Time for my annual review post for the forthcoming regular runs!
Although the images have been out, and doubtless already talked about on social media, for a few days, I had to wait til Breyer had them on their own site so I could provide official links with my post. I'll have to remember to come back here and update all these links, once the models move on from the 'coming soon' category, but for now, these will work - they all open in a new tab.
Third in the series, after the chestnut and pinto, this time we have a palomino. It's a rather brassy shade, not in terms of metallic shine, but just the choice of pigments used when they mixed the colour. But palomino coats are very varied, from softer shades to dusty greyish ones, and others that are almost orange, so it's well within the limits of a colour a horse could be.
I think this is the painting they've based him on (the artist did depict more than one palomino), though Breyer haven't actually included one on the page - perhaps when they swap over from the coming-soon section, we'll get those referencey photos of the horses who inspired each model.
Again, as I've said with the previous two releases, this isn't a mould I can bring myself to like, the head being too small and pointy, the eyes a little low. Not on my wishlist, but I can see anyone who's already collecting this series being pleased with another to buy.
Because it usually takes years and years for the new moulds to filter through from the various club exclusive and Breyerfest runs, I was genuinely surprised to see so many new moulds being thrown into the 2022 regular run batch all at once.
The handsome new Morgan mould made it's debut just last year, as Troubadour the pinto, and while the regular run is nowhere near as flashy, it's a nice choice and compliments the sculpt well, I think : a good solid chestnut with enough shading to be interesting, and accurate - I particularly like the way the legs are done with darker joints and a fade-out lightening toward the hooves. One for the wishlist!
Photos of the real horse have proved oddly difficult to find, considering he was such a prolific winner and went on to be a stud stallion, but from the few small action shots I've seen, it looks a good match for his shade of chestnut.
Nistar Blazing Kansas LOM & GTF Blazing Ethel
Oh how I wish these welshies weren't black. Now, there's nothing wrong with black ponies, in general. I love a gleaming black summer coat, or a softly sun-faded dark fluffy pony, or a striking black with white socks flashing, just as much as the next person. And I'm sure the real ones are just as deserving of becoming portraits as any other colour would've been.
No, my issue is with the fact Breyer just use black paint. That's it these days - a semi-gloss, solid, unshaded black. The eyes and hooves blend in, there's no difference in shine between the mane and the body, the muzzle isn't given any skin-tone grey, and there's no hint of warmth or brownish-greys in the soft parts of the horse where they'd be seen in real life.
These two are perhaps a little better off than most black Breyers, as they've got so much white marking to lift the paintjob out of 'we dipped it in tar' nose-to-tail black goo territory, but still, I'd have loved them if there'd been some shading to give life and realism to the coat. Think of the first release on the Kathleen Moody Andalusian stallion - black, but with different paint finish for the body compared to the mane and tail, shading, and even dapples. And now try not to wish these ponies didn't have half that amount of effort put in!
And there it is again, plain semi-gloss black paint. Perhaps they've let it fade out a little bit on the hooves there? Hard to tell. But otherwise, the impression isn't of a living black horse, but rather a sculpture given a shiny black uniform finish as a piece of artwork.
I'm also not really the biggest fan of this mould, that raised foreleg looks like it would be far too long if straightened out. I prefer the chunkier version with feathered legs, which has a more natural proportion in the forelegs with both front toes pointed - you can see them here, side by side across the top of the page. I do love the alternative tail, though, with the slightly curled, crinkled hair and a nice heavy swish to one side.
A definite no from me, though; I'd have dealt with the plain black if they'd used the new Friesian stallion mould just to have an example of such a handsome new sculpt in the right colour for the breed, but no point buying a bland colour on a mould which I don't like and it doesn't look enough like the breed it's meant to be, hah.
Wow.
Wow. I mean, look at it. Wow.
Not only am I surprised to see the fantastic Akhal-Teke mould in the regular run range so soon, I'm delighted they actually gave us him in a good colour. Sure bay's a bit everyday, especially considering how many beautiful cream/sooty/greying combination colours the breed comes in, but think how easily they could've done the black semi-gloss thing on this one too, or a decorator release first.
I was always kind of sad that they'd nabbed the very best Akhal-Teke colour for the premier club release, cos that means we'll likely never see a metallic buckskin in the regular runs, and this sadness got a little boost when they went for the second most distinctive colour for the Breyerfest Uffington, meaning we'll never have a perlino, either.
But now we're treated to a regular run, and it's a really nice one, so there's that to be grateful for. Needless to say, this one is very top of my to-buy list, and will without doubt be the first one I try to buy when they eventually come into stock over here.
I wish I could paint large-scale models, cos I'd adore a big shiny sooty buckskin custom on this mould to make up for the OF I'll never get!
I can hear the collective 'Ahhhh!' echoing through the model horse world with this one - Misty, but as a baby! New colours on beloved (and adorable!) moulds, expanding the family of these real ponies who found their fame through fiction.
Phantom takes her turn with the mould sculpted specially as a portrait of her grown daughter, while we have Misty as a very young foal, in the mould which was sculpted from photos of her own baby, Stormy. Both of them are nicely accurate depictions of the real markings - this is actually the first time Breyer have ever done Misty's quirky kinked face marking anything like correctly! Although it would've been nice to have some shading in the black markings (especially as the real Phantom was genetically smoky black), it doesn't annoy me quite as much in a nice loud pinto pattern, and the appeal of this pair is more their character and cuteness, rather than the paintwork design.
They're definitely on my wishlist!
After the Traditional scale releases, there's a couple of decorator Classics, Cora and Keep The Peace which I'm not going to review cos decorator just isn't my thing and I'd have nothing valid to say about them.
There's not much new for the Stablemate scale range this year, firstly one boxed set which manages to be both decorator and unicorn and therefore doubly not my cup of tea!
Rather more interesting is the new set of blind bag Mystery Horses. They don't seem to have their own page in the 'coming soon' section yet, so I'm just peering at the tiny pictures on the packaging in this image posted on the Breyer blog!
We have...
Peruvian paso in light chestnut (nice, simple but shaded, a colour we haven't had on the mould before)
Icelandic in pale buckskin or dun (very nice, gorgeous paint tone with good shading, my favourite of the whole batch!)
Mini Valegro in either black or very dark brown (another simple colour, but suits the mould, one we've not seen enough of in the regular run line)
Hanoverian in polka dot, uh, I mean, appaloosa (there's cheap quick ways to paint spots which don't turn out like that, surely)
Reiner in grulla frame overo (great, like they combined the Mystery Foal set's colour with the Wild At Heart pattern!)
Loping Quarter Horse in chestnut (lovely deep rich colour, nicely shaded, and suits the mould very well)
Then there's two chases, which I'm not going to get overly excited about in advance cos all chase pieces so far have been decorator paintjobs and they're the kind of thing I'd keep if I got it by accident (as long as it wasn't hideously pink and sparkly!), but certainly won't be chasing.
From the real colours, I'd do without the polkadot quite happily and won't buy it on purpose singly if I don't end up with one by pot luck blind buying, but all the others there are easily nice enough that I'd hunt them down on the opened-bags second-hand market if I didn't end up with them by chance. I'm also pleased to see Mini Valegro in there, as putting a mould in regular run blind bags gets a lot more of them in circulation, meaning I have a better chance of finding them new or used for my body box, and I'd really love to do some more custom painted colours on that one.
So what's my 2022 wishlist? Three Traditional scale releases (Akhal-Teke, Morgan, Misty set), and a new batch of blind bag minis to aim for.
Not bad - it would be too expensive if I ever loved every Trad release in a year, and deeply disappointing if I didn't want any of them, so I'm perfectly satisfied with liking about half cos that gives me enough to look forward to and collect, without taking up too much money or space. And it's always nice to have new Stablemates on offer, even if blind bagging them is rather annoying for anyone who isn't a small child addicted to opening things!
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