The Weight of Missing Souls

I was going to open with some exciting developments in my garden – some of the seedlings may survive after all! – but the news of Liz Bouras’s passing kind of squashes that “Spring is my favorite season because it represents the triumph of life over death” vibe I wanted to go for. 

Although I wouldn’t consider her a close friend, our paths crossed many times, and we had several friends in common. I entered the hobby just as she was coming into her own in it, as it was transitioning from its wild and wooly early days to something a little more formalized and organized. 

It wasn’t until last year that I was able to acquire a custom of hers – a vintage Arabian from that very era! – in a body box lot early last year.

I also ended up becoming the caretaker of a (large!) portion of her hobby papers a few years back. Today I feel that in doing that, I now carry a piece of her katra with me.

I also have a funny memory of (not meeting) her at the Motor City Comic Con several years ago. That memory will be on my mind quite a bit at Motor City this weekend. But I’ll have to tell it another day, when I am not feeling so melancholy.

In other news…

Information has leaked (possibly prematurely?) of the next Exclusive Event, which is supposedly going to be in Florida in November. My Google-Fu turned up these images of the banner ad and the possible guest horse Salvino that were pulled from the Breyer website:

I’m not terribly bullish on the idea Florida, but I do have a standing invite to visit from a friend who, in spite of my protests to the contrary, is bound and determined to move there in the very near future. 

And I do want to go to at least one more Exclusive Event in my lifetime. But I’ll probably have just as much luck getting draw for the event as I was for (the actual) Kingfisher – which was none, in case you weren’t able to figure that out:

I know I don’t really need more models right now (I won’t officially cop to anything, but I’ve been… bad) but winning something for a change would be nice, you know? As acknowledgement, at least, of my existence as a human being. That’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, and all of these drawings that go nowhere feed into my phobia of being forgotten.  

I am not super-crazy about the clean-legged version of the Brishen mold, but I do love me a Gloss Blue Roan Pinto. 

I will now log off and think happier thoughts. (My new nerd t-shirts arrived today, and I have to decide what to wear the convention on Saturday: Kingdom Come Superman, or Green Lantern?)

WEG Salinero

I had been wanting to add a one or two more of the more limited WEG models to my collection; the roached mane/short tail variation of the Matte Toby would have been perfect, but I wouldn’t turn down almost anything else if it presented itself. 

And this one did! 

I’ve been wanting a Salinero for a while. My platonic ideal Salinero is the 2007 BreyerFest Raffle Model Tacoma in Bay Overo Pinto, because I think his overo paint job perfectly complements and enhances his lovely silhouette.

But you and I both know that wasn’t ever going to happen. I’m not that lucky, and also I am a cheapskate. So the next best Salinero for me would have been the 2010 WEG rerelease… and now I have him!

Okay, sure, I get it: he’s not as exciting as… just about any other WEG release. In fact, he’s pretty boring: the only thing that distinguishes a WEG Salinero from a Regular Run #704 Salinero is that the WEG release has a VIN mark, and the Regular Runs – manufactured in 2007 and 2008 – predate that, and thus do not. 

Unlike other WEG reissues, only about a year and a half of time had passed since the release was formally discontinued. There were no significant changes or improvements to the painting process in that short time frame, other than the addition of VIN numbers to models being produced in China. 

And it’s lucky that he got even that. Most of the other extra-limited WEG models were painted stateside, but the Salineros made for the 2010 WEG were not. I presume that was because they still had all the painting specs (and of course, the mold) so it was probably easier just to have the factory in China pull 96 bodies off the Cloud Nine production line and paint them up in addition to the 500 piece WEG SRs (like Cedric and Jamaica) while they were busy in New Jersey painting up all of the other super-limited Specials.

It would also explain why they made more of him than any other of those Specials: New Jersey production was probably limited to what was on hand.