The Leopold Bugs Bunny satirizes in Long-Haired Hare (1949) is Leopold Stokowski, a conductor best known today for his work on Disney’s Fantasia. And, as Bugs amply demonstrates, his flair for theatricality.
In light of all that, the name certainly suits him!
He was another one that was a tough secret to keep: pretty much a perfectly engineered Vintage Club offering, following in the footsteps of the first Vintage Club Stablemate Eagle, the Second Vintage Club release, the Buckskin Fighting Stallion King, and 2013 Vintage Club release Halo, on the Stretched Morgan…
…with the added difference/bonus being that Leopold is Chalky, as the first releases of the #99 Appaloosa Performance Horses were back in 1974.
As I have noted before, the Appaloosa Performance Horse color was groundbreaking by 1974 standards: prior to it, all Breyer Appaloosas were of the randomly splash-spotted variety. Splash-spotted Appaloosas continued to be made after his arrival – including several APH releases that followed – but so, too, did carefully designed masked patterns, too, like the original Leopard release of the Pony of the Americas and Stud Spider.
What’s interesting to me about the original Appaloosa Performance Horse is that the majority of that mold’s production run releases since his debut have been in some variety of Appaloosa – with the exception of three of the four Special Run releases made for Horses International back in 1989.
His body type is distinctively old-school Appaloosa, so that’s not a big surprise. What is a surprise is the lack of variety in the patterns they have chosen for him over the years: aside from two Semi-Leopards (the original #99 and Exclusive Event Ferris) and the Splash Spot Leopard 1989 Horses International release, it’s been one Spotted Blanket Appaloosa after another.
While I wait for Reeves to come to its senses and finally give us a slightly different look for the APH, maybe I’ll finally dig out the body I have buried in my body box and give it a whirl.
(Probably a Few Spot: you know how much I liked That Guy from last year’s auction.)
2 comments:
I thought of Bugs Bunny right away also!! But then, I am from "that generation!" Love this guy! of course, he came out the year I didn't renew my membership, so I'll be on the hunt!
Thrilled that we're seeing another chalky, WHOOOHOOOO!!!
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