The Little Things

It’s been a rough week and Saturday, alas, is not going to be any better. 

On a slightly more positive note, most of my seeds have germinated. Well, except for the ones now stratifying under a two-foot-tall snowbank in front of the house. 

In other good news, I am apparently still enrolled in BreyerFest Live. I had heard about the brouhaha with the full tables and collector’s classes, but since I avoided putting in for either, all that nonsense floated right by me. Thank goodness.

I haven’t had much of a chance to work on the show coming up in (ulp!) three weeks, other than a little more Stablemates sorting. I’m seriously considering this guy, an NPOD find from several years back:

It’s the first, original release of the G2 Thoroughbred in Shaded Gray, sorta. 

What happened was that several pieces in the 1998 Just About Horses Stablemates Gift Set had production issues – paint problems, masking problems, molding problems, you name it. So some new and improved versions were made as replacement pieces.

And the leftovers from that effort ended up as the Stablemates “starter pack” in early versions of the wooden 5905 Stablemates Display Shelf, because one does not simply make a handful of Stablemates as replacements. 

I can’t remember exactly which BreyerFest I found them in the Breyer Store; I’m not in a mood to go digging through my records right now. I do remember a pile of the boxes on one of the tables; I opened them up, noticed that they were the replacement Stablemates, so I tossed a set in my buy pile because Stablemates, and went on my merry way. 

This was back in the days when Store Specials weren’t a thing yet and there was utterly random stuff put out at utterly random prices. Leftover QVC Specials, stray NIB Regular Runs, leftover bits of Gift Sets (dolls, tack, bags of accessories), sample packaging, whatever. 

Most of the time I had no idea what I was buying, I was just buying things that I wanted without any consideration for what it could be worth. I like it: I want it. 

And when it turned out to be even more than I hoped for? That made it all the better.

NPOD Grab Bags

Trying to take it easy today. I have a very busy extended weekend ahead of me and just chilling today seems… like a nice idea, no?

Anyway, Jaime confirmed for us that the “Warehouse Finds” thing is indeed an online version of the NPOD, with various – and unidentified – goodies basically packed grab-bag style, at various price points from “not too expensive” to “expensive”.

It’s a bonus benefit exclusive to Adult ticket purchases, and limited to one purchase per account for the whole weekend. As opposed to the other goodies that you can purchase every day, depending on the type of ticket you’ve purchased.

That sounds super-duper fair and actually something I hope they replicate at BreyerFests going forward, with some modifications (i.e. no box shaking, no opening until you’ve cleared the register, or maybe you purchase a claim ticket instead and go to another location to pick it up).

The only additional thing I’d like them to implement is that they include some documentation with any actual Samples you might get – doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a sheet of paper with the basics. (“[This Model] is a sample from the Breyer Archive Room and sold at BreyerFest 2020, blah blah etc.”)

Us Collectibility Nerds love that kind of nonsense. Give us more paper!

In short, I approve, and I hope I can snag one! (Maybe the fact that my circadian rhythms are completely out of whack will work to my advantage on this? Hmm.)

Seeing as I am the kind of person who once injured herself reading, I am not overly curious about the imminent reveal of the Pop-Up Store Crystal. (Unless it’s a replica of Emma. Then maybe.) Jaime mentioned a third as-yet-unannounced SR for this store, and that I am curious about.

Actually, I just realized that I’m not quite sure how all of the individual stores/shopping areas are going to be set up. (A single page with links? One big store? Virtual rooms you wander in?) As I mentioned above, my weekend is gong to be extremely busy (Only a couple hundred seedlings to transplant. No biggie!) and I am going to put off doing a deeper reading of the latest updates and changes until later in the weekend.

Especially since my brain is mostly focused on all the fancy cheeses I impulse-bought at Kroger today. (Mmm, Welsh Cheddar!)

That Darn Warehouse!

My cold is clearing up, the weather is finally turning lovely outside, some long-term projects I’ve been working on are progressing nicely, everything is going according to budget, then WHAM:

Surprise Boxes? With actual good stuff in them, not just discontinued items and overruns? Why do you do this to me, guys?

As to whether this means that the warehouse is cleaned out for realsies, and that this finally means the end of the NPOD, or any other surprises elsewhere?

The answer would be no.

Every time there are new models released, there will be Samples.

Every time there is a Web Special, there are going to be unsold/undistributed pieces from those runs – “desirable” or not, it doesn’t matter.

Every time there is a special promotion – random glossies, gifts with purchase, and all that jazz – there will be leftovers.

BreyerFest Special Runs? Leftovers.

Short run Regular Run models, concepts and promotions that go unexecuted/underexecuted? Leftovers.

Club models? Unclaimed leftovers.

Contests? Yep, leftovers there, too.

Anyone who has worked in a warehouse in any capacity – and especially those of us who do inventories of such places – also knows how easy it is for things to hide in even the tidiest of them. Just like your purse, the glove box in your car, and the junk drawer.

(Let me tell you about the magical roll of quarters that lives in my messenger bag. Every time I clean out my bag, it’s in there, but every time I actually look for it or need it, it’s not!)

So surprises like this will continue to happen, and pretty good stuff will turn up in the NPOD from time to time, too.

I suppose I could charge one, but I’d really rather not.

I’ve never had an issue selling the duplicates from previous “Surprise” Grab Bags – especially since I look at it from this perspective: you’re getting everything in the box at basically half-off, so selling the items within for anything above half the MSRP is coming out ahead.

But I already have enough to sell as it is, and flea market season hasn’t even really gotten into full swing yet. (This week, maybe? Fingers crossed!)

Plus, I did really well with the last big promotion – the Free Rare Glossy for Christmas one (ah, Wixom!) – and I’d really rather ride that high for a little while longer.

If something really good I’ve been wanting anyway shows up in one of the boxes, I might go for it, but otherwise I think I’ll be saving that roll of quarters for the flea market.  

Funky Dappling: A Love Story

By the way, that hunch I had didn’t quite play out – there were no softly dappled Hwins at the store I went to last Wednesday night. Then I made the mistake of going to the Tractor Supply down the road, and guess what I found?

Not one, but two Chalky Hwins!

Normally I’d just buy the one and leave the other for someone else to discover, but as you can see, they are completely different. It was getting late and I have to get up unbelievably early for work, so I bought the both of them in hopes of making the decision later on.

The weekend has come and gone, and I’m still not sure which one I want to keep. Do I go with the darker one with the nicely executed polka-dot dapples, or the lighter and more Matte-finished one with the seriously askew dappling?

You’d think it would be a relatively easy decision, but it’s not. Well, not for me!

Unlike the rest of the hobby, I do not have a reflexive dislike of the newer, hand-airbrushed dappling technique. The ratio of good to bad to meh isn’t really all that different from the random resist dappling technique that was the norm prior.

You had beautiful ones. Terrible ones. Weird ones. You had lacy dapples, cornflake dapples, dapples in the mane and tail. Some were beautiful, some were awful, and some were just weird. But most of them were simply unmemorable.

A few years ago when they had some leftover Aintrees – the Dappled Rose Gray Cigar – in the Ninja Pit at BreyerFest, I almost purchased one that had to have been one of the worst hand-dappling jobs ever.

It was so bad it almost touched the philosophical definition of sublime. I am terrible at doing dapples and not all that handy with an airbrush, and even I could have done a better job. In the dark. Wearing oven mitts. It almost looked like a piece that was done to show the painters what not to do.

Terrible, yet still memorable: every now and again I’ll walk past the Aintree I did buy in the NPOD that year – a gorgeous Sample with subtle dappling and handpainted gray hooves – and lament that I didn’t rescue his terrifying yet strangely compelling brother.

Hence, my hesitation at leaving the second Hwin behind. She’s not quite as terrible as that Aintree was, but the combination of being a scarce Chalky variation with bad dappling is giving me serious pause.

I don’t think I can afford to keep both, though. I planned on listing a bunch of stuff in various places over the next few weeks, so I’ll see if it’s possible to make room for them both.

Bandit and Kohana

Funny how the flea market season ends, and things only seem to get busier around here!

I found two more of the lightly dappled Hwins at another store in the same chain I bought my original Hwin in; I left them there because, alas, I’ve been cruising eBay quite a bit over the past couple of weeks to do “research”, and the fun money fund is a little depleted.

I might take a trip to the third easily accessible one tomorrow to confirm my hunch that this chain struck gold again, getting a higher-than-normal average of the lightly dappled variations in their shipments.

On Thursday I’ll swing by another store I know has some leftover Markuses, just because I’ll be in the neighborhood and I want to look.

And sometime this week I might be picking up a few pieces off Craigslist.

Since I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, here’s another picture of another BreyerFest find this year – the Bandit and Kohana set from 2002:

They were in a box that was literally dumped in front of me in the Ninja Pit Saturday afternoon – though not intentionally or for me specifically. I think.

(Reeves has more recent pictures of me than my friends or family do, so I have a not-completely-paranoid suspicion that everyone there already knows who I am and what I look like.)

It may come as a bit of a surprise, considering how popular those two molds are today (especially the Wolf!) but the Bandit and Kohana set didn’t sell all that well when it was released as a BreyerFest Special Run back in 2002.

The Special Run lineup was pretty star-studded that year – including two Porcelain Stablemates, a Glossy Buffalo, and a Silver – so they sort of got lost in the shuffle.

It did not help that the Companion Animal line had only been introduced in 1999. While we were certainly thrilled to have a line of true Traditional-scaled animals back then, it was probably a bit too soon to throw a BreyerFest Special Run set at us in 2002.

This year, one of the briskest selling items at BreyerFest was the Store Special Dally and Spanky Set, featuring a Companion Animal Jack Russell Terrier. It had the same number of pieces (750) but sold out by shortly before they tossed the long leftover Bandit and Kohanas on the table – in the empty spot where the Dally and Spanky Sets used to be, in fact!

I thought that was pretty funny. How the times change...

The Most Meta BreyerFest Item Ever

Here’s the other “grail”:

The BreyerFest Showcase Arena Deluxe Playset – perhaps the most “meta” Breyer product ever – especially when one buys it at BreyerFest itself!

The irony of finding it is that I’ve been thinking of selling off most of my Mini Whinnies collection. Partly because I haven’t had a chance to keep up on the newer releases but also because, to be honest, Mini Whinnies have been selling really well on eBay and I could really use that money.

But this BreyerFest Set is staying, regardless. It’s silly, self-referential, and it makes me smile every time I see it.

And here’s the kicker: you’ll never believe where I got it!

Saturday afternoon in the NPOD. For reals. 

My schedule didn’t allow for any trips inside the store until then. I was hesitant at first to even go in, because there was still a line to get into the darn store. I figured everything that was worth getting was already gone at that point, including the Store Specials.

I had about 30-45 minutes to kill, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to look, correct?

Well, imagine my surprise when I just happened to wander in while they were actually putting out new goodies! So that part was truly no lie, this year at least.

I also managed to pick up a Bandit and Kohana Cougar and Wolf set, a 2002 QVC Gloss Bay Sherman Morgan/Justin Morgan, the two Store Specials, and a pretty Semi-Gloss example of the Classic Man o’ War Anniversary Reissue.

Not a bad haul for an impulsive late Saturday afternoon shopping spree.

The Box

I’ve been coughing up a lung for most of the past two days (my annual Spring cold came a bit late this year, bleh) so I don’t have much energy to do anything except comment on a photo Reeves posted on Facebook today:

I’m not quite sure what Reeves is doing by posting this picture now. While these cleanouts are something that they do on a somewhat regular basis, they haven’t so blatantly “advertised” it before.

They did an archive room cleanout a few years ago; we knew because they solicited hobbyists to come in and assist. Although we didn’t know for sure the items getting cleaned out would be in the Ninja Pit, if you were paying attention, it was a safe assumption to make.

It was a scarier than normal year in the Pit, especially when everyone saw the boxes and did the math.

For many years now they’ve intimated that they wanted to tamp down the enthusiasm for the early Friday morning line, though they have done only minimal or nominal effort in that regard. Although I don’t ever want to see it completely eliminated – people are going to line up, regardless, and there should be a least a token something for the faithful’s efforts – they need to do a little bit more than just passing out numbers and holding back a few goodies for later.

Posting a picture like this is definitely not going to help. Unless they have other plans, like Blind Bag Purchase Raffles or Grab Bags or something.

Just toss in a little card or letter congratulating the recipient on their “Archive Room Escapee”: Reeves makes money, collectors get a Sample with bombproof documentation, nobody gets a shuriken to the forehead, everybody happy….

(This could all be moot, though, if they’re just tossing them in the regrind bin. I don’t think they’d be that intentionally cruel.)

Things You Wish For

I’ve resisted the siren call of the Breyer Black Friday Pre-Sale so far. I already had a Charlie and a Bravo, and the only other thing calling my name – the Deer Family – is a Regular Run item I can wait on.

In the ongoing end-of-year hubbub I forgot to mention that I got the Gambler’s Choice Reiner that I wanted – the Brindle! Yay!

Getting what I want doesn’t happen nearly as often as I’d like (my recent eBay bidding history is testament to that!) so he’s been sitting just under my monitor here as a reminder that every once and a while, you do get what you wish for.  

Since I am not in a very talkative mood today – partly because my fingers are sore from all the quilting I’ve been trying to catch up on this week – here’s another picture of another piece that was something wished for:

Yes, this is a Connoisseur Thrillseeker. Sort of: it’s actually from a group of unnumbered Thrillseekers that were found in the Ninja Pit a few years ago. I grabbed one, but in the ensuing melee, another Ninja pilfered it from my buy pile while my back was turned.

I still did okay that year – that was the year of the Stablemates Hermes, I believe – but it did sting a bit nonetheless. I had won the first Connoisseur Mosaic, and had hopes of winning the last, Thrillseeker, but that didn’t happen.

To make a long and complicated story short, I obviously and eventually did end up with one!

Since I still don’t have a “normal” Thrillseeker for comparison, I don’t know if there are any subtle or significant differences between the NPOD Thrillseeker and the numbered Thrillseekers, beyond the numbering.

They were probably overruns, but a few years later some equally mysterious Smart and Shineys – with no VINs, a different backstamp and slightly different shading and markings – were also made available in the NPOD.

Those pieces were very obviously a different item from the standard Smart and Shineys that were distributed at BreyerFest in 2013. Which is why I can’t yet shake the nagging possibility that these Thrillseekers might have been something similar. I mean, technically, I guess...

So this is why I still have a Thrillseeker on my want list.

Such is the case of getting what you want, or what you think you want: you just end up moving on to wanting something else.

Rainy Parade

Alas, I was not visited by the Gloss Fairy this year at BreyerFest.

The last time I missed the Ninja Pit was in 2007, due to volunteer commitments; that’s when they tossed in the then-mysterious weighted Home Decorating models and super-rare German Stablemates Sets.

So it came as no surprise that when I had to skip it this year because of the wedding and volunteer commitments (again) that rare stray Glossies, some of last year’s Silver Charms, and other former prize models showed up.

I saw it coming the day before.

When I was taking care of some volunteer business at the Park Thursday afternoon, I took a wide swing by the Pit and saw Glossy Things in the distance, and sighed. I’ve had my share of fabulous finds over the years, so I should complain too loudly. But it did sting a bit still, especially since some of the models found included ones that I busted my behind to win, unsuccessfully.

I did end up getting a nice Sample of the Reissue/Warehouse Find Smoky, and a couple of variations of the new Polled Hereford Bull release, but that was the extent of what I bought in the NPOD this year. That was one of the reasons why I came home with money.

My number draws for the Special Run lines were bad, and I only managed to get one Quelle Surprise Lonesome Glory, and the commonest of the lot, too: the Matte Chestnut Overo. He’s actually quite lovely and well-executed; all four colors were, I thought.

But of the four, my favorite had to be the Cremello/Perlino/Pearl or whatever it was, which just coincidentally happened to be the rarest. (I wouldn’t have minded the Appaloosa one, either. I’ve been loving those Dark Bays lately.) My luck on previous surprise models has been really good, so even that didn’t dampen my mood too much, on its own.

Then came the Costume Contest. I thought I was playing it safe with Le Petit Prince. I’ll let Wikipedia explain why:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince

The novella is the 3rd most-translated book in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into more than 250 languages and dialects (as well as Braille), selling nearly two million copies annually with sales totaling over 140 million copies worldwide,‪ it has become one of the best-selling books ever published. 

There’s also a movie coming out very shortly:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPqgSNLfK8

But after the fifth person walked up to me backstage and asked who I was supposed to be, my heart sank. I felt like the only person in Kentucky who took French class.

I put on the brave face anyway. Not only did I not win, I ended up with a dented fender in the Alltech Arena parking lot.

Any one of these incidents wouldn’t have been all that traumatic: upsetting yes, but not in a want-to-hide-under-the-covers way. But all those little raindrops – plus Chicago, plus the weather, plus all the other usual dramas of Kentucky – combined to rain rather profusely on my parade.

There’s always next year. I’m less emotionally invested in a “Rio Carnival” theme, so that might help.

The Mysteries of BreyerFest

Well, I finally had my official "BreyerFest nightmare" last night, and it was a doozy. All I remember of it now is that it involved Polar Bears and the color purple. I vaguely recall that the resolution was a happy one, too.

I will take this as a good portent.

I haven’t been giving much thought to what the last two "mysteries" of BreyerFest - the Surprise Special Run, and the Volunteer Model - will be. I’ve been too busy dealing with other things to give them much thought.

Last year’s Volunteer Model - a Liver Chestnut Show Jumping Warmblood - was Matte, Realistic, a Solid Color, on a more modern mold: chances are that this year’s model will be something that is at least not one of those things, if not more. The model from the year previous - the Gloss Palomino Clydesdale Mare - was also a Solid Color, so something Pinto, Appaloosa or even Dappled seems a safe bet.

For the "Quelle Surprise" Special I am hoping for something that could pass for a Selle Francais - like Giselle, Gem Twist or even Newsworthy - but a few hobbyists have mentioned the Esprit and the Make A Wish/Justadream molds as a possibilities, and I could see that, too. The latter, especially: like the Roxy Surprise from a couple years back, they could switch up the manes and tails.

What’s important here is that it has to be a mold that hasn’t had a lot of previous releases, and hasn’t been done as a Surprise Special OR as a Treasure Hunt item, either: that would rule out Silver, Lady Phase, and Othello. (Seriously, what colors are left for them?)

Other than the usual assortment - at least one each of Appaloosa, Solid, and Pinto - and the Glosses, they might throw in an additional surprise to the surprise, like a Silver Filigree, Charcoal or other Deco. That went over pretty well last year - in spite of some of a few glitches - and with the upped piece counts, there ought to be at least one true "rarity" in the bunch.

While I don't think a half Matte/half Gloss Special is likely this year, I wouldn't rule it out. (If so, can it please be the Red Bay Pinto Totilas Enchante? Gloss Bays are sort of a thing with me now!)

As for the additional Mysteries that will lie within the Ninja Pit of Death, I am not even going to try and speculate. This is not for a lack of ideas, but of desire: I have other commitments that will keep me out of the Pit this year, so for the sake of my sanity I’m going to avoid even thinking about it.

Plus, the last time I wasn’t able to make it there, they dropped those "Home Decorating Show" weighted models and the super-rare German Stablemate Special Run sets, both of which haunt me still.

I’m trying to comfort myself with the thought of being able to sleep in a real bed on Thursday night, but it’s a small comfort.

So help me though, if something in there turns out to be purple, or a Bear…

Desirability is Weird

I just spent about an hour on the phone with Paypal trying to resolve some crazy issue that apparently came up today. I think it’s fixed, but you know, it’s Paypal. So I’m trying real hard to think happy thoughts right now, in lieu of eating massive amounts of ice cream.

This model’s presence in my office definitely helps:

The 2012 Passage to the Pacific SR Like Thunder, on the Rejoice mold. It’s another Early Friday find, and one of my favorites this year.

I thought the model was pretty enough in pictures, and since I have the start of a nice collection of Rejoices going here, I thought I’d take a chance on one. When I opened it up a few days ago (finally, I know) I was surprised and delighted at how captivated I was by this model. Crisp masking, delicate shading, clean and precise hoof striping: there’s lots to love here.

There’s going to be some shuffling in the display collection to keep this beauty out in the open.

I’ve noticed that at least one person is claiming that the Like Thunders found in the NPOD were Samples, It’s possible that one or two Samples might have been mixed in the boxes too; my Sample Kiowa was found mixed into a box of standard issue Kiowas. But all indications I see - backstamps and bag labels - point to most if not all of them being the unsold/unclaimed leftovers, instead. It took a while for all of them to find happier homes; there were several to be had, and they were priced around (or a touch higher) than current market value.

We’re so used to assuming that all of these Exclusive Events are going to sell out that we sometimes forget that at least one didn’t.

It did seem weird to me that these models - a Special Run of a mere 200 pieces - floated around the sales area for a while, while Store Specials three to four times that number in quantity (or more) were being so fiercely fought over. Sure, the price differential had something to do with it, and there’s the thrill of the new (with the Novelisto D being a Brishen/Laredo mashup). And Silver Filigree driving collectors mad in general.

(Would you believe I still haven’t actually seen a Silver Filigree Misty in person yet? Sigh.)

Desirability is such an odd thing.

Rejoice is also a mold that’s a bit of an acquired taste. Her proportions are a little cartoonish, and that skinny tail of hers bends and breaks easily, causing tipping issues. When it comes to more recent Gaited molds, I wouldn't say that hobbyists actively dislike it, they simply happen to prefer the Clock Saddlebred, or the various Stablemates more.

It is worth noting, though, that the Madison Avenue (the Buckskin Rejoice) seemed to be one of the better-selling Reissues at BreyerFest this year; it is also possible that they had fewer to sell, and couldn’t restock. I didn't notice because I spent most of my time in the Reissue selection of the store distracted by those magnificently shaded Smokies. I still don’t know how one DIDN’T come home with me.

Another weekend off coming up, so a few more posts coming sooner, rather than later.

American Shineys

Due to the surprising demand for the Anniversary blankets, I’m going to have to limit them to one per person. Since I haven’t finished emptying my storage boxes yet, there’s a possibility that more may turn up.

I had no idea that they were such a hot item - or that I had cornered the market on them! I had some urgent paperwork to follow up on today, so I should get back to everyone on Tuesday.

Here’s another mystery of the Pit. They looked like this:

And turned out to be this:

At first glance, it’s just another 2013 Smart and Shiney - until you start looking at the details. There’s no VIN, of course, and the paint job is deeper, darker, more metallic, with more pronounced dappling. The belly stamp is different - just a generic "BreyerFest 2013" imprint in a script font, not the more complex stamp in black with the Breyer logo that the boxed Shineys have.

And the face - it’s hard to capture in my less-than-stellar photography, but his face is completely different, with a spot on his muzzle, a crisper and more complex blaze, and more dramatic shading overall. In other words, this is not your average Shiney.

Since they were all bagged and bubblewrapped, and there were several boxed Smart and Shineys for sale at the hotel in the $35-45 range, most shoppers gave them a quick once over and moved on. I was moderately curious, but my arms were already full, and I figured that if they turned out to be something special, I’d get one later on.

One of my roommates - as big a Smart Chic Olena fan as you’ll find - ran past me a few hours later yelling "They’re Samples! They’re gorgeous! They still have a ton of them in the Pit!"

So I went and got one.

The word "Sample" gets bantered about a lot in hobby circles: we use it to refer to any recent model that doesn’t have a VIN backstamp. The truth is a little more complex than that: any model manufactured in the U.S. - whether it’s a Test Color, some flavor of Sample, or a lower-piece run Special Run (less than 100 made, usually) is not required to have a VIN backstamp.

The current working theory is that these Shineys were a batch painted up in the U.S. for a still-unknown reason. There was at least an entire box of these guys - around two dozen, maybe? - while Sample quantities typically register in the single digits.

None of us had the insight, as far as I know, to ask any of the Breyer people about them. (And me, I had some issues.) I have about another week of unpacking, sorting and inventorying to go, so if anyone else wants to take the lead on this, that’d be great.

There were still some of these "American Shineys" in the Pit on Sunday, so there’s a chance we’ll be either seeing them again - next year, or on the web site. If they do, and if you’re a SCO fan, don’t hesitate.

Changes to the Pit

When I got home today from work, I had a late lunch, sat down in a chair, and fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. So I didn’t get a darn thing done at all today - or even get a chance to follow up with the doctor’s office.

I am not overly worried, however. The toe is less purple and hurts somewhat less, though the painkillers did make me want to sleep every time I sat down at work.

The car is still not completely unpacked. It may remain that way for a few more days because of an issue unrelated to my left foot. (A something I had nothing to do with, that I had no control over, but for which I’m being used as a convenient scapegoat anyway. It’s a story so long that it involves chapters and character guides.)

One of the few things I have been allowed to unpack is this lovely creature, one of the last things I found in the NPOD - late Sunday morning!

As you might have guessed, it’s no ordinary Vintage Club Kiowa: not only does he not have any VIN numbers or stickers, he’s NOT Chalky. He also has the old copyright horseshoe mold mark, and it looks like the Indian markings are handpainted in acrylic paint (though I’m not willing to test that theory).

I’m not 100 percent certain that he’s the guy in the Vintage Club batch photo, but I would not be surprised if he is. (All I can say is I haven’t seen anything that would indicate otherwise.)

I found him mixed in the bagged horse boxes, along with several other Kiowas and BreyerFest SRs of years past. I’m pretty sure he was a newer "plant", rather than something that had been overlooked before. Even though many of my fellow Ninjas were avoiding the leftover Vintage Club models like the plague, he did have one of those generic labels - and a handwritten price - that screamed SAMPLE SAMPLE BUY ME NOW.

The NPOD was … different this year. Reeves threatened to "spread the wealth" throughout the weekend, and as this fellow attests, they did. There were some quality items to be found Friday morning, but a lot of them were either priced accordingly - or buried and mixed into things.

I did get some other Samples - most notably a couple of the Reissues - and a few other items that I will eventually get to sometime in the next few weeks.

The most important development is that they HANDED OUT LINE NUMBERS. They were laminated and everything! They should have done it earlier than they did (shortly before the gates opened) but it was wonderful to see the usual linecutters wandering around and looking disoriented. The line to the Arena was neat and orderly and almost stress-free.

About danged time, you guys!

As to some of these changes to the Pit, I have mixed feelings.

Changes needed to be made, no doubt; the line standing had escalated to the point where some people were skipping out on the Thursday night room sales entirely and heading straight to the Park, which just feels wrong. Something had to be done to prevent a Walmart-style Black Friday Stampede from occurring.

(Seriously people, they gave us cake and ice cream at the hotel!)

Salting the Pit with the occasional rarity also encourages people to go back, again and again. And we love surprises, as the continuing popularity of the Surprise SR attests. I was somewhat concerned that this would lead to people camping out around the Arena and stalking Reeves employees, but after an initial bit of that Friday morning, it seems to have dissipated. (The heat and humidity also helped with that, I think.)

Putting out a portion of Store Specials - and enforcing the "one per person rule" - every day makes sense, and should have been a feature of the Store Specials from the get go.

On the other hand, I do not want to see the NPOD phenomenon eliminated entirely. Not because I have a vested interest in it (though I do) but because for some of us, it’s one of the few means of getting something special and rare that’s at least partially under our control.

Not all of us are lucky, or talented, or blessed with good financial fortune, or live near wonderful flea markets and antique shops. For those of us in that situation, camping out at the Park to be among the first in the "Pit" is the best opportunity to get something really awesome. It’s not just a matter of being the first or the most aggressive, but of capitalizing on the skill of being able to spot the rare and unusual at a moment’s notice.

Eliminating that opportunity - and making all rarities completely random - would deprive some of us of our "thing". It would become just another means for the very lucky among us to continue to be very lucky.

It’s not just about the "power shopping", it’s a social event, too, and one I’m a little surprised that Reeves has not capitalized on. I’m not saying that they should be handing out SRs or special offers to the Ninjas, but arranging for some food carts to provide a picnic-style breakfast (bagels, donuts, muffins, fruit, coffee, etc.) would be a wonderful thing, for instance.

It’d be something that other people who like to line up early anyway, and not just for the Pit, would appreciate, as well.

Still Recovering. Literally.

The car still isn’t completely packed, and here’s part of the reason why:

It happened Friday afternoon, at the hotel. At first I thought it was just another typical toe stubbing. I am big and clumsy and I do it all the time, so the fact that it was sore and a little purple was no big deal. In fact, I had done almost the very same thing about a month ago on the right foot.

Then the next day, I stubbed it again. That’s when (stuff) got real; it hurt even more and looked dislocated. Because of what happened in the Diorama Contest (and after some hugs and a pep talk from a good friend and former roomie) I sucked it up, put on the snuggest pair of socks I had, slipped on my big girl boots, and went back to the Horse Park for the Costume Contest. And got that little bit of validation that I needed.

A Glossy Harley D Zip! The Gloss finishes on everything this year were superb, and he’s no different. (The Kids contestant totally got ripped off, but we’ll talk about that and all of the other issues we had with that contest later in the week.)

Anyway.

Everyone at the doctor’s office was impressed by the quality of the injury today. The skin wasn’t broken and the nail is fine, but it’s comically swollen and it’s almost the same color as that Purple Florentine Tennessee Walker One-Day Stablemate from a few years back. So I had to get it x-rayed to see exactly what’s going on underneath. I’ll find out tomorrow if there’s anything more that can or needs to be done, aside from drugs and bandages.

They did give me some most excellent painkillers to get me through the week. I don’t normally like to take much of that stuff, if at all, but since I have to go to work, finish unpacking the car, get an oil change, and run many errands, I took the prescription and ran (i.e. hobbled) with it. What I had been taking before was making me nauseous, besides.

On the plus side, since I most of my recreational time for the next several days will be spent in the sitting position, and I have a lot to get out of my system, I may end up posting multiple times this week.

First up, I think, will be the NPOD. Remember this photo from a couple of years ago? I think I may have found someone in it. (A few of you already know, so no spoiling it for everyone, m’kay?)

Shifting Priority

I was distracted yesterday by a non-model-horsey project out in the garage that took longer than anticipated, so I decided not to rush myself on the blogging. I have most of next week off, so I figured there would be plenty of time to play catch up.

Speaking of, I will definitely be taking a break from the NaNoWriMo thing this year. It’s not for a lack of ideas or inspiration; it’s more a matter of changing priorities. While cleaning out my craft supply stash for the garage sale a few weeks back, I was mildly horrified by the number of unfinished projects I found, and how emotionally attached I was to them still.

So I’ve decided to spend November finishing as many of those things as I can, instead of starting another novel that will just become another project in my already considerable queue.

I suppose most - or at least, many - of you have heard about or seen the pair of Connoisseur Swirling Sky samples that turned up on eBay this past week - in China. One finished, one unfinished.

I have no doubt that they are "authentic" - in the sense that they were factory-made, and not faux-finished. I’m rather surprised, actually, that it took this long for listings from China to show up on eBay, considering that production has been going on there, more or less, for over a decade now.

I briefly considered bidding/buying, but two things held me back.

First, of course, was the price: another Swirling Sky Sample surfaced in the Sales Tent/Pit this year, and was resold on eBay for a price less than the Chinese seller’s initial listing prices. In spite of all the drama surrounding the "Friday Morning Festivities", the resell prices on most of the Samples and Oddities found within are not outrageous.

There are always a few real gems in the mix, yes, but the value of most is in the eye of the beholder. The Swirling Sky Andalusian is not one of the higher-demand Connoisseurs, also: I found him to be an interesting concept that didn’t completely work. I wouldn’t have tossed him out of the keep box if I had found him, but his absence doesn’t sting as much as the Sample Clydesdale Mare Palisades.

(I’ve been halfheartedly shopping around for the Picture Perfect Black Pinto Clydesdale Mare as a suitable substitute, but dang, I didn’t realize she was so popular, too!)

The second point of hesitation was that it was directly from China.

We all engage in rationalizing behaviors when it comes to pretty ponies of questionable provenance. I bought a number of pieces from the eBay vendor "newtoymens", for instance, and there have been times when I have been guilty of the sin of omission whilst negotiating at the flea market. Then there’s the issue of me being privy to information that many of you are not, and whether that rises to the level of "insider trading", though I like to think that I’ve given almost as much as I’ve gotten, on the blog anyway.

Everyone has different comfort zones, and they don’t necessarily overlap: what I’m comfortable with you might not be, and vice versa. Buying something directly from China, I’ve discovered, is out of my comfort zone. (More precisely, the answers to the questions such items raise.)

Which is fine for me, because I need to sell more, not buy more. Anything that keeps me from clicking the "Buy It Now" button.

A Man of Irony

My schedule has not been pleasant the past few days; my efforts to remedy it only made it worse, apparently. Sigh. Sometimes winning isn’t even on the table.

I’ll just have to slog through it. I came THISCLOSE to nabbing one of those already-discounted Walmart Special Runs today, because it was definitely a "needs a pony" day, until I remembered I had a still-unopened box from Reeves sitting in the office. That I will open the first thing in the morning, because tired now.

Here’s what might be one of the last NPOD items from this year’s BreyerFest that I will feature here. (I still have a couple other non-NPOD things I want to talk about, but I haven’t had the time to do the necessary background work on ‘em. Don’t worry, they’re worth it.)

Once you see who it is, longtime readers will understand my hesitation in talking about this particular horse:

Yeah, I got a Sample Traditional Totilas. Really. One of the actual, (and somewhat) verifiable early run pieces. Oh, the irony. I even named him "Man of Irony". (I can’t believe that a lot of hobbyists don’t even name their models, by the way. Didn’t realize that naming all my horses was so old school!)

I haven’t had much experience with the Production pieces yet to know if there are any significant differences/deviations on display here, other than the usual lack of VIN Numbers/marks. I can’t imagine that there would be, considering that the paint job is nearly solid black. He’s not quite as inky-black as a vintage 1970s paint job like Midnight Sun or the Black Foundation Stallion, but it’s close enough.

Though to be honest, he doesn’t really need all that shading and stuff to look awesome: we saw that in the resin prototype last year, and the translation to plastic hasn’t dimmed his luster any, in my eyes.

The reality is that most actual real horses don’t have all that much of what we would consider "shading". It’s more of a hobby contrivance/aesthetic choice that’s a consequence of the source material: instead of painting a model to replicate actual physical reality, most of the time we’re trying to replicate the reality we see in photographs.

It’s a contrivance that’s become almost a show ring necessity, though. Unless you provide copious documentation, solidly colored horses with minimal shading - no matter how expertly done - don’t generally get the same attention or placings that an identical but much more dramatically shaded model will. 

I have models with insane amounts of shading that I love. I have models with no shading at all that I love also. It all depends on the quality of the model, the appropriateness of the paint job, and the memories attached to it. 

The pegged foreleg on my Totilas is bent inward slightly (a fixturing issue?) so he’s going to need a little corrective shoeing when I can squeeze some time out of something.

Not this week, that's for sure. 

Making a Splash

Can you see why I think this Sample of the Retro Release Western Pony is so awesome?

Actual Splash Spots, yes!

I knew Reeves had seriously considered, at one point, going with actual Splash Spots instead of the masked ones: the Sample/Test on the back of the Retro Release box has them. Every time I’d go to a new or more familiar toy store with an ample Breyer selection, I’d always check out the Western Ponies to see if they might have slipped a few in the mix just to mess with us.

(My pony is not That Pony, though.)

Funny thing is, I didn’t notice that this little one was what I was looking for all along until several days after I had gotten home from BreyerFest. There were a number of items I had bought in the Pit that I hadn’t yet opened: it wasn’t that I had so many, but that I thought I’d appreciate them more at a slightly later date. Plus, it's always nice to have a few unopened packages lying around the house for a quick "pick me up" whenever a day's gone south.

This decision was made not long after I did open that Very Special Mariah’s Boon that, as I have already detailed, pretty much sent me over the edge. As much as I love that guy, I didn’t want to take any more chances of being gobsmacked, again. Those of you from Michigan know it’s hard enough driving the length of Ohio with a Michigan license plate; there was no need to complicate the drive home with an even-more-freaked-out-than-average Post-BreyerFest state of mind.

I had a hunch it was, though, and I know better than to question my hunches. Even if it hadn’t turned out as well as I hoped, I also gambled on the recent uptick of interest in "Vintage" collecting taking care of the problem, in short order. I sold a larger than average number of quality Vintage releases and molds in Kentucky this year, and it wasn’t just me: some of my friends also noted the trend.

Among the pieces I sold this year were a number of Appaloosas of the Splash Spot type, and I had several random hobbyists profess their undying love of the old-fashioned sloppy/streaky/random Splash Spotting technique to me, too.

I don’t know if there is any one factor contributing to this newfound interest in Vintage stuff, and old-fashioned techniques in general (Vintage Club, Retro Releases, or - dare I say it - moi?) but I’m glad, regardless.

Perhaps the next time Reeves considers another release in a similar vein, they’ll go all the way next time. We’re totally okay with the streaks and randomness, really.

The Most Interesting Model Horse in the World

This week will only be slightly better than the last, in terms of sleep/downtime/etc. Nevertheless, I promised you something you won’t forget, and here’s his headshot:

You’re welcome. Here’s the full body shot:

He’s another Friday morning Sample, simply labeled "Mariah’s Boon BF '12". I picked him up initially because, like the Gypsy Vanner, I figured he’d be an easy sell if he merely turned out to be ordinary. (We ended up selling all the other Othello molds we had in our room this year. And we had several.)

He’s not ordinary, obviously. He looks like a Mid-20th Century European Dictator in Juggalo face paint.

The first thing I did when I opened him up at the hotel was to start laughing hysterically. Wouldn’t you? The roommates wondered what was up, so I showed them, and then they started laughing hysterically. After the third or fourth young child fled the room in mock (I hope) horror, I spend most of the rest of the evening having way too much fun at the Clarion frightening other small children and threatening household appliances with him.

He deserves a YouTube channel, a web site devoted to his own memes, and possibly a recording contract. He’s so diggidy-dang awesome I want to build a platform to hang around my neck and stroll around the Horse Park with a sign that reads "The Most Interesting Model Horse in the World". Because he is.

His paint job - aside from his face, and some eartip rubs - is absolutely gorgeous. The masking is different from the production pieces, there’s no black in his mane, and his tail is almost completely gray, so I was almost certain he was a Test piece of some sort.

Then I figured out who he was.

Remember the original picture of the Mariah’s Boon model on the Breyer web site? The one with the mapping? Lots of people got all hot and cranky that the mapped piece was taken down and replaced with an unmapped one, because that meant that we weren’t getting any mapping on the Celebration Horses.

A lot of that grouchiness was for show, I’m guessing. People looking for a moral justification to either not attend or not keep their Mariah’s Boon model. They promised us mapping, and now they’re reneging? Those cads!

Reeves has a hard enough time getting 350 mapped pieces to look good, much less 3500 or more. Removing the mapping seemed like a wise move, to me.

They did end up selling the mapped piece during the Silent Auction that year, and for a tidy price, if I remember correctly.

Okay, so who is MY guy, precisely?

He’s the Revised/Reviled one. Here’s the picture, downloaded from the web site:

And here’s a link to the page, where he’s still visible:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/breyerfest2012_specialruns

I was doing a quick skim of MH$P a few days ago before catching a few rare snores, and clicked on a random Mariah’s Boon sales ad just for kicks. I took a closer look at the photo in the ad - the same one from the web site - and noticed the telltale arched eyebrow, and started laughing all over again.

OMG, It’s Adolf!

You know, it really is a total crapshoot when you buy Samples in the Ninja Pit. They’re wrapped in miles of bubble wrap and packing tape, so you only have a general idea of what you’re buying, and little time or space to reconsider your decisions. You grab, you go.

Sometimes, you get lucky.

Adolf was totally worth sleeping under a tree full of incontinent tree frogs.

And lest you think "Oh, he’s not so bad." Here’s a "Glamour" shot of his blue eye.

Absolutely Fabulous

It’s going to be another short one today: after the week I had at work, even getting out of bed seemed like a stretch. Just as I was about to surrender to sleep again, Vita jumped in bed and gave me a dirty look: nothing like a guilt trip by a dog with a reputation for being a late riser herself. 

The only advantage to not being home most of the week (besides the alibi) is that I appear to have missed some assorted dramas on the Internet. Good.

Let us instead, in this slightly calmer corner of the model horse universe, focus on my current favorite-horse-ever from this year’s NPOD: an Aintree, a 2012 BreyerFest Tent Special on the Cigar mold.

There were lots of Aintrees available in the sales tent this year - like other Tent Specials I have noted, he was one whose overly high piece count didn’t quite match up with the demand.

Aside from the piece count being a little too high, his paint job was prone to paint flaws. The semi-chalky paint finish Reeves decided to go with, while it added a certain depth to the shading, also tended to drips, runs, and puddling. I’ve been seeing similar problems on the Regular Run Palomino Marwari release, too.

The amount of dappling the paint job required was also, in my opinion, too ambitious for something with a 1400 piece run. Though most of the ones I saw were at least passable, the bad ones were truly unforgettable. So much so that I am beginning to regret not buying an Aintree of that caliber that I found in the tent that morning, as well. (You’d think I’d learn by now not to pass by anything that catches my eye, good or bad...)

As you might have guessed by now, this particular Aintree is not one of the leftovers: he is also a Sample. Or more: aside from his lack of BreyerFest stamps and VIN number, his finish is not semi-chalky. His front hooves are also handpainted dark gray, not airbrushed, and his dappling? Absolutely fabulous. It's some of the nicest dappling I’ve seen on any model, Regular Run, Special Run… or Test Run.

It would not surprise me if he did turn out to be more than just a Sample, but an actual Test or Display piece. Aside from a couple of minor (fixable) flaws, this guy is truly live show quality.

I briefly considered that he might have been the photography piece, the one used on the web site and other promotional materials, but the shading doesn’t quite match up with the one photo off the web site. Just because he doesn’t match up doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not what I think he might be: as I’ve been trying to drum into everyone’s heads for a while now, Samples and Test Colors are not necessarily unique.

Being unique also does not necessarily enhance the value of a Sample or Test, either. The style or quality of the paint job, the popularity or desirability of the mold, the suitability of the color to the mold can (and often do) plays a bigger part in a model’s perceived value, versus quantity made.

Regardless of his technical status, I love him. Not as much as the next model I’ll be showing you, but once you see HIM, you’ll understand why.

(And those of you who know who I'm talking about, already do.)

Hot, or Not?

I did not think it possible to work 40 hours in the space of two and a half days. It sort of felt like BreyerFest, but with more air conditioning and fewer horses.

(Still haven't decided if this was a good thing, or a bad thing.)

So, there’s also this guy:

The box says "#430018 Arabian - bay" but he looks like a Huckleberry Bey. Sort of.

The color and finish is a little off from most Regular Run Huck Beys that we’ve seen. Those tend to have more contrast between their lighter and darker areas, way more black on their bodies in general, and are a little more brown than red, too.

While any one of these Ninja Pit Hucks wouldn’t look out of place in a random assortment of Huckleberry Beys produced over the years, collectively the Hucks in the sales tent all sort of looked…different, but in the same way. And they weren’t called Hucks.

So I bought one just to be safe, because I sold off my Huck Bey a few years ago, and have sort of been regretting that decision of late.

There were four other models of this type in the tent, as well:

430002 Old Timer - palomino
430008 Draft Horse - bay (Bell-bottomed Shire)
430009 Clydesdale - bay (Clydesdale Mare)
430013 Belgian - bay roan (aka "Trait du Nord")

(Rough reference only: I didn’t see any examples of the Belgian/Trait du Nord personally, and only saw the Shire in passing, so the labels/descriptors are likely off on those two.)

Anyway, they all looked like recent - or not so recent, in the case of the Shire - Regular Run items in new packaging, with Special Run style numbers. So the initial assumption was that that’s what they were: repackaged Regular Run leftovers, knocking around the warehouse.

But what were they, really? A new type of Store Special? A cancelled Special for an event or store? A part of the WEG reissue program/idea that wasn’t fully implemented?

The one that’s been getting the most currency is that they were repurposed leftover (whiteware) bodies from previous recent Regular and Special Runs, and not intended to be true "Special Runs". There was some second or third-hand information being passed around on Blab that this is more or less what a Reeves employee told them.

While I am not generally inclined to believe anything a Reeves employee says at face value, especially second hand, this makes some sense. The Old Timers = leftover Gus bodies. The Shires = leftovers from last year’s Cheerio Special Run. Huck Bey = leftovers from the Color Crazy Redemption Horse and/or upcoming Collectors Club SR Enchanted.

Belgian and Clydesdale Mare = I just happen to think they have a metric ton of those bodies lying around, for some weird reason, as they’ve been showing up for sale as "whiteware" in the Sales Pit for a few years now. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

I’ve heard one report that a VIN number was found on at least one of these models, though I haven’t had the chance to open up mine to see if this is true. If that’s the case, it bolsters the argument that they were very recently made, and not (just) leftovers.

The quantities are unknown: there were definitely more of the Clydesdale Mare and Huck Bey, and fewer of the Belgian and Shire. Although some were seen in the first wave of Ninja Pit action, they did replenish the stock in the store from time to time, and I was able to pick up my Huck late Sunday morning.

The only one of the others I really regret missing is the Old Timer, who was without hat or blinkers. As I’ve got a small collection of blinkerless Old Timer culls going now, it feels incomplete without its Palomino "kid brother".

If Reeves’ intent was to simply pass them off as Regular Runs, they need to study the minds of us collectors a little more closely: new number + new box + new paint job (even if it’s an "old" one) = new release.

Or maybe they do know, and it’s some sort of reverse psychology/Jedi Mind Trick/11th Dimensional Chess they’re all playing on us.  If so, mission accomplished.