Between Love and Like

You’ll have to forgive me for zoning out a bit today. Work was… extremely challenging this week. This has given me the incentive to finish that quilting project I recently restarted; if I’m lucky and the fingertips hold up, it should be done by Monday. Not very well, but done!

They finished up the Ticket Special reveals this week. First up: another gigantic and slightly tippy model in a gorgeous color? Argh!

Seriously though, I do love this color, and want to see it on more models in the future. I’m just not 100 percent sure I want it on a Shannondell.

(Pauses to imagine it on the Stretched Morgan. And now on the Bell-bottomed Shire. And finally on the Running Mare and Foal. Notice a trend here?) 

The Bristol is also lovely, in a color reminiscent of the 2001 Toys R Us Special Run Valiant, on the Five-Gaiter:

While I am a big fan the mold, I’ve become slightly disengaged from it because of my experience with Peregrine (and my lack of Redmond). I might change my mind, depending on what the display samples look like at BreyerWest.

And finally, my second must-have: Scurry, the Fell Pony Emma in Bay Pinto, who is very reminiscent of the Stablemate Emma in the most recent Blind Bag Assortment that has (so far) only been spotted at Tractor Supply:

I should be okay as long as she’s not the Gloss/Matte Split or the Color Split model (because what they did with Marzipan last year is apparently going to be a thing going forward now?) I suspect the Shannondell may be a stronger candidate for that treatment.

So what I’m getting so far consists of all the various Stablemates, the Store Special Via Lattea, the Lady Phase/SSHF set Surrey and Axle, and the Fell Pony Scurry: all things I love, and not just like. 

I’m not sure what I would get with a second ticket if that happens this year; Peanutine is tempting just because I don’t have as many Brighties as you think I might do, but I may just end up using them as pickup slots for people, if need be. I want things I love, not like, and too many things this year fall in that very gray area.

Contrary to Reeves’s semi-vague wording, there are actually quite a few more models to be “revealed”: an Online Only Traditional, the Individual Store Special Stablemates (online, and in-person), another Best of BreyerFest Stablemate Set, and possibly another Traditional Store Special. And of course, various prize and raffle models…

I am a little bummed there has been no Old Timer, and I’m not quite sure where it would fit in to the remaining reveals, unless – and I would not put it past them – they decided to create yet another class/type of Special Run this year to put him into. As one of their most popular Vintage molds, and one that literally has a harness molded onto it, it would seem rather odd not to include him in some way. 

And it would be a little heartbreaking to have it be another extremely limited item like Jake, the 2002 Hat Contest prize model.

Strawberries

Considering I haven’t been picked for one of the Birds of a Feather Series since the very first one – and sold it at cost to a friend anyway – I am not quite sure how this happened:

Dumb random luck, or did the Universe hear my pitiful tale of woe and compensate me somehow? (Spoiler: it’s the former, not the latter.)

Aside from all the drama from the past couple of weeks (I’m on my third food-related injury this month: it’s nothing but microwaveables for the next several days!) I do really love the Bristol mold, and yes I will definitely be keeping him. 

I just wish there were more readily available examples of him in his “loose mane” look: the 2018 BreyerFest Raffle Model Jackpot,  the 2019 Best Customs prize Leap of Faith, and the 2020 Seattle Soiree Redmond are all essentially unobtainables.

(Why, why do Redmonds have to be so expensive? He’s so darn pretty, urgh!)

Anyway, I have no illusions about completing the Birds of a Feather Series collection like, ever. The only one of the previous releases I’m actively seeking out is the Crane, because I love the Emerson mold, and because of his relatively “plain” paintjob I think he’ll be one of the kinda-sorta affordable ones in the not-too-distant future.

Unlike, say, the Silver Goldfinch. Why is something they made nearly 400 pieces of priced in the $1000 range? (I know it’s a Silver, but get a grip, people!)

One series I have been thinking about completing – or at least leisurely collecting as I find them at reasonable prices – is the Berries Ponies Series. I picked up a very affordable Strawberry at BreyerFest, in fact:

(Coincidentally, I just picked and ate some teeny-tiny Alpine Strawberries from my garden. They were way easier to grow from seed than I imagined, which makes sense because you will need about fifty or so plants to make anything with them.) 

While the Croi Bramble and Bouncer Bilberry aren’t going to happen any time soon, the Juniper, Honeysuckle and Persimmon all seem achievable. I’m in no rush, though. It happens when it happens.

The VIP

Well hey, this showed up in my mail box:

Which is a very nice and welcome cap to an emotionally draining week! 

In addition to the Uffington and the Best of BreyerFest Stablemates Set, I think I’ll be going with Ansel and Queen of Hearts/Josie. 

I decided on Ansel because I love Blue Roan pintos in general, and the “concept” behind it: honoring Ansel Adams, a photographer whose mastery of his medium was so complete that it takes you a moment to realize what you are looking at is only Black and White. 

Josie I waffled on for a bit; while I love her chocolately bay color, I was a bit concerned about how her unique markings will render in production. Ultimately, I decided that the Bristol mold is popular enough that should I not find her to my liking, she wouldn’t be hard to rehome later.

I want to sleep on my selections one more day before I pay for them, though, because I was operating under the (usually correct) assumption that I wouldn’t have to worry about this decision until much later. 

I know it sounds like a rather depressing assumption, but as someone who is not naturally gifted with luck like some people are, I prefer to think of it as both pragmatic and absolutely necessary for my mental health.

I was also not surprised, at all, that people are trying to sell their tickets – at a nice markup, of course. Since you had to buy the entire package – two Special Runs, two Limited Editions, et al – I can understand selling off an item or two that you might not have wanted in the first place. 

But the whole package? Tacky and gross. I’m glad that Reeves put out a statement on the BreyerFest Blog to address this issue:

https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/breyerfest-blog/a-note-to-breyerfest-newcomers

The kicker is that Reeves is doing everything it can to make sure that everyone can get everything that they want – at least in terms of the Limited Editions – and effectively rendering much of the “pickup” industry moot. Why pay double for a Josie or Apollo, when you could just buy the All-Access pass and get the Celebration Horse and online access included for the same price?

I know some hobbyists are not happy about this development, also arguing that allowing backorders renders their “Limited Editions” worthless, or at least worth less. 

As someone who buys primarily for herself, this is a moot point for me; there’s a whole other discussion about rarity and value I’d rather not wrap my head around today.

And to be honest, if it helps tamp down some of the less honest among us who use the inexperience and desperation of the less informed among us to profit, so be it. 

Behaving Yourself

No surprises here – I got Peppermint!

This is totally fine, since the plan is to acquire all the acquirable ones eventually anyway, and pretend the Licorice/Coal doesn’t exist. Unless it magically does, somehow.

(That is the story I tell myself.)

But the other Zebras can wait: January’s agenda includes culling the herd, finishing my collection inventory, wrapping up the last of my BreyerFest memory boxes, and figuring out how the new sewing machine works. Along with all the other usual resolutions that come with the New Year.

The Seattle Soiree information is up (the page accessible to Collector Club members only, sorry), and so is the picture of the Event Model, Redmond:

Ooh, pretty! He’d make a very handsome companion for Chesapeake, assuming I get picked.

Speaking of this, forewarned is forearmed: Reeves is not making any exceptions this year in terms of tickets: if you name a partner in your entry and you get picked, either both of you go or neither of you do.

If you can’t guarantee that your partner can and will come, you have the option to enter by yourself.

End of story. No exceptions, no substitutions!

They have made exceptions before on a case-by-case basis in the past, but after some of the shenanigans that happened with recent Events – hobbyists attempts to “sell” their Plus One slots on Model Horse Sales Pages(!), and a rather brazen attempt at theft at the Scottsdale Event – they’re drawing a hard line.

And I honestly can’t blame them.

As much as I’d like to think that my co-hobbyists are all awesome people who would never do something so unseemly, I know this is not true. Heck, I’ve had some hobbyists confess in completely casual conversations to things that gave me pause.

Rules are created because people can’t be trusted to behave themselves.

Corrections as of Tuesday January 7:

The cancellation policy has changed – or at least been clarified (again). If the guest cancels or cannot attend, the originally drawn attendee can still go, but they cannot replace their guest with another guest-to-be-named-later, and the guest’s ticket will not be refunded. 

The gist of the post still stands: just get your nonsense together before you enter!

There He Is!

That was a rough patch of days. I finished a number of lingering projects, another one is well on its way, the garden is almost done (thought the rain is not helping) and I even managed to finish a quilt I though would be the death of me.

(Note to self: Matchstick quilting by hand? Bad idea!)

There was a dentist appointment in there, too.

And now I am completely exhausted. The “sit back in a chair, blink your eyes and immediately lose three or four hours” kind of tired. (Which is also why I am putting off seeing the new Godzilla movie for another day or two.)

So of course the Mid-year photos had to drop today, when I have absolutely no energy to be excited.

The most talked about of this year’s Mid-Year crop is obvious: the Bay Bristol that had all of us so consternated late last year, who is now a portrait model of champion show jumper Voyeur.

(I think I speculated that he was likely a Mid-Year portrait model. I’m pretty sure? I am rapidly losing my will to brain.)

Unlike the model seen in the GoldieBlox video, though, Voyeur has a braided mane, instead of a loose one. But it’s not necessarily a big revelation that the model in the video was a Test Color, either. Even if it was absolutely identical to the regular production run piece, it’d still likely be a Test Color by dint of the date the video was published.

(I mean, yeah, they have made models before and sat on them for months and months before unleashing them on us, but… just go with it for the sake of simplicity, okay?)

Voyeur will be a big seller, either way. Breyer has been killing it with their Bay paint jobs lately, and everyone is pretty hot to get their hands on an affordable Bristol since his Premier Club release, BreyerFest 2018 Gloss Chestnut Leopard Appaloosa Raffle model, and now the Black Pinto Custom Contest Prize model Leap of Faith are all – more or less – either unaffordable or inaccessible to the majority of us.

Just like the Newsworthy mold, my personal preference leans more toward the loose-maned version to the braided one. In fact, one of the few “personal collection” purchases I’ve made so far this year was a loose-maned Newsworthy, specifically the Best of British Connemara Pony one:

I originally purchased him with nefarious purposes in mind, but then I got caught up in other business and lost the will to do nefarious things by the time he arrived at my doorstep. Then he sat in his box for a couple of months until I decided to open him up for my birthday because it is not a birthday without a new Breyer horse, right?

(I bought an LV Integrity specifically for my birthday, too. But more on him on a less delirious day.)

In spite of my current space issues, I managed to find the perfect place for him, perched on top of my printer and looking like he’s about the dive into a mosh pit of Stablemates Unicorns on the desk below.

Enough with the silliness. Time for bed.

Customs Contest

An approximation of how I felt earlier this week:

Apologies to whomever this picture actually belongs to, but when I found it on Twitter a few days back, all I could think was: It Me. 

(No worries. Things are looking better now. Well, maybe not the hair, but….)

Anyway, I was doing something boring and adult last week, the kind of task that lets your mind wander. And it wandered up to a really, really neat idea for a Fantasy Custom – of a kind I think could be competitive in the BreyerFest Customs Contest.

Although I briefly contemplated it earlier in the year, I came to the conclusion that competing in that contest was not going to happen this year, for a number of reasons mostly related to time and money. Then they released pictures of the prizes, and I let out a painful yelp:

Dang it. Dang it all to heck! Black Pinto is a huge weakness of mine, and Gloss Black Appaloosa on the Stablemates Valegro is just about the perfect paint job for that little guy.

Black Pintos are a weakness for a lot of people: that’s why it was a staple of the Breyer’s limited color palette in the 1950s and 1960s. Along with Solid Black, Solid White and Palomino: these are the colors the general public actually know and can accurately identify.

Come to think of it, if someone can – more or less – accurately distinguish between Chestnut and Bay, that’s when I know I can talk to them horse person to horse person. (Not always though – some real horse people can also be kinda dumb when it comes to color genetics. But that’s why this hobby totally rules: horse nerds, unite!)

Shortest answer: this custom project is still a nonstarter, regardless of the prizes. I’ve committed myself to finishing existing projects this year using only the (voluminous) craft and hobby supply stash I have on hand, and this particular project would involve buying new supplies and tools.

Once I get caught up on the most urgent projects (basically: quilts, memory boxes, and completely sorting out the gardening mess outside) then I’ll consider pulling out the bodies and playing again.

Marketing Strategies

Let’s wrap up the rest of the weekend news…

Some of the Justify items are now available; I’ll be getting the Traditional version eventually, because of my recent infatuation with the Carrick mold. It’ll be a while though, because: he’s already on backorder on the web site; it doesn’t seem likely that I’ll be any where near one of my local toy stores for the next few weeks; and good heavens, have you seen those prices on eBay?  

I can wait.

The Unicorn Foals Sirius and Vega are neat – and on my two favorite Classic Foal molds! – but as I’ve skipped most of the other recent Unicorn releases, I’ll probably skip them too. Kudos to Reeves for coloring them to match their astronomical counterparts.

(Vega is the blue one.)

Renewals for the Vintage Club are up, but so far all they’ve been offering is a picture of the Pacer Rockford, who we already knew about.

I have no clue what their marketing strategy is, and am assuming that pictures of the other models will be coming eventually – perhaps as a way of gauging the response to each release? Because I severely doubt that they’re going back to the “everything’s a secret” mode from the first year of the Vintage Club. Especially since, you know…

(Is it ironic that the suspense is killing me?)

Regarding those YouTube videos that Reeves taunted us with – specifically, the one with the mysterious Solid Bay Bristol in it – well, I found them more annoying than rage-inducing. If you’re going to click-bait hobbyists who’d normally never give a passing glance at these videos, could you give us a little something for our effort?

I’m not much of a YouTube person, I’m not the target audience for these types of videos anyway, and I’m okay with that: hobbyists and hobbyist organizations certainly aren’t doing much in the way of youth outreach, and it’s in Reeves’s financial interest to do so.

But offering exclusive information about possible upcoming releases via these kinds of channels does not seem quite right, either. It’s like giving out sports scores during a weather report, or stock market tips in the middle of some celebrity gossip: while it is technically all news, it is not the news the viewers are looking for, or where they were looking for it.

My only other real criticism is that I’d rather they take more of a “bottom-up” approach than a “top-down” one with their youth marketing. Focus on activities and crafts that are more affordable and accessible to everyone: battle bots made with $150 Web Specials and craft bowls made with $50-75 worth of Stablemates would not have happened in the working-class household I grew up in.

Hitting Jackpots

I know some folks were expecting an actual portrait of Buchiko, but BreyerFest Portrait Models tend to be actual Guest Horses or performers. Some earlier Guest Horse Portrait Models were made as Ticket Specials – like The Lark Ascending – but Reeves has now relegated most of those to Store Specials.

That makes sense, because casual attendees and One-Day ticket purchasers who might not be able to snag a Celebration Horse model might still have the (theoretical) opportunity to purchase a model of a different Guest Horse.

(I still think the Scamper Reissue is going to be way more popular than most hobbyists realize – the original release ran forever for a reason!)

I like it! But. 

I ended up selling off my 2015 Lonesome Glory Quelle Surprise, and I’m on the verge of selling my 2016 Bozeman, who has a similar color if not pattern. I thought I’d love him, but like has not yet turned to love, and I’m doubting it’ll happen soon…

I guess I’ll have to wait until I see an By a Nose in person. And see what else is being offered: there are still the Stablemates, the Decorator release, and the multitudes of Pop-Up store merchandise to come.

The Sunday Raffle Horse Jackpot is pretty faboo, but he is (a) a Glossy (b) Leopard Appaloosa (c) with halo spots (d) Raffle Model on the (e) Hot New Bristol Mold.

In other words, his name is very appropriate: I have a better chance of finding a five-dollar Decorator at the flea market between now and then. Or being hit by a meteorite.

(Note: We did have a “close” call on some meteorites a few months ago. Decorators? Not so much. As in ever.)

But I’ll put in my tickets, all the same. Every time I think my luck is the absolute pits, I have to think back to last summer and the five-dollar box of Hagen-Renakers.

I had some additional stuff I wanted to say about the Lonesome Glory mold, but the brain is starting to get a bit foggy. I appear to have contracted a rapidly escalating cold, and my body is telling me it’s already made plans for the weekend.