Rosemary is here!

Greetings, readers! Exciting news today - my Vintage Club freebie Stablemate, Rosemary, is finally here! Behold!



The vintage-style packaging for her is right on the money, I have to admit.

I'll admit I haven't been too excited about getting this model because old-style red roan is one of my most hated colorways (along with sandy/mealy bay), but at the same time...free stuff! It's hard to say no to that. And because I never leave models imprisoned in the packaging, here she is after being freed.

She isn't for sale, because I do collect the G2 Saddlebred, but I'll never be more than "meh" about the color.

But anyway, I'm happy to report that she's molded from cellulose acetate, as a properly vintage Stablemate should be! I'll have to put her next to my original black Saddlebred from the JAH collection back in '98...

...which makes me sad to think about, because it's already been 20 (soon to be 21!) years since these molds were released! Now I feel all old and stuff.

Her ribbons are cute - I wonder if they're Breyer's colors on purpose? Probably. It doesn't hurt that they're my alma mater's colors as well. Huzzah!

Quality-wise, she's pretty nice, but as you may have noticed from the previous pictures...



One of her front legs is significantly shorter than the other! What gives?! I have 16 others on this mold, and while some of them display a slightly-shorter left front leg, none of them have it to this degree. I think cellulose acetate is more vulnerable to environmental fluctuations than ABS, but this is ridiculous.

Oh well. She was free (for a given definition of, "free,") so I can't complain too much. To the shelf she goes! And with her arrival concludes my participation in the 2018 Vintage Club - probably the only time I will ever join, unless they drastically rework the club in the future.

I'm still fervently waiting for my Darwin to arrive, but I'm one of the many who didn't get a shipping notice for him, so your guess is as good as mine as to when he'll show up. I've also seen a few reports of people's models accidentally being sent to the wrong addresses, so make sure you clean up your address book on Breyer's website if you haven't done so already. Hopefully mine gets here soon!

Breyer: It's the 2018 Vintage Club! Me: NOOOOOOOO

So the 2018 Vintage Club lineup has been revealed, and I'm not happy about it. Behold:



Weather Girl? WEATHER GIRL? As a Vintage offering! And not only that, she's the gambler's choice...so if I want them all, I have to hope I can get into the club on all three of my accounts next year, then hope I can at least sell everything I don't want at cost until the Weather Girl is released? Blargh! Why must you do this to me, Breyer! Haven't you gotten enough money out of me over the years?

Oh well. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to join on all three accounts, then drop out of two of them once the gambler's choice is over and done with. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if the gambler's choice is the last release this year. And they aren't telling us what the optional extra model is (again). Maybe that'll be something I want. I'm going to need the Stablemate, too, so if the optional release is something I want, it might be worth joining on at least one account.

I can see why they're using Weather Girl - those are all old PAM colors (splatter dapple gray, alabaster, mahogany bay) - so it's like they're updating the old PAM releases. Just...why not the FAM instead? Ugh.

I'm also curious about the Legionario. Uh, we've already had a dapple black release - Isabelle, in 2014. There are a ton of vintage colors they could have used on Legionario - like, any of them, since his original release was the alabaster. Why use a color they've already done once?

Also, not that it matters to me that much, but where's the Semi-Rearing Mustang they did the poll on earlier this year? Maybe he's the optional release...which seems odd. But whatever.

I don't have any complaints about the other releases - the San Domingo and the Grazing Mare/Foal look glossy, and the San Domingo appears to have a more modern paint job - which isn't a surprise, given this year's Sham (though he looks the same color as that Sham).

The Stablemate is on the G2 Saddlebred - that seems random, but whatever. The color looks like the old-style red roan, which isn't my favorite color, but gotta have it for the collection. Let's hope they don't waste too much time opening up club renewals to the rest of us!

Featured Model - 5/6/2017, Chestnut Pinto American Saddlebred

Happy Kentucky Derby Day, readers! It's time for another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it! If I were more interested in sticking with a theme, today's model would be on a Thoroughbred mold. But you get the G2 Chestnut Pinto American Saddlebred instead! Ha!


 

This oft-overlooked girl was produced in 2001 as part of a four-piece Stablemate Gift Pack (and a pretty-much-identical version of her appeared prior to that in the five-piece Saddle Club Stablemate Collection from 1999-2001). She was produced on the G2 American Saddlebred mold sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

I had not noticed before now that the braids aren't painted on this particular issue. Shame, Breyer! I suppose they figured it wouldn't be worth the effort on a mundane regular run item like this. From a quick glance at ID Your Breyer, it looks like this is one of the few releases on this mold that haven't had the braids painted. Interesting!

I do like the G2 Saddlebred; she's cute, and I like the parked-out stance. She has the beautiful flowing hair, but not in the ridiculous amounts found on other Moody sculpts. The pinto pattern is a little odd-looking on this release, but I think this one would have been from shortly before Breyer started using the sticker masking, so that's probably why.

In short, this is another mold I'd like to see in this year's Stablemate Club. I wish they'd just announce everything beforehand so I wouldn't have to say this on every Featured Model post....

Oh well. Have a happy Derby Day, everyone! I'll be rooting for everyone's favorite underdog, Patch, to at least hit the board, unlikely as that seems.