My Life is Weird: Part 1,738

Just checking in briefly to acknowledge my existence; I have a ton of work to do by the end of the weekend, and noodling around on the Internet is definitely not on the agenda.

Oh, and remember what I said last post about:

Do I need to consider buying lottery tickets this week? Hit the casino? Troll eBay at 3 a.m.?

Uhh… if I just bought what I thought I bought, we’re going to have another awkward discussion about that thing we had many awkward discussions about already. Gah! My life is so weird…

To compensate for my obtuseness, here’s a picture of the Volunteer Model I acquired at BreyerFest this year, who is obviously not a Chevaliere and not Stanhope either (though I came closer to getting one than I expected this year; the fact that I had a model on that callback table at all is still blowing my mind):

This is the #711426 Sonnet, the 2006 Volunteer Special on the Big Ben mold that was, for all intents and purposes, a gift from a very kindly benefactor. I didn’t volunteer for the first time until 2007 (which was such a cluster of a year otherwise: disappearing headcase roommates, missing out on one of the best NPODs ever…) and then not again until 2011. 

I’m one of those people who doesn’t generally go out of their way to purchase “gift” models second hand – like Live Show Prizes or Volunteer Models – because the value of the model, to me, is tied to the emotional investment. If I didn’t do anything to “earn it”, I don’t feel like I need it. 

(I was told that I most certainly did “earn” the Sonnet, and happily took him in the spirit that he was offered.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’d certainly love to have some of them (looking at you, Gloss Bravour), but it’s not a high priority. And the way the market is right now, I can’t afford most of them regardless. 

(Seriously, what the hecking heck, people? Where is this pot of money you all are pulling from?)

Another Shiny Object

It’s a good time to be a nerd, but so help me, if anyone spoils the series finale of Picard for me, there will be heck to pay…

Not understanding why Paramount isn’t doing an IMAX screening in the Detroit area: are they completely unaware of the fact that some of the earliest Trek Cons were held here, and that Detroit was literally one of the first major media market to broadcast Star Trek reruns in the country?

(Frakes and Spiner are going to be at Motor City Comic Con this year; I suppose this will marginally make up for the slight.)

We make a lot of jokes about hobbyists being distracted by shiny objects, but my current distraction is not a horse, but a vintage camper sitting in a neighbor’s driveway with a “For Sale” sign in the window. It’s always been a bit of a dream of mine to restore an old house, but in lieu of that, a vintage camper will also work. It’s a tiny, portable house! 

Alas, this one priced very optimistically, so it really is just a distraction, and not a project in my very near future. That’s something that is both literally and figuratively a bit down the road for me anyway, unless a free or super cheap one ends up on my doorstep somehow.

(This is not an invitation for you to point me in the direction of one. If only because there is no room for one in the garage, which is now full of horses and packaging materials, much to my family’s chagrin.)

I feel that I am obligated to give you a shiny equine object, and I think Poncho Rex, the 1999 West Coast Jamboree Horse will do quite nicely:

In spite of the mold’s popularity and longevity, it didn’t officially appear in a Pinto paint job until 1992’s Limited Edition release Chaparral. Reeves quickly made up for lost time: between 1998 and 2000 there were five production run Pintos, with Poncho Rex here being my favorite of that group. 

Not coincidentally, two of those pintos, including the 1998 BreyerFest Volunteer one, also happened to use the same painting mask of Chaparral. This was back when paint masks were still made by hand, which often limited Breyer’s ability to offer non-solid paint jobs: they were expensive and time consuming to make! After all that time and effort, they were not going to let it just sit there and collect dust...

The Volunteer Model also happened to represent the Fighting Stallion’s first appearance (not including Test Colors) in a factory Gloss finish since the Palomino and Charcoal were discontinued in the early 1970s. 

There have been a considerable number of spotted, dotted and freckled Fighters since then, with the most recent being the 70th Anniversary Assortment in Chestnut Sabino, in both Matte and Gloss. 

Over and Out

Ugh, I am 100 percent over the weather this week. I am absolutely not leaving the house this weekend if I don’t have to.

(I don’t have to.)

The Volunteer application is up, and there’s only a twenty-day window to apply. So, go forth and apply, if you’re so inclined. Thumbs up, would recommend the experience…

Speaking of new experiences, after surviving my brush with death earlier this week, I decided to do this after all:

I went with a half table because of space issues: I still have a lot of sales stuff to bring with me again this year, so I genuinely don’t have the room for a lot of Traditionals anyway. It will also help keep me from blowing up my showstring beyond a manageable amount: I want this to be a fun experience, not a stressful one. (This is also why I chose not to do a Collector’s Class.)

As long as there are no other weather-related catastrophes, I should be able to go through my Stablemates stash for viable candidates for BVG Live over the weekend – and from there, I can figure out who and what to bring to BF Live. 

(I already have the Collectibility stuff for BVG Live kinda-sorta figured out, except for the paperwork. You know that’s my happy place, yo…)

I need to get to bed early today – the chaotic weather and post-apocalyptic driving conditions ate away at my soul this week – but here’s a little model horse content: I finally opened up my Ponies & Palm Trees Strapless Sarong! 

And as I feared, I got a real pretty one with nice dapples and everything. Nuts! I need less stuff, not more. Maybe I’ll show her at BVG Live and see how she does before I make a decision. I’m thinking Hungarian Warmblood, maybe? 

Wintry Mix

Well, my greatest accomplishment over the past few days was in not dying – literally! 

I was driving in the sleet and freezing rain to work yesterday, and I thought the road conditions were actually improving as I traveled south. I noticed a backup (about ¼ to ½ mile) on the northbound side of the freeway due to a spinout crash into a (newly installed!) guardrail, so I slowed down a bit more as a precaution.

Some knucklehead in an SUV decided they weren’t having this, and made the choice to pass me in the fast lane. They gunned it; I saw them wobble a bit as they crossed lanes a couple car lengths in front of me… and then proceeded to do a full 360 spin in my lane, and then slid down the (very steep) embankment. 

I swear it looked like a special effect straight out of a Final Destination movie. I held my breath, told myself not to brake, braced for impact and… somehow we missed each other. By how much I’ll never know, unless someone else has dashcam video of it. It was not by much!

Since the cops were not even a half mile up the road attending to the other accident, and it didn’t seem wise to stop, I kept driving. And I actually made it to work on time. 

Though, to be honest, I was pretty useless for the first hour or so: my hands were shaking like crazy and I couldn’t concentrate because holy carp, I came within a couple of seconds of nearly dying…

Anyway, that’s the kind of day I had. How was yours? 

The 2023 Volunteer Model is the Croi Damsha/Connemara – a mold I did have on my list of possible candidates – in Red Bay and Sunburnt Black Snowcap Appaloosa: 

They’re holding back the third color until BreyerFest, presumably to leave us something to speculate about. 

Everyone’s first instinct is to think that the third color Chevaliere will come in will be a Decorator, but I’m more inclined to believe it’s going to be a Dilute or some other base color modifier like Dun, Pearl, Roan or Gray. 

While I wouldn’t rule it out (especially a Translucent release – surely there must be a few leftover bodies from the Christmas Spice Drop release hanging around the warehouse somewhere?), it’s been a while since they’ve done a pure Decorator color for the Volunteer Models.

What’s unusual about Chevaliere isn’t the fact that it’s an Appaloosa – they’ve already done the Connemara mold in Dun Blanket Appaloosa, for the 2018 Collector’s Club Special Run Starlet – but that they went with a Snowcap Appaloosa pattern.

Breyer has done a lot of Appaloosas over the years, but most of them have been fairly conventional: Leopards, Semi-Leopards, and Blanket Appaloosas. Few Spots, Varnish Roans, Snowflake and Snowcap Appaloosa releases are much fewer and further between.

Some of it is a reflection of real-world tastes and biases: many horse people have a surprisingly narrow definition of what an Appaloosa should look like, and it usually involves lots of spots. 

And I know from personal experience that some patterns are simply harder to render than others: I will not regale you with all my failed attempts to paint the Snowflake Appaloosa of my dreams. (Will my Few Spot Standing Stock Horse Foal turn out any better? LOL, probably not!)

I’m not sure when the application for volunteering goes up – presumably pretty darn soon? – and I know they need a bunch of people this year, so I encourage anyone who’s curious about it to give it a shot. Heck, I’d do it just for a tee-shirt and a sandwich, but y’all know I’m a lifer…

And don’t worry if you’re not famous, not an expert at anything, or have even been to BreyerFest before. There’s a place for everybody – even (believe it or not) people who aren’t big on crowds! Everybody can contribute something, even if all it is is a cheerful face and a willingness to be helpful.

That’s it for today; I now need to go to bed and stare into the void for a while. I think I deserve it. 

Riding It Out

I find myself in the midst of a midwinter funk that no amount of seed starting can fix. All I can do is ride it out until it passes, or at least until the end of the week, with BreyerWest and the news it brings. 

I am most curious to see what the Volunteer Special looks like; this year they are implementing a new program that essentially turns it into a Gambler’s Choice model, in three different colorways, that applies to all volunteers at designated Breyer-sponsored events. 

This was something I think they were going to implement earlier – in 2020, the Celtic Fling Volunteer Special Ben Nevis came in two different shades of Chestnut Pinto – but the Pandemic got in the way. 

I’ll be interesting to see how that affects Volunteer applications. While some of us do for the love of the hobby, there are a significant number of hobbyists who do it for the financial boon. 

(I like the heat and I don’t usually mind the humidity, so the whole “compensation for my pain and suffering” isn’t part of the equation for me.)  

While it could be argued that three small (125 piece) runs are going to be “more desirable” than a single 375-piece run, I’d counter that if a model is awesome enough, the quantity is almost irrelevant. But if it brings in more applications and more enthusiasm, so be it.

I don’t have much more to say today; I really need to finish planting the petunias and alpine strawberries. (The strawberry plants were much easier to grow from seed last year than I imagined they would be, but the berries themselves are teeny, and I need at least 50 plants to be able to make anything out of them!) 

I suppose I should leave you with a picture of something: the lovely, lighter variation of the Prince Charming release of Linzer, the mini Brigadeiros from last year’s Best of BreyerFest Set!

The majority of Linzers were much closer to the Traditional Brigadeiros’s Seal Bay color, but a handful of them were this sooty buckskin. While I have largely curbed my Stablemate variation habit (with the recent exception of the Dollar General pieces) this one I simply couldn’t resist, especially since he seemed to be a bit on the scarce side. 

Brown Breyer Horse Day

It was Brown Breyer Horse Day at my house on Friday. First up, my Surprise:

When I saw the solid Strawberry Roans popping up (aka “the boring one”), I had a suspicion that’d be the one I would get. The only question was whether I’d be getting Gloss or Matte, and it looks like me getting a Gloss last year was merely a glitch in The Matrix. 

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like him and will probably be keeping him (I don’t have any other Dundee molds yet, and I love roans in general), but I’d prefer if my Surprises were actually surprises more often. 

The Universe is pretty insistent on reminding me that I am not special, just weird. 

My Seurat is quite lovely in person – his dapples are subtle and well done – but like last year’s Thorn, I was bummed to find out that he was the Gloss/Matte Split model. It just annoys me to heck that models some hobbyists don’t care about at all sudden become ultra-desirable when they spray gloss on them. Can’t y’all just leave those models for people who like the mold on its own merits?

(A little more on that topic later.)

And also, now that I have one in person, I like the mold a lot more than I thought I would. But the existence of a Gloss variation creates problems. I suspect that, being a newer mold, he’ll be even harder to acquire than the Gloss Thorn was. If I do decide to buy another example of this mold in the near future, it’s probably either going to be the original Vermeer, or another release entirely – coming soon, no doubt.

And finally, another surprise that’s not really a surprise, the Volunteer Model:

He arrived in a slightly terrifying-looking box, but fortunately the miles of bubble wrap he came in saved him. He is not entirely surprising because (a) I was expecting the Desatado mold to show up at BreyerFest in some way, though I thought it’d be as the Surprise Model, and (b) he’s a Rabicano. More than half of the Volunteer Models I’ve received have been some variation of Roan, and even though Rabicanos aren’t genotypically Roans, phenotypically they’re pretty close.  

All that being said, he’s very pretty in person and definitely not going anywhere. Coincidentally, during my BreyerFest shopping trip I almost bought a Lightning Ridge that happened to catch my eye. I ended up selling the first one I bought, but this second one had little turquoise blue socks that I found rather charming. I might end up back at that store for an event at the end of the month, and if he’s still there he might come home with me. 

After some interesting developments at work this week, attending that event seems increasingly remote, though. (I should know by the end of this week. I think.)

Nothing else has arrived. I’ll reserve further talk about the shipping situation until a later date, especially since everyone has a pretty firm and unpersuadable opinion of what’s going on anyway. I’d rather wait until we had more actual information to assess the situation, rather than participate in the increasingly dark-sided online hearsay.

In other words: your move, Reeves. (My opinion to them that they are free to take or leave: being blunt and completely honest is usually the only way to extricate yourself from a difficult position.)

As for the Surprise Decorator development with the remaining BreyerFest Special Runs, I have mixed feelings. I think this is probably the only scenario where they could have executed this successfully. And by successfully, I mean people buying Special Runs because of what they were advertised as, rather than as vehicles for potentially rare variations that lead to money-making opportunities. 

(I say “potentially” because even that, at this point, is a matter of speculation.)

The flip side of this is, of course, the fact that I never get those kinds of rarities, and knowing that even more unobtainables are out there is never not a bummer, especially when it involves things you already liked.

Hallway Beer

This isn’t going to make a lot of sense to most of you, but I just want to preface what I write today with the news that the thing that I was so excited about this week… did not pan out.

I’m not going to lie: finishing in second place your whole life is positively soulcrushing; this is why I take things like the various contests, competitions and random draws at BreyerFest and online so seriously.

The handful of times I’ve actually succeeded in winning something there – even if it was a totally random draw I had no control over whatsoever – it’s given me a sense of accomplishment and success that I don’t get on a regular basis in the mundane world.

I’ll recover because I have to, but I’d rather not have to, at all.

(In the meantime, anyone out there want a copy of my résumé?)

Moving on to slightly happier thoughts, here’s this year’s Volunteer Model, whose name is apparently Churchill:

As I explained not all that long ago, I only have a handful of other Othellos, all of them special in some way: the Silver Snow, the BreyerFest Mariah’s Boon, and my Juggathello (my freakish Mariah’s Boon Sample with the spooky eyes and little dictator moustache).

I wouldn’t mind more, but the Othello mold is one of those handful of molds that make hobbyists kind of crazy. With so many of them in the unaffordable or unattainable range, it’s probably wiser to wait for models to find me, rather than vice versa.

The Volunteer Models have been trending towards Connoisseur-level paint jobs on newer and/or more popular molds. Back when they still put Volunteer Models in the Benefit Auction, I even thought this Othello might have been one:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/reddunovero.jpg

It used to be that the sheer scarcity of the Volunteer Model was what made it worth the risk of sunburn, blisters and the occasional verbal abuse. But as the size of the event has grown – and the need for volunteers – they obviously had to switch up their strategy to encourage hobbyists to apply.

And it seems to be working!

Aside from the fact that his paint job is amazing – Sooty Dappled Buckskin, man – I loved that the selection of Othello got a lot of younger hobbyists asking questions about volunteering.
My Churchill, of course, is not going anywhere. He’s even got a name, already: Hallway Beer.

I suppose now’s a good time to talk about it. In a suitably sanitized fashion.

During the course of BreyerFest – on Wednesday night, maybe? – I found an unopened can of Modelo in one of the hallways of the Clarion. I picked it up and popped in the fridge, figuring that somebody at some point would have something to celebrate, right?

Well, that obviously did not happen.

Saturday night, we drank it anyway. It was a free can of beer, and aside from our lack of success at almost everything we tried this year, we still managed to have a good time with friends.

(Two seconds after I took the above photograph, the sign fell down, Othello fell down, and now I have to do some research on restoration artists. Life, you suck.)

Rest and Recovery

Still physically and mentally unpacking; both will take the rest of the week – possibly longer on the mental part. But I’ll get to that part in a minute.

Here’s the diorama, in case you missed it:

Yes, the cookies were edible. But they didn’t help: you’re looking at another in a long line of nonwinning entries. Judging from the reaction of everyone that saw it, I really thought I had a shot this year.

Then again, I think that almost every year.

I am now seriously considering putting my effort into either the Live Show or the Customs Contest. I am hoping my obsessive detailing will serve me better there, because it’s obviously not doing the job in this contest.

And I’ve been meaning to do more of both – customizing, and live showing – in the near future anyway. Perhaps my latest diorama failure will be my motivation.

Although I did manage to snag a few grails and oddities – including a couple of very interesting doggies you’ll be seeing very soon – there were no other special prizes, Raffle wins, Glosses, Samples or extreme Rarities for me, either. Just the Volunteer Special, who I think is lovely, though many seem to think otherwise:

I got all the Ticket Special Runs that I wanted, but of the two Bollywood Surprises I snagged, both are Matte Buckskin (I wanted Buckskin – but I didn’t need two!) and I didn’t realize until last night that my Kaalee – one of the Special Runs I was most looking forward to! – was missing.  

I’ve lost only one other model at BreyerFest before, but that was a flea market find 25th Anniversary Secretariat with a partial box: in other words, no great financial or emotional loss.

But losing the Kaalee? Man, I didn’t even get to open up the bag and get a good look at her! I am majorly bummed.

If this patch of rough luck continues, I’ll probably miss the leftovers sale in a few weeks, too. Sigh.

On the positive side, everything else executed according to plan. There were no major travel hassles (other than the Cincinnati traffic), sales were pretty good (though I didn’t sell many Traditionals, oddly), the weather mostly cooperated, and I got to meet most of the people I wanted to meet.

So, in short: while the trip was fine financially and logistically (more or less), it took a little bit bigger bite out of me emotionally than I expected.

But I got lots of love, attention from you all, and a few tokens of affection that were most appreciated (and still mostly unpacked). You guys have no idea how much that all means to me.

I’ll try to post with a little more frequency this week, but I’ll be spending most of the rest of my time recovering, offline. Bonus pic of Vita, looking like how I feel right now:

(BTW: she sleeps like that all the time. Stinker.)

Winning and Losing

Here’s a picture of my diorama entry. As you might have guessed by now, it was not a winner:

There’s a moment when I’m turning in an entry or getting ready to enter a contest when I know that I have definitively lost. With my dioramas, it’s become the moment when someone tells me “It’s so pretty, I hope you win.”

I thank them for the compliment, but hope that they don’t see that look behind my eyes that says “There goes another one down the tubes…”

In spite of my inability to crack the diorama formula (I don’t care what anybody says: I don’t think there is one!) at least I enjoyed the process this year. Papier-mache has been a favorite medium of mine since elementary school: I have about a half-dozen other papier-mache sculptures in my bedroom at the moment, and once even built a life-sized sculpture of the Loch Ness Monster for a movie theater promotion.

Other than some fresh paint and a matching Stablemate, I had all of these supplies already on hand, which is either an awesome or terrifying testament to the size and depth of my craft stash.

I was going to go a bit crazier with it – add a couple of sharks, some fancy raised letters, at least one more surfer, maybe a little blood on the trident – but time and ambition ran out. I doubt any of that would have helped, and I still think it turned out pretty amazing.

But the judges did not think so. Sometimes I wonder if the results would have turned out differently if I had gone with my original low-effort plan: “Shake n Bake” a random Classic with a ton of glitter, glue it to a piece of cardboard covered in feathers, and call it a day.

I got the same results in the Costume Contest: nada. The moment I knew I lost there was backstage when the professional samba band that Reeves had hired complimented me on my outfit and asked me where I had gotten my Bahia dress.

Too authentic again, argh!

Then a photographer took my photo, and that’s the moment I knew I was done for, and had to resist the urge to bolt for the door. That one didn’t take too much out of my time or budget either, but still? A bummer.

Moreso if my picture turns up anywhere on the Breyer web site. I know the person who selects the photos for the web site generally doesn’t know the winners from the losers, but the fact that such a high percentage of the pictures they use to advertise the contests show losing entries has to say something about the apparent randomness of the judging process.

I did walk away with this beauty, however:

The Volunteer Model #711468 Caipirinha, named after Brazil’s national cocktail. I totally whiffed on predicting this one – I assumed Gloss, Vintage, Decorator, and he’s Matte, Premier Club mold, and Realistic – but I am not complaining. He’s beautiful!

I had been mulling over picking up a Cortes C as my first Carrick, because I was struck by how great he looks in that color. But Dappled Fleabitten Rose Gray Minimal Pinto? Ooh, boy. A more than acceptable substitute.

I think it’s interesting that the Volunteer Model has evolved from something desirable because of its rarity and exclusivity – the earliest Volunteer Specials had piece runs under 40 – to something desirable because of its detail and quality.

It makes sense on a number of levels. First and in spite of protestations to the contrary on the Internet, Reeves is far better at this painting thing than they were 20 some years ago. And second, now that the piece counts are significantly higher (163 for the Carrick) something else has to be done to make it “special” again, because for some hobbyists nowadays, 163 pieces is too common and possibly not sufficient incentive to volunteer.

Which, frankly, kind of blows my mind, but then again, I’d probably volunteer for a free t-shirt and a sub, so what do I know?

So anyway, in conclusion: I didn’t win anything this year, but I still walked away from BreyerFest with two really spectacular keepers.

So, not bad, BreyerFest. Other than this Diorama Contest thing.

I will conquer you again, I swear it.

A Smart Chic Here, A Smart Chic There...

The Smart Chic Olena mold is rapidly becoming my modern equivalent of the Stretched Morgan mold: beautiful ones keep finding their way to me. Last year I got one of those “mystery” (Sample? Prepro? Test Batch?) Smart and Shineys from the NPOD; this year this fellow was part of my BreyerFest booty:

One of the predictions was correct: the Volunteer model was not a solid! The Appaloosa part was a bit of a surprise, since the last (and only other) Appaloosa Volunteer Special was the funky airbrushed leopard Zippo Pine Bar Zeppelin, from 1999.

The details on Parfait are amazing: striped hooves, handpainted light brown eyes, body shading, a lacy masked blanket. And roan, of course: three of my four Volunteer models are roans - black, bay and (now) chestnut.

I love roans, so that’s not a problem. It’s just a funny coincidence. (Well, I hope it is. I’ve actually been told most of these coincidences are. But some days I’m not sure.)

Then a few weeks ago, I ran across another lovely (and cheap!) SCO at the flea market – a new in box Topsails Rien Maker! He was promptly set free to join his brethren:

I had been eyeing that release for a while now, but I’ve been trying to watch the pennies lately, so a straight-up retail purchase was out of the question. Then this one showed up, along with the Missouri Fox Trotter Maverick, one of last year’s Tractor Supply Specials.

I’m undecided on the Maverick still; he’s very nice, but I’ve been trying to not get emotionally attached to him. Most likely he’ll be a part of my “pay off the credit card” year-end sales.

Speaking of Tractor Supply Specials, this year’s models will be rolling out in the next few weeks, depending on your local store’s timetable for setting up their holiday merchandise. One we already know: it’s a Matte Palomino(-ish) Wyatt, named Jesse. I’d love to get my hands on one, but again, that darn budget is getting in the way.

The second we only know by its name: Chance. If they follow the formula from last year, Chance will be a slightly older mold, and also spotted. I’m not in the mood or the mind to speculate any further on mold or color, other than I think it might be an Appaloosa of some sort, too.

I’m just hoping it’s not something I’ll have to arm wrestle my local hobbyists for.

Make It So!

The costume is just about done – a few minor details to finish – as is the paperwork and the packing. However, my attempted diorama is looking tragic, which is not the look I was going for. If it doesn’t start looking better by tomorrow, I’m going to toss it into my closet of diorama traumas past.

(Some individual parts of it are actually really cool, but those parts just aren’t fitting together. Bummer.)

I’m trying not to worry about it too much: my plate is already looking quite full this year. Aside from the Costume Contest, I’ll also be Volunteering, and participating in the wedding that will be happening at the Hall of Champions at the Horse Park Friday afternoon, just before the Auction. (Everybody is welcome! Come as you are!)

Speaking of the auction, my favorite piece this year has to be the Dappled Dun Stretched Morgan. I have no pretenses of actually owning him, especially since he seems to be going over pretty well all over, but a girl can dream for about a week, right?

I sure hope that’s a “True” Test Color for an honest-to-goodness production run in the very near future! It would look grand on almost anything.  I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of Reeves’s more recent attempts at Duns – the Lonesome Glory Tinseltown immediately comes to mind – but with this guy, maybe they’ve finally made the technical leaps necessary to pull it off.

I gave some brief thought of it being the Volunteer Special this year (and thus attainable) but last year’s Volunteer Special was Matte-Finished, Solid and Realistic, too. As I theorized earlier, this year’s will likely not be all three of those things.

They didn’t put the Volunteer Special in the auction last year, either.

But just when we think we’ve sussed out the rules, they change them up on us. Last year I thought it unlikely they’d use a model with a base, but they up and used the Show Jumping Warmblood. Go figure.

It is worth noting that Stretched Morgan releases have been in somewhat short supply lately. Other than the Vintage Club Halo in 2013, the only other Production Runs since 2000’s Raffle Model Showboat (26 pieces) have been the 2008 Exclusive Event A Night at the Oscars (4 pieces) and the 2012 Early Bird Prize Bennington (3 pieces).

Everything else has been Auction Tests.

In other words, we are due. 

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…

An Uncommon Hope

I did get my JAH Annual the other day; I haven’t had a chance to look it over too closely because I’ve been preoccupied with older and more pressing business. I did notice that this year’s Volunteer Special Clydesdale Mare was given a name after all: Opry. At least, I think it’s Opry: I also noticed a higher percentage of typos than average, so for all we know, it could be Oprah. (Which would be fitting, since Oprah’s name was misspelled on her birth certificate!)

Since I am in the middle of a project with a deadline (Not NaNoWriMo! Thbpp!) here’s another interesting Variation I dug up during the recent inventory - on a Yellow Palomino Family Arabian Mare:

Her facial markings are masked! It’s a little hard to tell because the color is so light, but it’s not the softer airbrushing typical of the standard Breyer bald face. There’s a definite edge and shape to it.

I thought at first that it was either a case of someone getting creative with the nail polish remover, or just one of those random production variations that turns up from time to time. The collection that I found her in ruled out the first theory, and research on eBay showed me she wasn’t alone in the world, so she wasn’t a one-off, either. She’s legitimately a Variation.

Most hobbyists focus on Variations that occur early in a model’s run, because typically that’s where most of them occur. Either corrections are being made - like with Misty’s pattern or Halla’s star - or simplifications to the production process are.

Less common are alterations that occur near the end of a model’s run. They tend to get overlooked because they occur more frequently on common models with extended production runs: whatever changes are made are attributed to being of the random sort, if they are even noticed at all.  

They’re less common because a model that’s been in production a kajillion years isn’t going to rack up huge numbers at the end of its run, new facial markings or not.

Why these changes were made is more of a mystery. It seems unlikely that they would have thought that a minor tweak in the paint job would boost sales sufficiently to justify another production year.

My guess would be that these kinds of models represent "end runs": last batches of lower-selling items that were made sometime after the last previous batch, to cover projected sales.

It’s possible that they had enough of an item warehoused that the mold wasn’t put into production for an extended period of time. When time came around to making another batch of this item on the verge of discontinuation, maintaining consistency with previously issued pieces was not a high priority. Close enough is good enough.

If some collectors or hobbyists did happen to notice the difference, all the better - and more space in the warehouse! If not, well, it was going to be discontinued anyway. No harm, no foul.

Scaling the Mountain

We’re getting to that point in the flea market season where I’m now beginning to regard the models I’ve left behind as my touring collection; I've even named a few. All I bought this past weekend was some produce, a few china miniatures, and a clutch of empty and unused Testor’s 1/2 ounce paint bottles. Because they cost almost nothing, and reminded of the artist Joseph Cornell.

(In case you were wondering, they are just a tad too small to squeeze most MiniWhinnies in.)

I swung over to the nearest Tractor Supply on the way home, but it didn’t look like they had fully set up their Holiday Stuff yet. Even though some people are apparently already listing them at - and getting! - some crazy prices on eBay, I have no worries. I somehow managed, in the chaos of last week, to secure a Grail of mine so scarce that I had some years ago deemed it nonexistent.

To dampen that joy, I also discovered the whereabouts of a more recent Grail. That one will most definitely not be coming to live with me, now or probably ever.

The former item you’ll hear about in due time; the latter you will not. Not here. (All I will say? It’s not about the money involved.)

Now, onto the matter at hand - the Secret of the Reissues. It turns out that the bodies involved in creating them weren’t just leftovers from recent Regular Runs and Special Runs: based on their mold marks, they’re older than that. The Clydesdale Mare still has her original mold mark, for instance, and the Shires still have the U.S.A. imprint. So it’s possible that these bodies may be pre-China leftovers.

The problem is that Reeves hasn’t been real consistent with altering these mold marks, and with multi-year production gaps, it’s almost impossible to pinpoint the exact year when each mold was altered. The portion of the discussion on Blab where people were trying to determine the Clydesdale Mare’s mold mark change has since been deleted, due to the hacking incident; I think it was narrowed down to somewhere between 2003 (Lanark’s Rosebud) and 2007 (the Picture Perfect Black Pinto Spotted Draft).

(Don’t quote me on that, though. My memory of large portions of last week is extremely hazy.)

It’s been one of those topics that I’ve had on the back burner just a little too long; since late 2003, when I first noticed the alterations on some of the Early Releases for 2004. And some did not: I swear I saw examples of the Cantering Welsh Pony release Party Shoes - the one in Palomino with high whites - with the old mold mark as well as the new, sitting on the shelf together at a local toy store.

(Some of Reeves’ PR photos of Party Shoes show a model with a U.S.A. mark, for what that’s worth.)

The relatively low number of Clydesdale Mare Reissues compared to the others was also thus made explainable: it wasn’t just that they shipped/sold more at BreyerFest, they also used bodies from that same stash to make this year’s Volunteer Clydesdale SR. Same old mold mark!

I can’t recall if it was determined that the Betsy Ross (2007 BF Prize model) or Palisades (2012 Passage to the Pacific SR) were also pulled from the stash, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were.

The Del Mar - a 2009 SR release - definitely was not. It amuses me to think that while Reeves may have had a small mountain of Clydesdale Mare sitting in a warehouse in New Jersey, they were molding and manufacturing entirely new ones half a whole away.

What this all means is that I’m now seriously considering ordering the Reissue Clyde Mare. Dang it! Someone really needs to invent a 27 hour day.

Honey

I had to cut my first trip to the flea market since Fest a bit short on Sunday, since I’m still feeling stiff, yucky and mildly nauseous from the back pain.

There were a few decent vintage Hartlands there, but as I’m still not finished inventorying the haul from BreyerFest, I left ‘em behind. (The inventory isn’t done because I still can’t find the receipts to reconcile everything. Phooey!)

I will be selling some of the stuff I brought home: a few items were de facto pick-ups, and some upgrades and duplicates were also in the mix. Plus I had absolutely no idea I had nabbed THAT many samples and oddities. As much as I’d love to keep them all, there’s just no way.

One item that is not going anywhere is this pretty little lady:

So my first instinct was right: the Volunteer Model WAS the Gloss Palomino Clydesdale Mare. (Apparently there are also three Mattes, for the volunteer coordinators. A different twist on the "Make It Extra Special With Gloss" idea. I like it!)

Sigh. I really need to stop second guessing myself.

It is a bit of a misnomer to call Gloss Honey Palomino a true "vintage" color: Early Palominos back when were more or less the same shade of Sunkist Orange that later Palominos were. The paint itself simply changed over time, from neon bright to mellow honey.

I’m not sure if it’s completely due to exposure to sunlight, or if another environmental factor such as heat is necessary. Several years ago I saw a Gloss Palomino Fighter that had been kept in a window for some time: one side was Orange, and the other side was Honey. (Wish I had bought it! Water over bridge, etc.)

All I know for sure is that occasionally a boxed example of a Five-Gaiter, Fighter or even a Family Arabian from the 1960s will show up, looking just as bright and orangey as a model made in the 1970s. And causing some hobbyists to question its authenticity.

It is merely a happy coincidence that the color is so appealing in its "degraded" state. Hartland had a similar problem with their Palominos, but they tended to turn chartreuse instead.

(Think November Blossom Horse Chrysanthemum Green. That I also happen to like, by the way. Though I completely understand if most do not.)

(Hartland Tall Columnar Mary, sans halo.)

The formula for Palomino changed to something less fugitive sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s; while some of them have shifted colors too, it’s usually in completely different ways and for completely different reasons.

I know there was some initial huffing and pouting over the fact that she was, in fact, the Volunteer model. I wasn’t overly bothered: you’re talking to someone who’d be thrilled to get a FAS Yellow Man o’ War, for Heaven’s sake.

Heck, I’d volunteer if all it meant was a t-shirt, six-inch tuna sub and an extra ticket. (What can I say? I’m a cheap date.)

Though that Auction Performance Horse will haunt my dreams for a while. I do have a body now to play with, at least, whenever time presents itself.

(In case you were wondering, yes, I totally did sniff her and lick her at the Volunteer meeting on Sunday, because a model just isn't mine until I do so.)

All Shall Be Well

Everything is packed, the last minute details are being hammered out. Lists of things are being made, lest I forget something somewhat important. (There’s always something.)

You all know I am not a particularly religious person, but this famous quote by Julian of Norwich has been running in a loop in my head the past couple of days:

…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Because it is true. Regardless of what happens, everything is eventually going to be made right. I can handle this. I’ve handled it before. I got this.

Most of you who have been - or have planned - for BreyerFest before know the rules, the routines, and what advice needs to be taken seriously. The only bit of advice that I can give that hasn’t necessarily been offered or emphasized before is simply this: be considerate.

Not everyone goes every year, and not everyone goes for the same reason. Not everyone has the same tastes, same budget, same resources, or same socio-economic background. The hobby (in general) and BreyerFest (in particular) serve different purposes for different people.

It may be a pleasant diversion with friends for some, but for others it is a place of refuge. Or even a dream.

Please remember this.

Also, because I drank an ungodly amount of Diet Mountain Dew and had the crazy-weird energy that comes with, I compiled a list of the Auction Horses, and categorized them by which ones I think are most likely to be the Volunteer model:

1    Sooty Dappled Buckskin Wixom
2    Blue Roan Desatado/Criollo
3    Red Dun Appaloosa Smart Chic Olena
4    Splash Spot Leopard Nokota Horse
5    Bay Roan Carrick
6    Glossy Black Tobiano Big Ben
7    Raffle Totilas
8    Dun Sabino Smarty Jones
9    Dapple Gray Indian Pony
10    Extreme Splash Pinto Ethereal
11    Dapple Gray Appaloosa Andalusian
12    Gloss Palomino Clydesdale Mare
13    Chalky Dapple Gray Flash
14    Dappled Liver Chestnut Sherman
15    Open Show Grand - Bay Roan App Giselle
16    Palomino Pinto Marwari
17    Glossy Dappled Bay Cantering Welsh Pony
18    Silvery Metallic Grullo Idocus
19    Glossy Dappled Chestnut Sham
20    Blue Denim Quarter Horse Yearling
21    Buckskin Giselle and Gilen
22    Red Roan Pinto Othello
23    Blue Dun Pinto Bouncer
24    Glossy Bay Cleveland Bay
25    Sooty Buckskin Sabino Performance Horse
26    Purple Bandana Fighting Stallion
27    Dappled Buttermilk Buckskin Ruffian
28    Raffle Brishen

I eliminated (in red) all the molds that have been Volunteer Models before; all the molds/models that are being used as Raffle items, Live Show Prizes, or BreyerFest SRs; and all the models that are quite obviously Tests for another release (Bouncer = Poseidon, for instance). I then eliminated all the models specifically designed by artists, and the Carrick because he’s a Premier Exclusive mold for this year (and a roan, because they had a bay roan two years ago.)

The only two iffy decisions: I did no eliminate the Performance Horse because I am in denial; the Ruffian was only deleted because they haven’t done a Volunteer Special with a base before.

The most likely candidates it seems to me are either the Idocus or the Cleveland Bay: newer molds in pretty but not overly complicated paint jobs.

I could be wrong. I probably am. If so, I blame the Mountain Dew.

BreyerFest Prep 2013: Same As It Ever Was

Oh Lordy, what a weekend. The dog was so stressed out last night from the week-long fireworks barrage that at one point she actually lost her voice. Which would have been funny, if it wasn’t also scary.

(Yes, we took all the precautions necessary to keep her calm, but there’s only so much you can do when you have a slightly hyperactive dog and a neighbor with a $10,000 fireworks budget. Among other things.)

I’d like to ascribe some of the behavior I’ve seen from the model horse world in the past couple of weeks to the fireworks too, but I know it’s more complicated than that.

BreyerFest is a big part of it, of course. In my corner, I’m having to deal with AWOL roommates, some complications from a minor medical procedure, a possible hacking incident into my eBay account, and finishing all of my (still) unfinished paperwork, including some related to volunteering.

Oddly enough, most of the stress of that is washing over me. It’s not that I’m not concerned, it’s just that I’ve been through this routine enough times before that I know everything will turn out okay, even if it doesn’t. And I also know the point at which I can legitimately begin to panic.

Not there yet. A couple more days, maybe.

Other than the volunteering, and the NPOD, I will also not be going Full Metal BreyerFest this year. No costume contest, no diorama contest (probably), no running around to squeeze every drop of everything in. Selling, socializing, and just a bit of shopping, that’s it for me. Almost like a real vacation!

My volunteer schedule will even preclude me from participating in the raffles this year, which is a little bit of a bummer, since I’m kinda liking both of them, the Totilas especially. After what happened last year with the Early Bird Raffle (a friend was not present, and I had misplaced her phone number when her name was called) I’m hoping that the Fates don’t decide to pull a funny one and do the same to me.

(It’s a remote chance, at best, but if you my personal history, you know it’s just the kind of thing that would happen.)

Other than that tiny bit of speculation a few posts ago, I haven’t done much wondering about the Volunteer model, either. I genuinely don’t care who it is - that mindblowing Performance Horse, or the funky "Purple Banana" Fighting Stallion? Doesn’t matter. (Other than hoping it’s not another roan. Don’t get me wrong - I love roans! - but something different would be nice, too.)

I did manage to - finally - repurpose the article about the Modernistic Buck and Doe. I already have everything loaded to the laptop, so I’ll be able to blog at the hotel this year, provided that their network doesn’t get as overloaded as it did last year.

Next up - another neat Breyer knockoff!

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.

More News, More Surprises

When I asked for more hours at work, I wasn’t expecting them to give them all to me the week before my trip. Argh!

And of course, there’s been tons of news while I’ve been on the road for the past three days.

First, they offered more leftover Connoisseurs, this time to Collector’s Club members: Nympheas, Kandinsky, and Thrillseeker. A Thrillseeker would have made a nice bookend to my Connoisseur collection - since I was lucky enough to win a Mosaic - but I was on the way to work (again) when they finally went live with them on the web site. (I know Kandinsky is still available, but the $225 price tag is not to my liking.)

Wasn’t too crazy about them announcing them "early", since that nearly caused a meltdown on the Breyer web site, with everyone refreshing every few seconds.

The BreyerFest program is out. Surprises: more items for the British souvenir tent, and the full auction list, which includes the volunteer model (a buckskin overo Roxy) and a Glossy Bay Alborozo.

The extra Souvenir pieces include: a kinda-creepy standing horse named "Fox Chase", dressed in hunting attire; "Fox Hunt", which is a bay-ish Might Tango with the Tally Ho hunting decals; and finally, a numbered plushie named Little Jack. I’m definitely interested in the Might Tango, and (as I’ve mentioned before) the Translucent Classic Ruffian "Union Jack". I haven’t had time to read up on the where/when/how of it all, though.

(Note: As of today, all Souvenir Models are available for viewing at Breyer’s Blog.)

The volunteer model sounds really nice this year, but I think Reeves should have just left that space unspecified in the program (i.e. just stating that the lot is for the volunteer model, not what the model was, exactly.) It makes me feel uncomfortable seeing people pre-sell their volunteer models. Not that they shouldn’t be allowed to do it, but I rather prefer that they keep that sort of thing more on the "down low".

Keeping it a secret until the day-of helped mitigate that a little, but if it’s a known quantity, that might change.

Wasn’t there a rumor floating around about a Gloss Bay Alborozo back in 2008? I distinctly remember the buzz, if not what it was specifically in reference to (as the volunteer model, maybe?) Is the auction piece the inspiration for the rumor, or was the rumor the inspiration for the auction piece? Or maybe … my brain is addle-pated from a lack of sleep, and it’s all just a big coincidence.
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I don’t see any surprises on the Tent Specials list. On the store specials they’re doing 750 pieces on the Taskin, 400 pieces on the Killarney, with the Killarney being a surprisingly reasonable (for a porcelain) $100. All the prices and piece counts on everything else are in the same range as last year’s, more or less. If they do a Gloss/Matte mix up like they did last year with the Once Upon a Time, I think it’ll either be with "Sixes and Sevens" or "Bees Knees", which both have lower piece counts, like the Once Upon a Time did. And both would look fabulous in gloss!

They did up the piece count - and the price - of this year’s surprise model, which now leads me to believe that IF another new mold release happens at BreyerFest this year, it has to be with the Surprise model.

Technically the "Fox Chase" Souvenir model is a new mold, but it’s a little too offbeat to be anything more than a novelty one-off. And I don’t think they’d dare do an early-release on the Totilas, since the mold (who also makes a cameo in the program) doesn’t strike me as being representative of the kind of horse you’d take on a trek across the English countryside.

The final surprise - in my very limited skimming of the program - was my own personal cameo on the very last page. Guess I’ll have to pick up extra hard copies for autographing!

Next up on the blogging agenda: that Premier club Marwari!

Rode Hard, Put Away Wet

Did y’all miss me?

Sorry about the lack of posts; as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I was a little busy last week. I barely had time to sleep, much less type. I think I got … maybe 20 hours of sleep total from Tuesday through Sunday?

Which would explain why I slept in until 2 p.m. today. I’ve only just now finished unloading the truck, and have only made the most minimal efforts to unpack. I gave myself an extra day off work to recover, and I’m taking advantage of it. My only plans for today were to lounge around the house and eat as much ice cream as I can stand. (Check, and check.)

I have lots of stuff to show everyone, so I’m hoping (but not promising) to make daily posts this week to cover the craziness in full. I had a blast, for the most part, though there were a few things, as always, to complain about.

Unlike the folks elsewhere on the Internet, the hotel will not be one of my complaints. There were some annoyances, but it is what it is, and expecting drastic physical improvements in less than a year seems a little bit too much to ask. Seriously: it’s a ginormous complex on a half dozen levels, built nearly fifty years ago, in multiple stages, on the side of a hill, in a high traffic area. It’s going to take a while to get the job done, is what I’m saying. Next year, we can talk.

(Besides, some of the condition issues are part of the ambiance, by now.)

Anyhoo, today y’all get to see one of the many fabulous things I got to bring home with me - one of the few things I did unpack, just because he’s so special to me: my volunteer model!


A bay ("lavender") roan Silver, named Nottingham. I believe his model number was 711430; I wrote it down somewhere, but it’s on something I haven’t unpacked yet. I think there were 137 pieces produced, more or less. (Yeah, I know, another roan. Good thing I love them so!)

Contrary to popular opinion, I do not hate the Silver mold: I am just annoyed by his overuse. The only other ones I have in my collection currently are the gloss bay Valentino (because he’s beautiful) and the Skullduggery (because I love the Halloween horses.) I’d like a few others - especially the Silver Filigree, or the Hobo - but I’m not in any hurry. I think there were a few Pegasus Silvers in the NPOD this year, but I wasn’t especially motivated to toss one in my buy pile.

No worries: my NPOD pile was still plenty big, and plenty good, but we’ll get to that later in the week. I have to still unpack it all, y’know.

(And before I forget: h/t to "Tumnus" for the upgrade. You are also awesome.)