Credit, Where Credit Is Due

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. 

My Life is Weird: Part 1,738

Just checking in briefly to acknowledge my existence; I have a ton of work to do by the end of the weekend, and noodling around on the Internet is definitely not on the agenda.

Oh, and remember what I said last post about:

Do I need to consider buying lottery tickets this week? Hit the casino? Troll eBay at 3 a.m.?

Uhh… if I just bought what I thought I bought, we’re going to have another awkward discussion about that thing we had many awkward discussions about already. Gah! My life is so weird…

To compensate for my obtuseness, here’s a picture of the Volunteer Model I acquired at BreyerFest this year, who is obviously not a Chevaliere and not Stanhope either (though I came closer to getting one than I expected this year; the fact that I had a model on that callback table at all is still blowing my mind):

This is the #711426 Sonnet, the 2006 Volunteer Special on the Big Ben mold that was, for all intents and purposes, a gift from a very kindly benefactor. I didn’t volunteer for the first time until 2007 (which was such a cluster of a year otherwise: disappearing headcase roommates, missing out on one of the best NPODs ever…) and then not again until 2011. 

I’m one of those people who doesn’t generally go out of their way to purchase “gift” models second hand – like Live Show Prizes or Volunteer Models – because the value of the model, to me, is tied to the emotional investment. If I didn’t do anything to “earn it”, I don’t feel like I need it. 

(I was told that I most certainly did “earn” the Sonnet, and happily took him in the spirit that he was offered.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’d certainly love to have some of them (looking at you, Gloss Bravour), but it’s not a high priority. And the way the market is right now, I can’t afford most of them regardless. 

(Seriously, what the hecking heck, people? Where is this pot of money you all are pulling from?)

Model Horse Melodrama

Generally I’m not a big fan of Victorian Melodramas: it’s not so much the style that bothers me (though it sometimes does: it can be so emotionally exhausting!), but the fact that all too often it feels like I’m living in one.

 

(I picked up a small stack of these at the local flea market years ago, because seriously, why wouldn’t you?) 

I had a couple of really rough days last week and was feeling pretty low, so you guys don’t know how much it means to me that y’all are (mostly!) sticking up for me on this incredibly bizarre BreyerFest Test Color Adventure. I don’t know where this is going, but I am definitely not taking my hands of the wheel until the car comes to a complete stop.

As a minor reward to all of you, I’d like to point out that there’s a seller on eBay who has a couple of Unpainted Sherman Morgan bodies up for sale – the older lumpy ones with the turd-shaped tail! (They are listed as Mustangs, so might not come up in you saved searches.)

I know there’s lots of Shermie fans out there who might go for that sort of thing, history buffs who’d want a cull of an obsolete version of the mold because history, and Unpainted collectors looking for something rare and cool.

Anyway, moving on…. 

I’m going to be extremely busy for the next month or so, because absolutely nothing is finished for BreyerFest and beyond. This week I’m hoping to get the Sampler and its associated paperwork done, or mostly done, and then I can spend the rest of my time working on the live show stuff.

I am trying not to get too worked up about the show, either, but I want to at least not embarrass myself. And I am setting my sights pretty low for success: one NAN card, and 5 to 10 placings total seems reasonable, considering the size of the show. (Unlike a lot of shows nowadays, they place to tenth. Tenth counts!)

Any prize model would be a delight forever, but I am not betting on it. Two factors that do seem to have some effect on the quality and quantity of one’s placing are (a) spending big [I don’t] and (b) being lucky [for the most part, no]. Fortunately, the Overall and Reserve aren’t on molds that are must-haves for me, either. 

The color on the Roxy Tilbury is gorgeous – one I was considering for the custom of the Classic Quarter Horse Mare I’ve been playing with – but I prefer the loose mane to the braided on her. Most of Breyer’s newer braided manes just don’t do it for me. (Except for the ones on the Gabriel version of the Nikolas mold. Those are pretty adorable.)

 

The problem with the Big Ben mold is that he has a lot of unattainables in his back catalog, and they’re all the ones I want the most (Silver Twilight, Sonnet, Serengeti, the FEI Dark Bay). It is hard to get my hopes up when all I see when I look at Stanhope is the newest member of that exclusive club. 

Silver, Gold and Gloss

Another scattershot post; the past few days have been pretty rough personally, and I have that show to get ready for next week that I’m still not ready for. (I do finally have all the supplies, though!) 

First off, one of these days I’ll get one of those Gambler’s Choice Micro Run surprises in the mail, but yesterday was not that day:

Not that big of a surprise, really. The bigger annoyance was that my shipping box was not only not fully sealed – just a single piece of cellophane tape between it and total shipping annihilation – there was no ephemera. Yeah, I know, I actually wrote the darn thing, but the fancy-fancy actual printed and distributed copy that my archives demand was not there. Bummer.

Second, I wasn’t quite as enamored over the Test Color Rose Gray Sabino Big Ben as everyone else was this week, though if I had “won” him, I certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to take him. In spite of the fact that I have several varieties of Test Colors, I think it would be neat to own one of the publicly “raffled” ones, and it is impossible to dictate which one the Universe chooses for me. 

But again, this week was not that week. At this point I think I’ll have odds of finding a random old BreyerFest Test Color on eBay. And speaking of that, that vintage Froelich I was pining over was relisted at a much more reasonable starting price. Hmm, something to reconsider…

Third, RIP Joe Giella, one of my favorite comic book artists; he inked many pivotal Silver Age stories, including “Flash of Two Worlds” (The Flash #123, September 1961) which introduced the comic book fandom to Earth-2 and the concept of the Multiverse. I was also faithful reader of the comic strip Mary Worth for many years (yes, really!) because of his work on it. 

And finally, there was the explosion in the chocolate factory in Pennsylvania that has me a little on edge, considering where I work. 

Back to paperwork. 

Moody Molds in Basic Black

Vita is basically back to being her usual pain in the butt self. We finally figured out the secret of getting her to stop making her "yucky" face at dinner time: chicken broth. She hasn’t been begging so much at the table, either, which we think is because she now thinks she’s already getting table food. (To be honest, it almost is.)

Looks like it’s my turn to be sick today: my back hurts, I’m nauseous, and I have a migraine. I have tomorrow off, so I can (I hope) sleep most of my aches and pains away. (I’m blaming any typos today, most justifiably, on the migraines.)

Reeves finally got around to mentioning some of the Reissues on their Facebook page - four days after they appeared on the web site, and three days after I mentioned them here. Who needs Facebook when you got me, right?

(A big portion of the hobby, still, and a couple of friends who have completely abandoned me. Didn’t they all get the memo that Facebook is like totally uncool now? I heard it on the radio, so it must be true.)

There are also a couple of (apparently) unauthorized photos of some 2014 releases floating about the Internet, including one of a Black Big Ben as an Royal Canadian Mounted Police Horse. He looks great in "basic black", but then again, most Moody molds do: whatever their anatomical or stylistic issues, you can’t deny they all have beautiful silhouettes - and black paint jobs do a good job of accentuating them.

I don’t have a lot of Big Bens in my collection - not for a lack of trying, but most of the ones I really love I can’t afford. Like the 2005 FEI Gift Model in Dark Bay, the 2006 Volunteer model in Gloss Dark Bay/Brown Sabino, Nautical, 1998 BreyerFest Copenhagen Serengeti…

I didn’t have an original Big Ben until recently, and I’m not so sure he’s an "original" either:

He’s another one of those things I found in the Sample boxes at BreyerFest. At first I thought he was a Sample for the WEG Reissue of the Big Ben, but now I’m not so sure. He could have been an ordinary, later run Big Ben that someone bought or brought into the offices, for whatever reason. Other vintage (sometimes, pre-Reeves!) models have made their way into the Sample boxes before, so it's not as far-fetched an idea as it seems.

I don’t have either the WEG Reissue or an off-the-shelf original, so I can’t verify his status one way or another.

Regardless of what he is, I like him and he’s staying.

In Other News

Is there more to the story of the Copenhagen Belgian?

Yes, but it’ll have to wait until next week. Partly to see what happens with the auction, partly because I’m way behind on everything else, but also because there’s plenty of other model horse news that needs to be attended to.

First, most of you know by now - or should know - that Reeves released/dumped a bunch of warehouse overstock at Tuesday Morning stores and the TJ Maxx/Marshalls chain in the past two weeks. The assortment there included Weather Girls, more Elvis items, Prince Jesters, Satos, Kongs, Stablemates sets, some of the creepy doll sets, the Breast Cancer Bluegrass Bandits, Kripton Senis, Cedrics …

You get the picture. Lots of good stuff.

When I did finally manage to escape my house earlier this week (I think it was Monday night? I can’t remember. NaNoWriMo is melting my brain, again.) I somehow ended up at a couple of Tuesday Mornings. Fortunately I managed to walk away with only a pretty nice Gathering Storm (the 2011 Online Collector’s Choice Big Ben) and a gorgeously shaded Sato, both of whom are currently chilling in the car until the coast is clear.

(Yes, dear readers, I also plead guilty to the "sneaking new horses in the house and pretending they were here all along" ruse.  I did sell a couple things this week, so that sort of makes it okay, right? Right?)

I tried finding a Priefert’s Kong that pleased me enough to take home, but they all either had minor flaws I couldn’t stop staring at, or had paint jobs that were a little too flat black for my tastes.

There were also no Weather Girls in my neck of the woods - all snapped up early, I presume. I was sort of hoping to get another Palomino Weather Girl as an accompaniment to the sample one I picked up at BreyerFest this year, but it looks like that will have to wait.

The second bit of news: yes, I was aware of the Heavy/Resin-filled/Home Decorating Show Breyers that turned up on eBay over the course of the past month. I was even an underbidder on a couple of them, but as you know by now, I was not one of the winners.

That’s what happens when your bank accounts are significantly closer to zero than your competition. Being distracted by the whole Blue Belgian business didn’t help, either. (A most pleasing distraction, at least.)

Make no mistake, it definitely stung - quite a bit, to be honest. I happened to be volunteering at BreyerFest the year that the Home Decorating Show leftovers were sold in the Pit. And with my first shift being first thing Friday morning. At the Help/Information Desk.

Yeah, I had to watch everybody else walk past me into the Ninja Pit.

Torture? You bet. It was the only possible way volunteering could have been made unpleasant for me, outside of being made to dance around in the Pal O’Mine suit. (That year was not good for me for a variety of reasons. The absence of the NPOD shopping experience was a relatively low on the list of grievances, believe it or not.)

With the prices that a couple of those pieces brought - and the added attention - it seems even more unlikely that I’ll be able to smooth that particularly rough-edged memory from my mind.

Not that all of them can, or should be. How else would the world know of pearls?

BreyerFest 2011 Sneaks

Most of my headspace has been occupied, inexplicably, with obscure quilt patterns from the 1930s, so the follow-up to the molded-on tack discussion will have to wait a few more days. I’ll talk about some of the just-announced BreyerFest SRs and stuff instead.

First and foremost, let me do a virtual Snoopy Dance on the return of the Mountain Goat. I’m sure this guy was in the works before I brought up the notion in my Alpine post back in December - the idea seems quite obvious, in retrospect. I’ll probably have to buy a couple of them - one for me, and one for one of my regulars, who’s been politely hassling me for a Mountain Goat for a few years now.

The Unicorn is, alas, predictable and boring. You’d think they could have dressed it up with something a little more imaginative than twee bits of garland - what, they couldn’t spring for a gold mane and tail, a jade green paint job, or some stylized flames? Nope, it’s the same old pastel blandness. I wasn’t likely to buy it anyway, since it’s a porcelain, but I was hoping they'd at least put a little effort into it.

I’m feeling a little indifferent to the Black Tie Affair, a model I’m assuming will be the Store Special. The mold looks good in pinto; I just haven’t been feeling it for the Huck Bey mold lately. Interesting how the Store Special seems to have evolved into the undercard/second string guest horse SR.

The Big Ben looks good in pinto, too, but I’m feeling equally indifferent to the dingy-looking pinto SR. He’s come in a couple of pinto SRs recently - Monaco, and the Collector’s Choice Gathering Storm - so maybe that’s why he’s not really wowing me at the moment. Maybe he’ll look better in person. (Duh, what am I saying - of course he’ll look better in person!) But will he be better enough to overcome my current lack of enthusiasm?

The Red Bay Appaloosa Show Jumping Warmblood is interesting; I don’t have a loose-mane version of that mold yet, so it fits into my buying program. I’d need to see one in person - and all of the other as-yet-unnamed SRs - before I make my final selections. (Aside from the Goat: he’s non-negotiable.)

No complaints here on the Celebration Horse: the Esprit mold looks very nice in a lightly dappled pearl white. He reminds me a little of a gorgeous, near-perfect Templado I had to part with last year. I do need an Esprit for the collection, and all the other Esprit releases aren’t really available to me.

(The whining and sniping about him on Blab, though - yeesh. Every release can’t be designed specifically for you, darlings.)

I can’t think of anything at the moment for the "Happy Endings" contest. The fairytales I’m familiar with are the undistilled, unDisneyfied versions that mostly end in death or maiming. (Go find the "original," pre-Perrault version of Cinderella and you’ll see what I mean.) When I do think of "happy endings," I can’t think of anything that’s not a little - or a lot - risque (the inevitable consequence of having a masseuse for a roommate last year.)

It might be moot, since I already have a pair of shoes for a potential costume contest entry, if there is one.

Or maybe I’ll get really, really lucky and win one of those Early Bird Raffle models. A silver bay splash spot appaloosa El Pastor? That’s … different. Certainly more imaginative than the porcelain unicorn.

Gathering Storm

Never fails: I go away for a few days because of work commitments, and actual news breaks out. (A mild sinus infection didn’t help matters, either.)

"Collector’s Choice" models becoming online exclusives? I didn’t see that coming. Since the voting for these models has been an online-only affair, it only makes sense that the sales of the models selected would go that way, too. It’s the model that the online model horse community selected, not the entire model horse buying public.

I’m not quite sure what to make of it, yet. Some of the issues inherent in the sales method - rapid sellouts, limited availability, crazy price points - aren’t going to be that big a deal. It’s going to be available for six months, which should minimize the information gap. If you’re a member of the model horse community, and don’t find out about it in time to order (or find someone to order for you) in six month’s time, you might want to rethink the way you interact with the Internet.

I am somewhat more optimistic than most hobbyists about Reeves dealing with Shopatron's international sales problem, especially if they are going to commit to "onlining" their direct-to-collector sales. Until that problem is corrected, it’ll probably generate a small industry of "pickup" services, a la BreyerFest. (I’ve had a lot of experience shipping items overseas, so I’d do it if I had the time. But I don’t.)

I am a little concerned about the availability of the model to offline hobbyists, though. How will they explain the disappearance of the Collector’s Choice from the catalogs? Will they even advertise it at all? Will there be other direct-purchase options available to those folks (Phone, Fax, or Fun Days?)

As for the model itself - a Gloss Charcoal Tobiano Pinto Big Ben, named Gathering Storm - I think he’s quite lovely. I liked all three of the voting choices they offered us back then, though the Chocolate Ethereal was my favorite. I’m assuming that this means the flaxen chestnut Bouncer is going to be the Fall Collector’s Choice model, since the test piece for the Ethereal was offered as the Raffle Model for the JAH subscription/resub drawing at BreyerFest last year.

I might pick the Big Ben in the Spring, for my birthday, depending on the finances. I have a lot of other things I have to commit to before then - new glasses, car repairs, possibly some minor (but necessary) elective surgery - so it’s a big if.

How would I get around my prohibition against buying any new models for myself this year? Easy: I’d rationalize him as a purchase of a new and (momentarily) unique production paint job. (Oh, there are a probably a few tests floating around, but tests don't really "count," y'know.)

Some of Breyer’s early Black Pintos paint jobs came with white manes and tails - the #113 Western Prancing Horse comes immediately to mind - but the color and quality of the black paint used on Black Pintos was quite different from that used on contemporaneous Charcoals.

Early Gloss Charcoals tended to have had a brown undertones and some body shading, while the early Black Pintos were usually an inky black, and minimally shaded. Some did have pangare-like shading on the undersides of their barrels, but I don’t think it was a conscious effort to add a touch of realism, or even something that was a part of the painting specs. It was just the way they (or perhaps, a certain member of the painting staff) painted them for a while.