[whisker hunter west]

And here are the Koi and Cool batch summaries:

And just because I still love him, here’s mine again:

Oh yeah – and I picked him up a companion!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

Welp, it’s been a while and I never got the energy to keep the posts current, but I *did* keep track through the summer. Here stands the status of the Sitting Young Oriental grab bag Wild batch after the eBay offerings:

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I sort of stumbled into a grail this summer, although I’m still figuring out what “grail” means for me. See, I didn’t know Windstone was doing eBay auctions until just a couple years ago, and if I *had* known back around the time Cosmic Shift came out? I probably would have gone into debt trying for some of the Cosmic Shift dragons. I work for an aerospace company, I’m a bit of a NASA geek, and space dragons? Are *right* up my alley in everything I love. I’ve calmed down a lot since then and re-examined priorities and what my collections mean to me (and (mostly) come to terms with small apartment life), but realizing that there was a whole line of space dragons that I hadn’t even realized existed? *Wistful sigh* And of course they were popular, at least one person has an ongoing Classified post for the color – I figured I’d missed that train, and, well, *shrug*, there would be others, and there are LOTS of “regular” Windstones on my list on the meantime.

So we come to this year. I fell hard for the Young Oris and had to get a Cool Batch, even though it used up a chunk of budget meant for my “regular” collection. And thanks to the forum tipping me off that eBay test paints are A Thing, I’m watching eBay almost every day now – not with intent to buy things, you understand, just because it’s so fun to see what new test paints come out. And tracking what GB pieces show up. And then the first eBay Wild Young Ori went for under price, and I just had to stick a “full price” bid on the Cool Young Ori that showed up next to make sure he knew he was loved – and wound up winning! So about the time I’m thinking “Okay, the Windstone budget is dead, time to shut the wallet until next year” – THIS guy shows up.

I took one look at him and was just in love – Little Rock Dragons are probably my *favorite* of all the Windstone sculpts. Modern fantasy – “they live hidden among us” – has been my favorite genre since childhood. I figured he’d get spotted by the other collectors and go for a couple thousand, but no one had bid on him for a couple days – so I ignored the squalling of the wallet, and put down a bid.

And then – well, to finish a short story run long, he came to live with me. And now I have my very own space dragon! He’s going to work with me, once I get a display box to keep the dust off. I think he’ll be right at home among the NASA stickers Hubble pictures calendar.

I think I’ve pretty much maxed out my luck this year, not to mention the budget. I hope everyone else lucks into an unexpected prize at least once too!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

Okay, Arc-En-Ciel Noir made my jaw drop – I think that color scheme and blending looks fantastic! I also love the contrast between the wings and solid-color scale patches with their unbroken color gradient, versus the colored antiquing on the mostly black scales. Life won’t let me be a competitor for this one, but his picture is going in my daydream folder!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I sort of have a “hierarchy of needs” that determines how badly I want a piece. In rough order of what makes me “need” it:
(1) Love the Sculpt + Love the Color + Included Significant Meaning – ex. Prismatic Spring dragons <==> memories of family visits to Yellowstone
(2) Sculpt + Color match my main “Family” – my first Windstones were gifts, Western dragons in Rainbow & Emerald Peacock, and I’ve been trying to build a complete “blended” family around those pieces now that I can afford to buy my own
(3) Adore the Sculpt + Love the Color – ex. all the Pebbles in Silver Rainbow Sparkle! and the Leaf Cat Sconce, and Blue Morpho…
(4) Love the Color + Meh on the Sculpt – why I don’t have any hoofers yet, but holey moley some of those grab bags are *so* tempting…
(5) Love the Sculpt + Meh on the Color – why I don’t have any Orientals other than the Cool batch Young Ori GB

…Huh, I’d never sat down and made a priority list before. I guess now I know why my Windstone budget keeps going off the rails, when I’m supposed to be concentrating on the “Family” pieces. I’m supposed to be saving up for an Emperor, and then new GBs and LPs that land in category (1) or (3) come out…

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

Just a small correction to the name list – it’s *whiskers* I hunt, not whiskey. Whiskey makes me sound a little too exciting, I think. XP

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

So cute! Okay, I would definitely vote for sparkly winter Arctic Foxes.

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I vote for more sparkly pebbles! ALL the pebbles in silver rainbow sparkle… =D Or any variation of rainbow sparkle. I think I read somewhere that the sparkle paint doesn’t show up as well on light background colors? I hope I’m mis-remembering, because white or near-white rainbow sparkle Arctic Foxes would be soooo cute.

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I’m in! Will try to get the email out this weekend (mid-weeks = braindead).

I’m in the “would have fun with a Muse but wouldn’t mind not getting one” camp. Maybe the Muse section should have a couple “check boxes” – Would like to receive a muse, & would like to paint a muse? Are we supposed to specify anything like color schemes for the muse swap?

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I would be up for either / and / or, at least as long as the muse swap allows absolute first-timer painters who can only promise a paint job that will be tidier than a 5-yr-old’s splash paint job. (At least, I’m assuming most 5-yr-olds are as messy at keeping the paint where it was supposed to go as I was then.) Either way, I’ll sign up for the holiday gift swap – I wasn’t paying attention last year and missed the sign-up. XP

Thanks for organizing, Bodine!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I have a regular edition Emerald Peacock male from about 2010, and I think he looks more subdued than the signed male in the album. Except for the specific pattern of accent scales which are grape-purple, the “purple” on my guy is more blue-purple… indigo maybe? It looks purple when compared to “regular” blue, but it looks blue when compared to the grape-purple. So I’d guess that the signed male is IVEP, especially since the album male’s nose looks like the same color as the little grape-purple scales around the gold spot. On mine, they’re definitely different.

Would you take “I can’t pay now, but I could in a couple months” offers? With the understanding that if someone meets or exceeds the offer before then, they get the piece. My budget for Shinies got blasted by a couple vet bills this summer, to the point where I really can’t afford impulse buys for a while. There’s at least one piece that I’m interested in, but I don’t want to add to the chaos if you really only want offers to move things *now*.

Thanks for all the pictures – it’s fun seeing everything!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

“Bantam” makes me think of roosters / chickens / birds, I haven’t run across that word in other connotations to expand its meaning in my head. I think it would be a cool name for a gryphon style, but might be confusing on a dragon. “Sage” is a nice name, but I still like a “small” name, like Squire or Page or Prince.

For the Kickstarter – I like the idea of different tiers for increasingly special paint jobs. I’d also love if we could basically pre-order the new sculpt in colors we’re already collecting. Example of what I’m thinking below:

Tier 1: Current production & limited production colors (that are still produceable), pre-order to reserve yours
==> Pledge option ideas: one per planned color (ex. rainbow, white, gold, emerald, peacock, emerald peacock, BVP, pastel rainbow, prismatic spring…)
==> Advantage: gives Windstone a metric for how popular the new sculpt is, and gives buyers a chance to confirm / reserve a color to match their existing collection

Tier 2: Kickstarter-only limited production color
==> Pledge option ideas: one per KS-only color
==> Advantage: probably less work than all OOAK dragons? But still gives KS backers a special grab

Tier 2: OOAK “test paint” colors, like the pictures Melody posted before, or the previous mini-keeper grab bag
==> Pledge option ideas: if going with a grab bag style, maybe by color style: Cool (greens/blues/purples), Warm (reds/oranges/yellows), Earthy (greens/browns/golds), Moon (white/silver with accents), Night (black/grey with accents), Wild (anything!)
==> Advantage: Windstone has similar experience with the grab bag poads on the Poads on the Veligent Kickstarter

Tier 3: Fancy OOAK paint jobs, like with the Reptanglian (sp?) Poads or the small-batch grab bags (silhouettes, koi, etc.)
==> Pledge option ideas: Can offer several styles for those doing grab-bag experiences (ex. silhouette, safari, koi…)
==> Advantage: can limit number of available offerings (ex. 10-20 of each style if offering multiple options)

Tier 4: limited number of Named Dragons that come with COAs with sketches by Melody
==> Advantage: Adding a name + COA instantly adds more dramatic flair to the option

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

I have to squeak for a limited run of Black Opal – it’s such a lovely warm-blue color scheme! The main-line dragons, the Orientals, griffins? Ki-rins?! I think those colors would look lovely on feathers and scales, and could be paired with either cream or black fur.

Also still squeaking for all Pebble molds in Silver Rainbow Sparkle. The littler foxes and the cougar in particular. But on the topic of SRS Pebbles – THANK YOU for making the Pebble dragons in SRS!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

Hi Etruscan, I think I’ll sit this one out. It looks like there are a lot of folks who would really prize that little dragon, so I’ll stay out of their way!

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[whisker hunter west]

Eep. So pretty! I even have a spot that one would fit in.

For the raffle items – do they have to be directly related to Windstone? Or can they be something “inspired by” instead, like, oh, jewelry done to mimic a Windstone color scheme?

Continuing the family tradition of being obsessed with shiny things.

[Author]

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