From Marvelpalooza to Taylor Swiftmas

Never have I felt more out of the target demographic than I did with the not-completely-unexpected reveal of the 2024 BreyerFest Stablemates:

Look, I am all for any excuse to bring back Purple Filigree, because Purple Filigree RULES, but I am NOT a “Girl Power Ballad” person. I’ve got nothing against Taylor Swift personally or aesthetically, but my current musical tastes run more toward 1980s Synth Pop, Metal, and Classic Rock. And to be perfectly honest, the very first thing that popped into my head is:

“Oh no, this is Horse Heroes all over again, isn’t it?”

As in, a tangential reference that might end up taking over the whole darn theme, and one that walks right up to the legal borders of infringement?

Yeah, I know it’s only the Stablemates and Celebration Horse that have been revealed so far, and we have about 50 or so more releases to prove me wrong, but it’s still making me nervous.

Especially since I kind of feel the whole “Girl Power” movement is a little troubling in and of itself; all I’ll say here is that there are people in my life who have completely and utterly embraced it, and… I am not particularly fond of their company. 

Update: oof, looks like I was right: they are definitely going 100 percent full bore in that direction. Sigh. The model is beautiful and the Indian Pony always sells well, but seriously, aside from the thematic issues, song lyrics just aren’t very good names.

I am also not thrilled that it’s making me feel old, but some of my ongoing health problems are also to blame for that; I was going to call the doctor yesterday to make an appointment about my back, but I almost ended up in the ER instead for another reason entirely. 

(I’ll leave out the gory details: not because I don’t want to share, but because they may be triggering.)

The 1994 BreyerFest Benefit Auction

Well, I thought I had a fabulous weekend, but Monday made me pay for it. We’re talking sitcom-level, head-in-my-hands insanity, here. 

And to top it all off, I didn’t get selected for “Pronghorn” Yellowstone: I’m trying to understand how I managed to get not one, but two BreyerFest Variant Runs and a Live Show Prize model, but I still can’t get selected for Web Specials that are now up to (checks e-mail) 750 pieces?

Madness.

Since I’m in no mood to write today, here’s one of the posts I drafted over the weekend when life was not a snarling mass of chaos, and which I also thought I would not need to deploy until next weekend. So much for best laid plans! 

So here’s a few photos from the 1994 BreyerFest Auction, for your amusement and edification; they were a gift from a friend:

I remember being particularly enamored of both the Brindle Bay Proud Arabian Stallion and the Gloss Black Sham. 

I think the Dark Bay Indian Pony turned up on eBay a couple of years ago at an insanely low Buy It Now price, presumably because the seller probably thought it was the later Saddle Club Belle release. I didn’t save the pictures from that auction so I can’t confirm it, now that I kinda have a picture of the real deal…

I stuck around for some of the auctioneering, but I left part of the way through because I didn’t have the spare money to even buy the Lady Roxana. The only other thing I specifically remember from this auction is the fuss made by someone over the fact that they were auctioning off a Strawberry Roan Pluto that was almost identical to one sold the year before.  

Well, fuss wasn’t quite the word. This person was pissed. It was removed from the auction with the promise of it being destroyed, but I’m not sure that was a sufficiently satisfactory answer. 

Real Test Colors – ones made to test out things for actual production – are rarely unique. Most of the models that appeared at these early Benefit Auctions were actual Tests that were just hanging around the office at the time, and not stuff that was tailored to bidder preferences. 

It swung in the opposite direction for a while, but there seems to be more of a balance today, with some items clearly designed to generate bids, and others that were clearly more experimental. 

Anyway, I now need to take a deep breath and see what the rest of Tuesday has in store for me.

Bay Indian Ponies

Regarding the Tractor Supply Special Run Indian Pony Sayen, I am not understanding why everyone is all “It’s about time we got a simple Bay paint job on the Indian Pony, yay!” when the Red Bay Black Horse Ranch Special Run Indian Pony has… existed since 1987? 

I mean, yeah, there were only 400 of them, and a lot of them turned into Shrinky Puddles of Goo, but nevertheless the notion of putting the Indian Pony in a Solid Bay paint job has been visited before. 

I much preferred the Liver Chestnut one that was briefly depicted on the Tractor Supply web site, but I guess that was an unselected prototype that we may or may not see someday somewhere else, like the Zippo Pine Bar “Chance” that ended up a Mid-States Special Run instead. 

I’m currently in the middle of completely revamping my inventory system at home, so the last thing I’m looking for is more models. 

(If I implement it correctly, I’ll never lose track of anything again. I’m hoping.)

Thriller and Equidae have both arrived but are still unopened, and my Second Chance Sale stuff is supposedly going to be here by the end of the day. The answer to the question of my Gran Cavallo – Purple, or Not Purple? – also won’t be answered until at least the weekend. And maybe after I get a few more boxes of inventory done.

(Twelve down, 26 more to go! Oh, joy…)

I also drew up a preliminary list for the Customer Appreciation Sale, if it happens at all this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets delayed or canceled entirely because of the supply chain issues, but it never hurts to be prepared. 

If it does, I just hope all the Stablemates I want are back in stock by that time.  

Big Money Chalkies

I now have a pretty decent picture of a Black Dapple Belgian (thanks Jeri!) but I am still in search of a Rainbow Weather Girl pic. I think I’ll be good otherwise, but I’m making my last edits this weekend, and if it’s anything like my editing process with any of my other creative endeavors, I’m sure something will come up. 

By the way, if it’s one thing this video project has reminded me of, it’s that I do not like taking photographs, not one bit.

That’s also why I’m deciding to forego the BreyerFest Photo Show this year – one of the reasons, anyway. There’s apparently a limit on photos this year also, and I simply don’t have the time to curate my photos that well. 

I definitely took a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” approach last year, out of necessity. 

And as far as I could tell, any extra effort I put into making my photos “pretty” didn’t really help that much either: I know they said as much in the rules that it didn’t matter, and it showed in some of the placings. 

You’d think that would fall under the banner of “showmanship”, but whatever.

I have too much to do between now and BreyerFest as it is; I’d rather spend that time doing other things, like pulling the 3000 or so dandelions that have mysterious popped up in my garden (darn you, milder than average Winter!), finishing some of the quilts I promised to finish last year, and catching up on about a year’s worth of TV shows and movies. 

(Just about the only non-model-horse-related content I’ve been able to partake in over the past six months was a 4-hour long magnum opus about the end of the world, and it shows. I mean, I enjoyed it, but not the lightest of entertainments.)

To give you guys a little bit of model horse related content, here’s one of the photographs I’ve taken over the past couple of days: my Chalky Bay Appaloosa Indian Pony!

While she’s one of the scarcer Chalkies out there and I knew it when I bought her, I still winced a little when I paid the rather steep (for me) price of $45 for this beauty at BreyerFest several years back. I think that is the most I had paid for a Chalky up to that point, and even since then. (Cheapskate, etc.)

I shudder to think just how much she’d go for now. Car payment territory, maybe? 

Doesn’t matter, she’s not going anywhere.

I also discovered that I have way more Chalkies than I thought I did. Not a lot of the “big money” ones like the Shire, Misty or the Proud Arabian Mares, but at least a couple dozen. I’m so glad I was ahead of that curve before it took its huge exponential turn.

Most of the ones I now have were acquired the old-fashioned way: flea markets and cheap box lots on eBay with blurry pictures. Crossing my fingers that I find the rest of the ones I “need” the same way.

(For some reason I have never owned a Chalky Yellow Mount. I think I need one. Eventually.)

This Year

This year can kiss my pasty white butt.

I had crafted a much longer and more thoughtful post for today (well, now yesterday), but my computer crashed and took that file with it; all that remains of that original effort is the title above and the photo below:

Anyone who has seen the contents of my car or the current state of my office will realize that I can make no great claims to willpower; indeed, if this year has shown, I am all too willing to succumb to my immediate impulses. 

The displayer of 70th Anniversary Stablemates remained unopened until the 25th because there was/is literally stuff on top of stuff: I simply have not had the time or space to do it. But at least in this case, as the photograph above has demonstrated, it was worth the wait.

I still want the Platinum Brishen, but not before I finish cleaning up my office and my workspace. (I did manage to clean up my sewing table today. While waiting for the computer to finishing uncrashing, sure, but still...)

For the moment, like so many of us, I simply want the year to be over and done with. I want to put all the troubles of the past 12 months in a tidy little box, put the box in our fancy new garbage incinerator and toast some marshmallows to the flames.

And the thing is that, on paper, I had a pretty good year. We all made it through the year relatively healthy, my finances are in good shape, I have acquired a number of (what I had assumed were unattainable) grails, and even my previously neglected garden is looking presentable now. 

But if I, someone who is fire phobic, felt like I had a rough enough year that I wanted to set it proverbially aflame, I can only imagine what it has been like for others who have not been so fortunate.

The Details

Going through my receipts yesterday (I hadn’t touched them at all this year – Bad Andrea!) I discovered why I was feeling so overwhelmed over the past two weeks:

I’ve bought over 100 models in the past month and a half! 

The majority of them came in four large box lots of 15 to 25 models apiece, but a fair share of them also came from Breyer’s recent sales promotions and club offerings. (I am counting the Anniversary Stablemates Displayer as one item for the moment, not 24, because I haven’t opened it yet. This is my logic, and I have spoken.) 

Recent developments have taken some of the financial pressure off me having to sell things online, but having models in every nook and cranny of my bedroom, my office, the bathroom, and even my car(!) is starting to wear on me, psychologically, so I’ll have to do something soon. 

One of the complications I’m running into is that a number of the pieces I’ve bought in the box lots are – or may be – possible upgrades, and that part of the process is going to be a massive time suck. 

I’ll dig things out, compare and contrast, make hard decisions, get lost admiring some treasure I had in storage that I now want to display and then have to choose who goes back into storage. 

One collection I bought is particularly challenging: most of the models are from ca. 1969 through ca. 1974, and some of them have details that lead me to believe that it might be a salesman’s sample lot. The paint jobs are exceptional, and there are some oddities that definitely give me pause – like a partially chalky Saddlebred Weanling, and a Buckskin Mustang with factory painted black hoof bottoms (all four, not just the front two!)

But it’s also entirely possible that this collector was simply very particular about handpicking; many stores were still displaying sales pieces in glass cabinets or behind sales counters during this time period. For those that didn’t (or couldn’t) the clear plastic Showcase Collection was also an option in the early 1970s.

As I’ve mentioned before, Breyer shifted away from gloss finishes and unrealistic colors in the early 1970s due to both consumer and hobbyist demand. They started experimenting with more naturalistic colors and spending more time adding subtle details wherever they could, like these individually painted tendrils in this Buckskin Indian Pony’s mane:

(In case you were wondering, yes, the Buckskin Indian Pony was in that lot and no, you can’t have her.)

Unfortunately, it’s the little details like these that tend to get dropped when (inevitably) production can’t meet demand. This holds true even for more recent releases: this is why I tell people to hesitate just a bit before they dive into customizing the newest/latest molds and models. You might end up doing something you’ll regret later!

Incidentally, if you are looking for something to customize, that’s one section of the sales list that’s (almost) sorted out, so it’ll probably be the first thing I list online sometime in the next week or so. Mostly older Hess molds, Love Classics and some Mestenos, if you’re curious. 

Random Yelling at the Clouds

First, this happened – with one entry, on one account:

Good thing I have until Monday to decide and/or scratch up the extra cash!

Then they posted these guys on the BreyerFest Blog:

Oh good grief, a Few-Spot Appaloosa Indian Pony AND a Palomino Pinto Shagya-Arabian as the big prizes at the BreyerFest Open Show?

Again, this bears repeating: my mention of the Shagya-Arabian mold last post was purely coincidence. I swear. I was hoping that my ability to attain a complete Yasmin collection would be left theoretically possible for a little bit longer.

Alas, no.

And I should have seen the Few-Spot Appaloosa coming, after the rather enthusiastic reception the Few-Spot True North received at auction last year, and the Special Run Fighting Stallion Pima did at Scottsdale Exclusive Event back in November.

What I’d like even more is a Few-Spot Appaloosa in an attainable Special Run or Regular Run. So help me, if the Surprise Model this year includes a Few-Spot in the assortment….

(I always thought Foalzilla would look awesome as a Few-Spot Appaloosa, hint-hint.)

After my better-than-expected success at Pansies and Ponies back in April, I did briefly consider entering the Open Show. But that would have required a massive rearranging of plans that were already in process, all because I did better than I expected at a local show.

I think I want to participate in a few more shows before going all-in on an event with stakes that high, if only to get a better lay of the (live show) land. The last time I showed actively, documentation was unusual and collectability was a single group-entry class.

There’s an All-Collectibility show in Indiana in September that I am seriously considering. It’s just a tad farther out of the way than I would usually consider traveling for a live show, but if there’s one thing I am strong in, it’s Collectibility, right?

It’s been a while since I’ve visited Indiana, and I’m always up for a road trip, too.

More Not-So-News Things

Typical: work gets crazy for a couple of days, and suddenly there’s model horse news everywhere.

First, there’s the Pop-Up Store Stablemate Copacabana, a Decorator on the G3 Running Mustang:

Argh! I was hoping to avoid the Mercado this year, because I haven’t had much luck in the past few Pop-Up Stores. If they significantly up the piece count on it enough that I’ll be able to stroll in Saturday afternoon and pick one up, great. If not, he gets consigned to my want list.

I have too many lines to stand in and too many activities to participate in to suffer for a Stablemate. Even a purple one covered in orange flames.

I think it’s interesting, though, that hobbyists are generally more accepting of crazier or more experimental Deco finishes on Stablemates than they are on larger scale items. Personally, I’d totally be down with the 2014 Birthday Cake paintjob on almost anything:

Second, they’re doing another Test Color Purchase Raffle, and this time around it’s something with a significantly larger fan base than the Cody:

A fleabitten gray Indian Pony. Oh, dear.

Is this going to be a monthly thing now? I don’t know if I can handle that, especially if they get around to the stuff that makes me crazy, like a Pacer, Man o’ War, or a Stretch Morgan. And if is, I hope they throw in a few more affordable pieces in smaller scales along the way, or an occasional giveaway. (Affording it will be a challenge. But gosh, a fleabitten IP?)

I’d hate to see this new thing turn into a de facto two-part event every time: the raffling, then the reselling. I guess all I can say about this one is that I hope one of her many adoring fans (if not me!) straight-up wins her.

And third, I stand corrected: the “new” Sao Paolo mold is actually the Stablemates scale porcelain Esperanza, from the Spirit Collection. That would explain her slightly cartoonish features!

I have a good explanation for missing that: I grew up in an era where all Breyers were plastic, and I still have a hard time seeing or acknowledging Breyers as Breyers that aren’t. And I prefer plastic: I was born clumsy (almost literally!) so anything fragile that enters this residence tends to end up broken or damaged at some point.

Consequently, I only have a small number of Nonplastic pieces – mostly ornaments, and mostly gifts. And while I really dig a couple of those “Breeds of the World” resins, I haven’t been brave enough to buy one, even the deeply discounted ones I see at Tuesday Morning.

But yes, definitely something that came out of left field. Or more descriptively, the parking lot behind the fence beyond left field. Makes me wonder what gets translated into plastic next...

Ceci n'est pas un Press Release

First, let’s get a few PSAs out of the way. The Mid-States Special is up on the Rural King web site, a pretty splash spot Appaloosa Indian Pony named Miigwan:

http://www.ruralking.com/dream-catcher-breyer-midstates.html

I think there’s another Mid-States Exclusive, a Classic, but I wasn’t able to find it on their web site.

And for those of you having access issues with Tractor Supply - either there ain’t one in your area, or the hordes have already descended and picked your stores clean, Dillon is also available on the TSC web site.

http://www.tractorsupply.com//ProductDisplay?cm_vc=-10005&urlRequestType=Base&productId=236119&catalogId=10051&categoryId=&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&urlLangId=&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=10151

This suggests that in spite of the seemingly more limited distribution (two per store?) that it might be an open-ended run - or that they reserved a portion of the run for online sales. Either/any way, there you go. (I’m still on the fence. Too much stuff, not enough time, boxes sitting around unopened, etc.)

I’ve also noticed a few newer America’s Mustang/Mesteno sets floating around the farm store circuit - some slightly repackaged older items, and some brand new things. (Note: work takes me to such places. I am not shopping.) I hear there’s a new one with a Bucking Bronco, which might be a must-get for me, since that mysterious set with the Bronco and White Wolf is still mostly MIA.

(Ooh boy, if Reeves ever dropped those en masse on the web site or in the Pit …)

Didn’t get picked for the Web Special Kimbia on the Smarty Jones mold. I thought I had a shot; I didn’t get a chance to review most of the commentary, but the brief skims I did catch were rather…unhappy and dismissive. In a way that suggested there’d be fewer entries than normal.

I haven’t seen too many up for sale in the usual places, last I looked, which (I hope) means that most of the hobbyists who won were ones that were intending on keeping them. Or it really, really tanked. If that’s the case, then it means I might get a chance to buy him after all, in November or December, perhaps?

I have tons to sell in the meantime. I’m hoping that I can finally get around to rounding up the sales herd next week, when work slows down (allegedly). It’s getting way too cramped around here, as you might have noticed from the setups for some of the recent photos. I’ve been on such a time crunch here that only just finished mopping up the last bits of debris from the garage sale, for Heaven’s sake.

(For the record, I haven’t won a single Web Special since I switched to my "one entry only" routine. I have also never been picked from the wait list for anything, ever, including all the Connoisseurs.)

My "grail" arrived yesterday, and it’s even cooler - and more mysterious - than I imagined. It’ll be a little while before you read about it here, since I need to do some follow-up research on it first. All I’ll say for the moment is that it’s something I guarantee that a good 99 percent of you haven’t seen before, either, outside of Breyer PR.

And that 99 percent of you probably wouldn’t want anyway, but you know I’m weird like that.

Next time, something that looks less like a press release from Reeves.

Kiowa

There was a last minute change to my schedule the other day that actually left me with (gasp!) a small window of time to myself. That I promptly used to open up my Kiowa, because I had heard rumors that they were Chalky. (And also because the box was dented in troubling ways, and I needed to know if I had to make time for the phone calls. Fortunately, no.)

Chalky, he is! I cackled with the glee of a comic book super-villain. If it’s one thing that drives Vintage collectors mad, it’s Chalkiness. I doubt it’ll persuade some of the bigger grumblers to change their opinion of him, but you have to gives Reeves a little credit for giving us a little bit more than we expected, right?

As others have pointed out, his paint job is probably the closest and most faithful reproduction of a "Vintage" color since the program began.

The Brown Pinto Indian Pony did come in a Chalky variation; it’s one of the scarcer and more desirable Chalkies, too. I lucked into a Chalky Brown Appaloosa a while back at BreyerFest, but the Pinto one continues to elude me, mostly for financial reasons. The only Chalkies that go for more money are the Proud Arabian/Old Mold Mares, Test Colors and a few Rarities/Oddities. Some of the Family Arabians, too, depending on the mood of the market. 

The Indian Pony Pinto colorway was a scarcely used one as it was - and most of the ones that were not the Indian Pony are extremely hard to come by, like the Ford Pinto Family Arabian Foal. (Another one that eludes me still, in spite of being in the Metro Detroit area and surrounded by auto industry retirees.)

I’ve always interpreted this color a little bit differently than other hobbyists: I don’t see it as an attempt at creating more realistic Pinto paint job. They were already doing that with the Yellow Mount who, with his elaborately masked markings, came out the same year the Indian Pony did (1970).

It wasn’t a case of "let’s try two new techniques and see what sells better", either, but two different artistic approaches. With Yellow Mount, they were attempting a realistic portrait. With the Indian Pony, they were going for something more painterly and impressionistic. The mold - and presumably, the initial colors - was based off the works of the artist Charles M. Russell, who is specifically called out by name in the earliest press release mentioning the Indian Pony.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, there should be room enough it the hobby for all lovers of equine art - not just those who favor the most strictly realistic ones.

It Ain't Easy Being a Fangirl

Whatever had gotten into me has now gotten out of me. I suspect the shrimp I had the night before may have been involved.

Lots of news in the meantime…

The Reissues are starting to ship - and appear on eBay. A buyer is free to do with a model whatever they please, once they buy it, but I’m still going to find it tacky when that something is reselling it at a significant markup when it’s still available from the retailer.

A little bit of a markup, in acknowledgement of your error in thinking it might have been different or more rare than it turned out to be? Or as a fee for the service of dealing with the sometimes quixotic nature of the Breyer web site? Sure. Hoping to profit on your customers not doing their homework? Squicky. 

(PSA: Everybody except Huck is still available on the Breyer web site, folks. In plain sight.)

The RCMP Horse is now available for pre-orders, and is shipping by the beginning of October. He also appears to be more of a Dark Mahogany (a la the Adios release "Mesa") with a glossy ("clipped"?) maple leaf on his behind. For those of you ready to kvetch about the model having too much white for a RCMP Horse, the RCMP Foundation has apparently given its seal of approval to the release.

Also shipping in October - and even more exciting pour moi - is a sweet Appaloosa Performance Horse in Dappled Buckskin Appaloosa, with every sixth one being extra special in some way. (It’s a little unclear if Being Chalky or Having Indian Markings is the special feature. Or both.) This explains the happy reappearance of the mold at the benefit auction in Kentucky this year.

I want them all - whatever they are and in Glossy, if it comes to that. (Those of you attending the NPOD next year better secure your holy relics now, because if I see any extra special ones lurking in the Sample boxes, that’s all that’s going to protect you.)

Judging from the reaction I’ve been seeing on Blab, so do lots of other people. Warms my heart that I’m not the only APH lover out there.

Not so close to my heart: the reaction from The Usual Suspects about the latest Vintage Club release, which is (as I expected) the Jumping Horse "Kiowa" in Indian Pony-style Chestnut Pinto, with Indian markings. If you’ve seen the number of them up for pre-sell, you know what I mean.

I know I sometimes come across as a Breyer Fangirl (not without some justification!) but you know I’m also not above snarking molds and releases either. I have preferences for color, mold and scale, but I consider myself one of those increasingly rare creatures: a Generalist. I like a little bit of everything. I am a Breyer collector, not just a Glossy Breyer Collector or a Stablemates Collector or even an APH Collector.

I have no snark to offer about the Kiowa. I like him a lot. I love the color, especially - a rarely seen and rarely used one that would look good on a lot of molds, I believe. (Want badly, right now: the APH in Indian Pony Chestnut Pinto).

I like the Jumping Horse, even though I don’t have that many: size and shelf space are the biggest issues there. One of these days, when the price and time are right, I am definitely picking up the State Line Tack Special Run "Jumping Jupiter", and that funky Semi-Gloss Dark Dapple Gray 1997 Sears Christmas Special Run.

(Y’all might also remember my heartbreak/meltdown/pity party over not winning the Best of British Contest last year, with the Fleabitten and Dappled "Sterling" as the prize. Not my best moment, but I'll own it.)

Just remember: a few years ago, the notion that a Special Run on the Appaloosa Performance Horse could be as warmly received as it is now was considered risible.

Affirmations

The weather is cold, damp and generally yucktastic - the perfect time to work on warm, fluffy things. So I pulled out the quilt that Vita the Destroyer almost killed and ate over the summer, and popped it into the "new" hoop I got over the weekend. The quilting is going to be of the quick and dirty kind - it’s not going to look as lovely as I hoped, but it will be done.

Imperfect, but completed > perfect, but unfinished.

Speaking of the unfinished, I continue to slog through the research note pile. It’s getting there. As usual, it’s the newer stuff that’s slowing me down - it’s all those itty-bitty details I failed to note when I had the chance. Details I didn’t think I needed, or thought I had written down, and didn’t.

I’ve been trying to clean them up as I go by spot checking on various Internet sites, with limited success. Three different sites will give me three different answers - or even worse, the same answer I know is just flat out wrong! The most disheartening part is many of the things I look up - obscure, and sometimes not so obscure SRs - have vanished entirely on the Internet. Not just things I’ve taken notes on, but things I’ve owned.

I often complain about the gaps in the historical records, but the bigger problem isn’t the gaps, it’s the volume. There’s sixty years of history, several hundred molds, several thousand releases, and variations after variations. With so much data to be known, it’s no wonder that so much data gets lost in the shuffle - or that so many hobbyists totally zone out of the subject altogether.

Until they run across something they think might be worth something. The assumption is always that previously unknown = rare. No, sometimes unknown is just unknown, or unrecognized: just because you’re not familiar with it doesn’t make it rare.

On the flip side, some of the things we deem as familiar and common are anything but. I’ve always been amused, for example, that the Brown Pinto Indian Pony with Indian markings is considered more desirable than the one without, because it’s the ones without that are more scarce.

One example from my personal experience is the original SR Affirmed. Not the Traditional release on Cigar, or the "accidental" SR Gloss, or the ornament: the one from the Classic Triple Crown Set, released through Hobby Center Toys in 1988. Here’s mine:


Notice something different about him? Yeah, he’s got a couple of hind stockings, something the real-life Affirmed did not. Since he was purchased shortly before my brief hiatus from the hobby - where my contact with other hobbyists and their models was rather limited - I made the assumption that that was the way all the Affirmeds had been made. The other horses in the Triple Crown Sets weren’t very accurate representations, either, so I shrugged it off as just one of those things.

A few years later, when I actually saw other sets that weren’t mine, I realized it wasn’t. It didn’t make that big a difference in the way I valued the model: the "real" Affirmed was one of my great loves back in the day, and I cherished this representation of him, rare or not.