From KY to WY

Just passing through, obviously, since I am in between vacays here, but I thought I’d share a few things I picked up in Kentucky:

Yes, that’s a Glossy Marciea Bey. 

First I swore, then I started crying; I was doing pretty lousy at the show prior to that, and even briefly contemplated leaving early. But things got better, and I managed to exceed my goals in the end. (I mean, obviously: winning a Glossy Prize Model wasn’t something I imagined was possible!) 

Even so, if I ever get the idea to do show at BreyerFest Live again, you are all invited to come to my house (unannounced!) and hit me with a 2 x 4. With a nail in it, if necessary.

Because dang, that was hard work. I probably could have eaten an entire pizza afterwards and not even felt it. 

I also got Fifth in the Stablemates Collector’s Class, but didn’t do diddly in Commonality: it’s kind of hard to compete with people who are willing to spend $15,000 to win a $1,500 prize model. At least I gave it a shot, and I can now check off a couple more things off the Bucket List. 

Yes, that Surprise is Glossy, and represents the first time in over ten years since I’ve been able to pull a Gloss Surprise at in-person, from-the-actual-line BreyerFest. I ended up getting a second in the same color, but traded that for the Decorator; (I almost got the Gloss Roan Pinto, but there was a communications issue. Worked out in the end, anyway.) He’s super nice, too, so he might end up in the showstring someday.

I got both Scurries, thank goodness, so my Emma collection (except for the rerelease, and Test Colors) remains complete.

I also tried to get the Roan Araba variation in the Leftover Line, since my Gloss obviously needed a sister, and because I usually always end up with a Roan every year at BreyerFest. But she was just the regular Black one, alas. When my credit card was declined on the fourth(!) pass through the leftover line, I figured it was time to surrender.

I laughed a little when I saw that the BreyerFest Chevaliere was a Roan, because the majority of my Volunteer Models have been Roans. I ran into more than a few people who assumed (incorrectly!) that I was volunteering, but I just want to remind everyone that that was definitely not the case this year. 

It was a little annoying to see so many Chevalieres for sale, but that’s all I’ll say about it. Eh, I’m more “Team Smoky Black” this year…

I did end up with a Volunteer Model (not Chevaliere!) from a kindly benefactor, but that is another story, for another time.

As far as quantities on the variations, I have no idea what’s going on. They’re pretty scarce, but they don’t seem excruciatingly rare: I have a feeling that they’re going to be in the same range as the Horse of a Different Color variation quantities, so a few hundred of each, perhaps? I think that is a good number/range to shoot for, if they continue to do this sort of thing: that quantity range means that they’ll still be expensive, but theoretically “gettable” for people who collect those molds, especially less popular ones.

Jump and Drive and Wells are both 50/50; the loose mane JD and the Gloss Wells just seem a little rarer right now because those are the variations most people want right now. I also have a feeling the Stagecoach Surprises were evenly split, or close to; the Decorator seems a little rarer because the color is exciting and new and everyone wants it. 

The only other variation I “need” is the Action Foal, since I got the standard Standing Foal, and I don’t think that one will be hard to come by. I will not be in market for one for at least a couple of weeks, and by then we’ll know what the splits actually are and we will all be able to negotiate more fairly.   

There’s a lot more, of course, including some not so nice stuff, but now is not the time to dwell on any of that; I have to finish packing and printing my itineraries and stuff. And also apparently I have been assigned Encore Baby Watch, and I need to make sure my camera is in good working order!