Thursday, May 4, 2023

Shades of Grulla

First, Happy Star Wars Day to all those who celebrate. (Can you believe I work with a bunch of nonbelievers who have not seen a single movie? Fine, watch your yucky zombie fungus nonsense...)

Another hard pass: even though he’s still available as of me write this, I’m skipping on the Shelby completely. I bought something that was (a) cheaper, and (b) something I wanted more, and I figured I was done with shopping for the week.

Since I only really wanted the Grulla Appaloosa, I’d be better off acquiring one later than ordering one and only having a 33 percent chance of getting him. All the wheeling and dealing that would have to follow if I didn’t would also be super-annoying.

Part of the reason I decided that the Grulla Appaloosa was my jam was the similarity of the color to a vintage color that’s a particular favorite here at my ranch: Slate Gray!

First seen, very briefly, on the #191 Bucking Bronco in 1966, this color has only occasionally reappeared over the years, most notably on the Classic Arabian Foal in the Blister Card Assortment in the 1970s, and on the Bell-Bottomed Shire in the 1985 Special Run Set of 4 that also included the Black, Red Bay and the notorious Neon Yellow Palomino.

While it’s true that undappled Gray horses do exist and are not all that uncommon, I’ve often wondered if this color was – like so many other colors Breyer attempted in the 1960s – possibly a misinterpretation of another color.

The obvious choice here being Grulla.

The only flaw in this theory is that, in its heyday, they never really used it like Grulla. Aside from the Bucking Bronco itself, it’s been used on molds representing breed and breed types where Grullas either don’t exist, or are highly unlikely: not just the Shire and Arabian Foal mentioned above, but also Thoroughbreds, like the After School Herd release #259 Andrew, on the Classic Silky Sullivan.

And none of the earlier releases in this color had even a hint of a dorsal stripe, leg barring or darkly-pointed legs. They considered it a different flavor of Gray, and goshdarnit, they were going to use it that way!

They did toy with the idea of true Grullas in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with released like the 1989 Quarter Horse Gelding Silver, the 1992 Classic Mustang Family Foal, and even the Bucking Bronco himself in 1988. But they didn’t get it “right”, in my opinion, until the release of the Quarter Horse Gelding Splash in 1998

And that paint job, not coincidentally, bears a lot of similarity to the original Slate Gray, though gussied up just a bit.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I consider vintage Gray Appaloosas (the Fighting Stallion, Family Arabians, the Hess Stock Horse Family, and so on) another animal altogether: I assumed they were meant to be Blue Roan Semi-Leopard Appaloosas. 

11 comments:

loudthoughts said...

"Yucky zombie fungus nonesense"? Not very diplomatic of you. I'm very disappointed that you feel that way. :( "Last of Us" is a profoundly human story. Whether or not you like the genre or video games, it's one of the best game based stories ever written, and the miniseries is a top-notch adaptation. And the zombies really are more of a back-drop. Humanity is the feature. I don't like zombies either, but that didn't stop me from enjoying both the game (admittedly through my husband as it's not my preferred genre of game) and the show. The miniseries made it mainstream, but gamers have revered the storytelling for a long time now. It's worth watching and there is no reason we can't like both. (I was born the year Star Wars was released!) :)

Anonymous said...

to be fair I've never seen star wars movies, nor do I care for zombie movies.

talk crap on my Marvel men though and there will be issues. lol 😉

ANDREA said...

I dislike the zombie genre in general and I (legit!) haven't played a video game myself since Pong, and I have no plans on starting.

Whether it's good or not is irrelevant: that franchise is about as far away from what I find interesting as humanly possible.

loudthoughts said...

My mother really hates zombies and most certainly is NOT a gamer, but she watched it with us and got something from it. My point wasn't the genres it happens to fall into, but the universality of the core story.

loudthoughts said...

Also you can respect a piece of good media without wanting to watch it. I just hate it when people take extreme positions and put excellent media (or ideas or anything) down just because it's not in their wheelhouse. It just makes me sad whenever I see it. I've certainly been guilty of doing this in the past, but I sincerely try not to anymore.

Anonymous said...

For those of you who like the zombie genre, have you read The Girl With All The Gifts? I'm not sure it really belongs in that genre, but it is an interesting, thought-provoking book.

Anonymous said...

It seems sort of silly to me to take offense at someone’s offhand, jokey comment, as I read it - not really intended as a review of the show. I haven’t seen the show because I refuse to subscribe to yet another streaming service that has a limited amount of shows that appeal to me. So as far as mainstream, yeah mainstream for a segment of the population.

Also, what is considered great art has been, and always will be, completely subjective. Take this year’s Best Picture - did I understand what they were doing? Yes. Did I appreciate it or think it was well done? No. Is it worthwhile art? Sure. That doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion about it and express my opinion any way I want.

It’s also totally patronizing to respond, “you just don’t understand it” when someone says, “I don’t like it.” Great to be a fan and support a show, but there are other ways to express an opinion.

loudthoughts said...

You are right it did come off as patronizing. I didn't mean "you don't understand" because I think she would totally get it, if she watched it. It's not deep or complicated, it's just a human story, that was my point. But the initial remark set me off because it wasn't really a joke, there was a little venom and resentment there. Maybe it wasn't worth my responding comments, but I just wanted to argue why she might give it a chance instead of dismissing outright. But it is pretty brutal at times so that just may not be for her...I had a hard time watching at times and it made me cry a little. But interestingly all the awful, brutal staff was caused by humans on humans, not the zombies at all.

Anonymous said...

I actually love both. I am currently working my way through Mandalorian.

And regarding The Last of Us…I’ve never watched zombie stuff or knew anything about the video game. I was getting HBO Max through a Black Friday deal. But it kept getting my attention. Yellowjackets made me love Melanie Lynskey so I’ve been checking out her other works. I noticed the super high ratings The Last of Us got on IMDB. I decided to give it a try. It was phenomenal! I just loved it.

Anonymous said...

And I just come here for the model horses. :)

Kaivala said...

I honestly had not hoped much for this run was surprised I was able to order one 15 minutes past the release then again I do not think this mold has half the pull of the fireheart mold. Not that anything wrong with it other than it's a horrible shelf space hog but it has quite a few releases. But I pulled the trigger and hoped for the same appaloosa because I thought he could be a good partner for forever sagie who I had 2 of and I have always liked my horses to have families since with hundreds of them heard dynamics not a thing why not mom dad and kids. I do not know why breyer stopped doing family type releases I presume some monetary decisions were made. I still try and parcel families of breeds that make sense and often similar/complimenting colors . Alas I did get lucky on getting the appy and he's enough alike to tick boxes to be partner for FS now I just need a good foal prospect.