Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Letting Sleeping Molds Lie

This is the kind of week I’ve been having: the post I was working on for today just vanished, completely and utterly. I was typing along, making a few grammatical corrections, and then the file just disappeared. It left no evidence behind of even existing: no recovered files, work files, error messages, nothing.

Great, just awesome. As if I wasn’t already in a pretty cranky mood. It’s mostly due to work, the circumstances of which I’d rather not talk about in public. All that can be said is that I’m very much looking forward to Friday.

The horses have also been the furthest things from my mind. I did get a package on Monday that I’d like to talk about, but it won’t be until Friday before I get a chance to even open it. The anticipation is probably the only thing keeping me from randomly smashing things with my fists.

I did see, in passing, that the old Trakehner mold has a newly resculpted tail, for the upcoming Hickstead release. I haven’t had a chance to take a good look at the photos yet, much less see one in person, but I have to say that I’m feeling a little apprehensive about the whole thing.

I understand the need to freshen up molds to keep them viable, but with the Trakehner, I’m not quite seeing the point. We already have another, more modern standing Warmblood mold: the Idocus. Why try to make the Trakehner into something they already have?

I have nothing against change: my entire life has been defined by the fact that I seem to do nothing but. What’s jarring to me is the dissimilarities in the style of these more modern hairdos compared with the molds they are applied to. As someone who was trained as an art historian, I find conflicting styles within a single artwork jarring and obvious: that’s one of the things we look for. Sometimes, it’s the only thing we’ll see.

Hess’s sculpts, particularly his pieces from the mid-1970s onward, tend to be loose and impressionistic, in stark contrast to the tighter and cleaner styles that are more in fashion today. I may be committing a great heresy by even mentioning them in the same sentence, but I think the only current Breyer sculptor who comes close to capturing that impressionistic feel is Brigitte Eberl.

(Before some of you get your knickers in a knot, remember that style and quality are two completely different things.)

Anyway, like I said, I’m not quite seeing the point with this particular change in the mold. I’m a little concerned that the tail isn’t going to look like it "goes with" it, the same way the new tail for the Stock Horse Stallion doesn’t look quite right to me. I am a little too fond of the old Trakehner mold, and I don’t want to find myself reduced to obsessing over his tail.

Back to work, again.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw an Idocus in person when the mold was still pretty new and thought he had a really... cartoony feel to him. I don't know what it was, but I decided the Trakehner was the better of the two.

I'm torn on the tail...

Kismet Lodge said...

The Trakehner has a new tail???!! I never noticed that when looking at the picture of Hickstead. I haven't seen any from different angles or I may have picked up on the tail. I really don't like the old tail on the mold...it just doesn't seem right to me, to me it just has no shape, but then as you say, to put a more modern tail would look funny on the mold I think....

Idocus I have alwasy had mixed feelings about, he has come across as being rather cartoony to me also!

Xyzzy said...

I just tracked down the pic of the Trakehner with the new tail:
http://modelhorsecollector.com/2012/1439.jpg

My impression of the original Trakehner was that he had raised his tail slightly in response to seeing/smelling a certain person or mare (keeping in mind that horse tails usually aren't super-thick and don't have hair on the underside at the root). I liked that better than having him stand politely with his head inexplicably high in the air like now...

I agree on Idocus being cartoony, too... It's because of his muzzle; it's so rounded, undetailed & thick that it looks like the cheap "toy" horse brands always have. I seem to recall that his legs, muscles, and mane/tail were somewhat similar.

I know I'm in the minority, but old molds look more realistic to me, even though I know the conformation isn't always right. Real horses don't have the features of most new molds: smooth deeply-carved muscles, really smooth manes/tails that bush out at rest or clump in thick tendrils, or (on some new molds) thick round legs... :-/

Little Black Car said...

I didn't understand the point of Idocus, except maybe to sucker us all into buying another new mold. The Trankehner is a far nice model; I'm much happier to see him back in a beautiful dark bay than to see a good paint job wasted on a newer, but not as well-sculpted, mold.

GWR said...

I thought the new tail worked on Lady Phase (why not a new mane, too? Both of my newer ones have smooth blobs for forelocks...), but I'm not liking it as much on some of the other older molds. I mean part of the POA's charm was his outdated 1970's style roached mane and slim tail. This floofy poofy new m/t he sports looks... odd on him. The Trak looks like he's just had Idocus's tail grafted on, too.

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree. I love the Idocus mold. I think he is gorgeous. But speaking of cartoony molds I can't stand the Strapless mold and the Bluegrass Bandit molds. Those to me are extremely cartoonish. I also think the new tail looks nice on the Trakehner. The new tail on the lady phase however, I think is too My Little Pony-ish. Not realistic at all.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's just me getting old, but I dislike messing with the old molds, unless it's to fix them (WHY haven't they done something about Lady Phase's forlock?). I preferred her short tail, and the Stock Horse Stallion's as well.

I seem to remember somewhere that the Trakehner's tail was that was way because that was the grooming style for that breed back in the day? (I think they used to roach part of the upper tail??). I dunno. Morganglanz has that same tail too. I live Idocus, but I have to admit he looks a little goofy somehow compared to the Trakehner...

Anonymous said...

My gripe about Idocus is that they took a champion dressage horse and had him sculpted in some random stargazing pasture pose. Same problem with SCO- real horse is a champion reiner and cutter, and he's sorta wandering around, again with his head flung up.