The Entropy of the Season

Not dead, but a rough week nonetheless.

Whatever was in my eye is no longer in it, but the eye doctor diagnosed me with something else that may require a second opinion.

(I’d rather not talk about it right now, except to say that I ended up having a panic attack in the examination room.)

But dealing with that potential problem will have to wait at least a week, as I have literally DONE NOTHING FOR NEXT WEEK’S LIVE SHOW YET. So my weekend will largely consist of me slapdashing my showstring together.

For funsies I might do some quilt prep too, because it’s that time of the year and I derive some small pleasure basting things together. (My small, valiant effort to battle the entropy inherent in the season, I guess.)

I did buy a Maelstrom from the Halloween Sale, because after the week I had, I deserved a Metallic Green Desatado that Glows in the Dark. I threw in a couple of Spooky Surprise Blind Bag Stablemates, even though I know there’s a high likelihood of me getting two identical ones and I’m in no mood to negotiate trades. I’ll just throw the inevitable duplicate in the sales pile and call it a day.

(Bleh.)

On a more cheerful note, I am oddly more optimistic about Breyer’s chances at the Toy Hall of Fame this year. It was pretty weird to have nonhobby people asking me if I had heard the news about Breyer being nominated!

I went online and saw that Breyer was actually called out by name – and even featured in the title! – of several stories about the nominees this week. We didn’t quite get the same treatment last year, which leads me to think that the news people and/or museum publicists think that we’re a stronger contender?

It’s interesting that the announcement of this year’s winners will occur on November 10th, the day before the Ponies & Palm Trees Exclusive Event in Florida. It’ll make for an interesting (and possibly more drunken?) weekend if it does happen…

(FYI: Stay away from the Absinthe, guys!)

Winning

Let’s start off on a happy note: some the nasturtiums I planted a few weeks ago have sprouted! I was fearful that the chipmunks had dug up and eaten all the seeds, but it appears that some were spared. 

The seeds were an accidental gift (a mistake in my order) so I didn’t have anything invested in them emotionally or financially, but it’s still a happy and welcome surprise. The last time I attempted to plant nasturtiums (several years ago) those blasted chipmunks didn’t save me a single seed! 

I had another emotionally rough day here yesterday (and I am considering therapy for it, not gonna lie) but I did, at least, finish unpacking the car. (That shoebox of Stablemates is staying right where it is, though.) Here’s a group shot of my winners:

To recap: the Misty (Marigold) won Sectional and Division, the Thornycroft (Presto) Sectional Reserve (as a Spanish Mustang), and the Gloss Liver Chestnut Ginger Horse Smart Chic Olena (Forty Winks) won a very competitive Quarter Horse Stallion class. My fourth NAN card of the day came from my Stablemates G1 Bay Arabian Stallion (Trajan) who is still packed in the shoebox.

The Misty has NANed in both Collectibility and Breed before, incidentally. I think the Arabian has NANed in Breed, too, but I am not 100 percent certain and I would have to look up the particulars to be sure. (Not that it matters to me, since I don’t do NAN for lots of reasons. I am all about the ribbons!)

Winning a ribbon in any class is a thrill, but to do it in a very competitive class like Quarter Horse Stallions almost feels like more of an accomplishment than winning Sectionals in smaller, slightly less crowded Sections. (Though I’ll still take whatever I can get!)

Originally I was going to bring my Matte version, because I like him better personally, but Glosses tend to show better and my example really does have excellent dappling. 

Glad I did, since most of my other Stock breeds didn’t do a darn thing. Even the ones who had done alright in the past two shows. The mysteries of live showing, alas…

No more live shows or model horse-related road trips until after BreyerFest. It looks like I’ll have to skip that big estate sale on the other side of the state next week because of other commitments, unfortunately. I was not going to buy, just observe, but even that is a stretch with my schedule now.

Brown Breyer Horse Day

It was Brown Breyer Horse Day at my house on Friday. First up, my Surprise:

When I saw the solid Strawberry Roans popping up (aka “the boring one”), I had a suspicion that’d be the one I would get. The only question was whether I’d be getting Gloss or Matte, and it looks like me getting a Gloss last year was merely a glitch in The Matrix. 

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like him and will probably be keeping him (I don’t have any other Dundee molds yet, and I love roans in general), but I’d prefer if my Surprises were actually surprises more often. 

The Universe is pretty insistent on reminding me that I am not special, just weird. 

My Seurat is quite lovely in person – his dapples are subtle and well done – but like last year’s Thorn, I was bummed to find out that he was the Gloss/Matte Split model. It just annoys me to heck that models some hobbyists don’t care about at all sudden become ultra-desirable when they spray gloss on them. Can’t y’all just leave those models for people who like the mold on its own merits?

(A little more on that topic later.)

And also, now that I have one in person, I like the mold a lot more than I thought I would. But the existence of a Gloss variation creates problems. I suspect that, being a newer mold, he’ll be even harder to acquire than the Gloss Thorn was. If I do decide to buy another example of this mold in the near future, it’s probably either going to be the original Vermeer, or another release entirely – coming soon, no doubt.

And finally, another surprise that’s not really a surprise, the Volunteer Model:

He arrived in a slightly terrifying-looking box, but fortunately the miles of bubble wrap he came in saved him. He is not entirely surprising because (a) I was expecting the Desatado mold to show up at BreyerFest in some way, though I thought it’d be as the Surprise Model, and (b) he’s a Rabicano. More than half of the Volunteer Models I’ve received have been some variation of Roan, and even though Rabicanos aren’t genotypically Roans, phenotypically they’re pretty close.  

All that being said, he’s very pretty in person and definitely not going anywhere. Coincidentally, during my BreyerFest shopping trip I almost bought a Lightning Ridge that happened to catch my eye. I ended up selling the first one I bought, but this second one had little turquoise blue socks that I found rather charming. I might end up back at that store for an event at the end of the month, and if he’s still there he might come home with me. 

After some interesting developments at work this week, attending that event seems increasingly remote, though. (I should know by the end of this week. I think.)

Nothing else has arrived. I’ll reserve further talk about the shipping situation until a later date, especially since everyone has a pretty firm and unpersuadable opinion of what’s going on anyway. I’d rather wait until we had more actual information to assess the situation, rather than participate in the increasingly dark-sided online hearsay.

In other words: your move, Reeves. (My opinion to them that they are free to take or leave: being blunt and completely honest is usually the only way to extricate yourself from a difficult position.)

As for the Surprise Decorator development with the remaining BreyerFest Special Runs, I have mixed feelings. I think this is probably the only scenario where they could have executed this successfully. And by successfully, I mean people buying Special Runs because of what they were advertised as, rather than as vehicles for potentially rare variations that lead to money-making opportunities. 

(I say “potentially” because even that, at this point, is a matter of speculation.)

The flip side of this is, of course, the fact that I never get those kinds of rarities, and knowing that even more unobtainables are out there is never not a bummer, especially when it involves things you already liked.

2018 TSC Roundup

Briefly stopped by the local Tractor Supply earlier this week, and got a good look at all the 2018 Special Runs: the Jasper, the Boone, and the Classics Mustang set featuring the Charging Mesteno and the Frolicking Foal.

The Jasper (Desatado) was very nice, but still didn’t impress me enough to buy one. I don’t think Glossiness or Chalkiness would have changed my opinion: it’s the mold, not the color.

I liked the Boone (Cody) more than I thought I would: the color was softer and lighter than I imagined – almost a Perlino Dun – and I liked the Pinto masking on him better than on his big brother Salpicado. They did a very rough-edged style of masking on the Salpicado that I assume was an attempt to simulate the feathery edges you see on some sabinos, but I don’t think it was entirely successful.

The Mustang set intrigues me. The Charging Mesteno mold hasn’t seen much use at all – I think the last time we saw him was nearly ten years ago, on one of the Walmart Mustang sets – and I honestly don’t know why he has been so scarce since.

I can kind of understand why the lumpy-bumpy “Old Man” Mesteno hasn’t been put back into production since his initial release in 1996, but the only thing I could see being an impediment for the Charging Mesteno mold is, like the Nokota Horse, the size and shape of the mold might make it difficult to package him?

I do like his color; it’s very similar to (though not the same as) the Balking Mule Test Color that appeared in my dreams early this week. I also love that they used the Snowcap Appaloosa pattern on the Frolicking Foal: you know me and my fondness for the “less attractive” Appaloosas!

Though I was surprised – and quite pleased – that the Few Spot True North was the second highest moneymaker at the BreyerFest benefit auction this year. It’s reassuring to know that my tastes aren’t quite as “out there” as I assumed, and that the auction results may improve the odds of a more available/affordable release in the future.

There was also another Django in their latest batch of Mystery Stablemates at this TSC too, but since I’m having a hard time selling stuff I already have in the stash, I didn’t feel like I could justify bringing home another to resell. I’ll let someone else have the job of that surprise.

I didn’t bring anybody else home either. The usual excuses: time and money.

Interesting Failures vs. Boring Successes

I like Bogeyman, but I don’t know if I love him yet:

It doesn’t help that I took my car in for a little deferred maintenance and found out that the repairs are going to be a little more expensive than I anticipated. (A part that normally never breaks, broke. Michigan roads!) So there is no fun-money in the budget for little things like Bogeyman.

Heck, I had to walk away from a stack of Nevermores earlier this week, and I just about had a panic attack over that one, because that one really does tickle my fancy. (Sigh.)

If you did a personality test to determine my likes, dislikes and preferences and designed a Halloween Horse to meet all the criteria, the end result just might be Nevermore. I think the only thing that’s missing is that it doesn’t Glow in the Dark!

But back to Bogeyman.

I think he’ll be neater in person than the photograph lets on – the ad copy hints at a “pearly base” to her color. If they apply it liberally to the drippy parts, I can see it reasonably reproducing the look of slime.

If that is the case, I might just pinch a few pennies and get one after all.

If not, hey, I’ll still give them points for trying something different. I’d rather buy an interesting failure than a boring success.

The Tractor Supply Special Run Traditionals – a Red Dun Pinto Cody named Boone and a Shaded Bay Desatado named Jasper – will also be a pass for me this year, too.

Of the two, I find the Jasper the more intriguing.

Some models are just harder to love than others. For a lot of hobbyists, it’s a structural or anatomical issue that puts a model on their hard-to-love list, but for me it tends to be aesthetic ones.

I’m just not a big fan of the Desatado as a sculpture, so much so that I still haven’t found one to join my herd. All the ones that I have managed to acquire I’ve ended up selling a few weeks or months later.

The only one I’ve really loved? It had to be last year’s Saturday Raffle Model Rana. Of course. Not winning most raffle horses ranges from annoying to mildly or moderately disappointing: not winning Rana actually hurt.

(After the raffle I went back to the Clarion and walked into three successive rooms with occupants who had won Ranas. If there had seen one more Rana, something else would have ended up as hurt or broken as my soul.)

But I have been an absolute sucker for a well-done Bay paint job, something you probably could have guessed from the number of them I brought home with me from BreyerFest this year.

Hmm. Maybe I’ll put it on my Christmas Wish List and let Santa make the call.

A Tale of Two Ranas

I’ve been wanting to add a Desatado to my herd for a while now, but none of the more widely available releases have really clicked with me. The closest I’ve come is with the Web Special Orion in that lovely pearlescent Perlino Dun – one of my favorite colors – but what they’ve been going for is a little bit beyond what my budget allows.

There was an insanely cheap one on eBay about a month ago, but as April was shaping up to be a rough month for me financially (taxes, dentist appointment, a new radio for the car) I had to walk away from it.

Then Reeves surprises us with this beauty earlier this week:

Normally I’ve been skipping the disappointment of the Saturday Raffle to participate in the disappointment of the Costume Contest: effecting a costume change and getting from the Covered Arena to the Alltech Arena in less than an hour is challenging, and my odds of winning the Costume Contest are fractionally better than the Raffle anyway.

But, oh my goodness, this is the Desatado that I’ve been waiting for. In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve wanted a BreyerFest Raffle model as much as I want Rana.

The costume is already well underway, and buying Rana in the aftermarket will not happen, so I don’t quite know what to do.

The funny thing is that another horse named Rana is currently on my want list: the original Breyer #863 Rana, on the Sham mold.

This Rana also features an unusual color on a moderately popular mold: it’s the Traditional Sham, in what’s been described as “Blue Chocolate.” More precisely, it’s Reeves’ early 1990s interpretation of an unusual form of Black Silver that used to occur in Friesians.

(This was roughly the same era that gave us Clayton and the Majestic Arabian: obscure colors on inappropriate molds were a thing then.)

I’ve been wanting one ever since I saw friend’s example that was more Blue than Black. It was very similar, in fact, to the early Stone Horses “Turquoise” color.

The problem I have in acquiring that Rana hasn’t been a matter of cost, but degree: most of the ones I’ve found are more Charcoal Gray than Blue. While they are not unattractive, they are also not the models I want.

Even though I’ve set myself a rather unusual hurdle, it’s still more likely I’ll come home with the Sham rather than the Desatado. But after what happened last year, who knows?

A Different Kind of Cat

The Store Special of Diablo DC, a Matte Light Dapple Gray on the Desatado mold isn’t all that surprising – I think most of us were expecting a Desatado release in the mix somewhere. Reeves refers to the Desatado mold as the “Criollo Horse”, and this year’s event is South American-themed.

I’ve passed on or passed along every Desatado that’s come across my path so far, so I’ll have to wait and see on this one before I make a decision. The Matte Alabaster finish is definitely a plus!

(Scroll down to January 22nd. Discussion of beautiful Raffle Model Cinza will be for another day.)

I was just thinking about what this year’s Nonhorse Special Run could be. While it’s likely to be – yet again – another Bull mold of some sort, I continue to hold out hope that Reeves is thinking outside of the box. Yes, I’m hoping for a different “Big Cat” Special Run for Fest this year: perhaps a Jaguar on the Cougar mold?

The Cougar mold has already been released as a BreyerFest Special Run once before, as part of the 750-piece 2002 Set “Bandit and Kohana”, with the now very, very popular Wolf mold. The Cougar mold has been out of production since 2007, and it’s high time for another release, I say.

The Cougar mold was introduced as part of a couple different Walmart Mesteno-Mustang sets in 2001 – Rufo and Diablo, and Azul and Fausto. It was then released in various shades of tan in subsequent sets, eventually getting its own stand-alone Regular Run in 2005-2006, as #3813.

I’ve had a few Cougars over the years – mostly body quality pieces via box lots and flea markets. I’ve since sold all of them too, partly because they were useless for research purposes: they had no context. I had no idea if I was in the possession of a standard issue Cougar from Set A, B or C, or a variation or oddity.

It exposed a hole in my knowledge and I wasn’t comfortable with that.

It’s something I’d like to rectify eventually, but my budget and timing have been conspiring against me on that. (I heard rumor that a few leftovers of the Bandit and Kohana set were in the Ninja Pit last year. Sigh.)

If Reeves thinks a spotted pattern a little too challenging to execute competently – and with the mold’s small size and textured coat, it may well be – I think many of us would be happy with a basic Black Panther. Pair it up with a Classic Horse and Rider and there you go – a Pantanal Play Set!

Probably won’t happen; a Brahma Bull modified into an Indo-Brazilian Bull, with short horns and droopy ears seems more likely:

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/indobrazilian

The Brahma Bull hasn’t been in production since 2004, when the #385 Red Brahma was discontinued. If they can make the necessary horn and ear adjustments to the mold, and since the ears and horns of the Brahma are separately molded parts, I don’t see that being a big technical or financial hurdle.

This Year's Trip to Chicago

So, that happened, as some of you may have guessed from the previous two posts, and from some of you actually seeing me there (or even gossiping about me as I walked by, at one point. That was weird!)

Anyway, I kept it on the down low mostly because I wanted to treat it as a vacation-vacation, rather than have it turn into the working vacation that BreyerFest has become.

It worked wonderfully as a vacation – the hanging out with friends part, especially – but as a Breyer event, maybe not as much.

There were some great parts (sipping champagne and eating fancy cheeses during the Lipizzan performances, the impromptu “product development” meeting on the Orange Bus, the kindness and generosity of some of my fellow hobbyists) and some not so great parts (being in the back of my Special Run line and getting “Double Desatadoed”, the rushed nature of the Saturday night party, no acknowledgement of how adorable we all were in our party outfits).

The griping about the centerpiece model – a pearly dapple gray Roemer – got to me enough that I had to restrain myself from yelling “If any y’all don’t want him, I’d be happy to take him off your hands.”

Even a model like Roemer has his fans; until that night I had some hopes of completing my collection this year. One of my roommates was lucky enough to win one, so I got to touch/fondle/sniff him, at least.

Ah well, I’ll always have my Bay Pinto Test.

I’ll go into greater detail about the whole thing next week; I’m still trying to sort my feelings out about it. And catch up on my sleep, too.

Cream and Colors Like It

My first reaction to the newest-latest-greatest Web Special "Orion" (on the Desatado mold) was "Ooh, daring!" I have no idea what color it’s supposed to be (Champagne- or Pearl-something? Or just straight up Perlino Dun?) and I kind of like how Reeves didn’t specify, either, leaving it up to our imaginations and mad research skills.

Although Palominos and Buckskins were an early staple of the Breyer line, double dilutes and other more exotically modified colors are a much more recent addition to the color palette. I believe the first official one was on the #906 American Cream Draft "Goliath" in 1995, a model I may or may not have had a hand in creating. (Long story, because of course it is.)

Breyer "Creams" existed before then, but they all started out as Whites or Alabasters and turned that way due to yellowing. (Often, not unrealistically so!) Every time I see a listing on eBay for a "Cream Colored Breyer Horse", it’s almost always an Alabaster who has seen brighter days.

There are a couple of reasons why it took so long for Creams and Colors Like It to show up intentionally.

First and foremost is the technical issue: the visual cues that make these colors distinct were - until recently - difficult to achieve in a production environment with any consistency. Even many actual and aspiring customizers have difficulty capturing the subtle qualities that make a Perlino Dun, an Amber Ivory Champagne, or a Bay Pearl.

Second, there were (and continue to be) prohibitions and biases against certain colors within some breed registries, which in turn influenced what both real- and model-horse people considered acceptable and/or beautiful. While some of these restrictions made sense (some colors simply don’t exist within certain gene pools) others were completely arbitrary. Horses in these "off colors" were not as desirable as horses in more conservative colors. 

Even though we’ve largely overcome those biases in the model horse world (thanks to the many genetics-nerds among us) you can still see some traces of in the general lack of acceptance for pintaloosas, and in discussions about show judging philosophies (i.e. how closely we should hew to those real-world norms and biases).  

Generally, though, we don’t raise as much of a fuss when we’re presented with something different. If we like it, we buy it - and find the necessary documentation later.

Alas, there are still too many horses in the house, and a couple of financial obligations I need to meet first: if my single entry into the drawing for Orion somehow makes it through, I might not be able to follow through.

Delicate Condition

Vita is fine now, BTW. Me, on the other hand …I worked over 17 hours on Thursday. Combined with dealing with the latest big blizzard, and Vita, my still-slightly-fragile health went off the rails again.

It’s nothing serious - it’s more exhaustion than anything else. I’m feeling just a bit more tired, rambly, and a disconnected from reality than I usually am.

I haven’t had a chance to take a personal look-see at the new Flagship horse Aurelius - a Gloss Flaxen Chestnut Desatado - even though I had an opportunity to do so earlier this week. In the pictures I’ve seen so far he looks very pretty and very promising, but I doubt I’ll be getting one.

It’s nothing against the mold or the color, I need to do a little bit of downsizing before I start buying again, outside of the occasional Web Special and Vintage Club stuff. I haven’t had the time to do that because of work getting in the way. (Time will be made, once I get these minor health issues out of the way.)

Pictures of the two BreyerFest Raffle models are now making their way about the Model Horse world, via hobbyists visiting the Breyer booth at the Road to the Horse Expo in Lexington this weekend. It looks like that us old farts will (sort of) be getting our wish after all: one’s a Pinto Clydesdale Stallion named Walk Down Memory Lane, the other is an Appaloosa Fighting Stallion, named Kick Up Your Heels. Both are Glossy. More widely-available releases would be even better, but it’s nice that they’re going with two "Vintage" molds this year.

(But would I turn down the Early Bird Raffle Alborozo? Heck, no!)

Everyone is rightly going ga-ga over the Fighting Stallion (striped hooves!), but I’d be just as content with the Clydesdale; he’d make a fine husband for my Gloss Palomino Clydesdale Mare. (Does he have mapping? Hard to tell in the photos I’ve seen. If so, also awesome.)

Like everyone else, I’m suspecting that the Store Special Champagne Pinto Bluegrass Bandit Champagne Wishes is replacing the Nonplastic Store Specials, which haven’t exactly been setting sales records. On the web site she’s described thusly:

Champagne Wishes is a Connoisseur Level model with delicate mapping, silver horseshoes and beautifully detailed eyes.

Connoisseur Level? Delicate mapping? Silver horseshoes? Sound like something extra limited and extra expensive to me. Since they specifically dropped the Connoisseur word on us in the description, I’m expecting something in the same range as the program of old: about 350 pieces, somewhere around $150-200.

This is entirely speculation. Since this is a new thing, I could be wrong. All I’m hoping for is that there are at least enough of them around that I have a reasonable shot. I’ve been waiting for a realistic (and somewhat affordable!) release on the Bluegrass Bandit mold that I can’t live without, and I think she’s it.

Plus I was addle-pated from a lack of sleep last year when I ventured into the Pit, and never did get around to buying the also very pretty Black Pinto Store Special Lady C. The prices on her aren’t too high either, but like Aurelius, some downsizing will have to happen first.

Sitting It Out

Due to some glitch in the inventory company’s own inventory system, I find myself sitting at home for a couple of days this week, without work. During the busiest time of the year, when there’s literally work to be had all day and every day, and everyone (else) is complaining about the massive amounts of overtime they're putting in.

Normally I’d raise a stink because, hello, I don’t get paid to sit at home: no work, no pay. But I decided to turn this liability into an asset, and get some other work done in the meantime.

(Model horse related, mostly.)

The "Consolation" Special Run Bull Colton does appear to be being made specifically to cover the oversells on the Logans at the Vault Sale. I’m not sure if they’re going to make just enough to cover the oversell orders, or exactly the same amount as Logan, or what.

On Reeves’s inventory issues and the Vault Sale, I will speak no further. Not because I have nothing more to say, but because of diminishing returns. There’s no point in making an argument once everyone’s made up their minds.

The other big news this week is that all the BreyerFest 2013 stuff has hit the Breyer web site in a big way. A bunch of different Specials were announced, including a Desatado in Dun, a pretty chestnut pinto Haflinger, and another pinto Nokota Horse (as the Early Bird Special).

One of the Raffle models is the Traditional Totilas in a Star Dapple Gray, which makes about as much sense to the "Denim & Diamonds" theme as the Early Bird Special Stretched Morgan did to last year’s "British Invasion". The paint job looks a little weird, but it's also a not-good photograph of a test piece, so I'm not fretting over it.

There’s going to be another SR "satellite" store, too: one of the Specials available in it will be a Bucking Bronco in a quasi-buckskin color with kerchief-style decals on it. It’s very similar to the Home Decorating Show Paisley Rearing Horses that broke my heart a couple months back. I love the Bucking Bronco mold, so heck yeah, it's on my must-buy list.

The two Store Specials were also announced: a Black Tobiano Pinto Bluegrass Bandit named Lady C, and a pinto Brighty named Tennessee Titan. Titan is similar, but not identical to the still-incredibly-desirable 2005 Fest Special Run Oliver. Judging from the reaction I’ve been seeing to the Brighty, I’m guessing we’re in for another very quick sellout. (Keeping mine, if I get a hold of one.)

They also announced the themes and rules to the contests, and honestly, I just can’t get all that worked up about either one of them right now. I am utterly indifferent to the charms of most country music. I’m more Motown than Hoedown: I like some of the old-timey stuff, bluegrass, yodeling cowboys and stuff like that, but most modern stuff makes my eyes glaze over.

If I can come up with something, I’ll do it, but I just can’t get as emotionally involved as I did last year, where I ended up flaming out rather painfully. (When other people win with your same ideas - not once, but twice in the same year - yeah, you do tend to take it rather personally.)

A Little Housekeeping

Got a bit too much caffeine in the system, so I’m just going to tie up a few loose ends today. Plus, I’ve been putting in a lot of time and effort into my BreyerFest paperwork - especially the Sampler - and that’s put me out of sorts, too. Some of the material I’m writing for it touches on some very sensitive subjects to me, and I am absolutely drained, emotionally. 

(It’s not depressing, just complicated.)

The flea market was a little on the quiet side this week, partly because of the flaky weather; all I picked up were some cooking magazines, a beautiful old Victorian quilt top, and a small group of cute (and cheap!) Japanese biscuit tins. This suited me just fine, since I’m still trying to recover from last week’s haul.

Other than an odd body lot or two that I might throw on eBay, if I can find the time, any models I’ll be picking up this season will be getting packed and put away with my BreyerFest sales stash. It’s nothing personal, it really is just a time management issue.

It seems really weird to me to be so disconnected to the Desatado discussion; aside from not being in the club in the first place, my brain immediately went into LA LA LA CAN’T HEAR YOU mode once the griping about dappling began.

I am a bit surprised that the actual piece count on the Premier Club is somewhere around 740: I honestly didn’t think it was going to be that high.

A model’s value isn’t entirely dependent on the piece count - especially if the quality is there - but I am wondering how many people "bought in" to the concept on the assumption that the piece count would be lower than the Vintage Club’s 500-piece limit?

As far as the quality of the body, I can’t - and won’t - judge until I see one in person, which I am assuming will happen (again) at BreyerFest. And if I like it, no worries, since none of the molds in the program are going to get Alborozo-ized.

I’m seriously considering not putting in for the Father’s Day Web Special. Not because I’ve made a preemptive decision to not like it, but because it’s beginning to look like I’m going to need to do some serious herd thinning in the very near future. (Which I doubt will be before the end of July, so don’t get your hopes up.)

Besides, I want to save up this luck I’ve been experiencing for bigger and better things later in the season, if you know what I mean.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I did see that job posting on the Breyer web site. That’s all I’ll say about the matter in public.