Waiting For Spring

I think I can say I just can’t with Winter anymore: Spring (or Michigan’s two-week equivalent before Summer kicks in) can’t get here soon enough.

One thing that has made the past few weary weeks better has been the unexpected arrival of these two beauties yesterday, courtesy of Dear Friend Shaun:

I had essentially given up actively looking for any of the Walmart Stablemates a few weeks back: it just wasn’t worth the effort, and one of my resolutions for the year was learning to let things go, anyway.

Worrying about something isn’t going to change the outcome, and other collectors are FAR more invested in the chase than I could ever be, regardless.

But this was a happy and welcome surprise, on another physically and emotionally draining day.

It’s been brought up before online – I can’t recall where, exactly – that the Teal and Copper Alborozo is taken directly from the Zodiac Series, specifically Virgo:

Neat! I guess that means that the previous Unicorn Alborozo was based my favorite Zodiac Series release, Cancer (aka Lobster Butt):

Is this a not-so-subtle hint of color schemes for future Unicorn Stablemates releases? Because if it is, I’d like to make a case for both the bronzy Capricorn and everybody’s favorite, the Bourbon Street-ish Sagittarius.

But preferably in a more accessible, non-chain-specific, non-blind bagged series without chase pieces. Michigan winters are challenging enough, guys. We deserve a little reward for even making it to the store in the first place!

The Libra Duchess

One of the pieces from the Grab Bag that I am definitely keeping is the Zodiac Series Libra, on the Duchess mold:

I think I received an especially well shaded one, and the pink undertones (not visible in any of the promotional pictures that I can recall) are both a nice aesthetic touch and a subtle nod to the nature of the sign itself – balancing out a cool color with a warm one, and a “masculine” color with a “feminine” one.

I’m also keeping her because I was reviewing my collecting goals for the coming year, and I had just about settled on it being the Duchess mold.

I loved her pinto release in the Gato y Mancha set at BreyerFest this year, which in turn spurred my unsuccessful (so far) attempt to acquire the infamous Wildlife Adventure set with the Pink Camo blanket and Baby Gorilla.

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/720601set.jpg

The Duchess mold should be just challenging enough to keep me interested and motivated, without taking up too much of either my shelf space or money.  

The only possible frustration I’m seeing is that outside of one release (the #663 Buckskin “Thoroughbred Cross”, ca. 2006-2008) the Duchess mold has almost always been packaged as a part of a set. With the exception of things like the Zodiac Series pieces (that I will probably end up with a complete set of anyway, over time) I’m the kind of person who prefers to keep sets as sets.

Generally that wouldn’t be too much of a problem, except that some of the sets Duchess came in (especially those from the Walmart Mustangs Series) also came with popular and very desirable bits like the Wolf or some of the more modern Classics Foal molds.

My initial searches turned up a lot of sad, stray and stranded Duchesses, and that makes me only want her more.

Rock On, Lobster

Just a little something today; a long-delayed project decided it needed to be done yesterday, and it threw my weekend plans completely off course.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the care and thought that’s been put selection of the colors, molds and motifs in the Zodiac series. This series has been a long time in development, and it shows. So much so that unlike the Blossoms, I have been giving some serious thought into buying the entire series.

Okay, I’m not thrilled that "my" horse (Taurus) is pink, again, but at least they jazzed him up a bit with some pleasing bronzy highlights, and a slightly naughty-looking bull:

The one model in this series that did give me a bit of a giggle fit was Cancer, on the popular Black Beauty mold:

What’s up with the lobster? Sure, they’re both crustaceans, but a lobster is not a crab.

This faux pas is not enough to dissuade me from potentially buying the series; my arch-nemeses time, space and money will be the more likely culprits there. But it is kinda funny: even in a series where every detail was obviously labored over, mistakes still happened.

You’ve probably heard the saying Perfect is the enemy of the good. There’s a tendency in this hobby towards perfectionism: the notion that model horses are somehow perfectible in a way real horses are not, and that nothing short of absolutely perfect is acceptable, either on the shelf or in the show ring.

It’s not a healthy idea, nor an achievable one. Aside from the philosophical problem - what constitutes perfect, exactly? - perfection is boring. If everything were perfect, there’d be nothing to talk about.

We should strive for better, instead: better is always doable. 

Some mistakes are groaners, but sometimes mistakes are just…funny. Cancer’s butt lobster is funny. And in its own way, endearing.

(I can’t believe I just wrote the phrase "Cancer's butt lobster".)

The Purple Lipizzan

The one nice thing about getting just one Just About Horses per year, instead of four? Only having to scroll through the "Where’s My JAH?" discussion once a year!

It's not that I am unsympathetic. We live in a semi-rural area where they’re constantly reworking the mail routes, so we go through periods where the local system is hyper-efficient, and periods when carrier pigeons seem to be a safer bet. I learned a long time ago to not freak out about not getting my JAH until it was at least a month past its expected due date.

And it would almost never fail: the missing issue would show up the day after I called - or even that afternoon! Often in one of those "Oops, we’re sorry your mail got mangled" baggies.

Anyway, mine came on Saturday, in good shape. Of all the interesting things worth talking about, the one thing that excited me the most was this guy:

The return of the Classics Lipizzan, in the Zodiac Collection. The Classics Lipizzan mold has been out of production since 2004, when he was released in another variation of the Pegasus (#3365 Mystical Pegasus). More importantly, though, the last time he was released as a straight-up horse - no wings, horns or other additional appendages - was in the early to mid-1990s, as a Special Run item for the Wonderful World of Horses Tour.

So he’s been out of production for at least a decade - an eternity in Breyer-time; I don’t think any of the others had been out of circulation that long. Even some of the Hagen-Renaker molds weren’t put into mothballs until 2005.

Sure, he’s Bourbon Street Purple (sorta, I think) and part of a series representing the Zodiac, but those are minor details.

Actually, I really like the Bourbon Street Purple color scheme, too. It’s just that I’ve been pining for a realistic color on the Classics Lippy mold that’s not another aged gray/alabaster, something either rare (Bay/Black/Chestnut) or historical (Appaloosa/Dun). Oh well, close enough!

Most of the other molds being used in the Zodiac series are being - or have recently been - used in production runs, which makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing him again, soon. As I mentioned in my initial discussion about the BreyerFest Western Horse Gossamer, it’s economically impractical to drop a mold for production just for a single, low-run special run item.

I do think the Zodiac series will sell better than the Blossoms series. The two negatives I heard/saw most often in response to the Blossoms series were the limited selection of molds used (only three) and the literal-almost-to-the-point-of-tackiness rendering of the floral decals.

In the Zodiac series, each sign is represented by a unique mold: no duplicates here. And instead of fancy decals, Zodiac signs rendered as hip brands, against Semi-Decorator/Decorator paint jobs. They're almost tasteful.

I don't have a problem with either tasteful or tacky, but I can definitely see that as a consideration in the homes of hobbyists fortunate enough to be able to integrate their collection into their decor.

Aside from the Lipizzan, the Bucking Bronco/Aries and the Warmblood Stallion/Taurus (my sign!) may be coming home with me. More, depending on how they look in person.