As expected, no Cardinal. I did get something really special earlier in the week that I’ll share with you all next time that mitigates the disappointment quite a bit, but until I am ready for that reveal, let’s get back to BreyerFest stuff, shall we?
On one hand, I’m all-in on cake-themed Decorators and have been brainstorming how to execute a “Bumpy Cake” custom for several months now. (Traditional, or Classics mold? Do I go classic Devil’s Food, or go with my favorite Caramel, for the contrast?) I love the Classic Shire mold, and Black Chestnut is one of my favorite real-world horse colors that Reeves doesn’t use nearly enough.
On the other hand, you know that I am more than over this bizarre and almost nonsensical fixation on food for this year’s BreyerFest. I am 100 percent convinced this BreyerFest was entirely conceived over dinner at a German restaurant.
Part of my bafflement over this stems from the fact that I once attended a German-themed company luncheon that not only inspired a great deal of griping from the staff, it generated a lot of uneaten leftovers. (Some of which I took home, because we could repurpose them into something more... flavorful.)
Even the plush has a food-oriented name. Strudel? Seriously? You couldn’t go with a traditional German boy name like Gunter, Hans, or the blindingly obvious Horst?
(For the record: the Art History professor who introduced me to Franz Marc was named Horst Uhr.)
I wasn’t going to buy the plush anyway, because I wasn’t going to buy anything lederhosen-themed on principle. The little Drafter is on my maybe/probably list: I’d love to have it, but I don’t think it’s a priority. Not yet.
6 comments:
I agree Horst would have been awesome. They probably couldn't do it due to cultural appropriation and the like? I don't know, but I agree the food names are getting tiring.
For years I've been wincing at all the alcohol-themed names at an event aimed largely at children. This year is the worst yet. If I were German, I might be offended. Why not place names, perhaps, or famous scientists, etc.? Food names are a little goofy, but at least they are more appropriate for the kids. Still, I'd prefer that they learn something more intellectual, with all there is to choose from. What matters to me personally, however, is that we manage to have a live event this year. I have missed it so much.
I found the food theme strange as well but ever since Breyerblog decorated the banner in the Bavarian flag it became obvious this is NOT a Germany theme but an Oktoberfest one and well, other than beer and music what does Oktoberfest offer the most? Stuff to eat. It's disappointing we didn't at least get a Special Run based on Schloss Neuschwanstein - quite possibly the most famous castle in Europe. Or a decorator more inspired by Black Forest folklore, they are big on their gnomes and trolls. Instead we get cake and the bobs aren't even the cherries, they're just part of a red mass. No Black Forest cake looks like that, they might have thought of Red Velvet.
There was also a major flub on the BF blog when they introduced the Brahms SR - they straight up lied about Brahms living in the same time period as Beethoven and Bach and how all three of them worked together - the biggest fanficiton they could come up with.
They corrected it a couple hours later when they received comments about it, but how lazy is your research if you can't even look up when these composers actually lived? The Brahms SR is beautiful to me, but why create these untrue stories? It made me laugh.
What is funny to me is how you base your opinion on German food solely on an American company luncheon theme. It's like basing Korean or Japanese food on the Westernized stuff you get in a street shop, or French cuisine on how icky snails are.
Horst!!! Andrea, you kick bottom.
I grew up in a town with a family-owned German butcher shop called Otto and Frank’s, so I am well aware of the existence of Good German Food. Our previous experience with country-themed BreyerFests, however, lead most of us to believe that we’ll be getting the usual amalgam of cultural cliches, both food-related and otherwise. And that, sadly, is what most people are familiar with.
Except here: when most people in Southeastern Michigan think of “German Cuisine” they tend to think of Frankenmuth, which is famous for… Fried Chicken and Fudge.
Bumpy Cake!!! Now I have a huge craving for it…and Faygo too. Too bad MI is so far away. Right, back to BF stuff. I laughed at the name Strudel and thought, “Why not Hans? He looks like a Hans.” I agree Strudel should have been given a name other than…Strudel.
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