Sunday, August 26, 2018

Looking to the Future: 2019 Vintage Club

Hello, readers! It's that time of the year again; the time when I speculate about next year's Vintage Club offerings, because news is scarce and there isn't much else to talk about. I'm hoping my predictions this year are less dismal than last year - I struck out on pretty much everything last year.

I'll start by again posting this old photo that was sent out to VC members a few years ago:



I'm borrowing from previous posts here, so here goes:

So far, club members have seen the following models from the photo above:

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), the Western Prancing Horse and the Grazing Mare (with Foal).

At this point, it's easier to list molds from the photo that haven't appeared in the VC yet. They include the Western Horse, Longhorn Bull (not sure why he's even in the photo, honestly) and the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal.

Longtime VC members may note that last year's VC was a bit of a departure from the norm, and that departure continued in a big way this year. We had a modern mold in the lineup for the first time (the Weather Girl gambler's choice) and the optional model for the year returned to being produced on a vintage mold rather than a modern mold (the Semi-Rearing Mustang vote contest winner). In addition, the San Domingo used in this year's club had a modern paint job. So it may be safe to assume this trend may continue into next year, which really throws a wrench into my predictions. But I'll start with the vintage molds.

These are the vintage Breyer molds that haven't been used in the club yet:

Appaloosa Performance Horse, Black Beauty, the Black Stallion, Bolya/Halla, Brighty, Buckshot, the Donkey, El Pastor, the FAM and FAF, the Foundation Stallion, the Fury Prancer, Galiceno, Haflinger, the Hanoverian, Justin Morgan, 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, the Scratching Foal, Sea Star, the Shire Mare, Smoky, the Stock Horse Stallion, Mare and Foal, Stud Spider, the Trakehner, the Western Horse and the Western Pony.

For reason that should be obvious by now, I think Midnight Sun, the Donkey, Sea Star and Phantom Wings can all be eliminated from contention. I'm iffy about Bolya/Halla being used either, as the mold has been permanently altered from its Halla configuration. Does its '90s iteration still count as vintage? Who knows.

 As for which molds will make the cut, I'm baffled that we're coming up on our seventh year of the club and the Western Horse, Breyer's oldest mold, still hasn't been used. He's definitely on the list, along with Justin Morgan and, as always, the Thoroughbred Mare and Foal in glossy alabaster. I think the bonus model will probably return to being a modern mold - perhaps Desatado? He hasn't been used much lately. That still leaves a fourth release - will it be modern? I hope not. I don't plan on joining the VC again next year - if I'm going to lose significant amounts of money reselling the releases I don't want, I might as well just buy the one release I want from the secondary market for an increased cost. If the fourth release is vintage, I'm going to go with the Foundation Stallion, but modern could be anything. Silver, maybe? That would drive all the non-vintage Silver collectors crazy, but imagine the fun vintage colors they could put him on. The gnashing of teeth would be visible from space!

As for the Stablemate, it was a modern mold again this year, so for lack of better ideas I'll go with the G3 TWH for the sake of randomness.

So, those are my predictions for the year. I'm still crossing my fingers, as always, for the alabaster Thoroughbred Mare and Foal. Hope springs eternal! I hope we find out next year's models soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment