Wait, What Just Happened?

You might remember my hissy-fit back in 2019 when Reeves went all-in on Marvel for their Hero-themed BreyerFest that year. Aside from the fact that it felt like they were taunting lawsuit-happy Disney with a stick, they were ignoring over half of the comic book world, and the one that I’m personally way more invested in: DC Comics, the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman et al.

So you can imagine my surprise when I was doing my Internet rounds a couple days ago and saw… Jim Lee pimping for BreyerFest on his Facebook page. What?!?

For those of you who aren’t all that familiar with the comic book world – and by familiar, I mean having actually read and/or purchased an actual comic book, and not just watched the movies – this is kind of a big deal. Jim Lee is the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics: that’s about as high up as it gets.

So, what is the backstory that led to this? Potential licensing deal over the League of Super-Pets movie? Legal nitpicking over the phrase “World’s Finest”? Is there a Breyer comic book in the works? Or is Jim Lee actually into horses? Or maybe one of his kids? 

He does draw horses better than most comic book artists. Most comic book artists are painfully bad at drawing animals in general, and horses in particular. (And a lot of them are not that great with people either, but cover up their mistakes with lots of crazy cross-hatching and creative coloring.)

Incidentally, one of the few artists who could render a horse competently was the legendary Alex Toth, best known for his work on Zorro for Dell Comics and Hanna-Barbera’s Space Ghost. He could also draw dogs pretty well, and co-created Rex, the Wonder Dog.

For the record, I always imagined that if there was a DC character who was a Breyer collector, it was probably Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. And Supergirl, obviously. 

(The Traditional Spirit mold would make an excellent Comet, the Super-Horse!)

Whatever the story is here, welcome to the family, Jim! BreyerFest is usually the week before the San Diego Comicon so I know you’re busy, but if you ever want to drop by for a day or two, we’ll be glad to have you. I promise not to fangirl squee too hard! 

For the record, I don’t think I’ve actually ever met Jim Lee face-to-face, but he was in the Artist’s Alley of the 1997 Motor City Comic Con, and I did have a pretty crazy time there that year. 

(Harlan Ellison + Curt Swan + Professional Wrestlers = ‘Nuff Said.) 

Turkey Day

So this long-lost package greeted me today when I got home:

This is not a frozen turkey: there were four horses in there and fortunately/miraculously none of them appear to have been damaged in any significant way. 

But still, yikes. This is not a good way to start out the week.

In other news that was not news because last week was last week, the 2020 inductees to the Toy Hall of Fame were Baby Nancy, Jenga, and Sidewalk Chalk.

I understand Baby Nancy: the original write up was a little too detailed and well-written for me to not think it was a foregone conclusion. History, and all that.

As far as games go, I thought Yahtzee or Risk had a better chance than Jenga, but Jenga does have an appealing (yet deceptive) simplicity to it. It takes two minutes to explain, if that, and there are no notepads to tally or rulebooks to follow. 

But Sidewalk Chalk? We got beat by craft supplies? Sigh.

Okay, I’ll admit that I kind of got my hopes up just slightly, based solely only the fact that one of the hosts of the morning radio show I usually listen to very briefly mentioned the hobby in passing when discussing the Toy Hall of Fame story a few weeks back, during the voting phase of it. 

Then again, that guy is/was a toy train nerd, has a daughter that is the right age, and the two primary independent toy stores in this area both have extensive selections of both Breyers and Trains.

In other words, it was probably just an exceptional circumstance. 

But still, it’s an optimistic sign that we’re not as peripheral to the public consciousness as some hobbyists believe, and that this campaign was not as quixotic as it originally seemed. Heck, Lisa was outed as a model horse collector on The Simpsons last year: 

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2020/05/10/tv-recap-the-simpsons-season-31-episode-21-the-hateful-eight-year-olds/

There was a shot of an extensive (20+) model horse collection in her room, and she gave one of horsey friends “a toy horse, with a hat” for her birthday! (Any model horse hobbyist who watched that episode immediately whispered Old Timer.)

I’m kind of curious just how far Reeves is willing to go to continue pursuing it, though, since they obviously saw it as part of their 70th Anniversary marketing strategy. 

Off to bed now; I have a sinus headache that’s not going to get any better staring at a computer screen.

That’s Entertainment

It’s amazing how much you can get done when your allergies leave you largely housebound.

(I did make an exception for the flea market this morning: my sales list has been a mere shadow of its former self since BreyerFest, and the pickings have been pretty good there lately.)

I even started a custom, but I’ll talk about that later: I started with a Family Arabian Mare missing three legs and an ear and covered in brown enamel spray paint. It’s going to be a while before I have something worth showing.

Here’s one bit of older news I’ve been meaning to cover for a few weeks, about Breyer’s upcoming horse-themed TV show and other projects:

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/breyer-horse-toy-imagine-tv-series-1203262655/

This link provides a little bit more info beyond the press release:

http://kidscreen.com/2019/07/18/breyer-saddles-up-with-imagine-for-its-first-series/

It’s also mentioned in passing in a New York Times article about Imagine Entertainment from a few days ago:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/01/business/media/imagine-entertainment-brian-grazer-ron-howard.html 

The news initially dropped during BreyerFest week – which makes sense, since it’s referenced in the press release – and it did not surprise me in the least. In fact, I made the assumption that a TV show would happen sooner rather than later when they added Rick Rekedal (formerly of DreamWorks Animation) to the team in late 2017.

I thought they’d go with an animated show first (for obvious reasons!) And also because, as some of you may know, I am not a fan of most fictional live-action equine-themed entertainment: it tends to be formulaic and overly sentimental. Though this quote from the Kidscreen article gives me some hope it won’t be the Hallmark Horses Channel:

For example, while humans will play an obviously important role in the upcoming show, horses will be at the foreground, with an emphasis placed on their own social relationships, trials and challenges, and an element of magic will also help bring the animals to life, she adds. This insight comes straight from Breyer, who found that, among fans, the animals’ interactions and dramas are just as interesting as that of their owners and riders.

Though this part of the original press release is what made me go Wait, wait, what?

Along with the series, Imagine Kids and Family and Breyer are working on several other development prospects including a documentary about the history of Breyer.

(Looks at my giant wall of historical materials.)

That sounds... interesting.