Vacation Plans

Another cleanup day here. First, a couple of customs I’ve been fiddling with:

My problem when it comes to ambitious customs like the Mesteno’s Mother is that I never know when to stop. Will she fall to the same fate as many of my other experiments, like the Quarter Horse Gelding I tried to turn into a Suffolk Punch? I have no idea.

The Classic Quarter Horse Mare – who was that bad, but earnestly done custom I found at a Salvation Army years ago – required less work to get to this stage, but I’ve been doing an insane amount of tiny tweaks on her. Most of them to fix mistakes the original customizer made (like floppy ears, and divots in her butt!)

Second I couldn’t muster up a lot of enthusiasm for the latest Birds of a Feather Web Special Sparrow. I mean, she’s pretty, but there have been a lot of pricey and hard-to-obtain Croi Damsha releases lately, and a Chevaliere doesn’t look likely either. I will not be troubled much if I don’t get her.  

(Though it looks like prices on the Christmas Spice Drops have been dropping, and the Green and Red ones I prefer are the less desirable ones, hmm….)

Most of my free time has been spent getting caught up with my vacation prep – Kentucky and Wyoming will be back-to-back, incidentally, though I’m still working on some of the particulars. 

I decided to go ahead and do a couple of Collector’s Classes at BreyerFest Live. I will probably regret it – I am not a big spender, nor is my luck particularly keen – but since the opportunity is there, and judging at that show is notoriously quirky, it was worth the modest entry fees. 

(Believe it or not, even back in “The Good Old Days”, I never actually won a Collector’s Class. It was all about the Decorators and Glossies back then, and I did not have much of either.)

My BreyerFest sales list is being challenging because, in spite of the fact that I haven’t really bought all that much in the past year, I still have way too much to fit in the car again. I sold so much stuff last year, how is that even possible? 

While I am at it, I might as well tell you my vacation plans for next year, since it’s also horse-related and there’s a slim chance someone out there might be able to help with this one:

I want to go to the Kentucky Derby. 

I’ve never been (no, really!) and it being the 150th Anniversary, well, just makes me want to go even more. Ticket sales are going to be insane, I know, and my odds of winning a chance to buy tickets are about as likely as me winning a Test Color Web Raffles. (Which has been never, so far.)

But I owe it to myself to at least try. 

Wintry Mix

Well, my greatest accomplishment over the past few days was in not dying – literally! 

I was driving in the sleet and freezing rain to work yesterday, and I thought the road conditions were actually improving as I traveled south. I noticed a backup (about ¼ to ½ mile) on the northbound side of the freeway due to a spinout crash into a (newly installed!) guardrail, so I slowed down a bit more as a precaution.

Some knucklehead in an SUV decided they weren’t having this, and made the choice to pass me in the fast lane. They gunned it; I saw them wobble a bit as they crossed lanes a couple car lengths in front of me… and then proceeded to do a full 360 spin in my lane, and then slid down the (very steep) embankment. 

I swear it looked like a special effect straight out of a Final Destination movie. I held my breath, told myself not to brake, braced for impact and… somehow we missed each other. By how much I’ll never know, unless someone else has dashcam video of it. It was not by much!

Since the cops were not even a half mile up the road attending to the other accident, and it didn’t seem wise to stop, I kept driving. And I actually made it to work on time. 

Though, to be honest, I was pretty useless for the first hour or so: my hands were shaking like crazy and I couldn’t concentrate because holy carp, I came within a couple of seconds of nearly dying…

Anyway, that’s the kind of day I had. How was yours? 

The 2023 Volunteer Model is the Croi Damsha/Connemara – a mold I did have on my list of possible candidates – in Red Bay and Sunburnt Black Snowcap Appaloosa: 

They’re holding back the third color until BreyerFest, presumably to leave us something to speculate about. 

Everyone’s first instinct is to think that the third color Chevaliere will come in will be a Decorator, but I’m more inclined to believe it’s going to be a Dilute or some other base color modifier like Dun, Pearl, Roan or Gray. 

While I wouldn’t rule it out (especially a Translucent release – surely there must be a few leftover bodies from the Christmas Spice Drop release hanging around the warehouse somewhere?), it’s been a while since they’ve done a pure Decorator color for the Volunteer Models.

What’s unusual about Chevaliere isn’t the fact that it’s an Appaloosa – they’ve already done the Connemara mold in Dun Blanket Appaloosa, for the 2018 Collector’s Club Special Run Starlet – but that they went with a Snowcap Appaloosa pattern.

Breyer has done a lot of Appaloosas over the years, but most of them have been fairly conventional: Leopards, Semi-Leopards, and Blanket Appaloosas. Few Spots, Varnish Roans, Snowflake and Snowcap Appaloosa releases are much fewer and further between.

Some of it is a reflection of real-world tastes and biases: many horse people have a surprisingly narrow definition of what an Appaloosa should look like, and it usually involves lots of spots. 

And I know from personal experience that some patterns are simply harder to render than others: I will not regale you with all my failed attempts to paint the Snowflake Appaloosa of my dreams. (Will my Few Spot Standing Stock Horse Foal turn out any better? LOL, probably not!)

I’m not sure when the application for volunteering goes up – presumably pretty darn soon? – and I know they need a bunch of people this year, so I encourage anyone who’s curious about it to give it a shot. Heck, I’d do it just for a tee-shirt and a sandwich, but y’all know I’m a lifer…

And don’t worry if you’re not famous, not an expert at anything, or have even been to BreyerFest before. There’s a place for everybody – even (believe it or not) people who aren’t big on crowds! Everybody can contribute something, even if all it is is a cheerful face and a willingness to be helpful.

That’s it for today; I now need to go to bed and stare into the void for a while. I think I deserve it. 

Brown Beauties

I made more progress on my project than I thought I would, but I’m still not going on that cross-state road trip. I just can’t spare the seven hours of driving (round trip) that it would take out of my weekend. That’s time better spend doing a lot of more important things, like thinning my overgrown bed of irises or cleaning the office. 

(Anyone need some free irises? Seems like a shame to throw all those rhizomes in the burn pile!)

It doesn’t sound like I would have gotten any bargains at the event anyway. Theoretically I could imagine scoring some undervalued or misidentified variations like I legendarily do at BreyerFest. Recent experience has taught me that my poker face isn’t as good as I think it is though, so I’ll just have to let the notion go. 

I have nothing else particularly interesting or important to say today: I have to save that energy for the paying gigs. I did recently unbox a few things – technically for the live show a couple weeks back, but I had been meaning to set them free eventually anyway: 

Ah, the joy of simple, solid colors! I really do think the Sable Island Pony release features the Croi Damsha’s best color to date, though her Sooty Palomino BreyerFest 2015 release Chanel is a very, very close second. 

And the color on the 2003 Walmart Man o’ War is just luscious: I believe he’s the only one of the three shown here that actually placed. It’s one of those rare colors that makes just about any mold look its best, you know? More of that, please! 

Our Beanie Babies Phase

Guess who overslept today? 

It’s pretty sad when you roll over, see that it’s 11:08 a.m., and realize that no matter what mold or colors they were, the Christmas Day Special was probably already sold out. By the time I sauntered over to the computer, I was not wrong. 

Fortunately it was the Croi, after all, and in some… interesting color selections. I suppose after everything is delivered and the people who bought them for the possibility of a Coal decide to unload their “losing tickets” I might pick up a Spice Drop or two. I rather like the Red and Green ones: they look like the delightfully tacky kind of things Liberace would decorate his piano with for Christmas.  

But I am in no hurry.

Regardless of what the rest of the collectibles world is experiencing, it really does feel we’ve entered our Beanie Babies period. HBO Max just released a pretty illuminating documentary about the Beanie Babies fad a couple of days ago, in fact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lyUdABSHhs

(The more observant among us will probably notice the Breyers in the background of the gift shop/toy store around the 15 second mark of the trailer.)

I’m a bit of a documentary geek, so of course I was going to watch it, but boy howdy was that uncomfortable: there were several points where I felt extremely seen. 

I’ve spent most of my life surrounded by antiques and collectibles, and became all too aware of the fickle nature of the market very early on. It’s also why I established pretty low spending limits for myself from the get-go, and I haven’t altered them much in the intervening years. It’s very easy to lose yourself – and a lot of money – in the process, if you don’t.

As it is, this frees me up to finally buy the Jols and Christmas Candy Zebras I’ve been putting off because I’ve been too busy chasing all the other stuff that’s been thrown at us, mostly without success. If it had been the Fell Pony as I feared, I’d be a lot less sanguine about the whole thing, but I suppose if there had to be a year where I accidentally slept in, this would be it.

(For the record, I was up most of the night working on my inventory paperwork. Crossing my fingers that I’ll actually be able to file my taxes early next year.) 

Purple, Blue, Yellow

Back to work – and a “normal” sleep schedule – tomorrow. I certainly don’t lack for more things to do, but I found myself watching carpet cleaning videos last night, so it’s probably about time to go back to the real world. 

I did find a Blind Bag Unicorn Croi yesterday – on sale, even! – but it’s just the purple one. That’s fine, because I was sincerely doubting I’d find any of the Crois at all, because these people are vultures around here, I swear:

The rest of the series – except for the Chase pieces, because that’s not happening – I’ll pick up later from the enterprising souls who purchased entire boxes. Groping blind bags in farm stores has lost its appeal, especially since success in these parts is so slim. 

I have way too little time in my life to be running around half of Michigan looking for “rare” Stablemates. In fact, it sounds more like work than anything else. No thanks!

I was moderately amused by the “Best Holiday Shopping Spots for Breyer Fans” e-mail that Reeves sent out a few days ago; just going by this e-mail alone, you’d conclude that I lived in a vast wasteland with no Breyers within our borders. I can assure you that is most definitely not the case. I can handpick almost anything I want within an hour’s drive except (of course) the accursed blind bag Stablemates. 

In other news, I did get the Copenhagen Brighty, fancy that:

And the Yellow Mount Mini Me is the no-spot variation:

I had no preference on either of these: they were all equally “rare” anyway, and I have no illusions about completing my sets, regardless. (Flipping the negative on theYellow Mount box was a nice touch, by the way!)

I am glad, though, that aside from the Chalky variation, I’m pretty much “full up” on my Traditional Yellow Mounts. Vintage Club releases tend to boost the aftermarket prices of their respective molds and inspirations (good gravy, have you seen the prices for absolutely ordinary Brighties nowadays?) 

What’s funny is that up until a few years ago, I didn’t have any Yellow Mounts, at all. I had had several over the years, but they were all either subpar or just not what I was looking for. 

Aside from the Chalky variation, I think all I really need now is a better no-spot variation and one with a dorsal stripe. A Presentation piece would be nice, too, but it’s rare enough to not be a must have.   

More Ponies, More Problems

Sorry about my unexpected absence; it looks like I’ll be working Sundays through most of November, so my posting schedule is going to get really, really weird for the next month or so. 

I can’t argue about the money, though. And with the extra money comes extra ponies. 

First up, I’ve finally managed to go to a couple different Tractor Supply Stores and now I’ve seen all the Special Runs, except for the Blind Bags that I am going to pretend don’t even really exist, because I don’t think I’ll ever see them in the wild. 

I was actually quite tempted by the Christmas Horse Artic Grandeur; color-wise, he reminded me quite a bit of the BreyerFest Raffle Model North Star. But I haven’t made it a habit of buying the Christmas Horses – even the ones I really like, like Winter Wonderland – so I may pass on him just because, unless there happens to be any leftover on clearance after the holidays. 

Which is unlikely, but you know.

I did secure all three of the new Unicorn Foal Surprise sets, which I am sure are either an open stock end-of-year Store Special, or an early release for next year. Doesn’t matter to me, I just think they’re pretty and I wanted them. I think my favorite set is the one with the Prince Charming in it: the mold looks wonderful in Pearly Lavender:

The Mini Carrick in this set is also very nicely shaded, though I do wonder what’s up with issuing him in umpteen shades of blue. Don’t get me wrong, I love blue, but cripes….

I also purchased a Diadem and Alcor:

I’ve had a couple of Sucesion and LeFire sets, but none currently, but for some reason I found this set particularly appealing. It also reminds me that I probably should light a fire under my behind and get some craft projects done; I have a Grazing Mare and Foal in my body box that I need to “unicornize” eventually. 

Some of those Canadian Walmart Blind Bags are also on my way; I have no illusions that I’ll be able to score any of the chase pieces to complete my set, but I figure they’ll be scarce enough that the inevitable duplicates shouldn’t be difficult to sell off, whenever I’m able to find the time to actually sell things again.

But not too scarce: this is/was a planned Walmart Special Run item, and Walmart never buys small. They will be scarcer than other Walmart Special Run Stablemates in comparison, though, since there will not be any subsequent reorders or restocks. 

And finally, here’s my Dahlia:

I figured I’d be getting the Champagne. I don’t get Glosses, so the Pintaloosa was out. I don’t usually get the Blue one, when Blue is an option, so the Ocean Blue was out. From the ones I had seen online, I had decided that Chestnut Splash was my favorite of the four: not every mold looks good in Splash (see Troubadour) but the Connemara Pony is definitely one of them. 

All that being said, this is the first official Breyer “Champagne” that I’ve found convincing; all of the others have been too peachy-pink for my tastes. 

Yes, No, and Maybe

While I thought his initial paint job was fabulous, last year’s Premier Club release of Vermeer, the Friesian Sporthorse, left me a little… meh. Fraley’s sculpts are definitely hit or miss with me, and while there were some elements to the mold that I really liked – his mane, those windblown feathers, the wrinkles on his neck – he didn’t strike me as a mold I’d sell off other molds to collect.

The BreyerFest Special Run Seurat might make me change my mind. That’s a real pretty color on him, reminiscent of the sooty palomino that made me fall in love with the 2015 Special Run Chanel, on the Croi Damsha/Connemara mold.

The production pieces for Chanel differed significantly from the original promo photographs – much to our delight, since those photos made her look kind of bright and orangey. 

So while I already have some favorite picked out – among the revealed, and unrevealed – this particular item is one that I’d be most curious to see in person.

The fact that he’s named after one of my favorite painters, Georges Seurat, doesn’t hurt either. I’d rather the name be used on a leopard appaloosa of some sort, but the new Celebration Horse/Former Guest Horse probably put a kibosh on that idea. 

But if we’re going with Horses and Art History, it’s Franz Marc that owns my heart. While others dream of vintage Wedgewoods and Copenhagens, when it comes to blue horses, that particular painting is the grail I seek. A Franz Marc-inspired BreyerFest Special Run would be a very distant but still acceptable second choice.

On the other Special Run announcement, however, I’m going full contrarian here and giving it a hard NO: I’m sorry, I don’t care how detailed the paint job is or how closely they’ve tied it to the theme, using the Spanish Fighting Bull for the FOURTH time – when many Nonhorse molds have had, at most, a single BreyerFest release – is something I simply can’t get past. 

In a theme devoted to artistic inspirations, it strikes me as a downright uninspired choice.

(BTW, thanks guys, now I’m spending all my spare time planning a Wyoming Road Trip itinerary. For the record, though, the “Redneck Roadtrip Redo” I mulled over last year is probably more likely. We will see.)

Disappearing Acts

We had all manner of pets as kids – cats, dogs, fish, birds and even a snake, at one point – but Mom drew the line at anything rodent or rodent-like. (Not quite sure how Dad persuaded her to let us have the garter snake, but ooh boy, that’s a story!) 

So you know, if you had told me even five years ago that Reeves would make a rat-covered horse for Halloween and that I would love it, I would have been skeptical. But here we are:

And in a Primitive Bay, too! If I ever get around to finishing that Mesteno custom I’ve tinkered with for the better part of a year, that’s precisely the color I will attempt on it. 

(Not likely, but a girl can dream.)

I ordered only one of the Spooky Stablemates because I didn’t want to deal with the possibility of getting two of the same model like I did last time. I have enough stuff to sell as it is, no need to potentially add another to the pile.

They also came with that new 8-piece Deluxe Stablemates Set that’s already discontinued, because the sets I found at local hobby shops were not to my liking. I took a chance on getting a better set off the web site, and it appears to have actually worked out for me this time. 

This is a relief, because I fear it’s going to be a scarce item in a couple of years. Originally I was going to save it for the Customer Appreciation Sale, but I didn’t want to take the chance that it may/will be out of stock by then.

Speaking of things disappearing quickly, I know some people are surprised that the Sable Island Horse release on the Croi/Connemara mold is also already on the Retired/Discontinued List. 

The fact of the matter is, no matter how beautifully rendered it may be, Matte Solid Bays are not that exciting to most people, whether they are hobbyists, general consumers, or live-horse people.

Hobbyists may complain about the lack of solidly-colored releases, but unless they’re portrait models or otherwise tied-in with a special promotion like a Gambler’s Choice, they just don’t sell as well as Glossies, Pintos, Appaloosas and (most) Decorators. 

So if you love it and want it, go out and get one now, before everyone else realizes they need it too. I’ve already bought way too much stuff this year and I’ll probably regret on passing on it, myself. 

But I seriously need to make about 50-100 or so more models disappear here before that can happen.

2020 One Days

I have way too much to do today to spend too much time with you guys today (it’s still April, right?) but the One-Day Stablemate Skye did me in yesterday:

You could put that Gloss Black Silver paint job on anything, and I’d buy it. Yeah, the mini Croi Damsha Arran is pretty great too, but that was a given:

And excellent, a Roan! I am always up for a nice Roan – either the realistic variety, or those funky Freckle Roans that debuted in 1968 on the Running Stallion. Man, when teenaged me found out that Breyer had painted Roans – they were discontinued about the same time I started collecting – I became a little obsessed.

It would be a few years before I even saw a Breyer Red Roan person though, because the hobby was almost entirely “virtual” for most of us back in the Dark Ages. Everything was done by mail, occasionally by phone, and news was transmitted only on a monthly (or bi-monthly) basis via mimeographed newsletters worth their weight in gold. You were lucky to get photographs of anything before you bought it.

When I finally did get a Red Roan it wasn’t what I expected but I fell in love, anyway.

(The 1980 Special Run Running Mare. I no longer own it. Long story.)

Back to Skye for a moment.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have reason to believe – but no concrete evidence yet – that Breyer’s Charcoal paint job was probably inspired by a black and white photograph of a Black Silver in an equine periodical, back when the genetics of horse colors were a little less well researched and the names of some colors had yet to be more clearly defined in equine circles.

I hope Reeves is planning on upping their production counts on the One-Day Stablemates, because I have a feeling that a lot of hobbyists are going to go for the “four-pack” option, since it appears to come with most the benefits of the standard Celebration Horse Ticket package, sans the SR Ticket and Celebration Horse.

I also hope they go on sale at a time when I actually have access to a device to purchase them on. 

And finally, as to whether or not I still believe the Surprise Model is Croi: I’m still not ruling it out, especially since the “no duplicates” rule got tossed out the window last year when the Standing/Clock Saddlebred was used for both the Early Bird and a Tent Ticket Special Run.

Overwhelming, Part Two: The Predicting

I was going to get all fancy with this post and pull out the big words and the big thoughts, but I seem to be coming down with something and all I want to do at this point is eat a bowl of ice cream and go to bed.

So here’s a few relatively unorganized predictions for BreyerFest next year. The usual caveats apply: these are just predictions. I have no special insights or actual intel into what’s actually happening next year, but as you may have seen (sometimes in real time!) I apparently do have some inkling of how they think at Breyer HQ. Which freaks me out as much as you guys, guys.

(Though I was genuinely shocked to discover that many hobbyists did not even have the Moody Andalusian on their radar for this year’s Surprise. That one seemed… pretty obvious?)

The “Celtic Fling” theme is broad enough to include most breeds originating in the vicinity of the British Isles, but for all practical purposes most people are going to interpret it as “Irish”. This is a darn shame but there’s nothing I can do to change public opinion, especially as a decidedly non-Gaelic person. I just hope that – as has been the case in some themes previous – that stereotypes are not necessarily given the nod when various prizes and awards are handed out.

Breeds that immediately come to mind: most of the ponies that occupy/originate in that part of the world, Gypsy Vanners/Drum Horses, Irish Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds.

Possible Special Run molds: Croi Damsha, Brishen/Gypsy Vanner. Rhian & Cadell, True North, Bristol, Cantering Welsh Pony, Bouncer, Fell Pony Emma, Newsworthy, the Show Jumping Warmblood, and just for kicks and giggles, the Bluegrass Bandit.

There is a slight possibility that there might be an Othello, but not as a Surprise. A Decorator, maybe….

Celebration Horse: The Croi or the Brishen are most likely, absent any other evidence.

Surprise Model: See Celebration Horse. I prefer the Brishen because it comes with multiple mane and tail options, and isn’t so popular that it’ll cause an epic hobby meltdown. I also think Bluegrass Bandit is a possibility because it’s come in Translucent before, and hasn’t had so many releases that all the color combos have been exhausted. And there is always one mold that makes us go really, now?

Decorator(s): There are lots of options here. Something Book of Kells-themed? Fairies? Kelpies? Or something stereotypically green, with shamrocks et al? (Experience has told me, alas, that when in doubt, the stereotype usually wins out.)

Something Gold Charm is also not out of the question – as a reference to Celtic/Fairy/Leprechaun (ugh) Gold. I could also see this as part of a Surprise-Surprise (see below).

Nonhorse: I’d be happy with almost anything except another Bull, except for the #365 Black Angus Bull in something different or daring because it’s time, dangnabit. I’d rather it be an Irish Donkey on the old Standing Donkey mold, but I am probably dreaming at this point. (Would make an excellent Pop-Up Store item. Just sayin’.)

Surprise-Surprises: Next year is another anniversary – Breyer’s 70th, as they count it – and I doubt they will let that fact go completely unrecognized. I am unsure they want to pull the same stunt they did this year with the bazillion Micro Run variations, but I wouldn’t rule out a Golden Charm-type Surprise of that nature, either.

But that’s also why I think it’s more likely they’ll honor the anniversary with a Vintage mold or two, either as a Tent or a Pop-Up Special Run. Right now my money is on the Cantering Welsh Pony, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see something like the Bell-bottomed Shire, Running Mare, or even the Jumping Horse. (Or, as I mentioned above, the Donkey.)

One-Day Stablemates: I have no idea, but names from myth and legend wouldn’t be unexpected – like Morrigan, Boudicca, Danu, Epona, etc. (Hmm. Maybe they can slip the G1 molds in here as their Vintage tribute? That would be fun, she says only slightly sarcastically…)

Random Thoughts: other things that might be worked into the theme include whiskey, golf, minstrels and bards, Saint Patrick, and my favorite (of course!) – something referencing the cult classic movie Highlander.

And for something completely offbeat: Special Run Wind Dancers. Because fairies. More likely: the Wind Dancer Plush, for the Pop-Up Store Plushie.

I could go on with some suggestions and improvements to the event itself, but as there has been a ton of news, new releases and whatnot in the past week, I’ll leave that on the table for another time.

(Yes, I saw THAT thing on eBay. I have thoughts, and feelings.)

Brambling

Well, that didn’t last long – another potential financial setback yesterday that puts a sudden damper on my plastic equine hopes and dreams. Like that reverse dapple blue roan Web Special Croi Damsha “Bramble” that looks like it was engineered out of the same stuff my “little girl and magical flying dream horse” fantasies were made from:

Bramble is not what I would have ordered if I ever “won” the opportunity to Design a Test Color, but I wouldn’t have crossed it off my preliminary/brainstorming list, either.

It will be interesting to see if they can pull off such a challenging color on a production piece. They have had mixed results in the past; some of the Connoisseur Flash Reverse Polarities looked awesome, for instance, but others looked like not-passable attempts to do a Leopard-themed Decorator.

The “Berry Pony” concept is not something anyone had on their radar – most guesses centered around gemstones, or Norse Gods and other pantheons. I also thought that maybe, in honor of the Rio Olympics, that they might have gone with something Olympic-themed – either by country, or by discipline.

I guess the “Pony” part shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise: Reeves has spent some time in the past few years building up their stable of Pony molds, including the Traditionals Newsworthy, Bouncer, the new Fell Pony, and the Classic Haflinger/New Forest Pony Mare and Foal. I am all for more and better ponies!

(Speaking of which, is a new Shetland Pony mold in the pipeline yet, Reeves? Something cute, fuzzy, and a little surly? Please?)

The Collector Club Exclusive Abdul, a Flaxen Chestnut Tobiano on the Ashquar mold, has also been taken off the table. I was a little less enthused about him anyway. It’s not the mold or the pose – I’ve seen lots of pictures of Arabian Stallions “feeling their oats”, so to speak, so I have no problems with a mold doing the same.

I’m just not that crazy about him in pinto; solid colors seem to do much more to enhance his unique silhouette.

At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. I am also annoyed that they went with pinto for the CC Special – again. Spotted releases sell better than solids, which is likely why they did it, but remember how pretty the Ashquar mold was in Gloss Bay last year, as Ganache?

He didn’t sell out at BreyerFest, but he did not long after the leftovers were put up on the web site. So while he was not everyone’s first choice, he was a lot of people’s second. Something interesting to ponder there, I think...

Gotta get to be early tonight – I have to work early, and I have a sinus headache that probably needs more sleep than medication to fix.

Oh, and the box with the horse I bought came today: the box was very small, and very stinky. Methinks I’ll be talking about this model sooner, rather than later, and about a topic or two only vaguely related to the reason why I bought him in the first place.

Vanilla, Valegro and Emma

I’ve been casually recompiling my want list – on a notepad next to the keyboard – and I was struck the other day at how random it was. AA Omner and the Black Pinto Picture Perfect Clyde Mare. The Black Stallion “Majestic Arabian” and the Bay Western Prancer “Prince”. Flim Flam and Galiceno Ponies.

Old and new, fancy and plain, “showable” and not. Those sorts of things.

Since most of my spare cash needs to be allocated elsewhere right now, it makes sense that I’m being drawn to what are, for the most part, cheaper and more readily available models. We all need a “horse fix” every once and a while, all the better if it happens to be inexpensive and easily obtainable!

We get so caught up in the models of the moment – this week, the Silver Filigree Croi Damsha Sugarloaf – that we sometimes miss the beauty in older or more common pieces. The ones that end up littering sales lists and eBay, begging for takers.

This is just a roundabout way of saying that I’m skipping out on the Sugarloaf drawing. She’s lovely, but there will be more new lovelies coming in the near future – including the new Fell Pony Carltonlima Emma, who’ll probably be one of my 2016 obsessions. She is being shipped and sold in the UK first, like Valegro and Banks Vanilla.

Pictures of in-hand models here:

http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/valegro-emma-vanilla-in-flesh.html?m=1

So cute, so little, so fluffy! She’s like a jazzed up, modern take on the Haflinger Pony, whom she is just a tad bit smaller than.

Banks Vanilla is the first Regular Run release of the Croi Damsha mold, in Matte Alabaster: all three previous Production Runs were Club-limited or Special Runs. Though search engines queries for that one are going to be rather frustrating, and possibly dangerous to your New Year’s-related weight loss resolutions. (If ever there was reason for an ice cream cross-promotion, this model is it!)

I find the Banks Vanilla is very appealing, by the way; I know a lot of people are complaining that the paint job is “too plain”. But I like how it hearkens back to the soft Matte Alabaster paint jobs of the 1970s.

Frankly, I’d like to see more plainer paint jobs than the fancier ones, if only because there’s less room for error, and more room for variation. I also think the sculpting on the mold is strong enough that a lot of shading is more of a bonus than a necessity.

As is the case in every other new release, it’s wisest to wait and see before passing final judgment.

Sugarloaf and the Gray Areas

When I heard that the Christmas Silver Filigree might have been leaked on eBay, and that its name was Sugarloaf, this is the first thing that came to my mind:

http://www.heyquilty.com/blogs/?p=789

A nineteenth century quilt block pattern! (You know, I do have a bit of leftover “Silver Filigree” fabric I made for my BreyerFest hat last year, hmmm.)

Anyway, it was getting to that time of year where we speculate about the year-end special runs Reeves dumps on us, including the Silver Filigree. Although there’s a possibility that this “Sugarloaf” might be a rejected concept, it fits all of the usual parameters: it’s a relatively popular and very new mold with big hair.

(The Icelandic is a possibility, too, but with mold’s release as the Flagship Special Elska, it seems a little less likely.)

There’s been some discussion about the ethics of buying models like these (the vendor also has a translucent lavender Traditional Running Mare) that appear to be prototypes/samples of models yet to be.

It’s one thing to buy prototypes/samples of models that already exist or have (at least) been announced; models that clearly appear to be of things yet to be … are out of my personal comfort zone.

I’ve bought things of questionable provenance – both intentionally, and unintentionally. I bought several models from the notorious “newtoymens” dealer on eBay (though none of the super-pricey ones: out of my league entirely there) and I also purchased the Sample of the Pottery Barn Kennebec Count.

One of my rationales for buying them was that at least they were being sold after-the-fact: they weren’t revealing any special secrets or upcoming releases. While there were rumors of where these models were coming from, there had been no official confirmation, either.

The Kennebec Count was a liminal case: rumors had been going around that the Special had been planned, but canceled; a short time after the Sample appeared on eBay, it was officially released.

Everyone’s comfort zones in these ethical gray areas are different – and not necessarily wrong. We’re not really sure what the situation is at the factories in China that are allowing these pieces to come to market. They could have been gifts or compensation of some sort. And what constitutes ethical behavior in China – especially regarding knockoffs and antiquities – is another issue entirely.

There’s also the possibility that Reeves has already given the security issue some thought, and determined that either the positives (publicity) outweigh the negatives (element of surprise). Since it’s also something that happens with other toys and collectibles manufacturers there, they might have considered this risk a part of doing business in that part of the world.

That’s all speculation: I don’t know.

All I do know is that I’m more excited at the possibility of Traditional scale Horse Crazy release (which is what I’m assuming the Running Mare thingie is/might be) than the Sugarloaf, oddly enough.

I'm all for more Silver Filigrees, but how long has it been since we’ve had a Traditional Translucent production run, anyway? It feels like forever. The entire Running “family” would be wonderful candidates for that kind of treatment.

Eye Candy

All too often lately I’ve found myself shaking my head at the endless litany of complaints online about each and every Breyer release, sometimes extending all the way down to the selection of the name. While I’ve done my share of complaining (and how!) I’d like to take this evening to focus on something that Reeves got better than right.

The biggest surprise in the Special Run lineup at BreyerFest this year was not the Surprise Special Run itself – I can’t speak for the rest of you (especially the Silver- and Othello-obsessed) but the Lonesome Glory mold was on my radar as an outside possibility.

No, what blew my mind was Chanel. The photo on the web site showed Chanel’s color hinted that was more in line with the color we saw on the 2013 Celebration Horse Smart and Shiney: bright, golden, almost Family Arabian-ish. In many ways, the photograph looked like a modern reinterpretation of the Palomino Family Arabian Stallion.

What we saw at the Thursday night preview looked almost nothing like the promotional photo used on the web site:

Sooty palomino with pronounced dappling, body shading, gray highlighted mane and tail, and tons of Oh. My. Goodness! I had no idea that this would be an almost textbook case of that hobby truism: Never judge a Breyer release by its promotional photo!

I had been a little on the fence about her based on the web site photo; I liked her a lot, but didn’t love-love her.  As is usually the case with these things. I figured she’d be better in person.

I had no idea she’d be that much better. Now THAT’S how Dappled Sooty Palomino is done, people! I’m have a hard time trying to not imagine that color on almost everything.

That’s all for tonight, folks. I’ll be trying to finish up some old, old business over my extended weekend off, and I need to make the most of every minute of it.