Anthem

While awaiting those decisions being made about me (still a work in progress, grr) I spent most of my weekend gorging on Easter candy or sleeping. I also made significant headway on the old tax paperwork, too – it’s on track to be finished by next weekend! (I need to get some office supplies and double check some items now in storage, that sort of thing. You can never have enough sheet protectors and binders in the house, apparently...)

Except for the Stablemates, because they’re Stablemates, I haven’t bought most of the patriotic-themed Decorators. Either they haven’t been executed all that well thematically – bloody red points on blue bodies doesn’t exactly scream “America” to me – or the selected molds weren’t must-haves (I’m not a huge fan of the Clock Saddlebred, for instance). 

But this new model Anthem? I think I dig him. Maybe because he’s more of a personification of American Patriotism than a literal representation: there are no stars, stripes, or actual flags arbitrarily slapped on him. I think that’s where a lot of patriotically-themed artwork falls flat: it’s not enough to simply include the elements, you need to integrate them into a design that makes sense both artistically and thematically.

Either that, or you have to do something so over-the-top that you have to admire the audacity of it. Kind of like one of my old favorites, the BreyerFest 2007 Special Run Times Square, also on the Ethereal mold:

I cannot wait until Reeves finally has the gumption to release a Mini Me of Times Square in a future Best of BreyerFest Stablemates Set!

Anthem is just pretty, all dressed up in that funky metallic pearly automotive-style paint they introduced on the Red Pinto Auction piece Georg last year, and executed on a production run with the Christmas Clydesdales a few months later.

The precursor of the American Flag Series was the 2012 BreyerFest Special Run Union Jack, on a translucent Classic Ruffian. She’s got a few design problems herself – the flag sort of blends into her base color, and she’s got those weird red points – but I was kind of hoping that she’d lead to other “Flag Horses” of other nations, but that hasn’t materialized yet, beyond the American Flag Horses. 

Still Surprising, Sometimes

Well, I’ll be diggidy-danged – they did make all the Slainte Surprises the equal amount! 800 for each of the Mattes, and 325 for each of the Glosses.

I was beginning to suspect that was the case; after the initial rush of horse trading, I noticed that the numbers seemed to be leveling out, and that no particular item seemed significantly “rarer” than the other.

Good!

It took a few years for the BreyerFest Surprise Special Run to evolve into what it has become today. With the first Surprise – the Quarter Horse in 2009 – we knew what the mold and colors were ahead of time. The only real “surprise” (aside from the Smoke, Charcoal, and Silver Filigrees that were supposed to be randomly distributed throughout the weekend, but were not) was in which one you’d get.

They switched it up a little bit with the Spun Gold Surprise Ethereals in 2011: we didn’t know the mold initially, but the quantities – again, aside from a Gloss Palomino Appaloosa that actually was randomly distributed – were more or less equal.

It wasn’t until 2012’s Stoneleigh Surprise on the Flash mold that the BreyerFest Surprise became more “standardized”: scarce Gloss variations of the Mattes were introduced, with variable amounts of each color (now four, instead of three). There’s been some variation since then – extra surprises for Anniversary years, the “Dark Horse” in 2018’s Dark Horse Surprise Smarty Joneses – but the formula has been more or less stayed the same.

I know some are lamenting the “chase” aspect, or the delightful mathematical models we build to determine which one is the rarest while we wait for Reeves to actually tell us, but I am perfectly fine with going back to equal quantities across the board. It’ll minimize scalping, encourage trading, and people who suddenly discover that there are eight variations of a mold they NEED NOW won’t find themselves maxing out their credit lines to do so.

It also doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the Glosses were at almost a 1 to 2 ratio compared to the Mattes – I figured there had to be more to my luck this year than The Universe glancing my way and saying “Fine, fine, humor her with a Gloss this time.”

I’ll still take it, though.

One of the other “surprises” this year – the Epona coming in two variations, both loose-maned and braided – is simply a case of Reeves catering to our fondness for variations, nothing more. I fully expect to see unannounced mold variations on BreyerFest Specials going forward, on any mold that comes with that possibility.

(Like most of the Special Runs, she is much lovelier in hand than the photographs suggested, though she is another I will wait a few months on before I even consider purchasing.)

As for the third Surprise – the Volunteer Model being a Gambler’s Choice – that was also something I did not find completely unexpected. With the increased need for volunteers, introducing variations to the Volunteer Special lowers the individual piece counts and therefore increased the potential resale value on the secondary market.

It seemed odd that they would introduce it this year, when the need for Volunteers was significantly reduced (therefore rendering the need for a lower piece count kinda moot). I suspect that this was something that was already planned ahead of time, when an in-person event was still on the table.

Calavera and Decals

It was too darn cold to go to the flea market Sunday morning, so I channeled that early morning energy into cleaning the office and reorganizing the storage boxes I ravaged my way through just before BreyerFest, searching for various pieces for assorted purposes.

And paperwork. There’s always paperwork to do!

While I didn’t get to see a Markus today, I did see a Calavera – the new Dia de los Muertos horse on the Ethereal mold. I was somewhat indifferent to the release initially – in terms of Decorator Ethereals, I don’t think much can top the BreyerFest Special Run Times Square – but the sample I saw at BreyerFest made me reconsider.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/calavera

I had heard some horror stories about decal issues with the Calavera, but I didn’t see anything significantly wrong with the example I saw. There were the usual bits of overspray and rough edges you’d see on any of the more complex paint jobs, but the decaled areas looked clean and smooth to me.

I left him behind, for a couple of reasons. Aside from wanting to stick to my budget, future condition issues were weighing on my mind. Extensive decals are a relatively new decorating technique, Breyer-wise, and how well these models will age is unknown.

The earliest decaled Breyer, incidentally, was in the 1950s: some Breyer Canadian Mountie sets sport tiny Drewrys Beer decals on their saddle blankets. Whether it was a formal Special Run that was produced at the Breyer factory, or something that Drewrys cobbled together for their own promotional needs, I don’t know.

If Breyer did manufacture it, Drewrys would be one of a small handful of companies/licenses that have done/did business with both Breyer and Hartland. (Hartland did a lot of promotional beer signage, including Drewrys.) Another topic to add to the research list!

I don’t have the Drewrys Mountie, but I’d love to get one eventually: my step-grandfather was a delivery driver for Drewrys, way back when. You’d think our proximity to Canada would make finding Canadian Mountie memorabilia a little bit easier to find, but alas, this isn’t so.

Not Making a Fuss

I should be panicking now, but I am simply too tired from work these past two days to work up a fuss. I’m so not working up a fuss that I’m considering whipping out a small quilt project I’ve been messing with on and off for the past couple of months and finishing that in the meantime.

Quilting as my BreyerFest prep burns: how very Nero-like of me. (Yes, I know it’s a myth. Just go with it.)

Anyway, here’s that neat Breyer knockoff I was talking about. I bought it during the town-wide garage sale a few weeks back; he’s been in my car ever because of his annoying habit of blending in with the throw blanket I keep on the back seat of my vehicle:

He appears to be cast aluminum, and not in any way related to the cast iron ASC knockoffs, or (gack!) Hubley, the go-to name that all flea marketeers use whenever they find something made out of cast metal. (You know, just like any injection molded plastic horse = Rare Breyer!)

There were/are a number of companies that have done cast metal Breyer knockoffs over the years, aside from ASC. Like the situation that exists with the numerous Breyer lamp manufacturers, I doubt we’ll ever know much about most of them. And if we do, it’ll only be by accident.

I got so excited when I saw him from my car window that day; I momentarily thought - yes, a Black Family Arabian Stallion! (He is actually FAS-sized, hence my assumption.) I already have one, but I’ve never found one "in the wild". As I think I brought up before, the Black Family Arabians were a nationally distributed Special Run promotion, and produced in sufficient enough quantities that finding one at a yard sale or flea market is not as remote a possibility as it seems.

Wasn’t the case with me, this time. He was still pretty reasonably priced, so I bought him anyway. It’s true that being trapped in my car for the past month is not necessarily a step up from his previous station in life, but I’m working on it. I haven’t decided whether or not he’s coming with me to Fest or not, though.

In other modelly news…

I did well enough on my Hartland sales this week that the cost of my gas - and most of my hotel bill - will be covered. Thank you Armada Flea Market! (No worries, I'll still have a bunch of stuff from that box available in Kentucky, if you thought you saw something worth your while.)

My Denim and Diamonds Vintage Club Shetlands arrived today, but I doubt I’ll be opening the box before the trip. I just don’t have the mental space to deal with them at the moment.

I didn’t get picked for the latest Web Special Dionysus. I actually liked him enough to enter twice, rather than once - I found the Primitive Bay color very appealing, in almost a retro "Breyer Bay" way. But nope, no dice again.

A photo of the latest Premier Club release came out today - a Chestnut Arabian Stallion by Eberl, presumably the "husband" of Weather Girl. I’ve only just skimmed the usual sources and it looks like more stuff I don’t want to deal with, either, some of it residual frustration over Carrick, I assume.

As always, I will reserve judgement on him until I see a better photo, or see him in person, which will most likely be the case for some of us next week.

And yup, did a facepalm when I saw the photo of the Red Roan Pinto Othello Auction piece circulating shortly after my last post. I think he’s really quite pretty, but yeah, I’m so not hoping he’s the volunteer piece this year. (On the other hand: Bay, Black and Chestnut Roan = matched set!)

I happen to think it’s something we haven’t seen yet. (Among those candidates: Rejoice, Adios, Andalusian, Cigar, the Peruvian Paso…)

Monsters, Monsters from the Id!

(Caution: This post was composed while being very light-headed from an epic nosebleed. Which is nothing serious, BTW, just a consequence of a childhood’s worth of bad allergies. It’s not my blood pressure. No, really, my blood pressure is actually low.)

(Oh. Reader discretion is advised.) 

My first reaction to the newest Premier Club release, Brishen, was "Wow, that’s a lot of hair. It’s like Othello and Ethereal had a freaky love child."

(Yes, I know they’re both stallion molds, dearies. That’s what the "freaky" is for.)

I don’t dislike it, not at all, but like a lot of folks I am a bit bummed that it’s yet another Big Hairy Stallion. Nothing wrong with Big Hairy Stallions, per se, but sometimes it feels like the gender diversity of Breyer molds is about equal to that of your average Smurf village.

At one point during the latest epic "future of the hobby" thread on Blab a few weeks ago, the observation that our Sire/Dam lists back in the old days were pretty heavy on the Sires, not so much on the Dams.

Horse-obsessed teen and pre-teen girls bragging about the breeding prowess of the multitude of stallions under their stable’s banner? Boy, mental health professionals could have mined those old newletters for a half-dozen research papers, at least.

Thus giving context to my second reaction to Brishen: "About the only think missing from this package is a unicorn’s horn and a pack of cigarettes".

I mean, really. Brishen is like the hobby’s id, made manifest. You know, just like in the movie Forbidden Planet. And not as scary. But the Monster from the Id in the movie was animated by someone from Disney, and Kathleen Moody did work for Disney at one point. So, draw from that whatever you will.

(Okay, that was weird. Even for me.)

Judging from the commentary I’ve seen on the Breyer web site, he seems to be going over fairly well with the same kinds of kids that populated the pages of The Model Horse Shower’s Journal back in the day. Except that most of those kids today like their Big Hairy Stallions with unicorn horns.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that either, but, you know…

(Now going upstairs for a glass of orange juice and a good night’s sleep.)

Spun Gold

Remember the speculation about the Spun Gold Surprise? Some folks thought that meant straight-up Decorators, while others thought they’d be realistic colors with a "golden" theme, like Chestnuts, Palominos and such.

They split it down the middle: we got "golden" themed colors, with semi-metallic finishes: Champagne, Flaxen Chestnut Overo, and Buckskin Blanket Appaloosa. (Hey, I got that part right! Yay, me!)

So, just like last time, I got a Pinto and an Appaloosa:


There was some carping about the solid "Champagne" version not being a "true" Champagne, but that seemed like nitpicking to me. Heck, a few years ago most hobbyists didn’t even know what the color "Champagne" was. And we’re talking semi-decorator colors on the semi-realistic "Ethereal" mold here; I’m sort of surprised they came as close as they did.

I’ve been wanting to add a few more Ethereals to the herd for some time now, so I was more than happy with his appearance as this year’s Surprise model. I wasn’t lucky enough to get the Surprise within the Surprise - a Gloss Dark Palomino Appaloosa, in the same pattern as the "Fire" - but the execution this time around went off without a hitch, at least. (And not all dumped into roughly the same time slot, like last time.)

At 28-30 pieces distributed, that came out to two Surprises per time slot; roughly calculated, your odds of getting one were about 40 to 1. Still not great, but probably a better bet than the raffle - and you still get a horse out of the deal, if you don’t "win"!

A model with a fairly limited piece count - 390 pieces each of the standard three - on a mold that hasn’t seen a lot of action lately. So hey, not a bad deal, all around.

What’s really nice about the Surprise Tent SR is that it’s really hard to game the system, the way you can (to a degree) with some of the other super-limited models at BreyerFest. Sure, you could buy more tickets to improve your odds, but at 70-85 for the ticket, plus 50-60 dollars a pop per model (or more) and all that time spent standing in line? Most hobbyists aren’t going to invest that kind of effort. Or have that kind of money to play with.

In other words, it’s about as fair a system as we’ll ever have for distributing a rarity as we’ll ever have. You know me, I’m big on the fairness thing. Neither life, nor the hobby are fair, but anything to make it a little more so, I’m all for.

Now that they seem to have worked the kinks out of the Surprise Horses, I sure hope they become a regular feature of BreyerFests to come.

Ice, Ice Baby!

I just found out over the weekend that this "remodeling" process will leave me with 30 feet less shelf space. So a modest culling of the herd has now turned into a major one.

It would have been nice if they had told me about this when the process started two years ago, when I could have modified my spending habits slightly, and done a less drastic accommodation over time. Nope.

And since I can neither afford to move out, or rent a storage unit, I must now add "significant herd reduction" to my list of labors. I’ve managed to get about two-thirds of the way through so far, with a busy work week ahead.

That means less intricate topics for the interim, I guess. The Tenite stuff will have to be put on the backburner.

The next Collector’s Choice selections are up for voting, and for once, I actually really like all three: a Flaxen Chestnut Bouncer, a Gloss Charcoal Pinto Big Ben, and a Gloss Dapple Chocolate Ethereal.

My favorite is the Ethereal: I love that color. If it’s anywhere near the color of a true Rocky Mountain Horse, he’ll be stunning in person. We can’t be sure from the photo: as usual, the image available to us is awful, and too small to manipulate effectively in Photoshop.

I hope it doesn’t hurt his chances in the voting. It’d be nice to have a more affordable, regular run Ethereal in the line. All of the other releases on this mold have either been limited, or expensive. All I have is the 2007 BreyerFest Times Square (whom I love, and is not being culled - no way!)

He’s also my favorite for another reason: the name. There was a rather heated discussion about the Web Special Silver Snow on Blab when he came out; some hobbyists wanted Reeves to produce more of them to satisfy the obvious demand - and to cover confirmed orders that were canceled later in the week. I wasn’t keen on the idea for a multitude of ideas: it would set a bad precedent, the value of the model was partially dependent on the initial piece count, etc. My suggestion was a second December Web Special with a similar piece count: a Gloss Charcoal Othello that I called "Black Ice."

The Ethereal would make a more than adequate substitute, I think. (And for the record, I’m not taking credit for the idea; it’s just a happy coincidence. I also happen to think that some ideas are so strong and so natural that they come up again and again. You know, like Dapple Gray Lady Phases.)

I was initially put off by Ethereal’s rather florid appearance when he finally arrived on the scene in 2006, but I’ve warmed up to the mold considerably since then. I’m not big into "fancified" horses with big hair, but it works on him. He has a beautiful silhouette, too; I was big into making Breyer silhouettes a few years ago, and I was struck by his lovely contours:


(Roemer makes a nice silhouette, too. Really!)

There was a Chocolate Silver Dapple Ethereal in the 2008 BreyerFest Auctions. I can’t recall him specifically, since most auction pieces get filed into the "beautiful but unattainable" part of my brain, and that file gets purged on a regular basis, just to minimize my suffering.

Whether or not I really love an individual auction piece tends to be irrelevant to the purging process. The ones I do remember tend to hit some hot button - a new technique or color, or the reintroduction of an old one. Or it's a rare combination of mold, color and markings, like the Dark Bay/Brown Peruvian Paso with the heavily-spotted stockings. (Favorite mold + a favorite color + favorite markings = Swoon!)

From the photos I’ve seen of him online, that piece seems to be lighter than the proposed Black Ice, but with the quality of the Reeves’s photos, who knows? We’ll have to see how the voting turns out first, and whether we’ll even get to see him on the shelf.

I am concerned that the type of voting poll they’ve enlisted this time around allows for multiple votes from anonymous voters. I am not fond of anonymous online polls: you sacrifice accuracy for the convenience of automation. A few overly enthusiastic voters with too much time on their hands could seriously sway the outcome of the vote, and not necessarily towards the will of the regular voting public.