Every Day Kinda Thing

I don't know if ya'll were on Ebay a few mornings ago, but I'm the one who the $7 Peterstone Ideal Stock Horse body. Happy Dance! I rather like his current color and his horn and hooves, so the only thing that will be changing is his mane and tail. Am I the mastermind who will give him a fantastic new 'do? No, obviously, I'm hoping for Sue Kern; she's budget friendly, just in general friendly, and does amazing work. If she has time this summer, I'll ship him out there. The quick turn around is nice, too; waiting for months on end to receive your repaired/re-painted model could get old; Given I am Master Impatience. Back to what I was planning on talking about, to prove I'm not a total bluff, the new Stablemates from Breyer.

I am disappointed in the amount of new Stablemates this year. There's no 12 piece assortment of awesome new horsies, and gift sets galore; just 13 new models, randomized with everything from mare and foal sets to a portrait model. I like the new Mare and Foal sets (shown  below), but it's unclear how popular they are in general yet, as they are still listed as 'coming soon' on the Breyer website. My favorite is the grullo mare with the white scratching foal; the shading on the foal is really awesome, and grullo is one of my favorite colors. As much as I'd like to have one of those grullo AQHA models, a small grullo stablemate might suit my want just fine;

  

My second favorite is the appaloosa thoroughbred and the cantering foal; I really like the paint job on that mare. It reminds me of the Appaloosa Driving horse Stablemate they had a few years back, that came in 'formal' and 'messy' spot variations. I wonder if this model will have the same variations...?

  I do like the Bay mare and lying foal, too. I've been wanting a nice Para Dressage example, and she's it. And that cute little foal can't be beat, either. As for the white saddlebred and chestnut foal, I really don't care much for the Stablemate Saddlebred mold. Unfortunately, I love the standing stock foal mold. SIGH. Just another list of things to look around for.

 And I'm sorry if that got boring real quick, I still haven't figured out an entertaining formula for reviews, yet; flying monkeys soaring across the screen maybe? Circus-Pop music in the background? Exasperated enthusiasm and girl screams? Reviews are interesting, because they really shouldn't mean anything to us. What another person thinks about a certain model shouldn't effect how we feel about it. But it does. Sometimes we want to know about the details or the quality and I get that. But when no one even has the model yet and knows nothing of the details and quality of it, and is just saying that they like the color bay and the mold, why bother? Yes, I'm dissing my own reviews because it's true. I like bay and grullo and I'll tell you all about it, but my opinion shouldn't change how you feel about it... that was a rant... Anyway, on to something that everybody's excited about, the Valegro stablemate;

 

Gah, that paint job is rechid. I could have done that, and I am far from an advanced customizer, more or less a Breyer factory painter. The mold is rather obviously a revamped Andalusian from the look of the photos; so I'll be curious to hold the original Andalusian next to his redone brother.  I don't mean to anger all of the millions of people that love him, but he really doesn't look that well done in the photos. Perhaps it's because his Traditional twin is so flattering and incredible, but perhaps it's because of the messy paint and weird eyes. Yes, I love the idea of Stablemate Scale portraits, but American Pharoah was so much better executed... I shouldn't be passing judgement, because I haven't seen one in person yet, and he could be a heck of a lot better. So I take back what I said. Just think about it for a while. 

Something I'm slightly more excited about is the 'Competing at the Games' Stablemates set, featuring a few of my favorite molds;

Yes they are all 'boring'; solid colors with hardly any markings at all, and plain does come to mine, but I like them. I'm congaing the Warmblood Stallion, and I've a recent fondness for the Thoroughbred so those are benefiting factors. But they're also simplistic, well done models. We'll see how they sell; I will be snagging up a set as soon as time calls for it, which, unfortunately, might not be for a while.

Pizza Crust.

Well today was a wash. Well, as far as what I was hoping would happen it was. I thought maybe we'd go down to the ranch where Levi's staying at but we didn't. Bummed about that. I'm an en-visionary. After I blogged last night, I plotted the whole day (today) out in my head; envisioning it happening. Smelling his neck, feeling his breath, those deep dark eyes staring back at me, his lashes closing then opening intensely to look back at me once more...

                                             Love is not a strong enough word anymore.

I also thought I might get to lope around on him or something, but apparently that was just my subconscious playing tricks on my heart last night. After a bit of eavesdropping I learned there's no way. Anyway, I'd rather talk about plastic horses than my life right now; given my unfortunate, typical teenage girl, situation.

I've continued thinking about Kiss, and the Gem Twist mold, and about how yummy it would be in red roan. Perhaps that's caused by my adoration for my Peter Stone Ideal Stock Horse Skeeter Bug, in delicious gloss red roan. I never know with me anymore. Gem Twist wouldn't be unappealing in bay roan though, or blue roan, or that peculiar black roan color. But a flaxen chestnut overo would be quite fantastic, too; I wish there was a website where you could enter a model horse brand and mold, and then select a color/markings. Then bam, a photo of what it would look like pops up. (Intimate weekend project for any -awesome- techies out there?) Still haven't made it over to the toy store yet, but that's OK for now. There's a few things I'd like to pick up there, as well as take a look around, and just breath in that fantastic Breyer-Store smell, but all that can just go on hold.

Anywho, like 4 days ago I promised a talk about those new Breyer Stablemates, and photos of my little guy that came from Ebay a few days ago. I'll deliver those photos now and then maybe, (if you're in for a long one) we'll talk new releases.

 

Isn't he cute? He's a varnish roan appaloosa (I think) on the Stablemates Highland Pony mold. Of course he's a custom, but no he didn't run me $300; as far as cuteness goes, I got a bargain. Actually my Mom did. I'm being honest here; my Mom bought him for me, probably because the combination worked; Cute- One of a Kind- Cheap = Buy. No strings attached; most of my purchases I either pay with service or they get shoved onto the tab; this little guy was just a post-Christmas gift.

 He's actually almost perfectly in scale in these photos; a little bit smaller than  in the one above, but almost perfect in the other 3. He's tiny, precious, and to die for. Name? I just momentarily considered Pizza Crust. I'll think about it. It would be referring to a desert-pizza, with chocolate sauce, marshmallow cheese, cookie pepperoni... 

Ok then. Wait, what is that? A ticking time bomb in the corner of my screen??? I must go, unfortunately. Until later, Chou.

Horse Fix.

Didn't end up going to the toy store yesterday, or the day before that, (bummer!) so today I needed a quick horse fix. My unopened Peppermint kiss fit the bill;

Underneath all that frilly stuff, he's actually a very nice model. I can get into the Gem Twist mold and all it's fantastical angles, so maybe I like him a little more because of it. My model actual stands very well, considering the mold has had issues with balance before . He's only fallen over once and it was because  I walked into the table he was on, shaking the whole thing, causing him to fall. (Yes I'm a clutz!) Luckily, no damage was done; his paint job is beautiful, free of marks or rubs, even after a day of exploring;

Kiss in my Back Yard

I really like the slate/dark grey paint job, and the balance of white is nice. The first thing I did when I removed him from the box (yes it's a gelding! It's nice to see them making a special run horse a gelding- we get a LOT of Stallions.) was take off that goofy costume of his. Not only is it super girly, but it also has lots of attached pieces that would have surely gotten broken if I had taken it outside. Besides, I wanted to see that paint job! The costume was easy to remove this year, unlike what I heard people saying about last years Bay Berry and Roses' (mine is still in the box, so no comment there). I just had to cut a few (two) rather unnecessary threads, and it slid off. (the white stretch cord across his stomach, and the small thread attaching the blanket part to the tail ribbon, if ya'll were wonderin')  I'll put the costume on one of my more feminine models; Mirrors perhaps, or even Camilla because she'd look so cute. And yeah, the tail ribbon is staying on Kiss. It's kind of girly, (I guess) but in a Festive I'ma Parade Horse kind of way. It's curly, fantastic, and would have been too hard to take off anyway... It's staying.

                 

And yep, the mane ribbons are red! Not unlike the QVC special from a while ago;

http://identifyyourbreyer.com/images/gt2002.jpg

So yep, nice model; I wouldn't debate grabbing one off the Christmas Clearance shelf if you see one. It's nice enough to increase my fondness of that weird Pinto Sport Horse and the Picture Perfect Thoroughbred, though I won't be getting those unless I see them in person per-purchase. (No more Ebay cruising for me!) Mine only has one small flaw, a little mark or something around his sock, which you can see clearly in this photo;

                                       The masking is a little smudgey too, on that sock...

But that's only a small flaw to consider. His other side is perfection, and he was a gift from Mom; so no way he's going anywhere! He's rather photogenic too;

  

 

 

Until later, Adios!

Horses!

Hello again, blog thing, I saw you last at 1 AM this morning. I told you my schedule was weird. Anyway, today I want to talk about horses; the plastic variety. It'll be short but sweet today, just a little discussion on the both short and sweet Cantering Welsh Pony model. Manufactured by Breyer of course, it debuted in 1971, in Bay and Chestnut; the go-to colors. In the past 45 years, though, the mold has seen many different colors, paint jobs, and has been a special run/limited run numerous times. One of my favorites on the mold is Sixes and Sevens; a 2012 Breyerfest Special Run, that's halve gloss, halve matte finish. Though I prefer the gloss finish to the matte, the elaborate bay Appaloosa paint job is both playful and eye catching.

Breyerfest 2012 Special Run Sixes and Sevens in Matte

           

I actually liked the red roan Plain Pixie, and the red dun Tally Ho, but never enough to hunt them down. I didn't used to care much for the mold at all, and the models that  I could love like Sixes and Sevens are popular with other people, too; making it hard to locate one at a decent price.  But a 2015 Regular Run model changed my mind about the mold, entirely;

Smokin' Doubledutch, 2015-Current Regular Run

In 2015 Smokin' Doubledutch was at the top of my 'buy list'. Funny, I never actually got one. The timing was wrong, or I didn't feel like it every time I saw her in a toy store. Which was only once or twice, actually. She's a nice model though, and I would still really like to have one. The mold looks good in the medicine hat paint job, and with those crystally blue eyes. She's cute. I'm stopping by the toy store today, so you never know what I'll come home with; a new 2016 model, or a retired 2014 model, or even a Doubledutch. You never know with me; whatever catches my eye is what I'll bring home.

My recent adoration for the mold has posed a conundrum in my small world. The conundrum is a conundrum, but not a big deal conundrum, y'know? It's more a want-not-need issue. The want would be the Vintage Club Models, My Girl(s), the need would be that I need to save my money and need to not worry so much about my model horse 'needs'. But after staring at the threesome for a little bit, it's hard not to want them.

           Vintage Club 2016 Gamblers Choice My Girl Models

My favorite is the Alabaster, although I wouldn't say no to the other two, obviously. The vintage Club would have been too big a stretch this year, so once again I'm stuck staring at pictures of other peoples' models. Not surprisingly, it's a practice I've gotten used to, after many years of drooling over super exclusive club models that I'll never own. Maybe someday I'll strike Exclusive-Club-Horse Gold. We shall see. In the mean time, I don't mean to sound all whiny, but I did give you a fare warning; I obsess over horse shaped plastic stuffs, like I told you in the mandatory introduction. This year though, I will have my Stablemate Club models to compensate for the lack of Vintage Club models on my door step, and the usual Collector Club stuff. A small horse shaped object did just arrive in the mail, too, from Ebay, so maybe I'll have photos of it tomorrow, and the promised New Stablemates Discussion. Until then, Aloha.

Introduction.

Every blog/blogger should have an introduction. It's mandatory. ...Right... Anyway, Levi is not my actual name, it's the name of my best friend and horse. He's terribly awesome;

Oh yeah, I'm a photographer. Not professionally (yet) but a photographer just the same. My camera is a purple Nikon Coolpix L840 who I've named Eric, after a Television Character who's particularly popular with me, and I love him. Horses, photography, and model horses are my life, if you want to sum it up. Yes I am a teenage girl (just a warning) and yes I obsess over things; particularly new Breyer releases and recent edits. Because I use Pic Monkey. Levi is my best friend and my online alias, so I see no reason why he shouldn't show up here every now and then, too. If your into this sort of thing, mostly what I will be 'posting' will be Model Horse Photography. Maybe a mold discussion on occasion, stuff like that, but it will, for the most part, be model horse related. Toy horses are kind of a weird hobby, but it makes me happy. Not much more should have to be said.Back to the Introduction. I will try to make this a semi-regular thing; a few times a week, depending on the ever changing schedule. This blog will feature my personal views and I don't expect anyone else to agree with them, just so you know. There'll be lots to talk about, but it's a little early in this blog's career to have a serious discussion, so this will be a good start. I'll talk about the new Breyer Stablemates whenever my life decides I need to, AKA some time this week. Until then, see ya.

                                                                                   ~Levi