More BreyerFest 2013 Releases

I did get the Vintage Club "Ephemera Extra" the other day: it IS the 1961 Duotone Catalog Insert pages that most of you should be at least vaguely familiar with. And which was used as one of the illos in my original article.

I’ll work around it. As for any further commentary on the Extra itself, I’ll leave to private communications. (Nothing racy, just unduly speculative.)

Reeves also released photos of three more BreyerFest releases - a Decorator Blue Bandana Bucking Bronco named Rock-a-Billy for the Boots & Bling Store, a Decorator Blue Overo Pinto Lady Phase named Twill, and a "new" Moody Iberian Horse named Laredo, who’s pretty over the top - even for a Moody. He’s apparently a reworked Brishen, with multiple swapped out parts, so he's only partly new.

I’ll reserve my final judgement on him (as always) until I see one in person. There are a few photos of a sample from Equine Affaire last weekend, but they’re taken at a weird and difficult to judge from angle.

I’m also going to assume - until the artist issues a statement otherwise - that the increasing over-the-topness may be a Reeves directive/suggestion, and not artistic derangement/degredation, as some people seem to be suggesting.

Wild, crazy horses with big hair sell better - not to us, maybe, but definitely to the rest of the world. Anatomical realism? Not as much as we might think, outside the live showing niche.

As for as much attention as they lavish on us, we have to be reminded of this simple fact: we are not the center of Reeves’ universe, or at least as much they are of ours.

The front leg does bother me a bit, but I think it’s more because I’m used to Breyer molds having abnormally short raised forelegs, like the Western Prancing Horse, the Running Stallion, the Belgian... It’s almost like an artistic marker/tic for Chris Hess’s work, the more I think about it. It makes me wonder if it was also related to any molding issues.

I suspect that Laredo’s funky foreleg may be the victim of a similar problem, though from the opposite direction: instead of erring on the side of caution, I have a feeling that Reeves is pushing the molding technology a little bit too close to the edge of what’s possible.

I do like his hair. And the paint job is very pretty. Like some commenters have been saying, I think some of the people making yucky faces over him now may be swooning over him in the future, once they get to know him.

Or not. He’s not really designed for "us", anyway.

Twill was the one who finally pushed me over the line in ordering another BreyerFest ticket, though. Not because I’m a huge Lady Phase fan, but because she’s painted to resemble denim - like the Fighting Stallion centerpiece for the original "Denim and Diamonds" Exclusive Event in Texas.

With overo pinto marking that look like (to me!) holes ripped into those jeans. Which, duh, obviously means something to me, in light of recent events: if I manage to snag one, she is so going to be called "Vita’s Fault". (She was a bad girl again, yesterday, though not for me.)

Lest you think we’re running out of surprises, other models we can still speculate about include: the Stablemates One-Days, the Live Show prizes, the second day Raffle horse, the Volunteer Model, all of the Auction pieces, and possibly a few more Store Specials.

And who’s going to be the Glossy/Matte Half and Half SR. Because if they’re doing a Gambler’s Choice model, they’re doing a Half and Half. (My current bet? The Haflinger Buckaroo.)

Next up: another "secret" project, you say?