The POA Pippin

I’m feeling completely antisocial today - a week’s worth of unpleasant news, allergies and insomnia will do that to you. So you’re getting another spotlight on another Fest purchase. This one is the 2009 UK Special Pippin:


I found him in the Pit, in a box with a "Racing Legends" backer and absent the "UK Special" sticker. He was correctly labeled on the front and back of the box, so I’m just going to assume that it was either a mistake that was set aside, or something cobbled together from spare box parts lying around.

It could have been a box sample of some sort, too. I’ve seen a few of those in the Pit before, and I’ve even bought a couple for my own collection. Unlike the Pippin, the boxes were rather obviously something out of the ordinary, and the models contained within were not exceptional in and of themselves.

This Pippin though - man, he’s beautiful. Immaculate too, except for a slightly bent front leg, which probably occurred during his brief stay in the truck while waited for my line ticket time. It’s an easy fix, whenever I get around to it. I’m still not crazy about that tail, but the rest of him? He just about demanded to be taken out of the box!

I have no idea if he’s representative of the entire run, since he was the only example of his kind I found in the Pit, and I never bothered to look at others at the Park or the hotel. I suppose I’ll have to look into the possibility of him being a sample or test or something, eventually.

I have set the box aside, with all its various ties and trimmings, just in case there might be more to the story. It’s not something I’d normally do: I’m about as anti-MIB as they come. I try to keep a representative sample of every kind of box and packaging, but unless there’s something rare or significant there, most of the modern boxes get trashed. They’re not very sturdy, and they’re just about useless for storage. I cut off all the relevant pieces, peel off the stickers, and then we have a parting of the ways.

I haven’t taken my All Glories out of their boxes yet, either. It has nothing to do with any added value the box might bring to the model. I just really, really like the look of the box - the color scheme, the graphics, the whole "package." Kudo to the designer or designers responsible for it.

More Treasure Hunt Madness

Well, the whole Treasure Hunt thingie went from zero to crazy in nothing flat, didn’t it?

It’s still a little too early to tell if this is just an early release of the now-standard Treasure Hunt variations, or something that will carry on throughout the year. My guess is that it’ll be a year-long thing, partly based on the fact that Breyer "primed the pump" in early December with that odd poll on their Facebook page that asked, ambiguously, "Glossy or Matte? Which will it be?"

Glossy or Matte what?

Well, now we know.

I’m not sure if I’ll be participating this year. I like the Othello mold well enough, but I need to resolve a few things around the house (time, space, money - the usual) before I start buying more Traditionals, especially ones as shelf-consuming as Othello. I’ll probably cave if I see a Gloss Summer in person. Or the Bay; he looks especially fine in that color, don’t you think?

I’m just glad they’re releasing him in colors other than Gray.

Have you noticed that certain molds seem to be afflicted by a certain lack of imagination in their color schemes? Othellos get the Gray treatment, the #58 Hanoverian always ends up some shade of Bay … and the poor #156 Haflinger mold, a dozen different variations of Chestnut or Palomino, including the newest UK Special!

On some molds it’s understandable that the color scheme is somewhat restricted. The vast majority of Lipizzans are gray, so it’s not surprising that the Classic Lipizzan always ends up that color, especially since the pose he’s in is almost breed-defining. (Though I think it's another mold that would look smashing in a simple, shaded bay.)

But the Othello or Haflinger molds? Not so neatly defined. I know a lot of hobbyists get annoyed that they have to resort to some odd crosses to make their OF showstring competitive. It doesn’t bother me so much, since the world is full of oddly colored and not-so-typey horses. Seems more realistic to me.

(People, too. According to my ethnic background, I’d be some sort of Belgian Partbred or Warmblood: Belgian + Polish + Hungarian! And from the hair color, a bay roan sabino one, at that.)

Like the rest of you, I’m curious to see what color "Winter" will be. I’m hoping for something a little more daring, like a Snowflake Appaloosa, or a Reverse Leopard Appaloosa - something that’ll look wintry, without having to resort to Gray. Again.

(I doubt many of us would object to a Gloss Charcoal. Including me.)

Toby and the Illusion of Rarity

We'll be back to our more-or-less normal, three-posts-per-week schedule starting today. As was patently obvious, neither my head nor my heart was into it last week. I spent most of my free time pulling weeds, quilting, and obsessively following San Diego Comicon coverage. (Still in shock over the fact that Marvel now owns Miracleman. And I SO wanted to see the sneak peek of the Jonah Hex movie ...)

Moving from that universe back to this one … here's another overlooked SR from this year's Fest: the Glossy POA Toby. (Don't read anything into the fact that he's still in his box: I just haven't gotten around to de-boxing everyone just yet.)


Even though he was newly-remodeled mold, and glossy, with an intricate paint job, of rather limited quantity, and less expensive than most of the other Fest specials, he didn't sell out. Normally, any one of those factors could have sparked a hobbyist feeding frenzy. But he wasn't rare enough, unusual enough, or exclusive enough: he got lost among the rarities available to the rabble this year at BreyerFest.

It's really a shame, because Toby is a really, really nice model with a beautiful paint job. It's almost Connoisseur quality: well shaded, with neatly stenciled spots, carefully striped hooves, eyepinks, chestnuts, the whole nine yards. All for only $35!

There were 750 of these little beauties available for general sale in the the Sales Tent (125 boxes, with 6 pieces to a box: 125 x 6 = 750.) That's about half of a normal JAH Special run, and 300 pieces less than the Line Special Cupcake, the gloss bay Newsworthy.

Oh, the mysteries of popularity! And to think, just a few years ago we were on the verge of breaking each other's arms to grab that last Peruvian Paso Magnifico. Maybe it's a good thing that we're not so hung up over the concept of Store Specials now: I think it's a great idea to have exclusive, Traditional-scale horse available for general sale in the tent. Casual or last minute attendees have the chance of getting something special too, without the expense or the bother of getting in the line.

I wonder, though, if the way the Tobies were sold may have affected the way other hobbyists perceived them: the thinking there being that they couldn't possibly be that rare if just anyone could walk in the store and buy them, right? (The topic of what makes a model “rare” I will leave for a future discussion, however.)

The Newsworthy “Cupcake” may have played a factor, too: some hobbyists may have found themselves looking hard at their budgets and flipping a coin to decide which of the two shiny new ponies to take home. Cupcake didn't sell out, either: in fact, only Gala, Sprinkles, the new Arabian Mare and the SM set did. Darn economy! (The Surprise QH Geldings would have sold out, too, if the “surprises” had launched properly, but I'll discuss that in another post.)

I don't know the status of the Tobies that remained unsold; they may just be held back until next year (like last year's SM-scale Tang Horses, which made a return appearance in the Tent), end up on Shopatron (like the Romanticos), or get dumped into future Grab Bags, if that program ever gets restarted.

I got a chance to see the UK Pippins, too – I'm a sucker for a nice bay roan, and he didn't disappoint in person. Unfortunately I was unable to escape my room at the HIN to procure one. My chorus line will have to remain incomplete for now, alas. (No, I don't have the no-one-can-find it Black Blanket Appaloosa SR, either – you know the drill: 'nother story, 'nother time.)

(And yes, I did make a cursory run through of the Tobies in the tent to check for random Matte Finishes. No dice!)