Today is a Good Day to be Distracted

Okay, I really need to stop obsessing over the new Star Trek movie.

I won’t bore you with my theories, except to say that if I’m right, then my NaNoWriMo novel is going to look like Trek fanfic in about six months. Which was not my intent. (If anything, it’s DC Universe fanfic. About a really, really obscure character. But, still!)

It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me, either. One novel I’d been working on for years got trumped by a TV show that was almost identical in concept, right down to the main characters’ first names.

(I’ve since retooled it; last year’s NaNo novel was essentially its prequel.)

On the plus side, it has gotten me thinking about this year's novel again, and how to fix it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, except that it interferes with my "trying to devote the month of December to quilting" endeavor.

Which is also coming along fine, but whatever. Back to horses. Lots of new molds and releases to talk about!

The Brishens are shipping, and from the pictures I’ve seen of them online, he’s even more over the top in person. And I like it. Not enough to go out and get myself a Brishen, because that’s not how I roll, but I’ll definitely be looking into acquiring another production piece. (In a suitably over the top color, I presume. A glossy dappled black sabino would be nice!)

The Horse Crazy Stablemates are out now, too - the translucent ones with the glittery manes and tails. They look like gigantic gummy bears, and I love gummy bears. (Just polished off a bag at a screening of The Hobbit today, in fact. Aside from being a prehistoric nerd, it seemed like a really good day to escape, you know?)

Now that, Reeves, is how you bridge into the "My Little Pony" market segment: realistic horses in completely unrealistic colors. Decorators, you see, were just a few decades ahead of their time.

(Ixnay on flocking and plastic eyeballs, though. I don’t care how much those creepy pink and blue flocked Special Runs from the 1980s are going for nowadays. It's been nearly thirty years, and they still give me nightmares.)

The next newest thing that’s out is a Classics Morab Mare mold, named Mariah. Actually, we’ve known about her for a while, but the first physical pieces are just now hitting the market.

From the photos I’ve seen, she’s not bad; I think what’s turning some people off is the plasticky paint job Reeves released her in, which has been a bit of a problem with a lot of their Classics releases, lately. The colors aren’t necessarily unrealistic, but they’re a bit intense and oversaturated. This is fine on the right molds, and in small doses, but probably not the best way to introduce what’s supposed to be a nominally realistic mold.

Some of the criticism is just the usual "Breyer Bashing" by hobbyists who like to assert (or pretend to) their conformational or anatomical bonafides. Once she comes out in a slightly less intense/more realistic color, I think more hobbyists will see her in a more favorable light.