And Now, the Collie

Sigh.

I’m not even sure where to begin with Maurice, the latest Micro Run on the old Lassie/Collie mold. I mean, I saw a Collie Special Run as an inevitability (I think I predicted it on page two of one of the Rodney discussion threads on Blab, back on April 22nd) but I wasn’t expecting another Micro Run so soon, and so close to BreyerFest.

As a somewhat avid collector of the dog molds, of course I want him. Those blue eyes, that sweet face? He’s adorable. He needed to join the rest of his family – Lassie, Jester, and Honey – here with me.

But yeah. No. Again.

The “tools” I rely on normally to compete in the collecting area – my timing, intuition, and deep knowledge base – are of no use or consequence with these Micro Run Purchase Raffles. It’s hard for me to get too excited about them now that acquiring them has become purely a matter of random luck, or money. Since I can’t rely on the former, and I have an uneven supply of the latter… I almost didn’t enter at all.

But hope springs eternal. So I tried. Every day, I tried.

I suppose it’s just the Universe balancing things out: I did get the four “pre-raffle” Micro Runs that came before – and assorted other Buried Treasures and surprises and stuff.

Still doesn’t make it any less of a bummer, though. Especially when it involves things you actively collect and campaign for. And when you actually have a little cash in the Paypal account, for once. (More money for NPOD?)

In the meantime, here’s a scan of a copy of the original sketch of the Lassie, prior to a few minor alterations suggested by Lassie’s licensing agency (Stone Associates – no relation to Sam and Peter Stone, as far as I know):

This sketch is also a useful corrective to some of the naysayers who tend to dismiss Chris Hess’s artistic skills.

Another corrective is that, contrary to Reeves’s copy on the web site, we do know when Lassie was introduced: 1956. Here she is, being featured in the January 1956 issue of Toys & Novelties magazine:

(Click to enlarge)

Rin Tin Tin was introduced at the same time, more or less. But I’ll cover that (and why it’s extremely unlikely we’ll be seeing a Rinty Micro Run) some other time.