Featured Model - 3/27/21, Mini Bourbon Street

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but would like to, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. I haven't covered a Stablemate for a while, so this week's model is...Mini Bourbon Street! 

Mini Bourbon Street doesn't seem to have an item number, but was an edition of 21 on the G4 Andalusian sculpted by Brigitte Eberl. He was a giveaway for the Big Easy Bash collector event back in 2014, but I can't remember the exact circumstances now - I think he was a centerpiece/table model? I don't remember for sure. My husband and I were trying to save for our wedding, so we didn't try to attend the BEB - much to my chagrin when I saw the models afterward. I guess that's how it goes sometimes. 

Anyway, as his name suggests, Mini Bourbon Street is a miniature version of the original Bourbon Street, issued on Legionario, so it's fitting that this model is also doing the Spanish walk. Bourbon Street was a raffle model at the Breyer Premier Event, which was the first Collector Event back in 2002. In those days there weren't any event models or boutique models, or any special run models at all other than the centerpiece giveaway. Both of these events had a Mardi Gras theme, which explains the color scheme on these two models. While I'll admit it isn't my favorite color combination, purple and gold go together reasonably well, and I like this mold anyway, so I wouldn't mind seeing him on my shelves. He'd be pretty expensive, though! Guess I'll have to do what I usually do and admire him from afar. 

As for the G4 Andalusian, he was a pretty hot mold a few years ago, but (as is common) he seems to have cooled down in recent years. He was still being produced with the Groucho Marx eyebrows as of last year, part of the Spirit Riding Free blind bags, but he hasn't had any limited releases for a while. Not that that's a bad thing! I like it when these things are easier to get ahold of. That said, maybe he'll get a Breyerfest release? We still haven't seen the equivalent of this year's pop-up Stablemate, and he's certainly artsy-looking. Maybe he'll show up there? I guess it remains to be seen! 

Spirit Series 2 Blind Bags are here!

Greetings, readers! My Spirit Series 2 blind bag assortment finally arrived, and I'm excited to share photos of them!

Collectors had been assured that these boxes would contain one of each model, like last year's assortment, but it seems that assumption was incorrect, as some of the boxes going out have contained 0 chase models and have had varying degrees of duplicate models inside them instead. Somehow I was lucky enough to get a complete box, however. Behold!

I had been dreading the box's arrival, because I only needed four of these guys for my own collection, and I was pretty sure I was going to end up only getting multiples of the models I didn't want. So I was pleasantly surprised!

The standout models in this box were (in my opinion) the chase piece (duh), the pearly perlino Andalusian and the dapple gray G4 Driving Horse. Here's a closeup of the chase piece:

I've never watched the Spirit Riding Free show, but apparently those warpaint markings are from an episode of the show. Obviously all or most of them had to be done using decals, but some of them didn't get put on quite right and the edges of them are visible. The model also had some significant rubs on his nose and nostrils, which was disappointing.

Next: the Andalusian!

I may have mentioned my love for pearly finishes a time or two before, but this guy is really nice. Almost nice enough to forgive those Groucho Marx eyebrows! I know these models are based on characters from a TV show, so I try not to complain about the eyebrows too much, but they make this one look pretty ridiculous. I know, I know; they added eyebrows to the horses to make the eyes more expressive, but part of me just wishes they could have toned it down a bit for this model. Maybe if they'd used light-brown eyebrow paint instead of black? That might have helped.

Next: the G4 Driving Horse!

I'm not much of a fan of this mold, but this color looks really nice on him. I love how soft his dapples are! I'd personally like to see a dark mane and tail to go with his legs; I don't think I've ever seen a dapple gray horse that didn't have the dark mane and tail to go along with the legs. Oh well.

And I want to write about the G3 Cantering Warmblood as well:



I wish they'd quit using these weird, unrealistic pinto patterns, but I suppose that's probably the TV show's failing rather than Breyer's. Clearly whoever designed the horses' colors should have done some more research.

That's all I've got for right now. On a side note, it's now April (you probably noticed that already), which means the next Stablemate Club release should be out anytime! I'm hoping for the gray Brishen, but it shouldn't be too long until we find out!

Featured Model - 5/20/17, Chrome

Happy Preakness Day, everyone! What an upset, right? I don't think anyone saw that coming. Okay, anyways...Welcome to Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Chrome!


 

Chrome was one of the four single-day Stablemates from Breyerfest 2013. That was an interesting Breyerfest for Stablemate collectors - four new molds debuted as single-day Stablemates! The other three molds included Rivet, Indigo and Dungaree.  1,250 models were produced for each of these new molds, and Chrome himself was sculpted by Brigitte Eberl.

This is an interesting mold - he's basically a shrunken-down version of the (Breyer-produced) mini resin Andalusian, also sculpted by Brigitte Eberl, that I can't find a photo of right now. So was this one produced from that mold, or was it sculpted to be very similar?

I'm not sure what it is I like about this mold, but I have three of them, so I guess it's just one of those things. He doesn't have the ridiculous amounts of hair you might expect an Andalusian to have (although he does have plenty of mane, he's just a little lacking in the tail department), His left front leg is also a little weird-looking, but that might just be me. He's an interesting fellow for sure! I wonder where we'll see him next - maybe the Stablemate Club? Heh heh.