The Remains of History

Since we’re on the topic of Gambler’s Choices, I finally opened up my clear Jol:

I think Reeves missed an opportunity here with the gemstone Desatado release Fire Opal: imagine if that color had been painted in translucent and/or iridescent paints on a clear glitter body? 

I mean, it’s possible that they did try it and went “meh, didn’t work” and that’s why they went with what they did. But getting more creative with the translucent bodies – like they did with Jol, obviously – sometimes pays off.

(This is just a convoluted way of saying I want more glittery translucent Traditionals.)

Anyway, on a more melancholic note, the estate sale of our now deceased neighbors across the street was this past weekend. I went in at the beginning to get one last look around the place – and see what the family did not claim for themselves – and then at the end to see what sold, and possibly pick up a bargain or two.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but one of them was a Serial Cowboy/Lone Ranger/Hopalong Cassidy fan, and at one point there were at least a handful of related Breyers in the house. 

(Those were not present.)

So I picked out an assortment of the better Western-themed books (several signed!) and a few others: some as mementos, and the rest to supplement my depleted book sales stash, especially since I was out of town for the local AAUW Book Sale. One of the “others” was an inaugural edition of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage that had handwritten notes on the days both JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald were assassinated. 

They also avidly collected Presidential memorabilia, so I know that that had to have meant something to them: history written while it was still raw and fresh. It felt so odd finding it there at the end of the sale, marked down and ignored until I picked it up. So I rescued it.

Although there is no history that would have been lost if it had been shuffled into a book sale donation pile – there’s nothing in those notes that adds or enhances our understanding of those events – the meta-narrative of the fact that it was a meaningful part of their Presidental history collection would have been lost.

Which is why I write what I do, when I can do it. As you know, I own many such meaningful things. This blog is not just about their history, but the history of the history, and why it’s important to have these things in my collection.

And in case you are wondering, you will not find any “bargains” at my (hopefully very far in the future) Estate Sale. The ephemera is going somewhere where it can be archived and documented for future historians, and several friends and family members know full well how much some of this stuff piled around me is worth.

Or maybe by then, it won’t be. I will be fine, either way, as long as some of the history remains, with it or about it. 

Something Sweet

There aren’t a lot of Beyer Equines that have a textured coat, and most of them are Foals, so I assumed that the sneak peek they gave us a couple days ago was a Misty. The mold is currently in production, and they’ve given us a couple of Decorator Misty releases for BreyerFest already: the original Florentine Raffle model in 1990, and the 2014 Silver Filigree Time to Party!

The only other molds that have a textured finish are Wildlife molds, and surely they couldn’t be giving us another crazy Decorator Animal so soon after the release of Montana?

I have never been more delighted to be completely wrong:

At last, a German Food-related Special Run I am on board with! (Seriously, “German Cuisine” is an oxymoron and I am dying on that hill. Marzipan? Dude?)

I did think they were considering a Gummi Bear Special Run, but I thought it’d be something Stablemates-related, and that we’d get stuck with another bovine as our Nonhorse release, like an Aurochs cobbled together from a Charolais Bull and the horns of a Brahma Bull. 

(I have been told that the Rin Tin Tin/German Shepherd mold is nonfunctional, so it was probably never an option. But they brought back the In-Between Mare, so who knows these days...)

These guys are so well done that I’ve shown them to a couple of non-hobbyists, who automatically assumed that they were actually edible. The only thing that would blow my mind more about these guys would be if they did offer an edible option, which I would also buy but feel slightly guilty about eating, but only partly because of the calories.

My only minor disappointment about the gummi Bear Cubs is that they didn’t include Orange or my favorite flavor, Pineapple. It wouldn’t surprise me if they do throw in a complete set of flavors into either the Silent or Live Auctions, though. 

The Bear Cub was last seen at BreyerFest in 2014 on the Kodiak and Denali set, which also included a Silver Charm Micro Run that I was not fortunate enough to get because I just don’t. 

I am a little apprehensive about the “scented” part; I am assuming that the smell is going to be on par with “New Horse Smell” in that it will be pretty potent when you unwrap them, and barely noticeable a week later.  

Raspberries

Boy, I picked the wrong week to give up caffeine. 

(Long story short: I’ve become entirely too dependent on Diet Mountain Dew to get me through the day, and I’m trying to figure out what my migraine triggers are anyway. If anything I write in the next couple of weeks comes across as crankier than usual, that’s why.)

First: Yes, I saw those images and No, I am not going to talk about them until it’s legal and appropriate to do so. Trust me, I have opinions. 

Second, I won’t keep you in suspense:

Raspberry it is! Not my first choice – that was Clear, obviously – but she really does look like one of those Brach’s Filled Raspberries, and I find myself resisting the urge to lick her. 

(The Raspberry-flavored Kit Kats I picked up at Kroger earlier this week are not a bad substitute.)

I’ll probably wait a while on acquiring the Teal and the Clear, because I am both cheap and patient. Since almost everybody want the Clear, it looks like I’ll have to be extraordinarily patient with that one.

Now, about the Coal. 

I kind of suspected that they were up to something when they didn’t show the Coal in the original offer. Either they were going to do something different with the color, or with the mold. 

And this year, they decided to go with the mold.

Seeing hobbyists react like they received an actual lump of anthracite when the Coal was revealed to be the Galiceno Pony kind of annoyed me (to put it politely). 

Are hobbyists so unaware of history that they’ve completely forgotten about the existence of the 2017 Early Bird Raffle Horse Sokkar? Sokkar was the reason why I rated the Icelandic Horse as an “outside possibility” in the first place. 

I like the Galiceno Pony mold and I would have been thrilled with a Coal, but since getting randomly drawn for this sort of thing never happens to me, the possibility never enters into my buying equations. 

I buy things because I like what they are presented to me as, not what they might possibly be. Life is full of disappointments, and I have no desire to add to the list. 

(And with my luck, if I did get a Coal, I probably would have fainted at the sight of it, hit my head on the nearest piece of furniture, and spend the rest of my day in the ER.)

Buying a Coal secondhand is unlikely: all I’ve got to play with is the $600 stimulus check, and (checks recently completed Coal sales) that’s obviously not going to cut it. I suppose I could throw in a couple of my CC Glossies, but then it starts looking like actual work, and I already have plenty of that, thank you....

And that’s fine. The world’s on fire again, my tinnitus is driving me crazy, so not getting a shiney black pony that nobody wants anyway is the least of my worries.

So Sparkly

The Jóls are starting to arrive, and to be honest, I love them all. Traditionals with embedded glitter? Be still my heart... 

I know some folks were complaining that the colors weren’t “festive” enough, but growing up with a mother who saw Christmas Trees as her own personal creative challenge, the notion that holiday decorating has to be limited to a red, green and gold palette is an odd one to me. 

One of the first things I learned from her: anything can be festive if you cover it with enough glitter. Or pinecones. 

Speaking of, here’s my festive holiday centerpiece, made almost entirely from stuff purchased at Dollar Tree. (The pinecones and branches came from the backyard, obviously.) It didn’t win the contest it was entered in, but you probably already guessed that:

I set it on the table, everyone went “Ooh, it’s so pretty!” and that’s when I knew it was over. I know this game.

But back to the Jóls. The Clear ones are obviously reminiscent of ice, the Teal Blue ones look like the Disney version of a Nokk, from Frozen, and the Red ones look like my favorite holiday candy, Filled Raspberries. 

I’ll be happy with any of them; I like them so much, in fact, that once I get this exhausting mess around me sorted out, I might make an effort to complete the achievable trio. 

But the mess before me is huge, and that effort is far away. 

I’ve actually made some decent progress – I can now walk through my office without stubbing my toes! – but I still have a lot of hard decisions ahead of me. What gets sold, what goes into storage, reevaluating my goals and priorities for the coming year…

Buying less stuff is definitely on the menu, regardless. Once all this packing and paperwork is done, I think I’ll just focus on my first loves – Stablemates and earlier (1950s/1960s) Vintage items – and maybe actually finish a few customs and other hobby projects in whatever spare time I am able to carve out in the new year. 

Blessed Jól

As far as this year’s Christmas Surprise models goes, there were only a few colors/molds/options I would have considered for purchasing, and darn it all, Reeves somehow managed to perfectly thread the needle with a sparkly, translucent Icelandic Pony named Jól:

I’ve been dreaming of a clear translucent Traditional release ever since I saw Marney’s Transparent Belgian a lifetime ago, so that’s the one out of this trio I want the most. But I am just happy to get one at all, considering that they sold out in, what, 45 minutes?

I know the whole “12 random Glossy Black Coals” gimmick is at least partly responsible for the swiftness of the sellout, which is one reason why I wish they wouldn’t do it at all. I’d rather have collectors buy things because they like them and want them, not because they think they might be able to win the model horse version of the Lotto.   

And also because the distribution of said Coals the past two years didn’t appear to be completely equitable anyway. Unfortunately, the way the distribution system is set up it’s probably impossible to completely remove the possibility of someone getting two Coals.

When I make my decision about buying, the possibility of a Coal never enters into it. Most of my model horse luck is a consequence of 40(!) years of research and living in a model horse-rich environment. And, on very rare occasions, a bit of good timing.

But the luck of the random draw? Nope, never me. 

Apparently there has been a lot of grumbling about this year’s Christmas Surprise and I’m not entirely sure why? While some of the particulars are, by nature of the promotion itself, a surprise (the mold, the colors), everything else about this year’s promotion was pretty darn standard. Boring, even.

Don’t like the colors, the mold, the concept, the price? Go spend your money on something else. That’s what I would have done. And might still do, depending on what shows up on the Internet over the next week or so. 

I did think that the Fjord mold was going to get the nod this year because of the Berries Pony Goji earlier this year. It had been out of production for a while, and when you run a mold, you don’t run it for just a few hundred pieces, you know?

Crash, Burn, Reboot and Taima

My brother thought he was being helpful updating my computer for Virtual BreyerFest, and now I no longer have Microsoft Office on my main computer right now. Great, another problem to deal with…

It also puts a kibosh on the diorama thing I was doing. Long story, won’t go into it: basically if everything had gone according to plan, it would have been done on time, but dealing with this mess (and others) means that I won’t.

I don’t have the time to stress out about it. I could theoretically get it done on time, but I would rather finish tit at my own pace and for my own pleasure; if I rush it, it will not turn out the way I want it to anyway.

I’ll just have to refocus/redouble my efforts on the photo show instead. (Ha!)

I also plan on redoing some of my previous non winning entries, strictly as art/display pieces. Since I’ve invested a great deal of time and energy into them already, I might as well finish the job, because there’s too much of me in them to simply throw them out.

(This is also an issue with me and customizing: by the time I’m done with one I’m too darn invested in it to part with it.)

I wasn’t too keen on doing the video portion of it anyway: while I don’t have any anxieties about speaking in public or appearing on camera, I do not like “watching” myself. That part feels very, very wrong to me.

Which is also why I haven’t done anything on YouTube yet, though I suppose at some point it is going to be inevitable.

Anyway, here’s some compensation for my rantings today: here’s my Sample/Prototype Taima, and his photograph from the Just About Horses issue he was featured in back in 2010.

I purchased him in the NPOD a while back when getting Samples and other such goodies involved secret handshakes and passwords. Later on, I had a hunch and decided to check out his original offering in Just About Horses and… the spots matched!

I would have been happy even if he wasn’t, because I have a fondness for the mold, being part “Buffalo” myself.

Stating the Obvious

I like it, but I’m not sure if I love it. He just seems sort of really obvious? And not just because of the Irish Draught mold’s absence with the One-Day Stablemates reveal made it so. The name, the mold, the color, the shamrock on the butt, all of it…

I mean, I really dig Translucent Stablemates in general, and Éire reminds me a lot of the BreyerFest 2017 Stablemate Navya on the Django mold that I love for all the wrong reasons.

(Long story: I always imagined that the ugliest possible Breyer release would be a Metallic Lime Green and Magenta Khemosabi. Navya probably the closest I’ll ever come to that, but I find him so inexpressibly cute I can’t even.)

But we already have 1.5 green-hued releases for BreyerFest this year – the half being the Store Special Dappled Buckskin Topgun, because I’m tired and feeling a snarky today – and as much as I like the color green in general, I was kind of hoping for something a little bit different.

Like something in the Golden Charm family, drawing inspiration from legends of Celtic or Leprechaun gold. But there are still a few more things to be revealed, and who the heck knows what kind of surprises they have in store for us this year?

Besides whatever they were teasing us with today, which I am assuming is the third Pop-Up Store whatsit, which also looks Stablemate-like.

For the record, I’ll still try to get all things Stablemate anyway, timing and money willing.

Rather than now going on a weird ramble about how a movie about swordfighting vampires is a way more appropriate and authentic(!) media inspiration for this year’s Celtic-themed BreyerFest than a depressing medieval soap opera with dragons in it, I’m going to “peace out” for the rest of the day.

(Yes, my mind goes in weird places when I am bored. Which is why I try my darndest not to be. Bored, I mean.)

I’ll also be somewhat incommunicado for the next few days for all sorts of reasons, so don’t make a mess of the place while I’m gone!

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.

Chasing Rainbows

First we heard about the upcoming Classics release Day Dreamer, who is a Translucent Classics Harper with a rainbow on it.

Then we get an e-mail about the 2018 Stablemates Club Gambler’s Choice Finn the Mule, and one of the four potential selections is a Rainbow Overo Pinto:

And then news broke of an apparent Walmart Special Run Classics Unicorn named Skylar, who is a Pearly/Iridescent White Forthwind with a sparkly Rainbow-striped mane and tail.

This is an interesting development. So everything is coming up rainbows for 2018?

We have had a number of pastel and multicolored releases in the recent past – such as the Peace, Love and Horses Classics Warmblood Mare, some of the Unicorn releases like the Alaric, and a number of Test Colors – but it wasn’t until 2011 that we had a true “Rainbow-themed” release, with the Translucent Weather Girl Treasure Hunt redemption horse.

I’m all for Decorator finishes, but I’ve found the rainbow-themed ones aren’t really my cup of tea. (If I do happen to end up with the Rainbow Mule, I won’t be looking to trade. Generally I just go with whatever I get on Gambler’s Choice models.)

Actually, this is cool – if 2018 is going to be the Year of the Rainbow, that’ll help me out tremendously. One of the resolutions I was considering for next year was cutting back the horse buying to an absolute minimum: that means no retail “fun money” binges, no late night eBay pity purchases, and no Web Specials unless they happen to be one of the handful of molds or concepts that push my buttons (like the Traditional Man o’ War, or a holiday-themed Elk).

So it’ll just be obligate Club purchases, BreyerFest, and the incidental flea market/thrift store finds that mostly end up on my sales list anyway. Oh, and the Customer Appreciation Promotion, if they happen to do the “FREE GLOSSIES FOR EVERYBODY” thing again next year.

I’ll still be open to trades and genuine upgrades, and if something insanely rare and cheap turns up in my radar I certainly won’t turn it down, either.

But I’ve been liking the space my recent collection reorganization has given me, and goodness, I certainly could do without the paperwork all that buying and reselling entails. The extra money’s been helpful, but I’d rather have that time to focus on more creative endeavors next year. (Most of them not model-horse-related, unless you count Sparky and Jules.)

The Exclusive Event that’s coming up in the Spring also seems unlikely, though I’d rather wait to cross that bridge when I get to it.

Little Jewels

Since the past couple of Christmas Surprises haven’t been that hard to get on the secondary market, I decided to take a pass on the Christmas Surprise Bouncer Jewel Ponies today:

It was tough, though: Translucent and a Bouncer? While I liked all three colors offered – Emerald, Amethyst and Sapphire – if one of them had been Yellow or Orange (Citrine or Amber?) I would have definitely caved.

I remembered what I had been noticing with my recent herd cull, also: with a handful of exceptions either way, most of the vintage (pre-Reeves) pieces have been staying, and many of the most recent pieces have been going. Foregoing the Bouncers might just save me a step (and paperwork, ugh!) later on.

If I have a fraction of the success next year that I had on the secondary market this year, I shouldn’t have any problem finding suitable trade fodder, if I suddenly decide I can’t live without one or more of them.

There’s not going to be any shortage of Translucents in the coming year, either: aside from the inevitable BreyerFest Special Run Classic, Reeves is finally adding a Stablemates Suncatcher Craft Kit to the Craft and Activity line, and there’s another retail market Translucent Classic, a Rainbow-covered Harper named Day Dreamer. You can spot them in all their glory in this online copy of the 2018 Dealer Catalog:

https://issuu.com/lauramcmanemin/docs/breyer2018-b2b-catalog_lr

(It’s not downloadable, but you can zoom in and drool.)

I wasn’t planning on getting any Regular Run Traditionals next year, but I think the Latigo Dun It on the Smart Chic Olena is going to be a difficult one to pass by. How is it that they always come up with the most gorgeous paint jobs for that mold?

My Christmas presents this year were remarkably horse-free, including John Crowley’s Ka, lots of novelty socks, fancy chocolates, some authentic Turkish Delight, a set of woodcarving tools (for Sparky and Jules) and the artbook The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Works and Worlds of Herbert Crowley, which hasn’t been delivered yet.

(The two Crowleys are not related, other than being underappreciated fantasists.)

If I am feeling motivated tomorrow, I might do a little post-holiday bargain horse hunting, but it doesn’t seem likely; I’m in the middle of a big machine quilting project, and I want to get as much of it done as I can before I have to go back to work on Wednesday.

Lime Green and Magenta

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, so we’ll never be able to come up with a perfectly designed model horse that everyone will love. 

But as a thought experiment I once tried to dream up the ugliest possible Breyer ever, something so outrageous that everyone’s first reaction would be DO NOT WANT.

The “best” idea I could come up with, coming at it as a person who has a hard time hating any Breyer release, in any color? 

A Lime Green and Magenta Khemosabi. (The part that would put it over the top for me: the Magenta. Almost nothing looks good in Magenta.)

Sure, there’d always be a few people who would buy it for the sake of completion, or actually have a fondness for the mold or the colors, or be able to rationalize it as being “so ugly that it’s cute!” But the majority of us would take a pass on that one.

So guess what colors the BreyerFest Bazaar Stablemate is?

Oh, my. 

Actually, I think Navya’s cute, and definitely not the ugliest Breyer ever.

Two things are working in his favor. One, he’s on the new Stablemate Cob mold Django, and I like him a lot. He’s a little narrow chested, but otherwise I don’t see any especially egregious about him conformationally.

(I’m sure there’s something wrong, but I’d rather not go down that well today. Or any day, really.)

And he’s translucent! Translucency makes everything better, regardless of color or mold type. 

Like last year’s funky Orange, Brown and Lime Green Silver Pegasus, I have no worries about Navya not selling out. Collectors and Hobbyists tend to be more forgiving of oddly-colored Stablemates, since the financial commitment tends to be small anyway.

Since he’s only the second release of the Django mold, I suspect that a not-insignificant portion of them may sell as bodies, too. The original Stablemates Club Django is still selling pretty briskly at well over his original 20 dollar issue price, so 8 to 10 dollars for a scarce new Stablemate mold will seem like a bargain.

A New Decorator Color? On Geronimo?

I had a tiny bit of free time over the weekend, and it seemed like as good a time as any to get caught up a bit on paperwork – and do a bit of unboxing!

Yep, I still hadn’t unboxed stuff from BreyerFest last year. It’s not out of a lack of interest – I love Translucents, and my Auriverde! – but of time, space and priorities. (In other words, the usual nonsense.)

There is nothing particularly noteworthy to say about the Auriverde, other than I wish I had some sunny window space for him; all that is currently occupied by other models more in need of the sun.

Some of the first hints and inklings of this year’s BreyerFest Special Run lineup have been announced in the past few days – a blog post that specifically references “polo ponies” and of course, a sneak peek of what appears to be a Geronimo:

Interesting! I haven’t had a chance to examine a Geronimo extensively or in-the-round yet – all three releases so far (the Premier Club release, last year’s Custom Contest Prize Guerreiro, and the Raffle Model Areia) are all either a little or a lot out of my price range. There is a fourth release on the mold coming named Bandera, so that lack of familiarity with the mold will likely change soon.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/Bandera---Symbols-of-the-West

At first I thought Bandera was going to be a slighty-more-metallic-than-average Chestnut, but it looks like Reeves might be doing a full-on Copper patina with him.

We’ve had “Ageless Bronze” pieces in the past – like the #1102 Durango on the Smoky, and the #832 Hyksos on the Black Stallion – and other metallics in whole or part (some even made with/of actual metal!), but I think this the first time they’ve released a model that actually looks like a pot metal carnival prize horse.

Which is not a criticism – I kind of like it! At the very least, I am intrigued. If that is actually the case or intent, I would absolutely love to see future releases on something a little old-fashioned and/or Western-y, like the Western Pony or Prancing Horse, or the good old (and little seen) #36 Racehorse mold.

The Unlikeliest Color

It is Green, right? The most unlikely color for a horse is Green?

Yet when I was looking at the Auriverde – the latest (last?) Pop Up Store/Mercado Special Run, I realized that Green has been a relatively common color for Breyer horses.

Certainly more common than even a lot of more horse-like colors! Off the top of my head we’ve had…

… the Running Stallion Jade, his mini-me on the Stablemates Running Mustang, the Fighting Stallion Translucent Carnivale, last year’s Christmas Decorator Ivy, the Horse Crazy Stablemates G2 Saddlebred and G4 Driving Horse, and the May “Lily of the Valley” Horse from the Blossoms Series. Those are all entirely or primarily Green.

Some of the Unicorns (like the Little Bits/Paddock Pals ones), some of the Zodiac Series, and the Year of the Horse Esprit all came with noticeable and distinctly Green body shading.

There are ornaments and keychains, too, that are also partially or mostly Green, like the G2 Appaloosa from the Mod Squad set and the Lime Green G1 Standing Thoroughbred Foal.

And finally, there are some horses that were meant to be something else other than Green, but turned out that way anyway, like some of Reeves’ early attempts at Blue Roan and the infamous Dappled “Green Bay” Sham from the 1994 half-year #3163 Arabian Stallion and Frisky Foal Set.

Some Breyers were even molded in a Kelly Green-colored Tenite in the 1970s – it’s one of the many “off” colors they purchased and overpainted into Chalkies. We sometimes see stripped examples being sold as something rare or unusual but they aren’t, not really.

There are a few light, limey green plastic Classic Quarter Horse Foals floating around the hobby, too. Those appear to be genuinely Factory Unpainteds. Those are probably the rarest and most collectible of the Greens, outside some Mod Squad Test Shots Reeves parcels out as prizes on occasion.

We don’t know the situation with the Auriverde – piece count, or overall hobby demand – so whether or not it becomes another Caves of Lascaux is still to be determined.

I hope not, because I’m still stinging a bit from that one.

Time, Timing, and Sparkles

In spite of my already overscheduled weekend, I went on a last-minute “wild horse chase” this morning. My sales list for BreyerFest is looking a little spare (no time to finish herd culling!) and I was hoping I could supplement it with a few bodies, at least.

There were no horses worth bringing back. The trip wasn’t a total loss – I did find exactly the vintage fabric I needed to finish off another old quilt project – but for the time. BreyerFest is coming up way too fast, and it really feels like I don’t have a moment to spare this year.

Speaking of impromptu road trips, I did manage to make a quick stop at one of the better stocked toy stores earlier this week on my way home from work, and finally manage to catch an up-close look at several of those new Translucent Patriot models that everyone’s going gaga over.

And… I’m still not all that impressed by it. It’s mostly the mold: it’s very hard for the Clock Saddlebred mold to impress me. The 2005 BreyerFest Raffle Dragon Horse Merlin was another extremely popular piece that left me wondering what the hubbub was about.

I wouldn’t have turned one down if I had won it, of course, but not-winning that year didn’t have the usual sting. (And it also came with a bit of relief, because me and somewhat delicate things made of resin don’t mix.)

I was hoping for a little more oomph on Patriot’s paint job, too: you could barely see the stars on the ones I got to examine. And there were no sparkles! The Horse Crazy Stablemates have ruined me for that.

The store also had a Toro – the Buckskin Appaloosa Nokota Horse Flagship Horse – and him, I liked. But since I need to be on this super-tight budget a few weeks more, I left that one behind too.

I also skipped out on the Vintage Club Blind Bag Drawing, in spite of the temptation of Glossy Kiowas. Aside from the lack of fun money being an issue, my luck has not been so good with winning random Glossies/goodies lately – whether it’s a super-limited (12 pieces?) Glossy Kiowa or one of the Decorator Running Stallion Sailors I don’t have.

Besides, I already have that Sample/Test Kiowa – the non-Chalky one with the acrylic handpainted markings, on a Warehouse body – that I found in the Ninja Pit couple years back, and I’m plenty happy with him. Two is company, three’s a crowd, right?

Let’s hope tomorrow’s road trip to the flea market is more productive than this morning, and last week. (The market was busy, but the pickings were slim for me.)

Jello vs. Kool-Aid

I finally got around to upgrading the Pink Horse Crazy G3 Tennessee Walking Horse that Vita “customized” a while back. I wasn’t able to find one locally, so I waited a while and tossed one in my Stablemates Club order:

That’s also a good way, if you did not already know, of getting your Club shipments and Web Specials double boxed, though in this case I just wanted to save myself time and gas money. I’m not sure how it is in stores in your part of the world, but in mine, the Horse Crazy Stablemates are in short supply.

But the story here isn’t about my thriftiness or ingenuity, it’s the color – the new guy is a slightly different color and opacity compared to the old. To put in in food terms: the old guy looks like Raspberry-flavored Jello, while the new guy looks like Tropical Fruit Punch Kool-Aid. Or more precisely, the slightly murky store-brand version that your Mom used to buy to save a few cents here and there.

I knew there was some color variations to be found in the Horse Crazy pieces, especially with the Purple and Pink ones being more like opposite ends of a continuum than two distinct hues, but the opacity issue took me by surprise. I don’t know if it’s enough to classify it as a “big V” variation, but it’s worth noting nonetheless.

I intend on keeping the three-legged TWH, by the way. It’s not the first – and likely, not the last – three-legged Stablemate in my herd. Each one of them comes with a story, and you know how I like my stories.

Royalty

There was a “contest” on the Breyer web site recently to make birthday cards for Queen Elizabeth:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/queen-birthday

Who, by the way, is totally one of us. A model horse collector, that is.

I can’t recall if I shared the story here or not – I did in one of my BreyerFest Samplers a few years back – but I accidentally met one of the Queen’s Ladies-in-Waiting at BreyerFest, who was there to pick up the Celebration Horse for her. I believe it was Grayingham Lucky Lad?

Anyway, it was a weird and wonderful moment for me, though a little unnerving. You didn’t go to BreyerFest – especially in the early days – and expect to find yourself confronted by questions of royal etiquette.

There was one other member of royalty who was also allegedly a Breyer collector, as well: Prince.

If you ever get a chance to watch the movie Purple Rain, take a close look at some of the scenery: there are Breyers in the background! There’s at least one music video that has a Breyer in it, too – a Buckskin Western Prancing Horse – but it wasn’t one of his videos per se, but of one of his protégés.

I remember watching it on MTV one day and freaking out about it, because to this day I still can’t find myself a decent Buckskin Western Prancing Horse, and Prince apparently gave his away to one of his paramours. Argh!

Anyway, it was something that was talked about back in the day; I remember being at one of the Model Horse Congresses I attended and the subject came up. The rumor was that hobbyists had tried to reach out and invite him to a local live show in Minnesota.

Goodness, could you have imagined if he had accepted?

I had the opportunity to look at some of the new 2016 releases first hand, finally, on Tuesday. While I’m not in a position to buy anything right now (and how!) it doesn’t cost a thing to just take a look, right?

One of those pieces was the Rock ‘N Roll Forever Horse, the Translucent Purple Decorator on the Classic Frolicking Quarter Horse:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/rock-n-roll-forever

It’s purple and covered in flamboyant decals and an image of a guitar. I looked at it and said to myself “This is totally Prince’s horse.” 

I think it’s a coincidence: I rather doubt Reeves would have known of this rather obscure bit of hobby trivia. The only celebrities they seem mention in their social media accounts, outside of the equine ones, are country music artists I’ve never heard of. (No offense, just not a fan of the more modern stuff.)

As soon as I can manage to scratch up the cash, though, I am bringing my “Purple Rain” home with me. And making a teeny-tiny raspberry beret for it.

Classic Mustang Mare Variations

There’s a new Collector’s Grab Bag up for grabs on the Breyer web site, but alas I have to take a pass on it: April is an expensive month around here, with taxes, dental appointments and license plate fees on top of all the usual bills.

The hint for the last BreyerFest SR is up, and as most of us thought it’s something of the Decorator variety. (Shrunk here for clarity):

It looks like something in the Moody family of molds, with a paint job similar to the Show Jumping Warmblood Sunny, from several Exclusive Events back:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/DSC00707.JPG

If I recall correctly, Sunny was painted on leftover Translucent bodies of the Halloween Special Run Twilight Terror, so if that’s the look they’re going for, this might be another one of the Translucents we’ve been looking for. An equine representation of the Olympic flame on a Silver, maybe, with masked flames like last year’s wild and crazy auction piece Brishen?

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/2015-09.jpg

Back to the box lot…

This is one I’ve been meaning to spotlight for a while, but my other Mustang Family is currently in storage, and I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison. The box lot had a similar Mare, so here we go:

Some early Classics Mustang Family Mares have hand-airbrushed pinto markings, but the majority are masked with some overshading, and the ones near the end of the run are even darker and dispense with the extra airbrushing.

This photo clearly shows the first and second variations of the Mustang Mare; I don’t have the third “Clean Mask” variation because I haven’t made the Mustang Family the priority it now obviously should be.

The Mustang Family was the last of the three Classic Hagen-Renaker Family sets to be released, in 1976, and Breyer seems to have gotten a lot of the variability out of their Classics paint jobs by then.

But not all, obviously. Although my hand-airbrushed Mare is fairly close to the masking that was settled on, it’s not difficult to find ones that are not. Sometimes wildly so! The Stallion and Foal have some variability, too, mostly in the shades of Chestnut they wear (the Foal, especially) but their markings and masking stayed fairly consistent.

The Clean Mask variation of the Mare seems to be the least common of the variations among them, though none of them are particularly rare. Unlike the Arabian and Quarter Horse Families, if you want to track down and buy them, it should put much of a strain on your horse budget.

Patriotic

Someone was a bad doggie earlier this week!

But with uncanny timing, since I’ve been wanting to talk about the Special Run Translucent Patriot, who first came to our attention via the mail-order company Back in the Saddle:

https://www.backinthesaddle.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1=BB6163

Chinese Samples of the Transparent Clock Saddlebred mold have been showing up on eBay over the past several months, so it wasn’t a complete surprise that a Special Run showed up now. I thought we’d have to wait until BreyerFest until we saw a larger-run Traditional Translucent release, though. The blurb on the “Exclusive Models” page of the BreyerFest section of the Breyer web site (that I featured here before) hints at it:

Following in the spirit of the Olympics, each of our Special Runs represent either a continent or the 'brio' of Rio!  

That is, if you translate ‘brio’ as “Carnevale-level outrageous” a la Times Square: the 2007 Glossy Black Ethereal with metallic gold mane and tail covered in glittery multi-colored fireworks, and one of my favorite BreyerFest SRs ever.

Translucent Samples of the Marabella and Running Mare were also made available on eBay via Chinese sources, so maybe either of those might be the potential candidate? (There was a clear plastic Smarty Jones, too, but the Polo Pony version of Smarty is being used for the Early Bird Raffle Polomar. So, not likely.)

But let’s get back to the actual Patriot model. I thought I’d like it more – I’m totally down with Translucents in general, and a couple of quilt projects I’ve worked on in the past year have been patriotically-themed – but the design seems a bit lacking. A bright red nose and ears? Weird, and not in a good way.

Patriotic art only works for me if it’s either done with a sense of subtlety or grandeur (Lincoln Memorial), or is completely over-the-top (Hawaiian-style Flag Quilts). The design of the recalled carousel Christmas ornament from a few years back hit all the right notes in the over-the-top category, I thought, if not the actual pieces themselves:

https://www.breyerhorses.com/carousel-ornament

His Rudolph-colored muzzle aside, Patriot falls somewhere in the muddled middle. My proposal would have gone with a red Woodgrain body, a big blue blanket covered with fifty sparkly glow-in-the-dark stars, and a blaze in the shape of an exploding fireworks rocket. And white striping in the mane and tail.

(Hmm, I think I might have the concept for my next Family Arabian Mare project!)

Seeing a Patriot in person might change my mind, because it often does, but for the time being I’ll be content to sit back and let others take their share first.

Sugarloaf and the Gray Areas

When I heard that the Christmas Silver Filigree might have been leaked on eBay, and that its name was Sugarloaf, this is the first thing that came to my mind:

http://www.heyquilty.com/blogs/?p=789

A nineteenth century quilt block pattern! (You know, I do have a bit of leftover “Silver Filigree” fabric I made for my BreyerFest hat last year, hmmm.)

Anyway, it was getting to that time of year where we speculate about the year-end special runs Reeves dumps on us, including the Silver Filigree. Although there’s a possibility that this “Sugarloaf” might be a rejected concept, it fits all of the usual parameters: it’s a relatively popular and very new mold with big hair.

(The Icelandic is a possibility, too, but with mold’s release as the Flagship Special Elska, it seems a little less likely.)

There’s been some discussion about the ethics of buying models like these (the vendor also has a translucent lavender Traditional Running Mare) that appear to be prototypes/samples of models yet to be.

It’s one thing to buy prototypes/samples of models that already exist or have (at least) been announced; models that clearly appear to be of things yet to be … are out of my personal comfort zone.

I’ve bought things of questionable provenance – both intentionally, and unintentionally. I bought several models from the notorious “newtoymens” dealer on eBay (though none of the super-pricey ones: out of my league entirely there) and I also purchased the Sample of the Pottery Barn Kennebec Count.

One of my rationales for buying them was that at least they were being sold after-the-fact: they weren’t revealing any special secrets or upcoming releases. While there were rumors of where these models were coming from, there had been no official confirmation, either.

The Kennebec Count was a liminal case: rumors had been going around that the Special had been planned, but canceled; a short time after the Sample appeared on eBay, it was officially released.

Everyone’s comfort zones in these ethical gray areas are different – and not necessarily wrong. We’re not really sure what the situation is at the factories in China that are allowing these pieces to come to market. They could have been gifts or compensation of some sort. And what constitutes ethical behavior in China – especially regarding knockoffs and antiquities – is another issue entirely.

There’s also the possibility that Reeves has already given the security issue some thought, and determined that either the positives (publicity) outweigh the negatives (element of surprise). Since it’s also something that happens with other toys and collectibles manufacturers there, they might have considered this risk a part of doing business in that part of the world.

That’s all speculation: I don’t know.

All I do know is that I’m more excited at the possibility of Traditional scale Horse Crazy release (which is what I’m assuming the Running Mare thingie is/might be) than the Sugarloaf, oddly enough.

I'm all for more Silver Filigrees, but how long has it been since we’ve had a Traditional Translucent production run, anyway? It feels like forever. The entire Running “family” would be wonderful candidates for that kind of treatment.

Design Challenges

Yesterday I was so tired I nearly fell asleep at dinner. I thought my exhaustion was due either to work and all its assorted little dramas finally catching up with me, or maybe it was a bit of the bug making the rounds at work.

Then I took a quick look at the all the hobby news and business that went on this week, and saw what the problem really was: it was a really busy week, hobby-wise! More Web Exclusives were released, pictures of Midyear releases (another glow-in-the-dark Halloween Special!) were floating around, I heard reports of Warehouse Specials being found at Tuesday Morning, and another BreyerFest SR picture was released (Translucent Classic Warmblood for the Souvenir Shop, named Art Nouveau!)

I think he’s pretty awesome, even if some don't think he’s Art Nouveau enough. Personally, I don’t think of the concept as French enough: Art Nouveau was more of a global movement that just happened to be very, very popular in France. Art Deco, on the other hand, did originate in France. The term Art Deco came from the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes) held in Paris in 1925.

Reeves missed a perfect opportunity here to rerelease the Modernistic Buck and Doe - that were, most likely, originally designed and manufactured during the Art Deco era itself.

Too obscure? Possibly too hard a sell at an ostensibly "horsey" event? Probably, but a girl can dream.

What I think finally pushed me over the edge was the new BreyerFest contest - for customizing.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=7308

I was intrigued enough by this contest to spend a few rare minutes poking around my body box earlier in the week. I like the idea of the contest a lot, but when I finally read the rules I was persuaded out of participating. The winners will receive an exclusive, one-of-five piece Special Run valued at $1000(!!!)

Extremely high stakes lead to extreme behaviors; while I like to think better of my fellow hobbyists, the potential to win something really rare and/or valuable hasn't always brought out the best in us. I have enough responsibilities re: BreyerFest this year, so I’ll just stick to my more familiar heartbreaks.

If I were to design the contest, I would have either broadened the categories - more prizes, more winners, less bad behavior - or made it a little bit more like the others. That would mean adherence to a concept, and a very narrow window of time to complete it. That way it would mean that entries would be more likely created specifically for the contest, and not pulled from the shelf or made by others.

As far as concept goes, I’d go with specific molds - older, more difficult, or less popular ones that aren't considered proper body box material. Anyone can make something beautiful out of a Weather Girl or an Alborozo, but a Touch of Class or Lady Roxana? Now that’s something I’d like to see - or even compete in.

Speaking of…yes, I am aware of the "The Sound TWH Challenge". Hobby customizers of all pay grades are challenged with making a non-Big-Lick horse out of a Midnight Sun, with the sales of said models going charity.

A good idea, in spite of the fact that it seems to be a Facebook-only thing for now.