BreyerFest 2019, Part One

I’m not yet done unpacking and my brain is still stuck in unfiltered mode (four days in the hot Kentucky sun shorts it out that way) so how’s this deal: something short and rambly today, and something longer and more focused on Thursday?

Good? Good.

I managed to snag my two primary wants from the SR line, Bucky and Rocket; I couldn’t get a Quill or a Diana because my place in line with my second ticket was teh awful, so I ended up with what was left: (another) Bucky and Pepper.

No fun variations to be had in my selection, which is what I expected: I haven’t gotten anything “awesome” in the Ticket SR line – Glossy or Rarity – since 2012, and I wasn’t expecting that to change. I am not one of those people.

(Yes, both the Pinto Rocket and Benasque Blue Bucky did make me whimper. Quite a lot, actually. Mostly in private.)

My prediction of the Surprise Andalusian was spot on, and the variation bonanza did not surprise me in the least – other than the scope of it. I do like how that managed to draw some of the focus off the Surprise Special a little bit.

I know it did for me.

I like the Moody Andalusian and have several, including that glorious BreyerFest Special of yore Galahad, but knowing that I had a shot at a possible variation with all of the other Specials made it easier for me to stick to my original choices, rather than attempt to get one of the Surprises I wanted.

Which were the Medicine Hat Pinto and – you guessed it! – the Translucent Lime Green Silver Filigree. The latter was not my idea, but to the currently unknown somebody at Breyer HQ who dreamed up that confection: you get me.

(And no, I had no idea they’d be going with that when I wrote the post about my love of the color lime green back in May. Another coincidence, people. Seriously.)

I have no info about the variations, though what I’ve been hearing is 30 different variations total, with 30 pieces being made of the rarest (like the Pinto Diana, another heartbreaker for me) and others being 50/50 splits.

I am hoping that they’ll publish all the details soon, if only to quell the rumors floating around.

I neither like nor dislike next year’s theme, which is “Celtic Fling”: this seems to put me in the minority. I have nothing against it (except the inevitable onslaught of leprechauns) and I will say that I already have some ideas for Costume Contest and Diorama Contest entries, depending on what the exact focus of these contests are. (Especially the Diorama: for as much heartache as that contest gives me, I do love the challenge of assembling my entry.)

I am also giving some serious consideration to both the Live Show and the Custom Contest, but right now I just want to spend my time recovering from this year.

(And quilting. Lots and lots of quilting.)

Another Bowl of Ice Cream

Great, more Butter Pecan…

Because I really do want to add an affordable and attractive Emerson to my collection, I’ll just use the fact that they didn’t directly reference any character in their blog post and pretend the name is referring to someone different and/or better, like Milestone’s Rocket, the somewhat obscure Justice League International character Rocket Red, or even Dave Stevens’s Rocketeer.

All that’s left is the Decorator release, and… I got nothing on that. I kind of like the idea of a Translucent Camouflage model, but inexplicably they seem to be hinting that the military-themed model – Hero’s Welcome – will be the Surprise.

This makes no sense to me, since if any Special Run is inherently suited to a super-heroic theme, it’s one that involves a model whose true identity is a secret until it is almost literally unmasked. (But what does the comic book nerd with a complete original run of Booster Gold in her closet know, right?)

Regardless, if there is a Translucent Camouflage Special Run anywhere in the lineup – as a Surprise Horse rarity, or not – it’ll be on my list.

So at this point, my selections are going to be the Emerson, probably the Saint Bernard, possibly a Surprise Horse, and either the Appaloosa SCO or the Diana, depending on which one I like better in person. (And if I’m not in love with the Surprise, then definitely both.)

I’m not sure I’m interested in any of the Store Specials yet, though I do want to get a good look at the Dundee Hal first. I think that one is going to surprise a lot of people.

As for everything else, it’ll all depend on my mood, my budget, how much space I have in the car, what the Stablemates are, the slim possibility of winning something (ha!), and whatever I find in the NPOD or the CHIN.

In other words, the usual.

Bucky

LOL – of course it’s a Saint Bernard!

You know, if you had told me that the Saint Bernard would get a second BreyerFest Special Run release before the Boxer, the Collie or even the Kitten, I wouldn’t have believed you. (You, in turn, will have to believe that I honestly did not know that Bucky was the Saint Bernard.)

And yet, here we are. (The first dog mold was the “Small Poodle” – the “Surprise” raffle pieces in 1997, and Cotton Candy in 2009.)

I guess my only significant concern about Bucky is that he looks a lot like the previous BreyerFest SR, Beethoven. I would have preferred slightly more atypical markings –  something described by breeders as a “splash coat” or “full mantle extended”.

I’ll still get him regardless – providing he isn’t too expensive, or too scarce – since I collect the Dog molds anyway, and I have a near-complete collection of Saint Bernards including variations, samples and so on.

What I would have really preferred is a Holiday/Christmas Special Run – Decorator, Glossy, whatever – but this way I have a reasonable shot of getting one, instead of having to resort to the secondary market.

There’s been some consternation that the German Shepherd/Rin Tin Tin mold was not used, but as I’ve explained before – in multiple venues – the mold is not usable.

The rumors you often hear about certain molds being unusable, destroyed or beyond repair? Most of them aren’t true – but in the case of the Rin Tin Tin, it probably is.

And even if it were economically feasible to repair it, I simply don’t think it’s likely that they would have used it for this BreyerFest. For an event – and a hobby – that has had issues with inclusivity, honoring one of the breeds most often used as a police dog could be seen as problematic.

All dogs, and all breeds of dogs, have issues. Some breeds honored as Breyer Companion animals – like Rottweilers and Dalmatians – also have serious health and temperament issues. (Though I love Rottweilers, personally. They’re just a bit too big for me to handle.)

Wire Fox Terriers are the winningest breed at Westminster (this year, too!) And it’s easy to see why: they are adorable, personable, outgoing, energetic, and legendarily empathetic. But would I recommend them to anybody who hasn’t had previous experience with terriers?

Good heavens, no! Vita is exhausting, territorial, bossy, single-minded and a thief: when things get quiet around here, we get worried. Her nickname is “Monster”, and she’s earned it.

As much as I want it, I doubt Breyer will ever officially have a Fox Terrier model, beyond the cartoony one available in the Pocket Box Dog assortment. (I don’t think Collecta has ever had one, either.) I’m okay with that.

To The Dogs

I am about 98 percent unpacked (just a bit of unboxing and unwrapping, really) and I can confirm that my Kaalee is definitely AWOL.

Sigh. Every year there’s some sort of BreyerFest-associated loss, and I suppose $65 worth is getting off cheap, but still not any fun, no way…

I’ll call Breyer on Monday to see if there was a Kaalee that ended up in the Lost & Found – maybe she fell out of the bag before I even left the Horse Park? – but I’m not holding out much hope.

Anyway, as promised, here’s the two interesting doggies I found, one of them a grail. First up, a Basset Hound in that early 1970s “weird white” plastic. It’s a little hard to see in photo, but he’s definitely different in person:

I’ve struggled with what to call this particular class of models – Semi-Chalky? Off Whites? Weird Whites? I like the term “Milky White”, but Milky is sometimes used to refer to Woodgrains and other early Matte-finished models where the clear topcoat has started to turn opaque.

I was rage-shopping at the CHIN on Saturday when I found him, so anything that was that odd and that cheap was coming home with me, regardless.

It’s generally accepted wisdom among the hobby pros that one does not find worthy things to buy at the Horse Park, outside of the NPOD and the Pop-Up Store. For the second time in three years, though, I have managed to find a treasure. This year, it was a hand-airbrushed Saint Bernard:

(Standing next to his more conservatively painted cousin, of course. Who is also an earlier piece, just not as early…)

I found out about the hand-airbrushed Saint Bernards a couple of years ago, while doing a completed auction search on eBay. I suspect that these dogs are a lot like the early Jasper the Market Hogs, which were also hand-airbrushed until the painting masks were complete.

The airbrushed Jaspers are more common because he was just more popular mold in general: the original Jasper ran from 1974 through 2000, with multiple small Special Runs in the 1980s sold directly to breeders (more or less).

The Saint Bernard had a more modest but still respectable ten-year run, from 1972 through 1981. But in spite of a couple newer releases – Brandy in 1995-1996, and the BreyerFest Special Run Beethoven – the mold still isn’t setting collector hearts aflutter. So while I wasn’t too worried that I’d have to pay through the nose when I found this obscurity, I’m glad I found one this year, when everything else didn’t quite go my way.

And he wasn’t the only grail I achieved, but we’ll get to that one next time.

October (Model Horse) Surprises

Gah! So many goodies out right now – Gideon, Coeur de Lion, the Premier Club Shagya Arabian (a Shagya at last!) and now this bizarre Test Color Clydesdale Mare THAT I LOVE:

It looks like the kind of Test Color my nine year old self would have designed! If my parents had been rich, and they had had the “Design Your Own Test Color” back then.

Alas, I blew my wad on the trip and I really need new tires, so most of these end-of-year items won’t be coming home with me. The upcoming Silver Filigree will probably be off the table, too, whoever it may be.

I’ll make an exception for the Mare of course, and possibly for the Nonhorse piece, especially if it’s one of the molds I think/hope it will be, like a Zebra, Elk, Deer Family Set or Saint Bernard. Though both the Mare and the Nonhorse are unlikely anyway, since I haven’t been getting drawn for those kinds of things lately.

(I’ll cuss if it’s the Saint Bernard – that’s one collection I had some hopes of keeping complete.)

Most of my purchases for the rest of the year will be of this type, all inexpensive recent Salvation Army finds:

The white kitty with the black tail tip is my favorite. I have no idea who made it – I’m guessing it’s Russian or Eastern European, since it came with the striped Art Deco Cat, made by Hollohaza in Hungary.

And box lots, too. Here’s one of those pieces from that lot I was so excited about last week:

Yes, that’s another “Transitional” saddle, this time a gray to match my tan.

On yet another Western Prancing Horse, that both baffles and amuses me.

It is funny that the two Transitional saddles I now own – and a third that I almost purchased, locally – were all found on the Western Prancing Horse. Funny because this is a saddle that was designed for the Western Horse, and that’s where most of the rest of the hobby finds theirs, when they do.

While it’s possible that some Western Prancers were released with Transitional saddles, because that’s just the weird kind of stuff that happened back in the Chicago days, I’m going to chalk up my personal experience to a sampling error.

In this case, it was in a lot that came with some spare pieces, so I’m going to assume this is a case of parts getting switched around and/or lost.

I can also partly attribute it to the fact that I’m one of those handful of collectors who actively collects Western Prancing Horses. Even though my collection is technically “complete”, I always give them an extra look when I’m cruising the Internet. Sometimes, I am rewarded.

Mostly with oddball Black Leopard Appaloosa variations … and now, apparently, rare saddles.

Rin Tin Tin

Did you hear about the new book about Rin Tin Tin? It’s Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, by Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief. I was doing a little research on the book itself (to wit: was it worth putting on my holiday gift list?) when I ran across this text on the author’s website:

When I was very young, my grandfather kept a Rin Tin Tin figurine sitting on his desk. I wanted desperately to play with it, and even more desperately I wanted to have a German shepherd dog of my own, a dog just like the star of "The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin", which debuted on television in 1954. I knew nothing about Rin Tin Tin other than that he was the perfect dog, and that he was a character on television. When by chance I learned that Rin Tin Tin was a real dog, not just a television character—a real dog with a real life that was extraordinary—I was drawn into the story and eventually to the idea of writing this book.

http://susanorlean.com/books/rin-tin-tin.php

So I’m guessing that you’re thinking what I’m thinking - that’s the Breyer figurine she’s talking about! I guess the book is worth my time, though I will have to wait until Christmas or thereabouts before I get my hands on a copy. (No room in the budget for fun stuff until then!)

You’d think it’d be logical for Reeves to re-release the Rin Tin Tin figurine, wouldn’t it? You have a well-reviewed biography by a noted author, who just mentions in passing that a Rin Tin Tin figurine partially inspired her to write the book in the first place?


Nice idea, but I’m not counting on it. For one, he’s a dog, not a horse. While Reeves has not been averse to re-releasing the older dog molds, they’re not big sellers. They’ve seemed particularly averse to re-releasing the Rin Tin Tin mold: we haven’t seen it since 1973, when they discontinued the #327 German Shepherd after a brief two-year-ish run. (Like the Proud Arabian Mare, he was prereleased in late 1971 to/for hobbyists.)

His absence is something of a mystery to me, since the German Shepherd has consistently been one of the most popular dog breeds in the United States, far outpacing both the Collie and the Saint Bernard in terms of registrations.

http://www.akc.org/reg/dogreg_stats.cfm

Yet both the Lassie/Collie and the Saint Bernard molds have seen a couple of re-releases in the not-too-distant past! Hmm. (Also puzzling: Wire Fox Terriers are only 97th on the list? Our little brat certainly doesn't act like it.)

Second: just because I think it’s such an obvious idea doesn’t mean Reeves does. I thought a Pancreatic Cancer benefit horse was a far better - and more appropriate - idea than a Breast Cancer benefit horse (hello, Patrick Swayze!) but the more conventional idea won out.

It could be that Reeves got caught a bit flat-footed about the book; I only found out about it a couple months ago myself. It’s not too late to time a re-release of the mold with the inevitable paperback release of the book sometime next year, though. Could be a nice addition to one of their various "horse and book" series, like the Breyer Horse Collection. (One of the lamest names for a series ever, BTW. Isn’t every series basically a "Breyer horse collection"?)

Brandy, Instead of Whine

Let’s see, the online discussions have moved on from griping about the Western Elegance set, to griping about the BreyerFest Specials. I guess "having a more positive attitude" wasn’t on anybody’s New Year’s Resolutions list.

Interesting that they’ve chosen the Saint Bernard as one of the Tent models; we haven’t seen much of that mold like, ever. We’ve only seen him twice before - in his original release #328 from 1972 through 1980, and as #321 Brandy in 1995-96, alongside a number of other Traditional Breyer Dog molds.

I have the original version; picked him up ages ago, at a toy store that carried discontinued merchandise exclusively. (Man, I loved that store - imagine a toy store where the only new stock was old stock - and every week was a surprise! Sadly, it has long since ceased to be.)

I never got around to getting the newer Saint Bernard, mostly because his paint job was so unappealing: what was up with that greasy-looking yellow-brown color, anyway? And aside from the color, it didn’t look all that different from the original release. If I wanted another Saint Bernard, I’d go looking for that neat cast iron knockoff, instead.

I did eventually add another (plastic) Saint Bernard to my collection:


I think he’s a preproduction piece for Brandy: the colors are right, and he’s hand-airbrushed. (The regular run piece is masked.) I can’t know for sure what he is, because he was one of those models that came to me via the mysterious eBay seller "newtoymens."

Remember him? He of the cartloads of mysterious models, some of which seemed to be test colors, culls and oddities? I got outbid on the "flashier" stuff, but I did manage to get this guy, among others.

I wasn’t able to get any more information out of him than anyone else was. Most hobbyists thought he was a Breyer insider, but if he was, he wasn’t a recent one: none of the models - the regular run pieces we could date, anyhow - dated past 2000. It’s more likely he was a middleman of some sort - either a jobber, or a guy who knew jobbers and sold their "merchandise" for them.

I have a couple other interesting "newtoymens" pieces I should probably put in this month’s blog post rotation…