Whatever it was, it happened almost a decade ago now. From their introduction in 1983 until 2009, Little Bits strutted their stuff in the Breyer model horse line up, fitting in nicely between the Classics introduced in 1973 and the Stablemates introduced in 1975. When the license for many of the Hagen-Renaker mold Classics and the first generation of Stablemates expired around 1998/99, Breyer had enough of the Chris Hess sculpted Classics, and commissioned a whole new generation of Stablemates, to enable it to carry on with these lines.
But the Breyer Little Bits faced no such license lap. All seven of the basic molds were Chris Hess sculptures, completely owned by Breyer. Despite being rebranded as Saddle Club Pals and Paddock Pals in the mid-90s, the Little Bits carried enough of their own weight to be released in several J.C. Penney special run Parade of Breeds variations and in plenty of gift sets with stables, riders, tack and other accessories.
But suddenly in 2009 the Little Bits line seemed to dry up. Although some of the molds are still available unpainted in the Paint Your Own Horse activity sets, there haven't been any regular runs or special runs in the Little Bits line since that time.
In the meantime, however, horses that more or less fit into the Little Bits 1:24 inch scale have appeared in the Breyer line up. The 1997 hairy Ponies released in Young Rider and Young Mare and Foal sets were approximately Little Bits size, as were the Wind Dancers (2005-2018), the Small Spirit Sets (2017-today), and the majority of the horses in the recently acquired Breyer by CollectA (Corral Pals) line (2017-today).
Breyer Small Chica Linda, Corral Pal British Spotted Pony, and Saddle Club Starlight
So with all these new additions, why has Breyer given Chris Hess's plucky little ponies the cold shoulder? Is there a problem with the molds? Were they not selling well? Could Breyer just not find the right market for them?
What with the current craze in unicorns, the Little Bits line seems ripe for revival, particularly because it contains the only Breyer model actually intended to be a unicorn and nothing else -- the lovely Little Bits Unicorn with his curly hair, his goaty beard, fluffy fetlocks and cloven hooves. This sculpture alone has many more uniquely unicorn characteristics than any of the simple horse-with-a-horn releases Breyer is coming out with now.
Wouldn't it be nice if the bonus "mini-me" horse for the Premier Club was painted on a Little Bits rather than a Stablemate (SM)? It would certainly prevent the gnashing of teeth of the Stablemate Club collectors who year after year see new SM molds premiere with the Premiers, rather than in the Stablemate Club where they (arguably) belong?
Perhaps Little Bits are a little bit too large for blind bags, but wouldn't they make great blind box offerings? Packed in little boxes, they wouldn't suffer the kind of manhandling that the Stablemate blind bag horses and unicorns go through. And while 1983 is hardly vintage (at least from my point of view) wouldn't it be neat to see the Little Bits in the Vintage Club in vintage colours, or as affordable Decorators, whether in shades of blue and gold, or painted in Christmas colours and Halloween themes. We've had clearware Traditionals, Classics, and Stablemates -- where are our clearware Little Bits?
Yes, there are only seven true Little Bit molds, but surely more sculptures could be commissioned. If you ignore the Young Mares and Foals and the Wind Dancer foals, there are no foal molds in the Little Bits scale (Corral Pals don't count as Breyer is only the distributor, not the creator, of these critters). There's only one drafter, and one each of America's most popular horse breeds (Arabian, Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Morgan, and American Saddlebred). There are no ponies, no exotics, and no long-ears.
C'mon Breyer -- give a little bit, and bring the Little Bits back into the corral.
No comments:
Post a Comment