On His Way

How is it Thursday already? Stupid cold is just messing with me now. It’s not super-serious - just enough of a bug to make me tired, cranky and a little hoarse. It's nothing a little soup and sleep can’t fix. On the plus side, everyone at work has been giving me tons of personal space, except for a new person who may not understand the concept. (But will, soon enough!)

It appears that the Traditional Totilases will be stateside soon - here’s a video of Stephanie Macejko at a British trade fair earlier this week with a sample in hand:

http://www.horsejunkiesunited.com/?p=52309

I don’t know what the holdup was; I get the impression there might have been some sort of legal hangup somewhere, but since I have been feeling a bit addle-pated this week, it might just be the soup talking. (Campbell’s Chicken Won Ton today. Hey now, don’t judge: I needed comfort food.)

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. It was, in fact, a fairly common occurrence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Take this example from the 1980 Dealer Catalog:

We didn’t actually start seeing the Classics USET Gift Set until the Fall of that year. The molds were so not ready that Spring that they had to use stand-ins for them for the 1980 Christmas/Holiday Catalog photo shoot: a Chestnut Kelso for Keen, a Bay Swaps for Jet Run, and a Dapple Gray Ruffian for Might Tango. This is what gave rise to the "Dapple Gray Classics Ruffian Special Run" rumors that ran rampant through the 1980s.

(From the 1980 Sears Wishbook. Montgomery Wards had the complete set with the Ruffian, but my copy of that is even worse than this one.)

I don’t know what the problem was with the USET Gift Set, either - whether it was legal, technical, or chronological. I think it was (mostly) chronological: Chris Hess was really cranking out the molds back then. In addition to Jet Run, Might Tango and Keen, other new molds that premiered in 1980 included the Hanoverian, Morganglanz, the 4-piece Classic Black Beauty Family, and (possibly) the Sea Star.

(I’ve speculated before - based on the dating on the original box, and some odd mold marks - that the release Sea Star might have been delayed for up to a year.)

Here’s the little seen clip art of the USET Set, probably drawn up when the catalogs and other ephemera were being assembled in late 1979. Little seen because, well, obviously:

Stringing Words Together

For some strange reason, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about last year’s NaNoWriMo novel recently. The first NaNo novel I did came out finished, more or less. It’s by no means publishable, but it’s structurally sound. Last year’s attempt …wasn’t. I thought I could just put it away and be done with it, but nope. It feels like it’s nagging me to rework it.

I really can’t: I have too much to do as it is without adding "novel" to the pile. It's a loose end that'll just have to hang loose for a little while longer. However, it is a good time to tie up some other loose ends...

One of these days I’m gonna "win" a Web Special with just a single entry. As you might have guessed by now, Zeus wasn’t it.

There are three main reasons why Hobo gets little love outside my corner of the blogosphere: he’s a Classic, on a wonky base that warps, and he’s a Hess sculpt. While I don’t consider any of those factors as strikes against him, lots of other hobbyists do. (Especially the Hess thing.)

The "Made to Order" Collector’s Club Special Run is a Glossy Dappled Flaxen Liver Chestnut Tobiano Pinto Huckleberry Bey, named Enchanted. I think he’s quite pretty, especially for a Huck Bey. Huck’s come in quite an assortment of attractive colors, so finding something that stands out is a challenge.

The reception elsewhere to Enchanted has been relatively cool, with most of the objections fixating on his color. This strikes me as very weird. "Glossy Dappled Flaxen Liver Chestnut Tobiano Pinto" sounds like a description that could have come from any random Stone Horse "Factory Custom" order form, verbatim.

I like the Huck Bey mold, but I’m no longer in love with him: the color is what’s attracting me to him. My indifference towards the mold has nothing to do with any anatomical deficiency, a dislike of Arabians, or bases, or anything like that. I’ve just …moved on. I like the ones I have - a Polaris, and a couple variations of the Atlantis Bey V - and someday I’d love to pick up one of those solid variants of the original Bay Huck (who I thought was just really attractive).

I don’t think I’ll be ordering one because I have other things I need to buy first. And if I do fall back in love again, I don’t doubt that - like Pamplemousse and Gus, before him - there’ll be a few leftovers to pick through.

Regarding my comments on the "Cash Cow" incident, it was the reaction to it - rather than its veracity - that struck me as ridiculous, and way too typical of how everybody in the hobby reacts to anything even remotely controversial, truthful or not.

Remember the situation a few years ago when the rumors about BreyerFest moving to a different locale cropped up? I was actually in a room at the HIN/CHIN at the very moment those rumors got their start - as casual, jokey, somewhat unserious throwaway comments - and saw them blossom in a matter of days to something kind of scary, intense and almost impossible to quash.

I recently remarked that many of my coworkers have a sad propensity for believing in fantasies and conspiracy theories. Many of my fellow hobbyists are, alas, no better.

BTW, I’m not implying that anyone reading or commenting here is one of those people (especially you, D), but it’s definitely an issue in the model horse community as a whole, and something that rarely gets addressed in a meaningful way.

This is something of a conundrum for me, too, in that some of the information I relay to you here comes from sources who wish to remain confidential. Sometimes I refrain from commenting about certain topics because I want to avoid bringing in details that could break those confidences. In some ways I am engaging in multiple "conspiracies" in the production of this blog. 

The things I do for y’all. You have no idea.

Affording to Wait

I was going to write a little more about the Classic Hobo - the recent archive acquisition has quite a bit of material relating to him - but apparently a good portion of model horse land has lost their minds over the goodies Reeves was handing out at Toy Fair this week.

In case you missed the hubbub, among the usual goodies they handed out - magnets, pens, catalogs, pins and all that - there was also a "very limited" G3 Highland Pony keychain. An attendee to the Toy Fair got a hold of a rather substantial number of these trinkets: over 20 have been listed so far, thus explaining my rather pointed use of scare quotes.

The more keychains that have come out, the higher the prices have become. They started out around $15.00 - in a lot that included all the other goodies mentioned above - and the last few have been going for $59.99 - for just the keychain alone.

There’s really no other way to get around the fact that this entire situation is nuts. And not in the cutesy-adorable way.

For Pete’s sake, people, it only takes a few seconds to (a) do a teeny-tiny bit of research and (b) apply a small portion of logic to this situation. If some one person was able to get a couple dozen of these items, they simply cannot be all that rare. (And shipped in bubble mailers, too? I don’t think so.)

Remember the "cash cow" incident a few years back? Lots and lots of hobbyists flew into a rage over a situation where we may have been referred to as "cash cows": in other words, easily milked for money.

The whole situation struck me as ridiculous - not because of the incident itself, but because many hobbyists were basing their opinions of it on third-, fourth-, and fifth-hand knowledge of the situation, wildly different versions of the story, and opinions that were mistaken for facts.

(Sound depressingly familiar?)

I think the main reason it got as much traction as it did was because it hit a nerve: way too many people in the hobby really are "cash cows" - especially when it comes to things like Gloss Finishes. We all know - or at some point, been - that person.

(I can think of several situations where I did not acquit myself in the most dignified of fashions.)

I’m not expecting people to be entirely rational when it comes to anything they are passionate about, but you’d think some would learn from experience, eventually.

Do I want one of those keychains? Of course I do. But I also know how these things go: I think I can afford to wait. 

Made of Broken Parts

Shuffling boxes and papers seemed to help both my state of mind and my state of office. I even found those three missing quilt projects that have been bothering me for months. (Not that I have any time to do anything with them right now, but No Longer Missing, yay!) I was also surprised to see how many spare Breyer parts I had lying around the basement:

I already know what some of you are thinking: sorry, none of them are for sale. They're all a part of my restoration/spare parts graveyard. I may not need them now, but I will. Or I might. Actually, the Hobo stand does belong to someone; I've just been too busy and/or distracted to hook them up since I got it.

I bought a body box lot years ago that had a kinda rare variation of the Classic Hobo - most have solid legs with sort of grayish points, but this fellow had four actual (white) stockings! Alas, the base he came with was nonfunctional. (What kind of ninny starts customizing a Hobo by messing with the base? Sheesh.) I managed to find the above base at the bottom of someone’s free box at BreyerFest last year, and I snagged that sucker so fast you could see sparks flying off the carpet.

I’d show you a picture of that oddity, but since he was base-free until recently, he’s still hidden somewhere in storage. (And bugging the crud out of me almost as much as those three quilting projects did.) I was going to make a base for him at one point, but that went the way of so many other good ideas. (Nowhere.)

Here’s my more "ordinary" Hobo who, I hope you can see from the picture, is not altogether ordinary himself.

Poor Classic Hobo can’t get no respect. He hasn’t even had a production release since 2001, in a something-that-was-supposed-to-be Dun for the Pony Express Gift Set. He might make an interesting - and somewhat appropriate - release for this year’s BreyerFest theme, but somehow I’m doubting it, considering the lackluster enthusiasm expressed over Brother Polo Pony’s 2008 Special Run Patagonia. (Though I think it was mostly the photographs that did that little one in.)

In the right color or finish, though, I’d definitely consider him. (Indian Pony-style chestnut pinto? Though I’d take almost anything in that color, frankly.)

The Jumping Horse Wall also kinda-sorta belongs to someone; it’s my backup for my test color/cull White Jumping Horse. He looks better/dressier with it on the shelf, but if I were ever to show him, I’d go with the unpainted Wall he came with. (He’s also in storage, mostly because Jumping Horses take up an insane amount of shelf space.)

The next couple of days are going to be a bit crazy, schedule-wise, which will totally kill this lovely forward motion thing I had going. I probably shouldn't even be here now, come to think of it.

Zzzzzzzzz

Blizzards, man. Just something about having to drive in ‘em while they’re busy blizzarding that messes with the whole day. Makes me antsy and weird. (No snickering!)

I’m off ‘til Monday, so I have the entire weekend to work out that nervous energy, and I have no plans of geographically venturing any farther than the mailbox until then. Got lots to do around the house, anyway. (The usual: paperwork, e-mails, the finishing touches on another dusty old sewing project.)

The title is/was my reaction to the latest Web Special Zeus, which is yet another Silver. I love the color, and the theme (Greek Mythology), but I’d rather see it on another mold that doesn’t get quite as much love. Like the Western Prancing Horse, Stud Spider, or the Trakehner. You know, someone just a shade on the dull side who could really benefit from a punch of color.

I’ll do my one and done entry. With my luck, I’ll probably win him. If I do, there’s a greater than 50/50 chance I’ll sell him. I don’t want to be one of THOSE people, though, so no guarantees. But I have way too many models hanging around as it is that I thought were just short-term rentals…

I have no clue about the identity of next week’s upcoming Collector’s Club "Made to Order" Special - I’ve been too busy freaking out about the weather, or the dog, or astronomical events to give it more than a casual glance.

They’re hinting at something fantastical - something with wings or a horn, I presume - which would disincline me from ordering it. (Unless it’s a Newsworthy Pegasus. Don’t ask me why or how, but I’ve been quite taken with the idea. And in possession of a body.)

I’ll deal with him/her/it when I see it.

I see that the Vault Sale Consolation Prize SR Coltons are shipping out. Pretty boy! Some says the color reminds them of the old Gloss Palomino Family Arabians, but my first reaction was "It’s the Texas Longhorn Bull’s cute second cousin, twice-removed!"

(Not saying this guy isn’t cute. In fact, he’s gorgeous. One of my better restoration jobs, too!)

Colton’s neat, I like him lots, but I’ll wait until Reeves drops the leftovers somewhere surreptitiously, because you know they will. And you know where they tend to dispose of small, slightly controversial, and awkwardly distributed Special Runs?

(Remember folks. BULLWHIP. That day, a couple of weeks ago, when it was really warm? Totally gave the neighbors something to talk about. No, really.)

In other somewhat-hobby-related news, I have been reconsidering my stance on the local Zuni-enhanced live show. I feel the need to shake up my hobby routine a bit, and simply reshuffling the shelves hasn’t been doing the job.

The only thing hampering me is that the task of prepping and documentation may not fit into my already overscheduled life. On the other hand, I actually like socializing in meatspace, especially with people where the phrase "not the ice cream" never enters the convo.

I have a few weeks to sleep on it.

The Other Gray Saddlebred

Oh, good heavens, there’s more hyperventilating on NAMHSA-Discussion, this time over last year’s streaming NAN video feed, which reminded me of a bass fishing video. (Some events are better left to being there. See also: golfing, bowling and competitive eating.)

Look, I’m not a huge fan of getting my picture taken either, but you know what? Once you’re gone, the pictures are all people are going to have to know your face by. Most of the pictures taken of me in the past several years involved me in some rather silly and/or moderately awkward situations at BreyerFest or other hobbyist-related events, and I’m totally okay with that.

I can clean up pretty good when I need to, but most of the time I don't find myself in that kind of situation. The me that I am in those mildly embarrassing pictures is closer to the real me than any formally posed picture could ever be. That’s the person I want people to remember.

I have absolutely no desire to be invisible. In fact, I can think of nothing more horrifying than to vanish completely.

But I also don’t make it a habit of smoking, drinking or doing anything more illegal than jaywalking in public, so there’s that. (I’m not a teetotaler: where I live and what I do just make drinking anything stronger than a Mountain Dew wildly impractical most of the time.)

Commander still sits on my workbench, unopened. Silly Vita ate something she shouldn’t have (again!) and most of the day was spent warding off a potential hazmat situation. She’s back to her old self today, but it's as if that little bugger planned it all along, you know?

Interesting. The same week that the Vintage Club Commanders are shipping, Reeves announce another Gray Saddlebred Special Run - a BreyerFest Special in Gloss Dappled Gray Sabino on the Clock Saddlebred, named Ryman.

They also put up a picture of a second Bfest Special: a Gloss Red and White Jasper, named Short Ribs. While most everyone else is having squealing fits of joy over the Saddlebred, it’s the Piggy that has me all excited. It’s the first-ever production release of that mold in a Gloss Finish.

The Saddlebred is nice - I’m sure it’ll be even more attractive in person, as is standard for these sorts of things - but the mold’s never been a huge favorite of mine, and there are still several more Specials to be announced in the coming weeks. It’ll be a while before I make any sort of decisions about what and how many. Since I might have a little less space to work with this year due to the potential new car situation, I’m thinking less will be more likely.

In fact, I spent most of Sunday - the parts where I was not tending to Vita’s scatological needs - prepping stuff to sell via every possible venue, now that it looks like I might have the time to actual do it right.

Off to work in a bit, so off I go…

When, Not If

My standard work procedures involve me pecking away at several small projects simultaneously, based on my levels of time, interest and energy, with the goal of finishing them all within a relatively narrow time frame. (That’s similar to how work works, too - we run multiple work flows with the intent of finishing them up around the same time.)

It doesn’t always work out, but it works out well enough most of the time that there’s little reason to change it.

Most of the time. Every once and a while I get into a fit and I just have to see a project through from start to finish, RIGHT NOW.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for not opening up my Commander, even though I got him late Thursday afternoon. If I opened him, I’d have to deal with him, and until a few hours ago, I couldn’t. I have to work tonight (a new account, too, I think) so I’ll probably have to put off his unveiling until tomorrow morning, when my mind has room to roam.

One minor distraction I did allow myself was the one-question Vintage Club survey asking members about our preferences: Do you want Vintage colors on Vintage molds, or Vintage colors on Newer molds?

Y’all should know by now what I picked. There was also room to comment, but I didn’t: trust me, Reeves already knows. 

I am not philosophically opposed to Vintage colors on Newer molds, I’d just rather see them released in a different context or program - either as a extra release, like Gus, or as a part of some other program. (A "Retro" Club?)

The molds they selected to show us as examples were quite interesting, especially the Vintage/Vintage pieces:

 For balance, here were the Vintage/New pieces:

No promises were made about the models depicted in the survey - they were being used merely as examples of the kinds of items they were discussing.

Judging from the reactions I’ve seen to the Charcoal Adios, though, I think it’s just a matter of when, not if, on that pretty boy. (Next year’s "Exclusive", maybe, if he ain’t the next release?)

I liked the Gloss Honey Bay Pinto Yellow Mount more than I thought, too. When I initially saw him in that group shot they sent out last year (the one with the Morgan now known as "Halo") I thought "Nice, nothing spectacular". He looked like a glossed regular run Yellow Mount with added black points. (Something they've done in the past, by the way - anyone remember the BHR Bay Running Stallion, made out of leftover 1988 JAH Special Run? And the Small World Trakehner?)

No, he’s an actual Honey Bay, complete with four stockings and black hooves, just like an honest-to-goodness vintage Honey Bay.

And just to let you know, I’d buy either of the Nokotas in a heartbeat, especially the one in the Splash Spot Black Leopard. I like the mold, but I’d dig that color on anything. (As long as they actually do the Splash Spots as Splash Spots, of course.)