Shelby

Apparently I was mistaken – Mignonette was Overall, not the Reserve in Mini! I’m so used to finishing second, I just naturally made the assumption…

As for what this forbodes for BreyerFest Live? Probably nothing. I’ve heard enough crazy stories about what happens there that I’m not going to take anything for granted, other than having a good time with my friends. I’ll take my best horses, document the heck out of everything, try not to miss any classes, and see what happens.

(Though if I do end up with a bunch of seconds and thirds, I’m not going to lie: that’s going to be super-duper aggravating.)

This year’s Spring Gambler’s Choice is something different: it’s not a Classic mold, and it’s something that’s already had a Gambler’s Choice released on it!

I like Shelby – especially the Grulla Appaloosa one – but do I love him enough to get one? I’m not so sure yet. I’m still in a Vintage kind of mood, and as much as I love the catlike dynamism of the Nokota Horse mold, he does take up a lot of space on the shelf.

The Nokota Horse mold is rather oddly shaped: he does not fit easily into a rectangular box like most Breyer models do. That’s why he’s had a larger-than-average number of Special Run releases in non-standard packaging: things like BreyerFest Special Runs, Mail-Order Specials, and Exclusive Event models. 

So his selection here makes some sort of sense. He is a moderately popular model, but his last realistic, non-Decorator release was the Exclusive Event Phantom Face in 2018; a more widely available release was the 2016 Flagship Store Special Toro in 2016. 

As for the April Fool’s joke Nokota, I wouldn’t necessarily rule out another appearance: the Decorator Khemosabis ended up as a Silent Auction lot at BreyerFest later that same year. And they’ve already made at least one other actual Roached Mane version of the mold (for last year’s BreyerFest Benefit Auction), so them testing the waters a little more with another auction piece does not seem implausible.

Like the Polo Pony version of the Smarty Jones mold, though, I’m not going to count on a more widely available version of him showing up anytime soon. 

The Remains of History

Since we’re on the topic of Gambler’s Choices, I finally opened up my clear Jol:

I think Reeves missed an opportunity here with the gemstone Desatado release Fire Opal: imagine if that color had been painted in translucent and/or iridescent paints on a clear glitter body? 

I mean, it’s possible that they did try it and went “meh, didn’t work” and that’s why they went with what they did. But getting more creative with the translucent bodies – like they did with Jol, obviously – sometimes pays off.

(This is just a convoluted way of saying I want more glittery translucent Traditionals.)

Anyway, on a more melancholic note, the estate sale of our now deceased neighbors across the street was this past weekend. I went in at the beginning to get one last look around the place – and see what the family did not claim for themselves – and then at the end to see what sold, and possibly pick up a bargain or two.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but one of them was a Serial Cowboy/Lone Ranger/Hopalong Cassidy fan, and at one point there were at least a handful of related Breyers in the house. 

(Those were not present.)

So I picked out an assortment of the better Western-themed books (several signed!) and a few others: some as mementos, and the rest to supplement my depleted book sales stash, especially since I was out of town for the local AAUW Book Sale. One of the “others” was an inaugural edition of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage that had handwritten notes on the days both JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald were assassinated. 

They also avidly collected Presidential memorabilia, so I know that that had to have meant something to them: history written while it was still raw and fresh. It felt so odd finding it there at the end of the sale, marked down and ignored until I picked it up. So I rescued it.

Although there is no history that would have been lost if it had been shuffled into a book sale donation pile – there’s nothing in those notes that adds or enhances our understanding of those events – the meta-narrative of the fact that it was a meaningful part of their Presidental history collection would have been lost.

Which is why I write what I do, when I can do it. As you know, I own many such meaningful things. This blog is not just about their history, but the history of the history, and why it’s important to have these things in my collection.

And in case you are wondering, you will not find any “bargains” at my (hopefully very far in the future) Estate Sale. The ephemera is going somewhere where it can be archived and documented for future historians, and several friends and family members know full well how much some of this stuff piled around me is worth.

Or maybe by then, it won’t be. I will be fine, either way, as long as some of the history remains, with it or about it. 

Johann

My schedule is changing again – back to third shift, starting Monday night! – so my posting schedule is going to be a bit messed up here for the next week or so. 

And then I’ll have to start getting ready for Worldcon; it’s been forever since I’ve been to downtown Chicago, and while I’ll probably spend most of my time in the hotel attending panels and stuff, I don’t plan on spending all of my time there. 

I’m already planning to meet up with a couple of other hobbyists while I’m in town; if you haven’t already contacted me, feel free to do so – the more, the merrier! (I plan on wearing at least one model horse-related shirt during the event as a conversation starter, if nothing else.)

My biggest concern about the trip, though, is whether or not I’m going to miss Johann:

As you might know, I’ve not had the best luck with buying “first come/first served” Collector’s Club Exclusives. Now that I’ll be back on nights AND will be out of town in late August/Early September – the window of time Johann will allegedly be released – well, things aren’t looking so great for this guy, either.

This is a huge potential bummer for me because I collect the Classic Lipizzan: I think I have every release except a couple of the Pegasi, including Cosmus and the weird 1985 Flocked Blue Christmas release. 

I don’t have any Test Colors either, but there aren’t a lot of them floating around, as far as I can tell. A Matte Five-Gaiter Sorrel one that sold on eBay a little while back went for beaucoup bucks. (I remembered because, alas, I had fleeting notions of bidding.)

I know everyone is freaking out about the Solid Bay, but I really don’t care which color I get, because I want all of them. Well, I suppose getting the Bay one first would definitely help me out financially, but my first concern is just in getting any at all at this point. 

I’m hoping that the fact that he’s not a newer – or particularly popular – mold will also help me out, but in this market I will take nothing for granted. 

(And yikes, Reeves, did you Google the Johann + Breyer combo ahead of time? That’s awkward, especially for something that debuted at a German-themed BreyerFest. Again, you left Horst right there on the table…) 

Tiring of the Chase

So I am standing there in the local farm supply store that’s not Tractor Supply, but gets a decent supply of Breyers anyway, pawing through the only semi-full box of Chasing Rainbow Blind Bags I’ve even ever found in these parts. Then I stopped and counted out how many bags were actually present and realized that my effort was absolutely futile: even this box was already picked through.

And this was after I discovered that my trip to the Dollar General right next door to find the official “knockoff” Stablemates was also all for naught, apparently. Dollar Generals are a little bit out of my way around here, so with my schedule it’s going to be difficult to get back to one before they all get picked over. 

Ugh. I hate this. It’s not the blind bag part: back when I started collecting in the Paleolithic Age (the mid-1970s) pretty much everything came sealed in a visually impenetrable cardboard box, except the Stablemates. 

You had a rough idea of what you were getting on the box – sometimes a very rough idea, considering the quality control issues they had back then. And the fact that they’d use stock photos of Test Colors or Samples that had little to do with reality. 

(Yes, I am still a little peeved about the Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallion. I still want the minimal pinto I saw on the original box, dangnabit!)

It’s just this endless, artificial chase for the newest, hottest thing. It’s fun for a while, but when the chase never seems to end, the fun eventually does.

I did order a pair of the Christmas Clydesdales, since (a) I was actually online when they went up and (b) I missed out on last year’s and the prices on them haven’t come down, at all. Not even for the Red Filigree Smart Chic Olena, possibly the least desirable of the four.

The funny thing is that I had a dream a few days ago that Reeves mailed all Collectors Club members glass ornaments in the shape of the Breyer logo, in a Gambler’s Choice assortment of translucent colors. The one I received was Red, so I am assuming that one – or both! – of my Clydesdales will be Red. And I actually kind of like the Red on the Clydesdale here, it makes him look like he’s made out of Cranberry Sauce:

If I had a choice of Clydesdales, I’d go with Silver and Gold, because that’s always been my favorite holiday color scheme, but I’ll be happy with any two different colors. 

(FYI: we’re going with handmade paper ornaments this year. My Thanksgiving weekend will be spent folding German Stars.)

I guess I’ll find out in a few days. Or weeks. Or whenever they happen to show up. (My Brunhilde hasn’t shipped yet, which may mean something, or nothing at all.) 

The Choices Given

My Gambler’s Choices are…

…the Glossy Winx and the Appaloosa Valerio! 

The Winx was what I was hoping for, but the Appaloosa Valerio is a surprise, because I usually don’t get the Appaloosa option with Gambler’s Choices. I thought it’d be either the Rose Gray (who I think is the prettiest of the four) or the Unicorn (weird, but awesome in its own way).

Like most of the Valerios out there, he does have the “squish” problem with his neck, which some hobbyists are assuming – and as someone who did work for a plastics injection molding plant for five years, I nod in agreement – is probably a consequence of him being molded out of Cellulose Acetate instead of ABS.

As someone who sometimes goes out of her way to collect mold oddities, it doesn’t bother me in the least. Though I do hope that they resolve the issue for the 2021 Deluxe Club Membership Stablemate Alborozo, because I know my fellow hobbyists are not as forgiving. 

The only (slight) disappointment about the 2020 CCA offer is finding out about the other Glossies that they only hinted at. And that one of them was the Sable Island Pony. 

Dang it! I was afraid of that.

I’m definitely not considering trading my Winx for one, because her gloss is nice and thick and her shading is top notch and I love the Emerson mold. But I might consider trading either of my previous CCA Glosses (the Pinto Wixom Jake, or the Pinto Roxy Kodi) for one. Eventually. 

Or for a Gloss Catch Me. The ones I have seen are pretty nice looking, too.

Ah well, probably better to savor the choices I have been given, and not worry so much about what I haven’t.

In the meantime, I will be spending the rest of my weekend cleaning up and sorting out the horses that are now out of the car. Turns out that that most of the them are in better shape than I expected (yay!) except for one of the sets I was hoping to keep (boo!) The Bay Old Timer looks pretty good, and is more appealing than I remember, though it might be the nostalgia talking.

There’s also a freakish neon yellow and tan Shrinky Misty in the lot too that I shouldn’t keep, but I find myself… hesitating. The weather is going to be nice all weekend, so pics may be coming of her, next time.

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.

The Alborozo Chase

My Darley came the other day, and he brought a friend with him!

Since the Unicorn Surprise Blind Bags have been extremely scarce around here, I decided to toss one in to my Darley order and be happy with whatever the warehouse randomly shipped me.

Like the Blind Bag Stablemate that I ordered earlier this year that netted me an Appaloosa Django, it actually worked out better than I hoped for! While the standard Pearly Lavender Mini Alborozos aren’t that rare or expensive, I also wanted to wait and see if I could get around paying the (modest) premium anyway.

And I did! The Navy Blue Chase piece would have been even better, but I am not one of those people. (Lucky, or obsessed.)

Alas, it appears that the Alborozo will be the chase piece in this year’s version of the Stablemates Mystery Horse Surprise Assortment, too – though hornless, this time.

This is turning into the Traditional Esprit all over again, isn’t it? Take a mold that’s popular from the get-go, but make all the initial releases difficult to get…

I get it: the short-term sales are great! But it also ends up spoiling some of us on the mold to begin with. What’s the point of trying to collect it, if you find yourself starting out in a deep hole right from the beginning?

It’s not like a vintage mold, where the chance of a rarity turning up in the wild is an actual possibility. That’s what’s the most disheartening about collecting more modern and/or popular molds, and especially the newer Stablemates. With older molds, at least, I can usually count on the chance that if I miss a new release of it now, I’ll still be able to find it out “in the wild” eventually.

Most of the Stablemates Alborozos being bought are going straight into to secondary market, with few making intermediate stops in wider world.

The Alborozo is also a part of the Walmart Exclusive Unicorn Crazy Surprises, too, but I don’t know if he’s going to be the chase piece in that one yet, or not. They’re only just trickling out to the stores now, and I haven’t made much of an effort to seek them out online or offline.

I am in no mood for playing games this year, so I might just skip the Stablemates search efforts entirely and focus my energies on more rewarding hobby pursuits.

(That Appaloosa Mini Brishen, though. Argh! And the Purple Mini Magnolia!)

I do have that one Mesteno custom I started last year that I could definitely work into the “Great Hair Day!” Theme Class. Yeah, maybe that instead.

Rockford

You know what? I’m going to let the two Gambler’s Choice models I received – and opened – yesterday remain a mystery to you all. A Schrödinger's Cat, if you will, with twelve different possibilities, rather than two. 

The more interesting item in that box was the Vintage Club 2019 Renewal flier, featuring the debut model for 2019, a Gloss Silver Bay Pinto Pacer named Rockford:

He’ll be only the third production Gloss on the Pacer – after the 2010 Web Special Pace Yourself, and this year’s BreyerFest Special Gloss Reissue of the Foiled Again. And the third Pinto as well, the others being the impossible-for-me-to-acquire Exclusive Event Praline and this year’s BreyerFest Open Show Reserve Prize Hot to Trot.

And the first Pacer release that is both Gloss and Pinto! 

Incidentally, he’s not named after the TV show character Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files – that went off the air a few years before the “White Frame” style of box debuted – but after Rockford, Illinois, which was the mailing address for Just About Horses for a while (as was neighboring Loves Park, and Walworth, Wisconsin.)

That’s probably all I can/should say about next year’s Vintage Club releases, at this point. Other than if you like what you see so far, wait until you see what’s coming….

(Yes, knowing he was coming did soften the blow of Hot to Trot, just a little bit.)

Good Enough

It just occurred to me that the two items I ordered late last week – the Vintage Club Weather Girl Grace, and the Stablemates Club Finn – are both Gambler’s Choice items. I just paid out a decent chunk of money and I have no idea what I’ll be getting.

Out of the 12 different possible combinations (three of the Grace, four of the Finn) that is.

And you know what? I’m fine with that. I grew up during the “picture box” era of Breyer collecting – pre-1985 – and most of the time you had no idea what you’d actually be getting inside that box. It wasn’t just a solid, opaque cardboard box either: they were shrinkwrapped too!

(Handpicking? Hah!)

Breyer was in something of an experimental phase with retail packaging in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Prior to then, toy stores generally kept out display pieces, and you had to ask the clerk to bring you your selection from their backstock.

By the end of the 1970s, most stores – toys or otherwise – had switched to a self-service mode as a cost-saving measure, which necessitated a move to more decorative and informative packaging.

The history of Breyer packaging is, of course, much more complicated than that, but I don’t have the time or the mind to deal with the intricacies today. Another day, perhaps.

Aside from the packaging issues, a lot of the time you couldn’t trust the catalogs or manuals, either. Case in point: the Stock Horse Stallions from the 1981 Dealer’s Catalog:

Well, okay, I am still a little mad about that one: I want that minimally-marked Black Pinto San Domingo, dangnabit! I probably have a slightly better chance of acquiring one of the numerous Stock Horse Stallions Tests, like this one:

Seriously, there’s like a bajillion different Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallions out there, and I like them all better than the pinto we actually got, but that just might be a “wanting what you can’t have” thing. Or that I’m always up for another Test Color or Oddity, no matter the mold or color. I already have two Stock Horse Stallion Tests, and don’t really need another.

But back to the original point: everyone has gotten very spoiled since the advent of display boxes. We can be picky now, instead of later!

However, the ability to be pickier isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially if we find ourselves becoming so picky that nothing less than perfection is good enough. And since perfection is an arbitrary and abstract concept, what happens is that eventually, no model is ever good enough.

The perfect is the enemy of the good. 

I’m not saying y’all should accept a substandard model, but sometimes, life is easier and a lot less stressful if we just accept that everything comes occasional ding or flaw, whether we like it or not.

Dark Horses

It’s about diggity-dang time they released the Dark Horse Surprise numbers!

Palomino Splash: 1050 Matte/175 Gloss (1225 total)
Appaloosa: 850 Matte/175 Gloss (1025 total)
Bay Tobiano Pinto: 575 Matte/175 Gloss (750 total)
Flaming Decorator: 425 Matte/175 Gloss (600 total)
Black: 225 Matte/175 Gloss (400 total)

The Black is definitely the rarest, and the Splash Palomino the most common. No surprises there.

But I thought – based on online and event sales – that the Bay Pinto was going to be the second rarest.

Apparently the large number of Decorators I saw for sale wasn’t a result of sheer numbers, but a lack of interest/appeal in the color itself, primarily among younger collectors – much like the original 1960s Decorators!

In fact, if I heard any complaints at all about the Surprise model this year, it was from younger collectors bemoaning the fact that they pulled the Decorator. It was very clearly designed to appeal to a rather different clientele from the typical BreyerFest attendee – ones more interested in horsepower, rather than horse power.

It’ll be interesting to see if, like the original vintage Decos, that translates into increased interest (and prices) in the color in the future.

It’s been my experience that younger collectors seem to prefer the Tobiano Pintos; add into the mix the fact that the Smarty Jones hasn’t come in a lot of pintos in general (with the most accessible being the still-pretty-tough-to-get 2007 Collector’s Choice Windtalker in Grulla Overo) and it makes some sense that any kids that snagged one likely kept it.

I would have been fine with the Deco if I had gotten one – you know I love Translucents – but I am glad I ended up with my two favorites: the Black and the Palomino Splash!

Just a few weeks ago I was pining for more Splash Pintos, and the one in the Dark Horse Surprise is beautifully executed: if he had been a standalone Special Run this year, I would have likely bought him!

And well, I’ve been a longtime champion of Solid Black paintjobs for years. When I went over to the Silent Auction Booth to ogle the complete set of Glossies Friday afternoon, two thoughts immediately crossed my mind:

“Ooh, the Black one’s my favorite!”

“He’s probably the rare one. I always pick the rare one.”

I guess my only (slight) criticism of the Dark Horse Surprise was the predictability: a lot of people pegged it as the Smarty Jones early on. I was hoping that Reeves would throw us a curveball and give us something offbeat or a little more Quarter/Stock Horsey.

High Anxiety

Got the Silver Filigree Callahan I wanted, yay!

The detailing on the tail ribbon is amazing, and other than a few tiny bits of roughness in the gloss that can be felt, but not seen, I have no complaints about the Callahan itself.

But seriously, Reeves, we need to talk about the box.

I had heard that a higher percentage of boxes for the Callahans were arriving in less-than-optimal condition. While I have had my share of bumped and bruised boxes over the years, I haven’t had all that much to complain about.

But alas, not today. Fortunately my Callahan was fine; nevertheless, the only anxiety I should have felt today in opening the box should have been about what color I was getting, not how many pieces the model might have been broken into.

Do better, guys. 

Anyway…

This is what happens when I skip a day at the flea market:

I stop at the Salvation Army on the way home from work the next day and buy a ton of G3 My Little Ponies. And I don’t even collect them!

The cashier who rang me up gave me some serious side-eye, so I told her “they’ll make great party favors!”

In reality, I bought them for the BreyerFest stash – not that I need any more stuff, necessarily, but I do need the right kind of stuff, and I had a pretty good response the last time I brought some.

I did feel a little bit guilty about buying them, not really knowing that market or collecting that item per se. The tiny bit of research I did today didn’t indicate anything particularly rare in the lot of 19, but I’m not aiming to make a big profit, regardless.

I tend to see stuff like this as a way to bank some trip money ahead of time. Other people start a vacation savings account for their trip: I buy models to sell, even if it’s only a slight profit. Those slight profits tend to give me a better return on my investment than a bank savings account, too.

And it was kind of relaxing to clean them up and sort them out in between doing less pleasant things yesterday; I haven’t had much “grooming time” with the Breyers lately, other that the Memorial Day Weekend Dusting Project that for reasons I will not go into was not relaxing in the least.

Callahan, and Waiting It Out

I didn’t buy Fletcher, or Griffin, or Starlet, and I managed to bypass Koh-i-Noor the second time he was offered, too. But the Callahan? He finally broke me:

Bought one so fast I forgot to pull down the web site images and data! Oops!

My excuses, this time: I had some money in the PayPal account, and I still didn’t have a Classic Head Down Shire B here yet. All the versions of that mold that I do like I can’t afford at the moment, and since I like all three of the colors they were offering, it seemed like the logical thing to do.

However, I sold my Pamplemousse a while ago, and I was never drawn for a Silverado; since I do still have my Silver Snow, that’s the Mini Me I’m hoping for.

I’m with a lot of people here: I do kind of wish Reeves would slow down the pace of all these offers. 2018 is beginning to feel a bit like 1984/5 – another time period where we were being barraged with one Special Run after another.

It was both harder, and easier back then. It was harder, because we had neither social media nor the Internet to keep us informed. You had to rely on your own hobby network – and monthly hobbyist newsletters – to find out about the Special Runs in the first place.

There were not quite as many mail-order retailers as you might think, so there’d be a good chance you might already be on the mailing list of a company who had, or was going to get, a Special Run soon. News and the mail traveled more slowly then: whether you got the sales list on time, or even found out about these Special Runs in time was the bigger worry.

It was easier back then because even though the piece runs were smaller – sometimes significantly so – it’d still take a few weeks or months for most things to sell out. You had the luxury of time – not a lot, but enough to take a deep breath.

The hobby was smaller back then, too. Less competition!

We had our profit-takers and flippers, too, but the problem wasn’t as widespread. There were some examples of quick sellouts, demand that vastly exceeded supply, and a couple of instances of people buying multiples for resale that profoundly warped the market.

Prices for some of the in-demand SRs remained high for while, but the Internet quickly cured that. There are still some – like the Buckskin Adios, or the 1984 G1 Stablemate Draft Horses – that command the big bucks, but most SRs of years past aren’t all that expensive or difficult to find anymore.

And that’s going to be the case with these newer ones, too, no matter how popular a mold may be now. Some go up and stay up, but most go down eventually. Or at least become less hotly contested.

If you couldn’t get one, and can’t afford the aftermarket now, just wait it out a bit. Something new will come along, and people will sell something old to buy something new.

Chasing Rainbows

First we heard about the upcoming Classics release Day Dreamer, who is a Translucent Classics Harper with a rainbow on it.

Then we get an e-mail about the 2018 Stablemates Club Gambler’s Choice Finn the Mule, and one of the four potential selections is a Rainbow Overo Pinto:

And then news broke of an apparent Walmart Special Run Classics Unicorn named Skylar, who is a Pearly/Iridescent White Forthwind with a sparkly Rainbow-striped mane and tail.

This is an interesting development. So everything is coming up rainbows for 2018?

We have had a number of pastel and multicolored releases in the recent past – such as the Peace, Love and Horses Classics Warmblood Mare, some of the Unicorn releases like the Alaric, and a number of Test Colors – but it wasn’t until 2011 that we had a true “Rainbow-themed” release, with the Translucent Weather Girl Treasure Hunt redemption horse.

I’m all for Decorator finishes, but I’ve found the rainbow-themed ones aren’t really my cup of tea. (If I do happen to end up with the Rainbow Mule, I won’t be looking to trade. Generally I just go with whatever I get on Gambler’s Choice models.)

Actually, this is cool – if 2018 is going to be the Year of the Rainbow, that’ll help me out tremendously. One of the resolutions I was considering for next year was cutting back the horse buying to an absolute minimum: that means no retail “fun money” binges, no late night eBay pity purchases, and no Web Specials unless they happen to be one of the handful of molds or concepts that push my buttons (like the Traditional Man o’ War, or a holiday-themed Elk).

So it’ll just be obligate Club purchases, BreyerFest, and the incidental flea market/thrift store finds that mostly end up on my sales list anyway. Oh, and the Customer Appreciation Promotion, if they happen to do the “FREE GLOSSIES FOR EVERYBODY” thing again next year.

I’ll still be open to trades and genuine upgrades, and if something insanely rare and cheap turns up in my radar I certainly won’t turn it down, either.

But I’ve been liking the space my recent collection reorganization has given me, and goodness, I certainly could do without the paperwork all that buying and reselling entails. The extra money’s been helpful, but I’d rather have that time to focus on more creative endeavors next year. (Most of them not model-horse-related, unless you count Sparky and Jules.)

The Exclusive Event that’s coming up in the Spring also seems unlikely, though I’d rather wait to cross that bridge when I get to it.

Glossies for Everybody!

So this happened, and I caved:

It’s a surprise which one you’ll receive, and they are all beautiful, exclusive pieces!  Will you get an adorable Hickory Hills Wall Street decked out in a high gloss finish?  Or will it be decorator denim blue Liberty with his high shine?  Or super glossy bronzy-coppery metallic limited edition Bandera?  Or glossy pinto drafter Bryant’s Jake?  We know you'll enjoy each one of these lovely models. But which one will you receive? 

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who had been suggesting that they “gloss up” overstock and make some sort of special offer out of it. Collectors love Glossy variations and guaranteeing a limited edition Glossy with your order (albeit in a “Gambler’s Choice” fashion) seems like a pretty easy and obvious one to do.

I have no idea how they’re going to work the numbers, though I think I’ll be the contrarian and assume there will be 125 pieces of each of the four mentioned in the e-mail: the Pinto Wixom Jake, the Chestnut Brighty, the Decorator Silver and the Bandera.

It might seem like there are more Banderas, but that’ll be because the hobby currently has a major ick-cooties thing going on with that release.

I’ve said this before, but I don’t think Bandera has been as big a “flop” as the hobby seems to think he is. It’s a slightly different item designed for a slightly different market: not every model can, or should be, tailored specifically to hobbyists.

The hobby isn’t the whole market; it isn’t even the engine that drives the market. But that’s not a discussion I want to get into, today, especially since lots of hobbyists are still doomy and gloomy over the DreamWorks hires. (“It’s going to be nothing but cartoon horses with eyebrows from now on!” Sigh. No guys, no.)

If an argument can be made for any one of the four offerings being seriously overstocked, I’d go with the Brighty: the discount retail chain Ollie’s was selling them a couple weeks ago for $9.99 – 60 percent off MSRP! (They also had the Traditional American Pharoah, the Black Adios Fonzie Merit, and some of the Traditional Foal with Blanket sets, at somewhat less drastic discounts.)

I hope this kind of Customer Appreciation promotion – Glossy Overstock models for everybody! – becomes an annual thing, much like the Decorator Holiday Animal has. That way everyone would have the potential to snag at least one guaranteed limited edition Glossy – as long as they can scrape up $125 worth of stuff to buy off the web site.

(Though it might be nice if they also had a straight-up Glossy Overstock Gambler’s Choice offer from time to time, too, for the more budget-conscious among us.)

Calvin

Nope Reeves, can’t make me…

I just can’t do it right now, guys. The budget says no to Calvin!

Actually, it’s more like my budget is laughing and then pointing out to me that if I really want one, I should just wait a few months when everyone who was hoping for the “Metallic Interference Blue” one tries to sell off the Bays and Chestnuts they got instead.

In the case of the previous Gambler’s Choice Classic Scotty, all three colors were more or less equally desirable: that was sort of the whole point of offering him as a Gambler’s Choice, since voting didn’t produce a clear winner.

However, the BIS Quarter Horse is not a Love Classic, and the only color that’s generating any real passion is the Blue one. (Am I the only one thinking that Metallic Interference Blue is going to be the next Silver Filigree?)

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love a Blue Calvin, too. I’ve done my share of futile blind bag groping at Tractor Supply, searching for the G4 Endurance Arabian. (When I’ve actually found any Blind Bags to grope. Sigh.)

But I really do need to focus on other things, budget-wise, and there are still a couple of recently purchased packages sitting here in the office that I haven’t gotten to opening yet, anyway. Including a grail, yeesh!

Incidentally, I am absolutely fine with the use of the Best in Show Quarter Horse; the original release’s scary bald face threw me for a loop, but the #931 Dark Bay Roan finally won me over.

Of the three “Best in Show” Classics – the Quarter Horse, the Arabian, and the Thoroughbred – it’s the Quarter Horse that’s had the most releases so far. Save for the original release and the Bay Roan, almost all of them have been Special Runs.

Only the 2010 Tractor Supply “Famous Sire” Series pieces are particularly difficult to find, though. I kind of regret not picking up the Appaloosa Prince Plaudit set when I had the chance. I’ve had some luck finding TSC Specials at the flea markets around here, so I won’t give up hope just yet.

The Burbank Color

My Fylkir arrived earlier this week. The Appaloosa!

Once upon a time I had a notion that the Stablemates Icelandic mold would be something that I’d actively collect. I haven’t gotten the 2013 One-Day Stablemate Indigo yet, but that was more a matter of timing and priorities, rather than money.

Then Reeves had to go and make him the Gambler’s Choice mold for the Stablemates Club this year.

I was absolutely fine with all four of Fylkir’s colors, but I was hoping that I’d get one of the “more desirable” ones, primarily to save myself some money. Alas, it appears – at least in the short term – that the Appaloosa is the least popular of the four colors.

That’s kind of a bummer, but I do have some big expenses coming up soon anyway, so I’ll chalk it up as the Universe’s way telling me the disposable parts of my income need to go elsewhere.

One thing I find interesting about the Appaloosa Fylkir is that it’s another appearance – second in a year, in fact – of the Burbank colorway: a dark-headed Bay Roan Appaloosa with a masked spotted hip blanket, first popularized on the Exclusive Event Nokota Horse release in 2008.

Earlier this year, we saw it again on the Collector’s Club Exclusive on the Classics Swaps mold, as one of the three available colors on Scotty. That I did not buy because (grumble-mumble) they didn’t make my favorite out of the quartet – the Dun – we voted on.

(Hmm. My favorite of the four Gambler’s Choice Diesels last year was the Gloss Brindle, who also ended up being the least popular of that set. I sense a trend…)

Anyway, it’s kind of neat to see a color “born” like this, especially since it arose out of a Special Run that was not that well received when he was released. Though I think that was due more to his relatively large run size for an Exclusive Event item, rather than any aesthetic issues.

I wonder who’ll be the next to wear it?

Odd Person Out

Funny how this always happens right after I pay my bills:

They made a Gambler’s Choice out of the Classics Swaps they asked us to vote on last year, and the one I liked – the Dun – didn’t make the cut. I figured the Dun was a long shot anyway (Matte + Solid), but to finish fourth in a field of four?

Ouch.

If there’s any silver lining to this cloud, the absence of my personal favorite makes it easier to walk away from a deal I would have had to walk away from regardless. The possibility of Reeves pulling a silly on us and issuing a few Duns as chase pieces in Scotty’s run isn’t enough motivation, either.

Then to make me feel even more like the “odd person out”, there’s the Special Edition Liberty, on the Silver mold:

I’ll give Reeves credit for managing to come up with a color that the Silver mold hadn’t come in yet. It’s similar in concept to the Lone Star Experience Fighting Stallion from 2009, the Rearing G2 Arabian from the same event, and the 2013 BreyerFest Special Run Lady Phase Twill.

But yeah, no on this one too. While the paint job is pretty, I’m not a member of the Silver Cheerleading Squad. Put that same color on the Rearing Stallion and we can talk...

This point seems a bit silly, but I am also annoyed by the copy on the promo flier:

Everyone knows that any American cowboy (or cowgirl) worth their salt owns their fair share of jeans – both for riding and for evenings off the ranch boot scootin’!

I don’t know why Reeves is so enamored of line dancing – there have been two different releases to bear the name Boot Scootin’ Boogie, including a Regular Run Justin Morgan in Black and a BreyerFest Raffle Model Brishen in 2013.

However, as someone who shares a house with a dog with various digestive issues, the term “boot scootin’” conjures up some less than pleasant memories.

(Though I would not mind getting the Justin Morgan one eventually. That mold looks good in Black!)

The Holiday Shermans

When the “Christmas Surprise” e-mail came through late on December 24, my imagination went into overtime with all of potential ways Reeves could tempt me.

An Elk? A Deer Family? The Zebra? Maybe even another dog, like the Saint Bernard?

Instead, we got a trio of Sherman Morgans:

Since I don’t love the mold as much as others do, and I’m not one to buy to resell, I walked away from the offer with my Paypal account balance intact. A Gold Florentine to match my Silver Filigree Celebration would have been nice, but it being a Gambler’s Choice there was no way I could guarantee it.

(The Silver Filigree Celebration, incidentally, is the only example I have of the revised Sherman Morgan mold; my other three Shermans are all of the original lumpy version with the turd-shaped tail.)

I imagine if he came in a favorite color like the original Freckle Red Roan or the “Silver Dilute Dun” the Web Special Adios Frappe came in, the story would be different. I sometimes hesitate just a bit whenever I see an affordably priced Gloss QVC Special Run of the Justin Morgan, or the Millennium Horse Carpe Diem.

I wouldn’t have hesitated to keep a Silver Charm Celebration either, if I had lucked into one.

It wasn’t all that surprising that the Sherman didn’t sell out by the end of the day: there were 350 of each color, 1050 pieces total, and limited to one per account. That’s a lot of models! I’m not sure he even officially sold out, or they just removed him from the site.

Other than the Grab Bag with the WEG Classics Ruffian in it, I didn’t bite on any of the offers made on the web site this Holiday season. I did put a few items in my shopping cart to see if they qualified for the latest “Free Random Gloss Classic Arabian” offer. They did, and the Free Shipping offer on top of that was tempting.

But still didn’t do it.

One of my hobby resolutions for next year is to get models off the office floor, and that’s going to require another culling of the herd by another five or ten percent. Buying fewer models now will mean fewer models to cull later.

Brindles

I honestly wasn’t expecting the rather intense reaction to the latest Stablemates Club release Diesel – a Gambler’s Choice/Surprise on the G4 Reiner:

Guess that means I can cross off trying to complete the set – at a reasonable price! Ah well, it’s been a long time since my Stablemates collection was more or less complete, anyway. (Though I am thinking about remedying that situation somewhat next year.)

I’ll be happy with whatever one I end up with, but I think the Brindle is my favorite – it’s a rarely attempted color, especially on horses. The best known Breyer Brindles include the 1995 Boxer “Pug”, the Companion Series Great Dane, the 2008 Exclusive Event Bull Rodeo Drive, last year’s BreyerFest SR Le Taureau, and the Broken Horn Saddlery Bull “Charlie”:

We rarely see brindling attempted on horses, outside of Test and Auction pieces, like this year’s Man o’ War Lot:

(I liked him, but I could have done without that weird tail.)

And this lovely Smart Chic Olena from 2012:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/BreyerFest/images/bf12smart.jpg

There’s probably a reason for that: Reeves is still trying to get “brindle” right, at least from a mass-production horse standpoint. It’s one thing to make a singular piece for auction, but it’s quite another to reproduce it consistently and well across several hundred or thousand pieces.

It’s been reserved largely for Nonhorse molds because aside from being a more commonly found pattern in dogs and cattle – and cats, if you count “tabby” as a type of brindling – collectors tend to be a bit more forgiving when it comes to paint jobs on Nonhorse molds.

If I am remembering right, I do believe the little Diesel is the first mass production attempt of a full-blown brindle paint job on a horse mold. Though in this case, it is only a Stablemate, and there will still only be a few hundred made, at best.

But it’s a start.

Coin Flips

Shall I remind you again how awesome my Salvation Army is? I found this dress on sale there a couple weeks ago:

Next year’s theme is a Rio-style Carnaval, and my local Salvation Army delivers to me – on sale, even! – a blue and yellow satin dress that looks like it fell out of Carmen Miranda’s closet. Seriously, what were the odds of that happening?

It’s not a completely random thing, finding this dress: this particular store has a reputation for unexpected treasures, and I try to make it a habit to visit once a week or so. But finds like these (see also: Excalibur and Shannon) have made me think a great deal about the difference between chance and luck.

Chance is the outcome of the coin flip: absent any external or interfering factors (like the wind, or a weighted coin) it is completely random.

Luck is what you can make of those coin flips.

Luck can be changed: time or perspective can later reveal a bad flip good, a good flip bad, or inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. But sometimes chance deals us blows – one big one, or series of small ones – that are devastating in ways a little positive thinking can’t completely overcome.

Chance is far more difficult to change. While coin flips do even out over the long run, in the short run you’re going to have runs of very fortunate flips, and runs of very bad ones. Unless you’re a Jedi (unlikely) you can’t change those coin flips, regardless of how or what you think about them.

I spent way too much time over the weekend persuading myself not to participate in this week’s “Collector Appreciation Weekend”. The text of the e-mail suggested that a different set of freebies will be available, and the Roan AQHA Horses appear to be sold out on the web site, hence my indecision.

In the end I didn’t do it, mostly because I hated having completely random chance trying to dictate my happiness. I’ll buy the models I want to buy now because I like them and want them, and not worry about the “friends” they might bring with them.

If I can get a few other things worked out on Tuesday, I might take Reeves up on that discount-plus-free-shipping thing. I’ve been lingering over the new Deer Family release every time I’ve seen one in my travels…

As far as the dress goes, I don’t know if I am going to participate in the costume contest, but at some point during the festivities, I am going to wear it.

(When I showed it to Mom, her first reaction was “You’re wearing that to BreyerFest next year, aren’t you?” Sometimes it’s like she knows me!)

It’ll make me happy, it might make other people happy. I have to keep reminding myself that that should be the end of the discussion.