A Few Words about the G4s

The new G4 Stablemates have arrived - and they look better in person than they do in their photos. What a surprise! (Not.)

At least that's what I’ve been able to gather on the Internet. Since I’m not in the market right now, and they’re currently in short supply anyway, it’s probably going to be a while before I get make the more definitive in-person judgment.

I will be covering the leg and detail concerns some hobbyists have been airing about these new molds in the next week or so, but it’ll be in the context of a larger discussion about the injection molding process. That’s a topic I’ve been meaning to cover for a while now anyway; it’s been sitting on my upcoming topic list, just waiting for the appropriate lead-in.

I know some people are trying to read more in to the limited initial release, with some betting that they’ll get pulled like the ill-fated Play Mat Stock Horse. I’m not getting that vibe; I think any problems they’re having with the new molds are from them rushing them into production, not from anything inherent in the molds themselves.

And for the record, I don’t know exactly what was wrong with the original Play Mat Stock Horse, other than the original shipment also not being up to snuff qualitatively. I hope they’re able to resolve whatever the problem was, because I kinda liked him. He reminded me a little bit of the JCP SR resin "Piper," who is one of the few Breyer Nonplastics I wouldn’t mind adding to my herd in its original form. (The lovely Rose Hambletonian and Tally Ho are among the others.)

I haven’t picked up the original Play Mat Stock Horse yet either. There’s a local toy store that does - or at least, did - have a few of them in stock recently. I didn’t feel like spending all that money on the set, though, and I’m not one of those hobbyists who buys a gift set, takes the horse, and tries to sell off the "chaff" to make up for it. The purist in me likes to keep my sets complete, regardless of what I think of the accessories.

(The Elegance Set breakups I’ve been seeing really boggle my mind - any model I invest that much money in is keeping all the stuff it comes with!)

I know that’s not an option for everyone. The most logical solution would be to replace the models in question with a more common variation of the same mold and sell or give the "reconfigured" set away that way.

The only problem with that is that most charitable organizations won’t accept toys that have been opened. There must be a workaround somewhere; I know there’s been some effort to "pay it forward" at venues like BreyerFest, with the goal of rehoming otherwise hard-to-sell horses with younger hobbyists or potential hobbyists.

I’m not normally a big advocate of PIF (especially how it's been playing out in the model horse community - as an unseemly show of grabby hands) but anything that encourages more people to participate in the hobby is fine by me.