Monday, October 20, 2008
Score!
I managed to find the Marabella Color Crazy set, reportedly the hardest to find. I didn't pay an exorbitant price for it; after asking around, I ended up using Breyers Shopatron service. No way to ask for a specific variation, but it worked pretty well. I like the automatic email with the tracking number.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Casualties
Strange things lately. Maybe it's the Halloween season.
I'm missing a Palouse. Can't find her anywhere, I know I haven't sold her. Unless she's still boxed up from the last live show I went to (in March!). I'd swear she was just on the shelf, though. The only other idea is that Toddler Boy toddled off with her, but this place is small enough that she'd be hard to hide.
One of my small Hagen-Renakers (a common, recent one, luckily) turned up broken somehow. It's been packed in cotton and boxed up. I opened the box last night, and one foreleg is floating around loose. Joy.
And I managed to scuff one of the other Palouses last night. I was photographing the Palouse conga before I packed them away for safe-keeping (some of them are notoriously unstable), and put a nice rub on Iskitpe's mane. I saw what I thought was a bit of lint, tried to rub it off, and accidentally peeled off some paint. Never had that happen before. I hope it'll be fairly simple to touch up later on; it's in a variegated part of the mane anyway.
Yeah, yesterday wasn't a good horse-day.
I'm missing a Palouse. Can't find her anywhere, I know I haven't sold her. Unless she's still boxed up from the last live show I went to (in March!). I'd swear she was just on the shelf, though. The only other idea is that Toddler Boy toddled off with her, but this place is small enough that she'd be hard to hide.
One of my small Hagen-Renakers (a common, recent one, luckily) turned up broken somehow. It's been packed in cotton and boxed up. I opened the box last night, and one foreleg is floating around loose. Joy.
And I managed to scuff one of the other Palouses last night. I was photographing the Palouse conga before I packed them away for safe-keeping (some of them are notoriously unstable), and put a nice rub on Iskitpe's mane. I saw what I thought was a bit of lint, tried to rub it off, and accidentally peeled off some paint. Never had that happen before. I hope it'll be fairly simple to touch up later on; it's in a variegated part of the mane anyway.
Yeah, yesterday wasn't a good horse-day.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Delia pictures
All right, here are a few pics of Delia. Color-wise, she reminds me a bit of Riesling from this year's BF, although her dapples are fainter (more subtle) than Riesling's.
In compact florescent lighting:
With the flash, and quite a bit of contrast from the image editor:
Natural light (cloudy day):
Detail of the oddly flat mane:
The missing forelock:
In compact florescent lighting:
With the flash, and quite a bit of contrast from the image editor:
Natural light (cloudy day):
Detail of the oddly flat mane:
The missing forelock:
Delia's here
UPS just delivered my Delia, the web special that Breyer announced earlier this month. It's a run of 500, a Lady Phase in a dappled chestnut with three socks and a blaze.
Thoughts:
- Breyer could do a better job of packing. Delia was bagged and bubble wrapped (extra around the ears), but then she was stuffed into a box with maybe an inch of space on any side. When I unboxed mine, it was one layer of bubble wrap away from a tail rub.
- If Breyer wants to keep using the Lady Phase mold (and I really hope they do), they need to do some work on the mold (and on educating their prep crew). Aside from the lazy eye, the forelock area really needs some help. I'm not sure if it's just overzealous prepping on the blanks, or if the detail in that area is totally lost. Either way, the LPs I've got have this strange flat area between the ears and down the front of the face. There's still some forelock visible off to the right side, but the rest is sort of vague at best.
- My Delia did get a little too much Dremeling (or whatever they do) on the top of her mane. It's a bit too flat on top, and visibly flatter than either my Wedgwood Treasure Hunt LP or Treasured Moves. (Both of those have varying amounts of flatness along their neck.)
Overall, the color is really nice, but not one of the more "WOW!!!" colors. The dappling is very subtle, which I much prefer, and it's "real" dappling, not that weird resist-dappling that Breyer likes so much. There are nice eye-whites (calm, not freaking out), and a bit of pinking at the nose end of the blaze. She's not a real eyecatcher at first, but once you start looking, she's very nicely done. I wouldn't hesitate to take her to a live show, but she may be overshadowed if there's a lot of flash on the table.
Thoughts:
- Breyer could do a better job of packing. Delia was bagged and bubble wrapped (extra around the ears), but then she was stuffed into a box with maybe an inch of space on any side. When I unboxed mine, it was one layer of bubble wrap away from a tail rub.
- If Breyer wants to keep using the Lady Phase mold (and I really hope they do), they need to do some work on the mold (and on educating their prep crew). Aside from the lazy eye, the forelock area really needs some help. I'm not sure if it's just overzealous prepping on the blanks, or if the detail in that area is totally lost. Either way, the LPs I've got have this strange flat area between the ears and down the front of the face. There's still some forelock visible off to the right side, but the rest is sort of vague at best.
- My Delia did get a little too much Dremeling (or whatever they do) on the top of her mane. It's a bit too flat on top, and visibly flatter than either my Wedgwood Treasure Hunt LP or Treasured Moves. (Both of those have varying amounts of flatness along their neck.)
Overall, the color is really nice, but not one of the more "WOW!!!" colors. The dappling is very subtle, which I much prefer, and it's "real" dappling, not that weird resist-dappling that Breyer likes so much. There are nice eye-whites (calm, not freaking out), and a bit of pinking at the nose end of the blaze. She's not a real eyecatcher at first, but once you start looking, she's very nicely done. I wouldn't hesitate to take her to a live show, but she may be overshadowed if there's a lot of flash on the table.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Another shopping rant
I'm not sure what it is about this area, but shopping for Breyers seems to be pretty abysmal, if you want to buy in person and skip the online/mail order route now and then. I've been looking for some Breyers locally; actually, I'm desperate enough to buy almost anything if I saw it. :)
The local Orschelns apparently hasn't stocked up on toys for the holidays yet. They had almost zilch, just a few plushies and some of the paint-your-own Mini Whinnies sets. At least they stock some Schleich horses.
Target - also zilch. They have none of the SM sets (adult/foal) at the moment, and no empty peg for them either. A few SMs and random Classics, but not always, and a lot of the paint-your-own MW sets. They did have one of the new Classic sets last time, but I don't guess they'll every carry the Classic mare & foal sets that I'm wanting. They had a few of the SM accessory sets a few months ago, but nothing since then.
Not-so-local Orschelns #1 - had 2 of the truck/trailer/Stud Spider sets, and a couple of Trad foals, marked down to $9.99.
Not-so-local Orschelns #2 - better choices, and I hope they get some new stuff for the holidays. Last weekend, they had some Blue Suede Shoes and Mid-States Warriors, plus one Salpicado. Most of those were $25, I think. They also had a row of the truck sets.
Really-not-local Farm & Home, where I always stop on the way to the Renaissance Festival: Had quite a bit in stock, but the newest thing they had was Chevayo and and the ECLR Benefit horse (one each). They still have a couple of Nosferatus, and some other older stuff. I bought their Tonto's Scout, in spite of the split box, and the ECLR palomino. The other irritating thing was that most of their stock wasn't priced - nothing on the shelf, very few stickers on the boxes. Whether that's laziness or a misinterpretation of the MAAP mess, I don't know. They did have a dozen or so Classics, but all singles.
In short, I'd love to buy the Color Crazy sets, the Classic mare & foal sets, and a dozen others, but I'd also really love to be able to buy them in person. My usual online dealer is apparently low on stock, and while I'm looking for other options, I'm also tired of delayed gratification. Usually I don't mind it - heck, I'm waiting another month for my back-ordered JCPenney Joe/Bouncer set - but sometimes, I just want something now. To be able to walk into a store, look at a big display of Breyers, and pick the one that says "Buy me." To line three copies of a model up on the shelf and see which I like best (I did this with the Trad Hidalgo). To pay for the horse, take it home, and open it right away. To not have to wait for the UPS guy or the mail carrier to ring the doorbell.
You wouldn't think that's too much to ask, but apparently it is around here. Who would think that a town/city of 100,000 people, two colleges with animal/equestrian programs, and at least one horse-event expo center would have almost nothing in the way of Breyers? (We don't even have a tack store that I know of, and the last independent toy store closed two years ago. It's TRU or nothing now.)
The local Orschelns apparently hasn't stocked up on toys for the holidays yet. They had almost zilch, just a few plushies and some of the paint-your-own Mini Whinnies sets. At least they stock some Schleich horses.
Target - also zilch. They have none of the SM sets (adult/foal) at the moment, and no empty peg for them either. A few SMs and random Classics, but not always, and a lot of the paint-your-own MW sets. They did have one of the new Classic sets last time, but I don't guess they'll every carry the Classic mare & foal sets that I'm wanting. They had a few of the SM accessory sets a few months ago, but nothing since then.
Not-so-local Orschelns #1 - had 2 of the truck/trailer/Stud Spider sets, and a couple of Trad foals, marked down to $9.99.
Not-so-local Orschelns #2 - better choices, and I hope they get some new stuff for the holidays. Last weekend, they had some Blue Suede Shoes and Mid-States Warriors, plus one Salpicado. Most of those were $25, I think. They also had a row of the truck sets.
Really-not-local Farm & Home, where I always stop on the way to the Renaissance Festival: Had quite a bit in stock, but the newest thing they had was Chevayo and and the ECLR Benefit horse (one each). They still have a couple of Nosferatus, and some other older stuff. I bought their Tonto's Scout, in spite of the split box, and the ECLR palomino. The other irritating thing was that most of their stock wasn't priced - nothing on the shelf, very few stickers on the boxes. Whether that's laziness or a misinterpretation of the MAAP mess, I don't know. They did have a dozen or so Classics, but all singles.
In short, I'd love to buy the Color Crazy sets, the Classic mare & foal sets, and a dozen others, but I'd also really love to be able to buy them in person. My usual online dealer is apparently low on stock, and while I'm looking for other options, I'm also tired of delayed gratification. Usually I don't mind it - heck, I'm waiting another month for my back-ordered JCPenney Joe/Bouncer set - but sometimes, I just want something now. To be able to walk into a store, look at a big display of Breyers, and pick the one that says "Buy me." To line three copies of a model up on the shelf and see which I like best (I did this with the Trad Hidalgo). To pay for the horse, take it home, and open it right away. To not have to wait for the UPS guy or the mail carrier to ring the doorbell.
You wouldn't think that's too much to ask, but apparently it is around here. Who would think that a town/city of 100,000 people, two colleges with animal/equestrian programs, and at least one horse-event expo center would have almost nothing in the way of Breyers? (We don't even have a tack store that I know of, and the last independent toy store closed two years ago. It's TRU or nothing now.)
More new horses
So, what's going on? I've been buying a few things.
- a chestnut Show Jumper - couldn't pass him up at $15, since I wanted a braided-mane version of the mold
- Lippitt Morgan - also $15, I realize the mold doesn't show well, and his stance is all wrong, but he's a pretty color and I like the mold. I still need to replace or refurb my black Morgan. Don't listen to anyone who says that mice won't eat through plastic. The little pests chewed through a bag and went to work on the Morgan's nose and mane.
- the two sets of last year's JCP Stablemates (bought on clearance, CM-fodder) finally got here. I had them sent to my sister, and she sent them home with my parents after their visit.
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