Second Chances Sale

Something short again today. The best way to describe where I’m at is that I’m in the middle of a lot of things? And I’m finding that transitioning back to the night shift is a little harder than I anticipated? There was a dental appointment this week that also threw me off, as it usually does. 

In case you were wondering, I did redeem my Marzipan ticket at BreyerFest. When I saw the lovely Chocolate/Burnt/Bay variant, I thought I’d give it a shot, especially since he didn’t seem all that rare – and he wasn’t! It turned out that it was a simple 50/50 split, just like the Gloss/Matte variant tends to be. 

(Who was Ländler, but I’ll get to that in a moment.)

Of course, I still got the Palomino Marzipan instead. While he was a perfectly lovely specimen, I immediately turned around and sold him at the hotel at cost. Even in person, he didn’t do anything for me. Thankfully, he was gone by the end of the day: no harm, no foul.

(It’s interesting that the post-BreyerFest blog post about the Special Runs referred to Marzipan as “this years color split”, hinting that this will be a regular thing going forward.)

When the Second Chance Sale came up earlier this week, I decided to take a chance on the Ländler instead: unlike Marzipan, I still like him in his “less desirable” (Matte) variation. I’d still prefer the Gloss, only because getting the Gloss is still something of a rarity for me…

I also bought a Rapunzel, because I thought she was cute and I love Red Roans, and a Rotating Draft Surprise because as I suspected, he was the Cleveland Bay and I liked most of the colors he came in.

While I did manage to finagle myself one at BreyerFest, he turned out to be the one color out of the bunch that I did not like at all: Gloss Silver Bay. I don’t think any release that’s come in this color has held any appeal at all to me, from the Strapless Uncalled For to the 2017 Web Special Swaps Scotty. I’ll sell him off eventually, whenever my schedule allows.

Fortunately, I’m not so enamored of the mold that I’ll have to get all ten variations. I think the Buckskin Pinto is my favorite, and luckily he is not the rarest of the bunch. 

The List of Worries

I had been hearing stories, but this one takes the cake: the Special Runs chosen for me involved my first choice, and my last choice? That is… some messed up selection process you’ve got going on this year, Reeves:

I have a hard time believing everything else I selected before Marzipan was sold out during my theoretical time slot before they got to me. That would have included, by the way: the Surprise, Landler, Brahms, Rapunzel, and Elbe and Spree.

(I already had the Bears and Franz coming via the VIP, so I can’t even remember if I had them on my All-Access selection list at all.)

While I think the Marzipan is a leading contender for the Gloss/Matte split, it’s still not enough for me to actually want him, and my luck is not so good with the Gloss/Matte split models anyway.

So yeah, I’ll need to trade that one for literally… anything else. Even one of those Rando/Choose Your Own Adventure tickets they’re sending out to folks who didn’t get a chance to make tiered selections, or who only made limited selections that were sold out prior to their position in line. Otherwise I may end up giving it away, especially if space is already tight in the car. 

Ugh, another thing to worry about. This whole week, I swear. 

To show you how it’s been going so far: I was researching cargo van rentals yesterday. The vehicle is fine, but the service I wanted to get done before the trip (regularly scheduled maintenance type stuff) may not be possible until after the trip, and if I can’t find another place to do it, I’m renting a van.

Not necessarily because of the space, but because – believe it or not – it’s probably my cheapest rental option. I hope it won’t come to that, because I have enough to deal with between now and then, and I do not want to add “driving a rental van through Ohio” to my list of worries.

But anyway, enough about my woes. I have about six pages of the Sampler written, and I’m hoping for another two or three by tomorrow. I’m aiming to have it mostly written and illustrated by the end of the three-day weekend, and save next week for formatting, proofreading and printing. 

Barring another day like today, which was rough. (Much cussing was involved, as was the occasional “Serenity Now!”)

The Pendulum Swings

And the hits keep on coming…

… though Fletcher doesn’t technically come out until next year, being the first Collector’s Club Special Run for 2018. This is just a pre-order announcement.

It’s interesting that they’re offering him in both Gloss and Matte, since offering that option with some of the Premier Club releases has led to some difficulties, especially when people start making returns.

Glosses run out, Reeves offers Mattes, people get indignant when that happens and then stomp over to their favorite corner of the Internet to gripe about what an incompetent bunch of doody-heads they are for not obviously making the entire run Glossy, because duh.

Sigh.

Part of the appeal of Gloss Finishes – separate from the “Ooh, shiny!” factor – is that it has been traditionally associated with Vintage models, especially the scarcer and more desirable releases of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The thing is that Gloss does not automatically mean rare. In many cases, it’s the Matte-finished variation of a Vintage model that’s the scarcer one. How many times, for instance, have you seen a #43 Matte Palomino Western Pony? Or a #71 Matte Walking Horned Hereford Bull?

(I got the former purely by accident, and finding the latter took… years. And years.)

And as far as desirability goes, Breyer gradually phased out Gloss in the 1960s due to collector demand for more realistic-looking models. Liking Glosses in the 1970s and most of the 1980s put you in the minority camp, for sure.

In other words, the pendulum swings. (Speaking of, someday I shall tell you about the BreyerFest where I walked around the hotel and bought every decent Chalky I could find, because nobody else was really looking at them at the time…)

I like a beautiful deep Gloss as much as the next person (that QVC Gloss Bay Justin Morgan Sherman is staring at me right now from behind my monitor) but some models look just as good – or better! – in Matte.

So I am fine with both options on Fletcher, though my initial reaction was tilted a bit in favor of the Matte. My guess is that it’ll be the scarcer of the two finishes too, but that’s only an incidental consideration.

I’m not sure if I’ll even be ordering – it’ll all depend on how well my holiday sales go. It’s a good thing they’re giving us until the end of November to decide.

Lovesick

I was doing so good this weekend: there wasn’t much at the flea market, I decided to pass on the darker Hwin and the Halloween Horse Goblin and its adorably cartoony germ-monsters (though that one was tough!), and so far no Chalky Hwins appear to have shown up at any of the local TSCs I’ve visited, yet. (More on that a little later).

But it was a long, rough day at work today, so on the way home I caved and bought that softly and lightly dappled Hwin at the local Family Farm and Home. I love how sassy she looks here: she’s obviously not giving lovesick Java the time of day!

Her other side is a little more dappled, but definitely less-so than the average Hwin. Just a couple of teeny touch ups and I’d definitely put her on my live show string, if I had one. (I am still thinking about that possibility, yes.)

It’s still too early to tell how scarce this variation – or the Chalkies – will be. Judging from the number of ones I’ve looked at so far, I’m thinking/hoping fairly scarce?

I would have bought her regardless, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Incidentally, Family Farm and Home is a Michigan-based farm store chain that tends to carry a pretty decent selection of Breyers for the holidays – more than the average TSC. Remember when the first run of the Zenyatta release sold out at the Reeves warehouse just before the holidays, and everyone was scrambling to find her?

The then-local FFH in Richmond – not far out of my way, but not a direction I usually go to shop – had at least four cases of them sitting on the floor, still leftover after Christmas.

Then a few years back, the store up in Almont had at least a couple dozen S Justadreams on the shelf. I remember looking at them thinking to myself “Is this another Zenyatta situation? Should I buy one just in case?”

(Yes it was, and no I didn’t. D’oh!)

Anyway, that’s why I’m moderately excited about having one of these stores in town now: while they don’t tend to get exclusive Special Runs, their buyer obviously knows what they are doing! I’ll be checking out other FFHs for more as time and travel permits, mostly to determine if this Hwin is an aberration, or an indication of something else going on there, again.

All the Chalky Hwins that I have heard of or seen so far have been found at Tractor Supply stores, and there’s some talk that this is perhaps related to Chalky/Nonchalky situation that occurred with the 2015 Tractor Supply Special Run Jesse.

I think…maybe there’s a correlation? It could just be coincidental one: I am assuming that Tractor Supply’s purchases/factory shipments occur at the same time every year, and maybe it happens to be the same time the factory in China “chalks up” slightly flawed bodies to repurpose from production runs earlier in the year.

So, in other words, the Chalky Hwins might be a de facto Special Run for TSC, in the same way the Black 75th Anniversary AQHA Horses became a de facto Tuesday Morning SR. One of circumstance, not intent.

While I’d love to find one, I’m not going to go out of my way to find it. One Hwin is enough for now!

In a Name

Calm down, everyone: Tuesday’s special offer on Breyer’s web site was just overstock of last year’s Tractor Supply Special Jesse, given the more generic name “Palomino Quarter Horse”. Everything else appears to be exactly the same, even the issue number:

They did the same thing with the 2012 Mid-States Special Run Bay Roan Roxy Constellations, too, if you recall.

I briefly thought of ordering one – the handful of Jesses that I found around here were underwhelming – considering the possibility that there might be some of the Chalky variation ones in the overstock.

But then they sold out, and that temptation went away. More money for the potential surprises of December, I guess!

These re-releases are a nice offer for people who don’t have these participating retailers near them, or who wouldn’t dare brave the Breyer Sales Tent/NPOD for one either (where these kinds of overstocks often go).

I don’t have any Mid-States retailers within a reasonable driving distance, for instance; if I hadn’t already acquired a Constellation, I might have taken up the offer on the web site.

(Ironically, mine is a Sample from the NPOD!)

But historically speaking, this is little more than an interesting footnote, kind of like this one:

Yes, in some – but not all – early Breyer ephemera, the Running Mare and Foal were also known as the Running Arabian Mare and Foal. (This particular snippet is from the 1964 Price List.)

Fall Shopping

Feeling like a bit of a grumpus today; I discovered very late yesterday that I’ll probably be needing some expensive dental work ASAP. So today has been an unhappy game of “Which Test Colors gotta go?”

Among other things. (Sorry Four Stars, I guess you can’t stay after all.)

Buying new stuff or fun stuff is out of the picture for the foreseeable future, outside of obligated purchases (car payments, subscriptions). The flea market might even be a no-go zone at this point; I won’t know the extent of the work I'll need until early next week.

I never put in for the latest Big Cat Special, the tiger-striped Padma, on the Ruffian mold; not that I didn’t like her, but prior to the now urgent dental problem, I had planned on paying off the credit card by the end of the year, too.

The budget is also the reason I’m taking a pass on the Collectors’ Club Fabien – a Dapple Gray on the Totilas – and not out of any concern over the dappling or issues with the base. Funny how the first batch sold out so quickly, regardless of the griping. (I promise you this: though I may be critical new dappling techniques, I will never use the word “crapples” here, except to mock it.)

Jesse and whatever new colors the AQHA horse appear at my local Tractor Supply stores are also out of the question. Here’s hoping there’s a reasonably priced and accessible (BreyerFest? Regular Run?) Wyatt release next year. Like a lot of other hobbyists, I suspect that Jesse will be in short supply right after the holidays, as customizers snatch up the discounted leftovers.

While I probably will sign up for the Stablemates Club, I have mixed feelings about it. Anything greeted with that kind of near-manic enthusiasm within the model horse community tends to crash and burn with equal force.

The likely culprit there will be price: of the models maybe, but of the postage definitely. In fact, I can already hear the distant rumblings of it, especially in the overseas community, already hard-hit by the arbitrarily high shipping costs the web site tags onto orders heading abroad.

But I’m also a little concerned how some hobbyists appear to be interpreting the Stablemates Club not as another club like the Premier or Vintage, but as an alternative to the Collector’s Club. I don’t know if that’s wishful thinking, or – like when the clubs first debuted – a profound lack of understanding of how subscription clubs work.

Decisions on the others are still a ways down the road for me. The 2016 Vintage Club offerings do look fun: a Man o’ War and Western Prancing Horse, at last! I’d rather have the colors switched – a Dapple Gray MOW and a blanket Appaloosa WPH, but whatever.

So Far, C'est Bon

I am absolutely exhausted today; this week had way too much drama in it, even for me. Most of my day off tomorrow will be spent "quilting it out", both literally and figuratively.

As for the blow up occurring on Blab right now, I’ll leave my thoughts and comments on that on Blab itself, once I’ve collected them. (More sleep is required.) All I’ll say on the matter here is that I don't give up hope easily.

As for more positive news and thoughts, the initial BreyerFest 2015 information dump has been made, more or less on time and with pictures that are halfway decent. A few of them, ici:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=6975

My only disappointment with the Sunday Raffle Horse - a Buckskin Blanket Appaloosa Wyatt - is that it means we won’t be getting a more attainable Special Run of the Wyatt for BreyerFest. It doesn’t rule out a more-affordable-anyway Mid-Year or other SR release during the year, but whenever you get your hopes up even a little, there's a bit of a sting.

The Bay Strapless Store Special Oration is lovely, and a good match for both the actual horse, and for the mold. He is similar to the Pottery Barn SR of the Strapless, but the Oration has the braided mane and tail, while the PB Strapless has the loose versions of both. Although I prefer the loose mane and tail versions, I might be willing to concede on that point. I never seem to be in the right place at the right time for the Pottery Barn one, anyway …

The Early Bird Raffle Horse is also nice, a Palomino Sabino Idocus named C’est Bon:

If I do win one (ha!) I am so naming him Simon Le Bon, just because. He reminds me a little of the Store Special Palomino Halla from a few years back, but I like C'est Bon better.

There’s no mention of the prizes for the Diorama and Costume contests, yet. (I didn't see it when last I looked, at least.) For a costume I’m thinking something involving swords, since I don’t often get to use my mad college fencing skills in real life. (I attended Wayne State University: it was almost a requirement!) Or maybe not; whatever I choose to be will depend on whatever the flea markets and thrift shops offer me.

As far as the Diorama Contest goes, I got nothing so far. It’s become such a frustration for me that I’m thinking of just letting go of the notion altogether. Intellectually, I know it’s nothing personal; they don’t like my style, and I am not my style. If I’m a German Expressionist artistically, I’m never going to win at a French Impressionist show.

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.