I thought I'd take a moment to review Breyer's recent regular run releases, as I'd done a write up on the main batch 2020s, but nothing since.
First, we had Winx, who was revealed as a Spring release. But to be honest, here in the UK the month Breyers actually arrive in stock with our retailers rarely matches with the season they're filed under - spring is long turned to summer before we can even get all of the main-batch models, and Winx is currently pre-orderable but not here yet.
My main impression is slight disappointment that the colour is so plain. It's not just that she's dark bay, without any flashy white markings - that can't be helped, the real mare hasn't got them either. But if you look at a couple of photos of Winx, like this one, you can see she's got really beautiful variation to her colour, from bright gingery bay, through mahogany, to deep dark brown, with sandy behind the elbows. And in this picture without saddle and number cloth covering her back, you can even see some wonderful dapples. How much nicer would her portrait model have been if they'd captured that depth of shading, or even added some dappling into the paintjob.
I'd have been top of the list for a pre-order if mini Winx had been anything like as lovely as the real thing, but the uninspiring translation of her colour from photograph to paintjob means I'm not even planning to get this one unless perhaps a cheap second hand ebay one needs a new home at some point years in the future if they haven't made it in a better colour by then. Which is a bit of a pathetic qualification for a wishlist, really, hah!
Next on Breyer's 'new' page is Peptoboonsmal, one of those names which makes me want to shudder because although I get that it's made up from other names in his ancestry, it's just a bit eurgh, isn't it!
Unfortunate name aside, he's really rather handsome.
I haven't seen much of this mould, because I don't collect the club exclusives, can't afford shipping/customs fees on US-only runs, and haven't been to a non-Julip live show in years, so I'm very unexposed to new moulds til they reach the regular run line! What I like about this one is how casual he looks, we're so used to high-drama poses it's nice to have an action sculpt who looks so relaxed and chilled with life. He's sculpted as an Australian Stock Horse, but here portraying a famous American Quarter Horse - I think if I get one, he can revert nationality back to being an Aussie as I've not got many of that breed!
His colour does seem to vary a huge amount, though - the one being the example on Identifyyourbreyer is gorgeous, with a subtle layering of paint to really do justice to the roan colour - look how his chestnut base coat fades out from head, knees & hocks, with a white fine mist of roaning fading in at the shoulder, then some speckles of chestnut again over the top of that. But if you check out the models with sellers' own photos currently on US Ebay, they look like the chestnut is just slightly fainter on the barrel of the horse, with a hint of white speckly spray over it, leaving the coat much, much darker and a lot less roany looking. I'd be so disappointed if I got one like that, so with trade stand picking-in-person out of the question this year, I'll put off ordering him til I can be sure of buying an in-hand model from a seller who's taken their own photos, and know I'm picking a pale one.
The next horse is Checkers, a chestnut on the Loping QH mould, another portrait model. He's very pretty, I like the soft shading on his pale nose, and something about this mould always makes them look very sweet and friendly. Again it's a great little action pose without being over the top, he'd make a lovely performance showing horse, for anyone into western or performance (I'm not, but I can't help seeing the potential for people who do like their models to work under saddle). Not one I'm extremely excited to order, perhaps because I've got the bay already, but not ruling him out, either - he's the kind of model where I can easily imagine seeing one in person and he'll insist on being brought home.
Last of the trads (apart from a couple of decorators, which I never review), Adiah HP.
This is one I'm putting straight on the wishlist, a bright flashy skewbald on the Totilas mould. Her markings are just great, really eye-catching with detailed ragged edges and a nice amont of shading within them. And it's about time they gave us another regular run Totilas, ever since the black one there's only been a Holiday Horse release, I'd been hoping for a new colour every year - but I admit I was expecting to see a bay or chestnut, rather than something pinto!
The real mare is an unexpected mixture : 3/4 friesian and 1/4 dutch warmblood - that's exactly the kind of thing which would have model hobby judges thinking 'What, why?!' if we made it up out of the blue for photo show entries, but clearly it worked somehow to produce this horse in real life!
The final mid-year release is this new set of Stablemates Blind Bags, to mark Breyer's 70th Anniversary.
Even though the initial excitement has died down a little since these were first revealed and all us SM fans went a bit crazy, I do really love the idea of mini versions of Trad moulds.
Smart Chic Olena looks as great tiny as he does big, same for the Connemara mare, the vanner, and fell pony. Even some of the vintage moulds I wouldn't buy full size (the missouri fox trotter and indian pony) make extremely cute minis.
And imagine the custom potential of so many new SM moulds to work with! I can't decide which one I'm looking forward to painting most - probably a good idea if I don't anticipate any one mould, cos with random blind bag buying I might not get any duplicates on whichever I'd made most plans for!
So that's one Trad I definitely have on my shopping list, one's a maybe, one I want but only if I can get a nice pale one, and some Stablemates in lucky dip format and no idea which I'll end up with. What's on your wishlist from the mid year releases?
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