Looking to the Future: Vintage Club 2017

It may be a bit early to start speculating about next year's Vintage Club releases, but I'm going to do it anyway. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, surfaces from this photo that was sent out to club members a few years ago:



So far, club members have seen:

Amigo, the charcoal Adios;
Halo, the Appaloosa-Performance-Horse-colorway on the Stretch Morgan;
Commander, the smoke Five Gaiter;
Denim (Diamonds?), the Copenhagen pinto Shetland Pony;
and Kiowa, the Indian Pony pinto on the Jumping Horse mold.

Molds that appear in the photo, but were used in the VC in other colors, include the Running Stallion, Man o' War, Quarter Horse Gelding, the Belgian, Semi-Rearing Mustang, Fighting Stallion, Running Foal (with Mare) and Western Prancing Horse.

Whew! I didn't realize quite so many of those molds had been used already. That only leaves a few of them from the photo: the Grazing Mare (presumably with the Foal), Western Horse, Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal and the Longhorn Bull.

It's safe to assume they won't repeat any molds just yet - there are plenty of other vintage molds left that don't appear in the photo. I'll strike out all molds from the '80s in this list. These include: the Appaloosa Performance Horse, Black Beauty, the Black Stallion, Bolya/Halla, Brighty, Buckshot, the Clydesdale Mare and Foal, the Donkey, El Pastor, all three Family Arabians, the Foundation Stallion, the Fury Prancer, Galiceno, Haflinger, the Hanoverian, Justin Morgan, Legionario, the Lying Down Foal, Midnight Sun, Morganglanz, the Pacer, Phantom Wings, Phar Lap, the POA, possibly the PAF, Quarter Horse Yearling, the Race Horse, Saddlebred Weanling, San Domingo, the Scratching Foal, Sea Star, the Shire Mare, Smoky, the Stock Horse Stallion, Mare and Foal, Stud Spider, the Trakehner and the Western Pony.

That's a long list! I hope I didn't forget anyone. I don't think there's anyone on there from later than 1985. I have no idea what Reeves is considering the endpoint of the vintage molds. At this point it might be safe to consider everything up until 1990 or 1995 "vintage," but I don't know how many people would agree with me on that.

Of the molds that aren't lined through above, I think the Pacer, possibly Brighty, the Clydesdale Mare/Foal, some combination of the Family Arabians, Stud Spider and the Western Horse make good candidates. Of the foal molds on the list, I don't think they'll be used unless they could be paired up with an adult (but I doubt Phantom Wings or Sea Star will be used at all). I could see them doing a Scratching/Lying Down Foal set, however, since that's been done before. The Longhorn Bull may be a possibility, based on his inclusion in the test photo. I doubt Midnight Sun or the Donkey will be used, based on the former's bad history and the latter's...well...rather homely aesthetic.

Personally, I'm hoping we see the glossy alabaster Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal next year, simply because they are two of the few vintage molds I collect (and I'd love to see them on my shelves!). The Adios is another I collect, and I did get the Amigo from a couple of years ago (as well as Mr. Chips, because I also collect Newsworthy). I've yet to actually join the Vintage Club, though, so my opinion may not be worth much.

As for the contemporary mold/vintage paint job and complimentary Stablemate, I don't want to speculate about those at all. So far there doesn't seem to be any discernible pattern to how they're chosen, so I'm content to wait and see.

Either way, I'm crossing my fingers for that Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal!