Looking to the Future: 2018 Vintage Club

Last year I wrote a blog post about upcoming Vintage Club releases. When I investigated further, to see if I'd gotten to that time of the year yet, I was surprised to see that post went up on August 7 of last year.  (Also, I've been blogging for a year already? Unreal...) Since it's already August 25 and this has been a pretty slow news week, I figured I'd write a post to speculate about next year's Vintage Club offerings (especially since I managed to predict two of this year's releases last year!).

So, I'll start by posting this old photo again:



To borrow a bit from last year's post...
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 the Western Prancing Horse.

Now, we already know (more or less) what one of next year's releases will be, if we remember this poll Breyer held earlier this year:

 

So that's another mold that's being reused, as the Semi-Rearing Mustang previously appeared in the club as the red roan Diablo in 2014. I will point out that the palomino one appears in the test photo above, but the other two don't.

Also earlier this year, we got a statement from Sommer Prosser on Blab that this year's Vintage Club was a departure from previous years on purpose (using Sham and the CQH Family, and putting them in non-vintage colors), to try to keep the club from falling into a rut. Since it seems like there's been at least some controversy about that decision, it remains to be seen whether we'll see more of that next year.

Anyway, let's get to our list of vintage molds that haven't been used yet. Here we go! Last year I lined out all of the molds that were released in the '80s, because we weren't sure where Breyer was putting the "vintage" line, but since Sham was used this year, I think anything from the '80s is fair game.

Vintage molds: 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, the Grazing Mare and Foal, 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, the Western Horse and the Western Pony.

I still don't think Midnight Sun, the Donkey, Sea Star or Phantom Wings will be used, for the same reasons I laid out in my previous post. That still leaves a long list of possible molds, though. I still think the Western Horse is a definite possibility, along with Brighty and the Pacer. Since the CQH Family was used this year, it begs the question of whether Breyer will use another Classics family next year. If so, I think the most likely candidates for that would be the Classic Mustang Family. I would also add the Justin Morgan, and of course the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal in glossy alabaster - hope springs eternal on those.

As for the contemporary mold with vintage paint job, I'll take a stab at that and say Forever Saige - but I have no idea what color they'd use. It'd be interesting to see her painted up as the Appaloosa Performance Horse, though, so I'll go with that. As for the free Stablemate, it seems like most of the time they go with a modern mold for those - but they seem to have free rein to use the G1 molds again, so it could just as easily be one of those. I'll pick the G1 Morgan Stallion just to be random.

What will it be next year, Breyer? Remember, I'm most hoping to see the Thoroughbred Mare and Nursing Foal in glossy alabaster! Throw me a bone here! Last year's models were revealed on October 4, so we don't have too terribly long to wait - I hope I'm not disappointed!

Rosie and Bailey are now available!

The next releases in this year's Vintage Club, Rosie and Bailey, are available on the Breyer website now! If you're a member, head on over there and complete your purchase.

Lady Phase and the Action Stock Horse Foal are both molds that I once had examples of in my collection, only to lose interest later (and run out of shelf space). I don't really miss either of them, though I was a little sad to see my Silky Keno go. Ah, well.

As for this release, I'm a little perplexed that they would use the long-tailed Lady Phase, since, you know...there's nothing vintage about that tail. For a truly vintage release, I'd think you would want to use the original tail. Maybe they wanted to draw attention away from the mold's deteriorating face? Who knows. Seriously, though, Breyer, fix Lady Phase's face or retire the mold. It's just getting sad now.

I'm also really not a fan of the old-style red roan at all, so I'm not at all sad that I'm missing out on this release. There are far better things to save my money for...like Chasing the Chesapeake!

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!