New Releases Hurting the Breeders

[Liriel Garnet]

Just tossing my 2C in here, since I've voiced this to Callie as well. I think that new traits are a great thing, and I think that the Limited Editions (LEs) are fun as well, however, in my opinion, we do *not* need LE releases of 15+ cats (like last Halloween, Easter, this Halloween) because this makes it killer on those who like to collect the LEs. I've seen more than one that used to collect them simply give up after some of the huge releases.

I see nothing wrong with releasing a number of traits in the LE releases, there's nothing that says you can't keep the number of distinct LEs low and yet still release plenty of new traits.

I *like* that the new traits are all over the dominance scale. We get upset if they're all recessive because that makes the frenzy to get them even worse because recessive has come to equal desirable in most people's minds. And I like that she has released a number of different things that appeal to different people. Personally I'm not a fan of the foxy furs, and I won't buy them. I'm not a fan of the frazzled and wavy whiskers, my favorites are plushies and the boo boo, because they look like plushies with split ends. I have balis, but I waited til well after the prices were dropping, because they didn't appeal to me all that much. The bengal tawnies, tho dominant, i'm breeding because I adore that new fur.

Bottom line, new traits are great, and I have no objection to having more of them in each release. We as buyers and breeders simply have to determine which ones we like, which ones we don't, and buy accordingly. There's no reason to buy a cat for a trait that you don't like.

What we do NOT need is more than 8 or so cats in a single LE release (and especially not rare cats that hide exclusive traits like the ambrosias). I like the idea of traits exclusive to an LE release like the Lazy Daizies, where ALL cats carried one of the eyes and the shade. (Maybe that's because I have such rotten luck with starters giving me anything new).

Last but not least, I like the 'special babies', so releasing them in pairs is really nice, as is the ability to choose male/female when they don't come in sets.

Bottom line, my hope is for smaller LE releases and a reasonable number of new traits in each release. I think if we had a *small* collectable release every 2-3 months (e.g. if we have less than 2 months between, like Halloween and Christmas, then keep the collection of distinct LEs small, say 4-6 max), it wouldn't feel excessive and wouldn't discourage those who collect, yet would still keep the market lively both for the new traits and well bred cats with older traits (you still need great cats to pair *with* your starters). If it's a longer time between collections (say four months, meaning all the last collection would be done breeding), then maybe 8-10 distinct LEs would be good.