Being Chill

Oof, rough couple of days here: work’s been crazy, and it’s been hotter than the surface of the sun outside. I crashed and burned yesterday out of sheer exhaustion. Alas, it’s pretty much the only day I’ll allow myself the luxury: I just finished one big writing project and I have another one due next week. And after that, I’ll finally be able to get around to BreyerFest prep. 

(And that’s why the Diorama Contest thingy went where all my other Diorama Contest thingies have gone the past three years: back into the craft closet.)

But you know what? I am feeling pretty calm about all of it. Maybe because I haven’t the luxury of being able to worry. 

The same goes for the ever-changing particulars of BreyerFest this year that everyone seems to be fussing about.  

The Special Runs don’t really matter, nor is the distribution plan. The theme doesn’t matter (well, a little: not looking forward to drunken spouses in lederhosen). Other things that don’t matter – to me, anyway: the price of gas, the price of food at the KHP, the heat, the humidity, the flippers, people who try to strongarm you into selling something at half-price on a Thursday, and the crankypants know-it-alls who lecture you about things you’re the expert on. 

All that does matter to me is being in the place appointed for us with the people we haven’t seen in three years. There will be lots ugly-crying, people.

I’ve saved my pennies, I’ve had all my shots, all I have to do now is get all my paperwork done and figure out exactly how much sales stuff I’ll be able to squeeze into my car, because I have to save some space for my volunteer displays, too.

(More on that later!)

On the plus side of that conundrum, however, is if anyone needs a place to sell and couldn’t get room at the Swap Meet, I might have space available for the cost of room-sitting. (Excellent location! Lots of foot traffic! Free candy!) You’d also have to bring your own shelves…

I need to sleep a little, so I will now close with a pretty pony: since I didn’t participate in the latest round of Collector’s Club Appreciation Glossiness, here’s a photo of the last CCA Gloss I did get who I finally unboxed for the last live show – the Black Pinto Smarty Jones!

He did place – I think he got a fifth in his class? And I was good with that: black horses tend to be pretty hit and miss when it comes to showing, and that’s largely dependent on the amount of shading and the quality of the mold involved. I calculated that the combination of him being a Chase Piece, and Glossy, and a Smarty Jones would earn at least a lower placing, and I was correct.

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.

Making Plans

The latest Test Color Online Purchase Raffle Ruffian looks more like the 2016 Early Bird Raffle Model Polomar on the Smarty Jones mold than it does the 2011 Early Bird Raffle Model Perrault to me.

I really, really wanted Polomar. So I’ll enter for this girl and hope for the best, even though they’ve upped the price to $1000 now, instead of the measly $850 they were charging before.

(Yes, it’s entirely possible for both models to have been inspired by the same thing, sure.) 

And I’d gladly keep anything that rare I have the good fortune to win. Because that doesn’t happen to me nearly as much as some of you think I do. (Outside of eBay, lately. And thank goodness for that.) 

Because of the shifted deadlines with the virtual event I’m now in full BreyerFest panic mode. Let’s just say things are not going as well as I had hoped?

At least I think I now have all the supplies I’ll absolutely need now. No more wild goose chases for… stuff.

Anyway, here’s the situation with my BreyerFest plans:

Selling: I don’t have that much to sell this year; I’ve been selling stuff online since late February, the flea markets and thrift stores haven’t been open, and I haven’t had the time to go through the collection to look for potential sales fodder, either. Anything I do have for sale I’ll upload to eBay, MH$P, and maybe even a dedicated web page by Thursday night, with all the appropriate links.

Sampler: I also hope to have this up by Thursday night. More on this later, as it’s currently on hold pending a couple other projects.

Official BreyerFest Activities: As far as I know, I am not scheduled for anything special during the three-day weekend. This could change, but I’m not counting on it, either.

Unofficial BreyerFest Activities: I had thought I could do a mini-BreyerFest at home, or even a Zoom Meet-and-Greet or Q & A, but I simply haven’t had the time to set anything up. If anyone wants to help set that up for me – I’m going to be available the entire BreyerFest weekend, so scheduling is not an issue – send me an e-mail.

If anyone wants to just come over and do a tour of my collection, shoot the breeze and eat frozen lemonades, that’s cool too. Vita loves company!

Personal BreyerFest Activities: I don’t know if I’m going to do any of the tutorials – again, not much time to spare here – but I’ll definitely be online in the “BreyerFest” space for a big portion of the day. Doing whatever there is to do, I suppose, aside from shopping and watching demonstrations. Maybe hang out in the Collector’s Club Virtual Tent?

I think that’s it for today?

Oh! I see there is some consternation in the comments about the changes that happened with the Quarter Horse Gelding. I have covered this before, but I will cover it again next time because it’s a neat thing I think every Breyer Nerd needs to know about.

Unboxing More, Chasing Less

The in-hand photos of the new Collector’s Club release Carter are beginning to trickle in online and, as we suspected, his color is merely a slight variation on the very attractive Rose Gray color that was one of the scarcer colors available on last year’s BreyerFest Surprise Andalusian.

He’s quite lovely, but as I am still opening up things from last year, I’ll have to give him a pass. Things like my beautiful Bisbee, who I only recently rescued from the backseat of my car:

Yeah, I know, Bad Andrea. In my defense, (a) the weather has been mild, (b) I usually park under a tree anyway, and (c) I don’t do a lot of off-roading in my spare time. As you can see, she survived the ordeal just fine.

Sometimes I do feel a little alone in my appreciation for the Forever Saige mold, and I am perfectly okay with that. Collecting less popular molds means a lot less stress tracking down the scarcer ones! And wasn’t the Saige in last year’s BreyerFest Auction the cheapest of the lot? That’s definitely food for thought.

Last year – and particularly, the last four months of the year – were a little crazier than I anticipated, and the unboxing of things was not a priority. So for the next month or so I’ll focus my attention on unboxing all the goodies that are already here, instead of chasing more.

Unless I luck into that Black Pinto Smarty Jones: him, I’ll make an exception for. I love Black Pintos and I have a pretty fine little Smarty Jones collection going – including the Daytona, the 2018 BreyerFest Dark Horse Surprises in Black and Palomino Splash, the Connoisseur, and the Halloween Horse – and he’ll fit right in.

I’d love to add a Polo Pony version of the mold to the family, but the two that I really like (the 2016 Early Bird Model Polomar and the 2012 Raffle Model Carlisle) are essentially unattainable, and it’s hard to find a 2015 Santiago that doesn’t look totally goofy.

And good gravy, how insane is it that Palomino Hamiltons are selling for more than the Pinto Smarty Jones on eBay right now? I mean, I get that math is not everyone’s strong suit, and rarity alone does not guarantee value, but that’s still… arithmetically questionable.

It’s only (checks calendar) February 2nd! I don’t know what the production cutoff date is for models designed to be one-year releases, but I’m pretty sure there’s no need to worry until, I dunno, at least May or June.

Rumors Have It

In other news, there’s yet another round of Unicorn Mystery Surprise Unicorns at Walmart. Like a lot of others, I am mentally and physically tapped out of the blind bag thing at the moment; unless there happens to be one in the assortment I can’t live without – not likely, but who knows? – I’ll either skip this round entirely, or buy them whenever the mood strikes, or the budget allows.

None of the BreyerFest Store Specials have been officially announced, but there’s a very credible rumor going around that WGC Marc of Charm will be one of them – with the model being used being the one he modeled for himself: Hamilton!

(Tentatively pencils him in on my must-get list.)

Speaking of Hamilton, I’ve also heard that the 70th Anniversary Collection will have at least one of each of the four primary releases in each case of six, with the other two being a random choice of the five, with one in ten cases having the Chase Piece Pinto Smarty Jones.

If that’s so, then the odds of getting the Pinto Smarty are about one in 60 – not great, but better than the Stablemates Chase pieces, which are one in 96. This comes out to about 250 pieces per every 2500 cases (15,000 units total) sold.

Back when Reeves had distinct definitions for all of the releases that were not your typical, Regular Run models, the term “Limited Edition” was used to describe models that were specifically advertised as being limited to one year of production. Not surprisingly, “Limited Editions” typically sold better than Regular Run models – often, ironically, outselling some Regular Run models that were discontinued after a single year of production!

The production quantities of these Limited Editions were in the neighborhood of 15,000 pieces, thus explaining the origins of my rough guess number. That was nearly 30 years ago, so I am assuming the actual production quantity will be north of that.

And also assuming that they keep the proportions of the other four models in this release roughly equal – at least initially – that means that about one in four of this assortment will be a Palomino Hamilton.

For the number geeks: that is about 3,685 pieces per 2500 cases/15,000 units – roughly the equivalent of a Brick-and-Mortar Special.

So again to all those people who are still freaking out about getting one: calm down! I don’t think the first new shipments of anything will even be hitting stores for another week or so anyway.

Personally, I am not in any big hurry, but if you could see the state of my house right now you’d understand why….

FYI: Yes, I knew all about the Riddle on MHSP. Aside from the fact that I am a little bit short of fun money this month, what I could comfortably pay for it even if I had that money to play with was well under what it even started at, so that was a complete and utter nonstarter.

Breyer 2020

I was going to talk about BreyerFest, the new BreyerFest Guide, and all that, but photos of (some) of the 2020 Breyer releases dropped on the Breyer website yesterday and – ladies and gentlemen – we have to talk.

https://www.breyerhorses.com/collections/2020-new-products

The Lipizanner Mare and Foal being released as a set is no surprise; I figured as much, since we just had the Winter Web Special Avoriaz. The colors are pretty, and more typical of actual Lipizzaners, which should momentarily quiet that contingent of hobbyists who get very upset when typey molds are released in nontypey/nonstandard colors. 

(Personally I don’t care one way or the other, but Carina does look lovely in fleabites!)

The return of both the Galiceno and the Pony of the Americas mold – in a set, no less – is more of a surprise for me. Since I am quite fond of both (though not the POA’s new hairdo) this set is a possible must-have for me, in addition to the Lipizanners.

So the Ideal series making a comeback on the Geronimo mold? That’s an interesting idea. The only problem I see with this series is – like the previous AQHA series – is that it’s tailored more towards AQHA members than hobbyists per se. After the third or fourth release in Bay or Chestnut, most hobbyists will tune it out…

I am not quite as gaga over the new Classic-scale Morgan Stallion as everyone else is yet; he’s one I want to wait and see on. And while I know Silver Bay is an acceptable Morgan color, I would have gone with something a little more conventional with the initial release, especially since they have been crushing it with the Bays and Chestnuts of late. 

Oddly more appealing to me is the Malik as a Translucent Blue and Silver Filigree Decorator and a “Unicornized” Mighty Muscle Draft Horse in the same “Early Morning Sunrise” color I found really appealing on the Walmart Unicorn Arabian earlier this year.

(And being the DC nerd that I am, my thoughts went straight to the Solaris of All-Star Superman. As I have mentioned before, it is definitely worth the read.)

The Stablemates 8-pack with both a Darley Arabian and a Darwin is another probably-gotta-buy-it: the paint jobs are a little plain (solid Black on the Darwin?) but I am assuming that’s because they’re trying for a more modest price point there.

So… in spite of my best intentions to the contrary, it might be an expensive year for me, depending on what Specials they have in store for us. And BreyerFest.

Finally, regarding the 70th Anniversary Assortment that has everyone both intrigued and annoyed: I don’t know anything more about how this is going to work than you guys do. I am assuming the Gambler’s Choice aspect applies only to the online purchases on the Breyer website, and to the dealers themselves, who won’t know what they’re getting from the warehouse until they open their cartons up. 

So if you’ve got a particular jones for one mold or another, it might be best to go to a local retailer. (And this, in fact, might be the whole point of this release.)

Besides, from the mess that some people make of Stablemates Blind Bags, “blind boxing” Traditionals would be (a) not particularly feasible, and (b) a gosh-darned nightmare, frankly. 

It looks like Reeves made a very careful and considerate selection of molds – the Fighting Stallion, the Indian Pony, the Moody Andalusian, and the Saddlebred Hamilton – that all have considerable fan bases and should be popular enough individually to not leave dealers with too many shelf sitters.

Naturally, when I first took a look at the assortment before reading the text, my eyes went straight to the Black Pinto Smarty Jones, who is… the darn chase piece.

Of course he is. Oh well, that’s something I can’t let myself worry about.

(The Palomino Hamilton is also rather eyecatching too, but I want to devote a post solely about him later in the week.)

Brishen and Friends

And the winners are – a Buttermilk Buckskin Brishen Sampson, a Buckskin Blanket Appaloosa Smarty Jones Hakan and (not pictured on the web site as of my posting) a Black Pinto Bluegrass Bandit Stella.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/breyer

Again, the standard disclaimer applies: nope, I really did not know ahead of time. 

(Incidentally, I went back and looked at the Stablemates bin tag UPCs: it’s the 6217 Mystery Unicorns Assortment – the one with the Navy Blue Alborozo. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Or not!)

I’ll have to see them in person, of course, before I make my final decisions – there are a few other models I’m considering adding to the herd in the meantime, besides – though the Bluegrass Bandit intrigues me the most. I know some hobbyists aren’t too fond of the mold, but I am hoping that translates into making it the easiest of the three to find/choose from.

While I like the color on the Brishen – it is very reminiscent of the color on the 2017 Bollywood Surprise Harley, who was very well-received generally and I liked very much also – I am a little bit disappointed that they went with the “standard” version of the mold.

The Brishen mold has two different versions of the mane (up and down), two different versions of the tail (up and swished), and even two different versions of the legs (feathered and unfeathered). Of the 11 previous Special Runs or Regular Runs of this mold (excluding gloss variants or Tests), six of them have been the same combo as the original Premier Club Brishen release: the “up” mane, the “up” tail, and the “feathered” legs.

I get it, the “fluffy” version the most popular variation of the mold, but of the eight different possible mold combos, four remain completely unexplored, and two – the Dag Dia version, and the Novelisto D version – have only been used once.

I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be seeing more of this mold again soon, possibly/probably as a Special Run for next year’s “Celtic Fling”-themed BreyerFest. Reeves certainly hasn’t been timid about using different mane and tail combos before, either with Surprise models, or with 50/50 Splits like this year’s Roxy release Diana.

At this point I am on the fence about whether or not they’ll use the Brishen mold as the Surprise model, though; while the mold is still just a bit too popular for that sort of thing, but he’s still had a relatively limited number of releases and all those mold options to explore.

And speaking of that, since Sampson will undoubtedly be popular – with some hobbyists exploiting the pre-order option on the TSC web site to essentially put a chunk of the initial store stock on hold – those of us initially left out in the cold may need to take a deep breath and either wait for second shipments to arrive, or get some sort of confirmation on production numbers before paying a premium. 

Rushmore Zippo

Wow, there’s been a lot of Breyer activity the past few days! Let’s just focus on the one that’s most interesting to me – the latest Test Color Purchase Raffle, a Dappled Bay Roan Zippo Pine Bar:

Often it’s hard to see why a Test Color was done; in many instances, there was no specific goal in mind, other than experimentation for experimentation’s sake. But in the case of this Zippo (as with the previous Flaxen Chestnut Stud Spider) it’s clearly the antecedent to a specific production run: the BreyerFest 2007 Special Run Rushmore, on the Smarty Jones mold.

The web site’s copy about it being “one of the tests that inspired the Burbank Nakota Appaloosa model for the Velvet Rope Collector Event in 2008” was clearly written by someone with only a passing familiarity with Breyer History.

Yes, it’s technically correct, but it is more obviously and directly connected to the BreyerFest Special Run than the Burbank. Except for the absence of the snip, he’s a near-exact match, and came out the year before!

In fact, him being the clear ancestor of the Rushmore is a big reason why I want him in the first place.  All Test Colors are awesome, but I reserve a special place in my heart for Test Colors that obviously led to widely-available (1000+ piece) Production Run items.

Another plus: if I do win him (unlikely, but still a tiny possibility) it won’t be difficult to get a matching Rushmore; barring a lottery-level miracle, a Burbank will never happen for me.

And also I would like to give a big, gigantic “ARGH” to the misspelling of Nokota, which is one of my biggest pedantic hobby pet peeves, right up there with “hobbiest”, “filagree” and “defiantly” (for definitely).

But to end on a slightly more cheerful note….

One really fascinating thing about the Zippo Pine Bar mold: did you know he was designed to be an “easy” model to mold? There are no undercuts that require special gating or tooling, and no special add-ons or take-aways that could complicate the molding process.

The simpler the mold, the cheaper it is to produce. Having a mold like that around helps mitigate the cost of some of the more flamboyant or labor-intensive molds.

Dark Horses

It’s about diggity-dang time they released the Dark Horse Surprise numbers!

Palomino Splash: 1050 Matte/175 Gloss (1225 total)
Appaloosa: 850 Matte/175 Gloss (1025 total)
Bay Tobiano Pinto: 575 Matte/175 Gloss (750 total)
Flaming Decorator: 425 Matte/175 Gloss (600 total)
Black: 225 Matte/175 Gloss (400 total)

The Black is definitely the rarest, and the Splash Palomino the most common. No surprises there.

But I thought – based on online and event sales – that the Bay Pinto was going to be the second rarest.

Apparently the large number of Decorators I saw for sale wasn’t a result of sheer numbers, but a lack of interest/appeal in the color itself, primarily among younger collectors – much like the original 1960s Decorators!

In fact, if I heard any complaints at all about the Surprise model this year, it was from younger collectors bemoaning the fact that they pulled the Decorator. It was very clearly designed to appeal to a rather different clientele from the typical BreyerFest attendee – ones more interested in horsepower, rather than horse power.

It’ll be interesting to see if, like the original vintage Decos, that translates into increased interest (and prices) in the color in the future.

It’s been my experience that younger collectors seem to prefer the Tobiano Pintos; add into the mix the fact that the Smarty Jones hasn’t come in a lot of pintos in general (with the most accessible being the still-pretty-tough-to-get 2007 Collector’s Choice Windtalker in Grulla Overo) and it makes some sense that any kids that snagged one likely kept it.

I would have been fine with the Deco if I had gotten one – you know I love Translucents – but I am glad I ended up with my two favorites: the Black and the Palomino Splash!

Just a few weeks ago I was pining for more Splash Pintos, and the one in the Dark Horse Surprise is beautifully executed: if he had been a standalone Special Run this year, I would have likely bought him!

And well, I’ve been a longtime champion of Solid Black paintjobs for years. When I went over to the Silent Auction Booth to ogle the complete set of Glossies Friday afternoon, two thoughts immediately crossed my mind:

“Ooh, the Black one’s my favorite!”

“He’s probably the rare one. I always pick the rare one.”

I guess my only (slight) criticism of the Dark Horse Surprise was the predictability: a lot of people pegged it as the Smarty Jones early on. I was hoping that Reeves would throw us a curveball and give us something offbeat or a little more Quarter/Stock Horsey.

Ruffled Feathers

It was another excellent day at the flea market – not “Hagen-Renakers in a shoebox” great, but no complaints. Most of it is heading for the sales boxes, if I can make it fit. This little bit of ephemera, however, is a keeper:

A vintage postcard from the South African Feather Company – a company that manufactured custom plumes for horses. And other (less innocent?) things, I presume; I found it in a box of risqué postcards, photographs and other naughty things in brown paper envelopes (which is apparently not the cliché I thought it was!)

(And in case you were wondering, most of it was 1950s-level tame.)

Speaking of feathers, there’s been some rustling thereof with the posting of this Auction Lot:

Many hobbyists were assuming that the Polo Pony version of the Smarty Jones mold was going to be the Bollywood Surprise, since Reeves has been dropping hints about a Polo Pony SR since the beginning, with nary a one in sight. Since it has been a while since they put one of the Surprise rarities in the Auction...

He seemed a little unlikely to me, since last year’s BreyerFest Early Bird Raffle was the Smarty Jones Polo Pony Polomar. It still might be a Polo Pony of some sort, but it might be on a completely different mold that has multiple mane and tail options.

(So maybe now Strapless? My speculating skills have been pretty off lately, so take that for what it’s worth.)

Anyway, still prepping. And still not anywhere near ready, but whatever gets done, gets done. (Actually, the diorama is almost done – it’s just the centerpiece item that needs to be finished.)

Incidentally, here’s my Vintage Club Family Arabian Stallion – I got Florentine!

I was hoping for a Gold Charm – I’ve been hoping for Gold Charm Family Arabians for years! – but the Florentines in this batch have been very nicely done.

Although Wedgewood Blue is my favorite of the four original Decorator colors, I have no preference when it comes to the modern interpretations. As long as I end up getting a nice mix of Blues and Golds, I’m good.

It’d be pretty awesome if they, at some point, offered the Mare and Foal up so we could complete some family sets. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, though: the Foal has its fans, but the poor, homely FAM gets little love outside of my house….

In A Gadda Dag Dia

I’ll admit I’ve been tempted to put my Novelisto D up for sale; the resale prices for that release have been impressive, to say the least. But now I know why I hesitated: I now have to complete a matching set with his Evil Twin, Dag Dia!

Think about it: Dag Dia is Listo’s opposite in every way -

• Solid Black, instead of Solid White
• Mane Down, instead of Mane Up
• Tail Down, instead of Tail Up
• Feathered Legs, instead of Clean

Did you know that there are 8 different possible mane-tail-leg combos for the Brishen-Laredo mold? I was curious one day and plotted it all out, labeling the parts that first appeared on Brishen as “A” and what appeared on Laredo as “B”. (Brishen is “A” because he came first, naturally.)

Most of the previous production releases on this mold have stuck to the same two combos: the upswept mane, tail and feathered legs of Brishen (“AAA”), or the braided mane, lowered tail, and clean legs of Laredo (“BBB”).

Using this system, that makes Novelisto an “AAB” and Dag Dia a “BBA”. Four down, four more combos to go! (Illustrating all eight combos might make for a fun Photoshop project for someone. Just saying.)

The other two known BreyerFest 2016 releases aren’t too shabby either – the Celebration Horse is a new sculpt by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, and the Early Bird Special is a Smarty Jones Polo Pony in what I think is supposed to be a cornspotted Bay Roan.

I’ll reserve judgment of the Celebration Horse until I see one in person. Breyer photos, as you all should well know by now, are a terrible indicator of what the production pieces will look like: the color is usually wrong, and sloppy Photoshop clipping paths (used to cut the model out of the background) end up distorting the model’s actual contours beyond the point of usefulness.
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It is interesting that the third release of the Smarty Jones Polo Pony Mold Variation is another very limited BreyerFest Special Run, with the previous being the 2012 Saturday Raffle model Carlisle. There are even fewer of Polomar (3) than Carlisle, so I’ll likely have to wait a little longer to add a Smarty-Pony to the herd.

(My standards may be more lax than most, but even I had a hard time finding a Santiago that didn’t make me sigh deeply and walk away.)

BTW, for you whippersnappers who don’t get the title reference, grab yourself a bag of chips and a cold beverage of your choice, and enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4

Ceci n'est pas un Press Release

First, let’s get a few PSAs out of the way. The Mid-States Special is up on the Rural King web site, a pretty splash spot Appaloosa Indian Pony named Miigwan:

http://www.ruralking.com/dream-catcher-breyer-midstates.html

I think there’s another Mid-States Exclusive, a Classic, but I wasn’t able to find it on their web site.

And for those of you having access issues with Tractor Supply - either there ain’t one in your area, or the hordes have already descended and picked your stores clean, Dillon is also available on the TSC web site.

http://www.tractorsupply.com//ProductDisplay?cm_vc=-10005&urlRequestType=Base&productId=236119&catalogId=10051&categoryId=&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&urlLangId=&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=10151

This suggests that in spite of the seemingly more limited distribution (two per store?) that it might be an open-ended run - or that they reserved a portion of the run for online sales. Either/any way, there you go. (I’m still on the fence. Too much stuff, not enough time, boxes sitting around unopened, etc.)

I’ve also noticed a few newer America’s Mustang/Mesteno sets floating around the farm store circuit - some slightly repackaged older items, and some brand new things. (Note: work takes me to such places. I am not shopping.) I hear there’s a new one with a Bucking Bronco, which might be a must-get for me, since that mysterious set with the Bronco and White Wolf is still mostly MIA.

(Ooh boy, if Reeves ever dropped those en masse on the web site or in the Pit …)

Didn’t get picked for the Web Special Kimbia on the Smarty Jones mold. I thought I had a shot; I didn’t get a chance to review most of the commentary, but the brief skims I did catch were rather…unhappy and dismissive. In a way that suggested there’d be fewer entries than normal.

I haven’t seen too many up for sale in the usual places, last I looked, which (I hope) means that most of the hobbyists who won were ones that were intending on keeping them. Or it really, really tanked. If that’s the case, then it means I might get a chance to buy him after all, in November or December, perhaps?

I have tons to sell in the meantime. I’m hoping that I can finally get around to rounding up the sales herd next week, when work slows down (allegedly). It’s getting way too cramped around here, as you might have noticed from the setups for some of the recent photos. I’ve been on such a time crunch here that only just finished mopping up the last bits of debris from the garage sale, for Heaven’s sake.

(For the record, I haven’t won a single Web Special since I switched to my "one entry only" routine. I have also never been picked from the wait list for anything, ever, including all the Connoisseurs.)

My "grail" arrived yesterday, and it’s even cooler - and more mysterious - than I imagined. It’ll be a little while before you read about it here, since I need to do some follow-up research on it first. All I’ll say for the moment is that it’s something I guarantee that a good 99 percent of you haven’t seen before, either, outside of Breyer PR.

And that 99 percent of you probably wouldn’t want anyway, but you know I’m weird like that.

Next time, something that looks less like a press release from Reeves.

Crawling Out of Lurk Mode

Since I was either not home, or not awake when I was this week, I missed most of the big Blab Outage drama. Which is just as well, since I’ve been - and will continue to be - in lurk mode there a while longer. (Work, other commitments, some commenters I’d rather not deal with right now…)

Reeves sure has been busy cranking out these new releases while I was away; three more have appeared since I posted last.

First up was the Vintage Club Special Stablemate - a G3 Jumper in Gloss Gray Splash Spot Appaloosa, named Jackson. While you might have noticed that I’m big on the word play, his name - a riff on the Jumping Horses’s original nickname "Stonewall" - made me groan a little. 

The prototype/PR picture shows actual Splash Spots, not the painted dots of the Harlequin, which I hope is certainly the case with the actual release. I was rather depressed reading some of the commentary about him on the Breyer web site; not at the implied (and increasingly tiresome) sniping about the Kiowa paint job, but over the fact that a not small number of hobbyists are completely unaware of the existence of the 1995 Raffle Model Mystique.

Not the Most Popular Raffle Model out there, but also not that obscure. If you’re going to commit to collecting Vintage colors or releases, you ought to know your history, a little.

After a brief hiatus, the Tractor Supply Holiday Special Runs have returned; this year’s model is the old Traditional Mustang/Diablo in a Matte Resist Dapple Gray/Blue Roan Appaloosa with masked blanket and spots, named Dillon. He reminds me a lot of the recent Mid-States Special of Thunderbolt, on the Foundation Stallion mold. I like the TSC SR a little better, just because the dappling is so over the top.

I don’t know if I’ll be picking that one up yet; I still haven’t gotten around to dealing with the overflow caused by the BreyerFest purchases. The nearest TSC is literally just a few minutes away, so it won’t be a hardship to go take a look-see, anyway. Maybe tomorrow, while I'm running my errands.

There’s also a new Web Special drawing this weekend, for a Decorator Smarty Jones painted like a King Cheetah, named Kimbia. Apparently he’s the first of a new Web series of "Big Cat" releases.

My first reaction was "What the…?" as I’m generally not the kind of person who buys those sort of Decorators. Unless it’s really cleverly done or detailed, my eyes glaze over; while I don’t buy many customs, when I do I tend to go more for interesting (and realistic) reinterpretations of older molds.

A Silver repainted/sculpted into a Pegacorn? Blah. A Five-Gaiter turned into a Friesian? Now you have my attention!

The more I looked at his picture, though, the more I liked Kimbia. The paint job appears to be well-designed, and it really suits the mold. I won’t be heartbroken if I don’t get him - again, the space issues - but if I do happen to get picked, I won’t be putting him up for sale before most folks have opened their "Congratulations!" e-mails.

I’ll get around to discussing the Reissues - and some of the more interesting developments and discoveries about them - in my next post.

Time to go back to bed.

Maybe It's the Weather

My days continue to be nonawesome. Aside from my ongoing troubles, it looks like I might have to return my Vintage Club Stablemate Eagle, because of smudged spots.

Even the flea market left me feeling discomforted. The weather was not optimal, so a lot of the regulars didn’t show up. And those that did …weren’t the kind of people I like dealing with. (As I told my brother, it felt like "an insane asylum with a slightly better gift shop. And more guns".)

In more positive news, I did get my BreyerFest paperwork mostly done; all that’s needed is proofreading and printing, which I’ll put off until the last possible minute just in case of last minute rewrites. (You wouldn’t think that writing about vintage models would require that sort of thing, but almost every year...)

The third clue for the next Vintage Club release "Not standing" is not helpful, since all it does is eliminate the Shetland Pony and Morgan from the list, and they were already pretty much eliminated by the previous clue.

Not sure why everyone is so fired up about the possibility of the Running Mare: I just can’t see her being released without a matching Foal. Vintage Running Mares and Foals - with the exception of the Red Roan Mare - almost always came in matching colors.

I believe Reeves is thinking along those same lines. The clue is in the photograph in the Vintage Club Newsletter: it has a matching Glossy Alabaster Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal in the background.

A matching Foal would either necessitate a higher price, or another Made-to-Order like Gus. I’m having a hard time seeing either event happening this year. (Especially since I think there’s at least a couple other unrelated "special offers" in the pipeline already.)

In other news, the BreyerFest Youth Show prizes were announced:

Grand Champ: Glossy Padre (4)
Reserve Grand Champ: Glossy Rocky Mountain Horse (4)
Sectional Champion: Glossy Highland Pony (18)
Reserve Sectional Champion: Glossy Shetland Pony (18)
1st place in Misc. Classes: Regular Run Little Texas

I think the Padres will look beautiful in Gloss - and the Rocky Mountain Horse? I wish. Not sure if I’m liking the fact that Sectional/Reserve piece counts are now reduced. Making the Youth Show prizes even more scarce doesn’t really help correct the issues the prizes bring in the first place.

The Saturday Raffle Horse was announced today, too: Carlisle, a Dappled Buckskin Tobiano Smarty Jones, as a Polo Pony. Here’s a link to his swoonilicious photo:   

http://www.breyerhorses.com/files/imagesBreyer/Community/Breyerfest_2012_Images/SR_Folder/BF12_SaturdayRaffle.jpg

I wasn’t expecting that. I was beginning to think that they’d maybe sneak in the upcoming Totilas mold as the Raffle piece, or a new pony mold. (Well, I guess he’s kinda new, and technically a "pony".) I’ll buy my usual allotment of tickets, and hope for the best.

As for the price that In-Between Mare brought, well, what can be said? That’s not the kind of crowd I run with.

Off to go spackle something…