comes to a complete stop.

As a minor reward to all of you, I’d like to point out that there’s a seller on eBay who has a couple of Unpainted Sherman Morgan bodies up for sale – the older lumpy ones with the turd-shaped tail! (They are listed as Mustangs, so might not come up in you saved searches.)

I know there’s lots of Shermie fans out there who might go for that sort of thing, history buffs who’d want a cull of an obsolete version of the mold because history, and Unpainted collectors looking for something rare and cool.

Anyway, moving on…. 

I’m going to be extremely busy for the next month or so, because absolutely nothing is finished for BreyerFest and beyond. This week I’m hoping to get the Sampler and its associated paperwork done, or mostly done, and then I can spend the rest of my time working on the live show stuff.

I am trying not to get too worked up about the show, either, but I want to at least not embarrass myself. And I am setting my sights pretty low for success: one NAN card, and 5 to 10 placings total seems reasonable, considering the size of the show. (Unlike a lot of shows nowadays, they place to tenth. Tenth counts!)

Any prize model would be a delight forever, but I am not betting on it. Two factors that do seem to have some effect on the quality and quantity of one’s placing are (a) spending big [I don’t] and (b) being lucky [for the most part, no]. Fortunately, the Overall and Reserve aren’t on molds that are must-haves for me, either. 

The color on the Roxy Tilbury is gorgeous – one I was considering for the custom of the Classic Quarter Horse Mare I’ve been playing with – but I prefer the loose mane to the braided on her. Most of Breyer’s newer braided manes just don’t do it for me. (Except for the ones on the Gabriel version of the Nikolas mold. Those are pretty adorable.)

 

The problem with the Big Ben mold is that he has a lot of unattainables in his back catalog, and they’re all the ones I want the most (Silver Twilight, Sonnet, Serengeti, the FEI Dark Bay). It is hard to get my hopes up when all I see when I look at Stanhope is the newest member of that exclusive club. 

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.

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.

Choices To Be Made

Where am I going? What am I doing? What day is it, again?

With all that I’ve gone through over the past two weeks, I really should have slept straight through this weekend. But alas, with all the things I need to get caught up on, there shall be no rest for the wicked…

My Fiero – the Stablemate, not the vintage car* – arrived yesterday, and surprise, I got the Gloss:

I truly did not have a favorite between the Matte and the Gloss, though getting the Gloss right off the bat certainly will help down the road, if I decide I need more of this mold in my life.

I’m more of a Gloss Bay kind of girl anyway, so I am very happy to see a Gloss Bay Roxy announced as the next BreyerFest Special Run, the DC-inspired (finally!) Diana:

One of the hottest colors going right now (Gloss Bay) on a fairly popular and versatile mold (Roxy)? Methinks she’ll be high on a lot of attendees’ want lists!

Though I am going to cringe when the inevitable Solid vs. Spotted paint job discussions will flare up. We all know that song by heart, don’t we? “Why Does Everything Have To Be Spotted?” vs. “Solid Colors Are So Boring!” is like the Coke vs. Pepsi of the Model Horse World.

(Incidentally, while I am neutral on both topics, my Dad was a Pepsi loyalist who for some reason did not particularly like Appaloosas.)

If I don’t watch myself, BreyerFest is going to be especially expensive for me year.

And finally, let’s not forget another recent addition to this household, the Vintage Club Stablemate Rosemary:

Mostly she reminds me that I really need to map out all the subtle – and not so subtle – changes in the early Stablemates blister packaging, because it’s one of those little history things that bothers me to pieces for some reason. (In the same way the Family Arabian Foal mold alterations drive me bats.)

I am also amused that somehow – in spite of my utter lack of input on this particular matter – that she was the second of two releases in the 2018 Vintage Club that shared a name with a family relative. (Mae was my Grandmother’s little sister; Rosemary is a second cousin.)

Which is totally freaky, but I am just going to assume it is a coincidence. If they had named the Charcoal Shannondell Basil, Marcel, or Camille (my Great-Grandfather and his two brothers, respectively)... then there would have been a discussion to be had with someone at Breyer HQ.

(*You’ll get to meet my actual new car soon. Phyllis was a little camera-shy today.)

Christmas Aftermath

Interesting Day, wasn’t it?

I almost missed out on the Christmas Othello-corn: I got up at 8 a.m., poked around the Internet for a bit, then I decided to go take a shower and make myself an English Muffin. I log back in at 8:45, and…

At first I thought I was getting punked when I saw it. Three Unicorn Othellos, the fever dream of thousands of Unicorn- and Othello-obsessed tweens? Was Reeves actually trying to crash their servers today?

Nevertheless, I had been looking at the Xaviers the last few times I visited our local independent toy stores, and I had spent a longer-than-normal time staring at the Mini Brishen Virgil ornament at Tractor Supply when I stopped by last week to shop for some long-sleeve t-shirts.

And since I hadn’t bought the previous two Christmas Day Specials, and any individual Othello SR with a piece count under 1000 is generally a good investment, it was a no-brainer.

I didn’t even notice the part of the offer about the “12 lumps of Coal” Brighty until later. If I actually get one, I’ll be over the moon (or in the ER!) but I’m good, regardless. (Or should I be bad? Not sure how the math of this works out.)

I’m hoping for the green Othellocorn because I’m weird, but all three colors are lovely. Speaking of green...

I got lucky and my Fruitcake Fillies, miraculously, were not twins: one green, and one blue! I was slightly less lucky when it came to the CC Appreciation model. Not the Paint Me A Pepto I was hoping for, but the other pinto, Kodi:

I guess I was right about it becoming more plentiful, eh?

Factoring out the desirability aspect – the Shire being the most desirable, and the Marabella the least – it appears that the five Glosses had similar piece counts, which is how I think it should be, ideally. Drives me bonkers when people make purchasing decisions based purely on piece counts: just because something’s rare doesn’t make it automatically desirable! (And vice versa.)

As a parting shot before I get ready for bed – a ton of post-holiday errands to run first thing in the morning, followed by a matinee of Aquaman – here’s another pretty pony that I made my acquaintance with today:

Emma was one of the items that made up my CC Appreciation order, and probably the one item in that box that I was most looking forward to! She had been available locally and I had been tempted many times, but I thought I’d save her up for my order, just in case.

So now, for what will inevitably be a brief moment, my Emma collection is complete. (Tomorrow will be De-Boxing Day here.)

Anecdote Vs. Data

I somehow managed to escape all the Black Friday sales unscathed; we’ll see what Cyber Monday brings. (Nothing, I hope. Other than the snow, and that is completely out of my control.)

I know nothing about the situation with the Brick and Mortar Gloss Kodis now turning up. I am assuming that Reeves, knowing that many of us completely lose our heads over anything Gloss, is just randomly glossing the last bits of the Kodi stock in an effort to make space in the warehouse for the 2019 models.

As such, I don’t think they’ll be excessively rare, and nothing to get hot and bothered over. And if they are, they still aren’t worth getting worked up about.

I have also pretty much given up trying to figure out Reeves is doing, in regards to their marketing. After being obtuse about the Benasque’s color, being almost completely opaque about the Vintage Club models, revealing two of the releases and silhouettes of the other four molds for Stablemates Club ones, the straight-up weirdness of the Bay Bristol reveal, I’m ready to tap out and use my brain power on more rewarding things, like lottery number algorithms.

Some of this is undoubtedly because of the new blood that’s come in recently, some of whom are from well outside the model horse community. That in itself is not a bad thing, but you’d hope they would have already evaluated the approaches that have – and have not – worked in the past.

Or maybe they have. A point in their favor is that we’re working from anecdotal data, while they have hard sales data.

When I have had access to some of that sales data, it often bore little correlation to what hobbyists (working from anecdotal data points) assumed to be true.

But getting back to the Stablemates Club reveals, the first (?) release for the 2019 Stablemates Club is  a Gloss Dappled Chestnut on the Mirado mold:

Since I belong to the “I’ll buy what I like” school of horse-buying, and I liked him just fine, I hadn’t noticed the level of antagonism and vitriol that had grown up around the Mirado mold. Yes, the original paint job didn’t do him any favors, and the extra-long flappy mane does distort his proportions a bit, but… it’s a Stablemate.

The beauty of the Stablemates scale is that both the buyer and the manufacturer can get experimental or weird or quirky, for a rather modest initial outlay.

What’s also interesting about this release is that Reeves took a mold that received a rather cool reception, and changed the one thing that they could: the paintjob.

To the one thing that they know a lot of collectors can’t resist: Glossy!

A point in your favor, Reeves. Now about the lack of Vintage Club reveals....

In a Name

Calm down, everyone: Tuesday’s special offer on Breyer’s web site was just overstock of last year’s Tractor Supply Special Jesse, given the more generic name “Palomino Quarter Horse”. Everything else appears to be exactly the same, even the issue number:

They did the same thing with the 2012 Mid-States Special Run Bay Roan Roxy Constellations, too, if you recall.

I briefly thought of ordering one – the handful of Jesses that I found around here were underwhelming – considering the possibility that there might be some of the Chalky variation ones in the overstock.

But then they sold out, and that temptation went away. More money for the potential surprises of December, I guess!

These re-releases are a nice offer for people who don’t have these participating retailers near them, or who wouldn’t dare brave the Breyer Sales Tent/NPOD for one either (where these kinds of overstocks often go).

I don’t have any Mid-States retailers within a reasonable driving distance, for instance; if I hadn’t already acquired a Constellation, I might have taken up the offer on the web site.

(Ironically, mine is a Sample from the NPOD!)

But historically speaking, this is little more than an interesting footnote, kind of like this one:

Yes, in some – but not all – early Breyer ephemera, the Running Mare and Foal were also known as the Running Arabian Mare and Foal. (This particular snippet is from the 1964 Price List.)

Oh, My Stars

I spent all day looking for my camera just so I could show you which one of the CC Shuffles I got:

Yes, I am pleased. Here’s the official numbers on the various releases, via Breyer's Facebook page:

711161 A - Appaloosa (552 Matte, 84 Glossy)
711161 B - Dappled Gray (470 Matte, 84 Glossy)
711161 C - Grulla Tobiano with Primitive Markings (470 Matte, 84 Glossy)
711161 D - Denim Blue Roan Tovero (168 Matte, 84 Glossy)

Actually, when I opened up this one and only Shuffle horse I was able to acquire, I had absolutely no idea how to react. It was still fairly early in the game on Friday, and nobody knew nothing about who was rare and who wasn’t. I managed to catch a glimpse of the polling on Blab on Saturday and kinda-sorta got an inkling that I had the "rare" one, but even that’s not entirely trustworthy.

(Nobody’s all that excited or motivated to post that they got a Matte, for instance, so Glosses tend to appear overreported.)

Several iterations of my ultimate/fantasy/dream horse in high school came in Blue Roan Medicine Hat/Tovero, so in the absence of better data, I just decided to love her anyway, regardless of the quantity made.

It’s unlikely I’ll get another. Not that I wouldn't want another - all of them are beautiful! - but the prices for them right now are a little out of hand, especially the Glosses. The quantities for the CC Shuffle Glosses are nearly double that of the Live Show Prize Glosses, but those Prizes go for one-third to one-half the price.

The math just don’t add up.

It's alright, because I got another Roxy that morning that was better than any of the rest: a Sample of  Constellation - the Dark Bay Roan Roxy Special Run from last year! I found her whilst digging through the Sample boxes in the Pit early that morning, and quickly tossed her into my keeper box. Love that paint job! They could put that color on almost anything, and I’d buy it.

Eyes of the Beholders

I didn’t get one of the leftover Fontanas that were made available to Collector’s Club members on the Breyer web site on Tuesday. I would have if I could have, but I really couldn’t afford it this week. (New license plate tags for the car + magazine subscription renewal = no extra spendy cash!)

I wasn’t surprised that they sold out in a matter of hours - even though there were well over a hundred of them to be "disposed" of.

Just because something doesn’t sell out at the event it was made for doesn’t mean there wasn’t any demand for the model hobby-wide. Lots of hobbyists couldn’t make it to BreyerWest to purchase it, or didn’t want deal with the hassle that goes into arranging for a pickup, or just flat out didn’t have the money then. (As opposed to now - it being tax refund season, ya know!)

And as for the current online aftermarket - or lack thereof - for the item, that’s really not a good indicator of demand, either. A significant portion of collectors don’t really participate in that arena, at all. They’d rather deal with the safety and security inherent in buying straight from the manufacturer, even if it means a slight markup over the going price in the aftermarket.

(Can you blame them, really? A quick skim of any of the hobby-transaction-monitoring-type places would give most folks the willies.)

Kudos to Reeves for making a leftover SR available to members this way; we can only hope that similar items - like certain BreyerFest leftovers - do, too. Especially if it means more room in the NPOD for weirder, newer, and more exotic stuff!

I suppose I should talk a little about the next Vintage Club piece, which IS a Buckskin Fighting Stallion, with the rather unimaginative name of "King" - the nickname he originally came with.

I am pleased - not just at my guessing skills, but the model itself, who’ll look faboo next to both my Buckskin 1993 Jamboree Rearing Stallion, and my old Buckskin Mustang with the extra body shading and eyewhites:


(See what I meant about those "black points"?)

I couldn’t see eyewhites in the photo on the web site, which is a bit of a bummer, but I’m still hoping the dorsal stripe might be there.

Some hobbyists are obviously displeased that he is neither Glossy, nor "Not Boring" in some way (i.e.: spotted, speckled or dappled). I was sort of afraid of that - and why I’m so concerned about the web site forum content and contributors.

(BTW, I’m not going to muddy myself any further with them for now - I’ve had my fill of unpleasantness this week, both online and off!)

As someone who’s obsessed with Breyer History, as per the title of this very blog, I’d rather the models reflect the actual scope of Breyer History, and not some narrow (mis)interpretation of it. Vintage does not equal Glossy - or Decorator! Some of my favorite oldies, like my Mustang, are neither.

I certainly wouldn’t object to a Christmas Decorator release, though. The evidence for them is so tenuous, but the desire is so palpable. They may never have truly existed, but they need to exist, right? Close enough for me.

More recent Stablemates molds in the four alleged Christmas Decorator colors would also be acceptable - as a little boxed set of ornaments, maybe? (Oh goodness, yes!)

BreyerWest, Mostly

My JAH arrived today. I haven’t finished rifling through it yet, though from what I’ve read so far, my suspicions about the content of the online discussions seem to be right - as in, a lot of the information being discussed isn’t.

So there’s going to be two more Web Specials by the end of the year - one on a favorite mold (a Decorator Nokota Horse) and another in a favorite color (Silver Filigree Weather Girl)? I wouldn’t mind either, but I suspect I will be getting neither. Nothing to do with my finances - where there’s a will, there’s a way and all that - it’s just that my luck with the Web Special program hasn’t been so good lately.

I don’t even want to imagine what the aftermarket prices on a Silver Filigree Weather Girl are going to be. The prices I’m seeing on the BreyerWest Volunteer Glossies are scary enough.

So they put a different tail on the Roxy mold, for Fontana? Hmm. I wasn’t super-keen on the original tail, but it did reflect the character of the horse it was modeled after. A different tail might be more in line with what’s in fashion in the show ring, but I tend to prefer models that have a more specific - as opposed to a more generic - character to them.

I’d have to see one in person before I pass judgment. It might be a while; with all of the other programs and Special Runs coming up in the next couple of months, it doesn’t seem likely that I’ll be picking up one of the leftovers. (I’m assuming there were - I haven’t heard otherwise, but I might not have been looking in the right places.)

In other BreyerWest news, Reeves cut back on the show awards, and gave out plain old unglossed Regular Run models to Sectional Champs and Reserves - the horror! (Glosses were still awarded to the Overall Champs and Reserves.) Needless to say, that ticked off a few showers, who evidently thought they were entitled to such things; their kvetching about it apparently helped sour the mood of everyone within earshot.

All I can say is that it’s about time they cut back on those awards; all they’ve done is drawn out the worst in some hobbyists, who have done some very devious things in the past to win. This change is something I’ve been advocating for years, and it looks like a lot of other hobbyists are coming around to my line of thinking, too.

The only mistake they made was in not announcing the change in the program earlier. The way the awards were advertised - as "special Breyer awards" - left a little too much open to interpretation.

Whether this is a preview of downgraded awards to come at BreyerFest, I don’t know. Still, I think something should be done. If not Regular Runs, then something else.

For instance, I wouldn’t mind a modified version of the current program, but with an identical range of prizes awarded at all three shows, rather than three different sets of awards. Sure, that would "up" the piece count on all of the awards, making them slightly less rare and/or valuable, but they’d still have the cachet of being exclusive to the show. A program like that might have the additional benefit of cutting down on the de facto proxy showing a bit.

Or how about coupons redeemable for Breyer merchandise, like Green Stamps. One more Sectional Reserve, and I can get an Equestral Crystal horse! (LOL - could you imagine the little booklet they’d have to include in the show packet for that?)

As you can tell, I've obviously had way too much sugar today. Darn Lemon-Walnut Zucchini Muffins.

Now for Something a Little More Colorful

(This is how crunched for time I am right now: the following post was written in the back seat of a car during an especially long carpool. Multitasking, woot!)

I see a lot of people are upset that the next Connoisseur horse is another translucent Moody Andalusian. That doesn’t bother me so much; I sort of expected that we’d be getting a duplicate or two at some point in time. What cheeses me off is that they went with Van Gogh as their next Artistic inspiration.

Snore.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Van Gogh as much as the next person, but it’s such a predictable choice. I thought they might have had it in them to go a bit daring – Kandinsky was the first in the series, right? But I guess they just had to play it safe.

Rats. I was really hoping for a Franz Marc Belgian. (And if you don’t know who Franz Marc is, you really should.)

I wonder what’s up with this being the third Translucent release on the Andalusian mold? That’s mighty peculiar. I didn’t think there was anything chemically different between the standard White Tenite and the Clear, except for the pigments. Are they leftovers from the Breast Cancer horse? Or just playing it safe, again?

I was an Art History major in college, and this is (sort of) an Art History blog, so yeah, I’ll probably be sending in the card anyway, depending on what the money situation is after BreyerFest. Him being a Translucent isn’t hurting, either.

Speaking of colorful new releases, I’m really liking the BreyerWest SR Fontana; just the other day I was thinking how nice a pinto release on the Roxy mold would be, and voila! There she was. Like the universe was listening to my thoughts or something. (Oops, there go those delusions of importance again.)

The name kind of cracked me up a little – not that it’s all that funny, unpredictable, or has any special meaning to me. It’s just that with all these genre movies coming out lately, I’ve been letting my nerdiness really hang out: the very first thing that popped in my head when I saw the name was that there must be a serious Trekker in the Reeves offices. (If you don’t get the reference, here you go: D. C. Fontana.)

How bad has it gotten? I actually said this in an actual conversation with a coworker last week:

"I had my first LOC published in Green Lantern back when Alan Moore was still writing backups."

Fortunately, it was one of those kind of coworkers I could say something like that to and not look like a complete dork. The conversation then moved on to voiceover artist Frank Welker, for some crazy reason.

(BTW: not enough Mogo in the Green Lantern movie! The Bzzd cameo was kinda cool, though. Also cool: http://hoosierinanity.blogspot.com/2010/03/yippee-ki-yay-green-lantern.html. The comments are a hoot.)

I don’t know if I’ll actually be buying one, guess it’ll depend on the situation I’m in by the time they make the leftovers available to the rest of us. I’ve been thinking about seriously cutting back on my purchases in the second half of the year to pay for some long-overdue non-horse expenses.

Spot On

Did I forget to mention I got my Spot On the other day? She’s my eighth Connoisseur, so I’ve decided to call her Octavia:


I was not as enthused as I normally was when I saw my name on the Spot On draw list. It wasn’t the Connoisseur "fatigue" that some folks are quick to bring up every time a new Connoisseur is announced; I still get a little thrill every time I "win" one. It’s just that this time, that brief moment of happiness was mixed with concern over where I was going to put her.

I really have to consider my purchases very carefully now, since the recent remodel left me with significantly less storage space than I had before. It’s cheaper and easier to just avoid buying something in the first place, rather than have to go through the agony of purging something later.

I wasn’t going to decline her; I have this silly notion in my head that if I ever skip a Connoisseur opportunity, somehow I’ll never win anything again, ever - Connoisseur, Raffle, Bingo, whatever.

I’m so glad I have her now. Her paint job is simply exquisite. I kept her on my desk for several days, taking in all the nuances of shading and masking. In spite of its busyness, it seems to enhance the detail in the mold: I hadn’t noticed before what an athletic, muscular girl Roxy is. My only other Roxy is the BreyerFest one, and the flat black paint job tones down her muscularity somewhat.

I’m not real keen on her braided mane and tail. Aside from the fact that they’re slightly out of proportion to the rest of the model, the Roxy mold strikes me as more of a "jeans and t-shirt" girl. Don’t get me wrong, she "cleans up" real nice, but she looks more comfortable, and more herself, with her hair down.

There have been five releases of the Roxy mold in her first year of release, though only two - the original Roxy, and the current regular run Bet Yer Blue Boons - are readily available to most collectors. Well, maybe not the original Roxy, for much longer: I have noticed a considerable uptick in interest in her lately, more than your average BreyerFest Celebration Horse.

Five releases in one year may seem like a lot, but back in the 1960s, that was pretty much business as usual. Molds like the Fighting Stallion, Mustang, the Running Mare and Foal, and the Family Arabians all came in multiple colors - simultaneously.

Back then, there were a limited number of molds to choose from, so it made sense to release all of them in as many colors as possible, to maximize sales. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that multiple simultaneous releases became the exception, not the norm. More molds were available, and many of them were breed-specific, limiting their possible color choices anyway. The multiple simultaneous releases, ironically, became more prevalent in special run releases, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s. Special runs of the Pacer, Shire, SM G1 Draft Horse, Hanoverian, Phar Lap, Indian Pony, Balking Mule, Belgian, Bucking Bronco - all were released in multiple colors simultaneously.

Except for the some of the Treasure Hunts, and the occasional Gambler’s Choice release, these simultaneous releases (regular run, or special run) don’t happen very often anymore - with Traditionals. A recent exception has been the Ethereal Collection - I was just skimming the 2010 Collector’s Manual, and it seemed weird to see all four of them there. Doesn’t it feel like each Ethereal should have been discontinued before the following one was released?

Multiple releases are not uncommon among Classics and Stablemates releases today: they come out with so many different gift set combos in any given year, there’s bound to be a little overlap. They’re smaller, and cheaper, so for devotees of those molds it hasn’t been a huge burden keeping up with them - aggravating sometimes, but not as spatially or economically devastating as a Silver or Othello obsession might be.

Breyer and the Fidelity Swap

In case you haven’t caught the clues, I haven’t exactly been on board with these BreyerFest-by-invitation only events. I haven’t even entered for any of them - the original in 2002, the VRE, or the LSE. I can only afford one big even a year, and I have to go with the one that gives me the biggest all-around payoff, emotionally and financially. And that’s BreyerFest.

I have been trying my best to avoid the LSE discussions; I have better things to do than moon over models I'll never hope to own. Unlike the very vocal minorities trolling the boards, I actually like most of the specials that have been announced. Chestnut is very flattering on the Roxy mold, the Halloween Horse is very clever, and I try not to think about the Smart Chic Olena too much, because I had been hoping that a(n affordable) leopard appaloosa release would be in his future someday.

I like the Peruvian, too, but he is a bit too close to the Cobrizo and the possible future Collector’s Choice Roan, but that could just be Reeves’s photography getting in the way again. The possibility of him being even more awesome in person is also something I’d rather not contemplate.

What I’m finding yucky is the sight of hobbyists falling over each other to step to the mike and proudly, defiantly proclaim how much they dislike all of the releases so far. Just a few years ago, most hobbyists would have been rolling around on the floor in paroxysms of joy over a model like Mudflap. Now they can barely contain their glee over their disdain.

Some of it is just a self-defense mechanism: better to rationalize a reason not to want something, than mope about it being unaffordable or inaccessible. (You know, it’s perfectly okay to mope every once and a while, too. Being happy all the time isn’t any better than being a perpetual mopey-dope.)

But I think an interesting new theory called the "Fidelity Swap" might explain what’s going on here.

As theorized by business writer Kevin Maney in the recently published Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don’t, businesses have to decide if their product or service will focus on Fidelity or Convenience. Fidelity is about quality, exclusivity, snob appeal, and bragging rights. Convenience is about affordability, availability, and ease. The tension between these two competing idea is the "Fidelity Swap."

The most successful products and services are either high in Fidelity or high in Convenience, but not both. Companies that try to achieve both are less likely to succeed: it confuses and frustrates the consumer. Consumers who prefer Convenience will be disappointed when the company produces products they find unaffordable and/or unavailable, and the consumers who prefer Fidelity will be disappointed by the lack of exclusivity or higher quality.

Sound familiar?

It’s pretty obvious I’m in the Convenience camp: of course I want my horses to be of better-than-average quality, and I am not immune to the snob appeal a rarer or prettier-than-average model brings to the herd. But I am very frustrated when models become so limited in distribution, or so expensive in price, that any hope of achieving those models approaches zero.

And there’s been a lot of those kinds of models lately. A lot.

Part of the appeal of the hobby to me was in its affordability: I could have the ginormous herd of my dreams with minimal expense, little acreage, and no vet bills. (My teenage fantasy ranch, by the way, was located in Wyoming. I’m not sure why: it just was. Oh, the elaborate facilities I drew up!) So when I see people forking over enormous sums of money for these models - and complaining that a 100 piece SR isn’t exclusive enough for them - well, it runs counter to what my notions of the hobby are.

There really aren't that many hobbyists out there that can afford the high fidelity models, and that's part of the problem: having a special class of folks who end up with the majority of the rarities is a recipe for resentment.

The second thing that might happen - that is actually happening with the Connoisseur models at this point - is model fatigue, or boredom. Connoisseurs aren't perceived as being rare or exclusive enough anymore. Any SR that breaks three digits isn't rare or exclusive enough anymore.

Honestly, I can’t see anything that would make them happy, short of giving them all test colors and made-to-order factory customs. And here I thought we had at least all agreed to make fun of the Peter Stone business model, not admire it, right?