I am still not feeling great, but I am definitely better than I was a couple days ago; I’m hoping this course of treatment is successful, so I can actually move on and finish all the stuff around the house I couldn’t do over my Winter Break.
Technically I am not in any condition to rant further about the distressing turn the generic (nonportrait) Special Runs for this year’s BreyerFest have taken, but I have to say that I am finding it increasingly more depressing than the Horse Heroes situation. At least those were named after “heroes” of a sort; the connection between “overcoming adversity” and “Girl Power ballads” is more than a bit stretched.
All marketing, in the end, is a cash grab capitalizing on current trends and fads, so I tend to cut most companies a lot of slack when it comes to new product marketing: the purpose of a company is to make money. (I get into this argument with people at work all the time. “Why are we making this, and not that?” Because that’s what’s selling right now.)
But this turn feels so obvious, contrived, and contrary to what they themselves have been trying to do for the past several years, which is make the hobby more inclusive. A balance could have been struck here; you could have folded “Girl Power ballads” into it with just the Stablemates, and not steer the entire theme in that direction.
Nope, never mind, let’s go back to yet another variation of Princesses and Cowgirls!
Bummer for all of us who are not sparkly pink aspiring Girlbosses.
(I wear size 11 shoes look terrible in pastels, and am a bookish introvert: it was never an option.)
The 2024 Regular Run releases are actually pretty great, though. I especially like the Element Series Collection Classics, based on the Eastern – rather than Western – Elements. I think my favorite is the Harper Iridium, because it reminds me of the metallic Super Chase Stablemates I have been utterly unable to locate. Teak is also intriguing; is he the first official Classics-scale release in Woodgrain? My brain is a bit addled by the painkillers, so I am not so sure at the moment…
I am absolutely not a skier (hello, total lack of coordination bordering on disability), but I really like this year’s Christmas Horse Après Ski, too. A Red Bay Big Ben with a Gulastra Plume? Clever, attractive and imaginative – now that’s the (lift) ticket!
I’d like to comment further on the Halloween Horse Beowolf, who initially garnered a pretty enthusiastic response because hello, we are all nerds here. But now that it appears that the design may be at the center of a potential controversy, I’ll wait for more info on that developing story before I say anything more.
19 comments:
I'm glad that you're beginning to feel better Andrea.
Welll--he***!!! There goes the discussion for Breyer being all inclusive!! While there might not be as many as females, do they *not* think that there MAY be some MALES also interested in their products??!!(Tom Bainbridge and Levi Kroll come to mind!!) You mean--you actually had a car show last year--but you can't think of anything for this one??!! Really??
I'm actually offended by the "girl power" theme ! D*mnit!! Not all of us are "weak helpless females" --not even the age group that Breyer is trying to reach!! In a way, it seems like they're trying to perpetuate victimhood--whereas "Against All Odds" can apply to *anybody *--men, women, boys and girls!!(That you can rise above your circumstances no matter what gives a lot of people hope & courage and makes you feel better about yourself over a bunch a "girly" tunes!)
Too bad there's not way to send to send some of these comments/suggestions to the DISNEY CEO they have in charge now!! He **obviously * still doesn't get what type of hobby that he's over!! He would benefit from reading/considering L. Robinson's and a couple of the Anonymous points in your last posting!! They were *excellent *!!
Didn't realize they took someone from Disney on board...no wonder their whole trajectory has been and is headed straight into the toilet.
He's from DreamWorks, not Disney.
Andrea, I hope that you are feeling and actually getting better, and that you will continue to do so each new day of 2024! Hopefully, now that the tilt is coming back to the sun, things will start improving.
On Breyer, the Breyerfest theme pre-failure, the new regular line, and their overall end to ‘23/start to 2024, I will borrow my review straight from In Living Color: “Hated it!”
Heya, hope the new treatment continues to help! I'm loving the new Classics, the only thing that makes me sad is that they are "random ship" - you don't get to choose which one you get. From the website:
"Each randomly assorted model features a beautiful custom box highlighting each unique element and the horse breed connected to them.
Please note that this product is a random ship; which model you receive will be a surprise!"
I'm kinda getting burnt out on the random ship, to be honest. I don't collect the Thoroughbred, and would really like to make sure I get Iridium and Kai as I collect Harper and the Morgan Stallion. I don't want to have to trade around or buy extras and sell them to get the ones I want. I'm not sure why they are so into the random ship on everything right now. :(
That said, I like the models for Breyerfest so far, even if the theme is all over the place.
And Fire on American Dream is the chase piece of the set. The most popular mold of the 5 will be the hardest to get and that’s on purpose since Breyer figures people will just keep ordering until they get it.
They’ll soon find out they’re wrong. Everyone I’ve talked to says they’re not bothering with it at all if they can’t order the one they want. This random ship crap didn’t work with the Anniversary Traditionals (they eventually let you order specific ones) and it won’t be popular with this set either.
Everyone is getting fed up with Gamblers Choice, Random Ship, Blind Bags and Chase Pieces. Just let us buy the models we want! Lots of hobbyists are also over the surprise micro runs & split runs in every BF SR. They show you one model that you love so you buy it but you get a model that’s a different color or different mold that you don’t like or want. How is that NOT bait-and-switch, which is illegal? I wanted the MARWARI Tassili, not the Barb (who I can’t give away). I wanted the red bay Scurry, not a cremello (can’t stand dilute colors) but I was able to find a trade. I’m beyond pissed that I had to buy the Marwari on the secondary and I had to pay twice the original cost and I had to pay shipping to trade the Scurry. I had to spend MORE money to get the models I thought I was buying from Breyer because that’s what I was shown.
My hand to God - BREYER IF YOU SHOW ME ONE MODEL AND I SEND YOU MY HARD EARNED MONEY TO BUY IT THEN YOU SEND ME A MODEL THAT IS A DIFFERENT COLOR OR MOLD I PROMISE THAT I WILL FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FCC AND CPA FOR BAIT-AND-SWITCH.
Yes, I am that sick and tired of your antics. I don’t care if you send me the rare micro run. If I receive a model that looks different in any way from the one that was shown - the one I wanted to purchase - I will file a complaint with the proper government authorities. So either show us all variations and let us choose which to buy or just knock it off already!!!!!!
One great thing about the internet is the ability to connect with other hobbyists, which used to be limited to snail mail and JAH six times a year!
One of the stupid things about the internet is the how quickly people pass judgment and pile on.
Re: Breyer and BF, I think Breyer does a great job of having a wide variety of models that can appeal to many different interests. Why do people focus on the one or two aspects that they don’t like, and ignore everything that is actually pretty amazing!
I don’t know why they went away from the Treasure Hunts for something like this. Oh yeah… maybe because they are losing dealers left and right, and that type of (super fun!) collecting depends on having models in front of customers. Not to mention, the molds they chose for the Treasure Hunts were all home runs. These, other than Fire, are some of the least appealing in the Classic line. Their cartoonish lack of realism and disregard for equine anatomy is only accentuated by the decorator finishes. Not for me.
For the same reason you’re upset that you’ve lost a dollar even though you found a dime.
I honestly have gotten to the point of ignoring most OF names. Is it something I have no clue to pronounce? Renamed. Is it a reference to something tiresome to me? Renamed.
So the theme is something that isn't my style? Meh don't care.
It bums me out so big time I barely find in person dealers anymore. I LOVE finding them in person. Hell the true treasure hunt is finding them in person.
But am am tired of blind bags, and gamblers I will give you that. I just want to be able to just buy what I want to buy and go happily home with my treasure. I don't want to be bummed to have spent the money and now I have to spend more. Because darn it that wasn't the one I loved.
And as for the sad wolf horse... they have rules in the coloring contest for no copying. No using copyrighted stuff. How is that not a rule for compensated hired artists?
The assumption is that anything a contributing artist submits is being done in good faith, and the rules that are expressly stated in contests open to the public are already implied.
It hasn't been an issue before, so something in those submission protocols may need to be revisited.
The situation is complicated, and I've clearly missed some stuff since I haven't been online much due to my back issues. I don't think we'll hear an update on this situation until late Monday or Tuesday, at the earliest.
Oh, what a shame! I hope there is a way to work it out, because that was one I had really considered pre-ordering. A Hess mold I love, and such a clever design. Good thing I read your blog. I will wait to see.
I hope they allowed the real artist to step up and design it. She does wonderful work.
And yes I guess it is time to put those same rules down for contract artists. No stealing work to call as your own.
Wow! OK! Didn't know that! Still would help to hire someone that knows a little bit about the job that they were hired for and the customer's taste, wouldn't it--rather than try to take the company to the the place that they just left?? I think that's why a few of us are letting their displeasure be heard!
The Holiday Horse is fantastic, I'm definitely looking forward to him. It's a shame so far about the Breyerfest theme, though - as a disabled man myself (wheelchair user), I was looking forward to the prospect of potential portraits of disabled or "unconventional" looking horses. Endo the Blind comes to mind. I suppose there's still lots of time, so we'll see how things go in that department.
Personally, I don't mind the overwhelming "girl power" mantra stuff, but that might just be because I'm so used to it LOL. Breyer markets towards girls 99.9% of the time so my eyes kind of just glazed over a bit. I hope there are at least some young ladies out there who enjoy the theme as-is. When you go to Breyer/model horse events as a guy, people tend to just assume you're the boyfriend/brother and not actually there for yourself.
Well the theme only tends to really stick to the guest horses that are store specials. I think we've only seen 1 of those so far. I would like to see Endo too, but that's up to his owner.
Or Molly, the Katrina pony who had the prosthetic leg after lower limb amputation! Would it be neat if they had a how-to session that showed how to make an accurate looking prosthesis for a Breyer model? Dr. Vlahos in WY has done quite a few for flesh and blood horses, and saved some lives… always against the odds.
I've called the "desinger" of Beowulf a hack for a long time. Too many things on the design line up 1:1. No excuse. Let's call a spade a spade. In fact, one of her workshop videos submitted to Breyer, they blatantly state they take images online to use in their designs. I don't understand their cult like following. I can hope that movonh forward the orginal artist is paid and the hack is no longer doing work for Breyer.
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