Checking Off The Boxes

I’m not sure how I feel about the long-awaited Premier Club Draft Mare and Foal Rhiannon and Rhemi: I don’t dislike them, but they weren’t quite what I was expecting, either. I suspect some of it is that I find the names a bit too twee and pretentious for my tastes. 

And they are Vanners. I get that they’re popular, but like most hobbyists, I dig the slightly more obscure and/or rarer breeds, especially ones on the chunkier side like Jutlands, Suffolk Punches and Dutch Drafts. Georg deserves a family! 

I’m not in that club anyway, so until they come out in a more widely available release, the whole argument is academic. I think I may like them more once I see them in a solid color. (Next year, probably.)

I will also not be buying the Collectors Club Special Jota. This is odd, because everything about him says he should be totally my thing: he’s a Gloss Black (check) Splash Pinto (check) Smart Chic Olena (and check). 

But he’s not doing it for me for some reason. I know a lot of collectors are turned off by the weirdness of his pattern, but it’s definitely not that: I was just researching Splash Pintos for my Standing Stock Horse Foal custom the other day, and I now have a disturbingly large reference file full of peculiar looking foals. They don’t look possible, yet they are. 

I once heard the word “cute” described as “ugly, but interesting”. That about sums it up: I find them cute.

But I think it’s the Gloss that’s the turn-off here. 

I’m definitely not one of those Finish Fanatics: I think some models look better in Gloss, some in Matte, and some look good regardless of their finish. Jota would have been more tempting to me in Matte, especially that soft, satiny Matte Black finish the Stretched Morgan came in in the 1960s. 

I know it’s possible: the Black Sabino version of Araba is pretty darn close!

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to the Vintage Club Black Troubadour Tuxedo; I’m trying not to be mad that I couldn’t wait that extra day to order my Virkie. 

I am currently debating whether or this means I need to order a little something extra from the website, just because. I know I shouldn’t, but…

The First Round

Struggling with the words again, today. I just finished up a big writing project for work which has left me with an overwhelming need to work with my hands, but it looks like the sewing machine is going to be out of commission for a few weeks due to a service backup, too. 

Tax paperwork and inventory it is then, for the month of January…

For obvious reasons, I’d rather not be one of those people, but so far I haven’t been all that into this year’s BreyerFest reveals. Except for the Constantia Via Lattea, of course. And much to my relief, she’s a Limited Edition!

As I’ve explain before, I haven’t had a lot of happy fun time on the Internet lately, so I apparently missed all the brouhaha over Constantia’s Premier Club release paint job. This I do not particularly understand: over-the-top paint jobs on Premier Club releases are just par for the course, right?

I love home improvement-type shows, but I always roll my eyes at the obligatory parts of the show where potential homebuyers complain about the paint or wallpaper. The most superficial, easy-to-fix stuff! If you can’t see the bones because of the paint…

This means all three of last year’s Premier Club releases will have BreyerFest releases this year. That’s not altogether unusual, but it is that they were the first Traditional releases they officially announced. That makes me optimistic that we might see a bit more vintage goodness than average this year?

The other two Premier Club molds aren’t doing much for me, though. In a shocking twist: they’re just not realistic enough for my tastes!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for less realistic/more artistic sculpts: if someone was to randomly send me a von Hamilton in the mail someday, I would not complain at all.

But the Zafirah represents an aspirational body type I simply think shouldn’t be encouraged. The paint job they put on her is lovely, and camouflages some of the issues I have with her, but I don’t know if it’s enough to persuade me to buy her. 

And I feel like I’m the only one in the world right now who is not in love with Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig’s Amazigh Stallion Anamar on any level. 

Well okay, his mane is nice. 

Now I didn’t hate the stenciled dappling on its original Premier Club release; they’ve been experimenting with that concept for years. While they do look a bit odd on Anamar, that’s mostly because of their starkness. With a little tweaking on the technique – using those dapples as base layer, instead of as the finishing touch – they’ll look miles better than the goofy hand-airbrushed star dapples. Probably save on labor costs, too.

But the more realistic color of Speos doesn’t make me want one any more than I did before. He still falls a little too much on the cartoonish side for my tastes. For better or worse, Speos reminds me a little bit of the original chestnut release of Sherman Morgan. Although I have warmed up to Sherman Morgan in more recent years, he’s still not high on my list of favorites.

As for the sneak peek that’s probably Brighty, I am also not overly enthused. At least it’s not going to be another Bull mold? It’s not so much whether or not I’ll like it, but the fact that it will be exceedingly hard to get. 

Even absolutely ordinary, run-of-the-mill Regular Run Brighties are going for $50 to $75 nowadays, which boggles my mind. They don’t strike me as that kind of scarce, but I’ve been out of the Brighty market for a while, so maybe it’s just me. 

Full Speed Ahead

Lately it seems like I’m running 1000 miles per hour, which wouldn’t mind so much if I didn’t suspect that there’s going to be a brick wall springing up out of the road at any minute. 

The new Premier Club mold Constantia is also going full tilt, though judging from the look on her face, I doubt nothing short of Inertron will stop her: 

It doesn’t seem like it, but there have been a decent number of Breyer Standardbred molds over the years. 

Well, okay, technically four, not counting CollectAs and things labeled or modeled after Standardbreds after the fact, like the 2010 BreyerFest Celebration Horse All Glory. Halla was part Standardbred, too, maybe I could count her as half...

Even so, that’s more than many other breeds have gotten!

It started with the original #46 Pacer in 1967, followed quickly by the #51 Adios in 1969. Then we got the Stablemate Standardbred in Kathleen Moody’s G2 mold assortment introduced in 1998. In 2000, the resin version of Sarah Rose’s Hambletonian was introduced, with a Crystal and MiniWhinny version eventually following. 

And now we have Constantia! (Is it any surprise to anyone that I’m calling her Johanna?)

Considering next year’s theme is “Driving Forward”, I strongly suspect that we’ll be seeing Constantia in next year’s BreyerFest Special Run lineup, though probably in a more conservative color. 

A Dapple Gray would be lovely, I think. I’m a big fan of Standardbreds in general, so I’d buy her in just about any color, regardless. Even Lemon Yellow Palomino Roan Pintaloosa.

That’s all I got today. I haven’t been sleeping well this week and it’s just about time for today’s attempt. 

Darned If You Do

I haven’t joined the Premier Club, but I’ve entered into a partnership with a friend to purchase any releases she doesn’t want or need. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us: she won’t have to go through the bother of finding a buyer, and I’ll occasionally get a random surprise model, which is always fun.

The first of these new purchases was Firefly and Hawkeye!

The Foal is just as cute in person as I thought it would be, and the Mare in much nicer than the photos let on. I think it’s the paint job, mostly: it distracts from her lovely silhouette. 

It highlights the one problem I do have with Premier Club releases, and a lot of higher end Breyer releases in general: unnecessarily complex colors and patterns. 

If you don’t put a “fancy” paint job on a higher-end release, hobbyists complain that they’re not getting their money’s worth on it. But then you have other hobbyists complaining that the fancy colors and patterns are either unrealistic, or not breed accurate.

It’s a darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don’t situation.

Taking breed standards out of the equation, some molds look better in solid colors, and others in patterned ones. For example, I think the San Domingo looks better spotted, rather than solid (with the one except being the No-Spot Appaloosa Oxydol, maybe because of his uniqueness?) The opposite is the case with molds like the Traditional Man o’ War, whose admittedly odd proportions can look even odder when enhanced with strategically placed whites. 

As much as I want to love him, the 2016 Vintage Club Man o’ War release Storm just doesn’t do much for me. I would have been so much happier with a solid Charcoal, Gloss or Matte Palomino, or even (sigh!) Gloss Dapple Gray or Dapple Black.

(Though if I were offered a Test Color Pinto or Appaloosa Man o’ War, I would take it in a heartbeat, because one does not turn down a Test Color Man o’ War.)

I think that’s why I’m still a little hesitant about Elbe and Spree, the Pinto BreyerFest releases of Firefly and Hawkeye: while I’m sure they’ll be great in person, all I can imagine is how much more I would like them in more common/boring colors – like the original Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal, in plain old (kinda-sorta) Bay and Chestnut.

While I think that would make an ideal future Vintage Club release, I can also see a lot of collectors dismissing them much as they dismissed the recent Barrington – on another Morgen Kilbourn mold, no less. (I thought he turned out fabulous, but I am pretty much a sucker for all of Morgen’s molds.)

(Just a head’s up: I’ll be on more-or-less mandatory overtime through the month of March, so free time will be even harder to come by for me until April-ish. I’m not thrilled that most of my creative life will be on hold until then, but I’m definitely not disliking the paychecks.)

More Retail Therapy

I’m feeling a bit better today after doing a bit of shopping. Aside from some necessities (a new winter coat, and a new barn jacket) I also found a grab bag’s worth of goodies at the local Salvation Army, along with a non-equine Beswick:

Since I live relatively close to Canada (less than an hour away) Beswicks are not an uncommon sight around here, even in Salvation Army stores. There’s a note on the bottom of this Kitty McBride figurine, however, that notes it was a souvenir of a December (Christmas?) 1977 trip to England. Not everything I buy comes with a provenance, but I’ll take it…

I was momentarily excited when another Salvation Army store I visited had a nice collection of Japanese clinkies, but they were all overpriced, and one of them was even missing a leg! There was a Wooden Breyer Stable there, too – the big fancy one with the cupola – that I ultimately walked away from, because I don’t have room for that kind of nonsense right now. 

(My inner 9-year-old, on the other hand, is still pitching a fit.)

I also bought something indulgent on eBay, but I’ll talk more about that when it gets here. I don’t normal buy vintage models at “full retail” but when I found out last week that I didn’t need to save up as much money as I thought for the new sewing machine, that money had to go somewhere. 

It’s almost time for the Winter Web Special to drop, and I am secretly hoping that it’s not something I am going to want: it’s not so much a money thing as a I don’t want to get my hopes dashed again thing.

My initial suspicion – since the release of Frozen II is imminent – is that it’ll be something on the Fjord, but it could just as likely be something on the Traditional Icelandic, and that would be a problem. I love that big floofy boy, even though I don’t currently own one.

My platonic ideal would have been the 2017 Early Bird Raffle Sokkar, but that didn’t happen. I will eventually get myself the Berries Ponies Series Honeysuckle in Palomino Roan, but as I appear to be one of the few people in the hobby that didn’t consider her a complete disappointment, I think I can afford to wait.

Actually, my biggest concern right now is a potential Winter Animal Special, like the Longhorn Olaf or the Eldora and Sol Cow and Calf set. I somehow had the misfortune of missing both of them utterly, in spite of them being both rather plentiful for a Web Special (350 pieces) and sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

I don’t even care what it is, and I might not even buy it regardless: I just want to be online when it’s actually still available for sale. As I’ve explained before, sometimes it’s not so much about the buying as having the option. 

Things I am not worried about at the moment: a Collector’s Club Appreciation Sale (as I already have several order options available at a moment’s notice, if/when it happens) and the Christmas Day Special Run, because that’s… not going to happen until Christmas Day.

I am also likely passing on the Premier Club next year. I can wait for a Regular Run of the Akhal-Teke, especially since the model looks about three feet long. Lynn Fraley’s work is hit and miss with me, and I am not as enamored with Kylee Parks’s stuff as the rest of the hobby is, though that’s partly a matter of me being leery of anyone with a short resume, no matter how impressive.

The 2020 Info Dump

Remember last year, when Reeves was oh-so-coy about giving us any detailed info about anything for 2019 until it was absolutely necessary, and even then – not so much?

As you might have noticed over the past three days, they’ve apparently decided to go in the opposite direction this year! 

First it was the 2020 Celebration Horse, a portrait of Irish Sport Horse Ballynoe Castle RM, aka “Reggie”, on the Show Jumping Warmblood mold:

I was thinking a few days ago that the Show Jumping Warmblood mold might have been a good choice for the Surprise model – aside from having multiple mane and tail options, it’s also had two Translucent releases (2007 Halloween Horse Twilight Terror, and last year’s Sugarmaple).

It’s an interesting, and uncontroversial mold choice (as either the Croi or Vanner would have been), though I do expect the inevitable mutterings from the “solid Matte Bay is so boring” crowd. We all thought the same thing with 2018’s Brass Hat, and he turned out gorgeous, right? And this guy’s photo looks way more promising than Brass Hat’s ever did…

Then there’s Klaus, the first release in the 2020 Stablemates Club:

I figured that Darwin would be a part of next year’s club lineup, but first up, and in Leopard Appaloosa, too? Sweet. I am a little annoyed that the first three releases of this mold were/are all Special Runs or limited in some way, though. I know they are trying to recoup their initial investment and get everyone all het up about him (mission accomplished!), but just get to the inevitable Aged Gray already, as the masses demand…

Then there’s the gorgeous Premier Club release Georg, Eberl’s highly anticipated Rhenish German Coldblood:

Like Weather Girl, Georg (pronounced “Gay-Org”, incidentally) is a reworking of one of Brigitte’s earlier resin sculpts – in this case, Valentin.

I am in love with this big beautiful chonk of a horse, but I’ll probably have to wait until next year to find a more affordable release. (I would love him as a BreyerFest Special Run, but I fear he’s got Raffle Horse written all over him.)

And finally, instead of stringing us along like they did last Fall, this time they’re hinting at doing a full reveal on the Vintage Club 2020 lineup. I am not going to read anything into this marketing strategy one way or another, other than to comment that it would definitely be better for my mental and physical well-being. I’ll just let the picture of the next reveal do all the talking for me now:

Okay, now to take a moment to drink something relaxing, before diving into the existential terror that is Star Wars Ticket Presales….

Hamilton, and Occam’s Razor

Sorry for my relative absence the past week or so guys – things kind of got crazy there for a few days, and there were some lingering aftereffects from the whatever-I-had last week still causing me some inconveniences.

And consequently all my best laid plans for the weekend went out the window.

Although there was no auction or antique show for me today, I did get a chance to see some pretty horses. But that’s a long story, and time is short today.

Let’s (briefly) talk about another thing that flew past me in the week before and of BreyerFest: the Premier Club Hamilton!

He is lovely and makes me wish I had joined the Premier Club this year. When the first sneak preview picture was making the rounds the weekend before BreyerFest, I took one look at it (below), and the first (and only!) logical explanation that popped into my head: well, duh, that’s a Saddlebred. 

Conceptually, it also made sense because Reeves has slowly been “updating” their lineup, replacing Vintage molds of popular breeds with more modern ones. And no Vintage mold has fallen more out of favor than the original rough-and-chunky Five-Gaiter, who I sometimes refer to as “The Racking Drafter”.

In short: he was due for an update. 

So I was surprised (to say the least) at the number of people contorting themselves into explanations of how it could be... almost anything but a Saddlebred.

Occam’s Razor, people: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Not always, but usually.

I need to stumble into bed here in a few moments, so I’ll close with a photo of one of my favorite Five-Gaiters from my collection, a Sample of the Regular Run CH Sprinkles release I picked up in the NPOD a few years ago:

He’s a Sample because you can tell in person that he’s a he, and not a she. And he is one of my favorites because his paint job is even more amazing in person!

A Plethora of Pintos

From all the previews that dropped over the past few days, you can tell the end of the year is approaching fast…

First, the third of the Premier Club’s three 2018 releases, Emerson:

I think he’s my favorite of the three Traditional releases for the year. He reminds me of those lean and leggy Thoroughbreds you’d see in illustrations and photographs from the late 19th or early 20th century. He’s also reminiscent of the Love Classic Man o’ War, and that’s not a bad look to emulate!

(I have been sticking fingers in my ears, covering my eyes and mumbling nonsense phrases over and over in a desperate attempt to pretend to unsee the Stablemates Dundee Lipizzaner they previewed in the Collector’s Club Tent at BreyerFest this year. You guys finally release a Stablemates Lipizzaner, and you have to make the first one nigh-unobtainable?

Life is easier if I just pretend it does not exist, until it does.)

I’m a little bummed that Emerson will probably be a little off my financial radar. But likely not for long, because if past history is any guide, we’ll probably see him and all of the other 2018 releases in an assortment of Special Run or Regular Run releases in 2019.

(Put him in that gorgeous “Brass Hat” Bay, and ooh boy….)

The Out of the Blue is the first Collector’s Club Special Run for next year, a Black Roan Tobiano Pinto on the Bobby Jo mold:

While I’ve generally liked the open-ended, larger run Collector’s Club Specials, I haven’t loved them enough to order most of them. The only older one that I think I might cave in and get eventually is Moondance. I think the color and pattern are a good fit for the mold, and the Forever Saige mold is chronically misunderstood (and consequently undervalued, I believe).

I am seriously considering Out of the Blue. I like the mold, I love roany pintos in general, and the relative simplicity of the pattern – reminiscent of one of the original Weather Girl releases Partly Cloudy – is very appealing, and a nice change of pace from the more elaborate paint jobs we’ve been seeing throughout the year.

The third is the final Stablemates Club release for the year, Tabatha Pack’s Darley, I don’t know what to think about, to be honest:

The color is great: I am loving the Gulastra Plume, and I am not as bothered as others are over Reeves’s obsession with Pinto paint jobs this year. (I’m not thrilled by it, either, but that’s what sells. End of story.)

Usually I am all for crazy, awkward or unconventional poses, but I am not quite sure what the heck is going on with Darley. I’m assuming it’s one of those “Arabian” things?

I’ll probably love him once I see him in person. That’s how these things tend to work.

Arrivals and Departures

The Calvins look great, the Goblins really do glow purple, and the Markuses are just arriving in stores, too. Alas, I won’t be in the vicinity of a Markus-participating store until Tuesday, at the earliest.

And then there’s the Premier Club Duende.

You already know I was not overly enthused by the arrival of yet another Andalusian to the Breyer line, when so many other breeds and types are underrepresented, poorly represented, or not even represented at all.

But as to the Duende mold itself, I think I still need a little more time to collect my thoughts. To be honest, I haven’t really had much time to give him much thought at all...

The biggest Breyer-related news of the week, of course, is not an arrival but a departure – that of longtime Breyer employee Kerstin Chalupa.

I probably knew of her a little bit before everyone else in the hobby only because my local post office had a habit of misplacing my Just About Horses on a rather frequent basis. So a month or two after the issue was mailed, I’d find myself call Kerstin again to get a replacement issue mailed to me.

(The local post office had no problems delivering any other of my periodicals. A most curious situation, it was.)

It was always a delight whenever I’d call Breyer about something else unrelated to the location of my current issue of JAH, and hear Kerstin’s cheerful voice on the other end of the line.

Aside from the fact that I knew that that meant whatever problem or issue I was having would be promptly resolved, it was also reassuring just to hear her familiar voice.

As some of you may know, I suffer from telephonophobia: it’s much better than it used to be, but you’re not going to get a phone call from me “just to talk” anytime soon!

Having someone familiar at the other end of the line is always a help, and a comfort. And now one of those someones at Breyer is going off to a happy retirement.

Don’t be a stranger, Kerstin – I’ll always take your call. Even just to talk!

The Expected, and The Unexpected

I’ve been trying to not pay too much attention to the Auction models – I haven’t won the lottery, yet, for that to even be a consideration – but ooh, I really like the Cremello Tobiano Newsworthy:

We’ve had Cremellos (BreyerFest Surprise Lonesome Glory) and Perlinos (Desatado Orion), but I can’t recall if we’ve had a production run Double Dilute Pinto or Appaloosa yet.

I think I need that to be a thing, now!

Some of the more recent Auction pieces have been previews of coming attractions, so I’ll cross my fingers and hope to see a similar paint job on something easily available and somewhat affordable…

(Also trying to pretend I didn’t see the Gloss Silver Bay Fell Pony Emma, but at least that one wasn’t as delightfully unexpected as the Pinto.)

Oddly enough, I’m slightly less enthused about the new Premier Club release Duende. Don’t get me wrong: the sculpt by Mindy Berg is beautiful, and I am all for more standing models. Some of my favorite molds – the Traditional Man o’ War and Trakehner come to mind – are standers.

But my first reaction was something I never thought would cross my mind:

Oh Jeez, Is that ANOTHER “Spanish” horse?

I love Andalusians. I was thrilled to pieces when the Legionario and the Classic Andalusian Family came out in late 1978 – so much so that I made my Aunt Arlene order them from the Bentley Sales Company for Christmas that year. (Yes, they are still here).

We have a lot of Breyer Spanish molds now. Sure, okay, we didn’t have a standing one. And I would be all over a Lipizzan doing a capriole.

But still, they are fairly well-represented across the various lines and scales. And yet we still wait for a new Traditional Shetland Pony, another Draft Foal, an updated Man o’ War, a new TWH Stallion, a true Akhal-Teke, a typey Morgan…

I know: gripe, gripe, gripe. Andalusians and their relations are flashy, beautiful, and popular, that’s why they keep doing them.

And if they put a paint job on it as beautiful as the Newsworthy, I will buy them, too.

Back to the BreyerFest prep, I guess.

A Different Kind of Black Beauty

Next up: a Black Rabicano Sabino Yasmin, named Kaalee.

I haven’t seen the mold in person yet, but I am slightly obsessed with the breed she’s supposed to represent (Shagya Arabian), it’s an Eberl, and her paint job (designed by Lesli Kathman) is unique and interesting, so all signs so far point to her being a “Yes” here.

Kaalee is also very reminiscent of the original release of the Traditional #89 Black Beauty, except prettier and more correct. Allegedly she’s just as much as a shelf hog, but since I also collect the Pacer mold, I know how to deal if it becomes a deal.

Just when I thought I had made peace with my “just one ticket this year” rule. Sigh. Time to do some budget number crunching again…

I have nothing further to say about Kaalee or the Yasmin mold, other than noting that she’s the third of the last year’s three Premier Club molds in this year’s lineup. (And will make a mighty fine ladyfriend to Polaris!)

It’s good that they got the new Premier molds out of the way early for the sake of the Special Run speculations, I guess? Maybe that means the rest of the Specials will be on older molds, for balance?

While it’s pretty much a given that we’ll get the Elephant at some point, beyond that I’m going to stick to my minimal public speculating rule for the year. I’ll just go with the flow around and let it all be a surprise, more or less.

And how’s this for a surprise – I actually “won” a Wailua! It’s been two years since I’ve won a Web Special of any kind, so I was a bit gobsmacked when the e-mail showed up in my In Box. I only have the one official account and my luck is typically about average luck, but that dry streak was just starting to make me think otherwise.

The only downsides to winning are that I have to push the BreyerFest ticket buying two more weeks down the road, and I have to scale back some of my eBay bidding ambitions. (Darn it, and just when it was starting to get interesting there!)

Rangoli and True North

Here’s the Sunday Raffle Model Rangoli, in case you haven’t seen him yet:

That paint job – an extra dark Sooty Dappled Buckskin Sabino – is amazing, and the rest of him isn’t too shabby either. But you know what I really like about the True North mold?

The shaggy buzzcut of a mane! It’s just so stinking cute. If he were a real-real horse, I’d want to run my fingers through it. 

I tend to appraise sculpts not purely on their anatomical or conformational correctness, but on the finishwork at the edges: the mane and tail, the ears, the hooves, and the muzzle. For me, that’s where the sculptor’s care and passion really shows: everything else is a matter of technical competence.

Getting the technical aspects correct is important, but it doesn’t always make you fall in love. Sometimes it does; but its things like pooky lips, fuzzy ears, and artfully messy manes that quickly turn admiration turn into adoration.

However, I am not real fond of having the first several releases of new molds (mostly but not exclusively the Premiers) be either expensive, or of extremely limited quantity. It’s difficult to get passionate about collecting something that becomes almost immediately hard to collect.  

That’s what turned me away from the Esprit mold, initially. Although I’ve since added a few to the herd – most notably the quirky BreyerFest Special Run Prince of Chintz, and the beautiful Dappled Bay Steppin’ Out – I’ve been hesitant to sink any more effort into it. I wouldn’t have minded getting the Decorator variation of the Samba Surprise from last year’s BreyerFest lineup, but I got only one shot at that guy last year and it didn’t happen. So I sold the one I did get (Matte Palomino) and moved on.

Part of the appeal of collecting Vintage is that unless you pick an exceptionally hard mold to collect – like the Elephant, or the In-Between Mare – the ratio of rare and difficult to not-so-rare or -difficult is better. You can collect for a while before the rarities start to bother you too much. And unlike most of the newer molds, there is a small but real possibility that you just might run across one of those rarities at a yard sale or late-night online auction. 

I never expected to own an Elephant with Howdah, but I somehow managed to snag one on eBay some years back, for considerably less than the going rate. (The Pink, Blue, and Woodgrain? Ah, well, I guess that is what the flea market is for.)

The actual True North release isn’t even out yet, and the likelihood of winning Rangoli is going to be pretty slim (I mean, just look at him!) but it’s a little too early to abandon hope yet. 

That Funny Feeling

Something told me to go to the Salvation Army yesterday on my way home from work, and guess what I found:

Horsies! And a strange, old decoupaged lunchbox that was also hanging out in the toy department, for reasons unknown. (For that weird, artsy grammar school kid? Oh wait, that would have been me, ca. 1975. Well played, Salvation Army, well played.)

That pushes the tally on this year’s Body Box to well over 40 pieces, making it easily my most epic.

There’s a slight chance I might pick out one or two from this latest cache to toss in my personal body stash – I always wanted to do something silly with a Llanarth, or do a slight remodel/beautification on the Hess Secretariat. It’ll all depend on how much room I have in the car, and how much motivation I think I’ll have, post-BreyerFest.

Speaking of… I briefly considered doing the BreyerFest Customs Contest this year. But time, again, was my enemy. I’m struggling to get my usual efforts (Sampler, Saleslist, Costume, Diorama) done in time; starting or finishing a custom, too, would have been… not good for my mental health, I think.

And I’m still not thrilled by the particulars of the contest, especially the open-ended rules and lack of a thematic component. I’d just prefer it if all of the creative contests operated under similar rules.

It’s all a little too vague for me, especially when they offer the rarest of the BreyerFest Special Runs as a prize – this year, he’s called Guerreiro:

That’s…an interesting choice, especially since the mold is also being used for the Sunday Raffle Model Areia:

Last year’s prize for the Customs Contest was the Premier Club Hermosa and Corazon, also in a pattern identical to their Premier Club release, but in a different color. So Reeves is definitely following a plan there. Though it is a bit disorienting to see a new mold used in two completely unrelated (non-Surprise) releases at the same BreyerFest.

I haven’t seen one of these guys in person yet – it was just released via the Premier Club as Geronimo, so not many have. I’m not sure if I like him or not, yet. I do find the color/pattern combo on the Areia intriguing, but I’m not buying any more Raffle tickets than the usual amount I allot myself.

Hmm, and looking at the Premier Club page, there’s that Esperanza Stablemate again. D’oh! I keep forgetting the Premier Club has bonus Stablemates now. I really wish I had the time to poke around the Breyer web site a little more thoroughly.

Looking Forward

Successful weekend: partially snowed in, in possession of a nicely-funded Paypal account, on a payday weekend, with multiple “special offer” e-mails streaming in from Reeves – and I didn’t buy anything!

That level of resolve probably won’t last the week, since I just spotted an inexpensive upgrade on eBay earlier today. It’s one of THOSE kind of things: if I don’t bid on it, I know I’ll be thinking about it – and regretting it – for months.

Another model I’m considering, but shouldn’t: the Premier Club Forever Saige. The previous two releases for 2015 were also beautiful – we’re all eager to see an Hermosa and Corazon Special Run at next year’s BreyerFest, right? – but there’s just something about Saige’s face that I find very endearing.

I guess because it reminds me a bit of Vita’s face in her rebellious-but-playful moments. Her hair is a bit weird and there are some angles that make her look ungraceful, but these are problems both Vita and I can totally relate to.

She is also very reminiscent of the original Traditional Mustang: the elevated head and neck, the relative position of her legs, a wild mane and thick, somewhat short tail. I can’t recall if I’ve covered the topic here before, but I have some interesting theories about the sculptural antecedents of the original Mustang. Another topic, for another time.

Judging from the number of them for sale online, I think I can hold out until BreyerFest to pick up a Forever Saige from the inevitable stash of leftovers that will be found in the NPOD.

Because I’ve been good about my budget, I haven’t gotten a copy of the new 2016 Breyer Calendar yet either, but it apparently contains some sneak peeks of other new horses coming our way next year – including a lovely Black Weather Girl, a portrait of Rhapsody in Black:

http://arabiansltd.com/egyptian-arabian-mares/black-arabians-mare-rhapsody-in-black

I had completely forgotten that next year would mark the end of the Weather Girl mold’s five-year exile to the “vault”. I was expecting her to return in a more conventional Bay, Chestnut or Gray, but another Black is good, too!

If you’re not a fan of Black, no worries: I would not be surprised to see Weather Girl multiple times in multiple releases next year: as a Web Special, a Flagship/Store Special, or maybe even a little something at BreyerFest.

Though I still want to see her in the original Breyer Old Mold/Family Arabian Colors: Gloss Alabaster, Gloss Honey Bay, Gray Appaloosa and Woodgrain.

I should stop pushing so hard for that idea; when I do get my wish for a favorite mold or mold/color combo, it often results in releases that remain out of my reach. Not always, but enough.

Wyatt and the Premier Club

Aside from the fact that it was October, and kind of miserable weather-wise (there are no "good" days with sleet in them!) the events of the previous 24 hours highlighted the stark contrast between the different parts of my life. And the realization that there’s nothing I can do, right now, to fix the parts that don’t work without also messing up the parts that do.

I guess this is more of a fair warning in case the tone here gets a little more melancholic over the next couple of weeks. I’m dealing with some heavy stuff again, people.

Don’t worry, the model horse stuff is mostly working. Some parts of it are actually way fabulous, but we’ll get to that a little later in the week. First up: let’s talk about the Premier Club.

I haven’t talked too much about the Premier Club, for a couple of different reasons. First, it’s a club all about first releases on brand new molds: there’s not a lot of history there to talk about, yet.

Second, it’s the drama: gosh-almighty, some of the online arguments about the latest Premier Club releases make the goings-on on the NAMSHA-Discussion list look quaint and dignified.

I know I’m going to sound like a total tool for saying this, but Reeves really does care about the quality of the product. They have a problem not dissimilar to mine: the different parts of their company "life" are in conflict, and there’s no good way to disentangle the two without one or the other suffering.

As important as the hobbyist market is, the general retail market will always come first. It has to: that’s where the bigger money is, and where new hobbyists come from.

Brishen might not have been a success in the niche of a niche market that the Premier Club is, but the money that they invested in that mold will pay off for them in the long run in the retail market. Little kids who love horses don’t love them for their anatomical correctness, they’re buying the fantasy of a horse. And like it or not, the more recent Moody molds like Brishen are the epitome of little-kid fantasy horses.

The profits of molds like Brishen end up funding molds like Latigo - the third release in the 2013 Premier Club - and Wyatt, the first release of 2014. And look at him!

(Note: It’s a photo taken from the web site, slightly reformatted to fit here. Copyright and all that Reeves International. The mold was sculpted by Morgen Kilbourn, if you didn’t already know.)

He’s so awesome it’s making ME contemplate signing up for the Premier Club, which is crazy. I still haven’t completely finished the herd culling to accommodate this year’s acquisitions. And next year’s Vintage Club. And some of the just announced 2014 releases, and the new Appaloosa Performance Horses, and…

As big as a hit as he appears he will be, Wyatt is not going to be as profitable a mold as a Brishen, at least in the short term. He’s on a base: bases cost money, and they get lost, warped or broken. The parents of our hypothetical nine year old proto-hobbyists are going to look at a future Regular Run release of Wyatt and find themselves thinking that a Regular Run Brishen might be a more sensible choice - with his thicker legs and lack of a base. (The Wyatt mold strikes me as a fancier kind of thing that Grandma or Santa would bring, anyway.)

Loving Moody molds isn’t going to damage those budding hobbyists later on in life. Most of us grew up in the Hess mold era: frog eyes, sketchy genitals, bowed tendons, and husky-looking Palomino Arabians. We turned out fine, in spite of it all.

Not Making a Fuss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In other modelly news…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rambling, Roan

Off the top, since I know some of you are curious: yes, I know all about the Red Roan Pinto Five-Gaiter on eBay. In fact, the vendor contacted me earlier today, and I’ll update you about this extremely interesting story as my schedule permits. 

In slightly less exciting news, a few more BreyerFest releases were seen at NAN this weekend: included in this batch were a Crystal Nokota horse Belle Meade, and the red version of the Black Decorator Nocona with the boots and lassoes, named Corral.

I have to confess I am intrigued by the Crystal Nokota Horse, in spite of my clumsy self.

I take it from the excessively long discussion threads I’ve been seeing that there are some issues with the Premier Club release Carrick. I haven’t dived into that discussion because my Internet time was rather limited this week.

I will say that I like "plastic him" better than the "resin him": the resin prototype of him didn’t do all that much for me. I think I’m just not comfortable with that level of detail at that scale; it drifts a bit too much into Uncanny Valley territory for me.

Since we’re on the topic of new molds, there was also a Laredo at NAN, and he wasn’t as "horrible" as I thought he could be. The front leg is still odd, and the mane and tail are ropey and snakelike, but otherwise…he’s not bad. I’m not saying that I’ll be buying him, but after the initial griping, he’ll end up in the same category as Esprit and Ethereal - semi-realistic fantasy horses for the little girl (in reality, or at heart) set.

Of NAN, I don’t have much to say. It’s not my scene. I didn’t tune in to the video broadcast because - aside from my chronic lack of time - watching people look at other models just feels weird. The lack of an opening number and/or a half-time show were also factors. Unless someone decides to break into an impromptu dance routine because one of their entries Top Tenned, there just isn’t a whole lot of actual action going on.

(Which I think would be awesome, by the way. NAN Victory Dances! Someone please make this so.)

The next release in the Vintage Club series this year is - those two Shetlands in Florentine Pinto and Copenhagen Pinto that we discussed prior, named Denim and Diamonds. Which means that those among us who were viewing/participating in the discussion where they first came up on Blab already know what the fourth release will be, too. (I won’t spoil it for those among you who wish to be surprised, except to say: you may have seen it already, anyway.)

The clues this time really annoyed me, though. They were so vague that they actually DID apply to other molds. As someone on Blab pointed out, the Cantering Welsh Pony would have fit all of those clues, quite easily.

"It’s a girl!" Check. (No obvious boy parts on either.)

"Not a horse." Check. (Both ponies, not horses.)

"Chess." Also, check. (Both molds were signed by Chris Hess - C. Hess.)

Eh, not worth sweating over. This humidity, on the other hand…

Peeling Turnips

I’ve been trying to lie low, finish old business and all that, but with limited success. I can only sit still and work for so long to work on a project before I have to get up and do something else for a while, even if it is only washing the dishes or taking out the trash.

Or hopping on the Internet for a few minutes. This I really, really need to stop; not because it’s a time-suck (because it is) but because the hobby has gotten really dark over the past week or so.

It’s been going way beyond the usual carping and moaning; I got a couple pages into the griping on Blab about the 2013 BreyerFest Celebration Horse - Lyle Lovett’s Smart And Shiney - before I decided that peeling and chopping turnips was infinitely more preferable than watching hobbyists do the same with Breyer's latest and greatest.

(I’ve been experimenting with things I’ve been finding on the discount produce rack at the local grocery store. With mixed success.)

I don’t know if it’s Seasonal Affective Disorder, or the events in Connecticut contributing to this, but dang, folks. Log off and go self-medicate with hot chocolate or something. (Probably not turnips, unless you're into that sort of thing.)

As for the hue and cry over a lack of imagination (Another Palomino Smart Chic Olena? The horror!) Y’all do realize that when it comes to living, breathing horses, they’re not quite as variegated as our imagination? And that the owner, in most cases, is the one who gets to make the final decision on what mold gets used?

If you got a problem with it, talk to Mr. Lovett about it.

If anything, this makes me somewhat more hopeful about next year’s BreyerFest. I’ve made no secret of my general dislike of country music, but Lyle Lovett is one of the few modern country artists I don't mind so much. And I love the Smart Chic Olena mold, so no complaints from me, there.

Speaking of palomino paint jobs, it appears that the Marwari mold is getting released in just that color in 2013. Looks nice, but I’ll wait until I see one in person before I buy/order, mostly because it'll give me some time to resolve my space issues.

Also included among the 2013 releases will be a Bay Tobiano Brishen; as for the third 2012 Premier mold, I saw or heard no mention of a new release on the Desatado/Criollo mold, yet, but I imagine that will be coming shortly - sometime around the release of the Traditional Totilas mold, I presume? If not, he'll be a safe bet for a BreyerFest release, I think.

Monsters, Monsters from the Id!

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

(Oh. Reader discretion is advised.) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marwari

I can tell BreyerFest is only days away: the chaos is increasing. I came home from the store yesterday (an emergency craft supply run) and I tripped and fell on the step up the porch. I scraped up my knees pretty bad, but the worse injury was to my dignity: all I’ll say is that I required a change of clothes afterwards.

Before I get to discussing the Marwari, please also allow me to pout a little about this year’s volunteer model. Dang it, she had to go and be all nice and stuff.

I take some small consolation in the fact that the piece count’s now been upped to 150, though I wonder where the extra 15-20 pieces are now going towards. (Hey Reeves, if you have a spare, I certainly won’t turn it down.)

Anyway, the Marwari, who can be seen on the Breyer web site here.

My first reaction - other than, "Ooh, pretty!" - was "Hmm, I see they went with something trendy."

I have nothing against the breed personally; it’s just that I was sort of expecting an Akhal-Teke first, though. (Lonesome Glory makes an okay Akhal-Teke, but the "real thing" has been a long overdue.) But everywhere I look online it feels like everyone seems to be doing Marwaris resins and customs, so I suppose it makes sense.

I have nothing against creating molds of more exotic breeds. Some of my favorite breeds (ahem, Dales Pony) are a bit on the rare side. Creating molds of rare breeds also helps raise awareness of them, and perhaps lead to their preservation and survival.

The only problem with the creation of molds of rarer or more exotic breeds is that it fosters a certain level of unreality in the model horse world.

There’s definitely a strong undercurrent within the hobby that wants to emulate the real horse world as much as possible. However, when you have just as many production molds of a somewhat more common breed - such as a Missouri Fox Trotter - as you do a significantly less common one - like the Marwari - that’s simply not going to be the case.

It’ll be hard to argue that a "model horse" show is just like a "real horse" show, when you will inevitably have an overabundance of Marwaris compared to Missouri Fox Trotters, or even Akhal-Tekes.

A true and accurate representation of the "real horse" world in miniature has never been - and will never become - a reality in this hobby. There will always be more stallions than geldings, and more exotic colors and patterns rather than the more mundane grays, bays and chestnuts. And always more rare and exotic breeds than most normal horse people will ever see in person, or in their lifetimes.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’d be nice to see a greater acknowledgement of the fact that the hobby is more its own thing than a downsized version of another.

I am curious if there is - or will be - a mold change out for the ears? With the ears that the mold has, it’ll be hard to sell it as anything other than a Marwari, or the closely related Kathiawari. Marwaris come in just about every conceivable color, it’s true, but switching out the ears with something more standard might make the mold a little more versatile in the long run.