Saturday, March 8, 2014

Ugly Horse Cooties

I feel sorry for Morganglanz. I’m tempted to buy a Big Easy Bash Gris Gris; I have money in the Paypal account, and they’re not going for much more than the issue price ($165.00). I already have a tiny cohort of Exclusive Event models he could join - one I received as a gift, two from the NPOD - so he wouldn’t seem totally out of place.

He wouldn’t necessarily be the designated "rare" Morganglanz of the herd, either. That honor would go to this sample/test shot piece I bought at BreyerFest a few years back:


The black bits aren’t paint, they’re plastic - likely from some partially painted regrind. If they were testing/tweaking the mold settings, it would have been a waste to use fresh plastic that would have ended up in the regrind bin anyway.

This is also why some hobbyists find "ordinary" plastic underneath Basecoat Chalkies. They’re just not scratching/cutting in the right places to find the color swirls.

There was some discussion at the event about "remodeling" molds like the Cantering Welsh Pony and the Performance Horse. This I didn’t quite understand. Why rework already modestly popular molds, when you have homely wallflower Morganglanz sitting in the corner, unloved and scarcely used?

He doesn’t have a big or fanatical fan base that would get overly dramatic over any alleged improvements either, as I’m sure would be the case with the Cantering Welsh. (That they’re even suggesting that idea on that mold, frankly, is heretical. Ne pas toucher le CWP!)

And he’s really not all that homely - a new tail and some buffing/surface polishing of the mold, like the Trakehner, would go a long way towards ridding him of his "Ugly Horse Cooties". Here’s a quick silhouette of him in his original state:


Here he is with a different tail (one I did in 5-10 minutes - thus the lack of finesse):


Dress that up in some nice clothes - a simple yet sophisticated Dun Pinto like last year's Surprise Roxy - and I’m fairly certain that you wouldn’t have seen half the run on eBay or MH$P.

7 comments:

Denise said...

Good point! I agree Morganglanz would be an excellent candidate for reworking! Love the tail you added to him-looks great! I would tweak his head a bit too-maybe lower his head, even resculpt his muzzle if possible. But not the CWP....

Anonymous said...

Maybe... but Morganglanz also has a bad case of uglyheaditis, and is in an unattractive frame.

ANDREA said...

I wouldn't object to the mold getting a little "face work" done.

I kinda like the awkward set of his neck. I'm not a naturally graceful person, and my various body parts sometimes bend and twist in ways that make other people uncomfortable, so I can empathize a bit.

(Can humans cross canter? If so, I probably do.)

I just think Reeves could get a little more bang for their buck in updating someone like Morganglanz, who's not getting used much anyway, rather than the CWP, who'll sell whether she was updated or not.

RowanMorgaine said...

I must be in the minority, but I prefer Morganglanz over the CWP.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a difference that tail makes! I agree, if they did that and gave him a new head, or just fixed up his face a little bit, it would make a world of difference. I don't mind the high head set. It's really the head and tail that turn me off of him. (I said absolutely not to the CWP on the survey - No touchy!!)

Obsessed w/ Life said...

Oh my gosh, that tail makes him so attractive!

Chris Ochoa said...

I bought this model because I owned a Trakehner who was a Morganglanz grandson No, don't have to be a beauty queen to show dressage. Brett, my old horse, taught me a lot, especially how to stick with it. My current horse is talented, but a bit of a pain when it comes to catching her.