The Choices

Got my BreyerFest ticket order in. Just one VIP ticket: the Fell Pony Scurry and the Lady Phase and Standing Stock Foal set Surrey and Axle as my SRs, and Via Lattea and the Best of BreyerFest set as my Limiteds. 

It’s nothing I think will sell out or be overly popular – I feel like the only ticket buyer who didn’t pick either a Speos or a Wells – so while it might not have been specifically necessary, having all this stuff prepaid is always a load off my mind. I can just go and enjoy the event. And maybe finally focus on finding those Hess Belgians that kept eluding me last year. 

(The list: Gloss Dapple Gray and/or Dapple Black, a Darker-Than-Average Smoke, and an older Chestnut with painted eye whites!)

I am a little underwhelmed by this year’s Stablemate Buggy, another Appaloosa on the Django mold:

While the mold looks good in any color, the fact that the Standing Friesian mold has now come in three different Appaloosa patterns, but still no variation of Black yet… well, it’s getting a little silly. 

I know they do it because spotted horses sell better than solid ones, but considering how pretty (and well-received!) last year’s Glossy Dappled Black Volunteer Model Zeitgeist turned out, you’d think that would have been an obvious choice for a driving-themed Stablemates Friesian release. 

I’ll still get him, because I am not one to pass up a nice bay roan anything, but this is one of those so obvious exceptions to the rule that it makes me want to throw my hands up in the air and just go “Gah!”

(A lot of things have been making me do that lately, to be honest. I wish there was a polite way to tell people they’re being dumb, because that would come in super handy right now.)

That, and the obvious lack of Old Timer in the lineup. While there is a slim possibility of it being the Surprise – it’s probably one of the few true “vintage” molds that is popular enough to work – they tend to go with more recent molds. 

The only vintage mold used for the BreyerFest Surprises was the very first one back in 2009: the Quarter Horse Gelding. Who I think they went with because they were still uncertain that the idea would even work.

(Laughs hysterically.)

If I get another ticket, I think I’ll shoot for Peanutine and the Surprise. The former because it would be easy to sell if I don’t fall in love with it, and the latter because I like (or love) most of the stronger mold possibilities, such as Smart Chic Olena and Forever Saige. And if it’s not something I love, passing the redemption ticket onto someone who does won’t be a hardship either. 

Another Inconsequential Thing

This is not the model I was talking about in my previous post; this was something I bought last week because the price was excellent and I (slightly) regretted not buying it when I was actually drawn for one, back in the good old days when getting drawn for Web Specials didn’t feel like a near-impossibility:

I had almost completely forgotten I had bought Goji until it arrived on my doorstep Friday night. (Yeah, it was THAT kind of week.)

Now that we have the new Fjord mold Astrid, and the new Stablemates Fjord Lyric, what little popularity the original “Henry” Fjord originally had has begun to dissipate. I totally missed out on the discussion as to why he was deemed less worthy to begin with, and at this point I’m not even sure I want to know why. 

The hobby has a way of making inconsequential things seem so important, when they’re not, really. (Says the person who has written over 1500 blog posts about… plastic horse history.)

In spite of his lack of star power, the mold still has a couple of unattainables: the 2010 WEG rerelease of Henry (only 18 made) and the 2015 BreyerFest Diorama Prize Truffle (28 made). 

The others are not so hard; I think all I am missing at this point is the 2014-2015 Regular Run release GVF Sjokolade? I’m not in any hurry. 

Time has a way of turning the tables when it comes to popularity, though: for years many hobbyists bemoaned the fact that the only Friesian available to most of us was the Jeanne Mellin Herrick mold. Now that we have several (indeed, it almost seems like too many!) Breyer Friesians to choose from, the old JMH Friesian has come back into its own, again. 

I’d eventually like to get more of the Berry Ponies series, though a few of them (the Bouncer Bilberry, and the Croi Bramble) are probably out of my reach. Maybe Strawberry, next? The Hackney Pony is another mold hobbyists don’t have an overly high regard for. 

Yeah, it’s a chonky, unrefined little thing, but I still love it for all sorts of reasons, including the fact that I might have had a very small hand in getting it produced in the first place.

Incidentally, I rather like the BreyerFest release of Astrid with the long mane, named Rapunzel:

The shape of the new mane is a little goofy, and distorts the true contours of her neck the same way Giselle’s mane does. But a cute, roany pony is hard for me to resist, and I’ll definite consider her when the time comes. (So many excellent SRs to choose from this year, so hard for me to decide!)

Getting Things Out Of The Way

So every time I wake up now there’s going to be another BreyerFest reveal? Okay, sure. I guess that means the VIP tickets are going to go up for sale sooner rather than later.

(I have no idea how that’s going to go down this year. I have enough on my mind this month not to want to think about it.)

First let’s talk about Montanara:

I like him! The original Herrick Friesian mold has many loyal fans, so this Store Special will be undoubtedly very popular. My only hesitation with this fellow is that that color is hit or miss: when it’s rendered right, it’s gorgeous, and when it’s not, it bears a striking resemblance to baby poop. 

And there’s the possibility that we might be offered a Gloss option on him like the previous two years’ worth of Store Specials, and if that’s the case, I might need him in Gloss. 

(For the record, I am not a Gloss Addict, nor do I ever use the word “pop” in a sentence except to refer to music or carbonated beverages because I am a civilized person, yo). 

Incidentally, the mold has rarely been offered in anything other than a Matte Finish – and all of these Non-Matte models have been BreyerFest Special Runs! The 2005 Celebration Horse Fire Magic was Semi-Gloss, the 2014 Store Special Athos was Pearlescent, and in 2019 the Black Appaloosa Harley release was offered in Gloss as a Live Show prize. 

The Mare and Foal set they’re offering this year is on the just-released Premier Club Firefly and Hawkeye molds, in Red Bay Tobiano:

I haven’t seen these molds yet in person – I am not a member of the Premier Club, obviously – so I can’t really make a judgement about them. It does not help that the photograph is not great, but that’s par for the course here. The Foal is definitely cute, and the Mare is very reminiscent of the Thoroughbred Mare from the #3155 Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal set. 

Allegedly these molds are controversial and/or are not going over well because their scale is off? Breyer Traditionals have been all over the map in terms of scale since pretty much the beginning, so variations of scale don’t bother me as much as it apparently does hobbyists who are more active on the showing side of things. 

(There’s also some nonsense about their scale being a larger plot to get us to pay Traditional prices for Classic Scale molds, which is… something. Really, if there is anything going on, I think it’s more an issue with their moldmakers or the moldmaking process than some convoluted conspiracy to get more money out of us.)

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.)

Harley’s Story

With the weather planning on being hot and sticky all week, I flipped the script and spent most of the weekend working on the garden, and I’m feeling every bit of it today.

Oh, and I think I might have bought another minor grail this weekend, too? I’ll know for sure when it arrives, presumably by the end of the week. I usually go on something of a shopping binge after BreyerFest anyway, but this is absolutely nuts…

I think I might have forgotten to tell you the story about why I purchased a Harley as a part of my pre-BreyerFest shopping binge. And it’s not just because he’s a really nice example with extra mottling around his lips and crisp masking (though that doesn’t hurt!)

The first time I visited the Kentucky Horse Park in 1979, near the end of a particularly infamous family road trip, I bought a Black Appaloosa Running Stallion from the Gift Shop, which happened to be in the International Museum of the Horse at the time. I still have him, of course:

Several years later, I purchased a second Black Appaloosa Running Stallion at BreyerFest, nominally as an upgrade. I was pretty sure he was from 1968, the year he was first issued, since he had a small Blue Ribbon Sticker and no USA mold mark.

Several years after that, I was gifted another Black Appaloosa Running Stallion – this one, a Cull – by a friend who saw I was having a particularly rough time of it at BreyerFest that year. She had no idea, of course, that that particular model had any personal historical significance to me. She just assumed (correctly!) that I’d appreciate a vintage, Chicago Era Cull. 

Early this year, when it looked like a road trip was still a possibility – not just to salvage Summer, but maybe even as a way to recreate the “Redneck Road Trip” that gave me my first Black Appaloosa Running Stallion – I had planned on purchasing another Breyer Black Appaloosa Horse during the “visiting the Kentucky Horse Park” portion of the trip.

The obvious choice being… Harley! Even more obvious because when I purchased my original Running Stallion, I named him Sandman. 

This was not an intentional comic book riff; this was ten years before Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. In fact, I was on a hiatus from comic books until late 1981, when I randomly bought The Legion of Super-Heroes #284, and The Great Darkness Saga made me fall in love with them all over again.... 

To honor the coincidence inherent in Harley’s name, it’s only fitting and right that I am going to name him Quinn. (BTW, if you get a chance to watch the recent animated Harley Quinn series, I highly recommend it. They somehow managed to make Kite Man… kind of adorable?) 

Feis

Part of the reason I am not all that into the Diorama Model Feis is that I have no current plans on entering the contest in the first place.

This cosplay idea I’ve been trying to execute is frustrating me literally every step of the way – supplies missing, orders canceled, pieces lost from patterns – and so throwing myself into another project whose end result is bound to frustrate me has no appeal at all.

Yes, the lineup is pinto-heavy this year, but the pinto part doesn’t bother me. The fact that it’s a Jeanne Mellin Herrick mold doesn’t bug me either – in fact, one of the articles I’m prepping to write for this year’s Sampler is a discussion of her work for Breyer.

No, I have two other, completely unrelated aesthetic reasons I’m not all that into the Diorama Prize model Feis.

First, as I’ve discussed before, I’m just not into Buckskin Pintos in general. I do admire how well done it is, though: instead of simple streaks, the intricate mane masking gives us a real sense of hair twisting and tangling in the breeze, and the color itself is very similar to the well-received Buttermilk Buckskin Bollywood Surprise from a few years back.

Second: it’s another Draft Horse, in a thematic year that should almost be pony-obsessive. I know there are still several more items to be revealed that will (or should) make up that deficit, but at this point it’s becoming almost comical.

As you might have noticed, Reeves has been using either older molds, or molds unsuitable for live showing for their Diorama Contest prizes recently: Haflinger, Buckshot, Boomerang, El Pastor. Many of these molds have been used for releases or entire lines designed to appeal to a younger crowd, which may be the point of selecting them for this contest, entirely.

But personally, if I had to go with an older mold, or even another Jeanne Mellin Herrick mold, I would have preferred Roemer or Pluto. (And I am extremely relieved it’s not the Fell Pony Emma. So, so relieved.)

So yeah, this one isn’t lighting a fire in my belly, and I am fine with that. I still might enter, depending on what shakes out with my plans for the next few months (i.e. if the Comicon the costume is for gets canceled or postponed), but I am definitely not going to sweat it, regardless. 

Pinto Roemer

Managed to survive Cyber Monday unscathed, as well. So far the only other item that’s tempted me in the past couple of weeks’ worth of sales and promotions – aside from the Benasque and the True North mini – was the Let’s Go Riding – English Set with the pinto Roemer, who was on sale several days ago or so.

I make no apologies for loving the Roemer mold, but I haven’t bought this set yet because it’s diggity-danged expensive – only a pittance less than what I paid for my Test Color Roemer:

I mean, yeah, the set comes with a boatload of stuff, but even this Roemer fangirl has her limits. Though if nothing else comes through for me through the end of the year, I may swing by one of my local independent toy stores and buy one as my “holiday present to myself” thing.

Incidentally, one of the few things I did accomplish over the long, lazy Thanksgiving weekend was to clean off my desk – of both crumbs and paperwork! One of the things I found in my to-do pile was a post about Roemer’s sculptor, Jeanne Mellin Herrick.

She was one of Breyer’s most prolific sculptors in the immediate post-Hess era, sculpting six new Traditional molds in the space of five years:

• Sherman Morgan (1987)
• John Henry (1988)
• Roemer (1990)
• Misty’s Twilight (1991)
• Pluto (1991)
• Friesian (1992)

In spite of their anatomical irregularities, some of them – especially the Sherman Morgan and Friesian – still have devoted fanbases. In recent years, most of these molds have also seen a second life or three in gift sets and holiday releases designed for younger hobbyists and casual collectors.

(The Friesian got two releases alone, this year: Harley, and the Let’s Go Riding – Western Set!)

What’s nice about loving a mold less desirable molds like Roemer is that he’s an easier and more affordable mold to collect. So far the only Roemer out of my reach is the Chicago Exclusive Event Centerpiece model Wadsworth.

On the other hand, Reeves’s marketing strategy with these molds has had the benefit of boosting the visibility – and ultimately, the popularity – of these molds with the general public.

Which could lead to more releases in the future, but also the possibility of more unobtainable models like Wadsworth.

(Worth it. Probably.)

(Note: yes, a longer and more detailed post about Jeanne Mellin Herrick will be coming soon.)

Striking Green Gold

After getting dismissed early from jury duty on Thursday, I decided to stop at the Walmart on the way home, and guess what I found?

It looked like they had just plopped a freshly opened box of Mystery Stablemates on the shelf, so it was more a matter of timing than luck or skill. (There is nothing especially special about the Pony. I just like the mold.)

I wanted to wait until I got home, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I opened them in the parking lot. I probably should have waited – you guys weren’t kidding about the overwhelming paint-store smell!

It’s not just the Gloss that’s responsible for the Friesian’s unique funk, but a combination of the opaque green-gold metallic paint, the Gloss, and the sealed bags they marinate in.

I think that these Green-Gold Friesians will end up being not all that rare, since they seem to be appearing at roughly the same rate/quantity as all of the other pieces in that Mystery assortment, and are being replenished somewhat regularly. They only seem scarce because everyone is rushing the stores and grabbing all the Glossy! Metallic! Friesians they can find.

The situation with the Copper Florentine Django is a little bit different: he’s appearing in one out of every four Mystery assortment boxes. That is rare, but not elbow-to-eyeball Black Friday Sale rare: that’s 750 pieces for every 3000 boxes of Stablemates shipped.

Since many of the other pieces in the assortment are in high demand also – the Reiner, the Bucking Horse Rivet, Tushar, and that especially handsome Alabaster Eberl Andalusian among them – I foresee many more boxes of those Mystery Stablemates being sold and shipped, and many more Djangos with them.

This is why I can’t muster the energy to worry about him. There will be more in the pipeline, sooner and later.

My second Friesian will be sold or traded in the near future (for the Metallic Blue Endurance Arabian, I hope?) There were no Unicorns or Mini Whinnies at the store I stopped at, and since I have too many other things to buy and/or worry about in the next several weeks, that’s likely the end of my Walmart adventuring.

Not Basic Black

You could say my first visit to the flea market this season was successful. Lots of odds and ends, but I suppose it’s the horses y’all are most interested in. One of my regular dealers had a large and plentiful box of 1990s Traditionals that I had my pick from, and these three tickled my fancy the most:

Since I’m still on budget lockdown, I’ll be limiting myself to just keeping one of them, and it’s most likely going to be the Friesian. I only have one other Friesian in my collection currently – the Celebration Model of Fire Magic – and I’ve been meaning to add another example of this Jeanne Mellin Herrick mold to the herd for a while now.

Especially one of the “Dark Gray/Charcoal” variations. And this fellow is, happily for me!

The late 1980s and early 1990s are considered one of the lower points of Breyer’s quality control; it took a few years for Reeves to get the hang of actually manufacturing something, rather than just distributing it. It also took them a few years to cultivate a stable of new sculptors and moldmakers to fill the very big void left by Chris Hess’s departure.

One of the things they managed to get right in this time period, or at least made more interesting, was the color Black.

I’m not sure why it was decided that, of all things, they needed to focus on their Black paint jobs. Perhaps because the beloved body-shaded Black of the 1960s, seen on the likes of the Stretched Morgan and the Grazing Mare and Foal, wasn’t coming back, either? Like Hess, the painters who had mastered that technique were gone by then, too.

Out of this experimentation we got the “Black-pointed Charcoal” of the early Friesians, the purplish “Plum Black” of the 1991 Show Special Saddlebred Weanling Raven, and the near-black “Mahogany” of the Adios Mesa and the #822 Morgan release of the Justin Morgan mold.

Among others: even good old-fashioned Gloss Charcoal came back after a nearly 20 year hiatus, on 1992’s Midnight Sun release Memphis Storm.

Just more reasons why I’m not as quick as others to dismiss a Black paint job. Or two, three or four of them. They could be all the same. But they could be all different, too! It is practically a cliche by now, but you really cannot judge a model by its promo picture.

Speaking of... I had previously been somewhat indifferent to the Carrick mold, but I saw some Cortes C models in person last week, and by golly he looks amazing in Black. I was not expecting that!

Sunny Spot

Here’s my pretty little girl:

Makes up for a week full of minor aggravations (Dental Appointments! Missed Deadlines! Traffic Lights Conspiring Against Me! Embarrassing Typos!) There’s some variation in the run, and if you can’t tell from the photo, she’s one of the pearlier ones.

She’s only the second Strapless I have in the collection - the other being the 2007 Volunteer Model Bluegrass, who also has the full braids. So my only quibble is strictly a personal and also minor one: I would have preferred that she had the loose mane and/or tail, because Mold Variations.

There’s always hoping that one like that shows up in the Sample boxes, right? (If not, I'll just have to intensify my search for the 2009 Pottery Barn Special in Bay, without seam issues. A tough girl to locate!)

Along with the Matte Sample Gooitzen, whose picture has been taken down from the Breyer web site and replaced with the Gloss one. Who is so Gloss that it’s hard to tell if there are any undertones, shading, dappling or detailing on him beyond the eyes and hooves. Or if he has the gloss "Tinkerbell" sparkling that some of the newer Gloss Special have had lately.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/bf2014-exclusive-models

On my computer he looks a little bit blue-grayish, but I haven’t adjusted my monitor in years, so I could be imagining things.

A Super-Glossy Dappled Black Friesian with sparkles would make me a very happy camper. Though I’ll be happy if he’s merely Glossy Enough To Squeak when touched, like the Shire Cheerio.

The only other news of note is that the latest Vintage Club release e-mail has been sent out, for the Red Roan Mustang Diablo. As I’ve seen others mention, he’s one of those releases that you think would have been made already, and years ago.

Then again, the old Freckle Red Roan color has always been rather sparingly used.

A combination of factors have contributed to that. The two biggest ones are (a) the technique has been superseded by more realistic ones, and (b) full body freckles = much messiness and room for error.

I don’t mind that the color is one of the lesser-used ones in Reeves’ painting repertoire; it makes the releases that do come out in this color a bit more special. However, I certainly wouldn't complain about more Stablemates in this color.

Potholes and Things

The week was looking up by Wednesday: the sun was shining, the snow was melting, my mild cold abating, Spring Training was underway, I was just about caught up with sleep - and I even solved a quilt design problem that had been vexing me for several months now.

Thursday morning? I had the pleasure (not) of meeting the largest pothole in Macomb County. I suppose I should be lucky that all I got was a flat tire and a bent wheel: I swear it was about the size of a dinosaur excavation site. I didn’t see it until it was too late to swerve because it was 5 a.m. and full of water.

Florian is now fine, but after what I had to go through to get him there, my thoughts are not of the organized sort. I am most definitely not leaving the Pajama Perimeter tomorrow.

Since I never gave y’all a formal introduction, Florian is a 2011 Jetta Sport Wagen, with an all black interior and exterior. Unlike Drama Queen Sherman, Florian is like a calm and considerate boyfriend. If he were an actual person, he’d wear black turtlenecks, work from home as a Web Designer, and own a couple of Weimaraners and a bossy and overly affectionate Corgi.

Enough of my overly detailed interior life…

I went back to the Salvation Army - all the Grand Champions were gone, with the exception of one with a missing leg. There were a few more Horse Shaped Objects added to the dump bin mix, but only if you defined the word Horse very loosely. (Like those rubbery horse things from Dollar Tree.)

I did not win a Web Special Greek Goddess Hera. Not-winning didn’t bother me all that much until the Pothole Incident. If any week deserved a pony at the end of it, it was this one. The flea market can’t reopen soon enough.

I like the newest BreyerFest release, a Bay Semi-Leopard Appaloosa on the Carrick mold, named Bonne Fête (Happy Birthday). He reminds me a lot of the Beswick Appaloosa, and I’ve always wanted (and could never afford) one, so he could be a happy substitute - depending on who else makes the lineup. The color looks great on him; a lot of people seem to agree.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/bf2014-blog

I also enjoyed the photo of Carson Kressley on the Breyer Facebook page, holding what appears to be a Glossy Gooitzen. I don’t know if that means that they’ll all be Glossy, or that it’s a special piece just for Carson, or what. If they’re going to be Glossy, that means the Costume Contest prizes might be Matte - or something else entirely. (Silver Filigree? Ooh, pretty!)

I didn’t look too deeply into the commentary to investigate, as I suspected it was going to turn into another "Why Can’t We Have Another New Mold Instead" round table. In spite of the fact that new mold introductions on Celebration Models are the exception, not the rule.

Something happens once or twice or a few times at BreyerFest, and suddenly it becomes an inviolate rule. They had an impromptu Free Raffle for the Small Poodles at the 1997 BreyerFest, for instance, and it took two or three years of hobbyists loitering at the Horse Park before it sank in that it was just a one off thing, not an ongoing thing. (I admit fully to loitering the first year after; it’s not like we had a whole lot else to do back then, anyway.)

I like a little unpredictability. Keeps everyone on their toes. A little, mind you, not total chaos. Had my fill of that over the past two days, thank you.

Something more cheerful and history-filled, next time.