Wednesday, April 2, 2014

In On The Joke

Tuesday was not shaping up to be the best day of my week; alarm clocks should not be allowed to be set to go off at 2:30 a.m.

And it just about lived up to my expectations. I’ll spare you the particulars; it felt like the kind of day that was constantly running up to me, poking me in the eye, and running off.

The day was almost salvaged with a couple of side trips to stores with excellent Breyer selections; I didn’t buy anything, but just looking at pretty horses did wonders for my mood.

On the way home, I stopped at a couple of thrift stores too, and found one wonderful not-a-horse thing that gave me crazy ideas about a certain contest entry - putting me in an almost giddy mood, I daresay. Take that, Tuesday!

When I arrived home, however, I made the mistake of reading the online comments to Breyer’s April Fool’s Day joke about Khemosabi.


Whatever holidays you want to celebrate I am completely fine with - especially if chocolate cake is involved. I’m rather fond of Towel Day, myself.

But I have always - and continue to be - apprehensive about April Fool’s Day. It’s not just that it hurts people who either cognitively or philosophically obligated to accept everything they see, hear and read at face value, but that some people will continue to believe the joke or prank was real - no matter what the evidence (or the perpetrator!) says.

The hobby seems especially prone to this (certain Yahoo Groups spring to mind). Not only is it painful to witness, it leads to lots and lots of posts refuting bad data

Look, Reeves is VERY aware of Khemosabi’s awfulness, and they've known about it for a very long time. I know for a fact that they considered retooling the mold as early as 1992. I was a party to a conversation back then with the Powers That Be.

Really, no fooling.

Think about it: he’s only been used twice since his original release - once as a Christmas Horse, and second in that crazy Dappled Rose Gray that I mentioned before. Neither one I’d consider a "realistic" release.

There is a tiny bit of truth to the prank: this single set of models will be made available at BreyerFest - via the Silent Auction. Judging from the reaction I’ve been seeing on Blab, the set will be fetching a healthy price, too. I might put in a bid, just for the heck of it.

And who knows? If the interest keeps up, we just might end up with a Silver Filigree Khemo for Christmas.

3 comments:

Christi said...

I like the French version of April Fools - Poisson d'avril. You (sneakily) tape a paper fish to your friend's back. The kids at my son's French preschool thought it was hilarious.

I missed the whole Khemo fuss, but most of my Breyer news comes from Haynet, which is apparently practically dormant now. :(

RowanMorgaine said...

I'm curious as to what their reasoning was to not update/fix/improve Khemo.

ANDREA said...

I don't know. Too expensive? Didn't think it was worth the effort? Easier to start from scratch? Convenient reminder to Not Go There?

He's rapidly sliding into the "so-ugly-he's-cute" category, so I doubt it'll happen now.